Writing Little Deaths

[chibi-master]

Umm...this is going to be a bit random, but could you kill off CrimsonKnight [I]and[/I] me. I was thinking along the lines of C.K. and I being escaped convicts killed by the bounty hunter Rachmaninoff.:animeswea

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Raiha;817217][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]"Gimmie all ur lootz nao!"[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]That just so fits Korey. *laughs* [QUOTE=Raiha'][COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]Desbreko's mocking laughter filled the air, his joyous tones announcing to the world that he was a brilliant warrior. And what a hell of a warrior too..[/i]

"I knew you were coming you know! Nobody can defeat me! MASTER OF LOOT!"[/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]Just as that so fits Des, mocking laughter and all. XP

That made for a crazy fun change from some of the more dark and morbid tales of death. Poor Prem, always getting the short end of life. =P[quote name='chibi-master']Umm...this is going to be a bit random, but could you kill off CrimsonKnight [I]and[/I] me. I was thinking along the lines of C.K. and I being escaped convicts killed by the bounty hunter Rachmaninoff.:animeswea[/QUOTE]*has a hard time imagining either one of you being convicted of anything* o_O

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']*has a hard time imagining either one of you being convicted of anything* o_O[/QUOTE]

Me: Murder. Cold-blooded murder.With an umbrella.*evil grin*
CrimsonKnight:Bombing Wal-Mart's bandana rack.

[SunfallE]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]The two pipsqueaks might be guilty of talking too much but that's about it. =P

Anyway, I too liked the cheeky and crazy manner of Korey's demise. That actually had me laughing out loud at it. Especially when he fell in the pit and his loot was taken by Des. Heh. That was just perfect.[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Horendithas]

[COLOR="Indigo"][quote name='SunfallE'][COLOR="RoyalBlue"][FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]The two pipsqueaks might be guilty of talking too much but that's about it. =P [/FONT][/COLOR][/QUOTE]My thoughts exactly.

Anyway, I've told you already Raiha but Korey's death was wonderfully ironic.
[/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Well, not to parrot but the irony of Korey's death certainly made for an enjoyable read.[/SIZE]

[Darren]

Okay... Battle Royale setting: (You know, the japanese novel, stuck on an island, exploding collars, etc.) All the mods are fair game!

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"]?The name is Rach. Rach Maninoffus. I?m into pest control. My job is simple. I catch the bad guys that escape and bring them back alive. Usually anyway. But I remember one case that didn?t go quite as planned. Maybe it?s because I was slated to catch two teenage girls. Maybe it?s because they were so utterly unlike the normal hardened criminals I stalk down and collar. But here?s the story. Try to keep up.?

[i]It was cloudy, dark, and Chibi and Crimson ran like scared schoolgirls. One, guilty of murder in the second with an umbrella. Her defense?[/i]

?Well I didn?t know it would open that fast.?

[i]And Crimson was a convicted morality bomber, concerned with the elimination of gang activity and as such had the harebrained scheme of bombing Wal Mart bandana racks. Just why she didn?t take it to the bandana manufacturing companies instead, we don?t know. But that?s probably why she had been in the Big House first. For being a certifiable nutter butter. Snook-a-loopy. Barking mad. You get the picture. But whatever right? Sure I blinked a few times when I first had the assignment faxed to me and handed over by my sultry secretary and wife, Beth.

Either way there I was chasing after them, running down the street after them, keeping to the shadows, the collar of my trench coat pulled up heavy over my neck against the cold night of Otaku City. Passing the ?Taku Mart on my left and the Anthology Library on my right I saw their tenders pulling down the shades and locking up for the night. Late enough to have businesses closing and early enough to where there were no girls starting up their businesses, I should?ve kept a closer eye on them, when both abruptly vanished in front of me. Turning to one of the night walking girls on the corner and asking if they?d seen two girls in orange run by seemed like a really stupid idea.

So I followed my gut. It?s never really steered me wrong, and if it could lead me to marrying my secretary, it could lead me to two cons. And sure enough, in the karaoke bar I found the pair of them trying to inconspicuously blend in with the clientele. Of course the part where they were both too young to be admitted didn?t help their cause, and hiding in the bathrooms wasn?t the best of plans. That whole ?escape through the A/C vents? only works in movies, not in anthology stories written by anonymous psychotics. And eventually when they thought they?d lost me, just as the man known for some odd reason as the ?Original Darren? was stepping up to give us a rendition of ?Summer Lovin?? they bolted for the door.[/i]

?All I really want is being with you
Summer lovin' is all we should do.?

