Character Dig Site

The green lights appeared again, and Knives knew what to do. First, he stopped screaming. He was being a dumbass.

As the glowing lines arranged themselves into shapes, he was able to conclude that he was inside something and someone with a blade was trying to pry it open. Might as well help out.

He stuck out his arm as much as he could and stuck his finger on the thickest green line, the only crack visible to ordinary eyes.

The two halves of the pod split. A teenage boy in jeans and a red hoodie wriggled out, his tinted glasses askew, and slammed both palms on the floor. He could use the cracks to see well within about ten feet, but beyond that, he needed to extend his senses as much as he could to get general information.

"Where am I? Who are you? Do you see a cane anywhere?" he asked as he waited for his search to yield clues about his location.

Knives's cane, as a matter of fact, was nowhere nearby.

Can't post for several hours.

edited 28th Oct '12 12:38:44 PM by LeungBaiFang

"These aren't Egyptian, but I suppose it's too early to really tell," he said. He scanned the entire room, and noticed Amu and his friend sneaking up ahead. He frowned, what were they up to?

"Come on, I want to check out the next room," he said, but didn't wait for Tucker to come, and started to beeline towards the strange marble hall. He heard a loud clunk!, and the cracking of stone, making his pace even faster.

Okul glanced at the formerly-entombed fellow. A man (by Qexane measures of age, at least) about Amu's age, in bright red and the distinctive blue pants both Okul and Amu had seen so much of lately.

It was Amu who approached the stranger, and said, "you're in some kinda tomb we've been... exploring. Though you obviously ain't dead, and you just poofed outta the air like a Transcendent, so..." he shrugged. "I'm King Amu of the Uelane, and my friend," he pointed back at Okul, "is Emperor Okul of the Qexane. Oh, and I ain't seen a cane." That was when Amu spotted the labels. Being literate, he glanced them over, then shrugged. Aside from the odd phrasing, they reminded him of shamans rambling about the Transcendent and the dangers of magic. Still, if somebody thought him that dangerous, he was worth keeping an eye on. So Amu added, "who're you, and what were you doing in that coffin?"

Okul, for his part, glanced back and noticed somebody coming. That mage, Cain. Well, so much for free first dibs on the loot. And of course it would be a damn mage.

Rune folded his arms. "Well, I'm supposed to be in charge of this dig. Next to Marion— I'm assuming." He looked around and lowered his voice, "But to be perfectly honest, I don't know how long that's going to last. I can already be certain that not everyone here is looking for cut and dry labor and a paycheck. I'd be surprised if any of them were, really."

When Adam pointed out his friends, Rune paused, and looked down at him "Speaking of which... Adam, I'm wondering what you and your friends expect to get out of this undertaking. I wouldn't guess that you were Egyptian. Am I wrong in assuming that this is a far cry from home? Do you have relatives here?"





Tucker raised his eyebrows. "Were in Egypt, we're supposed to be exploring an Egyptian tomb, but the things inside aren't Egyptian? That's... curious. Yeah, very curi- hey, wait up-"

Tucker practically had to jog to catch up with Cain as he advanced towards the other room. When he had gotten to the point of walking alongside the man again, he continued. "So it's all very weird, but really, that's probably the least weird thing I've seen today. Like that octopus head man, now that's-"

Again, Tucker was interrupted, this time by a loud crashing sound from somewhere else in the tomb. Somewhere very nearby. "Oooh, I don't like the sound of that. Do you think they've already started breaking things up ahead?" The two men quickly advanced into the adjacent room, and were presented with several additional doorways. Cain was moved into a specific doorway at a very determined pace. Refraining from asking him what was wrong with any of the other doorways, Tucker shrugged and followed him through, lingering just a few feet behind him.

edited 28th Oct '12 10:26:57 PM by Ryuhza

"Actually..." Adam glanced back at Jackson, "We came here...because Jackson thought it would be a great place to test his inventions. He really wanted our support." His cheeks turned red and he fiddled his fingers, "I-I know it's not the best reason...but... here we are."

