Ruins (Salaam, Cira)
What a strange, strange apology. Reynardo accepted it, though, figuring it was the best any of them were going to reach. There was something odd about the way the alien pronounced his name, but Rey could not afford to wonder on that much longer. He also did not think there was anything wrong with being humanoid, but from a reptilian’s point of view, perhaps there was. Rey would have to be more open-minded. But then, so would Salaam; he had just met two individuals who had the “human shape” but were not entirely human.
He watched as Cira began to assemble the torch, glad that he was not questioned further on why he could not carry it, but then was distracted by Suri. Fortunately Rey's speechlessness was covered up by Cira’s insistence to her that he carry the torch, and in that Rey picked up an interesting word: “pure.”
She did seem very pure, did she not? Just as Reynardo remembered her - young, shy, and pure. And beautiful, yes. Her eyes even seemed to sparkle with life and joy, as they always had. In truth, Suri was long dead, and had died before the city’s vampires grew bloodthirsty, and so had never been converted into one. So everything suggested that this memory of Suri had been pulled forth from Rey’s mind. But had Rey caused it to happen himself, or was it the work of the psychic vampires?
Suri gave Cira a patient, understanding smile, and nodded. "I see. As you will, then.” Her gaze fell on Salaam briefly, then on Reynardo. “My darling. Rey-nar-do, is that what you are called now?” She laughed lightly. “Don’t worry, my dear. I am only here to help you, and because I wanted to see you…. as you wanted to see me.”
She reached for Rey’s hand; the vampire pulled away instinctively, but she took hold of it anyway. To his surprise, she felt of flesh and bone - a bit cold, but solid, not like an illusion which should have not been able to touch him at all. She saw his surprise and gave that gentle laugh again. “Yes, I am as real as you and your new friends, Reynardo.”
Was she? Rey was nowhere near the torch and was not aware of the spell Cira had cast over it, but as she walked from Cira to Rey, she passed close enough to the dark red flames. Fir the moment that she passed within its range, part of her face did indeed start to fade into the appearance of a desiccated skeleton. But it passed quickly and Rey was not sure what he saw. However, the others could have seen the same.
“Cira, Salaam,” Reynardo said slowly to his apparent companions, “this is—was—is my wife, Suri.”
The young woman smiled and gave a dip of her head in greeting, but had no chance to elaborate as Reynardo suddenly started walking in the direction of the large pyramid. “And yes, she is human, but you will not so much as think of harming her,” he snapped at Salaam. The warning was there, but this time he did not bare his fangs for the extra effect.
In response to Cira, he began, “I do not personally know how the vampires came about their new powers. I had long since left the city. I also do not know magic myself, but I know how it works, so I can take a guess.” They were walking across a wide open courtyard now, but shadows still surrounded them; not touching or harming them, just following them, but stopping far short of entering the holy pyramid. These shadows were of the ordinary civilians, like Suri, and like their children, and their grandchildren.
“This place was a center of worship. But the people did not know that what they worshipped were vampires, Their symbols were snakes, and crocodiles, and birds with fangs. The sacrifices were of blood. The people did not ask questions.”
Rey looked up at the sky behind the pyramid. The sun’s light was growing dimmer behind the clouds and the mists. In the pyramid, it would be almost completely dark. “The vampires liked the easy access to blood, the people gave their blood so willingly. And when there were no visitors, there were forced sacrifices, like mine.” He paused for a moment as Suri wrapped her arms around his bicep. “But they drank too much and killed too many people and turned too many into their own kind, and soon they ran out of people to feed on. And without blood, a vampire… well, a vampire is already dead, so let us say he ceases to exist.
“But these vampires found a way to hang on to life, so to speak. They ascended into the spiritual realm, and there they found they could drain bodies of their psychic energy just as they drank a body’s blood in the past. That gave them psychic powers as well - to read minds, to cast illusions, to give you thoughts that are not yours. That is how they survive. But I do not yet know the extent of their powers. Perhaps they remain spirits, perhaps they can take bodies. I admit I do not know.” But he did know the city’s layout, even better than the vampires did - its tricks and traps and escapes - and he hoped that would help save them.
They reached the entrance to the pyramid. “This is the Great Worship Hall. It is a maze. I know the way, so I will lead.” He went into the darkness first, his eyesight adjusting quickly. Suri clung to his arm. “Be sure not to get lost. You may never find the exit.”
edited 24th May '16 9:24:05 PM by savlamar
[Wasteland City] (Academy)
Xeqa wasn't impressed by Hana's threat. Firstly, she believed Hana to be bluffing, and with the power of the Eyes and Teeth at her unquestioning beck and call, might prove far more dangerous than Hana would expect. And even if she lost... so what? Being slain by an alien power sounded like a better way to leave the world than decaying in a bed, surrounded by the empty murmurs of moronic bootlicks and scheming cronies. Even pain had lost all meaning years ago.
Instead, Xeqa considered Hana's words. Xeqa's tone was even more terse and clipped then usual, since apparently (in her view) Hana lacked the intellectual capability to understand the core point and needed to be told it very slowly and unambiguously. "I use fire and tools," Xeqa said. "And I use my empire. You serve, are used by your empire." Her condescension peaked as she said, "you. Are. Your. Nation's. Tool."
RE: SF. Gonna let Gon get integrated into the group a bit before dropping anyone else in.
[farm, inside barn]
Vince half-frowned. "God, I really hope that's not the case. I'm on good terms with a couple first-gen Rivari, and a few younger ones in various aitheric studies, and they've seen nothing like this." He took a long sip of coffee.
"I think their peers' dislike just comes down to speciesism." He glanced outside. Really hoping his cows weren't catching colds out there. "The fact that immortality was once exclusive to them is important, because on a fundamental level, they exhibit a very different kind of immortality from either of us. If you talk to many older Rivari, they will tell you that they had to spend the first two thousand years of their lives 'paying' for their immortality before they could choose to do what they wanted with their time." He reached over and swapped his coffee for his candy.
"I say 'tell' because the research suggests that this concept of 'payment' is just a rationalization for the set of often unpleasant experiences they have to go through during that time, and isn't a direct consequence of their longevity. By most of their standards, I'm not just a dirty little human, I'm a dirty little human who had what they see as their greatest gift dropped in my lap for free.
He peered into the bag, which still seemed to be rather full. "They'd probably be a bit more tolerant of you, even though you started as a human. Some of them might see the fact that you need to take hosts as your payment for your immortality. Except as far as I can tell, your need for hosts is actually tied to your continued existence, and your status as an ancestor leads to hosts deferring to you more often than you defer to them. Am I mistaken?"
