Where chaos stops and more chaos ensues. Where Filia plays the electric keyboard.
Where anything goes.
-//o_O\\7 *Home of the Awful, Mediocre and Pathetic* -//u_u\\7
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Where chaos stops and more chaos ensues. Where Filia plays the electric keyboard. Where anything goes. -//o_O\\7 *Home of the Awful, Mediocre and Pathetic* -//u_u\\7 |
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Saturday, February 21, 2004 (Post deleted. Thanks a lot, internet connection.) - The Wayward, Part VI - "Okay, first things first," explained the shirted and trousered adventurer as he demonstrated with the aid of his fingers, "We need to get this metal door open, and then you have to tell me about this pet ... er ... monster friend of yours." "I thought you said you weren't interested in it?" I hummed coyly, giving my companion in the corner a quick glance. It wasn't exactly the most adorable thing in the world, but I'm always inclined to be nice to anything that listens to me. "You should be glad that it doesn't ... I mean, it doesn't look like it has feelings." "No, no, no," insisted the over-friendly explorer as he waved his hands in denial, "I'm always interested in strange creatures. I encounter and defeat all kinds of fearsome beasts on my travels!" "Oh, do tell," I remarked, obviously not too impressed by his overblown boasting, "I'm interested to know about them, as well." "Oh, dear, it wouldn't be a good idea to tell you," he cautioned in an obvious attempt to put me off, "As I said, I don't want to be responsible for anything that happens to you, including you having all manner of horrible nightmares after I tell you a few of my stories!" "I've slept too soundly these past few days," I commented rather sardonically, knowing that the last time I slept well I had mysteriously appeared in another world, "I need something terrifying to spice up my life. Talk away." "Uh ... well ..." he dawdled as he put a hand to his chin and murmured something silly, "That isn't the best way to use up our time here, standing around and telling stories! I want to get to the nearest town before afternoon so I can have some lunch, a good idea, wouldn't you say?" "Well, yes," I sighed as I smacked my palm over my eyes in an attempt to hide my obvious disappointment with mister Prince Charming. And whose idea was it to tell stories, anyway? "You were asking me to tell you about my friend here." "Ah, yes, indeed, absolutely!" he laughed to no one in particular as he forcefully threw himself back on track, "So, tell me about ... does he have a name?" "Um ... I never thought about it, since it only just started following me ..." I pondered, before I quickly spotted a dissimilarity between my thoughts and his, "And why should ... well ... it be a he?" "Well, for starters, I wouldn't have myself frightened by a girl, would I?" Io Aoi, male supremacist, exclaimed in his superior fashion. I found it incredibly surprising that one like him who sets out to make himself utterly annoying to everyone of the opposite sex should actually be interested in having one of them as a life partner. "No ..." I murmured at a volume deliberately loud enough to be audible by him, "But, the monster did scare the daylights out of you, and I happen to be responsible for the monster, and I happen to be a girl, so ..." "Uh, well, yeah, I guess the gender of monsters is none of my business, of course!" he quickly amended his viewpoint, picking up the hint that I was thrusting in his face, "But you claim the monster came from here ... what makes you think that?" "Isn't it obvious?" I asserted, stating several facts that were crystal clear to me but perhaps a little too difficult for him to fathom, "I told you, the monster led me here from the farm all the way up the road, like some kind of homing pigeon. And after it got here, it started listening to me, almost as if there was some significance attached to this place. Finally ... haven't you been looking? The creature is wearing a laboratory coat which, if you were paying attention, looks exactly like some of those burnt ones lying around the place! That's why I think the monster came from this building!" "Oh, right ..." he muttered as he quickly acknowledged the facts, "Typical of you girls to act so assertive and dominating when you have the knowledge on your side." "What do you mean, assertive and dominating?" I growled, almost feeling like tackling him when I realised that all his riling had driven me to a level of aggression somewhat higher than my usual, so maybe he had a point. Maybe. "Anyway," I added in a slightly more subdued tone, "I suggest you cut out all that nonsense about the differences between guys and girls, because it is driving me to irritation." "Differences exist to be recognised, don't you