Personification Life - IC Part VIII [open]

[Torsiedelle]

Bran's present was an ushanka made of polar bear hide, a rarity to find but Yoshi had managed, Tora's gift was a kimono It wasn't unlike the red one that he was wearing and it matched the bracelet that he had gotten her. His smile at their delight faded when he saw Torii's bruised face. "T-Tora!" he exclaimed. 'What did you do to yourself?"

Torii's face lit up when she saw the kimono. It was beautiful!

But then she heard Yoshi. "What did you do to yourself?", in her head. First, Rylli asked if she started a fight, and now it was Yoshi asking what SHE did to HERSELF?

"I didn't do anything to MYSELF. " She answered. "I was walking home from Tsu's place last night, when I met Octavian. We talked for a few minutes, about history, and I was enjoying it, and then he said I was boring. After that, he punched me in the face for no reason, and we got into a fight."

She still felt a little uncomfortable saying that. "He beat me up and threatened to kill me. She also hurt my ribs really bad. See?", She said, pulling her shirt up just enough to not show anything. Her lower ribs on her right side were black-blue.

[Urran]

Yoshi shook his head. "Th-that's not what I meant. I thought maybe you slipped and hit your face or something but this..." Yoshi looked down he seemed conflicted over something. "I think I need to go and have a little chat with Octavian" he said after a short pause. He scooted closer to Torii and rubbed her shoulders. "You'll be okay, but NO ONE messes with my little sister."

[The BranRiech]

"T-Thanks . . . Yoshi." Bran stared in awe at the hat, admiring each and evry detail in the masterfully crafted piece of head-wear. It was such a gift, he didn't think he deserved something that nice, and it probably cost Yoshi more than a pretty penny. He felt bad that he didn't even know when Yoshi's birthday was.

And then Torii was going on about getting beaten up. Sometimes he wondered, were the only people she could truly control the ones she'd turned into fairies, after de-winging them even.

Yeah, that still haunted him every once in a while. It scared him, that she might still have a TF gun as well, even after he distanced himself from his own.

[Torsiedelle]

"Thank you, Yoshi.", Torii trailed off. She seemed to be in a trance like state for second, but quickly snapped back to reality. "But we ain't gotta do it right now."

[Cerillium]

Luce jumped in surprise and dove for cover to avoid being crushed under the two adults and one child and several heated glass fragments and one extremely heated sword. Unfortunately, he jumped into Denise, who toppled over onto him. Fortunately, he was a Conservator with superhuman reflexes.

Setting the statue upright but not in a locked position, he hurried over to Chrys and picked her up off the ground. The two of them picked Hans up and laid him on his stomach on the couch. A quick glance around revealed nothing much to use to heal Hans at first, until Luce saw the fire-breathing disco-tortoise trying to sneak past them. The creature had taken a cluster of grapes from the fruit bowl.

"Right, fruit...that'll work. Even faster than normal metabolism and healing, too..."

And so it was that the injuries on Hans' back were healed over. Chrys took the blankets and pillows from the futon and arranged them appropriately for the cultist.

Hans awoke when he felt eyes boring into him. He cracked his eyelids and peered across the room. Something was there in the corner, veiled by the morning light and location, motionlessly watching him. He opened his eyes slightly more.

The apartment was unfamiliar to his groggy mind. It took him a moment to recall standing in it yesterday morning. He'd been naked at the time. A smile parted his lips. Walküre Chrys - the battle maiden. His eyes closed again, this time in pleasure as warm and fuzzy memories kindled his heart: the cardigan; the fire in her eyes; the scent of blood; lots and lots of intestines cut apart by a sharp sword - sweet, sweet memories.

He sat up and realized he was clutching Rudolf's old stuffed toy to his chest. It was quickly crammed back into his pocket. Blushing, he looked around to see if anyone noticed. Fortune was with him. He appeared to be the first awake. He rose from the couch to study the thing which awoke him and then snorted at it. Just a statue.

Hans explored until he found the bathroom. He pissed, washed his hands and face, sniffed the room (someone was fond of cleaning) and left the hand towel folded up by the sink. He sniffed around the rest of the main room as well. War's cultists had sharp eyes but they thrived in absolute darkness. His keen sense of smell was his strongest; it mingled with taste to form a complete picture of his surroundings when even eyesight failed. And so, Hans sniffed his way across the room and followed the trail of Old Spice right to Chrys' door. He raised his knuckles to rap on it but a strange object caught his eye.

"Hello Herr Schildkröte*," he squatted next to a tortoise. The patterns on the shell were fetching. Hans stuck a hand in a pocket and dug around until he found a head of lettuce. He tore away some wilty leaves until he found fresh green; these he set in front of the animal for breakfast.

"Guten Appetit, ja? Genießen! Sie sind ein schöner Reptil, Sie verdienen es, sich verwöhnen. Ja." He absentmindedly stroked the shell. Hans, like his brother, had a love for animals. Rudolf had a knack for interacting with them that he never understood but that didn't stop him from offering kindness to one. Animals were better than people. They weren't shallow things bent on manipulating political parties or stabbing each other in the back for petty reasons.


