The library
"They are going to fight anyway so, might as well see what I can do to help" he felt his message also needed a closing analogy "When you eat bread, you sort of... Mhhm... When wood is too close to the Sun... okay I don't have any cute metaphors"
edited 19th Feb '16 8:05:00 PM by DeisTheAlcano
"No, no," Koishi got out through gritted teeth as she shifted her gaze down towards her shoes. "I don't think I need help right now, eheh. Thank you for your time." She walked around the desk, entered into the subconscious and tried to be ignored, and flew in no particular direction through the second floor's halls for a little bit.
A nice bench, particularly ornate and old looking, is where she stopped. She removed her hat, set it down carefully on a nearby table, and sat down on this bench. And got back up, and immediately started biting on her tongue to stop from screaming.
Her sister had worked for six years, six fucking years, on trying to restore Koishi to her old self. She had scoured the entirety of Former Hell, all over Gensokyo, spent countless hours and favors getting into that purple magician's library, beseeching literal gods, all for magic and remedies that never worked! She spent so many days trying to fix a person that wasn't even aware she needed to be cured, and all of it never so much as made a single inch of progress in the right direction!
Then, Koishi met the red-white and white-black that one day on the mountain, and she finally realized that maybe it wasn't a good idea to perform a lobotomy on yourself! It would take even longer before she became entangled in that mask-woman's problem, and only through some kind of unrepeatable magic did she become aware enough to realize that she wasn't in the right mind, but not aware enough to fix the problem, being stuck in limbo. It had only been a little less than two months since then, and every day she felt like the Mask of Hope's magic was waning further and further. Before she would or could realize it, she'd be back to an unthinking and unnoticeable freak!
And now, her one and only real chance of doing something to become normal again in a little more than half a decade was rejected with a simple letter. "It wasn't even that he said no", Koishi started unknowingly shouting down the hall. "He could've said, no, I can't do that, or no, you haven't done anything for me". It wasn't even just a "no" with zero explanation attached! All of those she could understand, all of those would've just made her feel bad and try to talk it over! Her seething rage existed because this omnipotent bastard had denied this simple request over FUCKING THEMATIC REASONS!
"I can do ANYTHING, CREATE WORLDS, but no," she yelled down the hallways. "I won't do this because it wouldn't be interesting! It would break the theme! I could solve the world's problems, but then my shitty book wouldn't be worth reading! Not even for just one day!" She looked up at the ceiling, pointed at it and screamed, "DO YOU KNOW HOW PETTY THAT SOUNDS?!"
She felt the real desire to hurt someone else, no matter how implausible it would be in this instance, for the first time in six years. In the back of her head she could hear a voice telling her that it wouldn't solve anything, it was ridiculous to think that your kidnapper would really provide anything to you, and that all of this swearing was incredibly uncouth. She didn't really care. She wasn't aware of it but she was venting as loudly as possible; the stress of the last few days, and to a degree the last few years, coming out in spectacular fashion.
Eventually, the last minute of yelling and punting random books got her to the point where she knew someone would've heard that, and they would come looking for her, no matter how deep into the subconscious she was. So for now, she decided she just wanted to look at the inside of her hat. Slumping down back onto the bench, she placed her hat squarely on her face and tried to calm down.
Lune watched Ben change into a spooky ghost. According to Ben, this form was called Ghostfreak. Ben used his powers to fade through the wall. He was going to mess around with those hoodlums who threw eggs at the wall of this fine establishment a moment or two earlier. Lune thought those guys were punks who deserved what's coming to them, but she wasn't above pulling an immature prank on them like Ben.
Lune looked around the restaurant and spotted Sinon and an older Ranma. Where did Sinon's feline features go? Admittedly, she looked a little cute with those on, but a cat tail can be a real hindrance in close range combat. What if someone gets real close, yanks on the tail and renders her helpless?
How the hell can Ranma devour that food in a heartbeat?! Did she need to eat to refuel her powers like Lune does? Where did she learn how eat like that?! Does one need to be taught those skills?! Even though these questions in mind, Lune just blinked at the sight in confusion.
edited 19th Feb '16 8:28:11 PM by josh6243
Cole tilted his head a little at that, making a face. "In an hour of Darkness a blind man is the best guide. In an age of Insanity look to the madman to lead the way."
