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Oblivious

Discussion in 'Statistical Roleplays' started by Masquerade, Aug 9, 2013.

  1. The sun was starting to set on another day in the city, the pastel pinks and oranges and purples starting to paint across the sky, displacing the typical blue that covered the expanse. The buildings seemed to magical in the twilight--always. It was always the case. Despite them being man-made constructs, they still seemed so beautiful. The city was interspersed with nature, trees and flowers and parks. There were so many varying forms of beauty--one had to be careful not to get lost in it. A bus upon the streets made its way north along its route, one of the last circuits it would have to complete before the bus service ended that night. As such, the streets were not busy, and the people upon the bus were in luck. One young man in particular by the name of Jackson Harrows was seated on the back of that very bus, gazing out the window at the sickening beauty flashing by as he rode down the street, music from his iPod blaring in his ears, blocking out the sound of the abnormal amount of people on the bus. Usually it was just about empty, but this night in particular, there were plenty of other students and citizens aboard, aiming to get to their destinations and certainly weren't being quiet about it. Jackson abused the increase volume button on his iPod to crank up the music, but the crowd just seemed to get ever louder. How was he supposed to lose himself? Those ungrateful, arrogant, selfish, hateful people kept dragging him back to the agonizing reality. Could they really not just let him be?

    Let me be... Jackson thought, closing his eyes tightly, trying to focus on the music, but failing to the utmost agree. There was just no use. Let me be, let me be! he practically shouted in his mind like a mantra, as if repeating it would cause the noise to quell. His knuckles were white as they gripped his legs tightly, teeth clenched as the music seemed so loud in this instant. Where had all the other noise gone? He wasn't moving. Had the bus come to a red light? But it didn't sound like the bus was running at all. Opening his eyes, Jackson was baffled beyond belief. Never before had he been so shocked to see something in his life. His lips parted, and before he knew it, his mouth was completely agape, eyes wide with something akin to sheer panic. He found his hands slowly yanking the earphones out of his ears, the silence that greeted him ever the more unsettling.

    The bus was completely empty. No other college students. No citizens. No bus driver. No one. Jackson's heart skipped a beat. Getting up slowly, he walked down the aisle. Looking out the windows, he noticed none of the other cars were moving. None of them. There were no pedestrians on the sidewalk. Not a single person. It wasn't long before Jackson was forced out of his stupor as he reached the front of the bus. He forced the door open and meandered out onto the street. The silence was so immense that he could hear his music blasting out of the earphones that were dangling by his side. Never before had things been so quiet. Jackson, who never cared for people or their obnoxious ways, now found himself afraid, for he feared he was the only person left in...what? The city? The state? The country even? One foot followed after the other as he paced in some sort of trance down the street. How would he find out? Maybe if he could get back to his place, he could check the television. That became his plan, but...what would he find? Walking along the sidewalk in the direction of his apartment building, Jackson quickly grew weary of the silence and put his earphones back in, lowering the volume of his iPod so it wouldn't deafen him.

    Jackson spent most of his walk with his heart racing and his thoughts crashing throughout his mind. As he turned onto the street where his apartment building was supposed to be, however, he realized that nothing was the same. Trees were a commonality in the city, but the ones growing all clustered along this...dirt road?...were completely exotic--ones that wouldn't typically grow in this area. Jackson rubbed his foot against the dirt ground causing a bit of a dust cloud to muster up and get carried away by a warm breeze that was just so oddly misplaced. Farther down the road, the trees were cleared and there were actually houses, but much like everything else, they were out of place as well, lacking technological innovations and being older in architectural style...if architecture were even applied. Music still ongoing, Jackson planned to wander down this road to explore what lie farther down, however, a sudden gust of wind emanating from the north nearly knocked his entire being over. He nearly screamed and raised his arms to block his face to avoid the torrents of dirt and dust from landing in his eyes. The gale lasted several seconds, and when it had finally passed, Jackson found himself gazing upon something incredulous.

