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Post by Lorpius Prime on Sept 14, 2007 1:06:17 GMT -5
It was not a room.
One might be forgiven for thinking it was a room, particularly if one was afflicted by the memories and assumptions of a human. In any case, it would not make much difference whether it was a room or not, but for the sake of accuracy, it should be noted that it was most definitely not a room.
To begin with, it had no walls. None visible, anyway. Perhaps there were walls somewhere beyond the darkness, but one would have had to venture into it to be sure, and traveling briskly into the unknown has certain risks which the prudent soul avoids if it can.
Of course, sometimes, there is no choice.
The place which was not a room did not have walls, but it did have a floor. The floor seemed to be made of the cheapest gray linoleum or vinyl and was peeling and stained in places. Whether the floor extended into the darkness was an academic question, much like the existence of walls.
An electric lightbulb hung on a thin golden chain from a hypothetical ceiling. It burned with a dim yellow light, which one might regard as suspicious considering the utter lack of a socket or obvious wiring. The light carried for five yards in any direction and then stopped. The walls, the rest of the floor, and the end of the golden chain, if any of them existed, were all beyond this barrier.
Lying on top of the floor within this lighted circle were three people. Our heroes, if you could call them that. They were not arranged in any particular order, but scattered haphazardly upon the floor. If any of them were inclined to consider the implications of this, they might have been concerned about the health hazards of touching such a surface.
How long they had been there, where they had been before, and how they had arrived were all questions with potentially useful answers. But one might as well have wondered how far it was to the walls. Our heroes were there now, and they were awake.
They could each remember, whether they wanted to or not, a time before they had been on the peeling and stained floor below the electric lightbulb, but not very much of that time. They appeared much as they did at the end of their respective memories, right down to one's slightly bent glasses, another's rumpled nightgown, and the colorful stuffed creature which the smallest of them clutched in his arms.
And if any of them thought they had just woken up in a room, they were twice wrong. But that was hardly their own fault.
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Mlle Bienvenu
The Childlike Empress
The Word Alchemist 
Posts: 1,626
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Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Sept 14, 2007 20:29:25 GMT -5
Consciousness seemed to come slowly to him. The alarm had failed to go off, so there was no jarring alertness. The alarm had failed to go off probably due to his roomate, no doubt. If he made him late for his class again...
No... wait...
That's right... he had already woken up today. He had had a meeting, which was canceled and then he went down for a nap on account of a blistering migraine.
He sighed in relief... he probably wasn't late for anything then.
His fingers picked absently at a curl of peeling linoleum that happened to be within his grasp. Dust dislodged itself from it and the feeling of grime made him shudder.
Wait.... linoleum....?
He was neither hot nor cold, so he hadn't noticed it before, but it didn't feel like his bed. It was a hard surface, and he wondered vaguely if he had somehow fallen on the floor and that was what had awoken him just now. He was glad the room mate was away. The embarassment of being found fallen out of bed would have been difficult to swallow.
He rolled onto his side, finding his glasses, slightly bent to his consternation, beside him.
But in an instant, the slight bend in his glasses was totally forgotten.
He was not on the dormitory floor.
He was not anywhere he knew.
A lightbulb above and the peeling linoleum below were the only features in visibility.
Well, that and the two other people that were sprawled on the floor, just like him, not feet away.
"What the hell is this....?"
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Post by Demonic Neko on Sept 16, 2007 23:30:49 GMT -5
He gasped for breath, his fingers twitched around a knife that was no longer there. His eye flew open and he looked around, breathing hard. He was no longer in the room with the Monster or Sissy, but somewhere different. And there were people here. A tall, skinny one and a wrinkly old person. He scooted away from them, looking for something, anything, that was familiar.
Where was Sissy? Where was his Mummy? ... Where was he? His eyes caught sight of a familiar figure. He grabbed Ignatz and hugged him tight before inspecting him for damage. His little stuffed dragon had splotches of rusty red stains on him. He rubbed at the stained worriedly, looking up when he heard the tall one speak. He drew up his courage to speak. Maybe this person could help him.
