Character Dream II

"Impressed?" Caleb paused for a moment and considered Danielle's explanation, "it would be a bit unusual I suppose. I could do that as far back as I can remember; explaining it would be like-" he divided to take another approach "we're I'm from people have what we call 'eidolons', images or reflections of the elements that make us who we are. Like what I did there, we can send it out and effect the area around us. At first I thought that your abilities were eidolon based."

"Actually, we don't see much 'big, flashy' stuff. Some can pull it off but not for long. So the feeling's mutual."

He listened in on the others talking. As much as he hated to admit it, unarmed he was probably the most helpless one here. But something else bothered him. "I'd like to ask you about your own power, but if we're traveling together there's something I must warn you about. I don't wear these restraints because of how flaming fantastic they are, my..." Caleb hesitated; he really didn't want to say this but he sould have done so sooner. "My time as a person like any other is limited. One day I'm doomed to become a feral beast. That could be years from now, but I have to accept that the transformation could be sooner rather than later."

[Clinic/Henry]

Henry saw the tension between Ritter and Iveya and decided not to get involved. To him it looked like Iveya was polite to her host but unfamiliar with Ritter"s customs. As for her question to him though, Henry decided he might as well be honest for he really had no reason to hide his reasons.

"Well that's an interesting story." He began as he started making his way to the parlor. "You see for the past 19 years I've been working on a machine for interdimensional travel. In '74 2 years after I started I managed to exploit a tear in the fabric of reality just long enough for me to travel through, I got stuck dimension hopping for 10 years after that." He said chuckling to himself.

"Thankfully I eventually made it home. For the next 15 years I've messed around with interdimensional travel on and off, and in that time I've encountered some rather interesting beings. Beings that to be frank, are the closest things to gods I've ever seen in my life and trust me that's a very long life. I think that they are the first intelligent beings in all of reality and because of that they have a better understanding of how to bend the rules of reality. I wanted to go to their home dimension in hope of establishing communication with them but it seems they have a form of protection from that."

[Forest/Lauren]

Lauren sighed silently to herself for umptenth time today. 'I swear Henry when I find you I'm going to hurt you'

She then looked over to the Warden. "I guess I'll help you with this as long as you help me find Henry." She then pulled out her Glock 17 and made sure it was loaded. "I should have enough ammo to be good for awhile."

Demo simply just arched an eyebrow behind the visor of his helmet.

"If whatever yer talkin' aboot can be taken care of by that frogsticker of yours then I don't think I have much to fear," was his only comment on the matter.

His helmet picked up something, and he immediately turned to the amorphous mist observing them.

"Whatever you are, don't think hanging aroond there like a smelly fart's gonna protect ya," he said aloud, making sure whatever it was could hear it.

[The Forest] (Warden, Demo, Dives, Lauren and Moreena)

Moreena slithered closer, and hovered in front of the man who had spoken, simply observing him for a few moments before doing anything.

"I'm sorry," she eventually said, speaking with a soft but slightly chilly female voice that seemed to come from multiple directions at once.

"No vocal chords," she continued, pointing at herself with a loose tendril. "The name is Moreena. Would I be correct in assuming that you aren't native to this place either? I just recently arrived here myself."

[Ritter Clinic]

"Fair enough," he said mildly. For a brief moment, something felt... vaguely threatening. It seemed to be warning him to allow the situation to defuse, even though some part of him knew that it wasn't just the cold making Iveya react this way. "I came a bit too close to losing my temper there."

Friedrich understood approximately none of Henry's talk of trans-dimensional travel as he crossed the hallway to the parlor. "If it were me, I wouldn't want to fuck around with those kinds of beings. I like a simple life." A simple life of founding a resistance group and helping out secret nations in his free time. Yeah. Nice and simple, right? "But if that's what you feel like doing, more power to ya, or however that saying goes."

The parlor door was opened. It was clean and uncluttered, but the packed bookshelves, rugs, armchairs, and sofa looked very old. A number of children's drawings and framed photographs were on the walls and mantelpiece, where a small fire was going. A brown goat stood by the window. When it saw Friedrich, it bleated.

"Yeah, we got guests today, Violet. Be nice to 'em."

She stared at the place where the ghostly woman had briefly appeared. The only visible reaction had been a small, startled twitch forward, as if she was getting ready to stand up and do something. Vince seemed to have noticed something, at least, but... Mazra...

