[Park]
The fighting had stopped, but whoever Nick had saw a few minutes ago still haven't shown themselves.
Rather than try to find them in this misty place, he decided to join the others. He cleared his throat and looked at everyone.
"Well," he said, scratching the back of his head, "That's not normally how I would spend my time in a park." He then looked directly at Phoebe, "Mind telling me what the hell that was?"
It then dawned on him that because this was a dream world, he could've dreamed up his weapons and stepped in. It never occurred to him at that time, and now he felt stupid for not pitching in. The others could've had more help back there.
"Sorry for not helping." He then said, "I just remembered that I'm in some kind of weird ass dream limbo and I should've been able to help. Didn't mean to abandon you guys back there."
His eyes then lit up.
"Also...did either of you see anybody come by while you were fighting? Just curious."
Ruins
There was no getting out of this without encountering the city. Of that Reynardo was becoming more and more certain. Clearly, something - whether it was his subconscious, or otherwise - wanted him to explore this city, and face everything it held in store for him.
Yet by the same token, what would this accomplish? This was not the actual city; it was a construct of his mind, a dreamscape. All he would find would be… things he had tucked away centuries, millennia before, the things he thought about without thinking about them.
This was a way of forcing his hand, and his eyes, he supposed.
He took a step forward. Nothing happened. Another step, and another. Soon he was descending into the city proper. Of course, the distance passed more quickly than it should have. Within minutes, he was in the city’s center, walking among the façades and statues, occasionally reaching his hand out to draw his fingers along the stones. It felt real, as real as it ever had; but the stone he knew was old and brittle, liable to topple with the next gust of wind.
The shadows ducked around corners, along hallways, following him yet avoiding him. These, he knew, had been the living. He knew what had come of this civilization, although he had had no part in its fall. As such, being what he was, the formerly living were afraid of him. He knew where the unliving would be; word would not have reached them yet. Once it did… then, he expected, they would seek him.
He paused in the plaza to look around him, under the faded sun. A distraction brought an end to that; he sensed the presence of another person. Not quite human, and with a slightly mystical aura. A stranger to this place, then. That was curious.
As the stranger spoke, Reynardo turned around. The stranger’s words were spoken in a very lyrical way, and he was hiding his teeth. The latter fact was not obvious, but Reynardo could tell because that was something he had to do often enough himself. Yet the stranger did not have enough of the hallmarks of a vampire of any sort.
“No,” Reynardo replied slowly, “I suspect it is I who am being sought.” He took a moment to study the stranger - a red-haired, short male, dressed quite simply, and there seemed to be a burn mark on his cheek as well. Whether this person was a danger, Rey was not quite certain yet. Usually, Rey chose to hope for the best but expect the worst.
“This is a dangerous place,” Rey said, with a slight nod to one of the large, collapsed buildings behind the stranger. “And it will soon become even more so. What is it that brings you here?”
Farm Exterior (Min, Varris, Mazra, Caleb)
"Me, nobility?" It was an amusing though, but if this business with other universes was true then she wouldn't have any reason not to ask. "No. My people don't have nobles, we're too feral for that. The only way to get a skyling to follow your orders is to convince that said orders would be better for them in the long run than their own goals. And even then, my parents wanted me to grow up away from politics."
Trying not to die right in a city? Even when Glidyleaf was at its worst day to day life wasn't constant danger like Wirgir. He wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "That must indeed be stressful. Is Grayvale undergoing a plague or famine?"
Blackwood -> wasteland
Half didn't know what happened to the Caller, but he no longer seemed to be around. Responding to Ashleigh he said "I think I shall go there then. Goodbye Ashleigh...and thank you." Those were words he never expected to say. Perhaps he had made a mistake somewhere...no, his mission was more important. But for now, he would go to Misery Manor for answers.
After some time of walking, Half emerged from the forest to see a vast desert before him. Ashleigh probably didn't expect this, but if he went forward he's have a chance of finding the Manor; so he continued.
edited 5th Mar '16 7:23:02 PM by Novis
You say I am loved, when I don’t feel a thing. You say I am strong, when I think I am weak. You say I am held, when I am falling short.
To dream is my right
Ruins:
Cira nodded slowly, as the words of warning fell upon his ears. Another runaway, then?
It was not surprising, all things considered. The strange man had a depth to his essence few had the dubious luck to acquire. It was vague, but visible like faint reflections on his skin, slithering shadows inside his eyes. It reached far into the past, and melded with the very ruins at points. The only ways to get an essence like that were to be a necromancer like Cira, sharing his memories with the dead, or to be an immortal of some kind. Both presented a danger, and an opportunity.
For a moment Cira pondered about choosing his next words carefully, perhaps deceive the man into telling more about himself. But that wasn't a game he thought he could win easily, and making himself look even more suspicious wouldn't help.
"Do you speak of all this dream, or only the ruins?", he said, stepping forward. The shadows didn't follow, but did not move away either, waiting warily as he approached the mysterious man. "I am no stranger to dreams, dangers or ancient debris filled with the dead, and even though it wasn't exactly my choice to come here, I would rather take the opportunity to learn something.".
He stopped a few feet away from the man, and stared into his eyes. Although he wasn't able to notice from further away, the stranger's ancient memories weren't the only thing unnatural about him. Peering into the surface of his essence, picking stray fragments of memories, Cira could swear he saw faint reflections of fleshly spilled blood on the man's lips. While in many ways he was more solid than most beings animated by shadow magic Cira knew, there was something to his essence that reminded Cira of the witch he met long ago, with memories of another Era and knowledge of the rites of blood.
Perhaps Cira was wrong, perhaps the blood was just an illusion crafted as an reflection of his own unnatural existence. It wouldn't be the first or last time he misread memories of others. Or, perhaps, he just walked into the lair of a dangerous predator.
So the only sane thing to do was to show his own fangs.
"My name is Cirranze. I am an independent student of the occult, with more experience than I'd like in being both hunter and hunted. Perhaps if you explained what danger will arrive here, I could help." And maybe I'll find something to give me an edge against Aian and her lackeys, if heavens allow me.
He gave a quick, calculated smile as he started speaking, making sure to show for a brief time his long and sharp canines. All of them, as he had a second set where a pure human would have the first premolars. He tried to make sure that the smile was fast enough for the sharp teeth to be brushed aside as a trick of the light by someone not expecting inhuman features on what clearly was a human, but clear enough to show some danger, should the stranger pay attention.
He prepared to reach for his weapon, just in case his action proved too reckless. Not his pistol, but his flare gun. He hoped things would stay civil, but if he had to destroy something, he could very well take the whole place at once, to be sure.
"Plus, if things get dangerous and you are not a team player, we can just run away in opposite directions.".
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
Mr ship
[Clinic/Henry]
After Ritter used his magic to protect them from the radiation, Henry stepped back and plopped in the chair.
That bomb looked like one of the designs he made that never went into production. Which raised the question of what in the world was one of them doing here when they never actually existed off of paper.
Henry took a deep breath. "Ok listen." He started nervously. "I don't know how but it looks like someone stole and built one of my designs from the 50s. Thankfully that means I can disarm it." He then looked at Ritter. "Can you use your magic to protect me from the radiation while I take out the core?"
