Carmaria
"All the strength in the world won't protect you from being stabbed in the back." was Carmaria's immediate response to Wolfgang's assertion. However, she cracked a small smile at his curiosity. It was endearing.
"In my world, we call life energy 'aura'. And it's not just that I can sense it. I can actually see it and manipulate it. For example, I have a protective shroud of aura up right now." Anyone could keep a Ten up at all times with enough practice, after all, and it was definitely safer than the alternative.
"In my world, we call the ability to manipulate aura like this 'Nen'. No offense, but it'd take more physical strength than most people are capable of to scratch someone who can protect themselves with Nen, stronger than you look or not."
Nancy Weaver—Nailing It
"Maybe you should try...maybe you should try chanting the first thing that comes to mind," Nancy suggested, not quite sure how this really worked, but just working off of intuition. "Just...do what feels familiar to you, I guess. That can't go wrong."
Meanwhile, Seamstress rolled its nonexistent eyes at Mason and made a motion like it was stabbing itself in the heart with something clasped in two hands. Nancy didn't seem to notice this, but added, "You can't go wrong with a snappy catchphrase, either, if you have one..."
As soon as Mason repeated Seamstress' actions, red ribbons would burst out of the spot over his heart that he jabbed the needle with, surrounding him and transforming into a Rider's garb.
Edited by JumpingFruit on Oct 9th 2020 at 8:46:45 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own."Alternately that ghost doll thinks you'd make a great tiny insect knight."
Tibalt pipes up as he tries to find a place to exist amid this conversation. However the start of the transformation sequence causes him to perk an eyebrow.
"Or it could legit just be a transformation trinket. Man, you two have some neat stuff going; smidge jealous I suppose."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.Yuan
"Your mother made the schematics, but it took your sweat and elbow grease to put it all together. That's something in my book."
She scratches her head a bit at the talk of essences and the transformation sequence before her.
"Huuuuh. So you can take someone's material, and use it to make a whole suit of armor? Hm, reminds me of 3D printing a little."
She then notices Lee leave the room and end up in the same spot.
"...Doesn't look like we can leave. I should've figured as such with all the stuff that Doctor guy said."
Kyle
Looking around it looked like everyone had settled into talking with each other...
...While Kyle had ran off to sulk about the ten thousand years thing. He breathed. He was really not suited for these kinds of things. He fought, he punched, kicked, stabbed, led. He didn't talk. It just made him nervous when there were so many people chatting like this. He remembered the dragon's words though and brought himself over toward Nancy. She seemed friendly toward him earlier, after all.
"...Hey."
And I'm pretty sure I just interrupted her talking to these other people.
Roon
"Or maybe he has a legendarily bad sense of direction, I know someone who has managed to return to the same place multiple times when she wanted to go somewhere else on quite a few occasions" Roon says with a shrug when Yuan brings up Lee's leaving and returning. Seeing Kyle joining the group Roon gives him a small wave before turning her attention back to Nancy and Mason doing something with the needle. Once Mason stabbed himself with the needle Roon watched intensely as she hadn't seen the start of the previous transformation.
Jo
“Oy, that's alright. They probably needed a new one anyway. Didn't trust it not to explode from me doing it,” Jo idly commented, barely even flinching from Setsuna's outburst before sighing and moving up beside her to gently rub her back. “S'alright, love. Only an accident. In a place like this I imagine it 'appens a lot more than you might think.”
Poor girl. Probably thinking that everything she touches f$&%s up in some way.
“Now, we got a few options. Wanna find another table, get another drink, or just go back to that apartment thingy? Wha'ever makes you feel a little better love, I don't mind...”
That and I don't want an upset force of nature on my hands.
bork"I would say that's a little harsh, especially with me being in earshot, but I can't exactly deny it." Lee admitted with a smile in response to Roon. "Besides, it's not like I needed to get somewhere today, just try and explore and see what there is to see."
"...Well, I don't know how much there IS to see, but I'd say there'd be some way out? I think I got a good look around at least and next time, I'll actually know where I'm going, where I've been and sort of have part of a map!"
He pressed a button on his glove...and nothing happened. A second press with similar results caused the young man to shrug and look a little disappointed before bouncing back.
