University of Console Heroics: Chapter 15

Bannister’s office had changed, or more accurately his office was reflecting the changes that had begun to show in him. His desk was still covered with a castle walls worth of essays, but on top of one of the corner stacks sat an old faded picture of two young men. One wearing denim overalls on top of a red shirt, the other wearing denim overalls over a green shirt. Bannister is writing an excessive amount of notes on the paper he is grading. There was a knock at his door and it broke his concentration. His hand froze, the tip of the pen hovered in midair, another knock at the door. He put the pen down, his train of thought long gone. “Come in.” He said. The door opened and Sanders walked into the office and sat in his usual chair after shutting the door. “Well this is a twist on the established pattern.” Banister remarked.

Sanders nodded silently and sunk into the chair. “I couldn’t wait until after class.” He explained.

Bannister gave a concerned look. “Are you ok? What’s wrong?” He asked.

Sanders shook his head. “I’ve been better, I’m dropping your class.” He admitted.

Bannister shook his head. “Not this close to finals you’re not.

Sanders stared at the wall of the desk, avoiding Banisters eye line. “It’s already done.”

Banister almost threw his pen. “Why would you do that to yourself?” He shouted.

Sanders burned holes in the wall of the desk. “Because I should never have signed up for this class in the first place. I just…I’m sorry. I’ve been a horrible person and horrible student this semester. It was wrong of me to pry into your life.” He confessed.

Bannister set his pen on the desk and sat back in his chair. “You done vilifying yourself?” He asked sarcastically.

Sanders eyes left the desk to look in surprise at Bannister. “What?” He asked.

Bannister sat forward and picked his pen up and tapped it a few times on the essay he was grading. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions. SO maybe the road to heaven is paved with bad ones.” He offered.

Sanders was lost. “What the hell does that mean?” He asked.

Bannister looked at the photo on his desk. “You may have been a pushy, attitudinal prick but you helped me more than you know.” He admitted.

Sanders looked at the photo. “So who’s important enough in your life to be immortalized on your desk?” He asked, picking up the photo and looking at it.

Bannister smiled. “It’s a friend of mine from my college days.” Bannister noticed that Sanders was frozen on the photo. “You sure you’re really ok?” He asked again.

Sanders broke away from the photo and nodded quickly. “Yeah, Yeah I’m fine.” He confirmed while still holding the photo. He cleared his throat and looked at it again. “You know my dad went here too.” Sanders started. Banister nodded. “He was an Adventure Studies Major. Ended up as a background spectator in a bunch of fighting games.” Sanders continued.

Bannister nodded. “That’s good, steady work.” He offered.

Sanders nodded. “Oh sure. But it’s not what he wanted to do with his life, not, who he was.” Sanders chose his words carefully. “He was so, happy, the day I got my acceptance letter from UCH. He pulled this big box of all his old university stuff.” For the first time Bannister realizes he is listening to Sanders and not the other way around. He quietly leans forward a little bit. “Sweatshirts and hoodies, all kinds of sports memorabilia.” Sanders reached out and put the photo back on the desk, the picture facing Bannister. “Photos.” He said looking at Bannister. Bannister looked at his photo knowing that the other print of it was in that box. “My parents got divorced this summer. Dad swears that he never meant to hurt us, and I’m know that he loves us, but he said that he couldn’t keep lying to himself. He spent his whole career doing work he hated, he married a woman he desperately wanted to love but never quite could. His whole life, my, our, whole life was one giant lie.” Bannister sat back quietly. “That’s when I First found out about you, the other guy in the photo. Dad’s “friend” from college. For the rest of the summer it burned inside of me, I didn’t know if I should be hurt, happy, mad, or sad. So I signed up for your class. Because I had to meet the man who knew who my father actually was.” Bannister scrunched up his chin for a second and chose not to speak. “Imagine my surprise when you turned out to be so bitter and broken that I thought maybe you were the wrong guy.” Bannister was trying not to cry now. “And so, here I sit. Unreasonably angry at my father, a man who has been reborn and is living the life he denied himself for decades, asking my friend and my professor to forgive me for deceiving him and doing more harm to him than my father could have ever done to me.” Sanders got up out of the chair and walked over to the door. “That’s why I should never have taken your class.” He opened the door and walked out of the office. “Good luck with finals professor.” His voice echoing down the hall as the door closed behind him.

