First attempt at a seriousfic. Will be updating twice weekly if people like it. Criticism of any kind heartily encouraged. ------------------------------------- Not far beyond a waterfall, several cliffs, and the occasional sprawling industrial complex or two, the purple sun began, as it always had, to set. Not far ahead of this majesty, rather, right in front of it, a RED Sniper raised his hand to the sky. "Croikey," he muttered. He repeated the gesture, then proceeded to utter a string of syllables that, if one disregarded the swearwords and dirty bits, could easily be mistaken for the prayer of a Catholic churchboy during Sunday mass. Head bowed, defeated almost, the man turned and picked his way down the rocky bluff, muttering curses as he went. The next day it really was a Catholic churchboy who came to the rocks. "What kind of crazy are you smokin', brudda?" Well, former Catholic churchboy. Scout hadn't sat a pew for quite a stretch. "You tryin' ta pull a prank on me, man?" And he couldn't remember half of the Gospels. He couldn't even remember how to say grace. "I mean like, dude, what's the point of draggin' me to some freakin' rock in the middle of nowhere so I can 'feel the sky' or sumtin?" "Blast poetic phrasing, just do it already!" The little runt had been stalling for two minutes now, and it was quite wearing listening to two minutes of Southern Boston spouting off at eighty feet per second. Scout fell silent, weighed the risks of crude humiliation or death by stabbity, and chose the former. "Okay, aussie, but I still don't see where you're going with this." He raised his arm to the heavens. And in a moment of unscoutly shock, tumbled off the cliff.
Oh, wow. For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Skybox? I'm hooked, man.
I'm not sure if I'm too interested or not. It took me a few reads to figure out what exactly was being said, because the wording's confusing. In any case, this segment's too short for me to really get a feel for the story, but it doesn't seem like a bad story. Just oneI can't hold an opinion towards. Keep going if you still have ideas, I have to wonder how/why scout fell as well as the reasoning for the religious actions.
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EDIT: Augh, sorry about the deleted posts, this PC hates chan formatting. Thanks, everyone who commented. ----------------------------------- Scout’s tumble ended in a sudden crunch (the ground), a slow hum (respawn), and finally the wooden walls of RED resupply. Someone had evidently heard his arrival; the sound of pounding feet grew louder and louder until, breathless and confused, the Engineer appeared. “What’s goin’ on, kid? Sniper yammerin’ about somethin’ in the sky an’ luggin’ you off somewhere, an’ then you pop up in the base like you’ve bin killed!†He paused. “Just what was that all about?†“He fell,†replied Sniper from behind. Engineer whirled around. “Bloody fell off a goddamn cliff.†“Why, did you push him?†Any suspicion in the Texan’s voice was overthrown by curiosity. Sniper kept his tone mild. “He lost his balance, that’s a—“ “That is not all!†The shock of discovery and then painful death had vanished, and Scout was again shouting at eighty feet per second. “There was a frickin’ piece of wall up there! A wall! That is not normal! If you felt a touchable tangible feelable goddamn wall in the sky, you would be weirded out too!†Sniper hissed. “Yeah, what the hell are you tryin’ to hide, man?!†“You’re making too much noise!†Scout still looked confused. Sniper added, “For God’s sake,everyone’s asleep!†Oh. Right. After a day of running, dying, and shooting at bomb-laden carts, the RED team was quite exhausted. And of course Scout, who ingested enough caffeine to fuel a small car, had completely forgotten. Too late, though. Medic and Heavy streamed into the room, followed by a groggy Pyro and then Soldier. “Leetle Scout have bad dream?†Heavy yawned into his hand. “Shut up, fat man!†Scout snapped. Spy poked his head around the corner. “Quiet, lapin! I need my beauty sleep!