Remnants of the Earth

Ohhhh, no, I actually like that idea! *___*

I'm big on plagues and diseases and outbreaks. >_> I think they're so fun to RP. And I think an intergalactic one with zombie side-effec ts would be awesome! It appeals to the side of me that is scared to death of zombies, and yet loves Resident Evil all the same! xDD

And having TRIM release it...that sounds perfect. I like it! *___*

I saw it happen.

I SAW IT! With my own two eyes! I'm onto you.

It actually does! xD Though it's probably nigh on impossible to decode because it's so obscured and covered up and all...crazy like that.

I typed in "where has the world gone?" into a binary generator thingy. I didn't want to just type in random zeros and ones because I figured it'd look more...convincing if I used actual words and let an actual generator do its work!

Demaht sighed blissfully as she reclined in the bathtub, inhaling the steam as it rose. Ah, nothing was better than a nice, long soak in hot water and scented oils. Of course, another person probably wouldn't have enjoyed her sort of bath; she was an ifrit and when she was alone she liked her water scalding hot. While she much preferred baths with company, it was really nice to just let go every now and then, let her own body heat up, and not have to worry about melting the skin off of anyone around her.

Not that she normally worried about that. Or at least she hadn't for quite a few millennia. A few millennia ago and she would have delighted in being able to case as much harm as she was capable of causing, and while she still did possess that sadistic streak--old habits were hard to break--it at least was far more controlled.

Still, she would never dream of harming Tzak. At least, not intentionally. She was still getting the hang of certain emotions and she still had a tendency to come off as insensitive and selfish. Which, well, she was to a certain degree, but that was beside the point!

The point was, she was trying. She was trying to be how she had once been, the Demaht she'd been before that whole debacle where the Gods had imprisoned the djinn and all that.

Grimacing, she sank down lower into the water until she was submerged up to her nose. That whole thing still left a bitter taste in her mouth. It was just best not to think about it.

Naw, instead she'd just focus on the wonderful scented steam, the hot water covering almost every inch of her body...smiling contentedly, she let her orange eyes drift shut. Mm...maybe once she was done, she'd go pester Tzak. Even after all these years he could be so shy, and there was nothing more hilarious than just heading on up to the bridge in nothing but her skin. Oh, sure, he tried to stay focused and block out her distractions, but she knew there was only so much he could take. Besides, he could use a little excitement! After that whole thing with the Mordecai, things had been rather slow, and there were only so many stars you could look at!

Ah, Tzak...even after all these years, she hadn't grown tired of him.

And she knew without a doubt that what she felt for him was love. Even if it was sometimes difficult to say and difficult to grasp...he knew she loved him, and she most certainly did, too.

Submerging herself completely to get her hair wet, Demaht resurfaced, pushed red hair back out of her eyes, reached for some soap--and promptly face-planted in the water when the ship rocked unexpectedly and the warning systems went off. She came back up sputtering, spitting out soapy water. Blech. What the hell was that?!

She found out soon enough when a voice spoke over the intercom.

And then she couldn't help but roll her eyes. He could have just wished for her to fix it, but...ah...whatever . She'd learned millennia ago that while Tzak was submissive, he wasn't weak and he did have something of an independent streak. He liked to do these things without having to wish and, while it was often frustrating, she had learned to let him.

So she would.

Standing up and stepping out of the tub, Demaht didn't even have to bother with a towel. The heat from her body was enough to evaporate the water from her skin and hair, and it took only a thought to make clothes appear on her body, her usual garb. Even after so many years, she still favored these clothes. She paused only to drain the tub before she headed out of the room, a wall of steam from the room following her, and walked up to their room. She was glad that Tzak had finally wished for her to be able to go more than twenty feet away from him. It really came in handy when she didn't want to spend the day staring at stars as he piloted the ship.

Once in their room she flopped onto her stomach on the bed, grabbed a book from the bedside table, and began to thumb through it. Well, if Tzak wanted to tinker with the ship, she'd just lounge around and relax until he said he needed help. Who knew how long it would be until he finally just admitted that he needed assistance.