Noticing that his friends were still fighting, he shook his head. "I'm really sorry about them; they fight a lot."

al-Faddil stayed relatively close to Rune, who was technically in charge now. He shook his head at people heading off on their own. No discipline; no experience.

He chuckled softly and decided he might as well enter the conversation. "Why should a mage look different from anyone else? I suppose there might be a traditional clothing, but really, they could probably pass for totally normal if they wanted to. I usually do."

He glanced at the argument and shook his head. "They're really like that? Often?"

Knives frowned. "You really can't find it? That... kind of sucks. Because I'm blind."

He could sense that other people were nearby, but he couldn't tell whether or not any of them were his friends. At least he could tell he wasn't in a science lab. But Flash promised to get them all back to the... the... wait, did she even say?

God damn it, Flash. Knives stood up and tried to form a better picture of what was going on in his little bubble of "vision." The green cracks seemed to be forming a hall of some kind.

"So, uh... I used to have a normal name, but I've been going by Knives for a while now. Because I cut stuff. Lame, I know. And... uh... I've been a test subject for, like, a year, and it's been balls. The scientists put me in that thing because they were going to take us all somewhere else to die. We kind of found out they were evil, and we weren't supposed to, so we had to die. Another subject tried to help us escape, but I don't think she mentioned anything about hiding out in a tomb. Run into any other people in metal pods with funny names?" His frown deepened. "Speaking of funny names, how did you get yours? And I never heard of these places you guys rule."

edited 28th Oct '12 8:21:25 PM by LeungBaiFang

Amu's eyes narrowed and an expression of grim, absolute understanding and fury came to his face. He said, "another escaping sadists masquerading as scientists? Heh. Some things echo across the worlds, eh?" A spiteful smile came to Amu's lips as he finished, "here's hoping you get to watch 'em die whimpering in a pool of their own shit, blood, and tears." After a moment of thought, he added, "well, maybe 'watch' ain't the right word. But you get my meaning."

Okul was, as usual, slightly unsettled by Amu's bloodlust. It reminded Okul of his own mother. Carefully, he said, "ah, but explanations. This place has drawn people from many worlds. You are clearly not from anywhere on my world, but worry not. My name is just a name, like any other. I don't know its history."

Amu, tone still icy, said, "the Red King took my real name. 'Amu' is just what other called me, rather than leave me nameless. It's short for 'Amurata'. Translates into 'all-consuming vengeance', or 'salted earth'. Doesn't translate smoothly, like most words do."

Okul cleared his throat, then continued. "Right, yes. Anyways..." he glanced back at Cain and Tucker. "...are you two just going to stare like drugged Elasane noblemen? Might as well come in and see what you make of..." he waved his hand at the odd architecture, "that. And," he pointed at the pod, "that."

...unexpected coincidence.

edited 28th Oct '12 7:55:51 PM by KillerClowns

Marion sidled near Rune, al-Faddil, and their group, pretending to examine a mural while listening in on comments about mages. She was curious partly because humans couldn't use magic in her own world. Not that they were any less for it, like other chimeras believed. But if human mages did look different (somehow) from from ordinary humans, maybe magic had some physiological effect on the body. That would certainly explain the drastic differences between her own species and humans. Or maybe it was the other way around... Either way, something to look into.

Something occurred to Marion, and she skimmed her flashlight over the room. It was surprisingly sand-free. Sure, something built underground would probably be pretty durable, but you would expect some sand to get in through the cracks. There wasn't any sand in here at all. Interesting. Better construction than expected, or something else entirely? The murals seemed to imply that, at the very least, the ancient Egyptians had contacted other ancient civilizations before or during the construction of the tomb; maybe that had something to do with it.

Okay, I admit I've had a few torture fantasies about those assholes, but... Jesus. Knives was about to tell Amu to chill the fuck out before Okul started talking.

"Hey, back up. Other worlds? Seriously?" Flash's teleportation was powerful, but probably not powerful enough to send people to other worlds. Well, crazy scientists fucked up his brain and he and his friends had crazy powers, so crazy scientists finding other worlds in the meantime almost made sense. So Knives simply shrugged. "There must be some serious shit going down. So, you guys have fun investigating, okay? And if you find any long, thin things I can use as a cane, I'd like to have it. Or food. Food is good. And then I'll hug you. Or something. Some people don't really like hugs, can you believe it?"

