Character Resort

If there's one thing to be said about most sentient life, it's that they never bother to look up. Right? Sure. Left? All the time. Down? More often than you'd think. But rarely does anyone ever look up.

Had anyone bothered to look up at this particular point in time, they might have noticed the strange white haired girl standing (not floating, there's an important difference) upside down against the glow of the sun. If one of them had simply bothered to lift back their head, perhaps what came next wouldn't have been so much of a surprise.

"I didn't know you could dig into minds. Do you need a special shovel or something?" Suddenly, Ryan became aware of a very queer pressure on his head. He couldn't quite place it at first. It felt heavy, but somehow quite soft, and almost restrained. Then it came to him. Someone was sitting on his head.

As if his ignorance of this fact had temporarily suspended the laws of physics, gravity returned and Ryan fell backwards, his unwanted Head Pet crashing to the floor with him.

"Owwwww... that hurt." The girl, curled up on the floor next to Ryan, rubbed the crook of her back. Leaving aside her sudden appearance on his head, the girl was quite the odd one. She was fairly tall, about six feet, and was probably in her mid-twenties. Her hair was white as the full moon, her skin only a tad more flushed and her eyes shone a brilliant blue. She was beautiful.

But it was not the beauty of modeling agencies or Hollywood editing perfection. It was a horrible beauty, a forbidden beauty, so unnervingly perfect that one could almost sense it was of something far more than humanity. Her figure was perfect, even statuesque, something her marble like skin supported. The perfect white hair was without a knot or tangle, and her blue eyes reflected the light like sapphires. It inspired both awe and fear, not of the girl herself, but of the divine retribution one would receive for setting one's eyes upon something that clearly belonged to gods.

But if she was indeed a thing of the divine, something beyond the minds and hearts of mortal men... she certainly didn't act like it.

"Why'd you do that? It really hurt!"

edited 23rd Oct '11 10:19:00 PM by KSPAM

Vincent pondered Claude's words for a few moments. What made her think that Alex was here in the first place? Hypothetically, she could have seen him go through a door, she follows and ends up here. Maybe, maybe not. Who knew? It seemed that, in other universes, these linkages were more random than in his own.

He took a walk outside as he thought. But what caused the linkages in the first place? Although it was possible that the ones he had experienced before had been done intentionally. No, wait, scratch that, not possible, likely. Too many people came from variations of Earth for everything to be a coincidence; maybe it was a ploy for the linkers to increase their revenue.

Or maybe everything was just spacey-wacey.

Vincent stared out at the horizon. It seemed oddly distant and near at the same time. He cocked his head one way, then the other. There was something strange about it, but that was to be expected with an interuniversal nexus.

I need to come up with a name for this kind of thing.

Night.

edited 23rd Oct '11 9:52:13 PM by TeraChimera

Claude walked up to the nearest group of people at the beach.

"Excuse me," she asked, "But I am looking for someone..."

uh. Any takers?

edited 23rd Oct '11 9:57:08 PM by ohsointocats

"Hi Ryan," Yuki said with a wave. "Nice to know we're not the only ones who tend to get attacked." She gestured at Amaya down the beach.

"Anyways, I'm one of those traveling hero-slash-mercenary types, depending on who you talk to. As for Alice... well, she's eccentric, but very good at what she does, I'll give her that. Helpful to have around when you need her."

She dusted the sand off of her hands, only to start pushing more sand around into little designs. "I don't recall getting a chance to work with you before, so forgive me if I'm struggling to find the right topics here."

Didn't you say Garden was a dream while we were in Heist? What, are you characters in Inception now?

IIRC, everyone's at the beach, not pool.

No. I did not. Or at least, I don't think I did. Asayu may have compared it to a dream, metaphorically, though.

Rachel looked at Claude, and positioned herself to speak to her without taking her eyes off Jean and Kokabiel. She said, "sure, uh, I can help. You looking for someone in specific, or just something like a bartender or a maid?"

To Yuki, Asayu said, "Rachel doesn't like it when I talk work. So much for that." Glancing at Amaya, she asked, "so, that woman you came with. Just a friend, or...?"

Rachel quickly cut in, "and before you ask, me and Asayu are just friends."

Asayu said, "yeah. Even if she wasn't straight, it'd just be too awkward. Even for me."

edited 23rd Oct '11 10:04:09 PM by KillerClowns

An odd expression flashed across Jean’s face. It looked like surprise, but it was gone too quickly for Rachel to be sure. His smile widened. “A challenge? Very well Miss Hosseini, I accept. Convincing cynical people of the reality of good things is a regular part of the Secretary General’s job after all. Now, how to do it? I could give a short speech about how the world is too interconnected to rely on individual nations anymore, or I could cite some statistics about how the UN is saving 160 million Africans yearly from starvation, 90 million of whom are children. I could even quote word-for-word passages from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights that would put the relevant documents of even most Western counties to shame by comparison. I know it by heart.” He tapped his lip, staring out at the sea, deep in thought. “-but I think all that is a little long-winded. I do more than enough of that when I’m at work. No, instead I think I’d rather pose to you two inter-related questions. One, why am I so calm? Two, how did I get here?” A light smile was tugging at the sides of his mouth. “I think that should be enough for you to put the pieces together yourself. As a clearly intelligent young woman with a mind to exploring the intricacies of global geopolitics, this bit of causal detective work shouldn’t prove too taxing.”

