Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from Hourglass!
Okay, maybe you guys were right. I am definitely burning my keyboard alive by getting out all these updates! XD I'll try and not overwork myself, but DANG IT, I just found out the name of the catchiest kind of music! For the longest time, I'd occasionally heard little tracks of this genre, but I could never figure out what the actual type of music was called. Two days ago, however, I discovered just that and now I can't stop listening to it! So now, my new favorite music genre: ELECTRO SWING!
Replies to Reviews...
Marshman101: Yeah, they are, but...dang it, they're the perfect mob to play the strong mafia-bound hitman type! They're big, tough, and silent-looking! It just seemed right, y'know? ^^
Badgerman: It's the SOSKC (the Syndicate of Seriously Killer Crimemobs), actually. XD Question: Have you ever seen Star vs the Forces of Evil? There's this scene in the Season 1 finale where she gets super serious and just throws down her wand, raising up walls of magic around her to stop all the bad guys surrounding her. I kinda had that moment in mind when I wrote for Norman. Really, though, I suggest you check that series out! Its looks are deceiving; it's not some pandering girly cartoon, trust me.
Oh yeah, having Air as a Block power would basically make you invincible! ...so I guess it's okay that Yesinia Air died in the first book since it was out of self-harm due to her insanity. Loophole avoided! X3 And thanks for checking out my animations, dude! I seriously appreciate it! :D
Hey, so I just had a sudden thought. For those of you who actually review, I've got a little question for YOU! If you could have a Block power for yourself, what would it be? I'm including all kinds of blocks, so in-game, unused, technical, and modded blocks are fine! Want to be "So-and-so Luckyblock?" Be my guest!
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 38: Mostly a Flashback
Al set finally set down Jax once the they had passed the wall of fancily-trimmed bushes in front of Rump Tower. Weirdly enough, the jungle leaf blocks that made up these bushes were only able to stand because the pigs that stood underneath each one were holding them together with clenched teeth; both he and Jax exchanged slightly disturbed glances upon seeing the struggling pigs.
"Kay, so I'm no mob rights activist or anything, but something is seriously wrong with these pigs…" he muttered, watching one of the nearby runts almost slip out of place, letting out a tiny squeal. "It's like they're being forced to work for some dumbass higher up in the food chain."
Nikki took a few steps forward and jabbed a finger up at the super-sized sign posted above the entrance to the building.
"Mr. Rump must really love his building. He had all these pigs painted different colors to make it look like a legit building rather than a leaning tower of…well, pigs. You were right by calling the boss a dumbass, Al."
Jax looked up to her left at Al, saying,
"Couldn't we just leave those guys? It's not like we need to follow them around, right? They're heroes; erase a couple letters, and we're literally just hoes. It's not like we mean anything to them, anyway…or anyone else…"
Al let out a small snort and shot a glance back down at her, replying sarcastically,
"Gee, I didn't know you still had an angsty teen girl hiding away inside you."
Jax's pale cheeks flushed instantly and she removed her gaze, staring off into the distance to watch a random man buy a chocolate apple from a street vendor. While she was busy studying their equally unusual skins, Al had a sudden thought and barely hesitated to bring it up right there and then. Instead of focusing on just Jax, he began to address both of them at the same time.
"Anyway, why have you two stuck with me all this time? Isn't it kinda your job to, y'know, give me your three hours and then hit the road? Look for some other fucked-up dude wandering the street? Hell, you could just stay in New Pork and exploit some of the people who live here instead!" he shouted, gesturing widely at the entire street around him.
Nikki and Jax exchanged glances behind his back, one of them surprised and the other a little distressed. Al continued walking forward, tossing his stick into the air and catching it in a rhythmic fashion.
"You two were fun for a few days, but you're getting dull now…I'm bein' really honest with you. But you shouldn't be offended by that, anyway, considering your profession." he told them bluntly, then turned around to look at them both. "You're both adults, aren't you? Live your lives on your own and quit clinging onto some ratty teenager like me. I've been trying real hard to be sympathetic for you two, but…man, it's just gotten REALLY boring!"
Nikki and Jax unintentionally gravitated towards each other in a protective sort of way. Somewhere in the beginning of their dark, desolate road of life they'd made best friends out of each other, and those core feelings of loyalty that remained over the years forced them to always stick together. Even in the nastiest, most unforgivable of occupations.
"Al, come on!" Nikki snapped, looking away from him slightly and grabbing Jax by her exposed shoulder blade. "Why are you suddenly acting like such a jackass? You said you just hated those other guys! Did you totally forget about our little detour to that underground factory? Remember how freaked out we all were together? THAT was a good fucking time and now you act like it meant nothing to you, even despite the fact that you got a GIANT MINECART out of it!"
