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unsteddyPhoenix
Grand Templar
Posts: 2253
Joined: Fri Oct 08, 2010 10:56 am
Location: Marching into the mouth of hell.

(FWC) Blank

#1 Post by unsteddyPhoenix »

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      Nergen is a strange town, he wasn’t even sure it was on the map. The only people here had been here for as long as he could remember, the only new person to come by here to his recollection was sitting in front of him. Luckily he could tell from her passive expression that she would be the type who enjoyed it here. He didn’t know how he knew, he just did. Secretly, he had always wanted someone new to join his town. He had a penchant for dramatic speeches, but no-one new to issue them to. After exchanging pleasantries, the newcomer asked about his town and the words cascaded from his mouth like a waterfall. He explained pridefully how his town was surprisingly technologically advanced for such a sleepy town, how there was no crime, and how they were a group of like-minded, happy people…he stumbled on the last word, reconsidering. After a pregnant pause where neither participant was sure what to say he admitted that, recently, one of their members had gone a bit…loopy. The Mayor said the there was one man named Zeta Fareed who had suddenly begun to stir up trouble. Not much trouble, the Mayor quickly assured, little more than pranks even. He simply would…harass the villagers, asking them questions about “before”. When anyone tried to figure out what Mr. Fareed meant, he would get a frustrated expression on his face and walk away mumbling things under his breath. The Mayor scrunched up his face in an attempt to imitate the man, before dropping the expression and leaving a sad expression on his face.

The listener seemed to have questions, but as she began to ask the Mayor what happened to this man, the Mayor waved her questions aside. He didn’t like talking about that unpleasantness, he was sure the townsfolk would disclose that if she asked them. He simply brought it up because he believed ruling bodies should have full disclosure with its people, even if it’s a minor town like his, he’s still expected to set an example for his people. A smile crept on his face then, as if he was laughing internally at an inside joke only a few understood.








      Dawn sat on a grassy slope beneath an old limber pine tree. The residents of the town would call it something quaint like “The Ol’ Pine” she supposed snarkily. Dawn exhaled through her nose as if she was expelling her cynicism, in fairness the scene it really was a rarity, even for one as well-travelled as her. She sat at the pinnacle of the small hill next to a single grave with a blank tombstone. The hill was just high enough to overlook the entire dozy town, but not too tall that the children wouldn’t get overly tired climbing up the hill to slide down again. Not that she had seen any children yet. Hm.

She idly scanned the town with a device from her pocket. It revealed to her standard mundane statistics about wherever she went. Her eyebrow twitched slightly as she saw that there actually were no children at all in this town. She smiled at that, but that smile quickly turned to a look of bemusement and incredulity as she read something she actively had tried to avoid seeing.

“Evidence of another traveller found- DOCUMENT? Y/N

Dawn paused for only a second, then quickly set to tapping the holographic buttons in a quest to reveal the specifics of the information. Her confusion increased, almost turning to shock. She looked around the hill as if she expected to see someone she knew laughing at her, though she knew that wasn’t possible. Somehow (her mind involuntarily jumped to an argument she had on an anonymous message board many years from now about the concept of "destiny", but it frustrated her so she put it out of her mind) the “evidence” left by the Other Traveller was the blank tombstone next to her. Apparently the Other Traveller had encrypted some sort of message on to it visible only to people with digital devices such as her. As much as she disliked interacting with other people, the thought of a secret left behind to be found excited her. The encryption was a type she had dealt with before, and she disarmed it easily. The message spilled out onto her improvised monitor, swaying with the long blades of unkempt grass she was projecting it on.

[center]“Now I remember.
It was this, wasn’t it?
What a fool I am.”[/center][/i]

Well…she didn’t actually know what she was expecting. She immediately opened up the Travellers Forums and searched the phrase, then the name of the town that she had gotten from The Mayor earlier, both came up blank. Which was very bizarre. One of the rules of travelling was document the time and places one travels to, in order to avoid confusion and conflict between travellers. It was a rule that was, as far as she knew, completely absolute in the eyes of all her peers. It made sense, and no-one wanted to risk having their licence taken away. Even for her, this was the first time she was breaking it.

So this Other Traveller died, Dawn theorised. It made sense, the reason that he or she didn’t document their visit to this place was because they died before the he (the Bioscan of the corpse revealed the corpse was a male) could do it. Then they were buried…but who wrote the message then? Another traveller? It did seem to be one of remorse…

The conclusion unlocked a small smile on her face. It wasn't exactly like a classic unsolved murder, but it was still a mystery. She believed could solve this, she had the time after all; too much of it. It could kill a few weeks or months, she supposed. Maybe if she solved it completely it would relieve some of the damage she had done. No, probably not…still, this town seemed alright. She could lay low here for a bit, change her face, body, gender, race…her identity. Do that and hide, and find out what can kill a Traveller on the side. Not an awful plan for the time being.







