Club Pluto (Rebecca, Sinistrina, Kokoro, Ryya, Kittan, Conrad, Mancipium)

Kittan merely looks... Annoyed at everyone's insistence that 'destroying corpses is wrong'. Conrad, however, seems rather quizzical of their responses. "So destroying dead bodies is wrong, yet a massive pit where they're thrown around like trash is okay? Geez, I know getting a new body that won't reject you is annoying, but none of this could possibly be acceptable..."

Kittan noticing Rebecca's display of corpse magic, the angel(?) actually seems rather disappointed over how she's nothing more than a puppeteer. Flashing Kokoro a smile in response to the girl's exclaimed 'Uwa', Kittan turns her attention to Sinistrina after doubting Kokoro's answer. Conrad, for his part, has a 'what the hell?' kind of look that Sinistrina even did that.

Yet even as Sinistrina tries to provoke a reaction from Kittan, the shapechanging woman remains calmly composed. Holding her wings out wide, Kittan finally speaks up, her tone edged with annoyance. "I am an angel, yet all of you speak to me as if I know nothing? What arrogance, though unsurprising for those who get the celestial system so grotesquely wrong."

Holding out her right hand, a sphere of white fire forms. Gently tossing it up and down, the rider of famine focuses her gaze more specifically on Sinistrina. "Can you even say you're still you, and not just a facsimile brought to 'life' by your trapped soul? Seems to me you only care because you're an abnormally self-aware zombie."

Looking next to Ryya, Kittan transitions smoothly verbally. "Bodies that aren't your own are far too much hassle for the average death-defying maniac to control. Why would I ever destroy inanimate objects? They're a universal vessel that'll never try to purge your soul from it. You only need a body in the first place because your souls are so weak, nothing more than a crutch."

Shifting her gaze to Rebecca, Kittan snuffs out the flame in her hand, before frowning slightly. "Of course you believe that, puppeteer. But real necromancers can be very terrifying individuals, often loaded up with too much power and little morality. All it takes is for one to get a bright idea, and poof- Instant zombie whenever someone dies. As if 'mindlessly hunt and infect' is a reasonable method of population growth."

Finally looking back at Kokoro, Kittan smiles rather amusedly before speaking to her. "I am at the beckoning of no mere mortal, girl. Nor do we ignore Japan just because you have your Shinto gods. Still though, you're delightfully insane for having just bought your superpowers. Honestly, my brother would probably consider that amusing enough to seduce you."

Conrad looking around the room and coming to the conclusion Kittan is done speaking, the draconic(?) boy speaks up generally. "So I get we're from other universes, but 'memory' of a soul? You realize you're just using biopuppetry magic right? If any of these bodies have slivers of a soul left, they would be Shells instead- Completely different from a corpse, even if most people don't care."

Then, holding his arms out to the side and gesturing to all the corpses, Conrad continues. "While Miss Obvious Bullshit is a questionable person, none of you find this fucked up? These bodies are clearly not being dealt with properly, and this is far too many corpses for a space liner to have. Fucking hell, I'm pretty sure nobody was actually suppose to come in. Just, what the fuck? Is there some underground sadistic gladiator meets Jigsaw game going on? No way are these all accidents, and you especially shouldn't just dump them off instead of proper funeral rites."

edited 7th Jun '17 10:05:14 PM by Kkutwar

Deck 9 ~ Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya)

"Oh," Ayako briefly uttered. The explanation Ethoya provided made a modicum of sense; the young girl had a fantastic adventure in her dreams, but due to the general mechanics of traipsing about one's subconscious, Ayako wouldn't be able to remember much of anything. She shook her head; there wasn't any real point to trying to dredge up locked memories. If there was anything of dire importance, it would pop up when needed. Hopefully.

"I spent a few years living by myself on the streets," Ayako replied, "and it toughened me up a bit." Literally and figuratively, she mused, recalling numerous injuries she had been sporting before first meeting Junko. "Then I joined up with another magical girl and her friends, and we defended the streets of Tokyo from all sorts of nasties for a few months. Also made for some rather bizarre headlines..."

Frowning for a moment, her mind caught on to something that Ethoya had said; "You said the living don't remember much of the Spirit World, and yet you can recall all that happened... does that mean you're not alive...?" Ayako inadvertently, but still insensitively, asked; her voice trailing off as she pondered something. She had used a more respectful honorific for the woman— "Are you a kami, Ethoya-sama?" the girl suddenly asked, eyes widening slightly.

Arboretum (Glitch; Shireen and Robin)

"Based on my scans," Glitch began, speaking in a very casual tone, "I suspect that you're currently experiencing some form of sexual attraction." The drone tilted slightly to the side, in the direction of Robin. "Most likely towards our companion over there. In many cultures, it would be customary to give you two some privacy in case you would like to propose something."

Glitch paused for a couple of seconds, letting out some chirping sounds before speaking again.

"It's possible that I'm mistaken, of course. And she's probably wondering why we're whispering, by the way."

[Deck 9 ~ Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya)]

"Kami" translated easily enough, into an old Meyil term applied to similar beings that strictly lacked the angelic aspects of Ethoya and her kind, but that laypeople used interchangeably with the proper one. So she said, "kami? Something like that," she said. "Not quite the right word, but the differences would probably only be of interest to a priestess looking for an argument... which is to say, most of them, at least where I'm from."

Then she said, "...but you said something about living on the streets? In past tense, at least. That does explain a bit." Like the outfit; would someone raised in wealth want so many frills? Even a Maurosian might think it a bit much. (A lesser being might have judged Ayako for it, but Ethoya figured Ayako had every right to dress however pleased her.) Then, morbidly curious, she said, "what sort of headlines are we talking? I know some nasties make for strange ones, especially when the government doesn't want to admit those nasties exist." The excuses the Magocracy made when Terrans were involved could be especially strained.

edited 8th Jun '17 4:07:30 PM by KillerClowns

Deck 9 ~ Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya)

Ayako once again murmured in understanding. "Not quite a kami, but similar enough..." she muttered. Spending a moment chasing various thoughts around her head, the girl simply shrugged; "Not worth going into..." she squeezed an eye closed trying to recall the right word, "semantics over this. Ethoya-sama is Ethoya-sama, plain and simple." Satisfied at her simple philosophical concussion, Ayako smirked as she crossed her arms.