Whatever that meant, he looked around again, grimacing and putting his hand over his stomach again. Koishi had gone off, and he didn't need his powers to see she was upset. He wandered after her, waiting until she had stopped kicking things and had slumped down, face in her hat. He stayed silent, pondering, before he spoke.
"Whoever is keeping us here is an asshole."
In front of the Library -> Inside the Library
Upon hearing Sans, slightly sorrowful tone when he tried to speak about his world, Caro almost immediately regretted asking that question. He probably was feeling homesick, just like she was already starting to feel like. Or maybe he just would rather not speak of something bad that was happening back in his home. She could certainly understand that too, what with how her early childhood had been like.
Her reply was, however, delayed by the shock of suddenly finding herself right next to the large building, which was apparently located in the very center of this strange city. She could have sworn that the distance had seemed much, much greater when she was looking at the buildings from atop the balcony. Just what was going on with this place?
Once she managed to get rid of the shock, Caro returned to speaking to Sans, " It's alright, you don't have to speak about it if you don't want to," she said sympathetically and while flashing him a warm smile, " You can still ask anything about me if you want, though. But for now let's go inside so that I can figure out just what's happening around here."
With that said, she and Fried started moving once again towards the entrance of the library, with Sans presumedly following close behind. entering however, with so many people inside, she suddenly had a fit of shyness. " Umm ... H-Hello? I-I just got here and ... I-I was wondering if anyone could explain what is going on with this place."
Cap'n Melville's Seafood Shack
Blinking her eyes as she felt someone's gaze directing itself at her (given her various experiences, such a skill was a rather handy boon to have in day to day life considering the local weirdoes that attempt ambushes daily), Ranma's head swiveled a bit to see Lune staring at her with quite a bit of shock on her face. Pausing with the last bite of food, she then slowly popped it into her mouth and chewed it like a normal person would before swallowing. "Er... I'm kinda used to people stealing my food so I have I tend to eat fast, eheh." The pigtailed girl said awkwardly, looking ridiculously dainty in contrast with the liberal small tower of dishes placed to her side. "So um... how's it going?"
Sans was a little surprised that Caro had picked up that he didn't want to talk about it, reassuring him he didn't need to tell her anything and then smiling. She was a good kid, that much was easy for him to tell even if they had just met. He was still a little curious about her overall, plus having some company couldn't hurt, so he followed her inside. He figured he'd let her get some answers first, after all he could use the info himself, however, the way Caro just devolved into a timid little girll all of sudden was enough to get a chuckle out of him.
"hey, kid, if you're so nervous about talking, maybe you should leave the questions for me." he offered her, now acting more like the jovial guy he typically was, his entonation making it difficult to tell if he was teasing her or being serious, or maybe both.
Grimlock; Dino mode
Library
It seemed the guy Rex tried to talk to earlier heard him. But he didn't say anything about that. He was more worried about what the librarian said. Groups were forming and that reminded him very much of Steeljaw and his cronies. There was a group that wanted to try and become a police force of sorts but it hadn't been able to get off the starting pad, figuratively speaking. Maybe he could help them. Bumblebee and Strongarm were cops, so he knew how to work in a team. Then Cole and Rex started talking about war.
War.
Grimlock frowned. He might've been locked up for a while, but he knew there was a war, a great civil war, before he met Bumblebee. He was glad he didn't exactly partake in the war and didn't have to go through whatever the warhero went through. He remembered Strongarm mentioning Bumblebee was one. The guy with the hat (who he recognized but didn't remember his name) was right, if they didn't want a war, they had to stop things peacefully.
Then he heard the banging, and the shouting. He hadn't seen the culprit go up earlier but he did follow hat guy in the same direction the sound came from. He saw the girl who held the sword yesterday was sitting down, with her hat covering her face. Hat guy stayed silent, like him. Then he said,
"Whoever is keeping us here is an asshole."
