Character Dream II

The Ruins (Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)

"No idea," Gwenafer answered, giving the two boys a skeptical look. A bit young to run around on their own in this place, maybe? Then again, they could be another pair of those "vampire" things for all she knew. Or why not even Hronok and Wuren themselves, off on yet another legendary adventure together... She chuckled at the idea before continuing.

"It ain't exactly the safest place ever, though. Full of the weirdest breed of revvies I've seen so far, and Merwon knows what else..."

She stood up straight, wincing slightly at the pain in her left ankle.

"The name's Gwenafer," she said, quickly raising her hand in a simple greeting, a thoughtful expression forming on her face for a few seconds.

"You haven't seen a large haugr woman walking about around here by any chance, have you?"

[Ruins]

"So...you're like us." Nick said, "Good to know! It's so nice to find friendly faces in scary ass places like this."

"Name's Jackson Ruth." Jackson said, shaking her hand, "That's doofus over there is Nick."

"Hey!" With another annoyed sigh, Nick turned his attention back to Gwen, "Also, I have no idea what language you just said, but no, I haven't seen her. I met some people earlier, but I kind of...went away. I guess. Now I'm here."

"I was asleep," Jackson said, "And when I woke up, I found myself in this place. Then I stumbled on Nick and you...whenever that's a blessing or an ominous curse remains to be seen."

"Well, aren't you just a bag of sunshine?" Nick rubbed his head, "If you're looking for this person, maybe you can stick with us? And if you're worried about danger, don't be; we're here, and we'll kick ass."

He purposely left out the part that on his first fight, he walked away and saw glimpse of Micheal. It wouldn't make a good first impression, after all.

[Misery Manor — Cellar]

If I missed anything vitally, feel free to PM me. Trying to get back into it. And Golden Parrot will be tomorrow or so, but one thing at a time.

Gabe ignored Sinistrina for a time as he observed Yamiko, ensuring she and Lupin escaped unharmed. "Well," he said. "That was... something."

Then he turned towards Sinistrina, his expression very cold, his fans at the ready. "And did I not warn you not to mention her name?" A pause. "But I am in a good mood. So I will... humor your question." He frowned. "With another question. My job. Is to maintain the balance between the light and the dark. So, this manor." He waved a fan in a sweeping motion. "Would you say it's particularly healthy for that balance? In its current state, I mean, not in some ideal one that seems more and more distant with every passing horror."

edited 25th Sep '16 9:06:59 PM by KillerClowns

The Graveyard (Friedrich, Sentinel, Patches, Moreena, Caleb)

Friedrich had never heard of a spirit following magi and such before. He immediately thought of the queen of Solevaille who had the power to bring dolls like him to life, and wondered if she might have such a spirit following her... the idea sounded kind of absurd. He knew for sure that her twin sister in the Deathly Glade who revived him had no such spirit, so he doubted it.

He also had no idea that this was a crossroads of different dimensions - initially he thought it was more of an extension of the Deathly Glade. And did Caleb mention dreamers? Was this a dream, then?

Friedrich was just about to ask Caleb about that, but was interrupted by the Sentinel starting her transformation. Especially with her prior mention of having to hurt herself, Friedrich watched the procedure with much interest. He wasn't quite sure why the Sentinel mentioned an Artisan, and was foreign to the concept of magic rituals in general, but his interest piqued when the Sentinel stabbed herself with her claws and ripped apart her skin. And yet, she didn't seem to feel any pain from it, leading Friedrich to wonder why she mentioned hurting herself. He himself didn't interpret incidents such as his eye falling off or holes in his porcelain skin as hurt - more like healing what was broken.

"Well then, I suppose she will become a butterfly soon," Friedrich mentioned when he saw the cocoon the Sentinel had enclosed herself in. Although, a thought suddenly occurred to him, "When caterpillars do this, their bodies melt into an indistinguishable goo while inside their cocoon." He was thankful that he had just read about that process in the Solevaille library, along with many other things about the living world. "I have to wonder if the process is painful, or if it numbs the sensation of it."

And then suddenly he remembered that he was going to ask Caleb something. "So is this a dream, then? I..." He stopped short. He had heard talk of dreams before, but had never experienced one himself, a fact he attributed to being a broken doll. If this was a dream, then why was he in one all of a sudden? Although, from what he gathered, this place bent the very laws of reality, so it was possible that either Caleb was confused, or this place was an extension of the Deathly Glade as he initially supposed.

