Animus NPCs (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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animus_network2013-02-27 10:06 pm
animusnpcs) wrote in animus_network2013-02-27 10:06 pm
[video]
The network comes on painfully--the terminals crackle with energy like there was some sort of wild power surge going through the Tower. Every terminal turns on at once. The display is broken at first, but slowly it stabilizes, the display just behind Zo's shoulder. White-hot energy pulses from him--it looks like he’s forced the display on somehow. Monitors flicker in and out of view in the room; it seems to be some sort of control center composed of floating screens and input devices. The room is large, making it hard to see the ends from the display, but aside from Zo there are two others in the room.
Riki looks a bit worse for wear and, as opposed to his usual stoic demeanor, has an expression approaching furious. Most of Zo's energy seems concentrated around him like a barrier, and the monitors whirl around behind RIki now, following some sort of unspoken command. The world shifts abruptly, providing a different angle on the confusing situation.
The laughter that echoes around the chamber is deep, dark and somehow primordial. There’s another figure looking exactly like Riki, but the features are twisted, the indifferent disposition morphed into a terrible smirk. From his hand a wave of dark energy smashes into the room, sending whatever was still standing flying over.
"Come now! Is this the best defense system this place has to offer to one of its grand administrators? Cowering behind a child? Well, I do suppose considering everything about this world, it should not be the least bit surprising."
He took another step.
"So tell me, how did your little ants enjoy their trip into the central throne?"
The various scattered objects freeze in place as Riki draws in his screens; the screens seem to be made of the air itself, or something similar, and he alters and pulls at them as easily as if they were tied to him by a thousand strings. "Not your business," he growls. Another swipe of his screens and the objects morph, shifting into swords that fly at the false Riki. "Stop wearing my face."
Zo shrinks back against the wall. His barriers don’t fall, but he obviously doesn't enjoy the violence taking place.
"Not my business? I am darkness that makes up the Collective Unconsciousness! My primary sources of power, the three poisons that make up life, Anger, Ignorance and Vengeance are ripe in this world!"
Nyarlathotep raises his other hand and catches the swords, looking almost bored.
"Humans are strange...I came here because of the despair that fills every orifice of this tower...the desire for all of you to put an end to this, and now you would try to whisk me away?"
The swords melt into a puddle of metal on the floor, and suddenly he is besides Zo, trying to violently push him away.
Zo shrieks, clearly terrified, but his barriers cover him as they cover Riki, and they crackle with raw energy in their owner’s defense. Riki alters something on his screens and the metal rises up, forming itself into some sort of great mercurial beast that lunges at Nyarlathotep. "Leave the kid out've it, you attacked me first."
"Hahaha! What’s this? Feeling sentimental about another?" Nyarlathotep had barely even flinched from touching the other. "But is not your personal interest simply tied to the tower itself? I suppose even a monkey will brand its tools when backed in a corner..."
At his turn, the giant creature is lit aflame, crying out as the fire causes the skin to bubble, crack and expand. Soon it has enlarged into strands of burned mercury before a slap from the other Riki makes it fall into dust.
"Ha ha ha! Do you not know where the term, 'mad as a hatter' comes from? I've given humanity much fun with that element!"
At his turn, he summons forth a demon, as it moves forward, casting a spell in an attempt to poison both of the tower residents.
Zo flinches at the monster, but steps forward nonetheless--or rather leaps in a burst of childish energy. "Stop--stop it! Stop it!"
The screen turns white and crackles--it’s barely possible to make out the figures, let alone what’s going on, but whatever Zo's done tears the demon into six or seven pieces. Then the light gets brighter--there’s a different sort of crackle. It sounds like the monitor itself is breaking, because it is. The screen warps and fills with static before the video cuts out completely.
They can hear the battle still going on, however, Nyarlathotep speaking for one final time.
"Hmph! Regardless of how much you struggle, the end will be the same! Just like the worlds of the disembodied souls you siphon into recycled bodies over and over, this one will also meet its end! Now the question is, how much are you willing to risk?"
Another explosion cracks apart what sound remains. The feed cuts out.
Riki looks a bit worse for wear and, as opposed to his usual stoic demeanor, has an expression approaching furious. Most of Zo's energy seems concentrated around him like a barrier, and the monitors whirl around behind RIki now, following some sort of unspoken command. The world shifts abruptly, providing a different angle on the confusing situation.
The laughter that echoes around the chamber is deep, dark and somehow primordial. There’s another figure looking exactly like Riki, but the features are twisted, the indifferent disposition morphed into a terrible smirk. From his hand a wave of dark energy smashes into the room, sending whatever was still standing flying over.
