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InAnOdderWay Since: Nov, 2013
#301: Sep 5th 2015 at 5:00:12 PM

[The Washington]

"Like, coming here?"

Francis wasn't ready. Like, he really, really wasn't ready.

"What exactly is the plan here? We all just rowdy up a measly defense and somehow take out the guy who literally slaughtered god knows how many people that actually were trained to fight him? I mean I know a bit of street magic myself, but I'm unarmed, Cynthia's still passed out upstairs, we're a girl down, and a proverbial god is literally about to barrel down the front door of this ransack?"

KillerClowns Since: Jan, 2001
#302: Sep 5th 2015 at 6:08:55 PM

[The Plains]

Suela decided to speak to the group at large. "That doesn't look good, I know. But I'm also confident it's not related to our foe. The Dead God would be visible from here if they were. So I think we should press on. Question: do we use the wreckage as a trail? After all, other threats will have been eliminated. But then, lack of cover."

Crowe talking to Brin like an Equalist terrorist wasn't helping his case. Then again, he was of a mind with her about Miyuki and Hoshi. She remembered a lot of Equalists had very legitimate grievances against the worst and most arrogant of her people, just taken too far into essentialism. Crowe might have the same problem. "Thank you for your warning," Brin replied, in a tone of professional courtesy, "but I think you're underestimating my group. Does your world have any sort of bending or 'magic'?" Then she shrugged and continued "until those two give me a justification, I can't reasonably take your word over theirs. Especially since I'd like them around at least long enough to deal with..." she pointed to Noshakruuptchè's trail of destruction, "that, if necessary." Then, an idea came to her and with a conspiratorial smirk, she added, "perhaps you would rather take this topic to Miyuki and Hoshi yourself?" And give me that justification? "If not," she added, "I believe we are done here." She began to return to the group, but did not turn her back on Crowe.

TempestKnight Tempest Knight from Toronto Since: Dec, 2014
#303: Sep 5th 2015 at 7:30:34 PM

The Washington

Father Kiyoshi turned to look at Francis. "Yes...that about sums up the situation. As a matter of fact, given said situation, I suggest you — all of you — forego hiding and simply run — as fast as you can. We need to beat a retreat to an open space where we'll be able to face Priestkiller on equal footing." He began to walk to the far side of the room. "Does this place have a back door? Never mind; if it doesn't, I'll make one."

The priest was halfway across the room before he stopped. "Someone needs to grab Cynthia."

edited 5th Sep '15 7:32:48 PM by TempestKnight

Gault Laugh and grow dank! from beyond the kingdom Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: P.S. I love you
Laugh and grow dank!
#304: Sep 5th 2015 at 8:29:46 PM

[The Plains]

Crowe shook his head. "Magic? No, not outside technology advanced enough to look like magic. And I hope you're right about that." He glanced towards the cyborgs again, weary. "Provoking them would be a bad idea..."

Crowe lapsed into silence as Brin walked away, seeming to consider something. Then, he nodded to himself and walked up to Suela. "Do you need a scout? Lack of cover won't be a problem if you know what's ahead of you."

yey
TroPartner Since: Nov, 2014
#305: Sep 5th 2015 at 9:03:21 PM

[MAIN STREET]

"Well...not really." Christopher answered, "Just...really well-programmed."

He turned to look at the robot who had helped Samuel up. "This one's a special case. I'm trying to start on advanced AI, and I decided to make this one the guinea pig."

"As for the name," Tana interjected, "I'm still wondering about the 'self-aware' thing myself, but I gave him the name 'Carsten' anyway."

Christopher shrugged. "And it stuck."

daird Since: Jul, 2014
#306: Sep 5th 2015 at 9:11:02 PM

(Plains)

"Ah, I see. Thankfully, I don't have to worry about a lot of weapons. Just guns and swords. Metal weapons can disrupt my spiritual essence, and if that happens, well... let's just say it won't be good for me."

