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 Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:14 pm
Gold Mountain was busier than Apathy would have thought, given the recent events-- If anything, the aforementioned Events seemed to have increased their business, as Gaians of all kinds streamed into the casino, attempting to forget their alien-zapping, cow-tipping, or human/cow-probing ways. Not a few of them also chose to take advantage of the half-price drinks-lists at the bars, apparently beliving that peace of mind came at the behest of copious quantities of alcohol, but Apatheic begged to disagree.
After all, the last time he'd gotten drunk, he'd wound up with possibly the most non-FDA-approved medication in any world out there, which had resulted in a semi-transparent little girl that apparently only he could see.
As she sat on one of the empty bartops, swinging her legs and giggling to herself as her hands passed through the precariously-balanced pyramid of filled champagne-glasses arranged on the bartop, Apathy found himself thankful that at least no-one else could see, hear, or otherwise interact with her. She seemed sweet, but didn't appear to have too great a grasp on what one should and should not do... His much-maligned car could attest to that, as it was still missing three of four lights until he could work enough extra shifts to pay for repairs.
Sighing, Apathetic straightened his Gold Mountain uniform - thank god, at least it wasn't a Domo-suit again - and got back to ferrying drinks across the floor.
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:26 pm
FD sat at one of the Cards tables, staring down at the dealer's cards, as if trying to see through them. "Hit." She said finally. The card came. A 9. Total of 22. The dealer smiled in that obnoxious way that they always do, and waited for her credits. She smiled right back, and pulled out a Spork, shoving it in her hand. "Keep the change." With that, FD stood and disappeared into the crowd, knowing that at any second the Throwing Spork would disappear to.
She passed through the wall of people, headed for the bars. Slightly ahead of her, at the edge of her vision, bobbed Skel. She glared at him -it?-, but still followed, and he lead her to one with a few empty seats.
FD threw a T-Spork at it quickly, and then veered off to the side just as it hit some random person in the head. As she closed in on the bar, she noticed a little girl sitting on it and stopped, staring. "Target practice....." She mumbled, fishing in her pocket for another Spork.
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Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 6:40 pm
Stigma, seated at the bartop, amused herself with passing hand through the carefully-compiled presentation; she liked the way bright lights overhead sparkled over the crystal glasses, and the pale white-gold color of the champagne. She might have liked to be able to pick them up, or even to taste the drinks within them, but she apparently wasn't someone who focused on the bad side of things-- Instead, she kept herself busy in this manner for some time, waiting for Apathy to finish his shift.
For some reason, he didn't like her wandering off, whether or not anyone could see her. Normally she didn't listen, but Stigma still felt a little bad about Apathetic's car; he couldn't just appear and disappear like she did, so he thought that she should be nice to him... At least for now.
Looking up from her occupation, she noticed a woman seeming to look at her, but... That was funny, most people couldn't see her. Not seeming threatened, if threat there was, she locked gazes with the strange lady and tilted her head inquisitively.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:12 am
The see-through child looked over at her just when FD got ahold of her Spork. She raised it up slowly, keeping their eyes locked, and then threw it, before darting off to the side and crouching behind a stool. She watched the girl from over it, and suddenly had a thought. Were kids allowed in Casino's?
As she was pondering this, Skel reappeared over by the bartop where the girl was sitting. He let his body float in a little circle until he was right-side-up, and then made little clacking noises with his beak, floating around her head. FD watched Skel and her for a moment, before turning to look who else was in the area.
She spotted one of the Gold Mountain employee's, this one carrying a platter of drinks around. She wondered if she could hit him from there. Within seconds, three Sporks were in the air, aimed towards him.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:58 am
It all happened very quickly, and even Stigma - used to things moving quickly around her - was a little surprised at the ensuing events; first the strange lady throws something at her, and she didn't bother dodging-- It'd just go through her, after all. Of course, Stigma being who and what she was, she hadn't bothered to consider what it was that she'd been sitting in front of, or the fact that whatever that white pointy thing was had been traveling at a considerable speed by the time it reached her; as such, she was completely taken off-guard when the tower of filled-to-the-brim champage glasses went crashing down with a sound that rose even above the casino's natural din.
Apathy, hard at work, stopped along with everyone else, but for a different reason. He'd heard shattering glass before, of course, but it was Stigma's shrill shriek that made him turn on his heel, instantly worried about what could have made the otherwise invulnerable-because-intangible girl react in such a manner. As he turned, there was a smaller set of crashes, barely anything compared to the momentous smashing of glass that had just occurred, and he saw a blur of white impact the glasses on the tray he carried, necessitating that he use the tray as an imprompty shield as glass shards exploded outward.