And what was he going to do in the meantime? Eh, might as well try to make conversation. "You guys have any...."

Think think think

"Any hobbies?"

Seriously, man?

"Other than listening to the cries of the damned. You kind of sound like you're into that, Amu." He cracked a grin.

SERIOUSLY?

edited 28th Oct '12 8:36:19 PM by LeungBaiFang

Well, this is worrying.

Vince looked over the sudden cleaving of hexagonal elements into the space, and could bring nothing else to his mind other than those creepy-as-fuck Mialorian estates, and those brainwashed Stepford-people who lived within. They whipped their servants, he was sure of it, from the few shaky psych cases he had been able to witness handing him crystal goblets of strange, electric-blue designer alcohols.

His skin began to crawl just thinking about it, so he turned his attention back to the young man in the pod. The actual pod construction looked a bit... retro for his time, but the labels and warnings seemed almost cartoonish. 'Do not befriend, cuddle, or feed'- at least he was a bit more subtle if he ever came to the point that he had to exterminate a subject. Then again, he only ever got to that point with mice, never with people.

As he pondered, he casually handed Amu and Okul one of his medallions, which he had pre-loaded with simple illumination commands that could shine a beam of light or turn off upon a thought. Just bright, yet somehow not eye-hurting to those unaccustomed to night vision, just like before.

God; this kid was like Matthias' Japanese hospital stage. "I cook, but I'd rather you not hug me for that."

And, yet again, Mori was left drifting on his own, occasionally scratching his beard as the questions started to finally gnaw at him.

Rikos knew that he had little care for the past or scholarly histories, so why force him to come along? Let alone to a world that merely confused him and one whose explanations and histories lost him? It was obvious that they had grown apart- he was astounded that Rikos remembered him at all. In fact, he was almost hoping that he was simply forgotten by his old acquaintance- an angry man with the powers to play the gods was the last thing he needed in his way.

If anyone needs someone to talk to, take him- he needs some work.

edited 29th Oct '12 3:13:09 AM by CrystalGlacia

The bright light made Cain blink and wince. He turned towards Vince and said in an irritated tone, "Are those lights really necessary?" They hurt to look at after adjusting to the darkness of the tomb, especially since he had the passive ability to see in complete darkness.

He scanned the room, and also read the label on the pod. Do not befriend, cuddle, or feed. Sounded like something from a Portal game. He then frowned, and said to the newcomer who called himself 'Knives', "I have two questions for you. When did you last eat, and why are you dressed like any kid from the street? Usually cruel scientists performing unethical experiments on children usually garment them in hospital gowns or in the nude."

He gave another irritated look at Amu, and said, "Obviously, someone tried to teleport him away from whatever facility he came from, but perhaps botched up the location. As for the architecture...I'm not sure."

Haruka opened her eyes, bemused by the turn of events. She checked on the roasting meat, and decided that the beef was almost ready to eat. Perhaps the newcomer would come here. Or even Vince, who's looks had many similarities to Cain's, except the latter had better hair.

One of the soldiers that came with their company was cooking chicken and couscous for lunch. The smell of the cooking food make her stomach growl. The falafel felt like ages ago. Using magic burns up a lot of food energy and physical energy. Perhaps this newcomer could come and eat with them? She loved talking to people, but she didn't have any friends except Cain, and he was no talker.

edited 28th Oct '12 10:21:37 PM by Tehpillowstar

Rune scratched his chin, looking between Adam and the friend he identified as 'Jackson'. "Inventions? Really? What kind of inventions?" He thought to throw in a line about making sure that his friends didn't damage anything, but was more genuinely curious about the inventions than anything.

Glancing at al-Faddil in surprise—Rune hadn't noticed the man was so nearby—he stammered, "W-well I... I thought that the bald head might have had a uh... shamanistic or perhaps oracular feel to it, you know. Some people might think that a mage has distinctive characteristics. That's all."

