|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:23 pm
For being an avatar of the Sun God, Ciro never seemed to spend any time absorbing the sun's rays. Even now, he was skulking away from the light as if it hurt him; no need to expose himself to ignorant masses-- They'd find him when he decided the time was right.
So, as per usual, he was in downers. It had become a turf of sorts; he never encountered another godling down there. Shamash, of course, constantly and consistently pestered him. To be a better godling, to do something regarding the new kids, to train his body... But honestly, why bother? Ciro would wait, the kids would soon run, or at best, pick each other off.
And, to be frank, he had gotten used to the terrain. His 'abode' consisted of a run down brick apartment building which had, ironically, been gutted by fire. This made for a rather dirty but safe studio apartment for the man, despite being far larger than any normal person would need. A corner of the room had been mostly cleared of debris, forming a small haven amid all the burnt chaos. In the cramped clearing, an old, rusting hospital bed lay, complete with a slightly torn mattress. To the other side of the room was a mountain of empty alcohol bottles, with more scattered throughout the building. Ciro liked his home. Not a soul entered, and if one did, the scorch marks on the walls and debris appeared to be leftover from the fires. No one would suspect that a man controlled by a god would be living there.
No one visited, and that suited him just fine.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:30 pm
Ciro, Fish had deduced, had places he liked to sulk. He had places he liked to booze and he had places he liked to pick fights. Most of these places were in Downers, but it wasn't too hard to track the young man down. You just followed the trail of scorched debris and your sixth sense. Most prophets had it - the ability to tell when another player was near.
Something big was going down. Writ had advanced to become something Fish hadn't ever fathomed. It was a new twist in the game, and Ciro, being his ally, had every right to know about it.
He found the gutted building and picked his way past molding glass to look for his friend. He was around here, somewhere. "Ciro?" he called. "Ciro?" He didn't see him. It looked like Ciro had spent the last few weeks drinking himself into oblivion, and smelled like it, too. <********," swore Fish. A rat ran past his foot. "Ciro, where the hell are you? It's Fish. Something big's going on. No joke this time."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 7:50 pm
He groaned, kicking aside a large pole that clearly supported a ceiling in the building's prime. <********--" He spat out, cig drooping from his mouth as he dragged his feet towards the man. "It's always something, isn't it?!"
"What now? Water's out this time?"
He was irritated; not particularly because of Fish-- more accurately from the headache that had been silent in the back of his head for the past week or so. There was clearly nothing he wanted less than to have to get up off his a** and run around trying to stop so-and-so from doing something. He had run out of bravado months ago. His life had been in waves. He'd get excited... And then he'd try to do something. Go to the surface of the city, maybe try to pick off a kid or two, maybe try to go find that shop, maybe find the girl... But every time he never seemed to accomplish his goal... Every time he just slinked back to the gutter. Waves; he'd find himself feeling bright and ready to go... Only to be dragged back into despair and lethargy. Now, now was the time for self-loathing. The time for non-action, and hatred to the core. Now was the time for him to drink until he wasn't even sure he was alive anymore.
And here Fish was trying to mess with the cycle; it wasn't time for that. He wasn't ready to try again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:07 pm
Fish rolled his eyes - not that Ciro could see him do it, and said, "Remember, like, a year and a half ago when everyone had those crazy growth spurts?"
Ciro had to remember. He'd only clawed out his own eyes around that time.
"Well, I think it's happening again," said Fish. "Or about to, anyway. I ran into Writ earlier, and he's got to be about twenty-one now. I didn't get the full details out of him, but it's because of his god and the way he was talking he's been like that for a while now."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 8:17 pm
His mind was intrigued when Fish mentioned growth spurts; there was nothing more interesting than a powerup...
But his body froze when Writ was mentioned. Muscles tightened, rippling under his skin, as his fists clenched instinctively.
"s**t..."
He was behind. Again. Why the ******** hadn't Shamash pulled something like that? Where was his power up?