When he looked upon the cocoon again, he saw a winged figure near it, similar to the so-called "spirit" the Sentinel had referred to. She had advised him not to look at it for long, but wondered if that was a warning meant mainly for mortals. What was the worst that could happen? Death? Possession by said spirit?
Either one is impossible for me, he thought while cracking a very slight smirk, as I have already experienced both.
Besides, he was curious as to how these spirits worked, and thus he found himself studying the features of the winged form beside the enclosed Sentinel.

I'm sorry that I don't have time for a SF post... hopefully that'll come tomorrow or Tuesday.

edited 8th Oct '16 1:45:26 PM by ladytanuki

The Ruins (Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)

"And if you're worried about danger, don't be; we're here, and we'll kick ass."

Gwenafer's eyes wandered between the two boys - her mechanical one whirring slightly as the iris narrowed - and over towards her own collection of weapons.

"Alright... then," she answered. "Let's stick together."

She took a few steps along the side of the canal, suddenly noticing that she was no longer limping. Odd. She scratched her head, and turned back towards the boys.

"No offense, but... where are you from if you've never heard the word 'haugr' before? Maybe you call them something else?"

[Ruins]

Nick was surprised at how fast Gwen decided to join them, but didn't comment on it. The more people deciding to figure where they are, the better.

They began walking away from the statue, trying to keep an eye out for any other person in the ruins. They didn't doubt they would stumble on someone eventually; from Nick's experience, it was either someone from the past or some humanoid animal...from the past.

"I'm from America, and Jacky's from Britain, though he moved to the good ol' USA recently." Nick said.

"Don't call me Jacky." Jackson growled.

Ignoring him, Nick continued, "I have no idea what a hagurgur is, but I'm guessing it's something popular from where you are. Mind enlightening us? You seem to to be an expert on this."

As he walked, he wondered if Marie and Adam were either already awake, or they were dreaming about something else. In any case, he hoped they were ok. At least Jackson was around to give him some company, even though he was kind of a prick.

That typo is on purpose, just FYI...lol

The Ruins (Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)

"Haven't heard of those places," Gwenafer said, continuing down across the rough stonework surrounding the canal and moving her gaze between the dark entrances to the ruined buildings. "And I travel a lot. I guess 'Landfall', 'Brightcliff' and 'Yndavia' ain't all that familiar to you either?"

Mostly out of habit, she did a quick check of the different pouches attached to her belt. Some ammunition was missing, for obvious reasons, but everything else seemed to be in order.

"And haugr are just people. Tall, gray, tails... nothing too crazy really." She still found it really odd that these boys had never met one. Might as well have said they'd never seen a horse before. Or a ghoul or a cat or something. "The one we're looking for is called Varg, but to be honest I'm not sure if she's even here."

That's "Varg" with a soft g.

FUCK I am so so sorry x_x

[Ruins]

Nick blinked.

"...Yeaaahhh' uh, I don't think those people exist in our place." he said, scratching the back of his head. Aw man; are we gonna stumble into more of these kinds of people here? I've ran into so many I lost count!

"We'll keep an eye out." Jackson said, "Just gives us a head's up." He rubbed his chin, "If my theory is right, and we're in some sort of dream world, I'm guessing you also fell asleep and stumbled onto this place, correct?"

"If that's the case, maybe you can dream up a Varg in no time." Nick said. "I'm guessing you're not from Earth, or some kind of alternate Earth, or something. None of those places you named sound even remotely familiar. And gray people with tails? Never seen them."

Jackson looked at Nick, quirking an eyebrow. "Are you really so shocked? I mean, we've ran into humanoid lizards and time travelers in our adventures so far."

"N-no! It's just that she expected us to know this at the top of our head! Like it's normal to see a haurgr or however you pronounce it. Geez."

"Well, you dreamed her up."

"Did not! I never even seen her!"

Jackson chuckled. "I'm just fucking with you. Come on; let's see if we can find some sort of way out of here."

Nick crossed his arms and let out a heavy sigh. "Asshole."

The Eldritch Factory, Heart Forge (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Noire)

Soft yet curious "Hmm..." coming from the voice as if mulling something over, it speaks once again. "I am a person, for I am wise and aware just like you. However, my status as a person isn't what you meant. So... Do not be startled and fear not my form."

With that said, the vein system of a supposed giant sinks into the red fluids- And then the surface ripples, a loosely and vaguely humanoid form arising from beneath. Though only its head and shoulders break the surface, it is clear the creature is hiding much of its form.