Trying to lead back onto how Ren Yangchao handles immortality
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
To dream is my right
The Tranquil Underworld - Gate:
With a clicking sound coming of her left leg, Ano moved away from Caleb and the telen, talking to Mazra in a half-whisper:
"Telens are the natives of my planet. They... tolerate humans, as long as they obey. But beings created by humans... those they often incinerate."
The guardian showed no sign of hearing what Ano said, and instead turned their attention to Caleb:
"The second definition is the one I am talking about. I don't know if I know who is The One Who Is, but in my universe, sins have a weight on themselves, not dependent on any god, seraph, spirit or ruler. And the punishment fate sends always arrives delayed, but is also always greater than the infraction, in the opinions of most. This place, it holds the entrance for the Tranquil Underworld. It is a timeless place, much like this dream, hidden from the eyes of fate. I don't how it came to be, but nowadays it is used to hide sinners until the opportunity for proper redemption comes. Unfortunately, it seems some sinners from your worlds were dragged into it, probably people you personally know, and their presence is making things... less tranquil, due to their otherworldly nature. I don't know if they are dead or dreaming, but they are afraid of what will happen if they leave this dream, and you must convince them to face their realities."
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
[The Tranquil Underworld - Gate (Mazra, Caleb, Anoerith, Gatekeeper)]
After just a brief moment's contemplation, Mazra decided that she disliked the telen guardian. It had ignored her questions entirely to just keep blathering on about some kind of story quest thing. And while what Anoerith said made her think of even more questions - so humans aren't native to her planet? Are they like us, maybe? - it didn't make the telen in general sound good. Toleration in exchange for obedience was an awful social contract.
Although. Anoerith seemed frightened that it would 'incinerate' her, which meant she might actually be a machine of some kind after all. But she didn't seem dangerous. Just odd.
She tapped her field-sword hilt where it was attached to her jacket and gave Anoerith both a thumbs-up with her other hand and her best imitation of the heroically reassuringly smile a real Paladin would give someone needing reassurance. I won't let anyone be incinerated if I can help it. Though she didn't say anything out loud - there was no reason to cause trouble yet.
Something the guardian said caught her attention, and she quickly turned back to him... it? She settled on 'zem'.
"Excuse me?" she said again. "When you say there are people 'you' personally know in there, you mean both of us?"
For a moment, she had the frightening thought that ze was talking about her mother. But Mother hadn't been a "sinner", had she? Actually, she didn't know anyone she'd think of that way.
Besides, it was only a dream.
edited 31st May '16 2:58:48 AM by nrjxll
Tranquil underworld - gate
Caleb glanced over at Mazra and Ano as they talked. He didn't make out what was said, but he saw Mazra's expression and gesture. Despite it not being directed toward him, Caleb actually felt a little reassured. The three of them were at least allies for the moment.
Mazra asked her question to the Telen, and he added, "and when you say 'sinner', how severe of one are we talking?"
edited 31st May '16 2:01:56 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.
To dream is my right
The Tranquil Underworld:
"Oh, yes, I believe both of you will meet people you have some strong bond to. But your winged companion... well, she is a native. Whoever comes to her is irrelevant to my duties.", the telen said, as while walking towards the center of the plataform, right underneath the bell. With a stomp, thin lines of light began to cut through the stone, forming two wide concentric circles between them and the trio. The ground lowered between the shining trails, forming a spiral staircase into the pyramid... and deeper. "Just remember to not judge her by the sins of her forerunners. Humanity would have destroyed its own homeworld and almost ruined mine even without crafting unnatural beings to help."
Anoerith's wings fluttered as she heard the telen speak of her "forerunners". "Are you speaking of my Maker?", she guessed, her voice trembling in a mix of fear and excitation.
"I think it would be better if you saw for yourself. These two need a guide, and I must stay here to keep the birds at bay. I would only let them roam unchecked if it was to send the uninvited guests away by myself. A task I hope you can make unnecessary. Now, why don't you lead and teach them about the nature of sin while I hold the devils back? It may be a dream, but that only means they will rip apart your mind instead of your body."
"You are just waiting to let your bloodhounds loose.", she whispered beneath her mask, and them walked towards the staircase, suddenly taking notice that she took off her robes and revealed her nature in front of Mazra and Caleb. She would blush is she could, but instead she only held her wings even closer to her frame, trying to hide the bits of exposed flesh. "Well, since he, or she, or whatever that telen is, could just teleport us to the middle of the birds again if we don't obey," She said, earning a raised eyebrow, or whatever was the eyebrowless equivalent, from the telen, "I suppose I can lecture you a bit."
Moving down the first steps down the pyramid, the started explaining with firmer voice, remembering the things her Maker, Cirri and Old Rebe had taught her. "All people are sinners. All beings that live are sinners, from the lowest vermin to the highest champion. It is in the nature of the universe: it remembers every act, and answers change and destruction with conflict and torment, yet rarely rewards creation or preservation. The only ways to cleanse oneself are to share your burden with a spirit healer or sin-eater, or to dedicate yourself to remembering what is lost with time and healing damage caused by yourself or others. So the people the gatekeeper wants us to seek are either people who brought more change or destruction than remembering and healing, even if they had good reasons, and now are afraid of eventual punishment, either on the afterlife or when they awake. Or at least that is what I understood. And I think we have to awaken them. Because of dimensional dissonance not letting the dead sleep or something. Sorry."
"You are... close enough. But I assure that you all will take this more seriously once you go down. That 'dimensional dissonance' is making the underworld become... messed up, if you allow me to use a terminology less than fit to my station.".
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Wasteland City - Academy (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Half, Aunrei, Xeqa, Hana, Miyuki)
Phoebe found the origin of Aunrei's Rivari species rather interesting. It was odd, since he didn't look like he came from outer space - but since he at least looked somewhat unusual (especially with the blue blood), she bought it. Suddenly he didn't seem so intimidating anymore - not to mention that due to her time in Mystrica, she had grown used to the presence of space aliens.
"That's pretty cool!" she replied. "I guess that explains why you can form water into all sorts of shapes. If you were in our world, we might've thought you were a Mystripet! You know, like Meade here." She gestured over to the tree-root creature next to Ashleigh, who waved back with a spindly root.
Meanwhile, Half had confirmed that he wanted to go to Misery Manor. "Alright, that sounds like a plan then," Ashleigh said to him, and then turned to face Aunrei. "If you like, you can come along too. I'm sure we can appreciate the company."
"Unless you prefer to listen to those two bicker about war stuff," Phoebe suggested, gesturing over to where Hana and Xeqa were having their heated argument. "Those guys are giving me a headache if you ask me."
"Plus if we run into any enemies along the way, his aquakinesis can come in handy," Meade decided to mention to Ashleigh.
Misery Manor - Kitchen (Sinistrina, Gabe)
"Oh, that sounds unfortunate," Sinstrina replied at Gabe's mentioning of his bad experience with elevators, though her voice seemed rather disinterested. "Besides, I think it would be better to take the stairs, as Yamiko went up that way anyway."
