I thought we'd make an rp where our characters can hang out and know more about eachother...it's the perfect RP socializing area and erm..fighting place. This is an RP where it's for our umm...Fursona's or whatever you people are...
Kio lays down on the super-cool-super-long-super-comfortable (SCSLSC) couch bored and waiting for people to come.
Aiyno Wolf joins, Inserting Aiyno wolf that looks edentical to Kyota from Spellbound.
Sits infront of te TV and stares at the screen...
Olroxshade joins,a black shadow sit and sleep
"Yay! People!" *pokes Aiyno* "Sooo...whatcha watchin' there?"
Leaning on one of the walls in the room, a familiar white-furred wolf dressed in a sleeveless blue gi sips his glass of ale quietly. Having been invited to a socialising event, Gareeku was not the type to turn an invitation down, and so having arrived, he wondered whether others he knew would turn up...
"Oh My God! It's Gareekku!" * gets off couch and goes to hug his leg*
Raising an eyebrow at the young one running up to him, Gareeku is taken by surprise when Kio starts to hug his leg.
"Er...hey kid..." Gareeku says as he looks down at Kio.
Parsons walks in, stares around, and attempts to quietly walk out.
Aiyno looks up looks at Gareeku and smiles. "Hey, Gareeku how's an awesome person and writer like you doing today?"
(Gona change my RP style now.)
"Gareeku! you are a very nice doggy!" Kio says as he throws a doggy treat somewhere.
Aiyno jumps and grabbes the dogy treat and it dissappears into Her mouth. She looks at KIo with innocent doggy eyes
Parsons walks back in to see if things have returned to a state anywhere near normal. Nope. *Walks out*
olrox remain sleep in his chair
Aiyno curl up on the couch and falls asleep.
kio throws some doggy treats at everyone. "Doggy Treats for everyone!! Their Bacon--y!MMMMmmmm...Bacon..." Kio begins to drool.
olrox smell food and quicky awake
"Olroxshade....Where are you? Come get some Doggy Treats! Their Bacon-y Good..."
olrox feels tired and sleep again
Gareeku reaches out a hand and catches a dog treat. Looking at it for a second, Gareeku then looks at the others, before nibbling on the dog treat.
(PS just to tell everyone...Kio is now an angel Kitty!)
Kio forgets about Olroxshade and eats the doggy treats even though he isn't a Doggy. Kio FLIES to the kitchen! Whoosh! Kio opens the fridge and gets out a soda and drinks.
Olrox looks with hate Gareeku and Kio for awake him
"Does anyone else want soda?" Kio shouted from the kitchen. "Oh and ther's some hot pizza here if you want any!"
"Hello?"
A coon boy walks in uncertainly, not sure what he should be doing. He looks uncomfortable for a second, then sits down on the couch.
"Oh My god! HI!!! PIZZA FOR EVERYONE!" Kio says as he flew around dropping pizza on people's head, or laps.
Turning to look at olroxshade, Gareeku raises an eyebrow.
"Don't look at me buddy, i wasn't the one who woke you." He says calmly, before resuming nibbling on the dog treat. "I'll have a soda and some pizza please!" Gareeku calls out after hearing Kio's offer.
Turning round, Gareeku notices a newcomer. Recognising him as Roureem, the wolf smiles as he walks over to him. "Hi there!" he says with a smile, before suddenly finding pizza being dropped in his hands.
Wakes up noticing the pizza, are you going to share that awesome?
olrox say sorry to Gareeku and go for pizza with Kio
Kio is flying dropping pizza for everyone. "PIZZZAAAA!!!" Kio says. Kio is hyper at the moment."AND AFTER...Dance Dance Revolution!!!!"
"Um, do you have any more pepperoni pizza?"
Parsons walks back in, sits down, and remains silent, watching the TV. He then realizes that nobody had turned it on.
"This is any kind of Pizza you want! Any toppings!! Any side dishes!!" Kio says flying around crazily. Kio drops a pizza on BillBuckner
Parsons, thankful for his ECU hat, places the somewhat warped pizza on the table.
The coon nods in understanding, and takes a few slices.
"Thanks, then."
olrox go to play dance dance revolution,chose the song Bloody Tears (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvWyipxYStY&search=Castlevania)
Parsons drains another can from his never-ending supply of Red Bull.
olrox continue playing............
Hearing Aiyno speak, Gareeku turns around and smiles. "Of course..." he says, before offering pizza to Aiyno.
Parsons gets utterly wasted at the mini-bar, and drinks 5 6-packs of Red Bull to sober up.
Olrox asks for more pizza
Kio flies around and drops some more pizzas for people while eating some of his own. "Yum...Anhovies...yum...sardines...yum...pineapple...yum...borcooli..yum...pepperoni..."
*Gabi walks in, attracted by the noise.*
What's going on in here? *Looks around.* Ah, pizza. Too bad I've just had lunch. I guess I'll have to wait for teatime. *Sits down and watches the events unfold.*
"Hi!! GABI!!! HAve a soda!!!!" Kio says as he lands on her head.
Olrox fells bad for gabi and stop his noise
Err... thanks. *Gabi accepts the soda, stares at it for a while, and then takes a sip.* This is... not mow-cookie antidote, right?
olrox awake and search his handgun,who stole it!!!
"Nope It's not....Want SONE PIZZA?!" Kio asked as he gets off her head and flies to Olroxshade. "I have it! No weapons allowed!" Kio says as he throws it out the door.
Finishing his pizza, Gareeku looks up to find Gabi has arrived. Smiling, he walks over to greet her.
"Hey there Gabi," Gareeku says, the smile still on his face, "it's a bit...lively, don't you think?"
olrox cry for his new gun,how can play Time Crisis now
"TO THE ARCADDE ROOM!!!" Kio says as he flies right through a wall.
Olrox run more faster and start paly Haunted Castle
Gabi looks at Gareeku and giggles.
"Yes... I think you could call it that."
olrox scares because he don't know anything
"Thanks Gareeku" Munches on the pizza
Olrox stops his game and search food
Ronin walks in, unsure of what to do. He shrugs, waves to everyone, and sits down somewhere.
Olrox gave his last soda to ronin
AFter eating the pizza aiyno notices Gabi. Hey fox lady, hey fox lady... something.. Gabi, Gabi, Gabi, Gabi Looks at Gabi wondering what to do in her presence.
Ronin takes the soda offered by Orlox, says "Thanks," and decides to save it for later. He wanders over to where the pizza is and decides to take a cheese slice and sits down next to the couch, eating it absentmindedly.
Unbeknownst to the other furs, they are being watched by Eibbor, the hybrid. To their eyes, he would appear like a cat-fur lacking any noticeable ears and with a raccoon's mask and monkey's prehensile tail. Something catches his ear and he frowns slightly, muttering to himself, ' "Wait for tea-time?" Hah. Tea-time is every time.'
He reclines on the rafter he's watching from, his tail hanging over. With a grin, he watches the excitable angel-kitten bounding around chaotically. He blinks when Kio vanishes through a wall, and turns his attention back to the other occupants of the room.
((OOC: Augh. I had to type this up twice because my internet shut itself off. It was so much better the first time, too...))
olrox back to the shadows and await the tea time
officer lucas marcone (marco for short)
heavier build 180-200lbs lightly muscled
species: croc
skin color:hunter green
hair:n/a
eyecolor/number/style: firey red/two/ serpentine irises blind in the left eye(white film)
sexy? oh say bout 7-ish out of 10
marco walks in and sits on the arm of a char useing hos pocket knife to pick dirt out of his long reptilian nails
Hilary pokes her head in, sees the pizza, and zooms toward the boxes. She rifles through them until she finds what she's looking for-- dessert pizza! She wolfs it down and zooms off to the arcade in anticipation of DDR. She's not quite sure where she is, but it has dessert pizza and DDR, so there can't be too much to worry about.
Right? <<
olrox is sad because somebody is in the ddr arcade
Aiyno writes "Pizza will rule the world" on a paper a few thousand times.
Ronin finishes his pizza, licks any remaining cheese off his paws, then enters the arcade to pratice his trigger finger at Time Crisis 3
Hilary finishes playing DDR and skitters out of the arcade. She flops down on a faux mow-pelt chair and reaches above her without looking to turn the ceiling fan on. She finds the pull cord, but it's... fuzzy? A tail! She looks up to see whose tail she's got.
*marcos police radio crackles* "we are in persit of a wrecless driver evadeing arrest marco are you in the area?" *crackle* negitvive jones besides if i were im off duty remember our little talk? *click*
*a car speeds past the building 7 police cars in tow*
not in the area heh glad parckings in back.
Olrox quickly go to the DDR arcade and shock for the Hillary score
maro walks over aiyno hay there people seem to be runnin round like chickens with their heads cut off huh?
"Erk!" Eibbor sits abruptly upright when his tail is grabbed. "Woah the- what the?" He takes half a moment to compose himself before looking downward for the tail-grabber.
"Um. Hi..." he says cautiously, conscious of how precarious his balance on the rafter is with his tail in someone else's grip.
:tired Aiyno crawls onto the couch again and falls asleep, into a deep slumber that will last atleast 8 hours. :dndist
*marco looks shocked by the pretty girl ignoreing him and mutters "denied" to him self and sits down at the table*
Ronin comes out later on, yawning and rubbing his head. "Bleh. My fingers are sore." He walks over to the table that has the pizza and takes another cheese pizza and sits down near the couch.
"yay! More people!" Kio says as he flies through the wall again. "More Soda!" Kio says as he flies to the kitchen and opens the fridge for more caffinated soda.
"Oh, hello! Are you the ceiling fan, then? Wow... a talking fan... I guess this technology really is getting 'smarter' all the time! Pleased to meet you, Fan." She pulls the 'cord.'
" I am not a celing fan!!! I'm a flying Kitty...With SODA!" Kio says as he flies aound Hilary's head.
Ronin watches the hyper kitty after finishing his pizza. He yawns and drinks the soda Orlox offered him earlier.
"Hey Ronin! Whatcha doing?!" Kio says as he lands on his head.
Ronin acks as the kitty lands on his head. He says "Drinking and eating." At that point, he walks over to get another pizza, this time, hawaiian (or however it's spelled.)
Kio falls asleep while on Ronin's head.
×HaZ×MaT× walks into the room and says, "Hello! I've no idea what's going on here, can I have some coffee? Seems like Kio could use some coffe as well." The later statement obviously benig sarcastic. He then magically pulls a pot of coffee from his back pocket.
Parsons dumps two cans of Red Bull into an espresso, and drains it.
The look on Eibbor's face grows increasing alarmed as he is addressed as a ceiling fan. As Hilary continues speaking, he realized the inevitable consequences and begins to look frantic. You've got to be kidding me, he thinks as Hilary begins to pull...
With a loud, dramatic 'Noooooo!,' he drops to the ground. Or rather, what would be the ground if a certain person weren't in the way, still holding his tail. While it hurt considerably less than a fall onto the floor would, he found himself sprawled over the unfamiliar person.
"...Ow..."
Kio woke up when Eibbor_N fell. "huh? Wha? Coffee? MINE!!" Kio says as he flies for the coffee. "Coffee!!!"
Now completely stoned, Parsons begins to hear the clouds move overhead.
Ronin sighs and finishes his pizza. Having nothing to do, he plays with his yappity.
"hey Hey Ronin! Go get me Some...COFFEE!" Kio says yelling in his face. "WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"
Ronin rubs his ear and sighs "Yeah yeah..." He walks over to a table and pours a mug of coffee and hands it to Kio then proceeds to play with his Yap again.
"yay!!! COFFEE!!" Kio says as he chuggs it down. "Mmmmm...Coffee..." Kio grins..."WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"
Annoyed, Haz wishes he had some sort of cat-repelant to keep the overactive Kio away from his pot of coffee. Suddenly, he remembers he just so happens to have the next best thing in his (once again) magical back pocket; he pulls out the long barrel of a 50 calibur Magnum rifle loaded with a single tranquilizer dart large enough to take out a bull elephant. Realising he only has one shot, Haz perfects his aim, laying concealed under a bush for nearly five minutes watching they crazed cat fly around the room groping for anything containing caffiene.
. . .Finally, he takes his shot. The dart whips through the air at 3,000 ft/sec and collides with the hind leg of the once hyper cat known as Kio. Haz gives a satisfied grin and pulls back the bolt-action to release the smoking shell of the departed dart as the lifeless body falls to the ground with a satisfying "WHUMP!" While Haz lays concealed under the bush, panic breaks out as the tremoundous sound of the blast echoes throughout the room. Haz slips the rifle back into his magical back pocket and inconspicuously emerges from the bush and begins to play along with the chaos.
Upon hearing her name being repeated like a mantra, Gabi looks around.
"Who's calling me?," she asks.
Her eyes eventually meet Aiyno, but they also meet something else... something very tempting. She considers asking for some tea, but she decides to respond to the call first.
"Do you need anything?," she asks the wolf.
At that moment, Haz seems to go berserk, the tea being only the first casualty. Gabi's first reaction is to duck as a dart wheezes by, but when it hits its target she decides this has gone too far.
She stands up firmly, and yells in what she hopes is a commanding voice: "stop this madness now!"
"Oof!" she exclaims as the fan falls on her. "Erg. Uh, Kio, I think I broke your ceiling fan." she sighs. "I suppose this is why we can't have nice things... Oh, well. Hey, Mr. Fan, do you feel broken?"
*marco disassembles his gun and cleans what he can he then re assembles his gun and loads it all the wile its makeing impressinve clicking noises he then looks around for some grub besides pizza* YO ayone know whare the fridge is in this place?
Ronin looks up after heariing Gabi shout. He points Marco in the direction of the fridge and wonders what to do.
Roureem comes back into the room after slipping out to who-knows-where. Upon walking in to find such loud and random chaos, he covers his ears with his hands.
"Is this what you do when I'm not around?"
*marco rummages around abit and finds all he kneeds for his fave dinner he pulls out a rack of ribs a bottle of hot sauce and a jones soda co. green apple soda*
ohhhhhhh yeah. * he heats up the ribs with a strong scrumptious smell radiateing the building*
"ZzZzZzZzZz" :sleep :dribble :baby :sleep Kio is still knocked out from the tranquilizer
Eibbor was too dazed from the fall to react to either the loud shot or Gabi's voice. The world swims back into focus as he hears himself addressed as Mr. Fan.
'Broken? I- ...' Eibbor hesitates, uncertain whether Hilary really thinks he's a fan, or is just being silly. He balances his options- if he tells her he's not a fan, and she's just being silly, then he will feel dumb, so he decides to play it safe.
'I ...think I am fine. Mostly.' He tries to inconspicuously his rump, where he feels sore from the tail pulling. Um. You can call me Eibbor. Not "Ceiling Fan." Um, who are you?
"ZzZzZzzzZzzzZzZzZzZz :sleep Kio is still asleep waking until someone does something to wake him.
Roureem decides to take advantage of the relative calm and pulls out his quill and some paper. He then writes down a few thoughts he has, as well as things he has seen.
Cascade. The gathering of knowledge. What leaves will return to leave again.
Sound. Giving life to experience. Without it, life seems like a vast, empty desert.
Dark. The playground of imagination. What brings fear may also bring comfort.
Haz walks slowly, cautiously towards Kio and nudges the limp body of flesh and fur with his foot - there's no reaction... "Uh-oh..."
Hilary looks at him suspiciously. "Hey... you're not a ceiling fan, are you? You're not doing the whole 'spin spin' thing. Huh. Well, I'm Hilary! Very pleased to meet you, Ebbor Not Ceiling Fan! Um... sorry about pulling your tail and all that... maybe I can help out a bit." Her fingers glowed with a faint green light, and she poked him hard in the forehead.
When he sees the green light emanating from Hilary's fingers, Eibbor stiffens.
"Uh, wha- Bwah!" he says, his question interrupted by the hard jab to the forehead.
He blinks twice, and asks curiously, "What did you just do?"
"I healed you... Your butt shouldn't hurt anymore," she says cheerfully. "Sorry 'bout the poke. It's just that my healing powers aren't that powerful, and the magic just floats off into thin air if I don't give it an extra push in the right direction." She seems a little embarassed about this. "But I can smite things really well!" she exclaims, eager to make up for it. "Watch!"A red light, much stronger this time, starts in her fingertips and spreads to the rest of her hands...
Aiyno opens an eye and yawns: "Not really miss Gabi" Aiyno beginst to stretch after stretching Aiyno sits down on the couch blankly watching the TV screen there a show on called: *The black screen*
Gabi walks towards Kio, casts a piercing glate at Haz and kneels down to help the fallen feline. She checks his vitals, casts a healing spell on him and strokes him gently, waiting for him to wake up.
Miaka slips inside, relatively quietly, looking around for a friend of hers, or just someone she can remember the name of to spend time with. her eyes land on Gabi, and she lets out a small sigh of releif before going and walking to her.
"Hi there Gabi." she says, before looking at the kitten she held in her hands. "Kio? what happened to him?"
A gray, generic feline Incubus walks into the room, sporting a green trenchcoat, a black shirt, pants, and boots, carrying a scythe. He looked around, seeing ssome familiar looking people.
"He was hit by a dart," Gabi answers Miaka's question. "I think it was poisoned."
She then notices FF and glares at his scythe. "Is everyone here loaded with weapons? What is this?, one of those insane reality shows where everyone tries to kill everyone else?"
Aiyno gets up and walks over to Furryfreak. Touches the scythe's blade and replies "The weapon closed is around the corner, It's filled up and aa few daggers fall out wenn you open it. But I think this weapon still fits in there. Would you do me a favor and put away that scythe into that closed?"
Kio's eyes slowly open. Kio yawns and rubs his eyes with his little paw. "What happened? What hit me? What did I miss? Where's my Coffee?" Kio asked looking at Gabi for answers. "Telll meeee"
"Please relax, you've been hit by a poisoned dart," Gabi replies. "I've healed you, but you'll need to take it easy for a while. Both for your health's sake and because this place looke like it could blow up at any time, with all those dangerously excitable types and so many weapons lying around. And I'm afraid there's no more coffee available... or tea, for that matter, but I can go out and bring some tea if you wish. Coffee, I don't know where to find. I don't drink it myself."
"But...I want COFFEE! I want it I want it! I want it now!!! or maybe some caffinitated soda?" Kio says after his little tantrum.
Parsons injects a hypodermic needle full of caffine into Kio's jugular vein.
Kio's eyes bulge out as e gives out a very big grin. Kio unfolds his wings from his back and starts to fly around again. "Someone order some pizza I wanna drop it on people!! WHooooo!!!!" Kio is flying super fast
Gabi sighs and shakes her head.
"What am I doing here?," she asks, to no one in particular.
She looks around, trying to find someone sane enough to talk to. Among those who are close by, Aiyno seems to be the best choice. She approaches the wolf and queries: "what is this place?"
"Whooooosh! Ask meh Ask meh!!!" Kio says as he flies around Gabi's head quickly.
Gabi covers her head, just in case something nasty comes her way. She looks up at Kio.
"Alright, what do you have to say? And can you please come down?"
"No I can't, too hyper! HWHWHWOWOWOW!!!" Kio says before atalking, "This is the super duper House! It has lotsa rooms and lotsa food and lotsa, lotsa stuff!!" Kio is still hyper.
"Okay... and why is everyone acting so crazy?"
"Bevcause..WE WANNA!!!" Kio yells in her face before saying, "WHOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
Quote from: Gabi on July 13, 2006, 08:53:44 AM
"He was hit by a dart," Gabi answers Miaka's question. "I think it was poisoned."
She then notices FF and glares at his scythe. "Is everyone here loaded with weapons? What is this?, one of those insane reality shows where everyone tries to kill everyone else?"
"Just call it paranoia.." he said, with a nervouse chuckle. "Nice to meet you. I'm Luma."
"I'm Gabi," Gabi replies, offering Luma her hand, although still wary.
Quote from: Gabi on July 13, 2006, 11:59:24 AM
She looks around, trying to find someone sane enough to talk to. Among those who are close by, Aiyno seems to be the best choice. She approaches the wolf and queries: "what is this place?"
Aiyno chakes her head "I've not got a clue about what this place is myself miss. It seems to be a a lounge, I don't even know why I'm here myself. As if some greater power made me stay here."
olrox looks the exit,because he want go out
Parsons butts into the conversation rather rudely.
"I think it's because you'll find that someone's erected a brick wall where the exit door should be."
Luma shook her hand, with a low bow. "You don't have to be too cautious. I'm not very violent."
"Still, weapons scary me, especially wenn there sharp and pointy. So please.... " Aiyno looks around once more..
Kio flies around everyone's head at least 5 times before runig out of hyper energ. "hyper ness...losing power...going down!" Kio says as he lands on the SLSCSC couch. Kio is exhausted.
Gabi inspects the surroundings carefully.
"Wait a second! We're trapped here?! When was that wall built? Why didn't anyone notice? We need to find the way to sort this out." *Catst a detection spell in search for traces of magic.*
"Maybe this place is like the enchanted maze? Walls shifting randomly by the greater powers.."
"Greater powers? I don't know how great they are, but there is something going on here. I say we try to figure out what it is. Who's with me?"
Aiyno looks around. "Well i've there's nothing more usefull to do here, so I'm in miss gabi."
Ronin examines the walls and sighs, "I'm with you Gabi. But where do we start? Also, should I go make sure Kio doesn't go hyper again with this," He says as he picks up a straitjacket.
Now the red light was starting to spread up into her arms, and sparks were snapping around her skin. She saw the others pointing at the doorway and saying something about a brick wall. This looked right up her alley... "Hey, guys!" She said, waving a crimson-encased hand. "You need something knocked down?"
Kio starts to stor, "Whahappenz?" Kio slurred. Kio yawned and stretched.
"It wasn't a poisoned dart, it was a tranquilizer!" blurted out Haz. "Er... uh, I mean... Looks like we need a way out of here." He looks around the destroyed room for something large with which to break through a wall. "...Perhaps we could use Kio, after all, he got us into the game room." Once again, Haz looks around the room, but this time for Parsons. "Where's Parsons? We need him to give Kio another shot of caffiene."
"YEAH! And it's my house! I created it! eep.." Kio says covering his mouth.
Parsons tosses another syringe of caffine at Haz.
"Ha! No way, Jose, you ain't gettin' this!" exclaimed Haz to Kio, "Not until you tell us what's going on here!"
"The house is....doing what I want it do....with my brain!!!!" Kio says. 'Now Gimme the coffee and stuff!!"
Haz slips the syringe into his magical back pocket and slowly backs away from Kio... "Stop looking at me like that... No, stop! ACK! GET AWAAAAAAYYYY!!! AAARRRGGGHHH GET 'IM OFF MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Mabye I can set up an intravenous drip for Kio.
As Kio approaches HaZ, Ronin steps between them and forces the straitjacket he was holding onto Kio. He makes sure it is tight on Kio, then places him on the floor then steps back.
"COOFFFEEE COME BACK TO ME!!!" Kio while he had the straitjacket put on him. "FFine....I'm making the house stay on Lockdown! No one will escape!!" Kio says as he makes the walls al have no doors or windows!
Hazmat sniggers, "You mean you've already forgotten about my magical back-pocket?" He then reaches for said pocket and pulls out "an anti-Kio! He's the exact opposite of you in real time, so when you're trying to keep us in, he'll let us out. Owned! :D "
Just then a big hole is blown in the wall when two men in black and a certain Admiral Karl Hestbech enters through it...
"Thanks for the assistance, fellas...Kio! What did I say about using lockdown to trap guests instead of intruders?! do I have to remove your caffiene allowance for a week or something?!"
(OOC : Lets pretend that the house is the Admiral's Summer home and He allows kio to live there with him and his fiance...Is that OK, Kio?)
Eibbor's fur stands on end and he steps back when the red light begins to glow.
"Uh. If it's all the same to you, maybe it'd be better if you don't demonstrate." When he realizes that it is evidently powerful enough to break a hole in the wall, he scoots backwards another few steps.
"Maybe you can demonstrate on... furniture or something. Just not me. Please. Er. Ma'am." He's obviously unnerved by the idea, but curious at the same time. He shakes himself and declares, "I think we should find out what's up over there. And (probably more importantly) where the doors went... 'Cause that does not bode well. I mean, if we're stuck in here, the pizza won't last forever. And then..." he appears to think for a moment, "Hey, I won't cannibalize you if you won't cannibalize m-"
BOOM, the room suddenly has a new exit, and a whooole lot of shrapnel. Eibbor just stands there with his mouth hanging open.
"Awww, I didn't even get to use my anti-Kio," said Haz as he placed the A-K back into his magical back pocket.
"All of you people are no fun..." Kio says as he sits on the SLSCSC couch. Kio is angry.
That's ok, Haz...*looks at walls and notices some things missing* Dangit, Kio! Return the Food Replicators, now!..and the Jacks for my PET (Personal Electronic Terminal)!
"I don't wanna because you ruined my fun," Kio said
very well...PSYBLAST! *Disrupts Kio's manipulation of space-time in order to restroe things*...now, if anyone is hungry...order from the food replicators...and my newly- wedded wife will be home soon...so i suggest using level B3 of this building to do the partying...since that floor is where the Arcade is usually at and the rest of the recreation area...
"What the hell?"
*tells Roureem that Kio messed up the layout of the house... so he had to restore it*
While all of that was happening, Luma was surled up on the sofa, purring in his sleep.
Hilary looked vaugely disappointed. "Awwww, I don't get to blow up the wall." Then she threw her hands in the air. "But we won't have to cannabalize anyone. Yay!" A crackle of lighting shot out of each hand, smashing two identical holes in the ceiling, each with a diameter of about four and a half feet. She froze and looked up.
"Oopsies..." She looked around, spotting the newcomer who appeared to be the owner of the house. "Um... you have two new skylights."
"I hope you're insurance covers this darll" Aiyno commented with an 'omg' / 'erk' face.
Gabi looks at Kio, and watches him carefully for a while, unsure of how to deal with him. She finally decides to talk to him and see what else she can find out.
"Why are you doing this?," she asks.
"Yeek," Eibbor says. "I hope we don't have to pay for this... Maybe we should, y'know, move away from the gaping holes in the roof?"
He notes with some concern that the rafter he had previously been sitting on is now utterly obliterated.
"I hope that this roof is sturdy enough to not cave in..."
Mel Dragonkitty pokes her head in the charred remains of the door. "Is Kio in here? There's a delivery guy with 200,000 yarn balls looking for Kio."
"Be right back to you on that Gabi...YARN BALLS!!!!" Kio said flying at Mel's face.
Glad that she is a 20 foot long dragon Mel picks Kio off her head. Holding him by the scruff of the neck so he freezes (secret kitten weakness) she asks, "Do I look like a yarn ball?" She sets him on the ground facing out the door. "You have to find the delivery guy and sign for the delivery before you get your yarn."
As Kio flies out the door Mel transforms from a 20 foot long white dragon to a 5 foot tall white feline and steps through the hole in the wall that used to be the door. She looks around at the burned and stattered walls, the overturned furniture, pizzas stuck to every surface and the small lake of tea and soda surrounding a crushed beverage cart. "Hmmm... looks like someone gave Kio sugar. I hear you can get special Kio insurance now."
She steps around a broken chair while carefully holding her fluffy white tail away from the pizza globs. "If any tea survived the rampage could I get a cup?"
Gabi shakes her head, looks for a wall to lean on, does so, opens her purse and introduces her hand in it. After searching for a while, she takes out a pencil and contemplates it thoughtfully. She sighs, puts the pencil back in the purse, closes it and looks resolutely at Kio. Then she looks around once more. No one seems to be paying any attention to her, but the situation has changed between Kio and Mel. She rather gladly throws her plan away, and approaches the pair.
"That was coffee, not sugar," she says. "In my experience, sugar does not, in fact, have that effect. But I could get some tea if Kio were to open the door so I can look for it, and if everyone agrees to stop this nonsense and discuss things quietly. This war sees to have sprouted out of nowhere, for no reason at all. We need to think clearly."
Mel sets a few of the smaller chairs and tables upright. "I just got here so I didn't blow anything up, but tea and conversation sounds nice, Gabi. " She produces a white linen tablecloth that she spreads over the table and then places a big plate of scones, a jar of lemon curd, a jar of blueberry jelly, and a bowl of clotted cream in the center. "There Gabi, I've got half the teaparty ready. If you can get Kio away from the truck full of yarn balls long enough to get the tea made we can begin." She looks around at the sea of destruction surrounding her small island of calm and adds, "Perhaps we'd better get a bowl of milk for that hyperactive kitten, no more caffeine."
One of the pizzas chooses that moment to fall from the ceiling with a discusting sounding squelch. "And maybe someone can call one of those disaster cleanup crews."
A green squirrel Furre entered the room, looking around. "Er.... Hello people?" he said, blinking. (Here's his appearance... http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/8057/rylesprite0qt.png )
"where did I have the Cleaner Bots...ah that's right...Level B1" Karl goes to the towards the elevator...which by the way has a level schematic in the back and is voice activated (like in star trek: the next generation).
You might need some carpenterbots too.
While Im at it...anyone for a tour?
Sure, I'll take one while we're waiting for the tea.
Glad that the crisis seems to be over, Gabi walks out and soon comes back with a few boxes of teas of different kinds.
"Let's see..." she says. "We have Earl Grey, Darjeeling, Jasmine, Cinnamon and assorted herbs, which is probably Mint, Chamomile, Boldo and the likes. What does everyone want?"
Mel calls out from the elevator as the door is closing, "Either Earl Grey or Darjeeling, please. Whichever is most convenient. Save me a scone and some lemon curd."
"Alright, I'll give you some Darjeeling and I'll have some too."
Gabi takes a teabag out of the box and makes 2 cups of tea.
The elevator door reopens and Mel steps out looking confused, "The Admiral and I were on the elevator when he just disappeared. Should we go look for him?"
Looking quite shaken she takes the cup of tea from Gabi and sips it nervously, "You don't think this is one of those haunted houses do you?"
"I'm right here, silly...I just accidently activated the cloaking on my armor"
Karl deactivates his cloaking and waits if anybody else wants a tour...
"Don't scare me like that. I'm the nervous type and the crowd around here doesn't help my nerves any." Feeling better she slathers lemon curd on a scone and pops it in her mouth. "I'm ready for the tour if you promice not to scare me again."
"Anybody else want a tour?"
Ronin yawns and decides to follow the two in the tour, not really having much else to do.
"It depends on what you mean by haunted," Gabi answers Mel's question. "going by the definition that requires the presence of ghosts, probably not. Going by the other definition... I'd say Kio has been definitely haunting it. And it seems to be quite sensitive to magic, so each one of us might have an effect on it. It's probably a good idea to explore it."
With this, she joins the 'tour'.
"OK boys just paint that wall!" Kio says before entering through the once-to-be door. "Hey everybody! I now own a newer and cooler house that I own!! It's also full of yarn..." Kio says. "and Soda and coffee and that thing billbuckner gave me... AND sugar..." Kio says as he iss now Hyper.
"ok first the second floor...above ground..(2)...this is the livingquarters for each individual or couple of the house...well actually, it's a housing complex...more like mansion...."
"Erk, yes... moving away is a very good idea." Hilary looks up at the creaking rafters and edges to the side. "Faaaar away. Perhaps we could catch up with the tour?" She looks thoughtful. "Maybe there's something else I could destroy..." It is unclear whether she is being serious or kidding, but in light of previous events, the former is pretty darn likely.
Haz, having nothing better to do, reluctantly joins the sure-to-be un-interesting tour on the off chance of something blowing up.
"We really need to phone a repair team for this place..." She walks to the couch and sits down, Noticing the TV is trurned of She throws a all of yarn against the power button, forcing it on.
"It would be so much easier if this place were in Pencilworld! But if I'm right, it may be easily fixed with magic. I wonder if Kio knows exactly how it works."
(OOC: Kio, report to the Invisible Friend thread immediately.)
"Sounds good to me," Eibbor tells Hilary. As they rush to catch the group, he asks, "So... How does your healing and, um, you called it smiting? How do they work? Is it... concentrated energy? Or intentions being focused?" He's obviously curious about magic powerful enough to blast clean through the roof.
"This place is particularly vulnerable to magic," Gabi tells Eibbor. "I think any kind of magic will have a stronger effect here."
"Really? I wonder why..." He scratches his head, "Mmm, I guess I better not try any of mine while I'm here. I could cause some real damage." His hand goes to the small black 'genie-lamp' on a loose cord around his neck. He thinks for a moment about the gaping holes in the roof, "More real damage, that is."
everybody hears a voice coming fromthe enterence...
"Of course this complex amplifies Magi-Field-Manipulation...or magic, as you call it. That's because I made it."
There stands the wife of the Admiral...Lilith.
"Well, the magic greatly depends on intent, yes. In order to, say, blow something up, I have to want it very badly. For the magic to begin to build, I have to focus all my concentration on it, just for a moment. It can be a bit annoying in battle, but I work around it."
She thinks about Gabi's words, and the implications of the magic enhancement. "That explains it... the last time something like that happened, the holes were only three feet across." She starts to ask about the small black object around Eibbor's neck, but falls silent as she hears Lilith speak.
"This is the crappiest tour I've ever been on." >_>
Quietly sneaks in and crawls under a couch
"floor 1 is the lobby/dining area as you already know...." *brings group to basement floor 1 (B1)* "and this level is the technology lab..."
Gabi looks around.
"Technology lab? Interesting. It looks like a place I've seen before... which was eventually attacked by something that looked like a giant sea mow. I hope nothing like that happens here. Who made this lab? And who uses it?"
Staying silent for the majority for the "tour", Gareeku looked around the complex with virtually a constant raised eyebrow. "I'm sure this is interesting for some, but this just doesn't interest me." he said quitely as a slight grin appeared on the wolf's face.
*continues on to Basement floor 2 (B2)* "and here is the Holodeck level...I mostly use it to either train or go on virtual adventures..."
Gabi looks at Garekku, trying to interpret his grin, but failing.
"Well, I'm sure there must be other things you're interested in," she says, and then lets out a chuckle. "Personally, I'm interested in just about everything. I guess I'm just curious, but I like getting to understand things as much as I can."
Ronin stays silent during the tour, looking around at the floors and decides to move to the back, in case someone in the group wanted a better view of the floors they were on.
"Oh i'm the same as you Gabi. Its just that this wasn't quite what i was expecting when i got an invitation to hang out with the others. Plus the service aint that great." Gareeku replied to his friend in a joking manner, the grin now fully on his face as he winked at Gabi before continuing to look around.
*moves on to basement floor 3* "this level is the recreation area...we've got Television, Tabletop games, an arcade, some food replicators that specialize in snack foods...and a VR set that allows you to surf the galactic network (outernet, as opposed to internet) as well as this planet's internet..."
"It looks like someone was obsessed with technology..." Gabi comments. "But who?"
"Obviously someone who wanted to run up a rather large internet bill..." Gareeku comments with a smirk in response to Gabi's, "at least he didn't get bored."
Looking around, Gareeku inspects the various gadgets that the room contains...
Hilary tiptoes around, careful not to touch anything. "All this expensive equipment around me... I sense an imminent lawsuit."
Quote from: KarlOmega1 on July 18, 2006, 04:58:38 PM...and a VR set that allows you to surf the galactic network (outernet, as opposed to internet) as well as this planet's internet..."
Haz raises his hand as if to ba called on to answer a question... "Er, excuse me! Wouldn't it still be the internet? When you say 'outernet as opposed to internet' wouldn't it, rather, be opposed to innernet? Inter- means between two or more things. Such as inter-city or inter-planetary. While inner- means within."
*attention coughs* " may we see the last part of the tour before we settle in? *calls up some security droids for the next 3 floors (Basement floors 4, 5, and 6)* "just to let you know that I dont let most people except Military personel down to B4, B5, And B6 because it is for military use only...But I'll make an exception for you guys because you helped us stop those terrorists who were assualting the genetics labs a year ago***"
*** Takes place a year after my failed RP: Assualt on Genetics Lab 52.
*to Haz* "well, thanks for correcting me, soldier...don't do it again " >:3
Discretely moves to the back of the tour so she has room to duck when some of the more excitable members of the tour get near the 'splody military items.
"OMG! I wanna come! I helped!" Kio says flying through stuff as usual. He doesn't care if he can't because he is loaded up with sugar and anti-drowisness pills/
"Hey, wasn't that guy wearing a straight-jacket?" says Haz.
*continues to B4* Is floor has the armory on it...but it also has the upper of the vehicle/zord storage area in the west part of the complex...not to mention the firing range...*brings tour towards the armory*
"Hey what's this room over here, looks like--" Then something catches Haz's eye; it's a button, a big, red, shiny button. In an entranced state of mind, Haz approaches the button, "Must... push... shiny... button!"
"that button is the lights switch, Haz! Don't press..."
A strange man in pale red clothes joins the group from the B4 section. His hair is orange and at shoulder length. He's also wearing sunglasses. He remains silent, watching as someone is about to push a large, red button.
Ronin blinks as the lights go out and looks at Karl,
"Admiral, I have one question, have you heard of a light switch? I hear they're less likely to be abused than flashing red light up buttons."
*presses the button then ties Haz's hands behind his back so that doesn't happen again...the lights come back on*
"Well," comments Eibbor with a wry grin, "That was entertaining."
Kio comes flying in. "What's going on? Why did you people press my nice red button?! I just got it cleaned of fingermarks..."
"Heh, that's what you get for trying to steal my coffee!" says Haz, while trying to free his hadsd from the rope.
*takes a photon blaster from the armory and guides the group towards the firing range* "we're gonna test your marksmanship at the firing range, my friends..."
"When I got myself out of this strait jacket i wanna try it out~!" Kio says as he struggles to get out.
a strange sleepy eyes fur enters the room. he looks arounbd surpized for a moment as if shocked that he finds himself in such a place. he then resuems his sleepy eyoend apperance and goes stand in front of the T.V. he does not speak and tries to look normal as he scopes out the place looking for a familer face.
*suddenly a hole opens up in the floor and a bruised and injured elf/hydra hybrid crawls out of the hole* Hi Kio*falls face first back on the floor*
Quote from: KarlOmega1 on July 23, 2006, 03:10:03 PM
*takes a photon blaster from the armory and guides the group towards the firing range* "we're gonna test your marksmanship at the firing range, my friends..."
"Ooohoohoo, me first!" declares Haz, as he gropes for the large weapon. Haz rests the huge gun on his shoulder and looks through the sight. He targets a dummy stuffed with straw placed at the end of the firing range and pulls the trigger with a satisfying click. Before anyone knew what had happened, there was a gaping hole in the wall behind where the dummy had been, and the dummy was nowhere to be found.
"Hi Zet! Help me get out of this strait jaxcket so I can have a turn to shooot a dummy!" Kio says as he struggles to get out of the strait jacket
Quote from: ×HaZ×MaT× on July 24, 2006, 08:47:07 AM
Quote from: KarlOmega1 on July 23, 2006, 03:10:03 PM
*takes a photon blaster from the armory and guides the group towards the firing range* "we're gonna test your marksmanship at the firing range, my friends..."
"Ooohoohoo, me first!" declares Haz, as he gropes for the large weapon. Haz rests the huge gun on his shoulder and looks through the sight. He targets a dummy stuffed with straw placed at the end of the firing range and pulls the trigger with a satisfying click. Before anyone knew what had happened, there was a gaping hole in the wall behind where the dummy had been, and the dummy was nowhere to be found.
OOC> the Photon Blaster is the size of a handgun, silly...
"Haz...let me take a look at it" the admiral looks at the firing setting...."just as I thought...it's at full setting...you'd end up vaporizing someone with this" *sets it at 1/4th power then lets Ronin try it*
Ronin takes the gun, examining it, then taking aim at the new dummy placed at the far end of the room. He clicks the trigger, releasing a few shots at the dummy. In moments, the dummy has holes in it. He then hands the gun back to Karl and sits aside for others to try.
*gives it to Gabi to try*
[offtopic]
Quote from: KarlOmega1 on July 24, 2006, 01:07:55 PMOOC> the Photon Blaster is the size of a handgun, silly...
I know, I'm just really small. :razz [/offtopic]
touchind his right arm as ind in remembrance.
can i give the target practice a go?
"Hey! What about me?! I want a turn!!!"
you seem familer. doi i know you and would you like some herl as it seem you are partialsy sealed/bound
*hands E-voyager a Disruptor mortar*
a tingel runs up e's are and he hols the morter.. " interisn but i'm not sure how to use this weapon. can to show me . looks aout the bound fur. "would you care to tag along as well? "
"Simple...place the mortar on the ground, aim it at target area, drop this disruptor shell on it and stand clear..."
okay I'll try. places the morter down and tries to aim it but get the angle worms and misses the target by about 8 feet
"Whatsa Bound Fur? Are you refferrrig to meee?! WAS THAT AN INSULT?!" :rant :censored :cuss
"an insulte? goodness knoe. it's just that being tied ups or bound in a strain jacket mens that you are bound. i was wonding if you wanted some help gettin it off since you never tome me you name. i am called e by the way." (e wonders if the fur in the straint jack is a mind reader as well
A young elemental poofs into the room. He walks over to an empty chair in the room and greets everyone, "Ello everbody"
"Yes I wanna get out of this strait jacket because I wanna use the guuuuuun! Oh my name is Kio, Keeeeoooo" Kio pronounced.
Ronin looks to Kio I "If we let you have a go with the gun, chances are that none of us are comming out of this mansion unless we're dragged out, with all the caffiene you got." He looks around and shrugs.
"I wonder if there's any water around here," he ponders.
"THAT'S NOT FAIR! I DIDN'T GET A TURN WITH THE GUN YET!" Kio says on the verge of tears.
"Here you can use this," Haz tosses Kio a small watergun. "Good luck, since there doesn't seem to be any water around here..."
laughes at the grou then unbinds kio." i am called uhmm what was that name again? enigma i think but just call me it it's easer on me that way" launcher the morter atain this time he's 2wo feet fome the target
*steals the watergun and ruuuuuuns!*
"HEY COME BACK HERE YOU THEIF!!!" Kio says flying after Topher and is about to eat his head.
huh? he can fly? i wonder what kind of suppot unit he has considers his own form and fingers his robotiser device but remains flesh and blood
"I think they're called wings..."
well my wolf friend give me wigs as well but like BoboPatch would say"it's only for a limited time offer"
Quoteif you under stood what i just said the I'm not trying hard enough~ Erebus
"Get back here person!!! I must eat you for stealing my water gun!!!" Kio says right behind Topher.
*wakes up* What did i miss? *gets hit in the head from Kio flying around and is knocked unconscious ... again*
"Ooops Sorry Zet," Kio says still flying after atopher.
Topher turns slowly, showing only a quarter of his face, he then goes western and squirts him on ze face. Topher cackles and runs off into the darkness.
"AAHH!! MY EYES!" Kio lands and wipes his eyes, "Stupid Topher!"
Chuckles in the darkness, he then slides the watergun out, hoping to lure Kio into a trap
OOC:That just gave it away
(ya so?) *runs to the water gun* mine!
leaps out and begins to do the oompa loompa dance, slowly watching as kio is fooled into sitting in aw. He leaps for the gun and melts the tip with a small flame emitted by his index finger. He then points and laughs as Kio reaches for his now useless watergun, hahahaha :mwaha
Ronin tilts his head at the events that begin to unfold infront of the tour crowd. He shrugs and taps the Admiral on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, but do you know where I find some water?"
Topher looks up and tosses the busted watergun, "haha, i wanna see you try and get that!"
laughes as it has been a while since he has enjoyed watching others goof off.
Kio gets angry and flys to kick Topher in the face with his mad Kung Fu skills!
Quote from: Ronin Foxtail on August 01, 2006, 08:55:14 PM
Ronin tilts his head at the events that begin to unfold infront of the tour crowd. He shrugs and taps the Admiral on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, but do you know where I find some water?"
"down the hallway, right next to the elevator..."
*spots a hover droid zoom by speaking in Ancient Cybertronian*
HD: (Translation) "ALL YOUR ENERGON ARE BELONG TO US!!!"
Admiral Karl: "Okaaaaaayy...that...was weird..."
Topher falls to the floor, he begins to recover himself, then he notices his bleeding lip. He gets up and walks toward Kio, grinning at first, then gradually turning into a satanic laugh.
"Creeeeeepy," Kio says getting the water gun. Kio tries to squirt it but it doesn't work, "YOU BROKE IT!" Kio gets angry and flies to kick Topher in the face again.
Topher laughs harder as Kio continues to hit him, he then pushes Kio down, so that Kio looks up at him in a sitting position. Topher collapses atop of Kio, and begins laughing madly shaking the blood among Kio's now bloodied face...
(You can thank Tyler Durden for that)
marco stops looking at the wall as he has been doing so fro well who knows how long. marco walks over to the wal with a pen and begins doodleing smiles on it and it reads thusly
" :) :< D: :B :3 >:3 ;) xD :P :laugh :U :tired :rolleyes :mwaha :erk :help :bunny :januscat :spidey :batman :zombiekun3 :zombiekun2 :evar :meh :yeahthat :square :wiggle :murtagoy"
and funny enough thay are even animated.
*wakes up again and notices topher hitting Kio* don't mess with my brother *punches topher down onto the floor and helps kio up*
Topher falls to his back. He lay there, thinking what to do next, he decides to surprise them. As they walk over, they find him to e unconcious. Topher side swipe the both and leaps to his feet. Flames swallow his body, and his eyes darken, the flames grow as seconds pass, he begins hovering toward them...
"uh-oh..Sphaghettioh..."
beats topher over the head with his billie club
"i dont care if its police brutality! this guy serves the drinks!"
Topher laughs as the billie club goes through him, in his tapped form, he is quite unstoppable. Topher feels he has had enough for one day. He cools down and walks over to the corner and blows up his blow up pub titled, Topher's Pub. He calls out to the ferals in the room, "Here he here he, free drinks for all!"
"Is there milk in there?"
1 Pint o' milk comin up. Topher turns and grabs the bottle of milk, he shakes ot milk and pours it into a mug, slides it atop the bar into Kio's hand
Admiral, maybe it's time to take the tour to a room with less 'splody things.
so youre back to normal huh? * marco throws his billie club and smacks thopher in the forhead*
*walks up and picks up his club* i feel better now.
*sits down at a table across the room*
"Okay... time we went and look at the vehicles in the Zord Bay..."
*guides the group to the west side of the floor*
*drinks the milk and leaves milk moustache8 IWANT ORANGE JUICE NOW!"
Ronin looks in the direction of Kio, sighs, and just quickly hovers over to the water fountain next to the eleveator, pratically drowns himself in water, and runs over to the group (supposedly) at the Zord Bay.
walks around lost wondering where everyone went. "haloo!"
Slides Kio his orange juice and hops over the bar, making sure to turn the sign over to the closed side. He trots over to the group and rubs the now growing bump on his head. "Come on Kio, you can drink it on the way."
"What?! It can't be close! I hafta get drunk on orange juice!" Kio says drinking his orange juice quickly.
Topher chuckles as Kio chugs the Oj, he waves his hand goodbye and heads off
"NO GET BACK HERE YOU!" Kio says chasing after Topher to pour him more Oj.
Topher Speeds back to his bar, returning with a keg. He rolls it over to Kio and tosses him the tap, "Knock yourself out" Topher then retreats back to the group, wondering what he missed.
"YAY!" *chug chug* *gets drunk* *flies out of the bar flying crookiedly and hiccuping* "Ehheheh, that was *hic!* fun."
wall jumps to the secong floor for some reasn and begain to exp[loer again. "it has to be here somewhere"
*shows the group a large assortment of vehicles and Zords in the Zord Bay...including his Yellow Gundamzord...*
"Any Questions?"
"I do! *hic!* can i drive one? *hic!*" Kio says flying crokidly to them
Topher turns to look at Kio and chuckles.
now thats is a bid robo cat! wow. is it a liger?
"Which one goes the fastest?"
"now now.... we must not go bonkers over Giant mechs....however I do think we should look at the monitors over here that shows the inventory for every mech..."
*points to inventory screens by the enterance*
walks around the robo liger. "if i had a suppot unit like this then that blue dweeb was be crushed faster then a tin can."
Uhm, which do you recommend for me?
"I recommend..."
*notices his wife, Lilith, giving him the evil eye*
Karl:"What?! Can't someone at least test drive it?!"
Lilith: "only if there 17+ years of age"
Karl: riiiigghhtt...the "Cubizord" has "that feature" you installed in case we went on a honeymoon, didn't it?
*lilith nods*
so which do you recommend for.....say, a 15 year old?
oh...let's see...this!
*points towards a F-zero race vehicle*
what is this one called? * points to a massive feline zord that makes his look like a mouse size wise*
Topher hops into the F-zero race vehicle and turns the engine on. He revs and then turns to ask Karl, shall we?
Haz looks over all the vehicles with a seemingly disappointed look on his face. "Got anything a little more... you know, sporty? Preferably a convertible?" *hint hint*
*hiccups* "Hey...where's mine? *hic!*"
:looks over to kio and says i think its safe to say we either give you coffee straight or wait a couple hours before you drive, *points to the tricycle*
"Hmm..*hic!*" Kio says and gets on the tricycle and then rides it over everyone's feet.
chuckles as everyone sneers at Kio as he passed by rolling over their feet, be careful, the cops are sending peeps to jail with DWI's nowadays
"*hic!* Whazza?" Kio says not knowing what a DWI is. Kio then obbly runs over Topher'sfoot.
Topher grunts in pain. "grrr....."
riding tough the atmostpher on a liger never fear. i'm in the robot bergade!
moo
Kio is still drunks and tips over the tricycle and falls asleep on the ground.
*vulpes walks in and sits down, only to have his toes squished a minute later* Ow. *he looks to topher.*
So, does this guy do this often?
*wakes up from snoozing* wha?
That gut over there *points to kio* does he do this often?
*shrugs* I dunno, I havent been here long. It seems I must've given him too much orange juice hehe^^.
yea, orange juice'll do that to ya. So, you come here often?
I recently just came in but yeah, I guess you could say that, what about you,
"i'm back from calling Cybertronian Pizza...they have the best pizza in the galaxy...I have ordered 15 large pizzas. And as for the rest of the tour, a little postponement is ok...because it is getting close to supper."
i've actually neve been hre before, so this is a new experience to me, but i must say, *he looks at kio* this is very interesting
damn spam....
oh well, hope you like it, Im off to work on some of me website stuff....i have to find a way to make it on my own
ok! good luck! *he waves goodbye to topher, and sits back, putting some music on his iPod, and relaxes, waiting for someone else to come in*
*returns with his head down, ah screw it, i got the layout in my head n ready, i just need to wait for netami to get ready*
falls and lands on the ground. "well that was fun. not where should i go?"
*shrugs*
*Harley begins to sing:*Somewheeeere, over the rainbow,*hoping someone will sing along, and when no one does, he turns bright red and hangs his head in embarassment*
gets up and burshes himself off." i wonder if they have and tapes of the impossibles around here" goes off to look for them
Kio snores and drools on the floor, maybe getting drool on someone's foot.
e walks around a bit untill he finds some one that seems to be giving off a familiar energy signal. "Hello"
*picks up for vulpes, "Way up Hiiiiiiiiigh"
*vulpes gets up and hugs topher for saving him*
*chuckles and squeezes away from vulpes, detaching himself from the velcro-like d00d* hehe ^^;
walks in on the latter half of the hugging and is confused. "buh? "
*harley blushe and leans over to topher whispering*This moment never happended. Mmkay?
*brings the group back to the main floor as to relax*
"The Pizzas should be here within 45-90 minutes, depending on which warp speed the the delivery bot is going..."
*nods and charges toward the table*
(edit)
cmon peeps! get with the program
45 minutes?! I've been in the tunnel for a week *climbs up to the ceiling and sleeps on a rafter* wake me up when it gets here*faints*
E unable to help himself says in an echoing sing song voice " is it raining? Is it snowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? There's no earthly way of knowing yet the danger must be growing for the rowers keep on rowing and the certainly aren't showing any sign that they are slowing"
*digs in the ground and finds the delivery boys bag*
CURSES! Somebody stole ze pizza and buried ze pizzaboy!!!!
*runs in circles*
"Hm."
A shadow enters through the doorway, its master composed of a felid creature with fur of black, at least from what is seen of bare paws. It curiously and somewhat cautiously pokes a head out, concealed by a red cowel, with orbs of about the same shade peering from the shadow of it.
The room's energies pervade her senses immediately...various smells such as pizza, other food stuffs, and among them...dog food...are sensed. The energies of the others can be sensed as well. It is lively.
Perhaps...friendly?
Must be. I recognize a few people here. Thank goodness.
"Greetin's," she says in a light Hispanic-type accent. Reaching back she pulls the hood from her head, revealing the face of a melanistic jaguaress with reasonably long hair braided back, otherwise the rest is accented in her bangs and rest of it lying on the sides of her face, eyes of ruby blinking in the light. The cape shifts to show the navy-blue outfit and black belt about her waist with something shining under it, perhaps a weapon of sorts.
Smiling, wanting the atmosphere to be friendly, she waves to the others. "This where the pizza party's held? Seems like it," she jokes and finds a seat, taking note that someone was indeed yelling about pizza a moment ago.
e contiens to whisper and sings the huntlu soen toe temd zet into madness
poor......pizza....boy...
leaves Zet for a moment to scope out what chee is doing.
*turns and notices e is watching him*
*continues with whatever it was he was doing before*
whatc ya doin ? (did i get the accent right for what are you doing?)
(sure)
Jus chillin, how bout yourself?
eh kind of borad. i was teasing zet but i think he passed out.
hehe sounds like a plan
"Hey...the pizza delivery will be made by a bot, silly. Whatever you found shouldn't even be there"
a bot? are you serous? self aware robotic entities prefer to be call mechanical citizens. i know i met a few. *taps he metallic chest.*
"And by 'Bot',I meant 'Autobot'..."
ah i've met a few of them. a bit self righteous at times to over all my guys. the are called cybertornions the auto-bots are a political party on cyberton much like the deceptacons.
"speaking of machines...what type of power source do you run on, E? I have some Energon, as well as Emeraldine, stored in one of the supply rooms in case I had some Cybertronians or other mechanical guests over..."
e's body goes limp as a massive orb of near solid energy rises from his bob and floats around Karl.. it gose dark for a moment then resumes it's notns glow and sinks back inot the metlice body. "well int the the cyperson spark nor is it a white dawrf. it is simlly me."
MMM......kicks the pizza boy who was buried, you LIAR!
xD
This is the slowest pizza delivery ever.
e chucleks. if you think that mel try ording a pizza in brooklin as 2 am
It's been a month and a half. We could have built a brick oven, chopped down trees for firewood, made the pizzas from scratch, cooked them and eaten them by now.
I live in a very small town. If you want pizza at 2:00 you had better have a stash frozen in the freezer. However I live downtown so if I want a pizza before midnight I walk the 200 feet to the store to get it myself.
Victorian downtowns are the best. My house is on a fairly quiet, tree-lined street by the river and you wouldn't even know that you were maybe half a city block from a busy main street and maybe a whole city block from the highway.
Suddenly, the sharp sound of a door being closed violently echoes down from upstairs. For a slight second, a small draft brings a faint smell of warm salami, dough and tomato to all those with senses sharp enough to perceive it. And to those perceptive even beyond that, like the jaguar woman, there is a slight... disturbance, moving above, like a ripple on water so small it can barely be seen, a sound on the very edge of hearing. Then, again, sharp as a knife's edge in contrast to the previous silence, is yet another slam of a door or shutter, before everything goes quiet. In the stillness that follows, you feel as if something is tugging at your neck, something ready to jerk should you hear another slam. Yet all remains quiet.
e look arounds disturbed as some thing has happens the the darkness. "what just happened? " Erebus vanishing looking for the disturbance
Quote from: Mel Dragonkitty on October 19, 2006, 01:05:51 PM
It's been a month and a half. We could have built a brick oven, chopped down trees for firewood, made the pizzas from scratch, cooked them and eaten them by now.
If People had Been posting in topic during the time, I would Have posted that the Pizza had Arrived, dangit!
The disturbance is gone. But upon arriving at the door you feel something like a residue in the air, like static pulling at your hair (hard to imagine with a robot) , but somehow the other way around, as if there something pressing down on you. There is no movement, no sound, yet there is the whiff of a smell of something. Looking around, you notice a piece of salami laying on one of the steps of the stair that leads up to the attic.
A slow, gentle movement of cool air brings the smell of pizza, warm and clear, down the stairway. And also the smell of something else, very faint but perceivable. Something burnt, but far from warm, like the cold ashes after a fire.
I'm back from "my computer has gone insane land" and I'm hungry and want pizza. But I think your haunted attic ate it.
Erebus's cup buzz as the whisper of the shadows grow. he looks around and nods. this is not something to investigate at this time. he then returns to Mel. "sorry Mel i ting the pizza was intercepted. what go go see if there is anything left in the fridge?"
As E strides briskly to the kitchen, suddenly the high-pitched scream of a woman is heard from above, barely intelligible and muffled through the doors and ceiling, but clearly audible.
"PLEASE HE...!" The scream is cut short, followed only by silence.
Aisha had been in her own partial world, listening simply to the melee of funny conversations and awaiting the aformentioned pizza. When, all of a sudden, she felt what everyone did before. Strange...foreboding. The emerald ring adorning her tail glowed beneath the shadowy veil of her cloak.
The pantheress waited for the actions of the others before making a move for something, even after a shudder crawled up her back at a sudden yelp...
A right hand rested on the carefully guarded handle of her boomerang. "Mis dioses... What could that have been now?"
*Hears a beeping coming from his Commlink*
Karl: What is it, Micheal?
*hears a Panicked Micheal.exe on the line*
Micheal: Sir! Sensors indicate an Intruder...Energy signature matches that of a Hellian
*picks up PDA with sensor and sets Sensor to Bioscan*
Karl: Okay everyone...Please come here so I can do an Exclusion Scan so that way when I use this later, It'll pick you up as friendlies.
While Karl quickly and deftly switches through the functions on his PDA he first spots no abnormal activities in the basic bioscan function. Sound, infrared, electrostatic discharge, all are at a minimum outside the lounge... But then one of the graphs suddenly spikes, reading a great amount of trace organic bonds. A chemospectrum blips up automatically, reading an abnormally high amount of sulphurous and chloride bonds and metalsalicylate. Confounded by this information, Karl cleverly decides to do a smart auto-read.
Upon an activation of the scanner's smart-search, several graphs are illumined, many of which make no sense at all and some of which are in the red danger-regions. The auto-assessment reads back to Carl, in big, glowing letters; EM- and Mago-energy interference magnitude Theta, suggest high-energy presence and/or strong extradimensional interference. EXTREME CAUTION ADVISED!
Carl has only a moment to read the disturbing message before suddenly, the PDA's sensors go wild. For a short moment, the hall seems darker, the walls taller and looming, as if ready to topple down on them all. The doorway to the corridor above darkens and seems to grow somehow both larger and more distant, a gaping maw waiting to swallow them. And although Carl cannot feel it, Aisha feels... a rumble. Everyone with magical capabilites does. Not a sound; that is far short of a description of it, but a strong, rolling vibration, like the ground suddenly being shaken under one's feet. Though this vibration came not through the ground, but somehow through the very magic of this place. Realizing what the sensation felt like, a chill grows in them that makes the hairs on their necks stand on end. For a moment, a short but terrible moment, magic itself seemed... hollow.
*Just then, Karl feels a Surge of Dark Energy Coming from one of the Basement floors...He now realizes what the signature was*
Karl: Oh Slag! It's a group of Abyssal Worms! RUN!!!
*After saying it, the Worms then Burst from the floor, nearly catching him...Karl then went Full Mech Armor and started Charging Light energy to his Sword*
Karl: Anyone who can fight or knows any Light/Holy based magic is free to stay and help...as for the rest of ye, Move it!!!
if you want i can just eat them. or maybe i can catch them. it's been a while so i may be rusty but i am darkness far more pure then most that you'll find.
Aisha's teeth were clenched, her head swerving left and right, searching for answers as to the disturbance. Her fingers closed over the handle of the silver weapon in her belt and slowly moved it out. Tail twitched, emerald tail ring glowing ever brighter in the presence of dark magic, or something of the sort. Each time her eyes caught the brightening, she grew more edgy. And here I thought I could escape demon-hunting for just ONE day...
Her innate senses for magic were going off the charts, threatening to make the jaguar almost insane...yet years of training prepared the mind for such. Something was definitely wrong about the house. She stood, watched, pausing only to allow Karl's sensor to register her as an ally. All was in suspense for only mere seconds, what seemed like hours, and the void threatened to grow...
Then, when the floor exploded, the feeling vanished and her weapon flew without a second thought towards the nearest attacker, bound for magic and flesh. "Te muerto" she muttered...SLASH! Returning it to her hand stained with entrails and reeking like crazy.
"I shall help. I hate suspense." she cooly replied to the command and let fly again...
E reaches into his chest and form it withdraws a saber that is darker then the night. he smiles. " i shall help as well though this shadow blade is nothing compared to the sword of eliander but it shall do."
Mel decides that demons give her headaches and she's still hungry. She disappears through the interdimensional portal in the fridge. (Of course there is an interdimensional portal in every fridge. YOU didn't put that green fuzzy stuff in there, did you?)
Karl: I have a better Idea..
*goes centurion mode...a glowing portal opens*
Karl: About time I used a Chaos Drive...
* a device appears from portal and attaches to socket jack in back of armor*
Karl: Chaos Drive - ACTIVATE!!! Sol Disruptor!!!
* The Cannon on the right arm splits and forms a beam of light/holy energy, Vaporizing two of the remaining five worms...which leaves three left.
nods his approval steep over the to side to make sure that he is not in the way. i miss those 5 guys but hey portals are portals and i do leave a lot behind when i travel
Indeed there is an inter-universal portal between existences somehow present in the fridge, anchored there seven-dimensionally and hovering with a pleasant, soft hum, small ripples in the light around it signifying its presence. With but a step, Mel is whisked away into the near-incalculable aether, using her experience to expertly navigate to the dimensional disturbance that is most likely near to a time near a fast-food restaurant within the next minutes.
Suddenly, Mel stops. Here, that means something more along the lines that the world stops around her. Something is wrong, very wrong. She can feel it. Turning her attention "back" towards the place she just left, she makes a start. The space is... not rippling, but rather "cutting" around itself, bending and twisting in places in ways it definitely should not. She can see the traces and imperfections where the Worms came through into normality and the recently made portal that carries Karl's Centurion module. Yet both of these pale in comparison to the veritable lashes of dimensional movement that are given off continuously by something very close. And most horrible of all, as the heart of these movements, that which must have attracted the Worms, falls into her "vision" there is nothing there. They just seem to be coming out of nowhere. But after a while, small, black "flares" flowing out from this point become visible, and somewhere in the background, Mel hears a whisper.
What are... doing... ere... The sound is faint, seemingly coming from everywhere, but it grows stronger.
They came through. Never should have moved in the first place, one voice says, deep and hissing. Then more voices follow, sounding exactly like the first one, often whispering at the same time or overlapping each other.
They will not last long. We will hide, yes. They come... searching, and we'll give them a good scare, for fun. Yeees... but what about the food? Leave the rest to them. We have what we need. We could steal some for them. No, we shouldn't leave. Not now. Are we curious about them? Be still. We have an... admirer. The voices stop abruptly. The distortion fades away.
A small flame, so black it seems like a hole in her vision, springs up before Mel. It slowly sinks, becoming more and more solid, taking the form of a perfect, absolutely black feather, settling just before her feet. Around her everything has become dark and still, a light that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere the only illumination.
"You are not supposed to be here."
(OOC: whoa who's' the dungeon master and when did this RP become so Erebus like? )
Erebus his blade read senses that there is more afoot and that some one he knows is close to a lesser darkness. splintering his focus a first time her appearing in Mel's shadow the watch what has begun already to lead aid ore protection if needed..
((OOC: Wish I knew too, but I'll go with it XD Kudos to Stygian for some awesome scenemaking. :mowtongue ))
The group looks to have been scattered, and the house once smelling of good treats and pizza now smells of battle remains...but who knew what it was really like? The house seemed like something ethereal, out of an illusion, taking each sense into account with barely any room for error...anything to make the illusion real...or perhaps it was real, only the instigator knew...
The fight ended quickly with Karl's impressive weaponry, to which she carefully stayed out of the way from. One worm was left healthy, its hungry eyes looking still for something to attack out of some barbaric will. In the blink of an eye a flash of silver pinned it to the ground and it went out with a finished screeching cry.
Free to a breath, the black jaguar searched around...one was missing: Mel. But then she may have fled. Back to the matter, Aisha remembered from before that something was heard...blood-visioned eyes turned up to the ceiling for a moment...
Silent. But someone had called for help...a trap? No choice but to take no chance...
"I'll search the attic, if anyone thinks to care..." The panther clenched the metallic weapon in her hand and proceeded to find the stairs to the above rooms, fueled still by the energy of battle.
((OOC: I reeeeeeally must apologize for all that, but I just love to dramatize and make plots and such. I find that in most situations, I am more verbal and eloquent than my immediate friends, why I have developed this talent as a matter of convenience for certain situations. As for a DM... well, if it suddenly is me you need not be afraid. I don't think you will find anyone more adversely oriented towards exploitation, blackmail and manipulation than me. You need not be afraid at all that I will mistreat anyone.))
As Aisha stalks up the stairs, her steps careful and measured for absolute silence, she thinks she hears something like a thump, traveling down the stairway from above. It is, after all, hard even for someone with heightened and carefully trained hearing to discern anything clearly in here. The walls of the manor are thick, but the roof is wooden in the attic nevertheless and probably no one has seen to the place in years. It might as well be wind moving through some opening, slamming a door, or woodwork creaking.
As she reaches the third floor corridor, Aisha stops, noticing something gleaming on the floor. She walks up to it, carefully examining it with the cool air of an experienced deducer at work. It proves to be a slim piece of some silvery, shiny metal, torn at the edges and still with some screws with wires tangled in them attatched. Further down the corridor, she notices something else glistening, in front of a window that is open for some reason, curtains billowing gently in an even early evening breeze and light with just a slight tang of orange shining in on white late 19th century plaster and dark floorwood.
The petite feline smiles welcomingly, "Hi. Are you here to play the chasing game? Everyone else is playing the chasing game. I was going to play but I got hungry and everything in the fridge was green and fuzzy. Do you like tacos? I was going to get tacos but now I might want pasta. Everyone likes pasta, right? I get a headache when I'm hungry, do you get a headache when you're hungry? No one likes me when I get a headache for some reason, I don't know why." This dialog was delivered in a rapid breathless assault similar to that of an excited child but Mel doesn't seem to notice that no one answers her. "I guess I'd better eat before my headache gets worse."
From under her feet a patch of brightness begins to grow until the space surrounding her is as bright and calm as the area beyond is dark and turbulent. Within the bubble appears first a hardwood floor, then a small table and chairs set with linen and crystal are centered within the sphere. Finally two plates appear on the table, one filled with pasta the other with tacos. Mel turns to the table and looks at the options. "Hmmm... I think I was right about the pasta. Would you like the tacos or are you going to play the chasing game?"
Only those with the right kind of vision will notice that the aura around the ditzy little feline is neither little nor feline and is not normally associated with the featherbrained.
*Just then the house started to shake before a large, dark portal opened up. Out of the portal came a figure Karl recognized*
Karl: should of known it was you doing this...Lucifer!
Lucifer (in a deep tone): So what?! I'll destroy anyone associated with you if they get in my way when I take my revenge on you!
Karl: Still ticked that I beat you up to a pulp I see...It proved at least how much of a wimp "El Diablo" can be.
(OOC: no i have no objection i am enjoying this new scenario. it took me by surprise and has continued to deliver much excitement. it truth i am glad that this place picked up again)
i both locations Erebus smiles. Mel's rant was a cover he knows and it reminded him of on the the nameless wonder's defense mechanisms. as Mel's aura brightens on the Astra field Erebus is fores to hide ever further lest he be seen going to far as to tin in the aura itself. still leave it to a dragon to cover their exit strategy with a stream of nonsense.
still Erebus cannot fully suppress his mirth as he strikes through the abyss worm before him. he watcher the exchange between Karl and Lucifer then he ask are you a dentist?. his strike shes the worm in 4 then the pieces flash as his dark energy destroyed them.
meanwhile as Mel approaches the table Erebus hiding his darkness in the light of her aura asks. in his familiar voice "is it lunch time? i want apples. don't feed me toothpaste though. i shall cry if you do." he can not truly help himself for though he is in multiple bodies he is still one entity a entity running parallel to himself at the moment.
"A dentist? No. But sometimes I'm a jeweler so I do own a drill." With a shrug and a smile Mel turns the tacos to apples. She even adds a few pears for variety. "It's good to like fruit. I like fruit but I like candy better. I know candy isn't good for me but I like it anyway." She sits and stabs at the chicken and broccoli alfredo with her fork, coming up with a large hunk of broccoli. "I like ice cream too, but I don't like that ice cream with the candy in it. I think that is strange because I like both ice cream and candy. What's your favorite flavor?"
Erebus laughs detaches himself form Mel's aura. "as long as it is not poysen flavored the it's good with me." Erebus slings off into the shadows just out side of the harsh glare of Mel's aura adjusting the darkness around him so that he appears to be in the light and can clearly be seen. "that was pretty nice the way you did that Mel i'm impressed."
Whatever creature is at the other side of the table is hidden from sight in the darkness. Only its eyes, a pair of horizontal slashes so thin and hard they look like scar-like slits, stand out as glowing spots of an almost sickly blue light. But the shadows somehow seem more... alive where it stands. They snake and slither, stretching out slighlty into the light and almost caressing the air, a slight "bend" in the space around them, nearly invisible. Not a feature of the actual creature's form can be discerned. Yet somehow, Mel can tell that it seems... amused.
"You're a curious one, aren't you? Is this... magic?" Its voice sounds somehting like roiling flames and accompanying burning flesh, coarse and cruel.
Mel looks contemplatively at the space around her. "Magic? I guess it could be. I just asked politely for a quiet spot for my dinner. I find that politeness always helps. And practicing. Practicing always helps. Gramma always said it took at least 50 millenia before you could say you really knew something. Now I really know about chocolate oatmeal cookies. The ones with the peanut butter chips are good but the best way to eat them is with vanilla ice cream. Would you like a cookie?"
Then her voice drops into a confidential tone, "If you're not polite it won't let you go home, you know. It hides the paths and makes you stay until you learn to be polite."
*Karl and Lucifer were staring each other down when they heard someone shout, "MORTAL KOMBAT!"*
Karl/Lucifer: What in Inferno?!!
Upstairs, Aisha was still in the midst of an investigation. Her hand kept still upon her weapon, though it was half-drawn in case whatever she ran into could turn out to be innocent...the last thing the panther wanted was to needlessly scare anyone.
In her other paw was the strange piece of metal, which looked like it was virtually ripped out of something mechanical, straight by the wires. She cringed at the thought, visualizing it like a plant pulled out of the ground by its roots...or flesh by the veins. Another piece was indeed sitting beneath the window, though this one she couldn't touch; for one wire was still hissing sparks.
Rising, the breeze flew through the folds of her cloak...the outside otherwise calm and quiet...ominous. The very scent of that wind brought to her nose senses of danger and shifting reality. She leaned on the sill...then on the second thought, cocked her right ear behind, in case something were to come and push her off the third story.
"What would jump from this high...?" she whispered in the air.
But, before she could look down, a noise came from behind her down the hall...
WHOOSH! The panther spun around and unleased her weapon. Instantly she heard a loud clang, followed by a thump, like something falling. The boomerang returned with nothing on its razored edge...clean. Her tail ring was glowing again.
Her eyes narrowed and claws unsheathed. "Show yourself, diablo! I've questions."
*just then, back on the ground floor, Lucifer sneezes*
Lucifer: Great! Darn ol' anime cliche! Suppose I should go up there since my Spanish name was called!
*Lucifer teleports to where Aisha is*
Behind Aisha stands a figure, though it is not recognisable from under the brown coloured hooded cloak which the figure wears. However, the panthress may very well recognise their presence as someone very familiar to her.
"You intend to inflict harm on my friend...I will not let that happen." A voice says from under the hood. If one would to look carefully, they would see a pair of piercing deep blue eyes, staring into the eyes of the demon before him and Aisha with a startling coldness.
"Leave this place," the voice says calmly, "or you will leave us no choice but to make you."
Erebus smiles as the Mp3 pals echos in the darkness. the them is set to loop and eh waits to see if they are willing to fight. only to be disappointed as one of the combatants leave but does not fallow him he is out of practice at the omnipresence skill and at the moment he's not willing to stretch himself thinner
mean while e wonders whom this creature is the confront Mel. he draws more of himself from the Lucifer / Karl encounter and watch the wars. form it he steals some of it's dark aura all darkness being his to command including the darkness that is present in light. "the three eyes bother me Mel this makes the creature seem familiar"
*lucifer then smirks before laughing out loud*
Lucifer: Good one Half-breed...but your power, including the power from your "feral cubi" form, can only make up a quarter of what must be mustered to destroy me...I am one of the Master Evils after all...you know, the devil?! Hahahahaha...
*just then a warp gate opens and out pops Karl, in his Fal'dev form*
Karl: Sorry, Lucifer...But I agree with Gareeku over there! You will leave!
Lucifer: As if...
Karl: before you finish speaking, know this! Tick both Gareeku and me off...And his feral form and the full power of my Fal'dev form can vaporize your butt!
Hearing Lucifer's and Karl's words, the figure under the hood smirks. While it is true that Gareeku holds a deep hatred for his "feral cubi" form, he also knows that its power would greatly help. However, he doesn't have the ability to transform by himself, and he also has very limited control of himself while in his transformed state, meaning he could be a threat to anyone.
"Trust me...you don't want to piss me off..." Gareeku says, his voice still calm as he stands perfectly still.
*Lucifer looks at both and sighs*
Lucifer: Very well, I shall leave. However, I leave you a warning...there are other evils out there, some even more powerful than me! They will attempt to conquer this realm! Believe it!
*out of nowhere, a tare in dimensions opens and a certain Blonde-haired ninja jumps out and whams Lucifer on the head with his fist*
Naruto: Hey! That's my line!
*Naruto Jumps back into the tare and the tare seals up itself*
Lucifer: Ow! *rubs head* Farewell! *disappears*
((OOC: A side note...I thought "diablo" was Spanish for "devil" or "demon" in general? Not just THE devil? Forgive me, I'm just taking the class and like to practice. :mowtongue ))
The tail ring was going haywire just then, when one of the ultimate evils had appeared before her...certainly this creature wasn't the one she had hit with her weapon a while ago? The darkness radiating from the form of Lucifer, his very name a paradox (for "luci" meant "light"), was more than enough to send a chill down her spine.
How surprised then was she to find allies radiating from nearby as if out of midair! The pantheress stood with Karl and Gareeku, the three more than a threat to the demon. Then, almost too easily under threats of power...he had left?
"That was...slightly anticlimactic," Aisha laughed and resheathed her boomerang, while playing with the silver metallic piece in her other hand, a spider's-leg array of wires sticking from its surface. Thoughtfully she stared at it. Still there was a mystery to be had...who had called for help...who had escaped and left these clues...
In the meantime she glanced to the others. "Gracias, for the save, you two; Karl...and Gareeku," she smiled, "It's been a while."
"You will not... let us?" The creature's voice is incredulous. Es ist lägerlich. We go. We wander. We move, and what stands in our way We pass. What tries to undo us We destroy. What bothers us, We do not mind, for We need not... At the last statement, something reaches out from the shadows. A long, muscular arm of black stretches out from the dark, tendrils of shadow snaking along it and the light around it seemingly melting away. The large, long-fingered hand at the end of it, its claws sharp as razors, gently reaches down and picks up one of the tacos between its fingers. The whole plate of them immediately grayen and start crawling with little black flecks, like weewils. "Because We ARE the path, kitty dear." The creature's hand retracts, a crackling, mashing sound clearly audible as the rotting taco vanishes into the blackness.
"But no one is to say We were ever impolite, so we thank you for the tacos." Though it is indiscernible, the way the creature's eyes close and silence follows for a second suggests it made a bow. "Now, if you excuse Us, We are not here, but elsewhere. Your friends seem to have forgotten the immediate matter of their pizza..."
In short notice, the blue eyes fade from Mel's vision. The darkness literally evaporates, leaving her sitting alone in a now significantly larger bright patch in nowhere at all.
Mel looks around and shakes her head. "Well, it does clean up after itself, you have to give points for that. I always seem to have the most interesting conversations interdimensionally." She picks up the plate of chocolate oatmeal cookies and stands. "I wonder if the Admiral would like a cookie? No one here seems to want one." She opens a door seen only by her and steps into the kitchen she just left. At the last second she turns back to leave a blue daisy on the table, for whomever.
OOC: Actually she said that the path would trap anyone not polite to it. She was being polite and nonthreatening (and goofy) because she didn't feel like fighting but was enjoying her strange encounter.
Karl: Well, Aisha...You, me, and Gareeku better get back to the Ground level...Because I sense our pizzas are about to come knockin' on the door...
*meanwhile, Lilith answers the door*
Lilith: Hey Blurr, long time no see!
*Blurr was the Autobot not only known for his speed, but for his fast talk*
Blurr: Theoriginaldeliverybotbrokedowninthemiddleoftransport,sotheysentmetopickupthepizzasandtakethemtherestofthewayhere...sorryyouhadtowaitsolong.
At the mention of pizza, after having waited for a while, Aisha's ears perked. "Well..." she started, tempted by her stomach.
But, the pantheress stopped...there was but one floor left before the highest. Though the others probably didn't sense it...
She smiled apologetically. "Save me a slice or two, if you please. Someone was yelling for help up here, and I intend to find out who it was, or at least, what."
Aisha didn't really have more time than to take a step or two towards the stairway though, before something dripped on her head. Taking a step back, drawing her boomerang so fast that both Karl and Gareeku twitched and shot their eyebrows, she turned her face almost straight upwards, to the ceiling a good five metres above. Hanging from a beam, ripped and torn like a soda can pulled apart and then crushed, was the remains of what must have been the upper body of a silvery humanoid robot, its scrap of a frame still showing some colours and a cut picture of a slice of pizza, its only remaining arm still clutching a torn corner of a pizza box. It leaked a watery fluid down on the floor, but this had only formed a pool so small she had missed it in all the commotion. Drops of the fluid also trailed out the window.
A bump, clearly audible and to Aisha also just possible to feel through the soles of her shoes, came from the floor above. And though the wind coming through the window dimmed sound a bit and ruffled the leaves of the trees behind the mansion, Aisha was sure she heard something... moaning, whining. Like a muffled cry through thick cloth.
(I dunno what the rules on controlling other people's characters are in this rp, but meh.)
Gareeku about to reply to Aisha's comment when, looking up, Gareeku saw from under his hood the remains of the robot. Raising an eyebrow, his hand went to the hilt of his katana at his side as his senses went on alert.
"Well if you are going, then so will I." Gareeku stated, walking up beside Aisha. He was convinced that something was still here...he didn't know what, but he had a feeling they may find out soon enough.
Erebus watched the actions though his pres in barley felt by whom he does not speak. he sees his shell still walking around interacting with the others as E the so called traveler. he had power true but he had now ideal with to do with it. still over the past 30,000 yeas the mortals had changed. as Erebus merged back into robot called he he's greeted. "find anything interesting? " "nothing your friends couldn't handle" good. i don't really trust myself not to blow up and this shadow blade ore you give me the creeps. "Erebus laughs. you still a baby with but a few millennium if i count your paragon time travel" "i hate time travel" " i know that no hop into that shadow portal. it will take you to where Karl and the others are. E nods and steps thou the portal.
Aisha recoiled from the sight and dropped the piece of metal into the pool of liquid at their feet. It looked like something out of a B-grade horror movie, only it was the robot that was lying detached of itself and hanging from the beam above.
"So THAT'S what happened to the pizza-bot..." the panther muttered. The smell of electricity and fuel was permeating the room and was rotten to the felid's nostrils. Whatever did that kind of damage to a solid steel-plated thing...who knew what it could do to flesh?
Then she heard the bump...and a voice from above. Something was still alive and struggling.
The stairway was right ahead of the group. Movements could be heard again from above. Whatever had caused that damage might be alive still, and waiting for someone. Perhaps even ready for more than one to come. Right then she was pretty grateful to her friend for volunteering to go with her.
Aisha thought of the consequences. Trap? Rescue? Possibility of death?
...Oh, what the hell.
She nodded to Gareeku and half-dashed towards the stairway, weapon flashing in her hand as if the thing itself wanted to taste more dark blood.
Taking the stairway in long strides, Aisha stepped into the attic with her blade bared, Gareeku rushing up behind her and taking point with his katana in a flawless swordsmaster stance, not bothering to pull up his cowl that had fallen back. Determination was thick in the air, as was wariness. And Aisha's tail ring was glowing stronger again.
The attic, unlike the lower floors, was not divided into rooms. No walls blocked sight, but intervals of dark wooden pillairs, one on each side of the room every twenty metres or so, and thick ceiling beams gave the large space a close feeling, like a strange forest of some kind. The room was dark, the only light coming from down the stairs and one pair of small, arched windows in each side of the steeply sloped ceiling, a good distance from each other. In the closer end of the attic to the left Aisha and Gareeku could see the dusty bricks of a chimmney standing out from the wall, and from that to the other side of this section of the attic was a good forty metres, at least. Boxes and old pieces of furniture stood agains the walls, grayened under a thick layer of dust or hidden under linen sheets.
A muffled cry from the far side of the room caught their attention, and among the shadows at the base of a pillair both Gareeku and Aisha could make out the form of a person, tied up in some... weave of sorts.
*Karl takes a closer look at the bot and the pizza box*
Karl: Strange...this box looks like it was about a year old, yet the bot looks like it was torn two weeks ago...Intuitive deduction tells me we have a killer that surfs the veil of time...either that or some sick hunter using the timeline as a hunting ground.
???: Oh I wouldn't say that, fleshy!
*The group turns to the direction the voice...a large metallic dark figure appears from the shadows...Karl realizes whom it is not only because of it familiar look, but also because of the Decepticon insignia on it*
Karl: Me...Me...Megatron?!
a portal opens behind megatron and out of the portal flies out of control Wingless E shouting " i hate this things! as his darker side lapse into silence. he and Erebus part of on being again. he can't be sure where he is or were he's heading
((OOC: I am just going to ignore all this randomness that is currently taking place, since there is obviously no way of doing away with it. Stop eating them hallucinogenic brownies and get with the drama. As far as I'm concerned, the bot was evidently trashed very recently, considering the leaking fluid, and the house is not full of decepticons waiting to murder us with hacksaws. Now, for a random, slightly messed up quote that describes my feeling; A man keeps on stealing my plot, to give to his dog. And I like plot, but I can't keep on making it 'cause he just steals it.))
(OOC: Who the heck are you to say such a thing....Are you Huggable Kio...no...Are you KarlOmega...No...are you one of the people who posted in this thread before and didn't just join a couple pages back...I could check. All That I'm saying is don't diss any of the few Co-GMs of the RP in question...in which me and the Thread creator were living in the same house (in the RP, of course)...and I say at least let the people playing have some fun and not worry about complaints....Also, I originally ordered the pizzas and as where to the bot would have dissappeared to (or taking so long); I will put it in...that's the reason I altered the situation to fit the plot that because of YOUR alteration...Thank you and good riddance!)
Edit> OK, I swear to god I was one of those that posted on the first pages...could those have been deleted, or are they in the "Page 6-10" area?
Edit> Ordered pizzas on Page 11.
(OOC: Ok...my opinion? I happen to like Stygian's plot very much, and i will agree that the presence of tranformers and other stuff like kind of ruins the drama aspect. I just can't take it seriously if megatron keeps popping up everywhere like "lol its me again weaklings". Its like watching a really bad anime (hell i should know, i'm a Dragonball fan after all). But whatever. As I said, that's my opinion.)
The darkness around the two warriors was thick; the only sources of light coming from the windows, Aisha's tail ring, and the dim blue magical light emitting from Gareeku's blade. Hearing the cry, Gareeku could indeed make out something was trapped. stretching out a finger on his free hand, Gareeku summoned a small amount of fire magic; a small ball of fire forming in the wolf's hand as a result, hopefully shedding light on whatever seemed to be trapped...
(OOC: Ok, so I went a little over with the transformers stuff...Megatron's presence is declared null and void)
*Karl tries searching for his own light source, only to find an Emeraldine crystal*
Karl: I could use the energy in the crystal to boost my Illumination spell...
*As he does so, a bright flash lights up the room...Karl notices something in the corner of his eye*
Karl: What the?!
((OOC: Perhaps I should have expressed myself differently. I'm not being demeaning or anything. It's everyone's thread, and everyone is entitled to their opinion and to have a good time in their own way. It's just that for someone who usually reads Flaubert, or Nietzsche, or Goethe, it's getting hard to keep up with all the things just unexpectedly happening somehow. I like my things and events carefully placed, and comical releif or odd and silly things few and far between, but well thought through when they appear. And this means I can get a bit agitated when things get out of hand. I hope you can bear with me.))
Slumped against the tall pillair, what seemed to be a sweet young feline woman, perhaps of leopard descent, peered over her shoulder at Gaareku, her eyes glistening with tears in the light from the flame. Her courier's clothes, blue and clean but now rumpled, were covered in some sort of... web. He would not have called it silk, for it was neither nearly as fine as that material nor coloured a proper clean white but instead a blackish grey that clearly contrasted the patches of dust that had stuck to it. The woman - no, the girl. He could not think of her as more than a girl - was gagged with the same sort of black weave, and seemed to have tried to chew through it, some of it having caught in her teeth so that her face was stuck in a grimacing expression of fear and despair.
Seeing the trapped girl, Gareeku's eyes widened as shock made itself apparent within his emotions as he rushed over to her.
"Ssssh...it's ok...we're going to get you out of this." Gareeku said, trying to reassure and comfort the poor girl as he observed the substance that held her trapped. The wolf then tried to cut her free with his katana, not knowing whether his blade would cut through the strange material or not...
At first, the strength of the threads of whatever the black substance was and Gareeku's care not to injure the girl made cutting them very hard, but once he pulled on them with a bit more strength and sliced them slower, rather than just trying to cut them right off, he quickly managed to untangle her. Sniffling, she got to her feet and buried herself in his arms, letting out a low whine, her tears soaking through his shirt.
Aisha though, while glad for the girl's sake, was more worried than anything else. Her tail ring was not glowing any longer; it was flaring, humming with tension against her tail so strongly that it almost smarted. It felt like the skin of her neck was about to rip loose and crawl and hide under her robes. Something truly horrid was close, so close that they should practically be staring it in the eye by now. Yet however the shadows played here in the attic, she could neither see nor hear anything. The ceiling was clear, as were the walls, and while the lighting was dim it was strong enough and the pillairs narrow enough that whatever might come for them would have to form out of thin air to do so.
Then, a rattle of doors sounded from the right. Both Aisha's and Gareeku's heads snapped around at the source of the sound, a massive carved double wardrobe of some thick, dark wood, taller than either of them and half again as tall as that. Something had moved in there. The girl's face froze in panic, and she darted around behind Gareeku, starting to pull at his arm, urging him and Aisha to flee.
"Please! We have to leave! It will take you too, and I don't want to be here any more!"
*Karl then asked Gareeku if he should get the gal outta there whilst Aisha and Him fight whatever the thing is...*
Aisha's gaze set upon the young girl as soon as she was revealed in her comrade's firelight with utmost curiosity. Questions were certain to be asked as soon as things were over...like what she had to do with the house? How was she here in the first place?
But after a couple of seconds, the questions didn't seem to matter. The dark energy that the panther had been sensing, amidst a host of other things, was coming back and literally seething along the shadows. Every dark patch seemed to have motion; every shaft of light seemed to be dimming and short-lived. Her ring was glaring to the utmost, illuminating the attic in a stifling emerald glow. Every cobweb and damp piece of mold were shining like diamonds...but it was all far from beautiful.
"Calm yourself," Aisha replied to the girl's urging. The room was all too close now, and seemed to be shelling them into the tight space. This was no place for her favored weapon...for the boomerang was much more dangerous as a ranged weapon. This would take a closer power. Reaching way into her cloak, sheathed into a portion of her belt, the jaguar pulled a narrow-bladed sword with a rough hilt hewn of dragon-skin, a great defense against magic. The shining edge gleamed, ready to be used.
...Fearing the cold and merciless film from this dark creature, whatever it was, Aisha was however wise to the idea of finding out what they were dealing with first. "Could this thing follow us downstairs? If it could go out of the attic, would it have done so by now? Perhaps all we need to do is stall until we can get the girl out of here...we might have answers then..."
( ooc in all truth I'm never sure who's doing what. my poor character is still trying to hold his identity stands with past personas have been popping up ever since he bear his all showing his true form a orb of living (universe colored) energy a few pages back. i like the current plot and i'm just happy to try to keep up.)
a dark portal opens and out stumble e muttering " i hate these things" as his darker side lapse into silence. He and Erebus part of on being again. he can't be sure where he is or were he's heading merely that Erebus said this portal would take him to his friends. he taps his chest plate to insure that he is still armored. he turns around and sees the four figures and as well as she huge doors. E groans "what now" he taps his chest. "hey dark boy i need another sword." he looks at the doors again he is so concerned with what is going on here dose not notice how the darkness is retreating form him as he walking. " that and some advice if i'm supposed to be a new dark god with all you powers and my own it would be helpful if i knew how to use them" e's tapping hand enters his chest and he pulls out a black sword. he knows it's name is mourn blade twin to stormbringer and that it will control the unwary. "now way I'll let you control me mourn." He looks and approaches the group of while her only recognizes one of. Blade held down and away he approaches Karl. " sorry to intuit but what is going on here and where did the holder of the light of arrogance go?"
(OOC: I don't know too much about this particular thread, but the beginning said to just post, yes?)
Entering new place. What do I see?
A lot of random. Yeesh, phasing in is like trying to wade through taffy, not even reality's sure what it is anymore.
A plot. Recent, but strong and made by an intellectual who considers himself one. Bending others around it. Such plots need watching. Best remain outside until I'm certain I can avoid control.
Heroes. A few of them.
Villains, probably introduced with the plot. Lucky heroes, they have something to do.
Pizza.
Standard procedure, then. Lurk, observe, figure out how this place works and see where I can find a gap to insert myself in.
A tall, thin entity with a black fishing hat and a tweed overcoat that's seen better days sits down near the abandoned pizza. If people notice him at all, they'll probably be confused by parts of him fading in and out of existance. He reaches for the otherwise forgotten food.
Mmmm, pizza. Daily supply of grease for a growing boy.
((OOC: Grease is a blasphemy! Bow down to the rye, the sushi and the tea! Crawl before the might of the martial arts and rigorous training regimen! Bow, you lardy pile, and plead for mercy!
That's speaking my mind. Now for the official version. *clears throat* Okay, here we go; "Isn't that terribly unhealthy, friend?"))
The doors of the wardrobe rattled again, but not very strongly. It was as if what was in there was trying to shake loose, but not doing a very good job of it. And it wasn't that terribly stealthy either, Aisha realized. With the dark aura somehow disturbed by E's arrival, she began wondering.
Then the darkness loomed in again, this time stronger, and the whole wardrobe shook, a seemingly hissing noise rising from within. The girl gave a short cry and started weeping again, pulling fervently at Gareeku though all her effort barely managed to move his arm.
"Please! I didn't see it! It just came out of nowhere! I saw clothes as well. They were bloody! It's going to eat us! Please!"
But Aisha was not so sure. The lapse of light had been brief, and this darkness seemed unpredictable and strong, even beyond regular magic, so it was hard to determine. But this close she was all but certain. The dark aura was close, but it was not coming from the wardrobe, though what they were up against tried to make it seem like it.
The white feline reappears in the kitchen. "Admiral, I'm back and I brought cookies to go with the pizza." She notices the new participant and holds out the plate of cookies to him. "Hi. Have a cookie. Is everyone still playing hide and seek?"
(ooc: Hi Stygian. My character is a dragon using illusion magic to appear as a feline. Her clan are information brokers and her main purpose is to observe and gather any information that the clan might be able to sell later. She is a fairly powerful magic user but doesn't tend to join in because it conflicts with her role as an observer. She will give out information if she thinks it will help her get more information later so feel free to take her over if you need her to be plot convenient. :) )
Frowning, Gareeku was about ask Karl to take the girl downstairs when he too felt that something was wrong, that the situation was not all it seemed...his experience with the darkness and magic told him this much...looking round at the girl, Gareeku held the grim look on his face.
"The darkness is not coming from the closet...tell me girl, what exactly is going on?!" he demanded, sensing that she may be hiding something....
Good pizza. Needs bacon though. That's what I get for mooching other people's pizza. Waitaminute....
Aforementioned entity stood up, still stuffing pizza into his mouth like a snake working its jaws around some rather unfortunate squeakey thing. Grabbing another slice in his other hand, he headed toward the stairs.
Noise. Lots of it. Upstairs. That plot. Gotta get a good look at that. Yet more observation to do. Good thing I like attics.
Taking stairs two at a time, the creature reached the point where the others were dealing with the distraught girl and some rather active furniture. Silently ducking into a nearby shadow where he would hopefully not be noticed, the strange individual sat down to enjoy his meal and watch the show.
Someone's using something similar to my tactics. Interesting. Webbing everywhere, enraged wardrobes, heroes, damsels in distress, pizza... Very interesting indeed.
And so he sat down and watched...
The girl hunched down, turning her eyes to the floor, and very nearly silenced under Gareeku's stare. A slight whimper escaped from behind her closed lips. She pulled one hand close, the other almost letting go of his arm. Her voice was low, more pleading than ever.
"I don't know. I just want to leave... please." Hesitantly, she faced up at Gareeku. She looked like a frightened kitten. But even though fear was all across her face, for just a moment, so quick it might have been imagination, her eyes were not wet and dark and scared, but all but unreadable. It might have been that light just passed over her face, but it was almost like something behind her eyes... gleamed.
"Please?"
Lurking in the shadows, the entity stopped munching his pizza for just a brief moment, a frown across his face.
Oh. That was interesting. Did they just see that?
Right then, he seemed to hear something. It was not a sound, but more like a wave, a trace of thought coming from the shadows beyond shadows, distorted and dark but still somewhat recognizable.
"Leave... You are becoming irritating..."
((OOC: Glad to know you, Mel. My character is an evil entity from beyond reality. He is currently new to this world and trying to get to know it so he can establish a circle of influence and power basis. His goal is to find something in this world he beleives belongs to him. Have a hallucinogenic brownie.))
Telepathy. How... Melodramatic. So many villains have some varient of telepathy. The entity scarfed down the rest of his slice of pizza and got started on the second one, while broadcasting to anyone who can listen on that wavelength I can't leave. I'm not here yet. Not all of me, anyway. It can't find out how it's supposed to fit. Maybe after I get here I'll leave. In the meantime, this is rather interesting to watch.
((ooc: And my character is best described as a free-floating pattern of thoughts. I'll have one of those brownies, toss 'em here.))
A confused reply came from the darkness.
"You are... alive? We noticed you when you came, but We took you for... something else. What are you? We can't feel you the same way we can these... tieren."
As the girl begged, Gareeku was overcame wih a deep sympathy.
What am I doing...this girl's been through hell and back... Gareeku thought to himself. It was then, however, that he saw it...the look in her eyes, only for a split second...
"...No. We're staying here. I want to get to the bottom of this NOW!" Gareeku demanded in a shout.
((ooc: And of course, having joined a new RP, I immediately enter Too Much Posting Mode!))
The entity chuckled to himself, which may or may not have been heard by others in the room.
Because I'm a horrible little cheater at life, The entity replied, You'll have to find a referee and sic them on me. When I get here, of course.
There. When you don't have a plan, say or do something completely irrational and let the other person think themselves to death. Now then, let's see what the Pretty Damsel In Distress is hiding. And with that, the entity turned his full attention to the girl standing there, or at least as much of his attention as most people can usually spare for anything.
Mmm... Pizza.
The shadows responded, a slight tension and even... amusement carried by the thought.
"We trust you won't interfere, then. Maybe we'll share shadows soon. But either way, it looks like we'll get to see some excitement here, whether We will have to fight these... people, or not."
The entity gave off the mental equivalent of a shrug and got back to scrutinizing the girl. Best not make any descisions about anything until I know more.
E becomes aware of the new arrival as his sword hunger for blood to spill and souls to devour. he looks at the blade and wonder what know of monster he awakened when he let this copied body overload on the dark energy that Dr. Wily had been using. he had been sure that the body could take it and then Erebus had appeared in his mind. still there is something odd about the new entity it's almost like he(e was receiving a male impression of it form the darkness) isn't truly here. he almost reminded e of of how he becomes when he loses count of his spare bodies and destroys them all and has to wait for a new one to be built.
"now What" ask e turning to the shadows near the entrance
"That's it. I've had enough. I'm opening that damn closet" Gareeku growled, before striding over it and, with his other hand firmly grasping his katana, opening its doors, not knowing what lay within...
The heavy doors of the wardrobe swung out, a ripping sound accompanying them. Hanging in the darkness within, strung up tightly to its inside walls with the same kind of black web that lay spilled across the floor beneath the pillair, was a feline woman exactly similar to the one standing among them, right down to the slightest hair. She had been struggling to break free, obviously, but now her tear-reddened eyes were wide open and frozen on the spot right behind Gareeku, where her "twin" stood.
"Pity. We were saving her for later." The "girl" behind them spoke. Her voice was far from crying now. Even with his back to her, Gareeku could very nearly see the sadistic grin on her face.
Listening to the now-revealed imposter speak, Gareeku said nothing for a few seconds. It was in this time that a smirk appeared on his face, most unusual one may think for someone in this kind of situation.
"Heh...well, well, well...look what we have here...a big bad moster who kidnaps innocent girls...sounds kind of cliche to me..." Gareeku said with a slight chuckle, the dark smirk still apparent on his face and his grip on the blade firming up as he turned towards the one who had been disguising themselves as the girl...
e looks at the two felines his blade trying to leap out of his hands. he simply says the word "copy" tough in this case doppelganer may be more appropriate. the sword was tough but he was tougher. an annoyance. 'What should we do' he wondered as h was stile getting use to there being consequences to his actions. E hears a voice saying "kill them all" and the blade seems to pulse shaking in agreement. E steps behind the girl to block escape but withholding his blade unsure of himself. "don't try to flee"
(OOC Stormbringer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stormbringer) mournblade is described here as well being that it is strombringer's twin)
((OOC: Dang, you people are fast. o.O Nice plot twist too. :3 ))
Others joined in on the fun soon enough. She saw E come up as if out of nowhere, and sensed...another presence...but for now Aisha was disregarding them. For as the doors to the wardrobe flew open by Gareeku's angered hand, she lowered her blade in confusion.
Doppelganger. The pantheress whirled around, raising her blade as she also stood facing this...thing. There were still answers...and they were sorely needed. But the struggling in the closet, the true captive (though in this turn of events it was hard to believe so anymore)...that couldn't be ignored either.
"Oh, perfect," Aisha muttered with a slight laugh. "Gareeku or Karl, take care of the imposter, por favor." With a quick swish through the air to test the magic-proof blade's sharpness, Aisha leaped up to the wardrobe and proceeded to slice through the girl's dark bonds.
The fake leopardess' smile deepened. Gareeku couldn't quite remember her teeth being that sharp, or her fur that dark. She planted her hands on her hips, taking a relaxed, even slightly seductive stance, despite the overhanging threat of the Voyager behind her.
"Please don't think us stereotype. She wasn't one of those unfortunate that lived in this manor, and unlike a certain someone she didn't try to fight us. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time." She turned her head to look over her shoulder, her eyes glowing a faint blue and casting a piercing look up at the machine-entity. Then she smiled again.
"And don't think that We would try and flee. In this kind of situation, there is no fleeing." The leopardess double turned against Gareeku again, her eyes blue awls that seemed to bore into his skull. "No. What you need here... is hostage!" At the last word, she darted with eye-defying speed against Aisha.
No one had time to do much more than twitch. Aisha turned with speed earned from years of practice to face her attacker, but the leopardess slid around her guard so fast she barely had time to see what was happening. Desperately, she pulled to the left, clearly attempting what Gareeku recognized as the beginning of a swordplay move called "Paper Fan blows in The Wind" and granted her assailant a long gash along her right arm. But the leopardess moved like she had not a bone in her body, sliding her arm around Aisha's and stepping a leg between hers, pulling her feet away from underneath. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the doppleganger had Aisha in a tight grip, positioned to break both her right arm and neck at a moment's notice.
"We doubt anyone of you will want to risk this girl's life. And none of you have the speed to save her, it seems. So, let's negotiate instead." The leopard girl's face had somehow grown dark and wicked, but the same vicious smile still stuck to it. "We are so sorry for all of this, but it could have ended so much better if you had just let it pass." Aisha struggled in her captor's arms, trying to perform a counter-grip. She might as well have been trying to bend a crowbar with her bare hands. The "woman" holding her was insanely strong. Thinking fast, she changed tactics.
Don't think I can save myself, do you, hembra? I'll show you. Aisha thought. She had more than a few tricks up her sleeve, and she was about to pull a downright nasty one on this bitch.
((OOC: I once again apologize for taking things out of your hands, but it's drama-critical. You'll get to beat the shit out of me later if you do well.))
Mel, always late to the party, has managed to find her way from the kitchen to the attic and is standing just inside the doorway. She watches the battle with interest but doesn't move to help. A ring on her right hand has taken on a faint luminescence but other than that she appears to be a helpless unarmed bystander. Then something else catches her attention. Too softly for anyone to hear she says, "Oh, this is where you went."
Aisha wanted to curse herself, out loud a more approved reaction than inwardly. With her best arm restrained, the sword clattered to the ground at her knees. For the first time in a while, the bounty hunter was weakened and defeated...nearly. She wanted to smirk, but kept her face frozen and unfeeling...this could work out somehow.
Instead, the panther stopped the meaningless struggling and watched the others, who were frozen in their feet and hesitant to attack across the living shield that was their comrade. Aisha was on her own for the time being. The only movement she made was a quick glance up into the wardrobe, where the prisoner was still held to the wall. Also, she noted the fact that while her good arm was restrained...it was the only arm that was. Plus, there was still the scratch she had put in its skin. Strong or not, demon was demon, darkness was darkness...and darkness had its weakness.
Tme for a little playacting, then...
"Grah!" Aisha cried out suddenly, so loud her voice echoed across the very walls...gurgling as if possessed, her tail ring still glowing brightly to accentuate the scene. "Nobody listen to her! Darkness...taking me over...Lies! Mentiras! Maldicion! It'll place a curse on you all! I can't take this!" After all she shouting, she fell over in a slump, body falling limp as if dead but breathing heavily. As soon as her face was on the floor, her left hand secretly dove back into a fold of the crimson cloak around her body...reaching for a weapon that was more like a restraint against the darker creatures.
Confusion stirred. Slight worry from the others. Even the creature itself seemed to be caught off-guard...the feeling of darkness perhaps too much for its hostage. Aisha could literally feel the smug glee eminating...
Her left hand shot out instantly. She turned and locked a strange bracer onto the creature's right arm, which burst into a flash and erupted into flames across the wound. In the same motion, Aisha drew her boomerang and caught her assailant's neck in an upward slash, and she held it there.
"Feeling that? Only I can unlock that bracer, blessed with healing light magic. Now," Aisha hissed, deepening the blade, "we negotiate. Let me go." To the others she shouted, "And someone free the girl!"
E watches the situation carefully. she was fast. as quick man at least. one on one he was fast enough to fight this entity. maybe even fast enough to win with his 21XX dash system. but he also knew that he even with all this could not attack and keep the hostage alive and the voice was urging him to kill them both. he looks At Karl and Gareeku. no help there yet. he look inside but Erebus ins not talking. there is someone else there no two people inside of him. there is one telling him to kill them both the other telling him to think this out. mournblade sings calling for blood. E held his hand steady. he looks at the leopardess.
"what makes you think that i won't kill her to get to you?" it is a harsh but necessary probe. he is not ready to give in yet. he knows that he must choose but mournblade was a dangerous sword. he moves off the the side circling the both of them. he does not wist to strike not yet no until he is sure of the outcome. there was so much easier before he found out what he was truly supposed to be.
it was then that he was saved for these thoughts as the hostage to it on her own to act. he smiled dashes away as high speed (not as fast as a flash step mind you) to stop near the girl and with careful swings of Mournblade set her free.
The creature was clearly taken completely by surprise by this action. Its head tilted back, the bladed boomerang at its neck, it still seemed defiant though, hissing lowly at Aisha and speaking in a voice that now had much more of a sharpness in it.
"Neat trick, girl." It pulled easily on the chain. "But it won't ho..." The creature stopped abruptly, turning its gaze towards the bracer. And while at first Aisha thought she must be mistaken, there was no doubt what she was seeing. The creature's face was fearful.
"We cannot tell you strongly enough how important it is that you take that off us." It swallowed audibly. "Right now."
Mournblade slashes though the left leg restrain with on swing coming close the the girls flesh. e adjust his grip and force the second swing that follows making sure that it swings further away form the tied up girls right leg. the sword was hungry and e was not letting it feed.
Though the creature's apparent fear cut into Aisha's mind, a sound which she found most gratifying, Aisha couldn't help but be a little curious even while at the same time being torturous to the demonic creature.
The blade sunk deeper. "Por que... and why should I?" she hissed back. "And why do you keep referring to yourself as 'us' while you're at it?"
A bit more chuckling from the shadows where the entity was lurking. That, and the sound of someone eating pizza.
"Heh, now we're talking. You had no clue the girl was packing something like that, did you? And now you hope to bluff her... Also, learn to use pronouns." He murmured, a bad habit to have when one is hiding. Noticing E move, the entity considered his own options.
I do not approve of what's going on here, but I don't have enough background to act and most of me isn't here yet. I'd have to rush myself into any niche I could fit myself into.
He looked around pondering the issue until he saw a cockroach skittering along the ground. He reached down and, straining slightly to be real enough to interact with something physical, gently picked up the bug.
This could be a niche I could fill for a little bit, but I might harm the poor thing. Closing his hand around the roach so it wouldn't escape, the entity leaned forward a little and continued to watch the proceedings. A last resort, if things get too out of hand...
While it may have looked like Gareeku was somewhat fearful that the creature hostage, this was merely a front. Inside, the wolf was smirking. He had known Aisha for a long time, and knew the battle skill she weilded. Like him, she was a user of light magic, and the wolf watched with a smirk on his face as the panthress used her skill to great effect. Out of the corner of his eye, Gareeku observed E trying to free the girl. However, he also felt there was something else about the stranger, in particular his blade.
Hmmm...a soul-devouring blade...I hope he has enough control over that thing... the wolf thought to himself, before focussing back on the trapped creature.
"What's the matter, afraid now that Aisha has the upper hand on you? Pathetic..." Gareeku said with a degree of venom in his voice. He held no time for creatures of evil, let alone those who turned coward as soon as they on the losing side of a battle. Walking up beside Aisha, Gareeku held his katana to the side of the creatures head, the metal blade glowing a fierce blue the nearer it got to the creatures skin.
"Aisha is not the only one who possess knowledge of light magic...see this blade? it holds the essence of light magic within. Now, about those negotiations..." Gareeku growled threateningly.
A bluish-green light suddenly started to trickle over the creature's face as it repeated;
"Take that shackle off us, or WE will all be destroyed in a most swift and painful manner." The creature's eyes stared first into Aisha's, then into Gareeku's, and both could hear the very significant tonation on the word "we". Both looked down on the bracelet.
From having been red, the flames at the creature's wrist and around the band had turned a sickening cyanide blue. And they were spreading, its skin crackling like dry firewood and paper. And there was no doubt now; the creature was afraid. Panicking, in fact. It started pulling on the chain, its left hand frantically clawing at the bracer, futilely trying to get a grip under it. The chain to the shackle jerked out of Aisha's hand so hard she thought it would disjoint both her shoulder and elbow.
The creature started screaming as the blue flames reached its torso. First, in a voice still resembling something natural. But slowly it changed, turning into a dreadful multi-voiced wail, a roar and a shriek at the same time that seemed to rip the very air asunder, and made everyone without built-in volume controls clap their hands to their ears. Its entire body was immersed in raging blue flames now, and everyone could feel something stinging against their skin, like a too-close fire and a piercingly icy gale at the same time. At long last, after what seemed an eternity, the wailing stopped, and the creature fell to its knees, then forward to the floor, still burning like a torch.
As the creature shrieked in pain, Gareeku could not help but wince from the horrible screams it emitted. When it stopped, Gareeku merely continued to glare at the fallen creature before him and Aisha, his eyes narrowing as his grip on his sword tightened. Gareeku's blade was now glowing violently, sparks on pure light magic crackling off of the metal, its reaction seemingly provoked by the creature's reaction to Aisha's bracer.
"Now then...care to explain what that was all about?" the wolf asked calmly, raising his eyebrow as he awaited an answer.
*Karl joined E in cutting the bonds on the hostage*
Karl: Chaos Drive...ACTIVATE! Solar Blade!
*The device on his left arm formed a sword of Light energy...then he began to increase his pace at cutting the bonds*
Karl: *looking at Eberus' blade* so, you have a cursed blade? why?
Breathing deeply, Aisha rubbed the muscles of her right arm, which were sore from the rough handling...but nonetheless intact. Her eyes narrowing at the enflamed creature, she cautiously came forward and retrieved the dragon-blade from the floor and slid it back into the hidden hilt of her belt with a quiet metallic ssshing. The panther cast a curious glance to Gareeku's katana, and back again. The fire took on an unnatural greenish-blue hue...poisonous, almost.
"Too bad that it didn't last," the panther sighed. "I would have liked to know what the thing's purpose was, as well." She knelt and touched the bracer, which gave her a mild shock from the tingling of mixed energies. With a quick mutter and snap, the thing opened and fell into her hand...hopefully having been successful. She smirked, though the boomerang was still held up in a "just-to-be-sure" posture. "It went down nice and easy..."
The pantheress glanced behind her towards where Karl and E were working on the prisoner. "How is she?"
*Hearing Aisha ask the question, He shouted out his answer*
Karl: She doesn't look too good! We'll probably have to take her to the Medbay level of the house!
Sheathing his katana, Gareeku walked over to the girl and looked her over.
"Hmmmm...she doesn't seem to be severly injured...we'd better get he check over, just in case. She's most likely in severe shock or trauma." Gareeku said to Karl, before gently lifting the girl up in his arms. "It's ok now, it's over." Gareeku said softly, his voice most likely comforting after the traumatic experience the girl had just been through.
Karl: Medbay level is on second floor... hurry...
(OOC: Remember, it's a big house)
*Karl takes a little time to view the mess*
Karl: darn kid! He must have let the thing in by accident....of course he warped the house while I was away....
Aisha's glance aside seemed like a trigger. Quickly as a flash, the fiery blue shape on the floor turned black from inside-out, growing slower and thicker. In equally short time it... flowed out, scattering and then reassembling. Now seeming more like something that was at the same time a flame, a liquid and a shadow, it instantly congregated and took shape in front of the stunned Aisha.
It was a dark, humanoid being, about six feet tall or perhaps a bit more, broad-shouldered and muscular but hard and lean. Its black skin looked like crude oil and from its back a pair of featherless, almost skeletal wings, their long flowing tips seeming almost like tentacles, sprawled out behind and above its main form. What looked like torn strips of black cloth, as dark as its skin, hung around its torso, giving a semblance of some wicked kind of clothing. Its face was humanoid in shape, but it had slits for nostils and a maw for a mouth, a faint poisonous blue glow slipping through the cracks between its razor teeth. And most fearsome of all, its eyes glowed a venomous, sickly blue shade, seemingly boring into Aisha's. With a voice that sounded like corpses burning, it spoke, poisonous ashen breath hitting her face.
"Sad to say, We just wanted a psyche before We hand your sorry asses to you." One clawed hand, easily the size of her head, swept out and struck Aisha's boomerang hand. The other sideswiped her in the gut, sending her flying in a low arch some good thirty feet and sprawling across the floor.
The creature then turned towards Gareeku and E, and smiled. The girl between them was frozen still in panic.
Turning around, Gareeku face took on a grimace as he saw what he could only presume was the creature's real form.
"Shit..." Gareeku cursed, unsheathing his katana once more and the blade glowed a bright blue. Holding the girl close to him, he wasn't about let this creature lay a finger on her, be it by letting himself take the brunt of any attack or not...
Aisha barely had time to register the blow to her body, the pain traveling to her brain, before she found herself flying and landing hard on the ground with a heavy groan.
Her teeth grinding to mask the pain, the demon hunter slowly crawled to her feet, right arm clutching her side. Aisha's boomerang had flown out of her hand and was lying dangerously close to the entity. It looked like very little she had ever seen before, and had more unpredictability and power. Looking at it only seemed to make her falter again, as if a part of her wanted to stay down and play dead.
"What part of infierno coughed THAT up?" she muttered, drawing her sword again.
The entity frowned. That was unanticipated. "Well little guy, looks like I'll have to use you for a little bit. I wont lie to you; this will hurt. A lot." And thus, several thoughts occured to the roach at once. Among them was that it should be bigger, and this part of the exoskeleton should be here and that there, and this shouldn't exist but still should a little bit, and that it should still be even BIGGER, and that the new thing over there was bad. As the entity flowed into the little bug, the roach changed.
A couple seconds later, a monster stormed out of the shadows. It looked like a large, humanoid cockroach with nothing inside the exoskeleton other than a rudimentaly inner skeleton and a strance green light made of shifting patterns. With a roar, it barreled into the dark creature and sank its teeth into its shoulder, glowing green eyes glaring at the current target of its attack.
"Yeah. Leaving would be wise!" A sound emitted not through the throat, but by rubbing its wings againgst each other. "Get the girl away, I/he/we can't keep this up too long!"
Slowly striding towards the triplet, the creature smiled, its eyes slits of blue that threatened to bore into Gareeku's skull.
"There is no need for uncivility here. We are not interested in the girl any longer, only what she carries with her." It stopped halfway to them, tilting its head to the side, not minding that Aisha was getting to her feet behind it. "Give her up, and she will make it through alive."
Then, as a huge beetle careered into it from the side, the creature turned to it. Yet its face held nothing more than surprise. No fear, no irritation. Nothing.
"We thought you wouldn't. Sad, this affair."
The creature... shifted. For a moment it turned into shadows again, and then back into solid form, its shoulder now being its hand, holding the beetle's head in a firm grip, its claws digging into it.
"Silence is a virtue." It said, its other hand diving in under the beetle's carapace and tearing its wings asunder in a spray of watery blood.
((OOC: I really have to go soon... so sorry.))
What the hell?! Gareeku thought to himself as the humanoid bug made its presence known.
"One of you two take the girl to the med bay, i'm staying here to fight!" Gareeku said to E and Karl, before turning to the girl, "go with them, you'll be safe."
Letting go of the girl, Gareeku then turned towards the creature. It was then that the wolf made his move, moving with incredible speed as the magic in his sword seemingly left a trail behind him. As the warrior near the creature, he suddenly stepped to the side, aiming to throw the creature offguard somewhat as he swung his glowing blade in a powerful slash towards the creatures "ribs". Not stopping there, the wolf then brought his blade back in a horizontal slash towards the creature's neck, before bringing it down into a downwards diagonal slash aimed at the stomach region, the air crackling with light magic as the blade moved in its elegant dance of destruction.
Karl: Centurion mode, Disengage!
*Karl's Mech armor fell off and transformed back into his patrol speeder, then disappeared into a portal...then a bracer (with a familiar-looking gem in it) appeared on his right arm*
Karl: Emerald Armor ACTIVATE!
*Just then the bracer glowed a bright yellow, which then the glow covered Karl's body...when the glow disappeared, It looked like Karl was wearing anoter Mech Armor...Except it looked like that of a samurai's, had a crystalline thing shaped like a gem on the chestplate and a symbol that looked like the sun on the forehead part of the helmet*
Karl: This armor was forged with 7 others...each were forged on different worlds, of which they were named after...This one has the power of Fire and Light (It's basicly radiative)...It is the Emerald Armor of Apollo, for it was Forged on the first planet of the Celestria system ...which is Apollo!
*Karl then unsheathed his sword before turning to E*
Karl: get her to Medbay level...Me, Gareeku and Aisha will handle this!
*Karl then rushes forward to get a piece of the action*
"Your actions force me to act. Appologies. Power is all well and good, but toying with them was unneeded. I no longer have any reason to believe you will not become a threat." The roachthing chirped, sinking teeth in deeper. "I'd ask what you are, but I don't think you'll have the time to answer."
Alright, does this niche have something I can use to use Venom? Yes? Excellent.
With a noise like someone trying to get that last drop of soda through a straw in reverse, the roachthing's teeth injected several toxins into the beast, each one made up of arguments as to why the one infected by said toxins shouldn't exist. After all, it's always the thought that counts...
E grips his blade. cursed? it made sense to call it that. "Karl i'm sorry but i can't answer that because i don't know why. to know what you'll have to ask Erebus and he's not answering me at the moment " " I don't want to run but if this is the mission i'll help protect her" e picks up the girl "come with me will you? I'm unfamiliar with this place and keeping others alive ins not a skill of mine"
*Karl does a Cyberghost link and sends the directions to E via Wi-fi* (OOC: my char has Cyber implants, so that's why I can do that)
Karl: Ok, there's the schematics...now go!
*Karl then turns around and dodges a blow from the Dark creature they're battling*
Aisha's head shook, sweat and blood whizzing away through the air, as she stood up fully. The bracer she had taken back out again, but this time it was on her own wrist...giving her good protection against dark magic and a constant supply of healing energy. It wasn't a shield...but it would be a damn good way to keep her injuries at bay.
The sword gleamed as if from an ethereal source. Straightening her body, only barely sore on the inside with bruises, the panther ran to where she was needed in the fight. Tail ring, bracer, sword...all was illuminating the her otherwise melanistic and void-like fur. She came beside Karl and Gareeku, stepping over the giant insect with only slight surprise and a quick solute for its help.
"Get her moving, you lot!" she growled and charged in slashing the tendons, aiming to let the demon creature's strength become a weakness.
At Gareeku's slash, the creature staggered backwards. For a moment its head was falling down its side, hitting the floor with a solid thump. The next, a wing came swooping, knocking his legs out from under him. Looking up, Gareeku saw its neck bulging with a twisting shape, growing. Holy hell! he hought, and then the creature's foot was in his ribcage.
Throwing the giant cockroach with considerably greater force than Aisha, the creature looked at its now swelling arm. Its eyes narrowed, and the swelling slowed. Then stopped. Then receded. It then stared down on Gareeku through the same blue slits as before. Its other head was crumbling into black ashes, slowly being reabsorbed into it.
"Nice thought there. Would have worked well too. IF We had been vulnerable to magic, that is." The creature sneered down on him, but then turned its head towards the now roaring Karl. And then it staggered once again, two knees and one arm swiftly crippled by Aisha. They seemed to regenerate as fast as the rest of it though, and to her surprise the creature jerked to the side, facing her no more than perhaps a few inches away.
"We thought you would have the sense to stay back! We don't want to hurt you!" Its face was furious, and for all it sounded like some horrid alien, it also sounded sincere.
Mel slowly followed e and the girl down the stairs. The girl would provide more information than the battle.
Grunting in pain, Gareeku coughed, a small amount of blood splurting from his mouth from the sheer force the creature had used in stamping down on his ribs.
"Damn it..." the wolf growled, staring up at the creature with a grimace of anger. It was then that he noticed the creature looking away from him to somebody else. Seizing his chance, Gareeku grabbed his blade and, with a power slash, cleave through the creature's legs, immediately rolling out of the way once he had done so.
Getting back to his feet, the wolf clutched his ribs, the pain still making itself present from the creature's stomp. Looking on, Gareeku waiting for an opening which he could use to try and make another attack...
*Karl saw Gareeku Slash off the legs...this was his chance to fry the enemy*
Karl: Celestial Saber! Fire mode!
*the sword in Karl's hands then came ablazin' with fire*
Karl: Celestial Saber! Pyro Slash!
*Karl then made several slashes at the dark Creature...*
The roachthing pushed itself upright, head ringing. The thoughts inside that head were thusly even worse off.
Damn, arguments weren't convincing enough.
Staggering to its feet, the roachthing surged forward to strike a blow across the monsters remaining jaw. Its moves were that of a skilled pugilist; it moved fast and in a way, rather gracefully, with each move blending with the others so as to keep the opponant off balance and add the momentum of one blow to the strength of the next. Of course, it was also formulating new arguments as it fought and spat them at the creature whenever possible, forcing it yet further off balance.
Disregard claims of concern for our well being. Either a lie or a paradox, either of which may be termed Frigging Stupid and may be safely ignored.
A little taken aback by the creature's statement, Aisha's eyebrow quirked. "Not hurt ME? Really?"
However she still didn't relax her stance. "You don't, huh? Isn't that what you tried to do before, slamming me like that? Threatening me as a hostage? Nice try, cosa de sombra. I'm just as willing to halt you in your steps as my friends here are."
With a slight pause as Gareeku attacked the thing again, Aisha maneuvered around, sword in a horizontal position to her chest. Her eyes narrowed, covered from ruby to crimson in the dark shadows of her fringe. Gareeku was injured, but Karl seemed to be okay. She then assessed the seething mass of darkness.
What haven't we tried? Fire...magic...light. Ice perhaps? Electricity? Something!
*At the hearing of the word "electricity", Karl had an idea*
Karl: Everybody stand back! this trick I learned from a guy from the Andromeda galaxy! (Hint: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...)
*karl sticks out his arm towards the creature and out of it shoots lightning*
Trying to stand, Gareeku lent on his sword as he tried to stand up straight, but no avail.
Damn it... I think my ribs may be broken... Gareeku thought to himself in anger. However, something would then happen which would strike fear into the wolf's heart. He could feeling a familiar feeling building within him...a dark feeling...his head started to throb with pain, causing the wolf to cry out slightly as he clutched his head.
No! This can't be happening...not now! Gareeku thought to himself in a panic as the pain in his head began to swell, the feeling within him becoming stronger and stronger... No! Please!
At Karl's sudden declaration, Aisha leaped out of the way and replaced the sword in her sheath, not wishing for any metal that looked suspiciously like a lightning rod to be out of person. With grace and speed no more than what a feline possesses, she hopped back a few feet and zigzagged well away from the beast, eyeing it and her comrade's strange attack. Hope this works...he certainly has a good large arsenal, that one.
While keeping watch, she glimpsed Gareeku as he tried to stand and fell over again. The panther started across to her friend, to help him while there was time and their opponent was occupied. She stopped next to him and noticed that the wolf not only looked hurt...he looked like he was desperately holding something back.
"Gareeku...?" she tilted her head. This looked too familiar.
"Aisha...you need...to get away...get the others away!" Gareeku cried out in desperation, the dark feeling within him and the pain within his head become overwhelming, "I can't...hold it much longer! Please! It's happening! You've got to...get away!"
It was then that something began to flicker in and out of view; a pair of what seemed to be wings, and a pair of what seemed to be headwings, entirely composed of magic. Once more they flickered into view and the disappeared again. Gareeku wouldn't be able to hold it off for much longer...
*noticing Gareeku's state and power levels, Karl made a split decision*
Karl: Aisha, Stand back! I'm gonna have to take him someplace where he won't hurt his friends...
*just then Karl started to glow a dark purple/violet, Indicating he was building up Dark energy*
Karl: AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!! Gate of the Abyss...OPEN!!!
*Karl then grabbed Gareeku and went through the portal that had opened...the portal to the realm of demons and the condemned*
Karl: Made it! Sorry Gareeku....I was aiming for Nemesis, but we ended up on Inferno...
*Indeed! The dark clouds preventing sunlight from showing, the smell of Brimstone (Sulfur/Sulphur), and the only glow came from rivers/lakes/streams/oceans of magma...the were on Inferno*
(OOC: this is so no one else gets hurt by Gareeku's feral form)
Edit> OOC: also, armor disengaged when I did it...
E dashes to the med bay following Karl's map. "Erebus answer me what is going on" he shouted as the specter of darkness that was his so called past. ash he dashes and ran and dashed some more Mel paced him. " frig this feels like i'm breaking into one of dad's forts again." finally as he enter the doors he gets and answerer on that Mel may have picked up as e is physically speaking as his body works.
"there are some things outside of science and magic as mortals know them. this entity maybe on of them but i'm not sure. it seems instead to be some kind of child trying to play the grown up." 'so what do i do?" " ensure her safety" "about the monster" "trust you friends or send me back to help then but you may need me to deal with the others" "if you really are some kind of god you can do them both right?" " i'm out of practice at omnipresence and you don't use enough dark energy." e sighs but knew he did right taking the girl to safety. something in him approved of the actions
"you should have fought though you" "but the girl?" mournblade, stormbriger and even stratocaster are often effective again this kind of things." "how" "the dark blades of mournblade and stormbringer would have been able of great use there" " why would a cursed blade work on that beast?" "it would consumed it slash by slash. that what it does. it is a kin slayer that calls forth mourning much like stormbringer brings forth storms guises as wars." " and stratocaster?" though it is called a blessed blade it too is cures ad he drives away friend and for alike" "does anything you so called gods may ever truly work?" "they all work but doe to the laws of entropy there must be a side effect. It is the same on all worlds"
E groans and he checks on his body. looking around the room he sees that the girl has be bandaged and is hold up to monitoring equipment." For the first time he consciously notices Mel. " hello are you the one who patched up the girl?"
Aisha backed away slowly from Gareeku, ready to heed his words. At least she knew in this form he would be a formidable match for the beast, until something could be done. She glanced back at Karl, who had succeeded in giving it a horrible shock to the system. But was it down? She couldn't tell, for at that same instant Karl had jumped to Gareeku's side. The dimensions split, and she watched as her friend was carried off somewhere in isolation.
After the light died down, the pantheress glanced back at the dark thing, coursing still with electricity in its system...whether or not it was a real biological system or not, it looked like it still hurt.
The silence was unsettling, she thought while calling forth the returning enchantment placed on the boomerang. Instantly it whizzed across the room and back into her hands.
Wait a minute...I'm ALONE to deal with this thing now?
"Brilliant move, boys..." she muttered with a roll of her eyes.
The creature had been shrugging their blows like they were nothing, avoiding damage deftly or regenerating what it had taken in seconds. The cockroach's poison and strength had shaken it, but not moved it, and now the poor insect was flailing its limbs wildly, both its wings and head gone, and great holes torn in its "ribcage" by the demon-thing's "wings". The creature had been taken by surprise and had fallen backwards, after Gareeku managed to sever one of its legs and cut the other badly, but flowing like water it had regained its foothold and limbs, only to face Karl's initial fiery slashes with just a bit more trouble. The air was heavy with a scent like ink and acid, but the creature held its ground, its shadows seemingly quenching the fire faster than it could burn.
Then Karl leaped back, and the creature was taken completely in shock. Literally. The lightning slammed into it like conducted on rails, and it shifted, white-blue bolts leaping between flowing shadows. It screamed, its half-formed mouth letting out a cruel, pained growl, and slumped forward on its knees. When the electrocution stopped it shifted, its body now only holding a rough shape, and crawled backwards into the shadows with speed, but clearly also effort. Upon reaching the darkness in the back of the room it... merged with it, creating an area of seething blackness around itself, its eyes two lonely, jagged points fixated at them from out of the dark. Moving slowly sideways, like a predator eyeing its prey, it spoke once again.
"Hmph. A neat trick you have there. Seems like We will actually have to put a bit of effort into this one."
Downstairs, Mel and E were busy with the patched up girl. Despite the lack of danger, and the warmth and care with which they were treating her, she was not saying a thing. She moved as if in a daze, eyes staring blankly at nothing at all, aquiescing to Mel's treatment without thinking or feeling, it seemed. It was as if she had no mind of her own at all.
Stygian was irritated. It was, and it realized it, something only feeding that same irritation, and the shame. It prided itself on its coolness and efficiency, and here it was, being pushed back by a bunch of furry critters! It ought to whip itself later for making things come to this! From its position it had a perfect "viewpoint" of the room, and it quickly inspected its foes. The cockroach was badly damaged, bones and internal organs crushed. That one would not last long, it hoped. But cockroaches were hardy, and the thing controlling it was imaginative. It might be neccessary to go for the puppeteer there, rather than the puppet.
That wolf-man on the floor was injured. Stygian could sense two ribs broken off, cracks in three others, and a badly damaged lung and kidney. It cursed itself. It had not meant to put its foot down so hard, but sometimes it forgot that it weighed about twice as much as what it once had. At least the panther woman was allright. It could not feel any injuries in her, so its swipe had hopefully only taken her wind and bruised her. The third one, whose nature and structure befuddled it, was unharmed. But here that was not a good thing. That one was the threat now, and it might have to kill him. A phase followed by a couple of spikes ought to take care of that quickly enough. Well, so long as it did not have to mix it up in close combat again and risk losing control of the situation, everything was fine.
Stygian tested the air. Not much blood, except the thin sort from the roach. Good. Fear, rage, anxiety. All good. It should be easy, if We do this right, it thought. Yet, the very next second, that thought was shoved down its metaphorical throat.
A pulse of dark energy, creating ripples through existence. Stygian felt it clearly. It nauseated him, this "magic" that these creatures used, yet this was so strong! And it emanated from the wolf boy, of all of them! Stretching out its essence, it tried to tear at whatever magic had formed over there, yet its "touch" had little to no effect. The dark energy just kept on building. And the wolf was speaking now, it heard. Something very bad was happening, that much was clear. Condensed magic started to form, and it pulled back. It would not interfere with that! The residue effects might tear the room apart if it did! No, there was only one way out of this now, and sadly it meant the death of the wolf boy. Wir bedauern aufrichtig das... but We have to, Stygian thought, darkness gathering to it.
Then another dark energy sprang up. Not as strong, nor pulsating, but a steadily increasing feeling. A strong ripple came through existence, and Stygian stopped dead. The other one had just opened a dimensional hole as if it were a mere kitchen door! Puzzled and in shock, it watched as the two males were pulled through the gateway, leaving the red-robed girl standing alone with the crippled cockroach. Now it was definitely confused. What were these people?!
Turning, Aisha heard steps coming from the darkness. That was strange. She was not sure, but she imagined that the creature had not made any such sounds when it moved before, which made the whole thing all the more ominous.
"Well... perhaps then you and We... you and I... can resolve these[/color] matters in a less violent way then." The voice changed as it spoke, going from that fiendish rasp to a deep, melodious male one, with a slight accentuation of british and perhaps german. The steps came closer.
Stepping out of the darkness was an athletic caucasian man, about six feet tall and blonde with deep-set, sharp and intense blue-grey eyes. He was dressed in some strange, yet fine straight-cut clothes, all black with silver details. Muscular, lean and hard, his face though handsome looked as if chiseled out from hardwood, with a wedge-like jawline and dead-straight nose. A straight, thin scar across the right side of his mouth cut through his lips and only sharpened the predatorial look he had to him. His eyes were chilly, but his smile was warm as he spoke.
"What say you, sweets?"
((OOC: This description fits me IRL as perfectly as it does Stygian. I wouldn't mind having some idea of how you look as well.))
Mel looks over to e who appears to have stopped his one sided conversation for the moment. "I began but the equipment in this room took over." She scowls at the blinking lights over the girl's head. "I do not think I care for machines. This thing only heals the physical. Magic sees that there is still a taint on her that the machine ignores." Mel moves her scowl to the girl who begins trembling. Mel changes her scowl to a smile, but it is rather toothier than a normal feline and ends up being less reassuring than the scowl. "Now dear, why don't you tell us all about yourself and your little adventure with Mr. Personality upstairs." The ring on her left hand begins to once again softly luminesce.
Why do I get into these kinds of situations...? Aisha thought to herself for a cold moment as she stood watching the dark portal disappear from view, the handle of her boomerang aching her tired fingers as she held it tightly. I hope they have a way of returning. It's just me and the big roach...
But as she turned to expectantly face a very pissed-off demon, instead the panther was face-to-face with a man...seemingly but a mortal, it would have been percieved, if her tail ring wasn't still gleaming a little at his presence. It was a good shapeshifter. At least it was a relief when the voice of venom was reduced to a rather normal one in the comfortable range of hearing.
Aisha snarled upon hearing it speak, fangs gleaming in a very predatory gesture as she held her weapon up. "Don't call me that! Just what is your deal?"
She demanded an answer to her curiosities and it almost seemed that the thing was at least a little sincere. If it wanted to mortally wound her, it would have done so...Gareeku was proof. Plus, the creature must have known that she still had the bracer, ready to use in case.
"A less violent way...?" she hummed. "Well. At least you are formal. Very well, I will listen to what you have to say, creature. One wrong move, and you know what I am capable of...but know that you cannot talk yourself out of your ultimate sentence."
The demon hunter straightened herself, but the boomerang still clung to her palm. "If you're going to pretend to be civil to me, then at least call me by my name: Aisha de la familia Cabre. Aisha for short. Now, what are you and what do you want?"
Gods, don't let this be a mistake.
((OOC: Um, excuse me, but don't I get a damn say in where i'm transported to? I actually wanted to fight as Gareeku in his feral cubi form, in case you hadn't noticed, hence why I decided to have him transform...Jesus, I thought that was pretty obvious...))
((OOC: Don't worry. It's all good, since I might have to go out of my way to retreive you and subdue you in order to prove my good intentions.
A little information on Stygian; electricity is a good weapon to fight him with, though perhaps not the best one. It "scrambles" many of the particles in his system and "upsets" him. Lower wattage can only shock or stun him, but a really strong current may cause damage to his constituent structure. The same way, EMP works against him because of some of his properties. He can counteract these effects by taking a non-solid shape, in which he is much less vulnerable, but the more solid and structured he is, the greater effect it will have.
Stygian does not have much in ways of "normal" vision. He has to make an effort to see normal light, and does not see much better than a human in that spectrum. However, he has an incredibly acute sense for the higher spectrums of electromagnetic radiation, and can see ultraviolet and gamma radiation with great precision and distinction, even allowing him to "see" through certain walls and objects. That is how he assessed the damage done to you so fast.))
"My name is Sebastian Rolphe Koenig, major of the Haudée Corporation security branch. A pleasure meeting you, Aisha of Cabre. And I am no demon. I beleive the correct term would instead be "metastable dark entity", but we can skip that part for now." His tone and accent were slightly "off", though the language was very correct. He put his hands together behind his back and walked slightly sideways, watching the writhing cockroach with interest. "This might of course be hard to beleive, but I assure you that I have nothing whatsoever to do with magic, so I cannot be a demon." He smiled against her, his teeth still too sharp for a human and his deep-set eyes glowing faintly. "So I would be glad if you dropped that thing about 'ultimate sentence'."
Stopping, the man turned against her, now standing closer. In the dimming light from the windows, the evening slowly turning dark, Aisha could see fine black lines, like veins, under his skin at his temples and neck.
"I beleive that your friends are in quite a... predicament."
Downstairs, Mel was not getting any sense watsoever out of the girl. She payed attention to her, yet she did so with the same glazed, mindless look that stayed on her face all the time. And she never spoke, just seemed to form the beginnings of words with her lips, then stopped as if she had forgotten what she was about to say.
((OOC: Still, i would of liked to have some sort of damn input before someone just god-modes like all hell and randomly transports my character somewhere else so i can't actually get to do what i wanted to. It's pretty damn anger-inducing, really. I wouldn't have minded if you'd done it, as you're the one controlling the plot...ah to hell with it, i can't be bothered to go any further.))
the entity that is e frowns slightly. " does that men that you dislike me as well? not all entities can chose what they are or what they were but still is this makes you uncomfortable then i can change back to how i was when i entered this place... once the danger seems to have passed"
he checks his weapon inventory ans sighs. there are all weapons from his battle with king.. no not his battle forte's battle with king. still the weapons be useful he was sure as he could lever a city with most of these weapons including thunder wave and copy body. magic card was mostly used to grab energy and stop smaller enemies.
"would that make you feel better Mel ? i think it was"
(OOC: Ok I nullify my previous action, ok? I went a little over your head that time...)
Edit> OOC : Gareeku just Instant messaged me to forget about it...everybody's posted so he said to forget about nullifying it...
((OOC: Even though I feel I am justified in my anger, I apologise. I may have gone over the top in my reaction. When it comes to writing, including roleplaying, I get quite passionate. Sad i know, but meh.))
Finding himself on another world and hearing Karl's words, Gareeku felt relief through the pain. Just as well, because it was then that, in a blinding flash of red light, the wolf transformed, an unearthly scream ringing through the air as his transformation took hold.
"Ssssssoulsssss...needsssss ssssssoulssss..." the now-transformed Gareeku hissed, before letting forth a roar out into the sky.
(OOC: Sometimes I get that way too...)
Karl: Sorry old friend, but I must do this or all will end...
*Just then, Karl Sprouted black-feathered wings from his back and several spike-tip tails...he had transformed into his Fal'dev form*
Karl:(in a deep voice) I fear this is the only way to settle this...
*Karl then goes on the offensive*
((ooc: I rather agree with Gareeku. Drama's all well and good, but I'd like a little bit more control of my character. Yes, I sort of intended for the roach to get hurt badly anyway but this looks like it could be heading in a direction to be avoided.))
The roachthing... Sat there and bled patterned light. As mentioned, there were no internal organs, merely patterned light taking their place, an exoskeleton and the beginnings of an endoskeleton. Fortunatly, as most know, a roach can last days without its head.
"Kkkt," The remains of its wings scraped feebly, "Head. Give head. Save niche..." One arm reaching in the direction of the head, with its mouth still open in a silent roar, "Gimme kkkkt-head. Save niche."
Mel didn't take her attention off the prisoner, she couldn't think of the girl as a victim for some reason, but she answered e thoughtfully. "Was I wrong in my assessment that you are more than machine? I was sure I smelled magic and even humanity beyond the metal. I appologize for any hurt my words gave you."
She paused and looked at the blinking lights behind the girl. "I am finding more and more machines in my life and I would rather see ones that think and struggle and give appologies even when they should be demanding them, to idiotic blinking boxes like this that say this person is now healthy when I can feel dark magic still. And not just the blasts coming from the attic."
In response to the roache's demand, Stygian walked over and picked up the remains of its torn-off head. Startled, he watched as its eyes still followed him.
"I do say, you are a tough one. I haven't seen many but me who can take that kind of damage. And none of them were naturally non-morphic." Walking over to the roach, he squatted down and put its head beside it, waiting for a reaction. "Sorry for doing that to you. I had a girlfriend once who had quite a bit of spider in her, but she..."
Stygian stopped and raised his head, worry now on his face. He had felt something like a tremor just then, and something was still surging, carrying through the place. It came from the portal he realized. But through a portal that small and now closed... He turned quickly against Aisha.
"I beleive your friends are in great danger. Normally, I would not do much about it, but..." Stygian said, straightening and stepping up to Aisha. "I was the one who started this, and I think I must be the one to end it as well. But I am unsure whether I can do it propery without your help."
The girl turned to look at Mel, her head twitching as she did. Her voice was a faint whisper.
"Hee-elp m-meee..."
((OOC: I need a bloody avatar. I guess I will have to draw some pics of Stygian and post on my deviant.))
E takes a moment to think and nods. "the truth is i'm not sure what i am anymore. a few years ago a began to find others living inside of me but most defer to me as being the preset version. it gets confusing." he checks the girl's vitals then looks to the Attic scanning through Erebus's power.
" i'm not sure but i think i should go fight" i'm not as fragile as some of my friends up there." he looks at Mel but i was asked to watch this girl. i have a feeling that this place is off balance and i have not ideal what that mean or hot to fix it." he looks around and grabs a chair slumping into it the dark sword on his lap. he his temped to copy it as a weapon but decided against it for now. " i don't know what i should do" he says at last looking at the girl who's safety he had been charged to protect. then she spoke asking for help. E got up and approach her. "whats wrong miss? how can we help"
As per her word, the panther listened to the words of the being. Calling him a demon, she guessed, was a little unjustified. She was curious to his nature at least. But she wasn't on the virge of believing him just yet...such was her intelligence. Though at least she lowered her weapon to the side. "Right..." she assented to his statement about taking back her declaration of sentencing. An assention, but not a total agreement either.
She watched as the "metastable dark entity" walked over to deal with the giant roach's predicament...to her faint surprise, in a concerned manner. The panther was confused. Was it really a gesture of kindness? Or a trick? At this rate, she didn't know any more. But she did know that Gareeku and Karl were in some kind of trouble...if she knew the wolf and that dangerous form, it would get ugly and fast.
If he knew how to do it as he claimed...
"My help? Really," Aisha said, her voice in the monotone level of incredulism. "How so?"
Stygian eyed Aisha with an analytical gaze, so intensely that she got the feeling he was measuring every hair of her. After that piercing stare she wouldn't have been surprised if he could tell her own weight, measurements, her blood pressure and what she last ate right to her.
"Because I have minimal information on your friend, other than what I could deduce from when he was here. I know he's a focused man, so he will hold on for as long as he can. But I also know that whatever he might have turned to is nearly as intent as he is, and far more dangerous." He lowered his face slightly, staring her right in the eyes, glowing blue facing intense red.
"You seem to know him for what he is. That means you know how to get him back, without having to kill him. So I am offering you my aid and power in doing so, if for nothing else than honor's sake." He offered her a large, long-fingered hand. It was wrapped tightly in black cloth, as was what she could see of his arm up the sleeve of his jacket. But while the fingers were bare, they too were black, like his skin had been before, and wickedly clawed.
"Do I have your... assistance?"
As Karl went on the offensive, Gareeku did nothing, staring at the incoming Karl with his fiery red eyes. As the
Fal'dev made his first, Gareeku suddenly bent over backwards as Karl's attack hit nothing but thin air. It was then that Gareeku bent forward again, his head smashing into Karl's with a thunderous bam. As Gareeku carried out the counter-attack, the magic-composed wings on his back began to morph, becoming a set of menacing tentacles as Gareeku used them to hold Karl in place, before delivering a thunderous blow to the stomach with a clawed fist, followed by a blow to the head with his other fist, sending the Fal'dev flying back.
Feeling around for a second, seeing as the eyes couldn't trasmit what they had to say to the body, the roachthing reached over and picked up its head. It held it a centimeter or so above the shoulders where it had once been, and the entity got to work.
Patch up that, rewrite that. Replacing chitin pattern. Gonna have to do something about the wings too...
A sort of scab formed between the head and the shoulders, reattatching the head in a manner akin to using scotch tape to fix a car engine.
Can't keep myself here, it's not good for the niche. Poor little guy went through more than he deserved.
Slowly, the entity flowed out of the roaches mind, causing it to shift back into an innocent little insect. There were now cracks in its exoskeleton, and its wings would need time to heal, but it was able to skitter away under its own power. It probably wont forget this; its mode of thinking changed when I inhabited it. Looks like the exterminators around here are gonna have their work cut out for them from now on...
The half-there figure stood up, rolling its shoulders as if to get a crick out of it.
"You must address the fact that we have little reason to trust you. What you did to that girl for no discernable reason are not the actions of a being prone to kindness, and before you attacked you mentioned something you wanted from this young woman." He guestured to Aisha. "Also, that dark entity bit doesn't sound particularly friendly either."
His hand still stretched out slightly, Stygian bowed forward a bit, then nodded at the other entity's comments as if to confirm that he found them all perfectly logical.
"True, all of it. And yet, it does not matter. I suppose you could say that it's a choice between a lesser and a greater evil. As for the girl, I have my reasons to... question her, and hopefully this will not lead to any harm to her. Though, if you knew the full of the situation I am unsure of whether you would be as concerned about that as you are." Stygian said. His last words were delivered with a bitter look and tone, his face a frown for a second. "Many things are far from what they seem."
Turning to Aisha, Stygian's voice held a tone of finality as he spoke.
"What say you?"
*Karl had no time to use his wings to slow down or stop him being thrown so hard and ended up colliding with a rock wall, causing a big imprint in it>>>*
Karl: ...Ow...
*Karl was a little phazed from the collision, but managed to get back on his feet*
Karl: so...doing it the Magic way, eh? How about this?! CHAO IMPALEI!
*a round of projectile energy shot out from Karl's arm and zoom towards Gareeku's position*
Not for the first time in her life, Aisha's mind was at war with itself. So many things were left unquestioned, and still this person asked her immediately for a choice between a risky effort and her friends' lives. A classic villain move, she knew. And it was the reason that she first refrained from ever making friends. When the hand outstretched, the panther backed up a step or two, over consideration.
The tail ring crossed the threshold of the portal's last position, and it began to gleam ever brighter. The very air was tingling with a malicious energy that would have started to eat away at a weaker mind...though she wondered if that wasn't happening to herself anyway.
In the midst of thought, Aisha watched with slight interest as the cockroach pulled itself together and...shifted back into its real self, but a small insect. The puppetmaster of said insect then came forward, and despite the heavy atmosphere Aisha was wondering just how long he had been there. Somehow, she also felt a little more at ease.
"What say you?" the one who carried the beast within had questioned again with surprising patience...but the line to be crossed was laid in his voice. Now or never...possibly condemn Gareeku and Karl to death. Possibly condemn herself. Possibly condemn the girl and all within the house.
Her eyes closed. Her breath was stifled by the viscous suspense in the air, inescapable as a tar pit. Time was being eaten away, second by second. Friends. You. Everyone. What would Mistress Rynkura say? Psh...she'd say decide on your own, chica.
...Well...at least try something.
The panther extended her right hand forward, slowly and hesitant, the bracer still latched upon it, towards the shadow's clawed one. It stopped in midair, and she met the thing's gaze with one of seriousness, after sparing the other entity a curious glance. "I want your word. That your power would save them."
Seeing Karl fire his attack, Gareeku gathered as much dark energy as he could to form a barrier to help protect him from his foe's attack. However, it was then that, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aisha's tail and the glow from the tail-ring. It was then, just for a few moments, Gareeku expression changed from one of beastly rage...to one of concern...concern for Aisha's well-being...
...Aisha...she is safe...
However, the next thing the transformed Gareeku knew, he was being sent flying back, his moment of concern weaking the dark magic barrier, allowing the attack to smash through it and plough into him, sending him a sizable distance through the air.
Getting back up, the beastly rage was back as he growled and snarled at his attacker, before suddenly charging towards Karl with incredible speed, his claws, teeth, and wing tentacles bared to inflict as much damage as possible...
"My word is my bond, shcätzchen." That sinister smile was back on his face now. His teeth did look too sharp for a human, Aisha thought. Way too sharp. "Whether you want it in blood or ink, no matter. Mind the time though. Already it will be trouble for just one of us to go through." He inclined his head slightly toward the portal. Still, she realized, he waited for her.
On the plain in inferno, Aisha's tail flickered in and out of view, the emerald green light from her ring fading quickly. But Gareeku paid no heed; he thirsted. He raged in his hunger. Who was this puny creature to try and stand against him? He would bleed it dry!
In the infirmary, the leopardess they had rescued was cracking up, to put it lightly. She was screaming at the top of her lungs, her face twisted in a grimace of utmost fear and pain as she thrashed back and forth on her bed.
"OH GOD, HELP ME! HELP ME! NO! NOOOOO! DEAR GOOOD!" Somehow, her fur was also paling, growing whiter and whiter before Mel's and E's very eyes. They could both feel something with the girl, something inside of her. But it wasn't dark. It was just... wrong. Sickeningly wrong.
"E... I think..." Mel paused, "No I'm sure something has a line on her." Not even looking at the girl anymore Mel slowly turns in a circle, her eyes glowing with magic as they flicker around the room. "Something is seriously messing up time/space. There are lines weaving in and out of the dimensions everywhere." She trails off in horror then begins again. "This place looks like kittens got hold of a ball of yarn and wrapped up the whole house."
She pauses then confesses, "I tried to leave a while ago and the entity upstairs stopped me. I don't know if I can do anything to stop this."
Time runs out, Aisha...the final decision...the lesser of evils...
The panther's ears flattened against her skull, a very felid disapproval move, at the sight of his teeth. Behind her she could feel the portal waning and Gareeku's very power flowing through it. Could he really be brought back with this? Could Karl have perhaps made another portal again? Not too likely...
She grew tired of the impatience, the fear of waiting.
With a sigh, she nodded her head once and shook the creature's hand.
"Fine...deal."
She didn't know how it was possible with a smile like that, but somehow the creature's smirk deepened as he nodded and shook her hand firmly.
"Then we are going." He said, and Aisha felt a tug at her arm. She looked down.
The black strips of cloth around his hand had loosened. Loosened and come alive, as they were moving up her arm and wrapping themselves around it, turning into black tendrils toward the ends. Likewise, it looked as if his hand was almost melting, long tendrils of smoky, shadowy substance quickly covering her skin and fur. And what was even more disturbing, it wasn't just on her skin. Aisha could feel it under it too! Like maggots, crawling and digging forth, an icy chill spreading where they did.
"I do apologize for this... intrusion. But unlike your friend I cannot open gateways, much less move anything but myself across existences." The tendrils reached past the bracer now, as did the crawling feeling. It did not seem to so much as diminish it.
((OOC: :dface Oh dear lord... RUN! IT IS TENTACLE VORE! RUN FOR YOUR SANITY!))
Only a moment after Mel's last words, the girl stopped screaming. But now there was another sound, in a way a much more uncomfortable one. Snaps and cracks, much too loud, were coming from her. Mel looked at her, and started.
Her eyes fixed at the ceiling, the leopard girl's back was bent in a trembling arch, her arms and legs stretched out. Her mouth had snapped shut, and both the muscles in her limbs and jaw were tensing so hard that they knotted. And more disturbingly, something seemed to move under her skin, thin red lines starting to spread across it.
*it was then when Gareeku started to rush Karl, that his wings began to mimic another race's trick...Polymorphing*
Karl: dang...I know Fal'dev can do this to their wings like Cubi can...but it seems to be harder for Fal'dev.
*Karl managed to morph one of his wings into a spiked barrier just as Gareeku had about reached him, then hurled the barrier at Gareeku*
e look around. he is uncomfortable. he knew Mel was right but did not have the experience to deal with something like this. not yet. still Mel seemed to understand more what was going on them him she just was not sure what she could do about it."Excuse me Mel but if you had more power to draw on could you do something?"
"Power is always helpful but I think time is the resource we are short of." She dropped the illusion of being a small feline, revealing herself as a white dragon and adjusted her size upwards to almost eight feet. Harmless was not the impression she wanted to give any longer. "Time and knowledge. If I had time I could access the knowledge to know what we are dealing and how to deal with it. But I don't think she's going to wait for me to go to the library." She backed another step away from the disquieting figure on the bed. Then she notices the sword across e's knees. "Your sword--it affects souls?" She looks at the tangled threads of magical feelers of the entity controlling the house. "I might have an idea, but if it even works it's as likely to cause harm as cure it. Do we try it or do we see what happens?"
E looks at his sword. " i've not head it long. in fact it was less then an hour ago that i pulled it form my chest. it was summoned they by the one was questioning before. he said it could be useful but i don't trust it it feels hungry to me." he looks at his sword and mournblade seemed to pulse in anticipation. e sighs. "if you wish to sue it then i won't stop you be be careful. as for me i'm priming my battle system and raising my reactor to 30% power. i'll raise it more if the need comes. but 30% is normally enough to non robotic beings" e offers the blades to the dragon hilt first.
As soon as Stygian had grasped her hand, Aisha thought she was prepared for anything. But nothing stopped the fact that it was happening, and when his smirk widened she wondered immediately if she was doing the right thing. "What...is this?"