Looking over the group with its detailed 'eyes' made of blood, the creature gently bows his head before continuing. "Your kind calls us Eldritchs, which is surprisingly close to the name our gods gave us. I, however, am a forgery- A fake made of the real individual called Sanguine Shaper. I do not mind being a blasphemy however."

Focusing specifically on Geisha and Fooly, it almost seems like the living blood creature is sniffing the air- Before pulling back his head and asking with curiosity. "What are those small creatures? I thought they be my kin at first and Homunculi second, yet they smell like nothing I know of. Are they... Wights?"

Some caution and fear leaking into his voice upon asking that, Noire suddenly calls out to the creature. "Are you afraid of Wights? Almost hilarious given nobody understands you Eldritchs." That, however, draws a perplexed look on the creature's face.

"Are you not one of the Preciouses? However, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with you... Did Vita Exosso or Stella Pyres locate you? Sliva wouldn't have allowed your Brittles to come in though..." His tone becoming one of speaking to himself as his words came to an end, Noire looks at the creature suspiciously.

"I am not your precious and I have no idea who those people are. What I can infer, however, is that you know a lot more than you're telling." The creature giving a confused look, his words gently caress the air.

"I am in no position for a battle- It will be very unsatisfying striking me down like this. Still, if you want answers, go to the central forge- Blud Necro would have far more to tell than I. Honestly, I prefer to sleep than deal with any hassles right now..."

The Eldritch Factory, Bone Forest (The Midnight Stitcher, Ayako, Ethoya, Durnem)

The Midnight Stitcher not moving out of the way as Durnem fired at the bone wall, the monstrous man doesn't even seem to react- Yet as the bone wall is cleaved through, the peculiar man's body is unharmed.

Though whilst Vita Exosso doesn't seem too surprised by the destruction of her bone wall, a tiny bit of panic leaks onto her face seeing The Midnight Stitcher unharmed. The monstrous man promptly ignoring Durnem's energy pulse as well, he gives little more than a grunt of acknowledgment towards her.

Yet as his eyes stare down Vita Exosso, showing calculating intent, he briefly glances towards Ayako before speaking to them all. "Follow if you wish, but I make no promises of this being pleasant." With that said, he abruptly bounds into the air Vita Exosso as the pod's platform begins to descend- Whilst the ground outside can be heard violently erupting.

[farm, inside barn - Tsadro, Min, Varris, Seilaan, Vince, Mazra, Ren Yangchao]

What? Lucky he didn't choke on his tea...

He cast his senses out a bit. The room hadn't changed, so who was speaking? And it was too deep to be the usual, of course.

Tsadro looked down to his side. The albino wyvern was sitting on his haunches, studying him expectantly in a way that was simultaneously more and less intense than was normal for the wyverns he'd worked with. How did that voice manage to come out of something that small?

Okay. Hopefully Varris didn't actually want to know how he came to be at the barn today. "I am his chief of staff." He spoke with a reedy islander accent, motioning with two fingers in Vince's direction. "No answer for why the farm in particular. My work is largely indoors."

Tsadro looks a lot like a butler. It's Vince who now looks like a wealthy businessman/politician... so Min is pretty much surrounded by rich people now.

[Clinic/Parlor-Henry]

"Oh sweet Jesus." Henry snickered to himself quietly at Ruth's childlike curiosity.

He then stepped forward and looked at her. "Let me try to explain. Those kind of relationships are called Homosexual, homo being latin for 'same'. Now these can exist for both males and females. The most important thing to remember is that these couples are exactly like a hertosexual couple. They live together, love each other, get in fights and do all the normal stuff a couple you're familiar with."

He then sighed. "Unfortunately there are people who think it's 'unnatural'. A lot of major religions in my world are against it like the Christian bible saying in Leviticus 18: 22 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination' or the Islamic Quran saying in 4:16 'If two men among you are guilty of lewdness, punish them both'."

"Thankfully though there've been civilizations that accepted it in ancient times. Ancient Greeks practiced it all the time. The Roman Empire, the empire I'm originally from also was open to it. Though by time I was born Christianity took over and it kind of stopped." He said the last part under his breath.

"In modern times in my world it's slowly becoming accepted again. The city of San Francisco elected one of the first openly Homosexual man to public office about 10 years ago and there's been a lot of 'gay pride' parades there and many other places in the United States."

"But really like I said earlier. All you really need to know in the end is that they are just couples who found love in the arms of someone who happened to be the same gender."

[Farm (inside barn)]

"Pleasure to meet you. I am Ren Yangchao." They bowed their head, then extended an arm in Seilaan's direction. Their robe sleeve hung down at least a foot from their wrist. "This is Ren Seilaan, my descendant and the current vessel of my soul."

