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Gracious Conversationalist
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 Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 8:49 am
With doctor Kyou and Alexi out of the near vicinity of the exit, Graf flitted out into the open alongside Lindin. She saw that he still wasn't in his usual groove again. Well, if he wanted to talk to someone about it, he should...
Passing the doors, the small spy nearly made an embarrassed face at the light damage the building had received. Yah, collateral damage... I hope Kyou won't be bothered too much...
She huffed in relief as she felt her private space expand a few metres, and her camo index rose a few notches. From an outsider's point of view, she was now just a regular, if badly-dressed, human individual going out for a walk.
It was beginning to get a bit chilly, and for her, it was a refreshing change from the tense heat in the Lab. The stress seemed to evaporate in an instant, and immediately the fuzz left her head.
A sideways glance told her that for some reason, Lindin felt a little different about the coming nightfall. She guessed it had something to do with his essence, his fiery nature. Wait, -what- was his lineage again?
Suddenly, an unexpected warmth filled the air. Another glance, backwards this time, revealed that they had enough distance between them and the Laboratory to -hopefully- use magic again. Nya, this was kind of nice... Somehow Graf was reminded of Lazzie. She dribbled beside Lindin quickly, trying to make the trip between to heated spaces as short as possible for him, and somehow could help smiling a little.
When she caught sight of the 'ship', her two percent of curiosity towards what was happening inside the Lab breezed down to zero. The organic quality could be described as "the elegance of science, physics and mathematics" all at once. It was definitely not a naturally grown thing, there was reasoning behind the design, but she had to admit, it looked smooth enough. Tilting the angle of her plane of view a little higher upwards as they approached, Graficcha saw the cannons, or at least, she guessed that was what they were.
It made her a little queasy, but at the same time she was glad Lindin and Alexi had this kind of offense-as-the-best-defense to their disposal.
The closer she came to the aircraft, the clearer the ship's silent singing became... it was making her a bit lyrical, especially with the glow of the sunset playing along the surfaces.
At Lindin's quite unnecessary statement, Graf nodded her head to the side and giggled-if she had a tail, it'd be wagging by now-, and when he opened a well-hidden hatch by fiddling with something invisible in the air, she 'ah'd quizzically. This was exciting!
When the little sneak entered, Graf nearly tried to find the spot in the void herself, but she told herself not to... who knows, she might damage something. She's ask about that when Lindin was done showing her around for sure.
When she came inside, the first thought to cross her mind was something along the lines of a plain statement:
Looks like heaven.
Something about the light, about the style, it made her think of, well yeah, 'heaven'... but more like heaven as in "clouds and shining wings and pillars and peace and Greece" and consorts.
Then, she black outlines jumped into view, and the way everything seemed to be in a perpetual miniature harmonic chaos. It looked like something you could spend hours with, just watching. She remembered herself when she was little, trying to make out figures and dream images in the spots on the floor at home when she was bored.
This particular place would either be full of little images, or it'd be a real challenge to find something before it's gone and morphed into a different shape.
When Graficcha cast an unobtrusive blink inside the rooms, more to the back of the ship, she warmed up completely. It was just too easy to make out which belonged to whom, and she concluded that her own probably leaned more in the direction of Lindin's... although maybe not quite that 'bad'. She wondered if Alexi ever became irritated with the mess. At least Lindin seemed not to care... Graf knew about people who lived in such a messy, unorganised dump that they had to ask for help to get it cleaned out. Nyah, at least it confirmed her the image she had of the transhuman for a huge part.
When passing by the center table, littered with those futuristic-looking data-holders -be it a new kind of paper or something else altogether-, Graf really couldn't help leaning sideways a little to see a bit more of the material. A few technologies that were in development in Gaia came to mind, but this seemed to be just a step higher than that. She decided against peeking at the contents, though. Nya, if there was no indication that this wasn't confidential, then she wouldn't look.
Yes, the stalker kind of had a weird opinion on her 'job'. Even if her daily business respected almost no privacy, one could say, she had quite a bit of common sense and respect for her subjects and... friends alike. She really didn't want to spy on people and Raevans to find out their dirty secrets or their most intimate secrets. She doesn't want others to find out her own either, so it's only normal to keep a certain 'distance', she thinks.
But back to looking around! When Lindin took her into the cockpit, Graf was prepared for anything, but even in her most curious and open-minded state, she just had to inch closer to the middle dome and take a look at it.
Wow... just how does one learn how to manage this thing when there are no buttons?
When she found that she had not a ghost of a clue, she gawked a little. Gawd, she wanted to understand this so badly! Even with her almost-grown-up appearance, one could tell she really was a young man's child. She wandered around the cockpit, her hands tucked in the deep pockets of her black coat, and looked around, just to take in the whole picture once more.
When Lindin mentioned nanotechnology, things like buckyballs and tennis rackets flitted out of her always at hand encyclopaedia, but she knew that this had to be more advanced than simply that.
She could hear the 'life' surging when Lindin touched one of the control pad-thingies on his chair, and marvelled at it.
"Nano-tech eh?" she asked-said, blushing from wonder and excitement under her brown bangs, that were still pressed down by her grey cap. When she found that she still had it on, Graf quickly took it off. While she stuffed it into her pocket with one hand, she reached up behind her neck and loosened and straightened her long brown hair. When she had flicked a few strands behind her ears, she answered shyly, but with a certain warm determination.
"Try that? Me? Well, uhmm... if you can assure me I won't damage anything..." she chuckled. She scooted closer to him and looked at the dome-structures. "Nya, well, before I forget it, just how did you open the hatch?
... Oh, it's not like I want to know how to break in or anything I-I'm just curious" she hastily cleared up. To herself, that had sounded quite suspicious.
"Nya, whatever, you just do what you usually do... I don't wanna be a bother, really." she said, giving him space to go get some rest if he wanted to, or to show her what he thought was interesting.
Although she did have a few questions... they had begun rushing in from the moment she had first laid eyes upon the masterly craft.