Reflexively throwing himself behind a slot-machine, he looked around for the mystery assailant as everyone began to fill the stunned silence with a murmur; as the staff slowly began to clean up the mess, he wondered why in the hell three plastic sporks were embedded in the ground near where he'd been standing. He didn't wonder long, though, because Stigma appeared by his side, semi-transparent eyes filling with semi-transparent tears, crying "A-pa-pa, it was that weird lady over there! She broke the glasses and scared me!" At a loss, Apathetic followed her pointed finger to a woman crouched behind a stool, who - it had to be said - DID look kind of suspicious. First things first, though-- "It's okay, Stigma," he murmured reassuringly, watching the woman suspiciously as he kept his voice low and soothing, as well as quiet enough to not be too noticable. "Nothing can hurt you, remember? It was just a loud noise..."
"REALLY loud," she insisted, wiping away the gathering phantom tears.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 2:26 pm
The Spork. Went through her.
That was the first thought to enter FD's mind. She watched, dumbfounded as her Spork sailed through the kid, and then knocked into the tower of glass. The resulting explosion, along with the one immidiatly after it, were quite pleasing to watch. "Pretty nice, eh Skel?" She mumbled, turning her head slightly to look at him.
When FD turned back to look at where the girl was, she noticed that all of the broken glass and liquid had passed through her. And then, she disappeared, turning up again by the employee. FD tried to jump up, and hit her head on the underside of the barcounter, making a quite thump noise. After threatening the counter with her Sporks, she stumbled out and jumped up, staring at the girl and employee.
She narrowed her eyes and pulled a few more Sporks out of her pocket. "Now we'll see if you're really invinsible!" FD shrieked, swiftly throwing the utensils. She turned away before they hit to look at Skel.
"No one can dodge that." She said to the floating octopi, before turning back. When the Sporks went right through the girl, she clenched her jaw, annoyed. She was glad they didn't go through the guy too. "What kind of thing are you?!" FD raved, pointing at her.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 4:40 pm
"Jesus Christ Almighty!" burst out Apathy, who had once been a reluctant tag-along to a number of revival-meetings in a surrealistic re-enactment of the Old West. "What the hell is wrong with you, lady?!" He was thankful that he hadn't dropped his tray, as it had been the only thing keeping him from being preforated with sporks; it was kind of unbelievable, how plastic utensils could actually embed themselves in the polished-wood tray, but it wasn't something that he was particularly concerned with at the moment. Honestly, he was more fixed on the woman who'd been throwing them at him, and at Stigma.
Who, of course, was unharmed, the sporks having gone straight through her, fixing into the carpet or rebounding off the slot-machines. That didn't mean she was unaffected, although she had stopped tearing up; now she just looked upset, blinking into a standing position and setting her small hands petulantly on her hips.
"I'm-- Not-- A-- Thing," she said, quite clearly, as though making sure that the woman could keep up. "I'm-- Just-- What-- That-- Is." And she pointed at the floating thing that accompanied the stranger, which had been bobbing in place; Apathetic realized that Stigma was right, and that the weird blowfish-thing was something like Stigma's earlier form... Weird, weirdly-colored, and transparent. Then he realized that this woman was an obvious lunatic, and hit the 'Security' button that was on the underside of every slot-machine.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:45 pm
"The same as Skel is......?" FD thought about this, looking back and forth from him to the girl, before the thought seemed to click. "So you're an octopi?! Sporky doesn't like octopi." She said the last sentance quietly, glaring at her. "Sporking wants all octopi elimina--What are you doing?!" She yelled, glaring at the guy as he reached under the slot-machine. "Sporky classifies you as a threat!"
With that, FD dove back down behind the stool and pulled out a few Sporks, just in case. As she crouched, waiting, Skel bobbed gently around the Slots, blissfully unaware of everything else going on.
Very soon, a few people that appeared to work for Security began to appear. Crouching lower, FD readied herself to throw at them, shoud Sporky deem any a threat. When the first actually broke through the crowd that was still there, and she read the badge worn, FD need not be told that Sporky did not like him. Four Sporks were soon aimed at him, three of them hitting their target. The Security worker didn't seem pleased to have a plastic utensil embedded in his arm.
"Score!" She mumbled, before looking around again, for any others. There were none that she could see right there, but probably more coming. Or so Sporky said. The only others the recognized were the drink-guy and opaque-girl, still standing there. She wondered if it would be wise to try throwing at them. Again.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:17 pm
Okay. So this woman was obviously a lunatic, and she was armed-- Strangely and bizarrely, with sporks, but it seemed to be a dangerous-enough weapon in her hands. Carl the Security Guy was down, and probably wouldn't be hitting the craps table any time soon, unless he learned to throw with his other hand. Surely the security force would be able to settle this, right?
