Character Carnival

"Lead the way, then," Kiora said. She took in her surroundings a bit more, straining her eyes against the fog. She didn't want to have to resort to her Byakugan any more than she had to. For some reason, having weird eyes got you stabbed a lot in different universes.

"So if you're a thief, you must be after something," she added, hoping the implied question would get picked up. Maybe this would be an easy trip and Kohana would be back to pick her up soon.

Alice stopped attacking buttons as she felt her Disruptor Knife practically writhing in anticipation. She'd just called upon something powerful. Too powerful, she worried, for her little knife to fully destroy; something akin to the Eyes and Teeth itself. Perhaps she should end her charade and simply kill the man lying before her now. No... no, not yet. Western Amalgamated has plans for this sort of thing, though they might need something larger than the Eternal King this time around. Which was a shame; only the Eyes and Teeth itself qualified there, if her knife was to be believed, and that tended to result in collateral far worse than the King's tendency to throw entire islands into other dimensions.

Her enemy seemed disabled, so Alice quickly hopped up and dove inside, resuming her childish masquerade. Entering the house, she said to the assembled people, "there, there's a man outside... he looks hurt, but when I tried to help him, he attack me... he... his neck has numbers on it, and... and... I got scared and hit them, and... and... I didn't want to hurt him, but he attacked me for no reason!"

edited 22nd Apr '11 11:09:59 PM by KillerClowns

OOC: I hope it is acceptable to have a character with a direct line to an Eldritch Abomination like this? That this isn't godmodding or anything? :/

Carnival music drifted over from what sounded like the direction of the Ferris wheel. Was that a signal? He could see it from his position at the entrance, towering over the myriad booths and other minor attractions arrayed around the carnival grounds. The scream had sounded as if it had come from that direction as well.

He started to move, his Kalashnikov at the ready, it's folding stock extended and at his shoulder. The booths made up an unlit, eerily cheerful maze. He checked round a corner. Nothing, the alley looked clear. He continued on.

As he passed through the alley of attractions and midway games he couldn't help but feel a sense of creeping unease. Why here? This looked to be the kind of place where you would scout for the set of a horror movie. It felt as if something could pop out from behind the nearest booth at any second.

Oh, Am I going to regret this one, Valentine thought as she gestured Kiora to follow her. On the one hand, if this girl wasn't lying, she was a trained killer. Add in the fact the two were out here alone and she had all the reasons she needed to keep the girl at arms length.

On the other hand, Valentine really did not want to be alone out here. Buddying up with the girl made the carnival grounds a little less unsettling. And, hey, what better company than someone trained to stab people really hard in the face?

Still, better to learn more about her first

"Tell you what," Valentine declared, "Why don't we hear your story first? I am certain you have a much more engaging tale to weave."

edited 22nd Apr '11 11:25:30 PM by GIG

Oh boy, Kiora thought. She'll either think I'm crazy or dangerous.

"Um, wow, where do I start?" she said, staring off for a bit. "Well, for starters, I'm not from here, actually. I have a companion that likes to mess with the multiverse, and she decided to drop me here for some training." Not that I really need it, she thought bitterly.

"Anyways, back home this group of terrorists is trying to destabilize the world, and we were worried about their entire organization trying to invade my village to take me out, so we went into hiding."

"Except, instead of just hiding, we decided to train, and I've already had to deal with an annoying blue hedgehog, a bunch of elves and dwarves, and this crazy old man in a really old temple... I sound totally insane, don't I?"

Rainer couldn't really reflect on this, as he screamed, but it wasn't really pain he was feeling. He was feeling things, delicate things, things that helped people get on with their every day life, being torn apart within him, the internal censor that allowed one to get on with life without thinking too hard about that woman you'd seen who had just disappeared into an alley with a sketchy looking man, the rotting thing in the dumpster which looked suspiciously like the remnants of a hand, the way numbers would somehow not add up when they should have, they needed to, for the sake of the entire universe, the impending nothingness of death...

No, the last was comforting to him, the thought of never having to see again, as yet more things invaded his mind, things more and more unworldly and unintelligible, parts of the one invisible, horrible truth, the sounds forcing him deeper still, closer to strange gods that didn't want or need prayer.

But this was besides the point. The point was, that in the background of all of this, his brain still managed to interpret this as physical pain. Though it still got worse, his voice exhausted quickly, and so he curled in on himself, whimpering.

OOC: I'm off for the night.

edited 23rd Apr '11 12:02:20 AM by OhSoIntoCats

...

Well.. damn.. Valentine resisted the urge to run in the opposite direction and smiled at the girl. "Well, I won't deny it: You've certainly have had an interesting life. Please, go on."

In her head, Valentine panicked. Oh God, oh shit, I'm right next to a Goddamn lunatic! Okay, keep calm Jessica, keep walking towards the house, and keep your eyes on the madwoman next to you. Valentine shook her head, I don't need to be dealing with this at my age. Why couldn't I have worked at Wal-Mart?

edited 22nd Apr '11 11:51:32 PM by GIG

"You totally don't believe me do you?" Kiora asked, frustration setting in. "Fine, I'll prove it to you! Stand back."

She rubbed her hands together, flexed her fingers, and snapped through the familiar handsigns of her signature technique. She felt the Eight Inner Gates pop, forced open by the chakra coursing through her. She didn't care that the energy spike was probably detectable anywhere in the next 20 miles.

As she hovered, supported by chakra flowing from the bottom of her feet, she grinned. "Still think I'm crazy?"

Wait, she thought. Now I'm crazy and dangerous...

