Atrophy

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

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It all happened so fast. By the time Penny had recovered from the burst of light, Reese had already closed the gap between himself and Paige. She felt a scream in defiance rip from her lips as she rushed after him, knowing all too well that she’d never make it in time. “Billy, do something!” flashed into her brother’s mind, ripping him out of his daydream just in time for him to witness Tuyen’s shadow come to life. He, too, was not going to get to Paige in time, but thankfully Jasmine had the time to freeze him in place. Penny sighed deeply in relief, and slowed her sprint to a trot as the shadow slammed Reese into a locker and Justin and Lynette turned up the heat.

Her aura was still going strong, which meant her head was buzzing with pain and her senses were beginning to overload. Still, she would not turn it off, not until she made for certain that they were in the clear. Reese’s screams filled her ears. She hated the sound. She hated him. Yet, the sound of him suffering caused her to freeze up. She knew that there would be no reasoning with Reese, that he was more monster than man now, that he had killed people that, while she truly didn’t like, certainly didn’t deserve it, and yet despite all of this she felt bad for him. He disgusted her, but she pitied him.

But that didn’t mean she wasn’t ready to do what was necessary.

"Barbie! I'm gonna toss this, do your little magic trick!" shouted Claire before chucking the blade that had killed so many of their classmates at Reese. Penny didn’t even hesitate. Her aura calculated the arc and she reached out with her hand. One second the blade was sailing through the air, and the next it was gone. At the same time, Penny felt her legs give out from underneath her. She collapsed to her knees. The world went silent and she saw a blackness begin to creep into her peripheries. She turned her aura off and pushed the hair out of her face; she was sweating and blood had begun to drip from her nose. As she looked up, sound began to return to the world, and then her vision cleared.

The first thing she saw was Scott Reese, his own blade buried in his chest up to the hilt.

“Nice fucking throw, O’Sullivan,” huffed Penny, sitting back on her rear. She glared at Reese as he screamed and struggled like a worm on a hook. He was trying pathetically to pull the blade from his chest. As his hands were about to reach the hilt, Penny reached back up and repulsed the blade again. Then again. And again. Anytime she saw the blade shift, she pushed it again. Penny started seeing red and could taste the iron in her mouth, but she would not stop. Not until she was certain.

Scott Reese wasn’t going anywhere.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Will be able to get a post up by Friday at the latest. Turns out drinking in 100+ degree weather is exhausting.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Meanwhile, I'm outta town til Tuesday. Vegas, baby!

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc@Zombiedude101@Majoras End}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

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While Nate was preparing for his charge upon his maintenance stallion and Paige was drilling Reese with what looked like a miniature Laser Floyd show, Billy had entered into some sort of Zen-like state. Jasmine had stopped the hulking monster long enough for Claire and Britney to attempt to hold him in place, and the daydream Billy was forcing on Reese would soon make his continued struggles sluggish and sloppy until he possibly succumbed to unconsciousness. His sigil glowed from underneath his shirt as he continued to stare down their nightmare, his jaw slack and his eyes glazed.

Penny often took to ignoring or actively antagonizing Britney’s directives—even when restrained Reese was still dangerous—but Maddie’s situation forced the defiant girl to act. Blinking, the word around her began to buzz with energy. She knew before Lynette that the ice wouldn’t make it to Reese, and the vines that had wrapped around his ankles gave her a headache as they grew. Still, she rather deal with a migraine than have Reese smash her with his hostage without giving her even the slightest chance to move out of the way.