It wasn't too long, though, before he headed into the room, and Demaht glanced up from her book, folded a corner to mark her place, and set it aside. "Well?" she began, but Tzak began to explain.

And held out something for her to see. What had been stuck in the engine, apparently.

A golden hoop.

Demaht's eyes narrowed a little, squinting. She didn't think it looked like a heating coil. Actually, it really did look like a bracelet...but how could it have jammed up the engine? A simple piece of jewellery would have been destroyed by--

It was then that, suddenly, a wave of familiarity and realization washed over her, making every muscle tense. And it was also at that exact moment when, as though in slow motion, she saw Tzak move to slip the bracelet onto his wrist.

Demaht's eyes widened and she launched herself off of the bed and onto her feet. "Wait, Tzak, no!" she yelled, but by then it was too late. The bracelet slipped onto his wrist and after that there was just nothing she could do but press her hand to her forehead and wait. And lay into Tzak. "Tzak, ya fool! Ya any idea what ya just did?! Take the bracelet off! Take it off!"

Too late.

The air in front of them began to shimmer in a strange way, like a mirage, before it suddenly started to take on a shape, started to solidify, and all Demaht could do was stare intensely at the spot as though trying to will it out of existence. Of course, that didn't work, and in a matter of mere seconds a woman was standing before them both, tall, beautiful, but still transparent and shimmery; it almost looked like she was made out of liquid. It took a few more seconds before the woman truly solidified into a flesh and blood form.

Well...flesh and blood. For a djinn.

Taller than Demaht at five foot eight, the woman gave the other djinn a cursory, disinterested glance before turning her gaze to the one who had summoned her with equal disinterest. Quite unlike Demaht's bronze skin, her skin was a pale blue and her long, straight hair, falling to her waist in dark blue and green strands, had a strange quality to it. It looked somehow wet and it moved in an odd way, curling around her her and swaying as though she were underwater. It was quite obvious that if Demaht was fire, she was definitely water.

Her garments, or what there were of them, were blue and made of some sort of shimmery fabric that was still thin and gauzey like Demaht's clothing, and her style of dress was no more modest. A strapless top just covered her breasts while a low-cut skirt covered her lower body, slit high up the sides to expose her legs and bare feet. Aside from some strings of pearls woven into her hair and a golden bracelet on her left wrist, she wore no jewelry and not even her pointed ears were pierced.

The new djinn was no longer staring at Tzak but was instead gazing around the bedroom curiously. It was apparent that she found that far more interesting than the two beings in front of her--either that, or she was making a deliberate effort to ignore them. She even turned away from them both and began to walk slowly around the room, brushing her fingers over a dresser top here, picking up an old book and thumbing through it there, and Demaht was seething as she watched and undecided as to whether she was more angry with the other djinn just for existing or with Tzak for summoning her.

Gods be damned...Tzak had no idea what he'd just done, did he?

Finally, when the djinn went and started poking at her computer, Demaht couldn't take it any longer. She tossed her hair irritably and took a step forward. "Stop that! Whaddya want?"

"What do I want? It was your master who summoned me, Demaht," the djinn replied calmly, finally turning around and looking at Tzak again. Demaht didn't seem at all surprised that the djinn knew her name; the truth was, all the djinn knew each other, if only in passing. The djinn tilted her head a little to the right and tapped her lips with her index finger. "Hmm...how odd. I don't think I've ever heard of one person acquiring two djinn. Interesting. Well, Demaht? Stop being rude. Be a good slave, now, and introduce me to your...master."

Demaht ground her teeth together. A marid. Tzak managed to get ahold of a bloody marid. No. No, she was not staying. They were going to correct this here and now. Spinning sharply, she turned to Tzak and stabbed a finger at the bracelet he wore. "Take if off, Tzak. That's Saritsu. She's a marid," she said, not caring if he had no clue what one of those were. Oh, he'd find out soon enough. "I dunno how the hell ya found another djinn, but ya take that bracelet off now an' toss it back into space! Gods be damned! Don'tcha know better'n to put on random jewellery?! What possessed ya to do that?! You're a man, ya don't needa wear girly golden bracelets so why'd ya even put it on?!"

