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
[Hotel (Elevator)]
"Joseph Zeta, huh?" James said, chuckling again, "Alright. We'll call you that."
"I think Alpha's cooler, but okay..." Amandus said under his breath, before clearing his throat. "Y-Yeah, it's a very long story, but we didn't stay with the aliens. The kids complained about their rudeness and decided it wasn't worth it."
When the topic of David came up, both men nodded their heads.
"Last time we checked, yeah! He should still be there," James said, "We were actually on our way to see him after all. We figured he wanted to see how Joseph Zeta is doing."
James seemed a little confused about Rip's comment, but Amandus caught on almost instantly, then laughed.
"Oh. Right. You haven't met my nephew's friends, have you, Orti?" He said, "If you see Amy...be prepared for a hug."
[Necropolis]
Further into the abandoned ghost town, Nick looked around, and for a brief moment, he thought he saw someone in a house, but when he turned around...they were gone. Maybe this really was a ghost town. Or he was letting the stress of everything get to his head.
"There's someone here!" Amy said, snapping him back to reality. Sure enough, there was a silver eyed person walking around the place, obviously trying to keep an eye out for them.
"That creature is not going to eat him, is it?" Maria asked nervously.
< Hub Town - Square, Notice Board >
Connie's tightly pressed mouth puffed with air as she held back an agitated groan, its sound not entirely muffled. She stared at the back of the newcomer's head for as long as she could before he turned to face them, and such an intense direct line of frustration might be considered unseemly. "I just put the things up," she said, pulling her hands away, "Everything you need to know is on the paper. Probably."
She took a step back, reaching down to grab her pack as she prepared to make her tactical retreat. However, just as she was ready to casually bid the small gathering see ya, she finally took note, beneath her immediate defensive impulse, of what she was hearing.
"Wait, are you all interested? Like, really interested? 'Cause I could- I mean, if you want to skip some of the formalities, I could go straight to the source and tell her you're in. Then you can forget the diner and just head to the north gate. If you're in, of course, within the next..." she fished an antiquated pocket watch from her back pocket, her eyelids twitching with barely concealed alarm, though she did make a quick show of checking the poster's time before finishing, "...the next hour, I guess."
With a little less energy being spent keeping her story taped together, she took a moment to look the three potential applicants over. She had few doubts about the big guy, Sigmund, who'd apparently been sitting around waiting for someone to come try beating him up. Toni was a bit of an unknown, but she had an infectious assurance and despite her own defensiveness, Connie already liked her. The new guy was a total unknown, reminding her of Rip at first blush—hardly an unfavorable comparison—though even his small interjection marked him as less terse than the other man.
"I mean," she nodded in a generous, if somewhat uncertain, approval, "you all seem pretty capable. But, in case I've got to pass on an impression here, maybe you could answer a question. Suppose there was a big crab coming at you. Like giant, like," he held her hand up at the level of her chest, "like pinch-you-in-half sized. How would you handle that?"
< Hub Town - Hotel, 5th Floor Hallway >
"You see," Orti spoke to Rip in a low voice, gently pinching the man's nearest earlobe between his thumb and foreknuckle, giving it a shake, "manners do count."
Rip remained the portrait of unflappability, his only reaction to the tugging of his ear a glance to the side. "Yeah, I think you'll like Davey. Just keep your hands off his ears."
Orti released him, letting his hand slide to the man's shoulder as he pulled back, his features furrowing into an incredulous pout. "Surely a coaxing round the back wouldn't go amiss."
"They were talking about putting us through some kinda psychic training regimen," Joseph explained, his mind still on their adventures aboard the Web of Friendship's ship, "but I guess we all passed on it. I... I dunno, I just didn't feel comfortable with it. Too many sci-fi movies I guess. Already staked their claim on messing with my brain, y'know?" He looked down, his long smile falling sideways as he tugged at a wristband. "Maybe I missed out. For all I know they could've deposited me back here unharmed but with newfound expertise in some intergalactic martial art, or," he lifted his arm, forming a gun with his hand and squinting down at the thumbclaw sight, "the ability to hit a target the size of a pinhole. I guess it could've been useful."
"You'll have a lot to learn," Rip murmured, catching Joseph's attention, only for the young man to realize he was still speaking to Orti. It wasn't clear if either man had heard anything he'd just said.
"Are you all so averse to physical affection?" Orti murmured back.
"There's a time and a place, and a person."
"And how do you hope to find them if you aren't willing to explore?"
"I am willing."
"But we aren't talking about you, are we?"
"Aren't w-" THWDDT
The loud thud of Joseph's tail against the nearby wall startled both men back to attention. Joseph glanced down at it a second later, as though he had gone completely without noticing until the other men had reacted. "Ow," he recited. "Whoops." Rip stroked his mustache, covering his mouth in the same motion. Covering the bashful smile that now shaped it.
"I haven't even met your nephew," Orti answered at last, shaking off his surprise with a good-natured grin as he returned his attention to James and Amandus "as a matter of fact, I've only just learnt of his existence."
"We go back a ways," Joseph said, touching a ponderous foreclaw to his mouth as he recalled the strange, gloomy campus where they'd first collided, "we met by chance about a year ago, and then... kept meeting by chance." It was a strange phenomenon; one he couldn't quite chalk up to the other strange phenomena he'd amassed in that same year. It hadn't quite started with his personal lapse in space-time consistency, and now with those days well behind him, there they were again.
Orti sighed, a wistful sound that accentuated his weathered features like wind through old wood. "The wiles of the Will of the World. Capable of kindness and cruelty in even measure. And a chance meeting..." he squeezed Rip's shoulder, while his gaze passed across the two lovers before him, "...its favorite trick."
Edited by Ryuhza on Jul 9th 2023 at 6:08:43 AM
every little word and every little step
This is my good side.
Hub Town: Notice Board
Well, turns out the young lady was responsible for the recent notice, so things just got a little easier. Now, all Valten had to do was convince whoever was in charge of the job that he was worth hiring.
The large man, Sigmund, looked like a polite and well educated fellow, not the type one would expect to be amercenary. Yet, judging by the notice he had pointed at, that marked him as a capable wrestler, it was obvious that he was more than capable of handling himself in case of trouble. Valten took his hand and gave it a friendly, if vigorous, shake. "Valten Galahad." He presented himself in response. "Mercenary, bodyguard, bounty hunter, sometimes adventurer. A real pity you couldn't find any opponent. Maybe someone will show up once this job is done."
"A large, crab, you say?" Valten turned to the girl and pondered the question for a moment. Her way of acting gave him the impression that she was not much experienced, if she ever worked as a mercenary. "I don't think I ever had to deal with something like that. All the giant crabs I had to fight were on plates, thankfully." He gave of a laugh, then replied more seriously. "But I would say: Keep your distance, and try to shoot at the soft parts. You know, the eyes, the mouth, or the belly."
