Justric

Never Lose Your Hat!

(sorry for the shorthand, typing from cell) Slowly getting caught up. Between convention and guild being down for a day or two, I've fallen behind a lot!

The Orphan's Wedding

Victor could make little sense of the words. They were... jumbled about. He was a simple and straightforward man, disliking it when words had more than one meaning. Yet while he could make little understanding of the poem, Kijani's voice carried the emotions beneath it all in such a manner as to ensnare his soul and captivate his attention. There was anger there, resentment, too. After having lived the life of an orphaned soldier, one betrayed at every turn by the state which had reared him and which he in turn had tried to serve faithfully, he knew those feelings right well. Standing there while he leaned on his cane, Victor was frozen to the spot as her voice rang out clear and melodious to him. His body was as still as stone while his soul was lost in her speech.

When she had finished and lowered the book, he cast down his eyes as though in embarrassment. Her next words were not the words of the poet, but struck his heart all the same. What did he think? How was he to answer?! Victor was a man who had given up much on life's passions, happy just to have survived his ordeals relatively intact! No one had ever asked him what he thought before!

"I think..." His voice faltered a bit as he tried to get the words in his head out. He glanced up at her as though wishing he could communicate all in his head and heart with but a single glance, that glance also containing the frustration over the fact that he couldn't and had to speak instead. "I think... you have a... a beautiful voice, miss."

Abruptly, Victor lowered his gaze. "The day's pressing on, miss. Best we'd head back now if we'll make it to supper. Cart's down the hill if you'd like to ride back. Not much of a carriage for a fancy lady like yourself, but.. it'll save your feet the ache later, I'm thinking." Victor could not remember when he had uttered so many words at once since he had left the army. It made him feel uncomfortable, the fear that he might sound as though he was rambling inanely and idiotically to this dark and comely young woman. Yet all the same, he couldn't keep from speaking to her!

"Would you... would you read to me some more later, miss? After supper or before we retire, maybe? I didn't understand all of the words or how they were... put together, but maybe if I listen to more...?"

Found Alive

"Not much of a... of choice either way," he gasped out. "God..." Lucien closed his eyes to try and concentrate, his mind desperately attempting to fight the pain while also wresting with which fate would be worse.

Suspended animation promised a recovery of his body, but not his mind. Worse, he knew enough from listening to Uncle and Toni that the proposed method of prolonged recovery was not the sure thing it once may have been; in fully stocked and stable hospitals with the proper equipment and trained full time staff, there would be little cause for concern. But in a cavern with a temperamental power supply, lack of personnel to keep an eye on him... His chances were about fifty percent of making it out alive albeit with some memory loss. The other thirty percent promised death, albeit a painless once while he slumbered unawares. And the remaining twenty-ish? His body might be fully healed, but he would lose far more than memories; he could recall Toni arguing theory adamantly with Uncle, because there was a solid chance that patients might come out in a completely vegetative state...

Letting himself be captured? Lucien would have shivered if he could have through the pain. He would become the very nightmare they had all come to fear, and there was the distinct possibility he would be lost to humanity for all time. Worse, he would hunt them. No emotions, no mercy... no love for Cassie. He could have a perfectly healthy body, better even, at the cost of his soul. Still, no matter what Uncle and the other said about Androids, Lucien was sure he would be screaming in insanity, locked within his own mind behind the robot's control. The real question was, did he trust her? Did he trust in her enough that she would be able to recover him and not leave him to live a soulless life?

The tears didn't stop. "Southwest culvert." It was all he could choke out at first. Then, "At the... processing center... southwest culvert. Leads into the compound. Tried to convince Toni and Uncle towards the end... they said it was too dangerous."

His eyes popped open again to stare deeply into Cassie's, pleading with her. "You can get in through there. I know it. They stopped me from trying, Cassie. But you'll come for me, right? Come... come through the culvert, okay? And... Cassie... if you can't... if you can't bring me back... if you can't break their hold on me... I need to you to... to do it. Yeah? You know?"

Lucien fell to silence, the pain now warring with fear and anxiety at the upcoming capture and the unknown that would follow. "Cassie? It's not fair, Cassie." He was almost petulant as he whispered, "We were supposed to be married, Cassie..."

Never Lose Your Hat!

No problem! I'm at a convention this weekend, but I should have a post up by Sunday night should all go well!

Found Alive

I lied. Mea culpa. I managed to get a quick post off before I leave.

Found Alive

Uncle shrugged as Cassie left. He wanted to suggest that Pony should have a say as well considering all she had done for Lucien, but after the Cyborg's little tantrum he didn't consider it a good idea. Reaching over to the incomplete sensor, he grabbed a tiny screw driver and set to work upon it. Who knows? he thought, It might actually be useful.

***

Groaning, Lucien tried to roll over to his side to be more comfortable. He always felt more comfortable lying on his side, the hard floor of the caves often leaving his spine in knots despite all the nesting blankets and pillows. Only he couldn't move. It wasn't as though he was strapped down or anything, it was just that his body refused to move for some reason. Then he realized why: his body knew that if he moved, the pain would come back worse than it was now. The came the sick realization as to why he waking up, the horrid knowledge that the pain was already there. It was a tsumani of agony that surged up and plowed through the breakwater that the drugs had provided, and Lucien was completely open and exposed before that wave. Seconds after Cassie took his hand, Lucien's body seized up with his back arced high beneath him and gave out a pitiful sound that was half moan and half strangled scream.

