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 Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:13 pm
He visited this place innumerable times, yet every moment captured his attention. Captured his awe.
The Rift was a beautiful place. Beautiful in its ever-decadent nature.
And even its inhabitants bore some semblance of that beauty, shared even a scrap of his awe, due to their imaginative and wondrous forms. Due to their intelligence. Due to their unyielding cunning.
Or maybe he just reveled in their absence of humanity.
Bischofite passed through the hall of shadows, pained footsteps echoing the hungered whispers of the damned trapped within its walls. Their scathing gaze mapped out every inch of him, memorized all of him from the folds of his clothes to the contours in his face. This was standard, this was natural, this was necessary. And in turn, he owed them the respect they deserved - the respect of fearlessness.
The respect of entrusting himself to their baser judgments. And when they finished ascertaining his worth, he would receive his passage. He would bear witness to the looming, ancient citadel of the Rift, the heart of their operations. The gem of the Negaverse.
The day had been long coming when he could enter this realm alone. Now that he gained that ability, he found it ironically disadvantageous. Now he sought his boons blind, using only echolocation afforded by the restlessness of the hungry reflecting the reach of meager scraps of food. This will have to do - he had no time to turn back, no time to alert his general that he needed his help to locate one particular youma. A special youma.
So he walked the path of the predators.
So he walked the path dressed in bloody sheepskins.
So he walked through ceaseless pain.
"Bazzite?"
His voice returned to him fruitlessly. Only the encroaching rumbles of famine spurred him on. His search must find success, or he would not return from that place. It's a fate destined for many, and many still would succumb to it. He, however, would not.
Each crystal passed. Each sweeping, jagged mountain checked. Each vast, featureless plane crossed. And still, he hadn't begun to breach the limitless expanses of the Rift. "Bazzite!" He called again, knowing each sound drew the others ever closer. He was running out of time, and his chosen accomplice hadn't shown.
He faced an ominous night.
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Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 5:38 pm
A heavy, throaty sigh reached the Captain's ears as that particular youma sprawled out languidly atop a pulsing purple crystal like a lion surveying his kingdom. Propping his head up on one bent arm, Bazzite blinked oddly at Bischofite. Wings buzzed quietly behind him. "You don't have to yell." said he, no anger present in his alien voice. It was unusual for someone other than Benitoite to seek him out though the youma never minded company, no matter who it came from. "What can I do for you, Captain? Are you out sight-seeing? Or are you reporting in?" It would have been an odd mission for the Captain to seek out a youma that wasn't his own, but then again, stranger things have happened. Slipping off the crystal to land silently on the ground, Bazzite approached the Captain and awaited his answer. The roiling youma around them dispersed - if the Captain was to be a meal, he would not be their meal.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 10:34 am
Bischofite looked toward the youma's voice with a dismayed sigh. "Neizer," he returned. Though I don't have to answer to you. "I spoke wis' your ... owner earlier. He's very attached to you, you know." With a strained sigh, he leaned against the side of the crystal where Bazzite perched earlier. Taking the pressure off his leg provided some measure of relief. "But sankfully he understood my discretion. He knew I had somesing important planned, somesing I needed help wis' but not his help. So I came to you."
The black-haired captain wasted little time procuring a starseed, aglitter with warmth and light in his palm. "I need somesing from you, Bazzite. A favor. And I sink you will quite like it, too. However..." He closed his fingers around the crystal. "If you refuse, you'll get nossing from me." Surely the youma understood the basics of bartering. He was human at some point, and though he acted skewed and sometimes even dumb, there was a brain rolling around in there somewhere. He was sure of it.
He stood as a hollow reminder of humanity. Etched with time and pain and detritus. Would this fate befall all officers? Was it simply a matter of time?
He didn't know, but the thought felt exciting.
Bischofite broached the subject in tides, offering scraps at a time, all the while gesturing in a manner to retain his audience's interest. "It involves visiting ze city again. You liked ze city, didn't you? Wouldn't you like to spend a little time around people for a change? You don't even haf' to avoid eating zem." He grinned. Surely the youma would accept his proposal.
