Giant alien spiders are no joke.
a dream
Please.
There's been a terrible mistake...Nathan wanted to cry out, but he choked on his words as he looked out into the crowd that gathered around his cage. Horrified, wide-eyed looks. Muttering and low voices, speaking to each other. He grabs on the bars and pulled on them, but they were solid and unmovable, a futile effort. A little girl, in a bright pink jacket with blond pigtails, right at the railing. Nathan realized the girl looked a lot like Anna. No, she was Anna.
"Look Mommy, a monster!" Anna pointed an accusing finger at him while tugging on her mother's sleeve.
Nathan's heart wrenched at the accusation. He cried out, "No! I'm not a monster...I'm not a monster. I tried, I'm trying..." He took some deep breaths. "...I love you. I love you, I really do." Pain gripped his stomach and he bent over, trying to alleviate the hunger pangs. He looked around his cage, but there was nothing to eat. Only dry bones, mummified rats and shit. All Nathan wanted was to curl up into a tight ball and pray for the thunder, and the rain, to quietly pass him by.
His mind wandered back to the crowd and suddenly rage sparked in his heart. Suddenly all he wanted was to rip open his cage and leap out. Sink his teeth into the flesh of those who mock him, consume their sweet meat, quench his thirst with their blood, savor the terror on their faces, and gorge. Gorge until there was nothing left but gnawed bones. Rage drove out the pain from the humiliation. He suddenly leapt up and slammed his body against the side of his cage, which elicited a cry of terror in the sheep as they stepped back in fright. He smirked at their predictable screams, and chuckled, but his joviality quickly faded and he sullenly turned away from the crow to face a concrete wall with an observation window. He could see faint figures behind the glass, watching him. Studying him.
Nathan found it deeply unnerving. Was he some circus freak show, or a lab rat to be studied? He crawled over to the plexiglass window and banged his fist on it. "Lemme out." He slammed his fist on the glass again. It hurt. "Lemme out, damn you!"
He gave up and slid down to lean on the bars of his cage. The concrete wall was gone, like an illusion, A vague moment passed, like how dreams often skip the boring parts and went straight into the action. A small door opened, and raw meat, fresh raw meat, was thrown into his cage, and he snatched it off the dirty floor. The cutlet cells were still alive, and Nathan inhaled the life that was in it then was about to stuff it in his mouth before he paused. Was he some sort of animal? A mindless monster? He felt disgust and lowered the piece of meat. Dirt had stuck to the side of the meat that touched the floor. He was better than that, surely. Hunger almost overrode the notion, but he closed his eyes for a brief moment and suppressed the urge.
Instead, he tossed the meat out of his cage towards the crowd, mere stage props to him, but something about the act made them angry. Torches and pitchforks. Some started to pick up rocks and throw them at him He dodged a few, but took a few rocks on the back and shoulders. It didn't really hurt, more like a dream acknowledgement of what is supposed to be pain. He shielded his face, but a large rock slammed into the side of his head and everything, for a brief moment, went black.
a dream within a dream* - Graveyard (City -> Temple)
Nathan woke up, still in the cage. Compared to before blacking out, the cage was clean, if very dusty. He noticed that his surroundings were different. The cage was embedded in a pile of rubble surrounded by urban decay and Brutalist architecture. The door was locked with a length of extremely rusted chain and ancient padlock that looked like it could break if enough force was applied. He considered grabbing the door and pulling, but decided a smarter way would be to use magic.
Nathan cast a simple telekinetic spell that applied force in a way similar to a pair of pliers on the chains, and pushed the door open. He crawled out, and appraised his surroundings.
The city looked like to Nathan like it had came straight out of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Downtrodden people trying to keep to themselves, militarized police patrols. Propaganda and posters everywhere. It was strange. Nathan stumbled down the pile of rubble his cage was stuck in, and blended in with the crowd, matching their pace and their browbeaten body language, but his eye wandered, taking in his surroundings while trying to keep discreet until he had a better idea of this place.
Nathan was a very tall, gangly man of Iranian features: big eyes, long nose and small mouth, with some European admixture, seen in his un-Middle-Eastern complexion. His dark hair was jaw-length, disheveled and shaggy, like it was cut short, but left to grow out for several months. He wore a black trenchcoat with a brown and blue plaid neckscarf, worn seemingly more as a fashion statement rather than protection from the cold. He had a pretty face, marred by a long scar that slashed down his right cheek, underneath the eye patch that covered his right eye. His left eye was an unnatural red, dark as blood and devoid of warmth.
The street opened up to a plaza with a strange, huge building made of black marble and crystal. It seemed out of place, and Nathan wondered if he was in a dream.
He eyed a small group of women who stuck out like a sore thumb in the plaza. The two women with horns clearly had Power in a way that Nathan only felt in a cathedral. The darker woman made the hair on the back of his neck stick up and his heart race. He felt that cold feeling behind his heart, the feeling of impending death. It came from the dark woman, but Nathan received no notion of how she would attempt to kill him. It was more like...she was death, or represented death in some way. The third woman didn't seem alive to Nathan. She lacked some spark of life, but was embued with power. Undead, like a lich perhaps? He knew it was theoretically possible, though Nathan hasn't successfully created a phylactery in his laboratory yet.
Nathan evaluated what tools he had on his person—just in case push came to shove, and became aware that he had his watch, pendant and cufflinks on him, but was missing his ring—a device he constructed to help suppress both his magical presence and his life-leeching area-of-effect. Awkward, he thought. So much for not being noticed. He hoped he had not lost it, the ring took many hours of work to get right, and he would have to make another to replace it. He realized it might as well be the best to approach and introduce himself, since he doubted that they didn't notice his presence. Mentally, he quashed his AoE, even though it was a mental strain, like holding one's breath. Nathan didn't want to make a bad impression with these people by walking up and trying to suck away their energy—it was a poor way to get on people's good sides.