"Cassie!" he gasped as his eyes popped open. "Oh. Fuck. Cassie. God, it hurts! Pony was here... Pony... she was crying... Cassie." Eyes filled with haunting pain, he stared right into Cassie's eyes. His lips trembled as he begged for her. "Cassie. Take care of Pony. T-take... take care of each other... You'll do that right? Y-you'll take care of each other after I... after I..."

Lucien closed his eyes against the tears that were starting to form. "Oh fuck," he whispered faintly, "I'm not gonna make it, am I, Cassie? Th-that's why everyone's crying. God, Cassie. Just... kill me, Cassie. Please? I can't... I can't take this... S'not fair. I j-just get you back... in time to get beaten up and blown up... in time t-to die..." Through the red hot iron searing in every part of his body, a bark of laughter burst through. "Spent months t-trying to kill myself without you. Now you're back w-when I most want to live, and... and... Shit... Fuck... Shit-fuck."

Found Alive

Really? Darn. And here I thought I was coming up with it on the spur of the moment!

Just as a head's up, I have a convention this weekend so my posting time will be a little spotty. I probably won't have a chance to reply until late tonight. BUT... reply I shall!

The Highwayman Came Riding

I've read pretty much most of what she's put up. Her frequency is dreadfully slow, but considering the quality of the work I really can't complain. I love the human sketches she did of Elsa and of Viktor. As far as waffles? I still giggle at the line "I was playing waffle's advocate." In fact, I thought of doing a something along those same lines as an RP at some point: in 1920s Buffalo NY, a down on his luck gambler saves a pretty lady from a mugging, only to discover she's the owner of a little speakeasy that has troubles of its own. I never got much further into developing it. It was basically a cross between Lackadaisy and Damon Runyon Theater.

The convention will include cosplay, or at least it did last year. A number of posts on the con's Facebook page indicates is should be so again this year. I usually steampunk it up at my artist's alley table, each day my outfit getting progressively gaudier. UBCon is held up at SUNY Buffalo. It's the type of con that tells me I'm getting old, for when I see teenage girls in their anime and cosplay outfits, baring more skin than charm, I want to run over to them and say... "Does your father know you're dressed like that?!?" Which is a shame because I really, really wanted to be a dirty old man. I guess it's just not in me. It's also the sort of con that make me want to stop every idiot who doesn't know how to proper knot or wear a tie of any sort, bow or neck, and fix it for them. I joked one year about handling out free tie bars as promotional items; I'm starting to wish I had done so.

If you're having a hard time with Bess, then let's change the plot! Or at least make it background to a new one: in the (eventual) tragedy of Bess and the Highwayman's deaths, the Captain and his wife are able to rekindle their love for one another. Not quite sure how that would work yet, as it just sprang upon me spur of the moment like, but we could hammer something out.

Found Alive

How's that for dark?

Found Alive

"A great deal actually," he coughed, adjusted the collar of his coat in an attempt to regain some dignity. "While not a medical doctor, my doctorates were in medical engineerings and robotics, the one field becoming more and more related to the other before the war. I am one of the few, if not only, professionals still alive in the world who might be able to help."

"The first option is to more or less stabilize him and then put him into what used to be referred to as 'suspended animation.' His body would recover on its own, slowly, albeit far faster than our current conditions would allow for. The benefit of this is that it would be painless for him and he would be able to avoid a great deal of therapy to regain control of his body. There would be some muscle control loss, but it would be only temporary. The downside is the effects: he would be in stasis for a year, completely helpless if unaware... and there is the potential for memory loss. What makes your situations different is that you would know he is alive, whereas he did not know about you."

Easing back into his chair once more, he steepled his hands in front him and continued. "The second option is surgery. Just by looking at him, I would be fairly surprised if he did not have major organ damage of some kind. I retain enough of my skills that I could open him up and see what might be fixed. He would be conscious sooner... if he survives. Let us face it, this is not the most sterile environment in the world and the chances for infection are high. We also do not have access to many of the tools and equipment I had in younger days. The main problem, the real problem," Uncle warned solemnly, "is anesthetic. We have none. True, I might be able to synthesis some form of ether, but that process is dangerously explosive and not meant for long term use. At best, we could get Lucien highly drunk and pray the shock doesn't kill him."

"The last option..." Uncle paused as though trying to think of the best way to phrase it. Shaking his head he went on finally, "You will not like the last option. I am not sure I like the last option. It's a repeat of something we tried before and it didn't work how we had hoped. I say 'we' because you and I were the ones to come up with the idea and to proceed with the experiment. Its results were... mixed."

He focus a serious eye on Cassie, looking at her directly as though to convey his meaning not just by words but by glance as well. "We let him get captured by Androids. They repair him, replace what is broken with better alternatives and rehabilitate him. We let him get converted and we then try to recover him."