The Cleansing (BearClaw x Greatmar2)

[BearClaw]

Once the earth was a kind and gentle place. But that was before the humans came. Apes grew larger brains and learnt to speak, they stood upright and used weapons. That was her mistake. Mother Nature should never have created these beings, or that is what The Angels think.


The Angels are a very advanced race who have taken to watching over Earth and attempting to prevent its downfall at the hands of humans. They believe Mother Nature has made mistakes and try to reverse almost everything that she has done. Their mistake is trying to rid the world of the ever changing and adapting race, humans.


Now they are out of options. Everything they have tried has failed. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and everything else the humans call 'natural disasters' and recover from. They have decided to change their approach, work at purifying the world without destroying all humans.


The Angels have been developing a disease. Once it is released, it will be impossible for the humans to cure. It won't wipe out the species, but choose specific victims. It is expected to be completed and released onto Earth within the year.


Read more about this role play... 
CS:


Appearance:


Species:


Name:


Age:


Gender:


Personality:


History:


Other:





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


Appearance:

(Without the metal arm, leg and wing to begin with)


Species:


Angel


Name:


Shirana


Age:


15 according to human years. (Younger in Angel years)


Gender:


Female


Personality:


Shirana is very shy but at the same time she is very curious. She loves having fun and will go to great lengths to achieve this.


History:


Shirana grew up in the realm of The Angels, her father is the project manager and head inventor for the ECE (Earth Cleansing Effort) and so he is often in his workshop trying to fix the bugs in in the Final Operation. All-in-all they are a happy family, they are wealthy, live in a lovely home and spend quite a bit of time together.


Other:


If someone tells Shirana not to go somewhere her curiosity will almost always cause her to investigate.

 

[Greatmar2]

Appearance:

Species: Human


Name: Keegan Avner


Age: 16


Gender: Male


Personality: He may come off as rebellious to most, but he hides behind that because he feels that it is the world against him at times. When he meets a new person that he thinks could be a possible friend, he tries his best to be friendly to see if they get along well. Usually it doesn't work out, due to the two not getting along, or the new person hearing rumours or something like that. He only has a few friends. If he dislikes you, you'll know, but he values loyalty to true friends.


History: He is a bit of a rebellious teenager on the outside. His mom was hard working and almost constantly stressed. His dad worked hard during the week, but was drinking whenever he had free time to squander. Some weekends he would get drunk to the point where he gets violent. While Keegan loves his parents, and his parents him, they don't always get along well. His parents do know that he is not always rebellious, but are often too busy or stressed to pay him much attention.


He often enjoys the quietness of solitary walks in the forest, next to their house which is at the edge of town. It gives him time to think and relax, maybe get some frustration out by running, climbing or screaming. He has a few friends, who he sticks closely to.


Other:

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana opened the door cautiously, cringing when it creaked. She stopped for a moment to make sure no one was coming before slipping inside the room and closing the door behind her. She grinned as she surveyed the forbidden territory. Her father's workshop. She stepped forward and placed her hand on the weapon. It looked much like the meteors that often fell to the earth's surface, "What is so special about it I wonder... What makes them think this will work when everything else has failed?" She muttered to herself, shaking her head. She walked slowly around the rock, examining it from every angle. She heard the sound of footsteps and quickly looked round for another exit, knocking the FO in the process. A whirring started up and the room began to shake, she grabbed onto the FO to keep herself stable. She was still clutching onto the FO as it shot downwards towards the earth, breaking into smaller pieces as it fell.


She woke to excruciating pain down her right side. When she opened her eyes she could see the thick, red blood. She shut her eyes quickly and called for help. Her voice was weak but she hoped someone would hear her.

 

[Greatmar2]

Keegan face-palmed. This was a terrible idea. He sat in front of his old PC, Adobe Photoshop open, with what he considered a mess displaying on it. His sci-fi landscape looked terrible. That book had made it seem so easy. He knew the steps it told him, start off with the concept made from proper images, then use basic shades of grey and outlines to begin forming it.


