Fantasy The Awakening reupload (always open)

[BELL]

"The sooner you leave, the better." Clint thinks. "Would you be willing to say that they're all inedible?" He shrugs. "Probably not, but it'd be good for the few people here. It'd also save lives, companies that try to get ingredients from here won't do well."

 

[Dolches]

Lilly sighed,she had already been paid for the job and she wasn't backing down. To try to drop the conversation she went check on the hedgehog,it was seemingly done cooking,she put the food on a plate and got a fork and knife.

 

[King Hastur]

Wrath grabbed the needle and after a quick look to be sure there was nothing wrong with it, jabbed it into his arm filling it with a quick sample of his blood. Blood was cheap after all. Especially when it came to him. He returned the now-filled syringe to the wall for Hadrian to analyze the sample, better safe than sorry when it came to the monsters, though by now his immune system must be god-like after everything he had been exposed to in his life.


"Doesn't really matter where, I hardly got any salvage from that town worth anything. A big bust" Wrath said as he scrounged around the medical room for any painkillers. "I normally don't mix it up with people who have connections with one of the alliances you know. Bad for business more often than not." Come to think of it, why was Corliss giving him a ride? Her attitude towards him seemed to have changed since the fight. Wrath shrugged without giving it another thought and gave a small grunt of satisfaction when he found the anesthesia in a glass cabinet.

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

"Don't!" Hadrian ordered. "Not those, please. I have your medications here." Another tray opened filled with three pills. "One is for painkillers, another is antibiotics to make sure you don't become ill, and the third is an immune system strengthener. Those medications are . ." Hadrian was quiet for a second. "They're too strong for something like this."


Corliss banged on the med ward's door. "Hey, are you done in there already, I'm going to drop you off in the next town over."


"No you aren't, Corliss. We're keeping him around." Hadrian replied, and let the door swing open. "He'll be useful to us."


Corliss was quiet for a while before turning away from the and walking away. "No, Hadrian, not this time."


The silence was deafening, Hadrian then asked in a cheery voice. "What would you like to eat? Do you have any allergies? I have a spare sleeping quarters that you can use while you're with us."

 

[King Hastur]

"What did she mean by this time Hadrian" Wrath asked, ignoring the obvious dodging of the subject by the AI. Clearly they had a passenger before, and from what he had heard so far it had not ended well for the traveler. Wrath left the medicine cabinet alone as requested, though he had to wonder what special purpose those would serve. He did not recognize any of the chemical names, though it was not his area of expertise at all.


He took the three pills and sat down waiting for his answers from Hadrian. If he was going to be stuck with these people for awhile he would need to know what he was getting himself into..... and if there was any profit to be had.

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

"Nothing really, now, I was thinking of making some pasta, Corliss is super picky, so I haven't been able to properly cook in a while. Do you like pasta? Or I could make burgers. If you're tired I'll show you to your room." The blue lights lit up again, one path lead to the right and the other back to the main area. "You can choose as you want. I understand that you are a scavenger, but we won't be in a proper town for a while, and I do hope you'll chose to stay." Hadrian smoothly overlooked Wrath's questions. "About allergies, you're okay with anything?"


Corliss dismantled both her hand gun and rifle, carefully cleaning both before restocking on ammunition. She ruffled through a half empty bag of potato chips before checking on the autopilot system and returning to the main area. She opened her computer and started up the files for Hadrian's personality. "Hadrian, how are we running? I tried my best to recreate the data that we lost from our little undersea trip before, did I miss anything?"


"I believe a part of the data involving the knowledge of the current world politics were corrupted."


"Ah, which alliances?"


"The Eurasian Alliance and African Alliance. Also . . I believe some of my medical files were lost."

 

[King Hastur]

"I am fine with anything really, Excuse me" Wrath said and stood on shaky legs. He was not used to being airborn. He had ridden these airships a few times in the past but for the most part he relied on his own two feet to get him from place to place. Thankfully one of the meds supplied to him by Hadrian was killing the pain enough for him to walk while only leaning on the wall a little bit. He ignored the blue lights leading towards the room Hadrian had indicated and he went the direction he saw Corliss take. He found her messing around with a computer and talking with the AI. He casually leaned against the wall and watched her for a few minutes with this arms folded.


"Hadrian was giving me the run around" He said after awhile. "Seems like she doesn't think i should know who you were talking about earlier. There a particular reason for that?"

 

[BELL]

"Those are poisonous. Slightly. You won't die but wish you would for a few weeks if you eat too much. The person that taught me to live here let me learn that the hard way." Clint points to something resembling a large squirrel. "Those taste good, and aren't poisonous, but they're a bitch to catch. The trolls are also edible, but they're better used as emergency rations."