Jax swallowed nervously and gripped Nikki tight around her hip, clearing her throat and murmuring,
"Why don't we just tell him about—"
Al gave her an instant sneer and snapped right back, cutting Jax off before she could get another word out.
"I just told you! It was fun for a couple nights, but I'm done now! You've overstayed your welcome and I'm going off to do more important things with my life! I just needed a quick break in the middle of it all, alright? That's it!"
He turned back around on his heel and started approaching the building's shiny front entrance.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm actually gonna try and find that magic spirit, being, thing or whatever. I'm practically dead inside anyway, so fighting a spawn of hell is my idea of a good fucking time at the current moment. Goodbye, good luck, don't suck."
A couple tears were beginning to reach Jax's eyes and she held Nikki even tighter yet.
"Let's just tell him so he knows…at least before he leaves for good…" she grumbled into her friend's side.
Nikki grimaced, a substantial anger forming in the pit of her stomach. Grinding her teeth together for a moment, she tried to get the words to move past her lips. The jerk had walked all the way up to the front doors, but something inside of her kept telling her to stop him in his tracks and do exactly what Jax was suggesting. Finally, as he lifted a hand to push open the shimmering iron doors, Nikki cupped her fingers in front of her mouth and shouted,
"HEY AL!"
She saw him turn just his upper half to look back at them. Even from this far away, she could still see the great level of spite in his expression.
"YOUR DICK IS THE SIZE OF A TIC-TAC!"
Nikki held Jax's arm unnecessarily tight and dragged her out of the scene she'd just caused, getting about a hundred strange looks from passerby. They disappeared into the crowd moments later, distancing themselves enough where no one stopped to stare blatantly at them. They eventually made a sharp turn and stopped to rest in an alley, the two of them giggling madly
"Are you serious, Carol?" the shorter of the two whispered, almost wanting to shove her friend into the wall of pigs and get her top chewed up. "You can't just scream that in front of a whole street-full of people!"
"Shut up, Sabrina!" the other replied, wiping a small tear of joy out of her eye. "It had to be done! It HAD to be said! We've been going through enough shit lately, haven't we? He deserved it. First week we try and make some money with this piece of garbage job and our very first customer happens to be some greasy-haired, whiny, stick-wielding…actually, I'm having a hard time finding any more sufficient words to describe him."
Sabrina sighed and coughed, all that laughter taking a slight toll on her lungs. Once she'd regained her breath, she leaned up against the wall of pig bellies behind her and said,
"Why didn't we just tell him we're not even adults? Or the fact that it was our first time on the job? Do you think he'll come after us after what you said to him in front of all those people?"
Carol blew a tuft of blonde hair from her left eye and waved away all her questions, muttering,
"If he does, will you help me come up with more insults? Even if we ended up having to fight him, you could always just sit on him with that fat ass of yours."
Sabrina's eyes opened wide at her comment and she jumped forward in a snap, slugging her friend in the arm hard. Carol winced both physically and verbally, quickly going to nursing her bruised arm.
"Geez, I was kidding! Ow, you've got a real right hook there…and hey, at least we can use our actual names now instead of those grossly cute code names, or aliases, or whatever you'd call them…"
The two of them continued to exchange more playful yet sadistic banter, neither really meaning the majority of it. Eventually, they went into a short silence, thinking about the eventful few days they'd just experienced together. They could definitely agree that some parts were cool, but other parts were just filled with trying to find a comfortable spot on top of Alexander's bony, stick-like body. At one point, Carol turned her head to Sabrina and said,
"What did they do wrong, Sabrina?"
Her friend gave her a look of sudden confusion, struggling to understand what she meant by that.
"What did who do wrong?"
"Our parents? We're both so screwed up."
Sabrina, unfortunately, couldn't quite find an answer to that particular question. After a few seconds of quiet thinking, she shrugged and replied,
"I dunno! I mean, I know my family was never the most functional back home…like, back HOME, home; not here in Minecraftia! What with my sister getting kicked out of the house early for exactly the kind of junk we got into and my dad eating himself to death…okay, wait, stop. I don't feel like thinking about that stuff right now…"
She took only a very brief glance at the scars on her left arm before returning her gaze to Carol, who was waiting patiently and looking awfully sorry for her. She allowed herself to smile for a moment, however, and then said,
"Well, at least your family got you one good thing."
Sabrina raised a single eyebrow in suspicion and said,
"What would that be?"
