Character Lounge

[e_voyager]

Erebus? Or someone else? How many voices do you have in your head, Mr. Valen?
"Listen E, I'm not going to beat around the bush. You can't stay here, and making a new body for the woman will only end in tears. You have to face reality eventually."

"yes i can but you may be right. i've kept her here too long as is. it is only possible because  she still loves me you know" the room seem to breathe a sigh of relive. Eric looks around again still unable to pin down. "As you Guessed when you called me Eric  E and i are different entities. while i've been sleep after my past death he came into being with a vague impression of who i was. this is not unheard of but it can be problematic. Erebus is probably the only one who knew we were not the same entity. when he went to go see starling in he hospital i awakened. he felt how much she meant to me and decided to try and help me. he even gave up dominance of  our shared form so that i could try to save her but i couldn't do it. after the funeral  he brought us back the the lounge but i was not able to let got then i discovered that Starlight can been pulled into this mess with me. i guess i should not have been surprised considering that when i gave here my energy i begged her to stay with me just a little while longer but now? you have to understand i never intended this. she was here but she can't stay inside she needs a universe where life and death have meaning. she need a place where she can still have children and still have friends that aren't trapped in a self made world with her. she need to be free in a way that i may never be that why i must make here a body!" Eric was frustrated and on the verge of tears. "I want to stay with her. but i also want her to be happy and free. as long as she feels bound to me she won't leave this world and if she doesn't leave she'll never truly be happy again but i don't have the skills to do this alone. I need help and the others ... until you came i have all of the the others except one locked out. he hasn't tried to stop me but i get the feeling that he's getting to the point where he will try. isn't that right?" Eric looks around the room. Are you ready to be sensible again? asked a familiar voice that seems to come form the room. Eric smiles wanly. " i was wondering when you would speak newbie

( ooc i'll probably be gone until Tuesday)

[Stygian]

"The same to you," the computer responded, and they could see the faces on the screens making something of smiles and short nods toward them. Then, she seemed to turn her attention to Stygian.
   "I guess you didn't come back all of a sudden just to pay me a visit, however pleasant that might have been... So what is wrong?" the computer said to him. He didn't even make a break before he spoke.
   "We're in a bit of a situation. Some of these people's... our friends have gone missing, and we need to find them. Fast," Stygian said, and fumbled the little black controller out of his pocket. "I believe that this thing can lead us to them, once you hook up with it."
   The computer paused for a few seconds, seemingly thinking. Then she spoke with a tone that sounded a bit confused.
   "Well, finding anyone here without a lead will probably fail, as you may well know. And if your friends are new to Nibel, which I presume, that is only going to make matters worse. But I don't see what you're talking about. And why are you holding up your hand like that?" Moira answered.
   It took Stygian a few moments to get his bearings, and for a little while he just seemed perplexed. He looked at the computer, then at the controller in his hand, then to Moira again, and back to the little black cylinder. Then, he sighed, slumped his shoulders and stared at the floor.
   "Of course... The simulation either eliminates or ignores disturbances... conditional exception..." he muttered. He scratched the short, blond stubble on his chin with a hand, and thought hard. Then, he turned and looked at Aisha, and remembered how her broken tail ring had been fixed, putting two and two together.
   "May I please have that ring of yours, Aisha?" he asked.

   The sinewy man knocked Mel back as his considerably greater weight hit hers, and he reached to grip around her throat. Up close she could see the intransparent silver lens on his cybernetic eye moving as it focused on her, and a sort of tattoo that reached up on the right side of his neck from under the collar of his jacket. He licked his lips and grinned, a scary sight with that lean face of his, some sort of alcohol and cigarettes on his breath.
   "I'm not about to pass up just for some shinies... You're coming with me, cutesy. I promise it won't be that bad..." he said, and raised the butt of his huge gun.
   "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Sathariel screamed, and aimed a kick with her heel at the man's head.

   Meanwhile, May's spell seemed to hold. But she quickly began to feel as if something was prodding it, trying to move or grip around it, though it was still weak. But no doubt it would grow stronger. Whatever force had control here seemed both pervasive, and adaptive.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Now that contact was unpleasantly made Mel reached to wipe every memory out of the awful creature's head. The effect would be similar to a massive stroke. She had only just begun the assault when Sathariel's attack connected.  Contact lost and her attack useless, Mel glanced down the alleyway.  It appeared that the only thugs remaining by the entrance were caught up in the nightmares of her illusion trap. She could hear the motorcycles but didn't waste time trying to locate them. "Run!"