Anne turned to notice the vicious storm brewing behind her. She could tell that it wasn't a natural occurrence, but beyond that, she didn't know much. She let out a low whistle. "Damn. Whoever's raising that storm's got some serious juju behind them. I'm not sure Grandmagister Thibodeaux could pull that off."

"Yeah," Lucky said, "That's a lot of power. I've got a three step plan for dealing with stuff like that. Step 1: bend. Step 2: put head between hindlegs. I'm sure you can figure out what step 3 is."

Forward, boys! For God's sake, forward!
Blackfire667 Attitude is prohibited from The Virtual World Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Attitude is prohibited
#307: Sep 5th 2015 at 9:55:07 PM

[The Plains]

Miyuki had been reading Crowe's lips during his conversation with Brin, and she did not particularly care for what he had said. He walked over to Suela - who happened to be right next to herself and Hoshi - but she did not so much as acknowledge him. "Please excuse me." She said, mainly to Suela. "I have to... Use the restroom. I'll be back in a moment." And with that she headed for the nearest shop.

He said he'd talked to our 'boss.' Does he mean Hana? She thought. I'll call Rin and Maya...

Hoshi, meanwhile, stayed put, right near Suela. "Sheesh." She said to Crowe. "You haven't even introduced yourself and you're already asking for a job." She chuckled. "A minute ago, I'm a pretty sure Brin was saying this party was full up. Did you change her mind?"

Not entirely dead.
KillerClowns Since: Jan, 2001
#308: Sep 6th 2015 at 10:29:22 AM

[Within The Woods — Bandit Camp]

"It missed us," the bandit leader said, astounded. Their camp had been pretty far from the path of ruin, but it had turned on lesser targets with glee. "Damn, you did it. I can't believe it."

"Aren't you glad you trusted me?" their guest replied. He was a dark, handsome man of mixed British and Indian descent, with military posture and an official-looking flattop cut. He was dressed in khaki trousers and a olive-and-brown windbreaker, and any purely magical means would be unable to detect him, or even something missing where he should be. (The same had been true for the entire bandit camp during the devastation thanks to some trick of his involving them all holding hands.)

Their guest then closed his eyes and said, "alright, now that thing isn't jamming up the local thaumics, my indicators picking something else up. A group with a few mages, some of them quite powerful, heading this way. They're a few kilometers off, so you've got time to prepare." He gave the bandits a curt nod. "I'm sure you all know what to do; just try not to die. We'd prefer first-person records of how our experimental devices worked. We'll be watching either way, though, so don't forget our agreement."

He then pulled out a pair of the very portal devices Suela was looking for, fiddled with them briefly, and left via a portal to a secure site in Siberia that he closed behind him very quickly. The few bandits who had magical abilities were thankful for that — there was something wretched about the world on the other side of that portal. A deep and fundamental wrongness woven into time and space itself by two opposed forces, both of unimaginable evil: an alien and terrible song seeking to purge and cleanse, and something born of the Void with too many eyes and too many teeth. It was fortunate neither could gain the upper hand upon the other long enough to crawl into this world.

They didn't know much about their guest, but he was clearly some sort of black ops; 21st century technology with a bloody vendetta against magic (reasonable given what his world's magic felt like) and a penchant for secrecy. What he had left behind indicated the Russian Federation, but as everything had been stripped of identifying markers, it would take an expert to determine this. There were certain oddities that would suggest the true story was more complicated still, but these would only come to light through interrogating the bandits.

[The Plains]

Suela looked at Crowe and said, "indeed, as Brin probably told you: there's a lot of people here. Small group size is important dealing with Dead Gods, and we're trying our luck as it is. If you want to go ahead and tell us what you find, I'd appreciate it. Don't know why you'd do it though. I can't offer you anything, sorry to say. Our supplies are all earmarked. And I'm simply not bringing an extra soul to the Dead God."

