Green Garden Shopping Complex, Stars End
November 23, 2012
It was a plane.
That was the entire reason that Samiyah had come to the Green Garden Shopping Complex in Stars End. But the toy wrapped up in a bag in her hand wasn't just any plane. This one had a wingspan of 38 inches, could stay in the air for an hour, and reach speeds of eighty miles an hour. It was all controlled by a remote with four channels of control and when one a particular button was pushed it could drop "bombs" (small and, from what it claimed, harmless firecrackers) out of a back compartment.
The toy didn't sound the least bit safe but it was what Harris and Stick's son, Stefan, had requested for Christmas and being the older psuedo-sibling, Sami didn't have to worry about things such as safety or damage to property.
The crowds were thickly pressed together with holiday shoppers but Sami found herself in no particular hurry. There was far too much to see. She slowed before a trio of hologram bears. Singing hologram bears wearing knit hats and scarves. It certainly wasn?t a sight one would see in Old Temple or WestEnd.
It was snowing. As the sullen clouds faded against a darkening sky, each flake was caught as it spiraled down, illumined by the magic of neon and holo-projectors: pink and green, blue and incandescent white. The near-constant drone of suborbital ships ascending and descending played the background theme of the spaceport, softened by the tinkle of music from the mall's loudspeakers.
A plane was the reason Sergei was at the Green Garden Shopping Complex too, but unlike Samiyah he was trying to leave as quickly as possible. He hadn't come here to buy presents or spread "Christmas cheer." Instead he was using this as a shortcut to get back to his hangar and continue work on his final project for the Stars End Aerospace Institute. He'd expected to make his way from end to end with next to no foot traffic in his way at this hour, but he'd been mobbed by shoppers excited about how dark this Friday was (had it been overcast earlier?) and hurrying from shop to shop.
He tightened his thick wool scarf around his neck and hurried as soon as he broke free from the throng, slowing from the sudden jog in the middle of a gleaming white bridge over a crystalline water feature, an ice palace of some kind. He stopped to have a look around the mall, out over the crowd and the colored snowflakes drifting down onto their heads. "Christmas, huh," he murmured, blinking.
It was a magical paradise that left Sami swimming in a grin. She took a step back away from the bears finally and blinked multi-colored snow off her eyelashes as she twisted her way towards the bridge. Long jagged icicles hung from the water feature, reflecting the soft lights twinkling over the feature.
The shadows were variegated shades of blue, grey and black, stretching from lampposts and the edges of shop facades, statues and the few shoppers who continued to brave the cold and the descending dark rather than go home to a warm room and supper. Blue and grey and black, other Shadows moved along the street.
Did Colt celebrate Christmas? Did Jet? Sergei's ears gave an involuntary twitch, rattling his earrings as he worried over this and whether, after this dark Friday, all Christmas gifts were gone until the following year. Was that how it worked? He squinted at a 50% OFF banner beside a scented candle store for something to confirm or refute his concerns.
The ink of her tattoo twisted and writhed but Sami ignored it. Too often it was the Boy Who Cried Wolf, stretching and pulling at the skin of her back without any real idea of danger. It was RhyDin, after all. Half the people in the crowd were probably criminals or running from something or someone. It didn't mean that any of them were particularly dangerous to her.
Sami came to a sudden stop in her stroll towards the gentle gurgling of the fountain by a screaming toddler who nearly ran over her toe and the child's harried mother who did indeed run over her toe.
"Eesh!" Sergei flattened himself backward against the railing to put himself out of the racing mother and child's path. He turned his head to Sami as he passed her: "You okay?"
Sergei's cry caused a bright peel of laughter from Sami as a hand reached out to steady herself using the railing. "I'm okay, I'm okay. It's a dangerous day."
"I gathered!" he managed through an embarrassed laugh, rubbing the back of his head out of habit. "Take care." He turned away, jogging down to the other end of the bridge over the ice palace while Sami turned to head for the opposite end.
A sudden gust of breeze skirled the snow and set lanterns dotting the mall swinging and creaking on the wires suspending them from eaves. Behind Sami, the holographic bears promised to be home for Christmas and three of the shadows detached themselves from the narrow space between the candle shop and a purveyor of leather goods. As they advanced on their target, another four approached the footbridge from the opposite end.
This time the ink in her back would not be ignored. It wrapped itself painfully around her spine, yanking and tugging at nerve ends until she could go no further. A large green scaled man-lizard behind her huffed at the sudden stop in some foreign tongue as he rounded her to continue for the end of the bridge. Sergei, though, stopped in his tracks as the shadows approached. He took an uncertain step back and looked over his shoulder where four more figures closed in.
