Log:Aztaerym Herald
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| Aztaerym Herald | |
|---|---|
| Emitter | Magneto |
| Players | Penny, Molly, Black Devil |
| NPCs | Unknown Aztaerym |
| Place | Borders Books, Port Liberty |
| Time (IC) | Evening, August 9th, 2013 |
| Time (OOC) | August 9th, 2008 |
What with the alien invasion, coming to Borders, of all places, seems like an odd option, but there's a reference in one of Penny's books that she can't seem to find anywhere else. So, with that mixed smirk and awkward embarrassment that comes from a book conniseur setting foot in the corporate chain, the young woman hustles that way. Her backpack is loaded with books, obviously, from the way corners bulge out of the sides, but it seems she needs one more. When she sees the closure, though, her eyes veil with disappointment. "So the one benefit of huge chain shopping -- convenience -- has finally been equalized," she says dryly, mostly to herself. "Independent booksellers, rejoice."
Molly is already inside of the dilapidated Borders and sifting through the books. More importantly she's headed toward the back with her laptop under one arm. There is someone else with her, a woman in a black cloak kind of walking along behind Molly. Neither one of them are talking so much as just murmuring to one another, but as Penny gets closer she might be able to make out more of the words, "Yeah. Aliens. Can you believe it? I always hoped that aliens would come and find us, but... I wanted them friendly. I hope the internet here is still working."
Penny hesitates at the window, her eyes questing over the shattered glass nervously. They flicker inside, then, and settle upon the cloaked figure first, and its cohort after. The smirk tucks itself more firmly into the corner of her mouth, but it isn't an entirely friendly expression. Finally, she settles her face back to expressionlessness, containing her feelings, and steps through the hole. Her feet find and crunch some broken glass on the inside, as a way to get Molly's attention.
Molly turns her head, but not at first, it is actually the cloaked figure at Molly's side that turns her head first. Then completely turning the 'cohort' is apparently a woman with bluish hued white skin. The cohort's hair is dark black, solid without any pigmentation deviation, and it still shines with even the slightest ray of sunlight venturing into the building. The cloak covers most of her body for now, with a tie wrapped in front, but it is her who get's Molly's attention.
The much shorter woman, Molly turns to look back at the crunching glass. "I'm sorry, closed. You might be better off not being around here, I think there's looters." A small smile that quickly fades to a serious look, and Molly continues to look around for a decent place to sit and work while her cohort keeps an eye on Penny.
Penny shrugs. "You're not one to talk. Besides, I'm here to read, not steal," she points out simply, in her low, gravelly voice, before striding through the chamber towards the aisle she seeks, her very blue hair bouncing next to her jaw with each step. It appears to be in the Life Sciences section. Probably most telling, the appearance of the cloaked figure doesn't creep her out one iota; her eyes don't even widen. It's as though she sees crazy stuff like that every day. Still, at no point does she completely turn her back on the pair.
Another look over to Penny, and Molly heads in her direction, taking some books and re-arranging them so she can put a somewhat dated computer on the bookshelf. "Reading, huh? Don't you think you should be running for some hide-a-way or something? I heard there are people taking up in bunkers around. And some have some pretty, okay, basements." Molly's friend is standing like some bodyguard, positioned nearby both individuals and between Molly and the door. "I'm Molly, this is Emily. We're here to do research, not steal either."
Penny doesn't quite roll her eyes, but it's a near thing, and that struggle is displayed on her face. "No, I don't think," she replies flatly, and adds a bit testily, "No more hypocritical advice please, I'm trying to find something." Belatedly, she adds, her cold eyes flickering away from the spines of books long enough to look into Molly's, then Emily's: "I'm Penny."
"Sorry, just trying to be helpful." Molly offers, and quirks her mouth to one side while she opens up her laptop screen and pokes the power button. There are keys worn away on the keyboard and obvious dirt and scratches about the computer's shell, "I hope the internet is working... been to three other places, and no internet. I'm hoping someone has something useful to say about these aliens, something that maybe they didn't think we knew." A breath in, then a little sigh, "I hate my computer, it's so slow. I need a new one." Her eyes drift back to Penny, "Penny, what are you looking for then? Maybe I can help, really, and it can take ages for my computer to start."