The wave of eldritch power left by the portal the bandits' guest had left by now washed over the group. Suela didn't notice it, being non-magical (and from the same universe anyways), but Brin felt a brief wave of nausea. Being not particularly sensitive to such things, she dismissed it. However, they could be used by a more focused (and strong-stomached) mage to pinpoint the bandit camp.

edited 6th Sep '15 12:11:42 PM by KillerClowns

electronic-tragedy PAINKILLER from Wherever I need to be Since: Jan, 2014 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
PAINKILLER
#309: Sep 6th 2015 at 11:11:22 AM

[Main Street]

Samuel glanced at Tana, then at the robot named Carsten. He hen said to Christopher, "Carsten, huh? Just uh, keep it away from me for now, all right? I know what those things can do," he gave him a slight glare. He then sighed and said, "Keep control of them for now. Those things don't have morality, you know? I don't know how you can give it intelligence or whatever, but... Nevermind."

He realized then he left his backpack in the dirt when he fell. He turned and hobbled over to receive it. In thinking of where he was to go next, he drew a blank. He was still very much lost there. Samuel stayed quiet about it. He threw the backpack over his shoulders, and leaned on the crutches.

Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
Gault Laugh and grow dank! from beyond the kingdom Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: P.S. I love you
Laugh and grow dank!
#310: Sep 6th 2015 at 11:16:55 AM

[The Plains]

Crowe frowned, very pointedly ignoring Hoshi. "Name's Crowe. And yeah, I can see that. I'm more used to working in smaller groups myself. Good luck trying to wrangle this bunch. Most of them look like civilians."

He turned his head to regard the rest of the group, then looked back at Suela. "But, you're not interested in hearing my unsolicited opinions. Here's the deal. I just happen to be a damn good scout, and these are plenty dangerous lands to be leading a caravan through. I'll go on ahead and tell you what I find, if that's what you want."

He worked his jaw, swallowed, then continued.

"I'm not asking for anything from you right now. Not payment, not supplies, nothing. Not even the promise of anything. Now, that might make you suspicious, and I commend you for that, but I can't give my reasons. I'm sorry, I just can't. They're too personal- they wouldn't mean much to you anyway. I'm not going to lie to you and pretend I'm some kind of saint- I'm not. Just understand that, though it may not seem like it, I do get something out of this."

Crowe looked back to Brin, then seemed to remember something. "And before you get any ideas, it's not the chance to rack up a couple more notches on my gun. I'm not like that, and I didn't have to come to you if that's what I'm after. I guess you could call this my good deed for the day. If nothing else, it helps keep the townsfolk from thinking I'm too much of a freak and kicking me out."

He shook his head, as if to dispel a bad thought. "Anyway, I've been out here a while and I know the terrain. What's more, I have prior experience that lets me use it better. If I run into trouble, I can give a tactical assessment of the enemy and environment we're fighting in. So, do we understand each-other?"

yey
Ryuhza Alligator Season from San Diego County, California Since: Feb, 2012 Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
Alligator Season
#311: Sep 6th 2015 at 1:16:53 PM

[Desert ~ Railroad](Joe, John)

Joe trailed behind John slowly, though it was not actually due to his injuries. Rather, he was staring intently at John's feet. Well, not exactly his feet, but the prints that they were leaving behind.

"Walk backward," he repeated as he followed along, "I dunno about that. I've got a tendency to uh... to tread on myself."

When they reached the area, Joe made a point to watch carefully where he stepped. He looked at the ground for a while, his eyes wandering here and there, sometimes squinting, sometimes wide, trying hard to find a match between prints.

After half a minute or so, he shrugged his small shoulders—putting emphasis on his good one—then looked at John and asked, "So... uh, do you remember where you walked from to get here?" he pointed at the ground at two spots. "Both of these kinda look like your footprints, but one's from there," he nodded his long lizardy head in one direction, which followed what looked like a very lightly blazed trail, "and the other looks like it came from that more 'official-looking' trail." The second trail was more like a road, with some tire tracks mixed in with footprints, hoofprints, and a various assortment of small animal prints.

