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All is Fair in Space and War



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Sun Nov 25, 2018 1:01 am
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soundofmind says...



~All is Fair in Space and War~
By @Coffeeism and @soundofmind


Screen Shot 2018-11-24 at 6.33.43 PM.png

It's been a few years since Rem and Kazimir last saw one another in the cells of Camp Pheligian. Since then, Kazimir escaped the prison by force, Rem finished serving her time, and an inter-galactic war broke out among the Starship Alliance and the Rebellion. In the midst of the unfolding chaos, Rem, after considerable resistance, was pulled into the war by the draft and enlisted as a soldier of the Alliance. After a year of service, she climbed the ranks and found herself as a commander of her own platoon.

As the war goes on, Rem and Kaz cross paths by pure coincidence while Rem is leading a border planet raid. As she's patrolling the ruins and checking the perimeter, she kicks down the door of an old bank only to find Kazimir there, setting bombs, with the building about to blow.

Unsurprisingly, Kazimir finds himself in a bit of a pinch and, in a spur-of-the-moment decision decides to take Rem captive as he flees the scene. Unfortunately for him, the rest of her platoon quickly notices her disappearance, and he gains a few angry soldiers on his tail.

As they escape and the adventure unfolds, things only seem to get messier - no thanks to Kazimir.
Last edited by soundofmind on Wed May 22, 2019 11:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:28 am
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AvantCoffee says...



Spoiler! :
FINALLY


REM


It had been a while since Rem felt this damn formidable. Ninety years, if she were to bother with a number, yet with her Nihilian lifespan her time at Camp Phellagian dragged on little more than a borish commonors function with a piss-yellow dress code. A year of galactic war and now look at her: commander of her own platoon. This is who she was, who she’d always be – a destructive force lying in wait until her inevitable release. Time could not contain Empress Rem Qaž jÿn Voiduum so easily. No bastard could possibly knock her down.

A Rebellion shooterjet tumbled from above the blazing violence and swerved into the pharmacy building beside Rem. The impact shook the ground beneath her, electricity spurting from the jet’s sides before it burst into flames. Rem cursed at the insolence. A chorus of gunshots rang in her ears from all sides as she pushed forward, yelling orders to soldiers through her helmet's transmitter. She could barely understand herself, let alone the buzzing of soldier confirmations. A couple of border guards were shot down near the corner of a cyberwares store. Not rebels – recruited civilians, protecting their home planet. Rem turned away forcefully.

“Platoon squads 2, 5, and 7, fall back and scout the area!” she shouted through her transmitter, holding her laser gun across her chest. The unfolding chaos suited Rem well, yet even she felt uncomfortable with these recent border planet raids – almost as uncomfortable as the stifling material of the Starship Alliance uniform (not that Rem was unfamiliar with poorly designed uniforms). She would have no part in this joke of warfare if it weren’t for the deal she’d struck... that sweet, delicious deal. At least her malicious ambitions were all too deserving. The endgame. The endgame made everything worthwhile.

Rem sprinted diagonally across the wide street before her, letting loose a few gunshots in the direction of Rebellion defense forces before slamming into the doors of a bank building. The doors gave way, and Rem regained her footing inside. The dim bank lobby provided cover, however did little to muffle the explosive sounds outside. It seemed abandoned. She scanned the still and ghostly interior; glass from a broken side window crackled under her boots as she checked behind counters and unpowered robot tellers. A dismal place.

Rem lowered her gun slightly. “This is your commander. All clear for bank lobby. Don’t follow.” Not like she needed backup for any situation.

A moment after Rem reported as such, her ears met with a sequence of loud swearing erupting from further inside the bank building. A male voice.

The urge to scoff arose rapidly, but Rem held it back; the least she could do was suspend her disbelief. Her laser gun tracked in front of her as she travelled deeper inside the bank, passing conference rooms and office cubicles. Less light entered these corridors, and outside noises softened around the edges. Rem kept silent.

As she approached the end of the corridor, she took note of three sections split off from one another, each conveniently assigned AutoTranslate labels. The left section read ‘Daily Deposits’, straight ahead read ‘Master Vault’, and the right read ‘Storage Units’.