Penny continues to scan the shelves, walking briskly up and down, back and forth, seemingly ignoring Molly's chatter, though she does watch Emily carefully at one point. Her face is perfectly, almost unnaturally still, like the surface of a mountain lake. She hesitates beside a downed bookshelf, doubtless knocked over during some other looter's term, but when the offer comes for help, she immediately grabs a random book off the shelf -- the Joy of Cooking -- and opens it. Not a terribly convincing job of pretending she found what she was looking for, but hey.
(Pemits to Penny in parentheses from here on: As you open the book, you can feel a presence inside of you... it's intelligent and clearly alive. The voice in your head is female and breathy, but not familiar. It is strange and hard to pin down, as are some of the emotions. Alien. Its tone is one of sorrow twinged with irritation.... .oOo. We weep for your people, Human. .oOo.)
And then, almost instantly, Penny looks truly startled for the first time; her eyes go tremendously huge, like grapes on her face. She almost drops the book, but saves it at the last instant, and settles onto the floor in a lotus position, smoothly and quickly, assuming a meditative pose with the tome on her lap. First she thinks it, then she says aloud, "As do I... is there something I can do for you?"
Molly puts her fingers on the keys of her laptop and types in a few passwords, pretty good speed of typing, and then she looks over at Penny. "Me? I'm looking for something about the aliens. Clues, hints, maybe of their origins. If we can find something maybe we can do something about it. I don't think I'll find anything, or be able to do anything more than some people are already doing. Emily has suggested I just hide it out, too." She makes a small chucklish sound that stops quickly as she sees Penny's look.
(.oOo. Do... do... what is this do? You speak so fondly... always of action, little of introspection. We are the Aztaerym. Why have the Rho'Gan brought their terrible oppression to your world? .oOo. The voice feels saddened by this.)
"Aztaerym," repeats Penny quietly, impressing the name in her brain. If she's listening to Molly, she gives no sign of it, other than to hold up a warning finger if the other girl ventures too close. "First they wanted our sun. Now I think there's a resource on our world that they want," she suggests, her voice still low and gravelly, but slowly retreating towards an ironic tone, one of the safest defenses against weirdness she knows, "And only one is weird enough to immediately come to mind, unless there's a newfound intergalactic trade in water or carbon, or perhaps gold is of unforseen value. Is the 'Crucible Element', as the people of Earth call it, so precious?"
Molly quirks her mouth a little bit weirdly, showing some of her teeth in a confused look at Penny, "Huh? Aztaerym? What's the Crucible Element?" She looks over at Emily, and then back to Penny and crouches down some so as to not get closer but to still be more at the level of Penny's sitting position. "You are looking for a way to help too. What are you talking about though?"
Penny is silent for a very long moment. Again, she finds a place in the 'eerily still' category, her hands bridging into a symbol of peace and serenity above the Joy of Cooking on her lap, waiting, waiting. Finally, without opening her eyes, she says, probably to Molly, "I was just contacted by an alien race sympathetic to Earth, or at least unfond of what they call the 'Rho'Gall', called the Aztaerym, or a telepath with a really sick sense of humor. It may still be here."
(.oOo. Your Crucible Element is a boon. It is a vast, incredibly rare catalyst for the Rho'Gan's implacable war engine. We have spies... seers amidst the Rho'Gan. We have seen their divinations and clarvoyances. Your world is special. We have never seen so much of this 'Crucible Element' anywhere else in the galaxy. The power both amazes us, and fills us with terrible dread for what the Rho'Gan may do. .oOo.)
Emily looks around, and Molly speaks, "I don't see anyone. But I guess if its telepathy it doesn't have to be nearby..." Her eyes glance away for a moment and then back to Penny, "So there is another alien group who hates these aliens attacking us? Did they tell you if they were going to help?" Another moment goes by before Molly says, "Are they on earth or in space?"
