Character Dream II

[Wasteland]

The soldiers died immediately when hit, their blood soaking into the ground. Even the faceless ones let out a beastly, high-pitched shriek as they died.

Miyuki's shadowy companion was little more than a blur, leaving clouds of dust in her wake as she dashed through the charging crowd of fiends at blinding speeds. She was scarcely even visible, but her effects were clear, as the soldiers were cut down in bloody droves.

Even so, a handful separated from the bulk, and charged at Miyuki, and at Celso, with rusty bayonets at the ends of their strange rifles.

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

What... what the hell happened?

The vanishing front wall left the grazing horse from earlier exposed to all the people. Spooked, it staggered away around the side of the barn, attempting to hide. Vince furrowed his brow and moved around to the edge of the new hole in his barn, revealing to the wyvern-toting girl that the psychic arm dangling over his shoulder was, in fact, phasing through his two shirts, originating from the dead-center of his back.

Even... even the wood had been rounded off. Like his barn was always this wide-open. Like most everything else in this dream, his senses caught no warnings of any kind, it just... happened.

He heard Mazra say something, but didn't catch what it was. Something about his wyverns... but the new girl cut his train of thought. To ask him those same damn questions... again. Chuckling under his breath, his psychic arm withdrew into his back, a low thrum starting in his cores.

He swiveled on one foot to face the girl, a a too-graceful motion considering what it was, wearing that same old too-contented smile that seemed even more so here, right now.

"Look! You answered yourself already!" He grinned, a bit too wide for one to presume he was merely excited. "You're dreaming," he said, shaking-slash-jabbing his index finger in her direction. "We're dreaming, it's a dream!"

After some fervent arm-waving towards the barn's occupants, he finally stopped baring his teeth and cocked his head, not quite facing her but seeming to calm down a bit in the pause. To those with such senses, the aitheric, contrabass thrums of his cores, his pulse, would have easily filled this 'silence'. Around the side of the barn where the horse was trying to hide, a foal stuck its head out, curious about the commotion, but the larger adult horse guided it back into hiding.

"You're... what, the fifth person I've talked to today who thinks I have a better idea of the nature of this place than you do, beyond that you seem to get here by dreaming." Although he had been literally looking down his nose at her, he spoke gently, almost concerned. "You're clearly aware that the rest of you is peacefully asleep somewhere, but when the damn front of some... imitation of my barn vanishes before your eyes and one of my acquaintances spontaneously transforms into her mother for a second, your first reaction is to quiz me about metaphysics."

As he spoke, an enormous man clothed in a plain tunic, taller than Vince by at least a head and with a warrior's build, appeared in the shadows, blocked by the wall of a horse stall so that only Mazra and Seilaan could see him if they happened to turn away from the scene at the front of the barn. His features were nearly identical to Vince's with the same red eyes, but his shoulder-length hair was blue-black, and his skin was fairer. Had they chosen to look, they would have seen the carotid in his neck spontaneously split and begin to gush blood down his front. Confused, he touched the wound with a hand that had too many fingers, but only got to study the blood on his hand for a moment, as he disappeared just before a tiny drip of blood attempted to reach the barn floor.

Vince settled, entirely unaware of the scene mere meters away, leaning against the edge of the new hole in his barn's front. "I am Doctor Vinicio Acquati. Does that answer your question?"

edited 19th Feb '16 8:45:52 AM by CrystalGlacia

Orange tree garden -> farm property

It worries Caleb to see them leave, but he reminded himself that he noticed no threats in his search. Not to mention if something bad did happen he'd be relying on their protection rather than the other way around.

While he figured that the larger vine covered building was more likely to be the center of this property, the other one was far closer, so he might as well check out there. He returned to the fence and went over it, eventually seeing a vague outline through the fog, looking kind of like a barn for livestock.

Still, something Celso said ate at the back of his mind. He said that the orange tree was the way it was because of legends he had heard, and that this dream realm reacted to people subconsciouses. After telling the dragon's daughters about his condition, Caleb realized what might appear.

