Creative Binding Experiment
Fuschiafinn strikes again.
You know what we need? An angry mob. With pitchforks and everything.
All in all, Yazoo thought, they should have known something was off right from the start. The day had been too good. Loz had been almost like his old self, Kadaj had been in a rare good mood and they had managed to scare some useful information out of an old bartender before letting Loz have him. Kadaj had agreed that it would be best to wait until the next day to act on the tip since it was already close to midnight and raining profusely. In a stroke of luck they had found an abandoned insane asylum at the edge of town. Kadaj had spotted it sitting quietly on a hill and pointed it out as it was once again silhouetted in lightning. Yazoo was slightly curious as to why it had been abandoned but after a cursory check it seemed like a decent place to get out of the storm. In a particular bit of luck there were rooms that seemed to have been designed to hold deranged SOLDIERS in the basement so when Yazoo locked Loz in for the night he could be fairly sure he wouldn’t be waking up to his older sibling gnawing on anything he shouldn’t.
Looking forward to a good night’s rest but aware of their responsibilities, Kadaj and Yazoo made sure Loz was secure and then went back out to get him dinner. They were able to snatch five people right from their homes at the edge of town. It had been Kadaj’s idea to knock them unconscious instead of killing them and then putting them in Loz’s room as a little treat.
“Come on,” he’d said to Yazoo’s dubious look. “The only window in that room is tiny and hard to reach. What are the chances they’d get out? Come on, Loz hasn’t been able to play with his food in a long time.” Caught up in Kadaj’s good mood Yazoo had agreed. The happy noises Loz had croaked out had made it well worth it, as did the hugs he gave both his brothers. He even managed to resist nipping at their heads. Well pleased with life in general Yazoo and Kadaj had headed back up to the first floor where they commenced to defile one of the beds and then settled down to sleep. At one point Yazoo thought he might have heard Loz calling for him but warm, sated and relatively safe he just mentally called his brother a glutton and went back to sleep.
“Zoo.” A cold hand grabbed Yazoo’s shoulder and shook him until his teeth damn near rattled. His eyes flew open and he immediately reached for Velvet Nightmare. “Loz, what it Mother’s name…” For those first few moments he was too annoyed to wonder how Loz had gotten through a foot or two of reinforced steel and why his brother was looking at him worriedly instead of trying to feast on his flesh. Next to him Yazoo felt Kadaj stir and then sit up grumbling. Yazoo flicked hair out of his face and located his gun by the flickering light of the torches and then looked for his pants…
Wait a minute…
Yazoo scrambled up and went to the window. He could see a mass of people standing in front of the building, a fair number with torches. Thank Mother they were all so focused on the front door. Yazoo didn’t fear humans as a rule but he was well aware of how easily they could become a problem in crowds.
“Huh,” Kadaj said from slightly behind him, the creak of leather telling Yazoo that that the younger man was pulling on his pants. “Guess the rain stopped.”
Yazoo didn’t bother to dignify that with a response. He was taking stock of the situation. It looked like most of the town was out there and looking frightened and yet grimly determined. In addition to torches they had shotguns, a few questionable looking swords, some clubs and other ersatz pieces of weaponry. Was that a pitchfork?
Kadaj handed Yazoo his clothes which he donned while staring out of the window. From what he could see the mob was watching whatever was going on on the front steps. He could hear raised voices but couldn’t really make out what they were saying. Shaking his head as he zipped up his coat Yazoo turned to say something to Kadaj and instead found himself caught by the look on Loz’s face. The taller man was staring at the torches with fascinated dread.
“Loz.” Yazoo approached his brother slowly and laid a wary hand on his forearm. “What is it?”
Loz didn’t take his eyes of the tableau outside the window when answered. “Fire baaaaad.” He spoke with the full weight of conviction and if it were possible for Loz to become paler he no doubt would have. Little moans and groans signaled that he was doing his level best to cry quietly. Yazoo glanced at Kadaj and found his brother’s face a grim mask.