"You may call me Seilaan," she said, also bowing her head in greeting. She was trying not to stare too much at the tattoos on Tsadro's hands. Unlike most Renesians her age, she hadn't decided on any tattoos yet, but she was trying to finally make up her mind and lately she'd been paying more attention than usual to other people's tattoos. Her family's seal was a bit too cliche, and she definitely wanted something somewhere on her that reflected her magical affinities, but was having trouble coming up with a satisfactorily unique design.

Really, there was a lot to process here. She was quite positive that he was another species entirely. Not that she was going to ask about it directly. There weren't a lot of ways to make that come out politely. But at least the tattoos provided an excuse if she was caught gawking. Seilaan wasn't sure just how good of an excuse it was, but it was something.

You're not too obvious yet, but maybe you should quit while you're ahead.

Her cheeks turning slightly pink from the admonishment, Seilaan allowed Ren Yangchao to refill her teacup and promptly hid her face by taking a sip.

The Ruins (Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)

"'Dream World' makes about as much sense as anything else, I guess," Gwenafer replied to Jackson, shaking her head a bit in disbelief. "No idea how I got here."

She pulled out her necklace with the blue gemstone from within her leather chest piece, held it in her palm and stared at it for a while, but didn't say anything this time.

Further ahead, the dried up canal came to a sudden stop, with the streets on either side turning into a pair of staircases - that must once have flanked an impressive waterfall - leading into a lower part of the city. Across the collapsed rooftops, the edge of a misty forest was visible.

"And how would I know what's 'normal' or not to you guys?" she continued, turning to face Nick. "I didn't know you came from this... 'Earth' place."

She chuckled a bit at the unusual name. Earth? Seriously?

[Ruins]

"Earth place...?" Nick repeated, "Yup. I'm dealing with otherworldly people again. I bet you don't know what a human is either. I'll gladly tell you what it is later; right now, we gotta figure out how the hell we'll get out of here."

"Hey! Look at this!" Jackson said, pointing at the staircase and abandoned city, "That's...not usual. A whole forgotten city?"

"Ten bucks say that it'll lead to some creepy ass ghost or some shit." Nick said, smirking, "Wanna take a peak?"

"And risk dying in a dream and never waking up in the real world? No thank you."

"Well, I don't have any other ideas. I don't want to stay in the creepy ruins." Nick looked at Gwen, "Any ideas?"

[Ritter Clinic - Parlor]

Even though Ruth didn't fully understand what Henry had just said, mostly because he was naming places, things and concepts she hasn't heard about before, (as Christians, the Roman Empire, the Quran and San Francisco, among lots of other things, didn't ever exist back on her home-world/dimension) at least she got the general gist out of it.

-“...What?! SERIOUSLY?!”, she thought as her she face reflected a certain tinge of exasperation, “Do I happen to live in the only goddamned world, in the entire multiverse, where women aren't allowed to love each other?! What the heck! I don't even-”

Letting out a loud sigh as she decided to move on, and not dwell too much on that depressing thought, she looked towards Henry's general direction, as she said:

-“...Erh... Thanks for the information, mister... that... kinda clears some of my doubts...”

...mostly out of obligation, as her tone made it clear she wasn't all that thrilled nor satisfied by that explanation; not only because she didn't fully get it, but because Henry dealt the exposition in such a clinical, concise and “bland” way, that she didn't find his story compelling at all. To her, it felt more like an excerpt about homosexuality taken straight out of an encyclopedia, instead of something a human being would naturally say.

-“But...”, she muttered as she looked back at Friedrich with puppy-dog eyes, before crossing her ankles, and grabbing them with both hands, as shifted to an indian-syle sitting posture, “I still would like to hear what Mr. Friedrich has to say! Please Mr. Friedrich, tell me about your friends! Are they nice people? How did the met? Do they like movies about gladiators?”

She rapid-fired one question after the other, as she started acting and sounding more like a small child looking forward to her grandpa's bedtime stories... instead of the monster-slaying young warrior woman she actually was underneath her current (and unintentional) "fairytale-princess" get-up.

edited 30th Sep '16 3:50:03 AM by VPhantom

Ruins (Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)

Gwenafer raised a confused eyebrow.

"Why wouldn't I know what..." she began, before stopping herself. "Never mind." One type of weirdness at a time...

She looked out across the lower city, mapping out the streets in her mind. This place was quite a bit bigger than she'd expected.

"Nah, the ghosts are that way," she said matter-of-factly, waving a hand back towards the huge statue. "This looks like a way out at least, but I'm not sure if that forest's gonna be much better."