Like:
What's the material called?
Maximum speed?
Where do you get your groceries from?
Ever have trouble parking?
Do you have newspapers in this kind of material?
Is it sentient?
What kind of a structure does the interface have? trees, onions, scales?
Yep, her mind was quite the jumble... But it was up to Lindin what he would, or could, tell her.
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Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:58 am
"I recommend the airship." Kyou replied simply as he thought of the limited space in the lab. The last empty room was taken by Chloe not very long ago. Maybe he should enlarge the lab a little? But it will need quite a large sum of money for such a huge lab, and Kyou doesn't have that amount of cash. "I'd also recommend having a check-up arranged with Dr. Tsu - you remember him yeah? That kind of perverted guy with spiky hair." Kyou vaguely remembered Tsu was here too last time Alexi came. "I'd recommend doing it probably before you leave at the end of Kalec's observation period." he added.
His eyes fell to Alexi's hands for a split second as she fingered the seams of her dress, showing her anxiety. But he tried his best to disregard it, it's rude to continue to make someone feel more uncomfortable when they already are.
"Come with me," he said in a softer, more comfortable tone as he passed through the archway to the dark space within. He ran his finger on the wall right behind the arch and found the switch to the lights in the room. With a soft click, the room lit up and a soft yellow light illuminated the small space. A slight chill loomed the tiny environment. Not very far to their right was a wall entirely made of steel, with a door sitting right in the middle.
"Did I mention that the capsule is located in the freezer?" Kyou's eyebrows knitted in concern as he looked Alexi up and down. "It's the only way I know how to preserve someone, or something for long periods of time." Tentatively gripping the handle on the door, the icey cold steel sending a chill up his arm, he twisted the door open. A gust of chilly air escaped the freezer, instantly pulling Kyou's arms into a self hug position as he rubbed on his arms.
A cabinet of food stuff and a dead, skinned and headless pig hung in a far corner. On the opposite side of the bare naked pig stood a machinery that looked like a capsule that's made out of metal and glass. It looked really out of place in the freezer. But through the hazy glass, a vague sleeping face could be seen.
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Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 11:50 am
Alexi nodded in response to Kyou's suggestions about taking Kalec to the airship she had come in. There was plenty of space there, and a lot of information as well as a more homely atmosphere, and despite the rather spartan accommodations, the airship would probably seem like a luxury compared to whatever she could find in the surrounding area. It was a good idea to bring the airship then.
"Yes, I do remember Dr. Tsu, albeit rather vaguely.." It was true really, that she could remember him, but she couldn't recall any personal emotion attached to that memory. It seemed somehow detached. She sighed inwardly. It would take awhile for her memories to be integrated into her, and they may never be the same. "I'll speak with Chloe on the way out and arrange a time to speak with him, unless he's available for scheduling today."
She had by this time started to follow Kyou into the darkness beyond the archway. Even without the lights she could see what was there, but she wouldn't tell Kyou that. The lights suddenly snapped on and as her eyes adjusted quickly, she continued to survey the room. It seemed a little cold and her surprise at Kyou's comment was not that this was the freezer, for it was apparent what it was since it was so near the kitchen after all, but why would Kalec's capsule be here?
"Oh really? Thats quite an interesting place to put him." Her eyebrows furrowed a little in concern as well. She hoped that Kalec would be alright. However, after a quick moment's contemplation, her face became less emotional as she came to the conclusion that this was proper logistics due to the lack of space actually reserved for putting Raevan into stasis. "Well, I'm sure he's alright." It was obvious that this was the best location, albeit a very odd location, to both maximize effectiveness and reduce...costs? Her mind played over that word. Reduce consumption of resources, she rephrased, as cost wasn't a part of her so-called communistic society.
Her skin became an even lighter ivory as she entered the freezer with Kyou as her body adjusted to the temperature. The freezer seemed uniquely primitive to her, but it was interesting to see dead animals hanging in a freezer. She was reminded of Lorn somewhat. He actually hunted animals for food, which was very unlike most other Transhumans. But what caught her attention next made her forget to breath and her eyes saw nothing else in the room after that.
Alexi practically had to keep herself from rushing over to the capsule. There was no way to know if it was just a placebo effect, but she felt a presence inside the capsule that could not be denied, despite the fact that it was in stasis. A quick glance at the face through the foggy glass told her all she needed to know.
"Kalec!" she exclaimed under her breath, trying to hold back her excitement. She wasn't usually one to tremble but her body just wouldn't hold it back. "Oh deary, lets get you out of that horrible chamber, I'm so sorry I couldn't come for you sooner." It was obvious that Kalec couldn't hear her but she was talking more to herself than anything.
She turned her head to Kyou and took a deeper breath, her piercing eyes shining with what might have been the beginning of tears. Even so, she tried to be calculating and think of anything that could go wrong. "Can we get him out as soon as possible? I'm not sure what technology is being used here, is it perhaps cryo-stasis? Cryo-stasis was the method used for centuries to preserve beings for lengthy periods of time, using cold and reduced body temperature to literally freeze them in place.
It was relatively easy to put them in such a stasis but to extract them would be dangerous. There were often failures. She hoped to the gods that this wasn't the case, despite the fact that it seemed to be. It was a good thing that her link gave her knowledge however, of how to take care of a being released from the cryo-stasis. Hypothermia was a reasonable expectation, if that was something a Raevan could get. Since the Raevan were magical beings however, she believed it less than possible that he could lose extremities to the cold, even though frostbite could be a concern.
But no matter. The main thing was to get him out of stasis as soon as possible so that he missed no more of his life than he already had. She had a lot of plans for him these couple weeks but his well-being would be the first priority. She looked expectantly at Kyou, her ice-blue eyes seeming quite at home in the cold of the freezer.
_______________________________________________
At the airship, things were a different matter entirely, and it was much more lighthearted as Lindin scooted around the spherical cockpit on his chair.
