Character Lounge

[Aisha deCabre]

At the mention of food, Aisha had perked a little, although her stomach didn't grumble as loudly as before.  The panther didn't realize that her appetite had returned so quickly...or, as quickly as things seemed.  In the simulation it had been night, just as she predicted it was at the Lounge now...but with the events going on it was too easy to lose track of time.

"I'll join you on that thought of food," she replied in agreement with a yawn of her own, having caught sight of May doing so.  "And that of a bit of rest, maybe..." she chuckled.  The panther was a little more relieved to be back than anything else that she felt...except for the worry she carried for Gareeku, for what he had been through.  Her hand gently gripped his.

[Joat]

Veronica pauses the game and heads toward the kitchen, looking for some coffee.

[Stygian]

"Food? Now perhaps?" Stygian said, and then laughed as he rounded through the doorway into the corridor. He almost began reaching for his pocket, but then realized that he had no cell on him, and that even if he did it probably wouldn't have worked. The first thing thus that he started looking around for when he got back to the main lounge was a telephone and a phonebook. It took a few minutes, but when he had he sat down with a hastily made drink in the large sofa and got ready to make an order. He didn't call anyone though. His thumb froze when he was about to press the number into the designer phonepiece.
   He thought. Hard, and deep, the kind of feeling and careful, slow way that he couldn't usually, when he was caught up with being too methodical and callous from stress and trouble. That's the way the others found him sitting when they came back into the lounge; leaned back on the sofa with the phone in one hand, his drink in the other and his eyes in the roof.

[Gareeku]

As the environment began to shift back into the gym they had been in before, Gareeku looked down and noticed his clothes were also disappearing. Thinking quickly, the wolf ran over to the bench and slipped his normal clothes on.

Upon the mention of food, the wolf's stomach rumbled quietly.
"Hmmm, food would be nice." he commented. Feeling Aisha's hand gently grip his, Gareeku looked at her and smiled slightly, though it was clear to see that the 'nightmare' was still playing on his mind. Looking up, the wolf saw Stygian and snarled quietly.
"Nice to see somone's enjoying themselves..." he growled.

[e_voyager]

E looks back and sees that quite a like has begun to follow him and Mel to the fridge. "Wow big crowd. i hope there enough food in the fridge to feed us all"

[Joat]

May walks into the kitchen just as Valencia does.

“Hey May, wanna play me in Smash Brothers?” Valencia asks May.

“Nah. Right now I just feel like getting a snack and going to bed,” May responds.

“I guess I WAS a bit late on the draw,” Valencia thinks as she begins to prepare her coffee. “Okay then. Tommorow?”

“Challenge accepted.”

[Aisha deCabre]

When Gareeku smiled to her, Aisha's smile back was a reassuring one.  She knew with a heavy heart that the wolf couldn't get rid of his nightmares so easily.  There was a pause as the panther wondered if there was anyone in the world who could.  But she would be there to help...that's what the look she returned said to him...and it was good to see him smile anyway.  Though it was short-lived with his reaction to Stygian upon catching up with him in the main lounge.

She sighed quietly.  Things had certainly gotten quiet and rather forlorn since the whole thing started.  Few guests were left, the others probably left to a curfew or...something of that nature.  Aisha shrugged...this was something of a vacation.  A little quiet was always welcome in her profession.

The panther took a second and ran up to where she had last changed costume, and came back down with her comfortable navy-blue shirt and trousers on.  Then she sat on one of the couches--in fact, she practically fell on it--with a tired exhalation, rubbing her forehead.

[Gareeku]

Watching Aisha practically fall onto the couch, Gareeku looked away slightly, ashamed of himself. He had only been thinking of himself, and hadn't thought of how Aisha may be feeling. Sitting down next to her, the wolf gently put an arm around her.
"Are you ok?" he asked softly, concern for her evident on his face.

