001 {video}
[ It looks like one of Dudley's laptop computers. Harry stares at it. It's definitely not wizard made. He looks around the room for a means of escape and finds nothing. Maybe… He starts randomly pushing buttons on the device until it crackles to life.]
Er… Can anyone hear me? Is this some kind of radio?
Hello?
[ Nothing. Not a sound. His body ( Read more... )
Er… Can anyone hear me? Is this some kind of radio?
Hello?
[ Nothing. Not a sound. His body ( Read more... )
Keep your shirt on, man. We aren't all sitting at the DEMISE all day like some offshore call center.
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Keep your own shirt on! What the hell is a demeeze?
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Yeah, I damn well better. Sun'd take the hide right off me. I'd be red as a tomato.
Desktop Email and Miscellaneous Internet Spam nEtwork--DEMISE. You're soaking in it, and so are the rest of us. We can all hear you, man. We're just kinda short in the tickets back home department.
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[To himself] Merlin.
How many of you are there?
And how many are there of them?
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Eh, what about him? [And then, as though it has just occurred to him that he might have been mistaken for someone he's not--] Oh, naw. I'm Badou. Merlin's the kinda scrawny guy with the big ears.
[Then he drops his voice to a falsely conspiratorial tone.] As for relative numbers....
Probably depends. Who's "us" and who's "them," now?
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There's someone here actually called 'Merlin'.
Is he a wizard?
[Shakes his head, eyes wide]
I have no idea.
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Damnedest thing--guy named Merlin from a place called Camelot. What are the chances. Swore up and down that he's not though. ...But then that coulda had something to do with the whole magic-punishable-by-death thing he mentioned.
Seems a pretty steep price for doing a few card tricks, if you ask me.
Anyway, look, here's the low down. People get dragged in here all the time, no rhyme no reason. Sometimes they get sent home too. Can't predict it. The school--Shibusen--they give you an apartment to stay in, pay for your food, smokes, whatever you need.
The witches they say they're fighting--I've never seen one. But I have seen some bad ass shit that they do need help fighting against, however you slice it. Up to you what you wanna do, man. Only thing not on the table is catching a ride home on the next bus.
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And Merlin as a boy with big ears...]
What sort of bass ass shit?
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They got these things called kishin. I guess they're kishin eggs, mostly. It's what they say happens to a person who eats human souls--it changes 'em. Makes 'em sorta monstrous. And the more they eat, the more of a monster they become.
Search me as to how anyone eats a soul to start with, but anyway, here that's how they say it goes.
I guess the souls kinda fatten 'em up, make 'em big. Like the size of a building big.
Had one in the city not two weeks ago. Helluva fight. Took the lot of us cutting the thing down and blowing it apart until it got small enough that they could seal it up somewhere under the school.
They say its energy's some sorta battery for this shield they've put up to keep witches away. [He shrugs.] I dunno about that part, but I know the thing itself was bad news.
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[Harry's shoulders fall inward and he goes cold. What is this place?]
Where I come from we had Dementors. They fed on human souls. Were pretty monstrous, too.
[How's he going to cast a Patronus Charm without a wand?]
And... the witches sent that thing.. the kishin... here? Were many people hurt during the battle?
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Ya ask me, the kishin sent itself. It used to be a guy. Name was Adachi. BREW dragged him here like the rest of us, but I guess he had his own ideas about what he was gonna do.
From what I heard, it wasn't all that different than what he did in his own world--killing people, attacking little girls. [He sounds more than a bit jaded as he says this, like a person who's far too used to murder and abuse just being a part of the world.] Anyway, I don't think he ever stopped being him, even when he was trying to smash a hole in the side of the school so he could get inside.
[His face appears emotionless as he answers the last part. Again with the jaded--it's not that he doesn't care, but simply that he's used to a rough world where people die. He takes a drag on his smoke.]
It was a battle. I mean, yeah. Guy named Shang, and old Cat-ecus [he smiles affectionately at the nickname before naming the country properly]--Greece. We lost both of them. And people were hurt but... [Clears his throat. Yeah, he might be skipping ( ... )
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[Harry listens, going pale. He's not sure which is more disturing -- the things this man is saying or the casual way he talks about 'attacking little girls'.
Harry sits down and lays the device on the floor in front of him. He pushes up his glasses and rubs his face. It's so much to absorb, and he's still sore physically and emotionally from everything that happened to him back in England.]
I'm really sorry about your friends. I lost people too. It's never easy.
It's a kind of hospital? I... I could help with that. [He may look just a bit too eager, but if he doesn't find something to do in this mad situation, he'll go mad himself.]
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[He doesn't try to explain his casual acquaintance with either Shang or Greece. That seems less important than the sentiment, which Badou does appreciated--says that this guy's a good kid, and he wants to be helpful. Badou's a big proponent of team work. He flicks away his cigarette butt and offers a smile.]
Hey, I'm not gonna turn down an extra pair of hands. [He lifts up his right hand before the camera and waggles his fingers to display the bruises, scrapes, and cuts construction life has been bestowing upon him. There's also a big diagonal scar across the back of his hand--it looks old, and if Harry manages to catch a glimpse of his palm he'll see that whatever left it ( ... )
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And Harry really wants to get out of that room.]
Yeah. That would be great. Thanks.
[He picks up the device and gets back to his feet.]
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Hang tight. I'll be there in ten. [And he pushes away from the wall, dusting himself off as he flips the communicator closed.]
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Under the heat of the summer desert sun, the climb is far from a stroll in the park. But he does manage to catch his breath after a moment, and he straightens, immediately reaching for his pack of smokes as he looks around for the kid he's supposed to be meeting.]
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