Mail truck by the fence -> fog

A nightmare was forming, like the ones that Miyuki's shadow faced. But something in Caleb's mind that he did not know of directed it. Upon the truck sat a humanoid figure, like a pitch black hole in the world except for the right half of his face, which was completely white and expressionless.

This being looked down at his hands. Still in this awful form, but there were more important matters. Why has he manifested here, he thought, when his larval form was still his current self? For once in a long time this being sought answers, and wandered into the fog.

This "Caleb", the being's larval form, called him "Half"; it was as good a name as any, Half supposed.

[The Forest]

Dives turned around and went wide-eyed when they saw Moreena. This strange being was too unlike another betentaculed individual for Dives's comfort.

"I will scout ahead while you all converse," Dives said, fear in their voice as cast a spell of invisibility and shimmied up a nearby tree to observe. They would see how things would turn out.

[The Blackwood]

The Dark Caller looked at Nick "As long as this dream world still persists, you are still existing as a part of it, extending your presence in the dream world, even though you wander the Blackwood freely."

The Dark Caller addressed the Elemental Guardians, "If any of you so desire, you may leave when you want. Any who wish to stay are cordially invited to do so. I would also like to make it known that, due to the much needed rest I have had, the Blackwood is about to expand again."

And with those words, a mighty rumble could be felt throughout all those who walked the dream world and a magically pulse that even those with the weakest sensitivity to magic would feel, was emitted from the center of the Blackwood as more forest around it was converted, tripling the Blackwood in size as trees blackened and twisted.

"Life will walk this Blackwood soon. If any wish to leave, best be fleet of foot."

[Misery Manor]

Gabe shook his head, wondering why Sinistrina seemed so... unstable. "I've never met your sister, Madame von Schwarzwald," he said, his tone implicitly apologizing for any offense he may have unintentionally caused. Confusion, flowing into anger, and then, sudden hospitality. This didn't seem like a good sign.

He frowned, and added, "I'm ashamed to say, in fact, I'm a bit lost. There's definitely something... unusual about these woods." Then he looked up, to the manor, arching his eyebrows. "A gracious invitation," he said, not indicating whether or not he would accept yet. "And a most unusual name. Care to tell me how it got it?" Sinistrina didn't seem particularly happy with the manor's current condition. A demon slip the leash? It was a good thing he'd dressed for the occasion; demon blood slipped right off this outfit. He was perfectly willing to Sinistrina, if she wanted it, but she was clearly hiding something right now. Witches tended not to trust the forces of light... after all, his side had started that idiotic war.

He tilted his head slightly, sensing the Dark Caller's work. Bigger than he'd like to deal with, but it might not leave him much of a choice.

[Wasteland]

Celso glared at the monsters, his eyes burning with contempt as he finished reloading and extinguished each and every one of the group that had broken off with a single bullet between each one's head. "I wish all nightmares would die so easily," Celso said with a grim laugh to the shadow figure. "But I think we'll need a better plan; I have no desire to spend any longer in some black mirror of Valhalla, fighting endless hordes spawned from God only knows what scar in the human soul."

edited 20th Feb '16 9:57:26 PM by KillerClowns

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

Min put her hands up defensively. "Look, dude, I don't know your life story or anything. How was I supposed to know how many people came through here before me?"

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, reevaluating the situation. If this was a dream, that meant she wasn't in any physical danger here. This 'Vinicio' person didn't seem malicious, at least. And Min's only real options in this scenario were to either trust him, or wander off into the fog, where anything could be lurking…

Yeah, I'll stay with the farmer. At least if worst came to worst she'd know what she was dealing with.

"Guess it's only fair I tell you my name, then," said Min, slightly frowning. It still felt inherently wrong, like she was practically begging to get bitten in the ass for it later, but she knew there was no point in being coy about who she was anymore. "My name's Min Liao. Uh, I don't have a fancy title or anything like that. It's just Min." Then she gestured toward her feet and said, "And my friend down there is called Varris. No surname."

