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+--- Thread: White as Snow (/showthread.php?tid=392)
White as Snow - Kurusu Akira - 05-19-2014
Abbot couldn't help being surprised. After all, the way he'd been ripped from the middle of Fort Trinity and confronted with something calling itself "Omni" wasn't exactly normal. Then the landscape faded and changed, and Abbot Pence found himself standing in the ankle-deep water of a fountain. "Omni! What do you want from me? What do you mean, waiting?" Predictable, the higher power that had pulled him here hadn't deigned to answer, so Abbot decided to fall back on the tried-and-true method of exploring the world with his own two feet. Step one was to get out of the fountain, which he accomplished without much incident, only to find that the entirety of the world seemed to consist of the cobblestones immediately surrounding that fountain, followed by blank space and a variety of doors a good walk away from his current location.
The Pact Commander squinted his eyes, peering at each of the eight portals in the air in turn. Only two seemed to be occupied. One had a bunch of people trying to be subtle, and mostly succeeding; Abbot would never have seen them if one hadn't tripped over something and hit the ground hard. The other had men in uniforms standing around looking vigilant. Abbot took stock of himself next, berating himself for not doing that sooner. The myriad knives he usually kept on his person were gone, as were the smoke bombs, poison vials, specialty arrowheads... there was a lot of weaponry missing. However, his rapier, custom made by Pact smith Bonetti, was still strapped to his waist, and his hands found a lump of crystal in the depths of his coat sleeves that revealed itself to be his Zenith Bow. "That's good. These are really all I need. Other stuff's nice and all, but I can use these best anyway."
Abbot flipped his hood back, revealing snow-white hair that hung just past his ears. He'd need to trim it back soon so that it didn't get in the way. Rolling his shoulders back, he decided that he'd try his luck with the guarded gate to... the west? There wasn't a sun here, but something about the direction felt... westerly. He wasn't a navigator, but he'd operate under the delusion he was right until proven otherwise. He set off at a run, relishing in the opportunity to stretch his legs and use one of the skills that made him the fighter he was. He didn't run as fast as he could, but he kept up the fastest pace he could maintain over a distance. The trip took a decent chunk of time; as a walk, it would've taken two hours, but he covered the distance in half that, only just starting to breathe hard from the exertion when he reached the outpost and was stopped by a white-armored guard with a rifle and an upraised hand.
Abbot held up his own hand in greeting, but if the soldier was affected by the gesture he didn't show it. "Are you a new Prime?" Abbot shrugged. "Prime? Guess so, if that's what you call people here. Omni wasn't too generous with answers." The trooper nodded. "Primes are people that Omni summoned here. You can use Omnilium. Secondaries are people that Primes summon, and we can't." Abbot internalized the information and gave a slight bow of the head to the soldier. "Thank you, sir. That's very helpful." Abbot thought he heard something resembling a single chuckle from inside the man's helmet. "Just doing my job. I'm afraid I'll need your name. We have to keep records of comings and goings, especially of new Primes." Abbot shook his head with a grin. "No trouble at all. My name is Abbot Pence, Commander of the Pact forces at Fort Trinity." The soldier took down his name, though he showed no recognition of the title. "A commander, eh? If you want to resume your former trade, you'll need to join the armed forces and work up from scratch, but that shouldn't be too hard for a Prime. Especially not one with battle experience."
"That sounds like a good place to start," Abbot replied. The soldier was ready with directions, and told Abbot to look for a man by the name of Dredd. He pulled out a rectangular device much like Asuran readout displays and produced a picture. The man pictured was impressive, to say the least. The way he held himself, even in a picture, bespoke command and authority. He left Abbot with one more piece of advice; "Coruscant is divided into tiers. The lower you go, the less rule the law has. Stick to the upper tiers if you value your safety. There's a lot of hazards down below." Abbot nodded his gratitude and strode towards the gate as the troopers behind him returned to watching the white expanse of the Nexus.