Character Lounge

[Stygian]

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.

[Aisha deCabre]

"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.

[Joat]

“This is way chaotic. I like chaotic,” May says. She then begins to chant a spell.

[Gareeku]

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]

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.

[Gareeku]

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 Dragonkitty]

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 deCabre]

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.

[Joat]

May finishes the spell. A large, sturdy eggshell half (about 4" in diameter) appears and May jumps in it. “All aboard!”

[Stygian]

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!"

[Boog]

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.

[Gareeku]

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.

[Aisha deCabre]

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.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

"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. )

[Stygian]

"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.

[Joat]

*OOC: I did.*

“That answers the question of where to go and this shell transport takes care of how,” May says.

[Aisha deCabre]

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."

[Gareeku]

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 Dragonkitty]

Mel poked the thing dubiously, "You licensed to drive, kid?"

[Joat]

“Nah. But this thing looks safe and easy enough. ‘Sides, how else do you plan on getting into the sky?” May says.

[Stygian]

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.

[Gareeku]

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!"

[Joat]

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.*

[e_voyager]

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.

[Joat]

Link, controlled by Valencia, is getting beaten mercilessly by Mario, Pikachu, and DK. “How does May win this game? It’s freakin’ impossible!”

[Aisha deCabre]

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."

[Boog]

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 Dragonkitty]

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]

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.

[Gareeku]

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.