[Forest/Lauren]
Demo was right there was no way Lauren's pistol would've done anything against a goddess.
"Well I could've tried." She said to him annoyed.
She then looked over to the mist. She knew her husband was a little over his head this time but to have a goddess death show up was too much. "Goddess of death please forgive my husband Henry." She started disarming her gun hoping to bargen. "He meant no harm to you and your kind. All he wanted to do was talk. That and to be honest he's been drinking again and might've been high but it's hard to tell with him sometimes."
Drummer Boy
[Farm (inside barn)]
"You could certainly frame it as family dishonor." Seilaan moved her teacup closer to the wyvern, since it seemed like it wanted to investigate. This conversation was getting into somewhat dangerous territory now. How did she know if Vince would be on Cyrus's side, or his parents'? Probably best to just be as vague as possible, for now. "Fenrir society is built on very rigid codes of behavior, and he has broken several of them. Nowadays, there is a growing movement to relax these rules, but the ruling family... hasn't caught up. Cyrus's parents have been outwardly somewhat tolerant of public debate, but in their private lives, they have relentlessly forced traditional values on their children. My father was the one who went to Fenrir Island to bring Cyrus to our home—my mother, my brother, and I don't get along with my grandparents at all, for related reasons—and Father is sure something very ugly happened that Cyrus won't let on about. Cyrus wants to keep it all in the private sphere because he still thinks his parents can realize what they've done wrong and welcome him back."
She lowered her head even more. "Cyrus may be my uncle, but he's only a few months older than me. He grew up ridiculously sheltered, and now, all of a sudden, he has to adapt to a radically different culture on top of his family troubles. But through all this, he's still constantly smiling, constantly cheerful and optimistic, painfully naive. It felt only natural to take him under my wing. I'm teaching him the Renesian language and our customs, I'm helping him monitor his health issues, I help him stay on top of his research and engineering projects, and I'm making up for all the anger he says he doesn't feel... tenfold."
I do get a lot angrier for other people than I do for myself, don't I? No, that's not quite right. When I'm angry about something that happened to me, I just keep it to myself. If it's for me, it's petty and selfish. If it's for others... I'm being noble. A good friend. After all, people seem to like it when I get worked up on their behalf. Because then they know I care.
The tea in her cup froze over.
Oh... not this again. I'm losing my grip now.
[Ritter Clinic]
"No problem. If I'm going to put my faith in anyone right now, it'll be the person who built this thing. It won't be hard as long as I can see you."
It was difficult to tell whether or not there was any sarcasm in Friedrich's voice when he added, "And assuming you put stock in any higher powers at all... hopefully they're on your side right now."
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Park (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Nick, Fawn, Dragon's Daughters)
(@Daird and Sphinxyness: It was Ashleigh who asked about the Dragon's Daughters and went over to fetch Fawn, not Phoebe. Her speech text is green and Phoebe's is pink.)
Ashleigh curtseyed in response to the Dragon's Daughters' introductions while holding her long olive-green skirt. "And my name is Ashleigh. And actually, those robots there are after me as well, as well our two companions that we just separated from. They are called T-Bots, and were sent by the Techno Maf- I mean, these corrupt mobsters who want to use the Elemental Goddesses' power against us, by taking that power from us, the Elemental Guardians. And so we are traveling to..." She was interrupted by something moving out on the grass nearby, but she didn't quite catch who it was. After they failed to show up again, she just shrugged it off.
"To tell you the truth," Phoebe explained, "I'm not a very experienced Keeper, and there are all these crazy video game stats I keep forgetting about. I totally forgot about what Zephoria said about thunder magic working on the robots, for example. And my third Mystripet is good for causing distractions and stuff. Plus, now that Ashleigh's here, we have six Mystripets between us!"
Just then, Nick emerged from the trees and asked Phoebe what the hell was going on, and also asked the group if they saw someone pass by. Ashleigh responded, folding her arms and looking rather cross. "Honestly, is that any way to speak to a child? Although by the way, I think I did catch some movement a few moments ago. I couldn't identify it though. We'd best be prepared if it's out to get us as well."
Misery Manor (Gon, Yamiko, Sinistrina, Gabe)
"Very well then," Sinistrina replied to Gabe, approaching the front door of the manor and running her black-nailed hand down it. "Though I shall warn you, it is rather bizarre to watch victims with their souls intact explore the manor. I like to compare them to sleepwalkers. Though it's a shame their mumbling is so muffled and slurred that I cannot comprehend it. Sometimes I am curious as to what they are experiencing." She glanced at Gon and Yamiko, the latter of whom was putting Melusine back in her Scanner. "Oh I am sorry. Did I scare you?"
"I'm not scared!" Gon shouted with determination, while Yamiko stood by and giggled. "I'm just... well... eheheheh... Er-hem. But I've got to find Ari! Come on Yamiko, we're goin' in!" He grabbed Yamiko's wrist and pushed the door open, causing a haunting creeeeeeeak to resonate within the manor walls.
<< Yamiko and the Hands of Confusion >>
As soon as she entered the manor, her surroundings turned dark and empty. As before, a hand was pulling her along by her little gloved wrist, but this hand was black and unrecognizable. Moreover, she felt as if she was floating along, perhaps in the void itself. And yet, she found something incredibly soothing about this ambience. Sweet solace in the serene somber silence. A melancholy unmatched by any morose memory from her less mature moments. She let her heart flutter and take flight, as if the void itself was comprised of thousands of black butterflies.
She became aware of soft music ringing all around, and of her dress swirling in circular rhythms. Her left hand was now grasping a different hand, she felt a similar hand on the right side of her waist, and her right hand touched someone's shoulder. And all at once a lavish and spacious living room appeared before her, like a small version of a ballroom. Someone was playing a piano nearby, and she was dancing with a tall young red-headed man wearing an elegant green coat, gazing into her dark blue eyes with his lighter blue ones, a soft smile upon his lips. And yet, something seemed rather... sad about this scene, some odd forlorn quality to it. This man felt distant somehow... and slowly she became aware of how wet her eyes were becoming.
Noticing this, the man reached out a finger to wipe away a tear - and then, without warning, he twirled Yamiko around and sent her spinning away in several tight turns. Panicking, Yamiko kicked up her feet and landed flat on her bottom on the ornate carpet.
<< Gon and the Geeky Memories >>
Meanwhile, when Gon entered the manor, he heard a deep Evil Laugh, and his surroundings turned completely dark. Immediately he felt the wrist he was holding vanish from his grasp. Off in the distance, he could faintly make out a stout figure with spikes on his back grasping a girl in a hat. He heard the latter shriek in surprise - the voice was unmistakeably Ari's.
