Character Lounge

[KarlOmega1]

*Karl was really getting tired, so he decided to head to bed. However he had passed a hallway where he heard voices...voices coming from the library.*

Karl *in thought*: Ok, sounds like someone is having an argument. Better check it out.

*Being one of the more advanced forms of humans in the galaxy, Karl had somewhat a better sense of smell. He sensed three lifeforms with his nose, though two of them were further than the one that was the strongest. the two distant scents were of Bat and Wolf...the closer one was of Panther. He recognized the nearer scent.*

Karl *in whisper*: Aisha, is that you?

[Mel Dragonkitty]

"Compensating for a magical vision problem with a very ancient technique. Just lucky it works and so well. Could have done without the years of being rapped on the knuckles for doing it wrong." Mel finished working the prongs back around the ruby and began disappearing her tools back to where she had gotten them. Soon all that was left on the table was the remains of her snack. "Your magic is similar? Can you see magic too?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Moreover lost in her concentration, Aisha hadn't noticed anyone else was there until she heard footsteps.  Her claws were anchored into the floor, so as not to jump when Karl's voice pierced the quiet of her vigil.

Her head whipped around to find him, though.  "Oh, Karl...yeah, amigo, it's me," she whispered back, her voice as low as she could try to get it.  "I'm just...waiting."  Her head turned back towards the door, and back to listening.  The look in her eyes signified that she was doing more than waiting, and yet also signified that a question on it wasn't necessary.

"I wouldn't try to interrupt them," the pantheress advised.  "There's good reason behind the arguing..."

After hearing and sensing much of the tension in that room, who knew what could happen if their conversation went unresolved.  Both seemed adamant on keeping it.

[Joat]

The dream

“This has got to be the most fun I have ever had,” I say.

“I kinda wish we could share this with our friends,” Sylver says.

“Maybe I could visit them and maybe have some fun times with with them. Sorry that you probably won’t be able to come along.”

“That’s okay. But what if they don’t want you in their dreams?”

“Hm, good point. It’s not polite to enter their dreams without…” A light bulb suddenly appears above my head. I focus and a door appears. “While opening a door will insert me straight into a dream, knocking on the door should, in theory, make it so the dreamer can choose whether or not to allow me into their dream.”

*OOC: The newspeople stole my old sig!*

*OOC: Stygian, do you want me to involve Sathariel in this or do you want the door to lead to the dream of a character of my own?*

[Boog]

"It's not magic so much as... cheating," Boogey grinned appologetically in advance; he'd been told that he was bad at explaining this, "Exploiting or creating loopholes in the laws of reality by explaining it away. A combination of psychic prowness, force of will, hastily reached conclusions and slight of hand. It's technically not meant to work on physical things, but it can if you know what you're doing. I can't see magic, but I can percieve that there's something there. If I knew more about magic, I could probably incorperate such a concept so that I could percieve it with more clarity," he shrugged, "Magic sounds sort of similar to what my kind do; power used to circumvent how things are to create whatever you want things to be. However, you seem to use ceremony and chants rather than algorythms and explinations, and can get better results upon the physical plane than we can."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

"You probably understand what I just did better than most of my own kind. The technique is truly ancient, from when magic was a new wild thing that would kill as often as help. Not the obedient puppy it is now. No chants, no ceremony, just manhandle the magic into place. Abandoned because it only works if you have a very rare sort of magical vision to see what you're doing." Mel stopped polishing and replaced the ring on her hand. Then she picked up the cold soup from the desktop and took a sip. "Luckily my family keeps lots of old information around and I didn't have to reinvent the magic." She smiled, "Not the genius, just a good researcher reading up on the pioneers, the true geniuses."

[KarlOmega1]

Karl *whispering*: Just make sure they don't go into super-ballistic mode...though Styg did reformat the building, I still have the license to it...

*Karl then walked to where his bedroom should be...only to find that the change had made it a romantic bedroom*

Karl *in thought*: dang! He must have found my redesigning plan for 'Lilith's and mine' room...I ought to pay him for the redecorating...

