anemoi | Infared Slavery

Entry tags:

Infared Slavery

[Action, Sundollar Coffee]

[That damn train.]

[It's phantom hit-and-run with him had occurred in a cartoonish blur as he was setting out to grab some lunch. Exactly an hour and fifteen minutes later as he'd almost forgotten about it, but the crippling flash of red fire, blood, screams, a hawk ripping a sparrow to shreds, choking sobs, foul movements and the cackling hideous face of something he'd never seen before sent him slumping against the wall, the mug in his hand slipping out with a crash.]

[Video, a little later]

[Gordon's still a little pale even for him, his brow furrowed.]

Just... just when I thought all these damned memories couldn't get any more confusing. How there's demons thrown into the mix! Ugh, god, I didn't... how...

[He drags a hand over his face, still a little overwhelmed. You would be too, with what he's had to remember.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Daemons...? What is going on? I was about to ask you if you knew of any mixups in the laboratory."

--Mixups? What, what the hell're you talking about, Shen?

[Maybe it's his distraction, but he just didn't have the mental energy to soften the question.]

He flaps his wings in agitation. "I've memories that can't possibly be mine and it sounds as though the same has happened to you, as I doubt you've had any dealings with daemons!" Breathe, Shen. "Is it possible that someone may have sent the wrong memories to the wrong person?"

I KNOW what I remember, featherduster! And I sure as hell didn't--

[Wait. That torturous memory that clung to him like hot tar wasn't the only one. Something about a woman... Ingrid...?]

[Didn't Van Richden mention his wife's name was Ingrid?]

...Aw, SHIT--

"... It isn't yours, is it?" he asks quietly.

Maybe not. Probably not. Oh dear god, did Rudolph really...?

Man, if this IS a mixup at the labs, I'm going to personally voice my displeasure by rigging their coffee pot to a negative heat capacity. Hope they like coffee at near-absolute-zero shattering their cups and freezing off any parts that stick out.

[He's kidding, of course. Mostly.]

"But how could it have happened in the first place? And more importantly, how do we stop it happening again?"

I dunno yet. As far as I know, once the anemoi are processed for the recipient the memory relapse is more or less automatic and out of our control... But let me check up on the Labs and see if there's been a screwup somewhere like you say. If there has, it would be the first they've ever had to my knowledge.

You don't say!

What kind of demons?

A Balor. [He immediately recalls. The memory must have supplied the word with it. His expression is a perfect blend of puzzlement and horror.] It was summoned by some kind of... a Lich? Those don't even freaking EXIST in my world... do they? But no, it's all there, right THERE, in my memories! There was no way we could fight it, we were just... at its mercy.

I've never heard of either one, myself!

From the look on your face, it sounds like something even I wouldn't want to tangle with!

Thing was overwhelmingly strong. It used... spells? Binding spells. Those shouldn't be around where I'm from either!

[Now the incredulity is starting to take over.] Something, something ain't right, here... did I get a false memory or something? This is just too terrible to believe.

I don't see why not! Some demons can be pretty secretive.

You should have seen some of the things I ran into in dark caverns and ancient ruins back home!

What kind of things did YOU run into?

Giant slobbery bone monsters, demon kings made out of eyeballs, flaming one-legged deer... Although to be fair, those last ones were just running about the palace gardens. Long story.

None of those were prone to torture, were they?

[Oddly specific? Just a little.]

Mostly they just tried to eat people! Or kill them. Not too many of them seemed interested in drawing things out. There were these possessed fetuses that... I'm not sure what they did to their mothers, but there was a lot of screaming involved.

[He looks slightly more disturbed with every successive word of that last sentence.]

[He's not the only one. Eeugh.]

You know, maybe I ought to just... try not to think too hard about this for a while. Yeah.

[And he's back to his usual jocular self in no time flat.]

I've been doing that for years! Demons are one of those things you don't want to think too much about.

"Demons"? Unlikely. Unknown fauna with similarity to human folk tales and mythology far more likely.

I KNOW, Mordin, and believe me, I'd be the first guy to agree with you. But whatever species the damn thing was, they called it a Demon here! Dayvvd and Ottelie both...

Christ, that poor woman. It deserved the name for what it did to her.