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

Corliss looked up at Wrath reviewing him. What did Hadrian want with this scavenger? He didn't look to be anything special, was he some sort of alliance informant? She calmly replied. "I wasn't talking about anyone, there isn't anyone else here. Hadrian's got food for you here." She pointed to a plate of warm pasta and salad. "Hadrian, I've got the backup on the politics, I can't do anything about the medical files though, was it just procedures or something?"


She stretched and yawned, today had been tiring, and they still had a few hours left. Her computer dinged and she frowned. She didn't usually get messages, what was this? She was about to open the new mail when the plane lurched to the side.


"Hadrian, what's going on?"


"What do you think's going on? We've changed courses." Hadrian sassed.


"Well no duh, idiot, I mean why have you we changed courses." Corliss rolled her eyes.


"That message was from the NA Alliance, they want us back pronto, and they've cancelled the job."


"Damn it! Why did you listen to them? You shouldn't go following orders without listening to me." Before Hadrian had a chance to reply Corliss removed the personality disk, cutting off her ability to speak.

 

[King Hastur]

"Oh great, right into the lion's den we go" Wrath grumbled as he listened to the conversation between the two. He ignored the food and turned to leave the room and go to the guest quarters. "Let me know when we pass over a town. I will jump if I need to before having to go to HQ." Wrath left the main area and located the room. It was sparsely decorated and had a small window facing outside, unfortunately it was not large enough to jump through. He pulled a small chain made of bells as placed them on the door so he could hear anyone entering and sat down cross-legged in the middle of the room.


"Cretum" he whispered and concentrated on his inner energy which he imagined as a small seed growing and blooming into a vibrant flower. He could feel his wounds healing and his fatigue slowly ebbing. This was a technique he would not preform in front of others because of.... complicated reasons. He only hoped he could get just body up to par in case the two others on the ship tried to get him to join the NA Alliance. He would die before that.

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

Corliss watched him leave, with a hint of distrust in her eyes. She didn't like people on her ship, she didn't like working with people. She was frustrated because of her mistake, which landed her in a full on fight with a horde of monsters. Hadrian had forced her to take on a ship mate, and he was the same person who had tried to rob her ship! Now the NA Alliance was going to give her a talking to for only goodness knows what. She shouldn't have taken this job, should have gone back to Europe and found something there.


A waiting symbol blinked a few times on the brightly lit monitor, before Hadrian sent a single message to Corliss.


Tell him about before. Play nice, you know he could be useful.


"Stop it, Hadrian. What could a scavenger do to help me? We're dropping him off Quebec."


Until you play nice I won't help you.


Corliss heard the gentle clicks of all the doors locked. She raised her eyebrows before going and rattling the doors. Hadrian had locked her into the main area. "Real mature, Hadrian." Corliss sulked.

 

[King Hastur]

Wrath was starting to feel much better, but his meditation was soon broken by loud rattling noises. It seemed that Corliss was throwing a tantrum or something like that. It was a wonder that anything ever got done on this ship when those two fought as often as they did. At the moment, it was none of his business so he went back to his meditations. The last thing a man should ever do is jump into a fight between two women. There was NEVER anything to be gained.

 

[Dolches]

Lilly had looked in the sky and saw Corliss' ship change direction,then she got a call on her phone. "Hel- What? You want me to withdraw? Why? What do you mean don't ask questions?! Yes there is somebody near me,ugh..." Lilly was talking to the U.S. official that had enlisted her,and from the sounds of it, she had to leave,she closed her flip phone and got up. "I have to leave. The idiots who told me to come here want me back there." Lilly began walking to where she had been staying and packed up her stuff,when she was done she walked towards an abandoned biplane and got in. She started it and was off.

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

"Let me out."


Behave. Go talk to him.


"Talk? Here, 'Hey Wrath, we've sort of almost captured you, and now the people who hired me to go and kill a man has revoked the job, so I have to go talk to them. Oh and yeah, the person I was talking about earlier isn't dead, if that's what you're thinking, instead he was my partner. Then one day he decided I was a monster so he jumped ship, literally. Also, I'm a drug addict, but whatever, you're now part of the damn crew from hell!" Corliss said sarcastically.


Or you could offer to show him around the ship.


"I swear I read a hint of sarcasm in that message, this ship isn't that big. You can show him around. Let me out."


I'll let him in, but not you out. Let me know if you're going to act civil.

