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Post by Beelzebibble on Dec 10, 2008 0:55:22 GMT -5
"All right, okay, I'm walking, you can let me g-- really?" Terrian said depairingly to Blaise Euler as the man hustled him back to the table. "Vampires? Really?"
After the man helped him back into his seat, Terrian picked up his mug, realized he had already finished the coffee, set the mug back down, and looked at the man. "So, hey, listen, I forgot to thank you for telling me that you're -- what was it? -- inclined to support whatever action I choose. Really nice thing to say. But. Now stop me if you hear anything you don't like. Considering the fact that you've manhandled me, threatened me with bodily harm, and blown my cover twice all within the past five minutes, I feel like telling me how supportive you are of me makes you into something of a giant raging hypocrite."
Terrian's eyes passed over the other vampire and the silent woman, who still seemed nice but you just could not tell these days, and he looked to Blaise. She, if no one else, had probably parsed out the confession hidden within his gripe about having his lies exposed twice. Just to be sure, Terrian clarified, with a gracious smile even, for no other reason than to spite the man.
"Blaise Euler," he said. "The original. At your command."
Without breaking either his gaze or his smile, he added, "And for the record, my duplicates are shocked and horrified by the accusation that they wouldn't taste good."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Dec 10, 2008 1:24:00 GMT -5
OOC: Yeah, that was all something I had to get out of the way to set up the conflicts coming up later on. Think of it like the monologue you hear at the start of a film or whatever. Just integrated into the story by the Princess of Infodump.
And amusingly enough, I think I've been choking a bit on writing Blaise, who I've been trying to make come across as socially inept and unlikely to pick up on minor verbal/gesture cues, although her skills of observation make it likely that she could pick off liars or such just by watching the rate they breathe at. Oh well, I'll just need to write harder.
Now that Terrian's in the plot, I say we wrap up our lunch and between Kev and I, we'll get headed the right way.
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Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Dec 14, 2008 15:36:38 GMT -5
Aquara sat her coffee down, and finished the rest of her coffee cake. "Thank-you Aya, and Ryuu..." she said politely, giving the same slight bow that they had given her earlier. "I must be going now. I have to meet up with some scientists in the Marine Science Institute here in Venice." She turned to Blaise, "If you would still like to go, you are more then welcome, but I must be going now."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Jan 2, 2009 2:03:55 GMT -5
OOC: God, Prime's worse than Pope on Mosaic. BIC: Blaise fell silent, her jaws working for a moment wordlessly before she managed to adjust to the fact of Terrian's identity.
"I did not assume such options were available in your situation, but I have no reason to doubt the reliability of your claim. There is no diplomatic clout to gain with us by claiming such a thing, but rather, quite the opposite," Blaise closed her lips tightly, walked directly up to Terrian, and put her hand against his forehead roughly. She paused, her eyes moving back and forth for a moment, before turning away from him again.
"Verified. It does seem that we are dealing with genuine article. It was the utmost folly for me to presume that because the doppleganger wasn't authentic upon my first scan that it was not neccessary to scan 'Terrians' again upon each encounter. My error," Blaise drew her hand away quickly, and began to walk away from the table. "I'll negotiate the full terms of your repayment at a later date. However, I'm exerting my authority to demand that you accompany me for at least our excursion today."
"Aquara is correct. We should indeed embark to the location she'll deliver her dissertation at. It's not a neccessity for me, but I can deal with some of the segments of my plan in transit, and upon our arrival there."
OOC: Short and kinda crappy, but tired and not much to say. I say we do one round of walking, then get there. I'm wondering how Kevin wants to handle the college scene, but the walking round should give us time to arrange it. After the college, then, things get complicated.
And yes, Blaise is actually more shocked by her own mistake than by the real Terrian.
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Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Jan 7, 2009 20:05:06 GMT -5
With the closing of Blaise's intricate words, Aquara stood, "Well then it is decided, join us!" Taking initiative, she headed down the main street of the city, heading towards one of the largest buildings apparent in Venice. Aquara feet were lightly stepping over the bricks in the road, which made the streets of city, to keep its antique look.
"Watch out, if you step on the white ones, you die!" Aquara said smiling. She jumped backwards expertly, and landed on one foot, on a red brick a few feet back. "We should arrive at the college shortly" she said reassuringly.
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Post by hermes on Feb 3, 2009 1:25:03 GMT -5
Ryuu shrugged, deftly avoiding the white blocks. She seemed the type to make a commotion about his 'death' if he stepped on the white ones. Aya, however, clung to his arm and stepped without a care. This version hardly paid attention to anyone else, she hardly got out these days, and liked to spend more time glued to Ryuu than not. He didn't really mind.
Ryuu carefully kept an eye on Terrian. He knew the boy didn't want any help, from him lease of all, but he felt compelled to watch out for him despite that. This Blaise character didn't seem to be remotely trustworthy, and Ryuu had a suspicion that Blaises curiosity might stray outside of the purely academic and into the more harmful variety.
The kind that involved copius amounts of blood, screaming, and vivisection. Ryuu's eyes flashed red for a moment, then subsided to their normal color. He shrugged, the cracked his neck, and ventured a question. "So why are we headed to the college anyways? It seems you've been sidetracked by many things, lets backtrack to the origional objective so myself and Aya actually know whats going on, and how we might help."
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Post by Beelzebibble on Feb 6, 2009 10:22:52 GMT -5
"Well, she said she's meeting up with some marine science people," said Terrian. He glanced at the canal which placidly bisected the street and guessed there wasn't anything in there a marine scientist would be interested in. He didn't tell that to the lady, though -- Aquara, if he'd heard Blaise Euler right.
Come to think of it, he looked at Blaise. "I'm not sure why you'd need my help for an 'excursion' like this. I mean, I'll gladly hold the door open for you, but beyond that..."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Apr 25, 2009 22:24:02 GMT -5
“It is merely a matter of the greatest simplicity, Mister Brogue…” Blaise ignored the tiles, and the other people in their path for that matter, shouldering past a woman with a briefcase and making a man who was carrying a ladder have to lift the end so that she didn’t run into it.
