The Good Ship (Flighter and Oit)

((Niche-Glasses counter: 6))


Totally disregarding Todd's way of making sure that this Sanade person was actually a human, Chrysaorus stepped forward towards Sanade. She stopped a respectable distance away from her, and examined the sheathed knife she held in her hand with such a hate that Chrysaorus didn't quite understand.


Chrysaorus pulled the knife out of it's sheath, even, and held it to her face. But she didn't find anything peculiar about it. "It might not be the knife, if that's what you're thinking. But it's still a possibility." She put the knife back. "These two here have also been transported here. I suppose in the same way you have."
 
The punch that Sanade sent at his guy, while managing to make him stumble back, didn't hurt him too much. All it really did was make him angry at the woman, and he snarled at her like an animal. Her glare at him was met with a glare of his own, and his wolfish mind saw it as a challenge. Something that had to be met with an attack. His tensed up, predatory stance was immediately halted, however, the minute he heard "no zombies".


"No zombies?"


No, that couldn't be right. No zombies? None at all? They were completely fictional for Sanade and all of Japan? Were the islands truly that safe from the infection, or was there something he was missing here? Perhaps Sanade's entire world, her whole "Earth" was an alternate one. A world were the infection never came. The zombies never became reality.


"I can't believe this." Todd told himself quietly while he shook his head, "We got the short end of the stick, didn't we...?"


"You know, 'Niche'," Walter suddenly spoke, "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot here. You're stuck with us now until we can find a way to send you home, right? So how about no one tries arresting each other, and no one - hopefully - will have to run through the castle with nothing but a towel --" He shot Todd another glare, and Todd could only shrug, "Not that I'd mind if you did that, heh."


"Wow, Walt, even as an amnesiac, you're still a pervert." Todd pointed out with an annoyed sigh.
 
Sanade thanked the Queen as she took back the knife and returned it into her pocket. It was too good to be true that the knife would have been the cause of her transportation here. Yes, this was surely the call of crack adventuring that rang in her ears, or was that the sound of her theory of the knife being the problem and the fact that she wouldn't see her home again colliding at top speed in a highway accident? Either way, the knife wasn't the question nor the answer. She touched the rim of her glasses and pushed it slightly, taking one more gander at the surroundings. Escherischia, or however it was spelled or pronounced, this place was named, according to the queen. A world named after a genus of enteric bacteria. How queer. Or was it a adaptation of the word "eschew"? Sanade waved away those thoughts. No time to study the fantastical world.


"You're a gentleman, I'm sure, Walt." Sanade smirked at the man's remark. "But aye, I hear you. No trying to cuff another while he's half-nude." She thought for a moment, and found herself unable to retract those words and their implications. Shit.
 
((Niche-Glasses Counter: 7))


Chrysaorus clapped to gather the attention around herself again. "Now that that's settled, Sanade, do you need anything else? I will fetch you a room and, if you're willing, a new set of clothes. " Chrysaorus smiled nicely at her. She couldn't seem too intimidating, could she? She turned around and faced Walter once again. "Walter. If you're not still spiteful towards me I can try and return those memories of yours."
 
Walter laughed a little at Sanade Niche when she realized what she just said, her regret apparent on her face. He gave her a half-smile, but his attention was quickly pulled away from the young woman when Chrysaorus started clapping to gain everyone's.


Niche was offered new clothes, of course, and he was offered a chance to regain his memories. That bitterness returned, and he took his eyes off the Queen, nose scrunching a bit in his anger towards her. Then he felt Todd's hand on his shoulder.


"You can trust her, Walt." Todd reassured him, "She's not going to hurt you -- Believe me." Walter stared at his friend, eyes narrowing.


"I honestly don't know who I can trust right now." He admitted with a snort. But then Todd looked him in the eyes, and Walter looked back and saw just how serious Todd was at that moment. Todd wasn't a liar. Walter could trust him. And Walt supposed that, if he could trust Todd, he'd have to trust Chrysaorus.


"Alright, fine. Please. I'd... Appreciate it if you helped me get my memories back." He then glared at Todd, "But if she does anything else to me...!"


"She won't." Todd told him flatly.
 