"Excuse me, the Rho'Gan," Penny corrects herself, to Molly, before perfecting her posture and tipping her chin up a little bit, and seems to be listening to something else. "I am filled with terrible dread for my planet and her occupants," she murmurs, her tones losing the irony, treading into careful respectfulness territory, and slowly, creeping up on her in spite of her jaded self, a certain measure of awe, "Even though there are those of us with some strength to resist the Rho'Gan, the situation is dire. Please, may I know why I have been contacted? 'What can I do for you' is an Earth query of the same nature, though it does falsely imply necessary action, I agree."
Molly hmmms as she watches Penny. She lets herself fall backwards so she's on her butt sitting on the ground in the broken down Borders. Her hand goes to rest under her chin and she rests her head on it, just sitting there now watching what is going on with Penny. "I know, I think she's talking to someone too. I know. It sounds like it to me too. I wonder if they are -actually- friendly? I suppose it doesn't really matter, just that they are on our side for now."
(.oOo. We are coming to stop these soulbound beasts from plundering your weary world of its birthright. We have chose you, Penelope Cortez, magician, as our first pontiff. Tell everyone you can of our glorious coming. Tell them that the Aztaerym are coming to save your very souls from an otherwise inevitable future of dreary midnight misery. oOo The voice sounds almost enraptured as it explains all of this to you, as if the sheer glory of her statement is important beyond all other things.)
Penny bites her lip, bringing some color to her face, almost until it bleeds, though it does not, quite. "Are there any more specifics you would like me to pass along, like an arrival time, or things we can do to prepare for your coming?" Her mouth opens again after, as though she's about to ask something else, but she resists even thinking it, for the moment, with iron self-control, waiting for an answer to her query, first. Still, if the alien consciousness is any good at reading human emotion from the inside of their heads, they'd sense deep, deep suspicion, born from a keen understanding of the lure of easy solutions, and how such things usually exact a terrible price.
Molly blows out of her mouth while letting her lips flap as she sits there. Her companion, Emily, never loses the serious face as she's looking around constantly scanning the area and currently is the only visible target from the outside of the building. "I wish /I/ had Telepathy. That'd be so great, be able to read people's minds, and know if they were going to do bad things. Stop 'em way beforehand. Oh well, I wonder what it's like. Oh! My computer." And Emily is already on it, having it in her hand and giving it over to Molly. "Aztaerym, I wonder if there's anything on the internet about them."
(Set for Black Devil:) Penny, Molly, and Molly's black-cloaked companion are inside the closed Borders store, courtesy of a broken window. It's not -so- easy to see them from the street, as they're somewhat inside the store, but possible. Something weird appears to be going on; Penny seems to be, of all things, meditating, right there on the floor beside some bookcases, while the other two look on and commentate.
(.oOo. Why... we are already here. .oOo. The fact is raised with a nearly comical, yet humble tone. .oOo. I am hidden in a garden place called 'New Jersey'. Calm your companion, for she frets unnecessarily. We mean to gift you no harm. Only transcendence, while the dark spirited Rho'Gan worship only their iconoclastic machines. We are coming to save you. We are coming to save you all. .oOo.)
Penny starts a little, her hands coming unclasped, before she puts them back in place atop the Joy of Cooking on her lap. "The Aztaerym say not to fret," she passes along to Molly, "And we can have a long conversation about the morality of telepathy another time, perhaps." Then it's back to full attention for her, though she leans forward with interest. "What exactly do you mean by 'transcendence'?" she asks softly, gently, and eminently curiously, her eyes remaining closed. "Not everyone may want your gift forced upon them, though I think we can agree that we want the Rho'Gan gone."
Broken Window! On my Street? Something nefarious must be afoot! Those are the things that Andrew thinks after emerging from a graveyard shift at the hospital over the road, and spotting the broken window. Rather than storm in, though, he finds himself a nice abandoned alleyway, and once there, he stashes his gear behind a dumpster, and then activates his bioarmor. If anyone is watching, it'll look like his entire body is covered in a black oily substance, before it hardens into the slightly insectoid form that surrounds him.
