Meanwhile on Rubi-Ka...

[Noticiero]

/ooc
New idea of a new year. This thread is for everyone to share what's going on in his or her character's life at the moment. Big or small, it doesn’t matter. The intention is not to write an interactive story but just take a snapshot of Rubi-Kan life.

You can write your bit anyway you like, in the first person, like a diary entry ("Today I worked all day on my investigative report"), in third person mode as if it were a story ( "Noticiero worked all day on his investigative report." or even just in plain, factual terms ("My character, Noticiero, is working on an investigative report"),whatever works best for you.

Likewise you may include things that are actually happening in-game like a tower battles or Council of Truth session, or stuff which is just imagined, like a trip to Omni-Prime or coaching a children's softball team.

The only rule is keep it short, easy to write, easy to read. Try to keep each entry within two or three standard paragraphs. You can always add further entries at a later date. Also, please put the character name in the title of the reply, just so those of us with multiple characters can keep them apart.

Finally, please remember that just because you may have read something here it does not necessarily mean your character knows about it. It’s just common sense, really.

This idea was originally motivated by Dabblez in Atlantean and it has been a hit there since 2007 with hundreds of posts of roleplayers sharing their rubikan lives. I figured if it worked and everyone had fun, why not good old Rimor?

So, on with “Meanwhile on Rubi-Ka…”

[trousers]

Trousers wonders if Christmas Break is over yet so the children can go back to school and leave the adults alone.

[Nulion]

Nulion sits on his bed, tiredly taking the bits and pieces of his armor off, resting them almost carelessly on the bed, sighing as large flakes of peeled off scale sheddings tear from his arms and chest, clinging to the warm, fuzzy lining of the interior of his armor.

He looks toward his living room, seeing his half-niece Royoko, enjoying old episodes of Sumo Leets on his holovision, and smiles a little at the sight of her simply being happy. The fact she stays in his apartment helps him, in a big way, to stave off the depression surrounding his condition...and smiling, he steps into the living room to watch his favorite show with her by his side.

((This is a neat idea Let's keep this going!))

[Towerblock]

A tall man shrouded in a rich russet cloak enters a partially darkened room, cordoned in the middle is a small sliding pane of antique wood. The tall man enters, sitting with his back to the far wall, wearing obvious trinkets of a monk's order. The deep golden tint of luminescent light seems to come from the corners, from seemingly nowhere but the corners themselves. A few moments later, another cloaked man enters on the opposite side, hood drawn up over its head. He takes a deep breath, and kneels at a small pew in front of the wooden partition. The newcomer is the first to speak, his gravelly voice resonating within the confines of the cubicle.

"Forgive me, divine brother, for it has been several years since my last confession. I have been an unkind husband, an intemperate father, and today I plan on killing a man who has done my people much harm."

The tall monk, from the other side shows obvious stirrings of concern. He speaks through the partition, conscience and patience flowing through his words like a cheap carnival tune.

"My child, it is good that you would admit such things before the Divine, but I must ask.. Why create such discord? Is there a peace in killing that you could not achieve through an alternate method? Surely there is already too much bloodshed in our times."

The large cloaked hood looks towards the partition, but does not flinch.

"Oh don't get me wrong, Padre. Either way I am going to find out. The man I am speaking can make peace with himself and or the creator, but the discord he has already sown could make up for the amount I plan on ending." The hooded man withdraws a large gleaming Axe from under his garb, the silver shine reflects light across the thin partition.

The monk frantically speaks "My dearest child this is a house of Peace! Vengeance is not the way to end a dispute. Please, put your intentions away and ask the divine for forgiveness and understanding. In time the world may yet find a solution for your problems. Creating further indiscretion can only serve to make any situation worse, despite its convenience!"

The larger of the two men draws back his hood, revealing a shaved pate and a set of eyes. One of them deep blue with heavy brows, and the other milked over from a battle long over. "That's a nice thought, Padre. You might be right. You might be wrong. Who's to say? But right now, you should be more worried about you."

The tall monk's eye become wide in recognization. The gleaming silvery axe starts to come through the partition in raucous blows. A hand moves over to reach for the handle to the exit, but not before the sound of splintering wood comes crashing all around the poor monk.

