One by one, the Slates walk toward the Doorway. As each nears it, another tendril of frame rips into existence around them, bleeding away a little more color, slowing time as its machinery twines through the fabric of reality.
When the last last Slate reaches the Doorway, there is a great, rolling roar - tumblers falling into place in a lock the size of a sun. A sliver of light traces across the center of the red gate, widening as the doors glide open. The light grows, spreading out across the now-gray world, casting strange, shivering shadows.
One by one, the Slates enter. As the last of them steps through, the doors slam shut and the frame begins to buckle. The fractal veins pull themselves from the skin of reality, leaving hollow tunnels where they once were. They retract into the flickering mass of facets, the impossible machinery winding down, collapsing in on itself.
The world slows to a stop. Gray and cold. Heihter Gaht stares on, frozen, as the Doorway vanishes.
Of course, the Slates see none of that.
The Doorway slams shut, with a deafening boom that sets the Slates' ears ringing. The pain reappears then, and, as a family, they drop to their knees, their heads swimming, their vision blurring. It builds, almost unbearable, and then... it passes. The noise and pain break like a fever, the darkness receding from their eyes.
The smell of burning city, blood, and smoke are gone, replaced by the suspiciously sterilized scent of airports and hospitals. The cold gray light of the world winding down is pulled away, and everything goes red.
A corridor of glossy, dark red plastic stretches out ahead of the Slates, a solid wall of the the stuff behind them. Ahead of them, the hallway ends abruptly in an uneven ledge, overlooking a vast chamber - a hexagonal shaft, a mile or more across, extending up and down for as far as the eye can see.
Slabs of plastic float through the empty space, carried by massive, articulated arms, surfaces glowing as they're presses together, fusing the pieces together. The arms twirl and reach into the darkness below, drawing another piece and pressing it into place. Corridors take shape, rooms, antechambers, patterns forming from the seemingly mindless business of the vast limbs.
Suddenly, the arms stop moving. Two of them tremble, and retreat into the dark, returning with two long slabs of floor. They press them into the ledge in front of the Slates, one after the other, a pathway forming out over the abyss. The arms twirl their multi-jointed hands, and settle beside the walkway, resting like abstract statuary on either side of the path, casting twisted shadows across the red plastic.
Daniel sees him first, but soon all the Slates notice him.
The ride to the ground floor is brief, but the elevator music is catchy.
The door opens on another corridor identical to the one you just left. Variety! Also, there are two guards standing there. They stare at you as the doors open.
“Hey, wait a minute-” one of them starts, grabbing his sidearm.
I've been on a self-imposed slate gray blackout so I enter PSG completely fresh and free of preconceived notions. I am not sure if this is a good idea.
Jane just glares at him. "Drop it. There's two of you, four of us, one of whom that is strong enough to shatter our manacles and break us out. Do you like those odds?
AntimatterDevo Was RightGates of SteelRegistered Userregular
(Maddie) 0010 [Aerotech][Very Pretty][Very Dangerous] [Technopathic] [Familial Frenzy]
[i: Expensive Outfit, Aerotech Armature]
"Hey! It's about time we got answers, and you look like a guy with them. Step forward, step into the light."
The man's lips move constantly, twisting through strange shapes and sounds, but there is a smile on his face. He reaches down and adjusts his cuffs, his collar. Straightens his tie. This was a very important day!
The figure steps forward out of the shadows
and for the first time, I step into the light.
"Hello, Slates," I say, beaming. "It's wonderful to finally meet you."
I turn to Penny. "I'm not sure I can answer that. I've never really needed a name before. I'm... your opposite. I am push, you are pull. We have been doing this for a very long time. You are the ones with names."
"Because you're you, Jake." The arms retreat from their position at my side and return to their previous work. "You, all of you, are alone. Special. You have the spark no one else in any of the worlds has had. That thing that always makes you special. Makes you powerful."
I walk forward and put a hand on Jake's shoulder. "You are the free ones." I smile at Raeger. "This is why we've done this for so long."
Turning around, I walk away, gesturing absently. "Back and forth, back and forth. The Sun and The Moon. I make a place, and you appear. I create enemies to pursue, you run. I make targets that flee, you give chase. I set up the pieces and you knock them down. Worlds created and torn apart because between us, because that's the only thing that really gives them any meaning. Without you, I am nothing, and without me, you are nowhere."
I look back to Penny, following her gaze over the tower. "This isn't it. This is... something new. I've been building, you see.
"You may call me whatever you like, Daniel. Penny did. I haven't really thought about it much."
"No one has come before you, Maddie. Well, not you, at least."