"Um.. Excuse me... Do you know where my Mummy is?"
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Mlle Bienvenu
The Childlike Empress
The Word Alchemist
Posts: 1,626
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Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Sept 16, 2007 23:59:46 GMT -5
It was a simple question, but he couldn't process it. All he could see were the rust red stains covering the boy's clothes and skin and the filthy little thing he clung to -he couldn't even tell what it was- which was also covered in the red stains his mind refused to process. And then he noticed the numerous wounds, stitches and scars...
It looked like something out of a Tim Burton movie, only far less whimsical and far more real.
He could feel the color draining from his face, "Don't!" he said as he skittered backwards a few feet, half sliding, half crab-walking.
"This is not happening.... this is not real... I'm dreaming, I'm having a nightmare... I must wake up...Wake up...." He mumbled to himself.
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Post by Lolua on Sept 19, 2007 23:49:51 GMT -5
Pain in Elsie's head woke her, the grinding worse than it had been when she had gone to sleep. Possibly it had something to do with the overhead lightbulb, which was all too bright and shouldn't have been lit. Closing her eyes tightly against it, Elsie willed herself to go back to sleep.
The pain had moved to the side of her head, just above and behind her left ear, and the strain of it had jerked taut the nerves in her left shoulder as well. These sensations even allowed her to ignore, for a moment, the familiar nocturnal discomfort of her full bladder.
No, that wasn't her bladder. It was most definitely her hip, grating painfully against the too-hard surface of her mattress; vaguely Elsie thought of phoning someone about a broken spring. At any rate, she may as well get up out of bed to try the loo, even if nature hadn't really called yet.
Without thinking too much about it, Elsie swung her legs off the bed, only to discover that there was no edge of the bed.
The perplexity of the situation forced her eyes open as her mind came fully awake. Surrounding darkness; the overwhelming brightness of the lightbulb overhead; the two figures stirring and muttering in nonsense syllables that didn't quite register to Elsie as words. The voices belonged to a long-haired pillock and a horrid little wretch, from the looks of them.
Whatever had happened, however she had come from her bed to wherever she now lay, crouched and confused, surely these two miscreants were to blame. And in this conclusion, Elsie finally found her voice.
"You!" she gasped, pointing a shaking, accusatory finger at each shadowed figure in turn. "What have you done to my house?"
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Post by Demonic Neko on Sept 20, 2007 0:17:01 GMT -5
He watched the tall thin one scuttle away from him like some sort of big roach and he had to bite his lower lip to keep from giggle at the sight of him. Was the Tall person actually afraid of him? That was impossible. He was small and weak and useless. He couldn't even protect Sissy...
He frowned and reached up to rub at the bandage that covered his right eye. It itched horribly and he quelled the urge to rip the bandage off and rub at his eye.
Suddenly he noticed the old one move and point at him and the Tall one. Her words confused him. This was her house? How did he get here then? That wasn't right.. This places was to much like the dark place where the Monster lived.. Was this the Monster's Mummy then? He shuddered and inched away from her, keeping a wary eye on her slight form.
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Post by Lorpius Prime on Sept 20, 2007 10:52:10 GMT -5
The sound came from somewhere in the unknown space beyond the reach of the light. It was a worldly sound, but one quite out of place with its surroundings.
Bing!
It was followed by more sounds, the dull and heavy rolling noise of hidden machinery. Whatever and wherever this mechanism was, it drove a phenomenon which was itself entirely familiar, and all the weirder for it.
A foot or two beyond the edge of lighted space, a new light appeared. It began as a tiny vertical slit and quickly widened as two tall and thick metal doors slid apart and finally clanged to a stop leaving a rectangular space four feet wide and eight feet tall.
