Standing on Good Manners
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 70787
|
Rei "You've got to be KIDDING ME!" my erstwhile blonde companion shouts, clearly irked at the latest development here in this VERY odd odessy we are partaking in. And why did our erstwhile (if somewhat tightly wound up) doctor just shout out in surprise? Well . . .something startling just came up. Several somethings, really. No, we were not talking about what had happened back on the last world we'd been on because frankly there is no need. The others had done what they'd felt needed to be done (up and including stunning those monkies with phasors on light stun). I had done what I had done (risky as it was but the only way to do it). We're done with that world and we'd even done one up and cleared the path for those following us by getting a pass from the powers that be there. Still, it as a VERY long and interesting debriefing I had from Aunt Inquirer over that little debacle, let me tell you! I am very happy that she and the Doctor are back on their feet again, days earlier than expected. Guess that it had something to do with AK-7's minstrations (and not just technological). That droid DOES happen to be the high preiestess of her church and THAT means . . . access to healing magicks. . . . Hey, while I admit it is a tad strange that a machine intelligence (a droid) would have access to what usually only would be the perview of organic beings, you've got to remember her religion embraces both Organics AND AI. Meaning that whatever cosmic entity who calls itself the Creator (I'll stick with my brand of faith, thanks) can jolly well stick AK-47 with healing powers, period. Just a continuation of the accepted norm of the magical type found on Terra Prime, really. One can get magic from within themselves IF they have the proper genetics for it (i.e. it runs in the blood). One can make an ILL adviced deal with the Dark Powers (i.e. the Demons and those associated with the Office of Evil) to get access to casting magic spells, and I suppose until you die (and they come and collect your immortal soul) I suppose it's all very thrilling. . . . Yeah. And the last way to gain power is of course going the route of the clergy or whatnot for various "good guy" (for want of a better term, aka the Office of Good, in some fashion or form) religions. Bottom line, if one of those entities out there are willing to grant a droid clerical healing (ala AD&D), then that's what happened here. And sorry for having gone off on a tangent but after seeing that questioning look on some of your faces . . . I felt the need to explain. Anyway, those “somethings” that surprised us? Well, first was the dismaying surprise that besides that one house we’d seen there does not appear to be anything else intact upon the surface of this world. Oh, tricorders show that there are some very serious energy readings deep below the ground but besides that and the one (and only) intact house we’d just left, nothing else is about. Oh, there are some smashed up ruins (something LARGE looks like it ripped them up good and right), but besides that: nothing. Meaning that it appears that we probably can’t blend in too well, with the community appearing to only be ONE household, no matter WHAT magical disguises one puts up. Oh, I suppose we could make ourselves look like immediate friends and family of whoever lives about here, but that wouldn’t do for reasons I can’t go into right now. Too self evident, anyway. So if not that, then let us talk about the naked young woman we nearly stumbled over when we’d made the bad mistake of heading for a lake to regroup and hash out SOME sort of plans. We managed to avoid the swimmers attention so that was good. No, let us tell of just WHAT had set poor Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. . . . I had not witnessed the event, only the after effects. I'd been busy with chatting with my sisters and fixing certain things that needed fixing! Namely, I was fixing my universal translator AND the problems we keep seem to run into whenever we jump into a new world. Magical disguises were nice and easy enough to cast on the fly, but we had already told you about them not being able to stand up to the effects of the Iconian gateways for whatever reason. I could keep casting every time we arrive but the last few times . . . No, we needed to make some NON-magical disguises and that meant makeup. Yes, I’d gotten tired of all the close calls but in my favor there hadn’t been anything (substantial) in the way of makeup for disguises (no plays in town or whatnot). Hadn’t opted on making up a batch from scratch before now but . . . Nevermind. I’d been making up a batch via equipment I’d magicked up for this occasion and leave at that. NEXT stop we’d be disguised right off the bat (only needing a quick spell to hide our wings) and NOW this! That had been the idea and the plan, but Sigh, the sad matter of fact of this situation is what had been happening to her (more than anyone else in the group) pretty much foreshadowed what has befallen her now. The chaos energy has struck her in full forces and now not only does she have blonde hair naturally . . . she's no longer human. No, she did not become a cat girl, thank God. She did not become a quadraped (i.e a centauress). DId not becomes a lot of things that she could have (and made our continued trek more . . . interesting). She still has the basic general facial features she'd been born with. Has a touch of the oriental in her facial features, if a bit more of a fuller form (i.e. slightly larger breasts and hips than before in her original human form) porportionally. Much smaller now at four foot nothing inches and . . .much lighter in weight. Oh, and before I forget to mention it she's totally naked. Her equipment (and everything she'd been carrying) has vanished into thin air. She's an elf now, ala Terra Prime variant. Basically, it's Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, redone by Chaos Energy along the lines of a Terra Prime elf (and a stark naked one at that). If I hadn't been working on using her universal translator to copy IT'S OS system over to my messed up one (should have listened to my parents and just went with Military tech, but no . . .) and leaving some NON-magical disguise makeup