She stepped out onto the staircase in front of her, and began to make her way down.

"There better be something worth looting on the way there though."

The Graveyard (Moreena, Patches, Friedrich, Sentinel, Caleb)

From a distance, Moreena's pitch-black eyes carefully studied the Sentinel's transformation. Quite a bit different from her own methods - and rather... direct and visceral - but very interesting none the less. Noticing that a somewhat unsettling grin had began to form on her face, she quickly looked away. If her own current physical form had been a bit different, she might have blushed. Staring was rude, after all.

She turned back towards Caleb and Patches.

"Ah, yes... this 'Knight' person," she said, attempting to distract herself. "Knowing what to expect could indeed prove very useful."

The graveyard

Caleb fidgeted when the Sentinel said she must hurt herself, but didn't argue. He watched uncomfortably as she spoke her invocation and began talking to...someone. His eyes widened when her hands changed, knowing what she was about to do, but still struggled not to look away when it happened. After the innitial shock he placed himself in front of Patches and said, "you shouldn't see this."

When it was over and the Sentinel was in her cocoon, Caleb was almost to shaken to notice Moreena also asking about Armory Knight. Reluctantly he brought his attention back to the conversation.

[Ruins]

Nick blinked.

"What's the point of looting if you're gonna wake up and it's gone?" he asked, "I'm just hoping doesn't plan on trapping us in this place or something."

"If that happens, you just wake up like nothing happened." Jackson said, "Or we'll run into some dream monster that wants us to stay here."

"You're not helping." Nick sighed, "Alright, let's just see how far this rabbit hole goes."

Sorry for shortness x_x

edited 4th Oct '16 5:59:15 PM by Masterofchaos

Ruins (Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)

That was a good point, actually. Gwenafer stopped halfway down the stairs and turned her head back up towards the boys.

"So you're pretty certain about the 'Dream World' thing, huh?" she said. "I guess that makes it less 'find loot' and more 'why the Depths am I here?' then."

She held up her arm, and pulled back the sleeve of her shirt to reveal a nasty collection of cuts and singe marks, wincing slightly as the rough fabric brushed against them.

"Still, if the place is real enough for this to stick around, I'd say it's worth a try at least." She scratched her head. It was pretty strange that her leg had gotten fine so quickly. "Maybe."

She continued to the bottom of the stairs, where a large stone basin would have once collected the water from the canal above. A wide street continued through the lower city towards the misty forest, the old ruins on either side gradually becoming overgrown with vegetation as one went along.

"Pale Lady's arse..." Gwenafer muttered to herself both at the general weirdness of her situation, and the prospect of not getting paid for her troubles. Right then, she noticed something glimmering in the corner of her eye. She turned around, and noticed a lonely silver coin on the bottom of the stone basin, near the edge. As she knelt down next to the low wall surrounding it, and reached for the coin, she recognized the runic sigil of the Brightcliff League imprinted on it's surface. That was... unexpected.

[Ruins]

"Well," Nick said, "Maybe there's some traumatic shit you tried blocking out and this place is forcing you to remember it? Perhaps that's the answer."

"Or," Jackson said, "By chance, you aren't actually asleep and you just stumbled upon this place. Either way, we can't answer why on earth you're here. Sorry."

At the bottom of the steps, they noticed the overgrown buildings, perking their interest even more. Jackson decided to head over to Gwen, while Nick decided to see if there were any more secrets the place was hiding.

"What is that?" Jackson asked, "That doesn't look like any coin I've seen. Is that something from your demision?"

Nick, on the other hand, was looking through the wall. Looks like it was nothing more but just some overgrown plants. Disappointed, he put his hand on the wall...

...and the wall crumbled, making him fall face first.

"OW! FUCK!" he cried out, getting Jackson's attention.

"Nick!" he called, running to him, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I landed on the some rocks and now my nose stings but other than that, I'm just peachy!" Nick slowly—and painfully—got back up, rubbing his nose. He then looked ahead, and noticed a dark, dusty abandoned room. "Yo...check this shit out..."

edited 8th Oct '16 12:27:24 PM by Masterofchaos

Ruins (Gwenafer, Nick, Jackson)

"I'll just hope that it's the latter then," Gwenafer said, somewhat jokingly but with a hint of worry in her voice. She stood up, holding up the coin in front of her, and let the faint red light from her right eye run across it's surface.

"And this," she continued, "is a warm meal and a night in a fancy inn." She flipped the coin between her fingers before putting it in one of her pockets. "Or a meal and a night in a less fancy inn, but with company, I guess."

