Steampunk

[wingfeather]

Conan's face went cold white, he could feel the freezing beads of panicked sweat breaking out on his lower neck. He could hardly keep from running blindly at top speed in any open direction, actually wait, he did. The crazed laughter only pushing his legs to a greater speed. Suddenly they saw them, the mad cackling never subsided it merely changed pitch and tone causing the sefratchos to sound like a group of insane people who had lived in an asylum for most of their lives. Conan could see that they were relishing this moment with traumatizing glee. His breath came out in short gasps, the sight of these horrifying beings caused him to stop cold and left him without the mental strength to control his legs. One of they sefratchas came forward and shoved Glapis cruelly into the acid steam. The essick just sat there unable to move. The sefratcha rounded with frightening speed and kicked out his leg, hitting Conan in the back of his knees causing his legs to buckle and collapse toward the hungry green stream. But just before he made fatal contact Conan felt an iron grip on the back of his shirt and jacket hauling him up roughly and throwing him forcefully against the metal wall causing a very loud gong sound to reverberate through the tunnel. Conan tried sitting up again but was rewarded with a rough kick in the stomach, doubling him over and leaving him moaning on his side. But the sefratcho was not finished yet. He brought Conan up to his feet again by grabbing his red hair and forcing Conan back upright. Quickly Conan was twisted into a neck hold and was at the same time had his arms pinned back by the other arm, leaving him helpless, his feet not even making full contact with the ground.

[Chloriosus]

As he heard the hollow sounds of Conan bolting, Jevo attempted at running in the opposite direction, cold sweat breaking out all over him in his panic stricken state, his neck choking up and cutting of all access to oxygen. He could hear the empty yet creaking sounds of metal on metal as a Sefratcho pursued him, the utterly mindless and conscience dead choked up sounds of its mirth ringing through Jevo's ears where its menacing sound was even more twisted by the deafeningly throbbing sound in his ears. He began shaking, his legs didn't want to go, they began failing on him and he felt as though he were stuck in a cauldron filled to the brim with burning oils and his head was being held under it. He raced on, but no matter how fast he went, the Sefratcho was faster, it steps sounding collected and efficient. It wasn't possible for these to be humans, their twisted grins at their ravishing delight of the fear they induced in anyone was etched in their very being. Suddenly, the steps stopped, suddenly silenced. Crashing sounds were ricocheting allover the tunnel at brain numbing volumes, yet to Jevo the unnerving and suspense of that little sounds lack rang in his ears louder than any other sound present. The laughter wasn't gone, just the steps, had he lost it? He couldn't think, his air was stil clogged up. Suddenly, he felt it, a cold, icy freezing hand, cold but dry, pushing him forwards by his neck, dry as the city in summer season, yet cold as the cog purifier, reaching at him, teasing him, causing his eyes to fog up and the fear to freeze the air remaining in his lungs. He froze up, not moving, his mind blanking as the laughter was now right by him, shrieking in his ears. Suddenly, he regained some nerve control. With all the strength his forged up conscience could bring up, he drew back his metal hand and brought it down on the being next to him, throwing every last bit of his will power, striking the Sefratcho straight in the stomach, a blow that would have made anyone he knew collapse and reduce them to a heap on the floor. Without waiting to see what had happened he began running again, only to receive a hard blow from the front, hitting him in the neck and stealing the last of his breath. His vision instantly clouded black, he could see practical nothing now. The sefratcho was not down, no, it was up, seemigly not affected at all, its insane and diseased laughter increasing in pitch and volume in distorted tones after receiving the hit. It shot out its hand, grabbing Jevo by the ankle and flipping him straight into the air. Jevo found himself flying right above the deadly stream whose dim green light somewhat penetrated his fogginess. He felt himself hit the metal wall, and he almost lasted into the black whichs black aura honestly seemed appealing now. Suddenly he realized he was sliding back down the wall. His breath came back as his mind gave on last struggle to fight for its survival. In a desperate attempt to keep himself from dying, he attempted at grabbing onto the slick metal walls, resulting in an ear souring squeak that made him draw together and shiver as his right hand desperatly tried to cling onto the wall. Just before he could reach the devouring liquid, he felt himself hoisted back up by his ankle and thrown down at the floor with a bone cracking force. His vision completely left him as his head hit the floor, then returned slightly as his head started throbbing horrendously. He was on his stomach, and an unnervingly small amount of inches seperated him from the acid. He attempted at struggling when the Sefratcho planted her foot firmly on his back, forcing him down. "Leaving so soon?", she asked with her distorted and mocking voice, forcing him to focus sole on catching his breath. She then took her foot off his back and pulled him up by his neck, forcing him to kneel on the ground. "I caught the other one!', she notified the others, her grin returning as she let out another burst of laughter which traveled up and down the tunnels in short throbbing waves.