************************************************** ****************

"Yeehaw! Gotta love the great outdoors, yaknowwhatta mean, Padre?" Excitedly, Bubba has the monk suspended by one leg over the side of a precipice in the cracked land that is known as Broken Shores. The monk is babbling small prayers as he is suspended upside down. The monk's face is a deep shade of red from the blood flowing downward. The wind of a gorge rises up, bringing dust to sting the eyes of the holy man. The two stand alone in the desert wastes, well sort of. A crowd of hungry wolves looks up from 5 meters down the crag wall.

"STOP! PLEASE! I BEG YOU!" He cries.

"I think you got things a lil mixed up back there. Ya see, I ain't your greatest enemy. You've been so concerned about your cover that I think you lost sight of what's here and now. Stop squirming Padre, this is my weak arm! You could fall and break your leg, and then our friends down there will have a seriously easier time making short work of you. Quite a pickle, dontcha think??"

"PLEASE! Please sir, please! What do you want with me?! I will whatever you ask, just please DON'T DROP ME!" Sobbing deeply, the monk's arms wave about to gain whatever stability is to be had, by being held prisoner against gravity.

Bubba leans down, looks the monk dead in the eyes and gravely pauses for a moment before speaking, "Then tell me everything you know about The Shadow Compendium, and why they are looking for special machines..."

The pack of wolves below growl hungrily in frustration.

[Towerblock]

(this needs more additions, *whipcrack noise*)

[Elleza]

(( i guess ill try and write something about Anderral ^^ ))

the heat from the sun warmed up her cheeks as she turned around on her sofa and opened her eyes, stretched out her arms and made happy sounds before she sat up and looked out trough the big windows in her apartment, the sun was shining, not a single cloud, it seemed to be a small breeze of wind, but that just made it all perfect.
Anderral stood up from the sofa and strightend out her shirt before she yawned and looked around her self, on the table it was a bowl of fruit and on the side was four empty glasses from yesterdays movie evening, She took up the glasses and walked to her kitchen and places them in the sink, walked to the door and opened it.
Laughter, talk and the sound of kids playing meet her as she stepped outside,
Smiling faces, happy faces, laughing faces, this was all the wanted to see.
would this be yet a another perfect day in the small city in southern artery valley? i hope so. I know Anderral enjoys these days where everything seems perfect.

[Towerblock]

Turning the page, Skribblez sounded out each word according to how he had been instructed. Speaking to the spirits of the loa was one thing, speaking sounds from a page had been an entirely different ordeal. The flickers of the candles from nearby made shadowplay on the walls of dragons and horses across the wall, men with swords and shields, and other such assorted surrealism. Skribblez barely noticed; his attention was too drawn into the meaning of each word, sentence, and paragraph.

As a storyteller, it is his way to learn the way of such things. To speak from different tongues, to learn different cultures, outlooks, philosophies. To him it was with all that could be accounted for was one more piece to a giant puzzle he honorably described as The Loom.

Most stories he had learned by word of mouth, reciting them over and over.. inflections changing, words altering and meaning, to describe each scene as an artist paints a work. Sights. Smells. The creaking of the leather with each turning page was a blessing. So many other ways to absorb information; so many other ways to see the world; and even moreso yet.. so many faces and eyes to view it from.

It was cozy, listening to the crackling fire as his fingers pressed into the dried ink of each page. Some of these were written by hand, here in the Castle in Avalon, others made by machine, but very very old. He sounded out each word, stirring in his chair to be comfortable.

A shadow plays over the table, above him. The light somewhat conceals his face, but clearly outlines the halo of one of the goodly knights within its halls. His blond hair fell down around him in wavy locks, with a few beads along a single brain behind his left ear. His ranking upon his breastplate marked him as someone important.

"I see we have had a guest in our great library," He said to Skribblez as he looked up from his tome, the title of which read 'Frankenstein.'

"I hope I have not been intruding. It is a wonderous place you have. I am called Skribblez, and I am shaman to my trib... To Newland." Skribblez smiled somewhat sheepishly, still wondering why he continued to make a fuss of his origins. "or at least, I am now."

The knight smiled.

