Post by Zhou on Jan 25, 2014 17:58:25 GMT -5
No matter how much time was spent in quiet slumber, no matter how many days were counted between outings, no matter how he attempted to draw his thoughts away...Zhou Yuan could not break his focus from the glorious purple sky that haunted his dreams. Night upon night he would lie so softly beneath the covers, staring blankly at the ceiling whilst thinking of all the shadows that lurked about in the darkened ruins of places he had once set foot in. Pitch blackness had greeted him upon the opening of his eyes this night however, all thanks to the low hum of static upon his alarm clock...t'was time to begin the mandatory routine once more. Time to venture away in secret to visit the alien landscape, the ruins that once comprised West Mosaic. Upon his plain, plastic desk, laid a laptop that had never once been connected to the internet, a dust covered tool that was only brought out for memos, study notes, all written in bizarre shorthand in chinese lettering.
Arising from beneath the covers, clad in his t-shirt and a pair of boxers, the boy pulled himself to the chair. Since his outing towards the gymnasium to practice with the young princess, he had been mapping out the structure of those streets from memory, the sheer thoughts caused him to obsess endlessly over each meticulous detail. Opening an old text file with hundreds upon hundreds of notes written in his own personal shorthand method, he looked at a series of notes that he remembered to have ripped from an ancient little textbook from the eighties, detailing the construction of West Mosaic's various important structures. Something had to be there, something worthy of note that could possibly house something of use to him...at the very least, something to entertain him.
Biting down on his lower lip, his eyes illuminated by the faint glow of the monitor, he read over one place in particular that seemed to catch his eye. Old Saint's Hospital. Colorful name. Slowly however, the details behind the hospital's past came to light as he read over various things treated in the hospital dating back to when China was first announced as a sovereign communist nation. Delight shone upon his face as he closed the document, and shut the laptop...every bit of the elaborate shorthand was written in such a way to be unintelligible to anyone but himself, so upon shutting the old bugger down, there was no hesitation, no thoughts that his parents would discover it. Then came the usual patterns, to the low ticks of the grandfather clock.
It didn't take long at all this time for him to reach the subway terminals, now that he was fully clothed and armed. The routine had become an exact science that he had perfected, the travel would reach that level eventually, or so he hoped. Shadows within the tunnels seemed somewhat sheepish, as if a force had placed them into submission quite some time ago...whoever they were, Zhou felt obliged to thank them. They saved him time and energy. There was the occasional maya, struck by the sections of his whip only to slither away whilst he kept on his merry little way...there was something so utterly satisfying about hurting the little things, for they filled a caveat that allowed one to wail upon them with impunity. How delightful. Emerging into the cold expanse of the gap, bathing in the purple light of the foreign sky...god, he craved it by this point. However, there was little time that could be taken up by such pleasantries, no, no...he had a job to do this time. A goal to set himself towards. Whatever was in that hospital would be revealed to him, and there were bound to be some curiosities to bring home, as well as sell to the odd woman that had bought the various collected refuse that he had gathered over time.
Traversing foggy streets and ruined buildings, the Chinese boy found himself utterly unscathed, not even approached by some of the shadows that resided throughout the entirety of the relatively abysmal urban sprawl that once blanketed the area, now reduced to lonely ruins. After enough time, and recalling from memory the various streets, Zhou had reached the old hospital, the site of miracles, atrocities, and many more deaths than one could count. Glass doors shattered from wear, crushed particles of it underfoot, part of him knew that others had been here as well, and yet he wasn't hoping to run into familiar faces, or even to find another persona user within...Zhou was here for the spoils of war. There had to be something left within this place, and like a true vulture, he would seize it in his talons. Clutching his chain whip as it remained wrapped upon his arm, he wandered through the lobby, searched through cabinets, and found that his fellow users had not been as thorough as himself.
File after file of medical records dating back to the times before the blockade now lined his backpack, information of all sorts on people that resided within the city were now his. Records of financial transactions, social security numbers, medical histories, all the private information on those in the city that had resided there before the orders to blockade the city had came in...they were his now. Standing tall with his backpack secured full of information, the boy stared down at the medical cabinets with a blank expression...this first floor needed to go. Administrative offices laid here, and now that he had the confidential information that he desired...why give anyone else the chance? Tumbling before him was the card of his persona, which he reached out for almost instinctively. Crushing the card within his hands, from behind him, a great vortex of ash and cinder gave birth to the fearsome suit of living armor that now hung over him like a grand specter. Fires glowing deep within the recesses of it's slowly forming armor of ash and soot, the beast instantly knew what it's master demanded of it...the building's electronic sprinkler system had given out years ago. The record room wouldn't be spared.
