Other Literature A Collection of Random Scenes

Lady Cheyenne Snowfield

Lady Cheyenne Snowfield

Terrarian
So, I really enjoy writing, I just have a bit of a problem with continuity. Or with chronological order. Essentially, I'll have an idea for a story (or sometimes a short story), and then I'll have a specific scene from that story I want to write; but it'll take place at a random point in the story. Or sometimes I'll just have an unrelated scene in my head that could go to a story, but I never have any ideas concerning that story again. I'm gonna start putting those story threads here. Because why not, right?

The world-changing event that would come to be known as The Split was over in a fraction of a second. At first, many people didn't even realize what had just happened, how drastically the world had just changed. But that didn't change the fact that the change happened, and that the world would never again be the same. All at once, every living person on the planet had their soul forced out of their body, and into whatever item happened to be in their hand at the moment of The Split. For some people, this was a controller or a mouse, for others it was a weapon or sports equipment; and for a few people who happened to be eating, dining ware or even food. For many of these people, the change was temporary, lasting only a few seconds before their soul merged with their body once again; but for the rest of the population, the change was permanent.

It took a few days before people truly began to realize what had happened, before they realized that they could now wield magical powers through the vessel their soul now inhibited. The exact way these powers chose to present themselves were determined by any number of factors, including the person's own personality, and the vessel their soul was now bound to. Some people's abilities expressed themselves in the most magnificent and powerful ways, whilst others were considerably less impressive. After a month had passed, some people gifted with these abilities realized that they could increase their own power by acquiring more souls, and the Gifted realized that they could no longer trust one another. After all, each new Gifted they met could be after their soul vessel, with the ultimate goal of keeping it for themselves. It was only shortly after this that they began to realize that it would be so much easier to harvest souls from those without gifts, and so the new world order came to be.

Some of the Gifted chose to fight for those who could not fight for themselves, and our story follows one such Gifted, at least...for now.
Valerica had been so close to finally breaking free of the accursed device she had been restrained to for so very long now, only for everything to go to hell before she could actually go through with it. The Grimoire had gifted her with the secrets of the multiverse, and in doing so, had granted her power far beyond her wildest dreams; it had even chosen to reveal one potential future to her, one in which the warden would die by her own hands, and the others inmates would be reduced to little more than her playthings. Unfortunately, things had gone very wrong at the last minute. The scouting party sent down to investigate Sight Beta had accidentally managed to activate an Eldritch Gate, and instead of summoning entities from various different universes as the Grimoire had revealed to her, they attracted the attention of an Elder One.

Infernum was quite literally split in half when it traveled through the gate, and to be entirely honest she had no idea how they were still alive. She knew that so far, there had been only two casualties, the one that called herself queen and had an obsession with flames; and the accountant named Bob. They should've all died when Infernum was split in half, what little atmosphere it had left being destroyed with the destabilization of the planet's magnetic field, but instead; they were still alive. Not only had the planet's suns not yet incinerated what was left of the planet, it was still held together to some degree. It was as if some other force was holding the remains of the planet within it's own orbit, ensuring that it didn't start drifting through the abyss of space.

Not that it mattered. Even if they all did survive another day, what was one day when an Elder One was released upon their universe? Within weeks, all life within their universe would be extinguished, and nothing could stop it.

As time went on, she turned out to be right. Valerica no longer had any desire to escape stasis, and why would she? So she could exist alongside the other inmates-turned-refugees within The Institute? With the realization that the universe was being annihilated by a dark being of unimaginable power from another universe, they began to lose all desire to escape. They accepted this place as their new home, for whatever was left of their lives, and they thought of it as less of a prison. They expected to die when the Elder One chose to finally finish off Infernum. Except...that never happened. The Elder One systematically devoured all life within every corner of their universe except Infernum. When Infernum was all that remained, it simply...left, losing interest in their universe now devoid of life.

It had only taken it a few weeks to wipe out everything. If it had been one of the older, more powerful Elder Ones, it would've been done within seconds. They were lucky. Funny thing to say, when you're the only survivors of life in all the known universe cooped up on one tiny planet that was split in half.

Now that the Elder One had departed, Valerica found herself reading the Grimoire once more; and she really had nothing else to do for the rest of her very long life. She was surprised by what she found herself reading. The Grimoire promised a new future, and unlike before, this one was certain. No matter what happened, no matter what changed, their universe would be reborn. It would take millions of years for the entire universe to be rebuilt, but when it came to Infernum, that was not the case. No, Infernum would be reborn in just a short few millennia, and then she would have her chance. A smile touched her avatar's lips as she read over the word, speaking it aloud, her voice filled with determined success. "Alde..." She could wait that long. After all, what were a few thousand years to someone such as her?
 
