"I'm sure we can find something," Arcade assured Eve. Fighting probably wasn't the ideal distraction at the moment. Still, he decided to at least give Ben a heads up before they left.
As he started to direct her towards the desk he said, "it's too bad this place has been turned into a desert. I've had enough of that in the Wasteland. Still, at least this isn't the last day or anything."
edited 11th Jul '17 8:05:36 AM by Skooter910
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."Eve|Library |Let's Get This Thing Started
They approached the desk, Eve still a bit unsteady. She looked at Arcade mournfully as he talked about going back to the Wasteland. It was a death sentence for him. Even if he hadn’t said as much, she knew that.
They were at the desk. She carefully stepped back from contact with Arcade, turning to him with a "...moment?..." She walked to the pile of paper and pens, and very carefully began to write, finishing her message and folding it up and putting it in the suggestion box. If anyone wanted to interfere, they would be ignored or bypassed.
She walked back to Arcade, slitting her arm through his. "...done."
[TOP SECRET]Ben looked at the remote-control phaser, turning it over to get a better look at it. She told him it seemed nonsensical, and maybe to her it did. But it made perfect sense to Ben— when was the last time Batman picked up a gun, even if it was a stun gun? Heroes didn't use guns. He put the phaser into his bag and nodded at Miss Tairee.
"Thanks. I'll be back soon with the Omnitrix piece," Ben told her, and started to turn and exit when Arcade and Eve approached him. Ben smiled at the two, but his smile rather suddenly faded when Arcade expressed relief that it wasn't the last day.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ben asked. "You mean to tell me you actually like it here? You enjoy having some demented evil monster—" He looked towards Miss Tairee for a moment, "—yes I know you say he's not evil and I just don't understand and I don't really care, in my book he's totally evil—" He turned back towards Arcade. "—controlling you and playing with you like some kind of kid's toy, not caring about the lives he's ruining and the people he's hurting just for his own enjoyment?!" Ben asked Arcade, pain in his voice.
"The same evil dweeb who summoned giant bugs to kill us, froze us and killed innocent people— innocent people — over and over and over and over and over until they went crazy; dropped a dragon on the Library and burnt a bunch of people to death, brought that... that evil bird to the City, and his little crazy party; turned us all into animals when he thought all that wasn't humiliating enough, dropped a bunch of flesh-eating zombies on our heads, tried to feed us all to a giant rock lobster, put us in some horrible evil theme park with monsters trying to kill us and took away the only thing letting us defend ourselves, making us go against each other like gladiators for his amusement, and dropping dinosaurs on us to eat us...?" Ben asked, his voice becoming more feverish and upset as he continued on.
"He's a monster. This place is evil. The Writer needs to pay, and I'm gonna make him pay. And as soon as I get the Omnitrix back, I'm gonna protect the people he hurt, that he's gonna hurt. And I'm gonna stop him and set things right! I don't care if you've got.... got... that thing where people start liking the guy keeping them locked up, but I'm setting everyone free so they don't have to worry about what the Writer's gonna do next!" Ben then turned towards Arcade, crossing his arms.
"You got anything you wanna say to that? Or have I made my point?" Ben finally asked, raising and eyebrow.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.When Ben started to rant at him, Arcade couldn't muster a response other than shrinking back, not even noticing Eve walking away. He forgot that other people would have things they missed back home. People they cared about and lives to live.
All of those things that the others had gone through, it wasn't worth it to anyone else. "I know you don't like it here," he said, "I'm not asking you to enjoy it, or accept it. It's good that you're trying to protect everyone."
edited 11th Jul '17 10:10:19 AM by Skooter910
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."Library
The hug was nice, but it had to end. Tears also had to end. As easily as they welled up from his eyes, tears stopped their intrusion fairly quickly. He wiped at his eyes a bit more until the last of the vision blurring liquid was cleared away. Talking about feelings could come at another time, a celebration of some sort sounded like a nice idea. The militia was changing their position based on the radio, so they wouldn't really be an issue.
Well, a movie theater might be a nice idea. The only one Lucas had ever been to was run by a megalomaniac and playing some frankly creepy pictures of people Lucas now recognized as the ones in the Mother 2 book he read a few days ago.