Saritsu only gave a mild smirk and turned away from the two, going back to investigating her new surroundings and not seeming to really care about them. She was more interested in learning more about where she was and what the year was, now. She had no idea how long she'd been trapped in that bracelet, but from the looks of things, the world was vastly different from where she'd left off.

Whoo! So I'm really pleased with how well RotE has been doing! o.o It just opened on September 6th and already we have almost 40 members and 1000 posts. Dang, guys! We're doing awesomely. The site is already a success! <3

Anyway! I did some minor updates. I updated the Races section and still need to update the Technology and Religion section. I also added a Cbox to the site, which can be found at the bottom of every page. :3

Let's see, what else...

Oh yeah! Already there are a bunch of character types we really need. Most people have been joining wanderers, so we need some characters for Aedolis (we need Pilots! And citizens! And soldier!), Edanith (Mordecai! Mages! Citizens!) and TRIM (we need researchers and subjects!). We also need characters for Teinar, and we needed leaders for every area. Don't be afraid to snatch up high positions if you really are interested in it! Just be sure that if you plan on playing a leader, you can commit to it and be dedicated. :3

So yeah! Just start filling out the main areas! ^_^ I'm guilty of joining wanderers as well, so I'm going to look to create some characters for the main areas, as well.

Well, that's all, folks! <3 Keep up the excellent work! RotE is doing great because of you all!

xD Hahaha, great way to find this place!

Welcome, welcome! And have loads of fun and stuff! :3 And yeah...Shizzy's right about the muzzle thing. I just don't know if that's us being crafty or not, though. I like to think of it as evolution.

Or something. I'm shleepy.

But yush! Have fun and if you have any questions, ask away!

Wish granted! All the girls of the world have had a girl-to-guy sex change operation!

I wish I didn't have to sleep.

Hatame is free! Well, I believe Draco wants to do something with him, BUT! Y'all are welcome to jump in! ^__^ The more the merrier!

As soon as he said "no" and held up the pad, Teidra's body relaxed a little, and it wasn't much longer before gripping fear was replaced by curiosity--and, no matter what she told herself, hope. Her salvation? In that little pad? Information? Ever so slowly, she scooted forward on the bed, still on her knees and careful not to snag the blankets, until she was kneeling beside Mazz and peering over at the pad. It didn't matter that just moments ago she had been convinced he was just toying with her, and she still thought that maybe he was. Yet at the same time she was <I>desperate, and what she had seen today only fueled that desperation all the more. She listened to him list off the things he needed as her eyes scanned the device, and then she went stock still when her eyes fell on four certain words.

Pet Adoption Request Form.

"How...is that going to help...?" she asked slowly, looking up at him before looking back down at the form. Her voice was still scratchy and raw, a little thick as well from her stuffy nose, but the tears had stopped falling at least. Pet adoption. What did that have to do with her? It seemed so random, yet he called it her salvation. She may not have trusted him just minutes ago when she'd been wallowing in self pity and horrified by what she'd witnessed, but now that he had produced something solid, something she could touch if she wanted to, something he called her salvation...that feeble trust and hope had returned. Right here was a plan, right here was proof that he hadn't just been toying with her. He meant what he'd said.

And she certainly hadn't meant her question to sound rude. She just didn't really understand. But she realized it could have easily been taken that way, she she quickly dove to cover it up, just in case he decided not to help her because she was rude. She put on a small smile and lightly touched his shoulder. "I'm sorry...I don't mean to sound ungrateful. I am. It's...just been a long day. But thank you, thank you very much, I truly appreciate this. Ah...anyway...your questions..."