He had tried… and failed. Epically. He was never going to be an artist. He knew it was not his thing before, but this put the nail in the coffin.


"Oh well," Keegan huffed and fiddled around with Steam while deciding which game to play. He was so bored and wasn't really in the mood for anything. He felt purposeless. It was afternoon of the third day of the two week holidays and he was already feeling useless. His friends had gone on holiday, or were busy. The earliest time one of them could do something with him was two days.


~~~


A short, loud crash. A yell of pain. Something small had crashed through the roof and into his arm. It stayed in his arm, not going clean through probably because the roof had slowed it. He grabbed his arm near to the wound, screaming his pain for ages before he started think rationally again. He had to bandage it. Stop the bleeding. He had seen those TV shows where people say it is not good to remove an object inside a wound, as it might be holding back blood.


Scrambling into the kitchen and reaching for the first-aid kit, he gingerly rubbed around the wound with some damp Cotten wool to clean it at least slightly. He then wrapped it tightly in bandage, before securing it with a safety pin. Once done, he washed his hands and cleaned up the mess he had made. His dad was supposed to arrive back from work any minute now, then he would ask them to take him to the hospital to have whatever had bit him removed.


~~~


"Oh stop being such a drama queen!"


Keegan had peeled back the bloody bandages to reveal bloody, but unbroken, skin. His dad, who seemed to have started his alcohol spree early since he was late and looked a bit tipsy, thought it was a prank and dismissed it as, at worst, a massive nosebleed.


Knowing not to argue, Keegan went and threw away the bandages before washing his arm. Looking at his now-clean arm, he had to admit that it now seemed like he had imagined it. His arm was perfectly fine, there was no random lump in it, and it was not the slightest sore.


Feeling sick, he lay down on his bed. There was the proof! A hole in the ceiling. But it would be best not to bug dad now. He decided to take a quick nap until mom arrived back home.

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana's eyes fluttered open, she stared up at a foreign ceiling. Wait, ceiling? She shot upright before crying out in pain. The bleeding had stopped but her arm, leg and wing were no longer there. A man rushed into the room, "Oh good! You are awake! I didn't think you were going to make it at first but the fact that you are not human might have had something to do with you surviving." Shirana had felt more comfortable when she saw a person but as the realisation that he was human and she was not dawned on her she began to panic. What if he tried to experiment on her? He must have noticed her shock because he raised his hands in a calming gesture. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I want to help. If you tell me who you are and where you came from I might be able to help." Doubtful but it was worth a shot. "My name is Shirana, I am an Angel. I have fallen from our realm and seem to have injured myself in the fall." The man stared at her for a moment. "Wait, an angel? As in those winged creatures that stand at God's side?" She sighed in annoyance. "No, your human stories are so weird. There is no almighty being, we are just a race that watches over your world, fixing what Mother Nature messes up. Now, do you have any skills at technology? Because I need new limbs and I can't very well make them myself, now can I?"


The man stared at her blankly. "Well Shirana, I don't know what kind of technology can make limbs but I am a blacksmith so I can make the form of them. And my name is Jason, thanks for asking." Shirana's eyes brightened, "That's great, I can teach you how to make my limbs!"


It took a few hours and quite a bit of shouting but eventually the task was done and Shirana smiled as she walked around on her new leg and tested out her new arm and wing. "Thank you, I couldn't have done this without you. Never mind that, I probably would have died without you." "Oh it was nothing, you told me what to do, I just welded some pieces together." His voice showed that he was grateful for the compliment. "So I guess the FO won't affect him then. Unless this is all a cover." She pondered over how the disease would pick who was good and who was evil.

 

[Greatmar2]

"Honey, it's supper time."


Keegan woke up, realising he had slept almost the whole day. His mom, who had just left the room, must have arrived hours ago. Looking at his bedside clock, he saw it was 6:50 PM.