He made his approach and put on a small smile, "Hullo there."
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Graveyard - City (Morenna, Niru, Sinistrina, Antoinette, Nathan)
"No problem," Sinistrina said to Niru when she requested to save some blood for her. "There is still quite a bit left, and Antoinette is incapable of tiring from carrying the basket." That is one positive about being undead, she thought, recalling how she herself ran from then-further Misery Manor to the crater without tiring.
On the discussion about souls, she nodded. "Indeed, normally they are invisible to those without any special sight, but occasionally, like when subject to distress or craving attention from the living, they may appear as wisps or balls of light or even specters of their living selves."
Finally they entered the city, seemingly teleporting there via another trick of the Grim Reaperess. Looking around, she noticed the bleak buildings, the nervous-looking people, the strange eyes on the walls, the soldiers... As she looked at one of the latter, she got a sense of deja vu... why did she feel as if she was somehow in danger at that point, when she knew that bullets could only temporarily inconvenience her?note But what really grabbed her attention was the information screens. "Moving pictures on the walls of buildings?" she wondered aloud. "How would that work on a sunny day, if it ever is sunny in this place? I wonder where the projectors are..."
But before she could ask Moreena what exactly this place was, she felt a mildly soothing sensation wafting past her, not only calming her a bit, but empowering her.note Looking in the direction it came from, she could see a field of dark energy up ahead, obviously the source of that sensation. But before long it retracted, much to her dismay. But there was still a smaller dark energy field up ahead, this time coming from a disheveled-looking man who seemed to be struggling to hold that energy in.
When he arrived and said hello, Sinistrina walked right up to him and matched his small smile, noticing that his eyes were the same exact shade of red as her own. But he didn't look undead, so she supposed he must have had some sort of demonic origin, but she didn't ask. Instead she said, "Well hello, fellow creature of the night. I see that your brand of magic is rather similar to mine. But you need not hold it back, at least not around me." She held out a hand to shake. Two, actually. An ordinary (albeit dead) one, and one made of shadow, rising up from a spindly armjutting out of a shadow that was pooling around her. He could decide which of the two he wanted to shake.
Then she introduced everyone. "I am Sinistrina von Schwarzwald, queen of the Deathly Glade." The life-draining field seem to, ironically, lift her spirits a tiny bit, such that she no longer felt the need to add a modest "de facto". "And this is Moreena, Goddess of Death; Sentinel Niru of the Arginian Empire; and..." She looked behind her; the little zombie girl was nowhere to be found.
"Come along now," she said to her; with a beckoning gesture courtesy of her master, the girl finally emerged from around the corner of a building, running up to her with one hand on the basket on her head - containing the two wine bottles and the one crystal bottle - and the other holding the stuffed rabbit that contained her soul.note When she nearly dropped the basket, Sinistrina made a small wave of her staff, compelling Antoinette to steady it with impressive dexterity. "And keep that rabbit in your pocket. Do not worry about protecting your soul; keep it on you and I shall take care of that."
She looked back at the newcomer. "My apologies... and this is Antoinette, one of my revenants." She felt bad calling her a zombie earlier; though she was not really sentient, she at least had a distinct soul nearby, and thus the term seemed more fitting. "Might I inquire as to who you are?"
edited 27th Jul '17 9:56:13 PM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[Blizzard —> Outside Ritter Clinic]
Friedrich touched a nerve. On the one hand, pious Uelane honored their ancestors, and Iveya was quite pious indeed. She'd made generous offerings of food, drink and incense to her deified ancestors at many a stele, and rarely made a major decision without, at the very least, spending time in prayer at the small house-shrine in her living room. The bonds of blood (approximately speaking, given how the Uelane kinship system worked) were ever-present in her life. There was just one tiny problem: Iveya said, flatly “I've already told you about my mother, haven't I?”
Still, she couldn't quite bring herself to leave it on that icy note. Softening, she said, “but no matter; your words carry truth... and you have enough of a task before you.” A slight nod, another wish of good fortune.
Giant alien spiders are no joke.
Graveyard - City (Morenna, Niru, Sinistrina, Antoinette, Nathan)
The undead woman was the first one to acknowledge him. Nathan tilted his head at Sinistrina's greeting, bemused. He shook the offered (physical) hand with a firm grip, but declined to relax just yet. He glanced around, still a bit confused over his surroundings, though he didn't show it. The events that happened prior to waking up were rapidly fading from his mind, like how dreams often become forgotten after you wake up.
Sinistrina introduced herself, and Nathan couldn't help but feel that her name was very...apt. He kept the observation to himself, however, and simply nodded. "I see that I'm in the presence of some exceptional company. My name is Nathan Varnas. No titles from me, I'm just a mage who specializes in necromancy." Internally, Nathan reflected that he never came across an entity equal to or greater in power than him. He wondered if this was how other people saw him, but figured it wasn't the same. Nathan wasn't intimidated by these people at the slightest, only cautious.
Then, the undead child joined them, and something about her rubbed Nathan the wrong way. He disliked the idea of kids coming to potential harm by being exposed to massively corrupting magic, especially since Antoinette wasn't just a thrall. She had her soul still on her. If Nathan was being completely honest with himself, the idea hit a little too close to home. He gave Sinistrina, who appeared to be controlling the child, a questioning look.
