Backstage - OOC Forums

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

The nation of Jin-Mei is the latest addition to the Federation? For more, read here.

Author Topic: [Drabble Series]Embers  (Read 1917 times)

Repentence Tyrathlion

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 304
  • RIP?
[Drabble Series]Embers
« on: 13 Jun 2013, 05:32 »

Hysera VI, Caldari/Gallente borderzone.

The figure stood on the hillside.

The charred rubble was still visible, all these years later.  Wind and rain and scavengers had not yet obliterated all trace of the settlement.  If you squinted, you could almost see the outline of the buildings as they once were.

Ship-mounted blasters could make a real mess.

The figure closed her eyes.  Twenty years since she had set foot here.  Twenty years of hard training, twenty years of living.  Twenty years of forgetting.  Yet here she stood, and she could hear the screams.

The figure did not cry.  She ran out of tears a long time ago.

She had gained her vengeance on those responsible.  She had found some kind of closure.  The annihilation of her home and her family was in the past.

The figure wondered why she had returned here.  Pain was the only possible result, and thus it was.  A dull ache, a bitter taste, a dreadful pull into memories that still gave her nightmares.  Yet still she stood, looking down.

Dreamlike, she could almost see her seven-year-old self fleeing.  Falling with a scream as an antimatter pulse vaporised a nearby house.

Watching, transfixed, as her sister was reduced to ash.

She had had her revenge.  And suddenly, she understood why she had returned.

Elysa Varbolt opened all three eyes, and turned to leave.

"Destroy it," she rasped.

She didn't turn as the Scourge missiles started landing, reducing her former home to a crater.

Now she was truly beyond pain.  It was time to start inflicting it.
« Last Edit: 22 Jun 2013, 17:21 by Repentence Tyrathlion »
Logged

Saikoyu

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 469
Re: [Very Short Story]Embers
« Reply #1 on: 13 Jun 2013, 12:08 »

Short, but interesting.

I am wondering about the three eyes though.
Logged

Repentence Tyrathlion

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 304
  • RIP?
Re: [Very Short Story]Embers
« Reply #2 on: 13 Jun 2013, 12:21 »

This is both a teaser for future things to come, and a way of cataloging recent events for one of my older characters.  Elysa was my combat/mission/falcon alt back when I still used Mortis as my main and shot at people, and I'm intending to resub her in the near future.

At the time, she was a grumpy ice queen with a heart of gold, and probably the most sane and overall decent individual among my characters.  I've been considering returning to the pewpew scene, though, and since for various IC reasons I can't resurrect Mortis, Elysa it is.

She's just a little less sane than she was in the past.  Also rather more cybernetic.

So... expect extensions to this, and possibly a full-blown open RP arc.  We'll see.
Logged

Vincent Pryce

  • Guest
Re: [Very Short Story]Embers
« Reply #3 on: 13 Jun 2013, 13:08 »

I cast VARBOLT
Logged

Repentence Tyrathlion

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 304
  • RIP?
Re: [Very Short Story]Embers
« Reply #4 on: 13 Jun 2013, 13:32 »

I cast VARBOLT

It strikes target Gallente terrorist for massive damage!

Hey Vince :D
Logged

Ghost Hunter

  • Sansha's True Citizen ; TS-F Overseer
  • The Mods
  • Veteran
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1374
  • True Power without limit!
Re: [Very Short Story]Embers
« Reply #5 on: 13 Jun 2013, 14:26 »

Stories of this size are called 'drabble(s)'.
Logged
Ghost > So yes, she was Ghost's husband-
Ashar > So Ghost was a gay Caldari and she went through tranny surgery
Ghost > Wait what?
Ashar > Ghosts husband.
Ghost > No she was - Oh god damnit.

He ate all of them
We Form Moderation
For Nation

Repentence Tyrathlion

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 304
  • RIP?
Re: [Very Short Story]Embers
« Reply #6 on: 13 Jun 2013, 14:34 »

Huh.  I always wondered what those were.  You learn something every day :D
Logged

Ava Starfire

  • Queen of Hashbrowns
  • Pod Captain
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 559
Re: [Drabble]Embers
« Reply #7 on: 17 Jun 2013, 05:03 »

Deeply enjoyed this. Sometimes, shorter is better. This was one ofthose times!
Logged

Repentence Tyrathlion

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 304
  • RIP?
Re: [Drabble]Embers
« Reply #8 on: 20 Jun 2013, 14:45 »

Tyrathlion Estate, Khanid Prime

The Brutor man rammed hard into Repentence's chest, and she fell, winded.  Still, she maintained enough control to kick his leg at the knee, causing him to stumble.  Catlike, she rolled aside and sprang to her feet, laying into the man with a series of rapid, disorientating blows.

He stumbled back again, trying to gain ground, then roared and swung for her, trying to use superior strength to overpower her defences.  She leapt aside, scythed his legs out, and pounced for a choke hold.

"I submit," he said, the cold, Civire voice jarring coming from the bulky Matari form.  She released, turned away and wincing.  Careless to get hit like that.

"Again?"  The hologram vanished, revealing the soft plastic form of the sparring drone beneath.  It had cost a fair amount, but it had proved to be worth it over the long months since she'd imported the machine.

She paused.  The voice struck a chord with her, the same chord she'd been trying to forget all day.  "Again.  Caldari military training.  Randomise statistics.  Level 4."

There was a soft hum as the drone shrank, adjusting its 'muscles' and 'bones'.  Then a suitable hologram, of a wiry Deteis man in an Ishukone paramilitary uniform, layered over the top.  "Ready," it grunted, the voice changed to match.

