10-13-2015, 08:08 PM
Sweet smoke curled through the thin white skies of the Nexus and billowed in dense clouds of sickly scents into the blank skies of the verse. Tendrils of it swirled up into Alex's lungs as he breathed in deeply and burned invisible holes of foreshadowed diseases there. The rich benignant cigar smoke eddied coolly down his throat; he puffed it out again in rings which breasted the air bravely for a moment; blue, circular then began to wobble into hour-glass shapes and taper away; odd shapes they take, he thought. He took a deep drag and exhaled the smoke into the air once more, watching it disappear in the white abyss above his head. Slowly, gradually, he indulged in the taste and in the varying shades of smoke which offered themselves to him as the motor of the cycle spewed out its own brand of tumescent air. Decidedly, there was simply no leisure that was not unhealthy in some way or another, not in this world or another.
In that moment, as he continued to ride ahead towards the Pale Moors in what was too straight a line to require any real focus, he let himself wonder to poetry. He remembered Alice, that sweet kid, back when she was going through her angst ridden phase. All teenagers had one - he thought - at least he remembered having one of his own. Nevertheless, for some reason he never truly understood, on one night she brought him a poem. She wanted him to read it and tell her what he thought. At the time, he didn't know what to say and - thinking he'd have forever to go back on it - he never really bothered to have another conversation on the matter. Things had moved on. But now that, he thought, he would not be seeing her again anytime soon, his mind drifted back to it.
He chuckled in melancholy as the words he'd - by now - known by heart finished rolling through his mind in the way he imagined the young woman would pronounce them were she ever to read the poem aloud herself. In the end, even after four cycles, all he could think about was this little bit... but - failing telling her in person - he felt he would at least say it aloud once. He'd done so, in fact, to the data block he'd planned to give her on her eleventh cycle... shit, Alice's eleventh cycle. She was going to be an adult soon, and he was going to miss it because some punk ass deity decided to just warp him ever to weirdo land. He dug through his pockets to see if the data block was still there and - to his surprise, seeing as the items he'd stored within his pendant had to this point refused to show - it was, indeed, still there. Perhaps out of melancholy, or perhaps out of boredom seeing as he was driving through the proverbial equivalent of a blank canvas on his way to some hole in the wall, he decided to set it up on the handle of his bike and press play. It was weird, very weird even, to see yourself in a three dimensional hologram - perhaps weirder than it was seeing yourself on video, Alex didn't know since his birth did not predate the technology - but for some reason hearing his own voice being fed through the device did not appear to bother him. Some words just ran through perfectly regardless of the way through which they came.
"Hey Alice. If you're hearing this, it means it's your eleventh cycle. I recorded this a little while back so I might've already caved in and told you what I'm about to say but... heck, I still had to hand this to you." At that, Alex couldn't help but cringe a little bit, then offer a light chuckle. He'd recorded this still hungover from a night out celebrating the first military base successfully taken down by the Raven's Abyss, so he was not in perfect shape, but he was afraid he'd forget to do it otherwise. "...when you gave me that poem to read... I don't know if you remember it. Heck, I didn't know what to say at the time and just bringing it back might be a bit cringe worthy seeing as you're not in that phase anymore but... I finally figured out what I wanted to say about it so I thought I'd just say it right now... so sit down and brace for it 'cause it's probably gonna be kinda pathetic." He sighed and ruffled his own hair as he saw this. God, he really needed to make a new data block if he ever got around to returning to his world. "That poem. It was good. Great even. Pretty deep considering you were eight cycles old when you wrote it. I was shocked really. It was deep. I mean... I couldn't relate or anything - never felt that way about a person - but your words were good enough to make you understand the feelings that were on the page, you know? I hope that was the intent..." The hologram Alex and the real Alex both had the reflex of coughing into their fist at this point. He just wasn't that good at speeches at the time, he knew this. "I didn't know what to say then 'cause... well, it was a bit awkward, y'know? I mean... I was afraid those words were aimed at me- God this is fucking awkward to say..." Alex, the real one, smiled faintly at this, but the hologram on his part was awkwardly scratching the back of his head, looking away. "We're like... ten cycles apart, you know? I thought what we had going on was more of a... family kind of vibe. That poem shook that belief. I know, that's fucking stupid... it took me a while to realize how fucking poorly I interpreted that." The real Alex chuckled lightly as the hologram approached and leaned forward, extending a hand and patting him on the head. It was a bit weird to have his holographic hand stroke his own hair but, that was the way he'd intended it to be when he would give it to Alice. "Anyway, that's what I thought about your poem and why I didn't say anything at the time. Happy eleventh cycle, Alice! That means you're legally an adult! There's three hundred Kors and some change in this data block, don't spend it all on your first drinking night or you're gonna have a killer hangover... So... yeah. Have a good one." With that, the hologram faded, and Alex put the data block back into his pocket. Just in time too, as he had just arrived at the gate. Funny how convenient timing had a way of working itself out in his life...