[KarlOmega1]

*all of a sudden, Karl could feel something wrong*

Karl: Hey Styg...I just noticed my mana level is slowly falling...does this world have some sort of Anti-magic properties?

[Stygian]

Stygian looked at Karl with a momentary smile.
   "I suspect it's only trying to replicate the real nature of this place. Yes, you're right. And wrong. And so am I. It's difficult to explain, but the sort of magic you practice doesn't have any hold here. It's too... living, and too complex, in a way. If it isn't entirely gone by now, I suspect it will be soon," he said, and turned to Aisha again. "Which is all the more reason why I need that ring."

[Gareeku]

Upon hearing that it would be very difficult to locate the others, a frustrated look appeared on Gareeku's face.
"Damn it..." he cursed, running a hand through his hair as he let out a sigh. Noticing the black box, Gareeku raised an eyebrow.

"You used that to change us, correct?" he asked. "If that is the case, then it strikes me as confusing that you how to use it to change people, yet you do not know how to locate people with it."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha leaned casually on one side of the wall as she watched Stygian and Moira converse, narrowing her eyes with slight disappointment when he said that it wouldn't exactly be easy to find their friends.  But then again, one was foolish if they always thought that anything would be easy.  Not to mention if the effect of magic was slowly dwindling, things were going to be slightly strange.  Bar for the sword, her weapons were all enchanted in some way.

Upon mention of the ring, she stood up and started to nod.  "Of cour..." and then stopped, as if frozen in time, a thought having suddenly clicked into place.  Her head whirled around behind and she pulled the cape away from her backside.  Yeah, her tail was gone...and with it, the ring.  It must have dropped when her tail was morphed away...

"Mierda!"  She cursed loudly after patting herself down, feeling nothing remotely resembling her darkness detector.  Aisha was certainly having bad luck with the thing lately.  First it gets broken, then it gets lost.  "I think it's left back in the gym," she surmised with a loud sigh.  "Would anything else work?" she said, her eyes suddenly shifting to Gareeku's wrist, where the light-magic bracer was.

[Stygian]

"Nonsense," Stygian said. "It was in the simulation! It must be in a pocket somewhere..." He didn't sound entirely assured though, and rubbed the controller with a thumb. Damned if we have to go back to get it... We need these things to turn out right... he thought.

   From behind them, Mel could hear screeches as the motorcycles turned after them. Bangs came as the lean man opened up with his gun, but no bullets seemed to hit, though if that was from May's magic or the man's shock, one could not tell. Around them were only run-down buildings, neon lights and more alleys. There really was no way to tell where to go, or how to hide. A few firescape ladders were pulled down, but taking to the ceilings would probably not lead anywhere but up a little bit. Then again, to the sides more buildings and concrete structures towered everywhere. If they could climb... Yet again, she was forced to remember they were human now, and that imposed quite some limitations.
   As they ran past what seemed like the backside of a restaurant, Mel could see into the kitchen as cooks and scullions darted forth and back in a steamy kitchen. Up ahead were the lights of more opened backdoors...

[Aisha deCabre]

She gave him an incredulous look and quickly scanned the outside folds of her cape, trousers, belt...anywhere that the ring would have fallen into.  She was none too patient in her search for it, and when she tossed her cape off with frustration, that was when she noticed a slight emerald glimmer in her hood.

"Wha...now how did I not notice that it was there?" she hummed.  Her hand rummaged into it, picking out the artifact and breathing a slight sigh of relief.  It was about as big around as her wrist, but was fitted for the circumfrence of her tail and so would have to be carried at best.

Tilting her head, she held it out to Stygian, albeit with slight reluctance.  "I hope it works, whatever it is you intend to do."

[Stygian]

Stygian took the tail ring, and in turn gave it to the computer as one mechanical arm swung out and took it in a three-fingered metallic hand. It held it up before the "eye" for a bit.
   "I want you to scan that one through all the way from femto scale and up. There should be some sort of quantum activity in it..."
   "Yeah," Moira replied. "It's pretty evident anyhow. There's energy warping all through it, and I can see a small reality shift going on. It's getting fainter though, but I don't think it's giving off radiation. The existence around it is curving too, so I guess that must be it. It's not quite a Loeh effect, or something like Raleigh would do, I think..." The computer placed the ring on some sort of scanner, and instruments started buzzing all around it, little metal arms, rods and spikes looking it over from every direction it seemed. "Yeah. I don't know what it is, but evidently one of the side effects of the thing is that it gives off light. But I can't understand why it's reacting right now, or to what."
   "It's me," Stygian said. "I don't know how either. Can you get a fix on the energy?"
   "Yeah. Not to say I understand it, as I said. I think that there's a lot more to it, and I have to study it a lot more if you want to know about that." The computer seemed a bit annoyed by that fact. "What do you need it for?"
   "I need you to train some sort of search device on that thing's signature. It should let us find our friends."
   "Allright, coming right up," the computer responded, and got to work.

