(Daedalus)

 inb4 Dane and Nato fight. *grabs popcorn*

Thank you, Miras, for making me laugh.

I liked these:    

IC: Trauer

Trauer swayed on his feet. He could feel the light behind him. Its comfort. Its warmth. He wanted that, but he needed what lay in the darkness.

And just what is that?

Strength.

Trauer swallowed. He didn't really know that, now did he? There could just be Rahkshi, Skakdi, and a large mechanical being that could crush him with little effort. Pain. Suffering. Death.

But the others had sought something. Something that they were willing to risk their lives over. That Skorm had been nearly crushed and he still desired some of that--what was it called? Antidermis?

A taste.

I want that.

Trauer shivered and stepped into the darkness.

I will find strength.

Ah. Well, let's just imagine Ingrayv is occasionally as stupid as he tries to look.

IC: Von Worten (Queen's Quest)

I was still on my hand and knees, with my right arm clutching my book against my chest. When one of the Shataiki fired a blast at me, I rolled toward my right shoulder, barely managing to dodge the attack. Unfortunately, I blocked my view of the Shataiki, as I rolled in such a way that a rather thick tree stood between me and my foes. Noctomas appeared to be able to see them, however, as he continued to attack. I tried for the first time since I had collapsed to stand, and I was halfway up when the being appeared.

I froze when his mind spoke into mine. I recognized it from earlier. I did not want to speak to this being--I certainly did not want to "chat"--but I was strangely curious. What would Teelah want with us? Why would he deign to speak to us?

My curiosity got the better of me.

Chat about what?

OOC: Von Worten mind-speaking to the golden being.

OOC: The text Ascension and Oblitus are using to communicate would be unfamiliar to Ingrayv, right? I seem to remember Oblitus having to learn the alphabet when they first interacted.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Ascension)

I watch with boredom as text appears on a screen and Oblitus types something onto a keyboard. I don't understand whatever language they are using, and nothing in the emotionless text conveys any meaning to me. However, Oblitus' words to me and Olis give me some idea as to the nature of the brief conversation.

"I don' particlarly cayuh fuh riches, bu' I wouldn' min' wha's in stoh fuh yuh," I say, following Oblitus. Over my shoulder, I say, "An' wha' 'bou' yuh, Olis?"

Cool, that's what I hoped.

IC: Von Worten (Queen's Quest)

My body had still not fully recovered when one of the robots pointed its staffs at me and fired something. I tried to throw myself sideways to avoid the blast, but my body did not respond. I considered screaming, but I knew it would do no good. Besides, I didn't know if I could muster the strength.

However, I was quite confused when the blast struck me. I had expected a surge of pain (and perhaps not even that, as I was sure the blast had the potential to kill me), but I felt nothing of the sort. Instead, I felt a strange swirling in my mind. Trees began to grow rapidly around me, some from the floor, some from the walls, and some from the ceiling. Their leaves were lush and vivid, and for a brief moment, I was struck by the beauty of it all. I knew this place. I had walked this forest before, this forest with its strangely growing trees and its multicolored leaves. In fact, I could hear Thomas' voice calling out to me from somewhere in the distance. I wanted so desperately to find him, to seek his comfort.

At the same time, however... I knew that I could not do that. Not yet. There were enemies here. Shataiki. I had never seen them before, but the three beings that stood before me must be Shataiki. They were not allowed within the colored forest. I had to stop them. No, not I. We. Noctomas and I, because he was not in the distance, but in front of me. Yes, we would do this together.

I caught sight of one of the Shataikis' staffs and reached out with my mind. I grabbed onto the staff and tried to shove it violently backward at the Shataiki, hoping to harm it.

OOC: Von Worten fighting the Keerakh.

IC: Trauer

Rest turned to sleep, sleep turned to dreams. In the light of the sun and the shadow of beauty, Trauer slept and dreamed.

He dreamed of the dark. Of darkness. Of love. Of sorrow. Of pain.