FUCK!

edited 22nd Apr '11 11:58:54 PM by animemetalhead

The screaming started back up again, this time louder. It petered off after a while. The man with the blue helmet quickened his pace. It looked like he was closer to the base of the Ferris wheel now, looming high over him. He reached the end of this passage and pressed his back against the wall. He poked his head around the corner...

And noticed first that a girl appeared to be hovering in the air.

... Okay, what the fuck?

edited 23rd Apr '11 12:00:01 AM by Gault

Fighting off the urge to run away, Valentine stared at the girl. Slowly, she unholstered her pistol with shakey hands and aimed it at the girl.

"What the Hell are you?"

Panicked, he dropped down to one knee and assumed a firing position. Training the sights of his AK on the girl just in case, he heard someone shout "What the Hell are you?" I'll say, he thought, glancing to the side and noticing the person who had yelled, looking similarly in shock. Better to not give away his presence yet. It would be safer to simply observe for now and see what happens.

And there was that damn weapon. Kiora hadn't ever encountered one like it, and she really didn't want to fight. Well, if it came to that to get out of here, but...

She willed away the chakra and landed in a crouch, bowing her head.

"I'm sorry if I startled you," she said. She resisted the urge to mess with her head a bit. "I just hate it when no one takes me seriously."

You're digging yourself deeper, she told herself. Probably.

"On the other hand, there appears to be someone sneaking up on us," she said.

Keeping her weapon trained on the girl, Valentine looked around.

"Friend or foe, you had better show yourself now!" She really didn't believe the girl, but better safe than sorry.

Then again, can't get anymore unsafe and sorry than this

The man with he blue helmet stepped out from behind his cover, standing up and switching his aim from the girl to the other one. "Identify yourself!" He kept a weary eye on the freaky The Ring girl, but the other one was holding the gun.

Kiora forced chakra into her feet, disappearing from her original location and reappearing behind the man. She held a kunai to his spine.

"Kiora Haruno," she muttered into his helmet. "Ninja. I don't have a card though," she added, with a nod to Valentine.

The blue helmeted man didn't move. "Fuck." He took his right hand off the weapon's grip, extending it to show that no fingers were on any trigger. He held his arms apart now, gripping the AK by it's forestock. "Easy." He locked eyes with the girl in front of him, hoping she'd get the signal.

Looking back between the girl and where she had been, Valentine's mind tried to process the events unfolding in front of her eyes.

That is Immpossible! How can she-Whats going-I don't-I don't-I-I-I

Valentine's eyes rolled to the back of her head and immediatly afterwards, she fainted.

OOC: Night all! Take care of Valentine's body for me!

edited 23rd Apr '11 12:47:15 AM by GIG

The woman across from him then fainted. Aw fucknuts. "Fantastic." he muttered. He turned his head, and nothing else, so speak with the diminutive assassin holding a knife to his back. "Name's Grimm. I don't carry one either." He dropped the AK and placed his left hand on his belt, waiting for a response.

"Damn," Kiora muttered. "All right, you," she said, poking Grimm in with her free hand. She kept her kunai at the ready, but pulled it away from his back.

"You should probably state your purpose," she demanded, walking around him and putting herself between him and the unconscious Valentine. "Might actually give me a reason to trust you."

edited 23rd Apr '11 12:52:34 AM by animemetalhead

Grimm was a reasonably tall man who looked, as far as anybody could tell, to be in his early to mid-20s. He wore urban patterned camouflage fatigues, a tac vest slotted with magazines for his AK, a polymer G17 in a thigh holster and several F1 grenades attached to his belt. On his head he wore his blue SPECTRA helmet with UN painted on the sides in white lettering and it's symbol, a world map wreathed with olive branches, on the front. He was also wearing a black balaclava, and would be wearing his shooting glasses were it not nighttime. Instead, he had them folded up in a pocket on his vest.

He stared down at her. "I was told to meet my contact here. Since I was never informed of the possibility of my contact being a teleporting midget I'll assume you're not who I'm looking for. What's it to you?"

edited 23rd Apr '11 6:27:11 AM by Gault

"Midget?" Kiora raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her hip. "I'm five-foot six!"

She studied his appearance. "If I knew what half of this was I'd be at an advantage here," she muttered. "All right, you didn't attack us on sight, so you're either scared, smart, or not an enemy. Since you've shown no further signs of hostility, I'm inclined to believe the latter."

"And wouldn't common sense dictate that I would be expecting you if I was your 'contact?'"

edited 23rd Apr '11 1:12:39 AM by animemetalhead

"My thoughts exactly." Relieved to no longer be a hostage of this supernatural young woman, he bent over to retrieve his weapon and slung it by it's carry strap over his shoulder again. He turned to face the ninja. "And just so you know, I was the first two before, but right now I'm all three. The United Nations and it's members don't tend to start conflicts. We're more in the business of ending them. It's a damn fine business if I do say so myself. So, just what the Hell are you doing here?"

edited 23rd Apr '11 1:22:38 AM by Gault

"I'd like to know myself," Kiora muttered dryly. She reminded herself to punish Kohana when she finally got home.

"I don't really know what my purpose here is," she finally said. "It'd be easier if there was some sort of obvious evil floating around, but for right now all I've got going for me is following her." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder at Valentine. "Unless you have a better idea?"

"Well if you're not my contact then he must be around here somewhere. I would have received word if the meeting had been cancelled. These people don't call a meeting just to blow someone off when he gets there. Blow someone up maybe, but I'm still alive and so are you, so I take it that I still have business here." He looked at the crumpled form of the fainted girl. "Uhh, speaking of her- there's a house over there. It'd be kindof dickish to just leave her out there like that. Wanna help me bring her inside?"

edited 23rd Apr '11 1:32:11 AM by Gault