Fantasy PHANTASMA: SCHOOL OF THE STRANGE

[CSA]

"Yeah, yeah, of course Susie is alright," said a panicked Lily, attempting to calm Anya down by holding her close and stroking her hair. That Elf was going to get such a talking to later. A double talking to.


"Anyways, I'm sure whatever it was, you misheard it. 'Meat urinal' doesn't even make any sense, huh? But don't go around repeating it. Not that it means anything, because it doesn't."


Lily leaned in close, her lips only inches from Anya's ears, and whispered reassuringly, "Shhh. Shhh, it's OK. Everything is alright, I promise. OK? Everything is alright."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"I guess it doesn't make sense." Anya sniffed, enjoying the surprise cuddles she was receiving.


"Oh. Lily. I never changed from my nightgown. Won't I need some day clothes before breakfast?" she asked, rubbing her arms for warmth. As she spoke, a fresh sprinkling of snow had begun to float down, landing upon the wet streets.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Oh my-- first of all, they wouldn't use a tracker in ACHIM'S spine to track US." Richter yelled back at his coworker, slicing out Achim's kidneys. Using an ordinary stapler, he quickly attached his own to the stem, then threw the stationary at the Russian.


"Now stop acting crazy and help me cauterize his back shut! I don't have any sutures."

 

[MechaGhoul]

"STRAIGHT OFF THE SOCKETS!" Ferdie howled out. Susie bit her lower lip as she moved her hand slightly. The footage continued to play, as Susie released her bite on her lip. "Oh this is a good one. Hm, not sure who's Director style this is yet."Susie cocked her head to glance at B20, checking to make sure the little mannequin was taking events well, and not as upset as it was before. Ferdie glanced at Susie incredulously, "Really, you don't think this is a work of Andrei?"


The film played on, detailing more events, with much more blood being spilt, and in this scene, fingernails being removed. The speakers were terrible, so it didn't get all of the blood-curdling popping and snapping. Susie licked her lips as she peered in closer at the television set. "Ooooh, oh my! I adore the technique!" She shivered a bit in ecstasy, as she smiled at the television set.


-----


Those, those were good drugs. Achim was still quite knocked out. He continued to be unaware of the things going on, as to be expected while being under. That Mummy's Curse was a bit of an issue, but he was not in a situation to care about it, nor how it was going to react to the undead kidney's being stapled on to the stem. Considering, yes he still in fact unconscious.

 

[CSA]

"Oh, right, nightgown. I, uh-"


Then it began to snow, which was just perfect because Anya was going to get really cold and Lily wasn't sure when they could go back inside. Oh, but she and Susie would have words later. Such words they would have. But for now, all Lily could do is share some of the heat she had been absorbing from the sun with Anya.


"We'll go get you a change of clothes when Susie is done, uh, exploring, sweetie."


Lily's body began to get warmer, and she held Anya closer so that the girl wouldn't get sick. Lily would have to make certain later that Susie's presence was conducive to keeping Anya the sweet and innocent girl that she was, because up until now the Elf had been doing so well.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie continued to make herself more comfortable, while watching the footage. After all, finding such a find, a Death Mask's studio film, and a rather older feature intact and watchable was a truly wonderful situation. And as such, Susie intended to make the most of this discovery. The concerns of the outside world were not on her mind. Instead she was rather focused in enjoying the show.


"Wait! Wait, oh I know the director now!" Susie quickly remarked as a scene came up where a man's thyroid cartilage was ripped straight out. The camera zoomed in on the man desperately clinging to his neck in some pitiful attempt to restore the wound to his neck. After much bleeding, his flailing grew less prominent as he fell off the table. Ferdie paused for a moment before speaking. "Really?" Susie wagged her free finger at him. "Yes. It has to be one of Abraham's." The bled out man was now being torn apart with a rusted linoleum knife. "Ooooh wait for it!" She declared giddy with anticipation.


Another man was brought in onto the set of the movie studio. Blind folded and shivering, he trembled forward, barely able to stand. Susie and Ferdie watched with hushed anticipation. Susie made herself comfortable for the scene, as the man had his tongue held out. And the linoleum knife was brought down upon it as Susie smiled eagerly. "Ooooh niiiice!" "I know right!?" The man didn't make much of a garbled speech and was quickly taken out.


