seems that way

are we ready to "game on"?

I am

okay.. we ready?

I AM SURE READY

i do be reddy

~~~ IC ~~~

::the evening, sun still fading and leaving a red glow about the city, marches on.....yet all is not quiet.. the rumor of hostages at the starport has spread like a wildfire through the city... igniting panic in the populace and fear in the government as a pack of four under hazat employ race through the streets towards the great building forced to foot by the milling crowds in the streets... waves of people enter the churches looking for absolution in what surely must be a final hour.. for if the spacelanes are threatened, the world cannot be far behind... one warrior amidst the churchgoers hears the description of a woman with a glowing red eye and strangely feels that this involves his tasks... the signs of fate crashing down::

::races towards the starport::

((are we still in our "coldsuits"? what kind of equipment could we get from the Scravers after we were released?))

::the great building looms up by the bay, crowds being held back by a line of hazat-color wearing town guards::

((yes, you're still in your suits, and the equipment you have is what you have.. you've been moving pretty fast, no time for pleasantries))

::you shove your way through the crowds, and find yourselves all moving together, brother battle falling back in with his charges::

((Do I have a rapier?))

((yeah, your sabre is with you))

((then I am invincible!!!!! Hahahahaha))

::aerlyn.. an? feels a touch on his arm, a figure cloaked in coarse linen moves with him::

::stops and turns:: Yes?

::the man quietly speaks:: we must get in

How?

::he shrugs and keeps pace, a woman dressed similarly not far behind::

Thankyou... for everything

::the group pushes through to the line of hazat employed guards at the door::

::seeing the mass of house colors the sergeant in charge steps forward::

Sorry, sirs, lady, we can't let you in.. it's not safe

You think little of my ability, do you, sergeant?

No, sir, it's not that, it's just we arent supposed to risk any more lives...

::unclips his blaster shotgun::

But we have invitations.

I don't have time. I'm trying to save someones life, and if I can't get through here

::just gives the don the strangest look::

I won't be responsible for my actions

::placing hand on An's shoulder:: i cannont let you take a human life

Tut, tut. Let's not be rude, gentle An. Now, sergeant, what exactly were your orders?

::wheels on Aricus:: I don't know who the hell you are, I don't know who this damn An person is, but I will get to this person. Damnit.

::turns and uppercuts the sergent::

::in midsentance takes the punch full in the chin and falls down::

::walks over him helping the two cloaked ones along::

Oh, bother. This has all just gone to hell.

::the remaining guards struggle to calm the chaos so you're free to enter::

it worked did it not

::looks up and smiles:: It did at that.

::when the two robed ones are through, keeps going::

Tsk, tsk, tsk. Think of the rumors this treatment will start.

i will not tell if you dont

::grins slightly:: on the floor... all facing towards the center of the room...

::the starport, familiar in daylight, is not so now... the high vaulted ceilings now sound with panic, and masses of people sit huddled in patches there stands a woman...

::taking in surroundings::

the proportions are distended... body stretched tall, hair a short fuzz, face molded into a picture of aquiline beauty, black charred bodysuit stretched arms and back sliced into a cruel mockery of wings, hanging down limply...

::stops and looks at her dropping the shot gun to the ground with a loud, thud::

::turns to Aricus, talking low:: are you ok?

yet from the red glinting and sparking right eye, the skin tone, subtle features you know this to be elena...

me... oh yeah sure i am fine how are you

in a quiet voice that somehow fills the room she speaks::

::with a smirk::

::sighs:: These balls aren't quite the same as they used to be.

The Pancreator has cursed me many times over... now I will wait for him to come down to parlay with me.. or i will consume his people and myself in all consuming flame... i grow tired of waiting

::slight grin again:: If only Tien were around...

::stands tall and lifts sword igniting it:: EXCUSE ME but thats my god you talking about

::the man in the linen robe interposes himself before Aric:: She knows not what she does friend priest... she is not in command of her mind

::is staring at her::

what has poisioned her mind

::from the far end of the room another is similarly struck by the blasphemy a guard leaps from the crowd, firing his blaster at her dead on in a blur she casually sidesteps the carefully placed shot with a motion he falls to the ground clutching his head in agony::

::falling into a defensive stance almost casually::

i'll try to stop anymore firing, you people do something ::she moves off, non threateningly::

::the linen robed man stares, stunned:: I've never seen any this powerful before