The third person, the one distinctly not human, came off as a friendly sort. "Well, giant crabs are probably not the worst thing one could find." Valten replied to her. "Maybe the worst natural threat, but in a deserted place there might be something worse. On that, I speak from experience."
[5th floor]
Amandus looked at the interactions between Orti and Rip...then gave a knowing smile. Ah. Just like when we first met.
Back to the topic at hand. "Oh, we already know David! That's actually who we're gonna visit, just so he can know that good ol' Joseph is alright." Amandus then chuckled. "Amy especially knows him. She's a cuddlebug towards him."
James then quirked an eyebrow. "Will of the World? Is that new phrase?"
she/her friend to the hooved
Ultra, Hub Town, Hotel, Lobby, a quiet corner near Reception.
Ultra didn't say anything at first, gaze fixed on the doors for a long moment.
"No." was her only response again, shaking her head and steeling herself. Assuming the madwoman wasn't lying (and she couldn't begin to guess what the point of lying about something so imminently falsifiable would be), she knew the person she was after was outside, and someplace close... but it wasn't that, because she wasn't afraid of people.
She wasn't afraid of anything, because fear was the mind-killer. It made you slip up and lead to fatal mistakes.
It was because she found herself confronted with what her world used to be, what she'd only known from scant pictures and videos. What those who came before her had pissed away, and what those born since would never see. Maybe she was afraid, a little.
The klipspringer adjusted her jacket and made sure everything on her person was in order. Then, she let out another sigh before at last making her way toward the entrance, past Joseph and Henry, pushing the doors open and gingerly stepping outside.
At first, she's near-blinded by the sunlight, left squinting on the stoop like an idiot with one hand shading her eyes. Then the sights and smells and sounds of a world wholly unlike her own hit her.
Greenery of the sort she'd only seen in greenhouses and the gardens of the wealthy, and even then it was nowhere near so vibrant. Warmth that was downright muggy compared to home and even the air-conditioned hotel. Her sensitive ears could hear animal life chirping.
She could see businesses and dwellings that weren't crammed together in claustrophobic blocks, frequented by people who had room to breathe what she could only assume was fresh, clean air.
Then she saw the person she'd been chasing, right outside the hotel just as she'd been told. They were under the shade of a tree, in the middle of a conversation with a small handful of others. About what, she didn't know.
She froze. Instinctively, a hand shot down to her pistol and hovered over its grip, but she only barely avoided drawing it, suddenly cognizant of her own mental state and the very blatantly idiotic thing she'd caught herself about to do. There was no need to escalate, not unless this stranger pushed things.
Toni, Hub Town, notice board, talking to several peo-oh fuck it's Ultra
It bothered Toni how quickly this 'Valten' jumped to lethal violence as a solution, though she supposed it was an understandable first instinct given his choice of employment and apparent lack of powers like her own. Nevertheless, she opted to provide some pushback on that front.
"Well, why am I there? If this is just a territorial animal," she considered Connie's hypothetical, arms crossed under her chest, idly glancing over toward the hotel's doors in thought. "I would prioritize getting out of its way. If that's not an option, I have..."
She trailed off, immediately spotting the vibrantly-colored Ultra stepping outside, looking about as bewildered and out-of-place as she'd expect for someone she'd accidentally marooned no more than a few hours ago. More concerning was the bovid synthetic reaching for her sidearm—did everyone here default to shooting things? Not that the okapi could really blame her for that impulse either.
"...ways of defusing hostile situations." she finished, very much telling the truth. Should Ultra (or Valten, for that matter) try anything, she was very quick on the draw with her doorways and had on more than one occasion used them to disorient and disarm. The klipspringer, for her part, seemed to think better of her initial course of action as her hand fell slack and away from her gun's grip.
Out of the corner of her eye, though, the okapi watched for Valten's response with an abundance of caution—should he choose to escalate to violence, and not move quickly enough to evade it, he'd find the ground beneath his feet giving way to empty air and his own spatial awareness swiftly reoriented as one of her doors deposited him a dozen feet away from the ongoing kerfuffle, in the bushes on the opposite side of the notice board... and sideways, relative to his current orientation. A harmless maneuver that tended to make organics incredibly nauseous the first few times it happened.
"Uh, hi." she greeted in her own characteristically amiable way, carefully stepping out of the shade of the tree and raising her empty hands in what she'd found to be the universal gesture for 'I'm unarmed'. "My name's Toni. I... can explain, all of this."
"Start." came Ultra's coldly terse response, having quickly regained her bearings, now looking upon Toni with something between bemusement and irritation verging on anger.
Edited by Chortleous on Jul 10th 2023 at 9:19:17 AM
Necropolis (Samelin, Rosafa, Devad, Maya, Amy, et. al.)
"I am... unsure as to what their predations actually entail," Devad conceded. "The jabanji are generally considered a children's story to my people, and most Danyari just assume that we are brave and willful enough that a jabanji would never feed on us, so it's not like we ever thought about the mechanics of their feeding. That would be like contemplating if the tooth fairy carries off your discarded molars in a sack or a box."
"Preposterous," Rosafa said. "She obviously has a pouch. A box or a sack would hinder her flight."
"My love," Samelin interjected, "I adore that you've actually thought about the biological mechanics of the tooth fairy, but we should probably find that silver-eyed fella before the monster does."
Necropolis (Issichar, Jabanji)
His name was Issichar. He remembered that much of his life before LORD. A cursory look at himself in a puddle had shown him that he had pale skin and black hair and a poorly-cultivated mustache. Plus, he had silver eyes, which seemed wrong somehow. He did... something with... some sort of creatures. Maybe he was a snail tamer? No, that didn't seem like the sort of thing that made money.
He assumed there must have been some sort of money in whatever his job was before LORD, because he was wearing some sort of ceremonial robes. Or at least he thought they were ceremonial. They were black, with greyish-tan highlights. They were also kind of sinister. There were skulls embroidered on them.
He saw a group of people a minute ago, but when he thought to approach them, he'd felt a stabbing pain in his head and thus he ran away. He wasn't sure why.
He wasn't entirely sure why he was doing a lot of things, lately. He'd been having a lot of difficulty thinking ever since LORD. All he knew was that he was supposed to be here, in this old cemetery-looking place, and for some reason, the various spirits around here were all running away from him. It was like they had all sensed something coming. Something big.
There was a THUD behind him. He turned and saw some very large monster shambling towards him. It looked kinda like a mass of slime that was trying to assume a human form, with a crude bone-mask thing where its face might have been. It kept advancing, then suddenly rearing back and changing position, and then trying to advance again, before retreating again.