[Kalezian]

The operations are working perfectly, soon the new weapon shipments would be arriving in Rome with no legal interference from Omni-Tek. The only problem was that Kalezian needed some more smugglers willing to make the trips.

[Flynicist]

((Well, first time here, so you may imagine how bored I am, I've had to write this one day, due to what my PvP movie was representing, I'm already sorry for the grammar faults and everything that a french could do wrong ><))


Meanwhile...

Tuesday June 9th
-14h45

The Meta-Physicist was coming back from his maintenance... The weird clothes he was wearing was attracting the attention of the people surrounding him. On the way, he meets a person he didn't see since 9 months: Kirarra. Unlike all the others, this merry woman didn't care about the appearance, and recognized him at the first sight. Flynicist wanted to pass his way, but she insisted:

"HEY!"

The nanomage turns his head and continues the walk. Kirarra goes after him and puts the hand on his shoulder:"What did I do wrong this time?"

"Nothing." He answered. "Nothing at all."

"I KNOW you have something to tell!" She said, decided to discover what is Flyn hiding. The glance, pointed at him was so intense that he couldn't refuse.

"Fine." The man said. "Let's sit on this bench, to start with."

All excited of hearing a new story, Kirarra sits with him on this bench and start listening. Flynicist watchs the ground, and releases a blow. "I guess you've heard some informations about the recent territory war a couple of months ago?"

"Yeah." She answered. "You soldiers managed to resist to an assault without much effort as I've believed."

He closed his eyes. "No, we were about to loose during the first months..."

"Uh?!"

"Yes." He continued. "The regiments in which I was in were totally obliterated... I was supposed to die, this September."

Kirarra had nothing to say, muted by the darkness of the story. The Meta-Physicist continued the story:"After a critical lack of reinforcements, our leader started the "Operation Recovery". They were leaving a small regiment to defend the brutal Clan rush while the rest was recouping as much corpses as possible, with the intention to... rebuild them."

"No!" She protested. "Don't tell me that...you.."

"Yes..." The man answered. He takes his right hand and pulls the bandage that was supposed to be his glove: A robotic hand comes out, Flynicist moves it slowly to let the woman watch it, it was the same technology used by the professionnals in engineering on Automatons, but adapted to an human body. He puts the bandage back on the hand.

"But... what did they do to you!" she said, panicked.

"They made kleenexes of us, enough to increase our numbers and face the Clan. Most of them died, they were bold for a reason that I don't know. They may have made real automatons of humans, maybe to make "useful losses", I don't know...

"I'm sorry for holding you here... really." she wishpered.

"Don't be sorry." He said. "As a Nanomage, I was already different of others, as a Meta-Physicist, I've been teared by the Shadowlands, as a Soldier, I've been corroded by the war and now, my whole body isn't the same. I'm still happy to be the master of myself. And you know, it's with people like me that you get protected, and people like you are one thousand times worth the cause. Even if though, Omni-Tek is going to have a big problem with all those humanoids still alive.

"Omni-Tek Protects, but it still has a price" Kirarra concludes.

[Mceagle]

Meanwhile on Rubi Ka,
Omni-Entertainement (Rompa Bar) - 3:37 AM

Gaylene throws an empty scotch bottle at the Atrox dancing in at the bar.
"Go away in your old mine you brainless Cyclop !"

[Windguaerd]

Borealis 9PM RST

Several omni guards are unconscious on the ground near the Subway while more Omni-Pol are showing up in response to calls for backup.

"What the hell is going on Bob?"

"No idea Charlie, my scans show our guys are knocked out but not seriously injured, they do have some bumps to their heads."

An old man wearing a straw hat walks slowly towards them.

"Hey you! did you see what happened here?"

The old man does not answer as he continues to more forward.

"Are you deaf old man? Bob check his ID, he actually may be deaf."

The officer scans the old man, and a few seconds later the data is displayed on his scanner. His eyes go wide open. He shouts "Ah crap! Charlie he's...", he is cut off by darkness... he falls to the ground as the old man strikes fast like a serpent and screams in return "Kick to the head!".

The other omni raises his gun to open fire and the old man becomes a blur, he's gone!

"Kick to the head!"

Pain overcomes him and he falls, unconscious.

The old man uses his index finger to start counting the bodies.