"And everything keeps slipping." Seilaan frowned deeply. "Like when you're waking up and the more you want to remember the dream, the faster you forget." Now she looked to the other woman. "Mazra, someone just... appeared, and then vanished. She looked like you. Did you notice at all? And what were the scratching noises? Another wyvern?" She was kind of hoping for another one.

p(Orange Tree Garden)

"So, you were born with your magic? That's another big difference between us," Danielle commented. "Believe it or not, we actually ended up buying a set of magic rings on a shopping trip. I don't think the store owner even knew what she had. In any case, our magic is contained in the rings. Without them, we're just ordinary humans. With them, we each have a portion of a goddess' power at our beck and call. It had to be spread out, as forcing her entire powers into one person will apparently cause a mortal to... burst at the seams, shall we say."

Charlotte gave a sour look when Caleb said he was suffering from some sort of time delayed curse. "That... that must be awful. To know that something like that is going to happen, but not be able to do anything about it. Amy might be able to help, she's a great healer; but she's got no experience with curses. None of us do."

"I'll see what I can do, if you want me to," Amy said. She trusted Caleb, and if worst came to worst and he turned, well, she trusted herself and her friends to make it easy on him.

edited 14th Feb '16 11:51:49 AM by daird

[Ritter Clinic]

So that was a goat. It smelled sort of like a camel, she noted, but looked nothing like it. It looked vaguely like descriptions of sheep she had heard, but while sheep were said to be unremittingly stupid and obedient (like the Mauros who kept them), the goat seemed to have a certain animal savvy. Also like a camel in that respect.

"I must agree with Friedrich," Iveya said with a shudder, "such things are best left alone. Many of my ancestors suffered and died, some lost their very spirits, the last time anything like a god walked our world." But the shudder was caused by her thoughts briefly returning to the Void, which she had touched, oh so briefly, during her initiation as a mage. She could see why anti-mage extremists claimed it was alive. "If I may be so bold; the most intelligent creatures of nature are predators. So if one encounters a being far beyond the human..." she trailed off, leaving the implications to hang in the air.

[Wasteland]

Celso reached for his gun as soon as he saw the realm he had ventured into, and muttered "pater noster, qui es in caelis..."

He approached Miyuki when he spotted her, making absolutely certain not to point the gun even remotely in her direction. "Senhorita Miyuki," he said, glancing around the wastes. "Are you okay?" In theory, a desert was not an evil place... but in a realm such as this, he was more concerned about what the desert symbolized than what it was. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

The Latin is the opening lines of the Lord's Prayer, traditionally translated as "our Father who art in heaven".

edited 14th Feb '16 2:14:21 PM by KillerClowns

"Rings huh?" Caleb commented, "guard that information well, plenty of people will seek them if they know. Though to be honest this place has made me a little loose lipped myself."

His mind kicked up at the thought of a cure, but there was hesitation. For one thing he wasn't sure about Tiamat they spoke of, and he wasn't the only one who suffered the affliction. Still, "I guess it's worth a shot," he told Amy, "but don't blame yourself if it doesn't work."

(She won't be able to heal him, but maybe she could find out that he still has a lot of time.)

[Farm - Barn (Mazra, Seilaan, Vince)]

Mazra gave both of the others a very confused glance, which also took in the wyvern. From just one person she might have been skeptical, but several saying the same thing usually should be taken more seriously. "I didn't notice anything, but I wouldn't be surprised by anything in a, uh, 'place' like this," she said, speaking slowly at first but picking up speed as she got more excited. "Maybe it was a ghost! Or..." her tone dropped again. "I guess it might have been the dream, since we were talking about nightmares, and most of the ones I did ever remember were about my mother. Not that that's mutually exclusive with being a ghost. She, um, died a number of years ago."

Right, then, changing the subject.

"So, as I was saying, I think I should try going outside and seeing if I can do anything to affect the... dreamscape." On purpose, anyway. "Do you want to try too?"

She realized as she was finished speaking that Seilaan hadn't quite clearly explained her 'amnesia' or whatever it really was. But things were kind of complicated right now, so she probably shouldn't press her.

[Forest (Min, Varris)]

Min Liao woke up, and she regretted it. Her head felt like knives were being driven into it, her back ached, and her limbs refused to move. It was like the air itself had a crushing weight, pinning her to the ground. She opened an eye halfway, but then hastily closed it, wincing at the light.

Something gently nudged her side, causing her to let out an involuntary groan. With considerable effort, she mumbled, "Just gimme a few, Varris..."

Min reached over to adjust her pillow, only for her hand to grasp empty air. She reached down and her hand touched something wet and soft, almost like... grass?

She forced her eyes open, giving them time to adjust to their surroundings. Min found herself lying in the middle of a lightly forested area, the ground covered in dew-dropped grass, gnarled tree roots occasionally poking out of the soil. It was eerily silent, the only noise being the rustling of leaves above her.

"Finally," came a soft, anxious voice from beside her. "You've been out for ages. Are you feeling alright?"