    In the distance where the gust had originated now appeared to be floating in midair something the likes of which the young college student had never seen before, except maybe in tales of fantasy and whim. It was a floating castle made of white...stone perhaps? He squinted his eyes to get a better look, but from this distance it was really hard to tell. The magnificent thing didn't cover a particular lot of square footage, or so it seemed, but it was very tall possessing at least several stories, and atop the roof were ramparts and turrets that seemed to be vacated, but of course the distance would obscure most things like that. Granted, the only way to investigate the magnificent structure was to head towards it. Where did it even come from? What is even happening here? he questioned himself despite knowing he didn't have the answers, and he couldn't even begin to fathom a single guess. All he knew was that the castle appeared to be his source of answers. Maybe there was someone staying within that could assist him in his plight.

    Would they tell him that it was all a dream and he'd wake up, or that this was some sort of new fantastical reality and the world was in some sort of dire peril? Only time would tell. Racing back to one of the campus parking lots, Jackson ransacked a moped with the keys still in it that was just sitting in the lot not parked anywhere. Someone must have been driving it before they disappeared. The fellow wondered if it would be operational. He hopped aboard the stylish white vehicle (how appropriate given the destination) and turned the key within the ignition. The moped rumbled to life to Jackson's great pleasure; at least something was going right today. Giving the thing some gas, Jackson took off from the lot and drove down the road headed north to the strange castle, weaving in and out of the non-moving traffic, his thoughts vacant and his mind focused on his goal for the moment.

    A wish...fulfilled.
     
  2. ”That makes seven. Well boys, that's my cue t'head oot.” Corinne stated as she pulled out the last coin from a pair of unconscious men around a campfire. This type of activity was not new for the lagomorph, and even offered a bit of fun. Corinne was content that no ill had befallen the men, and only their own foolish desires had led them into a trap requiring exertion that Corinne knew would carry on until the sun sat high in the sky.  She flipped a coin into her palm before pocketing the large discs of silver on the inside of a teddiette, which was hardly an outfit to be wearing in the forests of Ilth.

    The forests themselves were largely comprised of great trees, giant roots penetrating the lush soil below, as vines and other such plants that had a strange hunger as to swallow the remains of old civilizations. Some were even ripe with treasure, still untouched from the passage of time. It was for that reason Corinne had spent the previous day standing outside one such ruin, knowing that some chivalrous adventurer surely wouldn't let a fine lady like herself get eaten alive by the fleshflies or other wildlife – and what would the harm be if they decided to... get intimate? Of course, the adventurer's would surely be displeased when they realized that the fair lady had relieved them of all their valuables, and promptly made her way out of the forest that she knew like the back of her paw.

    Taking gentle, confident strides, Corinne made her way from the ruin, and followed a familiar path back towards town. Occasionally she would turn her ears around, waiting for the sound of shouting, and displeased grunts, but to her surprise, she heard nothing. Shrugging, the lagomorph stopped at what appeared to be a dead end, the small forest path leading only to a mass of vines and leaves, obscuring all visibility. With slight effort, Corinne pushed the vines aside, revealing what would surely be the strangest thing she had witnessed today.

    The small town comprised of small cobblestone housing and farmsteads was empty, and as quiet as the ruins not far beyond. ”I cannae believe it...” Corinne whispered to herself as she stepped deeper within the town, scanning for any sign of life. At first, Corinne feared that the town had been raided – but concluded that that was hogwash from the lack of fires, damage, and lack of screaming that surely would've caught her attention prior to the trip back. With caution, Corinne slinked into the city, every snapping twig seeming to be amplified by the silence that seemed to weigh her down.

    ”Aye ye bastart – where are ye?” she said in a mixture of frustration and fear as she scanned the small town for a familiar landmark. It had been a few weeks since she had been on this side of the forest, preferring the larger, wealthier cities on the western edge. ”Barry!” she said with a smirk as she saw the small trapdoor, now covered by uncut grass. With a burst of speed the lagomorph made her way to the door, and eagerly pulled it open, dropping down into the blackness beneath.