“I am trying to search for a woman who, for all we know, disappeared completely after a tournament. If the situation is as I have perceived, then said individual is the subject to such an assortment of heavy-handed obscuration enchantments against the utilization of scrying that it may very well be more efficient to utilize a mundane exploration of Venice to acquire her location,” Blaise produced a polaroid photograph from her pocket, and then handed it to Terrian.
A woman, apparently in her early thirties, was striking a dynamic pose, sword extended. She was apparently at the pinnacle of physical condition, her muscles toned well, and her figure bordering on an inhuman perfection. Her eyes blazed with battle-lust, a large golden hilted saber clutched in one of her gloved hands. Her hair, curly black and down to the middle of her back, was secured into a ponytail with a leather cord. At the edge of the frame was what appeared to be a defeated opponent, a thoroughly muscled man gaping in awe at his now empty hand, a gigantic cleaver of a blade lying on the floor beside him.
“That was the best image of her that I managed to persuade her younger sibling to part with. I explained to her that I was amongst the ranks of the local police organization, and the head of the investigation into her sister’s disappearance,” Blaise paused, looking around to see if any of her comrades took objection to such deceit.
“Anyways, the woman in the photograph is Flora Isobel. She is a master rank fencer that was famous worldwide, but disappeared after the event called the Humanus Tournament. Her age is thirty-seven, her birthdate is October Sixth, at five-oh-two AM. As of her evaporation into the unknown, she was one point seven nine seven meters tall, and had a weight of fifty five point fournineseven kilograms. Her cornea are a shade of cornflower blue, and the impression of the friction ridges on her digits was left loop. Her favorite meal was homemade conchiglie with squid ink, prepared with a shellfish sauce according to her now deceased mother’s recipes, served with a small glass of Chardonnay from the Piedmont province,” Blaise spieled, then licked her lips, wetting them.
“I trust that you’ve committed all of her identifying characteristics to memory, Mister Brogue. It would be prudent to show our companions Ryu and Aya the photograph, as they have not yet made the acquaintance of the woman.”
“The reason why this expedition necessitates your assistance, Terrian, is as I have declared earlier. Due to my arcane perusal of Venice, and even the planet as whole, having failed, that leaves me the solitary prerogative of… as the mundane state it, ‘schlepping’ about this metropolis until I happen upon Miss Isobel.”
“And who better to coordinate such an exploit than you yourself? Having verified yourself to be a master of such things at the Parmigianino Institute, your cooperation may prove the difference between success and failure,” Blaise paused as the group happened upon the entrance to the college. Two gigantic marble sculptures of dolphins supporting fish upon their noses flanked an immense white gate, hewn from the same stone as the statues. Blaise gestured for the others, Aquara striding ahead of her.
“Besides, Mister Brogue? If I were to be unsuccessful at being reinstated at the Institute due to a lack of results in my investigation here, I’m quite positive that my superiors would consider the whereabouts of the owner of a certain mystically enhanced handgun to also be of interest.”
OOC: Oh, Blaise, so hard, and yet so rewarding to write. She's like the writing equivalent of running a marathon.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Apr 26, 2009 13:03:34 GMT -5
"Hey, you were out like a light when that happened! For all you know, any handsome devil could have made off with that gun," said Terrian, raising his hands in a gesture of mock denial. He knew he wasn't going to fool Blaise Euler with that comeback, and of course he understood that she was making a legitimate threat. But he couldn't help himself; he said it anyway. Why expose the ugly truth when he could brush it away with a joke instead?
Besides, Terrian was starting to see redeeming qualities in speaking with Blaise. She seemed to have positively no sense of humor whatsoever, but there was fun to be had there. He would play along with her for the moment. Why not? It amused him.
And there you go, that familiar voice in his head started off, making believe you're in control of the situation, just to console yourself. You didn't miss the part where she basically claimed your soul, did you?
Fair enough, but Terrian thought Blaise would be willing to see reason on this point. If he could persuade her to settle for a duplicate in the long term instead of the original, he could fulfill his debt to her and still walk free. And now that he thought of it... wouldn't she and Alpha just fall head-over-heels for each other?
So he'd help her out on this one. Whatever the feelings between them, he figured he could at least trust her. Which was less than Terrian could say of the two spooks. He cast a wary eye over the pair of them as the group passed into the shadows cast by the giant dolphins. He straightened his collar uncomfortably, conscious of how exposed his neck must be.
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Post by hermes on May 18, 2009 16:30:46 GMT -5
Ryuu grinned, and put his hand on Terrians shoulder. His demeanor was quite friendly, "Don't worry, we don't actually drink blood to survive. We're both quite capable of enjoying a steak, its only our predatory nature that compels us to drink human blood." He gestured back at Aya, "And that's mostly her anyways, I'm still human. Mostly." He frowned, and sighed, once against thinking about his unique and highly complicated position. Aya then distracted him, by biting slowly into his neck.
Ryuu tried to cast a look at her, but she was busy. He cast an apologetic look on Terrian. "Sorry, she isn't very sensative, she mostly considers humans to be lesser species. But in any case, this demonstrates a good point, being bitten by one of us won't harm you in any manner." He raised his hand as the objections came to Terrians lips, "We aren't going to bite you, and you wouldn't turn into a vampire if we did. You're thinking of the common scum that inhabit this planet. She's different."
Ryuu didn't need to be a telepath to catch Terrians next thought. What about you? Ryuu smiled, and poked Aya several times in the forehead, to dislodge her. "I'm am what I am, not because she took from me, but because she gave to me. Without her, I'd be dead, and we wouldn't be having this discussion." He said, slipping his arm around her waist.
