Orchrios - Old Version

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Perhaps the best known settlement on Pathos, Orchrios is fairly typical of a large town, for either of the populating races. Of course, it's not without its troubles. Recently, rumors of a strange entity that grants wishes have begun circulating. However, not much else is known at this point...

As the night passes, some of the inhabitants have a bizarre dream.

Two young human males race up a winding path on the outside of a tower, nearing the top. A rainstorm is pummeling them as they step out onto the tower's top.

One of the pair, seeming to have a fascination with dark blue and violet, crosses to one side. "It looks like our Master isn't here." As he says this, he draws a bastard sword, studying its blade.

The second, clad in tans and browns, shakes his head. "I doubt that he's been defeated. He's pretty strong." He shrugs, holding a sheathed katana in his right hand, thumb on top of the tsuba.

The first turned, and sneered. "Our master won't listen to the voices. Too bad, that. They make a lot of sense." He began circling around towards the second.

The second responded by starting to circle away from him, as if concerned about the tone that was creeping into the other's voice. "Vincent...What voices are you talking about..." Unconsciously, this young man had begun running his thumb along the outside edge of the tsuba of his katana.

"You're just like him, Cross. You refuse to listen. Those who refuse aren't worthy to see what the voices will bring!" Vincent roared, as he charged across the tower top, trying to strike down Cross...

...Who was too fast for Vincent. Halfway across, two blades met. In the resulting fight, the metallic clangs of the two swords clashing merged into one long, drawn out ring. The two were fighting at such a speed that a dome of rainwater formed around them. When the blades finally locked, the dome collapsed. Numerous cuts scored Vincent's body. Cross bore a long gash across his chest, one across the back of his right forearm, and several small cuts across his left leg. The blade lock ends with Vincent getting thrown back, barely holding onto his sword while clutching his left eye. Cross stands tall, a shallow cut just barely missing his own right eye.

As the dream fades, those who had it would be awoken by either the sunlight from the dawn entering their room, or an alarm clock, depending on preference.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

Bell is awoken by a pulsating ringing coming from the small table beside her bed. A delicate hand slips out from under the blanket and flops its way over to the alarm clock, slapping down onto the touch-sensitive top. When the ringing continues, Bell looks up groggily to discover it's her personal wristband making the noise, indicating an incoming call. She grabs it and checks to make sure her blanket covers everything important before answering.

"Good morning Bell, we have a bit of... Have I caught you at a bad time?" It's her current employer, Atlaend. The male had hired her to set up a larger computer system in his burgeoning business.
"Not at all, just early. I come in at noon for a reason, you know. What's your problem?" Bell asks, keeping her tone neutral but giving him a slight glare through the video feed.
"Oh, um, well one of my people went on the system today to confirm a sale, and..."
"I'm just going to stop you right there for a second. Didn't I specifically tell you not to let anyone use the system until at least tomorrow?"
"Well, yes, but..."
"You know what? Doesn't matter. Shut everything down, I'll be there in... One hour." Bell says, checking the time on the alarm clock. She shuts off the call halfway through a stuttered thanks from Atlaend and stumbles her way to the shower.

That male is getting a WOMFT fee on his invoice. Still, I'd better play nice, moron or not, satisfied customers are important.

Thirty-five minutes later she is out her front door and off walking to work, the strange dream she had still repeating itself in her mind as she walked.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

Nothing out of the ordinary catches Bell's attention...Except an odd whispered rumor about the odd fortress-like estate built by an apparently eccentric human a ways outside the city. Apparently, the strange events that have occurred recently can't effect those who are living there.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

More whisperings of that silly wish-granting. Honestly though, they could have come up with a better way to make it happen. Calling yourself? And now it works for everyone except that creepy guy in his mansion? Bell thought to herself incredulously, nearing the business. She went inside to find Atlaend waiting just inside the door for her, looking extremely nervous.

