Character Frontier

Grand Hotel - Lobby (Samuel)

Samuel stared at the door for a moment, then turned towards the man who spoke to him. "Something happened all right. Nothing bad, thankfully. That was on my end—if I hadn't given up, it'd been a mess." He felt it rang true.

He remembered this man and his—-partner, and a slight argument beforehand. Bickering about each others' well-being. He may have smiled if he wasn't preoccupied with other thoughts. He faced the worried one and said, "I wouldn't have allowed anyone to get hurt. Civilians shouldn't be involved in stuff like that. He should've sought me out and took it outside."

[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Shared Room Balcony)] (Davey, Irina)

Irina stood and said, "Perhaps she and I can go out, I mean, if you didn't have anything else to do. But, beforehand, we do need to find him..." She stretched a bit.

She smiled pleasantly. "Oh, I slept very well. Not every day I can sleep in an elevated bed with sturdy walls. I got used to sleeping otherwise, yes, but... It's a nice departure."

She added, "I think Connie slept fine. I believe she's still sleeping..."

Current Time: 9 AM

Current Weather: As the morning marched on, a cool breeze from the easy washed over the Frontier. Some sand-covered areas caused by the night's sandstorm began to disappear as well.

edited 24th Feb '16 7:37:36 AM by electronic-tragedy

Guess who's back...back again...

[Hotel-Lobby]

James nodded. "Again...sorry for interfering. I'm just glad nothing serious came out of this in the end."

John wiped his face, then turned back to Omar. "I'm...I'm so sorry for leaving you like that. Um...w-where did we leave off? Do you remember? After everything that happened, I lost all my train of thought."

"I think we were still talking about the time travel." James said, "And how he knows that this isn't your fault."

"Right! Right...."

With everything that had happened earlier, looking for Joseph just seemed to take a sudden back burner. Not like it was picking up any speed in the first place; how could it? He was gone, and John was (sadly) accepting that he wasn't going to see him any time soon. Now all he felt was guilt. Guilt that he was willing to drag strangers into the fruitless search because he allowed his emotions to get the better of him.

Pancake purred.

[Mountain Pass Campsite] —> [Small Valley] (Further Ahead)

Brin's go-ahead was the motivation Miyuki needed. She gave a nod, then took off into the sky, leaving a dusty cloud behind her. Hoshi sighed, and took off after her a second later, kicking up more dust as she left.

Mere moments later, the two of them were nothing more than little black specs in the sky, quickly flying out of sight.

[Main Street]

"I know what a mammal is." Replied the man. "But I don't know what an otter is."

Then he turned to Rip. "You sound concerned for your friend," he said. "I hope he's alright."

[Grand Hotel] (Lobby)

Hana - flanked, as usual, by Rin and Maya - made her way back out to the lobby, and proceeded to check out at the front desk...

edited 24th Feb '16 8:07:11 PM by Blackfire667

[Town ~ Hotel (Lobby)] (Omar, James, John, Pancake)

Omar—who had become somewhat absent in the time it took for the lobby to simmer down, snapped back to attention. He angled himself in his chair to face John a little more directly and pointed at James, nodding his agreement.

"Exactly right; thank you. John," he turned his eyes to the man, "I can see—easily—how much this kid's sudden departure has affected you, and I'm... I'm sorry that things turned out the way they did for you. Sounds like you didn't get a proper goodbye."

His brow lowered slightly, and there was sympathy in his eyes. His gaze fell. "Well. That's life, ain't it? Gotta roll with the punches. Anyway, all that's left to do that can be done is to set your life back on track. So, to that aim, I'd like you to answer a question for me. For yourselves. A reminder, hmm?"

Omar made sure to meet the gaze of both men, seizing their attention while he still had it.

"So: why did you two come to this town?"

[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Shared Room)] (Davey, Irina)

"Of course, of course!" Davey said as he stepped back into the room. "Your friend first and foremost."

He kept the door propped open with his tail until Irina was able to follow him in.

"I'm glad we were able to accommodate you," he continued as he walked over to his bags, digging through them much like he'd done the day before, "as I understand it, you'd be paying an arm and a leg to stay at that big hotel, and some of the other small establishments may be a little... eh," he pulled out of his bag to shrug, "disreputable? Very chancy stuff, you know: bed bugs, bad lights, crummy beer, the whole ball of wax."

Davey dug out a light blue button down shirt with short sleeves and a new pair of slacks—gray this time. Then he went to the beds, stopping in front of the sleeping Connie. She'd smushed her face into her pillow and hadn't stirred an inch since. Davey glanced back at Irina, then folded his arms, turning his eyes back to Connie and heaving a small sigh from his equally small chest.

