"I don't think so, Twilight." Sadness rubbed her eyes. Already, so complicated. "Twilight...I think Zelda and I'd really better go off on our own. I know you want to help, but...I think this problem is a little more complicated than you understand. But I know you just want to make things better. Believe me." She looked at the pony, some kind of unspoken pain etched into her expression. Emotions and problems. Her whole existence, really.
"Z-Zelda, um...this way?" She waved off towards the northeast. It felt strange to be asking the normally more composed and confident person to follow her.
Currently writing something. Currently procrastinating.Outside Library -> City Streets - Let's Get This Over With
Zelda took yet another few moments to respond to Twilight. By the time she finally managed to get the wetness to go away for a little bit and turn to answer the pony, Sadness had already answered for her.
"...I've just not had a good day...." she stated simply. She glanced at Sadness briefly when the emotion made her decision, then back at Twilight. "...I appreciate your concern, but I guess this is something we're working out on our own. So...I guess we'll talk to you later...?"
At that, she turned and followed Sadness's lead. From the moment they walked away from the library to the moment the city shifted as they headed further into it, she remained completely silent. For that matter, she didn't seem that focused on heading anywhere in particular. At most she made sure she stayed close to Sadness and that she didn't run into anyone or anything. Only once they were out of earshot of the library did she finally speak.
"...So, Sadness...." she started, only to have a loss of words. On top of everything, it was starting to hit her just how awkward it was to try and have a conversation with someone she murdered just a few days ago. "...where do you think we should start?"
edited 4th Aug '16 1:45:32 PM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!Caro basically threw herself at Sans and it actually took the skeleton some effort to not lose his balance and make both of them fall as he tried to catch her. Caro hugged him tightly and spoke out of just how guilty she felt through the whole thing. Sans didn't really respond at first, he was just enjoying the embrace while it lasted. Caro was pretty soft, so hugging her actually felt pretty nice while he could only wonder that hugging someone like him couldn't be all that comfortable, not that she seemed to care.
"yea, i know. despite everything, it's still you after all. i wouldn't have it any other way." he told her, patting her on the head as he spoke.
Once Caro broke out of the hug, she offered to finally go to the beach with him. It was pretty late now so they wouldn't get to do much but anything that could help end the day in a good way would really be appreciated right now, plus he also had something to do.
"aight, now that we finally dealt with everything and hopefully won't get ourselves into another crisis on the way, let's head out, said Sans, walking over to Caro and wiping off the remaining tears from her eyes, before looking back at the exit Zelda went through earlier, looks like zelda went to do some other business of her own so, i guess it's just us, maybe she'll show up again later.
He still had some doubts regarding Zelda, he knew there was something up and the whole ordeal wasn't quite over yet, but right now it would be better to do like himself kept saying during the day and leave it to tomorrow.
"by the way..." he began, looking back at Caro, "when i got to the beach, i ran into three of the people we saved yesterday. they all wanted to thank you and were asking what you were up to. looks like ya got yourself a few fans. good job, superhero," he said, in a slightly teasing tone to further lighten the mood.
edited 3rd Aug '16 11:22:58 PM by FullMoon
Curly raised an eyebrow as the woman seemed to take notice of both her, and... Something else? "Sure" she said offhand while the other woman started discussing something with this Ben person. Somehow. What Curly could see of the holographic was very impressive, certainly nothing like any of the computer's she had experience with.
"I was just wondering if you worked here, we were gonna watch a movie but a couple of us have never been to one of these before and aren't really sure how it works. Guess I caught you at a bad time, seemed like you were pretty distracted or something" Curly replied once the other woman's other task was done.
"An absolute pain," he replied to Curly's comment about Bob being a little shit. They all seemed to be. He thought of how only what seemed like a few hours ago how one of the little guys (he...didn't think it was Bob. Looked more like a Jerry, really...) had tried to claim and eat all the flowers left by the plant lady. Sure, go ahead, take the bright orange sunflower. It's not like it mattered to him. In fact, that stupid thing could go screw itself. And, ok, it's not like he would have done anything with the violet rose. It could have that, he supposed.
But get your mouth away from this damn orchid. It was his orchid, he could feel that it was a direct line to Vivi, it was practically beaming with magical essence, so god dammit, nothing was going to take it from him just because he was wasting time playing She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not while sipping coffee like a romantic cliche oh hey Sophie.