"Begin."  She circled the machine, as it watched her, calculating.  Then it attacked, lacking the raw brutality of the Brutor but with a lot more skill.  They parried, kicked and punched for what felt like a long time, before disengaging, measuring each other up.  When they met again, she slammed a foot through a weak spot in his defences, breaking synthetic ribs.  As he fell back, she broke his neck.

The hologram vanished, and a soft whirring sounded as it adjusted its mechanisms, repairing the simulated damage.  "Again?"

It had been a long time since she'd taken her first, clumsy lessons on Midnight's Embrace.  Her instructors and sparring partners, all Caldari ex-military hard cases, had not been gentle, and for weeks every session had ended with enough bruises to her body and pride to make it positively demoralising.  But she'd kept at it.  Almost every day since.  It gave her focus.  It let her feel that she wasn't helpless, like she could handle whatever the world threw at her.  She certainly wasn't the best, but she was no pushover.

What would Elysa think... and there it was again, the thought she'd been trying to avoid.

The day would come soon when she'd have to face her old friend.  She knew it in her gut, that whatever had happened, wherever she went, a meeting would eventually come.

And maybe she'd have to fight.

"You can mimic specific individuals, right?"

"To a varying margin of error," the drone replied.

"Elysa Varbolt."

There was silence as the drone accessed the various memory banks available to it.  "70% accuracy on specific identity can be achieved.  Remaining factors will be extrapolated.  Proceed?"

"Proceed."

The drone reconfigured, and then the hologram flickered on.  It was based on old data, clearly.  The Civire looked younger, harder, a relentlessness in her eyes, but it was still Elysa.  Her friend, her mentor... perhaps now her enemy.

"Begin."

The doppelganger lunged instantly.  Repentence staggered back, off guard, and tried to block the attack.  Contemptuously she was knocked aside, a vicious kick to her ribs making something break.  Pain flooded her system, but she pushed it aside, a retaliatory sweep of her legs clearing space for her to leap to her feet.

She had only a moment's respite, as the drone smacked her face with an open palm, breaking her nose and making her dizzy.  The counterattack connected with 'Elysa's shoulder, but it was simply used to provide momentum for another crushing blow.  Repentence fell hard, skull ringing, and was repeatedly slammed into the ground, stars flashing across her vision.

A heavy grip took hold of her head, just the right set of positions to get the right leverage to snap the neck, ending the fight right there and -

"You lose."  The drone returned to its idle position.

Slowly Reppy crawled into a kneeling position, blood streaming from her nose and forehead, pain screaming in her chest.

"You don't say," she grunted.
Logged

Saikoyu

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 469
Re: [Drabble]Embers
« Reply #9 on: 20 Jun 2013, 15:30 »

mmmmmm, again, nice story.

And now I want to get to know Reppy more. 
Logged

Repentence Tyrathlion

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 304
  • RIP?
Re: [Drabble]Embers
« Reply #10 on: 20 Jun 2013, 15:44 »

Caldari sparring drones.  They don't screw around :lol:
Logged

Steffanie Saissore

  • Knight Commander (in training)
  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 275
  • Lawful Good Pirate
    • Ebon Rose Forum
Re: [Drabble]Embers
« Reply #11 on: 20 Jun 2013, 16:19 »

I too want to know more about Reppy in game.
Logged
"And if the music stops, there's only the sound of the rain.  All the hope and glory, all the sacrifice in vain.  And if love remains though everything is lost, we will pay the price, but we will not count the cost."

Repentence Tyrathlion

  • Omelette
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 304
  • RIP?
Re: [Drabble]Embers
« Reply #12 on: 22 Jun 2013, 17:11 »

18 months ago

Mining proceeds.

Unit is operating at reduced efficiency.  Compensate.


Compensating.

Her mind felt cold.

Thoughts not her own flitted through her head.  No orders, never orders.  Just polite instructions.  Not even words.  Concepts, pure information.

And that feeling that there was something crawling inside her.

Unit is operating at reduced efficiency.  Compensate.

The instruction seemed faintly disappointed that she needed to be chided again.  Again she signalled obedience.  Focused her attention on the work at hand.  The minerals had to be processed.

Once upon a time, she'd been more than this.  She paused in her adjustments to the machinery.  Stared at her hand through the mess of inputs and synthesised data patterns streaming across her vision and into her skull.  This hand belonged to her.  Not to...

Unit is operating at reduced efficiency.  Compensate.

There was no mistaking the disappointment.  She was letting down the great plan.  She had to work harder!

Compensating.

Movement!  Old instincts flared.  This was enemy territory, there was...

...just another servant.  She focused briefly on the cybernetic form as it ambled to check on something.  Then she returned her attention to the work.

Unit has reached the end of its shift.  Unit will proceed to maintenance.

She had a name.  She knew she had a name.  She just... couldn't remember it.

Unit will proceed to maintenance.

Patient, yet insistent.  The thoughts were never angry.  They always understood her, were willing to forgive her.  She was learning.  Just a child.  Soon she would see the glory of it all.

Unit will proceed to maintenance.

She closed her eyes.  Stumbled.  A voice hoarse with lack of use croaked.  "I... have... a name..."

The crawling things in her brain became busier.  Unit has no identification.  Identification implies wholeness.  Unit is not whole.  Unit is a part of the grand plan.

She felt at the bulky helmet encasing her head.  Clawed weakly at it, uselessly.  Felt firm, caring hands take her arms, pull her to her feet.

Unit is confused.  Unit will rest now.  Unit will be closer to the whole soon.

"I... have..."  She felt her vision blurring.  Consciousness fading as drugs pumped into her bloodstream.  "...a... name..."
Logged