Laugh and grow dank!
[Misery Manor, Upstairs Hallway]
The door opened into a stygian blackness that swallowed Sinistrina's wisps whole.
They didn't flicker and fade, they didn't wink out of existence. No noise was made. They simply vanished. One moment they were there and then, suddenly, over a span of time so short it could hardly be called an event at all, they disappeared.
They did not emerge again.
That eerie, all-encompassing blackness that seemed to resist all light- even that of the arcane will-o-wisps- had a strange kind of intensity that couldn't be found anywhere in the natural universe. It played with perception, appearing two-dimensional like a wall, but this was an optical illusion as Sinistrina's wisps had made it a few feet past the threshold before they were snuffed out.
No kind of visible light was reflected off of anything inside to be able to distinguish the position or geometry of what was there, if indeed there was anything at all. As the situation stood, the black room could be the size of a broom cupboard, for all the will-o-wisps had managed to move into it.
edited 5th Jul '16 6:03:07 PM by Gault
yey
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Misery Manor - Upstairs Hallway (Sinistrina)
Much to Sinistrina's surprise, her will-o-wisps vanished completely after traveling a few feet into the room. But she wasn't too worried about this, for the wisps were simply small spiritual essences conjured from her staff and her very being. Instead, she put on a smile.
"This is void magic," she spoke. "A blackness so enveloping that it extinguishes all forms of light and life that enter... even those conjured by darkness. I had been curious about void magic for long, but had deemed it unwieldy for sentient souls. It is curious, then, that such a presence has appeared in this manor."
Of course she had to go check it out, but not without taking the necessary precautions, especially if its presence could extinguish her will-o-wisps just like that. First, she turned away from the room and re-summoned her will-o-wisps in the hallway, having them float in front of the door and hold it open so that (hopefully) it wouldn't shut her in the room. Then, she turned back to the blackness within and cautiously moved forward, leaning her body inside of it and reaching one foot out for any floor that might be there, keeping the other foot firmly planted in the hallway.
As she did so, she swung her staff around the space, physically probing the space to see if it had any walls or objects inside of it. She started just by gently leaning it forward, and if it hit nothing, she progressed to swinging in wider and wider arcs, until she was fully extending her arm and grasping the staff (which was nearly as tall as she was) near its bottom while swinging it out as far in front of and around her as possible, all while holding the door frame with her free hand for support.
Another thing to note: The will-o-wisps will be able to "see" if anything unusual happens to Sinistrina as she enters the room, like if she disappears or something. However, they shouldn't disappear again until either they enter the room again, some spell courtesy of the door itself causes them to do so, or Sinistrina takes her foot out of the hallway.
edited 5th Jul '16 2:38:25 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.
[Misery Manor - Entryway]
Gabe arrived downstairs soon enough and spotted the newcomer. He looked Half over warily, non-nonchalantly pulling out one of his bladed fans and using it to fan himself. Gabe's posture and demeanor shifted into an elegant slouch. It was fundamentally friendly, and yet there was, beneath the silk, the promise of sublime violence if it proved necessary, but only if it proved necessary. "Good evening," Gabe said. "Father Gabriel, formerly of the Lumen Sages, at your service, though I prefer Gabe. And I do dearly hope you know what this accursed — literally — place is." He frowned slightly. "Although if you do, and you're not here to help me liberate the souls this place has trapped, I have to wonder what could have drawn you here."
He also glanced out the door at the newcomers. A young girl, a calm woman in her twenties, and... Peggy wasn't quite freakish-looking enough to be any angel he'd ever seen, but he grimaced subtly upon seeing her, worried his "friends upstairs" had decided to stick their tentacles, fingers, claws, and other various such appendages into this affair personally.
edited 5th Jul '16 6:41:33 PM by KillerClowns
Laugh and grow dank!
[Misery Manor, Upstairs Hallway]
Sinistrina found solid floor beneath her forward foot, and her staff did not bump into anything at any point while she swung it around. It appeared that the room, for the first few meters immediately past the door at least, was completely empty.
The same yawning, featureless expanse of solid blackness now enveloped Sinistrina, and she could discern no detail or information of what the room was like- almost as if there wasn't any information to discern to begin with. The room could have ended a centimeter in front of her face, or it could have stretched on for kilometers. If the door shut, she would have no way of telling where she was or how to escape.
yey
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
[Ritter Clinic]
As Noire Blanc awaited the man's response, a voiceless voice rings in her mind. Return to me... To where this journey of yours began... Suddenly looking in the direction she came, Noire's eyes futilely tries searching for anything that of might spoke, finally thinking to herself- "Joy, the hideous land of meat can contact..."
[The Eldritch Factory, Forest of Bones]
Ka-CLACK! In the midst of, well, a forest of skeletal trees stood a man- At least, from a first glance, it would seem a man. The razor-thin black tendrils breaking off from the man's right forearm, he casually lifts the branch of bone to his face for introspection.
"It is... A perversion, a mockery, something only one familiar with humanity could perform..." Turning over the branch shaped like a human arm, the seven foot tall 'man' watches in curiosity as the branch effortlessly gives way to a light poke. How humorous, a commentary period on the earthlings' true nature as Brittles...
"Hmph, brittle..." Looking up at the trees, made to look like human beings striving for the heavens themselves... The man speaks, a touch of uncertainty in his soft growly voice. "I can't help thinking... Would that have been okay for me? That boy and his brides of steel... What an unusual group of humans."
His senses suddenly becoming alert, his obviously unnaturally long shift into a focused hold unlike their previous lazy swing- Yet his black 'hair' is suddenly ruffled, causing the man with pure black eyes to turn to his right... And see a woman with an unnaturally, completely, far too white body emerged from one of the trees. I was starting to think I was wrong... Hmm, to have a chat with one like me again...
The 'human' woman smiling at the monstrous male, as she slips back inside the tree new razor-thin tendrils sprout from his back to try grabbing her- Only for them to bounce off the tree. "She... She is like me, a defiled creation whose existence is beyond unholy..."
Suddenly he begins pounding away at the tree, mouth opened in a snarl, his voice suddenly loud with anger "Return at once! How do you handle existence, knowing your own creators wanted to purge you- Deeming you a mistake!? Are we justified in our actions, or is the gadgeteer genius' bride of logic correct!?"
However, instead of a response from the mysterious woman, he felt a rumbling as the 'trees' pulled back and shifted around- Before two fell together, liquidifying and turning into a puddle... Of which an arm sprouts out of, made of bone and carapaced with bone, more limbs soon following.
Yet, the eldritch man, his blood veins golden and his skin a more grey color, simply looks on the forming monster- Speaking with a tone of knowledge "The humans could learn that I am a threat, yet more of you come? At least it is midnight- I have a name to maintain, creation of the Bone Forest- Send forgiveness to your brethren of Heart Forge and Sanity's Descent."
edited 5th Jul '16 8:31:56 PM by Kkutwar
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
Drummer Boy
[Ritter Clinic (Front Hall)]
It sounded like she thought there was... something out there. Yeah, right. His Elder would have alerted him a long time ago if there were. Besides, the house itself was one of the most secure non-Republic buildings on the continent. He had years to perfect the runes.