"Well... she'll continue like this all day if we let her. Through all the weeks and months she's spent with us, Connie never much was one for the swing of the morning."

He set his new clothes to the side, then straightened his collar. He walked around the the other side of the bed, then turned briefly to Irina and said solemnly, "Please, try not to question my methods. Or at least, consider the results."

With that, he took another deep breath, then dutifully climbed on top of Connie's bed, standing upright, as always. He retrieved an unused pillow, and without any further ado, Davey began jumping up and down, bopping her with the pillow, and shouting, "Connie! Hey Connie! Wake up!"

[Town ~ Main Street] (Rip, Large Stranger, Amy, Maya)

Rip shook his head, "No no no, he's not- he- he's fine. I'm just, ah..." his eyes flickered at Amy again, "I just don't think that he'd respond well to... mm... excessive curiosity."

[Hotel-Lobby]

"Thank you." James said, "And thank you for taking the time to help us a little."

It was then that the conversation had changed.

"Well," John said, "We decided to take a vacation of some sort. We never really had time to do much of anything because of our jobs. I work at a gun store and he travels a lot, so we were always busy. Thankfully, we finally manged to book a vacation week to here."

He rubbed the back of his head.

"We got lost at first, and ended up in the desert. I tried to find some directions, but then I got more lost. That's when I first found Joseph, and that's pretty much how this whole thing started." He shrugged, "We're still trying to have a nice little vacation, but..."

"All of this," James said, "Was not part of the plan, as you probably already know. We're still trying to wrap our head around everything."

[Main Street]

Amy blinked.

"Excessive? I'm not excessive!" she said, glaring, "All I'm doing is researching! There's no harm in that, is there? You see, to research, you have to record almost everything around you, especially things that catches your eye the most, such as..."

As she rambled on, Maya glanced away, before giving a deep, heavy sigh. She shook her head and wrote another message. It said, Like I said, I'll be here to reel her in. That's Amy, by the way. I'm Maya. Nice to meet you. I think.

"...and that's why researching is important!" Amy finally concluded, "You understand that, don't you, Davey's friend?"

edited 24th Feb '16 10:39:41 PM by Masterofchaos

[Grand Hotel - Dining Room]

Annie and Gregory looked hesitantly towards eachother as Nemaforte beckoned them to come near the group she was speaking with.

"They seem... okay. Do you trust them?" Annie asked.

"Annie, when have I ever trusted anyone?" Gregory replied. "Still... they look capable, and if we do come across Elizabeth... let's face it, your sister may want to start a fight, and if that happens...."

"Then they're dead, we're all dead."

"Well, I was going to say we'd need as much back-up as possible, but I suppose they both go hand-in-hand."

The two got up and made their way over to the group. Gregory was the first to address them. "Hey, so we're also heading out into the mountains with Nem here. My name's Gregory Grey and this is-"

"Are you an elf?" Annie immediately asked the woman. "Gregory showed me that King of the Rings movie and you look very... elf-y." Gregory rolled his eyes, not knowing whether to tackle Annie's rudeness or misnaming the movie's title first.

[Town ~ Hotel (Lobby)] (Omar, James, John, Pancake)

Omar nodded slowly, pet the cat, and occasionally rolled the stick of his lollipop from one side of his mouth to the other.

"Yeah, I've got to admit, you two do seem pretty flustered by all of this. And I guess there's no denying that it's a strange desert. A very strange desert. But don't spend too much time wrapping. And don't dwell on what's already come to pass. Take my advice: you dwell too much on the past, and you'll be robbing yourselves of what comes next. Your hands are untied. You guys are free to do whatever, so," he shrugged, "why not seize the day?"

He paused for a moment's thought, then put his hand up and said, "Here, I've got another question for you two. When you booked this vacation, what did you picture yourselves doing?"

Grand Hotel - Dining Room

Kaitlyn observed the two that Nemaforte beckonned as they approached the table: young woman with shoulder-length brown hair and a bright blue one-piece jumpsuit such as Shona from Black Knight Security might wear, and a man with long greying dark hair and a long beard. As they had been amongst those whose conversations she had "editted out" while listening in on the drama in the lobby, she had no clues as to where they were from or what they were doing aside from what Nemaforte had just told her.

They both looked nominially human but Gwion had warned her before she came that making assumptions about origins and species based on appearance alone might cause problems.

They spoke English and the man, at least, had a fairly normal-sounding name, but she had heard stories about Ulf - who had seemed to come from Finland in the early-to-mid twentieth century until it was revealed that werewolves and vampires were not just myths on his world - so she decided to take nothing for granted.

The woman was direct and to the point and Kaitlyn smiled. It was a question she got often enough - even back at home where most of the people were aware of modern body sculpting techniques (though generally it was phrased as "Whaddya think y'are? Some kinda fuckin' elf?").