She gave additional head nods, "Yup, spent about two or three years by myself, before Junko-sempai gave me a place to live," she said, faintly blushing.

Ayako then glanced off into no direction in particular as she tried to recall some of the more... interesting headlines she had seen before. "It started with odd stories like "12-year-old mauled by wild dog" or "Critically injured woman disappears from hospital". Things that had relatively rational explanations. However, this led to stranger and stranger occurrences, and the supernatural wasn't exactly being "low key", magical girls like myself included. Governments eventually realized half-assed cover-ups were doing more harm than good. So you end up with more surreal headlines like "Giant aquatic reptile prompts Tokyo evacuation", "Man shark rampage stopped by little girl", or "Delinquents hospitalized after assaulting miko". It's a mixed bag of weird, awesome, and scary," she said.

edited 9th Jun '17 4:53:15 AM by WillDeRegio

[Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya)]

Miko. There was a word that didn't quite translate, though the translation field provided a generally comprehensible gist for Ethoya. Her own temples had similar sorts, though the mandatory training in hand-to-hand and staff fighting meant hospitalizing delinquents would be rather less newsworthy.

As for the other stories... "giant reptiles attacking cities, shark-people... where is this 'Tokyo', the Graveyard of the Gods? Ziven's Teeth?" She realized a moment after saying it that Ayako wouldn't have heard of either of those lands, but figured the first name already implied everything important. "And I thought I needed a vacation."

As for Ethoya... she was in a pool area for a reason. With her spa visit unfortunately cut short, she eyed the hot tubs. "Nothing like a bit of hot water for those aches and pains," she said, more thinking aloud than speaking to anyone. "So," she said after a fairly impressive gulp of her drink, "I know where I'm heading next." She stood, and her feather-clothing shifted once again.

When they were done, she wore a pair of loose knee-length swim trunks (she wouldn't feel comfortable walking around with bare thighs, no matter how little the others here seemed not to care), and what was essentially a feathery sports bra. She didn't move quite yet, though, still having that ominous drink to finish. She did look over at Ayako though, and said, "this shouldn't cause any troubles, I take it? Local rules are a bit weird."

edited 9th Jun '17 8:31:38 PM by KillerClowns

Deck 9 ~ Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya)

Ayako briefly frowned, "It didn't really attack, more look around curiously before disappearing into the ocean," she corrected. "Wait, you don’t know where Tokyo is?" she redundantly asked, before smacking the middle of her forehead with the palm of her hand, "Ow... Right, cruise liner in space, not everyone's from Earth. Tokyo's a really big city and the capital of Japan— hmmm..." The girl retrieved her keyphone and fiddled about with it for a minute, before turning the phone to show Ethoya. On the screen was a map of Japan, with Tokyo indicated, "See?"

At the mention of soothing aches and pains, Ayako's body decided to chime in with numerous complaints of their own; the girl's nap hadn't exactly been entirely restful. "That sounds like a good idea, I'm a bit sore myself," she said, nodding in agreement with Ethoya's unintentional suggestion.

Taking cues from Ethoya, Ayako briefly went over the materials she had on hand. Her dress rippled, accompanied by the faint sound of moving fabric as Ayako proceed to craft herself a new outfit. The girl then proceeded to step out of her dress, now clad in a purple one piece swimsuit, accented by a gold-bronze trefoil pattern. She supplied the discarded clothing with a small bit of magic though some strands that were still connected to the discarded; the outfit reformed itself into a ragdoll doppelganger, dressed in her prior outfit and a fair bit smaller than the magical girl herself before withdrawing the extra threads into her swimsuit.

She then shook her head at the other woman, "No, I don't think it should." Ayako then proceeded towards an unoccupied hot tub, her doppelganger seemingly drunk as it tottered behind her. As she stepped into the luxuriously warm waters of a hot tub, her mini fabric clone promptly face planted onto the floor, before rolling over and sitting beside a deck chair, high and dry. In a demonstration of its lack of a spine, the ragdoll's head then proceeded to flop to the left as it settled into being an immobile doll.

Meanwhile, Ayako was beginning to enjoy the soothing warmth of the hot tub as she slowly made her way around to the far side of the tub. A relaxed, blissful smile crept onto her face as she located massaging water jet which began relieving the tension in her back.

Arboretum (Glitch; Shireen and Robin)

"Ah."

How does one perform deicide, my lady?

Huehuehue, you'd need to find an appropriate replacement first. Love has many aspects. You wouldn't want the new incarnation to be inappropriate, would you, came the question.

More inappropriate than the current one?

You'd be surprised. You can ask Ceallagh about that, if you're really interested. Our domains overlap, came the thought.

I'll take your word for it.

Asking Ceallagh about that had its hazards: she wouldn't stop at mere descriptions.

"You two are whispering like teenage sweethearts in anticipation of their first time. Should I go?" said Robin in a mocking tone. "What were you trying to sell her, Glitch?"

That's it.

Shireen donned her "stern teacher" look.

"Glitch was performing medical evaluation, Robin."

"Oh." Robin turned serious. "Sorry. Is it something serous?"

"Thankfully, no." The psychopomp gave Glitch one of her "Man-made Suns". "Nothing at all."

"Okaay. So you said arriving here was an unexpected turn of events, Glitch." The Aetellian looked hesitant to change the topic. "What were you expecting?"

edited 11th Jun '17 8:30:37 AM by Millership

Club Pluto

Ryya sighed, annoyed. This Kittan was getting insufferable real quick. He reminded Ryya of Daea, back at home, so full of herself and demeaning to others. Really? They were the arrogant ones?

"It's called showing some respect!" Ryya exclaimed. "Treat others like you would like ot be treated! You never heard of that?" She sighed, and slumped a little. "Ugh, forget it." She declared, defeated and annoyed. This was way too much of a hassle, not worthy getting worked up on.

Thankfully, Conrad spoke up, which helped get her attention to something else. "Honestly, I don't know. Is this stuff normal here?" Ryya looked around, confused. Now that she was more aware of her surroundings, she started feeling a twinge of discomfort. "And now that you're talking about it, it is a little creepy." She mused. "Think we should tell someone about this?"

Club Bizarre- Pray tell, what can one knowing nothing tell another?