brewing off to the side, I am sure that I'd have seen the event. After all the close calls we'd encountered I had finally admitted to myself that perhaps . . . I'd been hasty in dismissing the idea of disguising ourselves before hands between each gateway passage wasn't a good idea. As it stands, only the G-man and Tabris witnessed the event and I was more absorbed on my business to nose in on theirs. May talk to them later, after I . . . "Who are you and what are . . .what in the world?!" a male voice nearly shouts at us from behind. ”It’ss uncanny,” the G-man sighs, looking over at Dr. Morbius and then back at me in resignation. Yep, I hear you on that one. It seems that even when we luck out enough to not have immediate attention drawn upon us upon coming to a new world that luck does not last long! Seems that the gateway points always seem to be areas of high (mundane) traffic is one reason, but it cannot be the only reason.But for whatever reason we always seem to be getting into situations we'd rather NOT get into here. Drawing attention to ourselves... "Probably has to do with the adversity thing we Champions have to go through whilst on a Quest," I mutter to myself. Then again, I had knowingly and willingly HAD signed up for this so I had no grounds to complain… Whatever the case and whoever this person is he HAS arrived and made his presence known. He has arrived in the the form of one older male human (a caucasian with black hair with specks of gray) who is now gaping openly at our group, quiet taken back by my and my sisters' exotic looks, perhaps? Feh, whoever he is he seems to have come to check out the noise that Akagi had made. We could have avoided him but at the time we'd been more concerned for Akagi (trying to calm her down and such). That and with weapons at the ready dish out anything needed in the way of defendnig ourselves IF the natives should prove unfriendly. Turning towards the still shaken Dr. Akagi I at least make sure that the poor female elf is now at least covered up enough with one of the men's coats (Tabris's military issue one), I turn then back to our gaping interloper. "Pardon the noise but we had an . . .incident," I say in a soft, calm voice. "We do not wish to tresspass on your land or business. We are only passing through and shall leave here soon enough, okay?" He had overheard the comotion and with this latest indignity he had been in a rather fowl mood indeed. All he wanted was to have been left alone in his studies of the ancient Krell civilization and now unwelcome strangers seemed to have somehow arrived ahead of that ship would refused his warnings NOT to come down? Dr. Edward Morbius blinks as he looks at the young woman who is speaking and then shakes his head a little bit as if to clear it. It was not like he was offended at the sight of obvious people of color (er . . . well, even IF they were paler than he or his daughter were they were "people of color" by his culture's standards). As an aside, he actually was rather for the idea of “integrated” societies. Such drivel that lingered on since the “South” had won the American Civil War rather annoyed him to no ends, really. At least with the coming of the space age the minorities could finally find a true measure of equality. Before then, while some strides had been made it was laughable in Morbius' rather unhumble opinion. "Separate but equal indeed," Morbius had thought to himself in disgust. That thought wasn't running through his mind right now. This was something else. It was the odd coloration of their skin, hair, and eyes on SOME of them. Let us not mention the WINGS (though he as of yet puts it off as some kind of odd fashion sense). And what is with that one small child with the . . . He blinks again when he sees the blonde figure in question may BE the size of a child, no child would HAVE such curves on their figure! "Uh as you say," he begins, rallying. "All fine and well but how . . .?" He shakes his head and just starts again. "Who are you and . . . WHAT is that about?" he asks bluntly, gesturing at the young girls wings in frustrated exasperation. Unable to understand just what this is all about. His confusion (and now dawning apprehension) grows by a magnitude when it becomes crystal clear that those wings . . .are not part of a costume. They are ACTUALLY part of their bodies. "That . . . could take a while to explain," Rei begins, suppressing a sigh. Obviously if they were to get anywhere on this world then some kind of contact with the natives was needed. She'd rather it would have come later after being better prepared, but she'd work with what she had. Might as well get off on the right foot, right? "First let us start off with names," she begins, smiling a pleasant smile which she hoped would ease the somewhat befuddled man's nerves. "My name is Rei Ayanami Quatermain." 'Rei of course being an oddly appropo name for me. . . what with me having been as a ghost as I drifted throug life before meeting Fred and "my" Shinji Akari,' Rei thought to herself. That and being something of a play on words, being the Pilot for Unit 00' "The young one with the red hair and wings is Reika Ayanami Quatermain," Rei continues, gesturing towards her sister by way of introduction. As she had seen some of the more tradition bound ones of the starship "The Dawntreader" (i.e. the 'old gaurd' of the aristacracy), she curtseys towards Dr. Morbius, who blinks at that one. 'Reika is the name my sister took for herself,' Rei smiles slightly. 'And like the name which stands for wildfire, she shall never again be tamed or tied down as she had been under that bastard who's named Gendo Akari and shall burn anyone who tries!' Of that, Rei was more than sure. "My sister of the white hair and wings is Lilith Ayanami Quatermain," the blue winged woman continues on, introducing all of her group. Freely she admits to herself that it's rather odd and silly to be standing on a point of good manners, introducing themselvss this way but it also has a calming effect. Something that Rei fears is going to be needed in order to proceed in some sane and rational matter here. Right now too much has been going to Hell in a handbasket for her tastes... |
4/16/2007 1:01:42 AM
Linking Enabled
Extending Enabled
1744948 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.