The trio fanned out, two moving to flank Sami. Steel slid from oiled leather, the tang and sound unmistakable. Someone screamed a few shops down. The impatient scaled lizard man quickly backed up but it was too late. He and Sergei were trapped. Innocent bystanders who stood between the Shadows and their target.
Sami could feel the twist and pull telling her there were more behind. Her heart plummeted deep and a cool, clammy feeling took over her fingers as they released the handle of the bag, allowing it to plop onto the center of the bridge. A deep breath was drawn in and released with a steadying calm as Sami backed towards the center of the bridge, palms facing out. She wouldn't drop the harmless act. Not until the bitter end.
Sergei backed up to the middle of the bridge as the figures approached, spreading his arms to try and herd the lizard-man behind him. "Who are you? What the hell do you want?"
The span was only wide enough for four or five to stand abreast. It forced them to stagger their advance. Masked and cloaked, each attacker was an inky backdrop to the fall of snow that left the bridge's treads treacherously slick. None of them spoke. Air sliced audibly as the assassin in the lead of the trio twirled the weapon - a show to intimidate as much as to position the pommel for the first move of the coming attack.
Shoppers were running now, away from the mall's courtyard and the moving picture scene unfolding on the bridge. The echoes of their footfalls rebounded strangely between the buildings.
Despite the icicles that clung to the undersides of the bridge, there wasn't even the slightest hint of a dangerous patch on the walkway. That was far too much of a liability for the shopping complex. Stars End technology allowed the icicles to hang as long perfect daggers of ice while the footbridge remained perfectly clear. Was the good footing an advantage or a disadvantage? Sami decided to see it as an advantage since there weren't any other advantages immediately coming to mind. She felt the incline of the bridge in her calves as they reached the center. Her, lizard-man, and the teenager. They were trapped at the arch.
"Stay behind me," Sergei told Sami and the lizard-man, though with the figures coming from both sides that would be quite a task. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, knuckles popping. He was nowhere near his planes or his gear and completely unarmed and surrounded - at the moment, his odds couldn't have looked worse.
"Bun' tyen-shung duh ee-dway'-ro'!" The Reptiloid spat out the curse in Pan-Galactic Common and used his tail for leverage as he flung himself over the railing and into the frigid water. It was a dicey move given his circulatory limitations. The splash when he hit was more panicked than agitated. None of the menacing figures went after him.
The attack came with the splash.
((With thanks to the player behind Sergei and the player behind the ninja attack!))
November 23, 2012
It was a plane.
That was the entire reason that Samiyah had come to the Green Garden Shopping Complex in Stars End. But the toy wrapped up in a bag in her hand wasn't just any plane. This one had a wingspan of 38 inches, could stay in the air for an hour, and reach speeds of eighty miles an hour. It was all controlled by a remote with four channels of control and when one a particular button was pushed it could drop "bombs" (small and, from what it claimed, harmless firecrackers) out of a back compartment.
The toy didn't sound the least bit safe but it was what Harris and Stick's son, Stefan, had requested for Christmas and being the older psuedo-sibling, Sami didn't have to worry about things such as safety or damage to property.
The crowds were thickly pressed together with holiday shoppers but Sami found herself in no particular hurry. There was far too much to see. She slowed before a trio of hologram bears. Singing hologram bears wearing knit hats and scarves. It certainly wasn?t a sight one would see in Old Temple or WestEnd.
It was snowing. As the sullen clouds faded against a darkening sky, each flake was caught as it spiraled down, illumined by the magic of neon and holo-projectors: pink and green, blue and incandescent white. The near-constant drone of suborbital ships ascending and descending played the background theme of the spaceport, softened by the tinkle of music from the mall's loudspeakers.
A plane was the reason Sergei was at the Green Garden Shopping Complex too, but unlike Samiyah he was trying to leave as quickly as possible. He hadn't come here to buy presents or spread "Christmas cheer." Instead he was using this as a shortcut to get back to his hangar and continue work on his final project for the Stars End Aerospace Institute. He'd expected to make his way from end to end with next to no foot traffic in his way at this hour, but he'd been mobbed by shoppers excited about how dark this Friday was (had it been overcast earlier?) and hurrying from shop to shop.
He tightened his thick wool scarf around his neck and hurried as soon as he broke free from the throng, slowing from the sudden jog in the middle of a gleaming white bridge over a crystalline water feature, an ice palace of some kind. He stopped to have a look around the mall, out over the crowd and the colored snowflakes drifting down onto their heads. "Christmas, huh," he murmured, blinking.
It was a magical paradise that left Sami swimming in a grin. She took a step back away from the bears finally and blinked multi-colored snow off her eyelashes as she twisted her way towards the bridge. Long jagged icicles hung from the water feature, reflecting the soft lights twinkling over the feature.