Bannister tapped his pen and stared silently at his office door for a long time.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 19

Kelly awoke to warm ocean surf pulling sand around her cheek. She sat up with a start to find herself and the others in their civilian clothes. She saw Sonya kneeling over Warren's body and performing CPR. She scrambled to her feet and ran over to them unable to reach them before Warren woke with a choking cough, rolled over and spit out seawater. He then took in large breaths of air.

Kelly looked the other direction down the beach to see Dante pulling Gordon out of the ocean surf. He had him almost completely on dry land and lost his footing, falling into the sand on his back breathing heavily from the exertion.

Warren sat up and Sonya took a look at the deserted rocky cliff walls that divided the beach from the rest of the mainland.

"Are we even still in California?" Dante shouted to the sky.

Kelly looked up and down the coastline. "I don't know." She admitted, turning to look out at the open ocean and seeing the dark heavy clouds of a storm moving toward land. "But we'd better find some shelter  and fast." She recommended. The group pulled themselves together and headed for the Cliffs.

The outcropping of rocks they found barely counted as a cave but it gave them protection from the rain,

Sonya turned into the cave from surveying the storm. "Does anyone still have a functional pair of glasses?" Each of them checked their pair and found nothing more than normal sunglasses.

Gordon tossed his into the sand.  "That's great." He grumbled in frustration. "We're stranded god knows where, with none of our powers, no communications, and I don't know about anyone else but I didn't bring any kind of money with me." He ranted. The others all shook their heads.

Kelly left her glasses on and tucked her knees up under her chin as she sat on the ground. She watched the rain through her darkened lenses.

Time and the storm seemed to be standing still. Each of the kids had retreated to their own corners as far as the cover of the outcropping would allow, which wasn't far. Kelly felt the adrenaline leaving her system and the rain was beginning to lull her to sleep. Her eyes kept drooping and she kept wrestling them open again, but she could feel unconsciousness winning the war, at least until she heard and unknown voice come over the glasses.

"I don't know if any of you are still alive but you have five seconds to prepare for emergency teleport." The voice warned.

Kelly glanced at Gordon's glasses in the sand. 'Gordon!" she shouted, causing him to dive for his pair. he grabbed them just in time for them to all disappear from the cave as the storm raged on outside.

Blood and Profit: Chapter 42

Kepi’s communicator had begun to light up during the third hour of discussions about repercussions and legitimate process behind fire-bombing the forest to the ground. The senate chairman broke the group for lunch and Kepi made her way to the nearest private side room, passing several other senators and assuring then that Eamon would be back by the end of the day.

She sat down at the first chair and pulled her communications unit out of her pocket. The annoyingly demanding sentence turned out the be both more and less interesting that she had hoped. “Do you trust me?” The text asked.

She immediately typed her reply. “The only people who feel comfortable in the political arena are liars, cheaters, or con men. You happen to be one of the most uncomfortable people I’ve ever met.”

It took less than a minute for the reply to appear. “You always had a way with words, I’m glad you are the one who gets to announce this.”

“Announce what?” she asked,

Senators flooded back into the main chamber as the bell signaling the end of the recess rang. Kepi returned to Eamon’s chair and flipped up the emergency floor request switch. She looked down at the front end of the chamber and watched as the heads of the senate discussed her request. One by one each of the five looked her direction and saw her instead of Eamon. She knew that his absence was the only reason the request had not already been turned down. Finally the leaders broke and returned to their own seats. The Senate leader gaveled the room to silence and then gestured to Kepi.

“The, representative from the twenty seventh district has made an emergency request for the floor and it has been granted.”  The Senate leader sat and waited along with the others to speak.