"It's kind of weird that... Gods, what are you..?"

She spun around as Nick called out, and made her way towards the broken wall.

"You alright?" she asked, before chuckling a bit. "If you're gonna do some tomb raiding there's better ways than using your face..."

{Before entering Dream} [Yukijou-minato ~ ISN Northern Fleet HQ(Third Floor)] (Rin, Megumi)

Rin Tachibana paced back and forth across the faded blue carpet that adorned the center of the rather small third floor office. The woman, the recently appointed admiral of Imperial Senjimese Navy's Northern Fleet, was an even five feet tall. She had shoulder-length black hair that was starting to loose its purple luster, paler than normal skin, and silvery gray eyes surrounded by dark circles. She wore a double breasted navy blue winter dress uniform, adorned with only a single shoulder cord, a single set of gold cuff braids, and a lone pin comprised of a gold wreathed silver crescent moon surrounding a ruby. At her hip was Tōshō, her custom built military sword, an almost non-existent blade with an intricate hexagonal handguard and a most curious saya: a chrome plated lacquered wood scabbard, two feet long with a line of holes running down its length.

Rin stopped pacing for a moment to stare out the lone window of her office. She was mentally going over the most recent reports. There was no activity coming from Medvia to the west, and barring the goofy postcard stapled to the report, no activity of any kind from the Northern Straits to the northeast. The lack of movement from the Balamar Empire was beginning to unnerve the admiral, she expected a surprise attack any day now.

Her trance was broken by a knock at the door. Turning around, she noticed the green eyed maid with slate gray hair, Megumi, standing at the door, one hand on the cart by her side. "What?" She barked.

Megumi bowed before indicating towards the cart, "I've brought you your coffee, m'lady."

"Oh, bring it in. I could use another cup." Rin smiled slightly as the maid pushed the cart into the room. After Megumi placed the kettle, a single cup, and a tin of Harrison's Instant Coffee on the admiral's desk, Rin nodded, "Thank you."

Sitting down, Rin opened the tin of imported instant coffee, she spooned a heap into a cup before filling it with hot water from the kettle. After a few minutes of the admiral quietly sipping coffee, Megumi spoke up, "I don't mean to be rude m'lady, but when was the last time you slept?"

Rin paused mid sip to stare at the maid. "Wednesday." She replied after putting the cup down. "Why do you ask?"

Megumi closed her eyes before sighing, "Today's Tuesday." The maid bowed her head, "I'm sorry, m'lady."

The admiral blinked several times, now noticing how heavy her eyelids felt, "What- What did you..." Rin began to slowly tilt off her chair as Megumi rush to her side.

"Everyone agreed that you need to get some sleep..." Those were the last words Rin Tachibana heard as she drifted into unconsciousness.

[Ruins] (Rin)

Rin awoke with a start, springing to her feet. One hand on the hilt of her sword, she quickly looked around. This was not her office in Yukijou-minato. She was in the ruins of some ancient city she did not recognize. Looking down she noticed that she was wearing her boots. She could have sworn she had taken them off earlier.

Furious at her maid for drugging her and apparently dumping her in this place, she stormed off into the ruins. The echoes of falling rubble soon caught her attention, accompanied by the sound of voices. Curious at who else could be in this ruined city, she decided to make her way to source of the sounds. She would either get questions answered, or have something to vent her frustration on.

edited 13th Oct '16 1:16:52 AM by WillDeRegio

San Francisco -> Beta Town (Gon, Ari, Ruka)

Ari turned to Gon with a smile on her face upon hearing Ruka's affirmative comment about combat. "She may not be Samus, but definitely acts like an avatar of her." Gon looked back at her and chuckled in agreement.

"All right, if we're heading to Beta Town," Gon announced to the two girls, "let's be prepared." He surprised himself saying this, as he had been notorious for rushing into battles in the past without thinking, only analyzing the situation after making his mistake. "Beta Town is populated by robots instead of people. Robots are Machine class, meaning they are immune to magic unless it's Thunder element. Ari, I hope you brought Glitch Bombs - I stocked up on them myself."

Ari nodded. "The robots are mainly V-Bots, which are more durable than T-Bots in general, meaning Ranged attacks would work best. V-Bots also come in a greater variety of elements, though Lord Metatronic himself is Metal element - and remember, he's Boss class so he should be vulnerable to magic. You're right - Natsu would be a better choice than Lucky, since she has lots of Ranged attacks and is Thunder-element to boot."

