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Episode 2 - Aside 1; Carter City, Greenleaf
Topic Started: Jan 14 2012, 01:35 AM (8,033 Views)
Melody Malone
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8/11/09

Melody had spent the last several hours glaring at her sword. It had never treated her that way before. Never taken control.

It leaned against the wall near the door.

She culd still feel the influence the blade had upon her. Even with out the sword's touch, she could feel the Demon below. She could not pinpoint it, though, yet she refused to touch the thing except in cases of emergency.

She knew they were there before the knock came.

"Do you need assistance?" she heard Barto say.

"It's ok Melody. You had to do what is in your nature. ... We all do." she heard Clare as she next began to sing.

"I'm in the mood for love, simply because you're near me;
Funny but when you're near me, I'm in the mood for love.
Heaven was in your eyes, no longer the stars we're under,
Oh, is it any wonder, I'm in the mood for blood.
Why stop to think of whether this little dream might fade,
We´ve put our hearts together - now we are one, I'm not afraid.
If there's a cloud above, if it should rain, we'll let it.
But for tonight forget it, I'm in the mood for love."


She tried not to listen, to no avail. When was the last time she had felt love.

"Its open" she finally said as she gave the sword one last glare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Mary Galenus
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8/11/09

She opened the book to a seemingly blank page and let her fingers glide over it. She sighed.

"Nothing." she whispered. The Codex had never been blank to her. It would always say something, albeit cryptic or vague, but never had it not say anything. Could that be a hint? The Codex wasn't "talking" to her because of the change that could be happening?

Mary's hands rose to her face and rubbed her eyes. It was at that time that she felt Roland's intense discomfort.

"I'm sorry, Roland," she told him. "Nothing is there."

"Tell me Mary, what is it you seek in this book? I feel I should recognize it, but I cannot recall where."

Mary was glad he asked a question about the Codex. It gave her something else to think about.

"This is the Cimmerian Codex. Passed down through the ages from Caretaker to Caretaker. I am the current one," she explained. "What I seek in this book is knowledge. When I need to know something - an explanation of a demon, an insight on a curse or whatever - the Codex will help me in gaining that knowledge. Sometimes it tells me outright and sometimes it can be a little..." she set her hand down on the open page and paused. There was text there that hadn't been before. Her fingers started over what was laid out to her, but she finished her thought. "vague..."

She quieted as she gave more concentration to what was laid out before her.

A list of names; almost like a family tree. But the "tree" was made of what was basically a thick trunk-like straight line and names listed one on top of another.

Excerpts of poetry relating to the fate of people and how these fates came to be.

Short citations of historical data from ETW to present, in no apparent order. Basically accounts of souls unable to pass from one world to another. And the event of two boats sitting alongside each other.

Then the most clear of them all. An entity. One that guards both sides. One that does the bidding of both sides, but only by their own choice. That entity holds the key to it all. The key that will keep them flying or destroy them all and condemn the 'verse to the demons. The Codex gave them a location for such an entity.

The Nancy Nox.

Mary shivered. Was the Codex warning her about what she could... or would become? Benovolence in conflict with Darkness? Or was there another individual on board that would better fit this description?
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Bartolomeo Columbo
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8/12/09

Bartolomeo entered Melody's room as Clare's singing faded from another part of the ship, "You have injuries. We are landing soon, let me tend to them." After a look towards the sword he did so (with Melody approval). Barto was quick and professional, yet there was a sense he wasn't quite as forgiving as Clare.

As he finished, "The sword is rising to the occasion Melody. You'll have to do so as well."

Then just before he left. "It has a hilt, for your hand." There was a slight condescending tone to his words, with a bit of a warning.

- - -

(Note on the Cimmerian Codex: While parts of it could certainly be seen by others, like the names of Rolands lives... that makes sense,, most of it is just felt by Mary.... though it's her player's book, so I'll leave that to her.
And yes Abbey, that's pretty much it.... Nancy Nox is in the middle, with many of its people torns between sides perhaps... the sides though... are hard to know, the solution vague, if there is one at all. But clearly, nancy nox is to tip the scales... )
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Pepper Anderson
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8/13/09

Was she asking... did she just...? Pepper took an unconcious step back from Mary rather than helping her up and to her room as she'd intended.

Roland came along and took care of that for her and Pepper followed along in a daze, all the other stuff floating off into the background.