The light above the chair lit up so everyone could see her. She gripped her phone tightly and hoped that she wasn’t ending both her bosses and her own career as she spoke. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Colony Senate.” She started, her voice caught and she cleared it with a quick cough. “Three hundred and seventy one years ago our ancestors left their home on an ancient colony ship. Most of our oldest ancestors never saw this planet, they were people of the stars. They spent their lives traveling through and mastering the empty vastness of space. I used to think about how hard it must have been to colonize this planet with nothing more than the supplies and people that came aboard that ancient vessel. How cold and unforgiving this planet must have been at first.” She looked around the room at the nearly three hundred faces. “But now I know that our ancestors were uncommonly lucky, because if they had landed on the planet today they would be facing extermination.” She paused as the men and women in the room grumbled their displeasure at the accusation of her statement. The senate leader gaveled twice and the room begrudgingly went quiet again, allowing Kepi to continue. “Eamon, the actual representative for the twenty seventh district had enough of your distrust, and your fear, and your callous shortsightedness and did something only slightly less selfish than we have been discussing for days now. He went to meet with the alien species.” She stopped as the room exploded in hundreds of yelling voices. Her light stayed lit and the senate heads gathered together to discuss Kepi’s admission. She watched this all in silence without sitting down.

She watched as the senate leader gaveled several more times to quiet the room down before he spoke. “Has he made contact?” The leader asked.

Kepi nodded. “He has.”

The senate leader nodded. “And I take it that he is still alive.” The leader asked.

Kepi nodded again. “He is. And He says the aliens have come to help us escape the fate of our colony, and he sent me proof so that you could convince yourselves that the threat you see is nothing compared to the one you have yet to notice.”

The senate leader looked to each of the heads and they nodded in turn. Once he had his consensus the senate leader turned his attention back to Kepi. “We will review this ‘evidence’. The senate is adjourned for one hour.” The leader gaveled twice and the room erupted into deafening roars.

Lidarion: Chapter 14

Lisa’s stood in a confused and stunned silence. She attempted to start to put together a response but nothing came out. Alex saw her floundering and chimed in.

“I’m going to take Lisa and Squints and we’re going to get her set up with a room at the inn. Trent you and Brooke can stay here and talk as long as you like.” Lisa nodded and turned around to head back into the bar’s main area. Squints and Alex followed her out.

Once the three of them had left the building Brooke was the first to speak up. “Are you ok?” She asked. Looking at his cheek where she had slapped him.

He nodded. “I’m fine, after thirteen years that’s both more and less than I deserve from you.” He replied.

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about that right now.” She replied, hesitating to move closer. He saw it and moved instead, giving her a huge hug, which she returned completely, beginning to cry. “I missed you so much.” She sobbed.

He kissed the top of her forehead. “I missed you too.” He assured her.

Out in the yellow lamp lit street Lisa, Squints and Alex were headed in the direction of several inns. Lisa had been filling the walk with stories from their youth which made the time pass smoothly. They quickly came to the gate of the education district and Squints split off saying his goodnights, leaving Alex and Lisa alone. Alex saw that Lisa had a busy mind so she finished her story. “After that, Trent’s parents could barely yell at him between the laughter. He, Alfred, and Squints were grounded for weeks after that.” She left off for Lisa to speak her piece.

“Trent only ever mentioned Squints by name. He just said there were other kids in the group. Who’s Alfred?” She asked finally.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, that’s Trent. Even though Alfred screwed him over, he’s still protecting him.”

“Protecting him from what?” Lisa asked.

“Honey, Alfred is the current King of Lidarion. Trent was and is a commoner. Our parents were afforded status based on their elected positions. Alfred and Brooke are of royal blood.” Alex clarified.

Lisa shook her head. “It seems silly that the King would hold a grudge for a decade and a half over one stupid night of drunken shenanigans.” Lisa stated.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “One night?” She asked in confusion.

Lisa nodded. “Trent said he accidentally bedded the princess one night while they were both drunk and then tried to skip town before the king found out.” Lisa explained.

Alex laughed. “Oh he did?” She asked.

Lisa thought about it and then shook her head. “No actually he didn’t. That’s what I guessed and he didn’t correct me.” She admitted.

Lisa nodded. “They weren’t drunk. And it was far more than one night. In fact, if I know Trent at all, he still has the ring.” Alex guessed.