While Ari was returning her black bobcat to her Scanner, Gon looked sheepishly at Ruka. "Heh, at least half of that must've sounded all Greek to you. You don't look like a magic user, so I think you'll be fine."

Just before they headed off down the street towards a foggy patch right where the road was about to meet the wide and busy Market Street^note Kind of fortuitous that I live just a stone's throw from SF and was just at that very intersection a few days ago., Ari sent out the so-called Natsu, who was a butterfly. One with a pink body topped with shocking purple fuzz, an electric blue tail-like abdomen with a light at the end, and many neon yellow and blue thunderbolt-shaped protrusions at the tips of her wings that seemed to intermittently flash or spark.

"Hmm," Gon muttered to himself as he took out his own Scanner. "Should I use Aki or Galaxeon? Sorry Triumph, you mainly use Magic, so I'll have to save you for the boss." The better for it too, since Fire was strong against Metal. With a scoffed flame from her nostrils, the feathered draconic salamander retreated into Gon's Scanner via a digitized beam, just like Lucky. Then he settled on Galaxeon, since he was the only one of his Mystripets without an annoying attitude.

The futuristic space warrior looked oddly like the male counterpart to Ruka, only with yellow and silver armor and a helmet that more resembled that of a medieval knight. After making a small hand gesture in greeting to Ruka, he followed them into the fog.

At first, the city they emerged into didn't look too different from the one they had just left. But upon closer inspection, it looked kind of deserted, as there were no billboards on any of the futuristic buildings, no vehicles on the road, and no loud city noise, only the whirring of machines. However, occasionally they could see a robot traveling down the road or into or out of a building with an automated door. Some of the robots were trash-can-shaped with swiveling wheels and mechanical arms, others had boxy heads and tractor belts for legs, others were flying-saucer-shaped and hovered above the ground, and a couple of buglike ones slowly walked on their mechanical legs.

"Welcome to Beta Town!" Gon said to Ruka, gesturing out around the street with an outstretched arm. But at some point he saw a red light shining on his hand. No more than a split second later, he heard an electronic alarm at his side, and turned his head to see a rusty brown robot of the boxy head variety (with a boxy body too, reminding Gon of the main character of an animated film about two robots helping a bunch of humans in a spaceship re-colonize Earth). The red light came from a laser beam shining from between its flashlight-like eyes.

"INTRUDER ALERT," it spoke in a monotone robotic voice. "DESTROY ON COMMAND."

"Aww great, already we've made new enemies." In fact, just then two more robots joined it - one blue one of the flying saucer variety, and one bright green one that looked like a table-sized mechanical beetle. Gon readied his Scanner, sweeping a digitized beam out of it across all three robots. "Ari, go ahead and make the first attack while I scan these guys. Ruka... do whatever."

Just then, the UFO-like robot sprouted a mini-cannon from beneath and fired an energy blast at Galaxeon. The impact sent him flying backwards a little way so that he bumped right into Gon, who found himself sandwiched between the space knight and a wall.
''Oof... why is it always... me.."
And yet he somehow managed to look at the scan results on the Scanner's screen. Once Galaxeon got off of him, Gon read off the results, also noticing how a few ice crystals had formed on Galaxeon's chest.

"Okay, so that blue one is a V-6I, so it's Ice element. Looks like it has high agility and low defense. The beetle thing is a V-8N, Normal element with high Ranged but low Will and fairly low Defense. And the Wall-E lookalike is a V-7E, Earth element with low Speed and high Melee. Obviously, they're all Machine class."

"You should focus on the brown robot, Ruka, as Natsu's Thunder attacks won't affect it, and look out," Ari added as she watched the bug-like V-8N turn towards Ruka and fire a bright white laser beam from its antenna. "Gon, Ice is weak to Metal, so you take the UFO. Beetlebot has low Will, so it'll be weak to magic. Natsu, use a Thunderball."

Thunderball was the one Thunder Magic attack Natsu knew, so she knew she would be spamming it. Before firing the ball of electricity, the thunderbolts on Natsu's wings flashed and send electric sparks flying all around her wings and tail, the latter which she swung forward and fired the ball from the tip. A whie afterward, she got hit by a rock the brown robot threw at her from out of nowhere... or she would have, but the rock flew right under her. Ari smiled and shook her head. "Catafray is part Air-element, dummy. Earth attacks won't work."