"Come now! Is this the best defense system this place has to offer to one of its grand administrators? Cowering behind a child? Well, I do suppose considering everything about this world, it should not be the least bit surprising."
He took another step.
"So tell me, how did your little ants enjoy their trip into the central throne?"
The various scattered objects freeze in place as Riki draws in his screens; the screens seem to be made of the air itself, or something similar, and he alters and pulls at them as easily as if they were tied to him by a thousand strings. "Not your business," he growls. Another swipe of his screens and the objects morph, shifting into swords that fly at the false Riki. "Stop wearing my face."
Zo shrinks back against the wall. His barriers don’t fall, but he obviously doesn't enjoy the violence taking place.
"Not my business? I am darkness that makes up the Collective Unconsciousness! My primary sources of power, the three poisons that make up life, Anger, Ignorance and Vengeance are ripe in this world!"
Nyarlathotep raises his other hand and catches the swords, looking almost bored.
"Humans are strange...I came here because of the despair that fills every orifice of this tower...the desire for all of you to put an end to this, and now you would try to whisk me away?"
The swords melt into a puddle of metal on the floor, and suddenly he is besides Zo, trying to violently push him away.
Zo shrieks, clearly terrified, but his barriers cover him as they cover Riki, and they crackle with raw energy in their owner’s defense. Riki alters something on his screens and the metal rises up, forming itself into some sort of great mercurial beast that lunges at Nyarlathotep. "Leave the kid out've it, you attacked me first."
"Hahaha! What’s this? Feeling sentimental about another?" Nyarlathotep had barely even flinched from touching the other. "But is not your personal interest simply tied to the tower itself? I suppose even a monkey will brand its tools when backed in a corner..."
At his turn, the giant creature is lit aflame, crying out as the fire causes the skin to bubble, crack and expand. Soon it has enlarged into strands of burned mercury before a slap from the other Riki makes it fall into dust.
"Ha ha ha! Do you not know where the term, 'mad as a hatter' comes from? I've given humanity much fun with that element!"
At his turn, he summons forth a demon, as it moves forward, casting a spell in an attempt to poison both of the tower residents.
Zo flinches at the monster, but steps forward nonetheless--or rather leaps in a burst of childish energy. "Stop--stop it! Stop it!"
The screen turns white and crackles--it’s barely possible to make out the figures, let alone what’s going on, but whatever Zo's done tears the demon into six or seven pieces. Then the light gets brighter--there’s a different sort of crackle. It sounds like the monitor itself is breaking, because it is. The screen warps and fills with static before the video cuts out completely.
They can hear the battle still going on, however, Nyarlathotep speaking for one final time.
"Hmph! Regardless of how much you struggle, the end will be the same! Just like the worlds of the disembodied souls you siphon into recycled bodies over and over, this one will also meet its end! Now the question is, how much are you willing to risk?"
Another explosion cracks apart what sound remains. The feed cuts out.
[Action]
Stop, Labrys. Listen to me. 'Emotion,' 'heart,' 'soul.' They are all just words that humans have created to try and describe something they cannot understand. Words have limits. The human mind has limits, but some things are by their nature unlimited. All we can do is try to describe them and know in the end we will never be able to fully do them justice with our descriptions. What we call a soul is one of those things.
You are you. No matter what they have done to us to bring us to this place that hasn't and will never change. You are not some coding. You are not some core. You are Labrys and all of the things she loves, all of the people she has met, and all of the things she has experienced.
[Action]
[She turned quiet at that, going very still as all of this processed in her mind. Labrys bit her lower lip, red eyes glancing around uneasily.]
...I'm afraid. If I break down and they haveta replicate me...what if they can't duplicate that? I ain't gonna be Labrys anymore. What if I forget everythin'? And I made a promise t' do somethin' back home, but if there ain't any 'back home'...what then?
[Action]
[He pauses a moment, hoping this is the right thing to say.]
Remember when we talked on floor 93? I...got myself killed not long after that, yet here I am. I haven't forgotten anything and I haven't changed. I know I'm not the same as you, but as much as they have to bring people back they must have really found a way. I hate to say it. I hate to think of them having so much power, but we see it every day. Our friends and allies die and they come back just the same as they were before somehow. Everyone of them is different and complex in their own ways.
Look, I know it might see different for you because you feel you are so different from the rest of us, but when it comes down to it, you aren't. Not here...
[He points toward her heart.]
Your soul is just the same as the rest of ours are. What shell it houses itself in doesn't mean anything. You will be okay. I know you will be.