Min sat up and turned to look, and was relieved to learn that her first assumption had been correct, for the voice indeed belonged to her companion, Varris. He was a white-scaled dragon slightly larger than the size of the average house cat, with two small wings on his back, and vivid purple eyes. Instead of horns, he had small crests pointing upward on the back of his head.

Min smiled faintly, although still groggy from sleep. "I've... been better, honestly. But I'm sure I'll be fine, really. Don't worry about me." She glanced up at the sky, thick with impenetrable fog. "Has it really been that long?"

Varris paused, as though thinking it over. "I'm... not sure, come to think of it. I sort of lost track of time. That's really... unlike me."

Feeling seemed to be returning to the rest of her body, so Min pushed herself onto her feet, trying to get a better look at her surroundings. She muttered, "This definitely isn't Greyvale."

"Clearly," said Varris, sauntering over in front of her. "I can't see a single building from here, not with all the trees in the way, anyway. It's very damp, though, so I guess it could be in that general area."

Min scanned the horizon for any sign of civilization, frowning. Varris was right. The only thing around them was an endless expanse of trees and fog. "Yeah, it could be the outskirts. Never actually been this far away from town... would almost be a dream come true if it weren't for the circumstances..."

There was something deeply unsettling about all of this, and it wasn't just because she had woken up in the middle of nowhere, although that was certainly part of it. There was something off about the forest itself, a weird sensation of weightlessness, like everything was on the brink of just floating away.

Ignoring her growing apprehension, Min said, "Come on, we need to get moving. We should put as much distance between us and this spot as possible. There's gotta be a city or a town around here somewhere."

Varris nodded in agreement, and the two of them walked off into the fog.

[Forest -> Farm - Exterior (Min, Varris)]

Min moved through the forest in an erratic manner, weaving through the trees and occasionally doubling back on her path in order to throw off anything that might be following her. She wasn't exactly sure of what she was looking out for, but she certainly wasn't about to start getting careless now after all these years.

This, coupled with Min's wiry physique, gave her the air of a caged sparrow, always moving with frenetic energy. She was a young human woman, somewhere between nineteen and twenty years old, with wavy black hair that reached halfway down her neck and curled around her weary-looking face and gray eyes. Although anyone from Earth would assume she was Chinese based on her face, that wasn't entirely accurate, considering that China didn't exist in her world.

Min wore a beat-up dark gray hoodie, black combat boots, and long black pants that enunciated her lankiness, none of which were quite the right size for her. There was a dark brown leather sheath clipped to her belt, which contained her only form of self-defense, a dagger with a five inch long blade.

Min hoped she could avoid using it unless it was completely necessary. Stylish as they were, Lynwoods took forever to clean. She had learned that the hard way.

After what felt like ages, the two of them emerged from the forest into a clearing where the treeline stopped, a vast expanse of grass and mist. What really caught Min's eye, though, was the building at the center of the clearing, ostensibly some sort of primitive farm.

In a low voice, Varris asked, "Think anyone's home?"

"Dunno," said Min, cautiously unlatching the fence's gate and stepping through. This place really looked like it had seen better days. "Barn door's wide open, though. Either someone's recently been here, or nobody's been here for a long time."

Min stopped just outside of the barn, beside the door. Someone was here. She could hear voices coming from inside, in various different accents. Not too different from home, then. She pushed her hair away from her ears, revealing two metallic devices nestled inside them. Unlike her clothes, they seemed to perfectly fit her. They were silvery in color and were marked by a faintly glowing cyan symbol – the outline of a rhombus, enclosed by two angle brackets.

She adjusted a slider on the side of the left one and concentrated, trying to pick up on what the people inside were saying.

"...I think I should try going outside and seeing if I can do anything to affect the... dreamscape. Do you want to try it, too?"

Min's heartbeat sped up, the way it always did when she was about to get caught sneaking around somewhere she wasn't supposed to be. Well, that wasn't completely true in this case. She wasn't breaking any laws, as far as she knew. But all the same, she knew she need to make a decision, quick.

Then the rest of what the person had said sunk in - dreamscape? The hell was that supposed to mean?

"Are you really sure we should go in there?" asked Varris, his voice barely more than a whisper now. "Some random barn in the middle of nowhere? It would be nice if we could avoid dying today."

Min closed her eyes, thinking. If the people in the barn did go outside, standing around idly would be pointless. That, and this could be the only trace of civilization for miles, depending on how far away they were from Greyvale. At the same time, it would be stupidly risky to just walk inside, where she would have a much harder time running away if shit hit the fan, as it tended to do. But she needed some answers.

Min sighed. No way around it, I guess. "Here's what I'm thinking: I'll knock first. See who comes out. If they're armed? We run."