[wingfeather]

Another tall, dark-haired sefatcha came towards and cuffed Conan with rusted irons, he dread for being caught intensified by five when he hears the distant voice of another sefatcho inform the others of her success at capturing Jevo, but, at the same time, he felt his heart lighten a small bit, at least he wasn't going through this alone. He was dropped down and a chain was attached to the linked cuffs that pulled his hands back tightly against his back. The bonds twisted his shoulders cruelly and bit into his flesh but this was nothing compared to what he had gone through earlier. Glapis had snuck off earlier and was hiding in the shadows observing all that was passing,, not that anyone could actually escape a sefatcho, but the didn't care about essick, they had different motives today. The essick wished he could help his friends but there wasn't much one boy could do against seven twice his height. Conan threw a glance toward his captor, what he saw amazed and yet disconcerted him, the sefatcho didn't seem like he was much older than himself. Conan bit his lip and tasted blood, he heard stories about the juvenile and had always made jokes about it but suddenly, with the reality of it all, it did not seem very funny any longer. He wished very had that this would all just pass as a dream and he would wake up soon but Conan knew that this was going to be the nightmare of nightmares.

[Chloriosus]

After Jevo had caught his breath somewhat, the Sefratcho efficiently led him back to the rest of the mobile group. Apparently Conan had run the other way with equal success rates at getting away, and was fully paying the price for it. Only when they had actually reached them was it that Jevo noticed their horrendous laughter had subsided, and now their silence even at walking was as sinister as their blood curdling laughter. One of them hoisted the other up in almost mechanical fashion, apparently they were checking to see if the rain had let up. It was by far not as strong as it had been, but the streets were heavily washed up with it and it was still drizzling. "Weather conditions clear.", the Sefratcho up top reported, slipping out of the hole and looking dow upon all of them. "Alright, pass them up.", he said, rather easily, glancing up at the sky and into the rain, the corners of his mouth twitching.

[wingfeather]

Conan was led forward roughly, a sefratcho at either side of him as they walked down the narrow ledge. He returned Jevo's glance and put on a cocky and exaggerated 'bout time you showed up expression. He seemed to be pretty bashed up, did they have worse before...kinda, but not exactly. The things that make these captures so dreaded so the safratcha themselves. Conan noticed they were approaching the drainage pipe hole, it was still raining up there, he groaned inwardly as he re-lived the feeling of the still tender acid burns they had acquired with coming there in the first place. Unfortunately the fact of the rain didn't seem to bother the sefatcho in the least. When the one who had already claimed out called down he watched as Jevo was dragged forward.

