Hello and welcome reader, to the 29th installment of the Character Development Threads! These shared story exercises help budding writers develop their characters alongside the characters of other budding writers. No sign-up is needed; just jump right in with your characters. It is recommended that you read the thread page and the last couple of pages before starting.
Discussion Thread
—Thread Page —
Trope Page —
Town Map — Wilderness Map
This is a "Main Series" thread and, as such, an element of risk is expected. Rules and participation guidelines may be found on this page.
The thread page groups active characters under the areas in which they are active, enabling you to see who is at a given location in which you might be interested or to find out where to go to encounter characters with whom you wish to interact.
Kindly add your own characters to the thread page, with a link to their initial post, under the area in which they are located and update the page if they change location.
Bear in mind that if your characters are arriving at a location, they are likely to know little more than what they see and hear as they arrive - what the location looks like, what other characters are there (both of which can be read on the thread page) and the last few lines uttered and actions taken as they are arriving (which can be found in the last few posts for that location in the story thread itself), so inserting characters need not be a terrifying or arduous process. In most cases, they don't need to know more than what you yourself can glean from reading just a few posts.
If you need help, have any questions, or want a quick recap (if the page count is daunting), head over to the discussion page, and someone is sure to help you out!
To help guide character interaction, having your character come in with at least one short-term and one long-term goal or motivation is strongly recommended. It is not required, but it does make it easier to drive the plot forward. Feel free to come up with rumors about what treasures, adventure, locations, and dangers may be found in the setting - they need not be true or accurate, just some hook on which to hang an adventure.
The setting is specifically designed to be a vast sandbox into which details can be inserted by participants (for example, you are free to decide that there is a particular temple in the midst of the forest in which something may be found or that there is a particular shop/hotel/restaurant in a section of the town), if you come up with a location that you desire/expect other characters to visit, please add it to the thread page as a sub-location of the relevant area.
Things change as the story progresses. If, for example, a massive battle occurs at a location and the area is now strewn with bodies and buildings are damaged, kindly update the thread page to reflect those changes, in order that other participants have an up-to-date description of the location prior to sending their characters there.
Special thanks to all those who helped in getting the original thread launched or provided ideas and feedback. In alphabetic order, they include:
Blackfire 667, Collen, Corvidae, daird, Darkblood Carnagefang, Eterna Memoria, Gault, Kkutwar, Killer Clowns, ladytanuki, Masterofchaos, nrjxll, Pyxo, Slysheen, Tro Partner, Will De Regio and especially Wolf 1066, whose original post I have shamelessly copied with only minor alterations.
Apologies if I missed anyone - just let me know and I'll update the post.
The dawn of another day rises across the land, heralding fresh morning air, clearer heads, opened doors, and new arrivals.
Between dimensions, and linked to the rest of the multiverse, lies a strange post-apocalyptic environment made up of various regions strewn with the remnants of past glory - ruins, lost technologies and magic. Here and there, nature has found its way back amongst the ruined temples and towns.
In the midst of the blighted landscape, a fresh new town has emerged - a synergy of technology, nature and magic; clean and eco-friendly; a beacon of hope for a brighter future - where travelers can rest, recharge their batteries (both literally and metaphorically) and get whatever they may need - technological, magical or otherwise - to aid them on their adventures.
New arrivals can turn up by diverse means in the transportation area in the north-western part of the town or by whatever other means they deem appropriate. Here they may also find for rent, lease or hire, any transport they desire from riding animals to vehicles.
The wilderness areas have not been fully explored since the mysterious apocalyptic events that ravaged the area some time ago and no one is really sure what's out there - but rumors abound.
All that is known for sure is that both magic and technology have existed here for a long time, so anything is possible...
Current Time: 10:00 AM
Current Weather: Sunny
See the thread page for updates.
Edited by Ryuhza on Feb 22nd 2023 at 1:14:28 AM
< Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (a corner near reception) >
Joseph slowed long enough to give one last sidelong glance at James and Amandus, still feeling an echo of longing. He still wasn't sure what for, only that it seemed always out of reach, every move he made taking him further away. Still, he managed to muster a tug that drew the edge of his mouth into something that could be taken for a smile, and as Amandus declared their support for him, his tail swayed above the ground in a way that wasn't quite as mopey as the rest of him.
Nearby, in the slowly growing group near the reception area, Henry listened to Qeyari's explanation, frowning thoughtfully, rubbing his chin, and generally putting on airs of understanding as if he knew anything about nanites. When she mentioned her camel being able to provide Dead God nanites, his eyes flashed with wonder. "Your camel's a Dead God?"
Once she came to answering whether anything could be done about it, his excitement dwindled. "Ah... I don't suppose there are any prescribed prayers or rituals for getting that kind of support?"
Lulu offered her own take on the potential usage of a magic or technology that could turn humans into lizard creatures: to restock expendable labor. Henry stared, face stricken by Lulu's words. Having only known her for a matter of minutes, he couldn't tell if it was just her way of being funny. Bonnie, evidently sharing his uncertainty, asked if she was serious. She was.
"That's diabolical." He knew all too well the horrors humans were capable of inflicting on one another, but he'd never heard tell of them driving a population of sapient people to the brink of extinction through sheer labor exploitation. Though perhaps it was only due to a lack of means.
A cold shiver ran through him.
"How about we just nix mentioning this to Joe, yeah? I mean... I just don't think it's worth having him worry about theoretically being a test bed for a fresh race of slave lizards. On top of everything else. Although..." He turned to Lulu directly, regarding her with cautious consideration. "Do the lizardmen—the ones Acme-Zenith has been working to death—do they actually resemble Joseph?"
"Does who resemble me?" asked Joseph.
"I just said. The slave lizards they've been working to death. I was thinking maybe Acme-Zenith already has this transformation process, and Joseph fell victim to it through some kind of cross-dimensional magical leakage."
Joseph's eyes widened. "Is that possible?"
Henry turned away from Lulu, and the perceptive part of his mind finally caught up with the brainstorming part. Mouth slightly agape, he stared at Joseph for an awkward second before forcing a laugh. "No. No, not really. We were just throwing out the most ridiculous theories, you know, just to get them out of the way, and Louella- uh, Lulu here had a doozy I was working off of."
