Worlds Roleplay

[ATTN: Man]

Trick blinked as the man spoke, and as the men suddenly appeared behind him realization hit like a brick. A setup. God that's embarrassing. And he walked straight into it.

He raised his hands slowly and his eyes darted to Thorne as they spoke, but Thorne seemed disinterested. Perhaps he didn't recognize him - he'd rarely used the name Trick around him. It had been an old nickname, one he hadn't been fond of until he used it as a business name overseas. Here he'd always been Matthew Van Attan. Trick's eyes darted away, keeping a lid on his rising anger - the only one to be angry at is yourself anyway. God he was stupid.

It didn't really matter if Thorne didn't recognize him anyway. The game was done. He watched Thorne leave from the corner of his eye, trailed out by all his guards save the one he killed and left in the corner. Trick's eyes darted back to Thorne's supplier. Ten minions with him at least, all armed with what looked like those nasty energy weapons. So as much as he wanted to pull out his own weapon and shoot, wouldn't be a great idea. Depending on what he's looking for...

"That was the point," he replied. "I'm not exactly looking for business right now. Call me up later."

[Attn: Ravenna]

I focused on the girl and as she spoke, I grimaced slightly before releasing her and helping her to her feet. The kid looked like a pathetic, lost lamb.

"Be more careful," I told her neutrally. "C'mon, if you're lost, I'll take you to the cops. They should be able to help you." And get you out of my hair. Not my problem and I got work to do.



[Attn: Trick]

Trench Coat smiled. "A brave front in the face of adversity," the man said, giving him a wink. "I like that in my men. Oh, if only I could have you the fun I'd have breaking you..." His face took on an eerie dreamy cast incongruous with his rugged features.

He came back to the present. "As it stands, this is merely business," he went on, "and it's business I much think you have much to gain from where I'm standing. Besides, I hear chaos and assassinations are your schtick."

[ATTN: Man]

Brave front? No, he was just pissed. They'd ruined everything. Thorne knew he was here now, even if he didn't recognize him, so his chances at staying undercover were shot. They could shoot him here and he wouldn't care, just so long as he got the chance to tear this smug bastard's face in two.

He smirked, raising an eyebrow as the man spoke of breaking him, but he let it slide. "Yes, and as I've said, this business is closed," he said. "Look, I have only one name on my bucket list. Don't make me add yours."

[Attn: Trick]

"What? Thorne?" Trench coat said derisively. "For a man of such talent, you're sure shortsighted. You honestly think you have the means to get to the man, now, after the power I've given him? You couldn't even figure out how to get the gun open without it exploding." His laughter was mocking. "Oh, how you lone wolf types do amuse me so. If you weren't so potentially useful, I'd leave you to your fate and laugh as you die like a dog.

"But you cooperate with me..." he paused thoughtfully, "maybe I make all my weapons and technology disappear so that you might actually have a chance against him. As it stands," he added with a smug grin, "if you tried to use one of Thorne's weapons it would backfire on you. Badly. And your peashooters are worthless against the equipment I've given him. But...the choice is yours."

Trick raised an eyebrow and suddenly laughed. "You can't be serious," he said. "All this stuff for me?" he asked, waving a hand. "I didn't know I was that popular. Surely you had more reliable options."

"Where are you even from, anyway? I don't think the European Union has quite mastered teleportation."

His grin deepened. "You're stalling," he said. "Hoping for some way to come out on top, perhaps? I assure you I'm not taking one such as you lightly. I've left nothing to chance.

"So are you in or are you out?" he inquired. "Please stop wasting my time. A shame I can't make you my pet I'd cure you of that bothersome habit."

"You're the one wasting my damn time," he said coolly. "I don't think you understand how little you and your trained dogs scare me. Make your offer or shoot me already. Your posturing is pissing me off."

He wasn't going to kill him. Not after all this trouble. And if he did, well... Dead man walking anyway.