"As for you," Ryuu said, looking at Aya. "If you drain much more I'll pass out." Aya licked her lips and wrinkled her nose at him, "Its your own fault for tasting so good." Ryuu rolled his eye's, and moved to walk more evenly with Blaise. "I'd just like to inform you, that if any harm comes to that boy, I will not hesitate to kill you. No stolen object is worth a man's lifeblood. I will be staying around to make sure that he does remain unharmed." He looked at Blaise with red eye's, "I hope I've made my point."
He fell back beside Aya, and resumed a thoughtful silence.
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Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Jun 16, 2009 11:20:52 GMT -5
After a good ten minutes of walking, and randomly running into alleyways or people in a mime suit they finally made it.
"We're here!" Aquara said excitedly, the gigantic college towering above all the other facilities in the immediate area. "This college is one of the biggest in the world, it has it's own section of dedication to marine life!" Aquara adjusted her jacket, and stepped into the swiveling doors, proceeding to the lobby of the establishment.
As usual, the college was full of spry young students, carrying books of sorts, some even freshman's, glancing at brochures that lined the lobby. Aquara picked one up, linked to there Marine Biological studies. "It says here, that we are to head," Aquara said pointing down a random hallway, "There, down to the left, make another left, go down that hallway, and make a right. We should end up near an enclosure, more or less a small human made natural habitat of ocean life."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Jul 30, 2009 23:12:28 GMT -5
"The average human being is verifiably little more than detritus," Blaise muttered coldly, straightening her outfit with her hands. She glanced towards Aya, and continued speaking.
"True, there are the occasional transcendental beings, individuals such as Aquara or Terrian, whom, through travail or some indiscriminate, compassionless biological or paranormal kismet, manage to achieve enough leverage to actually achieve something. But... By and large, humanity is a race of infantile, instinctual brutes, lumbering about without the slightest intimation of intiative or ambition."
Blaise rubbed at her throat for a moment, evidently not used to speaking for such long spans of time. It was at that moment that Ryuu's comment finally settled in.
"Mister Ryuu, I have held you in enough esteem that I have not treated you as the simpleton. I ask that you at least return the same to me," Blaise adjusted her glasses.
"It would be disasterously hazardous to my objectives if I were to compromise Terrian's well-being or functionality in any manner. He is serving as the method for our scouring of the city, and it would adversly affect me if he were to be inflicted with any manner of noticable wound."
"In fact, one could say that it's probable that in case of calamity, I would be risking my own well-being to protect that of our greatest asset-" Blaise paused, and glanced around the grand hallways of the school.
"The architecture itself is... servicable, albeit simplistic. However, if you're being totally forthright about the magnitude of the aquatic menagerie maintained here, it appears that even one such as myself would be able to attain quite a large parcel of fresh observations," Though her smug, self centerred ways hadn't changed, there was a glimmer of childish excitement in Blaise's eyes.
OOC: Blaise, back, beligerent, bitchy. Booya.
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Post by hermes on Jul 31, 2009 0:16:56 GMT -5
Ryuu shooked his head at Blaise comments, one could easily do without the multiple man, if one took their head out of their ass long enough to learn about google. Or iPhones for that matter, blasted things were a pain in the ass to avoid sometimes. He looked around, listening to Aquara and observing the college students, when a subtle irony caught his eye.
"Hey," He whispered to Aya, not wanting to upset Aquare. "Hmmm?" She answered, looking up at him. He gestured to a small sushi joint, positioned a little ways off to the next of them. He'd learned through experience that Aya had a deep appreciation for seafood, and sushi in particular. "If you want to take a break, I'll keep an eye on this young man here. My nose is what got us into this in the first place." He said, smiling.
Aya just shook her head, "I might as well leave you alone to learn your lesson. But try not to let that woman Blaise know to much about you, I sense an unhealthy curiosity in her. One hundred years ago or more, we would kill humans like her. They have a tendency to stick their noses where they don't belong." Aya said, scowling heavily at Blaise.
Ryuu just shook his head and kissed her, "Go get your sushi and don't worry about me, I can take care of myself."
Aya looked him over carefully, with a skeptical eye, but then her expression softened. "Yes, I suppose that's true enough, now. But don't forget." Aya said, and Ryuu just nodded, moving off with the others.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jul 31, 2009 13:01:19 GMT -5
"I... arrgh..." Terrian pressed a hand against one eye as they navigated the hallways toward Aquara's destination. His head was starting to ache, and he knew it would only get worse once he started churning out duplicates. "Look," he said to Ryuu. "You... You don't have to keep Blaise in line, all right? She's my buddy. We go way back. Right, Blaise?" He cuffed Blaise weakly on the arm. She responded with a steely stare. Without missing a beat, he continued to Ryuu, "Okay we're not at the buddy level yet. But we do go way back. And I trust that her plans don't involve hurting me. I want that to go on the record, Ryuu, all right?"
After the final right turn, they came to a glassy doorway through which showed a bluish-green tint. There was a faint salty smell. Terrian looked to Aquara. It seemed like no one was paying any attention to her, which was unfortunate considering she was the reason why they were there. "This is it, yeah? The enclosure?"
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Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Sept 17, 2009 23:45:16 GMT -5
Aquara sighed turning to Terrian to answer his question, "Yes--we will be coming to the enclosure soon enough." Quickly turning down another hallway, they arrived in a giant dome, an aquarium rather.
"This is the famous Aquarium that I have been speaking about," Aquara noted, her voice echoing off of the crystaline glass walls. "Look at all of the wonderous creatures--GLORIOUS EVEN!" She said barely containing her excitement, though, to some it wasn't very contained at all.
What was I supposed to do when I got here? Aquara thought to herself, suddenly. Ah, thats right, Isobel... Blaise needed to know more about her
"Blaise," Aquara addressed politely, "Earlier you had mentioned a woman. A womaned named Flora Isobel, am I correct?" Aquara cleared her throat, and adjusted the glasses that sat on the bridge of her nose, "What sort of information, besides her whereabouts were you interested in? I will try to inform you anything, to the best of my ability, of course."
