Shelter Interior
"League of Legends? Great Mask of Interdimensional Gateways?" Pitt asks. He shakes his head, then glances at Alec, who nods back at him. Pitt moves to massage his temples; it's clear not much of this is making sense to him.
"Alright, forget this for now. It's late, I'm tired, and everytime you answer one of my questions two new ones spring up. We'll pick this up later when I've processed some of what you've already said. Head out of this office and towards the back. That's where everyone else is. You can set up sleeping arrangements there, spend the night here, and we'll figure out what to do with your two in the morning. And I'll warn both of you, if you decide to try anything, the only people here that don't have guns are the children."
Against all tyrants.Mordekaiser
And how is that not the manipulation of worldy, or otherwise, energies through whatever method manages to do it? "Very well then." Mordekaiser moved to the area as directed. He didn't really sleep so much as rest not unlike an elf.
Zeron
I don't think I'm going to get anywhere with her for now, I need to consider what I have gotten. "Well, miss Loki, you are an interesting puzzle. Thank you for answering my questions." Zeron smiled as he finished speaking for a moment.
Halberd
The group made it up to the command deck and moved in. The area was oddly clear of anything, no damage or anything from a fight. Metaknight turned to the door opening. "So you've all made it without great injury. Good. We ran into a momentary Heartless boarding but they are dealt with in any of the critical areas. I suggest you stay up here for an hour or two as the crew clears the ship. There can always be a few wandering about."
Traverse Town
Altairen scrambles away from underneath the giant spider as the little ones draw near. Ryuu's fireballs splash across the little ones, keeping them back from him as he manages to regain his footing.
edited 10th Dec '11 5:29:16 PM by StephanReiken
If one were to watch the energy readings around AD's body it would fluctuate widly as he uses the mana inside his body.
AD throws the readied Mana burster behind him after he gets away from the spiders.
And if one could see the mana around him they would notice that he is quick to replenish it. A cone of mana surrounds him.
After taking time to catch his breath a bit, Florian responded to Meta-knight."Sounds good," said Florian "but if there are any more than you think, which seems pretty damned sure considering how those things move, we'll head out." He turned then too his two female companions. "Agreed?"
To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.Shelter Interior
The space near the back of the warehouses has been converted into sleeping and living arrangements. One half of the back end is comprised of neat rows of beds, mattresses, sleeping bags and bed rolls, the occasional personal effect sitting beside one. The other half is home to couches, chairs, a large dinner table, game tables, bookshelves, and a large, deactivated TV. Even at this late hour children run around, chasing each other through the chairs. Adults sit and read, heavy bags under their eyes, or else share cold drinks together.
The sound of Mordekaiser and Tahu stirs them all to their feet, weapons coming out of seemingly nowhere, all pointing at the pair. Children are drawn behind their parents, visibly quaking with fear.
"Relax!" Pitt calls from behind the two, shouldering his way between them.
"They're not bad guys! You can put the guns down!"
Slowly, the weapons are lowered. The formerly cheerful atmosphere has gone quiet and fearful. Pitt steps over to a woman, speaking quietly. She nods, then gestures to Tahu and Mordekaiser.
"Tahu, Mordekaiser, is it? Follow me, will you?" she says, attempting to lead them to a door in the wall.
Against all tyrants.Mordekaiser
Mordekaiser followed and he gripped his mace as weapons were pointed at him, not relaxing when they were calmed. "Worry not, I take no offense to it." Just vermin around here, weaker minions to do the bidding of the group."'
Mordekaiser was led to the presence of others whose appearance was obviously different marking them as non-human. The angel was there applying her hands to the chest of what does look human. It might be, Morde couldn't tell from looking but the armor it wore was drastically different from the others. That meant something, whether a different species, or a different culture.
"Are we interrupting?"
Potterverse, Britain
In the early evening Karla was back, this time with a short stocky man whom she introduced as "Victor". He carried a case with him, similar in shape to a double bass, and he handled it with much the same amount of care.
"I will get you to Hogwarts, as per contract," he said in an accented voice. "If what Karla tells me is correct, we may find ourselves under attack by the flying...spectres, perhaps, or phantoms, whatever they may be." He shrugged. "Whatever they are. I will be moving...four, five of you, and the device, and it is likely we will be ambushed on our way. And Royal Air Force craft, of course, who will do their best to kill us." Victor shrugged again. "So we shall fly at night."
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three."Very well, then."
J sighed as he went to sit back down and relax. All the arguing and thinking, combined with trying to comprehend all of the situations, was straining his mind. He needed a hard reboot.
"I'm gonna try and catch some sleep. Anybody needs anything, wake me up."
Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987Zeron
Zeron shrugged at the question, taking careful look at the two before him. Neither could be, well, is likely to be human. The big guy in armor was a bit too big as an ordinary human but with his clearly robotic companion it was all the more suspicious.
"Recovery procedures, she's, ah, my mechanic at this point. Zeron. And you two are?"
As Zeron spoke he dusted off his wireless communications and started broadcasting signals hardly strong enough to get past this room. He sought to establish communication with the other to, among other things, meet the person. So far Zeron hadn't seen something approximating his own level of technology. He could already trust that these two were probably not from around here.