AntimatterDevo Was RightGates of SteelRegistered Userregular
(Maddie) 0010 [Aerotech][Very Pretty][Very Dangerous] [Technopathic] [Familial Frenzy]
[i: Expensive Outfit, Aerotech Armature]
Maddie frowns. "It's just a game, isn't it? That's all there is for us."
I smile and shake my head at Penny. "No. I rather like it. Besides, it serves a function."
I look to Maddie. "Don't say it as if it's some terrible thing. You are very good at the game, all of you. I was just tired of standing on the sidelines. That's why I've done this. That's why I brought you here. Why I built here. So we wouldn't need to lie anymore. So I can give you all the freedom you need."
I put my hands out and wiggle my fingers. "So I don't have to be the bad guys anymore."
I look to Jake. "But you aren't, because you're still here. I have no power to hold you. No power to keep you here." The arms assemble a large room somewhere in the darkness below. "They were meant to be opposition, Penny, if not outright evil. They served a purpose. A bigger purpose than I had set out for them, I will admit."
Posts
Scratch that, I just hate extremely cold weather. Ugh.
http://deicidecomic.tumblr.com/
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[Swordsman] [ Indefatigable ] [Cannoneer] [Egotistical] [Stubborn] [Secretive]
[Mechano Arm]
Boom produces a handkerchief to clean his runny nose. The handkerchief is bloodstained.
"Anywhere safe and quiet will be welcome," he croaks.
When the last last Slate reaches the Doorway, there is a great, rolling roar - tumblers falling into place in a lock the size of a sun. A sliver of light traces across the center of the red gate, widening as the doors glide open. The light grows, spreading out across the now-gray world, casting strange, shivering shadows.
One by one, the Slates enter. As the last of them steps through, the doors slam shut and the frame begins to buckle. The fractal veins pull themselves from the skin of reality, leaving hollow tunnels where they once were. They retract into the flickering mass of facets, the impossible machinery winding down, collapsing in on itself.
The world slows to a stop. Gray and cold. Heihter Gaht stares on, frozen, as the Doorway vanishes.
Of course, the Slates see none of that.
The Doorway slams shut, with a deafening boom that sets the Slates' ears ringing. The pain reappears then, and, as a family, they drop to their knees, their heads swimming, their vision blurring. It builds, almost unbearable, and then... it passes. The noise and pain break like a fever, the darkness receding from their eyes.
The smell of burning city, blood, and smoke are gone, replaced by the suspiciously sterilized scent of airports and hospitals. The cold gray light of the world winding down is pulled away, and everything goes red.
A corridor of glossy, dark red plastic stretches out ahead of the Slates, a solid wall of the the stuff behind them. Ahead of them, the hallway ends abruptly in an uneven ledge, overlooking a vast chamber - a hexagonal shaft, a mile or more across, extending up and down for as far as the eye can see.
Slabs of plastic float through the empty space, carried by massive, articulated arms, surfaces glowing as they're presses together, fusing the pieces together. The arms twirl and reach into the darkness below, drawing another piece and pressing it into place. Corridors take shape, rooms, antechambers, patterns forming from the seemingly mindless business of the vast limbs.
Suddenly, the arms stop moving. Two of them tremble, and retreat into the dark, returning with two long slabs of floor. They press them into the ledge in front of the Slates, one after the other, a pathway forming out over the abyss. The arms twirl their multi-jointed hands, and settle beside the walkway, resting like abstract statuary on either side of the path, casting twisted shadows across the red plastic.
Daniel sees him first, but soon all the Slates notice him.
Standing there in the shadows.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
http://www.audioentropy.com/
The door opens on another corridor identical to the one you just left. Variety! Also, there are two guards standing there. They stare at you as the doors open.
“Hey, wait a minute-” one of them starts, grabbing his sidearm.
de?ad's game: climax, revelation, interdimensional intrigue
my game: drab hallways, elevator music, three-line updates
GoFund The Portland Trans Pride March, or Show It To People, or Else!
Jane just glares at him. "Drop it. There's two of you, four of us, one of whom that is strong enough to shatter our manacles and break us out. Do you like those odds?
[Aerotech][Very Pretty][Very Dangerous] [Technopathic] [Familial Frenzy]
[i: Expensive Outfit, Aerotech Armature]
"Hey! It's about time we got answers, and you look like a guy with them. Step forward, step into the light."
[Barbarian][Hardcore][Raw Brawn]
[i: Ji, Incriminating Letter x 3, Yahnese Battle Axe Haft, Tsunomi REflex Chain-Sickle]
Penelope turns around, finds the way back closed off, pivots on her heel, and advances on this shadowguy.
"Who the fuck're you?"
Steam
Steam
Raeger 5 6 16
[General][Refined][Cute][Gaping Chest Wound][Familial Frenzy]
[i: General's Outfit]
"Hello, what's this?" Raeger asks. Everything's gone all crazy and red. He's somewhat surprised by this.
http://deicidecomic.tumblr.com/
READ MY COMIC ^^
The figure steps forward out of the shadows
and for the first time, I step into the light.
