Foundation 4D II – I am having loads of trouble with dropbox, so I’m uploading this here for now.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B70jVVBfMNTtTWNPdVNJMDhaMkU
Modelled using Sketchup.
Soundtrack Credits:
Ace Attorney 6: Spirit of Justice
Youtube
Foundation 4D II: Eden & Abel find a way to escape from the room their kidnappers had placed them in.
This post details the Home, Authority, Fashion, Architecture, Law, Celebrations of Travellers.
(This post is under construction. More to come in time!)
Previously: Abel and Eden meet their kidnapper, the man with the scarred face. He demands the time-traveller, promising that the other would go free. Eden pretends to be the Traveller, hoping to get Abel out, but turns out that ‘going free’ was a lie.
As Abel is dying from a fatal wound, he forces Eden to break his seal and then Rewinds back in time.
*
Prompt 3: Fashion
F I R S T R E W I N D
Abel woke up.
The amulet he wore habitually on his ear… dissolved. There was no other way to describe it. Abel blinked blearily through his bangs as the amulet dissolved into a cloud of light, like fireflies. He could already feel the magic branding itself into his skin, carving swirls into the side of his neck, a lattice of patterning.
He had woken lying on his side, like he had the first time round, so he flopped onto his back instead to watch the gleaming light linger in the air.
It reminded him of weddings and Promises, where couples and partners would traditionally Rewind together after the initial seal-breaking, lighting the night with blue magic. He had only seen it once during–
“I TRUSTED YOU!”
Abel whimpered as a lancing pain shot through his head. His head pounded and his mouth felt sand-dry. He had only seen the light once, during the Missus’ wedding, and nowhere else.
What was that?
He tried to recall, but could only cringe when his migraine intensified. There was a coppery taste in his mouth— he grasped his shoulder to make sure that the gunshot wound was not there.
The light disappeared, the branding complete. Against his will, Abel dragged himself upright and looked around. Across the room, Eden was collapsed in an ungainly heap, rope back around her wrists. Abel crawled over to her, too tired to stand.
He tugged her into a more comfortable sleeping position and pulled his hoodie off, arranging it into a makeshift pillow, then again began the arduous process of untying her wrists. He spat out the blood in his mouth and started the process. It involved a combination of gnawing with his teeth and picking at knots with his fingernails, and had taken him at least an hour to do it the first time.
By estimate, it would be at least three hours before scar-man entered. They would have to find a way out before that.
Eden’s fingers twitched. She was waking earlier than he expected. He was only halfway through untying her. Abel wondered if it was because of the Promising ritual (he refused to consider himself married) or if it was because his Rewind had not brought him as far back as he thought.
“Why’s your neck glowing,” Eden mumbled, voice thick with disuse. She was like a cat, Abel thought, or a magpie, drawn to shiny things. She’d asked him that sometime the first round too.
“So’s yours,” he said. His voice was muffled from the rope. He studiously continued to untie her as Eden blinked herself awake. Her eyes flickered around the room, bright and curious.
When the rope finally gave, Eden rubbed her wrists. “Thanks,” she said.
Abel nodded. His eyes flicked to the grimy mirror on one side of the wall.
“That tattoo of yours stopped glowing,” Eden mumbled. “And it’s gone, too.”
Abel rubbed the side of his neck. “It’s still there. It only glows for a moment after a Rewind.”
When Eden furrowed her brows, confused, he clarified, “Rewind means traveling back in time. I can do that. Travel back in time, I mean.”
Her eyes gleamed with curiosity. “Can you do that? Travel back and prevent us from getting caught in here? I don’t know where this is, but it doesn’t look very… welcoming.”
Abel snorted. “Sorry, can’t,” he was sure the next Rewind would render him unconscious, at least, considering the state he had just woke up in.
Eden sat up. “What did you mean when you said my neck was glowing, too?”
“It means you’re my, uh,” Abel flushed, not sure how to explain this. While Promisings were not romantic, they were still very intimate. He gave up trying to define that, and instead said, “I’m bonded to you. Long story short, if I die, you die. You’re the reason why I can Rewind. It’s because sometime in the future you helped me break my amulet – the thing that stops me from traveling back.”
“Oh,” Eden said, eyes wide. “That’s wicked cool. And I’ve always wanted a tattoo.”
One side of Abel’s lips tilted up in a smile.
At that moment, Eden shivered. “It’s cold,” Eden muttered, rubbing her bare arms.
Abel blinked, only now noticing that she was wearing a threadbare, short-sleeved shirt. He picked his hoodie up from its place on the floor, shaking it out from its previous purpose as a pillow before wordlessly handed it to her.
She blinked. “Oh, thanks!” Pulling it on, she commented, “it’s really soft. What’s it made of?”
“Uh, wool. Goat’s wool?”
Eden blanched. “That’s cashmere!” She yelped. “This stuff is expensive, Abel!”
He shrugged. “It cost me months of coin, but it was worth it. Goat’s wool lasts longest and it’s always cold back home. Most of our clothes are made with it.”
“Thanks though, I’ll take care of it.” Eden grinned. Her hands ran along the seams and sleeves of the blue wool, like she couldn’t get enough of the texture. Abel thought it was amusing. “So, what’s my name?”
“What?”
“I must’ve told you my name,” Eden said in a matter-of-fact manner. “What’s my name? And what’s yours?”
“Eden,” Abel said blandly. “I’m Abel.”
She nodded. “Okay, and how many pets do I have?”
Abel gave her a blank stare. “No clue,” he said.
“Okay, now you know,” she said. “I don’t have any pets, but I have a little sister. Her name is Tabby and she likes apple juice and Pokémon Go.”
Abel wrinkled his nose. “Why did you tell me all that for? And what’s… poe-kay-mon?”
Eden looked at him in horror. Abel frowned. “What?”
“How do you not know Pokémon, what rock did you live under?!”
Abel flushed, mumbling defensively. “At least I know what apple juice is.”
Eden stared at him incredulously.
“I do!” Abel said, offended.
“But… Pokémon,” Eden said, gesturing helplessly. “Okay that settles it! That’s the first thing we’re going to do when we get out. I am making you play Pokémon even if it’s the last thing I do.”
Abel blinked in the face of her unwavering faith that they would get out… and alive. Something inside him strengthened.
