|
Post by Mayor on Sept 3, 2011 22:53:57 GMT -5
The Suicidal Adventure of Zane and Deuce
Staring down at the cold water below, the bandaged boy couldn't help but have second thoughts. As an overtly overcast day, the city was dark despite it being 2 in the afternoon. The perilous abyss below stared back at the kid, and all it made him think of how this was it. Life had done nothing but shit on him with horrible event after horrible event, and though he had hoped good and justice would pull him out of this predicament, the boy was in trouble now. No justice was going to suddenly occur and save his faith in the world. As the boy hung around on the outside of the railing for the bridge, he couldn't help but note how perfect this day was for his death. Like him, it was dull, gray and numbing. Staring at his bandaged hands, he thought back on his short life, filled with the strife of losing his-
"Oh just quit being a pansy and take the jump!" the smartass skull yelled. "Think of it like a nice nap!"
"No, don't listen to this idiot. My name is Zane Kaftan, and I'll help fix the situation to improve your life!"
The boy standing on the literal precipice of death looked to his right, and wondered if he was looking at another patient from the hospital. The other boy was also wrapped in bandages, but wasn't wearing the gown. This Zane stood on the other side of the railing and about 10 feet away from the boy on the edge of the bridge. And while the boy couldn't see who else was yelling, he did like the other voice more than Zane's. It seemed more sympathetic with the boy's cause, and the boy definitely liked the imagery of a nice sleep. When he slept, he didn't have to deal with the disease.
"What could you possibly do to improve my life?" the boy on the edge of the bridge yelled. Zane seemed so arrogant to the boy, acting as if he could save the soon to be gone life. "I have only a month to live. It's a terminal disease! I'd rather go out on my terms than wait and die slowly and horribly!"
"Yeah, dickwad!" the skull on Zane's waist yelled, frightening the boy on the bridge. He preferred not knowing where the second voice came from."Your own death is the only thing you really can control in life. So let the kid off himself."
"Not helping, Deuce." Zane said sternly, hitting the skull with his fist, extracting a loud expletive from Deuce. "I can help control your life! My profession in life is to uphold and enforce justice. It's not right for you to die this young. Let me help right this wrong with my infinitely great magic. I can fix anything with it! Heck, I can attest to just how much I improved my own life with it."
"Oh right, like you can just suddenly stop the kid's disease. No way you can beat certain death with any of your simple spells."
"I saved you from it, didn't I?"
"And look at how I still hate you for it."
|
|
|
Post by Greed on Sept 5, 2011 10:59:48 GMT -5
Malen - Bridge
Marina
"Lord. Could you people be any noisier? Some people are trying to study..." I looked down from my perch where I was reading. Two kids, both wore bandages from what I could tell. But you see, that didn't matter to me. What mattered was that they were disrupting my study time. which was, frankly, something I didn't want to deal with.
"Kid, go jump off some other bridge so I don't feel obligated to save your ass, alright?" I flipped through another page of my history textbook, skimming the pages for the important details, and committing them to memory. I was simply too involved with my schoolwork to bother with this at the moment. Couldn't they have been doing this when I wasn't studying, and just enjoying the scenery? Sheesh...
|
|
|
Post by Mayor on Sept 5, 2011 11:56:04 GMT -5
"Oi, let the kid die how he wants to! If you try and save him, I'll bite your ankles off!" The skull barked angrily from Zane's waist, furious that someone else was trying to interfere with the boy on the bridge's suicide attempt. If that kid didn't have the right to control when his life ended, then Deuce had lost all faith in the world.
"I swear to some deity, Deuce, if you try and gnaw my ankles I am getting rid of you." Zane hit the skull on the head again, resulting in another squealing expletive from the talking ornament.
"Well in that case drop me now, Cap'n!"
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, it was clear Zane was rather annoyed with his companion. "Or I could lock you in a room with just me for a day. Which I'm sure that isn't what you want."
"You're an inhuman monster."
"Well, you're correct at least on the inhuman thing."
"Smartass."
