Work In Progress

"I have no clue. I've been trying to figure that out..." Palutena said to the newcomer. "You are...?" sh asked to him, eyebrow raised.

"... Speaking of which, there's not enough earth here... or water. Or frogs..."

"Or... anything for that matter... It feels so... vacant... I can't even call it space or the afterlife. At least they have things in it... stars... souls... here? Nothing..." Madoka said. She then began to tremble a bit. In fear? Perhaps.

edited 13th Jan '13 1:51:44 PM by Psyga315

Shinki raised an eyebrow as Suwako mentioned the word "danmaku".

"Ohoh, to think one of the gods of Gensokyo would be here too," she laughed, floating through the void towards the deceptively young looking goddess. "At least, I can only assume, since Gensokyo is the only place that puts as much emphasis on danmaku as it does fancy headwear. I don't think I've heard of any "Mishaguji" before, though..." Cocking her head, the God of Makai stared quizically at Suwako's mount. "Or any Suwako... Although I did hear on the grapevine that some new gods had recently set themselves up there. Hopefully you didn't upset the shrine maiden, ahah, otherwise... Well, I speak from experience on that matter."

She then put a comforting hand on Madoka's shoulder. "Hush, little one... Maybe that's the reason we're here? Maybe we've all been called here to bring this desolate void to life? And even if we haven't, we probably should anyway. Would be rather fun~"

edited 13th Jan '13 1:58:19 PM by Moerin

"Why fear the void?" Kefka asked, "And why create? Given time, whatever we make will be broken down, and we'd be right back where we started, twiddling our celestial thumbs." His face was cast in a playful, exaggerated frown, held in place by his thumbs. "Whatever ripped us here had the right idea for a world, he did. She did? It? It did, in any case?" His words were twisted by the false grin into a long, drawn out lisp.

But then, an idea.

"That is.", the harlequin god continued, unless some of us were brought here to destroy." Letting go of his own cheeks, he waved out his arm towards some of the meaner looking deities, like the dark-stone sphere, and the giant 'A'. "In which case, things might be getting VERY fun indeed."

"Whatever the reason for this gathering," Arceus said, "answers will be forthcoming at our destination, if anywhere. We should get going." He turned away from the crowd and began flying towards the centre again.

The clown freaked her out, what with his praising of the void and all that. The guy must be really fucked up in the head to appreciate nothing. It just made her shudder more before Shinki put her hand on her shoulder. Then she felt... well, not all that peaceful, but at least calm to be thinking things.

"Um... Well... I'm not quite sure how to make things come to life... I mean... Oh! Maybe the cute deer thing knows!" Madoka said to Shinki as she followed Arceus. Mainly to try and glomp him.

Father quietly floated after Arceus, right behind Shinki and Madoka. "I don't see a reason for you to worry." He said calmly. "I am sure whoever brought us here knows about our... shall I say... domains. So be calm, child, I am sure everything will be explained soon." It was new for Father to be treating people with respect, a respect he usually reserved to the most loyal of his children. These beings all around him were deities like him. Some of them had been born with power, and some of them fought for that power. It was only logical for Father to demonstrate the appropriate amount of respect to them, especially since it looked like he might be seeing them for quite a long time.

"... you referred to yourself as Shinki, correct?" He asked, looking over at the blue-haired deity, his eyes displaying interest as he got a bit closer. "You told us you are the mother of the demon race. I crave knowledge, you see, the consequences of years- no, centuries- of studying chemistry, biology, physics, history... and various other subjects. Might I ask how your... "children", if you call them that, came into this world? If you are their mother, then there clearly has to be a father, right?"

Armok observed as the others conversed. Some were highly unusual, showing personalities he would not expect of someone in this position. They are strange. "Creation leads to the development of interesting events. Life struggles to survive in the world against other life. We should proceed." The jester seemed to share some interest Armok did. Fun, is watching and manipulating worlds and creating new ways for Dwarves to die. Different levels of technology, mixtures of creatures in the world, and other misc developments. Creatures usually have blood which sustains its life and spills the blood of other creatures. That is what Armok is about, fun.

The overlarge red A started to float after Areceus.

edited 13th Jan '13 11:58:48 PM by StephanReiken

"That's not all to bad, when you put it that way......" The void was still inevitable, but there was still plenty of fun to be hand in the destruction of a world, as opposed to no world at all. By goodness, he'd really gotten out of touch with himself over this whole deity thing. There was never a reason that things couldn't be fun!

"To the magic boom I fly, whereever I fly, someone dies!" Without another word, the mad god made his way into the epicenter of the void, against his better judgment. Of which he had absolutely none.