"H-h-hi..." He stammers out. Bellmentally rolls her eyes, wondering how he ever managed to get in a position to run his own business in the first place. Outwardly, she gave a light sigh and gave him her most winning smile.
"Look, Atlaend, I'm sorry I snapped at you alright? I had just woken up, and I was a bit groggy still. Now, let me into the core, so I can go fix things, okay?"
"Oh, yeah, sure. Apology accepted." He said with a weak laugh, leading her through to the back of the building and into the core room in silence. Bell sits down in the TI unit and plugs in, examining the damage. Like she thought, whichever employee logged on decided to visit a couple... Extraneous areas as well, and pretty much invited every illegal program in while they were at it.
"Do you know which employee it was?" She asks aloud, knowing that Atlaend would be standing there watching her work. A typical male, he enjoyed the chance to stare at her when she coulnt see him.
"Oh, yes, yes I do." He said.
"Good, tell them to stop looking up smut at work." She says blandly. Bell thinks she hears a bit of a gasp from him, but he says nothing. "Alright, I may as well start my normal work as well, depending on how long it takes to fix this, I might even finish today with this extra time, get out of your hair a day early." She says with a little bit of a laugh.
Atlaend gives a bit of a chuckle as well, then speaks up. "Alright, I'll leave you to work, then. I'll... Go find that employee and..." His voice trails off, either from distance or lack of more to say, she can't tell. Sighing again, she gets back to work.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

Something odd does happen as Bell works. One of the "extra" programs deletes itself shortly after she starts the clean up.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

"Huh, a smart one." She says to herself absently, running a trace on the program while she continued with the rest. If she can find where it came from, she can at least make sure it wasn't going to pop in again, as well as adding it to her own defenses back home.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

While she can't exactly trace it, there is enough left to try creating a defense for it.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

Bell writes up a quick watchman program to place in this system, than copies it to her wristband with a note to make a better version and include it in the update she puts out for the few systems that use her software. She then finishes with the rest of the damage and starts the day's work, the odd program already filtered to the back of her mind, right beside the rumours of the day.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

The rest of Bell's workday passed without any further unusual incident. The computer setup was actually completed, just as the time came around for her to leave.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

"Huh, guess those extra hours paid off." Bell said to nobody in particular as she closed up shop. Extricating herself from the TI unit, she called up Atlaend.

"Hey there," she said with a smile. "I'm all done."
"Good timing." He said back, his usual stutter absent for once. "I was just on my way over there to walk you out."
"See you in a minute then." Bell says before ending the call. A moment later Atlaend opens the door, holding it open for her as she strolls out into the hallway beyond.

"Sorry again about the early day there, I've talked to all the staff about it, nobody is using the system until you give the go-ahead." He says as they walked back. Bell laughs quietly for a moment before answering, a large smile on her face.
"Well, consider this your go-ahead then." She said.
"What do you mean?"
"When I said all done, I meant all done. The system has been fully functional since the time I called you."

Atlaend's demeanor changed in an instant. Happy and smiling became glum immediatly, and his stutter returned. "O-o-oh? So you're n-not coming in tomorrow then?"
"I shouldn't have to. Everything is all set up, and any big issues I should be able to deal with remotely. The first update should be in a couple nights, one of the extra programs I had to get rid of was a new one, so I'm writing a new part into my system to prevent it from bothering anything. You're still protected until then, don't worry." She explained, reaching the front door as she did so.

"You'll get the invoice either tomorrow or the next day, pleasure working with you." She says, shaking his hand and heading out the door, starting her walk back home.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

Nothing really happens until Bell gets to the apartments where she lives. That's when she notices a human male, just finishing up the process of getting an apartment.

He appears to be a young adult, and is wearing mostly earth tones. The thing that would probably really catch Bell's eye, though, is the black bag he's got strapped to his back. It's almost as tall as he is, and looks like it was designed with an odd bulge for about the lower quarter of it. There was also some kind of wardrobe-style moving box next to him.

She'd also get a really odd sense of deja vu when she sees him.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

Bell stops in her tracks and tilts her head to the side, a slight frown crossing her features as she tries to figure out where she knew the man from. After a few seconds she shrugs, and just walks up to him, smiling broadly.

"Hey there, you new here?" She says in a friendly tone.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

The man had just finished as Bell walked up. When she spoke, he turned and nodded, responding in a similar tone of voice. "Yeah, I am. I've got an old friend living in the area, and he's helped me get set up here. My name is Anthony."

As he responded, a little voice in the back of Bell's mind seems absolutely certain that she's seen him before... However, she also knows that she's never met this man before.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

"Nice to meet you, Anthony. I'm Senra, but everyone calls me Bell." She says, before pointing over to the staircase. "If you need anything, help unpacking, tour around town, that sort of thing, I'm up in 303, just give me a ring."

Bell gives him a little wave and heads towards the stairs, a little more spring in her step than before, though her mind was still trying to figure out where she'd seen him before. He did say he had a friend in town, maybe they'd passed on the street while he was here visiting?

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

Anthony nodded in response to Bell's comment and grabbed the box next to him, before seeming to almost disappear in the direction of his room. It would seem that he's somewhat adept at blending into crowds and his surroundings.