[i]Oh gawd.

Being an experienced man in matters of psychological torture and its limits, I chased after them instead of staying to have my sanity shredded. And there they were, standing in the middle of the parking lot, looking harried and defensive. I took a step towards them in what I hope was a menacing manner, but it didn?t manner exactly how it came out because that?s when it happened. Chibi and Crimson were hit by a bus in a manner that could only be described as ?terminal.? And while that meant I didn?t get paid, at least nobody else would be killed in a horrible bombing or accidentally impaled by an umbrella. Oh well. It turns out you can never catch ?em all.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[Rachmaninoff]

Nailed by a bus. That's so perfect for those two. Heh.

Plus if the "other" Darren really did start singing that? I would run away as fast as I could. Seriously. [I] "Oh gawd." [/I]Indeed. XP

[chibi-master]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']Nailed by a bus. That's so perfect for those two. Heh.[/QUOTE]

You're sick, you know that, you sadist? Why so much hatred?

Anyway, I was laughing through the whole thing! Especially the "Well I didn't know it would open that fast." part!*laughs even more*

[Darren]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']Nailed by a bus. That's so perfect for those two. Heh.

Plus if the "other" Darren really did start singing that? I would run away as fast as I could. Seriously. [I] "Oh gawd." [/I]Indeed. XP[/QUOTE]

That's offending. You never know, I could be a very talented singer!

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='chibi-master;817487]You're sick, you know that, you sadist? Why so much hatred?[/QUOTE]If I really was a sadist, you wouldn't have escaped or made it to where a bus was. I would have killed you dead personally. =P But I'm not so the bus got you... [quote name='Darren'']That's offending. You never know, I could be a very talented singer![/quote]It doesn't matter how good you are, I never did care for the song "Summer Lovin"

That and I have perfect pitch so if you're off too much, it's like nails on a chalkboard. [I]*shudder*[/I] Though that's probably part of why I'm not a huge rock fan... don't get me started on how many singers there are out there who are... [I]off.[/I]

[Aberinkula]

[quote name='Rachmaninoff']
That and I have perfect pitch so if you're off too much, it's like nails on a chalkboard. [I]*shudder*[/I] Though that's probably part of why I'm not a huge rock fan... don't get me started on how many singers there are out there who are... [I]off.[/I][/QUOTE]

[COLOR="DarkSlateGray"][SIZE="1"]Well, a lot of the times, the vocals are worse in concert. Gerard Way for example has a great voice on CD's, but in concert it sounds like his vocal chords were raped by horrible pitch. Ah, the power of editing. [/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]Once upon a time, a time where security was lax everywhere it should've been rigid and rigid everywhere it should be lax there was an island. Not The Island, that was already taken. But this was an island with steel and sheet rock and rebar and granite and many cliffs leading straight down into the ocean beneath. It was only reachable by helicopter, and the landing pad was so sheer that it was necessary to rappel down the side of the landing pad just to reach the ground. This island was known as the Battle Island, and dedicated viewers saw what happened there through the thousands of cameras hidden across the entire rock. Some days it would be children pitted against children, men against women, women against men, but some days it would be everyone against everyone else.

And the war of all against all was very simple. Everyone was fitted with iron collars that kept them within bounds or instantly dead. Everyone could find the weapons scattered across the compounds and use them until they broke or ran out of ammunition or both. And everyone would die. The helicopters dropped the people in groups. Their names floated above their heads to the people watching eagerly on their TVs and computers.

Allamorph, Boo, Aaryanna, Darren, Ikillion, Korey. The first group arrived and were kept blindfolded and handcuffed, the collars already in place. The second group, Clurr, Sunfall, Rach, Sandy, Petie, Indi. They too were dropped down, after an appropriate time, the handcuffs unlocked themselves, leaving their hands free to rip off their blindfolds and look around. Nobody ever knew when they would be grabbed by the Establishment to go the the Battle Island, but they'd been told it would be all against all. Alliances were quickly broken or never even formed. The innate distrust was perfect, and anyone who did not pick up a weapon and fight were killed.[/i]

"Kill or be killed.

