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Post by gylfie2 on Jun 16, 2011 0:07:14 GMT -5
Ooc; You are forgiven.
"This should distract them for a while," Jack said, placing his hands on his hips and stepping up onto the sidewalk. "The vibrations of the song will alter their molecular structure until they either disintegrate or drop so that we can gather them. If they begin to disintegrate, you'll know. It usually looks like a downpour of confetti."
He watched the spheres intently, spotting the telltale signs of disintegration. It seemed as though the aliens were choosing their own fate, with clouds of them dropping, and others developing a sparkling orange glow. After about twenty seconds - the amount of time it took him to explain - the orbs had completely separated.
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Post by Rio Keâts on Jun 16, 2011 0:54:35 GMT -5
"Distract them while we catch them!" he supplemented cheerfully, jumping up and down in a pathetic attempt to capture the sparklies. The rest of Jack's statement dawned on him, and he stopped jumping. ...alter their molecular structure until they either disintegrate... His eyes widenened and he looked at Jack, and then back at the orbs.
They were dying. The music was killing them. And he had gone along with the music suggestion, hadn't he? His shoulders drooped as they continued dying; rapidly disappearing before his eyes. "Oh no," he muttered, because he couldn't think of anything else to describe the anger coiling in his stomach. "You didn't tell me that it would kill them."
He stepped closer to the orbs and sat down in front of them. He had killed before; he wasn't proud of it, but certain things had to be done. But these creatures hadn't done anything. They were beautiful and now they were dead because he had trusted that the man wouldn't hurt them. He clenched his fists, curses and swears flitting through his head.
"I bet it hurt," he said quietly, trying to hide the quivering of his voice. He looked back at Jack, biting his bottom lip. He rather hoped that the man would tell him that it was all quick and painless, even if it were a lie. "I rather enjoyed those sparkly things. They were good creatures while I knew them. Never laid a finger on anyone! They were the nicest, sir," he said as way of a makeshift eulogy.[/size]
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Post by gylfie2 on Jun 16, 2011 1:08:29 GMT -5
Patiently, Jack watched as the disintegrating orbs shivered and shattered into splinters of light, falling and landing on the concrete. There was nothing more beautiful. It was like the stars had fallen to Earth and died on the sidewalk. Now Rio crouched in front of them, supposedly watching as the last slivers of light slipped from them.
"It was painless, you know," he said softly, turning his gaze back to the remaining aliens. "These are primitive creatures, unable to feel emotion or pain. They're like the plants of outer-space, floating everywhere but never quite connecting to anything."
His voice trailed off as he spun and walked to the back of the SUV, the next part of his plan slipping into place. Now that the aliens had lowered to a reasonable level, he could catch them. It didn't seem like Rio would be much of a help now, but it was still nice to have some company. The young man could witness the fact that Jack had done this properly.
He reappeared with a mesh net attached to a two meter pole. He looked ridiculous in his RAF greatcoat, suspenders and newest weapon, but at least he was getting the job done. He stopped at Rio's side, placing a hand on the boy's head.
"If you gather their remains quickly, the warmth of your hands and body with cause the remaining light to crystallize."
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Post by Rio Keâts on Jun 16, 2011 1:39:01 GMT -5
It was painless.
His shoulders loosened. "You know a lot about them, huh?" he asked, unsure if he was allowed to talk about it. For all he knew Jack was going to alter his molecules. He pushed the thought aside, deciding to put his faith back. "If they are things that eat the plants, too? Like space birds and space kittens?" he asked, his smile slowly returning as the pain in his chest subsided.
He wiped the few remaining tears away, nearly jumping out of his skin when Jack touched him. Riocard grinned at the man with his net and funny-looking outfit. "You're not going to kill me, are you?" he asked, taking Jack's hand off his head and using it to lift himself off the ground.
Riocard glanced around at all the dead creatures on the ground. His heart squeezed again, but he ignored it this time. "Want me to help?" he proffered, feeling useless. "I used to pick up dead things all the time with my dad!" he cheered, bouncing up and down.
"If you gather their remains quickly, the warmth of your hands and body with cause the remaining light to crystallize."
If he had looked cheerful before, Riocard now looked as though he could burst from joy. "That's so neat, mister! I wish they had these kinds of cool things when I was a kid!" he declared, determinedly picking up all the lifeless corpses of the orbs. "Best day ever!"
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Post by gylfie2 on Jun 16, 2011 1:59:18 GMT -5
Jack shook his head in bemusement and stepped around Rio as the young man began picking up the shattered orbs. The boy spoke too much, though Jack wasn't necessarily complaining.
As Riocard continued gathering the slivers, Jack began to harvest the aliens, swooping the net backwards and forwards majestically. The noise made by the collection of the orbs was something reminiscent of the music that had now finished. The nylon of the net made a steady whispering beat, while the orbs hitting each other in the small confines chimed like bells.
"I don't know too much about them," Jack explained, grunting as he jumped slightly to catch a boisterous sphere. "I've seen them before and witnessed herds of them being disintegrated, however, I've never had the pleasure of harvesting them myself."