She knew it wasn't a foolproof plan. The Current could definitely be weaponized, and chances were high that the people inside the barn would be able to access it. Then she would be outranged, and her only hope would be to escape into the forest before they could hit her...

Min pushed the thought to the back of her mind. She couldn't let fear hold her back. Lifting a hand to the open door, she knocked, softly at first, and then again more loudly. Then, she waited.

edited 15th Feb '16 10:12:22 AM by Collen

[farm, around barn - Vince, Mazra, Seilaan, Min, Varris]

Well, the answer was no. He got the sense that maybe Mazra wasn't completely understanding that that wasn't the point of this place. There was a vague possibility that she was one of those lucid dreamers, and wanted to see if this place was any different... but what was the point? Curiosity, he supposed. He was really hoping he'd be able to talk with Seilaan, maybe, but Mazra of course seemed very intent on this...

The wyvern in the roost slipped out through the hole in the barn's front it entered through. A moment later, he heard knocking. Vince unceremoniously extended one of his translucent-green psychic arms from his back, then stood and starting moving towards the door as he used the arm to pull it open. Once open, he stopped at least a couple meters away, clearly too far away for any of his physical arms to open the door, the psychic arm shimmering green in plain sight.

"You cold?" The door revealed that the young woman and her albino companion-wyvern had drawn some attention. The horse that had been eating outside remained where it was, trying to pretend to graze and mind its own business out of a mix of fear and curiosity. The wyvern from the roost, meanwhile, had rather noisily climbed down the front of the barn to taste their air with its forked tongue, hanging upside-down just above the doorframe. It still stepped back up for a second when the door moved, jumpy little thing.

Now in full light, the wyvern was still cat-sized, albeit the size of a rather substantial breed of cat. Five black, rather pointy-looking horns decorated its head, and its mottled green and gray hide bore several old scars predating its last molt, from old territorial spats. Its eyes were thin, slitted, and intensely gold in color.

edited 15th Feb '16 7:30:44 PM by CrystalGlacia

(Orange Tree Garden)

"Okay, then." Amy took a deep breath to calm her nerves and called out, "Dragon scales, shield my heart!" A transformation similar to Charlotte's took place, except Amy's particular theme color was white, and her chest emblem was an interlocking pattern of thin black lines.

Amy walked over to Caleb and went into a trance, her eyes and hands glowing brilliant white. "Hmm... this is interesting. I don't know how this happened, or who or what done it, but this curse you've got baffles me. Healing's more like untying a knot than anything else. Problem is, this little spell you've got doesn't seem to have any ends for me to pull on. What I can say is, it's not very big yet. You've got plenty of time before anything happens."

A snap of her fingers, and Amy was back to normal as well. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you."

[Farm - Exterior (Min, Varris, Vince, Mazra, Seilaan)]

Min wasn't really perturbed by the man's psychic arm or the other dragon hanging from the doorframe. Instead, her eyes fixated entirely on the man himself, poring over him appraisingly, not so much looking at him as looking through him, her gaze sharper than any knife she'd ever owned.

The first thing she noticed was his face, which had a gauntness that reminded her a lot of the beggars she occasionally saw around the lower district, or maybe even herself on worse days, when she was unable to get herself something to eat and didn't feel like bothering her friends about it. If this man was the owner of this dingy place, the face was a perfect fit.

It was ridiculous to imagine someone who looked like this turning out to be an axe murderer or something, especially when he didn't appear to have any weapons on hand. But Min wasn't about to discount him as a potential threat based solely on appearance, so instead she turned her gaze to the green psychic arm, which indicated the man had to have some sort of proficiency in using the Current. Min hadn't heard of someone installing an interface in their back, though, since there was always the cheaper and less inconvenient alternative of-

Wait, the man had just said something to her. Shit, was he waiting for a response or something? Min fidgeted, trying to come up with a response, but could only draw a blank. Why did this always happen? Why couldn't she just concentrate on more than one thing at the same time?

Hastily, Varris, who had been staring down the man's dragon, stepped forward from where he was standing behind Min and said, “Oh, no, we're not cold. This type of weather is pretty normal around where we live. Right, Min?” He gave her ankle a tiny nudge.

Min blinked, and then nodded, giving a less than sincere smile. It would've been nice if Varris hadn't given away her name, but she supposed it didn't matter much in the long run. The old man would likely forget about them sooner or later, anyway.

“Right, no, I'm fine.” Her voice had a rough edge to it, unlike Varris's more articulated speech. “We're, uh, looking for directions, actually. Think you could point us in the direction of Greyvale? Can't be too far from here.”

edited 16th Feb '16 5:21:06 PM by Collen

[Wasteland]

"This is... A bad place." Whispered Miyuki. Her voice trembled as she spoke, and she kept her gaze straight ahead. "I shouldn't be here. I don't want to be here!" She said, as tears began to stream down her face. "It's not fair! I just wanted to... To..." With her knees pulled up to her chest, she buried her face in her skirt.

