Character Hike

Ah, moonlight. And a full moon, too.

For a brief moment Loki let go of her tension and remembered the good old days when she practically revelled in lunar activity, a catalyst for the simple powers she'd been given at 13. She ached to feel such power again but, as it was, nothing could be done about it. For now.

Satisfied that the howling thing was not a hunter, and keen to distance herself from the creepy suited man, she made her way towards the festivities and, she hoped, the offer of free food and a chance to make a plan of action.

edited 5th Oct '10 9:58:08 AM by thewerepuppygrr

Eos scowled as the reptilian Jack reproached her for turning down Raki.

"It was his own damn fault for liking someone he'd just met. And if he's sensitive enough to run off before I decided to try and scare him, what makes you think any relationship with me is going to be better?"

edited 5th Oct '10 10:21:04 AM by Leradny

"You know what," Raki says to his knapsack, gripping the wheel. "What am I thinking, fuck the bittersweet endings. I'm still here meng."

He summons the rest of his will to turn back, and skids his Nissan spinning a 180 on the road — the wheels screeching out in defiance of the night. Now he fights against the onslaught of approaching cars, weaving and dodging, as they toot their horns in anger. It's like a Michael Bay car chase scene, and he's the superhero. But let's hope there's no cops around.

"Jajajajaja," he laughs, the tears from his manic joy streaming down his eyes. If I run away, then I really will truly regret it. So let me tell her, this one time. Give me one chance, oh mighty astrologists, one chance to make a miracle happen. I no pussy. I'm a cat. What can happen.

/...

Raki drives through the parking lot, giving no shits about whether he parks the right way, and immediately slams the door behind him as he hears the music echoing down there. All at once, his own heart feels that familiar choking, and it's like a bag of ice inside as he stumbles, dizzy and lightheaded.

The music — there's something Raki has to take first, in order to make it up for everything. Michael Corleone, help me now! He takes the Godfather CD in his pocket.

Then Raki runs, seeing the glittering gold of the Castle where he can be saved by the maiden waiting there. He trudges down the trail, onto the yellow path — all the while eyeing the people, and see if Eos is still there.. (Please man.. please don't be jizzed at me for leaving.)

He's gotta trudge through the swarm of Cosplayers first, so "S'cuse me, coming through!" and "Homie, this an emergency!" and other lame lines on the spot he says.

And he finally gets to the jukebox from which the music blares from the hotel speakers. Still the music plays for the fireworks show, but he's got his own romantic tune to show. So he puts Michael Corleone® in the player, and sets it to the right track.

"What— what are you doing?" the DJ gapes in disbelief. "Get outta here!—"

"You gotta trust me," Raki says. "I need to make an offer, no one can refuse. Just for this night. Alright?" And he winks and hurries on to Eos, leaving the DJ hanging.

He sees her by the shore of the lake, facing away from him..

And standing from amongst the hoards of costumed wannabes, here is a real hero who stood up against all the nervous fear and doubt to make this possible. Raki takes a deep breath in..

"EOS!!" he shouts, his voice carrying the determination of kings and valiant princes. The greatest thing in all the world.. is just to love.. and be loved in return!

The timeless medley begins to play from the speakers.

"Will you have a dance with me this now?"

edited 5th Oct '10 11:31:57 AM by QQQQQ

She's not defrosted yet. xP

The thing about Eos Whitford was that once she had her mind set on something, she would damn well follow through on it. If for some reason she was forced to not do so by, say, the other person chickening out, she got cranky. Someone calling her name amidst the sound of a vaguely familiar song turned Eos' gaze towards Raki at the DJ... platform? Station?

Anyway. The prospect of finishing up this messy business instead of living in a constant state of anxiety that she might run into him later caused a great weight to lift from Eos' shoulders as she strode through the crowds. Upon reaching the station she turned the mike away. He deserved that, at least.

"No. If you want to know why, ask me now because otherwise I am going to walk right back through that crowd and you will probably never see me again."