He had turned to Graf however, and tried to explain the situation. "Nah, Nanotech is actually just another name for what you might think of as nanomachines, little tiny machines that make up the metal of our ships."
His voice and inflection changed a little into a little more serious and formal tone. "The nanomachines are caretakers of the trakulate metal that serves as the hull and the skeleton of the ship, as well as armor. They maintain the ship and can form just about any object at a whim, like this chair I'm sittin' in. They are in essence organisms that we feed with our subspace power generators. So, we take care of them and they take care of us."
There were some things about the technology that he was forbidden to divulge obviously, but he wanted to share with this girl as much as he could. She seemed a little at a loss for words however after saying she didn't want to be a bother. He knew this dilemma and grinned. This happened a lot with humans he came across. So self-conscious about their questions.
He gently formed a link with his mind with her again, letting the connection click open slowly. She may or may not notice, he had no idea, but it seemed like she did since her eyes opened a little bit and her pupils dilated slightly. He smiled winningly.
Lindin didn't need to tell her to go ahead and ask, because her thoughts pretty much streamed into his head. That was how the link worked, if you directed your thoughts at someone, they were able to hear it even if you didn't say it out loud.
"Alright kiddo, since we're away from the lab I'm gonna just link with ya again so I can better explain." He scooted the chair up to her and with a wave of his hand and a thought, he gently formed a chair under her and it bumped her legs slightly so that she fell into the comfortable softness. This would require a lot of explaining and it would be best if she were sitting down.
"Cool. So I think you can respond to me, you can use words or thoughtspeak if ya want. I could tell you can use the thoughtspeak a little the last time, I heard the beginning of a thought but then Kyou interrupted." He took her wrist in his hand and sent some images back to her, as well as explanations.
"Alright so, again, the material is Trakulate. Its a special magic-infused and tempered metal. Its phasic, that means that it phases between real space and subspace." A rather intricate picture formed in Graf's mind, showing real space and the underlying subspace. The metal fluxed between the two rapidly, so that it was both within subspace and real space at once for all intents and purposes. "Okay get the drift of what I mean? Thats the reason that its so powerful actually, cuz even if you hit it with an energy beam, its like a buffer really - ya know like in chemistry. The buffer is the subspace energy that surrounds it. In order to even damage Trakulate, you need to put enough energy into it to overcome the phasing."
He supposed he needed to explain a bit more about the weapons that they used because they were so different. He formed an image of the cannons on the outside of the ship, and sent them in a steam to Graf, in a three-dimensional model with his voice as a narrative. The cabin actually reflected his image so that screens appeared in the air to show aspects and details about the weapon, not so much that it would be reproducible of course, but enough for a basic concept.
"Our weapons are mostly energy weapons, though we do have some ammunition weapons. Most of us actually customize our own, with our powers in mind, cuz you can actually interface and boost the power of a weapon with your own innate powers, but thats something different entirely. Anyway, see at the back here, this is a collection of energy "spheres" if you will, that are highly fluxing trakulate spheres that when reacted in a certain way can pull in energy from subspace into real space. In a sense, this is what ya might call "Magic" if you didn't know the logistics behind it."
A diagram of the weapon firing and striking another ship appeared and began to replay itself closer and closer until it reached a molecular level, and would adjust depending on what Graf was curious about. "So da basic fundamentals is that the subspace energy wants to return TO subspace. So what it does is when it hits matter, it tends to want to pull that matter into subspace. This is why we call em disintegration cannons. Cuz they literally rip matter into pieces and particles. Different levels of cannons were called into the display, showing a varied range of abilities, some simply exciting enough energy to light things aflame, some apparently dark-mattered cannons served as almost ammunition-like weapons, and the large high damage cannons with the ability to destroy planets.
"With such devastating power, trakulate reinforcing metals and subspace energy barriers are essential, as well as just a general responsibility for da power of these weapons. Some in our society hate the weapons because they think they are unnatural uses of subspace, and may in time damage the network and barriers between it and normal space. Others revel in making new weapons. But without the armor and barriers protecting us, a single shot of any subspace energy from a cannon or gun, or what have you, would disintegrate immediately.
"Why does it protect ya might be thinkin'. Well its pretty much da same way that the cannons work. The phasing actually helps out a lot." He showed trakulate again, this time with a pulse of energy fired into it. "Since trakulate normally just phases in between normal and real space, if subspace energy takes it into subspace, it really is no worse for the wear. How long it stays in subspace might change, and a steady beam would be enough to rip a hole, but generally it just absorbs the beam of energy." He grinned at the brilliance of the technology. "For all intents and purposes it makes any other energy technology used against it useless, but of course our developers and those in the enemy factions can create more powerful weapons that can actually damage this stuff."
"Physical or melee weapons have actually become more useful against trakulate cuz of all this energy crap." His hand played over his sword. "Since you're actually physically ripping the metal apart with a melee or ammo weapon, there's less of a chance that your weapon damage will be completely negated by a phasing. Course thats why we have the nanomachines that constantly repair the trakulate in scenarios like that, but this is why Avatars are so damn destructive lately and are the next wave in evolution of battle." An image of a monstrously huge metal creature that looks a little like a mech, or a transhuman, came into mind. Inadvertently, the creature was shown fighting Alexi, her huge sword ripping chunks out of its arm, but eventually its huge metal form crushed her. A zoom in of the eyes showed a red and grey eye, and the name "Justic" came to mind. Lindin's fist clenched.
"Frackin' b*****d, not enough that he killed her entire family but now he made a ********' avatar to kill her? Whatever, stupid a*****e, Ah'm gonna get my own avatar and kill his. Then we'll see who's laughing. Calling me his brother and having my genes, I seriously hate that guy." He sighed and shook his head. "Sorry bout that. Anyway, avatars are actually very rare however, because you need to wield a certain amount of power before your soul can take a grafting to an avatar. It is an extension of your own soul. If you don't have the power to control it, it just becomes a monster of its own. Lexi doesn't have one yet, she was about to before Justic killed her last time. And I need ta get one, I think there's only like 2 avatars on the so-called "good" side and at least Justic along with a few other avatars on the other side by now." Kalec had an avatar before he was killed. It pretty much shut itself down without his presence.