"A cool last name!" Carol declared, smiling bright and wide. "I had the misfortune of being crowned the gloooorius last name of Finder-Serbuggle. I can't even say that without gagging! It sure sounds like shit compared to Clawfall."
"Adrian!"
The southerner jumped in his seat and jerked his head to the right to meet his best friend's bright green eyes. She couldn't have possibly looked more concerned that she did right then.
"Adrian, you keep doing this. Every time I try and talk to you, you're just staring off into space with the most blank expression ever made by a Minecraftian." she commented, making him go red in the face. "There's something you're not telling me, I can definitely tell. You keep saying that it's just that a lot of our old friends are gone, but I doubt that's all. What's really wrong?"
Adrian was suddenly unnerved by the noticeable lack of people in the Meatquitable Building lobby. Besides a few wandering tourists, the inside of the weathered skyscraper was quiet and barren, giving them almost total privacy. Kelsey had wanted to actually search its many winding halls and stairwells, but the moment she saw Adrian get that same lifeless look on his face, she just had to sit him down and talk. Adrian, of course, got extremely nervous every time this happened, and for good reasons.
"Kelsey, ah swear to Notch that nothin' else is wrong!" he said, looking away from her slightly and anxiously fingering the handle on his frying pan. "Now, shouldn't we get on with the hunt for Firzon?"
He was about to get up, but Kelsey put a hand on his arm to hold him in his seat. It wasn't even a hard tug, but the very action somehow cemented him in place.
"Adrian, I'm really, really, really serious right now." she murmured, glancing from panicked eye to panicked eye on him. "Whatever you're thinking about right now is eating away at your health, your brain, your everything. I can see you getting worse by the day and way quieter than I'm used to you being. PLEASE tell me what's wrong!"
Adrian knew for a fact there was no way he could ever tell Kelsey. If his parents were still on the line, then how could he tell her?! At the same time, the longer he kept the virus a secret, the more terrible, awful, vicious things he'd be forced into doing. He'd already killed Norman's wife, accidentally set Ben on Kenneth, and he had a bad feeling that there were several others' blood on his hands if he didn't say something. Could Norman exorcise a virus out of him with some of his magnetic waves?
"Adriaaaaaaannnn…"
The inner whisper made him jump for the second time that same minute, and it even made Kelsey do the same. Immediately, she put a tight hand on either of his shoulders and stared deep into his eyes, fear setting in her own.
"Adrian, c'mon! What was that just now? If you don't tell me what's going on, something bad's gonna happen to you!"
"Adrian, those thoughts of yours had better not be serious…you know there's no way to escape your vile destiny…"
Ben gave him a sudden image of his parents in their cell, the plasma breaking them apart bit by bit. He heard their screams for just a second before both the picture and its horrible audio went away. He groaned and clutched his head, bending over in his seat. He felt Kelsey's hand touch his back just before she said,
"Adrian! Are you sick, or what?! Let's stand up and get you to a hospital!"
"Adrian, get ahold of yourself—wouldn't want to spoil our little secret, now would you? Remember your parents…"
"Adrian, let's go! One foot in front of the other!"
"Adrian, I think I have a new task for you…it involves the girl next to you, of course…"
"C'MON, Adrian! You'll be okay!"
"Adrian, you must choose: mother and father, Kelsey…mother and father, Kelsey…mother and father, Kelsey…"
"Adrian!"
"ADRIAN! MOTHER AND FATHER—"
"ADRIAN!"
Finally, he couldn't take it any longer and gave a great big cry, throwing Kelsey off of him in a moment of blind rage and running out of the building as fast as his legs could carry him. Her shouts became distant very quickly as he sprinted down the squishy street, pushing countless Minecraftians out of the way, who all cursed at him or grumbled as he passed. He didn't really notice any of the negative attention he was getting in his current state.
Now far away, Kelsey lost him almost immediately after he ran off. She frantically searched the crowd, wishing desperately for about thirty seconds to spot his signature cowboy hat before remembering that he lost it during their fight with Revelation's Horse. She stopped after a minute and a half of running and stopped in front of a bench constructed out of (obviously) more pigs; she didn't want to sit down in it because it still seemed like cruel and unusual punishment for all these animals, so instead she stood in place, trying just to slow her heartbeat before anything else.
"Hey, s'cuse me!"
Kelsey looked up and to her right at the call, spotting a man walking towards her with his hotbar out for all to see. Every slot had some kind of hybrid recipe of mushrooms and spider eyes. He came to a halt in front of her and said,
"Free sample?"