The boy on the bridge couldn't tell entirely what was going on before him. Some sort of scorched skull was yelling at the kid carrying it around, and now all of them had aggravated some girl sitting on some stone jut out above them. The boy couldn't see what all these people were doing by talking to him. He had made up his mind a week ago. This was the day he was going to end it, to make sure he didn't have to deal with the horrors he had been experiencing his whole life.
Running both his hands through his long, shaggy blue hair and then staring once again at his bandaged extremities, the boy began tearing up in his eyes.
"None of you know what this crappy disease has done to my body. I just wanted to come here and die in peace, not be bothered by a bunch of jerks who don't understand my plight and dedication."
"Indeed, Zane. Did you stop to consider why this kid might have reason to commit suicide in the first place?"
In an unexpectedly cheery voice, Zane retorted. "Nope, didn't need to. You see, I am a master of destiny. I bring folks back from the dead, I right the wrongs of the world, and I continue to uphold the justice of the universe. So if life made this kid's life crappy, and I meet him as he contemplates jumping off a bridge, I figure it's just fate telling me to help save this kid from the world. For I am the upholder, the enforcer, and the true-"
"Yeah, that's great, but he just jumped."
"...Crap."
|
|
|
Post by Greed on Sept 5, 2011 12:56:13 GMT -5
Malen - Bridge
As the kid jumped, a black winged figure dove down from the tree she was sitting in, falling quickly out of sight. It certain she was an ave from the wings, but he couldn't tell anything more than that from the dive. Slowly, er so slowly, the beating black wings emerged above the bridge, as the girl struggled to pull the kid back up. Her long black hair was tinged slightly blue, and she wore mostly dark clothes. A deep navy sleeveless t-shirt, and black jean shorts. Her face seemed cold, and her bespectacled blue eyes stared down at the kid she had... rescued. Her hand wrapped around the boy's wrist firmly, making sure he didn't fall, and at the same time, she kept over the water far below, instead of moving back over the bridge.
Marina
"Kid, you have all of five minutes to explain this to me before I drag you back to whatever hospital you came from just to spite you." Really... me, of all people, dealing with some... suicidal kid? Really? While I was trying to study for finals? I glanced at the book I held under my right arm, and the kid who's wrist I had in left.
"Or you know, I could tell you how unpleasant drowning is. Would that strike your fancy? What, did you go through a list of ways to commit suicide, and couldn't find a gun, or hell, a knife? No, you had to come out here, waste my time." You know though, through all my harsh remarks, I wondered just what the hell this kid had that professional healers and doctors couldn't fix. There wasn't much I could think of. Most terminal diseases nowadays involved rejection of the world's energy, or some horribly mutated virus. At least, that was what I learned in biology. Was I thinking about it too hard? Probably.
"... You see, the unfortunate thing here is, I can't just let you kill yourself while I'm around. Sorry, but that would be an even bigger distraction than you've already caused me, got it?" My wings beat harder, as I flew back over the bridge, depositing the suicidal brat on his feet.
"And trust me, nothing about jumping off a bridge and drowning slowly sounds very peaceful to me." I commented as I landed on my feet after him, and folded my wings back in. Yeesh.
|
|
|
Post by Mayor on Sept 5, 2011 20:37:35 GMT -5
Gnashing bone on bone sounds could be heard in a fervent attempt to gnaw some ankles. "Let me off this belt! I said I was gonna chew her damn ankles off, and I'm a skull of my word!"
Of course, Zane was too busy clasping his hands above his head and bowing to Marina in an act of great thanks. "Thank justice you were here! Fate seems to be smiling on me today. Perhaps I won't have to mess with her too much." Zane leaned up, a genuine look of thanks on his face, contrasting the thrashing skull on his dangling from his belt.
The blue-haired boy muttered something softly to himself, and began just walking away from the two aves. His bandaged body made him look almost like a mummy as he meandered solemnly down the road from the group and down the road. Bandages hanging off his feet and hands, a pair of tan shorts revealed out the backside of a flowing hospital gown, the boy meandered slowly down the street.