Slight sighing in disappointment as Striga leaves, the Discoverer of Subversions thinks to himself. "Knowing more about that dimensional plane of sleep... So much for a lead on its origin." The nascent fairy girl, however, doesn't seem to quite comprehend what happened. Yet with her attention drawn to the Muse's work, the little one seems troubled as she looked at her song.

The Discoverer, however, listens first to the soulless one whilst also observing its work. With the soulless one finished, Discoverer finally speaks in his usual composed tone. "Most souls are too weak to affect the material world. Bodies, on the other hand, can't operate without something providing them power first. Therefore..."

The little fairy girl squeaking despite nothing seemingly happening, a very tiny beam of light is floated over to the Muse. Then, the steampunk tinkerer continues "Souls and bodies are a symbiotic existence. As for the neural clusters, the soul by itself can greatly struggle with remembrance. Thus they're merely there to store that information, so the soul can more easily remember things."

Letting the tiny light beam spin around, it wouldn't take much effort for those to realize what it is- Though incredibly slight, it is undeniably a piece of soul. "Therefore, manipulating the biological storage can confuse the soul, but without actually warping the soul mind control inevitably always fails. Thus, the stronger one's soul is or at least their skill, the more difficult it is for biological altercations to actually affect them."

His dress wearing creation deciding to take flight, the little one flies over to the tiny little scrap of her soul. Hovering in place as she examines it rather intensively, the Discoverer speaks again. "I'm sure you already noticed that little 'dream' scrap doesn't need a biological storage? Admittedly, being not much more than slight raw emotion... Well, what does a soulless one truly understand anyways?"

Looking over to where Nemaforte is, the Discoverer speaks to the soulless one even as he keeps his focus. "I'll be honest, it is often tempting to just delete free will. Everything would be so orderly if people couldn't commit crime... But something major we discovered? None of this existence thing has any logical reason for being."

The little fairy-like girl trying to grasp the itty-bitty soul scrap and failing, she keeps trying with increasing annoyance as Discoverer speaks. "There's always a reason, even if its stupid or random, for everything. Yet trying to imply existence is something natural... You just get an endless loop of 'so that's why it is there, and here's why that happened'. If there is literally nothing, there's no natural way a time traveler could be responsible. Ultimately, a pure void somehow becoming all of this? That's the only sensible answer, impossible though it may be."

The Discoverer looking back to the Muse and holding the little soul scrap closer to it, Discoverer's creation looks up with a bit of confusion before the armored man speaks. "So we could all actually live fulfilling existences in a completely unnatural system, or we could spend all eternity as mindless drones working on some inherently meaningless thing. We soulful beings, we're capable of giving ourselves a purpose that validates us personally. I can tell you, when all of existence comes undone, your precious work would be just as undone."

Deck 9 ~ Pool Deck

Dainty little steps could be heard by Ayako, and soon a pair of legs dip themselves into the hot tub. Sitting on the edge like it was a chair, gently kicking her legs back and forth, Ayako would be able to identify the person as a young girl. Said girl wearing a little smile, her body is wrapped with two wings(?).

Finally noticing Ayako and seeming a little surprised, the creamy white haired girl calls out softly. "Greetings, I wasn't exactly expecting to find you here. I'm kind of like an angel, so uh... I know a lot about people. Y-you can call me Lux-chan if you want..." Turning to glance over to Ethoya, the strange girl frowns bit.

Note: Sorry for not doing a lot with her introduction over here. 'Lux-chan' is a mental construct, so other than Ayako or anyone with a relevant ability she's unseeable. I would say Psyche-chan is both subtly reminding Ayako about her but in such a way to avoid all the negative details. Basically... Think Namine from Kingdom Hearts, where Sora became convinced they're childhood friends, but less extreme.

edited 11th Jun '17 7:08:26 PM by Kkutwar

Deck 9 ~ Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya; Lux Sniper)

Ayako owlishly blinked at the sudden appearance of the strange girl, before flinching at a twinge in her chest. “Lux-chan...?” she said quietly, “My dream... you were in my dream... Then we got separated...”

A forlorn look crossed the young girl’s face as she struggled to recall more of her dream, only to break out into a faint smile. “You can call me Ayako-chan,” she said, extending a hand up towards the other girl. Noticing the frown, Ayako glanced over towards Ethoya for a moment before returning her gaze towards Lux. “Is something the matter?” she asked.

Sickbay (Minerva, Tigris, Rolph, Anna, Gabriel Jones)

Rubbing his left arm with his right hand as Minerva apologize, Gabriel reflected regarding Cecilia. "There's no point in studying another person's genetic abilities..." "Right, because you're too stupid to gene splice anyways." "Screw you, I'm a man of action and philosophy, not science. Ain't nothing wrong with that." "Sure, sure, the rocket scientists probably agree with you."

Both Anna and Gabriel processing what is being said, Gabriel seems more upset by the less positive stuff whereas Anna is more clearly intrigued. Gabriel shooting Rolph a dirty look for doubting Minerva's sapience, his expression picked up with more 'wait really?' curiosity as Minerva explained anthropoid.

Finally, with the others done, Anna 'speaks' first of the two. ~"Skyblazers are the descendants of humans who survived the previous purging of all life. They're essentially vastly more powerful Psychics, yet with a rather distinct 'elemental' bent as media describes elements. They were actually vital study material for all post-first gen Espers, allowing for less loss and more gain. However..."~

Gabriel letting out a sigh and gently hugging Anna, she looks into the general direction of his face. The bone growing man looking back to the others, he picked up where Anna left off. "Skyblazers, and thus Psychics, are essentially glitches in reality. Some darkly humorous shit that we condemned the Eldritchians as impossible horrors, when we were protecting the real reality breaking paradoxes. Given the fact reality did go kaput without the cycle of death and rebirth being properly maintained... Kind of inclined to believe our dead god."

Gabriel running his hands through his hair, clearly not amused by what he said, Anna then speaks to Tigris. ~"There were plenty of people who opposed us artificial lifeforms existing for religious reasons, and transhumanism as well. Hochste Einmal was full of individuals who would discriminate against Fey Touched, though more for being 'filthy' than religious motives. On the other hand, Eldritchians were regularly worshipped either as proof of established religions or new ones centered around them."~

Getting over his little moment and letting out a breath, the not!Hispanic young man fold his hands behind his neck before speaking to Minerva. "I think Anthropoid would be more akin to what human means, ya know? Regarding people, they mainly get upset about stuff like that because it is true or because they're pissed to get misidentified so wrong. I could probably use some food though, gotta fuel my abilities somehow."