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Post by Tout-Perd on Oct 1, 2009 0:10:44 GMT -5
OOC: Good writing on all parts, guys. Kevin, really looking up in that most recent one. Prime, liking the interplay between the two. Let’s get this show back on the road!
BIC: "You seem to be erroneous, Mister Brogue," Blaise sniffed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"I had initially stated that I would not be compromising your functionality. That, still, does not give base for the assumption that you will not incur injuries in the duration of your repayment," Blaise produced two items from her pockets, apparently a small notepad and some kind of flash drive. She palmed them as they entered the main aquarium enclosure.
"Naturally, I would not deliberately mar your physical, mental, or spiritual aspects. However, do not denounce me as some manner of equivocator if you incidentally pulverize a digit." Blaise settled her coat about her like a roosting bird, seemingly drawing into herself while the white fabric rumpled up around her.
"I must confess... This is resoundingly more resplendent than what I had been anticipating. It appears that although the outside architecture is merely servicable with the most basic of flourishes, whomever crafted this chamber evidently had quite the artistic muse, bordering on afflatus," Blaise glanced around the room, her trained eyes noting the contours of the gigantic enclosure, and the many subtle details that had been worked in. The water had many varieties of tropical fish swimming about, swirling patterns of vibrant life.
Living coral was at the bottom of the tank, forming a sort of miniature atoll that the room itself was centered around. A platform of white and transparent blue tiles encircled the water, the tank itself extending beneath it, as was visible under their feet. A clear wall, made of thick glass, rose up along most of the inside edge, allowing the students and visitors alike to lean over the gently sloshing waters. Cerulean walls rose up, gradually tapering inwards, finally shading into a glass dome that crested the structure. A compass rose was etched into the glass of the massive central pane, ornate lines spiraling about it and a solar face beaming down from the very core of the etching. Blaise ran her tongue along her teeth, casting an irate glance skywards. They were an hour too late, the sun being off center to the elaborate display, and now courting the western point of the design.
A central platform, crafted from a smoky white glass, sat over the middle of the atoll. Four cables, each a vibrant white and the thickness of a grown man’s arm, lashed out from each compass direction, anchoring it from the walls. Two similar lines extended down to the main platform, ten feet below, with a series of stairlike treads between them.
“You had been selected to perform a lecture here, no? It seems that I have underestimated much about both the people here, and your expertise… To craft such a locale, purely by utilizing mundane means…” Blaise seemed distant until Aquara’s comment snapped her back to the matter at hand.
“Well, indubitably, yes. Her locale is the most necessary, after all, but I would also be greatly appreciative if I could fathom more of the state that she was in upon your last moments together. I could effortlessly scry on the events of the tournament up until she declared her desideratum, and then all manner of anarchic interference set in upon all of the reads I was receiving…” Blaise clicked her tongue.
“So now you have understanding of why I require your assistance. Of all of the participants present and conscious for the end of the ceremonies, you’re the only one that I could discern to be accessible, reliable, intelligent, and possibly cooperative. Whatever observations you managed to gather in those few moments… This, I abjectly solicit of you.” Blaise met Aquara’s gaze, and then lowered her eyes. Her voice was lower, and more humble, than it had been yet today.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Oct 1, 2009 9:31:10 GMT -5
OOC: If the sun is setting in the west, then won't the light filtering in be skewed off to the east? Am I being stupid?Terrian nodded in understanding of Blaise's warning. It wasn't like he was planning to lose any of his fingers anyway. Not these bad boys. He did all his best counting on them. Besides, if Terrian had a nickel for every time the Yakuza had threatened to cut off one of his fingers... Well, he wouldn't have any nickels but he would still be sporting a full set of digits and that was basically how he foresaw things staying. He was awe of the room; it was probably the most expensive feat of architecture and decorating he had ever seen. But -- really -- it was wrong to even draw comparison between this place and the expensive joints he'd seen in his time. With those, all the opulence had served no purpose but to show off how much money the owners were reeling in... Terrian could see that the splendor here, in this room, was in service of a higher ideal. He couldn't help himself. As much as he wanted to take in every detail of the architecture, he couldn't keep his eyes away from the fish. He rushed to the inner wall and pressed his hands against the glass, beaming. A flat, arrowhead-shaped beauty, some kind of angelfish perhaps, was pecking about in the upper coral. Its black scales were set about with alternating white and electric-blue rings that concentrated around a point near the back fin. A little neon gem. If not for the glass and Terrian's resolution not to lose any fingers, he would have reached out to tickle it. OOC: It's an emperor angelfish for the curious. Always thought they were pretty cool.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Oct 1, 2009 16:10:28 GMT -5
OOC: I was writing referring to the sun itself, not the light, though it is a bit unclear. Basically, the sun is perfectly centerred at noon. I've been writing as if it was just after lunch, towards 1:30 PM now, so the sun is off center.
And that is an awesome fish.
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Post by hermes on Oct 5, 2009 23:33:54 GMT -5
Ryuu just shoot his head quietly and let them get on with it, he'd already made a commitment, and it was to himself. He would do what he'd chosen to do, until he saw no further need to do so. And it sounded to him as though that Blaise had no qualms at all, about throwing the young and inexperienced man into dangerous situations.
He looked up, vaguely appericiating the architecture, when his eye's met Aya's. He sighed again, the woman didn't care about anyone but herself. Until she'd met him anyways, she was interesting, cold, self concerned, and almost certainly evil.
We make such a great match, Ryuu thought sarcastically. At least she doesn't really want to bite Terrian, that'd really freak him out. Plus he doesn't exactly smell like a feast....
"Do you ever shower?" Ryuu asked suddenly, "Or have you recently been exposed to something rank? Because seriously, you stink, or maybe thats just the fish..."
Ryuu shrugged thoughtfully, a little confused now.
"Oh by the way, Aya is on the ceiling, she may be contemplating a prank or something of the like, so be careful."
