A Game of Gods Season 3: Terminus

Floor Four - Minneapolis

Minneapolis scrunched her face up for a few seconds, thinking the words over. The other girl was overwhelming obsessed with Nagato, so as long as they were permanently stuck in this place... well, being conjured to a new world was already bothersome, it was good not to have to deal with natural enemies alongside that issue.

"Okay." She agreed with Kawakaze, and then stood up. She wiped her hands on her cloak, and looked at the people who had been talking nearby. Looks like they were finishing up introductions. "Minneapolis."

"Why ask? How do humans work and think? It just is," she added to the Kid with a shrug, then a small grin. "I'm going now. Last one here put out the fire."

Then she went off in search of plot.

Ocean/Beach - Floor Five - Minneapolis

Minneapolis wandered around this accursed place for a while until she came to a sudden stop, noticing a sight that brought a smile to her face.

An ocean.

She ran over towards the water, slowing down when she saw a group of people were already there. Weird people. Weird like her, though. Not weird like the local people. They were weird too, but in a different way. These people here, though, were weird in the way that she knew they were important.

"Going fishing? I like fishing," she asked the others. She spared a long glance at Ilya - she looked almost like Avrora, if you ignored the part where she was probably ten years old. A second long glance was saved for Alisae - she still had never seen her before, but those ears were clearly those of a British ship. Then her final glance was saved for when she looked at just what sort of naval craft these people had at their disposal. It was like something out of a nightmare. She frowned. "I... don't need one of those things."

She took a few steps towards the water, then started walking along the surface while looking into the water, trying to spot some fish.

Edited by nman on May 1st 2019 at 9:58:43 AM

Alisaie - Dead world

Shielding her face as she stepped outside again, Alisaie was pleased to find that the storm had diminished from torrential to merely wild, enough that she could hear what the others were saying, and didn't have to fear the wind picking her up and throwing her into the sea like a doll. It looked like the others had even started trickling out of Tallhome in the time her party had been holed up in the shack. Leaning in to listen to Tohch, she followed her pointing finger to lookout towards the docks and the ocean beyond.

"Climbing stairs is becoming something of a specialty of ours." She replied wryly, wiping sodden hair out of her face yet again and glancing at Claw. "If our resident mariners think we can make the voyage with a minimal amount of prayers, I don't see why we can't get this done."

—

2B - Dead world shoreline

The wind and raid may have lashed over 2B as she stepped outside, but she didn't seem phased as she strode past the climbers congregating and talking outside the doorway. As she reachded a good vantage point, she saw it, stretching lead-grey out to the horizon.

An ocean.

The android's fingers tapped at her thigh as she looked out at the waves.

She shouldn't. There was a mission to think of.

She really shouldn't...

—

As Minneapolis peered into the sea to look for fish, a certain boxy grey robot plopped into the water nearby, bobbing on the still-rough swell, dangling some sort of glowing lure into the water beneath.

042's master was up on the shoreline, sitting on some sort of hard-light fishing stool, arms and legs crossed in front of her and - most strangely to the climbers who had seen her before - a faint hint of a smile on her face and her blindfold hanging around her neck, one crystal-blue eye peering out at the sea from behind her bangs.

Edited by LittleMako on May 4th 2019 at 1:00:22 AM

Claw, Dead World

Hm. It seemed that the storm had lessened a bit. Not to a point where marine traversal was recommended, but if they were caught on the sea in a weather like that, they had more of a fighting chance. Njal smelled of thunder - was it his doing? The pirate raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Tohch brought them some valuable info - all residents of the Tallhome visited the place where the Key was twice in their lives, at the top of a flight of stairs.

He saw the look Ilya was giving the rafts at the harbor, and couldn't help but look at them sourly. Knowing their luck, they'd have to use something marginally better at best to navigate. Gods, he hoped not. "I'd rather have something sturdier to sail on if we're to sail, but..." No time to be a scaredy-cat. "Let's see that key." Then he caught a most unusual sight: 2B, sitting at the edge of water, smiling and with her blindfold off, watching for Pod to catch fish...? Huh. It seemed even androids from ruined worlds had hobbies. Good for her.

He hadn't fished in a while... maybe once they were done with their main business here.