Unless he decided to stalk her. But he didn't seem to have the backbone for that.

edited 5th Oct '10 11:51:26 AM by Leradny

Loki had been wandering through the crowd, snatching food from the plates of unsuspecting mortals and feeling pretty darn good about it.

However, upon witnessing a boy's declaration of love over the speaker, and the current dashing of his hopes, it brought her mind back to Asher, and the conclusion that love didn't exist and that relationships were infact made up of an infantile hope that you could be happy with someone else. Life didn't work that way. At least, hers didn't. Loki's love life was much like her conscience; momentarily non-existent.

She chewed the meat off a chicken bone as she wandered to the DJ platform/station/thingy and said simply; "You shoulda chosen 'Love Hurts' by Nazereth."

Ibbis found the music strange. But, he did spot a wet bar, with a bartender serving drinks to a few patrons. He decided it wouldn't hurt to get a little something... He slides into a barstool and was about to withdraw a few platinum coins when he wondered if they took cash or credits.

The bartender saw the hesitation and addresses him.

"What'll you have, sir?"

Ibbis hums to himself. "Still thinking. Uh, how much for a small glass of whatever is on tap?"

"Well, that depends. Draft or Light?"

'Beer,' Ibbis thought. Not his preferred choice for the few times he imbibed. He has a thought.

"Shot of Scotch?" he asked. The bartender nodded.

"Two euros or four bucks. I'll take whatever you got," the bartender replied. Ibbis thinks furiously - neither term was familiar to him - accustomed to dealing with either platinum hard currency, Alliance credits, both paper and electronic, and on occasion, Browncoat payscrip. But he preferred hard currency over electronic means, and had a measure of platinum coins and paper credits in his pants pocket. Since platinum was renown for it's near-universal value across the 'Verse, he thinks it prudent to fork over a few coins, rather than use paper. Ibbis smiles and pulls out two platinum coins, and puts them down on the bar. This earns a quizzical look from the bartender, who studies them. "These aren't Euro or dollars, sir."

"Platinum," Ibbis says helpfully. He was sort of expecting a quizzical response to the silvery coins.

A raised eyebrow from the bartender, who, after some considerable thought, shrugs and pockets the two coins. A moment later, and Ibbis is presented with a shot of dark amber liquid, and a wink.

"Might want to go see a jeweler about these, if you got any more on you, sir."

Ibbis nods in reply and sips the drink, turning to observe the scene.

Gant, seeing what has happened, begins to chuckle. Whatever that kid had, there was more courage in him than most of those in existence. Such people merited respect, even if they were the enemy. But he would not tangle his own unsubtle touch in this.

The chuckle turns int loud laughter, but he is still standing ramrod- straight, watching what is happening. Now this is true spice for the evening!

The Steampunk stumbles upon the group. His vocal chords haven't warmed up yet so he doesn't speak. The gears within him grind loudly with every step he takes through the underbrush.

He almost steps on a bunny which manages to escape from under his gigantic metal foot. His face manages to emote sadness.

Finally he remembers how to speak and starts with a greasy, deep echoingly loud "Hello, friends."

Rainar looked away from the mountains when he heard Gant laughing. At first he did not see what was going on, then he looked out onto the stage. Raki and Eos were talking to each other in front of a large crowd of people dancing. Is that boy trying to ask Eos to dance with him? Darn it when did people get so scattered?

Rainar moved away from the trail and down towards the dance floor. He wanted to stay as far away from the queer music as possible, but he wanted to make sure he was still around the rest of the group. If only Raki would leave the stage, Rainar thought, then I could give him a few pointers.

A blond haired girl was dancing with the crowd when she caught sight of Rainar. Pointing to him she shouted, "Hey look at that dwarf! Isn't he cute?"

Rainar then saw a group of girls moving near each as if to talk to each other. He had no clue what was going on until someone shouted, "Let's get him!"

God dammit, thought Rainar before the women tackled him to the ground.