Rem strained her hearing, and, after a minute of nothing, caught a scuffle coming from the vault ahead. Really? The vault section?

On the count of three, Rem stormed into the vault section, gun at the ready. “This is a raid. Put your hands up and identify yourself!” she demanded.

In front of the vault, crouched low and fiddling with some wired device, was a person she never thought she’d see again. He looked about as perplexed as Rem felt.

“Kazimir?”





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Thu Dec 06, 2018 12:53 pm
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soundofmind says...



KAZIMIR


Kazimir flinched at his name and looked over his shoulder as he multitasked with his hands. The shock of seeing Rem of all people almost caused his fingers to stumble, but he adjusted the correct wiring by a stroke of luck. A bead of sweat on his forehead dripped down the side of his chin, and his mouth hesitantly twitched into a smile. He stared at her with wide eyes.

"Rem!" he greeted with a tense anxiety present in his voice. He pressed the button.

With a jolt he jumped to his feet, wiped his hands on his pants, and rushed up to her, turning her around towards the door.

"So good to see you! You know, we should really talk out in the lobby-" he glanced back, eyes catching on the ticking time bomb. Seven seconds.

"Okay."

He grabbed her hand, and, propelling himself down the hall as fast as he could, dragged her with him. They ducked behind the front counter just as a deafening boom shook the building from within.
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Thu Dec 13, 2018 7:01 am
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AvantCoffee says...



REM


This was not happening. Kazimir was not robbing a bank in the middle of a galactic war. There's no way he could be that outrageous.

But alas, when the bomb's disturbance settled and the floor was sufficiently coated in plaster dust, Rem knew exactly what the man beside her would do next. Her heart had rocketed to her throat during the deafening sound of the thick metal vault door detonating into heavy projectiles, so that it took her a reasonable moment to regain her composure. What the hell kind of bomb did Kaz use to create that kind of impact? It couldn't have been any inferior to the military bombs used by the Starship Alliance.

Still crouching, Rem found her voice. "I would say you're opportunistic," she began, brushing the dust off her commander uniform, "but that would be an understatement... and a compliment you don't deserve, Kaz. How dare you drag me into this."





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Thu Dec 13, 2018 8:51 am
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soundofmind says...



KAZIMIR


Kazimir ran around the front desk, pulling out two duffle bags as Rem started lecturing him. He wasn’t about wasting time. As he popped up from behind the desk and looked down at her, he laughed.

“Dragged?” he scoffed. “I dragged you out of the way, but I’m not dragging you anywhere. If you want to help, though, you’re welcome to!”

He began to march back into the hallway, both dufflebags slung over his shoulder. He looked back at Rem, pausing for a few seconds as he looked her up and down. A smile spread across his face.

“I like the uniform. Suits you better than the yellow,” he said with a wink, before running back into the vault.
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Thu Dec 13, 2018 11:44 am
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AvantCoffee says...



REM


Rem snorted, yet felt a grin wavering. "Of course it suits me better. I'm Empress Rem Qaž jÿn Voiduum of the Nih—" She broke off when she realised her listener was no longer listening.

Standing indignantly, she stalked after Kazimir, bending once to pick up the gun that had skidded down the corridor after their desperate lunge for cover. Rem talked to Kazimir's back. "Look here, mortal. If it weren't for your bomb I wouldn't need any dragging."





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Thu Dec 13, 2018 12:41 pm
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soundofmind says...



KAZIMIR


Kazimir laughed again as he pushed a chunk of plaster out of the way and hopped back into the vault. The shining stacks of precious alien currency caused his eyes to widen. With a pleased grin on his face, he began to shove as many of them as he could into the bags.

“If you’re waiting for me to apologize for your bad timing, and me saving your life,” Kazimir answered, “Then tough luck, your majesty.”
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Fri Dec 14, 2018 8:18 am
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AvantCoffee says...



REM


Before long Rem found herself hugging a stuffed duffle bag, which she dumped the moment she became aware of the fact.