Suddenly, Issichar was overcome by a sharp stabbing pain behind his eyes.
LORD.
LORD.
LORRRRRRRRRRRRD...
The pain stopped abruptly, and Issichar suddenly felt a new... purpose, for lack of a better word. He remembered what he used to do before LORD, and now he remembered why LORD had sent him here. He reached out and placed his palm upon the mask, and something moved through him and went into the mask, and it magically gained a silvery glaze.
The creature swayed uncertainly.
"It's okay," Issichar said, in an eerily calm voice. "You're under LORD's control now. Serve LORD and you can have all the minds you want. Now, let's go find those intruders I spotted a minute ago..."
His task completed, Issichar felt his thoughts drift away, until only a single one remained.
LORD.
Edited by StrixObscuro on Jul 15th 2023 at 4:32:56 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.
[Necropolis]
"Oh. I...see..." Maria said, still feeling unsure. That didn't completely answer my question, but it'll have to do.
The man was shambling and speaking about "Lord", and that was the moment the kids knew that Mael had gotten a hold over his mind. Poor bastard.
They hid behind some rock to stay out of view, then huddled around each other.
"So, what's the plan?" Nick whispered, "Don't wanna hurt that guy."
"Right," Jackson agreed, "Violence will only be a last resort. Right now, we need to think about restraining them until Daved and the others free him."
< Hub Town - Hotel, 5th Floor Hallway —> Elevator >
"Not a worry," Rip said to John and Amandus, before cocking his head towards Orti, "The warning was for this egghead. Davey's a mannered sort, but I don't see him taking so kind to a... cuddle bug of his stature."
Orti exhaled indignantly. "Perhaps you're only jealous, coveting my affections all for yourself. Fearful, even, that his charms may prove exceptionally beguiling?" He narrowed his eyes, a coy smile pulling at his lips. "Beside yourself that I might be stolen right out from under your nose?"
"I am not," Rip refuted, a snort of disbelief tinging his otherwise plain assurance. "I am doing all I can to make sure you two get on well."
"Well that's blessed good fortune, then you'll have no objections if we hurry along so I can meet him."
"...that includes protecting him from an ambush."
"Ambush wambush, you'll be there. If there's a line I shouldn't be crossing, you can always tackle me to the floor."
"Always so self-effacing, aren't you?"
All the while Joseph stood by, leaning against the wall to the side of the elevator, his head turned away. He was half paying attention, half smiling, and half afflicted by a strange pain, the sort that had his mouth trembling restlessly. Together, the three halves painted a portrait of overcomplication and incompleteness, a strange shape that could not settle. His hand and forearm fumbled against the wall until he found the elevator call button, nudging it with his elbow.
Turning his gleaming eyes back to James, Orti answered, "the deep magic of the edges, ever present, ever out of sight. Your feet would drill you to the contrary face of this world before ever turning quick enough to allow more than a fleeting glimpse." He let his smile linger for a moment before straightening up and expounding, "An old phrase, but perhaps not universal. Just another way to recognize the elusive energy that colors our Janus."
"Bit of a bugbear if you ask me," Rip muttered, scratching at his neck and glancing down the hall toward their room.
"Only if you ascribe to it all of your ills and none of your gains. The man who blinds his own eyes cannot see what he's done wrong." The soft ding and opening of the returning elevator's doors took his attention, and he drew further into the hallway, placing a hand on Rip's shoulder. "Perhaps we'll chat some more soon. For now," he wheeled his head in an exasperated motion down the hall, "we must attend, and you must attend. Do say hello to Davey for me."
"David," Rip corrected.
"Try behind the ears," Orti winked, miming a finger scratch, "soften the barrier."
Joseph, who'd been ready to slip into the elevator with no more than a polite nod, suddenly spoke up. "Oh, I saw Connie earlier! She's- she's better."
Rip turned back from making his way down the hall, looking genuinely pleased to hear the news. "Is she?"
He nodded. "I did- y'know... I did what I could to help."
The man nodded in return, his quiet admiration enough to send Joseph tail into an effervescent rhythm. "Good of you."
Orti seemed touched by the whole thing, though with a certain distance, as though he were merely an audience member watching a stage play. "Take care of this one," he added to James and Amandus, "he's a sweet thing."
Joseph glanced between the four men, his long face momentarily aglow with pride. But all too soon it began to dim, replaced by that pain. Without another word, he hid himself in the open elevator, one hand squeezing the nearest rail as he prepared to descend.
every little word and every little step
[Hub Town Notice Board (Sigmund; Toni, Ultra; Connie; Valten)]
Sigmund had been about to give an answer not unlike Valten's: gun. Big, expensive gun. He could even be seen nodding subtly in agreement with the contractor. It was Valten's observation that there were worse things than megafauna that really solidified Sigmund's opinion, however. Yeah, this guy was made from better stuff than the usual skull-logo gun nuts. He might have the makings of a CorpSec recon and retrieval operative.
Toni's answer didn't change his thoughts. Few creatures attacked humans, he told himself. It was something usually only the diseased did. And so what if it was a territorial display? It was stupid to gamble on that without more information.
It was Sigmund's business instincts speaking, though he didn't make that connection consciously. It was not his philanthropy that had made his company a de facto superpower. And that philanthropy had never been allowed to challenge the core truths of his world. Sigmund could be generous, compassionate, and genuinely warm to those who posed him no real threat, but anything that might actually challenge his power or do him harm could expect destruction.
Then Ultra showed up. Known anti-capitalist. Likely more augs than Sigmund or even Alice. Potentially android. Odds of defeating countermeasures, both local and his own... almost zero, but he still briefly readied when Ultra reached for her firearm. As she relaxed, so did he. (His reaction times were, notably, above human baseline potential.) He discreetly tapped his temple and watched, keeping Toni and Ultra in his field of view.
Edited by KillerClowns on Jul 13th 2023 at 10:05:35 AM
Necropolis (Samelin, Rosafa, Devad, Maya, Amy, Issichar, et. al.)
The target shambled out from behind a shrine. He looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties, and was maybe five-foot-four His hair was lank and looked as if it hadn't been washed in days. His robes, black with grey highlights and embroidered skulls, was covered in dust and dirt. His face had the discolored pallor of someone badly in need of food and rest. And sure enough, his eyes were silver.
"He doesn't seem like he'll give us much trouble," Samelin opined. "Poor guy looks like he can barely stand." They turned to Rosafa. "Hand me the deprogrammer."
Rosafa reached into her bag and retrieved her deprogrammer, and then handed it to Samelin.