Friedrich scowled. "Go ahead and try to melt that snow if you want to see just how fast that storm can dump even more on us. And what about the eyepatch and bandages you wanted, eh? Make up your mind quick. You can probably figure out why I don't want to keep this door open any longer than I have to."
[Ritter Clinic (Parlor)]
Heinrich watched Iveya and Ruth, slightly amused, as he filled his glass.
"Pest control may not sound like the most glamorous of jobs, but it's a noble thing, isn't it?" he said with his usual cheer. "Though I must say I hope you save those lovely dresses for your days off. Would you happen to be from a warmer climate? Winters here do tend to catch people off guard, unfortunately. Even the natives sometimes." His smile wavered for a moment. "Oh, sorry, forgot to say so when you asked earlier, but Friedrich surely wouldn't mind if you took a seat. I'm Heinrich, by the way, Heinrich Ritter. My brother Friedrich is the one who let you in. Don't let the grumpiness fool you. He's not so prickly once you get to know him. And you are...?"
The last battle's curtains will open on stage!
Attitude is prohibited
[Wasteland City] (Academy) >>> [Wasteland/Empty Desert]
"Don't tell me what to do!" Miyuki yelled at Durnem, astonished and still furious. "You're not even supposed to be here! You didn't even use the door , you just showed up! You don't get to come HERE, to MY PLACE, and tell ME what to do!" She stomped her foot and all the grass and the trees withered and died as cracks and fissures opened up in the earth around them, all stemming from her foot. "You don't get to come here and insult me!" she continued, trembling, seemingly addressing Xeqa but staring into the ground. "You don't get to come here and insult Hana or what we believe in! There are things worth dying for! Everything's not just about you all the time! There can be greater goals!"
Very suddenly, the wind picked up quite dramatically, to the point where it was starting to become difficult just to stand still. "You don't get to do that! Any of that! YOU DON'T! YOU DON'T! YOU DON'T! YOU-!" And then the sand came. Not as a gradually increasing gathering of dust, but as a blistering wall of vicious shards. Combined with the dim lighting, it quickly became impossible to see more than a few inches in front of one's face as the sudden sandstorm threatened to blind uncovered eyes, shred exposed skin and fill vulnerable ears.
And yet, it was over as suddenly as it had started. When the storm subsided, nothing remained. No grass, no trees, no fountain, no birds, no academy, no city and no Miyuki. It was as thought all of it had disintegrated, and now there were no traces remaining. The sky was blue and the sun was high, and there was nothing around for miles, just an endless sea of sand... Except, of course, for a small patch of strange fog just a short distance away, through which hints of a familiar Forest could be glimpsed.
Not entirely dead.
Ruins (Cira, Gwenafer)
As he moved, trying to walk as quickly as possible while not leaving the others behind, Reynardo sighed. Here he would have to explain the whole thing over again. Not that it was the woman’s fault she had missed that part of the conversation, but - where had she come from, anyway? And why did she seem so accustomed to these sorts of things?
He had not given the woman a close look aside from nearly running into her. Still, the years had taught him to be observant. Even the he listened to the words that she - Gwenafer, apparently - and Cira exchanged as they passed among the hallways.
The shouted question was apparently meant for him. “Psychic dead vampires,” he repeated over his shoulder, with Suri still at his side. “Vampires, by nature, are undead. These vampires are not of nature. They have died in all but spirit, and sustain themselves by consuming each other’s psychic energy, or that of anything living they come across.” He gave a slight shrug, still leading the way. “I am of their kind, but as I did not share their fate in dying, I am properly undead, and I’m not psychic. You may call me Reynardo.”
“And I’m Suri,” the tiny young woman said with a wave back at Gwen, but then had to make up her pace to keep up with Rey.
He walked on as Gwenafer talked about her haugr, but glanced back again as the woman stumbled over how she had gotten there. “A quality of a dream,” he said. “One does not know how one arrived or why.”
They turned yet another corner, but here Rey stopped, and held out an arm to stop the others. He was still looking forward. “Just ahead of us is the ceremonial chamber,” Rey said in a low voice. “The so-called ‘sacrifices’ were made here. This is where they would most likely gather.”
He glanced at Suri. “Try to keep your minds blank and closed,” he said. “We must pass through this chamber to exit the pyramid, and if we wish to destroy the things, it is here we will have the best chance. But we will need a plan—“
That was when he turned around and noticed Cira’s sword. Its presence did not surprise him, as one could conjure much n a dream, but its qualities did. He sensed the fire within it and instinctively backed away a few steps. “That,” he said. “That, yes, that is a good start.”
He nodded to Gwen. “Gwenafer, take the torch, please. Or, if you happen to have a weapon of fire, use it.” He rolled his shoulders, and his claws extended again. “Any questions?”
The psychic vampires are in the room, but invisible for now. They will try to attack using everyone’s memories, so feel free to have a person or thing that means something to Cira or Gwen inside the room, if you want.
Underworld
whether you can see an eidolon or not depends on its effect, but Caleb just looks like he's breathing out rather forcefully.
Caleb inhaled and emerged from his trance, subltly disturbed by what he saw. He turned to tell Mazra that there were many people inside, but saw that she was already moving in.
He followed her, but looked up at the tower while doing so. That thing felt like a living being, and with that knowledge the gate seemed more like a mouth. Caleb kept moving when he got inside and saw the people visually, but far slower and with eyes wide. "You can say that again," he responded to Mazra's comment on the scene, then added "one of those creatures from outside maybe? These people might be made from the same 'material'."
A weight of grief came upon him as he saw yet more spirits. So many suffering and little if anything he could do to relieve them. A lot like Glidyleaf when he though of it. With that on his mind, he pick back up his pace to find Ano and the source of the screams.
Misery Manor
Half heard voices upstairs, and moments later a person holding a fan-with blades?-came down and greeted him. Gabe looked human, but there was a feeling of power almost never seen in one coming off him. Half proceeded cautiously, this one might just be able to hurt him.
"I'm the successor of Zexal, but I've taken to being called 'Half'." A to-fast wave followed, "I know this is 'Misery Manor', and have been warned of its nature. However, things have not gone as they should and I've come here seeking answers." Noticing that Gabe was looking outside, he turned and saw that Peggy, Ashleigh, and Phoebe had not left yet. Half's foot started tapping nervously; all sorts of things could be out there, but at least more mystripets had appeared.
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.
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Wasteland City -> Empty Desert (Durnem, Xeqa)
Durnem was prepared for some sort of outburst from Miyuki... but not one quite this powerful. When Miyuki stomped her foot on the ground, the earth began to shake, and cracks spread out in the ground. Upon seeing this, Durnem reacted by swinging her staff underneath her and jumping right on top ot it, squatting atop of it as it hovered above the breaking and quaking ground.
And then, a sudden gust of wind blew Durnem backward. As she lost her balance on her staff, she slid off of it and reached out with her foot, moving just far enough to reach a patch of solid ground. She landed just in time to see a sandstorm approaching, whereupon she raised a finned forearm in front of her face as a shield. At the same time, she thrust her staff forcefully forward, the clear ball embedded inside the top of it glowing. A little bit of sand flew at her forearm and torso before an invisible force field projecting outward from her staff shielded her from the rest.