"Not exactly," she replied, "I'm as human as—" she stopped herself from saying "you are" "—Finn, here. It's body sculpting - a fashion where I came from." Which was close enough; no need to go into details about Utgard and why she was no longer living there. "I chose 'elf' as my particular style."

The older man at the other table got to his feet - "Wolfe", was it? - and announced that they'd better start getting ready. He said something that sounded vaguely like a quote.

Wolfe turned to Gwion. "How are you guys set for equipment for going bush or whatever?"

Gwion excused himself politely from his conversation with Follows-Many-Scents and turned to answer. "What do we need?"

Wolfe rattled off a list of basic essentials including water bottles, bedding, shelter and clothing.

Gwion shrugged. "I'm pretty much set for all of that, but the others may need to get things." He turned his attention back to Follows-Many-Scents.

Kaitlyn quickly turned to Finn. "You know what we have and haven't got. Could you please go with Wolfe and pick up anything he thinks we need?"

Finn nodded and got to his feet. Sophia also stood and turned to Wolfe. "I know what gear Gwion's got, so I'll come along and see if we need anything."

As Wolfe, Sophia and Finn left, Kaitlyn turned back to the young woman. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name. I'm Kaitlyn."

[[Hotel (dining room) - Kaito, Chisa, Trinity, Recon]]

As Trinity went on to explain about possibilities for communicating with others and thus eventually getting home, Kaito raised his hand gently when she spoke about his world's technological capabilities. "None taken. To be honest I can tell that your people clearly out-class mine by a great deal. I would very much appreciate the help though if Lady Lotus could assist us." he said kindly.

The young agent nodded as he looked back at Chisa; he could understand her hesitance to try something she'd never done before, even something so simple as consuming food. However he was glad to see that she liked the food and began eating it with a bit more confidence since her first bite.

As he had come to learn and expect, Recon brought up the whole training up Chisa again, but it wasn't that comment that made the young man tense up in annoyance; it was what he had referred to Kaito's syndrome as. "First of all it's Black DOG—not Black Poodle." the young agent began in a disgruntled tone, turning to look at the smarty-pants that he still was surprised he had come to call a comrade. "It comes from legends in the British Aisles, of an apparition of a dog-like creature that always seemed to appear during lightning and thunderstorms. Due to heavy superstition back then, many believed it to be some kind of hellhound or even the manifestation of the devil himself."

Chisa's next words brought his attention back to her, now that he had unloaded his frustration by giving Recon the politically-correct explanation of his Syndrome name's origin; Kaito nodded to her wanting to learn and understand how her new powers worked. "I'm sure you'll do just fine once we start going through the basics." he said confidently.

[Grand Hotel - Dining Room]

Annie placed a finger to her chin in thought. "Body sculpting, you say? Huh... now that you mention it, I have visited a few realities where stuff like that is pretty common... but why'd you go with elf? Did you see the movie too? Because I liked the little guys with the hairy feet a lot more than the elves. Gregory told me there's books too, but I'm not going to bother reading all of-"

"Her names Annie Bratton," Gregory jumped in to actually answer Kaitlyn's question as his friend was starting to go off-track.

Annie snapped back to reality. "Oh yeah... sorry. You'll have to forgive my rudeness, I'm not from here... well, I guess I can't use that excuse in this place, cause none of us are from here, but I'm not from... anywhere."

Gregory shook his head. Annie was likely beginning to confuse the poor woman. The circumstances of Annie's existence were quite strange, but it didn't help that Annie was possibly the worst person at explaining it. Made even worse by the fact she couldn't stop talking when she started.

"You see, I'm not really a human... I'm part of a group of multidimensional beings who keep the universe in check, but I wasn't really great at that job... so I decided to limit myself to one reality and use my abilities to help people there. That's right, we're superheroes!" She threw her arms up in the air excitedly as she said this, much to Gregory's dismay.

Grand Hotel - Dining Room

Kaitlyn listened with polite amusement as the woman asked her two questions and then didn't give pause for her to answer. Gregory managed to interject enough to give the woman's name and then Annie went off on a different tangent, possibly forgetting that she had asked questions earlier.

When Annie threw up her arms and announced that "they" were "superheroes", Gwion groaned inwardly. Another self-proclaimed "hero"! He couldn't help but think of "Sir Afro" on his first night in Capital City.