... On the other hand, the most they'd had to deal with for a while were a few rowdy drunks and some poor folks who'd literally lost the clothes off their backs, so maybe Apathetic would be better off taking action on his own. However, he didn't think that being caught up in such a distracting brawl would be good for his long-term employment at Gold Mountain...
"I'm not an octo--" began Stigma indignantly, before Apathetic leapt to his feet and ducked around the machine for cover.
"Stigma, now isn't the time to argue!" he admonished, scanning the aisles of slot-machines to ensure a clear path. "We're leaving! Now!"
"But--"
"NOW, Stigma!" he hissed, careful to keep his voice down; Stigma pouted, but when the curious crowd - intermixed with more security officers - began to close in, and Apathy slipped past them and melted into the 'audience,' Stigma turned on her heel and flounced off after him, vanishing into thin air for the very few who could see her.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 8:41 pm
As her targets began to slip away, and the crowd filled with security officers began to close in, FD felt a pang of panic. She backed up more underneath the counter, and looked for a way out. Seeing none, she decided to consult in her Sporks. After a few seconds of mumbling odd and bizarre things to them, she nodded, and stepped out.
The crowd took a few uncertain steps back, just as FD began running, throwing Sporks at any in her way until a path formed. A Security officer grabbed her by the shirt once, but a sharp stab from the Spork dislodged him, and soon she was in a totally different part of the Casino. She was following the girl and drink-guy, but staying a pretty good distance behind, just close enough to see them.
Vaguely, off in the distance, FD was pretty sure that she heard someone warning people about a person that was dangerous and armed. Huh. Maybe she'd came to the wrong Casino? As the crowd thickened, she sped up to keep sight of the two, almost running now. As she ran, Skel floated ahead of her, right behind them, and began making clicking noises, that sounded somewhat like giggling.
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Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 11:09 pm
Apathetic was, fortunately, in pretty good shape; this was more-or-less necessary, aside from his active lifestyle, in that Gold Mountain made it pretty clear that their employees needed to fit into the standard-issue uniforms. He hadn't thought that he'd need it tonight, and he was hoping he wouldn't have to run much longer-- The shoes might look sharp, but they were bad enough to stand in and damn painful to run in. As he slid between two silver rolling carts, each of which were laden with finger-foods on matching platters, he managed a hurried "Sorry guys!" as the waiters pushing the carts complained. Moving down the hall, he glanced sideways to Stigma, who was floating alongside him; her hair and clothes were moving as though rustled by wind, but she didn't seem to be out of breath.
"Why are we running away?" she asked. "I bet you could beat her up, A-pa-pa."
"I don't want to 'beat her up,' Stigma, and you can't just go around doing whatever--"
"She is."
"Because she's obviously insane."
"'Insane'?"
Apathetic shook his head, which was an unwise decision as he ran, and he nearly hit a wall before straightening out his flight-path and saying, "Never mind. Is she still there?"
Looking over her shoulder, Stigma said, "Yup. Still chasing us! And that little blowfish thingy, too."
"Great. What does she want with us?!" The question was rhetorical, and as Apathetic burst out of the casino, he took a sharp left and vanished down an alleyway.
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 6:21 am
A few seconds later FD emerged from the Casino, panting slightly. She looked from side to side, up and down the street, wondering where they'd gone. She peered down a few alley's on the street, but caught no sight of them. With a slightly annoyed sigh, she started to head back to her hotel.
"Wonder why they ran away? We were becoming such great friends!................. I didn't even get to introduce them to Sporky....." She mumbled to Skel as he floated along behind her. Shrugging, she turned the corner and kept walking, trying to puzzle out what had scared them away.
"Oh well. I'll just have to come back tomorrow."
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Posted: Sat Nov 04, 2006 2:06 pm
Several floors above the alley, a very still form remained motionless until the woman and her little floating friend left the area, moving away and down the street. Apathetic took a deep breath and straightened up on the fire-escape, stretching carefully and exhaling a deep sigh of relief; running a hand through his hair, he glanced over at the red-brick wall and said, "Well, there are you are. Someone else who can see you." Stigma, floating through the wall, with a faint pout on her face, shook her hair over her shoulder.
"I didn't like it." A pause, and then a brighter "But the little thing was funny!" thus proving that even something like this couldn't keep her down for too long.
Apathy, however, was a little confused, to say the least; whoever she was, that woman had been... well, scary. After all, who in their right mind uses sporks as a deadly weapon?
But Stigma, apparently having gotten over it, was now waving her hand through his arm, asking to go home and watch TV some more; vaguely concerned about Stigma turning into some kind of transparent couch-potato, Apathy almost managed to forget the befuddling event that had just taken place.
Almost.
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