The first thing that struck Bailey and Astrid as both odd yet artistically intriguing was the fact that all the pigs on the inside of the Meatropolitan Art Museum had been painted an array of different colors, mimicking would-be carpets, wallpapers, and polished surfaces. Relatively speaking, the use of pigs seemed to work out for structural purposes—very surprising indeed. Bailey only got worried when they passed underneath the arch of bronze-dyed swine that quivered in place as they held formation.
"Uhhh…" she breathed, eyeing the structure above her apprehensively. "Astrid?"
Astrid gave a genuine grin at hearing her name and looked over at her, replying,
"Yeah, Creeper?"
Bailey pursed her lips for one silent moment as they walked to the center of the lobby where a fancy leaf-statue display was being held up…all possible by the clenched whites of the pigs surrounding it. They looked equally uncomfortable, of course.
"I guess I'm just worried about all these buildings holding together. I know it's not possible that all these pigs have gone through rigorous physical conditioning to hold shape as building blocks, so…how is all this staying up? It's just really unusual, don't you think?"
Astrid shrugged and took a sharp left, almost tripping up Bailey when she tried to turn just as fast and follow from behind.
"Meh. Doesn't bother m—"
But before she could finish one measly sentence, a hand folded unexpectedly over her mouth to shush her. Bailey had stopped her in a brief moment of recognition as she stared across the room into the broad display hall ahead. Astrid grunted and removed her fingers, glaring at her and saying,
"Bailey, what the heck are—"
"Shh!"
"What are you—"
"Shh!"
"You—"
"SHHHH!"
"…okay, I'm going a different way if you're gonna just—"
Bailey took Astrid's head in both her hands and turned it ever so slightly. Almost immediately, Astrid's eyes widened as she caught sight of a group of people at the far wall of the next hallway. A cluster of fifteen to twenty Minecraftians stood together in front of a large painting of an elderly man wearing a golden sunhat.
At the front of the group, entirely hidden by the bodies with the exception of his head, stood a tall man dressed in copious amounts of silver, gray, and white. He was snappily dressed and very stiff-looking, with a tight suitcoat, slate dress shirt and pants, and a solid white tie. He looked to be in just his early twenties and had slicked metallic hair that reached his neck. In his hand was a small wand-like pointer that he held with gloved fingers, using it to point to certain features of the artwork.
"That tour guide…" Astrid muttered; then she grinned widely, letting it come to her slowly, and then turned to look right at Bailey. "How much you wanna bet that's Firzon right there, huh?"
Bailey looked back at the guide and gave him a calculated look, observing him closely as the two of them casually made their way towards the broad arch entrance of this next hall.
"I'm not sure…what if it isn't him, though?" she said cautiously, returning Astrid's gaze.
"C'mon, that has got to be him!" she replied, laughing once. "No one in their right mind would wear something that shiny in public!"
Bailey huffed heavily through her noise, pausing for a few seconds before shaking her head and saying,
"Oh, fine! But what do we do now that we actually found him?"
"…"
"…"
"We're gonna have to unearth our inner stalker, Bailes."
"…and that's when we started following him around like a couple of creepy fan girls! That massive hoard of people kept getting in the way, though, so we couldn't actually get close to him until the guy's frickin shift was over! We caught him just as he was leaving the building to go home and apparently he's the current owner of the museum! REAL art nut, that guy! Except we couldn't figure out how to ask him if he was some all-powerful spirit of another dimension, and so he ended up disappearing into the crowd before we got a chance to tell him about our mission."
Down on the dirty, dusty floor of the ruined mob bar, Norman threw up his hands in disbelief and shouted,
"So you let him get away?! Astrid, we only have eight more days left before Arabaloca gets here and the Glitch wins!"
Next to him, Astrid folded her hands behind her head and leaned up against the stage, taking a slow but sharp intake of breath at his response, almost like she was withholding some important piece of information.
"Errr…yeah, about that, Norman…"
Suddenly, another powerful earthquake shook the bar around them. Lights flickered and the curtains behind them shuddered where they hung. This was at least the sixth or seventh time and Norman was starting to seriously get nervous.
"Astrid, what's going on? What's…about what?"
Astrid hesitated for a moment, not really looking at him and instead choosing to eye up a fallen bottle on top of one of the chairs in front of the counter.
"Norman, after you disappeared randomly, we didn't know what to do for a while. We were all able to meet up, for the most part, but no one knows where Alexander, Darcy, and Auconi went. At the point where we found each other, it was almost nine; the sun was dropping fast, plus we were all SUPER tired, so…we gathered up most of the ores we got from Darcy and Auconi's house and sold it for a night's stay at one of the hotels. Yeah."
