Cinema
Even as Nestan stepped over the mountain of corpses and made her way to the screen, the battle raged on. More and more monsters kept coming, even as their numbers dwindled. The multitude of barricades and obstacles kept most of them at the bay, but a few of them made it through, grazing Grem's arm and biting Wren square on the shoulder. Even if they slew them all, there was no telling how much damage they'd do before they were done.
Thankfully, they wouldn't have to wonder. It took everything she had, but with all the powers at her disposal, Nestan accomplished her goal. Suddenly, the monsters stopped. The screen shivered and shook, wobbling and rippling. Until it finally went black. And like that, the monsters were gone.
But the screen wouldn't be the only thing wobbling. It hadn't been that long since Nestan recovered from her injuries, so it wasn't a surprise that she found the strength in her legs leaving her. Again. It wouldn't last long. A few minutes at most. But long enough to topple to the floor if she wasn't careful.
Edited by kkhohoho on Nov 14th 2020 at 10:12:02 AM
AKA Nixer
Wren
“Ow. Ow. Ow,” Wren finally hissed with pain once the monsters had been vanquished, plopping down onto the floor as the cuts and grazes across her form slooowly began to knit back together as she calmed down. “Stupid movie monsters hurting Wren... are friends hurt? Bird's Nest looks wobblings...” she observed, soon getting up and teleporting over to her in an effort to help her remain standing.
She herself was in a lot more pain than she'd otherwise admit, as her hypersensitivity was making every scrape and bruise feel much worse than they would on a human being. But she kept her mouth shut and tried to push past it, focusing on helping her classmate instead of whimpering in a corner somewhere.
“Bird's Nest save day! Wren owes her,” she stated, managing to give Nestan a toothy smile despite herself. “Don't hurt yourself, please. Done more than enough.”
bork
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Cinema
"Its closed..." Nestan reported, duty first. She was trembling. She had kicked the penultimate attacker down even while focusing on the portal, but the last, a classic wolfman, managed to bite down on her arm while she worked on the screen. She meant to kick that one but she found her legs just on this side of giving out. And the wolf took all those jagged teeth and pulled while Nestan pulled back to hold her ground. The thing only stopped tugging when it vanished. The teeth vanishing and Nestan's leftover momentum sending her crashing into the screen was how she found out the monsters had been banished.
The blood stained her sleeve, as the other scratches and scores from the melee did elsewhere. Nestan hadn't had anything prepared to close the thing, but she asked her Lady for a miracle and it came. The issue was that she channeled that power surge through herself, and she still felt like ice shards were floating through her bloodstream.
She'd already dropped her shield to deal with the screen and would rather hit the ground face first than thrust her sword into the ground. It surprised the lay sister considerably when Wren appeared to keep her from hitting the ground.
"Hm?" Nestan started. "Bird's nest?" She shook her head then. "Um... nevermind. I'm sorry closing that took so long. And thank you and thanks for checking the other room. I know there could have been anything in there. Its good these monsters weren't chasing the townspeople but... we still have to find Goldie." Much as she wanted to rest and let others rest, their homeroom teacher had vanished. At least the mayor's voice had come on the intercom, so he was somewhat accounted for. Goldie was just gone.
Edited by CenturyEye on Nov 14th 2020 at 12:03:54 PM
Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Surrounded by weirdoes
Hali had landed again, wincing as she rubbed a bruise in her legs. She really should mind her own strength sometimes. At least for her own sake.
"What even was that?" She asked. Looking around, she hoped things weren't too chaotic.
"Are you ok, Nestan?" She checked on her friend. She looked worn out.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Cinema
"Oh, I'll be fine," Nestan nodded, trying to force her shaking hands to calm. "I'll only be a moment Its still more important to find our homeroom teacher though."
"Those monsters barely streamed past your ice and everything else. I don't know what got around us to get to Goldie." Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Grem-After Credits
As the wave of monsters shrank, so did Gremory back to his human form. He was panting and worn out, with sweat shining on his forehead. "I didn't even get a chance to eat the snacks before the workout. Hardly seems fair." He slumped against a wall before lifting his head to snort at Nestan.
"I'm sure Professor Puppy Chow is fine. Lots of juice in that one. I'm more interested where the Mayor and his daughter scampered off to just now. And why Justin abandoned us. Great teamwork there. But pretty much what I expected." He pulled a miraculously untouched bin of popcorn off the floor and offered it to Nestan, Wren and Halli. "Anyone fancy an after-battle treat?"
Inside, however, he was bloody irritated. This meant that their enemy didn't care if he died. So either Polly had had a change of heart about his place in the family, or her place in the town wasn't as assured as she thought for them to attack her own blood. Either way it meant a serious conversation with her which he wanted the same way people looked forward to having nails hammered into their toes and then being set on fire.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Hali took a bite of the popcorn, before looking around.