Had Mary just asked her to kill her if she turned? That's what it had sounded like. Can't have been. She must have just been asking for help, or something, if it... went wrong. Pepper frowned, not even convincing herself with that lame explaination.

Mary had asked and suddenly Pepper found herself considering it. She trailed into Mary's room and watched the woman as she ran her hands over that odd book of hers. Could she kill her if it came to it? Purely for being a vampire? Clare was a vampire and had managed not to chew on any of the Nox's other passengers yet. Surely Mary wouldn't be so different? Especially not with that calming thing of hers. She could calm herself whenever any urges got too bad. Or just calm the struggling prey instead, said a part of Pepper's mind. She shuddered. The only reason Mary wasn't rampant with the calming as it was was because she had a conscience and knew people didn't like it. Would Vampire Mary still have a conscience? Pepper told the errant part of her thoughts to shut up and mind its own business and tried to focus instead on what was in front of her.

Mary seemed fine. Looked like that book had the same effect on her as she had on other people. She wasn't going to turn. The idea that Pepper would ever have to seriously think about... well, that was stupid. And she pushed it away to listen to what Mary was saying about the Codex.

And Pepper found a whole new thing to think on. Mary had spoken of her book before, that it was a great big accumulation of knowledge, but Pepper hadn't realised quite how it worked before.

"Do you mean you can ask it anything? Anything at all?" Pepper felt a little stir of hope rise in her and quashed it quickly. Yes it would be much nicer to ask a book for information on her ship rather than have to pin down and ask a demon, but it didn't mean it would work. Mary had just said it could be vague.

But it was hard, very hard, not to be hopeful. And for a moment, a whole heap of other questions popped into her head. Those she did push back down again though. As if an other worldly index of all things important would know who her parents were...
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Roland de Bordeaux
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8/14/09

Quote:
 
"This is the Cimmerian Codex. Passed down through the ages from Caretaker to Caretaker. I am the current one," she explained. "What I seek in this book is knowledge. When I need to know something - an explanation of a demon, an insight on a curse or whatever - the Codex will help me in gaining that knowledge. Sometimes it tells me outright and sometimes it can be a little..."


"The book speaks in riddles and metaphor," said Roland understanding more and more what she meant. "And its presence here, a mystery without an answer. But it speaks of a greater destiny, one that involves this ship. Perhaps through its words we can all find salvation."

Quote:
 
"Do you mean you can ask it anything? Anything at all?


"I fear you can ask, but the book will only tell you what it wishes you to know. Am I correct in this statement Mary?"

He found the presence of the fire woman comforting and was glad that she survived relatively intact. Of course she could burn him to a cinder if she wished, but this would only start him on another cycle. He did not fear death as a normal man might and he hoped that he should give the fire woman no cause to ever use her powers against him.
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Mary Galenus
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8/14/09

"The book speaks in riddles and metaphor," said Roland understanding more and more what she meant. "And its presence here, a mystery without an answer. But it speaks of a greater destiny, one that involves this ship. Perhaps through its words we can all find salvation."

"Sometimes it speaks to me that way, but other times it is quite clear. For example, when I came to be on this ship, it was VERY precise. It even included number of steps all the way to the ship," she explained.

"Do you mean you can ask it anything? Anything at all?"

"You can ask, but it doesn't always answer," she explained. "It knows why you need that information, but it also knows when you are ready to handle the revelation it may bring to you. It is quite wise in that fashion, you know, not giving information until you are armed enough to deal with it."

She thought about her question and why the Codex didn't answer it. Perhaps she wasn't ready to know that she was changing or perhaps she needed to wait to see how she was going to react to the experience. Mary didn't know. She just wished the Codex would tell her a "yes" or "no."

"And it is very, very seldom that anyone besides me sees anything in the Codex, but it has been rumored that it is possible for someone else to see glimpses."

Mary was tired, very tired.

"I need to rest for a bit," she said as she put the Codex on the dresser. She turned to Pepper. "Pepper, could you stay for a while, just in case I need you?"

She was referring to what she asked Pepper to do for her if she changed. She'd rather have someone there who could stop her if it happened.
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Pepper Anderson
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8/17/09

Quote:
 
"You can ask, but it doesn't always answer," she explained. "It knows why you need that information, but it also knows when you are ready to handle the revelation it may bring to you. It is quite wise in that fashion, you know, not giving information until you are armed enough to deal with it."