_{*Mr. Turtle.
German translation: "Good appetite, yes? Enjoy! You're a beautiful reptile, you deserve to be pampered. Yes."}

[Primordial Luxa]

As Doctor Koontz attempt to leave the lab a trio of tentacles uncurl from the ceiling their metallic nanite surfaces gleaming. Each of them ends in a strange organic tip that is covered with feelers and multi globed eyes. They hover in front of him scanning him hungrily with barely restrained violence, they bar his path to the door and as they stare at him Insidious enters with Arthur. She survey’s the room briefly before walking around the handing tentacles to a set of computers at the back of the room. “So…Koontz was it. How are you doing, can we get you anything?”

Koontz was shaking, sweating, and feeling lightheaded, the only thing keeping him on his feet was the long fall boots. "Please, let me out! I don't want to be here!" he pleaded with them. Arthur recognized the signs of a panic attack, he tried to calm Koontz down. It was difficult to be reassuring when he looked like a monster in a nice suit.

"Allow me to lend you my spare bedroom. You can rest, get some sleep." Arthur offered, lowering his gun.

The distressed Dr. Koontz aimed at Arthur. "NO! Just let me go!" he protested. Tired of being a lab rat and under a great deal of distress he pulled the trigger. It was a perfect storm, the portable quantum tunneling device projected a portal onto Arthur's body.

"Oh Fu..." Arthur muttered as the weird hole in space-time tore him apart in the hypercube, in an explosion of blood and vaporized ex-Arthur pieces. There was a reason not to look into the operational end of the device.

The next thing Arthur knew he was in an elevator, except it wasn't. This was the afterlife, or at least an artificial afterlife to preserve them. There was no purgatory anymore for them, nobody would take them, just this elevator that never moved. The panel had only three buttons that were not for floors. Green, blue, and red in a row and unlabeled. The speakers played the same tune they always did, an instrumental of "Mama" by My Chemical Romance.

Arthur pressed the green button as always to open the doors, he looked up at the "floor" display that counted down from five to one. The doors opened to let in a blinding white light as Arthur stepped out.

He opened his eyes in the new clone as the green liquid of the tank drained. e waited and grabbed his clothes out of the closet and printed out his time and place of death from the machine.

He swung by the lab to pick up his standard equipment and a gun from the armory.

"Hey Neil. Hello Gretta." Arthur greeted the couple in their lab as they sent their chicks around for a ride in a giant centrifuge. The chicks were laughing and having fun much to the joy of their parents.

"What got you this time?" Neil asked.

"Artifiacial space-time anomaly squished me." Arthur answered as he grabbed a vortex manipulator.

"Never see those ones coming." Gretta commented sympathetically.

"Good probability with your new roommate, Arthur." Neil said as he upped the speed on the centrifuge.

"Thanks." Arthur said before he vanished in a discharge of energy and puff of smoke as the fabric of the universe bent to his will.

One millisecond later after Arthur had become a red mist of his former self, there was a sudden discharge of electricity from behind Koontz. He fell back unconscious and limp, since the boots didn't allow him to go forward or to the sides. Arthur stood there looking much the same as before, holding the smoking TESLA gun.

"I think we broke him." Arthur mentioned as he checked vitals.

"At least he'll be easier to move like this." he added with a smirk.

Insidious finishes her checks of the device and the data that it collected before nodding and coming back over to Arthur. She hands him a Cthulhu shaped flash drive saying “This is all the info we were able to obtain from him if you interested.” She paces around checking various other devices in the room and fiddling with other electronics. “I can have the Nanites take if out back and meet Neevie with his body if you like? Would could get dinner in the meantime.”

[Urran]

"Thank you, Yoshi.", Torii trailed off. She seemed to be in a trance like ststae for second, but quickly snapped back to reality. "But we ain't gotta do it right now."

"You know me..I-I can barely stand up for myself, b-but you are a different matter. You're my sister and I will not tolerate anyone hurting you." He was determined to set Octavian straight. He then turned to bran and smiled. 'Oh, it's nothing. Happy birthday Branson, I hope you enjoy it."

[Grandkiin]

-Primordial Snip-

The Delegate looks at the man, his first instinct was to reach for the sonic screw-driver, but decided it would not really help him, it had yet to do so and he doubted it'd offer an explanation for this occurrence, "Oh hello there. I was wondering, just what is this place? I was traveling when I found this place seemingly defied all logical, and technological explanation." He says, pretty much stating his one question, what the hell is this place?

[The BranRiech]

"It obviously won't replace my military Ushanka, but this would be perfect for the winter, no?"

Bran was quite happy with the present, even if he wouldn't wear it too much, it was still mantle-worthy. Maybe he'd give it to Rachelle? Heh, her first Ushanka. That'd be something, as well as a possibility.

"Well, thanks, Yoshi. Now if you two don't mind, I'm going out with the misses today. You two can stay as long as you like."

Rylli came out seconds later, dressed and ready to go. It might have simply been to the roof, and to read a book or two, but it was their time, no interruptions from anyone else. They both left with a wave, up to the roof. It was basically parking them in anticipation for Raptor-day, but sheesh, no one knew that!

--

Kei slowly stirred, just like the morning beforehand. "Hmm . . ."

She rolled over, cuddling Tieria unconsciously.