"Oh." Joseph seemed almost disappointed. "So you've got some less ridiculous theories too?"
Henry's smile quickly turned to a grimace. "It's a process." Taking advantage of the nearby introductions, he put his free hand behind Joseph's back, turning him slightly to his new acquaintances. "Joseph, this is Lulu, Qeyari, and I believe you've already met Ultra."
"Mhm, briefly." Though he found her somewhat inscrutable, the salamandrine boy couldn't help but avoid direct eye contact. The sight of her so close took him back to the staircase, and the godawful state he'd been in. Oh, but I'm much better now. Yeah. Sure.
"And this is my friend, young man of mystery and recipient of what's been feeling like a whole lot of bad luck."
"It's some kind of luck," Joseph murmured, scratching at the side of his long face. Hoping to divert attention, he looked to Henry and asked, "So what's... going on? I thought you and Bonnie would be back in the room, but it was all locked up."
"Well, we were initially planning to head into town to pick up a few things, but— actually," Henry glanced between Lulu and Ultra, "I think that might still be the plan, though the things may differ."
Joseph looked around, brow furrowing slightly, "Where's Carol?"
"Oh, funny that. She went to go find you and the uh," he glanced down at the bag under his arm, now nearly depleted of its contents, "laundry. You actually just missed each other. She went back up the stairs and you came out of the elevator, just about one right after the other."
Joseph blinked his big eyes in surprise, glancing between Henry and Bonnie, "Should I go get her?"
this place needs me here
< Hub Town - Outside Hotel —> Town Square, Notice Board >
From the moment she'd exited the hotel, Connie's every step took her in a direct line precisely to where she meant to go. There was no time spent dallying about, no time letting herself become distracted by the sights of the town, even as they encircled her. A victim of impatience, she'd grown sick of them the day before. She had even less time for them now.
First, she headed south to the shopping district, where she'd made note of a merchant selling pre-assembled survival kits. She perused them quickly, moving from one variety to the next until she caught sight of a pack that included an impressively sized machete-like blade. Digging around, she also found a small pouch of 'enduring fire seeds', and a dropper bottle of a syrupy looking substance that claimed to reconstitute most liquids into a variety of useful medicines based on dosage.
"Hell yeah," she muttered, not bothering to explore it any further. She'd seen enough. "How much for this one?"
The merchant was an odd looking fellow by her eyes. They had eyebrows that seemed to arch unusually high, making their eyes seem extra narrow, and they wore an outfit that was very dark, plain and uniform but for the glimmering pins and baubles decorating its cuffs. "Thirty farques."
"Sweet, that's a steal." She reached into her jacket, then realized she didn't know what a farque was worth. "Wait, how much is that in favors?"
The merchant pulled out a small machine with a few keys and knobs. They punched in a couple of numbers, twisted one knob one way and the other the opposite way, then showed Connie the readout. Her heart sank. It was a steal all right.
She tried briefly to bargain with the merchant, asking them to throw out some of the inessentials, of which there were many— the only reason she sought a pre-assembled pack was that she had no time to assemble one by herself. But the merchant wouldn't budge on either the price or the contents, and soon Connie felt impatience needling at the back of her mind. She quickly settled for one of the smallest packs available, paid more than she'd ever expected to, and stormed off, slinging the pack over her shoulders as she headed back to the center of town.
As she neared her second destination—the notice board situated near the center of town square—she became very aware of the people surrounding. People who, if not there to post notices themselves or simply enjoy the midmorning ambiance, could very well be there to read the notices posted.
Among others, she took note of a blonde hulk of a man, wearing a suit that would have looked ridiculous if it didn't fit so well. He'd do. The man was chatting with a colorful animal type person, sort of like Joseph or David, but not quite. Her physique seemed more distinctly humanesque in some ways, although at the same time, Connie was reminded of animals she'd seen years ago at the Phoenix Zoo. She wondered idly if she was just a very changed person like her companions, or something else.
She slowed down a bit, straightening up and replacing her glower with a look not unlike the merchant's, with high eyebrows and narrowed eyes, gathering for herself a slightly detached air of observation. Even her walk changed. There was still purpose in it, but no hurry. There didn't need to be a hurry because everything was occurring right on time. Because everything was under control. She, like a mature, adult woman, had everything under control.
Coming up to stand before the board, she reached into her jacket and unfolded the piece of paper she'd been writing on back in her hotel room. Looking it over, she found herself grimacing. It wasn't her best penmanship, there wasn't a lot of color variety, and a printed ad would have looked much more professional. She sighed quietly. It couldn't be helped now. With resignation, she pulled an old pin from the board and found a nice central spot for her notice. It was over an advertisement for 'Ziitzii Plate Lessons', but that sounded like something that could wait. After all, what was a Ziitzii Plate in the face of an emergency?
...What was a Ziitzii Plate?
She took a step back, lifting her chin ever so slightly to demonstrate a subdued satisfaction with her notice, even as its glaring flaws jumped out at her.
It was enough. It would have to be.
Fidgeting with her red necktie—a fashion accessory she was not nearly as keen about as she'd let on earlier—she stepped away from the board to get her bearings. She hadn't actually been inside Nattlås, but it was the closest restaurant to the north gate, her point of departure. That and it didn't seem like the kind of joint David or any of her other friends were likely to visit in the next hour and a bit. The last thing she needed was to be raked over the coals with questions.
Bearings got, she made for the aforementioned diner, taking a few purposeful, unrushed strides in its direction, before hesitating. Curiosity, or perhaps doubt, clawed at her attention, and rather than leave the area, she decided to linger a few minutes. To observe prospective adventurers, or at least see if there were any reactions to her notice. She couldn't shake the words of a strange sailor she'd met at the old harbor that morning: No one who knows anything goes to Kequay Island.
this place needs me here
[Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (a quiet corner near reception)]
At the mention of slavers, Qeyari's expression grew dark. There was only one way to handle slavers, in her opinion. Well, no, that wasn't quite true. There were many ways to handle slavers, but of them, Qeyari favored the simplicity of the firing squad. The executioner's sword was too good for slavers, and while gibbeting and crucifixion were historically popular, there were too old-fashioned for a modern Qorisayane like Qeyari.
