Stirring Up Chaos

[Melpomene]

Adrian looked across the room, a bit more comfortable now with the multitudes of people. "C'mon, Vinc, lets go mingle," the ghost urged, floating through Stygian and up to Gareeku. There, she came visible, but not tangible. "Hi!" Adrian said, with a little wave, grinning behind her veil. "I'm Adrian Mneme, and this is Vincent." She motioned to the spot where the other specter was, just in case Gareeku couldn't see him. "What's your name?" Adrian positioned herself next to Gareeku, so she could still keep an eye on Leona. After all, Adrian didn't want her friend to poof on her again, and it was understandable that hard feelings could be harvested.

[Stygian]

The moment Adrian floated through Stygian he twitched, and his eyes immediately shifted from their black form to completely white. He shook for just a moment, and then he dropped to the floor. Or rather, it looked like only part of him dropped to the floor, for when what must have been his body did, something else seemed to linger, still standing up.
   It was a bestial thing, made out of what looked like compressed and almost liquid, oozing darkness, and seemed connected to the man's shadow. No, it must have been his shadow, from the way it seamlessly flowed into it. The thing started back for a moment, its humanoid yet fiendish and fanged head, surrounded by a black and green aura of sorts, turned and eyed Adrian with a pair of green-irised eyes that made their human comparison seem dull. Then, quicker than the eye, it shifted form and flowed back into the kneeling body before it. The man then stood up, and turned on the spot, and walked up to her.
   When he placed a hand on her shoulder, Adrian actually felt it. That large, long-fingered hand turned her around a bit, and then he looked down on her with those frightful eyes.
   "I would appreciate it much if you didn't do that again, miss," he said with a warm smile, that certainly did not reach his stone cold eyes.

[Boog]

Shadou slinked over to the food when it appeared, the swamped and as of yet enigmatic hostess momentarily forgotten on the basis that such things weren't edible. Piling a plate with a good sized hoard of food and mixing himself a drink that, from the look and smell of it, could quite possibly dissolve silverwear Shadou strode over to the nearest clump of people; in this case, Gareeku, Stygian, Adrian and Vincent. Noticing Stygian's strange reaction to the ghost passing through him Shadou paused momentarily, but seeing him apparantly accosting the young spectre caused him to hasten his step a little.
"How was she supposed to know there would be side effects. She's incorporeal. She'll do that. It's not like she took anything out," He drawled, staring into his drink as he spoke, "Name's Shadou. Couldn't help overhearing."

[e_voyager]

As E explores he complex upon a group of people that seem to be enjoying drinks. "sorry if i'm late but" e holds up his letter "I got this strange letter and i think it brought me here form a planet call Mobius.

[Valynth]

Vincent stood by Adrian, shocked by the appearance of the shadow thing and it's comments and actions toward Adrian.  A new person entered the conversation apparently to try and help Adrian.  "Well, he has a point,"  Vincent nodded to Shadou "and I'm sure Adrian will try not to do it again, ok?"  He said, primarily speaking to the shadow-spirit-thing.  "As for introductions I'm Vincent Fringe and this is the ever lovely Adrian."  He said indicating the other specter, as he thought 'ever lovely?  I don't know her that well!...  Well, she IS cute and...  Woah, Vincent, stop yourself there, gotta do this quest-thing first, then think about that kinda thing, but quest first.'  He turned his attention back to the current conversation with the end of that thought.

[TheGreyRonin]

A young woman appears in the room near the table, clad in a long brown tunic and blue jeans. Her long blonde hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and there is a huge sword in her right hand. She looks dazed, staring wide-eyed, and she stands unsteadily in soft green boots. The letter from Leona falls to the floor from her left hand.

She falls over, coughing and retching, as something dark and organic flows out of her mouth, ears, nose, and even eyes. It shifts and forms into a tall man with short black hair greying at the temples, small sunglasses, and odd grey robes. A small gourdlike jug hangs from his belt, and his left hand hangs freely from his robes. He picks up the sword and sheaths it on his back, then helps the young woman up as though she weighed nothing.

In a smooth, almost oily voice he speaks to her. "There there, Anna Lucia, that wasn't so bad. And since you've helped me, I promise I shall never harm your family nor their descendants. You have my word of honor on this matter."

He turns away from her as she stands wheezing, then looks thoughtful.

"However, you were not wise enough to include yourself in our agreement. You are not under my protection at all."

As the woman's eyes grow huge, the man stretch impossibly, revealing a mouth full of thousands of silver needle-sharp teeth, all pointing inwards. Her scream of fear is cut off as it begins as he bites, swallowing her whole as his body distends to accomodate her.