[Joat]

*OOC: I wonder if that’s the room May found to sleep in.*

[Boog]

"Still quite impressive," Boogey said, "Regardless of whose idea it was. So, your family... Any reason they hang on to all this old information? Or is that not knowledge you want getting around?"

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel looked at Boogey for a long moment. Was he playing with her? He'd find it wouldn't work, her name might be a curse but not a crime. He couldn't blackmail her with it. Calmly she responded, "Like I said in the kitchen earlier, dragons compulsively collect and hoard, like birds feathering their nests. I don't think any of us know why we do it, although some will become quite obsessed in it's pursuit." She gave him another long look, giving him time to recall stories of things obsessed dragons might do.

"My clan is unique in that most of us seem to want to collect the same thing, knowledge. After multiple generations the collection has become quite large. And valuable, since most species seem to discard old knowledge when they acquire new." She took another sip of soup and only looked at him from the corner of her eye as she added, "Trading the lost for the new has become quite an efficient way of adding to the hoard in recent years. Icewing has become a bunch of merchants."

Okay, so her clan wasn't the purest bunch but copying was a big improvement over taking and trading an improvement over that. And they'd never been soul eaters or had really nasty habits like that. Icewing was a semi-respectable company these days, not mind-shredding thugs like the past. Her name would only get her shunned, not killed, these days.

[Boog]

"Icewing... Icewing..." Boogey's eyes widened as recognition came to him, "Hey, I've heard of you guys! There are concepts out there that would give half their core personas for a way of getting at that horde without becoming a part of it or something!" He stopped for a second, "Oh, my... I was in a mind that had access to that horde and I didn't even feel it. Holy mother of..." He looked at Mel with a combination of awe and shock, "Freaking WOW. I've been hanging out with a celebrity. There are concepts who have gotten into minds of people in your family and never came out, and others who almost had it just to end up intaking more than they could handle. To you, this is probably equivolent to finding out that a friend of yours was lugging around a diamond the size of your head that doubles as a steroid and potent narcotic. All that information..." He shook his head and wiped the corner of his mouth on his sleeve, "That's pretty impressive, right there..."

[Stygian]

That was when Stygian got really angry. This idiot wanted him to instruct him on how to deal with...? He still thought he did all this just for power?! His eyes flared up in tainted green fires, his snarl going away and his face growing cold and hard as stone as he looked down on the wolf.
   "If you can't accept that you have a darkness in you, there is nothing I can teach. I can't bloody well deal with this problem for you!" he spoke, his voice strong and sharp in the wolf's ears, almost a shout this up close. As he spoke, he began to grow more monstrous, his skin cracking, his teeth and mouth becoming black under it. The room seemed to grow darker as well. "If it were just about black magic then this would be a simple matter, but this is your soul, boy!" He slowly stepped back as his shadow flowed up and he began to assume more and more of his true form, black horns starting to grow from up his brow, and snarled at the wolf. Then, he pointed accusingly at Gareeku.
   "You are cubi! You are a monster! Face it! You're just like me, just like those soul-eating, mind-controlling fiends out there. And there is nothing you can do to change that!" Stygian spoke in that horrid voice of his. Then, he pulled out that "watch" he had, and held it. Green streams of energy and shadows started seeping into it, making it glow and filling the air around it with symbols. Then, Stygian spun around and threw the thing right at the closest wall. It hit the bookcase and shattered in a thousand pieces, and instantly darkness and green bolts crackled out as a swirling black vortex was formed. Then, Stygian turned back to Gareeku, looking at him sideways. Air and dust blew out from the portal, carrying with it a foul acidic stench.
   "But that barely even begins to say something about who you are or what you stand for, you idiot!" the monster said. "Anyone here could have told you that, not least of all your little kitty girlfriend right around the corner! Maybe you should ask her some questions too? I'm sure she'd love that. I am not the only one you're insulting by doing as you are." The last words he spoke with a much lower, colder tone.
   Stygian now looked almost as he did when he was human, but with his ashen skin cracked and torn, that on the arms and back and from the waist down practically completely gone and revealing the dark form within, and his whole shape was wreathed in the swirling, slithering shadows that came out his back. He made a last growl with black fangs clenched hard, and turned, a long lizardlike tail of black snaking behind him as he walked.
   "I've had enough. I will be back later, when I've cooled my head, and if I can actually think of helping you! Either you just let this all be, or you deal with it. But don't you fucking dare shove it in my face again, or anyone else's, unless you're ready to tackle it, or I won't be held responsible for what I'll do!"
   With those last words, Stygian stepped through the portal, and was gone. It shut right after his tail had slipped in, and all was silent again.