“Think about it Yazoo. Loz is… well he’s all dried out now. If someone lit him on fire he’d probably go up like a match. He seems to have some regenerative powers but not enough to fix himself after that.” Even though Yazoo understood that there was little time for delicacy he still glared at Kadaj. Loz was now moaning and trying to hide behind Yazoo’s much slighter frame.
Kadaj shrugged. “If he didn’t have some idea of what might happen he wouldn’t be frightened.” He said calmly. “But it won’t happen because we are going to leave now. Right Loz?” Loz’s head emerged from behind Yazoo long enough for him to nod slowly then he ducked back down… slowly. Yazoo felt like the shell of some sort of massive undead turtle. He turned to face the cowering man at his back.
“Don’t cry Loz.” He said; proud of the fact that he had stopped wincing when he said that familiar phrase. Loz didn’t cry anymore per se, he just made unhappy noises. “We’ll get out and we’ll find you a nice big brain. I think there was a college around here somewhere…”
Loz straightened up and nodded, his low level wailing subsiding into the occasional rasp. They followed Kadaj out of the room and headed for the front door. They had already checked for other exits when they had come in. The front door was the only was out. There had been a service door that led into the basement but someone had filled in the staircase it led to. The windows were too narrow to fit through and barred, no doubt to prevent escape. There was a strongly bolted door blocking passage to the third floor that they had meant to break down in the morning but they needed to get out not be trapped on the top floor of a building that might be set alight at any moment.
The voices grew louder as they approached the door. The trio exited the hallway and suddenly had a clear view of the front door. They were double doors actually, and only one of them was open. Behind the closed door there cringed an odd looking little man with a hunched back and a not-too-terribly-bright expression on his face. He was wringing his hands and looking at the man standing in the open door, silhouetted by torchlight. The second man was wearing a lab coat and black pants. His hair was dishelved and his voice passionate as he yelled at the crowd. Something about ‘tearing back the veil of ignorance’ and ‘sacrifices must be made for science’.
Yazoo and Kadaj exchanged a look and shrugged. Yazoo wasn’t sure why but he instantly disliked the man in the lab coat. When a strident voice from outside the door said “You’re toying with things man was never meant to know!” He was hard pressed not to nod his agreement. Humans weren’t meant to know, they were meant to die, preferably in interesting ways.
Finally the funny little man spotted them and tugged on the scientist’s lab coat. “Master!” he whined, pointing to the approaching brothers.
After a moment the ‘Master’ relented and turned his head. Yazoo was rather pleased to see the man’s mouth open in shock. Whether it was from some knowledge of what they were or from simple surprise, the look was gratifying to see. Ever the showman Kadaj drew Souba and moved forward at unholy speed. He knocked the babbling little hunchback out of the way and opened the second door. There was a gasp from the crowd and from the scientist. Kadaj waited until it subsided to say simply, “Hello.”
Yazoo smiled as best he could while once again serving as a shield for his whimpering older brother. “Come on Loz,” he said coaxingly. “We won’t let anything happen to you.” There was a deep sigh from behind him and then a hesitant question.
“’rmise?” Yazoo turned and stroked his brother’s hair.
“Promise.”
Loz nodded and mumbled “K.” Yazoo took his older brother's hand and led him toward the door. The villager standing on the stairs had recovered from his shock and was angrily accusing Kadaj of being in league with this ‘soulless madman’. Just as Kadaj opened his mouth, no doubt to escalate the situation, Yazoo reached the door and interrupted.
“We’re not with him.” he said calmly, raising his voice the better to be heard by the anxious crowd. Yazoo could feel Kadaj’s confused regard but ignored it and continued. “We were just passing through and sought shelter here. Our brother,” here he gestured to a frightened looking Loz. “is sick. We’ll leave quietly.”
Kadaj made an indignant sound but didn’t argue. Standing in the doorway it was easy to see the mob was bigger then it had first appeared. Ordinarily that wouldn’t have mattered but all they needed was for one person to decide to go after Loz with a torch and it was all over.