Deciding that the time was finally high enough to join the rest of the party, the magnificent golden opulence swaggered into the next floor, immediately getting swarmed by the locals marveling at the walking contrast of gold and black. "Easy dere, fellas. Dun go messin' dis Baron's groove now." He laughed, waddling through the residents. Taking some time to entertain the locals - and to play with a couple of the awe-struck kids - he then resumed onto his merry quest.

There were a couple of other Climbers by the gate, leaving outside into a soggy-looking wasteland. Yeowch. "Well, dat's a far cry from da Gensokyo climate." He muttered, opting to not go through the gate yet. Here was hoping he would find somewhere to dry his duds later on.

Labrys followed 2B into this new world, unphased by the weather there. A frown crossed her face as she took in the dreariness of it all. She noticed that 2B seemed to be distracted by something though. She hadn't known the other gynoid for very long, but she seemed pretty serious. It made her wonder what could grab her attention like that.

A short trip later she found the other gynoid sitting on the beach with her pod out in the water. Was this how she fished? It was a little surprising, a brought a small smile to her face. "Didn't take ya for a fisher." she commented. Labrys's mind drifted back out to the water as it brought back certain memories. Particularly a failed escape attempt on an unpopulated island. Her smile faded, now replaced with a look of apprehension.

Sabrina, Dead World Shoreline

"Well, the weather is better now than it was before," Sabrina was not happy at the weather, but she was skilled enough as a Pokemon Trainer to brave this. However, she soon noticed one of the androids in their group... fishing. It was such an odd sight, but it seemed like she was happy to fish.

"Trying to catch one of the local creatures, huh?" Sabrina asked the android before smiling herself. "Well, I wish you luck on that."

Ryo, Dead World Shoreline

He knew it was a dead world, but he still wasn't prepared for the most desolate place he ever saw. The absence of any dead bodies almost made the sheer eeriness of the place even worse. But he made sure that he didn't show any of his shock or on his face, instead keeping his easy-going facade on. He answered Jibril's talk about hiding when you cheat. "Sounds like a giant casino."

When he saw Minneapolis and 2B, along with a high-school girl who was visibly another robot, going towards the beach, he followed them in curiosity (and not just because two of them were lightly-dressed buxom women). As it turn out, there wanted to fish in the sea. And the previously emotionless robot girl was even making a cute little smile and removed her blindfold. He sat on the sand next to her and began talking while looking at the sea (and Minneapolis). "So you like fishing? What do you do with the fishes after you catch them?"

Dead World Shoreline - Ilya

"Yeah, let's!" Enthusiastically pumping her fist in the air, she rushes her way towards the shore... and saw some people gathering around a familiar face going fishing.

Suddenly struck with a moment of inspiration, Ilya summoned three of her familiars up in the air and had them circle around another part of the shoreline waters, far enough as to not disrupt the android's and botegirl's own catch.

After giving them a simple command, the familiars would swoop down and pierce/grab onto onto any fish they could find closest to the surface of the water before dropping them on the shorelines. The process repeats and eventually, a sizable pile of fishies began to form.

A few distance away from said pile was an Ilya with a smug smile on her face, standing proud for no reason at all whatsoever.

.

.

.

... or at least, that would have happened if any aquatic life actually exists in the sea. As it was, the pile is nonexistent but a confident and smug Ilya still remains even as she remains unaware that her familiars have been circling around the air for quite some time...

Edited by JustSomeGuy732 on May 6th 2019 at 4:25:22 PM

2B - Dead world shoreline

2B glanced up at Labrys as she came up beside her, nodding as she turned her attention back to her pod.

"I only tried it because 6O wanted information on a fish, but it helps maintain observational skills and fine reflexes." She paused for a moment, looking pensively out over the water. "I also find it... calming."

It didn't matter if it was a shallow stream or the ocean, fishing had always helped her when the war grew more than she could deal with on her own. Emotions are prohibited was easier to obey when you had an outlet.

Of course, Ryo apparently decided to test that theory by following her. 2B's expression grew a little cooler as he spoke up, although she didn't take her eyes off of Pod. At least he wasn't trying to proposition her again.

"I sell them to androids who like eating." She replied, also trying to ignore the distraction of Ilya's flashy attempt at fishing. It didn't look like she was having any luck, but 2B didn't pull her pod in. Sometimes catching the fish was the least important part of the hobby.