Kaitlyn used the break accompanying the dramatic revelation to get a word in. "That's interesting. I always thought superheroes kept their identities secret or something." Before Annie could start up again, she continued, "yes, I have seen Lord of the Rings. All three movies... and all three Hobbit movies, too. It's pretty much impossible to grow up in New Zealand and not have seen them at least once," even more so, if you're in with the crowd I was in. "But, no, I didn't choose an elf sculpt because of the movies or the books. The—" there was no point in giving too many details about Utgard, "group I was with tended towards a fantasy aesthetic and elf sculpts were quite common. I liked the look and I could get away with it then." And when you leave the group and return to the "normal" world above, you find yourself frequently wearing sunglasses and "hoodies" with the hood up. As she spoke, she looked from Annie to Gregory to Nemaforte and back to Annie. "Are you three the only ones in your group?"

While James and Gwion were occupied with Follows-Many-Scents, Peggy and Karl both directed their attention on Kaitlyn, fascinated by what she was saying. A world where you got yourself surgically altered due to fashion was alien to them. Sure: tattoos, if you were "into" that sort of thing, or maybe piercings - possibly not to the same extent as the feral looking woman with the colourful hair - but getting your ears and who knows what else reshaped? Very strange.

As to what Annie had said about not really being a human and being some sort of "superhero" like the ones in Wolfe's movies, that made getting your body "sculpted" seem positively mundane.

General Store

The General Store proved to be very well stocked with foods and equipment - more a full-on pioneering Trading Post than a mere store, in Wolfe's view.

He led the way between the shelves pointing out items that would be useful on the trip - canteens fitted with shoulder straps, ponchos coated with Gutta Percha, blankets, tarpaulins, enamelled metal plates and mugs, cutlery, reels of waxed linen cord, bandannas and knives - and explaining why he considered them essential.

Sophia knew of old that Gwion always carried everything he needed to sleep anywhere he wound up - from a friend's floor or sofa to an hotel suite, taking in "capsules", airport "pods", "cages" and back-packer hostels along the way - and had everything that Wolfe pointed out and more.

For her own part, and at Gwion's suggestion, she had brought similar equipment on this trip, so she needed nothing but a bandanna - which she got only because Wolfe highlighted how extremely useful an item it was.

Finn and Kaitlyn, however, seemed to need everything and Sophia helped carry the items Finn selected while Wolfe busied himself writing something in a notepad.

For himself, Finn selected a bright red and white bandanna and a large clip-point "Bowie knife" with a tooled-leather sheath, for Kaitlyn, he picked a green bandanna and a somewhat less extravagant sheath knife with a spear-point blade.

When they got to the counter to pay for their purchases, Wolfe handed the page from his notebook to the store clerk and requested that the items listed be delivered to the hotel within half an hour. The clerk looked over the list and nodded.

That shopping trip's bound to take more than a few minutes, so I'll delay returning Sophia, Finn and Wolfe to the hotel accordingly. In the meantime, if anyone at the General Store wishes to engage them in conversation, they're available.

[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Shared Room)] (Davey, Irina)

Irina followed Davey inside, and closed the door behind her. "I was considering sleeping out in an alley, but, the sandstorm made me consider something... More small. I'm glad you could accommodate me."

She watched as the mammal took out more miniature clothes, which gave her the thought: Who makes them, anyway?

And for a moment, she believe Davey was about to something more violent that what transpired. She couldn't help giggling at it, so much so that she covered her mouth with a hand. Good thing that she liked waking up early. She never endured getting water poured on her, or Davey's wake-up maneuver.

She said softly, through her laughter, "Connie, wake up."

[Hotel-Lobby]

John rubbed the back over

"You know..." he said, "We honestly don't know what we wanted. We just wanted to spend some time with each other and...that's as far we got."

James nodded. "Well now that we're alone...I guess the only thing we can do is...make the best of it." He chuckled slightly, "Wow...it just dawned on me that we do have time for ourselves now...but where can we start?"

Suddenly, he became curious, "Now I wanna ask you the same question; what made you want to hang out at a Frontier? Were you here for a while, or are you new? I don't think I've seen you anywhere since we arrived."

Pancake tried to chew on Omar's shirt.

[Hotel - Chisa's Group]

Recon "looked" at Chisa, and for the first time since he came here his expression softened into a gentle smile.

"That's a noble goal you got there, remember it, it'll do you good when the chips are down. But for now, you got three others watching your back. I ain't going anywhere for a while, and these two probably aren't going anywhere period. So use this time to learn everything you can from us, and worry about defendin' others for later."

Having finished his mini-speech, his face shifted back into the fox-faced, mischievious expression that was his default. At Kaito's rant, he simply turned his head slightly towards him.

"Not sure why you're so stuck on the "dog" part, but okay. You don't seem like a dog to me, at least." From listening to the inflection of his voice, it was pretty clear that he was talking about a different kind of "dog" entirely.

edited 27th Feb '16 12:24:37 PM by gameknight102xx

[Grand Hotel - Dining Room]

"Wait, there's three more movies?" Annie shot a glance towards Gregory. "You aren't going to make me watch those too, are you?"