Varris nodded at the three of them pleasantly. "It's nice to meet you."

Min looked past Vinicio at the barn, sizing up his 'guests', as he put it. They were both a lot younger than he was, for starters. Min guessed they were somewhere around her age, give or take a few years. The one who had just spoken was wearing some ridiculous outfit that was probably worth more than all of Min's possessions combined. A bit on the chubby side, but that alone didn't necessarily mean she would be less of threat. Although, honestly, anyone who put that much money into their clothing probably had more bark than bite.

And the other woman, the one sitting with one of Vinicio's dragons... Well, her clothes looked a lot more reasonable, although it still wasn't a style that Min saw regularly. This was clearly a person who payed a lot of attention to her appearance. But what stood out the most to Min about this woman was her eyes – so deep and fierce, yet strangely… welcoming? Something about them felt incredibly familiar, but Min couldn't put a finger on what.

Min asked them, "What about you two? You friends of Vinicio's?"

edited 19th Feb '16 7:33:26 PM by Collen

[Farm]

"I would be flattered if he called me a friend," Seilaan said lightly. She didn't seem at all fazed by the recent change of scenery. "We've met before, but given how much time we've spent together, I would only say that we're acquaintances." And really, we know nothing about each other. Or I did know more about him, and forgot, along with the other things.

So she transformed into her mother for a second? Well. Mazra mentioning her mother must have brought Seilaan's to mind. Thinking she saw something out of the corner of her eye, she turned her head, but didn't manage to catch a glimpse of the new apparition. She turned back to Min.

Oh! I know! I'll think about my father. Then I'll turn into him and I will become... a tall person! Yes! I can't believe I've been in a dream world for this long and I haven't even tried that.

No visible change in her own appearance occurred, but the ghostly image of an enormous wolf, certainly large enough for a human to ride, sniffed around the area where the man had appeared. She didn't notice.

... disappointing. She sought solace in another sip of tea.

edited 19th Feb '16 11:46:39 PM by SnowyFoxes

[Clinic/ Henry]

Henry walked into the parlor looking at the goat but not really paying it any mind before sitting in one of the armchairs.

"Oh that's better.Thank you so much Mr. Ritter." He said as he sat down as the painkillers kicked in. He then looked at Iveya knowing her type, very spiritual and hesitant to mess with hierarchy.

"I understand your concern but no one stays on top forever, even gods. Prey adapt to combat their predators, peasants overthrow their tyrants, and in my case some immortal jackass on the fringes of reality learns to track down the possible oldest beings in all of reality." He then leaned back and chucked as a thought came to his head. "Hell they might have banished me here out of spite."

[Forest/ Lauren]

Lauren nodded to the Warden. "Thank you. I'm sure he's fine. Knowing him he'll try to find some form of civilization and warm up to whoever......" She trailed of as Demo started calling out to something.

She quickly pulled out her pistol, as she did so she noticed the mist surrounding them. It lingered around a bit before a disembodied voice started talking. "Ok now this is getting weird."

[Forest]

Demo looked around at his temporary comrades, somewhat confused at their reactions.

"It's just some talkin' mist ya greenhorns. What're ye getting all yer knickers in twists about?" he berated them, before turning to Moreena.

"You'd be correct, Moreena," he said. "As fer introductions, the name's Demo, short for Demolitions, and the others can introduce themselves. So, I'm assuming ya got business with one of us?"

Farm

There were voices coming from the barn, probably from people inside it talking but after his recent experience Caleb wasn't making any assumptions. He came to the door and banged on it a few times, saying "I need to talk about my truck".

Fog -> Blackwood

Half felt the pulse before the trees changed. It felt familiar really, he took some time to view the new scenery before moving to the source of the change. Some minutes later he found a table with humans and other creatures around. Not knowing which one caused the state of the forest, Half stood back and observed.