"Six, seven, eight, nine, ten... hmm, Master Hung has met today's quota, time to have a beer and meditate god dammi!"

Once again the old man becomes a blur... and he vanishes.

[Towerblock]

The wizened Redeemed Watcher regarded me with gentle eyes. The kind of eyes that have seen hundreds of thousands of years, and experienced each and every one of them. The sort of patience that one develops with a resigned faith that everything falls into place. I didn't really sort of much care for that, because its patience that I never seem to achieve.

I stood before him, as we both enjoyed tea. Watcher Enel Ulma Thar, as he had presented himself to me many years ago, had always been a sort of.. friend, in a way to me. When I came to the Redeemed in my early days, they seemed to be preaching about 'faith' and this fundamental ideology that things happen for a reason, and it all runs according to some great plan they seem to have brewing. It used to annoy me. I wasn't much a man o' faith back then, that is, until I met the Watcher.

He was much more like me; Strong of will and body. He radiated this control and respect that imparted he had forgotten more about war and conflict, then I could have attained in several. I look up to him now. After he managed to dissemble certain mysticisms about things, and giving me cold, hard, and very digestible facts about things. He told me.. That the divine needs soldiers like him and me, to make the good fight.

We traded looks for what seemed like minutes, until he finally spoke to me. "So, Bubba.. I assume you've come looking for answers," He drawled. My eyes settled on the space between us. "My informers tell me about a group that has infiltrated much of your cities. A former group of your scientists, perhaps? Someone who has managed to take some rather unique pieces of our culture, and using them to take what they wish?" His eyes glittered, smug, but confidant.

"I'd say you'd have guessed correctly." I sipped my tea, somewhat disturbed in the notion that he already was aware of it. "If you knew this, why didn't you stop them?"

He sighed a moment, and I suddenly gotten a feeling that perhaps something he might have missed; Or, a missing that didn't get complete. Pehaps they dropped the ball. What he said next rather came as sort of a shock to me. "Bubba, amongst your people.. that system of ownership you all seem to protect so well, is it not uncommon for things to trade hands? To be enjoyed or coveted by many?"

"Yeah sure but.."

"Perhaps I should tell you, that we dont truly consider our world of shadow to be 'robbed' of its riches, as it were. If you were to live as long as we do, Bubba, how many hands do you think these artifacts would pass through? One, several, a hundred? Each of these things has a story, and place in the grand scheme of things. Can you deny the sort of things that you could learn from them? If you ask me, the more people that attempt to learn about us from down there, the more you'll respect whats going on up here." The sip of my tea came hard, and jagged. I could not deny the logic in it, however. "When they took the artifacts in question, it seemed only natural to conclude that our faith in your humanity could be strengthened by the knowledge that you will overcome, and learn from that mistake. Greed, my large friend, is a terrible sin, is it not? And as your philosophers have always said, be careful for what you wish for? Hrm?" His eye lifted at me somewhat.

[Azshara]

((haven't done this before but reading everyone's posts inspired me a bit to write about my two main chars. we'll see how this goes lol))

Azshara stood in quiet reflection as she gazed out the large glass windows of her apartment. Numerous spacecraft on unknown missions zoomed back and forth across the expanse of glass, but she ignored them. Her attention was focused solely on the immense planet that had been her home for as long as she could remember. There was something about looking down at Rubi-Ka from here as it floated in a sea of stars that had a very Zen-like affect on her.

For the past four months the young woman had not left her reclusive apartment. She had become bored with her life on Rubi-Ka. A year and a half ago Azshara had reached the epitome of everything she had ever hoped to achieve. The twenty-three year old had completed the extremely difficult training to become a Metaphysicist, and now could detach and reform parts of her psyche into three physical entities capable of various autonomous abilities. In addition, she had pushed herself to her physical limits to master a weapon that no other Metaphysicist had ever been capable of dual-wielding: the Shen sticks. But now ... she felt as though she had nothing left for which to strive. She wanted something NEW.

The entrance door to the apartment slid open with an audible hiss, breaking Azshara's trance. She couldn't see the doorway from here in the garden, but there was only one other person who had a key.

“What's up big sis?” Azsyka came bouncing into the room and hugged her. Then she stood back and smiled. “Are you hiding from the world again?”