but where does her power come from

What is it?

what is wrong with her?

yes... her power is her own but she cannot control it... and something is trapped in her mind... something deep within... you must find it... will you follow our advice?

::turning to Elena:: What can we do to help, friend Elena?

::almost smiles:: I've known someone like that. Yes... of course.

::elena seems to not even notice the question from the 100 meters away::

::sighs, turns toward the group::

I have nothing better to do

::man and woman nod, carefully the man reaches out and touches the brows of An and Aric::

::slowly the woman touches the shoulders of Ric and Ruiz:

::their eyes flare.. and your senses dim and fade to gray::

::then your minds clear... you stand on a flat metal plane...

::looks around quickly::

it rolls and tumbles with strain.. the sky is dark but flickers with lightning...

::closes his eyes and focuses::

you all feel strangely disconnected..as if dreaming::

::senses alert::

This is the most unusual entertainment I've ever seen.

Entertainment..? ::sighs:: Where are we..?

::superimposed, avatarlike above you all, are images... ricardo is a red hawk, ruiz a burgundy eagle, aric a great egret... an... a shimmering indistinct form::

(( wow vision like huh))

((just like))

::from the haze a figure breaks off.. flickering avatar about it::

::the beautiful woman walks towards you, her pale skin oddly contrasting with her spanish features.. her dark hair patched with streaks of white::

::watches her approach guardedly::

Why have you come? ::the voice is oddly inflected... seeming more like a chorus in harmony than a single speaker::

::turning to An, then to the speaker::

::opens her eyes and looks towards the lady:: I've come to take back my life. And the life of another

But which is yours? Who am I? Is the whole greater than the sum of its parts?

::slightly confused look::

You tell me. Are you greater than what you were?

::the insanity in the eyes stops for a moment, clarity returning:: Help me to remember what is mine and what is not... please?

I will... we can do this. Together.

::you all stand in a room that looks to be part of a starship... engineers crowd around and a doctor screams for room and hot water... "This child is about to be born!"::

::people scramble about, giving you a view of a man holding the hand of his wife...

::watches::

her sighs of labor intense::

::watches also::

::she screams and her voice is joined by that of a child::

::then from a speaker "brace yourselves for jump"::

::another voice from up the hallway screams "no... wait... the damper has been disabled!!!":

::as the ship blurs through the gate the voices merge in a chorus of "SATHRA" save for a mother and child, both still screaming::

::then the woman's voice returns:: Whose?

::the voice waits expectantly for an answer::

Is this a magic lantern show of Elena's life?

This is elena?

No

Whose!?!?

An's...?

((just as a note for those who never got it.. elena is 25, an is 20))

::pleading:: whose?

::closes his eyes and focuses:: Please... help me... ::more to himself:: Elena.

::opens his eyes:: Its elena

::the scene shifts... a baby sits in a daycare.. the man and woman talk to an engineer::

"You two should leave the child with us.. it might require several years of therapy when it's ready, we'll send it home... you have work to do on Aragon"

::the adults take one last look at their child, then walk out::

Whose?

::focuses with his eyes closed, tears rolling down his face::

::turns to An:: This... Is you..? Or Elena...?

Or obelia?  More engineers.... Elena?... Maybe... I don't know my life damnit. ::eyes still closed::

Elena...

Wait... Obeila's sister..?!

No, she's not here. Just the ones who died. My Memories and Obelia's are in Elena's head... anything you know about us will help

::nods slowly, confusion wafting away like a lifting fog:: Ah, I see now my friend. I wil do all that I can to help.

::a little girl, pale of skin, dark of hair, spanish features, sits in an atreum beside her sits a girl of similar age. both wear clothing that is fine but nothing one would expect of a noble... an older girl enters the door on crutches, her leg bandaged... the second girl turns to the first "that will never heal.. she's going to devour the inheritance" and the first girl nods sadly::

Whose?

HaHa. I think I know one of these two...

Obelia.

Exactly. ::grins:: And her sister.

::eyes bluring through the tears, trying hard to concentrate on what he see's::

::a girl looking exactly like the first girl in the previous section...

HaHaHa. Her sister...

this time wearing simple clothing, walks into a small house off of a summer lit street the woman from the beginning sits crying in the midst of a pair of engineers... "my husband......"::

Whose?

Elena.

No.. wait... this is the girl from the last one... No... not hers... Mine.

Then it is yours

::screams like something inhuman:: FATHER!!!

::falls to the ground... throwing up blood and coughing::