Edited by LittleMako on May 8th 2019 at 5:57:29 AM

Ocean - Floor Five - Minneapolis

Minneapolis cocked her head at the strange rectangular-ish robot that had floated over towards her and plopped itself into the water. She should have been upset about it scaring all the fish, but first of all, it was kind of cute, and second of all... there weren't any fish. None that she could spot, at least. Sure, she had already eaten breakfast and was just planning on doing some good-old-fashioned noodling and then releasing whatever she caught, but it was still disappointing. Disappointing, and eerie. No fish, no native birds, no life at all. It was like the world was dead.

Well, might as well make the most of things. She leaned over and tried to poke the pod with a finger. She would have made a day of it, but she noticed something.

She saw Ryo approaching 2B.

She skated across the surface of the water, heading over towards the beach.

"Hey!" she called out at Ryo, pulling out a knife and racing towards him.

Then she turned it backwards so the hilt was facing him by the time she stopped at the shoreline.

"Thanks."

Kashira Lavellan - Dead World Shores - Doom Upon All the World

Kashira acknowledged Jibril's point with a weary smile and slight nod to buy time for thought, letting the others take point on this one. She was tired of unanswerable questions and sick to death of games Great and small. At length, just before they passed beyond the Tower's doors, she answered the other woman.

"You can't win everything all the time. Sometimes you have to accept a loss for a greater gain, or just accept that you're outmatched and retreat to fight another day, in another way that favors you. I've made many retreats, many sacrifices, and accepted many losses. I regret all of them, but I wouldn't change what I did."

Then she stepped outside and the wind and rain smashed into her, driving her back a step before she could raise a hand, squinting into the driving storm. Her other hand flared with magic and a barely-visible aura snapped into being about her, deflecting most of the weather and letting her truly see what lay beyond. There was pain still, and while part of her noted it was a good thing, the rest of her could only think of fallen Elvhenan and drowned Arlathan. This place had once held empires, nations, and peoples greater than almost anything Thedas had to offer. And this was what they had made of it.

"Ir abelas, ma vhenan..." she murmured, too softly to hear for any normal ears to hear over the howl of the wind. But not nearly sorry enough. Maybe I never will be. It was difficult, more so than usual, to take a mental step back, take a deep breath, and raise her head again, but she did it. It would take countless ages to learn from this world, if we ever could. There's no one left to help but those within the Tower. And we can help them best by opening the way out.

Noticing some of the other climbers milling about elsewhere, she headed for those that appeared to be discussing the path to take to this key, not without a curious side glance at 2B's casual fishing in the middle of the torrent. There couldn't possibly be anything left alive in those grey seas. But then, perhaps that was, as one might say, her way of getting as close to winning as she could.

Edited by RedCedar on May 11th 2019 at 1:25:22 AM

Elsa - When I Put Her In This Outfit, I Had Forgotten The Dead World Was In The Middle of a Storm; Dead World Shoreline

Elsa followed her group towards the shore, wind whipping at her braid and rain battering down on her face. She'd tried to conjure an ice-umbrella on the way to the shoreline, but the wind had snatched it from her hands and dashed it across the ground.

She also tried her best to ignore Ryo's flirtations and oogling, a part of her wanting to admit her royalty just so she could threaten to have him executed.

Jokingly, of course.

As they came upon another group of their fellows, who seemed to have been in this world for longer, she called out to them.

"Hello there!" She said, trying her best to speak over the wind. "I don't suppose you've learned more about where we can find the key?"

Ryo Saeba - Dead World Shoreline

2b's answer made Ryo stare with confusion and for once without a trace of lust. "Wait, androids can eat?" He was interrupted in his inquiries about the finer details of robotic life by Minneapolis calling out to him and handing the knife he landed to her earlier back. Oh yeah, he had forgotten about that. He took the sharp tool back and put it back in its pocket. He responded with a little seductive (in his own opinion) smile. "You're more than welcome, I got a quite tasty meal out of the deal." Not to mention a chance meeting with another hot babe. Seriously, the amount of pretty girls in this tower was almost ridiculous. He then winked at the tanned-looking girl. "Tough, if you really want to show appreciation, I wouldn't be against a date!"