“Sooo,” the villager on the steps said slowly. “You’re not part of the unholy terror that creeps forth from this asylum and turns our humble lives into a torturous nightmare? You’re not in cahoots with this so-called scientist who is, in truth, a mad man or his servant, a defiler of graves?”
Yazoo shook his head.
“And you’ll not defend him from the fiery death we have planned for him and the destruction of all his unnatural works?”
Loz made an unhappy noise at the phrase ‘fiery death’ but was otherwise quiet. Yazoo simply shook his head again.
“Hold on a minute.” the villager said and went down the stares to his comrades. He conferred with three or four people at the head of the mob for a minute and then turned and came back. “Well, as long as you aren’t in league with the bastard… uh… yeah, you can go.”
“Thank you.” Kadaj said with no small amount of sarcasm. The villager seemed to miss it entirely though and just beamed at the glowering younger man.
Before Kadaj could say whatever was on his mind and get them attacked Yazoo thought it prudent to intervene. “Your scientist friend seems to have disappeared.” he said, pointing to the empty space where the cause of all this used to be.
The villager cursed. “Why that sneaky little devil! I thank you kindly sirs,” he said and then called to his compatriots. While the villagers rushed toward and then up the stairs, the brothers proceeded down them at a leisurely pace. Yazoo was very proud of Loz for keeping his unhappy moans to a minimum. The last villager to pass them tipped his hat. Yazoo inclined his head slightly and watched as the man ran into the building. The sounds of things being broken and shouting were clearly audible.
Suddenly an unholy roar started and the villager’s cries took on more than a hint of abject terror. This could be interesting…
“Zoooo!”
Yazoo sighed and walked to his bike where a worried Loz waited. “Just when it was getting good…” he muttered but hoped on his bike gamely enough and waited for Loz to wrap his arms around his waist. Loz wasn’t quite so far gone as to attempt much when they were on their bikes, a small blessing for which Yazoo was very grateful.
He spared one last look at the building, the third floor of which was now merrily burning, shrugged and started his engine.
You know what we need? An angry mob. With pitchforks and everything.
All in all, Yazoo thought, they should have known something was off right from the start. The day had been too good. Loz had been almost like his old self, Kadaj had been in a rare good mood and they had managed to scare some useful information out of an old bartender before letting Loz have him. Kadaj had agreed that it would be best to wait until the next day to act on the tip since it was already close to midnight and raining profusely. In a stroke of luck they had found an abandoned insane asylum at the edge of town. Kadaj had spotted it sitting quietly on a hill and pointed it out as it was once again silhouetted in lightning. Yazoo was slightly curious as to why it had been abandoned but after a cursory check it seemed like a decent place to get out of the storm. In a particular bit of luck there were rooms that seemed to have been designed to hold deranged SOLDIERS in the basement so when Yazoo locked Loz in for the night he could be fairly sure he wouldn’t be waking up to his older sibling gnawing on anything he shouldn’t.
Looking forward to a good night’s rest but aware of their responsibilities, Kadaj and Yazoo made sure Loz was secure and then went back out to get him dinner. They were able to snatch five people right from their homes at the edge of town. It had been Kadaj’s idea to knock them unconscious instead of killing them and then putting them in Loz’s room as a little treat.
“Come on,” he’d said to Yazoo’s dubious look. “The only window in that room is tiny and hard to reach. What are the chances they’d get out? Come on, Loz hasn’t been able to play with his food in a long time.” Caught up in Kadaj’s good mood Yazoo had agreed. The happy noises Loz had croaked out had made it well worth it, as did the hugs he gave both his brothers. He even managed to resist nipping at their heads. Well pleased with life in general Yazoo and Kadaj had headed back up to the first floor where they commenced to defile one of the beds and then settled down to sleep. At one point Yazoo thought he might have heard Loz calling for him but warm, sated and relatively safe he just mentally called his brother a glutton and went back to sleep.
