Kelsey glanced back at the shelf, then at Mary again. "I don't get it though; what were you trying to do?" Kelsey asked, then seemed to just remember something. "Oh, and what do you want to do now? We should go meet up with Old Feather Beak again soon" she added.
"Ben?" Miss Tairee asked rhetorically, recognizing the voice, "I thought I already explained it to you; let me try again." She turned so she was facing the desk that Ben was on, and brought one of her upper claw arms down to the desk's surface. "Now this here, forward and back, plus left and right" she said, tracing her claw along the surface of the desk appropriately, "two dimensions."
"And this here" Miss Tairee continued, lifting the claw up and nudging Ben with the side of it, "forward and back, plus left and right, plus up and down. Three dimensions." Then she pointed her claw at the eldritch text in the book. "Meanwhile, that? Ten dimensions. There isn't really a proper name for it; I like to call it universal script, but calling it the language of the cosmos wouldn't be that far off" she explained, giving a shrug of her upper limbs.
"Being able to read it, and more importantly write it, was the first perk and main requirement of working for my boss. So he gave me the ability to when I took his job offer" Miss Tairee finished, and turned back to her computer to do more slow typing.
You are reading this."Eh...,"
We can't... die? Not while we're here? What Negi thought reassuring was anything but as, for once, I found myself gasping and finding it hard to breathe. Wait, isn't this the same situation as it was back then? Memories from time past bumbled into my surface thoughts as I recount this familiar sense of deja vu.
As a sickly young girl isolated by her own parents, her sole existence of being depended on someone that truly didn't want her. As an immortal witch protected by the magic of her house, unable to venture outside lest she succumbs to her condition. And even after successfully getting away from the demon's pact and her past, eager to start anew, fate decided otherwise and trap her here.
Just... why? Is it so cruel for me to wish for a new beginning? Is it so cruel for me to experience a normal life after how much I have to sacrifice myself in order to achieve it?
If so, then fate itself is indeed cruel.
So in the end, nothing changed, only the type of prison I get to stay in. I don't need the boy to tell me about fate worse than death. I've had my fair share of them myself.
... I sigh. What am I doing, being too bothered about this? I'm sure there's a way out. There's got to be. And what luck, the person who seem to be the most involved with my situation casually spawned a book about escaping, only to have it being untranslatable to everyone who read it so far and by her description, probably me as well. Great.
... Oh well. Might as well try. I got on the same table as the Lizard boy(Ben, I think was his name) and attempt to read the said book, only to have a mild migraine for the trouble. I already expected something like this, but it didn't lessen the ensuing headache all the same.
"Do both you and your boss enjoy toying with us?" I asked. I used to toy with other people myself, just not fond at being the receiving end of it.
edited 20th May '16 12:48:34 AM by JustSomeGuy732
Library
"Have I ever stated what you said, boy?" Ludwig asked Ben with a neigh. Oh, that child was so enthusiastic, so naive.
Given the circumstances, the ex-Hunter found it odd that he has not learned yet. "You added words to mine, twisting them for a meaning you wished to hear. Such is the way of a self-righteous one."
The whole discussion about this Ruckus was interesting as well. They had demons in their ranks? "It would be best to not think lightly of your foe regardless, lad." He addressed the armor proclaiming himself to be a half-demon and a specialist at hunting the foul ones. "Even if death is only temporary, there are other ways to suffer when threading wrongly."
"Regardless, I'm curious to meet that group." Glancing over at Plague Knight with a look that said a simple "don't think on this" - even with a beak it seemed so easy to read his glee - he moved over to the group interested in confronting the demon gang. "You have my sword." He shuffled his turquoise, resplendent blade a little in his mouth to emphasize.
This was much better! Sadness swam in an experimental circle. It was still a bit tight, but it was much more refreshing. ...Even if Miss Tairee had to pick her up in her mouth to move her, making that the second time in around ten minutes, something that set all her fish instincts on fire and left them screaming.
"Thank you," she said sincerely to Miss Tairee, then poked her head out the top of the tank so her words wouldn't be as muffled. "It's a little better, I guess..." she started, then trailed off when Sans approached. She could tell Zelda had more to say, though. Sadness wasn't surprised.
