Mirrors on the Ceiling (Mature) (IC)

[Meany]

Dhōngami ceased his efforts with a sharp crack, ending the stream of green energy.  That energy went instead, to thickening his hide to form weak armor.  "The plants and winds speak of 'The Blackened One', and how it hungers.  They advise us to flee."  The Druid breathed out a thin mist of green particles, which floated around the floor of the bus for a moment.  A ward against disease and poisons, all he could do on short notice. "Given the wind lacks sensory input, powerful magics would be needed to bind them thus.  The storm has stopped for a moment; not by my doing though.   Whatever wove the spell has paused."

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib was quiet during the discussion of the cursed woodlands. He didn't show it in his face, and his mind was expertly shielded, but the thought of the sheer undertaking to curse an entire woodlands.. and the power involved.. unsettled him. He kept calm, for the most part. His tail, however, betrayed him as the tip flicked anxiously.

But he stood up, grabbing his duffel bag from the upper rack, and headed out the door to survey the grounds. His thoughts went back to trying to pry this from Leland again. Why, just a bit of groundwork would fix this lot up just fine...

Colo had been busily trying to pry her overstuffed backpack from the rack, but with its wires and tools poking from its pockets it kept getting stuck. She sighed, and turned her head slightly, catching Jeremiah's gaze. Mismatched eyes met his for a flicker of a second before the pack became miraculously unstuck and the cubi made a quick, quick exit of the bus.

[Angel]

Jarevei didn't EXACTLY regret what he'd said, but he knew he'd have to be careful from the way the other passengers reacted. Ketefe's likely-amphibious friend seemed nervous and grew stiff, and the fact that he'd made the perverted one laugh probably wasn't a good sign, seeing as their employer evidently disliked him. Why hire so many people he hates? Jarevei wondered. There's "any port in a storm" and then there's "completely and utterly desperate." But if he's this desperate he really shouldn't be so open with his prejudices – wait a cursed forest?

The bus jerked to a stop, and Jarevei instinctively grabbed his book and his cane. If it fell the words might flatten and then he'd never understand it. The cursed forest interested him most now, but he'd be damned if he'd lose even one book because of this trip. He picked up his things, waiting for Ketefe to stand and listening intently.

Ketefe was absorbing news of the cursed forest as well. Haunted, she could have gotten, but cursing an entire forest? "Oh good Gods...the 'Blackened One'? Was that one of the magic users, or is it...?" Something worse than a crazy wizard? She started to pick up her things, and stood up. "Why did it pause? Is it...going to let us leave the bus?"she asked the druid.

[Kafzeil]

Michael stopped the bus, undid his safety belt, and opened the door, standing up himself. "Hell If I know who cursed this place." He said to Kallis. "This place has always been like this. Before we took possession. Wasn't until after my ancestors found it about the curse, so I doubt it was someone trying to get at us." he whispered to Kallis while Leland's back was turned. "To be fair, I can certainly see someone with enough time on their hands doing something crazy at his expense..." the overweight ferret chortled.

Leland turned around as Michael stepped off the bus, the vechile rocking a bit as he did so. "I told you, angel, I forbid you or your family from every stepping foot inside--"

Michael shoot back. "Relax, your majesty. I'm just stretching my legs before I have to turn home. And getting something." As much as he'd love to have Leland die, everyone else hardly deserved to suffer for one man's ego trip. He went to the side and opened a storage compartment, shuffling around for whatever he was looking for. "Ugh, shifted in transit. sunuva~" The overweight bus driver mumbled to himself as he climbed into compartment partially and yanked out a black case. "You know you can come out now." he called, Leland having already stepped out. "The curse doesn't seem to stick to people at least." He stood by the door and waited, mostly in case Jarevei needed a hand out of the bus. "Watch your footing. Ground's a bit uneven."

Leland was already staring at the hotel, a grin plastered on his face. The kind usually reserved for spoiled children on gift exchanging holidays.

The state of the weather seemed unchanging. It didn't get worse, certainly, but it refused to clear up.