And so she led Gabe out of the kitchen, across the living room, and towards the curved staircase that Yamiko followed the creepy little girl named Alice up earlier. While on her way there, she took a quick peek inside the cellar to make sure everything was still okay there. Just as she was taking a look, though, she heard a knock on the door... actually more like a tapping at the door.
"One moment..." she muttered to Gabe as she headed towards the front door and pushed it open. To her slight disappointment, there was a raven standing there by the entrance, moving its head around occasionally.
"Greetings, and welcome to Misery Manor," Sinistrina spoke in a solemn tone, her usual when greeting visitors. "Do you wish to come in?" In response, the raven croaked, and then turned around and flew away. Scowling, Sinistrina waited a few moments, and then closed the door again, heading back to the stairs.
However, unbeknownst to Sinistrina, the raven spoke in a voice that only Gabe could hear: "We are coming. You have fifteen minutes."
As Sinistrina approached the stairway, the will-o-wisps she summoned earlier came floating down them... except they were black instead of purple.
"Hmm, this means they have picked up despair," she told Gabe. "As I would've thought. It is few people who experience anything but in here."
Misery Manor - Upstairs Bedroom (Yamiko)
Yamiko was sitting on the floor in tears, clutching her foot which she had just used to kick the unusually sturdy TV. She could hear Lorraine's sickeningly sweet laughter nearby, but she had grown so used to it that she paid it no attention. However, there was a voice that she had no choice to pay attention to...
"It's all right to cry, Yamiko. Just let it out. You'll be all right."
It was the voice of her father, whose arm she just now felt wrapping around her shoulders. Despite the picture Lorraine had just shown her, she felt comfortable in his presence, if a bit sad. Plus a bit excited, for it had been approximately a decade since she last saw him in person. And yet, that made her even more sad, because she knew the moment would not last.
"When will you come to see me?" asked her father, who Yamiko realized was wearing a prison jumpsuit.
Yamiko paused for a moment, and a look of surprise spread across her face. "When I turn 18! I..." But she was 18 - and her birthday was several months ago, before Mystrica got shut off from the rest of the world. Guilt began to well up inside of her. "...Well, darn, it's been so long that I must have forgotten. Although, to tell you the truth, I don't even know if they'll let me."
"That might as well be what I deserve, then," her father said with a sigh, scooting around to face her. Although ten years had passed, he looked the same as she rememebred him (besides the change in clothes): freakishly straight dirty blond hair darting all around his face, a very bristly mustache, a hooked nose, and a morose yet caring look in his deep blue eyes, which Yamiko clearly got her own eyes from. It was strange not seeing him in his signature top hat or bowler hat. "I don't know if they still do the electric chair nowadays, but whatever they do, I hope they do it sooner rather than later. Unless they intend to punish me by having some angry younger fellows pick on me." He started to cry a little bit. "I feel terrible for doing so, but I very much wish to see you one last time before it happens."
Around them, the surroundings vanished, being replaced by an empty and dark prison cell, with the door open yet the rest of the building completely empty. These surroundings served to echo and amplify Yamiko's own sadness. "But... you didn't get a life sentence... did you?"
"He got a death sentence," taunted the sweet ghostly voice of Lorraine. The ethereal cloaked sorceress was hovering near the door, reading a letter of some sort. "It says so in this file right here. Very interesting indeed."
Yamiko froze, and if her diaphragm weren't there, her heart would've dropped right into her abdomen. Tears started to fill her eyes, and for a moment, a small part of her had a desire to sit in the very electric chair her dad was talking about... or command Lorraine to use her Agony Beam technique on her and then smash her head against one of the bars in the cell.
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.
[Misery Manor - Kitchen (Sinistrina, Gabe) —> Upstairs]
"Speaking of despair," Gabe said with a deadly smirk, "that raven just informed me his friends only have another fifteen or so minutes left to live. Those poor dears." This was theoretically directed at Sinistrina, but he was watching the raven, letting the implicit challenge sink in. Then he shrugged and began to head up the stairs, listening at every door for the sound of humanity. He let his heels click hard against the floor, and kept his pace unhurried, fully intending that the dark denizens of this place should hear his pace, the calm and deadly walk of a predator stalking its prey. And as he walked, he toyed with his fans, opening and closing it with a flick of his wrist, each motion marked by a cold, metallic hiss of the fan's razor-sharp blades sliding over one another. After all the manor had done to him, he wanted it to be the one to know fear.
Drummer Boy
[Farm (exterior, field)]
Seilaan's eyes turned steely again. She reached up to flip her hair over her shoulder, a show of casual stoicism. Her robe sleeve slipped down, revealing a uniform column of thin scars on her inner forearm. Most of them were pale, healing, but the three closest to her wrist were fresh scabs.
She froze. Hadn't she been wearing her undershirt? She was positive! Absolutely positive! She'd been wearing an undershirt every day without fail for nearly a year! Why would she forget now?
Warmth dripped down her arm. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion and turned her forearm towards herself to look at it. Blood was seeping out of the new scabs. It didn't hurt. Not yet. Not yet. But she knew it would.
And she was right. When the pale ones opened up, she clenched her teeth together to stop herself from making any sound. She'd forgotten how much they could bleed. There was going to be blood all over the grass and even on the poor dog at this rate. Why was this even happening? Some kind of warning... but not for Seilaan. She had learned the lesson well enough already. It was Min. It was because she was afraid .
So it made sense to Seilaan now. But Min clearly wanted to drop it. But Min wanting to drop it was a symptom of the problem that the scars were trying to—or was it a symptom of the problem Seilaan was projecting onto Min because it sounded like it might be the same as Seilaan's problem?
As her train of thought grew more and more tangled, the bleeding intensified.
Seilaan grabbed a roll of bandages out of the air and she hastily wrapped up her arm. "You're right, we'd better find shelter," she said coolly, as if warning Min not to breathe a word about what just happened. Throughout the entire ordeal, she'd looked more annoyed or angry than anything else, even though she was aware that most people probably would have had some kind of fear response. Shock. Alarm. Something, anything more... human.
[Farm (inside barn)]
"Ha." Ren Yangchao lowered their head slightly. "You've just about got it right. I haven't heard of any society that doesn't encourage some level of respect for ancestors, and Renesians in particular revere elders. Even if the elder isn't... all that impressive. I'm fundamentally just about as human as they are, but they're prone to forgetting it. I give all the disclaimers I can, but my age alone gives a lot of weight to what I say."