Her shadowy follower remained behind her, as always. She was darker than the shade in which she stood. If this place, and her very nature, were not strange enough already, the mysteries only deepened. As Miyuki covered her eyes, her spectral companion walked away from her, stepping towards the horizon. As she stepped into the light, she seemed to solidify; no longer did she appear to be made of smoke. Now she was a person in her own right, as real as anything else in the Dream.

The dust cloud that was gathering on the horizon was much, much closer now, and it became clear that this was no "natural" phenomenon. The dust was kicked up by the pounding footsteps of dozens of humanoid figures, all rushing towards Miyuki and Celso. They seemed to be soldiers of some sort, as they each wore the same "uniform," complete with camouflage-pattern pants of earthy red and brown colours, and a long rifle of some sort, the details of which were obscured by the dust. By far the most disturbing thing about these fast-approaching shapes on the horizon, was that they were mostly faceless, save for a loose smattering of them whose otherwise-blank faces wore vile, toothy, Cheshire grins.

Miyuki's black-clad follower slowly drew the scimitar that had been sheathed by her hip, and turned her head to look at Celso. "These are my demons..." She said. Her voice was breathy, as though it wasn't really a voice at all, but merely the whistling wind. And yet, it was also clear and distinct. "But they will seek to harm you, too." Her voice, bizarrely, was not unlike Miyuki's, just deeper and older.

She turned back towards the small hoard of faceless fiends, and put both hands on her grip of her sword, readying to strike...

Perhaps it was how forign the-energy he supposed was the best way to describe it-was, or some machination of the place, but Caleb understood what she meant. He had a tinge of guilt, he wanted to say that he had some hope, that his friend had could some people who might be able to help him. But Zane's words were clear, "don't get anyone else involved." And the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, it was one of the few times Caleb saw Zane truely afraid.

"Thank you for helping me realize that I still have time," he said, "you've done more for me than I would have expected when I first showed up here."

[Forest]

The Warden placed her fist to her chest in some form of salute. "I swear to you Lauren, I will find your husband and he will be returned to you safe and sound. You have my word, and my thanks. The temples I have been brought too have proven very difficult to clear, and they have only become more and more treacherous."

As soon as the mist began to talk, The Warden pulled her sword and held it at the ready. "What are you? Are you an incantation? Some sorcerer's foul trick? Explain yourself!"

[farm, around barn - Vince, Mazra, Seilaan, Min, Varris]

Why was she looking at him like that? Was he really that visually interesting? Well, yeah, psychic arms aren't something you see every day, but the rest of him? What the hell.

Somehow, the albino wyvern spoke. Like, with its mouth. There was nothing logical about presuming that something with a wyvern form-factor was also going to be functionally deaf like an Earthen reptile and possess dog-esque intelligence at maximum, but it caught him off-guard enough to not really notice what it had said. Or he. His voice was reasonably masculine-sounding.

"Greyvale," he repeated blankly. Vince shifted his weight slightly, the psychic arm retracting to dangle limply over his shoulder. "I've not heard of Greyvale. I know for certain it's nowhere near my actual farm, but given the nature of this place... it could probably be anywhere. Or you could try willing it into existence, one of my guests here," he nodded in Mazra's direction, "was talking about experimenting with things of that nature."

The wyvern that had been examining the two new arrivals nearly lost its footing on the barn when the albino-looking wyvern spoke, not helped by the fact that it was clinging upside-down to a vertical surface. It climbed down into the barn, around the upper doorframe, then perched atop the door to a nearby horse stall so it could better focus on the two. The girl's air just sorta tasted funny, not exactly like aither, not exactly like those Gaean humans... the wyvern smelled male, reasonably good health, maybe some aither... they were foreigners, whatever. The whole time, the wyvern with Seilaan had been watching the other scope these people out. Eventually, the boss turned around and gave it a look- not sure yet. Maybe just staying here with the nice warm lady and her funny-smelling water was good for now.

Alright, let's let Snowy and Nrjxll have their turns.

[Farm]

Oh, another visitor. They were probably going to go through the whole What? This is a dream? routine with Vince, just like pretty much everyone else who came by here. It was getting a little old.

Seilaan decided to stay silent about Mazra's mother. There were some painful memories here, judging by how quickly Mazra changed the subject. Unbeknownst to Seilaan, her appearance blinked into that of a slimmer person with thin, silky hair and an expression that was more solemn than Seilaan's politely blank one. Otherwise, this person was very much like Seilaan herself.

