'"I suppose not" Chin folded her arms and looked speculatively into the sphere.' – From 'The short victorious war.'
Thankings to all reviewers and so on. Replies are, once again, at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 5: Skin Shopping
The whole thing was creepy.
After the tour, Manticore snapped his fingers, thereby, somehow, creating a chair and a ludicrously wide television screen. Dragon's arm movement jerked upwards slightly, thereby indicating that the seat was for me.
I sat down and watched as Hydra, Dragon and Hawk exited the room with purposeful strides. After Hawk closed the door behind her, my gaze switched once more to Manticore, who was casually throwing a remote control from one hand to the other.
"Now," he said, "we can do one of three things, "we can give you a completely different body, we can give you no body and let you be a ghost, or we can just edit he body you have, which seems to be the most popular option.
I sat in silence for a few seconds, considering the options. I had no strong desire to be a ghost. I'd found myself considering such a life several times during long bus journeys and concluded that it would eventually drive me to insanity. I also wasn't overly keen on the idea of a whole new body. My own corpse wasn't that bad, granted I was far from perfect but in the short years of my life I'd grown rather attached to my body, excuse the pun, is that a pun? I don't know.
Anyway, I ended up choosing the third option. This in turn brought up a 1:1 scaled image of myself on the TV screen. It was a lot like looking into a mirror. The image was dressed in the exact same clothing and was mimicking my actions.
"Now am I right in assuming that you'll want a few of the typical minor adjustments?"
"The what?" I asked, giving Manticore a querying facial expression.
"You know, do you want to be taller? Be more muscular? Bigger penis? The usual things?"
For a few moments I was reminded of a show I'd once seen about botched plastic surgery. The word vanity kept springing backwards and forwards within my head. The result of this was me spending an awkwardly long amount of time trying to justify such changes to myself.
In the end I think my arguments for were that my life was going to change so why not my body? It wont hurt anyone, and that I'd better make a decision quickly because Manticore's staring at me'.
"Alright." I said finally. Manticore pressed a few buttons on the remote and the image on the screen seemed to change. The new image was indeed taller and more handsome. In other words how I usually saw myself whilst drunk.
"Not bad." I said quietly to myself, and instantly regretting it. I was beginning to feel traces of shame claw their way into my system. Strange though it may seem, I felt like I was betraying myself.
"Don't be ashamed. You're not betraying yourself, and there's no one left in your life that a change like this can hurt. You're going to ascend Wanderer, it goes far beyond improved physical appearance, but if you can improve it at the same time then why not seize that opportunity?"
I stared at Manticore for a few seconds. The 'ascended' seemed to constantly know what I was thinking. It was beginning to move from creepy to annoying.
"Are you telepathic?" I asked with a surprisingly calm voice, (it's not really the thing you ask people too often is it?) "Or are you just good at reading facial expressions?"
His mouth formed a slight grin.
"A benefit of ascension." He said. I decided that this probably meant telepathy, and that this was as good an answer as I was going to get.
I cast my eyes once more to the screen. The drunken self image was still hovering within the TV screen. There was an expression on its face that almost seemed to be encouraging me towards further alterations.
"Now," Manticore's tone was more serious, "let's move on from the basic shall we?" He punched another few buttons on the remote and the image retreated into the background. It was soon overlapped by several images, all of which seemed to resemble assorted mythical beasts. I could make out a vampire, a werewolf, an angel and whatever it was that Hydra had chosen to dress herself as. The others were all, most likely, figments of one of the other's imagination.
"We have thousands of designs," said Manticore, "pick one if you wish, or if you prefer you can create something of your own."
He threw me the remote and I started flicking randomly through the pages. There were thousands upon thousands of weird and wonderful beasts. For a while I considered becoming a huge Spider. I then decided that the novelty would soon wear off and resumed my search.
In the end started designing a design of my own. All the while Manticore was sitting upon the 'floor' occasionally nodding to himself, which was also creepy.
My final choice was as strange as the situation I was in was. I still had my body, or more accurately my body version 2.0, but I had added two swords that could spring out from y arms, (whether or not I'd need these I had no idea, I just wanted something to frighten those who laughed at my choice, and they looked pretty cool.)
I also changed my eyes so that they were all black, I did make sure that I would still be able to see however.
There were a few other things, I could now see as well in the dark as I could in the light, I made myself more resilient to injury, and I also included telepathy, I intended to use it to get even with everyone who had invaded my cranium, and make sure that the odds were even for future invasions.
I was also beginning to care slightly less about changing myself. Manticore had made a convincing argument. There was no one left who I would disappoint, the proposition sounded tempting, and like I said, I didn't want to return to my old life.
"I think that will do." I said after staring at the image for a few minutes.
"Looks good." Said Manticore who was still nodding to himself, "Come with me."
Manticore set off in the direction of the door, I started walking towards the exit a few seconds after so as to receive my new features, and be separated from, as Manticore once called it, 'my cage of flesh'.
To be continued.
Right, now for some replies.
Angel-of-lightness: I'm drawing a blank with humorous phrase like phrases. Oh well. I find myself drawing random things in paint from time to time. I usually get bored and delete them however. With regards to tomorrow, (assuming you read this today,) happy birthday. Good fortunes with whatever well wishing is appropriate for.
Agent Josie: I don't really think of myself as Wanderer, I wouldn't willingly get into the car of a person I'd just met, and I'd probably have fainted by this part of the story. Oh well. I do wear a lot of black though. My wallet is also black, and falling to pieces, thereby causing coins to escape and fall o the floor. Damn pennies.