Everything disappeared after that. The buildings, the garden, the fountain she appeared out of, everything. When she opened her eyes and moved her arm out of the way, she immediately squinted, for the sun had come out again and was now beating down on an empty desert. Planting her staff on the sandy ground for a moment, she glanced around, but all she saw besides more sand was a patch of fog some ways away.
"Hei da..." she spoke, looking rather bewildered. "That is some very powerful illusion magic." Her hand brushed by her half-skirt, which still felt a little damp. "Even the water felt real." And then she scoffed. "And it has to be a desert. What horrible luck. This is clearly no place for a fylin."
All of a sudden she remembered Xeqa, and turned around to see if she was still there. If she was, Xeqa would see a few little scratches on her exposed midriff and thighs, but the scales covering her body prevented what little sand hit her from cutting deep enough to draw blood.
Misery Manor - Upstairs Hallway (Sinistrina)
The room seemed to be completely empty, save for a floor, nor could she see anything in it. At this, Sinistrina had to stop and think for a moment. Having an idea, she pivoted around on her feet until she was facing the door, staff at the ready. Then, cautiously, she took her foot out of the hallway and retracted it... and as soon as she did, her will-o-wisps disappeared and the door began to close.
With a look of surprise, Sinistrina quickly reached out with her arm and stopped the door before it could close, then stepped back into the hallway. Collecting herself, she turned around to face the room once more, setting one foot inside as before and propping the door open with her free hand.
"Is there anyone in there?" she called out into the blackness. "Much as void magic interests me, I would ask you to either keep the noise down or contain it in this space, for it is disturbing the entire manor."
edited 7th Jul '16 11:40:57 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.
Laugh and grow dank!
[Misery Manor, Upstairs Hallway]
Sinistrina called out into the void but, if she was expecting an answer, none came. She had no way to tell how far her voice carried, and if something was listening, there was no indication it had paid her any notice.
It was a few moments more of staring into the stark abyss before Sinistrina was struck by a sudden realization. Whatever this was, it was not Void magic. There was nothing specific she could name that let her in on this fact. It just felt different somehow. Quite unlike any of her other interactions with Void magic had felt.
Void magic, for those who could sense and interact with it, had it's distinct character, but this? This felt... Neater? More orderly? It was hard to put into words, but whatever this was, there was some kind of force of order behind it. It's precise nature was impossible to discern, but the impression it gave was impossible to ignore.
yey
To dream is my right
Ruins(Cira, Gwenafer, Reynardo):
"I do have a question,", Cira said, trembling slightly, as Reynardo extended his claws, "You said that they wouldn’t gather here, but we would have to leave throught the entrance, now you say the opposite. What changed, your ability to lie?"
As he spoke, he pointed his sword to Reynardo, and it started making a low humming sound and glowing brighter. Its outline seemed less distinct, while its light seemed to do the opposite to Cira, dispersing a thin veil of shadow that was not perceptible until it was gone. His voice bleed anger like a badly tended wound that was opening again and his body seemed so tense it could collapse any time, but his face was a passionless mask of porcelain skin and red scars. His right eye, the one not surrounded by scars, was no longer human, its veins blackened and its iris and pupil replaced by a series of concentric grey circles, like a transversal cut of some strange sort of tree.
"'Psychic energy', 'spiritual plane', 'undead vampires'. My curiosity and idealism got the best out of me, and I just assumed you didn't know shit about magic or I was dealing with a very strange case of cosmic displacement. And I probably am, but you still fucking lied to me!". He loosened the grip on his torch a little, while a grin creeped its way to his face for a very brief time. "Now, if you weren't just trying to get me killed, and there really are evil ghosts trying to kill me, you better obey me.". He flung the torch so that it landed before Gwenafer, leaving implicit the command that she was to hold it. He them turned his eyes and sword to her, but still kept ready to blast Reynardo with his pyrokinesis.
"Now, 'friend',", he said drily, still offended by the idea he was superstitious. It wasn't superstition if it was true, and she wouldn't live to old age as a pilgrim if she didn't fear conjuring by the wrong names, even if Cira's reasons for not speaking of Aian were more mundane. But then, "Pale Lady" was a very generic title, and he had no idea what a "Moreenan" was. "do not get in my way, because I am the only one here who actually has a plan. If you wish to help, take the torch and don't let Reynardo or Suri make a single move. I can ward this corridor so we have time to prepare, but only if I am a hundred per cent sure that no one is going to stab me in the back."
His voice was firm, but his shaking hadn't stoped, and he certainly didn't like the way things were turning out. He needed Reynardo to get out of that place, and neither Suri nor Gwenafer did anything that would make killing them less sinful or easier on his conscience. But then, he had already killed many people, what difference would a couple more make? If heavens were kind for once, they would return to their waking bodies with psychological and spiritual damage, instead of dying for real.
Stop it!, he thought, nobody has to die here, as long as they listen to me.
Terim is mostly invisible to the vampires, but so are they to him. He is currently lagging behind the group, keeping watch to make sure they aren't surrounded, but he can warp back to their general area with relative ease, as he is specialized in manipulating dreams and is anchored to Cira.
Cira is unable to kill ghosts, only repel them for some time at best. Even if fire would be able to kill them, his magical fire would only cause pain, not kill. His plan consists in using a ritual to render them harmless for a long (but undetermined) amount of time.
edited 8th Jul '16 8:39:26 AM by EternaMemoria
"The dried flowers are so beautiful, and it applies to all things living and dead."
It's a bird.
Ruins (Gwenafer, Reynardo, Cira)
Gwenafer's eyes darted back and forth between her newfound companions. Dreams? Cosmic displacement? She'd heard tales of souls that would sometimes drift into the Storm during sleep, but these dark ruins looked nothing like how she had pictured that place. Maybe there had just been some demonweed in her drink..? It all seemed very real, though. Good Merwon, what have I gotten into this time?
The bespectacled man's - Reynardo, apparently - description of the "vampires" didn't do much to lighten her mood. He made them sound like some kind of ghouls or revenants, but both more dead and more dangerous than usual. The casual reveal that he was one caused Gwenafer's gaze to snap back in his direction, her body tensing up and her grip around her weapon tightening. Cira's angry rant about them possibly being lured into a trap made a lot of sense. Not that the mage was any less unsettling himself, of course. She'd only seen Jann lose his temper a handful of times, but it had been nowhere near close to this.
Still, the undead man hadn't actually done anything to her yet, and she had no idea of how to find the way out on her own...
"Fire it is then," she said, her disbelief and confusion slowly giving way to grim determination. She opened her gun with a metallic click, the barrel swiveling down to reveal the back of the large revolver cylinder, and began to replace the paper cartridges within with new ones - with a line of red runes scribbled along the sides - from a pouch on her belt.
"Alright then," she finally continued, picking up the torch from the ground, "I don't know what either of you are or what the Depths is going on, but getting out of here alive sounds pretty nice to me."
She pointed the gun in Reynardo's general direction, but kept her finger off the trigger.
"Revenant and mysterious lady, stand still. Mage, do your thing, but I'm watching you too. 'Trust no one' right?"
Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.