Her skin crawled as she watched the cloth come alive and start to swallow her closed fist. The invasive feeling, the dark energy, it was already starting to get into her mind. The soothing glow of the bracer was soon overcome by the void-like subsance. The panther closed her eyes, but couldn't keep them closed. The icy chill had started to hurt the nerves a little, like a severe case of frostbite or wind burn. The crawling made her naseous...she had to keep from retching.
"What...do we have to do?" she inquired with a slight stammer as the crawling only got worse.
"You'll need to use it." She edged sideways around the bed. "If I can figure out which one of these magical tendrils is linking puppet and puppetmaster and we can sever it we might stop whatever is happening to the girl. Or we might kill her. I can't be sure."
Mel had to force herself close to the bed. The wrongness of the situation was making her stomach turn. And it was growing every second. The leopard was covered in the ick, that was the only word Mel could find to describe it. The strands went every which way. Unwillingly she chose the one that discusted her the most as the most likely target. She traced it several steps away from the bed. Under her breath she muttered, "I'm a gatherer, not a fighter. What am I doing here?" She rubbed her hands together, anticipating the nastiness to come. She had to make the magical thread visible enough that e would see it and believe he was cutting something real. If she couldn't manage to bring a segment far enough into this plane for him to see it he couldn't cut it. Not that she knew that she had even picked the right thread. Grimacing at the feeling she grasped the nasty magic in both hands and concentrated. "Can you see something that looks like a cord between my hands? Cut it if you can." Then she held her breath, waiting to see if she had made things worse or better.
"Just stay still and don't try to resist. It won't stop it, but it sure as hell won't get easier if you do." he said, and closed his eyes and mouth, tilting his head back a bit as his his skin changed into oily bluish-black and more and more of his body turned fluid, slowly wrapping itself around her. "We're going to have to go into you to take you with us. It's only temporary, of course, and not harmful in any way if done right, but the change might be uncomfortable."
His body was almost completely changed and enveloped around hers now, and Aisha could feel the crawling everywhere. It seemed to be moving faster than the tendrils now, and where the chill had passed she felt something stinging, like when blood and feeling comes back to a limb fallen asleep. It was at her neck when she realized her hand had moved. She hadn't wanted it to, but it had nonetheless. Her fingers, now longer and sporting inch-long claws, flexed without her doing anything. Then, her arm bent back and her head moved to face it, again without her willing. It fealt as if he was "trying her on", like some suit!
The crawling feeling came up behind her eyes, and instantly the world seemed to darken. But she could still see, and feel, how the now remaining part of his torso, what looked like just his head, his wings and a long, writhing spine beneath them, moved around behind her. It looked like some grotesque insect.
"This might sting a bit." His voice echoed in her mind now, not her ears, she realized. She barely had time to think before she felt a sharp stab into her back, followed by something that felt like worms crawling on the inside of her spine. They stopped at the base of her neck, and then the maggots under her skin settled as thick, black shadow enveloped her face. All became dark.
What seemed like an eternity later, Aisha opened her eyes. They were her eyes, she realized, no doubt about it. But everything looked so different, felt so different! She could see through the pillairs in the room, she realized, feel their roughened texture. She could hear the voices of the people downstairs, hear the cracking of the girl's teeth as they gritted and Mel's now deep and strong pulse like a drum. She could smell the residues of the people who had been in this room, strong against the background odor of wood, moisture and dust. And there were even more things to be seen, and felt, but she had not the word to describe them. The entity beside her, the magic around them, the ripples of the portal before them.
She realized what the two people below her were about to do. That was unfortunate, and dangerous. She had tried to find a way to keep the girl in stasis, but now she was going to become a real problem. Pity. Maybe she ought to go down there and...
Aisha stopped. What had she been thinking? She had to save Gareeku! That was the immediate matter here. Looking at the portal, she stood up. She marvelled at the feeling of moving. She felt so heavy, yet so light! Like she could just stamp off and blast through the roof, had she wished. But her mind was focused. Gareeku.
Tearing into the portal, in a way she could remember doing many times before, she spread her mind and essence, shadows coming into view. She seemed to gaze out on a field of ash and fire for just a moment as a thought swept through her head. Go get him, girl. Then she leapt through, or slithered like a snake, depending on how you saw it.
((OOC: This is where I leave control to Aisha. Also, seeing as it keeps giving the web viewers trouble, I've stopped using glow-effects and such.))
The portal's shimmery entry left a slight tingling on her skin, but no more, as she changed from one realm to the next almost as easily as traversing from earth to hell...that's pretty much what she was doing, at any rate. But it was just a little hard to leave the insatiable urge behind to investigate what was going on with the girl back downstairs. The portal stay open behind her, leaving but a bare concern as to what the roach-controlling entity left behind would do.
The leap was long...and so effortless! The impact that her feet made on the ashen ground didn't hurt the muscles. Aisha's senses were acute, in itself sensing more than what the naked eyes or ears could before. Was this what it was like for the dark beast? No wonder he could easily lose control...the power...the sheer power! An incredible thing to feel such strength...
The things I could accomplish with this...to be a much better hunter...maybe even find my brother or the demons that...
...NO! No hay tiempo...No time for thinking. Must find Gareeku...
It wasn't the wolf she had sensed first, but the curious being Karl, who was massing up some powerful energy of his own. Her comrade's energy followed close after. He was deep in that second form of his...and if she didn't get to him...
"Gareeku!" the girl called out, allowing the tail ring to guide her across to the darkness within him. Though it was quite hard to do with a darkness inside her very body...
The thought was interrupted when the panther came upon a veritable hurricane of embers, ash, and molten dust. There was a battle between them. The wolf attacking, the...other thing...defending and attacking back.
"Gareeku! Karl!" Aisha called again, resisting the urge to leap in and tear the meddlesome metallic thing apart...
Gareeku roared again as he flew in to attack, not caring about, in his irrational mind, the attack Karl was about to fire. As he neared his foe, Gareeku suddenly stopped dead in his tracks...that voice...
...Aisha...
Suddenly, a searing pain, then the feeling of flying through the air at an immense speed, before crashing to the ground, ripping up rocks and soil as the feral 'cubi ploughed along the ground, coming to rest near where Aisha stood. Growling and snarling, Gareeku tried to get up, but then yelped loudly, much like a feral wolf would, as a searing pain ripped through his body as he tried to. Karl's attack had hit home with devastating effect. Blood was pouring down his body as the figure lay there, the crimson liquid seeping from the large gashes in his torso as well as a slight amount running from the corner of his mouth.
E looks be sees nothing at first. All that is there is the dragon holding her arms apart. He pauses and then his eyes start to glow as he shift through his scanners vision modes then he sees it. There is a strand of quantum energy in her hands. As she holds it, it come closer and closer to a real world item. Was this magic? He looks around and sees they are around him light not quite in focus like the one being there held by Mel. "I see them now Mel. What are the other stands like that? Why cut this one alone? " he hefts his blade ready the swing as the center of the strand though he is still doubtful in his understanding of this plan.
Aisha looked down at Gareeku for just a fraction of a second. That was all that was needed. Fury seethed in her now, at seeing her friend hurt like that, and at these beings' clumsy way to handle things! What would Karl have done, had she waited in getting here? She wanted to lunge at him. With her speed, she could outmaneuver him in moments. But then she realized, she didn't need to. All she had to do was shift! Her confusion over this new thought lasted only a glimpse of a second. Then the world blurred...
...and she was standing behind Karl, so close she could just reach out slightly and grab his shoulder. This close, she could feel all the power coursing through his system. What was he doing?! In a voice that sounded as if uttered by two throats, one her own, clear and strong, the other a deeper, twisted reflection of it, coarse and slithering, she spoke.
"Stand down, imbecile! You're wounding him!"
Gareeku barely recognized Aisha for what she was. The Aisha he knew had red eyes, not glowing blue ones. And though her face was the same, she stood taller now, and broader. The real Aisha was fit, but this one was downright muscular, and moved in a way that she never could have. And that snarl...
His mind in conflict and shock, Gareeku watched as Aisha seemed to take a step forward, growing hazier. Then, she practically vanished, a punching sound heard and shadows bursting out for a moment where she had stood. And the next moment, the two seeming only a millisecond apart, she was standing behind Karl, gazing evilly at him.
The entity had barely enough time to follow Aisha (or as he was thinking of her in this state, Aisha-for-a-given-value-of-Aisha), slipping through the portal after her. I don't trust this thing, but she strikes me as someone... Interesting. Definatly worth keeping up with. Upon reaching the destination, he darted forward and.... hid. Just wait. Wait and find a niche where I can be of use. The wolf stands good odds of becoming trouble, if he isn't already. A quick survey of the battleground. Strike that. He is already.
*It was then when Aisha Called out that Karl realized that Aisha stepped through the Gate of the Abyss*
Karl: You fool! Don't you realize...
*Karl was cut off when his "Sight of Aura" detected a Dark aura emminating from Aisha*
Karl: What in this hellworld did you do?! ...And by the way, Does nobody know their magics?! The Gate of the Abyss was originally a "Banishment to Hell" spell (one way ticket, but there is an exception)...of course the person who casted it can create a portal that can lead back into the mortal realm...
*Karl then looked at Gareeku*
Karl: Oh crap...Look, Aisha...I want you to hold him so I can use a couple spells to heal him, replace the blood lost, and get him to have some control of himself during his feral form...otherwise we're screwed.
(OOC: notice that I said "What in this hellworld" instead of "what in Inferno" because...We're in/on Inferno.)
"I just chose the biggest one for the biggest effect." She let go of the thread and it faded out of sight. She blew a small plume of flame onto her hands. She knew that burning wouldn't really help but she felt better for the effort of sanitizing her hands of the aura. Her hands tingled from the alien substance. "But I'm panicing a bit. Maybe my logic is backwards. This thread links her to someone or something. I jumped to the conclusion that it is hurting her but it could just as likely be keeping her alive or calling for help or even her trying to control someone else. Frankly I don't even know if this... stuff... is close enough to furae soul energy for your sword to recognize and cut it."
She tucked her hands into her armpits, they still tingled. "I have access to the equivalent of a hundred libraries, but research is time consuming. This impromptu stuff isn't my style. Normally I would follow the thread to it's far end to see where it originates but having been trapped before I'm kind of nervous about trying it. At the moment I only see three choices. We do nothing and hope it resolves itself, we cut the largest cord, or I can try to separate out one of the smaller strands to experiment on."
((OOC: One way ticket to hell? Thanks for mentioning. *sigh*))
Looking up, Gareeku could make out what appeared to be Aisha, only she looked...different. Watching the events unfold, Gareeku rolled over onto his stomach. Growling like a feral wolf, he then began to get up, yelping slightly as the shoots of pain hit him. Eventually, the feral 'cubi managed to get to his feet, albeit a little wobbly as he stood. His white-furred torso was now mostly crimson with blood, drips of the red liquid falling to the floor as he stood. Buckling, Gareeku fell to one knee, breathing heavily while emitted a raspy growl.
(OOC: Like I said in my previous post, there are exceptions...like the part where the original caster can make an escape portal)
*Noticing Gareeku trying to get up, Karl shouted at Aisha*
Karl: Dang it! He's gonna kill himself if we can't stop the bleeding! the sooner we can stop the bleeding and heal him up, the sooner I can place a Control Seal on him and open an escape portal...
((OOC: Oh dear. This looks about to turn bloody. Can't you regenerate, Gareeku?! Someone!))
The girl was laying almost still on her bed now, but she was still twitching, and her teeth were still gritted. Her eyes seemed to glow a soft red, as did the hair-thin lines that had appeared all over her body by now. They were not wounds, that was obvious from the lack of any blood. Instead, the way they were all straight, connecting, turning and forking in angular ways, reminded more of circuitry.
"Cu-cut it... cut-t it..." Her voice was so low a whisper that it could barely be heard. Her eyes were fixed on Mel, tears watering them. "Pa-painnn... free m-me... cut-t i-it..."
The entity remained hidden, observing as usual.
He's practically crippled, bleeding profusely, and there's about three and a half of us. Yeah, this guy really takes priority over Evil Mcbodysnatcher there. And now he's in the body of someone who probably qualifies as an ally at this point. Bah, best find a niche so I can do- His eyes turned toward the blood pooling beneath Gareeku, -Something...
He slinked forward and lowered one finger until it was touching the fluid. He didn't worry about Gareeku noticing because, since the entity wasn't there yet, there was nothing there that Gareeku could harm. Everything has thoughts, for a given value of the term, and so he was able to insert himself amongst those thoughts to change the purpose of that pool of blood.
Gah, this is both gross and complicated. All these protiens and vitamins and other THINGS floating around. Alright, lets see how this goes.
The blood swirled around and flowed upward into a small, overmuscled wolf; a crimson caricature of Gareeku.
Pattern THIS bit with magical inhibiters and THIS bit with platelets and THIS bit with elephant tranquilizers because I do not trust this guy to stay down...
The mockery-Gareeku reached forward, more careful now that it could be effected, and quickly thrust one open palm toward Gareeku's chest.
((OOC: Just a thought, Karl, I'm guessing you're using references from something that other people probably aren't going to get. :mowtongue Forgive me for being nitpicky...RPing for everyone shouldn't really be something like inside-jokey...it's so everyone can get in without being confused.
...And I hope I get Stygian's phase thing right this time...XD))
Within the mind of the beast she had become, Aisha probably wouldn't have even recognized herself. The power flowing through her nerves and muscles was more thrilling than anything she had ever witnessed or felt before in her life...not since the first time she could use an enchanted weapon. This was like her whole body was enchanted. Stronger, faster, and...much more evil than she would have liked.
But her friend was in danger...bleeding...all because of the fault of Karl, in her mind. Her own anger coupled with the insatiable rage made the rational mind take a backseat to the animalistic one.
You dragged him here...fiend...attacked him...no more attacking!
"You don't tell me what to do..."
She started to charge Karl, but suddenly her eyes caught sight of Gareeku trying to stand, despite the injuries. He stood, and fell again, blood coating the sides of his body. The rational mind stepped forth again with the notice...the worry, that if there was any more tarrying...he would be in big trouble.
The fear that he would attack her in while still in the feral cubus form was placed in the back of her mind, stowed away like only a quaint concern rather than a fear. She could handle him if he did attack. An idea that had been there instead came forth, and her eyes, slowly regaining their ruby color, were fixed on her bracer.
"Maybe I could try..." she muttered.
But when Karl again spoke, she simply swung a full-sized blow to his side, flinging him out of the way so she could get back to Gareeku. Within her mind, Stygian had made a suggestion that she accepted in the hope that he could be brought back to himself at least. The panther had forgotten that his powers were now her own, and that included affecting magic...
She snapped the light bracer easily from her wrist and stood over the feral creature that had been her friend, whom she knew had sensed the evil within Aisha...and she also knew that he was rising to face it, however it would end up. With a lunge that she made as gentle as possible, Aisha had Gareeku in a strong hold that willed him not to struggle. She was going to attempt to take his magic apart...willing him to change back himself.
Snapping the light bracer on his own wrist to allow healing magic within to curb some of the injuries, all she could do was say in a wierd mix of Stygian and her own voice, a mix of both wills...valiant concern for her friend and the calculating cool mind of the other...
"Trust me."
((You guys are quite impatient. :3 ))
Growling and snarling, Gareeku tried to shake himself free of Aisha, but to avail; in his weakened state he simply could not. Gradually, the snarling and growling began to cease as the bracelet took effect, whimpering simply as the darkness within him subsided, the wings on his back and head slowly disappearing as the wolf reverted back to his normal state.
"I'm...sorry..." Gareeku said weakly in the dying moments of his feral cubus form, before falling unconsious.
((OOC: Note: Gareeku won't remember any of the time he was in his feral cubus form, even if he did manage to gain his normal state of mind for a few moments while in that form, like he has done a couple of times in this time)
From his view behind Aisha's eyes, Stygian was barely keeping hold of itself. Blood, but this girl was strong! It had not had so much effort in trying to keep separate from a host since that affair when it first arrived in this universe. And it was all the more harder because it had to take the back seat, to hold from slowly infesting the girl's mind. With all the influence it had to give, it was like walking a slack rope. On one end was its own health and possibly the death of the girl if they split up too fast, on the other its own sanity and the girl's mind. A misstep, and things would be all but impossible to save. It had to keep the balance. It had to!
Then Gareeku spoke, and its heart sunk. No! It would not lose him!
Guiding the girl's actions, Stygian saw, and felt, as her hand pulled back. The skin and fur on her forearm shredded, long blue-black tendrils spilling out into view around a dark, clawlike hand. She plunged it into Gareeku's chest, and both it and the girl stretched out their mind, darkness flowing.
Blue fire erupted as the claws and spiked tendrils dug into Gareeku's skin, and for a moment Stygian thought it would be swept away. If the former balance was a rope, this was a dagger's edge! And yet, it was not the same. It had to push, to press its way forward along that very same edge with all its strength. It had to force that magic, along with the life, back into Gareeku's form. Pain flared through the girl's arm, its arm, as even more skin and fur was torn apart and shed up to her back, the cloth ripping like paper. One of its "wings" came into view, thrusting through her skin like a jagged bonepipe. They were screaming now, it thought.
Around them, magic was surging wildly, tearing itself apart and re-forming as it was being ripped out of and forced back into Gareeku. Stygian could not help it, and neither could the girl. Neither dared even think of concentrating on anything but what they were doing. The residual magic lost was enough to make the ground crack, and the wind howl. The air danced with flames and sparks. Magic ran rampant as it formed random shapes, shredding the energy of the place like a jackknife.
We should never have tried this. How much more magic is there in him? Will he come back? We don't know! Stygian thought. It would have laughed, had it been able to. Heh. At least we died in a good way, fighting and with a woman in our... arms... Its mind began to drift.
((OOC: Ooops...))
*when Karl was dealt a blow by Aisha, he momentarily felt "fear of loss" coming from her conscience*
Karl: Aisha, I had no choice...If he had been allowed to continue fighting whatever that creature was in the mortal realm, He could have more than killed it...He could have killed us all!
*Karl then saw the energy coming from Aisha and felt something weakening within*
Karl: the...the thing that was in Aisha is sacificing itself to save Gareeku? It is amazing! I...I...
*suddenly, Karl's Wings and Tails liquified...turning him back to normal*
Karl: the shock must have powered down my Fal'dev form...but I still Have enough power left for this!
*Karl opens a portal back to the house...providing a way out for the group*
Karl: Aisha, hurry with Gareeku back to Medbay...I have to think over something...
Aisha barely heard Karl's voice...it was too far away. Had to be disregarded. Nothing more was important than just finishing the task. The glow of the magic energy bounding everywhere as it was let loose, before once again digging back into Gareeku's body to reconstruct and heal him, flashed all over her eyes and lit up the land of Inferno into a melee of sharp color and contrast, shapes and motion.
The pantheress herself felt great pain. She was too focused and resisting of Stygian, and slowly felt herself coming back again. The shape of the dark entity within, morphing and struggling in its vessel, made her skin and nerves tingle with intense pressure and pain. It was nothing but pure, mass confusion all around. No doubt, Gareeku wasn't too happy about it either right then.
Aisha was wishing for another way, a less risky one...
Only once did she glance from their work to witness that Karl had backed off and opened another portal, beckoning them back to the mortal world.
"I'll...be...there," she managed to choke out, still holding on tightly to Gareeku as he seemed to finally regain his health...but she had to wait on Stygian's word and action. He seemed to be drifting further away with each second...
All through the confusion, the terror...Aisha could only help but joke, I am NEVER gonna let something possess me again.
Stygian was barely conscious. It wanted to hurl. It wanted to double over and spew this girl's guts out, that's what it wanted! And then to lay down and sleep, warm and soft flesh and blood around it, not having to move so much as a millimetre... Pulling back its mind and influence, it pained itself to make the girl lift her friend. You move him. We're too tired. Must leave... Find... Find the girl... Kill us... Its voice was incoherent and weak in her mind, but Aisha heard it. The tendrils out of her arm had receded, and the skin and hair were regenerating with a sick, sizzling sound, only just audible to her heightened senses. Arms around Gareeku, his form intact though now considerably more scarred than before, she stepped through the portal.
Well on the other side, she carefully laid down Gareeku on the dark floorboards. The light coming through the windows was deep crimson now. Then, she fell over on her knees. She wanted to puke. It felt like her entrails were coming up her throat. And in her back, a dull pain was building. She arched, her spine and head curving in an s-shape, as something ripped its way out of her back, loudly tearing her flesh. That same icy chill she had felt before came back to her, and the stinging. But as it waned, the feeling left behind warmth, pleasure even. She nearly smiled, indescribably glad that she at last be rid of this curse. Then she jerked forward again, and fell over on the floor as her spine seemed to shake loose from her body.
When next she looked up, Aisha was laying stretched out on the floor. Before her, something that looked like a disease-ridden human man with large portions of the flesh on his body frostbitten, and draped in some barely covering black, tattered cloth that resembled cobweb was on his knees and hands, violently and loudly spewing thick black liquid with fleshy lumps in it onto the floorboards.
Down in the infirmary, E severed the thicker of the threads with little visible effect. Now, would he choose to continue? The choice was suddenly made for him though, as the "threads" attatched to the girl trembled and recoiled. Not all vanished, far from it, but those that did Mel could easily distinguish from the others by some common trait, some similarity. She could not easily tell what it was; all the threads looked wrong and out of place to her. But there was a difference.
As soon as the threads loosened their grip, the girl immediately became straight-faced. Her pupils shrunk and her blood-red irises expanded until they encompassed her entire eyes. The red lines in her skin widened and deepened, moving and shifting disturbingly, then fixing themselves at a few certain positions, and her fur turned all white. Snaps and popping sounds were once again clearly audible as she sat up, and something began to grow from her back.
e looks at Mel then nods. for better or worse the girl had spoken in agreement with Mel with a single swing of morunblade the main thread parted and e felt the sword pulse in his hand as it seems to be drinking in power form of the the strands. E also felt his arm react to this power as it absorbed it into his body creating a spare battery to store it in. the feeling was strong but distasteful and somewhat additive. it felt akin to when he overloaded on the dark energy and proclaimed himself a dark god. but less destructive.. e nearly drops the blade big did not for that that it was trying to seek out a living victim and would have one if he let go.
Oh. That was... Completely unneeded. Huh.
The entity quickly abandoned the borrowed shape and slipped after Aisha, for once not hiding as soon as he came out the other side of the portal.
"Dare I ask what just happened? All I percieved was magic being flung everywhere and a lot of yelling, and I'd like to know how likely it is that the wolf's going to go crazy again."
"We forced... some of the magic back into him... shaped him into regenerating. He should be conscious in short time, with that braceeeeughlk...!" Stygian jerked his head forward and vomited out some large piece of flesh, looking a bit like a windpipe with tendrils. For a while, it spasmed back and forth like a caught fish when it hit the floor, then stopped and curled up. In front of him was now a veritable heap full of what looked like black, half-digested entrails. They sizzled and smoked, rapidly starting to dry up and turn into ash.
"You know I hate you for this now, don't you?" he said with a smile toward the boogeyman. Then he fell over to the side, his head splashing into his own dark "blood" that was running out in a large pool around him. "Kill the girl, or she'll murder us all." he then said, eyes closed.
Mel stepped back, it was done now, for better or for worse. She had the depressing notion that, from the way this day was going, it was going to get worse. This wasn't even where she was supposed to be today. Half of her mind thought longingly of the cool hushed lecture hall at the university where she was supposed to be assessing an upcoming scientist while the other half ran through her spells in case this went horribly wrong. Lightning was her best but she doubted e would appreciate her flinging raw electricity around with his metal exoskeleton. She'd have to pick something else.
With the creature's hand plunged into his chest, Gareeku's eyes snapped open, before rolling back into his head as the wolf let out stammers of pain. Being carried back through the portal, Gareeku slipped into the warm embrace of unconsciousness once more...
Morunblade was calling for him to kill the girl. It wanted to drink of her soul. It pulled towards the girl and it pulled towards Mel. E held it in check with his strength but had to raise his power reactor by 5 percent to make it go quiet. "Mel I do not like this. I'm going to cut more of these threads" e powered up his core to half of his normal strength and looked at Mel. "This reminds me of when I fought king only to find out he was a puppet of my dad." E shoo his head. "No, not my dad though in fairness he is the only parental figure I can recall. I lived with him for 5 years in a body like this. He tired to destroy me more then once. But even when he succeeded in breaking my body I always became stronger here the name he gave me forte. i'll live up to that name today." e slashed thorough the binding strands ready to kill any attacker if need be. This was not one of dad's robot army but the stakes were similar
The girl hunched forward slightly, as a pair of perfectly white, sharp-tipped feathered wings sprouted from her back, red circuitry flashing across them for a moment before it seetled in and vanished. From underneath her now silvery hair, golden slivers slid out, floating up around her head and slowly melting into the shape of a halo, glowing a faint crimson. Her fur had become spotlessly white, seemingly blending together with the long, thin ivory claws on her fingers. Her whole appearence seemed to have become more shapely and beautiful, and the few deep red lines in her skin that were left were fixed and orderly, gleaming softly in the dimly lit room.
The girl looked up at them with an almost blank face. Her entire eyes were a deep, gleaming red, like polished rubies. She spoke in a voice that sounded dual, but that unlike Stygian's was clean and pure, like small golden bells chiming.
"Where am I? Who are you?"
The entity frowned. He'd moved too slow; they'd already been getting to work on Gareeku. The best he'd done was complicate things. Frustrating.
He turned toward the girl when she spoke. Apparantly she was the real issue (According to the self-professed creature of darkness. Taking that advice with a grain of salt), and he could sort of see what he meant. The girl was worrying.
However, she didn't seem dangerous. "You're in a place known as the character lounge. Pardon my rudeness, but if I may know your name before I tell you mine? Things have been complicated as of late and you're rather deeply involved, I'm afraid."
((OOC: GAH! Always ninja'd! :U))
Aisha's eyes opened slowly. They felt so heavy, it was like trying to lift a ton of boulder from her shoulders. For a second, her vision blurred, and she could have sworn that they were still back beyond the portal. But as they cleared, the nightmarish place had been left behind, the portal all but dissipated...and in its place the surprisingly comforting vision of the darkened attic of the house.
Exhaustion swept in like a hurricane, and she stayed on the floor for a few moments longer as her familiar muscles reacquainted themselves all over again. The panther's senses were still acute, and so in a half-sleep she heard everyone's voices...including one that made her very relieved, Stygian's voice outside of her mind.
The girl will murder us? Her thoughts echoed in curiosity. She thought that they were saving her before...but trying to comprehend it only gave Aisha a headache. Deciding whom to believe was for the moment like a complicated math problem. Instead she had to keep her own stomach's composure as she smelled the thrown-up bile of the creature.
When she regained the feeling of her limbs, she ordered her weight upon her forearms and looked around to see who was there. Karl, she sensed nearby...the other entity, the last one out of the portal...Stygian, of course...
And finally, Gareeku...himself, but unconscious. But the bracer had worked...the whole plan had worked. He was alive.
Aisha crawled up to him and checked to make sure...there was a pulse beneath her palm. Yes, just unconscious. "Hey, amigo, you awake?" she half-joked and glanced to Stygian with slight concern. He had kept his word. Aisha figured she owed him thanks...perhaps. In the meantime, she removed the bracer from Gareeku's wrist and watched over him.
"Think we should go downstairs into medbay and rest us all?" she inquired, still a little too winded to even stand.
*as Karl was still on the other side of the portal, he contemplated what had happened*
Karl's mind: I...I don't understand. Whatever that thing that inhabited Aisha decided to heal Gareeku...but for what purpose? What value does Gareeku hold to it? Or did Aisha force the thing to heal him? Gah...now I'm getting a headache!
*Karl walks through the portal back to the mortal realm*
"Nnnughh..." Gareeku groaned quietly as he began to come to. Opening eyes, Gareeku could not help but smile softly and his blurry vision cleared to reveal Aisha watching over him.
"Hey..." The wolf said weakly.
E ceases his slashing and with a difficulty sheathes the soul hungry blade in a dark Scabbard that appears at this side. it was Erebus's doing he knew but still the sword and not one that was easy to control. "There is much I do not know but of what I do I will tell you. I am E's strength. you may call me e. may companion is a librarian by the name of Mel." E's scabbard rattles as the sword begs relies. Chaos and dark chaos at that was not easy to quell. "Now that you are yourself again please tell us what is going on. That and why the darkness around here is hiding here within the light?"
e blinks. Was that Erebus that had just spoken himself? He was not sure. Even so with the sword sheathe he shift to a powerful weapon in his body's temporary arsenal. E's weapon of choice changes as does his body's trim changing color to reflect his selected weapon. The powerful thunder wave was now as his finger tips literally. As he waits his body starts to spark with electrical power. E is concerted as a self diagnostic shows his dark energy the sword given energy and his reactor energy are all trying to interact with the thunder wave boosting the number of times he could use it and it's effectiveness. Was Erebus starting another dominance war now of all times?
"I just lost a good hundred pounds or more and ripped loose from you without injuring you in less than two minutes. I am entitled to some rest." He said tiredly to Aisha. But then, his eyes snapped open. They had returned to their ordinary black with glowing blue irises, their pupils slowly shrinking until they were not visible anymore. And worry was on his face now, and anger.
"On second thought, going down to the infirmary would be advisable. Now." he said. He tried to push himself up, but never made it more than halfway and fell back on his knees. His face was pained, and his veins and tendons seemed to be straining. Too much loss. Need something... someone to consume, he thought.
"Can I have some help?" he asked, looking down in the floor. Bloody wish you had gone back on your word now, don't you?
The girl didn't seem to hear the boogeyman. Her gaze wandered between Mel and E, and the both got the feeling she was... studying them. In any case it was impossible to determine where she was looking with those eyes.
The girl faced down at herself, sitting in just her underwear and a pair of half-open trousers. She gave a short frown, and then stepped down from her bed.
"What has happened here?" she asked.
"that's what we would like to know" says e getting the feeling that he's about to fight one of his fathers fortress guardians. "if you can tell us what you were doing wrapped up like that and what this stuff is the maybe we can understand what going on." he was at around half normal capacity. that power was enough to stop most robot masters but fortress guardians were another matter. he wanted to power up more but held back still at half normal and with a max of 500% normal before physical breakdown he knew he had a good chance to survive wit this body in tact, he just hoped he didn't have to use it. the sword called to him again. it was like it was a special weapon begging to be used.
Quickly glancing back down to Gareeku upon hearing his voice, Aisha smiled back gently, a look that wasn't too familiar on her face. "Hey yourself. Sorry about being a little rough back there. I had some...unexpected help," she took an uneasy glance to Stygian as she said that. Suddenly he was quite adamant about getting to the medical center...but she wondered if that was wise with the girl down there.
She glanced to the others who were still easily standing. "Karl, perhaps you can call down to the medbay and send up some assistance?"
Then, Aisha stood up with relative unease and offered her hand to Gareeku, to help him stand as well if he could.
Gareeku softly again as Aisha responded. It was truely a warming sight for the wolf to wake to; a close friend who was looking out for him. Taking Aisha's hand, Gareeku rose to his feet, though he wobbled slightly at first. Maintaining his balance, Gareeku looked at Aisha.
"What happened? All I remember is feeling a sharp pain in the-" Gareeku began, not remembering anything from the time he was in his transformation, before realising what had happened, a sad expression appearing on his face, "...it happened again, didn't it..."
Stygian could barely keep up from down. He was wobbling back and forth, he realized, but trying to steady his movements was impossible. His body felt distant and loose, like it did when he morphed into a much too fluid form.
"Help. Please?" he said. But he was not so sure that they could help anyway. He would have to help himself. He was so hungry, so thirsty. Something had definitely gone wrong in the splitting between him and the girl. It had been too fast. Much too fast. He was used to being able to adapt and regenerate in seconds, to only have to consume for nourishment when he changed too much. Now, it felt as if his body was consuming itself instead. He had to eat, to infect and digest.
He managed to get to his feet, though how he was not sure. Starving. Famished. Why had he left the girl? He could not remember. He shouldn't have. It shouldn't have. It craved the warmth again, the flesh and blood.
Gareeku and Aisha turned at a low growl from Stygian. He was in his full-fledged form again, but without the wings, and he was gaping at them, razor-sharp teeth parted around a long, drooling blue tongue. Though his gaze had been uncomfortable to start with, the feverish, mindless stare he gave them now was in a class of its own. He hissed loudly at them and hunched down, as if preparing to lunge at them.
They smelled so wonderful, so alive, Stygian thought. Peel their skin. Strip their bones. Yes. Drink the blood and empty them. It would dive its fangs into them and consume them from inside out! First the wolf. He was still weak. Then the girl, when it wasn't so hungry any more. It would play with her... The wonderful screams. It began to slide toward them, but then it stopped.
The bright one is still down there, it thought. It will burn us. It will steal our meal from us and lock us in again! It looked down through the floor. We will not let her! We will take her first instead! Changing its shape, it backed up, then threw itself against the far end of the room with tremendous speed, breaking through the attic door and flying down the stairs.
The girl's face was still just almost blank as she looked at E. There was something like gladness in her expression though, like a content teacher looking at a well-behaved child. It was in her voice as well as she spoke.
"I honestly have no idea. I have been unconscious this whole time, and..." Suddenly, she stopped. Her face became completely serious, and she turned against the door out into the corridor.
"Short version; you were found tied up in a closet. You are officially up to speed with the rest of-" The entity stopped, seeing the girl turn toward the corridor, "-us..."
Alright, so answers have to wait. Lovely. What's in here for me to work with?
...
Next to nothing. Plus that pizza that I found earlier. Just peachy.
Seeing the growling form of Stygian, Gareeku grimaced, before turning to Aisha.
"Get ready..." he whispered to her, before reaching to his side to retrieve his katana. However, he would find that the weapon was no longer there. Quickly looking around the room from where he and Aisha stood, he found his blade to be lying in the corner, near where the closet stood.
"Shit..." Gareeku cursed quietly.
e is starting to feel paranoid an odd feeling for him. this was not battle this was something else . maybe it was the calm fore the war he was not sure. maybe it was because he had others using his body as a time share. whatever the cause right now all he wanted was to have things made clear. would he fight or would there be piece? a mistake her could harm more then help. with out realising hie he was starting to look at the corridor that the girl and the other energy entity were concentrating on. i wish "Gospel" was here as he said the names a very large drop of purple light drops form outside into the room next to him forming into his pet robot wolf.
Aisha nodded sadly, only confirming Gareeku's realization. "Yeah, you went all badass powerful to help fight Stygian and Karl here took you into hell. Bueno, no?" Aisha chuckled...though the situation probably wasn't funny, the panther had to at least put a bit of light-heartedness into it. She helped him to keep his balance in order to stand up...only to have the both of them watch another transformation.
Stygian...he had turned coat again. It was eyeing them hungrily, evilly...and Aisha wanted again to just retch at the very idea of feeling that hunger once before. Then it turned away to the stairs, and a curious look appeared on her face.
Suddenly, realization set in. "Oh no...we can't let him escape, not again," the hunter stated and drew her own sword. This time...this time they would finish him or at least try, for the protection of the others. But the action of grabbing her weapon in itself was slightly exhausting. She wanted no more than to either sit down or fall asleep, or both. Only the stress and her own stubborness kept Aisha standing.
"Gareeku...are you sure you are not still exhausted?" she asked her friend out of concern. Certainly fate wouldn't let him come back from the brink of insanity and near-death only to face it again...
"I may be feeling a bit under the weather..." Gareeku began as he turned to face Aisha with a serious look on his face, "...but I can't myself rest until people are safe. Besides, i've got a score to settle with that son of a bitch..."
It was then that Gareeku suddenly ran as fast as he could towards his weapon, diving into a forward roll and retrieving his katana, unsheathing it as he dropped the sheath to to the floor.
"Come and get me!" Gareeku roared out in defiance at the creature, his blade held towards his foe.
Stygian barely thought as it darted away from Aisha and Gareeku, through the door to the attic, and slid shapelessly down the stairs of the mansion. There was little time or need to think in any case; it made it to the door of the infirmary in moments. The two above were trailing after it, but they could not stop it. They were too slow. It winced, if such a thing could be said about a formless shadow entity. It must consume quickly or it would get worse. Forming enormous claws out of its "hands", it tore asunder the door and part of the walls of the infirmary and leapt in.
The girl, her angelic ivory shape now somehow having taken on a sharper, more deadly character, faced it squarely as it entered. She spoke, her voice strong and metallically monotonous.
"Cease and surrender!" She stretched out her arm, red circuits forming across her skin. In the blink of an eye, a bolt of singeing red energy shot out from the palm of her hand, hitting Stygian head-on and burning a hole in it. Her wings started pulling back, thin red lines spreading across them too, and small silvery tendrils starting to form at their base. Whatever she had planned on doing though was abruptly interrupted, as Stygian plowed into her like a freight train, throwing a sickbed aside and slamming her against the back of the room. The next moment though, Stygian was the one flying across the room, almost colliding with Mel. The girl was after him immediately, claws and wings outstretched. She had sustained some serious injuries though, and what looked like crimson sparks of electricity were leaking along with blood out of a huge gash in her side. But she didn't seem to mind. Her face was blank, emotionless. Her movements seemed almost mechanical in their determination.
"Your miserable existence must end." she said, in a matter-of-fact way, as if she had been stating that it was getting late, or that she was feeling bored.
Aw crap, Boogey (that much of himself had arrived; he had his name with him now) thought, as the two unstable creatures crashed through the room. An no niche in sight. No way I'm possessing Crazy-boy there, and I doubt the angel's much more plesent a mind to tinker with. And of course, everything else is either sapient, which would complicate things, or useless, which would be, erm, useless. Something I could fit myself into, c'mon, SOMETHING!
He looked thoughtfully at the blade E was holding. Inanimate, which means possessing it wouldn't so much be dangerous as simply tedious; it was a tool, it knew what it was for, he would simply have to change its mind. Then, of course, there was the catch.
Eehyeah, cursed. We'll call that plan Z.
His eyes flicked around the room.
Fridge, robot, couch, pizza, broken building materials, mildew... Boogey glanced at a patch of mold growing on part of the stairs up to the attic, ... Could work. Alright, now I have a plan B too. Now to see if there's an A...
Racing into the room, Gareeku's eyes widened at the scene before him.
"What the hell is going on?!" He exclaimed, taken by suprise particularly by the change in the girl they had saved earlier.
"The girl and the beastie are angry, and the girl doesn't know what happened. This is the extent of my knowledge on the subject." Boogey replied automatically, the dictations of common sense and stopping the monters being abandoned for a chance to be snarkey, "Hey, you're the local proffesional at the whole villian-smiting thing, yes?" He points at the two tussling terrors locked in their terminol tango. "You may want to do something about that."
"Gee...I'm honoured. Thanks..." Gareeku replied sarcastically. "Wish me luck." He said to Aisha, before dashing in and stepping between the girl and the creature, who looked ready to go another round.
"I think I speak for the others as well as myself; I want a damn good explanation as to why you two are fighting in a room of injured people," Gareeku demanded, before feeling slightly weak; he had almost forgotten that he himself was not 100%.
Stygian melted and slid to its "feet" with mercurial speed, but it was the girl, not he, who struck Gareeku, sending him crashing into the wall beside the Boogey.
"Interference with the objective will not be tolerated." she said, in that same metallic monotone. Red bolts were flaring around her fists as she dove for Stygian. But he was faster, and before she could reach him she was hurled back, a huge black spike jutting through her stomach with its origin point in Stygian's arm. She clasped her hands around it, sending crimson energy into it, and Stygian pulled it back with a roar of pain. But he did not waste any time. The next second, before the girl had a chance to move more than two steps, both her arms were impaled to the wall by black spikes. And then came a third, landing with pinpoint precision in the middle of her forehead. Her wings flared, the now silvery and stiletto-sharp tips of her "feathers" cutting the spikes, but Stygian was already on top of her, pressing her into the wall.
"Nuughh...ow..." Gareeku groaned. Staggering to his feet, the wolf looked on as the girl and the creature continued their fight.
"Damn it...neither of them will listen..." Gareeku growled. Thinking back to the change in the girl, he had noticed something. "Do you think that girl could be possessed by something similar to that creature?" the wolf suggested to Aisha and Boogey.
E did not understand who was right or wrong but form the look of it there were going to kill each other. it was better to try to stop them both now the quest it later. everybody get down. i'm going to try to shock some sense into them." E jumps into the air his hand point up as he calls forth the power of thunder. The air is filled with lighting and the attack is fairly divesting to mechanical entities that are not the cause of it. It is and attack that strikes nearly all moving machines. Very few can withstand this attack as is seeks out electrical signature or and unshielded AI's. Very few robots can shake it off. Have been on the receiving end of this attack e knows how devastating in can be. Even if you doge the bolts of lighting the mini EMPs can still wreak havoc with your system. he only hoped the organics would be out of harms way.
"Alright, new strategy." Boogey hissed, wincing as Gareeku hit the wall, "I felt that, and I'm not even corporeal right now. Gah!" He noticed the attack E was charging, "Not inside! No big electric pulses inside! That is an outside attack! Use your indoor weapons of mass destruction!" Giving that up for a lost cause, Boogey went with the most obvious course of action.
He panicked.
The mold! Running over to the stairwell, he insinuated his way into the thoughts of a patch of mildew. This was more trickey than you would think; not being able to do much means having more time to devote to thinking deep thoughts, and Boogey had to work hard convincing the stain not to drown him. Just fix that, add that, release these spores.... The patch began to grow and swell into a lump of ooze. Yeah, that's attractive.
"This will take me a bit!" The ooze blurbled wetly, "I'll help when I can! Distract them from destroying the whole house!"
Nodding in acknowledgement, Gareeku then dashed back into the fray, once more stepping between the two who were fighting.
"Stop this fighting at once, or I will be forced to engage you in combat!" Gareeku bellowed to the two of them, his katana drawn.
Shit...I don't think I'm going to stand a chance...still, if it means helping to stop these two, then I'll do it... Gareeku thought to himself as his eyes darted between the girl and the creature.
At the strike of lightning, Stygian screamed out and lost his shape, turning into his flowing form and losing his grip on the girl, collapsing together before her. The girl stiffened and jerked with the electricity crackling through her, but recovered from the shock with surprising speed, nullifying the charge and turning against E. One of her wings swooped forward with great speed, changing shape and length as it did, and rent E across his chest, throwing him back.
"Interference will result in punishment later." she declared calmly.
The girl then immediately turned her attention to Gareeku, who had stepped between her and the stunned Stygian again, this time delivering a swift kick to his face to move him away, breaking his nose and nearly cracking his jaw. "And will possibly result in mental reconfiguration" she droned. Stepping forward to Stygian, she then administered the same treatment to him as he tried to re-form. He was knocked into the floor, which cracked under the pressure. She stomped on him again a couple of times, for good measure, and then brought up her hands. The red lines on them deepened, blood-like substance flowing out of them and forming spiked shapes crackling with red bolts of electricity. Crimson light flared as she charged her hands with an enormous amount of energy, and she raised them, readying to thrust them down into the dark shape before her.
A black tentacle shot up and dug into her skin, just above her navel. Then another, just below, and then another. And another, and more of them after that. Stygian's head took on a spiked shape and drove itself up into her stomach, his body slowly following it. She froze in her movement, her face now twisted in a part confused, part horrified grimace as her skin began to bulge and move from the inside.
"Aaarghh!" Gareeky yelled out in pain as his nose cracked. His head swimming with pain, the wolf opened his eyes, his vision blurry from the blow delivered to him.
"Get everyone out of the house!" Gareeku yelled to the others. If he was going to fight, he was going to get his ass kicked, sure. However, he didn't want other casualties.
Filled with fury and yelling out in a battle cry, Gareeku dashed in, his sword shining with energy as he aimed a series of sword strikes at the girl, hoping to keep her from fighting the creature and concentrate on him instead.
From the corner she had been trapped in since the fight began Mel watched the battle. Spells ran through her head but trapped in a smallish room full of a variety of lifeforms nothing seemed safe. Her eyes searched the room but there appeared to be nothing safe but air. Air... wind. Perhaps if she could corner one of the combatants the fighters could do something. Which one? She decided Mr. Creepy Critter didn't look solid enough to physically push. That meant the girl. She used a wall of wind, hoping to pin the girl to the wall long enough for someone else to do something clever.
e slammed into the wall his hand on his chest. he watched as the Nantes rebuild the armor then stands. his energy has taken a mils shock. yes this was like facing an fortress guardian alright. He's concentrates to close as he brings his reactor power back to 50% continued until he is at 100% normal capability. " i'm sure surprised that thunder wave didn't work on you very well . you must be considerably powerful like king was but i'll get you two to stop even if it means i have to dismantle you both!". E switches weapon his trim going blue as he changes his weapon to the remote control mines. he point has arm at them and fires at the girl.
To Mel's surprise, the wind magic slid off the girl like steam over a hot surface, almost as easily as it did on Stygian. The rest of the room felt the gust, but for all intents and purpouses, she might as well have been flicking paper at the angel-creature.
E's mine though, had considerably greater effect. It collided with the frozen girl where she stood, black tentacles still thick out of her stomach, and threw her crashing into the wall behind her where she left a huge imprint. She slumped to the ground among the blasted rubble that was that end of the room now, her clothes almost completely torn asunder, dust and bits of plaster all over her. She was screaming, trembling and jerking spastically, the shape of her skin stretching violently with movement from within.
"Yooo- yoou wiill beeeieiiiaaragh dees- dees-stroooyed!" she howled.
"Been there done that not stay down or i'll get nasty" he's powercore as slowly climes and has reached 105% normal capacity. " i want to know what is going on here before i revert to the kill everything that's trying to hurt me mode i get in when fighting dad's armies" he was deadly serious and his sword bangs in it's scabbard and begged for release.
Aisha stood aside, helping the others in the room to their feet and getting out the door, as much as she could. From the intensity of this fight, it looked as if the whole room was going to be leveled in a matter of minutes. She couldn't stop Gareeku from charging into the fray...all she could do was acknowledge him and wish him luck.
But, watching this turn of events, the panther didn't know who was evil and who was good. Who was the true living entity and who was the automaton? The girl and this strange form was not only going for Stygian, but anyone who had gotten in her way.
The battle raged, and Aisha didn't know when to jump in, or even if. Everyone was on their feet, trying to keep them apart...trying to pound answers out of either. But no matter how many times the question was asked, someone avoided answering. What was this all about? The huntress pondered it all as she guarded the door, dragon-sword gripped in both fists.
Blood, broken bones, and yelling. Mindless. Irrelevant. Without purpose.
Unacceptable.
"I think it's about time we got answers," she spared a comment in passing to Gareeku and whomever was there. Finally, when the "girl" was detained, it was Aisha's turn to try and help...instead of standing aside like a coward. Her blade whistled as she flashed it up in the air, holding it up against either Stygian or the droning angel-creature as she stood by the side of her injured and winded comrades. Whatever attacked first.
Whatever it took to keep everyone safe...
The girl was completely out of control. Tossing forth and back hard enough to make bones creak and tendons snap, she was practically out of view, hidden in a swamp of wrestling black and red tentacles. Her skin was shredding, re-forming and then shredding again, and hairs and bits of fur were whirling in the air. Her arms were flailing wildly and her heels beat against the wooden floor like drumsticks, thudding quickly against the backdrop of her now all too normal screams. Her face was barely recognizable, fangs bared in a wordless shriek.
Suddenly, her throes lessened considerably, though they did not stop. All the tendrils pulled into her, and she stiffened, her back arched and her limbs tensed. And then her right arm, moving as if separate from the rest of her body, shot forth and back, digging itself into her chest just below her breastbone and grabbing hold of something there. It then pulled back fiercely, and slowly drew something out of herself.
In her clenched and straining right hand, she was holding what looked like a small, segmented metallic larva, blood red and with what appeared to be something like a pair of small, white wing-like things sprouting from its back, but neither eyes nor legs. Long red tendrils snaked from it, fiercely trying to pull it back into her body. It shrieked, a low, high-pitched and dry squeal escaping its small mouth. Many of the tendrils were shifting, trying to get in under the skin of the girl's hand.
The girl's hand clenched, and the creature jerked. Then, a loud snap came, and it went still. The tendrils stopped moving and pulled out of the girl, and her hand stopped clenching, falling to her side. The wound in her chest closed up and healed almost completely, as did the rest of her injuries. Her ivory shape was still flecked with blood on parts of her body though, and her eyes were still and glazed. She didn't seem to move a bit. She was not even breathing.
((OOC: Is there anyone here who has seen the movie The Faculty? Raise hands please!))
((OOC: No, sorry.))
Again, Boogey finished his latest form just in time to see the majority of the action end. Rather disappointing; he was proud of this one. It wasn't the same as making something that could operate on its own, but there was still something satisfying about creating something capable of terrorizing countrysides for at least a little while out of whatever was lying around, and now he wouldn't get to show it off. By some fantastic leaps of logic, he'd managed to convince the mildew that it was also moss, toadstools, and petrified bogwood, forming a creature not unlike a small wingless dragon made of swamp refuse. It's head, torso, and upper haunches were covered in green moss, with the wood forming a basic frame that was visible on the upper arms, lower trunk, lower legs, and tail. There were flecks of small toadstools amidst the fur, as well as mushroom caps at the end of the tail and on each arm, which would soften blows from the fist and tail to prevent strain on the bogwood underneath, as well as releasing poison spores. He didn't abandon the form, out of both caution and stubborn pride in what he'd managed to throw together.
"So much for answers," he rolled his (now prominantly browed, colorless, phosphorescent) eyes, "She went unconcious again. Wish that worked when people asked me questions."
OOC: I've not seen that movie.
((OOC: 'Fraid not...but at least it calls for a post, however a short one. Show must go on, no? :mowtongue))
Unexpectedly, the girl had done something entirely different, thus turning the events somewhat out of favor for a battle...at least for the second.
Aisha's eyebrow quirked and she lowered her sword just a few inches. "What on Earth...?"
(OOC i vaguely remember it.. salt water aliens that infest a living host. some homemade drugs killed them. these remind more a limited version of the phallax form x-men)
E look as the determined Female and her opposite me. there he saw something that looked like it was on of dad's devils. (Nanete monsters that server as fortress guaranteed) was that a swamp devil? as long as the girl has stopped moving and the black counter part was not attacking e held his position. his power core having raced 109% normal capacity
The girl lay, apparently dead, in the trash and rubble. Not a hair on her moved. Her eyes, big and dark, were absolutely still. Not even Aisha, with her heightened senses, could detect any signs of life in her.
The little critter-like thing in her hand began crackling with electricity and glowing. Though mashed completely, it seemed there was just a little bit of life left in it, and that it seemingly proved enough to let it move again. But it had not done much more than twitch before black tendrils burst out of the skin on the girl's forearm, swallowed it completely, and then retracted, the little red thing completely gone. A minute movement of something inside the girl's arm, and then everything was completely still again. E and Mel could even feel all the trace energy and quantum activity dying down in the room.
(OOC: Sorry I'm late...had a sleepover at my Parent's place...)
*Karl managed to teleport into Medbay, though in somewhat in a half-hearted effort...*
Karl: Oof! *gets up* Sorry for missing the party...that trip took the last drop of energy I could spare, so I fell unconscience. I could still sense everything happening, though.
((OOC: Okay, now something is seriously messed up. I can't change my profile information AT ALL. I need a bleedin' break...))
"The dimensional disruption to the house seems to be dying down. Admiral, perhaps you can contact the other wings of the house to see if the occupants are safe. Your wife must be quite worried by now. As to the two on the floor, I hope someone else has an idea, because I am out. The only thing that seems to contain them is each other."
*Hearing Mel's Statement, Karl Began to call the main level when he was hit with mindspeak*
Lilith: (telepathicly) Karl, did you forget our minds are linked? You don't need to call me about the ones on the main level...they're safe!
Karl: (telepathicly) Ok, I'd better check the other levels though.
*Karl then turned to the other people in medbay*
Karl: my wife says all those on main level are OK.
*Karl turned around and hit the Intercom button*
Karl: All levels report in!
LVL B6: B6 green
LVL B5: B5 green
LVL B4: B4 green
LVL B3: B3 green
LVL B2: B2 green
LVL B1: B1 green
Main LVL(Lilith answering): Main green
2nd LVL (Karl Reporting): 2nd lvl green
3rd LVL: 3rd lvl green
4th LVL (Attic): Attic- RED ALERT!!! Unidentified warpage of Space/time detected! Request investigation!
*Karl didn't like the sound of that last report...*
Karl: what the? Looks like there is still a presence there that's not authorized...*presses 4th LVL Comm button* ...Seal off and quarantine lvl til we can atequte (did I spell it right?) healing and preparation down here, Soldier!
Officer on 4th LVL: yes sir!
*turns to Mel*
Karl: I hope you didn't have much difficult using the Healing pods (beds)...*points to 3 colored buttons * ...the red button makes it heal Physical problems (Diseases, burns, chemical imbal., other physical) and revitalizes health and stamina...the Blue one heals magical problems and revitalizes one's magical or spirit energy...the yellow button does things of both the other two do.
"When the girl... or whatever... was on it the bed detected nothing unusual. I could tell something was wrong but could not tell anything more specific. Perhaps your equipment would produce better results now that the overall level of dimensional activity is reduced." Mel looked at the damaged room, "If any of it still works, that is."
e rubs his had sheepishly. "sorry if i broke any of it but i was in a strange battle. i didn't really know what to so i started out with a wog weapon." it was true though effective the thunder wave was a sloppy weapon that attacked a set area and enemy tip when high force but low precision. it was also limited to about 8 uses before it required refilling.
Sighing, Aisha stepped back from the area which held the girl, eyes and ears drooping. Everyone in the room could hear a metallic sound as her sword was sheathed once again. For now the disturbance was at a stand-still, but the panther felt as if the motive for all of this trouble was gone...she looked dead. Felt dead.
"Ouch..." she murmured. Feeling a bit of that previous exhaustion set in, she sat upon the edge of a bed nearby and rubbed her aching waist. Now that there was time to take a breath, any injuries that she had now took it to register in her mind. Her tail ring still glowed slightly, but there was little room to acknowledge it at this moment.
No longer was she demanding answers. They'll come when they'll come, chica. Patience.
Looking around for Gareeku, who probably still felt a little more under the weather than she was, Aisha sighed again and asked, "So...this is over? Have we failed to protect her? Or shouldn't we have even tried...?"
The disturbance in the attic was growing. Shadows swirled and whipped up the dust on the floor, as a gateway of some kind opened. The darkness beyond was absolute, disturbed only by short cracks of red lightning, in the light of which could be seen the outlines of winged shapes moving, marching against the opening...
*Just then, the Comm signaled*
Karl: yes? what is it?
Officer in Attic: Alert condition "Crimson"! Unknown Entities moving out of portal in attic! Portal Cross-dimensional signature looks like it opened from Shadowstorm region...we're not entirely sure if that's the case...but still it looks like an Invasion...Oh snap! Help...* End transmission*
Karl: Soldier?! Can you hear me?! ... Dang it! *hits all intercom buttons except for 4th LVL* Crimson Alert! All available personel go to Battle-ready status and head for the attic! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!
*Karl turns to the others in Medbay*
Karl: I don't think we'll have time to stay and heal....There's some Revitalizers in the Potions Fridge, top shelf. *points to fridge* ...and make sure to spare some for in the midst of battle...and and if we don't have any left in battle and you are getting beaten badly, use these portal scrolls design to open a portal directly to Medbay.
*Karl turns to Mel*
Karl: Mel...Can you stay and take care of any arrivals, please?
e looks at Karl. "new Arrivals? are the hostile?" E's power core is a 78% normal capacity and dropping as he powers downs. "if so i can help as i only received minimal damage most of which my auto repair system has dealt with already. "Gospel barks agreeing with e as he speaks up. E had glimpsed a gentleness in Mel that suggested that the dragon is not so much a fight as a helping hand. she reminded his of Roll actually.
Suddenly, the air was filled with signals, some sort of transmissions that blared out strong in the environs. They didn't seem mystical in their nature, but they still gave off plenty of quantum residue, enough to let even those simply sensitive to magic and not just those with the equipment for it "hear" a bit of what was being broadcast. Not that it made much sense, of course.
"Introduced phenomena comparation - designate new point - unit movement halted until new - solvet saeclum in favilla - gradient is 3.1 - ira vehementi - read area - scans project - 3 to 56.089 - in nomen tuum, nil inultum remanebit - set movement and execute..." It was a jumble of information, statements and readings, against a backdrop of what sounded like some kind of hymn or rhythmic prayer, all in a multitude of cold, silvery voices.
The transmission died down quickly, but before it did, all the voices echoed in unison; "Target ascertained, moving to render harmless and capture."
Whup, that's probably not good.
"Alright, what did you do?" Boogey glared pointedly at Aisha. Yes, he was mostly just being snarky, but the next question was serious. "Any clue who that could have been referring to?"
"Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus, cum vix justus sit securus?" It was just a whisper, but it was the girl who had said it, no doubt about it. She still lay lifeless on the ground, but her eyes had become black, and the tips of her fur were darkening. Her lips were still, yet her voice called out again, seemingly from nowhere. And this time, it was in words you could understand. But they were not chanting.
"And this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." Her voice was cold, masked and shadowy.
E looks around. "My guess are either the girl with the Red circuit energy, the guy that the girl, was fighting wit the dark circuit energy or one of us techno beings. like myself or maybe Karl " E's power core is rising again at 81% normal capacity and rising. it it then that the hear the girl speak. " great " says Erebus form with in E "not another religions dooms day. wasn't Ragnarok enough? "
*Karl turned around and gave a look at the still-lying body*
Karl: Antichrist? That can't be...I thought I banished it once. Hmmpf, must be a stubborn spirit...Ackernak Solerum Talisam
*Just then, Talismans were hanging from everyone's neck except for the girl's and Karl's*
Karl: Ok people, here's the story...those talismans will protect you from being possessed by whatever spirits there are about...be careful not to lose'em!
Her tail ring suddenly was glowing brighter. Aisha hadn't rested a second before something new had come up. The darkness...it was back...once again, coming from the attic. The girl was stirring...and there was something in the air that crawled menacingly across hers and everyone's senses. Were she not wearing a cape around her neck, she would have felt her fur stand on end. The huntress didn't respond right away to Karl's suggestions to fight. There had to be some rest before more fighting...
But at the roach-controlling stranger's sudden statement, a tone of accusation directed towards her, Aisha's head swished around, and she shot a glare back at him. "What have I done? I did NOTHING!" Her voice was hard and raspy, worn from the pain of before. She felt a few curious eyes following her. "He...it only took control of my body so that I could reopen a portal and rescue my friend. It left me, I swear, nothing happened. Nada."
Aisha grasped the talisman and turned her head away, but glanced to the ceiling, where above their heads and protected by a few feet of wood and plaster was something menacing. The way the panther sounded was much like she was trying to defend herself more so than the truth. Still she knew little of Stygian's power. She withdrew her boomerang and tried standing. "I'm going back to investigate and actually HELP. If anyone cares."
In Aisha's mind, really, all she was wanting to do was to get out of that room for the moment...
*Karl then gave Aisha a smirk*
Karl: So you're going with? Fine, but be cautious...we might be dealing with more than mere annoyances.
*After his remark, Karl brought up his arm...on it was a device. Karl then pressed a few buttons on it*
Device: Standing by...
*the device began to glow...then Karl shouted out two words that was it's activation call*
Karl: TO ARMS!
*a kind of power suit, complete with katana on left side and Saber-blaster on his right, formed around Karl*
Karl: Ok...Lets go!
*karl then ran out of Medbay, then proceeded to go up two levels to the Attic...*
Within her mind Aisha could hear a voice. One she had hoped she would not hear again.
"We came here for a reason. We held that girl for a reason. Now, because of you we are facing enemies beyond reason, and We are your only hope for survival. They have a Hashmallim with them." Stygian spoke to her. She did not care how, or why. She wanted him, it, out of her head!
"Listen! Stolen power has been returned to me, but my blood fails. The key is made, the gate is open, yet my power wanes with every second that passes. Spill their blood, and offer it to my fangs, that I may cross the threshold again. Else, they will seize you all in their cruel grasp."
Boogey bowed his (currently green and fuzzy) head slightly in Aisha's direction.
"I meant no offence, madame. I humbly appologize. Before we take care of that, methinks we should deal with the girl in here. I don't trust her to stay dead this time either." He guestured one hand at aforementioned girl posthumanously broadcasting prophesies about the antichrist. Wouldn't there be nothing do worry about from the opposite of Christ? Christ had power, so his opposite wouldn't. Common sense.
(OOC: Fixed. Sorry 'bout that.)
((OOC: You do know that her voice is ethereal and immaterial, and that she is still laying dead on the ground, right?))
((OOC: Misunderstood how it works. Frig. Either way, not a problem. If she did it wouldn't be the first time she'd gotten back up from the dead, so a bit of concern over the matter's understandable.))
(OOC: Stygian just PM'ed me that they're tech, not spirits)
*Just then, Karl picked up some info that something hit the Attack Barrier in his implants (Yes I sometimes watch "Ghost in the Shell")
Karl:(being heard over the Medbay Intercom) Odd...something just tried to hack my Cybernetic implants...and the trace indicated it's coming from the problem zone! OMG! They're machines! Dang it!
*Karl then switches to the other floors' intercoms*
Karl: All personel equip EMP rifles as well as regular arsonal and blades!
e looks at the item and Erebus sniffs as if it were a minor annoyance. " you think this thing could take over the lings of myself Karl? I'm not as old as i should be but I'm not that weak either." E's had glows as he copy the talismans and he as weapon in his arm with a 28 attack max. "he then groans at the swamp devils logic. " and by that logic the devil would be a mortal that does not try to lead mean. get real even dad puts more logic in us then that"
((OOC: How the heck did E read what Boogey was thinking? Oh well, Boogey will go with the flow.))
"Actually, by that logic the devil is also powerless. The opposite of god is not a mortal, since mortals were alledgedly made in gods image (of course, depending on ones religion we could have been made out of cosmic scrap metal, so lets take all that with a grain of salt)," Boogey corrected E. "And something completely logical can often condradict itself. For example, this sentence is a lie. Beside the point though. The body?" Again he points at the girl.
((OOC: Way to be subtle, Karl. I'll get you for that...))
Upon reaching the attic, Karl bursts through the door. Before him, he saw something of the strangest thing he ever had, and that counted for a lot.
Before him stood roughly what appeared to be a dozen human-like beings, all sprouting white wings and with smooth and nearly ivory white skin with some few red patterns. All of them were robed, swathed or uniformed in some form of crimson clothing, and all had at least some silvery pieces of armor. In their hands were large and finely crafted shapes of silver that looked very much like some sort of long-barrelled weapons, and standing amid them was also a mechanical silvery shape, four-legged and two-armed, and nearly as tall as a man, that looked like some form of war machine to Karl.
Another humanoid shape, but this one with four wings, floated up among them. Its wings were segmented and looked almost mechanical, and into the back of its head, its face covered almost completely but for its mouth and chin by a metallic red helmet, ran a number of silvery wires and hoses. Its arms and legs were strapped up with some sort of black bands, but it did not need its legs free to move; it floated a couple of inches over the ground. Without opening its mouth, it spoke. How Karl could know that it was specifically the four-winged figure that did, he knew not. But he just knew.
"This one is of machine and shadow. The technology in him is tainted, if advanced. Purify him!" it commanded, and a woman-angel with what appeared to be silvery tendrils coming out of a pair of bracers on her forearms, where her hands should have been, moved to obey, raising those tendrils and walking calmly against Karl.
Quote from: Boogeyman on November 03, 2006, 09:32:31 PM
((OOC: How the heck did E read what Boogey was thinking? Oh well, Boogey will go with the flow.))
(OOC sorry i didn't realize i was reading your mind)
"yes you're right except that you described a boot strap paradox. it is possible for such things to occur but i'll go into detail on a later date. (I.E when asked) but for now i me ask why you are broadcast on so many different frequencies or are my tuners still to high from when we cut the threads that were connected to the girl?"
"I know I'm not broadcasting anything on anything and I have no clue what the other thing you just said means, so I'll assume the second one." Boogey shrugged, "Nowadays, who the hell knows, know what I mean?"
Aisha had gone after Karl, only pausing to hold the sides of her head with her palms. "Grr...I don't NEED your orders..." she muttered. When she saw that there were still people glancing at her, she regained her composure and ran up the stairs. She'd deal with people denouncing her as crazy later. Boomerang humming as it sliced the air at her side, the focused panther hopped the last few stairs and came up behind Karl.
Her feet skidded on the dust-strewn floor, and the energy seemed to invade her mind. The autonomic creatures were marching through the void, hell-bent on reaching their destination, and they sure did look tough. As much as machines could.
"I hope for once that good old-fashioned violence gets rid of these things," the panther thought out loud and, with a hard flick of her arm, sent the boomerang swishing through the air as swift as wind...
Aisha's boomerang sped through the air like a wild sawblade, cutting the woman's "fingers" at their roots and eliciting a surprised, though only slightly pained yelp, and an incredulous stare from her. No sooner had her boomerang returned to her hand though, than the four-winged shape shouted.
"Seize them! The girl carries traces in her, take her alive. The other, you can kill." As soon as its voice stopped, two of the shapes, a pair of males each surely weighing a good bit over two hundred pounds, ran forth against Aisha and attempted to grab her. Two others raised their silvery weapons and unleashed a torrent of glowing red bullets against Karl, their guns roaring like dragons.
"Well what do we do with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Insubstantial puddled up on the floor over there? Walk around him and pretend he isn't here? I think he is a key to this problem but I haven't decided if the door he opens leads to the lady or the tiger. At the moment I think a lady tiger."
She looked at the ring glowing faintly on her hand. She was a dragon, a dragon whose hoard of treasure consisted of great big piles of information. It might even contain information they could use right now. But to get to it she needed ten or fifteen minutes where she was safe enough to go blind and deaf to the outside world. She didn't think that whatever was up in the attic was going to grant them that much peace.
Aisha stared ahead, not watching the boomerang as she caught it in midair. Her eyes narrowed incredulously at the woman-thing's order. Traces? Pah...I'll show them traces...their blood will trace the floor!
The panther snarled and the muscles in her legs bunched. The two males came at her without question like the machines they seemingly were, hard-wired and obedient. She let them come, her left hand inserting slowly toward her belt. When they were close enough, she leaped in the air just above their heads. There was a flash of metal as her sword appeared in the left hand and came down in a surprise attack upon one, the tip aiming straight for the the exposed midriff. Her right hand released the boomerang again, freely flying across the room to hit whatever it could in another round-about.
She knew at least one of the creatures in the room were hit, for already entrails were covering her clothing in blotches. She landed on the floor on their other side, taking the sword with her in no less than feline maneuverability and acuteness...ready to outmaneuver the burly creatures again, herself a machine of blood and flesh. Her mind was set on nothing more than the fight.
Take care of these two...then the ringleader...
"Uggh...damn it..." Gareeku growled as he slowly made his way up the stairs to the attic. His head was swimming, largly thanks to the broken nose he had gained from the girl only minutes ago. Finally making his way into the attic, the wolf's eyes widened at what he saw.
"Damn it...they may look like angels, but they sure as hell don't act like them..." Gareeku muttered, weakly raising his katana.
"Leave them alone! They've done nothing wrong!" He shouted, hoping to get the attention of the "angels".
* Karl had just ducked before the unknown creatures opened fire on him*
Karl: What in Inferno? These punks are like T-droids...Terminating any resistance! Dangit, what do they want?! I can't even access my sidearm without risking my elbow getting shot off!
*Just then, Karl saw Gareeku out of the corner of his eye...well, at least his feet (hind paws)*
Karl: Gareeku! thank the eternal you're here!
The two angel-creatures were taken aback at Aisha's attack, but even though she tore a huge gash in one of them, there was surprisingly little blood. It clasped its midriff with its left hand, and then turned against her, reaching out for her with is right one while its comrade made a sidestepping maneuver and attempted to get on Aisha's flank.
"Resistance will not surmount to anything. Sanguinisque pretiosi." At the last words of the four-winged angel woman, she pulled her head back and spread her metallic wings, red bolts of energy leaving them and criscrossing out through the air. They hit the tentacle-fingered girl and the man Aisha had just wounded, and upon reaching them they shook for a moment, cramping slightly. Their wounds then healed, closing up with incredible speed and leaving not so much as a scar.
The creatures were setting up and moving to push forward now. A huge male angel with more armor than the others, loads of cybernetics infused into his arms, and his hands replaced with a pair of huge clawlike ones made from metal moved in on Karl's position next to the streaking fire from the other two behind him. Stalking at his back was a comparatively diminutive angelic woman, her wings severed and instead replaced with a pair of round shield-like things atop a pair of mechanical arms.
At the arrival of Gareeku though, nearly all turned their attention to him, if only for a moment before they resumed attacking again. Then, a slender and beautiful woman-angel who had been standing next to the four-winged creature skid forward across the floor with terrible speed and positioned herself just in front of him and to his side. An almost warm and serene smile upon her face, she gripped him by the shoulder and raised her left arm, holding a small twitching crimson metallic thing in it.
"Come into the grace of the lord," she said.
Boogey, hearing the commotion upstairs, did something unforgivably heroesque. With a shout toward Mel along the lines of "Keep an eye on the unstable cadavers over there!" he raced up the stairs just in time to see the cherubim reaching for Gareeku with the metal worm in hand.
"You know, I was rather hoping that I was the only one to have had the whole Daos de machina idea." He said almost conversationally, leaping forward to crush the worm in the womans hand before she got to Gareeku, "Then again, it is rather obvious isn't it?" He delivered a quick jab to the cybernetic woman's face (releasing spores laced with his venemous arguments) and bounced off toward another target, the heavily armored angel headed towards Karl. Rather than the powerful barrage he employed as the roachthing, Boogey bounced from target to target like a spaldeen on speed, delivering a few spore-filled blows before heading for the next, taking advantage of this shapes small stature (about 4'5" standing upright, and 3'10" with its normal hunched posture) and powerful hind legs.
So this is being heroic; you refuse to stop to plan and just power through the problem, hoping your own momentum will keep you going. Intreguing...
The girl cried out in pain as the poisonous spores tore into her face, arguments that worked like carnivorous toxins reducing her skin and flesh into decomposing matter in seconds. She clapped her hands over the wound, and bent forward. It seemed these creatures were capable of feeling pain after all. But her cries stopped short in just a few seconds, and she put down her hands. They turned into claws halfway down. She stared at the speeding Boogey, her face now nearly a fleshless grinning skull of silvery white, a mechanical eye-lens glowing red beside her other, almost unscathed eye. She emitted a terrible wail and dove for the moss-creature with speed that almost rivaled its own.
The large angel-man also proved much faster than expected. His eyes locked on the bouncing green creature, and in an instant one of his huge arms flew out, its clawed hand open and attempting to catch the creature in its grasp.
Swearing quite far above his breath, Boogey attempted to change direction in mid air. This went about as well as one would expect. However, it did bring the mushroom cap on his tail into contact with the armored individual. These spores, rather than simply eating away at the individual, were made of arguments that fungus could in fact grow on these angel things.
Have that start eating toward the brain, see if I can rewire these things a bit. He thought to himself as he plowed into aforementioned armored scary guy. Flailing a bit, he bounced away toward another target, the angel with the shields. Gotta keep moving. Stop and they'll catch me, and I don't know what sort of punishment this shape can take.
The fungus did indeed grow in these things, or at least the softer parts of them. Within a few moments the raging angel's arm was wracking with green growth, but the monstrous man was still after Boogey, his usable arm reaching and clawing for him as he roared in pain.
At first, the woman with the shields didn't seem to notice the moss-covered thing bulleting against her. Then, her arms moved with mechanical efficiency and speed. One sheild came up in front of her, symbols on it glowing. The next, she was hidden behind a seemingly solid wall of flames, the air heavy with the musky smell of burning wood.
Boogey hit the wall. Hard. How they had managed to solidify a wall of flames he would have loved to find out, but right now he needed a way to put himself out.
NO! I put so much work into this form! He tried to heal himself, but to little avail. The shape was going to die and who knew what could happen to the poor thoughts in it...
No... I don't want to die.
Boogey was shocked. He knew he had worked hard on this one, but the body was having its own thoughts! It wasn't some nightmare cobbled together from whatever was lying around, meant to have a lifespan measured in hours. It was a full blown monster, like his greater creations!
You wont, Boogey mentally replied to his new child, Not if I can help it.
Unfortunatly, it was rather doubtful that he could. They were taking from this shape the life it could have, and he could only sit here in its head. The only thing it had. It was only fair to do the same. Searching the mind of the shield angel he found the only thing it had, the orders from its master, and took them; mentally wrenched them away and smashed them, using up most of his own power in the process. Using what little power the swamp dragon had left, he propelled it over to the now powerless angel and began integrating it into the idea he'd already crafted.
You don't need all this meat, do you? It's no different from your hardware, and it doesn't have too good an idea of what it is to be really ALIVE. It's just another tool grafted to you, and has too good an idea as to why you have it. Feed it to the dragon, use the moisture to dampen the flames, and focus on the metal. The metal is used to being interchanged and altered, it should be fine. Besides, meat is so uncomprimising. Plants, now THOSE are mallable!
Vines and spores and fungus spread over the angels flesh, and is in turn encased in metal. The arms the shields are on retract into the body, the arms reshape.
Antipersonel infinate repeaters. A cannon to replace most of the other arm. Treads. Sensor arrays HERE and HERE. Don't let the flesh see what's happening, cover it in metal. Replace neural pathways with plants. Heh, a homebrewed bolo right here in the attic.
The end result is a terrifying piece of military looking hardware. All of the angels original organic componants but some of the upper left arm is covered in a dull green painted carapace. Rather than the claws you'd expect such creatures to be sporting, this has gone the route of guns and cannons. The treads it rests upon are wide but fast, with wheels beneath in case said treads are shot off. On various places one can see vines and rust; the newly crafted machine looks like it's been mothballed for years.
"Now," the Diablos ex Machina said, it's voice a hypnotic soprano, "What shall I take first?"
((OOC: Gah, the angst and the drama. I'll have to pull so many pratfalls to make up for this later.))
((OOC: :erk Okay, now we've seen it all. This place will be worse than a Dali painting on speed once we're done with it. It will be sporting unfriendly tentacles, full of aliens and making forgeries of Fabergé eggs!))
((OOC: Overdid it? Should I edit that?))
((OOC: Do as you please. I wasn't expecting it to become a machine-plant-angel hybrid though...))
The four-winged angel-creature was moving against Aisha now, hovering ominously and seemingly unfettered by the commotion in the room. Its wings were "spreading", metal pieces disconnecting, reforming and even somehow hovering loosely in the air with nothing to support them.
"You will come with us. The great Lord will be most pleased to see you, I beleive."
Aisha's eyes widened as she witnessed her would-be captors regenerated after she had tried with much effort to damage them, even so little. "Oh, why am I not surprised?" she rolled her eyes. "Machine-angels. What next now?"
The pantheress leaped away from the two large males, still keeping lightly on her toes and literally a few steps ahead, when she spotted Gareeku. Still he was injured, but still he was willing to fight; not too surprising. When the stranger had batted his opponent away, Aisha landed next to her comrade. "Si, nice of you to join us, can't stay away from a fight can you?" She smirked. "Be careful, alright? Your injuries."
Her boomerang flew, and her blade danced, hitting any of these creatures that she could find or who would get in her way. Then...then she came face-to-face with the ringleader herself.
She gazed with slight disgust at this paradox...a darker entity had helped her before, and now angel-like creatures were moving against everyone. What was the meaning of it all? Was the house itself some kind of entryway into other realms?
Aisha hadn't time to think on that. With one weapon in both hands, she sneered defiantly at the woman. "Right. And why would he be interested in me? I'm nothing special...just another Being," Aisha mocked and with a surprisingly quick movement tossed the boomerang towards one pair of the angel's wings, while she brought her sword down upon the other side, in case she dodged...
The boomerang stopped dead in mid-air. The creature hadn't even touched it, but Aisha had seen a... wave of sorts, coming through the air against it. It floated, as if held by the very same force that suspended the "angel" herself, following her movements as she floated ever closer.
"I can sense it. You have it with you, inside you. The Darkness. The Lord wants it, and his word is law." The angel-thing was less than three steps from her now. "With you, we might even not have to take the Other one. That would be even better."
Something struck out against Aisha. She couldn't see it clearly; it didn't seem to be more than a ripple in the air. But with her senses she could feel it coming.
Looking up at the "angel", Gareeku's eyes widened with shock, before displayed a look of anger.
"You're no angel..." the wolf growled. However, before anything else happened, the "angel" was attaked by Boogey. The wolf then turned his attention to the angel facing off against Aisha. Growling, Gareeku suddenly dashed forward, tackling the "angel" to the floor and taking it by surprise.
At Gareeku's assault, the angel was knocked aside, and Aisha's boomerang dropped to the floor. But it never fell. It just floated to the side, then turned to face Gareeku. It was barely visible behind that helmet, but it looked as if its face had turned sour.
"Impudent cur! Know your place!" An invisible wall swept lightning-fast against him.
Grunting in pain, Gareeku was flung away, but managing to flip and land on his feet.
"I already know my place...it is to defeat you..." the wolf growled, "...you believe you are soldiers of good...well i say that is bullshit. A soldier of good would not go around mercilessly killing others who may kunknowingly have darkness within them. They would try to help that person overcome the darkness, in order to live a life of peace. You, however, only wish to slaughter in the name of your so called "good". Well, I say your belief in "good" is utter bullshit! I will not let you hurt those i care about!" Gareeku roared out in defiance, before dashing forward, his katana unsheathed and burning brightly with light magic.
"Good is a point of view. Logic is not. So long as we do what is neccessary for a better world, our justice trumps yours. And there is nothing that you can say that changes that." The creature's voice was low, but furiously indignant. She sped against Gareeku, her wings turning into claws as she did, and a shockwave of unseen force forming in front of her.
((OOC: Also related to this;
(http://fchan.hentaiplanet.net/src/a_1161681266389_iborg.jpg)
))
Aisha snapped instantly, keeping out of the way of whatever wave had come against her from the angel, only getting the brunt of it on her side. It felt like a hammer blow, but nothing more. The panther grunted with pain and grabbed at her boomerang, the difficulty of taking it from midair almost like taking it from someone else's grip.
She watched as the angel turned to face Gareeku, taking a second to recover...only a second. Her friend was valiant, but not invincible...she couldn't stand and watch him lose the fight after he had helped.
Stygian's words echoed in her head right then. He was waiting for the blood of one of these things...what better chance now that the angel's back was turned? It was dirty play, but it seemed what was needed.
While Gareeku kept her busy, Aisha raised her sword slowly and quietly...then, in a horizontal slashing motion, the blade swished down like a guillotine...
E grumps on guard duty again. he would stay here and guard these to form any attack still it was not what these recent experiences in existence had dictated. They dictated that he should chare into the enemy stronghold and attack with any and every weapon at his disposal. But still he was here protecting these demon repliods or at least their bodies. " why am i here? i'm a war machine! a warrior that can destroy armies of other warriors but I'm babysitting there demons that are too weak to defend themselves. why?" because they are too weak to defend themselves. that is why not stop whining and readjust you sensors again. you still picking up alpha and theta waves on you audio feed.
Aisha's blade took. But the thing's belts and straps came in the way, and its body seemed as thick and hard as wood, so she missed her intended goal. Still, the next moment a good bit of the woman's white, red-swathed forearm dropped to the floor, and the creature made a mental scream of pain. At first she felt triumph with the blow, but then Aisha noticed. Now the creature's face really was furious. What was more, its anger seemed to have affected the other creatures in the room.
"Stage three force authorized. Dispose of them!" At those words, the silvery robot on the floor became active, "unfolding" itself into a shape at least seven feet tall, with some sort of ornate minigun-like weapon at its side, and blasted a barrage against the Boogey-bot that tore a long hole in the wall and roof. The rest of the angel squadron started to move in as well, silvery swords and long barrels flashing.
The four-winged creature's belts and buckles suddenly loosened and fell to the ground. Its arm was slowly regrowing, blood dripping around circuitry and metal that seemed to build on itself. One pair of its wings reached down and "fused" with its arms, ripples in the air becoming apparrent around them. It pulled back one arm, and the next moment a much more violent shockwave surged against Aisha.
Mel sat on the corner of the least damaged bed and glared at the pulsing blob on the floor. "At least, e, you CAN do something" She rubbed her temples irritatedly. "I've been nothing but a hinderance so far. I can't fight, or at least not at this size. If we were outdoors where I could go to my full 22 feet I could have squished someone or used my magic without damaging either my allies or the building." She addressed Stygian, or what of him was on the floor, "Am I here because I gather stories? Did you need someone to record your story for posterity? An audience to your clever little game?" She sighed and rolled her eyes, "Obviously it wasn't for my grasp on sanity if I'm having whiny arguements with blue-eyed hunks of interdimesional matter." She looked upwards, "Speaking of dimensions, someone is mucking them up again. I hope everyone is doing well, or at least everyone on our side."
e sighs." don't worry Mel i probable did more harm then good with that thunder wave attack i need to feel out my enemies as i fight them so i try one weapon at at a time till i figure out what work. " e pauses " that is unless i have inside information as to what will work. Roll used to radio me what i needed to know when she could. if you have research on this situation you can tell me whats is effective." he smile and he looked at his hand " i'll stay at 90% just in case we need to fight. but for now i could really use a want to keep my mind off of everything. " he looked at Mel wondering if she understood. "last year i realized i don't have to be a war machine anymore but i've been more for most of my remember existence. it's hard for a war machine to wait on stand by where there are battles going on around it. battle is what were were made for so even if were are given a choice it's hard not to fight"
As bullets thudded against his side, the Diablos ex Machina moved into action. Its treads whining, it shot forward and crushed the nearest of the angels under its treads before heading for cover behind some convenient crates. It released a sensor-net bomb (a small canister that explodes to spread an area with remote controlled sensory nanobots. It basically gives the bot a greater range of perception and thus better reflexes) and fired the infinate repeater in a slow arc against the oncoming angels.
Damage to aft sensor pod, not a problem. Damage to organic componants of upper arm; good. Let the angel feel that, the little @#$%...
The barrage took the angels quite by surprise, and two of them dropped. Yet more red bolts were crossing the air, finding their way from the thing assaulting Aisha to heal the charging angels as they fired their weapons with rage at the other Machina. And the Boogey's creation did not appear to affect the silvery bot at their midst very much with its fire. Sure, its bullets dented the thing, but the other machine seemed quite tough and was also quick to respond. Its cannon whirred slowly into action, and when it fired it was not bullets that left the barrel, but veritable lances of coherent light that sizzled through the air, vaporizing it as they did.
Moving again, the Diablos ex Machina continued to fire, the lethal cough of its infinate repeaters (antipersonel automatic weapons not entirely unlike a P-90) now intermixed with the roar of its cannon vomitting fire. Attractive imagery, ne'? It released a few more sensor bombs, and aimed both the cannon and the infinate repeaters at the center of the silvery 'bots chest.
Smile you sonova...
*noticing the creatures are distracted by his friends, Karl gets up off the floor*
Karl: Dang...normal blades can't affect them...Guess I'll use Lightning attacks to fry their circuits!
*Lightning shoots forth from Karl's right arm, Striking a few AngeBorg*
(OOC: just thought up a name for the creatures).
Karl's and Boogey's attacks rip into the angel-creatures, but they seemed to have successfully established a perimiter, setting up shields and firing back with impunity. Though the lightning dropped two, they quickly rose to their feet again, assisted by the four-wing's healing powers. The silver bot lowered itself to the ground, a large "pod" at its back unfolding and slinging forth over its shoulder. It looked like a long, solid metal rod, a few coils and wires at its base. It started to glow faintly white, some white cracks of lightning forming around it.
*Karl notices the AngeBorg set up a defense*
Karl: so they have shields, eh?
*Karl's Implants analyze Shields in an attempt to find Shield Frequency, whilst linked up to his Saber-blaster so he can program it to penatrate the shields*
Karl:(to allies) Can anyone keep'em busy while I calculate something?
*Karl goes to duck behind any object large enough to shield him from being shot at, only leaving his head showing to get good sight of AngeBorg*
Karl barely had time to analyze the shields' consistency. He had come to the point where he realized they were particle-based, rather than energy, when suddenly the room exploded around him. The silver wardroid had fired its weapon, some sort of remote discharge energy cannon, and the area where Karl and the Boogey were presently at tore itself apart with a ripping, blasting sound that made ears ring and microphones smash.
Frig. This body didn't come out as good for close range fighting as intended; it's more of a small mobile weapons platform. Ah, well, spilt milk and all that. Gotta break through their barrior-
And then from his perspective the world exploded. The Diablos Ex Machina rushed forward, on the basis that it was somewhere to run to.
Alright, so now I'm rushing toward people who want to kill me painfully. Lost a tread, the arm the repeater's on is about to fall off, lost another sensor array. C'mon, I've got a brain capable of formulating a battle strategy in a matter of seconds right now, this should be easy.
Turning the cannon to unleash a stream of fire at the silver behemouth (if only to keep it from firing again) and the infinate repeater to scythe against the other angels, the Diablos Ex Machina rushed forward to try to break the defensive line the angels had set up.
Getting a bit too boloesque on myself. Yeah, next I'll start yelling "For the honor of the regiment!"
"E, there is something I can try to do. But I'm blind and deaf while I'm doing it. If anything happens here, I won't know. I'm relying on you." She scooted backwards on the bed and seated herself crosslegged. She closed her eyes and with her magic touched her ring. The light flared and almost instantly she found herself in contact with the "Great Hoard," the treasure of her clan. Memories going back to the time of the first of her clan, magicly held despite the minds they came from being gone. As always the memories rushed her; memories wanted someone to remember them. She forced them back as she described the creatures she wanted to know more about. Only a few memories buzzed around her now. She touched each one until she found a match. "It's always the crazy ones," she thought as she forced herself to live the memory. The mind it had come from had been insane and dying when it's memories had been copied. An interdimensional adventurer who had seen all his companions killed in horrible ways by these creatures, barely escaping himself. She grabbed what little information she could and fled back to her own mind. As always she came to with a jump, as if she was in a falling dream. She found e looking at her with what may have been concern and wondered how long she'd been out. But it didn't matter, she had information that could help. "E, can you get hold of the Admiral. I doubt anything they are doing can help. The one controlling these creatures," she gestured to the girl's body on the floor, "isn't anywhere around for them to hurt. And knives and explosions aren't going to do much either. We need something called radiation. I don't know that word, is that one of your machine words?" Then she flopped back on the bed. "I also answered my question earlier, why our erstwhile host detained me. They also don't like cold or electricity." She giggled stupidly, "Guess who has an ice dragon for a mother and a lightning dragon for a father. The big old coward."
Suddenly, something rushed through the minds of practically everyone in the house, like a sudden and strong gust of wind on a still day, but an emotion. And not a comfortable one at that. The walls loomed higher for a moment, the evening lighting was darker, and the shadows were more real and threatening. A chill seemed to run down everyone's spine, for those who had one. And all those sensitive to magic or extradimensional activity could hear something like voices, right on the edge of hearing.
"Hell why have I been living like this body is frail things up there they will kill me someone kill me before this I didn't have to put up with a Dominion with them and they will murder her that I killed that woman and Hell forgive me oh please Moira can you ever forgive me they have come for not the others and I need blood blood blood blood blood BLOOD!"
Aisha heard his voice in his head again. You cannot defeat them like this! Awaken me or you will die, and I will be restored in another way!
*it is then that Karl got word from his personal Comm of what was said by Mel*
Karl:(to Mel, over Commlink) radiation, eh? there are only two techniques I know that can use that...Sol Disruptor and Solar Slash...thankfully my katana that I have on my Ranger form right now can do a low-level Solar slash...it ought to at least disrupt their self-repair subroutines!
*Karl then unsheathed his katana and powered it up with the power of light and fire (both elements can emit radiation)*
Karl: here I come, you (censored)!
*Karl then got up and rushed towards the enemy*
(OOC: is it ok that I censor the bad words that my character says?)
Aisha once again saw the blast coming, but she couldn't get away fast enough. She held her sword in a defense position against the oncoming surge of energy...and it was like a wrecking ball slamming into her body while she was protected with a shield. It dragged the cat back on the floor, claws leaving gouges in the wood, until she collapse and it seemed to fly over her with a loud windy sound and a flutter of her cape.
As she was getting up, the voice blasted her mind, and instinctively the girl clasped her hands up to her tightly folded ears...but this was a psychic thing, it couldn't be blocked. Her nails dug into her skull. And when the yelling cleared, the voice was quieter, but more urgent.
No more fooling around...Stygian...he said he wanted the blood of one of these? She considered the stains on her clothing, the entrails of these angel-things. Did he say how much blood?
Aisha glanced around at the battling. She saw the others fighting the angels, and the ringleader was once again preoccupied with another of her comrades. The dark creature was bonded with her...and so it seemed she was the one to heed his wishes so far. Besides...the machines wanted her alive. That couldn't have been a good thing.
The pantheress thought about that as she stumbled to her feet, tossing the boomerang in the air and slicing through the lesser creatures with her sword, all the while avoiding the gaze of the woman.
e touched his chest. "radiation? it is a byproduct of the energy that my kind generates to use. my particular brand is tainted with dark energy as well." he looks at Mel. he had caught glimpsing of her network before he powered down his senor range a touch more.. "whats more all living thins have some form or radiation. in my last world the looks for the radioactive decay in the bones of ones living being to guess ho old they were. but i ramble. what kind or radiation do we need and where do they need to attack?" as he speaks he opens a channel to Karl with the image or a ringing phone to Mel the image is project from the jewel on his helmet. "i don't want anyone to die." E's voice sounds almost remorseful thou this is a illusion. he has no remorse. "unlike them i can be rebuilt and since i know how to separate my self form my body i can live even when others think that i will die. they don't have that chance though."
Karl's rush went unexpectedly well at first. Some bullets reached his armor, and those that did not bounce only seemed to make shallow wounds and scrapes. Dashing forth, he then raised his sword to cleave through the shields they had set up, since they followed his movements and he couldn't get around them. And that's where things went wrong. His empowered sword embedded itself in one of the shields for a second. Then, something must have created some sort of resonance or chain reaction, because the whole ordeal exploded.
Metal scraps were embedded in what was left of the walls of the attic. The roof was torn apart, and the floor was burnt and torn asunder, great holes through it showing the underlying rooms and what boards and structure was left creaking and cracking from the strain of weight upon it. The silver droid had gone through completely and fallen over as it did, and a second barrage from its now misdirected cannon tore the floor away under the Diablos ex Machina and Karl, who both had been thrown against the scraps of the southern wall with the blast.
Everywhere, bodies lay. Some were stirring, others were not. The four-winged thing was sinking downward, all wings spread once again, and seemingly unharmed but for its clothing being torn. The forearm that had previously been cut off by Aisha had flown up and hit her in the face, and now lay in a red pool beside her. It too seemed to be healing all on its own, though how was a mystery. And in the midst of all the destruction was the dimensional gateway that had let all this through, hovering just above where the attic floor had been, open and as dark as night.
Aisha was winded. The onslaught of creatures were like an invincible army that never really seemed to die. Blood coated the walls in dark mottled spots like a morbid kind of wallpaper with clouds of dust and cobwebs. The girl was surprised that one of the walls hadn't blown inward.
But as soon as she had thought of the word "blown", something in her mind said, duck. NOW.
Not one to question her instincts, Aisha instantly flew down to her knees as the shield where Karl was exploded in a flying array of metallic silver debris. The wind from it was cutting at her skin, the very air a confusing mix of surprised screams and painful wails. She daren't open her eyes until the wind had died down. Bringing an arm with shredded fabric and sliced skin away from shielding her eyes, Aisha saw the damage and cringed. Feeling something damp near her trousers, crimson eyes stole a glance at the angel's bloody forearm, which caused an involuntary shudder.
As if Stygian still had her eyes, something in the back of her mind thought of the creature's need...and with an almost sickening lurch, Aisha thought, That'll do. With sore limbs, the panther reached for the arm. The stairs however were quite a sprint away...
Plus, there were her fighting companions. Gareeku...Karl...she couldn't leave the injured.
Better to save all of us than to take a hard chance at saving a few...mis amigos, forgive me.
The panther sheathed her weapons, gathered what strength she had left in her legs and sprinted toward the stairway.
*karl looked down and saw the blade of his katana was broken*
Karl: Dangit! I would have to de-morph in order for the self-repair to work...wait a sec, the blade of the Celestial sword that goes with my Emerald armor is made of Adamantium...therefore it's indestructable, though I cant say the same for the armor (the armor is tough, but not as tough as Adamantium).
*Karl then summoned a device on his right arm*
Karl: Here we go! Emerald Armor ACTIVATE!
*Just then, Karl Transformed into his Emerald Armor, Complete with Celestial Sword...and Jet Boots*
"Seize the Tainted one! The others can wait." The four wing roared furiously, and something like a huge invisible fist closed around Karl, aiming to crush him in its grasp. The commanding angel-woman hovered against him in the air with wings spread out fully, red lightning crackling at their tips and some sort of liquid mercury-like metal swirling around them. "Permissum non inficio unus subterlabor!" At those last words, a hail of bullets tore into the wall behind Aisha as she ran.
Ready to attack, Gareeku watched as the "angels" moved forward again. He had suffered many injuries from the recent battles, and so was no able to fight a well as he might have liked. Then again, Gareeku was stubborn as hell, so there was no way he'd not fight, especially when his friends were in danger.
"Yahhh!" Gareeku cried out, dashing forward and tackling the four wing. The wolf could feel the darkness within him beginning to stir and swell, but Gareeku did care anymore. He wanted the battle to end, and if that meant embracing the darkness within him...then so be it...
Aisha's feet were flying. She clutched the arm, anchored tightly in her claws while projectiles flew at her back; the only thing she could do to protect herself from them was to pull the hood of her cloak over the back of her head. She heard the ricochets as they missed her by mere inches, and still she kept moving like the hounds of Hell were biting at her heels.
Against all odds she had made it to the stairway, while other angels and bullets pursued her endlessly like something out of a nightmare. She ducked while holes were torn through her cape as she flew down the steps, taking them two-by-two and three-by-three.
As soon as she had reached the floor though, a sharp pain jolted up her leg. She tripped on the last step, the arm flying out of her hand and landing a few feet away. She clutched her bleeding leg. No! Dammit, not now!
The door was close by...just a little further. She bade herself to stand up and limp to where the arm lay and grabbed it, and she hobbled as quickly as she could for the door. Her hand was on the handle when she heard something on the stairs behind her.
"Anyone wanna let me in?" she roared. "Special delivery here!"
(ooc are you at the medbay?)
((Yeah. It's the only other room in the house we all know there's people, isn't there? :mowtongue ))
e's here's the plea for assistance and rushes to the door opening it. one hand is missing as is has been with drawn to allow his cannon to fire. e gasp as he sees the condition of the feline ? "Aisah!" with out a second though her reaches forward and help her into the med bay. E has his remote mines read to fire is the approaching footsteps are those of the enemy. with some more gentleness then he wars originally designed for E helps Asiah onto a be near the others then returns to guard the door.. "Mel Asiah could use some help"
Mel pushes Aisha down firmly, suspecting the girl wouldn't want to stay put. Which button had the Admiral pointed at? She thought the yellow one was to heal everything. Equipment appeared over her, pinning the feline to the bed. It whizzed and clicked and flashed lights. Aisha started to protest but Mel shushed her, "Falling on your face will help no one. This time is not wasted if it makes you stronger. Now tell us what is going on up there and why you brought us that lovely souvenir."
Annoyed at suddenly having been treated more like a captive rather than a patient, Aisha twisted her head and gave an exasperated growl towards Mel. "A portal has opened up upstairs, admitting a fleet of these strange..." Aisha tried to describe them, but most likely would have been scoffed at the fact that they looked like angels. "...Winged machines. Horribly strong. The others are up there fighting it."
The girl referred to the arm she was carrying. "This is a piece of one of them, still fresh and bleeding. Stygian told me he needed it."
In order to prevent being marked as a traitor, Aisha quickly added, "He's the only one who seems to know how to stop this. It's either him or them. And as much as I hate to admit, he seems the lesser of evils."
An ironic smirk covered her face. "Now, if you don't mind, kindly remove this bullet from my leg and let me go."
e hearing this nods and returns to Aisha's side. "if you give it to me i can give it to the one you call Stygain. it is like a special weapon or a energy recover capsule correct? i have experiences with such thing and maybe able to help." (you you played rock and forte "mega man bass us" then you are likely aware of the super recover ability)
"So impatient to get herself hurt again," muttered the white dragon as she watched the meters slowly change from injured red to healthy green. "You are almost done, stubborn child. Hopefully the ones upstairs are having more success now that we have passed on the information about the radiation stuff." She paused to check progress. "The Admiral's healing machines are very fast. Do you have magic? Cold and electricity will slow the machines down if you have them."
The machine released the unhappy feline and they both turned to where e was with the bodies and the limb.
((Scheisse, are you bothersome or what?! Just give me the damn arm already!))
A low whisper trailed across the thoughts of all present, not an actual voice or sound but something like the thoughts that are invoked by one;
"...there is no time give it to us now now now they are coming oh hell is opening and the portal is still there to see them I see I see I see them clearly..."
Having tackled the "angel" to the floor, Gareeku began pummelling her with punches to the face, the darkness continuing to swell within him. As he attacked, his eyes began to change colour; his whites becoming red, while his irises began yellow and his pupils morphing in slit shapes...
The voice crept along Aisha's mind as she rose from the bed, finally healed over though feeling the after-affects of the battle. Stygian's consciousness was pushy and quick, eager and wanting. The black jaguaress felt almost the same way, only because she wanted the whole thing to end.
Who was it that picked THIS house to have a party in anway?
She picked the arm up and, with a sigh and defeated nod, gave it to E. "Give it to him quick, if you know where he is. I think things are at their limit."
*Karl felt almost like his lif ewas about to end when suddenly, he had a vison...it was actually a burst of images going through his mind but he learned what they meant*
Karl's mind: Aha! another Ancient Mobian technique...and a rather high-powered, destructive one as well...
*Karl then began to glow red...*
Karl: he we go...CHAO EXPLODAE!!!
*Karl unleashed a destructive shockwave that blew what was holding him to bits...then started to slash at any enemy near him with his sword*
"Yes ma'am i've keep him in my sensors for a while now." e shrugs as he has infused the arm with his super recover ability he then heads to Stygian. he side steps the puddles that he originally took to be Stygian and instead zooms In on the entities energy signature that is currently coming from within the girl's body.
I've fought wars in hell before says E's second voice. "just use this to recover. i can fight an army by myself for a while and in this narrow spas the are now going to be able to get past me. you mean us right? "fine us it is lets just get ready to hurt them. and it radiation is a weakness then my F-Buster should be like shooting them with near instant death" you rely to heavily on you body's techs. they still have souls and mournblade could feat on them.
suddenly the wolf barks and he turns to the door as he is growling. "i think they may be here" says e leaving the entity to back up his support unite.
edited to perception error
Oh gravity you whore! Boogey cried mentally as the floor was shot from under him. Almost going through the next floor down, he did a quick inventory.
Another sensor pod down, and same for the repeater; the arm's completely off. Got a smaller repeater next to the cannon, but it's got less ammo. Not using the cannon down here though. Utilizing the feedback from the scout nanobots, the Diablos Ex Machina pinpointed the location of the commanding angel on the floor above him and turned the turret with the other repeater on it to track the creature.
C'mon Gareeku, just move over a little bit...
*Just then, another portal opened up in the attic...and two figures stepped out...one was a Hedgehog/Klingon crossbreed...the other was a Maximal with an Arctic Wolf alt mode*
Karl: Ian! Artemis Magnus!
*the Crossbreed known as Ian then spoke*
Ian: Sorry we're late, Admiral! Lilith just called us about the problem!
Karl: yahyah...Just henshin and move it!
Ian/Artemis: Got it!...TO ARMS!
*both transform into their power suits*
Ian: Emerald Ronin, Blue!
Artemis: Emerald Ronin, Ice blue!
((OOC: Ugh...no offense dude, but i can't take this seriously with those guys there. Its like a bad episode of power rangers all over again. Sorry if i sound like an asshole, but that's how i feel.))
(OOC: I'm gonna take a break from this thread for a few moments...I suddenly have a case of broken heart, mixed with hurt emotions)
Edit>OOC: I'm ok now...
OOC: Well, I sure have missed a lot, mind if I join in?
Quote from: topher chee on November 07, 2006, 05:03:21 PM
OOC: Well, I sure have missed a lot, mind if I join in?
((OOC: Absolutely not. We need help! In more ways than one...
Just... no over-sillyness. Okay?))
E stands they the door extending his scan. as he speaks to gospel "be ready boy. i want you you hold you fire unit i attack them then give it you all you've got. Gospel nods his mouth starting to glow. (http://www.geocities.com/eliander_valderen/dogbreath.JPG) "Mel has there been any change in the others?"
E also wonders about Aisha. he knows that he is ready to fight again and weather her body is ready or not. it is some thing that he picks up with out his scanner. it was something that they had in common as well. what makes them so determined? what do they have to prove? are the out to prove there strength like i was when i shared forte's programs and his body as well? did i lose something when i took a spare and left them all behind? only time could tell ask he wondered if this was ever going to end.
"Depends on which others you mean. Something seems to be happening over there on the floor, but I can't define what. Upstairs... I don't think it is going well."
Ian: Stormwave!
*Ian sends a strong gust of wind, pushing some of the enemy back*
Artemis: Frost Fang!
*Artemis takes his katana and sends a wave of cold energy into the enemy, freezing a few of them*
Karl/Ian/Artemis: Dangit! There's no end to these things!
Karl: Jinx, you guys owe me some Emerald brand Cola!
*With a cross look of both excitement and surprise, Topher ducks behind out of E's range.*
Don't Shoot me!
both e and gospel hold their fire. this person was not attacked and had spoken. "what is your function? friend or foe?" e asks his buster still leveled at the hallway
*Caulks his head to its side and scratches*
Well.....as of now I am neutral, for I have n obligation to either hurt you or be hurt by you. My main priority as of now is to befriend those who wish to be befreinded and leave the rest to themselves.
e blinks huh? that sounded like a platform to him. " Mel, Asiah we have a new organic outside the door. would you like to verify his intentions?" better worse E would trust him first..
Aisha blinked in response, having been jarred from watching to see what Stygian would do now that he's had the arm. While waiting, the black jaguar looked up and noticed the newcomer.
She stood up and came next to E, tilting her head. "Greetin's. I don't suppose you've been in the house before? Better be careful...there's a huge battle going on and I've no idea how many people are left."
((OOC: I'm going to assume that you just laid the arm beside the girl's body. Please explain your actions in further detail henceforth.))
As E dropped the torn-off arm next to the girl's corpse, it twitched. Slowly the amount of blood trickling from it seemed to increase. After forming a small puddle the blood itself then moved. It flowed up the girl's side and toward her head, touching her fur and then climbing it, slithering into her mouth.
The girl didn't move at first. But when the blood entered her mouth, you could see something happening to her veins where her fur was thin, at the neck and chest. They were darkening, and straining, as if a sudden rush of blood had built the pressure in them almost to bursting. Her jaw then moved, and she slowly closed her mouth. Her tongue licked her lips, and her glazed eyes turned black while she closed them.
The next second, her eyes burst open, and now a poisonous green glow with just a hint of blue shone from within them. She shot up, her right hand clawing for the arm at her side, and when she picked it up, she sunk her teeth deeply into it. She was changing rapidly, the fur on her forearms and shins growing black along with her pulsing veins, and her wings had already darkened almost completely. Her muscles rippled and snapped as they grew and hardened with each moment. Her face, though unaltered in shape, was a twisted snarl, and through the lumps of angel-flesh that she gobbled down you could see her tongue and the flesh in her mouth had turned a very dark greenish colour.
Gareeku was not sure whether it was his fists or the angel-creature's flesh that squished under his punches, but he didn't care. Blood spattered and smelled all over the place either way. And it felt good. These things had threatened him, had threatened his friends! He wanted to rip...
Gareeku's chain of thought was broken as a massive force smashed into him from underneath and sent him flying through the roof. It had been the four-wing again. But while he flew he noticed, as if seeing through someone else's eyes, that she was not getting up.
(OOC: It might be a while before I post again...Busy day tomorrow.)
*whilst arguing who owes who a soda, the three Emerald Ronin also end up being sent flying*
Karl: Ooooooooh Craaaaaaaap! *ding*
Mel looks at Topher. "He was with the tour too. Last time I saw him was in the weapons room. Or maybe the one with the vehicles. That's about when things started getting strange and people started disappearing. And speaking of strange, are you sure feeding the girl was a good idea, Aisha? She doesn't look friendly."
"Veeeery niiice... friendlyyy... heeelllp..." The girl smiled with long, blackened and razor-sharp teeth. Her tongue lolled, pointed and almost as long as her underarm. Her halo had blackened and broken in the front, turning pointed and glowing a sickly green that mirrored her eyes, and she was breathing heavily, you could see now, her breath misting with some greenish fumes and ash. "We... keeep our... pro-mises..."
Her eyes turned upward, and for a moment she just sat there. Then, she slowly got to her feet. And with a part slashing and part dim blasting sound, she exploded into shadow and smoke, reforming upstairs next to the four-winged angel.
"Your... tiiime is uuup..."
Looking down as he flew, the wolf saw the four-winged angel not moving, guessing that she must have used telekinesis to throw him up into the air. However, his mind was now logic or reason, staring down at the ground with his blazing red eyes, and with a roar he forced himself to descend.
He landed with a loud boom, cracking the floor violently underneath as he did so, splinters of wood being thrown up around him from beneath as his body emitting a bright flash of red light, his dark magic-composed wings exploding into view.
"...You will learn...to fear my powersssssss..." the "incubus" hissed menacingly. The deadly force had been reawakened, and was intent on dealing as much damage and carnage as possible...
When Stygian felt Gareeku descend and land, and recognized that same darkness and fiery energy within him as it had felt before it, she, turned around and snarled at him, intense green eyes fixed at his burning red. She gave out a roar that shook the floor and screamed at him.
"Sssheee iss miiine! Back off you wreeetch!" Stygian's black wings unfurled behind her back, turning to sharp, snaking points as they did. Its thoughts were not so clear yet, but it knew that it should not - that it would not - let this be ruined by some new beast throwing itself into the fight. It began moving against him, claws and tentacles honed to razor points, and small green flames started moving across its hands and out of the corners of its mouth.
That was when the four-winged angel on the floor saw her chance. She looked at the closest other angel-creature with glowing eyes, and said creature, a male soldier-angel with his suit in tatters but still wielding his large and heavy gun, jerked and became stiff as a fence post. His eyes shot wide open, and not even bothering to drop his gun, he rushed right against the four-wing. Halfway there, he started to scream, red lines cracking up his skin and red bolts crackling around him. He fell before he could reach the woman, but in his stead a bolt of bright yellowish-red energy shot into her. Lightning struck over the floor, and the next moment the woman was up on her knees and one of her silvery "wings" firmly embedded in Stygian's host's torso, impaling her heart. Dark blood spurted out between her clenched teeth.
"Aaaaw hell..."
*nods in agreement with Mel*
"Sssstupid girl...you know nothing of what I am..." the "incubus" said with a evil smile, his wings morphing into menacing bladed tentacles of his own.
Seeing the impaling of the girl, the "incubus" laughed; a horrible, spine-chilling laugh that would make even the bravest of creatures shudder with fear. "Truely pathetic...now then..." he said, the evil smiles not fading from his face as he reached out a clawed paw towards the girl and the angels, the paw surrounded by dark magic. "Sssssumbit your ssssoulssss to me..."
Stygian was almost completely conscious of its actions now. But that only meant that it was in more pain, and even more aware of the danger. And it was so hard to move! What precisely had happened? It were all coming back so slowly, much too slowly. But it knew what it had to do. When one has two enemies to fight, make them fight each other.
"Sssorry... but not quite yet!" It gripped the spike jutting through its chest and pulled forward while its right wing made a lightning-fast swipe behind it, severing the angel-creature's "wing" with a spray of blood and sparks. The angel-creature didn't hesitate a second, but proceeded to form another of its wings into a spike and bringing it up to stab a second time. But Stygian was too fast. The tentacles formed of its other wing snapped out and wrapped around Gareeku's hand, and as it took a powerful swinging leap upwards, it pulled the two creatures together, Gareeku's hand locking directly with the angel-woman's chest while her spike missed his head by a few inches.
Stygian didn't wait either. It had to destroy that Kyriote whatever the cost! It flew backward, though it didn't know how since it had never flown before, and readied an attack that it knew would solve at least one problem here. Green fire started blazing.
((OOC: Notice that most things around here either start or end with Stygian or the girl going crazy? No offence, but it's getting to be a bit more of a Daos Ex Machina than the angel-borg things.))
The Diablos Ex Machina opened fire upon the four winged angel with the remaining repeater, calculating its next move hurridly.
I may hit Gareeku. At this point, that may not be such a bad thing. In his current state he can probably take it. The question is, with the creature that I think I'll call the Cherubim having recently rejuvinated itself, it may be able to as well. They would both come down into this room beneath them, thus trapping me in yet closer quarters. And then there is the shapeshifter. Not entirely a great loss if I hit it, but I don't know the full story. Best deal with the immediate problems for now.
With that, the Diablos Ex Machina fired off the last of its clip at the floor beneath the Cherubim and tore off down the hallway, widening it by two feet. May want to fix that later...
Stygian saw suddenly how a stream of bullets streaked against its foes. It had already sensed the movement in the corner of its mind, but it was so hard to sense if something was really there unless it focused on it. It was the strange thought-entity again. Turning to focus more directly at the thing, Stygian was surprised that it was still up and going. If the cockroach and a bit of cobbled together machinery could hold up under those circumstances...
Suddenly, an idea formed in Stygian's head. It sunk and focused, taking in the sensation of the place. There were still five angels up and going. One of them had what it needed. It focused again.
Stygian vanished in a blast of darkness, and then re-formed right behind an angel soldier holding a huge-barrelled, ridiculously heavy gun of some sort, connected to a large fuel cell slung over his shoulder. At the sudden sound behind him he started turning, but before he even had a chance he was missing his legs and flying through the air. Another explosion of darkness, and he was skewered upon three black spikes that stood out like oversized six-foot needles through his chest. Another blast sounded.
Stygian landed just beside the Diablos Ex Machina, holding that huge gun with its power pack and covered with blood, wires and shredded red cloth, still attatched to great parts of a cybernetic arm.
"Use thisss. It's a paarticle lancce. You sshould be aable to uuse the hydrogeen and gel-bassed fuel aand attune it sso that it ssteals the heaat from her," it said.
((OOC: Oh I remember the cockroach left. I was just thinking back.))
((OOC: EDITPALOOZA - Ah, my mistake))
Slowing to a halt, the Diablos Ex Machina turned its attention to Stygian.
"Thank you," it replied, "I believe I should be able to add this to my current shape." With that, a few tendrils of patterned light reached from the bloody stump of the remains of the angel's arm and wrapped themselves around the cannon. Boogey began convincing the weapon that it was fused to the arm, and that its fuel worked differently. Inanimate objects are tricky. They have a better idea of what they are than living things do.
"So, stealing the heat from the Cherubim should render it harmless?" the Diablos Ex Machina asked, "A rather clever energy source, since it can be so easily found. How does it harness it to such a purpose though? Hm, not a question for right now. Thank you for the weapon, but I still don't entirely trust you. We shall speak of what these are and how they relate to you later." With the lance finally installed in its new wielder, the Diablos Ex Machina again turned to aim at the Cherubim. Have to make sure I don't bring the entire structure down upon my own hull. Just gotta wait for it to get into position. "All the energy they're throwing around up there's been knocking out my scout nanobots; I can't pinpoint where she is. Could you get her within range of me?"
Stygian replied hurriedly to the bot's question.
"It won't rendeerr it harmlesss, buut hopefully hold it and caause enough tisssue and conductorr damage through frrost implosion and waterr exspansssion to sstall it. I'll ssee what I can do," it said, and with that she leapt down after Gareeku and the angel.
The building shook with the explosions and everyone could hear crashing that told them ceilings were crashing in. Mel brushed bits of ceiling tile off her head and shoulders. "You know, being on a center floor of a building that seems to be coming apart probably isn't safe. We should either go down and out or up to where the damage is originating."
nods "very well Mel if you wish i will follow you. a lose cannon gets allies killed in battle and this allies are a lot harder to re vie the the ones i'm used to"
"Don't think I'm being brave, e, or intend to charge into battle. But I think I'd rather be shot at than have the house dropped on my head. At least we'll know which way to jump if we can see what is going on."
e chuckles. " i was not calling you a loose cannon Mel. i was referring to myself." E look's away "As far back as I can remember I have always been sent into battle alone. I was always person again an army. Weather flesh or metal or something that I can even describe I have always fought alone and I have been happy to fight that way but now..." e pause and he trines to phrase it correctly "if I do something wrong I could wind up killing a friend and that is what I wish to avoid"
As the Diablos Ex Machina (Gotta love that italics-and-latin-ey goodness!) waited for the Cherubim to be in a position where firing wouldn't bring down the house, he contemplated the foe he was facing.
Little to no willpower, despite a resolute refusal to die, and they recieve orders from an outside source. With so little will, would they accept any orders that came over the same channal? They probably aren't used to conflicting orders. Does this shape have broadcasting ability? Bah, shredded it when I took over the shield angel. Figures. Anything left of it? He began mentally probing the blank space in this mind where the angels Orders had been. After all, I can reduce their ability to make intelligent descisions quite a bit if I can confuse them with more orders, and there's no resource more valuable than a stupid enemy...
*just then, three bodies ended up crashing back into the attic*
Karl/Ian/Artemis: ...ow...
"Lets do this now, before any sort of common sense or survival insticts kick in. Topher, you just got here. Are there any collapsing parts of the corridor we should know about?"
*Topher turns as Mel had said his name*
Corridor? Where?
"the place that you just came from." E's forehead sensor begins to glow as he projects the partial map he received forms Karl. it still shows the highlighted trail to the med bay form the attic. "we need a way out but even with this partial schematic it's not sure where we should go. that's part of the reason i decided to follow Mel if she leaves. this is not some where safe for me to unleash my arson or weapons anyway. speaking of which" E's trims changes as he tunes to Topher. her aims and fires., with blinding speed on of the copies of the soul protection talismans heads for Topher ready to adhere to his neck like the one around E's
"Aisha will head for the attic, I'm sure." Mel bowed in the feline's direction. "She has unfinished business. I'm going to follow her, at least long enough to find out what is going on. If it's going baddly we might need to go for help. I was blocked from gating out last time I tried so we'd need to get outside before I try again."
then i'll guard you alone the way. i am a warrior and a figure it's what i do. "
(ooc topher did you get the Talisman i shot at you?)
Since no one seemed to have a better idea Mel opened the door and cautiously looked out. There wasn't much to see because there wasn't much corridor left. Through the dust she could see the door to the attic and maybe one or two beyond. The rest of the hall was collapsed. "Well Topher, if you weren't trapped in this mess with us I'd call you lucky. It looks like you just missed being flattened. I guess up is our only choice. We'd better do it now before they crush any more of the corridor."
No sooner had Mel opened the door before a snow white shape surrounded by darkness smashed into the floor in front of her. It rose to a stooped position from its knees, wickedly clawed arms hanging and huge wings seemingly woven of darkness and fumes spreading from its back. Green eyes over a black, knife-toothed and half-open maw looked up at her, an image that would have made even the denizens of the worst of hells recoil in fear. She recognized the thing that had been the angel-woman. Barely. It grinned at her, and its glowing pupils narrowed.
"Caan you pleassse hellp me in getting the wollf off the Kyyyriote? I don't know who is the strongessst here, but I know how to ennd herrr..." The "woman" leaned against them, tilting its head and crooking its neck, looking... curiously at them, waiting for a response.
*Karl tries to get up but seems to have some severe injuries*
Karl: Dangit! Looks like it's time I used this scroll...
*Karl uses the scroll and a portal opens on the floorboards beneath the three heroes, which sends them to Medbay and quickly closes afterwards*
*Topher nods in response to E's question*
Yes, I got it, what should I do with it?
Mel turned away from the door at the burst of magic behind her. "It's worse than we suspected. That only leaves Gareeku and Boogyman in the attic. Aisha, I think you have a wolf to rescue." She started towards the men on the floor then turned back to the girl. "You know these things. Am I right that cold hurts them?" The girl nodded her head in a broken necked way which Mel interpreted as a yes. "Once I am done here you will have all the cold you need."
She knelt next to the Admiral. "I suppose your healer beds will work better without all this metal. Would you send your armor back to it comes from?"
Karl: very well...Emerald Armor, Disengage!
*Karl's armor powerdowns back into bracer form*
Karl said it protects form, possession or was that soul erasure? I'm not sure at the moment so you can ask him." he turns to me. "Mel i think i should go ahead. watch over the wounded and please be careful." "Take care of them if battle comes here Karl." with that parting statement E steps on of the mead by and makes his way to wards the attic.
"Luckily we have enough beds unbroken," joked Mel as she helped the Admiral up. "Go ahead and lean on me. I may be one of the smallest dragons but I'm still much stronger than my size would suggest." She got him sitting on the beds and turned to help the other two. "Why don't you introduce me to our new arrivals since it seems I'm playing nurse."
Karl: The Klingon/hedgehog cross is Ian...While the robot with the Arctic wolf Alt mode is Artemis Magnus; who by the way is the son of the Autobot second-in-command, Ultra Magnus.
Mel smiled at both as she checked the readouts on the beds to make sure the abused machines were actually doing something. "Honored, I'm sure." After checking all the readouts a second time she said, "Why don't you tell me what's going on upstairs."
((If the events of my post seems a bit outdated, forgive me...I've been sick and was too lazy to try and keep up with all the posts.))
Having ignored most of what was going on in the medbay while she gathered herself a little bit more, Aisha finally quirked an ear at Mel's statement. The battle upstairs was heated, and she knew that it would be appreciated that she'd go and fight...and with Stygian's and the girl's predicament sated, all that was left was driving those angel creatures back into the pit from whence they came.
Or at least, to find out what they were doing in this dimension.
Reaching for her boomerang, her hand stopped in midair. I came here to run from them...ay basura! What a predicament. I might just have to face this again.
The felid sighed and grabbed her weapon. If Gareeku had gone into that form of his, he would definitely need help...not to fight, but to come back, if he even survived. And Lord only knew what Karl was dishing out this time.
With a hearty leap, the girl pulled the hood of her red cape over her head, the similar-colored eyes the only thing showing beneath the shadows, and dashed out the door and through the hallway towards the stairs...
...Where even now the loud sounds and rough cries of the valiant warriors above were already again hurting her ears...
To her horror, the place was being ripped to shreds, something she surmised before even stepping foot into the dark and dusty attic. This time she was going to make sure everyone whom wanted to left the house alive. Aisha took the stairs two by two, slammed into the room, and let the boomerang fly in a surprise attack towards the enemy. It was too late to stop Gareeku now...the panther thought that even her own presence wouldn't faze the wolf. It was best that for now she stayed out of his way, at the same time fighting alongside him. To her surprise, even the other stranger was there.
"Thought you had lost me, angeles de cielo?" she mocked with a fanged smirk over the sounds of a whizzing blade. "I was warming up."
Gareeku smiled evilly at the angel in front on him, his fangs bared in a sinister grin as he began to walk forward, his wings again morphing into menacing tentacles. The smile came even more apparent when Aisha's boomerang whizzed past him towards the "angel", licking his lips in an almost hungry-like manner.
"How I will enjoy thissssss..." he hissed as he continued to advance towards the "angel".
From above, an angelic woman holding some sort of spear dove for Aisha, aiming for her head. She did not get closer than three feet or so though, before a black spike from below skewered her and sent blood splattering and sparks flying everywhere. The girl possessed by Stygian made its way up from beneath the scene, leaping up and then stopping to the side of Aisha whilst looking at Gareeku and the angel.
"He doessn't know what he'ss doing. If the Kyriote beleivesss it'ss mission to be beyond completion, it will ssself-desstruct. Isss there any waay of getting him out of the way?" she asked.
*hearing the dragon's question, Karl answers Mel the best he can*
Karl: It seems that a group of Borg-like creatures that look like angels have invaded through a tear in the attic...though I doubt they are really angels...these things fight like Aparoids.
*leans head in the door*
*looks around*
*nods*
*sidles off to find a safe couch to hide under*
The angel-woman, getting up from a kneeling position and clutching with her hand at her chest, where something seemed to have burned her, bared a set of fangs in a soundless growl and lunged for Gareeku, spear-like tips of her silvery "wings" hovering about her and aiming for his vital organs. Her voice rang out, strong, clear and as beautiful as it was cruel, in the minds of all those present.
"Nostro ira est vehementi! You have no right to stop us, beast! We will make you pay!"
Red crackles of lightning charged the air and made hairs stand on edge. The swipes of silver wings and the trample of feet and cracking and crumbling of wood and stone seemed like a thundering chorus, accompanying and accentuating the battle. And there was a sound, just on the edge of hearing. A whisper.
E has reached the attic and opens the door. it is oddly surprised that he did not run into opposition alone the way. he opens the door his visor down and his eyes scanting the area.
*looks around after he observed the talisman. He then looked up and asked, "Anything I can do anything..?"
((OOC: Still waiting for Gareeku's attack. The angels seem almost dead or dying by now. Could anyone please do something? Perhaps shoot someone in the head? Or maybe butt in and try to say that we should all be friends? *snicker*))
(ooc i'm still trying to figuehr out here i need to be to help)
((Well, I'll keep going, but let's hope we're not treading on dead air. :3 ))
Aisha's boomerang flew back to her hand, having only nicked its intended target as she dodged away from Stygian's sudden rising from out of nowhere. She shuddered as the spear aimed for her head bounded aimlessly away. Keep your eyes open, Aisha! What are you, a cat or a mouse?
She glanced back towards the possessed girl at her side, shaking her head at his comment if it had meant Gareeku. "I'm afraid that once he gets so determined as to resort to that form, there's little use trying to get him out of any way. Let him deal with the angel woman for now. I'll help with the cavalry. The attic will be blown to kingdom come at this rate."
The pantheress leaped around the fray nearby, always staying close enough to keep an eye on the girl and Gareeku. She slashed and dodged at any weaker angel-bot she came across with the smell of blood high on her nose.
"Dioses nos ayudan...gods help us," she muttered between breaths.
Hissing and snarling menacingly, the transformed wolf used his tentacles, wrapping around the angels' wings and preventing them from reaching their intended targets.
"Sssssstupid bitch!" he snarled angrily, before using the couple of remaining free wing tentacles to try and stab the creature in the heart and head, as well as swinging in a clawed fist, aiming to bury it deep within the angel's gut.
Snatching an attacking angel from the floor with a set of sharp tentacles, Stygian made an irritated growl. It would have thought more of the girl, but then again these people didn't seem that very scientifically-minded. Well, In a world of magic, what else could one expect?
"You don't sseem to undersstand. That thing iss powerrful, perrrhaps powerrful enough to keep away from him long enough to complete its termination ssequence," Stygian said, taking Aisha's back. "Its blood and its core teem with powerr. Power that such a pyrrhic attack would releasse." It turned against Aisha again, looking gravely at her. "And iff We were revived by so little blood from a lesserr angel..." It let the rest of the sentence remain unsaid.
Gareeku's tentacles took, ensnaring the woman and impaling her heart. Yet she caught the tip aimed for her head, and the next second another shockwave tore into the wolf and sent both him and her sprawling, still entwined in a lethal embrace. Her voice was gibberish now, a cacophony of screaming voices inside his head that seemed to want to claw his mind asunder.
"WiCkEd... Mur... dESt... JUstI... aAaERg... fAAtu... diE... Ki... dIIE...!"
Gareeku growled and snarled, his eyes closig tightly as the voice of the angel tored into his mind, causing him great pain. With a roar, he then suddenly bit into the angel's neck, clamping his jaws down as tight as he could as blood splattered onto his face. Putting a clawed hand to the angel's chest, his hand was then engulfed in an aura of dark magic as he prepared to suck whatever there was from the creature he was entangled with.
"Topher, can you help Admiral Karl and his friends? They should be healed shortly. I'm going to sneak up to the attic and see if I can cool things off."
She quickly and quietly exited the medbay and up the hallway to the attic door. As she opened the door she looked down at herself. White was not a good color to wear while sneaking around a dusty attic. She sizeshifted herself down to the size of a housecat and put an illusion spell on herself so she resembled a black and grey tabby. It was unlikely anyone would notice a lost mouser in the middle of a battle. She ran up the stairs and almost ran into e standing just beyond the stairs. Mel looked around, there wasn't much left of the attic. But there were lots of piles of rubble about. Slinking around e she insinuated herself into a hole in one of the larger piles to get a good look around. She pinpointed both angels and allies then began her first spell. "I think all these hot tempers need a little cooling and if there is one thing ice dragons know about, it's cooling things off."
The temperature in the attic began to drop rapidly, despite the missing roof. Mel kept an eye on the nearest angel. "If that slows you down enough that I can get good aim you can have an icicle halo."
Aisha paused in her attacks, relieved for the slight breath and also to think on what the girl said. The dangerous eyes met her own seemingly unnatural red-hued, and what Stygian said seemed to suck into her brain. It was true of course...the good side was being a little too cocky. Aisha was perhaps only lucky to be alive still, more lucky than Gareeku was probably to be in a few minutes. The intonation stuck to her heart.
She glanced towards Gareeku and Stygian and back again while drawing the dragon blade from her belt in her right hand. Her lips were at an uneasy snarl, so overly tired of this battle, her body temperature so high with the physical strain that it would have been mistaken for a fever...let alone could she feel the room's temperature drop.
"Well, what do you propose we do then? 'Cause I don't see anyone else coming up with something smarter than the old 'kill it if it moves' strategy."
When another angel lunged at Aisha from behind, she swerved and impaled it through the heart with her sword. "Case in point..." her eyes rolled. "Maybe you can eat more of them."
"We were about to..." Stygian began. But as it turned its head against Gareeku, it stopped. Its acid-green pupils, set amid gleaming black, grew so small that they wouldn't have been visible were it not for their glow.
"NO!"
The moment Gareeku tasted the angel's blood on his tongue, pain and pleasure so strong it seemed insane wracked his body. It melted in his mouth, eating through his throat and sending millions of tiny sparks of pain down his windpipe and up his nose, and a biting cold spread through him. It felt like he was drinking liquid nitrogen. Jolts of power wracked his body and made him spasm like he was being electrocuted, which in a sense was exactly what was happening. The angel-woman's shrieks were overwhelming, and she twitched and jerked in his grip, clawing and stabbing his back and arms over and over again. But Gareeku hardly felt it, and the wounds were closing fast, much too fast even for his feral cubi form.
A white and yellow glow, with hints of flaring red to it began to envelop both of them, and slowly they lifted from the floor.
Stygian dove for the floating pair of creatures in front of it. What was going on, it had no idea of. Was the angel consuming the wolf or the other way around? Were they both going to blow? Why was this even happening?! Forming up tentacle spikes around the girl's right arm and gathering what power it had left before it all deteriorated, it leapt aiming at the angelic woman with one last thought; We should have just left with the pizza...
Mel could hear screaming but couldn't see what was happening from her perch amidst the shattered beams. She would just have to attend to what she could see and hope that whatever the shouting was about took care of itself. Dropping the room to freezing didn't seem to be having the desired effect and she didn't dare drop it much further. She couldn't remember just how much cold people could take without dying, since keeping people alive wasn't really taught in school. She'd have to use a more selective spell. The angel nearest her was treated to a more direct beam of cold. It jerked once and tried to turn around but Mel had enough millenia behind her that her magic was fast as well as powerful. She kept the cold up, hearing the little pings and pops that told of mechanical bits suffering. Finally it reached the desired temperature and Mel picked up a hard little bit of the rubble near her. She flung the little rock and was rewarded with the angel shattering like glass.
With a little giggle she scampered deeper into the maze of debris until she could see if her position had been spotted.
*Karl was unconscience in the Medbay when voices started to sound in his head*
???: Wake up, mortal...Your friends are in danger!
*Karl turns around to see a familiar dark figure*
Karl: This can't be...you're my demonoid half!
*the figure, wearing black/violet armor with black trenchcoat, had black feathered wings and multiple tails...plus 4 horns that usually don't show in the physical plane*
Fal'dev Karl: True...but things are about to take a turn for the worse if you don't wake up and help your friends. Besides, you must preserve the balance...now get back up there and save the day...
*Karl heads for a door that's reads "conscienceness level"*
Fal'dev Karl *to himself*: even those of us that are the darkness must follow the laws of balance...
*Karl wakes up to a beeping sound, which cometh from the Bed's monitor that indicated "fully healed"*
*Karl notices someone in the corner*
Karl: How long have I been out?
The answer is always either:
"Not long enough" *thwap*
or
"Too long" ... and a long and involved story explaining everything that has happened, developed, and gone wrong, while you were out.
Which would you like to purchase today? :-)
Stygian hit the glowing figures and tore into the angel-woman like a freight train, darkness and fluorescent green fumes enshrouding its current body. Its claws and sharp tentacles raked both Gareeku and the her, spattering blood everywhere, but it was the woman that it grabbed from behind and ripped into, tearing asunder her wings and crashing down on the floor below while the glow around them all kept growing brighter. Against the now almost completely dark evening, hues of red, yellow and green played across the room amid swirling shadows and crackling bolts of power. Stygian seemed to scream in union with the woman, their voices multiplying and falling into the whisper that had grown into a shrieking chorus, a crescendo of screams that accentuated and amplified each other polyphonically.
The air, the ground, everything began shaking, and the green light slowly took over, burning and sending out emerald strikes of lightning that tore up holes in the floor around them. The air was rushing around the place, whipping up the chill that Mel had lain on the room and mixing it with heated gusts and acrid fumes that burnt noses and stung eyes.
((I'd just like to say AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA...!))
"Ow. That's gotta hurt."
(OOC: how did you guys like the Dialogue between me and my other self?)
((OOC: Meh. It was. Dunno about the whole "saving the day" thing. I don't go for that stuff. Inexplicable at the moment. But I suppose you'll fill us in later. And yes. Yes, it does hurt. Lots and lots.
To set the right mood for this scene, find a really masterful full-blown baroque chorale piece accompanied by a blasting organ and play it right to the finale crescendo.))
*gets out a yamaha home organ and starts playing chopsticks*
((OOC: That's pure evil. And now, let's not clog this with too much out of character conversation.))
Floating a good three feet over the ground now, Stygian, the Kyriote and Gareeku were enveloped in swirling green and black that tore asunder the air around them. They themselves were barely distinguishable shapes, fluorescent green behind the storming wall, fanged mouths open and blackened eyes wide. The noise was deafening.
Then, a single shockwave smashed through the air and everything was suddenly still for a moment, the noise cut off as sharply as if severed with a blade. And then the air came rushing back in, drawing in dust and debris and burning it up in a crackling sphere of harlequin and black that rose up above your heads.
When the sphere was almost level with the attic, it crumbled, turning into fumes and black feather-like shapes that slowly drifted off and fell to the floor. From within it, three shapes fell to the floor, one small, one mid-sized and one larger.
So, what can I do ya for?
When Aisha had seen Gareeku caught in the grasp of the angel woman, suddenly after Stygian had interrupted himself, the muscles in her leg bunched up. Drawing her sword, she was ready to plunge in and sever what bonds she had with her friend...or try to with all of her strength.
But she couldn't get to them, the minute that they lifted from the floor. The pantheress shielded her eyes from the blinding and swirling dark colors that encompassed the attic and all within. Her tail ring was glowing in chaotic rhythm with the colors, ere barely distinguishable in the sickening green hues.
All she could do was stand and watch this strange battle unfold. Only Stygian had the resources...and to Aisha it seemed like everyone else was a mere pawn. A useful one, but a pawn nonetheless. The chess board's final pieces were now at war, and the others were drawn to the sidelines...the safety of the dark edges and corners. The noise came when the pieces clashed...her ears flattened tightly against her skull and she backed away blindly, helped along by the shockwave which was like a hammer blow to anything still standing. She fell on her knees and stayed on the floor.
And when the dust cleared, Aisha squinted, barely able to see for a few minutes, still taking cover on the floor.
"I wonder who's alive..." she whispered, trying to hold out hope for the "good" side.
From underneith a pile of what used to be the roof came a kittenish sneeze then Mel's dusty head popped out from between two beams to see what had happened. Everyone she could see looked as confused as she felt.
Laying among the rubble under the now blasted open roof was Gareeku, a seemingly restored and unconscious leopard girl, her fur still almost completely white except at her underarms and shins and the roots of a pair of now severed wings sticking out her back, and the remains of the angelic woman; a barely recognizable mutilated shape with a missing arm and cybernetic parts torn out through great holes and tears in her flesh. Her face was missing an eye, the only remaining one a dull maroon that stared glazedly straight up, and her look was one of mixed fury and fear.
The white feline woman stirred, slowly sitting up amid dust, rock and wood with obvious effort.
"I am... nngh!" Her arm went to her side, clenching at her ribs.
(ooc: This is what happens when one is extra busy with schoolwork for a few days :rolleyes)
At no point had the angel woman been within range of the Diablos Ex Machina's new toy, which was a tad frustrating. Boogey quickly put his creation's mind into a form of sleep and left that body.
Well, now to take care of the swamp dragon. It turned out to have it's own mind, so what I'd better do is...
He seporated into strands of patterned light, and slowly set about seporating the Swamp Dragon from the Diablos Ex Machina, repairing the gaps in the war machine as he went. This creature is the closest thing we have to an angel hostage, and may be useful later. When he finished, he sent the Swamp Dragon to sleep as well. The little creature curled up in a corner of the room, across from the dormant Diablos Ex Machina.
I'll send my newest monster on his way later, after it's rested. Now then... Forming back into his usual shape, Boogey strolled down the hallway and up to the attic.
"Hello all! Now then, what did I miss while I was stuck as something that could smash through walls but couldn't go up stairs? I'm sure that it was all very exiting, I feel just horrid for missing out."
"It was tremendously exiting. Everyone left." :-)
"Tremendously exiting? That's quite a bit more exiting than, say, stupendously exiting. My, but I did miss out on a lot. By everyone I assume you mean those overly pierced Jehovas witnesses that were around being unpleasant earlier." He noticed the remains of the Krionite, "And here's one of them now! My, but she has had a bad day. Probably karma, I'd bet."
"She'll be in a Karma Coma, then."
The leopard girl was leaning forward, teeth gritted and eyes closed and her head bowed, her hand still at her side.
"A little help here... please?" she said.
Gareeku laid on the floor, completely motionless. His eyes stared straight up at the ceiling, fixated on one point. If one were to check, they would find him no longer breathing, nor was his heart. It appeared that wolf was in fact dead. However, his brain was still active...something was keeping his brain working, rendering Gareeku to a coma-like state.
OOC: What are the jr. angels doing now?
OOC: Singing hosannas? Flying round the room waving their wings and smiling at people? :-)
*hides*
(OOC: Well, there are only two left standing up, and those are clawing at their own eyes. The rest are either ripped to pieces or laying motionless on the floor.)
Aisha rubbed the blur out of her eyes, hard to do as it was mixed with dust and some kind of fog...perhaps all in her mind, a product of the excitement. But when her vision came back, she gasped at the scene.
The angel woman, finally motionless on the floor. The look it had sent a chill down her spine. The other girl, Stygian's vessel, was also up and seemed to have been returned to herself.
And then Gareeku...he wasn't moving at all.
The thought gave a jolt to of adrenaline coursing through her body, enough to get the panther quickly back up on weary legs. Sheathing her weapon and seeing no further use for it (her tail ring was now barely glowing), she ran up to where they lay, scattering dust with her cape.
She saw the girl first, in pain and asking someone for help. "Hey, it's okay..." Aisha spared an uneasy smile and knelt down inbetween them. "Just relax, we'll get back down to medbay soon...I hope." Then, she turned to check Gareeku.
No pulse. No breath. Nothing.
Her own heart wanted to stop. Hope seemed lost for him, but she knew her friend better...thought she did.
Still, Aisha had to comment beneath her breath to keep the tears from forming. "Stupid wolf...and after ALL the trouble I went to save you..."
Then her eyes scanned the attic, and back down to the girl. "I don't suppose you can walk, chica...if you can't, we're gonna need some help and fast."
After a cautious watching of the remaining angels acting crazy Mel jumped down from her perch in the debris pile and changed back to her indoor size and natural appearance. She watched Aisha kneel between Gareeku and the girl. Carefully skirting the large holes and weaker looking spots in the floor she moved closer. "Aisha, I know haste is important, but don't forget caution. Both enemy and ally have shown an ability to jump from host to host. We can't be sure who is who at the moment."
Mel gestured e closer "Can you contact Admiral Karl yet? If he is well enough see if he can arrange one of his machine teleports to get all the injured to the medbay." Then she turned to the girl on the floor. "Now who are you?"
* gets a call on the Comm*
Karl: Yah? What?! ok....Attempting to lock on....
*Teleports the wounded to Medbay and activates Medical Droids*
Droids: Initiating Medical Subroutines...
*the Droids assist the wounded to the medical beds*
"The Admiral is too fast and once again that girl manages to avoid questioning." Mel then looks to the two remaining angels, clawing at their own faces. "What shall we do with these? While they seem out of commission at the moment I don't want to leave enemies at our backs."
OOC: Is the gate still open or did it go down when the leader did?
( i kind of got lost. between the home net being down and getting no leads when i was online i have no clue whats going on, my last act was to enter the attic buster ready then i was forces off line for a little over 20 hours and now i have no ideal who's fighting where. can some one please throw me and energy capsule ' as in throw a dog a bone' or something?)
The portal that had been ripped open from the intervention had sealed up with the death of the leader "angel", shutting tight and not leaving little more than an echo of dimensional flux. Everything was still again in the huge space that had formed of a large part of the attic and a pair of rooms on the floor below, a cloudless evening settling in and moonlight seeping through the torn up roof, small whispers of smoke rising slowly where frozen and shattered pieces of angel littered the floor.
Down in medbay, the girl didn't bother with the medbots' treatment, but slowly slid down from her sickbed. They wouldn't have been able to do anything for her anyway. She stood by the bed for a moment with closed eyes, breathing deeply and slowly flexing her limbs as if working out a stiffness in them. Her eyes opened fully, and then seemed to invert on themselves, her pupils growing outward until her entire eyes were black. Then a small green flare appeared in each, quickly growing and emitting a burning glow. Stygian took in the room, reaching out with its senses for the others. It would appear that they were still upstairs. It cursed under its breath, and muttered at Mel's words. Questioning, she said? How about thanking it for saving them from becoming slag?
It took a few stiff steps against the door, then noticed the rustle of fur and the sense of air on its skin, and stopped to look down on itself. Herself, it noted irritatedly. She barely had any clothes left, the little that still hung on her torn up in dirty tatters. And what fur that was not covered on its current body was clotted with blood and dust. Hardly a presentable appearance. It would have changed form immediately, had it been able to. But it was weak, and a quick feel revealed that little beyond the spine, brain and some of the pulmonary system of this body were actually it. It also revealed that for all that had happened, the only injury it had sustained was a pair of broken ribs and a sprained arm. Fortunate, that.
She looked around, her eyes stopping at a hanger with some medcoats on it. They would do for clothing. Quickly, she stripped down and put on one of the white, knee-length coats, buttoning it up to cover herself, then hurried out of the room and against the stairs, her eyes and vision changing back to "normal". Hopefully the things she, or it, had brought with her would still be upstairs where she had left them.
For e-voyager: The story so far...
The battle is over, at least for the moment. Aisha, Mel, e, and maybe Boogy (I've lost track of him) are in the attic. They are looking at the wreckage, the body of the mama angel, and/or the two remaining angels who are clawing at their faces.
Gareeku and the "girl" were transported to the medbay for Admiral Karl and Topher to tend. Gareeku is apparently dead. Karl and Topher were so busy doing extreme life support on him that they haven't notice that the "girl" has wandered off.
And now back to our exciting adventure, already in progress...
Yay! Tea! *slurp*
... anyone got any donuts?
*Karl looks at the still-lying body of Gareeku*
Karl: Dangit! I can still sense his spirit's presence, but it seems it can't re-interface with his body...in other words, he's dead.
*Karl then remembers something*
Karl: Topher...I want you to keep an eye on the both of us. I am gonna attempt to find the problem and try to revive him.
*Karl's mind probes Gareeku's biostructure to scan for cause of interferrence*
Karl's mind: Gareeku, where are you? You need to get your body back to living status....
No matter how hard Karl tried, the efforts to revive the seemingly-dead Gareeku would be in vain. If he were to be revived, then the wolf would have to do it himself...
*Karl Falls back into his own body and opens his eyes*
Karl: he's stuck walking the Veil of Life...and for some reason he couldn't hear me...
*Karl puts himself on a bed*
Karl: If Gareeku crosses that veil to the other side, he really will be dead.
(OOC: Veil of life...one side is life, the other is the spirit departure/arrival area.
Stygian walked slowly up the stairs to the top floors, careful not to make too much audible sound or other vibrations, or to upset the aura of the place. After all, it had only just met these things, and it had no idea of what their senses were capable of just yet. Reaching the third floor and needing to pass just outside where those... people were to get to the attic, it, or she, took extra care and darted past like a shadow, fortunately unnoticed as they appeared occupied with their wolf friend for the moment. She wished she could have done something against the smell of the blood, but right now... Her things would be stashed where they had been. The fight hadn't reached the other section of the attic.
Painfully slowly she began ascending the stairway. When she had its things, it thought to itself, it... she. She was going to get out of here and find something to eat the first thing she did, and then regrow and leave this place far behind. She felt famished, but would not trust the kindness of strangers to harbor something like its... herself. At least, not ones like these. It would find the centre of power in this world, and then it... she! Blood, but that was irritating! Stephen would have thought her a pervert, and as for Salticia... And this body. It felt wrong. Very wrong.
Then, pain flared in her gut and spine, and Stygian doubled over on the stairs, slipping and only barely catching herself with a loud thump. She clenched her teeth, feeling again pain like she hadn't felt for years, and once again she felt that indescribable hunger. She could feel the infestation, its real body in her spine, reaching out and rooting deeper in the host, probing for nourishment that wasn't there and trying to grow when she didn't want it to. Desperately she began half walking, half crawling down the stairs.
"Hrmph...they can carry on, can't they?" Aisha said as she caught her composure again, thankful that Gareeku had been taken to medbay where he would be in good hands. As for the girl, she didn't know what to think of her. Ever since they had found her likeness in the attic, she has wrought nothing but trouble. Now, she and Mel were watching the two remaining angels as they writhed and suffered. "Well, I think it's about time we stopped hesitating like cowards."
As fun as it was to watch the enemy finally ache and hurt, it wasn't her style to let anyone suffer, enemy or no. The panther let fly the boomerang to silence them.
Suddenly, a thump reverberated through the floors and beneath her feet. She cocked one of her ears back to listen better. Someone was being stealthy.
And the panther was sick and tired of surprises.
"Who's there?" she demanded loudly, approaching the staircase. The jaguar peered down the edge and caught sight of the girl.
"Now what are you doing?"
"I need..." the girl said, but then made a low sound in her throat, clenching her stomach. Slowly and with an effort, she staggered to her feet, breathing audibly and . As she did, her eyes shifted again, and the familiar green flare appeared in each.
"I need to eat. And I need blood. Their blo..." she said, and once again cramped forward, her teeth snapping as blood gushed out between them. She fell to the floor again, her hand grabbing Aisha's sleeve, and then she looked up at her, her eyes steady in a trembling face. Her mouth had a slight, bitter smile to it.
"As much as I hate to ask... Please?" Those eyes were not smiling; they were in pain.
Aisha considered the girl's face for a moment. It was soul-wrenching, the pain that she...it...had in its eyes. For a second she considered not letting Stygian have his sustenance, after all it was due to his appearance that this whole thing started.
But then, he was the one that helped. And she couldn't really see his vessel suffering for it either. And the mess needed to be cleaned up somehow...this world needed to see the last of those abominations. Also, Aisha needed to be rid of whatever it seemed Stygian had left inside for the angels to have wanted her alive. And he was owed enough thanks for it. He was owed his life, contrary to her vow.
The panther sighed and took the girl's arm. "Fine." Carefully she was brought upstairs to the attic, where there lay the bodies of several of the beasts.
While Aisha gently set her down to the center of the attic where she could feed on any one of their entrails, she called to Mel. "I think maybe we should finish up here."
The moment they arrived at the attic, Stygian practically flung herself to her knees beside the corpse of what had been the head "angel". With her hands supporting her, she hunched over forward, bending back her head and straightening out her throat. As she opened her mouth, something came crawling up her oesophagus, all the way down from the chest, causing it to bulge outward. A myriad of gleaming black tendrils of different sizes, coated with blood and some green fluid spilled from her mouth, digging into the no doubt still warm flesh of the angel and spreading beneath it, pulsing as they began draining it.
Not much time went before the flesh of the angel-creature began blackening and its skin sagging, then corroding. Stygian closed her eyes as even more pain wracked "her" body, tissue being infected and reshaped, muscles and tendons bunching and snapping, then healing themselves again. A black "ridge" spread along her spine, small tendrils reaching out under the skin and the fur taking on a charcoal colour, and the same thing happened at her hands and feet. Yet still, though she grew obviously bigger and more muscular than the girl had been from the start, when she had only stood just taller than Aisha's shoulder, her appearance was still very recognizable.
The tendrils then withdrew into Stygian's mouth, and she fell to the side, panting.
(ooc thanks for the update Mel.)
e shivers. he was too late to help. the wolf Gareeku he had memories of him of side of this from he was somewhere between life and death. the enemies seemed vanquished and with the exception of some patchwork in the med bay. he turned to Mel and those with her. "i was too late to help. maybe we can stabilize Gareeku maybe not but i know this. i am truly angry for the fist time in a long time. angry that i fail to lend support to a friend." he looks at Stygian. "you girl , shadow entity. are there any more of you invading Brethren here and alive?" E's eyes narrow in a way that the face was not human. "if so tell me where they can be found so that this can be ended."
Stygian simply sat up, supporting herself with her arms. She glared at E, the stare of her glowing eyes so intense that Aisha was surprised they weren't sending out sparks.
"I have had a very rough evening. I was doing fine until suddenly you people showed up, and now I am going to have to find out real fast just what is going on." She stood up, walking slowly against him. Her neck was arched, and her fangs were bared in a vicious snarl.
"I just saved your hide from being burned into a piece of ablated slag. I am tired, I am wounded, I am hungry and in desperate need of a shower. And this bloody flesh won't change as I want it, and it won't stop jiggling! So please, while I get myself together, shut the hell up!" She leaned in against him, her eyes narrowing and meeting his head on. Then, she practically started to the side and limped down against the stairway. Stopping just before it, she spoke again.
"I'm going to fix myself up. Leave those things where they are. Oh, and one more thing..." She glared over her shoulder. "If ever you imply that I would be related to those things again, I will kill you."
Slowly, she limped down the stairs.
*in comes a red black winged incubis wearing a blue suit and sliver rimmed and yellow glassed shades as his boots track around on the ground loooking through the lense* Well now....Seems like missed something? *as he spoke with a soft cajin accent*
Boogey was completely and utterly unable to work up any sympathy for Stygian. Insofar as he knew, and in fact according to most of what he'd seen, it was still Stygians fault that all this was going on. He knew when not to ask questions though, and merely filed talking to him about this away to be taken care of later. Thus he turned to the two remaining angels, clawing at their own eyes. He tried to get Aisha's attention and pointed at them, mouthing Now what do we do with these two?
Aisha released an exasperated sigh, watching Stygian and his vessel walk back down the stairs. What a grump... she couldn't help but smirk.
She turned her attention back to Boogey, who was pointing at the two remaining angels. Her eyes widened. "Wha...huh, apparently my boomerang missed...I thought I killed one of them."
Brushing past him, the panther's right hand shot out in front of her. After a second and a mutter of enchantment, words taught only to her to make the boomerang return no matter where it was thrown, something shiny appeared from the back of one of the angels. It stopped clawing its own eyes, feeling the weapon lodged in its spine for the first time. The boomerang made a horizontal slicing motion right through body and bone, catching the subordinate right in the neck as it made the exit. The creature fell, and the boomerang returned in a flurry of silver and stains on the polished surface. She caught it in an expert swoop.
"Nope, I was wrong, it didn't miss," she smirked. Aisha was now in an almost giddy mood, which was quite rare for her...but it happened every time she won a battle. "Boogey, Mel, someone...I'm sure one one of you can take care of the remaining."
Turning her back, she made for the stairs and stood on the entranceway to the attic, looking down upon the illuminated hallway. The house still seemed so dark, whatever and wherever it was. Everyone lost such track of time...Aisha couldn't tell if it was still night, or day, or even two days from when she first entered the place upon having been invited to the party. She awaited the hour that it would be time to leave with eagerness.
And everyone else would leave alive too. She thought of Gareeku. Medbay had better be taking good care of you, or so help me...
(ooc i'm not sure were Zedd is so i'm just going to focus on Stygian and ignore all others factors in the room)
E's eyes darkened and he anger took on a palatable hue. it was dark energy that was seeping "into his processor now. he speaks to the departing Stygian both vocally and on a carry frequency. "before you and that girl showed up my friends greatest worry was that there pizza was late now one of them that i remember form somewhere is laying Nealy dead. if you need to heal fine but don't start a pissing battle with me."
E's eyes glowed with suppressed anger. "and don't presume you saved me either. there is more to me the circuitry and wires and even so by you states i've been dead before and it tool a hell of a lot more then what happened here to do it." e goes to the wall and leans again it. there would be no point in attacking her through form his point of view she was even more responsible for then the he was helping to set that thing lose. she was the on that took one the form of the creature that hurt his friends. she was likely the one that brought that creature here in the first place. Gospel sat a little away from the doorway not quite privy to his masters thoughts.
E's body armor slowly upgrades it's self to the shadow armor made in the same style as zero's black armor. he is anger and in his mind a second preses is stirring. someone other then Erebus it waiting for there chances to take control of his form not that he cared at the moment. all he wanted was to either kill those responsible for the pain his friends were feeling or to have this battle over. Permanently.
Mel dealt with the one remaining one the same way she dealt with the one earlier. She released an intense cold spell that immediately turned both flesh and metal brittle. Then she picked up a fist sized hunk of wood from the floor and handed it to e. "Throw it at the creature. It will come apart like a pane of glass. I used to find that quite a satisfying thing to do when I was frustrated, back when I was a fledgling of only a few millenia."
e leaned an muled over things. wit ha off hand shot he blasted the frozen angel that Mel had provided. he was still angry too angry for what had happened. you make them sound young Mel e says not realizing that he said anything
The creature with the severed spine on the floor twitched a bit, her silver hair falling across a face that was iconically beautiful, even in death. Her screaming and crying having stopped, red tears of blood still trickled down her almost ivory face as she stared at Mel with such fear and sadness that it was impossible to put in words. She whispered, her tone slightly off, sounding heartbroken but still somehow... questioning.
"The- there is a thing... in my head? Please, get it out? Ple- please?" Her eyes were dimming, looking not at Mel now, but beyond her. She tried to reach out with her hand, but did not manage to lift it from the floor.
"H-he said we would see the stars..." With those last words, she became still.