"Hello, Slates," I say, beaming. "It's wonderful to finally meet you."
I turn to Penny. "I'm not sure I can answer that. I've never really needed a name before. I'm... your opposite. I am push, you are pull. We have been doing this for a very long time. You are the ones with names."
I'm So Meta Even This Acronym
That's a reveal.
http://deicidecomic.tumblr.com/
READ MY COMIC ^^
[GeoTech][?][?][Telekinesis][Shoulder Wound]
[i: Eco-Friendly Outfit, Modded Tyson G3 Greaves (Geocore)][Katano][White Stone Gauntlets]
"Why us?"
[General][Refined][Cute][Gaping Chest Wound][Familial Frenzy]
[i: General's Outfit]
"Wait, you don't have a name, my good man? That's a bit odd, what?
Tell me, what is the meaning of all this?"
http://deicidecomic.tumblr.com/
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[Barbarian][Hardcore][Raw Brawn]
[i: Ji, Incriminating Letter x 3, Yahnese Battle Axe Haft, Tsunomi REflex Chain-Sickle]
"Your name's Percival." Peneleope's eyes trace over the immediate area. "This it?"
Steam
[Man's-Man] [Dexterous] [Rugged]
[I: Traveler's Gear(EQUIPPED), Kimano, Nitchi razR Shortsword, Areathena Recurve 10-20 Shortbow]
"No name...? What should we call you then?" Dan is shocked, to say the least. No name?!
[Aerotech][Very Pretty][Very Dangerous] [Technopathic] [Familial Frenzy]
[i: Expensive Outfit, Aerotech Armature]
Maddie blinks. "How long? Who's come before us?"
I walk forward and put a hand on Jake's shoulder. "You are the free ones." I smile at Raeger. "This is why we've done this for so long."
Turning around, I walk away, gesturing absently. "Back and forth, back and forth. The Sun and The Moon. I make a place, and you appear. I create enemies to pursue, you run. I make targets that flee, you give chase. I set up the pieces and you knock them down. Worlds created and torn apart because between us, because that's the only thing that really gives them any meaning. Without you, I am nothing, and without me, you are nowhere."
I look back to Penny, following her gaze over the tower. "This isn't it. This is... something new. I've been building, you see.
"You may call me whatever you like, Daniel. Penny did. I haven't really thought about it much."
"No one has come before you, Maddie. Well, not you, at least."
[Barbarian][Hardcore][Raw Brawn]
[i: Ji, Incriminating Letter x 3, Yahnese Battle Axe Haft, Tsunomi REflex Chain-Sickle]
"Fire your architect."
Steam
[General][Refined][Cute][Gaping Chest Wound][Familial Frenzy]
[i: General's Outfit]
Raeger claps his hands together at Penny's suggestion. "Percival is a wonderful name! But he'll need a surname. It wouldn't be proper otherwise."
He looks around the room. "Hmmm. Percival.... Dred. Yes, your name is Percival Dred!"
Edit: Oh well look at that, one moment.
http://deicidecomic.tumblr.com/
READ MY COMIC ^^
[Aerotech][Very Pretty][Very Dangerous] [Technopathic] [Familial Frenzy]
[i: Expensive Outfit, Aerotech Armature]
Maddie frowns. "It's just a game, isn't it? That's all there is for us."
I look to Maddie. "Don't say it as if it's some terrible thing. You are very good at the game, all of you. I was just tired of standing on the sidelines. That's why I've done this. That's why I brought you here. Why I built here. So we wouldn't need to lie anymore. So I can give you all the freedom you need."
I put my hands out and wiggle my fingers. "So I don't have to be the bad guys anymore."
[GeoTech][?][?][Telekinesis][Shoulder Wound]
[i: Eco-Friendly Outfit, Modded Tyson G3 Greaves (Geocore)][Katano][White Stone Gauntlets]
"Maybe nowhere sounds nice. Maybe I'm tired of all this craziness!"
[Barbarian][Hardcore][Raw Brawn]
[i: Ji, Incriminating Letter x 3, Yahnese Battle Axe Haft, Tsunomi REflex Chain-Sickle]
"No accounting for taste." Penny runs a finger under her chin.
"Those red bastards where supposed to be the bad guys?"
Steam
[Aerotech][Very Pretty][Very Dangerous] [Technopathic] [Familial Frenzy]
[i: Expensive Outfit, Aerotech Armature]
"One last thing. Well, more than one, but they're related. The powers. Our pasts. Exposition, please."
Twitch (I stream most days of the week)
Twitter (mean leftist discourse)