He didn't feel like eating, but decided that he should anyway. His body was probably just in shock, whether from a huge nosebleed or smashing going through the roof into his arm. The latter of the two was seeming more and more like a dream.


~~~


As he nibbled at his spaghetti bolognese, Keegan stared at his arm. He could have sworn he looked blueish, but after some time he dismissed it to the flickering TV.


The 7 o' clock news began with the host stating that they had breaking news. Astronomers had spotted a meteor a little before it was about to enter Earth's atmosphere. It would have been large enough to crater one, maybe two, cities. This had started quite a panic, until it had spit into many smaller pieces.


"Reports say that tiny pieces have rained down on more than half the globe," the reporter continued, "Now we are switching to out first reporter on the scene where the estimated biggest chunk has landed, Robert Mans. "


The image on the screen switched to a view, obviously from a helicopter. There was a crater several dozen metres wide. There was a tent set up next to the crater. Probably some scientists or whatever, Keegan thought. There were some people gathered around the centre of the crater, studying it.


The camera rotated towards who Keegan presumed was Robert, who was shouting over the sound of the rotors.


~~~


After supper, Keegan was feeling utterly confused. He told his mom he had slept much of the day, and wanted to get some fresh air going for a walk in the forest. Once she replied in the affirmative, he headed out into the forest. He just wanted some time to think about what had happened. Was it a piece of meteor that had gone into his arm?

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana thanked the man who had helped her before walking outside. She had to find out how the disease was progressing, had anyone died yet? Probably not since it needed time to spread and for the symptoms to begin to show. She wondered what her parents were thinking, they must be mad due to the fact that, first of all, she had gone into the workshop and, second of all, she had activated a disease that was not meant to be activated for another year. She sighed, would she be accepted back into their world? Or would she be classified a traitor? Too many questions ran through her mind at once.


Before she knew it she had reached the edge of the forest. Looking up at the pale blue sky she smiled, her family was up there somewhere. She looked forward again and saw a figure walking in her direction. It was a male human. He didn't seem to have seen her yet so she ducked behind a thick tree to hide from him. What if he was one of the bad ones who hadn't been affected yet? He could hurt her, or worse... She decided to stay hidden until she knew whether he was good or not.

 

[Greatmar2]

As Keegan walked, and thought about what had transpired, he grew more and more worried. Stopping, he pressed his finger down hard against his right elbow, then ran it down his forearm towards his wrist. He felt nothing out of the ordinary, bones, tendons, muscle. Where had the meteor gone? Maybe it disintegrated into his bloodstream? It had apparently disintegrated like crazy in the atmosphere. Was that why he was feeling sick? He knew it can't be good for him, but how could he get it out? Pieces of rock in his blood would probably damage his heart. But it didn't really feel sore, so maybe they were too small to affect it? But they could get stuck going between arteries and veins, where blood cells deliver their oxygen.


He felt his heart beating fast and then tried to relax. Worrying never helped anyone, and getting his heart rate up now would definitely not help. He decided that, if he were in immediate danger, it would have affected him already in the time he had been asleep. He would take it calm, and when he got home, if his mom was not overstressed, he would talk to her. But he couldn't exactly think what a hospital could do.


He rubbed his eyes, the half light must be playing tricks on him. He looked blueish again. He shrugged and then continued walking till he got to his favourite spot in the forest. A small clearing with a metre-wide stream to one side and a massive tree in the centre. He climbed part way up, stopping at a group of branches which formed a sort of wooden chair-hammock-thing. In this 'bowl' in the branches, he lay down and gazed up at the stars.

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana followed the human into the forest, keeping a safe distance so he wouldn't notice her. She stopped when he reached a clearing. She watched him begin climbing a tree, were her eyes playing tricks on her? Humans weren't blue. Were they? The man who had helped her certainly wasn't. Once the human had reached a place in the tree and had lain down she decided to risk letting him see her, he may be human but he certainly wasn't normal.


She stepped forward into the clearing, wondering if she should call out or just go towards him. She decided to go up to him so that he would have to face her. She walked briskly to the base of the tree, grabbed onto the lowest branch and hauled herself up. She would have just flown up but the metal wing didn't do much for flight, it was just there for symmetry. Maybe once she got home she could exchange it for a lighter metal that would allow her to fly.