Gregory sighed and decided to answer Kaitlyn's question. "Annie and myself didn't meet Nem until we arrived here, but yes. It's just us three... though we are heading out in search of someone else. Annie's sister, in fact."

"Yep!" Annie chimed in, "And I know exactly how to keep my identity secret! By certain points in the day I'm just regular Annie Bratton, famous pop star, by the rest of the day I'm the all-powerful Phantom! And Gregory's The Pilgrim... pretty much all the time. He doesn't really have an off-switch when it comes to crime-fighting. It just doesn't matter if you know our real names or not. You're not from our... well, Gregory's world."

Mentioning Annie's sister set off a light-bulb in Gregory's head. He turned to Kaitlyn. "I should ask, how equipped is your group in the event of a... combat situation? I should be open with the fact that Annie and I may be walking into a dangerous place when we reach the mountains."

[Town ~ Bed and Breakfast (Shared Room)] (Connie, Davey, Irina)

Connie winced after the first smack. She groaned and her eyes began to flutter open just in time to brace for the second smack. She raised her head a little more, but a dim, "I- wha...", was all she managed to get out before getting smacked a third time. That third smack set everything off. Like a spring-loaded trap, Connie bolted upright, putting her hands up to block any pillow that dared to strike her a fourth time and shouting indignantly, "I'm up I'm up! Jesus- I'm awake."

When her hands made contact with the offending pillow, she seized it, opening her eyes to fix Davey with a dangerous stare. Holding the pillow threateningly, she glanced between him and Irina several times.

"...Why am I awake?"

Davey, who had casually edged away as soon as Connie had gotten ahold of the pillow, now hopped back down off the bed and said, "Because..."

He held up a short, clawed finger, then hurried back over to his bags and began digging. Connie's initial apprehension dissolved into something a little more weary. She set the pillow down and glanced at Irina, shaking her head slightly as if to ask, "Got any clue?"

Moments later, Davey popped his head back out of the bag, holding an uncoupled wristwatch up to his eyes. He stuck it in his pocket, then continued, "Because it is just past nine, it's a bright sunny day, you're young, and nobody got anywhere by lying around in bed all day."

Connie put her palms against her eyes, and either winced or yawned. "Isn't this supposed to be like a... like a break or a vacation or something? Don't be a dick."

"Yeah well, all the more reason not to waste your time, how 'bout that?" Davey replied. He walked back over to stand near Irina and continued, "Now listen: Irina has a friend lost in the desert, and she and I were going to go out shortly to find him. What do you think about coming along to help?" he raised his head, turning his dark brown eyes towards Irina. "With express permission from Irina herself, of course."

[Town ~ Hotel (Lobby)] (Omar, James, John, Pancake)

Omar was silent following James's questions, not smiling, but not visibly bothered or taken aback by anything that had been asked. His eyes were level with the other man's, but seemed unfocused. His mind had gone fishing.

Finally, after what felt like several long seconds and a small eternity on the side, Omar smiled and shrugged. "It's a big enough town, isn't it? From the sound of things, you two haven't been here for very long and spent some chunk of that time out in the desert. There are a lot of places around here a person could be without being seen. Or," his smile broadened slightly, and he ran a hand through his short hair, "do I stick out like a sore thumb?"

Omar shook his head and waved the question off, saying, "Nah, I've been around for a little bit. Not much longer than you two, I figure. But I'm not here for my health or anything like- ...hey hey, careful with those teeth, tiger."

He paused momentarily to coax Pancake's mouth away from his shirt, then cleared his throat and continued. "That is to say, I had an assignment that required me to be here. Had to keep an eye on someone, but ah... no more. I've actually been on my way out, but you know, you looked like you had an issue."

[Main Street]

The man paused for a moment or two, looking back and forth between Amy and Maya. "I..." He said, after a while. "I wouldn't really know anything about how research works..."

edited 27th Feb '16 3:57:56 PM by Blackfire667

[Grand Hotel -> Main Street] (Samuel)

Samuel found that his previous comrades were interested in other affairs. Todd left, along with the Nosferatu boy—leaving him utterly alone.

It wasn't like he wasn't used to it. But, after having a companion for a long time, he figured finding new attention would do the trick. But of course, he had to find Irina. She would be smart, and... Hide out somewhere. I doubt she'd have brought a tent, and considering last night's sandstorm.. She would have to be somewhere in town. But where?

He exited the hotel, and began walking where he could. He passed by a group—to which a glance indicated some unfamiliar folk— a tall man, two women, and another man. They were arguing. Well, probably not arguing, but chattering in tones about seeming nonsense. He became slightly aggravated by it, so he intruded on the group, saying, "Er, does anyone know where any hotels are 'round here?"