"Let us see, how much we can make out of this void and how much will survive..." Yami would have smiled, if he had any facial features. If he had a face, period. Starting to like the purple guy, Yami rolled after him, already thinking about the darkness he could cause.

Krezznorg nodded, grabbed the ship's bowsprit, and flew off towards the destination, carrying the ship beneath him.

Floating nearby the girl with the frog hat, Momiji looked her up and down. "Cosplay?" Brightening up somewhat, the Binbougami held out a hand. "You seem interesting, little miss. Not many gods like to dress up in fun outfits..." Looking at the snake, the blonde woman turned back to Suwako with an approving look in her eyes. "Is this your familiar?"

Appearing behind the now enthused goddess was a patchwork stuffed animal with a rather weird face, aka Kumagai. Scribbling on his ever present notepad, the shikigami held up <"Stop being so laid back!>", before thwacking his master on the head with his leaf of notes. This made the misfortune god give off a small whining sound, like a kid who didn't get any dessert before dinner.

edited 14th Jan '13 10:15:48 AM by GreyStar

"We came to Gensokyo pretty recently... it wasn't that long ago that Kanako-san and Sanae-chan and me set up the shrine!" Suwako replied, cheerfully looking back at Shinki as the mishaguji hissed again. "... Shrine Maiden... do you mean the Hakurei Shrine Maiden? Kanako's plans got her attention. She was fun to fight, though, she even beat me! It was a really really awesomely fun danmaku duel!"

The memory was a nice one. Suwako loved danmaku dueling, or... any fights, really. As long as it was just for fun and no permanent harm was done, it was incredibly fun and enjoyable. When Momiji asked her questions, though, Suwako tilted her head in mild confusion.

"Cosplay...?" she asked, confused. She wasn't cosplaying... "... Sanae-chan likes cosplay..."

Sanae liked a lot of things, like manga and anime and those big robots who got made into little figurines. However, there were more questions to answer. "Mishaguji-san isn't a familiar! Mishaguji-san is a curse god! I've got a bunch of curse gods with me!"

The Old One looked around again, its eyes inscrutable as it surveyed the void. This world is... devoid. The winds of magic do not stir this wasteland. There is no life, no magic, no wardings. Another thought occurred to it. Perhaps we have been brought here to till the arid soil of this expanse?

edited 14th Jan '13 12:58:58 PM by Locoman

"Ah, I see... Reimu's still a one-woman disaster area, is she?" Shinki laughed as she floated alongside Suwako. "So... Have you heard anything about a girl named Al-"

Her attention was sidetracked when the one who called himself Father questioned her. "Oh no, no, silly, I'm a single mother~ And I'm flattered, but I'm really not looking for anyone right now~" Whether or not the alchemist had even meant to imply anything with the mother and father statement, she still winked playfully at him. "They came into being because I willed it. I think, therefore they are. Let me demonstrate!"

The God of Makai closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, as though praying. Mere moments after this simple act, a shimmer of light appeared in the inky void, slowly forming itself into a humanoid form. The light faded, and where it was now stood what looked like... A blonde maid.

"Welcome to the world, my daughter," Shinki's voice was warm as she gently embraced the newborn demon. A few brief seconds of solemn seriousness passed, after which the demon goddess cracked a goofy smile and yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

"Um... Thank you..." The demon maid, not entirely sure how to react to her first few moments of existence, merely smiled back awkwardly. "I shall not squander this precious gift of life that you have bestowed upon me, mother."

"...And that's how it's done!" Shinki lightly punched Father's arm in jest. "Does that satisfy your curiosity, Father?"

Palutena looked at the other deities floating to the center of the void. She then look at the deities chatting away at... cosplay? They were placed in this empty place and they're talking about cosplay. She simply blinked at their discussion and spoke up to them.

"Um, excuse me?" she said to them. "Shouldn't we follow them to see what's up over there at the center?" she asked, pointing to the spot.

"What, so you have a lot more of them inside you? Does it feel g-" Kumagai smacked his errant mistress over the head again with blatant disapproval, eliciting a small yelp. It was at this moment that the Maou created a brand new demon, one clad as a maid. "So... Can I have permission to dress your daughter up in fun outfi-" Another smack stopped the teasing Binbougami short. "Owies." Wincing and muttering under her breath the word "spoilsport", Momiji sighed and began pulling her act together.

As Palutena came over to tell them that it would be prudent to keep up with the others, Momiji simply clucked. "Well, they're not out of range yet. We could probably catch up pretty easily." Snapping her fingers, a motorcycle with the face of an "cool, old biker whose white hair was bound up with a bandanna" mounted on the handle appeared before the kami, who straddled it expertly. "I'm not as strong as some as the rest of you, so I need to compensate with Misfortune God Items." The woman explained as she buckled on a helmet.