"I believe I've made my offer," he said. "You agree to kill some people for me, and not only will I make Thorne's equipment disappear, I'll reward you in any way you wish--weaponry, money, whatever." He gave a mock gasp to a supposedly sudden thought. "Or maybe I even make that cancer that's eating you alive go away? Don't really see the point when you're obviously so eager to die..."

"Whoa, whoa now," he said. "I'm quite fond of my little cancer, thank you." He paused, looking at him oddly a moment before he smiled. "You don't play the game this hard just to get me to 'kill a few people.' Either you drop the shit and tell me the whole story, now, or this conversation is over."

Those energy weapons of theirs were delicate indeed - a few shots from a gun could easily set one of them off.

Trench coat sighed. "Oh, I assure you that it is that simple," he said. "You're the tool, you get used for the job designed. But seeing as you're so disagreeable..."

He waved a hand. "Dispose of him," he said dismissively, turning back and beginning to walk toward the portal he'd come from.

The men didn't hesitate, aiming and--suddenly, a pulse of energy shot out among them, temporarily knocking the men off of their feet. Trench coat stumbled, caught unawares.

"What the--a ripple in space-time?!" he exclaimed.

He turned as well as the man turned away, deflecting one of the rifles of a man behind him as a pulse of energy shot through them. Trick stumbled as the men around him tumbled to the ground, nearly losing his footing and recovering standing above one of them. Convenient. But I'm still taking them with me.

He stomped hard on the man's face and snatched up his rifle, aiming at one of the guns they had dropped on the ground. He stepped back and fired.

The resulting explosion sent everyone flying--including Trick, who slammed into a wall along with the rest of them. Trench coat got to his feet quickly, as did the other men.

"Stop him! Quickly!" he growled, his composure shaken as he looked deranged. "He'll ruin everything! He'll--no...!"

The man looked in horror as, nearby Trick, a hole ripped in space-time. The men stabbed knives into the ground so sharp they stabbed into it like butter and held fast to the ground. Trick wasn't so lucky and was sucked into the vortex.

The men held fast until trench coat released a pulse that restored balance to space-time. His face lingered in a rictus snarl for a moment before he came to his senses.

"I guess the Master is right," he growled. "There really is only the inevitable..."

[Attn: Open]

Up ahead was a soldier guarding the entrance to the audience chamber where the council of the village met.  The closer he got, the more it seemed that the surrounding noise left his ears.  He could only seem to hear his heart pounding in his chest and his feet crashing against the hard ground.  

“Just go in, say it, get out…” He muttered over and over to himself as he approached.

“Tristan?” The soldier asked. “What brings you here?  You weren’t summoned again were you?” Clearly the soldier was surprised that he was here.

“No, no.  I simply wish to speak with the council.” He smiled and nodded at the man.

“Tristan…” the soldier began to warn. “You have that look on your face. Like you are up to something you shouldn’t be.”

Tristan waved his hands while laughing. “Honestly, it’s nothing that bad. Do I look like I would be up to something that crazy?  Wait…nevermind. Don’t answer that.”   The soldier simply smirked as he beckoned Tristan to follow him.

Following the soldier, he entered into a moon-shaped room. He could see all the leaders around the crescent table.  Though he knew he was being announced and even addressed by the council, all he could focus on was his mother, Aileas, staring back at him.  Surely, she was surprised that he was here today, but she seemed to be trying to read him. It was as if he was some puzzle that she could solve.  

Tristan placed his focus back on the whole council.  “Forgive my interruption, but I have come with a suggestion...No, that’s not quite right. A favor.  A favor for our people.”  Looking out of the corner of his eye, he could start to see his mother grimace and open her mouth to object.  “Before you object, please let me finish.” He added quickly before he continued.

“We all know that the incidents of sickness and eventually deaths have been increasing lately. The supplies, whether it be medical, food, housing, military…you name it, have all been slowly dwindling ever since humans first came here.  We have tried to find ways to provide for ourselves and have managed it so far, but it’s not enough. We can’t do this alone…we need to unite.”

At this, one of the leaders interrupted him. “I know full well what you will suggest, and we have tried before. It is not worth it.  We simply cannot rely on the villages that lie across the planet.  There is not only the dangerous journey of finding and making it to another village, they will be in no place to help us.  We may all be humans, but they will only think of how they can survive.”  

