School House Rumbles 3: Act 2, Survivors.

[Eternal Torment]

Selma patted her on the shoulder comfortingly as she said "Well, ya don't have ta worry 'bout us tryin' ta get ya ta change any of ya, cause we're perfectly happy with ya just tha way ya are."

Turning to Sloane, she asked "Ain't that right, Big Red?"

"Yeah. But I ain't going to stop Eisen if she wants upgrades. Her choice." Sloane nodded.

Selma shook her head with a smile as she said "Yeah, yeah, testin' an' all that. We'll even keep gettin' all tha info from tha computer through Xim we can a tha same time, so ya best not try lazyin' out on us Sloane."

"Oh, please. This is a competition. Not a slackathon. I'm gonna win this one." He grinned widely.

[Hazard]

Ramzi nodded weakly. The dryness and mild pain was distracting, but little more than that. He could wait. "Shukran jaziilan, Robert. I am in your debt" He had the sneaking suspicion that, if not for this Robert fellow, the cryotube in which he had been slumbering would have become his grave. Allah willing, he would do his utmost to repay his debt to this boy, somehow. Unfortunately, right now he was in no shape to be doing anything except resting.

He hated it, being stuck in a numb, unresponsive body. He wanted to be up and about. He wanted to be doing things or at least getting some exercise. To let his body--a temple entrusted to him by Allah on the day of his birth--fall into such a state of disrepair was a travesty, an affront.

Shukran jaziilan? Robert had no clue what that meant. Possibly some weird language like the one Eisen used from time to time. Anyway, he at least got the guy was thanking him.

"Think nothing of it," Robert replied. "Now just focus on resting. I can tell just talking is taking something out of you, right? In any case, I can talk enough for the both of us."

"Hey Ramilia," Robert said, turning to the older woman. "You're fast, right? Think you can get Irie or some other water user here? Guy needs to drink."

[Chrosis]

Skye taps the floor with her foot, listening to the sound. "Want to go down? I can do it pretty safely."

Cammy shrugged, peering out a broken window down to the devastation below, "I don't know... I think I'd like to explore the bird's eye view some more."

It was surreal, seeing a ghost city.

She looked over her shoulder at Skye, "What do you want to do?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"No. Not in a place like this. Let the others find the rest."

"Okay. Hopefully we will find it soon then."

"Cool," Robert said, as he looked at the pictures.

Non-human. So there were other races in past. Awesome.

There was something about Ether too, but non-human were infinitely more interesting.

"Wonder if there are other races still alive."

He had found Ramzi alive after being frozen who knew how long. So who knew what else could be out there.

"I doubt it. They were probably exterminated by the humans during the war or whatever." She glances over at the man on the makeshift bed. The guy survived a thousand years, pretty incredible.

[Hazard]

"I doubt it. They were probably exterminated by the humans during the war or whatever." She glances over at the man on the makeshift bed. The guy survived a thousand years, pretty incredible.

Robert pouted. "Yeah, I guess so."

Yet, even though he said that, he truly wanted to see it. Different Races. Different People. How wonderful would it be to know them.

OOC: By the way, Robert asked Ramilia a favor in my last post.

[Siriel]

"Nero looked blankly at Lucic, as he apparently didn't understand the question, or was greatly incensed by Nero's tone.

"Woah, Woah, Easy hombre." Nero said uneasily, raising his hands in front of his chest, "I didn't mean no offense by that shit, you know. No need to start cussing fuckers out and shit."

Or did he put a curse on me? I heard people used to start shouting out gibberish to use Elemancer powers or something way way back when.

".....Wait, you speak common, right?"

Nero sighed, as it occurred to him that his newfound friend might not have been as proficient in the universal language as he might have assumed during their previous conversation. He couldn't for the life of him understand how that could be in Eden, but stranger things have happened.

"Okay. Let's try this again." He said with a sigh, before he began speaking very, very, slowly, and equally as loud.

"I" He gestured to himself "Nero."

He then pointed to the rest of the class "Bitches."

He finally pointed at Lucic once again, hoping that he would understand what he was trying to convey.

Lucic blinked, then shook his head. Shifting from incomprehension to slow, disappointed realization.

I suppose I overestimated him.

"It's my name, idiot. Lucic, Erund, Etem, Quin. Is it so hard to understand?"

...Although, I suppose it's an amusing mistake.

[WickedElphaba]

Cammy shrugged, peering out a broken window down to the devastation below, "I don't know... I think I'd like to explore the bird's eye view some more."

It was surreal, seeing a ghost city.

She looked over her shoulder at Skye, "What do you want to do?"

Skye points down the hall. "Elevator!" She says with enthusiasm. As they arrive in front of it, Skye waggles a finger, and with some complaining, the doors open up.

She sticks her head in the shaft and sees darkness below. Still, what she's looking for is down there, she can feel it. She reaches down with her mind and connects with the box.

--

From down the hall, some distance away, everyone else hears the loud creaking of metal rubbing against metal. Loudly, at first, and then it gets quieter.

--

A bead of sweat forms on Skye's brow as the elevator grinds its way up to them. "Okay then, shall we go up or down?" She asks as she steps onto the platform.

[Chrosis]

Skye points down the hall. "Elevator!" She says with enthusiasm. As they arrive in front of it, Skye waggles a finger, and with some complaining, the doors open up.

She sticks her head in the shaft and sees darkness below. Still, what she's looking for is down there, she can feel it. She reaches down with her mind and connects with the box.

--

From down the hall, some distance away, everyone else hears the loud creaking of metal rubbing against metal. Loudly, at first, and then it gets quieter.