think?" he remarked philosophically in a tone annoying enough to set a blood vessel bulging in my forehead, "And what better way of recognising the differences than comparing them?" "Okay, whatever, shut up," I sighed as I strode over to the entrance of the metal room, "Let's focus on getting the job done, all right? We were thinking of a way to get this door open ..." ( - Page Break - Ed.) "Yes!" he exclaimed, pointing to the air in that stereotypical great discovery pose, "And you said you had an idea how to do that, Miss Smart?" "It's Charlotte, thank you very much," I groaned as I put my hands in my pockets in a valiant attempt to avoid bunching them into fists and knocking the lights out of Io Aoi, "And I said I was thinking of a way to open the door, not that I already knew how to open it! Why don't you try something, Mister Brave Adventurer?" Heh. And indeed he did, without paying the slightest attention to the snide remark I attempted to pass him. He tried the doorknob again several times, before trying to smash it down by throwing, in that order, his shoulder, his foot, and himself at it, to lots and lots of pain and yelling but to no avail whatsoever. Undaunted, he rounded the corner to examine the chamber of shattered glass separating the room from the outside, which I had looked through earlier, and contemplated ways of smashing down the shattered glass without getting severely lacerated in the process. Quite a pity that he did not actually try out any of them. As for me, thinking of various ways and means of getting the door open, my index finger invariably wormed its way about the inside of my pocket, until it came across the ring I had found earlier, and instinctively slipped itself in. The ring being quite a bit bigger than my size, it slid all the way down my finger until it came to my knuckle, where it lodged itself comfortably, a perfect fit. Failing to come up with any suitable plans that might help us in the achievement of our goal, in an inadvertent bout of suppressed vanity uncovered by my inability to do anything more useful I lifted my hand out of my pocket to inspect and admire the delightful little ring on my own finger. I raised it to my eyes, expecting to see the intricate little gem glittering prettily over my unadorned finger, only to see a solid straight band of metal, with not a jewel in sight. Opening my hand in surprise, I was startled to see the diamond gleaming back at me, from the opposite side of the ring! Pretty, yes, but in an absurd position. Yet, strangely enough, the ring seemed a perfect fit, as if it was meant to be worn in that position. Hmm ... perhaps ... just maybe. An inert click resounded across the blasted landscape as the doorknob turned easily in my hand, and with the slightest push, swung open effortlessly. "I see you managed to do it!" cried a rather amazed explorer as he rounded the corner again, and appeared from the side opposite to the one he had been investigating, "You've my heartiest congratulations. You're well on your way to becoming a fantastic explorer like myself!" "Mmm ... whatever ..." I responded in a tone as neutral as possible, hoping to avoid provoking further jibes from him. I would have been much less offended if only he had inserted a pause before those last two words. What I most disliked about him, it seems, was the fact that despite not knowing me for any more than several minutes (and trying to kill me before that, at that), he seemed to be treating me as his assistant, or his sidekick, or his call girl, as the case may be. The scariest thing was that such an attitude seemed to come naturally to him, as if he treated everyone (or every girl, at least) in that way and found absolutely nothing wrong with it. "Why don't you step in and get what you want? I'll be waiting out here so I don't get in your way, or stumble across any confidential, top secret stuff." "Oh, no! You must come in!" he insisted, sounding genuinely invitational and in the process making me feel all the more alarmed, "After all, having managed to open the door, you do deserve that much, at the very least. Furthermore, I do need your help in bringing out any stuff that I need, and as long as you're 'cooperative' with the constables back at the palace, you shouldn't have any problems about it. Why don't you?" I was originally inclined to disagree, but perhaps the enthusiastic desire for exploration and conquest which circled like an aura about him made it too much for me to resist. Or perhaps it was because I recalled, as he spoke, that unusual portrait of someone not too much unlike myself, resting on the table. Maybe it was just a mirror ... or worse, just a product of my pervasive self-doubt. But answers would not produce themselves if I simply stood there and waited expectantly. "Well ... I guess I will, thank