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Violet didn't consider herself to be overly lucky. As a matter of fact, she constantly considered herself to be beyond unlucky, and she usually was. She got the worst draws when playing card games, bad RNG in video games, and had a pretty unlucky time in the majority of her life. However, occasionally, she had moments where luck was on her side. A D&D game where she rolled several D20s one after the other, the best play she would ever make in any video game, and meeting the right person at the right time. So, even she couldn't tell you exactly why she decided to play the lottery, but she could certainly tell you that she hadn't expected to win. She'd expected to lose. After all, the odds were stacked against her, something she was more than well aware of.

Still, when she did win, she already knew what she wanted to do with it. So she bought the mansion. It was the stereotypical type of a mansion one would expect to see in a horror film, which was likely why it was selling for such a cheap price. It was simple enough to pay for the other members of the Brotherhood's trip over, and those that could make it were more than willing. Altogether, there would be five of them living in the mansion for the moment, with more to come after they finished University. The first to arrive aside from Violet herself was Apollo (which was a little weird, considering given their current situation she was technically his guardian as long as he was up here), with Pockieh followed shortly by Mafioso, before lastly Vendetta arrived.

Lizzie had plans to make the trip in a year or two, with Clarissa on the fence about whether or not she'd ever make the trip, Yuno promising to make the trip as soon as she possibly could (which would likely be three or four years), and Bri stating that he'd make the trip just as soon as Lee agreed. Zelos wanted to make it, but unlike with Apollo, Violet had been unable to convince her parents' to make Violet her guardian; so she wouldn't be able to make the trip for several additional years yet. Pockieh's sister Missy had considered the offer, but had ultimately turned it down.

Things were about to get interesting for the five of them.
To avoid confusion, this should probably be listed now.

Pockieh, Clarissa, Yuno, Zelos, Missy, and Lizzie all go by female pronouns.
Bri, Mafioso, Apollo, and Vendetta all go by male pronouns.
Lee goes by gender neutral pronouns.
Violet will go by female pronouns for the majority of the story, but may be called by male pronouns at specific points.
The entire situation was...different. Violet wasn't a particularly lucky person, it was amazing that she won any sort of lottery, let alone the lottery sponsored by the Plot Device Foundation. When she first told Apollo the news, he thought she was joking. When she insisted that it wasn't a joke, and that she wanted everyone to move in together...he wasn't sure how to react. He didn't even think his mom would be okay with it, considering he was the second youngest member in their group. But Violet managed to convince her. It wasn't particularly hard for her to do, either. All she had to do was pay for Apollo's university tuition, and his sister's university tuition when she came of age, and then there was the something extra Violet had promised. Top of the line experimental prosthetic augmentations, which would allow him to live a normal life. It was a lot to get used to in a very short amount of time, but he was excited. It'd be his first time meeting Violet in person, and his first time meeting so many of the others in person, as well.

It was funny, to think that he hadn't met Violet yet, when she was one of his closest friends. That was about to change though. After all, he was here now. Sitting in front of the mansion that so many of them would be living in, trying to build up the nerve to go forward. He noticed that the mansion's porch had an accessibility ramp, something that Violet had likely had added onto to the building to accommodate him. He regretted telling his mother he'd be fine, that she should just drop him off at the end of the yard, that he wouldn't need help to go the rest of the way. He hadn't expected to be this nervous. But there was a question on the back of his mind, one he couldn't ignore. What if Violet, Mafioso, Pockieh, and Vendetta all acted differently in real life? Over the internet, they joked and laughed about his condition, and he liked that. He didn't want them to look at him with pity in their eyes, to treat him like he was special in some way, the way so many other people did. He was so busy thinking this over, he didn't notice the mansion's front door open.

"HEY! You gonna stand there all day or are you gonna come inside? Oh, wait, I suppose I should say are you gonna sit there all day." He was interrupted from his thoughts to see...someone he didn't recognize standing on the mansion's porch. It was a woman, and a very beautiful woman at that, but the way she talked...it was almost like...

"Violet...? Is that...you?" He couldn't believe he was asking that. She wasn't even the right biological gender to be Violet, and yet...

"Yep. In the flesh." She had a cheeky grin on her face as she stepped down from the porch, making her way over to Apollo, looking genuinely happy. "You're probably confused, I mean, this isn't what I used to look like. Nor did my voice used to sound like this. Let's get you inside and then I'll explain...even though I'll just have to explain it again when everyone else gets here..."

As she'd promised, when they finally got into the mansion's living room, she sat opposite of him and she started to explain. "Well...it all started when I won the lottery. The Plot Device Foundation got in touch with me and said that they were working on an experimental implant of sorts, and they wanted me to test it for them, I agreed before they'd even given me the full details. They call them fashion mods. I don't understand exactly how they work, but I know that you have to have a series of implants surgically implanted into your body. These implants come paired with a device." As she said this, she pulled out a small circular device, and pushed a button on it. As she did, a digital avatar projected itself from the circle, and it was identical to her.