"Hey kid, come on back here so I can help fix your life!" Zane yelled out, before he started stretching his legs and arms after noticing the boy was ignoring him.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"I think it's clear I'm stretching. I gotta help that kid out, and he's not turning around to come back here, so I gotta get to him."
"Yeah, but he's not running, he's walking. If you keep a brisk pace you can catch him."
"Still don't want to risk pulling something."
"Why couldn't you just leave me dead?"
"No time to answer, gotta catch that kid!"
Zane's stretching done, and a load of nonsense entering his head to catch up quickly, Zane began running towards the boy. And "began" is about as far as he got. The moment of his second step, Zane slipped on dry concrete and fell face first into the ground.
"Oh for- REALLY?!" was all Deuce could yell.
And really, what else could he?
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Sept 5, 2011 22:22:07 GMT -5
"Umm...do you need a hand there?" A feminine, friendly voice above Zane inquired, a delicate hand extending at Zane's fallen form, apparently witnessing the lad's moment of failure as he attempted to chase after the other boy. If Zane would have looked up, he would have seen nothing but a female figure in a tattered brown cloak, the hood obscuring her face except for a pair of lively forest green eyes that stared straight at the lad. Judging by her voice, she was quite young, perhaps around Zane's age, but a pair of blades sticking out from behind her cloak told him that she wasn't quite your average, everyday stranger. There was a certain air of mystery to her, as if she hadn't quite come from anywhere around these parts, but at the same time, an odd familiarity and friendliness to her tone despite being a total stranger.
"Hmm... I wonder where I am..." The figure muttered in a whisper to herself, taking in her surroundings as her eyes wandered around the area. It was quiet, but a beautiful area... it would be a perfect place for a garden. Despite that, she had no idea where she was... the girl had wandered from place to place, and by now her knowledge of her current location was lost to her.
|
|
|
Post by Greed on Sept 6, 2011 9:41:01 GMT -5
Malen - Bridge
Marina, true to her intentions, immediately opened the history book back up, and began walking in the same direction as the boy. And then, there was someone new and odd. Ultimately, another distraction.
"Hmm... I wonder where I am..."
How the hell do you get to Malen without knowing where you're headed!? Marina couldn't rightly believe the strange spectacle she was witnessing today, and honestly just wanted to leave. Unfortunately, she was too distracted to continue studying, and her curiosity was getting the better of her.
"You're in Malen.. How you got here without knowing that is beyond me." Marina turned to the other stranger the girl was helping off the ground, "And you're a rather large idiot with a talking skull on your hip. I've also agreed with most of what that talking hunk of bone has said, by the way." The ave girl shook her head, looking at the skull on the odd stranger's hip.
"Yes. Yes, really."
|
|
|
Post by Mayor on Sept 6, 2011 19:24:48 GMT -5
"That's right, hunk of bones is always right. See kid, you could learn something from your fellow ave here."
Meandering slowly to his feet, ignoring the outstretched hand, though Zane bowed in an act of appreciation once he regained his footing. Rubbing his sore cheek with his hand, Zane addressed his less sympathetic companion.
"How could I possibly side with someone who wants people dead?"
"There's a difference between wanting everyone dead and wanting everyone to have the right to choose when they go, boyo."
"And why should he need to die if I could fix everything for him?"
"Boyo, you couldn't even bring me back from the dead right. What do you hope to do with someone who is still in the act of it?"
"Hey, I managed the other two fine. You were a... trial run?"
Scratching his head as he ended his delcaraquestion, it seemed to invigorate a thought in Zane's head. And that thought was that he was completely ignoring the two girls standing there with him. Clasping his hands above his head as he bowed once more, Zane began letting loose an apology.
"Ah, sorry about our tangent there. I start talking to this 'hunk of bone' and I forget where I am."
Looking at the girl in the cloak, Zane made a mental note about the swords poking out, and how it would be imperative not to upset her.