The shadows were variegated shades of blue, grey and black, stretching from lampposts and the edges of shop facades, statues and the few shoppers who continued to brave the cold and the descending dark rather than go home to a warm room and supper. Blue and grey and black, other Shadows moved along the street.
Did Colt celebrate Christmas? Did Jet? Sergei's ears gave an involuntary twitch, rattling his earrings as he worried over this and whether, after this dark Friday, all Christmas gifts were gone until the following year. Was that how it worked? He squinted at a 50% OFF banner beside a scented candle store for something to confirm or refute his concerns.
The ink of her tattoo twisted and writhed but Sami ignored it. Too often it was the Boy Who Cried Wolf, stretching and pulling at the skin of her back without any real idea of danger. It was RhyDin, after all. Half the people in the crowd were probably criminals or running from something or someone. It didn't mean that any of them were particularly dangerous to her.
Sami came to a sudden stop in her stroll towards the gentle gurgling of the fountain by a screaming toddler who nearly ran over her toe and the child's harried mother who did indeed run over her toe.
"Eesh!" Sergei flattened himself backward against the railing to put himself out of the racing mother and child's path. He turned his head to Sami as he passed her: "You okay?"
Sergei's cry caused a bright peel of laughter from Sami as a hand reached out to steady herself using the railing. "I'm okay, I'm okay. It's a dangerous day."
"I gathered!" he managed through an embarrassed laugh, rubbing the back of his head out of habit. "Take care." He turned away, jogging down to the other end of the bridge over the ice palace while Sami turned to head for the opposite end.
A sudden gust of breeze skirled the snow and set lanterns dotting the mall swinging and creaking on the wires suspending them from eaves. Behind Sami, the holographic bears promised to be home for Christmas and three of the shadows detached themselves from the narrow space between the candle shop and a purveyor of leather goods. As they advanced on their target, another four approached the footbridge from the opposite end.
This time the ink in her back would not be ignored. It wrapped itself painfully around her spine, yanking and tugging at nerve ends until she could go no further. A large green scaled man-lizard behind her huffed at the sudden stop in some foreign tongue as he rounded her to continue for the end of the bridge. Sergei, though, stopped in his tracks as the shadows approached. He took an uncertain step back and looked over his shoulder where four more figures closed in.
The trio fanned out, two moving to flank Sami. Steel slid from oiled leather, the tang and sound unmistakable. Someone screamed a few shops down. The impatient scaled lizard man quickly backed up but it was too late. He and Sergei were trapped. Innocent bystanders who stood between the Shadows and their target.
Sami could feel the twist and pull telling her there were more behind. Her heart plummeted deep and a cool, clammy feeling took over her fingers as they released the handle of the bag, allowing it to plop onto the center of the bridge. A deep breath was drawn in and released with a steadying calm as Sami backed towards the center of the bridge, palms facing out. She wouldn't drop the harmless act. Not until the bitter end.
Sergei backed up to the middle of the bridge as the figures approached, spreading his arms to try and herd the lizard-man behind him. "Who are you? What the hell do you want?"
The span was only wide enough for four or five to stand abreast. It forced them to stagger their advance. Masked and cloaked, each attacker was an inky backdrop to the fall of snow that left the bridge's treads treacherously slick. None of them spoke. Air sliced audibly as the assassin in the lead of the trio twirled the weapon - a show to intimidate as much as to position the pommel for the first move of the coming attack.
Shoppers were running now, away from the mall's courtyard and the moving picture scene unfolding on the bridge. The echoes of their footfalls rebounded strangely between the buildings.
Despite the icicles that clung to the undersides of the bridge, there wasn't even the slightest hint of a dangerous patch on the walkway. That was far too much of a liability for the shopping complex. Stars End technology allowed the icicles to hang as long perfect daggers of ice while the footbridge remained perfectly clear. Was the good footing an advantage or a disadvantage? Sami decided to see it as an advantage since there weren't any other advantages immediately coming to mind. She felt the incline of the bridge in her calves as they reached the center. Her, lizard-man, and the teenager. They were trapped at the arch.
"Stay behind me," Sergei told Sami and the lizard-man, though with the figures coming from both sides that would be quite a task. His hands clenched into fists at his sides, knuckles popping. He was nowhere near his planes or his gear and completely unarmed and surrounded - at the moment, his odds couldn't have looked worse.
"Bun' tyen-shung duh ee-dway'-ro'!" The Reptiloid spat out the curse in Pan-Galactic Common and used his tail for leverage as he flung himself over the railing and into the frigid water. It was a dicey move given his circulatory limitations. The splash when he hit was more panicked than agitated. None of the menacing figures went after him.
The attack came with the splash.
((With thanks to the player behind Sergei and the player behind the ninja attack!))