[FoosballX]

(( I haven't posted anything in awhile so I thought I would put a little something here, while I work on some larger stories))

*** Foos and Reno ***
“We've been over these ruins a thousand times we're not going to find anything” said the atrox leaning on a large blade, watching a man in front of him carefully searching a room in a burned out ruin in Elysium.
“I never said you had to come Reno, if you wanna go then go. Other wise I'm going to keep looking until I find something” the man says while he runs the scanner painstakingly over the area while sniffing the air. “Nobody can just up and disappear without a trace, someone always leaves something behind, I'm going to find it, I'm going to find him” he pauses for a moment and shakes his head, “I mean them.”
Reno looks at him and laughs, “Ah there it is.”
“What? There what is?”
“Why the truth old friend the truth.”
“I have no clue as to what you're talking about” Foos says as he continues to scan about the room.
“Alright I'll enlighten you then. You're not after them you're just after their boss.”
“Look I'm trying to track this group down and put a stop to them, especially after what they just pulled in Newland. You know the saying the best way to kill a snake is to cut off it's head. So what's you're point if I'm after the big man in charge?”
“If it was only that simple Foos.”
“But it is Reno, so again what's your point?”
Reno look at Foos and shakes his head letting out a sigh. “You're after him cause you want to hurt him. But I don't think it's him you're really after.”
“Oh?” Foos says putting his scanner away and turning toward his friend, “What am I after then? Enlighten me”he says sarcastically.
“You're after that other guy, it's him you want.”
“Now what are you going on about? What other guy? Who are you talking about?”
“You're after that guy that hurt her. But you can't get to him, he's too well protected and killing him would bring up too many questions, to many problems for you both. So you're putting all your anger into finding this fixer hoping to let off a little steam. It's a classic case of displaced aggression.”
“Oh great you're a psychologist now. So tell me oh great doctor of the mind, what should I be doing?”
“Come on man don't be like that. But you really want to know what I think you should do?”
Foos looks at Reno and smiles, “Oh yes please tell me.”
Reno looks at Foos and lets out a deep sigh, “I swear sometimes you are so difficult. But alright I'll tell you what you should do. Take a break, you're pushing yourself too hard and you're getting sloppy.”
“Sloppy?” Foos says with a scoff.
“Yeah sloppy. Right now if you find him, them, or whatever, you're not going to last long. They're going to take you out quick. You're not on your game you're too stressed out, you're not thinking clearly.” Reno walks up to his friend and puts his hand on his shoulder. “Look take off for a bit. I know why not take her and go visit your aunt and uncle, your brother? Yeah take her and that thing she drags along with her.”
Foos sharply interrupts, “It's not a thing, he's her friend.”
“Thing, friend whatever man. Look get a ship and take off for awhile. Go show her some of the wonders of the galaxy, I'm sure she'd like that. And hey Newland, Rubi-Ka will still be here when you get back” Reno says to him with a smile.
Foos looks down and shakes his head, “It's not that simple. She's got her work, she's got that project she's been working on, not to mention she still has to take care of her father” his teeth grit slightly as he says the word 'father'. “Besides I'm just too busy as well. I have to track these guys down, whatever you think my motive might be, doesn't change the fact they need to be taken out. And even if it wasn't for them, I still got someone putting death threats on peoples doors.” He shakes his head, “No I'm just too busy to just take off.”
Reno folds his arms and looks at Foos just shaking his head.
Foos looks at his friend and says, “Look I already told you. You don't have to be here, if you wanna leave then leave. But right now all this talk isn't getting me any closer to finding out what rock they're hiding under.”
“Alright then lets go check the next room” Reno says with defeat in his voice.
“Good, lets get to work.”