Perindie

edited 5th Oct '10 7:06:44 PM by EldritchBlueRose

For a minute, Raki does not say anything after her words. He stands there, paralysed. The only movement is the up and down of his shoulders in his breathing, and the thumping of his chest so hard you can see it, and the lone tear that manages to escape out the eye. Everyone's eyes are on him. They don't help.

Don't cry..

He thinks he has died already. But Eos' face is still there even in 'death', her scowl growing prominent. And he's still here. The growing coldness inside a weak solace from this brutal scathing.

Another tear falls down from the other eye. He doesn't want to show his weak side at this point.

"What.. reason.. gives you.. right.. to.. break—....?" Raki gasps with the restrained raw emotion spilling out between the spaces. "Shatter a man's.. dreams? What.. Reason?"

The Godfather's love theme continues playing on, unheard by all except those who are too indulged with themselves to notice the scene, let alone appreciate the irony of said scene with music. (Now this is a gold farm for a pretentious English Teacher's urges. Class, take notes! This is a textbook case of 'Irony!' Music dissonance with the on-screen events! Brimming character conflicts, with the clashing of their ideals! And this'll all be on Monday's quiz..)

In ze words of Hans von Hozel, this is goodly drama!

edited 5th Oct '10 6:30:19 PM by QQQQQ

"What. Is. Happening. Guys." says the Steampunk.

These people are new and different. The Steampunk is scared.

He asked her for a reason. That's good enough for a rant, and ever since Eos learned the kelpie was nonexistent she has been irked at the world in general.

"You. Don't. Even. Know. Me. And you are terrible at gauging appearances! Does this—" Eos gestures towards her practical hiking boots, well-worn cargo pants, and heavy twill jacket, "—scream to you that I am a romantic woman who would say 'yes' in a situation like this?"

This post was thumped by the Shillelagh of Whackingness

Calm. Calm.. breathe in and out with the calmness and all will be right with the world. The yogi's advice from six years ago pops into the forefront of Raki's thoughts, for some reason. He once thought it was mystic hogwash deluding people into breathing funny so they would pump more dollars into some con game.

Why now of all times, does this advice come forth? Raki has no idea. Instinct implores him to try it now. So he does.

Each deepened breath instils a calmer feeling into him. That's right.. keep doing it, you'll get better.

"Maybe not." he tells Eos, wiping the sweat and tears from his face. "Maybe you aren't the type who would find sudden, magical love." He shakes his head, realising the folly of what he's done, and then blows a light chuckle at himself, like cathartic relief. "Forgive me, if you would be so kind.. Eos, it was a stupid, school-boy's crush I had on you, it came out of nowhere so shortly. I feel so stupid man.. you know how those are."

Raki pauses — that's not half of it. The other half is still tucked at the corners of his heart, waiting to be said. "But if I am to be honest.." He gulps. "When I came out from being lost in the dark forest.. I saw you. And I think it might've be the music then, or the electricity in the air, but I saw you.. staring off so wistfully at the horizons.. somewhere.. it must have been something so beautiful it made your heart melt or something. And whatever it was, I wanted to be a part of that.

"You had that dreamy look on your face, you were so beautiful like an angel. And that angel overwhelmed my heart and made it cave in from all that beauty.. I thought anyone would be.. a very lucky person to be by your side. I thought I would be. If not.. if it was all stupidity from me.. feel free to slap me. Slap me silly back to my senses."

He closes his eyes, waiting for her judgement, for the fresh smack on his cheek to wake him up from this dream.

edited 5th Oct '10 7:36:25 PM by QQQQQ

Yay for the voice of cynicism.

"There are some battles you cannot win," Gant says, walking up behind Raki with his characteristic look, all traces of emotion wiped away once more. "For instance, you will never win a battle against yourself. Or against someone you cannot bring yourself to kill. Or a battle of love where the two halves are just too disparate."

He waves to indicate the entire place around them. "This is another one of those battles. You may be good at fighting in that metaphorical sense that barley works, but I can tell even from here that you have no skill at choosing which fights to pick. After all, if you pick a dream like this..."