Dining Room - Trinity, Chisa, Kaito, Recon

Trinity nodded. "Then it's settled. We'll leave the hotel and once outside I'll try contacting Lotus. Of course that is after I get my Warframe back." she replied with a smile and finished her breakfast as she listened to Recon's and Kaito's exchange of words with a slightly amused look. Chisa looked curious as well at the Black Dog's meaning, secretly searching through her database to gather more information and a visual idea. She too finished her breakfast and turned to the others. "I'm ready to leave and start my training." she told them and looked ready and full of energy, a smile on her face. Trinity grinned back at her. "Alright sounds good, I just need to pick up my Warframe then we'll be good to go as soon as you two are ready as well. she said.

Grand Hotel - Dining Room

Gwion looked up when Annie referred to her alter ego - or superhero identity, if you will - as "Phantom". I thought that was already taken. Then again, that was his universe, it was possible that Frew Publications and King Features Syndicate didn't exist in Annie's universe.

He couldn't help but think of his own world and the unlicensed vigilante known as "The Spectre" - an utter nutjob who went around wreaking havoc on gangs and organised crime, to the dismay of both Civil Police and Corporate Security. Admittedly, The Spectre had turned out to be a useful ally on a couple of occasions, but that didn't alter the fact that his tactics and activities were highly illegal and violent.

Kaitlyn nodded when Gregory confirmed the number in the party and - with Nemaforte being a skilled healer and the other two apparently being some sort of "superheroes" - they shouldn't encounter too many problems that couldn't be handled.

Gregory asked about combat capabilities and, before James or Kris could interject, Kaitlyn answered. "Well, I'm sure that none of us are strangers to dangerous situations. As you can see, James over there is wearing a sword and I suspect one of the bulges under his jacket is a pistol; he also has a Mosin-Nagant rifle. Kris, here, also seems to be wearing a pistol under her jacket and she has, if I recall correctly, some species of AK-47 or AKM. For my own part," she pulled up the side of her shirt to reveal her "Burnt Bronze"-coloured Ruger P95DC tucked into its holster under the waistband of her jeans, "I have a pistol. If you feel I need more, I'm sure I could pick up a rifle or shotgun somewhere around town."

James and Kris stared at Kaitlyn in amazement. They certainly remembered her and Finn from the previous evening at the bar - they were hardly inconspicuous after all - but they were astounded that Kaitlyn had paid them enough attention in return to note what firearms they had on them, let alone cared enough to remember them.

Kaitlyn noticed the stares and shot them a grin in return before turning back to Gregory. "And how about yourselves? How are you set for dealing with any danger we may encounter?"

edited 27th Feb '16 9:00:13 PM by Wolf1066

Hotel - Dining Hall (Zuri, Yamiko, Iraal, Scents, Teri, James, Gwion)

Yamiko lowered her eyebrows at the same time that Iraal raised hers. Especially when she made the remark about honesty and about her outfit. Although, she was genuinely surprised that Iraal had figured out that she could read minds as well.

"Hmm, I guess I do have telepathy as well, but sometimes it's voluntary and sometimes it's not. Usually whenever I look at someone, a thought immediately comes to mind about them - in your case, it was your name and something about an archaeology file. I uh, understand that this may be an intrusion, but uh, I kinda just got this ability recently, so I don't quite have complete control of it yet. On the other hand though, if I pay close attention to someone, sometimes I can pry deeper into them... And hmm, for some reason it doesn't seem to be working on you. Maybe it only works on humans or something." She was giving Iraal a peculiar look, tinged with distrust. "As for my outfit, well, I'm afraid this is actually the simplest dress I brought with me. I can bring my shawl for protection against dust storms though, and the shoes I'm wearing now are very comfortable, even though they'll probably get sand in them as we cross the desert. But don't worry. I'm used to traveling around in something like this." She put on a small awkward smile.

"To be honest, I don't know if you can count on Yamiko to be honest," Zuri mentioned, while glancing off towards the group Scents was speaking with. "Most of the time, she's a very good liar. Oh speaking of which, Yamiko, why don't you go see what Scents is up to? She's the furry one over there."

"Oh, I think I see her," Yamiko noted as she stood up and took a step towards the group, squinting and rubbing the side of her forehead. "Oww. That's one side effect of unmastered telepathy. I don't do well in lively gatherings, since all of a sudden there are all these stray thoughts buzzing around. It's like hearing multiple loud conversations at once."