Edited by Alecoene on May 14th 2019 at 8:59:22 PM

Alisaie - Dead world

More of the party were filtering out into the rain, and Alisaie turned to nod in greeting. There was a dark-skinned woman, with the ears of an Eorzean native if not the garb, who Alisaie recalled having followed Tallhome's guide back to his abode. After they had exchanged pleasantries, the shorter Elezen turned to Kashira and leaned in to speak over the wind.

"Did you learn anything from the Disputer?" Her suspicion of the faceless figure was written in her frown. "I spoke to the Locksmith, and it seems our guide doesn't fully trust him."

Nodding to another new arrival, the silver-haired ice mage, she half-turned and pointed out past the shoreline and its docks and rafts. "Apparently the key is beyond the sea, that way. We were just discussing how best to reach it in this weather."

—

2B - Dead World shoreline

2B nodded at Ryo's question, still looking out to sea, where a strange woman in a poncho was messing with her pod.

"We have bio-reactors that can break down food, but we don't actually need to eat." She re-folded her arms, frowning. "I don't bother. It's waste of time."

Meanwhile, Pod 042 just shimmied wetly this way and that as he was poked, a mast-mounted camera turned to look up at Minneapolis. Before he could speak, the poncho-clad woman raced towards the shoreline, and 042 quickly followed, pulling himself up out of the water with his lure dangling, sadly empty.

2B raised one eyebrow as she saw the stranger charging her position with a knife, but when she realized the target was Ryo she relaxed and sat back on her stool, sending her Pod back out into the water with a flick of her arm.

Edited by LittleMako on May 14th 2019 at 8:51:41 AM

Sabrina, Dead World Shoreline

"Something has damaged this world beyond human or Pokemon repair," Sabrina said as she noted the situation to the others. "There is absolutely no animal life within this general area other than us and the farmers."

"No matter how flooded this world gets, the aquatic life... the fish should have at least survived," Sabrina noted to the others. "It is not natural for the thoughts of a world's population to be this... quiet."

Ocean - Floor Five - Minneapolis

Minneapolis pursed her lips, giving Ryo a stare. Her cheek bulged slightly as she ran her tongue over her teeth while thinking for a moment. Just a moment, though, nothing too long.

"Nope," she said. "Not my type."

Dead World Shoreline — Jotaro

At long last, Jotaro had encountered the rest of the Climbers he was expected to scale the Tower with. They were just as exotic as the first group he had met earlier. Thankfully Alisaie and Claw, among others, handled the initial conversations so he didn't have to. What the delinquent was less impressed with, however, was the impromptu fishing expedition that had spontaneously occurred. Is there even anything to catch? The sea doesn't look like it supports much sea life... Under his breath, Jotaro muttered, "Yare yare daze..." At least the weather had calmed down a fair bit... though Jotaro suspected it wasn't natural. Taking advantage of the brief lull in activity, the stand user wandered over to the boat and leaned over to take a closer look.

Straightening up after a minute or two and speaking more clearly this time, he said, "This boat looks like it could take most of us, but it's pretty beat up... I don't think it would be a good idea considering how shitty this weather is." He adjusted his cap, looking thoughtful for a moment. "We're still not sure whether the key is here or across the sea, right? Maybe some of us should look around here and the rest can take the boat." He pressed a hand against the boat's hull, making it implicitly clear which option he would choose - assuming, of course, that everyone else agreed with his idea.

Dead World Shoreline

-Njall looks at the boat. It is little different from those he rode and first died on upon Fenris, though he is somewhat heavier since then.-

I will do what I can to calm the waves, though the spirits of this world seem as dead as the planet itself.

-Toph grimaces. She can hear the creaking of the wooden ships from here, and the sand below the waves disappears from her mind entirely too quickly for comfort.-

Ugh. Boats. Can't we just make a land bridge or something?

No, unfortunately, there wasn't anything to catch in the western sea. Try as they might, there wouldn't be any bites on their hooks for anyone casting their line. 2B was the luckiest one, pulling out a piece of worn, half-eaten with age piping that must've been stuck underneath the waves.

They would be given help by a few more of the Tallhomers, who were quick to get more people, and even more once they realized that what they were asking for was going to be a task far beyond what they were used to.

It was mostly Njall and Baron's fault, to be honest. There just weren't any other boats that could fit them.

Taking shovels and much care, they walked down to the beach and began to unearth a boat that had been buried beneath the black gravel. Only used every ten years before, to have to take it out without warning meant that there was easily a fifth of the world's population working on it.