Even more interesting, the basket was filled with bottled souls. Nathan was a natural medium, though he rarely practiced the talent and often wished he never had it. He wondered what kind of enchantments must have been there to keep them trapped. As far as he knew, souls put into inert containers tended to evaporate very quickly—without the spark of life, there was nothing to tether them to the mortal coil. The bottles didn't look special, just a couple of wine bottles and a bottle made of crystal, but that didn't mean anything. Magic is rarely obvious, and the detection of magic was never one of Nathan's strengths.
"...Why does the girl have a bunch of bottled souls in her basket?"
edited 30th Jul '17 3:46:44 AM by Tehpillowstar
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond
feeling blue
Phantom had remained where he was, still musing about some possibilities while the others kept talking about circumstances from before his arrival. However, he was brought out of his thoughtful state when he heard some yelling coming from further in the castle, that being Gliosem's voice. He was quick to go and check what happened, although he didn't move with much urgency. When he spotted her, all he saw was her standing in place and staring at the floor, defeated.
"What happened?" He asked, keeping his question as direct as it could be, although the concern was evident in his gentle tone of voice.
edited 1st Aug '17 4:21:02 AM by FullMoon
[Snow Castle (Kitchen)]
Jackson blinked.
"...You're afraid...of a rice cooker?" he asked, "You have something that makes it easy to boil rice and you don't even know what it does? How else do you-"
He was interrupted by Glioslem's screaming. He immediately rushed to her side.
"Glem!" he said, "A-Are you ok? What happened?!"
[Snow Castle (Parlor-Kitchen)]
The screaming was heard from the parlor. Marie nearly fell over, Adam almost spilled his tea, and Nick snapped his head towards the noise.
It never ends... Nick thought, standing up.
"H-Hold on! We're coming!" Adam yelled.
The three rushed towards the kitchen, finding Giloslem looking down at the floor, solemn and suddenly silent, which only added more to their confusion.
"What the hell happened?" Marie asked, "What's going on?"
"The hell am I suppose to know?" Jackson said, "I was just going to explain what a rice cooker was and then this happened! I-I have no idea why she screamed!"
Yukijou-minato ~ Snow Castle [Main Keep 1st Floor ~ Parlor] (Rin; Gwenafer; Gliosem; Phantom; Adam, Marie, Nick)/Shinkyo Market District (Rin)
The Admiral an understanding nod at what Gliosem initially said before raising an intrigued eyebrow at Gwenafer. "Of course we can," she nonchalantly told her, taking a moment to sip more tea, "are you not able to do the same?" Rin then turned to face the rising sumiri, "There are portals to other worlds that have been built and found over the years. There are a few such ones that can access our moon."
Giving Gliosem a small frown at her spur-of-the-moment decision to follow her maid, Rin decided to give her some directions, "Make a left, they should be directly across the hall in the kitchen. If she is working on what I am thinking she is working on; do be careful."
A minute or so later, a shriek sounded from the other room, tearing Rin's attention away from the others, "Hmph, I told her to be careful... I shall go see what is wrong; it will not be necessary to follow me across the hall unless you want to—" she said to a nearly empty room. Young folks are so fast these days... she mused (despite the fact Phantom was more than twice her age) before sighing and rising to her feet.
Instead of taking the side door like the others had, the Admiral instead left through the hall door. Stepping into the hall, Rin noticed there was something off. It was warm; naturally warm instead of Yukijō's dry, artificial heat. Frowning, she cautiously took a few steps towards the kitchen... and noticed that instead of a door, there was a window.
That... can not be right... the woman thought as she gazed out the window. What Rin saw from her viewpoint could be summed up in a single word: chaos, pure and simple.
Spread out around her was a city very much like Senjima's capitol; she could tell from the basic layout and the sheer busyness. From that familiar, basic layout, however, it appeared the architects had a seizure. There was no single theme with the buildings; brick row homes stood next to wood shacks, all of which were atop a portion of Senjimese architecture from several centuries prior which overlooked a busy marketplace. Glancing over to the left, she noticed a great tower made of glass, seemingly impossibly tall, taller than even the tallest castle. Bringing her vision down to her level, she noticed a variety of clutter a few stories up, wooden boardwalks connecting rooftops, massive pipes (one of which bore a crack which jettisoned an azure waterfall), rickety train tracks (one nearby train was hauling what had to be the largest stag beetle she'd ever seen; it was the same size as the flatbed car it was on)...
And the crowd... to say it was diverse was an understatement. There was a multitude of peoples, ranging from native Senjimese to Medvians to Auravallians and Vargans of far western Vespia. Not only that, there were a variety of races as well; name the species, there was likely to be at least one representative in the crowd.
From her viewpoint, she could view a wide variety of professions going about there daily routines: a fire dancer entertaining a crowd with fiery acrobatics; a rather large and furry lupine blacksmith tended a forge while their garish colored and scantily clad, ultra-pale associate showed off the finished goods; a man dressed in red and white striped clothes perusing the market, blissfully unaware of his surroundings; a rather vocal foreigner who was going on about falafel, whatever that was. She caught a glimpse of a courtesan entertaining a customer, whom she could have sworn winked at her; a very lost looking miko wandering about. Nearby was a confrontation between a knife wielding mugger and a bush hat wearing, machete wielding naval officer (if a bit casually dressed in Rin's opinion); a group of insectoid samurai clustered around a table drinking tea; a black-and-gold clad geisha slowly limped through the market, escorted by a self-moving travel trunk; at least five instances of people being successfully pick-pocketed by street urchins; and a gathering of gaunt, withered looking folk made their way towards a building called the Dragon's Den, a few of them had small orbs of bluish fire floating near them. A glance to her left and she could look into an open air mixed bath containing some rather eye pleasingly attractive individuals, much to her chagrin. Scattered around the area. she could pick out the occasional patrolling guard, from antiquated ashigaru to robed onmyōji and strange folks in impractically white suits, too few a far between to deal with the various illicit activities going on around them...