She shook her hair and her original appearance returned. "I—I think I'll stay inside for now and have some more tea. It's nice and warm... tea... cute animals... nothing to worry about here...." Her voice grew quieter as she spoke, the last few words were barely more than a whisper.

Misery Manor (Sinistrina)

Sinistrina von Schwarzwald was the stewardess of this old abandoned house, and now she rose up from her seat on the porch, her skull-topped staff grasped firmly in her hand, and her black pointed hat resting firmly atop her head. As she turned around to face the front doors, much more sturdy-looking than the rest of the manor, she squinted her blood-red eyes.

"How odd," she spoke. "I sense two souls already trapped in this place, when I saw nobody enter. Oh well. Like always, there is nothing I can do about them. Their bodies will die and rot, and their souls will vanish into data." She heaved a heavy sigh and turned back around.

Just then, she heard a roar coming from above and behind her. Not a second later, a shadow traveled along the ground in front of the manor, growing steadily larger, until at last a magnificent lavender-coated lynx, twice as large as the average tiger, leapt gracefully onto the ground. A gentle white aura shone around the tips of her fur, matching the clear hue of her narrowed eyes, which eyed the battered-looking witch on the porch. She uttered a low snarl, her fangs extending well below her jawline. Beneath these fangs, she held a black and purple wolf in her mouth, only this one was normal-sized and limp. After she and Sinistrina locked eyes for a bit, she turned around and leapt into the forest, before vanishing altogether.

"Mythrine... Goddess of Spirit..." Sinistrina was utterly bewildered at the sight of the oversized cat. "Curious, very curious... this area is so forsaken, that never would I have thought such a holy presence would show herself here. Even so, like life... it is fleeting." She bowed her head and shed a single tear.

The Blackwood (Elemental Guardians, Nick, Fawn, Dark Caller)

Phoebe smiled at Fawn for mentioning the pancakes, but what the Dark Caller just told them made her feel very uneasy. "I-I-I'm with Nick," she stammered. "A-a-and I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Just then, she heard the sound of puking... though it was not her, but Yamiko, who had just coughed up the pork bun she had just eaten back onto her plate.

"Oh my," Ashleigh commented, pressing her fingers gently to her chin and gazing with uncertainty at the Dark Caller. "With powers like that, it seems as if you are the... god of this Blackwood. You are the creator. And you will convert the surroundings to your realm..."

"Oh come on," Gon rebutted, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head. "Quit referring to your stupid Bible." Ashleigh gave him a dirty look, then took another sip of her tea. "And how can you still drink that stuff? It's not even real!"

"Seems pretty real to (cough) me," Yamiko remarked, after patting her lips dry on her napkin. "I'm sorry, I just have a really sensitive stomach. This happens... all the... time..." She was breathing in short gasps near the end of her sentence, until finally she bowed her head and started quivering in her seat.

Noticing this, the ghostly sorceress Lorraine smiled and extended a disembodied hand toward Yamiko's head. Wisps of dark energy flowed from beneath Yamiko's hat and towards Lorraine, funneling into the crimson orb fastening her cloak.

"Mmmmm, how your curse fuels me so," Lorraine mused. "Oh, and Dark Caller?" she addressed the raven-like creature. "Let me just say that's a lovely plan, and that we would love to continue conversing with you."

"N-no we won't!" Phoebe cried, grasping anxiously at the tablecloth. "Are you crazy? How can we have a pleasant conversation at a time like this!? After what he told us?" She turned to face the Dark Caller, but shut her eyes tight, as she couldn't bear looking at it. "Please don't tell us things like that... I know you can't harm us but... the things you're saying are just... creepy! We're just simple mortals after all! I wanna go back to Shuberville now. No, I wanna go home!"

"Oh for crying out loud," Gon muttered. "Can we please just..." A series of beeps issued from his laptop bag. Interrupted, Gon pulled out his Scanner, and immediately his eyes widened in surprise. "It's from Ari!"

"Ari is Gon's little sister," Lorraine explained, followed by an inexplicably sweet giggle. "She's been captured by Vir... I mean, the bad guy of our virtual world - which is bad because she's an Elemental Guardian, just like the four of us Keepers. Although honestly, I would love to see how she fares in the villain's grasp."

Gon took a second to glare at Lorraine before returning his focus to the Scanner. "I don't know how," he read aloud, "but I have been transferred from the MDS Complex to Misery Manor. I am confident that this place is less secured than Virtualmon's lair, but I still don't know how to get out. I hope you can help me escape. I miss you, Hiroshi."

"Hiroshi," Lorraine mocked with a giggle. "That's his real name."

"Misery Manor?" asked Ashleigh, who was presently comforting Yamiko. "You don't mean..."