“Zoo.” A cold hand grabbed Yazoo’s shoulder and shook him until his teeth damn near rattled. His eyes flew open and he immediately reached for Velvet Nightmare. “Loz, what it Mother’s name…” For those first few moments he was too annoyed to wonder how Loz had gotten through a foot or two of reinforced steel and why his brother was looking at him worriedly instead of trying to feast on his flesh. Next to him Yazoo felt Kadaj stir and then sit up grumbling. Yazoo flicked hair out of his face and located his gun by the flickering light of the torches and then looked for his pants…
Wait a minute…
Yazoo scrambled up and went to the window. He could see a mass of people standing in front of the building, a fair number with torches. Thank Mother they were all so focused on the front door. Yazoo didn’t fear humans as a rule but he was well aware of how easily they could become a problem in crowds.
“Huh,” Kadaj said from slightly behind him, the creak of leather telling Yazoo that that the younger man was pulling on his pants. “Guess the rain stopped.”
Yazoo didn’t bother to dignify that with a response. He was taking stock of the situation. It looked like most of the town was out there and looking frightened and yet grimly determined. In addition to torches they had shotguns, a few questionable looking swords, some clubs and other ersatz pieces of weaponry. Was that a pitchfork?
Kadaj handed Yazoo his clothes which he donned while staring out of the window. From what he could see the mob was watching whatever was going on on the front steps. He could hear raised voices but couldn’t really make out what they were saying. Shaking his head as he zipped up his coat Yazoo turned to say something to Kadaj and instead found himself caught by the look on Loz’s face. The taller man was staring at the torches with fascinated dread.
“Loz.” Yazoo approached his brother slowly and laid a wary hand on his forearm. “What is it?”
Loz didn’t take his eyes of the tableau outside the window when answered. “Fire baaaaad.” He spoke with the full weight of conviction and if it were possible for Loz to become paler he no doubt would have. Little moans and groans signaled that he was doing his level best to cry quietly. Yazoo glanced at Kadaj and found his brother’s face a grim mask.
“Think about it Yazoo. Loz is… well he’s all dried out now. If someone lit him on fire he’d probably go up like a match. He seems to have some regenerative powers but not enough to fix himself after that.” Even though Yazoo understood that there was little time for delicacy he still glared at Kadaj. Loz was now moaning and trying to hide behind Yazoo’s much slighter frame.
Kadaj shrugged. “If he didn’t have some idea of what might happen he wouldn’t be frightened.” He said calmly. “But it won’t happen because we are going to leave now. Right Loz?” Loz’s head emerged from behind Yazoo long enough for him to nod slowly then he ducked back down… slowly. Yazoo felt like the shell of some sort of massive undead turtle. He turned to face the cowering man at his back.
“Don’t cry Loz.” He said; proud of the fact that he had stopped wincing when he said that familiar phrase. Loz didn’t cry anymore per se, he just made unhappy noises. “We’ll get out and we’ll find you a nice big brain. I think there was a college around here somewhere…”
Loz straightened up and nodded, his low level wailing subsiding into the occasional rasp. They followed Kadaj out of the room and headed for the front door. They had already checked for other exits when they had come in. The front door was the only was out. There had been a service door that led into the basement but someone had filled in the staircase it led to. The windows were too narrow to fit through and barred, no doubt to prevent escape. There was a strongly bolted door blocking passage to the third floor that they had meant to break down in the morning but they needed to get out not be trapped on the top floor of a building that might be set alight at any moment.
The voices grew louder as they approached the door. The trio exited the hallway and suddenly had a clear view of the front door. They were double doors actually, and only one of them was open. Behind the closed door there cringed an odd looking little man with a hunched back and a not-too-terribly-bright expression on his face. He was wringing his hands and looking at the man standing in the open door, silhouetted by torchlight. The second man was wearing a lab coat and black pants. His hair was dishelved and his voice passionate as he yelled at the crowd. Something about ‘tearing back the veil of ignorance’ and ‘sacrifices must be made for science’.
