I Moderate (i_moderate) wrote in we_archive, @ 2006-07-30 22:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | arrigo fiasco, kate bishop, roland deschain |
i_seekthetower Seeking Towers [Open]
The world had moved on.
And the world was still moving on, and Roland felt as though he were falling farther and farther behind.
He'd found the boy and it had lifted some of his pain and mental anguish. For a time he thought that if only he could find the boy -- Jake Chambers -- that everything would become clear. That the path to the Tower would be open and he would be on his way to fulfilling the destiny left to him many years ago. Even before he knew about the Tower, it had marked him. Back in his days at Gilead. Maybe even long before his birth.
But he was wrong. Finding the boy didn't change the gunslinger's feelings concerning the Tower. And now he was lost. The Path of the Beam had disappeared. His ka-tet was gone. The boy that wasn't became the boy that was and had found himself a new calling amongst this strange world. A world that was trying to move on, but had become stuck. Confused.
Roland hadn't been ignoring those who helped him. He hadn't been ignoring the boy. He'd been trying to continue his quest. Trying to find the Tower. But every direction he took, every walk, every step, every corner turned, only brought him closer and closer to his starting point.
And now he found himself stopped. Standing outside of The City Industries, staring up at three skyscrapers that nearly touched the clouds. They were all clouded by a certain darkness that caught the gunslinger's attention.
LexCorp. Wayne Tech. Stark Industries.
Towers.
Perhaps one of them was his.
From: i_playthecello Date: 07/31/2006 09:09:31
Her first thought was; Tourist. Standing there like he was and looking up than she realized, hey, wait, they where all tourists in this town. Her third, and most pressing thought was that if she didn’t do some seriously fancy footwork she was going to walk right into him seeing as she had been being a superior New Yorker in her head. Except this wasn’t New York and she was just as much a tourist as him.
“Shoot, excuse me sir.” She sidestepped around him, and than glanced up just to see what he was looking at. “Impressive.”
From: i_seekthetower Date: 07/31/2006 23:06:32
Roland had heard the woman's approach before she was within speaking distance, his senses and reactions heightened from years of gunslinger tutoring. But he didn't feel that impression of danger from her. Not yet, anyway. And so he kept his stance. Staunch and serious.
And if anyone was misplaced in this world, it was him.
He had a sense of the old about him. A sort of antediluvian rustic smell; the old leather of his boots, the dirt scuff of his pants, a distinct odor of gunpowder and rawhide. To any modern viewer, he looked as though he'd just stepped off of an old west movie, on pause from the shootout scene. But for him it was life.
Life. Death. The Tower.
"Shoot?"
The translation didn't work the same in his dialect, and he caught his left hand itching near his holster. He looked to her and lowered his arm. Then returned his attention to the three skyscrapers.
"What do you call it?"
From: i_playthecello Date: 08/01/2006 03:35:45
Someday she was going to learn to mind her own business and just ignore people. Because up close, or rather up closer, he looked scary like he had come right out of The Quick And The Dead (which was one of the few westerns Kate had seen) or maybe that other one about the old Outlaws going on one last mission of vengeance.
She glanced down when his hand twitched, and paled. A gun. Wonderful. He had a gun, way to complete the whole 'Roy Rogers after Dale has gone and left me and taken my horse and I've turned to drink' look Mr. Cowboy.
"Ahh, I called it impressive. You know, impressive." Wow, that didn't help things at all. She glanced up and pointed at the Stark Industry Tower. "Stark Industries, run by a – nice guy."
Kate was feeling her heart speed up. The Avengers had been housed in Stark Industries after the Mansion was destroyed, maybe they where here. "I don't know about the other two." She shrugged; "Not from my New York."
She was getting better at accepting this whole; 'Different versions of New York' or 'Sometimes people are from different cities or times' thing.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 08/01/2006 09:54:31
"Nice men do not run towers," Roland replied, his tone confident and wondering. It was as though he may have been talking to himself. She had yet to prove to be another marker on the way to the Dark Tower. She was inconsequential. She was--
His attention diverted for a moment hearing the sounds of running footsteps, and his glance went down the street towards the oncoming duo; of both the two and four legged variety ...
From: i_who Date: 08/01/2006 02:01:23
On the ground, a few feet away, underfoot and at perfect eyeline for the downtrodden were the words BAD WOLF in simple chalk, trailing off the sidewalk and into the street like a large misplaced stamp.
From: i_gosquared Date: 08/01/2006 04:45:56
Trampling over the chalk letters, a golden retriever went bounding down the sidewalk. Its leather leash trailed behind it, limply. Even further behind it trailed an early-twentysomething man whose short black hair was the same colour as his buckley combat boots. In jeans and a muscle tee, he clomped after the dog, and held onto the leashes of four other dogs of variable breeds. The dogs occasionally attempted to drift off in other directions, but he lead them forward towards the one that got away.
Go-Go Fiasco was only the substitute dog walker. The blisteringly cute For Real dog walker had the flu, and offering to fill in for him had seemed like a perfect excuse to skip class. All of a sudden, philosophy class taught by Profession Condescension Queen didn't seem so bad.
"Aspetta! Aspetta!" Go-Go hollered out to the golden retriever called Nutmeg.
