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Post by Henry Davidson on Apr 23, 2010 22:57:58 GMT -5
The fog rolled in heavy over the waves, veiling the miserable shoreline in an opaque dawning gloom. Placid ocean swell spilled its contents on the beach indiscriminantly, detrius in all its forms littering the sand, from driftwood to jellyfish, plastered like some obtuse maritime paper mache'.
But that was not all that the sea was to give up this morning. A dark figure layed face down on the beach like a carelessly misplaced ragdoll. It was humanoid in shape, but the sea had plastered it with various odds and ends, obscuring most of its features. Sea urchins clung to its ragged, saturated clothing and fiddler crabs skittered about, unsure of what to make of this new being.
A particularly adventurous crustacean started forward, and began scizoring at the thing's outer skin with its claw. Without warning, it stirred. A long insectoid limb burst from its back and extended some seven feet before turning downwards and impaling the unfortunate crab with a scalpel-like pincer. it receded slowly with its prize, through the dark opening between its shoulders before disappearing.
The being stood slowly, stiffly, almost clumsily. Its features became clear in the gloom, as several smaller pincers set about plucking maritime debris from its person. Its face was effectively featureless. There was no mouth, no nose, no ears, Just two inset black orbs for eyes. If anything, it appeared like a white painted wooden mask had been attached instead of a face. it turned about once and set its eyes on the sea that had deposited it and stared blankly, making no motion as the limbs finished their work.
It stood there, motionless, waiting. But for what? It knew not, for how could it? It was a semi-sentient mass of nothing inside a material shell, a Void Elemental.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Apr 23, 2010 23:27:05 GMT -5
There came the sound of some sort of cart rolling over the wooden planking covering the boardwalk and docks of the Ghost Shipyard, a middle aged man in blue janitorial clothes whistling an amiable tune as he pushed the cart that oddly enough carried no cleaning supplies. He half skipped in his gait, not needing any particular reason for he, Hector McFranklin to be in the Ghost Shipyards rather than on the grounds of Twilight Moon Academy. He was the janitor and went where he so did please.
Then he stopped, stock still when his eyes caught sight of a particularly dark smear of oil or whatnot in the ground and he contentedly kept still and observed as a crab was... consumed? Well, that was odd. He watched with piqued interest, "You, there!" he called out, testing the waters with the creature, moving his arms as if he carried a mop and he was cleaning the boards underneath his feet and suprisingly enough there was the sound of sloshing water and a squelching mop as if he really was cleaning... and the dock did certainly look cleaner. This here, THIS, was a magical janitor, of course because this was indeed close to Twilight Moon and was to be expected.
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Post by Henry Davidson on Apr 24, 2010 12:52:06 GMT -5
The thing snapped its head in the man's direction, Its body rigid, as if made of stone. Then, without warning, it pivoted and began moving towards the man stiffly, its movements becoming progressively more fluid, like a machine stirring to life.
It stopped abruptly within arms reach in front of the man, black eyes fixated on his. A bizarre form of speech emanated from it, as if spoken by a chorus of disembodied mouths. "WHO are you?" It asked, raising its arm in an almost robotic motion, hand outstreched.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Apr 24, 2010 22:03:03 GMT -5
"Hector..." the janitor seemed unsure, looking towards the creature that mere moments previously he had intended to clean up, thinking it was a slick of oil or some sort upon the ground. He was at some level mildly disappointed. He held out his hand, grasping the hand-appendage of the creature and moved it tentatively to give a welcoming handshake, "And you are...?" he asked, his voice trailing at the end, the question poised to the unusual creature. His expression showed his tentative demeanor and with his free hand putting his invisible, mimed mop away in his empty cleaning cart.
He was a rather average looking man, bags under his eyes from working late hours and a bit of stubble present on his chin. With his hand freed of his mop, he removed the ball cap from his head and rubbed his wrist against the top of his head, wondering what it was exactly that God, or Orazel, or Mianon or whatever god or gods that there were up there decided to present to him. He hoped nobody would die in this experience.
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Post by Henry Davidson on Apr 24, 2010 22:26:50 GMT -5
The elemental stopped, slowly lowering its arm to its resting position. It stared for several moments, rapidly scanning through its thought stores for a proper response. This went on for almost half a minute before responding in the same disembodied chorus, "I... do NOT know."
It stood there, stock still, madly searching for a relevant strain of thoughts withing the confines of its being, while betraying no hint of its processes. "Who am I?"
It raised its hand in front of its face and rotated it slowly, examining the appendage with its night black eyes, "What am I? Can You tell me?"
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Apr 24, 2010 22:35:00 GMT -5
The janitor crossed his eyes, well... it was better than some kinds of creatures he'd run accross, the kinds that go, 'I am legion, all will be destroyed' and try to murder everything within a hundred mile radius... this situation was many, many times more preferable though it did mean he had something before him that he did not know what it was and it was an inquiry from it that faced him now, asking what it was that it was.
"I cannot..." he said, nodding slowly, "Though someone may know at Twilight Moon if you're willing to go there." he mused, placing his cap back upon his head. He figured that the thing looked like it may be demonic in origin... meaning it would be advisable to ask Shade, Rell, Embrasser, or any other number of teachers at Twilight Moon. "Do you know how you got here?" he asked as if the thing before him was some sort of very, very unusual lost and abandoned child.
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Post by Henry Davidson on Apr 24, 2010 22:50:40 GMT -5
It cocked its head slightly. "Twilight Moon," it repeated in Hector's voice, a perfect imitation. This had a clearly unsettling effect on the Janitor, although It took no notice of this. "Can I go there?" It said, returning to its disembodied chorus.