"Right. All I have to do is get in range and his the button, and we should have him well in hand in the time it takes to say-"
Just then, the ''jabanji lurched out from behind the shrine. Its mask-face was now a silvery color, and its movements were more focused and purposeful, like it had very specific targets.
"Hey, Devad, these fairytale things, they're not fighters, right?"
"This is far out of my expertise, but no, jabanji aren't known for fighting. That said, it's almost seven feet tall and yet still mobile, so I would guess that whatever passes for its muscles would be fairly strong."
"Well, shit."
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.
< Hub Town - Square, Notice Board >
Connie folded her arms, nodding slowly as she took in each response, wishing she had a pencil and pad to jot things down on, if only to better sell the process. The man named Valten offered a practical approach without frills, again the kind of advice she'd expect from Rip or David. "So you're armed?" she questioned, casting a quick glance over his outfit, searching for some sign of a weapon, "And you'd attack its weak points? Interesting, interesting... I want to say promising, but I guess we'll see."
Toni was next, challenging her hypothetical for more context. Why was she there? Connie almost blurted out because you decided to join the expedition, duh, the sarcasm coming too easily, but she thought better of it. After all, it wasn't as though the okapi had missed the point; her answer was illuminating, suggesting an aptitude for diplomacy of the kind that the other two, polite though they seemed, might fail to consider. There was certainly a place for that kind of thinking, although it didn't seem to Connie like the best tactic for an aggressive giant crab, unless Toni was some sort of crab-whisperer. "Avoid or defuse," she repeated, beginning to turn towards the big guy, "okay, got it. And..."
Before the inquiry could continue, Toni became distracted, her demeanor changing subtly at the sight of someone emerging from the hotel. It took Connie a moment to register that the colorful animal humanoid matched the description Toni had given her earlier. "Hey that's-" she began, pointing in the direction of the pinkish figure, before realizing she was a good few seconds slow on the draw. She glanced around, sensing the subtle waves of tension gathering at the scene. Silently, she drew back towards the tree, making note of her backpack's position in case things got hot and she had to run.
every little word and every little step
[5th floor]
James smiled, then gently rubbed his fist on Joseph's head. "Don't worry, we will."
Amandus thought back to their fight, looking down at the ground. Even though he was taking time to finally, actually, get to know his "son", he still wondered if he was going to like the idea. He couldn't just forget about what he said. He didn't even know if Joseph was ever going to bring up. Would he?
"Honey?" James said, getting his attention. "You okay?"
"Oh. Sorry. Distracted." He cleared his throat, "Uh, where was David again? Is he still in the dining area?"
[Necropolis]
"Oh, I can restrain him for you," Maria whispered, a vine growing from her hand. "Just gotta..."
Uh-oh. The creature was heading straight to him! There was no time to try to see what it would do; they had to act now if they were going to free this man. With the go ahead from everyone else, Maria sent her vine straight towards the brainwashed victim and lifted him in the air, restraining his arms and legs so he wouldn't escape, then pulled him straight to Rosafa, Daved, and Samlin.
"Go!" she said to their new companions, "Hurry! He's heavy and I can't hold him for long!"
Necropolis (Samelin, Rosafa, Devad, Maya, Amy, Issichar, et. al.)
Samelin held the deprogrammer over the man's face and pushed the button. There was a screech like a primitive modem and the man fell limp.
The monster was still advancing.
"We need to stand and fight!" Devad insisted, already reaching for his purloined knife.
"Not part of our mission, buddy," Samelin said. "Priority's getting our fella away. Could probably slow that thing down, though. Rosafa, grab that restraint bomb you made earlier and prepare to throw it."
Rosafa pulled out the restraint bomb and aimed at the creature's head.
"NOW!"
Rosafa threw the bomb as Samelin pulled out their pistol. As the bomb arced toward the monster's head, they fired and hit the plunger on the device. A gray sludge sprayed upon the monster's head, and then expanded until the head was encased.
Refusing to stay on the sidelines, Devad grabbed a nearby shovel and hurled it like a javelin towards the monster's leg. There was a sickening noise as the head of the shovel got embedded in one of the monster's knees, sending it toppling to the ground. Its head slammed upon the pavement, and for a minute, it appeared dead. But its arms were already questing about for purchase to pull itself up.
"I think this is about as lucky as we're gonna get." Samelin pronounced, as Devad put an arm around their captive to haul him away. "Retreat!"
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.
[Necropolis]
Great. More monsters to deal with.
Maya threw a smoke bomb Jackson had made; it wasn't lethal, but it would distract the monster long enough for them to get away.
"Go!" Jackson yelled.
"No need to tell us twice, Jacky!" Nick said, gabbing Adam's hand.
They made a beeline away from the creature, and when they turned back, they gave a sigh of relief. That went...a lot easier than they thought.
"How long is that guy gonna be out?" Nick asked in between breaths.
Sorry, short. Just didn't want this to get buried, lol
This is my good side.
Hub Town: Notice Board
Valten shrugged when the non-human person offered her own answer. "I assumed that would be out of the question. I mean, I would rather not have to fight the wildlife..." He tried to reply, only to trail off when she (who would reveal her name as Toni a moment later) was also at a loss of words. Looking at where she was staring, at the fancy looking hotel nearby, he saw why.
Another person, also with animal characteristics. Again, nothing like Valten had seen before, yet also different to Toni herself. Their face looked vaguely like a deer, dressed in rather unusual clothes, both in appearance and colours. What was instantly recognized as familiar by Valten, however, was the way one of their hands was hovering dangerously close to something at their side.
The hair on the back of his head stood on end, even if the mercenary showed no emotion outwards. This was not the first time he had had to deal with someone ready to pull out a gun, a blade, or any other kind of dangerous object. Yet, he and the others were completely exposed if this person tried to fire. The notice board itself would provide a poor cover, and it was the closest thing he had available. Valten silently cursed himself for leaving all his equipment behind.
Thankfully, the newcomer had some sense on them, and loosened up when Toni took a step forwards and tried the diplomatic approach she had mentioned before. Considering the way she talked, this could be the 'someone' she had mentioned earlier she was waiting for. Valten, still a little tense, kept his attention centered on the two talking. Ha didn't dare make a move, in case anyone could consider that athreat.
she/her friend to the hooved
Toni, Hub Town, near the notice board, talking to Ultra, in front of the hotel
Ultra remained firmly rooted to the front steps of the hotel, not paying anyone else present any mind... at least, not externally. She'd noted the tall one in the suit, sensing the exact same air about him as Magnus. Why this 'Toni' was consorting with him, she couldn't begin to guess. Were they in league...?
Toni, meanwhile, mulled over what to tell Ultra, exactly. How to explain things to her, and how much she wanted to reveal about her true nature in front of this group of people, at least one of whom she wasn't sure she could even trust with that sort of knowledge.