[i]The fights began faster than people had expected. Allamorph was the first to make a kill, his weapon of choice a katana. Dressed in a simple black jumpsuit, he found Ikillion an easy target, having only turned to pick up the weapon he had literally tripped over. The second to kill was Indi, her fencing saber already pulled free of Sandy's back. Dishonorable, but nobody kept track of that. Instead, they noticed the blinding speed with which Petie cut through the people that hadn't armed themselves fast enough, or came at him with murder in their eyes. Clurr, Rach, Boo, Korey, all fell quickly under Petie's broadsword. Perhaps it was the sheer hatred in his eyes that kept them fearful. But then again he too fell, stabbed through the neck, down towards the heart when Allamorph took him off guard.

Aaryanna lasted a surprisingly long time, her butcher knife doing enough to keep her alive against Darren, his guts spilling out for others to slip on. Indi followed her from a safe distance, both capable of hiding, both capable of killing. Sunfall died early on when she refused to pick up a weapon to use against her fellow human beings, no matter what they did to others of their own kind. And the collar's death was the worst. It tightened slowly instead of just breaking the neck or slashing open the heart. Others could see she was dying, but it was too late. Interfering would've killed them too.

It came to a point where Allamorph simply couldn't find the remaining survivor. Indi was watching him, still holding her saber in one hand so the collar wouldn't kill her, but charging head on would be suicide, just as staying still would too. The collar would know if she sat for just a moment. So she paced just out of his line of sight, which mean he was out of hers as well. Finally, as she felt herself growing tired, he charged, and her response was immediate.

The two paused, seconds from slitting eachother's throats, both of their right arms poised and crossing, the point of the katana curving towards the bottom of Indi's chin, her saber tickling the point where his two clavicles met. For a few moments they stood, their feet shuffling slightly, breathing heavily at the strain of not pushing forward and killing themselves along with their opponent. Then something twitched in the back of Indi's mind, and from the corner of her eye she could see Aaryanna's body sprawled across the uneven terrain. She lunged, piercing herself on the end of Allamorph's katana, shoving forward with the last of her strength, hurling to her death. As both fell, their hands dangling loosely at their sides, their collars fell from their necks and the lights went out.[/i]

"All clean up crews to your assigned stations.

[i]In the morning the Battle Island would be reset, and the newest batch of unfortunates would be eaten alive by the monster in the human mind.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[Gavin]

[SIZE="1"]Heh, somehow I knew it would end up with a complete slaughter with no survivors. I was slightly amused/afraid of a butcher knife weilding Aaryanna, with that harmless, amiable personality, you'd be lulled into a sense of security before being gutted like a fish.[/SIZE]

[Horendithas]

[COLOR="Indigo"]Having met Aaryanna... I don't see it at all. Unless you were going after her dog that is, then she might hurt someone in self defense. To be honest, this one didn't sit well at all. Probably because it wasn't funny and didn't really fit anyone, other than perhaps Beth refusing to hurt anyone.

Out of all the little deaths you've written I like this one the least.[/COLOR]

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]I'll actually disagree with [COLOR="DarkRed"]Indi[/COLOR] because I think it's the one in which you deviated from established personalities the most; i.e., completely. And because the characters were just names, with no real ties to actual people, the scene visualized better for me.

In short, no it didn't feel like [COLOR="DarkRed"]Aaryanna [/COLOR]because it [I]wasn't[/I] [COLOR="DarkRed"]Aaryanna[/COLOR]. I appreciate that.[/FONT]

[Rachmaninoff]

[quote name='Allamorph'][FONT=Arial]In short, no it didn't feel like [COLOR="DarkRed"]Aaryanna [/COLOR]because it [I]wasn't[/I] [COLOR="DarkRed"]Aaryanna[/COLOR]. I appreciate that.[/FONT][/QUOTE]I'll agree with that because otherwise a knife wielding Aaryanna is more than a little creepy. XP Anyway, it had a more surreal feeling to it than your other stories have. It was like everyone was insane. Which would explain why everyone went after each other like that. o_O

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]Late at night or perhaps very early in the morning, Jeffery sat at his desk, thinking that he should've really slept, since he'd be going into work at 5 this whole week. He idly scrolled through the backlog of messages on the boards he frequented in his spare time, when his aim icon began to blink. Curious at who of his friends would be up at 2 a.m. he accepted the message and found someone he thought he'd never hear from again. She had dogged his steps, pushed the limits of his imagination and patience, asking him questions he'd never thought he'd hear from anyone.