 

[King Hastur]

Wrath sighed as the arguing grew louder odd thing was he could only hear one voice though he could not make out the words. He would not get an rest until things quieted down so Wrath uncrossed his legs and stood, leaving the guest quarters and traveling back towards the main area. When he approached he found the doorways sealed and he could hear rattling like someone was trying to open it from the other side.


"Uh... did you forget your keys somewhere else Corliss?" Wrath asked, using the most serious voice he could muster.

 

[Dolches]

Lilly was flying on the biplane,she could see around the sky and saw Corliss' ship,she flew closer to the ship and looked through the window,there wasn't much there,though she could see Wrath,who she waved to. She then flew above the ship to avoid collapsing into it.

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

"Haha, very funny." She snarled. "Hadrian's being a wuss and won't let me out."


Suddenly the door popped open, and Corliss was left facing Wrath. "Are you laughing at me?" She realised how loud she had been and frowned. "What did you hear?"

 

[King Hastur]

Wrath put his hand up as Corliss almost ran into him after the door suddenly opened. She gave Wrath a suspicious look and he shrugged. Truth be told he didn't hear much but if he could bluff any amount of information out of her it would be worth it. He opened his mouth to respond then saw motion out a window of Lilly waving at him. With a chuckle he returned her wave then faced Corliss again.


"Enough. I can either put together the pieces I heard or.." Wrath leaned over Corliss, a typical intimidation tactic that was bluffing 101. "You could tell me the whole story so I don't misunderstand something."

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

She looked at him and watched an almost smirk touch his mouth. Her pupils dilated slightly as she checked out his pulse, listened to his heart rate. "So you heard me arguing with Hadrian, about the betrayal I'm about to commit, to the NA Alliance? Or about my partner?" While she was talking the the hologram screen behind her flickered on, and a medical profile was present. Several notes were highlighted.

 

[King Hastur]

Wrath gave a cold smile as he tried to read what was printed on the display on the edge of his vision. It seemed Hadrian wanted him to know something about her. It was clearly a medical report on a female subject, most likely Corliss... it seemed she had some kind of chem addiction. Wrath couldn't help the dark cloud that covered his face as he read this. It brought back....bad memories. He knew how terrible this problem could be from his past.


"I must have missed that part... but you really think that taking all those...'medical supplements' is going to help you in the long run?" Wrath said, trying and failing to keep his face neutral. He had a hard time putting aside his emotions when he had memories of his family on his mind.

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

Corliss whirled around swearing. "That bitch. Shut it off, Hadrian."


Turn my voice back on.


Corliss rolled her eyes and flicked it back on, Hadrian's speakers crackled softly, like someone clearing their throat. "Thank you, Corliss. Now, Wrath, I want you to know this stuff, but you also need to know how it happened. Corliss is not on the drugs because of a choice, without them she would die, and not because of withdrawal." Three specific labels were pulled up on the screen. "It's serotonin, Dopamine, and Oxycontin; natural biological chemicals that alter moods."


Corliss was unusually quiet in all of this.

 

[King Hastur]

Wrath was silent as he took this information in. The chemical names really had little meaning to him though it seemed that Corliss needed these medications to remain level-headed. He had heard of a condition like that before but never so severe to the point of death. And all of this was being revealed to Wrath, a complete stranger, against Corliss's will. As someone who enjoyed his privacy he could imagine what kind of hell this must be for her.


"And where do I fit into all of this? Corliss seems ready to drop me out the airlock at the first stop but you want me here for some reason. Why?"

 

[Aquaria Wolf]

"Plaything." Corliss said suddenly. "You want me to have a plaything? Why'd you make this one so dramatic, Hadrian, I've had those before."


"Ahem, wait until I'm done explaining to our guest. Wrath, Those chemicals are naturally produced by feelings of trust and caring; but Corliss doesn't view people as anything more than a plaything. I need someone to be her carer, a real human who will care in her place. I can't do that for her, I'm just an AI, but you, you're perfect, you know how to fight, so you won't slow her down, but you also know how to behave with other people."


Corliss turned and looked Wrath up and down, thinking. "You did all of this to find me a caring plaything? Thanks Hadrian, but it takes me weeks to break playthings in, and I know how to maneuver politics."

 

[Dolches]

Lilly flew back to the side,curious of what Wrath and Corliss were doing,she saw the awkwardness of what was happening. She flew below the ship and saw they had gotten to the U.S.

 

[BELL]

Clint, satisfied that he's alone with his thoughts once more, walks back to his little house. His black wolf follows him, close to the tall man's side. "C'mon, boy. Let's go find some more dire wolves."