::a flitter ship descends towards a planet, the same girl, twice as old, rides in a room an older engineer talks to her "i'm sorry about your father dear... and sorry you had to wait to meet your parents.. we should have brought you before"::

Whose?

Oh my god. We see the same girl, because she can't see herself any differently... Elena's ::stands slowly::

::a ship descends into New Barcelona's starport, and the girl, younger, walks with a group

Oh.... what a devilishly good plot.

She's all three of us.. ::cough::

in gray... one of them turns to her "you're coming to school on leagueheim for a while... your mother will be okay, but she isnt suited to raise you right now"

haha... she's going to be an engineer

as the group passes into the spaceport, a group of engineers, a young spanish girl in tow, walks out, sparing an odd look at the younger girl::

Whose?

::laughs:: What do they call the reeves?

Grey men.

Mine?

Then it is yours

No no no. gray FACES HaHaHa

::Now you're in a small study... books surround you and the girl, the same age... sits in a pile of adventure stories... wistfully she looks up at a window, seeing the green and blue planet rising above. she sighs and goes back to the stories::

Whose?

Where was Obelia from?

HaHaHa ::Claps his hands:: Xanthippe, Xanthippe.

Lord Ric!! Compose yourself..!!! An, she was from a Xanthippe colony, on a moon. That, as you know, is where the Xanthippe base themselves.

This it hers... its Obelia's

::You stand in a cemetary... two women sit before a grave marked only with the engineer's symbol... both sob... the young girl suddenly starts turning up to her mother "i can't see out of my eye" turning you see that both of them have milk white right eyes::

Whose?

Elena's

::You stand in an office, a grayface at the desk, the girl, a bit older, enters the door...

::looks on::

she is becoming quite beautiful, and her hair is lightening "sir.. i know i'm going through changes.. but should this have happened?" she bares the back of her neck, showing the soft dark feathers that are forming on it::

Whose?

::undoes what is left of his shirt and drops it revealing two burned scars on his back::

An's.

Then it is his

::falls to his knees, and crumples into a ball trying to cover himself with his arms::

::sobs:: Don't hit me... please.

::you are in the back of a shuttle, a cargo bay, two young women, surging with excitement, fear, and anxiety, talk quietly of what their new life will entail::

Whose?

Obelia and her sister..?

::starts to get back up:: Obelia's

::the woman, hardly a teenager any longer, stands swathed in the white of a wedding dress and veil... beside her stands a young man, bits of metal visible under his combed hair... the priest blesses them.. they embrace... but the sounds of her sobs are not happy ones... you hear her whisper as they leave "at least now mother will have a place to live"::

Whose?

::stands more upright:: Elena's

::the young teenager debarks from the starship, brushing white hair back over her black cape finding, with disgust, her mother telling fortunes in the city street... living pancreator knows where::

Whose?

::stands straight:: Mine

Then it is yours

Your's, An?

HaHaHa. I know her...

::tries to stand tall and straight but little bit of blood flows out between his lips, and he shudders::

::The young woman peers around the corner, seeing another young woman bearing the garb and mark of a charioteer, talking animatedly with an attractive young hazat noble... "she's finally made her way" she mutters "i'll leave her to her happiness and find my own"::

Whose?

Obelia.

::everyone, of course, recognizes ricardo, some 5 years ago::

::nods, crying softly::

::the doors of the cathedral of New Barcelona fly open wide as the young whiteheaded woman storms out, crying, her cape flaring behind her... you can make out the preacher "and the pancreator is just and merciful..."::

Whose?

An's..?

Mine.

Then it is yours

::tears roll down his face in a steady stream, his hands begin to clench in a fist::

::the young woman walks into an antechamber, out of a floor where a half dozen students are practicing their combat... seeing her sister, eyes red, sitting in a chair... "he left me... after all that talk... i bear his child... he left me without a word... without a reason... i'll never trust again" and she collapses into her sister's arms::

Whose?

Obelia's sister.

Obelia.

::a study you've all been in before.. the woman sits in a chair across the desk from a large but regal man "I don't know why I trust you.. but I do... I think you'll do well... I'll start you off with a small sum at first.. but if you manage it well then who knows?..":

Whose?

Mine.

Then it is yours

::reaches down, grabs hold of the money pouch hanging at his belt::

::he snatches it off and tosses it to the ground::

::The woman embraces her sister "I will see you again soon... I hate to have to do this, and I hope it doesn't fall apart.. but you're right.. we need the money and this is a quick way to get it" the sister's eyes narrow with a grim smile over her shoulder::