"No thanks. I'm keeping these clothes." Sanade pulled up the sleeves of her jacket to her elbows and patted the purple fabric of the thing. For one, they were comfortable, much more than any of the rest of her wardrobe. Another was that, if all the books she had read were right, she'd be sent back to her own world in the clothes they gave her, and what a mess it would be, especially if it was done without her knowledge and very suddenly. It would be hard to keep these things hidden forever. "If you're talking of a room, however, I'm very interested in your works of literature here." Sanade said, trying to sound as polite as possible. She can't possibly not go a day without perusing a single book. Now that she was in a foreign land, foreign world, even, it would seem that this was the best time to seek out the literary style of the authors here, experience the books in the books she had read.


To Walt, she raised her eyebrows. He seemed very hostile about the Queen's help, despite the lady being quite the help to their respective situations. "What's bitten you, Walt? She's trustworthy enough. On the bright side, we're not clamped in chains and drowning in a bog."
 
"Ah. Alright." Chrysaorus said as a response to Sanade. "I'm sure Todd here could find you a room while we're gone. And as for books, there are several in that pile over there," Chrysaorus pointed at the table with the books stacked ontop of them, "But, I am not sure if you will be able to understand them, seeing as you are from Earth. You may very well look through them to see."


Chrysaorus turned to Walter, and smiled. "Now, shall we go? I don't quite have all day."


((Blah))
 
Walt noticed how Chrysaorus had strategically "ignored" what Sanade asked him, despite how much the answer involved both of them. He raised a brow to this. Did Chrysaorus not want to talk about it? Was she embarrassed by it, or perhaps angry over it? Well, Sanade didn't deserve to be left out of the loop, really. She was from Earth, just like them, and deserved to be filled in.


"Some stuff happened," He explained, "Chry here did something pretty awful to me, though she and Todd insist that it wasn't really her. I don't know, I'm just the victim here. maybe you'll get more of what happened out of Todd."


He then nodded to the queen and allowed her to lead him to wherever. He didn't feel comfortable being alone with her, but, again, he trusted Todd -- So he had to trust Chrysaorus.


~


"Off to find you a room, I guess." Todd told Sanade with a shrug. He then gestured for her to follow him and walked back into the castle, over to where Walter's room was. He checked for an unoccupied one. As it turned out, there was one a few doors down from Walt's.


"Well, look at that. You're just a little bit away from Walt. Now you'll have someone to talk to -- Isn't that nice? I'm sure that's nice. Yup."


He led her in, then continued.


"So I can show you what I've been shown in this castle so you know where everything is, if you want."
 
Throughout the whole walk, Chrysaorus kept her smiling face. She didn't bother stopping to look to see if Walter was following her; it was just an excersize for her to get used to trusting Walter as he had done her this one time. It wasn't just to ask for trust and not give it in return...


Chrysaorus opened a large pair of double doors and pushed inside. It was the judgement room, center to prayer and a very valuable religious location. [insert wittily-formatted text about how the room looked like a large painting of the story of the religion.]


"Alright, Walter. Sit in the middle of the room there and we can start."


((Blah.))
 
What little trust Walter had for Chrysaorus faltered when he saw the giant, imposing room. Such a large place only reminded him of the dungeon, and the dungeon reminded him of what Chrysaorus was capable of. if she truly was not as cruel as he thought she was, then why did she have such an awful place in her castle?


He hesitated, looked at Chrysaorus, then sat in the middle of the room as he was instructed.


"What are you going to do to me?" He asked. It was supposed to just be a question, but there was fear heavily woven in his voice, "Is this going to hurt? How are you going to get my memories back?"


Nothing was more frightening to Walt, at that moment, than the unknown -- And currently, much was unknown to him.


Now is the time. The voice pestered him once more, she's alone with you. The area is so big and clean. The blood will be an improvement. The entrails will feel nice in your hands. He had to shake the voice off, rubbing his hands nervously and looking around at the big and open space to distract himself. It only made him more nervous. His pupils were slits again, removing one of his more Earh-like qualities -- His once-human eyes.
 