"I'm looking for my brother," she said to Rachel, "He's about twenty-five years old and probably looks a little frazzled. Otherwise, he probably looks like me." But, when it came to people looking like her, one could never be sure.

She noted the book Rachel was reading but did not say anything about it. She had noted that it was required reading for a class she had next semester, and it had seemed like something while, not as dull as many of the history books she had read, not something she was exactly interested in. "I think he should be at this hotel. Have you seen him?"

So... is everyone going to ignore the girl who quite literally fell from the sky then?

Yuki blushed pure crimson. "No, nothing like that... she's like a sister to me." She smiled to herself as she continued drawing in the sand. "Besides, even if I wanted to... I can't. It'd be... weird? I dunno. It's complicated."

She stretched, straightening her legs and touching her toes. She caught herself looking up at the hotel, and chastised herself for thinking about more training. "Never been on vacation before," she finally said. "It's different."

Where is she, exactly? I'm a little confused on that front.

edited 23rd Oct '11 10:11:27 PM by animemetalhead

I think everyone is at the beach. You're inside, judging from the chandelier.

Yeah, beach is where action is. Not sure what the chandelier can be replaced with, though...

First Rachel told Claude, "sorry, I haven't seen your brother." Then on to Jean. The mention of the U.N. garnered a positive reaction, but it quickly went away. If it was true, she'd respect him all the more, but anybody could lie like that. She said, "you got here on his tailfeathers," she pointed at Kokabiel, "and you are so calm because you are a million-year-old horror from beyond time and space intending to manipulate me into doing terrible evil in the name of righteous causes. I have seen no evidence to suggest otherwise." Finally disregarding Kokabiel, to look Jean in the eyes, she said, "any psychopath can memorize pretty lies and noble documents. You aren't doing a very good job."

Asayu said, "don't worry, I know what you mean." Then she turned to Ryan, to see he'd been knocked over by a woman, about same same height as herself. A very beautiful, and very terrifying woman. Ryan had competition, unless he played his cards very well. "Hello," she said, curious, "and you would be?"

edited 23rd Oct '11 10:13:44 PM by KillerClowns

Springing to her feet, she mouthed off in rapid succession, "I'm Lilith! I'm probably not supposed to be here but I came anyway, although I don't think I was supposed to be upside down. Have you ever been upside down? It's weird. The sky goes all groundy and stuff and I don't think it's supposed to do that. Where is here anyway? It's a long way from Gen Corp and I was just supposed to go down the hall this time..."

She put her finger to her chin, pondering this last bit as if it was a question of great importance.

"Or maybe this is down the hall. Does Sigma Block have a beach resort, or is that Beta Block?"

edited 23rd Oct '11 10:28:45 PM by KSPAM

For a moment, Jean looked confused. Then understanding dawned on his features. “Ah, yes. The-“ He seemed to stop for a second, as if verbally flinching. His face however stayed as calm as ever. “-God Eater. I see. I am somewhat familiar with this entity, and its tricks. I honestly didn’t understand where you were coming from, thought you were just another weary skeptic.” He gave the bird a weary glance, tried shoo-ing it away. It ignored him. Trying something different, Jean then withdrew his personal 9mm handgun from a discreet underarm holster. That was evidently all it needed. The vulture took off and was nowhere to be seen in seconds.

Returning to Rachel, he sighed and spoke with soft candor. “I’m sorry.” He sounded tired. “It’s… regrettable that you think I’m one of the God-Eater’s disciples.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, his eyes losing focus. “-Aaaand, if I’m being honest I don’t suppose there really IS a way to prove that I’m not one of his agents…” Jean trailed off at the end of that sentence. He still had his gun in his hand.

He turned to face Rachel again, pressing the weapon into her hands. “If you want to be sure, then shoot me. If I’m Human then I won’t regenerate.”

edited 23rd Oct '11 11:33:55 PM by Gault

"Well," said Claude, fearlessly turning to Jean, despite whatever Rachel had said. It had just been exaggeration, anyway, otherwise what she had just said had not made any sense. People were not like that in real life. Either that or they were fevered imaginings and still dangerous, but then there would be absolutely nothing she could do to stop them from shooting each other anyway...

"Excuse me," she said to Jean, "Have you seen my brother? I'd like the answer before she shoots your brain into the consistency of chunky salsa, please."

edited 23rd Oct '11 10:48:58 PM by ohsointocats

Rachel tossed away the gun in disgust and turned away from Jean. "Go bother someone else. Shooting your least favorite brother proves nothing. I'm not going to play your game." She resumed reading.