Sunburst glanced around sheepishly. "Punchin' em doesn't work to beat 'em."
Then she added, "In my world, I focused more on non-lethal takedowns, but I don't think that'll work here. I'll need a better weapon."
Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.After a moment of thought, Florian smiled. "Sunburst, isn't it? The war-band I managed beared similarity to another band in that time." He began scratchng his wooly beard in want of a more formal title. The heat of battle did'nt do favors for the old man's memory.
"I believe they were Swiss. They specialized not in force of arms, but hand to hand combat! The only reason they had to adapt was with the advent of firearms coming around, and that does'nt seem to be an issue with these monsters. Perhaps something hard to cover your fists is in order." he continued, knocking his knuckles together.
To the law and for the good of man. All I need to live by.Time Warp
Buffyverse
The efforts to fake Suzy's death failed as Suzy showed up and was remarked upon by Mordekaiser. Loki was quickly knocked out and taken along for now as the group sought out Erin. After some time the group found Erin who was preoccupied with efforts offworld. After a hasty battle with her, she spat out that she didn't need Loki or anything else from this world right now and whisked herself away.
With that over the group spoke with Suzy and gained some background information, then with the assistance of G-Man were pulled onto the Gunship Halberd.
Pokeverse, wrap things up however you like and push forward to G-Man and initiate the warp as there is a small timeframe for potterverse to finish up. Otherwise I'll just sum things up in general as before.
edited 23rd Dec '11 10:38:57 PM by StephanReiken
Potterverse Britain
Evening
"Late enough," judged Victor. The sun had set outside; once again everyone was in the conference room. Karla was present, too, back from whatever tasks she'd been running in the day. So was Umbra, unconscious and bound. "Time to earn my salary."
He opened the case to reveal a broomstick that floated mid-air. On one side was what appeared to be a large saddlebag; he opened it up to reveal two rows of benches and a dim light source. "Is bigger on the inside, you see. Airsick bags if you need them."
Consider this a "final check" before the jump into the interactive cutscene that will explain quite a bit about what's going on.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.J sighed as he watched. A part of him was dreading what was about to happen, considering all the pain the poor girl had been going through against her will.
"Let's get this over with... hopefully with as little pain as possible."
But he dared not look away. Another part knew that he had to see.
Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987Vigil simply nodded.
"I'm ready."
I'll keep posting up until I can send him off.
Against all tyrants.Potterverse
Victor blinked. "No, no. You go inside, strap in. I am pilot; you are passenger. I fly you and the unconscious woman there to to Hogwarts."
"And these," said Karla, reappearing in the doorway. She held a small cardboard box that contained the strange black mechanism captured in Romania: matte-black metal twisted into the shape of a heart and key, set atop a rotating clockwork base of the same material. "I think the Hogwarts professors can figure more out about it." She held Lecroix's locket by the box. "And him, too. It's a pity he's dead; that's the thing about portraits—it can be hard to remember that they're only shades of the original. But they aren't really alive."
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.J looked in bewilderment for a moment.
"Ah, what the hell." He went into the bag.
Long live Cinematech. FC:0259-0435-4987Potterverse
"Yes, you'll be riding in a glorified backpack hung on a broomstick," said Karla sardonically. "The luxury model comes with an onboard computer and a leather interior. Victor, you want to supervise loading everyone else...?"
Victor nodded. The next few minutes were occupied with lashing Umbra's stretcher to the bench and crowding the rest of the sliders into the cargo space while not impaling anyone on the various weapons that they carried—difficult but possible. "Just this left," he said at last, lifting to the box with the strange mechanism and Lecroix's locket. "Easy. Put it under a bench."
"Er, don't do that," said Lecroix's voice from within the locket. "I mean it don't—"
Too late. When the box passed the threshold everything went black, and there was the impression that the cloth walls were contracting, squeezing tighter and tighter with an illusion of downward motion, and Lecroix's tinny voice slid down the register into a Doppler-shifted basso profundo, too distorted to comprehend, and the syllables stretched out, unearthly slow, into a deep hum, faint and low as the grinding of tectonic plates.
Abruptly the pressure faded, and they were sitting no longer on benches but on cold stone. Overhead, one by one, streetlights clicked on, to reveal that they were on a wide bridge spanning a river. It was night, and clouds rolled overhead to obscure the stars; street signs hung from steel supports, proclaiming grand declarations and grim warnings in some unknown language. Barbed wire and sandbags partitioned the center span of the bridge into no man's land.
The air was cold, and their breaths formed frost. Snow fell, flecks of white that appeared briefly in the patchy glow of the streetlights and slowly covered the grimy flagstones and brown, icy puddles.
Umbra was nowhere to be seen; neither was Karla, Victor, or the little box. On the ground a few steps away something glittered gold for a moment under the streetlights' glare.
edited 25th Dec '11 9:47:15 PM by SabresEdge
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.

"Well, they can get in line." she replied in a rare moment of sarcasm. "She was here first, so I'm hers until she dismisses me." She almost shuddered at the last part; she clearly was scared of the idea.