While Ciro had given up on actual hunting... He always imagined that if it came down to it... He'd be able to fight Writ evenly, if not completely decimate him. But... Ciro knew that growth spurts did to the kids when they were young... if they still held that much of a boost... There was no way that Ciro could compete. One way or another... He'd need to even the board.
"Is that all that you know?" He was like a wild beast; ready to lash out at the slightest thing. if Ciro was in a bad mood before, he was completely livid now. The idea of being behind that one man... it tore at him like nothing else. He could handle not reaching his potential, that was all find and dandy.... But to lose to a pathetic man like that?
He wouldn't let it happen.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:22 pm
"That's pretty much it," nodded Fish. He figured he and Ciro were having similar thoughts right now. While he certainly didn't hate Writ as much as Ciro did - he remembered being friends with him when they were kids - if Writ had a serious advantage over them it was bad news.
"Look, I think we're the first ones who can put two and two together and know what this means," he said, "But Writ's pretty hard to miss. If we don't jump on this, other gods are going to catch on."
"This is going to sound crazy," he continued, "But I think Writ wanted us to know what happened to him before anyone else. Oh, and he told me to say 'hi' to you for him. Do you know what that's about?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:41 pm
He growled, spitting his cigarette to an early grave. Writ clearly had balls, that much was true.
"Probably a challenge, if I had to guess."
Ciro was glad that this news came secondhand-- hearing something so appalling from the source probably would have caused him to attack, no matter what advantage Writ might have. But... Why would that b*****d even try to give them a heads up? Why not just pick them off before they caught on? Ciro's mind reeled as he tried to think of any reason for this kindness.
Unless he wanted a good fight. That was the only solution.
But what were they supposed to do? Information was useless unless they knew how to use it... And unless this fact was enough to send Shamash into a paranoid burst and give Ciro some help... It seemed like it was simply a way for the mutt to brag. And Ciro was fairly sure that Writ wasn't that stupid.
His mind went back to the original idea; he wanted them to grow. He wanted Ciro to become more powerful.
A challenge. And Ciro was more than happy to accept it. The only issue was the willingness of the god's to comply.
"Exactly what did he say? Tell me everything."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 3:38 am
Fish wracked his mind, trying to remember. "He said Coyote tried to kill him," he recalled, "And that something happened before that happened and he grew instead. That was the short version."
"The long version involved a bear, a loincloth, and a night in the desert, which sounds horrifically kinky, only he wouldn't elaborate."
"Talking to him was weird," shrugged Fish. "I think he's a bit... off. He's been eating out of dumpsters around the Scene for a while, and whatever Coyote did to him didn't help. But I couldn't escape the feeling that he was more god than human at this point."
He toed at a pile of what he hoped was chicken bones and watched Ciro, waiting for a response.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 1:42 pm
He now leaned against the pole he had assaulted earlier. He didn’t really care about the details after all… There was just one point that set him on edge.
Was it possible to the godlings to truly transcend mortality? If that was true… Then Writ could be far more dangerous than he had originally thought. He wanted that power. To be a god… It was every man’s dream.
“Rather than trying to find his intentions at this point… We ought to be more concerned about how to close the gap in power.”
His fingers were feeling the remaining pack of cigarettes; though he was sure he didn’t need him. Fish’s words were exactly what he needed to break his cycle of depression. With just one sentence, Ciro was able to snap out of it; he had a goal again.
“So how are we supposed to get what he has? That’s the real question.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:33 pm
Fish paced for a bit, turning Ciro's question over in his head, tumbling it together with Writ's words.
"He said Coyote tried to kill him," he repeated, which was probably a bad idea because it might give Poseidon and Shamash less-than-pleasant thoughts on what to do to their prophets. "He wasn't much more specific than that," he continued with a sigh.
"Maybe it's a trial of some sort?" he asked. It figured that there was a piece missing somewhere. Writ had told him enough to whet his appetite but not enough to cook the meal.
"He definitely didn't give me enough information on purpose," he concluded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:32 pm
Ciro had been put through the experience of death many times at the mercy of his god. Though each time he somehow ended up unharmed; Ciro knew that Shamash had too much invested in his body and mind to go destroying his godling.