"I..." she began, shutting her eyes and bringing a hand up to the bridge of her snout. She got the distinct impression Ultra would know if she tried to lie by omission, and that wouldn't help matters. "Before I ran into you, I was... a visitor, in your world. It's kind of what I do, explore."
Ultra's glare continued, uninterrupted and characteristically nigh-unreadable.
"You were about to walk into a trap. I try not to intervene wherever I go, but I got a really bad feeling and I tried to warn you, but..." the okapi shrugged. "I had to step in. From then on, though... something about this place, proximity to it, doesn't play well with my means of travel. Tried to get you out of danger, but I just ended up dumping you out here."
With all that out of the way, Toni took a deep breath. "Anyway, sorry about all of this. I can send you back home." she offered. "Not exactly where you were, but safe."
Taking in all of this information, the klipspringer's expression changed a little—the glare remained, but Toni could at least tell she was thinking. Whether she believed that explanation...
Ultra simply shook her head, likewise considering what to tell the okapi, what she could safely say within earshot of the well-dressed one (Western Amalgamated? She didn't like the way he was looking at her, at any rate), before answering at last: "I have things to do here."
She believed the explanation, of course; she'd stumbled right through what she knew now to be a portal not long after encountering Toni, who had indeed been trying to warn her (why bother if this was just a ploy to capture her?), but she could handle herself and truthfully resented the attempt to 'help', especially seeing what it ended up accomplishing. What she didn't trust was the offer to send her back home, she thought bitterly—Toni would fumble it and strand her someplace else, no doubt. A well-meaning idiot could be just as destructive as a bad actor, under the right combination of circumstances.
Pushing that to the back of her mind, she made her way down the steps, not toward Toni but rather the strange pack animal situated near the front of the place with Qeyari tending to it. Her approach was careful, keeping her empty hands in full view. In spite of her own growing doubts about how much this would help matters with Joseph, she supposed it wouldn't hurt to try. "That scan I mentioned earlier," she ventured to the human, truthfully not having any earthly idea how to behave in front of a creature like this. "Are they... touchy, about that sort of thing?"
Toni, for her part, was left biting her lip for a long moment, her attempt to fix the situation unambiguously rejected. At least it went about as smoothly as it could have.
Seeing no point in trying to press the issue with someone who evidently wasn't having any of it, she thrusted her hands into her jean pockets, glancing up at the sky and calibrating her internal clock to what she gathered was a 24-hour cycle. 10 AM, close to noon.
"We leave at 11, right?" she said, turning back to present company.
Edited by Chortleous on Jul 26th 2023 at 5:33:49 AM
Necropolis (Samelin, Rosafa, Devad, Maya, Amy, Issichar, et. al.)
"In theory, he should recover momentarily," Rosafa said. "Though I did say it was not tested on humans."
The man groaned and struggled to sit up, then lay back down. "Fuck me, what in the anus of Morzill did I drink last night...?"
"Well, I'm not rightly sure, friend," Samelin said. "But we're looking for a fella named Mael. Does that name ring a bell?"
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.
< Hub Town - Hotel, Elevator (Descending to Lobby) >
"Beats me," Joseph answered, "I haven't seen him since my little siesta." He jabbed the button for the lobby, clicking his tongue restlessly against the back of his teeth as the doors closed.
"...so that's Rip," he said, keeping his voice steady between furtive glances at James and Amandus. "He makes all the decisions whenever David doesn't, and vice versa. And, uh... Orti. He seems fun. If I remember right, Connie said they met just yesterday." He flashed a sly, toothy smile, "I guess they're getting on pretty well."
Despite his smile, he couldn't shake the edge of nervousness in his voice. He swallowed, tugging one of his fuzzy blue wristbands taught, then releasing it with a soft snap, remaining focused on the action as though it were a matter of great delicacy. "Listen..." he said between the third and fourth snaps. "I feel like I should... I should say something. About earlier. Only, I don't know what."
< Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (A corner near reception → Central fountain) >
"Oh," was all Henry said, a little thrown by Ultra's brevity. He moved aside as she passed, glancing between her and Joseph, shrugging and shaking his head at the latter as though to ask, was it me? He was used to his chatterbox tendency having a certain effect on people one way or another, but her reaction had him wondering if she hadn't just tuned him out all but entirely. "Okay. Guess we'll be just... just behind you."
Joseph's gaze followed Ultra out the door, the subtle change in her behavior, her slight hesitancy—reluctance even—to leave the building, briefly sparking some investigative part of him. Perhaps it was just his way of repaying in kind the same inquisitive interest she'd taken in him. Whatever the case, once she left, his mind drifted back to all who remained. All two of them.
"I don't think she cares too much for me," Henry mused, frowning after the sight of Ultra's silhouette as it was absorbed into the morning light.
Joseph shook his long head, "I think she's just got other priorities."
"Well, does that change what I said?" He frowned a moment longer, then breathed the last of his petulance in a sigh. "C'mon," he nodded toward the front entrance, "we'd better get after them."
He was nearly at the doors when he realized Joseph wasn't following. He'd barely moved at all, just standing there, staring forlornly at Henry. It brought to mind a lost puppy who didn't know if his next step would bring him closer to or further away from home.
Henry tried to call to him, to ask if he was coming, but at that distance, the din of the lobby seized it all up, letting no part break through. Joseph knew what he meant though. He shrugged wordlessly, glancing around before trying to mouth 'what's the point?' But between Joseph's inexperience with his mouth and Henry's likewise inexperience with reading it, that message too was lost. A few more attempts back and forth and Henry finally marched back over.
"What's the hold up?" he demanded.
Joseph blinked at him, momentarily at a loss for words as he tried to collect his thoughts, half cooked and mismatched as they were. "I... just don't see what good it'll do to be out there."
Henry cocked his head. "You know they're out there testing the nanomachines in a camel for your sake. To see if what happened to you could've been because of a Dead God." He furrowed his brow, muttering, "Saying that back..."
He paused, freeing himself from the snare of reflecting upon a particularly maddening situation, then lightly smacked the padded chest of Joseph's jacket with the back of his hand. "Well the least you can do is be present. It could be... culturally enriching if nothing else." Another pause. "They're doing this for you."
Head hung, Joseph closed his eyes, rattling the insides. "I didn't ask them to."
"Yeah, but I did. Or they offered." Henry shook his head, "Either way, it is kind of why we're here in the first place."
"That's why we came, sure," Joseph muttered, turning as he spoke and slowly weaving his way towards the fountain at the center of the lobby, "but c'mon. Look around. It's not about just me anymore. I'm not this big. I'm not this important." The dangling laundry bag bounced against his leg as he walked, a faint, irregular rhythm.
