Personification Life IC IX - [Semi Open]

[New Aksarben]

"Thompson, that is quite a horrible thing for a country to do, to draft children at the age of 6. But one thing you should know about me is that I am the personification of my home nation, Aksarben, which had to fight for its survival from the very beginning. Even as a small city-state we were pushed around, so I have been fighting nearly constantly for several thousand years, on and off. My nation once had conscription, as early as the age of 15. I cannot see the logic of conscripting a mere child to fight. Our conscripts are not forever either, they will be discharged if too badly injured, and if they are too old." Albert explained, looking at Thompson with a mix of sympathy and indignation towards her home country. It was almost asinine to conscript people at that age, seeing as by then many would be old enough to remember their families and old homes. Albert would have understood at a later age, or even from birth, but at such an odd age? That was just stupid.

"So I somewhat understand what you're going through, as I had to learn how to fight for my home from the time it was created. It isn't exactly the same, obviuosly, but similar enough."

cinnamon refrained from letting her emotions surfacing. "I don't think you understand the full extent of how our country works. We live entirely underground. The surface is an uninhabitable wasteland, chock full of nightmarish mutant creatures looking to knock humanity off the top link of the food chain. The government has constructed a giant, sprawling underground complex to house the loyal citizens. Those not loyal roam the surface, doing god knows what. We are drafted to fight from a young age because it makes us tougher soldiers. And that's not even all of it." She told Albert, shifting her weight onto one of her feet.

"I don't, as you haven't explained it yet. I'm all ears if you wish to. And that soudns a lot like my own world during the earlier years of my existence. The world was slowly recovering from a nuclear war that decimated most of the earth's surface. It had taken a few thousand years of subsisting underground to let enough radiation dissipate to allow humans back on the surface. Even then it was a struggle getting back to even Republican Rome's level of technology, on a depleted and devastated Terra. We had to fight against hostile wildlife and almost everything to even make true cities on the surface. Much of my home's capital is still underground, renovated from the earlier dwellings of our ancestors to make safe residential areas that would be shielded in case of another nuclear war.

"But I can say, fighting and being drafted at such a young age does not make you tougher. It ruins you psychologically, and makes you into something you might not have been otherwise. Into monsters who will do anything to win. I don't mean to offend, but I've seen that before, in nations I have fought against. Their younger soldiers might know more about warfare, but they also didn't know to not kill civilians or those who had surrendered too."

Albert had been about to say more, but he blinked and stopped when Dora spoke up, then nodded in agreement. "She's very right. This isn't a good subject to discuss at a celebration. So, I'll not say more on the subject." Albert was trying his best to not be rude and horribly blunt right now, but that was just his personality in many ways. He didn't know how to interact civilly in many cases, due to not knowing much more than the military for most of his long life.

---

"Yeah, bird hunting might be a bad idea. But I don't think anyone would argue with us picking flowers from the edges of the forest, right? Or simply buying them from a vendor. It would be a great treat for Saren if nothing else." Sterling replied with a kind smile and a nod to the young one. "Human 'vegetarian' food is good, and all, but I miss simpler treats like flowers. Its also been forever since I've had a hayburger, too. But sadly the burgers here only seem to serve them with meat or imitation meat...."

Glancing around again, Sterling noticed a strange hyoo-mun was lurking around them, pointing a strange slightly glowy(magic, possibly?) device at various things. Sterling waved a hoof towards him to get his attention and called out, "Hey, are you a new hyoo-mun living here? I don't think I've seen you around this place before."

[Swith Witherward]

Primordial looked up just as she began to weep, his eyes a pale brown color that had no warmth or light to them. Yet they were calm and tranquil as if he was half way in a trance. As he gazed at her he reflected on her as a creature, one which he had seen a great transformation take place in since his appearance in this universe. It was that transformation and that evolution of spirit that made her so interesting. Secretly and privately he had written much on the subject of this godling, he had transcribed her words and her feats, her pathos and her ethos, as part of his ambassadorial work.

He had a duty to record everything about this reality but for some reason he always found a way to make new entries in her tome before anyone else’s. Deep down he felt conflicted about the matter, as it was like writing a biography and examination on a close friend without their knowledge. Sometimes he worried that their conversations were more like and invasion of privacy, even though he record everything about everyone it was only her history that made him question his motives.

Primordial waved his hand to cut of the godling from her sobbing trying to comfort her as best he could. “Naomi you worry about such trivial and uninteresting things. Why must you feel blame and despair for everything that occurs around you? You are a creature of positive emotions why do you always resort to feeling this way?” He doesn’t let her answer the question, it was not a rethocial one but it was one he didn’t want her to answer without thinking about it for a long time first. Instead he changed the subject “Tell me what has transpired since we departed, I believe you all were on the island a pity we could not join you.”

Naomi wiped away the rest of her tears. She had taken his first question as rhetorical but only because it was one frequently asked by Charumati. Primordial just expressed it better than the usual, "Knock it off."