Then she stopped. Where had he gotten the idea that mages regenerate? They didn't. Except Amu, but that had more to do with his citadel than himself. But they liked to convince people otherwise. She knew mages weren't bulletproof. Tamiel knew mages weren't bulletproof, and knew she knew. So why would Tamiel say that? It wasn't like Tamiel to think of things like that. His nature was to battle wills directly. He couldn't have learned it: Tamiel was incapable of truly changing.

Very carefully, Rachel turned back to Jean. "Wait. You've got one last chance to convince me now. Tell me: what would this job involve?"

Asayu, meanwhile, was still distracted. "A pleasure to meet you, Lilith. But I don't think you're quite where you think you are."

edited 23rd Oct '11 11:32:43 PM by KillerClowns

Ryan woke up staring at the sky, in a bit of a fog. "Am I dead?" he thought. He tried to look around. Beach, check. Three gorgeous women around... wait. "Excuse me," he said to the woman who'd just landed on his head, "but in most circles it's considered a bit rude to just stand on someone's head with no warning." Ryan put on the funniest angry face he could, then laughed and reverted to his usual low-key self. "But hey, I guess this isn't most places." Turning to Yuki, he said, "And you're Yuki? Pleasure to meet the both of you."

A man in a charred business suit had just arrived at the resort. He was holding a metal briefcase, the sound of some kind of metal could be heard clanging from inside of it as he swung his arms. He was whistling, and seemed to have a smile on his face. He didn't know how he had gotten here, and he didn't particularly care, because it beat the hell out of his constant travelling from desert town to desert town, only for the inhabitants to stare at the "Strange Man". It was about time he found a place to relax. That brief time he spent in that cantina was quite enjoyable, and he figured that this place was of the same style. Decidedly, Virgil made his way inside.

"Hmm... It would be nice to chat with the other patrons. Boredom has been killing me lately."

Sobek nodded at Katshal, "Yes Hammerspace is a wonderful thing, it's quite common in my universe, and I'm here on the account that I had the chance to escape from my duties for once," He breathed out, "It's finally good to get away, so how'd you guys get here?"

You have no idea how often I use Hammerspace in my works, heck, besides shifting into a bunch of weaponns, Donovan's backpack holds a whole closet

"It's... a bit complicated," said Kat. "To make a long story short, it involved a variation on teleportation using wave function manipulation. By twisting it the right way, we used to be there, and now we're here."

He stopped filming for a second and thought. "I don't really know how else to explain it. I could give you a technical explanation for it, but it'd require a lot of knowledge on quantum mechanics and types of science that I'm not completely sure exist in your world."

"Yeah, I thought that the beach was in Beta Block..." Lilith said wistfully, still completely ignorant to the point Asayu was trying to make.

But, like a magpie, Lilith dropped this thought after hearing the tinkling emanating from the strange newcomer's briefcase. She wondered what was inside it. It sounded like a New Year's noisemaker. Maybe there were bells inside it. Or bottlecaps. Lilith hoped it was bottlecaps. The curiosity just burned at her insides.

"Hey mister, whatcha got there? Sounds like fun!"

Virgil looked at his briefcase, then at the strange girl. He raised it up in his hands, smiled, and said to her;

"Now, my dear, the contents of this case are a secret. Now, explain to me what this place is, exactly."

edited 24th Oct '11 9:36:31 AM by Dvdmacyoshi

"Awwww! But that's no fun!" She pouted. "Come on, just a peek?" Lilith reached for the briefcase's handle.

Virgil pulled the case away from the girls hands, and even raised his own to strike her. He decided against it, though. The people of this resort likely didn't approve of violence. He lowered his hand, and shook his head at the girl and wagged his finger in front of her, giving her a smile which now had an air of creepiness to it.

"Now, now, my dear... you can't just take it from me like that. That isn't going to help you see it. But if you are REALLY good, I'll let you have a peek."

Sobek waved it off, "No worries dude, I have a bunch of human," he almost seemed to despise the word as he said it, "Sciences in my world, whether you want to explain though, is up to you. Though I am a curious," he made a smile, a crocodile smile one could say.

Sober is hard to write sometimes...

Kat rubbed the back of his neck. "Thing is, they're not just human sciences. It's also got a large base in magical theory, and fully understanding it can take decades of study. Now, I know you're probably millenia old, but I don't want to be sitting here for years, explaining the ins and outs of gramaryan quanta to you. Most of the stuff can't even get properly translated out of Menyic."

He rubbed his chin. "Although... I suppose I could give you an intro and see how much you understand." Kat mulled it over for a few seconds before nodding to himself and saying, "Primae, nesitas teniëar ilo sengara iyela sogadre en’sa camé del versarke. Hielo, Sekata’s Tiefre hebla ilo iseptu versarke dentra cas exlodrues, ka?" He paused for a few seconds and said, "Don't ask me to translate that to English. It simply can't be done.

"You're awfully laid-back for a god. Well, my view of a god, anyway."