[The New Velociraptor Empire]

Insidious finishes her checks of the device and the data that it collected before nodding and coming back over to Arthur. She hands him a Cthulhu shaped flash drive saying “This is all the info we were able to obtain from him if you interested.” She paces around checking various other devices in the room and fiddling with other electronics. “I can have the Nanites take if out back and meet Neevie with his body if you like? Would could get dinner in the meantime.”

Arthur pocketed the flash drive and holstered his gun. He gave a low chuckled at the Cthulhu shape, finding the theme humorous. But the information within would be vital to his case study, a baseline to see how Stephen adjusted.

"This should be most useful, but we can move him down to my spare bedroom in my apartment. I stored away any things he might find disturbing and my leftovers before I got back here," he explained, "So dinner, what do you prefer?" he asked.

Stephen would stay knocked out for a while, and Arthur knew when he would wake up. time travel made things so much easier. He would be there after his date was over, or even later if he liked. Arthur checked the battery and time on the Vortex Manipulator on his wrist before looking up at Insidious with a smile.

[Urran]

"It obviously won't replace my military Ushanka, but this would be perfect for the winter, no?"

Bran was quite happy with the present, even if he wouldn't wear it too much, it was still mantle-worthy. Maybe he'd give it to Rachelle? Heh, her first Ushanka. That'd be something, as well as a possibility.

"Well, thanks, Yoshi. Now if you two don't mind, I'm going out with the misses today. You two can stay as long as you like."

Rylli came out seconds later, dressed and ready to go. It might have simply been to the roof, and to read a book or two, but it was their time, no interruptions from anyone else. They both left with a wave, up to the roof. It was basically parking them in anticipation for Raptor-day, but sheesh, no one knew that!

--

Kei slowly stirred, just like the morning beforehand. "Hmm . . ."

She rolled over, cuddling Tieria unconsciously.

Yoshi stood up and bowed to them as they left. "Tanoshimu" he said softly. "I will keep an eye on things around here for you".


Tieria smiled at Kei. He didn't bother putting his glasses on, instead, he opted to sit there and let the goddess hold him. He stroked her thick orange hair and whispered kind words to her in her sleep.

[Kiruri]

"Yes! Of course" she said, flashing a warm and welcoming smile to the rabbit. She thought it a bit funny how the bunny spoke, which made it all the more cute in her eyes. She kept in mind the people she described, and the dinosaur.

Aren't dinosaurs extinct?

She thought to herself, but quickly dismissed the idea. Even though she was talking to a bunny which could obviously understand her and speak, she hadn't made any connections that in this place anything was possible.

"But.... would you wait for me to change first and drop this off in my apartment?"

Daphne lifted the luggage she was carrying on one hand, letting the rabbit know what she was talking about.

"Oh! Perhaps you could come with, I bought some carrot cookies if you're interested?"

Daphne smiled again, as she picked up the keys to her apartment.

Yes please!

The luggage swayed slightly as MB hopped onto it. You must be tired after plane ride. Would you like teleport, or walk?

His fur bristled up with the electricity that announced Primordial's arrival and he hissed in annoyance. Bad techno sorcerer watch man! Giving me bad fur day!

Daphne's looked down at the little fellow as he hopped onto the luggage. She wondered what this creature's abilities or powers were, if any. As the little creature mentioned "teleport", a chill went down Daphne's spine. She had never teleported. She wanted to have the experience, see how it felt. She smiled as she began to speak:

"Yes, Indeed I am. I would very much like to be teleported, my feet are killing me"

She heard a hissing noise come from the rabbit and quickly turned to look at it. He had bristled up fur and looked quite funny, but it was apparent that he didn't like it that way one bit. Daphne didn't really understand what he meant by what he said. Was there someone else near? She quickly turned to scan the room, to see if anyone was nearing.

[The New Velociraptor Empire]

In the Von Eldritch house, Nevvie was still checking the systems. She managed to free herself from the looping corridor trap and was now checking the communications lines. The room was a mess, a web of barely impassable wires and servers. This handed everything from telegraphs to Sub-Etha Multiversal Transmissions and so much more. Nevvie took care great care as she moved through the rooms.

"...online, online, online, online, online, online, always broken, online, online, online..." she muttered as she checked each piece of hardware.

Suddenly a strange tear in the fabric of the universe appeared, expelling misty red ex-Arthur pieces. The suddenness of it all startled her, sending her jumping into the delicate web of wires.

"Son of a mammal! Frikken time-space rips!" she exclaimed as she got tangled up in the wires. Sparks flew from the servers as their connections were ripped away. A flurry of errors were sent out, crashing a several random servers world-wide and a few in distant universes.

---

Meanwhile, two-thousand kilometers above Bielefeld...

The Orbital Mass-Telluric Interchanger, the focus of the latest plot from the raptors to take over the world. Pushed aside out of hesitation, hidden to avoid being taken down. This is the device Neil had given up for Gretta's safety, the one that was a risk to launch without everyone bashing down the door with torches and pitchforks. You can see why at least In Neil's mind that it would never be fired. However his clone, NVE, had been testing it in the remote parts of the world, a small town in the Branriech, various tribes of the Congo, various human settlements in the Amazon. A machine designed to turn humans into raptors. Although convincing them to be annexed peacefully by the Empire would require a propaganda campaign and a little bit of brainwashing. But that was to happen in an invasion that would never come.