With a series of wetly organic crushing sounds, his body jerks back to the form of a grey-clad samurai once again. He picks a shred of jean material from his teeth daintily with a silver claw, then looks at the faces of the others in the room.

"Oh. Pardon me, I wasn't aware there would be so many attending. I'm afraid I only brought one snack, but she won't be digested for a few hours if anyone else would like some? I am Stalker, at your service."

He bows gracefully to the room.

[Snuggles]

Eric was underly aghast to what the newcomer just did. He stands up and moves over to the newcomer. "Stalker, i was wondering if you don't do that again to any married woman or child in my sight, please... Ok now that i got that off my chest, I am Eric Kile." He then turns and goes back to his seat and takes another sip of his drink.

[TheGreyRonin]

 Stalker glances in Eric's direction, then says quietly but loud enough to be heard, "I'll take your request under advisement, Mr. Kile."

Looking calmly around the room, his gaze lingers on Stygian for a few seconds, then continues.

"I assume one of you is the "Leona" that summoned us?" he says.

[Boog]

Shadou's reaction to the newcomer was immediate, and not particularly polite.
"YEACH! That's just... eugh..." Shadou glared at Stalker and made a couple superstitious guestures; back home, humans were considered lucky, so logically eating one would bring bad luck, "Sick @#$%..."

[Gareeku]

Watching Stygian walk off, Gareeku then turned his attention away and his folded his arms and lent against a wall, observing the others as they made themselves known. It was then, however, that someone suddenly appeared in front of him, causing him to jump slightly. What was most interesting was the fact that he could feel the presence of a soul within her, as well as another by the side of her, yet she did not seem alive, much like the one beside her.
Ghosts...intriguing... the wolf mused to himself as he listened to Adrian introduce herself and Vincent.
"Pleased to meet you both. My name is Gareeku Manoko. I hail from the land of Furrae." the wolf said, smiling warmly and bowing his head slightly in a polite greeting.

It was then, however, that he observed Stygian, raising an eyebrow as he displayed a small taste of his powers, which in turn seemed...familiar...

Looking at the people in the room, Gareeku then realised something. Noticing Leona was near him, Gareeku turned to her.
"Forgive me for asking, but I hope that there will be no harming of innocent people in this quest, or as little of it as possible, at least. The last thin I want is the deaths of the innocent on my conscience." the wolf said, smiling apologetically. "As I said, forgive me for asking, but it's ust that one or two of our friends here seem a bit...well...vicious..."

[TheGreyRonin]

Getting no response to his question, Stalker stepped over to a nearby wall and leaned into it, favoring Gareeku and Shadou with a small toothy grin.

Basking in the emotions radiating around him, he sent tendrils of his substance into the wall, absorbing small amounts of structural material to bolster his supply of mass.

"Sacrificing so much of my biomass was worth it," he thought to himself, "if these creatures and their emotions are any indicator of how well I'll feed."

[Gareeku]

As he awaited Sirius' answer, Gareeku happened to glance over at Stalker, who was giving him a slightly sharp-toothed grin, giving a slight smirk back at the human-looking man.
"I am especially concerned about the human-looking fellow over there." The wolf muttered as he turned back to Leona, his face now displaying a look of grave seriousness. "I mean it. If any of these people get out of control and start hurting of killing the innocent people of this realm, then I cannot be responsible for my actions."

[Cogidubnus]

 Cog stared quietly at the newcomer, stared at his glass, and swallowed the rest of his drink. It was sweet, almost thick, with a hint of cherry. He guessed it was some kind of sake, and it did indeed do justice to the name. After looking at that rather interesting display, the drink was bitter in his mouth.
"He did not wear his scarlet coat, for blood and wine are red: and blood and wine were on his hands, when they found him with the dead...the poor woman whom he loved, and murdered in her bed..." He said, leaving the table where the bottles lay, and moving towards the center of the group. He nodded towards mistress Leona. "As the wolf said, some assurances as to the nature of our quest would be most appreciated." He said, tilting his head at Stalker.

[e_voyager]

E stood off to the watching. this was a strange group he had approached and yet they seem to be just meeting each other. prehapes observation would be best. at least until the too not of his presence.