Steering himself so he would be perpendicular to the gate, he tried to peer inside. Funny; from up close the gate to the Pale Moors was a lot, and that's not an exaggeration, a lot less inviting than from afar. What didn't help was how blurry the interior seemed to be. Not to mention that within ten seconds of observation, he could not help but hear what seemed to be a dragon's roar. At that point, images of the Dreadmore which had killed his close friend Raven ran through his mind and his eyes narrowed bitterly. Synchronously, Raven's words to the remnants of the Raven's Abyss crew rung through his mind in their usual paraphrase. "Don't worry, Alex will take care of everything, it'll all be alright soon." That was enough to make Alex grind his teeth in frustration and slam his fist against the top of his bike. "Guess I shat on that promise you made the others, huh Raven? I don't even know where the hell I am right now..." With that said, Alex focused his eyes on the gate to the pale moors once more. It was exactly at that moment that whatever monster - he continued to assume it was a bloody dragon because, at this point, why would there not be a dragon on the other side of that portal - decided to roar anew even louder than it had before. "Yeah No, That's not a dragon, that's a nopefish. A nopefish from the never gonna go there river and I'm just gonna start assuming that gate leads to screwthatistan." He thought to himself, having the mental presence - or simply having recovered from the forced silence Omni pushed upon him earlier - to keep that string of thought to himself.
Now that the concept of choosing a gate through common sense had proven fruitless, and seeing as he was unwilling to drive to each gate one after another until he found the one that was most pleasant, he decided to take off his pendant and chuck it in the air. Whatever direction the pendant would point, he would head there no questions asked. The logic was sound enough; it saved him the problem of making a decision, it meant he could blame whatever happened next on dumb luck, and he would not have to worry about the next gate. Why not worry? Simple logic really; if the next gate looked more pleasant, it was a no brainer that he should enter it. If the next gate looked just as unpleasant, nothing pointed to the possibility that the other gates would not be just as unpleasant and - in the end - trying to go for third place would just be wasting his time in the grand scheme of things. He was already a little over twenty two cycles old, he did not have time to waste on riding along the Nexus picking a gate. At least the eighty miles per hour this bike allowed him to go at definitely beat a walking pace, so he did not have to worry about the procedure of getting to the next gate taking two to four hours depending on the direction. By simple math - considering the average walking pace is of three miles per hour - it would take him a little over 4 minutes to get to another gate if it was close by and a little less than ten minutes to cross the nexus.
As luck would have it, his next destination was the Endless Dunes. Somehow, that actually seemed like a pleasant destination - just by the looks of things, since he had no way of knowing what the place was actually like - in contrast with his current location. "Alright Lady Luck. Alright. I let you pick, this one's on me." He uttered in an effort to build his confidence somewhat and headed in that direction.
The drive, as expected, was much shorter than his first. In fact, in his anticipation, Alex had little time to think about the situation he was in at all, more focused on what he would be meeting once he entered this gate. He would finally be leaving this white abyss of featureless terrain that - if we were going to be completely honest - was so bland and blank that he feared it might very well be driving him slowly but surely towards his own little personal pit of madness. He'd even begun humming to himself just to actually get a vague sense that something was going on around here. He was about halfway through highway to hell when he finally made it, and this time, rather than peek into the arch way, he simply drove right through. It was time to see what this world had in store for him.