Now it had received corrupted orders from below, the system had been compromised. With a near invisible emission of light blue energy, the city below was the target of it's misguided orders. The Telluric wave hit the majority of the city, converting most humans to raptors successfully. However, the corrupted signal didn't get all of the humans, even converting a few non-humans as well. Their hand was revealed, the risky secret weapon, now visibly there for the world to see. Neil would not be happy about it, after all Gretta was nearly killed for it.

[The BranRiech]

T'was a good book, that Bran was reading, enjoying the company of his wife. They had been sharing stories, funny anecdotes, and various things that needed to get done around the place. They had front row seats to the chaos now unfolding on the city, becoming victims of it themselves. Of course, it was a few moments before they noticed it, but the blue wave had gotten them, and they were now . . .

Raptors.

Both husband and wife squealed a bit, and dropped their books. Their clothes no longer fitted, and ripped off of the new dinosaurs. "What the hell was that!?" Rylli shouted, panicking.

Bran had been a raptor once or twice before, but he'd completely forgotten what it was like, and he quickly toppled over from the different center of gravity.

"We-we're raptors . . ." He sighed, looking out across the city.

--

Aaaaand . . .

Kei was a raptor as well. Normally, she would have just shrugged off this minor annoyance, but her powers were nearly drained from her fight with Tieria as well, and she woke up quickly. "Ah shit."

--

Natiya, who was left watching the children, was transformed along with the children. Tolya was still asleep though, and Rachelle thought the changes were quite possibly the coolest thing ever. She bared her teeth and rawred.

"Whelp . . ." Natiya rolled her eyes, sighing as he clothes ripped off to compensate for her new form.

[Primordial Luxa]

-Primordial Snip-

The Delegate looks at the man, his first instinct was to reach for the sonic screw-driver, but decided it would not really help him, it had yet to do so and he doubted it'd offer an explanation for this occurrence, "Oh hello there. I was wondering, just what is this place? I was traveling when I found this place seemingly defied all logical, and technological explanation." He says, pretty much stating his one question, what the hell is this place?

"Travelling" Primordial says the wording languidly before waving a hand over the new arrivals body and looking at his palm as though it was telling him something strange. His face became more relaxed and less confused afterwards. "This place? We'll its a compilation of things really; apartment, mentally influenced dimension, cosmic meeting place, military barracks, defense platform, universal crossroads ecetera."

Insidious finishes her checks of the device and the data that it collected before nodding and coming back over to Arthur. She hands him a Cthulhu shaped flash drive saying “This is all the info we were able to obtain from him if you interested.” She paces around checking various other devices in the room and fiddling with other electronics. “I can have the Nanites take if out back and meet Neevie with his body if you like? Would could get dinner in the meantime.”

Arthur pocketed the flash drive and holstered his gun. He gave a low chuckled at the Cthulhu shape, finding the theme humorous. But the information within would be vital to his case study, a baseline to see how Stephen adjusted.

"This should be most useful, but we can move him down to my spare bedroom in my apartment. I stored away any things he might find disturbing and my leftovers before I got back here," he explained, "So dinner, what do you prefer?" he asked.

Stephen would stay knocked out for a while, and Arthur knew when he would wake up. time travel made things so much easier. He would be there after his date was over, or even later if he liked. Arthur checked the battery and time on the Vortex Manipulator on his wrist before looking up at Insidious with a smile.

She nodded guessing partially his intentions. "I fine with anywhere really. Chaos is a classic but if you have something different in mind im all ears..." she said finishing up some work around the room before walking back into the entry. She briefly commands the Nanites to watch on the doctor while they were gone in case something changed. Her skin turns to a mixute of grey and black as they leave the apartment covered with a complex set of lines and swirls.

[Tiltjuice]

OOC - OK, some magic timey-wimey thingz happening here...because of the setup, I put the Conservator apartment replies under the spoilers. Sorry to Torsi for freezing Katya a while. Also put Torsi's second post chronologically after Cer's to make the timeline fit better, even though Torsi's second post came first. Torsi, mind not replying quite yet? I'm not sure if Cer has anything planned for Hans.

Kiruri, I updated the post history with the link to where Grand's character, the Delegate, came in the lobby and Prim's character, Primordial, came through to help introduce the Delegate, so you should have the background now. Thanks again Prim, for that! I was getting swamped.

After this post, time in these stories should be synced up properly with just before NVE's raptorification thingy, leaving room for the chars to react to one or more of them being turned into raptors suddenly. Let me know if I missed something, any of you guys.

---

"Shit!", was all that Katya could say as all hell broke loose above Luce's head. She toppled backwards, onto her butt, and covered her face with her arms. For a minute or SK after things had settled down, she was still confused. It wasn't every day that she saw people exploding out of lightbulbs.

"What's going on?", She asked quietly.

Chrys turned and waved cheerily to Katya. "Hi! Oh nothing. Just had a fight, found a new friend, and rescued two kids. Come on. I'll tell you all about it over drinks - oh wait! You can't have any!" the blonde remembered, glancing at Katya's stomach. The trooper led the aristocrat over to the futon and sat, chattering away. It probably helped that Chrys was back to her normal, non-battle-manic self.