The vault appeared larger inside than Rem had expected, and more elaborate. At first glance the only attribute worth noticing was the neat – or not-so-neat, now that Kaz had looted it – stacks of alien currency in the centre and front of the vault, but as Rem stepped inside she discovered more. A luminous dome ceiling rested upon a spherical wall made of brushed metal, with rows of curving drawers ordered within it. The electronic locks on the draws had disabled with the bomb, it seemed, along with one particularly small drawer at the far end.

Rem moved towards the small drawer, but halted when a message from her helmet transmitter came through, reminding her of why she was even on this blasted planet. Squad 5 had finished their search of the area, and requested orders. Rem glanced at a smug Kazimir, her eyes shifting to the broken, bent metal of the vault door, before she enabled her response to transmit. "Understood, soldier," she spoke. "Reunite and continue the advance with the majority of the platoon. Tell the other scouting squads to do the same." How tedious. Couldn't they think to do as much themselves?

Confirmation, and then silence. If Rem wanted her endgame, she needed to play nice. And Rem never played nice. A dark flame stirred inside her, burning, licking to get out.

She grit her teeth, whipping her head back around to Kazimir's direction. That bastard looked too damn cheerful, even if she did appreciate seeing him again. "And how are you even here, anyway?" Rem demanded, her outburst continuing their conversation as if no time had passed. She fixed her eyes back at the wall in front of her, glaring. "And what are these stupid drawers for?! Surely you would have some idea, given your present undertaking."

Rem reached for the small drawer on impulse, as if that would ease her irritation. As it opened, Rem let out an uncharacteristic scream.





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Sat Dec 15, 2018 2:19 am
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soundofmind says...



KAZIMIR


"Aye! Cut it out!" he hissed, throwing the now full bag over his shoulder and grabbing the one Rem rudely dropped to the ground and adding it to his load. With both sacks of loot on his back, he hurried over to Rem, looking into the drawer to see what possibly could've elicited such a response from someone who was normally so stoic and pissy all the time.

With a quick glance, he saw that it was just some kind of rock with a marking carved into it. "Geez. A scream like that I would'a thought it was a bug 'r something," he mumbled, poking one of the drawers open out of curiosity.

Admittedly, he didn't know what was in any of them. He'd only expected money to be in there, and at least he was right about that. However, he did know enough about banks that he figured they were safe lock-boxes people probably had to keep special belongings in. But what people considered to be safe and worthy of locking away could range anywhere from priceless jewels to a picture of their grandma.

So, when the drawer opened up, he didn't really know what to expect, but his eyes widened with delight when he saw what it was.

It was a tracking device. But not just any kind of tracking device - this was some kind of wicked-advanced level sh*t he'd only seen once when he had a wealthy kingpin mobster looking for him. With a devilish grin, he picked up the palm-sized device and put it in his pocket, before turning back to the stacks of money and stuffing some in his jacket. As he zipped it up, he turned towards the exit.

"Well. That's all I came for. I guess you gotta get going too?"
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Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:25 am
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AvantCoffee says...



REM


She had felt it before she saw it: the petrifying force of anti-matter humming in its seal, like the unblinking stare of some horrific, forgotten monster. So much worse than a bug. She could feel her very cells recoiling from the object in the drawer, the talisman, yet it couldn't do anything to her, not really. Not in the state it was.

Rem, too shocked to be embarrassed by her outburst, wondered how in the hell something this rare came to be inside the vault Kaz had busted open. Over her four hundred years of royal existence, Rem had only seen an anti-matter weapon in historical documents – and not as digital data, but as hardcopy relics of the precyber age. It seemed suspicious that the bane of her kind would be within her grasp, right when she desired the fall of her own empire. Could Kazimir have known?

It seemed her looting companion found something else of value in another drawer, but she didn't get a good look at it.

Rem needed to respond to him, to say, Of course I need to get going. I've spent enough time around your primitive display of rashness as it is. She needed to reunite with her platoon, play nice, play safe. This entire situation meant nothing.

But Rem's actions decided differently, as she reached for the talisman like anchors reach for ocean floors against sinking pressure. Maybe this could be her way out of this war, and it felt so right when she pocketed the talisman, its gravity murmuring to only her ears. She could use this. This could be the silencing symbol of her revenge.

