ForeverAfterCityontheMoon
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[edit] Forever After: City on the Moon
Genre: Fantasy
System: ???
Date: Summer 2000
GMs:
[edit] Game Blurb
Big Ben's got twenty-two after. Why Kat doesn't let us get into position earlier is beyond me. I mean, sure, I get that there's less chance that a Cyclops's gonna peep me in two minutes than twelve, but frankly, I'd rather duck behind a shrub for a few seconds than have to swim the bloody Thames in five flat with a flamer. Praise be to waterproofing.
The away team should be really getting into gear right about now. Too bad. Nice place we're taking out this time. Pretty as a picture. Blue skies, green everywhere. Just everywhere. I'm surprised Colin had the guts to go in on this one; it's a lot like his Home. A little cooler, more animals, hell, a lot more animals. Like you wouldn't believe. Big ones, bigger than a Tall. Anything like that showed up at the gates it'd be mowed down in two. Really nice place. I had to get out of the away game last year. They said it got easier, the more you do it, the longer it's been. It doesn't. You just get deader, 'sall. 'Course, being out entirely has its own set of problems, and I can't help taking a peek into some Servie now and then, but pretty much I just stay up here. I suppose it grows on you, after a while. Or at least you grow out of anything else. Probably wouldn't even be any help if I went along anymore.
It's never easy, taking them out. Well, all right, let's qualify that. It's really bloody easy ripping out some poor prison kid or some experiment been raised on flashing lights and inkblots for the last six years. No moral issue there. But the Servies, I always feel bad. I mean, would they be happier if we just let them shred? See the pretty colors, go boom, show's over. Happy ending. Scrapped for proteins, or slapped into some cyber and given a gun and a lobotomy. But I always ask myself, would I have been happier? Would I want to have just slipped away without ever knowing? Well, maybe. But still, I'd take this way every time.
Mickey was right. This one is a bit close to home. Just put a little more gold in the sky, do the ground in reds and purples, put that lovely crystalline humming into everything whenever you move, and have Krysi flying around everywhere- Krysi. I still miss the bastard. Sure, it happened to turn out he was some old bat in a sarchophagus who'd been feeding me pictures since I was born. Probably took my eyes out himself. Doesn't ever keep me from missing him. In the end, I have to hand it to us. We made a pretty nice place while it lasted.
Mickey's singal's go. Justin too. And Kat. Right on time. I remember what it was like for me, just all of a sudden everything starts bulging out and in at the same time, ripping apart, everywhere you know going up in a puff. Some monster with metal all over its body charges in starts blowing the crap out of everything, your friends, your home, the weird mirror things that start flitting out of the cracks. Paradise lost. Give me an apple, a forked tongue, and anailgun. I look over at Pip, and she nods silently, her optic clicking out of place slightly. Time to get the show on the road.
I've been all over the forest. All over everywhere. At first I travelled around a lot, 'til I found my favorite spots. I like the streams best; sometimes the selkies give me rides down under the water, and it's cold. But then they always give me hot cocoa. I like cocoa.
I should probably go save Maggie from the witch today. Really, I don't know why Maggie keeps going to the tower, she should know by now she's just going to get caught and there's really no use in it. But it's okay, because I like the bats. They sing pretty well.
Better than the other children, anyway. I used to like them, but now they're always just whiny. Always want me to go play in their favorite places, Peter likes the caves and Kimberly like the castle and they always want me to go with them. If I like the stream, I should get to play at the stream. So I haven't played with the other children very much recently, so they all went off to other parts of the forest. Just Maggie left now.
Yeah, I'd better go save Maggie. I don't know why I bother, she's always safe, whenever I show up the witch is always right about to eat her, so why rush? One more cocoa.
Mickey's waiting in the vestibule in C12, right in place. Judging by the fact that I haven't heard any fire, Pip must have the side entrance camera on loop, so it's probably safe. Kings of the world and you can't keep your circuits safe from some kid. I dart around a corner, freeze and put IR shielding up as a Cylcops lumbers by in the hallway. Don't even break a sweat. Yeah, Kat, you're good at this. Getting better all the time. All the damn time.
Time. Dammit. Twelve. Turned twelve yesterday. Mickey actually baked me a cake. Real wheat. Don't know where they found it. Sweet, but obvious. I know it, they know it. What, one, two years, maybe? I mean, who's gonna take over? Pip's too soft, Colin and Mickey just no, Justin's the only one left and frankly, well, yeah, it'll be a nightmare. They'll go in after every damn kid goes on the fry list, and two or three runs later that'll be that. Oh well. I wonder if Mickey'll miss me.