Eldritch Factory - Heart Forge (Phoebe, Ashleigh, Noire, Sanguine Shaper)

Phoebe yelped in surprise as the... thing emerged out of the pool, though she was glad it didn't come out fully. It even looked kind of human-like, which was a bit more reassuring. Moreover, it didn't attack them, instead instroducing itself as the Sanguine Shaper and advising them to proceed into the domed thing that was called the Heart Forge.

Ashleigh rolled her eyes when the Sanguine Shaper called their Mystripets Homunculi, just as Noire had done. But she was rather confused when he said that he was some "abomination" rather than a true Eldritchian, and what was this about a "precious", if not a ring coveted by a wretched cave creature? Though she had to wonder if that was the name they called their fairy folk, which would explain why the Scanner said Noire was Fairy class. At any rate, she nodded to the Sanguine Shaper. "They're not Homunculi, they're Mystripets - digital beings from another world entirely. And we're humans, not Brittles. A shame you can't accompany us into the Heart Forge."

"Psst, Ashleigh," Phoebe whispered up to her with her hands cupped around her mouth, "let's just get out of here - I'd rather not go into a chamber full of blood..."

Ashleigh placed a hand on Phoebe's shoulder. "And leave Noire here by herself? You have to remember that we're the Elemental Guardians. We were chosen to protect this world, not run away from it."

"But this isn't even our world..."

"Phoebe, I don't like this place either. It is more of an unholy abomination than the Sanguine Shaper here, even if it's apparently not Hell itself." Ashleigh said this part very quietly so as to not offend Noire or the Sanguine Shaper. "But think about the trouble we've been having with the enemies in the Forest of Distortion, and it looks like Beta Town will not be much easier. As Gon would say, this would be a good opportunity to gain some extra experience."

"Well can't we just go back to Shuberville and fight those car parts in the Lemon Factory... oh, right, after we defeated the boss, they all disappeared."

"And it's too inconvenient to go back to Bamboo Lake... besides, it's just as Vi Willow said, that we could be facing some fearsome and dangerous things here. I still cannot believe those pesky fairies chose so young a child for this, but..."

Phoebe scowled. "Oh don't gimme that. You know I'm not a little kid anymore."

Ashleigh smiled. "Well then, consider this your chance to prove it. You still have me if nothing else."

Pouting, Phoebe turned around and took a couple of steps towards the Heart Forge. With a grumble she said, "Fine... come on Fooly, let's go."

The clown doll waved at the Sanguine Shaper. "Farewell, Shaper, now we part. Let us go inside the heart!"

"Geisha, Noire, ready to go inside?" Geisha at least nodded at Ashleigh, though gingerly. If nothing else though, she could wash away the blood with her Water techniques.

Eldritch Factory - Forest of Bone (Durnem, Ayako, Midnight Stitcher, Ethoya if she's still here)

Durnem was a little surprised by Ayako following her. Her instinct was to be skeptical for being so young... but then she remembered, Ayako wasn't that young, and she seemed to have some magical abilities, including a projectile weapon of some sort^note Orenya doesn't have guns, so Durnem wouldn't know what one is made out of yarn. Besides, who was she to judge based on appearances? She herself had been subject to that a lot when trying to join the Oradamin, since no fylin had ever been amongst them - or in any branch of government for that matter. So instead she gave the magical girl a nod of acknowledgement, and looked back behind the wall at Ethoya.

"Well, looks like Ethoya's not the action type," she remarked. "I suppose we're to be her bodyguards, then."

She scoffed at the Midnight's Stitcher's comment about the encounter with Vita Exosso not being pleasant. "Tch, not like I'm suited for humi-no pleasant. What'm I supposed to do, stand by and let that kruiyeh Vita doish all over you?"

She promptly shut up and felt a little guilty as they descended, remembering how often she had been chided by the other Oradamin for swearing in the presence of official business.

edited 8th Oct '16 11:05:30 PM by ladytanuki

[Ruins]

Nick rubbed his nose. "I'm alive, at least. Anyway, looks like this place gave us some more things to discover."

Jackson looked over the room, rubbing his chin. "That's odd; why would a room like this be sealed within the walls?"

"Maybe they were just waiting for us to discover it? I saw we ch-" Nick stopped when he heard more footsteps. He immediately turned around, "Hey, who's there? S-say something!"

"Dude, chill." Jackson said, blinking, "Are you going to react like that everytime there's a new person?"

Misery Manor

Half watched as Yamiko awoke and went to Lupin. After she disappeared (woke up again?) he looked to Sinistrina and said "it seems you underestimated her." This was spoken merely as a matter of fact, neither judgment or consolations were in his words.

Half didn't feel another vision coming, but was on guard nonetheless.