Panicking, he ran to follow her, but found himself falling down a hole. Some muffled sounds that seemed strangely computerized sounded around him as he felt as if he was being forced down a large pipe of some sort. And the next thing he knew, he was standing on some grass and the surroundings were... quite pleasant, if a bit simple and... flat. It felt... a lot like a computer screen, or probably an old TV screen judging by how pixelated everything looked. And yet, the landscape suggested a field of some sort - complete with a path running through bushes, with mushrooms dotting the path... wait, mushrooms? Mushrooms that seemed to be wiggling around and moving. Mushrooms that had faces. Faces with unfriendly-looking fanged mouths. Freaking out, Gon jumped in surprise, only for a mushroom to move right under his feet so he could land on it. Wiping a drop of sweat off his brow, he took a step forward... and realized that the squashed mushroom had completely disappeared.
Confused, he could only watch as a second moving mushroom started moving away from him, only to fall into a ditch some ways down the path and disappear. Walking forward, Gon looked down into the ditch, only to discover that it didn't seem to have a bottom. And so he had no choice but to jump over it. As he did so, he instinctively raised a fist upward, and when he landed he wondered why he bothered doing that. He also wondered why there was a cube-shaped brick hovering in the air right before him. No, two cube-shaped bricks next to one another - though the second one had a question mark drawn on it for some reason.
And then Gon came to a realization all of a sudden, and his eyes lit up with delight. Ohhhhhh, I know what this is! Ari and I used to play this game all the time when we were kids!
And so he cheerfully ran up to the second floating block and jumped, hitting his outstretched fist against it. Seconds later, he saw another mushroom fall down from it right in front of him... and immediately move away. Hey, come back here!
And so he chased after it... which wasn't too hard. When he caught up to the mushroom, he picked it up and popped it in his mouth... it tasted quite delicious for a wild mushroom. Oooooh yeah. Time to grow bigger and crush everything!
Just then though, he felt a strange pain in his stomach. He winced and doubled over, and then felt himself jumping defeatedly into the air and out of the game entirely. He landed right on his butt, back in the completely dark space.
<< Sinstrina and Gabe and the Curse of the Butts >>
Meanwhile, Sinstrina and Gabe saw an ordinary dilapidated entryway and living room ahead of them. A cobweb-riddled chandelier hung from the ceiling, and dusty and holey old-fashioned sofas lined the living room. The coffee table was slanted and had its glass top shattered and legs broken, the television had bent antennae and looked like someone had punched a hole in the screen, half the wallpaper was peeling off, and the wooden floor had moss growing on it while the rugs sported mold.
But the really interesting sight (at least in Sinstrina's opinion) was that of Gon and Yamiko acting funny once inside. Some unseen force caused Gon to let go of Yamiko's wrist and fall forwards, but then promptly land on his feet. He then proceeded to walk in a straight line across the living room, miraculously avoiding any of the furniture. And then he looked down and did the strangest jump, raising one leg and one fist into the air. More walking, another strange jump, more walking, a pause with a gasp, another jump... and then he started running and picked up something invisible and put it in his mouth. And then he jumped up and landed on his butt on the floor.
Yamiko, meanwhile, was dancing the waltz with an invisible person, and blushing while she did so. After a while though, she pushed away and did several tight turns in a row, holding her arms up in an arc and twirling on tiptoe like she was a ballerina or something. However, her right ankle didn't extend very well, and after a while she toppled over and fell... on her butt. Apparently so far, the manor's living room floor was cursed to attract butts, and it could not lie.
"I told you so," Sinistrina told Gabe, flashing a smirk. "And you're right - you seem hardly affected at all. You said your soul was already claimed - by who or what, may I ask? And how?"
edited 6th Mar '16 1:51:58 AM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[Farm - Exterior (Mazra, Min, Varris, Caleb)]
Mazra winced. Again. She didn't know what she was doing wrong here, but it seemed like Min kept taking what she was saying in a completely different (and worse) way than she meant it.
"Sorry," she said, looking at Min - and then at Varris; she had to keep reminding herself that despite his general appearance, he was a person, not a pet. "I, uh, didn't mean to imply that your life was an adventure. I'm not saying I want to trade places with you, or anything such as that. Honestly, Greyvale sounds like a horrid place to live. I just meant that, while it might not be that serious compared to other people's problems, being a Corinarchi noble, especially from a House like Ji, isn't some perfect decadent existence. It... sort of 'sucks' sometimes."
She looked down at the field-sword hilt in her hand, then around. She'd gotten a bit diverted from why she originally came out here, hadn't she?
"Actually, though, I was just thinking a moment ago this is sort of like an adventure. Here we are, in a mysterious place" (sorta) "we know nothing about that just waits to be explored. A noble, a thief, and a dragon - just like in a fantasy story."
As Caleb (?) spoke, she remembered him, and looked embarrassedly in his direction. "And, um... whatever you are. A... skyling? What's that? Does it have anything to do with those glowing lines?" Despite her original alarm, she was no longer concerned by their seemingly synthetic appearance. His brief description of his people sounded almost anarchic, and anyway machines couldn't dream.
[Misery Manor]
"..." Gabe had routinely faced down soul-devouring Infernal horrors, and had expected to have more of the same — or worse — to show up, pulling strings like some puppet masters. This surreal realm was something altogether new to him. "I presume it's a lot less amusing from their perspective," he muttered.
Then he recalled Sinistrina's question. "Oh, uh, I sold my soul to Paradiso. The forces of Heaven. Magic contract and everything." He cleared his throat. "If you've ever watched a televangelist screaming on public access television about how God hates this, and that, and everybody except a tiny handful of souls who follow an incredibly strict and arbitrary list of rules... well, God's dead and Paradiso's terrible, but otherwise they're pretty much exactly right about what's going on upstairs." He cringed in disgust. "Luckily," he added, "I don't serve them; I serve humanity. It's just, if you want the power to keep the world safe from the schemes of Light and Dark, you typically have to cut a bargain with one of them." He frowned, clearly not eager to pursue the topic further. "So, what happens if we just drag them out..."
He stopped as he turned to the door. Sinistrina would see nothing wrong with it, but Gabe... the color draining from his face was mostly hidden behind a layer of foundation, but his eyes bespoke abject terror. "No. It's not real." He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to see past what he knew to be a trick. "It's. Not. Real." One last deep breath, then he turned to Sinitrina. "This manor can't claim my soul, but it seems I'm not immune to its games," he said, weakly, then muttered, "I thought... I wasn't afraid anymore."
[Ritter Clinic]
Without a hint of irony, Iveya said, in reference to higher powers being on Friedrich's side, "judging by our conversation, I should hope the spirits like him more than he does the gods." She bowed her head, arms crossed over her chest. First, her honored ancestors; for a family like hers, those ancestors were to be included in basically every prayer, even if only to preemptively beg their forgiveness. "Ancestors, hear my prayer: I have honored you as best as I can, endeavored to see that the hopes you sacrificed so much to plant go fulfilled, even in the face of adversity and suffering." Nenirelithe, of course, the shining spirit that had given Amu, and thus all the Magocracy, the gift of magic. "Nenirelithe, hear my words: we honor your gift of magic, and we pray that it sees us through against this abominable machine." Finally, Thuexatiqome, an enigmatic spirit of uncertain alignment, who some said was in some way tied to technology and science. A dangerous spirit to speak the name of, according to official temple doctrines, but it had worked for Iveya before. Besides, Thuexatiqome might be dangerous. That bomb definitely was. "Thuexatiqome, hear my words: grant us wisdom, reason, and intellect, that we may undo these foul machinations against us and persevere another day." If any of the spirits to which she prayed made any response, there was no easily-determined magical evidence of it, but if nothing else, the act of prayer itself left her much more calm and centered.
