There is a song on Dennis Leary's album "No Cure for Cancer", 'The Voices in My Head'. It's not quite as funny now as it used to be. Sitting there in my apartment, trying to figure
out what the hell had happened and what I was going to do, I had voices in my head. The most obvious, and obnoxious was the source of Naptha's powers. It
didn't communicate in words so much as in impulses and overwhelming emotions, well one emotion anyway.
The other was a thin, faint voice. All that remained of Alicia Lane, after she had been consumed be the spirit. She'd been in a bad place when she
encountered it, and it had gotten worse from there as she had attempted to meet out vengeance on those whom she'd felt had wronged her. It hadn't
worked out very well, leading her to the Zig and ultimately into Recluse's twisted little Destined Ones operation.
I'd spent much of my time, sitting there, back against the wall, attempting to get some control over the spirit. It wanted revenge, it wanted bloody,
violent retribution. And it wanted it for every little thing. The pigeons that have been attempting to colonize my balcony, the people on my floor who
couldn't figure out how the garbage room worked. I had to fight down my urge to lay a trap for the garbage people, to hunt them down to their apartment
and...
I'm going to have to visit home depot for some spackle to cover up the dent my head's made in the wall.
I'd fought the spirit back, barely. I smashed it with the damage it had done to Alicia's life. It might have gotten revenge on some of the people
who'd wronged her, but it had done so excessively. She'd lost her position at the university but the spirit had ruined any chance of ever finishing
her degree or working in her field. Her boyfriend had dumped her, but the spirit had destroyed her hopes of ever finding a working, healthy relationship. I
kept at it, drawing the thin, strained memories of her hopes and dreams out of Alicia and hammering the spirit with them.
It couldn't change, not fundamentally, and it couldn't really try to get vengeance on itself, but maybe I could teach it some kind of proportionality.
Maybe Alicia could go back to being a person at some point, not just a bunch of twisted, painful memories.
It was about four in the morning when I finally felt I had enough control to dare venture out. I'd struggled back into Naptha's outfit, which took
some doing. I'd probably have to get a bottle or two of baby powder if I was going to be putting this thing on with out using the costume crystal. To say
nothing of all the buckles, I'd chosen the fetish wear again why? ... Don't answer that.
I didn't really have any idea how Naptha's ability to hide works, but work it does. I faded, becoming little more than a faint shadow moving in the
room. I spent some time looking at not very much in the mirror before dropping my Fedora on my head and slipping out the door and down the stairs.
The stairs closest to my apartment lead to the back door of the building, which while next to the dumpsters as required by cliche, wasn't quite as dark as
I'd have liked. But there wasn't anyone around, and I reminded myself, I was mostly invisible anyway. Just beyond the dumpsters is the building's
parking garage, one story of parking, with a one story wall round the rooftop spaces. I walked around to the east side, onto the grass, and rubbed my palms
together. The spines were real, the healing was real, there was no reason for the travel powers not to be either.
Taking a deep breath I leapt. It didn't get me as high as Super Jump had in game, but then I'd never seen Naptha as being able to do exactly that. I
came level with the top of the wall and realised that I wasn't moving forward enough to clear. I reached out, grabbed the concrete and pivoted. It
wasn't exactly a proper dismount, but I'd live with it. Especially since I'd never been able to do that before.
Turning to face the apartment building I began to run. It took little more than an exaggerated step to get me to the top of the wall, and then I was in the
air. I crossed the space between the garage and the bike room that stuck out off the back of the building, and landed running. My next jump brought me up to
a third floor balcony, and I bounced off of it, going higher. Finally I landed on my own balcony, ten stories up. I was still hidden so the bloody pigeon
sitting on my railing didn't notice me perched on the railing beside it.
My new found restraint was still holding, I sent it on it's way only missing a few feathers. Of course I was in a good mood. This parkour stuff was going
to be fun.
I let myself back in and headed for the bathroom. It'd been a long night and a shower would feel good. I passed my computer on the way, not hard for an
apartment as small as mine and realized it was still on. Feeling curious I moved the mouse and waited as the CRT came back to life. CoH was no longer
running, unsurprisingly, there was a 'this program has done something stupid, want to tell Microsoft?' dialog box up for it though. And Firefox still
had the Drunkards Walk forums open in the background.
That started me thinking. I knew there'd been an ITF I'd missed going on at the time. Atl had grabbed the last spot not long before I'd logged
in. It couldn't have just been me could it?
Drunkard's Walk Forums > The Legendary > So... Anything unusual happen on the ITF?
Firvulag
(07/06/09 04:22 AM)
What the title says.
--
#38. PPD web grenade gunk is impossible to get off the bottom of your boots.