She had to try not to stare intensely at Sans, which was kind of a blobfish's default expression, but his news caused her to almost literally deflate and sink towards the bottom of the tank. "But...why?" she said miserably; her voice was weird and echoey because she was underwater. "I haven't done anything to make the...the boss guy upset—" she looked up anxiously at the ceiling—"I've barely done anything at all! I've been useless this whole time! I had a whole day to find my friend and I did nothing!"
edited 20th May '16 5:38:43 AM by Syrika
Currently writing something. Currently procrastinating.Tairee answered both of Rex's questions: Kelsey was a honey badger and Mary, a doll. She also pointed out that there were more anti-demon amulets on a table and sarcastically added that she was grateful Rex had let her speak on her own library. She wasn't the only one having a bad day.
The robot teen grabbed a bunch of them for the demon hunting party (it was kind of hard not to grab a handful of them with pincers). And raised his voice to telll everyone that they should probably grab one as well.
"Listen everyone, take an amulet from the box to avoid the demon from controlling your minds"
Cole, still a rabbit and still stubborn to help apparently without realizing the drawbacks of being a small animal, said he would endanger the team if the demon spotted him so he would have to go alone.
"Not with this" Rex put one of the rocks ounder the rabbit's hat "Now the demon won't see you coming"
edited 20th May '16 3:40:02 PM by DeisTheAlcano
Ben nodded, a little confused but understanding. Perhaps he had asked before, but it didn't mean he understood too much more than before.
Instead he looked at Ludwig. "I'm not twisting anything!" he retorted. "You said, 'can't villains fight for truth and justice?' I say, no, because if they're doing that, they're not villains. They're heroes. Villains are bad guys." He leapt from the table and waddled back to his chair. "I don't understand why that's so hard to understand."
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.As Miss Tairee explained the method for travelling across dimensions, she'd probably hear the faint sound of sardonic note laughter from the shelf where Rick was sitting. "No, no," he explained, trying not to snicker. "That's... g-great. Yeah. Dimensional travel through the tenth dimension. Smart."
Meanwhile, Cole and some of the others were planning to head out and find Mary. "I-.... I wanna come too!" announced Morty. "I mean, if she's gonna flip out and kill people again - even if she's ,she's a doll or whatever, then that's bad, right?" Morty futilely tried to jump up at the counter, trying to reach for one of the anti-demon rocks with his little mouth.
"Boy, Morty, you're really serious 'bout this, huh?" Rick jumped down off the the shelf, leaving his flask behind, and batted one of the rocks down onto his grandson's head. "Guess I'd better come along. You're my camouflage, et cetera et cetera, we've been over this.
"Rick, if you're not going to help, then just go away."
"No, okay, fine. I'll come. I'll go cute him to death or something. I'll go do something real cute, and I'll become a big-ass Internet *urp* viral sensation." Rick padded out the door behind the others... but not before turning back and staring at the flask he'd had to leave behind.
'Nobody touch my booze." Rick glared back and forth at everyone present. "UIGRH'll take, a big fat... piss on it if I have to." He looked around. "I'm a cat. I'll do it."
edited 20th May '16 7:32:45 AM by Locoman
The Library
Specter Knight decided to quietly observe the events going on around him. From what he could tell, it seemed that Plague Knight had been turned into a massive bird. "Lucky...", he heard himself mutter, a little bitter of the fact that he was currently little more than a glorified light source. Well, at least he still had arms...
Then Ben said something about how only heroes could fight for just causes. "What is 'good' and what is 'evil'," he answered, turning to Ben, "are based on opinion alone. One could easily slaughter hundreds of people in the name of what they believe is a 'good' cause, and still call themselves a hero."
edited 20th May '16 7:20:36 AM by astrokitty
Somebody once told me the world was macaroni, I took a bite out of a tree"Incorrect." Ludwig shook his head. Incidentally, so shook the stump full of eyes. "For a foul overlord, justice would be to have control of some region. Let's say he's legally permitted to rule as a son of the late king, but none want him there for he's a bloodthirsty tyrant."