Determination.
Abel let it sweep through him and give him strength.
“Okay,” Abel said, smiling. “Once we get out of here.”
Eden grinned. “Anyway, I told you that so that you can answer me on your next Rewind.”
“How do you even know that you’re going to ask me that?” Abel huffed, amused. Eden just smiled.
In lieu of replying, Eden said, “You know, we should have some kind of code? So I know you Rewinded.”
“Honestly I think telling you that I haven’t played Pokémon would send you into a tizzy, no matter what universe.”
Eden huffed. “You’re not wrong. Anyway, how about, ‘Tabby hates ice-cream’?”
Abel didn’t know what ‘ice-cream’ was, but didn’t think it was very wise to tell that to Eden. The both of them made to stand. Eden stood first then helped Abel up, and they looked around the room again.
“I guess… why not. Why do I feel like by the end of this, I’ll know too much about your sister?” Abel said with exasperation.
Eden laughed. “That’s good, because she’s the light of my life. Okay, escape room. Any ideas?” Eden said.
Hmm. Well. “The numbers to the safe are…” then he rattled off the six digit combination.
Eden was staring at him.
“What? I saw it when the bad guys came in. Some of scar-face’s lackeys were getting something from the drawer. I don’t know what, but the key’s in the safe.”
“Oh yeah, time-travel, I forgot,” Eden muttered.
The two of them approached the safe.
“What else did you find out?”
Abel thought as Eden keyed in the numbers. “…Sorry, no. I was too busy, er, trying not to die.”
Eden hummed. “It’s kay, we’ll get it next time.”
The safe clicked open. Inside, there was stacks and stacks of green paper and a handful of keys. Eden gasped. Abel blinked at her. “What’s wrong?”
“There’s so much money!” Eden squeaked.
This time, Abel couldn’t help himself. “Er, what’s money?”
Eden stared at him. “You’re joking…?” She saw the look on his face. “Okay, no you’re not. Wow. Uh, basically you can exchange these,” she waved at the papers, “for things like food, haircuts, trips and stuff? Almost everything can be bought by money.”
“Oh,” Abel said, looking relieved. “You mean like coin, or silver?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.”
Abel nodded. He grabbed the keys in the safe, eyes darting around for ideas. The door was… definitely out. There was no simple keyhole to it, only a system of cogs and wheels in a complicated lattice that reminded him of the gears in a watch. He headed over to the desk instead.
Eden had begun taking out stacks on stacks of paper… money. Abel had to get used to calling it that. Maybe she thought there was something in there they could use?
They worked in silence.
“Nothing in here,” Eden said, stacking the money back into the safe and closing it. She came over and crouched by Abel as he worked – finally, the lock clicked open. Abel tugged the drawer open, relieved to make some progress, but his heart fell at the sight of… nothing.
But Eden reached over and knocked on the wood. It produced a hollow sound. Abel shifted over to let her explore, eyebrows raising when she pried the bottom of the drawer apart with her fingernails, lifting the thin sheet of wood to discover a set of runes inscribed in the true base of the drawer.
“How in Hel did you even know to do that?” Abel muttered, astonished.
Eden grinned. “Time-travel, duh.”
Abel stared at her, unimpressed.
She laughed. “Okay, I was just kidding; I can’t say I knew, but back home Dad would bring Tabby and I for Escape Room games.”
Abel looked alarmed. “Your father locks you into rooms for sport?”
“No, no!” Eden snorted, looking amused. “It’s a game where people set up a locked room and we have to get out in an hour or so. There are all these puzzles everywhere that lead to clues to letting us escape.”
Abel looked skeptical, but decided to move on. He directed his attention to the runes on the drawer. “You people are so weird.”
“And you are so deprived.”
He ignored that and said instead, “I can’t understand it.”
Eden peered at the words. “Oh,” she said. “It’s french. I can read it. Here, gimme.”
“You speak… French?”
“Oui,” she said. “Je suis Canadienne.”
Abel shook his head exasperatedly and pointed at the ‘runes’, which were apparently ‘in french’.
Eden furrowed her brows. “Okay, here’s what it says… To my travelling cousin and his companion… ‘to stay safe you must stay in touch’. I can’t read the third line, then… ‘may frayer guide your path’.”
“Freyr, not ‘frayer’,” Abel corrected. He peered over her shoulder. “The third line is Old Tongue. Dyrr… opnask meõ ævi…?”
“What does it mean?”
“‘To my travelling cousin’… This is written by a Traverser— someone who travels through space. They usually call us Travellers ‘cousins’—“
CLICK-CREAK-CLICK.
Abel and Eden jumped, startled, both turning to the door. The gears were shifting and moving. The door was opening. The scarred man was here, they were out of time.
Abel’s shoulder throbbed, remembering a wound from another time.
“Rewind!” Eden hissed, even as she dragged them to the furthest corner of the room, near the grimy mirror. “Go back, now!”
Heart thudding in his throat, Abel closed his eyes. Instinct guided him, compelling him to grasp Eden’s hands and he reached deep into himself—
“The mirror,” Eden said, startling him. “The mirror!”
“What?”
The gears on the door stopped creaking.
“We don’t have time!” Eden said, eyes wild. She grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Tell me to check the mirrors later. Earlier.”
He nodded and she smiled grimly.
”Now go!”
To my travelling cousin and his companion,
The key to staying safe is staying connected.
Door be opened with/by means of time.
And let Freyr keep you and guide you in his ways.
Terms introduced:
[Summary] Eve, one of the first few brought successfully into Soc!ety, had been enjoying herself so far. Being a Special Tier was a little lonely but at least her newfound friends, Captain and Dragon, made for good company. But it seemed as if there was something darker lurking under the surface. Welcome to Soc!ety… where everything is too good to be true.
Or alternatively: Canary tells a damn good story.
[Please click this link to proceed to the post containing the conception of this story. If you are unfamiliar with Alicia’s story about Soc!ety, do read that post first.]
Welcome to Soc!ety, where anyone can begin a new life.
No matter who you were before, it doesn’t matter, because this is a place of discovery and learning.
There are only a few rules: master your power.
Be the best that you can be.
And above all… For your own safety, listen to the scientists, for they only have the best in mind for you.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Really?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The bell rang, breaking the monotonous drone of theory lecture.