Grim held back his chuckle. He had heard Denny say that sometimes whenever Russel wasn't around and he was really angry. He didn't have any words that could possibly comfort her. Bumblebee was the one good at that. He sighed. There was one thing he could do. He wasn't sure if it'd help, but he wanted to make her feel better, even if it was just a little. He went near the girl and sat on the bench beside her, much like a dog. Thankfully, because of today, he wasn't so big. And like a dog, he snuggled up near her, in an attempt to comfort her.
edited 19th Feb '16 9:28:11 PM by ShoutmonZ
"You said you had a dream... That dream... Make it come true! ... If anyone can, it's you!" - N (shortened) Oh, and I'm a girl.The library
While Cole and Rex were discussing what could to war between the newly formed gangs in the city, Koishi started shouting about a few things, Rex couldn't hear everything but she was clearly pissed with the guy running the city. She obviously needed help.
Rex walked upstairs to where the Koishi was laying, sulking about whatever had made her sad.
"Don't feel bad Koishi, we're going to be back home in no time, I swear"
Cole had also rushed to comfort her and called Tairee's boss an asshole.
"See? That's the kind of attitude we need!"
edited 19th Feb '16 9:26:22 PM by DeisTheAlcano
Taken by surprise by the eggs being poured on them, the two teen boys started cursing up a storm and tried to wipe themselves off a bit. "God damn- screw you!" one of them said prominently to where Ghostfreak's voice had come from.
"Ugh, let's just get out of here. Fucking killjoys" the other one said, and both just dropped their cartons of eggs at their feet and started walking off, still loudly cursing.
"What? But I can..." Miss Tairee trailed off as Koishi left, losing track of her as she went to her subconscious mode. She cringed as she heard the screaming tantrum start from the upper floor. "It's my job here to help..." she muttered to herself sadly as most of the others in the library went after Koishi to try and console her. Turning to see Sans and Caro enter the library and the latter asking about an explanation for what was going on, Miss Tairee let out a breath and tried to regain her composure.
"I can help you here" Miss Tairee said, trying to keep her voice professional but nevertheless was still a bit bummed. Heading behind her desks for a moment, she once again returned with one of those little brochures.note "You might find this helpful; is there anything else I can help you with?" she asked, offering the brochure to Caro.
Somewhere at an intersection was a gathering of colorfully varied individuals, almost all of which were different species and furthermore were the respective young of said species, including a particular kobold some people who were around on the first day might recognize. A couple signs with Brother Marcus' Ultramar symbol crossed out on them were being waved around, and a naga girl with a megaphone was yelling into it about banding together for protection against xenophobic humans.
Essentially, it was a recruitment rally.
edited 19th Feb '16 10:12:36 PM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.Morty stared down at the ground, which was currently swaying several dozen feet beneath them. "Wow, Rick, uh... huh." For a moment, Morty felt content to just float in the sky, watching the tiny heads swarm around beneath them. Maybe a few of them were staring up at them; it was hard to tell. The massive clouds of paper still seemed far away, and Morty didn't dare ascend that high. Like, who knew if there was even breathable air up there?
"C'mon, Morty! I-i-it's fun!" Rick's "jetpack" had, over the course of about six successive rebuilds (chalk it up to Rick's characteristic impulsiveness, combined with a toddler's natural lack of an attention span), slowly morphed into something resembling a pair of jet-propelled sneakers. Rick pulled off a loop-de-loop, then an Immelmann roll, before slowly kicking his way back through the air towards his grandson. "We're having fun, Morty! Fun! Tiny Rick! It's fun!" he shouted, before breaking into loud, false-sounding laughter.
Morty scratched the back of his head as he looked away from Rick. "Huh... yeah, Rick, I mean, uh, if you say so." There was a pause as Morty looked down towards the city... and what looked like a bunch of tiny heads note throwing... something? "Uh... R-rick, hey, uh..."
"Yeah?"
"It's just, uh, that... I think something's going on down there. 'S weird, but..."
"Huh. W-well, uh, okay, Morty. You wanna go take a look? 'Cause, you know, we can do that." The pair floated down towards the hoodlums, who were currently running around carrying a carton of eggs under their arm. "Looks, uh, looks like a bunch of... pranksters."
Rick cocked his head and looked at the makeshift mob. "Looks like, uh, hoo boy, Morty, I d-don't think you're really gonna like this." Morty bit his lip.
"W-what?"