    With a thud, the lagomorph landed squarely on the bottom of her feet and grasped a wall to get her balance. The small, linear cave was pitch black, and spanned for many feet. This was an emergency route that the townfolk had created in case of emergency, and it was here Corinne assumed they went. Sliding a paw into her breasts she pulled out a small metal object.  Flipping it open, it caused a small globe of warm light as the small orange flame danced in the subtle breeze of the cave. With her free paw she pulled a cigarette from her boot, and placed it between her lips.

    Igniting the cigarette, she took a long drag and began making her way to the other side of the cave. As she came to the other end, she gripped the cigarette tightly with her mouth and placed both hands on the rotted wooden door that separated her from what would be the townsfolk. With an unneeded amount of force, propelled by annoyance and anxiety the door burst off its hinges and bright white light flooded in, forcing Corinne to shield her eyes. ”This... is pure rubbish...” With a look of awe, Corinne found herself staring directly at what appeared to be a white castle, in perfect shape, despite the all too familiar lush that surrounded it.

    With a slight admiration for the magnificent building Corinne quickly forgot about the empty town, and make large strides towards the castle. Raising a paw to the exquisite stonework, she slid he hand up and down the smooth bricks, unable to shake the feeling of astonishment. After many moments, Corinne shook her head, remembering what it was that brought her here – and why this castle had suddenly made its way here – instead of the townsfolk.

    She finished her cigarette, and stomped it out, eagerly pulling out another. However, before the flame of the lighter could graze the tip of the smoke, a noise sounded in the distance. A strange rumbling that seemed to get closer. Corinne was unsure of what the noise could be, but couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. Quickly, she hid herself behind a wall, opposite the sound, and pulled a well-used flintlock from her side and checked the clip. 'Cummoan n' get it you knob' she thought to herself as she clicked the pistol shut, readying it for combat as the strange sound came closer.
     
  3. 'It falls.'

    'Oblivion would descend.'

    It was a sentiment composed with decision, and a concluding tone. A sharp gaze breaks free of shuttered eyelids, and the teenaged boy, lying on his bed in a carefree position, comes to wakefulness. He can remember the statement his dozing mind had constructed, but not which chain of thought it had followed. Atop a desk next to his bed, a stereo system plays a song familiar to him.

    "Under the burning sun,
    I take a look around
    Imagine if this all came down."


    With a glance at the device's time readout, he scoffs as he realizes he had dozed for near 10 minutes. He slips off of the bed and saunters out of his room, the last lyrics in the stanza reaching his ears as he draws further away from the music.

    "I'm waiting for the day to come."

    Striding into the kitchen and securing an apple, he hesitantly acknowledges a feeling-- a sense, a nagging somewhere around the edge of perception, that something isn't quite right. The environment comes under scrutiny by intelligent blue eyes, but no discrepancy is visible. Same apartment. Same placement of furniture, and of the scant decorations. 'Then what...?' As he turns on the sink's faucet, it occurs to him how remarkable the sound of streaming water is. 'It's completely silent,' he wonders, a little annoyed he didn't notice such an obvious absence earlier. Washing the fruit and drying it off, he mutters in a sardonic tone, "Where's the ever-prevalent sound of idiocy?"

    He takes a bite out of the apple as he walks over to the window, mind buzzing with curiosity. A glance outside only heightens his confusion-- the street is full of cars, immobile and dumb in their impromptu parking spots, but there's not so much as a vestige of a living human. The unwitting blue-haired boy's eyes remain fixed on the inexplicable spectacle, expression gradually becoming one of doubt. He suddenly spins on his heel, apple clenched in his hand. Two soft, scornful words escape his lips as he hastens to the door of his apartment and slips on his sneakers; "Yeah, right."