The class cheered, then groaned collectively as Professor made the announcement about the upcoming test. Eve sighed as she slipped her notebook into her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. She waved to Professor as she left, heading for the cafeteria.
It was a few days after the first Practical— they had all been given a chance to show what they could do and in turn, receive guidance from the scientists. As a Special Tier, the results had no bearing on her. Most of the Normals were affected, though, and were pretty stressed out as a result.
She ignored the whispers as she queued for her food, pretending to read off her notebook.
Eve loved the perks of having her own space as a Special Tier, but the attention… she shook off her unease and held herself tall anyway, refused to be cowed by something as trivial as peer pressure.
Once she had her food, Eve walked across the hall towards their usual table. Dragon was already there with his meal. The pink flesh of raw salmon gleamed mouthwateringly next to a row of maki rolls, stuffed with all sorts of delectable meats and vegetables, paired off with crisply fried tempura. He was breaking his chopsticks and muttering a short prayer over his meal.
Then he put down his chopsticks and made a straight bee-line for the bowl matcha ice-cream. The boy had his priorities right, obviously.
Eve stared at the sashimi and ice-cream longingly, wishing she could at least have ice-cream too.
Waving off the cobwebs in her thoughts, she dropped her bag and placed her meal on the table.
“Hello, Dragon.”
“Eevee,” Dragon said happily. “Hello.”
Dragon was tall but slender, with all the easy attractiveness most people of Japanese descent had. Oval spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose – his power had eliminated the need to have them on, but he insisted that they were important to him.
(“Besides, it’s to give people like Captain a chance. If I took off my specs, girls would flock me,” Dragon said loudly. Captain made an affronted noise and started to protest. Dragon winked at Eve.
She rolled her eyes.)
“I haven’t seen you in a while,” Eve smiled, genuinely cheered by his presence. Despite the intimidating-sounding name, Dragon was really more of a pup than he was a fire-breathing lizard. The only outward indication of his power was the patterning of scales that crawled up the side of his neck and—
“At the Practical, I saw you breathe fire. Blue fire!” Eve recalled, clapping her hands together delightedly. “That was so impressive! When did you master that skill?”
Dragon ducked his head, smiling. “A few days before, actually,” he admitted. “I’d been trying out at home.” At her alarmed look, he backtracked. “I know we’re not allowed to practice without supervision, but it’s a bit difficult when you burp fire whenever you eat hot sauce.”
Eve let out a startled laugh. Dragon grinned, looking pleased with himself.
She was still laughing when Captain arrived, collapsing in a pile as much as he could on the cafeteria table. “Guuuuuuyys,” he whined.
“Hey, Captain America,” Dragon said with a salute.
Captain groaned and continued, stubbornly ignoring the nickname. “It’s like we can’t even catch a break after the Practical— whose idea was it to have Physical for three hours, every single day?” Dragon burst out laughing while Eve laughed harder.
Captain was built like a tank, all muscle, and had perfect ‘dorito’ proportions, as Dragon had once said. He squinted at them. His childish complaints were so at odds with his appearance that they just laughed even harder. “Don’t laugh at meeeeee.”
“I wasn’t, but now I am,” Eve said with mirth. Her spirits were lighter than they had been for the past few days, when she had felt so helpless during Practical.
Healing wasn’t a very flashy skill and there was nothing much she could really showcase or even practice on, except for the occasional paper cut. And she wasn’t supposed to be upset that no one was injured, for goodness sakes. She pouted a little.
Captain slung a sweaty arm over her shoulder.
“Ew. Get off, you smell,” Eve wrinkled her nose at him.
He made a face. “Touché, but you were starting to look depressed again so I thought I’d distract you. Is it about the Practical?”
Eve nodded.
“You can’t help that it’s just not a very showy skill,” Dragon said even as he slowly dug into his matcha ice-cream. “It’s a damn helpful skill.”
“Easy for you to say, Eragon.”
Dragon hummed around his spoon. “I’m more of a Saphira, really. But healing is really handy. I would have given anything to have the skill, where I came from.”
Eve’s eyes gleamed with curiosity, but it was Captain who asked, “where’d you come from?”
Dragon winked. “It’s a secret,” he said, voice muffled around his ice-cream. “All I can tell you is that medicine was pretty scarce around there and a little out of budget.”
“Then I hope that I might one day be able to help there, wherever you come from,” Eve said softly. Dragon smiled at her and quietly returned to his ice-cream.
“See, it’s a good skill. It helps people! At most, all Dragon and I can do is beat people up,” Captain laughed.
Eve smiled, not terribly convinced, but feeling happier simply because her friends cared. “Go get your food, you oaf,” she shoved at Captain playfully. He tumbled off the metal bench, comically dramatic, and blew a raspberry at Eve.
She tossed her head back, holding back a smile. “Shoo, Captain.”
Both of them watched Captain wave enthusiastically before bouncing to the queue.
“So, Peggy,” Dragon started.
“Oh no you don’t,” Eve said.
Dragon raised his hands, the perfect picture of harmless innocence. “I wasn’t going to say anything, Eevee. Just that I really, really like the pairing between Captain America and Peggy. It’s a shame they aren’t getting together.”
Eve huffed. “I don’t like him like that, Dragon. I like him, but not like-like.”
“They’re my OTP!” Dragon continued loudly. “I really ship them. They should get together!”
“Who should get together?” Captain said, dropping his tray down beside them with a clatter. It was overflowing with steaming greens and piping hot soup, but the centrepiece was very much the juicy steak that glistened from its throne of mashed potatoes.
“My OTP,” Dragon said, then refused to clarify, leaving Captain to start bugging Dragon (“What does OTP mean? Dragon? Dragon, you can’t just say stuff like that and not—”) as he dug in to his meal.
Eve puffed out her cheeks and stabbed her quiche. It was rare to have something like quiche where her diet was monitored so closely. Captain obviously had way more physical activity than she did, considering their different types of powers, but her food tended to be on the lighter side of salads and broths. She peered at her food today. Quiche and chocolate milk, actually. Someone up there must have sensed the drop in her mood after Practical.
“I’ll trade half of that quiche for half of my steak,” Captain said through a mouthful.
