The Menders of Construction

The Magic SOB forum is for posts of story sequences that are frequently vignette-based. Put those here while actual battle reports can go in Reports From the Field.
You must talk like James T. Kirk in this forum at all times. Leonard Nimoy is fine too.

Moderators: Zahru II, Thesson, Magic Soap

Post Reply
User avatar
MadMario
Purism Prometheus
Purism Prometheus
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu May 26, 2016 4:41 am
Location: NRW, Germany

The Menders of Construction

Post by MadMario » Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:27 am

Image
It is one of those countless battlefields, somewhere in the brikverse, after another gratuituous battle, fought over meaningless reasons.





Image
The cannons and rifles have long fallen silent. No one is there to say who won or lost. It doesn´t matter.





Image
On the fringes of the field sits a lonely boy, left behind or forgotten by his kind. He doesn´t remember. He just tries to survive.

Boy: "Geez, another day on this... planet? moon? I don´t even know anymore. I should have made carvings for the days I´ve been here. What kind of meat is this anyways? Well, the hunger will help it down, hopefully."


Image
And while he bites off a chunk of the undefined meat which will keep him alive some more time, he doesn´t notice that someone is approaching his campsite.





Image
He only gets it when one of the figures begins to speak. He jumps up, more surprised than scared.

???:"Another lost soul! Fear not, for we, the Menders of Construction will mean no harm to you!"

"The...what? Oh, my manners... . Hello, I am Billy, and you are?"

"Hello Billy, I am the Reverend Foreman of the M.o.C.. And your time of suffering ends now!"





Image
Billy sighs loudly.

"But how? My people are gone. I have nowhere to go. No one to fight. My life has no purpose."

"And still you are here. Alive. Althought you have no signs of plot armor, or a long-lasting story-arc."

"Plot armor? Story-arc? Whaddaya talking about?"





Image
The Reverend Foreman makes some protruding gestures, while in the background more and more drones and workers appear, sweeping up the debris and collecting parts from the battlefield.

"See, Benny, everything in the brikverse has a meaning. Every piece of ABS is there on purpose. All the constructions you know have been thought of, built and placed by superior beings. We all are only imaginations of higher entities, who control everything we do."

"So these higher beings want me to suffer and die ignoble on this nameless piece of dirt? Great perspective..."





Image
"No, no. Sometimes it just happens that a higher entity just... forgets some of his creations. Loses track of them. This is not to be judged by us. These superior beings have a lot on their baseplates, you know?"

"That still would mean that at least now my life has no purpose anymore, if my creators have lost interest in me..."

"And this is the point where we come in, Bobby."

"Billy."

"Yeah, sure, sure."





Image
The Reverend Foreman turns around and points at the battlefield, which is halfway of being cleared by the drones and workers, who bring the resources to a huge ship nearby (which Billy somehow didn´t notice landing in the first place).

"See, everyone here was a lost soul like you. No battles left to fight, no stories thought of anymore. No future. And the battlefield? If there is only war, there is only destruction. And at some point everything would be destroyed. And then no brave warrior would have a purpose or meaning anymore."

"I see."





Image
"But we, the Menders of Construction have been sent out by the superior beings to change this! We collect the resources that are left behind, so that they can be used in future battles anew. And we give lost souls - like you - a function, other than meaningless battles."

"So my creators didn´t forget me, they just... outsourced my story-arc to an external service provider."

"Well, I guess that´s one way to see it, Barry."

"Billy."

"Of course, of course."





Image
"So what do you say? Want to live a meaningful life full of hard work and unpaid overtime hours?"

"It is the will of my creators! It is my purpose! The superior beings chose this way for me!"

"Easy, Barney! A simple 'yes' would have worked, too."

"Billy..."





Image
"whatever...then I now may welcome you in the ranks of the mighty Menders of Construction!"

"I have a purpose! My life has a meaning! I will do... yeah, but what will I do?"





Image
"Well, at first we get you on board of the ship, where you will be tested in several skills, and we´ll find out which role suits you most. Collector, Painter, Repairman, Sorter... there are many options."

"This sounds awesome! The superior beings are so wise and far-sighted!"

"uhm, yeah. You are easily impressed, boy. I´m used to need more convincing for our cause. I hope you keep up this enthusiasm, then you may get far up in our ranks quickly."





Image
And while Billy and the Reverend Foreman silently walk up to the ship, countless workers and drones have collected all the resources of the field and bring them into the enormous cargo bay of the impressive ship.

"What do we do with all these resources? Where do they go? Are there many of these ships? Or just this one? Has every ship a Reverend Foreman like you? And what are the other ranks? How many people are we? And what´s for lunch?"