[Aisha deCabre]

No worries, housemaster, Aisha had smirked in reply to Karl and listened as he walked off.  It was just about then that Stygian's voice had rose again.

The pantheress had a shudder crawl up her spine, and another slight wrenching in her gut, and definitely by now she knew that meant something was wrong.  Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, Aisha moved a little closer to the door and peered through it.  What she saw, Stygian having reverted in front of Gareeku, made her jaw clench.

Her feet were frozen to the floor, but her muscles bunched as if ready to run back to the room and get her sword...it's what she wanted to do, but didn't...the will to not interfere had bound her to the shadows even then.  That, and in a state where she was still tired and hadn't expected something like that, there was a little fear for herself, especially when she was mentioned.  But the anger outweighed anything else.

Stygian's words probably hurt Gareeku worse than what any physical pain would.  Aisha couldn't help but cringe, watching the wolf take the brunt of his anger, until the bat disappeared with the portal and the shuddering feeling in her spine subsided.

She stood in the doorway watching for a few moments, and then took a deep breath and walked in, just a little more than slightly awed at the size of the place.  With the library so quiet after that commotion, the sound of her pads gently stepping on the hard floor was probably a little less noticeable until it approached closer to the table and stopped nearby, her face and demeanor carrying quiet concern.

Wondering if perhaps he actually wanted to be alone then, Aisha just waited until he noticed her there.

[Gareeku]

As Stygian displayed his rage, Gareeku merely looked at him with a smirk.
"What's the matter, Stygian?" he replied, before his face displayed his own rage. "If I knew how to control this fucking thing inside of me, then I would! YOU are the idiot! You believe that everything can just be controlled and used. You really are utterly naive and so narrow-minded it's fucking painful to observe!"

By this point, the wolf was snarling as his rage boiled over, though the darkness within him wasn't' triggered. As Stygian left, Gareeku calmed himself down.
"Good riddance. I hope I never see you ever again." the wolf growled his voice seething with loathing. Now on his own (or so he thought), Gareeku began pacing around the room, before his anger got the better of him once more as he grabbed an expensive-looking vase, throwing it at a nearly ornatly decorated mirror, both the glass and the vase smashing to pieces as they collided.

Collapsing into a chair, the wolf held his head in his hands, sighing in a fed up manner.
"...I know you're there, Aisha...I'm sorry you had to see that..." he muttered, having caught a glimpse of the panthress just before he threw the vase.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel was stunned entirely silent and immobile. He hadn't been trying to blackmail her he was... impressed? She didn't think she'd ever met anyone outside the fort who thought the clan famous rather than infamous. She finally managed to laugh. "I'd leave out the part where it was the littlest and least impressive Icewing you met when you tell your friends. At least make it good and say you met old LL herself."

Then she grinned at Boogey, "So, if I took you and tossed you into the Great Hoard would you pop like an overfilled balloon?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha had her ears pinned against her head, upon hearing Gareeku's shouting reply.  Not that she certainly didn't channel some of that anger herself...after what the wolf had gone through, nobody could blame him.  She probably would have even thrown the vase herself...but, Aisha at least wasn't going to try and seem like she was against anybody in this little battle.

When Gareeku acknowledged her, the pantheress approached him slowly, giving a small light-hearted chuckle, with just a tinge of nervousness in it.  "Don't worry about it, mi vida...my apologies are in order for eavesdropping."  Her face turned serious, her tone soft and understanding.  "I heard everything."