She reached the point where he was, he wasn't paying any attention to anything but the stars so he hadn't noticed her. "Uh, hi there." She rolled her eyes, "Well that was a pathetic greeting." She thought, annoyed at herself. She took a deep breath and poked him.

 

[Greatmar2]

Keegan watched the stars, lying nestled in the branches. He was in the middle of thought when someone said "Uh, hi there."


He didn't really register it at first, until the person poked his shoulder. "Ah!" He sat up in fright, looking towards the person who had snuck up on him. "Aaaaaaah!!!" He almost fell off the branch, jumping away in fright from the… winged cyborg… person.


"Who are you?" He asked, keeping his distance, far out on the branches.

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana took a sharp breath. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you. I just want to know why a human is turning blue. I may not live down here but I know for a fact that you guys should be a peachy colour..." It took a moment for her mind to process his question, especially since he had moved as far away from her as possible. "What do you mean who am I? I am Shirana. I am an Angel, I fell from our realm which caused me to lose my limbs and that is why I had to replace them with metal."


She moved her wings, "I am actually surprised how well this metal works for a wing, I would have expected you humans to have much less knowledge on how to create light metals. I can't wait to get home to get lighter limbs though, it is insanely hard to climb a tree with these."

 

[Greatmar2]

Keegan stared at the strange girl while she spoke. After she had finished speaking he took a dozen or so seconds to understand what he had just been told.


His response started with "I thought it was only my eyes playing tricks on me. Why am I blue?!?! And what is your realm? Heaven?" He very nearly lost his balance, forcing him to move closer to the angel, so that he could reach another branch to hold onto for balance. Holding onto a separate branch with one hand, he inspected his skin. Now that he knew it was not just his imagination, he could definitely see he was blue.

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana sighed. "Well, first of all, I have no idea why you are blue, that is what I came to ask you... Second of all, my realm is my realm, it is where I live with the rest of my people. Asking me that is like me asking you what is your earth... So stop asking stupid questions... But yes, according to you humans we live in a place called heaven, utter nonsense of course and there is no giant God figure ruling over us either. It is just us and will always be just us."


She shook her head, this human may not be dangerous but he sure was stupid. "Now why don't you answer a few of my questions. Where exactly is this and is there by any chance a place for me to stay nearby? I need to wait for my family to come and get me, I am also looking forward to watching you humans sicken and die. If all goes well the world will be a better place in about a year."

 

[Greatmar2]

As the angel spoke, Keegan thought of where she could stay. There was a guest bedroom in his house. But he must make sure his parents don't see her. Then he heard the last two sentences. He, on purpose, jumped down from the branches and landed on the ground 5 metres below, ready to run if this 'angel' pointed some weapon at him.


"What do you mean watching us humans sicken and die?!" Was there going to be an apocalypse? She said the Earth would be a better place as in completely destroyed, or lacking in life, or lacking in humans? He stood waiting for her sure-to-be condescending answer, ready to sprint at the slightest hint of danger, in the opposite direction of his house so she wouldn't follow him. She had metal limbs and shouldn't be able to keep up with him.

 

[BearClaw]

"I mean exactly what I said. You humans will sicken and die, well, most of you at least. I haven't quite decided if you will yet. Maybe you will, maybe you won't. The fact that you are turning blue is interesting though, I am not quite sure how the disease progresses so this could be one of the symptoms. If so I should put as much distance between us as possible. I have heard stories about what you dark-hearted people do." Shirana spoke with no fear in her voice even though her heart was racing. She couldn't possibly outrun a human in the state she was in. What if he decided to attack her? If she ran the wrong way and ended up in a village they would probably band with him to kill her. She could see no other way out of this than to keep him talking.


"Look, I am not going to attack you or anyone else. I am not a fighter, none of the Angels are. We just watch over the earth and you humans are on the road to destroying it."

 

[Greatmar2]

Keegan kept his distance from the angel while she spoke, and thought about what she said. He still did not feel very well. He must be infected by it. But why blue? And what did she mean most humans will sicken and die? She said she was unsure if he was going to die. Was this a selective virus? That only targets humans? She didn't look very scared to be near Keegan, who was obviously affected by the pathogen. She did say she wanted to keep some distance from him, but he assumed because she was scared that the 'dark-hearted' human was going to hurt her.