Rem refocused her gaze on the wall in front of her. It was only then that she noticed a fine engraving of text on each drawer in a language she recognised as Thæzryšh, but couldn't understand – the damned universe had too many languages, most of which were beneath her. Even still, using her helmet's augmented reality functions, Rem took a snapshot of the tiny drawer and the ones around it.

It dawned on Rem that Kazimir still waited for her reply. She spun away from the drawers and walked towards Kaz without a word, only to pass him and continue out of the vault. The voice of a soldier buzzed through Rem's transmitter, but the talisman in her pocket hummed louder, surpassing sound and skin. Rem's laser gun lay neglected beside the vault entrance when she'd inadvertently caught the duffle bag from before. She now picked it up for a second time.

And pointed it directly at Kazimir's face. "I heard you escaped Camp Pheligian," Rem said cooly. She wanted to add the words without me to the end of that. After watching Kaz for a couple seconds, her gun lowered slow until it hung limp in her arms. "Take me with you this time, Kaz. My plans have changed."





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Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:17 pm
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soundofmind says...



KAZIMIR


Kazimir stared at her blankly for a moment as her comment registered. She didn't have to say it out loud: he heard what they were both thinking. He'd escaped the prison without her, and whether she was bitter about that or simply stating it as a fact, he didn't know, but it was dust in the wind now. He hadn't had the resources or bandwidth to rescue her from the pits of solitary confinement, and had he tried to, he would have never gotten out of there.

His eyebrows raised and he smugly grinned as he marched out of the broken vault behind her. A tremor caused the building to shake again, and trickles of plaster and dust fell to the floor.

"Good to hear," he said as he took one of the dufflebags off his back. He tossed it to her with a sudden flick of his arms. "Let's get out of here," he said with a growing smile, walking past her through the front door.
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:21 am
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REM


As they walked, duffle bags full of alien currency thrown over their backs, Rem began to doubt her new plan – not that it was even formed enough to be called such. Breaking off a deal with the Starship Alliance was not a coarse of action to be taken lightly, yet with the anti-matter weapon she now possessed, she no longer needed the military support the higher ups had promised her. And she hardly cared for the war itself, only the feeling of power after being restricted in prison for some time.

Yet Rem knew close to nothing about the anti-matter talisman, despite knowing exactly what she wanted to do with it. Her plan somehow involved travelling to the traitorous Nihil Empire, releasing its mass havoc, and researching the obscure anti-matter weaponry – though not it that order. A whole new strategy was falling into place before her eyes as she walked over dust, over shattered glass, over pavement, over gravel. At some point they transitioned from inside to outside, corner to alleyway to parking lot.

Rem remained engrossed in her thoughts, without resolution, even when the two of them arrived outside Kazimir's spaceship.





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Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:41 am
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soundofmind says...



KAZIMIR


Kazimir brought the buggy to an abrupt stop as they pulled up to his ship. The sound of distant gunfire and shouting filled the air with a sense of urgency and excitement, but this was where Kazimir sighed.

The stolen spaceship was great for many things, but the remote to the door never worked when it mattered. He pressed the button anyway in vain hope, sighing in annoyed disappointment when it didn't work. He'd have to jump and open it.

"Just a moment," he grumbled as he leapt out of the buggy's seat and onto the hood. After a few calculating bounces on his feet, he lanched himself up at the ship's ramp door and grabbed the small handle to open manually.

Unfortunately, when parking the buggy, he overshot a little too much. After a few tugs on the handle and kicks of his legs, the door gave suddenly. As he fell to the ground and barely rolled out of the door's way, he heard a loud KLUNK.

He stared up into the buggy, wide-eyed. The door had hit Rem on the head, and she was out cold.
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Wed Aug 07, 2019 4:41 pm
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soundofmind says...



@coffeeism ahsdlkjghljl
Pants are an illusion. And so is death.






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Sat Aug 10, 2019 9:16 am
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AvantCoffee says...



@soundofmind asdrftgvybkjll BRUH after get’n’ back into rps i’m so ready for returning to this :’)

I’ve had like a list of delayed posts I’ve been slowing munching through, and that’s mostly all done apart from the sb post I promised Mage for Bluebell’s Spring. After that I then wanna reread through all this and get it back in action! Also ilu








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