--

A bead of sweat forms on Skye's brow as the elevator grinds its way up to them. "Okay then, shall we go up or down?" She asks as she steps onto the platform.

Cammy shrugged, confident in Skye's control of the device, "Why not up? Maybe they had an awesome penthouse or something here."

[WickedElphaba]

Cammy shrugged, confident in Skye's control of the device, "Why not up? Maybe they had an awesome penthouse or something here."

Skye has a bit of a grimace on her face now. "Up...up it is." She says, and presses the button atop the row of buttons for cosmetic affect.

Slowly, the elevator begins to move up the shaft. With more creaking and groaning. Once they leave the open doors, the elevator becomes pitch black.

Cammy feels a hand on her butt and hears Skye giggle. "Sorry, couldn't help mysel- "

And just then, the rusted metal gives way, the top half of the elevator ripping off entirely. Skye screams and the elevator begins to plummet down.

--

Down below, the others hear a high-pitched whine that's getting louder and more sharp. The sound of grinding metal is back as well, and is now as loud as thunder.

--

The momentum of the elevator is more than Skye expected. As they drop, she grabs hold of the box and begins to slow it. Simultaneously, she pushes up on the top half so it doesn't crush them when they stop. With a thunderous crash and a billow of dust, the lower half of the elevator lands without much damage to the riders. When the smoke clears, Cammy can see Skye holding the top half of the elevator mere inches from their face.

"So, umm, how about the basement instead?"

[Tami]

OOC: Are Cas, Max and Rivia in the Storage Room yet?

[Cthulhu_of_R'yleh]

OOC: Are Cas, Max and Rivia in the Storage Room yet?

OOC: They've been talking and walking for awhile, they have to have found it by now.

[Tami]

OOC: They've been talking and walking for awhile, they have to have found it by now.

Rivia sees the sealed doorway just up ahead, "That must be it. In there, but it looks like the door is sealed tight. Cas, can you break it down?"

[Miburohunter929]

Lucic blinked, then shook his head. Shifting from incomprehension to slow, disappointed realization.

I suppose I overestimated him.

"It's my name, idiot. Lucic, Erund, Etem, Quin. Is it so hard to understand?"

...Although, I suppose it's an amusing mistake.

Nero quirked an eyebrow slightly, which was a precursor to the slight frown which he now wore.

Most men familiar with the reputation with the outlaw, might have considered such a thing nothing more than the opening note to a savage symphony of brutality laid upon Lucic for his insolence. Most men might have noted that Nero would be nothing, if not hypocritical for taking offense, considering his own blunt--if not marginally abusive--way of addressing someone or another.

They would not have vocalized that realization, however.

As it was, the man did not live up to his repute, at the moment at least.

"..Oh." He said after a moments consideration, before breaking into laughter.

"Well, shit, it sure as fuck sounded like a curse or something. I bet you used to get kicked the fuck out of class all the time with a name like that, eh?"

Hell, I would have thought it was one of those wierd...mantra things from way back when, or something.

"But whatever, I guess it'll be easy enough to remember, if I can ever pronounce any of that, I mean."

[FarBeyondC]

He pauses for a lot longer than a second. "You mean... No, that's impossible. We lived in sector 3, that kind of stuff never happens there. Right?"

She sighed; what she was about to say was probably going to be wounding- and in a way that accelerated healing could not touch.

"What do you know of..." she began, before deciding to take a different, more personal approach. "You may or may not have heard of my family name, the Cramoisie. It's not really an important name- as far as official recognition or prominence is concerned; definitely nothing as prominent as, say, Lindstrom or Vargreaves. But prominence was never something that the Cramoisie- or the other families with which they are unofficially allied- really aspired to attain; the ability to influence events from behind the scenes is far more important to them than their public appearance."

"I told you that, so that I can tell you this. I know- as inviolate truth- that all kinds of stuff, even the things the public believes never happens in the wealthy sectors, happens all throughout the city. How do I know this, you ask? I've been there; I've seen the acts, as they occurred. I know real monsters: those who have committed crimes, those who have transgressed against the human species, those who deserve to be forcibly removed from the mortal coil- who should be cast out from humanity's last refuge and abandoned to the wastes; some of them are friends of the family- some of them are family."

"For the first eleven years of my life, I lived at the Cramoisie family estate in the 1st sector- where else would the 1st daughter and 2nd child of the family's head live? That estate holds what is the largest collection of knowledge that is not under control of the government; given its size, I can believe the rumors that the Cramoisie collection is actually better than the one the government maintains. If it isn't clear by now, my family deals in information- its acquisition and release, its storage and erasure, its encryption and decryption. Given how unsuitable I was- and still am- for such things, I was seen as a disappointment, until they realized I was good for at least one thing: bait. In other words, I was to be a lure to draw people towards traps set up for all sorts of malicious purposes. I was surprisingly good at it, just as other people were surprising good at dealing with those who were caught, and other people still were good at cleaning and covering up lingering details."

Wait, why am I'm telling him all of this?

The sudden thought caused her to stop and think of a way to finish without revealing anything else.

"I suppose the point I'm trying to get to is that crimes- even unspeakable ones- can and do occur in every sector, not just the less wealthy ones.

[OOC]Because I can't remember the big, revealing post, everyone'll have to settle for this piece of crap.[/OOC]

[Cthulhu_of_R'yleh]

Rivia sees the sealed doorway just up ahead, "That must be it. In there, but it looks like the door is sealed tight. Cas, can you break it down?"

"Let's find out."

Casimir said as he walked over to the door. He assumed that the door, or at least the frame would have degraded after the thousand years, I mean, the rest of the building went to hell, didn't it?

So with a brief pause in front of the door, he kicked it. Hard.