He shrugged, looking very unabashed— or perhaps simply indifferent about mages in general. In truth, he simply did not want to seem ignorant of mages, in case it made him look unsuitable to be guiding a group of what seemed to be quite a large number of mages. Already his thinly useful Egyptologist quasi-skill-set was waning in light of what the tomb's very second chamber showed.

Rune came to notice that Marion was nearby as well. He thought of informing her that the tomb's content's so far seemed set on throwing his reliable knowledge of Egypt out the window. But... no. that would be admitting that his already exaggerated talents were no longer useful. It would be too much like a resignation. He couldn't have that. Something similar to the truth then. Yes...

He stepped towards Marion and lowered his voice, "Listen... what I've seen so far in this tomb is not what my knowledge of Egypt has brought me to expect. You could say that I am educated in a decidedly more mundane version of Egypt. It's not a matter of great importance— I'll simply adjust my expectations as we proceed— but I thought it was worth mentioning." Rune was somewhat surprised at just how unfaltered he was by Marion's appearance already. Despite how alien her appearance was, it no longer bothered him in the slightest. Perhaps it was something in his nature.





Tucker had to turn on his flashlight at this point, uncertain, in the dimness of the room, of who was talking. The first words he had heard upon entering the room behind Cain, were someone's seething words of hatred for sadistic scientists. Uh oh. Probably wise not to mention that Rune had a habit of bypassing certain moral and politeness standards in his own scientific operations and more often than not, having a tendency to forget to ask. Better yet, don't mention that he was that sort of scientist at all. There was a small part of Tucker who found the idea of exposing a few of Rune's questionable conducts in the face of this anger to be somewhat just. For the sake of this venture, he tucked those feelings away.

He shined his light in the direction of the voices, recognizing three of the people in the room, though he did not know their names. Thankfully, the young and angry one had just introduced himself, Amu, to a fourth person, one that Tucker hadn't seen as part of the group. He gathered that the new one had emerged from the large pod behind him, which was bizarre. Even more bizarre was the fact that he looked very, well... average. Average for appearing out of a man pod in a recently excavated tomb. His overall reaction seemed especially nonchalant, given the situation.

It was at this point that the man next to Amu called out to Tucker and Cain. Tucker didn't know how much more Cain had heard, but clearly it was a great deal more than he himself knew. At Cain's response to Okul, Tucker raised his eyebrows and gave him a look of surprise. "Obviously?" He questioned, then glanced back at the large pod. "If he really did get- teleported here, then he's very fortunate. You should count your lucky stars man, this place was sealed off not very long ago."

He shined his light past them, examining the displaced architectural change. "Where are we? I thought this was supposed to be an Egyptian tomb."

Amu nodded at Knives, noting his slight discomfort with a shake of his head. City dwellers were always so soft about blood and guts, he recalled. Where did they think their meat came from, when they so recoiled at the sight of a butcher's blade upon a pig's throat?

Okul quietly took the offered medallion, and gave Vince a nod of thanks. Then he replied to Knives with a wry grin and a reference to a Qexane epic that the translation magic translated in spirit as, "yes, I'm rather fond of driving my enemies before me and hearing the lamentations of their women." Then his face turned more serious and he said, "actually, not so much of that any more, my mother did most of the necessary enemy-driving and lamentation-causing already. When I'm not keeping the mages and shamans from strangling each other, I have learned a few tricks to make fools of men in games of chance. Not that I ever wager more than pittances — as much to avoid the anger of those I beat as to avoid impoverishing myself."

Amu quietly said, "and I learned a few things about herblore from the Red King's wife before she..." he paused nervously, but after a supportive nod from Okul, finished with a sad sigh, "...killed herself." He sighed, then, eager to change the topic, continued, "but, ah, anyways... I have a little garden in Uelshu. Not that I often get a chance to visit."

Adam replied, "Well, we got here by flying boots, so that's one of them...and we made some gloves that can break things down. We have more, but their still in beta."

He then turned to al-Faddil, "I dunno; I was just really curious." Looking back at Jackson and Nick, he sighed, "Yeah...they're often like that. I try not to get too involved though."