"The ave girl there is right, you're in Malen, and it is a bit perplexing as to how you got here without paying much attention. That said, how about I help you find your way about town? Maybe get you set up with a place to crash, perhaps?" and turning to Marina "And maybe you could stop studying and help me introduce her around town?"
Zane then realized what the "place to crash" suggestion could potentially infer.
"Not necessarily my place," he squealed, waving his hands rapidly, "Just that I'm sure you'd like some place to stay for the night, and I happen to have a couch that's free for the taking. And I'm not gonna try any moves or anything, not that I don't like the way you look, it's just that I can get awkward and ergo don't really have any moves and-"
"Boyo, as much as I enjoy you making an ass of your self, shouldn't you go make sure that bandaged boy from earlier don't, oh I dunno, try killing himself again."
Taking a breath before answering, Zane calmed momentarily, trying to take refuge from the situation he had just created.
"Nah, he made it to the end of the bridge without jumping again. I think I convinced him to see the error of his ways and not jump. Mission Accomplish."
"Or he could try and do it some other way later tonight."
"Don't jinx it. Positive thinking gets people places."
"Like in the pants of some cloaked girl?"
Hitting Deuce on the head with a solid fist, Zane exclaimed in a high pitch whine "Shut up, you dumb skull!"
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Sept 6, 2011 20:58:33 GMT -5
"Ah... Malen was it? My thanks. I'll keep that in mind." The cloaked girl responded, showing the faintest hint of a smile under her hooded face. It was somewhat odd that she didn't find it strange how she came to Malen without any idea of where she was, but she seemed to be content with the fact that she was in such a pleasant place to be. Of course, her stomach seemed to disagree with her, the girl wincing inside the hood as her stomach audibly growled rather viciously at the group. It was clear she hadn't ate in quite a while, despite her attempts to hide her hunger, she was rather weak in the knees at the moment.
The cloaked girl visibly seemed to brighten up at the prospect of having a place to stay, her ragged, tattered cloak agreeing with her apparently, middling holes evident in random spots of the cloak on closer inspection. She was in such good spirits about the mere prospect of it that she passed over what appeared to be a shameless attempt at getting a girl into his home, the odd young boy and his talking skull continuing to argue and squabble over random issues. "You should be careful about who you invite over. I might just be some serial killer or something you know~" She joked in a friendly manner, slowly trailing off after realizing that her cloak and weapons on her at the moment made her look like the part almost perfectly. Wisely deciding to drop the topic before she was reported somewhere, she placed a pair of hopeful eyes to the two in front of her.
"Umm... a place to stay for a night would be nice. If you could just point me off in the nearest hot..." She again began to trail off, resisting the urge to simply plop down next to the water on the bridge and call it a night. If she remembered right, hotels required monetary value in exchange for their services... and she was literally without a single credit. Perhaps the bridge would be fine after all, she thought rather forlornly, giving off a light sigh.
|
|
|
Post by Greed on Sept 7, 2011 9:56:28 GMT -5
Marina
Well now. There was something that actually didn't cost me anything, and sounded like a reasonable investment for the future. I had a house to myself while I was in school here, and I needed someone to do the manual labor around the house. Judging on her condition, even if she had weapons, my offer would be far too good for her to simply pass up. Its not like my parents would randomly stop in from Edge...
"I have a house, and quite a bit of work to be done." I flipped through another page of the history book as I spoke, skimming it quickly, "If you help me clean up a bit, I can ensure you a rather soft bed, and..." I looked at her clothes for a bit. She was quite... dirty, wasn't she?
"...it'll cost you a whole lot less than staying at a hotel, and probably be safer and more comfortable than sleeping on a necromancer's couch. Trust me when I say that I'm not short on money, and that I would have no problem with extra groceries." My senior semester had been rather brutal, and I didn't have any help in cleaning the house up. This girl, regardless of where she came from, could come quite in handy.
I turned to the bandaged kid, and leered at him over my glasses, "As for you, that was rather... shameless. You're clueless enough to pull it off, but its pretty obvious to me that you and she are equal amounts of broke. Please don't pretend like you actually have a place for her to stay for long."