    Marching curtly down the hallways and up the stairwells that comprise the building, he soon arrives at the roof of the entire complex. Even still, the silence reigns. His impatient pace brings him right to the edge of the rooftop, at which point he recognizes the truth of the matter: every other living being has disappeared. Observant, blue irises scan anything and everything in range of sight, and the teen strains his ears to pick up any extraneous sound, but the resulting data doesn't change the conclusion. Unable to explain this occurrence, he numbly takes a few steps backwards. Sharp in his actions, he spins around once again only to have his eye drawn to the distance, upon which event he releases a sigh of skepticism.

    Less than a couple of blocks away, the landscape had altered itself into something sudden, and incongruous. Non-indigenous trees are visible, scattered around the edges of the unusual phenomena, containing rustic domiciles and-- notably-- a splendid, white, levitating castle, as it did. Merely "surprised" would be an understatement of an adjective to describe the blue-haired boy with at this point, but unlike most ordinary people would have done, he didn't shy away from the unexpectedness-- the excitement, as it were. Apple still unnecessarily couriered in his hand, the thin teenager wordlessly made his way over to the fire escape and descended from it, dropping down the short height from the last available rung to the solid ground as he fully left the apartment building behind.

    'Fairy tale,' the teen mused cynically as he emerged onto the street which led truly to the conspicuous floating structure, seeing in short notice the exact and strange changes the landscape's continuity had suffered. Dauntlessly continuing forward, driven by an intellectual need to discover what precisely was happening and what had caused it, the sharp, blue-haired boy began traveling along the anachronous dirt path.
     
  4. It had to have been one of the most quiet trips Jackson had ever taken. The roads were completely empty, and it seemed that the normal road expanded into some sort of highway that certainly wasn't there before. This particular thoroughfare was bound by trees on both side that only grew thicker and thicker as the destination drew nearer and nearer in the distance. It wasn't until he was driving up a paved rampway that led up to he castle that he realized how enormous it was. The white construct was completely constructed from a sort of ivory material it seemed. Marble had been a possibility before, but now Jackson could see clearly that such a guess would be incorrect. It was beautiful and without so much as an imperfection, spotless and slightly reflective of its surroundings--no clear images but the colors could be seen as blobs upon its polished surface. Whoever kept up the place did an immaculate job. The moped raced up the rampway all the way to the top where Jackson clamped the brake causing the vehicle to come to a stop on a platform that rested before the hovering castle. The front gate could be seen at least ten feet beyond his reach--how was one to enter the place even? Jackson turned the key, cutting off the ignition before dismounting and taking a minute to look around. From his spot on the ramp, he couldn't see too much because of all the trees, but in his immediate vicinity, he noticed other pathways leading up to the platform--some made of gravel while others were made of dirt or cobblestone. It was such an odd assortment; from where did the paths originate?

    Jackson massaged the bridge of his nose. As far as he was concerned, he was at a dead end. With no way to enter the castle and no one to inquire about the situation, there was nothing he could do. The castle had been a beacon to him--a place where he could garner answers, but he was now realizing the folly of his train of thought. How foolish he was! A discontented sigh escaped his lips as he sank to his knees, defeated. He didn't see anyone else around, so maybe it was true that he was the only one left in the state. Or country. Or maybe even the whole planet. "Why did I make that wish...? Probably because I knew it wouldn't come true..." he muttered miserably to himself. All he had wanted was a bit of peace and quiet. Was it honestly too much to ask for? Jackson supposed it wasn't seeing as he now had all the serenity he could ever hope for. Such a drastic change to the world for one simple wish. Fingernails dug into black jeans as the boy shook and trembled. He wondered what it would be like living as the only person in the world. He could pretty much do whatever he wanted now. He could survive until he died....

    ...alone.

    "No," Jackson choked out fiercely, managing to calm his quaking and stand upon his feet, dusting off his black clothes. He gazed up at the castle angrily. "There's more to this whole situation; I fucking know it. My answers are out there somewhere, and I damn sure won't quit until I find them," he vowed to no one in particular, perhaps to the trees seeing as how they were now the only living things accompanying him now. Or so he thought.
     