"You would naturally oppose the tyrant, this is a morally correct choice. You cannot deny that he fights for his justice and for whoever would wish to see him elevated into power however."
Hearing Specter Knight talk Ludwig only nodded again. "Ultimately, history is written by the victors. For the ones who lost the war, the main general of the enemy would be a public enemy number one, but in his homeland he would become a hero indeed."
edited 20th May '16 7:32:51 AM by FergardStratoavis
City of Lost Characters: At one of the Balconies
Tali'Zorah nar Rayya overpowered the lock on the door as her squad-mates laid down suppressing fire on the collector swarms that were attempting to paralyze them, just in time to dive inside with said squad-mates right behind her. She barely had time to register the collector swarm that was already inside the room with her before she saw it dart towards her almost in slow motion. As the first of the drones was scant inches away from stinging her paralyzed, she saw everything seem to shiver and shudder to a stop, taking on a sepia tone before swirling like the water in a toilet bowl, all the light and color disappearing into a point of light, before suddenly it snapped back and she felt herself land on hands and knees on some sort of stone surface.
Taking a look around she realized a few things in fairly short order, her analytical mind taking things in, and putting a pause on trying to comprehend any of it until she was sure she wasn't in immediate danger. The first thing she noticed was that the colors she'd been so happy to see come back, were apparently only black, white, and some several shades of gray. The second observation she made was that while she was alone on what was apparently a balcony, everything seemed much taller than she thought it would. Either the city she could see in front of her was home to some form of giants, or else she'd lost at least a foot of height, if not more. Looking down at herself, she made a startling realization... Her enviro-suit was missing! Before she had a chance to think much further than that, she realized that she didn't seem to be getting sick from the germs she was being exposed to... and in short order realized that she appeared to be.... some kind of bird? Standing at about 3 feet tall, Tali tried to look at her arms, and found only wings in their place.
Screeching shrilly in alarm, she flapped away from the balcony, in her panic managing to fly just fine using purely her instinct. As she flapped out from the balcony she came to a two-lane road that stretched on and on for miles, and looking both ways, she wasn't entirely sure which way to go...
Cole looked a bit confused as Rex came over with one of the mind-blocking stones, but didn't really have a reaction until the talisman was tucked under his hat. He went absolutely stock still for a moment, eyes going wide...before abruptly, frantically shaking his head, clawing at it.
"Get it...get it off, get it off...get it off! Everything gone dark, black inside, everyone vanished, quiet, everything still as death get it off!"
One particularly frantic swipe managed to dislodge his hat enough to send the stone clattering back to the ground, and Cole was backing up from it quickly, hat askew on his head and ears at awkward angles, just staring at the stone with a horror that was plain even on a rabbit's face.
"Don't...don't do that!" He shook himself out, pawing at his head again as though trying to scratch out a sudden headache. "It was as though inside of my head was severed, shredded, sundered, entire world gone where it once would have been, floating in nothing but black..." A shudder went through him, and he hunkered down on the ground. "P-please don't put that back on me..."
"Ten dimensions, huh?" Dante muttered, his gaze aimed at the book that he had attempted to read earlier. "The hell you need all those dimensions for, anyway? Eh, whatever. I'm not a scientist." He shrugged, then looking at the box of wraithbane amulets. "Hey, don't mind if I doooooo," he chuckled, scooping one up with the tip of his sword-hand. He extended his left arm skyward and shook it a bit, causing the amulet to jiggle its way down Dante's arm until it became caught on his "bicep." "That oughta do it," he muttered to himself. Before he turned away, he gave one final nod in the librarian's direction. "Thanks, lady. 'Ppreciate it."
As he turned, the eldritch horse somewhere off to his left spoke up, giving its own two cents on Dante's willingness to combat the demon. "Hey, thinkin' lightly of my foe is what I do," he said, with that wink in his voice again. "It's worked out for me so far! And why fix what ain't broke, right?" He threw his hands up in another shrug. "But hey, it's good to have ya. Kinda look like a demon yourself right now, actually. Might send you in undercover," he joked, chuckling.