Downstairs, Stygian was already in the shower. Warm, clean water trickled down her flesh, the blood and caked grime easily washing out of her snow-white fur. She stood absolutely still, leaning against the bathroom wall with eyes closed and a sour look on her face. A very sour look.
Once again, she - it - tried twisting the flesh in this host, with as little luck as the last time. It did change, but it went so slowly and took such effort that it was pointless to try. And pain kept on building up inside it whenever it tried, like it was growing in the wrong way, not changing the flesh but just pressing on it from within.
She smashed her fist into the wall behind her. Damn them all! Now those people would demand explanations, and it would have little choice but to answer and be content with its situation. Worst of all, if Neraux's little pets had reported back to where they came from there would be more of those things, and no doubt some Ophanim, or perhaps even Cherubim with them.
Sharp pain flared in her hand, and it looked down. It had made a cracked hole about the size of a dinner plate in the tiled wall, and was full of sharp pieces of ceramic. Carefully, she removed them, watching the broken bone and torn flesh in the hand heal before her very eyes. Well, at least something worked like it was supposed to. But her other powers didn't. And why were her eyes green? At her first run-in with a "true" angel these things had happened as well, but that had not lasted, and neither had the effects from that time either, fortunately.
She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, drying herself with a large towel and muttering at her own softness. Then she brushed off the white coat, slipped it on again, and went back toward the attic to fetch her things, singing quietly to herself as she did to help her focus and soothe her anger. It helped, but it did so seemingly less than usual.
*Throws himself up against the wall, his heart pounding*
I've never seen anything like this!
Not even with Netami, and stuff got pretty gory on missions he took on. I'm not sure what to do
*turns to look at the others nearby*
*sighs* Well looks like this place is empty...
"Almost everything is young to an adult dragon, e. Why don't we go see how Gareeku is doing?" She looked at the girl on the floor and sighed. "I wish we knew more of what is going on. At the end that girl seemed rational. Perhaps someone else in the party has heard of things put in the head turning people into killing machines."
Mel started for the stairway.
Hmmmm I will just keep looking arounds...*walks around the place looking for peoples*
*hurries outr the room with Mel*
Oh sure, leave me to clean up the other mess. Boogey frowned and turned toward the remaining angel. He was still parly not there, but the more real he got the less actual power he had at his immediate disposal. It would take effort to create a new form, the ones he had downstairs were recovering, he was too real to convince something that it was him quickly and that only left argument toxins, which may not work anyway. Besides, he wasn't a killer and it was just sitting there. He'd feel guilty later on. He cautiously moved closer to it, reaching out with his mind for any aspect of it he could use.
"Alright, while you guys are dealing with those wounded I'll just poke this guy with a stick or something. Oh, and I think I heard someone wandering about looking for people, could someone make sure he's not another one of these sorts of Complication?" That last bit being shouted after those leaving the room.
Mel turned back, her foot on the top step. "Is that last one still alive? I thought it had died from Aisha severing it's spine." She looked thoughtful for a moment. "E, could you ask the Admiral if he has the resources to keep this one alive and secured? I think we should try to learn more about the thing in her skull she wanted removed. But not if the resources are needed for our own wounded."
*softly bumps into Tropher* Oohhh crap..Ow...I didnt see ya theres
Aisha turned around back into the room, allowing Mel to pass her on the stairs. The panther hoped that she had enough sense not to cross Stygian, for she thought she heard him/her/it coming back up to the attic.
Catching Boogey's shouts, she waved her hand both dismissively and to help him stay quiet. "I wouldn't worry about cleanup. Stygian wanted them to stay there, and right now if we want peace enough in this house for everyone to leave, I suggest we do what he says until he would be cooperative enough to answer questions."
She walked slowly around the attic, taking a curious glance down at the dead angel. A flicker of emotion appeared in her eyes. She had heard something about taking over their minds...were these angels acting of their own will? Did everyone who had battled valiantly to defend the house really kill just innocents, slaves to their own minds?
For right now it was all too much for the bounty hunter. No longer was there a battle taking place, and so there was no longer reason to stay in that reeking and dank corpse garden that used to be a mere attic. She started for the stairs, suddenly feeling a complaint from her gut. "I don't know about the rest of you hombres, but I am due for a slice of pizza. And to see if everyone in the medbay is okay..."
On the way down, Aisha locked eyes with Stygian, or rather the eyes he used to see. "I think everyone is still edgy, but your bodies are still there," she rolled her eyes and moved past.
"Thanks," Stygian said, peering over her shoulder at Aisha. It looked at her for a while, then turned and ascended the stairs.
The bodies of the angels lay as they had, which was good. She would have to eat again, very soon. And it also meant that she could study them closer later on. Too sad that the Kyriote had burned herself out; she was sure that Stephen would have loved to have had a look at those wings of hers.
Moving across the floor, she went to the back end of the attic and opened the large wardrobe where she had kept the girl before, pulling out a large, strapped round black bag made of leather and some coarse fabric. Opening it, she went through her things by routine, pawing the inside pockets to feel that the things in them remained as well. When she had made sure that everything was in order, she cast a look behind her, making sure everyone was clear of the attic. She then removed her lab coat and pulled out some of her old clothes, a plain black shirt and a pair of heavy trousers, and put them on along with a pair of large boots she had also put in the wardrobe. None of the things fit, of course, especially the boots, but the difference in height at least was not that large.
Setting her bag in order again, she then took out a small, metallic black object. It looked much like a pocket watch, but was slightly too large and far too intricate, laden with dials and meters inside the large glass-covered face, and with buttons and several lines and movable rings around its cover, to be something like that. She held it up, looking quickly at the dials, and thumbing one of the rings slightly, frowning at what they showed. She couldn't use it here, not any longer. That was rather disappointing. She slipped the thing into her backpocket. Well, she could always ask that other one down there to make another gateway.
She took a small flask of some brushed metal out of the bag, and then closed it and slung it over her shoulder. Before she would have another go at one of the angels she would like a drink. And she'd probably need to water her mouth after the oncoming talking, she thought as she walked to find the others downstairs.
e nods and he opens a channel and hail Karl. "Karl Mel would like to study one the the barley alive angels here in the attic. can you assist her with that?". as he waits for a responds the speaks to Ashia " You're right Ashia at least about me. i'm very edgy right now and that's not good. not for me or anyone else around me"
Aisha had to smirk at E's cynical reply. Misery loves company, it was true, and after this whole mess everyone was just a little miserable in some way...or jumpy, out-of-the-way, just plain mad, or frustrated. Questions haven't been answered, business was left undone, and people were hurt. It was that kind of complication that bred more than its share of conflict.
But for now, it wasn't of Aisha's concern, the battle or the cleanup. Not unless she was required, in which her sense of duty would override it. The panther stepped away from the bottom stair and strode through the hallway, feet creaking in the empty corridor. Empty save for her and for the sounds from other rooms. The guests most likely were all gone, having been evacuated since the noises first came from the attic. Time flies with the feet of fear...
The puddle of oil was still on the floor from when the robot hung from the ceiling before. There was a dank smell. Out the window, the sky looked wierd. But it was probably from the foggy, hazy pane that the twilit clouds took on a crimson glow. Finally, she reached Medbay and opened the door, glancing in to the invalids still there, and sat on the edge of a bed where she could keep an eye on everything, including Gareeku.
"They'll need a wrench to get me to stand up again," the panther chuckled to herself.
"Whatever it is that he's suffering from, I don't know. I suppose that it's the circulatory shock from all that energy." Aisha heard a female voice from the corridor end of the room say. It wasn't much alike what she had heard of Stygian's voice earlier, but that slightly off, melodious but chilly accent was unmistakeable. Looking slightly to the side she could see her - it - standing with its back to the doorway.
"I'm not sure whether you believe me on this, judging from what I learned of you when... Well," she said, letting the rest of the sentence remain unsaid. She pawed her backpocket, picking out a black etui that when opened revealed itself to be full with some sort of grey cigarettes. "I don't suppose that I should smoke in here, but somehow I think that he's not that sensitive," she said and nodded to Gareeku. "Want one?" She proffered the etui to Aisha.
Aisha sneered slightly, showing her disapproval of Stygian's offer, but respectful of him yet. She turned around and raised her palm up, shaking her head. "No, I don't."
She kept her eyes on the comatose form of Gareeku. Eyes of dark ruby narrowed in thought. "I don't deny that possibility, really. But I do deny that he could be dead. He's too stubborn, if I know him well enough."
After a moment, the panther glanced back at him/her. "You're aware that the head angel wanted to take me alive to their master? Something about darkness inside me. I don't suppose you left something in my body when you left?" she asked with incredulism at the possibility. It would've been nice to have gotten some kind of answer.
Stygian's eyes widened, a confused look across her face. Then, it changed into a bothered one. She put her black, clawed thumb up, and from it a little poison green "flame" that seemed to crackle with small chartreuse sparks sprang up. She lit the cigarette on it and then quickly flicked it out, and drew a deep breath. She almost sighed out the smoke, a darkish green-grey mist that quickly faded.
"I think that I may have. But whatever I left, it's not part of me anymore," She said, staring Aisha deeply in the eyes. "I've... changed. And I think that whatever I left within you would have changed by now as well. I don't know what's happened, but the effects are somewhat similar to something I've experienced before, though a lot stronger. I'm having a rather hard time controlling myself, and before I couldn't at all." She took another breath on the cigarette, cupping her hand across her mouth as she peered down, on herself or on her feet or whatever. "If he wants you though, I know that it's all for the worse."
Aisha's gaze wavered as she listened to Stygian, watching the expressions on the creature's face and not liking them one bit. Her composure though still was kept calm and with grace as she had been trained to, even while in her mind it was a raging maelstrom of questions. Some of those questions wouldn't even be asked, for they would probably simply be too troublesome and of no consequence.
"Bueno," Aisha muttered with sarcasm as her face turned away again, instead moving down to the floor just beneath her felid feet. Ears were turned against her head so that she could still hear Stygian clearly as if she were still looking at him. The very thought of having something left behind after being touched with such darkness just somehow made her sick, but a shred of optimism came to thought. "Well, I probably shouldn't be worried about whatever's been left, then. Some I have met before would say that I have a darkness in me regardless." The panther had to spare a smirk at the irony. "No worries on your part."
With a sigh, Aisha loosened the red cape about her neck a little, an idle motion to keep her mind from getting restless. "So, he, then. I take it you have quite a history with these wierd things. I can't see what use a little shred like that would be."
Stygian's expression went from bothered to bitterly amused, and she made a little chuckle. As little as the girl knew, she was quick to catch up with and deal with things, obviously. She liked that.
"He," she said matter-of-factly, "is the Trinity. Or, at least that's what he calls himself now. His real name is Simon Armand Neraux, a man of great stature and power where I come from. And my former employer. A not altogether pleasureable arrangement, as I believe you can understand." She looked at her hand, frowning, as if she was thinking of or trying to remember something.
"Where I come from, technology and information are the means to control the world, and that has nurtured a kind of dependent society where spies, assassins and thieves are some of the most valuable agents of power one can find. Or at least, the good ones are. And I was considered a particularly good one, which is how I ended up with his company. But that earned me a perspective on what a creep he was, even while others refused to see it. And this was even before he started making things like the ones in the attic." She was still examining her hand, snapping her fingers slightly as she continued.
*Karl turned around and Gave Stygian a look*
Karl: Did you say "Simon Armand Neraux"?
*Karl then grins*
Karl: You're not from this quadrant, are you?
Stygian turned her head to Karl, grinning.
"Not even close, tech boy. It's not even possible to measure in distance. Only in time," she said. "In short I ended up on the wrong side of Neraux, and then when we finished this long-time project at the company things went... awry. I was changed, and away from the world for a good twenty years. Or rather, that's how much time passed while I was gone. When I came back I found things had turned out very badly, and him at the heart of it all. So I did what I could, I gathered some support and then information on what he was doing. And when I found that out I fled, using the new powers I had somehow earned to run to another world entirely, another universe. I've been skipping across a dozen or so before I ended up here, but I haven't stayed as long anywhere else. I think that might have to change soon though." She stubbed out the little that was left of her cigarette by now, and then flexed her hand again, staring at it. She seemed bothered.
*Karl's grin got wider*
Karl: You're from another dimension? No wonder! I've been getting word from the "multiverse law enforcement and monitoring agency", known as "No-Zone", that there was multiple dimension breaches...all originating from Universal Dimension 00563-032...I have some allies in "No-zone" that told me that, mostly their chief.
Stygian looked blankly at Karl. Was he joking? No. After all she had seen she should not immediately presume so. Still, it did sound ridiculous to her. Kind of like magic then. Ridiculous... she thought bitterly.
"I have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about. This isn't so much about moving between universes as it is about creating them. And if that "law enforcement" agency of yours moves against Neraux," she said, making a clear emphasis on the words law and enforcement, "then I believe that they will have their hands full in short notice."
Despite the grim mood, Aisha just had to bark a small laugh in the midst of the conversation. "You just live to be a big plot convenience, don't you, Karl?" she joked. With a deep breath her gaze returned to the floor, posed as Stygian was, pensive and disturbed.
Was something supposed to feel different or changed? Worse or better? It didn't feel like it at the moment, and the panther doubted that it ever would.
Too many questions and half-answers. But at least she had an idea of how Stygian had come to be in their world and what the deal was with the angels. Now the concern really was probably what was to keep them from coming back again.
"Now what...?" she inquired quietly to the air before settling her watch back on Gareeku.
e sighs and heads down the stairs. he feels that he has to put this anger aside and some of the restless had eased as the second voice in his beings lapses back into a slumbering stat. moments later he enters the med bay and looks over those assembled there.. he walks over to Gareeku. " have you fixed his body?" he asked and he set Erebus to the task Erebus. find Gareeku's soul. try to talking him back into this place if you can if nothing else we can give his a healthy body to return to
Stygian sighed and propped herself against the doorway again, running her hand through her hair and scratching her scalp.
"Now, we wait," she said wearily, "and hope to the hells that that Kyriote didn't get a message through back to where she came from. Hopefully the properties of this whole place will stop anything she would have tried to send through; actually that's more probable than not. But I've learned never to expect anything to be predictable about these things. Now, there were only a few of them and we had the advantage. But if we run into a combat group, instead of a search party..." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm afraid waiting is all we can do. I need to recuperate. There is something wrong, and I have to heal up and complete this infestation before I can find out what it is," she said, and then looked at her hand again.
"Did I just... do something?" she asked.
"Greetings, walker of the veil..."
It was dark, so dark that he could not see beyond his fingertips.
"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Gareeku cried out. Though his body was still in the coma-like state, his spirit was not.
"Intriging...the body is dead but the mind still lives...fascinating..." the voices said again, seemingly coming from all around the wolf.
"Answer me, damn it! Who are you and where am I?! And what do you mean by 'successful'?!" Gareeku demanded, his frustration rising as he waited for an answer.
"A veil separates the land of the living from the world of the spirits..." the voices replied, "You are currently between the realms. Walking the veil. We organised this. Manipulating the nano machines in your body to keep your mind alive, which is why you are here. Look here..."
A slightly blurry vision then made itself present in front of Gareeku. It showed the medbay ward and all those in it, including his body. "How the hell...?"
"See the panthress...you call her friend, yes?" The voices asked, "For someone considered a "friend", she doesn't seem to miss you at all."
"I wouldn't be surprised. I'm a danger to everyone." Gareeku replied quietly, not taking his eyes from the vision in front of him.
"Then do you wish to leave for the afterlife?" The voices asked.
"I...don't know..." the wolf replied. Maybe it would be better if he just left the realm of the living. In his transformation, he was simply too dangerous to those around him.
"No one would miss me anyway..." Gareeku muttered.
"Make your decision soon, walker of the veil. We can only keep your mind alive for so long. After that, you will be transported to the afterlife..." the voices explained.
[[ooc: There's just one angel left, right? The one Aisha ripped up and the male one?]]
Boogey moved closer to the remaining angel, wondering what do do. Finally making up his mind, he spat a hastily made argument at it convincing it that it was unconcious. If a problem is too much, hide it somewhere and procrastinate. With that taken care of, he made his way down to the medbay in time to get the gist of Stygians explanation.
The wolf... Shame if he's dying. Dying sucks. Then again, people around here haven't been staying dead all that often. Maybe he'll come back. Interesting technology; and here I thought this place had too high a dependance on magic for most technological advancements. Just goes to show.
"These abilities you earned Somehow? You don't know? Because, you see, it seems a tad convinient all things considered."
Stygian grunted at the Boogey's comment. Who was he to question things like that? If anyone seemed to have inexplicable powers here, then it was him. Still, she had to answer the question.
"I don't know exactly how I earned them, but I have my theories. I'm not all untechnical, you know," she said, folding her arms beneath her breasts and giving him a sour look. "It's a rather complicated explanation at full length, and I'm not entirely sure that I can simplify it sufficiently. But I'll try."
"The thing that Neraux, and also I, were working at was called a Nil Generator. That's a fancy name for a device to create absolute stillness, a thing that can create a perfect vacuum, without any matter or fields and maintain and control it. Essentially, a place exempt from all the rest of existence." She paused for emphasis. When she didn't get much reaction, she continued.
"An absolute stillness is a logical impossibility. It implies that there can actually be such a thing as nonexistence. To many this is a ridiculous idea, but Neraux somehow managed to devise a thesis for it that held up. Or at least, seemingly it did, because the experiment that we conducted with the Generator sure as hell didn't. I don't think that we failed to create it, really. But we certainly failed to control it.
In short, I ended up inside the reaction when trying to turn it off, and the next thing I know I'm caught in darkness and not able to even think properly, since everything is warping itself beyond what is even possible, including myself. And then, as things somehow became more comprehensible to me, they only got worse.
I don't know why or how, but the time that I spent caught in that reaction, the time that I would have to have been outside of all logical existence, nightmares came to life. I saw and lived through things that I can't even begin to describe there, probably because in this new little world of mine I was the only thing that was, and so I was essentially my own little existence and couldn't come to an end. The whole ordeal changed me, made me into what I am now. When I had grasped at least a little control of my powers, I made my way back into the world as fast as I could. And that's where I found things turned on their heads and Neraux somehow having become some perverse technological semi-deity, making cyborg angels and trying to rebuild a new and improved version of the Nil Generator. And that's pretty much all of it, in short."
Stygian raised her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side, looking questioningly at the Boogeyman, awaiting his response.
((OOC: By the way, the name Neraux is spoken with a French pronounciation, making it sound like "Ne-rou-u".))
"Alright then," Boogey nodded, "That fits with what I've seen so far. He's after you to build a better nothing. Lovely." He strolled over to a nearby chair and sat down. "Well, now that things have calmed down allow me to introduce myself. My name is Boogey, and I'm a thought-entity. You think, therefor I am. Any more than that will take me a bit to explain. Whenever I find someplace new with different laws of reality I have to translate myself to fit there. This place has fairly loose rules insofar as what is and is not impossible, so I was hoping to enjoy a bit of a vacation and not having to translate myself. Then, of course, tall dark and Lovecraftien here," he pointed at Stygian, "Showed up and messed up some of the local reality, bringing some rules from his own universe to this one. I'm sitting here with my patterns so messed up I don't know my metaphysical arse from my elbow, and then he starts breaking things and the angels show up." Boogey shrugged. "And now that we're both introduced, Aisha, do you have any clue what's up with your friend here?" He waved a hand at the unconcious Gareeku.
Aisha glanced up from the floor, worriedly rubbing her forehead and trying to relieve the headache that had come. The more she waited to see if Gareeku was alright, and the more she listened to Boogey, E, and Stygian bicker, the more that she was starting to get angry. Well, now I'm jealous of those boys. I suddenly wish I had an inner demon. But still she kept her composure to well beyond its limit.
She kept her ears focused on the voice that had started to speak, which was Boogey's. At least now she knew the name of the stranger that had been helping both from the shadows and from the front lines among the valiant, or near to such.
A shudder crawled up the panther's backbone as he asked about Gareeku. Her eyes squinted ahead to a point in space, the kind of point where one sends their eyes when they are lost to their thoughts. Then they wandered to where the wolf was lying. They awaited an answer and she could sense their impatience as she considered, and that simultaneously was making her patience wear thin...
A growl came up from her throat. "Shut up! I don't know, okay?" she spat, holding her head in her palms like she was trying to get an evil spirit out of it. "He's hard to kill. I've seen him in near-comatose and near-death and he has always been okay, up and fighting like nothing happened. Always." She glanced up. "But everytime he goes into that feral cubus form of his..."
Aisha took a deep breath and her voice returned to normal, albeit trying to sound like she was convincing everyone and herself. "Lo siento...sorry. It's been a bad day. But whatever is wrong I still refuse to believe he's dead."
Please, amigo...there's no way...
"...Others betray sarcasm, bitterness, and pride..." Stygian said, sounding very much like she was quoting something. "I don't appreciate you just disregarding this, like it's something to smile sardonically at, when in fact it is an overhanging threat. Whatever changed me may very well have altered Neraux as well, but I find it more probable that he's found some way to exploit the reaction and bend reality with it. He is a genius, after all, and obviously even more so now. That would explain how he suddenly managed to go from ordinary cybernetics to nanotechnology that's almost magical in less than twenty years. It also means that if he finds out how, he can be at our very doorstep in short notice," she said, making a very clear point. "Hours, minutes, or even seconds."
At Aisha's comment though, Stygian looked aside, returning to studying her hand with a bothered look on her face. When she looked at Aisha and Gareeku again, it was with sympathy and also a small bit of shame. She wondered what their relationship really was. From what she had felt, Aisha truly cared for him. But together with all she had seen since, the thing was a tangle. Was there even more to it than she had seen yet?
"I don't really understand what is wrong with him and how, apart from the apparrent fact that it's probably some form of shock that put him in this state. But from personal experience..." she stopped, then shook her head slowly, and looked gravely at Gareeku's expressionless face. "When I was trapped in that nightmare, I got out because I wanted to, because I fought my way out since I longed for freedom again. I think that he is the only one who can help himself right now. And you shouldn't feel bad about it," she said. She was the one who should be bothered; all she would have had to do was taking the time to get him away from that blasted angel!
Mel finally reappeared and she had a box in her arms. "I went for food and drinks. Fighting takes a lot out of the body." She looked at the angry faces and added, "Hungry people think less and argue more." She set the box down. "No pizza, I'm afraid, but lots of other stuff." She pulled a white rock out of the box. "I'm afraid I had to raid your garden ornaments, Admiral. Your pantry didn't stock what I need." She sat a rolling stool and took a bite out of the rock. "What did I miss?"
"well we were kind of talking about who we are an what brought us to this. " e replies. he seems some what distance as he speaks though. Stygian. he thinks. another person that took science to far with out waiting for proper safeguards. as many as he had met like that in the past e could not allow himself to be surprised. "Mel have you ever head of an aimless traveler that called himself the voyager? it's and fairly old legend i believe around 3 billion years of age."
Karl: So you're saying the guy is a nutjob and he's attempting to take over the multiverse? Great! I suppose the Deities for each universe haven't come to a conclusion yet where they need to stand together and eliminate the threat?! I've barely manage to build up my Magna Form (power forms range in this order : Super, Hyper, Mega, Ultra, Magna, Final [Deity]) in the past few months and now we've got a maniac gaining ground in the Multiverse...
Mel responded to e, "I don't know the voyager story personally, but I could probably access it. That's what I do. I'm of the ice dragon clan Snowwing, both famous and infamous for grabbing information and keeping it forever. Anything known to any Snowwing back to the first is still in the great hoard. That's how I got the information about radiation and cold earlier, one of my cousins found the last survivor of an adventurer group who fought those angel things and copied his memories to the hoard before he died. I can try rereading the memory or search for more information if I have something beyond a description of the angels to call the memories with."
"I smile sardonically at everything, doll." Boogey grinned yet wider at Stygian, "Finding things funny is more pleasant than finding them hopeless or infuriating. Also, one remains somewhat more lucid laughing riotously than moping or panicking. Besides, the universe provides me with so much entertainment it would be rude of me not to show my appreciation. However, if you want seriousness..." The grin disappeared from Boogeys face like he'd ripped off a big smile-shaped sticker, "We can discuss you letting this guy trace you to populated areas, the girl you had locked up upstairs for who knows what purposes, and what other info you have that relates to us keeping him the hell out. I may be rather difficult to kill, but I have been GREATLY discomforted by recent events and I'm only going to get less able to effect matters as I finish fitting myself into these laws of physics. Or," he continued, a somewhat more pleasant smile reappeared, "I could enjoy some of the snacks this lovely young woman has brought here and wait until everyone's calm, and willing to act civilized." With that, he grabbed a generic fruit drink and a bag of pretzels from the box of snacks Mel had brought up.
"As for Captain Schitz- erm," he considered Aisha's prior reactions, "Your friend, I appologize if I gave offence on that score. He seems like a great guy, and it would suck if he died. I rather agree with you; I saw him fighting out there, I refuse to believe anything short of a direct meteor strike's gonna slow him down." He patted her on the shoulder and offered her the open bag of pretzels. Hey, there have been worse peace offerings.
e smiles pleasantly " it's okay Mel. this situation just reminded me of it. the long and short of it was that the voyager was an explorer and he was said to have traveled the universe many times over but he could never remember what he was looking for or on the off change that he did encounter it it is said that he would forget why he quested for it in the fist place. for the voyager is was more about the questing then the final result. there were many suggestions as to what he was looking for but no one truly knew for surer. it's something i heard form Erebus a little while ago"
then he turns to Karl and speaks "it is an old story Karl. one of what happens when one is consumed with power. " he smiled a little bitterly "that's probably why i was stopped all those years ago when i declared my self a digital deity. what really hurts me is that it was two future alternate versions of myself that lead the charge. i had dealt with all other opposition then they came and their present destabilized me in mind and body. i think it was my second paradox. it was tough and when i was finally bested i was imprisoned out side of time and space for an eon moment to consider and reform myself. needless to say i was not happy but i discovered that you can learn a lot when you watch to other universes even if your perceptions are shattered as you do. "
After some hesitation, Aisha reached up and grabbed a couple of pretzels from the open bag. It wasn't pizza, but at least it would satisfy her long-awaited hunger. Maybe next time something with extra meat and cheese. "Apology accepted."
As she chewed, she listened to E's, Mel's, and Boogey's stories. Each one was intriguing in itself. The way they talked, it was as if this house, let alone the world they were in, was a big meeting place for creatures and things from other dimensions. It would explain how easily a rift had opened in the attic.
So much for the common belief shared by science and magic alike: what shouldn't be manipulated can't be manipulated. The things that E and Karl knew, it made her head ache just thinking about it.
She snickered at the thought, but didn't add anything to the conversation. Instead she sat, ate from the snack bag, and stared at her tail ring, which still had a very faint glow. Probably from Stygian's dark energy, it was deduced. Any kind of dark energy within a hundred parsecs of open air could be detected by that thing.
Now if only the light-energy bracer of hers could help fix this calamity...
Karl: Still, No-zone should have several of their katrillion billion agents to fix the problem...heck they could have even sent Chuck Norris...and that white rock BTW is not good to eat, Mel...not unless you want enchanted rock in your digestive system...
*Karl gives Mel a document stating that those rocks are used for a MRF (Magic Regulation Field)*
Karl: There are 6 groups of rock, each group is a different color that corresponds to a different element...the 6 elements are fire (red), wind/thunder (yellow), earth (green), water/ice (blue), light (White), and last of all, darkness (Purple). Looks light you're gonna gain a Light attribute...
E shrugs "Mel should be find Karl. in my experience... well i think it's my experience dragons both magical and non magical have a tendency... no more of a need to eat certain types of rock. i'm sure Mel thoroughly researched the rocks before she chose one to eat."
"I didn't take any of the fancy ones from the middle. This one was in the back of a bed of peonies." Mel dug her claws in and tore the rock in half like others would an orange. She sniffed. "Nope, no magic." She held the rock out to Karl. "Smell, just plain old quartz with just a hint of gold. A plain old roadside rock."
With every word, Stygian's anger was building, the former smoldering cinders of her mood now turning more and more into a blazing fire. She arched her neck and her face darkened, and she stomped the floor hard enough that the solid mortar-reinforced floorboards creaked, and then spoke in a very unpleasantly contrasting low voice.
"Your naivité does you no honor," she hissed, clearly directing her statement to Karl. "If that was the case, I wouldn't be here. You want proof of the peril? I'll give you proof! And as for you...!" She swung around, a blackened, clawlike hand clenched with her finger pointed straight at the Boogeyman. "That was a clear insult, and would it have been to my ideas I might have tolerated it, but my intelligence...! I came here because the disturbances of this place seemed near enough perfect for me to hide in. And the girl was already infected when I found her, meaning she was practically dead anyway. I don't know how she managed to trace me, but I'll find out, and I don't care if it costs lives to do so, because if I don't then another world and perhaps a whole existence is going straight to Hell!"
She was practically shouting now, her eyes narrowed around the gleaming points of her green pupils. And then Aisha's tail ring suddenly went crazy, flaring up in a bright emerald light and thrumming against her tail.
Around Stygian's clawed fists and her eyes her skin seemed to be splitting and forming scar-like patterns of black and green, poison fumes slowly seeping out and emerald bolts of lightning crackling within them.
"I have faced idiots from many different worlds, and still I have never ever been so offended as... as..." She trailed off and looked at her hands. "What the Hell...?"
This was very, very unexpected. Stygian had absolutely no idea what was going on. But then, that problem solved itself, as it slowly realized something. Many somethings. Knowledge it did not have, yet could still recall, seeping gradually into its consciousness.
"This is..." she started saying, then stopped. She, it, felt its insides, reached out to change the tissue of the host once again. And this time it gave, slowly altering according to its will. It was still an effort, like trying to move some huge rock with one's bare hands. But before, that rock had been a mountain.
It realized something else too, and reached out with another part of its being, touching the world much like it sensed it, but much more forceful. The Boogeyman suddenly felt something hard prodding his side, as if a finger the size of a man's arm had pushed him there.
Stygian smiled viciously.
((OOC: 800 replies?! Holy hell!))
Boogey shuffled to the side when he felt the poke, as anyone would.
"If that's the most offended you've ever been than obviously you haven't been insulted enough during your life. At no point did I insult your intelligence. Your judgement, yes, but not intelligence. And you hadn't mentioned that the girl was already infected- with what, I'd like to know. All I knew regarding her is that you had her locked in a closet." Boogey raised an eyebrow, refusing to be browbeaten, "Now then, as stated, I'd like to be civil. I'll always insult things and joke about them, as that helps me keep a clear head in an infuriating situation. Apparantly, you could use a similar technique." With that, he leaned against the wall and smirked. Move and counter move.
((OOC: Well, this place had a good ten or so pages before you started your plotline. Of course it's a high postcount.))
Aisha was suddenly snapped out of her mental torpor by Stygian's sudden explosion of anger. The glow on her tail ring was enough now to blind everyone in close proximity with the unexpected explosion of force. She sat up straight, hand shooting straight to her weapons belt as per habit.
The panther watched Stygian's vessel as it seemed to transform again before their eyes with his anger, or at least start to. The panther clenched her teeth, remembering how unpredictable the entity was; but was the explosion really so necessary? She only relaxed a few hairs when Stygian started to calm down.
Despite the fact that the look in the girl's eyes sent a few shivers crawling up her back, Aisha stood up next to her. "Calm down. I don't think they meant any disrespect. And if they did," she paused and pointed her boomerang at everyone to accentuate. "We're not going to be fighting in a medical ward."
((OOC: Dang. o.O I guess this RP is a little more popular than I thought. What gets me is there's a heckuva lot more views...))
Stygian apparrently was not listening to either of them, or simply did not appear to be. Her grin was almost insane in its character now, as she clawed her hands before her and watched the sparks coruscate. Then, she looked down on the floor, obviously coming to think of something. She stretched down her hands, palms open, and closed her eyes and mouth, then tilted her head back. And then, slowly but steadily, she lifted from the floor.
When she opened her eyes and found that she was hovering, Stygian laughed aloud. She darted a quick look to the others in the room, then just fell back down and planted her feet on the floor. She was thrilled, blissful even, the anger gone from her mind as if it had never been in the first place. Quickly, she walked up to Gareeku, shoving Aisha aside despite the girl's very perturbed look, and laid her hand on his arm.
"Sorry for this, but I have an idea, and I need some materials to make it work," she said, and then drew her claws along his underarm, drawing shallow but plentifully bleeding wounds. She soaked her claws in them, and then quickly licked them off. "Don't think you mind right now now do you, mein guter Wolf?" She turned, and then left the room with hurried steps.
Boogey just stared for a second, and then took advantage of his aforementioned method of not getting mad. After he managed to stifle his snickering enough to be coherent, he started looking around for bandages to apply to Gareeku.
"She whines about us not trusting her judgement, and how insulted she is that we disregard what she says and what she's trying to get across, tells us we should trust her more, and then claws a big damn hole in the unconcious guys arm and licks the splatter off her fingers! Am I the only one who sees the irony here." He chuckled to himself as he started to wrap up Gareekus arm, "And he wonders why I insult him?"
E responds as well switches his vision modes his hand disappearing into his arm ans his buster prepares for fire. he glances around and pauses. " what is it Aisha?" he ask as the glow of his buster dyes down. the last thing E wanted to do was fly off the Handel in what was meant to be a peaceful conversation.
E watches as Stygian leaves the room and replays his last few moment of visual memory and growls a little still it was toll lat to stop what was already done. "I take it that fact that he's not able to physically or verbally defend himself made her thin that was alright?"
Aisha shook her head almost pityingly, replacing the boomerang in her belt. "I've no idea, E. But he has his reasons, and from what we've heard, a very hectic life. It could very well be his right. He's nothing to worry about now. He keeps the girl's body alive at any rate."
Though I wonder what THAT was about, the huntress thought as her gaze moved from the doorway, down to the floor, and finally over to where Gareeku was lying. Her eyes narrowed on the spot where his arm was being healed immediately. He wouldn't have taken that.
Shaking her head to be rid of any doubtful seeds, Aisha with a flare of her crimson cape sat back down on the foot of the bed where he was, keeping her word to watch over her friend.
Stygian darted up the stairs, taking steps five in a stride with powerful leaps. When she reached the top of the stairway that led to the attic, she slowed in her leap and gently drifted down to the ground, barely making a sound as her heavy boots touched the dust- and splinter-strewn floor. Her smile was affixed to her face now, even as she kneeled down beside another angel, what appeared to be an Archai. She tore into it, black tendrils practically ripping the flesh of it off now, as she hasted to have her fill. From inside, it grew, converting what it wanted and quickly digesting and discarding the rest. What had been the girl's body was now swiftly turned into a rippling, snapping, crunching mass of rapidly morphing flesh, the very last part of her being absorbed by Stygian as it tore its way through her.
Stygian felt something bulge at its back, and quickly shredded the shirt it was wearing. From the bloodied stumps of the girl's torn off wings a pair of black tentacles, thick as a man's arm at their base, protruded. And then came another, slightly smaller set of tentacles, and then another and another and so on, crawling out from underneath the ripping, quickly blackening fur. They melded, starting to take on the familiar cruel shape of the dark wings it had possessed before. Above its head, the strange halo the girl had worn had reappeared, it too blackened and oozing fluorescent green fumes.
Stygian's form could at best be called androgynous now. It was using what information it had gained from Gareeku to figure out a proper male form for itself, seeing as how it preferred that, and already had the information for the female form of these creatures, and would probably have to stay with these things a bit longer. But this didn't really fit it... fit him. He had always been one for style...
He heard a chirp, and looked up. In the settled evening light, a bat was fluttering over the open hole in the house's roof. It had probably lived in the attic and been disturbed by the battle.
Stygian snapped out with its mind, and the bat was caught squirming in mid air. Slowly, he brought it closer, his mouth tendrils stretching for it between serrated jaws...
"I say, old chap, live and let live, eh, wot?"
llearch takes a sip of tea from where he's leaning against the doorpost, raises one eyebrow at Stygian, nods, and sidles off downstairs to refresh his cup of tea...
*Karl's anger went into a verily ticked mood from the words of Stygian*
Karl's mind: That witch! Who does she think she is, the queen of Arachnia?! If she doesn't want my help or knowledge, next time I'll just let the whole thing come and cause chaos!
*Karl makes a hmmpf sound and opens a portal to the ground level, then enters it*
(OOC: is ticked IRL due to someone not knowing that when Kio left the RP, I was basicly left in charge of it...)
Edit>OOC: I forgot to mention that I will be offline for wednesday and thursday, maybe even tuesday or friday...spending those days at my parents place for Thanksgiving...so while I'm gone for those days, I'm leaving Gareeku in-charge...and if he can't do it for me, E_voyager will be second choice for substitute.
Mel softly said, "Angry people are never smart people. Is everyone going to be angry and kill each other before danger even arrives or are you going to let the anger pass and try to think about the problem?"
She paused and when no one interupted her she continued, "It looks like we have a mad scientist who may be coming to this location to capture Mr. Personality and perhaps Aisha and then conquer the planet for followup. He has an army of angels that are very hard to kill. Five of them were almost too much. Obviously something better than pounding on them is required. I am now asking those of you who were in the heart of the battle, what seemed most effective and how can we expand on it?"
*Snuggles walks in and looks around at everyone*
"Hi?" Kind of a shaky at the amount of people in here.
Upstairs, blackness was swirling around stygian, flowing shadows and poison fumes circulating it around tendrils of liquid dark that floated freely, slithering into and out of its shape, a shadowy humanoid figure kneeling on the floor with its arms outstretched and its wings spread behind its back.
Then, the swirling stopped, and the shadows began to draw into its body, flowing through and in under forming skin and fur. They gathered mainly at its wings, and when the rest of its body was nearly perfectly transformed, it pulled them back in along with the fluid darkness with a nauseating slithering and cracking sound, its backfur closing quickly and seamlessly after them. A few movements under its skin came as it settled, and then it was complete.
Stygian rose to his feet, letting out a sigh of ease and looking down at his new form. Pleased, he let some darkness out of him again to form clothes in the traditional fashion he was used to. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders a bit, and then turned to the stairs, walking slowly against and down them. So, he thought, I guess I'll get back down and see if we can help that wolf boy at all, and then I'll see if they've actually bothered to check the cellar for something to eat.
Several minutes had passed since Gareeku had first encountered the voices who referred to him as the "walker of the veil".
"Make your desicion now, walker. Time is almost out." the voices said once more. By now Gareeku's eyes were closed, deep in thought. Opening them, the wolf looked once more at the vision of the medbay in front of him, a sad expression on his face.
"It seems you have made a decision, walker. By the look on your face, you wish to leave for the afterlife." the voices said.
"...Yes. That is correct." Gareeku replied, "...I would like to say goodbye..."
It was quiet once more in the medbay. Aisha, still sat on the end of the bed that Gareeku's body was lying on, would see something by the side of the bed; a transparent figure was appearing in the medbay. As the figure appeared, it could be seen who it was; Gareeku, or rather his spirit.
"I'm sorry Aisha, but I have to go," the spirit said, his voice almost like a whisper as he walked up to the pathress, before wrapping his arms around his friend, "Take care of yourself. I'm sure we'll see each other again some day."
Smiling at her softly, the wolf's spirit then began to away, before beginning to fade from view as he prepared for his journey to the afterlife.
"Are you ready?" the voices asked as Gareeku's spirit reappeared in the black void in which he woken to.
"Yes. I am." the wolf replied, before beginning to walk to a point of light which grew bigger and bigger by the second.
"It's a shame....but I will not allow thisssss..." the voices suddenly said as they seemingly changed, morphing into one hissing voice. A scarily familiar voice...
Stygian had reached the downstairs corridor and was almost outside the infirmary, when he very vaguely felt something. It was neither a sound nor a smell, nor anything he could see. But it was a movement, the slightest shifting in the place's equilibrium, so small that he would not have heard it, had he not been on this slight power-high of his for the moment. Stopping, he concentrated, and stretched out his mind.
His senses focused on the medbay, he quickly found the source. Gareeku's neural activity was going haywire. That was the only word he could find for it. There was something else, slightly shifting inside the wolf as well, but it was much like the Boogeyman; a thing that he could sense and point out, but knew nothing about. Altogether, it was worrying.
Suddenly a thought came to him, seemingly out of nowhere and leaving him wondering where from. Übel herrscht nicht immer vor. Aber es verharrt wirklich sehr.
He walked against the infirmary with hurried steps. He could not allow the wolf to go berserk one more time. He thought of an old saying from his homeworld; "Once is nothing. Twice is punishment. Thrice is death." And he muttered a short litany, hoping that he would not have to follow that saying.
((OOC: Translation for Stygian's thought; Evil does not always prevail. But it very much persists.))
Aisha had sighed patiently, waiting still on the edge of the bed and watching everyone else talk and walk around. She pricked her ears when her name was spoken by Mel, and then rolled her eyes at the inquiry. "Nothing much had phased those--things (for she still felt wierd about referring to them as really angels)--in brute force...one had to be very quick though and..."
A disturbance in the air had interrupted her. "And..." she tried to continue, but it seemed her throat had become mute. It was by her choice. She wondered suddenly if anyone else had seemed to notice the slight shimmering in the air bar for herself...they had to have. It appeared next to the wolf's body, an apparition that took on a familiar form.
Aisha's eyes widened. She told herself that it couldn't be. It shouldn't have been. A trick of the light? Someone's magic, used to spite her? But the sad demeanor and voice begged differently. Gareeku. It was really him.
She wanted to say something back, but words couldn't form. Although as he hugged her, in her wide crimson orbs, tears did. It was like he was still real. But everything else that had belonged to his body was gone, like scent. Everything. She lingered there, trying to find something to say. Once he started fading, her mind thought, don't go.
Her voice however whispered shakily back to the air, "descanses en paz, amigo. Rest in peace." After all, through her training and experience, it was near impossible to deny the possibility of death. Still, that didn't make the pain disappear.
The apparition was gone. Gareeku was gone. Hard for her to believe, but he was. She looked over to his body.
Once the room was quiet again, she cast her gaze to the floor and fought her tears back.
But something happened to take her mind off of it for just a second. Her tail ring in a split moment flashed ferociously. "Oh what now...?" she growled.
"No!" Gareeku cried out. This couldn't be happening to him. It seemed that, even in death, he could not be rid of his dark side; his curse.
"We will live...we will not be denied our right to life!" the voice hissed, before Gareeku knocked to the "floor" by something, or someone. Looking to see who it was, his eyes widened as he came face to face with himself in his incubus form. The wolf had also noticed something else. The other version of himself used the term "we" instead of "I". It seemed that even his dark side included both sides of his psyche in self reference.
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Gareeku growled, not aware that he used the same term as he pushed his darker self off of him, rising to his feet and turning back to the light. "It is too dangerous. Many people would be hurt."
Even though the wolf considered himself a danger, he had never contemplated suicide, instead relying on the hope that he could be cured. However, he was now essentially dead, and he wanted to use this opportunity to rid the world, to rid his family and friends, of such a danger. It seemed his darker self, however, was determined not to let that happen.
"NO!" the other Gareeku roared out in anger and desparation. before the wolf knew it, his darker self had grabbed him and locked him in a bearhug. Gareeku struggled as much as he could, but his efforts was in vain. This couldn't be happening! He had been so close to freeing himself of the darkness within. He could feeling himself falling in the other's grip, a sensation similar to that of drowning sweeping over him as he struggled for breath, the familiar feeling of unconsiousness sweeping over him once more. "...No..."
"We will live on...we...will...live..."
Back in the medbay, a soft glow surrounded Gareeku's body for a second, his eyes closing in the process, but it abruptly disappeared. It was then, however, that something began to beat in his chest...his heart...
Aisha stared with a bit of slight confusion at her tail ring. The flash was very quick, happening right after Gareeku's spirit left...could it have had something to do with him?
Or maybe it was Stygian that had set it off? She could hear someone coming back into the medbay.
The panther shrugged it off and held her head in her paws. Her ears were set back against her head, one tuned like a satellite behind her back to hear who was entering, and the other one aimed at Gareeku's body. She hadn't noticed the glow that encompassed him at that minute, too preoccupied with the raging, guilty mind.
That ear twitched. Slowly Aisha raised her head, narrowing her eyes at the seemingly dead wolf. She could've sworn she heard a heartbeat.
"Okay...that's wierd..." she muttered with wonder and confusion. "He's alive? Alive..."
E register the apparition of Gareeku and sighed. on more warrior had chosen to die as a shield. he remember when he'd seen that before . it ha made he decided at the time that he lost his close friend that as long as he could fight the battle he would not let others suffer in his place. he was functionally immortal according to some theories but there were wrong he'd died before he just did not stay dead for long. E closed his eyes sadden at the thought of losing the wolf and did not see the glow that took Gareeku's body. "would that i could have fought that battle for you friend.
Then Aisha remembered something, and became more alert for it. For all she had listened before, she had not heard a single sound that could be called a step from Stygian, only a low slither at best. And despite her large boots, the girl he had been possessing had not sounded like this. This sound was not louder, but much heavier, with more of a low, solid tremor to it. It pounded with a quick steady rhythm as it reached the door...
The door to the infirmary swung open almost violently, and in stepped a... bat? That was a surprise. He was about six feet tall, golden blonde all over, except for a few thin black streaks, with hair the exact same shade as and blending in with his backfur and the fur across his bare chest under his open black shirt only slightly paler in tone. He also wore a pair of loose but heavy black trousers and boots, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up, exposing black wrapping that covered all of his arms. Muscular and heavy but lean, he looked hard, as if carved out of wood, and his long arms and edgy lines gave him an almost lanky streak. He moved with a smooth, hard efficiency as he walked closer to Gareeku and spoke:
"Get away from him now, Aisha!"
The accent and voice she had heard before. Behind the sharp muzzle and pointed, ribbed bat-ears she could easily make out Stygian's hard, wedge-shaped lines. He was quite handsome, Aisha noticed now that he had a form she could relate to, and the parted cut of his blonde hair along with the pair of small rounded glasses he now wore gave him an almost scholarly character. But his mouth turned in a bitter grimace, accentuating a vicious streak, and his eyes sharp as acid-green awls when he looked at her, that piercing stare unmistakeable.
Taken aback for a second by Stygian's new appearance, the panther quirked an eyebrow. It seems that in his absence he had found a new form for himself. She wanted to smirk...a bat. The form seemed to fit him perfectly. But things were too serious to have gotten out of her any facial expression remotely resembling happy.
His order was a serious one. She stood up with confusion and anger, but not moving an inch away from where Gareeku lay. She wanted to stay, to see what his condition was about...whether or not he really was alive or if it was a trick of her hopeful ears. Her teeth clenched and as always she was prepared to have her hand dive to the weapons on her belt if need be.
"Get away? What for?" she inquired with defiance, crimson eyes glaring into those of their almost polar opposite color. "As long as there is a sign of life in him, the least I could do is keep on his guard."
e hearing Aisha's statement opens his eyes. he looks a Gareeku's form then looks deeper. the wolf... he was still in this world not banished form it but this energy... this was Gareeku's life force? it seemed different as if forced and partially suppressed. then a new entity burst into the bay. it was, E realized after a moment, Stygian in a new forum, it was then e realized what was going on with the wolf.
"Gareeku does not has a choice in this Aisha. He lives but not by his will in fact i think he's trying to die but he, his other self, soul or whatever you call it , won't let him. that can happen where their are too many souls tied to one body or life force. " e shrives. "i've seen it before. worse i've gone through it we can only wait and hope that the Gareeku we know can come to terms with living for at least a little while longer else we my have a problem"
e whispers the name Ichiago under his normal speaking voice as he feels for Gareeku who suffers like that poor kid he met a few years ago. Are you souls fight for dominance like mine Gareeku? Or are you in danger actually of devouring yourself form the inside out? E ask in mind as he watched. E looks away his eyes glazing over as he in his hears the battle cries as he warped everyone away form his precious digital world a fought a bitter battle. in the end he lost the struggle of wills wit the older versions of himself and was labeled a monster before he'd done anything wrong. how he had first been force to share his existence other others they he could only call himself. poor Gareeku what had he done to deserve such a battle? meer existence should not have so heavy a burden
"His mind is in an uproar," Stygian said, his eyes locked with Aisha's. "Or, at least his nervous system is. And pay close attention to his smell. You should be able to sense it as well." He certainly could. It was weak, but sharp as a knife's edge, shifting between the scents he had come to know as hatred, sorrow, despair and even the trembling, darting smell of madness, and all tones in between. And it changed between them all faster than should have been possible for any one person.
"The very fact that he revived proves that there is more magic in the works here. And unless that bracer of yours makes people angry and their hearts race, I don't believe that is a good thing."
Stygian's eyes shifted to Gareeku. The wolf's heart was pounding now, faster than it should be for someone that large and fit. And he was not sure, but it looked like his face was just barely twitching, like he was having a nightmare.
"I think he is waging a battle right now. And I don't think it will end until he actually wants it to."
Aisha's glare was still defiant as she pried her gaze away from Stygian's...and that was a bit hard to do with how piercing that stare was. Instead her mind focused on Gareeku's changed scent. Indeed, something was raging within. Far too familiar. One was weakened and the other felt like it was pushing through.
She took a step backward. "That feral incubus form of his. It has to be." She sighed. This was a battled that only he needed to win, and hoped that he would.
The black jaguar shook her head, wresting her hands away from the stifling urge to take out her weapons in the case of trouble. Outer demons, anyone worth their strength could handle; inner demons were much stronger.
"Fine..." she said begrudgingly. "I'll be wary. And maybe at least something can be done to keep him from wounding himself." Her hands fumbled in the back of her cape for the bracer, suddenly reminded of it. She had taken it off Gareeku long ago. Carefully, she snapped it back on his wrist. The light magic most likely wouldn't keep his feral form away, for she knew it to be too strong, but it would heal him if need be.
With a tired half-yawn, Aisha sat down on an opposite bed and glanced around at the others who were in the room. E kept busy, perhaps monitoring the wolf's signs. She hadn't heard a word from Mel, Karl, or Boogey, but it seems like they were pondering the mystery as well.
"So, by your new attire I'm guessing you plan on staying here for quite a while," the panther commented Stygian with a slight bit of humor; something she had to try and keep up with for the somber atmosphere of the infirmary.
((OOC: It was supposed to be that Gareeku's spirit was force back into his body, thus keeping him alive and in the mortal realm, but whatever, people have assumed things. I'll play along anyway.))
As the others talked, Gareeku's mouth opened slightly, taking a breath as if he had just been born into the world; a deep breath, before steadying into a more normal rate as his closed eyes twitched slightly and his brow furrowed, as if he were in deep concentration. In his subconscious, the darkness was almost overwhelming, as if it were hungry to be free. However, he was not about to let it overcome him again, and with a great mass concentration, the darkness began to subside until it was all but gone, although it would never truely disappear as long as he lived.
Opening his blue eyes a fraction, he squinted slightly as the light of the room made itself present, like he was the first time he had ever seen it. As his vision came into focus, he tried to sit forward, but grunted slightly a sharp pains washed over his body.
Quote from: Gareeku on November 22, 2006, 02:46:53 PMHowever, he was not about to let it overcome him again, and with a great mass concentration, the darkness began to subside until it was all but gone, although it would never truely disappear as long as he lived.
(I don't know when this little sequence takes place relative to Gareeku's other adventures, but I'm assuming that means he's still like it in the FCRP. It wasn't clear if he got 'cured' at the end of the original Furrae Chronicles story.)
Quote from: Tapewolf on November 22, 2006, 02:58:47 PM
Quote from: Gareeku on November 22, 2006, 02:46:53 PMHowever, he was not about to let it overcome him again, and with a great mass concentration, the darkness began to subside until it was all but gone, although it would never truely disappear as long as he lived.
(I don't know when this little sequence takes place relative to Gareeku's other adventures, but I'm assuming that means he's still like it in the FCRP. It wasn't clear if he got 'cured' at the end of the original Furrae Chronicles story.)
This is, in my opinion, non-canon to the FC stories.
Stygian's eyes stayed fixed on Gareeku for a moment. Then, they softened as he turned them to Aisha. She seemed to take things very much in stride... Was she not thinking that the wolf maybe actually wanted to die? But... His trail of thought was going nowhere, so he abruptly ended it. What had she said? Oh yes. Right. Smile.
Stygian tilted his head slightly to the side and smiled a surprisingly warm and unintimidating smile, though his new fangs slightly ruined the impression, and he took a step and sat down on another bed.
"It seemed inappropriate not to. This is by far the most interesting place I have seen until now, which is saying a lot. And if I am to avoid clashing with Neraux, this is a better form for it. He knows that I can shapechange, but I doubt he thinks that I will change altogether during the very chase. Besides," he added, "it seemed unneccessarily cruel to keep the girl in pain any longer, no matter how little of her was still left."
Then, before anyone had the chance to speak further, Gareeku stirred. Stygian, who was rubbing his chin as if surprised at feeling the hairyness of it, turned his eyes to him and tested the air slightly. It was filled with different emotions and it was hard separating them all, but at least they were all steady now. That was a good sign.
"Well well. Guess I was wrong after all. Or are you going to have another go, wolf boy?" he said, grinning slightly.
((OOC: Well... that was certainly easy. Now, many of my plans for drama go down the drain.))
Quote from: Gareeku on November 22, 2006, 03:00:55 PM
This is, in my opinion, non-canon to the FC stories.
(Okay, thanks for clearing it up.)
((OOC: Sorry if I'm one of those who just assumed. ^^; It can be hard to post about a situation when the circumstances can be somewhat unclear. It seemed clear to me. ))
"Well, how generous of you," Aisha replied to Stygian's comment about the girl with a mixture of seriousness and sarcasm. "I hope at least we won't see too much of those angel-things anytime soon." It was almost hard to believe that at the beginning of this wild chase, it was Stygian whom everyone was chasing about and fighting. The events of the last...how many hours had it been?...were going around in her head. And yet after such horrid battles, everyone was once again civilized. "Well, trust me, things in this world are hardly boring. Magic, demons, creatures and beings...you'll get used to it."
With that, Aisha turned her eyes back to Gareeku. The dark energy was still there, but dwindling just a little. He was calming. Was he regaining control of his body? Or was this still just a nervous aftermath of death? In this time appearances were decieving and hope was easily lost. He looked like he accepted his fate and wanted to leave the world, and she was in no position to stop him if that was his decision.
Suddenly, movement. For the first time in what seemed like a long while, the wolf had drawn a breath and started to sit up. Aisha abruptly stood up and walked over to where her friend still looked doubled over in pain...partly disbelieving that even after his spirit had seemed to cross over in front of her eyes...
"You're okay?" she asked with a pretty much amazed tone.
((Just curious, does anyone have any idea what time of day it would be by now in this story? o.O ))
Seeing Gareeku's obvious pain, and paying heed to his blue eyes, Stygian barked a laugh and stood up.
"Guess not then. Sorry for all the trouble. Also, I had to 'borrow' a bit of your DNA. Hope you don't mind."
((It would be mid-evening, I believe. I don't see things progressing that fast.))
((OOC: I have no idea. XP))
"Nnuughh..." Gareeku groaned in a croaky voice. The pain in his body was subsiding, but it was still an uncomfortable sensation nonetheless. Looking up at Aisha, a soft smile appeared on his face. "...I'll be fine."
It was then that his expression turned to one of subtle sadness, looking away from Aisha as he closed his eyes.
"Aisha...I...I'm sorry for what I've been putting you through...I'm a danger to you..." he said sadly.
Hearing Stygian's voice, Gareeku looked up at the creature, who had now taken the form of a bat. Getting off of the bed slightly, he then quickly swing his arm forward, his clenched fist catching Stygian in the jaw. As Stygian looked back from the initial shock of the hit, he could see Gareeku sitting back down on the bed, a smirk on his face.
"That's for being an asshole, and for putting me and the others through this shit." He said, such was his sense of humour.
Stygian bent slightly forward, rubbing his jaw, and for a moment the dangerous sharpness returned to those eyes of his again. But then, his face cracked up in a broad smile, and he straightened and laughed loudly and with true warmth. He should have seen that coming. The wolf boy sure was fast for a recovering man. He guessed he either knew how to ignore pain, or that he was simply pissed off enough not to mind.
"Hehehe... That's some arm you have there. Regardless, I feel I owe you that one," Stygian said, and slipped a flask out of his pocket, taking a quick sip before stretching it out to Gareeku. "It will help if you're feeling soar. And as for the danger, it's gone for the moment. I'm working to check on that right now, but I need a bit of help with that. If you're good enough, I think I'll even treat you to dinner for the bother." He grinned.
Barking a laugh when she watched Gareeku punch Stygian in the jaw, the huntress regained her composure with slight difficulty and a snicker remaining. Admittedly, the now-bat probably had that coming for a long time. At least the guy was a good sport.
Aisha sat on the foot of the bed, having listened solemnly as Gareeku started coming back to himself again and getting used to the real world. She was too relieved to hear that he would be fine. Her gaze turned away for a minute as he apologized for what he had been doing the whole time, and she contemplated. Yes, he was a danger.
She started to nod her agreement...but surprisingly she smiled softly back to him instead.
The panther reached out with a fist and gave his head a light noogie, the smile turning into a smirk. "I'm not scared of you, loco lobo. There's a lot worse things. You've faced worse and so have I. So it's a bit dangerous...but truth be told you've done a wondrous job protecting everyone. And fighting. And bar for Karl, who just got in your way, nobody good was hurt." She rolled her eyes humorously. "And truth be told I don't think your little dark side had an interest in hurting me."
Her eyes locked onto her friend's with sincerity and lighthearteness. "By the gods, don't go scaring me like that again."
Listening to Aisha give her compliments on the way Gareeku had tried to protect those he cared for, the wolf could not help but blush slightly, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink as he grinned at the slight noogie.
"I'll try my hardest." Gareeku said, the soft smile back on his face as he spoke.
Stygian clapped his hands together with a loud snap, and then bunched his fingers, his claws clicking silently against each other. He peered over his hands.
"Now, who here is up for something proper to eat? I was thinking that I might go to the cellar," he said, making an emphasis on the last word, "to look for some ingredients. Because you haven't been down there, now have you?" Not really waiting for a response, he heeled towards the door and slowly and with smooth, nearly silent steps walked against it, one hand raised and the other in his pocket.
"Really... Let's go down and we'll make some tea while you wait. And you," he said, turning his head to Karl, "are going to come and help me with this one little thing." His last statement was neither an order nor a request, just simply a statement that in its very self expected to be fulfilled.
"Then that's all that's needed of you, mi amigo," Aisha replied, chuckling with her lingering relief and at Gareeku's blush. Finally, for now at least there was just a little bit of peace in the house. Though, she wondered who would be charged with cleaning up the attic. Whoever was the owner, or the host of the party, he wouldn't be very pleased upon getting back.
Oh yes, sir, an inter-dimensional battle went on in the attic and it's totally trashed, no bother. We're out of pizza, that's the crisis. Yeah, I'm sure they'll buy that.
Then, as soon as Stygian had said the word "eat", a growl erupted from somewhere in the room. A few eyes turned to the source...the pantheress who was holding her stomach. She nervously cleared her throat and resumed a serious face. "Right, good idea, food. Finally."
Note to self: Pretzels aren't very filling.
Hearing the growling of Aisha's stomach, Gareeku's cheek turned a shade of pink as his own stomach emitted a loud growling noise.
"Heh, guess you're not the only one." the wolf said to Aisha with a smile, before beginning to walk with her, wincing slightly as a series of dull aches made themselves present in his body.
Stygian walked down the stairs with a slight swagger, apparrently not minding any of the other strange individuals that had appeared in the house. Once he reached the bottom floor, he crossed the large common room and went out into the kitchen. Well there, he simply planted his feet together, and crossed his arms across his chest. Now, let's get some practice, shall we? he thought.
Cupboards and drawers snapped open, a teapot, cups, saucers and spoons flying through the air and settling on a silver tray, all the while the sink tap turned on full and the water bent through the air into a water boiler that switched on, seemingly by itself. Stygian loved every bit of it. It barely took any effort at all.
Once the water was boiling, he quickly passed out of the kitchen through a back door and vanished down into the house's cold, humid cellar. He found the three large freeze-fridges standing as they had when last he had been down there and opened them, picking out what he needed and then springing up the stairs into the kitchen again, setting a filter with tea and pouring water into the kettle, and throwing the things he had fetched beside the sink.
"What, you're not going to warm the teapot first?" *slurp*
Stygian had just set the pot down on the tray when he heard the comment from the unidentified stranger. He turned to face him, whoever he was. Apparrently someone thought they could sneak up on people.
"I'm sorry, but I was presuming that it was still warm, judging from the smell of that cup in your hand there," he said, and leaned back against a kitchen bench. His exterior was calm and relaxed, but his mind was tense with concentration. He had not yet tested just how much force he could exert with this newfound power, and he was curious as to how it could best be applied to shorten the work with appropriately soft creatures.
But then, Stygian hindered himself, and slid off the bench. He wouldn't mind the stranger, not now. Instead he put a large saucepan on the stove and put on a gentle heat, while looking through the cabinets to find some sugar and honey, and some small biscuits to go with the tea. He then made the tray hover beside him as he walked back into the common room.
((OOC: Seriously, Llearch? I am not going to treat you with any greater respect before you actually start playing a character. Now, we are all wondering at these things here, so please give us a description and some acting before I squish you.))
Boogey took most of the proceedings in stride, leaning against the wall and out of the way. At the mention of food, though, he looked up. Face cracking into a grin, he followed Gareeku and Aisha.
"Ancient aztec wisdom; it's good to eat when you're hungry. Anyone know the number of the local chinese food place?" He seemed to become a bit more solid as he walked, the not-all-there areas becoming a bit more solid. Yikes. Almost fully real. Gonna have to watch it from here on out. "Glad most of that drama's out of the way, so we can get around to important things like lunch. You sure we're out of pizza?" He continued to blather on about food, his repertoire intermixed with the occasional joke.
((OOC: Now now Stygian, there was stuff going on here before you showed up, and that wasn't particularly serious or dramatic stuff. Some people who were here before are going to have characters that don't fully fit. Take it easy.))
Aisha hummed with thought on what to eat as she walked beside Gareeku, keeping in step in case he needed help to walk...she hadn't failed to notice his wincing. They moved back down towards the main room that the group was in from the start, which was still intact at least, even though it still smelled like worms from a battle that had taken place just before the whole inter-dimensional fiasco started. Despite that, it seemed the little group was hungry enough to eat anything at that little table.
The panther glanced at Boogey with a roll of her eyes. "As much as I'd like there to be pizza, we don't seem to have much luck with it. The pizza-delivery guys have strangely disappeared and one was torn to bits up on the third floor."
She grinned. "I'd say call for Mexican, muchachos. Mucho con queso y carne...er, with cheese and meat. But then that's just my bias. Maybe there's something in the cellar, as Stygian had hinted. Let's give the house's food a chance."
The house can be evil, but for the love of all, don't let the FOOD be.
Stygian bustled in with the tray hovering behind him, already holding a steaming, low but wide cup of fine china in his hands and stirring the honey in it with a spoon.
"Not meat, but some cheese, Schätzchen. I'm making a Barcelonian fish soup. Learned the recipe some time ago," he said as the tray hovered down and settled soundlessly on the low table at the centre of the room. A large armchair suddenly rushed in behind him, and stopped only a few inches from his legs. He sat down, easing himself.
"I wonder how long it will take for that other one to get down here. As much as I dislike it, I do need his assistance."
Mel, feline once again, trailed behind. As the only one who had actually eaten the food she'd raided earlier she wasn't hungry, but she was curious as to what Stygian was up to.
( i was trying tor react to what you had written and you're struggle awaken memories in E 's past. that feral intervention remind me of a part of a story i wrote a while back under the name eurtan. you were ready to pass on but you other self was not willing to die. not her not now.)
e smiles Gareeku was back and apparently still himself. the three of them Ashia, Gareeku and Stygian had apparently settled up. Mel was back and everyone seemed calm. he could almost relax now. "No thanks i don't feel like going organic to eat right now." e smile genuine humor in his face again "beside i refueled my energy while i was upgradings much like i assume you did for yourself Stygian."
Stygian raised an eyebrow slightly at E's remark. Upgra...? Hm. Guess that needed another explanation. And that might give him a good opportunity to ask another question.
"Well... I wouldn't call it an upgrade so much as a... development. An evolution of sorts. I feel a bit stiffer now, but I think that some other things more than make up for that," he said and sipped his tea.
"By the way, voyager... I noticed you wielding some amounts of quantum energy up there. I don't suppose that you could do something similar to what that other guy did? Perhaps opening another... gateway, yes?" he then asked, looking over his cup. "There is a message of sorts that I need to get through."
"e nods i do gateways but i rarely direct them. as a voyager for me it is more interesting a journey if i'm unsure of the path to i'll take to the final location. " e shakes his head. "in truth Erebus handles most of the portals i use and he has a dark sense of humor." now now be fair "so whats do you need to send this message? and if you need a portal why not go in person?" ask e ignoring Erebus for the moment. some times it didn't pay to be suspicious." still i guess it doesn't matter i'll open your gateway buy don't us it to call any more trouble to us okay?"
As E waits he gathers the energy needed for the requested task it is fairly simple and on 20% power he could span a planet. still he wonders who would stygian need to talk with. let may handle the portal Erebus asks e agrees
"I can't really travel dimensional spans as easily as you seem to be capable of. I need a... point of fracture, so to speak. Something to make something of. And even then I'm kind of restricted. I am much better at shorter distances and times. Don't know whether it's just a difference in nature between us. Anyhow, that's why I have this..." he said. He set down his teacup, and then fiddled with something at his waist.
The lower part of his stomach also covered in black wrappings, Stygian reached down and pulled on a black, thin chain that had been hanging out from under them beside his darkish silvery belt buckle. He fished out a small onyx and black watch-like thing, holding it dangling right under his hand. It gleamed slightly in the low light of the room.
"May I ask you to open a gateway over there by that wall then?" he said, pointing to the left with his other hand as he stood up from the chair. "Don't worry about any dangers. This is a direct link, so the only thing that could be dangerous is disturbances at the place of the fracture itself."
((OOC: I have a great many strange things in my pants...))
Hearing E and Stygian's conversation, Gareeku raised an eyebrow. He'd rather not be involved in any more battles today, if he could help it. One day's worth of excitement was quite enough.
"If anything goes wrong, I'm hitting him again. Many times over." Gareeku muttered to Aisha, before a smile appeared on his face. "But I will join you on the thought of mexican food."
Aisha started to munch on a bit of the food on the tray, tilting her head at Stygian's presentation of it. Rolling her eyes, the panther watched as he talked with E about re-opening a portal and sending a message. Hum. This ought to be interesting to watch.
They could only hope that it wasn't anything having to do with trouble. There was no time left for trouble, but plenty of time left for hope.
She laughed quietly at Gareeku's statement and looked back up at him with a wink. "And I think I'll join you on hitting him too. Two-to-one odds this house will be leveled if something else happens. Then we'll have to move the lounge party elsewhere. We'll bring the Mexican food AND pizzas."
She poured herself a bit of the drink and sat back comfortably on the sofa, glancing around to see if anyone else had started coming back in. She did spot a cat nearby that of course had to be Mel. As for Karl, he seemed to have gone into a black hole somewhere. Aisha shrugged. The mech-guy could take care of himself, at least he seemed to.
"if all you want is a break is sub space almost anyone with sufficient magic or technology can do that. the last incarnation of cut man i fought could use his blades to cut temporary hols in the fabric of reality like little peek windows and blot holes if you were. still with out a better description this if going to be sloppy"
for a moment e generated a small portal which he then stick his hand through tapping Stygian on his shoulder before he withdrew his hand closing the portal. he had confirmed that he still remembered the skill.
"okay i've tested my portals do you have a destination in mind of do ii just open it to subspace?"
"No, no. That will do just perfectly," Stygian said. He twisted some parts of the cover of the "watch", seemingly little rings that held it together like bands, then some smaller dials. Then he pressed down on a single button on the side of it, and released the watch with his hand. It floated in mid-air at about the height of his chest, and then the dials of it started glowing faintly with a sickening green light as it hovered against the point where E had made his portal.
When the gleaming metal watch reached the little breaking that E had made, something practically wrenched it from his control. Dark energy started flowing out of him and into it all of its own, and the watch started shaking and moving with audible metallic clicks and whirrs, the light emanating from the dials spreading through cracks in its cover and growing stronger and stronger. Stygian reached out his arm, and the watch burst into hundreds of tiny pieces that started swirling around a single, bright green point where the portal had been, shining like a little star and sending familiar green bolts around it, while shadows seeped from his arm into the thing.
Then, as dramatically and quickly as it had started, the reaction imploded upon itself. The swirling pieces and energy pulled back in together, and the "watch" was assembled again all on its own. A few little green sparks coruscated from it, and then it was all but still, hovering in mid-air and slowly rotating as if it were floating in water.
"There," Stygian said. "Now, we wait. I don't know how long it will take before it reaches synchrosis, and then we actually have to make contact. But if I am right it should not take that long. And while that fixes itself," He turned and started walking back to the kitchen. "I am going to make some dinner."
"Now then," Boogey asked around a mouthfull of pretzels washed down with tea, "mind letting the rest of us in on what you just told the big scary bad guy and, more importantly, how likely that is to call yet more of those damn angels?"
Stygian stopped and turned, idly scratching his head.
"Excuse me? You must have gotten this wrong. I didn't call Neraux. Fact is, there should be no way for him to trace this at all." He looked over at the watch, then back at the Boogeyman. "I'm contacting some of my... associates. In this situation, they are the best source for information and aid. If more "angels" start falling out of the walls, that means that the Kyriote up there sent something back through the last portal. And then all we can do is run like hell." He turned again and passed through the door to the kitchen, still feeling at his scalp, and was gone.
Aisha sipped at her tea, eyes following Stygian for a second as he left the room. Tail twitched idly next to her, with the ring's glow having been dulled down considerably since the last time it went off. It was great to see that for once, the beacon wasn't alerting to danger. And the bat, however a personality he was, didn't really seem like he was there to do everyone harm either. The panther figured it would be good to let up on the sarcasm at least a little.
She had watched the sending of the message with a tilt of her head, but no will to intervene out of curiosity. "Nice light show," she chuckled beneath her breath.
However, when she did hear the comment about the possibility of angels returning and that the only thing to do was to run, she started to scoff. Aisha had only before run from a fight when she was on the brink of death. Not still assuredly alive with quite a few bruises to sport.
But with the power they wielded, could an exception be made now...?
"Hopefully it won't come to running for our lives if they come back," the huntress hummed with thought...which was soon to be more light-hearted most likely as soon as food would be smelled from the kitchen.
Once inside the kitchen, Stygian felt the heat of the saucepan, judging it just right. Forming out claws several inches long from his fingers, he quickly hacked up onions and threw them to stir in the pan, then cut salad and paprika, shredded cheese, diced large bits of reasonably fresh cod... Everything went into the pan with swift efficiency, together with white wine, creme fraiche and a load of spices and some prawns. He then let the thing stir while making another tray with bowls and fetching some bread to warm and butter and more cheese to go with it, while finishing what wine he had not put in the soup.
From the kitchen, a rich, thick, creamy smell drifted, perking noses and watering tongues. It seemed that Stygian knew very well what he was doing. The tea was barely done, and already it smelled as if the food should be ready any minute.
A slight whirr came from the watch as it floated, bobbing slowly in front of the wall, but it did not seem to go active again.
e chuckles." if i were drinking tea i'd toast to that ." he sighs and sits down waiting. " you don't this this portal is doing to turn around and bite me in the exhaust vents do you"?
It took about a minute more, and then Stygian suddenly appeared in a veritable cloud of darkness, forming forth with a sound that was half like a punch and half like a slash, like a dull blade cutting swiftly through the air. Light bent around him so that he appeared to be almost transluscent but for his contoures for a second before he completely phased into view. He was dressed in a complete waiter's attire, with pressed trousers, a white shirt, bowtie and a towel over his right arm, and on his left was a very large tray, with the steaming pot of soup, bowls and spoons, tall glasses and a pair of bottles of white wine on it, and a plate with cheese and butter and a basket of white bread.
"There we are. Hope you enjoy," he said, and the tray with tea and loose cups flew through the air, settling elsewhere as he set down the new one and quickly made the table. He then stepped back and settled in the chair he had been sitting in before, his clothes darkening and morphing back into his ordinary attire. "I picked this up when I did a cover as a chef. I'm sure it should fit most tastes. Don't know about the wine though."
Stygian took a glass and opened one of the wine bottles, the cork pulling out of it seemingly on its own. The wine itself poured upwards out of the bottle and into his glass, and he swirled it for just a brief second before he put it to his mouth and took a sip, and then sighed.
"So," he began. "Now that we're all settled, perhaps you could tell me what you are all doing here? I've been in this house for two weeks now, but I've only been tending to myself and I really don't know much of what is going on in this place."
Boogey nodded to himself, intaking what Stygian had said. Associates. Friends of ol' tall dark and morphologically gifted. Peachy.
"Well, I've already said what I was doing here; just seemed like someplace where I wouldn't have to translate myself much. It looked like some sort of party, and if the laws of reality were this flexable around here I probably wouldn't seem like too strange a party crasher. Besides, I've run into concepts of some of the people here before, so that's sort of like knowing the people here."
Aisha had started munching on a few things from the tray as she listened to the others talk a little, including Stygian's question and Boogey's answer. The panther thought about her answer and took the time to swallow her food before answering, so she would have the courtesy of a clear tongue.
"Well, I certainly wasn't here looking for battles...those seem to follow a warrior everywhere," the panther chuckled, shaking her head. "Anyway...I guess I'm much like Boogey in that I wasn't invited to this party either. I was pointed to this mansion that I was told, of all things, was haunted. But it was quite lively when I came...so instead of breaking the party up, I stayed to see who or what had come."
She took another sip of tea and continued. "Surprised and fairly glad I was to see a few old and good acquaintances and friends," she glanced briefly at Gareeku, "I thought it would be a vacation." Aisha shrugged, a motion that reminded her of her bruises with a slight wince. "Turns out it wasn't. But I'm not one to complain."
Stygian nodded, making mental notes while he poured himself some soup. Haunted mansion, partying... these people led exciting lives. He hated to crash them. Where he came from, even murderers for hire had courtesy.
At Aisha's remark, Stygian gave a bitter smile.
"I would say the same. I actually enjoy a bit of adversity now and then. But not when it involves those things..." he said, leaning back again and taking a bite from a piece of white bread.
Mel, not finding a seat in the ruined room, had sized herself down to the size of a housecat. She had insinuated herself between some books on the one bookcase still upright where she could see the entire room at once. "I was walking down the street to an appointment when a lost delivery driver asked for directions. When I stuck my head in to see if the owner of the 200,000 balls of yarn was in here I was invited to tea. I stayed because the Admiral offered a tour and I couldn't pass up the chance to gain such info. The house was already a mess, magically speaking, at that point." She laughed, "It was a mess period. I think there had been a food fight right before my arrival. After seeing all these pizzas ground into the carpet and the upholstery I can't see why any of you still crave them."
As Mel spoke, Stygian flinched. A housecat speaking, and two hundred thousand balls of yarn? No. He was not seeing things. At least, not unless someone in this house kept other things in the spice jars than just peppers... He chewed down a piece of fish, and then looked at the little white cat.
"Ehm... not to sound rude or anything, but I take it that this is a civilized world? I had some... trouble when just arrived here."
"ironically enough i got here through sleep waling. when i woke up the first face i saw an remembered that that of a feline made that i met in castlevania. i wonder where he's gone to now though. "
(OOC: I'm back!)
*In the room they were in, a portal opened...out of the portal came Karl, followed by a troop of FIA military personel*
Karl: Stopped by Omega Prime and requested the Military Council for some reinforcing of the complex in case those things come back...*turns to troops*...here's the list of Authorized guests, including Mr. Interdimensional here *points in direction of Stygian*...and on the next page of the documents are what you'll shoot on sight *page describes the things that attacked earlier*, as well as any other things that HE says are the enemy! *turns to Stygian* Since you are the one with knowledge of what these things are and what they do, I believe I'll leave the troops in your care, ok?
Aisha, having been enjoying the quiet moment and the company, with their interesting stories, was finally starting to leave the stress of the day behind. She reached for another piece of cheese and munched it.
But as soon as the portal opened, with a sudden disturbance and shouting from Karl, she started choking on her food, caught with surprise as was the others. Coughing, the panther sat up straight and turned her eyes to the small army. "Que es esto?" she muttered with a scratchy voice.
Aisha's glance turned to Stygian curiously. Certainly Karl was going overboard with this sudden intrusion. She smirked almost pityingly. "Karl, you remember how powerful those things were. Stygian has given the impression that they will be VERY hard to stop, should they come back."
*Karl whispers in Aisha's ears*
Karl: these guys are here to act as a thing to slow them down if they come back...of course, some of these soldiers can do better than me in a fight...
While Aisha seemed to react quickly enough, Stygian just sat frozen in his chair with a perplexed look on his face, holding his bowl of fish soup and spoon just beneath his chin. His eyes stared at the contingent of soldiers that had wandered into the room out of nowhere, completely befuddled as to what to do. What the bloody hell...? he thought. Is this going to...?
The "watch", floating at the wall a good ten paces behind the back of Stygian's chair, started crackling green bolts.
A loud, metallic ripping noise sounded as the watch was torn asunder, and a dark portal the shape of a vertically tilted eye, almost tall enough to reach the roof, tore through existence. Green energy snapped and coruscated around a centre of blackness that was as dense as crude oil before it started changing, and then only becoming slightly clearer, showing a dimmed and blurry background of some dark underground hall riddled with machinery. On the face of the opening, two shadowy silhouettes grew into sight, humanoid shapes that stepped closer.
The shadowy apparitions broke through the portal as it slowly started to... crumble, revealing themselves as a pair of hooded figures, dressed in some sort of single-breasted coats and garments that looked like slightly customized uniforms. One was clearly a woman, standing at about five feet nine or ten. Her arms were hidden within her coat, and her face was shaded with a cowl of sorts. But from within that cowl, you could sense a piercing, dangerous gaze that seemed to take in the entire room at once.
The other figure was a man, his coat shorter, ending at his knees. He was as tall as Stygian, perhaps a bit taller, and his face was hidden by an all-covering two-part mask that seemed more like a helmet, the front of it an expressionless, smooth surface of dark metal, with some details and gilt of dark red and gold, and thin breathing slits at the bottom. His neck was covered with bands and metal wiring too that went underneath the black collar of his coat.
The both figures took a few slow steps in, appearing unperturbed by the soldiers. Then, they stopped, and the masked man turned his head slightly to the side, making a single nod to the shorter woman. She turned her cowl against the soldiers for only a brief moment, and then made a backflip against the tall wall behind her, clinging to it and vanishing up into the dark roof with mercurial speed.
The man on the other hand, took a moment to unbutton his coat, taking it off and letting it fall to the floor. underneath it, he was clad in some all-covering armor, seemingly made of some combination of fiber and metal and of the same black, dark crimson red and golden style as his mask. Over this he wore some sort of black vest of a fine cut. His right arm was more golden and metallic than his left one, but the hands of both were covered by long, folded-base black leather gloves.
"You are overpowered. You will stand down and surrender your weapons, else we will not hesitate to kill you," he said in a cruel, metallic voice, distorted by his mask.
Stygian had just set down his bowl and slowly grabbed the arms of his chair.
???: Strange, we were about to say the same to you
*from out of the ranks of the Soldiers came a group of Cyborgs that looked liked they were wearing Paladin armor, except it was cyberorganic*
CyberPaladin Commander: You are in violation of Interdimensional Law Code 5304-102-A..."No dimension shall invade another dimension without justification, or permission of No-zone authority"...so either you submit just reason for invasion of this dimension or turn around and leave...refusal to do so will result in extermination.
*Karl then turns to Stygian*
Karl: So No-zone saw fit to implant a group of CyberPaladins into my troop...Styg, are those two things your friends or are they the nutcase's lackeys...if they're his, I hope you have a backup plan in case the CPs fail to stop them...
Stygian started to rise out of his chair, and was about to say something. The masked man though, did not wait. He seemed to have all the reasons he needed. He straightened his gloves and spoke quickly.
"We recognize no authority," was all he said. Then, they all heard a short, sweeping sound, like a high-speed engine revving up very fast. The next moment, something tore through the air, red bolts of lightning tracing behind it, and smashed into the first two cyber-paladins. One was sent flying into a wall, and the other one stumbled at a blow to its stomach that was like a rifleshot with a bullet the size of a man's hand. The thing that had struck them swooped forth and back, a blur to everyone's eyes. But from the size and look of it, and the rough trails on the floor, it was clear that it was the masked man. He was running, fighting at such breakneck speed that no one could possibly keep up with him, darting forward and back in irregular patterns while smashing into the soldiers with expert timing and terrible efficiency, leaving counterattacks useless.
At the same time, another shape shot down from the roof, black coat billowing around it. The woman struck one of the soldiers, pounding him into the ground, and then quickly swept something around him. Then, she leapt up again, a long string of white striking out from her form and grabbing one of the soldiers by his face, lifting him up and smashing him with great force into one of the walls. The other unfortunate was wriggling on the ground, struggling futilely to break through some sort of web that she had enveloped around him.
And what's really a bad sign is that this sort of thing has started to get rather boring. Boogey sighed and gathered up some of the food and tea.
"Alright, all for letting these guys settle their differences in here and continuing lunch in another room say aye."
*Karl looked at the soldiers being thrown everywhere*
Karl: Crap! Stygian...* turns to Stygian*...one question...are these guys immune to Time Manipulation?
Stygian just stood, his eyes closed and his head bent down, trembling with anger. He was gritting his teeth, growling under his breath and simply hating. Why did people always have to be so bloody insane?! He almost longed back to the confinements of darkness and isolation... In exasperation, he threw back his head and roared.
"STOOOOOOOOOOOO... mmph!" His scream was cut short as white web shot down and snagged him by his mouth, tearing him up into the roof, to which the woman was now clinging.
Karl: Crap! Not again! Sty...
*Karl was cut off when the Male hit him from behind, sending him flying into the cupboards...he soon fell from the wall crater that was made from the impact, but stopped just one inch short of landing on the ground...a dark aura was surrounding him*
Karl: You're gonna wish you didn't do that...
Aisha had only time to gape with surprise at the other newcomers. From the strange way that they composed themselves, and from Stygian's reaction, this had to be the help that he called for. Though, they didn't really look much like help from their actions. All of a sudden, reinforcements against a common enemy were starting to conflict against each other.
Then Stygian was suddenly silenced. She hung back for a moment, wondering if she should dive into the fray to help quiet things down. Her teeth clenched, hand diving to her belt and gripping the handle of her boomerang; gripping, not pulling out. Not yet.
The panther stood up. "Okay, people and otherwise, can't we calm down for JUST a second?"
She tried to keep from cringing should they turn their attention towards her. A battle here and now was definitely not going to get them anywhere.
As the bookcase teetered and shook from Karl smashing into it Mel gripped the shelf with claws that weren't feline. "Listen to the nice panther. Smart girl." As the shaking slowed she disappeared behind the remaining books.
Karl: Aisha, those two are not Styg's backup...they're the madman's lackeys
*Karl began to go through his Fal'dev Transformation when he saw Mel catch the rest of the Cupboard from falling*
Karl: Thanks...now those two owe me money for causing damage to those shelves...
E sighs and arm raised and fired several short plasma burst into one of the intruders e's targeting system aims for it's chest center mast and it's head.( i belive it to be the male) " this is getting annoying. at least when dad tries to take over the world average citizens were more or less safe if they stayed in their homes or the wildly raid bunkers."
( ooc they have a point while i have not fought much i think that the story development should go on for a bit longer before the next random battle. If you want to prep for an next attack you can have out of context scenes of the enemy prepping for invasion ore give reports /orders)
E's plasma shots burst against the man's speeding form. However fast the man was, E's auto-targeter was still faster, even if it did have to round the shot a bit to avoid hitting the soldiers. But when it looked like the burst was just going to hit him in the back, E could see in slow-motion caption how he turned his head against it, as if somehow aware of the shot before the sound of it even hit him, and then how he spun to the side. Making a whirling series of backward flips, he made a saltomortal and landed just before E, grabbing his Buster.
"Intriguing. I think I shall take that," he rasped, and started to pull hard on E's arm, clearly intending to rip it off.
Then, when he thus made the mistake of standing still, the masked man was hit in the back by a flying shape in a flaxing coat, and tumbled over, smashing into the already wrecked cupboard. Down from the floor, Stygian fell, almost fully back to his dark form, with wings spread and his back arched. His face was furious, long black teeth glinting in his maw of a mouth that seeped poisonous, crackling fumes, like his green eyes. In one hand he was holding a black spear, tipped with a long blade atop a small cross-shaped ornament. He stopped, floating just above the floor, and roared, a bestial, many-voiced shriek that grated at their ears.
The masked man got up with quick and well-practiced motions, but even through the mask they could all tell that he was surprised.
"Seba...?" he started saying. But it took no more than the blink of an eye though before he shot away to the side like a bullet again, and at the very same time Stygian disappeared in a blast of darkness and green. The very next moment, a sound of metal hitting metal, painfully high, snapped through the air as they both collided above them all. Then, they moved again. More bangs came. The man was a blur, and Stygian seemed to be teleporting, blinking back and forth in rapid sequence to meet his strikes.
Then, they locked, almost right in the middle of the room. The man had taken out a pair of side-handled baton-like swords from somewhere, they saw now, and the both of them were pressing against each other while metal creaked.
"Stand down, Stephen!" Stygian roared.
At first, the man didn't react at all. Then, red bolts crackled down his arms and through his "swords", blasting into Stygian, who jerked back uncontrollably. The man flashed backwards, and was suddenly standing where he had been from the very beginning. He spun those blades of his quickly, and then they somehow vanished up behind his arms. He kneeled down, and calmly picked up his coat.
"You heard him. Stand down, Sal," he said, his head directed to where Aisha was standing.
From just behind her, Aisha could hear a woman's voice, that while soft still seemed to buzz and slither at the same time.
"Are you sure? Even if it is him, these people don't seem very sensible," she said. "Well, except this one." Aisha could feel a clawed hand, gently sliding round her neck.
Aisha had watched with intrigue as Stygian recovered to match his "friend's" moves almost blow-for-blow. Oof...I don't think I'd want to fight that one. Que rapido! She almost went to calm Karl down...she should've explained that if the angel forces were coming back, it would be in greater numbers than just two. But, the panther had the feeling that if she went forward with the warning it wouldn't really stop him. She simply stood back and let Stygian to his negotiating and Karl's troops to recovering from their various blows.
But when Aisha suddenly felt something crawling at her neck, she froze. Her eyes darted back quickly behind her head...the woman! How could she have forgotten her? The strangers were quicker than she had the notion to think about. It probably wasn't the wisest thing to do, but to fight surprise with surprise was also Aisha's style.
"Gareeku and everyone, move!" she shouted, just a split millisecond afterwards grabbing the woman's arm before she could react. She twisted her body around and tossed over her shoulder, taking the stranger through the air and landing hard on the table, splintering it. She took out her bladed boomerang and held it just over the surprised stranger's head before she could even move.
"Trust me, most of us are more sensible than you think," she smirked. "First lesson here; not a good idea to sneak up on a bounty hunter trained against the demonic arts." Her blade withdrew slowly.
he could keep of visual contact with Stygian and his opponent but his physical form could not maintain that kind of speed for long. that was quick man's specialty not his own. then as they watched Stygain's dual the female grabs Aisha from behind and thread her life should they not stand down.
e smiles as he watched Aisha throws the girl his trim having changed color to his remote mines he fires a few at the girl with the delay on. Should they strike they would stick until she tried to remove then detonate or they would detonate remotely when he triggered it.
*Karl's Fal'dev transformation came to a halt due to Confusion*
Karl: What the? They are associates of Styg's? Then why the (Censored) did they start making threats and attacking first?!
*everyone could clearly see that Karl was pissed about the mishap*
Aisha flinched. The face that smiled up at her... was not at all what she had expected. It was mostly human in form, but that was all that was human to it. Covered in short, smooth, lightish grey-blue fur with black patterns, it had two large all-black, gleaming eyes, surrounded by six smaller ones. Aisha was not sure, but she thought they were all fixed on her. The "woman's" mouth was edged by a pair of curved fangs, protruding strangely as she grinned at her and made a laugh, underlined with some kind of clicking, chirping tones.
"She's strong too. I like her," the woman said, and reached up with one of six arms, grabbing Aisha's boomerang with three clawed fingers as she eased to the side. "Let's play with the sharp objects later, no?"
(http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o314/Gaazmazk/SalticiaSketch.gif)
((Crappy, but I am making dinner and I only have about a minute or two...))
The other one, the masked man, had put on his coat again, and was stepping closer to them. As he did, his "helmet" seemed to disassemble somehow, thin lines and cracks appearing where the metal had been smooth before, and the segments and pieces of it peeling down the back of his head and neck. Likewise, the metal on his neck vanished down his collar.
His face was slightly pale, and so similar in lines to Stygian's human one that one might have thought them brothers, yet something made it very clear that was not the case. His was more rounded and balanced, with a just slightly arched nose, and though he had several thin scars across it and a right eye that was obviously cybernetic, gleaming darkly of gold and with two little studs set into the skin under it, he somehow managed to appear much more handsome than Stygian.
The man walked with slow but determined, straight steps against them, facing Stygian with a slight twist to his lips, a smile that did not reach his eyes.
"You are getting slow, Sebastian. You've been slacking off, I think," he said, shaking his head so that a long tied ponytail fell behind his otherwise short, white-blonde hair. Then, he turned his attention to Karl. "My apologies. But we do not like the sight of armed forces."
The smashed bookcase shook once, twice, then exploded outward as that side of the room was suddenly filled with dragon. She thrashed onto all fours, making an even bigger mess of the room. Upright she held one hand to a bump on the side of her head. "Owwww! Who hit me?" asked a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar coming out of a so much bigger chest. For a dangerous second confused blue eyes scanned the room uncomprehendingly then, with a double blink, Mel was back. "Oh, right, all the party crashers. You children play too rough. Didn't your mothers ever tell you not to roughhouse indoors?"
She sat back and neatly wrapped her tail around her feet to take up the least amount of space in the room, silvery horns scraping long gouges in the ceiling. "Mr. Stygian, would you care to make introductions?"
(OOC: Don't squish the bookcase the adorable little kitty is hiding in. :cry)
e sighs" i'm glad you are unharmed Mel and i like you would like an explanation. " the sensor on E's helmet above his forehead flash and hit mines disappear back into his inventory disarmed. ( not how it normally works but i don't want the leave armed mines laying around)
Stygian had reverted to his original human form, the spear in his hand, his wings and the black portions of his body having drawn back in, away from sight. He breathed heavily and kneeled at the strain of having to exert himself against a superior opponent while his new form was still not settled in.
With the dramatic reappearance of Mel, he simply stood hunched over in the centre of the mess of the room, gaping. He looked up at the huge dragon with eyes that seemed to want to escape their sockets, his chest heaving and his arms hanging. Then, he fell backwards, his back to the floor, laughing hysterically in between rasping coughs.
After a while, Stygian stopped laughing and rose to his feet, still shaking. He looked up at the just slightly taller, black- and red-clad man.
"Things have been... irregular lately, Steph. Lose the suits, will you, Karl?" he said, not waiting for a response. "Everyone; this is Stephen Exel, a.k.a. Excelerator," he said, indicating the man with his hand. "The girl on the floor over there is Salticia."
The man bowed in their general direction, but still did not take his eyes off them. He scanned them all closer from head to toe, his eyes stopping a moment first at Mel, and then at Aisha. A suggestive smile then went on his face again, and he stepped forward, offering Gareeku his hand first. The girl on the other hand kind of sprang to her feet, rubbing her plump abdomen behind her for a moment, and then sided up behind Aisha and Gareeku, laying an arm on the shoulder of each and leaning on them.
"Interesting friends you've made, Styg," she said in a cheery voice. "How many have you eaten yet?"
Karl: very well...guys, take a break (via subspace)...
Soldiers: yes sir!
*all the soldiers, including the CyberPaladins, entered a pocket dimension to be on standby if they were needed*
Karl: the troops will be awaiting when we need help...I hope your two friends here will understand the need for security, Stygian...
*Karl Gives the two new persons a glare that sends the message that any further disorderly conduct (from the two of them) will not be tolerated in his home*
e's eyes flash at the dark humor. it's almost like some thing he would say. Erebus laughed within e's mind. chill E you know that you need to wait and see what's going on. but be glad you didn't donate any of those mines before things calmed down. 'yeah i know' e mutters sub vocally to Erebus. 'still he took a few direct shoes and then he grab my arm. he's not as strong as gut's man was but given time he could have damaged it. why worry about it. even if he did mange to damage you it would explode in his hands like a 10 mega ton mini nuke. 'that would kill the organic. that why i'm uses these old weapons form 20xx to try to keep them safe if the intercept the line of fire.'
I will never understand you. have you so fully adapted that robot's programming? it's not his program it's a partial back up of his memories and yes they effect me some.' E ups hit bust to the mark 7 and test it's charging capacity. Now with this he could slice through a six inch this slab of steal reinforced concrete in one shot. It had around 15 times the power of his last buster and that made him uneasy. He takes a moment to down grade to the mark 5. that should be better he's thinks the mark 7 and the x mark 3-7 for later should he need them. the sword at his hip rattles and he looks down surprised that he had forgotten it. "not now mornblade" he says speaking aloud for the first time in a while.
Boogey leaned in a corner until the commotion was over with. So we have fools who think they have jurisdiction over everything, fools who think they should, and us fools who do nothing about them. Alright, philosophy time over. he broke out his best "aren't-you-all-so-silly?" smirk and strolled forward.
"If you're all quite done lowering the real estate value around here, could we get back to important things, like food?" He sat down at the kitchen counter (assuming there is a counter left) and evaluated the newcomers. A brute, and if Stygians comment about prior girlfriends from earlier was true, his ex. My, but they both must have terrible taste. Trying not to let his initial impression of the two show, he waved a hand to indicate more seats, "Please, sit down. On the topic of eating, while anyone smarter than the Thing at the back of the fridge is not on the menu, we do have tea and various snack foods. And I think your pal threw together something, did he not?"
Watching the commotion, Gareeku stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, observing the chaos bfore him with a stern expression on his face. When everything had calmed down, the wolf walked up to stand beside Aisha, only to find one of the creatures who had attacked them only moments ago now acting friendly, putting a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Well you've certainly changed your tune." Gareeku said calmly, looking down at the woman with a raised eyebrow. "Some of use may not be sensible, especially those who have not thoughts things through with logic and reasoning," he continued, glancing towards Karl, "but i do not think i would exactly regard bursting into this peaceful abode and attacking us without provocation as the most sensible of approaches either."
Turning his head to look at the Male, the wolf continued his stern look for a couple of seconds, before a smirk appeared on his face as he took the offered hand in a handshake.
"But that doesn't mean I don't like you though." he stated. The recent commotion had not left him in the best of moods at first, but once he knew they were not enemies, he began to relax again.
Looking back to the female, Gareeku chuckled.
"I don't think he could like to eat me somehow..." the wolf said, looking at Stygian with the smirk still on his face before patting the katana fastened to his side. "I think he knows I'd leave quite the bad taste in his mouth."
Eaten? She had sneered slightly at the woman's joke to Stygian, if it was even a joke. Nonetheless, now that introductions were made, it seemed that everyone was now at least going to try to be civilized. The panther shrugged the shoulder that Salticia had her hand on, nodding politely in turn to she and the other man. "Charmed, muchachos. Just call me Aisha."
Aisha watched the reactions of the others. Karl had called off his soldiers for the moment, E looked like he was arguing within himself, Mel had reverted to dragon form, and Boogey was looking a little aloof about the whole disturbance. With a cautious breath, the huntress placed the boomerang back onto her belt. She definitely had to agree with Gareeku; calling everyone else unsensible was nothing short of ironic.
At the mention of getting back to eating, she glanced back to the table. Yeah, it was broken, but at least food tray was moved out of the way. Her ears flattened on her head. "I'll...pay for that later," she rolled her eyes. Suddenly everything is getting more interesting again.
She smirked. "Let us get back to our nice meal then, si? And yes, nobody eats each other. Lot of blood lost that way."
For a moment e looks really angry then he calms downs. around E a huge shadow is seen by those that are looking. it hovers for a moment then vanishes sinking into the wall and floor. E mutter a little under his breath the moves away from the wall heading for the kitchen. "back in a bit" he says then he is gone
(OOC:Sorry I've been out for a while, I was on vaca for thanksgiving, Ill try and catch up)
The man's hand was like iron when Gareeku shook it, and in more ways than one, he suspected.
"As I said, we don't like soldiers. And suddenly getting a link out of nowhere, as if it were an emergency, kind of puts one on edge. I hope you understand," he said curtly.
When he turned to Aisha, he bowed more deeply and kissed her hand. The iris of his normal eye on the left was easily as red as hers and had a fiery gleam to it, like a hot coal, sharply contrasting against the cold gleam of his right one as he looked at her. Stygian cocked his eyebrows slightly at this as if he had not expected it, but the man just moved on, making very formal greetings to all.
The girl on the other hand laughed heartily and nodded to Aisha and shook her shoulder slightly.
"Call me Sal then, Aisha. Everyone else does, except Styg," she said. Then, she sidled up against Gareeku with a more suggestive expression, and he could feel more of her hands settling on his side. "You would be surprised at what he can down. Kind of like me." She clicked her jaws, a low but hard snap. Those fangs of her seemed to move independently of the rest of her teeth for a bit before she closed her mouth. "Do you have a name, big guy?" she asked.
"Forward as ever..." Stygian said boorishly to all of this, and turned against Exel. "In a way, this is an emergency. We've had an... incident here." He pulled out a red, metallic thing, that which he had torn from the girl's body.
Surprisingly, Salticia turned her attention from clinging on Gareeku to eyeing Stygian irritatedly. He simply stared back at her with a dull expression. Then he shook his head.
"One. Just one," he said. Salticia smirked.
*enters from the darkness*
Ello everyone. Top o the mornin
*Karl turns around and speaks*
Karl: Yeah, it seems your friend caused quite the commotion and accidently led someone's forces into my home, which wouldn't have happened if he'd placed the thing he had prisoner several miles outside the perimeter of the complex...that way we wouldn't mistake the thing for an innocent!
Aisha raised an eyebrow towards Karl and laughed in agreement. For all the trouble it didn't seem that some were so capable of thinking ahead...or else perhaps the house was needed for something. Aisha wasn't going to be the one to cast any more aspersons...she arrived to the party just a little late. She smiled politely while letting Steph kiss her hand. Like Stygian it seemed his friends had charm to balance out their quirks.
Not afraid to show it either...The pantheress gave Sal a slightly incredulous look before shaking her head and taking the nearest seat. She picked up a few pieces of bread and cheese salvaged from the tray and started to munch on them, concentrating on finally filling her stomach and watching as Stygian took out a piece that had been of one of the marauding angel-creatures as proof. "Mm-hm, we have a very interesting story to tell," Aisha muttered.
Her ear pricked up for a second only to regard a noise from the darker parts of the house. Someone with interesting ways to move around...so it seemed some of the guests had the liberty to come back into the mansion.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Of course I thought that people would come wandering into a locked up and empty house," Stygian said sarcastically, the comment clearly directed to Karl. "Twit. I wasn't expecting the girl or her friends, and I was going to leave. Then you showed up."
He didn't mind Karl further, but turned to Exel and walked up to him, handing him the little metal-thing. He sounded quick, almost severe when he spoke again.
"You're going to have to go back soon. These ones came after me almost immediately after a jump. That's too close to my latest return home to be a coincidence, especially after last time. And these ones were... different. You remember the Blood?" he asked, and Stephen answered with a nod. "This one was quick like that one. But even faster." Stephen's eyes widened slightly, and he took the little thing in his hand, examining it carefully.
Salticia paid the thing about two seconds of her mind, before she went back to clinging on Gareeku. However she did speak, and not to him but to Stygian.
"You're saying that there's a rat, is that it?" she said, and her face turned bitter for just a second. She faced him again. "We've had two breaches the last month. And Moira's Mouth went missing. We had to recover her from one of Simon's places. Don't know if they got anything from her though."
Hearing the woman speak, Gareeku smirked again.
"My name is Gareeku. It's nice to meet you." the wolf said, nodding his head slightly in greeting.
Watching the man kissing Aisha's hand, Gareeku raised an eyebrow slightly. However, seeing his formal greetings to everybody made him smile slightly. Quite the gentleman... the wolf thought to himself before listening to the conversation.
Great...just what we need...more of those things... Gareeku thought to himself.
E retunes to the room . he seems to have come to some kind of decision and his shadow seems to trail after him like a separate being. in his hand he his holds a odd container of glowing purple liquid. he retunes to the wall he has previously left and nods his face neutral. Despite his lack or words ore maybe because of hit he seems to be giving off a more robotic aura then before when he may have been mistaken for a normal person in weird armor. The fact that his shadow does not sync with his movements or follow his previous motions is also disquieting as it melts out of site. e drinks his glowing liquid and waits to figure out was is going on with cold calculating eyes. "I gather they there may have been introductions while I was away. I am E's forte. You may call me E if you choose." With that e fell silent again his eyes vigilant as he watched the group before him.
Mel stayed silent and still in the corner. While she normally went small when she wanted to be forgotten she had found out long ago that people tended to forget that very large things were sentient as long as they were quiet. Not that she had anything to add that wouldn't sound as bitchy and fake as everyone else. She had a screaming headache from the hit to the head and could feel her eye puffing shut. Everyone's nerves were shot and someone was bound to snap soon. Maybe it would clear the air.
"Nice to meet you too, mister..." Salticia said to Gareeku. Then, she turned her head to Aisha and gave her an equally sly grin. She wasn't sure, but while the spider-girl's both larger eyes seemed fixed forward, the smaller ones seemed to move, tracing across her. "So. Demon hunter, huh? Tell me... what martial arts do you two practice then?" she said, her curved mouth settling in a gentler smile. She wrinkled the perfectly rounded bump that she had for a nose, and tiny slits opened on each side as she drew a quick smell from the air.
Stephen on the other hand eyed E suspiciously, before he returned to examining the little thing in his left hand. He lifted his right and with his teeth tugged the glove off it, revealing a carefully crafted, almost seamless mechanical hand of gold and black. With a few low cutting sounds it split up, turning into a multitude of small mechanical arms with pincers, pads and cutters on them. He began peeling away at the little thing, talking undisturbedly while he did in his crisp, correct and slightly british accent.
"How many of them were there?" he said. "They cannot be tracing you through the aether, since that obviously does not work when regarding the spans we are talking about here. So I am guessing there were only a few."
True to Mel's suspicions, Stygian did not seem to notice her as he stepped back and leaned on her where she stood, as he would on a wall.
"About a dozen. But there was a Kyriote with them. She tried to blow to the end, but I managed to stop her. Oddly, that seemed to affect me somehow," he said, "and the wolf boy over there." He was frowning, like he was thinking hard, trying to figure something out.
Aisha was sipping some more tea to help swallow the food that she had in her mouth, though she still listened to the various conversations going on in the room. Her eyes had begun to close with a somewhat tired expression, having been on her feet all day and not much time for it to register with her mind. But one eye had been opened to regard Sal and her question. There was a pause...it would definitely take the huntress a while to get used to the strangers.
Especially she listed to Stygian's explanation and there was a sudden reminder of the past events. Just how helpful would it be if I said that the angel creatures wanted to bring ME back alive for some odd reason? And when Stygian had "lended" me his powers...should I add that? Or would it even matter...? Bah, something tells me I'd just be used for bait or something.
She set the cup down on the table and hummed with thought, getting back to Sal. "I guess I dappled in a bit of everything...but I'm not the fighting with hands-and-feet variety. My specialty is enchanted weaponry." She smirked. "I can be quite deadly when it comes to stealth. I don't know how common magic is where you come from, if it even exists...but just about everything I have is embued with a special power, moreover light energy and dark-seeking." She looked over at Gareeku. "Speaking of which, amigo, how are those aches and pains of yours? I figure you might not need to wear the light bracer I've given you for much longer."
Before Gareeku had time to answer her though, Aisha heard something. It was faint, on the edge of hearing. But it was still clear to her, perhaps mostly because it didn't feel like a sound.
...she really shouldn't say something... it's not certain how much we can trust them...
*Karl was beginning to feel a bit hungry, so he walked over to the two fridges and open the first one*
Things inside the fridge: For the horde!
*Karl closes the door*
Karl: ... I need to find a better disguise for the interplanetary gate...that time it was opened to Azeroth...
*Karl opens the second fridge and finds some subs and drinks*
Karl: ahhh...here's the psychic fridge that holds food and drinks that you want...anyone want something to eat and drink? I have sub sandwiches and choice of Milk, soda...or for the demonic type...Nemesian Blood-sake.
Boogey continues to eat and take everything in. There's more of them in this organization, one of whom has been kidnapped recently. The red thing's important, and that's all they've given me to work with on the matter. These two probably aren't staying. He took another handful of assorted salty snacks from a bag he'd commandeered from the box that was being passed around earlier and gulped it down. I'll keep my head down. They need any info from me they'll say something, and in the meantime I'd rather not attract the attentions of these three; they don't seem too scrupulous when it comes to dealing with things I don't like and my core concepts aren't well enough anchored here for me to risk dying.
He chuckled to himself over Mel though. She's rather good at keeping that head of hers down. Nobody wants to notice the 800 ton dragon in the room.
e leans again the wall waiting taking not of everything thing but giving nothing in return. inside a fierce debate is raging but he does not care about that. his aware mind was Scan the alpha transmissions similar to an alpha catch . he was looking for one mind in particular when he accidentally stumbled across Mel's mental frenquncy. he notes a undercurrent of anxiety in her mind and he softens a touch. on an narrow beam transmission he tries to set up a temporary ling with Mel. Boogey the though entity would have to wait a while longer. Mel are you okay" asks' E's minds his thought filled with concern.
Mel's one good eye widened a bit at the sudden communication but she otherwise remained still. "E? No, I'm okay. I just have a headache from my adventure with the bookcase and it's making me cranky and impatient." She paused then asked, "What do you think of the newcomers? Shoot first and question later doesn't exactly reassure me."
e nos his only outward sight. i have to agree Mel. they act too much like the blue dweeb and his kind. both so sure of themselves and confirm that they are right. ha they both forget that the can be controlled but these two. the remind me more of viral drones the cocky dogooder. it makes me worry that we'll have to fight them. whats worse it seems that if we don't fight them then they'll take over and try to make us drones so to speak but maybe it's paranoia on my part. he looks around and wonders if there is a way to get Mel out of here so she can treat her eye with out making a sense. a moment Mel if you well. there is some ones else i wish to ask for assistance Mel hear static and a few of e's inner voices as the speak about procurers in dealing with Stygian friends and a group called the "The Phalanx Covenant" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_%28comics%29#Earth_Phalanx) and The Borg. E searches for Boogyes mental frequency as well using a partitions off section of his mind as a meeting place. are you there thought entity
Something interrupted Mel and E's conversation.
...they are being pressured I know but that's no excuse can we stop wonder how she's doing...
Boogey, of course, felt like someone just poked his spine. For an entity made of thoughts, hurling psychic messages around can be risky. He shuddered and rolled his shoulders, like someone trying on a shirt that's too small across the shoulders.
YOW! Wrong frequency! Wrong frequency! I hear ya, but fix that or your messages are gonna be like nails on a chalkboard to me!
Another cascade of thoughts hit Boogeyman's mind, this time even less coherent and all so strong, twisting in all different kinds of ways. E and Mel both perceived them as well, though they were slowly tuning out of "frequency", and Aisha heard them quite clearly. None could make much out of them, except some words in the cacophony. But they felt very confused, and somewhat uneasy.
...WHAT... HELL... GET... HEAD... HAPPENING... THIS... MY... NO...?!
as e softens his signal to a more of a receiving mode he notes and speaks to Mel an boogy. "it seems that were are on a party line. bet be cogent." with a glancing around to the others e briefly wonders about shielding. " long story short Mel needs some time alone and i am wary of our new arrivals. can you help us with this?"
(ooc i wont be back until tomorrow afternoon sorry but i need to travel tonight and tomorrow.)
Noticing Aisha's expression, Gareeku frowned with concern slightly. It was then that he also heard the incoherent voice. Raising an eyebrow slightly, he listened as the voice spoke.
I guess more interesting events are headed our way... the wolf thought to himself as he listened. Though his telepathic abilities were not as strong as some of the others, it was still enough to hear the voice clearly.
*Karl takes out an Emerald brand Cola and drinks it down...however his mind also picks up on various frequencies*
Karl's mind: Humpf...everyone's act like a bunch of teens now...*hears Styg's shouting thought*...Crikey! What in Inferno?...ok everyone break frequency...and as for you, E...How's Mega/Rock anyway?
While awaiting an answer to her inquiry, suddenly her head snapped upward. Although the sound was pretty much assaulting everyone's minds moreover than their ears, Aisha still pinned hers against her head. Sometimes it was loud enough that she had to resist the urge to cup her hands on her skull as if she were driving something away from inside.
Her head shook in an effort to get rid of the grating voice or voices, and she put her cup down on the tray, curling the tip of her tail outward to signal annoyance. The panther wasn't exactly used to being telepathic...the mixed voices she tried to percieve one at a time, but it was almost impossible with her tired state of mind and the chaos that they brought, almost writhing away through the perceptions of those that could sense it.
"What in cielo's grace was that?" Aisha said through clenched fangs and cast a glare towards Stygian as if he knew something.
"Was what?" said Salticia. "Is there something going on?" She stood back, looking bothered at how everyone was suddenly turning their heads and speaking about something she could not understand.
Stephen on the other hand seemed to perceive what was going on. He looked up and at Stygian with a strange expression on his face, examining him.
"Are you all right?"
Stygian was looking composed, at least considering what was going on, but his face hinted at irritation and perhaps pain, and he brought one hand up to rub at his neck, then at his temple, as he shifted his stance and looked down on the floor. The psychic messages died down to a low, throbbing hum.
"The Mouth. Was she intact when you brought her back?" he asked.
"Yes," Stephen answered. "We found some marks from syringes and some little residue, but she was fairly intact."
"Then I believe that we have our traitor. Moira."
Salticia moved against Stygian, folding her upper pair of arms under her breasts and planting the others on her hips.
"I don't see how that works. Moira is powerful, yes, but she's been in the inner sanctum for nearly all of the time you've been gone. You know she couldn't contact anyone even if she wanted to. And the Mouth has not been anywhere near Neraux's places or minions until now, so she couldn't have passed on messages," she said. At this Stygian sniffed.
"Don't you get it? The Mouth is Moira. She's been the whole time. And that thing, that doll she floats around, is probably tearing up our place right as we speak."
Salticia gaped. Stephen muttered as if this had been something he had calculated for, but had hoped would not happen. And Stygian laughed bitterly.
Then, a veritable shockwave of psychic energy snapped out. The red little thing in Stephen's hand cracked and exploded like a bursting lightbulb, while Stygian stood for a moment. His eyes and nose started trickling blood, and he screamed and brought his hands to his head, sinking to his knees while shaking violently.
It felt like a blade was scraped across the inside of your skull, like thousands of needles pushed into your head. The words and thoughts lashed out in all possible ways. It was horrid, and inescapable.
*karl jumped at the sound of the exploding hand and scream*
Karl: Mobian Butterbiscuits!!! what happened?!
E's frequency battered by the feedback but some how the link holds shielding and all. good grief that was loud. are you two okay? e stats at the three tech organics being. " alright what the ell is going on?"
(back)
No, no I don't think I'm alright. Boogey massaged his temples and winced.
"Alright, what in the sparkley blue hell just happened?"
the Psionic equivalent to a banshee wail. not very pleasant to anything. e replies. Mel what about you are you okay?
It wasn't pleasant, but my work has given me some barriers. Stygian seems to have taken a bad hit from it. How are Gareeku and Aisha?
I don't know i wasn't networked with them. "karl, Ashia, Gareeku are you all alright?"
After the horrid psychic blast, Aisha's calm composure finally broke down. She was scrunched up a little, hands up to her head and futilely holding her ears closed. The felid was snarling, her teeth almost grinding together. This was like nothing she had ever experienced before...the worst demon with mind-grasping telepathy was like nothing compared to this.
Nonetheless shaky, she still responded, "estoy bien...S'okay, I'm fine...fine."
When it stopped, she started breathing again, albeit with harsh gasps. Her eyes opened slowly and hesitatingly her claws had stopped digging into her scalp. She looked around the room. Those who could be affected were, almost with the same effect. She watched with concern for whatever affect it had on Gareeku as well. Stygian seemed the worst off, bleeding like the blast had snapped a vessel in there somewhere.
Aisha's hand shot down to her belt for her boomerang, eyes narrowing dangerously as she stood up. "This is getting old..."
"Nnnnugh...shit..." Gareeku growled, rising to his feet from his knees as he clutched his head with a snarling grimace on his head. "I'm fine..."
The pain had been unbearable, though he had not shed blood like Stygian had done. Even so, the wolf's eye's twitched slightly as the pain began to subside. "Damn it...what the hell was that...?"
Stygian was still on his knees, moaning slightly. Another burst of thoughts came, less violent but longer and more piercing this time. You felt thoughts and feelings grating at you own, ones you knew weren't yours but that still slid over your mind, like oil spilling on water.
You should have just died to start off with. Why was this pain so real? Oh god, what had you done to deserve this?! The nightmares were coming again. They were coming, and this time they would not leave you alone. You would kill yourself, over and over and over again, and you would enjoy it. You would delight in peeling your skin away, in snapping your bones and eating your own soul and raping your puny little mind like you deserved. Why couldn't you see? Hell, why couldn't you see?!
Stygian wailed again as he took his bloodied hands away from his head. Two dark holes stared out at them all, blood gushing along his cheeks. He had clawed his own eyes out.
Over by the wall, the watch-thing started crackling again, as a dark tear formed along the wall.
Stephen was the only one who seemed aware of what was happening, but still unaffected by it. That "armor" of his had slid back on, and he was walking against Stygian. While he spoke, he reached inside his coat with his left hand, and made one of those short blades appear in his right.
"I'm sorry things would turn out this way, Sebastian."
((OOC: I am now an emo boy! Hear me whine?!?))
The second attack was different. The first had been pain, this one was poison. Nasty black emotions wiggling through the mind hunting for the hidden spots where their kind hid. Mel counted herself lucky that few of them were the kind that would set loose her own internal demons. Her issues were very different from those targeted. On a sigh she tried to relax, pulling free the claws that she had unconsciously driven through the floor during the pain attack.
She opened her eyes, or rather eye, to see how her companions were faring. Everyone immobile except Stygian at her feet. He was howling and bleeding, obviously the main target. Then she heard footsteps on her blind side. She turned her head just enough to see the male, Exel, approaching Stygian with a sword. His remarks made her think he knew what was going on. Mel held out a hand and asked, "Explain this..." She belatedly remembered that she was now a size where even casual gestures looked menacing and withdrew her hand, softly adding, "Please."
*Karl ended up colapsing on the floor due to the mental assault of thoughts...he was twitching like crazy*
Karl: ...ack! can't raise mental barrier! Mother!
*this was the first time anyone could have seen the fear on Karl's face*
Stephen looked up at Mel, speaking frankly and quickly while still walking steadily forward, and then coming to a halt standing right beside Stygian, his arm outstretched with the side-handled blade in hand.
"It is quite simple, really. He is suffering from some sort of feedback shock from interacting with those angels, obviously, and now it seems that Moira has led our enemies to us. I am going to kill him, and deny Neraux his prize, so we get to live and I get to take my revenge."
He spun the blade around like a cutter as he raised it.
Stygian turned to look at Stephen, unseeing eyesockets glaring at him and the pulses of thought and pain growing steadier. He would kill you? He couldn't! That would not make the nightmares go away. He needed you! There was no one else who could win this! There was no other way to end the pain. There was no other possible way!
"It's possible. Believe it."
"Don't you dare!" Salticia screamed as she dove through the air against them. "Sebastian!"
Stephen didn't even move until the very last few hundredths of a second. Then, he exploded in swift and abrupt motion. The next moment Salticia was flying in the other direction, three of her arms severed and a huge gash in her chest. Stephen stopped as quickly as he had begun, standing ramrod straight with one arm on his back and the other holding his sword in a perfect upwards angle.
"Sorry dear. Consider that my farewell gift to you."
The second mental assault had less effect on Boogey than the prior one. It was much like his own toxins, made up of psychic arguments, but not very convincing ones. He could tell they weren't his, and denied them access. The newcomers had begun to turn on one another. Tempting though it was to let them, he knew little of what was going on. When in doubt, go with the known demon.
"That, good sir, was most ungentlemantly behaviour," Boogey said, right before spitting a glob of Toxins at the blade Stephen was holding up. The toxins were meant to rust the blade down to nothing, thus leaving the wielder that much more disarmed. Then he disappeared.
Or tried to.
I'm too real! He realized with a shock, I can't bypass that law of physics without an explination! He quickly cast about the room for an object to hide behind... or a mind to hide in.
E! Please tell me you can reroute me to somebody! Any mind! Fast! Just try to move me there, like moving a file! Boogey dived behind a nearby wall and began reciting a logical proof he'd heard somewhere explaining that all qualities, be they of physical or psychological nature, could be summarized to information and, therefor, that he himself was information. Any time now!
as E had been linked to boogey the request was simple enough. permissions granted. File access : boogey moving to secure server. as e moving boogey first to a secure portion of his mind then he searched for a body for the entity such as a pda. as boogey waits he encounters some of E's inner beings. one of them which resembled a K9 that seemed to be made of darkness spoke to him. "you seem to be a brave one to come in here. even so it seems the you can be of use to us..." the shadow dog pauses "E has located a intact boom box and what he thinks are a cluster of spider eggs. the boom box has what appears to be some kind of bacterias growing within it. where would you like him to send you?" " wait what about" i'm sure that we can continue this later but right now there is a battle and e's not sure who to kill. he barley knows to try to protect so lets finish this now"
edit: opps i hit the enter by mistake
As he had before, Stephen didn't move until the very last moment, simply because he didn't need to. For those incapable of seeing in slow-motion, he became a blur with red lightning crackling in it for a second. Those who were faster than so though saw how he made a whirling motion to avoid the acid spit, and vaporizing the drops that he could not avoid by ionizing and burning them up in the air. He then stopped, and slowly turned his head, searching for whatever had attacked him. But finding nothing, his attention then once again went to Stygian.
"Guess they will have to die too. I would rather make it out of here."
Boogey dissolved and disappeared into E's psyche. "Not too worrying, as minds go. Then again, you really don't want to meet anyones subconcious in a dark ally." He turned away from the scenery at the K9s mention of bodies, "No no no, what I need isn't a new shape to possess. I don't have enough time to make a body right now. I just need a mind to piggyback on throughout this. I stay out there all I'll be good for is maybe a meat shield, and not a particularly durable one. I can't stay here either though," Boogey grinned and shrugged sheepishly, "Electronic minds, programs and subroutenes... I tend to muck those up. See if you can send me into someone else you're connected to; I may be able to help from there."
"hey Mel the thought entity was wondering if..." the shadow dog considers the smiles. "kaga Bunshin." he smiles the suddenly he his gone and the area quakes as suddenly the he the E boogey knows appears on the other side of the area. he seems a little miffed." I don't know what you said to him but he's taken over and is talking about making you a shadow copy body." out side e's body is basically charging with dark energy some much so that he's developed has healthy purple glow. " Kage bunshin no jutsu " suddenly there are two e's standing within a purple energy barrier. the shadow dog returns and the two e's stand motionless inside the field. "what did you do?" 'i mixed shadow magic with you're AWS and built a durable metal shell for our friend there.' "and if he can live in a metal body?" 'he's here isn't her? And if he really needs a meat puppet he can his the belt and go organic' "you didn't" 'i did. i copied everything but the sword. And us.' "all he wanted was a ride. Before you jumped me I was asking Mel if she could host him for a bit" 'why her?' "because I'm linked to her and he can accelerate her healing while protecting her form other mental attacks." 'What about the metal body?' "tell you what let him and Mel decide. If he want it fine if not then you pilot it." 'fine you go talk to Mel I'll talk with him.' " what ever you say teacher dog" "I'm sorry about that Mel there was am impromptu meeting that I was yanked away to. Any way were wondering if it would be possible for the thought entity to piggy back in your brain for a while " it was then that E noticed the barrier and the shadow replication is still immobile but in was looked like dark armor. "Erebus what are you up to now?"
( a bit over the top mabye but the choice is still yous and boogey's )
"Someone hitchhiking in my brain. Oh the irony." Mel managed a mental laugh. "Sure, why not. It will give my work a whole new perspective. As long as he understands that I'm a big squeamish coward." To herself she added, "I should be worried that this isn't the strangest day I've ever had."
The gash in the wall was taller than a man standing straight now, and starting to strain outward. It didn't look normal; rather, it looked as if someone had slashed a huge blade through the wall and was prying away at it with great effort and a crowbar. Bolts of white started snapping around the dark opening.
Stephen turned his head to the slowly breaking portal for a moment. Then, he made a sound that seemed almost like a short laugh, though the mask distorted it cruelly. He lowered his hidden gaze to Stygian.
"Time to finally die, friend."
Stygian tried getting up, but he couldn't move. After a futile pair of tries, he gave up. It is hopeless. He bowed his neck forward in surrender.
Watching as Stephen seemingly turned against Stygian, he growled, reaching for the hilt of his katana when he saw Salticia suffer her horrific injuries. Moving quickly, Gareeku ran and, with a slight jump, caught the woman as she flew back, cushioning her faw as he landed on the floor, coming to rest up again a wall. Looking down at the woman in his arms, the wolf grimaced as he saw the full extent of Salticia's injures.
"Shit...Saltacia, are you ok? I need someone with healing magic!" He asked the woman before shouting to the others.
Looking up, the wolf then saw Stygian completely at the mercy of Stephen. Growling loudly with anger, the wolf rose to his feet, leaving the woman resting against the wall. He then unsheathed his katana, before driving it into the back of Stephen. By now the blade was blazing with light magic, and it would burn like acid through Stephen's body due to the sheer intensity of the magic flowing through the blade.
Once he had done this, not bothering to observe whether his attack had ceased Stephen's attack, the wolf returned to Saltacia, checking her wounds over.
Stephen jerked. He looked down at the blade stabbing through his body before it drew back, and fell on his knees, wheezing through the breathing slits of his mask. How had the wolf managed to...? No matter. He focused himself, and sent commands to his nanosystem to commence repairs, while taking out what looked like a gleaming metal rod, about the length of a hand and the thickness of a thumb from within his coat. He pushed it into one of the studs on the armor on his chest. It melted into it, disappearing, and he twitched for a second.
The next moment, he rose to his feet again.
"That was wholly uncalled for. Had you stood back, you would have gotten off easy. No such thing now," he said to Gareeku. His blade made a sharp, swirling sound as it spun through the air and snapped as it stopped dead still in his hand at a straight angle. He took a practiced stance, and the next moment he flashed, the air tearing asunder around him as he rushed at Gareeku at barely comprehensible speed. It was impossible to defend against.
The rush passed him, and then blood slashed out from the back of Gareeku's knees, elbows, ankles... The sides of his neck were also bleeding. Stephen had eviscerated every tendon with mechanically precise cuts, and Gareeku fell to the floor in a heap, unable to move.
Boogey chuckled, overhearing the message sent to E "I'm totally okay with you not being a squeemish coward. That's what I'll add to the pair. I'll have to pass on the metal body, pal. For now, anywho. Yes, I can heal her and guard against mental attacks, mebbe add things you may need. For instance, ever consider another set of talons? Mouths on your wings, other types of fire breath, stuff like that? Entirely up to you, but my forte's modifications. But yes, I can do the other stuff." He straightened up and grinned at the nearest mental projection of E. "Beam me up, Scott-E."
"NO FIRE!" eeked Mel. "Ice dragon, fire bad. Horrible steamy explosions."
"Just saying I could alter that, were it neccesary," Boogey replied, "And I didn't know the specifics of your type of dragon; I've seen things with six legs and no mouth called dragons, you'll find some variety in how the term is used out there."
Assured that no fire was in the immediate future Mel commented, "Our numbers are dropping rapidly. Karl's down, Gareeku's down. Spider-lady whatshername is down. Stygian is about to go down. Someone had better be brilliant within the next few seconds before he decides to remove the rest of us witnesses." Then she added "If he's so scared of being found by the angel things why doesn't he just leave?"
Stephen gazed down on Gareeku. Though his face was not visible, you could tell from his stance and movements that it was contemptuous.
"Piece of trash. Stay still and do not interfere! That will be your lesson," he said, and reached down and grabbed Gareeku's neck with an iron grip, lifting him as if he weighed nothing and hanging him with his feet above the floor. He then grabbed his right arm at the elbow joint, and brutally twisted it around and clenched it. You could hear the snaps as the tendons and muscles tore, and the crunching from the bone.
"An expensive lesson." He then let go of Gareeku, simply dropping him to the floor, and turned. He looked for a moment at Mel, but seeing her frozen, he simply ignored her and moved against Stygian again.
Stygian himself on the other hand had slumped and lay on the floor. He had managed to crawl against the opening gash in the wall a bit, but was still breathing heavily. He was reaching for it with a twitching hand.
You had to reach the darkness. You had to! All would be fine whe - nghack...!
Stephen planted his boot in his ribcage, and raised his sword.
Aisha, after taking a few moments to recover from the mental blasts, had stood there in shock, watching Stephen as he suddenly moved against Stygian with malicious intent. For a time she just clenched her boomerang handle and watched him...but every time she felt like going in to at least give Stygian a bit of defense, she was hesitant. The panther saw how deadly and quick he was, probably even too quick for her. Her instincts screamed inside of her head to stay out of this...it was a personal fight, none of her business. None of the others' business.
...The idiots! They didn't seem to see that! They either didn't know how fast Stephen was, or were just too noble for their own good. Before she knew it, Gareeku had charged in. The result had him getting tossed and broken, once again thrashed and beaten like nothing. A chill ran down her spine at the thought of going next.
Instead as soon as the wolf had dropped to the floor, she rushed towards him and caught his arm to at least soften his landing. They landed in a heap next to Sal, whom Aisha didn't even know whether she was alive still. The panther's hand brushed her friend's head tenderly...and it came back bloody.
Unseen by anyone but herself, a deep shudder ran through her body. She cast a poisonous gaze to Steph. Uncalled for. Nobody is getting hurt again while I'm still here...nobody is going to die. Stop being a coward, Aisha!
For the luck of the cat's reflexes, before the man had the second to take his sword to Stygian, the boomerang sliced into the floor between the two. Clearly it wasn't aimed for Stephan...she couldn't fight him, but it should have gotten his attention.
"Back off from him, basura rapido. Killing him might not do any good!" the huntress demanded, drawing the weapon back into her hand and standing protectively over the fallen behind her. "Something that I should've probably said a while ago. The angels wanted to kill him too. But they wanted me back alive. He helped me save Gareeku a while ago and left something on me in the process."
*Karl was crawled up into a fetal position, fearing mostly to the images that assaulted his mind...however, as all seem lost, a voice was heard only by him*
???: Karl, Do not despair...I am the ancient sage Zaronas...and I bring a message...only when you raise you energies to high level can ye stop this violent battle...
*the voice then disappeared and Karl snapped out of his fearful state, with a look of determination on his face*
Karl: Stephen, stop this violence this instant!
*it seemed like Karl's energy levels were rising high...too high*
Complex Security System: Warning! Warning! Omega-E type Radiation surging in Kitchen! Surge possibly due to high concentration of Emeraldine/Energon crystals or possible Mana Surge.
*Karl was transforming before their eyes...his hair turned from brown into a golden yellow with a few silver streaks...his eyes turned from hazel-blue to a yellowish green and his body was glowing all over. Of course, Karl sensed Stephen's power and knew that his level 1 Super form could only Keep up with Stephen, let alone match him move for move*
Karl: Stephen, stand down...or would you rather fight with me? Because I am not going to let you attack my friends in my home, even if they're new Aqquintances!
*Karl give a quick glance at Stygian, then quickly returns his attention to Stephen.*
Stephen turned against her. She could almost see the look on his face through his helmet, that look of surprise and fury. He stood motionless for a few moments, and then lowered his sword to his side with an outward angle, the other one spinning out into his free hand with a wicked sound.
"Then you have to die too. Sorry dear. And you seemed such a nice girl..." he said, and with a metallic swipe swept the swords up, crossing them in front of his face. His right foot planted before his right, he tensed. He was clearly going to decapitate her.
This was... your end... At least you would take them with you...
Stygian reached for the portal, almost open as it was now and showing a blurred image of shapes moving towards it. He just needed to reach a little further...
The room seemed to pulse for a second, and then the portal wrenched in on itself, tearing up the whole wall. Blackness swirled, a gaping hole of absolute dark forming, and air rushed through the room as it was sucked into it, along with pizza boxes, trays and plates and spoons and other litter. But oddly, it didn't affect you that much. You could feel the wind, but not that strong a pull. Stephen though was practically flying in it, screaming as he clung to one of the walls that was crumbling in his fingers, darkness pulling at his feet. Stygian lay before the portal, what appeared to be the main part of him shaking on its knees as strands of blackness were pulled from him into the vortex. He was screaming too, and his face was twitching.
With what little strength Salticia had, she clung to Gareeku and to the floor with her remaining limbs, gripping the surface of the floor with her adherent paws. She hung on. Barely.
With a metallic howl, Stephen was drawn into the blackness as the wall gave. Stygian wasn't looking at all like himself anymore. Instead, the angelic girl's appearance had mostly returned, while the shadows that were flowing out of her were thinning, seemingly turning into frantically tugging hands and claws but still seeping away.
You didn't want to die, but this seemed the only way. So much for adventure then...
The vortex crackled and stormed, and then started to shrink rapidly. The angelic girl fell forward as the last strands of darkness slipped from her, a pair of yellowish-green glowing points vanishing into the dark. Then, it snapped shut, closing like the light goes out on an old TV-set, leaving only a dug out hole almost the size of the entire wall, and at least three metres deep. Everything was silent again.
*Karl had just realised what had happened and powered down to normal form*
Karl: Wha? That...that almost looked like a more powerful form of the "Gate of the Abyss"...did that portal send them to Hell, or to a dark dimension unknown?
*Karl looks at the damage to the wall*
Karl: Great! this is gonna cost around 350.99 Credits to fix! plus tax!
As Stephen made his assault, Gareeku screamed out in pain, falling to the floor and finding himself unable to move.
"You bastard...I'll fucking kill you!!" The wolf roared out, although he was in no position to fight or even make usch a threat.
Gareeku's look of rage then changed to one of surprise as the portal sucked in on itself, taking Stephen with it in the process. After the commotion had died down, Gareeku clenched his teeth in an angry snarl, although this anger was in fact directed at himself. Once again he had failed to help, failed to protect those that needed to protecting, and instead had falling at the first hurdle, being swept aside like a leaf. Closing his eyes, he felt nothing but shame.
Aisha held her boomerang up in front of her, half like a shield and half in preparation to attack. She thought that she'd go fighting some powerful demon, not someone from another dimension...although, demons were in the eye of the beholder. She prepared for the strike when the portal suddenly opened up.
Against the strong gust, the claws of her feet dug into the floor, trying to withstand the vortex that was much like a black hole. She could hear shouts of surprise and things careening around the room and into the thing. When she opened her eyes again, Stephen was gone...and Stygian...but the angel girl remained, lying on the ground. The in-room storm had subsided.
Impossible, all the luck... Aisha sighed and stood up, disengaging her claws and replacing the boomerang. The room was in shambles, but at least nobody was hurt. She rolled her eyes at Karl's remark. "I'll help pay for it if you like, Karl. Later. There are people who need mending even more."
Her ear perked when she heard a bit of noise from behind. Sal and Gareeku were stirring. She turned around and kneeled in front of them. "So...you're okay, right?" she inquired with a tone of worry. She cast a glance of suspicion to Sal, as she had been with Steph at first, though had displayed some heroism otherwise, which at least earned an impressed grin from the huntress.
"Apart from losing the ability to move any of my limbs, I'm fine thanks." Gareeku replied, looking up at Aisha with a slight smile. "Though I think Sal needs a bit of seeing to. I think she's lost a lot of blood."
"Heh... no need to... fret..." Salticia somehow managed to say, while clasping her blood-soaked chest. But blood was trickling from the sides of her mouth as well, and something was swimming at the bottom of her eyes... Well, at least the larger ones.
The girl laying on the floor before the portal was still, yet it would seem to those who were looking that her chest was heaving...
( wow i miss the bus home and have net problems for a bit and this greets. while I'm catching up even more replies ouch well lets see)
E heals boogey's request and on seconds he has been sent to Mel on the link. Mean with Erebus has taken control of the shadow reliant and is laughing evilly as he alters it even further he is ready for a fight but the fight seems to have left with out him.
"Admiral, maybe you should worry less about the hole in the wall and more about getting blood stains out of the floor. There are three injured."
"Erebus med detail" says e as he movers over to assist Gareeku he picks the wolf up"will you be okay Gareeku?" he ask as he med scans for broken bones while carefully moving the wolf to a couch while Erebus grumbles checks on Karl
Quote from: Mel Dragonkitty on November 30, 2006, 08:05:00 AM
"Admiral, maybe you should worry less about the hole in the wall and more about getting blood stains out of the floor. There are three injured."
*Karl looks at the three injured*
Karl: Oh shi...*opens the pocket dimension portal and sticks head through it*...you two, come out here!
*two people came out wearing white cyber armor with red lights on their shoulders and the "Red Cross" insignia on the crest...they were medics*
Karl: Help me get these three up to Medbay, Quickly!
*Karl and the two medics got to their duty and began to take the injured to Medbay*
As the others are helped up, Aisha takes a second to inspect the giant gouge in the mansion wall. An ironic smirk crossed her face. Well, if they didn't believe something strange happened here, they'd believe it now.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as her stare seemed to go off into space. I wonder what happened to Stygian all of a sudden. Her hand rested on a part of her stomach, wondering if whatever was inside went with him too. With all the bizzare things that went on, she was ready to expect the truth of everything.
After a moment or two she followed the others up to medbay and sighed, leaning up against the nearby wall and looking around at the injured distrubuted to respective beds. The angel girl once again freed and breathing, Sal, and once again, Gareeku. "Why don't we just stay up here? We're in this room way too often."
*OOC: Sorry if I’m not supposed to post OOC here. I looked for a discussion thread, but couldn’t find one. Anyway, what do I need to know (other than what is noted in the first post) before joining in here?*
=Wanders in shyly...=
Hi.. o.o I don't know whats going on.. (and theres a lot to catch up on >.<)
=He wanders over to an empty couch and sits=
*OOC: I think she has the right idea. Ready to enter ICZone, Syl?*
*Sylver: Am I ever!*
*OOC: Then let us go.*
Sylver (my pet robotic dog) and I (the “human” scientist) walk in. I sit next to Tait-Fox and Sylver sits next to me.
OOC: Best advice, ignore the first post. This thread has changed directions so many times we should rename it the Rollercoaster.
Current Status: We're a mixed group of near strangers in the Admiral's home (points at Karl) which is under attack by interdimensional forces. We just finished a fight and have dragged the wounded to medbay. The cause of the attacks/main source of information was Stygian who is currently presumed dead/severely missing in action. Our remaining sources of information are unconcious in med bay (Sal and mysterious angel girl). We are recouping and awaiting whatever event will start the next chapter of our saga.
P.S.: If either of you want to be the pizza guy so Aisha can finally get her meat lover's with extra cheese she'd be ever so happy. (a joke)
*OOC: Is it me, or was this scenario made for me?*
*Sylver: Samanthium?*
*OOC: Yeah. That and if my character gets caught in battle…*
*Sylver: Yeah. That could be interesting.*
Sylver and I hear of this and travel to med bay. “I come bearing Samanthium,” I say to those present once we get there.
“Um, Joat, you may want to tell them what Samanthium is,” Sylver says.
“Oh, right. Samanthium is the healing chemical. Though it takes two days and heavy machinery to make, it’s worth the wait, for it can heal any wounds once ingested.”
( yeah it's a little crazy right now. were in the after math of a attrition battle and my dark side is inhabiting a shadow replication of myself ready for a fight)
"Good grief Karl this is likely the last time i go to a party thrown by you guys" E shakes his head. "well next stop trying to protect people and fight like the war machine you're inside of" "you shut up. this was meant to be a relaxing time spent with a few friends not a war to conquer the world" "my my aren't you touchy" " THATS IT! It's time to go back!" Erebus and E vanish into beams of light and reappear in the attic to setter there differences."
I smile.
“Um… I know that grin. What are you thinking?” Sylver asks.
“One dose is enough to heal one person, but if you light ten doses on fire at once…”
“…It becomes a gas that will spread out and heal everyone capable of breathing within a 75' radius. Of course!”
I take out ten doses of Samanthium all contained in a single bottle. I light a match and drop it into the bottle. The Samanthium ignites and explodes, knocking back everyone close nearby (probably nobody other than Sylver and myself) and dealing great damage.
“Ow…” I say, eyes closed.
“Maybe you should have tested your theory in more controlled circumstances first,” Sylver says.
“I see a light at the end of a long tunnel.” I open my eyes. “The light is… blue? Blue! The same blue as the samanthium.”
Indeed, a gaseous form of the Samanthium is spreading out and healing those who breathe it. That is, except Sylver, who only had a few dents from the explosion anyway.
“Wow. I was actually right,” I say.
“Of course, you do realise this leaves you with no Samanthium left,” Sylver says.
“Small price to pay. ‘Cause the people I just healed were…” I pause. “…complete and total strangers.”
“Oh, well. You did the right thing, Joat.”
*OOC: I hope this doesn’t qualify as godmoding or anything.*
*Karl looks at the new people*
Karl: you say it's Samanthium? I think I heard of it once while I was in the field.
“Have you ever heard of Tiberium and how Samanthium affects it?” I ask.
“Are you sure now is the time for bragging?” Sylver asks.
“Nah, but let’s face it, I’m a show-off.”
“Fine. Do what you must.”
“So, do you want me to tell you?” I ask Karl.
In medbay, the angel-girl was laying down with her eyes closed under a sheet as pearly white as her fur and skin, seemingly sleeping calmly. Her vitals were reasonably stable, although both her breathing and heartbeat were a little slow for someone her size, and she hadn't shown any signs of much strange at all, save for the fact that she now had barely visible half-healed scar-like lines across her body where the deeper of those lines of "circuitry" had been, as well as a number of others that seemed the remnants of her battle with Stygian.
Salticia though, was far from still and alright. The equipment had not liked her vital values at all, but she was sitting up, one arm still across her chest and the others limp by her side. Her black hair fell forward over her turned down face and hid it as she leaned on one knee pulled up by her abdomen. She was sucking on a straw stuck down into a bag of blood. One already emptied bag lay on the stand-table beside her. At the entry of more people she looked up for just a moment, eight eyes taking them in, and shivered slightly with clenched teeth before she turned down her face again and continued draining the blood-bag. The stumps of her dismembered arms were covered in gauss, but seemed to have stopped bleeding.
"They'll grow back. I just need more to... eat," she said in a low, sad voice.
When the apparrently human man came in and did his trick with the mist, Sal was in no position to do anything. She coughed on the fumes, and then jerked her head back in pain as her arms grew back with loud, cracking and snapping sounds. They were back in moments, turning a waxy colour before she moved them and broke through the molting skin which peeled and fell to the floor. She grumbled, as did her stomach.
((No, please. Step in without a description and spoil the drama. It's not like we are having a conversation.
Shit... now I am going to have to rethink this.))
*OOC: First off, for all I know, med bay could by a mile wide. You could probably have gotten away with having your character out of range. Also, if you want a more detailed character description, you got it.*
Joat Legend Delia
Species: Human?
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Gender: Male
Class: Scientist, Swordsman
Age: 15
Appearance: Short, brown, shiny hair. Wears a lab coat and goggles, though the goggles are usually above his forehead when not in use. Gray eyes.
Inventory: Huge Sword (5'9" long and 4" wide) sheathed and strapped to the back of his lab coat, Laptop computer usually carried in his left hand.
Abilities: High intelligence (wisdom, on the other hand…), high willpower, exceptional hacking skills, Skilled with huge swords.
Sylver
Species: Robotic Dog
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Gender: “Male” (technically, robots have no gender)
Class: Robot
Age: 0
Appearance: Painted silver and blue with blue eyes and has surprisingly realistic movements. His voice does not sound robotic.
Add-ons: Speech Chip, Chrono Drive
Abilities: Sentience, flight, speech, can shoot flames from paws, fire breathing, waterproof, can cry, can blush, thermal vision, night vision, teleportation, time travel (disabled in some dimensions; he never uses this due to fear of temporal disaster)
((Heh, D&D "good or evil" stats...awesome. Welcome. :3 And yessss...pizza, my precioussss... XD Try not to bring out any more big-and-giant healing tricks though, Styg has been trying to make this a good and serious RP. :mowtongue ))
Aisha had kept her eyes on the various wounded in the medbay, wondering what in the world they were going to do about them. At this rate, if any more battles occured, there would be a serious lack of medical supplies. Someone's going to die, I just know it, the pantheress thought, eyes clenched shut, so of course she hadn't noticed someone walking into the room.
Not until the slight explosion had rocked her off her feet and a strange smell permeated into her nostrils and made her cough. She covered her mouth. Was this an attack?
But just from that small dose, suddenly she didn't feel her bruises. There was no longer a slight limp in her leg either...she rolled up one of the pant legs to inspect where a bullet had pierced much earlier. The pain was gone, but the scar had remained. Perhaps infection wouldn't set in if she was lucky. Still, she covered her mouth. By this time, Aisha hadn't need to trust strangers in this house that much, or their methods...she could more easily trust her own pain.
She rolled the sleeve back down and stood up to look over the newcomers, tilting her head as she walked towards where Sal and Gareeku were.
"And who are these new helpers, then?" The huntress inquired with a polite smirk as she leaned against the foot of a bed.
*OOC: Like said, Samanthium is hard to make. I forgot to mention how hard the ingredients are to find. Needless to say, this is probably a one-time occurence.*
Salticia only grumbled, while she moved her arms. Then, she laid back down on her side and stared at her topmost right hand with heartbroken eyes.
"I should have..."
Then, she sat up with a jolt. Her stomach growled in protest, but she only unconsciously moved a hand to it as she jumped down from her bed and ran out from the room, dressed only in her pants, with a large-eyed look on her face.
( ooc as she said awesome status i like how clear cut your charter are and they are defied. if only mine fit into a chubby hole like that)
*OOC: Of course, character development says that my characters’ stats will change over time, no doubt. And thanks.*
Mel had remained behind in the lounge for a moment after everyone else had left. First she healed her swollen eye. She wasn't wearing a stupid black eye from being hit by a book into a medbay where there were real casualties. Second she wanted to take a look at the area where the portal had stood. She had noticed from the moment she had entered the house that it had the weirdest dimensional interfaces she had ever seen and they seemed to be getting even stranger. The more she tried to trace the lines the more confused she got. Finally with a shake of her head she dismissed it. It was probably nothing more than all the technology in the house. Only the best technomages could combine the two disciplines without creating a lot of pollution. Karl's contractor had probably cut corners.
Muttering to herself about sloppy hack technomages the little white dragon started for the medbay.
Before she even got up the first flight of stairs, Mel ran into Salticia who was running down into the commons as fast as she could. The spider-woman met her head on, and not getting around the dragoness on the stairs, she spoke hurriedly:
"Is it still there? Have they...?" she started, but then simply shook her head and set her hands against the wall. She quickly scuttled up it and around Mel, then into the roof and against the ruined wall. Then she dropped to the floor, hitting the ground almost soundlessly, and reached down to pick up something laying on the floor amid all the debris.
"Still here..."
Mel turns to watch Saltica scramble across the lounge ceiling. "You shouldn't be up, you're injur..." Mel trailed off as she realized that Sal once again had all her limbs. She had to be the fastest healer Mel had ever met, considering that the dragon could quite clearly see her previous set on the floor, still dripping slightly from the traumatic amputation only minutes before. "Okay, you're not injured, but it's probably still not a good idea to run around like this so soon. Why don't we go back up to medbay with everyone else? I haven't even done much today and I'm exhausted."
Boogey was addled. Mel's mind had been confusing with all the information lying around, and it had taken him this long to clamber out of that.
"And it's all over. Great." He threw his hands in the air, or at least the mental approximations of both, "Looks like I can get out of here."
...
"And I can't get out on my own. Beautiful. Mel, could you do me a favor? Write down my name or draw my face or something. I need a way out of your head. And while you're at it, what just happened?"
Hearing the grumbling in the back of her mind Mel managed a half smile. She scanned the wreckage for anything that might have been a desk prior to the "party." "I'm sure there is a much more technical explanation but the short answer is that Stygian's clockwork toy turned into a giant vacuum and Exel and Stygian got sucked through. The portal exploded so I don't know if they are somewhere or nowhere." Mel headed out to the kitchen to see if anything survived there. She spotted a pencil hanging from a string next to what she guessed was a high tech phone system but the pad of paper it belonged to was empty. "Our wounded are up in medbay, except Saltica who has gotten loose of the medic's clutches and is picking the rubble from the explosion." Mel looked around the kitchen again and noticed one ragged piece of paper hanging on the fridge by a magnet. "Ah, you have been rescued by a fridgie magnet from, of all places, a pizza delivery service." She freed the paper from it's magnetic captivity and looked at it. She tore the paper in half and returned the written on part to the fridge. "I wouldn't want you to turn into milk, eggs, baloney, and pickles," she laughed before writing Boogey's name with a flourish on the remaining portion.
With a sound best described as "poff!" the paper vanished and Boogey appeared, holding Mel's hand where the paper had been.
"Thanks much. I appreciate not being groceries; in this crowd, edibility could be hazardous. So, in short, things are quiet again?"
*OOC: Yay! Ninja-proofing! (“Ninja” is the term used in the Keenspot forums for being posted in front of by surprise)*
“I don’t think there’s anything left for me to do here,” I say, “So what do you want to do, Sylver?”
“The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!” Sylver says.
“Narf!”
“It’s narf or nothing.”
We both laugh.
*Karl gets a little annoyed by the "Pinky and the Brain" quote*
Karl: That...is not funny...
“Sorry. Anyway, I guess I have nothing to work on now. Not like I have an experiment to tend or someth…” My eyes go wide. “SORRYGOTTAGODOSOMETHINGBEFOREMYLABBURNSDOWNBERIGHTBACKGOTTAGOBYE!”
I run back toward my lab. Sylver looks at the exit, then at Karl. “He must be really nervous to forget that I could just chronoshift him there,” Sylver says.
Karl: Chronoshift? You mean you can manipulate time?
Salticia doesn't hear when Mel is speaking to her. With a slight tinkle of metal, she hugs the thing she picked up close to her, and shakes for a bit. But she holds back her sobs, then sniffles, and stands up, breathing deeply.
"Gone," is all she says. She puts the thing into her pocket, and then turns and starts walking against the stairs.
The light in the room flickers. Salticia stops. She feels the thing in her pocket, then hurriedly pulls it out. It proves to be the "watch", that Stygian left behind. A faint, whirring sound is spinning through the air. Salticia looks at it as it pulses with that sickening green light.
"What the...?" she says, then turns her head back at the wall. The lights flicker again, and the room becomes dark for a few seconds. "No... oh no..."
“‘Chronoshift’ means to travel through space and time. Time travel is dangerous, which is why I don’t do it, but my Chrono Drive can also be used for teleportation,” Sylver says.
The lights flickered and Mel groaned. "Boogey! Don't ever mention things are quiet. That's just asking for it." She turned and looked out into the lounge. Saltica was still near the damaged wall, staring at it. And whenever the lights dimmed Mel caught sight of that acid green glow that she was beginning to associate with trouble. "Saltica, what are you doing?" Mel yelled as she started across the room, or rather around all the piles of rubble that used to be a room.
Meanwhile, back at the lab, I have tended to what needed tending and inadvertantly fallen asleep on a couch while relaxing to catch my breath.
"No, no, no..." Salticia moaned, whilst slowly shaking her head and backing away from the wall. She turned and hurried up the stairs, looking mel in the eyes with a fearful expression.
"Please, we have got to get out of here before it's too late. Where is the exit?" From that look on her face, she was scared to death.
Upstairs, Aisha's tail ring started going frantic. It brightened in a flash, and then they heard a snap as the jewels in it cracked, like a light bulb receiving a much too high load of electricity.
The lights flickered again, and this time, something shook. It wasn't so much a thump as it was a quick, low rumble, through the air as much as through the structure of the house itself. Darkness settled for just a moment, but then the lights came back on. But that had been enough.
It hadn't been there for more than an instant, and it had been very dim, coming from the back of the wall down in the room. But for just a second, Mel was sure she had seen a pair of glowing, blood-red eyes peering at them.
"Aw hell, I take it back alright!? Oh come on!" Boogey looked around, and then turned toward Salticia slowly, "What. Did. You. Bring. With. You." He glowered at the arachnid, furious, "Well? What followed you here? What are we dealing with?"
*OOC: I’m pretty sure Sylver would notice this stuff happening, so…*
Sylver begins to focus.
Suddenly, my cell phone rings very loudly and I wake up with a jolt. “I didn’t do it!”
Realising the source of the noise, I blush, then pick up the phone. Somebody had left me a text message. Sylver. I head back toward med bay. “Crud! Crud! Crud! Crud! Crud! Crud! Crud-and-a-half! Crud! Crud!”
Salticia was practically weeping.
"I didn't do it! I swear! We just have to go. Please!" She started trying to force her way between them. There came no more flickers, but both Mel and Boogey were quite sensitive to... moods, and settings. And while Stygian's presence before when he fought them had been dark enough, this was plainly terrifying. It was pressure, weighing down on them, and tension like a cruel whisper hanging in the air. And it was ill will, like eyes watching them from the dark, and things crawling for them through the walls.
"Please, or we won't make it out!"
Karl: you want an Exit?
*Karl grabs everyone (except for the thing with the glowing red eyes of course) and breaks down the door...he then runs out the doorr and heads down to the lower levels, dragging everyone behind him*
OOC: Somehow, I doubt that your character has enough hands to grab everyone at once Karl.
"I," Boogey said, attempting to restrain his temper, "am sick of this. I am sick of ominious presances and dark shadows and inner demons and all of This." Calm down. Only brutes who can't come up with anything better lose their tempers, exspecially at someone already distraught. Calm DOWN. Make a joke out of it. "I am a stubborn, stubborn person and, while I couldn't impress upon Styggy-boy that sharing information helps, it would seem that I can do so with you," He grabbed Salticia's arm, and grinned manically, "Now tell me what's going on or I'll hang on and weigh you down and make SURE you don't make it out in time for whatever's about to happen." Then, turning away from her, he winked at Mel and mouthed And now you be the good cop.
OOC: I might have used magic to telegrab them, ya know.
Sylver chronoshifted out of his grip. I arrive and stand next to Sylver.
“Something’s coming,” Sylver says.
“I noticed. Well, I doubt we’ll be able to handle it for long, but I think we can hold it off until everyone else is far away from here,” I say, unsheathing my sword.
"Now I'm sure she'll tell us everything once she feels safe. It's just hard to concentrate when you're scared. Right Saltica? You want to tell us, right?"
OOC: Karl and Sylver are two floors up in medbay. How do you know we're being menanced?