If any of the Climbers offered to help, they'd have to very firmly insist to get past their hosts' hospitality.

With time, and a few curses as shovels scratched the side of what was supposed to be a ritual vessel, they could take it out and use just as much manpower to push it out to sea. Men, women, children and whatever Climbers were around helped it into the water, where it could be seen in full.

A strange catamaran, long, wide and flat. Tohch babbled something about how much of an honor it was to ride in it with them, but it was lost among the chatter.

They'd be able to set out as a small fleet of boats, with Baron and Njall's fat asses getting to share the big one with Tohch and a small outpouring of supplies. They assured them that it wouldn't be long as they handed out tents and climbing equipment to them.

Then, as they set out to sea with Njall making the oceans just tame enough to not capsize, Tohch poked her head out to wave goodbye to the crowd.

Immediately, there was a great confused outcry from the Tallhomers assembled on the shore. Many variants of "get your butt back here, young lady" were thrown her direction.

"...Sorry," she said to Njall, "I probably should've asked them first before going. Don't turn around, pleeeaaaaase?"

The wind by this point had died down considerably, but as they crossed a certain threshold the sea became almost placid. Then, all at once, the clouds and mist thinned to where they could see the outline of the city before them.

It was an incredibly huge, singular construction that extended upwards seemingly endlessly, up unto the next layer of clouds. It was taller than any mountain on Earth, a huge hive of dilapitated structures and web-like pipework that all had rusted and broken into pieces. There was no wonder that their predecessors hadn't found the Key; there had to search through one of the largest constructions ever made by human hands!

Approaching the shore, they could see the extent of time that had passed reflected in the architecture. The few buildings that still stood were almost unrecognizable with how weather had worn them, rounded and sanded them down. They stood like pillars above the seemingly insurmountable pile of shale-like fallen walls and crumbled pieces of concrete.

At the little inlet that had once been a harbor, they got off the boat after about an hour's worth of sailing and rowing. There wasn't much that suggested that humans could go any further at first, merely looking like a wall of gray rock. Tohch got out immediately, and with a cry of "Follow me!" started to dance up the path to their objective.

After a few minutes, it became easier to understand where they were going. There were still stairs that led upward, some from the original owners and some carved out by previous generations of the inheritors. An occasional dash of red, the only color out here, marked the way upward.

Eventually, the destroyed part of the city gave way to the higher levels, which were still standing well enough.

It must've been one gigantic, endless refinery in its time. The pipes wove over and around them like a thick forest, and their guide weaved in-between them with ease.

Finally, they arrived. The door to their key was...just that, a door. Metal, and rusted, but still on its hinges and everything. It had a single stretch of paint on it that hadn't completely fallen off, a line of white among the green suggesting that something must've been written there some time ago. Many handprints, marked in the same red as before, covered the wall around it.

Many of them were small and insignificant, and others were long and thin.

Tohch stopped for a moment to look at the entrance to the altar, suddenly very quiet compared to her usual self. Then, mimicking the same hand movement that had been spotted among her kind beforehand, she pushed open the door.

Inside, through complete darkness lest the Climbers provided something to alleviate it, there was a small room down a hallway. On an iron table, in a wooden bowl, was a strange piece of machinery.

About the size of a globe, it was much sleeker and more silvered than any of the industrial technology they had seen while arriving. Aside from a few dents and a thick layer of dust, its surface was pristine. A thin line of lights that had died out a very long time ago ran up its middle, and two broken-off sections of pipes sat on top.

All in all, their journey had taken them about four hours. Key Get!

Their return wasn't heralded by any big ol' group of people who were ready to sing their praises or anything. No, only one person was out by the docks on that lonely island.

Even if the wind was tamer, the cold rain hadn't let up. Sumireko got up from underneath a short lean-to by the water's edge, unraveled herself from her cloak and, to whoever was the first person to get within shouting distance, angrily yelled "Why the heck did you leave without me?!"

The machine stared silently, waiting for Lucifer to finish her statement, and continued to stare for a while. It wasn't for any lack of enthusiasm on its part to answer a question; it just wasn't up to the task.

Nothing had spoken to it in a very long time, and hardly this...floridly.