Oh, howo fun it would be, to see the looks on their faces. The absolute horror of the choices they made.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 11:11 am
Bazzite was listening intently, pondering what a Captain might want from him. His mind started to create several scenarios where a Captain would only need his help and not the help of a superior officer. The youma had concocted a few ideas and was about to ask about them until the starseed came into play. Waving it around nonchalantly, Bischofite gained the youma's absolute attention at that point. Blue eyes and head followed the starseed's every move from then on. "I would love to visit the city again..." came an absent reply, Bazzite's focus still captured by the twinkling soul in the Captain's hand. He could visit Destiny City and... not avoid filling his belly? Was this too good to be true? Blinking, Bazzite cleared his throat and finally looked at the officer giving him this opportunity. "Actually... let's discuss this in private, Bischofite. Would you mind stepping into my office?" Placing a large hand on the Captain's shoulder, Bazzite smiled and turned away, walking slowly into the darkness.
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Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2013 11:38 pm
"Your office...?" Bischofite glanced about the desolate landscape. Wastelands stretched for miles from their location. The captain laughed, perhaps a little too hard, at the youma's suggestion. "Zis entire place is your 'office', Bazzite. Don't you realize? You haf' a world belonging to you and your kind. Or are you telling me zat youma haf' carved out zeir own little sections of ze Rift? Are zey every bit as obsessed wis' territory as humans are?"
Or perhaps it's one of those smoldering human principles still ingrained in the blue monstrosity. Maybe one day he'd have the privilege of burning out the last of those atrocious habits.
Despite his good spirits, he still had to actually follow the youma to its chosen location. Without any means of discerning the distance, he had the sneaking suspicion he was in for a long walk, and without any outside help, it proved a painful endeavor at best. Each step tugged against the stitches, and the unconscionably rocky topography of the Rift did nothing to accommodate him. Still, he wouldn't solicit the youma for assistance.
If necessary, he would suffer silently.
Then again, expending a starseed for a lift didn't sound like such a bad idea.
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Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:55 am
Bazzite chuckled in response to the Captain's laughter and left it at that. The unusual pair walked maybe forty-five feet in the desolate wasteland (probably a blessing for an injured officer) before the youma abruptly turned about to face Bischofite. The two of them stood before a very small hole in an immense outcropping of purple crystal. The tunnel's opening may have accommodated Bazzite himself snugly, but would it be large enough to have a passenger as well? Upon closer inspection, the tunnel appeared to be perpendicular to the group, requiring the pair to climb upwards rather than sideways. "Have you hugged a youma today, Captain?" Without waiting for an answer, the youma used one grab hand to press the Captain to him and started the climb. The tunnel was snug and incredibly slick as if worn down by time or some kind of water. Bazzite's claws proved incredibly useful as he was able to grip the gentle curves with his hands and feet to easily move them up through the tunnel. There was no light, hardly any sound aside from Bischofite's breathing and the occasional buzzing of the youma's wings. A claustrophobic's worst nightmare. It was over soon enough as a small bluish glow began to penetrate the tunnel, Bazzite grunting once before pulling them out of the tunnel completely. It was not unlike a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, metamorphosing into a blue locust monstrosity. With a sigh and still gripping onto the Captain, Bazzite walked a few steps before depositing the raven haired man onto a dilapidated brown leather office chair which sported a huge gash through the back. The chair squeaked in protest to the added weight. Bazzite's office turned out to be a large cave system, spherical in appearance with several rudimentary shelves carved with clawlike marks or those of some kind of metal tool. One one side of the cave was a pile of blankets, old shirts and fabrics, likely Bazzite's sleeping area. The shelves twinkled with all manner of assorted oddities ranging from snowglobes to plush toys, old military pieces and hunks of computers. The youma turned to the officer and chuckled. "Look at this stuff. Isn't it neat?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 10:36 am
The short walk spooled out to a journey in the captain's mind, as he tackled the Rift's terrain with a significant amount of pain. However, when they came to a stop near a jutting cliff housing an unconscionably large crystal, his shoulders sank with a sigh. Surely the youma didn't expect him to climb that great a distance, did he? And considering he'd never been atop the cliff, he had no way to teleport that far.
