Mausoleum II: Stairdancing The Multiverse

Artifacts Incorporated; Brand Tower

The Kindred did not blink as the world around them changed. They never blinked anyway, but they didn't seem too surprised. Wolf sniffed inquisitively at their new surroundings, while Lamb stood behind 'Gilgamesh' - actually a shapeshifted Kalea - and stared at the clerk impassively.

"Our Lord Gilgamesh is here to see Darien Brand." Lamb said, following Kalea's lead without hesitation. "I would not advise angering him."

On Kalea's other side, a grinning Wolf came up underneath her hand, like a lapdog. "He feeds me the ones who make him angry." He didn't really understand why they were pretending, but Wolf nonetheless went along with what Lamb was doing.

Several steps behind the group that entered the veritable mud hut, another figure quietly made his way into Mattie's little place. He made sure to stay behind the giant of a man, so as to avoid drawing attention to himself as he looked around. He was dressed in fine, Asian-adjacent silks and gold, clearly a little unhappy to put such finery in danger by simply entering this establishment. A hand rose up to his face to run his finger and thumb along his goatee.

A veritable newcomer to this city, Shang Tsung had quickly set to work gathering information and rumors. Every individual he questioned had made blatant allusions to the incredible dangers of the Mausoleum that housed his goal. He was a confident man, but an intelligent one. He knew that he shouldn't dare venture into uncharted territory on his own. He would need to make some allies of some sort. That was when he heard about the Mortuary. Perhaps he would simply need to "make" his allies another way.

Thus he found himself entering behind another party of individuals looking to make their own business. Every the gentleman, Shang simply stood behind silently as they completed their business and went on their way. Of course, that did not stop him from listening in on what was being said. What sort of sorcerer would he be if he didn't?

It appeared that the undead woman being helped along by the group needed something input into her body. A device of some sort, one that he was not familiar with but was seemingly complex or delicate. The creature running the establishment set forth a surprising price for her work. Memories, something incorporeal and yet invaluable. This shop surpassed expectations. Unfortunately, on that front it appeared the zombie was quite poor.

Sensing an opportunity to make the allies he had set out to find, Shang Tsung stepped out into the open. He brought a hand up to his mouth and cleared his throat to garner attention. "If payment will be an issue, perhaps I can offer my assistance. Though I do not usually trade in memories, mayhaps I can offer an alternative." The old man offered.

Raising his hand up, Shang Tsung drew his arm is a wide arc, seemingly drawing a circle with his palm facing up. As it moved through the air, green mist started falling from the palm of his hand, dissipating not long after leaving it. With a flick of his fingers, the mist coalesced into a translucent, ephemeral skull hovering just a few inches above his palm. "Do you accept trade in souls?" he asked with a smile.

Midas General store:

Anna smiled sweetly at the tall lumbering Warden and said absolutely nothing. You see, she had one rule, and that was to have absolutely nothing to do with bullish authority figures like the one currently talking to her. It was a matter of principle for her to detach herself from the situation, to move slowly away from the quickly escalating scene: her morals simply wouldn't allow her to intervene in anyone's favor; also, the socks were on floor nine. With the floor warden's attention fully occupied by the three oddities (mechanical sheep toy included), Anna began to slowly back away from the brawl.

Not getting involved?

What do you care? Anna hissed back.

There could be trouble.

Anna snorted and turned away.

Really not my problem Van. You heard the desk, socks are on level nine.

What if they come looking for you?

Anna shot the sword an annoyed look.

Then I set something on fire and we run.

Oh yes, because that worked out so well last time

Hush, we're done.

If you say so.

Vanir floated off after the retreating princess.

Edited by biomechtraveler on May 29th 2020 at 3:00:09 AM

Rotgut, Mattie’s Mortuary

Just then a new voice spoke up. A man’s voice, slow and dignified.

Rotgut glanced toward the speaker. He’d sounded like an old man, and he looked about as old as he sounded from what little she could see. She inclined her head just enough to bring his face above the red slash. It was an oriental face, with a long dangling mustache above a long dangling goatee.

He did something with his hands then. Must have been some kind of spell, because suddenly there was green light bleeding into her field of vision from above and below the slash. She inclined her head again.

It was a floating green skull.

That wasn’t ominous at all.

Then he smiled, the kind that makes you want to punch it off the smiler’s face, and asked if Mattie accepted souls.

Her grip on Sturm’s haft tightened, so much so that the wood creaked audibly.