"The haunted house in Necromere," Yamiko replied in a solemn tone. Slowly she looked up at the group. "I think... I mean, I think we should go there. I think... Lupin might be there too..." She bowed her head again, and tears started dripping out of her eyes.

Lorraine giggled again. "I am sure he is. Yamiko has a crush on him. Pitiful, isn't it? All Girls Want Bad Boys indeed."

"We've got to go there!" Gon exclaimed, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. "We don't have time to chat! I've got to save Ari while she's still in Misery Manor!"

"Gon, be polite now," Ashleigh calmly remarked. "Dark Caller, we'd love to stay and chat, but unfortunately we have more pressing matters at hand... But thank you for tea. It was wonderful."

edited 17th Feb '16 1:40:27 AM by ladytanuki

[Misery Manor]

Gabe, as he was mostly called these days, stood at just over six feet tall, though this included the height added by the three inch heels of his boots, with pale skin and long, beautiful, effeminate features. His blonde-white hair was tied behind him in a bun, woven with gold ribbons, in a way that brought to mind a sun disk or a halo; it was large enough that, if let loose, his hair would easily reach his ankles. His eyes were blue, a shade too like the sky to be normal. All of this was accentuated by flamboyant but masterfully applied make-up that highlighted his every feature perfectly.

Gabe's gloriously unsubtle tastes extended to his fashion sensibilities; he wore an outfit that would look ridiculous on any other man. His main garment was essentially a Catholic cassock, loosened to not restrict movement. But instead of the expected simple black, it was decorated with angular, sun-themed patterns of pure white and shining gold, with a large sun-shaped watch acting as a brooch. The sleeves opened at the elbows, with the backs flowing past his hand to billow out into a wing-like form. His hands and arms were covered by long white gloves, with abstract, insect-like patterns woven in silver. On his feet he wore knee-length boots made of segments of white with gold edging, with gold stiletto heels and toecaps. Over his shoulders was a small cape, of gold-trimmed white cloth, with some sort of large, perfectly white feathers woven in. The only thing that broke the strict color scheme was his earrings: crescents of some black metal, horns pointed upwards, decorated with blood-red rubies. Despite the incredible quality of the materials and workmanship, the whole affair would have been beyond salvaging were it not for Gabe himself. Aside from being just naturally beautiful enough to make virtually any outfit work, the sheer, exaggerated confidence with which himself made it clear he knew exactly how outlandish he looked and was happy to own it.

He sauntered onto the scene with a wry smile and looked up at the manor, before saying, in a Stage Whisper, "my, oh, my!" He took a grand bow to Sinistrina. "Father Gabriel, at your service, but no need to be formal; you can just call me Gabe." He stood and, his tone genuinely respectful, continued, "and I just love what you've done with the place. It's good to see the other side of the balance still appreciates attention to detail."

The powers of this place would be utterly unable to take Gabe's soul. Something else had already claimed it by magically binding contract. One of the most horrific, alien, powerful, and dangerous beings in all of the realities: an angel.

I've been going on and off on whether or not I'm going to use this particular plot bunny for months now, but this just seemed too perfect to pass up.

[Wasteland]

"Not if I harm them first." Celso took a few moments to stared down the demons as he pointed his pistol at them. "All is metaphor", he said, "here, a weapon is only an extension of the self." He focused his confidence, his willingness to destroy those who stood before his ambitions, into the weapon, making it a symbol of his power and his unwavering will. And then he fired, round after round, with a lifetime's experience of marksmanship sending a single bullet towards the heads of the nearest seven dark soldiers. Ironically, his instincts also betrayed him; he had to take a moment thereafter to toss the clip and pull another from his jacket, though there would always be another loaded clip waiting for him.

edited 18th Feb '16 10:58:51 AM by KillerClowns

[Farm - Barn (Mazra, Seilaan, Vince, Min, Varris)]

Mazra blinked at the brief transformation that Seilaan underwent. "Oh, wow." The younger girl didn't seem to notice it in any way, which made her think it was probably something a lot like what the other said they'd seen. Maybe that was her mother?

She turned towards the front of the barn to see who the doctor was talking to, and blinked again. So fast she couldn't see any transition, part of the front wall surrounding the door just... vanished. The doorframe was left standing upright by itself, apparently unaffected, as was the rest of the barn's structure.

Wow, okay, this is getting a little weirder now. A small and quiet part of her wondered whether it might be a good idea to try waking up now, but she immediately squashed the thought.

Looking outside, she studied the newcomers. Another younger girl in messy clothes and a couple of gadgets she didn't immediately recognize. Probably not Corinarchi, or high class in general. And a small white animal that seemed a lot like Vince's wyverns.

Except it was talking.

"Wow," she said again. She looked at Vince. "Can yours talk too?"