"Well, anyway, it went like this - "

Hans awoke when he felt eyes boring into him. He cracked his eyelids and peered across the room. Something was there in the corner, veiled by the morning light and location, motionlessly watching him. He opened his eyes slightly more.

The apartment was unfamiliar to his groggy mind. It took him a moment to recall standing in it yesterday morning. He'd been naked at the time. A smile parted his lips. Walküre Chrys - the battle maiden. His eyes closed again, this time in pleasure as warm and fuzzy memories kindled his heart: the cardigan; the fire in her eyes; the scent of blood; lots and lots of intestines cut apart by a sharp sword - sweet, sweet memories.

He sat up and realized he was clutching Rudolf's old stuffed toy to his chest. It was quickly crammed back into his pocket. Blushing, he looked around to see if anyone noticed. Fortune was with him. He appeared to be the first awake. He rose from the couch to study the thing which awoke him and then snorted at it. Just a statue.

Hans explored until he found the bathroom. He pissed, washed his hands and face, sniffed the room (someone was fond of cleaning) and left the hand towel folded up by the sink. He sniffed around the rest of the main room as well. War's cultists had sharp eyes but they thrived in absolute darkness. His keen sense of smell was his strongest; it mingled with taste to form a complete picture of his surroundings when even eyesight failed. And so, Hans sniffed his way across the room and followed the trail of Old Spice right to Chrys' door. He raised his knuckles to rap on it but a strange object caught his eye.

"Hello Herr Schildkröte*," he squatted next to a tortoise. The patterns on the shell were fetching. Hans stuck a hand in a pocket and dug around until he found a head of lettuce. He tore away some wilty leaves until he found fresh green; these he set in front of the animal for breakfast.

"Guten Appetit, ja? Genießen! Sie sind ein schöner Reptil, Sie verdienen es, sich verwöhnen. Ja." He absentmindedly stroked the shell. Hans, like his brother, had a love for animals. Rudolf had a knack for interacting with them that he never understood but that didn't stop him from offering kindness to one. Animals were better than people. They weren't shallow things bent on manipulating political parties or stabbing each other in the back for petty reasons.


_{*Mr. Turtle.
German translation: "Good appetite, yes? Enjoy! You're a beautiful reptile, you deserve to be pampered. Yes."}

The statue was a statue. Yet the nature of how the Conservators' time powers worked to "pause" people meant that touching her wouldn't feel like touching a stone statue in the great museums of Europe. The fabric and skin were unnaturally smooth, yet not slick like soap and water. Objects frozen as such would remain undamaged.

The tortoise paused in front of Hans. Then he opened his mouth and dropped the half-cluster of grapes that hadn't yet been eaten on top of a lettuce leaf. A leg pushed the assembly back over to the cultist. It looked artistic in its own way, even if only by accident, with the way the stem angled up over the leaf like a ship's mast. Many crunches came as the tortoise took each leaf one at a time with his forelegs and began nibbling. Unlike MB, he couldn't sign, but he bobbed his head in thanks and tapped Hans' foot with one of his own.

Inside the main bedroom, there was a faint hissing noise. Luce opened the door with a can of Febreeze in his hand. Chrys followed outside, where she saw...

At some point, Katya had gone to bed, and was now well-rested. She walked back into the main room to see if Luce was still around.

"HI Hans! Hi Katya!" she chimed.

---

Yes please!

The luggage swayed slightly as MB hopped onto it. You must be tired after plane ride. Would you like teleport, or walk?

His fur bristled up with the electricity that announced Primordial's arrival (second half) and he hissed in annoyance. Bad techno sorcerer watch man! Giving me bad fur day!

Daphne's looked down at the little fellow as he hopped onto the luggage. She wondered what this creature's abilities or powers were, if any. As the little creature mentioned "teleport", a chill went down Daphne's spine. She had never teleported. She wanted to have the experience, see how it felt. She smiled as she began to speak:

"Yes, Indeed I am. I would very much like to be teleported, my feet are killing me"

She heard a hissing noise come from the rabbit and quickly turned to look at it. He had bristled up fur and looked quite funny, but it was apparent that he didn't like it that way one bit. Daphne didn't really understand what he meant by what he said. Was there someone else near? She quickly turned to scan the room, to see if anyone was nearing.

No worries. Not evil. Just annoying with bad electricity. MB sniffed again, resolving to prank Primordial somehow, later on. Now we go!

With a sound like someone trying to suck spaghetti through a straw and red and blue flashes, MB, Daphne, and her luggage disappeared from the lobby and appeared in Daphne's apartment.

[The New Velociraptor Empire]

She nodded guessing partially his intentions. "I fine with anywhere really. Chaos is a classic but if you have something different in mind im all ears..." she said finishing up some work around the room before walking back into the entry. She briefly commands the Nanites to watch on the doctor while they were gone in case something changed. Her skin turns to a mixute of grey and black as they leave the apartment covered with a complex set of lines and swirls.

"Yes, Chaos is good, and nearby with unconventional menu items." Arthur agreed as the left.