[The Eldritch Factory, Forest of Bones] (Midnight Stitcher, Ayako)
A young girl lay on the ground in her Lolita-style outfit; a dark purple, black lace trimmed, knee-length dress. Around her waist, a deep purple ribbon, tied off in the back with a bow. Around her shoulders, a matching shoulder cape. She wore white leggings and a pair of white elbow length gloves, most of the latter covered by the sleeves of her dress. Black shoes adorned her feet, and a purple pill box hat sat snugly on her honey-brown, shoulder-length hair.
The girl, Ayako, stirred. She looked around the forest of trees made of bone, unnatural things that reached towards the sky. Her attention snapped to the purple umbrella that lay beside her. Grabbing the umbrella, she stood to her feet, and dusted off her dress. She headed forwards into the macabre forest.
She stood under four and a half feet tall, short enough to not have her hat snagged by low hanging branches. Opening the umbrella, she continued forward, consciously avoiding the trees.
Looking up, the girl paused. Up ahead, she noticed a tall man, and something emerging from the ground. She bristled, clenching the umbrella in front of her as the material rippled, reforming its shape into a silk-covered, strait-backed, silver-edged blade like a machete. She readied herself for combat, should the need arise.
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
[The Eldritch Factory, Forest Of Bones] (The Midnight Stitcher, Ayako)
The black 'cloth' of the strange man's elbow-reaching shirt and long pants shifting some, he pulls back his right leg ready to spring into motion- Until sensing a smell he wasn't expecting, keeping his focus on the forming beast as he called out with his rumbly voice. "Adorable, rushing into a dangerous area..."
"This is not safe, human! Will you not run like the others? These creatures are dangerous- Leave this to me, I cannot break!" His speech said, the creature of bone has came in whole- Bestial creature standing on four legs, its body covered in boney plating, having a resemblance to no creature and if any than a vague hybridization of feline & rhinoceros. "Oh, a replica of Skeletal Conqueror?"
Slamming its front legs on the ground and unleashing a horrendous grating sound, it charges towards the mysterious man. Tendrils sprouting from his leggings and pushing off the ground, tendrils from his back lash out to tighten around one of the trees. Holding himself in place and the two creatures lock eyes, shards of bones at launched at the man. "Goodness, love on the battlefield?"
Sending himself crashing right into the ground, before the cloud of red meat & white bone could disperse the man had already broken into an inhuman run- Jump tackling the creature from underneath its jaw, using his razor-thin tendrils to pull himself to the top. Though bone spikes erupt from beneath him, they merely launch him- Using the lift to wrap tendrils around the creature and pull himself crashing down into it.
Yet it does not take long for the beast to wise up, firing shards of bone from behind as it launches the man again. His soaring body smashing into one of the trees, his tendrils wrap around the branches and he flips upside down to see what the creature is doing next- His eyes widening a bit upon noticing it rooting to the ground, shards generating all over its front body pointing at him- Except from its back, a reasonably large network of cracks showing a softer looking white beneath.
So admittedly these creatures aren't the strongest, though The Midnight Stitcher does possess straight up Super-Strength- Anyways, since I don't know what Ayako can do, I'mma just say she'll be able to get to its back and breach the damage in its armor if she decides to attack it.
[Ritter Clinc -> The Eldritch Factory, Sanity's Descent]
Her gaze lingering a little longer on the direction she came, Noire turns back to the older man and more naturally performs a curtsy. Pulling her sword out of the ground, Noire politely shakes her head no before speaking casually as always.
"The Hime Lolita Ruth seemed upset by my presence- I rather not cause her undue stress, so I'll continue onwards. Demon Goddess Lilith always told me suffering was unimportant, so I'll make do without the eyepatch and bandages I need."
Swinging her arms over the blade of her sword, Noire looks at the old man and speaks once more "I apologize for making you leave the door open. I was... Uncertain if I should enter, again for Ruth's sake. I am... Out of place amongst humans, so farewell for now good sir."
With her words spoken Noire walks towards the way she came, quickly stepping on the air instead of snow. However, not long after she disappears from the sight of the clinc, Noire finds herself quickly arriving at the cave mouth she left from.
Looking around in confusion, Noire looks from the forest to the mountain, speaking to herself in a very confused tone "Was it always this quick to move about? Could of sworn it took longer leaving this place the first time..."
Shaking her head, Noire takes a deep breath before stepping into the cave mouth. Working her way down, the peculiarly dressed young lady notes the wall as she does. Turning gradually from stone to red meat, Noire's body shivers as she thinks. "Seriously, what is going on here? A Wightland, Homunculus experiment gone wrong, a biomage's summer getaway?"
Finally Noire exits from the tunnel into a massive organic area with light shining down somehow. Looking out to identify the distant white forest and gigantic red dome she spotted last time, as she looks to the left she notices a split up cocoon. Letting her sword dangle by her side, Noire softly tells herself "Oh, that's certainly not a bad thing..."
So I'm mostly leaving the details up in the air, partially because the place can change itself and partially so everyone can add their own little thing- Thus why I didn't point out any other sub-locations.
edited 8th Jul '16 5:14:58 PM by Kkutwar
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
Friendly Neighborhood Lich
Misery Manor - Front Porch (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Gabe, Half)
Mystripets out: Peggy, Lorraine (kept by Yamiko), Artemis (kept by Lupin)While the black and purple wolf known as Artemis was growling at Lorraine, Ashleigh looked back at the entryway to see that Half had not fully entered the manor yet. On top of that, there was someone else there, a tall androgynous man clad in a fancy white and gold outfit, talking to Half.
"What? That lad there looks like a noble of Alpenhaus," she muttered to herself. "What's he doing in Misery Manor?"
"Huh?" Phoebe leaned over on Peggy's saddle and got a better look at the doorway. "What the - he looks like an angel. Without a halo." She saw white feathers behind him, not realising that they were part of a cape rather than wings. "What's going on with this place?"
"How very peculiar," Lorraine mused, floating over to the patio. "I don't see Sinistrina anywhere. I'm tempted to go and check, but naaaah. I like it out here. Much more morbid."
Artemis, meanwhile, walked up the patio steps and approached the doorway, barking to get the two's attention. "Excuse me," she then asked in a calm feminine voice, primarily addressing Gabe, "but have you seen my Keeper in the manor by any chance? He's a young man, a little shorter than you, scrawny, wavy blond hair, dressed all in black... wait."
She sniffed the air, and then sniffed again to be sure, but all she could smell was rotting wood, mold, dead bodies, and perhaps a slight hint of a perfume she did not recognise. "Funny - I can't seem to pick up on his scent either."
"He's in the cellar, silly," Lorraine replied. "Haven't you even been in the manor? It's odd for a Darkness-elemental like you to be afraid of such a place.
"We're two more of the Elemental Guardians by the way," Ashleigh decided to mention. "Perhaps you've seen Gon and Yamiko come through here - they are the other two. I hope they're—well, just Yamiko apparently—doing all right."
"Come on Ashleigh, we don't have time for this!" Phoebe called impatiently from atop Peggy. "The sooner we can leave here, the better."
"Patience, Phoebe," Peggy spoke to her. "We can't just... uh-oh." Suddenly her ears twitched, and she perked her equine head up, looking around. And for good reason: the blackness was starting to close in on the manor, like a shadow spreading across the ground. The ravens on the roof remained, but all the others on the trees and such flew away. Said trees faded away, giving way to a sea of total blackness. Only the cloudy sky remained in the surroundings...