[Boog]

Jeremiah scowled a little private scowl to himself as he hauled out more of the bags. The druid's words didn't worry him; start messing with spirits and nature and half what you say ends up ominous babble, he'd always figured. Once knew a girl who was majoring in ecothaumatology in college, she had a new Portent every other weekend. Half were wrong and the other half were trivial.
Leland's face is what started giving him a sinking feeling in his guts. A man that happy at the start of a project with THOSE prospects generally didn't understand the work ahead of him. He didn't think a single person in this group was a hexbreaker, they were going to be here for an age.
He had to say he loved the architecture though. So, there was that.

"Anything for the arts, I suppose." He groused to himself, halfway between a mutter and a whisper, lurching past Kallis' seat with his burden. "Perhaps they'll have those nice Victorian caskets..."

[Angel]

"Always cursed?" Jarevei mumbled. He'd known people weren't eager to take this job, and he'd learned all the stories he could about this building before accepting the job with Ketefe, but he'd had no idea people had cursed more than just the house. No wonder Leland had to hire what he saw as inferior people; besides his intolerable personality, there wouldn't be many experts willing to take on the job. There are no old bold adventurers, after all. Speaking of adventurers, he couldn't help wondering about Ketefe. He stood up to be ear-level with her and nudged her. The disabled have few ways to show subtlety, so sadly he couldn't offer a meaningful look to her.

Ketefe waited for the druid to reply, but didn't quite seem happy with his answer. "'Paused'? It hasn't stopped? How nice of it to INVITE us into its grasp." She rolled her eyes, then Jarevei stood and nudged her. "Oh, right, we should leave." She sighed. "Can't exactly stop the monsters if we don't walk up and say hello, I guess." She let Jarevei go ahead of her, and walked carefully behind him as he tapped his way down the aisle and off the bus.

[VAE]

"Soo... the curse doesn't stick to people? What sort of a curse is it? I mean, the most common ones have to do with fertility, but trees and grass are growing 'round here, unless it's one of those things which only hit crops. I mean, you had an analysis done by a geomancer before commencing construction, right?"  The cat scratched her chin, all while taking out the pocket thaum-meter and fiddling with the control knobs . "Paused, you say? Not many spells of this scale... Let's see... and this piece should let me know when it turns on again."
She dodged out of the way of the frog. "I'd prefer casks to caskets. You can't really use the latter while you're alive, and not many dead I have met had discerning taste. Besides, looking at the weather, we'll need a bit of warm-up by the time we get in."

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib came off of the bus, and retriever his duffel bag with little fanfare. He walked over in time to hear the discussion concerning the curse. He snorted lightly in disdain. "This is one of the prevailing problems with magic, you see." He says with an air of authority, real or not. "You come up on an old piece of work, and damn all if you can tell what it does without researching it for the next few months." He says, and shrugs, looking towards the house. "Let's just hope that's the only magical malady we run into during our stay."

Colo had her ridiculously overstuffed pack already on her back, flattening her wings, but she was a ways away from the group, already near the building. She kept looking up at it curiously, examining the architecture, while occasionally glancing back at the group.

[VAE]

The cat got out of the bus herself in the meantime, and was busy trying to align the antennae on the portable thaummeter when one of the resident beings decided the time to be ripe for showcasing his ignorance, as beings are wont to do.
She turned towards him, and rolled her eyes.
"I see mister's an expert! Of course, how ridiculous, to actually make an effort at analyzing what's going on instead of rushing headlong into whatever's ahead, an approach that's been shown to work so well throughout history. Because it might *gasp* take a while!" She crossed her arms on her chest, and fluffed up her wings. "See, the thing about magic is that it doesn't go away just because you can't be arsed to examine it."

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib looked over with a neutral expression.. that broke into a smug grin. "Your buttons? They are entirely too easy to press." He says, turning his expression towards the mansion. "This is going to be fun."

[VAE]

"Fun loving, aren't we?" the cat grinned.
She extended a tentacle towards the ringtail, tapped him on the muzzle, and whispered something under her breath.
Whoosh!
In front of him, floating in mid-air, and warming his face and paws, appeared a grey "board" with a bright red "button", composed of constantly shifting  smoke and flames.
"Playing with fire is a thing, you know."

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib raised his eyebrows at the display. He actually appreciated the meshing of the phrases, but his grin only seemed to come back even stronger as he looked back at her again.