"You weren't here when I last said it, but sorry, about Bob. I'll keep a better eye on him."
Jack came, and then almost immediately asked Lewis how movie theaters worked. He would have answered that this actually wasn't like any theater that he'd seen, in that there appeared to be a complete lack of staff both at the snack bar and the box office, had Curly not gotten the jump on him by way of deciding to ask a redheaded woman who had been standing in the hallway how exactly this place worked.
Except she didn't ask the redheaded woman how exactly this place worked. Said woman, who happened to sound like the disembodied voice from the library, appeared to be preoccupied with something worrisome, and as she talked to the air the wraith told Jack that "Usually they make you buy tickets first. But the box office is empty..." as he'd meant to in the first place.
moved to Oceanstuck because this handle was starting to bother me my tumblrLibrary - Things are finally looking up again
Thankfully, Sans took what she well and even caressed her head for it. He also agreed to head to the beach again, hoping nothing else would happen. She knew that it must pretty late already, so most of the normal fun things to do over there wouldn't be as possible, but they might as well salvage their day by doing the best they could at it anyway.
When Sans meeted Zelda, in the back of her mind, she had to wonder what was up with their other friend. She had thought she would try to meet up with Sadness, but she seemed to have gone almost immediately back to the suggestion box. Something didn't add up ... But it was best not to think of that now, if only not to ruin what may be left of good of their day.
"Yeah, it looks that way ... I hope she does show before it even more late than it already is ... " She simply commented.
She could only feel a mix of excitement and embarrassement as Sans told his news and then teased her over it. "Really!? I'm glad they are doing better then. I wonder if there's any chance of still catching them there ... " At that point she blushed a little over the end of his comment, "W-Well, I'm glad they feel that way, but ... I'm sure they must have thanked you a lot too. You did saved them too and in at least one case, we couldn't have gotten out of the ambush that happened fast enough without your help. S-So the credit is your as well."
She then looked thoughtful for a bit, as she added, "But you know ... I wonder how much time it will take us to reach that beach ... If we go walking, there's no telling if we are gonna make it in a few minutes or several hours. Even if we go by flying it wouid still take a bit and we would still be affected somewhat by the randomness. It wouid be best if we could take a shortcut, but you would need a location you're sure of and the only fixed places are here and at the balcon - Wait! The beach is at the edge of the city, right? With the ocean replacing the void that is usually beyond the balconies ... So is there any chance that they are still there or that the beach could work like them?"
edited 4th Aug '16 12:20:29 AM by JamesShields
"I am trying to protect his city from a daemon. Nothing could be more important than that right now" Brother Marcus said with conviction, able to hear Cole despite the whipping wind and his jump pack.
"Other than Ruckus, there is a group of non-humans set to defend themselves from human aggression, and a militia who are trying to keep the peace in the city much like police would" Miss Tairee's voice said to answer Eve's question.
Miss Tairee seemed to stare at Curly for a moment, possibly blinking behind her sunglasses. "Well yes, I do technically work here, but not here... Weren't you at the library earlier? I'm Miss Tairee" Miss Tairee said to Curly, then added a quick, "now one moment" and hit a key on the holographic screen again.
"Other than Ruckus, there is a group of non-humans set to defend themselves from human aggression, and a militia who are trying to keep the peace in the city much like police would" Miss Tairee stated aloud as if to someone else she was talking to, then hit the key again.
"There is no staff for this particular establishment; it is all handled automatically. Those machines will create requested food and drink, but only snacks. The screens in the hallway will allow you to select a movie to play if that theater is not already taken, or you can just walk in to see what's currently playing" Miss Tairee explained to Curly. During the explanation she motioned to a sealed, plastic bag of popcorn she had created for herself yet again, then down the hallway. The strange film from earlier and the iron giant had been replaced by now; one was about a third of the way through The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, while the other was halfway through Robocop. The two respective sci fi features both starting with the word star were still going, though nearing the end now. The fifth theater was not long into something called Ender's Game, and as Miss Tairee was speaking a group of no less than ten people selected to play Legally Blonde in the sixth theater. The last four theaters were all still free however.
edited 4th Aug '16 12:21:03 AM by FirockFinion
You are reading this.Ben frowned, looking upset. "Exactly!" Ben explained. "There are so many mean groups in this city. The Ruckus are crazy and evil. Silanea's group hates humans so I'd never be able to join that. And the militia are trying to build this flying gunship to kill things."