Lindin straightened himself and tried to get himself out of his funk. He often had issues like this, and went into depressing moods whenever the pressure was turned on or he thought of the fact that he had to be the next savior if Kalec wasn't coming back. He put on a smile and just continued to the next topic. "So yah enough about that depressing crap. So max speed, well, since this is an interstellar vehicle and the fact that it has trakulate in it, you can obviously see that the thing can actually travel through subspace. This is really cool because you can travel along the paths in there and create a bubble of real space within it to keep yourself alive, and end up somewhere completely different. Takes a lot of energy though. Usually can't make more than a jump a day, and depending on the size of da fighter or airship, and the power of the people inside, you can jump a few light years, or jump across the galaxy if you had enough power."
"Not at all advisable to use on the ground though, ya need to get some speed, and when you take off into subspace if you're on the ground or near some sort of matter, that matter tends to get ripped apart or sent into subspace too." He grinned, obviously having done that particular thing himself and causing mischief. It took a lot of skill to get to subspace jumps from the ground, and a lot of speed. He excelled at power and speed.
"Trouble parking? He frowned a little and accessed the data banks within the system. "Oh, nah, usually I don't have a problem finding a place to land or anything, cuz all our larger ships have bays for these things, and they can pretty much change into other vehicles, though slowly. They're a foundation for our society really, providing transport throughout wherever you wanna go. Couldn't live without the little sucker. Though, in remote areas, I kinda don't know where to park the thing or land it to keep it inconspicuous. At that point I'd just use the nanomachines and their little camera-ability, to kinda cloak the thing. Ya know. Project the image of the environment on one side of the ship onto da other side."
Newspapers? This was a foreign name as well, and it seemed antique. He knew it from Lorn however, because Lorn was always around paper and old-fashioned stuff like that. "Yeah, so, in our world, paper is pretty much functionless. We don't have newspapers, its just news projected through the link if you want to look it up, or its in the computers and databanks. We have this sorta paper-like material though I guess, but its datapads." He gestured to the other room where the table was littered with the pads. "We don't throw em away or nothin', and so its less wasteful, and they're much better than crappy paper. Though my old mentor loves the stuff, says some bullcrap 'bout how it feels or smells that he likes." The smile on his face showed that he loved his mentor despite this weird little quirk. "The datapads are actually just made of a sheet of nanomachines, nothin' special about it except that it sorta can look like trakulate and form into other things if you really want it to. Kinda takes the fun out of making a paper airplane though cuz you can just tell it to become a three-dimensional model in replica of this ship and it'll comply."
"So yeah, the material is actually kinda sentient in a way, there's research being done on just how sentient it is. But most ships have a sort of AI or artificial intelligence associated with it. They have their own personalities. Some people don't get it and just use em like machines. But the real pilots, the ones that do da racing and are really in tune with their ships can do the best job. Some say they speak to their ships. I dunno. Thats kinda what I do sometimes. You gotta put a little of your soul power into the ship to make it run, so it becomes more personal. This is Lexi's ship, so I don't know it as well as I do mine."
He had skipped a question apparently, just because the term groceries didn't really register in his mind. "Oh uh...groceries...is that like the term that people used to use for going to the store and buying some food or whatever? Well, our society is pretty much what you might call communistic. Everyone gets what they need, and the replication system handles all processing requests. We have a pretty abundant society, usually, unless its like a war or somethin'. Which happens a lot I guess. A frown creases his eyebrows and he laughed good naturely. "Just a fact of life ya know for us. But yah, we have replicators, the nanomachines that make up the ships and pretty much all of our society's buildings can replicate what you want out of it."
"Course, one of the problems with us having a lot of nano-tech in our stuff is that there are people with powers that can actually take advantage of it and turn it against us. Its really a matter of willpower but sometimes there's the odd prodigy that can do it. Ilthaca on the commando side, is one of them. She's like an android pretty much that can call on machines to do her bidding. Sorta a warlock too really, or thats what we call her, because she can form so much crap out of little to nothing. She has what you might call empty-space powers. Its the power over the negative, the opposite of subspace. Mondai has it too, ya might meet her actually. Both of them have the power to go into this shadow-realm-like place and create whatever they want, though its pretty separate from reality. I think she's dropping by soon." Her presence was actually very apparent by now and he had heard a little giggle a little bit ago in his mind once he had re-enabled his link.
"And finally, about the link and the interface - its really what ya want it to be, and what seems more comfortable for you. Cuz for me, the link shows up on the interface like a bunch of panels that I can look at to see whats up and its kinda random, I'm not one for organization. But I notice that yer more organized, so you could use a tree thing - really there's so much information there you could just connect anything and everything."
"But yeah. Seriously though Graf, feel free to try it out. Ya just put yer hand here on this sphere..." He gently laid her hand by the wrist onto the sphere at the arm rest of the chair. "Then you just think commands at the ship. Thats about it. Just think commands at it, or if you're trying to get info from the link think into the link. Its a lot like a mental link with me and you believe me, its just a lot more information and a lot more voices. Just be warned cuz you might get a lot of flooding at first before you can control your mind."
There was a lot of mental control associated with the link but he felt confident that she could handle it. He had just given her a small portion of the link anyway to sift through if she wanted. Visitor's guide really, that had already made up for lots of people he met in the past, about Transhumans, their history, his own personal history. The link and the ship blinked slowly at Graf, expectantly waiting for her cue.
_______________________________________________
"Almost there Auralis. Almost there."
Translucent light green eyes gaze into the darkness of space outside a ship that was larger-sized than the one that Lindin was in, but more organic in design and differently colored. It seemed more like a serpent instead of a bird really, winding its way through space through the stars. If a transhuman saw it, they would easily say that this was one of the avatars of legend.