Shortly, he was transformed by the wave of Telluric energy, back into his raptor form. He looked down disappointed he ruined another pair of pants to his legs. Kicking aside the scraps of fabric, he felt a sense of irony from the circumstances, and deduced what had happened. He took the small gold device that resembled a pocket watch and looked at the readings. For him it would be temporary, half an hour at the most. But he was unsure what the far reaching effects were or how long it would be until the OMTIS would be repaired.

"Oh crap, someone screwed up. I hope I'm not called in to deal with this." he muttered before he turned to look at Insidious.

[Cerillium]

"Brandy!" An all-too-familiar (to Klaus) laugh reverberated through the lobby. "Branday!"

Fram held out a three fingered claw as if expecting a glass to drop into it. It promptly did. "Oh, there you are, wonderful nectar!" The velociraptor kissed his glass, tipped his purple plumed head back and slogged the liquid into his gullet. "Perfect, perfect, not too heavy, not too light!"

"Will you hush!" A red plumed female raptor adorned in tight leather than left little to the imagination stomped a clawed foot on the ground. Her head's sharp, birdlike movements intensified her crisp British accent. "Who are you?"

CLACK CLACK CLACK

Fram picked up his legs in an exaggerative motion and high-stepped towards her; his body height never wavered but the tip of his tail bobbed in comical fashion. He simpered up to her and placed his snout within inches of her ear opened. "I'm Fram," he whispered and then nearly blew out her eardrum with another boom of laughter.

"That is Fram, my brother." A third raptor stepped from the shadows. He, like Minerva, had adjusted his uniform to fit the dinosaur body. He'd even managed to keep his jack boots. The German velociofficer's ice blue eyes held no humor. Fram annoyed the fuck out of him. Today was no exception.

"Brandy!" the call rang out again and a new glass dropped into Fram's claws. The drinking cycle was repeated and the glass handed to Minerva. "So, who are you?"

She chuffed. "Captain Minerva Blackwater, Cultist Leader, Perfection's forces." There was little reason to say "Lust's Forces" - she presumed Fram to be that aspect.

"OOOooooo," Fram simpered and draped a clawed arm around her narrow shoulders. "But you're one of mine. This calls for a celebration! Brandy!"

Klaus caught the glass before it reached Fram's fingers. "Enough."

"Hrmp. Sourpuss."

---

Hans' drew his hand - um, claw - away from the tortoise and let out a strangled cry. It diseased me! It turned me into a giant lizard! It was the only thing that made sense. His uniform was the stuff of the fabric of the universe and it conformed to his new shape but, damn it, the boots were painful. He pulled them off and stuffed them into his pocket. Ignoring Chrys, he returned to the bathroom and studied his refection.

The feathers of his head looked as if someone took scissors to them and cropped them all at the same height. His eyes remained blue but strangely enlarged. His sense of smell, taste and sight had diminished; a quick head shake restored the senses to normal properties. "I make this look good."

He prowled from the bathroom and leaped across the room, hind claws extended in a vicious attack on Chrys that, at the last possible moment, turned into play - he soared over her form and landed next to her. His head bowed and pivoted and slapped into her thigh.


It should be noted that the velociraptors next door didn't have feathers. Confusion would abound if the Chaos ones didn't.

[Torsiedelle]

"I guess I can help out, too.", Torii said. With the Nikanors gone to do their own things, Torii decided to see what Rachelle was up to. She hardly ever saw the kid, and wanted to just talk a bit.

She poked her head around the door to see if she was still there. She had not expected to see raptors, though.

She quickly ducked back behind the doorway in a panic. "Oh no!", She thought, "Raptors? They were eaten by raptors! Wait, how did raptors get in here? Maybe they weren't eaten...they were turned into raptors! Or eaten...only one way to find out..."

She inhaled and called out to the other area.

"Um....guys?"

[The BranRiech]

In the living room, sat two Velociraptors, one was Natiya, who was deciding to simply keep watching TV. The channel was stuck on cartoons though, she couldn't manipulate the remote. The other, which was running around, pretending to chase something, was Rachelle. She was quite smaller, simple somewhat of a chick now.

"Prey!"

She giggled and launched herself at Torii as she entered.

--

Bran and Rylli, who were deciding on heading back to the apartment, were stumbling around thanks to their new legs. It was confusing, and they assumed others would be looking just as stupid as they were. Bran was getting used to it more though. They both entered the lobby and spotted the others, shrugging.

"Hmm, so who were you guys before this?" He asked tentatively, not knowing who anyone really was anymore. They were raptors, not humans.

[Tiltjuice]

Hans' drew his hand - um, claw - away from the tortoise and let out a strangled cry. It diseased me! It turned me into a giant lizard! It was the only thing that made sense. His uniform was the stuff of the fabric of the universe and it conformed to his new shape but, damn it, the boots were painful. He pulled them off and stuffed them into his pocket. Ignoring Chrys, he returned to the bathroom and studied his refection.

The feathers of his head looked as if someone took scissors to them and cropped them all at the same height. His eyes remained blue but strangely enlarged. His sense of smell, taste and sight had diminished; a quick head shake restored the senses to normal properties. "I make this look good."

He prowled from the bathroom and leaped across the room, hind claws extended in a vicious attack on Chrys that, at the last possible moment, turned into play - he soared over her form and landed next to her. His head bowed and pivoted and slapped into her thigh.