However, his questions were answered when the youma clutched him tightly, and started toward a hole in the crystal's exterior. "I wouldn't call zis a hug," he muttered in response, though he wrapped an arm around the monster's neck regardless.
The absence of light hit him immediately. No matter how hard he strained his eyes, he gleaned nothing - not even a ghost of an image. Not even flecks of reflection. The second thing that caught his attention was the smell. It almost smelled wet, and earthy, as if they climbed surrounded by standing water. A musty scent mixed in as they climbed (or rather, Bazzite climbed), and coupled with the youma's natural odor it came close to a hot springs mixed with freshly cut rock. That slowly evolving smell was his only indication that they approached their destination, or anywhere for that matter.
Finally a dull blue light emanated from the top, and upon cresting the edge of the tunnel, Bischofite was released from the youma's hold. The chair proved somewhat uncomfortable, but he preferred it over standing. As he sat back against the woefully overused office chair and examined the youma's office, only one word came to mind: kleptomaniac. What other use would a monster have for hoarding all this senseless s**t? Either Bazzite clung desperately to the life he once had with Benitoite, or he simply couldn't keep his claws off of anything in the real world.
"Yes, it's very neat," he responded in a dull tone. Currently he focused his attention on an obviously broken hard drive, sitting on a three-legged table. The top bore a heavy dent, as if someone ran it over with a car. Was that dent precipitated by Bazzite's grip, or a different untimely end? "Actually..." He set the hard drive down and curled his fingers into a fist, resting his chin atop it. "You haf' quite a lot of stuff, but far more space. So why don't I just... Bring you sings from ze real world, eh? You can haf' objects wis' stories behind zem. Maybe little items of interest for future visitors." However, he highly doubted the youma received many guests.
Still - Bischofite appreciated a proper reason to steal away pieces of people's lives.
"But I digress. Since you're interested in my little plan, I sink you deserve to hear ze details. So, wis'out any distraction, I'll lay zem out for you." As he explained the intricacies of his plans, he demonstrated a rudimentary layout with his gestures. "For ze purpose of my scheme, we will need you disguised as a human. Now, you'll be standing on ze opposite side of a rooftop from a handful of real civilians, and all of you will be wearing nooses. I'll gif' zem a choice, zat zey could saf'e ze one good civilian or ze group of miscreants, and if zey try to eizer saf'e you regardless or just choose you, zen you'll haf' yourself a feast. And if zey attack... well, feel free to devour everyone."
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Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:09 pm
"Aww, so you haven't watch a whole lot of Disney, have you?" came a dejected sigh complete with drooping ears for emphasis. Bazzite was partially hoping to continue the song even if it was begrudgingly, but no such luck. The youma was almost self-conscious about the fact that he had more space than he possessed things to fill it with. Being that his commanding officer only took him out for walkies every so often, Bazzite couldn't bring home as much as he hoped to. Not that it was Benitoite's fault, mind you. "Yes, well... Short leash and all that..." Ears perked at the offer of trinkets, and without any strings attached? Odd but the youma didn't pay it much mind. "I'd love for you to bring me more things. They keep me preoccupied. We don't get internet down here but boy, if we did... I imagine the Rift would be a lot quieter." A strange thought. Then came the proposition. For ze purpose of my scheme, we will need you disguised as a human... Bazzite smiled widely and, while half-listening to Bischofite's proposal, only really heard the important parts: civilians and feasting. By then Bazzite decided to audition, so to speak, for the Captain in question. The youma's spine crunched, bones cracked and twisted, wings twitched and compressed in on themselves like a Satanic suitcase of limbs and delicate flesh. The locust monstrosity, once a towering six-and-a-half feet, started to disgustingly shrink. Blue flesh gained pink, slowly metamorphosing into something akin to Caucasian. Ears retracted, claws were replaced by human fingers, towering arched feet became small and flat. Bazzite cleared his throat, smiling at the now-taller Captain. "Heeeeeere's Johnny!"