But her mind was soon brought back to more immediate and less grim topics. "My camel," Qeyari said with a chuckle, "is not a Dead God. But his gut flora includes a fair amount of nanites, and he can be easily convinced to spare some spit for our purposes. Or..." she glanced back over at Ultra. "You could probably just scan him as well and compare results."
She then looked over at Jospeh. The unfortunate lizard-man. She gave him the usual fist-to-chest salute, sharp and proper. No words quite yet. What did one say to somebody who had undergone such a bizarre and absurd transformation? Yet she did not stare either. That would be rude, and Qeyari understood the importance of manners and decorum.
This is my good side.
Hub Town Hotel: Dining Hall
Nasur chuckled at Devad's comment and David's response. "Lethal or not, it certainly beats no food, at the very least." He added his own two cents.
The narati saw the other Joseph, the younger one, leave the table quietly, looking almost depressed. "From what I was told," He said, adressing Devad's question. "They are supposedly 'alternative' versions of each other. Either on time or space." he shrugged. "But there's little to know how they ended up here, beyond this place's weirdness."
And just as he spoke of it, another bout of weirdness happened right in front of the group. As the waiter Nasur had flagged down just a few moments ago returned, two dishes in hand. Unusually fast. "Here are your orders. For you and your companion here."
"Oh, thank you." Nasur replied almost automatically. "But I didn't order anything."
"Don't worry about that, we have our way of knowing exactly what to serve." The waiter quickly and dexterously put down the first dish in front of Nasur. The narati's eyes widened at the sight of his meal: A large bowl of warm, creamy soup, with slices of what looked like potatoes, but coloured purple, matching the colour of the bowl itself. But the biggest highlight of the dish was a large, dark blue flower floating in the center of the bowl. It was beautiful, and so charged with magic it was giving off a faint blue light.
Nasur stared at the dish, trying not to drool. "W-Where did you find it?" He stammered.
The waiter looked at the bowl and shrugged. "Local crops, mostly. If you ask for the sapphire bloom;" They pointed at the blue flower, half opened. "It was picked from the outskirts of the Warpfields."
"The Warpfields?" Nasur repeated, this time with curiosity.
"Yeah. North of here. A place full of magic, but quite dangerous for that. Only need to follow the Scar from the north gate, up until you notice the change in the air and the floating rocks." The waiter finished putting down David's dish. note
"Ah, I see... Thank you." Nasur said again, now deep in thought. All this sudden information was spinning new ideas in his mind.
"Now," The waiter turned to the others, mostly Samelin's group since they were the closest. "Anyone needs something more? Maybe a drink?"
[Hotel (Elevator-Upstairs)]
Amandus and James stood in the elevator, awkwardly silent for a few minutes. James had his arm crossed, his fingers tapping rapidly on his arm. Amandus just stared at the wall, seemingly unable to stop shaking.
Finally, breaking the silence, James sighed. "We can't keep putting this off. There are two Joseph's running around, and we don't know why. All it's going to do is confuse everyone."
Amandus sighed. "I know, but Joseph—well, the one we just talked to—doesn't want to find out. Nothing I said could convince him to come with us. Will our Joseph even want to look into this?"
"The only way to find out is to ask him when he wakes up, hun." James held his hand. "For now, we just gotta check on him. Hopefully he'll be well rested by now."
The elevator opened and the two stepped out, scanning the doors until they found the one they were looking for. Amandus knocked on gently. "Joseph? Son? You awake?"
The forest near Jobe's Farm (Maelys, Mist; Aseyu, Ethani; Lancer)
"Ah, I see, so a truck then? In that case, Mist can do the same," Maelys said, before gesturing toward the valkyrie. Said valkyrie was kneeling with the stunned young hog, which had been removed from her shield.
Both Mist and Maelys peered owlishly at Lancer. "Good luck explaining that to a monster," the maid said, "Though, it is commendable to hear that some people are responsible with their abilities— more than a few residents of Sanctuary are there because of the actions of highly irresponsible individuals."
Mist nodded as she hefted up the still-dazed hog into her arms, "Aye, like the whole Black Forest incident." The valkyrie shook her head, a sad look on her face as she petted the head of the young pigplant.
Maelys glanced over at Aseyu, "We either hunt them down," she said, before first glancing at the retreating pigplants, then at Lancer, "Or we could get them to relocate." She shook her head, taking her frilly lace headband down for a moment, "I haven't had any experience with anyone with your kind of powers, but it sounds distressing."
< Hub Town - Hotel, Dining Area >
"Now there's a puzzler," David answered, resting his furry chin on his hands as he smiled easily at Devad and Rosafa (though his gaze seemed to linger longer on the latter). "I'm not versed in theoretical sciences—certainly no more than you are—but I have known one of those two for a little while now. The Joseph I know is... a curious study. It's said that in the great war between wrong places, right times, and vice versa, if you look to the epicenter, you'll find Joseph. That may sound a little grandiose, but hear me out. Not long before he came to us, he had some trouble with..." he tilted his head, searching for the right word, "...displacement, you might call it. Vanishing from one place and appearing in another, far far away. Different countries, different worlds, perhaps even different times. Without a clue what caused it, without a clue how to stop it. The sort of insidious nightmare that only deepens upon waking."
Just as an uneasy shadow crossed his otterly features, David brightened up. "On the other hand, in most places he appeared, he quickly found himself in good company. The company of kind, hospitable people, willing to help him for as long as they could." He shook his head slowly, his smile fading, pitted against inevitability. "Alas, no matter what he tried, it wouldn't be long before he vanished again. Lacking a warning, or time to say his goodbyes, he would be taken, passing only momentarily through the lives of those he met. A passenger trapped in a train with no doors, no rails, no final destination."