“But the diet…”
“Nobody will know,” Captain reasoned, already pushing half of his steak onto her plate. She shot him a grateful look and just foisted the entire quiche on him, glaring at him when he tried to protest.
On their way out after lunch, Dragon whispered under his breath, “Captain and Peggy, sitting on a tree, K-I—“ He stopped when she shot him a Look. Thankfully, it had been too quiet for Captain to hear.
With all the indignation she could muster, Eve flipped her hair and flounced out of the cafeteria, pointedly ignoring Dragon’s laughter and Captain’s loud questions.
A boy scurried up to them. “Hi,” he said breathlessly, handing her a hall pass. Three, in fact. “Erm, all the Specials have to meet at the main facility now and you’re all dismissed from class.” He looked positively green with envy at that and scampered off, not waiting for acknowledgement.
“Who’s the servant boy?” Dragon said. Eve hissed and smacked him in the shoulder, but he just shrugged.
“We’ve been called to the main facility,” she said, showing them the passes. “Not sure what for, just that Specials have to go.”
Captain grabbed his pass. “Well then, what are we waiting for?”
They started for the lifts. Eve noticed that Dragon wasn’t moving.
“Dragon?”
For a moment, his expression was shuttered and blank, so unlike the usual Dragon that Eve blinked, startled. The moment passed, disappearing like the passing eclipse of the sun— Dragon’s cheerful smile was back on his face again, with such conviction that Eve was sure she had imagined his earlier expression.
“Sorry, sorry,” he said airily. “Got lost in my thoughts a moment there. Let’s go?”
Eve nodded, watching Dragon as she passed him before following.
As they strolled, Eve tugged on Dragon’s sleeve. “Hey,” she said quietly. “You know, if you have anything on your mind, you can tell us? Or me.”
“You wouldn’t believe me,” Dragon said, so quietly that Eve thought she might have imagined it.
“I would,” Eve insisted, sure of herself. “You’re my friend. I trust you.”
Dragon peered at her, looking thoughtful. Then he smiled, but it looked a little strained. “Okay. Maybe later, though.”
Satisfied with his reply, Eve smiled, squeezed his hand and jogged forward to catch up with Captain. They bickered all the way up to the rooftop level, with Dragon chiming in occasionally, seeming to have recovered from whatever had come over him.
“Where’s everyone?” Captain said, looking around at the hall they were supposed to meet at. It was the size of a warehouse, as tall as it was wide and looked like it could fit a dozen trucks comfortably. The trio separated to explore the large expanse of space.
“Guys, I found something,” Dragon said.
Eve looked over to see that Dragon had pushed open a door. Captain entered the room first. As she passed, Eve saw— “It’s for authorised personnel only,” she said sharply. Captain froze in his steps, eyes going wide. Eve met Dragon’s stare firmly.
Dragon was smiling serenely. “Aren’t you curious, though?” He said, voice seemingly neutral, but Eve could hear the undercurrent of tension.
She met his gaze evenly.
Then broke eye-contact and strode… into the room.
Captain stared wide-eyed as she walked resolutely past him. She turned on her heel and stared at them both haughtily. “What are we waiting for?”
Dragon’s smile was a little more real now, with a bit of the familiar warmth she was acquainted to. They continued on, Dragon peering at everything languidly, Eve with determined focus and Captain looking a little lost, but still intensely curious.
“Is this rule breaking,” Captain stage-whispered, tone excited even as Eve ventured her way into the next room. “Because I’ve never broken a single rule in my entire life, and—“
Dragon was pulling out drawers and flipping through file after file. “Just let it go and explore, Hermione. Some adventuring will do you some good.”
Eve let a fond smile slip on her face, but her mood evaporated as she stepped into the next room.
There were large, empty glass cylinders all over the place, like those at an aquarium her dad had brought her to once upon a time. Eve was careful not to trip over the labyrinth of wires on the floor. The acrid tang of chemicals burned in her nose. Behind her, Captain and Dragon were conversing, but Eve was too far to hear any words. She approached the centre of the room since there was nothing else to observe – there was another of those tanks covered by tarp sheet. She tugged on it.
The sheet slid off to reveal a… person.
Eve screamed.
At the same time, an alarm pierced the air, shrieking. Dragon barrelled into the room, sparing a cursory glance at the tank before ushering her out of the labs, Captain close behind and looking pale. The alarm was too loud.
“We have to leave!” Dragon said. Eve could feel his distress quite clearly.
They took off in a run. The way out through the winding corridors was strangely empty, but the three of them were too panicked to take this into account. They raced out of the labs— Dragon murmured directions to Captain, pointing to an open window. As they approached, Captain scooped both Dragon and Eve up and continued running.
Towards the open window.
Before Eve could process what was happening, Captain had flung himself out of the window, arms like steel bands secure over Dragon and Eve. Eve was screaming — she seemed to be doing that a lot, lately— as they dropped a good ten storeys down. Captain grunted as they landed. The concrete beneath their feet shattered.
At least he was enough of a gentlemen to climb out of the crater he’d made before setting them down.
“Thanks, Superman,” Dragon was saying.
“Never again,” Eve was hissing. “I swear if you do that again I will—“
She didn’t get to finish her sentence as the sky train pulled up at the station. “Right on time,” Dragon murmured before shepherding them in.
The sleek doors slid shut behind them.
Eve collapsed on a seat, her legs trembling and heart beating fast from adrenalin. A pleasant voice told them about their next destination and something about staying safe. When she closed her eyes, all she could see where the backlit figures suspended in acid-green liquid, in human-sized fish tanks.
The green light seared the image into her memory.
“Records, I saw reports,” Dragon was saying. “Reports and experiments. I read it before you guys came in— this whole place is just one huge lab, and we’re its lab rats.”
“What do you mean?” Captain said sharply, warily.
“You’re not going to believe me.”
Eve tilted her jaw up stubbornly. “Try me,” she said.
“Try us,” Captain corrected, crossing his arms.
Dragon looked them both in the eye. Then he nodded, taking in a fortifying breath.
“‘Scientists have discovered a formula that allows humans to have superpowers’,” Dragon said, quoting from their handbook. “What they don’t tell you is the whole serum thing is just a front – the serum tells the scientists your aptitude for power – which is what it’s supposed to do, yes,” he held up a hand when he saw that Captain was about to interrupt.