After everyone was finished talking, Lucas said to Ciri "I hope I won't need your help, but I'll be sure to ask if I do. Now, if we want to go to the theater we should probably go before whatever the armored behemoth the plaque is talking about decides to become a problem... or after it's dealt with. One or the other I guess."
Why is a yam attacking me?There was palpable relief on Cole's face when the new amulet was around his neck, one hand clutching for it even as the other stayed pressed over an ear, leaving him to rock himself back and forth where he sat. Now that it was quieter, that all that pain and confusion was gone away, and he was left alone, in his own head, with his own hurts...
After a moment, there was a soft whimper, as Cole, one hand still clutching at the amulet, pulled his knees up to his chest, starting to cry.
"I...I want to have never come here...I wish I didn't...I wish I never came here and...and..."
He went quiet for a moment before looking back up at Miss Tairee, eyes teary.
"I never knew...I never knew how...how terrible home really was, b-before this...before I knew everywhere w-wasn't like that, that there were people who...who could be nice to you, who didn't...d-didn't hate you for how you were...how you came to be, and...and I..."
There was what might have been a wail, if it were a bit louder, as Cole hid his face against his knees. "I don't want to go back to Thedas...I don't want to leave, I don't want to forget this place! Nothing that's happened here couldn't happen back home...and here there are so many people who care! I just want to stay here, and have a family, a-and be real again! B-but...I don't want to go back and remember everything I-I won't ever have again...and know every moment that everyone hates me just for what I am that there are places where they wouldn't!"
He looked up at her again, sniffling, and just looking utterly lost. "I...i-it h-has to be o-one or the other...doesn't it? I have to go home and remember what I lost, or...or forget it all, don't I?"
Library
Upon hearing the Riddler's question, Garrett furrowed his brow and began stroking his chin. "The closest person to a reliable ally I can think of... that'd be a fella named Plague Knight. He's a short one, always wears a bird mask for some reason, but he's not a bad guy to be around. He's an alchemist, apparently, and knows a thing or two about making potions... taking a sip from his Fleet Flask is something worth experiencing alright." He looked around to see if the Knight was around. "I haven't seen him for two days now, though. If he's not here, he's probably at his lab."
"Come on, you are worrying too much" Rex told Chise before continuing with the conversation.
Lewis wanted to know about Cole because he had also taken part in Seiga's plans. Namely Ghostfreak had tied him to a tree and, without his amulet, the guy turned into a demon again.
"What?!"
In hindsight, that explained why he was acting so moody and stuff in the hospital... ouch, awkward. Spiderbee wasn't too worried about that, thought, and kept firing questions without even waiting for an answer.
"One at a time, lady. And no, I meant Seiga has a potential army back in her world. Also, this Ghostfreak guy is, uh, some kind of alien ghost? I'm not sure but he's definitely a bad guy. Oh and by the way, Lewis, Yoshika finally found a family so Seiga is short on allies at the moment. I hope she's listening right now, I would pay to see her reaction"
The conversation between Cole and Tairee rapidly devolved into Cole dreading to go back home since city was apparently orders of magnitude better in his eyes. to him there were only two options go back to his homeworld and suffer or go back anyway forget about everything that had happened. Well, shit, Rex had to make up for it.
"...I'll get to the hospital as soon as I can I just... need to take care of something in the meantime"
edited 11th Jul '17 3:21:05 PM by DeisTheAlcano
The Miss Tairee at the central desk looked up and over at Jack, then shook her head with simply a small, apologetic frown. "... Oh, that does remind me though" Miss Tairee muttered, and tapped a few keys on the keyboard; the bubble that Spyro was in blurred and vanished.
The Miss Tairee standing next to Mary looked over at Ben as he started ranting, her expression just neutral like she wasn't particularly surprised nor cared all that much. But after a slight turn of her attention to Arcade and his visible discomfort, Miss Tairee refocused on Ben. "So, nobody is allowed to enjoy things here, Ben?" Miss Tairee started with a rhetorical question, keeping her tone polite and neutral. "Since as you put it, this is an evil place run by an evil person who clearly only wants to do evil things. Then I suppose that following that logic, anybody who enjoys something in this place or finds it in any way preferable to their home must be either mistaken, or possibly evil themselves" the librarian continued, not getting accusatory with her tone, still remaining neutral, and just letting her words speak for themselves.