It met the man's second question by tilting its head in the opposite direction, a mirror image of what it was before. It stood motionless for a few moments before saying, "Nowhere." It was an honest answer, or as honest an answer that could come from a being that does not understand the concept.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Apr 24, 2010 23:01:26 GMT -5
"You can... if you want to and we'll try to get this all sorted out." he offered a reassuring smile before adding the last bit quietly, "Though you might not want to copy people in their voices- it might bother people." it was off putting, he wouldn't deny that but he had experienced and seen and heard many offputting things in his life- the imps would hang around Shade's classroom to make the act of cleaning the room a living hell.
There always was that gargoyle though, which was some sort of godsend. He grabbed ahold of the janitorial cart and looked accross the dank and dreary Ghost Shipyard, "Do you want to go to Twilight Moon?" Yeah, it would likely be best to keep this one away from Rell or the imps as he could see dangers in either situation. Shade would likely be safest as apathy was preferable to the ambition of one and the insanity of the other.
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Post by Henry Davidson on Apr 24, 2010 23:20:29 GMT -5
It stood for a moment and then started forward. Even on the hardwood of the dock its footsteps made no noise. It followed than man closely, accurately coppying his gait so as to remain behind him. It stared blankly ahead, seemingly oblivious to all but the act of following.
A lone seagull allighted on a nearby rock, and the thing stopped abruptly and turned its gaze towards it. It stood motionless, carefully observing the sea bird. It eased its stance, carefully assessing the distance between it and the bird. Without warning, an insectoid pincer shot from the opening on its back and siezed the hapless bird from its pirch in its vice like claw and quickly receded back into the opening on its back.
The creature then simply turned, and settled back into Hector's gait, stopping just short of the Janitor.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Apr 24, 2010 23:39:39 GMT -5
He felt it, inside he felt it... it wasn't the loss of life, it was the... eradication of it- it just dissapeared. He glanced towards the creature, "Be careful who you do that to." he mentioned, "Anything sentient is best left alone." he unintentionally walked a bit faster, wanting to be rid of the thing, "I'm thinking that I'll call you Doyle." he stated, "if you find the name to be to your liking." it was a name that meant 'Dark Foreigner' and as he had no idea what this thing was or where it was from, and it seemed to enjoy absorbing living things then the name was rather fitting but if it did not like being called that then he could just refer to it as 'That thing' or 'Hey, you remember that amorphous blob of nothing?' Yeah, he could see that working out well.
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Post by Henry Davidson on Apr 25, 2010 19:35:14 GMT -5
It matched the janitors pace again. Quietly storing his words away. "Why?" it asked from nowhere in particular. "What is sentient?" it said, the last word emanating in Hector's voice.
If the creature now named Doyle was capable of understanding philosophy, it would have realized how profound its question was. It was like a child asking where babies come from; one of the most vital questions in life had just placed the first domino. Nobody could have guessed at how important Hector's answer would be.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Apr 26, 2010 20:41:24 GMT -5
"Sentient... is the ability to understand the relation of one being to itself and other beings over the span of time and distance." he tentatively defined the word, looking towards Doyle hoping he would understand. "Another trait of sentience it the feeling and expressing of emotion." he pushed the cart along till they came to a line of white paint on the docks and he strode out onto it, the empty air over the water supporting his weight, "It's safe to walk here, but be careful because you wouldn't want to fall in. Follow closely behind so you don't lose your.. footing." he was unsure that the creature would be bound by a center of gravity but that didn't necessarily matter at this moment, "Once you get there though, you'll be asked why you're there. I'd suggest you tell them you're a student so you don't get into trouble."
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Post by Henry Davidson on Apr 27, 2010 15:37:22 GMT -5
The Creature followed without a word. It silently pondered the janitor's words, attempting to interpret the definition. "Are you sentient?" it asked after a long period of time on the invisible walkway. It patiently awaited an answer. "Am I sentient?" It asked after a few moments.
It silently scanned the fog ahead, barely able to make out a great, mountainous object in the distance. "It appears we have arrived.
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Post by Señor Sunday Friday on Apr 29, 2010 5:38:34 GMT -5
"Yes, I'm sentient and yes, you're sentient." the second statement was a guess because it seemed to very much be that Doyle was indeed a sentient thing though the emotionlessness was a bit unusual but there were traumatized people who acted very much the same so it was his own mind that was very much a possibility. "And most bipedal primates are also sentient." he looked up at he shadows of Twilight Moon Academy as the fog peeled away, "You'll need to pick out some classes that I'll sign you up for so under scrutiny you'll stand up while we say you're a student. First choice is Music, History, or Potionry. Second is Holy, Flare, or Summoning. Third is Dragoon, Samurai, or Thievery. Fourth is Puppetmaster or Survival." he explained, looking towards Doyle for a moment. He was a very unusual person, but there were others who arrived at Twilight Moon who were also strange.
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Post by Ladd Russo of the Russo Family on Apr 29, 2010 19:13:54 GMT -5
(I thoroughly enjoy your character, Davidson. I cannot wait to have a chance to role play with you. By the way, this was my first thought when you described your character. i40.tinypic.com/28012sk.jpg Yeah, I realize that he probably is a bit less disturbing, especially about the mouth area. Nevertheless, I am intrigued. The Rell and Embrasser Li-wa mentioned are mine, and I am Nekozawa, nice to meet you. ^^)
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