He waves a hand for a moment, waffling on whether to tell the truth or not. "It is a dream that will not work. And you still have the time to back out of it and chase down a different one. One with an ending that carries no drama within it."

As he walks back, someone in the crowd boos him. It is unsurprising, the human tendency to support those on hopeless causes. Screw them. He took a cause like that once, and he still had a scar from his heart bursting and never stitching itself back together. If the kid was smart- not logical, just with a bit of wit about him, he would remember. Not necessarily take the suggestion, but just consider it.

edited 5th Oct '10 7:41:52 PM by Morgulion

Jack stood at the elbow of the strange machine and said "They call it love. They call me Jack. What do they call you, mate? You don't seem human."

Steampunk, not Gant.

edited 5th Oct '10 7:45:23 PM by DaeBrayk

"I don't hit kids," Eos says shortly after Raki's outburst. "I don't get involved with them, either. Find someone closer to your own age or personality, and don't judge people based on their looks."

She walks off through the crowd, which parts for her out of a twisted respect.

"..okay."

The last of which Raki sees of Eos is a shrug of her shoulder before the costumed people shuffle back in place. Then one of the people start clapping, timid at first, and then more and more join in also and it becomes a full-on applause.

Raki does not stay for the standing ovation. Nor does he bow along and do an encore. He tip-toes out of the spotlight, and heads over to the open barstand where some others sit. He asks for some Sprite from the bartender.

As the fireworks finale begins, Raki takes a chug from the can. The drink is fizzy and sweet in his mouth, like the exploding sparkles that can exist for a mere second before disappearing like nothing had happened.

But it did happen, no matter what anyone else says. And with that thought, Raki feels the reassuring, comforting warmth balloon in him, until he could no longer hold it in. Then he lets it flow through like tears in rain.

And that's the end of that chapter. I cried at this point actually. Are we allowed to cry for our own characters? It feels kinda strange..

edited 5th Oct '10 9:45:22 PM by QQQQQ

Seeing how well you write, I would say go ahead. It's certainly a great conclusion.

Gant begins to laugh, an echoing, hollow sound that resembles the clanging of metal far more than it should. He ignores the dirty looks he is getting from the crowd, they are of no significance. What does matter is that this night, which was by no means colorless, is suddenly vibrant with a rich texture of sadness and rage and... hm. Potentially regret, though it is yet difficult to tell.

Part of his laughter comes from sadism, pure and unbridled. No one can kill people for three hundred years without getting a keen sense of the delicacy that extraneous pain presents. It is an evolutionary thing, to be glad at the misfortune of others, but Gant had honed it for a while, just to make himself last.

Most of it is from gratitude. A brightened day is always nice, and this one brings back many a painful memory. They are all necessary, of course, and they are a wonderful means of sharpening his mind. He mouths a word of thanks to the kid, who is deaf to his words, and joins that odd construct and the newcomer, whose dialogue he had overheard.

"That is love," he says, waving his hand. "It lasts until you are shot down, and then everyone applauds as the flames burn. It is far more fun than it looks."

edited 5th Oct '10 9:52:28 PM by Morgulion

"Gotta disagree with ya there, mate," says Loki as she pushes her way through the crowd and reaches the three of them.

"Ain't no part of love that's 'fun' for anyone. Well...maybe the physical part..."

She frowns for a moment before grinning at the strange new metal guy and raising a bottle of rum she'd taken from the bar while nobody had been looking. "Cheers and pleased to meet you."

Ibbis, out of the corner of his eye, notices the mechanical man. At first, he would've written him off as a cybernetic augmentee, but the motions are off. Even considering the strange unfamiliar accents he has encountered thus far, this is odd for an entirely different reason. He regards the mechanical man with a bit more attention - disregarding the outburst of the youth as his heartfelt dreams were ripped the shreds - and begins to observe the mechanical man.

He is about to take another sip out of the chilled shot glass, but is interrupted by his comlink buzzing in his pocket. He sets the drink down on the counter and retrieves it, flipping it open.