Rushing forward, Penny kicked off a shard of ice and carried it like a dagger. She ducked around Reese and blasted the shard into the back of the shoulder of the arm that was strangling Maddie, while at the same time she caught sight of Nate charging in out of the corner of her eye. Judging by her aura, there was only a few seconds before he shoved his makeshift battering ram right up Reese’s ass. If her ice dart freed Maddie from Reese’s grasp she’d have just enough time to tackle the girl out of the way. Otherwise, well, there was no time to consider anything else.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Sorry y'all, busy ass week. I should be able to get something out by Wednesday, but don't wait up.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc@Mike73}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

Penny’s hands clenched into fists of rage, but if she was going to smash Britney in her stupid face for jerking them around for so long then it’d have to wait. She hurried to respond to Paige’s bark, and her heart sank as her stomach rose when she saw Reese rip into Dexter. She looked away, trying to tune out the sound of entrails splattering on the ground, just in time to catch Claire rushing by her. A suicidal attack, if not for it being Claire, who was quickly chucked away like a ragdoll. The follow-up by Maddie was a surprise—Penny, not remembering that the girl had been “killed” by Reese once before, held back as a swore escaped her mouth. If she launched a barrage at Reese now, she’d likely end up stabbing Maddie in the back.

“You can stop him again, right?” asked Penny, sidling up to Jasmine. “Now would be a nice time to do it.”

Billy didn’t like the idea of leaving, but he didn’t like the idea of leaving his sister behind even more. Shrinking into the doorframe, he leaned out ever so slightly so that he could keep an eye on the outcome. If shit got bad he’d grab Penny and make a run for it, but for now he was sticking around. His eyes burned a hole in Scott. He couldn’t help but try and figure out what the deal was with this dude’s inability to chill. As Billy glared at the creep, his Abstraction begin to work subconsciously. Like Penny, Reese would feel that Billy was doing something to his head, making him sluggish, drowsy. Unlike Penny, he wouldn’t be able to telepathically snap at him to cut it out and pull him out of the focus.

But he could just bum rush him.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

Happy 1000th post you nerds. Here's to wasting it.

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

Rita threw a sharp elbow into Penny's stomach, forcing the blonde girl to let go of Rita's collar. The mousy girl scurried up behind Lynette, the wild curiosity in her eyes shifting into slight confusion and disappointment as she saw the contents of the chest. Books. It was just books. Rita liked books, but after all of the weirdness of the day she had been expecting something a bit more intense. She glanced at the book Lynette was reading. It was gibberish. Gobbledygook. So much for finding any answers.

She ruffled her hair in frustration. She was used to being left in the dark, but they didn't mean she was okay with it--and when Sharon and Britney began to talk in their cryptic, exclusive talk about Glints and whatevers Rita started to feel her frustration boil into full blown anger. It was clear that Britney had been hiding things from them. Rita had been afraid to confront the other girl earlier. She knew that Britney's folks had influence, not to mention that the other woman towered over her. However, she abhorred it when someone kept her out of a secret. A more patient person might have tact and wait for the right moment to strike, but Rita could not wait for answers any longer.

Once the girls had started talking, Penny had shrugged off Rita’s blow so that she could, as per usual, force herself into the conversation. If there was going to be a confrontation where they called Britney out on her bullshit, she wasn’t going to miss it. Already, she had began to pop off along another rant, shouting at Britney as she had done with Sharon just moments ago, when Rita stepped in front of her.

“... seriously, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Claire. You can't keep us in the dark forever. Like, you…”

“How do I get you to shut your stupid mouth for one minute?” said Rita, glaring at Penny. Her sleeves were pulled down to her wrist and her hand was shoved into her pocket, keeping her sigil from being seen. Caught off guard by the quiet girl suddenly growing a spine, Penny took a step back.

“That’ll work,” said Penny, and then blinked confusedly. It felt like her head had been messed with again, only this time it hadn’t been Billy. She looked over at him and saw that he had a look of mild befuddlement on his face. Before she could recover from the momentary shock, Rita had already turned towards Britney.

“What are the things she is talking about?” said Rita, pointing at Sharon. She was so heated that she didn’t even realize she had done so with her left hand. The lines on her fingers glowed ever so slightly before she folded her arms over her chest, inadvertently hiding the lines once again. “And why do you know about all of this? Why haven’t you told us? Seriously, aren’t you trying to help us?

