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I think I have an addiction. Here's one everyone should get. Feel free to veto it.
Quote:He could taste it, a sooty hot taste that came from everywhere, as if God had just held a cook-out and all of civilization had been the barbecue. New York was burning. Flames leapt and sprang from tower to tower. Thick smoke billowed inland, thin speckles of ash raining out from the black clouds above. Cars had been abandoned on the highway, forever locked in what had been the largest traffic jam he'd ever seen. He peered in through the window, and instantly wished he hadn't.
It was a woman. It had been a woman. In the summer heat, she'd begun to melt, her skin staining a sick mix purple, yellow and red all at once. The remains of a paper mask were still strapped to her face. Some cars were empty. Some were coffins. They died fast. The newspapers spoke of a flu. It took 19 days to kill 99% of the United State's population.
He wished he'd kept his helmet on. But it'd been three days since he left the city, and he wasn't sick yet.
19 miles to the next town. The cars tanks were empty. They'd idled dry. If he was lucky, he'd come across a gas station soon. Posthuman worlds had always been the worst. And this was the worst of the worst. This world had just dissolved. It had to be deliberate. At first, he'd wanted to find those responsible, to hunt them down and bring them to whatever remained of justice. It passed. 99-to-1 says whomever created it, died by it. It seemed somehow fair.
A body wore a sandwich-board. It'd once advertised Nozz-a-la Cola. Hastily scrawled on it where the words "The Drunkard I..." It trailed off in one long black smear leading to a sharpie still clutched in pruned fingers.
It chilled his blood. He pushed on, weaving through the eternal jam.
The good thing about posthuman worlds; food was easy to find. He raided what was left of the gas-station store for every non-perisheable he could find. There wasn't much, but he figured that people'd died too fast to take it all. There was still gasoline down in the tanks.
Pumping it up was a job in itself, but it'd make the journey down to Colorado a whole lot easier. He had to see her, her in his dreams.
He felt a shadow flow over him, chased by a chill wind. Someone had taken a dimmer-switch and turned down the sun. It was black, it was evil, it was a malignant cancer that almost made him sick. It was a darkness that clouded over his mage-sight and forced him to look up. A crow squawked and thumped into the air, disappearing around the back of a billboard advertising Takuro Spirit automobiles for $19,099. Drive away today!
A warning - it felt like a warning - had been slathered across it in crimson paint.
"Watch for the Walkin' dude,"
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
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Mmm. , perhaps?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Yeah, that's it.
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Cool. A little darker than I personally like, but not too dark for Doug.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
A few more from me, with probably more coming later in the day
-
As I walked through the gate, I was glad to be finally done with this place. It wasn’t bad, per se, but it was evident history was in the making, and I didn’t feel like it was right for me to interfere. And it wasn’t like one side was good and the other evil… Like most wars, everything was gray.
Luckily, outside of a single meeting with a rogue dragon (and the fact that Hammerfall’s The Dragon Lies Bleeding worked as well as it has done in the past), I’d kept pretty much out of trouble. A good month of work had my hands on the gatesong, and I was on my way.
I’d remember one thing if nothing else from this place:
Never let Napoleon get his hands on dragons. It only makes things worse.
-
There were empty worlds and there was this place, I thought first. Now I regretted that idea.
I’d gotten used to living in such places: Find shelter, find food, find gatesong. Food wasn’t an issue, as the number of wild pigs, sheep, cows and chickens attested (that was probably due to the low population of wolves, which seemed to be their only predators).
I’d built myself a cozy little place in an out-of-the-way cave, made sure I had enough wood for the night, and went to sleep.
Hissss…..
Being a soldier I woke up instantly at the sound, and that and my field were the only things that saved me when this green thing I barely glimpsed exploded.
I rolled with the force of the explosion and came back up to see another two of the things coming towards me in the fading light of the fire.
It seemed that the night was gonna be long.
-
I had lucked out with that job. This world wasn’t as technologically advanced as my own, but this game they were building and managing was probably the closest to my world’s tech level outside some rare government labs.
Robotics, mind-machine interfaces, nanomaterials, hell even solid holographic displays. The boss of this place was a genius. Crazy as a loon, if you pardon the pun, but a genius. And the crush he had on the main tester was a laughter to watch.
Now, where was that Misaki girl I was supposed to watch out for ?
-
“Good day, Sangnoir-san.” Said the woman in front of me. She was asian, dark-haired, with a peculiar fashion sense. She had two large hearts in pink glued to her jacket at breast level. “The rumour is that you’re a man from another dimension. And rumors, it seems, are always true.”
“So you say…”
-
“Uh… Marona-san… Why is there a dozen ghosts on this island ?”
-
“Good day, Douglas Sangnoir. This place luckily doesn’t need your specific brand of chaos at the moment. Your gate song is ‘Take me back to Tokyo’ by Mega NRG Man.”