Wow, what an album
Wolf1066 Crazy Kiwi from New Zealand Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Dancing with myself
Crazy Kiwi
#312: Sep 6th 2015 at 1:18:19 PM

"Do you hear that?" Ammolite asked Wolfe.

Wolfe pricked his ears, wondering which sound in particular Ammolite was talking about and was about to ask when he noticed what was happening with Samuel and the robot. He caught Christopher's reference to S.W.A.T. and knew exactly what it was.

Teri and Kris both nodded. They'd heard of S.W.A.T. but Peggy, Karl and James looked blankly. Peggy surmised that a "Swat Unit" went around "swatting" criminals and had a mental image of a hard and fast strike force.

Kris was interested to hear that the robots weren't sentient and relied on advanced programming - that put them roughly on a par with the robots of Earth in her time.

James was relieved to see that Samuel looked like he was OK after the ordeal with his leg and his encounter with the robots, He could only guess at what history Samuel had with such things that elicited such a reaction.

Teri looked around now that everyone was back together. "So what now?"

Blackfire667 Attitude is prohibited from The Virtual World Since: Jan, 2011 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
Attitude is prohibited
#313: Sep 6th 2015 at 3:17:59 PM

[Town] (A Shop Near the Plains)

Miyuki did not actually need to use the restroom, obviously. Pretending to browse, she absently stared at the shop's wares, her mind elsewhere. Her visor changed its shape; it morphed and extended to cover her entire face, from her forehead to her chin and her ears, in an smooth, featureless mask that was just as black and opaque as her visor had been. Any words she spoke would be inaudible to anyone else, as would any words spoken to her. And thus, she started her call...


[The Washington]

Meanwhile, Rin and Hana were discussing the feasibility of a single-party democracy as opposed to an outright dictatorship while the latter nursed a second glass of wine. Maya was reading short a paperback novel she'd bought at the General Store; the plot was thin and the characters were two-dimensional, but at least it was fast-paced and exciting. They all seemed quite absorbed in what they were doing, though Rin and Maya still kept an eye out for anything suspicious.

Abruptly, simultaneously, the two of them seemed surprised by something. Then, in much the same way that Miyuki's had, their visors appeared within a holographic outline around their heads. The visors changed into masks, and the conversation began.

"Ah," Said Hana, swirling the wine around in her glass. "So... The plot thickens..."


[The Plains]

"Hmph!" Said Hoshi, a bit miffed at being ignored. "Jerk." She turned to Suela. "Are you really gonna let this guy join? What about that other girl - what's her name? Anne? The girl who said she was a ghost. I'm pretty sure she wanted to do the scouting."

Not entirely dead.
TroPartner Since: Nov, 2014
#314: Sep 6th 2015 at 4:51:40 PM

[MAIN STREET]

Christopher felt somewhat saddened by Samuel's immediate dislike of the APO's. Turning to both robots, he cleared his throat.

"G-3 and Carsten." They both turned their attention to him. By now, G-3 had already retracted its own weapon.

"Register Ally Samuel." Christopher commanded.

The robots returned their gaze to Samuel. In both their faces, their eyes began to alternate between white and yellow. Once their eyes stopped blinking, they remained perfectly still, awaiting their next command.


REGISTERED:SAMUEL:ALLY


Tana approached from behind. Judging by how listlessly Samuel was standing around, she wondered if he even knew where he was headed.

"Have anyplace to go?"

electronic-tragedy PAINKILLER from Wherever I need to be Since: Jan, 2014 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
PAINKILLER
#315: Sep 6th 2015 at 5:19:36 PM

[Main Street]

Samuel looked back at Christopher, in wonder of what his command meant. He had an idea. He felt grateful, though he didn't show it.