"Ahahaha, yeah. It was pretty bad. Yep, she rejected him like that in front of everybody! I know, right? It was pretty harsh! Ha! What? Shut up, you would laugh too if you'd been there!" A young woman stands with her back to the bar, talking on a cell-phone about what had just happened. Turning around, she sees Raki at the bar and, for whatever reason, decides to talk to him. "Hey, I'm gonna call you back. Bye!"

Hanging up her phone and wiping the grin off of her face, she took a seat next to Raki. "Hey, aren't you that guy who just got rejected in front of everyone? Hey, sorry about that, It looked pretty harsh..."

edited 6th Oct '10 5:06:12 AM by MidnightVelvet

"I would ask," said Jack, stepping between Raki and the obnoxious woman, "Why humans so delight in being cruel to each other but..." He smiled, a horrifying, toothy smile, and his tongue dripped out between his teeth for a moment, a twisting mass more liquid than flesh. "But I too delight in being cruel to humans, so I guess we're all...what do they say? In the same book? On the same page?" His last sentence hissed on sounds no human would have thought capable of hissing.

edited 6th Oct '10 3:24:33 PM by DaeBrayk

Gant watches the interaction with bemusement. That construct must have taken a few too many shots to the head. Nice tongue, though, an impressive mechanism of instilling fear. He picks up the glass he had ordered and saunters over to the rapidly growing clique. Time to inject some fear.

"Likewise," he says to Loki, flowing away with conserved elegance of movement. "But my spot of interest is there."

He moves up behind Jack and the two others, settling in a comfortable posture, leaning with calculated nonchalance on the back of a chair. "so, you like to frighten humans?" he asked Jack. "That is a good choice for entertainment. But tell me, for one so inhuman, why delight in simple human cruelty?"

He spreads his hands. "There are so many possible variants of torture or war to start that taking this option does not seem to be the wisest of diversions, hm?"

"What?" he says into the comlink.

"Len's getting agitated about the drop, Captain," he hears Diana say.

"Well, maybe he should've come and done this himself, you think?"

"He has a clause in the contract that states that if this doesn't happen within another two days, then the deal is off, and we sell the data to whoever we want."

"Well, gorram it, Diana, why didn't we just do that, then? I'm looking like a fish out of water over here, as this... place, is just plain backwards. Tell Len to forward my comlink info to the contact directly, I'm tired of looking for a needle in a stack of needles."

"Okay, I'll forward that."

"Ibbis out." he folds the link and pockets it.

Upon hearing the exchange taking place over failed romance, he sighs to himself.

Just more reasons why he didn't frequent places that served alcohol, and why he didn't allow it on his ship. Sure, Krela pitched a huge fit, citing something about using it for cooking or some drivel, but Ibbis had stood his ground. It was his ship, after all.

"Boy, it's yer ship, but I'm in charge here. How am I supposed to do a decent batch of chili if I ain't got any beer?"

"Improvise. You're good at that, Pops." Krela hadn't liked the decision, but he had gotten over it, eventually. Since ibbis wasn't a picky eater, he hadn't even noticed that the food quality had diminished immediately following that conversation.

Ibbis kept an eye on the.... whatever the hell it was. Some circus freak? A guy that got too carried away with body mods? The tongue thing was definitely unsettling. Whoever had done the cosmetic surgery to that guy had done a real bang-up job, Ibbis thought. Top grade quality work. He didn't follow any of the corrent line of vidfeed shows or anything, but he thought that the guy looked like one of the villian protagonists on some epic sci-fi drama show that Diana occasionally watched. That or a hard-core fan. For a moment, he regretted not bringing Diana along. At least he woudl have had a familiar face to talk to.

Considering the niceness of the bar and how well-dressed numerous patrons were, Ibbis considered it likely that perhaps the reptilian-looking man was an actor for that show... He would ask, but he wasn't terribly interested, so he stayed on his stool by the bar and tried not to look terribly annoyed.