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Post by Beelzebibble on Oct 5, 2009 23:54:52 GMT -5
"That's... That's nice. That's pleasant. We're making some nice small talk here, I'm glad about that." Terrian kept his gaze on the blurry outline of the manta ray that was gliding gently past only a few inches from the thick glass under his feet. "Nice and polite. Buddies forever, that's us."
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Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Nov 2, 2009 23:00:24 GMT -5
The classroom was quickly filled with chairs that the janitorial team had brought in. “Blaise, if I could see you for a moment, I can give you some more detailed information about the Humanus Tournament, that I had participated.”
With Aquara and Blaise distancing themselves, Aquara spoke in a low tone, “If I remember correctly, Flora was able to have her wish granted, by the,” Pausing she searched her memory banks, scanning the crevices of her brain in search of a name. Snapping her fingers, “The Lord of the Lamp. Well, if memory serves she wished for something called…” Aquara had to pause again and try and remember what it was that she wished for, “Ah, yes, Omniscience. Well, the Lord of the supposed lamp, was kind of… an, well, you get the idea. He provided no protection, mentally, and it caused Flora to freak out, and become catatonic.” Aquara said, talking somewhat with her hands, waving them about, “After all that, we were poofed back to normal life,” Snapping her fingers, “Just. Like. That.”
Aquara checked the clock on the distant wall, “It appears that my Lecture is to start, if you will excuse me” She reached the podium, looking at a bunch of empty chairs. She cleared her throat, and awaited for the students to begin filing in.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 13, 2009 2:24:06 GMT -5
“I appreciate your assistance, Ms. Oceanara. It appears that I am currently indebted to you,” Blaise smiled faintly.
“This information… I had surmised as such from my solitary scrying and investigation into such matters, but I found a confirmation from a party attending said events to be necessary to the verification. Illusions and other such duplicitous actions are simplistic to enact when it comes to arcane viewing. As atypical a view as it may be for me to evince, typically, it is best for the mundane eye to bear witness.”
“Now that I have procured this information, I should be able to proceed to the next objective,” Blaise slipped a hand into one of the pockets of her lab coat, and started to turn away from Aquara, “As should you, I suppose. Naturally, I can understand the priorities of a woman of academia, and a such, will not begrudge your rights to carry out an intellectual discourse. Do go on. I shall be taking notes.”
Blaise turned on her heel now, resuming her momentum. She came up behind Terrian, who was regarding something slimy and brightly colored beneath the glass. She put a hand on his shoulder, eliciting a surprised reaction from the man.
“Mr. Brogue, I do believe that it would only be equitable for the compensation of my dispossession to begin at this present time. I, as implied earlier, would enjoy partaking in the lecture that Aquara is holding very soon,” Blaise pulled her hand from her pocket, revealing a small grey bar.
“As such, I impart the next process in our hunt for Flora Isobel to you.” Blaise offered the device to Terrian, pushing it roughly into his palm after a moment of hesitation.
“Your task is to locate a computer with a Universal Serial Bus, or USB, port, and to affix this jump drive to it. Assuming that said computer is internet capable, said drive should otherwise handle the task automatically.”
“Upon completion, you are to return here. Is that understood?”
OOC: Not terrific, but not bad for being locked out of writing Blaise for a month.
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Post by Beelzebibble on Nov 13, 2009 16:52:45 GMT -5
Terrian held up the gray device to inspection, then pocketed it. "Actually, you know what, I'd kind of like to hear her stuff too," he said. "I'll leave a duplicate here. He'll pass the word on to you if I come up with any problems, yeah?" At Blaise's accepting nod, Terrian smiled. "Okay then. Wish me luck! For who knows what horrors might lurk within these all right all right, here I go."
Students, faculty, and other attendees were moving into the room and seating themselves before the suspended podium. One young man, joking with a few of his friends, carried an open book bag. Terrian cast a quick glance inside as he drew near. There was a small ringed notebook protruding out. Perfect. While pushing past, Terrian discreetly plucked it out of the bag and tucked it into his jacket.
Once out of the room, he moved around a corner and out of sight. A duplicate emerged and, with a wave, promptly started pushing right back into the room to rejoin Blaise.
To give the dupe enough time to settle into place, Terrian stayed another moment around the corner. He took out the notebook and examined it. Well-worn. Covered in messy Italian handwriting. Also a few rough sketches that seemed to depict layers of something or other, marked off with long words. Terrian frowned, trying to put his newly-acquired Italian skills to use. This penmanship clearly wasn't meant for anyone's benefit but the writer's... But Terrian could make out a decent amount. The notes were for a marine geology class.
Fair enough. Silently singing the praises of the diligent Alpha, Terrian ripped all the pages out of the rings and discarded the latter. He tucked the crumpled pages back into his jacket. He was now a fresh-faced young professor of geology here at the Marine Science Institute.
He looked up at the signs hanging over the intersections between halls. Why, there was a computer lab not too far from the aquarium. Following the signs, he returned part of the way they'd come in, then turned off onto a new hall. Computer lab, just up ahead. Perfect. And... As he approached, he saw a black-haired girl swiping a card in order to unlock the door.
Terrian stopped short. Less perfect. Should have tried to nick someone's school ID back in the aquarium. He looked around. Oh. All right.
He hurried up to the elderly security guard who had just emerged from a bathroom. "Listen -- hi, sorry, excuse me -- want to do me a huge favor and let me into the lab? I think I left my card in the apartment."
The guard blinked. "What's your--?"
Terrian tactfully appeared not to have noticed this question and plowed on. He pulled out the disheveled notes and brandished them before the guard. "I'm running late. Got about forty-five minutes to type all these up into a Powerpoint for my next seminar. In two languages. You think you could help me out?"
Apropos of languages, it occurred to Terrian that English was probably not this gentleman's first. But that only seemed to have helped his pitch, because the security guard was obviously too taken aback to put up any more resistance. "Yes, of course," he got out, and led Terrian to the lab. He swiped his own card and opened the door. "There you go."