In that moment, as he continued to ride ahead towards the Pale Moors in what was too straight a line to require any real focus, he let himself wonder to poetry. He remembered Alice, that sweet kid, back when she was going through her angst ridden phase. All teenagers had one - he thought - at least he remembered having one of his own. Nevertheless, for some reason he never truly understood, on one night she brought him a poem. She wanted him to read it and tell her what he thought. At the time, he didn't know what to say and - thinking he'd have forever to go back on it - he never really bothered to have another conversation on the matter. Things had moved on. But now that, he thought, he would not be seeing her again anytime soon, his mind drifted back to it.
Why do you only come around when you wanna feel high?
Saying I'm your drug, pulling my skin between your lips like a cheap cigarette
A few minutes of heaven for you to forget everything, all the songs of pain you created
And I hold on to the hope that maybe
You began regretting every breath you took,
Every moment wasted on a cheap cigarette
Because the thought of you hating me,
Your hands built to torture me,
Is much easier to swallow than the idea that maybe you loved me,
You could not have felt anything towards me because
I am a disgrace, a fuck up
I'm completely out of luck
I am another thing for you to regret,
I'm nothing more than your cheap cigarette,
And that's why you only came around when to lie,
You only showed up when you wanted to feel high.
Saying I'm your drug, pulling my skin between your lips like a cheap cigarette
A few minutes of heaven for you to forget everything, all the songs of pain you created
And I hold on to the hope that maybe
You began regretting every breath you took,
Every moment wasted on a cheap cigarette
Because the thought of you hating me,
Your hands built to torture me,
Is much easier to swallow than the idea that maybe you loved me,
You could not have felt anything towards me because
I am a disgrace, a fuck up
I'm completely out of luck
I am another thing for you to regret,
I'm nothing more than your cheap cigarette,
And that's why you only came around when to lie,
You only showed up when you wanted to feel high.
He chuckled in melancholy as the words he'd - by now - known by heart finished rolling through his mind in the way he imagined the young woman would pronounce them were she ever to read the poem aloud herself. In the end, even after four cycles, all he could think about was this little bit... but - failing telling her in person - he felt he would at least say it aloud once. He'd done so, in fact, to the data block he'd planned to give her on her eleventh cycle... shit, Alice's eleventh cycle. She was going to be an adult soon, and he was going to miss it because some punk ass deity decided to just warp him ever to weirdo land. He dug through his pockets to see if the data block was still there and - to his surprise, seeing as the items he'd stored within his pendant had to this point refused to show - it was, indeed, still there. Perhaps out of melancholy, or perhaps out of boredom seeing as he was driving through the proverbial equivalent of a blank canvas on his way to some hole in the wall, he decided to set it up on the handle of his bike and press play. It was weird, very weird even, to see yourself in a three dimensional hologram - perhaps weirder than it was seeing yourself on video, Alex didn't know since his birth did not predate the technology - but for some reason hearing his own voice being fed through the device did not appear to bother him. Some words just ran through perfectly regardless of the way through which they came.
"Hey Alice. If you're hearing this, it means it's your eleventh cycle. I recorded this a little while back so I might've already caved in and told you what I'm about to say but... heck, I still had to hand this to you." At that, Alex couldn't help but cringe a little bit, then offer a light chuckle. He'd recorded this still hungover from a night out celebrating the first military base successfully taken down by the Raven's Abyss, so he was not in perfect shape, but he was afraid he'd forget to do it otherwise. "...when you gave me that poem to read... I don't know if you remember it. Heck, I didn't know what to say at the time and just bringing it back might be a bit cringe worthy seeing as you're not in that phase anymore but... I finally figured out what I wanted to say about it so I thought I'd just say it right now... so sit down and brace for it 'cause it's probably gonna be kinda pathetic." He sighed and ruffled his own hair as he saw this. God, he really needed to make a new data block if he ever got around to returning to his world. "That poem. It was good. Great even. Pretty deep considering you were eight cycles old when you wrote it. I was shocked really. It was deep. I mean... I couldn't relate or anything - never felt that way about a person - but your words were good enough to make you understand the feelings that were on the page, you know? I hope that was the intent..." The hologram Alex and the real Alex both had the reflex of coughing into their fist at this point. He just wasn't that good at speeches at the time, he knew this. "I didn't know what to say then 'cause... well, it was a bit awkward, y'know? I mean... I was afraid those words were aimed at me- God this is fucking awkward to say..." Alex, the real one, smiled faintly at this, but the hologram on his part was awkwardly scratching the back of his head, looking away. "We're like... ten cycles apart, you know? I thought what we had going on was more of a... family kind of vibe. That poem shook that belief. I know, that's fucking stupid... it took me a while to realize how fucking poorly I interpreted that." The real Alex chuckled lightly as the hologram approached and leaned forward, extending a hand and patting him on the head. It was a bit weird to have his holographic hand stroke his own hair but, that was the way he'd intended it to be when he would give it to Alice. "Anyway, that's what I thought about your poem and why I didn't say anything at the time. Happy eleventh cycle, Alice! That means you're legally an adult! There's three hundred Kors and some change in this data block, don't spend it all on your first drinking night or you're gonna have a killer hangover... So... yeah. Have a good one." With that, the hologram faded, and Alex put the data block back into his pocket. Just in time too, as he had just arrived at the gate. Funny how convenient timing had a way of working itself out in his life...