They sighed. "I suppose they assume that living long enough can make anyone wise in all things. I have learned a lot, certainly. But I still have clear strengths and weaknesses. I hated politics. Always have, really. I abdicated the throne to pursue my military career, only accepting the position after my siblings died, and it shows. I'm still very confrontational. Just better at restraining myself than before. And I have a better grasp on economics than when I ruled, but even a thousand years of observing the economy can't give me the ability to predict every downturn. My descendants know that in general, they should defer to me more often in times of war, and think more critically about anything I say regarding domestic affairs. But no matter what, things can go wrong, and sometimes they feel like I betrayed or misled them. That's when I have to remind them that I just do what all humans do: I try my best."
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
To dream is my right
Ruins(Cira, Reynardo, Terim, Suri):
Was that... an interaction?, Cira thought as the newcomer walked towards Reynardo. Catching a glimpse of something changing in her face, even if only for an ephemeral moment, was enough proof that there was nothing natural in her to Cira.
Holding the torch in his left hand, as far from his torso as possible, he moved his right hand to the inner pockets of his duster. His initial plan was to grab a weapon and force the woman to carry the torch, but that could summon the ire of both Reynardo and Salaam, so he instead choose to be patient and wait the right time to unmask her.
As Reynardo introduced Suri as his wife, however, he strongly considered shooting her or running away. Instead, he only stared flatly as Reynardo went on to explain about the history of the place. Using the face of a lost loved one to make your target let their guard down was a tactic Cira knew all too well. It was Aian's favorite, and she loved to use it against those close to him. Maybe because of the irony, as he was the one who gave her the idea while she was still his apprentice, in order to get donations of blood easily.
By the Black Throne, I am just like them, am I not?
No. Stop it. There was a difference. He never killed his donors, and he tried to never make Aian do anything the dead person being impersonated wouldn't allow.
But what if you needed more than a few drops of blood? Would you rather die?
He looked at the darkening sky to sooth his mind. Those questions would have to wait for when his life wasn't on the line. What he found were other questions to distract him. Because of the mist, he had initially assumed the light in the sky was Munih, the small Ancient Sun, but it was too bright to be it, yet still too red to be Rugih, the Imperial Sun. And the everpiercing light of the Golden Star was nowhere in sight, above or below the ground. That place followed very different rules from his home, as if Reynardo's explanations didn't make it clear enough.
"Salaam, try to...", he said, looking towards where the lizard stood. Nothing. With a chill running down his spine, he stoped and looked around, failing to find the alien no matter how hard he tried. Was he an illusion all along? What if Reynardo was also a trick of that dream? Was there anythimg he could trust?
"Did you call for me?" Terim whispered to his ear, his deathly cold breath freezing Cira's neck and filling his lungs with the stench of an old corpse.
"Terim. Can you become solid again?", Cira whispered, too quietly to be heard by anyone but himself.
"Yes, but my arm will start bleeding from your shot if I do so. Why? Do you plan of persuading Rey of my plan?"
"Walk ahead of Reynardo and Suri. Prepare to block their way if I call you.", Cira said, ignoring the ghost's question. "And remember: you are alive because I allow you to be."
"You are too soft, you know? I am going where I am going.", Terim said, the air growing warmer as a sign of his departure.
Cira looked back one more time, perhaps hoping that Salaam would come back, before followimg Reynardo into the labirynth. As he steped into the gate, however, he saw a ember fly past his shoulder, and land just besides Reynardo. He could feel the peculiar scent of smoke slowly filling the air, like the moment just before you hear the voices screaming that the slums are on fire, and wonder if it will reach your house before the afternoon rainstorm comes. Looking back for the last time, he saw embers floating in the air and ashes raining slowly over the stone. Im the distance, the shadows parted to show a small, distant figure wreathed in fire.
"Reynardo? Salaam disappeared and things may or may not be on fire. I suggest we start moving faster.", Cira said, trying his best to hide his panic. Unfortunately, his best far from enough.
edited 6th Jun '16 8:39:02 AM by EternaMemoria
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
It's a bird.
[Ruins] (Gwenafer)
Deep within the dark corridors of a labyrinthine ruin, a faint grumbling noise could be heard, steadily growing louder.
"...simple old recovery job my arse... Where the hell did you go, Varg?"
Eventually, a figure stepped around a corner, feeling her way through the darkness along the wall. In better lighting conditions, one would have been able to tell that she was a young woman, most likely from somewhere in the southern Brightcliff League judging from her tanned skin, dark shoulder-length hair, somewhat sharp, almost birdlike features, and bright orange eyes. Or eye rather, since only her left one was still in place. A significant portion of the right side of her face was covered in deep gashes and nasty burn marks, extending back towards her equally damaged ear and finally disappearing behind her hair.
The faint red light of a mechanical eye, in the shape of a porcelain-like orb with a tiny brass iris, decorated by even tinier, barely noticeable rune lines, shone out into the darkness. The metal socket it rested in had been rather haphazardly attached to her face, judging from the more fresh, pinkish scar tissue that surrounded it, but if it caused her any discomfort, her face didn't show it.
Thinking that she had heard voices from further down the hallway, she continued on her path, her heavy leather boots kicking up dust as she moved. Other than those, she wore a simple pair of brown pants, and a white but somewhat stained shirt under a reinforced leather chest piece, kept in place by several thick belts and modestly obscuring her otherwise rather noticeable shapes. Two oversized weapons, seemingly somewhere between a revolver and an old flintlock in terms of design, where strapped to it, and a heavy looking battle hammer hung from her right hip.
As she walked, she pulled out a blue gemstone attached to a cord around her neck from the upper part of the chest piece, and mumbled a quiet prayer before grabbing hold of one of the guns.
"Hey! Is there someone there?"
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Misery Manor - Upstairs Bedroom (Yamiko)
For the next several minutes, Yamiko was sitting on the floor of the prison cell with tears in her eyes and her head resting on her knees. Although she was wearing her shawl, she still felt quite cold, and weary in a bunch of other ways as well. And although after a while her father came over and embraced her, it did not help at all with the emptiness she felt.
A part of her wanted desperately for her father to be freed from this place. He had been placed in prison for both sexual assault of his daughter and murder and abuse of his significant other, but she did not agree with those charges - especially those regarding her mother. Her mother merely died while giving birth to her; there was no way her father had anything to do with it. Moreover, she had never had any resentment towards her father - or, as a few people had pointed out throughout her life, was it simply because she was too young to understand what was going on? Regardless, she didn't want to believe that her father was a bad person, despite all the evidence against him.
"Lorraine?" She decided to call out to her ghostly Mystripet hovering there with the note about her father. "Why do I even bother? Is it possible to just kill off my feelings towards him? Or toward anyone, for that matter?"
"Well, I do have a way to kill them off, so to speak, if you really want to," she mused, drumming her spindly fingers together as the letter hovered before her still. "However, I'm afraid I can't. These feelings and dark thoughts you have energize me. You know that. And if you really want, we might be able to use it as a weapon against Celia."