Unfortunately, for this tape it appeared to hit the credits. "A-aaaaaaaaaaah.... Noooooo, so soon?" Susie tilted her head and frowned, "Ferdie. Search for more tapes." The unholy puppet quickly sprung up as he began wandering around the room, looking for more VHS tapes.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Uhhh... there are like, TONS of tapes." The Unholy Puppet noted before picking a random tape from the pile of tapes. "O-oh? R-really?" Susie laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head. "My mistake." Quickly taking the tape, she inserted it into the VCR.


What began to play was, well something was playing. But the quality of the speakers proved worse than before, causing the footage to sound like a nightmarish sound-track to some Death Metal band. And what was shown between the static, was simply a routine gastric bypass surgery, with a voice over from a British Man, being heard between the bits of the horrid static. Aaand that's when the VCR itself made a few strange noises.


"Right, well, another antique lost to time then. Let's go." She quickly grabbed Ferdie, and B20 and headed out to exit the room. "Right well, shall we head to an actual Den of Vice then? We did the easy game, let's get onto the real game." Susie merely shrugged at the notion. The seedy underbelly of France would show itself to them soon enough, no need to chase it out just yet.


Susie now out of the room glanced at Lily and Anya. "Well, that room was certainly interesting. Anyway, I trust you are ready to explore the wonders of this city?" As long as the underbelly of this town didn't reveal itself when she was with her friends, all would be well. Explaining it, if it did happen, would be a tad tricky. At least explaining certain elements of it would be tricky, but the general concept would be easy to explain.

 

[CSA]

Lily simply glared at Susie when she exited the room, and then left Anya behind to make certain everything was alright. She ejected the tape that was inside the VCR and turned the TV off before beckoning Anya over.


"OK, it looks like Susie is done exploring, Anya! You can come on inside and change out of your nightgown so that you won't have to freeze," she said, looking more at the Elf than she was at Anya. Lily wanted to make sure that Susie knew she was in trouble. Getting very close to the Elf, she began whispering.


"What the Hell were you thinking? You knew what was on those tapes! Anya heard some of it, and I had to somehow convince her that everything was alright. How could you-"


Then, Lily caught a somewhat familiar smell. She'd whiffed something similar on the night she tied Susie up and squeezed her tight. She began sniffing the Elf intensely before it dawned on her exactly what that smell meant.





"Susie! You didn't- while Anya was outside freezing? Really? You do understand that this is pretty bad, right? It's almost as if you want me to have to punish you."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Anya nodded, and walked to her bag to begin changing into the first thing she pulled out.


"Oh." she said. This was an older dress, from when she was still living with Papa. She pulled it on, the deep, off-black hue trimmed with a white collar and cuffs that matched her own hair and skin. Anya thought it was a tad gloomy, but it would be fancy enough for a slummy town like Paris. If the entire city was as poor as the hotel, perhaps a little frill could brighten things up.


She walked up to where Lily was whispering to Susie, and sniffed the air a bit.


"Susie, you smell like the room. Even more than Lily, and we slept here. Did... Did you roll on the carpet?" she asked.

 

[MechaGhoul]

The Unholy Puppet simply stared as the plant began barking out. Susie just stared with her mouth slightly agape, "I didn't know what would be on them. They are long-lost relics! As are VCRs!" She said getting defensive, as she held out Ferdie in front of her. "It's hard to find a working VCR, or tape. I-I had to just see if it worked."


Susie remarked as she kept eye-contact away from her and focused on the ground. "W-well, it uhm worked and..." Susie rubbed her right foot against the ground as she glanced up. And then Anya approached and asked on, well the smell, much like the plant did earlier. She glanced at Anya, "I-err... A-ahm, er yes. Yes I did. It is an erm, Elven Tradition."


Ferdie spoke up to Lily. "Quit your barking. She is not a being of which you have control over, nor one you have the right to mold in a way you wish. Thinking you have the 'right' for that. Ha. Ah, you know I do enjoy prideful beings who try to assert themselves in things which they have no control over. ...You have slightly amused me in that regard. But your shrill barking keeps me from being amused."

 

[CSA]

"Y-you didn't know? It's a motel on the shady side of town. You really should think more before doing these things," retorted Lily, "and sometimes, traditions should be broken, you know? I understand that rolling on the carpet might be important to you, but not in a place like this. You could get, like, all sorts of lice or a disease or something."


Lily shook her head as Ferdie mouthed off to her. The puppet did not understand her feelings in the slightest, but how could he? He was some sort of evil spirit or something inhabiting a dummy. If it wasn't hateful, he probably wouldn't get it.