"Thank you so much," Terrian beamed. The security guard nodded and let the door shut. Terrian turned around.
Not exactly as impressive as the aquarium, but then how could it be. It was still a nice room, done up in a thematically appropriate blue-green hue. Reference bookshelves lined the walls, interspersed with large wave patterns in the wallpaper. Long, curving tables wound across the spacious floor, carrying what must have been about sixty computer terminals altogether. And, by the input window displayed on all of the unused monitors, a username and password were required. Another obstacle. But, unlike the door, he'd more or less budgeted for this one. Holding the notes in one hand, he approached the computer before which sat the black-haired girl whom he'd seen enter the lab earlier. She was wearing headphones, watching a video on the screen.
As he was walking past, his foot caught on one of the wheels of her rolling chair. He stumbled forward a bit and threw down the notes. They fluttered here and there, scattering all over the carpet.
"Ah, God!"
The student took off the headphones and looked around, startled. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said at once. As Terrian had guessed, there was a distinct Italian accent in her English.
"No no, it's all my fault. Wasn't looking where I was going. Christ..." Terrian ran a distressed hand through his hair and stooped down as if to begin picking up the notes. As soon as the girl had also leaned down in her chair to help, the distressed hand instead pulled the jump drive from his pocket and pushed it into one of the USB ports behind the monitor.
A light on the device glowed green. A small popup window appeared on the screen, entitled "Parmigianino.exe". Within the window, a status bar began to fill from black to blue.
"Really -- you don't have to help. Let me get those." But of course the student was resolved to help gather the dispersed, wrinkled papers. "No, seriously," Terrian said, "they're in kind of an order..."
"They're in order? Oh no," the girl said, looking at the sheets she'd already picked up. "I must have messed you up, then -- uh -- are these all right? They looked like they'd fallen together..."
Terrian stole a glance up at the screen. The progress bar wasn't even a fifth of the way complete.
He bent back down to the floor and looked over the handful of notes the girl was holding out. "Um, sort of. They need -- There it is. You want to just grab that one under the table? And..."
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Post by Albatross Trevelyan on Jun 11, 2011 21:41:51 GMT -5
Blaise turned away from the remnants of the group, and quickly set about procuring seating. A profusion of chairs had been arranged in orderly columns, facing towards the podium high above the water. Ms. Oceanara was ascending the steps with a consistent tread, each movement identical to the previous, albeit mirrored horizontally.
The scientist found an unoccupied vantage point near the front, and hastily seized it before a man with a white beard managed to fully descend. He ceased in midmotion, his shirttail brushing Blaise's lap. He muttered something in Italian under his breath, and then slowly rose up and hobbled away.
Blaise unfurled her notepad with a deft flick of her radiocarpal joint, revealing a page halfway filled with notes in flawless penmanship. She drew a graphite pencil from behind her right ear, the point fine down to a molecular level, and put it to paper.
“Good afternoon, everybody!” The microphone squealed loudly, and Aquara recoiled, her braids swinging. She leaned forwards again, and turned a knob a few degrees, “Sorry about that. Good afternoon!”
There was a few muttered greetings, but for the most part the audience was silent. It seemed less that they were unfriendly, and moreso that they just had been expecting a more formal introduction.
“I’m glad that I can be here today. I’m Aquara Oceanara, a field researcher from the southern coast of California. I’ve specialized in hands-on work with the larger predatory animals in the ocean, such as the Great White and orcas.”
“Hands on work?” A slightly derisive sounding comment came from the back.
“Yes. I’ve always felt that it’s unhealthy to pull animals out of the water in order to tag them, and that the stress could be harmful to individuals in already endangered species. So,” Aquara’s devilish glint returned to her eyes, “I go into the water with them, and do the measurements and tagging there.”
There was a brief moment of total quiescence. Somebody dropped a pen with a clatter. And with that, dozens of hands shot up.
“Yes, you in the front?”
“Have you ever been bitten?”
“Typically, no. Sometimes,” Aquara shifted her posture slightly, easing up, “Sometimes yes. When they go for you like a prey item, or get upset at something you've done, that’s when things get really interesting.”
"Of course, that's all somewhat moot for the more reasonable of us. Modern technology is making it possible to tag them and measure them without you going into the water, or the subject coming out. I'm sure, given a few more years, techies will have come up with some way for us to observe everything in the ocean without ever even going near the shore," Aquara leaned forwards on the podium.
"That's what really brings me here today. I'm speaking as a scientist, but not about the hard realms of science. This isn't about math or measurements or weather patterns or anything else so easily counted, so easily put into the realm of human comprehension. That's something they do an excellent job of teaching you here."
There were more murmurings from the student body, and some grim discussion amongst the staff. Blaise allowed herself a frown, betraying her substantial melancholy.
"I'm here to wake you all up. You're taught day in and day out about oceanography. It's routine. Get up, go to class, learn. You don't find yourselves gaping in wonder at the things you're studying."
Aquara stood up, and stretched with a loud sigh.
"Think about what we do every day. We, of all people, have no right to be apathetic. Astronomers can gaze into space for months, and never lay eye upon as much splendor and intricacy as you or I would find swimming about in a single cupful of seawater. The ocean, quite simply, is the greatest mystery and greatest wonder that humanity has ever, and may ever, encounter."
"What we do is a struggle against that fact. We dedicate our lives to straining the seas, pulling out what knowledge and data we can, and then filing it all away in books and papers. We do our best to fill out the hows and whys of everything that happens in the hydrosphere, without even thinking about the most important thing. We don't think 'Wow.'"
Aquara cleared her throat, the silence within the room almost unnerving. "Taking this all into consideration one would try and glean the reason why the university has asked for me to speak to all of you today." She peered throughout the room looking at all of the young students faces, some, filled with a visible inspiration, others skeptical. "I'm here to tell all of you, that you can learn the hard facts of every species within the planet... but ask yourself, would you truly understand its purpose?" she paused, "Would you be able to combine concepts and facts to bring a true realization of the mysteries locked within the underwater realm?"