The door didn't break. It just... didn't. Karl hit it with a force that he knew should have managed to smash it into and through the opposite wall. But it didn't move more than if he had just bashed it somewhat with a hand. At the third kick, he managed to break away the hinges, and to get out. But when he looked back, the door was still closed.
Normally, Salticia would have used her strength to rip away Boog's arm. But she was terrified, and only shook in his grasp. And she wasn't really aware of his power either. She heard Mel's words and stilled, but she still looked teary-eyed and angry when she spoke. And very afraid.
"It's a Nil vortex. When you open dimensional doors between real space and somwhere where space isn't even defined, you don't exchange energy like you normally do. You can't, because that place will just kick it back. So the energy goes to something else instead. It wants to get back into existence, since it can't be destroyed, and you end up upsetting the whole of space. Normal portals just send out ripples that smooth out nice and quietly. A vortex like this basically explodes and rips it to shreds! Reality is torn apart!" she shouted at him, then looked over her shoulder as the lights flickered again and another shake hit the room, like a huge heart beating. "And what's worse is that it leaves cracks that other things can get through...
Stygian's power is wholeheartedly dark. And it's infectious and uncontrollable, if he isn't there to stop it. If part of him is still there, it could grow into a monster."
((OOC: There is no escape. There is no defense. There is no easterbunny. Now, listen the fuck up; you are going to DPS very veeery slowly... (OBS: quotes!)))
*OOC: Well, it was implied that Aisha is on the same floor as us. So when the jewels shattered, Sylver began to get suspicious. Also, there was the blackout and the rumbling. Then, of course, Karl did what he did. All those were how Sylver found out. As for IC Joat, he can read Sylver’s facial expression fairly well. And what does “DPS” mean?*
"He couldn't leave quietly, oh no. He had to leave another unstable mess in the laws of physics. Jerk," Boogey muttered, letting go of Salticia, "Sounds sorta like me; technically only real for a given value thereof, and mostly exists by bypassing various laws of existance wherever it is." He looked at Mel, "Next weeks lotto numbers say that this thing's already cut off any and all escape. What would such a creature want?"
*OOC: And nobody has told IC Joat or Sylver what the danger is yet. This might not end well.*
Salticia simply stared darkly at the Boogeyman. She still looked afraid, but now she was furious too.
"Don't you talk like that about him! He can't help it! He's been getting better. And then he had to come here! And there must be other things there too. We've seen them before, and..." she stopped. She realized she had gripped him by the collar. The Boogeyman's feet were a good two feet off the ground. She immediately let him go, and held her arms to her.
"Sorry..." she said, ashamed. She looked down to the floor. "I don't..." Another flicker came as she spoke. This time, you thought you heard whispers...
Salticia looked all around. The room had somehow gotten progressively darker, more looming. It seemed like the shadows were reaching for them.
"What does a virus want?" she simply said.
Boogey dusted his coat off.
"What a virus wants? Eat, breed, do repeat until death. We're in trouble, huh?"
Sylver and I explore med bay and try to find the trouble.
Karl: Virus? Oh heck no! That vortex you're saying leads to the digital universe? Or are you referring that whatever that thing in it is a Bioweapon?
"Now you see it," Salticia said. At Karl's comment though, she only made a bitter, mirthless laugh. "You're thinking way to conventionally here. Try something that's far worse than both; something that doesn't stop at the merely physical, but can't be stopped by magic either. It's evolved past that."
"That's all the most probable event. If we don't get out now, we will be trapped and die in here. Or we won't, which is even worse." That sounded very final. "We have to get out before the phenomenon reaches its peak. These things usually start slowly, but they can keep going for years. Decades even."
"Okay," said Mel slowly rubbing at her temples, "You're telling us Stygian is now a house-sized virus. Beautiful. Admiral, where are Aisha, Gareeku, and e? They need to be warned."
Karl: I have them right here.
*Karl is currently holding onto Aisha and Gareeku by the collar of their necks...E, however, was over karl's shoulder*
Karl: dang! you are so heavy, E!
Sylver and I were are close enough to be able to hear this conversation. “Think we should get out of here. But we need to make sure they get out of here, too,” I say to Sylver.
“On it!” Sylver says.
“Oh, right! The chrono drive.”
“Yup!”
Sylver and I walk into the room. “Chronoshift Express ready for take-off!” Sylver says.
"Lovely..." Boogey muttered, already running off to find an exit, "C'mon guys! Our asses wont save themselves!"
((Good lord, how the heck am I gonna keep up with you people? o.O Aisha wouldn't have let anyone grab her by the neck at all...but if you insist, Karl. I have to pull a "cat-scared-by-a-vaccuum" move on you though. :rolleyes ))
Aisha had been relaxing in the medbay during the whole fiasco, waiting for the scientist newcomers to answer her question about who they were. When they didn't answer, she merely shrugged and went back to watching the others, to see if they had healed properly with no strange effects from that healing powder. Sal had suddenly gone out of her notice, and the pantheress quirked an eyebrow as she dashed off so fast. Now what's her problem?
Shrugging, the panther turned a bit of attention back to Gareeku. The wolf seemed okay, though he wasn't saying much. She hoped he was okay. He was still wearing that light bracer on his wrist, and she wasn't about to let him die again.
Then suddenly, the air was permeated with something strange to her quick senses. Her tail flashed like a blinding lightbulb, before its smooth green surface cracked as if under pressure. She suddenly grimaced, wrenched with a dark fear as to have lost her only source of detecting dark energy. "Oh, bueno... now I'm gonna have to get this thing re-enchanted...HEY!"
The panther found herself suddenly being carried partly by the scruff and partly by her cape and shirt collar downstairs, Gareeku beside her. She struggled enough until suddenly seeing that it was only Karl.
As soon as they reached the downstairs, Aisha was more than a little pissed with all of these events. "Unhand me!" With an annoyed growl she swiped at Karl with her outstretched claws and jumped away, grabbing the boomerang from her belt with anger and unease as to why everyone was running around. "What in all of cielo y infierno is going on!?"
(ooc Karl E is currently in the Attic fighting a shadow copy of himself inhabited by his dark side 'that's dark not evil' Erebus) (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php?topic=520.msg67020#msg67020)
that's why you lose E you're too soft E growled and dash jumped out of the way. as six remote mines explode in the area he just vacated. the room filled with lighting as e counter attacked.
I open up my laptop and begin typing into it. “Seems to be ‘sky and hell’. Actually, probably ‘heaven and hell’.”
Sylver has a shocked and scared look on his face. “Um, Joat, bad luck. The Chrono Drive is malfunctioning.”
“Crud and three quarters!”
"We have to leave. Now!" was all that Salticia said, not giving another explanation. "This place is going to come apart. Where is the exit? It shouldn't have reached beyond all this," she said with a motion of her hand.
There was another shudder, under which the air seemed to ripple, and the lighs flickered back and forth, on and off. For a moment, you thought you saw the shadows at the base of the stairs take shape, forming a silhouette of a man walking against you, blood red eyes burning.
"Now!!!" Salticia screamed.
“I think I’ll go with that tactic. Hope nobody minds,” I say.
“Not at all,” Sylver says, “Problem is, I don’t remember where the exit is from here.”
“I remember it’s three floors above us, but that’s all.”
OOC: Can we agree on the layout of this complex? My understanding was lounge (where the portal exploded) was on the ground floor, med bay was two floors up and the attic one floor above that. Are we suddenly in the dungeon or are we going out the attic?
*OOC: IC Joat was being an idiot. To my knowledge OOC, we are two floors below med bay. I just had IC Joat say three, my way of demonstrating how little he knows of the layout.*
((Yeah...I got the idea that Medbay was THREE floors up from the main lounge, and just above that was the attic...))
Aisha was breathing a little hard, glancing around with a nervous energy, her head whipping back and forth while the boomerang was held in a defensive position. So shaky she had suddenly gotten that the tip of the blade had nicked her arm...that had happened when a shadow seemed to appear from out of nowhere. The whole house was like a vortex of ominous, teetering-on-the-edge-of-oblivion energy.
Even though her tail ring was broken and running out of light enchantment, it still fizzled and sparked with a hideous urgency. And seeing all of this, the huntress, normally serious and very composed, was shaking a little. Seeing Sal scared and everyone else jumpy didn't help with matters. Her tail ring NEVER broke...and if it did, she was suddenly out of the fighting league altogether.
"Yeah, okay...let's retreat..." she almost stammered and muttered halfway beneath her breath, "Dioses, nos dan fuerza." (Gods, give us strength.)
Whispers started slithering through the air. Or your minds. You could not be sure of which.
...you will not leave us here... ...traitors...! ...We died for you... ...what have you done to us...? ...make the pain go away...! ...we are waiting for you... ...power... overwhelming...! ...we hate you...! ...your flesh is warm, and your blood... ...heart! Go for her heart...! ... stop it! please...! ...tasty... ...kill you all...! ...open up...! ...We died, and so shall you...
((OOC: The door is on the bottom plane where you are at, I believe. Though the house might be situated on a slope, so that one side's exit is one floor higher. That, I don't really know.))
“Angry spirits. Fine, spirits; how, might I ask, could we possibly take you with us as opposed to leaving you here?” I ask.
“Joat. It’s too late. We can’t help them… at least I don’t think we can,” Sylver says.
"Admiral, it's your house, which way out?"
*OOC: Darn it! Edit ninja’d!*
“Right. Evil angry spirits. Never mind. Leaving you spirits behind now,” I say.
"Awww... Hell." Boogey said, seeing the ominous silhouette and hearing the voices, "You know, creepy is all well and good. I approve of creepy. But does it have to be such stereotypical creepiness? Come up with something new, man." He slowly backed away from the oncoming figure, looking around for some sort of... well, anything useful.
I look at Boogey. “Might you, perchance, be looking for a weapon?”
The next moment, the floor wrenched under the Boogeyman, and he was flung back like a ragdoll through the doorway behind him into the big hall. On top of him, the huge hall chandelier crashed down, and razor-sharp pieces of glass nailed themselves into him and into the floor.
“Rrgh! Those were my last doses of Samanthium I used back at med bay! Crud and nine tenths!” I go and check to see if Boogey is okay.
"You do that," Aisha panted, still looking around frantically and inching her way towards the staircase. She was walking in a bit of a circular motion with each step, one forward and the other back to check behind her, and then forward again. Had the floor gone on its own? The spirits had done it perhaps? Her mind was starting to build up fear beyond measure. But the claws on her feet stuck into the floor to anchor her, lest she'd start running and never stop.
Her ears flattened. She tried to remember her training with Mistress Rynkura...many evil spirits had such tricks. The panther recited a bit of a mantra, which brought strength back to her legs and sense into her mind, and blocked out the voices with a mustering of concentration.
"I say we just get up out of here and find the exit. It seems to be doing more damage to wait and think about it."
Her teeth were clenched and the normally short fur on her tail was poofed so it looked like a snaking feather-duster...but otherwise she felt obligated to be one of the sources of strength.
the battle over the victor in slightly damages armor heads downs the crumbling stairs. "hello!" what happened now the victor wonders and his auto repair kicks int but it would be an hour before he was fulling healing at the rate that it takes complete repairs.> "is anyone ones around?" the victor jumps form place to place looking for a familiar face or a way out of this place.
“Hold on a sec. This may be desperate, but it could work!” Sylver says. He then begins to chant a series of religeous songs, all in the super-fast language of binary.
Pacing backward, Aisha noticed a tall mirror hanging on the other side of the room. She could see her reflection looking directly back at her. But in that mirror, darkness swirled around her. Eyes were moving in those shadows too, red and filled with malice and evil. Her reflection wrenched, and while nothing happened to her personally, the image of her in the mirror was suddenly struck down and knocked forward on her knees. She couldn't take her eyes off it, as things started clawing at her reflection's face, seeping into its nose and mouth. She watched herself struggle, shaking, biting and tearing at the shadows to no avail, until finally, her image in the mirror collapsed forward on the floor.
Then, slowly, her reflection pushed back up to its feet, her back turned to them. And when she turned around, an evil smirk was on her face, her eyes glowing that same horrid crimson. She started walking against the mirror's surface... and then stepped through it, her foot setting silently on the floor in front of it.
Mel was backing her way around the room trying to watch everywhere at once. She could tell how scared she was by the fact that her wings wouldn't stop fluttering. "Saltica, you've seen this before. What happens next?" Then she saw the second Aisha and froze, too scared to move further.
Sylver sees this. Well, the part where the reflection steps into the real world, anyway. “Oh no, you don’t, mirror monster!”
This causes me to look at where Sylver is looking. I draw my sword. I charge at Ahsia (Aisha’s reflection) and Sylver rams into the mirror to shatter it.
Aisha was gaping at the spectacle before her, the grandaddy of all shudders having taken her spine over and chilling her to the bone. She took a few steps back for every step the doppleganger had taken through the mirror...literally through the piece of glass. The creepiness she felt before now increased twice-fold.
"This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening..." the pantheress whimpered, now sensing the dark energy on her own easily without the aid of the tail ring. Her knuckles despite the black fur on them were almost starch white from gripping the boomerang handle tightly. The abomination before her moved with the fluid, deadly grace that the real self always did when moving to finish off her victim.
Evil spirit trick! Had to be, that's all it was! Aisha's other hand dove into back into the belt, drawing the dragon blade. She held both weapons in front of her each within a steel grip, still ready to fight if need be, decisions racing through her mind. Go back downstairs and expose everyone else, or face this alone and run upstairs...and abandon everyone?
"Back off!" she roared, standing and holding her ground while everyone else suddenly charges to her aid. "Va usted, maldita!" ("Leave, damned!")
((And while we're at it, is there a command for making accented letters and upside-down exclamations here? :mowtongue ))
I do not take the time to look for a translation for that.
“We won’t let you fight it alone!” Sylver says.
“No, wait. She has a plan. I can tell,” I say.
*OOC: IC Joat has a knack for being dead wrong, doesn’t he?*
The other version of Aisha just smiled, and started walking against them, drawing out a similar blade in addition to her boomerang.
"Ah, no voy en ninguna parte, querido. ¿Soy ya dentro de usted, recuerdo?" the doppleganger said with a smile. Another lapse in the light made her eyes stand out against the background as they glowed. "I don't have to fight you, really. But I will, just to show you what you've become...!"
She rushed at them, the light flickering and making her already snakelike, terribly fast movements harder to follow. She threw her boomerang at Aisha's head, and then made a circular swipe through the air aimed for her legs.
Salticia simply shouted to Mel:
"I don't know! You can't foresee this stuff!"
“I hope the real version knows what she’s doing,” I say.
Boogey writhed on the floor, straining against the shards pinning him.
"OW! Owowowowowowowowowow You sonova..." It really just went on like that as he worked at removing the glass. "C'mon, Aisha, you can handle this. It's an imposter, and according to the spider woman she's probably a little less real than me! You can take her!"
A mind, a body, frig, what can I USE? He scrutinized the doppelganger, the strange shadows, everything through which this creature had acted. What can I use?
“You looking for a weapon?” I ask once again.
"It'd be something," Boogey grumbled, "Although I'd also really appreciate someone helping me pull out all this freaking GLASS!" Yeah. Methinks he's cranky.
Suddenly, something looms over the Boogeyman, a twinkling shape of red and crystal. He can't make out much but rudimentary features from its slim, snaking frame, but he can see clearly what the thing is made of; blood and glass shards compose its entire structure, one sliding and slithering around the other. The thing seems to... smile at him, and then stretches up one arm, forming it into a wicked crystalline spike and readying to thrust it into his head...
After calling on Sylver to defend against the monster, I begin to help pull out the glass. While doing do, I explain, “Alright, the sword may be huge, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem if held in two hands, since the material is so light. If you’re really strong, you might even manage it with one hand. There is a button on the bottom of the hilt. When it is pressed, the blade will light on fire, though the flames won’t be large enough to reach the hand of the one wielding it. Pressing it again will stop the flames. Don’t worry about me. Claws and fangs are enough weaponry for me.”
Aisha kept her eyes focused totally on the abomination from the mirror. It was indeed almost like she was a carbon copy...even her language was flung back with the same deep and smooth intonation and prowess. It was trying to intimidate her, and so far it was doing a fair job. When the sword was drawn, she almost wanted to cringe and give up. So she...it...has my arsenal. The panther's ears perked up then. So maybe she'd use my strategies?
Her feet were like coiled springs, as was her opponent's, it looked like. Her senses, however a little disturbed by everyone else and her own fear, were on a hair trigger. Chica, fight with your senses intact or you're gonna be six feet in the dirt!
It lunged, using all of the power that she herself had, and her eyes followed. The boomerang was the first to be released, straight for her head, but her eyes were on the weapon that would really catch her...the sword. She could neither duck nor jump...but swerve, yes.
Aisha's feet released and in the same sort quickness moved off sideways, opposite the direction her doppleganger's sword was going, avoiding both. It wasn't fast enough to not catch her...the blade sunk a little into the skin of her leg, and the boomerang sliced off a few inches of her fringe, but she kept going as if it hadn't hit at all. Her dragon blade came up briefly to intercept the whirling thing with a CLANG and cause it to fly off in another direction altogether.
In three steps she had flanked her opponent, the dragon blade coming down in a horizontal slice to its side in passing, a silver blur hitting the apparition's left leg at the base of the body. Her own boomerang came up as she leaped behind to the other side, aiming to knock the weapon from its hand...or perhaps slice the hand off.
Don't stop moving, whatever you do! Aisha chided her mind.
The glass is all pulled out. I hand Boogey the sword. Then, without warning, I transform into a wolf. “Being an alien hybrid has its perks,” I say. I then look at Aisha. “Maybe I was wrong about her having a plan. Or maybe THAT was part of her plan, too. Hm…” I think.
The doppelganger was caught from the side, but doing exactly what Aisha herself would have done, it used its momentum to twist around and make a forward leap away from the blade. But the sword still took, making a gash along its side. The thing rolled up on its feet again, pressing a hand to its side. It then looked at it, the blood on its hand...
"Mmmm... warm..." it said, and much to Aisha's disgustance licked it off not with a tongue but a number of little black tendrils from its mouth. Then it smiled, and leapt at her again, this time moving in a circular pattern and using its feet for kicking as well as the sword.
The blood-glass creature snaked back from the Boog and the scientist, and curling up into a ball of sorts, and then whipping out with its form, flung out hundreds of shards of glass, sharpened like razors at them. The things twinkled as they sped through the air like a deadly rain.
In the roof, the lightbulbs start to pop, and darkness settles. But sparks fly off of them, sparks that unreasonably enough do not extinguish when they reach the floor, but set it on fire. And the shadows seem to crawl into them...
I transform into what seems to be a fox and teleport myself, Sylver, and Boogey in a puff of smoke to a safe distance. Then, when the shards stop, I teleport back there in a puff of smoke. Though I am directly in the fire, I do not seem to be harmed at all by it.
Then my eyes go wide and I say to myself, “Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID! Why didn’t I think of this when the Chrono Drive broke down?”
Mel realized she had backed herself into a corner once again. Ironically the same corner from which she had watched the earlier events unfold. She stumbled over one of the gouges her claws had made during the mental attack. She could see Aisha and her doppleganger and Boogey now had a glass monster but she was too scared to even think of how to help. The green glow seemed more solid now and she couldn't locate any of the others though she knew they were near. Then she saw the fire and her brain shut down entirely. Fear drove her to her native form at the sight of an ice dragon's greatest enemy. She hissed mindlessly at the monster.
I teleport to Mel, then put my paw on her and attempt to teleport the both of us away from there.
You couldn't. Your teleports had been getting harder and harder... and now it seemed like trying to dive through tar. It was simply... too hard.
The fire on the floor, now the only source of light in the room, crackled with crimson and amber flames, growing larger and larger. It started... melding with the shadows, and changing its shape. It grew larger and more solid, taking on a quadrupedal shape. Its neck lengthened, wings sprouted...
When it turned against Mel, the thing was about equal her size and shape, a glowing, roaring fire the shape of a dragon, breathing fumes and advancing slowly on her. And from behind her, she noticed, the wall seemed to be... moving. Sharp things stung at her back.
“A flame monster, eh? Now this I can handle!” I say. “But then, my flame attacks will be null and void. Oh, well.”
I lunge at the flame monster, prepared to bite.
Aisha was matching her opponent's moves blow-for-blow, never winded or exhausted yet, but high on the adrenaline that always happened when she was embroiled in a fast, hard rush of flashing weapons and up-to-the-second reflexes. Steel met steel as the creature's sword and feet were parried by Aisha's own dual-wielded weapons. With every second that passed, the panther stopped thinking of this creature as a carbon-version of herself and more like just another demon to take down.
This thing had her skills, but it couldn't have had all of her memories...this thing didn't train with the most powerful healer and swordswoman in the home region. It didn't have years of good advice locked away in the brain to call upon at certain times. In this, Aisha convinced herself that she had the advantage.
It was then that she happened to remember something funny that Rynkura had told her when she was still young and all too eager, and sometimes advice she didn't follow: "I don't care if you think it looks dramatic and neat, child, you shouldn't always fight with a cape when you're in a close fight with something fast."
This was something that the other "Aisha" hadn't caught on while mirroring the real thing's arrogance. The huntress hid a smirk and while continuing to parry, loosened her own cape. Another blow parried by the boomerang, she tossed her wrist back and threw it at its head. As predicted from before, its eyes were elsewhere, following the sword as it dodged the whirling blade.
It was that moment of weakness that gave it to her. Aisha leaped into the other's blind spot quicker than it could follow, her own cape falling from around her neck so that it wouldn't be a hindrance. Aided by the slowness of the other due to the bleeding leg, She grabbed the opponent's cape and carried the momentum as she whirled around, turning it into a "living" slingshot. It tripped onto the floor and was anchored by Aisha's foot. Heh, so THAT'S why she told me that.
"Tu mueres ahora," Aisha sneered and her sword sliced downward, aimed for the chest while the neck was pretty much pinned by the cloth.
Mel didn't even notice the little thing at her feet with the monster in front of her filling her entire mind. Her tail lashed at the wall behind her as she roared and sprayed the monster with shards of ice.
In a stroke of luck, I am not directly hit by any of the shards, though one does make a very small scratch as it passes by. As I see Aisha out of the corner of my eye, I think, “I don’t know about plans, but that girl sure has moves.”
I reach the flame monster and bite it in midair.
That's when Aisha felt a hand on her shoulder...
"Are you having fun, chica?" a gentle, but at the same time firm and steadfast voice said. The accent, and that very same way she sounded so self-assured, so certain... It couldn't be...
"My, that is some vicious grin. Did I raise you to fight like that? No sabía que usted lo tenía en usted, my girl."
Mel's ice sprayed the horrible dragon-thing in the face and cut into it, but it simply scattered, and turned from one great bonfire into a whole group of smaller ones, that avoided the jaws of the "wolf". They looked like dragons too, but moved like serpents... and there was nothing regal or statesteque about their wicked shapes, their movements or their cutter-jawed heads. They circled her, and spat streams of fire at her, while the stings and rakes at her back grew stronger.
In the other side of the room, in the dug-out hole, the darkness began... concentrating.
*OOC: You missed the part where IC JOat transformed into a full-fox (or what looks like one).*
An epiphany. “Guys! I don’t think these monsters are real! They seem to be growing stronger as we grow more afraid of them! I really think these creatures are merely in our heads, which is why we cannot defeat them!” I say.
Aisha's sword point stopped right above the chest, the tip in fact just a quarter of an inch from digging into the skin. Her body had frozen completely from the voice...that exact voice, almost like it had popped out of the past, out of her thoughts.
With less than steady hands holding her sword hilt above the floored doppelganger, Aisha glanced around, biting her lower lip at who had touched her shoulder. At the sight of the figure, she suddenly wanted to break down.
A semi-elderly but strong white tigress with stripes of bold ebony stood before her, a couple of inches taller than her as she had remembered. Aisha looked into the same unyielding eyes of emerald set in a face that radiated dignity and power, held with a stern and serious look, disciplinary but motherly, the look of the healer. The clothes she wore still in a long-ago-extinct tribal style similar to Mayan, with pearlescent white hair trailing down the back in the same style of braid that Aisha wore as a symbol of her tutelage. She carried a long wooden staff that had at the top what looked like claws clutching an orb that radiated and used light energy.
The panther's eyes widened, slitted pupils going almost as round as large coins. "Mistress Rynkura? Señora..."
Suddenly she heard the strange doctor/fox's voice yelling out another idea of his, which seemed to help bring her back to reality. She shook her head violently and turned back to the sword, about to drive it deeper into the skin of her twin. "You can't be real."
*OOC: Again. He is currently in full-fox form. Okay, granted, it is not technically a fox, but something that looks like a fox, but still…*
The tigress reached out with a strong yet careful hand, hardened by age and training, and stroked Aisha's cheek.
"Oh, but I am real, Aisha. See me, standing here? What does a mere wolf boy know about the arts that we dabble in?" She looked at Joat with a disapproving face, then to Aisha again. "Things are happening here. Dangerous things. And while these "intelectuales" try and resolve it to no end, you have to take a stand and fight it." She placed that same strong hand as before on Aisha's shoulder.
"You trained to fight the darkness, no matter the cost, Aisha. ¿Va usted a pararse ahora?" she said.
Up in the ceiling, Salticia was entangled in a brawl with a cockroach-like creature of monstrous proportions. The thing had just come out of the woodwork and grown like a sponge with the darkness! But it was nearly finished, its body smashed and ripped by her claws, and entangled by her nets. She needed only deliver the killing blow. And she couldn't stay up here much longer. The shadows were coming alive too fast.
When she heard the white tigress down below though, and saw Aisha's reaction, she nearly froze. Quickly stringing a web to the roof and swinging herself down, she shouted:
"Don't listen, Aisha! If we don't try to get out, we're all doomed! We can't fight th... agh!" At the last word, a long tentacle of darkness reached down and swiped her back up into the ceiling.
And from behind Joat, a cruel, rasping metallic voice spoke, distorted from behind a black and golden mask whose breathing slits had turned into the teeth of an eyeless, featureless skull.
"In your heads, you say? That is where you are oh so terribly wrong..."
Again, Aisha froze. The touch was real, too. Her heart had started to well with sadness, and memories flashed through her head of Rynkura's training...she was a parent when her parents were dead. Left behind when she finally decided to go off on her own. Elation wanted to spring up at seeing her again. But her mind was reeling, two sides of the same coin fighting over the subject...hardened discipline and knowledge versus instinctual search for a figure of protection.
Maybe she is real...anything is possible...
No, it's another trick! Snap out of it!
She said she was real, your teacher wouldn't lie...
Trick!
Comfort!
Lie!
Truth!
Aisha in her own self-delusion could barely hear Sal's warning. It was a shout, almost indiscernible, but it got her attention. Something about not listening...to whom? Rynkura? The thought was impossible.
The panther gulped back tears. This was too much. Her knees were weak; the only thing supporting her body was the fact that she was still holding the blade's hilt. "No puedo pensar..."
And yet a set of bloodred eyes scanned the area. Everyone now seemed to have their own opponents. And she couldn't even see where Gareeku was. Her friends were battling the elements of the very house, and she was just standing there listening to her master...or a shade, she wasn't sure anymore...talk about fighting back.
It was then that her eyes fall back down to the doppelganger. Her face scrunched as if in pain, teeth baring a snarl. Was this really just her violent nature biting back? At this rate, she didn't care.
"Oh, I'll fight alright..." she growled, jamming the sword down.
The doppleganger screamed for an instant, as Aisha's sword impaled it. The next second, it burst into shadow, turning into ashes and smoke.
Something throbbed in her chest, she realized. She had stabbed into the heart of that other thing... yet her sword was sticking out through her ribcage. She staggered for a moment, Rynkura's hands still on her shoulders.
"You have vanguished the darkness, chica," the tigress said, as Aisha fell to the ground. Blood was trickling everywhere, but she could already feel the darkness tugging at her, seeping into her. The last thing she saw was Rynkura's face twisted into a grin in a way that her real Mistress' would never have, her eyes burning blood red.
"Aren't you glad...?"
...
Aisha was caught in complete darkness. She could feel her body, and looking down she could see it too, her red robe falling over her as it always did and her sword and boomerang in their places. But the ground was uttely black, just like everything around her. There was no light coming from anywhere; she herself seemed to be the only clearly illuminated thing anywhere within sight. There was no sound, no smell, nothing. Turning around did not reveal anything to her sight beyond the blackness. She called, and no echo came, no matter how long she waited. A second shout did not produce any other result.
"Really, what do you expect?" said a voice from behind her.
Aisha jumped around upon hearing the voice, the cape fluttering as it had been brought mysteriously back to her neck. First there was pain, and now nothing, complete and utter darkness. She tried to think, and her eyes widened.
Estupida! Fool, it was a reflection! Just like you! Whatever happens to it...and you...damn! Her head hung in shame with a sigh. Wherever you REALLY are, Mistress, forgive me...
The place was encompassing, and her heart sank, knowing what the situation looked like.
"Whoever you are, show yourself," she demanded in a voice that sounded less than demanding...distraught. "I'm dead, aren't I?"
The voice chuckled from all around, and then it was behind her shoulder.
"No. You are with me," it said. It was a man's voice, deep, a bit dark and coarse but clear and strong, and it carried a very slight accent, a barely noticeable tint of something in between british and german.
Turning, she saw that face again. A bit older this time, perhaps, but still the same hard-lined face. That blonde hair, that straight nose, those deep eyes, that wedge-like jawline with a slight dimple in its chin... There was nothing inhuman about him, yet Sebastian just naturally gave off a feeling of determination and power.
"And yes, you are dead. It might seem strange, but the two are not the same. Nor are you really with me. It's more like there's a similarity between us."
Aisha calmed down for a minute, after a bit of confusion at seeing Stygian. She blinked and stood up straight. She had a flurry of questions, but they seemed irrelevent...the ethereal feeling of...death, or whatever it was, something more by how he seemed to put it...was weighing on her.
"You...disappeared...but where were you? Or...are we?" she sighed, shaking her head and despite the somber mood giving an ironic chuckle. "Well, what's going on then?" In all honesty she could have come up with a more intelligent question but her mind, the stupidity of her past actions, the way she just gave into her anger...it was all coming down fast.
Stygian, or Sebastian, chuckled. He sat down in a dark leather armchair that just appeared, but somehow seemed to have stood there the whole time, and scratched his scalp with a large, hardened hand.
"Hehe... It's a bit technical. I was really hoping you'd ask me an easier question... But I guess that I could skip the technicalities and just say that the darkness that was created from me is expanding and evolving within the existential disturbance in the mansion. Soon the whole of it will be enveloped. Already, I doubt anyone of those trapped in there can escape.
As for me being here, I can just say that this is not I. This is the imprint left behind when I first came here. Part of my mind simply takes it on again, which is how I can speak to you right now. But I am not saying this. I am not even aware of it, just as you know all about it. Right now I am in pain in the core of the vortex, just like you feel nothing here at the heart of it. I am trying to stop it, by breaking it up and forcing my way through back. Which of course makes no sense at all," he said, and then laughed long and hard.
When his laughter died down, silence fell again for a few moments.
"Heh... I really don't think that it's a question of what is going on. It's all just a matter of time," he then said. He pulled out an onyx black etui from the backpocket on his pressed suit pants, flicked it open, and took out a cigarette, which he lit with a matching lighter. He then proffered her the etui.
"Smoke? It's all in your head anyway."
Aisha listened to his explanation, shivering a little even though it was impossible to feel cold in a pit of black nothingness. But she was feeling a little more disturbed, her gaze wavering down to the "floor", and all around. To get her mind off of the events and bring back her focus, she just considered the surroundings some more. It looked like the concept of directions was nothing but that...concept. What am I even standing on...?
But despite her mood, she chuckled again at Stygian's over and waved her hand. "Even so, I don't think my head will appreciate it. But thanks." She turned her back and slowly took a few steps ahead, then glanced back. She hadn't gone any further from him. The whole thing was still too strange.
"So...I'm pretty much dead, downed by a mirror version of myself, the house is being swallowed up, my friends are doomed to a grave of illusions, and I'm standing here talking to a shadow of your former self, while waiting in a self-inflicted purgatory. Como bueno...and to think all I wanted was pizza." She turned on him. The question she really wanted to ask would probably be too convenient to answer...but she had to try.
"If there's nowhere to run...then at least tell me there's a way to stop it...or make you come back more easily...something." She straightened up with a look of sincerity, feeling like she was about to decide her fate. "Because, amigo, I just want my comrades...all of them, the innocents and even you...to live."
Meanwhile, back at the Lounge, Boogey had no delusions about his ability to use a sword. Barely hefting it both handed, he laced the blade with two arguments. It is made of glass, and the sword is heavy. Ergo, when the sword strikes the monster, the monster will shatter to nothing like anything else made of glass. The monster is made of blood as well, and blood is flammable. He hit the button on the hilt, causing the sword to burst into flame with a satisfying "Fwoosh!"
"Alright you 13 Ghosts reject, it's on," He grinned manically, "You don't LIKE it when I say stuff like that, do you? You think therefor I am, twinkly. You'll neeeever shut me up." And with that, he charged, whirling around and swinging the sword wildly. If I can use a bat, I can use a sword. Same general principle; hit the other guy with the implement.
Mel snarled at the voice shouting that it wasn't real. She had burns and someone wanted to be a philosopher? She could see and feel the burns, black ugly things that continued to eat into her like acid. The only way to stop it was to get back to her normal temperature. While a part of her remembered that there were warm-bloods she didn't want to hurt nearby the other part used her magic to begin ruthlessly dropping the temperature. Almost immediately the burns stopped progressing but the floor became a sheet of ice as the water from the fire versus ice battle froze. Whatever was pushing at her back managed to skid her a foot closer to the firedrakes. She lashed out with her tail and felt the wall behind her smash but the pushing continued. She drove her claws into the floor and continued to blast any drake that came near.
Mel tried to fight the litany of doom running through her head but it was all true. She was going to lose because she was no fighter. She had never been trained. The midget, the sickly one she had been deemed too delicate to learn such things. Her training was run away and find a bigger dragon to protect her. Why hadn't anyone planned for the day there was nowhere to run? She heard a voice far away shouting to run, not fight. Didn't the voice understand she couldn't do either? But she didn't want to die, if only to have a roaring argument with her grandmother about the shortcomings of her educational plan. She called the ice forming on the walls to her as a sort of improvised armor. She'd keep trying until there was nothing left to try.
“Wonderful,” I think, “I’ve never been ice-skating before. Wish I could have fun doing it now. Well, maybe I should go for something a bit more powerful than a veron.”
I transform into a 2' tall, pink, bipedal bunny. A sword made of hard candy appears in my right hand and a shield made of a part of a large eggshell appears in my left hand. I toss the shield to Mel. I then look at the flame monsters and say, “Happy Easter, señors!” I pause. “Oh, great. Now I’m doing it.”
Through the unfolding of the recent events, Gareeku had been standing perfectly still, his eyes closed and his head bowed, seemingly deep in a meditative-like state. Beforehand, he had found himself being dragge by Karl, only to force him to stop by aggressively removing his hand from his person.
Now, however, the wolf was at peace, his breathing slow and deep as his remained in the meditative-like state. It was then that his body seemed to glow, a soft white light emitted from his body as he opened his eyes. Looking down at his arm, he observed the light bracelet on his wrist.
"Hmmmm...it seems the bracelet makes it easier..." the wolf muttered to himself. Hearing the scream coming from the ceiling, Gareeku looked calmly upwards, his glowing form suddenly jumping into the ceiling, to met with the scene Saltacia being attacked by the dark cockroach-like creature.
Just when it seemed as if the creature of darkness was bring a claw down for a fatal blow, a faintly glowing hand reached and grabbed the claw, stopping it in it's tracks.
"You will not harm her." Gareeku said calmly. it was then that a white coloured flame enveloped his hand and forearm. Still Gareeku's face showed a look of calmness. He was now completely in tune with the light magic flowing through his body. The cockroach creature screamed in agony. the light magic coming into contact with it would feel like the most painful burning sensation that one could imagine.
“Nice to know he’s awake,” I think as another shield materializes in my left hand.
Sebastian, or the apparition that was part of him, looked almost completely mindboggled for a moment. Then he cackled laughter at Aisha, even coughed a bit in his armchair before settling back with a sigh and a smile on his face, contently blowing smoke through his nose.
"I said that it's only a matter of time. That is a crystal clear answer," he said, and then his face became more serious. "Thank you for your concern though. But I still think that you will hate me after this ordeal. That you will hate us." He looked down at his own hand as it lay on the red leather of the chair. "We will have to wait. Either I break through, and perhaps we can find some solution then... Or, more likely, a friend is already heading to help us in resolving this."
The little fire-drakes seemed to be slowing down, their movements becoming more sluggish and clumsy as the temperature dropped. A first one slipped on the icy floor, and crashed into a wall, becoming a shower of sparks. Two others were torn apart by Mel's icy blasts. But even as they died, Mel could feel the darkness creeping closer, changing in its nature. It had a will of its own, and it wanted blood.
The ice under her feet reddened, and beneath the frosty surface it was as if Mel could see faces, twisted and screaming in fear, pain and hatred. She thought she recognized one, but they just moved on, keeping on flowing through the ice. Then, just as the last few drakes died in their attempts at assailing her, something smashed through the ice about thirty feet from her. A shape of darkness and cold, steaming white broke through the floor and lunged at her, followed quickly by a pair of others.
Meanwhile, the Boogeyman was making slow progress with the glass-creature. While it managed to dodge the direct part of all his clumsy sword attacks with its liquid agility, the fire still singed it and it was steaming at several places, as it could not move all of its shape fast enough to dodge all of his flailing assault.
The Boogeyman's problem solved itself rather quickly though, as suddenly the creature became slower and slower, its movements getting stiffer and heavier with each second. The temperature was dropping precipitously, and the Boogeyman could see his breath misting. More importantly, the creature had now almost come to a halt, its body and now all too humanlike face slowly twitching as it tried to move for him, parts of its body freezing to the floor.
Joat though, was in serious trouble. With him being closest to the shadows, that was only to be expected. The moment he turned into his new form, he felt something grab around his neck and arms. Little shadow-creatures, black and red-eyed imitations of his current form, swarmed all over him.
"Get the presents! Get the presents!" they chittered disturbingly.
And amid all this suddenly Gareeku had appeared, shining like a beacon of holy light. Around him a hallowed ground seemed to have sprung up, the otherwise so intense darkness pushed back by light from within about five steps from him. Salticia, who had dropped back to the floor, stared at him in awe.
But the darkness reacted with speed. It had barely begun to spread, and had been playing with its prey while gaining its strength. But now here was something that truly defied it, that fought back, so close to its heart. It had to destroy it!
Somwhere inside the accumulating darkness, another pair of red eyes lit, and a familiar shape started forming...
I look at the shadow bunnies and transform back into my fox-like form. I begin to breathe fire at the shadow bunnies.
Sylver, meanwhile, does not look very well. He looks as if he is about to be sick as flakes of his armor begin to chip off and dissolve into thin air. He begins to glow white.
((Gah, everyone else knows how to add a tilde to their letters... o.o And I call myself the manic hispanic. XD ))
"A matter of time...yes, I heard that. You'll have to excuse me, I never did train my patience among other things."
Oh, there's no doubt I'll hate you after this...but still, you're keeping my sanity intact at least. Aisha just replied to him with a light smirk to hint at her thoughts and rubbed her forehead. She couldn't argue with him, nor ask him any more questions, for it didn't seem to help.
It all seemed calm in that little void, but she wondered about what was going on in the outside. Was her body just lying there, or was something else happening...? And her friends...the panther wished that she could see again. But then, maybe the blindness was a blessing...she never wanted to see them become decimated.
However she did send out a thought, even though she was sure nobody could hear it. "Buena suerte, amigos. Good luck."
*OOC: ñ=alt+0241*
Sylver’s armor is chipping off and evaporating much more swiftly now.
"Nice one Mel," Boogey said, backing up from the glass thing and retreating to shelter in the pool of light Gareeku had created, "Nice trick you got there." Turning outward, toward the chittering bunny-things, Boogey exhaled deeply, another Argument spreading out with his breath and intertwining with Gareeku's light. This is light. The enemy is made of shadow. Normally, this would bolster the shadow, since shadows cannot exist without light against an object to cast it. However, there is nothing casting these shadows, so light should be very, very lethal to it. He thought for a second about his other options. He didn't have time to make a body, but he could try creating nightmares; little independant beasts made out of whatever materials are handy with a lifespan typically measured in hours. Unfortunatly, this... Not-Stygian, as he'd decided to call it, had the same trick, and the whole house was material for it to work with. Unless... His attention returned to the now-frozen bloody-shard beast, the ice having turned it into a crimson, crystalyne statue. A smirk played across Boogey's face as he sent a tendril of thought to examine his prior foe.
Waste not, eh?
Sylver’s armor has now completely disappeared. After that, the inner mechanics disappear all at once. All there is left of Sylver is a glowing, white, intangible version of him; his soul. “Never underestimate the power…” he says with a grin, “…of the soul unleashed.”
I am not looking at Sylver, but I do manage to hear that, though not well. “What’s this about a soul unsheathed now?”
Sebastian tilted his head to the side. He didn't say anything, but...
You know, if you're looking for sanity, you won't find it here. The voice was in her head, just behind her shoulder, and echoing over a distance at the same time. Luck only holds half of the time. But We guess We could give you a glimpse of what is going on, seeing as how We're finally getting through.
With that, the darkness around them flickered, and Aisha could feel something of a familiar chill spreading through her, as suddenly her vision changed...
As Joat was burning up the shadows around him, something extremely fast struck him with force like a thunderbolt, both him and Sylver, and sent them flying into a wall.
"I refuse to be ignored! I will have my vengeance!"
The blood-and-glass creature was still suffused with dark energies, but that only made it easier to assemble something out of its structure, seeing as it was still trying to fight back but had no idea why or how. In short, it was near enough perfect for the Boogeyman's altering techniques, although some of the nightmares and thoughts tangled in it were enough to make him feel nauseous and would have to be removed...
Aisha saw out from the darkness at the group of people who were coming together around the glowing shape of what she recognized as Gareeku. They were battling more and more shadow-creatures that started swarming practically out of the walls now. Actually, one of the walls behind them was turning into something rather horrid itself, skull-like faces and hands and tentacles growing from the smooth surface. But even though the shadows were taking on form themselves now, disgusting and twisted beasts starting to come out of nowhere to throw themselves at the group, they did not make it into the aura that Gareeku emitted.
She realized that from where she was standing, she ought to be precisely behind where the portal had opened before, at the very heart of the darkness. That was strange... How could...?
Her chain of thought was broken as she felt herself take a step forward, and unimaginable fury building within her, along with even more undescribable pain. She wanted to rip that light asunder, to tear into it and corrode it and leave nothing but taint and darkness behind. And she knew it wasn't her own thought, or feeling. But it was so hard to keep at bay! And she couldn't control herself! She was trying every step to stop, to slow down and think. But instead, she began running faster, loping against that light...
Something threw itself out of the shadows at the heart of the room, a great shape of black that smashed into Gareeku like a freight train. It roared as it tore into him with claws the size of kitchen knives, and lashed him with tentacles coming from its arched, powerful back.
“Bunny power!” I yell. I launch a great many eggs at the shadow bunnies.
Soul Sylver sees the dark thing heading toward Gareeku. “I don’t THINK so!” Soul Sylver launched himself at the dark being. In doing so, he goes THROUGH the dark being, forcing the being’s dark energy out of its physical body. But he was fully aware that the dark energy he just took out wold not be too happy and would want to strike back at him. Soul Sylver readied himself to do battle with the dark energy.
*OOC: Gee, I sure hope I was clear enough with that.*
Much to his and Joat's surprise, the dark creature did not dissolve or knock out of balance. Sylver hit it allright, but it simply stretched out a muscular arm and caught him with a clawlike fist easily the size of a man's head. His force and light power smashed into it, but somehow there seemed to be no separation between the darkness' physical and energy form. And it was stronger than him. Much stronger.
The thing then smashed back at Sylver with a long tentacle, sending him packing, and resumed its assault on Gareeku. It knew the threat.
You cannot stand in our way. We will consume you!
Aisha felt so absolutely helpless. She knew that this was simply what Stygian, or what he had become, saw and felt. But it was as if she too wanted to kill her friends, to crush them and their spirits and drink their blood warm from their bodies in such a sweet...! No! That was not her thought!
Soul Sylver glows brighter. “Brute force won’t work. Maybe if I tried some sort of distraction tactic…”
“Look, is that some sort of demonic duck!?” Sylver yells. Since that obviuosly doesn’t work, Sylver decides on the more direct approach and atempts to ram into the dark being.
Despite the fact that even a second after she wanted to give the sense of sight up, Aisha couldn't keep her eyes away from the horrid scene. It was like a train wreck...you don't want to watch, but something...a force, a curiosity, what have you...keeps you there and you can't look away. She looked over her friends battling, and the pantheress could do nothing but sit and watch, useless.
Then she caught sight of Gareeku and hope welled in her heart. For once, he was using a great power that didn't involve him going incubus...the light shining across the room and blocking the monsters that charged him was like a beacon, a guide for everyone...a paladin with the power of blessing. She stared and tears welled in her eyes, her hands leaning against an invisible "wall". He's alive...keep it going!
But that hope was drenched, falling away quickly like a waterfall, as soon as she realized that it was her possessed body leading an assault, attacking relentlessly at the hope that everyone had...she felt and saw it all and tried desperately to wrench free, but couldn't. Aisha couldn't even close her eyes, or resist the power that controlled everything. The voice of darkness spewed its threats, each syllable a meteor strike to the psyche.
"Put me back in my head, now! Please!" she yelled. "Put me back! I won't watch this fight!"
“Maybe I can do something,” Sylver thinks. He focuses and his body rematerializes next to the dark being, waiting for a soul to inhabit it.
*OOC: Maybe Aisha can’t be put back in her OWN head, but…*
"Argh!" Gareeku cried out, being thrown to the floor by the attacking creature. Looking up, he could sense something within it...Aisha...
He then cried out again as the claws tore into, blood now staining his white fur. With a roar, Gareeku's body suddenly emitted a bright flash of white light, throwing the creature off of him. Standing back up, Gareeku was panting as he clutched his bloodied shoulder, doing his very best in trying to block out the pain.
"I sense you are using my friend to attack me..." Gareeku said with a growl, before a smirk appeared on his face. "Kind of cowardly, don't you think? If this is your way of trying to mess with my feelings, then you're not doing a very good job. Fight me in your true form. You may consider this move "smart", but it's nothing more thn the actions of a pathetic coward."
Now standing up straight, Gareeku stared into the darkness as flames of light magic swirled around his body in a soft aura; a beautiful light with danced around and licked at his form. "If you are truely an impressive and powerful entity like you claim yourself to be, then left us see who is the most powerful. Fight me in your true form, if you do not consider yourself a pathetic coward."
“That girl is too slow. Must not be able to get out of her body,” Sylver thinks. He then attempts to go through the dark being again; this time not trying to seperate the darkness from it, but trying to seperate Aisha’s soul from the body and put it in his currently empty body.
Boogey's smirk widened. Alright glass boy, a few concepts for you to integrate. First off, you're MINE now. He cut off its links to the force that created it, save for those keeping it alive and those that could be used to harm whatever was at the other end. You're also shaped differently. Mostly humanoid, yes, because sentiant creatures make good monsters, but the blood flowing through you is copper based. Think horseshoe-crab-ish thoughts, buddy boy. You're more useful. And the force that created you initially? He's BAD. Your prime target. Your purpose is to give him hell. You are his nightmare. Lets take away some of these nasty signitures he left in you... Working like a surgeon with a scalpal, he cut out the less savory aspects that had been worked into the creature. Now go be useful to my allies and not quite so much for this thing. Hop to it.
No! Sebastian thought, and Aisha could feel something practically wrenching her mind and concetration back to the fight. You are going to stay right here, and aid us in trying to get through. Call to your friends! Reach them! This is the only way!
The creature slowly rose to its feet again, listening to Gareeku's words with that horrible gaze fixed at him, seething of hatred. Whispers grew in the air around them, the rest of the attacking creatures and myriads of little red eyes retreating back into the darkness. Then, a creeping, coarse laughter rose in the creature's throat. Or in your minds. You could not tell. For a second there seemed to be something else there too, a voice calling... but it was snuffed out, as the thing stepped forward. It smashed the incoming Sylver with a hand, just like before, not even taking its eyes off Gareeku.
We use no one. And we certainly do not need to exploit some weakling girl who cannot even understand her own darkness to defeat you...
The creature stopped, and then became more clear, more defined. You heard a disgusting, slithering and seething sound as its form was enveloped by more black tendrils, and crimson red flames and gases. Around its head, a halo of blood red and black light appeared, and its jagged-toothed mouth breathed the same blood flames as the rest of its form. It hovered slightly above the ground, black wings spread out and becoming tentacles that whipped around its form. And its eyes were an intense crimson now, swirling and burning like a view into the bloodied pits of Hell itself.
We will destroy you. And then this wound upon this world will spread. In time, We shall consume it. And we will use it to move on, extinguishing lights the likes of you... the creature suddenly burst into quickly dissipating darkness and red fumes, and for a moment Gareeku thought he could see something dashing through the air, a shape which the light bent around moving at impossible speed, before the thing re-formed behind him, its claws and tentacles sharpened and ready to attack.
...until none are left!
"Go forth, my nightmare!" Boogey snarled, thankful that the beast streaking towards Gareeku had missed him, "Make me proud!"
With a snarl, the completed nightmare charged forward. It was still made of glass shards, but on it's back was a smooth dome of glass not unlike the shell of a horseshoe crab. Aside from that it was mostly human, save for the extra set of legs and the big, sharp tail. Rushing forward, it stopped and turned to lash out with its tail, sending the great glass spike past Gareeku's head and into the Not-Stygian with pinpoint accuracy.
Soul Sylver seems completely unharmed by the knock-back. “What does he think he can do to me, kill me?”
Soul Sylver attacks the dark creature, this time prepared to try to latch with his teeth onto whatever limb the dark creature tries to block with.
Hearing the creature's words, Gareeku laughed.
"Hahaha...then why do you continue to use her body to attack us? Pathetic." Gareeku said, a smirk on his face as he spoke.
As the creature transformed, Gareeku merely calmed observed the transformation, staring into the creatures's eyes with a cold stare, the creature's frightening appearence not phasing the wolf.
"Big words indeed..." Gareeku commented, before suddenly whirling around, his arm creating a sweeping motion which in turn created a wall of magic flam, comprised of a holy light, which would almost certainly burn into the creature before him. It was then a hand suddenly shot through the wall of light magic flame, grasping the creature around the throat, squeezing hard as both the burning of the light magic enveloping his hand and the choking would create an incredible pain.
"You dare to make threats...you dare to harm those I care for...you are nothing." Gareeku growled, staring into the creature's eyes with a look that would make even the bravest of creatures shudder.
((OOC: Sorry if it seems like i'm going a little overboard, but the creature seems almost godly, so its a tad unfair.)
With that, chances are that Soul Sylver is not blocked, which catches him off-guard. As a result, Soul Sylver hits the dark creature with a THUD rather than a CHOMP.
The spike zoomed through the air against the creature of darkness' head, but at the last moment its eyes turned against it and... It stopped mid-air, then shattered, the shards of it slicing into Gareeku instead. The creature threw the wolf back, then did that trick with the light again and reappeared behind the glass golem.
This is mine! it roared furiously, and impaled the golem upon its spikes, tossing it back against the Boogeyman.
Gareeku had only been in contact with the creature for a moment, but he was certain; that had been Aisha's voice! And he had heard where it was coming from too...
((S'okay, I think now we're all at liberty to be dramatic ^^ BTW Joat, thanks for the how-to on the tilde "n"... ))
Back in "her" mind, Aisha was on the verge of begging and pleading with her tears to at least stop watching this fight...she couldn't just sit there and watch while being able to do nothing. Her hands balled into fists and she landed a hard blow on the invisible wall, to no avail of course, just to contain her rage and sorrow. She feel to her knees.
Then she seemed to feel another presence that was trying to cut through the darkness. It seemed they knew who the being was after all, and surmised (though she had no idea how) that her soul was still alive. For a moment she strongly considered leaving the body into this new vessel...at least until she could be released into the afterlife. After this fight it looked highly possible that there'd be nothing left of her body.
Then she heard Stygian, and saw the presence that was Sylver literally falling away, her small chance at liberation lost. The panther blinked and her breathing was ragged, though she couldn't be physically exhausted. When she heard the other occupant of her body wrench into the presence, she shook her head rapidly. "No puedo, no puedo! How can I help you get through? How can I reach them? I don't know how!"
She took some deep breaths. Pull yourself together, chica. You've been brave up to this point, why act like you're giving up now?
With a loud growl, she called after Sylver. She didn't know who else might hear her, but her voice was cracking from the effort. "Stay away from us, you'll only get hurt! Don't try that again!"
Well...NOW what do I do? Aisha thought frantically as she got back to her feet, in a way feeling every blow that came upon the dark body...and the pain actually felt good for once. "What do I do...?"
"Not anymore," Boogey giggled manically as he clambered out from under the creature, running a finger along the hole Stygian had put in the nightmare. Where his finger went over it the wound closed, and quickly the beast was back on its feet. "I made it better, see?" Alright, plan B. Crabby, you hang back and aid Gareeku as needed. When it looks like he's loosing charge in, and in the meantime go aid the others. As it lumbered off Boogey fixed Stygian with his best smirk, "Your beastie has been repossessed."
Crying out in pain, Gareeku was thrown back, laiding on his back as he grunted upon landing. Getting back to his feet, the wolf winced as he pulled the shards of glass from his body. It was then he remembered...Aisha's voice...coming from...
Turning around, he found himself looking at the vortex.
"Her voice...it was coming from the vortex..." Gareeku muttered to himself, his body still glowing with the light magic. Looking around, the wolf found the creature to be busy dealing with the glass being. Looking back at the vortex, the wolf's brow furrowed; he resolve burning brighter than ever.
"Here's goes nothing..." he muttered to himself, before leaning into the vortex, his upper body entering it...
Soul Sylver seems to disappear for a moment, then reappears behind the dark creature. “I refuse to be defeated!”
The creature that had been Stygian howled in fury. It was just about to use another trick on the Boogeyman that it knew would take him by surprise, one which it thought might finish him for good...
Then, it spasmed, its form crawling and one clawed hand clenching its chest. It turned around, its eyes darting at the wolf going into the swirling darkness behind it.
NO!
Gareeku was practically pulled into the vortex. Absolute darkness swirled around him, dotted only intermittingly by evil red eyes that peered at his shape, their evil stares wishing only ill, yet he could feel things moving around him, hear them... And there was more to it than that. Much more. Sensations he didn't even know one could feel, horrible feelings and images crawling over one's mind, things that couldn't exist. That should not be allowed to exist. He was plunging through the blackness, a single point of light and sanity in this neverending, impossible tartaros...
Then, up ahead, he saw something. Two shapes, standing close. One was clad in red, standing ramrod straight, the other was black and doubled over on what appeared to be solid ground somehow...
"Aisha!!" Gareeku called out, not knowing where he was or whether the forms he could see were who he thought they were...
Soul Sylver looks around for me. Where I once was standing, there is now only a hole.
Still wrapped in turmoil, Aisha watched the battle unfurl as she hoped with desparation that her words had reached the outside. All that she could do now was wait and see which path that this whole thing would take. The fates can't have it this way, they just can't.
Suddenly, the whole place seemed to shudder, as if the base of this reality had been disturbed or...entered? Just like Sylver had tried to do before, only this one had become more permanent. And whatever it was had for a change a sense of familiarity with it.
It was then, looking outside, that Gareeku had disappeared from view. She looked around, but saw nobody except those who had still chosen to stay near the fight. But through the creature's eyes, she could see a vortex closing.
And then a voice. She perked up, and whatever passed for a heart in this form was pounding with a different range of things from disbelief to relief. The voice went with the presence as so familiar, as always bringing the familiar hope. Aisha turned around, crimson eyes wide-open and disbelieving, the tears flowing freely with little effort to hold them back after all she had been through. "Gareeku...? Gareeku!"
She stood up, discerning whether or not what she saw was real. So much deception, it was too good to be true...
Sylver jumps down the hole and it is actually a tunnel. I had dug a tunnel to a location directly under the dark creature. Sylver walks over to me. “Nice underground route, Joat.”
“Underground surprise attack. Neat, huh?” I say.
Sebastian watched the wolf swathed in light descending to them, drops of sweat trickling down his forehead. He was bent over with pain, but his eyes were locked steadily on Gareeku.
"We must get out... I can't..." he said, then fell to his knees again, clenching his midsection with a hand while supporting himself on the other. When he looked up again, his eyes were burning crimson. And his voice...
"I can... make a way for her to return... But you have to kill me, else - hngh! - else everything is lost!"
“One problem, Joat. How do you plan to make the distance between you and the creature thin enough for you to strike without making the floor collapse?” Sylver asks.
“Curses! Foiled again by logic!” I say.
Mel watched the new monsters spring from the ice. Horrible, nasty things of darkness but at least they weren't currently spitting fire. Which was good because her ice breath was almost depleted. She wrenched her claws out of the floor and swung at the foremost attacker. A second one slipped around and grabbed her by the wing. She twisted her head around, meaning to bite it, but at the last second deciding that she wasn't having any of that in her mouth. She tried to twist her head to butt the monster with her horns but missed.
(OOC: Argh, nine post while I typed. Too far behind!)
Looking around, the wolf descended still, looking at the evil eyes which glared at him in return. Hearing Aisha's voice, Gareeku could not help but smile. She was ok!
Stopping his descent at the same level as Aisha and Stephen, the wolf could feel his friend's slight mistrust. He understood how she must have felt; being trapped in darkness such as this for prolonged periods of time must surely affect people. However, the warmth of the light readiating from the wolf's body was a telling sign that he was not merely a hallucination, but the real thing.
"What do you mean? I'm getting you all out of this shit." Gareeku said with a determined look on his face, before turning to Aisha with a warm smile. "Hey there..."
Seeing little threat from Not-Stygian, Boogey joined the Nightmare smashing the new little monsters springing from the ice. It was getting hard for him to keep track.
...
Look, the enemy just had a heart attack while he was mid-taunt. They can't all be big paragraphs of drama and messing with the laws of physics.
The man's face twisted in pain, and something more. As he spoke, his skin slowly began crawling from the inside, as if there were tendrils or maggots moving underneath it. And his hands started blackening as if frostbitten, turning large and clawlike.
"Please! I have to s-sever this existence! I am - ack! - tied to it, and as long as I am, I cannot regain control. You h-have to kill me!" he said. He then turned to Aisha. Her form, similarily, was changing, and pain flared up in her gut. She felt as if things were starting to push forth under her skin too, a painful tingling feeling like a sleeping limb coming back to life, but worse and all over her body.
"S-she is also of this darkness, but she isn't t-tied to it like I. She will make it if you go now!"
We climb out of the hole and see the ice attacking. “Wonderful,” I say. I swing my candy sword at the ice monsters.
Aisha watched as he walked closer, still enveloped in that light, and the very sight of it had put comfort back into her spirit. It was unbelievable that he had found a way inside this dimension...but then, a part of her wasn't all that surprised. It was like the wolf had a skill for accomplishing the impossible.
She smiled back, and for the first time in a long while the emotion crossed her face with ease. What used to be a sarcastic and ironic grin became genuine on her bedraggled and exhausted features. Yes...he was real.
There was a slight pause before the elation got to her. Aisha sprang to Gareeku and wrapped her arms around him. "Loco...You crazy wolf..." she had said with a sob in her voice, something that was hardly present otherwise.
It was then that she heard Stygian, locked in pain and begging them to kill him. "Stygian, you can't be serious...gr..." Her teeth clenched as she felt the same pain and dropped away from Gareeku, her hands clenching her gut. Her gaze jumped between the two and she fell back to her knees. "Well, think of something and quick..."
Gareeku smiled as Aisha did, before blushing as Aisha wrapped her arms around him. The smile then returned to his face once more however at her comment, returning the embrace in full as his arms wrapped around her. Turning to Stygian, a sad expression appeared on his face.
"Very well..." he said softly, before reaching to side and unsheathing his katana, the light magic emitting from his body now mixing with the blade's own glow. Walking up to Stygian, he held his blade up, ready to deliver the finishing strike. "Farewell...my friend..."
The wolf then swung the blade of the katana down, aiming for the neck to sever the head...
Sylver, while he had been inneffective in defeating the dark creature, seems to be making his marks on the ice monsters.
Stygian seemed more settled in his pain now. The frostbite was slowly ascending his neck, and he was still twitching slightly, but he stood almost straight and was smiling a jagged-toothed smile with his glowing eyes fixed at the both of them.
"Don't worry, schätzche. You hate me, right? Besides, I have absolutely no idea what I am doing," he said, and laughed. "Do you want the honors yourself, or should wolfie here be the one to pull the blade?" He still had that same smile upon his face.
When Gareeku stepped up, Stygian simply shrugged, and bent his neck slighly to easen the cut. The wolf raised the blade... and the next second, Stygian's head flew just a bit through the air, his face still smiling, before it hit the ground along with his limp body. Blackish red blood spilled from his neck.
The next moment, the whole place seemed to shudder, and suddenly there was something like a gale through the place. Gareeku, acting quickly as he knew to some part what was going on, grabbed Aisha, as the whole of the darkness around them began rushing downwards, collapsing...
In the lounge, the Stygian-like creature emitted a horrible wail, which was soon accompanied by thousands of others. It fell on its knees, and started dissolving into darkness, as did the icebeasts that were fighting Mel and the things in the walls and the roof... The whole darkness of the place was rushing back into the vortex, strands of black cutting through the air and making trails as the dark drew in and in...
From within the vortex though, a light sprang up, and came rushing out. Gareeku, still bright like a shining white star against the shadows, and now holding Aisha, was practically shot out of it like from a cannon. They both hit the wall opposite to the vortex hard, but safely.
The darkness was congregating to a single point now. Demons and devils, creatures of shadow and crimson flames, tentacles and just plain liquid blackness drew in and in. As things became more clear, they could see someone at the heart of it; a blonde, tall man, naked but for a few scraps of black cloth and the shadows that stormed around him. He was suspended over the floor, shaking violently and screaming, his head thrashing back and forth, and his eyes shining blood red. Behind him, the whole of the darkness was drawing into him, violently shooting into his back. It seemed impossible that even a small portion of all that darkness should fit into a single, human-sized body, but it just kept flowing in and in, until the last few tentacles and tendrils formed a pair of black wings on his back, and then even those drew in.
The man closed his eyes, and then fell forward, hitting the floor heavily.
“I’d say that’s weird, but for adventurers like us, weird is the norm,” I say.
Gareeku took the blow when he and Aisha were shot out of the vortex, grunting loudly as he cushioned the blow against the wall for Aisha, before landing on one knee on the floor. Watched the events unfold before them, the wolf stared at the still form now laying on the floor, before rising to his feet, Aisha still in his arms. Looking down at her, he smiled softly.
"You ok?" he asked.
Sylver’s tired soul returns to his body. He immediately falls asleep.
“How many times do you think my heart exploded during that time?” I ask Mel, “I lost count at twelve.”
The victor of the fight finally finds others " finally. what happened? i leave fore a few minutes and you all start a war again?" the victor shakes his head. "next time at least invite me"
After witnessing Stygian's apparent death, and being tossed out of the vortex at high speeds, Aisha felt like she was going to be sick. The panther almost blacked out for a moment, her link to the dark entity gone and the full feeling of the world came back to her nerves again.
But when Aisha came to again, she was warm, and a little achy. Feeling pain again...if that wasn't proof that she was back in the real world, then nothing else was. Her hand came up to her ribcage...she had been stabbed through the heart, at least that's what it felt like. On a single chance, death was cheated. Her heart was beating at a rapid pace.
Her eyes opened slowly. The room was a mess. The house no longer was alive...and there was a body heaped over on the floor nearby. But the dark sensation was gone. Normalcy...something that seemed so foreign...
She took a deep breath of dusty air and looked up to Gareeku's concerned face as she rested easily in his arms. Had it not been for her deep black fur there would be seen a bit of red on her cheeks. She coughed a shaky laugh. "I'm...just a little freaked out about the whole thing...but yes, I'm okay," she smiled. "Thank you..."
Aisha spared a glance about the room. "Huh...I wonder about everyone else, too."
Mel sat with a thump that made the floor creak and just stared. First at Gareeku and Aisha, then and Stygian, then at the wrecked room. Then she started giggling in pure relief that she had actually survived her first ever fight. "Gareeku, Aisha, I don't know what you did, but thank you. If the magic in this place ever settles down I will produce those damned pizzas you've worked so hard for." And then she began giggling again. Then the stranger beside her asks her a question. She looks down at him, "Have we met?"
I smile at Aisha and hold up the peace sign. “Your local alien Easter bunny is A-OK!”
I then say to Mel, “Not before today, really, though that battle did seem to have lasted for days.” I transform into a half wolf. “This is my natural form. I’m Joat and the doggy is Sylver. Never saw his soul fly out and attack before. Don’t even know how he has a soul, him being a robot and all.”
As Stygian died, so to did the nightmare tied to him. With a sound like a sigh, it collapsed in a tinkley-crash of shattered glass. Boogey dropped the rather heavy sword (after turning off the flames. Give me that much credit) and sank to the floor.
"So... That's over? Save for the unconcious angel in the attic and that former-body of mine there is officially no more Neurox-related madness in this house?" He blinked once or twice, "Is Stygian dead? That's..." He looked disappointed, staring at the body, "That's a shame. He was kind of an ass, yeah, but... That's just a shame."
Seeing that Aisha was alright, the soft smile returned to Gareeku's face. Closing his eyes, the soft glow around his body began to grow in brightness, and then spread to envelop Aisha's body. As the soft glow of the light emitted from Aisha's body, she would feel a warm, pleasant and relaxing feeling flow through her as her aches and pains subsided and disappear, the cuts and bruises on her body disappearing at the same time. Opening his eyes again, the wolf smiled softly at Aisha, before looking up as he heard Mel's giggling.
Hearing her comment, Gareeku laughed softly.
"I'll hold you to that." he said with a smile, before rising to his feet, helping Aisha to her feet as he did so, her paw in his as the glow around his body disappeared. As soon as the glow had gone, Gareeku put a hand to the wall beside them, his legs somewhat shaky as the after effects of using so much magic began to take effect.
"I may have to have that pizza sooner than I think..." he commented with a slight laugh, feeling somewhat dizzy and exhausted.
I overhear that. “I can make a pizza. Just give me a few minutes at my lab and I’ll whip one up in a jiff. But in the meantime…”
I open up my laptop and begin typing away.
Aisha sighed with relief when one by one everyone answered the roll call in one way or another...everyone of course except Stygian. In a way she felt bad for what had happened to the jerk...but he had done what he could. A minute of silence was observed before she was helped gratefully to her feet, smiling as she let the healing light encompass her body. No wounds were left behind...even the scar on her leg from the bullet wound was gone. The feeling had made her purr just slightly. "Good as new..."
She mimicked Gareeku's laughter when he stumbled a little. The panther leaned against him to help him on his shaky feet, though her feet were a little shaky as well. It seemed the queasiness was gone too, so at the mention of pizza she was definitely hungry again. This time it wouldn't be just a lounge party, but a celebration.
If it's possible to have one, came the thought as she glanced about the house. Everything was a total wreck, blown apart or broken in one way or another. She could've guessed that the mirror her doppelganger had come out of was an antique.
"Ay basura..." Aisha barked with a roll of her eyes and another laugh, "Karl's gonna charge us all an arm, a leg, and an eye."
“There. The Chrono Drive should be up and running once more.” I close the laptop. “Now, who can point me to the kitchen? I don’t really need to be at the lab to make pizza.”
Hearing Aisha's comment, Gareeku laughed softly.
"He can try, but I'd probably need to do a dozen jobs to pay for it." he said with a slight grin. Looking down at himself, he noticed his clothes were in tatters. his top had been totally ripped to shreds, and his pant now only stopped just passed his knees. "Looks like i'll need a new set of clothes, too..."
“It’s a good thing my clothes are designed to grow and shrink when I do, otherwise, I would be in quite a predicament in clothes,” I comment.
"Heh, yeah..." Boogey got to his feet, "This was supposed to be a party, wasn't it? Alright, we need music, snacks... And a lack of various unconcious individuals in the upper floors. Be right back." With that, he rushed upstairs to the room where the unconcious Swamp Dragon and the Daos De Machina rested. No more need of this, He thought, wiping away the Daos' mind. He then kneeled over the Swamp Dragon and waved a hand over it. The hand faded to patterned light, and then the dragon did, and then the hand faded back and the light that the dragon had become faded away. Sent somewhere it can make a life for itself. Not much magic, but I know some people there who will take care of it. I wonder what sort of folklore it will lend to it's new home? Not stopping too long to ponder such matters, he ran up to the attic taking the stairs two at a time. Walking over to the unconcious remaining angel, he thought for a second.
... It would take an interesting breed of monster to kill an unconcious opponant, ecspecially during ones victory celebrations. Can't leave him like this though. Huh... Hitting upon an idea, Boogey severed the angel's link to its master and whispered a quick argument over it. Part of the nature of a home is that it is someplace you eventually return to. Ergo, you must return home. Just... not too close to this Trinity fellow. You're not his anymore; his base is not your home. And the angel also faded away into patterned light.
Boogey turned around and headed back down the stairs. The loose ends were tied up, the good guys had won, and reality was slowly reshaping back to how it was that made him want to come here. Best get back to the others. There was a party to get back to.
I grab my sword and put it in the sheath. “Looks like Sylver will be out for quite some time. Oh well; he needs the rest.” I take off my lab coat, under which I am wearing brown jeans and a white T-shirt. I place the lab coat on Sylver as a blanket.
Aisha watched Boogey as he dashed upstairs and quirked an eyebrow. With a shrug, she looked around to see if she remembered where the kitchen was in the mansion to show Joat. "Ah...I think it's that way..." she pointed down a hallway to her left. "Or was it...oh, si, it's that way."
Stretching her tired limbs, the panther hid a smirk when Gareeku and everyone were talking about new clothes. At least hers were intact (thankfully)...and that's when she remembered about her tail ring. She took it off to inspect it. The crack was still there, and the enchantment magic missing. If the huntress was to go back to hunting demons again, she wasn't going out without a darkness sensor. Of course, the idea of more fighting right at the moment wasn't going to sit well.
"Huh...I don't suppose anyone here knows how to re-enchant..." she sighed and placed it back on her tail. After everything that happened, a broken trinket was somewhat trivial. She smiled and slumped against the wall, wondering where anyone's gonna get music for a party. She wanted to at least rest and eat.
“Good thing my clothes are sturdy,” I think. I then go where Aisha told me to go and I reach the kitchen. I immediately begin preparing the pizza. While I am doing so, I think, “Hm… I’d need a test subject of some sort, but it might be possible to create a darkness detector scientifically.”
Mel heard Aisha's question about her tailring. "Actually, I can. I often use the cover of a traveling jeweler. I think maybe I'll take it up full-time now." She had shifted her size down to five foot but hadn't moved from her seated position on the floor. She was sitting with her arms around her legs and her head on her knees. "Is it always like this? After a fight? I can't stop shaking."
Sylver wakes up right before that was said. He opens his eyes and looks at Mel. “Like what? Where everyone is tense? Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Of course, it’s only tense until the party starts.”
Aisha's head came up when she heard Mel, and she laughed gratefully, handing her the tail ring. "Would you then, please, I'd appreciate it. Just some dark magic detection spells...you've seen what it does."
At the dragon's question, Aisha's ears flattened, the past events coming up in a troubled wave. Though the atmosphere was joyous, there was still a guilt there, a pit in her stomach that made her feel as if she should be dead...her stupidity brought it on. Gareeku had to risk his neck. Stygian DID lose it. Fighting back an illusion...
"It usually does happen like that, yeah," the panther answered quietly. "Inches away from death and you think about it, you're always skirting that fine line. But if you keep your nerve you'll never cross it. I'm still shaking myself..."
Lo siento, fates. You lose again.
She leaned her head against the wall, staring up at an intricate ceiling. "That's something none of us are likely going to forget." Then the panther grinned at Gareeku. "Betcha the hero here's gonna get a medal."
When Aisha makes the comment about the medal, Sylver looks a bit dejected.
Hearing Mel's question, Gareeku thought about the recent events. So many time had he almost died, it seemed as if his death was just not meant to be. At least, not today anyway. Turning to Aisha, the wolf noticed her troubled expression. Smiling softly, he put a paw on her shoulder.
"Hey now. You know I'd never ever let that happen." he said, the soft smile still on his face. Hearing Aisha's next comment made him blush slightly, before he smiled back at her. "I wasn't the only hero here today. You are more worthy of that title than I am."
Sylver sighs and begins to walk toward the door.
Boogey swaggered down the stairs, grinning like a loon.
"Well, with that taken care of, I believe this was supposed to be a party? Nobody got the snacks and music? You people ought to be ashamed of yourselves. I mean, really. Gonna have to do everything myself." He strode toward the fridge and started searching for party-type snacks. "We've earned a party, but I refuse to set it up all by myself!"
I am just pulling out the pizza from the oven when Boogey comes in to search the fridge, shortly followed by a depressed Sylver. I notice Sylver’s expression.
“Wha? What happened to you?” I ask.
“Oh, nothing. Everything’s fine,” Sylver lies.
Mel took the ring and looked it over. Almost immediately her shaking slowed. The familiar rhythms of her other work took over and she quickly dropped into the soothing place where it was just her and her art. It didn't take long before tools were spread around her and she was humming something, baddly offkey, as she worked.
Aisha blinked for a second, and then smiled at Gareeku's comment, her face warming. Just those comforting words seemed to make everything just a little better...but still, no matter what, the whole battle like many others of her life will be another for the travel journal. I'm gonna write a book someday, I think. They'll never believe THIS one.
She rested her hand on his arm. "Much as I think that's not true, I'll take it," Aisha laughed. Her eyes followed Sylver as he started walking away, looking a little pained. Her voice raised a little on her next statement so everyone would hear. "Of course, everybody in this house who put in a good effort deserves the title."
When Boogey came back down and complained about everyone's slacking, the panther rolled her eyes. She decided, yeah, it was time to stop moping and start pitching in. "Okay, okay...you turning into the next Señor Personality now?" With another stretch, the girl nodded. "A party's what we came here for, right? I think I'll go into the main lounge and clear some of the debris so we have a dance floor. Vamos!"
“What is it?” I ask again.
“Nothing,” Sylver says.
“You know you can tell me.”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“I know that it…”
“Joat, leave me alone!” Sylver pauses for a moment and the metal on his cheeks turns a bit red, then it fades. “Sorry. I just… well, I didn’t really help during the battles. I just got swatted away like an insect over and over.”
“And you got back up… over and over.” I smile comfortingly. “No matter how bleak things looked, you just got up once more.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right. And I did do a number on those ice monsters. I guess I just need to relax” Sylver begins to walk out the door of the kitchen. “Thanks, Joat. I needed that. Care to walk with me?”
“I shall,” I say. The two of us walk back to the room where the battle took place.
We arrive in that room. Sylver looks a bit happier than before and I am carrying a cheese pizza (on a pan, of course).
(OOC: Sorry I'm late...Stay over at the parents' house for a couple nights and this is what I miss)
*Karl quickly observes the area to assess the damage*
Karl: Ah Geez!!! *insert demon swearing here* this is 12k credits worth in damage...I better call Scott Prower (Engineer, rank is Major, fox species) to fix this since he did help in constructing the building.
at this point Karl i may be more humans to Nuke the building and build a new one.
“Well, this is for the party,” I say, holding up the pizza.
“And for what you said as I was leaving,” Sylver says to Aisha.
“What did she say?”
“Oh, nothing important; to you, anyway.”
He was dead, he was dead, he was dea... no, he was still alive. And aching, he realized. That was bad, but definitely not as bad as before. Which was good. The fighting had stopped too, which was also good. And they were... conversing?! Aisha didn't even feel like she was upset! And Mel had just gone from... Why did he know that? It didn't matter either way. Did they think he was done with them? He didn't know whether to roar or to laugh out loud.
The place was still unstable. He was holding the ripples and currents back, and they were slowly smoothing out, but the disturbances still wanted to change, to twist and distort. So why not let them? he thought. After all, father always said to clean up after one's own messes. And now we have the chance to give this place a little style...
When Aisha came into the main lounge, she saw Salticia sitting beside Stygian's body. She had turned it over, and was stroking his hair with a hand. His eyes were still closed, his hard face now a blank mask and his body still in that object-like way that only dead can be. She was shaking just slightly, drawing a deep breath every now and then, but made almost no sound. It took Aisha a moment to realize that the spider woman was actually crying. Beside her, Stygian's watch lay, now still and silent.
Quote from: e_voyager on December 04, 2006, 02:31:14 AM
at this point Karl i may be more humans to Nuke the building and build a new one.
*Karl gives E a look that could petrify anyone*
Karl: I will not destroy this house and then build a new one! It'll cost me 1 year salary, and then some to rebuild! So unless you guys know of a way to raise 1,150,000 Credits, I will not do it!
(OOC: the admirals yearly salary is 750,000 Credits)
Following Aisha, Gareeku saw the state Sal was in, and a wave of guilt overcame him. Kneeling down beside her, he gently put a hand on her shoulder, looking into her eyes.
"He was a brave man. He sacrificed himself to save us all." the wolf said softly, before looking down at the still form of Stygian. Closing his eyes, he said a prayer for him in his head, before looking back into Sal's eyes, gently raising a finger to softly wipe the tears from her face.
"I'm so sorry."
"well it was just a suggestion beside i could check my coffers and see about pitching it. " e shakes his head. the Wily's were not poor though they were insane and like them E have started his own private bank stash. " still Karl i'm surprised that you don't have enough in savings for this kind of thing. Dr, wily always had at least enough to rebuild his fortes set aside when ever he got ready to make and offenses again the world. " under his breath he mentions that Dr. light had even more that that put away. as he speaks he cane his current vault contents and discovers that he has around half a ton of scrap gold form a project in building a time stabilization device. the devise was still int it's testing stages but still. "how about a donate 500lbs English measurements of gold for you to use as wiring materials ore how ever you wish?"
E blinks as he looks at the pizza in disbelief. " wait we hold a mini war here and the pizza actually comes. and this after all that time we spent waiting in Peace for it.?" screams like charlie brown. "auugh!" sighs. " some one had better be having fum with this or else i'll be angry.":
(OOC:500 Pounds...how much is that worth in US Currency? Because 1 Credit is like 1 US Dollar...)
Mel was hearing everything, but it was as if it was miles away. She was working on the ring and had put herself into the state where the magic and the manual fell into sync. As she carved tiny glyphs of protection into the underside of the prongs that held the stone each glowed with magic for a second before settling in. It was more than the pantheress had asked for but locking out most of her brain in order to channel the magic into the metal was the only thing that had stopped her from throwing a crying screaming fit in front of the group of warriors. She wasn't exactly a baby anymore at almost 150 millenia but she had never encountered anything that actively wanted to hurt her before. She only hoped that she was past the point where she wanted to curl up in a ball and sob by the time the repairs were finished. She was determined not to humiliate herself.
Salticia moaned a little, and then let her tears flow free. She slumped into Gareeku's arms, wetting his shoulder and shaking with five arms around him, her cries muffled by his clothes. Her sixth hand clasped Stygian's watch, shaking as if she wanted to crush it, but couldn't.
"It's not fair! It's not fair!" she repeated over and over. "He deserved to live! It's not fair...!"
Then, another one of those pulses came, a single heartbeat that reverberated through the entire house. For a second, everything seemed to have stopped, and Salticia raised her head from Gareeku's shoulder with a little whimper.
Then, something happened. Fast. The dust and debris on the floor seemed to crawl back against the walls on its own, the furniture moving as well. The floor seemed to ripple under them, and the walls were crawling as stone, plaster, wood and paint grew and moved with cracks and the swooshing sound of the dust passing by. Iron hangers and rails bent and twisted, glass flowed like water... The whole room was cleaning, rebuilding, and changing itself. And the very same thing was happening in the kitchen, upstairs, and throughout the whole rest of the house. You stared in awe as the marks of the whole battle, and even of you being here, were all erased as the place tidied itself up.
The room had not looked like this before. The walls were painted a perfect maroon in between tall onyx-coloured pillairs that stretched to the grey stone in the arched ceiling, like in a gothic cathedral. At one end of the room, a large hearth of red marble and near-black stone, tall as a man, cast its light, flames dancing in it. A large two-piece sofa in dark red leather stood together with several matching leather armchairs in a half circle around a large, low and smooth table of wrought iron and thick, coloured glass, all on top of a large, dark-patterned and finely woven carpet in front and to the side of the fireplace. On the other side, largely an empty space of perfectly set and patterned black and red marble floor, were tall cabinets and display cases of dark wood holding a myriad of glasses of bottles, and another low table in front of them with some readied glasses and the tools for mixing drinks, and a bucket of ice with a bottle in it. The whole hall was filled with other things as well, including sculptures of black stone and glass, wall hangings, and curiously what appeared to be a ridiculously large flatscreen TV set on one wall, and a large, styled and of course black and silver stereo standing beside it, its speakers taller than a man and spread out around the room. There were live candles around the place, and a chandelier hung from the roof, all casting a soft, dim light over the room that not quite pushed back the shadows in the roof and corners. Out the tall, arched windows of the wall closest to you, stretching from the floor to way above your head and hung with blood-red curtains, you could see the well-tended garden sloping gently down in the dark evening, only a few lights from the outside lamps breaking up the darkness and casting reflections in water further off, between tall, looming trees, their crowns in shadows.
Salticia gasped, and so did everyone else, you realized. The whole scenery had changed from battleground to gothic late 19th century mansion in less than a minute's time. And on the clean floor between you, Stygian's body was gone.
From upstairs, you heard the doorbell ring two gentle, clear chimes.
*Karl looked around at the resulting cleanup*
Karl: Okay, people...I don't think we're on Furanis anymore...because this is not what my home looked like before.
I look quite amazed, though I do not gasp. “Hm. Well, this is quite convenient. Just in time for the party, I’m guessing.”
“Wow, this is cool! Look at this! The place just completely redesigned itself!”
“I noticed,” I think, though I am too polite to say it aloud
As Sal sobbed into his shoulder, Gareeku gently wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tight as he let her release her emotions. It was then, however, that the house began to change. Looking on with wonder and awe, the wolf then realised that Stygian's body was gone. A smile then appeared on Gareeku's face.
Hearing the chimes of the doorbell, Gareeku held Sal's hand in his as he made his way to the front door, opening it and seeing what had caused the chiming...
Sylver goes around the room, sniffing all the new decorations.
Quote from: KarlOmega1 on December 04, 2006, 03:23:25 PM
(OOC:500 Pounds...how much is that worth in US Currency? Because 1 Credit is like 1 US Dollar...)
(ooc it was much cheaper when i got it form my project though it should be noted that this gold was not bought for spending back when i bought it. also i'm currently out of spare diamonds though as i used the lase form focus the light for the reactor in my project so you'll have to get them yourself is you need to build a fusion core..
The book value of gold is currently $42.2222 per troy ounce (http://www.fms.treas.gov/gold/index.html). The information used to compile this reporting is received from the U.S. Mint, Federal Reserve ...)
i hope you have some ideal were we are but because i'm lost again.
My lab coat is currently on the floor. I pick it up and put it on.
After deciding that the lounge room was a little too strewn with debris to clean up for a dance floor, Aisha had gone back into the room just as she heard Sylver's remark to her. She smiled, "Well, it's true," and eyed the pizza. She would have pounced on it if she didn't have the dignity to wait for everyone else. And that's when she had noticed Sal.
She walked up to join Gareeku and knelt next to the two of them, agreeing with his statements and quietly offering a solemn prayer of her own. Of course...if Stygian were alive he would get a medal too...who'd have thought him a martyr?
And then, when the changes to the house had started happening, the panther froze, almost with fear. Her hand was hovering over her belt. Oh, please tell me this all isn't repeating itself...
But instead of acting, something told her to watch. She was agape as the house cleaned up and transformed into something that she would've read from a history book in her studies long ago. "Que en el mundo? (What in the world?)" she exclaimed loudly. And when it was done, her hand came back from her belt but with no weapon. Whatever this is didn't look like a threat. But then, she didn't have the help of her darkness ring to gather with that.
Many of the people with curiosity had gone up toward the door to see who had suddenly rung. Aisha glanced questioningly at Sal before following closely behind.
Gothic style archetecture? What in the...? Boogey looked puzzled, and then allowed his face to break into a wide grin. Again he raced up the stairs, this time to the door, shouting along the way.
"Only one person comes to mind likely to have tastes this gloomy. Hey Styggy! It looked like you were dead, so we figured we'd throw a party! C'mon in!" Panting, he reached the door and opened it, "Care for a drink or something? You deserve it too. Besides, if whatever you just did changed the contents of the fridge too I say you have to take the first drink!"
*OOC: Don’t you mean “Que EN el mundo”?*
I transform into the fox-like creature again. I disappear in a puff of smoke and reappear moments later carrying a pair of bracers in my mouth. I drop them and turn back into my half-wolf form, then I put on the bracers.
“What form are you trying out this time?” Sylver asks.
“You’ll see it when I try it out,” I say, “Form 0001A9, activate!”
Suddenly, I grow a pair of angelic-looking wings.
“An angel!” Sylver says.
“No, an incubus. It doesn’t appear to be working. I don’t see what could have happ… oh, right. Now I remember. I’m too young to have wings on my head,” I say, “Seems this new form is a success, then.”
Quote from: e_voyager on December 04, 2006, 06:19:57 PM
Quote from: KarlOmega1 on December 04, 2006, 03:23:25 PM
(OOC:500 Pounds...how much is that worth in US Currency? Because 1 Credit is like 1 US Dollar...)
(ooc it was much cheaper when i got it form my project though it should be noted that this gold was not bought for spending back when i bought it. also i'm currently out of spare diamonds though as i used the lase form focus the light for the reactor in my project so you'll have to get them yourself is you need to build a fusion core..
The book value of gold is currently $42.2222 per troy ounce (http://www.fms.treas.gov/gold/index.html). The information used to compile this reporting is received from the U.S. Mint, Federal Reserve ...)
i hope you have some ideal were we are but because i'm lost again.
(OOC:I thought you meant Pounds as in English currency, not the weight...I guess I was wrong)
Karl: I think Styg might be still alive and has changed the house...
*OOC: I shall assume you stayed with my characters down here.*
“Styg? Who’s Styg? Wait a sec. Now that I think of it…” I am interrupted by the appearance of a pair of wings that instantly appear on my head. They match the ones on my back. “Wow. I heard they usually don’t come in this early. Anyway, as I was saying, now that I think of it, I don’t think I know the names of many of the people here at all.”
Quote from: Joat on December 04, 2006, 07:30:53 PM
*OOC: Don't you mean "Que EN el mundo"?*
((OOC: I'M supposed to be the critical one! :U Yeah, I fixed it...one thing that's hard to do...speaking another language when you still think in English... ))
Near the door, staying at the head of the group but still situated so that she couldn't see it, Aisha whirled to stare at Boogey when she heard a particular name. "Stygian? Please, it CAN'T be..."
An ear quirked back to Joat at his remark about names, smirking politely. "Oh yeah, you and your friend helped and I never introduced myself.
Aisha de la familia Cabre... Just call me Aisha. My friends do." Then, she turned back to the door, still unconvinced that it was who Boogey surmised.
*OOC: I just said that I was still downst… never mind. Not too hard to fix. Let’s just say I was upstairs since the doorbell rang. Fixed.*
“Joat Legend Delia. And this is Sylver. We still don’t know how it happened, but him having a soul is nothing I’m complaining about,” I say.
Quote from: KarlOmega1 on December 04, 2006, 07:46:05 PM
(OOC:I thought you meant Pounds as in English currency, not the weight...I guess I was wrong)
Karl: I think Styg might be still alive and has changed the house...
(ooc: sorry i was trying to avoid that confusion but it looked like i caused it.)
"Well it does happen." E sighs and closes his link to his vault filled with this form foil balls and comic books to valuable ores and gems form building machines and more. E scans the area looking for stygians energy signature to be sure " i haven't found his yet Karl but i wouldn't call him dead yet. Rock man almost always seemed dead only to came back rebuilt some times even stronger then before."
“I wonder. Did I really get this form right powers and all?” I think aloud, “The wings are a big 10-4, but I have yet to recieve proof on any of the other stuff.”
Gareeku pushed open the front door, letting the coolness of a slight draft of evening air in. Outside on the porch stood a tall, blonde fur dressed in red and blue delivery bay clothing and with a cap set over his perking, ribbed ears. On his left hand he balanced a stack of flat cartons, smelling deliciously of warm tomato, cheese, pepperoni, onion... In his other hand he was holding a pair of full plastic bags, heavy from the way they strained.
"Good evening, sirs. Did someone here order this?" he said, in a melodious, deep voice with a familiar curious accent. "I have four huge-size Palace pizzas, one pepperoni and mincemeat, one chili, one autumn special and one with olives and garlic. I have some other stuff too," he said, holding up the bags. From beneath his cap, a pair of glowing crimson eyes focused on you over a fanged grin.
Behind you, you heard footsteps running.
“‘Autumn special’? What, does that one have leaves on it or something?” I ask jokingly.
"And he brought pizza," Boogey gasped, having raced to the door and still gotten there later than Gareeku, "He somehow survived, and he brought pizza. You are really trying to earn good guy points here, aren't you?"
good guy points or not he earns 200 turtle points for originality.
“That leaves us with five pizzas. I suppose nobody’s gonna go hungry,” I say.
For only the third time in her life, Aisha almost stumbled with surprise. She had made her way around to where she could see the door frame better, and was now gaping at the figure standing there. Could it REALLY have been...?
"Imposible. I saw you die..." she muttered a little loudly. "Your body was..."
The panther interrupted herself and took a step back. The look on her face was one of confusion and just a little bit of fear. But when she thought about it, maybe it was possible. The one that was killed was in "your" head, chica. Don't think you expected that he would be downed as easily as that.
She watched as one of the others took the pizzas, and despite the whole thing, smiled at Stygian...and hoped that it was him as well. "Well, it wouldn't be a party without you now would it, amigo?"
I'm glad I didn't bet Boogey any money.
“I am well versed in the laws of science; they are easily defied. And speaking of that, does being in incubus form allow me to do magic?” I say.
e sighs. " magic is simply a different form of manipulation energy. Erebus has taught me that much at least" E looks at Stygian. " you're not got to herald another war are you?"
Stygian seemed taken aback for a moment, a look on his face as if he had just seen or felt something that he wasn't unfamiliar with, but surprised to see again. Then, he bent slightly forward, and looked Aisha deeply in the eyes. She felt... something. It wasn't physical, but she could feel a touch of sorts on her mind, as if something had just brushed by the back of her head.
In whose head are you? Do you think you haven't changed yourself? a voice she knew said, but Stygian's lips didn't move. For just a moment, his face seemed to shift, his nose snubbing just a bit, his fur going a bit more whitish, and barely noticeable sharp streaks of grey hinted at the edges of his face. Then, there was another voice, one that she knew even better. Don't presume too much, chica. That which you think you know may just as well kill you as what you know you don't know.
Stygian's smile was wicked.
The next second, Salticia pushed her way in between them all. She stood before Stygian for a second, wordlessly looking up at him with cheeks still red from tears. Then, she grabbed his both arms with the lower four of hers, and began slapping him furiously with her upper pair.
"Don't you ever do something like that again! You hear me?! Or else, I'll kill you just to make sure you're dead! Do you hear what I'm saying!? I'll nail you to the floor, and..."
The next second, she had knocked him to the ground and was hugging him so tight you thought you wouldn't be able to be pry her off with a crowbar, and were right in your assumption.
"Don't ever think of leaving," she said tenderly. He just held his hand on her head and ruffled her short hair.
“What a kodak moment” I think.
Watching Sal's reaction, Gareeku smiled softly as she and Stygian were reunited, unconsiously putting a hand on Aisha's shoulder.
"I suppose all's well that ends well, hmmm?" the wolf commented as he watched Sal and Stygian hug, before turning to the others. "I think this calls for a celebration, don't you?"
“That’s what I have been thinking for quite some time,” I say. I then get out my laptop and start typing on it. “I wonder if I can find any good internet resources to help me learn magic.”
Sylver notices this. “You were really serious about the magic comment? I thought that was just curiosity.”
Well, it's DEFINITELY Stygian, Aisha surmised with a bit of unease as he looked back at her with a smirk that was almost poisonous. But she had to grin a little as the slightly-evil thing was more familiar to her than the slightly-heroic. How on Earth he actually revived, she probably would never have an idea. But he was noble, that she knew.
"Here, here," Aisha said in response to Gareeku's statement, smiling at him. At least they finally had pizzas and other things for a party...including a clean house. She looked around at the dark and gothic architecture, having almost forgotten that the place had changed. "I wonder if this place has a ballroom..."
Stygian practically bounded to his feet, Salticia making a little yelp and clinging to him as he did.
"But of course it has! But to dance, we must first work up the proper dizzyness. The last one to drink gets to clean up afterwards!" he stated humorously, and strode with determined steps into the main hall, eyeing it as he went and nodding while huming pleasedly to himself. "I made sure to add a pool area, a proper library, and some few other things... We're going to have a great time!" Salticia finally let him go, and straightened her clothes and rubbed the last redness from her face, now broken up into a smile.
As Stygian walked, his clothing changed back to his ordinary all-black one, with those heavy, smooth pants, boots, wrappings, and the undone shirt. As he took off his cap, a strange, red and black halo with little spikes to it drifted to above his head.
I stop typing. “I hate search engines! They are stupid! I can’t find anything useful.”
“Welcome to the internet, Joat,” Sylver says.
"Stygian some times i think you are you universe version to either Mynd or sigma his archetype. Mynd never managed to die and sigma never stayed dead." e shakes is head. "oh when lives and power are at stake i guess my kind have not room to talk " e wonders if Joat has ever tried the surfer search that he ran into in mainframe.
Something dawns on me. “Wait a sec. I have a headache. That proves without a doubt that the form is a complete success.”
“Good. But what if you want it to stop?” Sylver asks.
“I shift to a different form.”
Aisha tilted her head as she stepped out of Stygian's way, an amused look on her face as he seemed quite in step with himself. She spared a glance at Sal, whose sad disposition had reverted into relief. The jaguaress knew how she must have felt...like she herself felt after Gareeku had narrowly cheated death. "Happy for you, amiga."
What a fascinating group of individuals we have in this place...
Suddenly it was similar to what had to be hours ago, when she first walked into the house. New faces, new presences, and unfamiliar powers abound in the atmosphere once more. Only this time she hoped the celebration would last for much longer than it had. Now there were more guests, to this dimension and world. There would have to be a tour later...
Stopping her thoughts, Aisha shook her head. The music, food, and festivites weren't going to start themselves. She turned to the group, back-walking a little to make sure everyone else was coming too, also practicing a slightly clumsy dance move with that step. "Well? Let's get this fiesta started."
I press a button on the side of my laptop and the CD drive opens. I take the CD out. “I have the music!”
“You just bring that CD everywhere, don’t you?” Sylver says.
“Actually, no. This CD is fairly new, actually.”
“Oh. I thought you were holding that one CD.”
Smiling, Gareeku stepped aside to let Stygian inside the house, before disappearing for a couple of minutes. Returning to the living room, he was now dressed in a new attire, consisting of a black shirt, black pants and a pair of black shoes.
"Great, i'll go put it on." Gareeku said as he took Joat's CD. Making his way to the stereo, Gareeku turned it on and, putting the CD in, turned up to the volume to a loud yet comfortable level. Turning to Aisha, the wolf smiled, bowing and holding out a hand in a gentlemanly manner.
"May I have the honor of this dance?" the wolf asked with a soft smile.
It’s a techno CD. A very good one, I might add.
I shift back into wolf-being form.
“Looks like we’re in for a howling good time,” Sylver says.
I pretend to be in immense pain. “Pun… draining strength… lethal… notify… *cough cough*… next of kin…”
Sylver laughs. “You know, Joat; considering what just happened, I don’t think you should be joking about pain and death.”
“Oh. Good point.”
At the word Techno e jumps then relaxes. there meant the music not Forte's little sister. she was something of a demon when she was free.
Having a pause for a few moments after returning into the room, Aisha rolled her eyes at herself, for she hadn't brought anything slightly formal to wear...but she'd make do anyway; the party wasn't formal at first. She removed her cape and weapons belt, setting them off to the side so that she was draped neatly in her navy blue attire, and loosened the braid out of her mid-back-length hair.
She also helped with setting up things...at least with the food, which was on a table nearby. Watching a handsomely dressed Gareeku as he put the music on, her ears flicked. Hm, I haven't heard this one before. Nice beat though.
When he asked her to dance, she grinned with a slight blush and bowed back, placing her hand in his. "Of course. The honor is mine."
*OOC: No formal attire? Try taking a look at IC Joat. He hasn’t changed clothes at all, though he did unstrap the sword, which I forgot to mention. He actually feels no need to dress formal; a result of his alignment (chaotic good), I suppose.*
“So, Joat, you gonna eat anything?” Sylver asks.
“I don’t know. I’m not really all that hungry,” I say.
“Oh, please. You? Not hungry? The way you usually eat, I sometimes suspect that you purge to keep so thin.”
“Purge? Nah, I exercise it off. Speaking of which…” I unbutton my lab coat. Then, without warning, I begin to dance. It actually looks pretty cool.
Mel was still in her spot on the lounge floor, oblivious to everything going on around her. But she was evidently almost done, all the tools disappeared back to wherever they had come from in the first place and only a polishing cloth remaining. Finally, with a sigh like the end of a sob, her head came up. She looked around at the redecorated room bewildered. "I didn't think the repairs took that long." She stood and turned in a circle, looking all around.
When the dance finished she called out, "Aisha, your ring is finished." With a bow, presented the ring on a palm still covered with the polishing cloth. "I hope the repairs are sufficient." The ring was bright and glittering like new and yet very old at the same time. Then Mel spotted Stygian. "Oh. I heard them say you were dead. I guess you got better."
Quote from: Joat on December 03, 2006, 12:20:56 AM
In a stroke of luck, I am not directly hit by any of the shards, though one does make a very small scratch as it passes by.
*OOC: And, of course, this fact must be taken into account.*I stop dancing. “I’m overheating now.” I take off the lab coat. Sylver immediately notices a somewhat small cut on the lower part of my arm.
“Um, Joat. That cut on your arm…” Sylver says.
“Oh, that,” I put my hand over the cut. “I think I got it from the ice blast. It’s nothing to worry about”
Hearing Aisha's answer, Gareeku smiled, holding her hand as he led her to the "dancefloor", where the two of them danced together.
When the song finished, the wolf then heard Mel calling Aisha.
"I think you'd better go get your ring." he said with a smile, kissing the panthress' hand in a gentlemanly manner. As Aisha went to get her ring, the wolf looked on, noticing Mel's mannerisms. A look of concern on his face, he knew something wasn't quite right.
"Hey...are you ok?" he asked, gently placing a hand on Mel's shoulder as he spoke.
As various individuals proceeded to either get all mushy or become preoccupied Boogey realized something important. In any party, he always found his way to the nearest punch bowl equivolent. Grabbing a soda and nodding his head to the music, he relaxed a bit and... thought. First time he'd really had to relax since getting here.
"Ahh... This is why I'd first showed up here..." he pulled over a nearby chair and sat down, "Some time to kick back..."
Aisha nodded to Gareeku as she heard Mel from nearby, smiling as she quite enjoyed the dance. "Yeah, I'd better." She winked at the wolf before starting over to where she was. The panther took the ring in her hand and inspected it.
Good as new, with a bit of a new luster to it. A quick test and the magic was also back as well. "My thanks Mel, I owe you one," she said and placed it back on the end of her tail where it shone emerald in the lights of the room. "You're good with your craft."
But she also noticed, a little later than Gareeku, that the girl wasn't looking too well. She tilted her head with concern. "What's wrong? I hope nothing happened to make you sick or something. Perhaps some food will help?"
Mel twisted her neck around to see Gareeku. "Hey, you're looking sharp. And I guess I'm... contemplative... at the moment. That was my first ever fight and I somehow managed to survive. I was always told I wouldn't, you see. I've been told all my life that I was too small and frail and to run away and leave the fighting to the big dragons. Finding that I can manage if I have to kind of shifted my world." Then Mel giggled, "Actually proving my grandmother wrong probably shifted several entire dimensions."
Mel smiled at Aisha, "Thank you for keeping me busy with your ring and getting me past the scared and crying part. And now you two, back to your dancing. I'll feel bad if I spoil your fun."
e smiled. Mel's honesty with herself was something special. he walked a bit further into he house looking for something that he could not remember.
As Mel spoke, Gareeku smiled softly before giving her a hug.
"Well I think I speak on behalf of everyone else when I say that your were brilliant, Mel." the wolf said, "If that had been my first ever fight then I would not have laster five seconds. In a way it was a good thing you were taken into battle by the other dragons. Fighting is a terrible thing, both to witness and to take part in. I only get involved because I have to; be it for a job or to try and protect those I care about. If I could wish for no more battles or fighting then I would in a heartbeat."
Hearing Mel's other comment, Gareeku chuckled.
"Hey now, friends are much more important. Besides, you more than deserve some fun of your own." He said with a warm smile.
Sylver and I overheard this conversation. In response to Gareeku’s words, I say, “I know exactly what you’re talking about.”
I then say to Mel, “If I had a seed for every time somebody told me that I couldn’t do something, only to prove them wrong, I’d run out of dirt to put the seeds in. Let’s face it, there’s no such thing as overestimating one’s potential.”
Nodding in agreement with the others, Aisha smiled at Mel. "Yeah, I know how it is too. You wouldn't believe the number of idiotas who dismissed me because of the fact I'm a girl, for example. Escucha, fighting isn't all good...but knowing that you helped to defend a greater good, it brings a little more honor and pride to your feelings. You can face life a little more confidently, so long as power doesn't go to your head. You discover things about yourself that you never knew about. A little training goes a long way for everybody."
The panther stood up, her tail swishing to get used to the feeling of the ring again. "Besides, I wouldn't always listen to what others say, for the only one who knows you is you. And by the way, you're welcome. Nice to know someone who'll help if an enchantment is needed. A dragon more so."
*Karl steps towards the music player and inserts a CD...it begins to play "It's my Life" by Bon Jovi*
steps back into the room his helmet off. " i think i lost some thing but i can remember what."
“Knowing the laws of the universe, you will remember as soon as it becomes either too late or irrelevant,” I say.
At Mel's remark on his health, Stygian had just smiled, and then proceeded to glide away in what those more acquainted to him would recognize as his normal fashion, swooshing away to the end of the room that housed the licquour, making a quick whispering conversation with Salticia on the way which had ended with her skipping away and out of the main lounge smiling. In a few minutes he had shaken up a number of different drinks in tall glasses, and was finishing one of his more recent recipes, while interestedly watching Aisha and Gareeku dance even though he thought the music a bit off. Taking the tray, he turned to the Boogeyman for a second.
"I expect to hear all about what you did to the girl later," he said, and then slid away.
Salticia had gone by Stygian's directions, and true enough, in one of the bedrooms upstairs she had found what she had been looking for; something she had not seen in ages, it felt like. Something she was glad she had now. However, returning after a few minutes, she encountered an even greater, and worse, surprise. One driven into a door with force, and with its twin laying on the floor beneath it, Stephen's baton-swords were outside the infirmary. Salticia picked them both up, holding them carefully in her hands and looking at them for a few moments, before purging her mind of her thoughts, taking a quick glance around, and then striding back to the lounge.
Downstairs, the group of people that seemed to have congregated noticed a slight whispering sound as someone swooshed around them, Aisha's tail ring gleaming slightly, and then Stygian appeared from over Mel's shoulder, offering up a silver tray of seven tall champagne glasses. The liquid in them was almost clear, icily blue-whiteish, and seemed to glow in the dim light of the room.
"Meine damen und herren, I present to you; Eisdolch. My own mix," he said, and dithout waiting let go of the tray. It hovered in mid-air, and he picked one of the glasses from it.
His attire had changed again, you realized. He now wore some sort of vest-like necked jacket, carefully cut and with silver details, that hung sideless over his shoulders and left his chest almost bare, save for a silver chain with a similarly coloured rifle bullet hanging in it. Only his left arm was wrapped now, the intricate black tattoo on his right fully exposed, and his pants had changed to thinner, straight-cut ones that matched his "jacket". His shoes were low and blackened, his neck tied with a black scarf, and over the bridge of his muzzle he now wore a pair of small, oval glasses.
With a careful look, he then faced Mel.
"It was... necessary. You can't really think of it any other way. And you faced up to it. You did what was necessary without failure. A little hesitation and shock is only to be expected. But we're proud of you," he said with a smile.
That's when someone else stepped up behind them all.
"My, what a mood. I thought it was time for dancing. But perhaps we were having dinner first?" Salticia said. She was wearing a dress now, snug, black and slit-sided with white parts to it and with just as many details and as precise cut as Stygian's clothes. One of her legs, in a thigh-high stocking of black, peeked out a bit beneath it as she stood leaning to the side, and on her feet were fine lacquered heeled shoes.
Mel noticed a flash of anxiety on Aisha's face. It took her a second to remember that some species used clothing for hierarchical purposes and she suspected Aisha had been knocked down a grade by everyone changing. Since dragons only wore clothing sporatically and simply for personal amusement Mel generally missed such nuances. But it was an easy fix. She reached out and put one hand on Aisha's arm while whispering "Think of the most beautiful dress you can." Mel grabbed at the thought and sparked a simple spell. "It's only an illusion and will only last a few hours, but enjoy."
e turns just in time to see Mel's magic and smile to himself calls on DGE to materialized the image much the way a digimon materialized in the real world. the dress become fully demi9ntaly and as real as the fur on most the guest head. he does not speak of his act but he smiles satisfied. "say Mel considering your vast knowledge i was wondering is you would care to show me a thing or two about dancing" good grief e that was about subtle as the time you blew up that one planet because the zombies scared you. e inwardly grimaces at the memory but remained smiling at Mel
Mel laughed and it was much more natural than just a few minutes ago. "If an encyclopedic knowledge of ways to trip over your feet is what you're looking for I'm just the tutor for you. Come along brave sir." Then she added, "Everyone get dancing. Busy people make poor witnesses."
“You know. There’s something I’ve always wondered. Would my bracers work on anyone other than me?” I say, “Oh well. Now isn’t the time to test it. If anything went wrong, it could ruin the party.”
I then begin to dance once more.
Sylver sighs. “I can’t dance because I’m a dog and I can’t eat because I’m a robot. What do I do to avoid total boredom?”
“Dance anyway!” I suggest as I continue to dance.
“Weren’t you listening? I can’t dance.”
“Well then, dance anyway!”
Sylver gives a resigned sigh and reluctantly begins to dance. His performance is poor at first, but as he begins to enjoy it, his dancing improves.
E chuckles " well we'll just learn together then" inside he can hear a gasp of surprised. i can't believe that worked E holds out his hand to Mel so that she could take it and indicate her acceptance. as he does he overrides the music player locates a classic waltz they he remembered form his time in Europe. " Shall we?"
Stygian strode beside them, smiling pleasedly and getting quite eager to move. He eyed Salticia appreciatingly and made a small, meaning look to her, which she responded by sticking her tongue out at him. He just chuckled, and then sang something silently to himself.
"Für die Damen, die tanzen
und die jungen Männer wer Chancen
sie gleiten zwischen den Schatten
int nacht, mitternacht..."
I stop dancing. “Okay, thirsty now. Root beer time!”
(("It's My Liiiiife..." Thanks Karl, that song is now stuck in my head... XD ))
After Aisha's two cents on perking Mel up, the panther stood up and looked around the ballroom, noticing how everyone was congregating and showing up in quite beautiful attire. Psh, and me with my ratty battle clothes... she sneered at herself, but with a smirk in her smile to denote that she cared nothing much for appearances for the moment. Hearing the upbeat song that was playing, she sidled on over to the food bar with a bit of a kick in her step to the tune of the music. Finalmente...my pizza awaits.
While Aisha filled her tired stomach, she watched with interest at having her tail ring shimmer. With as much relief to a dark entity as one could get, she was so to see it was only Stygian having passed by with refreshments of his own for everyone. She shook her head a little with a grin...as a girl that came from an equivalent to the dark ages she was of course humorously apprehensive at the thought of getting drunk. Bah...maybe later. Food now.
Then, while watching everyone else dancing around, she was a bit surprised at Mel's generosity. "A few hours? What, I'm Cinderella now?" she remarked with a laugh, but rolled her eyes upward with a smile. "Okay, why not...but I have no fashion sense whatsoever, lemme warn you." She did as the dragon instructed and closed her eyes, imagining an outfit that she wouldn't have minded.
When the panther opened them again, she looked down and blinked in surprise. What had replaced her navy blue shirt and trousers for the time being was a dress of a much lighter shade, like a white misty azure with pearlescent threads woven through it to give it a sparkling quality as she moved, the light color accentuating her void-dark fur and ruby eyes. It ended comfortably at the top of her ankles with a slit halfway up the left side and had only one strap that wove around her right shoulder. It fit her form well while allowing her to dance whatever she pleased in it. Nestled around her head within the long and loose strands of dark black hair sat a little crown of diamond beads.
She inspected herself with surprise and smirked with some shyness. Being a bit of a tomboy she remarked, "Psh...I look like such a girl."
But that was coupled with a shrug. "Maybe I can be one for today. Gracias again, Mel," she smiled at the dragon before brushing away whatever food particles were left on the outfit and walking in to join the others on the dance floor.
Sipping the drink Stygian had supplied, Gareeku smiled as he looked at the others dancing. Turning back to Aisha, his eyes widened as his mouth hung open slightly, in awe of the attire Aisha was now dressed in. To the wolf, she looked utterly
"Beautiful..." He said with wonder as he stared. Realising what he was doing, Gareeku snapped himself out of his state of wonder and awe, shaking his head slightly.
"Wow...Aisha, you look...would you like to...um...to dance?" the wolf stammered, a wave of shyness now overcoming him after observing Aisha's beauty.
Stygian stopped, and eyed Aisha up and down. She couldn't quite read his expression, but judging from the contrast to his normal expression and behaviour, she could tell that he was surprised. Perhaps even stunned.
"That's... quite tasteful. Yes. Quite..." he said, sounding a bit off. He made a quick turn to watch Mel and E, and then jumped a bit as Salticia snuck up behind him and laid her head on his shoulder.
"We never did waltz that time, did we bro'?" she asked, and then started to pull him with her. He cast a last glance to Aisha and smiled at Gareeku, but the next second he was caught up with Sal who began displaying her obviosly extensive dancing skills, and leaning upon him to lead. Round they spun, seemingly floating in their steps, one-two-three, one-two-three...
Coming up near Gareeku, she paused for a second and tilted her head, a little amused at the expression on his face...but also she was surprised. Having not gone to many parties before, the panther hadn't gotten that look from anyone. She had to keep from laughing when catching Stygian's look as well.
After Sal took her date away to dance, Aisha came up to Gareeku, smiling shyly at the wolf when he stammered. Who'd have thought he could even do that? Her face was warm, and she wondered if the blush was showing under her dark fur.
But she kept that thought to herself and instead smiled warmly up to his face with a soft laugh, extending her paw and pulling him to the dance floor. "Sure, I'd love to. Bailamos, muchacho."
With a somewhat shy smile of his own, Gareeku took Aisha's paw in his, leading her to the dancefloor where he began to dance with her.
Wow...she's stunning... the wolf could not help but think to himself as they danced, transfixed by her eyes. Gareeku had somewhat surprised himself by his mannerisms. He had never been shy many times before, so why now? the wolf was somewhat nonplussed, yet he did not mind this at all. He smiled softly at her as they danced, looking into her red eyes with his own deep blue ones with a soft gaze.
Sylver gets a bit tired and stops dancing.
Seeing this conversation between Aisha and Gareeku, I sigh. “Kinda makes me wish I had someone to dance with.”
Sylver sees my expression. “I know that look.”
Salticia and Stygian stopped, much to his content as he was not one for the regular waltz, even with Sal's graceful and expertly moves. And for other reasons that he was unsure of. He made a bow to her, and with a smile he then went out one end of the room into what seemed like a walkway towards an atrium. Shortly later, he rolled in a grand piano with some sort of string instrument on top of it.
"What say you, Salticia?"
I stand still for a moment, deep in thought.
Hm, he's a pretty good dancer, Aisha had thought with a smile as they started their round on the floor. She hadn't practiced the waltz in a bit, but after some trying she was in step with Gareeku and could focus her eyes on him rather than down to their feet. She gave a little twirl, having a little more fun in this moment than she had all day.
Aisha gazed back into the wolf's eyes, a soothing blue mirroring a flaming red. She felt a calm come over her...he always seemed to have that effect despite his skill as a warrior, but now strangely she was drawn to the feeling, her heart thundering. The panther never felt this silent and shy before under his vigilant and handsome gaze, and even more strangely she was willing to let it come over her.
She softly smiled back to Gareeku as she let him lead, at one point glancing curiously to where a piano had appeared in the room.
I sigh and open up my laptop. I begin to type on it. Sylver attempts to look at what I am typing.
“Please. This is my diary. Don’t peek,” I say.
“I know what you’re saying in it,” Sylver says.
Salticia placed herself behind the piano, making a few light practice strokes to work up her hands. Stygian took down the other instrument. It looked odd, like an eight-stringed guitar, but with an adjustable bar at the top of the long neck, and an odd resonance box that was more metal and squareish than that of a guitar. He took it, and plugged it into the stereo via a long cord, along with one from a microphone inside the piano. As the music stopped, he pulled out a long metal pick of some kind. Then, he stroked the strings with it. A smooth but at the same time sharp sound came from the speakers, and he quickly adjusted it to a high tone very much like a violin's, but with another kind of lustre to it and sounding a bit distorted like an electric guitar.
Stygian and Salticia began playing, her wandering all over the keys of the piano with four hands, and him expertly sweeping and picking the strings of his strange instrument. It was a steady, passionate and dance-like piece, a little like a faster and more intense minuet, with an edge of sharpness added by the rhythm and the sound of Stygian's strings. It was effortless to glide into.
Boogey strolled down to where the rest of the group was, but not close enough to get in the way of those dancing or there being any danger of interrupting the various moments going on throughout the room. Hearing Mel, Boogey looked around, Annnnd, yeah. Outta pretty girls to dance with. Figures. Knew I should have kept that last angel around. Sipping his drink carefully, and working hard to convince it to not be alcoholic (drunkeness can be quite dangerous for something made of thoughts. Who knows what sorts of ideas that sound good when you're drunk he could end up incorperating?), he merely listened appreciatively to the music and kept an eye on the dance floor.
Also noticing the presence of the piano, Gareeku smiled before turning back to Aisha, losing himself in her eyes as they continued to dance. The wolf was not the most observant of people at times, but now that he had seen the panthress' eyes up close like this, he was dazzled by the pair of beautiful ruby-like eyes that Aisha possessed.
Looking up momentarily at the music stopped, Gareeku smiled once more as Stygian and Salticia began playing the music, looking back into Aisha's eyes and losing himself once more as they danced.
I close my laptop. “Well, while I’ve nothing better to do, I might as well do some more testing with my cubi form,” I say.
“What are you going to try to do?” Sylver asks.
“Oh, just various things,” I say.
“Oh, okay. Maybe you could try to transform into me.”
“No. Crawl before run.” I transform into my incubus form.
Aisha's only notice to the fact that the music had changed was that one of her ears had turned in that direction to listen. The new notes played by instruments so closely seemed to give the place a better air of culture and sophistication. Without lyrics, she believed, music was more hypnotic, easier to concentrate on...and that's what it felt like, easing close to Gareeku and into the dance.
She kept her gaze locked on his, also hypnotized a little by the gentle sapphire-like eyes he possessed; as he seemed the same way to her. She was taken in by his presence, happy to dance for however long either of them wanted throughout the symphonic waves of sound. The girl had found a peace that, for a while during the whole battle fiasco, she thought would never come again.
Almost beneath her notice, there was a quiet purring sound in her throat. Unable to really stop it, she just smiled shyly, as if the sound didn't seem to match the rest of her.
I make a here-I-go sigh. Suddenly, my back set of wings sprouts four tendrils (which look remarkably like the ones Dan has, actually; in fact, other than the white color, EXACTLY like Dan’s).
“Wow! You did it!” Sylver says.
“Did what? Sigh?” I ask.
“No! You sprouted those little whatchamacallsits on your back.”
“Hm. Wow, that was easy.”
Stygian watched Gareeku and Aisha as they glided across the floor. He was one with the music, stringing his Ululatus more like it was intended to now. As if on command, Salticia stopped playing for a moment, a strange look on her face as she watched him. Then, she fell into his melody with a lower, more improvisatoric accompanyment but still rock steady rhythm. Stygian had fished out a longer metal "pick", that worked like a bow, allowing him to take longer and more intricate, wailing tones. With fluency, he changed the form of the piece, easing down the pace slower and changing the melody to a lamenting, dramatic tango-like one, putting more pressure on the melody and passion rather than the beat of it.
Behind the piano, a basso of some strange kind that had thus far stood still, suddenly came alive, starting to strum low tones that underlined Stygian's. And with that, the piece took on a whole new character. It entwined and twisted, balanced and fell only to come back more vibrant again and again. It practically cried with passion, seemingly guiding the dancers into the perfect moves all on its own.
As Stygian held out a last long diminuando, gently easing out the previous climb to a high C with a sad, smooth D minor, Salticia had stopped playing altogether and simply looked at him with sadness. Then, the basso behind her settled once again, and was still.
Stygian lowered his instrument and placed it beside him with a sigh. He rubbed at his eyes for a moment, then said something faintly and went over to the table to get another drink.
Gareeku could not help but smile as they danced. At that moment, happiness and peace that the wolf had not known in a long time returned to him, a soft smile on his face as he looked into Aisha's warm eyes.
Upon hearing Aisha's purring, Gareeku smiled softly, finding the gentle sound to be pleasant and soothing to his ears.
"Has anyone ever told you that you have a beautiful purr?" he asked in a soft voice, the soft smile still on his face as he spoke.
At Gareeku's compliment, Aisha averted her eyes with a soft smile, a tinge of red barely visible on her cheeks, but the warmth eminated from it. When the music started reaching its crescendo, she chuckled quietly. "Not until now...but thank you."
The purring sound lingered like a little pulse, an instrument all its own. As the true music wound down, the panther rested her head on Gareeku's shoulder, a gentle smile on her face. She watched the musicians with half-lidded eyes as the notes lingered away, curious as to why they looked a somewhat sad after such a performance.
When the dancing started to slow, she whispered, "And I bet you've been told a hundred times you dance very well...and you're charming as heck," she added with another quiet laugh. "It was wonderful."
“Now let us see here. Let’s try some shapeshifting,” I think aloud. Suddenly, the pain hits again. “Ow! Headache. I need to find out how to prevent this.”
As Aisha rested her head on his shoulder, Gareeku closed his eyes, nuzzling softly as he listened to the panthress' soothing purrs. He no longer cared about the tone of the music; he only cared about being with Aisha in this moment. Listening to Aisha's words, he smiled softly once more, his cheeks growing warm with a soft blush.
"It was indeed wonderful. You were, and are, wonderful." the wolf said softly. For a long time the wolf had always been very good friends with Aisha, but now he subconsciously wondered to himself; was there something else...something more?
Stygian poured himself more of the Eisdolch he had made. It was a strong drink, but not that strong, and he couldn't get inebriated unless he let himself, but this seemed the perfect occasion. He could feel it, a warm flood heavy in the place, emanating from the two figures on the dancefloor and practically reflecting off the walls. And as much as he wanted to shut it out, he also wanted to drink it in, to allow the wonderful sensation to pass through him, and feel the pain of loss with it...
No. This was a party, and he was not going to spoil anything through clumsiness. The very presence of something that intense was a sign. After being but a bother up until now, he should make himself helpful instead. And just how was pretty clear. He swigged another glass of the liquid blue, and pushed the emotions out of his head, consciously numbing his senses from the psi. Beatus vir qui suffert tentationem, he thought.
When the dance had ended and the room was still yet again, he looked at the room's occupants. Mel and E had been following through too, and actually done a very good job for the inexperienced dancers he took them for. Joat and his dog-creature seemed to be experimenting in one corner of the room, while the Boogeyman was standing to himself. And Gareeku and Aisha were having their moment.
Salticia moved around the piano and the floor against him while casting a glance at the pair, her face a mix of concern and seemingly also anger.
"Why did you pl..." she started, but he cut her off by quickly laying the tips of his fingers on her lips. With no further explanation, he took another glass, and silently and as unnoticeably as he could he moved out of the room and up the stairs. Salticia just stood with an indignant look to her for a moment, and then walked out after him.
For once, Aisha didn't have a funny reply to Gareeku's words...but she did playfully flick her ear against his nose. With his compliment her heart felt like it was going to escape from her ribcage, and one could swear that her purring was just a little louder as she gently nuzzled his chin.
What a strange feeling, she thought. The panther remembered when she first met Gareeku, and it wasn't on the best of terms... but she had known the wolf for a while, had fought beside him...and just in these last few hours they had saved each other's lives. But never had she felt like this before...the panther just wanted to stay like this: warm, happy, too preoccupied to notice if someone had put on another song or not. Perhaps it's the euphoria of the dance...
But never before these events had she seemed to care so much for anyone...and now she was wondering if the feeling was real...looking up at him with a smile, her head still resting on him, it was hard to worry about anything.
“I’ll ignore it for now. In the meantime, let us see if I can do some shapeshifting.” I concentrate very hard, but nothing happens. “Okay. Maybe I need a tutor for that.”
Smiling softly as Aisha flicked her ear against his nose, he looked back at her, gazing once more into her warming red eyes. It was then that the wolf realised; he truely cared for her. He wanted to be with her, to share her ups and downs, to make her happy always. Unconsciously, the wolf's lips lightly brushed against the panther's, his eyes gazing into hers...
I see this and sigh. After a moment, I realize that I am staring. I blush (which isn’t visible) and look away.
Sylver sees this. “I know what he’s thinking.”
Once again Aisha gazed back into his eyes, and she didn't look an inch away...it was almost like she couldn't. When his lips brushed hers, being so close sent a tingle in her nerves, like she was a second away from touching a wire charged with a thousand volts of electricity; but without the pain.
Almost unconsciously she had drawn closer, her mind flowing with feelings and thoughts she couldn't control. Are you really feeling like this...? Does he too? Would he?...One thing was for sure, she liked being with Gareeku and helping him if he needed it...the panther wanted nothing more that moment than to be there with him, for him. She was focused on his eyes, her thoughts and pulse surging.
Then something in the back of her head cut through the flood and said, Oh, stop stewing and kiss him already, tonta. Aisha closed her eyes and slowly put a hand at the back of Gareeku's head...she drew herself up to him, their lips meeting.
...And there's the wire...
"...knew you wouldn't keep this up, but yet you did. You've changed so much since you were gone, and I can see it's not for the better! I want you back! You hear me? I do, and Amanda does, and so does Kurt and Eight. Even Stephen did, up until now. You have to come back and hel... Hey! Are you listening to me?" Salticia stopped, glaring at Stygian.
He was not listening at all. He had blocked out all the sensations, and still that pulsing came back in his head, that white-hot glowing thread of feelings... It couldn't be there! It was a good feeling, a wonderful one, but what it created inside of him was so much stronger. It hurt! It tore his heart out through his throat and held it up before him!
Gritting his teeth, Stygian pressed his fingers to his temples and tried to focus, to push the feeling away. Yet it did nothing. He stepped out on the balcony outside the room they were in.
"Go. I need to think."
"I am not go..." Salticia started.
"GO!" he roared at her. She silenced, and went out, slamming the door behind her.
“The headache is getting worse. I think I’d better shift out of this form,” I say. Suddenly, my laptop makes a ringing sound. I open up my laptop. From the laptop comes the voice of a young woman. “Um, Joat. I was in your lab looking for you and I ended up bumping into a button while looking for the light switch. A message appeared on the moniter of your huge computer saying ‘form lockdown’. Is that bad?”
“Valencia, you just disrupted the transforming powers of me and anyone else on this planet who is an alien hybrid for at LEAST twenty-four hours. Yes, that is bad,” I say, “Now, what did I tell you about going into my lab without my permission?”
“Um… don’t?”
“That’s right. Now get out of my lab before you cause anything else to happen.”
“Yes. Right away.”
I close my laptop. “Now what in the world am I going to do about this headache?”
“Couldn’t you just use your bracers?” Sylver asks.
“No. Form lockdown also prevents my bracers from functioning, since they work in such a similar way.”
Feeling her paw on the back of his head, Gareeku closed his eyes as their lips touched in a kiss. A wonderful loving feeling was now present in the wolf's emotions. He wanted to stay like this, stay with Aisha, for as long as possible, overcome with the desire to be with her, to make her happy, to share all her ups and downs. He wanted to be with her, plain and simple.
Opening his eyes, he softly broke away from the kiss, smiling softly at her.
"Aisha..." he whispered, a paw softly stroking her cheek, before closing his eyes once more as his lips met hers again.
“For crying out loud, stop being so emotional, you too…” I think as my headache worsens.
When the music stopped Mel shook her head as if trying to wake herself up. She glanced around expecting to see magic lingering in the air. Then she dismissed the thought as silly, music was magic even when it wasn't magical. Then she caught sight of Gareeku and Aisha out of the corner of her eye and decided at least two would agree with that statement.
She grinned at her partner, "I'd call that experiment a success. It was fun and there was minimal property damage done. But I think my next experiment shall be called "eating before I collapse from starvation"."
As she headed for the pizzas she added, "I'm much less awful at dancing as we dragons do, in the sky. There are less things to bump into."
(OOC: Sorry for being AWOL these last few days. I was being held prisoner by an evil cold germ)
“Ow… ow… I’m gonna kill Valencia for this… ow…” I say.
When Gareeku returned her kiss, Aisha was filled with a warmth that felt like the core of her body was melting...it was a comfort that felt like back when she was a cub with her family...but also different in a good way. Her knees were weak, but she was content to lean gently onto him to keep on her feet, as they stayed like that for what seemed like a long time.
She broke away slowly, her eyes opening to look into his gentle blue ones. The panther's smile was soft and even a little shy as her forehead rested comfortingly upon him. "Gareeku..." she whispered back, her purring as rhythmic as a toy motorboat. She believed then that she was happy to be with him, and would be for however long their hard lifestyles or fate allowed them.
It was then, taking a glance around the room, she had noticed that the music was stopping and almost everyone else had moved around except for them. With a quiet and awkward laugh she playfully scritched Gareeku's ear. "This party turned out better than expected, verdad? Maybe we should let the others have a chance at a good dance, now."
((S'okay Mel, I was held prisoner by worse...studying for final exams. x.x ))
“Ow… Sylver, do you know of any way to get rid of this headache?” I say.
“Aspirin?” Sylver suggests.
“That’s just obvious enough to work. Can you go get it for me?” I say.
“Sure thing,” Sylver says. He chronoshifts out.
Stygian had almost broken down. He was hanging over the edge of the balcony, shaking with sobs. Him, of all people! Images flashed though his head, the sensation he could not stop calling forth more painful memories than even his nightmares could, simply because this was not something he could enjoy or distance himself from.
He only barely noticed as the door at the back of the bedroom opened, and a white figure gracefully slid in.
Why... are you... hurting? Its voice in his head was clear, split and snaking like his own but not crawling, instead dancing, like crystal chimes. And like his own, when it spoke its words carried more meaning, more images and feelings to it than just words could communicate. It slowly strode towards him.
Who... are you? he asked.
I... don't... know...? she answered, confusion upon her face and her thoughts labouring to find the right meaning. I had to... help. I think... this is... yours.
From her palm, she let a little round object on a chain slip. Stygian looked at it with surprise.
Do you want to know yourself? he asked, but didn't wait for an answer. He stepped towards her, tears still trickling down his face.
Then, the room was enveloped in green light and shadows.
A few minutes later, Stygian walked down the stairs into the main lounge, watching its occupants. His eyes had returned to their poison green colour. He smiled shortly at Gareeku and Aisha, and then practically snaked over the floor to the stereo to put on some more lively music.
Sylver returns. “We’re out of aspirin.”
“Oh, come on!” I think aloud.
e bows to Mel and nods " i understand." and in a lowered voice he says. " they do make a cute couple don't they?"
My tendrils begin typing (“pecking” the keys) on my laptop. I watch the tendrils and the screen and, in response to what I see, I say, “Wow, my tendrils are better websurfers than I am. Of course, now come to think of it, that kinda makes sense. After all, they are acting on a subconscious level and the subconscious mind is a powerful thing.”
I look at the screen. “A guide to self-hypnotism?” I look at my tendrils. “Nice to know my wings are thinking like mad scientists. This is a crazy scheme that will probably end in disaster. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get to it!”
*OOC: I like the title of this post. It pretty much sums up his experimentation style.*
Smiling softly, Gareeku listened to Aisha's voice as his eyes closed, leaning into the scritches slightly and chuckling softly.
"Heh yeah. Let's go get something to eat." the wolf said softly, looking at the panther before him with a loving smile as he held her hand in his, leading her over to where the food and drink was.
“A pocket watch or similar device. Where will I get that?” I say.
“Maybe you can use your wings,” Sylver says. Without further prompting, one of my tendrils moves over the top of my head and in front of my face, slowly moving side to side.
“When I am in a state of hypnosis, tell me that when you bark, I will stop having a headache and wake up; then bark to wake me up,” I say to Sylver. I follow the motions of the tendril with my eyes, allowing myself to be taken into a trance-like state. After about a minute of that, my eyes close.
“Alright. When I bark, you will wake up and your headache will be gone,” Sylver says. He then barks very loudly and I wake up with a jolt.
“Wow, it worked! My headache is gone!” I say.
"They're adorable," Mel agreed but at the same time she wondered what e meant by saying he understood. Was her dancing so bad that he meant he understood she had to be a better sky-dancer than land-dancer? She started to get offended but then let it go. She had invited the criticism, she couldn't be mad when it arrived.
Mel grabbed a slice of the garlic pizza and wolfed it down. She really was starving. But at the same time she merged a memory with an illusion, much the same way she had with Aisha's gown. Tiny illusions of dragons whirled in the air around her, a memory of the last ball she had attended. Between bites of a second slice of pizza she narrated. "I'm much better skydancing. Can you imagine if a bunch of dragons started crashing around on the ground. We'd be extinct from trampling each other." She laughed at the mental image. "Oh, there I am," she pointed at one of the little illusions. She watched the miniature dance and the familiar whirls, dips, and plunges and found herself a little homesick.
Meanwhile, Stygian had propped himself at the table by the fireplace, and looked up over some southestern Chinese barbecue at Mel's little... hallucinations, he thought, before he could stop himself. She still felt a bit off, he realized. So after she had downed some more pizza, and he had chewed down nearly all the spicy beef and noodles that he had right now, he went over to her.
"Show me," he said, placing a reassuring hand on her back.
“That’s quite a beautiful display,” I say, walking over to Mel, “I think I should take lessons from you on how to dance as a dragon; that is, after I get out of this cubi form.”
Boogey, also noticing Mel's illusions, walked over.
"Wow, that's pretty cool. Makes sense too, really," He watched the one she had pointed out as herself swoop and twirl, "That's you, huh? You're quite graceful."
“Aye, that she is,” I say to Boogey.
“Um, Joat. You don’t have to wait until you can go into dragon form to learn how to skydance,” Sylver says.
“Why not?” I ask.
“You have wings, Joat. That’s all you need.”
“Oh. Good point.” I then say to Mel, “Think we can go outside later so you can teach me?”
Mel gestured at the little illusions. "This is a group memory of last millennial day. We have a big party with lots of dancing. This is the dawn dance." She stepped into the middle of the twisting design. It flashed around her like meteor shower. "This particular dance is very exciting and a little dangerous because you follow the sun then drop with the stars." She traced an upward arc then a spiral down. "At the end you fly as high as you possibly can then plummet as far as you dare. Without, of course, killing yourself, anyone else, or messing up the pattern. Particularly without messing up the pattern unless you want to never hear the end of it."
She smiled at Boogey's comment. "Thanks. Much better than crashing around like a wounded animal in the brush, huh? I get all confused because I don't have enough directions to go in. Sometimes the music just says "up and flip" and you just can't do that when you're grounded."
Mel looked at Joat assessingly, "I can start, but nothing fancy. You're not balanced right with such a skinny tail."
“Hm. And most people think my tail quite bushy,” I say.
“Don’t worry about Joat. The laws of physics have nothing on him. Plus, he’s pretty darn good at balance, even when in human form,” Sylver says.
I blush, which cannot be seen. “Well, I suppose I do have a mean dance record; and I am pretty agile.”
Stygian looked a bit at Mel, taking in the explanation. However much he could think at once, or they could, if one chose to see it that way, he was still that confused by all these new things. These really were odd creatures.
His confusion didn't last long though. Something that wasn't there, the almost unnoticeable outline of an invisible shape where light bent through the air, whipped out from him, and a pair of those tall, arched and floor-to-ceiling high windows quickly swung open. Things moved under the skin on his back, and then blackness tore through his skin, bursting out and forming a pair of large bat-wings. He reached out a hand.
"Please... will you show me?" he said to the dragon.
Sylver and I look at the window, then at Stygian.
“Ooh, cool,” Sylver says, “Maybe after the dancing lessons are done, you can teach Joat how to do magic like that.”
Mel stepped towards the windows, opening her tightly folded wings as she moved. The sky called and she never could resist. She smiled at Stygian as she took his hand.
I look out the window. “The moon looks so beautiful tonight. Sometimes I think I’m lunar-powered.”
*OOC: I am right in assuming this happens at night, I hope.*
Stygian looked at Joat over his shoulder for a second, then smiled a wicked grin.
"It's not magic. It's not science. It's power, simply put," he said, then led Mel outside.
Unsurprisingly, since he was a bit of a tech freak, Stygian had remembered to place an insulated sound system in the garden as well, the speakers hidden under benches and in corners of windows and other places. A tap at the remote to the stereo that he had put in his pocket turned on the speakers, and a slow and gentle introduction to a symphony started playing. The faint lights gleamed in what had to be either the sea or a great lake down past the trees, perhaps a few hundred yards away, and the moon was large and full as it cast its ghostly light in the darkness, barely a cloud present in the sky.
Stepping down to the side of a pond, Stygian unfurled his wings and spread them. The reached out far, being larger than those of a cubi, and the light passed through some holes and tears in their skin, the claws at their tips gleaming.
"How do we begin?" he asked Mel, watching her white form blend with the moonlight.
*OOC: Alright. Problem. The character, who does not have aspergers syndrome, would probably know the answer to this question; while the player, me, does have aspergers syndrome and doesn’t know the answer to this question. Do they seem to want IC me to follow them outside so that we can both be taught at once or is this a one-person-at-a-time sort of thing?*
*OOC: Don’t know what aspergers syndrome is? Don’t worry about it; it isn’t that important.*
e Smiled was he watched the organics eat. he truly did understand hunger bordering on starvation and beyond. his memories of the her first few life times were shaker but they were still there and during that time his soft fleshy body had known hunger very well. he glanced over at Mel and saw that Mel was about to go flying. he smiled she should enjoy herself.
Quote from: Joat on December 09, 2006, 12:02:13 AM
*OOC: Don't know what aspergers syndrome is? Don't worry about it; it isn't that important.*[/i]
((OOC: I've got it. I know it. And this doesn't seem that much a dance for three. But I think you wouldn't be
too wrong off joining in later.))
“Seems they’re off on their little duet,” I say.
“We can do a duet,” Sylver says.
“We can? Oh, wait, what am I thinking? Of course we can. But I’m not sure that I’d be very good at skydancing without a teacher.”
“Well then, dance anyway!” Sylver says with a smile.
Mel pointed upwards. "Height first." She jumped while snapping her wings fully open with a cracking sound, like a whip. One downbeat and she shot upward like a cork in water then with a few more was high above the house. When he followed she said, "All our dances move around an imaginary central column. Keep it's location in mind and you can't get too lost, even if you're upsidedown. Now mirror my actions." She slid to the left, dropped, then with a twisting upbeat ended up on the opposite side of Stygian.
Stygian watched mel, beating his wings in pace and keeping up. In this form his tail was pretty short, but a quick change altered that and let him balance and trail with it behind him. Still, since his flight wasn't just with his wings but through suspending himself through... other means too, he had a hard time imitating her movements at first. But he quickly caught up, and followed her with his eyes, trying to respond to her movements as quickly as possible, as the melody quickly moved into a steady but slow accelerando before settling on a flowing six-by-eight beat.
Meanwhile, Sylver and I chronoshift to the opposite external side of the building.
“Might I have this dance?” I ask jokingly.
“My, what a gentleman; I’ll be happy to dance,” Sylver jokes back. We both laugh.
Sylver jumps into the air and fire shoots from his paws, lifting him into the air. I fly into the air near Sylver (but not too near him and his flaming paws). “I think we should start with the basics, such as simply flying quickly,” I say, “Race you ‘round the house!”
“You’re on!” Sylver says.
Mel saw how quickly Stygian was picking it up and moved to the more challenging rapid direction and height changes that spiraled around each other. Wing edges came dangerously close time after time. The music ended at the highest point of the dance. Throwing a wide grin at Stygian Mel folded her wings and dropped.
Stygian returned the smile to Mel, his wings turning back into the dark tentacles and tendrils they were really made of, and fell to the ground from high, only slowing down perhaps a few metres off the ground and smoothly halting, suspending himself just above the ground. Then, he dropped with a little tap of his shoes, and took her hand yet again, kissing it gently.
"That was quite the experience, miss. Pleased to have you as my teacher."
Sylver and I are at the halfway point on our race, in Mel and Stygians’ lines of sight. He and I are actually evenly matched and moving quite fast. Suddenly, I yell “OW!” as my headache returns, worse than before. I make a quick, yet highly controlled landing to the ground. Sylver lands next to me.
“What is it?” Sylver asks.
“The headache. It keeps getting worse. I don’t know how much more of this I can take,” I say.
Mel bobbed a sort of a curtsey, "Thank you. That's the most fun I've had in years. I'd put you against any of my previous partners." Then she heard the shout off to the side. "What's that?"
I blush again as I hear her ask that. “Oh, it’s nothing to worry about. Say, do you have a couple metric tons of aspirin I can borrow? Ow…” I say.
“You should seriously lie down or something,” Sylver says to me.
Stygian places a hand on the side of his head, feeling the pain with the presence of Joat.
"Seems our guest here doesn't know how to put up a proper shield," he says annoyedly. "And I thought I was rid of all these intruding emotions... Guess I still need to tone down my awareness. Or preferrably he has to tone down his feelings. I'm wondering just on what feelings he is feeding thoug... because I'm certainly not sending out any."
That's when a white, winged figure walks up behind Joat, and lays a perfectly shaped hand on his shoulder.
"You are in pain from the knowledge. I will hide the truth from you."
Quote from: Stygian on December 09, 2006, 12:13:47 AM
Quote from: Joat on December 09, 2006, 12:02:13 AM
*OOC: Don't know what aspergers syndrome is? Don't worry about it; it isn't that important.*[/i]
((OOC: I've got it. I know it. And this doesn't seem that much a dance for three. But I think you wouldn't be too wrong off joining in later.))
(your in good company and if Joat wants a partner i'll dance with him. calls Gospel as well)
“Knowledge? I thought it was because I was absorbing too much energy from the emotions of the people around me,” I respond, “Or is that what you meant?”
*OOC: He fails to take into account Sylver, who has plenty of emotion to spare, as well as the others IC Joat has been around. By the way, the fact that his headache returned when it did was purely coincidence, resulting from the hypnois wearing off.*
*Sylver: Lessee… yeah, me being around him would be a pretty good way to make him have a headache.*
At the sudden appearance of the white stranger Mel barely managed to avoid jumping back a foot in surprise. But her wings, which she had been neatly folding down were startled back open, arching over her head and giving her the appearance of a frightened kitten puffing up. Mel had yet to see a new arrival at the house be anything but a harbinger of battle. Her euphoria from the dance and final plunge to earth shattered as the adrenaline that fueled it was converted to a fight-or-flight response.
Sylver and I, meanwhile, do not seem nearly as scared.
e who had been wondering around the house noticed Mel's reaction. he looks around to see if the others are reacting similarly. "what's wrong Mel" ask E when he fails the detect and incoming threat.
“No idea what she’s seeing, but I don’t see anything that looks like a threat,” I say.
Behind Joat stood a feline woman, with snow white fur interlaced with slight black scar-like markings, a pair of angelic wings emerging from her back and her eyes gleaming in shades of emerald green. Atop her head hovered a spiked green and blackish halo, and draped over her perfect form were some sort of light, thin robes of white and black that fluttered in the gentle breeze. You noticed that it was moving beneath her as well, for she was hovering, her bare clawed ivory feet dipping slightly so that her toes were perhaps an inch or two off the ground. Her face was impossibly calm and serene, and the dim light of her eyes seemed to peer into the very soul as she eyed Joat apprehensively. Her touch was gentle, but he could still feel sharp, blade-like claws on his shoulder.
"I mean many things, but you do not perceive them. Your mind is not great enough yet, and your thoughts pained," she chimed. "I shall ease the pain, and bring you relief through unknowing." Then, she turned her head and looked upon Mel for a moment, her face unchanging.
"There is no need to be alarmed. What you do not know... cannot harm you," she said.
Despite the woman saying that I should not be alarmed, my wings fluff out and I do look quite alarmed. I think for a moment and say, “I do not believe in ‘ignorance is bliss’, for it can only lead to trouble in the long run. I will let you ‘protect’ me on one condition. You will send someone to teach me how to manage this knowledge so that I no longer need to be protected from it; or teach me yourself. I do not like to have a lack of knowledge, for knowledge is power.”
Meanwhile, Aisha stood at the refreshment table, nibbling on some more pizza and listening to the new music that had been put on. She smiled at Gareeku when she came with him off the dance floor...it felt like she was on a date, albeit an unexpected one. Outside one of the stone-encased windows she could finally tell that it was still sometime during the night, with the moon so full that almost everything had a line of silver along their dark edges. From the clear night to the mansion itself, everything seemed to carry a bit of poetic beauty.
She had watched Mel's illusory show with utmost interest. Back where she had come from, dragons were a great rarity, if there were any at all. Now, the panther almost took it for granted that she was a friend to one. As Mel took Stygian and a few others out to fly, Aisha's eyes were drawn to the acrobatic display until they started to stop.
"That would probably be fun," she said about the others flying, leaning against a part of the wall. "Or scary as hell."
“Taking away some of a scientist’s knowledge is like taking away some of a warrior’s strength; I’m surprised he even partially agreed to it,” Sylver says to the feline woman.
The woman calmly listened to Joat's and Sylver's words, her face calm and perhaps even slightly bored.
"Knowledge is a power, but a commodity that must be managed too. And ignorance must be kept in some, so that they remain uncertain or unwise," she said, and wlked over to Joat, placing the tips of her middle and index fingers on his forehead. "Knowledge, in truth, is reserved. It belongs only to those who have the right and intelligence to own it." With that, a slight green light enveloped her hand, and Joat's head. He shook a bit, feeling as if something was gliding around his brain and occasionally probing it, a little sharp edge of thoughts cutting into his own every now and then. In just a few moments though, it was over, both his headache and the sensation was gone, vanished without so much as a trace.
"Better?" the woman asked, and glided a step back.
Stygian didn't even stay to watch much of what was happening. He only cast a quick look, his eyes gleaming darkly, and then walked back up against the house and inside again, the darkness slithering back into his backside as he did and his skin and fur instantly healing over it. With a smile to Aisha and Gareeku, he took off his vest-like jacket and threw it by the window, grabbed another drink, and then slumped over on the sofa, stretching out and warming his feet against the large fireplace, humming to himself.
*OOC: NOW you’ve done it. IC Joat is a person who tends to be very curious about things. Combine that with his avid pursuit of knowledge and, well…*
“This girl doesn’t know Joat very well, does she? He is SO not going to take that for an answer,” Sylver thinks.
“Hm… looks like I won’t recieve teaching. Looks like I’m gonna have to learn how to manage it and relearn it on my own,” I think.
It appeared to be the girl who started this whole chain of events. Mel thought her still unconscious in the infirmary but supposed that she had to awaken at some point. But she hadn't really cared for the girl then and still didn't. It was probably nothing more than the slight resemblance between the girl and Mel's hunting form. Her feline persona was a careful compilation of subliminal cues designed to gain trust. After so many years of living as that stupid white creampuff and watching people fall for it over and over the same cues made Mel wary.
Mel forced her wings flat, tightened her mental shields, and bowed politely to the girl. Courtesy and respect were all that Mel had to give until trust was earned. Then all ideas of trust flew out the window when she started talking about managing knowledge. Mel's whole existance was about the flow of information. With a discusted look Mel started back for the house.
The girl looked oddly at Joat.
"You have a... an oddness in your knowing. In your way of knowledge. Yes. Very interesting," she said, then smiled and curtseyed to Mel, sinking to place her feet on the ground. She looked a bit surprised when Mel turned abruptly and made for the house, and it seemed as if she did not know what to do next, as she simply stood there and looked at them, not saying a word. After a while, she walked down by the pond, looking at her own reflection in the nearly perfectly still water with interest, and then dipping a toe in the water. She then placed the tip of her foot on it, and then stepped out and walked on it, still watching her own reflection.
Stygian looked up as Mel came in, and sensed how she felt perturbed and sour, both a bit through her scent and through the simple feeling of her, though her mental shields let out so little emotion that he might as well have been mistaken. But he was fairly sure that he was not, not when she was making that kind of face. He slid over, and sat up on the sofa, taking the glass standing on the low table before him.
"What's troubling you, shivers? Are you angry?"
“An oddness… what does that mean? What did I lose? How do I prepare myself to get it back? And, when the time comes, how do I get it back? What do I do now?” I think.
Sylver sees me in a state of concentration and walks over to me. “Joat? What are we going to do now?”
“I don’t really know,” I say, “I’ll have to think on that.”
Mel was startled when Stygian spoke to her. She had been thinking so hard that she hadn't even been paying attention to her surroundings. "Angry?" Mel sighed and answered, "No nothing that strong. The girl and I have a fundamental disagreement about the flow of information. But people are allowed to think differently. Well, that and I don't ever trust pretty white felines."
Mel made herself release her negative thoughts, it was a party and she didn't have to interact with the girl. She smiled at Stygian. "And I'll be less of a grouch when I've eaten some more." She produced the remainder of the quartz rock she had been nibbling on earlier from where she had stored it. "Your pizza is good but it doesn't quite provide all the minerals I need, particularly after using my breath weapon so freely earlier." She pulled a piece off like it was a block of cheese rather than a stone and popped it in her mouth.
Casting around for a new topic she asked, "Where did Saltica go? I'd love to hear her play some more."
E shook his head and looked around. he'd been doing it again zoning one and following people with his mind. your becoming more and more like yourself E " don't you dare say that" you'll understand in time E sighed fearful that Erebus was right.
I sigh and whisper in Sylver’s ear. After I finish, I stand back upright.
“But how do you plan on pulling that off? It’s not like there’s some sort of library or school specifically designed for cubi,” Sylver says.
Stygian flinched for a second.
"She..." he started, but then Salticia spoke from behind them all, at the other edge of the room.
"I'm here. And I'm sorry, but I don't intend to stick around." Looking at her, you could see what she meant, for she had switched from her dress back to her black, almost military outfit and coat. "If I am ever going back home, I'm going to need something. Something that only Stephen's got right now. So I'm chasing after him, and I don't plan on resting here," she said, and walked up to Stygian. From under her coat, she pulled out both of Stephen's swords, and handed them to him. Then she kissed him on the cheek, and looked at him.
"You are going to have to come back some day. And I'll make sure that we're all ready and waiting."
Stygian looked at her confusedly for a moment. He really had not expected this. She didn't say a word, just retorted with a meaningful gaze, and then moved around the room, dealing out hugs and kisses to all. She seemed specifically intent when it came to Gareeku, and when she hugged Aisha perhaps more tightly than was comfortable, what with the spider woman being many times stronger than she looked, she also held her for a moment and spoke to her.
"You take good care of him now, you understand? A guy like that deserves a real woman," she said, and eyed Gareeku with a grin.
Boogey had been looking out the window, first at the dancers and then at the white woman who had appeared out of nowhere. His eyes had narrowed as he gazed at her.
Of course, angels. Is this the girl from before? Or something new? Should I trust her? She can erase knowledge, and that's all I am. She seems more confused than dangerous though...
He turned away in time to see Stygian's little scene with Salticia. A hug, a murmered goodbye, and another thought to mull over. Would she be back with Stephan, causing trouble? Or was she still an ally? Twisted webs only catching themselves...
Gah. If if if, angst angst angst. I really need to get over myself.
“I must go to my lab. I have something to work on,” I say. Sylver chronoshifts himself and me away to my lab.
After a few moments, we chronoshift back. I look as if in shock.
For a while, Aisha watched everyone as they came back into the mansion, some with looks that were a bit troubled, but perhaps easily fixed. At Sal's appearance, the panther raised an eyebrow curiously. It almost seemed that her stay was short, but if she was determined to leave, then she would. It was funny how the first meeting of she and Stephen wasn't at all too friendly...but with the recent events, in the huntress's book, she was okay.
Chuckling at her statement, Aisha returned the friendly hug. "Oh don't worry, I'm always there to save his tail...and hey, you take care of yourself too muchacha, okay? Not that anything can kill you or whatever," she smirked.
“I am so totally going to have to kill that girl next time I see her,” I say.
“Oh, don’t be so hard on Valencia; she didn’t mean it,” Sylver says.
“Didn’t mean to what? Stroll into my lab against my orders and proceed to press the one button that would lock me into this form permanently?”
“Well, I admit she did the first part on purpose, but still, she really didn’t want this to happen.”
I spot a young half-fox woman walking toward the house and immediately recognize her. I sprint toward her and Sylver follows me.
Salticia just laughed at Aisha's comment, whatever that meant. Then she let her go and walked out the doors into the garden, looking a bit at the white feline angel-woman who was sort of skipping across the water excitedly. She shook her head, then turned and walked in between the trees after a while, dissapearing into the shadows under them, and was gone.
Stygian sat in the sofa for a while, running his long fingers along the blades of Stephen's swords. He seemed lost in thought. But after a while he looked up at the Boogeyman, as he seemed to have perceived at least a little bit of what he had been thinking.
"The... The girl's name is Sathariel. At least, that's what I named her. I just remembered one of the Qiploths that corresponds to the Sepiroth Binah, and how it means "the concealer of spirit", or rather knowledge..."* he said distractedly, but noticing that no one seemed to get what he was saying he moved on. "I don't know how she ended up this way, much less how she is still alive. She doesn't seem to remember anything of what happened or who she is. But she does seem to know a lot of things though, however that's possible."
((OOC:*Loooads of Judaistic references here. Go look it up on Wikipedia...))
“Joat. This is the form you’re stuck in for a day?” the woman asks.
“Yes, Valencia, but not merely a day. Turns out the effect is permanent. That thing completely erased my alien DNA,” I say. I then explain to her in detail what happened. Of course, she cuts me off when she hears about the knowledge thing.
“WHAT!?” Valencia excalaims, shocked and appalled.
“It’s really…” I begin.