"I don't think you understand. Scolding Susie isn't some sort of power game for me. I only say what I do because I care. What if there was something really bad on that tape? What if she got a terrible disease rolling on the carpet like that? I like her a lot, so of course I'm going to say something if I feel like she could get hurt somehow."


Lily looked over at Anya to make sure that she was dressed in something warmer and smiled when she saw the girl's dress.


"My, what a pretty dress, Anya! It looks very good on you. You may want to wear a coat over that also, if you're still a little cold."

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie made a mental sigh of relief as they knew nothing about Traditional Elven Culture. Or really, that they didn't call her on it. "How was I supposed to know it would work? How was I supposed to know that it had relics that were fully functional? No one uses VHS anymore, it could've been a relic to tell you how to use it."


Ferdie immediately began chuckling, "Aaah isn't a 'powergame'. Sure. Sure it isn't. We all need a reason to sleep at night. Something that we cling to desperately in order to make ourselves feel better. Hey, if it works for you. It works for you. If she got a disease she'd go to a Druid. Diseases aren't as bad as they were back in the day. People make their own choices, sometimes for the best, sometimes for the worst. Wanting to control that is just sickening. Oh, and you should know how bad that is, cause, y'know, I'M THE BAD GUY!"


Susie gave a nod at Anya, "E-er uhm yes, if you are still cold you'd probably want to get a coat."

 

[DrBones]

B20 recoiled as the thing gripping it began howling and slurping at the thing with the gigantic maw. Thinking only of its own survival, B20 wormed its way out of Susie's grasp and leaped off the bed.


It was only halfway down that B20 realized its inevitable destination: the shag carpeting. Landing with a muffled thud, B20 quickly scrambled to its feet and attempted to sprint back to the door while somehow touching as few of the carpet's mite-infested tendrils of yarn as possible.


With strange, loping movements, B20 managed to reach the threshold in no time at all, and promptly tripped on the metal bar lining the doorway's bottom. Skidding along the wet concrete ahead, B20 came to a stop just at the edge of the curb.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Hm..." Anya looked outside the window.


"It was snowy where I used to live. I think I'll be fine." she said, putting on her parka.


"But Susie, won't rolling around on the carpet make you filthy? You can borrow our shower if you want." she pointed to the yellow-stained room off to the side.


Water probably came out of those faucets.

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Ah, it er, depends, really." Susie noted, "And thank you for the gesture, but, I will have to pass on that for now." She said to Anya with a nod. "I'll be fine."

 

[CSA]

"But they could have been, y'know, inappropriate things too. And Anya was in the room as well. I'm not really blaming you; I just want you to be more careful with these things in the future, OK?" said Lily, reaching out to lay a reassuring hand on the Elf's shoulder before pulling back when she remembered that Susie might not like it.


Lily just glared at Ferdie when he said his piece, and instead of engaging him, she looked back up at Susie.


"Oh, right, Ferdie told me something in confidence earlier, and I know it's not really my place to say anything, but something he said about controlling other's actions stuck with me just now. I mean, I know that you have this vaguely threatening, demonic vision of Ferdie, but I really think that you should let him be, well, herself. And this is the perfect time. See, Ferdie feels like a pretty little girl on the inside, but doesn't want to tell you how she feels because she's really scared of what you might think. Now that we're in France, I believe it would be a good opportunity to buy her some pretty dresses. I think it would really help with her anger issues," said Lily, nodding seriously.


Then Lily looked Anya over. The Neko had put on a parka, and she was used to the cold. Anya probably knew how much cold she could take, so Lily would trust her. The Alraune nodded.


"Alright, sweetheart, but if you end up getting a bit cold, I'll hold you if you want."

 

[ComradeSenpai]

"Don't worry," Anya reassured her friend, staring intently into her eyes as she remembered those rainy nights with Papa, "This isn't the coldest I've ever been."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Wait. Hold on." Richter peeked underneath the tub. Indeed, there was an old, grimy stapler. The vampire deftly unfolded it, and slapped several rusty staples over Achim's back.


"Aaaaand. That'll hold. Probably. We might have to get some penicillin later, but otherwise I think we did a bang-up job of it." he grinned at his co-workers.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Susie kept her attention focused downward as Lily continued scolding, which moved on into a lighter tone of voice. "I-it's just that it was a rare find, is all. I just, wanted to see if it worked." Susie said as she rubbed her right foot on the ground. That tape was some good inappropriate footage, but really she should've just stolen it. Instead of testing it on a VCR which may or may not have worked. Then, came up the next piece of dialogue from Lily.