Her eyes wandered idly across the quiet room, among the monumental shelves with hundreds upon hundreds of books, which it would have certainly taken two lifetimes to read all of them.  Then they caught sight of the painting above the door, impressed and awed.  More surprises coming from this place...but even the serene beauty was marred by the previous argument and the sense of agression that even still permeated.  It saddened her to see the one she loved still so troubled.

With a soft smile, she came up and gently lay a hand upon his.  "...Maybe I can help?"

[Gareeku]

"No apologies are needed, Aisha..." Gareeku replied softly, his eyes closed as his head was still in his hands. Hearing the pantheress' question, the wolf looked up at her, before looking away somewhat.
"I..." the wolf began. "...Maybe Stygian was right...I am a monster...I must be putting you through hell..."

Looking back into her eyes, the wolf's own showed guilt and sadness.
"But I don't want to be a monster..." he whispered fearfully as a tear ran down his face. "I don't want to be just like Stygian..."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha looked back into eyes that looked just as they were back in the alternate world when he came out of his nightmare...the soft azure orbs that held more sadness than she ever thought to see.  It was a nightmare for the both of them, slowly coming true.

"Oh, Gareeku..." the panther sighed quietly, the quiet smile still on her face as she sat down in a chair next to him, her hands reaching out to dry his tears while her head shook.  She kept them there on the sides of Gareeku's face, cupping it while her gaze met with his.  "Is there any way to know for sure that you might become just like him?  Is that fear talking for you?"

She leaned her forehead forward, touching it with his own, as she did before, to deepen the gaze and further the gentle words along in his mind.  "You're not a monster...you're too noble to call yourself that.  And you're not putting me through hell, silly.  In my personal way, I've been there already.  As far as I'm concerned, you've been much a blessing to be around." 

With a smile, she kissed him, and pulled her head away slowly.  "But you seem to be in hell right now.  And I'm more than happy to help pull you out."  She smirked jokingly.  "Now quit worrying about me, lobo loco.  And let's all try to figure out if...maybe...something can be done."

[Gareeku]

Listening to Aisha, Gareeku stayed quiet as he continued to gaze into her eyes, returning the kiss before a soft smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you Aisha..." he said warmly. "I hope something can, but I honestly don't know how to try and control it. This is all very new to me, and that asshole Stygian doesn't help matters. Quite the opposite."

[Stygian]

Sleeping worriedly in her large bed, Sathariel tumbled back and forth under the sheets. Her mind might have been closed, but the memories from in the simulation, even those that had been hidden from her by Mel and had now somehow been restored, chased back and forth through her mind, and the trouble around did not help to calm her down. She was running through nightmares, darkness everywhere.
   And then, suddenly, there was hatred, and anger, and... pain. Much pain. It overflowed, a shadowy face screaming at her, but still not at her. It rushed against her, its maw still open in that scream, engulfing her...
   Sathariel shot up from under the sheets, panting heavily, her face streaked with tears. What had happened?! She threw herself out of bed in her underwear and somehow instinctively looked through the top of a chest of drawers next to the bed, finding a nightshirt and slipping it on. She opened the door to the bedroom carefully, and closed it silently behind her. Knowing already where to head, she tripped off warily but quickly against the library.
   The white feline arrived at the corner of the corridor into the library, and looked around it. She saw Gareeku and Aisha, close together. That warm emotion was with them again, almost making them glow in her mind. But there was also pain and doubt coming from the wolf, mixed with the fear of loss and a bit of stubbornness as well. And then there was a darkness, focused to one side of the library and receding fast but still more distinguishable than anything else there. And in it was a mix of emotions too. Anger, irritation, frustration, dissappointment... Loss. There was loss there too. And pain.
   Sathariel very carefully walked down the corridor against the pair after having left them alone for a while, and then almost peeked in.
   "Ehh... Ah... I couldn't help... overhearing..." she said, not quite finding the right words, and slowly glided against them. "What... What happened?" She looked at them with concern, and cast a quick glance against where the portal had been. Slowly she "unraveled" it with her mind, trying to feel more.

