Judy looked to Vara. "Hey...sorry...that this wasn't your choice...it probably feels sorta annoying that there's quite a few people who...see this as an escape....if it makes you feel any better Tabitha was taken; that's why she can't remember where she comes from. She doesn't mind, she assumes she had a terrible life in the past."
******
Everyone dropped any piece of metal they had outside, thankfully, most their clothes lacked any metal fixtures. Jewellrey was also removed, and piercings were also removed as well.
Ninety was more than enough space for the people, all the villagers still alive left, including those who were sick. No one needed to be left behind, and no food needed to be distributed.
"It's fine. I recognize that a lot of people had terrible lives, and I agree that this is certainly better than a lot of alternatives. There were probably several times in my own life when I would have gladly chosen this. It just so happened that I wasn't taken at one of those times, but this place, these people, it is still nice."
******
The ship visited all the villages, taking who they could and leaving food for those they couldn't.
Judy shrugged. "Yeah...well, hey, you're safe here. Let's get back to playing with the girls."
(Do we want a time skip to when Nelly has to bring Vara to the Royal Emperor, or RP the game/time after?)
******
They managed to count little over 2000 survivors. Many of the larger towns were little more than corpse strewn wastelands, only the outlying villages were somewhat alive. It was an atrocity on a gargantual scale, and the dealth of hundreds of millions was laid bare,
Civil War...Again In a stunning display of solidarity, supporters of the Democratic Khanate have risen in revolt. Led by a James Halvarin, who is reportedly the nephew of former Khan, John Doig. True to his legacy, he served in the military, in the Black Guard (The Tsars guard). Now, with the support of the people, he leads an uprising against the Tsars rule.
(This is to explain my flag change. Its supposed to represent a mix of the republic and the Tsardoms flags. Eventually, I will return to my red white and gold)
(I guess we can skip. I didn't really have anything for the game night, but if you did we can rp it.
Is Nelly going to tell Vara about what Nelly said to the Royal Emperor about how Vara was now extremely obedient?)
******
The strangers were horrified by the amount of death present.
Somehow, the wooden ship ascended into space. It began to move faster than the speed of light, but it was still slower than rift space, so travel would take some time.
(Yeah she was going to give her a general rundown of what she said; brutal punishment basically forced her to be very obedient and not really willing to make her own ideas or decisions, always waiting for orders etc but with a hint of defiance still remaining.)
******
The Aerlanicans remained silent aboard the ships; while they cooperated somewhat with their mysterious saviours, they were bitten once and now twice shy. They answered with the bare minimum of words, often in monosylibic fashions, and generally kept to themselves.
Carissa nods. “Yeah, my sister‘a wife is from there. And my brother Cait talks about it sometimes too.”
Tyramon Ken shakes his head. “I have no idea, sorry.”
(Nice new flag! I like it ;P Still miss your old one too lol) Macy watches in awe. “How do you know all this stuff?”
Noelle nods. “That’s a pretty good idea. Maybe she went to war and you didn’t, then one day you heard that her ship had crash-landed somewhere so now you’ve decided to go looking for her? Something like that?”
(Okay. Well, Vara is a bit surprised by the change in plans from a gradual change in personality, but she raises no complaint. But she will still be following the 3 O's I'm guessing.)
******
While they could keep to themselves verbally, they could not do so physically. The triple-stacked bunks were given to most ill individuals, and others had to squeeze on the floor, sometimes squeezing next to the strange people as they slept. The strangers were caring and curious, asking about where the Aerlanicans came from. They were disappointed by the short replies.
******
(I'll wait on Aerlanica for the Corali/Eastrid stuff.)
William nods. "Well, both Jennifer and I fought in the Aerlanican Civil War, different places, mind you, but we still fought it in."
He nodded, lost briefly in thought. "It was not a good thing, it...well...we fought for a good thing, but the war itself was a terrible thing to live through. A lot of people died, a lot of people I cared about...ant it got very hard to actually stomach at some times because we were either facing lions led by donkeys or we were the lambs led to the slaughter. There was some in-between but...the inexperienced volunteers and conscripts outnumbered a lot of the trained professionals."
He shook his head. "But, that's not the point, sorry, I'm...rambling."
He knelt down to face Carissa. "I...you're like twenty five...thirty...even though you look, seven...you should...probably change that...but..." he shook his head, "you are in your mid to late twenties, early thirties, I cannot govern your life...but...doing this, you have to be prepared to have everything you love and care about crumble into ash and dust. Fighting for Aerlanica...fighting for your country...sometimes means you can't give special treatment to the people you love and becoming the Guardian of Kansas may mean you have to say goodbye to the people who love you.