[Boog]

Boogey strolled into the lounge and found a wall to lean against.
"So Stygian," Boogey said, assuming that he had the cell phone out to call for takeout, "You know the number of a local sushi place? I know you said italian, but I figure this place has seen enough pizza today."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel realized that Sathariel hadn't followed and doubled back to find her. The girl was still sitting on the gym floor, exactly as she had reappeared. With a suspicious little glare at the machinery hoping it wouldn't activate again Mel sat beside her. "Rough first day for you, wasn't it kitten? Why don't you come along and get a bite of food with the rest of us. Having nice people around you should make it a little bit better."

[Aisha deCabre]

As she felt a slight weight on the couch next to her, Aisha opened her eyes and glanced sidelong at Gareeku, her mouth widening into a grin as she sat up and ruffled his hair.  "I should be asking you that, milove."  She met his gaze and smiled warmly, while scritching his ear.  "I'm...just a little tired.  Who wouldn't be, after all that running around?"

The panther leaned warmly against him, her eyes half-lidded and staring off.  The others were moving around her hazy vision, talking amongst themselves, although they must have been just as downshifted.  At this moment, Aisha didn't know herself whether or not she was more exhausted, or more hungry.  She gave a mental shrug...the answer would come with a bit of time.

"What about you...?" she whispered, nuzzling Gareeku's face as she looked back up at him with equal concern, her hand resting on his shoulder.  "Will you be okay?"

[Stygian]

Sathariel looked at Mel with an almost hollow gaze, and one could see the weariness in her heart just by those eyes alone. But she seemed to pay attention, and however upset she didn't seem like she was about to go catatonic or into herself again.
   "Yeah..." she answered Mel depressedly. "Maybe."

   Stygian looked over at Aisha and Gareeku for a second, eyes narrowing. Then his eyes fixed on the telephone as he listened to the Boogeyman. Sushi would indeed be good. But only for the others right now. Still, it was as good an idea as any. He hit the pages of the phonebook and found a place that seemed nearby and apparrently made deliveries.
   "Yeah. Never liked pizza. I was thinking more of lasagna or some ceasar salad or something..." he answered absentmindedly, while punching in a number. "Hello? Wan Jin's? You make deliveries, right? Good. We're..." He started talking. After taking people up on their orders, he placed down the internphone, and leaned back again, swigging down the last of his drink.
   "I'm going out for a smoke. Anyone coming?" he then said, while standing up and already starting to walk out, fiddling with the etui to his slim cigars.

[Joat]

“I never liked seafood, but don’t worry. I’ll think of something,” May comments.



The Dream

I am wearing my blue suit of armor and Sylver’s blue parts are painted over with black (as it is painted in the tangible world), though he is not wearing the spiky dog collar.

I lift my sword and swing at a robot that looks like no more than a small block with legs (but is actually much more dangerous), thus destroying it. “Well, that takes care of that one. Now let’s hurry to the activated tower.”

“You watch way too much Code Lyoko, you know that?” Sylver says.

“Yep. Now let’s go.”

*OOC: More like Code Loco with those two.*
*Sylver: Alright, then. Save that for the Bad Puns thread.

[KarlOmega1]

Karl: Ya guys are hungry, eh? *sniffs the air* You smell that? Smells like Lilith's probably is whipping up a batch of Chili and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches...

[e_voyager]

at the mention of the word chili E has a flash back to almost 30 years ago.  "Humms chili cheese dogs it's been so long since i've had one of them." E's flesh and blood stomachs growls. it's been awhile since he's been flesh long enough to actually feel hunger or enjoy a meal.

[Joat]

“Grilled cheese? That’s the meaning of life, right there,” May says.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel gets Sathariel as far as the main room. She spots Gareeku and Aisha sitting on the sofa. Mel thought to herself that Gareeku had offered to teach Sathariel and this was something he could probably handle better than she could. He and Aisha both had been kind to her a few hours ago when she had broken down after that fight.