“Hold up. What do you get out of this, necromancer?”

She tried not to spit that word out like a vile poison. Maybe she was being unfair. Maybe this man was different from other necromancers. Maybe glowing green skulls didn’t have sinister implications wherever he came from. Maybe he sincerely wanted to help.

And maybe I’m Jesus of fucking Nazareth.

Edited by SullenFrog on May 27th 2020 at 5:28:18 AM

Oh, poor Kalea...to go through the trouble of crafting that legal opus, only to be turned down by a...

Kaguya opened her eyelids, previously locked in mournful embrace, long enough to look at Gilgamesh again.

...ten year old, right. Poor Kalea.

The contract was still sealed, if through the less-binding method of your-words-versus-mine. To go forth and bring the shameless investor to justice, that was their stalwart cause. As Kaguya felt her innards rearrange themselves, feeling much like how they would growing back after being eviscerated, she wondered if this really was what she had in mind when she said goodbye to Eientei. Her kidneys writhed, and she wondered if Udonge was doing alright about now.

Immediately, in the cloud-bottomed tower, Kaguya noticed they were still in the presence of their host. It did give her a moment of surprise considering just how lazy he seemed to have come along, but Kalea's absence made sense of things. She was prepared to chime in, sing the praises of the newly-made Lord Gilgamesh...

She saw a different opportunity present itself with the Wolf's words. One that'd give her just a taste of something she was wanting to do this whole time.

Kaguya took a few steps forward, grabbed a morning edition of the Midas Times, and rolled it up in her hands. With her sword forged of paper and ink held high, she feigned indignance and said "Little dog, but you're not supposed to say that in front of strangers! Bad dog!"

Whap. Right on the nose. Just one; hopefully enough to get the point across without her arm being bitten off.

7 of 9—Natalie's Bespoke Scrap—Store with Carlos, Kayne, Moko, and Lumisa

Noticing the group was already buying their items, Seven of Nine walked near Carlos to talk to him first.

"Judging by the way you take a proactive approach, I assume you are in the same predicament as I, and that you are the leader of this group of misfits," She said without showing any emotion to the wizard.

“... Unfortunately, your mind seems to be very polluted by the outdated delusion of the superstitious belief of magic, making you ill-suited to lead this mission. Your self-designation as a wizard might impress these primitive locals, but I know better. ”

She then looked at Natalie while raising her tricorder to analyze her biological structure.

“Although her species doesn’t seem to be part of the Borg’s index of species, and she does seem to have traits natural to most sentient humanoid species as well as traits characteristically to insectoids, to apply her the designation of “fairy" like the creature from earth’s mythological creature is quite premature, not to say unbelievable naive,” she said in a monotone voice.

Edited by FallenLegend on Jun 4th 2020 at 7:01:17 AM

Kayne & Moko—Seven out of Nine in Terms of Politeness

"Well howdy, it looks like we've got a bona-fide lady of science in the room!" Kayne exclaimed, recognizing the analytical approach Seven of Nine took and momentarily pausing her rewiring of the compact blaster energy converter that was supposed to go into Kyxe's laser sword. "They haven't outlawed learning and books where you're from? You'll have to tell me all about it later over some drinks if we're heading the same way."

"Madam, it would be more polite to ask whether the good proprietor is a fairy or not instead of making your own assumptions right off the bat, however well-informed you believe yourself to be," said Moko dryly, crossing his hatband arms from the top of Kayne's head and looking down his non-existent nose at Seven of Nine. "Kayne, you tell her!"

"Oh yeah, Moko, thanks for pointing that out for me, I didn't notice," Kayne replied sarcastically. "But yeah, Carlos was here when I got here. I haven't seen him fling what I'm going to call 'magic' for the ease of conversing around yet, so the jury's still out on whether he's actually a wizard or not instead of someone wearing a silver pentagram just for kicks, but I agree with Moko, it's probably better to ask people their race instead of acting like a know-it-all about it, that'll get you beat up in some side alley."

"I'm a goddamn talking top hat, and I self-identify as magical, so if you insinuate I'm not, so help me I'll set you on fire—" Moko was muffled as Kayne took him off and covered his mouth. He still shook his fist angrily at Seven of Nine. "—MMPH!"

"Sorry, Moko's awfully sensitive about people saying he's not magic. He could very well be, he's bigger on the inside and he's got no organs that I've ever seen. Apologies, I'm working on some really sensitive wiring right now—" Kayne paused so as to better contain a struggling Moko. "—so you can come talk to me when I'm done and we can compare notes on how magic interacts with the metaphysics surrounding the fabric of space-time, okay?"