"And that will be hard, that...that will...be difficult, it's not something everyone can just jump up and say "Hey, i'm going to do this now" and do it without feeling homesick...if you want to make this commitment, you have to realise how much you're sacrificing-"
"You arent talking me out of-"
"Ah ah ah! I'm not...I'm just making sure you're aware of all the factors...you are your own woman, you can follow your own path...but...as a rule of thumb and if you are going to be the protector of Kansas you need to be fully aware of everything; every factor, every plan of approach, every detail, every fact and figure, every single thing because if you even so much as lightly rush in innocent people will die and it will be your fault...take it from me, i've seen some of the stuff that happens when officers shell on bad intel and you can see it in their eyes months...hell, years after."
He gripped her shoulders. "If you do this, all of Kansas, and then some, will be relying on you to do the right thing and you have to think critically, you have to be cynnical and overanalyse, you have to realise no matter what you do you will not be able to save everyone, including your loved ones....because if war comes to Kansas and it's protector is needed, there will be innocent blood spilt, people will die, and you will have to single handedly face, experience and suffer the horrors of war on your own, do you understand that, Carissa...are you aware of that."
Nelly ordered Vara to her office one day and gave her the run down, before leading her into the depths of the mansion. She led her to what appeared to be the boiler room; huge rattling contraptions vibrated the very stone around them in a partially annoying way, while the huge boilers responsilbe for the central heating of the whole mansions made the air not only sweltering, but humid and thick with...steam? Vara looked to the wall and saw a thermometer mark the room as several degrees below boiling, but she felt it to be a warm, if humid, summers day.
Nelly led her and showed her a claustrophobic box, the design showed it was most likely made for smoking.
"This," she yelled as she placed a hand on the box, calling above the wild and maddening sound of the boilers and generators, "Is the smoking box. Step inside briefly, and I'll keep you in there for fifteen minutes; this is what I shall say you also experienced to break you, understood?"
******
After asking why one was so closed off, they said the last people who promised them freedom aboard a ship sent them to that planet, and "look how it turned out for us."
However, one small girl began following one of the women around, curiously looking at most things.
(Ah, good. At least now I don't have to have Vara punished just to find out what the smoking room is.)
"Yes, Mistress, I understand," Vara yelled back.
******
There were few places on the ship where the refugees hadn't been put, but the girl soon found herself in one such place on the bridge. The various men and women looked at her for a moment before getting back to work. "I see you have taken an interest in my first officer." The girl turned around to see the Captain sitting in a chair. His face was a bit older and rougher, but his eyes were still kind. He looked to the woman the girl had been following. "Commander, why don't you show our guest how the Inspiration flies." The woman smiled and gestured to the pilot's seat in front of the captain. The pilot stood and stepped aside, smiling. "Come," the woman said kindly. "Sit here."
******
"Well...no...the witches don't have gods. The closest we have is Sorcerers, but they are pretty much all evil. I do like the stories of the one good Sorcerer that lived long ago, but they cannot help us now. Maybe by some miracle another good Sorcerer will arise, but it is not likely."
Vara was maneuvered inside in a rather awkward fashion. The interior very much cramped, and she had to squeeze in rather uncomfortable position. After this, the door was slammed shut, plunging Vara into darkness. She felt a brief vibration, most likely a lock, close.
It would have been extremely frightening and nerve wracking for Vara, most likely accompanied by several attempts to get free, and as the temperature rose and she began to finally sweat profusely, she could sense the air slowly become stale, stifling her ability to breathe but not to the point of strangulation. However, the fact that Nelly was standing just outside, and most likely timing the whole affair, comforted Vara, and kept her calm. Still, she became impatient and a shock of fear reached through her heart as she wondered if Nelly would give her the whole serving instead of just a sample, especially uncomfortable was the inhibitor collar, which not only began to slowly increase in temperature, but trapped the moisture of her skin between it and her neck, with no way for her to maneuver herself out of it.
However, after what seemed like forever, the box was unlocked and the door opened allowing light to flood in and Nelly's arm to help Vara out of the box. Leading her into the cooler and dryer air of the corridor, she handed Vara a towel.
"That is the Smoking Box, if the Master asks what you experienced, you are to describe what you felt, understood?"
******
The girl, slightly older than sixteen with bronze hair, pale skin and a shotgun spray of freckles across her face, slowly sat down in the chair. She rubbed a closed eye and inspected the seat.
"How do you do it? with the wood?" She asked, scratching the back of her head and revealing a tattoo of seven numbers: "2201412", "I mean...all the ships i've seen use metal."
Vara nodded. "Yes, Mistress. Mistress, just how hot was it in there?"
******
"Ah...with great difficulty. But there are many materials that we use. We have rubber for sealing, wood for structure, the orange paint to protect us from harmful light. If you want, I can show you the engine later, but for now why don't you try your hand at flying? Gently hold the stick and move it a bit." In front of her were several controls, but the Commander pointed to a wooden handle - the "stick" - protruding from a wooden sphere set into the control panel, allowing two-dimensional turning control, turning up, down, right, and left.
******
Corali looked to Kenji as well, hopeful that he could help somehow.
Vara nodded. "Incredible...just how hot of temperatures can we survive in?"