Finally, the girl meditating is actually talking to Molly, but she is soon back to her talking to non-existent people again. Molly only looks up from her laptop to listen to Penny when she speaks to her, "Oh, um, okay. Transcendence? I didn't say anything about... oh, you must be, right, back with the 'good' aliens." A little sigh before she goes back to looking up what she can online about this new name, to see if it might have any historical meaning. "I don't think a group of any sentient species would be saying, Don't fret, when the world was being attacked, if they were trustworthy." A pause, and Molly looks up to Penny, "Oh, I hope you aren't like a speakerphone, and they can hear me. I mean, uh, it's great to have some hope!" She looks around some, as if she might see/hear something and then click-clack away again.
(.oOo. Many already follow the light of Aztaerym under false memes. Please. Herald our coming. Tell all that we have come to exact happiness for all creatures on Earth and put to rest the dark intentions of the Rho'Gan, with whom we have fought for millenia. Tell them all, for we are coming. .oOo. As the being continues, the mental connection becomes so strong that it starts to hurt, like staring into the sun. It is with that sort of fervor that she speaks. And then.. nothing. The intellectual presence has gone.)
Penny's eyes open abruptly, glaring as though in pain, and then settle down. "That was interesting," she says, rolling her head back on her neck to pop out some tension cricks. "I guess I'll start with you. The Aztaerym have contacted me and say that they're coming to 'put to rest the dark intensions of the Rho'Gan', and bring 'transcendence and happiness' to all creatures on Earth. One's already in Jersey. Pass it on." Must-- fight-- sarcastic-- tone! At least her poker face is admirable, though a certain dryness shines through. She stands up and sighs, ruffling her hair reflexively and replacing the book on its shelf. "Apparently, I am their first messenger, to spread the tidings of their coming, which they are most enthusiastic about."
The black bodied creature makes it's way back to the open window, and then looks inside at the two girls. "Doing some late night shopping, are we?" He asks them both then, as he stands at the broken window looking in. "What's the matter, couldn't wait until the morning for that latest release?" Wow, not one, but two cheesy one liners.
"Ohhhhhhhkay." Molly says with a confused tone to it, "Jersey huh? Did they give you a name? A phone number to call, or anything like that? I mean, this seems a little coincidental to me, big bad aliens come to go boom, and then good aliens come and go boom boom to bad aliens?" A deep breath, and she keeps her eyes on Penny, "In your experience, do you think you can trust them? Don't you know that, cause you're psychic? Well, I'm assuming you are psychic, anyways, cause you could hear them. I couldn't, that's for sure." Then Emily, the companion to Molly looks over to the window and Molly startles, looking over to the window for a moment before moving further away from that window.
Molly doesn't speak but Emily does, her voice coming out in crystal clear intonations, "Who are you? What do you want?" And Emily starts walking with quick steps in the direction of Andrew while Molly hides behind some bookshelves.
"You talk too much," Penny says almost boredly to Molly, before she blinks and looks up at the black bodied creature, slowly getting to her feet and meeting its 'eye', if she can find it. "Actually, I think the window was broken by some looters already. I was here to do some quick research, she's here to get internet access, and if you have true power to fight, I'd focus on the alien invasion, not catching smalltime crooks who have poor taste in bookstores."
As the one approaches him, his sillowhette seems to change shape; points expand from his wrists, "I think I should be asking you that." It says, but then pauses, and the blades retract when the other one speaks. "Right..." He says cautiously, "I was just passing by, you better get out where I can see you, though." He states then. Of course, he could see them anyway. Low light vision, and all.
Molly stands up to look out over some of the book shelves, "We aren't thieves, I'm here to do research, and she's here to talk to people who aren't here." But, slowly Molly moves out from behind the books and moves closer to Penny. "I don't talk too much, I just talk when I'm nervous, and when there are aliens attacking earth, -that- makes me nervous." Her eyes go back to Andrew, and then back to Penny. "So, do you trust this voice of yours?"
\Emily, the fully cloaked female who's Molly's companion stops moving closer to Andrew as he retracts his blades. The woman remains still, just watching Andrew for the time being, and keeping between him and Molly.
Penny shrugs eloquently, exuding indifference towards the Black Devil's request like some girls exude pheromones. "I'm going to go get my book. And Molly -- regardless of whether or not I trust the voice, it struck me as powerful enough to not ignore." Then she bends towards the downed bookshelf, and tries to lift it back upright, without much success. "Heavy," she mutters.