Rin averted her gaze, overwhelmed by the sheer busyness of it all. One thing for certain, she was no longer in Yukijō-minato, and quite possibly, her right mind.
Mini-glossary of terms: Medvia - country/continent analogous to Russia. Auravallia and Vargas - countries analogous to Spain and Portugal, respectively. Vespia - continent analogous to Europe. Ashigaru
- foot soldiers who served under samurai during the Sengoku period. Onmyōji - practitioners of Onmyōdō who protect the capitol from evil spirits, among other things.
Yukijou-minato ~ Snow Castle [Main Keep 1st Floor ~ Parlor Kitchen] (Megumi; Gliosem; Jackson)
Megumi split her focus at staring rather annoyingly at the dumbfounded Jackson, giving him an initial deadpan response of yes, and the inquisitive Gliosem. "They are to ward off evil, as that abominable box is prone to... fits," she told the latter before starting to snark further on the former's comment, "I know what a rice—"
Having kept an eye on Gliosem the entire time, the maid had been edging closer towards the sumiri and grew more and more concerned as the young woman became increasingly frantic and distressed. Flinching slightly and folding her cat ears flat at the sumiri's rather loud shriek, Megumi placed a reassuring hand on Gliosem's shoulder, before flinching again when she noticed how quickly the room was becoming occupied.
"This kitchen isn't meant to hold so many people; we should give the young mistress some space," the maid told the others as she took a half-step back before being nudged from behind by the counter.
December, 1901; South West England
Alexandra returned from the linen cupboard with the fresh, clean towels Ms. Leeds had requested. As she opened the door to the room that Susie was being treated in, the young vampire was met by the sound of another of Susie's coughing fits. Handing over the towels to the matron, Alexandra took a glimpse at the ill girl.
A week prior, little Susie had been an adorable little nine-year-old orphan with vibrant blue eyes and curly blond hair, full of energy and eager to play with everyone. Now the girl was a shivering wreak, her hair matted and soaked with sweat, her skin having took on an ashen gray pallor. In between her coughing fits, Susie moaned weakly as Ms. Leeds applied another towel to the sickly girl's forehead.
Alexandra darted forward and grasped one of Susie's hands; it was cold, clammy, and very sweaty. "Don't worry, Susie. We've sent for a doctor; he should be hear in a few days. You'll be better in no time, I promise," she said, staring into Susie's lackluster eyes. For a moment, the color returned to them, before fading away again as the girl entered another bought of painful sounding coughs.
The vampire's heart skipped a beat when she noticed the flecks of blood the girl was coughing up. Ms. Leeds noticed it too, her eyes widening as she pulled Alexandra away from the bed.
Alexandra's attention was brought back to focus at the smarting sting on her cheek; rubbing her face slightly, she looked up at the annoyed look on the matron's face as the woman scolded her, "You shouldn't get so close to someone so sick, young miss, I've told you that before."
"But I'm a vampire; I can't get sick—"
"That may be true, but you and I are more than capable of carrying the sickness to others, and we don't want that happening, now do we?" Ms. Leeds said as she wiped away a speck of blood from Alexandra's other cheek.
A faint frown crossed Alexandra's face, "I... I hadn't thought of that," she said quietly, before glancing over at Susie, "The blood—"
"Yes, I've noticed, it's entirely too soon for that though," the matron said solemnly, before sighing softly. "Now, I need you to go take a bath and get ready for dinner. I'll make sure your clothes are dealt with, so don't put them in with the rest of the laundry, okay?" she said, before sending the girl off with a pat on the back.
edited 6th Aug '17 8:21:40 AM by WillDeRegio
Mr ship
[San Francisco-Safon Warehouse~1989/Lauren]
The black tendril engulfed her gun causing her to quickly throw it onto the ground and jump back while pulling out her Glock 17 pistol. Realizing that he'd likely do to the same thing to her pistol she decided to try and defuse the situation.
"I don't care what you are. You're trespassing in my warehouse. If you are truly here for asylum then drop your weapon and call back your shadow."
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Safon Warehouse (Lauren, Friedrich)
How many guns did this woman have? And here was another one, though smaller than the first. Here he finally grew worried, turning around to face her and keeping his hand firmly on the hilt of his sword, drawing back the shadowy tendril as soon as she dropped the bigger gun. But at her words, he drew his sword (which was actually a repurposed letter-opener, as Lauren could now see) and placed it on the floor behind him, in the direction of what he guessed was the front door.
Facing her again, he clasped his hand together in front of his chest and spoke. "Forgive me - I did not intend to intrude upon anyone's privacy. I did not even know that this place was occupied." Then he removed his hat and held it before him as he took a bow. "I am Friedrich von Schwarzwald, and I come from the kingdom of Solevaille. What, pray tell, is this place?"
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[Ji Estate - Centermost Foyer (Seilaan, Mazra, Drix)]
Mazra took the tea package and bowed her head slightly. "You're welcome."
The somewhat ritualized nature of the gesture (and the way Seilaan seemed to be trying even harder to fake politeness) made it seem like this was a formal custom among the younger girl's people, which implied some interesting things about how their culture saw the host-guest relationship. And if she's not just giving the nice version of how her House name came about... Hmm. That might explain why she's so cynical about the Imperial way of doing things. She'd already guessed that the Renesian world probably had a lot more de jure abuse of power among its nobility, and the implications about what was expected there seemed to be reinforce it. Why would a guest need to gift a host instead of the other way around, unless it was assumed that the host might not live up to their obligations?