Marina fixed her glasses after she said this, "Naturally... I'll let you rest up first, and I'll help with the afor mentioned chores. I'm the only one who knows where everything goes, after all."
|
|
|
Post by Mayor on Sept 7, 2011 10:31:39 GMT -5
"You do realize that the ability to revive spirits of the dead means a lot of people will pay good money to speak to old loved ones, right?" Which was certainly a true statement, except for the "lot of" portion. Zane made decent money bringing spirits back for five minutes of conversation, but since that was the limits of summoning without sacrifice, he couldn't charge an hourly rate. So lump sums for short periods of time had given the boy enough money to live in a decent apartment, containing all the amenities a single person could need. Certainly some weeks were a bit tougher than others, but Zane had never starved or anything.
"All those lucky bastards get dismissed though, unlike poor me."
"Oh come on Deuce, I'm not that bad to be around."
"Boyo, you're worse than you think. All "master of destiny" this, "defender of justice" that. Can't you just go be some bratty teenager without all the keeping me imprisoned angle."
Hitting Deuce on the head with another fist, the skull was clearly aggravated with all the blows it had been receiving today. Zane was getting tired of giving them- his right hand was on fire at this point and incredibly sore-, but he needed to keep Deuce and himself on the conversation at hand.
"Don't trust him. Oh, and my couch is plenty comfortable! I got it new as a trade for my services to some roaming witch a few months back. I got rid all but one of the haunting spirits that came with it, and Patrick is actually quite nice."
"Boyo, Patrick died during an act of necrophilia."
"And now that he's dead it's not so socially unacceptable."
Turning what minimal distance he could to face the cloaked girl, Deuce offered her a bit of advice.
"Boyo here can't afford no two people, so outside of you bringing some job or food to the table, it's better if you go with Moody McWings over there."
"Hey, at least I wouldn't make her do house work."
"Right, she'd have to do work work to have food to eat so she could surive."
"Hey, my garden helps provide food to the house!"
"Boyo, the last thing your garden grew was a mold. It's more like a graveyard, where fauna goes to die."
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Sept 7, 2011 21:39:29 GMT -5
"...A plant graveyard? That sounds terrible..." The girl frowned with a hint of disapproval inside of her cloak, the sound of the home sounding rather distasteful all in all to her. Of course, she wasn't one to turn down shelter of any kind, but the odd necromancer's home was starting to sound rather... well, odd. Of course, she appreciated the sentiment all in all. Just... maybe exorcising the last ghost from the couch and watering the plants once in a while might have helped his cause.
The ave girl's offer however sounded terrific at the moment. Simple chores and the like were easy for her, and getting such good shelter with no cost was a deal she couldn't pass up at all. "That sounds wonderful!" She exclaimed cheerfully with a smile, although it wasn't visible under her hood. "I don't know if simple chores are enough to pay you back... oh, right, how rude of me."
Her hands moving up to her hood, her delicate hands gently pulled off the fabric carefully, dark brown hair gracefully escaping the confines and falling down to her waist. Her friendly smile was accentuated by her lively forest green eyes, a certain bright, playful sparkle in them that twinkled when she looked at the two. She was almost breathtakingly beautiful to be sure, but her most defined feature was a pointy set of ears, that looked just like a normal human ear, except longer, and tapering into a slight point. By her appearance, it appeared she was quite young, around the same age as the two acquaintances she was with at the moment.
"I'm Valerie Wyria... nice to meet you."
|
|
|
Post by Greed on Sept 7, 2011 23:52:20 GMT -5
Marina
I was taken aback for a moment... that girl was younger than me, and an elf to boot. An urge within me boiled up, to make some snide remark about her ears. I quickly quelled it; my parent's daughter I was NOT.