†“I bet you do,†muttered Solly under his breath. “You too, Yankee,†Spy shot back. “HEY! THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH NATIONAL PRIDE, YOU GOT THAT? I AM A FULL-BLOODED, ONE-HUNDRED-PERCENT BONA FIDE FREE AMERICAN, SO DON’T YOU DARE TRY—“ “—settle down, settle down,†Engineer interrupted— “—SO DON’T YOU DARE TRY USING THAT AS AN INSULT, FRENCHIE.“ “Alright, alright, Scout was tellin’ us somethin’, and it sounded pretty important. Start from the beginning, Scout.†So Scout retold his experience on the cliff. At the end, emotions ranged from incredulous to worried to grimly believing. The Soldier and Pyro remained impassive, while Spy appeared to be on the verge of laughter. Medic, however, was completely solemn. “Herr Scout,†he said, “perhaps you are needing an injection for these hallucinations.†Spy doubled up in a fit of giggles. Scout looked ready to punch his face. At this point Sniper found it necessary to intervene. “Now listen.†He paused. “...I felt the wall too.†Spy giggled harder. “Oh shut up! No, really now, just think about it......you know, how it’s always sunset?†Spy fell silent. “Like how it’s always the same color in the sky? That’s because it isn’t the sky. And you know how it never rains around here? Because it can’t rain. It’s not the sky we’re fighting under, it’s a...box. It’s a sky-box.†The room was deathly still. “We’ve been living in a big, sky-colored, underground box.†Scout broke the silence. “Why underground?†“A thing of this size is too big to be anywhere else. Someone woulda noticed if it were.†Engineer answered him absentmindedly. “Funny, though,†he continued, “what’s with the box?†Each class slowly made their way back to bed. The purple sun still shone.
Cue "The Truman Show" flashbacks! Really like where this is going and how the title makes sense now. Gotta love your Scout as well, poor baby took a nasty tumble.
My brain. It just exploded inside my skull. Holy Cow, MORE PLEASE. I am supremely intrigued!!
Ooh, colour me intrigued. I love this kind of thing!
EDIT: Deleted post because formatting argh Changed styles a bit. This took a while. Sorry for procrastinating. Anyway, enjoy. (This isn't the end, if it seemed like it.) ----------------------------------- Later that day. A crow fluttered lopsidedly around a perpetually twilight landscape, lighting down on a wizened branch before taking off again. It cawed dryly, then, pt, flopped on the ground, a single needle cleanly skewered through its eyes. “Zese again.†The crow, syringe and all, went into a nearby trashcan. Medic snorted. The white dove on his shoulder cooed approval. He had killed over a hundred of these in Thunder Mountain alone. Complete waste of ammo, but what could he do? Archimedes would be pestered, attacked, even eaten by the robber birds. They probably had little else to eat. Not much could survive an artificially lit diorama. If it was a diorama. Scout might be having delusions. Sniper could be lying, or kidding, or delusional as well. But it all added up. The purple sun, the flocks of famished crows, the perpetually arid climate when a waterfall was so close by. Anyway, it wasn’t his job to worry about this. It wasn’t any of their jobs. They were paid to blow up BLU and to follow orders. He was to heal people and follow orders and generally be around when anyone called for— “MEDIC!†Heavy again! It was a relieving stalemate after a horrifyingly bloody day, and he’d like to be alone for a while, thank you very much. Orders were orders, though. “Vhat?†“Soldier is saying something, he would like everyone to hear.†Oh Gott. Most likely about something crude and off-topic. Medic followed Heavy into the base. RED team was gathered in a large room by Resupply. Soldier was currently prancing around delivering a philippic while Scout and Sniper, half-standing, glared daggers at him. Soldier turned, noticed new arrivals, and stopped for a second. “As I was saying,†he growled, “before I was rudely interrupted—†—Medic ignored him, and took a spot near the doorway— “—as I was saying,†Soldier continued, “this makes absolutely no sense at all. I simply cannae see the reason in believing the scanty evidence presenned to us by two highly shady individijuls who— “ Scout broke in. “’Highly shady’ my ass, you don’t know what it feels like, you’ve never been up there—“ “—AS I WAS SAYING,†Soldier decided to yell over him, “two highly shady people who are trying to arger a case that defies the very laws of nature!