As Yamiko approached the large group, she saw that Scents was talking to a black woman in a red hat, an older man in a tri-corner hat, and a guy with a mechanical arm. As she examined them, a peculiar thought came to her - that of a group she was part of. These three appeared to belong to a similar group, called the Mad Bastards. A smile of interest came upon her as she walked up next to Scents.

"So, you must be Scents, I presume?" Yamiko asked the furry three-eyed guard. "I'm a classmate of Zuri, and I arrived... just as mysteriously as she did. Except I kinda just woke up here. I know I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion, but I hope you don't mind if I join you."

Then she turned to face Teri, Gwion, and James. "And I guess you three are heading off to find the Dead God as well? Well, my name's Yamiko, and... sorry, I have a bit of a headache... you're the Mad Bastards? Um, well, Zuri and I-" and here she gestured toward the white-haired girl still sitting with Iraal, "-we're both taking this class on parapsychology, and have been given this project to study psychic powers... by using them. My boyfriend, who is also in the class, is also in the hotel, but he fell asleep and got locked in a nightmare, and now we can't wake him up. We're wondering if the nightmare has any connection to the Dead God. Anyway, I think our abilities might be of use on the journey... Zuri over there has astral projection, so she could easily scout out areas without being noticed. I have uh, well, telepathy, meaning I can read thoughts and communicate them from a distance... Uh, but it's not quite like reading minds. I can't tell, like, everything about you from just looking at you, it's not like that..." Yamiko was blushing during the last part.

Hotel - Dining Hall (Nemaforte, Annie, Gregory, Kaitlyn)

All Nemaforte could do was listen intently as Annie, Gregory, and Kaitlyn conversed. While some of Kaitlyn's company decided to head out and gather supplies, Kaitlyn and Annie had a rather amusing conversation about superheroes. Nemaforte just had to laugh at that one. And then she started talking about combat, focing Nemaforte to regain her composure. But when she did, she noticed that the colours in her surroundings were all weird. The ceiling was a bright green, the dining hall looked much darker than it was supposed to be, Kaitlyn's ears looked bright pink, Annie's jumpsuit looked red, and Gregory's hair looked to be the blackest of black. Plus Kaitlyn's eyes looked a bit more like gemstones for some reason. While she was explaining about James having a sword and a rifle and something called a "pistol" whatever that was, she pulled up her own shirt, and Nemaforte gasped in surprise upon seeing a miniature cannon^note her eyes are deceiving her - it's actually a pistol tucked into her pants. A little cannon which then began to morph into some sort of more compact gun, at the same time that a couple of the odd colours she was seeing began to return to normal, and she herself began to feel a little dizzy.

She just barely regained her composure before hearing Kaitlyn ask Gregory about their own methods of combat. Here Nemaforte decided to chime in. "Did not you say you had no use for poisons? I carry two in my kit now, and they can be infused in darts that I have very good accuracy with. None of them can kill I am sad to say, but one can numb and paralyze for quite a long while, and the other causes terrible pain and itch, making difficult to fight. And maybe some of my more mind-altering herbs can be used, to twist their sense of time or make hallucinations. I even have an herb that helps boost focus and reaction, but I suggest testing it out when not in combat first. If there is a price to join this journey, my herbs can be my form of payment. Definitely since I have tonics to soothe pain, dry wounds, and neutralize poisons. Oh, the last one, the universal antidote, is very rare, so I must charge you per use."

She paused to put on a conniving smile. "Also in coincidence, I too can see well in the dark, as I come from an eternal night. And on Orenya, my home planet, you maybe say also has superheroes. We call them the Oradamin; they travel around to put an end to those who disturb the peace, and so to join them, one must have extraordinary magical talents. Sadly, I am not one, as fighting crime is well outside my occupation. Oh! As well, I am skilled with magic, particularly in aura work. Sensing entities from far is how I found the mountain gathering, as every living being embodies an aura. Morphing the aura is how I get my darts to fly. Concentrating energy is how I can spark a flame. Penetrating someperson's aura is how I can maybe convince them, entrance them, if they not paying attention, have them do what I suggest."

edited 27th Feb '16 10:34:52 PM by ladytanuki

[General Store (Tsadro, Arthur)]

That was probably as good of an explanation as he was going to get, so Arthur decided not to press on. <ok. might take me a few minutes to look around here>

First order of business was getting a backpack. He had plenty of snacks in his suit, but he was getting pretty sick of eating the same shit over and over, so he grabbed a couple bags of trail mix and started using the backpack like a shopping basket. And what did Tsadro say they needed to find that temple, string and nails? Extra water would definitely be nice. What else, what else... <anything else you think we should bring? if not, we can get going. don't worry too much about stuff weighing me down, i may look like a stick but really i'm fine>

[general store (Tsadro, Arthur)]

<Because your armor augments your strength?> Spool of synthetic twine in hand, he finally located a package of iron-free nails and headed up to the counter to pay. Sure enough, the kid had bought quite a number of snacks. Honestly, he was more concerned about it taking a long time to unload rather than the price.