[Chloriosus]

Jevo's futile struggles against the sefratcho's steely grip on his throat were met with a brutal thrust forward, as the towering, shadow-enshrouded figure hauled him towards the diminutive aperture where another sefratcho peered down with a dispassionate gaze. A knot of dread tightened in his stomach at the thought of the sinister interpretations of that phrase. The one who had ensnared him released her hold, hurling him towards her counterpart, who snatched Jevo with the ease of catching a gar cog in a casual round of Toraga—a game that was enjoyable under normal circumstances, but decidedly not when one becomes the plaything. And most certainly not in this instance. Upon seizing him, the sefratcho clamped his right arm against his torso, her ally mirroring the action on his left. His muddled mind raced to fathom the heinous plot they were enacting. Once his arms were securely pinned, the duo hoisted him aloft, positioning him directly beneath the water pipe's orifice. Jevo uttered a low hiss as the acrid sting of acid stung his skin once more. His body convulsed briefly before snapping rigidly upright when one of the captors jabbed at his ankle. They elevated him higher, and Jevo cast a desperate glance at Conan, who seemed as clueless as he was about their predicament, albeit watching him with the slightest trace of a smirk. Abruptly, before Jevo could process his fate, a shout pierced the air, and he was flung skyward, soaring out of the drainage tunnels, narrowly missing the edge of the drain by a mere half spring's breadth. The acceleration got him high into the air and he began flailing wildly in the hazed panick of the situation. The mocking laugh of one, no several of them rang up before he once again felt an unexpected wrench on his arm, as the one sefratcho grabbed hiim from out of the air and roughly puched him in the side, doubling him over before dropping him on the floor. "Got him single pieced!", the somewhat raspy voice of the sefratcho called down at the others almost merrily,"Next one up?"

[wingfeather]

Conan watched with slight apprehension as Jevo was vaulted through the hole but he was careful to ensure that teenage indifference was all that was displayed upon his face even though the mask was rather thin. ''Aint that a first,'' Conan's capture answered though his black eyes were upon Conan and were gleaming in an unsettlingly bright way. As soon as the hail from above was heard Conan was immediately and firmly dragged forward, and before one could say cogs and clocks he felt himself forcefully thrust upwards out of the hole. The seftratcho caught him easily and threw him down without a second glance. Conan landed awkwardly on the ground but could not get up for the irons clamped upon his wrists. He tried to maneuver his head to find Jevo but he was positioned the wrong way, with his friend behind him. Conan felt a sudden burning on his cheek when he realized that the acid rain had not quite stopped yet, he winced as he felt a few more drops on his exposed hands. The sefratcha helped each other seemingly mechanically out of the hole and soon the heavy lid was replaced.

[Chloriosus]

Jevo heard Conan being slammed down apparently behind him. Twisting his arms slightly he tapped his fingers slightly against the pavement, the tap system they had for talking giving the message of “Ah, how nice of you to join me up here.” The Sefratchos had helped each other out of the drainage, and two of them argued about who would put the lid back on. Connan and Jevo were picked up unceremoniously by the ear, and then marched before the Sefratchos, the sounds of the arguing ending with a loud smacking sound and the indignant explanation of an obscenity. Jevo walked along with his head held down, his fingers tapping out the message,”well aren’t they kind hearted people?”, his maroon eyes rolling themselves excessively. He felt the grip on his wrist twist slightly after he did that

[wingfeather]

Conan’s ears picked up the coded tapping immediately and recognized the meaning. As soon as he was roughly brought to his feet he gave Jevo the expression of a raised eyebrow and tightly pursed lips along with widened eyes, which I may add gave him a quite disturbing appearance. He heard the sound of a heated argument coming from behind but could not tell what they were saying as the Sefratchos kept talking over each other. As they were pushed along he suddenly realized that the were not going towards juvvy, no, they were being led towards a place that at this point he considered worse… the clockmaker’s tower. A shuffled and tapped his feet in an odd way to try to get a message across to Jevo but the lead Sefratcho picked this up and gave him a kick in the shin and stepped between the two to keep them apart.