She just assumed Ferdie lied about the whole ordeal for shits and giggles, when they chatted about the matter last night. Apparently he did not. He actually got himself in this situation. Well, this was certainly an interesting development from her little hound of war. Susie stood fully straight up and just stared at Ferdie for a moment in surprise. "I... did you really say that?"


Ferdie meanwhile, just raised his puppet eyebrows in acknowledgement of what the plant did. Of course she'd use it. Really it was only a matter of time. Oh well, he had little choice now, and would have to roll with that story. And so Ferdie the great actor, had to portray a new role, and keep it for sometime until he was allowed to enter the corpse of some poor schmuck so he could enjoy his new capabilities.


"Mmmyesss..." He said in a fairly sarcastic manner, before realizing he was breaking character. "What she says is true. I'm truly not happy in my own skin." Ferdie said as he took a bit of time to remember to not mention wanting to be a killing machine, in a bit of dialogue he practiced last night when Susie was sleeping. "I, I just didn't know if you would be able to accept me for what I truly am. A pretty, and charming girl." Susie just stared at him. "Of course, I accept you, no matter what." She said embracing the unholy abomination in a hug. Ferdie may have been an incredibly stupid idiot, but he was her incredibly stupid idiot.


-------


The staples did hold the flesh together. Not in the most effective manner, but surely it was enough to keep Achim's back from unfolding like a shoddy made paper air-plane. But it also had the misfortune of ruining several pieces of artwork that were tattooed onto his chiseled back. Then again, both of the recent surgeries did the same sort of thing.


Achim was, still mostly out in that bath-tub full of ice. Those were good drugs. But Achim moved a little, what with a bit of twitching. Could've just been an automatic reaction to the staples implanting themselves into his back. Or possibly it was one of the things that was happening due to the Mummy's Curse interacting with newly acquired vampire kidneys. What would ensue, Achim did not know. He wasn't a doctor, nor was he a Mummy, nor was he a Doctor Mummy.


Though of course what it would do, would be something. Achim grumbled a bit as he raised his head a bit out of the ice-tub. "Uuuh... my stuff?" He grumbled out fairly annoyed. He poked his head out fully as he leaned his neck over the bath-tub and took a quick look around.

 

[CSA]

"Well," Lily replied to Anya, smiling, "you don't have to be cold any more. You've got me."


Lily knelt down and gave Anya another hug. She could barely help herself when the Neko stared at her with those eyes of hers. Those lovely, sickening eyes.


Lily then turned back to Susie and gave her an apologetic smile, saying, "Hey, it's my problem too. I shouldn't have jumped to any conclusions, you know? You're my friend. I want you to be comfortable with me, and it doesn't help when I do things like this. I'm, um, actually a little slow to trust and stuff. I've been betrayed and hurt a lot, and I just..."


Lily shook her head.


"But... but you wouldn't do that. Hurt me like that. Lie to me. It's just kind of hard for me to accept or whatever I guess."


Lily averted her eyes and blushed. She blushed deeply. Lily didn't expect to ever be sharing anything actually real about herself, but here she was. Being more genuine with the people she called her friends than she had ever been. Her hug around Anya tightened.


"I don't have to be cold, and you don't have to be cold."


At the same time, Susie and Ferdie were also sharing an embrace. She knew that Ferdie was a liar, but it was still kinda adorable. This lie was keeping him from doing bad things, too, so Lily would continue to play dumb for as long as it took.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Eventually this lie would help Ferdie obtain what he truly wanted. A corpse body in which he could actively harm others. While in the embrace, Susie glanced at Lily. "H-hey, I uh, erm get that. Sometimes you can't help but, er, assume the worst. S-sometimes people are just cruel and brutish, b-but, many aren't. I can a-assure you I wouldn't hurt or lie to you." Susie said as she glanced at Lily. "Er ahm, w-we do all need someone to lean on, when we need a hand. I u-uh, h-hope I can erm, be that person."


"Right so we've done the sappy stuff. So time to explore then?" Ferdie inquired.

 

[Blumenkranz]

"Oh, I am glad you solved it all by yourself!" - said Natalya while moving slowly towards the door, facing Richter at all times - "BECAUSE I AM OUTTA HERE!".


