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 Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:11 pm
Caelan stepped into the odd building, hands in his pockets. He wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to do. He observed the building insides, and subconsciously began strategizing an escape plan. His trigger finger began tensing, and Caelan stopped himself.
Stop it. This isn't an ambush. You're not in the military anymore.
Caelan looked up, and walked to the edge of the courtyard, inspecting everyone on the inside. Generally, they were all shorter than him except for one man, he stood a few inches taller than Caelan. Caelan sized him up for a moment, then began searching through the crowd, looking for any other possible threats.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 4:25 pm
Rim was just about finished with his cursory inspection of the building, when a petite woman who looked about the same age as him walked in from a hallway to his right. She was cleaning her glasses, but put them back on once she noticed him, and gave him a wave. Rim smiled and nodded, lifting a hand in acknowledgment.
Maybe she knows what's supposed to happen now, he thought. When no other option immediately presented itself, he took off at an easy pace toward her, his hands in his pockets.
"Hey," he said as he approached, "Are you new here, too?" He stopped a few feet from her. He had to look down to directly speak to her, but there weren't many people who didn't meet that criteria.
Up close he could see that she was dressed practically, a quality he admired, and had shiny hair that looked near the same color as his but with streaks. Her eyes were almond shaped, and it was easy to tell that she was some kind of Asian.
Just as he spoke to her, another man walked in, slightly shorter than himself. Rim's puzzle-centric mind immediately hooked on this man as Interesting. The way he carried himself suggested some martial arts or military training. Though he still stood toward the lady, he kept an eye on the man, and could see him sizing up the place. His eyes rested on Rim for a beat longer than others, then moved on to other people.
Rim returned his attention to the woman, but made sure that guy was in his peripheral.
(( EDIT: @ Cloud: Oh, actually, I just assumed they were almond-shape, but your profile doesn't actually say that. If I got it wrong, just say and I'll edit it. ))
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:47 pm
"Yeah," Adriane admitted. "It's kind of unnerving, not knowing what's going to happen next. Exciting at the same time though." Now that he was closer to her, she saw just as how much taller he was than her, and that his eyes were a deep gold colour. They were actually quite interesting to look at, although she refrained from staring into them.
Wouldn't do me much good to freak him out.
His eyes wandered for a few moments, and Adriane followed his gaze. There was another man, she noted, only this one had brown hair and pale skin.
Doesn't get much sleep, maybe? Can't blame him. I haven't been able to sleep well lately either.
As the first man looked back at her, she focused on him again. Tugging on her ponytail, she asked, "So, what's your name? I'm Adriane."
((It's fine. I never really thought about the shape of her eyes, but given her ethnic background, they're likely almond-shaped.))
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 6:49 pm
-{Simon Course}-
Already, people were beginning to socialize, not knowing what was supposed to happen here. There weren't many of them (the number had grown to ten now) in the courtyard, but for such an odd place there weren't too many people there. He started as he saw someone walk out of one of...the walls? Looking closer, he saw that there were doors here and there that weren't immediately visible, perhaps entrances to more private sections of the Guild. The place was quite eccentric, after all.
He heard a commotion up a flight of stairs off to the side, two men walking down the stairs and a woman slipping to the base to meet them. One disappeared into the few people moving about, but the other pulled out a thin pair of glasses and slipped them onto his eyes, peering around at the newcomers with an appraising eye. Simon got a bad feeling from him, not so much that there was something wrong with him, but that he was the kind to care more about his interests than others. Modern-day scientists, really. Not so nice.
As nothing was happening there, he moved along. Sensing a person move past, his presence jarring, he turned towards the man - a tall, military-esque rough guy who didn't seem to be totally comfortable here. How could anyone be?
The next figure that drew his attention was actually a pair of people talking, or just starting to. That seemed like something he could deal with at least. Slipping up to them he nodded politely to both, speaking softly. "Hello there. Ah...more new people? Do you know what's going on, exactly? I know we were supposed to meet here, but it's almost three and that's when the meeting should start."
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 7:29 pm
"Rim," he replied, extending a hand. "It's a pleasure."
Just then, another man that Rim hadn't noticed walked over.
"Hello there." He spoke so soft that Rim had stepped a little closer just to hear. "Ah...more new people? Do you know what's going on, exactly? I know we were supposed to meet here, but it's almost three and that's when the meeting should start."
Rim frowned and looked around again, trying to see someone in charge. Nothing tipping him off, he looked back down and smiled. "We're just as in the dark as you are, my friend."
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:10 pm
Adriane shook the hand that was held out. "Same here."
She noticed another man approaching them, one who was (thankfully) closer to her height.
"I'm afraid so," she agreed, after listening to Rim's reply. "And here I was, hoping someone else would know something." She shrugged. "Guess we wait until something happens. Might as well get to know each other until then."