Oh, you gotta love this supernatural shit, thought Pepper. Even the books in the world of weird have attitude.

She sighed and ran a hand over her face, being very careful not to let herself heat up the room in her annoyance. It was just so... frustrating. And irritating... And how selfish was she that all she could think about were her own answers when Mary wasn't getting anything from the book for her rather more immediate problem. Pepper let the questions she had about her ship slip into the background again and made a concerted effort to focus on Mary again.

Not that what she got from the woman was any kind of comforting. Even remotely.

Quote:
 
"Pepper, could you stay for a while, just in case I need you?"


Pepper had no doubt what Mary was referring to. And it made her skin crawl and her run reflex kick in. She couldn't do much about the first, but she did a good job repressing the second. The room got a tad on the warm side, but that was the only outward sign of her discomfort. She hoped. Once she was pretty sure she was under control, Pepper took a deep breath and moved forward. She sat on the floor by Mary and gave Roland a tired look before facing the blind woman.

"I'll stay Mary. Though. I can't promise... Are you sure it'd be so...?" She sighed. She had no right to ask someone if turning into a blood sucking fiendish killer of the night would be so bad. Even using Clare as an example didn't count for much if she thought about it properly. It was obvious Barto was the key with that particular blood sucker. So unless Mary developed a real strong taste for Roland as she turned, her transformation wasn't likely to work out half so well.

"I'll stay." She said with more conviction. "And I'll stop you if I have to." Of course, there were other ways to 'stop' someone than out and out frying them. Pepper didn't tell Mary that though. In her desperate state she'd probably try to wrangle a well defined promise out of Pepper if she knew.
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Nancy Nox
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Nox
8/17/09

The Cimmerian Codex opened to another page, it was colored to a calming lavender. The cool color of a hallway, from long ago... Pepper could almost see it, that color, peaceful. Before... something...

Mary touched the page,

and read,

"The Hybrid-Byzantium Class Large Bulk Freighter, Silk Road, was commissioned in 2250, one of the first ships built of steel and parts produced in the 'verse. Having components of both Earth-that-Was and the verse became the reason and the source of blame for its often clunky performance. The ship worked the Core for nearly two hundred years before it was decommissioned and began a short life as a storage orbit vessel over Londinium. It's reputation of being haunted remains among the old legends still told by longshormen and spacers.

In 2475 the ship was purchased by an element of the new organizing government entities that were seeking unity among the 'verse. The ship was renamed Fu Hao, or 'Resurrection'. It became the primary vessel of a secret group known as Majestic or Zhuang Li. Zhuang Li is the 'official' agency of the government, or it was. Due to its secret nature it is hard to be sure if it is even part of the government anymore. It does draw funds from it, so connections remain. As to it being subordinate, that is not certain.

The mission of Zhuang Li has never wavered: Protect the verse from enemies within and without. The more esoteric aspect of this mission is that it refers not to human opposition, but alien and supernatural. Fu Hao became their biggest effort to secure the 'verse from threats that had come to rule in Earth-that-was. Threats unknown due to their being hidden away by those that had originally come in the exodus from Earth. The ship was staffed with scientists and paranormals, military and civilians, sceptics and true believers, spiritualists and clerics, athiests and zealots.

The Fu Hao went to the bridge between Earth-that-was and the 'Verse. The road from the birthplace of humankind, and the road back. Dangers were suspected, another exodus coming from Earth, one that would include all the dark torments that had cause the first exodus.

The ship was never heard from again. The location became lost, or so hidden away as to be all but 'gone forever'. No one believed it was the end of it. Forecasts and prognosticators; fortune tellers and physisists all agreed (more or less). There would have been survivors, and they will be called back to the ship.

Then they started to appear. A few in pods, others just on a planet. Children, orphans of unknown origin; they were placed in good homes, as is the way of all orphans in the core. But as they grew older, it became apparent that they were something more. They had powers. There were ultra humans in the population. The only connection was a strange plastic bracelet that they all had. With the name of a ship so secret only a dozen people knew it ever had.

Fu Hao."
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Mary Galenus
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8/18/09

Mary's head swam with all the information the Codex had suddenly spewed forth. She didn't know what it meant. Another ship? A lost one even? Children being found just wandering?

She had been found wandering in the desert. What does that mean? She never really wondered about her origin. She just knew she had been found, Codex in her arms.

But as far as she knew, she had no plastic bracelet.