Standing there and whistling a little waiting to know what'll happen, Anna then spoke up with innocent curiosity. ~"How detailed and humanoid is your body then? I regularly expressed interest in getting to try food, as part of understanding organic life better. Amanda Neil's creator, Ryan Steele, gave her the ability for similar reasons and reproductive functions should she ever fall in love. Personally, I'm more intrigued by how some mechanical lifeforms could consume matter to repair and modify themselves freely."~

[Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya; Lux)]

Ethoya looked at the map of Japan with polite interest; the context didn't really add much, except that it was a large city on an island. (Fortunately for all involved, she failed to connect it to the Dying World that wreaked such havoc upon her own.)

Then she joined Ayako in the hot tub. Pleasant, if a bit cooler than her native springs. (Her typical level of heat was dangerous to humans, so it made sense.) The jets, though, that was new. And much appreciated.

Then she sensed — not really saw, but was aware of as a disturbance in the Spirit World — the self-titled "Lux-chan". And was dimly aware of her discomfort. She gave the disturbance a quizzical look, followed by a brief, polite, non-threatening nod.

[Club Bizarre (Discoverer; Muse)]

There were many complaints the Songmind could, in theory, make. It could argue that its purpose was as validating as any. That far more than memory and information could be altered by the proper application of chemical and neurological alteration alone. It could comment on the Discoverer's understanding of causation.

None of these, however, were as pressing as a single thought it had. It played back a recording of the Discoverer's latest words: "we soulful beings, we're capable of giving ourselves a purpose that validates us personally." Then it played back a recording of something the Discoverer had said much earlier: "the problem of my people is that we have too much power to ever be satisfied."

It is technically an incorrect anthropomorphism to describe a Songmind as having a sense of humor. Even so, much as humans might find a pairing of two contradictory, or at least seemingly-contradictory, statements by an individual "funny", the Muse had a certain vaguely analogous sense that drove to offer the two statements as a pair and patiently await clarification from the Discoverer.

edited 13th Jun '17 8:50:16 PM by KillerClowns

[Observation Deck]

Jin shivered instinctively when they felt the anti-magic coming off of Proseda. That's not a good sign, but he's clearly quite powerful. I won't make a fuss until I have to.

"Indeed. No point in ruling out anything in your own arsenal when you know that they won't hesitate to use whatever means possible to beat you into submission, yes?" Their eyes remained steely, but they were beginning to speak a little more quickly again. They took Enkar's words as a clear signal that there was no need to hold back; there would be no sympathy for fascists here. "Merely existing as a fascist is an act of violence. By definition, they don't listen to reason. They operate on their own twisted logic, if you could even call it that, because it is only by that logic their ideology has any merit whatsoever."

They took a small sip of their drink, watching Enkar all the while. "Of course, as soon as you talk about killing fascists, dozens of people will jump out of their seats to tell you that they can be redeemed. But for every trembling Pallonian who hesitates to shoot, who could be persuaded to reconsider his worldview, there are five others waiting in the bushes and countless more elsewhere who would empty their rifles into me, or worse—" Jin looked away. "—take me to their labs. I can't stick out my neck for the faint hope of getting through to him when I already have my own comrades, my country, and my family depending on me. That's not how my parents' generation drove the Kartalians off our island, and that's not how we're going to stop it from being colonized a second time."

Jin said a lot more than they had been planning to, but it was a much-needed release. It wasn't that ranting about fascism was controversial among their acquaintances—in fact, several could put Jin to shame—but outside of the military, Jin found that most people felt drained by such talk, not invigorated like Jin was.

Arboretum (Glitch; Shireen and Robin)

Glitch swiveled it's camera lens between the two women, processing the situation. Based on it's limited knowledge about Humans, Shireen was annoyed, or possibly embarrassed. I will need to download some more social interaction references when I get the chance.

The drone froze, it's engines shutting down for a split-second before it came to it's senses again and stopped itself from falling.

...And speak with Rolph about these strange glitches.

"Right, nothing to worry about," Glitch finally answered. "As for this place, we got here by accident through a hyperspatial anomaly, or 'gateway' if you will. It's only happened once before, when our captain ended up in a strange planetbound city."

Glitch paused briefly, turning to scan a leaf that slowly spiraled downwards from one of the Arboretum's many trees.

"There were plenty of Humans there as well actually. You seem to get around."

Arboretum (Glitch; Shireen and Robin)

"Yeah, who would have kno- WHOA!" Robin stretched out her hands in attempt to catch the falling drone. Thankfully, he recovered quick enough. "Are you alright, Glitch? You seem twitchy. Maybe we should meet up with Rolph so he can repair you?"

Starlight Restaurant 1F (Lucina, Winky, Jake Ronso, Fiona Mulier)

Listening to Lucina's spiel, the demon general of greed looks on with minor annoyance. Fiona, however, seems a bit upset over this turn of events. Thus, as Lucina begins walking away, Fiona speaks up calmly to her brother "Let's get this done, okay? I don't exactly have any plans, so..." Yet instead of listen to his sister, Jake Ronso disappears-

-And reappears in front of Lucina, his back turned to her and his wings held out wide to block her. Turning his head to the right so he can look at her, the rider of conquest speaks with a no-nonsense kind of tone. "I am Greed and Conquest, what makes you think we're done because you said so? Allow me to educate you 'Queen' Lucina, on how everything works."

Turning his body fully around to look at her, Jake continues with that same tone. "Once you get like me, you learn a very important truth: That there is no 'black' or 'white', no grandiose purpose, existence merely is. You're doing nothing but wasting your time believing in such subjective concepts. You are a queen, your word is literally law!"

Letting out a brief snort, the greedy demon conjures a new image of Sinistrina, before speaking yet again. "You sentenced your sister and countless others to oblivion. I don't care you wanted to kill their bodies, but the souls there are such decayed messes. The only reason your sister survives is because of her 'destructive and evil' magic. Yet what do you do with your 'holy and pure' magic? You waste it to instead play make believe, creating new life to merely be your playmates because your subjects hate and fear you."