Mel sat on the sofa and waited until Sath sat too. "You know, Sathariel. I haven't thanked you for saving me, back in the simulation." Mel looked to both Gareeku and Aisha with eyes pleading with them to catch on. "The worst thug had me by the throat and she made this amazing kick to his head to make him let go. Wasn't that brave of her?"

[Boog]

Boogey raised an eyebrow at Mel's story.
"You were assaulted by a thug? And the kid here kicked him in the head?" he strolled forward and leaned on the arm of the couch. "Way to go kid! Alright, you guys officially have to tell me what happened. One does not walk away from a story like that."

[Stygian]

Sathariel blushed as she sat down. Mel's compliments and demeanour seemed enough to turn her from sulkiness to her normal behaviour. Of course, that wasn't much better at the moment. She still wasn't talking, but simply looked at them.
   The relief came with Boog's words. Sathariel's face shone up for a moment, and then she walked over to the man, looking eagerly up at him with a sort of gleam in her eyes.
   "I could show you. I could! I know how!" she declared quite happily. She placed a hand on his. The next second, Boog almost felt as if being electrocuted, an odd but not painful feeling shooting through him. It only lasted for a second though, before much more powerful signals started streaming into his head, in the form of images, sensations, thoughts and feelings. It was a veritable flood of information, much too quick to be processed all at once.

   Stygian pushed open the front doors and made his way down the road that led up to the mansion, past some hedges and into the thick darkness that now lay over all of the place's grounds where it was not lit by the house's own lights. Snow fell gently from the dark sky, the clouds drifting past getting thin as they moved and let down the last of their flakes before leaving the starry heavens open to the eye. Stygian looked at them, clearing his head and allowing himself to think easily.
   So clear... I don't know these stars. But they're so much brighter than at home... and so many. I wonder what that means. This world might be in another existence, or in another galaxy, or it might just be enough that a probe from a colony might find it the next year. I hope that it's not the latter...
   That last thought was strong. There was only one possible probable existence, where all the diversity of parallel others flowed together, so this world would inevitably be found sooner or later by someone who would want to exploit it. There were already other travellers, like some of the people inside the house. One at least thought he had some sort of jurisdiction there. Stygian knew exactly what he thought of that, and it was not good. He would not go out of his way, but he sure would not stand them either...
   A scent drifted to him, and then a feeling. He looked down from the sky, cigar still unlit in his mouth. He put that one in his pocket when he saw a figure walking down the road against the mansion, carrying two bags. He walked against it.
   The figure was a somewhat reddish-orange fox. He couldn't have been much more than twenty, so he should have been some student taking a late job. He stepped up to Stygian, looking at the bat from a somewhat shorter height with green-blue eyes.
   "You ordered these?" he asked the bat.
   "Yeah. How much?"
   "Fifty-eight fifty," the fox said. Stygian hmphed, but reached inside the wolf fur-necked black coat that he had made himself when stepping outside. He'd managed to fix money upon arriving. He didn't know the currency, so he guessed that was a reasonable price.
   "Sixty for tip. There's a bonus though, if you're up," he said, looking directly at the fox as he gave him the money.
   "Yeah? What?" he answered, a bit suspiciously. He seemed used to just taking the money and leaving. Stygian smiled a little.
   "It's pretty cold out here. We could talk up in the house." That response earned him a very wary stare, and the fox stepped back.
   "Whoooa! I don't swing that way, man," the fox said, and put his hands up before him. Stygian just fixed him with his gaze, still smiling. His eyes gleamed a bit in the light that had become stronger now under the stars and moon, the green in them accentuated. His voice was somehow more... powerful, when he responded. Not louder, yet still...
   "It's not what you think. I have guests. Now, if you want to bring back double that," he said, nodding toward the money in the fox's hand, "you follow me and listen." With that, he turned around and carried the bags in one hand, walking back up to the house.
   Hesitantly, the fox followed.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

As soon as Sathariel seemed to perk up a bit Mel slipped off with a quiet, "I'll help Stygian with the takeout." She slips out the door and is almost instantly distracted by the snow. She stepped off the walk a few steps to kick a bunch up in the air to watch it sparkle in the soft moonlight. Then she heard footsteps coming back towards the house.