Walking out of the inferno that had engulfed the records room, destroying countless precious documents that could have been duplicates of what he had garnered, Zhou made his way through the twisting corridors, to the lobby, the glow of his knight's flames illuminating the dark. Standing firmly near the receptionist's desk, he closed his eyes, only to open them with a grin stretching from ear to ear. He had drawn them out. "And to think, I thought tonight was going to be dull!"
Arising from beneath the covers, clad in his t-shirt and a pair of boxers, the boy pulled himself to the chair. Since his outing towards the gymnasium to practice with the young princess, he had been mapping out the structure of those streets from memory, the sheer thoughts caused him to obsess endlessly over each meticulous detail. Opening an old text file with hundreds upon hundreds of notes written in his own personal shorthand method, he looked at a series of notes that he remembered to have ripped from an ancient little textbook from the eighties, detailing the construction of West Mosaic's various important structures. Something had to be there, something worthy of note that could possibly house something of use to him...at the very least, something to entertain him.
Biting down on his lower lip, his eyes illuminated by the faint glow of the monitor, he read over one place in particular that seemed to catch his eye. Old Saint's Hospital. Colorful name. Slowly however, the details behind the hospital's past came to light as he read over various things treated in the hospital dating back to when China was first announced as a sovereign communist nation. Delight shone upon his face as he closed the document, and shut the laptop...every bit of the elaborate shorthand was written in such a way to be unintelligible to anyone but himself, so upon shutting the old bugger down, there was no hesitation, no thoughts that his parents would discover it. Then came the usual patterns, to the low ticks of the grandfather clock.
It didn't take long at all this time for him to reach the subway terminals, now that he was fully clothed and armed. The routine had become an exact science that he had perfected, the travel would reach that level eventually, or so he hoped. Shadows within the tunnels seemed somewhat sheepish, as if a force had placed them into submission quite some time ago...whoever they were, Zhou felt obliged to thank them. They saved him time and energy. There was the occasional maya, struck by the sections of his whip only to slither away whilst he kept on his merry little way...there was something so utterly satisfying about hurting the little things, for they filled a caveat that allowed one to wail upon them with impunity. How delightful. Emerging into the cold expanse of the gap, bathing in the purple light of the foreign sky...god, he craved it by this point. However, there was little time that could be taken up by such pleasantries, no, no...he had a job to do this time. A goal to set himself towards. Whatever was in that hospital would be revealed to him, and there were bound to be some curiosities to bring home, as well as sell to the odd woman that had bought the various collected refuse that he had gathered over time.
Traversing foggy streets and ruined buildings, the Chinese boy found himself utterly unscathed, not even approached by some of the shadows that resided throughout the entirety of the relatively abysmal urban sprawl that once blanketed the area, now reduced to lonely ruins. After enough time, and recalling from memory the various streets, Zhou had reached the old hospital, the site of miracles, atrocities, and many more deaths than one could count. Glass doors shattered from wear, crushed particles of it underfoot, part of him knew that others had been here as well, and yet he wasn't hoping to run into familiar faces, or even to find another persona user within...Zhou was here for the spoils of war. There had to be something left within this place, and like a true vulture, he would seize it in his talons. Clutching his chain whip as it remained wrapped upon his arm, he wandered through the lobby, searched through cabinets, and found that his fellow users had not been as thorough as himself.
File after file of medical records dating back to the times before the blockade now lined his backpack, information of all sorts on people that resided within the city were now his. Records of financial transactions, social security numbers, medical histories, all the private information on those in the city that had resided there before the orders to blockade the city had came in...they were his now. Standing tall with his backpack secured full of information, the boy stared down at the medical cabinets with a blank expression...this first floor needed to go. Administrative offices laid here, and now that he had the confidential information that he desired...why give anyone else the chance? Tumbling before him was the card of his persona, which he reached out for almost instinctively. Crushing the card within his hands, from behind him, a great vortex of ash and cinder gave birth to the fearsome suit of living armor that now hung over him like a grand specter. Fires glowing deep within the recesses of it's slowly forming armor of ash and soot, the beast instantly knew what it's master demanded of it...the building's electronic sprinkler system had given out years ago. The record room wouldn't be spared.
Walking out of the inferno that had engulfed the records room, destroying countless precious documents that could have been duplicates of what he had garnered, Zhou made his way through the twisting corridors, to the lobby, the glow of his knight's flames illuminating the dark. Standing firmly near the receptionist's desk, he closed his eyes, only to open them with a grin stretching from ear to ear. He had drawn them out. "And to think, I thought tonight was going to be dull!"