“The serum is just to prepare your body. Remember how the serum knocks us out for a while, then we ‘wake up with our powers’? What they don’t tell you is that, depending on your aptitude, a power would be decided for you. Another serum, different for everyone, is injected.
“Some scientists even take it a step further. They alter your bodies, graft things in, experiment, build it in. And the reason why I’m a Special Tier is because no one else has a power like mine – no one else has survived having a power like mine.”
Eve gasped. “But… it can’t have been many people, right?” She said weakly. “People can’t just go missing.”
“They can,” Dragon said grimly. “I was born in the slums. People like me go missing all the time.”
Captain and Eve exchanged looks.
Dragon continued, still looking far too angry. Eve thought of the jagged edges of granite and the brittleness of broken glass. “There’s more,” he said quickly and urgently, voice low. “Tournaments and Practicals, we showcase our skills and the scientists place bets, right? And perhaps even the privilege to work closer with the scientists and to go back home— it’s all lies—“
The Sky Train jerked beneath their feet, stopping. The three of them stumbled, nearly falling.
Dragon caught Eve’s arm, looking her in the eyes with desperation. “I saw Adam and he wasn’t… He wasn’t okay. He needs you, your power.” Eve opened her voice to object. Adam had sent her a letter, a picture of him and his father. He wrote her. Adam was fine.
Right?
The train doors all slid open in tandem.
“I saw Adam,” Dragon was whispering quickly. “I saw Adam’s files, you must believe me, Eve, You need to— have to leave, or they’ll take you in and— and experiment on you—”
A white-coated individual stepped in, glasses glinting in the sunlight. He was a diminutive figure but his presence commanded attention. There was an unsettling grin on his face. His eyes cut to Eve and Captain before honing in on Dragon in clear dismissal of their presences.
“Run, Eve,” Dragon murmured. Then he stood to face the scientist.
“Hello!” He said, still grinning. “Dragon! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
Dragon was smiling too, but his smile was a bit too brittle and his eyes too slitted and feral to be anything like friendly.
“Scientist.”
Scientist looked pleased. “You remember me. Very good.”
“You were the one who— you were my scientist.”
If it were possible, Scientist looked even more delighted. “Oh! That’s more than I expected, very, very good. Now if you would just come with me for your regularly scheduled checkup,” he said. “You seem a bit… unsettled. I don’t want to lose you after all the work we’ve worked so hard to put in.”
Dragon bared his teeth. “I don’t want to be anywhere near you.”
“Of course, of course, I understand,” Scientist nodded. “I expected nothing less of you. After all, your power did… flush out the serum quicker than we all expected,” he said soothingly. “I understand that there may have been some surprise, waking up on the operating table like that, but—“
“Do you have any idea what it feels like, waking up to your guts out in the open—“ Dragon cut himself off, looking pale and disgusted. Eve cringed at the description.
“Minor trauma,” Scientist said, speaking slowly, like Dragon was a particularly dim-witted child who needed something explained to him. “You are in fully functional condition— better than you ever could have ever been. I know you, Ryuki, I created you. I brought you out from the slums, I gave you power, glory, money… everything you’ve asked for and more. I gave you life.”
Dragon smiled tightly, hands held out placatingly. “I go by Ryu, Scientist.”
“I know, I know,” he chittered. “Your girl told me. This girl, Natsu, she’s your friend, isn’t she?” Scientist’s eyes glinted, voice affectionate, speaking like one would when they speak of a toy or a pet they were fond of.
“I don’t have any friends.”
“You don’t have friends,” Scientist agreed, laughing. “But you are a dragon… and dragons hoard. Hoard treasure, jewels, kings, precious things. And she certainly was. Precious, that is. A grand contribution to humanity’s advance.”
Dragon was growling lowly now. Eve did not have a good feeling about this.
“You left her behind, Ryuki, to fend for herself in the slums all by herself. We reasoned that she was related to you in some way, that she might become the key to a successful line of half-breed Specials. Artificial evolution is humanity’s best chance of survival.
“You should thank me!” The madman was laughing. “She’s so much better off here. Anyway, you and her both, you are both precious jewels to the grand race of improving humanity. Diamonds in the rough! And precious jewels need to be refined by fire, after all!”
Dragon was pale and shaking. “Hey,” Captain said. “Calm down, he’s just riling you up—“
“What did you do to her?” Dragon snarled. Captain backed away warily. “I said, I told you, I told you not to touch her, how dare you, how DARE you, HOW DARE YOU—“
“Of course I dare,” Scientist said loftily. Despite the threat, Scientist was still smiling cheerfully. The pen in his hand made another little twirl, but when it came to a stop, instead of a pen, it was a scalpel.
“Oh,” he said, looking down at his hand like the sleight of hand surprised even him. The scalpel glinted in the sunlight. Scientist looked at Ryu, smiling. “Who knows what I did? My hands might have—” he slashed the scalpel downwards, “—slipped.”
“Dragon—“ Eve grabbed Dragon’s arm, but yelped when blue flames singed her hands. Captain caught her when she stumbled back.
“DON’T TOUCH ME,” Dragon snarled, voice guttural and low, but despite his words he was still looking at the scientist. “HOW DARE YOU—“ His words dissolved into chipped syllables and growls. Eve thought that some of it might have been Japanese, but she wasn’t sure.
The chairs around Dragon began to blister and melt.
“We gotta go,” Captain murmured, still holding Eve.
“But Dragon—“
Captain didn’t wait any longer. He grabbed Eve and left, heaving them both up onto the roof. Captain began to run along the top of the train, away from Dragon and Scientist. Her weight wasn’t a problem with his enhanced strength and they moved faster than if Eve ran on her own, so she didn’t protest.
The entire track shook as the carriage Dragon was in blistered and swelled until it exploded. Eve screamed when a roar shook the heavens. She clung on tightly to Captain as he carried her to safety, watching fretfully over his shoulder.
A bright blue fire was blazing merrily. Eve could hear were the cackling of the madman and painful, angry, beastly roars: the cries of a grieving, vengeful dragon. It tore at her heart. Whoever this Natsu person was… She must have meant something to Dragon, who for all his friendliness, had not let anyone on this island into his heart.
They reached the end of the train – he hopped down on the tracks and let Eve down.
“What the hell is that?” Captain muttered. Eve glanced back.