He sighed, "I wanna join a hero group so I can work with people who I actually agree with. So I can actually feel like I fit in somewhere. Cause right now I don't. But I don't wanna join any of those groups, and none of those groups want me to join them. So I gotta start my own. And if this method of recruiting is too optimistic, then how do you think I gotta do it? Anyone in this library have any ideas?"
He crossed his arms, leaning against the table and looking around the library for anyone that spoke up.
edited 4th Aug '16 6:25:58 AM by AllHailThrall
I can still hail the Horde even though the company has shamed us. Strength and Honor even if Blizzard has neither.Gon, deciding to remain at the beach
Gon relaxed a bit by walking around after he realized that Rex was busy. He decided to go and see Rick and Morty.
He was still in luck. The two were still there, the former enjoying himself.
"Hey." Gon decided to put the beer can aside before he approached Morty, leaving it in an empty chair since he didn't want to drink anymore. He didn't want to dredge up bad memories.
"Is he... going to be free later?" He pointed to Rick. "There may be something that I need to ask."
Seeing Caro blush like that was always a funny thing to see, so of course Sans had to manage a way to prolong it.
"you're so humble, you can't even take a compliment without getting all red. don't think i didn't notice you crying while you listened to me talking to the snake lady, you crybaby," said Sans, clearly just teasing her some more.
Caro suggested taking a shortcut to the balconies, which was actually a really good idea Sans didn't think of earlier, there was so much going on that he just kinda forgot. After all the balconies were in the borders of the city and that's where the beach was located, that would saved him from doing a lot of walking.
"good idea by the way, i completely forgot about the balconies until now, would've saved me quite a bit of time earlier..." he said, folding his arms and looking slightly annoyed at himself although that didn't last more than a couple of seconds before he unfolded his arms and reverted back to his usual state, "well, you ready?"
Cole glanced towards Marcus at those words, though he knew already he wasn't going to get anything from it. The man's face was constantly hidden in his armor, and his mind, though not blank in the way Tairee's was, didn't really lend itself to a proper looking through. The way this "space marine" handled pains, fears, and the like was alien in a way that Cole didn't know how to parse. He understood what he was seeing, emotions came as clearly to him as sight or sound or touch could come to someone with the traditional five senses, but at the same time he had no idea how to deal with it. The closest thing to it he'd ever felt had been his unfortunate time amongst the Templars. The more fanatical and...angry of them had carried such a sensation in their heads, of having a purpose, of being right in their cause, in that anyone or anything that tried to resist or buck against their clear and righteous aspirations was a mad animal that had to be tamed or put down as swiftly and brutally as possible, by any means necessary.
But even those Templars, the ones that had...hurt Cole, that had hurt so many mages, or anyone who dared try to support a mage, or just anyone who got in the way of their divine rule...they had nothing on the fixation inside Marcus. Cole had never quite managed to be this close (and by the Maker this was too close) to Marcus for long enough to spend time peering inside his mind, and now he was starting to wish that was still true.
He'd looked into Varric's mind once while the man was writing, trying to learn more about the dwarf's way with words, and Cole had gleaned a particular idea for metaphors from it. He didn't know what a metaphor was, precisely, nor the fact that his own disjointed ramblings could or could not be one at any given time. He knew just that it was a way of telling someone something that could make them understand more easily, seeing how Varric used them, and people seemed to understand him well enough.
Cole supposed if he were trying to describe Marcus's devotion against that of the most dangerous of the Templars, he would ask someone to picture two identical trees, with branches stretching out and up and leaves shading below, roots sunk deep into the earth to take all they could from it. Both carried infections inside them, a rot through the wood, discoloring the leaves, flaking the bark, a fungus slowly eating away what was to replace what is.