[Chloriosus]

Jevo pressed his lips together and faintly shook his head whilst trying to keep up with the sefratchos long efficient strides. The looming clock tower was growing ever larger as they steadily approached it, the huge spherical clock face levitating between the two magnetic plates holding it in its hanging position. Apparently one of the sefratchos hadn't gotten over the communication attempt yet, for it grimly turned Conan to walk backwards. "Since you Ravichik seem so determined to talk, you can very well do that to the back alleys.", was all that it uttered, it's red eyes gleaming with a desensed luster. A puddling of floobs scuttled nervously away from under the boots of the Sefratchos, leaving behind the wasted and half eaten cadaver of a decomposing drove. "Hey look, food.", one said sarcastically as they passed it." Another responded with an absent,"yeah." Another one placidly cocked the machine gun it was carrying and shot several rounds into the dead bird, "Still wish to eat it?" The first one shrugged, "Do you?" "Sure, And die of lead poisoning!" This last remark sent the deserted alley ways to ringing with savage and hysterically heaving laughter.

[wingfeather]

Conan begrudgingly began walking backwards, the face of a leering Sefratcho just in front of him at times stepping on his feet if Conan slowed down. He blinked quickly at the humor of these creatures and could not help but stare at the decaying drove and the gleaming upturned fangs of the floobs. As they approached the clock tower Conan could feel the pace shift from a quick march to a near run causing Conan to stumble a few times earning his some very sore feet. He tried to defiantly keep his eyes on the Sefratcho but could not bare the sight and looked away, in time to see a person pointedly staring at the procession from a concealed position on the roof line, the figure looked away suddenly. Conan blinked and looked back to see him staring again. Another man walked up and joined the first just then, they seemed to exchange a look before standing and walking off. But Conan couldn’t shake the feeling of being closely observed. The Sefratcho whipped his head around suddenly, but turned back just as quickly, stepping on Conan’s foot for good measure.

[Chloriosus]

Cringing at their captors laughter, the boys were marched all the way to the huge clock tower in the second center of the city they called home. Though his head was lowered, Jevo kept a steady eye on the sefratcho that was walking in front of him, daring to make a grimace at its back and paying for this amusement with a swift twist of his wrists. He kept his head slightly lower after that, trying to look behind him to see if he could catch a glimpse of Conan, who,it appeared, was being marched backwards. It was fortunate that the rain had ceased, otherwise they probably wouldn’t be in one piece any more, Jevo thought. All too quickly they reached the outside entrance to the time tower, where the group halted none too gently. One of them gestured sharply towards the short one, who also happened to be the one that was the main cause of Conan’s discomfort, and motioned for him to scram up the time tower. He strode to the door and tried the handle, which, being locked (curtesy of Conan and Jevo), didn’t budge. The freak tried again, this time violently, but the offending lock, was still locked. He through his head back and shot the one in front of Jevo a look. That one unduly stepped forward and drew a suspicious wrapped package out of a concealed pocket, which he casually folded several times, tucked snugly into the lock and then nonchalantly set on fire. As if on cue, the two stepped to the side as the door quite literally blew open, the lock and half of the door ending up completely disintegrated. Jevo’s ears rang with the explosion, and he tossed his head to get his hair out of his face, earning him a well aimed kick in the shins. The short one nodded sarcastically and then began his assent , his footsteps echoing up the stairs for quite a while. The one with the machine gun eyed a charred part of the door and nonchalantly said “Arson.” All six started snickering.

[wingfeather]

For the entire remainder of the march Conan could not shake the eery feeling of being watched... watched very closely. He chanced a few more glances to the surrounding areas but did not detect anything more through the sticky yellow fog which constantly enwrapped the city. He became rigid as he realized that they were nearing the Time Tower, where their dreaded master, the clock maker, resided. He shuddered which caused his tormenter to smile sickly. Conan quickly turned away unable to look at the face for even a minute. He was unsure which he couldn't bare more, the Sefratchos or the Clock Maker, it was definitely a close call. They stopped suddenly and the Sefratcho in front of him walked away upon being called. Conan didn't realize till then that he had been holding his breath, he let it out slowly. A sudden and loud bang which caused his robotic ears to screech exploded from somewhere behind him, he didn't dare look for there was another sefratcho close by carrying a machine gun, she was uncomfortably close by. He heard an all too well known bellow of his master, yelling about the broken door. It stopped abruptly, he probably had caught sight of the intruder, ''the fun begins,'' he thought wryly at the irony.