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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 0:14:12 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 17, 2013 0:14:12 GMT -5
obert remembers the day the world broke with vivid clarity... but of course he does. How could he forget? For some it was a day of wonder. For others it was horrifying... For Robert Shield it was nothing less than the most horrible day of his life. He leaned back in the chair in his den. Pulled the tab on his cold can of beer and the let the sound of the can depressurizing wash over him.
Roberts never been one to lament a bad day. He'd much rather have it done and over with. In the past and behind him but today was different. He'd had a new patient and this one bid fair to test even his patience. The woman was an absolute nut job... but only the sense that she pretended to have something wrong with her. Over the course of their session... one wild story after another... Robert had begun to suspect it was all a sham. By the end of her hour he was convinced. She was only looking for the attention. Pathological liars he had worked with before but this woman was on another level...
Before he could dwell any longer on his miserable day at the office a muted thump sound emanated up the stairs and his house gave a most peculiar shiver. He sat forward in his chair straining his ears and few seconds passed and the house shivered again this time followed by a blood curdling scream.
Roberts blood froze in his veins at the sound. It was his wife...
Robert lunged for the door his wife's scream pounding in his ears. Before he made it halfway to the door it cut off and the silence rang even more loudly. What was going on? He hadn't noticed anything... no bad feelings... Robert didn't precisely believe in such things but intuition was hard to deny, but not today. He hadn't had an inkling that something would go wrong.
As he hit the stairs he saw men standing at the bottom. Red everywhere. Some of it was blood, some of it was something else. His eyes focused on one thing. His wife... blood pouring from a deep gash across her chest. Her deep blue eyes met his own for a moment. Just a moment, and then the light of life faded and her body wilted.
Something primal rose up inside him. His vision nearly black out and all his attention focused on the thing holding his daughter. Robert couldn't say what it was about him. Just that he was certainly not human. All his muscles pulled tight and leapt down the stairs aiming for the landing. All he could think was how he wanted to rip... wanted to tear. Wanted to kill. To pull his daughter free of that creatures clutches.
As he came in to land a roar started to build in chest but he never released. At the exact moment he attempted to scream his fury the world exploded. Robert doesn't know it but the only thing that saved his life was his sofa. The blast caught it and flung it into him. Pinning his now unconscious form against the stairs and shielding him from the rolling fireball that blasted out the windows, walls and doors. The entire house suddenly collapsing on itself, but Robert saw none of this... laying under his couch he knew only darkness.
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 0:32:32 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 17, 2013 0:32:32 GMT -5
Robert's eyes fluttered open blearily as something splashed cold water onto his face. Not exactly that, actually--not water at least--just a sudden jolt to his nerves that snapped him back to consciousness. There was a hazy cloud of ash and debris filling the air, raining down from the large, slightly singed hole in the ceiling. There was also a...thing perched weightlessly on his chest. It was roughly the size of a cat, but that's about where the similarities ended. It's head, which was the most noticeable thing being only an inch or two from his face, was slim and scaly, with a pair of large, silver-white slitted eyes, and a pair of large, feathery antennae, much like those of a moth. Stranger still, while his ears still rang from the blast, it appeared to be speaking to him in a rather urgent tone judging by how its mouth, lined with only four tiny, needle-like teeth, moved to form words.
Finally the ringing faded out and he could understand what it was telling him, "-understand me? Are you all right? Can you count to ten? How about seven? I'll even give you three. On second thought, forget the counting, there's a bigger issue here; have you seen a large, amorphous, imposing, dark, unpleasant, foul-smelling- oh wait...it would most certainly have disguised itself as it passed through the Convergence...look, did you see what did this to you?"
As if recognizing that he was conscious now, the creature put a few more inches of space between its snout and Robert's nose. He could now clearly see the rest of it--somewhat like a large monitor lizard with a curling, striped chameleon tail and, most notably, a large pair of elegant wings like those of a butterfly. Perhaps it was just the shock from the explosion, but the entire creature--and the wings particularly--remained hazy even as his surroundings sharpened into focus.