  5. With overpowering curiosity, Corinne slid along the wall of the castle, inching her face from behind her cover to see whatever was responsible for the earlier rumbling. It was then that she realized she was no longer alone, another sentient being, hairless and presumably male seemed to dismount a strange object, before speaking to himself – obviously distressed. Corinne looked to her pistol, wondering whether it was necessary to brandish it to the strange individual. He didn't appear to have weapons on him, nor did he seem aggressive. With a quick filling of her lungs the lagomorph left her cover, keeping the pistol to her side.

    ”Seems I ain't the only one wondrin' what this castle's aboot aye?” she said in her usual deep tone as she took several graceful steps towards the stranger. She still felt the gun in her paw, and let it hang limply at her side, but flexed her trigger finger anyways, letting it tap the trigger without letting the gun go off.  She looked the stranger up and down. He wore strange attire, strange enough that Corinne couldn't conceal a curved brow as she leaned to one side, However she herself wasn't one to bring up the topic of strange attire considering her apparent lack of it, but it didn't bother her.

    She ran her free paw along the white stone of the castle again, still admiring the beauty of it all. ”Y'know, I've seen me fair share of castles lad, but nothin' in good shape, nothin'... like this here...” She paused, feeling that she should introduce herself before she rambled anymore. ”I'm goin' to assume you're not from around here.” she said, thumbing behind her to where the tunnel had been. ”My name is Corrine, Delgado is me last name, anno it may work different where ye come from, but that's how it works for my kin.” She took a breath, ”Did all yer kin vanish too lad?”
     
  6. Every motion eked out a notion of disapproval. Distrusting eyes flicked back and forth across the landscape as his cynical stride carried him forward, searching for discrepancies or flaws in the environment of the dream. For that surely must be what this whole thing was; it wasn't logical to conclude that every other living organism had vanished, or that the geography would have suddenly replaced itself with such an incongruous scene-- especially not one in which a gravity-defying castle was contained-- and therefore this obviously wasn't reality, and in conclusion must obviously be a dream. The blue-haired teenager was sure on this...

    The doubt in his mind was growing heavier and heavier, however-- not unlike the mysterious weight that seemed to be gathering in his hands. Generously assuming this was not a dream, what could have caused this? What had happened to everyone else? Why was he, of all people, left? And why on Earth did his palms appear to have searing flames on them?!

    'Is this when the lucid part begins?' the teenager wondered caustically, clearly not amused by this development. Unmoving, he examined his hands for a while-- peripherally disturbed by the ability to thoroughly observe and think at the phenomenon, as well, as one could not typically do so in dreams-- and beheld the smooth, ultramarine aura that surrounded his palm. In his left hand, the abnormality wavered but otherwise ignored the apple he still held. In his mind, the blue-haired boy was fascinated. It wasn't possible, and it wasn't natural, but he felt drawn to it nonetheless; he felt the prospect pull him in, and his inquisitive mind needed to know what it was. Tentatively, he made to close his hand around the ethereal layer, and felt slight resistance against the action. He closed his fist, and the radiance that seeped through his fingers dispersed-- the teen felt a surge of energy as the blue glow faded into his skin.

    It... It disappeared. The light in his left hand had abated as well, and his arms felt tense, as if some new power had been stored in them. "Can it come back?" the boy inquired quietly. A sensory impulse flashed along his limbs, and the marine luster returned. Experimentally, the boy stretched his arm forward, wondered, 'Can it do anything?', and channeled some willpower to his hand. A ray of energy burst forth from his palm as a result, causing his eyes to widen in a mixture of curiosity and excitement. Drawing his arm back, he gazed at the entrancing ultramarine glow as he continued to walk along the dirt path.

    Interested at the concept of such unique power-- even though, of course, it was only a dream-- the teen decidedly appraised the situation, well aware in his savvy mind how much like a typical fantasy novel this was setting up to be; 'Fairy tale.'
     

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