"Oh yes, fire is quite hot, so it's little wonder that I would delight in playing with it, don't you think?" He said, and then laughed out-loud. "I've waited for so long to use that line!!"

He concentrated just a little, and almost as if on queue, purple, glowing energy manifested near the button, formed into a hand with one outstretched finger... and made as if it were repeatedly pressing the button.

[VAE]

At the sight of the pokefinger, the cat chuckled into a handkerchief.
"Peerhaps, but you're forgetting hot things have a little tendency to burn"
At a wave of a tentacle, the button warped into a fiery palm, which impacted the purple hand with a resounding slap, sending a shower of sparks at Zanfib.

[Boog]

Jeremiah fell into step with Leland heading toward the hotel, rolling his eyes at the antics of two of the party's more psychically inclined. Girls, girls, you're both very pretty, but I believe our paychecks are THIS way athankew.
You need to learn to curb that judgemental streak.
Shut up Cab.
It's not good for you.
Worried I'm becoming bitter?
Gods no, but I've counted at least two sets of headwings in this group.
Ah, hm.
"Leland, sir," the frog folded the nearly forgotten honorific into his speech smoothly, "do you know if the hotel amenities are still functional? Gas, water and so on."

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib's eyes lit up, the smug smirk becoming bemused. His first instinct was to block the sparks, or merely move out of the way.. But the cat was out of the bag and out on the town, so to speak.

He caught the sparks telekineticly, and instead of sending them off, he brought them up and around his hand, gathering in a small, match-sized flame at the tip of his finger. He then grinned to the succubus.

"If you can't take the heat, get out of the bedroom." He says, the smugness returning in force.

Colo just watched, a safe distance away with a confused look on her tilted face. People are weird!

[Angel]

Jarevei waited for the magic users (oh, pardon, magic user and psion) to finish their little catfight (haha). He didn't want to leave the bus until all the heated spells were done flying past his face. Ketefe waited a bit less patiently behind him. Once the ringtail made his comment, she rolled her eyes. Something about this guy reminded her of Khimara, but she wasn't going to take one pervy joke against him. Just remember, this is still better than prison. Once they were done, she spoke up.

"You guys done whipping 'em out? Can we get out WITHOUT catching fire now? Taking the heat is one thing, but if we're gonna get through here alive we need to at least pretend to like each other, and that'll be easier if we're all intact BEFORE we enter the hotel." She nudged Jarevei again; now that the hotel was so close she was itching to go start their work.

Jarevei grinned, reaching carefully down with his cane before taking the steps down from the bus. "You know, Teff, you say things like that, and you still don't understand why they want you in the military." He looked in the driver's direction. "I appreciate the offer, but it's really only the last step that gives me trouble."

And with some token grumbling from Ketefe, they made it down the stairs and joined the rest of the party.

[VAE]

"Well, if the only hot thing you can manage in there is a heated argument, I guess you have no other option."
The cat flicked her tentacle, and tossed a match-head sized flame towards Zanfib's hand, where it began orbiting the bigger flame he held.
Before she could add anything  (such as a few more orbiting bodies) , a complaintful voice from inside the bus interrupted her thoughts.
"No." she said, a mask of seriousness on her face. "I absolutely forbid you from leaving without at least a lit cigarette."
She chuckled.

[Kafzeil]

Michael dropped a medium sized case by the rest of Leland's luggage. "MageNet Emergency Radio." The angel declared sternly. "I already set in frequencies for my shop, my home, and the local rangers. if shit hits the fan." He points at the case.

"Ladies, you're both pretty." He muttered at Zanfib and Kallis, handing another case to Jeremiah. "You'll probably need this, my friend."

Leland watched as Michael climbed back on his bus and started the engine. "Well, you coming?" he addressed his employees, he glanced at Jeremiah's question. "How should I know. Should be easy enough to turn the water on anyways."

Colo might have caught the glimpse of something moving in the windows. A curtain shaking the wind? Or something else entirely?

[Ghostwish]

The smug smirk never left Zanfib's face, a seemingly impenetrable mask of arrogance. "Sorry, my dear." He said, as the flame and sparks in his hand turned as violet as his eyes. "But cigarettes make for a terrible kisser." He continued as the flames suddenly vanished in a rush of wind, kinetic energy becoming another form of kinetic energy. "Wouldn't you rather order a pizza instead?" He said with a lecherous wink, before he turned, and headed up to the front door.