[Stygian]

Stygian looked at Shadou with eyebrows raised, his skin and eyes slowly returning to their normal state.
   "I am sorry if it looked otherwise, but I meant no harm. Circumstances would be entirely different then. But I do not want something unfortunate to happen by some accident," he said with a disarming smile, and stepped over to the table, fixing himself a drink of another variant than Shadou's, but which by the shivering air above the glass one could tell was probably no less effective as a solvent. He returned to them quickly, and made a nod toward the monster-like creature.
   "As I said, my name is Sebastian, but I'd be glad if you called me Stygian. Everyone does."

   Then, another stranger entered. Or rather, a woman with a stranger inside her entered. As the scene played out in front of him, Stygian's eyebrows shot again, and then turned down into a frown; a scowl, even. There was not the slightest emanation of emotion from him for the stranger to feed on. In fact, there was little but for darkness and emptiness to be felt. But that face clearly stated his opinion. He took a sip from his drink, and faced the stranger's gaze with a bit of distaste. His face and movements were even more composed than usual when he took a step to the side of Gareeku and spoke out into the air, but clearly to him, Cognidubnus and Leona.
   "Don't worry about me, really. I keep my feet on the mat; you have my word. But I still would concur that you take them up on that advice," he said, and shot a look to Leona, venomous green meeting amber yellow head on. In his mind, Stygian was going over a number of exercises and calculations. The greater part of his attention was not on the two men and the girl, but turned against this newcomer, his mind and shadow sensing him, smelling, feeling and measuring him outside of the visible or apparent. He was no entity very reminiscent of Stygian himself, but still seemed similar in some ways. That was a great danger, if he was not the kind to restrict his powers.
   "...some beasts have not a conscience, some beasts have not a heart: but true beasts have not a sentience, not a thought in their head..." he continued Cognidubnus' rhyme.

[TheGreyRonin]

Stalker remained motionless, letting his senses stretch out as he listened to the group discussing him.

"For creatures of chaos they are certainly rather squeamish," he thought.

Although aware of most of the room, he focused particularly on Stygian. He allowed his senses to play over the creature in several wavelengths, and was not disappointed to feel himself being scanned in return. Though definitely not another humaseeri, could it be a construct created by a rival?

He sincerely hoped not. He was here to feed his curiousity as well as his mind, explore, perhaps even let off a little steam, not level the entire area like he did the last time an assassin drone was sent after him by a rival.

Stalker's perception picked up an odd flicker here and there, though nothing tangible could be seen. Non-corporeal beings always bothered him somewhat; their magical nature made them extremely difficult to deal with should they prove to be hostile.

His attention wandered once more, then focused again on the group. "Perhaps I should attempt to be friendly?" he thought

[Boog]

Shadou shook his head, "Alright, not as flattered as I was a second ago about being sent that letter. Really doesn't seem so prestigious now. So, yeah. What Gareeku and the poetic one said. What are we up to? Just a vague outline here?"

[Melpomene]

Adrian jumped as Stygian touched her, even in her ghostly manner, looking over at him. Oh, if only she had skin on her face that could pale in fright. He scared her outright, despite that friendly smile. Eyes were portals to the soul, were they not? His were very unfriendly in manner, and Adrian inwardly let out a sigh of relief as others stood up for her. She let herself drift a bit closer to Vincent, even as Stygian walked off to the food stand.

It was then various people began inquiring Leona of the nature of the group. She wanted to pipe up and help Leona speak, but knew this was her friend's duty. This is what she had been doing for years now. Adrian remained silent, her mind drifting, and suddenly gold scripted words sprawled into her line of sight. The ghost involuntarily jerked, slipping from anyone's sight and rubbing her eyes to stop herself from reading the thought. It helped, and Adrian mentally shielded herself from doing it again, considering that it was rather rude...

Reappearing to the masses, Adrian glanced to Vincent. "You do know spirits can change their shape and form just as easily as their visibilty. In reality, I could be but dust sitting inside a cubboard," she teased lightheartedly.

[Valynth]

Vincent blinked at the new revelation just given to him as he waited for Leona to replay to the other's demands.  "Wow, really?"  He asked, showing just how new he was to the ghostly world. 
"So how would I do that kind of stuff?  I mean, its not like I had a ghost's operating manual with me when I woke up."   He said wearing a expression of great curiosity.

[Stygian]

Stygian barked a short laugh and turned his gaze to Shadou.
   "It's pretty obvious at least to me, unless there's some underlining plot. Which there of course isn't, if it's really Chaos we're dealing with here," he said, sounding earnest enough. Still, despite his tone, there was something to that statement, as if he really meant something different, or something more. He turned back to Leona. "We're going to give this world back its spark of life; cause a little pandemonium in the interest of progress." Then he shot Stalker a look that practically spoke on its own: And we'll do it with a bit of finesse and subtlety, and according to the wishes of our hostess, with probably as little death as possible.
   Still, in Stygian's mind some thoughts that weren't all along those lines, but not against them either, still inevitably stirred.