For now, Yamiko didn't seem to even hear her, or if she did, she just let her sweetened words sink in a bit. Her face fell back onto her knees, and she just sat there sobbing and trembling, while her father let go of her and sat over in a corner of the cell.
Misery Manor - Upstairs Hallway (Sinistrina, Gabe)
"Oh, I'd pay it no mind," Sinstrina told Gabe regarding the raven. "Misery Manor has been under threat of teenage pranksters and the like for as long as it existed, and its intrinsic magic has always punished them with inexplicable suffering as soon as they tried to carry out their assault." There was a bemused look in her blood-red eyes. "I know not what kind of suffering a raven would face, but given their intelligence, I can imagine it would be most exquisite."
They reached the second-floor hallway, in which all the lights were off and an eerie silence enveloped the foreboding darkness. To make things creepier, Sinistrina summoned her still black will-o-wisps to her; although they were a dim source of light, they nevertheless allowed the two to see their way. Of note, there was an old picture hanging in the hall that featured a middle-aged man with a baby girl on each knee, looking to be immensely happy. Below this was a crooked table with sewing needles and broken doll parts on top, as well as a very old spinning wheel. Also of note, they could hear the faint sounds of crying, coming from one of the rooms at the end.
"Well well, it looks like we found our victim. In the meantime... what's with the earrings?" She just now noticed them as unusually dark shadows in the cold, dim light of her will-o-wisps. "They... don't seem to quite match the rest of your outfit."
Gabe is now free to enter the bedroom where Yamiko is if he so desires. If he does, he'll find her just curled up on the floor in tears, though being very quiet. Notably, Lorraine will not appear to be with her, nor her father obviously since he's just a hallucination. She'll be in an old abandoned bedroom, and there will also be an old radio in place of the TV Yamiko saw.
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.
Mr ship
[Clinic/Henry]
Henry realized he didn't word his response to Heinrich very well. "Perhaps I worded that wrong. I don't expect all problems to be sorted out by some being in the sky but I feel like there's a line of intervention that when crossed by those watched over by a creator being, that any "good and loving creator" would step in and help alleviate the pressure, just a little bit. I feel like that line was crossed a long time ago."
He leaned back in the chair a bit. "Though if it turns out it's the Roman or Greek gods that run the show then I'll be alright with it because at least they didn't pretend to be perfect."
"Anyways though. I should probably start thinking of how I'll be able to find my wife." He said trying to stand up but the pain was still making it difficult.
[San Francisco-Hashburry/Lauren]
"Oh trust me I remember the people enough." Lauren said to Moreena before turning to Demo. "No I don't recall there being groups of people disappearing into thin air."
She looked around seeing that the street matched her memories to a T, from the anti war graffiti on the steps of her apartment building to the large murals that were in the process of being painted. As she was looking around she noticed Moreena looking over at something but couldn't tell what it was.
Deciding that this place is likely dangerous she adjusted her blazer to give herself better access to her pistol if needed quickly. After she did that someone else approached the three. He looked to be a teenage boy of Japanese decent like her. She noticed his attire of wearing sleep ware thinking it was appropriate in a dream world, and his messenger bag looking like one of those cartoons from Japan her husband has been watching lately. He got closer to the group and started asking them questions and making assumptions.
"Um. I think I'm dreaming of this place." She started before hearing his next sentence. "And GOD no I'm not a hippie. I actually went to college and made something of myself!" She said bitterly at the assumption of being a hippie.
[Misery Manor - Upstairs Hallway (Sinistrina, Gabe)]
Gabe actually hesitated slightly when he heard Sinistrina's question, and the manor would likely react to the wave of pain and regret that washed over him. "They belonged to someone I cared very deeply about," he said. He turned away, as if to say no more, but then turned back. Damn manor would probably tease out the secrets in its own way if he tried to keep him. "A... I still don't know if she was a friend or a lover. We never kissed, or said the things lovers say, or... er, did what lovers do..." his blush clearly implied he was referring to sex. "But..." at this point, he'd arrived at the door he heard the crying coming from. "Never mind," he said, suddenly very eager to change the topic. "The past isn't going anywhere." When he said this, he looked over at the picture, and then back at Sinistrina. Was one of those girls the woman who stood before him? He didn't say anything immediately, but remembered what Sinistrina had told her about her past and her name. He compared the girl on the man's left to the woman before him; she would no doubt notice.
Then he took a breath to steel himself. It didn't quite work. Whatever memories Sinistrina had pulled up, they were evidently very painful: not even thinking to try the handle, he took his emotions out on the door, knocking it off its hinges with a swift kick. Only an instant later did it occur to him that was likely a terrible idea; whatever illusion ensnared Yamiko, a door crashing down and a demon slayer bursting through could not possibly be interpreted well.
edited 6th Jun '16 7:22:33 PM by KillerClowns
[The Tranquil Underworld: Gate -> ??? (Mazra, Caleb, Anoerith, Gatekeeper)]
Mazra glared at the telen gatekeeper and let her hand rest on her field-sword hilt again, not caring if ze saw it. She was of a mind to see how well it worked on zem; from what she'd seen, the being was a despicable, abusive bully, and even if the worst that would happen was just waking zem up, it would be a lesson ze deserved.
On the other hand, she was curious where this was going. After all:
"People who... create more destruction than creation? I'm really not sure if I know anyone like that," she said to Anoerith. It sounded like a very nasty theology, not all like the Temple of the First.
She tried not to look at the... whatever she was as she spoke. She really, really obviously wasn't the sort of insane machine intelligence Corinarchi grew up hearing stories about, but she was disturbing to look at.
"Right, let's get going," she told the others, doing her best to imitate the authority that a real Paladin would project (it helped, of course, that she'd had abundant lessons in elocution from House Ji tutors). Without paying much attention to the light display, which wouldn't be at all out of place in the Empire, she started to follow Anoerith down the spiral stairs.
the cutest lizard
[Farm – Exterior – Field (Min, Varris, Seilaan)]
Min watched Seilaan with the same unchanging expression, trying to process what was happening, but all her eyes could focus on was the blood now pouring down Seilaan’s arm, shimmering and red, like her own hand had been moments before. Min swallowed and forced herself to look away, her face starting to feel uncomfortably warm in a way that almost made her nauseous.
She felt like she should say something - ask if Seilaan was okay, or offer some comforting words. Show that she did empathize with Seilaan’s pain. But she didn’t know how she could possibly phrase it, and it seemed like Seilaan didn’t want her to say anything anyway.
Instead, Min just muttered, “Well, let’s get going, then,” and started walking in the direction of the barn, holding onto Varris tightly.