"Hey," it said again, as if aware of its own incoherent perceived state, "ya gotta keep your head together here. I want to help you as much as you unknowingly want to help me."
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 0:54:11 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 17, 2013 0:54:11 GMT -5
Solo missions are the missions of those who want death wishes or just draw the short end of the straw when they don't take desk jobs. When the first thing you see is a desecrated house that spews out a smell of death you know your chances of going back home without a scratch or a landshark bite is little too none. Roger Stanson walked up to the home pulled out a handkerchief to protect his sense of smell from the intoxicating odor of death. He pushed opened the Front door only to have it fall down without anything left to keep it up besides the balance it held before.
"Hello?" he shouted into the house as he took a step in and waited for a response before pulling out a pen-flashlight and starting his investigation of the home. A simple turn into another room presented him with a lovely image of a women's hand covered in blood under a pile of what was once part of the house's second floor. He took a step back but restrained his horror as his attention lingered along with his light to the overturned sofa.
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 0:59:30 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 17, 2013 0:59:30 GMT -5
Robert stared blearily at what could only be described a dragon in miniature. The little dragon was speaking to him and for several moments as he lay in the burnt out shell of is home that didn't seem the least bit absurd. "help you?" he said slowly. "I'd love too... office hours are between 8 and 4. Schedule an appointment with my secretary..." and with that Robert began to black out again.
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 1:06:13 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 17, 2013 1:06:13 GMT -5
Ashenta sighed and shook her head. Her outline flickered as she flashed momentarily with a surge of bright color and gave the man's surface thoughts another sharp jolt. "You're not very good at following instructions. You're a witness to a Class A transtemporal violation and I need your cooperation. Now for starters, we need to get you out from under this couch..."
Stepping backward, she emerged back into the room and looked around for the right tool for the job. She spotted one immediately. "Aha! A human, perfect!" she exclaimed triumphantly, "I don't suppose you could come over here and and lend me your corporeal hand, could you?"
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 1:12:10 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 17, 2013 1:12:10 GMT -5
Stanson started blankly at the emerging glittering... gecko. It seeped through the couch, with a pair of insect wings. At first he thought it was a fairy but most fairies aren't.... lizards. He took a breath and tried to keep his focus.
Speaking through the cloth covering his face, "Unknown... Flying Lizard. Are you the cause of the murder and distraction of property here?"
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 1:19:34 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 17, 2013 1:19:34 GMT -5
Another wave of "cold" prodded Robert back into consciousness. At least most of the way. Enough for him to begin attempting to wiggle out from under the couch. Must have got myself good... Talking Dragon. The thought floated blearily across the front of his mind as he wiggled his shoulders free.
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 1:31:50 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 17, 2013 1:31:50 GMT -5
"Yes," Ash said calmly to the man shining the penlight at her, "and if you don't move this couch and save the life of the man trapped beneath it, I'll murder and destroy your property too! Now move it! I've got a witness to cross-examine."
She turned her head around suddenly and shook her head at the couch, "Not a dragon," she said in the tired manner of someone reciting something for the ten thousandth time. She faced the other man again.
"Or a fairy," she added. "I'll explain later. First ya gotta move the couch."
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 1:39:49 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 17, 2013 1:39:49 GMT -5
A slight glare flashed on Stanson's face before he shook it away, This better not be a mind reading... whatever this is. He flicked his light off and replaced it back into his suit before walking over to the couch where grunts of a man came from.
"You stay where you are... 'not dragon or fairy.'" He left off his sentence in a mocking tone before crouching down and started pulling up the couch with the strength in his legs and moving it off the man it was crushing.
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 1:47:45 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 17, 2013 1:47:45 GMT -5
Robert was as glad to feel the weight of the couch lifted from his body. It was nice to be free of that constraint. Dark thoughts still swirled at the edge of his mind but a general all over pain left him fuzzy. He was in no hurry to remember. "Wait... you're not a dragon? but you're real... I..." Roberts eyes trailed across the room and lit upon his wifes exposed arm from under a pile of rubble. Not eve enough hope remained to want to dig her out... instead he looked around the house and realized everyone inside it was still in immediate danger. "Outside..." he muttered and tried to push himself on to his feet.