Also: what is a 'Witch form'? Can't anything from her world ever just sound like science fiction?
She glanced around. There was still no sign of her father, or of any apparent change to the dreamscape. Drix had begun to walk towards the corridor on the opposite side, but stopped as one of the doors slid open with a nearly inaudible woosh. A woman of indeterminate age with blonde- and brown-streaked hair, wearing a crisp dark gold uniform fastened up the side, stepped through, and Drix executed as much of a bow as its hexapedal anatomy allowed.
"Maz! Back from rock-picking already?" the woman called out.
Mazra tried not to let her surprise show (more for Seilaan's sake than her own). "I suppose so." She turned to her guest. "May I introduce my cousin, Magon Ji? Mag, this is Lady Seilaan of House Ren, my guest. They're... not from the Empire."
She waited for a response from Seilaan. It was much easier to do than wonder what this particular second cousin was doing here, even in a dream.
It's a bird.
Snow Castle -> Shinkyo Market District (Gwenafer, Rin)
Gwenafer's gaze wandered between Gliosem and Rin for a few seconds.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense," she said matter-of-factly, before finishing what remained of her drink with a loud gulp.
She watched Gliosem leave the room, and turned her attention back to the food, only to instinctively spring up from the table once she heard the sumiri's scream.
"What the Depths is it this time..?" she grumbled to herself as she hurried after Rin out into the hall. "What happ..."
Gwenafer stopped by Rin's side and stared out through the window. This was clearly not what the castle's surroundings had looked like when they arrived. More weird Dreamworld stuff? The place reminded her of the busy harbor district in Brightcliff, but some things where obviously very different. Most notably the people, many of whom she might have mistaken for ghouls or were-beasts - or even demons in some cases - if she hadn't already met Gliosem and Megumi.
She glanced over at Rin - attempting to judge from the admiral's expression if this place was familiar to her or not - and followed her gaze across the cityscape, looking where she looked and smirking at some of the things she seemed to linger on.
"Taking in the sights, huh? Any idea where we are?"
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Snow Castle - Kitchen (Megumi, Nick, Adam, Jackson, Marie, Gliosem, Phantom)
Noticing her shock, everyone else (except Rin and Gwenafer, notably) came rushing into the kitchen to see what was wrong, leaving a perturbed Megumi to complain about the place being crowded. As soon as the maid said this, Gliosem looked up, her cheeks turning a very light pink underneath her thick white skin as she noticed the crowd. But quickly she bowed her head again.
"I-it's my sister, Ferisen..." she stammered, struggling to say the words. "S-she's..." She shook her head. "She's dead. ...N-n-normally it wouldn't matter since if you die in a dream you just wake up... but since we arrived here from the Tree of Dreams, f-from which the tea Megumi made for Rin came... th-the dream is so vivid and real that if one dies, their soul could end up wandering the dream aimlessly, stuck in a limbo. When this happens, th-they might wake up a wight, completely forgetting who they are. Th-that's why I was fearing for my own life during that fight with Magdalene..."
By that time, tears had started leaking out of her eyes. Brushing a couple of them aside, she took the crystal ball back out of her pocket. "I saw it through this. This is how my sisters and I keep track of each other in dreams like this. We designed them so that they would glow brightly when one of us was in mortal peril." She shook her head again. "A-and then of course once it vanishes, it means, well... they're gone. The last time I saw her was at the Twilight Ball right after our performance there, before I wandered here, and now I'll-"
Something in the crystal ball caught her eye just then. "Huh?" Looking more closely, she could see a clear image of Ferisen's latria, that strange soundless instrument made of crystal and glass pipes. A bright green glow shone from within it, and much to Gliosem's shock, she saw Ferisen stand up next to it, a spot on her forehead glowing with that same light, with a thin aural line drawn between it and the instrument. "What? But that means..."
After studying the ball for a moment, she finally put it back in her pocket and heaved a heavy sigh of relief, wiping the last of the tears off her face. In an oddly matter-of-fact tone and with a little smile on her face, she said to the group, "Whoops, false alarm! Fair didn't quite die; she just turned herself into a lich. In other words, she stored her soul inside a crystal." Her gaze wandered in Phantom's direction, as the memory of how he told her that his soul was also in a crystal came to her mind. "Anyway, I'm sorry to make you all worry. I-I'm pretty sure my sister will be fine now." Or so I hope. "I-I'm with Megumi; it is becoming quite crowded in here."
Despite her words though, she still sounded notably nervous when she spoke.
edited 8th Aug '17 1:10:09 AM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Graveyard - City (Moreena, Niru, Sinistrina, Nathan)
Sinistrina's pale gray face seemed to light up with interest when Nathan mentioned that he was a necromancer as well. "Interesting. Well then, it is a pleasure to meet you, Nathan." Now his presence was even more reassuring to her, as, morbid though the thought was, she now was not the only one who would face accusations by Moreena.
But she bowed her head a bit when he gave her that look regarding Antoinette, as well as his question about the bottle of souls. "So you can see souls as well. Seeing souls goes hand in hand with extracting and trapping them, as you might know. As for the bottled ones... well, it's a long story." She glanced behind her at Moreena and Niru. "But I will say that the Deathly Glade is an inescapable realm in which mortals who enter die within minutes, after which their souls become lost in the surrounding mists. So I took it upon myself to store their souls inside objects dear to them whenever possible, in the hopes that they would retain their identity." She looked over at Antoinette. "Sadly, it seems that they do not, and since they lack the skill with re-animation that I have, they cannot even move without my assistance. But they do have a natural inclination to protect their souls, so I do have hope for them."