Thankings to all reviewers and so on. Replies are, once again, at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 5: Skin Shopping
The whole thing was creepy.
After the tour, Manticore snapped his fingers, thereby, somehow, creating a chair and a ludicrously wide television screen. Dragon's arm movement jerked upwards slightly, thereby indicating that the seat was for me.
I sat down and watched as Hydra, Dragon and Hawk exited the room with purposeful strides. After Hawk closed the door behind her, my gaze switched once more to Manticore, who was casually throwing a remote control from one hand to the other.
"Now," he said, "we can do one of three things, "we can give you a completely different body, we can give you no body and let you be a ghost, or we can just edit he body you have, which seems to be the most popular option.
I sat in silence for a few seconds, considering the options. I had no strong desire to be a ghost. I'd found myself considering such a life several times during long bus journeys and concluded that it would eventually drive me to insanity. I also wasn't overly keen on the idea of a whole new body. My own corpse wasn't that bad, granted I was far from perfect but in the short years of my life I'd grown rather attached to my body, excuse the pun, is that a pun? I don't know.
Anyway, I ended up choosing the third option. This in turn brought up a 1:1 scaled image of myself on the TV screen. It was a lot like looking into a mirror. The image was dressed in the exact same clothing and was mimicking my actions.
"Now am I right in assuming that you'll want a few of the typical minor adjustments?"
"The what?" I asked, giving Manticore a querying facial expression.
"You know, do you want to be taller? Be more muscular? Bigger penis? The usual things?"
For a few moments I was reminded of a show I'd once seen about botched plastic surgery. The word vanity kept springing backwards and forwards within my head. The result of this was me spending an awkwardly long amount of time trying to justify such changes to myself.
In the end I think my arguments for were that my life was going to change so why not my body? It wont hurt anyone, and that I'd better make a decision quickly because Manticore's staring at me'.
"Alright." I said finally. Manticore pressed a few buttons on the remote and the image on the screen seemed to change. The new image was indeed taller and more handsome. In other words how I usually saw myself whilst drunk.
"Not bad." I said quietly to myself, and instantly regretting it. I was beginning to feel traces of shame claw their way into my system. Strange though it may seem, I felt like I was betraying myself.
"Don't be ashamed. You're not betraying yourself, and there's no one left in your life that a change like this can hurt. You're going to ascend Wanderer, it goes far beyond improved physical appearance, but if you can improve it at the same time then why not seize that opportunity?"
I stared at Manticore for a few seconds. The 'ascended' seemed to constantly know what I was thinking. It was beginning to move from creepy to annoying.
"Are you telepathic?" I asked with a surprisingly calm voice, (it's not really the thing you ask people too often is it?) "Or are you just good at reading facial expressions?"
His mouth formed a slight grin.
"A benefit of ascension." He said. I decided that this probably meant telepathy, and that this was as good an answer as I was going to get.
I cast my eyes once more to the screen. The drunken self image was still hovering within the TV screen. There was an expression on its face that almost seemed to be encouraging me towards further alterations.
"Now," Manticore's tone was more serious, "let's move on from the basic shall we?" He punched another few buttons on the remote and the image retreated into the background. It was soon overlapped by several images, all of which seemed to resemble assorted mythical beasts. I could make out a vampire, a werewolf, an angel and whatever it was that Hydra had chosen to dress herself as. The others were all, most likely, figments of one of the other's imagination.
"We have thousands of designs," said Manticore, "pick one if you wish, or if you prefer you can create something of your own."
He threw me the remote and I started flicking randomly through the pages. There were thousands upon thousands of weird and wonderful beasts. For a while I considered becoming a huge Spider. I then decided that the novelty would soon wear off and resumed my search.
In the end started designing a design of my own. All the while Manticore was sitting upon the 'floor' occasionally nodding to himself, which was also creepy.
My final choice was as strange as the situation I was in was. I still had my body, or more accurately my body version 2.0, but I had added two swords that could spring out from y arms, (whether or not I'd need these I had no idea, I just wanted something to frighten those who laughed at my choice, and they looked pretty cool.)
I also changed my eyes so that they were all black, I did make sure that I would still be able to see however.
There were a few other things, I could now see as well in the dark as I could in the light, I made myself more resilient to injury, and I also included telepathy, I intended to use it to get even with everyone who had invaded my cranium, and make sure that the odds were even for future invasions.
I was also beginning to care slightly less about changing myself. Manticore had made a convincing argument. There was no one left who I would disappoint, the proposition sounded tempting, and like I said, I didn't want to return to my old life.
"I think that will do." I said after staring at the image for a few minutes.
"Looks good." Said Manticore who was still nodding to himself, "Come with me."
Manticore set off in the direction of the door, I started walking towards the exit a few seconds after so as to receive my new features, and be separated from, as Manticore once called it, 'my cage of flesh'.
To be continued.
Right, now for some replies.
Angel-of-lightness: I'm drawing a blank with humorous phrase like phrases. Oh well. I find myself drawing random things in paint from time to time. I usually get bored and delete them however. With regards to tomorrow, (assuming you read this today,) happy birthday. Good fortunes with whatever well wishing is appropriate for.
Agent Josie: I don't really think of myself as Wanderer, I wouldn't willingly get into the car of a person I'd just met, and I'd probably have fainted by this part of the story. Oh well. I do wear a lot of black though. My wallet is also black, and falling to pieces, thereby causing coins to escape and fall o the floor. Damn pennies.