"There there beautiful, don't be agitated." The woman crooned to her writhing familiar inside the watery substance that made up the cockpit. It was obvious that the sea-dragon was wanting to get out and explore, with its new found freedom. It was tough to be in an enclosed space again no matter the size after tasting independence.
Cables ran to the back of Sleeta's head as a direct interface with the ship. She didn't need to be in the avatar to control it, but she did have to be inside to be transported by it. That and she needed data, and while her ship continued on with a mind of its own towards the destination, she surfed the waves of her interface with the link, gently coaxing information out of it and letting it flow into her mind.
How was the Raevan Kalec faring? She gently massaged out a link to Alexi, insinuating her liquid presence into the situation without Alexi's knowledge. An image of the Raevan's face appeared to her and her heart raced a little more in anticipation, not of the fact that she felt anything for the face, but because she felt like she was expected to feel something for the Raevan. But it wasn't him. It wasn't exactly Kalec, had none of his memories. The face brought back memories but it wouldn't bring -him- back.
She sighed. "I guess we'll just have to see then won't we?" Her familiar Auralis had stopped moving about as agitated as before, and was actually looking a little sad, showing her own mood. It had morphed from a sea serpent into a sadder looking more vulnerable looking fish. She had to hope that this would turn out well. A lot hinged on this moment, and not the least of which was her heart.
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"Whats this?" Gray eyes peered into the real world from the negative space that was the shadow realm. The face looked a little distorted, with the eyes very huge and cartoon-like.
There was an avatar comminnnng to the planet where Alexi and Lindin were! Dancing around, she tore a quick hole into reality to see what was going on.
WHAT DRAMA! What an interesting predicament! The arrival of her friend Sleeta, Kalec's lost love apparent! She laughed and skipped around playing hopscotch with herself, reveling in the random drama that was occurring. What would Lindin say when he saw her, what would Kalec do, and what would she do when she saw Kalec as the Raevaaaann?
Maybe it was time to participate in this play! Be a player instead of just the audience! She was a little tired of seeing Lindin having all the fun with the little Grafficha, and that Grafficha puppet interested her greatly. So random, so held back though!!!!
Everyone is so different and so much the sammeee! Their personalities all so unique but in the end they were all just human - even her, and she laughed at that. "AM I REALLY HUMAN?" Her form flickered in the place that was anti-space, her scarf morphing to become more demonic, and her eyes glowing black as her shape changed inside her realm of imagination.
["Sure you are."] A shadowy figure-copy of Mondai spoke up across the table in the castle-hall. ["Human as they come, but you just won't admit it to yourself because thats what got you hurt in the first place."]
The solid Mondai threw a dagger at the ghostly Mondai across the table with a snarl on her face. "AM NOT - I AM MORE THAN HUMAN." The dagger passed easily through the ghostly Mondai, who just looked back sadly at the troubled face of the solid one.
["You are and one day, you'll accept me as a part of you instead of locking me up in this castle of yours."]
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU, STUPID CHILD, SINCE WHEN HAS BEING HUMAN HELPED ME ANY." Images flashed on the black wall of her parents dieing and her completely helpless to stop the enemy, running down the hall crying, until a demon had appeared in her mind and told her to stop. She jumped on the banquet table and ran down the length of it, her other dagger in hand as she tried to stab the child-side of her....
And suddenly broke out of the darkness that was her negative space into real space.
["Tricked ya!"] A little sing-song voice sang in the demonic looking girl's head and she snarled, quickly trying to compose herself. She had barely missed hitting the ship, and she was lucky to have stepped out of a tree's shadow instead of the ship's shadow or the shadow of a person. It was just as well though. She had wanted to come out here to observe anyway! Yes, that was it, she told herself and danced through the shadows of the real world, unnoticed by anyone and everyone. She would bide her time here and wait - wait to see the play unfold.
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Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2007 9:21 pm
Taking a few weary steps towards the capsule, Kyou placed a hand onto the freezing metallic surface. His breath came out in small white mists as he opened his mouth to speak. "No, this is not exactly cryo-stasis. It's built with a similar concept, but it's different." Reaching over, Kyou wiped the foggy glass that showed Kalec's unconscious face within as he continued to explain. "This machine doesn't really freeze the Raevan completely. But it does slows down the Raevan's metabolism rate by freezing the rune that supports the Raevans at their current stage. I like to think that low temperatures in their surroundings help." he chuckled weakly as he got to work removing Kalec from the capsule, as he could see that Alexi is pretty eager to get Kalec out.
Tapping on the side of the capsule, a small opening popped open, revealing a set of buttons inside. Exhaling small clouds of mists from his mouth, Kyou pressed a combination and the machine clicked loudly once, then there was a weird whirring sound coming from inside the machine which sounded like it's moving something.
"The machine mainly freezes the rune, despite the low temperature outside here, it's not that cold inside the capsule. His flesh wouldn't be frozen like people that were placed into cryo-stasis. That's why I want you to be watchful of how Kalec fares when he recover consciousness, if it was really cryo-stasis then we could at least expect what were the consequences. But with Raevans..." his worried voice trailed off as he watched the sleeping face inside the capsule. It looked like he was just taking a short nap peacefully. Who would've thought that he had been sleeping for almost an entire year?
The machine finally stopped running, and with a loud click and a hiss of air, a quarter of the machine popped open, revealing the still unconscious Kalec inside carefully tucked against a figure fitting soft surface. His long purple ribbon flowing limply below him. The rune, just released from it's frozen state glowed ever so dimly. Almost as if it's threatening to go out any time soon. This reminded Kyou too much about Rivener's state last time when he lost too much blood.
Putting a hand on Alexi's back, he urged her forward to retrieve Kalec from inside the machine.