Again, she gazed intently into his single exposed eye. "As a necromancer myself, I understand all too well the moral implications of our brand of magic. I imagine you do as well - why else would you struggle to hold it back? If you do not mind me asking, how long have you had this magic? And though you lack a title, surely you have a home, at the least?"
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
To dream is my right
Graveyard (Wastes) — Graveyard (Temple):
"The line between thought and matter may grow narrow for some, but the law of... oh, forget it. Reality is in shreds here anyway, isn't it?", Niru said and then began walking towards the towers in the distance... or at least made half a step and landed there, confused by the sudden translocation. How could she... what is she?
Overwhelmed by the flashing lights and shifting shadows, confused trying to understand the whispers and recognize the smell of hundreds of people walking between the skyscrappers. Ghosts, each and every one of them... or something close to it. Shaking her head to clear the haze, she adjusted better to the images and sounds around, and marveled at the engineering of the place, which was apparently once fully covered in structures of a scale her Empire was still learning to work in.
"Those moving posters... they aren't... I mean, weren't projected. At least not by regular projectors. Maybe wide-angle projectors inside the screens, eletro-reactive pigments or minimized lamps. Or they are psychic projections, but it would be very difficult to make stable normally. Now all we see are technically psychic projections."
Then, she turned her attention to the crowd. Submiss, ordered and fearful, they were the perfect image of tyrannical efficiency that slowly marched into inner collapse. Except one.
She knew that way of walking. Those were the steps of a fleeing man. That was the sudden stop at a fork in the path. His was the rhythm of a man who willingly walked into a lion's lair. And, as she predicted, he broke away from the crowd and walked towards them, with what she assumed to be a false sense of sureness. What she did not predict was the taste of blood in her throat, or the weight in her lungs, that grew greater as the being walked towards them. She feared that what was to come would be almost as unpleasant as the fight against Armory Knight, even if less dangerous.
Unfortunately, Queen Sinistrina decided to welcome him and give him endorsement to use his powers freely. "I recommend you to not follow Her Majesty's advice, Natan.", Sentinel Niru said, "This location is unpredictable enough without interaction with disruptive fields of unknown origins."
Then she moved closer to Moreena, and whispered to her "You are our host. You should decide what to do with him.". As she spoke, she eyed the dark tower ahead, which seemed to have been built by the hands of no man, but grown into place. And high above, besides its top, a white light pierced the clouds, brighter than a star. A light that was not there before. "Moreena, do you see that star? I fear that you are not the only one who will find memories in this place."
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
It's a bird.
Graveyard - Temple City (Moreena; Nathan; Sinistrina, Antoinette; Niru)
Moreena gave Niru an amused smirk as she noticed her reaction to the sudden translocation - interestingly enough, the human woman seemed much less fazed by it - before gesturing towards the screens on the walls.
"I don't quite remember how they did it at this point in time," she replied to her companions, her face turning more solemn. "These are rather old memories."
As if on cue, one of the nearby screens briefly flickered to life, showing a stylized image of a handsome young man holding a flame in his hand, surrounded by a very impressed looking crowd of people with lab coats and notepads. A scrolling line of text appeared along the bottom:
"Do you have the gift? Put it to good use! Devotion is rewarded."
Another flicker, and the image showed the same man standing in a factory, smiling and giving a thumbs-up with one hand while burning a rune onto what looked like a large rocket of some kind with the other.
Moreena withdrew her attention from the screen, and saw that Sinistrina was already busy introducing them all to a newly arrived person in a black trenchcoat. Unlike the specters of the city, this man - who had referred to himself as "Nathan" - was evidently real. His barely contained volatile magic, as well as the mention of necromancy - Moreena involuntarily bared her teeth at the latter - were disturbing, but he seemed both harmless and relatively polite at the moment.
"Greetings," she said, before pointing at the bottled souls. "We aim to set them free as soon as possible."
Next, she looked up at the light in the sky, it's meaning unknown but foreboding. Even so, she found a strange comfort of sorts in Niru's words.
"Well, this would be an appropriate place for that sort of thing," she answered. "Let's face them then, shall we?"
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
Mr ship
[San Francisco-Safon Warehouse~1989/Lauren]
Lauren relaxed a bit as the doll gently set his weapon down but still kept her pistol in her hand.
"Thank you Mr. Schwarzwald." Lauren started respectfully. "Since you are cooperating I'll answer your question. This is my umm.... temporary home."
Keeping a sharp eye on him she observed that he really was a doll like he said but after the day she's had so far it wasn't really that notable when compared.
"Now I must ask you a question. Have you seen a man who's about mid thirties, light brown hair and beard, dressed in a navy pinstriped three piece suit, and increasingly more paranoid by the second?"
[Snow Castle (Kitchen—Parlor)]
On one hand, it was a relief that situation was seemingly handled, but at the same time, Nick was annoyed that he and his friends were pratically worried over nothing.
"Well," he said, "Glad you got that settled."
He stepped out of the kitchen, then looked out the window. His jaw damn near dropped to the ground.
"What in the holy mother of fuck is this?!"
Adam and Marie rushed to his side, and they too, were taken aback by the sudden change of scenery outside. No longer were they outside in the cold; now they were, once again, thrust into a totally new scenery.
"W...was it like this before...?" she asked.
"No!" Adam said, "There was snow outside! W-We were completely surrounded by it! M-Ms. Rin must've dreamed something again!" he turned to her, "You...you do remember this place, right?"