Of weakness.

He screamed and struggled within the inky blackness of his mind, drifting through memories of things he could not control. His heart wretched and expelled his love into a broken and absent vessel, a vessel broken and stolen that could have been mended and returned. But one had denied him that singular comfort, and his love spilled into the nothingness, never to be held by another and never to be retrieved.

With his own vessel empty, there was a vacancy, a room that needed filling. But the vacancy endured, and a hunger drove Trauer to aimless wandering.

To this temple to the one who should have been able to help, but who had really been the problem all along. To a heretical priest whose strange view of morality tried to fill the emptiness within Trauer, but struck the bottom the bottom and evaporated instantly. The vapor satisfied the need for a while, but it so quickly escaped. Left the hole behind.

He was still empty, here, in the shadow of light, of good.

In the mouth of evil.

Trauer's eyes snapped open. During his rest--if it could be called that--he had ended up in a fetal position. His rapid breathing accompanied a shivering chill.

He ached.

Trauer unfolded his body and rolled onto his back. He was still cold and still breathing hard, but he could feel himself calming. Warming.

Hate.

He sat up, realizing that he needed to move. He didn't have a destination in mind, he just needed to move.

He scrambled to his feet and started walking, his eyes fixed on the ground. His pace was too quick and he knew he should be worried about walking into something, but some strange instinct was driving his body. His consciousness lagged behind, watching indifferently as his body--no, his soul--moved forward, some unknown purpose in mind.

Darkness.

Trauer's body stopped, and his mind caught up to his body--soul. He looked up and found himself staring into into the entrance to the Dark Walk.

It's down there. What you need? It's down there.

Trauer shuddered. What do I need?

A taste.

Okay, before I respond to the attack against Von Worten, I have a (possibly strange) question. Before I ask, though, I'd like to point out that according to BS01, the Keerakhs' Staffs of Confusion "had the ability to distort a target's sense of time and place. This had the effect of so disorienting them that they could not cause any more trouble." Now, take note of the bolded portions of Von Worten's bio below:

Bio: Worten doesn’t remember much about her past, and what she does remember is so tangled up with tales from her book that she doesn’t speak much about it. She was an excellent fighter for many years, but slow, mental deterioration (for reasons unknown) has taken its toll. She is constantly weeping. She can still hold her own, but the teleportation to this new place has worsened her state. She understands what is going on enough to function, but her mind is constantly weaving in and out of a fantasy world. Whatever physical weapons she might once have wielded have long been lost, and she must rely on her mask and elemental powers.
 

I have not done the best job portraying this when writing her, but essentially, Von Worten's sense of time and place is already a little distorted. She constantly sees things that aren't there and she sees and experiences the past (which is a little confused at best) quite often. Granted, I pointed out in her bio that she is kind of aware of all this, but it still happens.

So my question is this: What exactly would a Staff of Confusion do to Von Worten? I would like to think that it will worsen her condition somewhat, but due to her familiarity with it, she will still be able to function well enough to fight. However, I don't want to just write that in and have to fix it later. Thoughts?*

*Of course, this all depends on whether or not the Keerakh is actually using Staffs of Confusion.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Ascension)

I keep quiet and stay behind Oblitus. He's been here before, so I assume that he at least has some knowledge of where he's going and what he's doing. I hold a flame in my right hand to give our immediate area some illumination and to keep my cigarettes lighted. I catch brief glimpses of creatures just outside the influence of our lights--manas, I assume--but they make no move.

Strange.

We enter a room that Oblitus seems to recognize.

"'Anyone,'" eh? Dis 'anyone' happen tuh be da senchent buillin' o' yuhs?"

IC: Von Worten (Queen's Quest)

I was still breathing heavily, but I no longer felt as if I was not breathing at all. However, I was still quite shaken, and I could not bring myself to stand. I looked up and peeked past Nocton at the robotic creatures. I did not know what they were, but being robotic himself, maybe Nocton knew.