Gave them our reactions, our explosions, all that was ours For graphs of passion and charts of stars...
[farm, inside barn]
He chewed a candied orange slice. That was... not what he was expecting, to say the least. In his experience, cultures that emphasized ancestor and elder worship didn't even realize they were doing it- people on both sides just treated the notion of unconditional respect for elders as self-evident. If their own descendants were taking Ren Yangchao's failures and flaws personally, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what the island's non-descendants or the political commentators were saying about them.
Probably things like questioning why they 'kept Ren Yangchao around' every time something doesn't go according to plan, or telling them that Ren Yangchao should be grateful their own family is allowing them to continue existing. Rivari got that last bit a lot. They should be grateful humans were being nice enough to let perfect servants work in human households, so they had no right to complain about poor treatment.
Vince rolled his candy bag closed. "This is what I'm getting at- we have lived very different lives, lives that each of us thought was typical for immortality." He paused, glancing away for a second, then back at Ren Yangchao before he spoke. "You may not like being forced into politics, but you've probably come to expect it'll happen at least once per host. You've probably also come to expect that people will give you deference in matters that you don't purport to be experienced with. Not to mention you're part of a godlike being, and everyone knows it." He blinked. "I was raised and groomed for politics, but when I became immortal, I lived as an ordinary mortal commoner. I never stayed in the same area or with the same people for more than forty years."
[farm, field]
Something was wrong. She had no idea how to describe their feelings, but they weren't happy.
A terrible smell hit her sensitive nose. Lise sat up, looked around for the source... oh, no, Seilaan was hurt! She wanted to lick them and make them feel better, but the girl kept turning away. That was so much blood, she was going to feel sick before long. And in this terrible rain...
She stepped out from under the umbrella, in the direction of the barn, and stood with her paw lifted. Her papa was in there, he could help them, right? She barked once to get their attention, then started trotting when Min got going.
[wasteland academy]
Aunrei smiled thinly. They would have thought a humanoid was a Mystripet. Would they still think he was a Mystripet if he conjured some fire to light a smoke?
"No, you three should go on ahead. A place with 'misery' in its name doesn't sound much like my kind of place." ...Had something appeared in his pocket? He discreetly pulled it out.
Ahh, yesss. All he had to do now was wait for them to leave...
"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."
[San-Fran]
Demo didn't even notice the Asian child at first. He looked over at Moreena's startled reaction to...something, trying to get a lock on what could have distracted her. It was only when Lauren and the kid started to squabble that he began to pay attention to them.
"What? What's he goin' on about?" It was difficult to make out what the boy was saying. "He askin' if we're hippies? Lad, I got a full suit of body armor an' a grenade launcher, do I look like a hippie tooya?"
Tranquil underworld
Caleb started down the staircase silently along with the others, while listening to Ano's explanation. When she finished he asked "so have we been roped into acting as these healers or sin eaters, or should we assume it works differently for the foreign souls?"
He remembered back to the incident with the barn and added "also, I suppose you have the right to expect an explanation for what I said earlier."
Academy
Half briefly addressed Aunrei, "the place's name does sound rather strange, but I remember many areas that I doubt a mansion can match. Then again I only heard of mystripets today." Half trie to make a friendly arm gesture, but most onlookers would say it's movements were too abrupt, "for what it's worth I would prefer a reality were you injury could be healed to the alternative," he said this in the same neutral, tone as most everything else.
Turning to Ashley he asked "will we all go on Peggy or are there more of your companions capable of carrying us?"
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.
It's a bird.
[San Francisco - Hashburry] (Moreena, Gon, Lauren, Demo)
Oh, a new person. Human. Young looking. Oddly dressed. Moreena raised a taloned hand as a greeting.
"Death goddess, actually," she responded to the boy's question. "I have yet to meet one of these fabled "hippies"."
She gestured towards her companions. "The name's Moreena, and this is Lauren and Demo. And yes, we're all real people who got here through various means."
She scratched the base of her left horn. "Unless you just dreamt us up of course, but I very much doubt that."
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
San Francisco - Hashberry (Gon, Lauren, Moreena, Demo)
Gon was kind of surprised at the negative reactions he got from the two older members of the group. The businesswoman in particular seemed to have some sort of vendetta against hippies judging by how she insisted on having worked hard to get to where she was.
"Oh, of course you're not!" Gon stammered, waving his palms up by his face. "I don't think hippies can afford futuristic armor and expensive suits anyway, if ya know what I mean. Heck, my first instict was to think you were cosplayers or something, but I bet that's not true either."
And he just had to let out a snicker when the goth girl mentioned being a death goddess. That's what they all said, didn't they? Especially all those fake emo kids he used to run into in junior high, claiming they were the spawn of Satan or whatever. Heck, in all the time he knew Yamiko, he was surprised she never made such a claim - but then again, she did have a name that meant "child of darkness", so it was pretty close. This girl had the more "normal" name of Moreena.
"Are you kidding me?" he decided to ask Moreena. "You look more like an ordinary goth girl to me. No offense - I have a pal who dresses a lot like you in fact. Anyway, hi, I'm Go- I mean, my name is Gon." His face turned a little red, for he was about to repeat that awkward scenario of people thinking he was about to leave. "So uh, what's so special about this house?" The last bit was directed at nobody in particular, but away from Moreena if anybody, as a small part of him regretted brushing off her death goddess comment. Call it a dragonfly sense, if you will.
Misery Manor - Upstairs Bedroom (Yamiko)
(OOC: Yes, I know Gabe and Sinistrina are also there, but this part is strictly from her point of view, in which no other characters are present.)Yamiko sat there quietly sobbing for what felt like several minutes, until a loud crash sounded before her. The doorway of the prison cell burst open, right off its hinges, falling to the stone floor just inches away from the edge of Yamiko's dress. A tall figure stood in the doorway, looking to be rather agitated. Yamiko recognized him immediately: the curly auburn-coloured hair, the friendly turquoise eyes, the well-trimmed mustache, the slim yet shapely figure and overall youthful and fashionable look about him...
"Remy?" Yamiko asked him. "What are you doing here!?"
"I have come to rescue you, cherie!" he replied, his voice carrying an obvious French accent. "Or, well, you know what I mean. Let's get out of here - already I don't like ze air of this place."
"Can't I spend a little more time with my father?" Yamiko pleaded, taking a brief glance at the miserable-looking older man standing in the corner. "It turns out he's been sentenced to death... and this may be the last time I ever get to see him."
"The staff is being very strict about it," Remy mentioned. "They don't even allow visitation in ze first place. Come on, cherie. We've talked about this before. Just let him go."
"How can I?!" Yamiko shouted, jumping to her feet. "This is my father we're talking about! How would you feel if your lame-ass daddy got into a bar fight or something and got falsely accused of some bullshit charge of homicide!" Remy paused; for some reason he wasn't saying anything, but seemed to have a look of regret in his eyes. "You're not helping one bit!"