"I'm Moko, and I'm right here!" screamed Moko angrily from behind Kayne's hand. "You can let go now, I'm COMPLETELY CALM!"

"I'm Kayne and I'm a wandering scholar. I'd like to learn more from you if that's no trouble. Apologies if it is, though," Kayne said, chuckling nervously. "Alright, alright, Moko, please stop your screaming—"

Eventually Moko calmed down and Kayne put him on again. He continued fuming, shooting angry looks at Seven of Nine while Kayne carefully started to fit the combined energy converter and active laser medium into the housing of the lightsaber. Her second project was nearly complete.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jun 5th 2020 at 3:11:07 AM

Seven of nine— Magic shop—Trolling magic people.

Seven of nine stared at the peculiar duo that had just addressed them. The genius teen girl and her talkative hat with one eye.

" A crude assessment... but accurate," She replied to Kayne. " I will be fulfilling the role of science officer— And no, books aren't disallowed. They are simply inefficient. The borg collective shares every thought of any species it assimilates on its collective hive mind," She says without emotion.

She stares at the young girl staring, in particular, the way she was tinkering with electronics,

"It would be acceptable for me to partake on the ritual of consumption of beverages... Although I strongly suspect you don't have the required age to consume them." —She sighs deeply— Regardless, you have considerable mechanical skills, especially for someone as young, you already surpass some Starfleet personal. You would be a fantastic chief mechanical engineer in a starship"

"The scientist raised an eyebrow at the pair focusing in particular at Moko. “Apology accepted. —- You have a portable assistant with a personality artificial intelligence and a very opinionated attitude resisting in a hat as a receptacle. " 7 of 9 looked back at Kayne. "You might want to recalibrate his personality chip, dial it's assertiveness subroutines 20%. Threats such as these could bring you unwanted attention from hostile forces,” She says in a monotone tone.

After the discussion shifted to the fairy shop keeper, she said. "Politeness is inefficient, " She glanced at the fairy and said. "Your opinion on the matter is irrelevant to factual reality. For the time being, you will be desigated as Unindexed species #13117.

Once the conversation shifted back to Carlos, she replied to Kayne by saying, " It's understandable someone as young as you might be attracted to the allure of the concept magic and wizards. Judging by your appearance, you must be from a pre-warp civilization. But I assure you "Magic" is simply a word used to describe advanced science."

Seven of nine would point out at the device Kayne was fixing. "For instance, this photon-based weapon you are repairing would be considered a powerful magical spell in a civilization that relies on bows and arrows for weapons, and they would see you as a powerful witch. But, we both know better."

"Moko and Kayne," She nodded at them. " I will recall your designations. Mine is Seven of Nine Astrometrics officer of the starship Voyager." 7 of 9 nodded after Kayne said she wanted to ask more questions. " I will offer you my assistance to the best of my capabilities."

Edited by FallenLegend on Jun 9th 2020 at 10:40:15 AM

Kayne & Moko—Seven out of Nine in Terms of Politeness, Electric Boogaloo

"Thanks, miss!" Kayne said in response to Seven of Nine's compliment, screwing together the last parts of the laser blade and setting it to one side. "Though I have no idea how to finagle with Moko's brain even if I wished to. He ain't got no moving parts that I've ever seen, and I like him as he is. Honestly, I have no idea where he came from. He must have been swept up by some Rift and deposited on my doorstep. That happens alarmingly often in my world. I'm very lucky he wasn't some other, nastier dimensional being. At least I got a best friend out of it!" She shrugged and pulled the rather large power gauntlet and its parts towards herself as Moko began to droop and fall asleep, exhausted from his earlier outburst.

"Pre-warp?" Kayne mouthed the words confusedly before realizing what the lady meant. "Oh yeah, nobody's warping with any degree of surety any time soon. Everybody was on the cusp of developing that right before everyone looked at each other, got jealous of each other's progress, and started fighting, ending the Golden Age of Science. The weapons got so powerful and out of hand that they started wreckin' the fabric of space-time, and, uh, nobody knew that our universe was a multiversal hub, so all sorts of D-Bees started flooding through the resultant Rifts. Tough shit, am I right?" Kayne seemed unable to function without any degree of chatter filling the room at any given time, though her hands seemed quick enough as they threaded wires together and reprogrammed the settings of both the power gauntlet and the switches that she'd welded to its back. "Those Great Goddamn Heckin' Nasty Elder Things make warping hard, is what I mean. Can't even go warp speed without crashing into one, that's what my astronomer friends say. Unless they croak, warping is a no-go, and there ain't no gun that can kill one of the Great Old Ones. Yet, I'm going to bet."