“Nobody messes with my friend’s brain and gets away with it!” She runs off toward Sathariel. I chase after her.
After getting as close as she can without getting wet, Valencia yells to (or, more accurately, at) Sathariel, “Alright, whoever you are - or whoever you think you are - you have five seconds to get over here and explain in detail why you erased part of Joat’s knowledge before I come over there and hit you so hard with my purse you’ll kiss the moon!”
“Valencia, settle down!” I say.
*OOC: Here is the profile for the third character.
Valencia Renard Young
Species: Fox being
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Gender: Female
Class: Reporter
Age: 21
Appearance: White fur and long, white hair. Wears traditional reporter garb modified for comfortability.
Inventory: Purse with two pencils, a pencil sharpener, a small pad of paper, and her debit card.
Abilities: Very good aim with firearms.
The girl stopped, looking up from the water and seeming worried. Then, she walked over to face the fox woman, still standing two steps out on the water.
"Why are you angry? It's not your choice, or your form," she said, leaning forward and looking at her. "I don't think I'm anyone. And if you like, I can make you think thesame."
A quick wave of emotions and psionic energy zoomed through the air, directed at the fox woman. Joat could feel it, but not do anything to stop it, as it wrapped around the woman's mind, clouding her synapses and hiding her very own memories and feelings from her. Sathariel giggled.
"I think she might be useful which is why I didn't... what the Hell?!" Stygian exclaimed, and stood straight up, looking out the windows. He then turned to the Boogeyman.
"You. Please come with me. Now!" he said to him, and it was not a question.
Sylver sees this. He glows white and his body turns into nothingness, leaving only his soul. He charges at Sathariel.
"As you wish," Boogey skulked over and grinned his peculiar little grin, "Wotcha need, Styg?"
despite the motion and interaction of his body is is not really there. he has been wondering through the place and watching some of the interesting guest Stygian, Mel and Joat/silver among them.
At Sylver's attack, Sathariel simply slid to the side, gliding swiftly over the surface of the water like a ghost in her silken clothing. She threw up a barrier of psionic energy, preparing to dodge and parry whatever the glowing form might throw at her, while trying to figure out what to do next. She wasn't sure just what Sylver was, but if she could make him forget why he was there, or even better disturb his form altogether...
"I need you to back me up on this, and if it gets neccessary, I want you to take the girl and possess her. And kill her," Stygian said to the Boogeyman. "Seems that she can't behave herself after all..."
He stood up, and walked out the doors, his eyes having gone from a dim, almost unnoticeable glow, to emerald fires.
Suddenly, to everyone’s surprise (including his own), he moves right through the shield as if it weren’t there. He attacks with his claws.
All traces of joviality vanishing, Boogey nodded and glided along behind Stygian.
"Got it. Anything I should know about her before going in? Particular psychosis', favorite color, convenient weak spot, anything you got."
*OOC: He can get hit by physical attacks, yet is unfazed by the psionic shield. Kinda the opposite of what would be expected.*
e sighed as he body retrieved a can of glowing fluid and began to drink it. why was it that fighting was inevitable for mortals? Even he was subject to battle fatigue not the he was fully mortal. as he watched the exchange his felt a little saddened
*OOC: I think Joat and Sylver would be able to truthfully tell you that they do not like fighting. At all. They only do it to in protection of others or themselves.*
Having finished her snack Mel was wandering around the room, pretending to look at the ornaments while she debated which would snap her out of her mood faster, getting drunk or going for a flight. The flight would probably be better but the drink would be faster. One strong drink would have her under the table. But her pondering was disturbed by shouting from outside and the feel of a mental attack. She looked out the window and saw a commotion by the pond. Stygian and Boogey were already crossing the lawn. Mel thought to herself that it was more support for her theory that every time someone new showed up a fight broke out. She pushed open the large windows and a second later a little grey housecat was slinking through the bushes, trying to get close enough to see what was happening.
Whether the claw attack connects or not, I will begin to glow yellow immediately after the attack.
Sathariel moved faster and faster. Sylver's claws had glanced her side before she had time to slide away, and granted her some wounds, but fortunately they were only shallow. Since the thing obviously wouldn't get hurt by a mental attack, and she really didn't think she could get away with a physical one, that only left the option not to attack him. So she went for his friends instead. With a quick move she moved herself behind Joat, placing a hand on his neck. In but a moment he was frozen, completely unable to move.
"Stop!" she shouted. And at the same time she reached out for the fox woman's mind, sealing it off and taking control of her body but not moving her, keeping her ready for any eventualities.
Stygian looked sideways at the Boogeyman.
"I don't know anything about her. I guess that will have to change." His face was grim, and shadows gathered around him. He hadn't really changed appearance, but it was as if there was something darkening to him, something that accentuated his hard streaks and made him seem threatening and fiendish. "Though I will say one thing; keep focused, whatever you do!"
“We’ll stop if you will. We have no reason to attack you other than to defend ourselves and Valencia. Stop attacking and we will not need to fight you,” I say.
“Yeah, you started it! Valencia may have yelled at you but what you did was entirely unnecessary!” Sylver yells to Sathariel.
Even though I am supposed to be paralysed, I drop onto my knees to the ground. “Ow! My headache is back!”
e was starting to get bothered but all the negative energy that was flying around. he check the area for balance but it was anything but balanced
*OOC: Actually, if he is able to detect it, there is a holy energy coming from Sylver.*
(even dark gods have holy energy. he he referring to the emotions and actions that have been flying about. there is much more negative energy then positive energy even count you holy power as a positive on )
e groans and he approaches his body only to realizing that he has at least three other perspectives merging back into himself. " when did i spread myself that thin" he asked out loud
*Sylver: Well, I think he was saying that there is a particularly large amount of holy energy coming from me. Why is he not telling you this himself, you ask? Well, he’s a bit busy…*
*OOC: OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! My new forums are up! And they look really really cool! Now I gotta do a whole bunch of administrator stuff like creating the forum boards and creating the styles and…*
*Sylver: Hey, Joat. You could try posting a link to it on your site’s home page, for starters.*
Karl: Ok everybody, calm down!
*is smacked in face by incoming object*
Karl: OK, who threw that?!
“Not Sylver nor I. No reason to do so,” I say, “You okay?”
*OOC: Okay. My forums are all up. Now what do I do?*
*Sylver: You should probably go to sleep. It’s past midnight.*
*OOC: I’m not… *Yawn* …tired yet, Sylver.*
*Sylver: Joat. You’ve had a big day and you have a bigger day ahead of you. Go to sleep.*
*OOC: *Sigh* Very well, then.*
Boogey nodded once and then reached out with a tendril of thought to investigate the girl and her handywork. It wasn't so much her he was poking at as the area around her, examining the results of what she had done so as to not attract too much notice.
*OOC: Is this reading detailed enough to show things such as how I can move or how Sylver is resistant to psionics?*
ooc: Not you, the angel girl and the new character you've introduced. And only stuff that the angel girl has done.
*OOC: Ah, I see. Well, then, it looks like it may be a while before anyone figures out why those things happened.*
Mel found herself sitting under a bush almost directly behind the hostages yet far enough away that no one would pay any attention to a little cat minding it's own business. She watched the power flying around. Not touching it, not acting upon it, just studying the patterns.
*OOC: Booored…So boooored…Ooh! Lint!*
*OOC: If but only I could react to something, but all my characters are too busy.*
The area around the girl, or rather what resembled it in simpler terms, was a tangle of thoughts and powerful currents of mentally "tinged" energies. It was like she was at the centre of a little vortex of her own, drawing in the surroundings, and the people and their thoughts to her. It was very strange; cubi did feed on emotions too, but they certainly didn't draw them in that way. Fortunately though, while her influence on the psi of the place, so to speak, was extensive, she did not seem to even border on touching her surroundings physically.
"But I didn't do anything!" the girl cried. "You started yelling and thinking bad things about me! I only hid a little bit of your knowledge so I could protect your brain from the ill thoughts. I haven't been bad!" She clenched her fists and stiffened as she shouted at Joat. Then, Stygian stepped out and spoke in a loud, clear tone that cut through the shouting and demanded attention.
"Stop right now, all of you!" he said, a sharp command filled with anger and annoyance. "Everyone of you will become perfectly still this very instant, or you will regret it!"
The girl didn't seem to want to listen, for though she stepped back for a moment and looked almost fearful, she shouted back at Stygian.
"I haven't done anything wrong! They didn't even ask me to undo it, they just wanted to be mean to me!" she said, and you couldn't help but get the feeling of seeing something like a child defying a parent to the whole situation. Then she looked angrily at the Boogeyman. "And stop poking me!" she shouted, and a strange lash of thoughts snapped out at the Boogey.
This was all wrong! was the Boogeyman's first thought. One could not be sure of where that had come from, because plainly, it was. Why are these people all fighting? And why were they being mean to that girl? Okay, that was not his thought. He was sure of that. But it was still wrong! They shouldn't be! And Stygian should not be backing them! That certainly was not his... but he still felt angry. He wanted to hurt Stygian, and make him leave her alone! No, he didn't. Yes he did! He wanted to! What the Hell was she doing to him!?
Her thoughts wrenched his, like a giant hand trying to force him to do something, to bend him into submission.
From where she was hiding, Mel could feel the girl tugging at the thoughts around her. Some curious ones even snuck out against her. Who was this? The dragon? No, it couldn't be. But she felt thesame. Was she looking? The feeling of all this was about the equivalent of being poked in the side with the tail by a curious young dragonling who was trying to get a response from her.
I sigh. “Okay. So she overreacted, then you overreacted to her overreaction, then we overreacted to your overreaction to her overreaction. We’ll get a bandage for the scratch and we’ll politely and calmly talk about this over some pizza. Okay?” I say calmly to sathariel, “Valencia didn’t really mean what she said; people tend to say things they don’t mean when they’re angry. She had thought you were trying to mess with my thoughts for a bad reason. I really think messing with her mind for just that was a bit unnecessary. Now, if you would, can you release your mental hold on Valencia now?”
E hearing this knew at once what had gone wrong. he once read mortals much like gods can not abide with people mucking with this mind. this was taboo Even among the recent gods in the Greek empire though they were pulling double duty with the Romans. how long ago was that 30 ? 100 years?
“I agree that she should have let me finish explaining why you blocked that part of my mind. I agree that maybe we should have tried diplomacy before attacking you for messing with Valencia’s mind. I admit to my faults and apalogize for them. You have overreacted to Valencia’s words. I forgive this fault. It is done. We should not dwell upon what we cannot change,” I continue.
“I could probably change it,” Sylver says.
“Yes, but that would be quite dangerous,” I say.
THESE ARE NOT ME! Boogey howled mentally. Anyone psychically inclined could pick up on it. How dare you!? How DARE you!? She had not only bypassed his mental defenses, but his emotional ones that prevented his getting really and truely angry. That made him even madder. Reaching out with his mind, he cluched one of the fingers of that giant hand and bent it back.
You think you're unique in that trick? You're wrong. I don't mean about anything in particular, you're simply WRONG. You want to play like this? Fine, lets see how you like it. Reaching out, he started cramming Arguments and Concepts into the girl like someone stuffing books into a bag.
Dissention and doubt! Nothing is as it should be and everything is what it's not! You're a bookcase! You're the fox girl! You are not and never were and never will be! There's no real tactic or subtlety to it. She's definatly succeeded in making him mad.
The others still had a decent hold though. "Stygian, she works like I do! Back away from me, now!" Patterns of light flowed from the fingertips of his right hand, while his left gripped his right wrist so tightly you could almost hear bone grind. "Back away!"
Stygian watched the Boogeyman in shock. He could feel all too well what was going on, even though he hadn't reacted to the girl's flailing around before. Backing up, thoughts unhearable to the others, thoughts that were his and his alone, shouted at him what a fool he was. Of course you are immune, you dolt! But that doesn't mean the others are, and now you're in a tight spot and out of options again! What? You thought you could just walk down there and make them all behave? You're not even behaving yourself!
The girl seemed to yelp at the Boogeyman's resistance, and he felt her fighting back. And not only was she trying to push harder, but when she found she couldn't bend him anymore she whipped out more of those lashes of psi, grabbing hold of what else she could find to help her. More thoughts raced through the place...
Mel suddenly thought she felt furious. She had just gotten out of her first ever fight, and now they were starting at it again! Why!? She was hungry and tired of all this idiocy. She just wanted to get rid of them, starting with the Boogeyman, so things would calm down...
Joat thought he just wanted all of this to be over. Why wouldn't they stop? If they did, they could all settle down and solve this. He would be rid of the headache, and everything would be calm. He should make them stop!
Gareeku suddenly thought he felt worried, and agitated. What were they doing out there? No. That was not his business. He was having a great time with Aisha, and he would not mind... But they were going to get violent and disturbing again, and he wanted to be alone with her. He should go out there and shut them up so they could have a little peace!
And Aisha thought she felt annoyance and anger building. Why couldn't they stop? Well, if she just closed the doors so she and Gareeku could be alone, that would be just fine. But they would continue to mess around and be violent, and they would never have a calm moment. If only she could just make them go away from the house so they could have a little privacy...
“I… I can protect one person… but can I protect everybody?” Sylver thinks.
“This is no good. They aren’t listening. What can I do?” I think. I could tell by their facial expressions that Boogey and Sathariel were having a mental battle. “Guys, for the last time; stop fighting! All of you! I hate to see friends fight each other!” I yell.
Mel abruptly found herself full sized and screaming in rage. She caught herself before she moved, what was she doing? She recognized the mental tampering; clever to flood the emotions to weaken the shields first. She couldn't defend on both fronts at once and put everything into defending her thoughts, accepting the flood of emotions. You want me angry, I'll take angry. But I get to pick at whom. "You! Impertinent mannerless brat. Did you want my attention?" Frost billowed on her breath as she shouted. "I was minding my own business and you POKED me."
I yell to Mel, “No, stop! That won’t help!”
Stygian had stood to the side when the Boogeyman had requested, thinking that he would probably handle a standoff. But for all the calculating person he was, and all his education, he did not understand how the girl was thinking. Subconsciously he remembered some of his psychology studies, telling him that she was behaving a bit like a cornered and agressive child. But he could not apply anything he really knew about to that, and he had never liked children anyway.
The girl stepped back with a frightened look at Mel's reaction, trying for a moment to force her to obey. But when she couldn't, she strengthened her hold on the others, and accumulated more psionic energy to her. She was readying a blast that would virtually scramble the brains of any creature with a more or less sensitive nervous system that came into its way.
You have to go outside! Now! Protect the angel girl! Gareeku thought. The intensity of it in his mind was almost painful. Go out and beat on the others! He found himself wanting it, having to run outside. But somehow he managed to keep still, even though he nearly twitched with the need to move. It all felt very wrong.
Aisha almost shot up, thinking that she had to go out and help the angel girl! But that wasn't her thought! She knew these things, recognized them. She was no magician or mind-reader, but with enough strength of will those things were not neccessary in most cases. But she had to go out there! Now! It seemed that any minute her body would begin moving of its own accord just to comply.
Sylver approaches me and whispers in my ear. I nod. I stop glowing yellow and my headache disappears (though chances are that I can still move, since Sathariel is probably allocating too much energy elsewhere to maintain that spell). Sylver’s body rematerializes and his soul returns to it. Sathariel glows yellow.
“There. You are fully protected and nothing can harm you. Now that you have nothing to fear from them, stop this now! This is my final warning!” Sylver yells to Sathariel.
*OOC: Before you accuse me of godmoding, I must tell you that there is a drawback to this protection.*
E shivved. he'd not seen Mel angry before. " i'd better get in here" E teleports into the area "before war starts again" e looks around. "uhms yes. Everyone lets calm down before we destroy a city size chunk of this world okay?"
Gripping the table, Gareeku began to break out into a cold sweat. What was this sudden urge within him? Why did he feel so compelled to try and attack the others? The answers to these questions the wolf did not know. Suddenly he could feel his body walking over to the door, opening it and stepping outside.
"Damn it...!" the wolf cursed, gripping the doorframe as he desparately tried to stop himself from going any further. "What is happening to me?!"
*OOC: Since I’m the one who posts most often, maybe I should make the next plot arc.*
"Apologize," hissed Mel. "You ARE being bad. You know it. Stop it now and apologize. Naughty hatchling."
Mel was finding it harder and hard to stay still and not just flatten the girl. The girl was pushing too much emotion into her and she was trembling with her efforts to curb her temper. She could feel the ground getting crunchy under her feet as she began losing control of her magic and cold started radiating from her. Someone please do something before she lost it.
(OOC: Joat, I don't believe your boredom is a legitimate reason to dismiss an excellent GM with interesting plot arcs. I am enjoying this no matter how long it takes. Start your arc in a separate thread if this isn't going fast enough to keep your interest.)
( i could post more but i don't want to be to contorting )
e spots the wolf and realizing his in troubled. the anger here is tangible it is along line rage but not quite. he knew what was coming and he did not like it. he's frame jerks like a puppet on a string and He gives off a red glow. in a new voice he calls out in an harsh and laughing voice " And the called me Eliander!" all at ones the emotion in the arena seemed to double and the emotions of anger and rages were being drawn to Eliander and he based in the attention. those with the eyes to see it would realized that he was having taken a backseat in the body to the new arrival. whats more the energy this guy was give of seemed Draconian in nature.
*OOC: I never said I was unhappy with this. Okay, maybe I did exaggerate my impatience a little, but I agree that this is a great plot. I was just trying to say that I am in a good position if I want to start a plot.*
*Sylver: He has aspergers syndrome, so his words can sometimes come out wrong.*
( he and me both. they've had me pegged since grade school '7th grade actually.)
Eliander glowers at the others. "Come to me, kill for me, worship... follow everything i do, act it out before me" ENOUGH! Cries e in a mental shout so loud that it around with int 50 meters can here it even if they are psionically Resistance. You are here to stop the rage not bath the world in blood or go on a major power trip. " You put me in charge let me do what i want. " No. get the anger and rage under control then if your good you can stay " how do you manage to stay in charge anyway e?" Became i am E and you are not. " i was E once. " and when the time comes you'll be E again but until then help my friends. " they are you friends" of course that is why i called you to help me. Eliander nods and his aura seems to change as he now starts to absorb the emotional flooding in the area. E hopes this is enough to calm down his friend as he gets the feeling that Mel is barely holding herself in check and that Gareeku is on the verge of going feral do to this emotion jamming
(ooc. yes basically upon his accent to dominate status Eliander flood with area with his own dominate emotion and power source rage. he did not generate the emotion but acted as a catalyze for it's generation. now after he an e spoke he is absorbing all anger related emotion. he is eliander dragon of rage (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php?topic=732.msg35065#msg35065))
*OOC: I am a bit confused on what happened to all the emotions in here. If I am correct, all the emotions, especially hate, got magnified, correct?*
((OOC: Not quite. It's a direct link. She's using mind control, magnifying or dimming the emotions right at the origin point, and twisting people's thoughts in detailed ways with it. That's why it doesn't really work out...))
Slowly, Gareeku opened the door, even though part of him told him he really should just run away. But he had to! There was no choice! No! What was Aisha...? They had to stop! he thought, and went outside, hesitating a bit before unsheathing his katana.
Stygian snapped. There was no other way to say it. He took a step back and hunched a bit, turning down his face...
(Eliander is drawing the emotions out of people regardless of the emotions origins that's is what he likes to do. eliander revels in anger rage and unrest and once dominated a world before a second e stopped him and the two merged becoming eliander valderen. but on the flip side tho his is the original eliander even if he drains them all you can make more but be warned he gains power by either generating the emotions or consuming them the more he takes in the hotter his fire the more he is surrounded by the greater his influence over the situation and when he get really powerful my body will melt and reform into his as the sky dragon of enlightened anger or rage takes flight in his natural form with is a bit big for the house.)
“Do you fail to hear me?” Sylver yells, “Now I see. You are not doing this to defend yourself. You are trying to harm people for the sake of doing so and that I will not stand for!”
Sathariel stops glowing and I begin to glow yellow.
I concentrate. One of my tendrils wraps around her neck, though not tightly enough to choke her. “I do not want to kill you. I really don’t. I want you to live. Stop this madness. Don’t make me kill you,” I say to Sathariel.
*just then the objects in the building start to levitate and Sparks of energy were eminating from Karl*
Karl: All of you...settle down before I get ticked!
“Wait a second. I have a better idea as to how to get her to calm down. It’s perfect. Why didn’t I think of it before?” I say.
The tendril around Sathariel’s neck retracts. All four tendrils move toward her to tickle her.
Eliander is stunned while e laughs. whats a funny way to attack a person in reminded him of Goku in the tournament that he saw. he was only passing thorough the kioshin invited him to the torrent and he had to go.
*OOC: Sylver and IC me definitely do have their own way of doing things.*
With a yelp, whatever had been coalescing in Boogey's hand went off, hitting a tree and patterning it. Rather than having its branches blown this way and that all the time by the wind, it simply shifted in the breeze in the same way over and over again in a continuous loop. Snarling, he continued trying to restrain himself as the same hand redied another blast.
"Mel! Somebody! STOP HER!" He howled as he continued hammering at the girls mental defenses, and searching for a crack in said defenses he could wedge open.
HOW DARE YOU!?
“You know, it might be a bit easier to calm her down if you would stop attacking,” I yell.
The girl's mind was unyielding. Apart from the obvious disadvantage of her inexperience, the uncertainty of some of her thoughts and the way her mind seemed stretched, she was practically untouchable. She was hideously powerful, and had she turned her full attention to the Boogeyman he was not so sure he could have held on. But her will was growing weaker as she was becoming more afraid, and though the power of her mind could not be undone so easily that still meant that her "grip", her mental directive, was becoming less and less controlled.
Through the place came a rumble. For a second, the air seemed denser, weighing down on top of you, and a low thrumming seemed to make your whole body reverberate. Then, it passed, leaving stillness in its wake. But now the surroundings seemed darker, the feel of the garden more gloomy and heavier. And there was something there. You could feel it; a dark presence had made itself known. Had you all been able to see Aisha's tail ring in the garden, they would have seen it glow and come dangerously close to cracking again.
Stygian looked up for a second, eyes burning and shadows contorting around his form. Then, there was a blast of darkness.
Joat was violently hurled back from the girl's shape, and she was snapped up by something. A quickly vanishing black afterimage lingered where Stygian had just stood. Now though, he was behind her, twisting darkness emanating from the ripped skin on his back and shadows and green fumes seething off him. He was slowly changing, the skin and fur on his body ripping and burning off more with every second. His face was twisted and dark, his jaw elongated and his mouth turned a gritted maw full of razor-point black teeth. And set above his head was a burning halo of poison green and black.
Stygian held the girl high by the throat. Her hands were tugging at his arm, her face terrified, but they did nothing but singe and flay with the darkness seething and twisting around him. She had lost all mental composition now, her fear having risen so high that she could not maintain her mental control at all, and she ceased all she had been doing. Waves of power came off Stygian's shape, sending waves through the air that followed the tentacles of shadow that whipped from him. His long, pointed tongue snaked out between his teeth as he spoke in a cruel, dual-edged slithering rasp.
"I offered you sentience and power... and the first thing you do is abuse it?!"
Stygian's claws began to dig into the girl's throat, as did some of the tendrils snaking around and from his now completely blackened arm. She squealed, and shook in his grasp, to no avail.
"Mel! You wanted to teach this girl a lesson?" he said in a malicious tone that made that burning, snaking rasp even more horrid. "Then get over here and teach!"
Suddenly the urge to protect the girl had vanished, Gareeku falling to one knee as a sense of somewhat relief came over him like a wave. Shaking his head and getting back up to his feet, the wolf looked on with widened eyes as Stygian now held the girl aloft. Her face was expressing her terror, but what Gareeku now realised was that she was the one who had gave him the urge to try and attack the others. However, anger was not the emotion rushing through the wolf's blood at that moment. It was a wave of sympathy and fear for her safety instead.
While the girl had had her influence on him, he could sense the fear within her. He realised that she was merely afraid; a terrified child who was completely new to these situations.
"Wait! Stygian, stop it!" Gareeku cried out, rushing forward and coming to a stop merely a few metres away from where he stood. "Please! She's just a terrified girl! She doesn't know what she's doing! Let her go!" he said, desperately trying to reason with the enraged Stygian. He would refrain from using violence by all means possible, though if Stygian tried to attack him, he would be prepared to defend himself. Something inside Gareeku told him that he had to save the girl, and it was his own decision this time.
“Pain will not teach her anything save bitter hatred. Please. I would like to try one last thing; something that will truly teach her what she has done,” I say. I then say to Sathariel, “This is your last chance to save yourself. You must read my mind. Read exactly what was going on in my head as you toyed around with my friends. You will then truly understand what you have done.” I stop glowing yellow.
Stygian's gaze turned to Gareeku, and he felt a compelling urge to step away... no, to run. Before, even through the green glow one had been able to sense a bit of considerate thought behind Stygian's eyes. Now, they were cold and unliving, singeing the air as they seemed to want to pierce his skull. Stygian didn't even speak with his mouth, only moved it with his tongue snaking out between needlepoint teeth, while the sound formed in the heads of the onlookers, it seemed. It sounded like he was speaking to you from over your shoulder and from afar at the same time.
"She is unworthy of the power she has. If she cannot use it responsibly, then I will force her to do so! It's either that, or to destroy it. There is no in-between, Gareeku."
The girl cried and screamed, the tendrils making little rippling movements under her skin and obviously causing her great pain. She tried to get something out that she wanted to do what Joat had said, and that she was sorry and that she would be still and that it hurt, but her speech was a mess of yelps and half-muffled squeals and it was very hard to tell exactly what she was saying.
Mel settled back on her haunches, there didn't seem to be a hurry at this point. "What she lacks is respect. Hatchlings in my clan would be belly-up with teeth clamped around their throat if they disrespected their elders like she has. She needs to learn her place."
Listening to the comments from the others, Gareeku grimaced in frustration.
"Listen to me, she is still a child! If you want to teach her to use her powers, then that is fair enough, but this is not the way!" Gareeku replied, his eyes staring into Stygian's, unphased by the man's cold stare. "Am I the only one who is seeing sense?! This is insane! She is only using her powers like this because she is terrified. I could feel it when she was influencing my mind! Let her go, Stygian. You can teach her to use her powers without having to hurt her like this!"
Turning to Mel, Gareeku's eyes stared into hers with the same calm yet cold look he had given Stygian.
"Doing that would only make it worse." He said calmly, "You want to chew her throat? then be prepared to get some more mind-messing from her. Anger like what you are displaying is exactly why she is terrified, and is exactly why she is using her powers like this."
Turning back to Stygian, Gareeku resumed the stare.
"Let her go. Now."
E speaks and Eliander passes on the message. "I think she means metaphorically in this Case Gareeku. thug among dragons it can be quite literal"
"Very literal," Mel agreed, with a nod to the elder dragon. "I do not care what training method you use on the brat, but an out-of-control child becomes a deadly adult. She has no control over her base urges, no honor to temper them, and no model to mold them. Either prove yourself strong enough to control her or let Stygian deal with her."
Hearing Mel's words, Gareeku nodded in acknowledgment.
"Very well. I will attempt to teach her." Gareeku said after a couple of seconds. He didn't know exactly how he would do it, but he would damn well try. "And if I fail, then Stygian can do with her as he wishes...and you may kill me."
"I have no time to teach a little brat who can't even start to control herself!" Stygian snarled. "If she is to stay, then I will have to have some kind of control over her. And that means there are two possible ways. One; I copy some of Mel's mind and behaviour to her, or two; I infect her..." At the last word, some more of the tendrils started moving toward her neck, and she cried out. "...and make sure she never even has the freedom to start trouble again!"
Then, he heard Gareeku's words. He stopped, looking wondering for a while.
"You, teach her? How? As far as I can tell, you and that Aisha both have hidden potentials for power, but psionics is not among them. And I am hesitant to let anything the least like myself out of sight..."
"You may keep an eye on her while I attempt to teach her, then." Gareeku replied calmly. "If you are not willing to teach the "Brat" as you call her, then I will attempt to. I may not possess the power of psionics, but seeing as I am the only one willing to give her a second chance, then I feel i must at least try." the wolf continued. "I do not have control over my transformation, and as a result I have the potential to harm the ones I care for. Do you consider me a brat, too?"
E sighs watching this his incorporeal form patting Elianders back. he knew what the dragon was feeling as eliander had been and out of control dragon at one point. they watch gareeku wishing him the best of luck as a third incorporeal form appears on the other side of eliander. this is Erebus and he is in his K9 form again
Mel shifted downwards to her being-like size and laid a hand on Valencia's shoulder as she addressed Gareeku. "You would be sorry for your actions. That one doesn't even remember damaging this girl."
Mel looked Valencia in the eyes, "Let's see if she left anything to work with." Her voice went soft and hypnotic as she probed, "Hello there. What did the brat do to you? Hmmm, you're a lucky girl today, she didn't have time to do much more than take down a few signposts and leave you spinning in circles. I think we can get you put back together in no time." Mel smiled vaguely at Joat, "Why don't you and I take your friend back inside. I'm sure she'd like a nice drink with her friend and we'll all have a little talk. She'll be feeling better in no time."
With that Mel put her arm around Valencia's shoulders and started leading her away from the pond.
"What will be, will be." Gareeku replied to Mel. "Please accept my apologies, Mel. I consider you a friend, and I hope you consider me one, but I must do this. I have to try."
Turning round, Gareeku looked at her with a caring, yet apologetic smile. "I know you hate her, but I believe we can change what she has been." He continued, "If anything should happen to me, then I hope we do not depart as anything other than friends. You're a good person, Mel. I don't want you to hate me."
"No," Stygian said, dropping the girl like a ragdoll and his tendrils pulling from her. The darkness around him started pulling back, very slowly. But his eyes were still cold fires of evil green as he walked closer to Gareeku. "You I consider a loose cannon. And I will watch you both... closely..." His skin was slowly growing back. This close though, Gareeku could feel the charge in the air, the stinging, burning acidic feeling of him.
Stygian stared into Gareeku's eyes a short while, reading what thoughts and feelings that came off him. He was very determined, and worried, and quite angry too. And there was still a bit of him that was thinking of Aisha. Stygian knew that he shouldn't be doing what he did, a great portion of his essence stretched out at Gareeku and even a few phased lashes of him bending the light and snaking around him slightly, ready to stab at the wolf's body or mind, whichever might prove neccessary. But he was still seething with slow anger.
Calming himself, he quickened his transformation, darkness pulling in under swiftly growing tissue, and pushed his anger to the back of his mind to let it burn out. He would see what happened and take careful action, not rush and haste and fail because of bluntness or clumsiness.
"Yeah. Let's go inside. I'm getting a bit thirsty from all this, myself," he said, turning and walking back up to the mansion.
Feeling the tension between himself and Stygian, Gareeku could feel his anger rising slightly, but quickly brought it under control, pushing it to the back of his mind as he calmed himself as much as he could. He couldn't help but smirk slightly at Stygian's comment.
"Thank you very much. I appreciate it." he said, bowing slightly to show his thanks for letting him try and at least talk to the girl.
Less than a minute later, he and the girl were alone. The garden was completely silent, save for the soft breeze which caused the leaves of the flora to rustle softly. Walking slowly over to the girl, Gareeku was now completely calm and relaxed. Sitting by her on the ground, he looked at her. "You ok?" he asked in a soft voice.
e sighed and the others watched ins silence. then eliander spoke up. " E i think i'm going back to sleep of a decade or two. " e nods. the dragon did not like the situation here. strong emotions were fine as were organized out lashing like the rebellions gains him but this was chaos on a lever that only leads to despair. e had to agree as he was shifted back into domain status . that was in a bad way.
The girl was supporting herself weakly on her knees, her eyes still big and terrified, and she shook with the shock of it all. She looked up at Gareeku, and then a sound grew in her throat and her eyes ran with tears. She threw herself in Gareeku's arms and weeped horribly, clinging to him for protection and burrowing her face in his chest.
"He... he was going to... It... noooo...!" Her words were muffled in his clothing, but faint feelings and images started forming in his head when she showed him what had happened. Apparrently she had tried influencing Stygian with her thoughts too, and he had snapped back at her as if she had stepped in a beartrap. Grating, ripping and crawling thoughts still filled part of her mind, most of them horrid and alien enough that anyone would go to lengths to try and forget all about them. If Stygian had been thinking those things... Slowly she wept.
"Please don't let him... don't let him take me... please..." she looked up at Gareeku, pleading.
*OOC: Darn! Were I available OOC during that time, I would gladly have had Sylver cast his protection.*
I begin to hum a soft tune, the one that my “parents” used to sing to me when I needed comforting.
Sylver walks up to Sathariel. “Don’t worry. We’re friends. When friends are there, any obstacle can be overcome.”
I then add, “Yeah. That whole tendil-around-the-neck thing was just a bluff. I never would have actually hurt you.”
Inside Valencia’s mind, there seems to be total chaos. However, once the memory of what had happened earlier comes up, her mind seems to snap back into place all at once. She looks at me and says, “Why in the world are you comforting her? Does she still have her hypnotic spell over you?”
“Valencia, hatred brings more hatred. We need to teach her, not…” I begin.
“Oh, I’ll teach her, alright; she’ll know all there is to know about getting her @#$ beaten when I’m through with her for this!” Valencia dashes at Sathariel, ready to attack.
A tendril reaches out, wraps around Valencia’s body just tightly enough, then lifts her into the air. “I’ll put you down when you calm down,” I say. I then send the other three tendrils out to tickle her.
“Stop! Desist! Put me down! Okay, fine! Uncle! Uncle!” Valencia says through her laughter.
I gently lower her. “Very good, class.”
“You are evil, you know that?” Valencia comments.
“Just be glad I didn’t use the tae kwon limp technique on you. ‘Boot to the head’.”
“Joat, you are always making song parodies.”
*OOC: The mad scientist? The voice of reason!?*
When Valencia tore herself out of Mel's grip Mel just threw her hands up in resignation and continued on to the lounge. Everyone was so determined to be stupid. She grabbed a glass of whatever the first thing on the bar was and found a chair in the corner to sulk. How many times did you tell a friend they were being irresponsible before you let them go to deal with the consequences of their actions? The girl was a powerful predator and infant predators needed containment and training from someone more powerful. Mel had no faith that Gareeku was that person. If anything he seemed more susceptible to her tactics than anyone. He'd fallen for her weepy baby routine when they had taken her out of the wardrobe and continued to fall for it over and over again. What was the good of sharing 100,000 years experience traveling the multiverse if no one listened?
((OOC: Mel, from your post I sense that you yourself are upset over this. It's just an rp, calm down. :/)
When the girl hugged him, Gareeku wrapped his arms around her in a gentle embrace, stroking the back of her head softly as he tried to comfort her.
"Ssssh...there there...its ok now..." he said softly. As the girl's memories made themselves present in his mind, the wolf could not help but gasp slightly. The images were indeed horrid, and the wolf wanted to forget them quickly. Considering the anger that the others had displayed towards the girl, Gareeku was careful not to form a biased opinion about the girl. He had done that once before, which had led to the others being angry with him as a result. Looking down at her, the wolf wiped the tears from her face with a finger.
"I won't let him..." he said softly, although whether he could actually back up his words was another thing altogether. Gareeku knew that Stygian was powerful, maybe more powerful than he was, and then there was the fact that he had agreed to submit himself to the mercy of the others if he should fail, which was a very likely possibility.
"Please leave us." Gareeku said to the others, "the girl is frightened of you all, and it won't help if I am supposed to try and teach her how to control herself."
OOC: ???? Nope. I'm not upset, it's a silly game. Don't worry. Guess I must have been overly florid in my writing. Just trying to get across that Mel isn't mad at Gareeku, she's worried about him biting off more than he can chew. I'll tone it down.
"I know what you're thinking. Really," Stygian said to Mel, having slumped on the couch with a large glass of wine which he idly swirled. "It's not that I put more weight into age rather than power, but knowledge trumps all. And he might well be in over his head." For some reason his clothes had shifted back to his regular attire, and his voice sounded more... well, regular that one too. His eyes were almost back to as normal as they could be, and though still black the dangerous green glow had faded to a mere shadowy gleam that reflected in the light of the fireplace.
"He's really intending to..." he started, then looked on his glass and frowned. With an unreadable expression he emptied it in one long swig. He swiftly put it on the table, sat up, and walked off toward the table of drinks. "I'm going to do something stupid too, just since it seems to be the trend," he said matter-of-factly. "I'll actually cut loose, and let myself get drunk. I hope you'll do thesame." With that, he began working on a rather considerable bottle of Vodka.
The girl leaned on Gareeku and didn't bother watching the others leave. Her sobs had stopped and her tears turned to a small trickle, but both her mind and body were practically hiding in comparison to before.
"Are you... really going to teach me?" she asked, looking up at him with fearful eyes. "I can't... Do you know how?"
Mel saluted Stygian with the glass of whatever it was. "That sounds like an interesting plan." She took a sip and made a face. "Not strong enough." The glass frosted and ice formed. "One nice thing about being an ice dragon is that you can always make your drink a higher proof with a bit of ice distillation."
Stygian turned to Mel, interestedly watching her putting advanced chemistry to practice in a matter of moments. He was still amazed how she could steal heat from the reaction, and how it must imply controlling molecular and atomic movement at a level and with a detail that he had only seen machines and augmenteds do before, and even they had needed to be in very direct contact with the substance. He was intrigued. And as always when someone did something that way, implying that they were showing off their capabilities, it was customary to respond in kind.
"Hehe... I'm not sure I can top that. At least not that way, since I can't do magic. But..." he said, and poured some Vodka into a shaker, added some soda and flexed his arm a bit meanwhile. Then, he brought a sharp claw to his palm and cut a deep gash in it, spilling a bit of deep green, almost blackish blood into the metal shaker. He threw some ice into it, put on the lid and then shook vigorously for a short while. When he poured the resulting drink into two small cylindrical glasses, it fluoresced a poisonous harlequin green and steamed little fumes that sent sparks between them.
"I did do well in organic chemistry..." he smiled to Mel, offering her a glass.
Mel looked at the fizzing glass a bit doubtfully "This looks more interesting than what naughty dragon children do with the fruit juice when their mothers aren't looking." Then she chuckled, "Why not. As long as we're resetting the bar for stupid today we might as well do it right."
Looking down at the girl, a concerned look appeared on Gareeku's face.
"I do not possess powers like yours, but I feel I must try." He said calmly, wiping the tears from her face again, "You need help, and I will help as much as I can."
“Oh, I soooo want to help. But I guess this is his show, not mine. Besides, I need to worry about mastering my OWN powers,” I think. Sylver and I exchange glances. We do not need to say anything, for we know what is on each-others’ minds. We slowly walk back into the building.
E too had retied to the lounges. He could feel eliander sulking. despite his age he was still little more then a hatchling. e well remember learning the truth when he saw the battle between Eliander and well Eliander.
One was a dragon, one a powerful magical knight both sharing the same soul. At the time eliander had just reached the age of 800 mortal years and was dominating a planet. he spent much of his time sleep or reading readings and he rules were simple. "no blood shed or abuse or i'll come destroy everything" it had worked and to the plant was more or less peaceful most of the time. At the time challengers were welcome to come and make challenge for his head to free there world from his then 50 years of domination. thousands had come and of the thousands less the a hundred had died in battles. there were a few repeat challengers but to eliander it had been more of a game then a battle. he had do this because his fire memories were of waking on a battlefield and watching others kill each other. he was spared death at that time buy what had seems to be an act of nature as the battlefield was rocked by an earthquake. But it was too lad the damage was done. As he laid in the earth he began to understand the anger and rage of those in battles. As he grew he encountered it over and over again and it warped him to a point were he could thrive on the power provided by such energy. finally around 600 to700 years later Eliander took over a section of the planet and imposed his rule. by doing some he for a time found some piece until war came to him again. in the end to stop the blood shed eliander took it all give the image of a powerful raging dragon. Now all anger was director at him as was some fear. But now Eliander was beginning to hate himself. As time went one he warped more actually initiating sure anger flying over places were there was despair and feeling the sudden surge of rage empower him. He was reveling in tint has hating what he was becoming . still he could not stop himself he did not have the power thon he wished for it. He looked at the girl and knew as eliander did that she was not far off form such a life.
E looked at Mel and wondered what she feared would become of the girl. He looked at stygian and wondered what he knew. He listens to the whispers in the dark as Erebus began to snoop. he did not like the chaos that was happeing here but still there was not much that he could do.
The angel girl sniffled, then smiled warmly at Gareeku, and hugged him close.
"Thank you," she said. She then kissed him right on the mouth.
Stygian laughed, and swigged down his drink with fervor. He smacked the glass down on the table, and called to the other occupants.
"Yeah, that tingles! Who wants a shot?"
Upon drinking the coruscating concoction, Mel found it had a chemical, sharp and slightly sour but exciting flavour to it, with a lingering aftertaste of something slightly metallic. But soon, her focus shifted from the taste, to the very feeling of it. As it passed down her oesophagus, Mel felt a jumping, sparking feeling that even breathing ice from deep in her throat could not give. It went up her nose, twisted down her throat, made little saltomortals on the walls of her trachea and a very good salsa on her tongue. She wasn't sure if she was feeling dizzy or more clearheaded when the effect of the drink hit her, but it felt like she was feeling every missed sensory stimulation from her body, thinking every hidden or forgotten thought she had forgotten in the last three weeks at least, and going crazy and realizing that she was saner than ever at the same time. Her face flushed and she felt all wobbly and weak with it.
E decides that he could uses for release himself with a press to his belt he becomes flesh and blood. "i'll take a shot Stygian. i just hope it doesn't kill me"
Hearing the girl's words, Gareeku smiled warmly. However, his eyes then went wide as she suddenly kissed him on the mouth.
"You're...you're welcome..." he managed to say, still in shock as his cheeks went bright red, hoping that Aisha had not seen what the girl had just done. Then again, maybe it was just a sign of gratitude from her and nothing more. Even so, the wolf could not but think of Aisha.
As the girl calmed down, so did Boogey. The light gathing in his hand dimmed and disappeared. Still, as he went inside, he let himself loose to seethe a little.
I can understand making a monster. Hell, I do it all the time. However, he made one without any thought for the concequences and, rather than FIXING the mess, he was going to just destroy her! Good thing Gareeku at least stepped up to the plate and took some damn responsibility. After a bit more inner ranting, he was calm enough to crack a smile at everyone else. Noticing the fizzing drink, he grinned broadly.
"Don't suppose you have a virgin version of those? To someone made of thoughts, getting too drunk can be pretty damn hazardous." He strolled over, "What's it called? And if any part of the name includes the words 'gargle-blaster' then I'm getting Mr. Adam's lawyers on the line."
Veronica says, “Nah, I swore off alcohol years ago.”
“A wise choice,” I say, “Another fine choice would be for everyone to stand clear of me. The first rule of experimentation is that anything that can go wrong most certainly will.”
Sylver and Veronica move away from me a bit.
*OOC: Don’t worry, nobody needs to move. Everyone is a safe distance away.*
I open up my laptop and begin typing on it.
“Is this part of your experimentating?” Veronica asks.
“No, silly! He always keeps a journal of his experiments,” Sylver says.
“It’s the scientific method,” I say.
“Ugh. How boring,” Veronica says.
“Nobody said being a mad scientist was all dramatic diologue and crazy ideas.”
“It isn’t?”
“Well, it is for some, I’ll readily admit. Let’s just say that I’m one of the more intelligent mad scientists.”
The girl blushed at Gareeku's thoughts and his response, yet he didn't think it was because of the reasons one might think.
"I'm... sorry. I... I didn't mean..." she said, and pulled away a bit.
Stygian laughed at E and the Boog. He mixed up more of that drink, taking a cider in one of the mixes instead of Vodka.
"Don't worry. It's not really my blood. If that were the case, I don't think Mel would be capable of thinking now. Or breathing. No..." he said as he shook out one of the drinks. "...I basically form a nice and eeky organic neurostimulant laced with a load of other substances that catalyzes with alcohol and goes straight into the bloodstream." He sounded like it was the most amusing thing in the world. "It makes your brain go crazy, and overstimulates neuron regrowth! All rush, no hangover, no senility!" He slapped down more glasses on the table, and took a vigorous gulp of more of the substance himself. "I call it... hmmm..." he stopped, scratched his chin and turned around a bit. Then his eyes lit up, and he snapped his fingers and struck a pose.
"Mens Sinus!"
“I think I’ll take the non-alcoholic variety,” Veronica says, “C’mon, Joat! Try it with me!”
“But I’m in the middle of… ah, what the hell,” I say. I close my laptop.
E sips it. "An interesting drink it is thou i rarely drink alcohol myself my emotions warrant it this time." E's shared spaces is a mass of quite and discomfort. to have lives so long , to have learned so much but still remember so little. he's spent to many wakening years in solitude it seemed but this century he was trying to change that.
Sylver’s body rematerializes, though very slowly. His soul returns to it and he immediately falls asleep.
Seeing the girl's reaction, Gareeku smiled softly, hugging her again.
"Hey now, don't worry about it." He said softly. "Now then...we need to find out how you can control your powers. I'm guessing they're provoked when you experience certain emotions." He continued, his facial expression showing he was in deep thought as he spoke.
*OOC: I have an idea!*
*Sylver: What?*
*OOC: We could have OOC conversations. That way, the two of us won’t be bored if our characters have nothing to do.*
*Sylver: What mean we? I happen to have places to go, things to…*
*OOC: Stop that. Stop having more of a life than me.*
E drink in hand looks at Mel. he has a moment flash of her dancing in the sky and smiles. " Mel will you be okay?" e knows that like his robotic body his flesh one has it's limits as well but for not he would not worry about that. for now he would worry about the mental state of his friends.
*OOC: Aha! I have it! I have a vague idea! Now let’s see if I can turn it into something more specific… *goes off to plan**
Erebus chuckles. i wonder whats he's up to now "I doubt that it matters to us Erebus but follow him if you wish". the shadow diminished but does not vanish. Erebus is using ominpresence again. E is almost certain of it but right now he is more worried about Gareeku and Mel, Gareeku being to busy to bother at the moment.
*OOC: It’s time, I think, to add a temporary new character to the mix.*
*Sylver: Who?*
*OOC: May.*
*Sylver: That’s a pretty weird choice. Any reason?*
*OOC: Actually, yes. A very special reason.*
*Sylver: Why, then?*
*OOC: That would be a spoiler.*
“Mayday! Mayday!” May yells as she soars through the air at breakneck speed. If only she hadn’t mispronounced that last syllable of the spell, this would have been a simple levitation. But she just had to let herself be distracted. The fumbled spell wears off and she is sent spiraling toward the Earth. “I can do this. I can turn this around. I don’t have any spells quick enough to save me. Oh crap, I’m gonna die!”
Suddenly, she felt the spell kick in again, sending her toward the water near the house. The spell wears off again and she falls into the water with a huge splash.
*OOC: She flew too fast for anyone to get a good look at her, which is why I didn’t describe her appearance.*
Mel was leaned back into the couch, her wings flattened awkwardly to either side. She looked sleepy-serious and very carefully enunciated, "Okay? At the moment I am quite scattered. But that's good. If I can't feel anything then Gareeku's little protoge can't rape my emotions again." She shook her head. "He thinks she's a victim but I think she's a wolf in sheep's clothing."
"I think so," Sathariel responded to Gareeku. "But I can still use them when I feel other things." She demonstrated by sending thoughts to Gareeku, first of calmly laying on a beach and bathing in the sea, then of standing on a mountain afraid and lost in the blowing, freezing wind, and then back to the beach.
"Right now, I was thinking of spaghetti sauce," she says, making a clear point in her own way.
Stygian practically danced across the room, dealing out drinks liberally. He kept talking, warning everyone not to take more than two or three, to loosen up and relax, and to combine the drink with alcohol and a good headsmashing or two to even out. Green fumes seemed to linger a bit in the air, and the room was quickly filled with a pleasant mood as he turned on the stereo again, this time with a more pounding, beating song that seemed like some sort of dance-like hard rock fusion. It was fast and hard, but melodic, speedy riffs combined with a pulsing rhythm and a few piano-keyed electronic elements to make for a perfect environment and dancing music.
Making a spin, Stygian swung his last drink around and offered it to Aisha, making a bow in the process.
"Best lady, wouldst thou move thine so well-shaped bod' with me?" he smirked to her. He looked over at Mel for a while. "Let's not be such grouches, dear. Let's liven up this party!"
((People, I am SO sorry...just got home and I had to read through the last three pages of this stuff. Man, I'm gonna make an announcement before I go on a trip next time... :rolleyes ))
All of a sudden it seemed the peace had shattered. From what had been some commotion outside turned out to be a total frenzy. Aisha's mind, in a state of peacefulness, was now unwillingly arguing with itself...it was like her own thoughts were being manipulated, played back with horrifying arguments and images. She tried tuning them out, hands gripping the sides of her head, claws digging into her scalp.
No puedo pensar...I can't think! What's going ON?! A girl in trouble...? Stay or go...? She was about to fall to her knees. It was happening again...like being ripped to shreds within the only haven a living thing has. She couldn't take it...not again.
Her eyes focused on Gareeku, and he seemed to be in the same amount of pain, if not more. She wanted to move over to him, to help comfort him...to comfort herself...but she too couldn't move an inch.
Then it subsided...the panther watched him run out the door. She stayed on the floor, rubbing her head, trying to revive from whatever it was. Still, in her own personal thoughts, she was still in turmoil. Why can't I move? Am I doomed to live in fear of this happening again?
You're not a coward, chica. You never were a coward.
Then why do I feel so useless? Here I am on my knees recovering while everyone else is out the door...
Aisha could still hear what everyone was saying though, and even more so when she finally stood up on shaky legs to look outside. She heard everyone picking on this poor girl, the one who apparently had started the whole thing...Stygian was back to his darker self, a shudder crawling up her back at the thought of it...Mel, E, Joat, others that she didn't even know, they were all there observing and planning...the girl crying...
And then Gareeku had cut in. She observed him as he defended the poor child, and she was reminded once again of how admirably valiant he was. A part of her wanted to go in and interrupt...but she knew the wolf, his determination was unstoppable.
A half of Aisha was with some of the group, and the other was with him. She hadn't seen what the girl was truly like. Was she really as innocent as she looked? Or was she trouble?
Now, while the others were coming in, she had asked what was going on, and knew the story. The only one who hadn't come back was Gareeku and the girl. Now, she was watching from the doorway, half of her attention back on the goings-on of the mansion party and the other half on the wolf as she could barely see him in the dark of the outside. Her eyes narrowed a little at the girl's affectionate gratitude towards him...but she had to shake her head and smirk. He did have that kind of way about him.
Her tail was flicking lightly to the music, but otherwise she didn't dance. The only reply she gave to Stygian was that one of her ears had turned back to listen. But still she had a silent argument going on in her head.
I didn't even have the instinct to grab my weapon. I always did...was it just because we were all just...unprepared?
A sigh escaped her throat. That must be it. Just try to relax...and Gareeku will come back in as well...and maybe you'll get to see what all the fuss is about with this girl.
"it is the lone wolves that one must be weary of. once 300 years ago i was raise by feral wolves for nearly 8 years. i was 5 going into the event with only the worlds of my people to . they treated me like a lost pup and due to them i could survive in the harsh landscape. for that i was grateful. "e remember this life only because he had reached the minimum age for it's survival. 20 mortal years he'd died shortly after movie into the city form a disease. e felt Eliander stabilize as he merged with his other half. in this state he was his full age of 320K (still younger then Erebus and 22billon) mortal years of age and prone more to philosophy then battle but it was a trade of he make with joy. " Do you know what i fear Mel? what i truly fear above all on this mortal plane?"
Stygian stood still, face and posture unchanging. He held the glass like that for a few seconds. Then, he swigged it down, threw it into the fireplace with a loud smash, and spoke harshly in a very familiar voice.
"If you think you can do everything on your own, then you are a fool, chica! ¡Usted es irracional y usted sabe tan!" he said, then muttered something in his ordinary voice and walked off, with a last glance to the girl playing with Gareeku and Mel and Boogey slumped as they were. He dissapeared through the doors towards the entrance hall, turning in the corridor and leaving a trail of indignation and irritation behind, both scent-wise and mentally.
Just a few minutes ago, he had found it so fun to sense the thoughts of others, Stygian thought while the snapping of his own footsteps echoed in his ears. Now, he was positively sure that he would not use that ability for quite some time to come, before he learned to filter out every last scrap of an idea that he didn't want. Mel sulking, Boog and his ideas (did he really think he had wanted to create something!?), Aisha's distraught and more sulking, and Gareeku's self righteous bleeding...!
Things started crawling under his skin again, but Stygian forced back the anger as he had before. No. He would not be the bother here, not this time. They had filled that task just fine, and they could sit. As for him, he was off to deal with his anger in a productive manner, one which he was used to...
e sighed. Stygian was bothered and for what seemed to be good reason this time. still he was powerless. well it was not that he was powerless per say but that he did not know what to do or say. his experience said to let him be so he would.
When the sound of shattering glass was heard, Aisha flinched. She still had her back turned and head bunched in her shoulders when he shouted. When finally the sound of stomping footsteps was heard, she turned her head away from the door with a quirked eyebrow, showing a look of irritation and confusion mixed alongside the already burning inner fires.
I'M being irrational? What have I done? She hadn't seen him this mad before. Her head lowered in thought for a few moments. Stygian was a mystery ever since he came back. He's been bothered after playing the music with Sal...and it was almost scary to see his power before. And now this.
Aisha turned back around, her eyes watching the night sky and the moon, suddenly feeling a little guilty for all of these events, though they weren't her fault. She'd apologize to Stygian when he came back. Hrmph...I wish this thing could be purged.
May resurfaces for a moment, sees the people in the house and near the water, then goes back underwater, praying that nobody saw her. Nobody is supposed to know that she really exists. So what would she do? Water Breathing spell? No, she couldn’t chant underwater. What would she do?
I am finished with my drink when see something in the water. It popped to the surface for only a second, but that was long enough to arouse my curiosity.
Veronica sees me staring out the window and asks, “What is it? You still worried about the girl?”
“No. Well, yes; but that’s not what I’m looking at,” I say.
Mel quietly falls asleep without anyone noticing.
(OOC: I think cranky-girl has needed a nap for the last several pages. <waving> Welcome back Aisha.)
My curiosity kicks into high gear. While I have enough self control to stay in the house…
My tendrils immediately go toward the water. I try to grab them and pull them back, but they just end up pulling me forward, steadily closer to the water.
“Talk about the tail wagging the dog,” Veronica says.
“Bad wings! Bad!” I yell.
Finding his way through the house, Stygian stepped into the gymnasium of the place, a large semi-submerged hall in the cellar with smooth, high walls and machines and weights all around the place, surrounding a mat-covered open space at the back of the room where the walls were hung with training weapons. Perfect for relaxation, he thought.
He walked to the back of the room and threw off his shirt and pants, moving and rolling his arms and legs as he walked, snaps coming from his joints. He concentrated, and forced down his own entity, holding his abilities back. Then he laid up some weights for later use, and went into a split on the floor, reaching around to place a hand under each of his hindpaws. He slowly began working through his whole body, stretching and pulling on every muscle to ease them up, and clearing his mind to get rid of all emotion, breathing very slowly as he did.
Sathariel eyed Joat very curiously. Because of who and what she was, she knew perfectly well what was going on.
"Can we go inside?" she asked Gareeku. "It's cold out here." He could see what she meant, for some wind had started blowing as well, and the trees rustled with whispers in their branches while coloured autumn leaves danced across the ground a bit. Considering what the girl was wearing, it was a bit confusing that she wasn't shivering. But then again, she had fur, although that usually didn't do much to cover more sensitive areas of one's body.
"Oh! of course" Gareeku replied, noticing that the wind had picked up. Taking off his shirt, he then put it on the girl, taking her hand and leading her back to the house.
Entering the house, Gareeku saw Aisha, and immediately he was filled with worry for her. with the girl's hand in his, the wolf walked over the panthress, softly placing his hand on her cheek.
"Are you ok?" he asked, his worry evident on his face as he spoke.
"She is feeling... responsible," the girl said. "And insulted... no, wait, that's not her." She looked confusedly at Aisha. Then she looked around at the others, and her eyes stayed at Mel. Previously the dragon had been so intimidating to her, and now she was slumped back and... sleeping? Gently, the girl touched the dragon's thoughts to see if it was a bluff, like placing a finger on a surface of water without disturbing it the least.
((OOC: By the way... Stygian wasn't shouting. He almost never does in his regular form. Think of it more as speaking strongly, sharply. It's more the tone that does it.))
Seeing Stygian leave, Boogey shrugged and took a tiny sip of the drink. This cost him a few minutes.
When his vision wasn't blurred and he was sure of his current mental state, he set down the drink just as Sathariel and Gareeku entered.
He knows little of her abilities, but is willing to look after her. Noble, but not very practical. I should probably volunteer my help... No. It may be taken the wrong way. I'll wait; if he wants my aid he'll ask for it.
He continued to watch the girl, mulling over what may or may not happen.
*all of a sudden, the doorbell rang*
Karl: I'll get it!
*Karl opens the door and recieves 3 packages from the postman*
Karl: thanks!
*Karl closes the door and opens the packages*
Karl: looks like all three consoles are here!
*pulls out a Wii, a Xbox 360, and a PS3*
(edited due to consent rule...forgot about asking)
Mel, peacefully asleep, felt a faint vibration against her dream. As faint as the ripple of a water-bug on a pond it barely registered. With a sleepy grumble Mel tightened her mental shields and tried to fall back into the dream.
Before Aisha could answer Gareeku's inquiry, she glanced down at the girl as she spoke, who nearly hit what the panther was feeling right on the mark. She had to smirk a little, watching her walk over to the sleeping Mel. A psychic. I guessed so.
The pantheress raised her hand and put gently on his, looking up at him with a slightly tired but warm expression. "Ah, I'm okay. I just wasn't the most prepared for that little interruption...but you handled it valiantly."
What an understatement. It still shouldn't have taken me that long to get up and help. Thank the gods, it wasn't anything destructive.
Still, she felt a little better with the wolf there to comfort her. She gave his hand a nuzzle and glanced back at the girl. "So, that's her, huh? Strong for someone who looks young."
The girl looked to Aisha with an innocent expression, and blushed at the comment. Or maybe it was the sight of her and Gareeku together, or the feelings from them. Yeah, she was still young.
"He... told you not to feel that way, didn't he?" she said shyly to Aisha. "I think he's right. It was my fault. I shouldn't have gotten scared like that..." She looked pained to say that, but she quickly turned her attention to Mel again.
"Are you... allright?" she asked the dragon, her thoughts a bit more probing.
At the mental poke Mel came awake with a jump. "What?!" Seeing the girl over her Mel gave a yelp. "Gareeku! Keep your pet out of my head. I thought you were teaching her manners." Mel stood and took a step back. "She was trying to break my mind shields."
Feeling Aisha nuzzle into his hand, Gareeku smiled softly, his feelings for her rushing back as he gazed lovingly at her. This was soon interrupted, however, by Mel being startled by the girl.
"I'm sorry, Mel." Gareeku said apologetically, before turning to the girl with a reassuring smile. "Come on, let's leave Mel and go get you a drink." he said in a comforting voice, taking her by the hand and leading her over to the drinks table. Knowing that an alcoholic drink prehaps wouldn't be the wiset thing to give to a girl who pretty much had the mindstate of a child, Gareeku gave her a glass of water.
"Now then," the wolf said with a reassuring smile as he sipped some water of his own, "You need to remember that not everybody likes their mind and feelings being read. It's a privacy thing. Next time, try not to read people's minds unless people ask you too, ok?" he said reassuringly, before taking her back over to Aisha. He could not help but smile softly at her every time he saw her.
Heh, who knew that I could be such a softy... the wolf thought to himself, but he didn't care.
*just then, Karl comes into the room carrying the three consoles*
Karl:Can...someone...help me with these?
(OOC:the consoles are in their cardboard packaging, which seem to be block my view somewhat)
Sathariel practically jumped, and looked terrified when Mel shouted, cringeing.
"I- I'm sorry... I thought I was being careful..." she said, looking ready to cry again. When Gareeku smiled and led her over to the table though, she calmed a bit, and took the water thankfully, sniffing it curiously before drinking. She looked ashamed when he spoke to her, and kept casting half apologetic and half fearful glances to Mel. His words also seemed to have another effect on her, because she looked wonderingly on him when he spoke of the part about privacy.
"But... I can feel them anyway... at least a little. Why don't they hide them if they don't want me to hear them?" she said, and then looked to Mel, and then the Boogeyman. "I can't feel what he's thinking. And she's hiding everything except when some anger slips out..." She blushed again. "And what about the other one? It hurt lots when I tried to read his mind earlier, but now he's not even bothering to shield it at all."
My wings finish leading me to the water. The tendrils go underwater.
May sees my tendrils heading toward her. “Oh, gimme a break!” she thinks. When the tendrils grab her, she expects be harmed, so she is quite surprised to be gently lifted to the surface.
She looks just like a rabbit being, but is a mere two feet tall. She seems quite young, not even yet in her teen years. She has pink fur with white hands. “An incubus!” May shouts in shock.
“I am no enemy of yours. I do not mean to harm you,” I say.
“Alright. What is it?”
“What is what?”
“What do you want with me?”
“I’m not evil.”
“Yeah. And I’m not the easter bun… wait… crud…”
“Seriously. I’m not evil. Just ask anybody.”
“I’ll be the judge of that!” May begins to chant a spell.
“Chanting a spell to destroy me? What is this? Guilty until proven innocent?”
“No. It was a detect alignment spell. Turns out you’re the same alignment as me. Cool. Kinda unusual for a cubi to be a good guy. But then, most people don’t think of the possibility that the Easter Bunny is a Qwertish Wizard. Name’s May, by the way. May Cottontail.”
Hearing the girl's words, Gareeku looked back at her, feeling guilty upon seeing her upset face.
"Hey now, don't worry about it..." The wolf said as he gave her a hug. Thinking about her last words, Gareeku smiled.
"I don't think some people can hide their emotions that well," he explained, the reassuring smile back on his face. "Mel's a bit upset at the moment. Give her time, though, and she'll cheer up."
Aisha leaned against the side of the food table, grabbing a drink of her own as she watched the girl. She felt a little guilty about having thought earlier that she was trouble. From how she acted, she seemed sincere enough...just misunderstood. Almost like the first impression with people is always bad. The panther knew what that was like.
When she came back, Aisha gave her a light smile. "Not everyone's good at shielding their thoughts, chica. Sometimes people are so emotional and outgoing that it's probably easy to sense it...but they get mad still. Go figure," she shrugged. "People tend to get apprehensive when one penetrates the place that secrets are supposed to be safest. I'm certain you don't mean harm."
Then, the panther quirked an eyebrow at Karl as he came in carrying some heavy boxes. "Ay!" she interjected and went to push one up that looked like it was tipping over. "Good thing it's not a long walk to the entertainment system."
“Joat Legend Delia. Mind if I take you back to the others in the house? Have you meet the others?” I say.
“As long as they can keep a secret,” May says.
“Don’t worry about that. They can,” I say. May and I walk back toward the house. Once I am in the house, Veronica asks me, “How was the walk your wings took you for, hm? And who might that be?”
“Why are you looking at me like I’m two?” May asks rhetorically.
“Oh, sorry. Instinct, I guess,” Veronica says to May, “I’m Veronica Young.”
“May Cottontail,” May says as she curtseys, “And don’t get used to that curtsey. I’m kind of a tomboy. Just ask anybody.”
*Karl then walks to the entertainment system and slowly places the boxes on the floor*
Karl: Thanks Aisha...I didn't want to pay for a replacement if one of them broke...
*Karl then looked around*
Karl:Hmmm...where did I put that A/V selector?
May spots the boxes. “GAMES!” she yells in delight.
"Well kid," Boogey said, hearing Sathariel's comment, "You can't keep up a mental shield all the time. Some aren't so bad, depending on what kind, but even the most benign can start to show psychological side effects after a while. Others, you just forget to leave them up all the time. Either way, it's still rude to eavesdrop."
“With Calica, you’re protected all the time,” May comments.
Sathariel just looked confused with all that was happening. Obviously, she was starting to pick up on things again. And she eyed the recently arrived people with as much suspicion as anything else. She fumbled for something more to drink, while it looked as if she was thinking hard.
"I... don't think that it..." she said, taking a glass and walking over to look at the huge flatscreen on the wall beside the stereo, which Karl was fiddling with, with curiosity and amazement. Against the Boogeyman's words, she felt around in the room for free thoughts again to see if she could find out what was going on, and then just barely dared to reach for the other ones that were coming from deeper within the house...
Stygian was just done with pushups and had thrown the weights off his back, now sitting cross-legged on the floor while stretching his arms and humming a chant, settling his breath for the next exercise. Then, something brushed against his consciousness, like a feather on bare skin. He didn't get very angry, but enough for him to harden his mind not to let any thoughts out, and then to grab hold of the searching thoughts swiftly, like a vice tightening around a reaching hand.
I wish to be left alone! he sent to the girl. I will not intrude upon anyone else, so neither shall anyone else intrude upon me! If you seek me, then come and ask for me! he passed to the girl, and forced the thought to her, then shut his own mind in and continued with his exercises.
"...intrude upon me! If you seek me, then come and ask for me!" The girl had silently repeated all of Stygians words, her eyes wide and her emerald irises glowing for a moment. She trembled, then staggered back against the table to support herself. She took another drink, and looked back to the Boogeyman.
"I... won't do it again..." she said, fear still on her face.
"Hmm, not here in this room, grouchy... sounds like Stygian. Styg's kind of an extreme example of the other reason you shouldn't do that sort of stuff; you can get a sort of backlash from looking too closely at the minds of those who have particular types of mental shields or who are just outright crazy. If you ask me, he's a dash of both," Boogey grinned, "You're off to a good start kid, you just gotta learn a bit more self restraint."
May notices Sathariel’s troubled expression. A chocolate bar appears in May’s hand, which she passes to Sathariel. “Here. Candy is the best medicine for the soul.”
“I thought that was laughter,” I say.
“Yeah, laughter can help, too.”
E sighs. this was not going Well and as nice as she was an annoyed dragon was trouble though an angry dragon was worst. he knew this form experience. at the rate things were going Mel would be angry again soon ant his time with genuine ire
Seeing the girl stumble, Gareeku quickly supported her, help her to regain her footing. Listening to the others, Gareku smiled.
"Boogey's right; you're definitely on the right track," he said reassuringly, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You just need some help in restraining your powers."
May says to Mel, “By the way, you want a really effective mind shield? I can do that for you.”
Sathariel laid her hand on Gareeku's and looked up at him. Then, at the Boogeyman.
"He... he created me, didn't he?" she said, still looking really afraid. "Why is he so angry?" She turned between the two of them and Aisha. "Is it because of me?"
Boogey considered saying no, but thought better of it. When it came to those who may or may not figure out why they can't read your mind, honesty was usually the best policy.
"I have no clue why he's mad. I don't know if he intended to create you, but some of my best creations were by accident. I don't think it's so much you as just the world hasn't been going his way as of late." He shrugged and reached into his coat, rummaging around for something, "Now, I can't stand seeing little kids really and truly upset, or at least not when I can't take credit for it, so lets see if I have- Aha!" With a crinkle, he pulled out a large bag of sweets, "Here we are! These usually help me when I'm not feeling to well, and it looks like you could use it." He grabbed a handfull of brightly colored, sugar-encrusted things that looked like they could cause tooth decay at 20 paces and offered her the open bag. "Want some?"
“I’ll bet you and your, um, ‘father’ be back on good terms in no time at all,” Valencia says to Sathariel, “I should know a thing or two about parent problems. Me and my parents argued countless times. For example, when my father tried to train me to use a gun, I refused. When he forced me to train anyway, I thought he was doing it because he hated me. Turns out that he actually saved my life with those gun lessons. Sometimes it may seem like parents do things just to make you unhappy, but in the end, they just want to help you learn and to help you be happy in the long run.”
While watching Karl fiddle with the game systems and Sathariel reel from the wall, Aisha raised her eyebrow in thought. She didn't really know what to explain to the girl, or even how. She certainly didn't feel like making the mood any more somber than it was a while ago. She smirked when Boogey comforted her and the other strangers put in their two cents, irrelevent or not.
"Maybe he's just having a bad day..." the panther shrugged. "He kinda got irritated with me too. Everyone."
The angel girl looked, then sniffled, and took some candies, adding them to the chocolate she had already recieved. She continued sniffling, tears trickling down her cheeks as she ate.
“You actually tried to get out of a cool lesson like that?” May exclaims at Valencia’s words. “How could you not like a gun class. I wish my father could’ve taught me that.”
“The easter bunny, master of guns,” Valencia thinks aloud. She chuckles at the mental image.
"Hey now..." Gareeku said softly, wiping the tears from the girl's face. "It'll be ok. I'm here for you, and so are the others, i'm sure." He continued, feeling he had a duty to look after this scared and confused girl as best he could.
"Well I don't know about you guys, but this place could use some livening up!" the wolf said with a warm smile, looking to the others and then back at the girl. "What do you say?"
She looked at him, and then threw herself into his arms again, crying. At first, he wasn't sure why at all, and she didn't say anything. Then, thoughts streamed into his head, and he knew. She was sad because she was still a bit afraid and insecure, and because Stygian, who had made her, didn't seem to want her there. But she was also equally happy that they were treating her so well, even after what she had done. And she was torn between these emotions, knowing only that she liked being here and didn't want to go away. That last thought was accentuated somehow, as if going away meant more than being sent off. Much more.
"Yeah..." she said, and sniffed, looking up at Gareeku with a smile. "I'd like that."
“Are you pond… er… thinking what I’m thinking?” I ask.
“Yes. But what if the hippo won’t fit in the tutu? Narf!” May jokes
“Then we shall dress him up as a scarecrow. Costume party!” I say.
“Those are so cliché. We need something new and exciting,” Veronica says.
“Aw… but I wanted to see what I would look like as an army guy,” I say.
"Ditto that," Boogey grinned as he put away the bag of candy, "This place is gloomier than the black, twisted soul of some emo kid on anti-anti-depressants." On this last part he clutched one hand to his chest and the back of the other to his forehead; the standard dramatic pose. He grinned at Sathariel and winked, hoping the act of silliness cheered her up. He tended to get depressed when those around him were down.
Aisha smiled at Gareeku and raised her hand in agreement with his statement. "Definitely. It's supposed to be a party after all." She laid a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Now you're gonna be okay, right? You can join all of us."
One of her ears quirked back into the other room, where the music had stopped. She looked around, wondering if everyone was migrating from the dance floor to the entertainment system.
May and I chuckle a bit at Boogey’s pose. “I’d be making a joke right about now, but I don’t think it could top that,” I say, “Wait a sec. I feel a tendril reaching out for something.”
“That’s what you call those things? I just call them ‘wing limbs’,” May says.
“Well, I call them tendrils because…” I begin. I am interrupted by my tendril, which just placed a slice of cheese pizza on my head, crust-side-down. I smile. I grab the piece of pizza and raise it off my head before lowering it again, just as someone would lift their top hat. I then say to May, “Good evening to you, madame.”
May giggles. “You’re making it look like those wing li… um, tendrils have a mind of their own.”
“Sometimes I think the same thing. They work on a subconscious level, so it works the same way.”
The floor shook slightly, the feeling and sound of something very heavy and hard slamming into the floor traveling through the house. It was muffled when it reached you, but clearly noticeable.
Sathariel looked confused for a moment, but then giggled a bit at the Boogeyman's jest. At Aisha's words though she looked a bit worried.
"But... I don't have a... costume," she said, the last word sounding a bit testing, as if she had just remembered what a costume was. Then she blushed again. "And I don't know how to dance..."
"Costume? Do we look as though we're in costume?" He looked around, "Alright, don't answer that. We'll find you something. As for dancing, I'm sure someone can teach you. Not me though. I'm ultimate proof that geeks shouldn't dance."
Boogey assumed the shaking was Stygian, and that if Stygian was shaking the place up that much he probably wanted to be left alone. Best leave it be until he got it all out of his system.
“Knowing how to dance is an optional part of dancing. Even if you don’t know how to dance, it’s good fun just to dance anyway,” I say, “Anyway, while you guys are preparing the party, I’ll go see what that noise was. ‘Kay?”
E could not help but laugh even is his recovering state form he drink. " well i guess it is armor optional eh?"
I take off my lab coat and begin to fold it. In an amazing feat of clothing folding, wrapping, et cetera, I shape my lab coat into a turban and put it on.
“Clothing origami?” Valencia asks.
“Cool!” May says.
Mel had wandered off early in the conversation. Every time she opened her mouth the girl started crying and she ended up in trouble. She headed for where she thought the kitchen was but quickly found herself lost. Stygian might have redecorated the rooms but the halls were monotonous. She slowed and just wandered, hunting for an outside door. She'd go rock hunting for a snack if she couldn't find the kitchen. "Do you know what your problem is," she asked herself, "aside from the fact that you're lost and talking to yourself? You can't tell anyone why you don't trust her, because you like these people and don't want them to stop trusting you. You can't say "I don't trust her because I do many of the same things and I'm a bit of a rogue who manipulates people daily." How about "I'm mad because she's stealing my best moves"." Mel chuckled to herself, "How about I am a tired idiot who really needed that nap that got interupted. Pardon me for being a grouch. That would probably be the best place to start."
She realized that she was hearing a loud thumping and glanced through an open door. It was Stygian and he was in a sort of a gym. Mel paused, debating for a second if she should ask him where the exit was but eventually decided he looked like someone who didn't want to be interupted and backed away to keep searching on her own.
“I thought you were gonna go army,” Valencia says.
“Yeah, but I do need to go check out that noise,” I say. I walk out the door. The pizza slice is still on my head.
“Um, Joat…” May begins.
“No, no. If he absolutely insists on having pizza on his head, why stop him?” Valencia says.
“You’re gonna love hearing about the reactions later, huh?”
“Immensely.”
After a while, I manage to find the gym. “Wow, this place has everything. I wish I had a gym in my house,” I say.
Karl: a dance, eh?
*Karl uses his own mana reserve to do some transformation magic to turn himselfs into a suave, ballroom dancer*
Karl: I should call Lilith in here...that cubi wife of mine loves to dance.
Looking around, Gareeku found Mel was nowhere to be seen. Filled with worry, the wolf turned to the others.
"Excuse me, i'll be back in a bit. I need to go find if there's any costumes laying about here in the house. Plus it'll give me a chance to explore." He said to the others with a warm smile. "Now you have fun, you hear?" he continued as he looked at the girl, the warm smile still on his face. "I won't be long."
A short while later, the wolf was walking down corridor after corridor, when he suddenly spotted Mel, hearing her talk to herself.
"Mel..." he said, looking at her with a mix of great worry and what could only be described as guilt. "...you're leaving...?"
Stygian dropped a bar hung with a huge load of weights down on a hard mat, the massive floor shaking under it. He relaxed his arms, and let his shoulders slump, standing with his back to Mel.
"Why are you down here?" he said out loud, before she could back out. It seemed he had noticed her. He turned around and looked at her, straightening his tight black wrappings, the only thing he was wearing right then. Thankfully, she noticed, he also had ones covering all of his lower body from the waist down to his large, long-toed feet. He looked at her a bit boorishly as he walked round again, taking off the weights and starting to hang them in their places. "Did the company prove unagreeable?" he said. The shield around her mind was tight and untouched, and she wasn't upset, so he had to be guessing on his own.
Then, he saw Joat and heard Gareeku.
"Well. A commotion," he simply stated, and then proceeded to do some chin-ups on a standing rack.
Meanwhile, Aisha had listened to everyone's ideas on how to liven things up. She smirked at the thought of a costume party. It would be a change from the more formal dance that was going on earlier. A little more lively perhaps, and creative. Perhaps someone could start a contest...of course it wouldn't be too fair as there are some who'd just shift-change their regular bodies into other shapes and things.
The panther looked down at her dress and had to snicker. Well hopefully there are costumes in the house, else I'd bug poor Mel again. I hope she's okay.
Meanwhile, she watched Sathariel and hoped at least that the party won't be interrupted again...the girl would try her best not to do it herself, but then, who knows what else could happen...
“Cubi, huh? Think she could teach Joat how not to pulled around by his ‘tendrils’?” Valencia says to Karl.
“You mean he can’t fully control his powers?” May asks.
“He’s been a cubi for less than an hour. Chances are, no.”
“Wait. What?”
“When you’re a mad scientist, your DNA is bound to change someday.”
“Oh, I get it now.”
"I was just looking for an exit and got lost. I need my minerals and decided to go rock hunting. And I figured that the girl could use a break from my big bad self. Every time I look at her she starts crying." Mel winced inside, when had she become such a bitch? Maybe she really did have a mineral imbalance.
E stood and shook his head. his body was almost clear having thrown off the influence of Stygian's drink. still it was nice while it had lasted. e looked at his arm and tried to open a map. it was then that he realizes he was still organic. then a contracted push he purges the last of the drinks effects then touches his belt becoming robotic again. " i think i'll wonder around for a bit." he says with no real reason
I overhear Mel’s words. “She’s a bit fragile at the moment. I have a suggestion. Maybe you can write her a letter saying that you do not mean to scare her or anything. Letters tend to work where face-to-face conversation fails. I know from personal experience. And as a bonus, she’s in the same house, so you don’t have to use any postage stamps.”
Mel started off in the direction she had been heading before. Stygian looked like he wanted some peace and quiet. She understood, with so many rooms in this house why did everyone always end up in the same place? Then she heard Joat and turned back to answer."But she scares me. Do you understand that when I was screaming at her during the fight that wasn't me, it was her? She had gotten control of my emotions and was trying to get control of my mind to force me to kill Boogey. I was able to turn it back onto her. If she was a little stronger or a little more experienced fighter she would have managed. I was her weapon. What if she's fooling you with an innocent act? I don't want to go on a rampage and kill anyone. Do you want to have to kill me to protect yourself knowing I'm not the one in my head? It would break my heart if it was the other way around."
Mel realized she was shouting and walking very fast at the same time, but at least she finally found the exit. She walked straight ahead until she literally ran into a brick wall. She leaned against it. "Okay, this is progress, I guess. I'm still talking to myself but at least I've realized I'm angry to hide my fear. How do I get past it and get moving again?" She sat and leaned against the wall to stare at the moon and think.
Listening to the others speak, Gareeku kept quiet. When Mel left, a few moments of silence was observed, before the wolf suddenly punched the wall behind him.
"Damn it!!" He yelled out, his frustration and anger getting the better of him as he continued to punch the wall. "Damn it, Damn it, DAMN IT!!!"
Opening his eyes, he found he had created two little craters in the brickwork. Looking at his hands, he noticed they were now covered in blood. His blood, though the pain was subconsiously being blocked out by his emotions. Sitting down on a bench and hanging his head, Gareeku sighed and closed his eyes. If there was one thing he hated, it was falling out with those he cared about.
"It's all my fault..." the wolf murmured. "I've managed to create and destroy a friendship in one day. Must be a record."
Aisha hung out near the television, watching everyone mingle. Despite the fact that at a few intervals she would feel a hint of a heavy rumble throughout the walls, things were at least peaceful in the room. With Stygian having been out of sight for a while, she had to surmise that it was probably him doing that. At one point her head turned to the wall and leaned on it, her ear pressed against the rough-textured masonry.
It was only then that she felt a few more barely distinguishable vibrations, nothing like Stygian's but more of a softer, muffled kind, like something was hitting the walls repeatedly.
What the...? Is something going on? She stood away from the wall and glanced around, looking to investigate...then stopped herself and looked briefly over to where the angel girl was hanging out. Hm...I dunno if I want to leave this chica alone, though.
e hears Mel's concerns thorough the shadows of her fear and the volume of her shouting. he could only wonder that she had such power to influence such and wise dragon. when he called for Eliander during the fight he's wanted the complete version not the splintered soul of the child that had come to him but still he was able to help a littler. emotional manipulation was useless again Eliander in either forum or so they believe.. so is it time fore me to awaken? "what who?" it's me esure spell... did you forget me? it's been 200,010 years since you brought me into being you know but I've always done my duty "i'm sorry. i'm young you see. only 30 years in the flesh and i only recall a few lives" and i'm not one of them? "no your not" i am the spell known to you as the dragon watcher. you made me from your personality to seek out an protect your dragon incarnation and his kin. But when off duty i was free to explore and watch over other dragons that i found. " I see but why awaken now?" Eliander is back and he need time to grow up as himself not as that merges entity that he became but as himself Eliander the enlighten as he was suppose to be. Also you are worried I sense over another dragon... an ice dragon I believe? "yes but she's grown and it would be wrong to spy on her . Not to mention that she could dispel you." You remember quite quickly it seems. Very well I shall retire until called. I bid thee well E sighed. yet another was coming to haunt him and this one was not here a past life but a spell cast in a past life. "what next he ask and the walks into a wall so distracts by his internal dealings.
There was a muffled thud as Stygian laid off the weights he had been using for the chin ups. A few seconds later, Gareeku felt a large hand on his shoulder. Stygian had silently moved up to him, and was looking at him, attempting to get eye contact.
"You really shouldn't do that unless you're regenerative, you know," he said, looking at Gareeku's hands. He turned on his heel, and swiftly went back into the gym. Seconds later he came back holding a little metal box that looked like it was supposed to hang on a wall. He sat down on the bench, and opened it, taking out alcohol, cotton wool and gauss.
"Let me have a look. You won't want to do it yourself with those," he said, and without waiting began examining the wolf's hands, painfully straightening the fingers.
"Well, you've only busted two knuckles, to your fortune, but you're bleeding like Hell's bitch..." He continued by cleaning the wounds with the alcohol, then putting on some sort of ointment and ripping the gauss, wrapping Gareeku's fingers tight. "You know... where I come from there's a saying... 'a friend who thinks exactly like you is not a friend; he is a shadow'"
“Well, if we’re gonna party, we should include Sylver on the fun,” Valencia says.
“Who’s Sylver?” May asks.
Valencia, ignoring May’s question, walks over to Sylver and shakes him slightly. He does not wake up. She shakes him harder. He does not wake. She shakes him as hard as she can. No response. He just keeps sleeping peacefully.
“Geez talk about living death,” Veronica says.
“Kinda reminds me of Calica Exhaustion,” May says.
“Calico exhaustion?”
“Calica. Calica exhaustion comes from casting too much Calica magic. It leaves the Calica mage vulnerable because it leaves them completely unable to wake until their energy is restored.”
Right then, Sylver wakes up and stretches.
“Maybe he is a Calica mage,” May thinks aloud.
“Would that explain his soul flying out of his body to attack?” Valencia asks rhetorically.
May pauses for a moment. “Yep. Sounds like Calica to me.”
Mel let the silence seep into her and relaxed. This was the first time she'd heard silence since she had arrived at this house and it felt good. Too many things to think about at once and no time to think about them. It was probably because of the lifespan difference but these people did everything so quickly that Mel felt almost dizzy from it. No wonder their lives were so short, they used them up in a single burst.
She settled her wings more comfortably against the rough brick and admonished herself to stop avoiding the topics she was supposed to be thinking about. She'd been in two fights and survived. She hadn't won, wouldn't have won without outside interference, but she had survived and without collapsing into a whimpering puddle. Pretty good for a cowardly beginner. Then there was the girl. She was too close a look at the dark side of the mirror for comfort. Before Mel could face that thought what Joat said popped into her mind. The girl was scared of HER? No one was scared of her, the itty bitty scaredy dragon. That sent her into a fit of giggles. The last time she had tried to frighten someone they had patted her on the head and told her she was adorable. She laughed until tears ran down her face at the sheer absurdity of the day. When she was done she felt better. All she had needed was a little time and quiet to process all her new experiences. That and realizing that a rock that actually would satisfy her nutritional needs was only a few feet below her. Didn't these people eat anything but pizza?
Hearing Stygian's words, Gareeku forced a weak smile, Grunting and wincing a bit as the alcohol created a stinging feeling.
"Thank you...I guess you're right..." he said to Stygian, letting out a soft sigh. "I...I need to be alone..."
Getting up, the wolf then walked away. Where he was headed he did not know, but he felt he needed some quiet time. Eventually he found himself outside. Whether he was near Mel he did not know. Sitting down on a garden bench, he gazed at the ground before him, before lifting his head to look at the sparkling stars above. Such a beautiful sight...it was the little things like this that made one feel more at peace with themselves. However, Gareeku's mind was far from at peace.
He thought about the day that had just passed; on many occasions he had narrowly escaped death, even to the point when he was virtually torn from the path to the afterlife and back into the mortal realm. Then he thought of Aisha; he had always been close friends with the panthress, but now there was something much more. However, the sad expression on his face told of another feeling within him; the feeling of fear and shame. There was no escaping what he was; there was, deep within him, a monster; a beast that could be unleashed at any time. He had the capacity to hurt his family...to hurt his friends...to hurt those he cared for and loved...
A tear trickled down his face...Aisha...he wouldn't know what he would do if he harmed her, or any others he cared for. Finally, Gareeku couldn't control it any more, breaking down and weeping softly to himself.
"Damn it..." he muttered inbetween sobs, the tears now flowing freely down his face.
Stygian looked at Gareeku's back, feeling like he knew and wanted to say more to the wolf but like he just couldn't say it. And then there was the fact that no one knew the house as it was now. But he stood still, and then looked at his own hand, slightly clenched. He considered something for a moment, but quickly pushed it out of his mind. Gareeku would not feel better from his company.
"Es war nicht..." he said silently. Realizing that he was no longer angry in the least, and that he felt the wolf's pain even with his mind shut, he made a short, bitter laugh. He stood for a moment, allowing himself to feel at least some of the surroundings with his mind again. Then, the pile with his clothes back in the gym melted, breaking up into the dark tendrils they were really made of, and crawled out to re-form on his body. He set off outside to find someone else who seemed to be composing herself...
There was no warning before the voice came from above Mel.
"What's so amusing, dear?" she heard Stygian say. He was sitting on his haunches above her, his large bare feet somehow clinging to the smooth brick wall so that he was sticking out of it like some weird gargoyle, a cigarette burning slowly in his mouth.
Mel tilted her head back to look at Stygian and started laughing again. "It just struck me how absurd this day has been and how ridiculous I am. Can't think of anything funnier. I've been slinking around being all "I'm tiny and weak and scared" and then Joat casually drops that I'm the monster in someone else's closet."
She twisted around so she was facing him. "A change of perspective is a good thing once in a while. But it's kind of a shock to find out someone thinks you're scary when your self image is that of a fragile doll that everyone keeps on the shelf so she won't get broken." Mel flopped backwards onto the grass. "I'm not that fragile, I evidently can appear ferocious, and I'm braver than I believed. I think that's enough self-revelation for one little dragon for one day. " She looked back at the house lights. "They are up there planning yet another party. I think they are scared to close their eyes and go to sleep."
Stygian chuckled, a low and growling but pleasant sound. He took a puff on his cigarette, and then looked amusedly at Mel.
"What I have seen of what is closest to your true form is twenty feet tall and weighs tons, sharp teeth and claws included, and can freeze a room in seconds. That's scary, even to someth... someone like me," he said to her. "Don't worry. You're every bit as frightening as you could like." He said that as if it were a very good thing. Then, he looked lost in thought for a second.
"I think the fact that I feel for the first time in a long time is a bit amusing. But even more so that I actually got angry and left the party," he murred into his hand. "I'd like to go back, but that wouldn't be right. There's still something I feel like I can fix." With that, he made a jump, flipping over forward and landing silently on his feet behind Mel, straightening with a sigh.
((Whoa, the 50th page...should there be some sort of party to celebrate? :rolleyes ))
Aisha's ear was still turned to the walls, her other ear rotating around the room like a sattelite to pick up what the others were doing or saying. Karl seemed to still be fiddling around with the games systems, and Sathariel seemed to still be safe. Her eyes, after wandering the room, became narrowed in concentration. The strange softer noises had stopped...at least as far as she could tell with the room becoming progressively louder.
There was a stolen glance down at her tail ring. Not a flicker or a glow, except for maybe slightly from any dark energy that people had naturally radiated. The panther smirked...just a few years ago she'd jump at anything that gave off a dark energy pulse. Now at least she went after demons whose heads were on a bounty list, ripe for taking advantage of.
With a shrug, she turned away from the wall and walked around, thinking about those who had disappeared. It seemed that after a large battle and one frightening disturbance, it was hard for some to get back into a festive mood. Right then, as if on some sort of cue, the outline of her dress flickered like a tv screen, replaced by flickers of the outline of her old navy blue adventuring attire. The few hours she was wearing it were almost up...hopefully in time for costumes to be found for the next part of the party.
Wasn't Gareeku gone to look for them? Aisha thought suddenly, her ears lowering with concern. The wolf hadn't been back for a while...it was a big mansion, surely it would take time to search, but still, something in her gut was telling her something else...she couldn't tell if it was just the natural worry for someone exploring a strange place...
Mel stayed in the soft grass giggling a moment longer. It was indeed all a matter of perspective. She was told twenty foot of dragon was scary but to her forty feet of dragon was reassuring. To think that she had skipped work to come here today because all forty feet of overprotective big brother was too busy to drag her back to safety. Mel got to her feet chuckling. Barron would scale her when he found out about today's events. She dusted herself off and sighed. She felt a lot better but she needed to get back to the party and keep an eye on Gareeku's pet. Hatchlings had better impulse control. If she insisted that Mel be a monster there was no better person to stay near. She picked the rock she had dug up off the ground and tucked it under her arm. "If I can find the kitchen you'll make a nice salad," she addressed it as she started around the building, hunting for the doors into the lounge.
Turning to Mel, Stygian made a bow.
"Well, Shivers, if you want to find your way back, it's either to go around the house that way," he said, indicating left with his corresponding hand, "or to go back in through that door, a turn right through the first room and a left through the other, and then you'll be in the main corridor, and can take a right to get to the entrance and then to the main lounge. As for me, I've got something to do first, but I'll catch up with you." When she rushed off, he smiled, turned around, and walked off to the right, away into shadows. He seemed to dissolve into them for a moment as he walked, and then he was gone.
As if on command, after just a few seconds Aisha heard someone from the corridor before the entrance hall.
"Hey! Where is everyone? Can anyone hear me?!" Gareeku's familiar voice called. It was faint, but it was clearly there, coming from deeper inside the house.
The wind rustled the leaves of the trees where Gareeku sat, a chill biting at him and making his tears feel worse. The garden lay dark around him, this part of it lit only by the moonlight, and it seemed almost dreamlike and ghastly in its distant and gloomy appearance. The tall stone structure and outcroppings on the mansion and the ornate, detailed stonework of angels and other creatures set under and beside its steeply sloping roof loomed over him, and a sort of tower that must have been the tallest part of it stretched perhaps thirty paces above him, though it seemed much more.
Then, the wind carried a whisper to his ears, and he looked up. Before him lay one of those large garden mazes that one sometimes finds, with high, well-trimmed dark hedges, the entrance to it right before him and not more then a pair of dozen steps away. He thought he heard a voice from within, a voice he knew well...
"Gareeku! Mel! Where are you?!" her voice came, almost muffled by the wind and hedges.
Looking into the dark maze, Gareeku felt confused about the whole situation.
"Aisha...? You there?" He called out, stepping inside the dark maze. Normally he would have been much more cautious, but he wasn't exactly thinking straight.
Back in the mansion, Aisha suddenly twitched upon hearing the voice that seemed to echo from down the hall. Her head turned towards the corridor of the mansion, a hallway which still surprised her with its medieval design.
She stood in the door frame, looking around in the shadows. It was his voice, she knew it...but did he need help? "Gareeku?" she called. "Gareeku!"
The panther didn't stay to find out. With another quick glance around, she curiously wandered out of the room, following the voice.
Aisha's voice came from somwhere inside the maze. Gareeku couldn't be sure of the direction, but it seemed closer to his left.
"Hey! Gareeku? Where are you? Is Mel there?"
The voice came down the hall towards her, from somwhere further down its dark length than Aisha had been before. It loomed, the dark parts in between odd lights from a room or a wall-lamp dark and gloomy, and the decorative objects and statues, wall-hangings and paintings that stood along it seemed just as stygian in their appearance.
"Aisha! I'm over here! Where are you? I can't find my way in this bloody place!"
Further into the maze Gareeku went, twisting and turning down and around seemingly endless corridors and corners as he tried to search for Aisha.
"I don't know where Mel is! I'm on my own!" the wolf called out in reply to Aisha's voice.
Aisha continued to follow the voice, gazing with awe and even feeling somewhat intimidated at the large gothic structure, with the eyes of the portraits and statues bearing down upon her. But she kept her attention to the darkness and the shadows ahead, following Gareeku's voice, which seemed to only move further away from her as she advanced.
"I'm here! Keep speaking!" the panther called out, wondering if she was following mere shadows. But it sounded real enough...she broke into a faster walk, thinking that she might catch him sooner.
Please don't get lost, she thought, both to herself and about Gareeku, considering the labyrinthine mansion.
Mel found her way around the house and back through the french doors into the lounge. She was humming in her horrible off-key way. While she still didn't feel particularly safe or sane she had at least recognized that she shouldn't look for problems before they arrived. She smiled at everyone in the room, including Gareeku's pet since she didn't seem to be up to too much mischief at the moment. She passed through and this time turned in the opposite direction, finding the kitchen with no problem. She began looking for the ingredients for a fruit salad.
The portraits did indeed glare at her, and the statues. But she quickly got her bearing on the voice, as she turned down to her left into what appeared to be a long dining room before a glassed atrium. The voice was clearly coming from ahead.
"Bloody... Aisha! I'm going back into the garden! I think I can find my way around the house from there."
For a moment, Gareeku thought he heard footsteps. He rushed forward and rounded two corners, and thought he caught sight of a blue sleeve dissapearing behind a corner up ahead. Then her voice came again, from that direction.
"Damnit, Gareeku! Why'd you run off? I was waiting for you," she said, sounding a bit hurt and angry.
Mel was left in peace for a minute or two. Then, she heard the door to the large kitchen creak behind her.
By now Gareeku had broken into a run, continuing to try and make his way through the maze as he attempted to follow Aisha's voice. However, hearing the hurt and angry tone of the voice, the wolf suddenly stopped.
"Aisha...please don't be angry with me! I just...had to clear my head a bit..." Gareeku called out with a mix of worry and guilt on his face, before resuming his running. The sides of the maze was tall and menacing, bearing down on him as if they were to collapse on him and bury him alive. However, the wolf was not concerned with that; the only thin he cared about was reaching Aisha.
Aisha looked around the large and formal dining hall, looking around the space for Gareeku. She could have sworn that his voice was echoing from inside the room...but, in the rush, she was just a little confused. Shouldn't he be running towards her if he was looking for her?
Then her eyes were set on the entrance to the atrium, and possibly the outside. She strained to hear what Gareeku's voice had shouted. "Oh, no you don't! Just wait, I'm coming!" With a grunt her feet sprang into a faster trot across the room.
Why is it I'm feeling like I'm on a wild goose...I mean, wolf chase...?
After a couple minutes watching Karl and company set up the games, two things occured to Boogey. One, that this was going to take a bit, and two, that Gareeku and Aisha were nowhere to be seen. Having noticed Mel heading toward the kitchen, he started down that hallway.
"Hey Mel, have you seen Aisha or Gareeku?"
Sathariel looked back at the Boogeyman, making a small jump.
"Oh! I... I think they're in the house somewhere. The panther lady ran off earlier. She seemed like she was in a hurry," she said, eyeing him curiously. Then, from behind him, the Boogeyman heard another voice.
"I wouldn't worry about them. They seem allright for now," Stygian said, standing in the entrance to the hallway to the kitchen.
"Yeah, we all do! I thought I was important to you! And then you just go running away," Aisha said. She didn't sound so much angry as hurt now. It seemed to Gareeku that he couldn't catch up with her voice, no matter how he tried. "Where are you?! Stand still so I can find you!"
"Aisha? I think I've found... Please, come outside. I... I need to talk to you about something," Gareeku called. He sounded sad, in that same kind of way she'd seen him so many times. Like he was suffering. If he was about to say that he couldn't risk hurting her again...!
"Aisha! Please! It wasn't like that!" the wolf cried out, his voice now filled with desparation, a tear beginning to trickle down his cheek as he came to a stop. "I'm behind you!"
Aisha rushed through the doors and into the outside, continuing to follow the voice which no longer had walls to accentuate and echo from, but sounded more like a muffled and faraway shout. Leaving the house behind and stepping out into the cool night air, the panther shivered a little...dress wasn't meant for running across the hard stone and grass courtyard. But then, right on cue, the thing rematerialized back into her slightly warmer and more loose-fitting navy blue pants and shirt. Barely noticing, the panther made her way around.
She started to break into a run, her heart growing sorrowful at the sound of Gareeku's hurt voice. She was compelled to reach him at all costs, her lungs breathing the air heavily. "Gareeku, wait! Stop! What is it?" She couldn't bear to hear him hurting again...she had seen him in a state of depression too many times for her liking.
"Where are you?!" the panther called with some desperation. "Please don't sound like that!"
Looking around, Aisha could see the darkness of the garden hanging over her. In front of her was the entrance to one of those mazes one would sometimes find outside mansions and palaces, one of those things that overly rich people paid their gardeners just for fun, it seemed. But this one was... larger. The hedges were thicker, and so tall that few would be able to jump up and look over them. They seemed to have thorns in them as well, and some trees spread their branches above their looming, rectangular shapes.
"I'm in here. Listen, Aisha... what I did earlier... I can't live up to that. I know how you feel now, but however much I want to, I can't let myself... respond to those emotions..." she heard Gareeku saying from somwhere within that maze. He sounded in pain. "I... don't want to hurt you. So I..."
Gareeku could hear footsteps now, faint but clear. However they just seemed to trail around, not getting closer. For a second he felt like someone was watching him, like a tingle in the back of his neck. Then, he heard Aisha's voice again.
"I don't get it! Why did you even bother doing what you did if you were just going to leave?!" she said. A few moments passed, and Gareeku thought he heard something else too, just on the edge of hearing. "I can't keep this up, Gareeku..."
*OOC: Meanwhile, you might be wondering where IC Joat is in all this. Well, he kinda has a habit of, well, you’ll see…*
As soon as Stygian left the gym, I entered and began to lift weights. After a small while of that, I sit down on a bench. “Well, I think I should head back to the others. They’re probably wondering where I am. But maybe I should take a rest first.” I lie down on the bench. “I’ll rest for a sec, then I’ll head back there… Zzz…”
"Aisha...please...no..." Gareeku said weakly, before sprinting off in the direction the voice came from. "I'm not going to leave!!"
Stopping again, the wolf then fell to his knees. "I care about you Aisha...I'd never want to hurt you...please..."
“Wonder if we should go look for the Joat and the others,” May says.
“Safe bet,” Valencia says, “Come to think of it, you go for it. I’ll be here prepa…”
“Oh no, you don’t. You’re coming with me.”
“Oh, fine.”
Wonderingly, she wandered into the large maze, following Gareeku's voice around the tight and tall corners. She felt bunched up, the walls looming like barriers and the corners often seeming to melt into one another in the night, giving the illusion of more dead ends. That was the panther's worst fear now, getting lost. She just kept her eyes forward, looking for the wolf.
Tears started forming in Aisha's eyes as she called back after him, rushing as far as she could before stopping at a confusing crossroads. "No, please, don't think like that! I don't care about what you are or what you did! You're not a threat! You're not! I care about you!"
She wanted to collapse from exhaustion, but all she did was slow down. Following the voice, she picked another path and started running, despite her aching lungs. "Don't...leave...!" she stammered, gasping in air between words, ready to just tear through one of the thorny hedge walls if she had to.
There were definitely voices in the background now, but Gareeku had his mind on one thing. He raced forward.
"I can't take this anymore...! I thought you loved me, Gareeku!" Aisha called from ahead, crying.
She could hear other voices up ahead, strangely familiar, but Aisha was too desperate and too filled with sadness to mind. He could not go! Gareeku!
"Aisha... I don't even know how I'm supposed to... Please, just... forget about me... don't say you..."
Valencia go off to search for me. After a bit, they find me.
“He went to investigate a noise and he fell asleep?” Veronica says.
“He must have been hit by a sleep spell. We must wake him,” May says. She chants a spell, which does nothing. “Oh no, my dispel didn’t work! What’re we gonna do now?”
“You know, we could always try waking him up,” Veronica says. She walks over to me and shakes me gently.
I wake up. Still half-asleep, I say, “Valencia, get out of my lab.”
Valencia just rolls her eyes as May looks a bit embarassed by her mistake.
He was now sprinting once again, tears now flowing freely down his face. He couldn't bear it any longer, the pain was too much for him.
"I do! I love you! You hear me?! I LOVE YOU!!" the wolf yelled out at the top of his voice, once again stopping and falling to his knees.
Mel picked up a knife and began cubing the fruit, at the same time staring suspiciously at the girl. Had she arrived at the same time as Boogey or before? It was disquieting to think that someone who had so recently assaulted her might be sneaking up on her. If Gareeku was going to fall down on his job as leash-holder Mel would have to stay more aware of her surroundings. The fruit was quickly finished and tossed in the bowl. She set down the knife and moved to the rock, still damp from being washed. She was looking at the girl and not the rock as she pulled four claws through it like it was a block of cheese and not silica. Four slices toppled off to shine in streaks of yellow and lavender on the counter. The rest of the stone quickly followed until it was cubed similarly to the fruit and tossed on top. Next she went looking for items to make the dressing.
I then wake up fully, blush at my own comment, and say, “Anything new going on?”
“Not a thing,” Valencia says.
“So, where are Gareeku and Mel?”
"I'm not going to forget about you! I can't!" she yelled back, her voice cracking, tears rolling down her eyes. She ran through the maze, swerving around corners and following the voice that was ever closer and dwindling all at the same time, like there were two of them. She stopped, staggering while holding onto the branches, the tears flowing freely down across her dampened fur.
It was then that she heard a louder shout from nearby...it was muffled but definitely familiar. She ran towards it, taking leaping strides and using the last ounces of power that the muscles in her legs had. "Don't give up! I'll help you! I want to! I want to because I love you!"
When she could finally take no more, the panther tripped on the ground near another passageway, similar to all of the others...a seemingly endless trail of false exits and misleading corridors. She was breathing heavily, sobbing loudly as she rested on the hard soil, listening desperately for him as her hair tumbled over her eyes. The panther could've sworn she heard him crying too. "Te amo, you hear me?!" she coughed. "I love you..."
Something moved behind her, Aisha thought. There was no sound, yet she was certain that was the case. And she could feel... something gently stroking her neck, reassuringly it seemed. Whispers. All around there were whispers in the slow, cold wind. It moved past, and was gone as quickly as it had come.
He will find you. He will.
Gareeku felt as if watched. A chilly wind passed him, and he could hear someone crying, whispering a response. This time he knew where the voice was coming from. It was just ahead...
Go to her...
And inside the mansion, Sathariel took a step back and looked nervous at the look from Mel. She opened her mouth, but it took her some time to actually say something.
"I... I wanted to apologize. For earlier..." she said, blushing a beet red through the whiteness of her fur, and twisting her hands behind her back. "I... was wondering if you could... teach me..."
Hearing the whispers, Gareeku looked up ahead. He could hear the crying; he could hear her.
"...Aisha..." he whispered as he stared off in the direction where the voice had come from. Getting back onto his feet, he wiped the tears from his face and sprinted off down the pathway. Come hell or high water, he would find her.
After what seemed like an eternity for him, the wolf rounded a corned into another corridor, when he finally found her.
"Aisha!" he exclaimed, not wasting any time in running to her.
Aisha felt like she couldn't move...frozen on the ground, tears overcoming her face as she hid her eyes from the view of the world, in the enveloping prison of roots and branches too high to try climbing out of unscathed. The voices however were calming to her nerves, keeping the stress of sorrow from adding more weight. She trusted the voices somehow and lifted her head to the sky, still lying on the ground, waiting for Gareeku. She heard footfalls down one path.
When she heard his voice call her name, for a moment she thought it was another illusion, another misleading deception. Too many to count, too many to trust...but her wide wet eyes fell upon his form running towards her. It was him...
She stood up quickly on shaky legs as he ran towards her. "Gareeku!" she shouted, a loud sob released as she leaped into his arms with enough force to make them topple to the ground again. She buried her face in his shoulder, tears still flowing. "I thought you...but you didn't leave...I was so worried..." Aisha choked.
"Teach you what? Gareeku's supposed to be teaching you manners. I admit we do have a certain skill set in common but..." Mel paused, blushing herself, a strange pinkening of her scales. She wouldn't look up from tossing her salad. "I think I need to apologize too. I've been pretty harsh because you scared me and hurt me and tried to make me hurt my friends. I should give you a chance. But I don't know if I would be the best one to teach behavior. By the standards of dragons I'm a very good girl, but I discovered long ago that others don't share our standards. Most people would consider me a rogue and manipulator at the least, a thief at the worst. If you wish to go amongst beings I wouldn't emulate my behavior."
Mel gripped the handle of the spoon tightly, waiting. There, she had admitted to it, with witnesses. She waited for the axe to fall.
*OOC: I think I might make May a permanent character. She could be interesting to have around.*
“Mel’s back in the party room and I have no idea where Gareeku is. Why do you ask?” May says.
I explain what happened earlier.
“Well, that’s interesting,” May says.
Suddenly, the cell phone in Valencia’s purse rings and she answers it. “Hello? Sorry, sir. Right away, sir. Okay, bye.” She puts the cell phone back into her purse. “Gotta go, guys. Big scoop I gotta get to.”
Valencia rushes out the gym door and, in a bout of phenominal luck and track-worthy sprinting, quickly finds the building’s exit.
The chill lingered with Aisha and Gareeku for a while, and behind them, as the moonlight played shadows across the garden, for a second they seemed to take the shape of a tall figure, emerald eyes reflecting the light. But it quickly faded, a fanged smile still upon its face as it vanished, and the darkness seemed to lift from the place, the moonlight seemingly becoming clearer, shining down on them.
Success. Though I'm a bit sorry for it... Call me when you want out... and for hell's sake kiss the girl!
"Thief?" the girl asked. "You... steal?" She looked at Mel, then shook her head and turned a pair of pleading eyes to her. "Please! I want to learn things! I didn't want you to hurt your friends, just get them away! Please!"
Boogey watched the proceedings. He was good at it from all the practice at not involving himself in things; he could just sit there at the drop of a hat.
Wants to learn things, hm? Nah, I'll stay out of it. No giving her tips on effectively using her powers until it's certain that she can use them properly.
As Aisha leapt into his arms, Gareeku wrapped them around her in a tight loving embrace, holding her to him as he nuzzled softly.
"I would never leave, Aisha. I love you." Gareeku said softly in reply to her words, tears of happiness beginning to trickle down his cheeks as he was finally reunited with her. "I love you so much."
The three of us walk back to the room.
“Oh cool, a salad,” I say.
Mel picked up a cloth and began wiping fruit juice off the counter. "I don't consider myself a thief. My view is that I'm conferring a limited immortality on people I meet. I'm a dragon, I'm compelled to collect things. I collect memories. Once I have them they are stored magically. As long as a member of Icewing clan lives a portion of that person's life will live. Some people understand this and ask me to save their memories. Others become... upset." Mel finally looked up and appeared indignant, "They don't understand what I'm giving them. It doesn't hurt and they get to keep their memories. I don't steal them or change them." Then she spotted Stygian and Boogey and dropped her eyes again. "It is done by touch and I've touched no one without their request today. I'm carrying no one's memories but my own."
"Are you sure you want to learn from me?" she asked almost inaudibly.
Aisha sniffed quietly as she hugged close, feeling more relief and happiness in this moment than she had ever felt in her life. She nuzzled his face back, her tears drying while feeling his own on her cheek. The panther felt warm in his arms, safer, no longer believing the maze to be a prison.
Her heart beat with ferocity when she heard his words, gentle and sincere. She looked up at him with a face that held within its features exhaustion, a blush spreading across it. He wasn't going to leave her...not forsake her for fear of his own troubles.
"I...love you too..." she whispered, almost in disbelief that she had admitted it as easily as she did...or that it was so strong. Her hands brushed through his hair. "No matter what happens, I truly do."
That's when Stygian's voice came, without notice and uncomfortably close, from above the Boogeyman's shoulder. His shape had seemed... dim, and unreal, up until now. Sathariel jumped at it.
"I've been called all those things too, Mel, and worse," he said, while striding around the Boog into the kitchen. "And with right. Now... I believe there is no one here in this house more suitable than you to teach this little one how to act," he continued, his eyes meeting the Boogeyman's head on for a second, carrying a dangerous gleam. "Because contrary to popular belief, those are skills to be valued. And any... unlikeable mannerisms you pass on to her, will be of no concern." He stood just before Sathariel, looking down at her. And then a vicious smile came across his face as he leaned down slightly and looked her in the eyes. "If I can take them out of a real dragon, I think she will be rather easy in comparison."
To Mel's great surprise, the girl made a choking sound in her throat, and then backed up against her, wide and fearful eyes fixed on Stygian.
"We've all attracted our share of unpleasant names," Boogey said, stepping forward and giving Stygian a look, "It's best not to dwell on them, or simply endevor to prove them false."
The girl screwed up, but I will not sit here and watch her be bullied. It simply Is Not Done to mistreat children...
Mel didn't know what to make of this turn of events. "I'm not sure I know how to start, but we'll see what happens." Then she heard Joat's comment about her culinary concoction. An impish look came over her. "You can have some if you think you'll like it. It's apple, pear, ametrine, orange, and grapes in dressing."
Hearing her words, Gareeku's heartbeat began to quicken. He couldn't help but smile as he knew she felt about him as he did about her, softly stroking her cheek softly with paw, gently wiping away the tears with a finger.
"I never thought I'd find someone like you..." he could not help but say softly. Subconsciously he had surprised himself at his own actions and words, but he didn't care. What he was feeling was pure love for the panthress in his arms.
"I love you..." he whispered once more, meaning every word of it. He then gently pressed his lips up against hers in a tender kiss, his eyes closing as he allowed the love he felt for Aisha to make itself known. He no longer cared about the surroundings. All he cared about was being with her; the woman he loved.
*Karl finishes setting up the consoles*
Karl: Alrighty then! Who wants to play some video games?!
"You'll teach me? Please!" the girl said, seeming much more insistent in Stygian's presence. He just looked at her, with narrow eyes and a mysterious smile. Next, the Boogeyman felt utterly uncomfortable, as if things were crawling up his spine, and he heard Stygian's thoughts.
She is no child. Not of mine, anyhow. But should this turn, she might become... At any rate, I hold her life in my hand. Not you. And I am not mistreating her. The thought was somehow specifically directed to the Boogeyman. He wasn't sure how he knew, or how that was possible. Perhaps it had something to do with that feeling...
Boogey replied with a quick message along the same wavelength.
Terrifying her counts. When you're causing choking noises without doing anything noticable, that's a bad sign. I don't want her life, I just don't like seeing others upset. Mild case of empathy. He did not add that he didn't take well to attempts at intimidation. Stygian would keep trying it, so it would be wise to simply wait until he realized he wasn't working. After all, it's outside his ability to permenantly kill me. You think therefor I am, Styggy-boy. Although his ability to desipher Boogey's thought processes was unnerving. That he didn't get.
Aisha's sobbing had ceased, the last of her sorrow melting to be replaced with a tingle through her body as she recieved the kiss. She couldn't feel the cold air of the outside...nor the pressing walls of the labyrinth...nor the darkness encompassing them in isolation. The way he felt for her, she still couldn't believe, but it was hard not to, for she felt the same.
Memories flashed through her head of all the times they had been together...traveling, fighting, learning, then each going their own way only to meet again as if something kept bringing them back...several times she owed Gareeku more than her life. As per the events of the last hours, it was almost...like she owed her very sanity. They helped each other through quite a few situations and it seemed like they would for a long while.
Her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around Gareeku's neck, returning the kiss just as tenderly and fervently while the weight of her body leaned on him. As far as Aisha knew, she and the one she loved were lost to the world.
“She’s just confused, that’s all. She’s a good girl inside and I can cast a Detect Alignment spell to prove it if I have to,” May says, “You don’t have to intimidate her to get her to behave. Just let us handle it.”
“I could probably teach her proper behavior in a way that is both effective and fun,” I say.
For a moment, Stygian's look became completely serious, even a bit surprised. The crawling feeling started to recede.
No. That may very well be true, although I wouldn't completely trust even to such a thing. But there are certain... things, that you do not wish to live through. He simply looked at the Boogeyman, his expression plain and with the slightest smile to his lips. It could have been taken for a friendly one. Almost.
Then, he looked at Mel, more gladly this time.
"I think she'll make an excellent student, should you choose to accept," he said. He made it sound as if it could mean anything.
"I don't know about anything so formal as teaching, especially since the traditional dragon reinforcement methods I know are contraindicated for someone um..." Mel floundered for a moment, "less sturdy than a hatchling. But I guess I can answer questions and complain about any more socially unacceptable behavior she exhibits."
Mel spooned some of the glistening salad onto a plate. "I guess I need to know your name."
Boogey simply retorted with a You shouldn't be reading people's minds without permission either, and closed off the link, focusing on as many things as he could at once. His normal thought processes were confusing enough for someone experienced with psychic abilities, and the overall effect of this was distorting his thoughts even more to the outside viewer. Think of it like having someone staring at a lamp without a lampshade in a pitch black room, and then turning the lamp on.
e quickly catches up on his buffer and realized he'd been zoned off for some time. he watched the outcome the the discussions and saw the emotion changing and turmoil stirring with out his frame and at the same time saw similar turmoil stirring inside of him. "sorry i was gone so long guys. i had some thing to deal with... something personal"
I say to Stygian, “I guess that’s settled. We’ll teach her proper behavior and you won’t need to do anything drastic. Everybody wins.”
Sylver wakes up. “Mornin’, guys. Sorry to just conk out on you like that. I usually don’t sleep that hard. Anyway, I saw everything that happened. I saw it as if it were a dream and I saw it through your eyes, Joat. A lot of interesting things happening.”
“Hey, I know how to start these manner lessons off. Super Smash Brothers!” May says.
“I don’t know how video games would teach her behavior, May,” I say.
“Awww, but I wanna play Smash Brothers,” May says.
As Aisha returned the kiss, Gareeku knew then, in that moment, that he was her's; always and forever. Wrapping his arms around her, he deepened the kiss; passion and love filling his heart and he growled softly with happiness, letting the panther lean her body onto him as he held her close to him. He was indeed lost to the world; he was hers.
“I’ll bet you do,” I say.
“Oh, fine. Then maybe we can start her training off with some Soul Calibur, instead,” May says playfully.
E smiled glad was awake to see the kiss. the buffer was okay and all but it was like living you life through that ancient invention Tivo. still watching the romance bloom reminded him that regardless of his taste in books he was something of a romantic at heart.
Caught up in the moment, Aisha felt like she was melting from the inside out while locked in the passionate kiss. As if involuntarily, contrasting Gareeku's canid growl, the panther released an affectionate symphony of purrs that was a little louder in the quiet outside air rather than back in the music-filled dance hall. It reverberated to halfway down her body, creating the illusion that the sound was coming from her heart.
For a brief moment, she broke from the kiss to release a long and quiet sigh, a sound of happiness and comfort at being with him, where she wanted to be...accepting the idea that she was his just as much as vice-versa.
Her eyes, open halfway, briefly glimpsed what she hadn't noticed before; his hands were bandaged, the gauze just slightly bloodstained. "Your hands..." she whispered with concern, touching them gingerly. "Are you okay?"
Hearing and feeling the vibrations of Aisha's purrs, Gareeku's heart beat faster for a few moments; to him, hearing her purrs was one of the most wonderful sounds he could hear.
Noticing Aisha look at his hands and hearing her words, the wolf smiled softly.
"I'm okay. It doesn't hurt now that you're here." Gareeku replied, gazing into those beautiful eyes of hers. No pain could possibly reach him in that moment. The love in his heart would see to that.
e feels a sense of relief as he watched the two. aww isn't that cute pots peels. the voice falls silent. no. there would be not distractions this time. this time he would life life for a bit not coordinate it or strategies a battle plan he would live.
Stygian blinked a single time, yet his expression did not change. But he did take a step back and looked at them all, gently rubbing his temple with a pair of long fingers.
"Her name is... Sathariel, as I said earlier," he said, and the girl eyed him, still looking afraid but also a bit angry. Then she spoke up in an unintelligible tongue.
"אני לא אוהב את השם הזה!"* she said to him, angrily. He merely looked annoyed and retorted in a similar fashion.
"טוב, היתה לך יותר טוב מתרגל לזה, כי זה מי אתה."** he stated, sounding final. "And I don't believe that you'll have any problems teaching her. I think it's in her nature not just to learn, but to adopt and emulate..." He turned around and walked back toward the main lounge, still rubbing his temple. "I'm going to have a drink and clear up."
A dozen or so seconds later there was a loud bang, and the walls shook a bit.
((Translation:
*I don't like that name!
**Well, you had better get used to it, because it is who you are.
))
“Wow,” I comment, “Most people aren’t supposed to lift weights more than once every two days. Apparently, that doesn’t apply to him.”
“Hey guys, you playing or what?” May says. I look in her direction to see that she started up a Smash Brothers game (without asking, no doubt).
Mel lifted her plate of salad and started for the lounge. "Come along Sathariel. I haven't taught anyone before but I'll try to answer some of your questions while we watch them play with their colored lights." She smiled a bit, "I find watching people play more amusing than actually playing. They get so excited."
Aisha had to chuckle softly...the wolf was resilient, she liked that. "I'm...I'm glad of that", she said with a shy smile at his words. Her arms went back around him in a gentle embrace. "I just worry...if something happened to you, I'd..."
The panther took a second to realize that she was surprising herself at what she was saying...never before did she feel such worry...the both of them, their lives were often centered around the harsh reality of battle. Would either of them be around for much longer? Aisha had accepted the fact for herself...but Gareeku...
Looking into his gentle eyes, the way they caught the moonlight, it seemed to erase all of her trouble. She lay comfortably on him, her head resting on his shoulder. "...I wouldn't want to think about it," she whispered by his ear, her purr starting up again. After all, it wasn't a time for worry.
Stygian hadn't gone down to work the weights again. Even given his abilities, he wouldn't have been fast enough to start doing that yet. Instead, he'd slammed his head into one of the solid pillairs, making a rather large round mark in it. He put his hands to his head, and rubbed, his headache blinding.
Idiot! Of course you're strong, but in the mind that means sensitive too! Couldn't you see him pulling that one?!
Sathariel followed Mel, first with an almost petulant look to her face, which once it quickly passed turned to a nervous one, and then a curious.
"Ehm... that thing you said about stealing memories before..."
“What’s this about stealing memories, now?” May asks.
Hearing Aisha's words, Gareeku smiled softly, nuzzling gently as his quiet growl of happiness became audiable once more.
"Hey now...you know I'm to stubborn to let anything happen to me..." he replied softly with a smile on his face, wrapping his arms around her in a gentle embrace and stroking the back on her head softly.
*OOC: Something I’ve been wondering. When all the mental effects wore off, such as the mental hold on Valencia, was the mind-shield also disabled?*
*just then, the doorbell rang again*
Karl: I'll get it...Hello?
*there stood a vixen that was a bit taller than Lilith...it was the sister-in-law, Shivara*
Shivara: Hello brother-in-law...I heard you where having a party, so I thought I'd drop by.
*Karls sends a message to Lilith over a secure mind link*
Karl: {Lilith! Hide all the men! your over-flirty big sister just came!}
*Lilith goes to tell the people in the room the news*
Quote from: Joat on December 13, 2006, 09:32:49 PM
“Cubi, huh? Think she could teach Joat how not to pulled around by his ‘tendrils’?” Valencia says to Karl.
*OOC: No comment necessary, really.*
Aisha released a quiet laugh at his statement, her cheek nuzzling his with tenderness. "Oh, I know you are, mi vida." Feeling his hand behind her head and his soft growling, her heartbeat kept up its rapid pace, whilst one of her hands combed through his hair and scratched the back of his ear. The way they were, in such a quiet and peaceful atmosphere...she felt like staying like that for the longest time...it was definitely not a time to think about death. They were there, so very much alive...
The panther glanced up at the cloudless sky, the heavens bearing so many little stars. The full moon was grand and silver, looking down upon them like an eye of the gods, a silent blessing for the two. But then she caught a look at the tip of the mansion roof, and with a sigh, turned back to Gareeku. The maze while isolated wasn't too perfect a place for lovers.
"As much as I'd love to continue lying here with you..." she purred silently in his ear with a smile and leaned over to kiss him, "I believe someone promised they'd find costumes for the party."
Hearing the thump of Stygian's display of head-to-wall coordination, Boogey sniggered to himself. Well, that was probably educational for him. Now then, there was mention of video games?
*OOC: Is Lilith currently hiding her wings?*
Stygian's headache numbed with the first drink, and then with some water and his regeneration completely subsided. And that's when the "marker" of sorts that he had left allowed him to feel what was going on in another place. He smiled to himself, and then put his glass down on the table. The next moment his shape dimmed and seeped into the shadows at the back of the room, as he left for elsewhere...
From behind them, Aisha and Gareeku suddenly heard a chuckle.
"It was about time... I was thinking the two of you were going to fall to pieces soon," Stygian's voice came from down one of the aisles. He walked with soundless steps against them, his hands clasped behind his back. "You're looking very cute there. Though I'd pull my shirt up just a bit if I were you, Lively..." He didn't sound sarcastic or mean or insinuative, yet there was something... amused to his tone, that was very disturbing and hard to place, and an equally disturbing gleam in his green eyes. He snubbed out a cigarette he had been smoking in his hand.
"You'll want to follow me if you want to get back to the party on time," he then said, and waited for them to get up with a smile.
Quote from: Joat on December 15, 2006, 06:22:23 PM
*OOC: Something I’ve been wondering. When all the mental effects wore off, such as the mental hold on Valencia, was the mind-shield also disabled?*
*OOC: I repeat the question. I need to know whether IC Joat still has a headache. (If he does, he’d be used to it by now).*
Hearing Aisha's response, Gareeku laughed softly, his eyes closing and his growling growing slightly as the panther scratched behind his ears. Hearing her next comments, Gareeku laughed softly again
"Hehe, yeah I guess you're right." he said with a soft smile as he gazed into her beautiful eyes, returning the kiss with a tender affection. He could have stayed like that with her for the longest time, but what she said was true.
It was then that, hearing Stygian's voice, Gareeku looked up.
"You did this?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he Aisha back onto her feet, kissing her once more as the soft smile returned, before turning back to Stygian. "Well I suppose you did help, though I don't exactly approve of your methods..."
Springing easily back to her feet with Gareeku's help, the blissful smile on Aisha's face turned into one of slight annoyance as she heard Stygian's sudden commentary. She quirked an eyebrow and self-consciously tugged the edge of her shirt. "Indeed I don't approve either. You're lucky I don't slap you," she retorted while flexing her claws. But there also was a bit of humor in her eyes. In the peaceful mood they were in she couldn't really hold annoyance for long. And he did help.
The smile returned when she looked back at Gareeku again. The panther gave his hand a soft squeeze and walked with him, following Stygian out of the confining maze.
Stygian looked dead serious for a moment. Then, he burst into laughter, closing his eyes and shaking with it. He stopped after a while, wiping a little tear from his face, and then turning, leading them out through the winding hedges.
"Heheee... Really. I think this is one of those times where the end really does justify the means. At least I am willing to bet so..." he said, holding his hands in each other behind his back and taking slow, pondering steps. "I was good though, wasn't I? And I even went out of my way against my interests..." He sounded as if there was lots of meaning in that.
It didn't take that long to find back to the mansion with Stygian's guidance. They ended up closer to the main lounge than they had been before, and it was just a quick walk around a wing of it before the pond came into sight, in front of a tiled open space and the stairs that led up to the open doors into the lounge. Stygian bounded up the stairs, and quickly entered, finishing his drink before Aisha and Gareeku had even gotten in, and then propping himself on the couch with another one, listening to the conversation that was surely about to happen.
((Oh but for the love of... You said it yourself that the effects were cancelled! I hath no fucking clue, mine ungood sir! Now, why dost thee not find thine own answer and begone?!))
*OOC: I ask yet a third time. Is the mental shield on IC Joat still active? This question is directed toward you, Stygian.*
Mel gave both Sathariel and May a look normally reserved for children who haven't paid attention in class. "I told you, I don't steal anything. They still have all their memories, nothing is gone. There are just more copies of the donor's memories than they realize. I am good at what I do, I've never erased anything accidentally." She found a seat near the games but away from the action. "I'm not going to copy yours, if that's your worry."
As she starts playing the video games, May asks, “O…kay. So you have the power to copy memories. Why, exactly? Do you use them for something?”
Hearing Stygian's words, Gareeku rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I guess..." he muttered, before looking back at Aisha. Looking at her face quickly dispelled any annoyed thoughts, being replaced with a calming warm feeling as he smiled softly at her, taking her hand in his as they walked back to the mansion.
Entering the house once again, the wolf went to the drinks table, returning with a couple of glass filled with wine. Handing Aisha a glass, he clinked his glass against hers softly, smiling warmly as he took a sip of the wine. Looking at the others, Gareeku laughed softly.
"Looks like they got the games system up and running..." he said, the warm smile refusing to leave his face as he looked back at the one he loved. It was then that he realised something he had forgotten.
"Oh! I almost forgot. I'll go find some costumes!" He said with a smile, setting the wine glass down and running upstairs.
A short while later, the wolf returned, holding in his arms a large piles of clothes, the pile being so big that most of his body was hidden from view. Setting them down in a free part of the floor, he turned and smiled at the others.
"Right then...shall we begin?" he said with a grin.
While waiting for the answer, May begins a round on the Smash Brothers game. She (Samus) is actually doing quite well; using an expert combination of moves both simple and complex, as well as the home-run bat she picked up.
hearing Mel's words remind him of his own robotic abilities. he looks at his arms then fins that the sword is still on his hip. "away with you mornblade may you next own feel the despair that you cause and put an end to you" the rune sword disappears and e wonders that he could have let such a thing linger with him for so long. he looks at his arm thinking of his AWS(adaptive weapon system) and that root of it the weapon copy or item copy ability.
Mel shrugged, "It's something we dragons do, collect things. I thought that was common knowledge, there are so many tales of the lengths we sometimes go to. In my clan it has always been memories. Memories are at least easier to store than coocoo clocks and easier to come across than cloak clasps worn by necromancers during at least one of their deaths." She smiled a little, "I have been unfortunate enough to view both of those collections."
Mel paused for a few spoonfuls of her salad. "We don't collect really for any purpose other than collecting but we do trade information for more information. On occasion we re-release lost information. Short lived races can't seem to keep a civilization together for more than three or four hundred years without tearing themselves apart to start over. In our care they at least leave something behind of themselves."
She waved the spoon in the air and another of her illusions appeared. It was a beautiful city of white marble and azure domes with golden trim. "One of the first memories I contributed, approximately 100,000 years ago. I won't bother telling you the name or the location of this place, because this is the only remaining evidence it ever existed. If I could talk once again to the woman who told me of her birthplace do you think she would be upset or happy that I placed this somewhere safe?"
Sathariel looked at Mel with big eyes, blushing even more.
"That's what I... I was saying I..." she said, hesitating and casting a worried look to Stygian. "I'd like to... copy some of your knowledge..." she said, and then looked down in the floor, not daring to look up to see Mel in the eyes.
Stygian looked at the girl curiously as she was humbling herself before Mel. Then, he heard and watched Gareeku run around, and come back down. He leaned back on the sofa and looked amused. This would be fun, he thought...
“Well, that is really quite co…” In a moment of dawning realization, May drops the controller. Mario, Link, and Donkey Kong proceed to pound Samus senselessly. May says to Mel, “You’re… over a hundred thousand years old?”
*OOC: Since I am recieving no answer, I will assume that the shield was taken down with the rest of the mental effects.*
Smiling warmly back at Gareeku when they reached the main lounge, Aisha's face still held some of its warmth, and she was partially glad that her dark fur hid the blush when back in the company of the other guests. The panther sipped her wine and watched him rush to the stairs, chuckling lightly at the aspect of almost forgetting the costumes. Meanwhile she watched the games that were going on.
When he returned with the large pile, she quirked an eyebrow, thinking that he was going to fall over with so many articles. She set the glass down when they were set on the floor and she walked over to it with a pondering look. Of course, being a cat, once she was looking for things in the pile, she was soon buried in it.
Soon, her head poked out of the pile. "Ha, success," she laughed and crawled out of it, sparing a wink to Gareeku as she carried what she found somewhere else to change.
“Wait a second. Why am I surprised at this? Of course you’re old. You’re a dragon.” May gets back to her game-playing. The round ends soon after that with Samus in first place.
Mel looked rather confused, "My own? While I've been the carrier for lots of interesting memories my own memories are rather boring. At least until today. The most interesting ones tend to end with a view of my big brother's tail after he shoves me to safety." She clinked one of the stones from her salad against the side of the dish, "I'm not entirely adverse, the copying of my memories is something I do regularly as part of that whole collecting obsession and it would make some of this teaching nonsense easier, but I question the choice. I have contacted famous leaders, amazon queens, and some of the greatest thinkers of the ages, I would understand better if you had asked for one of them."
Mel stares at May's interjection. "I'm a few centuries shy of 150,000, quite young actually. Grandmother will barely admit I'm old enough to leave the house unsupervised."
May appears no longer to be listening, now too absorbed in the game.
As opposed to the home-run bat, Samus is now carrying a hammer and, well, owning the others. After the hammer wears off, she charges up a blast. As soon as Pikachu approaches her, she releases the blast and sends him flying off screen.
As Gareeku watche Aisha rummage through the pile of clothes, he could not help but laugh as she poked her head from underneath. Watching her head off to change, Gareeku smiled softly, before turning back to the clothes and beginning for an outfit for himself. His look of thoughtfulness suddenly lit up into a smile as he came across one costume in particular.
"Hehe, there's no way I'm turning this one down." He commented to himself with a grin, heading upstairs to change himself.
A short while later he returned, now dressed in his chosen outfit. On his head he wore a red metal band, with the words "Rock you" etched into it. At the back of his head was now a hair extension; a long ponytail that reached down to his hips. On his upper body he wore a stylised red and black sleeveless top, accompanied by a pair of red and black stylised gloves. On his lower body, the wolf wore a pair of white trousers (pants), accompanied by a red garment on his waist and a pair of red boots. At his side was an odd-looking sword. Though it was in fact a fake, it looked extremely realistic.
"Well, here's my costume!" He said with a somewhat satisfied smile.
((OOC: for those of you who don't know who Gareeku is dressed as, he's dressed as Sol Badguy from the Guilty Gear series. Click here for a piccy (http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y288/gareeku/sol.jpg).))
E chuckles. Mel probably had a larger hoard then he did despite his total life force being older. the two dragon beings Eliander and his older self had only spent a short portions of their dragon life spans. Eliander was warped then at the moment of his imminent death resume with a lost portion of his soul to be reborn after a mere 800 years. his older self spent ever other century in a trance sleep while astral projecting himself to explore. all and then there was a mere 185 thousand to 200 thousand mortal yeas. Erebus was a different story. after every rebirth he would awaken and try to steer the current version of E into the path of chaos and dark godhood. he's succeed several times the wost was 15billion 630years ago when an entire universe was lost to the cosmic flux. but after that he mellowed down a bit
(* wow Mel i was not aware that you were sheltered. lucky thing too dragons are strong and hardy but not invincible ore immortal and while i was writing and spell checking this post at least 6 replies have been made)
Stygian flinched for a moment, then sat up again and spoke.
"Heeey! I can do that! Even better, it goes together since I'm blonde..." he said, and then his clothing seemed to crawl and whip all around him, while he himself changed a bit in shape and size. When he was done, he wore an all-white and blue uniform-like outfit, with details of gold and crosses, and a long blue sword by his side. He was slightly shorter and much slimmer now as well, and had blue eyes, but his blonde hair remained thesame.
(http://www.artinfantry.com/gallery/albums/guiltygear/ky_kiske.thumb.jpg)
He looked over himself and laughed.
"Hehe. Though I much preferred Eddie..."
Watching Stygian change his clothes, Gareeku smiled and laughed warmly.
"Hehehe, now you look the part!" he commented. "Though who would have though it; Stygian in the Holy Order." he said teasingly, "But seriously, you look great!".
I, meanwhile, unbutton all the buttons on my lab coat save the top one. I then take my arms out of my sleeves. Now all that is left is the top button, the one on my neck, which I leave buttoned. My lab coat now looks more like a cape. “Watch out, crime! Here comes Super Joat!”
*OOC: Simple, yet effective; and highly creative. An A on effort for IC Joat, even if the costume itself stinks out loud in comparison.*
Meanwhile, anyone listening would probably hear a bit of a scuffle that came from one of the dark corridors leading out of the lounge, like someone was trying to be sneaky whilst running. Then it came from near the middle of the stairway banister and became silent again. Suddenly a figure grabbed a hold of it with one hand and jumped over the other side to a simple three-foot drop. "Hah, score one for overly-dramatic entrances," Aisha smirked as she brushed herself off.
She was wearing an outfit like studded leather armor over her chest and around her waist, leaving an otherwise bare midriff with similar boots and gauntlets over her hands to match lined in slightly-brown-green texture. On her belt was an obviously-fake dagger sheath, and the dagger, which was in her right hand when she leaped out, had been placed back in. Her appearance overall was dark and poised for adventure, much like she usually was. Her hair was put back in a ponytail and headband extension on it to make the strands look white. All in all she bore a remarkable resemblance to a dark elf.
She glanced over at the others who were also costumed with a laugh. "Those are good looks for you all."
((Aisha is Vhaidra Uoswiir, the Drow monk from Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II of D&D Forgotten Realm games...This (http://www.rpgfan.com/pics/bgda2-xbox/art-004.jpg) was the best pic I could find. :rolleyes ))
Sylver chronoshifts out. A moment later, he chronoshifts back, his blue parts painted black. He is also wearing a spiked collar. “The miasma of my soul is raining heavily and will not let up and… and… I’m terrible at goth poetry, ain’t I?”
Mel has no clue what anyone is going on about and hopes someone will just hand her something from the pile of costumes.
(OOC: e, that's part of how she got to be her age without ever getting in a fight. Her brother is twice her length, 3 times her weight, and doesn't like anyone messing with his little sister. :))
Sylver grins for a moment, then walks up to Mel and whispers in her ear.
*OOC: The contents of this whisper will be sent to OOC Mel in PM.*
Stygian just eyed Aisha conspicuously.
"Okay. That, I have no idea how to..." he started saying, but then snapped his fingers and gave an evil smirk, as if a bright idea had just come to him. Then, he changed again. This time, he grew considerably with the transformation, silvery and golden armor spreading over his form and the sword in his hand growing to a huge, bladed crozius. He stomped his boot down before Aisha, and said in a dark and rumbling voice;
"Kneel and accept your doom, spawn of evil!"
(http://www.battle.net/images/battle/diablo2exp/images/classes/paladin-history.jpg)
“Surrender or face the wrath of… Super Joat!” I say playfully to Aisha.
Aisha just watched with interest as Stygian changed his costume from of Gareeku's variation to hers, smirking at his statement but flinching a little at the stomp. Spawn of evil? Who's he to talk? She laughed inwardly and put up her fists; were the gauntlets real they would be enchanted with any various elemental power or energy she chose to enhance the monk's ability to fight unarmed.
Looking back from Joat to Stygian, she only stood with a dark, cocky grimace accentuated by her natural red eyes.
"And if I don't?" she joked, her eyes narrowing.
Mel takes the thought Joat gave her and materializes the illusion on herself. She finds herself dressed as an operatic version of a Valkyrie complete with golden breastplate, spear, long yellow braids, and a horned helmet. "Okay, interesting choice." She reaches out and beeps Joat on the nose, creating the illusion of his imagined superhero suit on him as she does.
*OOC: It was Sylver, not Joat, who gave the suggestion.*
My costume is a dark blue cape and a dark blue suit of armor with silver edges. The breastplate of the armor bears the silver outline of a heart.
Stygian flinched, an incredulous look coming across his face. She was thinking he'd fight like this? He'd either impale her on his sword, or himself. Not to mention the floor was not... But he could take her by surprise instead.
"Nah. I'd rather change. How about into something classical? Say, what's the thing 'funny' people always go to at costume parties?" he said, but didn't wait for an answer. He shuddered and changed again, a lot of white and hot pink suddenly coming into view around the tiniest black markings.
When Stygian was finished, he looked like much like himself, being his own size and build but with fluffy pink and white fur, a much cuter face and big hanging, floppy ears. He had changed into a live, huge pink bunny.
"Take this! Pounce!" he shouted, and jumped at Aisha with his large feet, glomping her and sending them both into the pile of costumes.
Meanwhile, May seems completely oblivious to all this. She has switched games and is now playing the latest version of Soul Calibur. She is doing quite well with Ivy.
e considers as he looks the the costumes his first thought is to go metal (http://www.geocities.com/eliander_valderen/metalone.jpg) be he decided against that instead he touches his belt and starts to glow as he returns to Eskaver father of erica and reaper of souls e looks himself (http://www.geocities.com/eliander_valderen/he_comes_on_wings_by_eliander.jpg) what do you think? or should change to some thing less mores like (http://www.geocities.com/eliander_valderen/joe1.png) this as he as he shimmer into a appearance replacing the first and now he is dressed like a video game character. you know what i think i like this costume as i actually was the other person at one point in my life.
As Aisha watched Stygian respond and change his costume, the look that came upon her face was one of utter surprise. Her fists lowered slowly, and she tried to hold back laughter. Of course, she had only time to utter "What the...?" when she was sent reeling back into the pile.
There was a quiet pause before the pile rustled and one could hear someone speaking in a progressively louder voice, muffled by the cloth until the last couple of words. "Whrf-difr oo frat fr? frpMrf-mrnr-frifffmn'-KILL YOU!" At that point, Aisha's head exploded from the pile, her hands pulling off a piece of garment from her head. She glared at Stygian whence she found him.
But then the panther's face broke out into a grin and she laughed loudly, clutching her side while her fist pounded the floor. "Okay, you're good...now can someone help me up please?" she asked while wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.
Watching the banter and playfighting between Aisha and Stygian, Gareeku could not help but laugh, wiping a couple of tears from his eyes. Still giggling, the wolf then helped the panthress back onto her feet.
"Now kids, behave..." he said teasingly, trying to hold back the giggles.
“That’s the thing about this house. Because I’m mad, I fit right in,” I comment.
e hears this and rolls his eyes. "if you're made about being normal imagine being 14 four 600 years because your father the incarnation of death couldn't bear to see you grow up" E blinks. " what the who said that? " oh good i finally reached you and you didn't put me to sleep this time" "Erica? " dad i need your help. come to mom's home yesterday. it's important understand?" "but i hate time travel." "but we need you." i'm sorry guys but i have to leave for a while" E seems the evaporate as he vanishes they can here him humming part of the tune form back to the future. "taken me away i don't mind just promise me i'll get back in time" this is not like his normal method of travel this time he is truly gone.
Mel discarded the cumbersome spear and quickly followed it with the helmet. Perching a horned hat between her horns just seemed... redundant. Then she noticed Sathariel just standing, looking rather lost. "Go pick out a costume. We're all being rather silly." The girl shook her head and didn't move. Mel looked and realized that Stygian was standing in the pile. "Aisha, if you can spare anything from your disguise as a pile of laundry can you toss over something female and about this big?" Mel held her hand over Sathariel's head to indicate who she was talking about.
While still playing the game, May comments, “I wish I had a sword like Ivy’s; bunny-sized.”
Stygian's bunny ears flopped, and surprisingly he picked some things out of the pile and walked over to the girl.
"Here," he said, proffering the clothes to Sathariel, whose eyes were big at him. "This should fit you nicely." She looked at them, and then, carefully as if not to spring some sort of trap, she took them. She started taking off her robe, but Stygian hrrmed in his throat, and nodded towards the exit to the corridor. She blushed, looked around, and then ran out.
When she came back in, she was dressed in a pair of extremely short pants, lace-up boots, some sort of top that seemed perhaps a bit too small for her figure and a flowing, one-sided skirt with several white hems. In her hands were a pair of big, ornately artificed semi-automats, and from her neck she had her white hair in a long tied braid. She walked in shyly, her cheeks still red from the attention, and from the outfit too, it seemed.
http://quietsong.net/graphics/yuna.jpg
Stygian eyed her appreciatively, and nodded to himself as if confirming he'd made a good choice. Then he made a short laugh, and turned around to look at where E had stood, and then May.
"Hm. Party poopers. Perhaps they were more comfortable when we were dancing?" he said, and then without waiting for an answer switched his form again, while walking over to the stereo. In a moment, he'd changed into a fox version of himself with a huge, fluffy tail that he wagged behind him. "Hehe. More woodland creatures." Then, a strangely familiar song started playing, and he began dancing.
C'mon, let's twist again,
like we did last summer.
Let's twist again...
((OOC: For reference, look here: http://fchan.hentaiplanet.net/src/flash_1165236903683_pyong_dance2.swf
Don't worry. It's clean.))
May is too intent on defeating Cervantes to notice anything that is going on around her.
“You actually look pretty nice in that armor,” Sylver says to me, “Maybe you should make a suit of your own.”
“Nah. Most of my fighting strategy is agility, which armor can hinder,” I say.
*suddenly Lilith comes into the room*
Lilith: Can I have your attention please? All males that are taken must hide! My sister, Shivara, is coming in here and tends to flirt with any men she sees!
*Lilith looks at E*
Lilith:...even robot ones.
“Hey, Joat, I have an idea!” Sylver says. He whispers in my ear.
My eyes go wide. “Ew! That’s just disgusting!”
It seems I have said the magic words, for May suddenly pauses the game and asks excitedly, “What? What’s disgusting?”
“He wants me to disguise myself a girl. Not that it would work against a mind-reader anyway,” I say.
“Oh, yeah. That’s right,” Sylver says.
Once again leaping to her feet and brushing away whatever piece of cloth from the pile had come up with her, Aisha smirked at Gareeku's statement. "Yes, Dad," she replied mockingly and lightly noogied the side of his head. Turning back to Stygian as he shifted costumes again, she shook her head amusingly. Obviously, he had felt better...the mood of the party had lifted.
As the panther went to retrieve and finish her glass of wine, she noticed Sathariel coming back down with a new costume. Aisha gave smiled and gave her a nod. "You look good in that one, chica." For the time she stood beside Gareeku, watching the game that was playing as the others were from in the room. Slowly the others were starting to get into the spirit of the costume party.
Her eyes rolled slightly when Lilith had made her announcement. "Just wonderful," she muttered with a laugh as she glanced to the wolf.
Mel, having no tolerance for uncomfortable clothing, continued the destruction of her costume by getting rid of the confining metal breastplate and unfamiliar trailing braids. Realizing she had nothing left but a plain white dress she started over. Not knowing anything about costumes she grabbed onto one of her hunting persona. In the place of the white dragon stood a nondescript grey feline of no determinable lineage but noticeable because of the gaudiness of her gypsy outfit. Happier in her comfortable clothing she hummed her way back to the last two spoonfuls of her salad.
Grinning, Gareeku laughed softly as Aisha noogied the side of his head. Also noticing Sathariel, Gareeku smiled softly at her.
"You look great, Sath." He said, giving a reassuring thumbs-up as he spoke. Finishing the rest of his glass of wine, the wolf watched as the others interacted with each other, subconsciously gently putting an arm around the panther's waist. Hearing Karl's announcement and Aisha's comment, Gareeku laughed softly.
"Oh no! Whoever shall save me from the evil temptress?!" he cried out jokingly, holding onto Aisha and pretending to swoon.
“Wait a second. Why am I trying to make up ways for him to get out of this? He wanted a girlfriend and, well, here’s his golden opportunity,” Sylver thinks, “He may be too shy to make the first move, but I don’t think that will be a problem.”
I myself do not know what to feel. Should I be happy or afraid?
“This Shivara girl; she any good at Smash Brothers or Soul Calibur?” May asks.
*Shivara come walking in and notices Stygian*
Shivara: Well hello, good looking...*she winks at him*
*OOC: I’m assuming that she is far over IC Joat’s age, since she is the older sister of a married woman.*
Sylver looks disappointed. I look a bit relieved. “She wouldn’t flirt with a minor like me, I’ll bet,” I think.
(OOC: how old is IC Joat again? or did you put it in?)
*OOC: Fifteen years old. For future reference, my other three characters are 0 (Sylver), 10 (May), and 21 (Valencia)*
(OOC: thenhe won't be approached until either he's 16...or 18 years of age [by Shivara])
May has switched back to the Smash brothers game.
“Okay, this headache is really starting to get annoying. Can you reactivate that mind-shield thing?” I say to Sathariel.
“When did it wear off?” Sylver asks.
“About the time that Valencia returned to, well, as normal as she gets,” I answer.
"Nice costumes, Styg," Boogey chuckled, "But seeing as my form isn't quite so elastic as yours on the fly, methinks I should make myself something. We got any cloth and such anywhere?"
“Wait a second! Maybe you could use my TF bracers. All you have to do is put them on and say the form you want. For example, for the wolf-being form, you would say, ‘activate form 000000’. I memorized all the codes for all the forms, so if you wish to use the bracers, just tell me which form you want and I’ll give you the code,” I say.
Watching Gareeku joke around, Aisha had to laugh as she gave his hair a playful ruffle, with a warm smile directed at him. "No evil shall get you while I'm around," she retorted in her best "hero" voice, which didn't work too well as it ended in a loud snort of laughter. She leaned comfortably against the wolf and watched the newest guest walk into the room. The more the merrier, I suppose.
The panther couldn't recall when she had this much fun...even with anybody. In her mind, there was something that willed her to pray for nothing more to go wrong with the house, or anything of that nature. There was a stolen glance at Stygian...was it only hours ago that they were fighting him? But now he was one with the rest of the guests as they forgot their troubles.
"Yo pienso, this is probably the wierdest day in the history of wierd days..." she muttered with a shake of her head.
Hearing Aisha put on her heroic voice, Gareeku laughed, looking at her with a warm affectionate smile before gently wrapping an arm around her as she leaned on him. Nuzzling her softly, Gareeku also observed the newcomer enter the room.
She certainly doesn't waste any time... Gareeku thought to himself with a slight grin as he observed how the newcomer had immediately begun to hit on Stygian. Hearing Aisha's words, the wolf smiled down at her.
"Hehehe, very true. It had been rather interesting to say the least." the wolf replied with a soft laugh, before looking at her with a loving smile as he stroked her cheek. "But with the way things are, I wouldn't have it any other way."
“Weird and crazy are the best inventions since, well, ever!” I say.
"I'll pass on those bracers; part of the fun of a costume is making it yourself," Boogey grinned, "Well, if we don't have anything here I'm heading back up to the attic to see if there's any sewing stuff and all that there. Styg, you didn't change that in any way I should know about? Invisable bear traps, flesh eating bacteria, politicians, whathaveyou?"
May is, of course, soundly beating Mario, Link, and Captain Falcon as Samus. While she is doing so, she chants in a mysterious language.
“Alright. This headache is definitely getting to me. Anybody got an aspirin?” I ask.
My headache disappears just as May stops chanting. “Will a mental ward do?” May asks, smiling.
Stygian just smiled at Shivara when she walked in. As the stereo began playing a salsa, he made some quick steps, snapped up a drink from the table, then spun across the floor and swung her with him, dancing her around until they were at the end of the sofa. There, he leaned her down on his arm, while offering her the glass with the other.
"Welcomes, sis! Have a drink, a seat and a time!" he said, then without further words let her go, and turned to the Boogeyman. "No change but the appearance. Oh, one thing; I did add a lot of bats though."
Mel rolled her eyes at the antics of the fox-cubi. Some species were so susceptible to their own propaganda they became parodies of themselves. Mel stood with her empty dish, smiling. Watching the walking comedy act should at least prove amusing. As she carried the dirty dish to the kitchen she paused by Sathariel and whispered, "I think a walking encyclopedia of behaviors for you to avoid if you wish to be liked just arrived. Take notes." She proceeded to the kitchen, happily humming along with the music.
"Hm, Mr. Charm over there as usual," the panther smirked, watching as he swung Shivara around in a dance.
Aisha laughed softly at the wolf's statement and affectionately nuzzled his hand back...she admired how Gareeku always seemed to have an optimistic outlook, which lately it had become almost impossible for herself to have. The panther finally decided to dismiss the matter and focus on the party...and of course, be happy that she was with the one she loved.
"I wouldn't have it any other way either," she whispered in comfirmation and leaned her head on Gareeku's arm while watching the other guests amusingly. Her tail tip flickered in time with the music while the games were still there for people to play.
"I wonder if there's a DDR pad there somewhere. Peh, not like anyone here'd outdance us anyday..." she smirked.
Stygian shook in time with the dance, and made fast steps on the floor, combining them freely with a few little one-hand stands and more gymnastic moves. It wasn't really salsa, but then again he wasn't really a salsa dancer.
Then, as Aisha made her comment, his ears twitched, and he turned around, the tip of his fluffy tail wagging. His face was a sly grin.
"Oooooooh...? Is that a challenge, chica?" he practically purred.
“Indeed. If you want a challenge, well… be careful what you wish for. I’ve never done DDR before, but dancing is something I can do,” I say.
Shivara: pretty good salsa dancing...but can you tango?
Quirking her eyebrow at the sudden way Stygian had reacted to her statement, as well as Joat's piping in, Aisha couldn't help but laugh. Perhaps, she thought, it would liven things up for everyone to dance. And anyway, the panther wasn't one to resist the call of a challenge, even if she was the one that instigated it.
"Maaaaaybe." She drew the word out with a teasing grin, looking at Stygian and everyone else who'd be in on the challenge. To the rhythm of the salsa music, Aisha snapped her fingers like she were holding castonets. "No es solamente un reto, pero es la verdad." (It's not only a challenge, but a fact)
After translating that on my laptop, I say, “Nay. It is merely a hypothesis unless it is proven, which will never happen. Quite the opposite, in fact.”
"Oh, shut up you!" Stygian laughed, softly slapping Joat on the head in a still friendly but clear gesture. "I think this calls for a contest!" He clapped loudly, and then made his way over to the gaming systems. He eyed them curiously, squatting down and laying his hand on the Playstation 3, and humming to himself.
"Yes, that's one... hmm... Let me have a look..." he said, and then surprisingly did not try and break open the console, but instead reached for Joat's head. He placed his paw on the boy's hair, and a tingling, crawling feeling spread through Joat's skull for a second, while he found himself thinking of DDR and then dancemats, dancemats... all about dancemats.
Then, as quickly as he had grabbed the boy, Stygian let go and reverted to his normal form, and whipped up that watch of his out of his pocket.
"Really frivolous use of something so valuable, but since you seem to be able to use it casually..." he said lowly, while swiftly turning the myriad of dials on the little thing forth and back, while it pulsed a slight green glow. Then, he jumped back to his feet, and went over to open a cupboard. Inside were a pair of dancemats and a copy of DDR. Without further wait he hooked them up to the Ps3 and the excessive media system, placed the CD in, and switched on.
"Let's start out with something beaty to work up... saaay, 'Burnin' the Floor' on standard?" he said, turned to Aisha with a smile on his lips. "Or would you and G over there rather do 'Destiny Lovers'?" he said, grinning deeper.
Quote from: Joat on December 16, 2006, 11:24:18 PM
May is, of course, soundly beating Mario, Link, and Captain Falcon as Samus. While she is doing so, she chants in a mysterious language.