Every time Shamash tried something; every time Ciro was punished… He always knew that he would survive it because of Shamash’s nature. Shamash would never throw away something that he had waited years and years for; shaping since before birth.
But apparently that b*****d’s god was different. Probably trying to cut his losses after a bad dealing of cards. Ciro knew that if he had a godling like Writ… Well, he would have killed him long ago.
“Stupid b*****d, leading us on a leash like this…”
And then a sudden thought hit him;
“Have you even asked your god about this…? Knowing that there’s a rival so much more powerful…. They ought to be just waiting to give us the same treatment…”
Shamash was there. He was always there, and while he had ceased talking to his Godling out of sheer contempt, he still took in whatever Ciro took in.
In the back of his mind, Ciro knew that Shamash was just waiting for him; he wouldn’t act unless Ciro had prostrated before him. There was no way that Ciro was going to get a reward for laying around lazily. Before he would get what he wanted… He would need to suffer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:33 pm
"I haven't had a chance to yet," said Fish. "I came here right after Writ left. But I know that he saw Writ, and I think he heard most of the story."
Even now, he could hear Poseidon bubbling busily at the back of his mind. He knew better than to bother him when he was like that - it only made him cross.
"I think he's working on the problem," nodded Fish. "He'll probably tell your god once he figures it out. They're old friends."
"I think," he added. He tried to listen to Poseidon some more, but the god was elsewhere. The only thing to indicate his presence was a constant drip-drip-drip. A leaky faucet of divine presence.
Poseidon had always been rather fatherly to him. Fish had never been punished, only pushed and encouraged. But to complete what Writ had said, it seemed like his god would have to torture him. He had no basis for what to expect, but he knew that everything was about to change.
"Nothing's ever going to be the same after this," he observed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2009 10:54 pm
“Nothing has ever been the same for us since the day we were picked.” Ciro observed; that was just playing the game. Being tormented by a God was just a part of every day life. He had never imagined that it may differ for the other players.
“As far as their end goes… They might as well do what they did last time with us. It can’t be that hard.”
The God's were just stupid. However they had forced growth last time had to be possible again. Just zap ‘em and get them into the fight… He knew that Shamash would pull though… Assuming that Ciro was able to hold up to his end of whatever twisted bargain that the God had in mind.
“We’re probably just being paranoid. No one tried to kill me before last time…”
He pulled out a fresh cigarette, irritated with himself for getting so worked up over what seemed to be nothing.
“Hell, it’s probably a coincidence--- or he’s lying to you.” The cigarette lit, and entered his mouth as natural as breathing for the godling.
“So we’ll wait. There’s nothing we can really do at this point… And they won‘t kill us.”
“We’re much too valuable of assets to them. Without us… They lose.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 3:31 pm
Fish nodded thoughtfully. What Ciro said had some pretty good merits - Poseidon and Shamash had too much invested in this game to kill their players in a ploy for power. It would take too long to find another prophet, and by then whatever lead they had accumulated would be lost.
He watched Ciro smoke for a while, remembering the adverse health effects that had been drilled into him when he was still in school. But to mention those would be the pot calling the kettle black after all the weed he'd smoked.
"Writ seemed a lot older," he shrugged. "Even if they don't try to kill us, there'll be a trial of some sort, I bet."
This was like a student asking a teacher if they were going to collect the homework - they might not have been planning to, but now they sure as hell were.
"Do you ever wonder what your life would be like without all this divine inspiration stuff?" he asked.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2009 4:14 pm
Ciro blew a wisp of smoke to the sky. He didn’t want to admit that for the first thirteen years of his life… All he seemed to think about was how his life could have been had he not been ‘blessed’ with his mutations. But the man had long since realized that no matter what, he was stuck in his life.
“I know how it’d be. I’d be some normal son of a b***h just like everyone else. Working some stupid nine-to-five job and acting just like the rest of those retards.”
His finger flicked the cigarette, letting the ashes slowly fall to the rubble below.
“I can’t say I like how things are… But I care sure as hell say that I wouldn’t want to live in that world.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