Before he could continue, the waiter returned, far sooner than expected. They presented Nasur with a dish that made the narati's eyes go wide— a soup that was perhaps too colorful for David's own tastes, but he was nonetheless pleased to see his companion so ecstatic, enough that he hardly shied away from the sight of the magic-infused flower at the dish's center.
"Not as uncommon as you'd thought?" he asked, turning his attention to his own plate, covered by a silvery lid. Feeling his belly rumble, he hooked a nail under the lid and took a peek underneath. Immediately, the scent of seafood wafted to his nose, and his arm began to tremble slightly. With an act of great willpower, he set the lid back down, then placed his small pawlike hand atop it, as if it might rise back up on its own if he didn't stop it.
He looked up at the waiter, "I hate to trouble you, but there's been a mistake. This," he tapped the lid of his dish, swallowing, "isn't what I wanted." The waiter regarded him skeptically, but before there could be any protest, David jumped back in with, "why don't I just order the old-fashioned way, hm? That way there's no confusion. Let's see, how about a cut of Arjanaskhu roast, some frit sprouts, and a couple of Tebbs biscuits, if possible? Oh, and jam would be lovely."
"As you like," the waiter answered, retrieving his platter, "sorry for the mix up."
"Not at all," he said, unable to tear his eyes from the covered dish as it left the table. Slowly, his attention drifted back to Devad and Rosafa. "Where was I?"
this place needs me here
Lancer, the forest near Jobe's farm, with Ethani's party (also switching tenses to flow better with everyone else hope this isn't too jarring)
Lancer took the offered hand as she pulled herself back up onto her feet, that absent psychic signature still proving somewhat of a puzzle—Aseyu was alive and sapient, that much was at least clear, and her form certainly wasn't a projection from elsewhere as the contact confirmed, but the longer the stoat spent around her the more the mystery nagged. This was utterly seamless in a way that practiced barriers or magical countermeasures seldom were, not to a psychic as powerful as herself. A brief moment of eye contact reflected her curiosity, almost as if she were trying to get a read before conceding the issue for the time being.
"They're animals, but they're intelligent animals." the stoat explained, hoping to clarify what she'd just done as she indicated the retreating pigs. "They understand a show of force and a threat, and the plan is that they return to their territory and mark this place, the farm, as off-limits. The rest of this forest is theirs, though, and if Jobe wants to encroach further, that's his problem."
No sooner than she'd finished speaking did she shoot Mist a quizzical look, wondering briefly what the woman planned to do with a wild pig if she no longer had any intention of killing it. Pet? Pack animal? "You're taking care of it." was her only comment on that subject, in any case. Rather it be freed, but better than splattering its brain around the forest.
Back on her feet and as composed as she could be given the circumstances, the psychic stands ready to follow the group's lead, nodding in a 'you first' gesture. Even if she'd known her way around, having the ones with the weaponry take point was just pragmatic, especially when she herself was not only injured but nowhere near her full capabilities.
Mention of a 'black forest incident' and allusion to what she very much hoped weren't hostile psychic Innates doesn't slip by unnoticed—she'd already gathered from present company that there were others of her kind on this plane, but such a small sample size told her worryingly little. She opted not ask in an effort to conceal her alarm at that possibility, nor alarm present company given how episodes involving hostile psychics tended to play out where she came from. Wait until we're someplace safe.
"'Distressing' is one word for it." she shrugged at Maelys' last remark, treating the often unpleasant side-effects of her powers with all the gravitas of someone who'd lived with them for most of her life, and come to regard them like one might a chronic migraine or joint pain or some other mundane health issue. "Helps empathize a bit, or... it should."
as implied, assume she's following along with the group as they get moving.
Edited by Chortleous on Feb 15th 2023 at 9:23:00 AM
[The forest near Jobe's Farm (Maelys, Mist; Aseyu, Ethani; Lancer)]
Ethani eyed the pigplant Maelys was hugging warily. Gently, but firmly, she said, "let it go. We have our peace," she gave Lancer a brief nod of acknowledgment and even respect, "but it belongs with its kin. It would be cruel to take it away from them." It did not seem at all hypocritical to Ethani to be concerned about the well-being of the creature she'd previously been coolly considering killing. Even fearsome Xeqa, Monster of the West, showed no enmity to those who had surrendered to her horde, and the pigplants had surrendered.
"Anyways," Ethani said, motioning in the direction of the slain pigplants, "you didn't answer my question. Not all of them survived, and to waste their remains would be an insult to their spirits." This wasn't Ethani's only motivation; refusing Jobe's well-intentioned offer of breakfast had left her with an appetite. However, she suspected that phrasing the matter in a (sincere) invocation of her faith would overcome Lancer's likely reluctance to help someone make a meal of what had once been a thinking creature.
Ethani then took the lead, waving around a sphere of morbid black flame as a torch. She took Lancer's message and made ready to repeat it — alongside memories of displays of power and grisly threats backed by the sadistic God of Suffocation whose power she tapped into — to any pigplants who had not received the message. That would suffice to break their morale, and convince them to leave Jobe's farm and its lovely sows alone.
Aseyu walked beside Lancer and said, "unfortunately, where I come from, Ethani's source of power," she glanced meaningfully at the ball of loathsome fire, "has a monopoly on magic, or psionics, or whatever you want to call it. All of it." She grimaced briefly. "And many of its wielders lack Ethani's... discipline. For the rest of us, let's just say counter-psychic techniques have had to evolve a lot where I come from." She smirked slightly, letting Lancer put the pieces together.
Edited by KillerClowns on Feb 15th 2023 at 8:56:22 AM
Lancer, the forest near Jobe's farm, with Ethani's party
Lancer had admittedly been dodging that question. She took a short glance back at the gore, and with it came a rather unpleasant reminder of that sensation—a thinking feeling presence, then a bang, then the sudden absence of that presence before the noise of the surrounding forest rushed in to fill it... no pain or fear, but jarring all the same knowing what it was. A sigh. "What's done is done, and I'm not going to moralize to you about meat." she assured Ethani, briefly flashing her own razor-sharp teeth as if in addendum. "Carnivore."