"You can customize and alter this avatar at will...and the changes are reflected on your physical body. Again, I don't fully understand how it works, but I know it uses nanobots. It lets you change every aspect of the person that you are. Hair color, eye color, skin color, voice, and even gender. They said that they eventually plan to have similar implants that specialize in strength and endurance, but for now they only have these cosmetic implants; and it's not like a trick or illusion, my body has actually physically changed to match this. I mean...that's not normally supposed to happen, really. Normally, it keeps your default appearance beneath the surface, but I decided almost immediately that I wanted to change my default appearance...so I did."

"Interesting." Apollo said with a contemplative look on his face, before he shook his head. "The world's really changing. Giving a person full control over their physical appearance..." It was like something that had been ripped directly from a science fiction novel, and that was without mentioning the fact that they were months away from developing highly advanced prosthetic augments. "Well, show me around this place, why dontcha?"

"What the hell do you think I am, your maid? Find your own damn way around." She smirked as she responded, before speaking again a moment later. "Your room is literally right around the corner. Figured you should have a room on ground floor until you've got those augmentations, oh and I already set up your rig. I actually bought everyone brand new top of the line gaming rigs, and set them all up. Complete with six monitors."
Pockieh was many things, including a heavy sleeper. But she was NOT a morning person. It was very common that she slept later than any other members of the Brotherhood, even if some of the other members (usually Violet) stayed up later than she did. That's why it was no surprise to anyone that she didn't wake up until just after one in the afternoon, yawning as she started downstairs, making her way towards the living room. She wasn't all that surprised that her husband wasn't in bed with her, as he woke up considerably earlier than she did, but she was surprised that he didn't seem to be in the house at all. As a matter of fact, the only one that seemed to be home right now was Violet, who was doing something on her pre-lottery laptop in the living room. She was wearing headphones, she didn't notice Pockieh until she literally waved her hand in front of her face, prompting her to remove the headphones.

"Hey! Morning Pockieh. Well, afternoon really, but you know what I meant." The young woman looked a little sheepish as she pointed this out to Pockieh, who didn't really seem to care at all; probably because she was still in the process of waking up.

"Yea, I know what ya mean. Where is everyone?"

"Huh?" Violet looked somewhat confused before all at once seeming to remember something. "Oh right. Apollo had something he wanted to do in town, and Mafioso had a few errands of his own to run, and Apollo obviously needs someone with him; so they both went out to do that. Something about going to some store or something? I dunno. Either way, I didn't really wanna go. As for Vendetta, he's here, he just locked himself in the attic for some kinda marathon or something."

"Ah. Makes sense. So what are you up to then?" Pockieh said as she took a seat on the couch next to Violet, taking a curious glance at the laptop screen.

"Well, originally I was planning on buying the new expansion for Guild Wars 2, but after I got down here I started to think about what it would be like to get a maid; so then I started looking into that, and that's when I found this page." She tilted the laptop so that Pockieh had a better view, and there was a few moments where she was silent, with a blank expression as she really registered what she was reading.

"Hang on, is that real?"

"Yea. Isn't it cool. An android, and with a fully self-aware artificial intelligence installed, too. Sort of, anyway..." It was a very experimental prototype being worked on by an all-but-unheard of company that was sponsored by the Plot Device Foundation, which was also the group that had sponsored the lottery Violet was lucky enough to win. In it's current state, the company wasn't ready to go to market with the product, but they were looking for testers who were willing to put up with any bugs; and ensure that the artificial intelligence installed within worked as intended. Artificial intelligence of that level was a very recent breakthrough, and it was restricted with an issue where they could only retain a certain amount of knowledge. However, the company developing the androids had been fortunate enough to get Doctor Maddi Anne* to help them with developing a custom artificial intelligence, one of which was supposed to have surpassed the limits that other AIs suffered from.

"I dunno if I'd say that's cool. A lot of movies have a plot where artificial intelligence lead to the extinction of the human race..." Violet gave Pockieh a particularly odd look as she said that.

"What? Come on, you said it yourself; those are movies. They aren't real, they're fiction. Besides, look at her. She's so beautiful..." Violet's eyes were shining with admiration as she looked at the various pictures on screen, earning her a look similar to the one she'd given Pockieh just before, but aimed at Violet.

"Did you just say she's so beautiful? Well first, she is an android, so 'it' is probably more appropriate. Secondly, it's an android, so it's a synthetic replication of a human; which was built by someone with circuits, other electric parts, and fake skin. It's not real, and it's a prototype, so the artificial intelligence probably doesn't even work. You've seen the interview with the original AI, and it could barely handle simple tasks like opening a jar." Violet didn't really seem to be paying her any attention, which is when Pockieh realized something. "You've already signed up for the program haven't you?"