Then she looked from one man to the other, and cleared her throat. "So, the real question is how a weapon meant to wipe out entire cities got here." She considered. Well, best to get straight to the point. "Did, um, either one of you piss off someone who'd want to kill you, as well as possibly everyone you ever loved, in a single massive explosion?"
edited 6th Mar '16 2:03:53 PM by KillerClowns
[farm, inside barn - Vince, Seilaan, two wyverns, a horse and foal]
The wyvern looked at Seilaan, then back at the teacup. It flicked its tongue out just above the surface of the tea, attempting to smell it, only to grimace at the nasty tannin smell. It sat back down, nothing had even changed about the stupid brown water! Ugh.
"I asked, because it sounds like we're in a similar boat. Historians have been debating for centuries about whether it was a good thing for me to 'destroy the clan system'. Not long after we fled, we ended up on another world, everyone thought we died, and I wasn't able to come back home until about forty years ago. Now that I've come back into the public eye, the most prominent of those conversations have shifted from the pros and cons of the clan system's survival, to my personal motives for doing so." He downed the rest of his tea and handed the cup back to his psychic arm.
"So-called historians who go on major news and media outlets to talk about this frame the events as being about my notions of familial and national honor. They know full well that my clan ostracized me for most of my life, and may have tried to kill me with a few 'accidents'. They just use that fact to not-so-subtly hint that if I was a truly honorable human being, I should have not only remained loyal to these people I didn't choose to be connected to and who have told me my whole life that they don't want me around, but also gone down in the ship with them." He grinned, turning his palms up in a shrug. "Even though, ironically, stating very publicly that they wish I was dead was also something clanmembers did, which... ya'know... drove me at a pivotal moment to 'destroy' the clan system."
Vince grinned wider, not quite suppressing a laugh. "But... that's not the only reason why it's ironic, and why I loathe giving them the proud title of 'historian'." He heard the foal back away from him, slowly, shakily, trying to keep its unshod hooves from making any sound. "Care to guess why?" he said quickly.
[farm, outside barn]
A tiny figure padded out of the shed attached to one of the animal pens, and began to eat. The goat watched the group of strange people in front of the barn in silence, then bleated when it noticed a break in their conversation.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
the cutest lizard
[Farm – Exterior (Min, Varris, Mazra, Caleb)]
Min sighed, rubbing her temples. She could talk shit about Greyvale for hours if she needed to, but it wasn't like she wanted to do that. That was probably part of the reason why she was being so harsh to Mazra. Just thinking about that dump of a city was enough to piss her off.
Still, Caleb's question puzzled her. A plague or a famine? It made Greyvale sound almost ancient, like it was a primitive society or something.
Varris seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “What time period do you come from, Caleb?” he asked, tilting his head. “Neither of those things are very likely in the world we come from, at least not in the present day. The majority of our food is imported from Naporia, for one, not grown locally.
“And a plague is just as unlikely, considering the diversity of the races living in Greyvale, or really, our continent in general. A disease that would be debilitating for a human probably won't have the same effect – if any – on a mirym, for example.”
Min nodded, although she hadn't completely followed Varris's explanation. Now she was even more curious about Caleb's appearance; she'd assumed he was augmented in some way, but now he made it sound like he might not even have that technology in his world. So why were his veins glowing like that?
She turned to Mazra, examining her sword's hilt. Min wasn't sure why she hadn't made note of it before, since it was a weapon. She bit back a comment about its overt fanciness; it'd be a bit hypocritical to hold that against Mazra. And I'd love to see what it looks like activated...
“I was thinking this was more like a realistic fiction story,” said Min, somewhat amused by the notion. “I mean, besides the dream part, and the 'multiple-universes' part… I guess it's really more like-”
Suddenly, Min jumped back at the sound of the goat's bleating, instinctively whipping out her dagger from where it hung at her side, its silver-adorned hilt and intricately engraved blade briefly glinting in the light. Varris yelped, but otherwise clung onto her shoulder, shifting in accordance with her movements. For a moment Min trembled, holding the dagger pointed in the direction of the sound, only for her to sheepishly lower it again once she identified the source.
“Even in a dream, you've still got the old reflexes, it seems,” chuckled Varris through shaky breaths. Min nodded, her face slightly flushed with embarrassment.
edited 6th Mar '16 1:58:42 PM by Collen
Gave them our reactions, our explosions, all that was ours For graphs of passion and charts of stars...
Drummer Boy
[Farm (inside barn)]
So this was one of those trap questions where she gave a semi-obvious answer, revealing her inexperience, to set herself up receive a lecture on something deep, right? To her, it clearly sounded like he was trying to make a point.
... or maybe Ren Yangchao was making her too cynical.
So, these "historians" clearly weren't doing their jobs. They were supposed to reveal the truth, but instead of being mirrors, they were lenses. But what else could Vince be referring to? "Well, what you've already described more than disqualifies them from that title in every way I can think of right now." Seilaan started defrosting her tea. Adding heat to a system went against the energy flow in her soul, so it would take more time and energy than freezing it did. "I don't know if anyone's talking about Cyrus like that right now, but if they come to my attention in the future, I won't let them get away with it."
[Ritter Clinic]
"Well... I've made people that angry before, but to make several long stories short, they have specific plans better accomplished by not wiping me off the face of the earth." Friedrich stared pointedly at Henry. "Takes a good appreciation of irony to try to kill a man with a weapon of his own design. Know anyone like that?"
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
(Park)
"Ugh. Normals wanting to steal your powers for their own ends. We've had to deal with that in the past, and yeah, it can be a bit of a pain. Fortunately, when the multi-millionaires actually see what's coming after us, they usually decide that magic isn't worth the cost. Honestly, we'd really like to pass the buck ourselves, but it seems that there's something unique about us, and Tiamat doesn't want to tell us what that something may be, so there's nobody else to give it to."
"Yeah, Tiamat likes to play the 'inscrutable knowledge from beyond space and time' card a lot, and that's when she's bothering to help us at all. I'll admit that your goddesses seem to be a lot more willing to lend a hand. How did you meet up, any way?"
Rachel, on the other hand, was more nervous. It seemed that their foes were a step above what the Elemental Guardians were squaring off with, and if this something out there had followed her and her compatriots, they'd be hard-pressed for sure. "I think that if there's somebody out there who wants to fight, we shouldn't oblige them, but we should power up and be ready to go. Everyone else in agreement?"
There were nods all around, and for the first time in too long, all five of the Dragon's Daughters transformed at once. Danielle's theme color was brilliant crimson, and she carried a sword on her right hip. Not just any sword, though; this one was made of brilliant flame, from point to handle. Rachel, meanwhile, had a deep purple as her color, and she had a pair of nasty-looking bladed gauntlets for weapons, though she didn't point them at anybody. "There, that's better. Amy, you want to go check over there, see what's up? You get in trouble, make the place glow brighter than Broadway, and I'll gate everyone over. Got it?"