"As for me, I just tinker and truck myself about the Rifts trying to figure out the past before the world went to shit. Everything else I know, I learned from fellow scholars and books, as prone to error as those may be. But I still want to learn about other kinds of people and things," Kayne mused as she fitted the power cells into the gauntlet at last, before screwing on the outer panel with the switches and the mounting for the focusing crystal. As it all fell into the place, the crystal lit up with energy with a flick of a switch. Kayne nodded with satisfaction and deactivated the gauntlet. "It'll still be good to have an actual scientist on the team other than my ratchet-ass scavenger self, though. It's good to get to know you, Seven of Nine. I'm sure we'll get on just fine."

Kayne had briefly slipped into snippets of Scavenger's Slang in her fervor, its twangy and warm syllables coloring her words during her spiel. But it was plain to see that she was at least enthusiastic about what she did, and she did what she did very well.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Jun 8th 2020 at 10:07:45 AM

Charvaka: Brand Tower Lobby

As the celestial arithmetic resolves and your avatar completes transition to new coordinates, you decide to take a break from yourself - you've become tired of looking. Maintaining instanced integrity through the pocketworld and its nominal boundaries took no small attention, and you know well enough sincerity kills the self-reflexive. The available materials are summarily disassembled, tweaked in their expression to suit your purpose, and made into a hollow shell to disguise their insufficient mass. You are particularly proud of the tail.

When you manifest, you do so in the form of the tigress. The tigress says urr and does not possess object permanence. This is a freedom you relish.

"Urr", you say, because you are a tigress. Because you do not possess object permanence, you are absolved of culpability in the godling's scheme, which you could not possibly understand in any case. You would think "what is a newspaper, I am a tigress and do not know what it is", but you cannot, because you are a beast which does not understand language and is incapable of rational thought.

You sniff the psychopomo's arse suspiciously. You do not know that you do not know what a psychopomp is, and are completely unaware of this too.

You say "Urr."

Seven of Nine- Fairy store— Still faster than Carlos's player.

“There is no need to thank me," Seven said in a monotonous tone.

"My statements weren’t due to a misplaced custom of human flattery or irrelevant “pleasantries”. I was simply stating a fact, you do display engineering skills far what your age or technological origin would suggest. By inferior human standards, you would be considered a genius.”

She looked at Moko with her hands on her back. "Regrettably your brilliance is held back by irrelevant human attachments,” 7 said about Kayne’s reluctance to change Moko. “

Then she began to use her Tri-Corder at Moko. “Rifts? You must be talking about space-time anomalies by what you're telling me, your universe seems to have unstable spatial barriers between dimensions. Not a very common phenomenon unless caused intentionally."

She half-closed her eyes to look at Moko more closely. " As for your “Best friend" as you call it. He doesn’t seem to follow the law of conservation of energy. If I had to guess, he does seem to come from a universe with different rules to our own. "The being you describe as "Moko", doesn't seem to have parasitic traits, but you should be wary all the same because his biology seems still largely unknown. Not all interdimensional species are harmless to carbon-based organisms like you. " She sighed. "He will be designated as unindexed species #56881 provisionally."

Kayne's story about the state of her world's technology, she crossed her arms. "Regretable, but not unusual for species to be held back by irrelevant emotions. The Borg and even The United Federation Of Planets have outgrown such petty disputes; and even they survived. A nuclear war. There's no reason your civilization could raise again. It is your duty to use your knowledge and take your species from the brink of superstitions and ignorance."

However, Kayne’s comment about the elder, made her raise an eyebrow with concern.

"These "old ones" you describe match the description of Earth's horror author Lovecraft.” -She sighed deeply-Humans use the word impossible too often. These aliens' so-called “ old ones” are simply another obstacle for science to be overcome.”

To add more technobabble, she said “As for your rifts, there’s still the possibility they could be used to travel to universes with different laws of physics to similarly achieve faster than light speeds. By the sounds of it, it sounds you do have a lot of work to do once you get home. It will be up to you to start a new and more lasting age of science.”