[Clinic]

Henry had, in this case, measured Iveya... not quite correctly. The general analysis of her as a fairly conservative (for her culture's traditions) woman was correct, but without a very key piece of Uelane history. More specifically, the part of Uelane history that they loved telling others about at every opportunity.

"A thousand years ago," Iveya said, hands steeped, "Elas, the god of rain, decreed that my ancestors were to serve as slaves to his chosen people." A wicked smile came to her face, and the magical lights flickered, ever so slightly. "As I said, many of my ancestors suffered and died for it, but... Elas is dead. The rain still falls, but now, the spirits that took his place honor a fair accord with our people." She studied Henry for a moment before nodding in approval. "So accept my apologies, outla— Henry. I underestimated you. I thought you naive, but it seems you know exactly what the gods are... and how to deal with them."

edited 20th Feb '16 9:57:09 PM by KillerClowns

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

While he waited for Mazra to say her piece, a black man with glowing veins stormed past him, Min, and Varris. "Sir-?" He was obviously very focused, as he didn't seem to notice them standing right there, or looked inside the giant-ass hole that was the front of his barn to see the other two young women inside. Instead, he opted to bang on whatever remained of the door that still managed to stand freely so hard Vince genuinely began to fear it'd just fall down.

In the few seconds it took Vince to sprint around Min and grab the man's shoulder, he had uttered something about a truck. Just... generically talking about a truck. Not necessarily that it had broken down, or what, just... wanted to talk about it. Rather urgently, he supposed.

Come to think of it, Vince hadn't seen anything resembling an Earthen truck in a long, long time.

"Sir, I'm the owner of this farm. Do you mean that your truck broke down...? I can try to help, but I'm afraid I don't know much at all about vehicle repair."

edited 20th Feb '16 10:21:31 PM by CrystalGlacia

[Blackwood]

Well, at least they had permission to leave whenever they want. Still, the sound of this place merging with the dream world sounded super unpleasant. Especially since, as far as Nick knew, there were still other dreamers out there, probably just as confused as he was.

Nick noticed the newcomer in the Blackwood, but didn't say anything. After what happened earlier, he wasn't sure anything he could say would reasure the newcomer. All he could do now was wait for the others to finish and then bolt out; he still had no idea what was going on, or why he dreamed of a park. He hoped he could find out before the Blackwood became one with the dreamworld.

Then, he would wake up, and dismiss everything as a (rather fucked up) dream.

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

Mazra was startled enough by the newcomer barging in that one of her hands fell to her field-sword hilt for a moment. As he actually spoke, though, she quickly lifted it away, feeling silly. The man was strange even as this place went, but he seemed harmless enough; even a bit loopy.

Though he did look a little synthetic with those line things, which was kind of creepy.

"...Okay," she said in response to the comment about trucks, puzzled. She turned away from him and back towards Min, and unconsciously frowned a little. There was something kind of scruffy about the other girl. But there was no need to be rude, especially since she was curious about Varris the talking wyvern. (Could Vince's also talk? He hadn't said.)

She bowed slightly. "My name's Mazra Ji. Lord-Heir of House Ji, of the Corinarchi Empire, but so far none of us have ever heard of where the others are from before, so that probably won't mean anything to you. And no, actually I've just met him - "

She turned just in time to catch the fading image of a large Terran wolf in the corner; it was gone before she could blink. Probably another random dream manifestation. She'd never seen a live wolf, so it probably hadn't been her.

"Um. Anyway, as I was saying, I've just... sort of stumbled in here, from one of my normal dreams. It's been pretty neat so far, though!"

((Oh wow, I can assure you that I looked back to check if the door was open but not well enough it appears, sorry for that.))

Farm

When he was addressed Cabel looked at Vince, into the barn, then back at Vince. "Um...I must have been seeing things, my apologies." He looked around again, "wait wasn't there a table and-" he trailed off again and said, "no there wasn't, what was I thinking?"