Shifting a little and withdrawing her hand, she carefully sat back and stretched her legs out in front of her, hanging them over the side of the bed. Pointless questions aside, she'd answer the ones that counted; she figured the sooner she did, the sooner she was out of here. "Well...we're called Tuathi. My race that is. Me? Last I got measured I was five feet, with my horns. Weight...ah...I don't really check these things, but somewhere around one-hundred and seven pounds. And I'm sixty years old, even." Teidra paused. "I...think they said that'd be about twenty to a human." Another pause, this one longer. And then she just couldn't help it.  She was about to burst from curiosity. "I don't mean to be rude, Doctor, but may I please ask how a Pet Request Form is going to--"

Then she stopped. Her eyes had traveled further down the screen, casually reading, and it was then that something finally clicked. Those same questions he'd asked her...they were questions on the form.

Her green eyes went wide, and she slowly looked up at Mazz. Then she cleared her throat, looked back at the pad as though to make sure she hadn't read wrong, and then looked back to Mazz again.

"...M-me...?" she asked very quietly, pointing to herself.

Teidra wasn't feeling too talkative as Mazz examined her, pondering over whether her hair was hair or fur--Teidra only gave a shrug at the question since, to her, that was the same thing and she couldn't see the difference--and wondering at her sharp hooves, even cutting himself on one. Teidra had to wince a little in sympathy; they were sharp, but not sharp enough to cut into tile and get a good grip like they could do to ice. She only blinked blandly as he scanned her hooves. Rubber shoes to help her walk. Kind of like what they had in her world, she supposed, to use when cutting someone or something up was a risk. She didn't think much on it, though. Her mind was elsewhere, her stomach trying to tie itself into one big, horrible knot.

Still she was compliant.

There were a lot of reasons that she didn't assault Mazz then. For one, fighting simply wasn't in her nature so it just wasn't her first impulse. While she was by no means a pacifist and would defend herself if attacked, as she had with the guards, at the same time she wasn't the most confrontational creature and she tended to shy away from from conflict. If Mazz had whipped out a scalpel and asked her to lay down, or brought out some strange tonic and asked her to drink it...it would have been an entirely different story. She would have kicked, she would have screamed, she would have clawed and bitten until those guards came and held her down. But right now Mazz wasn't hurting her, he wasn't threatening her, and she knew that if she did try and resist at this point...those guards would come in and this situation would be a whole lot worse.

And where would she go even if she managed to take Mazz down and escape the room? There were a lot of guards, all of them with that inpenetrable armor. She was fast, yes, but she also didn't know the complex or even where it was. Was it out in the middle of space? Was it on a planet? Even if she did manage to evade security, avoid dead-ends, and by some miracle make it to an exit...if they were out in the middle of space, that wouldn't do her any good.

She was trapped.

And she saw no reason to make things any worse than it already was. Being told you were a prisoner, that your life was no longer yours...Teidra's breath caught in her throat, body shuddering on a sob. Another person may have fought anyway, even if they knew how futile it was, just to make a point but Teidra wasn't that person. It was a noble idea and all, to go down swinging all the while, but what did it really matter? Even if you went down swinging, you still went down. No, now wasn't the time to fight a pointles battle. She needed to clear her head and think


And doing just that seemed to pay off.

If she had tried to fight, Mazz obviously wouldn't have offered to save her, though she still had no idea why he even made the offer. Why her? It didn't matter just then, though. She didn't care. All that mattered was that he had said that...and she was going to hope it was true.

She bit her lip, blinking rapidly as tears welled up in her eyes as he brushed back her hair and said he meant it. She gave a little nod, drew a shuddering breath, and opened her mouth to speak--but then something happened.

He seemed to be having an attack.

With a gasp, Teidra sat up, wide eyed as he backed away and afraid that something horrible was happening to her one chance out of here. "Doctor--?" she began...and then...

He sneezed.

Teidra's shoulders slumped with relief as he sneezed not once but three times and explained what had happened once he was able to talk again. All that just because she'd touched his nose? The corner of her mouth actually twitched upwards, as though a smile wanted to form. It was kind of amusing...and another time, she might have laughed about it, too. But then the situation had passed, he mentioned the MRI, and she quickly laid back down and let the machine do its work. Or machines, rather, because then she was being X-rayed.