Barreling on, Nutmeg didn't bark, he only ran. He was as happy as a clam. Bumping past Kate, the dog jumped up on its hind legs to affectionately bounce his paws against Roland's chest.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 08/01/2006 09:51:06
The dog was lucky. Roland had shot men for far less. But perhaps he found himself growing more animal-loving in his old ages. A few hundred years of endless desert travel could do that to a men.
When the dog leapt up onto his chest, Roland didn't flinch. He merely stared back at the animal with cold blue eyes, as though trying to understand why the creature would allow itself to be trailed around by such a lacking human counterpart.
He reached out with his bandaged right hand, the one the Lobstrosities had taken a liking to, and pet the dog on the head.
"Many pleasant days and nights to you, Sai Canine."
He pulled the paws off his chest, attention drawn to the words in the street for a moment. This world was wrong. It disrupted the path of the Beam.
From: i_gosquared Date: 08/01/2006 18:49:20
"Get off him, you bitch. Get off him!" Go-Go breathlessly demanded. Now that Nutmeg wasn't running, Go-Go managed to close the distance between himself and the golden retriever. Evidently, he needn't have bothered with the shouting, as Roland appeared to casually talk Nutmeg down off of him.
Skidding to a halt and then crouching down to the dog's level, Go-Go snatched up the leash that had been swinging uselessly from Nutmeg. He wouldn't lose that dog again. Maybe another dog, but not this one. Looking up, he entreated to Kate, "My apologies." And to Roland, "Are you damaged?"
From: i_playthecello Date: 08/01/2006 19:37:40
"Nice men don't run towers?" What the heck kind of saying was that? She gave the other guy an 'okay, sure' look and was all set to wish him well, and hope that he had fun starting at the towers when the dog attacked. Okay maybe attacked was too strong of a word, when the dog showed up.
"No harm no foul." Kate gave a little shrug after the guy apologized to her, but she did take a few steps back. Dogs. She was not a dog person.
She glanced over to see what 'Nice Men Do Not Run Towers' was going to say in response to the 'are you damaged' question.
From: i_seekthetower Date: 08/01/2006 19:48:17
Are you damaged?
It was a peculiar means of asking the gunslinger if he had sustain any injury. It caused his brows to furrow just slightly. An expression so subtle and so far-reaching that it could have just as soon meant he was going to fall asleep or draw his weapon and answer the question with a few bullets.
"Your animal brings me no harm."
He looked to the dog for a moment. It was similar to the other canine he had come into contact with. Animals were more attune with the natural world than humans. He wondered if this one knew how to find the path of the Beam again.
From: i_gosquared Date: 08/02/2006 04:57:07
"Fantastic!" Fiasco beamed. Having a firm grip on the leashes, he jumped back up to his full height. Conversationally, he enthused, "Causing a death, even unintentionally, would have had me on a fast-track to fired. ...But listen to me, with the manners of a doberman. I should introduce myself. Hi, I'm Go-Go."
He waved at them both.
From: i_playthecello Date: 08/03/2006 07:45:10
Kate often tried to be serious (she was after all, only seventeen and often had the feeling that people weren’t taking her seriously) but this dog walker was making her grin. Okay, at first the bounding dog had been somewhat frightening, but hey, ‘manners of a doberman’ that was a good line. “Go-Go?” She had to repeat it to make sure she had heard it correctly. Was he saying his name was Go-Go or was he saying he had to Go-Go?
“As in, wake me up before you …?” Kate’s older sister had been a Wham fan. “I’m Kate Bishop."
From: i_gosquared Date: 08/03/2006 17:10:43
"Beauty to meet you, Kate," Go-Go said, as he wrapped her in a quick hug, and offered her a pair of European air-kisses to both cheeks. Recognizing the inflection when she said his name, he slyly confided, "George Michael's lustful lyrics inspired me to learn English."
As he stepped back from Kate, Go-Go looked over at Roland, expectantly. "And who may I ask are you, handsome stranger?"
From: i_seekthetower Date: 08/03/2006 18:58:56
Roland stared at the man with the dogs. His face was harsh and rugged, scorched by the sun from years of lone traveling. His eyes, cold and blue. reflecting the age he'd reached that far surpassed his body. And when he spoke it was rough. Definitely the figure out of one of those old westerns, but not that comical cheesy ones. This guy was the real deal.
And anyone who didn't believe that need only look to the large sandalwood pistols that hung loose on his hips, the leather holsters ancient with dirt.
"Roland Deschain of Gilead."
Son of Steven.
In the line of Eld.
The last of his breed.
Dinh of a displaced ka-tet.
Seeker of the Dark Tower.
He diverted his attention away from the two. Looked down to the animal again as if he half-expected the canine to lead him to something or speak some mystical riddle. Then he looked back up to the towers.
From: i_gosquared Date: 08/04/2006 03:53:57
Go-Go opened his mouth, and breathed out a "P-uh" or a "B-uh" sound. The rest of the word evaporated in his throat.
The dogs were on the move again, but instead of spinning like pinwheels in all directions, every one of them was practically marching in tandem. With his wrist secured to all the leashes, Go-Go had little choice but to, well, go with the flow. He flapped his arms in frustration, and followed the dogs on their charge towards Wayne Tech tower.