you ..." I murmured as I ducked under his arm, while he held the door open like a proper gentleman, "Maybe I do want to look around." As I put my best foot forward, however, I thought I had found the reason why he allowed me to step in first. A stale, pungent odour filled my every sense as I gasped for air, unknowing if it was poison or some deadly toxin. But after taking a few breaths with reasonable ease, I realised that the mystery gas did smell somewhat similar to the air which hovered over the ruins I had entered, only stronger. So perhaps it was simply the accumulation of the gas in the sealed room, and not a trap or a ploy of any sort. While I held my nose in an attempt to block out the smell, Io Aoi stepped in, and the gas had an immediate effect on him as he wrinkled up his nose in disgust. And while he looked to be in desperate need of fresh air, he tried his best not to gag and gasp as I did in an obvious attempt to retain his composure. Opening the locked door had allowed for air to sweep through the small room, and while the light breeze swiftly purged the room of the noxious fumes it also set the papers scattered about the floor dancing. Picking up one that caught itself against my boot, I examined it to see that the writing was notes of some kind, but in a language totally beyond my experience, let alone my comprehension, almost as illegible as it had been when I gazed in through the glass of the shattered chamber. As I surveyed the room from the inside, I noticed that Io Aoi's eyes were focussed on a small wooden clock sitting at the side of the table, its hands seeming to point to a time just shy of ten and a half hours, one which didn't seem too distant judging from the weather conditions outside. "It seems accurate," I commented as I noticed how he continued to squint at it, out of the corner of his eye. "Huh? What are you talking about?" he exclaimed abruptly, staring at me with mouth agape, "For starters, the clock's stopped. Should a teenage girl like you be able to tell the time by now?" "I ... well ... never mind," I struggled to explain myself but decided it was better to prevent an argument. Seeing as to how I could not understand the written language and numbers of this strange new world, perhaps it was all too logical that their clocks were read in a different way as well. Avoiding further conversation, I averted my eyes, only to set them upon the wooden picture frame sitting pleasantly at the corner of the table, just atop a small book. As I gazed into it, observing every feature of the unblemished face of the girl within, she seemed to be examining me in return, as her warm, bright eyes gazed back into mine. ( - Page Break - Ed. ) "Help me here, would you?" Io Aoi murmured as he brushed past me in a rather brusque fashion and proceeded to pick up every last scrap of paper on the floor of the room, taking care to avoid the lacerating shards of glass scattered about together with them, "I know it's interesting ... but I've, well, we've a job to do here." "I suppose, jokes aside, you pretty much try your best to keep on task," I remarked, a smile creeping into my lips as I continued to gaze at the portrait, ignoring both his words and the rather intrusive way he brushed about my skirt as he retrieved the papers. Fetching them all, none of them being burnt, torn or otherwise damaged in any way, he proceeded to stack them together with the papers on the table. Looking very much like an office secretary, he completed the pile, and then placed the whole lot on the stack of files already arranged for easy transportation. Seeing as to how I hadn't seen a surviving scrap of paper outside the metal room, among the ruins of the destroyed laboratory, I guess he was right to assume every bit that did survive was very important indeed. Just as he examined the drawers of the table and the cabinet at the corner of the ceiling, it occured to me to ask him a question that had been irking me ever since I set eyes upon that mysterious portrait. "Um ... excuse me ..." I stammered as, with great effort, I finally pulled my eyes away from those of the other girl to draw his attention, "Can I ask you a question?" "Sure, girlie, anything ..." he replied absentmindedly as he inspected the drawers thoroughly, to find that they were used for the storage of not documents but supplies of all sorts like stationery and medicine, "If you'd help me with this big pile of heavy stuff instead of just standing there." "Right, I will ..." I muttered, observing how my politeness had met with that appalling casual reply yet again, but deciding nto to kick up a fuss about it, "But tell me ... do you know who the girl in that portrait is?" "What? A girl?" With all the surprise of a playboy who had been caught unaware, too late to work his charms, he glanced about