7 of 9 kept staring at Kayne’s handy work as if she was watching a pianist pressing every stroke to create a beautiful melody

"No need to rely on old books, I could simply act as your tutor. Given the clear level of skills you’ve displayed so far, you’ve demonstrated you would be an acceptable pupil.”

Edited by FallenLegend on Jul 16th 2020 at 5:36:37 AM

Kayne & Moko—Over The Moon

"You're...willing to teach me?" Kayne asked, eyes opening wide. "I'm over the moon! I'd love that!"

"It's going to be an interesting adventure for sure," Moko admitted grudgingly. "Emphasis on 'interesting...'"

"Ah, I can only imagine the kinds of knowledge I can bring back home!" Kayne gushed. "Even if you don't like being thanked, I feel the need to do it again, 7 of 9. So, thank you for giving me this absolutely wonderful opportunity!"

"I can show you some of the things about the metaphysics of magic my friends have researched and written down too," she promised. "While books may be a terribly inefficient way to store information, they can't be hacked or wiped as easily as databases, and are more easily accessible without the use of a computer, which may not exist everywhere."

"She just said she'd teach you and you're all over the place," Moko drawled. "'Feelings are useless, blah, blah, blah, get over it,' she said!" He smacked one of Kayne's cheeks jokingly with one of his hatband-arms.

"About that—I don't think that's true, 7 of 9, so I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree," Kayne responded, shaking her head regretfully. "Because, sometimes, 'irrelevant human attachments' and emotions can motivate us to work hard in order to be better. People have always wanted to get out there into space to know what's in it. If they obeyed pure logic, they would've stopped trying, but we haven't. You haven't. We're going to hunt—and kill—the Elder Things that haunt the void and reclaim our dreams one day."

She took a deep breath. "Entropy is...a constant in the world. Even if we can't stop ourselves from contributing to it, we can at least channel it constructively. That's...that's what I think, anyways. It's okay to goof off once in a while if you don't actually shirk the work you're supposed to be doing," she continued. "I mean, that's just life as a human, you know?" Kayne shrugged.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Aug 5th 2020 at 4:14:49 AM

Brand Tower; Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci (From Death) Gang

The lizardman went from gray to green to grey, which was quite an achievement for a cold-blooded creature.

"Y-y-y-you're…"

He pushed his nose into the monitor, flicked his tongue several times, then at last pulled a large and cumbrous-looking handset from a drawer.

"Mr. Brand, sir? Yes, sir, in the lobby. The… the Owner, sir. Yes. That one. He says he's…"

The lizardman stared at Wolf, then at Kaguya.

"Please control your animals," he said faintly. "Mr. Brand's delegate will see you in a…"

The existence of the tigress then entered his consciousness, and he slid under the desk in a dead faint.

At length the elevator at the end of the lobby dinged and slid open; it was a silver canister in a glass shaft, except that no single pane of glass could ever have the strength to stretch as high as that elevator did.

"Hello, Mr Owner sir," said Begonia Smith. "It's an honor to…"

His eyes lighted on Kindred and Kaguya, and his face drained of all color.

"Oh my God. You're not with the Owner. You're… you're the Dive floozies! But now the tables have turned, and, uh…"

He looked ready to disappear at once. With his translocation magic, he almost definitely could.

"There's no way I'm taking you to Mr. Brand! Who knows what you're plotting!"

Midas General Store; Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci (Bag Purchased) Gang

"Why aren't you getting out of there?" squeaked the toy sheep in frustration.

"Thug?"

"Who's a thug?"

The cashier looked around, clearly looking like she wasn't being paid enough for this.

"I'm not a thug!" the Warden protested. "Just give me the ATM and we'll be done with…"

Kyxe threw Addward, Andradite threw herself, the cashier shrieked and threw the sheep by mistake, and Kyxe threw her hot glowing plasma knife right into the Warden's forehead, killing him instantly.

Everything went completely silent. Men stared. Women stared. Dogs stared. Robots stared. Oversized sentient amoebas stared. The smoking body of the boxy man lay on the ground, helmet melting slowly with the remains of his eyeball.

"Hooray!" cheered Addward. "Whoops, sorry. Bad time?"

Andradite had an entire selection of swords in front of her. Addward was safe. Even the sheep was now ensconced down the back of Anna's shirt, by a colossal trick of fate. They had everything they wanted…

But the attention of the entire store was now focused on them, because Kyxe had just committed flagrant (and fragrant) murder by bodily fluid, and there is never any coming back from murder by bodily fluid.