She'd always pushed him, his sanity, his comfort zone, far beyond what he thought were his limits. And now, six months after he'd insulted her gravely to her very face, there she was again. Unperturbed as always, and full of that same effusive cheer that had always seemed so out of place on such a dark mind.[/i]

"Are you lonely Jeff? Do you ever feel that you're the only person left in a world of empty thoughts and pale dreams?"

[i]His fingers shook slightly. Sometimes he could've sworn she was seeing across the entire continent and staring straight into eyes from her own computer screen. And this time he was almost sure she was in his mind.[/i]

"Sometimes I am. Sometimes I think I'm going crazy and I just want to run in the forest and die far away from everything.

"Well, you know what they say."

"Curiosity killed the cat?"

"Every living thing dies alone."

[i]He considered for a moment. She wasn't wrong. No matter who you had with you in the end, you would still die. And you couldn't take anything with you. Can't. Won't. Not anymore. No wars to die in, no plague, no cause worth dying for. Just the job out of college that he had taken for lack of any better offers. And here she was. Rattling his cage again like she knew how it made him feel. If he were the abused and hunted animal, she was the girl who would gently run a stick across the bars of his cage, before disappearing again.

Maybe that was unfair. She'd never intentionally hurt him. And plenty of times he'd lashed out at her. But an animal in pain and fear does all sorts of things. And she caused him plenty of fear. Not that it had really ever made any sense to him. She was just a girl. Well that's unfair. She was a strong, tall, sensitive girl that was deeply in tune with the feelings of the people around her, whether they were close at hand or far away. She'd drawn some people out of their shells and he'd stubbornly clung to his, terrified that she'd be successful and he'd have new, raw painful emotions to face.

The shell was safe. Cosy, and he didn't have anything creepy and different to face. Except her. He could've blocked her, but like you bite a sore tooth just to feel the pain shooting across your jaw, he let her talk to him because he wanted to see what new ways to torment him she'd try out. Sometimes he wondered if she really knew what she was doing to him, or if she was just extremely lucky. He didn't believe in luck.[/i]

"I have to go now. Are you afraid of dying alone?"

"Not too afraid. My life isn't really living anyway."

"Don't die just yet."

[i]And before he could type his response, she was gone. Faster than he could blink. Cursing her, he looked up and realized he only had fifteen minutes to get dressed and go to work. Where he'd be another warm body, not awake and not aware of what was happening.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]Once long ago, I told [COLOR=DarkRed]deadSeraphim[/COLOR] that I would kill him. It was nothing personal, I told him, but I had standards to adhere to, and so his death was mandated.

Two restrictions; besides these, do what you will.
[list][*]His death must be preceded by a long psychological game played only by him and me, and the game must end directly by my hand.
[*]The basis for this game will be the phrase: "That feeling you get when no one is watching? That's me."[/list][/FONT]

[Korey]

[FONT="Franklin Gothic Medium"]Apparently, I'm too much of a wuss to even stand a chance to Petie's broadsword.... That's comforting.

Oh just as a funny little thing, could you have me kill Indi? She often refers to me as "slave", so I would like a little rebellion if you will. I don't really mind how the death occurs, all creative license goes to you. Bon chance!

[spoiler] No hard feelings boss, just thought'd I'd chime in ;)[/spoiler][/FONT]

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]Dead walked a little faster, his overcoat collar turned up against the unseasonable cold of late September. Instead of driving like he'd planned, the day had started out so nice he'd decided to walk the four miles into work. Now he was cursing his brilliant plan while simultaneously congratulating himself for leaving his coat in from the winter that had ended rather early this year. His foot steps echoed dully against the concrete buildings and the asphalt beneath his heels. For a minute it sounded like there were more than one of him walking down a back alley towards his apartment, but then the sound faded.

He shook it off and walked up the outside flight of stairs, always preferring to dodge the inside one, smokey and stale from other people's exhalations and expectorations. In his own apartment, things were smoke stained, but not unpleasant. He lived alone, his computer desk in one corner, his bed in the other, nothing cutting him off from his miniscule kitchen and eating area. Studio apartments in this city were somewhat cheaper and less of a pain than having room mates that always failed you. But on the other hand, they were lonely. His computer beeped at him and he sat down, draping his coat over the back of his seat and turning up the thermostat behind his head.[/i]

Emptyshadetwo (7:15 PM): "Lonely?"