Beyond it was a hallway. The hallway was lit, dimly, although no actual lights could be seen. It was made of stone, walls, floor, and low ceiling; and the large grey blocks were tarnished with green rust stains. It stretched on farther than the human eye could discern without a single door or other break in its surface. The only outstanding feature was a brownish puddle of stagnant water on the ground near the doorway.
The hallway, however, was not the most important new detail which the doors revealed. There were two people standing in it, just beyond the door.
One of them seemed to be an old man. Tall and thin, he wore a bright turquoise Hawaiian shirt, over which was a woven black coat to match his woven black pants. His hair was shock-white and curled; it was raised along the back of his head around the bald cap of his scalp, and he wore a short goatee jutting slightly forward from his chin. His skin was pale to the point of sickliness, but it had an odd greenish blue undertone that showed best when he moved.
His companion was much smaller, a boy perhaps 15 years old, broad-shouldered but short, and hunched slightly forward. He wore a black leather jacket and black-dyed jeans ending in black boots. His black hair was slicked back and shiny. His mouth was tight-lipped and small, he did not smile. The most distinguishing feature about him, however, were his eyes. They seemed to be twice the size of a normal man's, and if he blinked, he did so only rarely, giving him the impression of a permanent, deeply-curious stare. The stare was currently fixed on the people inside the room.
The old man was stroking his goatee and looking about, as if inspecting the surroundings. He turned his head slowly from the top of the doorway, to the hanging light inside, and finally to the floor and the people on it. At the sight of them, a broad grin appeared on his face.
"Hi," he said.
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Mlle Bienvenu
The Childlike Empress
The Word Alchemist
Posts: 1,626
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Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Sept 23, 2007 21:29:19 GMT -5
Hi.
It was such a normal sort of statement, just like the one the patchwork boy had uttered. And again uttered by beings so totally off so as to make the hair on the back of his head stand on end.
He didn't back any further away from them however, true, it would have brought him further away from this nightmarish assortment, but closer to the edge of the Dark. Who knew what hideous abnormalities awaited him there?
He didn't know what to do now...his mind closed in on itself even as his long fingers brushed the edge of the nearest bit of linoleum that was coming unglued... millimeters above its surface grime, he counted it's corners...1....2....3....4... in a clockwise motion, and then counterclockwise....over and over mouthing the syllables as though it was some sort of magical litany....
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Post by Demonic Neko on Oct 1, 2007 23:23:01 GMT -5
Like an eager, stray puppy, he was drawn to the friendly face and simple words. He inched down the hallway away from the frightened bug-man and the Monster's Mummy and made his way to the new people. The older one kind of reminded him of some sort of amphibious elf, while the younger ones gaze reminded him of the wide-eyed gaze of a fish. They looked strange but at least they seemed friendlier than the other two. H gave the old man a shy smile. "Hullo. Do you know where my mummy is?"
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Post by Lorpius Prime on Oct 5, 2007 0:55:52 GMT -5
The enormous black eyes of the shorter one locked onto Patches, and his bulbous head began to rotate, slowly, until his left ear was pointed nearly straight up in the air.
But the older man ignored his companion's somewhat inhuman expression of fascination. "Haven't the foggiest idea," he responded, with hardly a glance towards Patches.
Then, with a bright and cheerful smile all out of place with his surroundings, he clapped his hands together.
"Well then, how is everyone? Not too uncomfortable, I hope?"
He nodded happily at each of the three figures before him, then continued without waiting for an answer.
"Now, I must apologize for the interruption, but I'm afraid there will be a slight detour before each of you reaches your destinations."
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Post by Lolua on Mar 16, 2008 16:20:42 GMT -5
Elsie's aged eyes squinted against the harsh light from the doorway, but that didn't stop her from recognizing that the stark and grungy corridor beyond it did not exist in her comfortable home. As the realization of her abduction sank in, Elsie's anger rose. No amount of shock could interfere with her ability to nag; in fact, the adrenaline that shot into her bloodstream gave her renewed vigor to attack those who must have invaded her home, drugged her, and left her to shiver with two complete strangers on the filthiest floor she had ever beheld.