Pointing at herself, she said, "My name's Adriane. That's--" she gestured to Rim "--Rim. Hope you don't mind me stealing your introduction, by the way."
She paused. "What's your name?" She then glanced around the courtyard to see if anything was happening. As far as she could tell though, nothing was, so she looked back at the stranger.
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Posted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:35 pm
-{Simon Course}-
Simon looked over the two who had just introduced themselves...or something like that, since Adriane had introduced the both of them. "Hello Adriane, hello Rim. I'm Simon. --Simon Course." He added the last part after a momentary awkward pause on his own part and spoke it a little louder, realizing he had been speaking in quite a low voice. "Looks like nothing then, yet...or?"
Turning towards a side of the courtyard, he saw two people there, setting up a circle of chairs. Sixteen folding chairs, so there would still be enough if anyone new came, were quickly set out on the short grass-and-stone of the courtyard floor and two of the men and a woman sat down in them. They were talking quickly to each other, and the one who had glasses, the man he had seen earlier, looked distraught and tired. These people didn't feel exactly...there, could he say? Looking at the chairs, he noticed that the faded, translucent grass that everyone could supposedly see was more visible in the rough area there, a little more real. What were these people?
"Is it just me, or do things look a little - different - around those people? I trust you can see that transparent field too?" He made a sharp gesture towards them, pointing them out. They must be major members of the Guild. So this is it, then.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 6:30 pm
<< Okay, bumping this but also voicing an OOC comment. I've seen 4 people join in so far, Aphrodite still hasn't posted and the last acceptee was just brought in (another guy, but pretty different from the other profiles).
That said, the plot is starting to move. Should I go ahead and bring things forward shortly, or wait for the other two people...though I hope the latter of the two will post soon. Thoughts? I'd like to start chapter 1 asap. :] >>
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 7:00 pm
{{Just a quick question. Wheres the subscribe to topic button so I can check for replies easily?}}
He remembered it well. It was January 10th; Kurz was sitting in the living room of his apartment reading Odd Hours by Dean Koontz when it happened. It had never happened before, but it had happened again afterwards; Kurz saw things, some strange, others fairly normal but not something you want to see. All of them had one thing in common though, he shouldn't be seeing them. At first he thought he had gone to sleep, but eventually realized he was awake.
A couple days later it happened again, this time at work. At the time he just did secretarial work, mostly accounting related. It was low level grunt work but it paid the bills. He didn't have that job anymore, his boss thought he as crazy, and Kurz almost agreed with him. A few hundred down the drain in psychiatrists later and Kurz was here in this strange building, called by people who said he wasn't crazy; he wasn't hallucinating.
Kurz walked down the hallway to a courtyard where a few other people were standing around. It seemed like any other conference or other get together but something seemed different. Maybe it was the building, probably the people. Something told him there was something different about them. Of course nothing about his situation was normal. As he walked into the courtyard he looked around at the various people, lit a cigarette and waited for something to happen.
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Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2008 10:23 pm
((Maybe go ahead with the speech, but wait for Aphrodite before moving on then?
GhostBirdofPrey > I don't think there is a subscribe option for guild threads.))
Adriane peered in the direction Simon gestured to. There were two men and one women, sitting, and they looked fairly worn out. Looking closely, she could see that Simon was right--something was off about the area around them. It was something that Adriane had grown accustomed to over the past while, and seeing it again here gave her a stronger belief in that she would find the answers as to what was happening. No matter how nervous she had been and still was, she definitely wanted to be a part of this now.
"You're right. They look busy. Think they're some of the experienced members?"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw yet another person enter the courtyard. She turned her head slightly to get a better look, and mentally cheered when it was finally someone shorter than her. Briefly, she wondered if she should wave to him before deciding that once was enough. Rim was bound to think something was wrong with her if she acknowledged everyone right away. Instead, she redirected her gaze back to Simon and Rim and smiled.
"Well, should we go up to them and ask if they know anything, or just wait here and see what happens?" she asked.
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 6:08 pm
<< Okay, I'm going to move on, putting pauses in the speech for people to do stuff between what may end up being a wall o' text. Please forgive a little powerplaying on my part at this time, as I'm going to be assuming everyone follows instructions so as to make things much simpler. Also, this post will be spread over a pair of posts for organizational reasons.>>
-{Simon Course}-
"Well, it might be-" He was cut off promptly as one of the three stood up (the woman) and shouted in a surprisingly loud voice. "Anybody new - which means you people in the courtyard - come over here and sit down! We've got some stuff to go over." She stopped for breath, clearly debating whether or not to add to that, but decided not to and sat down while the man without glasses gave her a pat on the back as she caught her breath. "Phew. That should do it."
As people began sitting down, the man with glasses stood up and Simon got a better look at him as he picked up a clipboard and began looking at the people who were moving towards the chairs. When everyone was seated, he stood stock-still, the air around him practically shimmering as he slipped his gaze over each person in turn with a precise and appraising eye. "Very well, let us begin."