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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 3:00 pm
Alexi listened intently to Kyou's explanation of the freezing of the rune and pondered it a bit. It was certainly true that she knew nothing of Raevan anatomy or physiology, but Kyou seemed to know what he was talking about. He didn't seem alarmed or overly concerned about Kalec's -survival-...perhaps there could be some complications that would arise because of this freezing of the rune, but she didn't think it was going to be too serious.
"I will definitely make sure to take special care with him, hearing you say that he will be alright makes me feel a little relieved." She sighed in relief, some tension gone from her body. Alexi was assigned as Kalec's bodyguard, and was responsible for his well-being in his former life. The feeling of duty and her emotional attachment outside of her role as bodyguard had never left her all these years.
Then again...
As Kyou turned off the machine and it slowly came to a halt, she caught an initial glimpse of Kalec's body and what seemed like a purple ribbon below him - obviously this was the rune, and a faint magic pulse came from it. She gasped again, this time in concern, and she didn't require Kyou's urging to spring to his side. Gently but deliberately, she instantly pulled Kalec's body out of the capsule, taking care not to harm the rune.
Alexi looked up at Kyou and with a deft free hand, she took some of her dress and tugged at it, the fabric stretching like plastic in her hand and then tearing loose. Her dress seemed relatively intact despite this tear, and she wrapped her new cloak around Kalec's body to keep him warm. "Thank you Kyou for letting me see him, if I was but a little bit later he might not be alive. I apologize for seeking him so late and putting him in this state. It is my understanding that he is far behind all the other Raevan, especially your Lazarus." The starts of an explosion could be heard outside of the room. She had recognized the signature magic essence of Lazarus in that explosion, and realized that it was a transformation magic - how much this would affect the lab, she didn't know, but her bodyguard instincts told her it was time to leave.
She pulled Kalec's body into her strong but slim arms, their slender ivory contrasting against his ashen gray, which seemed weaker and more ashen than you would normally think of as healthy. "Its obvious he can't stay here so I'll have him stay in the ship for awhile to have him recover there, I'll make room for him and give him a safe and warm place while you figure things out with your lab." She gave a grin that showed that she knew that there was something happening. "I'll let you attend to your duties. Let me know if you need any help with the lab. I will be happy to render assistance with the technology aboard my ship. Thank you so much for your patience and care. I'll look forward to meeting with you again soon, and with Dr. Tsu as well."
Striding quickly out the door with the young and frail Kalec tightly wrapped to her body, she took a single step and with an inhuman speed that could hardly be traced with the human eye, she disappeared into the chaos that the Lab was becoming. She had left a protective spell on Kyou just in case, so he wouldn't be damaged in the explosions that were coming from the insides of the lab but she figured that he could take care of himself.
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Outside the lab but inside the ship, Lindin was still taking care of Graf, but it seemed that she had dozed off. Perhaps his narrative and his showing her around the ship had made her very tired and she was worn out from the events that had happened lately. She looked so peaceful, and so Lindin had carried her to one of the guest rooms in the ship that he had ordered the nanotech to form. It would serve as a nice place for her to rest until they had to take off.
An explosion rocketed the side of the ship, shaking it a bit. Not enough for a human to perceive but enough for Lindin's transhuman senses to pick it up. Yes, there had been something there. There was a scent to it, a trace of magic inside the explosion that he had heard and felt that reminded himself too much of his own chaotic transformations. His mind briefly flicked to the Raevan he had seen gliding throughout the complex when he was there. Could it have been this calm Raevan, unleashing mighty power in his transformation? It was often the quiet ones, after all, that surprised everyone with how strong they were.
His main concern however, was Alexi and Kalec. Though he was thinking about it, he didn't really worry too much about Alexi's health. Kalec's was a little iffy however. Did Alexi make it in time? What if...
His thoughts were cut short when Alexi's form shimmered into view, flying above the complex. How she had managed to get up there, he had no idea, but he was glad that she was safe. In the next split second, she had arrived at the base of the ship, and was walking quickly up the ramp. The hatch closed behind her, and he noticed that she was carrying something.
"Is that..." His glowing yellow eyes searched the bundle in wonder and interest.
"Yes dear, its Kalec." She beamed but her eyes showed her concern. He knew how to read them now, and was one of the few that could - which is one reason he was able to earn her love. "But we need to get Kalec out of here, to get him warmed up and healed. I don't know how to take care of him...not sure what he eats or ANYTHING..." She seemed a little panicked despite her cool demeanor.
Lindin put a hand on her shoulder and kissed her forehead. "Its a'ight 'Lexi, we'll just wing it." His warm smile gave her confidence, and she began to believe in herself and him more simply because of his presence. He had that kind of aura to him. Order within Disorder. He had to have that kind of personality to survive the thing that lived within him. "Looks like da lab is going down, wanna take off? Or just stay here and wait?"
"Might as well just stay here, just raise the shields and take all precautions, I want to make sure that Kyou is okay. I shielded him with some of our tech and a spell-thought, but it can't hurt to make sure." She had hastily tried to make a bed for Kalec and at this point set him down and covered him with the blankets. The bed had some healing powers sewed into the lining, and if Kalec was anything like the essences he was created from, the surroundings of energy would seem into him and give him more strength. The ship itself was made of living metal, with a consciousness of humanity inside a non-human shell. It would be a good incubator for the Raevan. At least she hoped. Sighing, she plugged her thoughts into the link and accessed her ship, and with a thought, the ship came to life. All she could do now was wait and see.
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Lindin kept watch on Kalec through the night. Something gnawed at the back of hiss mind however as he gazed out at the smoldering ruins that was now the lab. There wasn't quite as big an explosion as he might have thought. It all seemed to have been internal. However, the lab definitely wasn't standing anymore.
But it wasn't the destruction of the lab necessarily that bothered him. It was quite an odd sensation and coincidence. For the first time since he had laid eyes on Lazarus, he had realized something and was mulling over it...
Justic looked very much like that Raevan Lazarus.