Surprised, I tried the song anyway, and found the black disc of an exit gate appearing the very next second. I turned towards the man with the cane that was talking to me.
“Who are you, anyway ?”
“Dominic Deegan, Oracle for hire. At your service.” He answered with a smirk.
-
I regained consciousness in an alley, my bike’s AI having managed to find a place to park for once. Untying myself, I found I was in a modern city, at least by my standard. The streets were clean and the people seemed happy, so I tentatively labeled this place as peaceful.
Then I looked up and found a giant turtle, with horns on its head and spikes on his shell, rampaging through the city while breathing fire all around.
A quick look around showed that nothing was coming to oppose the monster, and that it had already done a dozen miles of destruction starting from a river. Then I saw a nuclear power plant a little farther on the path of the beast and jumped into action.
A metahuman’s job is never done, it seems.
-
“A godly painting dog… Now I’ve seen anything.”
-
Looking at the history of this place, I found something similar to my own world. The politicos had tried something similar in the late fifties – early sixties, trying to push the metahumans back into hiding by piling law after law against them. Unlike this world, the trials lasted for a week before the next supervillain tried a big scheme, and the government found itself having to repeal laws and write down new ones before the metahuman community took care of the trouble.
In this place, however, the villains had somehow known, and gone into hiding at the time.
They were biding their time, I was sure.
-People may die, but ideas are forever. Je suis Charlie.
I don't know some of them, but for the rest...
1.A series called Temeraire; I've heard of it but never read it.
2. Minecraft.
6. This one's a giveaway - Dominic Deegan.
8. Okami.
9. The Incredibles.
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Heh. Love Dominic Deegan. Best of all, Dominic would pull that reveal all with that smug grin of his.
Although I can also imagine that Doug's field would hinder Dominic's ability to get a clear scrying of him, so while he may be able to see what song he needs to get the heck outta there, actually finding Doug would be an adventure of itself, and meanwhile Doug gets into all kinds of trouble. 
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Quote:
“You, Petresun,” I growled, “are a fool.”
The ancient man glared back at me. His sunken eyes glistened with a life his withered body could barely contain. From his pool of life-giving nutrients he raised his arm and pointed.
“But, still I live.” His raspy, sandpaper voice ground into my ears. “The Great Foe has yet to claim me.”
“You don’t live,” I shouted. “You exist! You don’t want to be immortal, trust me. You sent your own sons to fight each other and you didn’t tell them why. You’re not just a fool—you’re a monster. You’re no better than Prometheus.”
“Do not mention its name in my presence!” The decrepit emperor shook a frail fist at me.
“Yeah, whatever,” I turned on my heel. “You can sit here and play at being immortal as long as your body holds out. We real immortals have a job to do. I have an evil AI to destroy. I’m needed on Pluto. System: play Pioneer.”
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Ha! I loved that game...
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===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."
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Glidergun Wrote:I don't know some of them, but for the rest...
1.A series called Temeraire; I've heard of it but never read it.
2. Minecraft.
6. This one's a giveaway - Dominic Deegan.
8. Okami.
9. The Incredibles. The only other one I spotted was number 3, --
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
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This is an old one...
Quote:I have had some hair-raising first days in a new town, but never because of something so mundane.
-Tha-thank you very much sir...
That had been so close, I'm sweating cold. No time for a song, nor even to think. Just to rush madly with all my speed, tackle and roll, without an inch to spare. I think only my field saved my feet from ending up under those wheels.
-You're welcome, kid. Just promise me that in the future, you will look carefully before crossing the street. There won't always be a passerby to save you from speeding trucks.
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Well, 7 is obviously , but I don't recognize 4 or 5. (Or some of the others that already have been identified, honestly...) Quote:There won't always be a passerby to save you from speeding trucks.
?
ETA: Oops.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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I think you mistyped the spoiler tag there, Bob. Anyway it's not that one (I think in that case it was a car, not a truck), it is even older.
Hint 1:
I should have made more clear that this is a girl.
Hint 2:
It's not the BEGINNING that Doug interfered with.
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I thought , but that was a boy and not a girl that got trucked IIRC.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?
And here are the results...
Spoiler [+]
1.Temeraire.
2. Minecraft.
3. Angelic Layer.
4. Persona 2: Eternal Punishment.
5. Phantom Brave.
6. Dominic Deegan.
7. Actually, the original Sim City on the SNES. Doug is actually seeing one of the worse possible things to happen, AKA Bowser making a beeline for a Nuclear plant. Though I have to agree that was probably in homage to Gamera anyway.
8. Okami.
9. The Incredibles.
5 pts to Glidergun, 1 to Robkelk, and 1 to Bob.
And for the latest one, how about
Spoiler [+]
Excel Saga ?