Falling in line as she walked, she regarded Aseyu's explanation with a vaguely worried quirk of her brow before glancing ahead toward Ethani, whose own psionic presence of course stood out like a flaming bramble, and she reckoned would be about as pleasant to reach out to. The stoat also fell a step or two behind, as if to put some distance between them in a subtle subconscious move that only the woman beside her was likely to even notice. Welp. That answers a few questions.
Digesting that for a moment, she opted to explain things in return. "Where I come from, those are different." she began, idly looking about her surroundings. "'Magic' is a primal force, a sort of framework for altering the fabric of reality that not many know how to tap into anymore, not for millennia... my abilities, they call us Innates, came to me because I was exposed to a radioactive element before I was born."
A chuckle. "One of any number of powers I could have gotten—sometimes I'm not sure if I lucked out or got screwed."
jumping queue for a response I forgot-slash-couldn't fit in the prior post (misread that Ethani was asking someone else) and also in the interests of flow and not making killerclowns edit their own reply. willderegio next as usual > killerclowns > me
Edited by Chortleous on Feb 15th 2023 at 1:26:03 PM
< Hub Town - Hotel, Room 509 >
A few moments passed, and it seemed like Joseph wasn't going to respond, still too soundly asleep to be stirred out of whatever dream held his mind affixed. However, just as it seemed that silence said all there was to say, there came a series of muffled sounds from beyond the door. A strained groaning, a groggy moaning, then a loud thump, before silence took the stage for another handful of seconds. Finally, following a string of muddled half-words—starting low, then getting higher and louder, until they were right on the other side of the door, nearly at the level of the two men—the door handle wobbled a bit, then turned firmly, and the door crept open, revealing a long salamandrine face, angled slightly downward as to avoid collision with the door.
Joseph regarded the two men blankly for a second, blinking his big, bleary, blue eyes at them without a word. He kept one hand on the door handle, and the other at his side, held open as if he were gripping the handle of some invisible object. Then, like the flick of a light switch, he perked up.
"Dads!"
He began to smile, then hesitated, blinking quickly and peering past James and Amandus, into the hall. "You shouldn't be here," he warned, stepping back to let the men in, though he couldn't keep the excitement he had at seeing them again out of his voice. "It's not safe, there's..."
His words trailed off, and he frowned, unable to recall precisely why it wasn't safe. A few names drifted into his recollection, "...there's Guineo Sundae, and The Silver Lake Split, and they're... they're uh..." the significance eluded him, standing just outside the bounds of his memory. The more he thought about it, the more ridiculous the names sounded.
He glanced down at his empty hand, wondering where his aureolin, six-seed, polished-peel shooter had gone, and feeling for a moment quite defenseless. Looking past his hand, he realized he was no longer covered in shackling mud, but he did have sheets and a blanket half-wrapped around his legs in a tangle that extended down the length of his tail. It formed a trail behind him, leading back to where the rest of his bedspread could be found, strewn across the floor near his bedside.
With a sinking feeling, he reached up above his eyes, feeling for his big, banana-yellow cattleman, but found only the smooth pat of his head.
Slowly, things were beginning to make sense.
this place needs me here
[Room 509]
Amandus and James looked at each other in confusion, then back to Joseph.
"Did you have a bad dream, son?" James asked, walking inside and rubbing his head. "Sorry we didn't come up here earlier. We, uh, got derailed."
Would it be a good time to bring up the other Joseph? Nah, he just woke up. Probably save that detail to when he wasn't disoriented.
"How do you feel?" Amandus asked, sitting on the bed with his arms crossed. "You were asleep for a while, so we came up to check on you. Are you okay?"
< Hub Town - Hotel, Room 509 >
"Some kind of dream," Joseph said, rubbing his eyes and yawning, "I think I was a cowboy. Yeah, and uh, there's going to be a... uh... a rodeo, with a bull riding competition to save the town." His shoulders slumped slightly. "Well, there was. I was kind of looking forward to it. Wait," still tangled below the waist in his blankets, he waddled back to his bed then hopped on, rolling to his backside and flashing a toothy grin at his adoptive fathers, "think it's too late to go back?"
At the question of his well-being, he shrugged, "I feel a little spent. I think I ran more yesterday than I've ever run in my life, I didn't even get a medal, and then I kind of..." he searched for a moment for a gentle word, "...up- uh... upchucked from using the stones, and I haven't really replaced what I lost, y'know?" He stretched his arms out, resting them behind his head and murmuring, "Dream bananas aren't as filling as the real deal."
He stifled another yawn, lightly smacking his lips and checking his wrist for the time. The time looked very much like a fuzzy blue wristband. "What time is it, anyway?"
this place needs me here
[Room 509]
"10." James said. "You've been asleep for a while, son. Don't worry—that typically happens after you first use the moonstones. You should been fine now, just as long as you don't overuse them."
The two men turned silent for a moment, trying to think about what to talk about next. The topic of the other Joseph was a no go, at least for now—they weren't even sure they were going to see the other one again, considering how he outright refused to figure out what was going on.
But there was one thing that was on James's mind for a while, something that's been bothering him ever since Joseph brought it up. If they were going to get some answers about that, now was a good time as any.
"You mentioned you wanted to talk to us about what happened after you vanished in the Frontier." James said, "...How do you know David and Connie?"
< Hub Town - Hotel, Room 509 >
"Only ten?" Joseph repeated, letting his arm fall limp atop his bed. He cocked his head to the side, mouth slightly open as he pondered the possibility. When he spoke again, his voice was soft and languid. "Huh. Hm. I thought for sure I'd be out until the afternoon. Wild what can happen upstairs in just a little bit of time. I bet I'd be a great philosopher if my dreams ever made sense. You can live a small lifetime in the span of an hour. Or two. Or however long it's been." He propped his hands behind his head, heaving his chest upward with another sigh. "But I guess time hasn't made much sense to me for a while now. Do you know I might be eighteen? I might have turned eighteen and I can't even be sure." He shook his head, his wandering eyes studying the ceiling, wondering beyond its bounds. "I got mixed up along the way, and now I've just lost track."