A skeletal head emerged from the carriage. Eve’s heart beat in her chest as she watched the dragon emerge— ribs and monstrous claws. Like a chick unfurling its wings for the first time, large skeletal wings spread open, the webbing between them thin and tattered and like black membrane.
And the fire. There was fire, blue fire everywhere. Eve knew Dragon to be capable, but a fully-fledged dragon form?
The dragon — Dragon looked in their direction. Eve’s heart beat like a frightened mouse. Was Dragon still himself? Would he pursue them? Her powers could only heal. Captain had strength, but she was not sure if his still-human body would be able to withstand burns…
She met his eyes.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“Run, Eve.”
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
With a huge roar, Dragon ducked down, maw clamping over a small figure, and took to the air— away from them, to the sea.
Captain ran and ran. Eve shook in his arms. When the both of them reached the closest school, there were scientists swarming the place. A girl in grey approached them. She was wearing a cloak.
“Come with me,” she said.
Eve was too exhausted to object. With her hand in Captain’s, she let herself be swept away by the authorities.
“Hello Eve, how are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Eve said automatically even as Professor slipped a needle into her vein. She winced, but otherwise kept silent as Professor hooked her up to an IV, ‘for shock’. “Scientist and Dragon… they mentioned a girl, her name is Natsu. Is she alright?”
“The girl is perfectly fine, if she even exists at all,” Professor said, voice clipped. “I do not know of her and I doubt any claims Scientist made are legitimate. I do not know what Scientist said, but… Dragon is delusional from sickness of the mind. He was diagnosed when he came in. Did you see any proof at all, besides the testimony of Special Tier Dragon?”
She missed Dragon and his soothing presence. He hadn’t seemed delusional or troubled in the time that she had known him, and he was her friend. But it seemed to be at her disadvantage to disagree with Professor.
Eve shook her head.
“Then you don’t have proof, especially with Dragon so… besides himself.” Professor’s lip curled. “Experimentation is perfectly humane and ethical in this facility. There is no need to worry about it.”
“Can I see Dragon?” Eve said. Her limbs felt heavy and tired, her tongue like lead. “I could… heal him, possibly.”
(Absently, Eve wondered— what was it in the IV drip? Did shock patients even need an IV drip?)
Professor pursed her lips. “Unfortunately, Special Tier Dragon has passed away. Morphing into a complete beastly form overtaxed his body and took his life.”
Eve let out a sob. Without pause, Professor merely continued on. “Which is why, to prevent incidences such as these, we have our Eyes.”
“Eyes?”
As if on cue, the door slid open smoothly— two teens walked in. Their clothing was eccentric – the girl in a grey cloak was there. She smiled a small smile when she saw Eve, and waved. Eve waved back, but not without difficulty. Her limbs seemed reluctant to respond to her demands and her eyelids were drooping.
Professor smiled and gestured to them, saying, “Eve, I want you to meet your Eyes.
“From today onwards, they’ll be staying together with you twenty-four seven and functioning as your aides and protectors.” Professor continued. She put a hand on Eve’s shoulders, brown eyes staring beseechingly into hers. “It is… to prevent a repeat of what happened with Dragon. The Eyes work with us, the scientists. We just want to protect you, make sure you are okay.”
Professor’s eyes glistened with sympathy. Eve shrugged uncomfortably— something in the emotion seemed artificial, somehow. All Eve could think of was how Dragon wouldn’t be waiting for her at the cafeteria anymore.
“You have to, absolutely have to listen to what they say, alright? No matter what. We only want the best for you.”
When Eve finally nodded, eyelids sliding shut, Professor smiled. “Welcome back to Soc!ety.”
“…The Tournaments and Practicals stopped after that,” Canary says. “And that’s why we Specials have Eyes. The scientist’s Eyes… They’re always watching.
“Be wise, be sure, be brave, but above all, be careful what you say, lest it be held against you.” She allows those final words hang in the hushed silence. Nobody speaks. Your heart is still beating in your chest at the wild tale. There’s only the crackling of wood in the campfire—
“Okay, I’m calling you out on the bullshit now before anyone believes that load of shit,” Blackhole says loudly, breaking the silence.
The campers all break out in chatter, filling the air with excited talk, groans and sighs.
“So was it a made-up story or not?”
“It was made up.” At her admission, the campers make mock boo-ing noises. Canary pouts.
“Of course it was,” one of the boys say. “There’s no way someone as high profile as Dragon would be so easily forgotten– if he even existed in the first place!”
“Or that the government would let the scientists do whatever they wanted, like you said,” you murmur. The others nod in agreement.
Another boy pipes up. “Cyclone’s right. Besides, we’ve all been through the serum treatment and regular checkups, and nothing’s ever weird.”
Thunder slips a supporting arm over Canary’s shoulder. “Hey, but my girlfriend is a pretty good storyteller, yeah?” He presses a kiss against her cheek and she giggles, the sleek wings protruding from her back ruffling with pleasure.
“You totally had me at the bit where Dragon transformed!” Kasper groans, leaning forward. His toasted marshmallow had suffered a sticky death on the gravel below halfway through the story, but it seemed that he neither noticed or minded. “That was sick, man, where did you even get a story like that?”
“I’d like to know that too.”
“Hey, Fayth,” you say quietly, smiling up at her.
“Cyclone,” Fayth addresses you and grins back briefly, but her gaze quickly returns to Canary’s. Behind her, Grayce, Canary’s Eye, looked nervous and twitchy. That’s normal though, Grayce is almost always like that.
“C-Canary, we needa know, love, where’d you hear that from?” Grayce was saying as she dropped by Canary’s side, hands making fluttering motions. Sometimes, you wonder if it was Canary who was the half-bird, or Grayce.
“I’m not sure,” she hums. “I guess it was just from my wild imagination!” Canary says sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. “Ryu always said that my out-of-this-world conspiracy theories would one day be the death of me! Sorry if I scared you Gray, I’m sure none of it is true!” Canary grasps Grayce’s hands reassuringly.
Grayce gives Canary a smile that you think is much too watery to be of any reassurance. Canary beams at her.
“Don’t worry about it, we were just curious,” Fayth says cheerfully. Her smile was a little tight. Was everything alright? She turns to walk away, gesturing with a sweep of her arm. “Come on, Grayce. I think Kael just came back with the marshmallows!”