"Tell them you're with Darien Brand," squeaked the sheep, after it became very clear that something had gone terribly wrong. "Can you hear me? Hello?"

There was a slow rumble formenting. It was the feculent sound of mob justice.

Mattie's Mortuary; Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci (With Death) Gang

"It's a shoggoth," whispered Malcolm. "They…"

"Malcolm, Mattie is a she. Not an it."

"They eat anything, but what's more dangerous is their insatiable hunger for…"

"Malcolm!"

"Right," groused Malcolm, looking faintly embarrassed. "She could very well report to the Red Ring. That's why I don't trust her."

"No memories? Say it isn't so! What a tragedy! Oh, darling, I feel so terrible for you. Here, have a mint."

Where the mint came from no-one could say, but Mathilde seemed positively overwhelmed with Rotgut's lack of important flashback fuel. She would have burbled more, or perhaps waxed lyrical, but it was at that moment that Shang Tsung decided to enhance the party.

"And… and oh, whoever might you be, with the smell of death so strong on you? Yes, good sir, a soul would be a beautiful trade. I assume you know each other?"

Natalie's Bespoke Scrap; Gucci Gang, Gucci Gang, Gucci (Abusing the Crafting System) Gang

Payment received, Natalie made several excited noises about new customers, then disappeared back into the back of the shop, with the promise to be open for any future transactions.

The four were free now to pursue their own devices, although with the considerable amount of danger that their compatriots were undergoing, there were things at hand that could be described as pressing…

The only problem was that none of them knew about it.

Edited by troydenite on Sep 4th 2020 at 2:22:44 AM

Kayne & Moko—We've Got A Delivery To Make, Boys

"I suppose I'll have to deliver all this now," Kayne said, scooping up the three items she just built into her arms and moving to exit the scrap shop. "The gauntlet and the gun first, I should think. They're the heaviest, after all."

"Ta-ta, all you beautiful people," Moko said, waving goodbye. "We'll meet again someday! Maybe even in a few hours! Fate is fickle! Who knows?"

"Yes, yes, lower your voice, Moko," Kayne muttered, nearly out of the shop's front door. "But your point still stands. Fairfarren, gents and ladies and all ye in-between—but you're free to follow me if you'd like."

And so Kayne set out on the path of delivery. She was looking for Antiphates and Rotgut first, since their orders were currently the heaviest items in her possession. And how hard could it be to find a giant in such a place? Antiphates would stick out like a sore thumb. A very tall sore thumb.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Feb 7th 2021 at 1:26:20 AM

Kyxe – Front Desk → Andy's Pozish

Hmm. Well. If they somehow weren't wanted fugitives now, Kyxe had all but solidified it. Joy. Addward had been tossed and was as such in safety, but her plan hadn't exactly changed all too much from 3-4 months five seconds ago. The mob was simmering with steadily rising rage, so she let her plasma dissipate and focused on essentially springboarding over the crowd's heads and roughly tailing Andratite in a parkour-y fashion. Obviously she couldn't jump obscenely high like the living gem (at least not in this gravity), but back home she'd had plenty of experience leaping from rooftop to rooftop. She improvised on instinct; using her plasma daggers to stab into the walls as handholds inbetween vaulting and wallrunning about.

“I'd forgotten the rules,” she admitted once she'd finally got on Andratite's level, rushing up to her in a manner almost desperate before moving to watch her back. She'd followed purely for a sense of security, after all. She didn't have Rine here as backup, so she'd have to trust someone in the party instead. Andy would have to do.

“I'm supposed to be a diplomat, too... all that work for nothing. I can't adapt. All I can do is kill. Over and over again.”

Her tone was bitter, but she didn't exactly sound recognisably remorseful either. There was a quality in her voice that couldn't be quite identified, so perhaps that was the equivalent for her kind. Or she was just so detached from it that she was more frustrated at herself than guilty over her actions. She didn't fall into embittered behaviour, however—keeping her stance light and ready to move at a split-second's notice. She knew not to let her guard slip.

Rellans were hardly the apex predator on their homeworld anyhow. So she had the appearance of cornered prey, unsure whether to flee for her own sake or linger to keep track of the others.

“Lœ help us. Lœ help us,” she muttered beneath her breath, baring her teeth and ducking low like an intimidated animal. “Lœ help us.”

Edited by Enirboreh on Sep 3rd 2020 at 1:21:24 PM

"Gilgamesh" - Lobby

The golden child laughed, regarding Kaguya and the rest of his servants with an expression of delight. "Floozies? What have you been up to in your free-time?" he asked.