As she had been speaking, she brought up her holographic screen and tapped on it for a bit, then there was a blur in the air in front of Gon, and another phaser identical to the ones the militia used appeared there.
Meanwhile, the Miss Tairee speaking to Cole was silent for a couple moments, her expression just a tad somber as she thought. "Cole, there is an option I have. To turn you into a human child for good, and have you sent somewhere besides your universe, with a new family" Miss Tairee began, but despite the good part of that news, her tone was somewhat hesitant. "But you would have to be okay with whose family that it is, and that person here would have to accept you as a new brother, too. I have a feeling she'll be okay with it, but you..." the librarian trailed off, then slightly turned and held out one arm to point a little across the lobby.
At Mary.
edited 11th Jul '17 10:46:51 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.Ben nodded at Arcade, but then turned his attention to Miss Tairee. He winced at Miss Tairee's accusation, staring for a moment and not sure how to respond. He looked at his feet, dithering over it for a bit and clearly in thought. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. Finally, he cleared his throat.
"I didn't say that," Ben muttered, looking pained. "I just.... all those people got hurt. And it's like he doesn't even care. If he was a good person he wouldn't have hurt them. He would've protected them. He wouldn't have grabbed them in the first place," Ben replied. "If I just let him get away with all the things he did, it would go against every single entry in my hero code. He's literally the worst person, the worst thing, I've ever known. At least Vilgax just wants to conquer places, at least Kevin's just a psycho. The Writer is just... he's just...." His voice trailed off and he thought for another moment. He sniffled a bit.
"I just want to go home, all these people want to go home," Ben said. He looked over at Arcade. "Except you and Cole," Ben replied, reminded of the conversation he had with the hard-boiled elf "friend" of Cole's. He looked over at Cole near one of the library exits, then looked back at Arcade. "Your world... got nuked to death. And Cole has enemies in his world that are gonna wipe his memory the second he goes back to his world. The City, as horrible as it is... is probably nicer than those things," Ben admitted. "But that doesn't make the City nice. It's still horrible and the Writer is still evil. And the sooner I can beat him and set everyone free the sooner I can wipe the blood from my hands." He sighed and then turned towards the door.
"I'm heading out to get that last Omnitrix piece. Anyone who wants to come with, come with. Please. I'd like the company. If not, see you guys later," Ben told them, and started to move towards the nearest door.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Rex really was not listening at all. He just kept going and completely ignored me. At the same time I heard Cole say some things that struck me a little too close to home, yet I could not fully understand what exactly was happening in his home. At least there was a solution to it but I wasn't sure how well Cole was going to take that suggestion. As for Rex... He definitely had something in mind, considering he knew.
"Rex, stay out of this. I'm pretty sure Cole said earlier he didn't want your help." I told him.
"You really can't help yourself but meddle in everyone's affairs, can you?" Elias asked him, sounding more... fascinated than anything else.
Arcade looked at Miss Tairee gratefully. It felt nice to have someone defending him, since he didn't seem to have the strength to do so yet. Still, Ben's accusations weren't wrong.
Arcade flinched slightly when Ben said that "he doesn't even care", assuming Ben was accusing him of enjoying his freedom and ignoring other people's suffering. When he realized Ben was talking about the Writer, he relaxed slightly.
It wasn't the most comforting thing to hear Ben compare him to Cole, given the conversation the two had earlier that day. He barely even had time to comment on Ben apparently believing he had blood on his hands before the kid started to leave.
Arcade turned to Eve, looking slightly lost.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."Eve|Library|She's Not Making A Decision, Arcade. That's On You.
Eve watched the conversation, saying nothing. She knew that she wanted to go home, but she understood if Arcade didn't want to. It was why she had written what she did. She followed Ben with her eyes as he left. Arcade looked at her, seemingly for guidance.
She should help Ben find the Omnitrix piece. She knew that. It was her fault it was lost. But she didn't want to go back there. But she should help. But.
Eve looked back at Arcade, equally lost.
[TOP SECRET]Eve's expression managed to snap Arcade out of the mood Ben's rant caused. He shook his head once and looked at her more sure of himself.
"Let's just find something to do," he said, gently directing her to one of the doors. Outside would be better, it'd let him clear his head— he was sure.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."I shoved the pillow even harder in response to the interviewer's shrill voice bombarding me with nonsensical questions, moaning to myself.