“Alright. This headache is definitely getting to me. Anybody got an aspirin?” I ask.
My headache disappears just as May stops chanting. “Will a mental ward do?” May asks, smiling.
*OOC: Whatever that mental trick on IC Joat was supposed to do, it didn’t work at all. The mental ward can’t tell benign influences from harmful ones, so it blocks them all.*
Quote from: Joat on December 17, 2006, 02:17:44 PM
Quote from: Joat on December 16, 2006, 11:24:18 PM
May is, of course, soundly beating Mario, Link, and Captain Falcon as Samus. While she is doing so, she chants in a mysterious language.
"Alright. This headache is definitely getting to me. Anybody got an aspirin?" I ask.
My headache disappears just as May stops chanting. "Will a mental ward do?" May asks, smiling.
*OOC: Whatever that mental trick on IC Joat was supposed to do, it didn't work at all. The mental ward can't tell benign influences from harmful ones, so it blocks them all.*
((
OOC: Do mental wards have experience? Is magic absolute, or does it abide the laws of existence where certain things break under pressure or open when cut? Be a bit thoughtful. Stygian does not have magic at his calling, but he has other tricks...))
*OOC: It works like this. It’s either on or off. There is no way to get past the ward without destroying it. The spell is only as strong as its caster (which is, in this case, pretty strong). If a mental influence is strong enough, it can break the ward and destroy it.*
*OOC: Just so you know, Sylver’s mental resistance works a bit different. it is truly impossible to do anything to his mind that he doesn’t want to happen, no matter how strong the influence is (even gods cannot break this defense). However, no extra effort is required to do something to his mind that he WANTS you to do.*
Boogey nodded and started heading up the stairs. Reaching the attic and keeping an eye out for said bats (hoping that they were the small, fun kind and not winged basement rats, who may not be kind to intruders) he rummaged around until he came upon a sewing kit and a box of old rags and such. A couple seconds of thought, and he grinned and got to work.
When he came back down, he was wearing a white frock that looked like it was made of some manner of canvas, fake bloodspatters, and had used the remains of a cardboard box and some paints to make a pyramid shaped mask/helmet (it had no visable eyeholes, but whether this was the results of a lack of neccessity or simply absentmindedness remained to be seen). He was even making similar sounds to that of a certain well known videogame monster.
The effect was rather ruined by his refusal to abandon his hat and tweed coat though.
"So, I heard mention of videogames earlier?" he asked, his voice muffled slightly by the helmet, "Who's winning?"
Mel returned from the kitchen to find everyone clustered around the entertainment center. She reclaimed her chair outside the danger zone but perched on the back for a better view. Sathariel was nearby. "Stygian says you learn easily. Perhaps you can beat them all if you try. You were pretty fast and agile outside earlier."
Stygian turned and eyed the Boogeyman up and down with a pleased look. He chuckled slightly, thinking that in a fashion, that costume really suited him.
"We haven't really gotten to it yet, but we'll see. And that's just one representation of the unliving, mind you..." he said with a smirk.
Sathariel blushed at Mel's remark, but when looking at the entertainment system a kind of gleam lit her eyes, and it was with obvious interest that she looked at the devices by the wall.
"I wouldn't know about..." she began. Then she looked a bit nervous again, and grabbed Mel's hand. "Do you think they'll let me play? Really?"
((OOC: Then consider the mental shield broken. If there ever was a certain someone who should fear Stygian, then it would be the magician...))
Sylver overhears this and says to Sathariel. “Why wouldn’t they? They’re not exactly being exclusive about this. I’d bet they’d even let me play if I wanted to; and I dance like I have two left feet.”
May gives Stygian a very angry look and begins to chant the spell again. After she is done, she looks quite tired.
Mel smiled at Sathariel, "Ask politely. Polite always improves your chances."
"One really freaking awesome representation!" Boogey pushed up the edge of the helmet over one eye and grinned, "Besides, he's not just unliving. He's created by the flaws and subconcious issues of the main character. Alive, just a physical manifestation of repressed emotions. If you think about it, that makes him one of tne of the only members of my kind to make it in the media today." With a wink, he set the helmet back down and spoke with a rather convincing pyramid head rasp. "And I hope they start soon. I wanna beat someone at Soul Calibur or Timesplitters or something."
May starts up the Soul Calibur game. “You think you can defeat me? Well, let’s play so I can show you how wrong you are.”
"Oh it's on kid!" Boogey rasped again, darting over and grabbing a controller, "Soul Cal one, two or three?"
“This one is two. Anyway, normal versus mode or team battle?” May says.
"You pick," Boogey replied, tilting back the pyramid head mask so he could see the game.
Stygian had been entirely caught up in dancing, and was rather unamused by being distracted from that particular topic. They had been fighting enough the last hours. But then he smiled. Still, he thought, it might be a good thing to get to show them that for all that skill was worth, coordination and hyped-up reflexes were better...
"Allright, you're on. I'll take Kilik then, though I'd like it if we broke out number three so I could vary with Zasalamel, or Tira." He folded his legs under him on the floor and grabbed a controller. "Let's get it on! Team battle!"
Sathariel looked a bit dissappointed at not getting to dance, but still a bit curious to the machines on the floor.
“Um… I don’t think it’s your turn,” May says.
"Yeah Styg," Boogey guestured to May, "She was here first. You play winners."
"Fine, fine. Just make sure I'm not dissappointed when it's my turn. And get it all done fast. There are some who want to play other games too," Stygian said, and went for another drink. On the way, he stopped beside Mel.
"If you want to teach the girl something, really, I'd suggest using the mind connection thing. It'd be good to have a 'memory bank' of sorts to depend upon..." He then proceeded to the table where he whipped up another of those fizzing green drinks and set fire to it with his silver lighter, thinking it'd be a nice touch. Unfortunately, the concoction proved unagreeable with this, and exploded in a furious burst of emerald and viridian into his face. He looked burnt, and shocked.
Sylver focuses his chi energy and Stygian is healed a bit.
“I knew it! I knew you had Calica!” May says to Sylver. She picks Cervantes, Raphael, and Ivy as her three characters.
Boogey picks Nightmare, Lizardman and Assassin.
"Shame that Lizardman had the same moves as that other character in this one, he's a lot better in Three," Boogey mentioned conversationally as he made his selections, "But at least Nightmare still has his good moves in this one."
“I heard that in the Soul Edge arcade game, Hwang and Mitsurugi had the same moves,” May says.
Mel shrugged, "Sure, why not. But why don't we go out on the patio where it's quiet. I wouldn't want the shiny lights to distract you and have you accidentally erase my childhood." She jumped off the chair, the coins on her gypsy costume jangling, and started for the door. Just as she was going out the door Mel said to Sathariel, "He's banishing us because he's scared you'd beat him at DDR." Then she scooted outside before Stygian could reply.
“Now he’s been burned in more ways than one,” I think.
Stygian took that as a sign. He took a different drink, and then turned around, slowly moving toward the corridor.
"Allright. I'm gonna go down to the gym and stretch and move a bit to ease out my limbs. When I get back up here, I expect to see some bloody DDR:ing," he said. Then, he looked like he just had an idea, and turned to Aisha, making a bow. "As it seems we can't dance right now, how about you follow me down and... we spar a bit? I would very much enjoy putting my skills to the test against you." He then looked at Gareeku, as could be expected. "I would be most honored if you joined me too, Gareeku."
Sathariel giggled, and followed Mel eagerly. She didn't seem the crowd person anyhow, really. Stygian didn't give them more of a response but a raised eyebrow.
“Since apparently, nobody’s able to teach me how to use magic, maybe I should try to learn it on my own,” I say.
May sighs. She chants a bit and a hole in reality appears. She reaches into the hole and pulls out a very thick (as thick as a phone book) book, which she slides across the floor to me. “There. That book contains the basics of Qwertish wizardry, the stuff you need to know before casting any spells. The actual spells are contained in the the eight books.” She then chants a few words and the hole closes again. I immediately start reading the book.
May starts the game. With Cervantes, she is very good. She seems to have mastered the basic attributes of dodging, movement, etc., though she seems a bit untalented at the moves themselves (she isn’t very practiced with that Cervantes).
*Shivara goes to sit down in a chair and watch these people go at it in video games*
Aisha stood by and watched Stygian with amusement as he set up the DDR pads, going over in her imagination how the contests would stack up. Aisha was probably being a little overconfident of herself, for she had seen how much better some of the others could dance. It was not hard for her to be in high spirits though. While she awaited her turn, the panther practiced a few dance steps to the tune of the music that was then playing.
When she heard Stygian speak, she stopped and tilted her head at him with an incredulous look. "Spar?" The look was uncertain, but at the prospect of a friendly challenge, her mood lightened. As powerful as he was, it would be an interesting venture...even though, at the back of her head, the memory couldn't be erased of just HOW powerful.
The huntress politely bowed back with a smile. "Si, I wouldn't mind." She glanced over at Gareeku to see his reaction while sticking out her arm to where she set her weapons belt, ready to call it back.
*karl noticed a game that was thought not available gor a while*
Karl: TRON 2.0 Killer App! Who got this?
*Karl interrupts everything and sets up some more controllers for the Xbox 360...then puts the game in*
Karl: Who's up for a Lightcycle match?
*OOC: Unless there are two TVs in the room, you may have to wait on that.*
Smiling, Gareeku listened and watches as the others talked. It was simple, peaceful moments like these which the wolf missed, having had a somewhat "interesting" life in the past few years.
Hearing Stygian ask for a spar, Gareeku turned to him, a smile on his face as he bowed politely.
"I would be honoured." the wolf replied.
Mel walked to the edge of the pool of light from the doors and gracefully sank, to sit tailor-style on the tile patio. Her full skirts poofed around her. When Sathariel joined her Mel said, "You've shown that you're able to read emotions, if you can read thoughts as well this will be easier. Memories are sort of part-way between the two, but not really." Mel winced, "That's not very clear, but it makes more sense in practice. Memories run just behind thought all the time." Mel took Sathariel's hand, "Talk to me about something and see if you can find the zone that feels older than the others. Take your time, thoughts are so much stronger that they tend to hide the memories."
"Wha...? But I... I don't remember anything old..." Sathariel said, misinterpreting Mel at first. "I... I can't really remember anything that I've felt or seen until now... I just awakened, with all this stuff in my head. And I don't really know how I should feel... That man who created me, he seems so... weird, and so bad... And I keep wondering; who am I? Why did I get here? I feel as if there are other things that I'm supposed to remember, but it's all blurry and I can't..." she said, then gasped, as Mel felt the girl's mind "coincide" with her own, so to speak.
Stygian saw Aisha's gaze, and raised a hand at her.
"No weapons. I use none, so neither should you. I would prefer to fight hand to fist, if you wouldn't mind," he said seriously, while starting to walk to the corridor again. "Of course, I will be holding back my own abilities. You can't use your magic either, of course."
I yawn, close the book, and fall asleep on the floor. At that time, Valencia taps on the window. Sylver opens the said window (though not quickly or easily, having no opposible thumbs) and Valencia jumps through.
“Couldn’t you have just used the door?” Sylver asks.
“What fun woud that be?” Valencia responds as Sylver closes the window again. She sees me on the floor and rolls her eyes. “Again, Joat?”
Aisha considers Stygian's words for a second, her hand hovering in midair, before she accepts the terms and drops it. Think of it as a learning experience, chica, she told herself, much in the same way that Rynkura would have. In truth she hadn't done any fighting sans weapons for a long while. But so long as he too was holding back his abilities, it seemed fair.
She grinned at Gareeku. Watching what those two could do against each other as well was going to be something interesting. She followed Stygian out of the room and down the corridors, the sound of the games and speech waning slowly behind them to make way for the almost dreary silence.
Come to think of it, I bet the wolf could still beat ME...
“Come to think of it, my energy’s running pretty low, too,” Sylver says. He curls up next to me and falls asleep.
“Oh, please. It’s only…” Valencia looks at her watch. “…10:56 PM? Wow, it’s later than I thought.”
Upon arriving at the gymnasium, Stygian went over to the mats at the far end of the room and hung off his clothes, cracking his joints a bit and then standing straight on one end of them.
"So... I guess it's everything goes, so long as it's no weapons, no magic and no... weirdness. Is that okay? You don't have to worry about hurting me. I'm pretty strong anyway," he said calmly, and looked at them both. "Who will start?"
"Calm down and pay attention or we stop this," snapped Mel. "Do you feel the difference between thought, emotion, and memory? Memories are the most complex. You need a quick delicate touch to snare everything. Now just pay attention while I talk about something. See if you can read separate memories. They switch quickly. Don't try copying yet."
Mel began talking about flight. She was just babbling but she knew that every flight she had ever taken was bombarding Sathariel, from her first infant flutterings all the way through to the last exhilarating plunge a few hours ago. The girl seemed bright, if she could get anything from the blast she'd do fine.
a door seems to open in the air and though it steps a sagging figure.(http://www.geocities.com/eliander_valderen/bassplain.PNG) his armor is gone and he looks like he's just gone thou a war but still he is hard to mistake. he looks around waves the slums on the couch exhausted. what ever happened had take a toll on this entity war machine or no. his hands reach into the air disappearing and resin with whats looked like a glass of steaming tea. he sat there moody and sipping his drink. a stray thought escapes his head." Can anything worse happened this week?" he wonder as he remembers his response to Erica's urgent call.
When Aisha entered the gym with the other two, she took a momentary and slightly awed look around the room. It seemed that Stygian had pulled out all the stops upon recreating the house. Not a thing of interest was left out of place. Out of the way, the pantheress chose a bench in the corner to sit down and become a little more prepared for sparring than wearing a costume fit for a party. She removed the gauntlets and boots, flexing the claws in her hands and feet as if preparing to use them. Then she thought to herself, Nah...I shall try not to make it a bloodspill. Honorable dueling with naught but what weapons the gods made us for...but keep the nails sheathed, girl. For now.
The more metallic parts of her clothing were taken down also, leaving her with a pair of long, comfortable and flexible brown trousers and a tight cloth woven around her chest and over her shoulders...the less weight, the better. The braid in her hair she tied upwards to keep it out of the way, and she settled back on the bench to do some stretching exercises and limber up the flexible muscles in her limbs and around the almost-rubbery spine customary to a felid in her back. She shook her head with slight humor while doing so, glancing at the guys while Stygian spoke of terms. Everything goes...of course, no wierdness...you keep that in mind too, hombre.
Finally it was almost time. She left her things on the bench and approached one closer to the mat where they were, wondering if Gareeku was going first or she was. Either way, she smiled with confidence. The panther knew she might not beat either of them, but as sure as hell, the adrenaline rush before a fight was as invigorating as ever.
Following Stygian to the gym, the wolf suddenly remembered something, disappearing momentarily before returning with his normal clothes back on, his smarter out fit now folded up and in his arms. Upon entering the gym, Gareeku began warming up his muscles as he listened to Stygian speak.
"That's fine by me. But you shouldn't underestimate your opponents." Gareeku replied calmly, referring to Stygian's remark about them not harming him and smirking at Aisha's reply. "I don't mind who goes first."
As the wolf stretched, he could feel the adrenaline rushing through his blood. His heart began to quicken, and the tingling of excitement was beginning to make itself present throughout his body. Fastening the red fingerless gloves on his hands, Gareeku decided to remove his blue top and his sandals, setting them on the bench next to his other clothes.
"So Aisha, you wanna go first?" he asked with a smile.
When Gareeku asked about going first, she smiled back at him and nodded. "I'd be glad to." With a deep breath of air, the panther stepped up to the mat and faced opposite of Stygian. She heaved the air out in a long sigh to release any tension and gain the mental preparation, narrowing her eyes at him. Hrmph...deja vu. Just keep your head on.
Aisha in good sportsmanship bowed to her opponent before leaning her feet apart, her weight distributed more or less evenly with a little more concentration on her front leg in the starting stance. "Your move or mine, señor?" she inquired with a grin bared with sharp and shimmering fangs.
Tightening the black wrappings that were all left of his clothes, save a simple cloth tied in a neat fashion like a pair of underpants, Stygian moved his arms around, loosening out his shoulders and slowly and carefully making a few kicks to about the height of a man's head, stretching the back of his legs. He felt a bit tense this way, but it was still all good. He took a deep breath, then exhaled, and assumed the commencion stance called the Dancer, with his right hand raised up with an open palm and his left arm just beside him, his weight on his right, forward leg and his left one slightly bent behind his right, ready to let him push to leap forward or spin around an attacker. It was quite an agressive stance, but to the beginner or intermediate, or someone who simply didn't know, it would look relaxed, almost playful. He smiled, wondering if Aisha would really take it that way. Just to make the whole thing more convincing, he responded to her bow with a bit of a flourish.
"I always try to keep the etiquette, so of course it's ladies first," he said, his own pointed fangs flashing in a smile. "Don't hold back on me." For a second, he did not sound so playful.
E chuckled sipping his drink. he may have just been through 3 weeks of hell both literal and figuratively but some how he could relax here. well as long as no one was in danger of dying he could relax. even Erebus was being behaved and eliander( both of them) have gone back into there hibernating sleep. things were going to be looking up soon he was sure of it.
Aisha smirked as she observed his beginning stance, wondering how to approach it as the muscles in her legs started to bunch up slightly. At his words, her grin only deepened. "Oh, I know you don't expect me to," she replied in a voice that held within the forcefulness of her mood and the elation of battle rolled into one. After a second of thought, she made her decision...any kind of approach seemed like a risk at any rate.
In an almost flash instant, the panther's feet were released from the mat like coiled springs, packed with the potential energy of speed and strength, as the leap was high enough to almost clear over him...but anyone noticing closer would see that she flanked around his right side insead. She pivoted that second in the air, the ankle of her right foot whirling in a circular motion with the force of a fast-moving brick, aiming to come in and connect with the back of his neck.
Stygian... bent. He fluidly made a bow forward, and in a snaking, gliding motion spun around low to the floor, twisting to the left and that crooked left leg of his swiping out in a hard, hook-like motion to sweep out Aisha's left leg under her as she began landing. The speed of the movement meant that the panthress didn't have time to hit the floor and brace, but naturally she caught herself and shifted her movement so that she could bend over the back of his leg and catch herself with her hands instead. He smiled, and continued his movement by flowing over to his side and quickly doing a flip backwards, landing in a more hunched over stance with his weight more on his right hind leg and both arms raised, palms open and fists slightly clenched. This was the Avalanche, his usual beginning stance, and about as agressive as one could get. He stood so for a second, eyeing her.
"So... you use your feet well. That's good. I'll follow!" he said, and then launched himself at her, making a swipe with his elbow followed by a left hook for distraction, and then a spinning motion that swooped up his left leg and turned into a violent axe-kick aimed over her head.
Throughout the whole series of movements it would have been easy for an onlooker to judge Stygian's moves; they were not abnormally fast or forceful, but sliding, flowing and powerful, like water. And the way he whipped his limbs before he struck, focusing the force at the end to make the blows much harder and faster than it might seem at first, was very characteristic. As were his snaking movements in between. The style was a mix of Jeet Kune Do, the Viper, and Thai boxing.
((OOC: ...aaaaaand this is where I leave on a two-week vacation. Please act as if all was normal...))
As the game between May and Boogey starts, patterns of light play over Boogey's hands for just a second. Starting off with Nightmare, he opts for a mainly all out assault, keeping an eye out for when to block.
OOC: Friend looking over my shoulder says hi.
"Grah!" Aisha growled with slight frustration the instant that she missed Stygian, herself having been prepared for her foot to hit a solid wall of flesh rather than the empty air. Still she wasn't out of her game, having recovered from quickly enough and awaiting whatever he tossed at her.
Her eyes were intense, as focused as if she were hunting. The fluidity and harshness of his movements didn't miss a beat with the pantheress...there was little possibility that he'd catch her off-guard unless she herself did something foolish. She didn't get all the way back up on her feet when he made his attack, instead using her legs and one arm to hold her weight while her other arm kept up her balance and blocking, aiming to use her flexibility to its full advantage. Time to take a few bruises...
The swipe she blocked, the hook dodged less easily so, but was almost caught off-guard by the kick slicing in above her head. "Crap!" Aisha berated herself and ducked, quickly rolling head-over-heels beneath and behind Stygian, catching and bringing her body back upward with her right foot while the left swiftly whipped out to trip the leg still holding him to the ground. Then, pushing herself up and swerving around, she aimed an attempt for her right elbow to connect with Stygian's right side.
May, in an attempt to make it difficult to block, tries to balance her lower, mid, and upper moves so that they happen with about even frequency. She also blocks quite often. Though she uses very few combos, she does seem to be doing quite well with Cervantes.
Boogey manages to block a few attacks, but gets overconfident and tries a guard break. This gets him damaged, but the second try allows him to land some decent hits.
May manages to recover quite quickly. Boogey gets in but a mere one good hit and one minor hit before she guard breaks him and begins to hit him with two basic mid hits before reverting to her old tactics of balancing her hits.
*OOC: Technically, Boogey is in the lead, though barely.*
Aisha's reaction to the whole situation wasn't less than Stygian had expected... but not more either. With that water-like fluidity he turned the downward force of the kick and bent over backwards in a way that would have made most men's spines creak and flipped over, and continued the movement with an upward kick that went flying dangerously close to Aisha's neck and chin now that she spun around...
((Ah, a brief welcome back to you, Styg. :3 ))
Aisha's eyes widened briefly as she saw the kick coming...it was impossible for her to dodge it, but with any luck...
Her arm shot out to grab his foot when it was but a fraction of a second from hitting her face. She was carried with the momentum, claws digging instinctively into the skin before she put out her feet and landed hard on the ground...she'd have skidded if the claws there hadn't also been unsheathed, digging so deep into the mat and part of the floor from the impact that she left a few small gouges in it.
Ow...she growled as her teeth clenched, wondering if something had been sprained, sweat from the whole exercise flying from her forehead as she tightly gripped Stygian's leg just above her face.
"Hrmph, slippery devil," she quickly commented with a grin, showing little of the pain but a lot of resilience as she used the thing for leverage, leaping up from the mat and still holding it while her left fist rocketed toward his jaw...
E watched the sparing without watching it and noted both Stygian's moves and Aishia's, he would not want to face her in battle. even if she failed to win such reflex and counter maneuver skilled was to be praised. Stygian hover reminds him of one of wily's devils in both form. too fluid to be real, highly adaptable and worthy of a serious effort. effort.
*Karl came into the sparing room and thought 'you know what this needs? some music to spar to.' So he put in a cd into a mobile CD player and pressed the play button.."Death Egg's Eye" was the first to play*
Karl: gotta love video game music...
That was Stygian's cue. With Aisha stretched out like that, she exposed her midriff, and despite her smaller size and her speed that gave him ample time for what he was going to do. He dropped lower to the floor and started forward and to the left, bringing his arm up...
"It's just a jump to the left...!" he said, as he hit her in the solar plexus, with moderated force and an open palm so as not to crack bones or burst her diaphragm. The blow still lifted her a good bit off the floor though. "And a step to the right!" he continued, planting his right foot firmly on the floor. "Now put your hands on your hips..." He did so, grabbing her side with his left hand and lifting her. Then he swung her in a high arc and smashed her back-down into the floor before she even had time to catch her wind again.
He stood looking at her from above. No doubt she was probably dizzy, so he let her lie before he helped her up, still laughing and rubbing his ankle where her claws had taken.
"Jeez... big ones for a little cat" he said humorously. "Wouldn't have known what to do if you'd have gone for the eyes."
"Yeah, that's probably what I should have done..." Aisha muttered with a coughing, slightly raspy voice as the breath she lost from the blow returned to her body. Grasping Stygian's hand with her own and clutching her stomach with the other, she stood up on slightly shaky feet and shot him a glare, though on her jawline there was a grin...the stiff feeling in her muscles and the aching in her body swiftly became another familiarity to her upon stretching a little.
The panther shook her head somewhat rapidly to be rid of any remaining dizziness in her system and had to laugh, for she was still slightly energetic with the adrenaline coursing through her bloodstream. But soon enough that started to die down as she relaxed, pulling whatever strands of hair had been messed up back into place.
"I concede...that was fun," she surmised with a final bow to Stygian and a bit of humor in her tone, "At least since you weren't trying to kill me that time. But next time I know what to look out for..." Aisha smirked and started to step off the mat, casting a smile at Gareeku while grabbing a nearby towel to wipe the sweat from her face. "It'll be your turn then, mi vida."
And then she paused upon hearing music and cast a curious glance over to Karl, who had apparently found the gym, then just shook her head with another laugh.
Stygian smiled, though he did not laugh, and simply bowed to the panthress and stepped backward off the training mat. He nodded shortly to the wolf.
"Give her a go, freunde. She didn't dissappoint", he said. Then, a sudden look of surprise followed by another smile crossed his face. "It has started snowing", he then said.
Sathariel started, and made a little face. Then, her eyes widened, and after she had begun unraveling a few short memories, it seemed to Mel as if she was almost pulling them in, untangling and absorbing them with incredible speed.
"It's wonderful! You were...! I have so much to learn! It's... fantastic!" she exclaimed, and her own wings fluttered a bit, as if the knowledge now imparted on her made her eager to live it herself.
Mel gently tried to disentangle herself, "Calm down kitten. Now that you have some memories you have to figure out where you're going to put them. You want to keep other people's memories separate from your own. If you're not careful about keeping things straight your personality starts going funny after a while. When you start referring to yourself in third person people begin avoiding you."
A big wet snowflake landed on Mel's nose. "Snow? Snow!"
Boogey continued to hammer at May in SC2, hoping to simply smash through her guard.
May does get hit once by a strong attack, but then she guard-breaks him and lands a few decent blows.
e chuckles. "Hear hear Mel."E fully understood what Mel was saying as he'd been through it before. but the also anyone who'd lived as many lives as he had would soon to have this problem. the words all are one and one is all spring into mind but the acceptance of it did not always follow. it was then that e too noticed that it was snowing near Mel " snow? do you want more? i know someone who can arrange a fairly substantial snow fall if you wish"
( ooc. at the moment is is kind of zoned out not quite drunk bit defiant not sober. he's been altering his perception of the world to dull his pain and does not realize that he's doing the omni presences thing at moment. and those who perceive him and are not near the couch see him leaning again the wall in shadowed area ever if the room is supposed to be shadowless.)
Observing the spar between Stygian and Aisha, Gareeku watched closely as they battled, taking in their movements as he did so. When they finished, the wolf smiled at Aisha.
"You were great." he said warmly. For a little while he sat, Letting Aisha get back to full strength as he stretched some more. Stepping onto the mat, Gareeku looked through the window and smiled.
"Beautiful..." he commented as he observed the scene outside.
Turning back to the others, the smile on Gareeku's face turned to a smirk.
"Right then...who's going to be my sparring partner?" he asked, stretching his muscles some more.
With a slight twinge as she stretched the last battle's tension out of her limbs, Aisha paused to glance up and out the window on the far end of the room, where more flakes of snow had started to fall. The panther smiled, for she hadn't seen snow for a long time; and the scene looked quite peaceful and calming to the nerves.
She watched Gareeku step up to the mat and sighed quietly...she couldn't help but smile now every time she looked at him, the strong and noble fighter that he was, carrying a gentle heart...it was still almost hard to believe what had gone on between them...
When the panther was rested, she stood up and noted that Stygian seemed to be sitting out of the ring for a while. A grin appeared on her face...looks like second round came rather quickly. She stepped with her usual fluid grace onto the mat, facing the wolf with a genuine smile of warmth.
"Been a long time since we sparred with each other, mi amor." Then, her smile turned to a grin as she bowed politely and assumed her stance again. "No going easy."
Watching Aisha step up to the mat, Gareeku could not help but smile. He felt that she did not regard herself as gentle, but he knew how gentle she could be; he could feel it in his heart.
Hearing her comments, Gareeku's warm smile turned to a grin just as Aisha's had.
"Indeed it has, my love." the wolf replied, "As you wish."
From his standing position, Gareeku then shifted into a fighting stand, spreading his legs slightly, his left hand outstretched towards Aisha while his right hand was kept close at his side.
"Ladies first..." the wolf said, the grin still on his face as he gave her a wink.
"Hm, good to be a lady...good luck," Aisha chuckled as she released another deep breath...preparation for another test for her near lifetime of training. She assessed the situation as she had previously, as she had any other, with intense focus and eyes as trained and frozen like the laser point of a sniper.
For a moment, she felt as intimidated when facing Gareeku as she had with Stygian, maybe a little more. She had seen his power and his focus both firsthand and right from the front lines. But the thought of it only made the adrenaline course through her body with the force of a whitewater rapid...the fight, the challenge, it was always exciting...only when it wasn't a matter of life and death.
Slowly she stepped around him in a circle, watching, nerves on a hair trigger. I can't approach him as I did Stygian...or maybe...
Then, her well-coiled muscles released themselves from the mat in a rapid-fire charge towards the wolf...but it wasn't head-on or even to the side like it started with Stygian.
She moved in a confusing zig-zagging motion, almost dizzying if one didn't have the training to keep up or predict where she'd attack. She moved from one side of the mat to the other in short bursts until she flanked around to his left side and charged towards him...and right on past. Stopping short, she swerved on one foot and leaped into the air, the heel of her other foot coming up in a short but fast arc toward his head.
By now, one could see that the panther's style when it came to short-ranged combat was always quick, evasive, and hard.
For a moment, complete silence fell into the room, the two fighters standing perfectly still as their focus filled their being. Breathing slowly and deeply, Gareeku's eyes remained fixed on Aisha as she moved, shifting his feet slightly as he did not let her get out of his sight.
It was then that Aisha made her move. The first thing Gareeku observed was her speed. Aisha was fast. VERY fast. The wolf was having some slight difficulty keeping up with the panther's zig-zag movements, and prepared himself for a defence. It was then that the panther ran past him, before suddenly coming to a stop.
Clever girl... Gareeku thought to himself, knowing that the kick was coming.
BAM.
The kick had hit its target; thundering into Gareeku's jaw and causing him to twist to the side at the neck and waist. It was strange, but the wolf felt that when he was hit by an opponent, there was an odd sense of slow-motion just after the impact of a strike. Almost instinctively, the wolf suddenly stuck out a foot into a sweeping kick, hoping to knock the panther off of her remaining foot. The pain was indeed present, but the wolf also knew that when in battle, one should do their best to ignore any pain that may make itself present and remain focussed on the battle at hand.
Immediately after he had executed the sweeping kick, Gareeku then followed up by thrusting his lef hand, now balled into a fist, towards Aisha's gut, following by swiftly throwing his other balled fist up in an attempted uppercut to the panther's jaw. As soon as he had executed this manoveur, the wolf used the momentum of the uppercut to swiftly execute a spinning roundhouse kick with his left foot, aiming at the side of Aisha's head.
OOC: Just bored and nosey, but doesn't Gareeku have a broken finger or something from beating up on unsuspecting walls a couple of pages back? Or does he heal really fast? Isn't that punch gonna hurt?
((OOC: Very good point Mel. :) Gareeku's hands would have healed by now, thanks to the power of the light bracer given to him by Aisha. ^.^))
Hah...first blow taken, Aisha thought with a small bit of pride as the kick took and she had started to come out of her attack, the few milliseconds right after seeming like she was hovering in midair. I thought he was faster than...oh SHIT! she grimaced, suddenly taking note of his quick recovery and returning her focus to the battle at hand. She had forgotten about that.
As her foot started to come down, the sweeping kick missed by a mere few inches, but the wind coming off of it mixed with the intensity of the shot caused her to teeter off-balance upon landing. On instinct, she prepared to jump back as soon as her foot had touched the mat, and doing so saved her from the blow to her gut, but because of the clumsiness, it didn't save her from the uppercut which came so swiftly that she hadn't noticed until the last minute. Her jaw clenched tightly, more than prepared to take the pain that had entered her nerves like a shock.
However, instead of standing there while the blow took, she let it carry her through the air, as doing so wouldn't allow her body to act as the shock absorber and leave her more weakened. Aisha twisted her body in midair so that she recovered and landed on her feet, just as Gareeku's kick was moving upwards towards the edge of her head.
The panther ducked, feeling the passing wind of the kick, and rolled right beneath him just like in the fight before, her leg whipping out to hit the one holding him to the ground and attempting to trip him. Her body then pivoted and her right elbow aimed for a blow to his midriff.
OOC: That's good. Gareeku spends too much time on the injured list as it is. (rolls eyes, I sound like a mommy or something. Now put on your imaginary sweaters, it's imaginary snowing.) :giggle
E smiles pleasant as he watched the snow from several different perceptions. he doe not kn ow if the snow is real or not. he simply thinks that it's pretty. there is something similar to the snapping of fingers that e seems to be only dimly aware of. " huh?" E whats wrong with you? E simply look and smiles. his version of endorphins were nearing dangerous territory. i think he's gone too far. he may not make it back. Don't worry. when he stresses out like this his body is wired to knock him out for a while to let him recover. but will he be alright? We can only hope. as they watch E begins to shut down and slips into a restless from of sleep. out side of his body his shadow presences vanish like morning dew in the sunlight.
Quote from: Mel Dragonkitty on December 24, 2006, 09:15:25 PM
OOC: That's good. Gareeku spends too much time on the injured list as it is. (rolls eyes, I sound like a mommy or something. Now put on your imaginary sweaters, it's imaginary snowing.) :giggle
((OOC: x3 hehehe, yes ma'am! *does so and goes outside to build an imaginary snowman*))
As the uppercut hit, a sense of satisfaction made itself present in Gareeku's mind. Hitting the one he loved was in one way something he hated to do. However, the wolf also obviously knew that both he and Aisha were, at heart, warriors; people who had spent most of their lives fighting in one way or another.
As he executed the last kick of his assault, Gareeku glanced down and, seeing Aisha making her counterattack, grimaced slightly. When the counterattack connected, the wolf could feel his leg being swept out from underneath him. Almost instinctively, the wolf used the momentum of Aisha's sweep kick to flip his body around in mid air, before suddenly grabbing the panther's elbow with his hands, swinging round a leg in an attempt to land a kick to Aisha's head.
Once he had performed this manoveur, the wolf immediately landed back on his feet, swinging his leg round again in an attempted kick to the ribs, before quickly flipping away to a couple of metres away. Wiping away the small amoutn of blood that had left a trail running from his mouth where he had been hit in the jaw earlier, Gareeku grinned.
"Not bad at all." he said warmly, a smile equally a warm on his face, before turning back to a grin as he shifted again into a stance. "Shall we go again?"
*Sylver: If only Joat bothered to complete that snowball launcher add-on for me. *Sigh*…*
((*Gets up from imaginary snow* Hey, look! An imaginary snow angel! XD ))
Feeling the satisfaction come again as her counter-move connected, the panther this time didn't let it try to cloud her judgment. But again he proved easily able to rebound quickly. The kick to her head connected, sending her flying that way, but again she used the dizzying momentum to her advantage and landed on her hands, using them to jump away from his last kick.
She skidded on the mat, claws engaged only to serve as brakes. They dug quite deeply into the fabric before she stopped completely. Aisha stood in that position for a while while the warriors gained their second wind, crouched on her hands and feet, watching Gareeku with an impressed smile as she rubbed her jaw with the heel of her palm. "You're not bad yourself," she replied with a purr in her voice that was half true and loving, and the other half tinged with challenge.
When he readied himself for another go, Aisha smirked and bunched up the muscles in all four limbs, while resheathing her claws...she decided that she would try to not use them at all on him...she loved him enough not to shed any more blood than what was necessary.
"Of course. Now that we're warmed up..." she said with a grin and released the coiled springs that were her limbs in a sort of leap-frog appearance, the brunt of it forced straight through her legs. She went high enough in the air that it looked like she would clear the wolf's head, but instead she swerved and landed just short of him on the right side.
As soon as her feet hit the mat, her hands bunched up into fists, attempting blow after fast blow towards his stomach and head successively, followed by a jump and kick arcing to his head with the right leg...
Before the two warriors resumed their spar, silence once again filled the room. Gareeku could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins. His heart was beating fast, and his body itched to resume the fight. The wolf loved spars like this; in the heat of battle, with his adrenaline pumping furiously in his veins. Of course, the wolf loved spars; the lack of worry about life and death was something he relished, especially in his line of work.
As Aisha made her move, Gareeku's eyes remained fixed on her, watching her every move as the panther began her assault. When Aisha landed and began her attack, the wolf was ready for it. Lifting up his hands to block the initial punch, Gareeku then had to move his head to side as the panther aimed a strike to his head, her fist scraping the side of his muzzle as he barely managed to avert it. Attempting a counter attack, Gareeku then threw a punch of his own; raising his right fist towards her ribs. However, due to the fact that Aisha had jumped up in the air, his punch had missed, hitting only thin air as the panther swung her leg around in a kick.
Thinking quickly, Gareeku then quickly lifted up his arm, throwing it into the attacking leg in an attempt to block it. Even though the leg still connected and hit the wolf in the side of the head, Gareekus arm managed to cushion the blow, a numb sensation now running through it. Seizing his chance, the wolf then brought his other fist up in a powerful jumping uppercut, taking advantage of Aisha's position as his fist surged upwards.
Sweat was flying from Aisha's forehead once again as her charge had started using the energy in her muscles. They were at their highest now, pumped with adrenaline and utilizing the fight-or-flight command in the battle to its utmost, instinctual and almost primal surge of energy. The pantheress was certain that as soon as she had the chance to rest, she'd feel the exhausting effect of all of this. But not now.
She knew that he'd block, but still her attacks became almost relentless in trying to shatter his defense. Noticing that Gareeku was looking as pumped and ready as she was, it made her proud to be up to par with such a warrior.
As the kick took to his arm, there was a brief moment that seemed like slow-motion to her, locking her eyes with his and grinning at the fun of sparring. Then the whole thing returned to normal and she noticed the other fist coming towards her. Aisha couldn't dodge it, but her arms came up in a cross over her face to block it, the impact making her body and a part of the floor shake--what could be felt by a foot that was slipping away. Her teeth clenched as she struggled against the blow. Yeah, definitely gonna feel this later.
Using the leftover momentum from his punch, she leaped and flipped over backwards, her left foot rocketing upward to attempt to catch him in the jaw. Aisha's concentration was moreover focused on landing right then however, using her hands to catch herself before her body pivoted around in a purely gymnastic move, using the last reserve of her forcefulness and flexibility in a sweeping kick with both feet towards his knees...
Gareeku just managed to catch a glimpse of Aisha's foot, before it slammed into his chin, jerking his head back as the wolf uttered a slight grunt from the impact. Utilising the momentum, Gareeku backflipped in midair, turning the correct way up and looking to land on his feet. As he moved through the air, the wolf could not help but smile to himself, despite the dull ache now making itself apparent in his jaw. Aisha was a talented fighter indeed, very much so, and Gareeku found it a real pleasure to be sparring with a warrior such as she.
As he descended, Gareeku could see Aisha swinging her leg round for a sweep kick aimed at his knees. His eyes narrowing slightly, the wolf immediately ducked down as soon as his feet touched the floor, positioning himself so that his chest was on the same level as the kick was. Reacting quickly, Gareeku's arms grabbed hold of Aisha's leg, and with a grunt, he threw her a short distance away. Knowing that the panthress would most likely land on her feet, the wolf then began his own assault, dashing forward and executing a forward flip, bringing his heel down in an axe kick as he landed.
Damn, he's a fast thinker, Aisha thought in a fleeting trail through her mind as she missed her kick, though no doubt he could feel the wind from it.
As predicted, after having been caught and thrown, the panther righted herself and prepared to land on her feet, also preparing for another charge at the wolf. The spar had started to become a test of strategy more so than endurance, almost as elaborate as a chess game, wielding the balance between opportunity and consequence.
However, she had little time to think about a comeback as the wolf charged, her eyes widening as his axe kick started coming down upon her with what would probably equal the force and speed of a hail strike. In a move that was more of desparation than thought, she pushed herself to the side and rolled out of the way just as the blow came down hard upon the mat, the weight of his body turned directly into power; she could feel the slight tremors through the fabric.
As soon as she got out of the way, the panther rolled to her feet and charged in the split moment that he had to recover from his assault. She was behind him, arms clasping around his neck in a light vice grip...strong as he was, he could probably break away easily, so all that Aisha could do to take advantage of the surprise attack was clasp one heel around his left foot for leverage and use her other knee to try forcing one leg from under him.
"Gonna give up yet?" the panther laughed, humor present in her tone.
Stygian had been watching the wolf and the panthress battling each other with great interest. But now they were both getting pretty badly beaten up. If this continued, neither would be able to move properly for some time. His face twitched just a bit when Aisha made the blow directed at Gareeku's knees. That kind of attack could do serious damage. He knew they were both tough, but neither seemed much like a healer, and he didn't trust entirely to the bracelet that the wolf had been given. Such things required energy, and he had none suitable to supply.
In most other situations, this would have been where he'd gotten up and pulled Aisha away by the scruff of her neck. But there really was no need, so he made a little loping leap directly up from his cross-legged position and slid up beside her, tapping her shoulder.
"I would like to point out that you're both bleeding and sporting bruises. If you wring his neck, Schätsche, how is he to put up a fight later?"
In truth, Stygian was more concerned with them getting in a deadlock. And he'd seen enough of their respective styles to draw some conclusions.
(( :sweatdrop Not to be overly critical, but I WOULD like to point out that I acknowledged Gareeku as still being stronger than Aisha...so the neck grip wouldn't have been too strong, same with the kick from behind...if it's just that my post needs to be toned down...? ))
Quote from: Aisha deCabre on December 26, 2006, 05:24:28 PM
(( :sweatdrop Not to be overly critical, but I WOULD like to point out that I acknowledged Gareeku as still being stronger than Aisha...so the neck grip wouldn't have been too strong, same with the kick from behind...if it's just that my post needs to be toned down...? ))
((Yah, but from my point of view, things were still getting a bit intense. And Stygian doesn't know your limits the same way you do. The post is fine.))
((I guess. :rolleyes ))
As Aisha held Gareeku, awaiting his next move and too caught up in the elation of the fight, she suddenly snapped out of her focus upon feeling the tap on her shoulder. She glanced at Stygian from the corner of her eye, her lip curling into an annoyed snarl. "What are you, a referee now? Bug off, I'm not gonna kill him," she growled.
The panther released a long sigh and relaxed her grip; with it, the exhaustion of the fight had started to catch up, and her mind worked again. Too stubborn as she was to admit it (not to mention she often took a fight so that it never ended in a draw), there might have been something of a point to his interruption.
There were probably lots of bruises in some places, and she was sweating like crazy with a trickle of dried blood at her lip from the blows she took to the face. Before Aisha realized she was even panting a little bit...and if they did go on, more than likely, it would be a while before the wolf was back up to speed to have his fight with Stygian, despite his resilience. No doubt Gareeku probably would protest on ending the fight as well though...
"Hrmph," she grunted tiredly and released Gareeku from the hold she had, her arms hanging around him with a restful tenderness instead. "Wanna call this one a tie for now then, mi vida?"
Hearing Aisha's voice, Gareeku laughed softly.
"Oh I'm too stubborn for tha-" the wolf began, until he heard Stygian's voice. Listening to what he said, Gareeku growled in annoyance.
"Excuse me, but I think we know our limits." he growled, giving Stygian a hard look. By now, sweat was starting to appear on the wolf's forehead and dull aches from the places he had been hit made themselves present as the fight came to a stop. He had been most impressed by Aisha's skill and strength; there was much of it indeed. Sighing, the wolf finally decided not to argue to Stygian, as he had a feeling he wouldn't let off until they did stop.
"Ok, fine..." the wolf growled, shooting Stygian a look again before turning to face Aisha. As soon as he gazed upon her, his anger vanished. Smiling lovingly at her, Gareeku wraps his arms around her in a gentle embrace.
"Sounds good to me, though I'd like to settle this some other time in one way or another." the wolf replied with a grin, playfully tickling her nose with his before tenderly kissing her on the lips.
As Gareeku turned to her, the scowl that had been on Aisha's face turned to a light-hearted smile, and so any aching that she had felt seemed to disappear in favor of a light warmth on her cheeks. She had to laugh inwardly at the prospect of their fighters' images shedding away in an instant, and being replaced with the gentle sides that they rarely seemed to show. And after a hard-working duel, the panther had to admit that she liked when they did.
Aisha chuckled softly at his words, using the back of her hand to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead, her face nuzzling his. "So would I. It's a deal then," she replied, returning the embrace and the kiss with equal tenderness, a quiet purr ringing the otherwise quiet air.
Then she stood up slowly, taking Gareeku's hand to help him up as well, and glanced back at Stygian with an incredulous look, but also with a slightly apologetic nod at snapping at him. "Just be warned that you'll probably have your hands a little more full with Gareeku than you have with me," she said in a simple way that was just as much fact as opinion.
Mel unfolded her wings to catch more of the snow. The big white dragon wings looked a bit peculiar appearing from the back of the blah grey feline illusion she was currently wearing but she didn't care. It just felt so good to not be too hot for a while. Exposing the thin skin of the wings to the frozen precipitation would bring her body temperature back to a more pleasant level more quickly. She smiled at Sathariel, in a more happy, mellow mood from the snow than the drink had managed earlier, "Do you need to go in where it's warmer, kitten?"
Karl: I don't suppose you guys want to add a little bacground to your sparring matches? If you do, I just hope Stygian didn't remove the holodeck level when he reformatted the place... <_<
Ah hell, that ain't good, Boogey thought, falling back into his prior pattern of mostly blocking. Nightmare was good, but just too much of a brute in this game for his playing style. He was too used to the SC3 Nightmare, relying on speed and sheer ability to knock the foe off guard.
"Nice one there. You have this game at home or something?" Boogey asked, trying to make small talk (distracting the opponent never crossed his mind. No. Really.) as he adjusted the pyramid shaped helmet again.
That's just great. More for us to feel awkward about, Stygian thought as he stood to one end of the training mat. He brought up a hand and scratched his neck with his claws.
"Listen, sorry if I offended or something, but I'm more used to the 'killing blow' kind of ending, not beating my opponent to a pulp... If you want to finish, then go ahead. Just don't break each other on the middle," he said. He wasn't really as ashamed as he looked, and despite his look he was already standing to the side and with his feet planted, ready to dodge an attack. But he naturally disliked being discourteous. And these people had shown a surprising hospitality in any case, which he felt he should return.
Sathariel looked up, puzzled at the white flakes that fell. Her wings twitched a bit while she wondered. Then, Mel could feel her taking in the thoughts she had "strewn about", the ones that had slipped her shielded mind in the warmth and pleasance.
"Snow...", the girl said. "Snow is... beautiful." A flake landed on her nose, and she peered at it. "Dihydroxide with some traces of carbon, ammonia and a tiny bit of sulphur", she said confusedly. "These ones probably formed at about minus eleven degrees. Cold."
"Yes, snow is beautiful and cold. The question is are you cold? Most people find this temperature unpleasant at best. You should probably go somewhere warmer before the cold hurts you." Mel stood to give Sathariel the idea that the lesson was over for the moment.
a humming is heard issuing form e's body. he is still shut down but his processors seemed to be running overclocked at more than 60t operations a minute. in his mind only E knew what was going on as either the others that shared his form were locked this time.
"I'm not... I am cold, but it feels nice", Sathariel replied to Mel. She didn't seem to be freezing or shivering at all. Her furl lay flat against her form, not fluffed out as it should have if she wanted to keep warmth, and the small green lines in her skin, those "scars" that looked like circuits, gleamed slightly as they reflected the light of the surroundings.
The snow had already made a fine layer on the ground, glistening in the moonlight.
Mel gave herself a mental scold. She shouldn't presume Sathariel had normal mammalian temperature restrictions just because she looked feline. Mel knew lots of beings who looked like mammals who weren't, including herself half the time. Anyone looking out right now would see not one minimally dressed winged feline but two having a discussion on who was cold. Mel snorted, silly discussion. "Okay, but if it stops feeling nice you'll go inside by the fire. Now what were we talking about before the snow? What sort of a system do you think you'll use for keeping the memories separate?"
Stretching out a little as she stepped off the mat, one of Aisha's ears swiveled towards Stygian at his statement. Rolling her eyes upward in thought while wiping the last bit of blood from the corner of her lip, she smiled and shook her head. "I think there would be little use for us to continue fighting right now," she pointed out. "We just declared it a tie..." she glanced at Gareeku with a wry smile. "For now."
It was then that she noticed Karl again for the second time, still apparently having watched the sparring match. He was quite easy to forget sometimes. Her head tilted. "Backgrounds? Hm, an interesting thought, compadre."
"I didn't really know what to do with the system, so I just integrated it with the place. It should be here...", Stygian said, and stepped toward a wall. After running his hand down it, he seemed to find something. He pressed, and then after a slow click a bit of the wall slid out and aside.
The system had evidently been changed somehow. The clean and silver design of the machinery had been replaced with a computer panel that looked truly alien in its appearance and configuration, as if made from some fusion of machine and organism. The metal covers were in black and the twisted armored wires like polished hematite. Green lights and green-lit panels and screens moved forth to allow one to manage the system.
((Just think of the Matrix movies when you imagine the electronics and mechanics that I use...))
Karl: Hmmm...
*Karl goes over and programs a simulation of Hydro City (Hydro City Zone form Sonic 3 {sega genesis})*
Karl: There, what do you think?
*the group was on a small Isle in the middle of the simulated city, in a ring*
Karl: ahhh...(Pre-Sonic) Hydro City...the place was well known to be the Aquatic wonder of Angel Island...and the largest waterpark.
*Karl puts on SCUBA gear and dives into the water*
(OOC: I set the simulation for max realism...hope you guys don't knock yourselves outta the ring...otherwise I hope you can swim.)
E's shadow disappears as a dark furred canine in a black suit with a white tipped black walking stick seems to appear form out of nowhere. he Orients on the places with the most familiar energy. walking softly the vanishes form the room leaving e in his unaware seek and he seeks out Mel and Boogey man.
Stygian stepped back at the sudden change of scenery and gazed around in amazement. Unconsciously, he slipped a little controller into his pocket, while looking appreciatively at the surroundings.
"Hmm... I think I could learn a lot from this place. Yes... Tall roof, marble, water and a bit more of a colour contrast...", he said while turning around and trying to get a glimpse of the looming ceiling, the columns around you stretching up into a distant darkness. Then, he walked to the edge of the slowly rotating round platform surrounded by some smaller others that led off into the rest of the seemingly ancient structures around you, and bent down, scooping up some water in his hand.
"It couldn't be a projection of individual coinciding particles and an electronspectrum... it's way too detailed. And too much. No, this has to be some nanomanagerial... but how...?!" He seemed entirely caught up in the tech of the system. The wetness of the water was a perfect reproduction, cool little droplets trickling through the air from waterfalls and fouintains and wetting fur, as was the gentle draft of air through the place and the humid and cool smell of the place.
For a while, Stygian just stood. More questions of how such a massive simulation, with the enormous halls stretching for kilometres it seemed, could have been generated in mere seconds flew through his head. Then, he decided it was all too much right now, and turned against Aisha and Gareeku again.
"Well. It might be a problem to get out, but we'll deal with that later. You up?"
Aisha had watched with interest as Karl manipulated the controls. She watched the scenery flow and reality seem to shift into itself...so real it was that for a moment the panther swore that they had actually just been transported somewhere else.
She was off of the sparring mat when the scenery changed from solid ground to water. "Whoa!" The panther pulled her foot back quickly, just barely escaping having fallen off of the islet that they had been put on. Breathing a sigh of relief, her eyes were scanning the amazing changes that the group was put in, and curiously she even put the tip of her foot in the water. "Interesting."
Then she shook the water off her foot and, because she was quite exhausted from the earlier battle, actually thought of diving in herself. She pulled the sleeves of her pants up and sat on the edge, looking at her reflection in the refracting surface. Huh, so easy to learn to like water when you've been trained by a tiger.
"Hm, this will make sparring more interesting," she laughed, glancing back at Stygian and Gareeku. "If we can stay away from relaxing on this beach..." Aisha laughed jokingly, seeing as there was no beach in sight, but still, one couldn't help but associate a large body of water with one.
Sathariel looked confusedly at Mel.
"I don't have a designation for the memory definitions yet. I have to create the partitions first, and I... I haven't done that yet...", she said, and blushed, looking ashamed.
"It's important to keep your own memories separate. You can't live through a stranger's memories. Gatherers make that mistake sometimes." Mel let some memories slip past her shields, interventions for Gatherers gone mad from living too much in other's lives. Clan members who needed to be hunted down to have their minds erased and rebuilt. Because of her reputation as quick and painless in grabbing memories Mel usually ended up in the forefront of these interventions, emptying the minds of relatives. "Having conflicting memories can drive you insane. When I grab a memory I quickly tag it and store it without handling it very much. Remember, Sathariel, this is data, not a substitute for life."
spoken with true wisdom. many of those i corrupted felt that by using my power and what memories of power that i let them see that they had become gods. the figure taps his cane. on the ground. still there is no help for living life yourself. is that not what you are out here and not still under the protective shadows of your elder brothers? the figure looks around. I don't supposes you know were Boogey is? i suspect that he';s grown a new body by now and i could sues some assistance.
Mel looked around, slightly startled at finding herself and Sathariel not alone. She laughed a bit when she realized what had been said, "Yeah, brothers who think you're made of spun glass can be a bit restricting. I think you'll find Boogey inside, near the noise and light toy, with a cardboard box on his head."
Taking Aisha's hand in his, Gareeku rose to his feet, giving Stygian an apologetic look. Upon hearing Aisha's compliements, the wolf blushed, his cheeks turning a slight shade of pink.
"Well, I don't know about that..." he said. Gareeku was pretty modest at the best of times, and this time it was no exception. Hearing Aisha's comment about a rematch, Gareeku grinned.
"You bet." he replied, the grin still on his face as he spoke.
Looking around, the wolf raised an eyebrow as the environment morphed, becoming what could only be described as a water-logged ancient underground city.
"Fascinating..." the wolf commented quietly with a degree of awe as he looked at the magnificent-looking architecture. Feeling the water with a foot, Gareeku found it to be pleasantly cool. Watching Aisha sink her feet into the water, he grinned, making sure all his clothes were off save for his deep blue trouser/pants and dive-bombing into the water. Swimming back to the surface and poking his head above it, the wolf grinned at the panther sitting by the water's edge.
"Well now. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were the first feline I've met who doesn't mind the water." He commented playfully with a slight laugh.
Ah i think you Mel the dark furred K9 reaches up tipping a hat to Mel. as the reoriented on where Mel said he would be. "and if you see her tell your grandmother "shadow mutt said hi" though she is the only one allowed to refer to me like that with that he was gone heading for the Boogeyman
When Gareeku made it back to the surface, he would see that Aisha was dripping a little bit, as his divebomb had caused a good splash. With a laugh, her head shook rapidly, then she grinned down at the wolf in the water, splashing a little back at him with her foot. "Yah, I kinda had to learn to not mind it."
Then she brought her feet from the water, looking as if to go find a place to dry off, taking a few steps away from the edge. But then with a smirk, she charged towards it and leapt into the air, executing a not-too-perfect swan dive, landing a ways behind him.
When her head poked above the surface again, she blinked and tilted her head to get the water out of her ears, laughing. "Of course, if you're a feline whose fur is so dark it absorbs light, you tend to like it anyway."
OOC: Did I miss something? Did Joat leave?
((OOC: Well he's probably away over the Christmas/New Year period.))
Grinning, Gareeku watches as Aisha dived into the water. Listening to her speak, the wolf laughed softly at her words.
"Quite the opposite for me," Gareeku replied with a grin, "Though I am a canine, so I quite like the water."
Grinning mischievously, the wolf then suddenly dived underwater. Resurfacing right in front of Aisha, Gareeku quickly snuck in a kiss to the panther's lips, before diving back underwater again.
*Karl then dived deeper into the water, and found some sort of storage device with a a water droplet w/ shield Icon on it's screen*
Karl: Ah! Aqua Barrier Generators! They will Allow us to breathe underwater without the Scuba Gear...
Aisha had laughed softly at Gareeku's statement. "It seems all of you canines are--" But her sentence was stopped short when he dove under the water. Her eyes scanned the surface, but because of the reflections of the city buildings above and below, it was hard to keep track of him until he had surfaced and kissed her.
Caught by surprise, she blushed and looked around again, a similar grin forming on her face. "Oh, get back here, you..." the panther chuckled and took a deep breath before diving under as well.
While Aisha glimpsed the underwater portion, she was surprised to see it just as intricately built as the city above it, with several tunnels and glass tubes. Heh, it's like Atlantis or something. Que bonito.
*Karl then came up carrying several wrist devices, no doubt the Aqua Barrier generators*
Karl: anybody up for an Exploration of the city?
(OOC: I was going to ask people via PM system if they wanted to join the Dating RP...but then I thought people might complain about it)
the dark furred canine entity enters the area where he perceives Boogey man's presence. hello Boogey if you have a moment i could yous you assistance the white top of his cane stands out against his black fur and dark black suite. his cane below the head is a sleek black staff as well. It involves an.. ah ... Ailing acquaintance of mine. we are very close you see though we rarely get along it is in my best interest to help them in this case.
"Hm?" Boogey looked up from the game at the newcomer, hitting pause, "Sorry kid, just a sec. Now then, what do you need? Better yet, who are you?" Boogey took a deep breath through his nostrils and pondered, "You SEEM like some sort of highly advanced concept," he mused aloud and took another deep breath, "But you have neither the look nor the other attributes. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Lets start with names, hm?"
the stranger laughs and the area around him seems the quiver. he practically seethes of darkness but not evil. You know me though you may not have recognized me as you have yet to see me outside of E's head and even then you have seen me in my in chooses form. i am E's companion. you may call me e or erebus (http://profiles.yahoo.com/erebus_vomhund)as you chose. Erebus taps his cans all alt the shadows in the room respond his his will and become animate and surround him in and mobile haze for a moment before dispersing. but i digress. not is not the time for parlor trick. i'm worried. e has retreated deep within that computer mind of his and i can not reach him i fear that he will not returns of his own free will and was hoping an entity like yourself could circumvent his defense and if not retrieve him at lest check on the state of his mind.
Boogey sighed. "Well, why not? After all, it's been a whole 16 minutes since something ominous happened. Was starting to think this place was getting boring," He grinned at May, "Well, tough luck there. This sounds like a big deal. We can have a rematch later." Standing and dusting himself off, he looked Erebus up and down, "Yeah, I remember you now. The one who offered me a body. Well, if I ran into you in E's head that explains my first impressions. Can you give me more background on the situation? Why would he not wish to come back? Are we looking at a full blown denial of reality and instead chosing to dwell within his nice safe subconsious, or simple shock? In short, what am I signing up for?"
“You know I would’ve won, anyway,” May says with a smile. “Anyway, the only things I know in the way of mind spells are the Mental Ward and Detect Alignment. I know a lot of offensive magic and Easter magic, ‘cause that’s my Variant, but that’s about all. I don’t think I’ll be of much help.”
“You know, every time my brother fades out of reality, I just give him a whack to the head. That always seems to do the trick. Think it’ll work for this?” Valencia says.
“Somehow, I doubt it. This isn’t exactly daydreaming. This is a psychiatric thing.”
“Oh well. At least we know someone who knows pretty much everything about everything having to do with science, including psychology.”
As if on cue, my one of my tendrils comes out and begins pecking me on the head. I wake up quickly and bat away the tendril (softly), all in one maneuver. “I don’t need emotions to give me a headache. My tendrils are *yawn* doing a fine job of that as it is,” I says.
“Oh, look at that. Heְ’s awake,” Valencia says. She then walks over to me. “Hey, Joat, wanna do us a quick favor?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really.”
Erebus sighed.it is as you would say a denial of reality. he's pretty good at that you see being who he is. in this Case he's retreated into a past that may not have been to avoid the pain ad guilt that he's feeling now. as he speaks mental images began to play out again the darkness showing Erebus's memories of what let to this situation. though he is not the first of his line E is very old you see. he inherits the burden of all those that came before him as well as the power. the problem is that just a few weeks ago his daughters mother "some one whom he had yet to actually meet in the flesh" fell ill. Erica his daughter called to him over the lay lines of existence just like i taught her to and called us to and try to save her. "he tried to arrive the day before she called us to come back in time but being inept at it we landed weeks in the past. E tried he really did but he could not save her form the effects of old age and he's taking it as if this is his fault. now he's relives the memories of his predecessor morning the woman even though he's barely meet her. what's worst is that i have no memories of the woman to use as command ground to break into his sealed off mind. Erebus shook his head. But there is hope being a programmer he tends to leave a secured backdoor into any systems he uses ore redesigns his body is no different. if you can convince him to let you in then i thing you can convince him to come back. if all else fails there is the star trek ploy but in this state i can't even reach him to propose it. still Erebus wonders if even that would work. E hates time travel as it but telling him that his memories of the past are really of the future? would he fall for such a thing even in his grief ridden state?
"Right, so we're looking at survivors guilt. That could make for a dangerous state of mind to be wandering around in. Then again, since he's a robot he probably lacks many of the usual mental defenses. Alright, show me to him." Boogey replied.
Mel allowed herself a glance through the doors into the lounge. The new entity seemed to be talking peacefully with Boogey. Good thing too because anything her grandmother was friendly enough with to endow with a nickname was something Mel wasn't qualified to be anything but polite to. The Grand One only seemed to know entities who qualified under mad, bad, and dangerous to know.
If the discourse looked like it was getting out of hand she remembered the way around the house to the gym where the big boys were playing. While she may have discovered today that she had some sort of native ability to save herself in time of trouble she didn't actually have a skill set to go with it. Run and find someone was her skill set and she wasn't embarrassed to use it.
She turned her attention back to her companion. "Promice me you'll fix your partitions the first chance you get, Sathariel. You don't want to risk your brand new memories, do you?"
“So it has something to do with the mind? Well, unfortunately, I’m not much in the ways of psychology. Even I have some weak areas. On the other hand, there is always that one potion I made,” I say.
“‘One potion’?” Valencia repeats.
“Yeah. I haven’t named it yet, but it pretty much ‘resets’ the mind and energizes the body. That is, it wipes all the current emotions and thoughts from the person while leaving their knowledge, memories, personality, etc. intact. That is not to say that the person will forget what they were just thinking or feeling. It just pushes those thoughts and emotions back. In short, it clears up the mind without causing any permanent effects,” I say, “I created it on accident when working on an energy drink, which explains why it energizes the body. Unfortunately, that particular potion takes longer to make than Samanthium. About five days per dose, actually. I have one dose prepared thus far, but I don’t know if it would help this situation. But then, who knows? It just might.”
As Aisha continued to look around underwater for Gareeku (though looking for anything would probably be quite daunting as the city was large and deep), she had suddenly spotted Karl.
Unable to really speak underwater, she merely tilted her head before suddenly noticing that she was wanting air, and pointed above as a gesture to go back up. Kicking her way back to the surface, her head exploded above the water with a loud gasp.
The pantheress leaned an arm against the surface of the platform while she regained her breath. Assuming that Karl followed her, and noting that there was another splash nearby signaling that someone else had surfaced, that was when she said, "Exploration, huh? How would we all go about that?"
With a nod Erebus stepped into the shadow behind him with the shadow lingering as it created a direct access rout to where E's shutdown body was rest./ the sound form his hard drive was still humming as Erebus arrived and he was unsure if this was a goof thing or not at this time. with in a moment he was ready to return to E's shadow and if Boogey need transportation inside of E's mind at least the part that was not sealed off he could arranged that as well but he did not thing that would be necessary at this point.
Erebus looked at E. when he had awakened with this e he had simply been an energy ball wondering around without a body with some memories of human life. with some convincing he'd talked e into spying on the most evil being of the planted and the tow of them were caught for a time and studied as the scientist a mister Albert Wily attempted to understand and clone their energy. in the end he came up with a few pale imitations the stronger of with he called zero point energy as it required not outside force to retain or increase it's strength. in the end E wanted freedom as human doe escaped into the robot know as forte fore a day or so before slipping fort to seep into the energy system of the wily fortress. A blue robot arrived a few days later and began destroying things in the fortress. Erebus had tried to convince E that this blue robot was evil and planing on destroy the building but e would not have it. e stole one of the stored spare bodies of the robot named forte and escaped. a few hours later the fortress was destroyed. since then E had always looked at his advice with a grand of salt. it had been fun teasing him and tricking him when he could but now he was in danger of losing him and his grip in the material world. what was worse was that he'd started to become fond of this one. he really did need Boogey's help.
"I'm sorry about the wait i was remebering a few things. Are you ready to try mister Boogey?" asked Erebus as he came out of his laps of memory
Boogey simply nodded once. "Find E. Make him get over himself. Get him out of his own subconcious if I have to drag him out by his metaphorical hair. Got it. Lead the way."
“If that plan fails, we could try my potion. Wake me when and if you need me to go get it.” I then go back to sleep.
In the dreams of Sylver and I…
My dream
I am in my lab-room, designing a device that will, in essence, end world hunger. Suddenly, a bright light begins to shine from behind me. I look toward the source of the light and see a glowing door. I stop what I am doing and, out of curiosity, approach the door. It opens on its own and I, going against my better judgement (as a mad scientist, I tend to do that often, ‘cause you don’t exactly get the title of MAD Scientist from a box of cereal, after all), walk through the door.
Sylver’s dream
“Where am I?” Sylver asks as he looks all around, seeing only pitch-blackness.
Suddenly, a familiar voice says, “You are exactly where you should be.”
Sylver turns around and sees me, glowing white. “What do you mean?”
“You are where you should be. You are out of everyone’s way. Nobody will ever again have to listen to you ramble about how you have a soul. Never again will anyone have to hear such filthy lies,” I say.
“They’re not lies! How could you say such a thing!?”
“My words are truth. When you were born, I told you the lies of how you came to life before I installed your personality software. You swallowed it up as I programmed you to.”
“What!?”
“You are nothing more than a mere machine, Sylver. Yes, I lied to you.”
“You’re lying to me now!”
“No. My words are truth. You must know this, Sylver. And you will believe me.”
*OOC: It’s natural to sometimes doubt the reality of one’s own sentience. Unfortunately, Sylver seems to be getting a large dose of it here.*
Grinning, Gareeku watched from behind a pillar under the water as Aisha looked for him. Noticing Aisha swim to the surface, the wolf suddenly realised that he too was running out of air.
Reaching the surface, Gareeku inhaled deeply, taking in the air above the water.
"Hmmm, I suppose someone who knew a breathing spell could use that, though if anyone's got any air tanks then that would work too" the wolf replied after listening to Aisha's question.
Stygian had stood for a short time just watching the panthress and the wolf playing in the water. After a minute or so, he had gone on to gazing at the architecture again, and then he had just sighed and smiled to himself. These people really had no attention span at all, he thought to himself. He knew custom said he should have been insulted at them leaving before he had his match with the wolf and they had all exchanged bows and comments on the matches again, but he found that he couldn't really care. They had skipped most of the dancing too. They really are caught up in each other, aren't they?, he thought.
When they swam off again, he decided to take the opportunity to look the place over. He fished out his black etui of slim cigars from hell knows where, and lit one with his titanium-cased lighter. Then he took a step out on the water, and walked, looking around and above himself while breathing little streams of greenish-grey.
Huge distances and a shadowy but clear layout, he thought pleasedly. Yes, We can learn. Still, it's nothing compared to how curious it is to learn more of these people. The panthress still has that thing in her that needs investigation, as does the wolf have some curious things to him... He grinned. They probably wouldn't like any of the myriad things he thought of at first, but things tended to grow on people. And inside of them, he thought humorously and chuckled a bit.
He looked over his shoulder at the two figures still playing around in the water, and all his thoughts stopped. Then, he made another smile, and started running against them. His bandages seethed as they changed into a pair of simple black bathing boxers while he did. Then, he made a flip to the side and leapt into the air, spinning.
"Who gives a damn?! Raaaargh!", he shouted, as he flew over Aisha and Gareeku, and then stretched out his arms and legs to the side and hunched his back which was now turned against the water. The splash as he hit the surface was huge.
Glancing back at the wolf upon hearing him, she nodded with agreement. "There should be some around somewhere...unless Karl seems to have a better idea," she added upon glimpsing the devices he had brought with him. "Either way, it sounds fun. Maybe there's treasure or something in..."
That's when Aisha noticed that Stygian was making a running leap for the water's edge. Having noticed the position he was in when jumping, the panther's eyes widened. "Whoa!" she exclaimed and started to dive under to escape the splash, just a little too late at having been caught up in it.
When her head poked up at the surface again, she swam back over next to Gareeku with a laugh while looking to where the bat had landed. "Someone's loosened up a little." Then, with a grin, she laid her hands on the wolf's shoulders and playfully dunked him. "By the way? Gotcha," she smirked.
Hearing Aisha's reply, Gareeku laughed softly.
"Hehe, yeah. Karl always seems to have a device at hand." the wolf replied with a grin. "We might find some treasure, you never know. I certainly wouldn't complain..."
It was then that Gareeku noticed Stygian running towards the water, before jumping in and creating a large splash. Gareeku eyes widened as what he saw was Stygian actually walking on the water.
"Well now, you don't see that every day..." he commented, staring with great interest before closing his eyes as the water washed over him, the wolf laughed softly as he saw Aisha resurface.
"Yeah he certainly has. Personally I prefer it from his normal brooding self." Gareeku replied jokingly.
It was then that the wolf's eyes widened in surprise as Aisha dunked him. Underneath the water, Gareeku then grinned, before grabbed the panther's legs and pulling her under, grinning at her underneath the water.
After having lain limp in the water for a second, Stygian dove deep and hurtled through the water against the bottom, while still looking at the ones behind him. His teeth flashed in a little grin as he sank deeper, the two of them having become a small pair of shapes above him as his feet finally touched the bottom quite many metres below. There were no bubbles from his mouth, and he stood looking very much alike one of the sunken columns and statues strewn around him.
There was an odd sound and movement in the water as his skin cracked, and darkness emanated from within him. He changed...
Sathariel looked at Mel with a shy smile.
"Don't worry. I won't", she said, with much more confidence than she had showed up until then. Then, she suddenly looked a bit puzzled, and turned her head around as if searching for something. "What...?" She looked a bit worried. "The others. What happened to them? There was something else coming on, and then..."
"Something happened?" Mel looked through the doors and everything seemed calm in the main room, even the game had gone quiet. "What do you think happened? I don't see anything."
While she was above the water, the panther was grinning in triumph as she had snuck up on Gareeku. Her laugh was one of playfulness and life, still almost unfamiliar of her if anyone else she knew had seen, but something that she was quickly getting used to; especially with the one she recently discovered she loved.
Caught by surprise again upon feeling a grip on her leg, she quickly took a deep breath as her head descended the barrier of air and water again. Meeting the wolf's playful grin, she snorted, half with laughter and half with the water having gone in her nose. Aisha gave him a look that said, "You silly..." before moving close and sneaking in a kiss of her own.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that her tail ring had given a brief and very slight flash, just enough to cause a stint of curiosity, followed by having noticed that Stygian had disappeared...
May’s stomach begins to growl and she heads toward the kitchen.
A moment after she leaves, Sylver begins to talk in his sleep. “You’re wrong. I am real. My essence is real… No! I won’t believe you.”
Sylver’s dream
“You cannot hide from the truth, machine! You will find this out the hard way!” I say.
Suddenly, Sylver rose into the air involuntarily.
“All your love…” I begin. Suddenly, Sylver feels himself losing the ability to love. He felt himself hating the world.
“…all your goodwill…” I continue. Sylver feels the good flowing out of him, until only malice remains.
“… all your emotions…” I continue. Sylver no longer feels anything. He is nobody now.
“They were all lies. And now you know the truth,” I finish.
“That’s enough, imposter! Get away from my best friend!” Sylver hears from behind. He, without thought or emotion, looks at the source of the noise. He sees me. But if I am behind him, who is in front of him? It did not compute.
“Wha… what has he done to you?” I (the one who just arrived) say, “Snap out of it, Sylver! I know you can!”
“I can?” Sylver asks. He then pauses a bit, a look of realization upon his face. “I can!” He can feel his emotions, his self, returning. He remembers that he is not just a robot. He is Sylver.
Suddenly, the version of myself that tried to convince Sylver that he was just a robot fades away and disappears, leaving only the real me.
“So, how do you feel?” I ask.
“I feel like myself again, thanks to you. But how did you get here?” Sylver says.
“I went through a door that appeared mysteriously in my lab. It took me directly here.”
“I’m glad it did. You saved me from quite a nightmare.”
A look of realization appears on my face. “Wait a second. I remember falling asleep. This was a nightmare. I’m dreaming.”
Sylver seems to realize it as well. “Wait a second, this is my dream, not yours. I can tell.”
“Wait a second. It might just be our dream. Cubi can travel into peoples’s dreams, right?”
“So that means that you’re really you and not just dream you? But how did you do it without training?”
“I dunno. You know what time it is?”
“No idea.”
“It’s lucid team dream time!”
Sylver’s face lights up with excitement.
*OOC: IC Joat learns a new ability, though I think he’s using it a tad bit differently that how most cubi do.*
Quote from: Boogeyman on December 31, 2006, 09:13:16 PM
Boogey simply nodded once. "Find E. Make him get over himself. Get him out of his own subconcious if I have to drag him out by his metaphorical hair. Got it. Lead the way."
Erebus nodded and suddenly there were in E's mind. Erebus and Boogey stood on the brink of a mighty chasm and next to them was a thin bridge that looks almost as if it were made of gossamer. i have crossed this bridge before but on the other side before i reached the end there loomed up before me a wall i could not surmount.. it was neither light nor darkness. It was odd in ways that I do not yet comprehend. DGE referred to it as a firewall but flames had nothing to do with it.. Erebus shook his head dismayed. When I asked hit to breach the wall for me he said he could not reach is as he could not travel on the bridge. It seems that for each of us know residents their is a barrier that we can not pass but you are not known by him the same way we are. I believe you can find ways around our limitations. Erebus stood aside and let boogey surmise how he would enter E's partitioned off mind. Had the ways not prevented more then one traveler at a time then he fet the he ant the others could have worked together to enter E's hidden place.
*OOC: This dream of theirs doesn’t affect any of your characters, I know. However, I hope you’re having as much fun reading it as I am writing it.*
May goes back to Super Smash Brothers, failing to realize that the mental ward that she placed on me has dissipated.
The lucid dream
Sylver and I are now in each-others’ bodies.
“This feels quite akward,” I say.
“How do you walk like this?” Sylver says, trying desperately to keep his balance.
“You’ve seen me do it a million times. Now it’s your turn.”
Sylver puts forward his right foot, then his left. “Look! I’m doing it!”
“See? It isn’t that hard.”
“This is pretty cool. And these ‘arms’, I can grab things with, right?”
“Yep.”
“I wonder how I would do with your sword.” Sylver unsheathes the sword, though not quickly or easily due to his lack of dexterity. Once it is unsheathed, the tip of the sword immediately hits the floor because Sylver is too unskilled with his newly acquired hands to wield it.
Boogey nodded, surveying his surroundings.
"One of the reasons I don't like electronic minds; they start off knowing most of how they work in terms of overall mechanics, so they don't explore their own psyche much. Usually I get into a machine's head I'm just wandering through hallways of unmarked Generic Material. In a normal mind the owner's blundering through it all the time coping with problems or filing away memories, it leaves a sort of groove or wall carvings or whathaveyou, adds personality. Basically, E's going to have few of the usual mental defenses like Acceptable Insanities or Role Models or things like that, but I'm probably going to be dodging freaking firewalls and vaccines and all that sort of idiot savant, cant-be-reasoned-with-or-convinced-I'm-not-edible crap. You really know how to pick 'em Erubis." Boogey murmered, eyes locked on a point about halfway across the bridge, "The fancy bridge is too elegant for a usual mechanical mind though, so maybe I'm lucky. You can't get further than the firewall? At what point does it spring up? Have you been to the areas beyond it before?" He queried in rapid succession, "What else can I expect in here?"
we bypassed many of the deference to get here. it was a bit of help form DGE he called it a hot link and said that i could only use it a few times before it broke as for the firewall it balks me about three quarters of the way in.. as for the antivirus and so forth i don't know but I can tell you the hazards I passed to reach this point all of them seemed passives though. there were the abyss which stopped a few of them but not me the dragons or DGE or the new guy Esure. Then I passed a frozen tundra in space which stopped the dragons Eliander and Eliander which is odd because the elder Eliander controls both fire and ice though he is more comfortable in fire Esure was there as well with some kind of bubbles trying to protect the two dragons. As I reached them the winked out and I continued on. The as I led the tundra I encountered light so bright it felt like reliving creation. As I adjusted to it hiding in the less visible spectrums of light I found before me was a field of stars. i'm guessing that was meant to stop me but i used the shadows form one star to the next to get through. I met DGE here at this chasm. He told me he had become various digital enmities to get past the other defenses but the he was stopped he for reasons he could not understand. He had become every thing could think of to reach this point but he exhausted his power and his options doing so. As I reached him he told he that he felt that he was being pushed away and then thon he could not past this point he could help me return to it with the help of a save point and a hot link. Erebus holds up what looks like a fairly dented piece of wire the looked like it was ready to give way. I first tired to bring the dragons here but I failed and then I thought it best to seek external help. Be warned though that as orderly as his mind seems his defenses are some times counter intuitive almost as he is to out of touch with himself to deal with us in the normal matter. Erebus regards the gossamer bridge again wonder how it stopped DGE the first to attempt to reach the secluded E. he wondered that and this how this huge Chasm was and hot it stopped a self proclaimed digital god. Was there some kind of logic trap? Even infinite feedback loops were manageable for DGE so what stopped him?
From below, a shadow began to move up through the water, circling the panthress and the wolf. Aisha couldn't see what it was. But it was big.
Sathariel's face seemed very worried.
"I lost my trace on them!" she exclaimed. "He's not here anymore either! They just... dissappeared!" She jumped up, and took a step, but then stopped, and looked at Mel. She seemed torn between staying where it was safe and with Mel who had turned out to be nicer than expected, and looking for the others.
Mel realized Sathariel was getting agitated. "Please talk to me in complete sentences. Who is missing?"
"The others! The wolf, the panthress, the odd one and the monster!" Sathariel whined. "They're not in the house!" She was clasping her hands and tucking her white wings tight.
Upon being kissed, Gareeku smiled and returned it with his tail wagging, albeit a bit slow due to the friction of the water. It was then he too noticed the glowing of Aisha's tail ring. Raising an eyebrow at it, he then looked at the panthress, pointing a finger upwards in the suggestion that they go above the surface to prehaps discuss what the glowing meant, aside from that fact that something strange was going on and no good would come of it. It was also in that moment, however, that the wolf also noticed the absence of Stygian...
Mel froze for a second, then took a deep breath. They couldn't be gone gone. The last time that combination had fought something off they had literally removed the roof from the house. Sathariel must have just lost track of them. "When I lost something my mother always made me go back to the last place I saw it. We know they were going to the gym so let's go look for them in the gym."
Mel regretfully shook the snow off her wings and folded them up before starting around the building to the entrance she had found earlier. The gym had been quite warm when she'd been there before and she was going to miss the snow. When she had a quiet moment she needed to check the heat resistance spell in her ring, it didn't seem to be working very well.
With a powerful stroke upwards, a huge black thing threw itself up from the water behind Aisha and Gareeku. It was oblong, streamlined and slick, with fins and a long sharp tail. Watching it, one might think it would be some sort of monstrous crossbreed between a shark and an orca, with perhaps a bit of giant squid thrown in from a few tentacles that trailed its shape too. It didn't linger in the air though, and when it came down on the other side of them it made a huge splash that threw them through the water.
Sathariel followed closely behind Mel like a kid running around its mother's legs. And once they had passed through the gloomy corridors into the only a bit more enlightened gym, she seemed even more so, because she immediately squeaked when they entered and hid behind Mel's back.
"There!" she said, and pointed at the other side of the room, to the large open space with the black mat under it that was the gymnastics and sparring area. There was nothing there. Still, Mel could feel something like an oddness, a disturbance around the place.
Mel looked at the disturbance magically. "An illusion trap? No, that's not right. But it's not wrong either. Maybe the bastard second cousin to an illusion trap. Whatever it is it's drawing a lot of power." She turned to Sathariel, "Illusion traps that I'm accustomed to affect the mind. If you break them at the wrong moment you can kill the person you're trying to free."
She walked around to the other side of it. "Of course if it's a killer illusion doing nothing has the same result. Not that I could break something drawing this much power anyway." She walked the rest of the way around to rejoin Sathariel. "The second option is to voluntarily enter the trap and try to convince the person that it's not real. I've never seen that work out. The final option is to wait it out."
Mel stared at the non-thing. Something wasn't right. How did a trap that relatively small get four people at once? Had one been caught and the others attempted rescue? "Did everyone disappear from your view at once or did they disappear one at a time?"
The lucid dream
“Don’t worry about the sword for now. I’m surprised you’re adapting so quickly,” I say.
“And how are you adapting?” Sylver asks.
“Don’t know. I haven’t really tried moving yet.” I move my left forepaw and right hindpaw forward, then move my left hindpaw and right forepaw forward. “You know, this is actually pretty easy.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t take long to learn. You guys need to learn to crawl before you walk. We just go straight to walking.”
“Another cliché saying defeated.”
(OOC: How can there be nobody there if it's a freaking Holographic area?!)
*OOC: By the way, are there any of your cubi characters still in the room with my characters?*
((Good question, Karl o.O; But then again with Stygian (as it seems) having part of the house's control there's bound to be a bit of a twist. :3 ))
Taking Gareeku's signal, Aisha's feet kicked madly back up to the surface, and the glow from her tail ring seemed to grow a little more intense when shown back in the light. She only paused to glimpse at the huge shadow circling around them, and that only made her break the surface with a more intense force, so much so that she forgot to take a breath for a second.
"I knew there was a reason that I still didn't like the water as much," the panther muttered as soon as she made sure Gareeku was there too. When walking, running, and fighting on land, one always knew where their feet were, and they had as much control as gravity and their own bodies would allow.
Water was something else entirely. There was no gravity...but you were constrained to the limits of the liquid. You aren't moving in three dimensions, you are moving in many. You can't even control breathing in water unless you had gills. Control is taken out of your hands--save for preparation and good swimming skills--and given in the hands of the element itself.
Plus, things tended to lurk in very deep places, as it seemed the case now.
When the thing finally made itself known, Aisha gaped at the monstrosity with an open mouth. "Por favor, tell me that's just Stygian," she said before trying to swim back over to the platform, only to be caught and thrown back in the wave...
Quote from: Joat on January 03, 2007, 02:01:36 PM
*OOC: By the way, are there any of your cubi characters still in the room with my characters?*
(OOC: Shivara...no doubt trying to find a guy to hit on...hehe)
*OOC: Since I don’t think there are any potential targets left in the room, I’ll take that as a no. Where is the other one, her sister, by the way? Anywhere nearby? As my characters have stated before, another cubi might be able to teach IC Joat how not to get dragged around by his own tendrils.*
The thing turned around with speed that seemed to defy its shape, and swam straight for Aisha. Its jaws, the upper one singular but the lower divided into two, like an insect's, opened and revealed another set of similar ones that seemed to move inside the outer ones on their own.
"They just... vanished, all together," Sathariel said. She stood just at the edge of the mat, slightly hunched and a bit afraid at being away from the dragon. She seemed assured though that the thing would stay in place. But her eyes were still very suspicious.
"I don't think it's magic..." she then said. She made an apologetic face to Mel. "I'm sorry, but I heard a bit of your thoughts as well. Just a bit." Her look then became more grave. "I think I know what it does. Just a little though."
"I'm glad you know what it is, even just a little, because I don't." Mel tucked her hands behind her to resist the urge to poke the thing. There was a good reason her brothers had turned out overprotective around her, the very reason she was a good Gatherer, she was a curious creature most of the time. "I know you can't help hearing things that escape shielding. No one can. The trick is to act like you didn't. A polite omission to let the other save face and feel comfortable. Now what do you think this power-hungry monster is?"
On instinct when being caught by the monster's powerful shock wave, Aisha held her breath, her head bobbing in and out of the water while her limbs worked feverishly to keep her afloat, hopefully without giving her a cramp. She could barely keep her eyes open, the water relentlessly attempting to flood the panther's eyelids at almost every turn.
Floundering, Aisha finally managed to calm down for a second to see what was going on...only to end up almost gasping the water when the leviathan came around towards her. Madre santa! (Holy mother!) she exclaimed in her head when she saw the menacing-looking jaws.
As if on a whim, she dove under the thing, barely escaping it's reach as she swam half the length of its belly and resurfaced again, gasping for air as the panther reached to grab the edge of the platform. That CAN'T be Stygian, can it? Surely it has to be, then this is one interesting joke...
Catching her second wind while trying not to get sucked under, she looked around for the others...Karl was nowhere to be seen, and that was a thankful thing, for he no doubt proved resourceful enough. Then her wide eyes scanned the surface for any sign of Gareeku.
*OOC: And where are my characters in all this? Sleeping, playing video games, and pretty much wasting time. I gotta fix that.*
May’s stomach growls again and she makes a second attempt to find the kitchen. In her wandering through the house, she finds Mel and Sathariel. “Hi, guys!”
"I... I think it's like... a bend in reality. But it's a continuous reaction. I... think we can step into it, actually," Sathariel said, after having looked at May for a quick second as she came in. "But I don't know what will be in there," she then admitted.
The black thing had actually crossed under Aisha and then gone up on the other side, knocking the wolf into the air and flinging him some dozens of feet before he tumbled into the water again. When the thing had come up, Aisha had heard a deap, roaring gurgle that was only a bit reminiscent of a voice exclaim;
"Yay! Bathing toys!"
“What?” May asks, “A bend in reality? Sounds like an adventure. Can I come?”
"I find that stepping into things is seldom a problem. Do you have any idea of the ease of stepping out? As to what we'll find inside, my first guess is Aisha, Gareeku, Stygian, and Karl. May, what are Boogey and E up to? In case there is trouble stepping out."
"Right, dragons and tundras..." Boogey winced, "Damn. Usually the metaphor for this stuff is a lot of hallways. Not as open, but at least you're warm," With that, he set one foot on the bridge to see the reaction, "These other mentalities you've run into, are they full blown personalities or merely fragments of E's psyche?"
Surfacing as Aisha did, Gareeku growled loudly as he observed the shadow.
"I sure as hell hope so." the wolf said with a slight snarl. The next thing he knew, he wa being flung away, crying out in surprise as his body splashed back into the water.
If that is Stygian, I don't know what the hell he's playing at! Gareeku thought to himself, anger flowing through him as he attempted to swim back to Aisha.
“Boogey’s just helping E get out of his own subconscious or something like that. Basically, Boogey’s busy and E’s mind isn’t here. Hey, I know! Maybe a certain mad scientist we know could help. He’s bound to know about reality bends and that other sciency mumbo-jumbo,” May says.
"I think that once we're in, we'll have to find the ones inside. They are the only ones who can control this thing right now," Sathariel said, and she seemed sure enough right now.
The large creature turned on a dime and swam back against Aisha, just under the surface. It came up behind her, now somehow having turned much more serpentine, and rose from the water with its head above her.
"Little thingsss. I had an idea. Why don't we tessst the limitsss of thisss machine?" it said, in a voice that was much like Stygian's allright, except rumbling and gurgling.
“So the exit won’t appear until we find the people within? I see. Well, should I get the others or is there not enough time?”
"They're busy, I say we leave a note in case anyone comes looking for us and jump on in." She pulled a piece of paper out of nowhere but instead of writing on it she just held it in her hand for a moment before setting in on the floor beside the mat. "There, now they know what we're up to. Let's jump before any survival instincts kick in," Mel laughed then walked through the nothingness.
With a sigh of relief upon having located Gareeku, Aisha hoisted herself out of the water and onto the platform. However, as the panther started to turn around and reach out for his hand, that was the instant that he had been hurtled in the air. Her eyes wide with surprise, she cringed as he hit the water again. Oooh...he can take hitting the surface, but still...that was just...
The panther rolled her eyes as she heard Stygian's voice in the playful--albeit creepy--tone of sound that he had to it, amplified by the water and through the solid structure beneath her feet. Aisha saw this moment to hop in the water again and swam forward to meet with Gareeku and see if he was alright, only having been stopped by the creature's huge appearance above like out of a sea serpent legend.
"Test the limits of it?" she echoed with an incredulous look in her eyes, still left unnerved.
The air rippled and seemed to turn thicker, like water, as Mel stepped forward through the barrier into the reality warp. For a moment, her skin tingled with the agitated and flowing particles that made up the surface of the "simulation". Then, it seemed she reached the next level of it, for she felt something like a pull from all around, and was immediately drawn into the heart of it.
Next, Mel stepped out on an amber stone set in a floor that seemed dusted with time, but at the same time polished with the incredibly thin layer of water that ran across it. Around her were columns of the same amber and greenish-blue marble, perfectly and delicately crafted but ancient in their appearance, and some also a bit damaged. To her right, she could see where the water under her feet ran off to, as it fell down the abrupt end of the wall... down to a veritable sea many, many feet below. A sea in which lay a city of these ancient structures, and all of it inside an even greater hall, somehow. The sight was nothing but magnificent; towers and palaces, plazas and amphitheatres, all of the most masterful craftsmanship, and made even more beautiful in their antiquity and abandon. Far, far off, she thought she could see some figures moving, but it had to be miles.
Then, she realized that she'd stepped out from thin air. And that's all there was behind her - thin air. No exit, no magical shimmer, nothing.
"Yes," the seaworm-Stygian said. "I was thinking that maybe I could share a small glimpse of my own world with you, if this simulation is indeed good enough." He crept up on the great platform Aisha had just taken off from and slowly started to shrink back to his regular shape and size.
Coughing from the water that had managed to make its way into his lungs, Gareeku looked at Aisha with a smile.
"I'm ok." he said softly, before swimming towards the platform and climbing onto it, looking at Stygian with a stern expression.
"Still, I don't feel throwing me a fair distance was necessary." the wolf replied with a slight growl in his voice. "I have some reservations about your world. No offence."
Mel looked around for the other two, wondering if they followed or if they had followed would they arrive at the same point. "Good thing dragons are good at flying and swimming. They both look like valuable skills here. I guess Sathariel is right about having to find the rest to find the exit."
May appears next to Mel. “That transition felt pretty weird. It kinda felt cool, actually. Do you have any idea where this is? ‘Cause I have no idea.”
Sathariel stepped out on the floor next, gasping at the sight. The huge place would be much to navigate, even for ones capable of flight.
"None taken. It's a dark place anyhow. But at least it's better than the one I've created..." Stygian said as he slowly turned back into his bat form, and then left that at that. Then, he gave the wolf and the panthress an inquisitve and stern look. "I will hold you to that fight later on though," he stated with finality. "And I don't suppose you have the capability to take on a more... human appearance? Don't get me wrong; some people of my world modify themselves for one reason or another, but never that extensively."
"I think I see movement a few miles that way. Can either of you fly? Do you know how to use those wings, Sathariel?"
A flash of fear appears upon May’s face, remembering the last time she attempted a levitation spell. “Still, it must be done.” She nods and begins to chant a spell.
*OOC: You all remember her big lake dive, right? You can see, then, why she isn’t all that pleased with risking that happening again.*
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 03, 2007, 07:22:30 PM
"Right, dragons and tundras..." Boogey winced, "Damn. Usually the metaphor for this stuff is a lot of hallways. Not as open, but at least you're warm," With that, he set one foot on the bridge to see the reaction, "These other mentalities you've run into, are they full blown personalities or merely fragments of E's psyche?"
with the exception of the younger Eliander and the new guy Esure i'd say the are full blown personalities. in your terminology they are form past lives that e does not remember directly you see. e like me is more then his body would suggest even though he has not truly awaken to who he is.
Erebus watches as Boogey mounting the bridge. he can feel the push but it is no strong. the bridge despite it's appearance holds up against Boogey's weighs as if it was unaware of it. there is no swaying or wind to try an balk him to makes it simpler it is as if you past bodies remain a part of you even once you move one form them. even the bodies that were limits in use or time but in this case they all have their own souls and individuality. i am different as i have been there form the start and have never been fully subsume into his personally. true DGE, Esure and myself are about the only ones without bodies of our own as well but that is beside the point. Erebus takes a breath. Don't think of E as a mechanical mind. he has a mortal mind that is intimately familiar with the ways of mechanical minds. his mind will be and overly ordered organic mind. there are likely to be any number human style defences with a touch of melodrama and machine style precision with that Erebus fades away as a shadow color pda appears in Boogey's grasp.
(ooc sorry about stealing Boogey form you but i rally need his help
The panther listened and watched Stygian shift back into his normal self while following Gareeku up the platform. Upon Stygian's statement about having a look at his own world, she blinked with curiosity. Therein lay a bit of concern, for though it would be more a projection of the room than reality in ways, the prospect of virtually visiting another world was a little more than intimidating.
In the events of the past hours, Aisha had grown slightly distrustful of things so strange. However, she shrugged it off in her own usual way, for she was always taught that it was all a part of the experience of an adventurer.
Aisha shook her head to be rid of the water dripping from her hair, a little more effort needed for the rest of her body and sparring clothes which she still wore. But an eyebrow quirked at Stygian's inquiry about a change in appearance. She had seen and heard of what humans looked like, but upon trying to imagine herself as one, it was found she couldn't so easily.
"Afraid that kind of skill is out of my range," she commented, looking the melanistic fur on her arm thoughtfully. Pressed in by being wet, one could just barely see the hidden jaguar pattern of spots on parts of it.
Boogey waved back at Erebus as he continued to walk, nodding to show that he'd understood. When the PDA appeared, he glanced at it quizzically and started scrolling through the files on it in the hopes of figuring out where it had came from.
So, not exactly a mechanical mind. Good, I guess, but that also means some more dangerous defenses. Full blown other personalities... that's both good and bad. Bad, because they may not want me here. Good, because there are other minds within this one for me to retreat to if things really get ugly. The only thing left to figure out, He continued to fiddle with the PDA as he strolled along the bridge, Is what in the sparkly blue hell I can do with this? I've had keys, lunch boxes, diminuative people and the solidified idea of a CD player's mortality appear out of nowhere before, sometimes at my urging, but a PDA? Lets check out the calander function, see if there's an agenda I can take advantage of.
"I think I can do something about that..." Stygian then said thoughtfully, and fished a slim controller that looked like a cylinder about as thick as his finger and as long as his palm out of his pocket. He twisted a few rings on it, and pushed a few buttons. Then, he simply held it while looking really concentrated. Next thing, he stopped and let his hand down his side again.
"There," he said. "The Convenience Effect really does have its quirks. When I turn this on, everyone in the simulation will be affected by the warping to turn into a human version of themselves, regardless of form. I'm not sure whether I could escape it myself, actually, despite my powers being of the same... nature, as those of this machine."
Sathariel nodded at Mel's question, and unfurled her wings, spreading them. They even seemed to grow as they did, unfolding from those little and wieldy bunches of feather into majestic angelic ones, swooping out with a smooth flap behind her.
May finishes chanting the spell and gently rises into the air. She sighs with relief.
"No sense in standing around here," said Mel as she stepped off the edge. As she dove towards the water she opened her wings and changed to her full size. She turned her descent into a glide inches above the water, allowing her tail to trail and send up a spray behind her. "Wheeeee!!!" Then she rose and turned to see if the other two followed.
*OOC: May was following perhaps TOO closely.*
“Oh well, I was bound to get wet eventually,” May says, completely soaked by the spray of water Mel caused.
as Boogey searches though the calendar he sees several contacts and a date. the date ins 07-13-2742. as for what this date means it is a mystery.. the PDA starts play a message as a video appears on the screen it is not Erebus but some one else. greeting i am DGE. if you are seeing this then Erebus has chosen you to try and retrieve E. using this pda you will be able to tap into the information around you or contact us. it also serves as an emergency escape function should you find yourself in danger. be warned that the dangers you face are as real as you are. our hopes are on you kind entity. thank you and good luck. the video ends and the screen returns to the calendar. Boogeys finds himself at the wall that balked Erebus.. it is invisible and at the same time it has a commanding presence. As he pushes at it he senses the outline of a door with out hinges or knob, there is no handle of any kind. Just what kind of barriers is this?
Boogey snickers to himself a little as he reads the message, realizing how little those who'd requested his help knew about what they'd invited into this mint. As real as I am, meaning that how real they are varies. Used to tap into information, which I'm technically doing right now. Guess it works like a key, making it easier to get at guarded thoughts. Useful.
He reached the firewall and looked it up and down, examining this first obstacle. Sighing, he belted off an argument that got him around most mental defenses that simply block one out.
Which accomplished absolutely nothing. Gazing at the wall in confusion for a second, Boogey chuckled. Different mind, different ways of doing things. He was inputting the information in the wrong format. Still laughing at himself, he typed into the PDA.
I am a thought. An idea without a head. I am now in E's head. E has met me. The idea of me exists on the other side of this wall. An idea is all I am. Ergo, I exist on the other side of this wall. He selected E-voyager as the recipient of the message and hit SEND. With a popping noise, he dissappeared and reappeared on the other side of the firewall and continued onward.
"Well, that's convenient then," Aisha answered with a grin at Stygian's statement, although one couldn't tell from the tone of her voice if she was really so enthusiastic at the prospect of becoming human. If she told anyone back home, doubtless they'd think she was crazy. The thought just made her laugh inwardly.
She glanced at Gareeku, wondering what his thoughts were on all this. The look on the wolf's face was probably enough, he seemed as she was; partial of interest. At least they were going to be going together. Then a thought struck, and noticed that Karl hadn't shown himself again. Hrmph, and what would the others find if they were to come down here...?
"Fire away then," Aisha finally said with approval, while looking down at herself. And here's hoping I'm dry and I get my REGULAR clothes back too...
Stygian looked appreciative of the Panthress' response. He himself was already changing, in fact, his skin crawling with streams of black under it as his muzzle flattened to a straight nose and his fur ungrew into slightly tanned but fair skin. He raised the slim black cylinder again, looking over the small cracks in it that emitted a faint green glow. For a moment his eyes drifted upwards, into the distance behind the both figures in front of him, and a short smile seemed to play across his face, but it went away so quickly it might have been nothing.
He then turned to the wolf with a raised eyebrow and querying face.
Sathariel stepped up to the edge of the platform, looked down, and swallowed. She closed her eyes for a moment, gathering her resolve. Then, she made a small jump, and dove away after Mel. As she eased out in flight behind the dragon she still looked very unsure, but the memories of flight that had been imparted on her seemed to have sunk in, because she didn't slow or shudder in the air. After a bit, she smiled a nervous smile.
Watching Stygian change shape, Gareeku's eyes narrowed slightly.
"I'll be sure to remember it." the wolf replied to Stygian's statement about their fight. Hearing Aisha's reply to Stygian's question, Gareeku gave her a quick glance before turning back to Stygian.
"I'm going too." he said flatly, his arms crossed as he spoke.
There's no way in hell I'm letting Aisha go alone... the wolf thought to himself.
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 04, 2007, 02:30:14 PM
Boogey snickers to himself a little as he reads the message, realizing how little those who'd requested his help knew about what they'd invited into this mint. As real as I am, meaning that how real they are varies. Used to tap into information, which I'm technically doing right now. Guess it works like a key, making it easier to get at guarded thoughts. Useful.
He reached the firewall and looked it up and down, examining this first obstacle. Sighing, he belted off an argument that got him around most mental defenses that simply block one out.
Which accomplished absolutely nothing. Gazing at the wall in confusion for a second, Boogey chuckled. Different mind, different ways of doing things. He was inputting the information in the wrong format. Still laughing at himself, he typed into the PDA.
I am a thought. An idea without a head. I am now in E's head. E has met me. The idea of me exists on the other side of this wall. An idea is all I am. Ergo, I exist on the other side of this wall. He selected E-voyager as the recipient of the message and hit SEND. With a popping noise, he dissappeared and reappeared on the other side of the firewall and continued onward.
indeed the ideal of boogey did exist on the other side of the firewall but so did more safeguards. Boogey soon finds himself in a mirrored maze that seems to apper around him. thon he is reflected in several mirrors they are reflections of his past forms including when he was merged with the roach, when he was the fungal entity when he was inside of e's head the first time and when he was merged with Mel. as boogey looks deeper he sees the reflections of Mel in her dragon and kitten forms including one of her in her dress form when they danced. Further in the maze he can glimpse unfamiliar images but he can't see them clearly without getter closer. As he looks around where he landed the PDA beeps and displays the word reflections.. he also notices that the ground here is well worn as if this area was used frequently.
( well done that is not something i would have anticipated and it works)
"Excellent," was all Stygian said. Then, he pressed the little black cylinder.
It was as if suddenly the world bore down on them more, as if the air around them had thickened or some weight had collapsed on them for a moment. And it writhed around them, and in them, as they felt themselves changing. Fur grew inwards, scales retracted and smoothed out. Horns, fangs, claws - all retracted. Tails and wings disappeared gradually with a few painless but uncomfortable snaps and pops. The process forced itself upon all who were in the simulation, and took some short time to take effect.
Mel's wings and tail suddenly failed her, and she tumbled into the water along with May and Sathariel, everything feeling very odd all of a sudden. At that speed, it was like trying to waterski after a powerboat without skis. Fortunately the transformation wasn't nearly so swift that she failed to slow down to a quite safe speed.
The process worked on the panther and the wolf right before Stygian's eyes and he nodded with a smile. It was safe, as he had expected. Still, it was an unknown effect, and it needed study if he was to understand it completely.
Mel was happily skimming low over the water, admiring the pretty architecture below when a burst of disorientation overtook her. The next thing she knew she was underwater. She bobbed to the surface, coughing. Whatever hit her hit her hard enough that her windpipe hadn't closed. She must have touched a wing to the water and tumbled. She'd have to swim to the next dot of land to launch herself again as it was nearly impossible to get airborne from water. Good thing every dragon had a little bit of seamonster in them. Done coughing she opened her eyes to spot the others and found her vision obstructed by sticky whitish seaweed. She tried to pull it off and found it painfully attached. Hair? She didn't have hair. As she grabbed at the hair to look at it two other things hit her; her snout was missing and her hands, though nearly as white as normal were missing scales and claws. She touched her face, it was nearly flat, even flatter than the feline illusion she often used. She started cursing in draconian as she tried to twist her strangely stiff neck around to see her wings. She added curses in every other language she could think of in ever increasing volume and outrage as she discovered wings and tail both missing. She was all deformed. When she ran out of breath it occurred to her again to look for her companions. Sathariel had probably learned a lot of interesting new things from the mental barrage she had just given off.
Glancing back at Gareeku for his forthright insistence on going, the panther had to smile slightly, for his nobility was a trait to be praised. She merely stood next to him with her own arms crossed, as braced mentally and physically as could be for however the possibility was that she was changing.
Still, when something like that begins, one is never as prepared as they think. At the first sign of transformation, along with the sounds and the feeling, her eyes closed tightly shut as if on instinct. The sensation could be best described as that it should be painful, but like the possibility was being blocked from her mind or redirected altogether.
She had to hunch over a little when her tail disappeared in order to preserve her balance. Adrenaline flooded through her body when the strongest senses gained from being feline--hearing, sight, smell--were dimmed down with uncomfortable ease. Then her body felt somewhat heavy, most of her natural flexibility having disappeared as well, the almost rubbery spine substituted for pure bone and muscle vertebrae. All of her limbs underwent this same thing, like some bones were fused and others disappeared altogether.
When she felt it finally end, Aisha's eyes opened slowly, which still gave her a surprise at how the sense of sight had changed. She couldn't see through darkness as easily anymore. Her hands had been cupped up to her hair, which kept its raven color but with less of the gray tones and also less fuzziness, giving it a stringy and straight texture. Her nails were tapered to dull points that would have given minimal damage to scratch if anything, and she felt a little colder with her fur gone...but at least she did have her regular clothes back.
Looking at her skin, it was now a little more pale, but not too fair either in its undertones. Curiously her hand came up to a face that was considerably flattened and a little rounded in the cheeks, making her demeanor seem almost childlike, but still with considerable features of maturity one found in their early twenties. Looking into a nearby puddle (and trying not to yelp), her eyes had kept its reddish color, but as if the tone didn't really exist in humans it was turned a little more towards red-brown. The ears were now set on the sides of her head instead of towards the top, hidden by her hair. Her fangs were dulled as well, the set of teeth in the jawbones more accustomed seemingly to a various range of things other than meat.
Straightening herself, easily regaining her balance after a few seconds, Aisha could only say to this phenomenon a very shaky outburst... "Whoa."
Suddenly, Gareeku something change... with himself. Looking at his retracting fur, a mixture of shock and a certain degree of amazement was evident on his now-changing face. No longer was it the canine shape, but now it was becoming flatter, much more flatter than even a feline's. Looking over his shoulder, Gareeku gasped somewhat was he found that no longer could he feel his tail, it no longer even existed.
When the transformation was complete, Gareeku, like Aisha, looked into a puddle. However, instead of jumping back in shock, he merely stared on in amazement at his own relflection.
"Amazing..." he muttered, feeling out the shape of his new face with his hands. Although his eyes and hair were still the same colour and style, he found that his face had completely changed. Looking around, he found that his sight as well as his hearing had diminished somewhat.
Looking over at Aisha, he blinked as he saw that she too had changed.
"Well now...this is different..." He commented, observing his restored clothes before giving Aisha a somewhat amazed smile.
*OOC: Stygian, I am sorry to auto the mechanics of the transformation, but I must do so with May. Since, up until now, May was basically a large, bipedal rabbit, and not a being, she never really needed clothes any more than animals would, thus she didn’t wear any. Having May naked in human form, a form that requires clothes, is not something that I wish to role-play.
May does not hit the water, because her levitation spell applies even if she is not in her natural form. However, she does stop moving forward when the others do. She looks at them, then at her reflection. She now has short, pink hair, a pink sweater, and pink jeans. She also notices that she is significantly taller than before. “Wow, this is interesting,” she thinks aloud.
She does not understand Mel’s words, but she does understand the tone. “Not taking this well, are we?”
( ooc this sound like a variant on the morphing technology that i once encountered but that tech requites one to take a sample of the entity you were going to morph into while it was living. i modified mine as well but is still requites take a sample form the type of entity that i wish to become. )
Sathariel seemed to have swam to the edge of one of the floating marble platforms around, and had half crawled up on it. She was repeating a single particularly foul word in draconian over and over again, mixed with a few small yelps and other curses every now and then, and breathed heavily. Of course, the feline she had been was gone. She was now a fair-skinned and white-haired woman of her early twenties, athletic, pretty and with slightly indian facial features despite her pale skin. Her wet clothes hung like some odd sea-plants off her.
Stygian looked pleased and then returned to the little black cylinder. He concentrated for a while, whilst making adjustments to it, sometimes stopping to hum a little to himself and look around as if thinking. Then, after a while, he muttered to himself and stopped.
"Just the destin point... The rest is relative..." he said, then smiled at Gareeku and Aisha. "You know, this thing really was a lot easier to operate than I'd expected. Not that it's not like keying two computers at once still..." He looked at the little thing, then to the surroundings, and made a sigh. Then he shook his head, and grinned.
"All right then, fellow mänschen. Hold on to your knickers!" he said, and pressed the thing.
The world churned, and turned in on itself. Your skin tingled and winds seemed to blow, as all that you could see was broken up into particles and swirled, shifting colour and shape rapidly.
The next thing, the three of Aisha, Gareeku and Stygian were standing on a round square of some sort, centered around a large statue of some man holding a sword and a rifle. It was dark, and a bit cold, a strong wind blowing. To the edges of the square, under looming buildings in a late Victorian style, people were moving. But it seemed in the middle of the night, so few were out, and not all windows were lit.
Mel, May and Sathariel though, found themselves in a narrow and slightly grimey alleyway. But there at least it was quite warm, though there seemed to hang some sort of steam or fume in the air.
"Different is putting it mildly," Aisha muttered with a smile back at Gareeku, observing how he had changed as well. Taking Stygian's warning to heart after listening to him mutter, Aisha prepared herself for more strangeness that was most likely to come. Her eyes narrowed a little as she watched the surroundings shift and melt, darken or lighten, or become sharp and dull. Her eyesight would take a little getting used to now, or else all of this was naturally dizzying.
Then it stopped, and her eyes opened again and observed the sudden changes in the world they were in. Some differences, some similarities, but the atmosphere was indeed different in the least. With the strong wind, Aisha shivered involuntarily and sidled closer to Gareeku, pulling the hood of her cape over her head. "So where are we?" she inquired, actually more curious than intimidated.
“This is way chaotic. I like chaotic,” May says. She then begins to chant a spell.
Also hearing Stygian's warning, Gareeku prepared himself as best he could for what was to happen next. Looking on, Gareeku watched as the world about them melted and morphed into something entirely new, taking the form of what appeared to a dark city. Noticing the coldness of the wind, the now-human Gareeku looked doen as the goosebumps on his arm.
"Hmmm...wouldn't be this cold if I had fur." he muttered, looking at his surrounding as his clothes and hooded cloak blew in the wind.
Noticing Aisha get closer to him, Gareeku smiled as her reassuringly. As Aisha had, Gareeku noticed again that his sight was not as good as it was.
"I'd like to know, too." He added after Aisha had asked her question, also curious as to where they were exactly. The architecture seemed familiar yet alien at the same time.
Stygian chuckled, and started to walk against one of the edges of the square, one where there was no buildings and some waist-height walls that connected at one side with a long, slim bridge lit by lamps at its base. The bridge itself stretched out into a foggy darkness, and beyond the edge of the square it was quite hard to see anything. Aisha thought she could make out lights in the distance.
"Come over here, and see," he simply said, motioning them with a hand toward the bridge. He started to walk out on it. It was wide enough for perhaps a dozen people or so to walk on side by side, but its length made it seem needle-slim.
Watching Stygian beckon them over to the bridge, Gareeku glanced at Aisha, before shrugging his shoulders slightly.
"Well while we're here, might as well have a little walk around." he said, before following Stygian to the bridge.
Standing at the edge of the bridge, Gareeku squinted his eyes in an effort to make out what was on the other hand. While he was certain that he probably would have been able to see theo ther side had he still been a wolf, Gareeku thought it best to ask.
"What's over there?" he asked Stygian, pointing a thumb at the faint lights in the distance.
Mel looked at May in amazement, "Not taking it well? I've been involuntarily de-evolved into a species that went extinct because they have no natural defenses. It's a food source to most predators. I like being large, inedible, and having teeth and claws that can rip metal." She splashed over to the platform Sathariel had found. She pushed Sathariel the rest of the way on. Finding herself now without the upper body strength to get herself on the slippery rock she used a bit of ice magic to make a solid spot under her feet to push off against. Once securely on she looked into the water to see what sort of a thing she now was. She looked quite similar to what she had observed in Sathariel; pale skin only slightly pinker than her normal color. Her hair was stuck to her but it seemed to be about shoulder length and a sort of silvery white that mimicked her natural pearlescent tones. Her eyes were the same bright blue as ever. She didn't have dramatic features that Sathariel had, but soft smooth ones that wouldn't tell if her age was closer to 20 or 30.
Mel's reflection was suddenly replaced by a view of dirty cement and she found herself kneeling on grit. She looked around to find herself in an alley. Her nudity, which hadn't bothered her before suddenly made her feel like a glowing white target in this dark place. She tried to grab her grey feline illusion and found herself balked somehow. With a frustrated growl she clothed the form she was in. All in shades of grey she was wearing jeans, boots, a turtleneck and a hooded jacket pulled over her hair. Mel noticed Sathariel and her wet white robe was just as visible and gave her the illusion of a similar outfit. May, who had managed to dress herself before she left to her own devices.
Aisha took a quick glance around before following Stygian and Gareeku upon the bridge, easily starting to get used to her balance and the heaviness that her limbs seemed to take on. Her footfalls were a little louder than what she was used to...the panther-turned-human wondered how they could be so reputably dangerous if they couldn't sneak properly.
She leaned on the edge of the bridge, gazing out across the darkness, tinted with such black that already Aisha was starting to miss her eyes. She was grateful that Gareeku had decided to come along as well, even with Stygian as their guide...she felt safer. The fog made the surroundings ominous and spine-tingling, the lights near them glowing as if ethereal, will-o-wisps over a poisonous bog.
"Interesting," she said, looking at where Gareeku and Stygian had gestured towards the little glowing points that she could barely see.
May finishes the spell. A large, sturdy eggshell half (about 4" in diameter) appears and May jumps in it. “All aboard!”
Stygian laughed. He seemed very much like he had expected the former anthromorphs' reaction, but was still amused by it. Then, he walked up to Gareeku and put his arm across his shoulder, turning him around ninety degrees once they were far enough out on the bridge.
"It's not over there that I want you both to look," he said, and pointed over the low edge of the side.
Now, they understood why it was so windy. Over the side of the bridge and under them an urban sprawl stretched, lights of all colours glinting like stars among gothic design and architecture that mingled with more-than-modern technology, and sometimes futuristic style at places. Bridges, towers, whole plazas and squares were set at various height under them, the bottom vanishing into darkness thousands of feet below, a chasm just below them making a scar in the city. And the fog... the fog that they had seen were clouds, rolling up from around and mixing with the fumes of towering industrial structures the likes of which you had never seen. Further and further the city stretched, beyond the limits of the eye. Just above you, no more than a few hundred feet up, a large, black thing that seemed the crossing between a jetplane and a helicopter, large and sharp-angled, screamed past with ion engines spewing red. Other similar craft, and ordinary cars, all added to the lights of the city as you could see them zipping away down below.
"Welcome," Stygian proudly declared, "to Nibel. Or as we call it, Nebel City!"
Looking around the maze, Boogey reached a few conclusions. One, that this was part of E's conscious mind, if the state of the floor was any indication, and that this was probably his conscious memory recall. Wandering through the maze, he continued to fiddle with the PDA looking for more functions and information while he glanced from mirror to mirror.
"Hm," He stopped in front of the swamp dragon creature's image and smiled, resisting the urge to touch the mirror in front of him, "The one that actually got to keep the new shape I gave it. Hope he does well," he looked from that one to the roach, "Hey. Heh, little guy went through more than he should have had to. If I run into him again I'll have to make it up to him," moving on to one that looked for the most part how he did now, "And what're you looking at ugly? You stay on your side of the glass, y'hear me?" Moving on through the glass maze, Boogey was glad that the mirrors weren't showing actual reflections of what passed before them. Ever since reading a rather witty fantasy novel he had a slight dislike of standing between two mirrors. As he went he glanced at the reflection of Mel in the gown and gave a short whistle, "Heh, she cleaned up nice." Humming 'the world is full of beautiful things,' Boogey went on striding through the maze, looking for any other signs of where he was. First impressions weren't always reliable when it came to minds.
Looking out at the sight before him, Gareeku's eyes widened at the view. The city was indeed magnificent; futuristic and gothic technology and architecture fusing together to create the city. Of all the cities he had been to in Furrae, none were quite like this.
"Whoa." the now-human Gareeku muttered, his eyes scanning the landscape before him.
Tilting her head, Aisha turned around and followed the gaze of the other two, and her reaction was pretty much the same as Gareeku's. She leaned over a little to look a bit closer, although with the sprawling size of this place, the girl had the feeling that they were only looking at one proverbial tip of the iceburg.
"Holy..." she muttered, taking note of the interesting mix of architecture and futuristic machinery that could only come from out of a science-fiction novel present way down below their feet.
"And do you have any idea where you're going?" questioned Mel of May. Then she turned to Sathariel. "Have you gotten a trace on any of our friends again? At least a direction to start in?"
(OOC: Joat: I hope you mean 4' and not 4"; Boogey: Thanks. )
"Largest city in the world. Twenty-five million inhabitants, with the perfect mix of the cream of the crop and the lowliest scum. Often, they're thesame even. I haven't seen this place in years, ever since the Trinity came to power and I couldn't set foot here again," Stygian said. Then he pulled out his etui and a slim grey cigar, lit up, and breathed, adding to the fumes that hung in the air.
"Hell, have I missed this place!" he laughed.
After a few puffs, he then turned and began walking along the bridge again.
"Let's go. I think some others have ended up here too. If we want to find them, we'll have to make a stop at my place first."
Sathariel looked very bothered, and rubbed her temple.
"They are here... but they're very far away. Far up," she said, turning her face to the sky, where black flecks and red lights zoomed past. "We need to go higher. But I don't know how..." she stated, plainly missing her wings.
*OOC: I did.*
“That answers the question of where to go and this shell transport takes care of how,” May says.
Aisha had to smirk slightly as Stygian introduced the city. The way it had appeared like that while describing it was nothing short of grand and dramatic. She halfway expected to hear background music, but the sounds made from the machines flying overhead, probably more to come from the city, was just enough noise for up in the fume-ridden air. "Quite impressive," she surmised and turned around to watch as he walked across the bridge.
Walking beside Gareeku, an eyebrow quirked. "Others? We have stow-aways? Ay basura...I hope they know how to take care of themselves before we find them."
As Aisha had done, Gareeku also smirked slightly as Stygian introduced the city.
"Heh. Home sweet home, ey?" he said with a chuckle.
As he walked, Gareeku listened to what Aisha said and nodded in acknowledgment.
"Seems like it." Gareeku replied as they walked, raising his eyebrows slightly as he looked at Aisha. "I know what you mean. I mean to sound paranoid, but this is a new place. Who knows what could be lurking in those streets."
Mel poked the thing dubiously, "You licensed to drive, kid?"
“Nah. But this thing looks safe and easy enough. ‘Sides, how else do you plan on getting into the sky?” May says.
Stygian thumbed the cigar in his fingers and knocked some ash off it, making a snorting noise.
"I do, that's who. I think it's our mutual friends come from the mansion to 'rescue' us or something like it. But perhaps I'm wrong. You people seem erratic enough to do those kinds of things," he said, swaggering a bit as he walked and looked around, taking in the environment. Then, darkness formed around him, and melded with his shadow. It pulled up, and formed a long black coat on him, to hold the wind out. Then, he took a look at the little black controller again.
Wonder if We should negate magic in here... That would buy us time... he thought. Then, he shook his head, and slipped the thing into his pocket. There would be time later, and right now there was too little distraction. The pair behind him sticked together like glue. He needed something to get between, something that wasn't him.
Something in his previous train of thought struck him, and then he smiled as he walked. He started to sing Me and my shadow, in a strong, clear voice that while not musty like Frank Sinatra's was deep and melodious, and had enough range to easily compete.
"But you're right in a way," he suddenly admitted in between singing. "If they haven't run into trouble by now, I'd be very surprised."
From behind them, Mel heard splashes and slow, heavy footseps.
"Well... what's this then?" she heard a low, growling voice say.
As Stygian commented on their "erratic" behaviour, a disapproving look became apparent on Gareeku's face.
"Well if someone we knew was pulled into another world and we didn't know what was going, I'm pretty sure that we would do the same." Gareeku replied.
It was then, however, that Stygian mentioned, almost casually, that the others would very likely have run into trouble by now.
"What?!" Gareeku exclaimed, concern for the others quite evident. He had not known them very long, bu they were still his friends, people that he cared for, and if they were in danger then he had to do something. "We've got to help them!"
May looks at the carrier of the voice. “Oh, this thing? It’s an eggshell transport. Need a ride?”
*OOC: High intelligence, but low wisdom.*
as Boogey continues he passes images of Gareeku in both normal and feral mode Aisha, Stygian in his various forums with an odd deep circuit overlay and then it gets weird. as he passes the image of Karl , Kio and a Joat he quite slowly runs out of people he recognize. He spots and looks at on mirror image of a red dragon the dragon is a little small 12-15 feet in length. as he watcher the scene for the dragon seems to shift in the as scenes of a third person observer and fist person experience. it is then that Boogey this is where he thinks about the people he knows and the reflects on their actions. He looks at the path before him. It is a fork. Down one path he sees may a a few more people that e recent met down the other path are more images of people he's never seen some of them robots. There also seems to be a slight scuffing through the maze that seems to obscure any trail left behind.
Boogey takes a moment to consider. If E had withdrawn because of thing form his past where would he hide in recent memories of people or in past memories of people that he knew. Then the thought a little deeper. E had withdraw due to survivor's guilt right? That would me that he outlived someone. Some on that was probably close to him so the only way for him to find them was in his memoirs of the past or to cerate a past for them as memoirs of what happed are not always as nice as dreams of what could have happened and in a mind like this the memories would bee very clear. Boogey with his mind made up makes his choice and chooses a path to follow.
Link, controlled by Valencia, is getting beaten mercilessly by Mario, Pikachu, and DK. “How does May win this game? It’s freakin’ impossible!”
Aisha sighed quietly, rolling her eyes as Stygian made the remark about the others, agreeing with Gareeku's statement. "Indeed, you can't exactly stop someone from helping if their care clouds their judgment..."
Even though you've been taught otherwise, chica.
Before she could get too caught up in thought, her head tilted at what their "guide" had said about trouble. Before she could predict it again, she could literally feel Gareeku's concern rising, even though what passes for the sixth sense of an animal had been taken from them upon arrival.
Aisha gently took his hand to try calming him down a little, the same concern mirrored in her own eyes. "But how would we do that? We've little idea where they are, and this place is too huge to just pick a direction."
He chose what looked like more recent memories. Erebus had mentioned that what had caused this either happened or at least heard about recently, so that would be a good place to start. Didn't want to go blundering around here, best figure out EXACTLY what he was looking for. My, what interesting people E has met. Mebbe he should write down his memoirs sometime...
Mel took a deep breath and turned. It was scary to think that she was probably the most experienced hunter in this little group, unless Sathariel had one of her random bursts of memory. She dropped her voice to it's hypnotic level, "Nothing to see here, just some tourists moving on their way." She didn't expect it to work but hoped it gave her a second to prepare. Her left hand reached into her nowhere space and snagged an illusion trap while she prepared an ice spell with her right. Damn it, she wanted her claws back.
Stygian turned around with a fierce scowl on his face, and thrust his cigar out at Gareeku agressively, his hand jabbing.
"We are not going to do a thing. Not before we've got transport and gear," he said with finality. "What? Do you think you can just jump off this bridge and fly to the bottom, then expect to find them among hundreds and thousands of people?" His voice was raised yet not quite a shout.
When Aisha spoke, he nodded. There was one with her head on the right end.
"There is an easy way to find them, and it goes through this," he said, holding up the black controller. "But we don't even need that. I've my ways too." He turned around, and started walking quickly.
At the end of the alleyway where Mel, May and Sathariel were stood what could only be called a gang. They wore tattoos, shaved heads, and an assortment of odd and customized clothes. A pair were sitting on some sort of motorcycles, heavy chains by their sides. Behind them were a huge brute of a man that must have been at least six and a half feet tall and three hundred pounds, with a pair of metal-reinforced and studded gloves of some kind. Some other rabble, both men and women, holding guns or knives that might have been called short swords surrounded them. And at the front was a tall, muscular but sinewy whipcord of a man with a cybernetic eye and two oversized handguns, the one who had just spoken.
"I think that what we have here is some entertainment, ey people?" he called out, and was answered by muffled but cruel laughter. His right gun was trimmed on Mel.
"You don't look like you have any valuables on ya, sweets. But you look enough a valuable yourself to be worth my time..."
It seemed that the hypnotism had failed, either by the determination of these thugs, group pressure or some other factor.
When Stygian put his cigar out at him, Gareeku did not flinch. He could his anger boiling beneath him. Normally he would have agreed with Stygian's point of view, but right he was too angry to care. As Stygian began to walk off, Gareeku could feel his hand beginning to burt from clenching his fist so tightly. Aisha's touch, however, seemed to calm him down somewhat.
"Well if he had taken more care in transporting all here, then we wouldn't even be in this mess." Gareeku muttered in a low growl. "I bet he knew he was transporting them somewhere else all along."
Still filled with anger towards Stygian, Gareeku began to walk after him, trying to calm himself down as he did so.
Aisha's eyes narrowed as Stygian turned around, her gaze following him with a sort of inner fire that would have been considered ferocious enough even without the face of a natural predator dominating the scowl. Still, she didn't make an act to say anything, more or less letting Gareeku's vibe stand and hopefully dissipate on its own. That, and something inside of her seemed to give off a darkly uncomfortable feeling when coupled with her own anger...which scared her a little.
She walked alongside him, still holding his hand while they followed after Stygian's quick steps. Gareeku felt warm, his body temperature having risen with the anger and brooding, and without fur it became a little more apparent and personal when feeling it herself.
"That might be," she answered Gareeku's muttering in a low voice of her own, attempting an attitude that searched for compromise. "But you can settle your anger with the fight with him. We must have a plan...much as we might disagree with Stygian he is our link out of here, as well as that of our friends."
Mel backed towards the stupid teacup thing. "Hope this thing has a lot of lift, bunny-girl," she whispered. Louder she said in her stupidest voice, "Valuables? You mean like this?" She opened her left hand, the one with the illusion trap. A gem glittered even in the dim light. She recognized the trap, through sheer chance she had grabbed one of the nastiest ones in her arsenal, one she had never had to use before, a potentially lethal nightmare. She paused, just long enough for the avarice in the group to rise against each other. "Here," she offered, triggering the trap as she tossed it towards the group.
as Boogey follow the recent memories he chosen he happens upon an image of a sad female hedgehog. She is unlike anyone that boodle has seen in the house. as he watched her image switch to her at an hospital bed holding the hand of an elder vixen. suddenly in the image a flesh and blood E appeared. the vixen smiles and he lays his hands on her head it glowed with green energy that seems to ease her pain. the image skips a bit to the hedgehog break downs the door to some lab form the outside to them bin at the hospital again it stopped at a the hedgehog girl crying at a grave the it then it went to the first image.' there is something about the mirror though. it seems as though he could reach out and touch it.
May begins to chant a spell softly, too softly for the gang to hear.
Boogey (Who is out of character chortling at the most recent misspelling of his name that he saw before you edited it X3) looked at the mirror, then at the PDA, and then back at the mirror. From the looks of things, whatever E did hadn't done what it was supposed to. Or it hadn't happened at all. It was hard to tell sometimes, with memories.
I should look, not touch. Touching can be trou-ble...
He continued staring at the image.
Ah, when the hell have I listened to my better judgement? Poke!
Boogey touche causes a chain reaction as the mirror seems to grab him and draw him in. in moments he finds himself pulled through a tunnel of reflective light and he landed in what looks lie a yard in front of a a fairly nice home. the name on the home is Valen.
Stygian ignored the grumpy looks of the ones behind him and set a quick pace. The end of the long, slim bridge was coming into view at last, and more buildings towered up ahead.
These buildings seemed different from the ones behind them, on what must have been one of the main plateus of the central rise of the city. Situated on a sort of outcropping that seemed further out than most others, jabbing sharply out into the dark, these looked darker and more looming. Only a few lights from them pierced the night, and all of them came from the buildings nearer to them. The ones... no, the one standing out at the edge up ahead, taller than the others, was completely dark. It seemed derelict, looking like this place's version of an abandoned mansion, but with a harder and more concrete edge to it.
"There we are..." Stygian said, and pointed to it, still a few hundred metres up ahead.
The thugs watched the shining gem fly through the air with their eyes fixed as if in trance, until they all dove at each other for it. That is, except a few of them. The lean man up front just glanced over it, and then his one snakelike eye fixed on Mel again as he sprinted for her, expertly swinging one gun away and reaching with his now open hand for her. The ones on the motorcycles didn't seem that interested either, for they revved up and came for the three girls with fierce speed.
Listening to Aisha, Gareeku somehow felt calmer, enjoying the feeling of her hand in his as they walked.
"I know. You're right..." Gareeku replied softly, looking at her with an apologetic smile.
A short while later, Gareeku looked on as the gloomy mansion-like building came into view.
"Cosy..." he commented, a slight smirk on his face as he observed the darkness of the building.
"Well, I should think I'm right," Aisha joked and gave him a soft smile back, squeezing his hand as they walked on in silence. Her eyes, still hidden beneath the shadowed folds of her cowl, scanned the darkness before them...more than once she wished she had her eyes back...yet already the transformed human was starting to get used to everything. She hoped that the others would be as lucky.
But the spooky feeling of the place, drenched in night, couldn't be fought off so easily. She watched the buildings ahead rise as if out of shadow. The few lights strewn around illuminating their small spaces didn't seem to do justice to it.
When her eyes set on the tall mansion, she blinked with a mix of fascination and caution in her eyes. She pulled back her hood and looked up at its height as they came closer, looming over them as if on a foreboding welcome. "Now that's what I call dramatic," she laughed quietly.
Mel disposed of the ice spell in her right hand in front of the motorcycles. She was going to need both hands and some concentration. Just like a regular working day, she assured herself, only without any finesse and with pain for everyone involved. Make physical contact with the target, smash the mental shields, then rip every memory out of his head in one excruciating fatal burst. Just like the bad old days when her clan was considered a worse bunch of thugs than this bunch. Mel just hoped that "rip, strip, and drop" worked even if one wasn't a 40' adult dragon who had already scared the crap out of the target. She'd be happy if she could just be a 20' dragon again.
"Yeah, it used to be cozy, until they tore it up..." Stygian muttered. "Still, it's home. And I think you'll agree once you get in that it's better than it looks."
He walked up through the front gates into a small courtyard. The place's steeply sloped roofs towered over them, and in the upper part of the wing to the right to you a huge hole had been torn in the roof. The place's architecture was an excellent mix between modern and antique, but the grey face of the building had blackened. The windows were either cracked and broken or gaping holes. Combined with the fact that you still had view of how the ground abruptly ended, now very much closer, it all made for a scary sight.
Stygian stepped up to the front door, and opened it with a creaking sound, tramping out the stump of his cigar on the porch and walking in.
"You're going with me, honey!" the whipcord man screamed, and then upheaved a feral shriek as he aimed his hand for Mel's throat. His gun though turned against Salticia. And from behind him, the two motorcyclists crossed each other as they leaned down and stretched their arms out for them.
*Just then a figure step up to the mansion and spotted the three entering...it was Karl*
Karl: their auras are the same...but their forms are different...
(OOC: Karl's form was always a human, so it would be unlikely that he would be totally affected by the transformation...though he did lose his pointy ears).
May finishes her spell, Reverse Polymorph, and casts it on Mel. “This oughta scare these guys”
"I am surprised by this turn of events and am shocked by this. Yes I am," Boogey drawled, stepping forward and knocking on the door. He briefly wondered if this was one of those other personalities or a memory, but either way went with his usual strategy of meddling first and fixing things later.
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 05, 2007, 08:09:10 PM
"I am surprised by this turn of events and am shocked by this. Yes I am," Boogey drawled, stepping forward and knocking on the door. He briefly wondered if this was one of those other personalities or a memory, but either way went with his usual strategy of meddling first and fixing things later.
A young fox opens the door he looks to be about seven "who are you" he asked as he sat there his tail swaying gently. in his have is wast like a plastic sword and he wears a paper helmet. the pup does not see worried and as he waits a pink hedgehog tackles him form behind the door. she is roughly half a head hither then him as the fox cub cries foul. . " who's at the Door kids calls a female voice form deeper in the house.. the pups are still playing as the fox seems to get the upper hand for a moment. " time out " he says then the two get up and return to the door. despite there different species they are obviously family. " so who are you mister? i don't think i ever saw you before"
Boogey smiled and nodded, trying to project a somewhat more kindly vibe than his usual disreputable appearance. He didn't know whether this was a Metaphor or a Memory, so it seemed wise to go for yet another old method for dealing with situations in minds; when you don't know where you are, ask for directions.
"I'm sorry to trouble you, but I'm new in the area and appear to be lost. That is to say I know where I am, but not in relation to anything else," he scrolled through a few files in the PDA until he reached the contact list, hoping to see if these two were listed in it. "I'm supposed to meet up with a friend of mine, but I can't find where I'm supposed to meet him. I was hoping whoever lives here could assist me in this?"
the male pup frowns and boogey feels his vibes being redirected away form the pup . whats more it seemed to be the pup's own doing. the girl however seem unaware of what was going on. "Mom this guy says he's lost and looking for someone" " i'll be there in a minute" comes the reply
the boy eyed Boogey with caution. " lets go inside sis" he said trying to back away from the door uneasy. " Don't be rude Estavon!" the pup stop not arguing with his sister. as Boogey watches he realizes that this hedgehog is a younger version of the hedgehog in the mirror he's touched.
the PDA displays picture images of the fox and the hedgehog as Boogey scrolls through. he leans that the hedgehog is a memory simulation of Erica Victoria Valen (http://profiles.yahoo.com/princess_erica_v) later to be know as voyager who's real world age was unknown as she was not to be born for almost 200 years
and that the fox was a memory simulation of Estavon Valen Jr (http://profiles.yahoo.com/estavon_valen). he was to be bother a little over 200 years form now being the younger of the two. he would later grow up into a position similar to that of becoming a god of war. this was a position he would achieve around his 120 birthday before his gaining his third tail. being his mother's son his lifespan was to be around 1000 years in length but thins his fathers power began to awaken in him as well. he had a talent or instinctively understanding and direction force.
the location information them bean to pile up and he lead he was in a count call asure on a planet 70 light years form earth in a reality he was unfamiliar with. this too was also a memory simulation and the planter only extend 300 kilometers in all direction from the house he was at.
a few moment later a smile vixen arrived at the door. she unlike the boy had five tails. she smile and greeted Boogey. "hello. the children said that you need some help"
( edit i really need to update those profiles. maybe later)
"Indeed," Boogey nodded and smiled cheerfully, "Would you know where to find a fellow by the name of E? Or wherever he's likely to be; I'm supposed to meet up with him but I can't seem to find my way around this area."
"E?" she asks "... Do you mean Eric? if so he's at work and won't be back for hours" as she speaks Boogey PDA seems to auto scroll to an entry. this is not an memory this is an captive soul. this entire construct was built for this soul but who was she? the name looks familiar but the appearance seems a little off. the PDA starts to flash with and incoming message.
"He may also answer to Eric, I don't know all his alias'," Boogey shrugged and gave a friendly smile, "May I wait for him here? I don't mean to intrude, but if I try to find him somewhere else, knowing my sense of direction, I'll end up in New Zealand." He said jokingly
When the PDA scrolls to the entry on its own, Boogey was slightly surprized. Not by the info; any soul in a mind other than the original one will usually build something like this around itself much like a caddis fly larva building up a shell. He was surprized by the PDA acting on its own initiative before he had even asked for its help. He was able to tell that this was a personality in its own right rather than just memories on his own; the complexity of the thought and the underlying concepts were unlike the rest of the mind, like a difference in the styles of two different artists. Before he had the chance to find out if she KNEW she was in E's mind, the message came up, it's blinking dispelling everything else from the screen.
"One moment madam, I have to take this. Terribly sorry." He said, hitting the button to display the message.
the message was simple and "come to the office. She knows the way." signed E.V.
"Ah!" Boogey smiled, "E says I should head to his office. I don't suppose you know the way, Missus...?"
the vixen smiled. it is something of a sad smile though "Starlight. at least that what i was called at this age but if you have a few moments i have a request." she looked arson and the children were in the other room. suddenly they were in a void and Boogey can tell that this Starlights doing. " tell Eric that i know what he's doing. it's not that i'm not grateful to know that he loved me so much but i'm not like him. i've spent over 3000 years alive much of which with him and not it's time for me to pass on." she sighed "i guess i knew when he touched me in the hospital giving me some of his life to ease my pain that he would try this. he wanted to keep me alive and healthy but my kind only live 1000 years unlike the spirit foxes that he too me for so he linked his so to mine to bring me here if i passed on before he found a way to save me. now he wants to bring me back to the flesh and ignoring everything but this memory of a family form a life he was barely aware existed before our dear Erica called him. " she shook her head. it is in her eyes. she's tired and living even with a loving family had become hard on her as others outside of her children aged and passed on. she had also lost her husband it seemed but he was not one to stay gone. how many times had Eirc died? how many had he returned to life then returned to her when called? it was hard to know. she composed herself ad looked Boogey in the Eyes unafraid of how he perceived himself "tell him for me that ' i know he wants to give me back the life i once had but there are some things he can't do.' " then they were back on the door step in the simulated world inside of E's mind as she finished the directions she had never given. " and after you turn left you'll see on the corner a large government building. Go in and ask for Eric and they'll lead you too him. it's had to get lost as it's only about 6 kilometers down the road and to the left. if you get lost..." she notice the PDA but her Eyes flickered away form it almost as fast as they landed. " ask for the voyager interplanetary relations center. he's the only human that works there"
Boogey nodded, both to show that he understood and respect for the vixen's wisdom. This was someone who had been around for far longer than he had despite the reletivity of mental time, and who knew the difference between living and percieving that you exist.
"As you wish, Starlight. Thank you for the directions. It's an honor to have met you." With that, he turned and walked in the indicated direction.
So to prevent her death, he took her soul into himself to carry her with him forever. How noble! How sentimental! How romantic! How...
Idiotic.
The problem with a long lifespan, or multiple lifespans, is that you lose perspective, Boogey thought as he walked, seething slightly Fleash and blood creatures aren't meant to live like this for that long! This is a realm of thoughts, concepts, and creativity that will happily bend the rules of time and space. What would a sane creature, that is considered sane because it has adapted to a certain set of rules, be put through in a realm of thought? Nobody can create a perfect replica of reality! He sighed and massaged his brows, Then again, he's probably not as familier with these things as I am. I'll have to check later.
whether he meant to of not Boogey finds himself at Eric's office in what seemed to be only a few moments. It seems as though the world itself was helping him along by compressing unused areas when he was not paying attention. he looks up at the building and wonders did this place exits of was E simply trying to build and ideal life. no one challenged him as he enters the building and a young twin tails vixen was sitting at the desk working a computer. she smiled as she saw him. "hello Sir do you need assistance?"
Boogey was used to things going quickly. In a mental realm even the landscape can get bored and want to speed things up a bit. "Yes miss. I'm looking for a man by the name of Eric. Do you know where his office is?" He continued to scroll through the PDA, seeing if he could find some reference to what he was dealing with. He'd dealt with too many minds that had metaphorical companies with attack secritaries for dealing with intruders.
"Hm, nice skylight," Aisha chuckled at her observation of the various holes that the large house before them had. But because of the somewhat dire situation that they were in, coupled with the dark and foggy atmosphere in which they stood, the attempt at humor was half-hearted at best.
As she and Gareeku followed Stygian inside, she blinked in an effort to see a little better in the lightless void that the house seemed to have become over the period of having been left alone. Her cape hood rested behind her head now, with little use for it as a guard against the wind outside. Aisha decided not to doubt Stygian's claim that it looked better on the inside.
Her gaze was somewhat blank. Looks better than the last time I saw my own home, at least...
the PDA displays a brief mission statement then scrolls though a selection of blurred names of which only five were clear enough to read. the secretary at this time was checking the computer and made a call on the phone.. "yes sir. i didn't get a name but he's here to see you.. i'll send him right up." she hung up the phone and picked up a label that had not been there before. it was a temporary name tag ID. "pleas put this on sir then proceed to the left elevator. he'll meet you on the third floor." further in the Hall boogey sees a Stood Dog fox with four tails watching. the dog foxes features seems suspect. there were not blurred like his ID badge but they seems too general. this company it seemed like the memory of it was incomplete
*Karl walked upto the three placed his hand on Gareeku's shoulder (which possibly could have scared the heck outta him, we'll just wait and see)*
Karl: hiya guys...finally caught up with you...see you have new forms.
Boogey did as the vixen said and kept an eye out for any more personalities hiding amidst memories. He fiddled with the PDA while waiting on the elevator, seeing if there was anything else he could use.
the PDA began to display a partial schematic of the building. the elevator arrives and in it was a security camera and a bores looking mail fox with 3 tails. he stepped off the elevator and turned down the hall clearing the way for Boogey. as Boogey prepared to step on the elevator the PDA flashes the word Caution and went dark.
Inside was what once must have been a fine entrance hall, with some few columns on the sides and a broad set of marble stairs with finely crafted rails leading up some thirty paces before you. But like the rest of the place, it was deserted and abandoned, ruined with time. Cracks went through some of the columns, and the one nearest to the right had a large chunk torn out of it, exposing some other stone and armament rods of steel under the thick layer of grey marble. Statues looked down on you with sad faces, as if insulted and angrily asking what business you had entering their place of rest. The faint draft drew up some dust and danced with it and a piece of cobweb through the room, glinting in the pallid blue moonlight that trickled in from a ruined skylight. And yet, from the look of the room, the style, the polish that had not quite faded, the doors that stood half-open upstairs with modern locks and still in good condition... The place could not have been abandoned for so many years. Decades, perhaps, but not more than a few.
Stygian simply walked across the hall, his boots leaving traces in the dust. He stepped up the stairs and went to the back of the ramp upstairs, at the end of which was a large elevator in what must have been the centre column of the house.
"Let's see then... Long time since last," he said, and ran a palm over the smooth stone wall on the other side of the elevator from the maneuvering console. After a moment, he seemed to find what he was looking for. He traced with his fingers in some pattern over a stone. It seemed to leave little green trails, forming a complex symbol of some kind. Then, he pressed it into the wall with his hand. It clicked sharply, and slid up, revealing another console of some kind. Stygian just looked at it, then made some rapid moves over it with his fingers, and shut it again.
With a rough but low sound, the doors to the seemingly non-functioning elevator slid aside.
"Step up, meine damen und herren," Stygian said, and motioned toward the elevator.
Boogey glanced at the PDA, and then glared up at the camera. He quickly typed out an argument into the PDA.
This is a memory. It's not my memory. I don't remember it. Ergo, I am not here. I know that I am here, but the memory has no way of knowing that. If it works, nobody in this memory should notice Boogey stepping out of the elevator.
Grinning at Aisha's comments, Gareeku suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. With his instinct taking over, Gareeku suddenly whirled round, glaring at Karl with a fierce expression, his hand enveloped in a bright white flame. Upon seeing who it was, Gareeku stepped back, the white flame disappearing.
"I would reccommed you don't do that again." Gareeku said, a look of disapproval on his face as he spoke. "Hmmm. Yes, we do."
Stepping inside the mansion looked around. A somewhat sad expression appeared on his face as he observed the state of place.
"A pity...had this place not been neglected it would be stunning..." he muttered, following Stygian to the hidden elevator. Raising an eyebrow as he looked at it, Gareeku decided to step inside anyway.
Karl: Okay... wont happen again...
*Karl then steps into the elevator*
Karl: secret elevator, eh? I likey...
At about the same time Gareeku whirled around, Aisha had jumped with surprise upon hearing Karl's voice. Her hand shot to her belt and grasped the hilt of her sword. But on seeing it was Karl, she just sighed and stood up with a somewhat embarrassed smirk. The human's senses were pitiful. "I miss not being able to hear someone coming," she muttered and turned around into the house with the other two. "Glad to see you found us easily, Karl."
The mansion's once-grand interior was still a sight to behold indeed. Her eyes wandered across every dark corner and broken column, taking in details that were otherwise obscured by dust and cobwebs. The statues were reminiscent of the ones back in the Lounge mansion, constructed to look down upon visitors with just as much life and pain in their weathered stone gaze. She nodded at Gareeku's comment. "Yes...it's sad...but then I guess it was good that we came when nobody else had taken it as their home." Her voice was low, almost like she didn't feel like disturbing the restful but dark serenity of the place.
With the visitors' feet kicking up more dust than what was necessary, Aisha cupped a hand to her face and sneezed, eyes opening just in time to see the elevator. I wonder what we'd be doing here anyway...she thought, following the men up the stairs and inside.
the argument works and the camera does not record him. as the elevator opens and Boogey fines himself face to face with a middle age human stand there staring at him. "come one we don't have all day. my lab id this way" the human turns and walks down a hall and past two guards. the guards nods and take no note of Boogey as the human opens his lab and Wait's
"Greetings. Eric Valen, right?" Boogey says, taking a seat in said office, "Tell me, Mr. Valen, do you recognise me?"
" please Boogey i know most things in this world. as soon as you bother the kids i knew you were here" the human entered the lab. the door stayed open. in Boogey's hand the PDA seems to vibrate and Boogey notices that the human Eric's tone is far colder the he remembered in the outside world. as Boogey followed the human having little choice if he wised to talk with him he thought about what he said. " I know most things in this world." if he ore the fox soul created this world shouldn't he know everything about it?
"Not really secret, but altered. The best secrets are hidden in the most obvious of places." Stygian looked a bit annoyed, but let Aisha in with a bow and stepped in behind the already closing doors.
"Deeper," he said with a commanding tone. The elevator shuddered, and then sank. It went on for quite a distance, then stopped with a thump.
The doors rolled aside, revealing a dimly lit hall that looked like some huge, tall-roofed underground garage or machine shop. Metal structures and machines stood to the sides almost everywhere, except in the farther part of the room. There instead were a number of shapes covered under large black tarps, one of which was significantly larger than the others, at about the size of a yacht. The other ones had to be cars and motorcycles.
Stygian walked out and immediately stepped to the side, walking along the wall toward another set of doors.
"This is where I keep my own operation," Stygian said.
"I'd like to request that you do not speak down to me," Boogey replied calmly, "You've shown that you know my name, but that doesn't answer my question. Do you recognise me, E? Do you know who I am?" He checked the PDA, thinking that the vibrating was another message, and mulling over what Eric had given away. The concious mind, the part of the mind that most people actually use and control, is only 10%. I operate there and in the other 90% that makes up subconcious thought. If he doesn't know everything going on in what's technically his concious mind, I have an upper hand in that I can simply check. He, however, wouldn't appear to have that option.
"Yes i am E. Eric is a paradox life that i may never have had the chance to live. " E noticed the vibrations PDA. in the blink of an Eye it appears in his hand. "So you found away around the null logic barrier by hitching a ride with a being that can. i honestly don't think you could do that. " he squeeze he PDA and it flashes." so that's the trick. you sent only a small part of yourself in here as a finite state machine. i bet you didn't tell Boogey or anyone else about this back up plan. what plan was it anyway?" the PDA plays possum. he looks at boogey. "i'm not sure What you expect of me Boogey but i have not sleep in almost a week. i'm very busy" he sets the pda on his desk and jumps for Boogey wishing to be free of E. but e stops it. with on hand he rubs his fans and temples collapsing into a chair that appeared behind him." have a seat Boogey. tell me what brings you to my mind and before you get any ideals this is a fully autonomous simulation that ive created downs to the chemicals in the lab. even the children are independent of me but they especially Estavon report to me anything that is of concern. not tell me What Brings you int my sealed of mind? i lest the others almost ten million terabytes to play. that should be enough." the PDA makes another bid to escape and this time e lets it.' it is display the about of time that has run locally since the simulation because. 6 months 12 day and 15 hours. the space allotted for this ares is 280 million terabyte with the average of 2 to 3 million gigabytes for every entity. their is also a message hiding in the data of highlighted letters that reads. " he's unstable. be careful."
Boogey typed back, Perfectly sane people usually are. Don't worry, it would appear that makes three of us.
"If you know what's going on, you know why you can't stay here. I can exist in minds; it's my natural habitat. However, you can't. You'll change. You'll grow sick of living, assuming you don't just die of neglecting your physical body. You'll get sick of it..." Boogey glared at Eric and drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair, "Just like that vixen is sick of it. Have you ever seen a soul go stale, Eric? Someone who has lived their life and is being forced to continue it unnaturally? The results are often quite horrible. She can't live like this, and neither can you."
Eric sighs. " i didn't mean to keep here here so long." he turned in his chair looking one a screen that appeared to be a large window. he smiled how little Boogey knew about him saying he couldn't live in here. then he though about poor starlight. he'd been fooling himself he knew. he'd hope to make a place where she could be happy for a few weeks while he discovered how to remake her a new body. a body like the one she had but one with out the limits of life and death that she endured. "I never planned for this to last Boogey. i figures a few weeks and i'd be done but it's been months you see but i'm so close to success." the lab around them come into focus and bogey and see complexes models and reality bending equations everywhere. there were even a few models that appeared to be examples of digital matter yes as Boogey looks at all of there he sees that the have one thing that stands out among all others. these bodies were made to live with out ageing significantly but all of them had what appeared to be a self destruct option. he was out of his mind, he had to be. here he was trying to bring a soul back too the physical world so that they could live together and he was putting in death as an option for each of the forms? he looked closer at on of the forms it had some stats. Birth capability positive, life span projected 300K Terran years, regeneration high ,auto resuscitation positive be limited, permanent death option? positive. rebirth option negative. zombie proof negative. tied to a star to power and rebirth negi... Boogey is interrupted before he can finish" Boogey do you know what a soul is? not the theoretical stuff but what a real soul is?"
"Eric, and I'm certain that you are Eric and not the E I'd otherwise refer to you as, I AM the theoretical stuff. But allow me to hazard a guess," Boogey turned toward Eric and held his hands up where they could be seen. There was a slight shimmer of fractal patterns between them; a glimpse of what Boogey really is, "A soul is the emotional responces, inner power, will, or whatever you wish to call it. It's what allows one to see beauty in things, and what they mean, and allows one to disagree as to what that beauty is. It is something meant to go through life once, beginning, middle and end, and then go on to what happens next. I know you know this; otherwise, you would not have made bodies that can die. Death is a necessity that you have denied that woman, and putting her in one of these will not help. She'll either leave almost immediatly, or simply not have any purpose. She's lived her life. And the fooling yourself bit isn't past tense." He spat a drop of argument venom into the middle of one written down sheet of equations, which it went through like a baseball through rice paper, "You still are."
ooc: E, with all due respect please try not to auto my characters responces or thoughts.
( ooc sorry about that. i guess i've been too forceful and letting my charters reflections of his own thoughts push at yours. )
Eric watches as the equation folded and dissolved. "No it is past tense but you are right i am Eric" Eric smiled. "you know that equation took me almost a month to reach that point? but back what a soul is" Eric pressed a button on his desk. "Cancel my appoints for the rest of today" " yes sir" "did you know that machines have souls? most of them lack the ability to express the but there are there. a soul as i have learned though my learning is not by any means complete is a living summation of an entity. it allows us to question ourselves to grow and to ultimately die." Eric looked at Boogey again as if wondering something "Do you know i spent time as an infused soul at one point.? it was for about a year before i gained that mechanical body that you know so well. you know that the first time it was destroyed i was fearful that i would die. to die before i knew who i was frighted me. tell me have you ever feared death since you entered your present state?" Eric looks around as if trying to an fly in the room. that something was bothers him showed plain on his face.
I'm a thought entity. If it can be thought up then there's one of us that incorperates it. Of course there are machines with souls.
"Oh absolutely," Boogey smiled, "From day one. At the start of my existense I was made up of a philosophers theory, a writers idea, and the memories of a young man who may or may not still be alive. By the very laws of reality, I'm for the most part impossible, and the only way I survive is by the fact that people believe their senses more than logic. One day I'll be out of people who know what I am, get disproven, and I'll die. Or another thought entity will eat me, and I'll die. Or the various concepts that compose me will stop having anything to do with one another, fly apart, and I'll die. And that's just the tip of the iceburg. Since then I've gotten a bit more confident in my ability to survive, but that doesn't change the fact that I am in no way immortal. Everyone dies and everything ends. Death is something to be afraid of, yes, but not constantly." Boogey let himself take a good look at Eric's concious thoughts, trying to discern what he was about to do.
Aisha had kept quiet during the elevator ride down, staring at the doorway with the oncoming interest of anything more to come. She was grateful that, at least, they were slowly descending out of the somber atmosphere that the rest of the house held. There was a smirk on her face. This place seems to be almost as extensive as Karl's lounge...or, if it was even his place anymore with the add-ons...