"Really? Maybe the programming to display the map got fried. ...I think it did say the data was saved, so there's that, at least!"
And with him noticing Kyle walking into the room, he gave a friendly wave and smile.
Edited by TheRealWren on Oct 10th 2020 at 11:39:16 PM
Hope you weren't expecting anything witty here. Maybe some day.Mason Itakari
"Well I mean, honestly, I still have the schematics about if the worse should come to worse. I was able to make one for my friend, Ryuuji back home and he was able to become a Kamen Rider!" he offered Tibalt with a little grin and a nod. "Give me a day or two and I can come up with some kind of schematic. Maybe something with-"
A silver and red warrior, with a mighty red and black dragon behind him. A glowing, golden king weilding a massive sword. A purple-sorry, Magenta-with a bar code on his face scanning a few cards.
"Your cards. That seems easy for you to use!"
His attention turned back to the ghostly image of the Seamstress and for a moment, wondered exactly if this was a wise thing to do. She seemed to have...less than stellar opinions of him as of late and wondered if stabbing himself in the heart with a needle would have some kind of negative reprocussions.
Buuuut he was also a man of science so away he went!
Holding it up, he jabbed himself in the heart and rather than feeling pain, he felt...well, a burst of something but it definitely wasn't pain. Red ribbons burst out and a bright flash of light followed soon after.
And for whatever reason, the Build Driver responded thusly.
"FASHION! POWER! LOVE AND PEACE AND PASSION!"
Spiraling around him, the ribbons coalesced around him and his body shifted into light, and from there, where he, for some strange reason, began to pose?
What? It felt right.
Holding a hand up, clothes began to "snap" into place around him, first with a pair of white gloves with gold trim appeared on his hands with a blue gear symbol on the left hand, and then a red gear symbol on the left hand. From there, light snapped onto his body, where it formed into a decently well fitting white button down shirt with blue and red buttons going down the middle. Seconds later, a long coat with tail flaired out from behind him as if a gust of wind has struck him. A pair of very simple black pants appeared on him next, followed by boots, blue and red, that trailed up halfway his shins.
Next, his hand came up to his face where a visor appeared on his face across his eyes, one half blue, one half red, and separated by a zigzagging line.
And then frills. Frills appeared at the ends of his tail coat, around the collar of his shirt and at the ends of his gloves, colored in blues and reds.
"Fighting for love!" He exclaimed to no one in particular. "Fighting for peace! The Formula for victory has been decided, and it ends..." he pointed, again, at nothing. "With your defeat!"
And so he stood there, pointing at nothing, seemingly frozen at how involuntary that whole sequence was.
"Well!" he shouted out, not moving, frozen in time. "That was sure fuckin' something, huh!?"
why does it have frills for god sakes!?
Setsuna
...she fucked up.
She fucked up.
She. Fucked. UP.
All she wanted to do was play the game. She just wanted to have some fun. Show she could do something without being told. To achieve something.
But all she did was break the damn table and make an embarassment of herself.
She wanted to hit something. She didn't care what. Just...
She didn't want to take it out on Jo.
Or anyone else.
Not anymore.
Remember what she said. Don't go lashing out. FOCUS.
'Direct it at the right people.'
...but how could she?
It wasn't like there was anyone responsible for this shitshow.
Other than herself.
...
Welp.
Nothin' else for it.
Muscles already starting to bulge, she clenched her fist, lifted it high, and punched herself square in the jaw.
...
Huh.
Actually a bit sobering.
Enough to feel Jo gently rubbing her on the back.
It felt... nice.
"Thanks, Jo. But I think... I think I just wanna go. Anywhere. Anywhere but here."
Besides. She didn't feel like drinking much just now.
That was a first.
Makoto
Makoto, after having his conversation with Tibalt, started to get a little thirsty. He got out of his apartment and headed to the bar. When he got there, he barely even noticed Setsuna and Jo, but as soon as he did, he immediately how shitface drunk they were. So he thought it might be best to avoid them. He headed to counter, and ordered a water from Quark.
"E-excuse me sir, c-can I have a water please?"