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Post by Beelzebibble on Jul 15, 2011 14:15:25 GMT -5
At 96% complete, the student made to straighten up. “I think that’s all of it,” she said. Terrian nodded with an uneasy glance at the progress bar, but then let out a soft “Oh!” and pointed at the protruding corner of a final sheet of paper which he had, some seconds ago, discreetly slid beneath the tower case. As the student hurriedly stooped to retrieve the page, Terrian reached up and around to pull the flash drive out from behind the monitor. No sooner had the progress bar registered 100% than the program vanished off the screen and the little plastic ingot disappeared into his hand. After tucking the drive into his pocket, Terrian accepted the pages the student had gathered. “Some of them are still out of order,” she cautioned. “That’s fine, I’ll finish them off,” he said. “Thanks for helping.” “Oh – no – I’m sorry,” said the student in her accented English. “I’d rolled out too far… I wasn’t paying attention. It’s my fault…” “Forget it!” Terrian exclaimed. He reached out a hand again, this time for her to shake. “And if you’re still feeling guilty by next semester, well then you can make it up by taking the Marine Geo intro. As long as you can fit that in around Chem, I mean.” He punctuated this last comment with a rueful smile designed to suggest that he was well used to students being drawn away from majors in marine geology by the irresistible lure of the department of chemical oceanography. “I hope so. It was nice to meet you, Professor Stockton!” When the girl had seen him off with a gentle wave and equipped her headphones once more, Terrian retreated to a safe distance amid the sinuous tables and considered his options. If there was one thing Terrian Brogue knew about himself, it was his limits and that was why he did not need to deliberate on the matter for more than an instant before admitting that it was thoroughly beyond his power to march the flash drive directly back to Blaise. No, the need to pop this bad boy into another computer and see just what it’d accomplished had caught any and all competing priorities in a steely vise grip. Who could say what information the drive had acquired during its brief connection to the Internet? Terrorist records? Bomb coordinates? Secret Blaise files?? This was all too much for Terrian’s imagination to work through without a little guidance from reality. But for that he needed a computer – actually needed to sit and look at a computer for at least a few minutes – and if that had been available from the start, then he wouldn’t have needed to run up all those shenanigans with Sofia. He settled into a rolling chair of his own, glared at the login window for a moment, and then began to rearrange papers in the stack more or less at random, just to seem as if he were doing something, while looking up and down the rest of the room. Perhaps a quarter of all the terminals in this space were occupied, most of them by students who looked quite engaged, whether watching videos as Sofia was, typing rapid-fire on the noisy keyboards, or copying text into their notebooks. Terrian rubbed his chin with the side of an index finger and sighed. Another limitation of which he was quite cognizant was the fact that there was no way in hell he was going to just walk up to one of them and politely ask if he might borrow their computer for a second. Quite apart from the implausibility of a self-styled professor being unable to log into one of the many unclaimed computers on his own, Terrian had no idea what the flash drive would reveal. Compromising photographs which featured multiple varieties of farm animal, for all he knew. That would be a bit of a “toughie” to explain away with a bewildered late-teen whose first language was not English looking over his shoulder. The snap of hardcover books suddenly shut reached his ears from the next table over. Two dark-haired youths were getting up from their stations. Terrian watched with only mild interest as a pair of identical popup windows materialized on their screens, yet noticed that while one of the boys promptly clicked a button in response, causing the popup window to vanish and the display to revert to the login screen, the other boy only zipped up a book into his backpack and paid the computer no heed as he followed his companion toward the door. Terrian stared at the popup window, where a large bold two-digit number was ticking down. Then he got up and approached very hastily, dropping a couple of pages back onto the floor. The counter fell from 10 to 09 just as he reached the computer and read the text in the popup window: Siete sicuro che volete uscire? “ Per niente,” Terrian muttered, and clicked the red X. The popup window evaporated. The student’s desktop, however, remained. Terrian sat back in the chair for a moment to marvel at his own perceptiveness and quick thinking, then went back to gather up the fallen pages once again, hoping that Sofia was not going to look over and conclude that here was the least coordinated human being ever to attain a teaching position. Fortunately the flash drive’s new contents were quite a bit less damning than he’d feared although in fairness it had to be said that snapshots of covert pony antics would have at least been more interesting. Actually only one file appeared to have been added to the flash drive, a document blandly dubbed “results.txt”, which, when Terrian double-clicked it with trembling fingers and throbbing heart, opened to reveal: Imelda D’Ortogna St. 37 Ospedale Civile S.S. Giuseppe e Russo Via Carrocci 482, 71076 Venezia, Italia +39 041 265 8111
Terrian stared at the file for a moment. Then: “ Quello è tutto?” he asked aloud in disbelief. At first he highlighted the entire document to see if there was any further text that had been sneakily hidden in white, with disappointing results. Then he tried opening the file with a few different applications to see if its real content had been disguised by means of a clever ruse, but each app in turn either replicated the same text or told him to stop acting like a fool (Solitaire’s wording was particularly harsh). Finally he tried running Parmigianino.exe again, guessing quite reasonably that the routine might’ve been trying to accomplish more than he’d permitted, but all that happened the second time was that the program spat out an identical document called “results-1.txt” and promptly concluded. Shaking his head, Terrian deleted the extra file (no need to arouse Blaise’s suspicions) and steered his attention toward the Internet. A quick Google search confirmed the existence and location of this hospital, but turned up no trace of an “Imelda D’Ortogna”. Terrian returned to the original text document and gazed at it for a few minutes, pinching his lip. What had Blaise told him when she’d handed over the jump drive? She’d said it was the next step in looking for Flora Isobel. Well, all fine and dandy, but that wasn’t the name Parmigianino.exe had found. So who was D’Ortogna? A dying sage, her fruitful years well predating the Internet, who could take Blaise’s hands in her own crooked fingers and whisper Flora Isobel’s