[Boog]

"YOW! Brbrbrbrb..." Boogey shook his head, "How? Whu? Waitaminute... You've been trained by an information broker..." The concept shook his head as if to clear it and gave himself a quick mental checkup. Noticing a couple anomalies, he quickly isolated the knowledge in part of his mind to be sorted out later, "Well, this is a lot to take in. I'll go over it later. And for future referrence..." Boogey leaned closer to Sathariel and whispered, "It may be a bad idea to do that again without permission. What I am reacts oddly to new thoughts introduced to quickly; you didn't do any damage this time, but in the future I might suggest a bit more caution."

[Stygian]

As the fox passed behind him and walked up to the door, Stygian stopped by Mel and looked at her with curiosity. She hadn't even assumed her normal form yet, and seeing her like this, playing happily in the snow... It clashed with the images in his memories, images of nearly exactly that face, that look.
   She never would have. Guess that's to her loss then, he thought. And I shouldn't make any connections, just for a face. Even if it is how she would have looked born human...
   "Hey, shivers. Having fun? Dinner's here, by the way," he said, shaking the bags in his hand and very quickly eyeing the waiting fox. "I was hoping we could have some drinks inside too. And then it's a good time to catch up on sleeping, I think. You seem to have pulled some hours here."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel smiled at Stygian at his question. "Reminds me of home. Lots of snow at home." Then she noticed the delivery person staring slackjawed at her. She had forgotten to remove the illusion of being a human, a mythical creature. She quickly dispelled the illusion and was her normal self, a 5' white dragon. Mel smiled softly at the fox, using her soothing, hypnotic voice, "Ice dragons like to play in the snow. Nothing strange about seeing a dragon playing in the snow. Right?"

[Joat]

“Hi! I’m May. May Cottontail,” May says to the fox.

“And this is Valencia Young, reporting live from the kitchen. This is a weird place, just to let you know,” Valencia says to the fox. “Back to you, May.” She takes another swig of her coffee.

“‘Back to you’?” May repeats.

*OOC: One by one, ICJoat and ICSylver continue to rip random TV shows. Can you name this one?*

The Dream

“Lagurakoniche!” I yell, holding a red book in my right hand. Sylver opens his mouth and flames come out. These flames form into a dragon, which charges at the enemy.

“Anekuraga!” a man in a formal suit yells. He also carries a book, but his is blue. The young girl next to him opens her mouth and a wall of ice forms in front of her, which very effectively blocks the ice dragon and dissipates it.

“You see? Your plan is hopeless. You can never become king, Sylver. Not with weak attacks like that!” the young girl says.

“It’s not about flashy shields and stuff like that. It’s about heart,” I respond.

“What do you two know about heart?”

“Well, I know that…” I begin. I then go into a detailed summary of the scientific properties of the hearts of various creatures. The man in the suit begins to get very bored. Suddenly, in the middle of one of my sentences, I yell, “Aguta!”

Out of Sylver’s mouth comes a quick fire projectile. The man in the suit is unable to react in time and the book is hit by the flame. The man drops the now burning book.

“No!” the young woman screams. She begins to fade away.

“What is right is not always what is easy, but it is always rewarding in the long run,” I say.

“You burned my ticket to power!” the man in the suit yells.

“The greatest power you can have is the power of your conscience,” Sylver says.

“Fools. I regret nothing of what I have done. I only regret that I lost. You two will pay for this. I guarantee it!” the young girl says. The book is now completely ash and the girl is completely gone.