He noticed the quiet that had come over his fathers, and lowered his long face slightly to watch them with an equally quiet anticipation. When James finally spoke, it looked as though the wind had left Joseph's lungs. He tried to keep something of a smile as he drew in a deep, shaky breath, but the trepidation that coursed through him upon hearing James' words was all too evident in his eyes.
"So, this isn't just a house call, then."
He reached for the glass of water Connie had left for him, taking an exploratory sip. Then he chugged the rest in two swift gulps. The deluge hit his chest and gut in a none-too-pleasant way, but he was grateful for pain with a physical source— something to distract from what would come next. But there was no avoiding it; it was the right thing to do, and he had to do right. For these men, who found him, a strange lizard creature like they'd never seen, washed up half dead on the dirt bank of a river. For these men who took him in and called him son. For them, he had to do right.
As he made to get back out of bed, he realized he was still tangled up in the bedding avalanche he'd created the first time he'd dropped out. Glancing sheepishly at James and Amandus, he said, "All right. Let me take care of this before I get even more tangled up. Then I'll tell you what happened." Lifting his gaze to the nearby dining table, he added, "Maybe you want to take a seat." He didn't know if it would really help, but it seemed appropriate.
Then he leaned forward, trying to find some part of the blanket catastrophe he could tug free, but it proved more ensnaring than he'd anticipated, and the spongy mattress beneath him was making matters more difficult. Without a word, he rolled off the other side of his bed, dropping to the floor with a slightly mitigated thud, then proceeded to play a complicated cross between Twister and full-body Cat's Cradle, turning, rolling, wriggling this way and that until finally his legs and tail were constricted no more. He rose to his feet, triumphantly tossing the blanket back on the bed. As it flopped into place, he realized that there was nothing left to keep him from telling his dads the truth about what happened that night. The night they thought he had disappeared.
Edited by Ryuhza on Feb 22nd 2023 at 1:12:29 AM
this place needs me here
Hotel Dining Room (Samelin, Rosafa, Devad, Maria, Nick, Amandus, et. al.)
Rosafa motioned to the waiter. "Excuse me, you are capable of bringing goods from other worlds, yes? Any chance you could bring me a glass of tap water from Vrina?"
Devad looked at his companion quizzically. "Isn't Vrina downstream from a toxic waste dump?"
"Oh, very much so. Its water is not safe to drink. But it is a fantastic base for a tricky little compound. Combined with the right ingredients, it creates a sort of thick, cohesive sludge that might be useful for restraining some of these people we are facing. Alternatively, we could spread it on the ground at a choke point and slow their advance." Beat. "That is assuming that we can get some tap water from Vrina, of course."
Samelin turned to their dining companions. "I believe you were talking about how your lizard friend keeps popping up uncontrollably on different worlds, trapped like a passenger on a moving train?"
Edited by StrixObscuro on Feb 22nd 2023 at 7:19:28 AM
By now, it should be clear to all except the most dense of us that sheep are secretly conspiring to kill us all and steal our pants.
Hotel ~ Lobby (Bonnie, Lulu; Plethora of People)
Lulu nodded grimly, "Aye, that it is."
Agreeing with Henry's desire to not alarm his friend-turned-salamander, she gave another nod of her head, "I'll refrain from mentioning it to him." She then turned to assess the approaching Joseph, taking note of his form, "He does resemble one, though he most closely resembles a salamander— rather, the alchemic elemental salamander. Though, he isn't red. Or female."
The succubus frowned, tapping her chin, "Acme-Zenith would probably be interested in him for that reason alone. Though," squinting her eyes at Joseph, she continued, "I'm sensing minute amounts of aether in you; nothing remotely close to being classified as an elemental."
Meanwhile, Bonnie shook her head as she replied to Joseph, "Oh no, you don't have to go up. Once Carol realizes you're not up there, she'll be right back down— shouldn't be too long for her. Otherwise, we might end up at this all day."
Ultra, Hub Town, Hotel, Lobby, a quiet corner near the reception area with Henry, Joseph, Bonnie, Qeyari, and Lulu.
Ultra nodded in acknowledgement of Joseph's approach, doing little else but passively observe, her presence remaining typically terse and nigh-unreadable as she took in the ongoing conversation for whatever information might strike her as relevant until, soon enough, the topic of discussion shifted towards the one who'd gone up to check on the second Joseph, Carol.
The circuitborn would have to ask her some things when the opportunity presented itself, if not go upstairs herself at some point... though she didn't dare insert herself uninvited. That tended to make people clam up in a hurry, in addition to being a tad rude.
Upon sensing a lull in things, though, she produced her communicator again and turned it on—only this time a pair of small indicator lights on the back side of the upper half activated. "Before we leave," the klipspringer advised Henry and Joseph, "I'd like to perform that scan."
"Hold still." she directed the boy as if this whole procedure were standard, holding the device up toward his elongated face. She then tapped something into the keypad and waited a moment as the lights pulsed briefly, followed by two soft flashes, then the lights held steady as she slowly panned it downward to his feet. While this was going on, those present might have noticed bands of blue light projected from the device and onto his body in a faint horizontal grid—in fact, this and Ultra's activity were the only apparent signs that anything at all was happening.
The lights then shut off as she brought the thing back up to her face to look over the resulting readout. Anything emitting or receiving a signal—as small as 5.3 microns—would show up, as would any disruption in what she assumed to be Joseph's average overall bioelectric signature, a sure sign of nanite activity... at least, where she came from. Truthfully, she had no idea precisely what to look for, so if it failed to pick up anything on its own she would compare the results to a similar scan of Qeyari's camel.
Edited by Chortleous on Feb 24th 2023 at 4:26:24 AM
[Room 509]
"Well, it still partly is, but this is something that's been on my mind for a while." He sat down next to a confused and worried Amandus, his arms crossed. "Go ahead, son. Tell us."
He didn't know what to expect, but at the very least he would get some kind of closure, no matter what happened.
Meanwhile, Pancake curled up into a ball between the two men and promptly fell asleep.