Tristan began to clutch his hands into fists.  He knew he had to choose his words carefully because he was not going to let others suffer and die the way Mysie had…not today.  “So you would give up and let us die here? Because we surely are not thriving. I understand that the path to the other villages are far and dangerous, but I would gladly undertake it myself if it meant that I at least tried!”

He walked closer to the table and began to speak in quiet, solemn voice.  “Humanity was a proud culture; we let our pride destroy us.  Are you going to allow your pride do the same to your loved ones?”

As a few of the council leaders began to protest, the head leader raised his hand to silence them.  “Tristan, I understand your reason to seek change.  I admit that I too believe some sort of change must occur.  But we do not know what is the best course of action to take as of yet; however, we will consider your willingness to go out and help unite the villages. Now go, Tristan.”  

Tristan turned around and walked back out.  Letting out a sigh, “Well at least it wasn’t a straight no.”  He started walking to the gate to meet Cadi when he heard someone call out his name.  He abruptly stopped and turned around to see his mother coming.  “Mother…I.” Suddenly he felt something hit his face.  

“Tristan!  What was that in there?” Aileas angrily asked.

He rubbed his cheek where his mother smacked him. “I thought it was obvious.  I want to go seek out the other villages.”  

“I know that!  But why didn’t you address this with me first? Do you even know what you are even signing yourself up to do? Others who have tried in the past have died, Tristan!”  

She paused as she looked at her son. He wasn’t the young boy she had taken care of.  He was standing there silently letting her unleash her anger at him.  “This is about Mysie, isn’t it? That’s why you chose today of all days to do it. You couldn’t save her and that has haunted you.  Tristan…” She grasped his hand.  “Tristan there was nothing you could do. She was simply too sick.”  

Silence filled the space around them.  Both still mourned the loss of her.  Both were stumbling in the dark, trying to recover from all they had experience.  “You’re wrong, you know.” Tristan began quietly as he stepped back from his mother.  He could see sorrow fill her eyes. “I could have tried harder.”  

A small smile formed on his lips as he continued to back away from her.  “You took care of me all my life.  This time, you have to let me go so that I can be the one looking out for us.”  Quickly, Tristan ran, ran from having his mind changed.  He would leave to find help with or without the backing of the village.

[Attn: Open]

Tristan began walking up the gate where he saw Cadi waiting for him. She looked up and waved at him. “Hey, you’re late! How long were you going to keep me waiting?” She said triumphantly.

“Well I was planning a few more hours but I thought ‘how cruel.’” He flashed a smile as he found a spot next to Cadi, who looked like she was about to slug him.

All of a sudden the ground began to shake. Tristan grabbed Cadi as they stumbled forward. Walls crumbled while pots and items fell, crashing all around them. People began to cry out and seek shelter. Many had never experienced an earthquake but Tristan knew what it was.

“Come on! We need to find a safe place.” He dragged Cadi along as they went towards the council. But the sooner they got closer to the council, the warmer it was getting.

Cadi stumbled along behind. “Tristan, what’s going on?!” Tristan shook his head. He had no idea what was going on. Their planet had never been this warm. He looked briefly behind him to see the chaos about. Shouting, crying, the world was filled with noise.

“Get moving!” He shouted towards a group of people huddled over some rubble, but they wouldn’t move; they seemed preoccupied. Tristan realized someone was stuck and a few were trying to get the young lad out.

Grabbing Cadi, he looked at her sternly. “Cadi, you need to get to the council. Find my mother. Find out what is happening. I..I don’t know what’s going on, but we need to get out of here.”

“What about you? You need to come too!” As much as she tried, she couldn’t hide her fear in her voice.

“I need to help get as many people as I can. I'll meet you and my mother at the council chamber. It's the safest place. Now go!” He shoved Cadi forward as he went over and helped the young boy out of the rubble.