"The only place I'm going," Elsie sneered at the man with the goatee, "is back to my own bed. Do you have any idea what time of the night it must be? This child should be asleep, not screeching in my ear. You will return me to my home this instant!"
Without seeming to draw breath, Elsie then turned on his companion. "And as for you -- what are you gawking at? You look as though you've pasted your head on sideways. One day, young man, mark my words, your neck will stick like that. And then where will you be?"
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Post by Lorpius Prime on Aug 16, 2009 3:50:28 GMT -5
The boy with his head pasted on sideways did not attempt to reverse his condition. Instead, he made it even worse by swiveling his head to the left so that he was staring at Elsie, with the side of his chin resting almost on his shoulder.
"I suppose that I will have to begin walking on the walls," he said. It was the first time that he had spoken, and his voice was soft, but rich with an almost musical rhythm to it.
The old man in the Hawaiian shirt seemed to finally take note of his companion's presence, and he glanced rapidly between Elsie and the strange boy.
He spread his arms in a friendly gesture that belied the nervous twinge in his voice. "Don't mind Chester," he said. "I'm quite sure you will all become fast friends!" He looked back to Elsie, "As for your home, I assure you that I will have you along just as soon as you've performed a little chore that needs doing!"
The old man smiled as if he had just delivered the most wonderful news in the world.
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Mlle Bienvenu
The Childlike Empress
The Word Alchemist
Posts: 1,626
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Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Sept 6, 2009 1:01:33 GMT -5
1...2...3...4 1...2...3... He didn't want to pay attention to the people in the doorway, but they were becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, as were the other assortment of ... humans, he guessed he would have to call them, although he had his doubts about the patchwork boy...
He gave up on his litany of numerals, still picking at the linoleum square and looking anywhere but at any of the people in the room, especially not the ones who stood in the doorway...
"What kind of chore...." he mumbled, staring at the curl of linoleum that had come off in his hand, hoping no one had actually heard him. A thin string of blood beads formed where the linoleum had cut him. He watched them collect into one larger bead and trickle down the curve of his finger. At least a task was something he could focus on to take his mind off this dream and perhaps onto another, less disturbing one...
OOC: Have to get back into the swing of things... >_> so it's probably a bit OOC.
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Post by Lorpius Prime on Sept 6, 2009 1:40:58 GMT -5
"Ah!" the old man turned sharply towards the muttering boy. He held up his hands as if to embrace the kid. "An excellent question! Quite efficient. Superb. I do hate the tedium of explaining irrelevancies. But I've rather come to expect it now..."
He trailed off and, still smiling, shook his head.
"In any case, your errand, it's quite simple really." He nodded encouragingly at each of the three strangers in turn. "I need you to go to Boston—that's in the United States—to the erm..."
He frowned, and reached inside his black coat and fumbled around for an unseen pocket. After a few seconds, he withdrew a damp and folded piece of gray paper. The old man unwrapped it and held it to his face, adjusting the distance from his eyes until he seemed to be able to see it clearly.
"Oh yes," he said finally, "the Eleventh International Conference on Applied Nuclear and Quantum Computing." He nodded in satisfaction, folded up the paper and put it back in his coat pocket. "Yes, go there and kill everyone attending."
For half a second it seemed he had finished, but then he jabbed a finger towards his forehead and exclaimed, "Oh! And make sure you destroy all their computers and records, too. There are some others in Maryland and, um, California?" His eyes rolled upward as he searched his memory, but eventually he waved away the thoughts. "I don't remember the exact locations, Chester has the details."
He looked around at the three strangers who were still gathered in this place that was not a room. "Got it?" he asked congenially.