[i]Unknown chat name, local chat room that was otherwise empty for some reason. Usually around 7 p.m. others like him came home and logged on. He shrugged and typed back.[/i]

deadseraphim (7:20 PM): "Isn't everyone who comes to a chat room?"

Emptyshadetwo (7:20 PM): "I'm not lonely, I'm working. And neither are the two housewives that sometimes come on after midnight. They're just horny."

[i]Seemed fair enough. But the screen name was bothering him. Familiar, but at the same time completely unfamiliar. This sort of thing would keep him up more effectively than the insomnia his doctor had called 'troubling."[/i]

Emptyshadetwo (7:25 PM): "Insomnia bothering you again?"

deadseraphim (7:25 PM): "I don't remember talking about that with the people here. Where you ghosting?"

Emptyshadetwo (7:30 PM): "That's one way of putting it."

[i]Dead walked away from his computer to clear his head. Lighting a cigarette on the heating element of his stove, he'd long ago lost his lighter, he opened his balcony just a crack and let the smoke waft out. Otherwise, he drew the blinds and turned on his desk lamp. HIs dinner circled endlessly in the microwave and he sat down at his desk again, blinking a few times before shaking a couple of his pills down onto his desktop.[/i]

Emptyshadetwo (7:35 PM): "Careful, those are somewhat addictive."

deadseraphim (7:35 PM): " Cigarettes?"

[i]There was a pause, and Dead automatically began looking up to the starkly white corners of his apartment, finding nothing but the same old cobwebs he had never cleaned up.[/i]

Emptyshadetwo (7:45 PM): "No, those Diazepam. Four is two too many."

[i]Dead abruptly logged off of the chat room. His own personal stalker was a bit too much to handle after a long day at work and a freezing walk home. He headed for his shower again, extinguishing the cigarette in his bathroom sink. The lights in his living area dimmed as he turned on the bathroom light and he turned it off and watched his living room lights get brighter again. Sometimes he wondered why he paid his bills in the first place. The hot water didn't last long. Five minutes tops, and he sighed again, this time at his water bill, as he rinsed stinging soapsuds out of his hair under a Niagra of freezing cold water.

Lips blue, he toweled himself off in front of his mirror and stared at his haggard face, seeing dark brown eyes staring back at him. They blinked for one ridiculously slow second, independently of his, and Dead jerked back. He could've sworn for a minute they appeared grey, mottled with brown flecks much too light to be his. Dead looked away quickly, debating smashing the mirror just on principle, but decided he didn't need any more bad luck.

Instead he went back to the computer and sat down, fully prepared to fall asleep sitting up. Instead he found an e-mail that used the same name as whoever had been talking to him earlier. And then five minutes later he was standing on his computer chair, running his fingers along the moulding against his ceiling, against the base, and ripping apart the insulation in his bathroom ceiling. Time seemed to bend itself and he could've sworn he'd spent more time scrabbling against every item in his apartment then he really did.

Hours later he fell asleep slumped against his mattress on the floor, his apartment a disaster, his computer still on and humming to itself in the room that would've been dark if Dead had been awake enough to turn off his lights. And when he woke up he found himself staring into a dark room, with a slash of light from where the curtains were slightly pulled back and the sliding glass door was open. Shuffling over to that point, he lit up again, and leaned back against the curtained half of the door, the hard surfaces taunting his sore body.

Why had he stayed up well past his bedtime, fighting medication and exhaustion and insomnia just to see if someone who was probably just guessing was really watching him? He'd even debated cutting his eyes out to see if there was anything in his brain. But then he realized that when his ex had left she'd taken all the really sharp kitchen knives with her. And he'd abandoned that one for logging back on the chat room instead. And there he'd remained all day, even while at work. People came and went, but they were just that. People. He was beginning to relax a little until it went empty again as he got home.

At 7: 15 PM.[/i]

Emptyshadetwo (7:15PM): "Still lonely?"

deadseraphim (7:30 PM): "Maybe. Am I really alone though?"

Emptyshadetwo (7:30PM): "No. You're not alone."

[i]Automatically Dead looked over his shoulder and then back to his screen. It had gone blank while the light was still on. He pressed the dimmer switch back up to full but the screen stayed blank. He stared at the screen, refusing to blink, and then he looked over his shoulder again. This time there was still nobody there, but instead he heard a knock on his door just as he was turning back to his errant computer. He jumped up as if he'd been shot, and almost flew to the door, his hand on the knob when it turned by itself.