"Oooo... I can't do stuff like that!" Suwako said, hopping off her massive mishaguji ride and drifting closer to the newly-born demon. She was a maid. Didn't Sanae have a maid outfit somewhere? Suwako was fairly certain she did... "I can do things with earth, but not with people. Oh, I can do stuff with plants, too!"

When Momiji spoke, Suwako tilted her head in confused. "Inside me...? But... they wouldn't fit, they're big snakes... but you're pretty, so I think I might try to make them prettier, since curse gods aren't too far from misfortune gods..."

The mishaguji hissed in one some people might say was worry. However, Suwako was distracted by the motorcycle. "Ooo... A motorcycle! That's awesome! I saw some of those when I was outside Gensokyo... But anyway... let's go, Mishaguji-san!"

Suwako flew back to land on her serpentine stead, preparing to fly closer to the center of the explosion.

Madoka felt left out. Nearly all the gods seem to express pleasure in creating, and believe their goal is to do this. Madoka never created. She broke the laws of causality and became a God that way. Her job was to destroy Witches and whisk away their original forms to the afterlife. She had never created in her life. She just destroyed.

At this point, she'd have more in common with the creepy void clown. It made her sigh in depression. She recalled a time where she had low self-esteem and was Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life. And then, when she left her world, she felt like she got her purpose.

With what was happening before her, it was like she was back on square one. She sighed in depression.

edited 14th Jan '13 7:56:37 PM by Psyga315

"You misunderstand me." Father started to say once Shinki implied he was interested in her. "I am not—"

However, Father remained silent for the rest of the new demon's birth. "A wonderful demonstration." He said, smirking and lightly clapping. "Apart from the fact she is wearing clothes fit for a maid, and as you can see, there is nothing to clean here. I believe I can do just the same as you, Shinki, but you see, up until now I had only been able to create artificial humans." He said, scratching his chin, deciding to omit a few bits of information. "Marvelous creatures, yes, and I treat them as if they were my own children. But now that I possess the power to create actual humans... perhaps you could give me a class or two on your process? You seem to have the type of knowledge I could use."

He raised an eyebrow, letting out an "oh" and crossing his arms once more. "I should explain. I have just obtained my status as a deity, you see, after hundreds of years of research and fighting. A well-deserved reward, if I may say so myself." Father smirked. "But up until now, I was bound to follow what was my world's number one rule: the rule of equivalent exchange. If I wanted to create something, I had to give something. But now that I am a deity, I am no longer restrained by this rule. I can create and destroy as I see fit... which means I am itching to see what I can do."

Armok looked at the freshly created Demon. Her creator seemed to have blessed her with knowledge since she knew something of what was going on. Perhaps it was appropriate to this situation for her. Armok looked closely at the Demon, he'd never quite made something like this. She was beautiful and deadly, not unlike the elves but stronger. "An interesting demonstration. I wonder how her kind would fare in My own worlds, if she would survive in My hells."

Arceus looked back as he travelled. Most of the company was following, though some more slowly than others... Well, that was their problem. He continued ahead until he reached the place that called to them all.

There was a loose sphere of more dead tree branches here, although they looked like they had aged a little less than the ones he had passed on the way here. The branches glowed with a light blue energy outline as he willed them aside, revealing the object at the centre of it all.

It looked like a piece of amber, though it was a pale green rather than the normal colour. If one looked closely, it seemed to glow slightly by it's own light. And preserved in the middle of it was a single seed which, as any relevant godly senses would be able to tell, was very much alive.

Arceus titled his head, staring down at it. "This is it?"

edited 16th Jan '13 8:04:50 AM by Anura

Palutena blinked at Momiji as she drove away in a motorcycle that seem to come out of absolutely nowhere. She continued to stare at her as she rode off to the center, then looked at all the other that were following after her. She started to walk down there herself when she heard Madoka sigh.

"Anything wrong?" she asked her as she looked back.

"Well... It's just... I never really created anything. Unless you considered hope as something I created... But even then, I wouldn't be able to do that, or many of the things I did, if it wasn't for a friend of mine... I mean, compared to you and the others... I'm just a school girl who can only ruin cause and effect and take away from the world..." Madoka said.

"And it is more than it appears," Kefka chimed in, arriving next to the bestial god. He'd felt the energies of the amber wash over him only slightly before then; this universe or any other, magical things were his strongsuit. But the seed, that was something harsh. It was made clear that, no matter what happened here, that his work as a god was far from finished.

"Though by first impressions." He continued, floating more closely to Arceus, "It's just an annoyingly large amount of life-energy squeezed into a small package. At least we have something to play with!"