OOC: Mitsur has given me permission via PM to use his character "The Thing Behind The Door". My new character's profile is in the W@RF Profile thread.
IC:
Arrack awoke. His eyes wrenched themselves open like a Slog opening his jaw for meat. His first sight was like the flash of a grenade. It was of ice, several metres worth of ice, and it encased him like a suit of armour. He was so overwhelmed by the shock that he began hyperventilating. He closed his eyes again, trying to recall what had happened. Only vague flashes. A pole. Falling. Broken plasteel. Biohazard labels. A fan. A tube. The final thing he could recall was some kind of pool, and a bizarre device. The room seemed so familiar, and yet so strange. It was rusted, broken, old, decaying. The stench of death no longer masked by the smell of Sligs, Glukkons, and machinery. He was alone.
There was no sign of a massacre nor of any death. His eyes could register that as they darted around the room. It did not even appear to be a kind of psionic vanishing or leaving the room. If it was, there would be voices in the wind. But all he could hear was the hum and releasement of gas. They were not simply gone, but it seemed like they had never existed. Could it all of been a dream? Could his life itself be an illusion, like the film The Tyranny of the Mudokons? He probed into the deepest areas of his brain as far as he could. He thought he had found that his reality was a lie, that all of the people, that everything except Odd himself were but lies, but the truth was far more frightening.
His reality was real, but he, Arrack, had awoken to a changed world. Arrack tried to calm himself, but to no avail. But suddenly, he felt a feeling of calm wash over him. Arrack thanked Odd, then collected himself. He was still in Rupture Farms. He was still on Oddworld. He was still in this dimension, this level of being. This level of familiaraty, of assurance, was enough to calm him, enough to save his from utter insanity. He then realized something. The door to the next room had a bent lock, from the strange corrosive gases being released above. If he could break his way out of the ice, he might be able to escape from the room entirely, and find out what sort of world he was in. But did he really want to? After all, this cube was comfy;
"Yes! Yes! I want out of this prison! Out of this cube of conformity! Out of this box of oppression! I want revenge! Revenge on the government, always watching over me. I bet they arranged this. I bet they didn't like me for my singing. Well I'll show them! I'll show them all! He! He! HAAA! HAAAAAAAAA!." his psychotic (althougth not necessarily evil) part and currently dominant part said, or rather thought.
"Yes. I want out. I can't hide in this cube like a coward. I must confront my fears, and try to find out what's going on. I'm not the centre of everything, merely an instrument of this world, and I am not being persecuted. Remember Praetyre. His face drained completely of colour up seeing me unmasked, and he was a Vykker who had taken medicine to stop such reactions. I may have faults, but I can still help people. I can still help this facility. I can still help my friends. My friends are what's paramount. Not myself, not my fears, not anything. I am a Slig, bred for the protection and serving of society. Not a coward!" his normal and good side said.
"No! No! Don't take me out of this cube! I love the cube! It's nice and cold and no bad people coming after me and I can sing all day. Not like that idiot Ordrairan's house. He spat on me. He abused me. He killed my brother-mate. He deserved the fire, he deserved the pain, he deserved death!" his depressed side said.
His good side gained dominance briefly, rising up to speak.
"Praetyre. My other friends. My brother-mates. Are they dead? Are they all.. gone? Is all that I loved, all that they loved, all that we all cherished, are they gone..? Have I awoke in a world where my friends are old and suffering, my loved ones are mourning, where I am alone? How could I of caused such suffering! I am terrible! Terrible, terrible, terrible terrible, terrible..!"
The thoughts finally rose to the surface, and his hands ripped out a large chunk of ice. It rapidly began to melt. He would have to close the door, or else whoever went in that room would end up crispier than Paramite Pie.
He waited for several minutes, until he was able to move his joints. He was about to leave the room when he noticed something reflected in the doors surface. It was not the fact this room contained deformed, rotten, and diseased creatures discarded by the Vykkers long ago, still preserved it ice. It was a sight of something else which horrified him. He remembered back to the moments before now. Falling, a pole, and then plasteel. All of these events flashed before his eyes, forming a semicoherent picture of what had happened. He had been frozen, he was maskless, and he had been deliberately left here. Someone must of not liked him, or wanted to get himself a pay rise, until inconvenient old him showed up and screwed up the bosses private smuggling operation. He would show them. He would show them the price for messing with Arrack. But his pants were not destroyed. He tapped a button on their side, switching to completely manual control. He swaggered and struggled a bit, but soon relearned the manual control system. That's one thing he could thank the Vykkers for.
Arrack ran out of room, slamming the door. He then ran again to the opposite side of the meat processing area, carelessly opening the door at an incredible speed. He tried to find out the time, so he could have revenge on Molluck. His good side told himself that this was selfish and petty, and that Molluck held no grudge against him, but his psychotic side won out. He read the time on the clock near the center of the corridor. 13:24 PM. Halfway through lunchtime. Not too early, not too late. He had Molluck now. He always liked to eat at his special executive table when he needed to destress. He liked laughing at the Mudokons, their silly, primitive minds and topics. He liked making jokes with his yes men, who always laughed at him. But now he was going to laugh no longer. He was going to die.
Arrack looked both ways, and ran in the direction indicated by a nearby sign, towards the cafeteria. He burst through the doors, gazing angrily at the whole room. He then shouted;
"Come out Molluck, you betraying scumbag! Come out of your little hidey hole and face me like a real Inhabitant! And, you, Mollucks little suckups, you get out before I kill ya. Before I kill ya all!" he yelled at the Glukkons and the green eyed Slig sitting at a table.
"What's going on? Where am I!" his good side shouted at everyone.
___________________________________________________________
Praetyre was about to try and motivate the Mudokon again when he heard an atrocious racket and yelling coming from outside the room. He turned to Dek;
"What on Oddworld is that? A Paramite mating call? It sounds like a bloody stampede just occured.
Praetyre walked up to the speaker mike;
"To whoever is out there, please get whatever that noise is under control! I can hear it through nearly a metre of solid steel! We've got a fragile patient and emotionally damaged friend in here, not to mention sensitive equipment. This is a meat packing facility, not a Scrab safari."
Last edited by Patrick Vykkers; 12-05-2006 at 12:06 AM..
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