While he spoke, he looked over the group of people presumably gathering to go fight the demon. Kids, again. Lots of kids. And the ones that weren't kids — like that cat who'd jeered at him earlier — were still stuck in the bodies of small animals. Not really fighting fit, to put it lightly. "So," he started, looking at each of them in turn, "this is our army, huh? Guess we could smother 'em to death." He shrugged. "But, whatever. Guess we'll see how this goes, won't we?"
At this point, the rabbit had gone through his little screaming session with the mind-control amulet, which Dante kept a sidelong eye on for its duration. So it was mind-reading, he thought, nodding to himself. Explains a lot. Wonder if he saw Vergil in there. A beat. ...Huh. Now that I think about it...
I wonder if Vergil's here, too?
Be kind."We're not on the familiar ground, young one." Ludwig chided with a nicker. Really, he expected that Dante fellow to be on top of his game with all this boasting. "Neither are we familiar with local demons."
"For all we know, they might be disguised as animals as well." The harrowing horse then shifted the blade, easily as big as Armor Dante himself. "Plus I do not fancy myself a subtle person. I always preferred challenging the beasts head on."
"What a most curious material. Wraithbone did you say this was?" Negi remarked, picking up the amulets and flinging half to Chamo who deftly caught it. "I sense a strange power emanating from within this, not quite magic... ESP?" Blinking his eyes as he continued his research on the amulet, Negi then turned his direction towards Chamo while holding onto it and channeling a mental message psychically via the ESP spell. "Testing, testing. Chamo, can you hear me?"
"Yes, aniki. If anything, your voice sounds rather more clear. Like how our regular Extrasensoria Perceptio is like a walkie-talkie and using this thing to help cranks it up to smartphone levels of quality. The Librarian said that it would block demons from prying into our heads mentally as well, so it's something like an encrypted channel too. Pretty classy, this thing." Chamo responded back, a most predatory smile gracing his currently middle-aged human face even as his hands clenched the amulet. Aniki, I'm going to make it more feasible to hold onto for the both of us." Seeing the ermine assent, Albert Chamomile took out a spool of thread and a needle from his traveling pack. With all the random fights they got into over their journey, knowing how to patch up clothes was a must-have for the two.
Holding still so Chamo could measure and then create a surprisingly intricate cover over the wraithbone until it became something like a miniature ermine-sized backpack via secret ermine techniques, Negi wiggled this way and that. The container of sorts didn't inhibit movement in the least and was rather snug against his frame so that moving with it wouldn't be a problem at all. The manimal himself simply created looped multiple layers about his own amulet so that he had a bangle that could be cinched about the wrist with ease. Even if he was a a perverted Familiar, he was still fae enough to be good with his hands... and previously his paws.
edited 20th May '16 9:26:51 AM by Makaioh
Library
" No, that is not it. I just ... this day is even more confusing than the previous ones, specially when it comes to telling people apart. Granted, you're the only one that I could think of still being a skeleton, but still ... "
Sans then said that Zelda had found his lost items and then pointed out Zelda and Sadness in their current forms. " I'm so glad to have found you guys again. Last night, Lune and I tried to find you, but then I got Sans' message, telling me that the day was almost ending and we had to find shelter for the night. We ended in a rundown apartment building and well ... we were uptairs in a room when we got turned so it was kinda hard getting back here. Oh by the way, you probably figure this already but this here is Fried, " Caro pointed her limb at each respective companion as she indicated who they were, " That otter is Lune and that crab over is a newcomer that we meet last night. His name is Karkat."
Caro then got a worried expression. " I really hope that we don't have to fight Ruckus or anyone else today. I have only barely gotten the hang of walking on four legs and I'm still not sure that I got turned into. I'm so worried that I may not be able to use magic today, since this body most likely doesn't have a Linker Core. But anyway, what is the plan for today? Is there are a challenge yet again?"
edited 20th May '16 7:04:14 PM by JamesShields
Library - Hungry Like the Wolf
"Has this city ever made sense?" Zelda asked, more rhetorically than anything.