Lisa’s was shocked at the mention of a ring. “He was going to ask her to marry him?” She almost shouted.

Alex shook her head. “He did ask her to marry him.” Alex clarified.

Lisa shook her head. “That must have made Alfred go ballistic. A commoner proposing to the princess.”

Alex nodded. “You have no idea. He proposed during the lighting of the New Year fountain. Brooke wanted with all her heart to say yes but she couldn’t respond in public. Within the hour the King heard of what had happened and by sunrise the next morning Trent had been delivered to the Lidarion Army training camps at the Frostmeyer past. Brooke and the rest of us heard he was banished when the king announced it publicly. That was she last time she spoke to him.” Alex trailed off.

Lisa shook her head. “So sad, not to speak to the love of your life for nearly fifteen years.” Lisa lamented.

Alex shook her head. “I meant she hasn’t spoken with the king, her brother since the day he announced Trent was banished from Lidarion city. Almost fifteen years ago.” Lisa stopped at the front door of the inn she had chosen.

Lisa stopped her before she opened the door. “Tomorrow is going to be worse that today isn’t it?” She asked. Wordlessly referencing the king’s reaction to Trent’s return.

Alex shrugged her shoulders. “Tomorrow should have happened a lifetime ago, its not so much ‘worse’ as long overdue.” Alex admitted seeing the worry in Lisa’s face she continued. “And nothing that happens tomorrow or any day after that between those three is your fault. Now let’s get you a room.” She said opening the door and ushering Lisa into the inn. 

The XP: Chapter 14

Spirit flats is one of the starting areas for new character. Based on the idea of an old west mining town that was deserted by most of its residents the zone is filled with low level thugs, wolves, and introductory quests to help new players get a handle on the way the game works. Most of the buildings have fallen apart due to neglect but the General Store Bank and Bar is nearly immaculate. The front of the building is a large covered porch where an older man sits in a rocking chair smoking his pipe. He lowers the pipe and squint into the heat of the late afternoon to see the outline of a new player walking into town. The old man waves a hand. “Over here sonny!” He shouts. The figure in the distance notices the old man and changes directions to head for him.

It has been years since Torcano started a new character and everything about the gunslinger class feels weird and slightly off. As he makes his way toward the old man on the porch a desperado steps out from the ruins of the old bank. Torcano pulls his pistol and guns the desperado down. He takes another step toward the General Store Bank and Bar and two more desperado’s appear from behind the half burned out apothecary shop. Torcano’s pistol nearly jumps from its holster, and he effortlessly spins the gun between his shots, dropping the desperado’s easily. He turns back to face the General Store to see Three new desperado’s standing between him and the old man. Each with rifles leveled at him. His hand hovers over his holster. The riflemen squint and adjust their grips. By the time the third riflemen would have re-seated the stock into his shoulder he and the other two are filled with bullet holes and dying on their knees.

The smoke cleared from Torcano’s pistol and he Holster’s it a third time. The old man is nothing but a smile behind his pipe. “Howdy pardner, can I trouble you for a favor?”

Torcano puts his right foot up on the porch. “S’why I’m here.” He replied.

“This little town has had more than it’s fair share of problems.” The old man gestured to the abandoned and burnt out buildings with his pipe. “A local gang of desperado’s has descended on the town and their burning everything not worth stealing. I’d be much obliged if you did whatever you could to get them to leave town.” The old man put his pipe back in his mouth.

Torcano nodded. “My pleasure.” He replied and turned around to face the ghost town. The six desperado’s had yet to despawn and didn’t count toward his quest completion. Exasperated Torcano took a seat on the steps of the porch. Sighing heavily as the Old man continued to rock in his chair. In the distance a tumble weed blew across the main road. “Beautiful day.” Torcano observed, accepting that he could do nothing but wait for more desperadoes.

The old man nodded from behind his pipe. “Yeeeeeap.”