Walt's words did not fully go unignored by Sanade, who kept silent as she was led by Todd out to the hallway of doors, each leading to a room of residence, no doubt. She hardly believed that she was less excited about the whole thing. Here she was, staying at a palace in a fictional world, at least from her point of view. The whole shebang, however, left her quite dazed and rather irritable. Her theory shot down in flames and with the impending danger of having to go on what she had called a crack adventure earlier looming ever nearer, she was not pleased at all. One would have thought this feeling of displeasure would be erased when the door opened up to a regally decorated room, posh and very very expensively adorned. Any girl would have instantly lost their minds to this. Take note, however, that Sanade was quite a tangent to the phrase 'any girl'.


Instead, without turning, she asked "Hey, Todd, right? What happened to Walt?", completely ignoring his own question. She didn't need tours, she needed answers. "Something happened between the Queen and him? Not romantically of course, haha, imagine that." She added in the last sentence after a quick moment of hesitation. The words that were coming out of her mouth were all wrong. She coughed, cleared her throat and started again, pushing her glasses by the rim with one finger.
 
((Niche-Glasses Counter: 8))


"I'm going to send your consciousness to Kolliah. It won't hurt, but..." Chrysaorus bit her lip to prevent herself from saying much else. "... You'll see..."


Chrysaorus stepped towards Walter. "Hold still." Chrysaorus ended up infront of him. She knelt down, held his chin up, and lightly put her forehead against his. In an instant, Walter had fainted.


--


"Oh! Hello there!" Greeted a girl from afar. She stepped down from a bunch of rocks and rubble and approached Walter with her hands wrapped behind her back.


((Blah))
 
Todd felt somewhat surprised by Sanade's question. It threw him off, her sudden interest in the problems between Walter and Chrysaorus -- Though he did laugh a bit when she mentioned that she didn't mean that they had a romantic issue at some point.


"Hey, has anyone ever told you that your English is very nice?" He forced a grin for her, though understood that he needed to answer her question, lest this new girl got impatient with him. With a sigh, his straining mouth returning to a more comfortable frowning position, he answered her question.


"Chrysaorus was possessed by a god-like creature for a while, as weird as that sounds." He turned to face her, not wanting to have to explain out of the corner of his mouth, "When Walter came here, he must have been discovered by the creature -- Abbessus. Abbessus must have struck a deal with him, or something. Something for him if he killed me, since three friends of mine and I were trying to stop him."


Todd shook his head sadly.


"He failed, as you can see, and I guess Abbessus punished Walt for that. It threw Walt in this thing called 'the dungeon'. It's not much of a dungeon. It's more like a small little Hell inside this castle. When we found Walter, he was delirious and barely alive. There was so much blood. Since Walt's first impression of Chrysaorus was her throwing him in that place, that's why he can't trust her. At least, that's what I'm assuming."


Todd scratched at his stubble, not knowing whether or not telling Sanade this was a good idea.


~


Walt found himself transported to another location. For a second, he thought he was completely alone, but then that girl appeared. Walter quickly stepped back, grabbing at his katana. He immediately saw this newcomer as a threat. To him, she'd remain a threat until proven otherwise.


"Who are you and what do you want?!" He snarled at her. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck and on his arms bristle underneath his clothes. He didn't care that he was being rude -- Walter didn't know what was going on! Chrysaorus had sent him somewhere -- What if this was another area of torture?? What if he had been tricked??
 
"I should be asking you that question!" Kolliah said, cheerily. She had seen him before, and he had been mentioned by Todd when they first met. "Walt, right? Oh, I must apologize soooooo much-- Abbessus caused a bit of a ruckus down on Earth and it seems like you suffered just enough to make me really concerned. He's sitting in time-out right now."


Kolliah didn't mind the sword; she wasn't phased from it. When she came close, she touched the katana, and it flew from his hands all the way towards the back of the room. "Besides all of that, what is it that you want?"


((BLAH I WANT THE LAPPYTOP BACK...))
 
((I WISH YOU WERE NOT IN HIDDEN MODE THO BUT WE CAN'T HAVE THINGS SOMETIMES NOW CAN WE?))


