Character Lounge

[Boog]

"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]

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.

[Boog]

"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 deCabre]

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]

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?

[Boog]

"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."

[Mel Dragonkitty]

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."

[Stygian]

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 deCabre]

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 Dragonkitty]

Mel just smiled blandly back at him. "It's an ancient name. You probably remember it from history classes,"she dismissed.

[Joat]

*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.

[Boog]

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.

[Stygian]

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.

[Joat]

“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.

[Gareeku]

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.

[Stygian]

"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.

[Joat]

“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.*

[Gareeku]

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]

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.

[Mel Dragonkitty]

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 deCabre]

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.

[Boog]

"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_voyager]

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"

[Stygian]

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?"

[Boog]

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!"

[Aisha deCabre]

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?"

[Joat]

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 Dragonkitty]

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]

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.

[Boog]

"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.