----50 Things Hexane has learned since joining the Infamous
out what the hell had happened and what I was going to do, I had voices in my head. The most obvious, and obnoxious was the source of Naptha's powers. It
didn't communicate in words so much as in impulses and overwhelming emotions, well one emotion anyway.
The other was a thin, faint voice. All that remained of Alicia Lane, after she had been consumed be the spirit. She'd been in a bad place when she
encountered it, and it had gotten worse from there as she had attempted to meet out vengeance on those whom she'd felt had wronged her. It hadn't
worked out very well, leading her to the Zig and ultimately into Recluse's twisted little Destined Ones operation.
I'd spent much of my time, sitting there, back against the wall, attempting to get some control over the spirit. It wanted revenge, it wanted bloody,
violent retribution. And it wanted it for every little thing. The pigeons that have been attempting to colonize my balcony, the people on my floor who
couldn't figure out how the garbage room worked. I had to fight down my urge to lay a trap for the garbage people, to hunt them down to their apartment
and...
I'm going to have to visit home depot for some spackle to cover up the dent my head's made in the wall.
I'd fought the spirit back, barely. I smashed it with the damage it had done to Alicia's life. It might have gotten revenge on some of the people
who'd wronged her, but it had done so excessively. She'd lost her position at the university but the spirit had ruined any chance of ever finishing
her degree or working in her field. Her boyfriend had dumped her, but the spirit had destroyed her hopes of ever finding a working, healthy relationship. I
kept at it, drawing the thin, strained memories of her hopes and dreams out of Alicia and hammering the spirit with them.
It couldn't change, not fundamentally, and it couldn't really try to get vengeance on itself, but maybe I could teach it some kind of proportionality.
Maybe Alicia could go back to being a person at some point, not just a bunch of twisted, painful memories.
It was about four in the morning when I finally felt I had enough control to dare venture out. I'd struggled back into Naptha's outfit, which took
some doing. I'd probably have to get a bottle or two of baby powder if I was going to be putting this thing on with out using the costume crystal. To say
nothing of all the buckles, I'd chosen the fetish wear again why? ... Don't answer that.
I didn't really have any idea how Naptha's ability to hide works, but work it does. I faded, becoming little more than a faint shadow moving in the
room. I spent some time looking at not very much in the mirror before dropping my Fedora on my head and slipping out the door and down the stairs.
The stairs closest to my apartment lead to the back door of the building, which while next to the dumpsters as required by cliche, wasn't quite as dark as
I'd have liked. But there wasn't anyone around, and I reminded myself, I was mostly invisible anyway. Just beyond the dumpsters is the building's
parking garage, one story of parking, with a one story wall round the rooftop spaces. I walked around to the east side, onto the grass, and rubbed my palms
together. The spines were real, the healing was real, there was no reason for the travel powers not to be either.
Taking a deep breath I leapt. It didn't get me as high as Super Jump had in game, but then I'd never seen Naptha as being able to do exactly that. I
came level with the top of the wall and realised that I wasn't moving forward enough to clear. I reached out, grabbed the concrete and pivoted. It
wasn't exactly a proper dismount, but I'd live with it. Especially since I'd never been able to do that before.
Turning to face the apartment building I began to run. It took little more than an exaggerated step to get me to the top of the wall, and then I was in the
air. I crossed the space between the garage and the bike room that stuck out off the back of the building, and landed running. My next jump brought me up to
a third floor balcony, and I bounced off of it, going higher. Finally I landed on my own balcony, ten stories up. I was still hidden so the bloody pigeon
sitting on my railing didn't notice me perched on the railing beside it.
My new found restraint was still holding, I sent it on it's way only missing a few feathers. Of course I was in a good mood. This parkour stuff was going
to be fun.
I let myself back in and headed for the bathroom. It'd been a long night and a shower would feel good. I passed my computer on the way, not hard for an
apartment as small as mine and realized it was still on. Feeling curious I moved the mouse and waited as the CRT came back to life. CoH was no longer
running, unsurprisingly, there was a 'this program has done something stupid, want to tell Microsoft?' dialog box up for it though. And Firefox still
had the Drunkards Walk forums open in the background.
That started me thinking. I knew there'd been an ITF I'd missed going on at the time. Atl had grabbed the last spot not long before I'd logged
in. It couldn't have just been me could it?
Drunkard's Walk Forums > The Legendary > So... Anything unusual happen on the ITF?
Firvulag
(07/06/09 04:22 AM)
What the title says.
--
#38. PPD web grenade gunk is impossible to get off the bottom of your boots.
----50 Things Hexane has learned since joining the Infamous