   Meanwhile, Stygian turned back to his companions and looked at them.
   "That's that. I don't know how long it will take, so let's go prepare for leaving." With those words he pushed between them and went back against the room with the steel doors and bench.

[Joat]

The mysterious woman far away (the one who was scrying on Sylver, if you recall) hears the prayer. She thinks, “To answer or not to answer? Meh, why not. I’ll help them help themselves.”

*OOC: Now we know (sorta) who the woman is.*

*OOC: I must advise against anybody trying to directly involve this mysterious woman in the storyline. She is a goddess. Indirectly (such as praying to her, as May did) involving her is fine, but having an antagonist attack her or something is NOT ADVISED.*

If May was successful in grabbing the gun, she attempts to fire once at the gang member she grabbed it from, but the bullet stops the moment it leaves the gun, then falls harmlessly to the ground. The shield stops ALL projectiles, even if it was the target who fired it. “Today is not my day,” she says as she pockets the gun.

If May was not successful, obviously nothing in the previous paragraph happened.

Either way, May follows Mel. “Note to self: common sense occasionally has its perks.”

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Unable to see that one door was any better than another without her normal senses to aid her Mel chose a door that was narrow and two steps up to make life more difficult for the motorcyclists.

[Gareeku]

Feeling a sense of relief when Aisha found the tailring, Gareeku looked on as Moira analysed the enchanted object. When Stygian pushed between them, Gareeku could not help but growl quietly.
"I'm getting tired of this..." he muttered, rolling his eyes and smiling slightly at Aisha, before turning to follow Stygian.

[Boog]

"I take it that voice was the PDA? It wasn't a key, it was a freaking stowaway," Boogey rolled his eyes, "And you're still not listening. She had all that. She lived in that world, raised her kids, had her life. What will you do when this body runs its course, make another one? FORCE her to be immortal? You have to let her move on, or what did all that mean?" the thought entity smiled, "You think you're the first to ever grieve over a loved one? Or the first to try to bring them back? Even if you succeeded, you won't have helped her. And as you said, Eric," Boogey's eyes narrowed, "E isn't you. You cannot still spend time with your wife; he can, but he's not the man she fell in love with now is he? And neither, I think, are you anymore."

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha watched with interest as Moira took the ring and started to study the properties.  Hearing her speak about it, Aisha had the urge to explain about the dark-magic seeking enchantment...but then again, because this seemed to be a world devoid of such things, she decided to let it go, her eyes following Stygian out of the room.

Her arms crossed as she chuckled at Gareeku, walking up beside him.  "Join the club," she smirked before glancing back at Moira, deciding that her ring would be in good enough hands (albeit mechanical ones) for the moment, and then motioned to Karl to follow them out.

[Stygian]

There was a screech and a scrape from metal on pavement as Mel and Sathariel darted in the backdoor, closely followed by May. As soon as they got in, Sathariel turned and slammed the door. They appeared to be in some sort of storage, for there were boxes all around, and random objects standing between them. And, to Mel's content, a great set of shelves to one side of the room, laden with clothes of many kinds, most of which seemed made up of print t-shirts, jackets and pants in some jeans-like kind of smooth but heavy fabric. Through a door they could see into a shop of some kind, and beside the door was standing an angry clerk.
   "Hey! You can't just run in here!" he said to them.

Stygian didn't mind Gareeku's and Aisha's comments as he walked down into the room and stepped up to the smooth table. He pushed a corner of the metal to the side, revealing a panel of some sort, and made another one of those glowing signs. Then, there were loud snaps and hisses as locks on the doors and in the floor unlatched, and the metal doors parted and slid into the walls on the sides.
   Guns. Lots of guns. Some other equipment too, yes, including vests, tools, what appeared to be some sort of reinforced suit meant to be worn together with something else and some round things that looked like grenades too. But mostly just guns, most of them large, and some quite nasty looking. One wall was hung with what looked like a veritable cannon on a stative. From the floor, a few stands of sorts emerged from the square plates, revealing more equipment, and some things that looked more like swords and knives.
   "Well, come and have your pick. There's plenty for everybody," Stygian said to them.