Andrew sighs. Women. He steps in through the window, then, and heads towards the bookshelf, stooping low, he helps lift the thing up to it's original position. It's not so heavy when you have strength-enhancing Biowngineered symbiotic armor! Apparently. "Even if you're telling the truth, and, I'm not to sure I believe you, yet, Alien attack or not, this is tresspassing."
Molly looks over to Andrew as he just trots inside, past Emily, who is moving to keep between Molly and Andrew. This is made easier by the fact that Molly is moving away from Penny while she's watching Andrew still. "Seeing as you don't look like a cop, nor do you look like the owner of Borders, you can't exactly stop people from Trespassing on grounds that have already been abandoned. It's not called Trespassing, at worst its squatting, but -again-... who cares when we're all facing certain death?" A deep breath and Molly looks to Penny, "Where are you headed? I want to help, spread this word, or find this alien in Jersey."
Penny looks up at the figure and raises an eyebrow that communicates, very effectively, her opinion that this being is now /also/ tresspassing. Then her gaze flicks away. "Thanks for the lift, mister," she murmurs, before looking at the pile of books and starting to sort through them. "Let's see here... I think it's a textbook, it'll probably be big..." To Molly, she adds, almost absentmindedly, "Go for it. I've told you what I know. Alien race called the Aztaerym, they dislike the Rho'gan, are coming to help us. That's what they said, anyway."
Andrew mutters something uninteligable to himself. Why'd they have to be so dorram sassy? However, he sighsm and turns back towards them, folding his arms. "Fine. You have information, ont he aliens? What do you know, then, you said there were others coming? Great, that's all we need. Earth gets to be a battleground for little green men form mars."
Molly looks back and forth between Andrew and Penny, "Yeaaaah, well, I was kind of thinking maybe we could... you know, work together?" And she looks to Andrew, "You aren't an alien? You look like an alien, what with all the eyes and the skin... being weird." Molly starts inching her way back in the direction of the broken window, "I haven't really met anyone else with any, capacity to help against the aliens. For a few days now I've just been sorta lost trying to find out what to do."
"I hate repeating myself, and now I'm cursed with a job that requires it," Penny comments blithely as she continues her sorting process. There's a librarian's instinct in her, the books find themselves aligned back on the shelf efficiently and neatly, and finally she has the book she was looking for -- some kind of biology textbook -- in her arms. Looking between Molly and Andrew, she settles on the latter. "Are you trusted by important or powerful people who will not think you're some kind of crackpot? If so, tell them. Aztaerym, enemies of the Rho'gan, coming. They seemed benevolent but somewhat self-absorbed in their own sublime state. Oh, and apparently if the Rho'gan gets our Crucible Element, it's going to fuel their war machine to promote their dark shadow across whole galaxies," she adds for good measure, remembering another detail. "And you know this because I told you, and I know this because the Aztaerym in New Jersey just contacted me telepathically and -spoke into my mind-." Yep, dry. She isn't even convincing herself, with this pitch. "I'm going to go take my own advice and go find those important and powerful people that trust -me-. Excuse me."
Andrew nods his head then, "I'm not an alien I'm... something else. And, as for knowing other powered people... I'm afraid I don't. I mostly work alone, but if I get the chance I'll pass the message on." he says, frowning slightly. Well, he can't really frown, 'because his face is quite rigid.
"Can I at least get your phone number or an email?" Molly asks as she trots after Penny. "I don't really know anyone who's capable of doing anything against these threats, but if I get any information I can at least send it your way?" Molly doesn't press it though, she's moving to leave the Borders too with everyone else. "Aztaerym, Jersey, and psychics." Her eyes glance over to her companion, "Emily, we might be going to Jersey soon."
"Thank you, mister. Molly: I'm not sure if the being wants to be disturbed, but that's your perogative," the young woman replies. "And I don't have either, but my full name is Penelope Fiona Lylah Cortez. Conjure by it at your own risk." Without further ado, she's out the hole in the window and into the shadows of the street, and if anyone pursues her, they will find that she has vanished entirely.