But whereas the Templar's tree might still be a tree, save for the ugly patches here or there that showed the sickness seeping through, Marcus's tree might not even still stand. Instead Cole had the idea in mind of something that carried the shape of a tree, that might, simply on passing glance, pass for one. Taking any longer than the second to glance, however, would reveal instead that no such thing existed. The leaves might be there, the surface might be rough like bark, but none of it was a tree. It was all the rot, the fungus, taking on a shape like a tree, posing for one. There might still be wood somewhere inside the growth, but none of it was healthy, and there was no chance to carve it out through what had overtaken it, without destroying all that it was.
The worst part of it seemed to be that an infection so deep and consuming couldn't possibly help but spread, to aim itself for others, to keep itself alive and thriving at the expense of any others it could grasp. That was the same no matter who carried such a thing inside them. Cole knew enough from the Templars and what they'd done to him...done to all the mages back home, in fact, to know that they were quick to try and inflict their idea of "truth" into anyone who showed a hint of being out of line with it.
As fearful of the one the others had been calling Old Feather Beak as Cole was, it sank in that anyone from Marcus's world would prove just as dangerous. Even more so, because he couldn't see any way past the darkness spread out inside them. Things were, and they had no way of not being. He might as well try to get through the stone walls of Skyhold with nothing but his fingernails as keep trying to convince Marcus against what the man simply knew to be true.
If they did pass over the so-called heretics, Cole wasn't aware of it, between his still somewhat inebriated state and focused as he was on the one carrying him along. He just hung on for the ride, grimacing as he tried to work out what to do once they finally stopped moving so high and so fast.
The only plan he could even come up with though was that if Marcus let go of him for even a second, he was going to run for it. Maybe he was wrong, maybe Marcus didn't have any ulterior motives, but Cole hadn't survived the Templars without learning it was better to flee a situation that made one afraid for one's own being.
Library - Moving forward
What Sans then said only made her blush even more. Any more and it would look like her whole face was just glowing red. "You saw t-that? I probably shouldn't have overheard that, but I just couldn't help it and ... Well, it just made me so h-happy to hear you speaking like that of me ..."
Sans thought taking a shortcut to the balconies was a good idea, but seemed frustated with himself for thinking of that earlier, although he recovered quickly as usual. "Well, there was a lot going on earlier. That ghost-like alien, Ruckus ... It wouldn't be hard for something like to slip your mind with all that. But anyway, I'm ready whenever you're."
Sans just began laughing at Caro as she managed to get even more red.
"it's fine, if i wanted to keep it private i wouldn't be talking to her while you were right there," he said between chuckles. "anyways, let's go."
With that, Sans used his powers to take another shortcut out of the library.
Upon getting there, Sans began looking around the beach to see if he could find the party from earlier, there were still plenty of people in the beach at the time but he couldn't really recognize anyone from there.
"by the way, the beach looked great when i came here earlier, i even took a picture of it," he commented as he looked around, "sadly, i don't think i'm seeing anybody that i recognize around so... wanna do whatever you do at the beach while we wait to see if the city shifting helps us?"
edited 4th Aug '16 9:15:38 AM by FullMoon
Cinema
Garrett had taken a moment to drop back into his hotel room and put his clothes back on, as he was getting a little tired of walking around half-naked, then he made his way to the cinema, arriving roughly at the same time as others. He took a look around, not too sure what to think. This 'movie theater' sure didn't look like any theater he's ever been in. Where were the glittering chandeliers? The marble floors? The ticket office, for rich theater-goers to leave their jewelry in an easily picked cash-box?
He still didn't have a very good idea of what the experience of seeing a 'movie' was like, either, though...
"These titles... They remind me a bit of theater plays," he observed. "Though they sound a good deal more intriguing than Reginald and Conandra, Forest Princess, or whatever other pompous bunk the nobles pay big money to see."
Balconies and beach - Preparations for fun
After Sans instantly got them to the balconies, she carefully looked around as well as he spoke. There seemed to be quite a crowd, so even if there was anyone she might have recognized, it would have been hard to spot them.
"Yeah, it does look amazing, from what I saw earlier from my room this morning. But anyway ... If the beach is surrounding the balconies and the sea is replacing the void, then it's likely that there is a beach all around this city and we are basically like an island now. So we could have easily ended up at an opposite end from where you were earlier. So doing something while we wait to see if we get lucky seems like our best option if we wanna find them. Now let's see ... " She paused for a bit to consider options, specially since it seemed to be quite late in the say already. "It's practically sunset already, so a few of the things we could normally do are kinda out of question right now. The water should be still somewhat warm, but I don't know if you could really swim ... We could just have fun at the sand or find the game from that challenge, even if it was probably already completed by now, or even any other beach game ..."