...As well as a patch of fog around the side of the manor, the same fog that enveloped the dream forest. Phoebe noticed it first, pointing in its direction. "Look, there's a way out! Come on, let's go before it disappears and we're trapped here!"
"But what about the manor?" Ashleigh inquired. "What about Half?"
"Maybe the angel can protect him. Let's go!" Indeed, even the foggy patch was starting to fade.
Ashleigh gave the manor and its inhabitants a look of concern, but decided eventually to go with Phoebe, mounting Peggy behind her. The foggy patch was fading fast as the blackness continued to envelop the surroundings, even the sky above. Wasting no time, the carousel unicorn took off at a gallop, and disappeared into the fog just moments before it vanished entirely. Meanwhile, the blackness continued to spread, now covering the ground and sky completely, but leaving the manor itself intact, somehow illuminated by the same dim light provided by the cloudy sky earlier. But around it was empty blackness, as far as the eye could see.
Artemis gazed around this blackness, utterly surprised. "Wh-what happened? Something is not right here..." She staggered backward, her tail between her legs.
"Well this just about ruins the atmosphere," Lorraine scoffed. "Come on, let's go into the manor."
Artemis nodded, and walked right past Half and Gabe into the manor. Yet she maintained the same neutral expression even after entering, as if oblivious to the manor's curse.
"It's too bad she's a Mystripet," Lorraine explained. "Mystripets aren't affected by the manor's curse. It's in our programming. And it's why Sinistrina advises Keepers to put all their pets back in their Scanners before entering. Otherwise we'd just linger around out here for a long time. But I kinda like it here, so I stayed out. But hmm, what to do about this empty void around us..." She raised a finger to her ghostly face, pondering.
Misery Manor - Upstairs Hallway (Sinistrina)
Although she called out into the blackness within the room, nobody answered. But a peculiar thought occurred to her.
"How odd..." she muttered to herself. "This may be something distinct from void magic entirely. Given the sound, it could be some sort of cursed machine."
She had another idea. So she left the room entirely, moving down the hall to the next door, which led to another dilapidated bedroom. From there she withdrew a wooden chair, carrying it back to the black room and positioning it right against the door frame. Then she carefully closed the door on it, so that the chair was holding it partly open. Since the door had no window and the room had no light source, she knew that if she closed the door, she might not be able to find it again. With that all done, she stepped fully into the room, walking a little ways away from the door.
"Such a curious place," she wondered as she looked around. "But, for the sake of this manor, I must know what was making that sound."
Out of curiosity, she tried summoning her will-o-wisps again. Although she knew they would vanish, she wanted to see if they would even appear in the first place.
Forest -> Eldritch Factory, Sanity's Descent
Peggy and her two riders emerged into a familiar sight, of a dense fog all around and normal-looking trees for once. Phoebe took off her pink cowgirl hat and used it to fan herself.
"Whew, this is a LOT better than that black stuff at Misery Manor," she remarked with a sigh of relief.
"I certainly hope Half and Yamiko are doing all right," Ashleigh wondered, gazing back the way they came. "If this is the Dark Caller's doing, there's a good chance they may get swallowed up too. Although, since this is a dream, hopefully if that happens, they'll just wake up."
It wasn't too long before the fog cleared again, and Peggy and the two Keepers found themselves at a tunnel burrowing into the side of a mountain. Once there, they both dismounted and walked into the tunnel without so much as a second thought. Peggy followed behind, but she hesitated and let out a nervous whinny when she came to the entrance.
"What's wrong, Peggy?" Phoebe asked her.
"I... have a bad feeling about this tunnel," she replied, sounding very worried indeed.
"Oh come on, you're a horse, of course you're easily spooked. It's not like there's complete darkness or dead bodies or whatever here. Look, I even see a light at the end of this tunnel already! ...But we still might need your beacon just in case..."
"Very well... but I think I'd rather wait in the Scanner."
To this, Phoebe shrugged and pointed her Scanner at Peggy, retrieving her back inside of it. "But I think we should have at least one Mystripet out," she added to Ashleigh. "What about Ludwig?"
"Maybe we should both have one out, just to be safe. I'm not quite sure what sort of place this is."
Being in agreement, both of them pressed buttons on their Scanners. Phoebe sent out Fooly, while Ashleigh sent out Ludwig as recommended. And in that fashion, they had the company of a clown doll and a ghostly music conductor as they walked through the tunnel. Quietly too, until Phoebe made an observation - or silly remark depending.
"Is it just me, or do I smell meat in here?"
"What?" Ashleigh sniffed, and in fact did smell meat. More specifically, something like raw steak. "Yes, I smell it too..."
"Yuck, what luck!" Fooly cried, disgustedly retracting her mittened hand from the tunnel wall. "It's disgusting, I will admit. For this wall has red meat on it!"
"Huuuuuuh!?" Phoebe reacted, utterly bewildered, and of course she had to touch the wall to see for herself. "Eww, it even feels like raw steak. Makes me kinda wish we can cook it."
"I don't sink zat would be a wise decision," Ludwig advised, having a very nonchalant reaction to the meaty walls. "For ze flesh might be diseased."
"It was a joke, Beethoven," Phoebe remarked flatly.
Fortunately, the tunnel was quite short, and soon the group found themselves in a clearing. The ground was quite dirty, but also felt remotely squishy, not unlike the meat that covered (or made up?) the tunnel walls. Speaking of walls, they looked pink and ripply, kind of like the inside of a stomach. They were in a chamber of some sort, but a reasonably bright light filtered down through a hole in the top. Or was it a hole? For all they knew, it could be the esophagus of a giant who swallowed a lamp.
There were two things of note in this chamber. One, a young woman in a fancy white dress splattered with blood, with a really large sword by her side. Two, a large cocoon with a gash in it. As they approached, there were tearing noises... it was the cocoon splitting further open. A large wing began to emerge from it... a strangely fleshy wing, looking like a really thin steak stretched out across a pair of ribs for a frame, with a circular cross-section of bone inside it giving an eye-like appearance.
"I don't like this place..." Phoebe cringed, stepping behind Ashleigh and not wanting to look at whatever freakish insect emerged from that cocoon.
"Well it's a good thing we have Mystripets, and that lady has a sword," Ashleigh mentioned, before turning to Ludwig. "Maybe prepare yourself with a Prelude just in case."
The ghostly musician raised his baton, and at the same time, the sousaphone sticking out his neck and resting above his powder-wigged head emitted a few low and yet calming horn sounds, a short little tune to start things off. Ashleigh looked at her Scanner just in time to see a message on it that read "+2 Magic" next to Ludwig's icon.
Meanwhile, Phoebe walked up to the sword-wielder. After meeting Aunrei (who turned out to be a pretty nice guy despite all those blue-blooded wounds covering his body and that unwashable red blood covering his hand) and the happenings at Misery Manor, she had grown a little more approachable to freaky-looking people and places. Of course, she was still a little wary, partly because she had a big freaking sword, partly because her outfit was quite bloody and one forearm was covered in bloody bandages. On closer inspection, she appeared to be wearing some sort of stylized doctor's uniform.