What are they? I projected to Nocton.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Ascension)

That isn't helpful. I guess we just have to wait and watch.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Ascension)

"An' jus' wha' do dese 'elvators" do?" I ask.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Ascension)

Fancy place, I think to myself as I tap ash off my cigarette onto the floor. I have no idea what lies ahead, but I withdraw my greypowder pistol. Just in case.

IC: Von Worten (Queen's Quest)

My body responded poorly to my breathless running, and I soon found myself stumbling to my knees. I sucked deeply at the air, desperate to fill my lungs.

I almost stopped when visibility returned.

The sheer surprise of my sudden ability to see was enough for the temporary halt, but if it were not for my body's desperate need of air, I would have stopped longer upon seeing the mechanical creatures. I knew nothing of their purpose or function, but I could only imagine that they sought to harm us. Either they just happened to appear at this moment, or we had tripped the alarm system anyway. Either way, I could see no means of avoiding them.

Fighting them, however, would prove difficult. I was still in the process of recovering, and I could not think of any effective attack on my part. My mask my prove useful, but short of trying to telekinetically crush them (a difficult, if not impossible, prospect), I could not think of a way to use my psionic abilities against the mechanical creatures.

I crawled behind Nocton; a cowardly move, perhaps, but I was not trying to impress anyone. He was more fit to fight these things, and I might be able to help him.

I tried to ignore a familiar taste in my mouth.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Ascension Exterior)

I drop ever so gracefully out of Irene and stumble forward a few steps. When I regain my balance, I straighten lazily and look out over the structure below.

"How we ge' inside?" I ask. This talk about loot doesn't interest me much. I'll take things as quickly as the next person, but in the end, things are things to me. If I have them, great, if not, that's one fewer thing I have to worry about.

IC: Von Worten (Queen's Quest)

In most situations, I try to think things through and act accordingly. However, Nocton's sudden burst of power rattled me significantly, and as soon as everything went black (a result, I assumed, of his shadow powers) and he yelled for me to run, I panicked and ran.

I ran quite literally blindly, unable to see and, for some curious reason, unable to hear (his Gem of Silence came to mind, but I could not fathom the reason for his using it). I simply ran forward, hoping his powers had accomplished whatever he had hoped to accomplish.

Of course, I was, by my estimation, about halfway through the laser area before I realized I had left my book behind.

Some of you might wonder what exactly I like about this particular book. You might wonder why I hold it so dear to me. I have many reasons for this, but chief among them is that it was, and is, a faithful companion. It spoke to me in ways no other living being ever could, and I survived, I am not afraid to say, because I had that book. Of Tales Long and Short, for Reading and Cogitation: A Book of Stories is a friend, and I would not leave it behind for anything.

So it was that I abruptly stopped and spun around, realizing too late that my inability to see made the action unnecessary. I could not run back and retrieve it, both because I could not see well enough to do so, and also because whatever had produced the light and heat was rapidly approaching. I had only my mind to rely on.

I probed away and downward, pressing against the floor and feeling for any irregularity. I am not the best judge of distance, and in my panicked state, I probed wildly. As time passed and all I felt were the housings for the lasers, my panic grew. I could feel the rapidity and urgency of my tears increase, and my chest began to heave with unheard sobs. I felt like I had after that one time, when I had eaten...

"Don't you see? It's got to be one of us. You or me. There's no way around it. You eat, or I do, and I'm sorry, love, but I don't want to die like that."

"But... you'd do that to me?"

"Don't act a saint. You'd do it to me."

"No! I'd never eat--!"

"Don't lie, love. It's unbecoming."

"But I... I wouldn't... couldn't... I don't think... Oh, please drop the knife."

"No can do, honey."

"Please! You'll force me, and I can't do that. Please!"

"Sorr--y? Do... do you see that? There's an animal over there! An actual, real animal! Quick, let's get--ACH!"

Crying. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But you were right. By Artakha you were right! I have to..."