I slide into the vestibule beside Mickey. He's got that cute hunted look he's always got on raids.
'Ready to go.'
'When you are, sweet.'
I give him a long kiss before getting up for the run. I make a habit of it. Gives us something to look forward to if we both make it out.
I used to be afraid when I went into the witch's castle, but not anymore. The knocker's pretty big, and I have to put my feet against the door and tug to pull it up, but I clunk it pretty good, and the door opens.
All the other children are standing in the main hall of the castle, looking right at me. That's weird; sometimes the other children come with me to the castle, but we always have to sneak around, and never this many. The witch isn't even here. Maggie's standing on the steps. She looks sad.
I start to walk up to her to ask her what's wrong, but there's a big bang in my head and everything goes really big and I fall down clutching my ears. It all gets really squiggly and everything starts moving really fast; the candlesticks all jump out of their holders and start dancing across the floor and the other childrens' faces all look hungry-
Then everything snaps back into focus, and the bang lets off enough for me to get up a bit and look around. Standing in the door are two kids I haven't seen before: they've got big dark things on their eyes and their legs and arms have long spindly things on them, like spider legs wrapped over their real ones. I start to cry; it hurts and when the children look at me I can't see most of their faces behind all of the dark things. They take big sticks with lots of bumps from their sides and point them at Maggie.
'Right, then, show's over folks. We'll just take this one from here.'
'Come on then, out. Out out. Won't do you a bit of good to stay here, and stalling for time's gonna hurt a lot more than it's worth.'
'You all know who we are. You know what we can do to you. Just ask yourself if your little party here is worth it, and then once you're all decided we can be on our way.'
The other children start disappearing one by one, their hungry faces turning sheepish as they just blip out of the world in little shimmers. Maggie stares at them furiously.
'Do you have any IDEA how long I've planned this? Of the work, the artistry of what I've created in her? Ungrateful filthy little butchers! If the Mirrormen don't get you, I'll see that the Cyclops do! I'm in excellent favour with the King, you know. You're interfering with the wrong bloody game here.'
'I think that's a no, Pip.'
'Right-o then.'
And then it all just went horrible.
I couldn't do it for three days. Three entire days. The poor kid. Ripped out
of the world to sit on a slab for three days no sight no hearing just because I
can't bear to look at her head opened up. I can barely keep my hand steady now.
Bad. So bad. I could very easily be shredding her optic nerves right now and I
might not even notice.
Just that smell. That open wound smell that you can recognize anywhere, and that spongy redness, God Kat. Why not just a little longer, you know? Would that have been so much?
Justin had to drag me out. I know tomorrow he'll sit me down and say, well we know how you feel, we all loved Kat too (yeah, sure,) but you can't break down on a run like that, they could've gotten us all. And he'll be right. It's just, they didn't have to get her right in the head, did they? She could've at least looked human lying there. Or looked like whatever we look like, anyway. I could've handled that. I could've said, yeah, Kat died. Could happen to anyone. Could have just channeled it into to old festering rage bin and everything would be fine. But she didn't even look human, and the grey and red and stink were all over the room- Justin scrambling around for a few seconds picking up the intact parts of her optics out of the goo. He gave me her ESU. Said she would've wanted me to have it. Nice touch. Bastard. At least I charred the freak. Not much to salvage off that one. Not much at all.
Focus, Mickey. Almost done, then you can go collapse again. There's enough booze in the jug we don't need it all for sterilization. Small blessings. I clamp down on a nerve fiber, the body flinches weakly. It's always sad to see them try to move at first, and I haven't turned on the power-assists on her limbs yet. Put those on yesterday. Didn't need as much precision. Wanted her to be able to move a bit when she came to. The pacemaker's gonna have to wait a few days. She's pretty tough though, should be okay.
'All right, we're just about ready!'
Colin, Justin, and Pip rouse themselves from their various pursuits and crowd around the crate. Colin and Pip come out of the same room, flushed. I turn away. Show some respect.
I gingerly grasp the edges of the lens between my thumb and forefinger and press it down into the socket. Immediate response. She twitches and tries to sit up. I flip on her assists, and Colin moves to the side of the crate to help her to sitting. Justin moves front and center. I guess as leader it's his prerogative. Better and better all the time.
She tries to open her mouth to speak, but no sound comes out. I whisper a soft shush, trying to be soothing. It probably isn't.
'Welcome,' says Justin with some gravity.
Yeah, welcome. Enjoy your stay.
[edit] Game Information
[edit] Characters
PCs
NPCs
- Justin (Will S.??)
- Pip (Kristen M.)
- Mickey (??)
- Colin (Santo S.)
- Evey (??)
