Avatar Adventures | Denver | Selmy Crater
Jumping to Conclusions...
Rory Mercury | Molli Faust | Naamah | Dolores Selmy
[hr]
The timely intercession by Eddie the Dead was not wholly unwelcome by Rory the Reaper. While it was true that the Black and Crimson Clad Courier of Souls would never be certain that it had been Lady Luck's Disciple that had intervened, the circumstancial evidence was just too compelling to ignore. Of the fifteen missiles that had crash landed in the area, none of those fifteen had detonated. In a later investigation of the Denver incident by Federal Authorities, weapon systems experts would discover that the missiles had been manufactured in five different plants, over a period of five years before being shipped off to various branches of the United States military. The only commonality between the missiles was the technician in charge of soldering the primary power circuit to the detonator. It was reported that on most days the technician's soldering was 100% reliable, though during certain times of the year, specifically allergy season, the technician's soldering reliability fell to 99.9%, still within tollerance. In what would be later called a statistical shit storm, it was discovered that the fifteen faulty missiles had ultimately been shipped out to various national guard armories before being reissued to the World Marshall. Once there, it was determined that of the two hundred plus missiles that had been launched that day, the fifteen defective missiles had been coincidentally been targeted at the same location.
Still, even without the knowledge of what the improbable and statistically impossible series of events that had spared her the discomfort of having to regenerate every inch of her skin, Rory Mercury was fairly happy that none of the bombs had detonated, an event that she was certain would have both caused more grievous bodily harm to the impaled girl she'd protected as well as sent a wave of fire that would have consumed every inch of clothing on Loli's body. While not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, walking around a city with naught but her halberd wouldn't have struck Rory as particularly a particularly comfortable affair considering the others that had appeared while the Demi-Goddess held her vigil for the Nearly Dearly Departed.
Angels, Collectors, Demi-Gods, Demons, Ferrymen, Judges, Minor Deities and Psychopomps... all had shown up, crawling out of whatever hole they happened to be hiding the moment they heard that Dolores Selmy was grievously wounded, shrouded from mortal eyes. They circled about like sharks, waiting for moment that Rory Mercury would falter, waiting for the moment her God would deny her the boon she requested, after all, what did a Death God care if a soulless doll happened to perish. Having once been a member of the Godly Ranks, the Crimson and Black clad Demi-Goddess paid these lesser spirits no attention, seeking only the advice of her patron. Moments later, the collective of wheelers and dealers turned their heads towards the outer perimeter of their circle, as the sound of someone shoving their way through their number closed in on Rory Mercury and the impaled woman.
"
Out of the way, knaves. I'm here to see my disciple. Pardon me. Excuse me. Coming through." A familiar voice said as it parted the sea of divine and infernal creatures.
Sensing that her master was close, Rory shifted position, coming to kneel upon one knee in respect for Emloy, The God of Darkness, Death, War and Insanity. The voice stopped as it finally reached the center of the mass of spirits, where Rory waited... and continued to wait until she heard a foot tapping impatiently. Raising her head, she saw that His Divineness had borrowed the body of a recently deceased woman whose body had seen better days, her multitude of hands waved about as if the God was trying to figure out what to do with so many hands. He eyed his Oracle with a smirk before gesturing for her to rise.
"
Rory, Rory, Rory," The Death God(ess) tsk'd as he/she sauntered up to Rory, lifting his/her follower up to her feet with a finger under the chin, "
I've told you that you don't have to kneel for me, lass. Now then, what's this I hear about you asking me to spare the life of this..." The God paused for a moment when he noticed which life he was being asked to spare, "
Ah. Her. Dolores Selmy. Done."
"
What? I thought that you..."
The God of War looked amusingly at the expression of surprise on the disciple, a chuckle passing through his/her pursed lips. White tipped canes suddenly appeared in each of the woman's five right hands and a top hat in the topmost of the left hands. The Loli-Like Demi-Goddess braced herself, quite aware of what was coming next. Spinning the each of the canes in her hands the God covered his face with the top hot.
Never jump to a conclusion
You'll be up for just confusion
I've told you this time and time again.
Never jump to a conclusion
It'll hurt you like a contusion
It'll save you a lot of hurt and pain.
It was at that point that the high kicking started... and the pirouetting... and the fire works... and the blood fountains... and the pointing at Dolores' body... and the band.
That little girl's a big thing
To any God that wants to be King.
She's got multiple souls in that shell of her's
Dolores Selmy's a big thing
Listen to me, I'm not lying
She can make more of souls for spiritual entrepreneurs.
The Demi-Goddess of Emloy had been fuming since her patron God had started this dog and pony show. She just couldn't stand it anymore, the bad singing, the bad dancing, the bad lyrics... it was driving her insane. As her sponsor into the Godly Realms prepared for another verse, Rory Mercury did what most people standing in her position would not do, she swatted the canes right out of Emloy's hands. The band that had been playing the tune of "The Bear Necessities" stopped suddenly, looking for the closest hiding spot. For his part, the God of Death and Insanity simply looked at his empty hands before giving his representative on Earth a grin.