Stepping out with the others, she was surprised at just how extensive it was. The transformed human stared at the various things under the tarps, sometimes occupying her mind by guessing at what was under them.
"Your own operation, huh?" she said with curiosity as they approached another set of doors, her voice echoing off the ceiling and walls. It was always daunting, going underground.
Stygian looked back at Aisha, smiling.
"Yeah, you can't keep a business up without equipment. At least, I couldn't. Over here is the most of it, really, and the computer room," he said, and stepped in through the thick metal doors that slid easily aside with a little drawing of another code symbol.
Inside were two conjoined rooms, one large and in comparison with the others quite bright and full of brushed metal doors that covered the walls. In the middle of that room was a large, solid and steel-surfaced workbench, the lines between the parts of metal almost invisible, and only a few nuts and joints visible. The other room was a bit higher up, and dark. You could just make out the shape of something large and irregularly shaped at the back of it, like a pile of boxes and machinery bits with things snaking in between them, under a myriad of screens and cameras set on the walls. A single red light glowed in the dark of the room.
As they descended in the elevator, Gareeku glanced at Aisha and noticed her smirk. With a slight smirk of his own, the wolf-turned-human turned back to the elevator door. As the group walked through the hall, Gareeku was continually observing the surroundings, staying silent while Aisha and Stygian conversed. Upon walking through the door at the end of the hell, the wolf-turned-human once more observing the surroundings, the smirk reappearing on his face.
"And what delights do you keep in here, aside from the computers?" he asked as he tried to make out what was in the darkened room.
"Awesome." Aisha's impressed gaze swept across the room while Stygian gave his little tour of the place. This was a gathering of more machinery than she had ever seen, or at least liked to see. There should have been less ease, being out of her zone of comfort, but being a human in such a place was probably the worse that she was going to get...or so she thought.
Glancing at Gareeku, she nodded in agreement with his statement, blinking a little to get her eyes used to the brightness of the room. "I'd like to know that too..." she muttered with a slight laugh. Knowing Stygian by now, he wasn't to be predictable.
"The things that we might need as security for bringing our friends back," was Stygian's simple answer. Then, he turned to the darkened room. For a moment he just stood, obviously thinking. Then, he sang a bit in that clear, strong voice of his.
"I love my computer,
you make me feel allright,
every waking hour
of every lonely night..."
For a moment there was only silence. Then, there was a low hum, and dark screens flickered into life in the room, a greenish light gently spreading through it. A female voice that sounded lifelike, but had a sort of metallic duality to it answered in a smooth alto.
"I love my computer
for all you give to me;
predictable errors,
and no identity..."
"You know," the voice continued after a short pause, "If I didn't know better I'd say you were being mean, Sebastian." The voice sounded mockingly indignated.
"Nice to see you too, Moira," Stygian answered.
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 07, 2007, 01:25:01 PM
I'm a thought entity. If it can be thought up then there's one of us that incorperates it. Of course there are machines with souls.
"Oh absolutely," Boogey smiled, "From day one. At the start of my existense I was made up of a philosophers theory, a writers idea, and the memories of a young man who may or may not still be alive. By the very laws of reality, I'm for the most part impossible, and the only way I survive is by the fact that people believe their senses more than logic. One day I'll be out of people who know what I am, get disproven, and I'll die. Or another thought entity will eat me, and I'll die. Or the various concepts that compose me will stop having anything to do with one another, fly apart, and I'll die. And that's just the tip of the iceburg. Since then I've gotten a bit more confident in my ability to survive, but that doesn't change the fact that I am in no way immortal. Everyone dies and everything ends. Death is something to be afraid of, yes, but not constantly." Boogey let himself take a good look at Eric's concious thoughts, trying to discern what he was about to do.
As Boogey looks at E's aware mind he hears he's thoughts.
where is he? i know he's here somewhere i can senses him and have since Boogey can through that door. E's eyes continue to flicker over the room and he seems unaware of Boogey's investigations as he is so intent upon his own search
As Stygian sang, a slight grin appeared on Gareeku's face. It seemed that, for all the dark features that he possessed, Stygian liked a sing-song, and had pretty good voice, too. Gareeku had to admit, he was the same at times.
Hearing the computer talk, the wolf-turned-human raised his eyebrows in surprise. This was probably the first time he had encountered a talking computer before, especially one with such an "organic" personality. Then again, when he thought about it, Gareeku found it more logical than other things he had come across.
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."
Well, I hope it can do that, Aisha thought, still holding concern in her mind for the others. She wondered how they were doing, but with this kind of setup on their side, it was also easy to hold out hope. She listened to Stygian's singsong declaration with a smirk.
Of course, she almost jumped when something responded, the dark room ahead taking on a glow along with the metallic whirring as things started up, and the voice addressed Stygian in a manner not unlike a person rather than a machine.
"Now that's neat," she laughed and settled again.
Stygian smiled at them, and turned to the thing set in the wall. It turned out to be a huge computer, centered around a cylindrical core unit that looked large enough to hold a person in it, with a sort of helmet-like face holding a now green light, like an eye, set into its face between six much smaller others around it, and in the smooth seam between the two half-cylinder metal covers that held it. From the base of this column snaked a myriad of cables and wires into other components that seemed to include a supraconductive cooling system, for whispers and traces of smoke sometimes moved around and seeped off the machine. It seemed linked to every other piece of machinery in that room, and probably to the entirety of the rest of the house.
"This is Moira, the sentient computer I've kept down here for some years," he said, not without some pride in his voice. "I should probably tell you that this stays between me and you. It's illegal here to create sentient computers that are entirely 'artificial' in their origins."
"Paranoia, mostly," Moira added in with a voice that suggested 'she' had discussed this before. You could hear some british accentuation to 'her' speech. On all of the dark screens you could see a shadowy female face coming into view, a pair of snake-like green eyes seeming to look at you curiously from within them. "Most of the original designs turned out to develop oddities in their operation once they started to learn enough to form something like consciousness, why the third generation of home computers were made so that they simply simulate it, but keep overlapping operations and memory partitions that aren't big enough or don't last long enough for them to become self-aware. Much shorter, in fact." 'She' sounded a bit irritated at that. Then her voice turned.
"Oh, but where are my manners? I'm Moira. Who might you be?"
May felt her spell fail the moment it reached Mel. It wasn't that it wouldn't form around the former dragoness, but that once it did it was swiftly beaten down into submission and wrenched out until it was nothing again. Similarily, she felt the teacup behind her begin to falter in its structure, as if the place somehow realized that it didn't want magic going on anymore and fought, quite successfully, to have its own way.
Hearing Moira's question, Gareeku bowed politely.
"My name is Gareeku Manoko. It is a pleasure to meet you." the wolf-turned-human said introduction as he bowed. Moira may have been a computer, but she still had a personality, and so Gareeku felt he should, and would, treat her like any other person.
Aisha listened to Stygian introduce Moira with an interested gaze. She thought, added to often more than once that day, about this world and how much different it was from the one she knew. Her brow quirked with interest about the questioning of sentient computers and she made the deduction that it must be hard sometimes.
Still, the panther-turned-girl smiled politely and gave a bow of her own to Moira, a small flourish made with her cape. "Aisha deCabre. Just call me Aisha, por favor...good to meet you as well."
May goes with a desperate plan. She knows that the gang intends to kill them or worse, rape them. May prays, hoping for divine intervention. While she is doing so, she kicks the gang member (the one with his gun pointed at Sathariel) in the male’s weak spot and attempts to grab the gun.
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.*
A Feather Fall shield (intangible and invisible) appears around Mel, Sathariel, and May. The shield is not noticable even to the target, but it renders all projectiles within five feet of them harmless by taking away their velocity. The shield does not seem to be affected by the force that is trying to prevent the use of magic.
*OOC EDIT: Unfortunately, this power is a double-edged sword as you may soon see.*
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 07, 2007, 06:55:57 PM
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)
"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.
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!"
*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 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."
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 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.
"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...
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 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.
Quote from: Joat on January 07, 2007, 08:46:41 PM
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.”
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.
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.
"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 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.
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.
*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 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?"
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.
Karl: Are any of these guns "Plasma Rifles"?
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.
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."
Karl: Hey Styg...I asked a question...and also, what about me?
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 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 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.
"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.
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.
“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.”
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.
"Sounds great." Gareeku said with a smile, "Thanks very much."
Walking over to Moira, Gareeku then smiled apologetically.
"Sorry if I'm bothering you, but would it be ok if I got some clothes? I'm basically just looking for something which will let me blend in with the people here in the city, but i don't want any fur." Gareeku asked, feeling guilty about the fact that she was already busy with sorting out the tracer.
"Busy streets it is. Are either of you comfortable with weapons? If we can find a pawn shop I have some junk I can probably barter for something. I'm only comfortable with a bow and this doesn't seem like an archery sort of city."
Mel began reaching into her magical "pockets," not trusting them to stay available with the magic failing. Various odds and ends disappeared into the pockets of her new outfit. Done with that she reached out and touched Sathariel on the shoulder. "You going to be okay. That was a pretty nasty brew of emotions and thoughts for someone as sensitive as you."
"Thanks for the sentiment," Aisha replied to Stygian's remark about protection with a smirk as she holstered the gun he gave her for a main, again testing the weight and vision beforehand. Being the only female among the group, the transformed panther didn't even take a second thought about it until now. She shrugged. Even here she might as well still hold her own. She's had to prove that her whole life.
Then, she pulled her hair back away from one of her ears, listening to Gareeku and Stygian converse about clothing. While she didn't think her own adventuring attire was to conspicuous, she had to admit that it was well enough different from the others of this world. She watched Gareeku step around back over to Moira, and gathering her things in one place, she walked up behind him and smiled apologetically at the sentient machine. "Same here."
"Allright, coming up," the computer said in a much friendlier voice than it had to Stygian. "It won't take five minutes. Well, actually I think it will, but that's about all."
True to her word, the computer soon handed out some pieces of clothing right to them with mechanical arms whirring. Gareeku got a pair of straight black khaki-like pants, a black t-shirt and a sort of grey overshirt, tie and black vest, and a plain black overcoat, and some sturdy boots to go with that. All were of high quality and though finely cut and sown they looked like the sort of clothing he seemed to prefer; the functional and tough kind that can take a beating. To Aisha the computer gave a slightly different, slimmer pair of black pants, a dark red shirt and thin black sweater, and a black jacket with a slightly parted backside to that. The shoes she got weren't boots, but they were very nicely made, and they seemed rough-soled enough.
Sathariel's face went almost a bit blank for a second, and then her lower lip started to tremble. It seemed she had only felt those things, but been too overwhelmed to think about them. She looked at Mel, shaking.
"I... I... He was..." she said in a blurred voice. Tears started to form at her eyes and stream down her cheeks, and she let out a whimper.
“What is it?” May asks.
Suddenly, a voice (able to bypass all mental defenses with incredible ease) says telepathically to them, “The Feather Fall shields are down now. You no longer seem to need them so much. Good luck now, mortals.”
May seems to know where the voice came from, for she then says, “Sevilin?”
*OOC: I must ask you, Stygian. Was May successful when she tried to grab the gangster’s gun?*
Her eyes widening with a smile, Aisha took the pieces of clothing and looked them over. They were just about her style, dark and stealthy as well as tough. She fingered the fabric and nodded with satisfaction, for they hopefully looked about her size too.
"Much appreciated," she said to Moira with a slight bow as she turned around and scanned the area for a side passage in which to change, then ducked into one. Aisha laughed inwardly. This was the the first time in her adventures that her wardrobe had changed quite a few times in the span of just hours.
When she came back, it was with a satisfied look on her face, glancing herself over at the attire she now wore. Yeah, it fit her just fine, not too loose nor too tight, and also, none too heavy, but able to withstand the cool air outside. "Now this is cool," she said with a smirk.
Looking at the clothing, Gareeku couldn't help but smile; he certainly liked the look of his outfit.
"Thank you very much, you're too kind." he said to Moira, the smile still on his face as he bowed politely before turning to Aisha with a grin. "Now to try on my new outfit."
A few minutes later, Gareeku reappeared from a side passage of his own, and was now dressed in his new attire, observing his clothes as the smile reappeared on his face.
"Now -this- I like." he commented. "Nice and classy."
Turning to look at Aisha, Gareeku grinned.
"Now -that- is classy, not to mention quite hot, to be honest." he said, the grin staying on his face as he spoke.
Stygian eyed the both of them appreciatively, nodding to himself and scratching his chin again.
"I guess we had better get going then," he said, and shot a glare to the computer.
"Yeah, yeah..." Moira said, producing a small rectangular thing, about the size and shape of a pen, to Stygian who snatched it up. "You're the boss. But if the freezer holds up, or the bikes aren't gassed, then blame yourself..." The computer sounded a bit sour, but mostly jokingly. Stygian paid her little attention.
"So then... now that we have our things together, it's time to move. Bike or car? The car tops out faster, but bikes are more nimble." He looked a bit at Aisha. "I guess that car would be better, if we're not splitting up. But then, we've only got one scanner. Moira, do you have more of these?"
"Sorry, but if you want another, you're going to have to order more components. That's the only type I've got right now," the computer answered with finality.
"Well, blood and Hell to that then..." Stygian swore, and started to walk back outside into the hangar-like garage.
Sathariel almost fell forward on Mel, her tears flowing heavily.
"He was... he was going to..." she cried. Mel couldn't help but feel a certain deja vú. "How can people think such things...!?" the woman sobbed into her clothing.
(OOC: Yeah, she got ahold of his gun... though I think she's not strong enough to use it properly)
Listening to Stygian's question, Gareeku thought about for a bit.
"Hmmmm...i think we should take the car. I don't personally know how to operate a motorcycle." Gareeku replied in suggestion. "But then again, I don't know how to drive a car, either."
At Gareeku's statement, Aisha chuckled and brushed the hair out of her face, this time a slight blush easily visible on her pale human skin. She looked him over and gave him a grin back, patting him on the shoulder while walking to the table where her weapons were. "Speak for yourself, handsome," she said with a wink and let her fingers slide from his arm, reaching out to grab her vest and holsters, as well as the scabbard that held her dragonblade.
It was the only classic thing in her arsenal, but it made her a little more comfortable to know that it was there. Plus it was wise to have a weapon that had no ammo to run out of on hand. Armed and ready, Aisha regarded Stygian's question with a bit of thought. "Yeah, same with me, whatever works best. The car would be a good choice," she said and started following him out.
Stygian made another of those short laughs that he seemed so good at, and grinned over his shoulder at them. He stopped and looked at the computer a bit.
"Car it is then... You'll like the one we're taking anyhow, I think. Oh, and Moira... It was good to see you," he said. The computer didn't answer, but you could almost feel the gaze of that green eye and the ones on the screens at him. He smirked, and then walked out.
"It's back here at the end..." he said as he stopped to press a button on a panel set in a wall. There was a loud mechanical sound as a big door in one wall began to open. Stygian walked by it and to the back of the garage, over to a large thing covered by a tarp. He pulled the cover off.
The thing underneath was another one of those monstrous hybrids of a machine that Stygian seemed to collect. It must have weighed at least three tons, but was low to the ground, and covered with the edgy black armor it was it looked a bit like some sort of monstrous slug. It didn't even seem to have any windows. Its wheels were huge, individually suspended with their own arms inside its black body, and armored too, some sort of ventilation openings on the "locks" that kept them to the body.
"The Mallet. Suitable name, isn't it?" Stygian said.
Mel awkwardly hugged Sathariel. When had she been voted the strong one? Someone had made a mistake. "Some people are just bad. It hurts to feel the crap in their minds but at least you have forwarning. Some people never see it coming." Mel looked at May discouragingly.
"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to ask you to keep feeling the bad stuff. Those thugs aren't giving up this easily and if you can feel where the bad stuff is coming from we can avoid them." Mel glanced at the doors. The fact that no one had followed them meant that they were taking the time to set up a really good ambush. She eyed a cluttered set of stairs and wondered if up was the least horrible option. Then her eyes caught on a mirror resting crookedly in a corner and she sighed. Her hastily assembled outfit didn't improve her looks any but at least it was dark; indigo pants, a charcoal jacket, and the things on her feet that couldn't be defined as either boots or shoes were black. Her shirt was black as well but it had a design in gold across it. She fastened the jacket over the shirt, dourly predicting that with the way this adventure was going the design was an obscene comment in some language she couldn't read. She pulled the hood over her bright hair.
"We have to get moving. Which way Sathariel?"
*Karl takes a look at the vehicle*
Karl: No windows...this thing must have vid-sensors then, for how else can we see out of it? and thank all that is good that it is armored...hate for it to not be.
*Karl then puts on vest*
Karl: My armor device won't work since this world seems to drain the magic that's required to Henshin (transform)...so I guess I'll go with this vest...
May is surprised, though she does not comment on it, when she hears Sathariel’s surprise at what the gangsters were planning.
As Mel asks Sathariel where to go next, May wonders whether she should offer her friends some candy to help cheer them up a bit.
*OOC: Not strong enough to use it? Well, May isn’t exactly an expert gunswoman, I will admit. That title goes to Valencia.*
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 08, 2007, 07:25:36 PM
"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."
" who do you think you are to tell me who i am?" Eric Snarled as he half stood only to be stopped by and white gloved hand the appeared on his shoulder pushing him down into his seat.
hear him out Eric. you've been holding on to much for too long a second gloved hand seems to build it's self out of the of the air but it is incomplete as circuits appear in the gaps.
Please listen to him. even if you were to take over the rest of his life ,not that i would let you, what would happen then?
The crying woman in Mel's arms sniffed, and looked up. Then, she stepped back, wiped her reddened eyes, and made a last sniffle while looking a bit shamefully at the floor.
"Up. We just need to go up, as far as we can I think. They're a bit away, but mostly just above us," she said, and looked to the door out into the shop.
The handle to the back door of the storage rattled, and then the door shook. They could hear hard steps from outside.
Stygian walked up to the side of the vehicle and thumbed something in his pocket. A few slightly green lights switched on at its front, and then there was a small whirring sound as something in the back of it started up. Then, that whirring exploded into a furious hollow roar as some sort of turbine rapidly revved up in the heart of the vehicle, shaking the hall with its bestial sound for a moment before it died down to a low thrum. It seemed to pulse slightly, almost as if alive. Stygian opened a fold-back door on the left side of the monstrous car, the other one opening by itself a second or so later.
"Get in," he said, and followed his own advice.
Aisha spared a quick wave goodbye to Moira before leaving, an excited smirk on her face despite the fact that she was going without her ring. Still, without her tail, it was more of a risk losing the artifact when carrying it than leaving it behind.
She kept in step behind Stygian, always next to Gareeku, with certainty hearing Karl get ready himself and catch up. With the four of them, she knew...or at least hoped...it would be easy enough to find the others. "Con esperanza (hopefully)," she muttered in a low whisper as if praying.
Finally, the group reached their destination, three sets of curious eyes falling upon the tarp, and then the car as it was revealed. Aisha's red-tinged gaze was wide and impressed, both at the heavy and hard way it was built and the color, though she was just as curious at Karl's remark about the windows. Still, she figured it worked well enough. "'Mallet', huh? Very fitting indeed," she replied as the thing started up with a grumble through the very walls. "This'll be fun."
Looking over it once or twice and then exchanging a brief glance with the others, Aisha ducked her head and placed herself inside on one the moderately comfortable seats in the back.
Mel jumped at the banging on the back door. "Sathariel can you feel any of the bad thoughts out front?"
"Who am I? Who am I!? I'm the one who's been wandering through you're freaking psyche and has shown up with a message from you're freaking wife, that's who!" Boogey snapped. Realizing that he'd lost his temper for a second, he willed himself to relax and massaged his temples, "Would the man she had married her act in the way you have? Don't answer that. You can't tell; you're the one who's changed. This is why it can be helpful to have other personalities. When one goes wonky, someone notices. You have to let that poor woman move on," He looked up at Eric, "If not because it's her wish, then because it's what's best for her." He wasn't afraid of angering Eric again. He wasn't even sure that this version of E was a whole personality anymore. Besides, if things came to violence, Boogey was the one in his element. Fighting something in you mind was like trying to go hand to hand with a tapeworm in your gut; you just end up punching yourself, if anything, "I know you wish to give her form once again, but there are some things you just can't do..."
The white gloved hands began to grow arms in black armor. He's right Eric. she deserves to more on don't you agree. Eric looked at Boogey. " lets say that i have change. lets say that i want to so that she's free. that over looks one thing. i can't keep her here against her will Boogey. She's still here because she still has hope for me . should i tell her to go? to leave because don't need her anymore? i'd be lying and even if she believed me how could i even consider hurting her like that?" Eric how about we bring her here and ask her?
"I'm not telling you to kick her out, I'm saying you should let her leave," Boogey replied, "Listen to the ominous voice and ask the lady what she wants. And you," He then pointed at the hands, "Good taste in gloves or not, I can't just keep calling you the Ominous Voice. Your name, good sir?"
their is the sound of laughter. Boogey i'm E the one you came to save. i was lost in the maze of reflection when i got your message you came to where i was. you could say that you saved me opening the way for me. more and more of the current E came into visibility. Eric and i were already here and so was i but i lost much of myself when he rebuilt his last memories of this world that it weakened me. that let him trap when i let my gruaud down. you brought with you parts of Erebus and DGE when you came and the have been restoring me while you talked
"hello .Remember Starlight and the whole reason that you let me set up with world?" yes, yes you went a little over broad but enough about that. i think you should call her here. after all if you love her don't you want her to be able to chose? a forming helmet looked at Boogey through at this point is' is and empty shell it still seems to covey some emotions.
Boogey smiled and nodded at E.
"I was wondering when you'd show up. Yes, lets bring the lady here. Although, perhaps here should be someplace a bit more fitting one so distinguished as her?" He made a strange, twitching guesture and a faint suggestion of elegant furnishings appeared in the room, "With your permission, of course," Boogey added, said suggestion dimming. He hadn't had the chance to mess with his surroundings the entire time he had been in E's mind, and had been rather looking forward to the chance to show off what he could do.
E nods and looks around. "you have good taste" he said and his face faded into appearance. With of seeming to do anything a door appears in the air between The E's and Boogey. the door opens and Starlight walks through it. "Estavon said that you wanted to see me Eric" she looks at the two full beings and the partial one. she notes that Eric seems sad but somehow almost relived while the floating head and arms seemed to be growing a chest before her eyes. he stepped forward with out any apparent legs. " welcome starlight. Please have a seat we have much to discuss"
Sathariel nearly shrieked.
"It's him! He's going to break down the door!" she whined loudly. Then her eyes seemed to widen. "The other one! He's not human!" She seemed frightened out of her wits. She stayed still only for a second, then bolted out into the shop.
Unfortunately, the dark vehicle only seemed to have three seats, with Stygian already sitting in the driver's up front, grabbing a steering column that seemed more fit for a motorcycle and surrounded by many other controls. The interior was spacious enough for them all to fit in once they had stowed their weapons and equipment behind the seats, but it was a tight fit.
The moment the doors closed and the pressurized locks clacked into place the car's interior fell into a claustrophobic near-darkness, tinged green by some of the smaller screens and gauges around the large and curved main forward and side display that showed the murky image of the garage. Gauges rose and the engine thrummed as Stygian tapped the throttle and started driving the thing up to the elevator-like opening in the wall. As it crawled, he fluidly adjusted some controls, and they felt the car's flexible chassis move around them, lowering it until it almost slicked to the ground. He slowly drove it into the elevator, and stopped when it gently bumped into something.
There was a mechanical sound, and louder, lower snaps that shook the car from the outside.
"You're lucky. We're going down, by the looks of it, so you'll get the fun ride," he grinned. "May I ask all passengers to fasten their seatbelts, and those who don't have any to brace themselves tight?" He pulled back a lever of some sort, and there was a sound from below. Then, the car slowly turned ninety degrees until it stood on end vertically, the front pointing straight down. Through the forward display they could see a long, straight, railed shaft, right down, plummeting into darkness.
There was nothing to do but follow Sathariel. It looked like she was going to make an effective, if erratic, bad guy detector. At the same time Mel wondered what she meant by one of their pursuers being "not human."
When Aisha made her comment back at him, Gareeku could not help but grin sheepishly, his cheeks turning red in a blush. Snapping himself out of it, the wolf-turned-human then checked that he had his firearms and blade fastened and secure, before turning to Moira once more.
"Thank you again, Moira. Your generosity is much appreciated." Gareeku said, bowing once more and waving goodbye as he followed Stygian.
As they walked, Gareeku noticed Aisha's somewhat concerned look. Smiling softly, he held her hands in his, squeezing gently.
"It'll be ok. We'll find them." he said to her reassuringly.
When the car was revealed, Gareeku raised his eyebrows. It was safe to say that he impressed as he looked at the mightly vechile in front of them.
"Now that's what I call a car." he commented as a smirk appeared on his face when the vechile roared into life.
Climbing inside, Gareeku sat next to Aisha in the back, fastening his seat belt once he had done so.
"Safety first." he commented with a grin. As they moved, Gareeku's eyes widened slightly as the car was positioned in a vertical position, facing down into what seemed like an endless tunnel, before a grin appeared on his face as Stygian made his comment. Adrenaline was now pumping through his veins as he looked at the sight of it.
"Well now...I think this is sure to be one hell of a ride." he said with an excited smirk on his face.
Boogey finished letting the room materialize and sank into one of the newly formed chairs.
"Yeah, me again. I delivered your message but things got... complicated. Methinks you should have a word with your husband."
Karl: the track is pointing downward? Excuse me, but are we heading for a subterrainian area?
*Karl had already buckled his belt, hoping it would hold him in*
Once Aisha was inside the car, she managed to put her things behind the seat; an easy thing to do as her equipment wasn't as heavily packed as those of the men. She was seated inbetween the two in the back, decidedly braced enough to let Karl have the remaining seatbelt.
Her eyes took a second to adjust to the near-darkness when the interior was plunged into it. When the car started up, the growling of the engine sent reverberations through their feet, and she leaned her back against the seat when it finally started moving. Her heartbeat quickened a little, excited and eager to just get moving. The only thing that she probably could have changed about the thing was the slight lack of space. But Aisha wasn't claustrophobic...and certainly didn't mind being so close to Gareeku.
But at Stygian's comment, and when the car's nose was pointed downwards, Aisha's arms immediately threw back to grip her seat while her shoes dug into the floor. Her eyes were wide and adrenaline coursed through her own system. The look on her face was a mix of thrilling anticipation and slight fear...like one would get right at the top of a roller-coaster hill before the plunge. Only this looked to be a bit more extreme than a coaster...and the plunge was into a very deep hole.
"Ohh holy...this'll definitely be fun," she said, mirroring Gareeku's smirk.
Sathariel ran straight through the shop, knocking some shirts and a box out of the hands of a surprised attendant, and out into the street in front. She didn't stop, but immediately rushed through the somewhat dense crowd gathered up in front and headed for some stairs a couple of hundred metres ahead. And behind you, in the storage room, the backdoor crashed in, the huge man from the gang and the lean leader standing in the opening.
"No, we're inbound for ground level," Stygian said to Karl, and revved the engine a bit. "In case of an emergency, there are no exits. You're along for the ride, so smoke 'em if you've got 'em!"
With a nasty laugh, Stygian pushed the lever forward. There was a clack as bolts released, and then they fell.
The shaft started zooming by at breakneck speed. The car's weight and shape meant that it kept accelerating, pushing air away like a big bullet. Stygian gave the engine a bit of gas. The tunnel just kept going and going. It took some time, moments that seemed like minutes, before you saw something. The car's lights fell on an armored wall up ahead, racing against you. It was barely in view for two seconds, looking as if the car would slam into it. Stygian laughed crazily.
Just an eyeblink before the car would have smashed into the wall and been turned into a fireball of scrap metal, it split, admitting the car through. The tunnel started curving, and the car's wheels skidded just a bit as they touched the smooth ground, and then caught up with it. Then, Stygian pushed the pedal to the metal, and they were thrust down into their seats when the tunnel made a relatively sharp upturn, evening out. Another door up ahead split, and they emerged into another tunnel, this one sloped and lit from an opening up ahead. The car made a small jump, and then quite gently landed on the side of a motorway tunnel, going slightly down. Stygian made a sharp left turn, and zigzagged in between the much slower moving other cars present, who honked and blared at them, and slowed while going down an off-ramp. The heavy vehicle skidded as he ducked into a lane, and started weaving his way through the cars against the exit down into town.
“Cyborg? Shapeshifted? Alien?” May asks as she follows.
Valencia is actually beginning to improve with Link.
Mel followed Sathariel down the street, trying to keep an eye simultaneously on both her companions. She didn't know if Sathariel had any destination other than away in mind and May was small enough that Mel worried she would either get lost in the crowd or not be able to keep up with Sathariel's pace. Or wander off if something distracted her.
Aisha clenched her teeth slightly as she stared ahead down the ramp and into the dark tunnel that they were about to be plunged into. The soles of her feet were digging into the floor to pass for makeshift brakes and her fingernails (which she sorely wished were still claws right then) clutched the back of her seat. The almost slow-motion suspense coupled with the adrenaline rush was almost surely going to make her dizzy...especially when she heard Stygian's laughter.
And then, she heard the release...and they plunged.
The transformed human yelped loudly, the upward draft from the drop working to press her back right to the fabric...in the same way as a coaster uses speed when going into loops, the force was enough to keep her there without a seatbelt. But even with that fact, the element of fear was still there. Her eyes were closed tightly and she fought to keep her stomach from churning.
As the car finally leveled and turned, she was still bracing herself for dear life, spitting to get the hair out of her face. Aisha opened her eyes then only to see them rushing towards a wall. "WHOOOOAH!" she cringed, awaiting an impact that to her infinite relief never came. The honking noises of the other cars brought her out of that trance.
She sat up while the car swerved and, after releasing an uneasy but slightly crazed laugh, shouted with some amount of anger to Stygian, "Are you full-blown friggin' NUTS!?"
Noticing Aisha's nervous look, Gareeku smiled reassuredly at her, placing a hand on hers. However, the adrenaline was beginning to pump in his veins as he turned back to the view of the tunnel now in front of him. Taking a deep breath, Gareeku braced himself for what was about to commence. It was then that the car was released from its position as Stygian pushed a lever.
"Ohhhh shiiiiiiiit!" Gareeku yelled at the car plummeted down the tunnel, the force from the sheer velocity pushing him back into his seat as his eyes went wide. The speed was incredible; Gareeku could hear the air whistling past the car as it plummeted, feeling like his heart was about to appear in the back of his throat. Seeing the approaching wall, a look of panic suddenly appeared on his face, shutting his eyes for what he thought would be the end.
The end, however, never came, as Gareeku found out when he opened his eyes. By now the car had touched the ground as the tunnel curved from its previously vertical position. It would be a few moments later that the car was suddenly on a motorway. Seeing that the heart-stopping ride had passed its peak, Gareeku laughed as the adrenaline contuined to pump furiously in his veins.
"Oh hell yeah!! Woo!!" Gareeku cried out as he laughed. It was safe to say that the wolf-turned-human loved his adrenaline-inducing rides. Hearing Aisha, Gareeku gently wrapped an arm around her reassuredly.
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 10, 2007, 02:20:50 PM
Boogey finished letting the room materialize and sank into one of the newly formed chairs.
"Yeah, me again. I delivered your message but things got... complicated. Methinks you should have a word with your husband."
Starlight nods and sits down facing Eric. "Eric" she says her eyes almost down cast. "I'm sorry but i can't stay. not this time" several emotions play over Eric's face. "Starlight. you know i love you but you also know i want you to be happy." Eric seemed at a loo of words then E nudged him "I think that i can bring your body back to a life of you choosing if you wish but i don't want to force anything on you. you would be free to live or not live as you wish." Starlight looked sad. "I know you love me Eric but i can't go on. not like this. my parent are, so are my siblings and most of their children. All of them gone some in accidents or sickness. many of are dead of old age but the are dead not the less and i should join them in the next world." "I know. i did not mean to keep you here and i know that i can't keep you here not if you don't let me but still. I don't want you to hate me but i don't think i can continue without you" this time Eric did start crying and E understood. he too cared for Starlight though he did not love her. well not like Eric did. Starlight read forward and grabs his hands. she whispered. "then come with me" E was stunned. he looked at Boogey and opened his mouth but could not voice his question. still he had to know was it possible?
The way a mind works isn't always as a series of places you can move through, despite metaphors it may shape itself into. It has no real parts other than what's biological; all concious thoughts bleed into all the others and into the subconcious. Boogey saw E's unasked question float by not unlike a plastic bag in the breeze.
"Possible? Yes, but not always ethical," Boogey sighed, "Eric is essentially a thought like me, but not complicated enough to leave your head, expand upon himself or manipulate other thoughts. He's just a bit more complex than the idea of a person; technically, he has a soul. This is good, because it makes him easier to 'send on', but that's still fairly tough. And don't expect me to do it; I'm not too big on euthinasia," He leaned further back into the chair and closed his eyes, "Because that's what it would be; killing him to send him on with his wife. His 'lifespan' has been prolonged as well, so it may be the same sort of thing as with Starlight, but if you can't send him on his merry way on your own, E, I am most certainly not putting a claw through him to help. Basically, for you both to move on Eric would have to shut himself down; not quite forgotten, since you're to a degree a personality, just silenced. Of course, depending on your philosophical views you've moved on already, and this is just a soulless memory of you. And since your mind is in parts mechanical, you could just find his file and dump it in the trash E." Boogey opened his eyes, "And of course you haven't even gotten into philosophical possibilities, your own preconceptions about the nature of 'passing on' that we'd be working around in your mind, wind chill factor... But as stated, possible"
E 's helmet sensor blinked as he shifted through Boogey's words and began to try to sort out what form what mean while Eric smiled. now he had something to say. " you are partlsyu correct to say that i am a memory of myself Boogey but that is not the whole truth. Yes i am a soul or at least a life force but like Starlight here i am not a file of the system. none of us other E's are truly files expect DGE and that's because his file is a data backup. Starlight myself Erebus and the dragons all read as energy anomalies in E's system and we cannot simply be purged as you would have it. still the ideal of moving on with my love to the next life is tempting. during in my four thousand years of life death has never been a kind friend to me" "Boogey i think he may be right i have examined all my files that involve him and there are memories of his actives not his past and they certainly don't extend back 4000 years"
Eric turned to E. "you are still young E but i'm sure you felt it before. you can not have lived this long with out tapping the collective existents some where in the past. the rage of the dragon. The skill of a blade warrior. The calm reflection of a philosophers. we have been all there things and more. For 300 years before i met Starlight i wish for death final and unending but it never came. i would die and if i refuse to reclaimed my life before time ran out i would be replaced. Not dead but not living. It is a sad state but the same can and likely well happen to you. you remember me became i was still trying to hold on when my time ran out after my hyper space accident robbed me of my body but not my soul, my life force. it was that very life fore that became the seed of what you would become because though i was dead my soul was not to be destroyed. it became your first body as it changed frequency. if Erebus had not interfered when he did you may have spawned you own form instead of being capture by Wily"
E looked doubtful as he pauses his calculations "what are you telling me Eric?" " i was not the first of my kind nor will you be he last. there are others i remember them. 6 called themselves E as little as a million years before you came into Being. if you were those beings or not i don't know but i do know this. " Eric pause and E clearly saw the serious ness of his next statement in his face. "once you've experienced your first true death E no not body destruction but death be it soul erasure or the total melt down that you felt forte go through then you'll understand that we are not a normal entity. then you'll know why i wish to move one with the love of my life and my lives before this one." E looked are Eric. He seems to be lost in thought and his thoughts were hard to understand. " someone in our memories maybe they were of our line maybe not but some one we once knew and argued with said that immortality at any price was too high a price to pay. " E seemed to glace over and it appears subtitles change in the face. "was the response 'mortals worry about not living enough yet they fail to realizes that them that die are the lucky ones.'? " "and" Eric prompted "it is not dying that hurts' as Xane once said. 'it is dying out of turn that hurts' " Eric nodded. " Well done not tell me E. is it out turn to die?"
"what" E was stunned and his collations lost. ":why ask me?" " Boogey could find a why to send of off he said so himself but he won't as he is uneasy about doing so that leaves you" "but if you are souls then can't you leave of your one accord?" "maybe she could leave without help but i'm not so lucky. I am bound the entity that you are like you yesterday is bound to your today." Eric sighed " even if I managed to leave of my own anytime you search for me or call on me i will be yanked form my place by her side to this place were you are." " what if i erase all memory of you?" "that won't work you'll remember in your energy matrix soul just like i remember the ones before me" "can't we at least try?" " try what? the temporary body thing? that would be hard on Starlight and i can't face it with out her" Starlight seemed to impose herself between the two . "boys boy's calm down. I'm sure there is a way to do this." Boogey's PDA Beeps Rapidly and E looked at Eric who still had not lowered his defenses.
Stygian laughed back at Aisha, eyeing the pen-sized scanner set into a panel before him, and then throttled up again as they passed into a straight lane. The car's turbine and electric drivetrain engines screamed in chorus as they were pushed back into their seats. Other cars and motorcycles swooshed by at much lower speeds.
"Yeah!" Stygian shouted. "And I've got papers on it too!" He laughed, and made another turn, trying to get to where the signal was strongest, even though the scanner was by no means pinpoint precise, and they would still have to search through a large area.
Sathariel kept on running, only looking over her shoulder very quickly every now and then. Climbing the stairs had gotten them up on a square of some kind, about twenty metres above the street they had been walking along. Up ahead, some people were busily scurrying past, coming out of the entrance to what must have been some sort of train station, judging from the suspended tracks that ran out from the large building on one end. Next to it, a tall structure with what seemed like a large number of tubes centred around a tall pillair, surely hundreds of metres high and linking to a huge platform above, stood with its doors open. It seemed to be some sort of elevator. Sathariel headed straight for it.
That's when the two motorcycles skidded in on the square. From down the stairs, Mel could hear a shout as their pursuers shoved people out of the way.
It looked like even in her mad dash Sathariel was keeping in mind their need to go up if the thing ahead was indeed an elevator. Mel couldn't help but feel this was a trap but couldn't figure out if she was sensing something or if it was just her normal conviction that all elevators were evil deathtraps-in-waiting. No help for it today, she was grounded until she got her proper body back. She could only hope for the timing to work out right.
"Oh, I bet you do..." Aisha muttered with a slight laugh as she got her composure back, pushing some messed-up strands of hair back into place, her adrenaline toning down just a little bit although her feet were still digging into the floor of the car.
Hearing Gareeku's exhultation, the panther-turned-human rolled her eyes jokingly. "I wasn't scared," she smirked when his arm wrapped about her. With a more relaxed sigh, she leaned on him while her gaze wandered about the car's barely lit interior and to the blinking sensor.
I hope that we don't have too big an area to search...Aisha thought, the size of the city still a figure in her mind as the momentum from the car's turn was felt by the ones inside.
As one of the bikers closed on Sathariel, he swung out a hand and swept her up, holding her to him as if she had been light as a child. She kicked and screamed even as he slid to the side and stopped the motorcycle just in front of another alley at the entrance to the square. The other biker made a low turn and tried to come at Mel from the side, as the lean man with the gun and his huge companion came up just from the stairs.
"We shouldn't be far now," Stygian said with a much less maniacal voice, eyeing a small screen. "Just tell me if you see anything disturbing, and we'll be there."
At that point, a police car sped by in the opposite lane just when they had almost crossed an overpass over some maglev train tracks. Stygian looked, and then slammed in a sort of handbrake, turning the vehicle 180 degrees with a long powerslide. The car shook as they jumped over the concrete structure that separated the lanes, partly crushing it, and then raced after the police car.
Turned to Aisha, Gareeku displayed a smirk of his own.
"Oh yeah? I saw you, you were shaking like a leaf." he replied jokingly, scritching her side gently with the hand that was wrapping around her. Looking at the screens, Gareeku held on as Stygian made a sharp u-turn. He was rather the erratic driver, to say the least. What concerned the wolf-turned-human more, however, was the policecar they were now following.
"I hope they're not in any trouble..." he muttered with concern.
"For crying out loud E, what's up? You holding a sci-fi convention in your brain or something?" Boogey rolled his eyes and opened up the message, "This place is crowded."
May, resorting to desperate measures, begins chanting a spell. The spell is extremely powerful, so it might be pretty difficult to negate.
Aisha took a second from watching the sensors to glance back at Gareeku at his joking statement. She replied with her hand ruffling his hair, smiling with a short laugh. "I was not."
The transformed panther started to nod and reply to Stygian about spotting something disturbing, when she saw and heard the police car racing past. Caught off-guard by the distraction, she had to cling partially to the back of the seat to keep from flying off of it when the car turned and charged after it.
"Well, that might lead to something disturbing..." she muttered with a slight shaky voice. Most likely, she wouldn't get used to riding in a car when Stygian is the driver.
Mel heard Sathariel scream almost before she realized what had happened. She couldn't even spot May as the crowd swept away from the oncoming second motorcycle. With no exits she was so trapped. Where were her large interfering brothers when she actually needed them?
They were pushed to the backs of their seats as Stygian caught up with the policecar. Down below and off to the left, they could just see a near-empty square in front of a train station through the side of the forward screen. Something seemed to be happening down there. The next off-ramp was far up ahead.
"Waste no time... Brace yourselves!" Stygian shouted. Then, he pulled full throttle, and the acceleration before seemed like nothing.
The other motorcyclist came around the centre of the square at Mel much too fast and too low for her to be able to do anything. One could just hope she would be able to kick herself out of his grasp once he had caught up with her. She might have been able to sidestep, but with the other hoodlums coming up behind her, there really was no room to maneuver. It even seemed that some of the other thugs from before had broken from the spell and made their way along. And with the square cut off by the motorcycles, that meant they were trapped.
Then, there was a loud crunching sound, and a deafening roar, as something big and black hurtled through the air and down on the square. The motorcyclist headed for Mel barely had time to look up before he was crushed by the huge black car that landed to the side of the square and skidded around, heading for Sathariel and the other biker. It stopped, a door quickly unlatched on its side, and there were two sharp bangs. The man holding Sathariel dropped listlessly on his bike, which tipped to the side. The next moment, Stygian leapt over the black car, holding two huge handguns.
(OOC: May's spell would have failed, since magic is entirely cancelled by now)
As the car accelerated, Gareeku was thrown back into his seat once more. Seeing what Stygian was about to do, the wolf-turned-human held on and braced him for the inevitable flight.
When the car landed, Gareeku was thrown about somewhat, luckily not injuring himself in the process.
Quickly recomposing himself, Gareeku turned to Aisha with a smirk.
"Time to get to work." he commented, before grabbing his weapons, strapping them to himself, and then leaping out the open door, grabbing hold of the assault rifle on his back as his did so.
Strafing across the square in a run, the wolf-turned human opened fire, careful not to fire upon Mel and the others.
As Aisha watched the screens and the car started to speed up, a weight was suddenly present in her gut that seemed to say, "prepare for the grand finale to this ride..." Listening to the instinct, she clutched the seats again and braced herself, feeling like her spine was pasted to the cushion when the thing accelerated to full and flew through the air.
Upon landing, Aisha almost flew forward and hit the seat, but thanks to her grip, it was nothing more than a very dramatic end to the ride. Shaking her head a bit with an adrenaline-pumped smirk, she laughed back at Gareeku and grabbed her own equipment from the back and strapped them on with the vest. "Now the fun starts."
Aisha leaped out of the other side and ran in behind the others, clutching her submachine gun and rushing around to protect Mel and the others while glaring at the remaining thugs that had surrounded them. Among the sounds of open fire from Gareeku, she hoped that some would have the sense to give up.
"I suggest you run," she said with a very dangerous hiss in her voice and cocked the weapon. She liked giving the quarry a chance to run...and liked it better when they didn't.
Stygian snapped off bullets at high speed, diving to the side and ducking behind a fountain to the side of the square as his own volley was met by the retaliation of the much more numerous guns the thugs possessed. Still, two of them had gone down in burning bits, the huge thermite-charged bullets tearing through flesh like butter.
"Mel! If you can hear me, get to the car as fast as you can! Run!" he shouted, while bringing out one of the cylinder-like grenades he had put on him. He readied his guns again, and prepared to dash.
When support came from Aisha and Gareeku, the hail of bullets pinning the gangmembers and catching them off-guard, Stygian leapt out of his hiding place and practically loped on all fours, heading for them while blasting at them with a huge gun in his right hand, the primed shape-charge grenade in the other.
"Take the motorcycles! We won't fit in the car!"
After having a car drop on her attacker and the shots flying around it took Mel a second to realize what she had been told. She ran to the black monster, ducking the... everything... flying through the air. As she did she shouted, "Where's Sath? Where's May?"
Meanwhile, May grabs the gun from her pocket and opens fire on one of the gang members. She fires several shots until the gun is empty, not one of them hitting the gang member.
“May, drop the gun and high-tail it outta there. You can’t hit the broad side of a barn,” a divine voice says to May.
“Gee, I appreciate the compliment,” May responds aloud in a very sarcastic tone as she quickly flees to the shelter of the car.
*OOC: Aww… they are such good friends.*
It seemed that the decision to use strafing tactics working perfectly, as it seemed that his targets found him too difficult a target to get at. Hearing Stygian's call, Gareeku nodded, before quickly dashing into the fray.
"Let's go!" Gareeku said as he grabbed Sathariel's arm, dashing over to one of the bikes. It was then, however, that Gareeku cursed to himself.
"I don't even know how to drive one of these things!" he exclaimed in self-frustration.
Watching Mel and the others rush to the car, Aisha was finally relieved that they were safely found. It was then that she found the liberty to fire a few rounds off, the gun's loud exploding ringing in her ears and only adding to the intensity of the situation, at the rest of the thugs while using evasive maneuvers of her own.
She stopped upon hearing Stygian's orders, nodding in reply. Whatever it took to get everyone to a safer place and out of this melee...she wondered in fact if the police were to get involved soon. Marching over to a bike, Aisha heard Gareeku's curse and sighed loudly, more or less to herself at the fact that she didn't know how to drive one either. "Well, now would be a good time to fake it, right?" she inquired and propped it up.
Sathariel looked at Gareeku with shaky, wide eyes. She seemed almost completely in shock. So it came as a surprise to him when she laid her hand on his, and he suddenly felt like he was electrified for a moment. He twitched, and then, he realized, he knew all about riding these motorcycles. Even a bit about streetracing with them, in fact.
Stygian had jumped up and kicked the leader of the thugs square in the face, then rolled back while letting go of the grenade. The directed blast of the shape-charge tore into the ones who had not yet found cover, sending them over the side and either down the stairs or off the edge of the square, tumbling to the ground.
Then there came the sound of sirens from behind, and red and blue lights flashed. Stygian wasted no time to wait for the policemen, but ran back, still shooting to pin the other thugs to their positions. Then he turned and sprinted, looking at the progress of his companions. And he realized something. There had been only two bikes, and one was crushed. Gareeku seemed to have made good progress with one, but that still meant that there were too few spots to get everyone away.
"Bloody Hell!" he shouted when he ducked back to the Mallet. "Someone! I'm the only one who can drive this, so someone has to take the elevator! Go! We'll meet right up there!"
The thugs opened fire again, and so did the policemen who had just arrived.
May looked at how the situation was going. “Wait a second! I’m May Cottontail and May Cottontail is no coward!”
“Now how do I help the situation? Okay, May. Think… thiiink…” she thinks.
“You wish to help them and I wish for blood,” a voice says within her mind.
May gasps and her heart skips a beat. It is that voice. The voice that made her do the thing that will haunt her for the rest of her life. “No! Get away from me!” May yells.
“Very well. I will give you time. The day will come that you will come to me searching for power. Until that time, May…”
Looking over the condition of the bike that she had pulled up, the transformed human let it fall over again with an annoyed sigh and tried to count where the others were. Karl she hadn't heard from since they left the car, so she figured he was still there, waiting to help May and Mel...Gareeku and Sathariel were taking a motorcycle, it looked like...and Stygian was driving.
That left herself...
Suddenly, she jumped upon hearing the sirens approaching, barely hearing Stygian give the command on what they should do. But when Aisha did, she gauged the distance back from whence they came, then turned back around. "I'll meet you all at the elevator. Running does it better for me than that heart attack you call a car," she smirked jokingly. "Just make sure everyone's in one piece," she admonished, glancing briefly over to where Gareeku was when saying so.
Then, in her usual stealthy way, Aisha dashed through into the shadows, hopefully avoiding the sight of the oncoming police car.
Stygian darted a look to Aisha, watching her run in through the doors to the elevator lounge. Then, when he heard the closing of the door on the other side of the car, meaning that Mel had probably gotten in, he turned to Gareeku.
"Follow close on my tail!" he said, and then got in, slamming the door behind him. The Mallet's engine growled, and with smoke billowing from its wheels it skidded as Stygian turned it against the policecar blocking the road out of the square. They accelerated violently, and then tore through the other car as if it had been made of tissue paper. Stygian headed for the nearest vehicle ramp, dodging through the traffic to get up to the next platform level.
For Aisha, the ride up was much more smooth. As with everything else, the interior of the elevator lounge seemed like a mixture of victorian and futuristic industrial design. There were at least a dozen individual tube-like elevators surrounding a main square one that seemed intended for vehicles and cargo, and whose entrance was from the inside of the train station. A woman with a slightly cybernetically altered, yet friendly appearance stood in uniform in a reception to the right, but there appeared to be no entrance fee, so it was just to step in.
An elevator just opened to the right, and admitted entrance into the glassed tube.
Feeling the shock, Gareeku was even more amazed to find that, somehow, he now knew how to drive the motorcycle. Looking at Sathariel, the wolf-turned-human smiled at her to say thank you. Getting on, Gareeku then started up the engine, revving it a bit as he motioned for Sath to get on board. Looking over at Aisha, a look of concern was evident on Gareeku's face. However, he then thought of how talented a fighter she was, and smiled to himself in the knowledge that she could more than look after herself.
Listening to Stygian, Gareeku nodded his head in acknowledgement, revving the engine some more.
"Hold on tight!" the wolf-turned-human called to Sathariel, before speeding off after the car, weaving in and out of the traffic as he followed Stygian up to the next level.
May is suddenly distracted by the car’s sudden motion. “Woohoo! Faster! Faster! Go! Go! Go!”
“For someone who’s in mortal danger, you seem to be pretty happy,” a divine voice says to May telepathically.
“You bet I am, Sevilin! Come on, you should try it sometime!” May responds, non-telepathically.
“I think I’ll pass.”
Aisha, having reached the elevator lounge finally, stopped and heaved a long sigh to regain her breath after running with the slightly heavy firearms strapped to her back and belt. I forget that this human body is limited on endurance...
Regardless, she regained her composure and took a moment to glance at the size of the square that she found herself in. Once again, parts of Stygian's world hadn't ceased to leave her fascinated and slightly awed at the design of it all. And she certainly had the time to appreciate the sights after they had gotten out of the crowded and noisier parts of the city. Her ears were still ringing from the explosive sounds of the guns. Hm...give me the silence of the arrow and bowstring, anyday, she thought to herself, smirking about the types of ranged things she took a liking to. Or my boomerang. Though, these are effective.
Her eyes wandered up the length of the tubes, following the elevator in the glass encasement as it stopped and opened. Looking upward again, thinking after a while and hoping that everything was correct and that she wasn't lost, Aisha wandered inside, the doors closing behind her.
“They probably think I’m schitzophrenic, talking to voices in my head and all,” May thinks.
The elevator ascended fairly quickly, but the height still made it seem slow. And with the absence of gunshots and roaring engines, the whole world seemed to stand nearly still. The view out through the elevator was nearly uninterrupted, a supporting metal ring swooshing past only now and then before Aisha's eyes. As the cylinder-like pod rose up, another part of the city came into view than the distant one she had seen from above, a warm one of glowing lights and little backstreets, overlined by highways and tall buildings, and set against the background of the city's supporting pillairs, its permacrete legs on which it stretched for the sky. It looked like a dream.
The ride seemed to go on forever, but still it was all to short a time before the elevator stopped, and the other side of it behind Aisha opened out into a lounge almost similar to the one below. As she walked out through it, another receptionist smiling at her from a corner, the Mallet came rolling around a corner and pulled up not fifty metres from her, in front of what seemed like a large hotel of some kind, stretching as far up into the sky as the elevator she had just stepped out of was tall. Behind the Mallet came Gareeku on that odd kind of motorcycle, its hubless-wheeled and heavy profile gliding over the ground almost as fluidly as the huge car.
Stygian stepped out of the Mallet, and let the car door stand open. His fingers were on the black little controller in his pocket, making some adjustments preliminarily so they would be ready to activate on command. Then he pulled out his hand, now with a cigar in it, and looked up at Aisha. He lit it, and then seemed to easen somehow, as if the tension had completely slipped off him. He breathed out some smoke, and then turned to check on the rest of his companions.
"Well, that was a thrill of a ride..." he began. But then he stopped. His eyes had frozen on Mel.
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 11, 2007, 07:02:57 PM
"For crying out loud E, what's up? You holding a sci-fi convention in your brain or something?" Boogey rolled his eyes and opened up the message, "This place is crowded."
The message read. " None of the current beings in E's mind are able to rout the travel of souls willing or unwilling but with E's ability to travel and one of the elder versions memory E can go to someone that can send the souls on to the next world. i would recommend seeking out on of the benign version of death as opposed to a priest or shaman however." the message seemed to end then there was a post script. " And if int not to much trouble ask one of them to unlock the barriers. i can't check the general state of the body like this"
" fact is stranger then fiction Boogey. in my 30 years of awareness i have seen things that i would have sworn were impossible my robotizer notwithstanding"
Following the Mallet up the levels, Gareeku stopped the motorcycle up besides the car, stepping off and helping Sathariel off too. Noticing Stygian's look at Mel, the wolf-turned-human raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was giving her that look.
Aisha barely felt the elevator stop; her eyes were almost glued to the impressive expanse of scenery outside of the building, an almost neverending stretch of city that seemed to have been conjured by dream. But upon hearing the doors slide open, she was more than eager to step out and wait for her comrades, provided that they traversed the levels without much trouble.
Giving a polite nod back to the receptionist, she wasn't at all surprised to hear the car immediately slide back nearby in its noisy and fast way, with Gareeku and Sathariel following behind on the motorcycle. I hope nobody threw up in there, she smirked and approached them with a wave.
Upon noting Stygian's look, however, her gaze followed his with a quirked eyebrow to where Mel was.
Mel realized she was suddenly the object of attention. She looked down at herself, "What? Do I have gangster guts on me? The outfit's not that ugly, is it?"
May steps out of the car. “Do it again! Do it again!”
At the sight of Mel's face, Stygian had staggered back, all the fluid, practiced grace of his moments gone. His cigar had fallen to the ground unlit, as he gaped. He had started mouthing some word, but not been able to emit a sound. And his eyes were wide open, transfixed in a combination of shock, disbelief and... something else. You thought it looked like fear.
Unholy shit not here how did she manage what the hell is going on is she dead it's just a simulation don't panic I am already panicking...! Stygian's mind raced for a second or so as he looked Mel over. Silver hair. Smooth, elegantly beautiful features and pale, unblemished skin. Precisely the proportions and looks. She was almost a carbon-copy image, he realized. But only almost. His mind focused on that almost, taking in the minute differences, and he looked up into Mel's icily blue eyes. Blue, not red. That's a relief.
"Mel?" he said, trying to regain his composure as quickly as he could.
Seeing Stygian's mannerisms, a look of concern appeared on Gareeku's face. He didn't know what was going on, but something told him that it was certainly something out of the ordinary.
"Stygian? You ok?" he asked worriedly.
Mel took a half step back at Stygian's shocked stare. She laughed nervously, "This form isn't that ugly is it?" She turned away from his gaze to peer at her distorted reflection in the side of the car. "My mind runs in screaming circles every time I catch sight of myself because nothing about it is the way I think it should be but you should be accustomed to seeing human faces."
She tucked a strand of hair back inside the hood of her jacket. The hair was going to drive her insane, it kept brushing her face and the unfamiliar sensation made her jump every time. Mel sighed, "I don't supposed we're getting back to normal any time soon? Life is kind of tiresome without either my magic or my normal physical defenses."
"No... you're..." Stygian said, then cut off. How am I supposed to say you're nearly the duplicate of the image I've come to love and hate so much? he thought. Then, he laughed shortly. "You're quite beautiful, shivers. Just like always."
Then, his hand went to his pocket, and he brought out the little black controller. He tapped it a bit with a finger. Now, it was finally time to get to working on the other part he had been planning. He pressed down the execute button, and the world changed a bit, though it couldn't be seen.
"I'm quite allright, Gareeku. Thanks for the concern. There. Now, there's nothing holding back your magic or your true forms anymore. It should be just to try and consciously shift for those of you who can. For the others, it will probably start to wear off soon," he said, then turned and fished out another cigar, and slowly started walking off against the edge of the platform, around the side of the elevator entrance. "We are going to have to leave soon, I think," he said over his shoulder, and then eyed them all a bit. "I'll see how the exit procedure works. But before that, could I have a word with you?" His eyes were turned to Gareeku.
Listening to Stygian speak, Gareeku smiled slightly with a degree of relief. It seemed that he would no longer be a human for long, but would revert back to his normal wolf form in time. As fascinating as he thought it was to be a human, he kind of missed his old wolf form and the benefits that came with it. However, hearing Stygian's question, the wolf-turned human raised his eyebrows slightly suprise.
Hmmmm, wonder what he wants... he thought to himself. "Yeah, sure."
Stygian walked off behind the elevators, and then leaned forward on a rail just at the edge of the platform, gazing out over the city below with a dreamy look to his face. When the man-turned-wolf walked up beside him, he glanced him over with a smile and then went back to studying the foggy cityscape.
"Some night, huh?" he said, not really waiting for an answer. "Can't seem to think of anything but getting a shower and a cup of tea once this is over. I won't blame you guys if you want to stay in and try on some more things though." He breathed a thin stream of smoke, and sighed.
"You know, to me I hope it will be an even greater pleasure to get to know your world. I'm actually planning on sticking around for a bit." He sounded a bit off when he said that, both relieved and bothered at the same time, somehow. "Wouldn't mind if you showed me around a bit either. There's a lot that's very new to me, magic in particular." His tone was familiar, even friendly. To himself, Stygian thought that he was a bit too much to the point, actually. And shifting moods and mannerisms that much wouldn't be normal, he thought. But this was going to hurt, so it was probably to the best to try and milden it as well as he could.
Following Stygian, Gareeku lent on the railing with his elbows, looking out at the cityscape. The city had an odd peaceful look to it, though the wolf, now back in his normal form, knew that it was as bustling as ever. Hearing Stygian's mention of tea, Gareeku smiled.
"Hmmmm, I think I may have to join you on that." the wolf replied with a chuckle. Listening to Stygian as his desire to stay in his and Aisha's world, Gareeku smiled.
"Sure thing. I'm sure Aisha and Mel would be happy to help, too." Gareeku replied, running a fingerless gloved hand through his hair as he looked back out at the cityscape in front of him.
Mel's head came up at the news her magic was back. As Stygian and Gareeku walked away she tested it by making the illusion that Stygian's brutish car was colored lavender. She dropped the illusion as she began to feel odd and uncomfortable. Wings and tee-shirts were not a good mix. As she tore the jacket off she remembered someone else who was going to have the same problem. "Aisha! Do you have a knife? Sathariel is going to need help with her clothing. Wing holes." Mel dropped an illusion over herself at the same time as she dealt with her own offending pieces of fabric.
"Well... That's not really what I was thinking," Stygian said. He stood up, and straightened his fur-lined dark coat. Allright. Now is the time, if I am ever to find out, he thought. He rounded Gareeku behind him, and casually dropped the nearly burned out cigar, stepping on it with a boot. Then he looked at him seriously.
"I believe that you understand the difficulties involved with really hiding if you're someone like us. And I'm not talking about us," he said, placing a hand on his heart. "I'm talking about me and you." His eyes were serious as they peered into Gareeku's. "There will always be complications as long as I don't have a good enough cover. And that's where you come in."
In a flash, Stygian's hand was at Gareeku's throat, and he was lifted up with decidedly inhuman strength. Stygian's eyes had turned back into those black, glowing green-irised ones. His tone was still as serious, but his voice that horrid crawling growl as he spoke.
"Please don't hate us for this. We said we'd hold you to that fight anyway," Stygian said. Then, he made a short smile, and kissed Gareeku quickly. Next he threw him like a toy off the edge of the platform, and dove after him, darkness unfurling around him.
As Aisha watched Stygian's reaction to Mel's appearance, she had to hold back a smirk...not too often did she, or anyone else for that matter, catch him in a state of shock. But as soon as he said that they could transform back into their true forms, Aisha breathed a sigh of relief. Finally...
Watching Stygian walk off with Gareeku for the moment, she immediately shed her human form and went back to the one that she was gratefully born with...that of a melanistic jaguaress. Her limbs were no longer heavy, but flexible...her eyes returned to their ruby red tinge and she was better able to see in the darkness of night. She had to use one of her claws to cut a space in her trousers for her tail to return, though. Looking at the curling end of it, she thought that perhaps her ring would be given back upon returning to their own world.
That was when she heard Mel and smiled. "Oh, well, there's my sword. Here, lemme do that..." she said and unsheathed her dragon blade. She carefully handled the blade part between two hands so that the end of it would only be the size of a knife, and carefully sliced a couple of good-sized holes in the back for the girl's wings. "Should be more comfortable now, chica," the panther smiled.
It was then that Aisha felt a slight wrenching in her stomach, and her heart, almost at once...the feeling disappeared almost instantly, but it was still noticeable enough for her to stop...
Listening to Stygian speak, Gareeku raised an eyebrow and he wondered what he was talking about. Turning round to face him, Gareeku's eyes then went wide with shock as he was grabbed by the throat and lifted up into the air. The wolf tried his hardest to fight back, but Stygian's iron grip was just too strong, choking Gareeku as he struggled to breathe, trying to call out to the others for help, but could finding he couldn't. Looking down at Stygian, his face turned into a snarled of anger and pure hatred. He should never have trusted him! It was then, however, that Gareeku suddenly found himself flying through the air, looking on and crying out with horror as he found himself plummeting down the side of the building, the ground fast approaching below.
This can't be happening!! Gareeku thought to himself in panic and horror. However, as he descended, he could feel the darkness within him swelling quickly, fighting it's way out...
Stygian wasted no time. Dark wings and tentacles seemed to billow straight out of his coat, which itself was turning into shadows. He pushed himself down and then wrapped tight, diving into Gareeku, who he saw was now rapidly reverting to his wolven form. Yeees, that's it... he thought as he slammed into the wolf, He's already shocked. Now, I just need to enrage him...
Stygian tightened a grip on Gareeku, and then spread out his darkness, the shadows around him turning into a pair of huge, ragged wings, and then aimed for a garbage pile in a back alley. He dove fast, and they both slammed into the plastic bags, boxes and various litter with a force that easily shook the container behind and moved it a bit. No sooner had they done though, before Stygian leaped back from the pile with a fluid motion, and stood back, the shadows around him having mostly receded again.
"Hmmm... That is an impressive power that you harbor, wolf..." he said, and faced Gareeku. "But it is far too unstable to be useful right now. You're not even close to controlling it..." He grinned. "Which is why it will be ever more useful in my possession."
He took a step forward, and then two, and then lifted up the wolf out of the litter, swinging him around and slamming him into the concrete wall next to them. In a normal case he'd have had to put a lot of effort in, but when he didn't hold his amplified strength back, it was like playing with a ragdoll.
"It's what you wanted, isn't it?" he said. His face and voice had become serious again. "To die, so you won't hurt anyone more? Well, We can grant you that wish." He leaned in close, and his voice became almost a whisper. "We rid the world of that evil, and in turn We'll... take care of your life, Gareeku. Your power. There will be nothing more to worry about. Just a final plunge into darkness, and then the Gareeku of the past will be replaced by a new one. One who doesn't rampage like an idiot every time he gets a little upset..." he hissed.
(OOC: 2000 posts! Revival is a great success!)
Back up on the top level, Aisha replaced the sword in her scabbard with a light sigh and rubbed her forehead, wondering what it was all of a sudden that was giving her a slight headache. She accounted it for the stress, the physical exhaustion that this world was taking upon everyone, as well as the rapid transit from human.
With a smile to Mel, May, and Sath, just relieved that they were found and safe, Aisha glanced over to where Stygian had taken Gareeku. Her head tilted slightly. It's quiet...and they've been gone for a little while...
Concern getting the better of her, the panther's ears swiveled to face toward the columns. With her hearing back, she could have more easily caught even a step taken on the ground...but not even that was present. She turned her head to the others before stepping in that direction. "Wait here..."
Her walk turned into a slight trot. Careful not to make it look like she was eavesdropping, Aisha glanced around the corner...and saw nothing but platform and railing that held a grand view and a sheer drop to the ground below. Her heart started to race. "Gareeku? Stygian?" she called. "Where...?"
As he fell, Gareeku's body turned, enabling the wolf to look upwards. Another shock expression then appeared on his face as he saw Stygian falling after him. Suddenly, the anger and hatred burning deep within him amplified, his eyes flashing red for a moment before Stygian slammed into him. The next thing the wolf knew, the two of them had slammed into the pile of rubbish awaiting below on the ground.
Opening his eyes groggily, Gareeku was amazed to find himself still alive, albeit aching all over. He had forgotten for a second who had caused him to fall from the building, but that all changed when he heard Stygian's voice. The rage and hatred within him began to arise once more, as did the darkness within, his eyes flashing red for a few seconds once more as he listened to Stygian's voice.
It was then however, that the wolf was picked up and slammed into the nearby by wall, crying out slightly and coughing a little in pain from the impact made.
"No...I won't let you...!" the wolf snarled, his eyes visibly flashing red once more as he struggled to contain the
darkness within.
Gareeku's eyes then suddenly went wide somewhat as Stygian lent in close, whispering to him how he would change him. It was then that something within him snapped. Unable to contain the darkness, his rage, and his hatred anymore, the wolf let out an almost unearthly roar, his body emitted a bright flash of red light, the force of which would almost certain knock Stygian a few metres back.
As suddenly as the red flash had engulfed Gareeku's body had it vanished, revealing the newly transformed wolf to be standing, snarling fiercely as his intended prey. Then, without warning, he lunged for Stygian, his wings having formed into knife-like tenctales as he hands were engulfed in a red flame...
The plan had worked even better than Stygian had expected. Almost too good, in fact. He just had time to brace himself for the impact from the red flames, the energy burning and sizzling him, before he was swept up by the raging wolf. He was caught, and then the two crashed into another wall with a crack and a loud rumble. Pain flared.
Stygian coughed, and sputtered blood in the face of the wolf. Gareeku had pressed him a good bit up the wall, and he hung in his grip while darkness and little green flames seethed around the wolf's burning hands. There was the smell of acid, smoke and blood in the air. He could feel his arms stretched out too, pierced by the wolf's tentacles, just like much of his nearly shattered ribcage. That much damage he could not regenerate.
"Hehe..." he rasped, blood dripping from his mouth. "You know, you're very discontent for someone who has it so well..." He shot Gareeku a stare that held both pity and hatred. "So many priviliges. You have freedom. You have someone to love and share it with. You have comfort and excitement... and power. All at an arm's reach. And yet you wish to die..." He coughed, and then in spite of his grievous wounds, he stretched forward his head, and looked the cubi wolf in the eyes, gleaming red meeting venomous green.
"You are an idiot, Gareeku Manoko," he said. His grins and smiles were at an end. Now, his voice and gaze were dead cold. "You have the privilige of Life, and yet...!" His voice rose a bit.
Something started happening. Shadows began crawling up around Stygian from below and behind, stinging Gareeku's hands and tentacles as if they were being frozen down. The man's skin seemed to be cracking, turning ashen and ripping up from the inside. Darkness slipped out, and his shape started changing.
"Some of us can't make that boast!" Stygian roared. His jaw had elongated and his teeth turned into vicious fangs, a dark tongue snaking in between them. The pupils of his eyes were so small they almost didn't show within the glow of green. More darkness started to flow out from his back, and then he tore himself out of Gareeku's hold. The wolf was struck back, and flew hard into a wall much further down the alley, which seemed to have darkened considerably.
Down the length of the alley came walking a monster. Stygian had shed his shell and now he strode, a humanoid made of darkness within a veritable swamp of fanged and clawed tentacles of shadow snaking around him. His inhuman face, almost shark-like in its look now and barely visible in the dark, was twisted into a horrid snarl. Horns crowned his head, a dragon-like tail whipped behind him, and his green eyes were cold fires of rage. He didn't speak, only hissed and growled with that horrid voice, a sound that not even the worst beasts Gareeku had fought could have replicated.
The beast that was previosly Gareeku was no longer paying attention to anything Stygian said. The darkness within had completely overcome him, whisps of pure darkness seeping off of his frame like whisps of smoke. The transformed wolf walked Stygian approach and snarled. About to take a step forward, the wolf then sensed something, an evil smile appearing on his face.
"That was a wonderful dinner..." the woman, walking hand in hand with her beloved, said with a soft smile as they walked down the street. Walking past an alleyway, the man happened to glance in when he suddenly noticed what looked like some creature with glowing red wings.
"What the hell..." he muttered. However, he would say nothing more, as a knife-like wing tentacle cleaved its way through his chest, blood pouring out of the wound. The woman screamed hysterically, before suddenly freezeing on the spot, blood gurgling up from her lungs and poureing from her mouth as a wing tentacle had also been stabbed deep through her chest.
Using the wing tentacles to drag the dying man and woman to him, the transformed wolf smiled evily as he drove his claws into their skulls, his eyes rolling back into his head slightly as whisps of energy seeped from their bodies into his hands and arms. A few seconds passed before the rest of the whisps of white energy were absorbed in to his hands and arms. Dropping their bodies to the floor, the beast gazed at the blood on his fingers, before licking it off and licking his lips.
"Deliciousssss..." he said with a twisted smile, enough to send chills down the spine of even the bravest creatures.
However, an instant later, the transformed wolf drove his hand into the ground, setting a large wave of soul energy roaring at his dark foe, laughing almost manically as he did so.
Content back in her own form Mel walks over to Sathariel. She had gone through a lot for someone so sensitive to thoughts. "Feeling any better?" Mel actually thought she was looking worse. She supposed that it was catching up with the girl now. Mel gave her a hug and in a stage whisper said, "Next time May takes a video game away from Stygian I say we tackle her and get it back. These games Stygian thinks up on his own are no fun at all." She smiled at both girls to take some of the sting out. But if Stygian had been safely occupied with the game they wouldn't have gone through this.
Mel noticed a man staring at them. She tried her hypnosis, "Costume party. Nothing to see here."
Aisha ran back and forth between the row of elevator columns, stifling her breathing so that she could better hear her surroundings. But her eyes kept stealing back over to the railing, as if something was drawing her there...and she kept shaking her head. They couldn't have fallen off...
From out where Mel and the others were, they would have soon heard a call down either side of the road. The names of those missing were called over and over again, each time in a louder tone of voice until they thought it would crack. "Gareeku! Styg! GAREEKU!" It wouldn't have been recognized as Aisha's for a split second, as her voice had never reached that intensity of shouting. It took a few moments before the panther came back, winded.
"They're not there...!" she said with her teeth bared, ears pinned straight against her skull, eyes wide. The panther's hand shot up to her forehead to try calming herself...but she couldn't. They're not here...but how could they have gone so far in a short amount of time...Gareeku would have heard me and answered at least!
With a snarl, Aisha glanced to the elevators. "I'm going to find them!" she said with finality, her voice a dangerous and determined mix of a growl and a hiss. But she didn't move yet...her eyes were locked on Sathariel, noticing that she suddenly didn't look too well...
(Sorry guys, was stuck at my parents for a couple of days...what did I miss?)
The man smiled vacantly at Mel, and went about his business. Still, her calming words seemed to have no effect on Sathariel. When she turned from her, it didn't take two seconds before the girl slumped to the ground. Her eyes were wide open with fear and panic, and she shivered, making little whining sounds.
"We're gonna die..." she said silently. "We're gonna die..." She began repeating that over and over, starting to rock forth and back on the ground while holding her knees. She didn't really cry, but tears flowed down her cheeks in a steady stream. "We're gonna die..."
Down below, Stygian watched Gareeku's actions with inhuman chill. He had grown completely silent. Then, when the wolf turned and unleashed his fury, the monstrous darkness slid to the side, and took to the air to avoid the shockwave. Stygian's tentacles turned into giant wings for a second, propelling him up and forward as he leapt, and then he once again dove for the wolf. His shape seemed much larger, somehow. His body was still the same size, true, but the darkness swirling out of and around it was huge, monstrous. From behind his back, a multitude of tentacles shot out from nearly all directions, their wickedly clawed hand-like ends reaching to tear into Gareeku.
At the last moment, Stygian himself seemed to dissolve into darkness, the tentacles detatching at the base and continuing on their own. A blink of an eye later, an almost liquid shadow slid across the ground and he emerged from behind the wolf, snarling fiendishly and stretching clawlike fingers for him.
"You miserable cur!" His words were barely distinguishable.
Worried Mel knelt by Sathariel. "Sath? Kitten? What's the matter? Are you sick?" She places a hand on the girl's forehead to see if she was feverish. Mel found herself drawn into a nightmare of darkness: scared, drowning, confused. Too much--she found herself flailing against it, like fighting an undertow in the ocean. It seemed like forever before her training kicked in. "Not me. This is not of me." She pulled her mind away from Sathariel's.
Mel came to herself on her hands and knees on the sidewalk, gasping like she'd been underwater too long. That had been a hard fight to get away. She could see the others looking at her with concern. She held up a hand, signalling she needed a moment. "Fight...feral... dark... civilians... down...alley..." was all she could manage between wheezing breaths.
Of course fact is stranger than fiction. Fiction is ordered to make sense. With facts things just happen.
"Hey E? Someone says that there's some barriers to be taken care of. And I never said I wouldn't help figure it out; just that I wouldn't do it. Of course I'll help. First off, know anyone good at ferrying souls around? Thoughts and personalities are easy, but for souls it's best to get a specialist." Boogey looked up from the PDA and crossed his arms, thinking. "Anyone come to mind?"
Aisha watched as Mel checked on the angel girl, curious and yet eager to just find out what was wrong. Her knuckles were clenched over her sword's hilt, strained and as white as they could appear under her dark fur; a reaction that came to her naturally. So long as one weapon was easily in reach of her hand, the huntress could compose herself until the time came to act...
After a second, Mel was trembling. Aisha started to reach out to her, but she didn't need any comfort...the dragon came to and muttered a chain of words that Aisha had to piece together. "Calm down...what are you saying...?"
Nobody needed to answer Aisha's inquiry. It was the word "feral" that clicked in her head, and among it, the rest of the words pieced together like the puzzle pieces were there under her feet the whole time. Her gaze was wide and even just a little scared. There was a pause of heavy suspense, so heavy and intense that it could be cut with a knife.
Then it was broken by a large metallic SHING as Aisha drew her sword and finally rushed for the elevators, uttering a string of low curses. "Let's get down there NOW!"
Please let this be just me jumping the gun...and not that this happened again...not again...
Looking on as Stygian dodged his attack and began an attack of his own, the transformed wolf snarled menacingly once again as he saw the tentacles close in. When Stygian reappeared beind him, he could sense the darkness behind and, his hands burning violently with a dark flame, slammed them into the ground, creating a cyclone of dark soul energy that easily spanned the width of the alley, causing the ground to shake violently as cracks appared in it as well as the walls on either side, bricks being blown away from the sheer force of the attack.
The monstrous darkness slammed into Gareeku from all directions, and he could feel teeth and claws digging into his skin, Stygian pushing through the dark storm out of sheer stubbornness. And that was not all they were doing either. As Stygian pinned the wolf against a wall again, he could feel them almost crawling around under it, a horrid chill spreading through his body. Stygian growled as the wolf continued to burn him with that raging energy, but with shadows to draw upon and unleashed in his full fury, he did not doubt that he was more powerful up close. One might have thought that the darkness inside Gareeku might have aided him in dealing with the wolf, but it was furious and senseless much in a way that a caged and rabid beast was. Stygian could see the wolf's problem in dealing with such a thing. He had repressed it so much that he even held back part of himself, it seemed. But the circumstances were entirely to Stygian's own favour. He had made sure of that with what power he had over this simulation.
Stygian drew on more of his power, passing the point where the pleasure of being darkness mingled dangerously with the pain of reminder...
Gareeku stood in a dark forest. It was night, and the moon shone down from above, making the blood on his fur glisten with a metallic tone. He held up his hands before him. They were wicked, sharp claws dripping red. The sweet, metallic taste of the blood mingled with the scent of ash and death in the wind. He looked around.
Around him were strewn the corpses of innumerable men and women, the end to them not visible through the dark under the trees. Everyone he had ever known, everyone he had ever loved, was there. His mother and uncle. James. Paladin. Gabi. Xzelia. Mel. When he turned, he even saw his father, propped up against a tree. Everyone was dead, some of them so mutilated that they were barely recognizable. And in the air there was an unnatural chill. Not just one of cold, but of emptiness too. As if all the magic and life had been drained from the place. That chill...
He heard footsteps staggering from behind, and turned. Aisha. She was walking against him, her grace and beauty marred by her fear and hesitation. Her fear of him, he realized. He knew he should have felt something at seeing her like that, but he didn't. Curiously, he looked at her.
"Gareeku?" she almost cried.
"Yes," he answered vacantly, looking at his hands again. The scent of blood was so sweet. But there was something even sweeter to the air now, to the whole world.
"Gareeku, please... You have to come with me. You have to stop this!" She stepped closer, her hand on the hilt of her sword. The feeling grew sweeter. He chuckled.
"I might have, Aisha. Once. But now I've found something else I have to do."
"Gareeku, please!" she said, raising her sword. The sensation pulsed now, throbbed in the back of his mind, craving attention. "Don't do this!"
"Heh." He laughed slightly. The next second he had struck the sword out of her hands, and pressed her up against a tree, holding her by the neck.
"You know, I still love you, Aisha. It's so good then to know that you will stay with me forever." As the panthress cried, wisps of light and smoke started trailing from her and into him. Her eyes grew more glazed by the second.
"Forever..."
Gareeku awakened from the nightmare, thrown into a corner of the dark alley. His feral side still burned ever as strong, and it seemed no more than a few seconds could have passed. Yet still, the memory would not go away.
"Is that all you are? Is that all you can do?" Stygian hissed before him, his dark shape almost at one with the shadows of the buildings surrounding them. His voice was reek with disdain and loathing. "I do not believe so. I will not. But it is what you will end up one day, if you continue on this path. The darkness will grow like a boil inside of you. And as long as it remains untouched, it will stay that way. But some time, sooner or later, that boil will wound and open. And then you won't even have time to wish you never had."
The elevator couldn't go down quickly enough. Had the panther no sense (though from worry she was perilously close), she would have just pried the door open and jumped the rest of the way. Her eyes were closed, and she was silently muttering to herself...whether it was a mantra for comfort, or a prayer, nobody could be sure, if anyone were there with her.
Soon, the doors opened in their slow and calm way, allowing anyone who wanted in and anyone else out. Her eyes shot open; a millisecond her feet followed and she dashed out of there with no other focus but the path ahead. There were a few people still on this level walking around, and no doubt she got a few strange glances, but nothing mattered to her...nothing but to make sure that her hunch was either wrong or right...
There was another wrench in her gut. This one almost threatened to make her fall over...though a felid's balance wasn't easily challenged. Her grip only tightened on the hilt. Eyes narrowed to pierce the darkness of the alleyway in which she turned with a skid. A creeping feeling made her heart pound furiously.
Rounding the last corner, her nose caught various scents: refuse...garbage...Stygian and Gareeku...
...Blood...
The panther finally came upon them and stopped cold, mouth agape. Gareeku was indeed transformed, as per her fear...but that's not what made her stop cold. It was Stygian, and the hideous monster he had become. Her mind flashed back to the fight with him. She grimaced, her face filled with sudden anger, frustration, and fear.
"What do you think you're doing with him, hombre!?" she snarled, her voice cracked and derailed by her emotions...
Getting to his feet, the transformed wolf snarled with rage. However, he then quickly fell to his knees, clutching his head as he tried to shake off the vivid nightmare, but all in vain. It was then that, slowly but surely, the magic-composed wings began to dissolve into thin air as his eyes slowly reverted back to their original blue colour. As this was happening, the wolf's face turned from one of a feral rage to one of sadness, then a look of sheer horror and grief.
"Oh god...no...no...no!!....oh god...!" the wolf murmured to himself over and over as he remained there, hunched over on his knees, tears streaming down his face as he stared into space, his body trembling with horror and fear at himself...
Stygian turned around and eyed Aisha with a stare the coldness of which was beyond describing. Some of his form, mostly the torso and the head, had regained some sort of ashen excuse for skin, still cracked and scarred over the darkness that flowed from him. In the shadows around him she could see other smaller eyes as venomously green as his own, peering at her. His face was human, and yet not, dark openings with green irises for eyes over black fangs and under those devil-like black horns coming out from under silvery hair.
"I understand now," he said, and turned to look at the wolf. "It wasn't his to begin with, but it is his now. It is him now." His face was unreadable, but those eyes... However they looked, they seemed to hold pity somehow. Then, he turned, and started walking to the opening of the alley, against Aisha. The darkness around him started to recede, the eyes dissappearing pair by pair and the shadows slithering back into him. His skin began growing back, and the horns and tail receding, clothes forming on his body from the dark. When he reached the panthress, he turned to her.
"I wish that I could show him anything but misery, but I can't," he said, his voice having returned to his normal one. "This was not something he chose, nor even something he was born with. It was simply his fate, and there is nothing for him to find with me before he accepts his darkness, and he never will as far as I can see. I am glad he has you." Stygian looked down on her, his eyes now filled with sadness. "Please talk to him, and then ask him to talk with me when he's ready. I haven't given him a proper apology yet," he said, and then started to walk off back to find the elevator.
Still murmuring to himself over and over, Gareeku held his knees to himself as he curled up, leaning against the wall with his side as he continued to stare into space, tears continuing to trickle down his face. No longer was he the seemingly fearless warrior that people, especially Aisha, were used to seeing him as; now he was small and frail; wanting to shut himself away from all civlisation, extremely vulnerable like a terrified child...
As Mel regained her composure she found herself torn. Sathariel was in need of care but from what she had seen while in contact with Sath things below were even worse. But their earlier experience had shown that the girl couldn't be left alone for even a moment in this city. Mel braced herself and returned to Sathariel. "Sorry kitten. I don't normally do this but I think you need some help."
Mel touched and entered Sathariel's memory. The terror of the last few minutes she simply removed. Then she went further back. The memories of their time in this city were softened. Not removed but smoothed off, the sharp edges of her fear softened so they wouldn't tear at the girl so badly. Then Mel sat back and waited to see if she had done any good.
The panther felt like darting to Gareeku's aid as soon as his transformation ceased...desperately, but she couldn't yet...to say the least, the creature that Stygian had been was intimidating, holding her feet in place. For some odd reason, she couldn't even find the incentive to attack yet...
Aisha still faced Stygian with apprehension, her sword held if only for defense. She listened to him speak, and the tone of his voice made her hesitant, though her pulse was still coursing with the fight chemicals in her system. She was hyped...angry...but slowly it was fading as he started towards her.
The panther didn't know what to say back to Stygian...but an eyebrow quirked, her mind trying to dispel the sudden rage and instead trying to comprehend him. He was...trying to find about about Gareeku...? Her mind formed the words. Her mouth almost opened to speak the question. But her voice was never heard.
So, curious even as to the actions herself, she straightened up and sheathed her sword as he walked on past, though her hand rested on the pommel as her eyes followed his back. The tone of pity in Stygian's voice echoed in her head. With narrowed eyes, she turned her head away finally. Yeah...talk...not a good time now, perhaps...
With a soft sigh, Aisha stepped up towards Gareeku, watching him for a second as he huddled into his fears. She had seen these kinds of effects in others before, sometimes brought on by herself, and the huntress always treated them with neutrality. But, looking at the wolf...she couldn't help but have a couple of tears in her eyes at the way he appeared...so afraid, so vulnerable...
Just what happened...?
Then, Aisha dropped onto her knees in front of him and placed her hands on the wolf's shoulders, looking into his eyes and trying to draw him out of whatever space he was looking into. "Gareeku...I'm here..." she whispered and embraced him softly.
Not noticing Aisha approach, he flinched and yelped quietly when he felt her hands rest on his shoulders, slowly lifting his wet eyes to look into hers.
"M-m-monster..." he stammered in a whisper, another tear trickling down his cheek. "I'm...monster..."
As Aisha held him in a gentle embrace, he whimpered softly, before burying his face in her shoulder, sobbing his heart out as it all became too much for him...
Stygian was almost out of the alley when he heard something he definitely did not want to hear as a start of that conversation. He turned back against them, and looked at the wolf both angrily and worriedly, sparing one last comment.
"Yes, and does that make you less of a person?" he said angrily. "You're only what you make of yourself. I didn't believe that once, but now I do. Thinking anything else..." He stopped, and then turned, pacing off.
Mel knelt on the ground watching Sathariel and tried to be patient. Except that she now had her own form and magic she was once again abandoned in a strange city and gathering a crowd. "Filming a movie folks, would you mind getting out of the shot. Thanks a lot. See the film when it comes out," she smiled and waved at the group, disbursing the latest bunch. The Admiral and the bunny-girl had wandered off so now it was just her and the shocky kitten. She put an arm around the girl. Her shaking seemed to be slowing a bit, hopefully that meant she was coming around.
Mel dropped the illusion of their former human looks back over them hoping to keep from drawing another crowd as they waited. Just two girls waiting for someone. Mel wondered if she ought to tweak her illusion a little but no one else seemed to get as freaked out as Stygian by her looks. Must have been that awful outfit she picked up down in the slums. Her illusion was now wearing a neat and fitted outfit much like what Aisha had on except in shades of grey. She didn't want anyone to think they were dangerous like the people from the slums and move them along. Staying near the car seemed like the best idea.
*OOC: May wandered off? Well, I suppose that is a good explanation of why she had done nothing in the past few moments. I like it.*
Meanwhile, May has cast “Prolong Form”, which maintains her human form. “If I were to go back to bunny form, I’d get a LOT of stares.”
She then wanders just a little way away and sees a young man walking around. “Stupid supposed friends won’t even let me go to the concert with them. I want music, for crying out loud,” the young man thinks aloud.
May shrugs. “Why not? I have a bit of time.” She takes a deep breath and begins to sing.
“We sit here beneath the stars
Though I have no idea where you are
Staring up at the twinkling sky
Will we ourselves ever fly so high…”
The young man hears May and stops walking. She is also getting a few stares from other people. May, who tends to have her eyes closed when singing, doesn’t notice.
“We’ve been friends for quite some time
But there’s still so much that you hide
I’ve opened up my door for you
You’ve tightened you locks and hid the key…”
*OOC: Don’t hurt me, Dan Shive!*
Not helping, Aisha thought with slight annoyance upon hearing Stygian's last comments. She knew that he was trying in his own way...but a mental punch was one of the last things Gareeku needed at that moment.
She held her gentle emrace steady and warm, allowing him to cry upon her shoulder. Her hand brushed through his hair softly; and the panther only wanted to cry herself at his tear-ridden statement. He had been distraught about this before...but as far as she could remember, not to this level.
"Ssh...no, you're not..." she admonished back in a whisper, her cheek nuzzling his. Determined to bring him out of this realm of thought, Aisha dove with surprising ease into the comforting role she was to him as a fellow adventurer...friend...lover.
"You're not a monster...believe me. I should know...I've fought monsters; we both have...I know one when I see it. But you know what I see when I look at you?" The panther's voice held its gentle tone while holding him close. "I see courage and strength...kindness and selflessness. Mi amor, from what I have seen, you get yourself hurt on a regular basis and save more than enough lives to atone for any that are lost."
With a smile, Aisha leaned her forehead upon Gareeku's, looking into his soft azure eyes closely. "That is you, Gareeku Manoko, and I dare you to tell me you're a monster now." Her eyes started to close, a tear of her own finally released to stream down her cheek. "I only wish I knew what happened to scare you so badly."
Sathariel seemed to have calmed, but she was still sitting and holding her knees with a vacant stare that did not seem to fix on anything. A group of young people, obviously on the way from or to some party, passed them by, and a few of the young men gave them interested looks, but didn't stop, perhaps on account of the way they seemed a bit upset. Or maybe it was the car they were standing by.
"He's lying again. And he's angry," Sathariel said, her voice muffled by her arms. "The wolf is crying too."
The slow ascent of the elevator was something Stygian really didn't need to bother with. He could have just stepped into the shadows underneath the edge of the buildings that supported the platform above, but he wanted time to think, so the smooth movement up and the view felt nice. And it was about the only thing that did right then.
He hadn't bothered to light up again, simply because he would barely have felt the taste of the cigar even if he had wanted to. He had wounded the body he had taken badly by letting his power out in the first place, and the wolf's attack had burned off nearly all of what was left. Small trails of ash drifted off him, crumbling and falling to his feet. He lifted a hand, and looked at it. Small lines crossed the parched, greyish skin, which threatened to crack at any moment. It was just as well that he leave it behind.
Monster...
When Stygian stepped out of the elevator at the top floor, there was a large pile of ash left inside. The last thin streams of grey he dusted off and let fall to the ground when he stepped outside the lounge, and then made his way over to the girls and Karl.
“Open the door! Let me inside!
Can’t you see there’s no need to hide!
You’re here for me. Let me be there for you
Don’t leave me shut outside!”
Some passerbies are beginning to form a small group around May, listening to her song. Still with her eyes close, May doesn’t notice.
“I come to you with my hopes and fears
You listen, however strange they are
You’re always there to give a hand
But never keen to take one back.
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 12, 2007, 09:42:26 PM
Of course fact is stranger than fiction. Fiction is ordered to make sense. With facts things just happen.
"Hey E? Someone says that there's some barriers to be taken care of. And I never said I wouldn't help figure it out; just that I wouldn't do it. Of course I'll help. First off, know anyone good at ferrying souls around? Thoughts and personalities are easy, but for souls it's best to get a specialist." Boogey looked up from the PDA and crossed his arms, thinking. "Anyone come to mind?"
E concentrates but all he but the only people he can remember may or may not be real. He probes harder only to fine and image form arson 20 years ago when he first enters this area. It is the Image of a green rabbit in a brown shroud and a scythe that's looks like a blade on a twig. " sorry but this is the only one I can remember. " E says as he beings the memory image forward in the form a snapshot projection. "I don't know his name but maybe we can find him again" Eric how ever has server imagers that appear in his hand on of with is a holocard that shows a classic human death and is replaces it with the image of a man in his 20's " this is Xane he lives a ways away but I'm sure he would help us. He has both the power and experience to do so." E looks at Boogey. "Do you know of anyone that can help us?"
( OOC Sorry but babysitting has kept me very busy lately)
At the sight of the green rabbit, Boogey's eyes widen and he makes chopping motions with his hands.
"Ix-nay. IX-NAY! I thought that guy was a myth! Then again, that hasn't stopped any other mythological figures I've met. Beside the point. Either way, he tends to keep bad company. Do you really want to deal with angels after a day like today? I hear that the real deal can be pretty nasty."
Looking at the image Eric brought up, Boogey held out his hand for the holocard and scrutinized the image. "Xane, huh? Would you say he has any affiliations that could influence his behavior? I personally find that it's better to have an impartial individual transporting souls than someone religiously or morally motivated," Boogey handed the holocard back, "As for myself, I know a few other thought-entities that have aspects of mortality or the grim reaper strongly incorperated, but none of the trustworthy ones would be residing in a universe like this. This place has kind of a bad reputation. There might be a few hanging out in your head if you've done the travelling you say you have, but getting them to get off their metaphorical asses and help would be like finding a needle in a haystack, and then dragging it out when it's glued to the bottem of the haystack."
*OOC: Wow, I was thinking she might be interrupted or something, but it looks like May will have enough time to actually finish the song.*
“We’re driving down a one way road
I’d favor a path that gave us two
We might collide, but that’s okay
Wouldn’t have it any other way”
The gathering is forming into a crowd. Again, May does not notice.
“Open the door! Let me inside!
Can’t you see there’s no need to hide!
You’re here for me. Let me be there for you
Don’t leave me shut outside!”
Eric explained "aside form being the grim reaper of his Earth Xane is also a mortal man. he is currently in his 60's and has stood against and defeated the apex of evil. he is neutral by nature and has spent about 40 years as the reaper of souls ever since he killed his predecessor. it's kind of like Pan is dead long live pan kind of thing. i'm sure he can help us abut once he removed me and Starlight this would get complicated."
"Complicated how?" Boogey raised an eyebrow.
"It's merry go round
you can never get off
it's merry go round
it will never stop..."
Stygian sang to himself after having watched May a bit. His eyes turned to Mel, again studying that face that was so similar to the one etched in his memory. For a few moments he stood like that. Then he recollected himself, and thought about what he had just been singing.
I guess that it really is time to get off. I'll give Aisha and Gareeku a bit more time, and then... He put his hand into his pocket, and then turned a whiter shade of pale.
The controller was torn apart right in the middle, wiring and metal broken and torn off. Some of them must have fallen out in the alley below too.
Fuck. I never should have opened my mouth...
"We're talking and entirely different reality with it's own afterlife. it's own versions of heaven and hell. even if we he simply extracts us we would be drawn toward one of the poles of good and evil unless we visited him in his home in purgatory. and then we would have to leave purgatory strain for this reality and E lacks the experience and skills to do so. his travel has been random at best." said Eric. " in my own defense i have simply been exploring not looking for anywhere special" "Do you think you can master the skill in a few minutes?" E looked cringed. " No but maybe i wouldn't have too" Eric shook his head. still Xane was sounding like their best choice. "either way the travel has to be physical. E physically has to go there for Xane to help us."
“Just open the door and let me inside!
There’s no lock that can keep me outside!
You’re here for me, but it’s not enough
I care too much for your silence to work!
Lying here beneath twinkling stars
I’m still wondering where you are
In the end, we’ll always be friends
But it’s up to you whether we will fly
After a short pause, the crowd that has gathered around May bursts into applause. May opens her eyes and looks quite surprised at what she sees. “Wow, I knew I was good, but I didn’t think I was THIS good.”
( ooc . say Boogey this little side quest is getting a bit involved. wold you like to end it quickly and return to the main Rp)
((damn it, i'll post up a bit later >.<))
*Karl notices the look on Stygian*
Karl: What's wrong? *looks at Styg's hand in pocket* Did you lose it, or...oh heck no! It's broke, isn't it?
“You just have to be the center of attention, don’t you?”
“Do I really need to answer that one?” May whispers in response.
Listening to Aisha's words of comfort, Gareeku returned the embrace, holding her tight as he began to cease his sobbing.
"I was in some sort of forest...you were all dead..." the wolf began, looking into her eyes. "My mother...my uncle...even my father...and then...I killed you..."
He had always known of the possibility that he could bring harm to those he cared for, but seeing it so vividly...so real...seeing their bodies, seeing the fear on Aisha's eyes as he mercilessly killed the one he loved...looking her eyes, Gareeku's were filled with fear for her.
"Aisha, if anything ever happened to you..." the wolf began, wiping the tear from her face before shutting his eyes at the thought of him harming her, trying to shake it from his mind. "...you don't deserve someone like me..."
Aisha held her embrace on Gareeku, smiling softly as his sobbing started to quiet down. Her hands brushed comfortingly through his hair, and her gaze was level with his as he started telling about his vision.
Progressing through the little story, each word feeling like Gareeku was pulling a knife out of his heart, Aisha's eyes too began to water. She didn't move, nor speak, but just let them flow from her eyes until he finished. It never occured to her just how easily someone's mind was vulnerable to such fears...their family and friends, dead right before their eyes, by their hands...no matter how strong they seemed. Aisha would have done anything in her power to protect Gareeku from threats...but this kind was a different matter.
True...it scared her a little, the possibility that she could be hurt too...but Aisha cared nothing for herself, whenever it came down to between she and the one she loved. When Gareeku finished, the first thing she did despite her tears was smile softly and wipe the ones from his fear-tainted eyes.
"Come on...I'm too stubborn to let anything happen," she chuckled, using the words he often used for reassurance. She gently cupped the wolf's face with her hands, her look a serious one. "Listen to me. When I said I loved you, I said no matter what happens. I'm not about to abandon you, and I think your family and our friends would agree with me. Your vision is just that...a vision. I can't say that I know what you are going through, but I know one thing. I will be here for you...I should say I don't deserve you, because you're just too good to be true."
Aisha drew him into an embrace again, releasing a sigh that was long and deep, and confirming. "And at the highly unlikely chance that fate must be so cruel as to have my demise at your hands...so be it. Better than at the hands of a true monster." She smiled and kissed him, holding it for a moment to make sure he got the message she was saying all along...she loved him.
Then, she took his hands. "Now, you want to keep sitting in this dirty alley all night...or do you want to come with me, and make Stygian apologize, so we can go back home to the party?" Aisha smirked.
((OOC: Up to you. No Daos ex Machina though. If it ends soon, it ends well!))
Mel noticed that Stygian had returned, alone. She had just opened her mouth to ask where the others were when Karl interupted with an exclamation about something being broken. "What's broken?" she questioned. Or who she added in her thoughts.
Stygian looked at the dead controller in his hand, rubbing the pieces with a thumb before dropping it to the ground and stepping on it with a loud crunch from his boot.
Damn all these people. First thing I do when I get out of here, I'm getting my ass back to Dyssea. They can't even try and have a bit of perspective... he thought.
"The controller is. We're at the mercy of the simulation, if we don't find a way to manipulate it manually." Turning around, he eyed the elevator lounge and stood patiently, thinking that if the two of those doves were going to kick him in the balls for the trouble, he could at least take it like a man.
(OOC: Now would be a good time for E and Boog to intervene and get us out...)
Hearing Aisha's comforting words, Gareeku looked into her eyes with a loving smile, wiping away the tears that were trickling down her cheeks, before holding her tightly as she embraced him once more.
"I love you so much..." the wolf whispered, holding the kiss with her as he growled softly with happiness.
Composing himself, Gareeku pushed the nightmare to the back of his mind, looking back at Aisha with a slight smile as he listened to her proposal.
"You're right..." the wolf replied, rising to his feet and helping Aisha up onto hers.
Karl: This is a simulation of an entire world, isn't it? Then I have an idea...according to the FIA's Interstellar Science study group, each world has a Geomatrix. Those worlds that have environments that are inhabitable have a living Terminal Spark that regulates the Geomatrix...If we can get to the Terminal Chamber where the Terminal Spark is, we can find out why magic is being sapped from this world, thus possibly finding a way to restore it until someone can find a way to end the simulation...
*Karl then thought for a second*
Karl: I just hope this sim is realistic enough to have an access to the terminal Chamber...is it, Stygian?
(OOC: You don't mind me adding to the plot, do you?)
Aisha chuckled softly and rose to her feet. "And don't you forget it," she replied to his words, giving him a wink as her hand grasped his. They walked back around to the elevator lounge, only after making sure that there weren't too many people around on their level to draw their gaze to the no-longer-human pair.
This time, the ride up was a lot more serene. The panther's gaze wandered across the night-ridden landscape, any creases of the earth virtually invisible in shadow and illuminated otherwise by the ethereal city lights. She leaned comfortably against Gareeku, a light purring sound in her throat. The peace was keeping her annoyance with Stygian in check...at least until the vessel finally stopped.
She stepped out before Gareeku did and trotted across the street, catching sight of the others as they patiently waited. "Stygian," she started with a kind of silky, dangerous voice and clenched her fist behind her back as the anger rose in her tone. "I have half a mind to...!"
Aisha then paused, her gaze drawn to the broken pile on the ground that looked too much like the controller that Stygian kept with him the whole time. "Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it does," she muttered with another growl of annoyance.
After another tense pause, she brought her fist around and quickly caught Stygian in the jaw. "...Do that."
Stygian took the blow, his head snapping to the side, and then looked down at Aisha again, absentmindedly rubbing his cheek.
"It means exactly what you think," he said, matter-of-factly. Then, he looked over his shoulder at Karl and sneered a bit at him. "And this place isn't built up like anything that I, and probably not you, have ever seen before. I cancelled the magic ban, but I'm afraid that's all that's to our favour right now."
"Physically go there, eh? Sounds inconvenient..." Boogey considered this, and then snapped his fingers, "You could evict these two. Once they're outside of your head, I could use this old argument of mine that things are attracted to their point of origin to send them home, and whatever sort of afterlife waiting for them there will deal with it. E, are you able to push Eric and Star out of your mind? If not, I can; it's not euthinasia if you consider that they've technically been dead for years."
E nods. " Well if they don't resist i maybe able t puce them out as a broadcast wave form. still they should be able to leave on their own." that won't work. even if i used astral projection i would be drawn back to you like a yo-yo" said Eric. " not not projection i mean simply step out of me they same way that Erebus did. if he can do it shouldn't you be able to?" as they talk E undoes the last of the barriers and the world outside the room slowly returns to it's original form. Boogey's PDA remains but looses it's animation as it is reclaimed by the main entity. "does that sound right to you Boogey? "
Boogey nodded once and stood up as the chair faded away.
"Just tell me when they're out; I'll do the rest. Yo-yo effect or not, they only have to be outside for a little bit."
Stygian stood wondering, scratching his chin still. He seemed to have lost all thought of Aisha's and Gareeku's anger, as he peered down into the ground.
"The simulation is a little existence of itself... kind of like a vacuole... Judging from what we have seen there is no telling whether we are anchored in our origin existence, but from the extent of the warp I would suppose not... which makes it inherently dangerous to tamper with the simulation from the inside. Still, unless we are rescued I see no other option. Now..." he wondered aloud, and turned his back to the panthress and the wolf, pacing off a bit. He gestured with a hand through the air, and light seemed to bend in its trail, while small glowing green symbols appeared as it passed, forming a hint of an intricate pattern of some kind, and then fading quickly.
"We could possibly try to corrupt the simulation. That would probably cause the generator to take emergency measures and shut it down, and hopefully expel us..."
Since May stops singing, the crowd soon disperses, leaving May with little to do. She walks back toward the car.
Quote from: Boogeyman on January 17, 2007, 04:42:28 PM
Boogey nodded once and stood up as the chair faded away.
"Just tell me when they're out; I'll do the rest. Yo-yo effect or not, they only have to be outside for a little bit."
outside of E's body things are quite. the humming of his process seems to slow down. a few moments lather E's eyes opens and his forehead sensor blinks twice rapidly. "now Boogey. they are out" E's sensor is holing in a patters as he person the toe lovers holing each other. Starlight has changed. she has more tails and seems to be more mature but very healthy. Eric isn't a normal human this time. he seems to be outlined by another body one that is not human. the out line looks almost like a twin tailed wolf with long hair..
Boogey immediatly left E's mind, flowing outward until he was standing a little way away from the two lovers. He immediatly began weaving the argument around them, his entire concentration consumed by his task. This is important. No visits from the @#$%-up fairy.
It took him a while, compared to his usual arguments. He put in subclauses, in case any particularly schaudenfruiedian Concepts decided to refute it. He put in evidense that those enveloped within it deserved to go to a pleasant afterlife. He added an ammendum to make sure that it was a comfortable trip, with the entertainments of the passanger's choice. With a flourish, he concluded the argument and watched the two disappear, panting. That had taken a lot out of him.
"Stay out of trouble!" Boogey grinned, "And be happy! If I have to be involved in something this mushy, it better end happily!"
E felt both relief and regret as he he feels Eric's Departure. Don't worry E this is not the first one one of Us have lest for the afterlife. "but are they together and will he be okay?" I don't know i have never stayed dead. but trust me if he ever needs help he has the power to call on us. life is a strange cycle. stranger still for you and I. E looks around. "Say Boogey does the house feel different to you?"
Boogey looked around as the two personas (personae? Personii?) depart. He noticed it too.
"It's... quiet. Really quiet. Not trusting quiet at all. Where is everyone?"
E's helmets sensors glows and he scanned eventing within 30 meters. "i think i've picked up a trades of Karl's Tech signature but the rest... my sensors aren't set to pick up dragons, wolves (cubi or not) or panthers right now . " as he follows the singer it grows stronger and a second blip pops up. " i think i may have found Stygian as well. both signals seems to be coming for the gym"
(ooc. i'm taking it the that human spell is not off of the cast but they are still locked in the simulation in the gym. if i'm wrong correct me and i'll correct my post.)
Aisha growled slightly as she brought her fist back from the blow she had given Stygian. Her fingers clenched and unclenched to try and banish the soreness that it had given her knuckles. Physical pain she never minded though...it was much better than concealing anger in one's head, which was a slow and lingering kind of pain. She felt better now at least.
But now there was the emotion of frustration working about the others, upon overhearing the fact that they seemed to be stuck in the simulation from Karl and Stygian's conversation. And the way out seemed a risk.
Aisha cupped her hand over her forehead. "Brilliant..." the panther muttered, pacing a little bit while watching Gareeku's emotions with what remained of her concern for his plight.
((Well, Aish and Gar aren't humans anymore at least, E...magic potential has been returned too.))
As Aisha leaned on him, a quiet growl of happiness was audible from Gareeku, a soft smile on his fce as he looked out at the cityscape as the elevator rose up. Upon reaching the top, the wolf walked with Aisha, until he laid eyes on Stygian.
Saying nothing, the wolf leant against a wall, his arms crossed as he looked away somewhat. A part of him was angry with Stygian, yet there was also a part of him that wanted nothing to do with him. Watching Aisha land a punch, he did not smile, but merely looked as his somewhat grim expression gave away his opinion that Stygian more than deserved it. Hearing the commotion about the remote being broken, the wolf sighed quietly. It seemed that, for now, they were stuck.
Boogey winced. He didn't like gyms. Gyms were full of strange, torturous instroments that were alledgedly good for you but never really showed any effect, and god forbid if you tell anyone in one that you don't like gyms, because their train of logic somehow reaches the completely illogical point that you don't spend enough time in them.
"Very well, there must be something going on," He thought of all that healthy activity and winced again, "But you go first."
"Yes, indeed..." Stygian murred at Aisha's comment. "It's nothing that can't be escaped though... still, I'd like to wait for the Boog and E to find us. If the simulation is aborted of its own force, that means that everything turns normal. If we "worsen" the circumstances, things might not be the same. But I suppose if you want to, I could start working on getting us out of here right now. Though I won't be able to tell what will happen, other than that it will upset things."
He paced a bit more, then looked up at Gareeku momentarily with a considering gaze. Then, he made a growling sound, and looked back at Aisha and Mel, waiting for their response.
"I did leave them a note, or rather an illusion attached to paper, before we entered. I tried to explain what Sathariel felt the field was. Hopefully I didn't mangle her explanation beyond recognition." She looked at the others, "I would vote to wait, but I have considerably more lifespan to spend waiting than others."
Karl: Corrupt the Simulation, eh? hehehe...I could do that.
*Karl then proceeds to transform into his Fal'dev form (which is Viral in it genetic nature), then attempts to use a Digitization spell*
Karl: If all goes well, I can become more like a Computer virus...while still in control of myself, because the Digitization spell transforms matter into data/code...viral genes will equal viral code.
Pausing for a second in her pacing, Aisha took a sidelong glance at Stygian as he further explained the situation. Seems they had a choice...she wondered how Boog and E even knew where they were. Waiting for those two could take a number of minutes to hours. The panther didn't like staying in this place longer than it took...
On the other hand, waiting would be the safer thing. The last thing Aisha--and everybody, in fact, she realized while stealing a glance at Gareeku and the others--needed was any more dangers or unexpected twists.
"I too say we wait..." she said with a long sigh. "But, por favor, let it not be all night that we have to..." her voice then suddenly trailed off as she looked at Karl. "Good idea, amigo, except that I think we're not in a computer program. Correct me if I'm wrong."
E nods and follows his signals until he reached a wall. no wishing to cause more damage then necessary the follows the wall until he reaches an entrance. he Tries the door trying to see if it is unlocked and if he can open it.
( Edit. OOC i'm not sure who's running the plot at the moment but i'm leaving it to the to tell me in the doors unlocked ore if we have to force our way through. well also need and ideal of whats we'll see on the other side.)
*Karl then looks at Aisha with a sigh*
Karl: this simulation's got to be ran by a computer, isn't it? of course the tech is unknown to me so I may have to concentrate here...
Stygian just disregarded Karl, while making another gesture with his hand, followed by some more symbols.
"And the medium? You can't infect a computer you're not plugged into," he said, and sighed. "I suppose we shall have to wait then. Just tell me if you change your mind."
The door seemed to be on touch control, because it suddenly clacked and folded open under E's fingers.
The Door open with out the uses of damaging foes sees to be a good sight to E. he enters gesturing for Boogey to follow him. as they step in and look around E suddenly thinks but what about fairies?
"Is there some place that is less the middle of the street to be having this conversation? We're attracting a crowd." Mel rubbed her bruised throat. "Simulated or not it hurts when these folk get ugly."
Stygian started a bit, and turned around. People were indeed eyeing them, and some were whispering to each other, pointing to what he had done in the air. Magic wasn't a common thing in Dyssea, even if it were of the kind that Stygian seemed to use. His expression went from one of surprise to anger, and then he raised his hand, palm facing the crowd. Suddenly, a complex symbol, looking like some alchemic circle almost, glowed green in the air, and then dispersed as trails light against the crowd. The next second, the people were screaming and wailing, holding their heads. Every single one of them darted off in a random direction, except for against the group, some still screaming, others just crying and holding their hands at their temples.
"There. Bloody gawkers..." Stygian said, and returned to his thoughts, muttering.
(OOC: The hatch is not the thing that leads into the simulation, E. It's what covers the control computer's main console. You just have to step into the portal over the training mat if you want to enter the simulation. It's nearly invisible to the naked eye though, and I wouldn't recommend it, since it's better if you turn off the simulation from outside.)
*Karl then thought about it...*
Karl: You know what? Forget the digitization spell...it not like the broken controller still had its transmitter component...
*Karl glared at Stygian, obviously trying to send him a message that if the transmitter part wasn't lost, it would have been enough to jack in to the simulation computer...*
Aisha had rolled her eyes at Karl's answer back to her, and she started pacing again. "'Twas only a thought." Ah, solving problems the analytical machinist's way, the panther added silently with a quiet snerk, walking the length of the car on the sidewalk beside it and just trying not to be restless and nervous...especially when people had started to stop and lay their eyes on the sight before them.
The panther felt like a side-show freak, in that notion. But she did get a good snicker out of when Stygian chased them off. "You'd think that there wouldn't be anything more strange in this world than us," she muttered and leaned against the wall next to Gareeku.
Quietly, Aisha observed everyone's mannerisms. May seemed to be the only one having a bit of fun with this little trip. Everyone else was either concentrating, or downcast and quiet.
Well...if something wants to prove the notion wrong that things can't much better, the panther thought with a roll of her eyes to the night sky and started trying to see if she could spot a star or two.
(OOC: I'm assuming the hatch is in the gym, near aforementioned training mat.)
Boogey followed E closely behind, as if worried that without some sort of guard he would be attacked by exersizing equipment insistant on his using it. He smelled some sort of illusion, lots of information and mechanically or magically organized thought moving around. The others were close, he could feel the occasional thought drifting off of them, but wherever they were was off limits. Seeing what lay behind the hatch, however, Boogey grinned broadly.
"Alright, getting a feel for what's going on. The others are Elsewhere. Someplace... not so far. Some sort of locale made of ideas, but these ideas are programs or whatever. I think this hooks up to that. Not always so good with machines though. What do you make of it?"
E breaths a sight of relive. so Boogey had some ideal what was going on. "well if you can find them please lead on" E's sensors were still still running poorly do the a lot of his interpretation programs being down. he was not ready to hook into the program fearful as to what that may cause both for he program and for himself. he looked around at the place. this was like a holodeck he wondered how to shut down this world without causing damage to they system or his friends.
With everyone preoccupied Mel had a moment to finally look around. This was the biggest illusion trap she'd ever seen. A dozen illusionists working together couldn't create something like this. Perhaps she should be more attentive to what machines could do. She ran her hand over the railing and looked out at the lights passing way into the distance, admiring the workmanship of the spell. No attention was spared in the details. She turned to watch one of the flying vehicles pass over and felt something against her foot. She looked down and saw it was the jacket she had discarded when her wings returned. A sudden thought hit her. No one was wearing what they had been back at the mansion. She picked up the jacket and thought about it. They were standing here hoping E or Boogey dispelled the illusion. ALL of the illusion. "Um... guys... Did you happen to keep your other clothing on under your urban camoflage?" She held up the jacket to illustrate. "Am I right in thinking this illusion will end with no warning?"
*OOC: I’ll assume that this is happening near May.*
“Hey Sevilin, can you get your sister to…”
“I’ll try, but Norri is in a bit of a bad mood. Plus, you must remember that it is up to her discretion whether she helps or not. After all, we can’t help everyone all the time. People would get too dependant on us.”
A pause.
“She said, and I quote, ‘Get lost, you’re a very annoying sister and I’ll never forgive you for reading my diary.’ Weird, ‘cause I never touched her diary.”
*OOC: Norri, goddess of science. She would have been helpful, perhaps, were it not for her little temper tantrum.*
"Well, that's how it goes. What has that got to do with... ooh..." Stygian said, and rolled his eyes. Then he grinned, and went over to the car to sit down in the door. "Of course, if we change things now that would possibly change, but I think it won't be that long if there's not a complete disaster back in the house."
*OOC: What is the time back in the house?*
Valencia is now in the process of playing Soul Calibur II. She is doing quite well with Cervantes.
((It's still night. I'd estimate somewhere around midnight. We're not good with keeping totally accurate time. :3 ))
While Aisha's gaze was literally off into space, her eyes staring into the sky for any sign of a shining starry pinprick behind the clouds, she still listened to the conversations going on and was slowly hoping that someone was at least going to lighten the mood a little more. She wondered exactly what time it was anyway...it couldn't have been more than an hour or so that they were gone. She smirked. And I'm not even sleepy. Go figure.
Her ear suddenly pricked towards Mel when she started speaking. Listening, she noticed that the dragon had caught something that she didn't about this whole thing...her sparring outfit had disappeared when they arrived in the illusion, replaced by her adventuring gear. The only "real" thing in the sim was her tail ring.
Aisha quirked a nervous eyebrow and slowly crossed her arms. "I kinda thought that we'd end up in the things we were wearing before we came in," the panther muttered her guess.
Closing his eyes, Gareeku stayed in his position, still leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, his eyes closed as he listened to the others discuss how they would get out of the simulation. Hearing someone else stand next to him, opening his eyes and finding Aisha, giving her a soft smile, before looking away with an expression on his face that looked almost like self-shame.
It was then, however, that he overheard what Mel said, his ear also perking up and swilleving to face her direction.
"These clothes...aren't real...?" the wolf muttered, his eyes growing slightly wider as he realised what that meant...
"No worries, Gareeku. We can tailor you a similar outfit when we get back. Or close enough..." Stygian muttered, sitting uncomfortably. He didn't like waiting like that. He was usually patient, but mostly only when he could see what was going on. And, of course, when he was among people who were thinking more or less along predictable lines. These ones were too angry or too confused for him right now, for no reason that he could use, and worse was that he couldn't calm them down quite yet.
*OOC: Well, ICJoat and ICSylver will be out until 7:00 AM or so unless something else happens. When this plot arc is done, the residents of the house may wish to follow their lead and go to sleep. That is, the characters who sleep at all. After all, even adventurers need their rest, especially after all this.*
“I wonder how I, when in bunny form, would look in clothes,” May thinks.
Nodding to E and smiling, Boogey put one hand against the machines running the simulation and slowly infiltrated the various thoughts they transported.
Alright, if I tweak this and poke this... My, but someone has been busy... Very well set up...
Meanwhile, those in the simulation may notice the lights in the windows of nearby buildings flickering on and off. Boogey was messing around.
Now I just need the- aha!
Various noises that are normally associated with a city at night grew louder. Automobiles, some types of crickets, the occasional scream. Louder and louder, and the way it was coming it sounded almost like... speech?
"You lot never invite me to play when you get a new toy. Really, all of you guys, I'm very hurt."
Mel noticed Aisha uncomfortably covering herself with her arms. While she tended to be a bit dense about the nuances of clothing Mel understood that body language. But this was something she could deal with. While not of the caliber of crisis they had rescued her from she could at least rescue them from this minor crisis. "I can provide the illusion of clothing. Like the dancing dress illusion I made for you earlier Aisha. If you wish it."
Glancing briefly at Gareeku, Aisha had to smirk a little...at least she wasn't alone in the fact that the idea was just slightly uncomfortable. That, and for the moment, Gareeku seemed to come out of his slight funk.
When the panther heard Mel's offer, her ears quirked and she made a mental sigh. "I forgot you could do that," Aisha said with a slight laugh. "I'm sure we'd appreciate it."
Then, the instant things started to become louder in the world they were in, Aisha was about ready to jump out of her skin when all of the noises turned into coherent speech. "What in the...?"
"Can't tell? Now I'm really offended. Alright, here's a hint..." With a sound of chuckling nighttime noises, one of the aforementioned buildings went completely dark. A few lights flicked on, and then a couple others, until they formed a rather familier face...
"You know, this really is quite well set up," The light-image moved by turning lights in various windows on and off, "What is it? Something you guys made yourselves?"
"Something I made, Freddy," Stygian said with an amused grin. "Though I really did not expect you to be so adept at manipulating it. Maybe it's that you can affect the processes from a greater and more convenient perspective..." He seemed to ponder for a moment, and then smiled again. He snorted a short laugh, and stood up.
"In any case, I would appreciate it if you terminated the simulation now. People seem to be less than amused anymore, and it should be a simple matter of persuading the prime process that it has run its course, and does not need to work anymore. It has a time designation, after all. A safety feature."
Stygian looked up at the huge face of lights, waiting for the Boog to get to work. Something about being trapped like that and at someone else's hand really put him on edge.
"Gimme a minute... Ah, I see..." The big light face looked thoughtful for a second, "Move that one there, that zero there, and... Voila!"
There was a flash, and those within the simulation were met with the sensation that they were immersed in seltzer water. Things were vanishing in a similar manner, dissolving with a sound of white noise in the background...
As the others reappeared, Boogey left the device. As he was leaving, however, he pocketed a few concepts that he thought could be useful. Waste not can be doubly applied to ideas. Push comes to shove, next time I have trouble throwing off a pursuit this should make a lovely trap for the particularly overzealous.
"So, ladies and germs, me and E miss anything fun?"
E laughed. Boogey's had an odd sense of humor but it did grow on you after a while.
May disperses her own spell right before the simulation dissipates, turning back into her natural form. She then proceeds to eat a chocolate bar that magically appears in her hand.
Stygian looked down on himself as his clothes shifted back to their usual form to adapt to the temperature change, and then around at the hall around them.
"Fun and educative are entirely different things, although one accomodates the other," he simply said, and then looked over them all, just making sure that things were under control.
Aisha had calmed down a little bit, suddenly remembering the voice's tone and face to be Boogey's. Well finally, I didn't think it would be so quick for them to come. Kudos to the strange people. The panther smirked and waved her own greetings, though it still looked quite strange to see someone's face reflected by the city's lights and voice by the sounds.
As she stood leaning on the wall and waiting to see what would happen, she stumbled a little bit after the wall ceased to even exist, along with everything else. The large city, which seemed so real just moments ago...the car that they had ridden in, the guns that they were carrying, and even her sword, having been thought up by herself perhaps in the sim, and even the landscape and the sky...all of it into a blank void.
Aisha sighed lightly, regaining her composure and relief to notice that the clothes she had been wearing upon entering the whole sim were back on her body. They could change, but they couldn't disappear. She smirked at Boogey. "Oh you didn't miss much. A car chase here, shooting a motorcycle gang and rescuing some friends there, and us turning into humans..." she said with a quirked eyebrow. Nobody back home was going to believe that.
"Human's? like Wily and Wright? wow i didn't that that would be possible with out a chaos emeralds or at least a type 3 fusion reactor core." E shakes hie head amazed.
"Car chases AND motorcycles? My, but you have been busy," Boogey chuckled, "And shapeshifting? You know, no matter how much time I spend real it always slightly amazes me that you guys think waking up in a different shape then when you went to sleep is so odd."
Mel shook her head as she looked down at herself with the human illusion still on her. "It's most inconvenient to change bodies if you end up in a fragile one like this. Especially if you're being chased and didn't get either the car or the motorcycle." She looked back up and smiled "And the human body got very hungry from it's run. I wonder what is in the fridge."
Stygian only made a short, bitter chuckle at the Boogeyman's words. He rubbed his temple a bit, and then heard Mel speak up. When he thought about it, he was aware of a sort of dull ache that had been building in him. Food seemed an attractive prospect right then. So he rounded Mel from behind and spoke over her shoulder.
"Not much we can prepare that quickly, I think. But we could give it a try. Or, we could call in some more delivery food, say Italian this time?" he said, then smiled and turned, and started walking out. And We need to find a way to get something to eat too... he thought.
"Food! Excellent!" Rubbing gloved hands together, Boogey made to follow Mel but stopped himself in time to glance back at the others.
"Waitaminute. The nice, bookish, could-be-the-host-of-a-childrens-show dragon got chased by motorcycles or something? I have to hear this story later," grinning from ear to ear, the concept looked even more hungry for the news than he was for takeout. Then again, given his nature, he may very well be.
shrugging E touched his belt and in a flash of light he was his organic human self again. " food sounds good to me."
“Yeah, food sounds good.” May yawns.
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.
Veronica pauses the game and heads toward the kitchen, looking for some coffee.
"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.
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 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"
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.”
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.
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.
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 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."
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?"
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.
“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.
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...
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.
“Grilled cheese? That’s the meaning of life, right there,” May says.
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?"
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."
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.
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.
"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."
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 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?"
“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.
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."
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 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."
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?"
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 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.
Sathariel's already red cheeks deepened in colour under the snow-white fur, and she looked down on her feet. She stood to the side, silently, and listened. Part of that red on her cheeks though was not from a sense of embarrassment, but rather anger. They acted like she wasn't there at all, or just some kid that couldn't behave or a pet that wasn't housebroken yet! She knew that was not how they meant, but having learned so much in her short time around she had trouble processing the information. She sat down in another chair, not caring as it seemed she did otherwise, that it was the one Stygian seemed to have reserved for himself, and put her hands on her knees and listened.
Then, Stygian came in from the door out into the hallway, in half-done pants and drying his still wet fur on his upper body with a satin red towel. He stopped, took one look at what was going on, and then sighed and spoke.
"Right. You people enjoy your meal. I'm gonna go get a nap," he said, watching the large clock that ticked softly against one wall of the room. He frowned a bit to it. "Half past midnight, twenty-four hours... Try to get some sleep in you too. You look like you've been thrown in a blender." With those words, he left them and walked back out into the entrance hall, where the fox was still watching the place with big eyes. Stygian walked up behind him as he stood examining some sort of suit of armor.
"Allright. You wanted that extra money?" he said. The fox jumped a bit, and then gave him another suspicious look when he turned around.
"Yeah. What's the d..."
"It's nothing, really. I hope you don't mind being away for a day or so. You'll probably be a bit tired." Stygian flung that towel over his shoulders. The fox stepped just a bit back.
"I have school and things, man. I gotta..."
"Twice what we said and a bonus of three hundred and sixty credits. That's six hundred total." The fox's eyes went big, but he didn't react as much as he should have.
"Man, I don't know what you're up to, but I've gotta get out of here." That response was what Stygian had expected. The fox started to turn and walk, but he didn't raise his voice or sound angry when he spoke after him.
"I also won't tell anyone you're Fae."
The fox made a dead halt, his shoulders rising up. Then he turned around to face Stygian, still with an angry expression and with his tail swishing behind him.
"You sure as Hell won't..." he said, and started raising a hand against the bat. Stygian's eyes narrowed, and the shadows of the room seemed to grow darker and more pronounced. He whispered something, and then a large green pattern, similar to the one he had used on the crowd in the simulation but larger and more complex, with rings rotating inside each other, appeared before him. The fox's eyes widened, and then he froze as something, several somethings made out of concentrated shadow, reached up and grabbed him, holding him fast.
"Always have to be so clumsy... Sorry, but I really am not going to hurt you. I just want something from you..." Stygian said in that crawling voice, his eyes now having turned into those burning green-centred pits and his skin cracking and turning grayish as he exerted his power. He closed with the now squirming fox, who stared at him with panic in his eyes, antennae having made themselves present atop his head.
"You won't remember a thing afterwards, I promise..." Stygian said, reaching out a clawed black hand...
Inside the main lounge, Aisha's tail ring suddenly started to glow and pulse violently. Though no one in there could either see or hear what happened when the two figures left for the inner regions of the house...
While listening for Gareeku's reply, Aisha had glanced to where Mel had sat with Sath. She gave the girl an impressed smile when hearing about what she had done, adding to the compliments others gave her. "Well done, chica. I daresay you might be quite the heroine." Quite the child, she is, she thought with a bit of amusement at her excitement. Then, Aisha watched Stygian leave, Sath go to speak with Boogey, and Mel go as well...leaving her and the wolf together on the sofa once again.
The pantheress smiled, having heard Gareeku's soft reply to her question. The reassured and even strong tone was starting to return to his loving voice. As long as she knew that he would recover from his ordeal...that he was okay...that was all that Aisha needed at that moment. Her face became warm at his words and his kiss...she returned it with the same tenderness, holding the silent meaning behind it of contentment, love, and true care for him.
It was a funny thought in Aisha's mind; once she thought that she had nothing left in her life to fear losing. Now, she had one...
She chuckled softly after breaking the kiss. "You've done well without me before...but, I'm glad to have helped...you mean too much to me, for me to do otherwise."
Finally it seemed a moment of peace was observed in the lounge for the time being. She comfortably embraced Gareeku while watching the goings-on with slightly tired eyes...Aisha could have taken a nap right then and there if she wanted. A few others seemed to have the same idea. The only thing that made her jerk out of her seat was when her tail ring pulsed and flashed brightly. "What in h..." she started, then muttered beneath her breath, relaxing again. "Three guesses to what that might be..."
"Three guesses? Well, if it's not an evil spirit, a dark wizard, or the Spongebob Squarepants theme song, I need more guesses," May says, "God, that theme song alone is the reason I never watched that show."
Mel picked a little at the food before deciding she was more tired than hungry. When she had been outside a few minutes ago she had seen the perfect spot for a cold-loving dragon to sleep without being bothered. Near the front door was a tiny gazebo, more decorative than anything. She slipped outside and found the gazebo full of snow, just like she hoped. She sized herself down to housecat size and curled up comfortably in the drift and with a happy sigh fell asleep.
Karl: Let me guess, Aisha...either Styggy or someone else that has Dark Energy went Shadowform (darkform) again?
*Karl then attempted to find Stygian...only to find the bat doing Shadowform shifting again. He taps him on the shoulder*
Karl: Just what in Inferno are you doing?
“Shadowform? What’s that?” May asks.
“Shadowform. Ah, beautiful. It is too bad you will never be able to experience it. It is a state where you let the darkness flow through you and…” a voice in May’s head begins.
“Just go away, already!” May yells, her eyes now closed out of fear.
“Your fear. I can taste your fear. Your fear is what brings you closer to me, May. Until later, I bid you adeu.”
Stygian was nowhere to be found, at least not in the regular quarters or any of the lower rooms. A visit to the attic yielded no results either. The darkness that emanated from him seemed to have vanished without a trace, the only lingering effect a chill feeling and a sort of murkiness that held the entry hall, quickly fading. Either he had left for the far part of the house and made an effort to hide, or he simply was not anywhere near to be found.
Stygian licked his lips, delighting in the sweet, metallic taste of the fox's blood. Despite being a Creature, this one had come quite easily, and he was enjoying this latest catch slowly. A pity he'd have to return him unscathed. There was a certain thing about not really finishing your meals... But he had to savor it while it lasted. He would make concessions so as not to harm anyone, and make sure not to leave traces. But that did not mean that he couldn't have a bit of fun...
(OOC: Sorry, story and character concern. I will ignore that statement until proper story has taken place.)
E having raided the kitchen sits down at a table with a bowl of chili and some polish with a few slices of cheese. it was not healthy bu then no one ever accused him of doing things that were conductive to long life. still he would barely be flesh and blood long enough to digest this meal and if he was going to eat he may as well enjoy it.
There was a snicker from Aisha as people offered their guesses as to the cause of the flash of light from her tail...apparently, she would have to practice whispering under her breath just a little more, as they heard her. "You're halfway right, and you ARE right," she commented respectively to May and Karl, before watching him walk off. It was at that moment that her tired eyes blinked open and noticed the food that was on the table.
Casting a wary glance to her ring once again, her tail flipped around to between her legs where she couldn't see it and be distracted. It couldn't be something dangerous to the whole of the group, so soon after coming back. There were many she knew who gave off that signature and weren't.
The panther only paused upon hearing May shout, then with a questioning look and a shrug, poked into the open bags, licking her lips lightly upon smelling the food...she figured a good snack would do well before she decided to fall asleep...whenever that would be.
That was when she looked back at Gareeku with a smile while taking the food out. "Still hungry?"
May blushes, realizing how loud she was. "Um... sorry 'bout that."
Time was going slowly. By the towering clock to the wall, which ticked faintly and seemingly with a sort of chill disregard for everything else, one could tell that it was almost one in the morning. The snow had stopped falling outside, and the pallid glow of the moon reflected in the perfect white of the cold blanket lain over the ground. It watched the sleeping dragon in the gazebo outside ruefully, peeked in through the tall, arched windows, balanced on the treetops on the ridge past the lake below. The food was still warm in its packaging, small whisps of steam rising from the hot soup and starter courses to be eaten before the sushi, but the rest of the world seemed to have gone cold and still. It was peaceful. Quiet.
Shapes trodded in the distance at the edge of the forest, just underneath the darkness, and one would have thought they could hear a howl. It was answered by a dim, almost inaudible growl from somwhere on the other side of the house, almost a whisper to all their ears. Except Aisha's, who were more acute, and recognized the crawling, seething undertone to it.
Boogey had wolfed down his meal and went to sleep, on the basis that both were pleasant activities. Of course, insomnia decreed that this only lasted a couple of hours, so he was just lying awake debating whether or not to peek on a few dreams.
Contently snuggling Aisha, the wolf then noticed the panthress' tail ring glow. Growling and guessing who it could be, Gareeku was about to go and investigate, were it not for his tiredness prohibiting him to do so.
Noticing the food and hearing Aisha's question, Gareeku smiled and nodded.
"You bet." he replied, before his stomach growled softly, the wolf blushing slightly as it did so.
having worn himself out e returns the the couch lays down for a rest. he sighs rubbing his belly. it's have been a while since he's actually eaten something other then ice cream and here in on day he's had both pizza and chili cheese dogs. now however he was tired and as an organic being he needed sleep.
"It's alright, May," Aisha responded to the youngster's apology kindly, though her eyes were set towards the table. The panther nodded at Gareeku's response and handed him a portion of the food and set one for herself as well. The smell of the sushi and appetizers were just too tempting to consider putting sleep before the meal. She was certain that the wolf had the same thoughts, smirking when she heard his growling stomach. Her own made a grumbling reply, to which she just laughed. "Comemos, then."
While she ate, she watched and listened as the mansion became progressively quiet until the life seemed to have just walked out of it, save for those she could see still hanging around. The size of the place, the gargantuan presence made by the building itself, it only made the quiet all the stronger and encompassing, like it was the only element that could cover the great amount of space other than light, air, and shadow. It would create a lonely feeling, if it weren't also peaceful. That was certainly evident when E had comfortably fallen asleep on another couch nearby.
She swallowed quietly and hummed. "Quiet..." then her ears swiveled on her head, independent of each other like sattelites, upon catching those sounds well within her range of hearing that never failed to send a chill down one's spine, until one recognized it. "Mostly," she added, "but then again, that's quite a welcome sign after today." Aisha sat back on the couch when she finished her food. "Peace..." she smiled, her eyes closing briefly at the sense that came with the word...certainly present when she was with Gareeku.
Time flew, or at least it seemed so. The mansion lay still and dormant for the time, accompanied only by the forest and the moon. Its empty rooms, still and dark as ever, held its inhabitants close in their grasp. The kitchen was silent, the bedrooms empty. Only in the atrium was there any movement, still resting bats occasionally moving as they settled on branches in the hanging trees. It seemed that someone had forgotten to turn up the heating, for a chill began to spread over stone and hardwood floors. The fire in the hearth in the main lounge had faded, unattended to, and the only lighting now came from live candles whose flames burned perfectly in the still air.
A couple of hours passed, before a dark figure appeared on the outside of the house, as it clambered across a wall and up over the sloped roof and made its way up a top spire. It sat hunched over on the point of it for a few seconds, and then unfurled a pair of huge leathery and clawed wings, too big for the size of its figure as it had been before. It gently leapt off the roof, and spread those wings, quickly gaining altitude as it beat them and almost snaked its way through the night sky, tail streaming behind it.
Not much later, the creature returned to above the house. It circled once, looking down and assessing the place below. Then, it dove quickly, plummeting through the air and only spreading its wings once it was almost down on the ground. It slowed instantly, and then with just a barely audible thump set its clawed feet on the roof of the gazebo. Then, it seethed with shadow as it changed...
Stygian shot a head down to look at the white dragon under him, laying in the mound of snow she had made for herself. He cocked his head to the side a bit, and then slid smoothly and silently down, turning so that he could sit on the side, just above the dragon's head, looking curiously at her.
((OOC: *Takes out a freshly polished cluebat* Now, unless people actually do something, this cannot progress. I already know your perspective and feelings, since you've expressed it. But when are you going to go to sleep like normal people?!))
Something disturbed Mel's nap. More of a shift in the flow of energies than a sound or vibration. She slitted sleepy eyes partly open and after a moment found Stygian above her. She yawned and stretched like the housecat whose size she currently matched, tiny claws scoring the snow. "Out for a midnight stroll? Nice night for it."
"And you? Sleeping in the snow. I thought dragons were fiery and liked mountains, caverns, volcanoes or such," he said, and slid down from his perch just a bit. He sat down more comfortably and eyed the dragoness somewhat curiously. "I never could sleep very well. And now that I've eaten, I thought that moving a bit could be good for me." It wasn't as simple as that, but...
Stygian sat silently for a while, leaning his head back out and looking at the starry sky. Though he looked as if he breathed, there came no mist from those breaths. And there was no heartbeat to be heard either in his chest. All was still as the night.
"Dragons have adapted to all sorts of conditions; glaciers as well as volcanoes. My ancestors happened to have adapted to survive in frozen wastelands. My home is a place of ice and snow. The original fort walls were made of ice blocks since it is so reliably cold there." Mel wiggled deeper into the drift of snow. "This temperature is more natural to me than that indoors."
(OOC: Stygian, how many normal people do we have here?)
Stygian had no idea what relevant thing he could say to respond to that, so instead he sighed and jumped topics quiclky.
"I didn't hurt him that bad, but they seem pretty pissed with me..." he said to Mel, not really expecting her to listen. "Why he keeps that attitude against me and those demons of his, I don't know. It's like he's fighting all the time, like he wants to fight the darkness outside because he can't face the one within." That was not such an easy insight as he made it sound, but he didn't care. He thought it was right. He turned his head, and scratched his neck.
"Thankfully, he's not set on destroying me or something. If that was the case, this would probably get ugly," he said, and then shrugged a bit. "But then, what do I know?"
Sathariel had tired of all the happenings in the house. Even with Aisha's and Gareeku's passion in the back of her head, and the curious feeling of the others, especially the Boogeyman, she had gotten wearied. Now, those emotions were just tiring her more. So she got up, and walked out into the corridor and up to find a hopefully ready bedroom.
Only when she was outside the lounge and already heading up the stairs to the second floor did she start to feel uncomfortable. There was a presence from the other end of the house, a dark emptiness that could only be Stygian. It was masked from her enough that she could barely tell the direction of it, but she knew. She could also feel just a hint of excitement and arousal on his end, like the scent of a hunting beast, but darker. She sped her steps, and searched.
When she entered a bedroom to an end of the house that must have been pretty much on top of the lounge, she could tell that the darkness had moved. It wasn't as "on end" as before, but that didn't make it better. She undressed hastily and slipped under the cold but smooth bedsheets. Stygian was going further off, Mel had fallen asleep, and Aisha was fee...
Sathariel forced her mind shut. She had to, or otherwise she wouldn't have been able to sleep. The sensations of the others around still played over the surface of her mind, but she didn't take part in them, held them out. Slowly, she drifted into a troubled sleep...
(OOC: Let me rephrase that... as any kind of creature that needs sleep. I for one can't very well do anything until you've had your turns. A few hours don't just pass like that unless everyone agrees that they do.)
“Do you guys have any guest rooms around here? I’m really tired,” May says.
*OOC: Like normal people, Stygian? The one normal entity around here (Valencia) isn’t even looking at a bed.*
((Even not-so-normal people need sleep. :3 Except for 'Cubi and insomniacs...))
Aisha opened her eyes again and set her empty plate aside, having almost been caught by the peace and quiet of the house. It had become slightly dark on the inside now, and the place looked even more medieval with the candles and the grand atmosphere. But the panther hadn't much energy with a full stomach to even appreciate the dark beauty of it.
She stood and stretched her limbs out for a moment, her eyes wandering towards the stairs, and then to those in the room. "I would think there would be plenty of places to sleep in this place," Aisha answered May, and then eyed Sath to see if she had fallen asleep as well, only to notice that she had left. "Should be easy to find a bed for those of us that need it."
I know I'll need one after that ordeal... Aisha thought with a final yawn, before pausing and casting a sudden glance to Gareeku with a warm face.
After that ordeal...I don't feel like leaving him alone...
*OOC: Of course, ICJoat decided to sleep anyway.*
“I’ll search, then,” May says. She then wanders off in search of a room. She very quietly begins to sing the song from earlier as she searches.
( i kind of skirt the line. i have power and abilities that in many cases i must work to achieve and master. also rely heavily on tech that does not always change over well as if go form world to world.)
Mel blinked herself fully awake at the sudden change to seriousness. "I hope you don't expect an answer from me. His power is nothing odd or unique so I don't understand his horror over it." She began making designs in the snow with her claws. "At home Grandmother regularly has visitors whose power shimmers around them like a cloud, so maybe I just have an unrealistic view of power. But it is something Gareeku needs to come to terms with within himself. I only hope he can."
Stygian raised an eyebrow at Mel's response. He would find out more about her family, somehow. That much power must not be left alive. Then again, with people like that...
"Why would anyone want power to shimmer around them? Doesn't that make you a target? And I can't imagine what the polarized glasses would cost..." he said, just to be silly. Still, he didn't smile, or even think his joke was that funny. "Heh. As for me, I don't think he has a fair shot... The longer he goes, the more it is repressed, and the more he hates it. Even if he would just settle with it, he'd still see it as a weakness, and while that may stop its growth it doesn't remove the problem..." He sighed. "Or maybe it does. I don't know for sure. All I know is that he throws it in my face how much he hates the darkness, and that as long as he thinks and does as he does he won't improve."
Stygian hummed, and stretched his fingers. He should have stayed in bed. This was sort of meaningless...
"You don't see power shimmering around me, do you, Shivers?" he asked, another silly question.
Eventually giving in to insomnia, Boogey got up and went over to the fridge to see if something to eat would help him sleep. As he went, he grabbed a book that had been casually left out on an end table to read; cookies, warm milk, and information always made for pleasant dreams.
As he reached into the refridgerator for the desired foods, book clutched under one arm, he gave a start as if someone had poked him sharply in the ribs. Which someone had.
"Oh! Forgot you two for a minute," he muttered to himself, reaching into his coat and rummaging around, "You both must be starving, I'll get you something." Pulling out a bit more food from the fridge, a majority of it meat, he stuffed it into the coat. There was a slight sound of something moving about, but not a line showed on the garment. Downing the cookies and milk quickly, he was flipping through what had turned out to be The Picture of Dorian Gray when he overheard noise from outside; Stygian and Mel's conversation. He paused momentarily, and eventually reached a conclusion. I've read this before. What these two are saying are new theories and concepts. The snack will help me sleep. The thought-entity settled down by aforementioned window to listen in, smiling to nothing in particular.
Mel snorted at Stygian's response. "Target? Most of them are clan leaders come for negotiations. If they weren't puffed up like the magical equivalent of peacocks they'd make their whole clan look like targets. I hope they're smart enough to not put on such a show elsewhere."
Then she heard Stygian's last question, "Shimmer? Not, not really a shimmer. But you do have a weird effect on the energy paths near you." Mel shrugged, "But the magical energy in this mansion is so screwed up that it could be an isolated effect."
E's sleep is less the restful as he looks about his recent memories. so much clutter. In the spans of a few hours that lasted like a few years. taking great care he isolates and compacts the leas necessary memories and pushed them into external storage. his body gives light in the inferred spectrum as he goes through this. with out meaning to he rolls off the couch. not quite waking up as he lands.
May gets into a bed in one of the rooms she finds as she continues to sing softly. “Lying here beneath the twinkling stars. I’m still wondering where… you… Zzz…”
*OOC: Three down, one to go. The rest of you should probably wrap things up soon.*
Veronica takes another sip of her coffee.
As Aisha turned to look at Gareeku, she would see that the wolf had fallen asleep, the plate of food still on his lap and a peaceful expression on his face as he slept. It seemed that Gareeku's tiredness had finally caught up with him.
Veronica, finished with her coffee, bids everyone who is awake goodbye, and heads out the door and toward her home.
*OOC: And… they’re out.*
Stygian sighed loudly. That was just great, another thing to be worried about. Another thing to trace him by. The fact that it might have been a temporary effect did not comfort him much.
"And since you know you cannot see yourself, so well as by reflection, I, your glass, will modestly discover to yourself, that of yourself which you yet know not of," he said bitterly. Shakespeare seemed a fitting theme here. Tragedy, an unlikely love, a Iago or Claudius in himself, madness... What or who might Mel be? Well, he didn't really need to know. He hummed a bit on a low tune that was recognizable as Nocturne no.1.
"Worst part is actually that I don't know why I'm doing all this. It's to spend time, obviously, but... Even for someone like me it's hard to determine what compels these actions. Maybe harder, since I don't really know myself. I guess that it's just plain interest... And to be that mirror glass, of course," he said. Then, he seemed to notice something. "Hey... do you feel as if you're being watched, Shivers? I feel someone..." He raised his head and looked up at a nearby window.
When Aisha saw Gareeku fast asleep, she had to stifle the urge to giggle. Well, no wonder he's been so quiet. She tilted her head with an amused smile, though there was a thoughtful look in her eyes. I guess you're not afraid of having any nightmares...I hope not...Taking a second, the pantheress leaned over him and placed a soft kiss on his forehead, while taking the plate on his lap and placing it back on the table. "Good night," she whispered the blessing in his ear.
When she rose, Aisha took one more glance around the dark main lounge, and to the few having fallen asleep in it, before walking up the stairs in quiet tones so as not to make anything creak. Her tail ring's glow had thankfully dulled significantly, but there still shone a ball of emerald green light on the walls where she walked.
It didn't take too long to find a vacant guest room. Having found where she had placed her cape and weapons belt a while before, she had them folded in her arms. The pantheress closed the door behind her and placed the cape and her clothes on a nearby chair (but the weapons she set on a desk next to the bed, as per habit).
Before she fell asleep, Aisha looked through her tired vision at the dark window set in the far wall, having only just noticed that it had stopped snowing, before collapsing onto the pillow with a loud sigh and pulling the warm covers over her body. Her eyes closed with no resistance, like the weight of keeping them open had just been cut, and she left all of her troubled throughts to the real world...letting dreams take her over.
groggy e rolls over and tries to sleep deeper into sleep. there are not ghostly voices calling him there are not battles for domination. he was happy and almost human.
"Company?" questioned Mel. Still the size of a housecat she jumped on the bench and looked in the direction of the manor. "I thought everyone would be passed out by now. It was a long day. Rude to eavesdrop."
With a sleepy yawn, Gareeku slowly opened his eyes. He wasn't sure how long he had been asleep, but it was still dark outside through the window, though it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours. Turning his head to the side, the wolf noticed that Aisha had gone. Curiosity getting the better of him, Gareeku got up and quietly began to explore the quiet house.
After what seemed a quiet, Gareeku peeked into one of the rooms to find Aisha fast asleep inside a bed. Smiling softly, the wolf quietly stepped inside, not making a noise as he sat down in a chair in the corner of the room. Watching the soft moonlight upon the sleeping form of the panthress, the wolf smiled softly once more. Seeing Aisha so at peace was, in his eyes, a truely wonderful and heart-warming sight. He would be quite happy just sitting there and watching her sleep.
Stygian couldn't see inside the kitchen from the darkness and the reflection of the light. But he could still feel that it was the Boogeyman who watched them, so he simply smiled, and stepped down. He slipped out his cigar etui, and lit one up. Pulling a breath, he exhaled, and stained the air with some thick smoke and tobacco smell. He looked up at the stars again. You can practically see the whole damn galaxy frome here... he thought. He stood there for a short while, then turned his head toward Mel.
"Speaking of eavesdropping..." he began, and exhaled the last puff on that slim cigar. "I've enjoyed this talk. Now, I'm going for another one, but I'd be glad to speak with you a bit more later." He dropped the butt in the snow, and then turned. Not waiting for an answer, he started seething with shadow immediately, and in just a few moments he was gone, vanished into the night, somehow not even leaving a footstep in the snow behind.
The room was silent and still but for Aisha's breaths, slow and measured, the sheets rising and falling just a bit with each. But then, for just a second, it was as if the light had shifted a small bit. And then came the musty scent of fine tobacco from behind Gareeku.
"They're always cute in their sleep," Stygian said very silently, from right behind the wolf's shoulder. "We need to talk."
Awake now Mel discovered she was hungry. She returned to her standard size and wandered back inside to rummage in the remains of the takeout for a snack. Seeing e and Joat asleep on the floor she took her meal to a nearby room. It was either a study with a lot of books or a library with a lot of desk. Taking a seat at the desk she had just begun eating when she noticed her ring and remembered that she intended to check the heat resistance spell.
Soon the desk was scattered with food, jeweler's tools, and magical supplies and Mel was humming, oddly offkey. but happily.
Rats. And things were just getting interesting, With a sigh, Boogey got up and retrieved his book. Not enough information for a full snack, which meant it was back to plan A. He wandered around as he read, hoping that both the information and tiring himself out would help him get to sleep, the sort of idea that always makes perfect sense late at night. Eventually, he found himself in the library. When he saw Mel his blend of curiosity and the munchies struck again.
"Hey," He said, sidling over and closing the book, "Am I looking at a fellow insomniac, or just a workaholic?"
Suddenly smelling the scent of tobacco in the air, Gareeku's soft smile swiftly vanished upon hearing Stygian's voice, replaced by a scowl.
"No, we don't." the wolf replied, his voice equally as silent as Stygian's. "Just leave me be."
Stygian made a sound and frowned. He hadn't come here to be disregarded. Quickly, he sensed the wolf over, taking in the sadness, pain, guilt and most of all the loathing that had suddenly welled up in his scent and general feeling. He almost growled, but held it in.
"I have no intention of doing that, and you know why. Now..." he said, and stepped a bit around the wolf, seeing if Gareeku would turn his head and face him. "You can either take it like a man and come along, or you can sit here and hide in the dark like some little child." Cold eyes, like green cinders, glared at the wolf from the shadows. Then they turned against the panthress. "You know, that's all your choice, and I can't affect it. But it's an insult against me, and more importantly to you I think is that it's a letdown to Aisha. Think she likes the idea of you this way? Think she wants you dead or worse?" He knew that was a far-fetched one, and he was just trying to get the wolf's attention, but hopefully it would do the trick. He stood like that for a moment just to emphasize, and then he turned, walking out silently.
"You want to be alone with your nightmares, fine. But just so you know..." he said, and opened the door, standing in the doorway a bit, "Nightmares are all there is if that's what you're choosing." With that, he went out, and turned into another door, leading into a hallway down into the main library and turning up the lights as he went to show where for the wolf to head.
The main library was a monstrously large hall, oval with the entrance on one end and windows on another. It ran through the whole three main stories of the mansion, and its walls were stacked with volumes and volumes of books behind catwalks and ladders until it took a very hard look to see any gaps at all on the shelves. In the middle of the rounded off floor, its marble set in a complex and beautiful pattern of black, brown, red and green, was a single round table under a huge chandelier and a sofa and some chairs. Stygian walked up to a wall, looked for a while, then took out a thick book with blackish red bindings and sat himself down in a chair, reading in the dim lighting.
Listening to what Stygian said, Gareeku stayed silently, his eyes fixed on the sleeping form of Aisha. Glancing as Stygian walked out, the wolf looked back at Aisha, still silent.
...Aisha... Gareeku thought to himself with a degree of sadness. ...I'm so sorry for what I've put you through...for what I am...
About a minute of so passed, before the wolf silently rose to his feet and walked out of the room. Eventually he came to the main library, walking up to and standing about a meter of so away from Stygian.
"Fine...let's talk..." the wolf said calmly.
Meanwhile, it didn't take too long before Aisha fell into the deepest part of sleep, where her senses seemed to have been taken from the real world and put instead to focus on the recesses of her mind, and there she had been for a few hours. The panther was left completely unaware of her visitors in the corner of the room, and the conversation between them. The conflicts were in her dreams, as could have been seen if one observed closely enough...her breathing, though regular, had little bursts and pauses from time to time. Her fingers twitched just slightly beneath the covers. And her eyes moved rapidly within the lids.
The images she conjured were often the usual: memories. Training sessions with her brother as a child...and Rynkura when she was older. Missions that had come and gone...faces that she had only seen once or twice. Names that she barely remembered.
The dead and dying. The cries and the tears. Elation...friends she had saved and kept. And of course, she dreamt of Gareeku...which, contrary to his own nightmares, contained good memories...laughing and joking, and the fights she took alongside him. The dance and their first kiss was in there too. All images that she was used to...and a few that she wasn't. One of such came barreling in without warning.
"Nn...Rn...k..." she groaned slightly in her sleep, moments after Gareeku had exited her room and was out of hearing range. The growling only got louder, until Aisha's eyes shot open and she bolted upright with a "NO!" that left her gasping.
With her eyes roaming the dark corners of the room, her rapid pulse finally started to slow down, and the heartbeat stopped ramming into her ribs. Aisha remembered where she was, and released a sigh of relief, hands coming up to her forehead. "There's a new one..." she laughed silently, and uneasily, to herself.
It was then that she started to take in what was a little different about the room. A couple of new, but fading scents caught her nose...and she recognized them easily, eyes widening a bit. ...Gareeku...? Then they narrowed again. ...Stygian? What in all...? Then, the panther caught sight of the open door, and decided that she was just awake enough to try and sate her own curiosity.
She pulled her clothes on and peered through the doorway into the quiet darkness, her ears just barely catching a conversation with two familiar voices as she inched slowly closer to the light through the hallway. She made little to no sounds at all and had her back pressed against the wall, stopping only when the lowest voice level could be picked up by her hearing.
"Have a seat," Stygian said, not putting his book away until the wolf had. Then he carefully placed the volume on the table, and looked up. He bunched his fingers a bit, and took a deep breath, considering his words carefully before speaking.