He took a step back from the man who said he was the owner and quickly said "okay I know I look like I should be in a mental institute and you may be right but let's start over." Slowing down he continued, "my mail truck that is, it's not broken but it came with me when I entered this weird dream place. I wanted to ask if there was a place to keep it from being stolen while I try to find a way out of here; my boss won't likely believe that I lost it in a dream." Looking at the young woman behind him, Caleb noticed her pet and wondered if she were one of the "keepers" he met earlier. "Though maybe that's just a copy and mine's still in Yula."

edited 21st Feb '16 1:39:15 AM by Novis

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

Moreena watched the reptilian person disappear into the treetops. She hadn't scared them off, had she? That would have been unfortunate.

"What are you? Are you an incantation? Some sorcerer's foul trick? Explain yourself!"

"Nothing of the sort," Moreena answered the armored woman, briefly lashing out to her sides with a few tendrils in an eldritch shrug of sorts. "This is my true form. Or at least this world's attempt at a visual representation of it, I suppose. Maybe you would feel more comfortable if I put on some flesh..?"

"I am the... well, a Goddess of Death, you see," she continued in a perhaps disturbingly casual tone, before turning back to the man with the rocket launcher. Demo? An odd, but somehow vaguely familiar name.

"But no, I'm not here for any of you. Just got here by accident, more or less. I guess that metaphysical mishaps like that are bound to happen when you..."

She trailed off, completely forgetting what she was about to say as she felt the sudden release of power from somewhere within the forest. Now this was certainly interesting... She would most definitely have to investigate that, and probably relatively soon.

Finally, she turned to the woman who was now brandishing a handgun.

"I wouldn't bother with that if I were you," she simply said. "No need to waste perfectly good bullets."

Misery Manor (Sinistrina, Gabe)

Sinistrina blushed again. Nobody had ever called her "madame" before. Lucina and her henchmen called her Sin for short (which she hated), any nearby zombies that could talk called her "master", and the nicest title she received outside of that was "Queen of the Undead", which she wasn't quite sure how to react to.

As Gabe continued speaking, it became apparent that he was an outsider, and had no clue what this place was. The usual somber expression on her face returned... that is, until Gabe glanced aside, something having caught his attention. She felt it too... a dark presence, darker than anything her realm had seen before.

"You feel it too?" Sinistrina asked Gabe. "Back where I am from, there is a great powerful being from a nearby cemetery whose presence grows stronger when someone challenges it. However, its element is Spirit, not Darkness. This entity definitely emits an air of darkness."

She then turned back to Gabe, meeting his blue eyes with her own red ones. "Anyway, I apologize for suspecting you. I have had too many of Lucina's cronies mock me for my banishment to this realm. My surname, at least, comes from this realm, specifically the dead trees within it, as in German it means 'Blackwood'. I much prefer it over my real surname, Geppetto, for I shall no longer associate myself with my sister Lucina. Actually, her real name is Dextrina," and here she put on a smirk, "and the two of us were named because our father liked to sit her on his right knee and me on his left when we were babies. My father is descended from a long line of toymakers, and he taught my sister well in the craft. I, on the other hand... well, it's a long story, but in a nutshell, I had more of a knack for witchcraft, and eventually ended up here, while my sister turned the mountain city of Alpenhaus into a wonderland for toys. I was left with the desolate swamp-side town of Necromere, which this Misery Manor is part of... though now it seems to have found itself in a different forest altogether for the time being."

Sinistrina heaved a heavy sigh.

"So if you are not from Alpenhaus, where are you from, Gabriel?" Since she didn't like her own name shortened, she felt a little uneasy just calling him Gabe.

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

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Phoebe called to her companions^note this includes Nick and Fawn. "Let's get outta here! Peggy, we need you!" She took out her Scanner again and let the white winged carousel unicorn out again, hoping she had some time to calm down in there. The rainbow-maned mare seemed calm enough at least, and even walked to the side of Phoebe so the little cowgirl could mount her. "Though if you ask me, ain't no way I'm going to Misery Manor. Gon, Yamiko, can't you go save Ari and Lupin some other time?"