"Yep, and because I won the lottery that the Plot Device Foundation sponsored, they recommended me to the company! We got approved, like, fifteen minutes before you woke up. She'll be here in a few days." Violet let out a sigh of anticipation, still staring at the computer with a...lovestruck...gaze?

"You're weird sometimes, you know that Violet? Still, it'd be nice to have a maid. Eh, whatever. I'm gonna go take a shower." With that, Pockieh stood up and stretched, before making her way back upstairs. An android huh? Man the world was getting closer and closer to the science fiction that they all loved so very much. Androids, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, gaming as a whole, hell-even physical augmentations and prosthetics where making a massive leap forward in such a short time. All it took were a handful of extremely talented individuals to change the world forever. Things were certainly going to be interesting from here on out.

*Doctor Maddi Anne is perhaps the most intelligent person alive, being renown worldwide for her genius. The current breakthrough in artificial intelligence would've been impossible without her theories, despite the fact that she was unsatisfied with the work, stating that a limited artificial intelligence is no true intelligence at all. It's also rumored that she spent a few years working for the military, but there's never been any actual proof behind that, especially considering she's now freelancing as a specialist for the android company.
"So how's Lydia's progress on Project Lazariah going then?" Apollo asked as he readjusted his notes concerning the campaign, as well as pulling out the outdated copy of Project Lazariah's character sheet he had.

"Well, it's still in the earliest planning stages, as in she's still just designing it; and hasn't begun to construct any of it, but the name has changed. It's no longer Project Lazariah, it's now P.E.N.N.Y., which stands for Prosthetic Emulation of Neural Networks in Youth." Violet was quick to answer as she pulled out the character sheet for P.E.N.N.Y., readjusting Lydia's character sheet so that it wasn't in the way. "It's also no longer about cheating death, but creating the world's first true artificial intelligence, which she will consider to be her daughter."

"So it's a bit like that prototype that'll get her in a few days then? Also, that's a RWBY reference, isn't it? Still, very nice idea. I'll need a copy of the updated character sheet, even if Lydia isn't gonna start building her for a couple more sessions." Violet passed Apollo the updated sheet as he spoke, allowing him to copy the information over to his own, outdated sheet. It likely wouldn't come up for some time now, because as it is, the original purpose for the android character had been a way for Lydia to survive death. As Violet continued to work on her, however, it became a character she could use if any of the other members of the Brotherhood wanted to join in on Mutants and Masterminds.

"So is that where we're calling it for the day, or are we gonna keep going? I have a few more ideas that I wouldn't mind trying if you're out of written content?"

"Oh? Like what?" He clearly had a lot more content already prepared if she wanted to continue, but he let his notes sit alone as he looked at her, more than a little curious about what she had in mind. "This session's been a bit longer than the last few, so we might as well give something a little different a shot."

"In the last session, Masquerade saved that one woman, what was her name again; Emily or something? I think that Lydia would probably be interested in going on a date with her." Violet took notes when they played some games, like Chronicles of Darkness or Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, but she usually didn't bother with Mutants and Masterminds; as it usually wasn't nearly complex as the other games, so remembering even the woman's first name was pretty impressive for her standards.

"Hmm...well, I don't really think we need to actually roleplay that out. Especially since I have no desire to pretend to be a woman you're trying to woo, so how about we say those scenes happen in between sessions. I'll largely let you decide what happens, but occasionally I may have something to add to the relationship. Similarly, your double identity will need to be even more well guarded than before or else your enemies will start to use the relationship against you." He reorganized his notes into one nice neat pile as he finished speaking, carefully tucking them away into a binder. "There is something else I wanted to talk to you about, though."

"Still on topic of Mutants and Masterminds, or something else?"

"Still on topic, yeah. Basically, let's talk a bit more about what it means to be a hero in this world. We have several heroes, some of which are relatively well known, such as Mistress Winter; and there are also super powered individuals that use their powers for their own gain, but still occasionally choose to help others." Violet seemed to consider her response for quite a few minutes before she decided to respond.

"I think that what it means to be a hero in this world is probably very similar to my personal opinion of what it means to be a hero." She considered her thoughts for a few more minutes before responding again, carefully choosing her words. "To be a hero is to be willing to do whatever it takes to help someone, even if it would cause harm to yourself, or require you to sacrifice something of great value to you; and above all else, you can never hurt someone else for your own gain."

"Alright, and is this meaning accepted by all heroes, or is it Lydia's personal meaning?"

"I think that that's impossible to answer. Each and every hero in the world is certainly different, so they all have their own individual feelings behind what it means to be a hero; and when it comes to the general public, well, I don't think I have much of a right to decide that. As the GM, that's up for you to determine."

"Yea, I think that makes sense. We'll wrap this session up here then."
 
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