It should be noted that the velociraptors next door didn't have feathers. Confusion would abound if the Chaos ones didn't.

A muted screeching noise was quickly followed by a soft CHUFF! Luce looked rather velocisheepish as his claws had pierced the can of Febreeze. The resulting venting of its contents all over him had turned him into quite the pleasant-smelling raptor.

Chrys fell about laughing, waving her new tail jauntily while Hans was in the bathroom. Then, as he came back and jumped at her, she braced herself, only to be surprised again as he headbutted her thigh.

"Oh!" she yelped, and then poked each of his talons with the tip of her tail.

[Torsiedelle]

"Agh!", Torii jumped as Velocirachelle jumped at her. She wasn't comfortable around kids, and wasn't so experienced with raptors, so a child raptor was confusing.

"I-I don't know how to deal with this.", She said sadly, looking down at the chick. Well...at least she wasn't something terribly dangerous. Raptors couldn't be that bad.

[New Aksarben]

Albert muttered to himself in Latin as he busily moved around room that would be a VR training room in the future. He had been working all through the night, and wasn't really even tired. He had, after all, slept most of the day yesterday. So he had more than enough energy to work on stuff like the wiring and changes he was making to the future VR room. He had mainly been making sure the wiring for the building would be compatible with the energy needs of the VR room, and so far he had found no issue. So he had moved on to designating the spaces for the required hardware.

His jacket was laid out on the ground a short distance away, taken off so he didn't have to worry about it getting in the way of things. So far he had been moving back to it every so often to take out the hammerspace bag from its pocket, and then fish through it for something or another that he needed. He had just placed the bag on the jacket again when a wave of blue passed through everything.

Albert blinked as he noticed it with his keen eyes. He somehow did not notice that he was now a raptor until he tried to step forward and tripped on his own feet. His chin smacked onto the floor, prompting a growl from him. The growl sounded much different than his normal growl, which disturbed him slightly. It was then that he noticed that, well, he was a raptor.

"By the gods of Olympus.... How the fuck did this happen?" He said, struggling back to his feet. HE then noticed that his clothes had gotten shredded by the sudden change, and were now basically rags hanging on his body. "Fuck. I loved that outfit..... now I'm going to need to get a new set of them...... At least my Jacket didn't get destroyed..." He sighed, using his new claws to rip the remains of his clothes off.

Albert very, very, very carefully proceeded to pick up his jacket and drape it over his back. HE thought it would be a good idea to simply tie it around his neck with the arms of the thing, so he proceeded to do so. Hopefully that would give people some indication of who he actually was. If not, he could always just tell them. Or something.

So Albert then decided to try and get used to his new form by walking to the communal dining room to see if anyone else had been transformed. Luckily, he only fell over about five to fifteen times before arriving there. "Hey. Is anyone else here?" He asked, turning his head back and forth to look for people in the communal dining room with his tyrian purple eyes as he used his left claw(hand, whatever) to keep him from tripping again. HE really seemed to be having difficulty adjusting to being a velociraptor, which created obvious frustration. If you could read a velociratpor's expression of course.

---

Jacob, who had gone to bed after he and Ray had concluded their conversation, had been sleeping quite deeply when he suddenly became a raptor. His pajamas got shredded, the noise of which woke him up. "Huh? What was that noise?" He muttered, trying to sit up, and noticing that his body didn't have the same kind of proportions as before. He turned his head to look down and noticed quite quickly that he now seemed to be a dinosaur.

"..... Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that the raptors were behind this?" He said, with a heavy sigh. After basically rolling from the bed and onto his new raptor-feet, he checked his bed to make sure it hadn't gotten too damaged. Luckily there was only a few rips that he could easily fix once he was back to normal. Or, more accurately, if he ever got back to normal. Which Jacob sincerely hoped was soon. After all, he preferred being human to being a dinosaur.

"I wonder if Ray also got affected..." Jacob muttered, looking around for something that could signify that he was Jacob and not someone else. Besides his blue eyes of course. His eyes noticed the laurel that had been given to him by Gio in addition to the toga for the ball. He smiled slightly, guessing that was unique enough, and roman enough, to show that he was Jacob. So he carefully placed it on his newly-raptorized head, before heading out to check on Ray. And to head out to see if the raptors knew of a way to change people back to how they properly looked.

---

Octavian was not taking being a raptor as well as Jacob or Albert were. Which was obvious as he was shouting swears in Latin, directed at whatever had caused this, the fact his clothes had been ruined, and the fact he was now a raptor, and no longer human. All of which put him in a terrible mood. And in the mood to fight someone again. Too bad Torii had run off. He would have enjoyed hunting her down in raptor form and ripping her apart with his bare claws. He grinned, or at least did the raptor equivalent of a grin, at the thought of being able to rip people apart without needing a weapon.

But for now, he wanted to go find out what the hell was going on. Fun could be had later. He needed to go find the raptors and ask them why he was suddenly also a velociraptor. And to tell them to turn him back. He wanted to be human, not a damn dinosaur. Humans didn't have to worry about ripping things apart by accident and could eat a larger variety of things. Like plants. But the thought of food made Octavian's stomach growl and reminded him he hadn't eaten since lunch the day before.