It's been way too long and I don't want this group inactive.
edited 18th Aug '17 12:26:28 AM by Masterofchaos
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Safon Warehouse (Lauren, Friedrich)
The doll cocked his head to the side. "Temporary?" He took a slow nod, placing his hat back on his head. "What happened to your permanent residence? Incidentally, my home was just destroyed in a battle, so it seems this place is a refuge for both of us."
To her other question, he pondered for a moment. "I have seen at least two or three people with such an appearance in town, but none of them seemed paranoid at all. You do not look nor sound like you are from anywhere near Solevaille though, so I doubt any of them are who you are looking for." It was only once in a blue moon that his hometown (sort of) had visitors from anywhere outside of Europe, after all, and it didn't even occur to him yet that this woman, this place, might be from another time altogether.
"Though why are you looking for him in the first place? And..." he looked around for a bit... "if it is within my abilities, perhaps I can help you, miss..." He did find it a bit odd that she did not introduce herself straight away, but given how paranoid she herself seemed to be at the moment, perhaps she had just come out of a difficult situation as well.
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
Shinkyo Market District (Rin; Gwenafer; Adam, Marie, Nick)
"Hnm?!" Rin's attention was abruptly brought to her current location when Gwenafer spoke to her, "Oh, yes, I guess..." she said absentmindedly before addressing Gwenafer's later question, "This place, it reminds me of Shinkyo, the Imperial capitol, but it is very much different from the times I have been there. There definitely was not an impossible tower the last time I was there," she said, staring at the anachronistic skyscraper dominating the skyline.
Taking further stock of their present location, she noted that they appeared to be in someone's house, or rather a manor, situated on the second level of the marketplace. How such an opulent building could be built in its present location (especially with additional buildings haphazardly place overhead, she noted when craning her head out the window) was beyond her.
The arrival of three of the younger members of her visitors was rather loudly announced with confusion and colorful language. Said arrival not only garnered Rin's attention, but that of the estate's apparent owner as well, something that Rin was about to warn Nick about.
WHAP!
Behind the youth was a rather short old man brandishing a gnarled cane, which he had used to lightly bop the young man in the back of his head for his rather crude language. The old man spoke something in Senjimese, which went untranslated in the dreamscape.
Figuring that while she could understand him perfectly fine, the others might have absolutely no clue what he said, Rin decided to act as a translator. "He said that you should watch what you say about the," she paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right word, "horned goddess, Nick."
After having a brief conversation with the old man, Rin eventually turned to relay the message to the others, masking a look of annoyance, "We are apparently in his house and he asks that we politely leave. The front door is that way," she said, pointing to her left.
edited 20th Aug '17 1:01:59 PM by WillDeRegio
feeling blue
The explanation of what was going on was tragic, yet interesting. At first it seemed that one of Gliosem's sisters had died which was a more than understandable reason for her distress. Then it turned out that she wasn't actually dead but had her soul stored in a crystal, just like him. Gliosem had obviously realized that considering the glance she gave to him and although she acted like everything was fine now, she still seemed to be a little shaken.
"I see. Well, that must have caused you some stress, so try to relax a little now," Phantom suggested, not wanting to pressure the girl.
He then began heading back at which point he heard one of the boys yell out something and once he went to check alongside his friends, he found himself somewhere completely different
The change of scenery was quickly noticed and it looked like they all ended in the same place. Instead of a castle they were in some sort of market with a variety of different people walking around, some of which were completely new to Phantom as well. It was all quite interesting to look at, almost distractingly so.
"This is... certainly different. For something like that to occur, I suppose we must really be in a dream," he said, now starting to sound truly convinced.
edited 20th Aug '17 6:26:47 PM by FullMoon
Giant alien spiders are no joke.
Graveyard - City (Moreena, Niru, Sinistrina, Nathan)
Sinistrina's explanation of Antoinette made Nathan intrigued. He wasn't really sure what to say or think about her explanation of the Deathly Glade, but her efforts to try...preserve the souls interested him. The gears of his mind couldn't help but start to spin as he wondered what solutions there could be to her problem. After all, he was rather qualified to deal with this problem, being that his job is to resurrect the dead.
Nathan ignored the comment about his internal struggle to put a lid on his draining area-of-effect. He did not like to discuss it with other people, especially strangers, but as he focused more on the conversation, his control wavered and power leaked out of him. He took a deep breath through the nose to try to relieve the mental pressure and prevent his control from collapsing, which would have caused a sudden spike of intensity within his field, then petering off to the default state, similar to a gasp of air after holding one's breath for a long time.
As for the question of how long he had this magic...did she mean his area-of-effect ability, or his magic in general? It was a confusing question, after all, everyone with magic was born with it, so the second question didn't make sense. "You mean my AOE? Uh, the area-of-effect ability?" Nathan paused, trying to remember exactly when. "When I was six or so...And I live in Toledo, Ohio."
He turned towards Niru who advised against him following her majesty's advice. "Noted...but we'll see how long I can hold off."
He nodded in acknowledgement of Moreena's words, then turned towards Sinistrina and said in a low voice, "If you're still interested in trying to restore the...Deathly Glade victims, I could help you. I know how to resurrect people. It might give you some idea on how to help them." He glanced at Moreena, who he was trying to decide whether she didn't care for him or if she disliked him.
edited 22nd Aug '17 5:53:45 PM by Tehpillowstar
"Life is eternal; and love is immortal; and death is only a horizon; and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight." - R. W. Raymond
Yukijou-minato ~ Snow Castle [Main Keep 1st Floor ~ Parlor Kitchen] (Megumi; Gliosem; Jackson)
While aware that the others had rather willingly heeded her words and had given the distraught sumiri her space, Megumi was primarily preoccupied with what Gliosem had said, especially the peculiar term she used. "Lich?" she pondered aloud, before shaking her head slightly, "This tea you used, it sounds dangerous—" she stiffened up, realizing what she just said, "M'lady! This is something you sh—"
Stopping herself once again, Megumi placed her hand on Gliosem's shoulder again, "I'm sorry. You're not alright right now; these events you are privy to are apparently not normal, and they caused concern for you. You shouldn't bury your troubles; there's a certain someone who has done exactly that and I'm pretty sure is loosing sleep over it," she said. "Just make sure you talk to someone about it," she added.