Rita had been shouting by the time she had finished grilling Britney. Taking a deep breath, she did not break her eye contact with Britney even as an uncomfortable silence began to fill the room. From behind her, she could hear Billy mutter, “Shit. I forgot she could talk.”

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

What's in the chest?

I'm hoping for the Big Key!

Vivid Recollections: Into the World Unknown (Season 1 COMPLETE)

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_{@Surtr Inc@Fernstone}

Hillview High - Mason Square.

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Redeem us, redeem us, redeem us. Billy couldn’t help but think that whatever creepy tagger that had hit up the old Hillview High either needed a new hobby or a thesaurus, although it still did the job of giving the guy a serious case of the chills. He had the cure for his anxiety sitting in a little plastic baggie in the console of his car, but that was something that’d have to wait until after they had finished their little ghost tour of culty weirdness. When they came upon room 108 he felt a reservation about going inside; he felt his heart plummet as Claire forced Sharon inside and the rest followed suit. Better to be with the group in the scary room of doom than alone in the hallway with Nate’s poltergeists. Forcing a brave face, he stepped into the room while Sharon protested.

“It’s gonna be okay. We’re here with you,” he said with more than a hint of uncertainty in his quaking voice.

He muttered a curse. The room, with its mural of notes and photographs, looked like something out of one of those movies where an intrepid journalist is trying to uncover a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. All that was missing was the strings of red yarn tying everyone together. Slowly easing his way to the wall, he looked through the pool of residents or, rather, victims, both previous and planned. He found Penny’s picture on the wall. She would probably be pleased to find out that she had been considered a high threat. Next was his, listing him as a low chance with a low threat. Frustratingly enough, there was no abstraction listed next to his name; turns out there stalker was as clueless as he was when it came to whatever was going on with Billy.

The next photo he saw caused his throat to tighten as he croaked back a cry. It was a young teen with a wild bush of blonde hair, a crooked, goofy smile, and squinty eyes. Henry Lawson. His brother. He looked at the slashes through the notes attached to the photo as he tried to fight back the tears. For once, Billy found that being right was the worst possible result; deep down, he had always hoped that Penny would one day be able to say, “I told you so.” He couldn’t let her see this, fearing that she’d go absolutely berserk. He plucked the picture and note off of the wall, quickly shoving it in his pocket, turning to see Caelea hovering around the chest.

“Hey, kiddo, maybe we should let creepy closed chests stay creepy closed chests, yeah?” he said.

“I can’t fucking believe you,” said Penny from behind him, her voice flaring with anger. He froze, thinking that he had been caught in the act. With a guilty grimace, he looked over his shoulder to find that his sister was not talking to him. Instead, she was shoving past the mousy girl who seemed to not be able to take her eyes off of the chest and making her way over to Sharon.

“How the fuck could you?” growled Penny, jabbing her finger at the shrinking Sharon. “You knew about this, you knew about all of this, and you didn’t do anything? You didn’t say anything? What the hell is wrong with you, you stupid ginger bitch?” Penny grabbed a handful of photos randomly off of the wall, shoving them in Sharon’s face so that she couldn’t look away. “It wasn’t just your father who murdered all of these people. You knew what he was up to, and you didn’t do a goddamn thing to stop him.” She threw the photos at Sharon. “Their deaths are on your hands as much as—” She felt the drowsiness again; her words had begun to slur. “Billy, stop fucking with my head!”

“Penny, look.”

She turned her head in time to see Rita crouched in front of the chest, her hands on the lid.

“What the hell are you doing?” and “Seriously, dudes, maybe we should leave it alone,” said Penny and Billy simultaneously.

At the prompting of Penny’s question, Rita had started to babble, “Maybe it’ll explain why he was doing these things. I...I just need to know what’s inside. It’s killing me.”

Penny reached out to grab the smaller girl away from the chest. She caught the back of her shirt and gave her a tug, sending Rita to the ground—but not before Rita was able to flip the lid open.