"What!? Gon exclaimed. "No we can't! If what the Dark Caller says is true and the Blackwood really is expanding, we don't have much time! Misery Manor could get swallowed up too! Come on Galaxeon, there's no time to waste!"

It was Gon's turn to send out a Mystripet from his Scanner, though this one was not Aki. Instead, what came out was a humanoid pet clad in bright, futuristic-looking armor, like some sort of space warrior. Indeed, he had what appeared to be the hilt of a sword attached to his hip, though no sheath (or blade) could be seen. His left forearm bore what looked like a panel with a single button on it, and his head was covered by a helmet with two star-shaped antennae sticking out the top. On his feet, he wore abnormally large golden boots, the soles blue and glowing.

"Am I to carry you, or to fight?" the space warrior asked Gon, speaking in a notably metallic voice, but with inflection characteristic of a person rather than a robot.

"Carry," Gon replied, "and pronto, to Misery Manor!"

"You know," Yamiko mentioned, "since this is a dream, I see no harm in splitting up. Phoebe, you're right - Misery Manor is a dangerous place; Gon and I have to go there because of Ari and Lupin, but unless you want to face your deepest fears and other horrifying things, I don't think you should come along. Maybe go back to the orange tree or something."

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Phoebe agreed. "Hey Fawn!" She called out to her new camera-toting friend. "Are you sure you wanna go to Misery Manor, or do you wanna come with me? And what about you, Ashleigh? Ashleigh? Earth to Ashleigh!" Ashleigh didn't seem to be responding. But Phoebe laughed. "It's funny because she's the Earth Keeper," she said as an aside to Fawn. "Me, my element is Air."

After some thought, Yamiko decided to keep Lorraine out, but also sent out her as-of-yet-unknown third Mystripet: a little blue snake with feathery appendages and a characteristically draconic head. "Guess it can't hurt to reveal an Elemental Goddess here. Melusine, ready to transform?" The little snake nodded. "By the power of Water, I invoke the goddess Cerula!"

Yamiko pressed another button on the Scanner, and both it and Melusine started glowing a bright blue. Melusine hovered into the air and grew a lot bigger, and also started sprouting whiskers and fins and short little legs. In her new form, which strongly resembled an eastern dragon, she was roughly fifty feet long, and big enough around for a person to comfortably wrap their legs around. In fact, that's just what Yamiko did, seating herself just in front of her front fins, which wrapped around her legs. Melusine hovered in the air, and Lorraine moved over right next to her head.

"Where do you wanna go, Nick?" Yamiko asked the lost camper. "Misery Manor with Gon and me, or elsewhere with Phoebe and maybe Ashleigh... What is Ashleigh doing anyway?" She looked around, and what she saw Ashleigh doing was strange indeed.

Ashleigh had spotted something white out of the corner of her eye. Looking around, she realized it was half of a face, just floating there in the blackness^note I assume the rest of Half's body would be camouflaged into the Blackwood. Curious, she stood up and approached it. "Do you have a body?" she asked. "And are you a creature of the Blackwood? I am not - and my name is Ashleigh." She extended a hand to shake - if the creature even had hands.

edited 21st Feb '16 3:12:37 AM by ladytanuki

Blackwood

Half had not expected such a greeting, or any really. Usually people froze it terror at his presence. Did humans see him differently than sylph or the "skylings"? Or did these beast they command give them confidence?

The woman asked him a question, this usually begat an answer. Could he even speak? It had been so long since he last did so, and not in this form. Half tried as he could, "I have not had a name for some time, but the one who will become me calls me 'Half'. I am not from here, but I have a body, though it shouldn't be this one." It felt strange to talk about this; was it his memory of Erol that led him to speak with humans, or did this Caleb have more influence on Half than he thought?