He turned to the older woman. "I don't know. I'm kind of... Stuck here. I'm not sure how to get back, honestly," he said. The ex-Colonel hadn't considered it too much. He thought about going into the wilderness to search for answers, but with his irritation, it was best to stick to flat ground. "I might as well stick around for now."

"Where to go next?" He hung his head. "I wish I knew. How about you guys?" Samuel looked to the Terra Novans and anyone else around.

Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
Mrship21 Mr ship from Oregon. Since: Jan, 2014 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Mr ship
#316: Sep 6th 2015 at 6:44:35 PM

[The Dessert.]

In the middle of the vast dessert a strange portal to another world opened. It remained there for a bit before a man came out. The man was know as Henry A. Safon the Second, he was 6 feet tall, looked to be gaining some weight after being slightly skinny, had neatly trimmed light brown hair that was parted to the left with an equally neatly trimmed beard. He was also dressed in very 70s looking attire with black plaid pants with bell bottoms, black leather dress boots, a tan paisley dress shirt with a wide splayed out collar, a slightly worn brown leather jacket and a brown swede messenger back across his shoulder. He looked back to the portal and yelled to someone on the other side.

"Alright Augustus I made it. Close the portal and keep an eye out for when I activate the beacon."

The portal closed letting Henry know Augustus got the message. He looked around getting a feel for the area before reaching into his bag and pulling out his tape recorder.

"Henry A. Safon the Second inter dimensional travel logs home date May 30, 1977, local date unknown. I've entered this new dimension to test the accuracy of our new inter dimensional beacon. If I'm right it will allow Augustus or Bill to lock onto my inter dimensional coordinates and open a portal to the right time and place I'm currently in."

He stopped talking in order to look around a bit more causing him to realize he was in the middle of nowhere.

"And because my brother's an asshole I'm currently in the ass end of nowhere. My guess is this world equivalent of the American Southwest about a couple hours past noon. I'm ending here and heading off in hopes of finding some form of civilization."

He hit the stop button on the recorder and put it away. He looked around his surroundings before spotting what looked like train tracks.

"Well it looks like I'm not so far in the middle of nowhere after all."

He decided to head towards them and follow to where they went .

edited 6th Sep '15 6:51:04 PM by Mrship21

SnowyFoxes Drummer Boy from Club Room Since: Oct, 2011 Relationship Status: I know
Drummer Boy
#317: Sep 6th 2015 at 6:57:31 PM

[The Plains]

I—I'm not feeling so—

Kito let out a few alarmed barks as Cyrus was hit with a wave of nausea strong enough to make him double over.

I felt something too, but it's not affecting me like that... do you want to ride on me for a while?

It's fading away. Stop barking now, everyone's going to—okay. I think I'm fine now. Why did we both feel that? Sickness is in the body, not the soul, so we shouldn't have—

Then it must have been energy. Kito pointed his nose toward the forest. Something's going on over there. I might have been able to determine the location with more accuracy if I'd been paying more attention. If there are any sentient creatures responsible for this, they're outside my range of smell, and I was too focused on what was going on here to notice any strange noises. Not that I could figure out much about any noises from this distance, especially in a forest. What a day... strange energy blasts, dead gods, possibly murderous machine people—

Wait, what?

I'll tell you more about that conversation later, but that's the most important part. It's Miyuki and Hoshi, and I'm willing to bet that the other similarly dressed people with them in The Washington are more of the same. I was thinking about following her back to the town, but I think it could get me killed. If we take Hoshi's boasting from earlier into account, I have a feeling that these two are here just to kill as many people as possible for fun.