It was then that she looked at her robes and the bathing suit still gripped tighly in her hand and then added, "But my robes won't really work for any of that. I need to find a place to change into this ... " She took a look around and quickly found a building very close by. It seemed the kind of place that held bathrooms and or changing rooms, which was just what she needed. "There it is! Let's go there."
She crossed the short distance to the front of the building and stopped at the door that lead to the female changing room. She turned to Sans and said, "I think it is best if you stay close to this, so we don't end up losing each other in case things could still shift around. I'll leave Fried with you, so you should be easy to find again when I come out. I'll be right back!"
While she entered the room, her dragon companion did as she said and flew over to Sans, circling around above him so that they were easier to spot.
After Caro changed into the pink bathing suit, she decided that it was best to hold on to her belongins, so she didn't end up losing them in case she couldn't find this particular changing room again, which with this city, was a real possibilty, ~
Thankfully, she quickly spotted Fried once she got and went right back to him and Sans. "OK, I'm all ready now. So let's go and have some fun!" With that she started to head to the beach proper, while looking around to see if there was anything interesting happening or anyone that might recognize in the crowd.
Sans just let Caro do her thing while he kept looking around from the beach to see if anything came up and once she came back he still had no such luck with it. Once she came back he saw her carrying her stuff with her and looking at all the sand around he figured that it would be better not to take any risks.
"hey caro, give me your stuff, i can keep it stored for you so you don't get sand all over it by accident and spend the rest of the next days feeling all itchy," he suggested as he followed after her, not exactly sure what to do and instead just following her lead.
edited 4th Aug '16 11:27:26 AM by FullMoon
It was Lune's goal in the last 15-20 minutes to exercise, and due to her own showboating it failed spectacularly. There was some unknown feeling welling up inside of her, like she was actually feeling sorry for someone for a change. It wasn't a nice feeling, so she tried her best to ignore it.
She patted Lune on the back. Pats were the universal reward for a hard job well done, so Lune stood to get some. "It's okay, Lune. You still did better than a normal human, so don't feel bad about it. It was my fault in the first place, 'cause I didn't ask you how we should exercise. You probably know a lot more about it than me, cause I only do calisten...uhh, calsiten..."
"Shoot, what's the word?"
edited 4th Aug '16 12:01:01 PM by wikkit
With nothing better to do, Ara started to look for the movie theater from the moment she left the buffet building, but not before making sure to look for a way to pay for what she had eaten. She did not, which disappointed her somewhat, but there was no point in thinking about that any longer. She had to focus on finding one particular building she was not familiar with in a city she was not familiar with either. She did find many interesting buildings, including bakeries, shops, bars, the Universe Buffet she had left earlier, several ones that read "hotel" in very big letters, and one that read "cinema" as well.
She walked past that last one exactly seven times over the course of the afternoon.
However, on the eighth occasion, she managed to overhear a couple of people leaving the building, talking about how the movie they had just watched had been completely astonishing. Perhaps it was curiosity, perhaps it was realization, but that conversation drove Ara instinctively towards the not at all elusive cinema building. The surprised yet relieved reaction she had the moment she spotted several familiar faces inside amused me a lot. For a brief moment I wished I would have seen it.
"Oh, you're all here!" she exclaimed, although spotting a sixth, slightly less familiar face alongside the original five surprised on its own. "Ah, the librarian is here as well?"
Beach - Fun times straight ahead
Caro didn't know exactly how Sans planned to store something like her robes, but if he had a way that wouldn't inconvience either of them too much, she supposed it was best to give it a shot. As she handed him her clothes, the phone that was still stored in them and then took off her amulet, she said, "Well, if you have a way to do that, then sure. I didn't want to leave these behind at the changing room, since I didn't know if I could find that exact place again and I don't want to lose any of this. But it's to not get all sandy either, so good thinking."