Walter was startled when the sword flew out of its sheathe and against the opposite wall. He even let out a little panicky yelp. Okay, now he was defenseless. No wait -- No he wasn't! He stepped back from her and readied his claws. A warning. This woman was powerful, but maybe she'd stay away if she saw he could still hurt her?


She asked him what he wanted, and Walter tilted his head a bit, confused. Did she seriously ask him that? Was this what Chrysaorus meant when she said she'd help him? Was it this person, was she the one who could?


"I just... I just want my memories back. They were taken from me, I think." He told her quietly, though he refused to put his claws away.
 
Kolliah blinked. "Memories taken from you? Amnesia?" Kolliah nodded understandingly. "I see. I see what happened. The person who rebirthed you purposefully took your memories away. I can return them..."


Kolliah hummed. "I can return them... But! Your memories are awfully harsh. I almost think it's best for you to stay memory-less... Before I do anything though, I will warn you, and ask you for confirmation again."


"Your mind may be highly unstable, with all of the memories now added to the ones you had before. You can die, you may not think clearly, heck, you might become insane. Think this through now! Do you really want your memories back?"
 
Walter thought about Kolliah's warning. he thought the offer over, the fact that regaining his harsh memories could apparently cause insanity, or death even. Death? Well that was something. Was his past truly that awful? He was somewhat scared now to find out.


Still, he wanted to know why he had a voice in his head. He wanted to know why he and Todd were such good friends, and not simply feel like he had to smile for a man he barely knew. He wanted to know his past, know what makes him who he is. Walter simply had to face the consequences that came with it. He had to pay the price set for such memories.


"Yes, I want my memories back." He told her, "Just... Take it slow, right?"
 
Kolliah frowned. His answer worried him, but she had to cater to his wants. She gave a sad "Alright", and began giving him the memories that he had asked for.


"I will go slow. Age one... Age two... Age three..." Kolliah gave him his memories, organized by order and age. As wanted, she did it slowly, and let everything set in the further they had gotten on the timeline.


"Age 25... Should I stop?"
 
Around the time that Kolliah got to age 25, Walter was a mess on the ground -- A man on his knees, curled up in a near-fetal-position, save for his hands, which were tightly gripping his head. It was a form of silently screaming. He was shaking and completely unable to answer the goddess.


Those memories were horrible! No, more than horrible! Those memories were like an unrelenting nightmare -- But it actually happened to him! He had experienced it all again! His parents, the dark streets of London, the junk yard dog -- And while it did cool down and turn bright and cheery half-way in, it was the horrors at the beginning that had him collapse.


And now he knew that his real name wasn't Walter Hobbes. He didn't have a real name. That was simply what a Mrs. Hobbes, the librarian that took him in, called him. What he was to his parents before - Mr. and Mrs. Aldred - was the simple "Rubbish". He was not Walter Hobbes, no, he was Rubbish Aldred, and while that wasn't what they put on his birth certificate, it was the only thing they ever called him.


It was also the frightening world outside his parents' home that got to him. That dog, which was why he was so terrified of canines in the first place, and the things he had to go through to not starve while living with the whores and thieves hidden in the dark corners of the city. The things he had to put up with. The rats he had to occasionally eat to survive.


But it was better than the abuse he received back home, wasn't it? It had been better that way. Sure, he'd occasionally get kicked around, but it hurt so much less than the whippings and punches and kicks and wounds he got back home. Home? No, that was never his home, was it?


His home was the library. He was a dirty, shivering boy when he was taken in. He lived there. They set up a little spot for him, Mrs. Hobbes and her assistant. The library always smelled of books, new and old. Clean and moldy. They helped him adjust, and while they couldn't legally adopt a child they found on the streets, they did the next best thing. He was not legally theirs, but it felt that way. They were his family.
 
Kolliah looked down at him, only to see that he was not okay. Such that, he couldn't answer. He sat pitifully in an almost-fetal position with his hands to his head. She'd frown more, but it would be quite unnatural. She kept a straight face instead as she beamed down at his body.


"I was afraid that this might happen... I should have stopped earlier... Maybe." Kolliah floated infront of Walter, about five inches away from his head, and kneeled down to the floor. " Walter, are you alright? Should I stop? Can you hear me?"
 