[Joat]

*OOC: From now on, Times new roman will be my default font. I think it’s easier to read.*

“Sorry. Won’t happen again,” May says, “We were just running for our lives, don’t mind us.”

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Mel forced a laugh, "My sister is such a joker. Sorry, we're just lost tourists." Not hearing any immediate sounds from the alley she rapidly scanned the shelves. "Souvenirs. We want souvenirs." She began grabbing clothing. "Sathariel, grab something dry. When the illusion fades entirely you're going to realize you're still soaking wet. May, are your clothes okay?" Then she fished a handful of her trapped gems out of storage. She picked a few benign ones out. The spells were fading but they'd only leave the clerk with a goofy grin if they managed to trigger. She dropped the gems on the counter and tried her hypnotic voice again. "You never saw us, did you?"

[Aisha deCabre]

Following Stygian, her eyes wandering to various shadowy corners within the underground sanctuary of sorts, the questions still flowed through the panther-turned-human's mind as to what manner of things that he did in this place.  And when the doors opened, she stared inside with widened eyes at the great variety of weapons and guns in storage.  Now I DEFINITELY wonder about it...

Regardless, she wandered around and just glanced at the swords, though thoughtfully laying a hand on the hilt of her dragon-blade.  "I can do with my own sword..." she said, mostly to herself with thought while wandering to the more mechanical things, forged in metal, steel, and lead, perfectly designed and capable of nothing else but pure destruction.

"Will we really need this sort of firepower?" she inquired in an almost unnerved tone, laying her eyes on various things of interest from the knives, to an intricate modern-designed crossbow, to a good-sized cannon that even with her strength she couldn't hope to carry, as well as the reinforced vests as if through a second thought on protection.

[KarlOmega1]

Karl: Are any of these guns "Plasma Rifles"?

[Gareeku]

As the doors opened to reveal the various types of weaponry inside, Gareeku raised his eyebrows.
"Well...it looks like someone is preparing an army, by the looks of it..." the wolf-turned-human comment somewhat jokingly, although he himself wasn't sure whether it may turn out to ring true or what. Ignoring the bladed weaponry due to making the decision to rely on his own blade, Gareeku investigated the firearms. They all looked destructive enough, yet he also knew that taking too much would slow him down.

The first thing Gareeku did take, however, was one of the protective vests.
"Safety first." he commented with a smirk, before turning his eyes to a pair of automatic pistols, complete with the belt in which they were held.
They may come in handy... he thought, lifting them off of their holders and strapping the belt around his waist.
"Well that's some light weaponry...now to look for something more powerful. Knowing my luck I'll probably need it." the wolf-turned-human commented.

There must have been hundreds of weapons, all in all. Each other was a deadly tool of destruction. Gareeku knew about firearms. he had dabbled in them briefly, but had always preferred to rely on his blade and magic. At this moment, however, magic unfortunately didn't seem to be an option, and so the reliance on firearms was necessary.
"Hmmm..." Gareeku mused, looking over the more powerful firearms inside the doors.

[Stygian]

The clerk put down the box he was holding, and looked into Mel's eyes with a sheepish grin.
   "I never saw you," he agreed, and went back to his work. No strong will there exactly.

   Stygian started looking over the walls, deciding on a few guns that would probably suit his friends, while at the same time being suited for whatever they might have to cope with. For himself he took down a pair of enormous semi-automats of some kind, made of some dark metal and with a silver inscription on the right and left side respectively of either. Something told you those were his most favourite ones. Then, he grabbed some grenades, and took some blades attatched to some sort of gloves. When he put them on, they whirred, and quickly spun around, sliding up the sleeves of his coat. He put some sort of throwing knives in those too. Next, he went for a couple of smaller full-automats, and took them down, placing them on the table in the middle of the room.
   "Four millimetre HV spitters. The holes are like pinpricks, but you can unload fifty in one magazine, and they go fast enough to hurt armored cybers. For the lady," he said, and nodded to Aisha. Then he turned to Gareeku and went over beside him. He looked over the pondering wolf, and then nodded toward a large rifle with a top-mounted lengthwise magazine and a long, ventilated barrel.
   "If I were you, I'd go for that one. Seven millimetre Henderson. Bullpup, big enough magazine and has one hell of a punch. Just make sure to hold it steady and burst fire. I think you can take the recoil," he said, familiarily patting the wolf on the shoulder. He himself took down something else that looked like the evil child of a construction nailgun and an assault rifle, a huge bullpup with some exposed cables a big magazine at the back. "Me, I'm taking the Impaler." Then he went back to one of the stands in the floor, and took down three little earpieces. He put one on, and laid the other two on the table. "Take those, in case we need to split up to search. They're really easy to use. Twist the end to switch channels, and push the plug in your ear to speak into the mic."