Another outline of a player entering town appeared and Tocano stood up a it came toward the General Store with the speed of serious purpose. Torcano knew who it was long before the player was within targeting range. “Ooooof course.” Torcano grumbled to himself. Before he could reach for his pistol bullets tore through his legs just below the knees dropping him to the ground causing him to lose his grip on his gun as he fell. The new player kicked Torcano’s pistol well out of his reach and moved over to where he was laying on the ground. His shadow covered Torcano’s face as he looked up to see his attacker. “Vrage, took you less time to settle old scores than I expected.” Torcano admitted.

Vrage lifted his boot out of the dirt and dug his spurs into Torcano’s cheek. “Yeah? You gonna try and talk me into leaving you alone? Try to make me feel petty maybe? Convince me that we can settle this after you’ve dealt with your brother?” Vrage shoved his foot causing his spur to draw blood on Torcano’s face.

Torcano recoiled from the cut but then shook his head. “Wouldn’t dream of it.” He wiped blood from his face. “Do what you came here to do.”

Vrage pulled a machete out from the back of his belt and inspected the blade. “You in a hurry Torcano? Got somewhere to be perhaps?” Vrage asked in a mocking tone.

Torcano squinted into the sun. “You always were a dick Vrage.”

Vrage looked down at Torcano and shook his head. “Now, now, that wasn’t very nice.” He clicked his tongue and went to work. 

The old man never moved from his rocking chair.

University of Console Heroics: Chapter 14

Thompson is completely asleep on the couch. His Adventure studies book splayed open on his chest. The first few knocks at the door get no reaction. But as they continue He sits up suddenly, dropping his book to the floor. “Coming!” He told the door, wiping the sleep out of his eyes. He made his way across the living room and opened the door to discover Cynthia on the other side. “Cynthia.” He said in surprise.

She didn’t even look at him, she just stared at her feet. “Look I wouldn’t have come but I didn’t know who else to turn to.” She admitted.

Thompson hesitated for a split second and then moved out of the way to let her him. “Come on in” He welcomed her.

She hesitantly walked into the Apartment. Thomson closed and locked the door behind her. There wasn’t much more than the couch, a coffee table, and the tv in the living room so she ran out of things to look at quickly. “I see you haven’t changed your decorating style.” She said, glancing at him quickly.

Thompson smiled in spite of the tension. “What can I say?” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m a simple guy.” His sarcasm was desert dry.

She shook her head. “We both know that’s not true.” She was still trying not to look at him.

He stooped down in an attempt to catch her eye line. “Cynthia are you ok?” He asked.

She raised her gaze to meet his and he could see she was holding back tears. “are you?” She asked.

Thompson looked away and out his living room window, avoiding the question.

“Of course I’m not ok!” Cynthia exploded. “I lost my best friend and my partner last semester!” She couldn’t hold the tears back any longer. Thompson took a step toward her and she stepped back an equal distance.

Thompson shook his head. “You never lost me.” He said quietly.

She shook her head. “Don’t lie to me, I deserve better than that.” She chastised him.

His eyes were locked on his feet. “I, I didn’t want to hurt you.” He looked up at her and saw fury in her eyes.

“Yeah, well you’re doing a really horrible job.” She growled.

Thompson shook his head. “You don’t understand.” He started.

“How could I?” She interrupted. “You cut me out completely after last semester and now you can barely even look at me.” She accused.

Thompson met her gaze without wavering. “I’m sorry.” He started. “I really am. Do you think this is what I wanted?” He asked, waiting a second before he continued. “Because it’s not!” I’m just trying to keep the people I care about safe!” He exploded and wave of blue flamed burst off his shoulders.

Cynthia saw it but didn’t flinch. “From what?” She yelled back. “Ever since Professor Daigo died you’ve been acting so strange.” She took a step forward. “Please just talk to me” She asked, taking another step forward. Thompson stepped back in response.  “I know you two were close, but he’s gone –“

She reached out her hand and Thomson spun while pushing her hand away. “I don’t want you to be next all right!” Thompson moved around her to the other side of the living room.

She cocked her head to the side. “The next to what Dean?” She asked. She followed him and he let her get close enough to touch him. “I miss you. I miss my friend, and I miss my partner.” She admitted to him. Dean was looking at his feet again. “You can find another sparring partner.” He barely whispered.