The captain lowered the net and twisted it, so that the orbs he had caught could escape. Deftly, he caged them inside the rear of the SUV and went back to work.
"I heard that they make great jewelry and gifts after disintegration if you warm them, but I've never witnessed that properly either. As for actually being plants, they're not threatened too much, which is why there are so many of them -" he gestured at the remaining swarm "- but they do have predators, like star whales and space squids. I'm actually surprised they have so little predators. They make excellent pie."
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Post by Rio Keâts on Jun 16, 2011 2:28:46 GMT -5
Riocard listened intently, putting the orbs he had gathered into the man's net. "Kak vy znaete eto?" he asked, biting his lip. He continued gathering the creatures, cradling their dead bodies in his arms. "YA ne nahozhu rasporyazhenie trupy osobenno priyatno," he said, grinning over at Jack as he breathed on the corpses in his hands to make them warm. "YA dumayu, chto ya luchse harvest dead children," he said, gradually slipping back into English. He dropped another armful of aliens into Jack's net.
"Gifts and jewelry out of them? Am I to assume that this didn't happen on Earth?" he asked, regarding Jack with hopeful wide eyes. "And even if they aren't preyed on very much, is there still alien kittens out there? I mean, if space squids exist than there has to be space dogs, right? And alien... humanoids? My papa said that he knew an alien once, and my papa never lied unless it was to help someone!" he said blithely, twirling a gem around his finger.
They make excellent pie.
Rio stopped in his tracks.
Pie? Pie? As in, sweet delicious food that he rarely got to enjoy? He looked down at the armful of tasty space mongrels he was cradling, and then back up to Jack. "Food?" he repeated hopefully. If Jack had said that they were edible sooner, he wouldn't have been so distraught at their death. And now he was starving, his stomach reminding him painfully that the dog had taken what food he had stolen from the grocery.
"Do those predators know that they are good in a pie? There's pie in space?"[/font]
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Post by gylfie2 on Jun 16, 2011 2:38:23 GMT -5
Jack balanced the pole across the crook of his right elbow as he bent to retrieve an alien from a puddle. The pole tipped dangerously as Rio unbalanced it, but Jack was able to rescue it fluidly, dropping his catch into the nylon prison.
"No, space kittens, unless you count the humanoid alien cats that actually live on planets," he gave the other man a tight smiled and dumped the caught orbs into the rear of the SUV, with the others. At the same time, he retrieved a separate net for Rio. "There are aliens out there. There are so many. It just takes the dreamers to know where to look."
He had caught another full net when he decided to mention the food aspect of the shinies.
"They're a mixture of pineapple, pomegranate and feijoa, depending on the age of the orb. Definitely sweet, though. I could let you try some afterwards, if you want. I don't plan on letting these go to waste, anyway."
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Post by Rio Keâts on Jun 17, 2011 0:43:52 GMT -5
Riocard fell silent, biting his lower lip to force himself to keep quiet. The man was being polite, but Rio knew that people could only take so much of his incessant talking. He took the net carefully, putting the sparkling bodies in there with quiet sullenness.
It just takes the dreamers to know where to look.
Well, he certainly dreamed, and he certainly looked, but this was the first time he'd met anything.. out of this world, so to speak. And they weren't even proper aliens. Just space plants. "Oh," he said quietly; not because it needed to be said, but because he was afraid his speakbox would evaporate from disuse.
Pineapple, pomegranate, feijoa... I could let you try some.
He grinned at the man. "I would like to try them very much," he agreed, trying to sound casual. The truth was that he'd just as quickly leap at Jack's offer it had been to roast roadkill. Food was food. "Do you know why they taste like that?" he asked, one question slipping through his mouth.
"I mean, why do they taste like Earth food? Isn't that weird? I mean, aren't they not Earth..ians?" he rambled, kicking at himself mentally for opening up his mouth again. He clamped a hand over his mouth and resumed picking up the orbs with one hand. "...or maybe they're not aliens! Maybe they are pineapples!" he continued, voice muffled by his hand.
Aw, man. He was pathetic.[/font]
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Post by gylfie2 on Jun 17, 2011 3:41:05 GMT -5
Jack disappeared momentarily around the side of the SUV again, disposing of his catch. He took a mental note - there were only about three more rounds before the aliens were gone, give or take the gold dust remaining from the disintegrated orbs. They could be finished in another five minutes, hopefully.
"I assume," he said casually, returning to Rio. "I assume that they taste so Earthly, because those flavors are universal. They're the sweet, fruity, tropical flavors. These things tend to pick up the debris in space, feeding off what they can find. It gives them a homely flavor."
With great skill, Jack swung his net to catch a rogue orb. They seemed low now, but were increasing in movement, almost frantic as they swirled between the small droplets of rain that managed to break through the fabric of the shop awnings. A few had managed to disappear, floating off down the street, but Jack doubted that they would survive for long by themselves, what with the danger of predatory birds, bad weather and hazardous drivers.