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Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2013 7:19 pm
Bischofite watched the spectacle with avid interest - never before had he witnessed such a transformation, a perversion of the monster's natural self, and he took great interest in mentally chronicling every detail. Though it only spanned a few moments, the transition from youma to human was rendered wholly complete. No longer was he assailed by a towering blue demon, but a boy shorter than himself. In fact, the only reminder of his natural shape was a tousled mess of pale blue hair. Though he appreciated the youma's new, far shorter height, Bischofite actually found the beast's new visage to his distaste. However, it would suffice.
"Zat is..." The captain trailed off, searching for words. None of his English vocabulary accommodated the sight he bore witness to. "I sink we'll call you Samsa for now." He grinned, satisfied with his new nickname for the 'boy'. "I can't assure you an entrance like in Ze Shining, wis' a knife in hand, but you will find ze situation to your liking. To all ze senshi involved, you will be a poor civilian at ze mercy of a horrible Negaverse officer. And you will be ze only civilian wors' saving. Somehow. I'll come up wis' somesing on zat, but... Zey will surely try to saf'e you. And when zat happens..." Bischofite gestured a pop by splaying his fingers outward. "Zey'll find out what zey really chose: a horrible fate.
"If you excel in zis assignment, you can haf' as many trinkets as I find an interest in stealing. Who knows, maybe zose trinkets come wis' some interesting stories. From your interest in Disney and Stephen King, I assume you like stories." Bischofite steepled his fingers and rested his chin atop his thumbs, eyeing the youma-turned-human curiously.
As he watched the boy, steeped in his own introspections, he wondered just how many comparisons lie between his unconscionable fate and that of Gregor Samsa's. Bazzite, too, had a normal life, full of typical teenage activities, though he was relatively appreciated for them. Samsa, however, was not. He couldn't say if Bazzite was happy with his life, and he knew Samsa was not. Bazzite's transformation had a reason, unlike the sudden grotesque appearance of Kafka's character. As for their ability to adapt to such bizarre, monstrous lives... He wagered Bazzite and Samsa were on par with one another. Surely the youma would not succumb to the horrible fate that befell Kafka's character?
Perhaps only if he was treated like a monster. Still, he was desperate to know exactly how monsters thought.
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Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 8:29 pm
Bazzite, or rather Johnathan as he was in this form, cast an awkward sideways glance at Bischofite. It was as though the Captain had utterly lost his marbles, calling the now-shorter boy Samsung or something of the sort. The confusion played very clearly on Johnny's face and one snow blue eyebrow nearly disappeared into his hairline. "Samsung? I'm not a phone..." came the reply amid Bischofite's ramblings about his grand master plan. Clearly the boy never knew anything more than the simplest of things and any references to history, culture and the like would blow right over his head. "Anyway, if you wanna refer to me as anything during the mission, call me Johnny. That is," He then stopped himself, frowning. "Never mind, was my name. Johnathan Miller. Nice ta meetcha." A hand was thrust in the Captain's general direction, an eerie smile playing across the boy's features. "And don't worry - I was listening. I'll play the part of widdle defenseless civilian and when somebody gets too close..." Johnny's jaw suddenly tore back to his ears and he hissed, breaking his human visage for just a moment. "Dinner time!" Trinkets would simply be the cherry atop a full belly as far as Bazzite was concerned.
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Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2013 9:26 pm
"I don't suppose youma read, eizer..." He mumbled, mostly to himself. Still, he didn't enlist the curious creature's assistance for a book club. They had more important matters to discuss.
Bischofite grinned crookedly at the contortion of the boy's face; a useful trick indeed. Perhaps that could cause the senshi to blanch, and that reaction might prove fatal for the lot. "I don't sink I will refer to you wis' a name, as you are supposed to be a stranger to me." Idly he laced his fingers together and arched them backward, popping most of the joints. "However... Nossing is stopping you from introducing yourself to zem, and spinning some interesting story about how you don't deserf' to die here, and how easily relatable you are. Ze more you can make zem identify wis' you, ze closer zey might come to saving you from ze horrible captain.