After motioning for the people to make their way to the council, he wiped his forehead of the sweat and dirt that had taken residence there. He briefly looked around, making sure that everyone was moving. He could only speculate as to what was causing their world to burn; all that was certain was that Toivoa was doomed.

[Attn: Open]

Tristan remained silent as he watched the village prep for evacuation.  There were only days remaining if that. So they save what they can and let the rest to die.  He understood the theory but it didn’t sit well with him. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight.  He quickly packed what he needed. There is was so much commotion that he was able to get what he needed with little fuss.  He would make it to the hotspots, no matter what.

Walking around, he spotted his mother comforting another woman in tears.  Aileas had her arm around the woman as she cried.  He wanted to speak to his mother and tell her that he was heading to the hotspots. He wanted to say goodbye, but as she looked up and spotted him, he could see that she already knew somehow.  

Neither said a word as they looked at each other. He nodded to her as began to step back; if he did, he knew it would only be harder on both of them. “Goodbye, Mother.” He whispered before he took one last look of the village and headed out into the wilderness.

An hour out into the wilderness, he spotted it. Its make wasn't of any design he would recognize. In fact, it seemed more advanced than anything any of the other colonies would be able to make. However, it's meaning was clear: it looked like a giant jetpack, and a large energy beam was shooting from it. This was why their planet was out of orbit. This was why people were going to die.

Tristan stood there clueless. "What the hell...?" He muttered to himself as he cautiously moved closer.  How did it get here and why.  He had no answers. No ideas. Nothing like this existed on Toivoa before.  "Jetpack and energy beam thing scooting the planet out of orbit.  So it's me against the big device...right, well I've got nothing."  It was true. He had no idea what he was going to do, but he entered inside, hoping to find some interface that would allow him to deactivate the device.

On one side of the massive device he found what he was looking for: a door to the inside. Blessedly, the button on the right of it opened it when he pressed it. Inside, it looked much like a warehouse. There were supplies and corridors. Though active, the place had an empty feel, like no one had been there for a while.

Moving on, he'd find a control room. The entire process was automated, it seemed.

Tristan whistled as he looked at the place. "Not bad." The technology was advance that was for sure. He had to be impressed by it.  At one point, humanity may have had something like this. As he walked into the control room, he noted that there were no people running the place.  He could only speculate as to the type of person who wanted to destroy the planet. He walked to a panel, hoping that he would be able to find a way to break the planet off of its current trajectory.  "Pushing buttons always works right?" He cracked his neck as he began to type away.  "Here goes nothing."

The screen blinked on, and suddenly, the sound of moaning could be heard. On the screen was the video of two colonists from a nearby colony going at it. Apparently, when whoever had been here had been here, voyeurism was one of his hobbies.

Tristan eyes widened as the screen changed.  "Oh God. What the bloody hell, you perverted machine?!" He began to rapidly hit buttons, hoping that it would switch to something else...anything else. Despite begining to wonder about the sanity of whoever was last here, Tristan stifled a laugh.  Leave it to him to try to save the planet with a messed-up machine.

The monitor switched off and changed to a layout. This terminal was apparently connected to the other two devices on the planet. Buttons flashed on the panel in a language he could read. There was a way he could shut all of them down remotely from here. Even a self-destruct mechanism.

Scanning the monitor, he quickly read what the information was telling him.  He could do it. He really could shut down all three locations at once.  "Excellent."  Without a second thought, he allowed his fingers to fly across the panel as he instructed the device to shut down and destroy all three mechanisms.  To be honest, he wasn't sure how the planet would respond after suddenly losing the added momentum, but at least it would give them more time. He activated the self-destruct mechanism.

A man appeared on the screen. "What the hell is going on over there?! Who the hell are you?! How did you activate the self-destruct?! Computer, deactivate self-destruct!"

The computer spoke with a neutral female voice. "Deactivating emergency self-destruct." Tristan would have the sudden knowledge that there was a master key that, if he took it, these machines would not be able to be reactivated to destroy the planet.