"Got it." With that, Amy flew off to investigate the strange motion, while the rest stayed behind to chat. Hopefully, there wouldn't be anything major.
Forward, boys! For God's sake, forward!
Mr ship
[Clinic/Henry]
Henry thought for a second about who could do this.
"Well for starters there are a lot of people who want me dead, including several countries, states in the United States, possibly some dimensions, and this one crazy girl I dated in Portland about 10 years ago."
He then took off his jacket, showing signs of still having pain as he did so. "As for people having access to one of my old designs." He started trailing off in thought. "Well there's the CIA and the KGB. The CIA have been after me for 32 years now and know I'm still alive. As for the KGB, let's just say they probably figured out I stole stuff while they 'employed' me for Chernobyl." He was sure to put a sarcastic emphasis on the word "employed" as he told them.
He looked out the window now positive it was his design, then he looked at Ritter and Iveya. "Well I guess I better get out there and get this over with." He sighed. "Just in case I fuck up and vaporize us. I want to thank both of you for the assistance however short the benefits were." He told him extending his hand to shake.
Farm - exterior (Min, Varris, Mazra, Caleb)
Caleb looked back when Min pulled her knife, but when he noticed that she heard a goat and saw her calm down he said, "I know exactly what you mean." To Varris he answered "I didn't mean any disrespect to your civilization if that's what you mean. The territories under the skyling Collective have ready access to food and medicine; but in my universe-if your theory is true-there are more than just animals in the wilds, and resources can be dangerous to collect. I know of groups with the knowledge of many machines but with little to build them with."
Addressing Mazra, "yes, all my people have these lines. They're composed mainly of derisium, do you know of it?"
Wasteland (Miyuki and her shadow, Celso, Half)
The body of a faceless person lied before Half, as well as some streaks of blood. The shape of the sand suggested that many more were here. Only seconds later did he see three more people. At least two of them were humans, a larger and a smaller one. While the last physically appeared to be one as well, the smoke around her hinted otherwise.
Knowing his appearance would cause alarm, Half said "I have no quarrel with you. I merely seek Misery Manor."
edited 7th Mar '16 1:57:33 AM by Novis
You say I am loved, when I don’t feel a thing. You say I am strong, when I think I am weak. You say I am held, when I am falling short.
Ruins
Despite Reynardo’s warning of danger, the stranger did not turn away or leave. Rey was not certain whether he wanted to applaud the stranger’s bravery or mock his recklessness. There were forces coming upon them that even he did not know how to defeat. He’d never thought he would need such information.
He looked at the red-haired man and studied him for a moment before answering the question. “Both,” he replied. “The coming danger is one that would not - or, at least, should not - exist in the real world. Therefore I am not familiar with how to handle it.” As the stranger stared into his eyes, Reynardo held the gaze, unintimidated, only curious as to what the man saw or was looking for.
Reynardo did not consider himself anything particularly extraordinary. Indeed, he had only survived the fate of the civilization around them because he had fled. But he knew a few things about dreams himself. And he knew this civilization, and its creatures.
When the stranger introduced himself as “a student of the occult,” Reynardo could not help but laugh. What a perfect place for the man to find himself in! And surely, knowledge of the occult would surely preserve his life here. But Reynardo gave no response at first, simply allowing the stranger to talk. And, quite curiously, show his fangs. Two sets, in fact. Their appearance did not miss Rey’s notice, and for a moment, he was fairly taken aback, before feeling something akin to relief wash over him. This was much better than being alone. Perhaps he would even be understood.
What the stranger added as a side comment - about not being a team player and instead running in opposite directions - made Rey laugh again. It was a pleasant laugh, not only meant for that comment, but also in relief that he was not the only human being - loosely put - present. As he laughed, he shook his head a bit, and then gave a smile.
“I am Reynardo Manuel Morales Herrera.” That, of course, was not his real name, not the one given to him at birth. No one living, besides him, knew that name. As far as anyone in the present cared, he was Reynardo. “I suppose I am a student of the occult as well, albeit not by choice.” Then he smiled again and let his fangs descend. They were sharp, but otherwise a typical set of elongated canines. Typical, of course, for what he was.
Cirranze wanted to know what the trouble would be. It seemed fair to Rey that the student should at least know what it was that would be doing its very best to kill him. If the man believed him, of course. Rey put it simply. “Dead vampires.”
He took a few steps toward Cira, only to close the distance so he could speak at a lower volume. “This was once a great citadel, a place of study and worship. The shadows around us, are of those who once lived here and nearby. The shadows we do not yet see are of those who were among the undead.”
For a moment, his gaze flickered to the tallest and grandest of the crumbling buildings. Then, he continued, “Blood sacrifices were common here, because the creatures the people worshipped were in truth vampires. They killed most of whom they drank, but converted others to their kind as well. Soon there were too many vampires and not enough humans to sustain them. The culture fell apart and died away. Then the vampires faded into true death. Faded, but not fully.
“They maintained… something of an existence by feeding off the psyches of one another. The only things they had left. Now they feed off those who dare enter this place. They will find both of us, and kill us using whatever it is we dread the most.”
Reynardo already knew what it was they would send after him. The one weakness of his that they knew, and the only one they could control. She had never been dangerous to anyone in life; it was having to send her back to her death that would kill him in this dream.
Turning to the stranger, Reynardo raised an eyebrow, while trying to banish the thoughts of what he dreaded from his mind.
“Do your fears have teeth, Señor Cirranze?”
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Park (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Nick, Fawn, Dragon's Daughters)
"How we met is actually pretty interesting," Ashleigh replied to Charlotte's question. "As I understand it, we all received a message on our Scanners," and here she took out her own Scanner, allowing them to see the strange buttoned pocket device, "telling us to all meet with Vi Willow, the creator of the virtual world of Mystrica. There, she told us about the Elemental Goddesses. There are five of them: Zephoria, Goddess of Air; Kinaga, Goddess of Fire; Cerula, Goddess of Water; Vertilia, Goddess of Earth; and Mythrine, Goddess of Spirit. Each of these had condensed themselves into a magical key to contain their power, and those keys were chosen to go to each of us, probably because of our personalities and because we happened to be new Mystripet Keepers. However, the key belonging to Mythrine - the Spirit Key - had already been taken by the Techno Mafia, the local crime syndicate, along with its guardian. As a result, only four of us are traveling around, trying to gather power from all over Mystrica to stop the Mafia's plan to steal the Elemental Keys from us. I'm the Earth Keeper and Phoebe here is the Air Keeper; the Fire and Water Keepers are off on a mission to rescue the Spirit Keeper as we speak."
Just then, Rachel suggested that everybody prepare for the moving thing that Nick and Ashleigh saw. They all transformed, and Phoebe of course was amazed by the whole process. Danielle had a red outfit and a flaming sword; Rachel had a purple outfit and bladed gauntlets; Charlotte had a blue outfit and a bow (but no arrows); Olivia had a green outfit and a giant hammer; and Amy had a white outfit but didn't seem to have a weapon. And they all had wings, just like Olivia did earlier.