"Whoa, did you just perform a really big surgery or something?" Phoebe asked her, without even thinking much about it. (Granted, she was only ten years old, so her verbal filter was still not quite fully developed.) "What is this place anyway?"
Before she could answer, though, there were more tearing noises off to the left. A butterfly had emerged from the cocoon... a gigantic and grotesque one at that. As observed before, its wings looked like thinly sliced ribeye steaks held in place by bony frames. It didn't have an exoskeleton, but somehow its fleshy body stayed together, and it even had normal-looking legs and head parts.
"What the... that is the most disgusting butterfly I've ever seen," Phoebe blurted out, recoiling a bit.
There was a beep on both Keepers' Scanners, indicating a new enemy had been found.
"I'll scan it - you go take care of Fooly," Ashleigh instructed. Then she pointed her green PDA-like Scanner at the butterfly, and a dim yet wide beam of light full of digital fractals spread out from it until it hit the fleshy insect... Scanning it, appropriately. She looked over the information that appeared on her Scanner a bit before speaking up.
"Says it's a Ribeye Butterfly," she told Phoebe. "Doesn't appear to have an element, but it's Bug class, quite obviously. Frankly I think we should just give it everything we've got."
Just after she said that, the Ribeye Butterfly extended its probiscus (which looked like a fleshy tube) and shot blood at Ludwig's face, which stained the ruffles on his coat despite him being a ghost. In fact, his ectoplasmic skin started to bubble away beneath it.
"Ouch!" Ludwig cried. "If zis is blood, it is quite acidic!"
"Acid blood?" Ashleigh muttered to herself. "That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. In a place like this it ought to be straight-up stomach acid. I hope this place isn't really a stomach."
Meanwhile, Phoebe moved slightly behind the bloody nurse to get out of the way of her sword, while holding her hat firmly on her head for some reason. Meanwhile, Fooly did a cartwheel on the dirty ground, briefly exposing the ridiculously poofy bloomers beneath her frilly and colourful buttoned dress, and then faced the butterfly.
"The best way to enjoy steak tartare is with some knives, and here they are!" Seemingly from up her frilly sleeves, she threw a flurry of knives (which so happened to be steak knives) at the butterfly, many of them piercing its wings. The butterfly recoiled a bit and had to steady itself in flight for a bit, but soon it was moving again. Extending its antennae (which were actually razor-sharp bony protrusions), it charged forward, right at Noire. But because its wings had been damaged, it veered off to the side a bit, now coming after her with its bone-outlined wings instead of its antennae.
edited 9th Jul '16 1:18:54 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.
[The Eldritch Factory, Forest of Bones] (Midnight Stitcher, Ayako)
Ayako frowned at the bony monster. "Hah! Run from this? I'm a magical girl! I've fought bigger things than this." Curse Junko-senpai instilling a sense of heroism in me... She looked around to prepare a means of attack. There was probably some chink in the creature's armor, she'd just have to find it. She charged forward, blade held out at her hip.
She rapidly closed the distance, swinging her blade at the leg of the beast. It glanced off, causing Ayako to stumble slightly. She ducked the retaliatory blow from the creature, swinging her blade again, once from lower right, and again in the reverse direction. Sliding back, she noticed the pair of fine lines now gouged into the bone armor of it's leg. At this rate, she'd be here all day hacking at it.
A thought crossed her mind: Duh, attack its joints. Joints are always a weak spot. The girl dodged to the side like a fancy purple matador as the beast tried to ram her. She struck out at the rear leg from behind it's knee, blade smashing apart cartilage as the beast stumbled slightly. Still not enough.
Glancing up, she noticed the man was in one of the trees. The material of her dress rippled as a pair of wing like structures emerged from under her shoulder cape. Flapping into the air, Ayako looked down, spotting the network of cracks on the creature's back. Before she could react, however, a swarm of bone spikes was hurled her way by the beast. Her wings wrapped around in front of her, absorbing all the shards. With a single flap, the bone shards were scattered about, though a few remained lodged in her silk wings.
Now was her chance. Ayako's blade swirled, elongating into something akin to a knight's jousting lance. It was twice her height, with a silvery-gold spiral along the length of it, making it look like a drill. She pointed her weapon at the spot on the beast's back, and with a powerful flap(accompanied by Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries in her head), she sped forward, focusing her magic into the lance. With a shout, she drove the now spinning lance into the beast.
She back-flipped off the downed beast, weapon transforming back to it's normal umbrella form. She paused to catch her breath, "And... that should do it."
edited 2nd Aug '16 5:16:39 AM by WillDeRegio
Laugh and grow dank!
[Misery Manor, Upstairs Hallway]
Sinistrina found that she was able to summon her wisps but, as she predicted, they promptly vanished again immediately after they appeared. Whatever force was responsible for this didn't whisk Sinistrina herself away for some reason. Perhaps it could not, but there was no way to tell.
While she could see not a thing in front of her, the room's acoustics were quite interesting- which it so say, it didn't have any. When Sinistrina spoke, she could hear her own voice emanating from her mouth, but nothing bouncing off of any walls. This manifested in her voice sounding significantly quieter to her ears than it should have given the room's outwardly apparent dimensions. Curious.
yey
The Prince of Foolish Relevations
[The Eldritch Factory, Sanity's Descent] (Noire, Phoebe, Ashleigh)
Her focus on the cocoon as it opened more and more, Noire wasn't aware of the newcomers until the little girl spoke to her. Brief confusion on her face, it smoothed out as she turned around. Raising an eyebrow as she examined the group, Noire abruptly turns back to the cocoon to see the creature emerge.
Smiling a bit amusedly, Noire spoke more to herself than the others "I've seen worse things." Taking note of the beeps she heard, Noire fastened her grip on her sword- Yet upon seeing the non-damaging beam Noire turned to look at the adult woman, curiously going over the device and things she said.
"Are they rogue mages? It isn't like the Servants of Humanity to standard issue scanning devices like that... They do have unusual Homunculi so factionless seems likely- That or the mother is a Gifted of some type unaware of the Vitality Underground proper..." As she watched the 'Ribeye Butterfly' and Homunculi, Noire notices the little girl hiding behind her.
Giving a simple smile and nod towards the child, Noire speaks casually friendly as she looks on the battle "Don't worry, your Homunculi are doing fine- Nicely crafted, masterworks even if I'm correct. It shouldn't take them long, so relax." However, seeing the monstrous entity 'Ribeye Butterfly' rushing at them, Noire snarls at the beast.
Extending her arm so her sword could triple in size, the blade crackles almost like flames. Effortlessly pulling back the massive weapon, Noire shouts in rage "You never attack a woman's child!"- Before easily slapping the creature away with her sword, the almost-flames of red and white fading into the aether as she closes in on the creature- Practically dashing through the air, a strange warping effect to those who look.
Floating perfectly above the creature, Noire brings her sword over her head, and shouts "Return to oblivion child-killing creation!"- And as she swings her sword down, the extra twelve feet is fired off as a rapidly spinning disc, hitting the creature straight on- And causing an explosion of red light obscuring the body.
Breathing in and out a bit as she looks down, she returns her gaze to the mother & daughter pair as well as their Homunculi. Dashing through the air like before, Noire suddenly drops down the last few inches and stand before the group. Clearing her throat and causing her sword to disappear, the white-eyed young lady holds out her right arm- Smiling politely and speaking casually friendly.