Suprised that a man appeared on the screen, Tristan assumed that this was the culprit.  The man behind all of this. "Computer belay that order!" He frantically looked around until he realized the master key.  He looked up at the man on the screen and smirked. "Nice try, asshole!"  Tristan grasped the master key and pulled it out.  He stumbled back from the monitor and ran a hand through his hair.  Finally.  Finally it would stop.

"You dumb boy!" he growled. "Bring that back! You think you'll be able to hide from me there?! I'll scour that planet and kill off everyone! E v e r y o n e. . ."

He quickly looked around for an exit as the man began to threaten him.  "Great job, Tristan, you managed to the save the planet from one disaster and caused another." He mumbled to himself.  As much as he wanted to know why this man wanted to destroy the planet, he couldn't dwell on it.  All he knew was that he had to get out.  And if on cue, he realized that he could escape and leave the planet in this place.  How he knew it? He didn't know; he just did. Another question with no answer. "Focus...focus." He muttered to himself before looking at the man on the screen.  "Hey! If you are seriously going to try looking for this?" He held up the master key.  "You might want to try another planet because you won't find it here.  I am leaving this place and I dare you to try and catch me." He dashed to the room in his mind, recognizing that this was in fact how he could leave the planet.

"You think I won't scour those escape shuttle for--wait...you're not. No! But how could you...? Get back here, boy! I will find you! Bet on it!"

Tristan would find a medium-sized circular room. Following whatever weird designs were in his head, he input the buttons and activated the device. The symbols on the floor began circling and lighting up in multi-hued colors. The lights grew brighter and brighter and in a flash, he was gone.


[Attn: Ravena]

I said nothing to the girl's outbursts. I was beginning to wonder from the way she was talking if the girl had escaped from a padded room. It would corroborate some of the insanity escaping her mouth. As if there was any Earth but this one.

Following the policeman's suggestions, I checked out the hotels he'd listed to me. I finally found one that suited me--fair price and had easy access to back alleys and escape routes. Of course I used a name different from the one I gave the police officer. Also, different clothes and a wig didn't hurt, either. I made the girl do the same.

From there, I got us a room. Second story up, smallish room, two beds. The style was Western--I guess they wanted their guests to feel at home. I'd have given them a pass if it weren't for the fact that I don't think they understood their guests. At all. What self-respecting person had pink curtains? And neon pink at that.

I turned to the girl and handed her the map. "Do what you want, girl," I said, laying on one of the two beds and closing my eyes. "If you wanna watch tv, that's fine, just don't be too loud. I'm tired, long trip." Only one of those was a lie.

[ATTN: Open]

When Trick was first thrown back into the wall by the blast, the energy rifle flew from his hands. He threw himself after it, snatching it up and raising it to fire when suddenly he felt himself sucked backwards irresistibly into the portal.

He hurtled through empty space for what seemed like forever - until suddenly he wasn't. He was in the air, flying towards the wall of a building.

He curled up into a ball, wrapping his arms around the rifle as he slammed through the wall and into the vat of ice cream. He went straight through, finally landing hard in a substance that swallowed him like sand.

Trick struggled in the substance, finally breaking through and gasping for air. Not dead. Holy shit not dead?

He ran a hand through his hair, feeling rice and jam stick in it and let out a laugh that dissolved into coughing. Somehow he was alive. He couldn't even be angry anymore - he felt the oddest elation, relieved to still be breathing. Apparently he wasn't as comfortable with his own mortality as he'd thought.

He was moving however, and he looked around him to see he appeared to be in some factory. The vat of rice cakes he was in was headed down a conveyor belt to be processed, a large contraption not far down the line pressing them flat. Trick threw himself out, hitting the floor and rolling to break his fall before he could be crushed as well. How humiliating would that be, to somehow survive falling through a building only to be crushed into rice cake. Trick, bane of gangsters and despots, crushed to death in a factory. How pathetic was that?

He looked down at himself, realizing he'd lost the rifle he'd stolen sometime in the fall. That fall. He should have broken something at least, he should have broken every bone in his body but he was fine. Sore but fine. How did that work? More importantly, where even was he?

He patted at his jacket, checking that all his equipment was still there before he stood up shakily.