Looking over at his sister as she fidgets uncomfortably, Jake Ronso settles his gaze on Lucina. Holding his arms out at a ninety degree angle, the divine beast continues. "Frankly, you're insane, deranged, and depraved. However, I've dealt with many people like you, and your types boil down to three options. You either want to feel significant through power and rule... You want to feel good to make up for your boring or perhaps terrible life... Or you merely wish to torture and destroy everything because it is fun."

Clenching his fists, Jake's left arm begins visibly distorting. The flesh splitting open to allow for bone, it all eventually warps into a blackened & utterly solid arm with prominent claws. Holding it up to his face and showing it off to Lucina, the demon general touches the air with his words. "I doubt you're the 'for shits and giggles' kind, if only because ruling over nothing or getting killed isn't favorable."

Dispelling the image of demonic darkness showing Sinistrina, it instead shows... Well, something inbetween definable existence, like staring at the insides of wall. "You were perfectly okay with potentially destroying your sister, your subject Yuliya, and refused to train Emille. Empathy and sympathy are clearly not your strong suits hm? So..."

Turning his warped left hand palm upwards, Jake Ronso calls out again with this no-nonsense voice. "Power, perhaps? However, you are nothing like a god, nothing close to an angel... There is nothing divine about you, because magic is just magic and literally anyone can do it if they bother. However, Queen Lucina, you are in luck..."

His expression becoming a rather simple 'believe or don't', he speaks one last time for now. "We can literally get you anything you want. Wish to rule over an entire world with no interruptions to your imagination painting it as you want? There's always a void universe waiting to make a god out of the first intelligent thing there, to let them create anything they want. Do you want to get stronger? So many delightful methods throughout the omniverse for bestowing power. There's no point in screwing you over, because that simply invites schemes of revenge. I present this offer, so you don't have to keep wasting your time with a world that'll never truly be yours."

Pool Deck (Ayako, Ethoya, 'Lux-chan')

Flashing a little embarrassed smile at Ayako's verbal remembrance, 'Lux' glances back at Ethoya for a moment. Snarling defensively at her in such a way Ayako wouldn't notice, she turns back to the Magical Girl and gives a little 'sorry for worrying you' kind of smile- Complete with two long almost tentacle like arms splitting off from her wings and grasping together to affect a similar feel with her body language.

"I just can't discern her emotions, which is rather disconcerting for me. Honestly kind of a liability, what with being an angelesque entity. Um, about the dream... I-I'm sorry for showing up, I-I'm not suppose to interefere but you were freaking out and... I-I'm sorry for not being able to end things properly."

Blushing a bit embarrassed, 'Lux' taps her fingers nervously before speaking again. "I-I never really interacted with someone before, beside my bosses. A-are you sure we can be friends? I was so bad at my job, letting myself get trapped in the nightmare... I can understand not wanting to be friends with a screwup like me, humans always seem to find failure of others funny..."

edited 15th Jun '17 1:01:28 PM by Kkutwar

(Spirit Room- Phagora, Emile)

<Well, that was unexpected.> Phagora dropped in agony as the beam of holy light ripped out from Emile's parasol. She'd only been exposed to such a purifying force once before, witness from a quarter mile away as a pureblooded angel and demon clashed. Then, it had only caused her a mild queasiness- but at a distance of mere feet? It was a wonder the poor girl didn't lose control of her bodily functions altogether.

Standing back up, Phagora reached inside herself, pulling every dark memory and emotion to the surface. Locking her human side away, and letting the demon half corrupt her. Her veins turned black and spiderwebbed across her skin, as her stomach swelled. She had to smile- she'd tried this transformation several times before, purely as an exercise in her control of magic, but always failed. It seemed she needed to be severely frightened in order to Fall.

Dark energy swirled in her palm, more than she'd ever been able to manifest before. "Don't. Do that. Again." she said in a soft but menacing tone. "Or you and I are going to have problems."

(Club Pluto)

"So, you got your power from something you found in a shop, Kokoro. I wonder if the owner knew what he was selling... or if he was even human. I've heard children's tales of spirits taking human guise and selling magical artifacts to unsuspecting humans for a variety of reasons."

As Kittan and Conrad started speaking, Rebecca was first incensed, then disturbed. "A real necromancer. Are you calling me some cheap imitation, angel? I have walked a path that would drive most mad, and gone where none had succeeded before. Belittle me at your peril; I may not have faced you before, but I know the weaknesses of my world's angels, and wouldn't mind seeing if you share them."

At Conrad's comment about how there shouldn't be a bunch of corpses on a space liner, Rebecca's decaying face fell. She'd been so eager to show off, she'd hadn't stopped to ask the obvious questions. Saen would have had her head twice over for that; once for the ego and once for the stupidity. "You're right, of course. But perhaps all these bodies simply died over time, of natural causes. The brochures say this ship has been travelling for a long time, after all. If you like, I could call up some of their spirits, get some answers."

Deck 11 ~ Club Pluto (Kokoro; Sinistrina; Conrad, Kittan, Mancipium; Ryya; Rebecca)

Kokoro pouted at Sinistrina's dismissal of her brief explanation of how she lost her arms. “I'm telling the truth! My family's car was involved in a car accident. I hadn't been wearing my seatbelt at the time; I ended up being thrown out of the car and got knocked out. The other car ended up landing on top of me,” she said, before raising her left arm, “I lost this arm before the ambulance came, and the other one had to be amputated due to... complications.” She used one hand to nuzzle her other shoulder as she cast a downward look towards the floor, quietly adding: “I should have died that day; I was lucky to only have lost my arms.”

The look on the winged salamandrian “magical” girl's face changed from sadness to that of awe as she watched the undead necromancer put the corpse she revived back together. Glancing from the now wholly repaired zombie woman to Sinistrina, Kokoro tilted her head in curiosity. “So, can she talk?” she asked the lich witch.

Kokoro shivered slightly, sending a ripple under her skin of tar the entire length of her body. She faced the source of the discomfort, and noticed the remnants of a smile on the so called angel’s face. Casting a wary glance at Kittan, she pouted slightly at her. “I don't have a weak soul...” she said quietly, eyeing the white flames the woman conjured.