I can't say goodbye to yesterday…Crash Bandicoot-Crashing the Party
Into Quark's Bar wandered a rather confused looking mutant Bandicoot
.
And indeed, poor Crash was N. Credibly confused. One moment, we was napping peacefully on his battered couch on N. Sanity beach, the next we was waking up in an alleyway in some sort of super weird city. Where was he? How'd he get here? Did they have Wumpa fruit here? Deciding that he could really use an answer to at least that last question, Crash wandered into the nearest building-which just so happened to be Quark's.
Catching sight of two women near the door by what looked like a game of pool gone wrong (Crash could relate), Crash made his way over to them in search of answers. Standing in front of them, Crash waved his hand vigorously to get their attention, and once he had it, looked around for a moment, then gave a hard shrug, as if to ask Where are we right now?
Jo
“Oof. Careful, love...” Jo muttered and winced as Setsuna effectively socked herself in the jaw, though acknowledged it seemed to calm her somewhat. “Lets hope there's a training grounds somewhere out here so you don't have to hurt yourself...”
She was all about ready to go before the humanoid rodent thingy approached them while looking just as confused about everything as she felt. She only blinked a moment in mild surprise, before shrugging in return—shoving her hands in her pockets and relaxing her stance a little.
“If you're wondering what this place is, I dunno either. Some sort of inter-dimensional... hovel, I think. Called the Axis? If you're here, might as well get used to it. Name's Jo,” she greeted the thing, outstretching her hand in a somewhat cautious fashion in an effort to offer it a handshake.
One of the things I s'pose I should get used to.
borkQuark's
Thankfully, Setsuna was made of stern stuff. A blow from her own self was... painful. But it was something she could walk away from.
Though a training ground or something wasn't a bad idea.
She needed... something. Something she could hit. Or maybe squeeze. Something she could take out all her stress and anger on without hurting anyone else.
Or knocking down the establishment.
But maybe they were taking the wrong tact? Like, having something to funnel all that stress into was good, sure. But what if they could lower stress? Like, maybe a plushie or a stuffed doll or... something...
...
Speak of the devil.
As soon as she saw that cute adoreable little bundle of joy, she rushed over and squeed, lifting him up and squeezing him tight as could be like a teddy bear.
Meanwhile, over at the bar, Quark couldn't help but look Makoto over. "You sure? I mean, I dont mind. Never one to turn down buisness. But if all you wanted was some water, you could've gone to a drinking fountain or something."
He couldn't but notice the boy was a bit... young. Wasn't much younger than Nog was. Back before he went and joined Starfleet.
Still had mixed feelings about that.
"...you got any parents, son? They know you're here?"
Edited by kkhohoho on Oct 10th 2020 at 3:13:52 AM
Crash Bandicoot-Let's do the Time Warp again
Interdimensional!? Hadn't Crash just saved the multiverse a short while ago? Aw man Crash thought as his upper body slumped in a comically sad display, his ears and snout drooping and then he gave a loud sigh. Ah well, nothing for it. Whatever was happening to the multiverse this time around, he'd just have to put a stop to it. He'd done it before, and he'll do it again!
Perking back up as the lady-or was it a guy? Up close, Crash couldn't really tell. Anyway, perking back up as the person who'd explained the situation-Jo-offered their hand to shake, Crash started to extend his own. "Cras-" and that was as far as Crash got in the way of greeting before he was interrupted by a loud squee, then lifted up and wrapped in a monster of a hug. Crash's eyes bulged for a brief moment as Setsuna hugged him tightly, and anyone nearby would swear they had heard a brief squeaking sound
.
Nancy Weaver—Lookin' Fab, Mason
Nancy stared at Mason in slack-jawed silence while Seamstress started to make small coughing noises behind her. Soon, the coughing devolved into wheezing, which then turned into full blown screeches of laughter. The Stand slapped at its dress where its thighs would have been—if it had thighs—and faded in and out of view as it was completely consumed with fits of giggling.
"That was fabulous, what do you mean?" Nancy asked, keeping a straight face while Seamstress made sounds like a dying record player. "The more frills you have as a magical fighter, the more power you have, you know? That's a good thing! You'll be able to pulp your enemies far more efficiently now!"