"Justin must have followed the mayor, I think" She noted "Seems like the more obvious reason for him not being him" I hope
Now, they have to find their teacher.
What to do? Think 'free dog treats as loudly as possible to find a lead? She thought, with some irony, but if it works...
Wake me up at your own risk.
Breath of the Sun
Alexander
Nestan finally managed to close the portal, and with that, the onslaught ended. Exhaling sharply, Alex began fixing up the wrecked cinema, retracting his spikes and restoring the floor. The screen, however, he sealed within a box of stone. It might have been back to normal now, but he wasn't going to chance another portal opening.
Taking another breath, Alex flexed his power again, and a few seconds later, from the floor near the others emerged bandages and a tub of antibacterial ointment. "Let's dress our wounds, for now."
He lifted his hands from the floor, then slumped into one of the cinema chairs (which he'd cleaned and fixed up in the process of repairing things). He began to think aloud. "Assuming Goldie wasn't involved in this, it's unlikely that whoever kidnapped her is anywhere nearby. They'll probably release her once they realize their trap didn't work. And by 'they', I mean the mayor and whoever he's working with. I don't know if you all noticed, but the monsters didn't attack until he left. And his eyes flashed, apparently some kind of signal. Circumstantial, but entirely believable."
Alex rubbed his temples, feeling a headache come on. He synthesized a painkiller from his chair's arm, before continuing. "Gremory, your family might be involved with this, if Polly is as high on this town's foodchain as I've been lead to believe. I know you don't consider yourself human, but if you ever feel in danger at your home, you're welcome to stay at my place. I doubt my parents would mind. Same goes for any of you. We all know how 'safe' the school actually is."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?
AKA Nixer
Wren
“Wren won't say no to warm housings. Or snacks,” Wren stated; her long purple tongue unravelling and lashing out so as to (surprisingly delicately) pluck a piece of popcorn out from Gremory's offering hand. “And yes. Bird's Nest. 'Cause Nest-an. Easy for Wren to say. Don't ask why.”
She clicked her tongue, then moved over to investigate the medical equipment Alex had produced—beginning to bind her wounds even if it'd only be a temporary thing. It still took a while for the healing to kick in, after all.
“Wren misses puppy. We have to find. But can't smell any tracks. Can you smell, Grem?” she asked, tilting her head towards Gremory and 'porting over to tap the end of his nose with her finger. “You can turn into good sniffers. Wren stuck with one sniffer. Maybe can track something Wren can't.”
bork
Gremory-The Adventure Continues
Smiling as Wren took the piece of popcorn, Grem put the bin down next to her and nodded. "Yes, I could do that. It might work out well, provided they haven't used some other methods to get away. And Goldie's scent would be easy to follow."
Turning to Alex, he frowned. "I'd hate to think Polly was involved. She loves this town and she's put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into it. (Some of it was even hers.)And I don't know what she'd get out of hurting us." Grem shook his head. "And if she ever did want to hurt me, well there isn't much that could be done, and I wouldn't want to bring you or your family into it. It would be...unpleasant. But I appreciate the offer."
With that, he dropped into the form of a large rat and scurried off, sniffing intently.
Surrounded by weirdoes
"Whoever it is, I'll just apply the rule taught by my parents" Hali noted, thinking as loud as she could about dog treats (that she might have to actually buy) "When we find them, hit them so hard they would never dream of messing with us again, no matter whether is the president, a god or just the most annoying rich guy ever" She said.
She knew it didn't sound calming, but some people just understand violence, and she knew how to be clear and concise in that language.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Cinema
Grem's search would take him out of the theatre and into the lobby, past the dead-eyed staff who had barely moved a muscle and into the family restroom. It was surprisingly clean, though it was so small, it wasn't like the janitor had to put in much effort.
Sitting in front of the toilet was Goldie. But something was... off. Her head was leaning towards the toilet bowl, staring down as if looking deep into a pool or a lake. But she wasn't all there. Instead of their usual blue hue, her eyes were a light golden, lit up like a burner on low. Even as Grem scampered in, she didn't move a muscle, barely breathing as she kept staring at the toilet. Almost as if in a trance.
For once, it seemed as though the teacher was the one in need of saving.
Edited by kkhohoho on Nov 19th 2020 at 10:36:16 AM
Justin
Justin ran back in toward the room his fellow students were in, after trying to make sure his drones were able to follow and more importantly discretely observe the mayor without issue. He didn't trust those two - not in the slightest. If he distrusted Grem due to the man's upbringing of privilege and elite status around town, then he disliked the mayor and his daughter more for their status being if anything even greater at least as far as he was concerned.