There couldn't possibly be a real connection between Justic and Lazarus. There was no way. But if physical appearance was any indication, Lazarus might be the holder of immense power, bordering on the transcendence project's magnitude. It was just so odd how both Lazarus and Justic had silver hair with tails of red spinning out the backs. Of course, Justic had his braided and had kunai attached to the ends, and his eyes were not both red but he instead had one gray eye, but it was eerie thinking about it.
A conflict of mistrust and trust lashed through him. Justic had been a brother to Lindin but had betrayed him. And in a sense, it felt like he should think of Lazarus as a brother. Perhaps Lazarus was in some sense born from a power much like the legacy genes. His chaotic nature in transformation seemed to point to that kind of fact.
"Dammit, stop it kid. You ain't helping yourself none." He closed his eyes and slapped himself on the cheek, then lit a cigarette and toyed with it as he smoked, heading outside to keep the smoke from entering the lungs of either of his two young charges. "I'm sure its nothin', you're just overreactin'." He hoped that was the case. But unfortunately, the explosive nature of this Raevan's power had served to destroy an entire building already. Who knew what would happen when he transformed into his ultimate form?
"Couldn't sleep either hm? Whats wrong hon?" A slender hand circled around his chest and abdomen, and the soft silver hair of his lover Alexi swirled around his front. She was concerned, he hadn't slept all night, and neither could she.
"Nothin' Lexi. Its nothin'." He grinned with his mouth but not with his eyes, and slid his hand up to her arms, his fingers tracing over her ivory skin in deep thought. Little was said between the two out loud, but things like this didn't need words, and they knew each other's feelings without saying anything. The angel and demon sat entangled in each other's arms on the top of the ship as the sun rose over the ruins of the lab, a mixture of relief, love, and anticipation lacing the air around them.
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:03 pm
What happened? And...Who am I?
The thought didn't form itself in so many words, but as an idea in the mind of the awakened fledgling Raevan. His eyes had not opened, their steely lids shut and to all the world around him he seemed to be sleeping and resting. As he lay there, his body unmoving, his mind began to power up its still-forming synapses and long-unused connections flared to life. The few memories the being had flooded back to him in gruesome detail.
The rune that held his body together flickered a little with some power, but remained rather limp. The only thing about the world that the Raevan knew was darkness and the soft hum of machinery around him since he could not open his eyes. At least he was in a comfortable bed now instead of the metal pod that he had been placed in shortly after his creation.
He remembered in pain the memory of being confined into the small enclosed coffin-like contraption that put him into stasis, and feeling his existence disappear little by little until it was barely a flicker. Cold...empty... That was the word and concept that came to mind when he remembered the chamber. He didn't yet know the true definitions for the words but they seemed to fit.
The memories that came next were confusing and chaotic, the face of a familiar but unknown woman appearing in his mind. His creator's face, the face of Doctor Kyou, flicked to his mind and the familiar lab he was born in, but there was something not right about the situation. He had been too weak to do anything however, and the world before him had blurred away. The last memory he had was that of the woman's arms encircling him and the rush of hot wind behind him as darkness took his consciousness away from him.
Dreams had followed that were equally as confusing, of a battlefield where that same woman was protecting him from some sort of danger, but he couldn't make much sense of them. Friend. The idea warmed him a little, and he felt that he could trust this woman somehow despite the fact that he didn't know her. His still-developing mind didn't protest as he made this connection between the image of the woman and the idea of comfort. However, this could be all a trick meant to lull him into false security.
Where is this? Again, the thought came in the form of the idea, not the words, but they had a noticeable impact on him. If he had been carried away by this woman, he definitely wasn't in the lab anymore. He struggled to move his body but gave up when it was obvious that it wasn't doing any good to waste his energy in this way. Despite the fact that he was a newborn, he instinctively began to rest to recover his energies, to use it for only the most basic of physical needs.
Breathing, while it was an option, didn't seem like it was necessary, but a kind of heart-beat coming from his rune definitely was, and he focused on the pulse of that magical energy. It proved he existed, and he needed to cling to that idea. If he could believe nothing else, and could feel nothing else, he could at least believe that he existed.
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For a few hours, he lay there, feeling the pulse of his rune get stronger little by little. There came a time when he felt he had enough energy to open his eyes. Slowly, the silver eyelids lifted to reveal the glimmering eyes beneath, the right one a very soul-filled purple and the left one an artificial silver-gray. The image was blurred at first, but as his eyes adjusted to the light, a new alien image appeared to him.
It wasn't as shocking to him as he might have expected, and instead to his still-forming mind, it was just another aspect of the world that he was so new to. Slowly, as his eyes adjusted, they began to take in and analyze the surroundings. The marble ceiling seemed to swirl with patterns of green and steel-gray. To his left was the entrance-way, a portal with ornate designs seemingly carved into the metal, but the designs were ever-changing, green runes flowing down the frames constantly.
A mirror was built into the wall on the far side of the room, but he had no ability to look into it very closely to see himself. He would have to raise himself up into a sitting position to do that, and at this angle the mirror simply reflected the wall behind him. Even so, this proved to be occupying enough as there were images in the mirror of people, including the face of the woman whose arms he had collapsed into when he was taken out of stasis. In his weakened and growing state, he didn't make the connection that the mirror was merely reflecting these images, but he knew they weren't the real people that were depicted at least.
Something else had caught his attention however by this time, and he only took a quick moment to ponder the mirror and figure out what it was. There was something else in the room however that made one of his senses other than sight and sound tingle, a presence if you will. And so he wasn't surprised when a voice spoke near him next.
"Ah you're awake." A soft and gentle woman's voice came from his right side and with what little energy he had, he moved his head to look in that direction. A soft hand brushed his face and another had rested its cool flesh against his upper arm, a welcome feeling after a lack of contact with anything or anyone living for over a year. "Lindin and I were getting worried that you wouldn't ever wake up, I'm so glad to see that you have the strength enough to open your eyes." The woman had a smile on her face and her eyes matched the smile, and while he had no idea what to call that expression, he instinctively felt better and moved his lips in a similar fashion.