"Look at the, the, red armsleeves, Morty!" Rick grabbed Morty by the head - no easy feat, considering Rick's currently-tiny hands and pushed his cranium towards the little hoodlums. "It's a gang symbol, Morty! W-we've been here five days now, people are- they're starting to get real pissed off, formin' up in gangs... I mean, they-"
"-oh boy, Rick, I mean, uh, it's a real good thing that they're just throwin'... eggs, huh?"
"Morty, they're only throwing eggs 'cause of, you know, the non-violence ban! They're all adults, Morty! They're all re-really pissed off adults, and now we're gonna have a turf war cooki-brewing! Looting, and, uh, robbing..."
"Yeah, but-"
Rick rolled his eyes at the turn of misfortune... before closing his eyes, something inscrutable flickering across his youthful face. "But it d-it doesn't matter, huh? 'Cause I'm TINY RICK!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, breaking back into his increasingly grating fake-laughter. "Tiny Riiiiick! I'm Tiny Rick, and I'm, uh, I'm fl-flying around my jet shoooooes!" He zoomed around in the air a few times before shooting off into the sky, over the not-at-all-ominous rally of nonhumans, leaving Morty hovering alone in the streets, staring up at his grandfather and trying not to worry.
After a few seconds, Morty flew over the rally, trying to keep up with his grandfather. Morty had been on enough planets and civilizations to know just how common these kinds of racial tensions were; after almost a week things were rising steadily. The fact that Rick didn't seem to feel any kind of urgency gnawed at him, on more than one level.
edited 19th Feb '16 9:37:05 PM by Locoman
As the egg-throwers walked off in annoyance, Ghostfreak turned visible, and snickered in his deep, raspy voice. He then floated back into the restaurant to see Lune gawking at Ranma, who seemed to have... eaten the rest of the buffet by herself.
"....Well, so much for getting another serving," Ghostfreak muttered, stunned by how much this woman must've eaten. He then looked over at Lune. "Hey, uh, sorry about that. I had to teach those egg-throwers a lesson," he assured her. "So.... uh... thanks for going with me to eat. I had a good time...." If he were human, Ben would've been blushing profusely at that statement. Instead, he closed his single eye, hiding it in shyness, while he held his spindly ghost-like arms close to him and floated there, awkwardly.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Lune listened to Ranma. According to Ranma, her rapid-fire devouring technique was developed because people were stealing food without her consent. What kind of jerk steals food from a hungry person?! To avoid an awkward pause in the conversation, she asked Lune how she was doing.
"Other than becoming an adult, I'd say I'm doing fine," replied Lune. "Anything happen on your end?"
Lune saw Ben float on in. He apologized for cutting this friendly excursion short. He had to teach those punks a lesson. Lune found it a little cute when the ghost covered his face in embarrassment. It almost reminded her of that genius pilot girl Latooni. She was very quiet and was very shy, but in the pilot seat, she was an ace at shooting down enemy pilots.
"It's fine, Ben. I had a good time, myself." Lune smiled at Ben even though Ben was a scary ghost.
Upon Cole's true statement being said, Koishi pulled down her hat and looked at him with very red, wet eyes. Somehow, that statement had managed to completely break her train of thought. It sure sounded like Cole, but it also sounded like a singular sentence without wavering, pausing, the phrase "hurt" or any cryptic references. Upon confirming that it was indeed Cole, she put her hat back onto her face.
"Hhigh reah phing phu shoub oh bag phunpheres." A pause, and she realized that nobody could possibly understand that. She pulled her hat up a bit and uncovered her mouth. "I really think you should go back downstairs," she said to the two of them. "That kind of attitude is what's making me act so horrible. I'm just bothering you, so stop paying attention to me, please."
Library, by the desk
Garrett studied the brochure handed to him. One thing that caught his eye in particular was that anyone who died around here would come back to life elsewhere... this made things a lot safer if it was true. But he wasn't about to test it personally. He decided he'd better watch his back around here, especially if people like that "Brother Marcus" were rightfully feared. He wasn't sure what "genetically modified" meant, but he assumed it was something similar to the process of turning a person into a Keeper Enforcer.
The crowd in the library was getting too dense, exotic and hyperactive for Garrett's taste, and so the thief left onto the city streets in order to think clearly... and perhaps ply his craft. (In actuality, there wasn't much point in stealing from anyone; if the robbed person died — which was likely to happen to anyone at least once — all the things stolen from them would return to them when they respawned. However, that bit of information wasn't in the brochure, and so Garrett remained unaware of it.)