Ah, apologies. Seem to have interrupted a traumatic memory. Will leave you to sort out feelings.

Probably for the best. Thanks, bud.

[Rex himself was going to go get something at the coffee shop and was patiently waiting in line until someone pushed up against a wall and dropped their coffee mug. He looked over to see the commotion and realized it was a familiar face slumping over.

Well, shit.

Rex rushes over, but doesn't touch him.]

Whoa, amigo. What, did you suddenly forget that coffee's hot? Que pasó?

[He shakes his head. The torn skin, faces and bodies convulsing in pain, the terrible hold of some force not unlike that psychic hold the Advisor used on him... he pushes past it all with some difficulty, focusing on Rex. His gaze is a little hazy, sort of the way people get when they suddenly remember things around here.]

I'm, I'm okay. Christ... [He straightens again, mind reeling, scorched by the images.] What WAS that? I... oh dear god...

[Now it parses. His brain busily tries to associate it with the old stuff he's already remembered as he drops himself properly into a chair.] Sorry about that, Rex. It's a memory. A mission, I guess, that went wrong. REALLY wrong. I didn't even know I did that sort of thing before I got here.

Yeesh. Must've been a really nasty memory if it made you fall over like that.

...how wrong are we talkin' here?

It was... a Balor, that caught us? The rest were tortured, or just plain torn apart where they stand. I... guess I managed to escape somehow.

[It doesn't make any sense. He wouldn't just stand there and LET that happen! The priest have his eye plucked out, flayed... and that girl, oh dear god... He wouldn't have run, and yet he was perfectly unscathed...]

I have no idea who sent us, or if we were there on our own volition. The thing was probably a really nasty alien that everyone was just CALLING a demon... right?

No clue. My world hasn't got aliens or demons!

But...'torn apart'? Sounds ugly.

Well apparently mine has both now! [He growls through a facepalm, then checks his temper again. These memories aren't Rex's fault.]

...Sorry. Just... it was his pet that did it. Tore him up completely. But why... I remember him being a... bird? At the time? What the hell...

[A sparrow, to be precise. An ability of his, that seems totally natural in his memories and yet COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE TO EVERY OTHER NEURON IN HIS FRONTAL LOBE.]

Demons? You had to deal with demons?

I... I guess so. Hell, there's a whole bunch of alien species I recognize. Maybe this is another one that they call a demon.

[From the look on his face, that hasn't done much to resolve his cognitive dissidence.]

That seems...a little unlikely. Unless they came up with the word "demon" themselves.

People tend to attach names they think are appropriate, despite whatever proper names there are. And "demon" was close enough for this thing. Huge, powerful, intelligent and malicious.

So then...then you're saying that they got that name from someone else? Another human?

Who knows what it called itself. I sure as hell wasn't going to ask it! I'm talking about what humans called--

Listen, you know what? It's not really important. The point is that for some reason I'm fighting it--WAS fighting it, and neither I nor anyone with me had a chance.

Er, uh. Right. Well, you must have gotten away, right? Otherwise you wouldn't be standing here.

You could say that.

[It let him go because it thought the irony inherent in torturing and killing his friends in front of him and setting him free to live the rest of his days with the memories would be hilarious.]

[Demons have fucked-up senses of humor.]

I hate to do this, but until I get my head on straight I think I'm going to hold off on League stuff. May take a few days.

I understand. I think we can hold down the fort in the meantime.

So, have you seen the new bartender at Jimmy's yet? She's pretty cute, right?

[Booster's tone is awkward instead of cheerful, an "I'm trying to suggest we go out drinking to take your mind off your problems" rather than an "I'm a horrible friend who's ignoring your pain."]

[He'd had a little time to mellow from his original freak-out, and it didn't take him long to figure out what Booster was getting at. He snorts a laugh and cracks a dull smile.]

Not yet. What d'you say you meet me over there in about fifteen minutes so you can point her out to me?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Infared Slavery

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[action] because no one else has yet and i'm a SPESHUL SNOWFLAKE

YOU *ARE* SPECIAL, REX! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

he's the specialest boy ever ;_;

no subject

no subject

no subject

[Video]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[video]

no subject

YOU ARE SPECIAL, REX! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!