[+-- End Chapter 0: Gathering --+]
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 7:34 pm
Kurz chuckled a little bit as the man who had gotten up had been interrupted immediately by someone else. At her behest, he came and sat down. He had gotten a letter and been asked to come here and, while it was somewhat interesting, Kurz still didn't know much about what was going on.
He did suspect a few things though. He had recieved the letter after he had started seeing things and that combined with the vauge contents of the letter seemed to indicate the two were related. He had also heard some rumors about this Historians Guild thing being involved in some wierd stuff. He suspected that wierd stuff also had something to do with what he saw, otherwise why would they contact him about it. Wht he saw was sometimes just as wierd as the rumors so it did seem to fit. Beyond rumor though, he still had no clue what he had been seeing or what this Historians Guild are.
He took another drag from his cigarette as he waited for someone to explain just exactly why he, and all those other people, were here.
{{fixed}}
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:01 pm
<< @Ghost - I mentioned earlier, it's a circle of chairs. So no front row. >>
Begin Chapter 1: Footsteps
-{Simon Course}-
Simon moved over to a chair and sat down, having been cut off. The people had taken an edge of the circle, so every chair now faced the man standing, who was clearly about to say something. As he sat down, he heard the main speak and looked at him appraisingly.
The man had slipped on robes as he was walking down earlier, oddly enough, which seemed to be something completely ridiculous. But that feeling from earlier was largely gone now - this man seemed incredibly, gravely serious. He had wrapped around his wrist a silver chain, and from it he procured a silver pocketwatch, spinning it around until it rested in his right hand, making a loud beep. He took a quick nod to the other two members and tapped a thin wooden case under his chair, pulling it out with his foot. Who is this guy? I can tell he's a member, but...robes? Even if he does look pretty natural in them.
It took only a few moments from there to realize that the man looked strange from that angle, as if he was only partly there though he was in the real world. He seemed to draw the echo around him subtly, the ground he was standing on unclear and twisted between the stone-and-grass of the Guild and the pure grass of the echo.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling, the man stood by his chair and looked over the new recruits. "Welcome."
"We are people who have seen the differences in this world, who have seen the changes that are slowly slipping into it. Others have called each and every one crazy, I am sure, and perhaps for good reason. It would perhaps be better to go crazy than to face whatever the final fate of this world may be.
I would like to assure you of a few things. The first is that these images are very, very real. We have called them "the echo," as they are an echo of our world as far as we can tell, since the water bodies are in roughly the same place. However, there are many differences, some of which are extremely dangerous. Someone else will get to that, and later. But there are a few things historical you need to know.
At the end of December, a little-known artist, scholar, and immigrant to Russia disappeared without a trace. This would normally bear no concern, except that he wrote in his diaries a very accurate rendition of the images all of you have seen, and weeks before. It is likely that he was...the first for it to happen to. But we know that it is spreading, and it now covers the entire world, lightly. If it becomes strong enough to pull our world into it, practically all the Earth will disappear, swept up into this. We have estimated mortality rates at 99.95%.
With that out of the way, allow me to introduce myself. I am Seralthein - Serr - Genesis, founder of this Historian's Guild and its current administrator. I ask that you, as people who can witness what is happening to our world, help us stop it."
Genesis trailed off to judge the reactions of his listeners. It looked to Simon that he was going to say more, but he was in too much of a shock to say anything. His mind was spinning, trying to grasp this fact - this was serious, apparently. Not insanity...but the end of the world?
He wasn't sure how to react - ridicule, anger, fear, or awe?
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Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 10:15 pm
Rim turned slightly as he listened to the woman up front, then turned back to Adriana and Simon, his eyebrow slightly raised. "Guess that solves that mystery."
His hand twitched slightly in a gesture meant to mean something like, 'Well, let's see what happens,' and proceeded to the seats.
After a beat of deliberation, he sat in the chair next to Simon in the circle. His bottom had barely touched the chair when the man with glasses began speaking.
Rim's first thought was, A robe? Either this guy gets way too comfortable at work, or this is the most interesting job I have ever taken, but then he really started listening to what he was saying, and realized this man was very, very serious. Rim had only ever seen bits and pieces of that othe-- the Echo, and once he moved to the North Pole, it was rare that he caught even a small glimpse of it. So, largely, he ignored it. Could it really be that important?
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Posted: Sun Oct 12, 2008 8:50 am
In the other seat next to Rim, Adriane blinked at the man's attire.
Um, okay, she thought. However, what grabbed her attention immediately afterwards was that something about the man was very strange, as if he weren't fully there. It was like what she had seen earlier, and it made feel like staring at the man, yet it also made her want to avoid him and look away. The nervousness inside grew.
Once the man finished speaking though, the nervousness was quickly replaced by incredulity. A number of thoughts ran through Adriane's head, and in the end, she settled for, "...What?"
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