However by the time he came back he saw Gremory heading off - and the fact it seemed the staff here were all dead eyed. Justin knew if Grem was out the situation in there was defused. So he decided to follow along and see what was up.
Not long after Grem found Goldie, Justin entered as well, and looked around. As he found the curious situation Goldie was in, he stated, "I've been trying to trail the mayor with my drones and...oh. Oh fuck. What's wrong with the teacher? It looks like somebody put her under a spell."
Justin brought up his armor's gauntlet and started scanning Goldie to try and see if there were any physiological abnormalities in addition to whatever was going on with her.
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Cinema
The good sister watched Grem shrink into rat form and scurry off and listened to Hali calling for heads on pikes and took it as a cue to right herself. Everyone else looked as fresh as if they'd just stepped out of a bath. The human girl among these fighters meanwhile... well, her arm worked fine, even after the tug o war. Her sleeve had turned red, but nothing would get infected, and she quickly bandaged the arm to stop the bleeding. And her legs had stopped tingling.
"Nestan comes from Nestan-Darejan," said Nestan began to explain to Wren, mostly to distract herself while she worked through the various aches and pains. There was still the elephant in the room though. "And this isn't over. Justin is unaccounted for after all, and we don't need to let Grem go alone."
Nestan kept her sword steady, to guard herself and left the theatre to search for Gremory and Justin and whoever sprung that trap. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Gremory-Saving Dr. Pupper
Well, this is damned weird.He shifted back to his human form, careful to keep his gaze averted from the swirling water. "I was willing to buy everyone a drink, so this hurts a bit." He stepped back from the stall, flicking a glance at Justin. "If you have some kind of eye protection, you can try and take a look in there. I'm not gonna try it. Either it's a brain-grabber in the toilet or a spell. Neither of which sounds fun."
"I assume when you left us in the lurch the mayor was your target? Good job letting us know. Did you get anything before he let off his alert? And what did you expect to happen when you confronted him?" Gremory sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Anyway, I'm gonna sniff around outside and see if I can pick up any other new scents. I know the Mayors', but his "daughter" is new. And I'll alert the others." He shrank back into the form of a hound and darted off.
Surrounded by weirdoes
Hali followed the group until they entered a bathroom, where Goldie was looking at the toilet.
You can't even trust toilets, what has this world come to?
Hearing the warning, she made a pair of reflecting eyeglasses for the moment.
"Weird spell" She noted.
Taking her breath, she tried to see if she could stop the swirling water. It seemed like the obvious trick to stop this.
If not, someone is getting soaked
Wake me up at your own risk.
Restroom
As Justin scanned Goldie, it was clear there wasn't anything physically wrong with her, short of being a sapient telepathic dog. However, the scanner itself seemed to interfere with whatever had caused Goldie's trance in the first place. Slowly, she blinked, her glowing eyes returning to their usual blue hue, even as Hali stopped the toilet from flushing.
"BUT GOLDIE WANTS TO DRINK FROM THE GOLD TOILET BOWL— HM? WHERE GOLDIE? WHY STUDENTS WITH GOLDIE IN RESTROOM? SHOULDN'T BE WATCHING MOVIE?"
Cinema
Back outside the restroom, Grem tried to sniff out any other new scents, but it was no good. The closest he got was the manager and the staff, but even then, it wasn't like they were out of place. But what was more interesting was where some of the scents were. The Mayor was having a one-on-one with the manager in his office, but his daughter was in the projector booth. What she was doing there was anyone's guess, but it couldn't have been good.
Edited by kkhohoho on Nov 22nd 2020 at 10:45:30 AM
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Restroom - Serendipity
The restroom was far from the first place she would have looked. At first she wasn't looking. Nestan had to take a minute to ask the manager if anyone was left around after he'd told people to evacuate. The mayor and Gloria had been in front of the monsters and they still groggily got up and left. Sure, the class had been there but stopping them hadn't been a foregone conclusion.
Again, the bathroom was the last place she'd look. But after that evacuation, checking all of the departing cars for a teacher potentially tied up in the back was impractical. And if she got swept up in the crowd of people leaving, she'd never be able to 'swim' back through them to get to the theatre lobby. The bathroom just happened to be behind the most accessible door.
"Hello?" Nestan had knocked twice before entering. "...local responders." She identified after a time, not quite knowing what to call herself besides not Class 1/2. "There's a... an emergency situation, and I need you to leave. And if you see a talking golden retriever..."
And when she entered to clear the place there was said talking golden retriever. "Goldie! Whoever took you, are they still here? Are you okay?" Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Surrounded by weirdoes
"Good to see you in one piece, teacher" Hali said, giving Goldie a good pet. "What's wrong with this world that toilets aren't safe anymore?"
Looking up, she asked softly.
"What's the plan?"