And someone he didn't know but knew stepped into his room. Emptyshadetwo, or as he was beginning to think of him, just Shade. And his eyes seemed to pin him against the back wall, holding him immobile, his mouth frozen in place. His computer came back to life and glowed white, beeping as a message was sent before going completely black again.[/i]

Emptyshadetwo (8:00 PM): "I told you, you weren't alone."[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Rachmaninoff]

The psychological aspect of that one was creepy. >_> It makes you feel sorry for the person who ended up dead. Well sort of, and since I don't have an idea for a death... I'm done. I did like it though, even with the creepiness factor.

[Raiha]

[COLOR="DarkOrchid"][FONT="Times New Roman"][i]Korey leaned back slightly from his position, fanbearer for his exceedingly wealthy mistress, the Lady Indi. She lay reclined on her extravagant pile of pillows while various members of her household came and went, paying court to her, and with a clash of cymbals, another visitor arrived. This time the Lord Gavin with the Lady Rai on his arm and he redoubled his efforts, determined to ward off the heat of the day and another beating from his mistress for what she always called 'slacking.' The two sat on their divans, various slaves and their own personal ones rushing to make sure they were comfortable while the litter that had borne them was rushed off to the clearing house.

He noted that his friend, Darren was kneeling at Rai's feet with a properly subservient expression on his face. So that was where he'd been shipped off to. Probably as a gift. At Gavin's feet knelt some red haired boy he didn't know, but a barbarian oddity he had probably purchased on a whim. The three chatted politely about the weather and how dreadfully dreary it was and he was so bored he was about to doze off when Lady Rai pointed a delicately manicured finger at him and spoke in her low, almost musical voice.[/i]

"That fanbearer there. How much would you ask for him?"

"Oh that one? Not for sale sadly. He's all I have left to remind me of my dearly departed mate."

"Ah, I wasn't aware he had such sentimental value for you."

[i]Lady Indi merely smiled coyly and leaned back against the down filled cushions, flicking her wrist at her servants. Glasses of orangeade were brought out and he exchanged a careful look over towards Phenom, who had earlier conspired with him on the subject of their assassination of their mistress, whose harsh and cruel ways had finally pushed them to the breaking point. Carefully, they had at separate times, bought two poisons meant to work together. Each harmless on their own but deadly when combined, and the first dose was in everyone's drink. Each was sampled by their own servants before being handed over, safe from harm.[/i]

"Lovely stuff, our oranges have been doing so well this year..."

"You always had a good eye for picking out the best. Didn't you?"

[i]The conversation droned on, and Korey was hard pressed to keep himself from dropping off entirely. Later, the guests left, leaving behind a beautiful little slave girl named Erica as a token of their esteem. Korey was instructed to settle her in with the matron of the servants and then attend to his mistress at her toilet, which consisted of a long bath, a session with her serving girls, and then an evening in which he would fan her until she was asleep.

He stood waiting in her chambers, as Phenom brought her evening drink of a light fruit juice, this one he himself would taste, as Phenom was already dosed with the first of the poisons. As he left, he heard Indi calling him and he brought the drink down to her large marble bathtub, where he knew she would be waiting impatiently as usual.[/i]

"Hand that over would you? I'm simply parched from today's activities."

[i]Despite the fact that they had consisted of a morning bath, breakfast, a meeting with her servitors and guests, a lunch, a complicated dinner, and now an evening bath, he didn't doubt her aloud. Instead he merely contented himself with a dull nod. He took a sip of the drink and found it oddly sweet, but passed it to her. She took a few swallows, and handed it back to him, and he set it down on the counter.[/i]

"Go send for the girls."

[i]Korey stood to go, mildly fibrillating with excitement, and turned to leave. As he stood in the hallway, he mentally went over what would happen when the girls all came in. She would be found in her bath, the water tinged red with her blood as her body began to respond to the venom in her stomach... ...and they would be sold again, perhaps to a kinder master or mistress.

The next morning, as her things were distributed away by the proper authorities and her advocates, he found himself holding his deed of sale and being ushered into the house he knew belonged to a Lord Allamorph.[/i][/FONT][/COLOR]

[Allamorph]

[FONT=Arial]Perfect place to terminate the narrative. The implications are staggering.[/FONT]