"My dear man, I do believe we are waiting on you! Come on now, I'm sure you need to unlock the door, don't you?" He called as he hefted his duffel bag onto his shoulder.

Colo just kept watching with an exasperated and confused expression on her face. She understood physics, mathematics, machinery and even things that many beings and creatures in this world had not even begun to theorize upon, but PEOPLE? Regular enigma, them. She sighed, idly beating her headwings as she took a glance at the house and then looked back.. and then jerked her head right back in a sudden double-take.

Did that move? Wait, what moved? The curtains? But the air flow would be shut off.. What...

She kept watching for a while longer.

[Boog]

Jeremiah sighed. Water would work? He foresaw a lot of being yelled at; he wasn't an amazing cook to begin with, but it was at least passable as long as he had access to, y'know, fire.
The man could probably do with swapping out one of those daily roast quails for the occasional salad.
Thank, you, Cab. That's very helpful.
The frog grunted as Micheal handed him the case, and reached to pick up the radio as well. "Ghn, what's in it?"
Magic bricks!
The rest of the hotel!
A full suit of armor!
More quails!
Oh my god if you all don't shut up while I'm working I am going to WATERBOARD you with absinthe. Recently, Nex and Plic had been trying their hand at being funny. Jeremiah had reached the conclusion that they were terrible at it. Bal, of course, had encouraged them excessively.

[Angel]

[[OoC: Charging...CLEAR! *BZZT*]]

Jarevei laughed good-naturedly at Kallis' remark, noting that the fight had finally calmed down. "Well, as long as people's tempers aren't flaring on the outside, let's get going, hm?" He began to tap his way towards the building, following the general direction of the footsteps and the scent of the quiet girl from the bus. She seemed more nervous now than when she'd gotten off the bus, but he wasn't close enough yet to place why. Something about the girl pulled on his more nosily-helpful instincts. Shouldn't pry until I have to, though. Pretty sure she's a magic user too; Leland hired a lot of them, and considering how little she's been doing it would add up.

Ketefe, meanwhile, had stopped to help Jeremiah. "Need some help? I travel light, I can carry some of the heavier stuff if you like."

[Kafzeil]

"Drugs. Michael answered the toad. He wasn't joking. If Jeremiah opened the case he'd find full cartoon of reefers. The ferret angel returne dto his bus.

The engine of Michael's bus roared to life, as he began it's trek back into town.

Leland unlocked the front doors. "Well, I suppose we should get ourselves comfy while we wait for the next bus to arrive. He grinned waiting for everyone to gather before showing them the Hotel's lobby.

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib hefted his duffel bag over his shoulder and headed in with little fanfare, though he gave the inside a very scrutinizing look over.

Colo, however, seemed to determined to be the last one in, even though she was closer to the main group than she had been before. She kept looking back in a distracted manner at the windows, trying to catch a glimpse of.. whatever that had been.

[VAE]

Pizza. . .
The mention of this rather unusual foodstuff led Kallis down a path of thoughts through one of the first parties at SAIA she seen one on, ("So you put lecsó on a piece of flat bread and roast it?") towards the general food supply of the party. There was a lot of beings here, and from what she recalled, beings needed lots of food, and if they run short of supply they might get starving and violent... Violent allies isn't a good thing, is it? I should check. . .
Looking up, she noticed Zanfib was well gone, with, as she realized, the last word in the little spar. Eh. He's amusing, anyhow, and not getting eaten by a bunch of half-mad, starving beings takes priority.
With a concerned look and a mental image of her fellow adventurers dressed in tattered Kebrean prison uniforms drooling in her direction, the cat cornered Michael.
"Drugs? But is there any food? Does anyone have any food with them? Does the mansion have any food in it? And water, don't forget water!"

[Kafzeil]

Before Michael left town he glanced at Kallis, the motioned to their employer. "I'd ask him."

The doorway to the hotel swung open, Leland strolling in still grinning. The floor was marble with red carpets leading to a large oak reception desk, behind the desk two stairways leading up further into the lobby. Blinding white marble pillars, electrical lightning, chandeliers, the hotel was pristine!