[Stygian]

There must have been either some light hypnosis already laid on the fox, or he was just very absentminded, because when Mel first fixed him with his gaze he didn't quite return it and only looked confused. Then, with a bit more effort he drowzily nodded and smiled at her.
   "Yeah, right..." he said. "Never seen a dragon before though..." He trailed off, and resumed looking at the door. Stygian just shot Mel a look with an arched eyebrow, and then turned and pushed open the door, admitting the fox and stepping in himself. He quickly went in to place the bags with the food on the table in the lounge, and then returned to the entry hall.
   "Playing with food..." he said. "You can come in, if you like. I will be off for a shower for a while. Just don't wander off." His words were directed to the fox, and there was a power to his voice like before, just like to his eyes.
   "Yeah... sure..." the fox said, looking around a bit confusedly. He then turned to May. "Hey. My name is Andrew. Nice meeting you."

[Gareeku]

Looking at Aisha, Gareeku smiled softly as he looked once more into her beautiful crimson eyes, nuzzling back.
"I'll be fine...especially when you're here with me..." the wolf whispered lovingly.

Gareeku was about to kiss the panthress when he suddenly felt someone sitting down next to them both.
Damn it... the wolf thought to himself as he turned to see who it was. Listening to Mel's description of how Sat had saved her, Gareeku smiled.
"Heh, great to hear. Well done Sath." the wolf said warmly. As Sath worked her talents on Boogey, Gareeku turned back to Aisha, smiling softly before kissing her tenderly.
"I don't know what I'd do without you..." he whispered lovingly, feeling that as long as she was with him, then he could see through anything.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel stared after the fox. That was... odd. Her attempt to hypnotize him had been a reflex, she needed to blend in when she was working. Actually it would have been funny to send him off with a story about making a delivery to a mythical human. But the fox hadn't reacted right, nor was he leaving. But before she could finish the thought she heard Boogey yelp and saw Sathariel standing with him. Mel sighed. So much for Gareeku's promise to keep Sath out of trouble so Stygian wouldn't kill her. He didn't even notice what she was doing two feet away.

Mel got across the room just in time to hear Boogey's exclamation about information brokers. She winced, it was easy enough to put together information broker and ice dragon and come up with the clan name that she hadn't revealed. Icewing, the mindstealers. Dangerous dragon clan. Too late to do anything now but hope they had figured out that she wasn't one of the bad ones.

"Sathariel," she warned, "While sharing is nice and friendly and all you need to remember you're very powerful. Share little pieces. And warn people first. Some people get very sick if other memories get in their heads."

[Boog]

Boogey looked over as Mel showed up. Right, dragons have good hearing. Gotta remember that.
"Not her fault. It's just a matter of what I am; my thoughts are me, and introducing new ones too fast might give me what's best described as an identity crisis. At least she was giving me ideas and not taking any or the both of us would be in trouble," He grinned broadly, "I take it from the newfound coat of powder snow that the weather's taken a turn for the more interesting?"

[Gareeku]

Regardless of what Mel may have assumed, Gareeku was keeping an eye on the girl, as much as it seemed he wasn't. The wolf had not forgotten Stygian's seeming hatred of her, and seeing as what he had done to Gareeku, the wolf would be making sure that Sath kept away from trouble.

Hearing Mel talk, Gareeku rolled his eyes a little.
"Mel, you know as well as I do that it will take some practise to control her powers. You can expect her to know it all at once. And anyway, as Boogey said, he's made from thoughts, so it's going to affect him more." the wolf commented. "And before you ask, I am looking out for her, as much as you may think i am not."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel gave Boogey a little half bow. "I will appologize for not completing Sathariel's lesson on memory transfer before she intruded on you. The little adventure that just gave you indigestion interrupted us. But she got so very upset when people began disappearing from this dimension that we went to investigate." She gave Gareeku a look that implied who Sathariel had been upset over.

Then she sighed, "And a second appology to everyone. For I find I become short of both temper and attention-span when I am hungry and tired. I am going to investigate the contents of the delivery bags then find somewhere to nap."

With another overly polite little half bow she turned and went to the sideboard.