She then glanced from her left hand to her right before speaking up, “There's a big difference between a magic zombie and a viral zombie, you know. What you're talking about is someone's science experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong,” she said, before adding with a concerned frown, “Or right... Besides, if you're bringing a corpse back to life, I don't think having it be mindless is such a brilliant idea. You can't really interact with it, and it wouldn't be of much help to you.”

The girl tilted her head once again at Kittan, “How am I insane for buying a magic urn? Besides, it was practically given to me; I only had to spend 20 yen on it.” She frowned again, “Also, I'd rather not have anyone trying to seduce me. It just seems a bit... weird, all things considered,” she said with a rather polite and honest tone.

She then turned towards Rebecca. “The shopkeeper was a she,” Kokoro corrected, “and I did get some odd vibes off her, but more of the good kind of odd, if you know what I mean.” She focused on a spot on the floor as she thought about how she had acquired the jar, shivering slightly when she realized the spot on the floor was a bloodstain.

Prompted by Conrad and Ryya, Kokoro glanced around at the room, noticing the rather disturbing number of bodies strewn about, in addition to the aforementioned bloodstain. She looked back at Conrad and gave to young man a timid nod of agreement, “I've been to morgues before, and they have a cleaner, more orderly set up than this place.” She then gave Kittan an apologetic bow, “I might have been mistaken for thinking you were creepy; this place could make even fluffy animals seem creepy.”

She felt something furry being drawn into her leg. Glancing down, she jumped back in horror, causing her to stumble backwards onto her rear; staring lifelessly at her was the rotting corpse of a rabbit with a broken neck. “UWA~! I didn't mean it seriously! Why?!” she exclaimed, shaking her leg to dislodge the offending corpse. “Oops...” The dead rabbit went flying, and bounced off of something nearby with a strange thunk.

Kokoro headed towards the source of the sound, tentatively minding her way around the scattered corpses. Her hands' nearly mindless... minds firmly entrenched in the “Do Not Want To Touch” camp, the girl resorted to extending her wings in front of her to move aside a corpse; three bony spurs extended from the end of each wing to gently move the body, albeit rather clumsily.

The girl gasped slightly, backing away from the corpse she uncovered. It looked like some sort of demonic jaguar, partially covered in black fur and black scuta, the remaining portions of its body covered in mottled brown, leathery skin covered in numerous scars. Its face lacked eyes, or even eye sockets; its mouth twisted into an eternal snarl with pointed teeth and prominent fangs long since dried. One ragged ear bore a damaged red tag, which bore part of an insignia that looked vaguely familiar, and the identifiable markings of E.d.W. and 0034. Next to each ear was a pronged horn, from which a lengthy, feathery antenna protruded.

“What the...” exclaimed Kokoro, horrified.

Deck 9 ~ Pool Deck (Ayako; Ethoya; Lux Sniper)

Ayako returned Lux's smile with one of her own. “You don't have to be sorry; it's the thought that counts,” she said cheerfully, “I'm just glad we got to meet again so soon.” The girl then gave Lux a solid nod, “If I can be friends with ghosts and yokai, I can be friends with an angel.”

She then frowned and waggled her finger at the other girl, “Don't say that!” Ayako then grasped Lux's hands and stared into her eyes, “I've seen screw-ups before, and you're not one of them.”

edited 16th Jun '17 7:01:47 PM by WillDeRegio

[Pool Deck (Ayako, Ethoya, 'Lux-chan')]

Ethoya was aware that the entity disliked her, but was not offended. Nayile had been worse when they'd first met, before they had an understanding. To Ayako, Ethoya said, "her difficulty sensing my emotion is probably the Xayu drowning everything else out. It can be a bit... much." Which led to the question of why the translation seemed so off; if Lux was "angelic", as Ethoya understood the term, the Xayu's power wouldn't be a problem.

To Lux, Ethoya said, "it seems like you and Ayako met in the Spirit World, but I don't think we've been introduced." Gently bringing a fist to her chest and bowing slightly, she said, "Ethoya Uvalex, a servant of the Xayu. Which means — if the translations are working right —" and a moment of hesitation implied she suspected they weren't, "we're in similar lines of work. A pleasure to meet you."

"Xayu" is closest to, and inspired by, the Zoroastrian concept of asha, though with pantheistic influences, and lacking the Zoroastrian link to fire. If Ayako and Lux have an immediately available word for a closely-related concept, Xayu will translate (perhaps hesitatingly) into that for them in the same way "kami" translated for Ethoya.

Club Pluto (Rebecca, Ryya, Kokoro, Sinistrina, Conrad, Kittan)

Kittan was at it again, taunting everyone present as if they were below her or something. Well technically they were, as Kittan was an angel, and the fact that there were a tar monster and two liches present did not help either. Speaking of which, Sinistrina perked her head up when Kittan addressed her. Unlike Rebecca, she did not seem annoyed at all at being called a zombie. In fact... "You are correct. I am an abnormally self-aware zombie. I wondered about that myself after I re-animated my own corpse. So of course I am me. My soul has a memory of my body just as much as the other way around. I suppose I could have possessed a different body - but that would be more difficult, not to mention uncomfortable." She cringed in disgust at the last part.

Speaking of which, next she spoke to Conrad. "And you still do not understand. Barring some severe psychological trauma, the soul leaves the body completely upon death. None of these corpses here have detectable souls, not even fragments like Mancipium has." It was funny how she said that, for if anyone else in the room could detect the presence of souls, they would also see that Sinistrina herself had no detectable soul, at least nowhere in the club anyway. The closest thing was her hand mirror, which, as she hinted at before, had many souls trapped inside. "It is difficult to describe the presence the soul leaves behind - I liken it to the feel of any enchanted object."

In fact, next she looked over to Kokoro, gazing in mild surprise as she described the accident. Though feelings such as embarrassment did not come up that much for her anymore, she did find it underwhelming that it was an accident; she had been expecting something like a curse on that object she purchased. She still had her doubts, but for now, she just shrugged it off. "Well then, I am sorry that that happened," she said to the tar monster, though her eyes were closed and her tone very flat. But she sounded a bit more interested when she spoke again, flashing a glance at Kittan. "But, you are quite correct about zombies. 'Viral zombie' is an interesting term to describe the more lowly sort of vampires, actually," she added thoughtfully.^note It is clear that she has no idea what a viral zombie really refers to.