All this was a lot to take in at once. A race of Angels watching over Earth, trying to get rid of humans and protect, or at least their opinion of it, the Earth. He had gotten sick today. She had fallen from the sky. He was already blueish when the news was on, but there had been no announcement of strange happening or illnesses. If it were to infect most of the human race, this disease would have to spread over the globe. This all lead to one conclusion, "The meteor. A piece of it hit me in the arm. Is that what brought the disease?"

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana rolled her eyes. "Took you long enough to figure it out." She laughed, the fact that he had only just figured out that there was a disease and that the meteor was spreading it meant that humans were slower than she had originally thought. It was going to be a very simple task to wipe them out. Her mouth curved into an innocent smile, "Now, I ask again, is there anywhere nearby for me to stay? I would very much like to watch the proceedings from Earth rather than home, it really is a much better view."


She climbed down the tree carefully and then took a few steps towards the human. "Also, what is your name? I have told you who I am, you might as well tell me who you are before you die."

 

[Greatmar2]

She's insane, he thought as he watched as she climbed down from the tree and stepped towards him. He took a couple backwards. "You can try a hotel," all thoughts of allowing the angel to stay in the guest room dispelled. Answering the final question, he merely said "I'm Keegan." Then ran off into the forest.


After running for a short while he slowed to a walk, not feeling well enough to run all the way home. He set out walking in an arch back home, avoiding the clearing. He couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears welled up in his eyes, and sobs escaped his mouth. He was going to die. How long it would take, he didn't know. He cried most of the way home, stopping about a minute away from the house to wipe his eyes. He then headed into the house, glad his parents were watching TV; they wouldn't see him blue and therefore there wouldn't be a session of a million questions. Sneaking into his room, he lay down on his bed And stared out the window next to it. He would need to shower and go to sleep soon.

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana smiled, Keegan seemed nice. She was quite surprised when he sprinted off into the forest however and it took her a moment before she decided to follow him. As she ran after him silently her thoughts strayed to whether he was actually dark-hearted or not. He hadn't done anything to make her think that he was actually bad but he was being affected which meant that he was bad. How did that work? If he was innocent he shouldn't be getting sick.


She lost his trail a few times but she managed to find it again by backtracking. Eventually she was once again at the edge of the forest. She could see him walking in the distance. "Gotcha." She grinned and ran towards him though still keeping a safe distance. Soon she could see that he was crying. Why was he crying? Had she done something? She couldn't think of anything she had done that would have made him cry so she shrugged and continued following him. Soon he went into a house and she listened for a while before approaching. She could see movement behind a window and then nothing.


Shirana stepped through the plants and then climbed up to the window, peaking inside. She nearly fell backwards when she saw that Keegan was looking her way. She knocked on the window, "Hello!" She said happily, with a grin on her face.

 

[Greatmar2]

"AHHH!" Keegan jumped and shouted in fright when that angel, Shirana, appeared at the window, knocking on it. He almost fell off the bed as he jumped up.


"Keegan, you okay?" came his mom's voice from the lounge.


"Yes mom... uhh... just got a fright in a game," he lied.


He walked towards the window cautiously and opened it. His hands looked bluer than before, if only slightly. "Uh... hello. Are you stalking me?" How did she follow me back here? I probably left a trail, since I was not being too careful... he thought, before thinking about the more morbid topics he had been thinking about much of the time, wow this disease acts fast... Will I be all blue and dead in the morning? Or the day after tomorrow? He inwardly sighed, knowing he could probably do nothing but await his fate. It probably didn't matter anymore if the psychopath angel watched him die, since he would anyway. Besides, now she knew where he lived. He put his hand across his stomach; he did not feel well at all.