Eventually, it shuddered and a spark flew out from its back that jumped and danced on the floor for a moment before shuddering out. A small port opened on its head, and it displayed a message to the fallen angel in a floating, ephemeral blue text. The holograph read, accompanied by a badly degraded and staticky canned message that might've been a pleasant-sounding man in another time: HELLO! PLEASE DIRECT QUESTIONS TO THE NEAREST SUPERVISOR. THE SUPERVISOR HAS BEEN NOTIFIED, AND WILL BE WITH YOU WITHIN:

...

...It failed to estimate a valid number that it could recognize. Whatever was holding up the nearest supervisor must've been very bothersome.

The machine turned itself onto its back, flopping onto the ground. Its underside was covered in weakly rotating discs, mostly ground down to little more than oblong nubs of metal. One more preserved example, near its head, gave a vital clue to what it used to be: it had a scant few bristles, themselves browned and appearing as if they would snap at the slightest provocation, but preserved from its days when the tower it sat on top of required regular cleaning.

The machine thought, and thought, and thought: there was not a valid way to answer this strange, slightly irregularly-glowing visitor's questions within protocol, it simply couldn't represent what it wanted to tell her faithfully. And it could barely understand her as-is.

Then, it turned back over, and slithered slightly closer to Lucifer. It displayed another message.

And the end of the message slowly changed, in succession.

Did this visitor understand? It then spoke, its pre-recorded messages suddenly cutting in the middle and being replaced with another tape. DA-AT TOWER AUTOMATED SERVICE ASSOCIATE #24/WILL/REPLY SHORTLY. PLEASE DIRECT QUESTIONS TO THE/DA-AT TOWER AUTOMATED SERVICE ASSOCIATE #24.

"...And that's it? Simply gone?"

"Simply gone, like she never existed," the Locksmith answered the Disputer. They were seated beside the door to the next floor of the Tower, sitting up against it and speaking on equal terms.

The Locksmith's expression was hardly warm as he spoke to him, but his voice was a bit softer. "That will be it. Wherever she is, I cannot imagine."

"Then..."

The Disputer slowly bent forward in his seated position, and held his hands over his head. "...hopefully, it is by the Ruler's side. I have some words for that vile thing."

The Locksmith didn't reply.

Soon, their silence was broken by the sound of footsteps. Many, many, many footsteps of boots and shoes and bare soles. The Climbers had returned!

"Ahh...so it is, that you've finally come back. Another floor of the Tower is surmounted by you, oh Climbers." The Locksmith got up and walked forward, looking at the heavy object that would bring them another step closer to the ultimate prize.

"...I wonder what this is," he said, rubbing an old hand over it. "...We will have time to consider it later on. Now, if you so wish, go on and—"

"Locksmith!" The Disputer rasped, and for the first time in who knows how long, stood up on his own power. He struggled to stand by bracing himself against the door, his bone-thin legs helplessly wobbling as they tried to hold his meager weight. "You...you wait! Give me a moment."

The Locksmith shut up, and the Disputer turned his eyeless face to the assembled Climbers.

"The people I have watched over...they've been waiting for this for a very long time. I have, too. We have meant to hold a ceremony for this, something more significant than slotting a key into a hole...would you mind, o' climbers, if you waited just a little bit more?"

"It won't be long."

Yes, this was not working at all. It seemed what was thought to be an intelligent A.I. turned out to be a worker drone of some sort, a cleaning version if the bristles on the underside were to be understood. Thinking about how to word things in a way the machine could understand given just how long it took to belch out an unsatisfactory answer, Lucifer sighed before trying again. "Please take me to this supervisor of your's last known location then so I might ask them personally." Loyalty accounted for something blind as it were and the angel could respect that given her own story.

And then once everything was said and done with the mission accomplished plus everyone accounted for, both Monsters would simply await what came next.

Something audibly ground in the innards of the machine after Lucifer requested that.

Apparently the visitor didn't understand its message. That's...that's okay, it presumably had time to process it. Nevertheless, this kind of question absolutely was a command, and it could do nothing but obey.

The machine lowered itself to the ground, and started to slowly wind its way across the floor to their destination. Its underside scraped against the floor with a groan, but the machine continued with minimal trouble.

It led Lucifer beyond the line where it had ever cleaned and further along the edge of the tower, snaking through and over rubble with little effort.