†“Nature? Aw Solly, it might be tough to swallow, but it don’t mean it ain’t possible.†Diffusing conflict, Engineer was the best at that. “Tough to swallow, you bet it is! Who builds big mappy boxes underground and puts rocks, trees, even goddamn waterfalls in them? And Kraut over here—†Medic gripped his syringe gun menacingly, Soldier plowed on ,“— was just outside shootin’ down birds! No, I’m not going to swallow that!†“There’s a lot we haven’t figured out yet.†Engy was tired and didn’t have the heart to duke it out. “But you can’t go aroun’ callin’ people liars just based on that.†“DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO, TRUCKIE.†Engineer sighed. No use. “I AM NAE BELIEVING A WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THESE TWO’S MOUTHS UNTIL I HAVE SOME GOOD SOLID PROOF.†“Well here’s your goddamn proof, alroight? When was the last toime you saw it rain?†Sniper was fed up. “When was the last toime you saw the moon? When was the last toime you didn’t have curfew?†The 19 00 curfew, quite embarrassing, and an all-around annoyance to both teams, implemented right after the transfer to Thunder Mountain, and no reasons given besides “just because.†“When was the last toime the mail train came by?†Occasionally one could spot a blue train running up a flimsy-looking track at one of the stages, but the searing violet mail transport was never seen. “We’ve been isolated! Cut off from any contact whatsoever with the outside world! No mail, no calls from HQ, no telly-messengers!†He stared at Soldier for a moment. “An’ if that int enough to beat some sense into your thick skoll, then Chroist help me, ‘cos nothing else will!†Soldier remained defiant. “I will see for myself! I will not be told, I will not believe, anything from you sissies!†He marched out of the base. The team, jittery but convinced, was silent after his departure. A rocket exploded in the distance. Another rocket was heard, then an awed “Holy smokes!†and a great whoosh of air. The base was vacated as everyone forgot their tiredness and ran to see the commotion. Scout was on the front lines first, out of breath and panting, looking around for the noise among the rocky cliffs. “What the hell was that crap?†And then he stopped dead. Medic crashed into him and risked reenacting the tumble that killed Scout the night before. He opened his mouth to unleash a bitter insult— —opened his mouth and forgot to breathe. Sniper couldn’t breathe either. Tavish deGroot edged carefully to the side, eyeing the steep drop below, and looked up. He almost fell off as well. Pyro, mask unreadable, stood in silence, Engineer, Spy, and Heavy right behind. The Frenchman fumbled for a cigarette. “Merde,†he whispered. The whooshing wind had not subsided—it had grown stronger. It was cold and damp, and smelled faintly of mold. It was coming from a hole in the sky. A great big black charred rip in the middle of the air. Something was clanking, whirring, turning beyond it. Everyone was quiet for a minute. “You don’t say,†said Scout slowly. “Say what?†Soldier whipped around and nearly knocked Medic off again. Engineer had sensed Scout’s idea. “It’s too dangerous.†“Not too dangerous.†Spy began to giggle. “Mmph hrr hrrmph.†Pyro seemed to agree. Medic had regained his balance and was grinning from ear to ear. “So, how about it? Why don’t we...†“Yes, vhy don’t we...†“I surely don’ see why not...†“What the hell’re you all yelling aboot?†“C’mon.†Scout cracked his knuckles, one by one. “Let’s check this place out.â€
Howdy thar Ampersand. 'tis I, 9000. uhhh good job so far. ARCHIMEDES.
Oo I wanna see what happens next!
Lion King flashbacks, yay! Good Gravy, have you got me hooked!