Yazoo and Kadaj exchanged a look and shrugged. Yazoo wasn’t sure why but he instantly disliked the man in the lab coat. When a strident voice from outside the door said “You’re toying with things man was never meant to know!” He was hard pressed not to nod his agreement. Humans weren’t meant to know, they were meant to die, preferably in interesting ways.
Finally the funny little man spotted them and tugged on the scientist’s lab coat. “Master!” he whined, pointing to the approaching brothers.
After a moment the ‘Master’ relented and turned his head. Yazoo was rather pleased to see the man’s mouth open in shock. Whether it was from some knowledge of what they were or from simple surprise, the look was gratifying to see. Ever the showman Kadaj drew Souba and moved forward at unholy speed. He knocked the babbling little hunchback out of the way and opened the second door. There was a gasp from the crowd and from the scientist. Kadaj waited until it subsided to say simply, “Hello.”
Yazoo smiled as best he could while once again serving as a shield for his whimpering older brother. “Come on Loz,” he said coaxingly. “We won’t let anything happen to you.” There was a deep sigh from behind him and then a hesitant question.
“’rmise?” Yazoo turned and stroked his brother’s hair.
“Promise.”
Loz nodded and mumbled “K.” Yazoo took his older brother's hand and led him toward the door. The villager standing on the stairs had recovered from his shock and was angrily accusing Kadaj of being in league with this ‘soulless madman’. Just as Kadaj opened his mouth, no doubt to escalate the situation, Yazoo reached the door and interrupted.
“We’re not with him.” he said calmly, raising his voice the better to be heard by the anxious crowd. Yazoo could feel Kadaj’s confused regard but ignored it and continued. “We were just passing through and sought shelter here. Our brother,” here he gestured to a frightened looking Loz. “is sick. We’ll leave quietly.”
Kadaj made an indignant sound but didn’t argue. Standing in the doorway it was easy to see the mob was bigger then it had first appeared. Ordinarily that wouldn’t have mattered but all they needed was for one person to decide to go after Loz with a torch and it was all over.
“Sooo,” the villager on the steps said slowly. “You’re not part of the unholy terror that creeps forth from this asylum and turns our humble lives into a torturous nightmare? You’re not in cahoots with this so-called scientist who is, in truth, a mad man or his servant, a defiler of graves?”
Yazoo shook his head.
“And you’ll not defend him from the fiery death we have planned for him and the destruction of all his unnatural works?”
Loz made an unhappy noise at the phrase ‘fiery death’ but was otherwise quiet. Yazoo simply shook his head again.
“Hold on a minute.” the villager said and went down the stares to his comrades. He conferred with three or four people at the head of the mob for a minute and then turned and came back. “Well, as long as you aren’t in league with the bastard… uh… yeah, you can go.”
“Thank you.” Kadaj said with no small amount of sarcasm. The villager seemed to miss it entirely though and just beamed at the glowering younger man.
Before Kadaj could say whatever was on his mind and get them attacked Yazoo thought it prudent to intervene. “Your scientist friend seems to have disappeared.” he said, pointing to the empty space where the cause of all this used to be.
The villager cursed. “Why that sneaky little devil! I thank you kindly sirs,” he said and then called to his compatriots. While the villagers rushed toward and then up the stairs, the brothers proceeded down them at a leisurely pace. Yazoo was very proud of Loz for keeping his unhappy moans to a minimum. The last villager to pass them tipped his hat. Yazoo inclined his head slightly and watched as the man ran into the building. The sounds of things being broken and shouting were clearly audible.
Suddenly an unholy roar started and the villager’s cries took on more than a hint of abject terror. This could be interesting…
“Zoooo!”
Yazoo sighed and walked to his bike where a worried Loz waited. “Just when it was getting good…” he muttered but hoped on his bike gamely enough and waited for Loz to wrap his arms around his waist. Loz wasn’t quite so far gone as to attempt much when they were on their bikes, a small blessing for which Yazoo was very grateful.
He spared one last look at the building, the third floor of which was now merrily burning, shrugged and started his engine.