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana climbed through the now open window. "Thank you, my leg was beginning to cramp from me being crouched on the sill." She tilted her head to the side when he asked her if she was stalking him. "Well... Not exactly stalking you... I just found you very interesting so I came to find out why you are so different from the stories." She walked over to his bed and sat down. She sighed, "You are obviously infected since you are sick which means you must be one of the dark-hearted ones... But you don't seem to have any darkness in you which makes no sense... Unless the fact that you got some of the FO in you makes a difference. I don't think it should... But then again, my father never spoke to me about how it worked. He just told me it would wipe out the darkness."

 

[Greatmar2]

Keegan sat on his bed again when the Angel had come in. He didn't care anymore if she was sitting next to him. He thought about what Shirana had said. She had repetitively said he was infected therefore 'dark-hearted'. She said that a piece of the 'FO' was in him, which must have been the meteor. But she was vague and didn't seem to know that much what she was talking about with this virus. He then replied, "I'm not stupid, but I have never heard about any of these things you talk about. You don't seem to understand humans that well yourself, but at least you were told what some of us do. So, judging from what you are saying, you released a disease on Earth that would kill all evil people. This 'FO' is the meteor, since a piece hit me in the arm, but what does it stand for? Flying Object? And were you meant to launch this pathogen? You don't seem to know that much about it," he paused, giving her a chance to reply while thinking of what else to say.

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana's face lit up at the chance to talk about her father and his life's work. "FO stands for Final Operation. This is the last chance we have of cleansing the world before humans become too advanced and begin to destroy other worlds once this one dies. It is a disease that infects everyone but only those with darkness in their heart actually suffer from the symptoms. My father never told me what those symptoms were but looking at you I think I can guess part of it, the fact that you are turning blue must mean your body lacks oxygen though usually the skin would be a slight tinge of blue rather than full on blue." She shrugged, "I was not meant to launch the FO, it still had a few bugs in the programming so my father was planning to release it in one year." She gave a small gasp. "That's it! The reason you are dying is not because you are dark-hearted! It must be because there were a few bugs still in the programming!"

 

[Greatmar2]

"Shh," said Keegan, not wanting his parents to hear the crazy angel, even though they were a couple rooms away. "Well, that might explain why I'm sick. But what about my parents? They are not bad, but neither are they particularly good. They shouldn't be affected by it, right? I'm sick because I got some of the meteor… the FO in me. It must have been a massive overdose, since the chunk that hit me was about half the size of my thumb. That meteor was supposed to spread the virus to the whole of earth." He paused to think. Usually too much of anything, even medicine would harm or kill you, but this wasn't exactly medicine. It was a virus supposed designed to decide to kill bad people while leaving good people alone. "You said they programmed the virus. How advanced is you angel's technology?"


Shirana didn't get a chance to reply, as Keegan's mom called from the passage as she passed his room. "Keegan. Time to head to bed! I hope you've showered."


"Okay, mom!" He then looked to Shirana. He couldn't just chase her out the house now. It was too late for her to find a place to stay at a hotel. Besides, the owner or receptionist probably would have a little freak-out. "You can stay in the guest room if you want. All the bedrooms have en-suite bathroom and are joined by a passage. My parents is the one at the end, avoid letting them see you. The guest room is opposite mine. If you are wondering, the passage leads to the entrance hall which leads to the kitchen and lounge. Both of those have doors to the garage and dining room slash study, respectively." After giving her a quick layout of the house, he took her to the room, showed her very briefly and quietly around, then went to quickly shower in his room. He fell asleep rather fast, despite all that was on his mind.  
(Just ignore the dice. Fiddling around. Timeskip to morning when Shirana goes to sleep?)

 

[BearClaw]

Shirana's smile faded as she realised she wouldn't be able to continue talking about the virus. She just nodded and followed Keegan through the house to the guest bedroom. "I am assuming I shouldn't leave the room at all?" She muttered, disappointed that she couldn't do any exploring. Her smile slowly came back, however, when she realised that no one could stop her exploring. She would just have to be careful that she wasn't discovered.


She sat down on the edge of the bed and sighed, what was it going to be like? Staying in the house of someone who was going to die soon. She shook her head. She couldn't think about that now. She climbed into bed and soon fell asleep.