"I am Noire Blanc, and as far as I can tell this place produces creatures like the Eldritchs- Impossible biological entities that defy science and magic. However, I haven't ruled out the possibility of this being a Wightland or some Biomage experiment- Though admittedly, I haven't explored anything here yet."
Clearing her throat again and gently pounding her left hand against her throat a little, Noire calls out casually serious to the group. "Your Homunculi are very nicely designed and I assume there's quite some magical proficiency on your part. However, madam, it is quite improper bringing your daughter to such a dangerous place- I don't care if she's a Homunculus too, gathering up her essence to recreate her is no excuse to endanger her."
Regarding Noire's attack, I would say the Ribeye Butterfly is Only Mostly Dead- So a last ditch Turns Red Limit Break with Ludwig and Fooly finishing it off would certainly impress Noire.
[The Eldritch Factory, The Bone Forest] (The Midnight Stitcher, Ayako)
The belly of the creature exploding outward, a strange look crosses the man's face. "Is she really that strong? Sounded rather arrogant just for knowing magic. Hmm... Does this place modify its durability at will? That would explain the branch..." Really? I thought that was just because.
Detaching the tendrils keeping him tied to the tree, the man quickly crashes into the ground head first- And yet, his frame emerging from the cloud, he calls out uninjured. "You're a very... Strange mage. Do you fight exclusively with runes and enchanted equipment? Such fluid and rapid performance of complex spells should of made you exhausted..." "Well, she could be just like you..."
Though he could perhaps be called attractive otherwise, his... Inhuman traits quickly make him offputting, his eyes blinking and flashing crimson with golden irises. Stopping in his tracks perfectly, the man examines the girl's attire, a little frown adorning his face as he locks eyes with her. Let's call her Justin, pretending she's the prototype's daughter....
Straightening his frame and holding his unnaturally long arms behind him, the man speaks up "They call me The Midnight Stitcher, and since I have no other name I've taken it as my own. There are many things I'm considering you to be however... Homunculus, Augmented or Variation Human... A blasphemy like me..." "Yes, cause you would be so proud doing something everyone could do..."
Taking his eyes away from the girl, which change to black with grey irises as he blinks, The Midnight Stitcher speaks more... Melancholic. "I've been examining and exploring this place, looking for answers... So, child, what is it you're here for? Justification, Understanding... An Ending? I am uncertain, ever since a young man and his brides, if there is purpose for me..."
edited 9th Jul '16 10:34:34 PM by Kkutwar
"The Omniverse is the collection of all possibilities, and all possibilities must eventually come to pass."
[Empty Desert]
This wasn't Xeqa's first sandstorm, but the suddenness was great enough that she struggled to keep her bearing, and when it cleared, there was blood running down her forehead. A minor cut, though it bled fiercely. There was no sign she even noticed.
"Unexpected," Xeqa said. Then she studied the fish-creature. "Hmph." She raised an eyebrow, and introduced herself, reciting the usual litany as she studied Durnem with casual lethal intent. "You stand before Xeqa., True heir to the Adamantine Throne, and Emperor of the Xeqane, who took my name as their own after I united them by deed and blade." She wondered out if her bones, particularly her neck, would be easier or harder to snap than that of an ordinary human's. If the veins would be in about the same place if Xeqa found a knife or other such blade. The scales would be a problem, judging by how well Durnem was doing after the sandstorm despite how little she was wearing. But a sandstorm wouldn't be intelligent enough to really work the blade; she'd gotten knives through actual armor before. Oh, the sweet, satisfying feeling of a well-placed stiletto, sliding between plates of scale armor, flowing through leather and padding, and cutting into flesh beneath. Some things never got old. Especially when you sunk it right between two of the vertebrates, paralyzing your victim, and letting them die a slow, miserable end as they baked alive... Xeqa smiled at the memory, lost herself in it with a moment of utter peace before she shook her head and returned to the past. Then again, no real reason not to savor her past; it wasn't like she had much of a future left. But speaking of the present, if Durnem crossed her, she could try ripping the scales off the fish creature, one by one, pry them off... oh yes. That sounded better than flaying a person, and flaying people was a rare and precious delight.
Xeqa wasn't actually in the mood to kill Durnem at this exact moment, she just dearly loved to ensure she had a way to kill anyone around, ideally slowly and horribly. Then, arms crossed, she said, "you. Durnem of the Oradamin, yes? You... interfered. Why?" She took note of the sudden forest, but wasn't ready to go quite yet. The desert reminded her of home; the forest, she'd be out of her element.
[Misery Manor]
Gabe was relieved to see the humans go. He knew the world out there was dangerous, but he presumed they were very unlikely to find a worse place than this. So he turned his attention back to the one who called himself Half. "I see," Gabe said. Then he sighed. Trusting a demon, and Half seemed to be a demon, was not usually something Gabe did. But he was feeling conversational. "Seeking answers," he said, leaning against the wall, but still ready for a fight if Half made any alarming movements. "In a place cursed to lie, deceive, and torment? It's not the first idea I'd have."
Man on a Mission
[Ritter Clinic - Parlor]
-“Thanks, Mr. Heinrich...”
Ruth replied with a weary tone, as walked towards a nearby seat, with a sluggish pace and her head still down. Once she sat down, she interlocked her fingers as she nervously played with her hands, her gaze lost in their general direction, as she tried to figure out from where that pink nail polish came from, while still making idle chat with those present.
-“...There's no need to apologize. Mr. Friedrich was rather polite to me... If anything, I should be one apologizing, because I almost made a scene back there. Regarding the dress, well...”
She paused for a brief moment as she examined her ostentatious attire yet again, in a futile attempt to find any clues.
-“No, I don't wear this one to work. I think it might have been a friend's gift... But I can't tell for sure right now.”
Letting out a loud sigh, the grief-stricken girl allowed for her forehead to fall on her still clasped hands, as her memory failed to provide any new information about her immediate past.
-“...In fact, I don't remember almost anything about the last few days, and the things I DO recall from the past few weeks aren't very pleasant...”
Then, she raised both of her naked feet off the ground and planted them on the seat, as she pressed both of her legs against her petite chest and wrapped her arms around her knees.
-“By this point, I just want to go home... I'm just, too tired.”
She meekly said before hiding her face between her knees, as an overt gesture denoting her current lack of spirit...
"It's better to burn out... THAN TO FADE AWAY!"
Misery Manor
There was a rush of commotion as Artimis and Ashleigh tried to talk to Gabe, but the latter was quickly called away as darkness enclosed around them. Half watched Peggy intently as she and the humans flew to the closing exit. While he didn't have the breath to sigh in relief, his stance noticeably relaxed after they passed.
Turning back to Gabe, he thought of what Phoebe called him. Half knew at least some of his previous versions knew what "angels" were, but he couldn't pick out which. At a second glanced this man seemed a little like an engi; not a group Half would be quick to trust, and the feeling looked mutual.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Half closed the door without turning around (no human arm would be able the bend like that) and replied "perhaps not, but one can't truely deceive if the truth is not known. Examine enough lies and one will see patterns."