   Stygian moved forward through the darkness, with a bitter look on his face, leaned forward a bit as if walking against a wind. Still thinking of just power, was he? Naíve?! That wolf had neither the knowledge nor perspective to say such a thing! Single-tracked, stubborn, arrogant...
   You are the darkness and I am the light. You see only power and causality, while I see purpouse and justice. And that is why I am in the right! That is why you deserve what has been done to you...!
   The memory flashed through Stygian's mind, and then his hand darted to his chest, clenching over the cross-shaped scar to the left on it as the pain welled up again. Arrogance and idiocy! He might deserve it, but she was still wrong. And so was the wolf.
   Through the darkness he slithered, and made his way elsewhere...

[Aisha deCabre]

"Don't I know it..." Aisha answered with a sigh, rolling her eyes slightly and glancing briefly over to where Stygian had disappeared.  "Well," she chuckled briefly.  "I think that maybe he has as much concern for your well-being too, or else he wouldn't have gone to such lengths to try showing it to you."  She shrugged with a quiet look of thought, her hands gently gripping his.

That was when the panther turned an ear to the door, having heard someone else coming.  With a tired sigh, she turned to see that it was Sathariel.  Ah, of course, she'd sense it all too.  Aisha gave a wave to the girl.  "It's okay, Sath...Stygian and Gar had a...um...bit of an argument."  She snickered at how understated that was, then tilted her head as she went towards the portal.  "I believe he went through there...angry as he was, you might want to be careful."

Then, she turned her head to Gareeku again.  "I don't approve of Stygian's methods.  But his intentions may just be more useful than bad."  She smiled.  "And, I may be wrong.  Like I said...is there any way to really tell for sure?  It's your choice alone, love.  And I'll be here too."

[Gareeku]

"Concern for my well-being? He's got a funny way of showing it." Gareeku muttered as he listened to Aisha talk, returning the grip of the hand. "I just get frustrated and angry when he just expects me to suddenly not dislike this power. He says I am arrogant and that I'm a fool. He doesn't understand. He thinks he does, but he doesn't."
Sighing, the wolf ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know...I could be wrong...I don't know what to think at the moment..."

It was then that Sathariel appeared. Turning to look at her, Gareeku smiled warmly at the girl as he spoke.
"Hey, don't worry about it." he replied. Listening to Aisha, the wolf rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. "Understatement of the century right there. Yeah. He went through there."

Turning back towards the pantheress, Gareeku thought for a moment. "You're right...maybe it's worth taking the risk..."

[Stygian]

Sathariel's eyes widened, and her mouth opened a tiny bit. Then she stared down at Gareeku.
   "He hurt! How did you make him hurt?!" she said, obviously awed. It seemed that she wanted to know the "secret" too, somehow. Then, she blinked, and her eyes went even wider.
   "He's gone." She made it sound as if she had just said that the sun was black, or that pigs ruled the world. "There is nothing left!" She just stood, staring at nothing. Then she backed a bit insecurely, and slumped in the chair behind her.
   None of them saw directly, but on the wall above, the painting began to... change.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha listened to Gareeku speak, not one bit surprised at how Stygian had treated him.  The thought occured to her that they really didn't know much about him, still.  Everyone was a bit at fault with the situation...one didn't understand the other, and vice-versa.  They would just have to see how it played out...

Once Gareeku said that he would consider the idea, she gave a soft smile.  "Maybe it will be.  Trying can't be much worse than feeling sorry for it..."

The pantheress idly laid back on the chair and yawned, feeling the sleepiness just thinking about coming back again.  She grinned at Gareeku and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Sath's outburst.  Her head whipped over to look at the girl, eyebrow quirked with a bit of surprise.  "Gone?  You sure?"

From witnessing the bewildered look on her face, Aisha tilted her head.  "Now that's a little...wierd..."