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Post by Demonic Neko on Sept 12, 2009 1:11:02 GMT -5
Patches's eye opened wide. "Wait.. What?" He wasn't sure he heard heard the old man correctly. "You.. you want us to kill people? But.. Killing people is wrong.." He clutched Ignatz closer to him as he inched away from the old man. Now if it was monsters then that would be a different story. But he knew he couldn't kill monsters either. Why was the man asking them to do this horrible thing? Why didn't he just take them out of here?
Patches suddenly sat down as tears welled up in his eyes and his lower lip started to tremble. This was really to much for him. "I don't want to be here. I want to go home," his voice began to rise in pitch, a sure sign of a child about to throw a tantrum. "I want my MUMMY!"
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Post by Lorpius Prime on Oct 5, 2009 0:52:08 GMT -5
The old man's friendly expression was gone in an instant, and he whirled to glare at Patches.
"Hey!" he snapped, and jerked a thumb towards the damp and mildewy hallway behind him. "We've got enough of a plumbing problem without you making it any worse!"
He leaned forward so that his head was nearly level with the child's own. "Anyway," he plowed on without giving Patches a chance to respond, "these are some really awful, destructive, presumptive people you're going to be killing, so I don't think anybody," his eyes narrowed for a moment, "would say you should get worked up about it."
He straightened, and caught Chester's eye for just a second before giving Patches a final nod. "And even if you do, you're not going anywhere or seeing anyone until you've finished the job." He folded his arms imperiously and his expression seemed to be daring Patches to argue with him.
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Mlle Bienvenu
The Childlike Empress
The Word Alchemist
Posts: 1,626
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Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Oct 5, 2009 1:32:41 GMT -5
"Why?" He could hear himself speak through the fingernail he was attempting habitually to trim with his teeth, although it was far too short already to do so without pulling away nailbed. It tasted bitter; of blood-iron and linoleum and he dropped his hand futilely.
He wished he hadn't said anything... surely they would notice him now.... he wanted to leave... maybe he could melt into the darkness here, but he didn't want that either... a claustrophobic feeling of being trapped began to seep in...
No. He must think about this logically. Disadvantages: He was here. In a place he didn't know. With people he didn't know and who didn't seem to know more than himself. With a whining kid who was likely to be a liability to their survival with his utter lack of tact. And an enfeebled old woman who seemed half senile. And a set of strange people- no... beings that held authority over them. That brought them there to kill physicists? It was absurd.
Advantages: ... well... he would work on that. As it was, there was not enough information.
So he brought his finger to his mouth again, as though to muffle the questions issuing forth, "Why? What do they have to do with us? Or you?" His moment of boldness quickly evaporating...he shrank, taking a step towards the dark, "I mean, if you're going to ask us to do something like that, I.... I think we'll need more details... if... we ... are to succeed, I mean..." He trailed off in a fit of fear that he had said the wrong thing....
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Post by Demonic Neko on Oct 8, 2009 23:36:37 GMT -5
Patches's eyes narrowed at the older man. At the beginning the old man had seemed friendly but now.... He didn't like him at all. Patches was considering running past the old man into the elevator. Maybe he could push the other person out and possibly get away..
wait.
Patches jerked slightly in surprise. The voice was one he hadn't heard before. He opened his mouth to ask who spoke.
hush. don't let them know you hear me. The voice was soft and reassuring, and it was coming from... Ignatz?
yes, it's me. The stuffed dragon seemed to peer up at him with it's shiny button eyes. Due to the fact that he was already stressed and traumatized by the situation he was in, Patches easily accepted the fact that Ignatz could talk. It didn't occur to him to question how or why.
these are bad people, Ignatz growled, bearing small needle teeth, But you can't let them know you know they are bad. just stay silent and go along with what they say. we need to know more of what's going on before we act.
Patches hugged Ignatz tightly for a moment before looking at the others in the room. The Bug man was speaking. What he asked made sense. Patches glared at the older man waiting for his response.