She flashed a hint of a smile at Kokoro's compliment, but it quickly disappeared when she asked if she could make the zombie talk. Somberly, she gazed over at her newly-reassembled zombie. "Well, I suppose I can make her talk..." And as she leaned her staff closer to the zombie, the decaying woman took a rattling breath, and managed a heavily slurred "Hello Kokoro". But Sinistrina did not look pleased. "But that is not her speaking - it is only me putting words into her mouth." She shook her head. "If you want to hear the dead truly speak, you will have to ask Rebecca."

Glancing over at the fellow lich witch, she listened intently as she suggested calling back the spirits of the people who died here. As she did, she walked closer to her, placing a hand on her cloaked shoulder. "Do not listen to that pathetic angel. The necromancers she speaks of are..." Stumbling on her words, she flashed a glance at Kittan, remembering something she said that had stricken a small chord with her. Too much power and little morality... Shaking her head, she looked back at Rebecca. "...Well, she is mistaken. Necromancy takes many forms - and originally, it simply referred to contacting the spirits of the dead, which seems to be your specialty."

She looked briefly up at Conrad. "People die aboard ships all the time. Traditionally they would simply be cast overboard, but I imagine having dead bodies floating around outside the ship for all to see would be most unsightly - for most people." She looked back to Rebecca. "Still, I would very much like to see how you contact the dead. I have wondered for years how it works." There was a very clear look of sorrow on her face as she turned her gaze downward, her eyes pointing right at Rebecca's chest. "I sense trouble in your soul." She surprised herself for a moment, though it barely showed. I could never feel such a thing from the souls in the Deathly Glade, even when contained... so why her? "But nobody will condemn or judge you here, me least of all."

And then she heard a loud cry. Looking over to the source, she peered around to get a closer look... only to see Kokoro staring at a weird sort of cat with horns and a tag on it. Flashing a smirk, she said to her, "It looks like someone's pet - or morbid experiment. Let us have a closer look."

She reached out with a beckoning gesture, commanding the strange creature to walk over to her.

edited 18th Jun '17 11:56:14 AM by ladytanuki

Starlight Restaurant 1F (Lucina, Winky, Jake, Fiona)

Lucina was so intent on walking out of the restaurant that she nearby bumped into Jake when he moved in to block her path. Surprised and annoyed, she staggered backward a few steps, catching Winky before he could fall off her shoulder. However, before she could protest, Jake continued his lecture. To which all Lucina could do was listen with an annoyed gaze and her gloved arms crossed in front of her, impatiently tapping her scepter against her chin.

When Jake was finally done talking, she sighed and unfolded her arms. "You seem to have misunderstood me. I mentioned black and white specifically with regards to magic. By definition, white magic is used for healing and holy endeavors, while black magic is used to cause harm. I actually agree with you with regards to good and evil being subjective. Do you think I'd be trapped by some silly thing like morality? As far as I can see, what is most important is acting out of one's own passions and living life to its fullest."

She put on a smile and clasped her hands together. "And that is exactly what I have done! The dolls aren't just my playmates - they're for the whole kingdom, or even the whole world to enjoy! That is why I wanted to become queen of Solevaille: to transform what was previously a sleepy alpine town into a whimsical world where dolls integrate into society! In fact, it sounds as if you are implying that I was only acting out a childhood dream. I suppose you could say I was in a sense, but I grow tired of people who dismiss the kingdom as a silly and immature fantasy." She moved her hands dramatically aside and gazed up at the glittering stars on the ceiling. "Such is the woe of invention - you face backlash from society for it. And such is the woe of power - some toes just have to be stepped on in order to maintain order. It has been such all throughout history, even.

"I suppose you could say my life has been boring, in a sense. I did enjoy helping my father make toys, but honestly, how boring is it to merely follow in your parents' footsteps? I wanted to make something new. Something that the world would love me for, and that they can enjoy themselves as well! Hmm, your offer seems very tempting if I may say... but I have such things already!" Her giggle conveyed pure delight. "I have a castle all to myself filled with dolls I brought to life, and we all get along splendidly! I have a kingdom that, in spite of the cruelty you mention, is thriving! I suppose I could use the extra power, though in all honesty, I am not quite certain I would need it. I do not fancy taking over the world, after all - even I know how stupid an idea that is. That sort of gesture begs for rebellion."

She sighed. "Truly I did not initially want to resort to such drastic measures to take the throne and keep it... but asking politely never got me anywhere. I have always been good at coming up with grand ideas, but too many people seem to think I have the mind of a hare. When I first presented my ideas for bringing the dolls to life, everyone I told about it laughed at me. When I spoke up for doll rights in society, the mayor considered my ideas preposterous. But being a marionette has changed your mind, hasn't it?" she added with a pat on Winky's back. But before he could utter an "I say", Lucina went on. "So you see, I had to force people into appreciating those ideas... though now that you mention it, perhaps in all the stress I did get a bit carried away with it. But what other choice did I have? I could not risk anyone potentially compromising the kingdom I had worked so hard to establish in spite of all the backlash and ignorance. The only person I did not create who has ever listened to my ideas with any interest was..."

She froze mid-sentence, coming to a sudden realization. Though all around the two, the interior of the restaurant was bathed in noise and chatter, in this moment, the place seemed silent, desolate, deathly. After a long pause, though in a notably stunned manner, she spoke. "...was Sinistrina." She sounded lost, as if talking more to herself. "She taught me everything I know about magic, and we worked together to figure out how to bring those dolls to life..."

For a moment, she thought back to all the experimenting they had done, either out in the woods near town, or late at night in the store she inherited from her father after he passed. How when Sinistrina demonstrated how she could extract souls from animals and such, Lucina - or Dextrina, as she was called back then - got the idea to use souls to bring life. Which led to both of them experimenting with putting souls inside dolls, breaking many in the process... until at last they figured out how to conjure new souls from the surrounding ether... yet only the ones Dextrina put together actually came to life, while Sinistrina's only crumbled as usual. Yet after a while, those memories gave way to annoyance.