"What? What are you-" Henry sighed, then turned in step with Joseph, walking at his side, "yes it is about just that! For you and me it is."
Joseph reached the fountain, turning his hands and brushing his fingers against its edge. With a stony frown and the tense lock of consternation, he stared down at its restless surface, shimmering with fragments of the outer world. It seemed a perfect reflection, wrought through layer upon layer, all of which inverted and distorted and filtered. What truth could be told from what was left? What truth could be told at all?
"And all this attention..." he murmured.
Henry was undeterred. "Joe, listen, for you and me that's all this is about. We've just got to stay focused. We've got to remember what we set out to do and not lose sight of that. And if we can get some help with it, what's the harm?"
"Then let them do whatever." Joseph ran his cIaws up his sides, "I've already been scanned and- and aura'd. What more use am I going to be? I'm not going to have any sudden insights."
"What makes you so sure?"
" 'Cause it's been in my head the whole time!" Joseph faced Henry directly, his enormous eyes simmering unabated, black and blue. He gripped the sides of his head near his soft browlike ridges, causing his eyes to bulge out even bigger. "It's been going around and around in there for three days, nonstop. I've been trying to find some tiny nugget of sense in it, but the fact is, I didn't do anything to make this happen. God, I couldn't do anything. I was too tired. I felt like shit. I couldn't even find the energy to do what I was supposed to be doing. When was I going to find time to develop magical powers, or catch the attention of a Dead God, or- or roll around in a vat of radioactive goo, or whatever the hell theory we're running with now? I just went to bed, and I woke up turning into this."
"Well don't you want to find out the reason why?"
"Maybe there isn't a reason! Maybe there's nothing beyond it was meant to happen, so much so that it's going to keep happening every time we try to set things straight."
Henry studied Joseph for a few seconds, his outward seriousness carved so deep into his features it would hopefully disguise his inward uncertainty. Before speaking, he moved with a casual ease of motion, seating himself on the edge of the fountain. "So... you're giving up?"
Joseph unconsciously matched his friend's movement, sliding onto the edge alongside him even as his jaw quivered with his rebuttal. "I... I just..."
"Because it sounds like you're giving up."
He turned his head slightly, just enough to catch Henry in the corner of his eye. "I just don't see a way out of this that leaves me any better than I am right now."
Henry was taken aback. "But what do you mean?" He listed out the steps on his fingers. "We get you back to normal. We get home. We imbibe a bit, and we put this in the scrapbook. How is that not better than now?"
Joseph planted his head in his hands, the pair serving with his neck as a tripod while he gazed into and beyond the lobby before him. "You know what I'm supposed to be doing right now? I'm supposed to be at home. Writing a history paper. If I don't get a C on it, I flunk out."
A beat passed, a few seconds long, while Henry searched the morose, salamandrine figure of his friend for any hint of irony or a deeper, unspoken implication. When he found none, he couldn't help the next sound that escaped his mouth.
"And it's due Mond-"
"Phbff-ff!"
Joseph stared at him, his long face crossed with confusion and indignation. "What are you laughing for!?"
Henry pressed his lips together tightly, stifling another snort of laughter as he tried to become reasonable. "I never thought I'd see you like this, worrying about a history report."
"It's a paper. I could write a report, that's just regurgitation. With a paper, I've got to think of something to say about some shit that happened hundreds of years ago, back when the country was plagued by dudes in powdered wigs."
"Oh," Henry nearly groaned, "it's that history."
"Anyway, you don't get it. I'm screwed, even if everything works out here."
"But that's-" He faltered, struggling with how to impress upon Joseph what seemed like a pretty vast difference in the stakes at play. Sighing, he tried a different tact. "Can't you get an extension?"
"This is the extension. Was. Mr. Posner wasn't keen on any more leeway." He looked away, waving his hand back at Henry. "But forget it. I know it's a dumb thing to worry about."
"It's not. It's just, you know, it's not the end of the world, you know, it's not like-"
"Excuse me."
The two boys looked up, finding themselves faces-to-face with a member of the hotel staff.
"I'm going to have to ask you to please remove your tail from the fountain, and issue a kind reminder that the fountain is not for swimming."
Joseph blinked, dumbstruck as he realized the gentle chill he had been feeling for the past minute was in fact coming from a part of his body. Wordlessly, he reached back and assisted his tail in its ascent to dryness, arching it to one side and holding it there dutifully under the watchful gaze of the employee, who in turn thanked him and went about their more pressing responsibilities before Joseph could even think to apologize.
In the wake of the curious interruption, the two slowly turned to match faces, neither sure of what to say, if there was anything to be said at all. They shared the silence. They also shared a few blinks. Then they shared a loss of control, the sight of four wobbling corners on two jittering mouths, wondering which would break first.
< Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (Center) >
David's little venture was off to a dull start, the lobby at large having become no more amenable to the pleasures of waylaid attentions or chance encounters than when his tail had first been trod upon. He remained as present as he could be, not eager to be visited upon with further soreness in his daydreaming, and quite eager to act where he could (which was, as always, in the present), but it seemed bereft in that moment of both familiarity and possibility.
He wandered around, pinky toting his small sack of food over his shoulder, wondering how many steps it would take before he finally gave in to the few true demands of his day. But just as in stealing sleep on a weary morning, the desire to stay in place kept him stepping all the more. Leaning against the fountain's edge, the familiar sound of Joseph's voice caught his ear, causing the pair of them to perk up. He turned to look, spotting his telltale tail as the young salamandrine man lifted it from the water of the fountain, evidently hoping to avoid another splash, before bursting into laughter with a somewhat older, slightly larger human young man next to him, someone David didn't recognize.
Another glance, noting the differently familiar jacket, and David realized that this was not the Joseph he knew well, but rather the one he only knew in passing, from their shared elevator ride and the tangle of peculiar intersections that came from two people sharing an identity in such close proximity. It was a certain kind of acquaintance to be sure, but one that came with extra baggage. He sighed, ultimately deciding not to further entangle things with his glomming presence. However, as his gaze lingered a moment longer on the two, friends or family or something not quite either, he couldn't help but think of the night before, when he and the Joseph he knew well had sat side by side on the same fountain. They had not been laughing. They looked a mess and felt even worse. But they could speak to each other, and bear the weight of one another's feelings, and not be alone.
With quiet exhalation, he turned himself to the elevator, feeling he knew his next destination. He made for the shiny doors, shifting the weight of his breakfast sack further over his shoulder, supposing Joseph might be hungry after his magically draining deed.