"....Hell inside this castle? Abyssus?" Sanade dug her hands deep within her pockets again and bowed her head down slightly, her hair obscuring her facial expression. The whole story was, to a person bearing no contextual knowledge, head-spinning. This did not answer much at all, and instead gave more questions to be answered. She couldn't keep Todd around for long. She needed to think, analyse the whole situation, line by line. Maybe churn out a plan for her. Perhaps these two if she could, but they seemed to fit this world more than her Earth. She removed her hands fromher pockets and folded her arms, tilting her head slightly so the light reflected off the glasses, obscuring her eyes.


"......I need to take a break. It's been three hours on my feet." She said curtly and dismissively. "See you later, Todd. Tell me about your Earth as well. Thanks for your help." were her last words before she patted the man's shoulder and turned him around to the door with surprising strength for one almost at the same height as him. With another push, she led him out the door, which shut behind him. The tumblers clicked, sealing the door from being opened by naught but brute force.
 
Walter let out a noise. It was not a happy noise, no, it was a cross between a whimper and a sob. It sounded a bit like a "No.", though it was somewhat hard to tell considering how muffled his voice was in the position he was in.


He raised his head and looked Kolliah square in the eye. Walter looked disturbed. He was twitching. The voice was screaming at him now. It was even effecting him outside the dream. His unconscious body was twitching and whimpering, crying even -- But back inside, in his head, in that dream that happened to be in Kolliah's domain, Walter stared at the goddess. He was silent for a few seconds before his unsteady voice rose out of his throat once more.


"Do the rest."


~


Todd suddenly found himself pushed out of the room.


"Hey! That was really freaking rude y'know!" He yelled through the door, pounding on it afterwards, "You didn't even tell me if you wanted a tour or not! Well fine, you're not getting one, alright!?"


Then with a huff, he stormed off. Great, okay, fine. They have a new girl there and she was a pushy shove-y and dismissive whatever-the-hell woman. Just great. Todd leaned against the wall near her room, not knowing where else to go and what else to do.


He thought to seek out Chrysaorus, but she was busy with Walt. Perhaps what she was doing required a whole lot of concentration. Better to not interrupt her again. 
((HOW DID THIS NEVER POST??))
 
Kolliah 'eeped'. He was still willing to go through the rest of his memories? Even in his current condition? Kolliah seemed afraid of him, or rather, afraid for him.


As he stared her right in the eyes, she gave him a deeply concerned look. She couldn't deny him of his desires, even if she did silently plea to herself to not cater to them.


"What a brave man..." She whispered under her breath. "I will continue, as you wish..."


"Age twenty-five..."
 
Walter couldn't handle these memories nearly as well as the previous few ones. He tensed up again and despite trying so hard to keep it in, a hoarse, long scream escaped his lips. Afterwards, when he couldn't scream any longer, it was frantic hyperventilating. The things he re-experienced shouldn't have been possible, based on the memories he experienced before, the gaps filled now. Zombies! Zombies!? Their own screams and the screams of the innocent flooded his mind, and he had returned to that near-fetal-position.


They shouldn't have been possible! No, no, he would have had that normal life he craved if not for them! His life had been ruined by them! Ruined! Those suicidal thoughts returned. That memory was sticking to him longer than the others. He was going to do it. He was going to jump off that building. Outside the elaborate dream, in the physical world, Walter took out his katana. He was ready to die. There was no point to such an empty, meaningless life. He shook, the tears were coming, staining his face. He pointed the blade to himself.


This had to end now.
 
"Just wait... Walter, hold on for a few more seconds..." Kolliah pleaded. She tried to hold him in her arms, push his head onto her shoulder, anything to help him calm down. He couldn't kill himself. He shouldn't. But she, herself, couldn't stop him in the physical world.


...but Chrysaorus could. And she did.


Chrysaorus weakly grabbed onto Walter's arm, and threw the katana aside. Kolliah's domain fizzled just a bit, but then returned back to normal. Chrysaorus had quickly loosened the tie between Walter and Kolliah to do that one thing, and fixed it as she prevented Walter from killing himself. A few more seconds, just a few more.


((Blah))
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 3 (members: 0, guests: 3)
Back
Top