"Thank you for your patronage, my painted friend!"

Tsadro slipped the twine and nails into one of the pouches on his belt. "Yes, you're welcome," he said with a nod, zipping the backpack shut and handing it off to Arthur. He stepped off to the side to let some others, two men and a woman, go ahead as he made sure his belongings were in order.

I had to look it up, the temple is due southwest of the town.

edited 6th Mar '16 7:59:45 AM by CrystalGlacia

[Town ~ Main Street] (Rip, Large Stranger, Amy, Maya)

Rip yawned, blinking through bleary eyes at Maya's message while the chatty girl—Amy, it seemed—began to ramble on about her idea of "research". He said nothing, trying to avoid openly ignoring Amy, and figuring that a deaf girl would have little use for his words. Instead, he offered a weak half-smile and a shrug.

Nice to meet you, I think.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Rip seemed to wake up once he became aware that Amy had finished saying whatever it was she had to say. His weak half-smile (now more akin to a half-frown) returned, and he glanced again at the large stranger. "Well, it all sounds pretty excessive to me." Then he stared at Amy. "Forgetting for the time being the invasiveness and general disrespect for the privacy of others that sits at the heart of all this 'researching', your method just seems unfocused. I've gotta be honest: it sounds a lot like an excuse to nose your way into other people's business or eavesdrop in on what sounds like good gossip."

His stare became harder, though only for a moment, before they were interrupted by yet another passing stranger. Rip liked getting involved with crowds about as much as he liked setting his hair on fire, so without wasting any time on greetings or friendly gestures, he looked at the man and declared flatly, "The biggest hotel in town is back the way you came. Maybe you passed it."

[Grand Hotel - Dining Hall (Zuri, Yamiko, Iraal, Scents, Teri, James, Gwion)]

Scents's translator, responding to her emotional state as was appropriate, emitted a very convincing imitation of a human chuckle.

"Yeah, that about sums it up," she said to Teri. She hadn't exactly gotten all of their names yet - or matched them to faces anyway - but that could always be dealt with later. Names weren't as important to vayen as scents anyway, and the humans were all distinctive enough there. "Though we might be dealing with something worse than bandits, and the place we're going could be dangerous too." She waggled her ears. "Probably not, though. That's mostly just fiction."

Meanwhile, Iraal considered what Yamiko had told her. She... very much did not like the idea of being accompanied by a couple of young girls on an expedition, even a casual fun one. She was wondering if Yamiko and Zuri would even be considered adults in the Alliance. They were almost certainly under 25, which was what she believed was the usual age for humans. And she was a bit concerned with how Yamiko had reacted to her complaints about her telepathy (telepathy!) and her outfit. Iraal would be in charge, of course, but it wasn't useful for assistants to always just cave in. And possibly resent it as well, if that expression meant anything.

On the other hand, though, if it was true that whatever had happened to Lupin had been caused by the Dead God - and whether that was true or not, it seemed that Zuri and Yamiko thought it was - then the two of them would probably go there anyway. And letting them go alone would just be irresponsible.

"That is a reasonable explanation, I suppose," she told Yamiko, following the prompting of her software. "In that case, you can..."

She trailed off as she noticed Yamiko heading to join Scents and the group of humans (all humans, strangely) she was recruiting, and scowled. "That is just - !" Her mouth clamped shut, and she was silent for a few moments in accordance with social protocol against rudeness. Then she looked at Zuri.

"We should probably join them, I think."

Scents, meanwhile, had quietly paid attentioning to the self-described 'mad bastards planning, seeing how they handled it. Seemed good so far, though she had a couple of points to make. "I can probably go pick up supplies too," she said, "once I get my suit from the room anyway. And I am definitely not'' riding a horse" - that should be obvious from her physiology, but you never know - "though in the suit I can keep up on foot. Doc can't, though."

She held up a hand and lowered one finger, leaving two upright. "Also, who's Katya? And 'the witch?'"

Before she could ask anything else, another young human in... very black clothes joined them and introduced herself as Zuri's friend Yamiko. Scents twitched her ears slightly as she spoke - mind-reading, huh? Well, let's try seeing about that once we're going, yeah? - but remained silent until she finished, when she could resist no longer. "Another blusher, huh? Fun." She let her tongue loll out. "Well, I suppose you and your dress can join us, assuming - is any one of you particularly in charge?" (This was directed to the Mad Bastards.) "Assuming everyone else hasn't got any problems with it."

I'll leave it up to ladytanuki whether Iraal and Zuri should join them at the table now.