[KarlOmega1]

Karl: Hey Styg...I asked a question...and also, what about me?

[Gareeku]

Inspecting the rifle, a smirk appeared once more on Gareeku's face. The gun was indeed impressive, some might even say a beast, certainly looking powerful and deadly, very much so. Checking the sight, Gareeku found the weapon to fit comfortably in his hands, before fastening it to his back.
"Well, i'm certainly tooled up." the wolf-turned-human commented with a grin, before checking out the weapons the others had decided to use.

[Aisha deCabre]

Aisha approached the table after exploring a little, grabbing one of the protective vests for herself and eyeing the guns that Stygian was handing out.  She gave him an appreciative look, as she had little knowledge in the lines of this sort of weaponry, but it would certainly be an interesting experience.  At the description, and while taking one of the HV spitters in her hands to test the weight of it, she smirked.  They were good enough for her...accurate and deadly.

"Patience, Karl...you sure you didn't find anything good yourself?"  She laughed while placing one of the small earpieces on her head, then took off her cape in order to more easily secure the vest and holsters.  There was a sort of rush that came with equipping oneself like this.  Like they were definitely expecting to run into trouble.

[Stygian]

Stygian turned to Karl, looking confused for a moment. Then his face turned a bit apologetic.
   "Sorry. Ehm... well, I think..." he said, and walked over to another wall. He took down a large, long weapon that was laden with pipes under and between the metal covers that held its main machinery. "This here is an accelerator gun. If anything big and hard comes up, point it at it and fire. It's not subtle, but it gets the job done very thoroughly." Then, as he took down another earpiece, he looked to Aisha again.
   "Yeah, put on some armor you too. Oh, and this..." he said, and took down a large submachine gun of some kind. It was about half as big as Gareeku's rifle, and sported an integrated silencer. "Use this as your main. But please stay at the back. You don't seem as experienced with these sorts of weapons, frankly. And I'd hate to see you get hurt." His tone was genuinely considerate, somehow. Then he shouted to the computer.
   "Moira! Where's that tracer?"
   "Coming right up! Keep your pants on..." the computer shouted back sourly.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

"Okay girls, we need to get out of here without being seen by the thugs and find our way to our friends. Any ideas, anything we need? Sathariel, can you still locate everyone?" Mel fumbled at the clothing. She'd never actually worn any before and the fasteners confused her.

[Gareeku]

Taking one of the earpieces, Gareeku then attempted to fasten it to his ear. However, it seemed that the shape of human ears was something he was not familiar with.
"Hmmmm...such odd-shaped ears..." he muttered, though it was not with frustration, but with curiosity and somewhat fascination at the strange shape of the ears.

Finally managing to set up the earpiece, Gareeku then set about testing the small device. Finding it to be working correctly, he then looked over at the others to see how they were doing. Thinking about something for a second, Gareeku then glanced down at his clothes.
"Hey Stygian...do you have any spare clothes?" he asked. Gareeku thought that it probably wasn't the best idea to walk around in the outfit he normally wore. If he was going to walk around in this new world, then it would be sensible that he should wear something that other people in this city wore, otherwise he would stick out like a sore thumb, besides the fact he had an assortment of weaponry now accompanying him.

[Joat]

“Without being seen by the thugs? Well, we should start our search in a heavily populated area. We look normal enough that we’d blend right into the crowd. ‘Course, normal is a relative term. Also, the gang’ll probably be expecting us to hide in a dark and secret place, so a public area would be the last place they’d look.”

[Stygian]

Sathariel nodded hastily to Mel, fear still on her face.
   "Yeah. They've moved, but they're still above... And I think she's right," she said at May's words, while she pulled down trousers, a t-shirt and a sweater, and finding some shoes among the boxes.

   "Clothes? Sure. A wardrobe. And if you want, I can have Moira tailor something up quickly. Just buying clothes for disguises becomes bothersome, so I got a sewing machine installed," Stygian said. "It won't take long to get something up. Just tell Moira what you had in mind and she'll give it to you as soon as it's ready." By his look, that wouldn't even take time off their search.