So he picked up the remains of his belt and boltshot holster. After trying in vain to create something he could wrap around one of his legs, he decided to do something just as good. He wrapped the belt around one of his arms and basically tied the holster and boltshot to it. He wanted to have the weapon with him at all times, even if he couldn't really use it with raptor claws. Following that, he began heading off to the elevator to head over to the raptor house to ask them what was going on.

[Erucia]

Ray had been peacefully sleeping since far earlier in the previous night, when he'd gone to bed after talking with Jacob. It felt good to talk to someone other than Albert, and he didn't really talk often enough with Jacob. And so, he'd retired alone to his room to sleep. He wondered if Albert would actually return at some point to come and sleep with him, but Albert never did. Nevertheless, it did not impede his efforts at sleeping through the night. It had been a slightly eventful day for him, or at the very least interesting. But life at the apartment seemed to cause that sort of behavior amongst himself and others, and Ray had gotten used to it.

But being awakened suddenly in the midst of the morning through a very strange feeling wasn't necessarily something he'd been prepared for. His eyes opened to him being alone within his bed, and feeling....rather cold. Colder than normal. The distinct lack of fur was shocking enough, and he let his eyes adjust and rid of the blur for a few moments before trying to move. But his body didn't quite respond as normal: he felt heavier. The limbs that were attached to his body felt...off, somehow. Like they were tangled and in the wrong positions. And somehow, as if they were different in themselves. His arms felt smaller and weaker, his legs far more muscled, and his tail....His tail felt different, as if much more 'stocked' for lack of a better term.

His fingers seemingly poking into the bedcovers, he tried to move his head around. Ray suddenly felt very worried when his head brushed against the pillow and gave off a very different feeling: his ears didn't brush against the pillow, his hair unmessed. Of course, this suddenly changed when he realized that he didn't even have hair or ears poking from his head. But he did have a snout: well, it wasn't really a snout, but a scaled mouth-thingy.

"....WHAT IN THE....AH~!", Ray suddenly screeched out, and he soon became worried at the strange hinge in his voice. He trashed around in his bed, tearing around the bedsheets as his limbs flailed in an effort to get them off. The tattered remains of his clothing were either scattered on the mattress or on his person: his underwear had broken and rested against the mattress, and only the upper section of his navy-blue t-shirt remained trapped onto what was his upper torso.

The initial shock continued to dominate his behavior as he flailed around the room in terror, rolling around on the floor as he attempted to regain control of his new limbs and body. Countless curses emitted from his room, easily heard out into the hallway.

[Cerillium]

Bran and Rylli, who were deciding on heading back to the apartment, were stumbling around thanks to their new legs. It was confusing, and they assumed others would be looking just as stupid as they were. Bran was getting used to it more though. They both entered the lobby and spotted the others, shrugging.

"Hmm, so who were you guys before this?" He asked tentatively, not knowing who anyone really was anymore. They were raptors, not humans.

"Oh look! There's more of them!" Fram ignored his brother and trotted over to Bran and Rylli with the same comical motions. He hadn't mastered the whole "lean forward and bob head while walking" routine; it was easier to prance upright.

"Who am I? Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Fram replied in good-natured tone. "Why I - I - am a bipedal dinosaur of some kind. Or an ostrich with mange. Grr!" He thrust his claws forward and gathered air towards him.

Minerva drew a cigarette from her pocket with her front teeth. She found her lighter, dipped her head and lit it. Lips firmly clamped, she inhaled and then blew a cloud of oddly scented smoke from the corner of her jaws. "This is Fram, Swith's counterpart. Consider him her twin," she said through teeth clenched to keep the cigarette in her mouth, "You already know Klaus. I'm Minerva. Our clothing hasn't changed, as you can see."

Klaus grunted in greeting.

A muted screeching noise was quickly followed by a soft CHUFF! Luce looked rather velocisheepish as his claws had pierced the can of Febreeze. The resulting venting of its contents all over him had turned him into quite the pleasant-smelling raptor.

Chrys fell about laughing, waving her new tail jauntily while Hans was in the bathroom. Then, as he came back and jumped at her, she braced herself, only to be surprised again as he headbutted her thigh.

"Oh!" she yelped, and then poked each of his talons with the tip of her tail.

Hans clasped Chrys' tail tip and shook it. "How'd you do?"

Reptilian lips parted and eyes widened into a raptor smile. He whipped his snout around to eye the raptor with the punctured Febreze can and then brought it forward to press against Chrys' own. "You know, this is too good to pass up. We should all adventure to see what caused it. Gather some clothing. I'll put it in my pocket in case this spell ends and catches us unawares."

Hans had spent enough time trailing the real raptors to know that they'd be behind it in some way. It wasn't the tortoise at all. To find a raptor was to think like a raptor and thinking like a raptor was easier when one was a raptor. Hans put on his raptor thinking cap and "got into the role". His head darted to the left and Katya fell into the scope of his excellent binocular vision.

"Deception! Mammal deception!" He'd often heard Gretta bark the phrase. He sprang through the air, knocked the human girl over and ate her head. The writer jests. It only appeared that he'd eaten her head; he was actually opening his mouth and nibbling on her shoulders and neck.