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 1:57:49 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 17, 2013 1:57:49 GMT -5
"Easy, eeeaaasy, try not to crush his skull like an eggshell," Ash cautioned as the couch was steadily moved off of the injured man. "Have you ever seen that happen?" she asked, innocently, "it makes the curious popping sound and everything and the brain is kinda like the yolk while the white is like all the blood that starts pooling out only if you throw them in a frying pan they don't- Oh good! You got it off of him!"
Ash hopped back on top of Robert's chest and brought one clawed forelimb up to her chin as if pondering his condition. "You're remarkably lucky, you know. Very few mortal entities survive encounters with the creatures beyond the Veil." She saw that he wasn't looking at her directly and followed his gaze to the red-stained pile of rubble. "So very few..."
Leaning to the side to block the sight of his wife's demise, she locked her eyes with his and affixed him with one of her rare serious expressions. "And we're going to ruin that average today, okay? We're going to get her back, do you understand? But to do that, I'm going to need you to tell me everything you saw."
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 2:07:44 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 17, 2013 2:07:44 GMT -5
"Hey, Lizard thing, This is my investigation, unless of course you want to do my paperwork back at the office for me." Stanson gave the ball of glitter a look but turns his gaze onto Robert realizing his distress and helps the man up realizing his limbs may be numb from the pressure of the couch. "I suppose we should take this conversation outside."
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 2:17:28 GMT -5
Post by Kaibo on Jul 17, 2013 2:17:28 GMT -5
Robert climbed unsteadily to his feet with the aid of the unknown person and made his way for the exit in a slow, halting manner. The not dragon and the man supporting him exchanged words but Roberts world was still too fuzzy to really absorb any of it. His wife dead? His daughter probably dead as well, and what happened to that monster? The blue of the sky and the green of lawns stretching away in either direction seemed so unreal. No firetrucks, no crowd of neighbors. What the hell was going on?
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 2:21:48 GMT -5
Post by Keeper of the Linked Verses on Jul 17, 2013 2:21:48 GMT -5
"Yes, right, outside! Tell me everything you saw outside!" She jumped up and backward off of Robert and continued drifting upward through the air--an unusual sight considering her wings weren't even fluttering. "Not what you saw outside, mind you," she added as she hovered toward what remained of the doorway, upside-down, "unless that's important or relevant, of course. More specifically, though I want to know what you saw inside just before the explosion, but I want you to tell me outside what you saw inside."
She flipped herself right way up and tilted her head to the side, "You follow?" The man seemed somewhat out of it, however, so she just gave him a sad smile and turned her attention to the other man's whose mysterious arrival just after the Convergence Rift Event was more than just a little suspiciously coincidental.
"Your mysterious arrival just after the Convergence Rift Event is more than just a little suspiciously coincidental," she told him, "Maybe I ought to do your paperwork and see just what it is you're doing here, hmm?"
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Crack!
Jul 17, 2013 2:35:56 GMT -5
Post by Agent Stanson on Jul 17, 2013 2:35:56 GMT -5
Stanston ignored the annoying liz- no now it was an insect, least for now. It buzzed like an insect and was just as annoying. He helped Robert out of what used to be his once proud standing home and eased him down on the ground for him to rest. The man needed to recover from shock and probably wasn't in any mind to think straight. When he pulled off the cloth over his face and though the smells still lingered he kept his head and turned to the annoying insect.
"F.I.A." a swift motion of his hand and a his badge and ID appeared in his hand from his suit. "We deal with aliens and supernatural events of the worlds. My name is Roger Stanson and you will refer to me as Stanson. 'not dragon or fairy.' Since your so persistant on pestering me and the remainder of the Shield's family, why don't you explain to me what happened here?"
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