Grayce gave Canary another hug, murmuring, before she flitted off to match steps with Fayth.
You watch them go.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You wonder.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You don’t see Canary around much after the school trip.
No…
That’s natural, of course. This is a pretty big school and a damn big island, after all.
Canary’s fine, you’re sure.
Hello! Welcome to “About Fan-fiction”. This post is for the benefit of those who are either (a) unfamiliar with Alicia’s world, Soc!ety, (b) too damn lazy to read, or (c) still hella confused after reading. If you’re curious about anything, comment or PM me!
[Click here to go to the fan-made fiction “Canary’s Tale”.]
[Click here to go to Alicia’s story, Soc!ety.]
Hopefully this post here fits the requirement of a 2-page narrative.
Haha.
Sorry.
Natasha, you had ONE job—-
Needless to say, I am way too invested in Alicia’s story now. The joke is that I am Alicia’s fandom. I am the fandom, people. Anywho, here’s the TL;DR of Alicia’s story.
Alicia’s babies characters are Cyclone, Blackhole and Kasper (who has yet to be introduced). They are mentioned briefly at the end of the story.
Cyclone ♀
Special Tier || Status: Alive
Power: Wind
Eyes (white theme): Kael (wind), Fayth (water)
Blackhole ♂
Special Tier || Status: Alive
Power: Vacuum and space
Eyes (black theme): ???
Kasper ♂
Special Tier || Status: Alive
Power: ???
Eyes (???): ???
SPOILERS AHEAD, if you’d like to return to the story, click here.
Here is a TL;DR of Fanfic, everything in a nutshell. Certain backstories are explained as well.
Character Design/Characters introduced:
Dragon ♂ (Real name: Ryu)
Special Tier || Status: ???
Power: half-dragon, but eventually transforms into a full dragon (fun fact: it’s a skeleton dragon who burns with blue fire. Fun. I had help with this though.)
Eyes: ???
Plot Significance: He IS The Plot
Personality: Japanese, cheerful and like-able, very charming but manipulative. Basically, a “Slytherin in Hufflepuff skin”.
Captain ♂
Special Tier || Status: ???
Power: Enhanced Strength
Eyes: ???
Plot Significance: Pretty Cool Dude
Personality: Captain is a pretty chill guy, despite how his codename just screams NOT CHILL. He’s genuine and a fun person to be around. He’s really relaxed around people he trusts (Eve & Dragon). He lived a pretty sheltered life before coming to Soc!ety as well, so half the time he doesn’t get Dragon’s memes.
Eve ♀ (Real name: Evelina)
Special Tier || Status: ???
Power: Healing
Eyes: Girl in Grey (???), ???
Plot Significance: Pretty Cool Gal. She’s also the first successful female experiment, if not first female Special. Adam is the first successful experiment and Special.
Personality: Very trusting, if a bit naive, but has her head screwed on. Very bright and quick on the uptake, but is kinda slow on some stuff. Like romance. And trusting authority.
Canary ♀ (Real name: Natsu)
Special Tier || Status: ???
Power: half-bird, has bird-like features and can fly, but cannot transform into actual bird
Eyes: Grayce (can transform into bird)
Plot Significance: In a way, she is the plot. Quite literally.
Personality: Cheerful and optimistic. Loves stories and has a wild imagination. Very high level storytelling skills
Thunder ♂
Normal Tier || Status: Alive
Power: Sonic boom? Sound-related
Plot Significance: None, he’s just there to kiss Canary on the cheek. Legit.
Personality: Very hyper. I will speak no further.
Plot:
The plot really centers around Dragon/Ryuki, who is the main driving character of the plot.
DISCLAIMER: FROM HERE ON, EVERYTHING MAY OR MAY NOT BE TRUE.
* The story is called “Canary’s Story” because that’s what it is– Canary’s speculation to a bunch of kids by the campfire. Canary’s overactive imagination. Canary’s bedtime story. Canary’s bedtime conspiracy theory.
* Nobody knows what Canary’s smoking, believe me.
Ryu enters Soc!ety
After the Serum
Thank goodness, because damn is Lizard a lame name or what?
The story finally starts and shit happens.
A few weeks/months later
CONSPIRACIES REVEALED:
Bad guy appears, dun dun dun
Eve and Captain are stupid and run back to the facility
When Eve finally nodded, eyelids sliding shut, Professor smiled. “Welcome back to Soc!ety.”
STORY END
But OH NO
IS SHE DEAD OR ALIVE who knows ???
Also: Remember that Canary = Natsu heh
How true is all this bullshit?
ASK ALICIA HAHA kay bye thanks for reading
It was a wild ride from start to finish
Eden & Abel
Initially, at the brainstorming stage of the universe, I wanted to do something related to deafness.
Although I eventually scrapped that idea, Eden’s character design had its beginnings here. I was interested in drawing and possibly animating a deaf character who would need to rely mainly on expressions and hand gestures to communicate.
As I was sure that I wanted to include a supporting character as well, I thought of a younger boy as a complement to the older, more mature yet otherwise still optimistic Eden. The plot was meant to be a simple one with the same universe as ours, but with these two kids up to shenanigans – the genre was something more along the lines of ‘daily life’.
It was then I referred back to XM’s prompt – I was also influenced by my classmates, who all very boldly built fantasy worlds from scratch. Furthermore, I wasn’t sure what I could do with so little and I also very much wanted to create something. I began thinking about alternate universes, with developments inspired mostly by “Trollhunters” and “Voltron” by Dreamworks, as well as the famous children’s book author, Enid Blyton. At this point, I was thinking more about the genre Magic Realism.
That’s how I ended up with Travellers, instead! I’ll be posting more about inspirations in a separate post, as I mainly want to showcase my character design process here.
Eden & Abel’s dynamic didn’t change much from the initial idea. I am very against the idea of romance between them as they’re still really young – and not quite ready for romance, honestly. Also not very compatible. But generally, they have a very sibling/familial dynamic.
It was only after this random doodle (and cover design concepts) that I finally managed to come up with something satisfactory. Presenting: Abel & Eden.
Eden retained her sunny disposition, but Abel became a bit of a darker character. Their names have some kind of plot significance as well! I’ll probably have a part 2 to this with cleaner art and a character profile, because I am WAY TOO INVESTED.