"The one who will become me is in this realm, yet I walk with a separate form. I thought the one who made this 'Blackwood' would know why."

Half extended his own hand out, having a scant idea of what it meant. (If Ashleigh touches it, her hand won't go through him but she won't feel anything either.)

edited 21st Feb '16 3:15:54 AM by Novis

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

As the man came to realize that, no, there was no table in the barn, Vince let go of his shoulder and blinked. He guessed he probably looked like he belonged in an institution? Ah... Vince didn't know about that, his expression didn't change.

But... a place to keep his... mail truck? Vince made a half-frown, glancing at the width of the opening in the wall surrounding the barn door, and the dimensions of the barn door itself. If he was talking about the kind of 'mail truck' Vince was thinking of... there was too much stuff in his barn for it to fit, and they'd probably have to get rid of the door, too. Even still, parking it inside the barn would only be enough to stop petty thieves of a solely physical nature... but parking it outside and simply locking it and taking the keys with you would probably also be equally effective on that front. Knowing this place, if something incorporeal or... really anything with greater power than that wanted to take his truck, all the parking garages in the world wouldn't help.

And, finally, a flash of brilliance- the truck was just a copy, and the real one was safe in the waking world. Vince smiled, without using his teeth.

"Brilliant. You're absolutely right."

Inside the barn, the larger wyvern that was perched on a horse stall, next to Min, had fallen into the stall at the man's first strike of the door. The vibrations had shaken everything. Once Vince got the situation under control, the wyvern slipped over to Varris, curious about the strange thing. It'd seen some albino wyverns in its day, but none with purplish, Rivari-esque tones like this one. Tasting his air again with its forked tongue revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Male, probably of egg-fertilizing age but not currently seeking such, no weird magic, except it had sworn it saw him lip-flapping like a human. It made a quick glance back at the wyvern with the robe-clad girl, which was still huddling next to her leg, protected against anything coming in from the door, and seated itself next to Varris, wings folded.

edited 21st Feb '16 10:38:36 AM by CrystalGlacia

Blackwoods - Fawn, magical group, Nick, Dark Caller, ???

Fawn had spaced out briefly due to so many things going on at once. It was going to take her awhile to get used to this magical group with all their abilities and she found her head spinning for a moment before a question was directed at her. Go to Misery Mansion to rescue their fellow comrades, or go to the orange tree where it was probably a lot safer and not full of nightmares? Strangely, it was kind of a hard choice for her. As scary as the mansion now sounded from the conversation at hand, it would also be a chance to get some excellent video. But it was also chance she would be put in danger and though she trusted the group to protect her, Fawn had no way to defend herself at all.

She sat in thought before speaking finally. "I choose...orange tree. I...don't think I would be at all useful in the rescue mission I'm sorry." she said the apology to those who were going to the mansion, "But I wish you luck. We'll be waiting!" This would also give her the chance to see where her little dream area was if she had one. Though she wondered, would she even know what was hers from the look of it?

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

House Ji? Corinarchi Empire? “Yeah, can't say I've ever heard of any of that,” said Min, consciously frowning back. Mazra was giving her that look, the look that Min was so used to getting whenever she went to Skyline, from people who thought they were so superior for not having to scavenge for food every damn day and practically wore their money on their sleeves. In other words, people who didn't know how to protect their valuables. Not that it really mattered in this case.

Min regarded the newcomer with vague amusement. There was something funny about the way the mundaneness of his outfit was contrasted against the strange appearance of his skin. Judging by the glow of his veins, he most likely had some cybernetic augments, although their function was not immediately apparent. She'd have to keep an eye on him, just in case.

“This is a pretty odd bunch, I gotta say,” commented Min offhandedly. “It's the kind of group you'd see sitting in silence at a bar, each person minding their own business. Not... hanging out together and talking. Weird that so many of us are human, too.”