While Sans did his thing, she would then lead them throught most of the crowd, towards closer to the ocean. The sand felt pretty soft and not too warm anymore and looked pretty beautiful too. She had already seen the water twice, once very closely, but she couldn't help feeling wonder at it all over again. "Yeah, this all is definitely very amazing ..." She looked around but still didn't see any games or people she knew anywhere, so she turned back to Sans and said, "OK, seems like our options are either doing sandcastles or going into the water. I don't know how you will fare at it, but wanna try the latter?"
edited 4th Aug '16 2:38:28 PM by JamesShields
Sadness raked her hands through her hair, occasionally glancing over to make sure Zelda was still with her. She was very upset. That was normal.
"I guess...where we left off," she decided tentatively. "So, um. I was a fish on that day, when you...I mean, you knew I was a fish, because...So I reappeared in a street somewhere, but—I was okay after that! Sort of." In fact, she had been dehydrated, extremely stressed, and flipping the heck out, but that had been her state of being for a while now, so it didn't particularly stick out to her anymore. "I couldn't have survived again for very long, but that snake lady put me in a pet shop in a bowl. And Rex found me, actually...and that's where I was until the zombies came around. I even had my tank-squared for a while. And then it broke."
She peered over at Zelda again to check how she was taking the news. "I guess...it could have been a lot worse. Not that it wasn't, um. Bad and sort of traumatizing." Wait no that would just make Zelda feel worse, focus on the positives, the positives...
edited 4th Aug '16 1:39:14 PM by Syrika
Currently writing something. Currently procrastinating.Caro handed Sans her stuff, it was quite a few things too and while he was trying to work out how to insert all of the stuff inside the box at the same time he kept following after her and eventually she asked him if he'd rather make sandcastles or go into the water.
"well, i don't really have any preference, but i think the only thing that's more clear than the fact that you really want to go into the water is the water itself," said Sans, letting out a chuckle.
If Caro paid attention to what he was doing, she would see Sans pulling out his cellphone and seemingly scanning her clothes, phone and amulet individually and after each scanning was done the object then seemed to turn into data that went all inside his cellphone. Looking at it now, the dimensional box was definitely too full now, he would have to make some more room in it later, granted just giving Caro her stuff back later would solve this issue.
edited 4th Aug '16 3:36:53 PM by FullMoon
Q10 remarked that we wasn't thrilled to take up tomorrow's challenge.
"Nobody does but it's the only thing we can do for now"
The soldier explained that his best asset was his keen and strategic mind. The fact that a ten-foot tall robotic soldier with a machine gun had talked of his intelligence before of his strength made Rex assume this guy came from a world similar to Marcus'. Luckily nothing from his world would come to attack them like OFB did.
"Stategist? I can't say we need one but you look like a strong guy and you have a weapon. That's gotta count for something"
Now Rex had remembered the walkie-talkie he had taken a while back. He was intending to give it to Lune but this guy was also going to need to stay in contact with the team.
"Do you have some sort of a communicator?"
edited 4th Aug '16 3:57:45 PM by DeisTheAlcano
City Streets - Details, Details
"...That's good to hear," Zelda said once Sadness had finished, "Well...at least in the fact that you seem to be doing all right now. I'd...I don't want to think about what would had happened had you gotten hurt even more after what I did to you...."
She was silent for another couple moments as she debated what to say next. What she'd been through herself wasn't important to the conversation; besides, she'd been too consumed by guilt to remember much of anything from the remainder of that day. There wasn't anything to tell.
"L-let me ask you this," she finally settled on saying, "When that bird first tried to take you away.... What did you think was going on?"
edited 4th Aug '16 4:18:47 PM by Yomegami
Icon by Civvi the Civilian!After catching her breath, Lune corrected Yoshika after she mispronounced it a few times. βIt's called Calisthenics, Yoshika.β
After saying that, Lune saw a group of people in the distance. Two of them were Rex and Plague Knight. Guess they were relaxing at the beach like they should, and they were talking to another space marine. Luckily, he wasn't as hostile as Brother Marcus. She politely waved to the trio.

Eve|Library
Ben really was very optimistic. His plan was good, but his way of recruiting was...dumb. Not that she was going to tell him that in those words. Those exact words, that is.
"Your basic plan is good. A group of people dedicated to the protection of the City, similar to Sweepers or the IBI back home. But your method of recruitment is overly optimistic. How many factions are there in this City? Ruckus, I know of, who else?
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