It also strikes Bell...Anthony's voice, in particular, seemed familiar. His posture and way of moving also seemed familiar...And completely unlike anything that someone in this time should have. It almost seemed like he was an expert swordsman.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

Bell pondered this all the way to her room. The only place she had even met martial artists was back when her parents tried to get her into it, and that was back before there was anything but Drow around her hometown, nearly thirty years ago...

She stripped down and had a hot shower, cleaning off the grot and grime of the day. The new arrival still tugged at her mind though, so she tried to think of anywhere else she might have seen him. Maybe on vids? No, if he'd been on anything she'd seen, he'd have more than enough money to live somewhere more decent than some apartment building...

Bell left the shower, did her hair in a tight braid, and stood in the center of her cluttered main room, completely bare ass naked, staring at her computer in the corner. She had planned on doing some work when she got home, updating her software to handle that new program, but decided that it could most likely wait until morning to actually work on it anyway. She leaned over it for a moment, quickly transferring her hasty defense onto the main computer, then started it up and left it like that for now. She didn't feel like she had the focus to do anything more about it tonight anyhow.

She slipped into some silk PJs and into her bed, her thoughts drifting to her dream of the night before, of the two swordsmen on the tower...

The Dream! That's it, that's where she'd seen him before! Bell sat bolt upright in bed, her mind suddenly racing. It had to be him, but how? She had to confront him about this, find out what is going on!

She made it across the room and had a hand on her doorknob before she realized that she had no idea which apartment he had moved into. "Guan how mah je wah!" She cursed rather loudly before crossing the room again to sit in front of her computer.

She had managed to reduce her rent for this place by agreeing to take care of the computer that held the logs and stuff. She had access to most of it usually, but he had password protected the logs himself. She guessed it on her second attempt, it was his kid's middle name. She found his name, removed her activity from the history, and signed back out in about two minutes from the time she sat down, and was across her room and out her door maybe fifteen seconds after that.

Arriving at Anthony's door, she rang the doorbell and knocked almost simultaneously. If/when he opens it, he finds Bell leaning against the doorframe, panting and flushed like she had run a marathon, and wearing a very revealing silk nightgown.


((Yes, she didn't think this through at all Also, if Anthony signed the tenent agreement with his last name as well, she would have picked up on that immediatly.))

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

Depending on how much she was paying attention, Bell might actually have some help finding Anthony Cross' apartment...As the sound of various stringed instruments being tuned could be heard, including that of an acoustic guitar which was interrupted when Bell both rang and knocked. It took a short bit, but Anthony answered the door, holding the aforementioned guitar in his left hand, as he opened the door with his right.

"Is there a problem, Bell?" He asked as soon as he saw it was her...although she probably would have seen him start to do a check over, as if he was, out of long habit, checking for visible weapons. 'Well, nothing hidden around her shoulders, and...Oh, shit...Focus on her face, focus on her face...'

He was standing there in an unbuttoned red shirt, with brown athletic-style sweatpants. What Bell could see of him confirmed that he was someone who stayed in shape. She'd also noticed he seemed to be making a bit of an effort to keep his gaze on her face, since his own face seemed to be trying to match the color of his shirt. Probably, this was due to him realizing what Bell was wearing, and trying to remain polite.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

Bell sees his eyes drop for a moment, which reminds her of her current attire. She does her best to cover up as her face reaches a darker shade of the same red on his face. "I... um... I've seen you in my dreams?" She stumbles out, realizing now how completely un-thought out this was, and what it was beginning to look like. Her face gets redder, but she just stands there with a hesitant smile, waiting for his answer.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: Orchrios

One thing that Bell does notice only seems to confirm what she'd guessed. Through his open shirt, she can see that a sizable scar crosses his chest, exactly where the cut on the "Cross" from her dream was.

Anthony quickly glances up and down the hallway, before stepping aside. "I'm thinking that a small explanation is in order."

Should she follow him into the apartment, he'd hold out a robe. It would be large on her, but it would help with prevent distractions. With him out of the way, Bell would be able to see a small desk, with a simple chair next to it. Sitting next to the chair was a collection of various musical instruments, including a violin case, the black bag she'd seen him with earlier, and a second, empty guitar stand...The last probably being for the acoustic in his hand. There was also what appeared to be a fairly comfortable, over-stuffed recliner.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: Orchrios

"Um, yeah. Thanks." She says quietly, stepping inside and wrapping herself up in the offered robe. She walks to the center of the room, taking in the desk and instuments, and reaches down to touch the cloth bag from before...