-People may die, but ideas are forever. Je suis Charlie.
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It's not that either, Seraviel, but you are closer, in a roundabout way
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Ebony Wrote:The big man grinned down at me, his violent expression fading as quickly as it had risen in the face of the attacking thieves. "You look like a clown, talk like a fool, and that music sounds like someone killing cats," he pronounced. "But you fight better than any Aquilonian." He slapped me across the shoulders, and I felt the polykev stiffen under the blow. "Come! We will see if you can drink like a Cimmerian." I'm guessing this one doesn't need an answer and that everyone knows it.
Ebony the Black Dragon
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"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
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Well, given that Bob did and already posted it and the correct answer on the actual list I'd say you were correct Eb
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
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Alright, this may be a bit too obscure:
Quote:
I’d been wandering around the magically-active part of town for nearly an hour. It wasn’t a nice place. It was designed to look Asian, but came off looking sinister. Many of the buildings had interestingly powerful wards preventing scrying and eavesdropping. I’m sure a lot of what was going on here was illegal in this world, but, until I knew better, I didn’t want to get involved in anything that wasn’t blatant.
That’s when I saw the scream.
Oh, I wasn’t supposed to hear the scream, but my magesight showed the reaction in one of the wards stopping a powerful, emotional sound. It was from a building I was approaching. Looked like it was supposed to be a deli of some sort. I hoped that wasn't a metaphor.
I was inside the building in the next heartbeat. I was staring at the back of some Giger-esque, multi-limbed glossy-black creature with multiple, barbed tails. There was another one in the next room. They were both approaching a terrified young woman, cowering on the ground. There was a black-skinned man in the room putting down a glass of water.
“There is one thing that you people always fail to remember,” he explained to the terrified girl. “Just because you enforce the law doesn’t mean you are the law.”
Yep. That was good enough for me.
“Can anybody play this game?” I quipped, putting my hands on my hips. “Or do you have to be some horrifying monstrosity?”
“Who are you?” The man demanded, as he began to shapeshift into another monster.
“Me? I’m just the guy who’s going to kick your asses. System: Load Another One Bites the Dust—Play.”
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Yup, too obscure for me.
ETA: Unless it's .
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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Nope.
I'll give it a little bit of time.
CthulhuTech. Specifically, it's from a vignette in the Vade Mecum
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I had to read "That's when I saw the scream." and the following paragraph twice to be sure you weren't accidentally (as opposed to deliberately) giving Doug synesthesia.
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"Well, Colonel, your credentials check out," said the older man in the uniform sitting behind the desk. "Sergeant, you can uncuff him."
The Dobermann in the cybernetic harness leaned over and uncuffed me. "Thank you, Captain Traynor," I said, rubbing my wrists. "I'm still pretty amazed that you held me with just handcuffs."
"Well, as you can see," Captain Traynor replied, gesturing about the room at his officers, "we're not your average police force."
I followed his gesture. The dog, Sergeant Kemlo, was giving me what I expected was a friendly nod. The tall skinny Texan next to him had holstered those awkward-looking twelve-shooters and smiling in agreement. The gangly fellow with the weird art deco radio headset looked bored, but he seemed at ease with the situation too. The only one that wasn't relaxed was the big blue guy in the white cape. He towered over me - my eyes level with the weird white handprint that seemed burned into his sternum - and glowered at me as if he expected the force of his gaze to incinerate me. The skinny blonde next to him balanced the box she kept her automata in on one hip and placed a hand on his arm; I could see they were partners.
I gave Big Blue my sunniest grin, and said, "You keep that up, Frowny Smurf, and your face is gonna stick that way." Before he could snarl back, I spun back to the Captain, and said, "Well, I'm happy I won't be spending my stay in your fine facility, Captain, but what do I do with myself in the meantime."
"Ever try playing in traffic...," came a muttered growl from behind me.
"Officer Smax," scolded Captain Traynor gently, in a tone that let me know exactly how much of a problem with his temper the big, blue "Officer Smax" had. Then he turned his attention back to me, and said, "Regarding that, Colonel ... well, they don't allow vigilantes in Neopolis, but most vigilantes don't have your experience."
"What are you saying?"
The older man smiled. "What would you say to being deputized?"
Ebony the Black Dragon
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"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
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As Umi and Fuu settled in uncertainly on the saddle behind me, I turned my attention to the passenger in front of me. Just in time, I caught the pigtail before it slapped me across the goggles again, and sighed at the thought of having to be an old fuddy-duddy and dump cold water on her obvious enthusiasm. "Hikaru," I said as calmly as I could, "while I am second to none in my appreciation of the teenage female derriere, and while yours is a truly extraordinary example of the species, would you please keep your butt out of my face while I drive?"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
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![[+]](/images/collapse_collapsed.png "[+]")
Spoiler