"Speaking of which, I will try to enlist some help for ze grunt work. I don't expect zat you'll haf' much luck perusing ze city as you normally are. We'll need a fair amount of fodder for zis, so I'll appoint ze task to one of ze more desperate agents roaming ze city. Sounds fair, yes?" Everyone yearned for a ray of limelight now and again; surely he could appeal to a particularly vulnerable agent. If not, he maintained other avenues to coerce a select few into assisting his cause.
"Overall, I sink you'll do nicely." Not too bright, but that only rendered him more compatible. Bischofite rose slowly, using the arm of the chair to assist in the process, until he stood at his full height. There was a measure of distance between the two, enough to render him significantly taller than the boy. How... strange. Welcomed, but strange. "I will call on you as necessary, or haf' Benitoite summon you. Eizer way, you will know ze appointed hour.
"And I expect you will bring an appetite." He flashed the boy another iniquitous smirk.
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Posted: Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:16 am
Johnny huffed. "I read now," Lips curled into an indiscernible emotion, as if the youma within was desperate to get out and the human skin on top wouldn't allow it. "You didn't know me back then." The monster chuckled, a foreign sound emanating from an almost-human throat. "I was a good kid once." said he, walked slowly to the cramped entrance to the little grotto. "I can pretend to be that kid again. And Beni knows all about this?" Of course he did - his General would have to know in order to summon Bazzite somewhere at an appointed time. Or at the very least, Benitoite would have to know of the plan peripherally. Bazzite was far too absorbed in the thought of a buffet to think too much about it. He wasn't sure if Benitoite would approve if he didn't know the details, but when food is involved, how could a youma possibly say no? "I have no doubt there's a plethora of agents out there hoping to prove themselves to someone of higher rank. I'm sure you'll have plenty to choose from, Captain."
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Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2013 2:10 pm
"Let's be honest - I wouldn't haf' cared to know you back zen. You're better as you are now. Streamlined. Bereft of all zis extraneous... s**t." He almost snarled at the word. However, his features quickly turned to a thin smile in the wake of dark humor. "But as you can see, you're a better person now. You read now."
Bischofite cocked an eyebrow at the mention of Benitoite. Of course the youma was interested in his master's debriefing on the matter - he should've realized it earlier. And were it not for Benitoite's consent, he would never see this facet of his plan come to fruition. He would just have to contrive some way to break the news to the boy, some easily digestible story that omitted chance murders of innocent civilians. Perhaps he wanted to learn more about youma, or give their terribly rocky start a second chance. He might even want to feed the poor beast, as he spent the majority of his time holed up in the gloomy ambience of the Rift. Anything went. He could lie on the spot.
"Of course he knows. How could he not?" His blatant lie sounded no different than any other comment in conversation. Smoothly he shrugged his shoulders, as if dismissing Bazzite's concern over it. "He knows you need to eat. At least zis way, you get some fun out of it.
"Now, I haf' to make ozzer preparations while I'm here. As you said, zere are copious amounts of agents looking to proof' zemselves in ze eyes of zeir superiors. I will peddle zat option and see what I get." While he spoke, he limped across the smooth, crystalline grotto with one hand pressed to the wall.
"Stay hungry, Bazzite." He offered, shortly before he considered his exist.
It looked a little... Steep. Oh well; nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 5:59 pm
Strickenized Mmm bueno wraps sound delicious! Bazzite was pleased to hear his General not only knew of the plan, but approved of it. An unholy noise ripped from his throat and the boy's back shattered, skin sagged and tore and out from the confining cocoon of human skin erupted the youma Bischofite was so familiar with. Recognizing the need of assistance to (safely) exit the cavern, the youma gladly scooped up the injured Captain with a smile. "No use having you break dance down my slip n' slide only to end up a pile of goo at the bottom." came a chuckle. "Don't know what Beni might think of his partner accidentally turning friends into gibblets! Though I bet you'd be tasty~"
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