Jackson sighed as he walked over to Adam, Nick following him. "For the last time, I'm very wary of using my inventions now. If this place is magical, I could quite possibly get us killed! Let's just rely on the mages and-" Turning to al-Faddil, he stopped himself. "Oh! Uh...I am so sorry."

"Yeah." Nick said, glancing at Jackson, "Jacky and I had a little disagreement."

The British teen twitched his right eye, "If you call me that again, I will end you."

edited 29th Oct '12 5:15:47 PM by Masterofchaos

Marion glanced at Rune and briefly flared her wings. "Well, this place is multidimensional," she said. "That's practically to be expected. Besides, I'm not an academic. I don't want to go over this place with a fine-tooth comb, finding out every single thing that went on in here or how they lifted these stones. As long as you're not totally lost, that's fine by me. Although..."

She pulled him over to the picture of the Chinese dragon, shining her flashlight over the whole thing. "Do you know if Egyptians — at least, those in your world — had any contact with the Orient? I doubt it, since they didn't in my world. But if they did..." She absent-mindedly tapped her tail on the ground. "I don't really know what that would entail. Still, it'd be interesting to see how that kind of alliance would have gone forward. Maybe the Egyptian-Chinese Empire would've taken over the world."

Hmm. Kind of disappointing, but at least he's the kind who comes right out and says it instead of pretending to look competent. We need more people like that. Smart enough to know when it might be a good idea to back out.

"Behave," al-Faddil said mildly to Jackson and Nicky. "Under many meters of dirt is a poor place to have arguments." He actually seemed amused at the implication that he should be the trusted one. "Besides, your inventions have the convenience of being usable by everyone here. My abilities require me. That can be awkward."

This place was starting to freak Cain out, which was rare. He felt as if something was looking behind his shoulder but he couldn't quite place the feeling.

"Perhaps we should take this conversation outdoors? We can feed you and get up to speed on your situation, but not in here." he said. He felt the hairs on the back of his head stick straight up. It might just be his paranoia acting up again, but in a place like this, where the architecture so abruptly changes...to dismiss his paranoia would tantamount to suicide.

"Not sure when I last ate, actually. Freeze-dried ice cream is kind of a shitty experience and I think I tried to forget it. But my stomach is empty, so I guess that's what matters. Oh, and my clothes?" Knives laughed. "Yeah, we all woke up in white gowns but we were up and about, fucking shit up for a while, and that's when I got pretty much everything I'm wearing. And my cane. It was foldable and stuff and I didn't have to kneel and slap the ground every time I had to sense anything far away. And let's face it, I'm still more used to the cane than my superpowers."

He sat on the ground and placed his palms on the ground, looking for more cracks to make his mental map with. "Egyptian tomb? Seriously? That's cool. And gardens are cool, I guess, but I have a hard time appreciating them. I just listen to lots of music, actually."

With a shiver, he stood up again. "Okay, I just felt something weird. Like something is... on its way. Yeah, let's go outside and have some goddamn food." He quickly dusted his hands off on his jeans and pulled his overly long sleeve over it. "Who wants to hold hands with me?"

edited 29th Oct '12 9:17:09 PM by LeungBaiFang

Rune turned away from Marion and bit his lip. "True, true; it did say that in the ad." He lamented. However, he had no clue what to expect upon arrival when he had read that, and what he'd discovered was well beyond anything he had expected. Well, that's just the way the cookie crumbles, he supposed, better to roll with it than to complain.

"Oh, and no, the ancient Egyptians in my world certainly never had contact that far east." He looked up at the ceiling, and around at the shape of the room, trying to make something of it. "You're right though. It boggles the mind to imagine what would have come of such an overlap. I'd expect at least some architectural differences, dominantly Egyptian, but perhaps some slight conjunction of Oriental styles." He shook his head and shrugged, "But everything here seems to check out fine. Perhaps they had a very limited relationship; say, a journeyer telling tales of what he saw in a faraway land?"

He shrugged again, and when he heard Adam answer about the types of inventions his friend had composed, Rune shifted his attention, his eyebrows perked with interest. "Flying boots? And gloves that can break things down? How so?" He looked up as Adam's two friends approached. They all looked normal enough— in fact, they could probably have come from Rune's own universe, however...