So much information and not enough time. They would be arriving at New Tortuga in just a couple of hours. She needed sleep. She craved sleep. Her body demanded it.

"We all need to get some rest. We have to be on top of our game. We were lucky at the hospital," Mary said as her hands rubbed her eyes. "We should be at New Tortuga in a very short time. There is another demon to slay. Afterwards, maybe we can digest all this new stuff."

Mary left the Codex open, the words disappearing once her hands left the surface of the book. She moved to her bed, laid down and fell instantly to sleep. She was so tired that she had moved very quickly to her bed.

Perhaps too quickly?
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Roland de Bordeaux
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8/19/09

"Ancient fables are of little concern to me," said Roland. "The people of Old Earth were weak and desired more than they needed. They then took to the stars to infect space. The book says the mission of the Zhuang Li was to protect the 'Verse...perhaps the Zhuang Li should have looked at humanity itself as the true threat. They had a rich planet full of wonders and could have wanted for nothing, but they divided themselves in petty conflicts and lust for riches and power."

"I was there," he said with a hint of bitterness. "I was there when each new leader would rise up promising salvation, but salvation without sacrifice is not earned and therefore not deserved. People began to feel that instead of being happy with what they needed that they were somehow entitled to more. They let their world die. The same thing will happen again. I refuse to believe that demons made them do it. Perhaps the passions of humans gave rise to these demons and they are simply bitter reflections."

"Forgive me," he said with a slight bow to Mary. "You are right, you need your rest and I have prattled far to long. Please do not hold the ramblings of a bitter man against him. Please call on me if you need anything."
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Pepper Anderson
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8/20/09

Pepper had turned her head away slightly, looking for a place other than Mary's bed to sit, but a colour seen from the corner of her eye drew her gaze back. It was a lovely almost purple colour. Almost lavender. Pepper had always liked lavender. It reminded her of something. She'd never been quite sure what, but, something. And it was calming. She stared at the colour and relaxed, her temperature dropping noticeably; as though someone had just turned the heater off.

The idea that there was a memory involved became stronger. It was just beyond her reach. The cool color of a hallway, from long ago... Pepper could almost see it, that color, peaceful. Before... something...

Mary touched the page,

and read...

And Pepper's mind reeled. She yelped aloud when Abbey named the ship. Not the first name, Silk... something. The proper name. Resurrection. It was there. It did know - the book, all along the book had known! Maybe it was what had called her here? But no, there'd been a note. Books didn't send notes.

The government? What the hell did it have to do with the government?

Missions? Para-normal...Staffed! Pepper made a mewling noise and took a step toward the book. If there was a manifest...

"No..." it was almost a whisper. She hadn't meant to speak, didn't want to interrupt Mary, but the ship couldn't be lost. She needed it.

Then the bit about the people. The kids. Her.

"Oh..." Pepper sounded choked, winded. Kids, orphans, with power. And a bracelet. Oh Gods... She came from? But she couldn't... Pods? There'd never been a mention of a pod. Not in her file at the orphanage and surely they would have... They wrote down everything else they knew on her. Which wasn't much.

"Ohhh..." she said again, and now there was some moan in it, though it was still whisper quiet. Kids. Plural. There were more, somewhere. Pepper felt like her legs or her stomach or her head was going to give out on her. Or maybe all at once. She registered that Roland was speaking, but it was background. Unimportant. Mary moved to her bed with surprising speed and Pepper only realised it once the woman was asleep.

Panic registered in Pepper's eyes and she even took a step toward Mary, but... what would that do? Wouldn't the book have said everything on the topic? Pepper stopped, paused, and stepped back again, wringing her hands. She couldn't... What was she supposed...

Her breathing sped up along with her heart rate and her strange body reacted as it always did to Pepper's stress. The room began to heat up. Rapidly. Summer sun rising over the dunes in the desert type rapidly.
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Roland de Bordeaux
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8/24/09

Roland felt the heat rise in the room and threw Pepper and alarmed gaze. Quickly, he shut the book and moved in front of her.

"The Book speaks in riddles and metaphors subject to interpretation. Children can mean many things, and can be metaphors for many things. While the parallels to our current situation cannot be denied, correlation does not imply causality speaking from a logical sense."

Roland felt the hollowness in the words he spoke. He knew he did not believe himself, there was no way he could convince another.