Wake me up at your own risk.
AKA Nixer
Wren
“Ah. Wren understands,” Wren nodded in response to Nestan's explanation regarding her name, not understanding even in the slightest. “Wren still call Bird's Nest. It's funny. Ha-ha.”
She scampered after the group to the... restroom(?) for some reason only to realise said reason was sitting and staring into a toilet bowl. She blinked incredulously at Goldie's state before the psychic pup was snapped back into reality, and Wren let out a squeal of relief—teleporting over to Goldie and attempting to give her a huge hug.
“Doggie's safe! Wait... teacher's safe!” she amended, eventually releasing Goldie once her feathers started itching. “Yes. What now? Do we run or in-ves-ti-gate more?”
bork
Restroom
Goldie's tail wagged at the wave of pets and hugs and affection, but her eyes glowed bright as she became aware of her surroundings.
"GOLDIE NOT SURE HOW GOLDIE GET HERE. GOLDIE WAS WATCHING MOVIE WITH CLASS. THEN GLORIA GIVE GOLDIE HEADPATS. THEN GOLDIE HERE! IS MOVIE STILL GOING?"
A foot nudged open the door to the bathroom, just a crack at first, then wider as a tall reedy boy tried to slip inside. His arms were full of buckets of popcorn, cartons of candy, and jumbo sized soft drinks, which at the very least explained why he couldn't use his arms to open the door. (Even if it only raised ones about why he would bring food into a restroom.) He was a lanky guy with long arms and longer legs, pale and stick thin with messy light brown hair and a gap-toothed grin. He stuck his head in the room and tried his best to wave with his arms wrapped around all that food. "Uh sorry, I don't wanna interrupt but I saw all you guys come in here, and I heard the name Goldie. I'm a new student, and the school said I was supposed to see a movie with a teacher named Goldie and the rest of my class, so I kinda figured ya' know, that that was you guys." He chuckled, and shrugged, feeling just a tiny bit awkward for having his first conversation with kids his age in a bathroom of all places.
"M'name's Brendan by the way, I would've rode over with you guys, but I kinda got lost." As several wrecked streetlamps across town could attest to. Branden blamed his dad. What did he expect letting his son with zero training drive their new car to school. He'd never even been in a car before this morning! Or a theatre come to think of it, but that experience was going pretty well from what he's seen so far. The place had a ton of food, and lots of flashy lights, which were his two favorite things in the world. So he was a big fan. Surely nothing bad would ever happen in such a wonderful place. His new classmates didn't look too happy though...
He cocked his head, and flashed another lopsided smile. "Is everything okay? You guys are kind of giving off the vibes that you're not happy about being here."
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Restroom
"I'm not sure how you got here either," Nestan said. "But we're not watching the movie anymore. Before we got here, we were fighting it."
"Though from what you just said, we probably need to ask Gloria some questions." She wouldn't entertain arresting her. Goldie's statement, a hunch from Alex, and the timing of it all were probably enough to briefly detain the girl but not to put her in a cell and certainly not enough to stab her.
Almost on cue the door creaked open and Nestan had her sword in the ready before the next thing came through. And it... he was carrying an armful of popcorn.
"..." It was too blatant to be a trick and yet too coincidental to just be a new student stumbling in through the chaos of the evacuation and monsters and everything. Sister Nestan blinked and blinked some more before finally splitting the difference between suspicion and hospitality. "I am the lay Sister Nestan and you will do me the favor of staying right there." She pointed with her sword with emphasis before calling the school to check if a Brendon by this description existed. Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Surrounded by weirdoes
"The movie tried to kill more than our brain cells today" Hali replied. "Nestan still needs some help, though, beyond that, just some minor stuff" She added. With the mention of Gloria, her expression slightly darkened.
"So that's it?" She said "Well, we know who to follow. We need to get her good" She punched her palm for emphasis.
But then an interruption came in the shape of a young voice arrived. Nestan gave a rather... tense welcome, but she tried to smile.
"Nice to meet you" She said "We are handling a situation, but meanwhile I am Hali, Hali Everett"
Wake me up at your own risk.
Wren
“No monster thingies in other room! Only here!” Wren announced immediately after 'porting back; having made a point to stick her tongue out at a bratty kid who'd thrown popcorn at her for getting in the way of his view. She still had a few stickly kernels hooked among her feathers, but paid no mind to them. “Peo-ple must really hate us. First we watch bad movie, then bad movie tries killing us.”
She put a hold on her complaints as she dove back into the fray, eventually wrenching a cinema seat out of its place and throwing it with surprising strength towards the monsters for good measure. She then elected to stick mostly near to Gremory for whatever reason, but hardly played favourites otherwise—teleporting in and out to assist the rest of the class when they needed it most.
bork