He turned to face Begonia. "You may shed your fears, little man," he said, brushing aside his objections as if it were a fly. "I have business with your master, and your private quarrels with my retainers are of no concern to me."

He decided not to elaborate further, instead fixing Begonia with an expectant look. It was doubtful that this would impede their progress. Though if these men and women did attempt to bar their ingress that could perhaps still be construed as a breach of the Market Law.

Σκέψεις

The Greek giant gave another sniff, eyes narrowing as he took in the oozing thing before him. He muttered under his breath, and if Malcolm listened carefully, he would hear.

"Familiar name..."

He looked now between the Shoggoth, Shang Tsung, and settled on Rotgut.

"Do you have a soul to worry about, Colonel?"

Edited by Colonial1.1 on Oct 3rd 2020 at 5:01:23 AM

Rotgut, Mattie’s Mortuary

“Nope. Never seen him before in my life.” Rotgut didn’t take her eyes off the necromancer. She didn’t acknowledge the mint the Shoggoth was offering, either. She just widened her stance and adjusted her footing, and tilted Sturm just enough that she’d be able to swing it while still having it prop her up for now.

Auntie Fadies’ comment, though? that got a reaction.

Rotgut glanced at him—or in his direction, anyway—like he’d just asked her if water was wet. “Of course I have a soul. Look at me, Mister Fish. Do you think I’d be walking and talking if I didn’t?”

Λογος

A bushy eyebrow lifted.

"I am not familiar with the Aegypton craft. But I find it strange that your kind would beware such a craftsman."

His moustache bristled with a glint of teeth as his gaze rested on Shang Tsung.

"They have much to give mortals cause for alarm."

Edited by Colonial1.1 on Oct 3rd 2020 at 5:56:17 AM

Brand Tower

Wolf sniffs the tigress back. He knows it is the not-man-not-tiger, in a different form. The body is different, but the essence is the same. He briefly considers biting down on the tigress's neck, devouring it - the not-man can always craft himself another flesh prison - but is distracted by another familiar scent.

The Mark of the Kindred still hung above Begonia's head, and in Kindred's presence it became visible to the others once more. Wolf floated closer to him, grinning. "You. I still have to eat you."

"Not yet, Dear Wolf." Lamb said, running a hand through his ethereal fur. "Either you will take us to Darien Brand, or else we will go through you to reach him. Do not throw your life away, Begonia."

"Floozie."

Kaguya let that word hang in the air after she repeated it, uncertain if it was the sort of thing that warranted a more passionate response. She could cut right through him if she wanted...

Perhaps not. It was going to be a bother to explain that, yes, I absolutely did kill him, but I can promise you that it wasn't related to any of the gibberish that he was spouting.

Moreover, it was going to make Kaguya look positively unladylike.

She had no reason to do so, so she instead bapped Kindred's larger form on the head again with the newspaper, saying "You aren't eating anyone."

And then she turned her attention to Begonia. With all the usual half-drawn eyelids and pouting lips, she asked him, "Why would we be plotting anything? We're just a bunch of nobodies with a death wish. If you ignore the prattling of my dog-sheep friend here, we don't mean harm to anyone."

Midas General Store, Ground Floor -> Fourth Floor

The arm Lang Wu Yao had outstretched to protect his precious rock comrade fell limply to his side as the corpse of the man he'd called a thug dropped to the floor, face gouged and skull boiling. A sharp intake of breath was all he voiced as he stared at the fallen mall cop, lips parted slightly and eyes widened. Then, as Kyxe leapt to freedom, he grit his teeth into a snarl and a growl began deep in his throat as his hands began balling into tight fists, the silver picks on his right hand digging into his palm. A curious red energy began to flow up and radiate off his body like he was the wick of some humanoid, crimson flame.

"Stand back, people!" Ling Ya advised gravely, "It's far too dangerous for an ordinary person to take care of that murderer! We'll handle her!"

And with that, Wu Yao took off like a scarlet rocket, soaring up to top shelf and then back and forth and up and up the floors until he finally spotted his quarry (and, as it happened, Andy) on the fourth floor. He landed flawlessly on the railing, balancing with an uncanny grace and glaring furiously down on the birdlike woman. "YOU!" his instrument roared, "What did you think you were doing, killing that man?! We were just about to talk him down! Depending on your answer..."