Sadness moaning about not finding her friend reminded her of the other big reason she wanted to talk to her, but she didn't get the chance before another familiar voice showed up. She turned towards Caro, Lune, and Karkat when they arrived with a wolfy grin.
"It's nice to meet you again and see that you're reasonably all right," she said happily, "Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to checking the challenge. I was going to, but Miss Tairee..." She motioned with her head towards the strange beast the librarian had become, "...Wasn't exactly in the best of moods...."
She turned back towards Caro, only to realize that her friend suddenly looked extremely delicious. In fact, Zelda was sure she was drooling a little. Actually, come to think of it...she was starving.
She grimaced and shook her head. "...I really need to eat something. I think this form's instincts are starting to get to me...."
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!Sans listened as Caro explained herself, looked like she took his advice and spent the night in an apartment alongside Lune and a new guy, that was nice. She proceeded to ask about the day's challenge and Zelda demonstrated similar interest in it, luckily for them he had already checked it.
"the challenge is more fighting and this time it looks like it's going to be a small army, on the plus side, the reward is definitely not worth it so we can just skip out on it today," said Sans, shrugging dismissively before looking back at Zelda, "there's still food in that bag, why don't you eat some? we can go out and look for some food anyway now that we're all together again"
He then remembered Lune and looked at her now that Caro identified her for him, recalling that she had a specific request back in the cartoony day.
"by the way, lune, your granola bars are in the bags over there too," he told her, pointing at the bags once more.
edited 20th May '16 10:21:40 AM by FullMoon
"Heh, I like your style already," Dante chuckled, looking Ludwig's sword up and down. "Anyway, a demon's a demon, no matter where they come from and no matter what kinda magic powers they can pull outta their ass. And it's my job to put 'em down by any means necessary. Hell," he said, laughing, "I even own a company that specializes in cuttin' down demons. And hey, if they're disguised as animals, all the better. I always liked a good game of hide-and-seek."
Be kind."Perhaps it would be more fitting to call it a one-way tag." Ludwig neighed, rolling his head a little.
"Fancy the blade? I dare to say that it is the reason why am I able to converse with you fellows. A soothing piece this is, moonlight guiding through the dark."
"So you've made an enterprise out of demon-hunting? I imagine it pays off well." This time he nickered, beginning to trot in place, clearly raring to go.
When Caro reintroduced Lune to Sans, Lune just smiled and waved back to him. This was an easy task since Lune's still bipedal in a world where mostly everyone Lune knew had their arms turn into legs or claws.
When Lune heard that Sans finally had gotten those granola bars she craved two days ago, Lune hobbled over to the bag and looked around for them. After a bit of fumbling, Lune got a bar but she can't open it because she had no thumbs! Why must fate be so cruel?!
Another challenge, huh? Lune held the bar in both of her paws and began biting at the wrapper in an attempt at ripping it off. Eventually, she tore the wrapper off. Thank goodness, Lune had the patience of a saint. Lune savored the bar as this might be the only meal she'll have all day.
"Heh, tag, they're it, uh? I can dig it. And I'm gonna win this game of tag, no matter how long it takes me," Dante said, chuckling. "So, what, that blade keeps you sane or somethin'? What is it, voices? Demonic presence? Your conscience?"
Then, Dante shrugged. "Yeah, the demon-huntin' business is pretty profitable. Anyone who's gone and stuck their noses into a hellhole is usually rich enough to pay for top-notch protection, so I set my rates pretty high, usually. And in my world," Dante added, shaking his head, "you get a lotta demon-hunting work."
Be kind.

Sans heard someone call him and noticed someone who was... a pony? She sorta looked like Twilight at any rate, but then she identified herself as Caro and the boy who was next to her could only be Fried, well, that was interesting.
"hey caro, what's with the soft voice? you sound like you're scared of me or somethin'," he asked, sounding slightly curious but still being as jovial as ever "guess the party is all together again now. by the way, zelda found my stuff for me." He pointed at the bags in the corner and then pointed at the wolf next to him. "this is her by the way, the fish in the aquarium is sadness"
edited 19th May '16 10:58:15 PM by FullMoon