********************************************

*** Hunter Drakkgunn ***

He sits at his work bench working diligently on the broken rifle, while a man paces behind him.
“Are you done with it yet?” the man says looking over his shoulder.
Hunter puts his tools down for a moment and looks back at the man, “No I'm not done. When I'm done I'll tell you. And the more times you ask me the longer it's going to take.”
“I'm sorry, it's just you know how I hate too wait” says the man backing away from Hunter.
“Well if you really hate waiting so much, then I would say take better care of your weapon. Here's a novel idea next time make sure you have enough bullets and don't start using it to hit things with it when you run out.”
The man lets out a large laugh, “Well sometimes you have to improvise if ya want to stay alive.”
Hunter just shakes his head and completes his work on the rifle. “Alright it's done” he turns around and hands the man his gun.
The man goes over the weapon giving it a through inspection and smiles when he's done. “Hunter my man you do good work.”
He smiles, “Thank you, I do try”
“So Hunter what do you have planned for tonight?”
He looks at the man and runs his hand through his hair and says, “Oh I don't know maybe go out to dinner, or just spend a nice evening at home.”
The man spies him up and down, “Nice evening at home?” he says laughing. “Tell you want I got a date with twins tonight, why don't you come along. We can call it a tip for the fine work you do.”
Hunter looks back at the man and smiles, “Well thank you for the offer, but I am no longer in need of those kind of tips anymore.”
The man looks at Hunter and takes a step back, “Oh my. Oh my my. Don't tell me the perpetual bachelor has finally stopped? Can it be the great Hunter Drakkgunn is out of the game?”
Hunter says nothing but only looks at the man and smiles.
“Well now” the man says with a deep laugh, “I'll have to alert the others right away there less completion to worry about in the world today.”
“Well feel free too, I'm finding myself to be rather happy with the way things seem to be going.”
The man shakes his head in disbelief , “Don't get me wrong I'm happy for ya, I just never thought I would see the day.”
“Well I think that would make two of us. But sometimes you come across something special and you realize there's much more to life then just a brutal death.”
The man looks at Hunter puzzled, “What?”
He throws his head back and laughs, “Oh never mind. Look I have some cleaning up I need to do here, you enjoy your date tonight." Hunter looks at the rifle in the man's hand, “I'm sure I'll see you soon enough.”
The man chuckles looking at the gun, “Well you're probably right about that. Alright then I'm off.” The walks out of the workshop still laughing and shaking his head.

Hunter starts to pick up his tools, putting them away. He pauses for a moment, closing his eye and smiling. Thinking about his new apartment, with it's view and collection of soaps and oils gathering in his bathroom.

[Azshara]

((continued from above))

“I'm not hiding.” Azshara couldn't help but return her sister's warm smile, but after a moment the smile fell away and she turned back to the window and her eyes again found Rubi-Ka. “It's just ....” She sighed.

“Aw come on Azsh, talk to me. What's wrong?” Azsyka stepped up next to her sister, then followed her gaze to the immense planet. For several long moments the only sound was the water trickling through the garden stream behind them.

No one knew who Azsyka's mother had been. The woman had wandered in to the hospital at which Azshara's mother worked, given birth, and died before she could be identified or even name her child. Azshara's mother had taken in the newborn opifex girl and named her Azsyka, despite being a solitus herself. Azshara had been 5 at the time. The two girls formed a fast friendship as they grew. Azsyka had looked up to her older sister all her life, and had eventually followed her to the Shadowlands where she also learned to be a Metaphysicist.

Finally, Azshara sighed again. “I'm just tired, Azsy. I've done everything I have ever dreamed about. There is nothing left for me on Rubi-Ka.”

Azsyka glanced at her sister and grinned. “Do you remember what happened the last time you said that to me? You were running around with those idiotic hammers smashing everything in sight to bits but you were all like 'I'm so bored oh woe is me.' But then you discovered this new weapon called a Shen Stick and dragged me along killing every Dreadloch we could find until you had two even though I told you there was no way you were ever going to be able to use them. And look where you are now.”

Azshara couldn't help but laugh. “Those were good times.”

“No. 'Good times' was two months later watching you put the smackdown on that soldier who had been trying to steal our Lord of the Void. But you see my point.”

“Yea yea, I know. But it's not like there's another weapon that's just going to pop into existence to save me from my own lack of enthusiasm.”

Azsyka's grin went from amused to sneaky. “Well you know, now that you mention it ... they found some new technology that actually makes those bows we got from Beast's corpse useful. Remember the weird-looking ones that were covered in goo after we pulled them out of his stomach?”