Ling Ya's master reached behind himself to grip the pipa's shaft, as if he was reaching for an actual weapon instead of a loudmouth with strings.

Edited by darksidevoid on Nov 14th 2020 at 2:59:38 PM

Kyxe – Midas General Store (Fourth Floor)

Already in a bestial, defensive state, it was rather surprising that Kyxe didn't snap or retaliate towards Ling Ya like it might've been expected of her. Rather, she flinched back and looked down—seeming to forget her fugitive status for a moment and losing her defensive stance in favour of one limp with deep guilt.

“...I... I don't have an excuse. I'm just an animal who lashed out at a threat that didn't deserve to die. I thought I could be peaceful, but...”

She eyed the pipa, no longer looking at it like the graceful instrument she'd previously considered it to be. Instead, she saw it with all the respect and fear of an executioner's weapon, and stood tall—or as tall as she could muster, trying her hardest to keep her eyes levelled with Ling Ya's own.

“...Kill me now. Just end it. I've done nothing but make things worse. I've failed as a diplomat, and disgraced even the most violent of my people. There's no change for me. Aentolin's twisted recklessness is in me... and I can't rip it out.”

Despite herself and her attempts to be dignified about it, a raw sorrow began to rear its ugly head—a disgust and mortification that caused her face to twist and her throat to lurch with a sob that seemed all too human. Like a veil had been lifted away, the previously expressionless creature gave in to heavy and overwhelmed sobs—unsure of what to even do with herself, flexing her fingers uselessly by her sides before wrapping her arms around herself in a defensive manner.

“...Just... just end it. I'll be a black mark on you all now anyway.”

Edited by Enirboreh on Nov 15th 2020 at 12:27:20 PM

Midas General Store, Fourth Floor

"Hm..."

Wu Yao's hand strayed from his instrument as the fiery ki that had been surrounding him died down, face settling somewhere halfway between fury and pity. He jumped down from the railing onto the floor proper, and crossed his arms as he regarded the alien woman.

"If that's how ya really feel," Ling Ya countered, voice somewhat stern but much gentler than his master looked, "then turn yourself in to the lawmen. I dunno what the law is like in this weird city, but if ya show real remorse, any just court oughtta show some mercy."

Edited by darksidevoid on Nov 15th 2020 at 8:08:30 AM

Andradite - Fourth floor - swords, recriminations

Andy hot the deck with much less of a floor-shattering thud than one might expect, absorbing the force of the landing with her body like she had been taught. Straightening up, she whirled to glance down the mall's central well, letting out an impressed coo as she saw Kyxe right on her tail... and a worried noise as she looked past her to see the staring, bristling crowd.

"Ehh... they seem really mad... uhm..."

Kyxe landed next to her, and she seemed in pretty bad spirits as well. Andy briefly forgot her mission for swords and dithered for a moment over the embattled bird girl, looking around uncertainly and fidgeting with her braid. Even though that sounded really hard, she rubbed her non-Addward-swinging hand over her face and tugged her tunic straight, and leaned over to Kyxe.

"I-it's okay... uh... I forget rules all the time! He... maybe they can fix him?" She knew it was hard to fix animals, but this was a really, uh, high tech place, right? "Let's just, uh... get what we need and get back to Rufus! He'll know what to do!"

Operation 'Run Back To Rufus' was waylaid before it could begin by the arrival of a vengeful Wu Yao and Ling Ya. Briefly stunned by the usually-cheerful pair's fury, Andy could only blink as they confronted Kyxe, but it was the bird-girl's defeated posture that lit a fire inside her. She jumped between Wu Yao and Kyxe, pulling herself up to her full height (all four feet and ten inches of it) and put her hands on her hips with a clink, an indignant pout on her face.

"H-hey! She was just trying to save me and Addward! And she's my friend so... so you're not killing her or giving her to Brand! I don't wanna leave her in this horrible place!"

(In the past she might have actually agreed with Ling Ya - if you did something wrong, you should own up to it and make up for it. But her experience in Dive had sadly showed her that not everyone was as even-handed as Sensei, and introduced her to such concepts as 'getting away with it', which she thought was appropriate here.)

Turning back to Kyxe, the gem dithered for another long moment, thrown for a loop by her friend's shuddering and sobbing and leaking. Was she sick? Or wasn't this what animals did when they were sad? How do you fix that? How would Sensei fix that?

After a second, Kyxe would feel a cool stone hand applied to the top of her head, patting with gentle care.