whereabouts in her ear? The wounded wife of a mafioso (there under an assumed name, of course) who was prepared to yield the exact location of the warehouse where a rival family had Isobel bound up and gagged? Or – that thought of an assumed name gave Terrian pause – couldn’t Imelda D’Ortogna and Flora Isobel even be the same woman? Blaise had known her birthdate down to the minute and the fucking direction of the swirls on her fingerprints. Or something about her fingerprints, anyway. If Flora Isobel was living life under the public eye at all right now and she wasn’t using a pseudonym, Terrian thought it hard to believe Blaise wouldn’t have found her long ago. She wants to know where you are.On my way back, Terrian replied, without stirring, to the duplicate who was sitting with Blaise in the aquarium. By and by he freed up his lip so as to send the text document to a nearby printer. Then, for good measure, he copied the name and address and emailed them to himself before reviewing the screen, closing “results.txt”, pulling out the drive, and logging off. Once he’d retrieved the freshly-inked sheet, he left the teal computer lab behind and emerged again into the glossy hallway. As soon as he found another secluded corner, he immediately sent out another duplicate. He handed the document to this one, expecting him to turn smartly and stride down the hall toward the main gate, but the duplicate lingered without speaking. After a second it occurred to Terrian to pull out his wallet and give the duplicate appropriate taxi fare, at which point the duplicate turned smartly and strode down the hall toward the main gate. But this didn’t account for all of the paper in Terrian’s hands just then. He was still holding the stack of pages filled with notes on marine geology. A nearby wastebasket caught his eye, but he stopped short with a grimace. These were half a semester’s worth of notes. Toss them out and he was just about guaranteeing failure for the hapless student he’d stolen them from, or at least quite a few tedious and unproductive hours spent copying out notes from his classmates’ books. That dreadful human emotion called a “conscience” overtook Terrian. Can you see the kid I got the notes from? he asked the duplicate in the aquarium, accompanying this with an image of the kid in question – merely as a refresher, since that duplicate had not yet branched off when Terrian’d stolen the notes, and so carried the memory himself. Let me look.Terrian made his way back, following the signs, to the aquarium, by which time came the answer: He’s toward the back, but no dice: he’s not in the very back row and there are people all around him. Left of center as you come in.Satisfied that his duplicate seemed to have independently guessed why he’d asked, Terrian went on: And where are you guys?Way down in front, on your right. There – For Terrian had, as quietly as possible, slipped in through the giant glass doors. His duplicate was partway turned around in his front-row seat and waved modestly as Terrian came into view. Then the duplicate tapped Blaise on the arm, and she looked back over her shoulder at the newcomer, her thin eyebrows raised expectantly. Terrian grinned, lifted the flash drive between two fingers and sent the duplicate word that Parmigianino.exe was a success, which he could see him repeating to her in a hush. But it was to the duplicate, rather than the original, that Miss Euler inclined her head with a brief smile before returning her attention to Oceanara’s lecture. “The ocean, quite simply, is the greatest mystery and greatest wonder that humanity has ever, and may ever, encounter…” Terrian frowned and breathed a low tut. For reasons that were onerous to punctiliously diagnosticate at the contemporaneous juncture, he felt kinda miffed. He leaned up against the doors and contented himself with searching the closest rows to the back, left of center, for the pickpocketed student, whom he eventually recognized by his striped polo. The duplicate was right that Terrian didn’t have a clear shot at the kid, not with the other audience members surrounding him. He’d have to hang back until the end of the lecture and return the notes before rejoining this motley band.
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Post by Tout-Perd on Nov 26, 2015 2:03:48 GMT -5
-------- "We've got a bite, boss," A woman's voice, light and airy, like breeze through the branches of an orchard in springtime. "Of what sort? Scrying, drone surveillance, astral projection-" The response came back in a surprisingly deep voice, tinged with just a hint of a vaguely French accent. "With all due respect sir, knock it off. You know we'd be here all day if you just spieled off all the different kinds of searches you knew about." "To be entirely fair, precision is the measure by which we make our entire trade, Balfour. Going the extra mile is necessary in a business such as our own, and the more knowledge that we accrue, the better we can serve our clients. Every single question that we ask moves us incrementally closer to perfection." "Not to bust your bubble guys, but what kind of bite was it?" A third voice, this one gravelly and male, joined the conversation. "Ah, right. Digital, going for the hospital's records. Looking for Flora Isobel. I'm amazed they even managed to look here; we've got her under about eighteen layers of abjurations, and whoever got to her before us put one on her that our best specialists couldn't match. But they managed to narrow it down to Venice, of all things. And here's where it really gets interesting. The program skimming the system encountered the records for our golden goose, under a pseudonym... And went right through it. Whoever set up that program managed to send a truth-charm through the internet, and flawlessly integrated it into an expert level hacking tool." An awestruck whistle echoed through the room. "Holy shit. Did you get a backtrack on it?" "I concur. Anybody with skills such as that, we either need on our payroll as an asset, or we need to eliminate from the competition." "Well, unfortunately, the first program managed to erase itself, and the vast majority of its footprints in the system...But, fortunately, they ran it a second time, and I was able to back-hack them while they were running it. Kinda baffling, making an amateur mistake like that, when they were almost scot-free" "That's no matter. Location? Affiliation? Name?" "And that's the very best part. They're trying to get into our system from less than five miles away, the program is clearly from the Parmigianino Institute, and judging by some deleted files on their drive that I managed to scrounge up, our new friend is named 'Blaise Euler'." The rough voice gave a harsh, barking laugh. "Oh, that really is the best!" The sound of their hand slamming down on a metal table echoed harshly through the room, "And she most assuredly is not a new friend of mine." His laughter throttled down to rumbling chuckle, sounding almost like a growl in the back of his throat. "I can't wait to make the introductions..." TO BE CONTINUED IN "NOMENCLATURE OF THE POCOCURANTE" COMING SOON! [/b]
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