However, while his emotional emptiness was gone for the time being, there was another feeling that he couldn't latch onto though, a feeling of physical emptiness. It resonated from his rune, buried deep in his chest, and it felt like the rune was calling out for energy or fuel to feed it. Despite his lack of energy, his hands had instinctively moved to clutch at where his abdomen should be. Time seemed to slow and each moment was an eternity, but his eyes caught something that he felt would ease the pain, and instinctively felt would solve the problem of this insane emptiness he felt.
Meanwhile, Alexi's eyes and mouth had begun to furrow in concern. Did the stasis damage something within him somehow? His hands HAD moved to his rune, but not to the base of it in his chest, but to where an abdomen might be if he had one. Perhaps, she thought, he was hungry? "Whats wrong? Do you need something? By the gods, I wish that Kyou had the time or chance to tell me what Kalec would need to eat when he woke up..."
Reaching his hands up weakly, he took hold of the silver and gold string-like things up in the air, not knowing what they were, and pulled them towards his mouth hungrily. Instantly he began feeling better and he began to eat more and more voraciously.
On the outside however, Alexi had no idea what Kalec was clawing at and shoving into his mouth. It seemed like he was trying to eat the air or something, and at first, she had tried to hold his arms down. But the instant when she moved herself over him, she had at once felt instantly ashen and deathly as if something was being ripped out of her. Collapsing back into the chair, she watched and gasped for air, her eyes bulging as her heart-rate raced. She had felt this before, when Justic had tried to rip her soul out of her and it brought back a lot of painful memories. But it gave her a clue as to what was happening.
The walls had begun to seemingly warp and crumble, the ceiling being affected most of all. A powdery substance had begun to form and started showering down on the two in the room. She suddenly knew what Kalec was doing, and she linked with the ship to send more power to stabilize the metallic organisms that held the room together. She looked down on her chest and saw that some of her flesh had become a sickening gray, which startled her. Quickly, she began to devote some of her energy into repairing the tissue damage, though she knew it would take a little while for her soul to recover. She stumbled out of the room quickly, careful to keep herself from moving over Kalec's feeding form, and clawed her way out of the room, collapsing just outside of it and closing the door.
"Hungry...food..." These two words emanated from Kalec between bites of invisible substance. Instinct had taken over. The energy was mainly silver now that Alexi was gone, and it wasn't as tasty but he didn't really mind - it was sustenance and he desperately needed it after a year without any kind of energy.
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It seemed like forever before his feeding began to slow, but eventually, his hands fell to his sides on the dust-covered bed and he began to breathe again. And despite the fact that his skin was a silver ashy color, it contained a life that wasn't present previously. Hearing the commotion and destruction inside the room stop, Alexi finally started trying to pry the solid stone-metal door apart. Not succeeding, she picked her buster sword off the wall in her room and swung its immense girth at the door, smashing it to pieces.
Kalec's pallor was much improved, the rune that held him together glowing with healthy energy. The room however, was a stark contrast to the healthy, powerful look that emanated from the newly-fed Raevan. The mirror had pretty much cracked during the feeding, and had fell to dust near the end. The ceiling no longer swirled with green patterns, and the door frame had only a slight glimmer of them. The bed itself and anything lower than the top of it seemed to be alright, but everything above seemed like it had been completely drained of energy. Alexi stood open-mouthed at the destruction, before coming to her senses and trying to figure out how to fix this.
She berated herself for not foreseeing this happening. In his former life, Kalec's power was already rather uncontrollable and took tremendous focus to contain. It took a conscious effort to turn away from the desire to suck in every available source of energy around him, including that of other people, to sustain his body. That in this new form, after over a year of starvation and a new mind that had no idea how to control, or that he SHOULD control this power, it was inevitable that this would have happened.
Kalec meanwhile, had not noticed the destruction of the room until after his feeding. During the feeding all he could think about was the delicious energy that was making him feel better, but now that it was over, the sight that came to him after the feeding lust shocked him despite his usually calm personality. His observant eyes quickly caught how damaged the ceiling was, and the lack of life in the entire room. He saw that the mirror across from him on the wall was gone, half of it in broken pieces and the rest just a matter of dust. Worst of all, the woman that was in the room was doubled over in pain, her hands clutched to her chest, where it was obvious that she had taken immense damage. Her complexion had changed from a lovely ivory to a pale gray color, as if life had been sucked out of her somehow. At least she seemed to be alive.
"Its..its okay Kalec, its alright. Its not your fault hon, you were just hungry, and I'm glad that you're feeling better." The angel tried to smile, and then a wrack of pain made her double over again. She again spoke between ragged gasps. "We'll just...get you better and teach you...teach you how to control your power and...and your feeding needs." Alexi braced herself on her sword, which she had shoved into the floor blade-first, and tried to catch her breath. She couldn't help gagging however, as a little oily blood-substitute came out of her mouth to drip onto the floor, mixing with the dusty residue. It wasn't damage she couldn't repair, but she would need time to heal.
Raising his hand to his face, Kalec looked at his palm in a mixture of remorse and wonder. What were those strings that he had pulled into his mouth? He couldn't see them anymore for now, and perhaps only his hunger had let him see enough to feed. He had caused harm to a woman that had only been trying to care for him, and destroyed the room that she had made for him - these ideas ran through his mind as feelings rather than words, and were all the more appalling to him. He made a silent resolve never to do this again, though he wondered if there was anything he really could do.
And throughout his thoughts, the ideas finally started to gain some words as the final question of identity surfaced from his wandering mind.
"What am I?"
A word came to mind at least in answer to one of his first questions, a name that this woman was repeating over and over near him. A word that the doctor that created him had named him...
Kalec. That is who I am. I just need to figure out -what- I am now... The word Raevan came to mind, but was that word another word for monster? Was he a monster? He frowned, and his hand instinctively went to the skull pendant around his neck. Even if he was a monster, he would try his best to become something else.
To be continued...
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