[Boog]

"Yeah, but whadda we got to work with? Where do we start? What's fair game?" Shadou replied, "Are we just going around scaring people, or is this going to be a bunch of calculated moves against the forces of Order?"

[TheGreyRonin]

 Stalker raises an eyebrow at Stygian, though inside he was faintly surprised.

"They act as though I'm going to go on a murderous rampage," he thought. "I'm not a barbarian...though perhaps I may have created that impression."

He leaned forwards, retracting microtendrils leaving a tiny patch of matte finish on the wall. He casually stepped over to where Gareeku and the others were standing.

"I admit I'm curious as to what is being asked of us also."

He looked directly at Stygian, and made an odd noise that sounded like an unholy combination of steel and granite in a blender, fingernails down a chalkboard, along with the dying howls of several hundred species.

[e_voyager]

E finds himself curious even as he knows he should be repulsed. he's never encountered a being like stalker before. he decided to inquire directly. " what exactly are you stalker. "

[TheGreyRonin]

Stalker shifts slightly, his face actually widening to keep an eye and ear pointed towards Stygian as he turns his head to the robot.

"I am a humaseeri," he says calmly. "There are not many of my kind. And I believe I have not been properly introduced."

Stalker holds his hand out to the robot to shake, still mostly focused on Stygian, waiting for a reaction.

[e_voyager]

E nods . with a slight incline of his head as to show respect he introduce himself. "I am Eric Valen but for the time being i chose to call myself E"

[Stygian]

Stygian ignored the... humaaseri, rather demonstratively looking into what was left of his drink before swigging it down, and then looking at Shadou.
   "Calculation is always advisable. So is patience. She will tell us, if some just settle down." With those words, he slowly walked to the side to get another drink, and then to watch the ghosts, all the while emanating a chill emptiness, and still seemingly ignoring the greyish creature that seemed so intent upon catching his attention.

[TheGreyRonin]

Stalker watched Stygian walk off with one eye for a split second, then turned his full attention to E. "Well, that was settled," he thought. His face resumed its normal shape once more.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, E," he said. "And what kind of mechanoid are you? I find living machinery fascinating."

[e_voyager]

"eh don't be to worried about it. this body sis copied of of an existing model with a few upgrades.  truth be told i'm the entity that is regulating / powering the Fusion core. "as he speaks E is busy building and impression of those around him. " forgive me for not shaking but i didn't what to inadvertanly copy your abilities." E lest the half truth slide.

[Melpomene]

"You didn't?" Adrian asked with mock surprise. "I didn't know how to either when I first died. It came with time. Though, not many remain with the living long enough to learn all of the trade secrets." She could feel Stygian watching them, one of her eyes removing itself from the front of her face, pushing aside hairs to emerge at the back, blinking at the rather creepy man before disappearing to be put back within the rightful place. "I didn't learn that I could change my appearance until not-too long ago." She paused, knowing that she was going around his question of how. How did she do any of this? Adrian thought for a few moments, flicking her bangs from her veil. She wasn't sure how she exactly did anything. She just sort of... did.

"Maybe you could ask Eris how? I'm not sure I'm the best to explain. I'm sure Eris would have a wide collection of books to study from," she finally said, nodding afterwards as if to confirm this to herself.

[Stygian]

"And do ghosts write books?" Stygian had given no warning of his sudden closing with Adrian, as his voice now came from just behind and above her. "I believe they would make for fascinating historians." He brought a steaming cup of something, most probably tea, to his lips and eyed the two spectres in turn over its rim. He caught Adrian's gaze for a second, and held it. Then, in as good a disarming way he could, he thought, he looked down into his cup and smiled warmly.
   "Sorry. I know that it creeps you out, but it's not me you should be looking at that way. Me, I'm simply intrigued. Ghosts that I have met before are... well, of another nature than you." He tried looking as friendly as he could, hoping that the human face he had now was close enough for her to relate to. He wasn't that intrigued by these two, but getting off on the wrong foot with them from the start would be unwise. Not to mention, that creature had easily taken his place as the official black sheep of the group right then, which meant that he did not have to confine himself to that role anymore. That was good. Maybe he could get an entirely new scenario going. Who knew?
   "I'm sorry for before, but I tend to get upset when someone... debilitates me in any way. It's a job issue."