Meanwhile, Rex was shocked for some reason. I stopped pressing the radio against the pillow. "What do you mean 'what'...?"
Well, at least he saved me the effort of responding to some of what this lady was saying. "She...found someone? That's—that's great, really. Hey, uh, tell her she can keep the cow, if she wants. As an apology. Assuming she's not listening right now, that is.
"Oh, um, if you're heading over, could you ask Tairee to make a new phone for me, like my last one? And grab my stuff on the way out, if it hasn't shifted away."
i guess you can watch me shitpost i guessArcade let out a soft sigh as Eve left the building. Baby steps, sure, but she was still showing progress. Now that that was out of the way, he had to figure out what they were going to do.
There was always a flaw to any plan.
"We might as well just wander until we find something to do," he said, "maybe eat some things while we walk." A thought occurred to him as he said that. He stooped over and picked up a handful of undisturbed sand and licked it. Not bad, he decided, taking a bite out of the pile in his hand.
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."Spyro-Library
Okay, forget must be a hack. This boss of Miss. Tairee's? Definitely a huge hack. "If this is the kind of stuff he has to resort to to get inspiration, maybe your Boss should find a different profession," Spyro said somewhat heatedly.
Meanwhile, Ben had been talking to Miss Tairee about getting a weapon that wasn't a gun. Kid wanted to be his own kind of hero, and Spyro could respect that. Spyro himself had no qualms about offing bad guys, not that he explicitly went into every fight with the sole intent of killing. Things just usually aligned where his villains ended up being the cause of their own demise (not that stopped some from getting back up later anyways).
When Ben was approached by two other people though (one of 'em being the girl from the Saloon. Good to see she was doing better), their conversation caused Ben to go on a rant that was really damning against Miss. Tairee's boss. That settled it.
If Spyro ever met the guy, this 'Boss' was getting the full brunt of a dragon's wrath.
It was at this point that Miss. Tairee released Spyro from his bubble prison. Spyro almost flopped onto the ground from the bubble's surprise disappearance, but was able to flap his wings at the last second to steady himself and land (somewhat) gracefully.
Miss. Tairee, for her part, then mentioned how some people actually liked it here, and then went on to sarcastically say that anyone who enjoyed anything here must be evil. Ben acknowledged that, yeah, this place might be better that some of the worlds others came from, but that didn't make it a good place. So far, Spyro agreed with Ben on this point. Good on some people for finding a silver lining in this whole crazy situation, but that in no way made Miss Tairee's boss a good person. And Miss. Tairee wasn't smelling so sweet either.
Ben mentioned going off to find the rest of his Omnitrix, and Spyro figured it'd probably be a good idea to go with. "We'll come with" Spyro said, Sparx and him walking over to Ben. "Better than standing around and doing nothing." Spyro never could stand still when there was heroing to be done. Heck, he could never stay still to begin with. He just wasn't the type.
edited 12th Jul '17 12:48:21 AM by Dezmo
Cole looked up at Miss Tairee for a moment, still sniffling, eyes going a bit wider when she mentioned that she had a way to make him a real human boy, with a real family, and not have to go back to Thedas. Did...did she really mean that? She had said something before about asking her for help, asking anyone, not just accepting that he would have to go back to everything as it were, or to lose all of this...could this...really be real?
She said that he would have to be okay with it, and the other person would have to be as well, which...maybe it would be Sans? He could accept that, absolutely, maybe Sans wouldn't like it very much but he would accept it, he knew Sans would. Ben? Ben was hard to understand sometimes but he was caring, and he meant well, and he'd been very excited to teach Cole about "comic books"...there were so many options. Caro? Rex? Lewis? Arcade? That would be a rough one for them both, he thought. Maybe even Miss Tairee herself? ...there would be problems with any of them, and some of the people in the city might not, but...but surely if they understood, if he could explain to them that he would be able to stay out of the way, that he could stay out of trouble, he would be good, he knew he would be, it wouldn't be so bad no matter where it was, he might just be a human child, but he could help, he was willing to help anyone however he could, it would be a new chance, it would be-
Miss Tairee, voice fading out, turned, and she pointed.
To Mary.