Cynthia smiled, she lifted his chin until they were eye to eye. “I never thought of what we did as fighting. It always felt more like, dancing.” She said.

In a flash Thompson held Cynthia in the starting position for a waltz. “So you miss dancing then?” He asked. Waltzing around the living room with her. She smiled and let him lead for a few steps but then incorporated some leg strikes into the movements. Thompson shifted his footing, blocking and parrying her attacks out of instinct, caught himself and stopped dancing. “I thought you said you wanted to dance?” He asked.

Cynthia smiled sweetly at him, batting her eyelashes. Thompson continued the dance, changing to a salsa. Again she let him lead for a few steps but turned his spin into a spinning back fist which he caught and locked her arms up in defense. “You know what I mean.” She replied.

He let go of her wrists and stepped back. “I don’t dance like that anymore.” He stated sadly. She didn’t hesitate for even a second before full on attacking him. His instincts took over and they were fighting at full speed, Thompson stuck to blocks, parry’s and holds that would allow him to manipulate Cynthia into more dancing but all of her pent up anger and frustration was exploding out of her and he was never able to hold her down for long. As the struggle over fighting and dancing continued she resisted the dancing less and less until he Had control of both her wrists. Her back was to him and so he spun her around so they were face to face. He leaned in until they were almost lip to lip.

“I missed this.” She closed her eyes and nearly tackled him to ensure the kiss.

Shades of Justice: Chapter 18

With less than five minutes left Kelly was using her manual controls to move the right arm as safely as possible over to the left to try and expose the secondary power unit in the left arm. The leviathans tentacles had let go of Blinding Light’s limbs but the chest tentacle was still tightly wrapped around the mecha.

Any time Kelly tried to move the arm faster than what felt like a snail’s pace the pressure of the water would cause parts of the arm to buckle and crush. The timer counting down on their breathable air did nothing to relax the rest of the Shades. Finally she was able to maneuver the arm into position and tore as much of the outer shell away from the secondary engine as she could without causing too much damage to the engine itself. She tried one last time to expose more than just the front third but the fingers on the right hand finally went dead. “Ok Dante.” She said. “It’s all you now.

Dante rush through the command interface for the left arm. He reaching the manual start up for the Blade of Blinding Light. The screen denied him manual access several times in a row. “COME ON!” he slammed his fist into the screen, cracking it.

The tentacle around Blinding Light’s chest tightened causing all of Blinding light to shudder violently. The view screen cracked deeply and the air timer reached its last minute. Dante scrambled at an angle to the door and awkwardly left the command station to make his way to the left arm. His angry voice coming over their helmet. “We’re not going out like this!” He yelled. The other shades tried to stay calm while they waited for their last hope. Kelly managed her breathing like she was swimming long underwater distances. Sonya made her way over to Dante’s cracked console attempting several more times to summon the Blade of Blinding Light. Each time the error window popped up denying the action. “Try it now!” Dante yelled over the intercom. The other shades could hear fire and sparking wires behind his voice. Sonya desperately pressed the button multiple times as the timer was flashing zero. She started slamming her fist into the screen and suddenly the backup engine roared to life unleashing a huge electric charge that exploded out into the water and crawled all over the body of Blinding Light.

The electricity agitated the Leviathan enough that it loosened its grip on Blinding light. Gordon had already passed out and had fallen from his chair to the floor. Warren was slumped over his console. Sonya moved to reach her console but fell over onto her knees and lost consciousness. Kelly scrambled as quickly as possible to Sonya’s console and pressed the emergency jets as her vision started to blur.

Blinding Light began to slowly jet away from the Leviathan and moved towards the surface. Kelly was having serious trouble staying conscious as she elevated Blinding Lights speed to maximum. The Mecha was moving toward the surface as Kelly saw the deep dark ocean blue outside the view screen get lighter and lighter. She tried to push the speed bar higher but the console replied with a broken error tone. Blinding lights right arm was ripped off as the legs and waist jets propelled the Mecha back to the surface.

Water began to leak in through the view screen like they had cracked the wall of an aquarium. Kelly felt like she was dreaming as she saw beautiful blue sky blue light just before she hit the floor.