However, just a short distance from the elevators, he spotted another familiar face, one he recalled best poking out from the back of his commandeered truck. Unable to resist the diversion, David strolled over, his furry mouth beaming and brimming with good humor. "Hello Claire." He looked her outfit up and down, noting the conspicuous gold accents. "Nab something good recently?"
every little word and every little step
[Hotel, Elevator/Lobby]
James chuckled. "Yeah, I can see."
They stood in awkward silence, seemingly running out of things to say, until Joseph mentioned the elephant in the room. Amandus and James's eyes widened as they turned to him.
"Oh." Amandus said, blinking. "Well...just say the first thing on your mind. But we really can't pretend that argument didn't happen earlier."
[Necroplis]
"Holy shit, that actually worked!" Nick said, smiling, "Yeah, he's a tall guy, long hair, silver eyes. Ring a bill?"
This will complicate things.
Adam felt the intrusive thought rear its ugly itself in the forefront of his mind, but did his best to shake it off. What the heck did that even mean? Complicate what? This is what they wanted after all. Even though Lord would be...
No. Get out of my head!
"Adam?" Amy asked, snapping him back to reality, "Are you okay?"
Adam nodded. "Y-Yeah. I'm fine."
Jackson kept a suspicious eye on Adam, but otherwise said nothing further, instead returning his attention back to Mael's now-freed victim. "You should stay with us for a bit. We can protect you from Mael's further attempts."
< Hub Town - Hotel, Elevator (descending to Lobby) >
Joseph's wide-set nostrils flared with a sigh at Amandus's well-meant suggestion. "Well that's tough too," he explained, offering a sad little sideways smile, "It all comes in sort of a rush. Like there's the emotion before there's any sense to it. And as much as I want to apologize, I... I just... I don't know if I can do that and be genuine about it. I meant what I said... if not exactly the way I said it."
He turned away, pointing his snout down and pressing his forehead against the elevator wall. "There are things you should know about me. Stuff I've done. Maybe just the way I am. Stuff I really don't want to tell you about. 'Cause I know you'll feel differently about me after." His hands gripped the railing at his waist, tightening as he stared down behind it, as if he could see the through to the deep pit just outside the safety of their little box. "But if I don't tell you, it's all I'm going to think about. When you treat me the way you do. I feel like a liar. Like a cheater."
He shut his eyes, relaxing his grip, closing off his senses as much as he was able. "Still... sometimes I wonder if the people who like me the most are the ones that know me the least."
Edited by Ryuhza on Jul 29th 2023 at 4:49:21 AM
every little word and every little step
[Hotel (Elevator—Damn how long is this thing lmfao)]
So he wasn't going to get an apology, at least not yet, but at least Joseph was acknowledging that what happened...well, happened. Amandus would just have to deal with this for now.
Still, what he was saying was concerning. What could Joseph have possibly done in the past to make them change their mind about him now? Other than the fact that he lied to them and ran away? That was water under the bridge.
"You sure?" James asked, "David and Connie seem to know you well, and the kids known you longer than we have, so that can't be one percent true." He furrowed his eyebrows. "Seriously, what about you do you think will make us change our mind?"
Amandus nodded. "Look, tell us whenever you're ready, okay? No rush."
Edited by Masterofchaos on Jul 30th 2023 at 5:56:27 AM
< Hub Town - Hotel, Elevator (at the Lobby) >
Joseph shook his head, rubbing it against the elevator wall in the same motion, the downward tilt of his face making it swing like a pendulum. The touch of the wall against his head brought him back, connecting him to another wall, aboard a certain spacecraft. "Connie and David know me okay, but the more they know, the less patience they have. David lost his entirely with me last night. I know you guys were busy, but..." his voice trailed off for a moment before returning, hoarse, just above a whisper, "it was bad. I let him down." The fact that they had made up, that David had wound up apologizing and blaming himself for the whole incident remained oddly absent from his telling.
With great effort, like a boxer going into his 9th round, he rolled himself over, falling back into one of the elevator's rear corners. "And Adam... we've had some good adventures together, but he doesn't know much about me. We haven't really spent that much time together. We haven't been able to. And you know how absence makes the heart fonder. It was like my own little cheat code, vanishing all the time. But lock me down and..." his mouth wavered, deepening his long frown. "I don't know... I guess the truth is bound to come out. It can't just live in you forever, can it? Isn't it good to be honest?"
The elevator neared the end of its descent, but Joseph was no closer to any sense of closure. His face felt hot, and his eyes began to glisten around the edges. He swallowed, his voice trembling as he murmured, "I'm never going to be ready."
The doors opened to the bright, open lobby, to the noise and life beyond their small box. It was no place to talk about what he'd done. Maybe he didn't want to. Maybe it would do more harm than good.
He closed his eyes, steeling himself with a sharp intake of breath. Finally, clutching onto a wisp of unshaken nerves, he managed to crack his eyes back open, staring zombielike at the panel of buttons. His jaw slowly fell open, just a touch, just enough to give James and Amandus a choice. "If you want to know, stay in the elevator. Or we can all get out, right now, and I... and I won't talk about it again."
every little word and every little step
[Elevator]
Amandus and James looked worriedly at each other, then back to Joseph. This clearly was a lot more serious than they anticipated, especially with how Joseph was acting...
The doors opened, but neither men stepped out.
"We're listening, son." James said, "Whenever you're ready."
short post yaaayyyy
Necropolis (Samelin, Rosafa, Devad, Maya, Amy, Issichar, et. al.)
"I appreciate the offer," the man said, "but I'm not sure how much I can actually tell you. I'm Issichar Varos. I'm a... a research assistant at the University of Belez."
"Never heard of that place," Samelin interjected.
"It's not on this world, obviously. I was sent here a few days ago to retrieve a cognovore that got loose on this world."
"Cognovore?"
Issichar pointed vaguely in the direction where they'd left the jabanji. "That thing. They're byproducts of the re-ennervation process."
"Re-ennervation?"
"Putting new life into dead bodies. It's an inexact science. Sometimes, you get a functional zombie worker, and more often you get a cognovore. We try and dump them on uninhabited worlds, but sometimes they get out."
"Your people are responsible for those things?" Devad asked.
Issichar apparently didn't hear him. "At any rate, one minute I was searching for a mindless beast in this graveyard, and the next thing I know, I was a mindless beast in the graveyard, and then you guys showed up. I don't remember what happened during that period in between."
Rosafa took out a small notebook. "Could the memory loss be related to my device? I may need to test it some more..."
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.
< Hub Town - Hotel, 5th Floor Hallway >
"Well, he's still on the table," Rip insisted, "name your price."
Orti cupped his thoroughly-ringed hands to either side of his face and pointed it at Rip, as though making a singular line of communication. "Dreadful as always, that bandy sense of humor."