"I'm curious, where you three are from... what year is it?"





Tucker looked at Cain, then at the blind newcomer. He was talking in a very strange way. Perhaps that was how he dealt with nervousness? Unless that was the way he normally talked. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "Something on it's way? What's that supposed to mean? Are you alright man?"

He looked again at Cain, who seemed to not want to be in the room either. "I don't get it. Is there something wrong with us suddenly stumbling onto the governor's manor over there?" He waved his light at the other end of the room, where the architecture and building material abruptly changed, "Besides the obvious thing, of course. I mean, is something really disturbing about it? I guess we should go and tell the others at least. And take care of our friend here, Mr. ...?"

Herakleios pressed the button on what these people referred to as a flashlight, and then pressed it again, and again, and again. He noted how sleek, light, compact and easy to use it was, not to mention how it didn’t use any mana. In contrast…

He looked down at the lantern Kalogeros had handed him and then at Kalogeros himself, who had been watching Herakleios from a distance. It was closed off from all sides, save for one face which was covered by a sliding lid. The handle was thick with sorceric symbols marked along it. Herakleios aimed his lantern at the wall in front of him, lifted the lid, sent mana into the handle and immediately looked away. Too bright.

Putting the lid down, he looked at Kalogeros again, the latter raising his lantern and pointing at it with an annoyed look, urging Herakleios to use his own. He moved away uncomfortably, joining up with the group with Marion, Rune, al Faddil and three others he didn’t know. He had been bothered by how this dig was progressing, and he didn’t want wait any longer to discuss about it.

He walked up to Rune and said, “Do you think it’s a good idea to send everyone into the tomb at once?”

edited 30th Oct '12 1:09:56 PM by Elfhunter

This is creepy, every time I scroll up, everyone has really freaky avatars that change whenever I scroll up and down, including me!

"Something's...watching us..." Cain murmured, more to himself than the others. He then straightened, and said to Tucker, "Well, we're not going to get anything done by standing around and stare at him." He turned around and walked out of the room, still unable to shake the feeling of being watched.

"I'm sensing small tremors. Something is seeping through the goddamn walls, okay? Let's go eat." Knives flopped his sleeve around, still waiting for someone to offer to guide him. Jesus, I wish I had a cane. "Assuming you guys know your way back to where the food is. You do, right?"

He was uncomfortable not touching the ground. The soles of his sneakers were too thick to sense the cracks with his feet unless he stomped, and he didn't have his cane to help out. The true extent of his powers, using the cracks to "cut" anything he wanted, was to be used sparingly—what if he accidentally caused a cave in? Can't un-bury yourself when you've been crushed by tons of rock.

"Oh, yeah, I'm going by Knives at the moment." The nickname didn't feel that stupid when he was with his friends, but well, they didn't have a lot of room to argue, and he couldn't think of any better ones at the moment. "Now let's get the fuck out."

Nick smirked. "Ha! I told you that we can still use your inventions!"

Jackson rolled his eyes, "I was concerned about your safety, dumbass. If any of you got hurt, your mum and dad would kill me!" He pointed at Adam, "Especially his!"

Adam sighed, before turning back to Rune, "Well...so far, we can break rocks into pieces; we tested it out hours before we came down here. Still, they're still new."

When he asked them what year they were from, Nick stepped forward. "Where we're from, it's 2015. Or, if you really want, you can say we're from the future."

Jackson shook his head. "Though nothing really changed. For example, we have yet to have a flying car."

"And, pray tell," Marion asked Nick, "what makes you think it's the future where he's from? It might be 2016 where he's from. Or the year 3198. And that's assuming he uses the same calender system as you. Depending on how you ask, I'm from either the year 2007 or the 46th year of the 16th era." Her voice had an edge of slight disdain. She didn't like people making assumptions or jumping to conclusions.

She turned to Jackson. "You know, I never got around to asking you: what are your inventions? Is it just those shoes..." She gestured to them. "...or are there other things?" Please tell me it's not just those goddamn shoes. What sort of person could minimize a propulsion system to that extent and then use it on such a stupid method of transportation? It's people like that who keep technology from advancing: frivolous geniuses.