There was another brief moment where Nancy and Seamstress seemed to exchange a silent moment of communication, and then she added, "Seamstress thinks you're funny. She wants to be your friend now. And she's willing to—hmm, I don't think translating that last part would be a good idea, but—"
Seamstress made an angry "Hmph!" sound and used its powers to knit two dolls out of the thread that it produced, one that looked like Nancy dressed in Seamstress' outfit, and one that looked strangely like Evolt. Seamstress used more thread to puppet the dolls towards each other in a mock fight, ending with the Nancy-Seamstress doll ripping the head off of the Evolt doll in something straight out of Mortal Kombat. The Nancy-Seamstress doll kicked at the corpse of the Evolt doll a few more times until it unraveled into a stringy mess, and eventually floated forward to offer the head of the Evolt doll to Mason, its stitched mouth widening in a happy grin.
"—She's willing to aid in the ripping and tearing apart of anyone that gives you any trouble from now on," Nancy finished. "Honestly...I apologize. Seamstress is normally not such a belligerent Stand."
Seamstress merely shrugged as if to say, That's who I am. Then it looked at Mason in a way that said, Take it or leave it. I don't care. The doll jiggled the Evolt doll's head happily in front of Mason, like a cat offering something to its master.
Mason hadn't told anyone about Evolt yet, which begged the question: had the both of them faced Evolt together at one point?
Edited by JumpingFruit on Oct 10th 2020 at 1:45:17 AM
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.Wolfgang
He nodded along to the explanation. Then he began to explain his own world's supernatural abilities:
"In my world there's different terms for it, but the one my mama uses is 'mana'. My mama's a witch, and she's tried to teach me a little about magic, but I'm not very good at it." Wolfgang scratched the back of his head a little sheepishly. "She says we werewolves have a lot of life energy coursing through us, and that's what makes us so strong, and lets us regenerate and stuff."
They had reached the park, and Little Wolf's nose twitched as he took in the sights and smells. There was a wizard, though he smelled different than Wolfgang's mama. A caveman, all manner of flying creatures. People selling foods that smelled indescribable. And in the sky, alien moons. Little Wolf smiled, bouncing on his feet.
"I could definitely do more than scratch you, though. When I said 'stronger than I look', I meant 'stronger than most humans.'"
Walking onto the soft grass and feeling it beneath his feet, he turned to Carmaria. "How about I show you? We can have a little wrestling match here in the grass. Don't worry about hurting me, by the way. Like I said, I regenerate."
What is so amusing about this? Why do you take lives? How can you forget?"Myyyy cards?"
Tibalt retrieves the deckbox strapped to his backpack and holds it up.
"These are inert, just like... For gaming purposes. It would be cool if they acted like the game's story makes them sound but nah, only got the most utility part of that power set."
It's clearly a case of backroom political albumizing.Setsuna
CUTECUTECUTECUTECUTE
Setsuna kept hugging and squeezing her fuzzy little marsupial like a stuffed dolly, blissfully forgetting it needed to breath. At long last, she finally released her grip. He was still held in her arms, but he wasn't being squeezed tight like a chew toy.
"So! What's your name, little guy? Do you even have one?"
Quark's
...well.
Now he'd done it.
He just wanted to know if this kid had any problems or his parents knew what he was doing.
Instead, he triggered an episoide.
It was bad enough for buisness, but it was even worse for his consience.
"Sorry I asked. Just stop the waterworks, kid. Alright?" He poured a brown fuzzy liquid into a glass and slid it over. "Have a sip of this. It's a human drink. Rootbeer. Got a whole case in the back. Don't know if it'll do you any good, but it's something."
Edited by kkhohoho on Oct 11th 2020 at 10:24:47 AM
Jo
“I think he was midway through saying it when you decided to strangle him to death,” Jo observed in somewhat of a sardonic tone, flicking up the corners of her lips into an only partially apologetic smile at Crash's expense before she chuckled and outstretched her hand towards the bandicoot in return.
Which was useless now that he was trapped, but she was admittedly feeling a little wicked at that moment in time.