"That's so amazing!" Phoebe squealed, just as Amy left to check out the motion. "But wait a minute - you said something about multi-millionaires. Are you gals associated with the rich or something? Oh, and Zippy, why don't you go with Amy?"
"Will do!" The oversized bright green hummingbird zoomed off after Amy, ready to zoom right back to Phoebe if anything was amiss.
Meanwhile, Ashleigh pointed her scanner at Geisha and put her back inside it, since there was no water nearby for her to swim around in. She also pressed a couple more buttons on her Scanner and summoned a little glowing ball of white light from it, tossing it over to Peggy, who was standing nearby flexing her injured wings. When the ball hit her, it burst into sparkles that covered her wings, which were instantly healed. "I just gave a Cure Sprite to Peggy," Ashleigh told Phoebe, "since I know you ran out of them." Phoebe replied with a nod of thanks.
Misery Manor (Sinistrina, Gabe, Gon, Yamiko)
As soon as Gabe looked toward the door, Sinistrina rushed over to it, blocking the still-open doorway. "No!" she warned. She gazed into his eyes, and immediately noticed the fear inside them. "Hmm, I see. Something in the manor has affected you too. Perhaps it is the dark air of this place, threatening to shroud a being of light such as yourself. If so, leaving this place at this point would be dangerous, as if the manor's curse has latched itself onto you, with leaving you risk the curse leaking to the outside world. And I'm afraid I cannot allow that." There was an intense look in her blood-red eyes. "I know I'm not supposed to do this, but at the moment you seem at least partially coherent."
She stepped towards him and lightly grasped his hand. "This is so the curse doesn't completely take over... hopefully. Gon and Yamiko are on their own, I'm afraid, as even though they can harness the power of the goddesses, they are still mortal. Now, did you say that God is dead? Hmm, as I understand, God is a mediator of sorts between Heaven and Hell. If He is dead, does that mean there is a war of sorts between the two? If so and there is no God..." She heaved a sigh. "...then you have every right to be afraid. The question is though, why did you sign this contract? Could you not have lived your live peacefully as a cosmetologist? Surely some part of yourself must have been bound to the light."
She kept a close watch on him, waiting to see what else he would experience here. He was a special case, after all - the only one so far who had entered the manor and not become fully immersed in its curse. Meanwhile, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Yamiko head up a curved staircase adjacent to the living room, and Gon jumping onto the couch and pressing his hands against his ears. He looked like he was screaming, but no sound came out.
<< Gon and the Fireworks of Frustration >>
For a while, Gon sat there in the blackness, feeling dizzy and nauseated from eating the poisoned mushroom back in that video game level, and sweating a bit as well. After a while, though, a TV screen appeared before him, and it broadcast a scene that he remembered all too well.
It was a memory of when he and Ari were little. They were in the apartment in Tokyo that they spent many years in before moving, and they just found an old Famicom game console in a storage box. They immediately hooked it up to the TV and played the game inserted into it, which they recognized as Super Mario Bros, possibly the most famous video game of all time. But as soon as Gon went to play it, he found out it was actually a harder version of it. He was doing decently well in the first level, but when he found a mushroom, which he knew to be a power-up, the thing killed him instead. Ari laughed and told him that some of the mushrooms were poisonous in this game, but Gon had already freaked out and started throwing a tantrum. He remembered throwing the controller at the TV screen, causing it to crack, which got him into major trouble once Mom and Dad got home. He cried the rest of the day, while Dad shouted at him for crying.
Now, Gon was shedding tears as wellm and actively trying to hold them back at the same time. Don't cry, don't cry... Dad said to never cry, as it was a sign of weakness and vulnerability. I dunno if I believe that anymore but... why am I still crying?
Eventually though, the TV disappeared and in its place was a firework that exploded about three meters in front of his face. Others exploded all around him. As he wiped off the remaining tears on his face and looked around, he found himself sitting on grass, with lots of crowds of people all around, oohing and ahhing at the fireworks. Some of them were holding picnics, and the air was filled with the smell of beer and fried octopus ballsnote .
Standing up, he again saw his younger self, holding hands with his little sister and pointing up excitedly in the air. Just then, a very loud firework exploded right above them, and Ari got scared and ran off into the crowd. As soon as that happened, the noises of the crowds gre louder, particularly that of a group of rowdy teens nearby being stopped by a police officer for smoking cigars. He felt himself shrink, and soon he couldn't see the fireworks anymore. The noises gre ever louder, and Gon's head was filled with worry about where Ari had run off to. Unable to take it anymore, he knelt down, covered his ears, and let out a scream.
<< Yamiko and the Dance of Despair >>
When Yamiko fell, her eyes filled with tears. The young man immediately stopped and knelt down next to her, rubbing her back and trying to comfort her. "Is your ankle bothering you, cherie?" he asked, sporting a prominent French accent.
Yamiko hardly heard him, for she was buried in several layers of shame. At the same time, the music changed to a somber Spanish aria about a fisherman being claimed by the sea, and her heart sank further when she recognized it. When she peeked below her, she saw her own reflection in a little puddle of her own tears, and she was doing a ballet routine to this song, with an audience of high school students in the background. As opposed to the typical leotard and tutu and hair in a tight bun most ballerinas might wear, Yamiko had her hair down and wore a simple black dress, with black ballet slippers to match. She never went en pointe, preferring to be more "natural" for this dance. Instead of multiple leaps or turns, she impressed with gestures of emotion, her portrayal of the grief of the fisherman's wife in the song hauntingly accurate.
The song reached a bridge in the middle and quieted down a bit, as Yamiko stood in the centre of the stage and paused to take a breath. Then the crescendo came, and Yamiko did a grand plie and threw her arms backward, and then sprang into a despaired run followed by a high turning leap. The audience applauded loudly at this part... but something was wrong. When she landed, her right foot slipped and she heard an audible crack, though nobody else did. Everything turned silent at that moment, though she knew the music was still playing. She spent the rest of the routine dragging said foot across the stage with her face in her hands, before finally collapsing forward, right on cue at the sorrowful finish to the song. The performance was well-received and nobody even noticed her injury, but not only did she not win the talent show - after her ankle healed, it became more stiff so that she could no longer point that foot, meaning she could no longer practice ballet.
At that point she was too far into despair to even cry. She just sat in quivering silence for a few moments... that is, until she noticed a tiny little girl with black hair standing by a curved stairway. There was something familiar about her deep blue eyes - and indeed, they matched her own. She was wearing a nightgown, and after gazing at teenage Yamiko for a while, she turned around and climbed the stairs. Curious, Yamiko stood up and followed her, though she still felt immesurably sad. Even more so when she saw her old ballet slippers - the same ones she wore in her final routine - sitting right there on the first step. As if possessed by an unknown entity, she reached down and slipped off the black flats she was previously wearing, putting on the ballet slippers in their place - but since they were black like the flats, nobody even noticed that she changed shoes. Her right foot felt especially weird in them, her ankle trembling. As she climbed the stairs, she took extra care not to put too much weight on it.
edited 7th Mar '16 8:09:32 PM by ladytanuki
Come, my child of the devil. Your mother is calling you. Hear my call in Hell's grand hall, where all our dreams come true.