[Gareeku]

Hearing Aisha speak, Gareeku smiled softly at her again. It was then, however, that he noticed Sath gazing at him with a degree of awe on her face. Hearing her enquiry, Gareeku has a somewhat guilty expression on his face.
"Well...I can't really remember..." the wolf said, before hearing that he had gone, raising an eyebrow as he heard the short comment. "Gone?"

Watching Sath slump into a chair, a worried expression appeared on Gareeku's face.
"Are you okay?" he asked, wondering what had made her back away insecurely like she had.

[Joat]

*OOC: I had thought Sath fell into “a troubled sleep”. She must have awoken since then.*

[Stygian]

Sathariel sat in her chair, still looking puzzled, when suddenly something shifted in the room, just the tiniest bit. The light cast by the moon through the full-tall library windows began to wander. As did the stars. It looked as if the sky had somehow begun turning on its course faster.
   "I'm fine," Sathariel said. "It's just that wi..." She stopped, when the lights in the chandelier went out, and all the candles too. She became still, and gaped, getting to her feet shakily.
   The place started changing along with the outsides. Slowly, what looked like dawn light began to creep up over the sky. On the bookshelves you could just make out how the books shifted. They didn't move, but some of them changed, some dissappearing, others replacing them or not, and others simply changing size or colour. Aisha's chair vanished under her, and placed itself three feet to the side somehow without moving. The table decided that it was more oval than round, and that it had a slightly darker colour and different make. Then the chairs seemed to decide that they were instead armchairs, made with deep red satin, and matching the sofa now. Changes and changes, and not just in the library. The entire house seemed to shift, not really becoming that different, but then again not remaining that similar either.
   Sathariel screamed. No one seemed to see why at first, but then as the light became brighter it became clear. She was fading somehow, going transluscent, the edges of her shape slipping away, like she was slowly dissipating into smoke. She was staring, eyes round and face panicked, down at her own arms, screaming and crying in turns.

(OOC: Oh... I tend not to be so random. If you want something done, PM it, or you will probably see that I plot out most things.)

[Gareeku]

Looking around in surprise as the lights went out, Gareeku's eyes widened as the whole house began to change. Remembering how it had changed before, the wolf held a suspicious look on his face.
Stygian...what are you up to... Gareeku thought to himself, continuing to look around as the house changed.

It was then, however, that he heard Sathariel's screams. Whirling around, the wolf's eyes widened in horror to find she seemed to be fading away.
"Sath...Sath!!" the wolf cried out as he rushed to her, but there was nothing he could do. It was then that the wolf's face displayed intense rage as he looked up.
"STYGIAN!!" he roared out. "STOP THIS!!"

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha blinked as the lights dimmed and vanished, leaving the library in darkness...but not total darkness.  All of a sudden, time looked like it was shifting right before their eyes...dawn's light blinded them.  The panther fell over with a loud grunt as her seat moved.

She stood up with a look on her face that was partially scared, curious, and irritated.  It looked still like something happening from a dream, too ethereal to be real, but she knew that it happened before and was real enough.  Considering Stygian, Aisha didn't think much of it a surprise...and then she heard Sathariel's cries.

"Sath!?" Aisha exclaimed and rushed over to her alongside Gareeku, trying to grab onto her, but nothing they could do seemed to work.  "What's going on?  Sath!"

[Stygian]

Sathariel's cries were becoming more dim, and outside the sun slowly passed midday. The other changes seemed to be slowing down, but outside time seemed to pass just as fast, and the white feline was still drifting off as steadily.
   "He was never here! He never even came here!" she cried out, trying to reach for Aisha. She shook with terror and tears streamed down her face. The light moved past late noon and against evening, and she was nearly nothing but contoures and mist now.
   "Help me! I don't want to! I don't wan...!"
   Sathariel's last words ebbed out in silence. Her shape dissappeared, her hand flowing away like whisps of smoke in the wind. Her last expression was one of panic, her mouth open and her eyes fixed on Aisha's. The light outside had stopped moving, the sun settling just above some mountains in the distance, probably at somwhere around half past four. Nothing changed anymore. All was still.
   There was an envelope laying on the table.