Well, as long as it's not us, right? This Crowe fellow seems quite strange, but I hope he stays with us. I might have a few questions for him. But for now, let's talk about that... energy wave, let's call it. Let's ask the other mages if they felt anything weird. Mages tend to be more sensitive to energy. "Uhm, Anne, sorry that I got distracted for a while there," Cyrus said, speaking slightly more loudly than usual so other mages in their group could hear him. "This might sound crazy, but did you feel sick for a little bit just now? Kito and I both felt it, which is weird because we hardly ever get sick at the same exact time and that makes me think it might not really be a body thing. Also, Kito says it felt like it was coming from the general direction of the forest."

edited 6th Sep '15 6:57:56 PM by SnowyFoxes

The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
Sphinxyness Sphinx Chan from a dream world Since: Jan, 2015 Relationship Status: Hooked on a feeling
#318: Sep 6th 2015 at 7:13:45 PM

Main Street

"Bodyguard you say?" Chloe itched her chin in thought. She thought she could take care of her self fine but an extra person willing to fight and protect her would probably come in handy in a hairy situation. "You have yourself a deal then? Shall we head out soon or do we need to stop somewhere for supplies? I have quite a bit on hand already but you can never be over prepared." she asked him. It wouldn't do if they got lost with low food supplies.

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"
Wolf1066 Crazy Kiwi from New Zealand Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: Dancing with myself
Crazy Kiwi
#319: Sep 6th 2015 at 11:43:03 PM

Main Street

After Christopher had instructed the two robots to regard Samuel as an ally, Teri nudged Kris. "Good to know we're still fair game, eh." She grinned - she completely understood why Christopher had given the order.

Kris gave her a grin in return. She turned to Christopher. "Why is C-7 called Carsten and the other one only called G-3?"

"I'm not sure," said James, in answer to Samuel's question. Sir Archibald had given them a task to perform but, due to the unknown nature of the area, no firm plan had been set - they were expected to "wing it". He had been thinking in terms of teaming up with other travellers or locals to provide mutual support while exploring the area, but he had no idea what the others were planning or where they were going. "I have no idea of where to find what we're seeking."

Wolfe nodded. "We were doing well just to get some local currency and a train ticket to this place."

KillerClowns Since: Jan, 2001
#320: Sep 7th 2015 at 10:20:34 AM

[The Plains]

Suela looked at Crowe, puzzled and a bit wary, before turning to Hoshi. "Join? No. However, he's eager to risk his hide for us for no material gain, only esoteric moral reasons. I see no reason not to let him do just that." She turned back to Crowe. "But not quite yet. Others may want to join you. Not sure how to determine leadership of scouting group — lots of claims, perhaps all true, but no proof."

Brin took a swig from a waterskin, then nodded at Cyrus and said, "wait, you felt it? I just thought it was just the heat and stress."

Gault Laugh and grow dank! from beyond the kingdom Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: P.S. I love you
Laugh and grow dank!
#321: Sep 7th 2015 at 11:02:02 AM

[The Plains]

Crowe nodded once. "That's acceptable. As long as the folks that decide to come know how to staying quiet and unseen I think we'll be alright." He glanced around. "That's not too much to ask, is it?"

Then he turned around, looking to Brin and Cyrus. "Wait, felt what?"

yey
TroPartner Since: Nov, 2014
#322: Sep 7th 2015 at 3:12:57 PM

[MAIN STREET]

"Why is C-7 called Carsten and the other one only called G-3?"

"It's really just a nod to the whole AI thing." Tana explained, "I just figured it was the right thing to do."

Looking around the others, she continued. "Why we're here is sorta mundane, actually."

"I've heard that this place has a variety of different environments surrounding it." Christopher said, "A desert, a forest, and an old fort. I wanted a place like this, where I can test how the APO works with different surroundings, without having to travel far."

daird Since: Jul, 2014
#323: Sep 7th 2015 at 3:47:16 PM

(Plains)

"I didn't feel anything, but that storm might well have drowned it out. I'll check. Give me a few minutes." Anne reached into her robes and pulled out a small blue cloth bag with a drawstring. Rummaging around, she found four more clay tablets like the one she had pulled out earlier. Two had a design with a pair of concentric circles and a line going up and right from the center, one had an oval with a loop on one side, and one had a swirl with lines pointing out to one side. She'd prefer having runes that read "far sight" and "far hearing" rather than having to combine the individual words like a preschooler, but it would have to do. She shuffled them around, then crushed all four in her hands.