"You're going to kill yourself. That's how simple it is, because you can't go on like this, and you obviously can't accept the darkness inside you. That's why it's turned to evil, rather than just become a part of your feelings." He looked at the wolf directly, right in the eyes. "I know that it's not something that was with you from the start, if you're wondering. But it's completely a part of you now, and that's how it is. You can try and wipe it out, sure, but I'm pretty sure your soul would never recover from that. Not to mention what it might do to your mind..."
Mel mentally shook herself out of her little working trance and stopped scowling at the ring mount in her hand. She looked at Boogey, the magnifier she wore over one eye making him seem rather lopsided. "Insomnia? No. I probably should be back sleeping but I woke up and was hungry then allowed myself to be distracted by this." She held up the empty mount of the ruby ring she had been wearing earlier. The stone itself was now sitting precariously close to a half-eaten appetizer. "The enchantment was slipping." Warming up to her subject she added "It's a most unusual fault. It lost the middle range before either the high or the low."
She made herself shut up. No one wanted to hear about the enchantment of magical objects. Particularly not since she technically did it all wrong. "So, insomnia for you huh?"
"Pretty much, yeah. That, and the pressing need for a snack," Boogey eyed the ring, "So, what's this that you're distracted with? It looks like magic of some sort, and I'm not too familier with such things. Always wanted to learn. How does it work? What was the flaw?"
Taking a seat, the wolf listened as Stygian spoke, not taking his eyes off of Stygian's as he held his calm facial expression. Every word he listened to, Gareeku saw truth. The darkness within him was indeed evil, and it was indeed part of his very soul.
"A very nice job at profiling, I must say. However, I am guessing there is a point to your analysis. Mind telling me what it is?" Gareeku replied, his voice as calm as his facial expression. "Were I to accept and embrace this darkness within me, I would change. I would become one of dark intentions, one would use others to further his own ends."
Stygian gazed at the wolf, studying him in detail. His scent, his sound, his movements, the very feeling of his presence, everything the creature noticed and considered. At the wolf's last statement he made a short, cruel laugh. He was still seeing the world in black and white, was he?
"The point to my analysis is this, wolf; the evil is there because you're not fighting it. You're repressing it." He leaned forward a bit. "By keeping it pent up you're not dealing with it, and it wears you down. Is it so hard to see?" Stygian rose to his feet and went around behind the chair, turning his back on the wolf just a while and looking up in the ceiling. Then, his gaze was drawn to the space above the library entrance. What he saw nearly swept him off his feet. Had he really created that? Still, he kept calm. He looked down again, against the bookcases in the walls, and walked up toward one, idly playing with a finger over the titles.
"As long as a light shines, it also casts a shadow somwhere. You might not believe it, but I was once a light too. Innocent. Good. Virtuous," he said, humour in his tone as if he was amused at the thought. "But every candle burns out..."
Stygian turned around and looked down a bit.
"But the world isn't just light and darkness, Gareeku. Even the most well-intended action can have catastrophic consequences, and even the most dire crime can make the world a better place. Light and dark is at best a point of view." He sighed and then looked directly at the wolf, holding his gaze. "What matters, at least to oneself and one's close ones, is that you go your path and try to do as well as you can. And if you can't do that, Gareeku, because of some fear or doubt you picked up somewhere, then I pity you. And I pity you for not trusting yourself and those close to you to have the strength, and the will, to do so."
Listening to Stygian speak, Gareeku rose to his feet as he finished speaking.
"If I knew how to fight it, then I would!" Gareeku replied, his voice raised in frustration and anger. "So unless you've got some bright idea that doesn't involve trying to screw with my mind, then I'd love to hear it!"
It was then, however, that the wolf saw what Stygian had seen a minute ago...
It was a painting, one of the huge and exquisite kind that one could sometimes see in a great hall or castle. It was painted in an impossibly detailed and perfect late romantic style, and while its proportions and perspective were perfect its sfumatos and highlights, its theme and its range still made it seem as if taken right from some epic tale. It was vivid in its expression and masterful in its composure to the degree where no Delacroix, Turner or even Cole could ever have painted something better, and if Gareeku had been able to walk up to it he had no doubt that he could have stood tall right before it and it would still be a way to go for him to reach to the top of its frame. And it was still broader than it was tall. It seemed to depict a battle of some kind. The scenery was a mountain, or a cliff, set far in front of stretching spires that seemed oddly familiar. Many of them were set ablaze or toppled though, and in the details one could see hints of shadowy shapes moving between and around them, and lights following. In the foreground, on the cliff itself, a number of figures stood, depicted in rich and lavish detail. To the right, higher on the slope of the cliff, stood what could only be described as an angelic host, winged warriors in decorated and ornamented yet somehow futuristic armor in golden, silver, blue and red hues and wielding glowing swords, lances and firearms of different kinds. Before them, clearly in focus and surrounded by a dim nimbus of light, was an immaculately beautiful woman, tall with windswept, slightly wavy silvery blonde hair and a large crozius-like sword of gold, wreathed in whitish flames in her hand. She stood looking down, pointing, blue bands hanging from her white-feathered wings and blowing in a wind around her white- and silver-clad form.
Mel?
To the left, further down on the slope, the scenery darkened, polarizing the painting, with light on the right and shadows on the left. There instead stood much less perfect and beautiful shapes than the angels, dark and grim-looking men and women, warriors of an entirely different kind, most with cloth or combat outfits and gear or cybernetics rather than armor and looking altogether functionalistic and cold and hard, rather than beautiful. They seemed much more a disordered and grizzled band, mercenaries to the elegant angel soldiers. Yet, their expressions were stern and stubborn, and full of loathing and hatred, but not much rage. Before them, kneeling as if struck down or broken, was a barechested man, an appollonian yet darkened figure with grayish blonde shoulderlength hair. From his shoulders and down along his back mostly, his skin was grayened and cracked, thick darkness that seemed to writhe before one's very eyes as one looked at it snaking and flowing out from within. His face was darkened as well, and as he looked up at the angelic woman above him one could see a fiery glow in his eyes. Gareeku knew that face.
That far, one could understand the painting. But then there was the fact that the shadowed man seemed in pain, a somehow familiar hoodened figure trying to help him to his feet, black eyes gleaming from within her hood, and another one, a machine-man of some sort, standing behind and over him as if guarding his back. The whole of the dark host seemed to be on the defense, whereas the angels were looking down on them with cold loathing and disdain. And the woman who led the angels... Her face, however beautiful, was laughing out with cruel triumph, malice and somehow evil upon it.
"It is not about how you fight it or with what means, because you're not supposed to be fighting it in this case. There is no evil in the power itself. Once you stop treating it as either a blessing or a curse, and simply see it as a power, then you can begin to understand," Stygian said, looking at the painting. "No matter the nature of your power or your origin, it does not determine how you use it, or who you are."
Studying the magnificent paintings, Gareeku recognised some of the people depicted, especially that of the angel woman, who looked remarkably like Mel had when in human form. Noticing the triumphant, evil look on the angel's face, Gareeku was reminded of many of the angels in Furrae who also held evil in their hearts. Seeing the two figures, the wolf also recognised them from somewhere before...
Listening to Stygian speak as he observed the painting, Gareeku sighed quietly.
"You made it seem as if I could fight it a minute ago." he muttered. "Now you tell me I can't. Or shouldn't. I never wanted this power. I haven't been repressing it, Stygian. It goes dormant and makes itself known on its own accord."
"You're not listening to me!" Stygian snapped at the wolf. His face was angered now, almost snarling. "Life is a trial. There are many things that people don't want to do, but still have to. And why? Because there is no other option! This is one of those cases, wolf. That power of yours may not be under control yet, but it certainly is not as capricious as you make it out to be. You just hate it, and that is enough for it to be the way it is!"
The bat turned around, and paced a bit, shaking his head angrily. Then he shot Gareeku a glare that would have pierced the wolf's heart if looks could kill.
"Your light hasn't been extinguished. You've earned a power that is so great that many whom I know of would die just to have it for a short time, and at a low price. And what do you do? You poison yourself with it!" He stepped closer to Gareeku, almost pushing the wolf back as he came closer, right up in his face. "Do you know what kind of insult that is to those of us who have paid in full?!"
Mel looked at Boogey doubtfully, then shrugged, he'd asked to be bored. "I don't like being hot. This ring is supposed to be enchanted to keep me from getting hot. It wasn't working so I've taken it apart for a look. What I've found is that one of three enchantments failed." She glared at the piece of gold in her hand as if offended by it. "But the one that failed shouldn't have unless one of the other two went first. I can only assume that it has something to do with being magic deprived while in Stygian's toy. I'm about to re-enchant the ring but if you want to learn magic you shouldn't watch what I'm about to do. I've been told I do this all wrong. Quickly, efficiently, durably, but all wrong."
"If it does what you want, you're doing fine. At least, that's how I've always seen such matters," Boogey's eyes didn't stray from the ring or the jewels incorperated into it, "Besides, you'll have no critique from me seeing as I've never seen it before."
As Stygian's anger showed, Gareeku stood his ground, not moving an inch as Stygian came up in his face aside from the narrowing of his eyes.
"Well excuse me for not being a power-craving s.o.b." the wolf replied calmly, his voice dripping with sarcasm as a slight smirk appeared on his face, before it disappeared. "If you are so intent on me controlling this power, then by all means teach me if you think you can."
"It's wrong because none of my teachers could duplicate it," Mel snorted. "If something isn't teachable it's the wrong way to do it." Mel's eyes seemed to become a brighter shade of blue and she picked an invisible something from the air. As she hummed unmelodiously she carved something into the inside of the ring with one claw. It glowed for a minute then faded. She stopped humming, her eyes went back to their normal blue, and she smiled at Boogey. "To place a heat resistance enchantment one must place the object in a bowl of ash and place that bowl in a bowl of ice then chant a particularly long and tongue-twisting series of power words that will eventually place the spell delicately over the outside of the object. It is absolutely impossible to grab magic out of the air, twist it to shape and shove it into the object." She picked up the ruby and with a bit more humming set it back into the mount. "You've just seen the wrong way to enchant a ring."
"Fascinating...." Boogey breathed, still watching the ring, "So, essentially, what you just did was an incredibly efficient and thus far impossible to duplicate technique. Most define that as genious," he chuckled a little, "Seems sort of like how my kind work with Arguments and thoughts sometimes. Just take the logic, bend it a little, and hit the situation with that until it's fixed."
Somewhere in the shadows just beyond the library's entrance--one couldn't tell exactly how far--a panther was listening with quiet but hard-driven intent. Stygian's and Gareeku's voices rose and fell, and came and went, but she could still hear each word. With each passing syllable, she wanted more to stay and anticipate this outcome.
Aisha was keeping to her own promise to watch out for the wolf...but she also didn't want to over-protect him, if this was something that he could control himself...as Stygian had hinted. Every time he argued against the bat's words, it seemed like a step away from his problem...but then, a part of her just wanted to slap Styg and tell him to mind his business. She kept that part of herself at bay, though, instead just concentrating on being quiet...she had even left her tail ring back in the room.
While the black jaguar's ears still concentrated on the voices echoing in the vast room beyond, her eyes were staring in the shadowed lifeline of her palm, thinking about the nightmare she just had that mirrored a deep-rooted fear for losing those she loved...including him. Please listen. If it only means saving yourself, and your happiness.
*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?
"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?"
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.
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?*
"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."
"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."
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...
*OOC: I wonder if that’s the room May found to sleep in.*
"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 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.
"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..."
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.
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.
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 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 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?"
"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 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."
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."
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...
"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."
"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..."
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 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..."
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.
*OOC: I had thought Sath fell into “a troubled sleep”. She must have awoken since then.*
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.)
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 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!"
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.
"SATH!! NO!!" Gareeku cried out as he turned in time see the last of the girl disappear. No longer was he angry; the anger within him had been replaced by disbelief and sadness. "...She was just a girl...a sweet, innocent girl..."
His eyes shutting tight, the wolf fought hard to fight back the tears. Opening his eyes, he looked to the side, a look of mourning on his face, when his eyes caught sight of the envelope which hadn't been there before. Grabbing it almost instinctively, Gareeku fumbled almost frantically to open it. Once he did so, the wolf quickly pulled out whatever was within...
-Delete?-
((OOC: Huzzah for ruining the story we had going.))
That would be the one moment burned in Aisha's memory...the look in the girl's eyes when she vanished...the pleading and sadness that she left with, and the friends that could do nothing to help, but watch her waste away into mist.
Sath had fallen away into nothing, right in the panther's hands. Right in Gareeku's. Calling for them... And they could do nothing.
Just...like...the nightmare...Aisha thought to herself as she fell to her knees and closed her eyes, as somber and mournful as the wolf was. One thing that she never did like was watching someone she know just disappear from existence, and having nothing to do about it. Though the panther didn't know whether or not the girl really "died", it felt like it.
She kept silent for a small while before hearing Gareeku moving and paper crinkling. One misty eye opened to watch him open an envelope from on the table. "What's that...?" she muttered and rubbed her eyes.
Sylver and I wake up.
“What in the world is going on?” I ask sleepily.
Inside the envelope was a neatly folded letter, written in an exquisite but somewhat spindly traditional hand and with a single black feather inside it. It read:
"Dear Gareeku and Aisha; If this letter should by chance reach you in the right place and time, that means that my work has turned out correctly, and that I am gone from Furrae. In fact, it means that I was never even there to start with. I am not entirely sure about the effects this might have on the nature of existence, but I suppose that all my direct and assured interference is gone from your point of view. Please tell the Boogeyman and Mel of this. I am sure that at least one of them will spend some time thinking on it...
I have returned to my own existence to settle some accounts. Please, don't worry about me, and note the sarcastic tone. I am not sure that I am fine, but what is fine anyway? In any case, it was something that needed doing, and I am tired of solving other problems. Borrowed time is borrowed time.
Still, I have not entirely left your existence alone, though I will probably never interfere with it again. I have set events in motion long ago that I hope will produce desirable results, though whether they are noticeable to you immediately is as much a chance as that this letter should reach you. Of course, that might be a parallel, so it is foolish of me to mention it from one perspective. Then again, who knows? It is better that I do from your point of view anyway, I think.
One last thing before I forget after all these years; tell Gareeku that he's the naíve one to think that darkness is not a part of everything.
Sincerely sincerely, Stygian"
Sylver and I walk into that room. “What’s going on?” I ask.
As Gareeku reached in and pulled out the letter, Aisha curiously took the black feather that came with it, turning it over in her hands as she stood and leaned over Gareeku's shoulder to read what it said. She squinted to read each word and sentence, even more so as the panther tried to comprehend what it was saying.
"He left...? Or...he was never here?" She repeated quizzically. "But how can that be...? Most everything that's happened now is because of..." she held a hand to her head, which was now aching and tired from the sleep that the panther had refused to give back to it.
She looked again at the feather in her hand, then back to Gareeku with a long sigh. "I guess...it will be a while before you have to worry about him again..."
And that's when she heard someone else enter the library, and the panther wanted to groan. Was everybody already waking up...? She turned to look at Joat and Sylver. "I don't think we even know..."
Just as Mel teased Boogey something started happening. She looked at him wide-eyed as the room started changing. The design in the curtains, the type of wood in the floor, "What the...?" Then she answered, "Stygian." She turned to Boogey. "We'd better check what's going on this time."
It took a bit of searching but they finally found the rest of the group in the library.
“Should we go wake May?” I ask.
"I'll have to tell you later later," Boogey rolled his eyes and followed, "Can't that guy go a whole 6 hours without rearranging things?"
E groaned as he woke up. some one was messing with reality in the local area again he wondered when enough would be enough. half sleep gets up and refreshes his outfit before re-entering hit robotizes state. He groans as he looked around and heads for the center of the disturbance. " okay what now" he roans and her makes his way.
Somehow it had become near-evening again, and that did not make the whole sleeping situation better. The sky was slowly going orange again as the sun began to set, shadows growing longer. Despite the fact that Stygian had left, there was still some sort of gloom, and a chill that gripped the house. All the lights and candles had gone out, and the large and looming halls, though not threatening, seemed empty. As the library crowded, and no one seemed to really have anything to say, the feeling was enhanced.
Some distance away, a figure slowly made his way, walking across the landscape, headed over the outskirts of a town and down a slightly snow-covered road in the chill, toward his destination.
“Zzz…”
Sylver shakes me. “Joat, wake up.”
I wake up. “Sorry. Musta dosed off there. Pretty sleepy.”
*Karl walks into the Library*
Karl: Gareeku, Aisha...you two alright? The local Dimensional space seems to have been fixed...got any idea why?
*Karl notices them holding a letter*
Karl: what's this? *reads letter* ...so he's gone?
E arrives shortly after Karl reads the letter. hey what's up? i felt something strange when i woke up and follow it until it vanished and i wound up here"
Mel rubbed her temples trying to keep a headache away as she tried to line up in her mind the events that had just taken place. Stygian was gone, but had never been here to go? Same with Sathariel. She peeked at Gareeku and Aisha, they were taking that part especially hard. They were all going to miss that little kitten. But leaving these two staring at the spot she disappeared from was not a good idea. Protective types tended to crash hard when they thought they failed to protect.
Mel put a hand on Gareeku's and Aisha's shoulders and began gently urging them out of the room. At their startled expressions she informed them, "We're going to go see if the drinks cabinet is still in the main room and drink a toast to wherever Sath is now. Stygian said he didn't make her, which means she was someone before she came here. She's just back where ever she was and we're going to send her happy wishes."
Mel kept gently directing the pair towards the door, hoping she wasn't telling a lie since she didn't really know what Sathariel was or if she even had a past to return to.
As Boogey read the letter, he followed the others and shook his head. Making it so you never were somewhere was a trick not unknown to those who twist logic into little spirals, but it was still dangerous and may have harmed Sath. In character for him really, but still... disappointing...
The man turned, pulling his coat a bit tighter around him and swinging his tail as a gust of wind passed and threw up snow from the side. He folded his ears down and back as well as he could, and muttered. The place was supposed to be empty, but hopefully he'd be able to sit down in front of a warm fire before night fell. Perhaps he could even go back and find some decent tea in town, once he'd found what he was looking for.
The man turned, and looked to the sun, squinting behind his round glasses. It would be another hour or so before the light completely vanished. Normally he would have been glad at that, but right now he was just feeling like staying somwhere calm and getting some sleep once he was done.
Quickly, he slipped out a little etui and turned his back on the wind, which thankfully had died down a bit. Pulling out a matte silvery lighter, he lit a slim cigar and took a pull on it, and sighed as he turned to look at his destination. It was still small in the distance, but from his position halfway down a hillside he could see it, a big dark mansion standing not far from a very large lake that dissappeared behind some rocky hills further off, and with some woodland around it leading up to those hills. Not another soul on the long road leading to it.
He started walking again. He would have flown, but it just felt right walking. The chill didn't get to him anyway, and if there was anything he had then it was time.
Aisha observed the letter's words one more time, and then watched it get passed between the others who had come down only to see the dire mood unfold further. Many were expressing more curosity than concern for Stygian's disappearance. Only she and Gareeku seemed deeper in thought. The panther stayed next to Gareeku, laying her head on his shoulder while her eyes just stared down at the feather. She could sense his emotions just as clearly too...still mourning. Still thoughtful. Still not at ease.
What a time this turned out to be...
It was then that Mel came upon the two and started leading them towards the door. Aisha had blinked curiously, but on the dragon's explanation she had started to go more willingly. "I guess you might be right..." she answered. "She may not have been there in reality...but she was in our memories. That is important..."
As the others entered the room and talked, Gareeku stayed silent, giving the others the letter so that they could read it.
"I couldn't protect her...I couldn't save her..." the wolf muttered sadly. "...damn it..."
It was then, however, that Mel came over to them. Listening to her words, Gareeku found them to be comforting.
"Yeah...that would be nice..." the wolf replied, smiling slightly as he le himself be lead back to the main room.
upon taking ill both the letter and the reaches E face palms. "this smacks of Paradox and i disk likes having to deal with major realty shifts." Still at this point there was little if anything that E could do. no with out causes another major reality shift.
Downstairs, the house had changed, but not much. They had to take two right turns rather than a left and a right to get to the main room now, which was odd, but otherwise things were mostly thesame. The style of the architecture and furniture had become somewhat more romantical, but was still mostly in dark tones, and before lights and candles were lit, as the sun set there seemed to be a sort of dimness to the whole place, one of the kind that follows an autumn rain in an open field, surreal and distant.
The drinks and tools, the food, all the stuff they had taken out was missing, replaced instead with books that gave the impression of having lain there for some time, and some strange silvery instruments and papers. There was a pot of tea standing out, but it seemed to have gone cold and stale long ago. It didn't gladden anyone, it seemed. Still, the cabinets seemed full, and the food in the refrigerator was still there.
When they had gone in, the delivery fox from before showed up, dressed in some hastily thrown-on coat and with an aggravated look on his face. He seemed to wobble a bit on his legs and looked paler under his fur than before.
"What the hell is going on, and who are you people!?" he said, eyeing them with a very critical expression.
The man was almost at the mansion now. He walked slowly, having stubbed out his cigar long since, his boots making rough prints in the snow, which creaked a bit under him. Next time he would get a car, if one was available. He would need to get a place to put his things as well...
Then, he looked up, and saw light, faint but clear, through some windows. He stopped. Wasn't this place supposed to be empty? He ran a pointy tongue over sharp teeth, thinking hard. He had not heard of any legal claims yet, and from what he knew no one was aware that the owners were dead, so it was improbable that these were relatives come to look at the house. Then again, with people like that you could see some strange behaviour, but...
He shook his head and started walking again. He would do what he would do. Right now he knew nothing, and once he found out what the circumstances were he could regard them. All he had to do was be a bit cautious at first.
He reached the front door, and very carefully tested it. It proved to be unlocked, to his surprise, and he looked in and around twice before actually slipping in. He closed the door as silently as the big thing permitted, and then walked, casually but as always with him very silently through the house, against where he thought he had seen lights.
Mel looked around at the generally unkempt air of the room with a bit of a wrinkle to her nose. This wasn't the messiness of a busy house but the decline of a lonely one. She'd grown up in a much larger and infinitely older place but there wasn't a single corner allowed to get this edge of decay feel. "I don't think you hired adequate cleaning staff in this timeline, Admiral. Your place is all run down."
“What’s going on? We don’t know. Who we are? That, we do know. I’m Joat and this is Sylver,” I say to the fox.
As they strolled around through the house, Aisha had slowed her pace a little bit so that it was controlled by herself a little more than by Mel, though she still stood by the dragon and Gareeku. By her hearing, the felid could tell that some of the others were following, too. Her eyes wandered over the details of the place, as labyrinthine as ever if not more so. It still felt like something brought right out of a point long in the past...and with recent events, Aisha wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case.
Her eyes took in the details, the new ones and the old, and some that she couldn't even remember if they were new or not. But the place still felt dark, encompassing, and intimidating.
Once they made it back to the main lounge, Aisha yawned again and pushed some messy hair strands back into place, peering over to where the windows were. Dusk...at this rate, the panther would be time-lagged. But the time of day was at least very appropriate for the mood.
When a new voice had piped up, Aisha glanced towards the fox and curiously tilted her head, wondering how to answer for a second. Huh. A new person. An apologetic smile of greeting appeared on her tired face. "We don't know much about what's going on either. We're all just party guests, basically..."
One of her ears tilted towards where she supposed the path to the mansion's entrance lay, suddenly having thought she heard footsteps. But, in the milling around of the others, and her slightly lethargic state, it could have been written off as someone else...only a small tinge in her mind had a doubt about it.
Boogey raised an eyebrow as the fox walked in, interrupting his thoughts on what may have happened to Sath.
"I suppose that depends," He twisted an argument around himself, making himself appear as a bit more normal to anyone who hadn't seen his real face before; in this case, a mongoose anthro with a mildly mangey look about him, "What do you remember?"
He stopped just before the end of a hallway, from where the light was coming, and tested the air. A mix of scents, varied and sharp in contrast, came to him. The sound of movement, the feeling of heat, speech... The scents from in there blended together, the candles, something chemical and steely, then some warmth, a sharp edge, contrasting cold, something... slick, and then something that he had simply never felt before. It didn't add up. There were six people in there, but...
He reached out and felt the room through a bit more carefully. There were energies about all over. But none of them seemed strong or organized enough to be much of a threat. But just to be sure...
He made a gesture with a hand, and fire leapt from his hand. It flowed and twisted into a formation over it, forming a complex circle diagram of symbols and lines for a moment. One transformation spell, some mind shielding, a few unknown minors and some free radical power just hanging loose. No great concern, he thought. The spell had told him little more than that, but he needed no more to go on. He would be cautious, but quick.
"That... yesterday, that person took me upstairs, and...!" the fox started, blushed, and felt his neck. He silenced quickly though.
The unmistakeable sound of a pair of boots, somewhat dimmed but distinguishable, came from the other side of the room, as a figure made itself visible, dimmed somewhat in the shadows. He was dressed differently, and his features were just slightly different, younger and not quite as bitter, his hair a bit longer and his face just a little less serious. He wore a pair of round glasses now too. But they all recognized Stygian very well. He stepped in right next to the piano, and leaned on it a bit.
"So... Who are you, and what are you doing here? It would be best if you answered immediately," he said, coolly eyeing them over the bows of his glasses.
The fox made a small, high-pitched eek, and ran straight out the other way. Stygian cocked an eyebrow, but otherwise made no notice.
Boogey's disguise added its own details. A mangy, aged mongoose, and not gracefully aged, whirled around and fixed Stygian with a look.
"Apparantly, answering silly questions. Why do you ask, Stygian?"
Stygian cocked an eyebrow again, and this time he flinched, a curious expression entering his face. There was a small glint in his eyes.
"Oh? So you've heard of me. That bodes ill," he said, his tone still mostly chill, but just a bit musing. "This place was supposed to be empty," he continued, still very much on his feet. "So I guess that you must have some business here, to come at such a... convenient time." A chill voice, yes, but filled with danger.
"I could have sworn I'd told you why threatening me was a bad idea," Boogey's brows furrowed, his face taking on a concerned look, "Are you feeling alright, old boy?"
Meanwhile, he cast his perception out to envelop Stygian, checking for damages or signs of change. I haven't changed enough for him to not recognise me, the argument only effects those who would be surprized by my appearance. And he claimed he was leaving. Odd.
Stygian frowned for just a second, before his face regained its solemn composure. The real reaction though, felt clearly by the Boogeyman, was first something like his being tried to pull back for a few moments, and then... pain. Horror. Images of torture, panic, death, depravity, all intermingled with terrible concepts that defied reality flashed for just an instant. He felt something terrible beat back his senses, something that could not be seen but that he still felt very clearly there, and then settle, just out of reach but ready to strike...
"Stop that," Stygian simply said. "Whatever it is. It would be unwise to do anything hasty. Let's move slowly and easily instead. It's more comfortable."
Still, the Boog was an expert at what he did, and he had seen enough. This was not the Stygian from before. The one before had been dark, deep and cold. This one was... different. And though he recognized some of the behaviour and the general ideas, there was a certain other intensity that seemed stronger to this one.
"Merely a handshake of sorts," Boogey said, raising his hands and smiling, "Forgive me. I mistook you for an accociate of the same name and similar features. You're very similar, but not him. Little details. Most of those here are familier with him. I suggest you introduce yourself nicely lest they make the same mistake. As for what we're doing," He threw his arms wide as if to indicate the world in general, and their surroundings in particular, "We're having a party. Don't worry, we're not uptight about gatecrashers. What brings you here?"
Aisha quirked an eyebrow at the fox, and then put a hand to her forehead. It seems Stygian can be too easily thought of whenever something strange happens to someone. But then her ears caught the sound of boots moving deliberately through the room and stopping at a point in the lounge. As she looked up from having her gaze directed to the floor, they set briefly upon one she definitely recognized as Stygian. A little different...but definitely him...
The panther had started to say something, but the letter came back to her mind, and she still had the feather in her possession. He said he was never here...what's going on...?
She observed the conversation that he had with Boogey, for the first time having nothing to think about saying...and wondering with her tired mind at just what aspect of this whole thing was real.
Stygian laughed a bit.
"Me? I'm here to pick up some things. Mostly books. Family business," he said, very simply. "Might I ask you the same? This place was supposed to be empty. I would rather that it was. And as I said before, who are you? I believe you have to answer first, seeing as you are the intruders."
Stygian stood up again, and slowly began to pace around the piano, keeping his eyes on them. The air was thick with tension. What had put them off so? They obviously weren't thieves, so that only left adventurers as an option. What to do?
"Us? You're the one sneaking in," Boogey chuckled, "I believe that our host here would be a man by the name of Karl, although to be quite honest he seems to have little say in how much we trash it amidst the partying. Whoever told you this place would be empty was either counting on something that didn't happen or lied through their teeth."
Anyone looking at Mel would have seen her eyes just faintly glowing as she looked at the magic in the room. It was definately different now than before. And this timeline's version of Stygian was more comfortable with magic. Or it was more comfortable with him, previously magic had almost seemed to move away to avoid him.
Mel bowed formally to this Stygian and introduced herself, "Melodie Icewing, of Icewing. We were invited to a party and to investigatge a haunted house."
Now, he was getting aggravated. He kept his face under control though, and made a suggestive smile.
"People usually don't lie in that sort of situation," he said, quite honestly. "And though you don't sound like you're lying, this mansion belongs to the Dan'Arque family. Or rather, it belonged to them, before they died out. Now, names please. I won't report anyone, if that's a concern," he said, sounding very imperative.
At the response from Mel, Stygian replied with an equally courteous bow, but not a hair's breadth deeper than courtesy demanded. He studied the dragon up and down with a neutral face, yet eyes that seemed much more intense.
"Haunted, no. Rather, that's what the Dan'Arques let on. And Icewing... that's a curious name. I seem to have heard it before." His voice didn't carry a threat, but rather a sort of... warning.
Aisha, still confused, looked between Boogey, Mel, and Stygian...or, who apparently was Stygian. His explanation sounded truthful enough. But what was this about the mansion belonging to someone else...?
The panther stepped forward, her hands held up to try and ease the tension, just a little bit. "I'm sorry...but, when we first came here, it was Karl's place. We were all invited to a party...most of us," she said, glancing around at the remainders of who had been there. "And of course the place had been much smaller then. But...LONG story cut short...lots of things happened and it was changed into this. Crazy as it sounds...it's how we remember it."
She then made a polite bow, though it felt strange to be introducing herself again...she used the formal way, as she had done the first time she remembered coming across him. "And I am Aisha de la familia Cabre. Everyone calls me Aisha."
I wonder if that little patch of darkness has gone with the old him too...
Mel just smiled blandly back at him. "It's an ancient name. You probably remember it from history classes,"she dismissed.
*OOC: I’ll assume ICJoat has had time to read the note by now.*
Sylver focuses his chi energy.
“I am Joat Legend Delia, expert mad scientist, efficient hacker, and a darn good swordsman,” I say to Stygian.
Sylver stops focusing his chi energy and says, “I’m Sylver, a creation of his. I’m a user of Calica magic, which I know little about but have done quite a bit with.”
May walks in, looking quite tired. “You woke me up from a great dream with that telepathy, Sylver. This whole Stygian thing had better not be a joke.”
“And this is May Cottontail, Easter Bunny and Qwertish Wizard. She knows more about Calica than I do, even though she doesn’t use it,” Sylver continues.
“Yeah, being friends with the goddess of Calica tends to have that effect on you,” May comments.
Boogey chuckled and leaned against a wall.
"Report us for what, exactly? Oh fine, for courtasy's sake," He straightened up, cleared his throat, and bowed, "Bergott Serlasamoni, at your service." After all, would this fellow believe I was who I am? Besides, Serlasamoni's a nice last name, and I have so few opportunities to use one. He winked at Mel, being sure to twist the argument so that only the intended recipiant noticed, Please know what I'm up to.
Now, people were bound to be bullshitting him. Or they were perhaps under some...? No. He would easily have noticed. He supposed that much of it could be true, but really? Things that were improbable sometimes turned out true. Things that were downright silly...
"Well, remember it I do," he said to Mel with a grin. Then he bowed to "Bergott", and Aisha, in a similar fashion and with a similar face. That dispelled those hopes. "Well, that at least warrants my name then... I am Sebastian Don'Chel. Now you know both that, and my alias. Now, tell me... are you here for the heart? And what will you do when you leave?" He asked, quite directly, and gave the wolf standing beside Aisha an inquisitive look.
“Heart? What heart? The heart of gold? No, never mind. That’s a ship,” I joke.
“Heart of gold? I get that reference! I love that book series. Marvin, the robot. And, and Arthur Dent. And let’s not forget the infinite improbability drive,” Sylver says.
“Yeah, that drive seems to rule our lives nowadays,” I say.
“Yeah. What are the odds of the Easter Bunny being friends with a god while harboring the evil spirit who killed her father?” May thinks with little humor.
The wolf merely glared at Stygian. Was it really him? The stranger before him looked like him, but somehow he was...different...
"My name is Gareeku Manoko." Gareeku said as he introduced himself, bowing politely as he followed the others in introducing themselves. It seemed the others felt this stranger was a different Stygian to the one they had known before as well.
"Good. Now that We all know that..." Stygian grinned, and leaned back on the piano a bit. "Now... the Heart? Not that it matters, really... You should get out of here if you treasure your lives." That was a clear threat, but a recommendation too. "You don't seem like the unreasonable sort. But I would also recommend you tell no one of being here."
Slowly, he pulled off his black gloves, revealing clawed hands, and walked over to the fireplace. Without any sort of notice, a large fire immediately sprang up with a loud sound and settled, slowly burning the wood which had already been singed to ash on its surface. He flexed his fingers slowly in front of the fire, and made a content sigh, then shot them all a dangerous yet humorous look.
“Maybe you should resort to threats after asking politely doesn’t work,” Sylver says, “That threat was just plain unnecessary.”
“‘Sides, it’s not like you could beat us all anyway,” May says.
“Gah! Not a smart thing to say, May,” I say, “Now, please say nothing more of the sort. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have to prove your hypothesis.”
*OOC: How is it that the mad scientist keeps speaking logic to the others? Thousand voices, I guess.*
Hearing Stygian's words, Gareeku's eyes narrowed as he heard the clear threat.
"I don't think we'll be going anywhere for the time being." the wolf growled. "And I would not go around making threats, if I were you."
Watching Stygian make the fire, Gareeku kept his eyes locked on the newcomer, noticing the dangerous look that he gave the group, giving one right back in return.
Stygian made a bit of a snort, and turned against them, a serious and even severe look on his face. There was something with his eyes behind those glasses...
"Let me rephrase that. You will get out of here, or you will not be leaving alive. I don't even have to fight you..." he said, then took a step against them. He became more shadowy, darkness and what looked like cinders swirling around and enveloping him, much faster than they had seen before, and...
He was behind Aisha. He didn't move, just appeared there as the darkness drew together. Now, his eyes were dark, fire very easily glowing in their centre, like glowing coals set into his eyesockets.
"It would be for your own best," he said, very seriously.
This was rapidly escalating out of control. Maybe a distraction would give people time to think instead of merely react. "Please, there is no need for anyone to make threats," Mel commented, in her best imitation of her grandmother's imperious tones. If this Stygian knew her family reputation she'd play on it. "We will be leaving shortly. But we have our own mission of sorts to complete that has nothing to do with your trinket." She turned and walked towards the drinks cabinet. She opened the cabinet and began pulling things out like she was entitled. The old Icewings thought they were entitled. As she filled several glasses she clarified, "We're having a bit of a wake for a lost friend." The glasses frosted as she handled them.
Mel turned back, a tray of drinks in her hand. She held it out to Stygian. "You might want to join us since you, or at least a version of you, are the one who took Sathariel from us. It's only polite to help us acknowledge her departure." She hoped the look on her face read as calm and not nervous and that calm and thoughtful carried over to everyone else in the room.
Aisha's eyes widened as she watched this Stygian make his threats. It was certainly like him to be so confident with those words around a crowd. With the others making answers that were probably less than satisfactory for him, she could feel the shifting darkness even without her tail ring. Though he was different, she still was cautious, remembering what he was pretty much capable of.
The panther jumped away when she heard his voice behind her. "We don't know anything about this 'heart' that you speak of," she answered quickly, shooting a glare from her tired eyes but holding her hands up in a peaceful manner. She was a little uncomfortable without her weapons, especially with his eyes glowing like that. "Nor do we want trouble."
When Mel offered the drinks, Aisha relaxed, hoping that he would too. She had nodded with solemn agreement, crossing her arms. "If you want us to leave so badly, at least be kind enough to let us gather things." That's when she turned towards the stairs, backtracking to the room. Whether or not we leave, I am not going to be unarmed with this guy so adamant on words against our lives.
"Then again, from how you speak of aforementioned ominous organ, would any who knew anything about it say anything? Then again again, I could be trying to get you to say more about it," Boogey chuckled to himself Yes, it's another Stygian in every way, "It's rude to threaten people, my good man. And before you throw out the appalingly cliche line, yes, I do know who I'm dealing with. Do you?"
E watched most of this in silence his robotic body not needing to breath. he stood in the shadows of the room his body cloaked in shadows. had they truly forgotten what happened or were they playing around. still this was not something that he wished to gamble on. he stepped into the light. "greetings. i am E. a pleasure to meet you all again"
It was... These circumstances made Stygian want to laugh, it was that simple. Now, they wanted to negotiate out of this or something, but not actually? And he was responsible for taking someone away from them? Sathariel? That sounded like a sepiroth, which was a basis for some more complex magical patterns. But a Sathariel was a broken sepiroth...
"You're right. I don't know who I'm dealing with. But you've already presented me with the option to find out. Really..." he said, and chuckled. "I don't think that there will be any need for more..."
The next second, Stygian had whipped out with his tail and wrapped the tip of it around Mel's leg. The quick maneuver was followed instantly by another, as the world seemed to crack open and spin like a tornado around him and the dragon. To the others, they were very quickly engulfed in shadow and swirling ash and cinders, dissappearing into shadows on the spot and leaving nothing but a slight smell of something burning behind.
After being torn up and apart, Stygian and Mel both re-formed instantly out of the shadows in a darker place higher up in the house, namely the attic. The moment they did, Stygian turned around, leaving Mel standing behind him and feeling like she had just been thrown into a tumble drier and out again. He paced sideways a bit, back turned against her, and then looked at her over his shoulder with a curious look.
"Well? Aren't you going to do something?"
Boogey immediatly cast his perception throughout the room, to determine what had been done.
"A teleport of some sort!" He snarled, looking around and then heading toward another room, "Find him! If this cretin is anything like the Stygian we're familier with, he might to anything to Mel!"
After a bit of searching through the dark corridors, Aisha found the room that she had been sleeping in...or, at least thought she did. Her cape and belt were still there on a chair...the first thing she did was put the ring back on her tail, which was glimmering in the dark, probably still due to the fact that the place was shrouded in ominous darkness...or that Stygian was still somewhere nearby. Who could tell?
She snapped the belt around her waist, tied the cape around her neck, and checked to see whether her weapons were still there before quickly heading back through the hallway and stairs. Through the windows things were slowly going dark outside, the sun's light slowly fading as the darkness within the house was trying to rise, shrouded in tension from the others.
Aisha heard Boogey's shouts by the time she appeared at the stairs again. "Mel? What about Mel?" It was only then that she noticed the dragon was gone, along with Stygian. "Where are they?"
May focuses her magical energy on reading the magical energy left behind (if there is any) by the teleport to determine where they went. Sylver focuses his chi energy and tries to read Mel’s mind to determine where she is.
*OOC: Unlike most mind readings, the Calica version has a knock-before-entering principle. That is, when the spell starts, it first “asks” the target if they want their mind read. It happens on a subconscious level, so ansering the question takes no effort. If the answer is no, the Calica user has to invest a very large amount of energy if (s)he wants to proceed. Sylver is not powerful or rude enough to read an unwilling mind.*
Mel fluffed her wings back into place with a soft rattle as she regained her equilibrium. "Do something? Do what? I don't believe an assault on my dignity is worth much of a retaliation. Worrying my friends is worth a bit more. But since some of them are quite exciteable I'll guess that they will take care of it themselves. Unless you are warning me that I should preemptively attack for something you're about to do."
"So, is there a reason for the scenic tour?" Mel questioned quietly. She was definately scared, sure that Stygian knew a lot of ways to hurt her if that was his game, but she had to stay calm and thinking.
Mel sighed and added, "You know, you're no more sane in this timeline than the last. It hardly seems worth the effort the previous version must have gone to in order to alter the timestream."
Stygian chuckled just a bit and peered over his glasses at the indignant dragon. Mel could easily see his eyes through the dark that the attic had been plunged into, their previously grey coloration now ignited into an intense orange-tinged red flame that pierced the shadows and seemed to want to burn into her skull.
"I half expected you to try and resist the transport, but it seemed that it was too quick, fortunately," he said, not paying her question any heed at first. He raised a hand that was already turned into a cracked, shadowy and wickedly clawed form, a few embers glowing darkly in its skin. "No, I had actually hoped you would remain still, since I would not harm you. And don't worry about the dignity; it is We who have lost honor, if anyone," he said quite seriously.
Stygian pondered her words for a few moments. An alternate timeline? Completely considerable, somewhat plausible. It would not explain some of the things they had said, but... Then he considered the dragoness before him. Dragons were powerful, but this one hardly seemed capable of posing a threat right now. He knew the smell and feeling of fear very well, and the still fear that emanated from the creature before him was kept tightly in check, but it was still quite enough to excite him. A little more might facilitate things, and besides if the others were going to come after him he had better cut loose a bit...
"You Icewings are information-monglers. We understand that you can share as easily as take, though We do not know how," he said in a voice that turned roiling and fiery, beginning to walk toward her. The shadows writhed around him, his features distorted and the air just around his fiendish form seemed to ripple, tiny streams of fire snaking through it and the darkness. He looked down at her with those embers for eyes, his face now as cracked and twisted as the rest of his skin. "Share with us. Show us what happened here. Else, We will not hurt you, but We will share with you a memory that We are sure none of your clan would want to keep..."
Downstairs, it was very hard to get a trace on the magic at all. It seemed as if either it had been completely used up and without trace, or it had dissipated very fast. There was a great enough portion of it left to analyze though. But the results it yielded could not be interpreted. The magic was overwhelmingly dark, and alive and malign in a way that defied many original concepts. It did not leave a clear trace of direction, and even seemed to fight the attempts to assess it somehow, clawing at May's mind as it drew away.
"Do I have to spell it out?" Boogey snarled, "Bad man in bad suit take dragon! Now come on, we gotta find her!" With that, he stormed down the hallway heading for the basement, to check there first.
Watching the events unfold, Gareeku eyes widened as Stygian seemed to kidnap Mel. Noticing Aisha return, the wolf shot Boogey a fierce glare at his outburst.
"I suggest we split up." the wolf stated flatly, before picking up his sword and dashing off. His destination? The attic. He didn't know why, but Gareeku had a hunch, something that was suggesting to him that they were at the top of the house.
After what seemed quite a trek, Gareeku finally arrived at the attic door. Taking a deep breath, the wolf kicked it open and walked into the room.
"You know...it isn't very nice to suddenly take people away without permission." the wolf growled as he unsheathed his katana, the blade glowing fiercely as both its light magic and Gareeku's sould energy surged through it. "Especially when those people happen to be very good friends of mine."
The effect of Stygian's intimidation on Mel was probably not quite what he intended. She could feel the whisps of fog start dancing over her skin and the floor frosting under her feet as fear started to convert to anger. "That's it? All you want is the day I just went through?" Icy winds started blowing around the attic as more temper slipped the leash. Her delicate five foot form began to swell as her concern for looking helpless and non-threatening disappeared. Not to her full dragon form but an eight foot tall and much more primative looking version of her everyday appearance. "I spent a good portion of my yesterday being constantly threatened and bullied and attacked by an older and nastier version of you." The floor and walls behind her began to frost, then ice as more and more pent-up emotion escaped. "He tried to scare me dead then wanted to dance, his creation tried to make me kill my friends then wanted to be my student." Her voice was getting louder and louder as she ranted, almost a full-belled roar. The winds now held stinging little ice crystals. "He turned me into a weak and powerless human and dumped me into a slum to be raped and killed because he thought it would be a fun way to see his home planet and has now decided that he didn't like the day and is making us do it over with you. That's what happened here."
A gem appeared in her hand. A bloodstone, it seemed appropriate. Blueish light flared as she dumped the entire, unedited memory into it then she hurled it straight at Stygian. "Have the whole goddess-damned day. I would have given you the nice version if you'd just asked downstairs!" Her claws were digging into her palms and her wings rattling with frustration as she added, "I hope it gives you the same headache it's given me." Normally transferred memories were edited and filtered so that emotions could be recognized without being relived and senses that varied among species wouldn't overload the brain of the recipient but she didn't care if it gave him a headache. More theatrics and bullying instead of just asking if this was something she was willing to do. This Stygian was just as annoying as the last version.
Stygian had reached out against Mel, snatching the ring from the air, when he felt her magic spreading and her temper rising. His eyes narrowed and he smiled, ebon teeth flashing. His mind was racing though, trying to put together all she was screaming about. Then he heard steps, and stepped back. Heavy. Fast. Something else... He had been too focused on the dragoness.
The door behind them smashed open, and the wolf ran in, spoke, and drew his blade. Stygian snarled. The sword in his hand glowed bright, and reeked of light, even if there was another tang to it as well.
"True, but you are the one endangering her by coming here, wolf," Stygian said, turning against him. "She is not harmed yet, boy."
The fiend took a step forward, and his coat darkened and split up, merging with the shadows around him, while his clothing tore and became some sort of black vestment made mostly of wrappings, torn and burnt at the edges. His legs turned digitgrade, and his tail whipped behind him as he moved. Fire began flowing out from his blackened, ashen form, snaking together with the darkness around his feet. The icy chill that had spread around the room was beat back, and steam and smoke began to trail the room as a moving, flaring heat began to grow.
"Put down your sword. A jumped-up adventurer such as yourself has no place fighting me."
As Stygian turned to face him and began to change, Gareeku stood his ground, his eyes fixed on Stygian with a cold, hard stare. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Mel had also changed, and that she was clearly upset about something. However, at that moment, the wolf was only concerned with the shadowy being in front of him.
Hearing what Stygian said, Gareeku laughed slightly, an almost evil smirk appearing on his body.
"And she will not be harmed, either. I think she can ensure that all by herself." he sneered in reply. "Let me tell you something.."
Taking a step forward, the wolf's hands began to glow, white flames engulfing them as they licked and danced around his forearms.
"We have been through enough shit the last 24 hours...and I will NOT have myself, nor anybody else I care about, be talked down to and imtimated by someone who thinks they are above everyone else just because they can weild the shadows..."
"Shadows, boy? Once I was a shadow. But what you're facing here is no mere shadow or illusion, wolf," Stygian said, his voice sharpened by a dangerous tone. "I can put you through Hell!"
He whipped his tail, and... vanished. The shadows moved just a bit, very quickly. There was a sweeping sound from beside Gareeku, and the next moment the monster smashed out with the side of a fist with enough strength to equal a car crash. It was just the side though, fortunately, not the beast's claws.
((OOC: Blunt edit, but it's better for courtesy's sake, and there really is no option. Apologies.))
There was nobody in the basement. Cursing, Boogey was going on to the next room when he heard crashes from upstairs. Damn, I wish I had an excuse to be there faster, he thought, storming up the stairs in time to see Stygian posing with the memento clutched in one hand.
"THERE you are. You alright, Mel?" He strode past Stygian to the dragon, and then noticed Gareeku, "Well, he's not. C'mon, you've been through far worse, this should be nothing. In fact, did it even happen?" the concept's voice took on that perculier, hypnotic tone it did when it used an Argument aloud, "You are unharmed. And as for you..." Boogey now glared at Stygian, actually seeming to notice him for the first time since entering the room, "Big kids ask nicely for things. Get over yourself."
At Boogey's statement, Aisha shot him a look of annoyance. But it was tinged by anger as her eyes scanned the group again. Through their tension, their display of fear...it was obvious to see what had happened.
...Mierda santa...there goes my sleep. The panther drew her sword just as Gareeku suggested that everyone split up; he was heading off in one polar direction, and Boogey was heading off in the opposite. After a moment, Aisha turned to the stairs again and followed the wolf. It wasn't just her instinct telling her to go up there, but a memory...the first battle against the old Stygian had taken place in the attic. There wasn't reason not to believe it would have been the same thing.
As they ascended the mansion, following level after level, Gareeku had gotten quite ahead of the panther. But the growing darkness became a little easier to navigate through with each corridor traversed. Soon enough, she looked up and could see her hunch was right...Aisha felt a blast of cold air the minute she found the door up to the attic.
The pantheress stepped through, not all that cautiously, deliberately making her steps loud and easy to hear so that whoever was inside was warned that she was coming. Her eyes fell first on Stygian, and then on Mel. Gareeku seemed to have things under control with him at first, so she stepped over to the dragon with concern, trying to ignore the stinging cold that permeated the room. "Mel, he didn't hurt you did he...?" But she interrupted herself, her head whipping around upon hearing a slam, and seeing Stygian attack the wolf.
With a loud growl, Aisha stood in the middle of the room, her sword held up in a defense position, mostly trying to counteract the negativity that Boogey had given at his sudden appearance. "Is all of this really necessary, Stygian? You could just listen to us. Why would anyone lie to a stranger if we didn't know you before?"
The fiend turned against the Panthress, fires blazing in its eyes.
"We don't know. The ones on the way tried. We asked the dragon nicely," it said, and shot the Boogeyman a quick and angered look, "But you don't seem very friendly, and that," it continued, nodding toward the wolf's katana, "is a paladin's weapon if We ever saw one!"
The creature trailed more flames as it slowly moved sideways over the floor, placing itself very safely away from flanking and right where it could either warp again, or slip away into the shadows. Stygian's mind worked in high gear, his senses measuring them up. Strong heartbeats, magic seething, smells, heat... The dragoness was probably going to use magic. That could be countered. The wolf was fast, but not fast enough, though he possessed the most dangerous weapon. The panthress looked quick on her feet, but what did she have to fight with? Most worried, Stygian was over the old mustelid. He had sensed a distortion about him, but not anything that he knew how to define.
"And who are you to speak, mongoose? This is not your business."
"Not my..." Boogey facepalmed, "You came in, started threatening people, and then snatched someone and dragged them off to be interrogated you idiot!" He forced himself to calm down and looked Stygian in the eye, "Of course we're going to be angry. It's not complicated psychology, just basic social interaction."
As Stygian disappeared, the wolf's senses went on high alert. It was then that Gareeku heard a *swish* from behind him. Ducking almost instinctively, the wolf then executed a counter attack on his own as he swung his lblade in a powerful strike. However, this would miss as Stygian vanished again.
"Well please excuse me," Gareeku replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "but you were the one acting threatening towards us. If you hadn't been such an asshole and been the aggressive one out of us, then there would be no need for me to be on guard."
"And can you convince us to give anything for your anger then? No? We thought not..." Stygian said, smirking at the mongoose. That one's power... what did he do? he thought. Perhaps we can be a bit more provocative...
"We're not convinced. At all. That's poor on you," the fiend said. The next second it raised its hand at them.
Fire leapt from around its hand, and streams of it snaked through the air against the mongoose. The next second, Stygian raised his other hand against Gareeku, an open palm facing the wolf. Again, fire seemed to gather, but this time into revolving, twisting symbols inside a circle with a pattern of some kind.
Boogey simply spat some quick, venomous arguments, the twisted logic eating the fire from the air and disappearing. Otherwise he made no move; Gareeku was a competant adventuror, he could take care of himself. Gotta calm down, gotta stop giving into what I want and act as I should. Anger is the path of the brute and the fool. Now then...
"And still, he goes out of his way with the overdramatic spells and whistles," the concept rolled his shoulders, as if getting a crick out of them, "You're just like the other one; you don't know when to just stop and think about what you already have before barreling forward." He stepped toward Stygian, keeping ready with couple rebuttals in case aforementioned fellow tried to attack him again, "Does it even occur to you to stop and devote some time to figuring out what to do next? You haven't even used those memories clutched in your grubby little fist," Those tasty, wonderfull... Bah! Focus, pinky, focus!
"Rather rude, after all the stress you've put Mel here through to get them. Simply barbaric. Tsk."
The seal in front of Stygian's palm completed, and "locked", flaring up before vanishing. Either, it had not had any effect, it was not noticeable, or it was set for later...
"You're right. I didn't stop and consider. I was too busy finding out from you the clue to defeating you. Thanks," the monster said as it grinned at the mongoose. In its hand, a small stone played. Its red-speckled surface was blackened and seemed to glow from within.
Stygian gasped a bit, and took a step back.
"A thought in one's head..." he said, his face pondering just a bit. "So I think of you? That's convenient." The grin that came after could have scared the dead.
Something hit the Boogeyman, like a realization, or perhaps an apparition. This was all very wrong. He wasn't... Something very strongly told him that it was that same sophistry that he practiced, but not the same anyhow, that was working. But something else fought it, claiming that since it was logical...
His skin was yellow. That was right, wasn't it? He was the thought, and the monster thought of... Holes. There should be holes. A somewhat soft, creamy consistency, well-fermented, nice on a cracker... What was he?
Not waiting, Stygian leapt sideways, turning into shadow and readying for the next strike.
Boogey's face twisted for a second. Then, realizing what Stygian was trying to do, he had to stop himself from laughing aloud. Even then, there was a slight grin.
"You're trying to turn me into- HA! That's great!" For a split second he actually was; his usual self made entirely of cheese. Only a split second though; it didn't last.
There was a time prior to this very moment where I existed. I'm not only a thought in the monster's head, but in many other heads, including my own. His thinking about something else doesn't change the original thought.
"However, it's not just your head. While that wasn't half bad for someone fully real, you still don't know what you're doing," he changed back to normal and cast about for Stygian, "You were quite close for a second there. My compliments. However, that arrogence tripped you up again. Besides, I already have a rather strong idea as to who and what I am. What you did is sort of like what young Theories do to learn what they can and can't do. What you want to do is play off of what's already there, like so..." He filled the room with yet another argument.
A shadow disappears when there's no light to throw it into focus. So the darker it is, the less THERE a shadow is. And this is a very, very dark attic...
The argument scored home, but the darkness ignored it without a second thought. It was very, very convinced of its own state of being, even if some questions of its origin were still around. And there seemed to be something quite different to it. It wasn't a shadow. It just used the shadows, bent them like everything else. The entity itself seemed to be completely different...
You don't notice what's behind you... That idea was very determined also, but the Boogeyman managed to realize it in time.
"You're a mere thought. A concept. I am Law! Fact!" the fiend roared.
Something was very, very wrong, Gareeku realized. There was a worry, a nagging fear somehow itching at the back of his head. He was used to this sensation, this hint of danger. But right now, it didn't seem to come from Stygian, at least not directly...
Flames leapt into view, and the room darkened further. The fire seemed to permeate the room, swirling across it, unholy symbols forming on the walls. And then one made itself apparrent under the wolf, a circle like the one Stygian had drawn.
Something slowly came into view, slithering up behind the wolf, forming mostly from glowing fire entwined with some shadow. It looked like a somewhat human skull, but fanged and feral, with a spine trailing underneath it and slithering as it moved up...
Give us...
"No such thing..." Boogey replied, turning calmly, "Fact is evidense of the senses, and senses can be decieved. You say you are fact, but what real creature turns into shadows on a whim? A shadow has no depth, no substance. It is, in fact, a LACK of something. All the facts say you would be trapped in such a state." He stepped out of the way of the fiend, moving not unlike a sort of dance, "Meanwhile, facts are often ignored in favor of abstract concepts. Many more have been slain by thoughts than the other way around. This is something I've checked. Meanwhile, There's one thing you're right about. Many aspects of my being are only hypothetical..." Boogey began to appear blurry, and looking at him too long started to cause Stygian to see double, "Such as my location. And yours in relation to me."
Alright, he still doesn't know how to work with thoughts, Boogey considered, as he drifted thoughout the entire room. That which is unknown can be infinate for all one knows, and he was having a little trouble making sure he was merely unfound rather than everywhere. Specific thoughts are easy to distinguish from ones own. However, that ego of his hurts me as well as him; if he knows that the argument is coming from someone else, he's that much less likely to listen. Gotta find a way around that.
The fiend turned out not to be behind the Boogeyman at all. A distraction again. More shadows and tricks, but this time with a deadly edge to them.
We don't need to see. Nor do we need to affirm our existence. Ours in relation to yours is in turn affirmed by the laws of that same existence. Facts state that we can shift to that state as naturally as we can, because we base ourselves on laws. Power. And even if it is merely a concept to many, Hell can also be quite real...
The beast chuckled just before the strike.
There is no need to be specific. We are quite capable of destroying you, in both memory and thought.
Some of the darkness solidified, warping. It struck out at both Mel and Aisha, slowly but strongly, aiming to throw them back but not do more than perhaps take the wind out of them.
We are.
The next second, the same darkness came to life throughout the whole room, along with fire that flared like an inferno within it, writhing and entwining it. Myriad spear-like shadows struck out quick as bullets, aiming for the Boogeyman. Every single one of him.
Boogey sighed, "Shadows have no physical force, and can thereby harm nobody. Honestly, that was just insulting. And how real I am is indeterminate, and thereby infinate. I could be more real than you, for all you know, and laws are also only ideas." The shadows passed through Boogey harmlessly as he strode toward Stygian, "You know, if you keep this up you're going to force me to do something drastic. And by the way, throwing flames around everywhere is dangerous. You're on fire."
Aisha had backed away from the creature upon its answer to her, in its seething voice, still holding her sword up. There was frustration evident in her eyes upon seeing that Stygian wasn't about to back down. "Yeah, nobody's being friendly because YOU aren't...!" She stopped herself and shook her head. All of these threats are just making things worse...it seems there's going to be no convincing this guy.
She backed up a little just as Boogey looked to be locked in an argument with him, at which point she had started making a quick check to everyone. Mel was quiet, and Gareeku seemed unharmed. Aisha held her sword up, prepared in case of an attack. As Stygian raised his hands and flames lanced outward, she leapt back away from Boogey and within earshot of Mel. She still felt a little hesitant to make a move, but this wasn't the Stygian that they really knew...with her friends being fought against, and the contents of the attic threatened to be destroyed again, maybe it was time to stop being polite...
That's when she had noticed the flaming symbols in the air, directed towards the wolf. She was more curious than concerned when they had stopped, and Stygian was focusing his efforts on Boogey. That is until they saw what was really happening. Aisha started towards him. "Gareeku! Behind...OOF!" Something hard had struck the panther's midsection and sent her flying...she barely had time to turn in the air and landed on her side rather than her feet, on the other side of the room. The sword had flown from her grip.
"Oh, that's it..." Aisha snarled as she got up on her feet and shouted towards Mel, who had also been struck. "Mel, I hope you can help us fight!" As she ran back to get her blade, her right hand took the boomerang from her belt and sent it wizzing through the air, aimed for Stygian, if only to stun the beast for JUST a second...
Stygian though, glanced at her for the merest fraction of a moment, and then... wasn't there. The boomerang hit wood. He was...
I'm behind you. There wasn't just conviction in that argument. There was zeal!
Stygian lashed out of the darkness against the Boogeyman. His physical strikes came in a blur, claws flashing faster than the eye could keep up, and the arguments came at nearly the same pace. He snarled.
You are a figment of imagination, you dolt! What could you possibly do? The laws We speak of are not set in text or stone, because they don't have to be. They are, and that is the reason we all exist! What is to say that the shadows are not simply the image of something else, something that light cannot reflect from? And there is fire, yes. But We are fire. We burn!
The fiend roared, a sound that sounded like a jet engine, a furnace and some monstrous beast, all put together, and the whole shadow next to it drew up and took shape around its arm as it threw itself forward for a finite strike.
"We have the power to defeat you!"
The idea was strong enough to build a foundation for a reality on. The clarity, the assuredness and the truth of it seemed so overwhelming, as if the monster had just said something that could not be counterargued sanely at all.
Boogey stood as Stygian pummeled him and simply smiled. No you're no~ot.
"What are physical blows to a thought, Stygian?" Boogey replied, brushing himself off, "Power is useless against me. Oh yes, you've managed to copy a few of my tricks, but all you have is self conviction and none of the experience. No talent, no intricacy, just constant cries of 'because I said so!' It's important to listen to your opponent in a debate, Stygian, so you have things you can use against them. For instance, you're able to utilize powers similar to mine. Not with my technique, no, but you can use them nonetheless. Does it occur to you that you've just allowed it to go both ways? Don't answer that, the answer is yes," Boogey drew his hat down over his eyes, and flame ignited around the brim. The flame spread to drip from the ends of his fingers and glow upon his neck. Smoke poured from his mouth as he laughed.
"Power is useless. All that is worth anything is knowledge."
Stygian's attacks noneffective, he skidded a bit along the floor, drawing smoldering traces in the floorboards with his claws before the fire seemed to draw back and into him, calming somewhat. He turned against the idea, and watched him. His expression changed.
Now grinning, the monstrum straightened on his legs and chuckled a bit.
"We had hoped that you wouldn't fall for that part, but at least now We can safely ignore you. We saw what you did to the others, Boog. Think We wouldn't learn?" Stygian murred lowly, and turned and began walking against the others, making a vague, casual wave of his hand against the Boogeyman but not paying him so much as a look. "We have knowledge, and We plan ahead, and that is quite enough. You're not real, after all, and there's no point in argumenting against an illogical concept, no matter the determination. We know."
That said, the fiend turned his attention to Aisha, glancing past the wolf and looking over another skull that began emerging from the sign on the floor. When his eyes settled on the panthress they still burned, but his expression was neutral.
"Feeling allright?" he said, not the slightest hint of mockery in his tone.
Something... happened. Something started feeling... wrong, to the Boogeyman. After all, he hadn't known what Stygian was. And there seemed to be something fundamental about being like Stygian, even if just a little, that...
Pain flared, and it was as if a presence, all around, dark and malicious, and absolutely terrifying, watched him. It wanted him. It thought of him. And that was all that mattered. He didn't know why, but it was that way. The certainty wasn't complete yet, the concept not fully formed, but it was...
Mel got up from where she had fallen, her temper completely off it's leash now. The temperature in the attic dropped precipitously, to a point just above where exposed flesh would freeze. She cast an illusion, a large one to fill the attic. They now appeared to stand amongst the ridges and fissures of a glacial field. Noon on a brilliantly sunny and cloudless day. The glare of the sun on the ice and snow was brilliant and harsh enough to make eyes unaccustomed water. She hoped Gareeku and Aisha were close enough to the attic entrance to keep from freezing.
"Everyone stop! Just stop!" she screamed. "Stygian, I gave you what you asked for. Use it."
Tracking her weapon's path from the corner of her eye, Aisha pretty much expected what had happened as it embedded itself in wood instead of what passed for the creature's flesh. But at least it provided a small bit of distraction as she retrieved her sword and made a direct path for Gareeku, now having seen that two of the ghastly skulls had risen from the floor. Boogey seemed to keep Stygian busy at least. She knew the wolf would keep them at bay himself, but she just wanted to be there.
Until she caught with her hearing that he was choosing to ignore their ally. Aisha's arm shot up into the air to where her boomerang had stuck. It took a bit of coaxing, muttering the words to the enchantment out loud, but soon it was wizzing straight back into her grip. Hearing his inquiry, Aisha's eyebrow quirked, feeling a small sense of dejá vu. He's serious? Even after I tried to slice him in half?
She replaced the boomerang back into her belt and raised her sword, shooting a smirk in reply. It wasn't an expression of friendliness, nor hatred. More like dark humor, tinged still with her emotions of frustration and anger. "Sí, but I'd feel better if...gah," she interrupted herself and jumped away from one of the fiery spots, "...If we all would just come to some agreement instead of your attacking me, my friends, and my boyfriend," she made a quick gesture to Gareeku before looking at one of the skulls, eyes of blood narrowing dangerously. "And burning the house down in the process..."
That was when the place was hit with a cold snap, so much so that the panther was forced to sheath her weapon and wrap her cloak around her body. "What in...?" she muttered, looking at Mel.
(ooc. i can't really keep up with this one so i'll sit it out for now)
Stygian started back, and looked around, his face aggravated once again. He made a fierce snarl, and then spread his arms out and arched his neck a bit, snarling again. Fire flared out down his arms, and even more tainted symbols and circles made themselves present. The magic was wrenched, manhandled from its original state.
Stygian burst out into shadow again, the ones still swirling around him forming a shape distinctly alike two torn, ragged wings on his back for just a blink of an eye before they closed in on him and he became darkness and ash, something clearly visible now in the light.
Impossibly quickly, the landscape darkened. The sky turned a blood red, from which no sun shone, across which acrid clouds of black spread. The ice remained, but cracked and shuddered as it was pierced with black rock, and strewn with ash. A flaring, fiery light emanated from the cracks in the ice, and hot steam made the air ripple, freezing cold turning to cooking heat in a few heartbeats. Screams, faint but terrible, came from all around. Yet to the sides, all around, was nothing but darkness and more red sky that was cut off by jagged mountains in the far distance...
"And trust your 'good' will?!" Stygian growled, drawing together from shadow and embers right before Mel's eyes. He was as tall as she was now. Taller, in fact, with shadows moving all around his winged shape, some of them forming barbed tentacles, some heads like those skulls, but dark and with piercing fiery eyes like his own, glaring and screeching silently at her.
"Why?"
Boogey felt the pain, but wasn't consumed by it. Like everything else it was just input; data to be consumed.
"I..." Boogey said, "Am not you, anymore than you are me from mimicking my talents. Ergo," He condensed all that pain that had been his until a second ago into a glowing ball in his hand, "This is not mine." The ball hovered there, waiting for whatever Boogey was to do with it, "As for why, I don't even need to enhance the concept. You're the one who seems so hell bent on attacking. We reacted to your threats and the trouble you caused, ergo an absence of threats and trouble will not provoke that reaction."
(Geez...gone for a couple of days and this topic already jumped two pages?)
*Karl was at the entrance of the Attic, listening to and watching everything going on in the attic. As events went on, He could feel his anger rising as well as Dark energies build up...til he, at the same time as Mel, snapped. Karl bursted into the room...but instead of his feet being on the floor, he floated in the air whilst surrounded by a strong dark aura*
Karl: Enough! First off all, I bought this place from the relatives of said deceased, thought the paperwork probably will had to have taken one to two weeks before being processed! Second, I had originally reownvated the house and found quite a few thing...which I had kept in a Safe in one of the Basement levels! Third, I have the current deed to this place, so if you damage Anything, you pay for it! Fourth, these people are both friends and guests of mine...so if you've laid a hand in malice on any of them, you will experience TRUE HELL!!!
*It was then that Karl then was transforming into his Fal'dev form...but it wasn't just his sub-par "just wings" level of this form, It was the True Form...four horns, Cat-like yellow eyes, Black-feathered wings, and a tail with a ball of quills at the end. And don't forget the the Purple armor with the black chestplate that had the Symbol of Darkness that was made out of ametyest*
(Sorry, late post)
Mel stopped and blinked at Stygian. Why? Why indeed. No one was acting with any grace or maturity today. Time for someone to play the grown up. She released her hold on the magic she'd used. The temperature rose, the icy wind faded, and parts of the landscape blinked out of sight. She reverted to her normal five foot size and more delicate frame as she took a step closer to the seething darkness. She looked up, almost straight up, into the burning eyes. "Why? Because I'm willing to be hostage to everyone's good will, as long as you read the memories I gave you. See that we at least began with good will, although with suspicious minds. I'm trusting your promise to not hurt me if I gave you the memories."
The moment that the illusion faded out of sight, Stygian was on the same height as he had been before, and most of the fiery landscape was no more. The darkness still lingered though, as did some of the fire, and the screams and whispers. But those started fading quickly, as Stygian felt the dragoness standing down and listened. There was a calm coming from her now... His eyes narrowed for just a moment, and then a smile spread across his face. Still sly, still vicious, but somehow familiar.
"There never was a promise, but you never needed one." The creature thumbed the bloodstone, now in its hand. Then, it shot a look at the wolf. A trio of skulls now slowly moved around him, watching him greedily. In a flash, they seemed to cry out, and the flames they were made of to dissipate, the sign below him having vanished already.
Stygian eyed Aisha for an instant, and then the stone in his blackened hand. He didn't even seem to notice the Boogeyman. His lips quirked just a bit, and then his thumbclaw dug into the stone's surface and he leaned his head back, as fire seemed to seep from the gem and into him. He stood so for a while, the dark still thick around him and the dragon. It seemed to wait.
Then, he opened his eyes again. He took a step back, and began changing. The darkness receded. The torn cloth around him stopped flowing in the flames, piecing together with the shadows and forming the pants, shirt, wrappings and fur-lined coat of before, and a black studded collar around his neck as well. His skin pieced itself together, the fire and embers below darkening before the black ash sealed up and thinned into cracks that faded, and covered with blond fur again. He looked at the floor in front of Mel, now with normal, grayened eyes that only held a tiny hint of a fiery reflection in the little light there was, and sighed.
"So. I really am an asshole, is that it? You're gonna wave this in my face now?"
Boogey blinked, and the ball of light winked out of existance, wait, what just happened? He-? Then-? Ohhhhhh, crap.
"Seems like that makes quite a few of us," Boogey muttered mainly to himself, returning to his normal appearance, Even on the heels of all this crap I've dealt with today, I should have reacted better. Only brutes and fools let their tempers control them.
Karl: About time someone talked some sense into him...hopefully I won't have to do anything to make sure he doesn't cause more of a mess.
*Karl then slowly started to revert back to normal form*
Aisha's paws had started to become numb in the cold landscape. She had barely noticed Karl's sudden interruption through all the noise, though she was quite grateful that someone other than just the three of them was willing to try getting through to Stygian. But she did feel like his transformation was a little uneccessary...
Everything was at this point, especially when the landscape transformed into a contradiction of two powerful elements, one of ice and the other fire...and Stygian, a monster trying to tower straight over Mel. The panther smiled, admiring the dragon for standing up to such a threat in the name of a peaceful solution. Aisha held back from her instinct to attack, as she observed the dragon's argument seemed to be working.
There was a sigh of relief when, finally, things started winding down. She had kept near Gareeku, watching the skulls carefully before seeing them disappear and the surroundings settle in the mirrored fury of the ones who had caused it. Her gaze switched between the others in the room, and gratefully towards Mel. Hearing Stygian's question, she muttered beneath her breath, "No more than you were before..." and set the sword back into the sheath with a metallic sound.
Mel managed a little snort of a chuckle even as her fear-wobbly knees started to strengthen. "No one is getting any awards for brilliant behavior today. I barely believe the story of how we got here and I lived it. So I won't be holding your disbelief against you." She took a deep breath and dared to add, "Which doesn't explain you crashing our party."
The fiend-turned-bat turned his head against Aisha and looked at her with an almost sad expression, deep eyes locking with hers. His tail whipped once.
"Thank you! That's very nice to hear," he said with stinging sarcasm. He began trodding against the door, his head leaned down and his expression dark, while he processed the new memories. "I'll tell you downstairs, once I've got it sorted."
He didn't even cast the ugly apparition next to the door a look, just muttered.
"You wouldn't know Hell from a footstool, twit..." Well out of the room, he then paced down the stairs, fingering a little pendant hanging from a thin chain on his belt. He flipped out his silver lighter, slipped a cigar in his lips and then arrived at the main lounge, already smoking of dark tobacco. He opened one of the large cabinets on the side of the room, and then proceeded dousing himself with alcohol, and slumping in the sofa, leaning over on the side with a dull expression on his face.
I don't know Hell from a footstool, eh? Try telling me that when I was there a few weeks ago on a mission...I can still remember the lake of fire and brimstone, Karl thought.
Karl then looked at Mel while still reverting, his eyes now going from yellow to hazel-blue.
"Are you okay,Mel?"
Karl then set foot on the floor and walked over to Gareeku and Aisha to help the wolf up...
Standing perfectly still, the wolf looked on as the other's argued with other, choosing not to speak. Gareeku knew of the ghastly skulls behind him, yet he still did not move. Had they tried anything, the wolf would be ready for it.
Closing his eyes, the wolf concentrated, trying to block out the stinging coldbiting at every muscle of his body. He did not have his cloak present, leaving him only wit his sleeveless top, pants, sandals and gloves. His body beginning to shake slightly as the cold continued to bite as his body, but still the wolf stood strong.
Opening his eyes, Gareeku noticed that the illusions which had been created, along with the displays of Stygian's abilities including the skulls behind him, were quickly receeding. With this in mind, Gareeku chose to resheathe the sword, sliding the blade back into its sheath at the wolf's waist. Watching Stygian walk past him, the wolf kept his eyes on him. However, there was also a look of respect that Gareeku showed as well as this.
After everything seemed to subside, Gareeku relaxed. With this, however, a wave of fatigue suddenly overcame the wolf. It seemed that fighting off the intense cold, even with his fur, had taken its toll. Collapsing to one knee, Gareeku breathed heavily as the cold his body had felt began to disappear, though he still shook slightly from its effects.
What Mel had thought of him today was true; prehaps he had been somewhat immature. However, considering the events he had experienced, who could blame him?
Mel sighed and straighened herself up. "I'm fine Admiral. I suffered more at my own hands than his. I can't believe I threw a tantrum like a 2,000 year old." She walked up to Gareeku and put a hand on his arm, giving it a little squeeze. "Thanks for coming to the rescue, all of you. You're quite the bunch of white knights."
Mel blushed, a pinkness glowing on her scales, "You might want to leave off sniping at this Stygian for a little while, until the memory transfer wears off. I... um... might have given him a blinding headache, depending on how he processes memories." She stared off at nothing, the blush getting deeper, "Because I was throwing a tantrum like a bratty little hatchling I didn't fix the transfer to prevent overload." She sighed, "I can't believe I acted like that. Much of this fight could have been avoided if I had acted my age and not been throwing a childish fit when you arrived."
At Stygian's biting reply, Aisha winced slightly, but he had walked out of the room before she could say anything back. Her hand just covered her mouth. He wasn't supposed to hear that...just wonderful...you keep forgetting that he's different.
It was then that she heard Gareeku slump to the floor. She turned around quickly and knelt next to him, her face awash with concern, before realizing that same kind of fatigue as she did...even when dressed warmly, the cold was still enough to cause the stress from the fight to take a harder toll...especially as she wasn't even used to cold weather. Taking a few deep breaths of her own, Aisha helped to steady the wolf, while taking the cape from around her own shoulders and placing it around his.
Hearing Mel's words, Aisha smiled up at the dragon. "You're always welcome...but you did most of the rescuing yourself, amiga." The pantheress turned her head, probably feeling the same amount of guilt as the others. "We all were...probably a bit out of line." She heaved a long sigh. "I say we all just get back down there and make amends..." Aisha paused to look at Gareeku with a soft smile, holding his arm. "Think you can walk?"
( i know how you feel Karl. every time i tried to post my net would blink our for a while and i would see three more post. anyway i think i've got enough stability to post again not if i can just catch up. maybe when they come back down for the attic.)
Opening his eyes, Gareeku saw Aisha's face and smiled softly.
"I'll be ok." he said warmly, getting back onto his feet, albeit a little bit wobbly. Once he had steadied himself, the wolf took Aisha's cape and put it back on the pantheress' shoulders, accompanied a smile of gratitude.
"Aisha's right, Mel." Gareeku said as he turned to his friend, the smile still on his face. "You were quite the heroine."
It was then, that a look of apology appeared on the wolf's face.
"And I am sorry, too. I have been immature." he said, guilt clearly evident in his words.
Stygian growled where he lay, and muttered something unhearable while he poured himself another drink in one of the exquisite redglass glasses that the formerly cylindrical containers had turned to. He downed that one just as fast as the previous, rubbing his temple and snarling a curse. It was bad enough that he wasn't used to this kind of magic at all, but the memories were also painfully detailed and not just made up of associations with some sensations thrown in between them. He had trouble sorting them too. And he actually found that he got pissed with himself sometimes, only to realize that it wasn't really him, nor that it was he who was pissed off. Not to mention how strange it felt processing the sensations that Mel had felt and from her point of view, unadapted. Soon, his head was practically throbbing. Luckily, he knew very well how to imagine and act as if he were others, and he was accustomed to pain, so the only real problem after a while was sorting the information.
When he found that the drinks had fulfilled their task of numbing his skull well enough, he abruptly stopped drinking, and instead made off for the kitchen to make some tea. Walking back with a full tray, he set it down on the table and then snapped his fingers. Instantly, a fire sprang up in the large hearth in the lounge, and he pulled up an armchair and sat down in front of it, mildening the headache with the warm, lemon-flavoured Russian. He shot a glance at the large table to the side of the room and the many books that were strewn about it, and decided that he would see what was up with that, but not quite yet.
((OOC: 'Lake of fire and brimstone'? Why don't you do yourself a favour and read some Dante, and then at least try to use some imagination, Karl? The complaints aren't coming to you now, and I do not wonder why. So please tone it down. People don't seem to enjoy.))
Mel smiled at Gareeku, "I shall repeat myself, no one is winning awards for brilliant behavior today." Suddenly she realized that the arm she was touching felt colder than a mammal should. She groaned, "My temper tantrum really took a toll, didn't it? We should go back downstairs by the fire." She demonstrated by heading down.
"Tantrum? You?" Boogey chuckled, following the dragon, "If memory serves, you defused the whole thing. Insert 'cool head' joke here."
"A full blown temper tantrum like a little 2,000 year old hatchling," countered Mel. "If I hadn't been screaming and throwing ice around when Gareeku arrived the whole affair might not have escalated. Stygian, or rather Mr. Don'Chel already had the memories in hand at that point."
Aisha hesitantly took the cape back, knowing and feeling how cold Gareeku was...but she knew he could hold out well enough until they all would get back downstairs. She smiled back at him, feeling the warmth of his body gathered in the fabric. Her ears however were turned back at the thought of encountering Stygian downstairs again, knowing what his mood was like...but it was inevitable anyway. There were things that needed to be solved, or at least a new (or old...?) friendship to be forged. And the panther at least wanted to apologize for her own rude comment.
At Mel's suggestion, Aisha managed a chuckle with a slight shiver in her voice. "We might as well...don't worry about what happened, I think your powers did just the thing." She started walking alongside Gareeku and behind the dragon, watching the others starting to move downstairs with them if they hadn't already. Aisha hid a light smirk in her features at her reply to Boogey's statement. She is much too modest.
Of course, they had to traverse through quite a few dark corridors again, but the path to the main lounge was soon illuminated with the more soothing glow of the firelight, soothing in fact even after Hell had almost virtually surfaced.
"Still say you were the least crazy, for the most part. I mean, at least you didn't start scorching the damn place," Boogey grinned appologetically, "Had this horrible recollection of the last time I was in a fight like that with a corporeal entity. Not fun, but still no excuse."
When they entered, Stygian only shot them a depressed glare from in his tall-backed armchair and sipped more tea. He sighed, almost inaudibly, and set the cup down on a small saucer on a little stand-table next to the red leather piece and peered into the flames that played their lights on his features. He had already hardened with anger up there. Now, the sadness added to that made him look about as soft as a rockface.
"Had I known that you felt that way about me, I would not have so much as spoken to you." His face was still turned away, but somehow they got that it was Mel that he was talking to. "I've made quite the ass out of myself here."
Karl had gone a different direction than the rest of the group, due to the fact the over-exertion of dark energy had tired him out. He then headed to the master bedroom to find his wife, Lilith, sitting in bed reading a book...probably waiting for him.
Karl: Sorry I'm late. there was some commotion with a newcomer...
Lilith: Yes, I could hear it...maybe you should use the Intercomm we installed to tell everyone that it's lights out in 15 minutes.
Karl: Indeed.
Karl then pressed the "all floors" button on the Intercomm, and made his announcement.
Karl: Attention all guests, all areas except for quarters are to be cleared in 15 minutes...please head to guest rooms ASAP...and if you guys are hungry when you get there, there are Food replicators in your rooms...have a nice time.
Karl then got into bed, and both him and Lilith went to sleep.
Mel bowed formally to Stygian. "I have no opinions about you yet, Mr. Don'Chel. I only met you ten minutes ago." She paused then continued. "I apologize for letting opinions about a previous acquaintance color our first meeting. And I apologize a second time for giving you underprocessed information that probably gave you a headache. I have behaved with a lack of thought and maturity." She bowed again, "I apologize. Icewing apologizes."
Boogey scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly.
"What she said, but less formal and not representing anyone else. I shouldn't have reacted as I did, and a lack of self control is inexcusable in anyone. I appologize."
Approaching where Stygian was sighted with everyone, Aisha listened as a few had already said their pieces. She wasn't going to be as formal, but hopefully it would come across still as sincere as she meant it. The first thing she did was bite her lip to keep from making any more comments after his being an ass...her dark humor wasn't going to be helpful, a little proud as she was to admit mistakes.
She bowed her head slightly to Stygian, chin touching the base of her neck in a gesture of light respect. "I didn't mean what I said back there either. My apologies."
"There is no need. I am the guest here, and I have..."
Stygian turned his head at the sudden noise of a voice from a blaring intercom, and snarled, baring long fangs. He frowned hard, and then turned his gaze, which was now decidedly fiery to the wolf and the panthress.
"If that is our host, then I am amazed that anyone of you have stayed this far." There was a grim smirk on his face. "And what of you two then? Especially you, wolf, as I understand it."
Aisha's words he met with a nod, and a slight lightening of his face. But his eyes still held entire books of meaning when they looked at Gareeku.
"You detest me, and there is nothing that I can do about that. But are you willing to at least leave me be if I promise not to violate your peace again?"
As the others spoke to Don'Chel Mel frowned at the loudspeaker. She hrumped and said "I may live in a fortress, Admiral, but I'm not your soldier. Even Grandmother hasn't tried to control my bedtime since I hit 20,000."
She turned to Boogey, "Do your convincing abilities extend as far as Karl's machines? Can you tell it we are guests and not the Admiral's children to be ordered to bed? Nor his prisoners, I hope."
Under her breath she muttered, "Do officer's schools no longer teach etiquette?"
Little did Mel know that she was near a comm system when she said her words. Micheal.exe, the House Networking Security Program at the time, then came online...
Micheal.exe: Sorry Mel...but it's usually because after the assigned time to get to rooms is when the Security system activates...Surely he didn't want anybody accidently triggering it by staying up...
*OOC: Alright, can someone give me a summary of the current situation? I’m far behind and I do not wish to read two or three pages of 30 posts each to catch up.*
"As ye wish, Mel," Boogey chuckled, and quickly whistled an argument in binary.
People are not supposed to be up past this point. Ergo, people are not up past this point. Insofar as you are concerned, nobody is up.
"Machines are kinda gullible," the concept said as he finished, "All that taking orders and accepting any data that's put in."
E hear the announcement ant Jacks into one of the port in the house. he sends a general inquiry about the security status of the house as he considered his course of action. this has been and odd day for him and the paradox was not the least of it.
After listening to Stygian's reply, Aisha smiled slightly, though her tail was flickering back and forth out of irritation after hearing the loudspeaker. She had laughed at his statement about staying around with someone like the admiral in charge. "Us? Well, adventurers are mostly the same I guess...come for the party and stay for the heroics," she joked while looking up at Gareeku. "It was supposed to be a vacation. I at least don't see a reason to leave so quickly."
Idly her eyes set upon E, wondering what he was doing to the house's security system, before discarding that curiosity with another long yawn. "...Think that we should just do what he says...?" she asked almost tiredly.
((Just to let y'all know, I'm not going to be as active for a few days. Our router died, and until a new one arrives, I have virtually no internet access on my own computer. x.x ))
One of the tripwire programs in the ports sends a signal to Micheal...
Micheal.Exe: Mr. E, If you are wondering about the Security system of the house (in general)...It is a class 3 Security system, which means there are autoguns that are set for stun ( from light stun to heavy stun) and level 2 force fields... with level 1 Mana-drainage wards in case an intruder is a Magic user (level 1 drains 1.5 MP per second, which is pretty slow for someone who might have a lot of Mana...however if the person has a low Mana reserve, it would be enough to prevent the use of High-powered magics)...of course it'll only work when it's activated...which will be in 8 minutes.
Not receiving an answer, Stygian sighed and returned to gazing into the flames. He finished his cup of tea with a solemn expression, eyes still. Then, he stood up and walked smoothly around them.
"No matter. You have sleep to catch up on, and I have business. I suppose the security system here is going to go haywire too then. Not that one cares..." he chuckled. "Then I shall be on my way. I'm sure there's an inn in town, and then I'm heading back to my own place."
"Hm? Oh, sorry. Got distracted with the idiot savant machine," Boogey jerked a thumb at the intercom, "I have no problem with you sticking around, so long as you keep your word about not violating our peace. Peace is best left unviolated. I don't speak for everyone though," He turned to the others, "Well?"
"A formal invitation is not mine to give, but another partycrasher is welcome. Since the invitations came from the housesitter and not the Admiral I'm not sure but that we're all partycrashers anyway. Perhaps that is why he didn't turn off the security system. A high-tech version of turning the hose on us."
Mel looked around at all the sleepy faces and added, "Not that we seem to have much of a party going at the moment for anyone to be enticed to crash."
Stygian smiled just a bit bitterly at them and shook his head slowly. He folded his arms across his chest and took a step backwards, shifting on his legs a bit.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll try and be off as quickly as I can actually, so I won't disturb you longer than I have to," he said, and then turned around and walked against the corridor out. He looked over his shoulder at them for just a little as he did. "You'd better be off making more drinks, I'd say!" He laughed, and walked out.
The corridor was as dimly lit as before when Stygian paced through it. After a few turns he arrived at a door, and then a stone stairway that winded down into the large cellar. Walking past rooms of hi-tech equipment, a micro-powerplant and some servers, he then descended another set and went from the fake stone foundation to the real one, a humid, open space whose darkness lay undisturbed. It reeked of dampness and that earthy smell that a place gets when it's stood locked for decades on end. And, to Stygian's senses at least, there was another smell as well, different altogether. The acidic, metal-ended and seeping smell of evil.
His eyes shifted to a fiery red for just a moment before he changed, his features cracking up and the almost whitish-blonde fur and skin crackling off and turning into nothing, darkness emanating from within. He flowed, rather than walked, his other senses guiding him accurately through the dark to a small, but clear indicator on the wall, not so much a symbol as a sign. Assuming a somewhat humanoid shape, he ran his hand over it. He chuckled.
"Footstool," he murred.
The symbol could not be broken, at least not by him, nor could he remove it. For that, he would need much more preparation than he had now. So instead of going through it, he just had to go around it. Flowing, he seeped through the sides of the wall slowly, around the protective barrier and to the back of it, just moving through its weak point, like the blind spot of an eye.
Inside, behind the wall and yet not, thanks to the enchantment, was a chamber, roughly twenty paces wide and long, with an altar in the middle. The large, black stone slab bathed in the light from candles that seemed to have run down quite a lot, but had not stood there for hours but years and years, burning without oxygen to feed them. The thin atmosphere of the place carried no scent but a cold, dead one, and Stygian quickly moved up to the altar to leave as soon as possible, before the hex on the place or some guardian figured out what was happening.
The altar, which was in fact a vault of a kind, had four lines running from the sides and into its center, bending at angles so that the whole stone piece looked like a swastika with a sort of lock at its center. Carefully, Stygian's hand went to that lock, and his fiery eyes gleamed for a short moment. Blood poured down from his hand, and then into the lock. A few seconds passed, and then with a rumble the slab moved up and opened, the stone parts unfolding like a puzzle of some kind. A single, empty piedestal with some sort of plate on it emerged from the floor, and Stygian's jaw dropped.
Less than ten seconds later he was already out of the chamber. No doubt it would destroy itself after this, but what did that mean? The fool had taken it! He really had! If there was anything...
Slithering through the lower floors, Stygian arrived before the house vault with a snarl upon his darkened face. He moved a hand before it, traced by incandescent symbols, and spoke a single hissing word; Pateo! The procedure was violent if not crude, but he did not care. When he had lain bare the protective systems and wards, he then uttered a second word, and struck out his hands, forming a much more complex pattern of symbols inside moving circles, fire flowing from them.
"Destruo!"
The circuitry, fine mechanics, magic, everything about the security system violently fried and was wiped beyond restoration. Stygian waited not a moment, but began to draw out all of his shadow, lifting it from the floor and shaping it. He immersed himself in it, merged with it, and then targeted the locks and seals, smashing into the vault door. The foundation shook as he tore it up, eating and ripping away at it, and then throwing it to the side like the obstacle it was in his anger.
And again, failure looked him in the face. He searched, but the Heart was not there. The blasted idiot hadn't taken it anyway, that was to his credit. Or not, depending on how one saw it. Practically fuming, he eyed the damnable place and let his shadow shrink and sink back, before he turned and stomped out, heading back up while trying to cool his head.
*OOC: I shall try to regain my place in this.*
“‘Machines are gullible’. I’d be insulted if I were you, Sylver,” Valencia jokes.
“The only ‘party’ I wanna talk about is a slumber party,” May says sleepily.
“I know how you feel. *yawn* I’ll just lay down here, rest my eyes,” I say as I lie down.
“That’s what you always say right before…” Valencia begins.
“Zzz…”
“…you fall asleep. Joat, how can you sleep on a hard floor so easily?”
Sending another grimace at the loudspeaker's statement as E messed around with it, Aisha shook her head slightly, a bit of sleepiness still evident on her face. For once I think I'll agree to being pushed around. She looked up when Stygian started speaking again, about to answer his question, when Boogey answered it for him. She agreed with his statment, as well as Mel's. "Yes, nobody is chasing you out. But that's true, there won't be much of a party if everyone's tired."
She nodded in farewell to the dark creature as he left, anyway. Looking out of one the windows, it seemed that the sun had finally set fully again, leaving a semi-clear night sky dotted with too many stars to count and just a very light indigo band in the west to show where it had gone; otherwise the rest of the sky was black and night well underway for the second time in what seemed like a couple of hours. Glimpsing around the other tired faces, Aisha smirked when she saw Joat having fallen asleep on the floor, rolling her eyes. "If that security system does go off as it threatens, I hope he's not in the line of fire," she laughed.
Yawning, Aisha started to turn around, glancing at Gareeku with a smile as she did, and wondering if he was to follow again. The panther paused briefly however as she heard a faint but curious noise from somewhere far off.
“Mad scientists tend not to think things through very well,” Valencia says.
Mel felt slight vibrations running through the house and magic being flung about. It seemed that Mr. Don'Chel's business didn't involve just picking up some books and papers. Good thing Karl was asleep or they'd be at swords drawn once again.
...and that's when Stygian came back in, his boots smacking against the floor. He looked up at them all with a face that was under control, but one could easily spot the seething anger and annoyance behind it.
"Well, it seems that what I came for isn't here any longer. That means this trip was practically in vain, if I cannot find out who took it. Because if it was that half-wit up there, I'll eat my own tail." As if to strengthen his point, the whitish-blond furred appendage whipped a bit behind him. He straightened his glasses, looked them all over, and then went over to the table full of books and odd things.
"I shall be on my way out of here then. I think I'll be staying in town while searching for clues, and then I'll be heading back home. If anyone of you have any information, or if you just want to, you're welcome to follow. My place shouldn't be any worse than this," he said, flipping pages between his fingers and thumbing some with a claw.
"I do not detest you." Gareeku stated calmly in reply to Stygian. "The matter has been cleared up, and no one was harmed."
Nodding his head in farewell to Stygian, Gareeku then turned to Aisha and smiled at her, noticing she seemed as tired as he was as he laughed softly at her comment.
The wolf began to follow the pantheress when he noticed Stygian returning. Listening to what he said, Gareeku raised his eyebrows slightly.
I wonder if Karl does indeed have it... the wolf thought to himself curiously.
Hearing Stygian coming back, Aisha eyed him with curiosity, noting the negative emotions behind his movements and words. It's not there...? she thought, tilting her head. Surely Karl wouldn't have it...but then again, it IS his house now.
"I'm sure we could help if we knew what it was exactly that you were looking for...or how significant it is," Aisha said with an apologetic shrug. "The house wasn't like this when Karl invited us. Maybe he could be asked...?" She looked around at the rest of the group with a questioning look, though perhaps nobody else knew exactly what the deal was either.
The more about this that came up, the more that Aisha was becoming curious about the whole thing. She hadn't heard anything about a "heart" throughout this whole excursion, that she could remember. But, tired as she was, the panther was more than willing to overlook it for the moment...unless everyone agreed actually that they would get out of the house, she figured that nobody would want to get caught by the security system. "It's fine by me whether anyone leaves, but perhaps it can't wait until morning...?" Aisha started to turn around toward the stairs again, with pauses in case there was anything more to be said.
(just on for a few minutes)
Just then, Karl woke up and shouted.
Karl: Micheal! Postpone SecSys activation!
Micheal.exe: Acknowledged, sir.
Karl: Micheal...I sensed an Energy dispersal...Where did it come from?
Micheal.exe: scanning...Floor B2, section 4...section 4 Individual SecSys disabled...Our recent guest must have been looking for his item... some sort of Heart.
Karl: Heart...heart...anything in the FIA or Neo-Christix Database on the item he was looking for?
Micheal: Searching...several Items found...displaying.
Karl then looked over the list and thumbnails of the items.
Karl: Heart of Cybertron, nope...Heart of Garnak, wasn't here...hold it!
Karl spots an Item similar to one he found in an old chamber under the house.
Karl:Which database is this from?
Micheal.exe: Neo-Christix Database...in the "Possible Inter-realm Contraband/Artifacts" section.
Karl: Yeah, that Item did look kinda like a Dark Realm/ Hellborne Artifact...send a message to the lobby for Styg and show him it, asking if it is it. Where is it anyway?
Micheal.exe: Searching...the local Artifact/Confiscated item locker in the local Neo-Christix Station/templain in town...
Karl: If Styg goes there to pick it up, Call the CPs to tell them that he's on his way there and to give the item to him...no arguments!
Micheal.exe: Yessir.
Karl: Also...when you give Mr. Stygian the Info where it's at, tell him he should have came to this room and knocked...he could have asked me for permission to the vauit where we keep not only items we've found, but where we keep our Energon/Emeraldine Crystals as well as treasure/money/ Jewels.
(Note...SecSys is short for Security Systems, CPs is short for Cyber-Paladins, and the Neo-Christix are a group of people that enforce Inter-realm laws and regulations [different from No-zone because realms, aka subdimensions, are parts of an entire dimension])
Stygian looked up and at the panthress as she walked, eyeing her curiously.
"You're right, of course," he said. "Though I am unsure of where to go then. Ah, but who gives..." he said. He turned around, and looked at the others. "I suppose you feel thesame. Very well. This place looks big enough. So, I'll see you in the morning then?"
His form started shifting, the pallid blond fur seething off and slowly becoming the shadow it was made from again. His fiery eyes regarded them.
Mel looked around and saw that everyone seemed to be departing for the guest rooms. She shrugged and followed along. It seemed the excitement was over for the minute. She wondered if the magical interference had quieted down enough for a quick trip home for supplies.
Hearing what Aisha said, Gareeku nodded his head in agreement.
"Aisha's right. I personally haven't had hardly any sleep in the last two days, and if I don't get some soon I'll probably collapse." the wolf said with a slight smile. "Goodnight everybody."
Giving Stygian a nod of his head, Gareeku then turned back to follow Aisha.
Mel chose a guest room at random. As she suspected from the downstairs the room's basic decorating theme was neglect. Karl's new purchase needed a thorough cleaning. She shrugged, she wasn't spending much time here anyway.
She pulled from her pouch a small narrow piece of metal filigree that she dropped on the floor by her feet before calling up a spell. She stepped over the filigree and out of the mansion.
May goes back into the same room as before and goes back to sleep. Sylver curls up next to me and falls asleep.
Aisha had kept her pause, listening to Stygian's answer before nodding her head back to him, though narrowing her eyes slightly as he changed back into a virtual dark shadow. There was the shudder across her spine again...the panther thought that she probably wouldn't get used to that. Nevertheless, she waved a hand back at Stygian, and everyone else, bidding them a good night. "Hasta mañana, all. 'Til tomorrow." She smiled with agreement at Gareeku's remark and started up the stairs with him behind, willing to get just a little more sleep in as well...hopefully without nightmares this time around.
The last individual that they had come across through the darkened hallway was Mel, and the panther spared a farewell to her, too, albeit with a tired smile. Aisha's half-lidded eyes roamed the dark corridors, looking for the room that she had taken the previous time...though with things a little different in the mansion, her sense of direction was being challenged. But it was found fairly easily anyway, with the corridor leading down to the library on an almost straight path across.
Aisha pushed the door open and left it there. The room still looked much the same, with the window on the far end showing a peaceful night on the outside, despite what had gone on inside the house a while ago. "I've said it once, and I'll say it again," she smirked, turning to look at Gareeku while untying her cape and setting it with her belt and weapons on the side table with a sleepy sigh. "Strange day."
Following Aisha up to the room, Gareeku looked to the side and spotted Mel.
"Goodnight Mel." he said with a warm smile. Walking into the room with the pantheress, the wolf listened to her comment and laughed softly.
"Just a bit." he replied with a soft laugh as he removed his hood, top, sandals and katana and setg them down on the floor by the bed. "So many things have happened that I'm starting to wonder whether we should be used to this by now."
Stygian nodded at the others as they left, and then he creeped away, abandoning his humanoid form as he turned into shadow and crawled off. He snaked over floors, onto walls and ceilings, through cracks... Eventually he found what he was looking for, huddled up in a sofa.
"Hello, fox... Tell a bedtime story, won't you?"
The fae's scream was quickly silenced, and the rest of the night passed undisturbed.
As Gareeku walked into the room, Aisha watched him with a smile before silently closing the door, laughing slightly in agreement to his statement. "You'd think we all would be by now, really. And adventurers are supposed to be ready for anything."
Stretching, the panther walked back across to the bed and sat down on the edge, starting to untie the braid from her hair as she looked briefly out to the window. "But who could be ready for that? World-traveling, battles...nightmares..."
The last word was said quietly, with a thoughtful tone, before she pushed the blankets back. Looking back up at the wolf with a soft smile and a warm face, she added, "Well, it wasn't all a nightmare."
Watching Aisha sit down on the edge of the bed, Gareeku smiled softly and sat down beside her. Listening to her comment, the wolf smiled slightly.
"Heh, yeah you're right..." he answered softly, before looking back at her with a smile equally as loving and warm as she spoke once more. "Some of it has been a real blessing..."
Watching as the others left, Boogey strolled off to see what he would do now.
I don't have a room, and there's probably only so many beds. Aside from that, they're just not as cozy as a dream. Seeing as nobody would be willing to sleep with me in their head, that leaves me the next best thing...
The Boogeyman strode into the library and, possibly for the first time in that entire day, removed his coat. However, he draped it over himself as he curled up in a nearby chair to sleep, so perhaps that doesn't count.
Sleep tight, he wished to anyone able to listen, And don't let anyone like me bite... There were a few movements amidst the coat that were not related to the wearer, and Boogey went to sleep.
As Gareeku sat next to her, Aisha looked over to him and listened to his gentle words, answering him with a soft chuckle and a shy smile while recounting the memories that had gone on in the past night. Indeed, no matter how she saw it, everything that had gone on was all worth it to realize that she loved him so much. In a way, the bad experiences just seemed to either help, or destined to be pushed in the back of their minds.
"Yeah...very true," the panther whispered back and leaned against him, looking into his loving eyes with her own. "I guess considering everything...I wouldn't change it." She at that moment recalled how she had sensed his presence when asleep before. Now he was there with her again, and Aisha felt safe with the notion that he was; protected. It was a comfort she hadn't known for the longest time, and was willing to return.
With one more slight yawn, Aisha embraced Gareeku and closed her eyes, leaning up to kiss him while reaching over to pull the blankets up.
Listening to Aisha, Gareeku's loving smile stayed on his face as he gazed into her loving eyes. As Aisha had untied her hair from the braid it had been before, the wolf could see how her long flowing hair only added to her beauty.
"Neither would I. Not for the world." he replied softly. When he had gazed upon her sleeping before, he had felt at peace enough. Now he was with her, the same feeling of peace had returned; a feeling which he had absolutely no arguements against.
Smiling as the pantheress yawned slightly, Gareeku wrapped his arms around her and held her in a gentle loving embrace as they layed together, returning the tender kiss before her head came to rest on his chest.
"Goodnight, my love..." he whispered lovingly, gently kissing the top of her head, before closing his eyes and slipping into a gentle slumber, a soft smile refusing to vanish from his face as he slept.
It was then that speakers in the rooms went active.
Micheal.exe: Message for all guests...tomorrow is the first day of a 15 day period for anyone with an ounce of Cubi DNA in them to get their "Cubi Pox" vaccination...remember, this Vaccination is only available for Cubi who have a high risk of catching the disease...then it will be available for those who are not at high risk if any is left within the 15-day period, or when more vaccine comes in after the 15 days. Also, to recent arrival , Mr. ...Don'chell...did I say/spell that right? Well anyway, some info is being transmitted to the screen in the guest room you're in...
The speakers then when silent for a few seconds before three words came out.
Micheal.exe: that is all.
Night passed...
The sun began to rise, very late in the morning because of the season, spreading a dim lighting through pulled curtains throughout the rooms of the house, and very nearly illuminating the library. The glowing sphere of fire hadn't done much more than touch over the horizon though, before a gentle smell started to spread down the corridors from the open kitchen, carrying a sort of warmth with it that didn't really lift the darkness from the hallways but managed to make it feel cozy rather than gloomy.
Then, there came a much more easily noted thing; the sound of a piano playing gently, sort of dancing through the part of the house near the main lounge.
With the same kind of smile painted on her face, Aisha had fallen easily into sleep during the night, lulled by Gareeku's warmth and his gentle words. So comforting and relaxing as she was while sleeping together, it was truly impossible for their minds to be plagued by anything less than a good dream. The night just seemed to pass all too quickly.
The light from the sun filtered in through the window, falling gently onto the panther's eyelids, albeit less noticeably as she was turned away from the window. Accompanying it, her ears had perked slightly at the faint sound of music...faint, but still noticeable. The smell of what could have been breakfast came soon after, and the combined effects made her open one eye slowly, followed by the other. It had been a while since she had awoken from such a peaceful sleep, by her own accord.
The first thing Aisha saw, coming to, was Gareeku still beside her. With a smile, her hand came up and caressed his hair. He looks so innocent when he sleeps. Leaning over him, she gave him a soft kiss before murring softly, "You want to wake up, my love?"
Karl had awoken and gotten dressed...then he went to Stygian's room and knocked on the door.
Karl: Styg, did you get the data that was transmitted? I just wanted to make sure you knew about what I found.
Karl then proceeded to the kitchen, where he found Lilith cooking breakfast.
Lilith: Hello, Dearie...what would you like?
Karl: Scrambled eggs and french toast.
Lilith: Ok...*to anybody else that was in or is about to go into the kitchen* ...and what about you sweeties?
In a guest room somwhere a bit off into the house, a shadow glided across the floor, up toward the side of a wall and then into the ceiling, closing the curtains before dropping down gracefully and slithering back over the floor. It slowed and sunk, the crawling and snaking darkness taking on a more solid form. It reached down toward a little metal filiment that laid on the floor, and picked up. Curiously, it studied the thing with gently glowing eyes, taking in and studying the curious magic of it. Then, it slipped it away somwhere into it, and crawled away.
Seconds later, the shadow reappeared in another end of the house, in a common room not altogether unlike the one that the company of people had been hosted in for the main part of their stay. It was a tad bit different, more dimmed because of the pulled curtains and with a bit of different furniture. A fox slept worriedly under some blankets on a large sofa toward one end of the room, his paled muzzle twitching a bit. In the fireplace in this room, some coals still glowed very dimly, the fire in them having faded perhaps half an hour ago or so. It was into the soot of this fireplace that the crawling darkness dropped the metal filament. Then it reassumed a humanoid shape, turning back into Stygian, who walked out with a grin and a snaking tail, dropping a book that he had retrieved from the main lounge on a table, and headed off for a shower.
A few minutes later a bluish light flared in the darkened room and a blast of cold air stirred the coals in the fireplace. Mel stepped through and rather than the expanse of the spare room found herself bumping into the sooty brick inside of a fireplace. Luckily it was a large, old-fashioned fireplace sized to accommodate. Just as soon as she realized this she realized something else and with a yelp of pain jumped backwards and out, managing to crack her head on the mantel as she went. Despite seeing stars she was immediately picking at the cinders on one foot. One had still been live and it was burning into her. Cursing the whole while she managed to pick it out with her claws without burning her fingers at well. She produced a hunk of ice and applied it to the wound, cooling the injury before it corroded further into her foot.
As Mel sat on the hearth rug and waited for the ice to stop the injury she took in her surroundings. Gloomy, dusty living area, twitchy fox, her marker tossed into the fire, herself covered in nasty sticky soot and cinders with a burned foot. It seemed this version of Stygian had the same sensibilities as the last.
Through the night, Gareeku did not stir from his dreams; wonderful dreams which left a smile on his sleeping face. As Aisha had found, the night seemed to go incredibly quickly, and he didn't want it to end.
Feeling the soft light of the morning sun warm his face, the wolf slowly opened his eyes and, feeling the kiss and hearing the soft voice next to him, smiled lovingly at the pantheress. He could smell the pleasant scent of breakfast coming from another part of the house, as well as being able to hear to faint soft tunes of a piano being played.
"Mmmm, am I awake? It feels like I've stepped from one dream into another." he replied softly with a smile, returning the kiss tenderly as a quiet growl was heard, his tail wagging softly under the covers.
"Ah, you're back!" The voice came from right behind the dragoness. Stygian had snuck up behind her, looking down on the perturbed reptilian with one of those grins that he seemed so good at. He was drying his damp fur with one towel, rustling through his shoulderlength blond hair, and dressed in another around his waist.
"Really curious, that magic," he said, squinting a bit at her. "I'm really not that good at portals like that... My techniques are rather crude in comparison. But there were still some things that I could recognize." He went over to the table and placed his hand on the book, tapping it with his claws. "I can only guess at the target locale though. Where did you learn that?" he then said and turned against the dragoness, his eyes emitting just the faintest soft red glow.
As she saw the peaceful smile upon his face, Aisha gazed upon him lovingly while starting to wake up a little more. When Gareeku returned the kiss, there was a gentle purr sounded from the pantheress in reply to his growl. She laughed quietly at his words, her hands brushing softly through his handsome black hair. "I'd agree," she whispered, tenderly nuzzling his face before sitting up from the bed and stretching her limbs.
Out the window, the light of the sun was welcoming. Any new day that Aisha saw was something of a blessing to her, especially considering the night that was left behind, which felt never-ending. Even the mansion itself didn't feel so dark any longer. She wondered just how long it would be before they would see such peace again.
Taking in the smell of breakfast from downstairs, Aisha turned to look at Gareeku with a grin, a little hesitant to get out of the warm bed. "Well, mi amor, unless you want a pinch to get you out of this dream, What say we grab some breakfast before someone eats it all?" She chuckled and stood up, starting to tie her hair back again.
Mel pulled the ice away from her foot and checked on the wound. "I went home for the night. Unlike the others I never intended to be away from home more than an hour or two." She grimaced, the wound was filthy and would need to be cleaned before she could use a healing spell. "As to where one learns magic, university is the usual place." Not quite a fib, she had gone to university, she had just confounded the magic instructors.
She sighed and got to her feet, or rather foot. "I need to tend this burn and get cleaned up. If I put down a new marker do you think you could manage to leave it alone until I get back?"
Returning the nuzzles with a soft smile as he listened to her purrs, Gareeku then watched ad Aisha sat up. Rubbing his eyes a little, the wolf woke up some more as he sat up beside her, glancing towards the window and looking at the glow glow of the light coming through it with a smile, thinking how he relished peaceful times such as this, especially with the one he loved.
Gareeku was also somewhat hesistant to get out of the bed, laughing softly at Aisha's question.
"I think I'll be be fine without the pinch." he replied with a warm smile, sneaking in a another kiss. Glancing to the site, the wolf then noticed that the room had an en-suite. "I'll think i'll grab a quick shower first, though."
About ten minutes later, Gareeku emerged from the shower, a towel around his waist as he used another smaller one to dry the hair on his head. Because of it becoming wet and being dried again, his white fur had fluffed up somewhat.
Stygian quirked an eyebrow at the irked reptilian and then hummed. Then, he turned and walked over and picked up a glass that had stood to the side of the sofa. It had just a bit of red liquid in it, and he swirled it around in his left hand some while sniffing the glass.
"Why bother? It's an easy thing to fix," he said. He stepped forward to the dragon and haunched down, not taking protests, and took her foot in his hand. He sort of studied it for a while, then turned it and poured the glass' content, what could only be blood, on the wound. His eyes flared a bit as his right hand began to blacken, and wisps of fire and darkness swirled around it a bit. They flowed into the wound, and immediately Mel felt as if it was burning again, even crawling with something, a wholly odd and nasty feeling. It didn't last more than a moment though, and was immediately replaced with icing, permeating chill. Stygian let go of her now pristine foot, and smiled.
"Right. No worries, eh Shivers?"
Mel cautiously tested the foot and it felt fine. "Thank you." She looked at the mess on the floor and on herself. "I hope the Admiral has hired more cleaners than evidence suggests." She produced a damp towel and wiped the soot from her hands then began on the smudge on her face. "Did you pick that up from the memories, the Shivers thing?"
With a quiet hum as she recieved the kiss, Aisha smiled and nodded after Gareeku as she watched him walk off. Pausing on messing with her hair, she let the ebon strands fall back down again with her nostrils flaring slightly. That's actually not a bad idea for me either. With all of these battles and running around before, it's a wonder I don't smell more than just a bit horrid.
While waiting for Gareeku, she walked over to the window, pulling her claws slowly through the strands while leaning on the stone sill. With the sun's light, the snow below on the ground was glaring back up at everything with an almost blinding effect. Her eyes narrowed a little to filter it, but there still lay a peaceful smile on her face, looking out at the landscape. It almost reminded her of Rynkura's monastery. "I should take him to see it someday..." she muttered quietly.
At about that moment, she heard him walking out of the shower and started to turn her head, blushing at his appearance. But there was a loud purr behind her voice as she walked up past him, pausing to run her fingers through his fluffy fur. "Don't you look cute," she hummed, before starting across to the shower herself. "I won't be long."
True to her word, she started to come out with just a few minutes longer than what Gareeku had, with her fur newly clean and smooth, easily as it was shorter than the wolf's. She straightened her fluffy towel-dried hair as she walked in, smiling while tugging her shirt back on and reaching to grab her cape and belt. "That's better than smelling of battle," she laughed.
"What? You disapprove, draggy?" Stygian said, and chuckled a bit as he stood up again. "So what if I did? It's quite fitting. Must have been a clever guy who came up with it." At that comment, he barked a very sarcastic laugh and turned his back to her, pacing over to the sofa and looking down at the fox laying in it a bit. He pulled out a pile of clothes from the chair next to it.
"I'll be heading out after this," he said, dropping the towels and starting to dress up. "I don't expect you to be staying longer either, what with circumstances." His voice had changed now, turning serious, even businesslike. "I have some ideas as to who might have taken my property, but if I am even remotely right then I will have to research before I can do anything. And if I am going to do that, I'm going to need a job or something to do in between." He turned around against her, still shirtless, and started doing the wrappings around his arms with precise, smooth movements. "You're a traveling magician, correct?"
"No, just curious as to how the unedited memories affected you. I've never done that before." With her face finally smudge-free she tried to get the horrid soot off her feet. "I am a magic-user and I travel. You know of my clan and why I travel. I go in many guises to accomplish this."
(sorry guys i was gone traveling for a few days)
E's inquiry have been both open and generally. he considered the information and sighed. this house had less security then oldman's Wily's fortress. still due to the general natural of his inquiry maybe there was more that w not mentioned. still it could be because this was only because it was not meant for combat. " very well but you could add some roaming sentries. and detention traps."
just then, the intercomm speakers went active.
Micheal.exe: All guest are invited to the Kitchen/Dining room for a breakfast feast!
hearing the announcement E heads for the room in question. while he did not need to eat he felt that he's been missing out on a lot over the past few hours and would like to use this time to get catch up on what has been happening with the others.
Boogey wandered into the common room where everyone seemed to be gathering, his hair and clothes disarrayed from sleeping in a chair.
"Mornin'," The thought-entity yawned, scratching his neck, "Whassis about stolen things then?"
E blinks. he had really spaced. "Huh what what stolen things.
I enter the room. “Which room is May in? I have a splitting headache and she’s the only person I know who can do a mental shield around here. At least as far as I know.”
Just then, May enters the room. She sighs. “Fine, but you’re going to have to finish learning Qwertish so you can learn how to do this on your own.” She casts Mental Ward on me, then chants a shorter spell. A reality hole appears next to her and she pulls out a spellbook. Closing the hole with a key word, she hands the book to me.
“Yeah, I probably should continue on that,” I say. I open up the spellbook and continue where I left off.
Stygian snorted. His wrappings back on he did up his shirt and tucked it neatly into his straight pants, and then even pulled a vest and tie out from somwhere.
"Well, that's for company at least. Listen, I won't stay here any longer. I'll get my breakfast in town. And I'd be so bold as to suggest that you do thesame. Honestly, this place doesn't seem that pleasant at all, on account of the company." He pulled on some socks, a bit of a feat with those claws, and then put his large feet into equally large rough-soled shoes. He then straightened his clothes. "I know a good place, and I'd like you to join me. What say you, Shivers?" Now, he stepped back and before the dragon again. "We could save the other two as well, if they're up by now..." he said, the comment delivered with a bit of a smirk.
Mel left off fussing at the non-existent soot on her feet and looked at Stygian. An adventure to watch unfold? That was what she was supposed to be doing as a gatherer. And since Stygian, in whichever version, had been the author of all the excitement at this place following him was most likely to gain her interesting things to add to her collection. While he could be a jerk, she had two brothers, being dumped in soot wasn't the worst joke she'd ever had played on her.
"Thank you Mr. Don'Chel, I accept your offer. One moment while I put on my town face." In a blink the white dragon appeared quite similar to how she had when she first entered this house. She was a young snow leopard, only this time a normally marked one. A little older than the teenager she had appeared back then and dressed more for travel than for a day as a college student. "I'm ready."
"Complaints about the company? I do believe I'm offended..." Boogey yawned again and rolled his shoulders, "Well, you lot have fun. I can't go too far from this place without either translating myself or piggybacking in someones mind; unique reality conditions, remember?" Though the invite would have been nice. Ah well, probably don't mean anything by it.
Stygian looked at Mel very seriously for a second. Then he brought his hand to his chin and smiled slyly, scratching a bit.
"Your cuteness never ceases to amaze. Very well..." he said, and walked around her, picking up the book and heading for the door. He seemed to have some idea too, one which revealed itself quite quickly, as his fur began shifting, becoming even more pallid and flowering markings. His tail changed, as did his ears...
"After you, dear." Now holding the door for her, he turned against her, smirking with a face which bore a quite close resemblance to her own. It wasn't hard to see what he was thinking; It might have been a bad choice to throw me those memories unedited.
Seeing Aisha blush, Gareeku grinned, before his cheeks went pink as she ran her hands through the fur on his body, complimenting him with that soft pleasant purr of hers.
"Look who's talking." he replied with a smile, his tail wagging behind him as he watched her walk off to the shower.
Removing his towel, the wolf then set about putting his attire on, tying the black belt around his waist as he looked out of the window, his eyes squinting somewhat as the sunlight was reflected off of the snow. Smiling at the beauty of the scenery outside, the wolf turned around to see Aisha return from the shower, blushing slightly as he observed her long hair and soft fur.
Hearing Aisha's comment, Gareeku laughed.
"You're not wrong there. It was about time i had a shower." the wolf replied with a chuckle as he fastened his katana to the side of his waist, before slipping his brown hood cloak over his shoulders as he looked at Aisha with a loving smile.
Watching the wolf blush upon her return, Aisha had given him a light grin before placing the belt around her waist, making sure that her weapons were secured. As she tied her own cape around her shoulders, the panther quirked an ear at Gareeku's comment and looked back up at him with the same smile.
"Can't argue with that...same with me," she said, before coming up and running her fingers across the soft fur on his face with a quiet purr. "But you always look good to me anyway."
After a brief pause, gazing into his eyes with a quiet smile, Aisha turned around and gripped the handle on the door, opening it to allow the smell of food and the music to come in stronger. She started to re-tie her hair in a braid, and then gently held his hand. "Let's go see what everyone's doing. I'm dying for something to eat."
Smiling at Aisha's reply, Gareeku smiled lovingly at the pantheress, growling softly as she ran her fingers across the fur on his face, his tail wagging behind him as he ran his fingers across her cheek in return, blushing softly at her comment.
"And you always look beautiful to me." the wolf replied softly, tickling her nose softly with his before she turned to open the door.
Taking her hand in his, Gareeku smiled as Aisha spoke once more.
"Hehe, me too. I could go for a nice breakfast." he replied with a smile, walking hand in hand with his loved one down the hallway.
E looked at what was happening around him and nodded. Mel was still gathering information as was to be expected. that Stygian was providing the information was a touch unusual but this was within parameters. Gareeku and Ashia were still a couple. that is assuming he was not reading too much into their playful interaction which seemed unlikely at this point. Joat was looking for May whom he did not recall meeting but he was sure this was and over sight. Boogey seemed to be in a bit of a bind though. well he had helped him so E was ready to return the favor. " So Boogey what are these new rules that give you such trouble? maybe i can assist in some matter"
Boogey smiled and shook his head.
"It's not new rules, simply that the only reason I'm able to manifest myself physically here is because of unique reality conditions. To leave I'd have to either translate myself, which is far more work than I'm willing to go to, or stay in someones mind rather than venturing into harsh existance like a fish in a bowl of water. I'll happily stay here for now, if it's no trouble. Thanks for the offer though E, I appreciate it. Besides," He turned and started heading toward the kitchens, "I heard mention of food, and in the words of the ancient aztecs 'it's good to eat when you're hungry'."
E chuckles then wonders how his body would fair outside of this home. he teleported in more or less and he never bothered to leave the house save by portal when Erica called him.
((OOC: We're in furrae, what's going to happen is plain to see, and I and the majority of everyone else is just hoping that this goes smoothly. Now, E... How the hell do you see everything in a house the size of the eastern part of Windsor Castle?!?))
( i don't see everything. in fact i'm not sure who it where . the only person i'm sure i've seen with my own senors is Boogey. as for the rest i'm not sure where they are or if i saw them myself in transit of via the house sensor's which i was plugged into until the announcement.)
(OOC: I was told that I was allowed to enter this RP - and that they didn't mind a...fiery entrance. So alreet I says, firey it will be...)
The sky was gray, and the air seemed light with the promise of rain. Cog reached for his sword, his expression carefully neutral, and kept a firm grip on the object in his hand. The Artis Magistrae was a one of the more lucky finds he had gained in his travels, and now seemed to be a time he would need it more than ever. In front of him was Arcturus Lein, a mage whom he knew very well. His dealings in the past had left them both with a mutual hatred, and Cog, who had made it his life's goal to find him, had finally tracked him down.
Cog rushed the red-cloaked man, trying to catch him off-guard. As soon as he started forward, however, the mage threw a glob of some strange magic at him, a twisting missile trailing purple. Cog held up the Artis Magistrae, a mirror of red, milky crystal and polished glass, and tried to catch the missile in it. If he caught it, it would go flying back at the caster, but it never made it that far. It stopped right in front of the mirror, and stayed there unmoving. Cog opened his eyes wide and tried to jump back, lifting an arm to cover his face – of course, that was one of the limitations of his item. It did not reflect that which did not touch it...area of effect was a good countermeasure. Cog soured.
The mage laughed behind him, and Cog jumped. Bastard, Cog thought. Teleporting. Arcturus began weaving yet another spell, and the ground beneath him grew lines and symbols of power with his chaunting. Cog turned and prepared to try and catch this next bolt, when the magic behind him activated. A horrendous rending sound split the air, and the magic bolt expanded and collapsed on itself, leaving a perfect rip in the air behind him. The hole began to suck him in, his feet lefving trails in the dust, and the leaves around him whipping into the vortex. Cog planted himself and managed to keep stable, his feet just keeping from sliding mere feet away from the strange portal. The ground shook, a compliment of the magics that Arcturus was weaving, and caused him to slip and fall to the ground. The Artis Magistrae fell out of his hands, and though he clutched at it, it was sucked into the portal behind him. Cog's eyes went wide, and he held onto the dirt with his fingernails. The situation had clearly gotten far out of hand, he thought.
As he lay there, barely keeping from being whisked away to gods-knew-where, his eyes rose to the spellcasting mage in front of him. Specifically, to the spell being cast about the mage. In Arcturus's hands, and around his body, was a roiling inferno of blue flames, all coalescing into his outstretched arm. He grinned, and managed a bow as he spoke the final word to his spell.
"Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros." He said, the lines disappearing beneath him. The fire shot out of his hand, a tornado of flesh-melting fire, and lept towards Cog. Cog blanched for a moment at the blue death heading for him, the glass beneath it melting under the incredible heat, and he let go at the last second. Whatever was inside the portal, he thought, couldn't be worse than having his face melted off. He heard Arcuturus's mocking laughter for a half-moment, before all sound and sensation was cut off in the portal. It was dark, and the only thing he could see was the fire following him through.
Cog felt himself falling and flowing, almost as though he was riding some great river of current. The only sensation other than the constant feeling of speed and movement was the sight of that blue fire following him through the tunnel. Apparently, the damn stuff didn't stop until it hit something. Bad for him, Cog mused. This continued for quite some time, until an incredible brightness assaulted Cog's senses. He looked down, and squinting, realized that he was falling through air, and that the brightness around him was the sun...and that he was at least a hundred feet in the air, and falling quick. He had only a moment to get his bearings before he saw that he was indeed going to fall on something that was not soft. Well, as soft as ceilings were, anyway.
"Well, at least that house there will break my fall.." he said, before remembering his other problem. He turned and winced. That fire was indeed still following him. Nothing he could do now.
In a split second. Cog hit the roof and smashed through it, screaming through the deafening sound. He had no time to think, and he smashed through something else, floor or furniture he could not tell, before slamming into something that did not break. He had hit the ground floor.
He was no longer screaming, having no air in his lungs left, but with his last moment of foresight, rolled to his left. The blue flames came pouring through the holes he had created, catching the roof and the inside of the house on fire, and igniting the furniture around him left and right. He took a deep breath and managed to keep his scream low, the pain not quite having hit him yet, and began to crawl away from the fire. He sucked in a deep breath, and coughed up some deal of blood before taking another breath. He lurched to a nearby window, and threw himself outside the now-burning house, gasping for breath.
He decided he might lie there for a little while.
Stygian had not been holding the door for more than perhaps three seconds, bowing a bit to Mel, before there was a most disturbing sound of things smashing.
"What the H...?" Stygian began, turning his face to look a bit upwards. His eyes flared, and then his mouth opened in something like shock. Just less than a second later he was already outside and speeding down the corridor. He practically threw himself at the wall to move faster up the stairs.
The entire top floor was on fire, and it was spreading rather quickly. Flames licked the ceiling and had already begun eating away at the wooden beams that held the roof up, and black smoke stood thick in the place. Not that the fire itself bothered Stygian much, but he would rather not have the weight of the roof come down on top of him, so he moved very fast. His eyes still flaring, he looked over the entire room, only to realize that no one was there, at least not anymore. A quick look revealed why; a window stood open at the other end of the room. Stygian sprang for it, and looked out. Four stories below lay a figure, sprawled in a somewhat trimmed hedge.
Stygian didn't mind the cracking of the beams behind him. He just jumped out.
Something smashed down onto the stone paving a few feet off from Cogidubnus' side with a small crack. Then, after a moment, there were steps. And then, a figure, dark against the rising sun, leaned over him. It was dressed in a prim and proper late 19th century suit of some kind, and had weird fiery eyes.
"You don't look so good, sir. May I ask whether if, and why, you set the house on fire?"
((OOC: E, Boogey is a thought, and the rest is just gibberish and nonsense to me. Mind.))
As they walked through the corridors towards the main lounge, Aisha had a smile on her face as sun-drenched light poured onto the dark pathway. Her hand within Gareeku's gentle grasp, things seemed so perfect...
But they didn't get too far before a noise made her jump, seeming to echo throughout the entire mansion, a cascade of things shattering and breaking. "What the...?" the panther exclaimed, looking up and around for the origin of the disturbance but not sensing anything...not until she sniffed the air and heard something splintering and crackling from above their heads. The smell of burning wood and other materials was spreading.
"Dammit...we'd better get moving," she said with urgency...
Boogey looked up at the crashing and rumbling.
It's none of my business, he tried reasoning, as he heard the crackling of flames.
It's none of my business, he continued to himself at the creak of house timbers.
It's none of my business, he continued as people began shouting.
It's none of... "Aw hell, and I was going to have breakfast. Never fails, whenever you're going to eat soon, something goes all wonkey," Whirling in the other direction, he ran down the hall until he found what appeared to be a large hole in the floor, with blue flames flickering everywhere. Having little time to reason what was happening, he simply acted on what seemed like the most logical conclusion. Spitting a few arguments to disperse the flames in his path, he crawled on his belly to the smoking hole in the floor and looked down.
"Alright, I'm guessing either E, Stygian, or Gareeku is down there," He shouted down, "What just happened?
(OOC: A thought he is, yes, but he is visible to the naked eye. At least, he is where reality is particularly flexible, such as a building where two of somebody has cropped up, is owned by someone who claims to work for an intergalactic agency, has so many visitors from other dimensions it may as well be considered a physics-free embassy, and manages to attract dark beasties, robots, adventurors and flame-trailing samurai)
Mel felt the house shake as a loud noise roared through it. Stygian disappeared at just about the same time she caught the first hint of smoke. Fire! She felt her heart rate double. She had to get away. She exited the lounge and realized she didn't know where she was. This room was in some part of the house she hadn't explored. Guessing which hallway at random she set off quickly to find an exit.
Walking down the hallway hand in hand with Aisha, the moments of peace were broke once again as a loud crashing sound could be heard, followed by the sound of cracking and splintering wood and the smell of burning. Nodding his head in acknowledgment as he heard Aisha's statement, Gareeku took off with her down the hallway. If the house was on fire, the wolf had no doubt that the others would be able to get themselves out safely.
Navigating his way through the house, presuming Aisha was doing the same, Gareeku turned into another hallway to find a feline appearing in it.
"I've got no idea what the hell is going on, but I think I'd state the obvious the say we need to get out now!" the wolf called to her, not realising it was in fact Mel as he ran up to her and grabbed her hand. "Let's go!!"
Running through the maze-like hallways of the house, Gareeku luckily came across the lounge that, unknown to him, Cogidubnus had crashed into. Looking around with a grimace at the blue flames burning everywhere, the wolf's ears then perked up as he heard Boogey's voice shout from above.
"I've got no idea! But if I were you I'd get out of here!" Gareeku called back, before turning to the others.
It was then that with a grimace on his face Gareeku realised they were on the third.
"Damn it... we need to go down..." he growled partly to himself, before leading the way back into the hallways. Coming across a set of stairs which, remarkably, had been unaffected by the fire, Gareeku guided the feline down,, keeping her close to him in case any debris would fall. Luckily it didn't.
Finally arriving on the ground floor, Gareeku entered a room and opened the window, before turning to Aisha and the feline.
"Alright! Everybody out!" he called, pointing to the open window as he did so.
Cog was vaguely aware that he probably should move farther from the burning house when something starting irritating him. He turned his head to see what it was, when he noticed that someone had suddenly appeared on the cobbles beside him. A somewhat intimidating figure, and judging by recent circumstances, probably not incredibly happy. He was apparently trying to speak to him, and Cogidubnus focused more on the buzzing sound, and managed to make out his words.
"I..." he managed to get out before coughing up a great deal of blood. Somethings ruptured in there...fantastic... he thought, and he reached feebly inside his jacket for one of the healing charms contained within. He fumbled about for a moment before clutching a twisted piece of silver, and a feeling of coolness travel up his arm. Cog sighed, and wiped some of the blood off of his mouth.
His mind started to come back to him, and he felt a branch sticking rather uncomfortably in his back. He was in a bush...a hedge, he noticed. He waited for a moment before trying to roll off, letting the charm in his jacket work. It was almost out of what it could do for him anyway. Time and rest would probably have to do the rest. He rolled of the hedge and hit the pavement in a rather undignified manner, and lay there again while he winced at this new pain. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the stranger.
"I'm... sorry...about the house..." He said, speaking slowly. "Believe...me, didn't want... to...set fire to it..." He tried to rise of the pavement. To his surprise, he managed to shift onto his feet. He stood slowly and shakily, leaning on the nearby wall for support. "Where the hell am I?"
Stygian almost began stretching out a dark, clawed hand for the man laying before him, when he remembered. His head snapped against the house and his eyes widened. Mel! Now, he knew all too well about her fear of fire, and he could guess at her disorientation from his fooling around with her marker. Not to mention that the other two he minded in the house were less than ideally set to escape as well. He cursed himself in his mind for his own stupidity.
Now, he did not mind his clothing. Throwing off his singed jacket and vest, Stygian ran. His shirt tore and slipped off, as did his pants and shoes, as his skin cracked and darkened as it burst into shadow. Darkness ripped out of his back and he leapt up onto the second floor as it grew larger around him, tearing into the wall and opening a hole right through a window.
"Gareeku! Aisha!" he roared. "Mel! Don't move! I can't find you if you do!" Barbed tentacles of darkness thick as three men's arms tore through the door into the next corridor before him as he ran, not bothering to open it. When he caught speed he started slithering, gliding fast over the floor rather than running to move better. He looked around best he could, but the smoke hid all scents, and Mel wasn't a warm-blooded creature, not to mention that the flames around confused him. Worst of all, his own power was diminishing with the light filling the hallways through the windows and by lamps and mirrors. And he had lots of wood and stone above him. If he did not find them soon...
"Where are you!?!"
((OOC: Allright... First of all, I'm not complaining about you, Boog. You're doing just fine, if you ask me, even though your placement in the house is a bit fuzzy. But E is directly referring to people's thoughts and appears to be omniscient for the time being... in a 19th century-style mansion I might point out (no offense though, it's still hard to see since the thread is still kinda blurred). Not to mention that Joat (no offense there either) and Karl appear to be running little RPs of their own. And Karl is still trying to be the boss of all, much to everyone's dismay! Now...
This RP stopped being random at about 30 pages (not my words, mind you), and finally gained a long-needed structure and motive, and I have noticed how glad people are for that. I've even gotten several comments about it. So here's the deal; if you can't bloody well adjust, get the bloody Hell out! We're here to play our characters and socialize, not to try and be the biggest kid in the sandbox! So use a bit of the judgment and brains that you have gained through your years, I hope, and act a bit intelligently, people!))
"Right!" The Boogeyman shouted down to Gareeku, "Leaving! A sound plan!"
Crawling back through the flames and smoke, spitting the occasional argument or reason to disperse the flames in his path, Boogey made his way to the hallway and stood up, thus getting a lung full of smoke for his trouble.
Can't see... Smoke hurts... Where...?
The smoke was everywhere, overwhelming. He couldn't breathe, he could barely think. He did have instincts though. Sensing the panicked thoughts of Mel and Stygian's self-derision, he made his way toward whichever seemed closer. Find a mind... Minds are safe... Find people...
(OOC: I figured E was referring to the bit about not being able to go too far from the lounge, not the other stuff.)
Aisha followed Gareeku closely, quickly moving past room after room and corridor after corridor. She already felt the heat from the flames slowly starting to encompass the mansion, threatening to trap whomever was inside. She tried to keep her senses open for anyone who was still around, but it was hard to do with the crackling flames moving ever closer, the smoke obscuring their eyes and nose, and their feet moving too quickly...the panther paused at one point, thinking she heard a familiar voice calling their names, before rushing to catch up with the wolf.
"Let's go! Vamos!" she said upon coming up to the feline who would be Mel, agreeing hastily with Gareeku, until they came to a point where there seemed to be a dead end. Flames licked at the walls and furniture, consuming and driving everything but the stone walls to soot.
As he pointed to a window, Aisha nodded in reply and rushed towards it. "Don't have to tell me twice!" She threw her shoulder out to the open window and leaped out of it, straight past the searing heat and into the suddenly-cold air, landing and rolling to her feet with a grunt. She stepped on the edge of her cape as it had caught on fire and looked back towards the mansion, hoping Gareeku and whomever else could, got out too...
*OOC: No offense, Stygian, but please try the polite approach BEFORE cursing and scolding. I know you were trying to do so in the first paragraph, but you probably should have left out the second paragraph.*
*OOC: Also, Cogidubnus, I shall give you a brief description of all my characters here. Joat is a mad scientist (learning to be a Qwertish Wizard) wolf cubi. Sylver is a Calica (holy magic powered by the soul) Mage robot dog. May Cottontail is a Qwertish Wizard easter bunny. Valencia (not present) is a fox reporter with no known special abilities. Sevilin (Never involved significantly in a plot) is the goddess of Calica, who happens to be best friends with May Cottontail.
“Let me try and fix this,” I say. I put my goggles over my eyes (it’s a mad scientist thing) and begin to chant a spell. When I finish, nothing happens.
“Well, the words and rhythm were both way off, no offense,” May says. She then casts an improved form of Affect Normal Fires, but nothing happens. “Darn it! They must be magical flames.”
“So, how are we to escape this inferno?” I ask.
Just then, Sylver chronoshifts (teleports) to us. “Everyone, join hands. I can’t tell how many of you there are, ‘cause there’s soot all over my eyes.”
(OOC: As Cogidubnus is not invincible nor made of stone, it is unlikely that he could fall through four full stories: he merely hit the deck, then fell onto some hedges. There was apparently some confusion about this, and I was asked to clarify.)
The fire was roaring now. Stygian had already leapt up some stairs, searching as best he could through the third floor, before he decided that there was nothing he could do and loped down to the second again, and headed back in the other direction, all the while shouting and calling for the others. The roof creaked dangerously over him, but he did not mind, cursing lowly under his breath as he sped through the hallway.
If they aren't up there they have either gone back to the lounge or they're out already, you idiot! he scolded himself, and then flew down another flight of stairs through some smoke. He tried for the lounge, and no one was there. Bloody Hell!
Something creaked. Then, there was a loud snap, and the whole house seemed to start to creak and rumble. Stygian's eyes darted up.
Oh shit...!
From outside, they could all see how the flames now reached through a part of the roof, and how it had begun leaning in. The house groaned in pain, its supporting structure eaten away and the weight of the structure now aiding in creating a caving effect through the attic and down, the top floor of the wing on the right from where they stood starting to topple down on it. And then it brought the second with it. And then it smashed down on the first. From the right side and on, the house began collapsing, spreading smoke and ash.
((OOC: Firstly, I have been giving hints and comments all through the latest pages, and as far as I've seen and heard, I have gotten quite some support. Sad that some can't read between the lines, though I must stress that I am in no way pissed with you or trying to offend you, Joat.
In any case, I am quite tired of all the bullshitting that has been going on, as well as the hijacking of posts that we have seen quite a few times. And I can imagine that I am not the only one. There is sadly no way to be less outspoken and more forceful on the internet, so this I am afraid is my only way of saying that I am most irritated, and that I would be rid of certain asswipes who frankly don't deserve the attention!))
Hearing the place falling, Boogey reached the conclusion that he didn't have the luxury of the leisurely approach. Sprinting for the nearest exit, he found one in the form of an open second floor window. With a panicked yell, he threw himself out of the house and landed in the bushes. He clambered out of them scratched and bruised, but unharmed. He staggered up to the others standing outside the house, panting.
"So... (pant)... What... (pant)... Happened?" He wheezed, doubled over and coughing smoke out of his lungs.
Mel followed Aisha out the window as quickly as she could. Feeling snow underfoot was a relief. A safe distance away she could still do nothing but stand with her arms around herself, shaking and staring at the monster the house had become. It was only when the mansion began collapsing that what she was seeing sunk in. "Did everyone get out?" she whispered, smoke husky. "Where is everyone?"
((ooc: I have to agree. I can't know if people simply aren't reading what other people write or if they are being deliberately difficult but posts often contradict the one above. It is frustrating to try to seriously RP when it feels like there are multiple gms running similar (or contradictory) games in the same thread. Styg is running an interesting game and should be left to do it. Please, read and think before posting.))
Making sure Aisha and the feline were outside to safety, Gareeku followed them, diving through the window and landing in a roll before standing once more. Looking back at the house, the wolf frowned as he saw the house burn and begin to collapse.
"I hope everyone got out safely..." he muttered. "I wonder how the fire started...?"
Looking around, the wolf then spotted someone he had not seen before.
"Hey! You!" he called out to the stranger in an authoritative tone. "Were you the one who started that fire?"
The right side of the house, what must have been the left wing from the front, crumbled into a still-burning heap in the morning sun, the pressure from tons of thick wood and mortar smashing into the cellar and crumbling it as well. It brought some of the centre of it along too, and a cloud of dust and ash blew out into their faces, mixed with the heat of the still raging fire, and settled slowly over the snow-strewn lawn. A large pillair of smoke rose toward the sky, ash and cinders falling from it, though most away from them as the wind blew south.
Mel tugged on Gareeku's sleeve. "We need to see who got out. Mr. Don'Chel ran to see what happened. And there was a fox... I think he was asleep. And everyone else. Do you know where everyone else was when the fire started?"
Sylver, May, and I chronoshift outside (next to Mel) just in time.
“Y’know, when the flames were up against my armor, it actually kinda tickled,” Sylver says.
“So, did everyone get out okay?” I ask to nobody in particular.
*OOC: I would have posted this two posts ago, but my internet connection is faulty.*
Relieved that Mel and Gareeku had followed her outside, Aisha got up to her feet with a light shiver from the snow, turning to watch the house become virtually destroyed, crumbled and knocked to its knees by the flames. She released a sort of low sigh, thinking it sad to see such a thing happen, after the panther and everyone else had pretty much been in that place, for the span of so many hours, having a party and adventures, sleeping...though the surroundings had changed a few times, it still felt like they were leaving something to die.
Hrmph...so much for the investigation of a haunted house I'd started...Aisha snorted, shaking her head before glancing to where Gareeku and Mel had moved off, having spotted someone new. Listening to the dragon, Aisha took another glance at the house, and then looked around, noticing Joat, Boogey, and a few other familiar faces. But some were still missing, she thought with a concerned look. "She's right...where is Stygian?"
Cog waited for the stranger to respond to him, to be greeted only by silence. He supposed that he was rather angry or some such. Cog turned to try and further make amends, and was startled to see that no-one was there anymore. He sighed and slid down the wall, sitting down on the ground and tried to get his bearings. In all probability, he was not even on the same plane anymore...he put his head in his hand. Could be worse. He thought. I could be somewhere that has toxin as air. He felt himself gathering strength again, courtesy of his hidden charm. He felt the energy peter out, the cool feeling halting, but he was in much better shape than he had been. He could now, for example, probably speak without wheezing.
He sat there for a moment before hearing a commotion to the side of him. A strange group of folk were staring at the flames, and one wolf in particular was yelling at him. Quite angrily, he thought. He sighed and lurched to his feet again, and started limping towards them. He spoke as loudly as he could at them.
"No! Well...yes, but I had no intention of burning your house!" He said, approaching the group. "In point of fact, the fire wasn't even mine. It's somewhat complicated, you see..." He said, and began to explain what exactly had caused him to fall out of their sky.
Boogey watched the house burn, slightly saddened. It was a nice sort of place. Despite all that had happened, it had personality. How many concepts were probably a part of that old place, or had it had inspired? Then of course was the fact that reality would come flooding in to give him a hard time soon, but first thing was first.
Of course, noticing Gareeku getting mad at some stranger, he was distracted from his melancholy. Brushing some leaves and twigs off, he strolled over to speak with Mel.
"Alright, what-" was all he managed to get out before another coughing fit assailed him. Interdispersed within it was also a few "whos", "hows" and a handful of profanities. When the coughing eventually died down, he decided dignety wasn't worth it and collapsed on his butt, panting "What?" he managed to get out again, panting heavily.
Mel looked at Boogey wheezing and coughing on the ground. "I don't know what happened. I'd ask the stranger, he seems to know." She looked at the collapsed house worriedly, "I'm going up to see if I can see anything." She spred her wings and jumped upwards into flight to see if she could spot those missing still.
Hearing the stranger's reply, Gareeku was about to answer back when he heard Aisha ask where Stygian was.
"I don't know." he could only say, a look of worry on his face before he turned back to the stranger.
"I'm sure it is! But you can start by helping us look for Stygian!" he growled, before turning to walk towards the smouldering pile of rubble that was once the house.
“I wonder if any of the systems of the house are still online. I hope so, though I doubt it immensely,” I say as I use my laptop to try to hack into the house’s systems. Failing to establish a connection, I close the laptop back up. “None of them are online, as I suspected. I was hoping I could at least get a survaillence cam to see where some of them may be. We’ll just have to try something simpler.”
“I think I should go and search for them. Our new arrival can too, if he wants,” Sylver says.
“Yeah, you are the fireproof one around here. But be careful. I don’t know how well you’ll handle the full weight of a collapsed house upon you,” I say.
“Right!” Sylver says.
“Wait, I’m coming with you. I can make myself flame-resistant, too,” May says. She casts Resist Fire on herself.
“Alright, but stay close to me. We may need to chronoshift out at a moment’s notice,” Sylver says.
“Okay. Oh, almost forgot,” May says. She casts Resist Fire on Cogidubnus. “Now let’s go, you two.”
Help? Cog thought, and laughed. "I can barely stand, sir. Unless you have a very powerful healer among you, I'm not moving anywhere." He said. He turned and stared at the fire that he had, albeit unintentionally, caused, and grimaced. "I am sorry. Perhaps if I had been somewhat faster, I would never have had to come here in the first place." As he thought of fighting, he took a sharp intake of breath and checked for his sword. It was gone, probably still in the burning rubble. "Damn." He said, looking into the roaring inferno. He hoped that whoever was still trapped would be able to get out...and with any luck, that he would be able to get his sword from the rubble, relatively undamaged.
There didn't seem to be much to save at all. Some of the thicker outer walls still stood up to about half the second floor, but the rest of the place looked like it had been razed by a flock of crazed demons, and it burned still, the heat and the ashes nearly getting to Mel when she flew too close.
The rubble and scrap that had been the main lounge lay in a great pile before them. The cinders still glowed, and one could see a bit of what must have been a grand piano thrown up against the remnants of the windowed wall. A beam snapped off as fire ate through it, but otherwise nothing moved. It was dead still for several minutes as they searched.
Then, just when Gareeku passed a pile right up the stairs and before the pond where they had met Sathariel for the first time, there was a violent crack as a blackened hand, strewn with dust and its skin seething in some unnatural way, struck out from under the debris. A bit of a rumble followed it, as an injured figure crawled out into the sun, wheezing and hacking.
"I will... *cough!*... learn... never to... *hack!*... try and save you again...!" Stygian rasped, as he glared up at the wolf with those hellish eyes, and slowly shifted back to his bat form, his bare skin scraped and bleeding, and tore his leg free from the rubble.
Seeing Stygian emerge from the rubble, Gareeku frowned as he helped him up.
"Sorry, but I didn't even know you were trying to save us." he replied, before surveying the man's injuries. "Are you going to be ok?"
Mel saw movement on the pond side of the house and landed just as Gareeku was helping Stygian up. She found herself backing away from the continued shimmering heat from the rubble. She looked wide-eyed from Stygian to the rubble and back. "I can't believe anyone..." she trailed off. Just being this close to the fire was scary. The idea of anyone surviving, walking away from, a fire that destroyed a mansion in minutes left her very impressed.
Stygian got to his feet, wobbling a bit. As he stood, one could see the many wounds on him healing slowly, yet visibly. Still, there were a few that seemed downright nasty. Skin had been scraped off the side of his ribcage until black blood and muscle showed through, and through his underarm a bonepipe jutted right through the skin. A long cut across his face went into an eye, and it looked simply gross when it healed as he looked down on himself.
"Yeah... In a bit... But I'll have to visit the... tailor again..." he said, and made a grimace as he gripped the broken arm. It snapped and cracked disgustingly as he forced the bone back in and into position, and he stifled a sound in his throat, sharp teeth biting into his lip. The blackness that he had been just then seemed reduced to his shadow now, slowly slipping into his wounds and down his legs and feet into the ground where it pooled up into his shade.
"The others?" he asked the wolf. Then, he turned his head back and eyed Mel over his shoulder, and for the first time he actually seemed a bit awkward at his lack of clothes. Quickly, a part of his shadow slithered up and wrapped around him, before changing into some black wrappings, a pair of straight black pants and a loose black shirt.
"You okay, Shivers?" he said, his eyes slowly reverting back to normal.
( OOC. can we calm down a bit. as i said i'm not sure who is were and i was not commenting on thoughts but what was visible and said somewhere in my preses such as what boogey said about not being able to leave. it's true that i was plugged into the house security and was exploring it under a tour of the security program. also i never said what i saw or when i saw it. before lights out i was with most of the members of the house and after that i was plugged in for most of the night until the announcement. maybe i passed some of the people as i waled to the kitchen maybe i'm just shifting through the data form my recent memories and what i learned form the house. the only thing i directly commented on was Boogey's statement about not leaving the house. as for the thing i was thinking about Mel , You, Joat who entered the room asking for May, my observation of the way Ashia and Greeku were acting in case you forget they both left for the night together as one my expect form a couple. and yes i was there. i jacked into the wall a little before they left and that struck the curiosity of one of then so lets just return to the Rp and not try to rip each others throats out over the net. it's hard enough to keep up over a shaky connection with out dealing with a lot grif form arguing. part of the reason form my statements being vague was that i had not caught up with what they said this time around. with the y exited the the post closest to where i posted i was still catching up. as for right now i'm trying to figure out how much of the house is on fire and i had time to evacuate of if i just lost one of my bodies and need to beam in a new one with backup data. probably the latter at this point. also nice entrance newcomer i hope you have fun here with us.)
(OOC: first of all, I was originally Co-GM with Kio on this RP. This may be a free-form RP, but the Co-GM still has a say in it...heck, I'll even give Co-GM status to someone who's shown to be less of a spoilsport...like Gareeku or Aisha, maybe even Mel. )
Quote((ooc: I have to agree. I can't know if people simply aren't reading what other people write or if they are being deliberately difficult but posts often contradict the one above. It is frustrating to try to seriously RP when it feels like there are multiple gms running similar (or contradictory) games in the same thread. Styg is running an interesting game and should be left to do it. Please, read and think before posting.))
(OOC:This Quote of Mel's post shows she is a bit more civilized in complaining, she likes your storyline. It would be such a shame to see a brilliant mind reduced to being downright rude to one of the orginal Co-GMs, so take a chill pill.)
Quote( OOC. can we calm down a bit... lets just return to the Rp and not try to rip each others throats out over the net. it's hard enough to keep up over a shaky connection with out dealing with a lot grif form arguing. part of the reason form my statements being vague was that i had not caught up with what they said this time around. with the y exited the the post closest to where i posted i was still catching up. as for right now i'm trying to figure out how much of the house is on fire and i had time to evacuate of if i just lost one of my bodies and need to beam in a new one with backup data. probably the latter at this point. also nice entrance newcomer i hope you have fun here with us.)
(See, E has the right attitude..
Oh heck, you know what, I'll make a poll thread asking who should be the two Co-GMs of the thread since this problem started...will that help?)
Karl and Lilith were rushed out of the house, due to the flames now consuming it.
Karl/Lilith: Our house! *crying*
((Well, I see it's a good thing I can't get to sleep yet...
I think we ALL should take a chill pill here, okay? ^^; Karl, we all know that you were the co-GM, you didn't have to remind us of that. We really just try to follow the events as best as possible, and make it a bit of a serious story, even with just a bit of goofiness thrown in. But Styg does have a bit of a point too. Sometimes there was a little more randomness and goofiness going on than what was needed...that's pretty much just the point he was making, if not one of them. He, and most of us, sound irritated because nobody seems to have listened to that.
Anyway, what say we get back to the RP? What we're really trying to do is start over a little, hence the burning down of the old house. With this thread being 80+ pages long, there's need to start cleaning things up. So please, is there any point at all in keeping this argument? ))
* * *
Aisha regarded the stranger with slight curiosity, listening to him speak. Not the most usual of things to happen, but then again, nothing here was, the panther thought, before looking around at the others...except for some fits of confusion and exhaustion, everyone seemed okay...but there was the matter of the other missing, she thought with a concerned grimace.
Watching Mel fly over and Gareeku rush towards the smoldering remains of the mansion to help, Aisha paused before the stranger with an apologetic smile. "Things are a little tense here, you can imagine. Once everyone is called for, I think we can find you a healer in town...if it's even nearby..." she said, rubbing her forehead before glancing to where the others were hopefully coming back with Stygian.
The panther quickly came around the perimeter of the fallen house, passing Karl while sparing a quick "I'm sorry" shake of her head, coming up to where Gareeku and Mel were gathered with their comrade and sighing with relief. "Oh, good..." she said, tilting her head. "You're okay I trust, amigo?"
A drop of purple light falls form the sky and lands forming into the robot known E. he stands vulnerable a second as his life force and data connect. In nanoseconds he is whole again and and looking around. The last thing he remember was checking his data as Boogey left for a snack. as his non tech memory kicks in her remembers coming out of his metal review just in time to see the ceiling caving in on him. he's tried to escape but was already heavily damages due to not being in his armored form. he was too far gone and a chunk of pillar landed on him and knock him into oblivion. he looked around and counted the people in the snow with him. " Does anyone know what happened?"
"Somebody," Boogey grimaced, scrambling to his feet, "Seems to have accidentially destroyed the lounge. Which then fell on Styg. Congradulations, you're caught up with the rest of us."
Stygian looked at the still burning house, and made some hissing sound, the meaning of which was a bit hard to discern. He began walking briskly back around them.
"I'm fine, Ash. Damage control, Shivers! Ice! There's still more mansion for that fire to chew than it's already taken. I want condense to be rolling of this place three minutes ago!" he shouted as he quickened his pace. "And then you help me support the stru - aaarhg...!" He grunted as he fell forward on his knees, catcing himself on one arm, and clenching his side with the other. Clearly, he was more wounded than he would admit.
"Can someone... please... blood..." he rasped.
((OOC: Dunno about you, but I tend to run out of chill when I just get to put up with random flailing and post- and story-jacking for an inordinate time, while my more subtle and careful attempts at showing my dissapproval and irritation just fly out the window, so to speak. Maybe I'm the kind that just waits, and then bites hard. But that still does not make me any less right, and I'll be damned if I let you try and play the greater all of a sudden. Nor do I have to recognize any sort of authority from your side either, if you're abusing it. The reason I'm not just skipping this thread and going on to another is the sheer effort that has gone into it, and into making it the socializing RP here. I'm hoping that perhaps some more people will drop in too. So don't wag your finger at me, because that's when I bite it off.))
((OOC: I have responded to the spat in the new OOC thread rather than slow down the rp further.))
As soon as Stygian ordered up ice Mel was back in the air. It was better to have something to be busy at than think about the fire. As she switched to full size she looked down saw him collapse. But Aisha and Gareeku were there and the fire was an immediate concern. She went high and to the side before releasing an icestorm at the building since steam was as nasty as fire.
As this thread is due for a reset, and for other reasons that should be obvious, it has been locked. If you need to discuss, do so in this (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php?topic=2180.msg89674#msg89674) thread.