07-12-2006, 07:15 PM
Another short from the 'Quoth the Raven' line of WoD/somethingorother crosses
---
For most people, one 'end of the world' in progress was the sole event of that type that they'd get to notice.
Liam Crowley was not most people.
That isn't to say that he was particularly enthused about the event at hand. No. You could say that he wasn't very happy about it at all, which, in his own words, would be one of the few vestiges of sanity he'd managed to retain over the years.
He'd be the first to admit that he'd lost a few recently. After all, putting himself in the path of a just launched nuclear warhead with the faint hope that his Gremlin spirit taught Gift of causing technology to malfunction would manage to stop it from obliterating an island full of war refugees as part of an overly ambitious and blatantly sociopathic government employee's plot was not something one could consider even marginally sane.
Even for the definition of sane held by somebody who routinely bartered with spirits and spent a fair bit of his time as a raven.
Apparently, though, he hadn't died as a result of that particular suicidal stunt. Hell's bells, it had actually worked ... somewhat. The resulting malfunction hadn't caused a nuclear detonation, but the explosion had been something to see nonetheless.
He'd seen it from point blank range, and blacked out.
Next thing he knew, he was waking up in downtown Tokyo ... nine years before he'd left his original Gaia.
He'd spent some time in Japan way back when he was 'just' another Corax trying to make a living by playing courier, information broker, and whatnot ...
... though he hadn't really gotten along with the Tengu branch of his breed too well, it had not been the most uninviting place he'd ever stopped at. Not by far.
He'd hoped that this was it, and he'd get a chance at putting his life back into some semblance of order ... hmm ... maybe buy some dot com stock in preparation for the end of the Millenium boom, even. Seemed like a nice way of making a tidy profit.
Unfortunately, fate had a way of getting _in_ the way of plans like that for him.
... and due to an awkward chain of events that he'd likely never let himself live down, he'd started living at a shrine of all places.
"... what are you waiting, for?!"
And then came _that_ development.
"In case it's escaped your notice, this is really not my sort of thing," Liam grumbled. He flicked open the latches.
With a flutter of wings, a six-inch-tall girl with black wings sprouting from her back landed on his shoulder.
"Please! I can feel ..." the girl sobbed. "She was injured. I beg you, help her!"
"Alright, alright. I said I didn't like it, not that I wouldn't do anything," the man swept the spirit from his shoulder. She shimmered, shifted, and turned into a raven that soon joined another, circling up ahead.
Meet part of the 'awkward chain of events'.
Liam Iskander Crowley was a self-professed coward. In truth, he merely prefered to choose his battles ... and he'd been more or less gearing up for something like this for a while now. Ever since he'd found out that the shrine owner's granddaughter had _that_ sort of night job.
You could say that he knew his brand of luck all too well.
The taint was unfamiliar, the circumstances ... oddly, he felt sort of at home. Other than the ridiculous outfits, that is.
He hefted the tube, inspected both grip and optical sight, then did the same with the stachel full of rune-inscribed rounds.
He flicked the fetish-feather hanging from his jacket's collar to renew its warding effect from the intense cold that would have normally brought even someone with his unnatural constitution down in a matter of hours, if not minutes.
Liam Iskander Crowley was a self-professed coward.
Nevermore was meticulous, scheming, ruthless, and he had yet to find someone who couldn't be brought down by an RPG-7 fired grenade enhanced by bound minor spirits. Or half a dozen of them, anyway ...
He gave a last shrug to Deimos and Phobos, and started off towards the source of the mystical emanations in the area.
---
Yuuichiro? Who's that?
Yup, a Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon/WoD cross.
Anyway, I blame whoever pimped Armored Core on the forum way back when. I think it was CD. I got Nexus just a month or so ago, and my wires got crossed when I considered Liam for obvious reasons. Raven and all. Hence the above.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
---
For most people, one 'end of the world' in progress was the sole event of that type that they'd get to notice.
Liam Crowley was not most people.
That isn't to say that he was particularly enthused about the event at hand. No. You could say that he wasn't very happy about it at all, which, in his own words, would be one of the few vestiges of sanity he'd managed to retain over the years.
He'd be the first to admit that he'd lost a few recently. After all, putting himself in the path of a just launched nuclear warhead with the faint hope that his Gremlin spirit taught Gift of causing technology to malfunction would manage to stop it from obliterating an island full of war refugees as part of an overly ambitious and blatantly sociopathic government employee's plot was not something one could consider even marginally sane.
Even for the definition of sane held by somebody who routinely bartered with spirits and spent a fair bit of his time as a raven.
Apparently, though, he hadn't died as a result of that particular suicidal stunt. Hell's bells, it had actually worked ... somewhat. The resulting malfunction hadn't caused a nuclear detonation, but the explosion had been something to see nonetheless.
He'd seen it from point blank range, and blacked out.
Next thing he knew, he was waking up in downtown Tokyo ... nine years before he'd left his original Gaia.
He'd spent some time in Japan way back when he was 'just' another Corax trying to make a living by playing courier, information broker, and whatnot ...
... though he hadn't really gotten along with the Tengu branch of his breed too well, it had not been the most uninviting place he'd ever stopped at. Not by far.
He'd hoped that this was it, and he'd get a chance at putting his life back into some semblance of order ... hmm ... maybe buy some dot com stock in preparation for the end of the Millenium boom, even. Seemed like a nice way of making a tidy profit.
Unfortunately, fate had a way of getting _in_ the way of plans like that for him.
... and due to an awkward chain of events that he'd likely never let himself live down, he'd started living at a shrine of all places.
"... what are you waiting, for?!"
And then came _that_ development.
"In case it's escaped your notice, this is really not my sort of thing," Liam grumbled. He flicked open the latches.
With a flutter of wings, a six-inch-tall girl with black wings sprouting from her back landed on his shoulder.
"Please! I can feel ..." the girl sobbed. "She was injured. I beg you, help her!"
"Alright, alright. I said I didn't like it, not that I wouldn't do anything," the man swept the spirit from his shoulder. She shimmered, shifted, and turned into a raven that soon joined another, circling up ahead.
Meet part of the 'awkward chain of events'.
Liam Iskander Crowley was a self-professed coward. In truth, he merely prefered to choose his battles ... and he'd been more or less gearing up for something like this for a while now. Ever since he'd found out that the shrine owner's granddaughter had _that_ sort of night job.
You could say that he knew his brand of luck all too well.
The taint was unfamiliar, the circumstances ... oddly, he felt sort of at home. Other than the ridiculous outfits, that is.
He hefted the tube, inspected both grip and optical sight, then did the same with the stachel full of rune-inscribed rounds.
He flicked the fetish-feather hanging from his jacket's collar to renew its warding effect from the intense cold that would have normally brought even someone with his unnatural constitution down in a matter of hours, if not minutes.
Liam Iskander Crowley was a self-professed coward.
Nevermore was meticulous, scheming, ruthless, and he had yet to find someone who couldn't be brought down by an RPG-7 fired grenade enhanced by bound minor spirits. Or half a dozen of them, anyway ...
He gave a last shrug to Deimos and Phobos, and started off towards the source of the mystical emanations in the area.
---
Yuuichiro? Who's that?
Yup, a Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon/WoD cross.
Anyway, I blame whoever pimped Armored Core on the forum way back when. I think it was CD. I got Nexus just a month or so ago, and my wires got crossed when I considered Liam for obvious reasons. Raven and all. Hence the above.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm
![[Image: wink.gif]](http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/wink.gif)