“Eww yea you had to remind me.” Azshara made a face. “But seriously, what do you mean 'they.' Who is 'they'? And you don't just 'find' technology it has to come from somewhere.”

“Pff you know me. As long as it works, I don't ask questions.”

“You are such a liar!”

“All part of my plot to get you to come back to Rubi-Ka, big sis.” Azsyka's grin faded. “We've really missed you. I've really missed you.”

Azshara looked back out the window again, but this time her expression was thoughtful and eager. “So these new bows are pretty badass, huh?”

“Azsh, they're the coolest things you've ever seen your life. You're gonna be in love.”

A determined gleam lit Azshara's eyes. “Well come on, Azsy, we got some work to do!” She grinned. Then both women turned away from the window and walked out of the garden. However, when they reached the garage, Azsyka stopped and put her hands on her hips.

“Okay, hang on. One more thing. Before we leave I swear there's something you have GOT to tell me. How is it possible for you to live up here ... alone ... for four months, and do nothing but eat, sleep, and think, and STILL stay in such good shape. If I did the same thing I'd look like the Beast. It's not fair!”

Azshara couldn't help but laugh. “I'll tell you what. You show me these new bows, and I'll teach you the secret of daily exercise and a healthy diet. Although I have to warn you, you'll have to give up eating Leet Pies. Now let's go!”

[Uncle Pumpkinhead]

His heart beat like a drum within his chest, each ragged breath desperately pushing it to work harder and harder. His feet stumbled slightly in his flight, briefly caught by a snag in the underbrush - a vine or root of some sort; He didn't pause to find out which. Though the air hung about him black as pitch, not a stitch of moonlight to be seen, he deftly traversed through the forest trees, dashing along the ground with all the swiftness he could afford. The lack of light didn't bother him in the slightest - modern nanotechnology made the darkness trivial for him. No, he had much, much larger problems at hand.

A clearing ahead paused his flight, feet slightly skidding along the damp grass as he turned, scanning his surroundings. Trees bent into wicked shapes around him, branches gently swaying in the breeze; The only sound he could hear was from his own laboured breath, the weight of his armour pressing heavily against his thin chest. This wasn't how it was supposed to be... they were never like this before. Never so efficient, never so ruthless, never so... alive. His eyes glanced down to the familiar blue glow of his cyberdeck, scanning the lines of code scrolling across its surface - His nanopool was low, the last of his stims used up, and not even his humidity extraction seemed to be making up the difference fast enough. His eyes returned to the treeline, peering into the darkness of the forest around him, ears alert and ready to hear any sound. His fingers idly twitched against the activation relays of his deck, simply waiting for even the slightest hint of movement as his cue to unleash whatever hell he could... And though he stood his ground, poised and ready for anything, nothing ever came.

The seconds passed slowly, giving way to minutes, and with a quiet sigh of relief the young nanomage finally began to relax, shoulders rolling backward in a gentle stretch. He chuckled to himself, head shaking from side to side - He'd just gotten spooked, he rationalized. They were just Pumpkinheads - Nothing to be afraid of. He'd done this for six years running now - Heading out into the oddly black air of Halloween, mowing down endless swarms of the rather ineffectual, less-than-dangerous... things. Briefly, he wondered exactly what the Pumpkinheads were - Despite their sheer numbers every year, no one had ever managed to figure out their true origin or purpose; truth be told, by this point they had become so much of a joke that no one even really cared any more.

And that's what they are, he reminded himself. A joke. No one ever really got hurt by a Pumpkinhead, after all. Their nanoprograms were terrible, their weapons were weak... it seemed like they just existed to take punishment - Like whomever their master was simply wanted to watch his creations slaughtered, year after year. Well, not a problem there, thought the nanomage. They were a joke. And jokes were meant to be laughed at. And as a smile cracked his lips he took in a deep breath, the grin on his mouth widening as he prepared a deep, hearty laugh.

There was a flash of white light. His breath caught in his lungs just as he was about to exhale, the air stuck in his throat with a burning, choking pressure. It took a moment for the realization to hit him, to understand why his lungs no longer responded to his command - It was the same reason as to why his limbs were now numb, unable to fill his mind's now-urgent desire to run; why he could no longer reach down to his cyberdeck and activate his remaining defenses. He was motionless, white stripes of energy cycling over what parts of his body he could see. A bead of sweat ran from his forehead down to a frozen eyelid, stinging as it landed against the soft tissue of his eye - Even then he could not blink, nor even grunt in pain. Time seemed to stretch under the stun's influence as he stared ahead, begging his body to move, twitch, anything.