The other rooms were just about in the same state of disrepair as the one she landed in, only without the indication that it had been cleaned in these twilight years. There had been others, it vaguely recalled. Where had they been at these days?

Then, along the edge of the walkway, it stopped. YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR DESTINATION, it broadcasted. HERE IS THE/AREA/SUPERVISOR/LOCATION OF. LOCATION UNKNOWN.

Almost eagerly, it stood up to Lucifer's height and broadcasted the same message as before: PLEASE DIRECT QUESTIONS TO THE/DA-AT TOWER AUTOMATED SERVICE ASSOCIATE #24. PLEASE DIRECT QUESTIONS TO THE/THIS UNIT.

Minneapolis

Gravel.

They kept their ship in gravel.

It might not have been a living ship like Minneapolis, but by God, it was still a ship. A ship they had abused and left buried. There was no way she was going to allow herself to step foot on the corpse they were planning on sailing. So, without much fanfare, she pulled out her own personal-sized hull and offered to ferry at least a few souls alongside her, if only to reduce the overall load on that poor vessel. Obviously she would turn down Ryo if he asked for a lift. The blindfolded one was willing to accept the offer, even though was a little on the heavy side, but it worked out in the end. She had even been kind enough to offer a piece of bubblegum to her passenger(s).

And now, back in the tower, the man (if you could call him that) who seemed to be in charge of the few people who lived here was pleading for a chance to perform a ceremony. As much as their treatment of their ship left a bad taste in her mouth - figuratively, of course, since the bubblegum in her mouth was quite tasty - they were pretty pitiful. They had lived here for countless generations in near-squalor on a planet that was practically one big dead body, keeping everything together in the slight hope that someone - she and the others - would arrive. To just use these people for their own goals, steal the key, and abandon them without even letting them do their little religious thing would be what they called in boat culture, a dick move.

"Okay. I'm not in a rush, at least," she said to the Disputer.

Then she turned around to leave.

"Anyone wanna explore?" she asked.

Meetra

I dreamt of Malachor. I remember the ships. The last stand of the Republic. The tattered remnants of our fleet, the largest we could gather, but it was damaged, weakened and vulnerable. The Mandalorians couldn't resist. They tore into us like beasts, shredding our ships to scraps as we fought back. Yet this time, there were no reinforcements for either side. Revan had been delayed out-system by Mandalorian scout ships. By the time he arrived, it was too late. And beyond Malachor, there were no more Mandalorians left to die. I remember standing on the bridge with you and watching the destruction of the Republic - watching ships full of soldiers and Jedi burn and die. I remember the look you had when you turned to me. It was the longest you'd ever looked at me. You didn't say anything - just a nod. Events move quickly then, even in my dreams. Flashes, explosions, you - falling. I could feel the pain around me. And then the memory. The drifting hulks of the Mandalorian ships, the dead - allies, friends, strangers. And then the echo. Lingering. The sound I awaken to in my nightmares.

Finding herself on the shore of a dead world, Meetra chose to do what came naturally - meditate. She sat herself down on the shore, floating a meter above the sand as she closed her eyes and reached out to the planet with the Force as she thought back to the things in her life that had led her to this place. Bao-Dur's words weighed on her mind, as impactful now as they had been years ago. Ruining a planet, leaving it shattered and broken - a dead husk devoid of any life - was not something anyone could simply forget - amnesia excluded. Now, here she was, on a world that felt like...

Nothing.

Some of her alleged companions had set out earlier without her, but she was apparently rather new to this - a late arrival, it seemed. And so she waited. Waited until their return. Or... at least until she was interrupted by a young girl shouting at them about being left behind. She wasn't the only one, it seemed.

She followed the group back to the tower, observing all the types of organic and robotic beings that constituted their party, and the large variance between so many of them. Humans, non-humans, humanoids, droids, and some droids that would have been indistinguishable from a human (or at least a cyborg) if it were not for the Force giving her added insight. When they had all retreated within, a strange-looking humanoid, like some sort of emaciated givin, asked for the opportunity to perform some form of ceremony before proceeding. Selfishly, she hoped those who had sought the sphere - or key, as it was - would at least acquiesce to his demand. It would grant her some time to understand these... people... better.