frantically until he realised how blindingly obvious the little picture frame was, sitting right before his eyes, "Oh ... I thought that was ... hey, isn't that ..." "Isn't that who?" I demanded, anxiety having filled my every bone and muscle. I clenched my fists out of anticipation, lest I lose control of myself and tried to squeeze the answers out of him with my bare hands, "She looks ... just like ..." "That's her Highness, royal Princess Uaeouue! What's a portrait of a lovely girl like her doing here?" he yelped, nearly shutting the drawers on his own fingers in surprise, "This picture seems to be of a very high quality, as if ... as if its owner treasured it so much as to spend a fortune to turn it out as perfect as possible. You can almost see ... the seductive contours of ..." "Uh ... I see ..." I sighed as the man before me slipped into a dreamlike state as he reenacted some obscene fantasy in his head. A princess? Hmm ... but I thought it was ... "Although I must admit, I thought it was ..." "Oh!" he started up as he snapped out of his trance, "That she looks like you? Well, maybe, a little, I guess ..." He held his fingers up to form a box shape, just like a picture frame, and proceeded to survey my timorous features through it. And I cringed to imagine that he had some kind of new fantasy in his head already. "Er ... yeah ... okay ... that's enough ..." I gibbered uneasily, as he finally put down his fingers. "You do look a little like her ..." he pondered, before laughing crudely, "But she's much more sexy, I must say! Haha!" Uh, right, thanks a lot. I feel so much better now that I understand just why that person isn't me. "Okay, but by the way," I added as he turned away and, with the strength of his brawny arms, proceeded to hoist the entire stack of files with loose sheets of paper atop it, "Do you think this is ... something important?" "That?" he remarked as he squeezed past me, struggling to keep the pile atop from falling, "It's probably just a pretty picture to brighten up the day of whoever used to work here. You can take it if you want, though I don't see the point, since you're a girl ... unless ..." A mock gasp of horror resounded from behind the moving stack of files. "Shut up, before I kick you in the rear and send you falling," I retorted, as I bent to get out of the way of the tottering tower. Well, obviously I wasn't romatically interested in her, but seeing as to how similar she looked, maybe there was more to it than meets the eye. The table had been stripped clean of its contents, the only remaining items being the broken clock, a few loose pieces of stationery, several pieces of broken glass, and of course the portrait itself. Seeing as to how there was no harm about it, I carefully lifted the picture frame by its base, and neatly folded it so it rested as a large rectangle over the palm of my hand. That face ... it certainly wasn't romance of any sort, but that was something enchanting about the way she looked. Something mystifying. Maybe, as I tore my eyes away from her alluring gaze, something insidious. And then I caught sight of the small leather-bound book lying on the table, just beneath the picture frame. Slightly smaller than a sheet of writing paper, strange indecipherable runes were scribbled over the surface of its tanned cover. Runes not dissimilar to those I found written all over those scraps of paper that had been blowing about the floor of the room. The words meant something, and the only question was what that something was. "Charlotte, are you coming?" Io Aoi called from outside, standing in front of the door as if he was holding it open while carrying the heavy stack of paperwork, the 'monster friend' of mine still standing motionlessly behind him. All my praise goes to him for finally realising that I actually do have a name other than 'girlie' or 'kid'. "I don't want to have to rescue you if you get yourself locked in there! Not while carrying this stuff, at least ..." "I'll be right there!" I called as, without giving a second thought, I snatched up the unnoticed book and, with the portrait and it cradled in my arms, I darted out of the metal room and into the open air. - Your adventure nearly ended here, and you're damn well lucky it didn't! - Um, that was not supposed to be funny. I actually found the nerve to continue it after 24 hours ... after squashing up and squeezing out as much of my anger and hatred as I could after having to rewrite that whole insert ... posted by Charlotte | 3:54 pm
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Disclaimer : The Slayers and Filia Ul Copt and all images thereof are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own any of them, although if I had a choice I would want Filia ... ~//n_n\\7 |
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