"Perhaps some repast and company would help your spirits. I did promise to teach you some ancient verse. Archaic modal music has a melody that is quite unlike anything found in music written in the last thousand years. I would like very much to teach it to you."

He hoped he could set Pepper's mood at ease before she roasted them alive. Though he would be reborn, the pain of physical death was not something he relished.

"Pepper," he said quietly. "I think we should both leave Mary to rest. Come, I'll pour you a drink and we can discuss more pleasant things."
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Pepper Anderson
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8/25/09

Roland's voice registered through Pepper's panic, but only after he'd closed the book. She yelped in alarm and looked at him as though he'd just slammed her fingers in a door.

Quote:
 
"The Book speaks in riddles and metaphors subject to interpretation. Children can mean many things, and can be metaphors for many things. While the parallels to our current situation cannot be denied, correlation does not imply causality speaking from a logical sense."


What? Riddles? But it wasn't, it was right, she was proof. Didn't he understand? What the hell did he mean about parallels to 'our' current situation... she didn't understand. She wanted the book open, Mary awake... An explanation. She wanted her Sensai.

Quote:
 
"Perhaps some repast and company would help your spirits. I did promise to teach you some ancient verse. Archaic modal music has a melody that is quite unlike anything found in music written in the last thousand years. I would like very much to teach it to you."


A slightly horrified look came over Pepper's face. He wanted food and song now? Was the man insane? She'd just found the biggest thing since she'd snuck into the office at the orphanage and found the file they'd had on her. She couldn't just, just... anything right now.

Then the worry in his eyes finally registered. Part of Pepper's mind not freaking out recognised Roland's attempts to calm her.

Quote:
 
"Pepper," he said quietly. "I think we should both leave Mary to rest. Come, I'll pour you a drink and we can discuss more pleasant things."


A drink and a talk, common calming tactics. She must seem pretty wound up. Only natural; she was pretty wound up. And the realisation finally worked it's way from the back of her mind to the front. Wound up Pepper was set things on fire Pepper. Roland had reason to try and change the subject, offer pleasant alternatives and calm her down since in her panic she was getting close to melting him.

She looked at Mary, at Roland, closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, but she couldn't let it go. Any of it. There was a reason for her. There were others like her? It was just too much for a calm drink and a chat to blunt the force of.

"Spar with me." She blurted. The tone in her voice was part question, part desperation. "I promise not to fry you, there's a room Ally set up before she left, it has sprinklers and all, just please... A drink isn't going to do it." If he didn't want to, and she wouldn't blame him if he didn't, she'd just have to try and work on it on her own. Set herself some of the harder routines and work herself until she dropped.
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Mary Galenus
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8/25/09

***OOC: I am making a judgment that Pepper has her back to Mary since she has indicated to Roland that she wanted him to spar with her. Ariel, if you'd like it changed, just tell me.***

Mary's eyes snapped open. She felt Pepper's pain and she had an intense desire to calm her. A desire that couldn't be quenched. Something that she just had to act on. It was like she hadn't any other choice.

With a speed not quite human, she came up behind Pepper and grabbed her. Her arms wrapped around the woman. One across Pepper's chest and resting on the bare skin at the collar and another over Pepper's stomach. Her grip was beyond strong and she wasn't going to let go no matter what.

"This won't hurt, I promise," Mary said into her one ear. Mary's breath could probably be felt across Pepper's neck. "And I won't let you stop me."

No more than she said that, Mary forced her calming power into Pepper's body, flooding her with the full force of her power to quickly calm the firestarter. And if that didn't work, Mary had already decided to take more drastic measures.
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Roland de Bordeaux
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8/26/09

Roland's eyebrow arches as he watched Mary grab Pepper. He feared for a moment that this would be just the thing to set the girl over the edge and incinderate half the ship. But he felt the psychic energy emanating from her and felt a general sense of calming and peace come over him.

There was a sense that everything would be fine if they simply worked together. It was quite a departure from his normal pessemistic self. Roland was the type to see a dark cloud over the sunniest horizon, so to feel so calm and secure was like looking into a long ago memory of one of his former selves.

How long had it been since I felt this way? Centuries?

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"Spar with me." She blurted. The tone in her voice was part question, part desperation. "I promise not to fry you, there's a room Ally set up before she left, it has sprinklers and all, just please... A drink isn't going to do it."


"Pepper," he said. "I would be happy to work out some energy with you." He realized how the statement could be intended. "Um, in the room Ally set up, that is."
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