A subtle outpouring of magic flowed from the remnants of the runes, and Anne was now able to see and hear what was going on in the forest. However, there was nothing out of the ordinary, even to her enhanced senses. Several seconds of looking and listening revealed the same thing. She turned to Cyrus. "Sorry, but there's nothing there. It may have been some natural phenomenon, but in my experience, you'd still need a large energy source to do that, like a wildfire or a lightning strike. Could be that magic works differently here than at home, too."

Forward, boys! For God's sake, forward!
electronic-tragedy PAINKILLER from Wherever I need to be Since: Jan, 2014 Relationship Status: Healthy, deeply-felt respect for this here Shotgun
PAINKILLER
#324: Sep 7th 2015 at 6:08:58 PM

[Main Street]

Samuel shrugged. "Well, you guys want to go out there. I'm not sure I should, not yet at least."

He then felt something. It was like a soft rumble, coming from inside his backpack. Is that what I think it is? Samuel swung it over his shoulder. He opened it up quickly, and pulled out the offender.

It was a primitive cell phone at best. It resembled a walkie-talkie rather than a phone, but it had a receiver. He pulled up a wire and hit a button in it. Samuel brought a part of it up to his ear, and all but static sounded. "That's strange. This thing doesn't go off by itself." He put it down to switch it off, but he heard something else.

Beyond the crackles, a male voice spoke, "Sam? You there?"

"Yeah?" Samuel then recognized the voice. He nearly jumped. "Todd? Is that you?"

There was either wind or heavy breathing over the line. "They're out here. They want us, I-I had to leave the plane. I think they're after us. Can't— Shit." the static then cut out. Todd cut off the line himself.

"Dammit, no," he uttered before shutting it off. He shoved the phone back into his pack. He pinched the bridge of his nose. He didn't even say where he was or who. Someone's after us? The Veniterreans? The Royal Guard? Nosferatu? No, not them. I hope.

He said to the group, "Someone's after me and Todd. Don't know who, don't know where he is... This is bad." Before thinking much further, Samuel started walking away. With his leg, he wasn't going to go far. He didn't even have an idea of where to go. He stopped, and grimaced. He was like a lost and trapped animal. "Shit."

Life is hard, that's why no one survives.
InAnOdderWay Since: Nov, 2013
#325: Sep 7th 2015 at 7:53:49 PM

[Washington]

Francis looked at the priest. "I'll grab Cynthia, you try and get some other people out of here before it all goes to hell. We'll meet back up on main street."

With that, he set off bursting back behind the counter, up the stairs to all the guest rooms. The only things he recognizes at this point are his own hurried breaths and the sound his feet make against the wooden floors as he opens door after door looking for Cynthia.

He calls her name once, twice, three times, after the tenth he loses count. The rooms start to see infinite, his voice starts to run ragged. Every door seems to be the same empty room, untouched bed after untouched bed. Then more running, more ragged breaths, more increasingly desperate "Cynthia"s.

He opens another door. Empty. Another door. Empty. Hallway. Running, feet against wood. Empty. Empty. Empty. Empty, then body. Then body lying still, unconscious on the ruffled bed recently set. Hair falling off the bed. He runs up, quickly shaking the body. No response.

He picks her up with a surprising amount of ease, seemingly slightly heavier than a box of feathers despite her having a few solid inches on him in height. He lifts her up and over his shoulder, feet still touching the floor. Though he didn't quite understand it, some other part to himself felt it. The fear. The pants shitting, ear piercing, get-the-hell-out-of-here sounding, fear that shook his bones. It was a feeling of bareness he hadn't quite felt since the first time he had met Cynthia. It was a sort of bareness he wasn't quite ready to feel again.

The prince drags the goddess out of the room, heading towards the staircase.


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