Then he turned to the ghostly mystripet, "if you've been here before, perhaps-" but he was cut off when for a brief moment his vision was filled with a black void, interrupted only by a crystalline sphere, pulsating within it was the only scourge of light. Then he was back in the manor. Looking to his sides he asked "did anyone else see that?" before the vision took him again.
Noma - scintillating frontier
Half was hurtling toward the sphere, though a closer look showed that its surface was hardly even. Landing on a slope and rolling down Half rose and realized he was far larger than before and had more limbs. This was Zexal's memory, from before he died and Half's lineage came out from the corpse. The manor started to "realize" this, if it had any thoughts. The vision was fuzzing out around the edges as humaniod forms emerged from around the spires.
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.
[The Eldritch Factory, Forest of Bones] (The Midnight Stitcher, Ayako)
Ayako stared at the Midnight Stitcher with her hazel colored eyes. What sort of entity is this man? He isn't human... Is he a member of the fae? Or a youkai? Or something else? She'd get around to asking the man about what he was, eventually.
"I am Magical Girl Ayako-chan, at your service." She curtsied, before carrying on, "I fight utilizing my skills as a magical seamstress." She pulled one of the purple silk wings to her hand "I can control and manipulate various strings, tread, and fabric." The wing unraveled, shedding the embedded bone shards, before retracting under her shoulder cape. She repeated the process with the other wing.
She looked around the forest of skeletal trees. "Anyway, I just woke up here, and I have no clue what this place is." She paused for a moment, "So I guess I'm here seeking understanding. Tell me, Stitcher-san, do you know what this place is?" She pointed her umbrella at the creature that she had defeated, "And do you know what that thing was?"
edited 10th Jul '16 12:16:13 PM by WillDeRegio
Ruins (Cira, Gwenafer)
The sword of fire was now pointed at him, with Cira, whose appearance had taken on an entirely new shade, throwing words of accusation at him and then ordering him to obey. And then Gwenafer changed her ammo to something he could slightly sense would actually be a danger to him, as opposed to when he dared Salaam, the reptilian, to shoot him.
Reynardo Morales closed his eyes and sighed.
He did not anger easily; not at all. But his two reluctant companions had just pushed one of the very few things that ever set him off: underestimating him.
It happened often. He was short and somewhat slight, although not enough to be called “skinny”; and he had a pleasant enough face and a quiet, polite demeanor even in the worst of situations, such as this one, and as a result was sometimes referred to as a “pretty boy.” Beneath all that, he was shrewd, observant, and clever; but it seemed that even in his dreams he was constantly having to prove himself to someone. Even knowing now that he was a vampire, of the clan who had built these ancient ruins, his “companions” seemed to have neglected two important facts: that he was thousands of years old and had experience to match, and that as a vampire he had more superhuman abilities than even Cira had had occasion to see him use.
With his eyes still closed, his face in perfect repose - even with two weapons pointed at him - he shook his head slowly. The dreamscape’s translation matrix fractured again as he spoke the unstudied language of the ruins, and was again translated mistakenly into Mexican Spanish: “Pinche estúpidos.”
He retracted his claws for the moment and then opened his eyes to give both of them one plain look of irritation. “I will excuse you this time because you do not know me, but I will give you this bit of advice for the future: Never make empty threats at me.”
First he turned to the woman. He had long since noted that her finger was not on the trigger of her gun, but it was aimed at him, and that was a threat all the same. “You all need me,” he reminded them in an almost eerily placid tone. “I am the only one who knows the way out of this building. And, as you can tell by having me instruct you to use different bullets—“ this part was addressed specifically to Gwenafer “—you also need me to get through that room, because I know most of those creatures’ weaknesses, whereas you know exactly one, and that thanks to me. Indeed, you do not even yet know my weaknesses save the one, and you certainly do not understand what I am capable of.”
He stepped forward and placed a hand on the barrel of Gwen’s gun. “You see, I could have cleared this maze in ten seconds flat. Fewer, if my age does not betray me. I still can. But you would be left without a guide, and I felt poorly that others had somehow been drawn into my nightmare.” He narrowed his eyes, visible behind the lightly tinted glasses. “So yes, do shoot me, or do call me a liar or a pendejo.” That part was aimed at Cira. “See how well you survive not only these vampires, but my own maze.”
Now he stepped over to Cira, to look the young mage straight in his eyes, undeterred by their sudden change. He did not touch the sword, however; that direct contact would have been harmful. “Mira qué cabrón,” he said, the translation failing again, but the bemused smirk on the vampire’s lips saying enough. “I did say there was but one entrance and exit, and that they would not gather here, but that was before the fire outside. That plus the fact that they clearly overheard my suggestion to venture here would force them to flee indoors, and to set us up a trap here. Truly, I thought you had more foresight than that.”
He held out his own left wrist and pricked the vein slightly with one of his claws, just enough to let the smallest stream of blood escape, just enough to give a sense of its nature. The blood was not his own, of course. “It is true that I know nothing of how to use magic, but I understand its rules and nuances. It runs through my veins.” In life, Reynardo had to drink blood from the living - humans or close enough, not animals or the like, nor any substitutions. That meant he had to kill. In order to decrease the frequency in which Rey had to do that, Rey’s best friend, a powerful Fae, allowed Rey to drink of his blood occasionally. This had been their arrangement for decades; from there came Rey’s understanding of magic and the tendency for it to be in his blood at any given time. “So I would choose carefully how you attempt to apply magic to me.”
He stepped back again and this time leaned casually against the wall. “So then, Señor Cirranze, show us this plan of yours, yes? You are the only one of us capable of doing this, yes? Let us see about that. Suri, what do you think Señor Cabrón should do?”
Previously, Suri ha been watching everyone draw their weapons and react to each other so violently in silent horror, rooted to the spot as ordered. Then she had watched Reynardo with a mixture of fear and apprehension as he gave his long speech. Startled out of reflection by the sound of her name, Suri looked at the other two, then at Reynardo. “Why, I… well, it was always tradition to hunt in groups, so I would expect them all to be in the middle of the room. We should follow the walls until we reach the other end of the room, and then when we are in the corridor perhaps Señor Cirranze can ward off the way behind us.”
Reynardo nodded. “You see, I ‘obey’ no man but myself,” he said to Gwen and Cira, “but at times I may defer to my wife.”
He gestured for Suri to come to him, which she did; he then touched her shoulder lightly to turn her away. He whispered to her in their language - nothing important, just words meant to comfort her - but in the moment before he did, with her back turned, he shot a look over his glasses at Cira and Gwen that silently suggested they had both better do the exact opposite of what Suri had just said.
[Misery Manor - Upstairs Hallway]
Gabe took a look at the new painting, and then at Sinistrina, quietly filing away what he'd spotted. Then he took another look at the door and said, "if you insist. If it's a creature of darkness that isn't going to be a problem, I can well imagine it would rather see you than, well," he motioned towards his own bright, shiny, angelic-looking countenance. "But if there is a problem, don't hesistate to call on me. I'll admit," here his voice grew regretful, "you're right about my 'destructive tendencies', but... it is, as I've said, what I'm good at." With that, a nod, and a moment's hesitation, he was off.
edited 5th Jul '16 3:50:16 PM by KillerClowns