Far too pristi8ne for building that had been abandoned for centuries, allegedly. The hotel looked as new as the day it opened on the faithful gala. The armadillo rushed for the desk at breakneck pace, searching the keys for something. Above the desk, ona balcony was strange, green red plant. It was huge, spanning the entire balcony, and appeared over grown.  Other then the plant the lobby was devoid of any signs of life.

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib only took a step or two inside, and then froze with a paranoid and puzzled look on his face. He turned about, looking all around with a wary, cross look. "Allright, let me get this straight. The outside is disheveled and dilapidated, especially the pavement, but the inside is immaculate?" He says incredulously, and then his eyes linger upon the large plant. "And apparently incredibly well fertilized." He said with a hint of tired sarcasm, "Really Leland, this deserves at least an explanation."

Colo was peeking in from the entrance. She noted the electrical lightning first and foremost. Everything seemed to be working fine. Now she couldn't ponder why she was here..

[VAE]

Kallis  looked around only to see her employer already making a beeline for the entrance to the mansion. Spitting out a "Thanksbye" at Michael, she rushed off in his direction in a mode that could (if the armadillo's own pace was breakneck) only be described as "arse over head" - wrapping a pair of her tentacles around herself to keep the stuff in her pockets still, and using the rest of them to bounce off the ground and stabilize herself.

"SIR? Do we-saintilyaswing-"

*CRASH*

Failing to notice the ringtail emerging in the doorway, Kallis promptly proved the description of her pace true by smashing into him like a cannonball into an unlucky sailor, if the cannonball had flailing tentacles, a face, and a terrified look on it. The pair carried on en masse for several metres more, rolling along and sweeping the still surprisingly polished floor until the stand of a table put a stop to their advance.

[Ghostwish]

Zanfib lay there in a heap, tangled up with the succubus in a most ungratifying manner. The impact had caught the usually aware psion completely by surprise, owing to the fact he had been concentrating on this very out of place, immaculate scene.

"You know.." He said, as his tail finally began to reduce its apparent mass back down to normal, "I could make some crack about you being ever so eager to be all over me, but really now?" He says, dis-tangling himself and picking himself off the ground, before engaging in a feeble attempt to readjust his disheveled clothing. Then he looked down at the succubus with a level glare. "Do pay a bit more attention, won't you?"

[VAE]

On Kallis's side, the situation was somewhat worse, though a bit of conscious effort towards thinning and stream-lining the tentacles allowed her to untangle herself with relative ease. Ignoring the ringtail, she went through her pockets, accounting for a somewhat unlikely array of items at a frantic pace.

The silver's fine.. and if the other one broke, I'd feel it. Mirror, good...

In the end, the only thing to emerge with damage was a chipped magnifying glass, and a broken pipette, but the second and a minute or so worth of transformation magic worked wonders to fix the first.

"Sorry! It was.. is urgent! The future of this expedition is at stake!" She looked around, localizing Leland once again. "Also, an old bit of wisdom goes "Whoever keeps his face at the door will soon get a door in the face.". I'm pretty sure you keeping it in mind would make this happen a lot less often."

[Boog]

"Quite alright, Ketefe," Jeremiah grinned at the cat, in his usual manner. "I'm officially on waitstaff for this job. That means I do the carrying and you do the exploring."
It was peculiar though. Not that he didn't APPRECIATE such gifts (he had, after all, been an art teacher), why would the fellow have said they would NEED them? Nonetheless, one neatly rolled joint disappeared into his sleeve.

Hell, the place didn't even seem that bad! Walking in Jeremiah marveled at the well-preserved decor. And marble! Well carved, classical marble! Why the fact that it wasn't scuffed or chipped after all this time alone was a pretty good start!
He did find it strange that the place was so well put together but Jeremiah was quite adamantly hiding behind his title of waitstaff, most importantly from himself. Yes, he had every reason to KNOW it was a peculiar sign, but it was like running off a cliff in a cartoon. If he didn't look down, maybe he wouldn't fall.

He sidestepped the abrupt pile of Zanfib and Kallis, with a softly chortled "Huh, Cubi."