Joseph piped up at Amandus's hesitance to distinguish the two versions of him. "You could always use nicknames. Like Joseph Zeta and... uh..." he tapped his chin, giving it a cursory thought before shrugging, "I dunno. Can I be Joseph Zeta?"
Orti looked between Amandus and Joseph, his hands momentarily still framing his face as he processed what they were saying. "Then there is a second Joseph? That is strange. Do you suppose he's a copycat?"
Joseph shook his head. "I haven't met him, but by all accounts, he's me. Just a tiny bit different."
Rip rubbed a finger across his mustache, looking almost as puzzled as his companion. "That didn't come up in your recap."
"Well, I hadn't met him. Things were crazy yesterday. We were abducted by aliens— good ones," he assured a dumbstruck Orti, before shrugging again, "It got lost in the mix."
"Lost in the... yes of course," Orti agreed, his voice sounding suddenly faint. His gaze drifted to Amandus and James, as though to seek assurance that his leg wasn't being pulled further, feeling already at risk of becoming an amputee.
Rip seemed to take it well enough in stride, glancing down the hall, "Is Davey in?"
"Nope, he went downstairs from what I heard. James or Amandus might know for sure."
This tidbit roused Orti from his faintness, his darkly rimmed eyes widening in disbelief. "You mean to tell me I walked right by him? Vanishing quells— I missed my chance to meet him?"
Rip smiled with playful exasperation, throwing an arm around Orti and drawing him close. "You'll have to understand, Orti has had a fixation with our good friend since he saw him conked out this morning."
"A respectful fixation," Orti added, tugging impatiently on his beard.
"Unless I'm mistaken," Rip continued, thoughts drifting towards his brief encounters with Amy, "you know the type."
< Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (a corner near reception) >
Henry opened his mouth to press Ultra further, the circumstances of the past few days conditioning him to be a vigilant investigator, even if he had yet to draw anything resembling a conclusion. But between what he'd already heard from the strange woman and Ultra's own blunt response, he chose to let the impulse expire, leaving the matter alone with a quick bob of his eyebrows and a flat, "No kidding."
Lulu explained a bit more about what aether reserves would and would not do. "Who'd have thunk, I don't know what I'm talking about," muttered Henry, with a barely restrained smile. Something about the feigned surprise in his delivery made Joseph giggle, his own elongated mouth pulling into an even more elongated smile.
The succubus's further clarification about the anomalies produced by a truly random transformation wiped the smiles clean from their faces. Henry looked like he'd seen a ghost, and Joseph like he'd seen a meat potato. His hands instinctively rose to the sides of his head, gingerly feeling at it to confirm that nothing had changed since the last time.
Slowly, Henry nodded in agreement with Ultra's assessment, the action seeming almost automatic by its necessity. "And at the rate you're progressing, you could be a great orator by next week!" He patted Joseph on the back, "that silver lining's getting shinier and shinier."
"So then it wasn't an accident," Joseph murmured, his own necessity turning his thoughts to the other implications of Lulu's insight. "At least— what you said, it wasn't random. Like," he held his hands out, pressing the laundry bag between them as though he were shaping clay on a pottery wheel, "it was guided somehow."
Seeing the others head off with a silent acknowledgement, Henry answered his friend's musings. "I figured as much. I mean, once maybe, but twice? That's got to be intentional. And since it happened both back home and here, I think we might be onto something, you know? That whatever's triggering the change is coming from within you. Whether it's this aether stuff, or some kind of curse, or a salamander-shaped chewable vitamin. You didn't take any of those, did you?"
Joseph didn't answer, his thoughts taken back to the night before, when the transformation had reignited. The strange sense of guilt that had caught him at his core. The same feeling that had returned in the elevator not long before. He felt at once like a victim of circumstance, and the guy with the reddest hands.
"Joseph?"
He blinked, taking a moment to catch up, like he'd been jolted out of a dream. "I thought you didn't know what you were talking about."
"Of course I don't. At least not until somebody tells me I'm right." He took a few steps towards the entrance, making to follow after the three who had headed outside to investigate Qeyari's camel, and glancing back only at Ultra's remark. "You're telling me. It rains pretty much half the year back in Issaquah. Then half the time it's not raining, the sky still threatens the possibility." He turned and lifted his chin towards the entrance, "I don't know if I can take being out in an oven like that. It might cook me alive or spoil me rotten. And now that poor Joseph here's an amphibian..."
He paused, reconsidering Ultra uncertainly, "You're not waiting on us, are you?"
Joseph only watched Ultra quietly, his hands in his jacket pockets, laundry bag dangling by the string around his wrist, and curiosity banding in his big eyes.
< Hub Town - Hotel, Lobby (Dining Area —> Center) >
David sighed, setting his fork down. His company had left, and they'd taken his appetite along with them. It was only to be expected. He'd chosen to slow down, to have a quiet day at a stopover, where all contact was brief. Everyone else had recovered, and off they went.
He turned in his seat, his hand grazing the backrest as he watched the crowd of comers and goers flowing through the lobby, feeling he'd have more luck keeping company at a train station. Off they went.
It was a reasonable explanation, but in the face of the encroaching wall of isolation, his thoughts began drifting to their usual positions, wondering what was the matter with him, wondering what exactly was he doing wrong. Wondering if it could be helped. He couldn't tell if he was too wound up or too spun out, the depths of each state seeming to arrive at indistinguishable results— him, sitting nigh motionless while the world glimmered across his eyes.
Finding little solace in his mind, he turned to external stimuli, exhaling sharply through his nose and shaking his head as though it were a flashlight with failing batteries. It did something of the trick, at least in returning his focus to a more localized present. He straightened his bouncing whiskers and shifted in his seat, returning to face the table where his and the remnants of Nasur's meal laid waiting. With no intention of dining alone, he carefully laid out the cloth napkin that had held his silverware, then tipped his plate, sliding its considerable remnants over and folding it all up into a little sack. Finally, he fished around in his pocket for a suitable amount of favors, which he placed on the table for his and—after half a moment's hesitation—Nasur's meals. It didn't leave him with much, but it hardly mattered, given the handsome payment that soon awaited for the past day's job. For some reason it kept slipping his mind, tied so inexorably to the rest of that trying day.
Hooking his short pinky under the loop of his knotted cloth sack, he lifted it over one shoulder and hopped down from his chair, noting with quiet amusement that all he needed was a stick to finish his bindle and he'd be ready to hit the road. With a stiff breath and the preciousness of an unforced smile, he waded back into the main lobby, content to start with just moving. Even if he met no one and went nowhere, moving was good.
Edited by Ryuhza on Jul 4th 2023 at 4:25:12 AM
every little word and every little step