Vague chapter ahead. Beware. ------------------------------------ They had not gotten too far when it was decided that Heavy was too large for the passageway. He kept jostling everyone else, and bumping the walls with clanks that sounded dangerous. Sniper was nearly smashed into a pipe. “Keep it down, lardass, we don’t want to be crushed to death!†“Baby men are getting in the way,†Heavy grumbled back. Pyro said nothing and concentrated on maintaining a safe level of flame. Scout kept blindly running ahead. Demoman joined him, half-drunk and feeling around for anything interesting. Spy reached for a cigarette but didn’t light it. He suggested that Heavy crouch-walk. The machinery quieted. Footsteps and mild grumbling echoed around a bit, but silence ruled, mostly. After eight minutes of solid walking, they rounded a corner. Traces of mold could now be seen in the glow of Pyro’s flamethrower. The pipes here looked less inspected, less maintained, and less cared-for. One duct was leaky and dripped cold water. A drop plopped onto Engineer’s hat. Strange, he thought, what on earth is this place bein’ used for? There’s the waterfall, which explains all them water-pipes...wonder why it all exists, anyway. He collided with Medic, who accidentally elbowed Heavy, who proceeded to trip, fall, and mush Spy into the floor. “Merde!†and Spy was off, spouting all kinds of foreign curses as Soldier pulled him out. They continued onwards. Scout returned and gave a lengthy report on immediate conditions. “There’s weird fuzzy stuff all over the place, and Demo near broke ‘is foot on a piece a’ somethin’. An’ then the air smells all weird, an’ if you listen really hard, I swear you can hear this churning thing— “ Drip. Drip. Drip. The pipes were still leaking. “—sounds really loud and stuff. An’ there’s this slippery patch with water in it, best avoid that. Anyway, if you guys’re gonna go on, Heavy’s gonna have to stay here. He’s too big ta fit with all those wires an’ all—†Now who in their right mind would put wires near water? Engineer thought dimly. “—so yeah.†Scout finished, miraculously not out of breath. “Hey, where’d Demo—†A gloved hand muffled his last syllables. “Shh.†What little could be seen of Medic suddenly turned pale. “Listen!†Drip. Drip. Drip. Nothing... Then a faraway pounding sound, getting closer and closer, louder and louder. Everyone froze. The pounding escalated, got shriller, as the pipes groaned with weight. Pyro’s light went out. Drip, drip, drip, and a drop landed on Heavy’s nose. He stayed still, a deer in headlights. The noise was now overhead. A long high scream, and then it passed. Sniper was the first to break the silence. “What the bloddy hell,†he said carefully, “was that?†“Reckon it’s a train,†Engineer replied. Pyro’s flame slowly flickered back to life, and the RED team advanced. They found Demoman huddled around a corner (“Thought me would be roon over!â€), and upon discovering that Scout was not exaggerating and that Heavy would most definitely not be able to fit through the remainder of the tunnel, unanimously agreed to turn back. They found Thunder Mountain in the same state they had left it—purple, temperate, untouched. BLU team seemed to have all gone to bed. RED team followed suit. Nobody slept, though. They were too hyped with speculation, too curious as to what lay above the sky-box. And so the next day, fatigued from lack of sleep, Reliable Excavation Demolition lost in a spectacular 3-0 steamroll.
Fascinating... I look forward to more.