Cole's face was clearly confused for a moment, looking towards the blonde, now-human girl, as though for just a few seconds, he really didn't understand what he was seeing. He looked from her, back to Miss Tairee, then back to Mary, blinking a few times, looking like he just couldn't make the connection.
There was a long, long second of just staring at Mary uncomprehendingly.
The tears hadn't stopped, not from before, even as the hopeful feelings had come up from Miss Tairee's initial words. They had slowed, somewhat, as he tried to imagine what he might be able to do, with what new future might be in front of him. But now, after that long, long second, Cole just...
...smiled.
It was a shaky thing, but a smile spread on his face, quivering even as he looked at Mary longer, tears welling up fresh, despite the expression.
"...I understand."
He reached back, bracing his hands to push himself to his feet, staggering just ever so slightly as he stood. "No, I...I-I-I understand now. I...I understand. It...it was her, always, wasn't it. It was...it has always been about her, every...everything, this, what happened, it..."
Cole looked back at Miss Tairee, still smiling, even as his voice broke faintly on his words. "Th-thank you...thank you for the...the new amulet. ...thank you for...for the offer. No. ...it's no. It...it isn't for me. It...it never was going to be, was it. I...this is...it...it always comes back to her, everything...everything that could have been for...it. It...no. Thank you. ...I am leaving now. I do not want to be stopped. Thank you."
With that same peculiar expression fixed on his face, and still crying, silently, with no outward sign of sobs or any emotion beyond that determined effort at a smile, Cole took a couple steps back and turned for the nearest door without another word.
Morty followed Rick as his grandfather swept out into the main foyer of the building... only to be confronted with yet another surreal scene, one that almost rivalled the sheer absurdity group of random characters who were currently providing emotional support for a crying snake-lady.
Dave was carrying what looked like an upside-down gumball machine and industriously shaking it loose. Morty stared, squinted, and turned his head quizzically.
"W-w-why are you- why are you fixing a gumball machine?" he blurted out after a second of observation. Then, after another second of observation, he felt like a colossal idiot - he was actually looking at a very small, very oddly shaped robot.
Morty had seen robots before, of course; it seemed like most of the civilized galaxy beyond Earth seemed to rely on them. They ran the gamut from "vaguely-humanoid" to "completely utilitarian" and every variation in between. Still, Morty had never quite seen a group of robots as... well, as strange as the quartet, or the bleary-eyed jumpsuited man who seemed to be fussing over them.
Collectively, the mismatched robots - what were they made from, anyway? - would probably make Louis Sullivan spin in his grave. At any rate, Rick didn't really seem to give them a moment's notice. "1988 *urp* called, they want their robots back." he brayed as he headed for the door. "Let's go, Morty."
"W-w-wait- why is the robot vomiting?"
"I dunno, Morty, wh- oh wait, this isn't a, a, a joke setup. Let's go."
edited 11th Jul '17 7:05:12 PM by Locoman
"Look, I just want to talk to him. And could you tell your dad to stop trying to make a point? Time and place, man" Elias was really starting to get annoying and a bit hypocritical in Rex's eyes.
Anyway, Lewis wanted a phone and Tairee was right there listening to the conversation. There wasn't much to add.
"You heard the guy" he told the librarian.
But she was too busy doing something else. Namely, telling Cole that the solution to his problems back home was living in a different world altogether. Whose world? Well...
"...what the fuck?"
Yeah, for some reason getting him to Mary's world seemed like a cruel joke rather than an actual solution.
"Really?" Rex looked at Tairee, his face clearly showing her actions were incredibly stupid. This was either the worst practical joke in history or a non-valid solution. Either way it wasn't fun telling Cole about it. Rex ran after Cole, trying to catch up to him before he could leave through the door "Wait wait wait. Don't listen to her, man. She's just trying to mess with you"
Eve|Outside Library|In A Better Time, She Would Be Snarking About This
Arcade was eating sand. Actual sand. This was new. But the coat was edible. So maybe the dirt was too? Eve slowly bent down and poked a finger into the sand, licking the grains off. It was sugar. Actual sugar. "...weird...."
[TOP SECRET]

Arcade smiled, glad that Eve was putting in the effort. He stood up, making sure to keep contact with her, and tried to help her to her feet.
"We should probably tell Ben," he suggested, "or we could go with him and help protect people. Whatever you'd rather do."
I say that aloud too sometimes, just: "man, no life."