The maid glanced at the pocket the sumiri had stashed her crystal ball in. "Is there someway of more definitively contacting your sister, so you can make sure she is alright? Knowing something like that..." Megumi trailed off for a moment, before restating herself, "Knowing something like that would give you some peace of mind."
edited 26th Aug '17 8:49:08 AM by WillDeRegio
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Snow Castle - Kitchen (Megumi, Jackson, Gliosem)
Gliosem's nervousness seemed to ease up a bit when everyone except the maid and the inventor left the kitchen... but mostly it was because she felt uncomfortable making them all worry about her. But that worry returned when Megumi expressed her concerns. Shivering a slight, she paused to take a glance at the rice cooker before speaking.
"The tea we gave Rin is not dangerous," she explained, deciding to go with the most comfortable topic first. "That tea comes from the leaves of the Tree of Dreams, and merely encourages normal, pleasant dreams. The tea my sisters and I drank comes from its inner bark, which is far more potent." And also much rarer, she thought, remembering the trouble she had to go through, the potentially dangerous trek she had to embark on, to obtain it.note
She took out the crystal ball, and saw Ferisen, again with that aural thread between her third eye and her latria, rubbing the former with a handkerchief. "As for Ferisen, mainly I am shocked that she bothered to do this to herself. The soul is what keeps the body alive, so a lich is effectively dead and prone to decay, but... animate. It's... horrible to think about really, and only the evilest of sorcerers bother going that route, usually for power and to thwart death. There's even a rumor going around about the military forces of Zurem employing liches as elite soldiers, since they are difficult to destroy. Also, if done improperly, detaching one's soul that forcefully could destroy their emotions or even their memories, as I mentioned to Phantom. Ferisen is already experienced with astral projection, so I am not as worried... but still."
"The only way I can think of contacting her is by opening a gateway to her location, which can quite easily be done in a dream. However, her present location does not seem safe. Telepathy is a notoriously difficult practice, especially over long distances, an the problem with divination, by its nature, is that its answers are often vague."
edited 24th Aug '17 11:06:54 PM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
It's a bird.
Shinkyo Market District (Gwenafer, Marie, Nick, Adam, Rin, Phantom)
"Yeah... that looks out of place," Gwenafer replied to Rin, leaning forward to look at the huge tower visible behind the other buildings. Watching the sunlight dance across it's flat reflective surfaces triggered a strange feeling of something familiar... but she couldn't make much sense of it.
Turning back around, she saw that three of the four teenagers - who seemed a bit confused - had arrived on the scene as well, with Phantom clanking along behind them.
"Just some more dream based weirdness I bet," she replied to their questions, but before she could say anything more, she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the slightly annoyed looking, cane-waving old man.
"Oh, I ain't sure he meant a literal goddess of..." Gwenafer began. "Never mind."
She started walking towards the door.
"Let's keep talking outside, alright?"
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
Snow Castle - Parlor (Rin, Nick, Adam, Marie, Gwenafer, Gliosem, Phantom)
After giving Rin the orange, Gliosem said to the admiral, "Ah, I see, then it is no wonder that you hardly get any sleep. Some people's bodies just... freeze up when the soul travels to the dream world, and do not recover when it returns."
After another sip of her tea, she turned to Gwenafer, uttering a small giggle before speaking. "Weren't you paying attention to the lyrics in my song? Physically traveling to the moons is impossible, as no method of flight is powerful enough to leave Orenya, and the sun's unprotected light would drive people mad before they could get there. No, instead we astral project there. Send our souls there, if you will. It is much like a forced dream. And since this is a dream, it would be quite easy for me to travel to Kalena. My sisters and I have a long-standing close connection to each of Orenya's moons, and in this dream we set them as our final destination before waking up."
Looking up, she could see that Megumi had pulled Jackson aside and was now heading out of the parlor. Remembering that the maid had mentioned sending for that crow tengu, whatever that was, to look at her wings, she stood up, withdrawing her cloak from under the table and strapping her selunor back onto her back, draping the cloak across her shoulders over it. Picking up the half-eaten piece of bread, she followed the two out with a final word: "Good luck to you all - I will go see what the maid and the inventor are up to."
Snow Castle - Kitchen (Megumi, Jackson, Gliosem)
"What is that?" Upon her arrival, Gliosem noticed the strange mechanical contraption stting in a box. But more importantly, she saw something odd about those charred paper tags attached to it. "Are those.." But the little wisps were so faint that she wasn't completely sure if they were there. "...Oh, forgive me, those papers look like they used to have spells written on them."note
As she inspected the device further, she felt something in the pocket of her dress. From it, she withdrew her crystal ball, and saw a bright, pulsing green glow inside of it. This made her gasp in surprise. "Fair!" she shrieked.
While she watched in bewilderment, the light grew dimmer and dimmer with each pulse, and her head shook more and more. "No, no no no... no... please Fair, don't..." And finally the light vanished into a fading puff of green smoke.
"NOOOOO!"
The shout was so loud that it was audible even from the parlor. Quivering in shock, Gliosem stared at the now-blank orb, shaking her head in disbelief once more. Finally, defeated, she placed the ball back in her pocket and gazed down at the floor.
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.