Steering himself so he would be perpendicular to the gate, he tried to peer inside. Funny; from up close the gate to the Pale Moors was a lot, and that's not an exaggeration, a lot less inviting than from afar. What didn't help was how blurry the interior seemed to be. Not to mention that within ten seconds of observation, he could not help but hear what seemed to be a dragon's roar. At that point, images of the Dreadmore which had killed his close friend Raven ran through his mind and his eyes narrowed bitterly. Synchronously, Raven's words to the remnants of the Raven's Abyss crew rung through his mind in their usual paraphrase. "Don't worry, Alex will take care of everything, it'll all be alright soon." That was enough to make Alex grind his teeth in frustration and slam his fist against the top of his bike. "Guess I shat on that promise you made the others, huh Raven? I don't even know where the hell I am right now..." With that said, Alex focused his eyes on the gate to the pale moors once more. It was exactly at that moment that whatever monster - he continued to assume it was a bloody dragon because, at this point, why would there not be a dragon on the other side of that portal - decided to roar anew even louder than it had before. "Yeah No, That's not a dragon, that's a nopefish. A nopefish from the never gonna go there river and I'm just gonna start assuming that gate leads to screwthatistan." He thought to himself, having the mental presence - or simply having recovered from the forced silence Omni pushed upon him earlier - to keep that string of thought to himself.
Now that the concept of choosing a gate through common sense had proven fruitless, and seeing as he was unwilling to drive to each gate one after another until he found the one that was most pleasant, he decided to take off his pendant and chuck it in the air. Whatever direction the pendant would point, he would head there no questions asked. The logic was sound enough; it saved him the problem of making a decision, it meant he could blame whatever happened next on dumb luck, and he would not have to worry about the next gate. Why not worry? Simple logic really; if the next gate looked more pleasant, it was a no brainer that he should enter it. If the next gate looked just as unpleasant, nothing pointed to the possibility that the other gates would not be just as unpleasant and - in the end - trying to go for third place would just be wasting his time in the grand scheme of things. He was already a little over twenty two cycles old, he did not have time to waste on riding along the Nexus picking a gate. At least the eighty miles per hour this bike allowed him to go at definitely beat a walking pace, so he did not have to worry about the procedure of getting to the next gate taking two to four hours depending on the direction. By simple math - considering the average walking pace is of three miles per hour - it would take him a little over 4 minutes to get to another gate if it was close by and a little less than ten minutes to cross the nexus.
As luck would have it, his next destination was the Endless Dunes. Somehow, that actually seemed like a pleasant destination - just by the looks of things, since he had no way of knowing what the place was actually like - in contrast with his current location. "Alright Lady Luck. Alright. I let you pick, this one's on me." He uttered in an effort to build his confidence somewhat and headed in that direction.
The drive, as expected, was much shorter than his first. In fact, in his anticipation, Alex had little time to think about the situation he was in at all, more focused on what he would be meeting once he entered this gate. He would finally be leaving this white abyss of featureless terrain that - if we were going to be completely honest - was so bland and blank that he feared it might very well be driving him slowly but surely towards his own little personal pit of madness. He'd even begun humming to himself just to actually get a vague sense that something was going on around here. He was about halfway through highway to hell when he finally made it, and this time, rather than peek into the arch way, he simply drove right through. It was time to see what this world had in store for him.
Quote:End of Thread, Continued in "Through the sea of land".