See y’all soon!
Cover – draft ideas
First featuring Abel, second featuring Eden
Previously: Eden wakes up in a strange place that isn’t home and encounters a strange boy.
*
Prompt 2: Authority
“What sane kidnapper would leave clues for us to get out, anyway?”
Eden let out an irritated huff. “If you’re not going to be helpful, then just keep quiet.” She continued to rummage through the room. There was a sullen moment of silence. Then Eden heard Abel shuffle back to the door and fumble with the locks. She gave up on the locked cupboard and wandered over. “What are you doing?”
Abel had taken off his earring and was picking the lock with the tip of the feather. Or attempting to, rather. The door did not have a simple locking mechanism – rather, it looked to be a complex patterning of gears, nuts and bots. It reminded Eden of the insides of a clock or watch.
“Just… trying something,” he mumbled.
“Isn’t that pretty important to you?” Eden said. “It’s the thing that lets you time-travel, right?” She’d manage to wheedle out the purpose of the glowing-blue-feather-earring sometime ago. Turns out that Abel came from a tribe of time-travellers. Who knew, huh?
“The thing that stops me from time-travelling,” Abel corrected absently.
“Yeah, that,” Eden said impatiently. “Why can’t you get rid of it, and just time-travel out of here? Back in time before you – we – get kidnapped? Anyway, how does this time-travel business even work?”
“I don’t know much about it either,” Abel admitted. When Eden looked incredulous, he snapped, “Don’t look at me like that! All I know is that I can’t remove the seal myself, just that someone else has to do it!
“The seal is so that we don’t trap ourselves in eternal childhood,” he continued, poking around the lock. “In our hands it’s like steel, but it snaps like a branch when someone else does it—“
“Then what are we waiting for?!” Eden gasped, reaching for the amulet. “Come on, give it here— I’ll snap it for you, then you can go back in time and stop all this from happening!”
“No, no no no wait—”
“What’s there to wait for? It’s a brilliant plan!”
“No!”
“Abel!”
“Eden!”
They scuffled, Abel holding the brilliant blue feather out of Eden’s reach, but Eden’s superior height won out in the end. She held the feather triumphantly in her hand. “The answer to all our problems!”
“NOOO,” Abel’s face was the perfect picture of pure panic. “I’M TOO YOUNG TO BE MARRIED.”
Eden made a face. “What?”
Abel grabbed the amulet back; Eden let him have it. “It’s like some kind of binding vow,” he babbled, stuffing the feather into his pocket. For something so sacred, he sure did treat it pretty irreverently. “You get tied to the person for the rest of their lives and you can’t be separated and stuff or something bad will happen and—”
Eden raised her eyebrows.
“I don’t know!” Abel wailed. “They were supposed to teach us this stuff next year! Next year! I’m too young to be married. I’m too young to die!”
“Calm down,” Eden said.
“You calm down!”
The door rattled. Both of them tensed, then scrambled away as far from the door as they could go.
Eden pushed Abel behind her. Abel made a noise of protest.
“Shut up and stay back,” Eden murmured. “I’m older.”
Before Abel could protest further, the door slammed open. Men filed into the room – if Abel had to describe them, ‘sinister’ was probably the word. One man stood out in particular as he walked forward, flanked by who appeared to be his subordinates.
“I am in charge here,” the man said. Abel thought that he was smiling, but the scar on his lip twisted the expression, so he couldn’t tell for sure. “…we only want the Traveller. Which of you is it?”
“What do you want with us?” Eden demanded, ignoring his question.
“You misunderstand,” the man said, hands held out placatingly. “It’s not the both of you we want. We just want the one with the gift. The other one goes free.”
Abel tensed. ‘She’s going to give me up and escape,’ he thought hysterically. His hands fisted in the back of her shirt, almost like a desperate plea for her not to throw him to the wolves. He was going to be sold and bought and used, he was never going to see the village again—
In his panic, Abel must have missed part of the conversation, because in the next moment…
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
“She must be the Traveller,” the man was saying. “Then… we don’t need you anymore.”
A shot rang out. Eden was screaming. Fingers wet and slippery with his own blood, Abel struggled to reached out for her. She was still screaming as he snapped his seal with her hands.
Abel was gone before he heard the next shot.
*
Once, when Abel was eight, his mentor had been mid-sentence when she just… crumpled..
The class erupted into a flurry of whispers when moments passed and the missus did not pick herself up, assuage their fears and cheerfully carry on. “Is she sleeping?” Cain had stage-whispered to Abel, who bit his lip and shrugged. He felt anxious.
“She’s probably hurt,” Abel stood and declared loudly. His classmates turned to look at him, falling silent. His insides quivered from the attention.
“Yeah!” A familiar voice piped up. Cain stood to join Abel, casting him a reassuring grin. “And if she’s hurt, we gotta help, right guys? Just like the Headmaster said!” The class murmured their agreement and Abel couldn’t help feeling relieved. Cain was the brave one, not him.
Before the two of them could check on the missus, however, adults swept into the room. Headmaster was one of them. He explained that the missus was going away for a while as the adults very carefully bundled the missus’ limp form on a gurney and carried her out. A mister carried on with the lesson promptly, to the chagrin of a dozen small eight and nine year olds hoping that the absence of missus meant playtime.
A few days later, Cain hugged Abel and told him that the missus wasn’t coming back. The newly wedded Missus’ husband had been attacked by a beast. He didn’t make it and, as such, neither did the missus, whose life was intwined with her husband’s.
As he lay in bed, Cain pressed warm and close to his back, Abel understood something very significant. Just as he had watched the thread that was missus’ life being snipped so effortlessly by the hand of fate, he understood that his life was very much the same as well.
He wondered where would a person go when they were dead.
He wondered if there was anyone he could life without, who he would rather die with rather than carry on living without.
Abel didn’t get much sleep that night.
Firstly, let me introduce you to the three types of time travel. The 3rd type, the multiverse, is the theory in which the Travellers’ universe subscribes to.
The Travellers’ universe is very similar to ours
About the Ability
Important note: the seal can only be broken ONCE. Travellers only have ONE HOST in ONE LIFESPAN
Conditions of Time-travel
Clauses
Master list of links:
Setting, World-building
Story