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Post by Rio Keâts on Jun 18, 2011 1:54:57 GMT -5
"Space flavors?"
There was so much he didn't know about anything. He hadn't known that space plants were pretty and tasted like pineapple. He hadn't known that there were space plants. Or maybe this was all a bizarre, surreal moment brought on by a lack of sleep. It had happened to him before. Maybe the other guy was a lunatic and he was actually capturing fireflies.
He opened his mouth to ask Jack if he were real. He had been going to say it, but his breath hitched and he glared down at his feet. He already gave people the vaguest since that he... wasn't all there. If he asked Jack if he were real - if the pretty things were real - if Rio himself was standing there and not lying in a ditch somewhere - well, he was pretty sure that (should this be real) he'd end up in a mental hospital faster than he can say, "Alice was mad, too."
"What are we going to do about the dust?" he asked, emptying the net where Jack had and quickly returned, unsure of whether he was supposed to look inside of the man's van. What if there were other random aliens captured in there? He shook the thoughts from his head, the water from his hair splattering about. "If we cut a hole in the cover maybe the water will carry it away?" he suggested, nodding towards the awning.[/size]
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Post by gylfie2 on Jun 21, 2011 7:18:11 GMT -5
Jack gave a vague nod to Rio's question about "space flavors", realizing that the other man would be unable to answer him from the back of the SUV. There wasn't too much to talk about anyway - how did one explain the taste of universal space fruit? It was a difficult topic. Most of the time, Jack just skimmed over relevant Earth foods and hoped people understood.
He settled his net against the bonnet of the vehicle momentarily, pausing for a break. His shoulders popped loudly and he bent partially backwards. From this position, he watched as Rio returned to the vicinity and asked about the remaining gold dust.
Jack straightened and scratched his head, looking at the green-and-white-striped awning. The canvas already sagged with the weight of the rainwater and it didn't look too tough.
"If you use the stick of your net, you should break through it," he said cautiously, eying the long metal pole. He didn't know whether to trust Rio with it. "You do that and I'll catch the last few orbs."
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Post by Rio Keâts on Jun 22, 2011 12:19:36 GMT -5
"If you use the stick of your net, you should break through it. You do that and I'll catch the last few orbs."
"You've got it, boss sir!" Rio said, giving the captain an energetic, clumsy thumbs up while still trying to hold on to the net. "I can do this!" he said quietly, gripping the pole intensely. He stood under the awning, silently glaring it down as he sized up his next move. "Prepare to be ripped, lapin," he whispered to the awning threateningly.
He stuck the pole through the awning and puffed out his chest, feeling rather accomplished. He blinked, however, when he realized that there was no water coming out. His understanding of basic physics (also known as: the pole was covering up the hole it made, thus working against Rio's original intentions) slipped from his mind as he stared silently at the stubborn awning that refused to pour out water. "Putting up a fight," he grumbled, standing up on the tips of his toes to grab the pole.
Rio pulled the pole back out and was prepared to slash that awning to bits, when the water came out. He blinked, drenched in rainwater and still holding the metal pole to destroy the awning. He looked down at his feet and watched the gold dust flowing away with the water. "I did it!" he grinned triumphantly, lowering the net. "And that awning thought it was going to get the best of Rio."
He shook his head rapidly in an attempt to get his hair dry. He sighed and took off his shirt, wringing it out. Once it was... less wet - because even Rio knew you couldn't get things to dry in the rain! - he slipped it back on. He bounced up and down. Now that he had completed the task he had been assigned, Rio didn't have much else to redirect his energy to except for bouncing.
ooc| dear shinies. rio reminds me of my simple hyperactive dog. -___- i don't like that dog.
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Post by gylfie2 on Jun 23, 2011 7:08:19 GMT -5
It took no longer than a minute for Jack to harvest the last twelve aliens and deposit them into the vehicle. They had clung together out of habit. By the time he was finished, Rio had thrown his pole through the awning and was waiting proudly. The sheer anticipation on his face was enough for Jack to pause and lean against the black SUV, expecting an amusing show.
He wasn't disappointed, and collapsed with laughter.
Picking himself up, Jack half-sauntered and half-stumbled back onto the sidewalk, stopping next to his helper and exhaling as he caught his breath. "How about that pie?"
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Post by Rio Keâts on Jul 3, 2011 1:11:17 GMT -5
Rio narrowed his eyes in Jack's direction. He didn't understand what was so funny. He blew strands of wet brown hair away from his face, irritated. He had been trying all night to get a kind word out of this man, and he was being laughed at. How very rude. Riocard had half a mind to put the Captain-Who-Really-Wasn't-A-Captain in his place.
The man walked towards him - if that was even the proper way to describe the gracefully clumsy motion. He crossed his arms, a smile tugging on his lips even though he was desperately trying to remain angry. "Are you done laughing yet?" he asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly. Honestly, the nerve of some people.
"How about that pie?"
And the Captain's trespasses were forgiven.
"How about it!" he cheered enthusiastically, dancing around the man joyfully. "We should go eat it! Yeah? Yeah, I think so!"[/font]
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