Image
"All your questions will be answered. But for now, just shut the fuckup and get on board."

"This is the beginning of a new chapter! Praised be the superior beings!"

And so, a former homeless boy boards the flagship of the Menders of Construction, on his way into a bright future full of story and meaning.



The End Beginning
Compendium of my works
ImageImageImage
More Badges
Show
ImageImageImageImage

User avatar
Food_Truk
I'm going to have to use normal children to test it before I can use babies
Posts: 479
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 9:26 am

Re: The Menders of Construction

Post by Food_Truk » Sat Sep 26, 2020 7:07 am

MadMario wrote:
Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:27 am
"All your questions will be answered. But for now, just shut the fuckup and get on board."
Some interns, I swear. :lol: I just know I'm going to enjoy the shenanigans of these guys.

User avatar
MadMario
Purism Prometheus
Purism Prometheus
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu May 26, 2016 4:41 am
Location: NRW, Germany

One hand washes the other, Pt. 1

Post by MadMario » Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:04 pm

Image
A BOCKSY gunship in the designated colours of the M.o.C. speeds through the Henndirro galaxy...




Image
Its pilot, a BocksyCorp. drone, is focused on the navigation controls, while the passengers have a conversation in the main room...




Image
Reverend Foreman Corvin Drayton: "See, Billy? Just a few days since we found you, and the Elder Priest already assigned you on a mission. You may feel honoured. Not every neophyte gets such an opportunity. Most of them get to study our customs for several weeks before being sent to space."




Image
Billy the neophyte: "I surely feel honoured, Reverend Foreman! The superior beings must have great plans for me. Though I don´t even know where we´re going right now."




Image
"Well, that´s easy. Like every other faction in the BrikVerse we need spondulicks to keep our business running. And the resources we collect are valuable, but they need to be returned to the economic cycle. We only may sort out some special kinds of ABS that have a certain value for others, and then trade them in for credits or commodities..."

He points at the boxes that occupy every free space of the ship

"...like these crates of sorted transparent briks. There are many factions who can utilize them for their purposes, in exchange for generous compensation..."




Image
"...and today we´ll visit one of our oldest trade partners, and you will see first hand how our collected resources are utilized."

"This is all so exciting! I love all these transparent colours. I always liked them, I guess. And these other factions make useful things out of this scrap? That´s so awesome! Will we see what they´re building?"




Image
At this moment, the voice of the drone sounds from the cockpit

"We have reached destination. Beginning landing procedure. All personnell hold on."

"Well, Billy, you´ll find out in a minute, I guess."




Image
The ship lands near to a building, and while the engines die down, the Reverend foreman opens the hatch and assigns Billy to follow him.

"I guess you´ll like it here, but don´t get too excited. The people here don´t like do have their work disturbed, and the facility is supervised by an old friend of mine. So behave."

"Of course, Reverend Foreman. I´ll be as quiet as a mouse!"

"Let´s hope so..."




Image
"Ameeno! Long time no see!"

Ameeno Asyd:"Corvin! It´s been a while..."



to be continued
Compendium of my works
ImageImageImage
More Badges
Show
ImageImageImageImage

User avatar
Food_Truk
I'm going to have to use normal children to test it before I can use babies
Posts: 479
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 9:26 am

Re: The Menders of Construction

Post by Food_Truk » Sat Oct 10, 2020 4:36 pm

Well, look who it is...

Image

User avatar
MadMario
Purism Prometheus
Purism Prometheus
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu May 26, 2016 4:41 am
Location: NRW, Germany

One hand washes the other, Pt. 2

Post by MadMario » Sun Oct 11, 2020 6:04 pm

Image
Ameeno Asyd leads the Reverend Foreman and Billy inside the CSA laboratory, where everyone is busy doing different kinds of science.

Ameeno Asyd: "Come on in, Corvin. How´s the going? Do you bring us high quality transparent parts once more?"

Reverend Foreman Corvin Drayton: "The highest quality. All pre-sorted homogenous, ready for use."




Image
"Excellent! Oh, and who is your little friend?"

"Oh, that is Billy. He´s a Neophyte, but the Elder High-building Priest decided to send him on his first mission with me. So here we are."

Billy: "It´s an honor to meet you, ma´am."

"And what a polite young man you are! - Well back to business, anyway. Let´s get this parts to the storage room!"




Image
"Vin! Show these gentlemen where to put the crates in the storage room, please."

Vin L. Kloreed: "Sure, Ms. Asyd."

"And you, Billy, help the drones to unload the crates."