Agh this is going nowhere -------------------- The mercenaries of Builder’s League United were drunk, rowdy, and very happy. They had, without a doubt, fought a complete victory. Three-nil, minimal losses, and a barbaric humiliation period. Everyone was completely smashed, except for Pyro, who couldn’t really get liquor through the gas mask, and Spy, who remained sober on a hunch. On two, actually. They went like this: Something has been fatiguing the REDs, and It probably has something to do with that black spot in the sky. The loud Scottish ballad that Demoman suddenly broke into (accompanied by Heavy, percussion provided by Engineer) gave Spy perfect cover to sneak out. The air was warm and mild, free of blood, gore, or hot brass shells. Spy breathed in slowly (how nice this silence is!) and set his eyes on the distant horizon. Far away, but large enough to be noticed, was a dark mass. It looked like a jagged rip in the heavens. How odd, that nobody else noticed it except he—well, so much the better. He could explore in peace. The cavern’s details became clearer as Spy walked closer. Obviously hollow, about the size of your average Heavy Weapons Guy, and burned at the edges. Presumably created by a rocket explosion. But wait a minute, a hole in the sky? Only solid things could have holes in them. So that meant— —yes, that meant the sky was solid. Ridiculous. Preposterous. Spy pinched the leg of his blue pinstripe trousers; it hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Utterly impossible, absolutely inconceivable, and yet, what other explanation could there be? He waved a gloved hand into the gap. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a bit cooler than the surrounding air. Surely there had to be another reason. Spy’s arm hit the edge of the hole. Okay, the sky was definitely solid, no doubt about it. He sat down on the sandstone cliff. So the sky was solid. RED had blasted a hole in it the day earlier, was freaked out, spent the night exploring and/or mulling about it, and thus suffered defeat today. Right. “Hello, spook.†Spy leaped to his feet. The Sniper, Mister Mundy. An enemy. Spy whipped out his butterfly knife and held it defensively. Mundy bared his own weapon. “I didn’t come here to fight,†he growled through clenched teeth, “but if it comes to it, I will.†Spy lowered his knife by millimeters, gestured at the dark cavern. “Your people, they found this yesterday?†Sniper hesitated. “Yeh.†“And?†“Look, spook,†Sniper gripped his kukri menacingly, “we’re enemies, for Lord’s sake. Do you actually expect me to tell you anything?†Spy shrugged carefully. “There isn’t a tactical advantage in it. And if you don’t tell me, then I will figure out for myself.†Sniper narrowed his eyes. On one hand, he’d Jarate’d, sniped, and slashed Spy an umpteen number of times, not to mention having been deceived, shot, and backstabbed in return. While on the other hand...BLU Spy didn’t seem as much of a jerk as RED’s Spy, and could actually be rather decent sometimes. Nevermind. Either way, he just had to be careful and not let his guard down. “Alright,†he said after a while, “what do you want to know?†Spy wanted to know relatively little. The origin of the cavern (Soldier shooting a rocket) and what was in it (pipes, maybe a train or two), that was all. In exchange, he revealed some interesting tidbits. First, the Announcer was incapable of seeing any activity outside the visible radius of her wall-mounted speakers. Second, the Announcer was incapable of hearing any activity outside the audible radius of her wall-mounted speakers. Third, Payload missions occurred directly after, and only directly after, Capture the Flag missions. Likewise, CTF was constantly followed by Payload. Spy had peeked inside the cart during a stalemate, and found it (besides the bomb) full of Intel briefcases. Fourth, while he had never seen the inside of an Intel briefcase, he had picked up some of the trailed papers. Fifth, they were always maps, forms, or letters. Spy reached into his suit and drew out several neatly pressed papers, which he handed to Sniper. Sniper didn’t look at them. “There’s a catch to all this, am I roight.†“Well...†Spy leaned his head to one side. Sniper thrust the papers into Spy’s chest. “If it’s some bull about not shooting some of your teammates, forget about it. I’m not gonna betray RED.†Spy smiled and pushed the intel back into Sniper’s hand. “No, no, nothing like that. You see...â€
This is very intriguing. I wonder - will the Spy be the only RED willing to cooperate with the BLUs on this very serious matter? I can't wait for more.
Aaaugh, I need more! Oh man... my mind is abuzz with possibilities here.
>>19 >>20 Wait, what? I had given up on this story a long time ago. I'm sorry, guys. I'll try to pick it back up if I can.
Boy, Ampy, this story really went in a different direction.
This was... priceless. Please update this!