Streets
He proceeded to wander down the city streets, looking for any buildings which could serve him as a temporary home (either unoccupied buildings, or those which looked like they had free rooms) — as well as keeping an eye out for businesses which didn't have much security, and had simple or no locks on their doors...
Non-human rally
Abruptly, a great racket and tumult erupted nearby; the street he was walking on must have shifted somewhere close to a huge gathering. Garrett curiously looked from behind the corner at the non-human gaggle, zooming in with his mechanical eye to examine the crowd — trying to ascertain if any of the rally members were sufficiently distracted to be potential targets for pickpocketing (or indeed, if they even had any pockets or exposed valuables on them). Rallies and protests... always a ripe ground for harvest.
edited 20th Feb '16 5:38:23 AM by Korodzik
No Diseases
"Okay, first of all: I would appreciate you not trying to start a plague like the one HK mentioned." Sawyer frowned. Body disposal was a messy enough procedure, considering how a dead body worked, but sometimes there was more than the usual; sometimes the victim was a druggie, or diseased themselves or anything of the sort.
Sawyer really, really disliked messes.
"I know that bodies fade away after dying, likely with any byproducts they left behind, but if this is to be like this third day in perpetual blizzard, I don't think anyone would appreciate it." She grunted, rolling her shoulders.
edited 20th Feb '16 2:04:22 AM by FergardStratoavis
"it's ok, kid, no worries," said Sans, then glancing at who he could only assume was Miss Tairee, he didn't stick around for too long last time to know. "so you must be the miss tairee person. how long is your boss gonna trap us here?" he asked her, taking notice of the brochure she was handing to Caro "by the way, can i have one of those as well?"
edited 20th Feb '16 6:43:51 AM by FullMoon
There was certainly a few valuables among the crowd: The occasional necklace, bracelet, or ring. A few of the non-humans sticking near the edges of the crowd on lookout were holding or had on them toy firearms; whether Garrett had any concept of a gun or not, he could certainly recognize them as weapons of some sort by their crossbow-like triggers and the way some of them were being held. And perhaps if he was feeling especially bold, the megaphone that the naga girl was using to amplify her voice.
Most of the small crowd seemed focused enough on their drive to recruit others to their cause; it certainly seemed possible that anyone among them could potentially pickpocket without them noticing the items being taken... But the immediate problem for Garrett was that when any human started coming anywhere near the group, at least one non-human in the crowd would glare them down into going away. Approaching the group directly without getting noticed was simply not feasible.
"Yes, I am Miss Tairee. Some of you will be sent home early randomly, but the rest will be sent back home on the twenty ninth day; it is currently the fifth day" Miss Tairee answered Sans simply and promptly. When he asked about a brochure, she nodded. "Of course, one moment" she said, and went back behind her desks for a moment, then came back with another brochure in hand to give to Sans.
edited 20th Feb '16 6:47:52 AM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.Ghostfreak opened his eye sheepishly. It was somewhat hard to make Ghostfreak look like a dork, but Ben was somehow managing to pull it off.
"I'm glad to hear that. Should we head back to the library?"" Ghostfreak asked her. "It looks like we're pretty much done eating here," he pointed out, gesturing to the buffet.
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither."You can't talk to him now, but you can leave feedback for him through the suggestion box" Miss Tairee responded, motioning to the suggestion box, stack of small notes, and chained pen over on her center desk. "Today is one of the day's that he's responding to messages, so if you leave one in today you might even get a response before midnight" she added.
You are reading this."I'm not bothered," Cole said, coming forward, nodding to Grimlock and offering a slight smile. "I...I think we are all...friends? Or...at least...we need each other? And I like you. You were nice to me. I want to help." He gestured to Grimlock and Rex. "And they want to help too, I can tell. They're nice, although I still don't like flying." He offered a slight shrug to Rex at that.

Cole presented Rex with a facial expression that would best be described as unimpressed. "And most of the wars I've seen were started by someone so determined not to lead others into war, that they began the very battle that caused it. I can see your well-meaning, but I have always seen the well-meaning of those who thought striking down others with violence would stop more violence. When glass has already fractured, hammering at it more does not put the pieces back in place."