"Of course, Reverend Foreman!"




Image
Billy and the Bocksy drones follow Vin into the storage rooms.

"So, there we are. I think we´ll just put some boxes down here, and the rest into the empty shelf over there."

Bocksy drones: "Affirmative."

Billy grabs one of the crates and tries to pull it off the pushcart, but it´s jammed. He pulls once more jerkily...




Image
...and the crate comes suddenly off, banging against the cram-full shelf. *WHAM* All the items start to jiggle, and one of them falls down.

"Easy, boy!"




Image
Vin steps quickly forward and catches the vase-like object made of glass and metal at the last second.

"Phew, close one..."




Image
"I´m so sorry! I just was so excited that I can help, I... I didnt..."

Billy tears up, regretting his overeagerness.




Image
"Now, now - calm down, boy. It´s not a big deal. Everyone´s nervous on his first mission."

"...but not everyone dismantles a storage room at first duty."




Image
Meanwhile, the drones have stowed away the rest of the crates.

"Don´t push it too hard now, buddy. No one dismantled anything here. Not even this thing broke."

"If it wasn´t for me, it wouldn´t have fallen down in the first place."

"Now stop wallowing in self-pity. Everything happens for a reason. And maybe this here was to teach you being more careful in the future! C´mon, let´s get back to the lab."




Image
In the lab, Ameeno and Corvin are talking vivified. As the others enter they see a despondent Billy, and stop talking.

"What happened?"

"He´s just a little gloomy because he nearly broke this thing."




Image
Vin hands the object over to Ameeno, who agitates it shortly in her hands.

"That´s it? Nothing else? Well, young man, that´s really no reason to be gloomy."

"I told you to behave. Thankfully nothing worse happened. I hope you´ve learned your lesson."




Image
They all get through the main entrance towards the waiting gunboat, where the drones already stow away the carriages and themselves. Billy is noticeable relieved that his faux-pas didn´t have any serious consequences. Vin hands out a gold ingot to the Reverend Foreman, the remuneration for the transparent materials.




Image
Then they all disband, but as Billy just turns towards the gunboat´s airlock, Ameeno Asyd calls after him.

"Hey, young man!"

Billy turns around.

"You can have this, as a keepsake of your fist mission. We don´t have a use for it anyways."




Image
"Here, catch!" she yells as she throws the object towards him.

Billy startles and quickly turns toward the thing to catch it. As soon as he touches it...






Image
...the world around him gets dark and cold, as if he was suddenly in outer space, and the object in his hands starts to glow heavily. Then he feels the presence of a strange entity, and suddenly a deep, weird voice whirs in his head:

"BIIIIIIIILLLLLLYYYY..."






Image
A million thoughts run simultaneously through the brain of the totally petrified Billy. The Entity gives him insight into the past and the future, showing him what has been and what might be. He knows that It´s instructing him to fulfill Its will.

"I have great plans for you, Billy. The Menders found you on purpose. The core didn´t fall down by chance. It called for you..."

"Billy?"




Image
All of a sudden, the voice and the darkness are gone, as Billy still stands in front of the gunboat.

"What´s holding you up? We have to go now. Running short in time."

"Time... such a meaningless concept."

In his mind, the voice still echoes, as Billy understands the very structure of the brikverse all of a sudden. He knows exactly what to do. And that time doesn´t matter anymore.




Image
And so he boards the gunboat. His mind already planning ahead his next steps to fulfill the desires of a real superior being.



to be continued
Compendium of my works
ImageImageImage
More Badges
Show
ImageImageImageImage

User avatar
Tzan
Has anyone ever used those holes before?
Has anyone ever used those holes before?
Posts: 4799
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:41 pm
Location: Boston

Re: The Menders of Construction

Post by Tzan » Sun Oct 11, 2020 7:39 pm

Nice!

Really great photo with the eyeball monster and the lighting.

User avatar
Food_Truk
I'm going to have to use normal children to test it before I can use babies
Posts: 479
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2019 9:26 am

Re: The Menders of Construction

Post by Food_Truk » Sun Oct 11, 2020 11:56 pm

Damn, of course you'd have to make some amazing eldritch monstrosity. Good thing no one told Billy what usually happens to main characters in a Lovecraft novel...

User avatar
RunsWithLegos
Official Duck
Official Duck
Posts: 2245
Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2010 6:45 pm
Location: Boston, MA, USA

Re: The Menders of Construction

Post by RunsWithLegos » Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:26 am

Great work man! Your scenes, lighting and photography ar alle top cheese! I'm honored that my BOCKSY stuff gets to share the stage with your creativity and skill!!

Post Reply