Whose?

Obelia's

::nods, head hanging::

::older, the woman sits in her house, staring at the digital clock... "i have his schedule... he's never worked this late before... we're on the same damn assignment... where is he?" she takes a handkerchief but does not seem able to cry::

Whose?

Your's Elena.

::again in the study "My son and his entourage are coming... the boy's quite flighty.. i think he has a lot of potential but he seems dead set on spiting me in every way... i want you to keep an eye on him, keep him focused... i authorize you to spend what you need to ensure that this is a success... but as little frivolity as possible"::

Whose?

Mine

An's

Then it is yours

::the woman sits in the suite of a starliner, staring out at the stars...

::laughs, almost giddy::

"it was very simple... i was just going to take hostages.. but i didnt think about the blood or him... that's too unexpected... El's going to be upset... but I can't follow through now i guess i'll go back to the dojo... think things through"::

Whose?

Obelia's

::the woman pulls herself up off of the floor of a maintenance bay, shaking her head to clear it... she apparently fell, unconscious, and is just waking up... from outside in the cargo bay comes a voice "Tien, what did you see?"::

Whose?

Elena.

::The woman sits in a study, a large tome open before her, illuminated with the wisdom of the omega gospels.. she mutters "know thy enemy" as the door opens and a young hazat dame opens the study door "Hi.. what are you doing in here?"::

Whose?

An..?

::reaches around and pulls out a burnt copy of teachings of the prophet:: Mine

Then it is his

::throws it down::

::The woman sits in a dressing chamber, watching her sister leave... she seems to be concentrating very heavily on her adornments "I know he'll disapprove... I'll just tell him it's mercenary work if he asks... I don't think this will go wrong like the last one"::

Whose?

Obelia.

::looks to Ricardo and tries to smile::

::the woman sits quietly in the darkened room, staring at the chorali asleep across the room "I have a brother...." suddenly she falls unconscious to the bed... some time later she awakes "tien.. what did you see this time?"::

Whose?

Elena...

Elena?

::The woman walks down a corridor to see an immense man, his cloak slipping away from his metal-sheathed flesh... he turns a face that is an older, harder mirror of aricus to her... getting up from setting a last charge "What are you doing?" she asks, shocked... "we have to make an experiment... see if it works..." his eyes harden "i see you're going to try to stop me.. men!"::

Whose?

::looks to Ricardo...::

Obelia.

::three identical figures walk down a dark corridor.. slowly they form away from the amalgam seperating into obelia, elena, and anhetepf as they were last seen... they walk into a lit room, full of technology.. two etyri with blasters stride forward... an sweeps his wings upwards and the aliens bow and stand aside... elena rushes frantically about, while an and obelia do what they can... "i've undone the connection to the other engines... but i dont think that there's time..." she stops as the countdown nears zero and dives towards obelia and an... as the charges explode, sending a wave of fire about the three, contact is made... all three scream in unison as elena's eye flares brilliantly to life of its own accord... the charring figures flare with their own light and as the building explodes upwards... a beam of light, formed purely of mental energy, shoots towards the center of the system::

::laughs:: Ours ::the laughing turns into crying::

::you all sit, slumped, on the floor of the starport, the two robed figures spent before you elena's eye dampens somewhat from the center of the room... "i'm sorry" escapes her lips and she dashes out of the room as a contingent of town guards break into the room, throwing off their inactivity::

::stands with all his energy and hurries over towards Elena::

::moves with all the speed he can, nothing getting in his way:: Pancreator help me....

::tries to catch up with her::

~~~ OOC ~~~

Wow.. Very Keynesian. :) ::grin::

umm.. thanks.. i think

schnikies

lol you're welcome.

okay.. so tom. you positively can't make it next week?

I cannot.

okay.. then we wont play until the 15th and hopefully that means lee will be back too...

this is going to be the climax of pretty much the whole epic...

okay, sounds cool. :)

which is good, because i have two more epics planned after this one :)

yowzers

great..! I'm really beginning to like this one..

That was fun. I liked it, I can finally be me again..

Character, that is. :)

i think the game will go for probably two more sessions...

then we'll have a period of downtime while i plan the next one...

Ok, I'm gonna move on, go to sleep, maybe watch some TV, I'll see you all in two weeks.

Talk to you soon, Cam.

if someone wants to run a short adventure at that point it's all good

Have a good one.

Will, do. Goodnight

night all

Night my man. :)

night

Night, Stephen.