******
The woman smiled. "It's alright. There is plenty of room for error around here. There are no solar systems, no nebulae, no metal fields, no black holes, nothing dangerous. It is open space. Go on, try it."
"Tabitha did a study and concluded we could survive up to around three hundred degrees celcius without any long term injury. I believe she's planning a study in regards to cold resistance...perhaps you could help her; she's always short on volunteers, and it will shut her up complaining and whining about how her findings arent accurate due to low sample sizes."
She rolled her eyes playfully and chuckled.
"Honestly, that girl...I daresay she knows more things than even I do."
******
The girl paused, slowly nodded, and grasped the controls. "Ok...wait...metal fields? what do they do?"
...in the stereotypical succubus attire Nelly had given her. The Royal Emperor furrowed his brow at the sight. "Ah, you two...I wish to speak with you two one at a time. Vara, why don't you...wait outside." Vara bowed deeply and flicked her tail. "Yes, Master." She walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.
The Royal Emperor looked at Nelly. "Nelly...there has been a change in plans...you are no longer to meet with, speak to, or otherwise interact with my daughter. Understood?"
******
"It...can...scrape the hull a bit if we get too close...but our pilots are experts. Like I said, you have nothing to worry about." As the girl moved the control slightly, she saw through the large, thick window in front of her as the stars shifted; the ship turned slightly.
Nelly gave a respectful curtsey, an innocent smile resting on her face; she had explained to Vara that she would do all she could to prevent the Royal Emperor from punishing her further. "As you wish, Master."
She stood up straight. "Will that be all? Master?"
******
The girl smiled, seemingly happy with the sensation. "You told us to get rid of everything metal when we came aboard? why?" She asked, still curious and wary, but obviously enjoying herself; she gave the craft a few twists and turns.
"For now, yes. I want you to go down to the courtyard garden and wait for...a couple hours. I may send Vara to meet you there. Send Vara in when you leave."
Outside, Vara had been teasing a soldier who had been passing, who now was pressed, flustered, between Vara and a wall.
******
"It...could...damage the ship. But as long as there is no metal, we will be fine."
Nelly walked out, saw Vara, then wandered over. "Where did you find this boy toy, Vara." She purred, wandering over to the soldier and caressing his chest.
Nelly inspected him and gave him a flirtatious grin before looking to Vara. "Now Vara, we shouldn't interfere with these...big, strong man's patrol...besides...the Royal Emperor calls for your service...do me proud...i'll deal with this...fine, young gentleman."
She grapped his lapel and began to lead him. "Come along, boy toy," She ordered, an authoritative swagger in her stride, "this is an experience you'll don't want to pass up."
******
The girl slowly nodded. "Seems wierd to have a ship with no metal." she commented.
The soldier stumbled along after her, still in shock. Noticing that the Royal Emperor had seen everything through the doorway, he tried and failed to regain his composure.
** ** **
Vara entered the Royal Emperor's office. The Royal Emperor looked at her. "Close the door behind you." Vara did as such. "Good. You know, there was no need to toy with that soldier. He carried nothing of value."
Vara bowed her head. "Sorry, Master. I didn't mean to displease you."
The Royal Emperor looked at her. "You can drop the act. We are alone."
Vara gave him a confused look. "The...act, Master?"
"Yes, the act. Do you really expect me to believe that Nelly managed to break you that quickly? Please, Vara. Drop the act. It is a waste of time."
"Mistress didn't 'break' me, Master. She helped me realize that it is better for me to follow her, to follow you. I...I am sorry if I did something wrong, Master. I will try to correct it."
The Royal Emperor sighed and returned to his paperwork. "I don't like it when people lie and waste my time, Vara. Let me know when you are ready to talk sensibly again."
Vara walked around to his side of the desk and leaned in, pouting. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, Master, but I don't understand what you are asking me to do."
"You realize that there is no point in trying to defeat everyone here, right? As it turns out, there is no way to change you back. You're stuck like this. Forever. You think that - even if you somehow defeat me and Iblion - that anyone will ever accept you? Without me, nobody will ever give you an once of respect. You'll only ever be treated as a thing of desire. Your mind, your beautiful mind, will never be given a chance to be anything. But I can see to it that you are restored to a place of respect."
Vara wasn't sure if she should believe him. He seemed to speak the truth, but it could be a lie. "But...Master...I am happy as I am...I am far better now than I ever was before. Does my body displease you?"
The Royal Emperor, annoyed, pushed away from his desk and turned to face Vara. "Fine. You want to pretend you have been brainwashed? Prove it. Prove to me somehow that you are not who you used to be. Go on, prove it." He waited for Vara to do something, expecting her to bring some reasoning to prove that Nelly's actions were effective at brainwashing.
Vara looked at him for a second. Thinking quickly, she sat on his lap, front to front, and wrapped her arms around him. Her tail wandered up the leg of his pants and caressed this thigh. She leaned in and kissed him passionately.
******
"Does it? For us it would seem weird to have a ship with metal."
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