[Dining]
"Seems like it," Jackson said, "But we've only seen it once. We're not quite sure how it works." He rubbed his shoulder. "Now, we should really get a move on."
Maya nodded. "Yeah, it's 10, and we're wasting our time staying here."
< Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (a corner near reception) >
"Right, of course, what was I-" Henry gave his forehead a light smack as Qeyari corrected him, "no, that wouldn't make sense. At least, not unless the Dead God was, y'know, compelled by its nature to use nanites to take the form of a camel. For some... greater purpose." He didn't expect the former soldier to respond, hoping only that—with his finger across his mouth and eyes narrowed thoughtfully—he wouldn't come across as a complete idiot.
Still, the idea engendered another in his mind as he looked over his friend. He'd only known Joseph for a little over a year and, in that time, although they'd kept each other close company, Joseph rarely shared details about his life. It struck a chord of alarm to realize what a large gulf of knowledge he had about his friend. For all Henry knew, Joseph himself could be a Dead God, or some other powerful entity, only assuming the form of Joseph because it was pleased to do so. Perhaps the salamandrine shift was the thing's true form reemerging. Perhaps blue is yellow and yellow is blue, he thought, rolling his eyes. The whole idea was outlandish enough to push to the bottom of his list of outlandish theories, but he couldn't shake the sense of something clicking, as if it agreed with some other information he had nestled away. If only he could recall where.
For his part, Joseph found himself quickly lost as unfamiliar terms met unknown contexts, seeming to surround him but few directly addressing him. He matched Qeyari's salute with a faint smile that did little to disguise his confusion. Not wanting to gum anything up, he kept most of his wonderings to himself. As greetings turned to examinations, the only question he asked was when Lulu observed that the the amount of aether in him was too minute for him to be classified as an elemental.
Blinking expectantly, he looked from Lulu to Henry and back again. "...Is that good?"
Henry shrugged, offering, "I think so. Unless you thought you were an elemental."
Joseph only sighed quietly in response, unsure of what to think. Bonnie answered his earlier question, reassuring him that Carol would find her way back down soon enough. He was at once both relieved and restless, knowing that he had no reason to go back upstairs. At least, none immediately. Not unless he wanted to. Still, the restlessness persisted, and found himself turning slightly, eying the elevators and wondering, what if?
What if he wound up on that fifth floor again? What if he ran into himself?
The sound of his own voice brought him back. "Oh... yeah, 'cause maybe I'll miss her, and she comes back down here, and I'm up there, and then we're at it again." He smiled a bit at the foolishness of it all. "It reminds me of one of those cartoons where the characters are all running in and out of different doors, getting all mixed up." Cocking his head slightly, he asked Bonnie, "Do you have cartoons? Y'know, like, moving drawings?"
Ultra mentioned wanting to do a scan, one Henry had seemingly been informed of, as his friend bobbed his head in firm agreement, "right, of course." He stepped aside as though to give her permission to scan Joseph, taking a moment to realize that he'd also neglected to consult Joseph. "Don't worry, it'll be quick, painless— you won't feel a thing." Another moment passed and another realization dawned. Shooting a sidelong glance at Ultra, he asked quietly, "he won't feel a thing, right?" Without waiting for an answer, he looked back at Joseph and, brushing his lack of foundation aside, shook his head as though to say, don't worry, she's a professional.
Joseph did his best not to worry, just as he did his best to hold still when commanded. But his unease— not just for the scan, but for being the focus of so much attention—found its way out, particularly in the nervous swishing of his tail, which he struggled to get under control as Ultra began her scan. Quickly, he brought his legs together, catching the midsection of his tail between his ankles and holding it as still as he could while Ultra completed her scan.
Observing quietly and massaging his chin, Henry leaned over to Ultra, glancing at her device and murmuring, "any insights?"
this place needs me here
< Hub Town - Hotel, Room 509 >
Joseph approached the dining table in silence, moving neither slowly nor quickly. Each step followed the last, deliberate and without delay. The light streaming in through the large window gave him a clear view of James and Amandus's expressions, the worry and the anticipation. He felt like all the features of his own salamandrine face had grown suddenly stiff, leaving him with a stony look that wouldn't bely the dread he felt deep inside. In truth, his eyes said it all.
He pulled a chair out and sat down, facing his fathers of two days. He wrung his hands together in his lap, praying silently to the spirit of all earnesty that his would shine through.
His eyes drifted between the two men, settling on Amandus as he recalled the evening he'd spent in the hotel.
"That night, the last time we were all together, I told you about what might happen— what I thought for sure was going to happen. What you guys must've thought happened. I was up for hours thinking about it, trying to figure out a way to keep it from happening. You've gotta understand, it was like... like I'd walk into another room, close the door, and open it back up someplace entirely different. And I'd close it and open it and close it and open it but I couldn't go back." He looked at them with pleading eyes, as though he were still caught in the midst of it. "I didn't want it to happen again, to keep meeting people and losing them and getting further and further away from home."
He turned his long head to the large window, frowning for a moment at the sound of the word in his mouth. Home. It was true that he'd felt far from it that night in the frontier hotel, but now, looking out the window of another hotel far, far from the places he'd spent most of his life, he wasn't sure what it meant.
"...I had little rituals I'd try to do. Leaving doors open, keeping people nearby, holding onto things. I figured if I held onto something here, then I couldn't just vanish. And maybe it helped, maybe it didn't," he shook his head, "I was never sure. It'd get me eventually, so nothing worked forever. Or at least I couldn't keep it up forever. It's hard to hold on to something so tightly, you know? You don't get to rest, or to be anywhere fully. You're always carrying something with you, dedicating a part of yourself to it. I was afraid the whole night. Afraid I'd lose you guys. Afraid I'd wind up somewhere that wasn't so kind. Maybe somewhere I wouldn't return from."
Joseph was quiet for a few seconds, his gaze drifting to the surface of the table between them, his vision going hazy as the distance grew ever longer.
"But that's not what happened," he admitted, finally. "I didn't disappear." He lifted his eyes to James. "I left."
this place needs me here
[Room 509]
Amandus suddenly felt like someone stabbed him directly in the heart as Joseph told his story. James, now knowing what he feared was true, just lowered his head sadly.