Meanwhile, Varris turned to the other dragon, staring at it with interest. It was certainly very different from him, but he didn't really have a frame of reference for what a dragon was supposed to look like. For all he knew, he was the outlier here.

Feeling like maybe he should strike up some conversation, Varris said, “Oh, hello there. What's your name?”

[Wasteland]

The shadow dove at the hoard from high in the air, and swept through them with tremendous force. The rushing air in her wake was akin to a brief hurricane, sweeping the nightmarish beings high into the air and far away, along with a choking cloud of sand, dust and rocks.

As the air slowly cleared, Miyuki's Shadow descended slowly from the sky, landing gently on her feet. "This is a cruel place," she said. "And they will return, in time. But for now..." She turned to Celso. "You have questions."

[Ritter Clinic]

Friedrich glanced sharply upward at the ceiling lights when they flickered. That... shouldn't have happened. The energy supply was nowhere near running out. In fact, it seemed to be draining even more slowly than normal.

Eh, whatever. It wasn't the strangest thing that had happened today.

"Well, if you think you know what you're doing, Henry, I wish you luck." This talk made him uneasy, but he coudln't quite say why.

As always when he had guests in his home, his eyes were combing the entire room, searching for any overlooked patches of dust or items sitting askew. He started straightening out framed photographs on the mantelpiece and bookshelf. "Sorry about the state of things around here. Don't really have a lot of people over. Did I say something about tea earlier? I should go take care of that."

The mug he had been drinking from while on the porch... he left that in the clinic, hadn't he? No matter. There were plenty more in the kitchen. He disappeared through a door by the bookshelf.

And now someone with glowing veins had joined their little tea party. Well, Seilaan was the only one drinking tea at the moment, but... whatever. She was alarmed enough to call on magic when he banged on the door; the area around her suddenly dropped in temperature for a moment. But it was over now, and although it was still a bit colder than it was before, it was warming up quickly.

"Ah, yes, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself again." She inclined her head to Min and Varris. The newcomer seemed to be occupied with Vince, so she saved the effort of acknowledging him, for now. "My name is Seilaan Ren. A pleasure to meet you. Would you like some tea? If you have other preferences, I suppose we could try conjuring up other drinks."

As she spoke, the tea tray began floating off of the ground, through no conscious effort on her part. It was getting juuuust a little tiring having to be pleasant around all these near-strangers for so long. At least in the Senate she knew how everyone operated.

edited 22nd Feb '16 2:33:50 PM by SnowyFoxes

Farm

"Oh, I see" Caleb said, "well that makes things easier."

The other people around seemed to have gone back to their previous conversations after his...first impression. Min's coment stood out to him though, "I've seen more humans today than any other. Is this 'lots of people being in the same dream' something you do normally?"

And one of the winged reptiles talked; he wasn't surprised anymore.

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

Vince watched Varris try to make conversation, only for the scruffy, scarred-up barn wyvern to stare at Varris in disbelief. "He can't talk. None of the wyvern or true dragon species I know of can, they don't have the vocal cords or tongues to pull it off." That, and Aitherionian wyverns simply lacked the intelligence for true language, but he didn't exactly want to be like one of those gits who passive-aggressively liken humans to chimps. But it struck him as slightly odd that this wyvern's first mode of communication was of the humanoid, verbal variety, and that he didn't try to analyze body language first. Well, it's entirely possible his variety of wyvern lacked Jacobson's organs, but if human speech capabilities were also the norm for his kind... that was pretty odd, he had to admit. Were they used chiefly as familiars, or something?

Turning back to the postman, he replied, "Based on what my guests have said, no. Not at all." He left a pause before introducing himself. "Doctor Vinicio Acquati, or Vince, if that's more your style. You?"

The truck was parked by the pasture fence, somehow being unmistakably a mail truck despite looking nothing like any mail truck he'd encountered ever before. How curious. An idea nagged in the back of his mind, but it was nice to at least wait for the postman to introduce himself.

edited 22nd Feb '16 7:48:44 PM by CrystalGlacia