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Post by Lolua on Nov 1, 2009 0:18:22 GMT -5
Elsie scowled at the two mismatched newcomers with their nonsensical demands and their poor manners. They were supposed to go to Eleventh International Conference of Apple Nut Bars and Whatsit? To do in everyone there? Well, Elsie simply wouldn't stand for that; no one would make her go anyplace or do anything she did not want to do. She would simply put her foot down.
Of course, her foot already was down, so to speak, much like the rest of her, because she had not risen from the filthy floor and knew that she could not do so under her own power. It had been twenty years since she'd been able to sit on the floor and get up again afterward without assistance.
Quickly her appraising eye swept over her potential helpers. Only one of them looked sturdy enough to do the job, and barely so at that.
"You there, young man in grave need of a haircut," she barked. "Come here and help me up." Elsie nodded toward the finger he had cut on the chipped linoleum. "And don't bleed on me. That's the last thing I need."
Once she was on her feet again, she would be delighted to give everyone a piece of her mind.
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Mlle Bienvenu
The Childlike Empress
The Word Alchemist
Posts: 1,626
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Post by Mlle Bienvenu on Nov 2, 2009 0:51:36 GMT -5
He started at the sharpness in the elderly woman's voice, but got to his feet, pushing his hair from his face self-consciously on his way to the wrinkled woman on the floor. His eyes never left their strange 'hosts'.
"Uhh... " He hesitated, not knowing the best way to get her into a standing position, Why do old people always smell ... so old....? He thought as he hoisted the woman as best he could to her rickety feet. Actually the entire space had the smell of old, and he imagined oily particles of oldness sticking to his skin. He shuddered.
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Post by Lorpius Prime on Dec 8, 2009 1:07:13 GMT -5
The old man glared at the boy as he helped Elsie to her feet. After a few moments of tapping his foot, it seemed his patience was exhausted.
He glanced at his companion, Chester.
"Do you want me to fetch some others?"
Chester's head swiveled slowly to one side, letting his black eyes pass over each of the others in turn before drifting mechanically back to gaze at the old man.
"I think they will be fun."
The old man rolled his own eyes, then shook his head.
"To think that I would envy your patience," he muttered, "I don't think I can stand any of them anymore."
He glowered briefly at Elsie and the boy supporting her again.
"Just get it done quickly," the old man snarled. He turned his back on the whole group and stepped away towards the dank hallway.
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Post by Demonic Neko on Dec 22, 2009 22:53:00 GMT -5
Seriously...
Did the old man think that the three of them had the ability to go about killing a whole bunch of people and destroying files like some Super Secret Agent Spies?!? Every one in this place was mad, Patches was sure of it.
"How are we even supposed to..." He sputtered as the older man stomped off.
Glancing at the Bug man and the Monster's Mummy then back to the other man with the black eyes, Patches felt frustrated to the point that he wanted to lash out.
patience, Ignatz purred, his soft, felt tongue lapping against Patches' cheek. you have to wait for the right moment. you must let them think you are weak.
"...but I am weak," Patches whispered in a tiny voice, so the others could not hear.
you killed the monster didn't you?
Patches shrugged.
you did. You plunged your blade into his belly and disemboweled him didn't you?
Again Patches shrugged, wishing had had his knife back.
well then, you can perfectly protect yourself. and i will help you. i promise, Ignatz gave Patches a toothy grin. Patches sighed, wanting to believe his friend but he was frightened. At the moment there was nothing he could do but go along with the madness. He faced Chester with all the grim determination that an eight year old could muster.
"So.. what are we supposed to do, or at least how are we supposed to do it?"
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Post by Lorpius Prime on Dec 23, 2009 2:45:03 GMT -5
Chester shrugged. It was a slow, rolling motion that started in his shoulders and then proceeded down his entire back.
"However you want," he said when the shrug was finished. "Maybe you could ask the dragon for help. He seems to know what he's talking about."
Behind Chester, the old man passed out of the place which was not a room and into the hallway. He turned around to face the little cluster of people once again, with his arms folded and his expression still fuming.
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