Norman's eyes slowly widened as the realization set in. It couldn't be that he…oh no.
"How long was I…out…for…?" he wondered aloud, mostly speaking to himself.
"You've been missing since yesterday, dude." Astrid said, glancing gingerly back at him, afraid of how he might react to the terrible news. "Bailey was the one to get all of us up around ten o'clock, or sometime around then. We heard a lot of noise outside, and when we all checked out our windows—"
Yet another rumble passed through the room, unseating Norman where he was and making him fall on his side. He winced, but sat up quickly and proceeded to stand, grabbing the Wither sword that had landed a few blocks from them. He turned to Astrid hastily and said,
"Astrid, what's going on outside?"
Suddenly, he heard an Enderdragon roar in the distance along with…a donkey shriek? And the cry of an Enderman, and the hiss of a Creeper, and the squeak of a Guardian, and the moo of a cow, and the groan of a zombie…the noises were all together in a disjointed, ear-shredding mess. Astrid started running towards the wooden counter; naturally, Norman followed right behind.
"The next Unforgiven Spawn, Norman! It's here!" Astrid called over her shoulder, hopping right over the countertop and wrenching open the door in the wall. "It's something REAL messed up and we could use your help in getting rid of it!"
As they ascended the spiral staircase inside the stone wall, aiming to once again reach the surface, Norman had a new thought and exclaimed,
"Wait a minute, did Kelsey tell you what happened to Adrian? Did he not meet up with you guys?"
"Nah, he didn't! After he ran off, Kelsey said she couldn't find him! Just like Darcy, Auconi, and Al, he could've gone literally anywhere!"
(Last Night)
After only about a minute of running, Adrian darted into a very skinny, shady space in between two other city buildings. In the darkness, he crumpled into a curled crouch and leaned back against the wall of pig butts behind him, not caring about how sanitary this was for him. It sure would've been nice to still have his hat; that might've helped him a little.
"Ah, Adrian…I'd try and make your choice, if I were you." spoke a familiar static-filled voice to his left.
He slowly turned his head to look further down the slim alleyway. Not too far from him, two red eyes appeared suspended in the blackness, floating without a face to hold them. Secluded in this desolate, isolated corner of the city, he felt it safe to make himself present.
"Why me…?" Adrian murmured, shaking his head at the illusion before him. "Why did the Glitch send you t'invade ma mind out of all the others? Why didn't the monster jus' put you inside Norman's brain instead? Doesn't he want him dead, anyway?"
Ben's eyes curled up into what must've been an expression of amusement.
"I suppose my master wouldn't mind if I told you; this term will mean nothing to you, so it won't matter either way whether you know or not…"
He took a short pause before continuing, his tone deepening as he went into his next sentence.
"Adrian, you were considered expendable by Lord Glitch based on your impact on Norman's life. Your absence was thought to matter the least to him if you were to go missing or be killed some day during your lame excuse for a quest…YOU were not chosen as one of the Discarded."
A much longer pause took place after his last statement. Adrian looked from glowing red eye to glowing red eye, pure confusion setting in.
"The…the what?"
Ben's sharp snicker bounced around inside Adrian's mind, making him jump for billionth time in the last five minutes.
"Hey, don't worry about it!" he said, and Adrian could practically feel the abomination's smile forming beneath the shadows. "I think you'll understand in the end…"
The eyes in the alleyway suddenly closed shut. Almost immediately, Adrian felt a cold shiver pass through his entire body; Ben must have completely reentered his mind just that second.
"Anyway, I think it's almost time that I remove that pesky little command the administrator cast on top of this city; the next Unforgiven Spawn may have a hard time moving all these pigs when they're all magicked in place like this, especially with the power of a Spirit."
Ben, you scoundrel! Why must you exist in this story?! Why couldn't you just stay as Salutem's right-hand program and not be corrupted by the Glitch?! *sigh* I'm a cruel author.
Where have Darcy, Auconi, and Alexander all gone to? Why did Adrian not rejoin the others after his sudden flight from Kelsey? Was it perhaps in fear of what he might have to do to her in the near future under Ben's command? What kind of form will the Amalgamob take on with the Unforgiven Spawn's demon soul inside it? And HOW is Norman ever going to get over missing over twelve hours of the quest? Find out NEXT time in Chapter 39 of Hourglass!
This is Pastrinator64, your fellow writer and reader, signing out!
*throws sugar bomb and disappears behind its cloud of fine white sugar*
...Goodbye for now...
~Pastrinator64 [~]