[Ritter Clinic]
Iveya had no idea what to do with the offered hand, but put her own right fist to her chest and bowed. "If this all goes wrong... it has been an honor," she said. Then she sighed. Having nothing left to lose, she said, "and my only regret will be never getting to tell my mother and younger sister..." she took a deep breath, then, after a brief pause for dramatic effect, finished, "how much I truly hate them. They are miserable, rot-ridden sewer pangolins, disgusting, filth-spreading vermin interested only in protecting their miserable baubles and ill-gotten hoards, who have somehow possessed the bodies of human women." A cold smile came to her lips as she spoke, and she seemed to be growing slightly more magically powerful as she continued. She was confessing far too much, but the possibility of death, and the sheer pleasure of speaking so brutally honestly of her despised mother and sister without fear that they might somehow hear of it, meant she didn't care.
"May the Eyes and Teeth take their wretched souls," she continued, "laughing with every one of its thousand mouths as they try to buy it off with their tainted coin. My mother's especially, so I do not have to explicitly exclude her in every prayer I make to my otherwise honored ancestors when she finally frees the living from having to suffer her corruption any further." She permitted herself a sigh of deep relief at having vented all that, and finished, "that, and also, I won't be able to open up that bottle of good swampland whiskey I've been saving for a special occasion. People never sacrifice whiskey that good to the next world." Then she turned to Friedrich, figuring Henry would prefer to work without distraction. "And you? Anything you'll regret not having a chance to do if that thing turns your fine clinic into a crater?"
[Misery Manor]
Gabe sighed. "Why I signed the contract is..." he sighed. Time to explain himself. "According to what records I've pieced together I was born in a minor Hungarian barony about six hundred years ago, the illegitimate child of its baron and a scullery maid. I don't remember any of this; my order found me before I was a year old, saw my potential and happily agreed to make me, an inconvenient bastard, disappear. That's why I signed the stupid contract..." he clenched his fist. "My entire childhood, I was raised to do this. Raised to fight, to kill, and eventually to die. For almost a century, it was all I knew." He laughed bitterly. "Then the stupid War happened. Between us, and our counterparts in Darkness. We started it; the Light played us for fools, hoping to destroy and remake the world, without free will. Don't ask how I survived," a flash of guilt danced across his face, "but I think I'm the last. Been moving from place to place, doing different jobs, ever since. This is just the latest." He sighed wistfully, recalling the long centuries.
He took another look at the door again, now normal. He was confident he could fight his way out, but he understood Sinistrina's concern. "On my honor, I won't leave this place until the curse no longer has a hold on my mind." He then took a deep intake of breath, quelling his fear as something else caught his eye. Illusions, he reminded himself. "What can I do, to break this curse?" He gave sad attempt at a smile as he added, "please, please tell me there's just something I can kill and be done with it. I can do that." Then, once more at the two, their charade turning from comic to visibly tragic. "And... are you sure I can't help them?"
[Wasteland]
Celso looked incredulously at Half; he was ready with his gun, though years of discipline ensured Celso did not actually point the thing at Half. Both Half's appearance, and his question, were altogether disconcerting, and had he not spoken, Celso would have assumed him another of Miyuki's nightmares and shot him. "I have not heard of it," he said, then glanced at Miyuki. "A place in your city? I suppose," he chuckled humorlessly, "if I were looking for a place called 'Misery Manor', this wasteland would be where I would start my search."
edited 7th Mar '16 9:40:03 PM by KillerClowns
To dream is my right
Ruins:
Life is like a game of Princes. It does not matter if you drew a lucky hand, it does not matter if you need that money more than the other guy. The only way to win is to be the biggest ash-eating liar on the table.
Those words came from one of Cira's teachers. Now that bastard was smoke in the sky and ash in the sea, just like he deserved. However Terim the Red never had the decency of being wrong, when it came to the bad side of life. Maybe because he was the worst there was out there.
No, life wasn't a game of Princes, but both were gambles. And once again, Cira throwed himself into a bet he couldn't pay if he lost.
He supressed a shiver when Reynardo, the... vampire, told him about the place. He heard much about places like that, ancient kingdoms ruled by immortals that were destroyed by their own greed. They appeared to be a constant on the planet before the Empire... and on other planets, if the seraphim were to be believed. And while he never met a vampire, he knew enough kinds of similar beings to believe their existence was possible. He was one of those beings.
A place like that, with imprints of the minds of immortal beings... he had been through things like this before, and they never ended painlessly. But if he did find something, it could take him one step closer to his goals. To freedom. To immortality. He must not let that opportunity pass. And that Reynardo, despite his seemingly affable behavior, was far from harmless. It was better to keep the mask of confidence for longer, and be ready to strike first if things got less friendly.
"I did not take the path of an occultist by choice as well. The land I come from...", he frooze as he spoke. Those words... his dead master, Terim, had also spoke them to him years ago. Was it empty coincidence, or did the phantom warlock find a way out again? "...it was also a ruin, even if a fresher one."
Cira kneeled to touch the ground, trying to confirm the immortal's words. Yes, there were blood, death and rulers who destroyed their own empire. The last memory was heavy, powerful, dragging the whole ruins deeper into the shadow world. Yes, those beings were hungry, and surprisingly intelligent for shadows. He did not look deep into that memory, unwilling to open himself even more to their machinations, but the imprint of it on his mind was probably enough to allow them some influence for years to come. No matter, it was just another raindrop in a thunderstorm that would destroy him someday.
"Do those shadows have other tools, besides visions of my worse fear?", he said, looking into the ruins and trying to ignore the sound of wood against stone, to the rhythm of steps. "Because I have to face those every week, and I am still alive."
He stood up and looked behind, locking his eyes into a distant silhouette, approaching from the dark. "I may have a plan to deal with those ghosts that are after us, but now there are more pressing matters."
that silhouette can be Troperfrom 95's character, if they want so. Otherwise, it will be either a character of mine I was planning to add, or an illusion of someone Cira once knew
edited 8th Mar '16 7:10:22 AM by EternaMemoria
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
[farm, inside barn - Vince, Seilaan, two wyverns, a horse and foal]
His expression suddenly mellowed. "I actually agree with their reasons for going on national television every week to personally insult me. True immortality was once thought to be restricted solely to Rivari, the servant people, until I came back to Aitherion. Most sorceric techniques were once thought to be restricted to Rivari, until I came home. This style of telekinesis, with the arms?" He raised his two psychic arms slightly. "Only observed in Rivari. Nobody's found a way to kill a Rivari, either, but they've been living alongside humans since before agriculture was invented, and you could make the case that they're built to withstand the ravages of time. But a human?"
Vince smiled contentedly, hunting through the bag of fruit for another piece to eat. "Everyone thinks I'm just humoring them for now, proving them 'right' by giving into their demands and not destroying the place. The scene is set the same as last time- I'm a government official again, with a set of powers that places most of the country's infrastructure under my control. Only difference is that last time, leaving was a matter of life and death. Such things don't threaten me, or anyone I care about these days." He examined a slice of orange. "So when I choose to leave for greener pastures, it will probably be for one of those 'petty' reasons. They start insulting my family and not just me, the people become too reliant on me being there, I stop being able to get things done... or I just get bored."