In her frustration, she slipped her fingers under the unhinged door. Though the door looked heavy, it was surprisingly easy to pick upnote . But she didn't just pick it up - she shoved it right back onto its hinges, right onto Remy.
"You know what? That's it. We're done!" Yamiko screamed in his face - only there was a door between them. "I'm tired of being some damsel in distress who needs to be rescued from the throes of despair! Everyone else might think you're my Prince Charming, but I think you're just a judgmental twat who doesn't even bother to understand! Why don't you go back to France to be with that goody-goody dancer Olivia! I'm sure she's more simple-minded to your liking, and unlike me, she can actually dance!" The door started to lean towards her - she gave it another mighty push against its frame. "I know why they call you 'Mr. D'. More like 'Mr. Dimwit'! I'd rather deal with this alone than suffer your help!"
Towards the end of her rant, a part of her began to regret what she was saying, even though the rest of her told that part of her to shut the hell up. Stepping away from the door, she looked back to her father... only to discover that he had vanished. She froze, fearing that perhaps his time had come... and then she heard a creak behind her, but it was cut short. She turned around just in time to see the door leaning towards her, as if about to fall over... but there was a faint blue glow surrounding it. Lorraine was holding up the door telekinetically.
"Tsk tsk tsk, we can't have that just yet," the ghostly sorceress mocked. "If that door had fallen on you, you would've merely suffered a concussion, and that would be boring. Pain is ineffectual when you lose consciousness, after all. What, you're not gonna thank me for saving your consciousness?"
Yamiko decided to ignore her - instead she was staring at the corner where her father had been. Was that it? Was her father really dead and her boyfriend really dumped? Nonetheless, the plague of loneliness that would result didn't seem to bother her too much - in fact, to at least the part of her that wanted to revel in Lorraine's words, they instead brought her relief.
Misery Manor - Upstairs Bedroom/Hallway (Sinistrina, Gabe, Yamiko)
Sinistrina seemed oddly pleased with Gabe's floundered words about this "someone special" those earrings had belonged to. She even had to giggle softly in some parts, especially where he made it seem like he was in love with her or something.
"Careful," Sinistrina mused. "Given the goings-on in this manner, it'd be a shame if it... preyed upon you, so to speak. In fact, it seems that it has already happened somewhat... I wish I could help, but frankly I'm not used to someone lasting so long in this manor without succumbing to its curse. Still..."
She trailed off into her own thoughts just then, and with that free time, Gabe decided to kick down the bedroom door in frustration, revealing a very surprised Yamiko sitting on the floor and looking right at him... or right through him, for that matter. Her mouth moved a bit, but nobody could understand what she was saying. And then, out of the blue, she got very angry and jumped to her feet, picking the door up and slamming it right into Gabe's facenote .
And then Yamiko finally started to speak - shout, rather - in clearly-heard words. Both Sinistrina and Gabe could hear her screaming rant well through the door:
Sinistrina raised an eyebrow. "Hmm. Looks like Yamiko here has a not-so-secret admirer. A French one no less." Just as she said that, the door started to fall again - but Sinistrina thrusted forward with her skull-topped staff, faint red lights appearing in the eye sockets, and her black-will-o-wisps came forward and stopped the door, lifting it up and pressing it right back into its rusty hinges and sealing the wood of the door frame back up. Although they lay flush with the door, the door did not catch on fire. "And this marks the 152nd time this blasted door came off its hinges." And then she looked to Gabe. "Well what do you think? Would you prefer to leave her alone, or what?"
Wasteland City - Academy (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Half, Aunrei, Hana, Miyuki, Xeqa)
Phoebe couldn't help but smile as Half addressed Aunrei. "You look and sound kinda like a robot when you say that. It's prety cute, actually."
"Phoebe!" Ashleigh reprimanded, then turned to Half. "Of course you're no robot - that was just Phoebe being rude. And it would sound like you have some quite nasty things you need healing if you're after such a place as Misery Manor." She gave Half a look of concern, then looked over to Phoebe. "I dunno - do you think Peggy will hold all three of us, or do we need Geisha as well?"
"We can try!" And so Phoebe took out her yellow Scanner and pressed a button, and out came the flying carousel unicorn that they had ridden here on. "Although I don't think she can hold Meade as well."
"I am Meade," the tree-root creature grunted as Ashleigh returned her to her own Scanner device, and she and Phoebe and Half climbed on Peggy's saddled back. As before, Phoebe sat in front of the pole stocking out her back; Ashleigh sat behind, allowing Half to sit either in front of or behind her.
"Hmm, the strain is a little much," Peggy remarked, "but Half, amusingly enough, feels more like half a person, so I can manage."
"Hee hee, I get it," Phoebe joked as she held onto her cowgirl hat in preparation for take-off. "So uh... how are we gonna get to Misery Manor?"
"I imagine back the way we came would be the best bet. Which would take us back through the park we were in earlier, then back through the Blackwood to where the Dark Caller was, and essentially follow where Gon and Yamiko went. However, I can't for the life of me remember where we entered this academy..."
"Oh I remember," Peggy remarked in her usual soothing voicenote . "We came from that little stairway over there, from a hill in the park." She and Phoebe and Ashleigh looked to said stairway - there was a little bit of shadowy fog (not too different from the shadowy essences around Xeqa and behind Miyuki) hovering above it. "Funny, I remember it being clearer earlier... oh well, we'd best get going."
And with that, Peggy started off at a trot, wings folded at her sides. When she and her riders reached the aforementioned stairway, they disappeared along with the shadowy fog.
The Black Jungle (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Half)
For a few moments, all they could see around them was the shadowy fog... and when it cleared, trees came into view. However, the surroundings were far darker than what Phoebe and Ashleigh remembered. In fact, it looked more like the Blackwood than the park. The trees were covered with pure black leaves and all had deep gashes in their bark. Other than that, they looked lifeless, petrified in a sense. Moreover, they had a black moss growing on them.
The air was cool and very humid, and the riders could hear the sounds of chirping birds... but they were not at all like the musical chirpings of ordinary songbirds. There were cawing crows, sickly-sounding squawking of macaws, and the loud wacky call of the kookaburra. A deep, indistinguishable grumbling could be heard, softer yet more haunting than all other sounds. And the ground had a scarred appearance, similar to that of the Blackwood, but not as... alive.
"Where are we?" Phoebe wondered, looking all around. "It looks kind of like a jungle of some sort."
"It looks a lot like Otori Jungle actually, another famous location in Mystrica. I took a birdwatching tour once there long ago, for it's famous for its tropical bird population. However, it's far darker and more lifeless than I remember it. It seems almost like this is a dream Otori Jungle consumed by the Blackwood."