“Name's Jo, mate. Pleased to meet you. We were just about to head out, but I wouldn't mind getting you a drink if you're parched.”
The age in her eyes and her demeanour might've been apparent to Crash, but it was subtle enough to be missed if one wasn't focusing on her intently.
borkCrash Bandicoot-The Hug(e) Adventure
Crash legs flailed pathetically up until Setsuna eased up on the hug, finally allowing him to breath again (Which Crash did with a large gulp). And once the hug wasn't squeezing him to death, Crash found that... the hug was actually pretty nice? Ah, now this is much better. Whereas before Crash was flailing, now he found himself actually melting into the hug.
"Crash Bandicoot," Crash said simply, finally getting around to introducing himself.
He might not have been able to reach over and shake Jo's hand, what with the hug constraining his arms and all, but that couldn't and wouldn't stop Crash. He tried (in vein) to reach over with the arm nearest to Jo, his tongue sticking out slightly in concentration as he tried to reach just a little bit further without breaking the hug. But alas, his efforts would be for naught unless Jo decided to close the distance themselves.
Did Crash pick up on the age inherent in Jo's demeanor? No, not really. As someone who was named Crash, and actually lived up to the name, subtlety was usually nowhere near his wheelhouse. The comment about a drink, however, Crash didn't miss. Crash hummed to himself for a moment in thought, momentarily pausing his attempts as a handshake, before giving a non committal shrug, as if to say he was alright without.
Setsuna
And then the little guy opened his big fuzzy mouth and said his name and he was still so—
Wait.
He said his name.
Which meant...
...
Woops.
"Oh!" Upon realizing Crash was a sentient creature and not some loveable little stalk of fuzz and cuteness, she opened her arms and dropped him to the ground. "Sorry! My bad!"
...second time today, wasn't it?
Probally best to get a hold of herself.
Except that would mean restraining herself or holding back, and that was what she was trying not to do. If nothing else, punching herself in the face actually helped. Not that she wanted to go through that again. But if she just had something to release all her pent up frustrations or urges...
Eh.
She'd think of something.
"So! Whacha doin' here, little g— Crash? You lost or somethin'?"
Quark's
"You can have the rest if you want," said Quark. "Trust me, you drink enough of it, you'll begin to like it. Now, why don't you start from the top? You didn't come in here just because you wanted a drink, did you? Lot of people come to the Reach for one reason or another. Maybe they want to see the universe. Maybe they want a fresh start. Maybe they're trying to make a quick buck. Or maybe they've got nowhere else to go. With you, I'm betting it's that last one. That about sum it up?"

Mason Itakari
“Well...”
That kind of clicked in his mind he really had no idea how to go about doing that now. Essence was...
“Normally I need to defeat a monster back in my world called a Smash, and absorb the essence they release into a bottle. So unless I find some smash out here-“
And then he saw it. As Nancy held out the needle for him to grab he saw...a strange, flickering substance coming off her, very, very familiar to the Essence he literally was speaking about. No one else had that around them so why...?
Before he took the needle, in a panic, he pulled out a blank grey bottle with no etched in design into it and held it up. “Hang on Nancy, let me just-“
He twisted the cap off and a powerful vacuum kicked up almost immediately, not enough to pull anyone present to it but enough to pull the strange white substance he was sure only he could see into the bottle. With a click of the cap, he twisted it back on and, subconsciously started to shake it.
“Um...” he sounded almost awkward as he looked to Roon and grinned a little bit. “That. That’s how I get essence. Or how I...will get essence now? I use an Empty fullbottle and then I get...” he held up the same bottle, which was now white and had a spool and needle etched into it. “Um...the thread bottle, I guess?” He tossed it up in the air and grinned. “And that’s the long and short of it! Now I’m cycling bsck and returning to the situation before my little freak out there-ohwhat’s this?”
He took the needle and held it up, marveling for a moment as it shrank down in the palm of his hand as a familiar golden glow began to fill up his chest line Nancy had done moments ago. Eyebrow cocking, he looked at it.
“Well it won’t fit in my belt...” he mumbled. “Do I...wear it?”
He paused.
“This feels so fucking familiar.”