[Farm – Exterior (Min, Varris, Vince, Mazra, Seilaan)]

He didn't know what Greyvale was? Min should just will the city into existence? Okay, now she was certain that she was being screwed with. Even someone who lived in the middle of nowhere had to have heard of Greyvale at some point. Arms crossed, she began to say, “You can't honestly expect me to believe-”

Then the front wall of the barn disappeared, and suddenly everything clicked. That strange feeling that wouldn't go away, the mention of a 'dreamscape', the man's odd response to her question… Min let out a numb laugh. “I'm dreaming. This is a dream.”

But did that really make sense? She distinctly remembered waking up in that forest, for one. Her head really had felt like someone had driven a knife through it. And if this was a dream, why was everyone acting so… real? Why would she even be dreaming about a farm or some ancient-looking farmer she'd never seen before in her life?

Min looked down at Varris, studying him. He seemed real to her, in appearance and personality and general adorableness. Min spent practically all her time with Varris by her side. If something was off about him, she would be able to tell, wouldn't she?

Varris seemed to be trying to connect the dots, too. He moved over to where the front wall had been mere seconds before, crossing back and forth across the border several times. “There's really nothing here,” he said, clawing experimentally at the floor. “And nowhere the wall could've gone, either.”

He started at the sound of the woman's strange voice, and quickly scurried back back to Min's side, peering warily back at the barn's two occupants from behind her feet.

Min groaned, her migraine starting to return. Slowly, she said, “Alright. It'd be really, really nice if one of you could just explain to me what the hell is going on here. Like... who are you, where are we, what happened to that wall? Is this place real? Are any of you real?”

(Orange Tree Grove->Fog->Park)

"You're welcome, Caleb. But now, I think it's high time we parted ways. See what else there is in this land of strangeness. I do sincerely hope we meet again, though."

With that, Amy turned and walked into the fog, the rest of the Dragon's Daughters following suit. It wasn't long before they came to a park. It was the kind of place you'd see in a major city; wide open spaces, a jogging trail passing through, a spot set up for horseshoes or ring toss, that sort of thing. But appearances could be deceiving, and this place had a major feeling of bad juju.

Not altogether undeserved, as the girls knew very, very well.

Blackwoods - Fawn, a group of magical heroes, Nick, Dark Caller

Fawn looked between the Dark Caller to the magical heroes and kept going between the two as each spoke their piece. She didn't like the idea of the Dark Caller turning the whole dream land to his land but had a feeling she wouldn't be able to convince him to change his mind nor she could fight him for it. Maybe someone else would come along and do just that but for now she looked alert as the group mentioned one of their members had been kidnapped by the villain of their world but was suddenly in a place called Misery Mansion.

Why were there so many spooky places in this world? Fawn at first wasn't looking too keen on heading to a place like that, but the thought of being able to film magical beings fighting in action swayed her thoughts. "I want to come with you. Not sure how much help I'll be but I'll do my best. Not to mention I'll film it all as well." she said with a grin and picked up and fiddled with her camcorder.

Misery Manor (Sinistrina, Gabe)

In place of the feline goddess, an angel arrived. ...Or at least she looked like one. Clad in an ornate outfit of white and gold, the purest white feathers woven into her cape, and wearing high-heeled boots no mortal shoemaker would dream of making, she looked to be the very embodiment of all that was good in the world, a stark contrast to this dreary place. Even her very aura seemed to sparkle.

Sinistrina had mixed feelings about this angelic woman. While she certainly seemed nice, she was perhaps a little too nice. Not to mention with how pure she was, looking at her hurt her eyes a bit, so she had to squint as she approached.

But when she took a bow and introduced herself, it became immediately apparent that she was actually a he, and his name was Gabriel. Sinistrina raised a black-nailed hand to her face and blushed.

"Oh um, hello," Sinistrina greeted in an uncertain tone. "I am Sinistrina von Schwarzwald, stewardess of Misery Manor." She gestured at the abandoned manor behind her. And then she paused to regain her composure, for she was still embarrassed by not noticing that Gabe was a guy.

But then her demeanor changed. She gripped her skull-topped staff tightly in her other hand and tapped it on the floor, causing the black feathers on it to ruffle about. Her blood-red eyes narrowed in disdain. "Oh yes, this manor is lovely inside. Or at least it was before your arrival made it look hideous in comparison. Why, you're practically the spitting image of my sister, Lucina Geppetto of Alpenhaus. You aren't one of her assistants, are you? Haven't come to mock this forsaken realm, have you? And don't you dare shorten my name to Sin, just like that other scout did."

Her blood was starting to boil, and for a few seconds she just stood there glaring at Gabe. But then, her demeanor suddenly changed again, this time becoming more playful and sweet. "You wouldn't want to come in, would you?" She took a pace backward towards the front door.