"Do you want to know the real reason why I banished Sinistrina to the Deathly Glade?" She shook her head. "I suppose in a way, even she didn't take my ideas seriously. For as long as I can remember, she has always been miserable. I tried to invite her to play, to come along on outings, to help out in our father's toy store... nothing would make her happy. Dealing with her over the years was an utter chore. It wasn't until I presented my idea to bring the dolls to life that she finally told me that she could use magic. True, I suppose you can say I only learned about magic in the first place so that I could further my own ambitions, but I also kind of hoped that it would cheer her up, that she could see her magic used in a way that people would actually appreciate. Even when I told the entire town that she could raise the dead, nobody mentioned wanting to burn her at the stake for it.

"Unfortunately, she was far too concerned about the morality behind it all. Inevitably we faced some opposition from people who dismissed our use of magic as devil's work. I thought it was all silly of course, and continued to strive to make Solevaille the porcelain wonderland it is despite it, but she actually let it get to her. Her talents are in black magic - and yet somehow, she was so afraid of causing harm with it. She was so concerned with being 'good' and 'righteous' that she had the audacity to protest my reign, even after I repeatedly told her not to worry about factoring such lofty concepts as 'good' and 'evil' into it. She could have ruled alongside me - and maybe together we could have made it so that fewer regulations would be needed - but she was so convinced that her magic could only bring destruction that she decided to keep on doing what she does best: be miserable. I knew that she enjoyed using her magic more than anything else... so I had to banish her. For her own good. If life was bringing her such misery, perhaps she could only find peace in death. If nothing else, she could practice her magic in the Deathly Glade without worrying so much about harming people with it."

She recalled what Jake and Phagora had said. "She survived thanks to her own magic... so she did seal her soul away. Hmm, then perhaps there is still hope for her after all, provided she does not become some soulless monster like those sorcerers from myth. I am done caring though. She is a prisoner of her own pathetic will, and I have a kingdom to manage. And... well, perhaps my time on this ship could be put to good use after all. If I simply hold back on the executions, perhaps refurbish the university... hmm, perhaps some of the teachers could be dolls as well!" But she shook her head, and spoke with an uncharacteristic weariness. "I do not know where to begin though, and I am not good at thinking under such pressure. Maybe..."

Remembering Jake's offer, she finally got an idea. "A-a-actually, I know of one thing you can help me with. Perhaps if I were to free the souls of the people who were trapped in the Deathly Glade. Perhaps if I could bring them back to life as dolls and have them not crumble when I do so. ...I don't know. This... this is far too much for me to process right now." She looked back at Fiona. "You look bored. What to you say to relocating?"

"I say," Winky finally spoke, "I would love to take a dip in the pool."

Lucina scowled. "You are made of wood. I was thinking something more like Planetoid Park, or perhaps one of the clubs."

Spirit Room (Emille, Phagora)

Emille stumbled backward in fright when Phagora transformed, extinguishing her ball of light and shielding herself with a floor mat. She was just now putting two and two together, remembering that Phagora was part demon, and she was using magic based on holy light. After a while, though she dared not look up at her, she peeked her pretty porcelain face out from behind the mat and spoke.

"I... I'm sorry, I... didn't even... I-I must have gotten carried away by that mirror!" In fact, she turned around to face the wall panel she had gazed into, pointing at it with her parasol. "Bad mirror! How dare you tempt me into harming my teacher! Were it not for the type of magic I inherited from you, I would have thought you the Devil himself!"

She looked back in Phagora's direction, speaking more calmly. "Please return to your human form. Unlike me, you are only beautiful in one of your forms. How do you deal with that side of you anyway? It seems like it would be something that is difficult to control." As she spoke, she kept her parasol at the ready, in case in her madness Phagora decided to attack her. She wasn't afraid - especially since she knew her magic would easily destroy her if she actually put the effort behind it. But at the same time, she hoped it would not have to come to that.

"...Well, I suppose that means the magic lesson is over," she went on. "If I use any more of it around you, it will only harm you, correct? Why don't we leave this place and go somewhere else..."

edited 18th Jun '17 10:23:10 PM by ladytanuki

[Dark Matter Lounge]

"Gods, huh?" Kiryu grinned right back at her. "I've never put much stock in deities, myself. I mean, what have they done for me lately?" He chuckled. "Nothin', that's what. So how much drinking could they possibly do? Not much, I'm betting!" He took a sip of his drink. "Besides, I've never heard of a god who appreciates good sake."

[Hallway] >>> [ "snack bar" ]

"Are there fish in space...?" Sakura murmured, her mind reeling from the possibility that 'space such' was a real thing. Not quite reeling hard enough for her to not notice "Inigo's" staff-twirling mishaps, but she was too polite to laugh.

Soon enough, the elevator arrived, and the girl held the doors open for her. "Oh, thank you," she said, and stepped out into a place she was entirely unfamiliar with. "So, where's the space sushi? Do you think there'll be space tempura, too?"

[Deck 1: Hangar/Docking Area (Carlotta, Reshk)]

As Carlotta rambled an explanation of sorts - very much 'of sorts' - Reshk's mouth hung open in a manner that inadvertently made him look even more fishlike. For a moment he thought about calling back to the Scout, but that wasn't going to be of much help, since the 'doll' clearly was no synthetic as he understood it.

After she finished, he closed his mouth (which all but disappeared, oquar not having lips) and was silent for quite a while. Until he abruptly realized that Carlotta had asked him a question.

"That ship, there," he answered, pointing an arm at the beige spaceship, "name of the Scout. But assuming you're meaning to ask where blokes like me originally spawned and are just too polite, I'm what's called an oquar. We aren't exactly unknown, so I'd guess your universe doesn't have us. But then, my universe hasn't got anything like you, so fair's fair."

He looked around at the huge hangar and whistled, again. "Right, so you're a talking toy. Not what I was expecting on a ship like this. Your queen's a full-sized human, though, right?"

He was guessing, since it still wasn't easy to tell furless mammalian bipeds apart, but the doll looked closer to human than kaorrl or orl.

Arboretum (Glitch; Shireen and Robin)

"That is probably a good idea," Glitch responded. "I've been noticing a series of minor malfunctions ever since we arrived here."

The drone went silent for a second as it connected with the ship's systems.

"It looks like he's still in the vessel's sickbay."

If Shireen can detect spirits, psychic energy or things like that, she might start to notice something weird about Glitch. Like a tiny, barely noticeable light that randomly flickers on and off.