Then he was helping her sit up and explaining the last few tests, which sounded harmless. Blood pressure, heartbeat...they did that at a normal doctor's office. Filled with hope, it was a little easier to relax as he fitted her with a strange device and--she gave a little yip of surprise when he pressed the stethoscope against her back, finding it cold, but the shock of that faded and she took deep breaths in and out as instructed.

Then it was over. Mazz put the equipment away, told her he was done, and she took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you..."

This time, when the guards came, she didn't put a fight at all. They still terrified her, she still couldn't help but cower a little, but they weren't quite as scary this time around.

This time she had hope.

-------------------------

Mazz wasn't the only one not to get any sleep--or at least not good sleep.

The rest of the day after she was escorted back to her room was horrible, but fortunately it passed in a sort of dazed blur. She was returned to her room where, indeed, some clothes were waiting for her. She ended up choosing the shorts, noted everything was held together by velcro, and then, after that...well, it was just a lot of waiting. There wasn't really anything to do to pass the time but curl up on the bottom bunk (which she chose over the top one after her last experience) and, no matter how much she fought it--cry.

Alone and with no more distractions, with no more strange machines flashing lights at her or taking samples, she finally had the time to actually think about the situation she was in and what it meant. And it also finally sank in. Here forever. Just a number...and maybe she really had gotten her hopes up. Maybe Mazz wasn't being honest. He had seemed sincere and she'd let herself believe him for those few minutes, but now that she thought about it more...now she felt really foolish. It made no sense. Why would he want to help her? He <I>worked here, this was what he did. If he helped her, he'd be risking his job, and surely he knew what he was getting into when he chose this as his profession? And why her? Why not anyone else? Or maybe there were other people...

But it was unlikely.

He probably just said those things so she wouldn't struggle, so she'd keep calm. And next time he saw her, it'd probably be the same thing. He'd tell her each time that he was working out a way to help her, he'd tell her each time that he was getting closer to freeing her, but he'd never free her. He'd just tell her all that to keep her calm and compliant while the tests just grew more and more horrendous.

He probably told everyone the same thing.

She'd never leave this place except by a miracle.

Morning brought breakfast, new clothes, a shower, and the promise of an hour of exercise later on. Apparently, they got two hours a day where they could be outside their cells to exercise and mingle with the other "subjects", but the first time Teidra actually saw the others were at the showers. Or shower, rather. The center was effecient; male and female alike, the shower was communal and they were all made to strip, enter the chamber, and get blasted by the water. That wasn't the part that bothered Teidra; she wasn't bothered by nudity, and it wasn't even the feeling of being treated like cattle that disturbed her. It was the other people. You could almost tell just by looking at them who had been here a while and who was fairly new. Some still had that spark of defiance in their eyes. Others seemed defeated. But what was worse was that some bore obvious marks, scars, and shaven heads that she could only assume was a result of various experiments. Still others had no marks at all except for an expression that said that they'd been through a lot more than anyone should, and that scared her the most.

When she returned to her cell, she couldn't even think anymore. All she could do was sob uncontrollably into her pillow, not caring or noticing that her claws were shredding it to ribbons in the process. All she could see were those people, a lot of them much bigger and tougher looking than she was. If none of them could get out...how could she?

Then the door to her cell slid open and she jumped, banging her horns against the supporting bars of the bottom bunk. Quickly she wiped her face and looked up...then scrambled backwards on the bed on her hands and knees when she saw it was Mazz. She didn't want to tear up the bed with her hooves, not because she cared about it but because she was afraid of getting in trouble for it. She was still clinging to the pillow, and after a downward glance at it--and what she'd done to it--she quickly shoved it behind her back and stared up at him like he was a lion and she was a gazelle.

"Wh-what?" she asked hoarsely, voice raw from crying and her eyes red. "More tests?" There was an accusatory note there.

After all...she'd seen what they did to people. Now she really knew. Now it was really real. He did that to people...