"
Sorry." He apologized as he rubbed the back of his head with all five of his borrowed body's hands, "
Anyways, just make sure that the girl doesn't get influenced by any of these used car salesmen here and make sure she doesn't go expired before her time. Now then, as for you, my young apprentice, do try to make an appearance at the Temple in Ginza. I suspect that the people of Japan will be thrilled to know that you're back. I hear they still sell dolls in your likeness. Oh and it appears that you have company. You should probably greet the new comers and let them know that their friend is going to survive. Toodles."
With a wink and a nod to his Oracle, Emloy and all the other spirits that were hovering about wanting to get a piece of Dolores Selmy disappeared and Rory found herself kneeling next to the impaled woman, Dolores Selmy, once again. A noise could be heard a in the distance, a roaring of engines and the crunching of gravel as someone ran up to the Black Haired Butcher's position.
"
Dolly!" A woman's voice cried out. A woman, her red hair flowing behind her as she ran, found herself stopped by the a purple Halberd crossing her path. Rory looked up at her, a tired look in her eyes.
"
Your friend is alive but will need some medical assistance if you want her to continue being so." The Oracle stated as she stood up, leaning on her weapon. Dealing with her patron always left her feeling a exhausted and, above all else, annoyed. He was fine at his job, his interpersonal skills required a bit of fine tuning, not that it would help the God of Insanity. Watching as a medical team evacuated Dolly, as her friend had called her, Rory looked at the ruined city and wondered how soon it would be before life returned to normal for these people.
"
(Not soon enough.) She concluded thoughtfully, sensing that this mission wasn't over quite yet. Walking over to the flier, Rory grabbed the attention of the woman who had run up to her friend, a Second Lieutenant from the insignia on her uniform, "
Tell me, Second Lieutenant, do you have any word on the status of the other crew members that took part in this mission?"
[hr]
Avatar Adventures | Airship Rising Dawn | Outside the Brig
Sock Puppet Farber...
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Farber the Ish
[hr]
"
Why? Is there something wrong? What's a 'brig'?" Farber asked the rather innocently as he eyed the door.
"
A brig? It's an army term for a jail. It's where they keep really bad men." Ruby responded calmly as she looked up and down the corridors, hoping that no one would wander through and wonder what a couple of children were doing standing in front of the brig, "
In the case of the Rising Dawn, it's where they keep the really bad, really scary, really powerful criminals that the crew fights. I'm sure there's people in there that could kill us just by looking at us or just by thinking about killing us." The girl continued as she looked at checked the intersection. The last thing that she wanted to do was to get into any sort of trouble.
The fact was, having been raised stories regarding the heroics of the Rising Dawn, the nine year old girl in pink was painfully aware of the type of people that would be locked up inside the Rising Dawn's brig. The fact that they were concentrated in one place made the black and white haired girl rather nervous. There were super criminals with the power of Angels, the power of Demons, the power of insanely high intelligence, the power to split a hair with a single bullet. There were those that could crush a child like Ruby or Farber with the power of their mind as well as the strength of their fists. Of course, Ruby knew this but Farber didn't and from what she knew about Farber, telling him this sort of information would be like tempting him with another of Miss Katya's chocolate crates.
"
Seeing as how the Rising Dawn hasn't captured anyone in a really long time, I think it's gotta be pretty boring in there, Farber." Ruby said as she turned around and was greeting with the chest of a rather large armed guard.
"Whose Farber?" The brig guard asked with a hint of concern on his face. Knowing that the brat belonged to Titania, he was rather gentle with her lest he provoke the Queen *****'s ire, "And what, if I might so kindly ask, are you doing in front of the Brig, Little Lady? Do your mothers know you're here?"
"
Ummm... Sorry... Sargent... ummmm... Farber's my friend," Ruby started to say as she looked about for the Friendly Neighborhood Ish and seeing no sight of him, "
An imaginary friend..." The girl lied, not wanting to get her friend into any trouble. As she spoke, the threads of her hair ribbons unwound themselves and wrapped themselves around the hands behind her back, "
Hi Farber!" The girl said talking to the sock puppet that had been magically crafted around her hand, its googly eyes wobbling about, "
Farber wanted a bottle of Pepsi and we heard that there was a stash somewhere in one of the main bedrooms."
The Sargeant paused for a moment before remembering stories of Tomoya and his obsession with the carbonated concoction.
"Yeah. You'll want to keep heading aft. Look for the largest of the bedrooms on the ship... it'll also be the most god awfully decorated." The Guard muttered as he pointed towards the back of the ship.
"
Uhhhh... thanks Sargent! Stay safe!" The girl said as she faked heading towards the rear of the ship, waiting for the brig guard to disappear, "
Farber...you're in so much trouble" Ruby said as she headed back to the Brig door, looking for a way to open it for her.