"You...you left?" Amandus rose from his chair. "You left?" Do you know how scared I was that day?! I practically went through the whole Frontier looking for you! I was terrified! And now I come to find out you left?! I..." His voice then cracked. "Why did you play with our emotions like that?!"
James gently held his husband's hand and lowered him back down to the chair. Amandus didn't fight it; instead, he buried his face his arms, crying quietly.
"We're not...we're not angry." James said, "We just...we're just hurt right now. That was one of the worst nights of our lives, and we haven't stopped blaming ourselves for it. Especially me. I mean...I got mad at you over a silly joke! And now I'm finding out you just up and left like that. That just...hurts. Why did you do that, son?"
[Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (a corner near reception)]
Given the utter insanity that Qeyari had already told Joseph, all she said to his hurried correction was, "it would not be the strangest thing they have done." And indeed, Qeyari was feeling a bit out of place. Once again, this was all above her pay grade...
"They're not nanites." The speaker had slipped upon the group with alarming silence, though the most perceptive may have noticed her approaching them with clear purpose. Dressed in a simple white blouse and ankle-length black skirt, she was a small, dark-haired, sickly-looking woman in her fifties. Indeed, to a keen eye, her strange appearance and stunted growth indicated fetal alcohol syndrome and childhood malnutrition.
The woman continued, "Dead God 'nanites' are actually closer in scale to protons, not the nanomachines we are still stuck using. The name 'nanite' is thus as inaccurate as, well, 'Dead God', but names do stick." Qeyari at least allowed the woman to ramble, curious to see if anything useful came of it. (While wondering how long she'd been listening in.) "We don't know the exact mechanism the Dead Gods used to program devices on such a scale," she said, her tone that of a lecturing professor, "but the possibility is a natural result of the Navarro-Rosenberg Interpretation." She waved her hand dismissively. "I won't bore you with the details. Just know that the Dead Gods regard early-21st century quantum mechanics, locality, and occasionally causality as more like suggestions than hard and fast rules."
"And what," Qeyari said, "does this have to do with us?" She was annoyed at the interruption and the pointless rambling on irrelevant matters, and a bit disturbed by the brief and sudden personality shift. Just how unstable was this lean and hungry woman, and how did she know so much about the Dead Gods?
The woman shrugged and said, "not much, really, though Ultra there may need to re-calibrate her scanners appropriately — assuming her civilization isn't still stuck on Copenhagen's dead end. I just prefer that people use words properly." And with that, the woman made a move to slip back into the crowd.
"Wait," Qeyari said, still hoping she might actually contribute something more than a pointless distraction. "You clearly have some knowledge about many things..."
The woman stopped. Again, an entirely new persona, impish and malicious, with a twisted little grin. "I'm also completely insane and remorselessly evil!" Though she needn't have said that; the deranged, malicious giggle that escaped her here would have established this well enough. "So I'm gonna let you guys run yourselves in circles a little longer. Unless I decide helping would be more interesting. Or maybe..." and she looked over at the rest of the group, "I'll offer my expertise if one of you finds a way to make it entertaining for me?" And with that, the woman once more made to leave the crowd.
Qeyari had known this woman for less than a minute and already hated her.
She'll be disappearing unless pursued or otherwise brought back into the matter. This is a bad idea, she will do nothing good. EDIT: Probably. The possibility of her being useful is technically non-zero, on consideration.
Edited by KillerClowns on Mar 9th 2023 at 10:42:25 AM
This is my good side.
Hub Town Hotel: Dining Area
Nasur wasted no time in attacking his meal. Extending a finger, the narati drew circles gently in the air, over the glowing flower and around it. It seemed to respond to the motion, letting out small wisps of what looked like a mix of light and vapor. Nasur then pulled his hand back, at the same time as he opened his mouth and started inhaling.
He absorbed all the mana stored in the sapphire bloom this way, it flowing to him like thick strands of blue, mist-like light. When he finished a moment later, he shook his head enthusiastically. "Much better." He murmured, with a pleased smile. Under his hood, his eyes looked a little more vibrant.
"It's certainly not something I expected to see in a long time." Nasur answered David as he removed the bloom, now opaque and withered, and set it aside. With the other hand the narati grabbed a spoon and picked up a spoonful of soup and a piece of purple tuber. "A proper breakfast. No scrounging up whatever thing is crawling around."
He took another spoonful of soup. Meanwhile, the waiter returned, just as unbelievably swiftly as before, with David's order. They set it down before turning to Rosafa, and giving out a sealed container the size of a glass of water, filled with tap water from Vrina.
"Feel free to keep the glass. Turn the lid to the left to open it, then right if you want to close it." They instructed the trio. "But please do it after you've exited the hotel if you can. Cleaning staff won't be happy if that thing stains anything." With this said, they gave a polite bow to everyone, turned around, and left for other tables with waiting customers.
Once they were gone, Nasur turned back to his bowl. "Agreed. We were listening to the story about Joseph." He gave his meal another taste. "I had heard about studies about extramaterial spaces and what lived there, but this is certainly beyond what I knew was possible."
[Lobby-Dining Hall]
Amandus gave a small, but sad smile as Joseph walked away back to Henry and Bonnie, then said, "We believe in you!"
His heart stung a little, but he knew that he couldn't force that Joseph to stay; he had his own journey, after all. Still...he needed to know what was going on. For now, he had to go and take care of his son.
Pancake climbed onto her dad's shoulder, purring still.
"Good luck, everyone." James said to the others, throwing a loving hand on Amandus's shoulder. "We're going to check on Joseph upstairs. Contact us immediately if anything happens, alright?"
"Okie-dokie!" Amy said, waving, "Bye, Mr. and Mr. Richman!"
After the adults walked up and headed to the elevator, Jackson turned to their new companions. "Let's get one thing clear—we are not splitting. That's the main rule of this group. Splitting up is a good way for us to get captured or even worse."
Edited by Masterofchaos on Jan 31st 2023 at 8:44:13 AM