      Nergen was quiet. There was no late-night traffic, no rowdy use going “out on the town”, not even insomniac crickets chirping into the late hours. No, at night it was deathly quiet. Which is why, after a few years of sleeping here, even the smallest sounds could disturb her slumber.

So when Nyeki heard footsteps downstairs, her eyes shot open immediately. She lay there for some seconds, considering what steps to take to deal with the intruder. After some deliberation she rolled out of bed with an annoyed sigh, and picked up her console. She wiped off the dust that had accumulated since the last time she used it and punched a few keys groggily. Blowing hair out of her face she contacted the pocket universe and generated a gun appropriate for the time-period she was currently in. The process took only a couple of seconds and the weapon materialised on the floor in front of her. She picked it up and observed it drearily. It felt silly to her that she even bothered to take this precaution. She knew who was down here, no-one in this town would break into anyone’s house-or even do anything illegal- except him. But in the one-in-a-million chance it was someone else, seeing her with a futuristic weapon would make her have to kill them, or something along those lines. She hadn’t ever bothered to consider what she would do if it came to that.

Putting on her gown she trudged down the stairs to where the sounds came from. The intruder had stopped moving, but she knew where he would be. She reached the ground floor then turned, and immediately started walking down another flight of stairs that led to the basement. Nyeki flipped on the lights and she descended the final few steps and revealed precisely what she had expected to see. A man whose handsomeness had been masked by dishevelled, unkempt hair and sunken, sleep-deprived eyes. Not that she could see his eyes right now as he had his back to her completely absorbed in his apparent task to pick the only lock in the house, the door in her basement.

She cleared her throat pointedly, aiming the gun at Zeta's general direction. Suddenly he seemed to realise that the room had lit up and he wasn’t alone. He let out an annoyed sound and turned around to face her. Exasperatedly, he asked her why they all bothered with those guns. She explained it was better safe than dead, and he gave her a look that seemed to say she hadn't answered his question. They stared at each other for a time, it seemed to her that he was waiting. Now that she thought about it, he had probably been through this many times before. Zeta had been breaking into a different resident’s house every night, trying to get to the same thing every time. They had probably acted exactly as she had every time, and he was probably waiting for her to act predictably as well. She considered acting irrationally, to break the chain of events that he was expecting, and throw him off-guard. She was tempted, very much so, but she still had a question that he had never answered; and they all had to take any chance they had to have it answered. This was her chance.

Nyeki asked him if he was the Other Traveller.

Zeta's face became blank. He started walking, intending to move behind Nyeki to the stairs behind her. Nyeki made a half-hearted attempt to threaten him with the gun but he ignored it. Zeta walked past her and up the stairs. She didn't turn, and didn't move until long after she heard her front door shut.







      I DON’T REMEMBER ANYMORE. I don’t remember why I started doing this…I was…running? What from? The machine must have [censored] with my memories. Or something? What else could it be? What a stupid question, it could have been an infinite number of things. I don’t remember, that’s the [censored] problem! Besides, the why doesn’t matter anymore, it’s the how I have to focus on. How many times have I done this? How many iterations of "characters" have I gone through? Was I content with going through lives like this? Or did I see selves that I hadn’t been yet, and knew I had to become them otherwise it would create a paradox. Does that make sense? I don’t even remember how it works…WHY it works. Oh god, where is this town anyway?

I can’t take this. I’ve done this so many times, I’ve lost everything. Overwritten whoever I used to be with all the memories of these characters I’ve created. I remember being Miss. Goro, Ms. Medea, then Mr. Adair…Now that I think about it, was I The Mayor too? Man, that must've been a fun character to play. More fun than pretty boy Zeta Fareed, this guy drives me nuts. I can’t remember my original life anymore. It's all blank. I broke into all the houses of the me’s I remember being, but I couldn’t get to their time machines to find answers. They all asked if I was an..."Other Traveller?" I don't remember what that means...But time machines can’t bring back my past, anyway. I could very well be every person in this town…but I have nothing. I don’t even remember my real name anymore.

I’m ending it. There’s no point anymore. My mind is gone; I’m already dead. WE’RE already dead. A town of zombies shuffling through the remainder of our collective life…yes…I’m old. I feel like that’s something I remember. I’m very old.
Perhaps if I were younger this would begin my journey to “find my past”, but…I feel as if I’ve lived far longer than most. I wonder what made me want to stay in this town...too late to find out now. Sorry ladies and gentlemen, but this is where it ends. This is the last time I go back to the beginning, and this is the last “me” I will make.

I’ve always like the old pine on the hill. That will do.
Tom wrote:The entire Basitin race is actually just a group of extremist LARPers.
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