The Return

In a somewhat uneventful trip, Jibril at some point got herself alone for a few minutes away from the group. She vented her frustration, throwing power into a boulder repeatedly until it fell to pieces. "I so despise this position I have had to take with these lesser creatures. They don't know how frustrating it is to have to be polite and treat these things as equals. Even if this is for my benefit long term, the moment I regain my true power they shall all learn their place in the food chain." Jirbil kicked the remains of the now rocks before flitting off back to the group. Were any of these 'allies' at least equals to Blank in intelligence she wouldn't feel as she does.

The group came back with the prize only to get an unhappy greeting. Jibril scoffed a little and said to Sumireko, "Why, it is not our fault if you had difficulty keeping up with everyone. Perhaps you might thank us for doing all the work that you will benefit from."

Edited by StephanReiken on May 29th 2019 at 5:40:19 AM

Dead World - Ilyasviel - The Great Key Get, Summarized!

After briefly getting embarrassed at capturing no fish hours-long journey towards the key, from Heracles helping to pull out the vessel to sea to him casually carrying his Master on his shoulder once her feet starts getting tired, the group would be successful in gathering the Key before returning back home. Honestly, she was expecting a lot more adventure out of it considering they need to pass through ages-old ruin but ehh.

The return trip went pretty much uneventfully as well, with her muttering "Can't believe it was that easy." under her breath as well. Upon getting back onto the shore, a fellow Climber(?) had sulked at not going onto the adventure. The angel lady rebuked her saying that they did all the work that she didn't have to do but if you ask the magus, the only thing they've done was just continuous traveling while their guide was doing most of the work, guiding them through ancient pathways. "You sure don't miss out on a lot. We've just been rowing and leisurely traveling through ruins with Tohch and POOF! Key get! No monsters or great treasures or anything at the end too!" She didn't even get to show off Berserker too, but ah well.

Then she followed along with the other Climbers back at Tallhome and met up with both of said Tower's guardians. As if to counterbalance their previous uneventfulness of an adventure, a celebration is going to be held in their honor. And you know what that means?

"Oh, is the celebration and ceremony gonna be something like a party for all of us? I'm in! Take your time."

All that's left now is to decide on what to do in the meantime while preparations for said ceremony are underway. Luckily, a botegirl had offered if anyone's up to travel the place around with her, to which she enthusiastically raise her hand up.

"I'm game! Have only been at the kitchen here so far. Ohh, maybe we can even introduce something to the folks here, to liven the place up a bit!" Truth be told, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of entertainment to be had around Tallhome, as far as Ilya could tell at least. She could perform magic shows like what she did previously, but maybe there's something that the other Climbers had or from previous floors that could be brought here to help enrich it.

Minneapolis

Minneapolis looked down at the short girl who spoke up - the one who was dressed like she had just come here from the middle of Siberia. She chewed on the inside of her lip for a bit as she summed her up. When she thought of her as a short girl, she meant a short girl. It was bad enough that this tower recruited people against their wills, but to steal children from their homes? Still, she supposed that a good deal of destroyers were rather child-like, and they were still competent war machines, so perhaps this girl had more to her than met the eye.

"Okay, let's go," she said, finally. She reached a hand under her poncho, feeling around in the folds of the fabric for a moment, and then withdrew a small, pinkish, paper-wrapped rectangular object.

"Gum?" she asked abruptly, holding a hand out towards the girl and offering her the piece.

Ryo Saeba - Key Got!

Well, one couldn't say Minneapolis wasn't straightforward with her refusals. Still, even if Ryo was disheartened by both her refusing a date and a boat ride together, he followed the group without complaint to get the key and to go back. Tough he agreed with Illya: it was a bit disapointed by how easy taking the thing was.

He answered Sumeriko's complaint with a shrug. "Don't yell at me, I don't even know you. Plus, Illya's right: you didn't miss much anyway." After tgat, he followed the group to Tallhome and listened to the Disputer's request to wait. He answered with a easy-going tone again. "Sure enough, old-timer. That's the least we can do for those folks. Plus, I'm always game for a party."

Then Minneapolis proposed to explore the place, and the Sweeper considered the offer. While he wanted to find the cooking lady from before and fulfill their little promises, he wasn't sure if the preparation would be long enoug for them to have fun. "Hey, why not? I haven't really explored this place beyond being threatened by guards." And so he began following the botegirl.