"Let's call it the Black Jungle then!" Phoebe chimed in, followed by a nervous giggle. After all, the place looked wholly unfamiliar to her. Peggy seemed just as lost, but she wasn't nearly as spooked as she had been in the Blackwood. Would they even be able to find Misery Manor now that the layout was different?
Whew, this post is long already... My new character will have to wait until next post.
edited 10th Jun '16 6:35:18 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.
To dream is my right
The Underworld(Ano, Caleb, Mazra):
"Some things are hidden for a reason, Caleb.". She shouldn't give more than she had to, and neither should Caleb.As she descended the stairs, the air grew colder and colder, almost freezing, and she felt her steps growing lighter, as if some strange tide was carrying her towards the underworld. Towards home.
"I don't think the guardian wants us to share the burdens of the people in here. Only to convince them to leave, however we can.", she said as they descended. Was the ground growing softer? There was no light to guide her in the dark, but the constant pull guided her better than any map. Soon she closed her eyes, currently useless, and let her mind flow to thoughts of a distant place.
As the stairs stopped curving and turned into a straight path, a distant light lit in her mind, in the direction the eery wind was beckoning her to follow. The light was small, constant and golden. The Piercing Eye, it was called, for those under its power could see it even through stone should they focus. She only noticed now that in the dream's overworld there was no sign of it. She was still dreaming, but now things were different. Now the dream was one of her world.
And she was one with that dream. Just her, the tide and the distant golden star. Her companions were but a stray thought, her mission nothing but mist. For a moment that seemed to stretch to eternity, the three were suspended in a empty infinity as one dream gave away to another.
Suddenly, or perhaps too gradualy to be noticeable until too late, the three fell on the cold ground. They stood atop a dark spire, overlooking a dark expanse filled with pillars, towers and suspended plataforms linked by bridges, with void both beneath and above and countless lights shining on the distance, forming constelations no living mind had seem on the sky. Most things seemed to be made of interlocked small shards of various types of metal, each as long as needle and as wide as a pencil, with an uneven shape like shattered stone.
As they touched the ground, however, the shards of their plataforms began to shift wildly and disconect, flying and flowing over one another as if unsure if they should flee from the trio or impale them, finally deciding to just get out from under their feet and let them fall to the star-filled depths.
Anoerith screamed and opened her wings, slowing the fall, and opened her eyes. There, she thought, staring below. Part of the spiraling shards assembled paralel to the direction they were falling, and gravity turned ninity degrees, making them fall safely in the plataform. The world around them was still clouded by a storm of deadly metal shards, however, and it was impossible to see their goals, or much of anything. "This was... unusual.", Anoerith said, folding her wings again. "Maybe it is because you are offworlders. Now, try to follow me and keep the golden star's position in your minds. Without an objective frame of reference location is subjective in places like this one."
They can't see the golden star, as offworlders.
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
[Misery Manor - Hallway]
"You know what? That's it. We're done! I'm tired of being some damsel in distress who needs to be rescued from the throes of despair! Everyone else might think you're my Prince Charming, but I think you're just a judgmental twat who doesn't even bother to understand! Why don't you go (to Hell) to be with (Lilith)! I'm sure she's more (glamorous) to your liking, and unlike me, she (actually has a fashion sense)! I know why they call you 'Mr. (G)'. More like 'Mr. (Gutless)'! I'd rather deal with this alone than suffer your help!"
Whilst Gabe had dodged the door with preternatural speed, the words had hit home. "I would," he said through the door, his voice icy, filled with rage and regret. "Find me a portal to Hell, and if I can't carry her out, I will stay. I'm damned anyways... might as well be with her."
Then he paused, and looked over at Sinistrina. "...you didn't hear what I did?" He sighed. "Lilith. That special woman. Sworn to darkness as I was to light. And when she died, the darkness took her as the light will take me." At last, it was unburied. The manor had found more in that old wound than it ever could have in his own fear of death. "I'm tempted," he said, turning to the door "to make it one-hundred-and-three." His voice was supremely level now. "This manor has done something that usually only happens every other decade. It has made me angry." He took a deep breath. No. He needed a better idea. He stewed in silence; since his specialty, wreaking indiscriminate destruction, wasn't available, he was out of his league. Knowing this did not help his mood.
[Clinic]
Iveya guessed, semi-correctly, that "the Greek or Roman gods" were akin to the spirits of her own religion. (Xayusa spirits tended to be far less powerful and reliably benevolent to at least certain humans.) Still, while she had further thoughts, she felt like the topic had moved along. She was growing more and more dubious of this Ibram; honest spirits admitted their flaws. One who claimed perfection, mortal or spirit, was not to be trusted. (In the back of her mind, this doubt applied to Amu.) But no matter; The material plane had more urgent matters, unless her host or his brother returned to the topic.
So Iveya held out a hand to keep Henry down. "Let the doctor decide if you're fit to move," she advised. "If you must sacrifice your life, be sure to know enough that it is not in vain."
edited 14th Jun '16 7:29:52 PM by KillerClowns
San Francisco - Hashberry (Gon, Lauren, Demo, Moreena)
Man, that was weird, Gon kept thinking as he walked away from the Panhandle and towards a more civilized block. And by civilized, he meant "crawling with the same type of people he had just walked away from". There was loud rock 'n roll music playing out of some of the stores, and strong scents of patchouli and hemp wafting out of others. Gon decided to avert his gaze whenever possible, as he looked oddly modern with the geeky T-shirt he was wearing, plus the laptop bag he was carrying. He kind of wanted to ask one of the hippies what year it was, but felt too weirded out to even muster up the courage. Walking as fast as he could on his sandaled feet, he hurried past crowds and ancient (to him anyway) cars until he came across a quiet residential area.
Just when he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a group of three conversing in front of a house. And just when he was about to groan and mutter "Not again", he realized that these weren't hippies - in fact, they looked just about as out-of-place as he did, if not more so. An Asian businesswoman who looked like she had seen better days, a goth girl with horns who reminded him a lot of Yamiko given the elegant black dress she was wearing, and a large dark-skinned man in a long blue coat.
Gon stood near this group for a while, studying their appearances. The man looked probably the most out-of-place: given his armoured appearance and heavy boots, he looked like he could've been a more modern criminal or even an ex-military person. If this really was 1960's San Francisco, what would he be doing here?
Clearing his throat, he decided to approach them. "Uh, pardon me, but are you guys dreaming of this place too, or is it just me?" Gon asked them, one hand nervously rubbing the back of his head, the other pointing an uncertain finger at them. "Unless you guys are hippies in disguise of course, heh heh heh."
Well whaddaya know. The two Japanese Americans of this thread are now together.
edited 24th May '16 1:32:34 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.