The foal strode up to an unoccupied bale of hay near the two, and began to nibble. The larger horse continued to wander about, exploring the barn. The two wyverns sitting with them turned to look outside, subtly beckoning their humans to do the same.
[farm, outside]
The clouds above the farm area began to part. The forest outside the pasture gates remained dreary, damp, and fog-laden as ever, but trickles of sunlight started to thin some of the fog obscuring the rest of his pasture. The fog that remained caught the sunlight, bathing the area in humid, still chilly pale gold.
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Drummer Boy
[Ritter Clinic]
"You're more than welcome," Friedrich said as he briefly shook Henry's hand. "As for regrets, I..."
Friedrich reached inside his coat and took an envelope out of a hidden pocket. He had tried to take good care of it and the letter inside, but constant rereading and the normal wear and tear of twenty years had taken their toll. But it was still perfectly legible. Every time he looked at it, it just killed him how good Heinrich's handwriting was. Normally, it was pretty bad. But this was even easier to read than government forms that he had filled out, and those had taken forever. Every last ounce of Heinrich's will had been poured into his final words.
He knew his stepbrother's suicide note forward and backward by the time the sun set on that fateful day, but he read it over carefully every day since then, finding something new every time. The tail of this y was the shortest in the letter. This scribbled-over bit seemed to be covering an "always" that had ended up with an extra l. And so on. As always, his eyes lingered on the last line.
Take care of the children.
His eyes unconsciously flicked toward the black-and-white photographs crowding the mantelpiece.
He tried. At least it could be said that he tried. He fucked up, sure, but he tried.
"I've said it many times before, but it's a point that bears repeating," he said curtly, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope. "Fuck the Republic. And I'm sorry I can't be there for my brother's kids and the rest of the town anymore, and that I never got to punch Richard Amsel in the face one more time to make it an even twenty, and that I never got to punch Streseman at all. But most of all, fuck the Republic, and it has been a great pleasure dedicating my life to fucking it over." He thought back to the letter he left in Wilhelm's apartment. It wasn't exactly a goodbye, but at least things weren't ending badly between them, right? Even if... even if...
"That's all." He opened the window, using magic to keep the snow and cold outside while still maintaining the bubble around the bomb, and nodded at Henry. "Ready when you are."
[Farm (inside barn)]
Seilaan followed the gaze of the wyvern. "It's quite beautiful, isn't it? Though I liked the mist as well." She looked back at Vince. "What made you decide to return to that place, anyway?"
Well, Cyrus was determined to return someday, but Cyrus was just... Cyrus. She didn't see anything good in the current state of Fenrir society, other than the fact that some Fenrir agreed with her and were trying to change things. But really, the best thing that can happen is for my grandparents to die already. How old are they already? It's a bit ridiculous. I'll pretend to be a bit sad, for Cyrus and Father's sakes, but that'll be it.
edited 8th Mar '16 11:02:40 PM by SnowyFoxes
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
[farm, inside barn - Vince, Seilaan, two wyverns, a horse and foal]
"Cool," he edged in, chewing his orange slice, before she asked why.
Vince set his teacup on the tray with his psychic arm, then added a spoonful of sugar and set about refilling his cup. "I wanted to go back to Aitherion in general, the whole planet that contains my birthplace. Immortality, Rivari, and aither-wielding are completely unknown on that other world, and at least Aitherion has some precedent of research into immortality, through the Rivari. And if nothing else, I could make friends with some Rivari and talk about immortal stuff. Anyway..." He took a teaspoon with the psychic arm and stirred the cup a bit. "Mialor is the country where I live now, it's nowhere near my homeland. Onakaliros, in all senses of the name, is long-gone, at any rate. I only came to Mialor in the first place because my wife, an exiled faerie with the sorcery abilities to get us back to Aitherion in the first place, gave birth to triplets with major health problems."
He removed the teaspoon to the tray and brought his cup back to him, to hold it in his real hand. "My oldest, Elijah, was born diabetic. My second, Matthias, had a deformed left heart- the condition is automatically fatal eleven days after birth without corrective surgery or a heart transplant. And my youngest, Raphael, was very small and weak. At the time, Mialor was the only country in the world with the medical technology to fix these things."
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
Park - Fawn, Phoebe, Nick, Dragon Girls, other creatures
Fawn's head began to spin again. So much going on and not a lot of time to process it. All she knew now was the the Dragon Girl's were magical girls which went along greatly with Phoebe and the return of Ashleigh as video game characters. This was all very odd and made the wannabe reporter start doubting again whether this was a dream or she was transported into a dream like world and these people were real. Because magical girls and videogame stats definitely felt like something in a dream. Nick was probably the most normal of the group and she found herself interested in what he might have seen go by while the others were fighting and followed suit, camcorder at the ready to record whatever was out there.
As interesting as these people were, Fawn began to wonder if she should really stick around them. They had dangerous things following them and though it would be fun to record, it also had the potential to put her in danger as well and unlike just about everyone there, Fawn had no way of defending herself. Though she believed they would protect her, she couldn't help but feel like wandering by herself for a bit to find her own little dream world. For now though she wanted to find out what might have been seen.
"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"
Aspie and 90's cartoon enthusiast
[Ruins-Outer Perimeter]
Salaam had walked for what seemed like hours, of course it was hard to tell, as the thick canopy of the marshes concealed the sun. Was there a sun at all? Salaam thought to himself, and this was not the first time he had noticed something was very wrong with this place, in all his time here he did not feel hungry or tired. He had begun to wonder if this place even existed in the physical world...
Salaam came to the edge of a clearing, he could see a chain of mountains in the far distance, and sprinkled across the clearing were stone structures, clearly dating to a time long before him. Salaam possessed, like all of his species, a latent ability to sense the presence of spectral energies, and these structures were practically alive with them. But Salaam also felt the presence of other, darker energies, the kind that can only come from living beings. So, I am not the only one here. He reached down and pulled out a small pistol he kept concealed in his robes. He checked the ammo clip. 12 rounds, I hope not to use them, but it never hurts to be carful He re-inserted the clip and toggled the safety on before proceeding into the structures. Perhaps the answers I need will be in there?
Ya, I'm weird like that...
[farm, inside barn - Vince, Seilaan, two wyverns]
Not exactly what he was hoping for, but they were getting there. To important-ish things.
He smiled gently. "You don't need to be immortal to know that eighty years is not a lot of time." The horse and foal were just padding around the barn... checking things out, he guessed. "I could be biased in that respect. Didn't have time to mourn." Vince sat up suddenly. "I'm curious, do people give your uncle trouble about, um..." He glanced away in thought, then quirked an eyebrow. "Being dishonorable to his family, or disloyal to some people he didn't choose to be related to?" He took another candied cherry.
The wyvern sitting with Seilaan got on its haunches when it realized she was studying her tea, so it could see what was so interesting about her funny-smelling water, too.
edited 5th Mar '16 2:47:22 PM by CrystalGlacia
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."