A swath of black and orange streaked in the darkness before him, the blur gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. Panic crept into the man's throat, the still-trapped breath in his lungs threatening to burst from his chest at any moment. His HUD displayed the hostile nano running in his NCU, counting down the seconds until the program terminated. Five. Four. Three. His heart beat faster and faster as he began to hear the soft rustle of leaves on the ground behind him, their gentle crackle piercing the otherwise quiet night. Two. One. His mind tensed, body preparing to follow suit as the program ended. He knew what to do. Knew just which buttons on his cyberdeck to press, which programs to run, which direction to head. He was ready. He was prepared. The nano terminated.

A glint of silver was his next sight, an oddly numbing sensation splitting his chest and the intense urge to breathe suddenly gone. His eyes looked downward, able to move for the first time in what felt like forever. And there, pierced between the circuitry and plating of his armour lay a familiar, curved shape of metal, the scythe's blade slowly dripping with rivulets of blood. His blood. His mouth went slack, slowly followed by the rest of his body. There was a cackling noise from behind him - A high-pitched, shrieking laughter, one he had heard a thousand times before with no fear at all. His sight went dim; the forest faded, as did the laughter....

And then the familiar sights and sounds of Old Athens hill, the hustle and bustle of daily life passing him by without any heed at all. A frown set onto his lips as his mind attempted to deal with the hangover-esque sickness that came with dying, stretching himself out and onto his back for just a moment. And as he stared up at the blank night sky he grumbled to himself, hands folding over his chest lazily.

"That wasn't very funny at all."

---------------------------------------

Dried bits of gore stuck to the rusted table near his hands, the ruddy colour highlighted by trails of swirling nanobots as they condensed across the vaguely-human form laying before him. His fingers subtly twitched in the air, the nanites responding to his slightest command; skillfully they penetrated into the soft, dormant flesh of their target, altering skin and form with a surgeon's precision. Cloth formed from the air itself, strands of fabric weaving themselves together tightly as the nanobots underneath continued their gruesome work.

"The legion is ready, lord," came a voice from nearby, the quiet words spoken with a mixture of jubilation and hesitation. His head, old and withered, bowed downward as his master turned from his work, the thinnest of smiles crept along his lips.

"I see... You have done excellent work this year, my Farmer; your reward will reflect your efforts."

The Farmer's mouth tried to smile. Something sharp stung deep within his mind - a familiar pain, one he knew all too well. His happiness would have to wait... it always had to wait. The Master came first in all things.

The nanobots continued to shimmer behind the man's back, highlighting his form in the dimly-lit air of his chambers. "And of the Worker? Has he returned?"

"Yes... yes, my lord. His journey to the Outzone canyons proved fruitful... the technology is in our hands..."

The master turned once more to his handiwork, watching as the nanobots finally began to fizzle and die in the air before him. The once-still body began to stir, the dark cloak now surrounding its form gently swaying as the reprogramming took hold, bringing life and consciousness to his creation. A blackened hand lay against the soft flesh of its face - its new face, improved in every way over the original. His fingers traced over the young woman's new lines and ridges, eyes bright as they took in the form of his latest invention.

"Then ready them," he called over his shoulder. "Integrate the technology and activate the new Harvesters... tell them to prepare."

"Prepare, my master? Prepare f-for what?"

He leaned down, staring intently into the still-closed eyes of his experiment. Candlelight flickered across her pale face, lips parted gently as the first breath of air entered her lungs - her new lungs, her improved lungs.

"Tell them to prepare to meet their new queen."

[Towerblock]

(ooc: Sweeeeeet!)

[Neista]

((Oooh, loving this!))

[Saetos]

((So Uncle Pumpkinhead is the reincarnated lovechild of HP Lovecraft and William Shakespeare? ))

[Nulion]

((That was amazingly well-written o.o ....*looks at own writing* ....I have a lot of learning to be done!))