"Marina Sea. Pleased to meet you, Valerie. My house isn't all that far from here, so we can walk." I turned to look at the boy and his skull again. He had mentioned that guy was a "fellow ave". That would have to mean his wings were removed... though I couldn't imagine an ave stupid enough to actually go through with it. Regardless, despite how much I loathed admitting it, that guy and I were sharing a common interest at the moment. That suicidal kid... something about him made me want to try to help him. Well, after my test tomorrow, anyways.
"Hmm... If I remember correctly from your bickering..." my finger hover over the wingless ave, "Zane Kaftan." it moved next to the skull, "Deuce."
"Unfortunately, being the bleeding heart that I am, I can't let that suicidal brat wander for too long." Quickly, I scribbled my phone number on a scrap of paper, "If you can find out anything concrete about that kid, tell me about it. After all... how can you improve that boy's life if you don't even know who he is?" With that, I turned and began walking down the street, in the direction of my house. If that guy was serious, he would call eventually. And if he was the idiot he appeared to be... well, I would have a new number to block.
|
|
|
Post by Mayor on Sept 8, 2011 7:37:28 GMT -5
"Yes, we're aware of who we are. You didn't need to be rude and point at us."
Accepting the number with his left hand while hitting Deuce once more with his right, Zane added: "What he meant to say was it's very gracious of you." His hand still throbbing, Zane made his bowing motion once more.
"I'll make sure I sleuth around to dig up as much as I can on him."
"Boyo, you have a hard enough time finding me in the morning."
"Well if you'd yell or something I could find you so much easier, huh."
"It's why I shut up, boyo."
"I kind of hate you right now."
"Welcome to me all the damn time."
Turning to Valeria, Zane bowed once more as a thanks for the offered hand, and so she couldn't see the look of awe on his face from her. A real elf was in front of him, and she truly was a beauty. The Marina girl didn't really do anything for Zane- too moody, and Aves with their wings brought back some less than stellar memories for Zane-, but this Valerie was stunning for the boy.
"Thank you once again for the assistance. Now if you ladies will excuse me, I need to go see what I can dig up on the jumper."
Turning to Marina then and bowing to her as well:
"And thank you for taking this girl into your home. I know all too well that not all aves are as kind to those they perceive as inferior because of a racial difference. I hope to have some information soon."
Zane stood back up and quickly faced in the direction the bandaged boy had walked away to. Lifting one leg to begin a run, Deuce offered a quick bit of advice.
"Might want to slow it down some, boyo, lest you fall flat on your face again."
Lowering the leg some, Zane set off at a brisk jog.
He made it 6 steps this time before tripping.
But he recovered.
By slamming himself into the side of the bridge.
Clutching his side with his arm, Zane slowed down even more, trying to play it off as if he had planned to slow down at this time.
"Oh, good recovery, boyo. Surely the ladies didn't just see you purposefully slam into the guardrail."
"Good justice do I hate you."
"Seriously, what is it with you and using the word justice instead of some deity."
Cringing, "Sounds cooler."
"To absolutely no one."
One more hit, and an even sorer hand, Zane continued on his way slowly away from the girls.
|
|
|
Post by Jisui on Sept 8, 2011 15:48:34 GMT -5
Giggling slightly as Zane slammed into the guardrail, slowly limping away from the group and casually playing off his misfortune, the elf glanced at the two retreating figures of Marina and Zane as they left in opposing directions, a slight smile developing as they began to walk away. Those two were good people, whether they knew it or not... not very many people would care so much about one boy. She had seemingly gotten lucky with the company she had made in this city. If it were any other person, she might have been out on the road again by now.
Alone for just a moment once more as the other two slowly walked across the bridge, the elf took a moment to glance down the bridge, where the boy had attempted to fall. Just for a moment, to herself and no other, her facial expression shifted from bright and lively to vulnerable and confused, the glance of a lost child in a place she didn't understand yet. Of course, it was all just for a moment, and then Valerie realized Marina was leaving her behind, and her eyes widened, taking off in the young ave's direction in a quick sprint. With one last look at the bridge behind her, she smiled quietly to herself, Valerie was glad she didn't have to sleep there, all in all...
|
|