Natalya rushed the last few steps between her and the locked door. Unfortunately for her, Richter had decided to lock the door from the inside with a key to stop kids from casually entering the room and witnessing the wonders of homemade illegal surgery. But of course, that wasn't going to stop her.


[dice]5302[/dice]


The teacher smashed violently her MagiTech arm against the door, which perforated the frame of the door with her sharp cyborg nails like it was made of butter. She dug her fingers deeper to tighten the grip she had on the door itself, breaking a good chunk of the rotten wood in the process. And, once she assured herself her hand was correctly wrapped around the plank, she started to pull with all her strength.


The screws were so loose and the wood around it so wormy the door came out of the frame without a problem. In fact, the excessive force Natalya had applied to the plank, combined with how light the door was after being hollowed by woodworms for years, was enough to throw it back a few meters in the process, smashing against the floor and shattering the worn out wood into mere shards, but Natalya did not stay enough time in the room to witness that.


And so, the crazy paranoid Russian rushed her way down the stairs, almost tripping over several times in the process. Natalya's adventure through the slums of Paris had just started, wearing nothing but a tad too daring nightgown and an almost hilarious case of tracking chip induced hysteria.

 

[ComradeSenpai]

Anya's ears flicked as she heard a loud crashing, followed by the loud patter patter of bare feet on the ground, similar to her own when she wandered her home's empty halls after dark.


The cat pressed herself to the glass, and watched a scantily clad figure dash by.


"Wasn't that our teacher?" she asked.


"Should we go help her? She looked scared of something."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Oh my... I HAD TO LEAVE A DEPOSIT, NATALYA." Richter shouted as the girl ran out. He turned back to face the shirtless biker, slipping on his own shirt, but neglecting to button it.


"Well... I guess we better go find her. Wouldn't want an international incident, eh?" he said, slinging Achim over his shoulder. The vampire was savvy enough to go packing in the mean streets of Paris, and pulled an HK USP, sticking it through the back of his belt. Whistling, he carried the unconscious biker out the door. It was rather cloudy today. As long as he stuck to the shade of buildings, he should be fine.

 

[MechaGhoul]

Achim was heaved by the vampire over his shoulder. All in his naked, hardened prison glory. Achim made a bit of noise as he felt a disturbance in his body, and was starting on the path to get back to consciousness. Damn Mummy's Curse. But the fact remain the naked biker gangster was being held by the vampire, who went out in the morning, and was being carried along in a journey he wasn't all to sure the results of it would be. Such as a vampire potentially ashing. Truly when he fully regained consciousness, fun times would be had.


----


Susie's ears twitched as she glanced at Anya, "Yeah that, that may be a good idea."

 

[CSA]

"Y-you want to be that person for me?" Lily asked, her eyes wide with affection and her cheeks yellowed with blush. It was almost as if Susie really understood her trouble. It made Lily feel a little better just to hear the Elf say that she wouldn't hurt or lie to her, because that would be terrible, and Lily didn't know what she would do if someone betrayed her again.


"Y-you know," said Lily, still blushing deeply, "I also want you-"


Then there was a loud crash, and Lily looked out the window where Anya was looking, too late to make out a clear figure.


"Was she cute? I mean, yeah. We should probably help. Cuteness has nothing to do with it. But she was cute, right?" asked Lily, jumping into her flower.


Well, regardless of whether or not she was cute, having a teacher in her debt was always a good thing. Lily scuttled out the door and spotted B20 as well.


"Hey, Susie? Is your mannequin thing supposed to run off on its own like that? Can it take care of itself?"

 

[MechaGhoul]

"Uhh, not sure on the um, cuteness. Though er, probably a good idea to check and see if she is okay." Susie said with a nod. Tilting her head she pondered on what else Lily had said earlier.


"My mannequi- Oh!" Susie said as she remembered B20 escaping and running off. "It can buuuut, I'd er, want to make sure it's alright." She noted, as she did need to make sure that, thing was okay, whether or not it was one of hers that she forgot about. "Probably should go fetch it." Blinking she glanced back at Lily, "S-so, erm, you were saying something before uh, the events? Before uh, the interruption. That er, what were you going to uhm, f-finish with?"

 

[CSA]

"Oh, right, well, how about I tell you later?" said Lily, looking around the area. She was fairly certain she saw the direction the teacher had ran in, but if the Alraune wanted to catch up, she would have to get at it soon.


"How about you pick up your mannequin and we go find a hysterical teacher, huh? This isn't really the time any more."


And with that, Lily scuttled quickly off after Natalya.