I screamed into the nothingness. My mind slammed against my book. In my pain and despair I yanked it toward me, not caring that it knocked the wind out of me as it collided with my stomach. I double over, wrapped my arms around the book, turned, and ran. I didn't know if I was going in the right direction, but at the moment, I didn't care. I was running without the air to help me run, and the pain kept the memories away.

Daedalus and 000, Tiragath has said he hasn't got anything else planned for us, so we're free to go to Ascension. Once you guys give me the green light, I'll timeskip us there, if that works for you guys?

Works for me. I'll try to post saying Ingrayv is on the move, but if I don't, just bunny him along.

Impenetrable magic cheese. As armor. For a tank.

I thought for sure that was going to be approved.

IC: Von Worten (Queen's Quest)

"Oh dear."

Why I spoke those words shall, I think, remain a mystery, but I suppose they do, in a sense, capture the sudden realization on my part that things would quickly turn bad for me and Nocton. It was not all bad, however, because it snapped us out of our strange reverie, and Nocton immediately covered the first laser.

With his part done, I realized it was my turn to act. I was nervous--terribly so--and I fear I did not hide it well. I remembered that it seemed easier in the past to telekinetically move objects with my hands outstretched toward them, so I was forced (though not literally forced, of course) to set my book upon the floor. I stretched my arms out toward Nocton and reached out with my mind. I took a deep breath...

And lifted.

He was heavy, though not necessarily heavier than I had expected. I instantly felt insecure about my ability to hold him and move him for any length of time, but my worrying took up previous brain power, and I immediately pushed such thoughts aside. I concentrated and began to move Nocton forward. I moved him slowly, for both our sakes. I did not want to overextend my powers, nor did I want to rush him. After all, he would need to keep switching which laser he needed to shield.

I got him past the first laser, so that was good. I just hoped that whatever was behind us would not catch us before I got him past the rest.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Vingt)

"Soun's like a plan," I say.

I turn back in the direction I had come from. I really have no idea how we will find Olis, but it wouldn't hurt to try the same thing I had tried to find Oblitus. Just start walking.

I set off, looking in every direction in hopes of seeing Olis.

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Vingt)

I've heard that before. Said it a few times myself, and look where I am.

"One can 'ope, eh?" I let go of Irene's controls long enough to withdraw a cigarette and light it. I inhale deeply. "We shou' prolly ge' a move on, bu' whey Olis, you thin'?"

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Vingt)

"Ah don' mean tuh judge, if das wha' ah's doon; ah's jus' curious 'bou' yuh methods," I say, shrugging. "Hones', I don' cayuh very much. If you's happy wi' it, ain' no reason fuh me no' tuh be."

I look through the jungle toward Vingt proper. "Tru' is, ah know whey yuh's commin' from. Ah use' tuh be da exac' sem way. Once ah go' ol'er, kind o' settle down, ah jus' stopped carin'." I absently raise an eyebrow. "Who knows how ah've stayed alive an' free long as ah haf."

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Vingt)

I blink.

He wants to get rid of the evidence, so he buries the dead body and makes sure it doesn't look like the earth has been disturbed. Then, after stressing that he really wants to hide this whole incident... he throws the torso of the Exosuit up into the trees. Where its weight could send it crashing back down to the ground.

Granted, it could be some time before that happens, so no one will necessarily connect it to Oblitus, but still.

Eh. Whatever.

"Righ'," I say, slowly turning from my long stare. "You's gon' haf tuh tek cayuh o' dese other pieces, dough." I hold up Irene's claw hand and drill hand. "I ain' go' da righ' implemens."

IC: Einefus Ingrayv (Vingt)

I pause long enough for Oblitus to weaken the armor, and then resume dismembering it. The three legs come off with little difficulty, as does the other arm.

I step back. The smaller pieces will definitely make this easier, but we still have to worry about the bulkier torso of the suit. Unless...

"Wha' ya thin'? Thin' we ca' separate dis torso ayeuh intuh smaller pieces, too?" I ask.