"The island," she replied, grateful for the topic change. "You missed some exciting things and some very sad things. The Raptors left. They took their house with them as well as the chicks. There was a typhoon right before Christmas. It wiped out just about everything, but it passed and we were able to rebuild. I got married and we're expecting. Oh! But you don't know!"

He didn't know! The Luxans had been gone when it happened, and so they hadn't heard to news or even the remnant gossip. Naomi found herself in a difficult situation. She chewed her bottom lip for a moment and then took a steadying breath.

"I'm no longer a godling." Naomi's hands rubbed together worriedly. "You see, I had to take over Perfection's forces. I had to ascend and be named by the Four, and accepted as a true avatar of the Fourth. I didn't want to, but I had to because... Atosh. He opened a gateway and was going to allow Greater Daemons to pour into this dimension. So Klaus and his Men and Minerva and her Lads assaulted the Ruins to close the gate while I went to the Void and distracted Atosh. He would have killed me if Minerva hadn't shown up and murdered him. Well, his matrix. He's still around somewhere. She was only able to do that because she was filled with wrath. You see, the Ruins were overrun by the Greater Daemons. They had gotten through and only Charumati and Minerva were left to destroy the ones who crossed over. Klaus was busy destroying the gate, you see. And it was dreadful. It was a final stand and all of them Thirsters. Minerva released Purna from within her just as Charumati fell. Purna is a Keeper, and deadly, and seeing Charumati fall... and knowing it was her essence torn from this dimension and scattered into a million bits... and she just raged and tore those Thirsters to shreds. She left the body with Hans and entered Minerva again and they came to my aid. And that was Christmas morning. Swith died on Christmas morning, and they brought her matrix back to the island, on the boat, before sending it to the grave in the vale, and that's when Ogoti told me I had to ascend."

Naomi had spoken in a hushed voice but she was breathing as if she'd just run a race. "I saw her fall, and I felt her fall because we were connected, and I've had nightmares about it. Gods are cruel. My gods are cruel. Your gods are cruel. I lost Neil, and I lost Swith, and now I'm going to lose Aegis. All I have left is Ceril and Ogoti. If I lose them, too, then I've lost everything. I'm very sad, Primordial. I've been very sad lately. It happens."

A small, apologetic smile flickered to her mouth but melted away again. "Such is life."

[TotallyNotEvilLand]

"I second that the citizens here would probably prefer nopony hunting down the local animal life," Willow added cautiously, thinking of the odd reactions that would ensue because of such. "It seems to be a fairly urban area, though there are forests nearby. Yeah." He didn't know how he felt about hunting other creatures, but it really wasn't any of his business, and thus kept it to himself.

"Don't feel pressured though, it's still taking me some time to get completely settled. That of course could just be my own flaws," Willow continued, dragging over his cup closer with his mouth to be within better reach when he decided to drink. "I've been having some sleeping trouble, don't know if it's stress-related or not. Good people here though, I have to say. When Sterling and I first arrived, we met a very young hyoo-mun girl child, so perhaps there will be others for Saren to play with."

Saren frowned and crossed his hooves. Darn, he'd have to wait until another time to go hunting. Although hunting wasn't really what he did. He mostly just rode around, strapped to Cerril's back, his ears covered with ear protection, and watched his father take down a few harmless birds in the royal hunting grounds.

"He's not really at the age where he can start playing with other kids anyways... He still has yet to master crawling, let alone remembering more than ten people." Cerril said, again smiling at Saren. "And by the way, it's pronounced hue-mann... Well, it is where I come from, anyways. Then again, us Tinellians have a strange way of speaking... My native language sounds like a cat trying to get out a hairball." This might have been an exaggeration, although not by much. Tinellian was a harsh language, with lots of hard K, R, T, and CH sounds in it. When spoken, it sounded like an odd mix between Arabic and some form of Slavic language, with a bit of Italian thrown in as well. Cerril then focused his attentions to Sterling again. "I suppose so. I never enjoyed vegetarian foods, but I was raised on a pretty meat rich diet." He said, baring his sharp fangs for a moment to prove a point. "Not sure whose teeth Saren is going to inherit yet. I'm assuming it would be his pony half... A foal with sharp teeth would look kind of out of place." He said, then glancing over at the human, raising an eyebrow. "Is that a detonator of some sort?"

[Monfrox]

Cinnamon looked offended by Dora's look, and returned with her own that seemed to ask 'what the fuck are you looking at?' before the girl walked away. She looked to the others and sighed. "I guess. I'll just say that while I didn't choose my way of life, I certainly don't regret missing out on growing up. I also ain't messed up in the head, thanks." She looked around for something to do to pass the time.

[Motoneuron]

Ki looked at her hands, curious about the glow. He was a bit nervous that she would use it on him but highly doubted it, and he wanted to see this.

"No" He said with a laugh, "I don't think I want to be turned to stone today. I would love to see it on something else though"

[Giovenith]

It was only when Sterling and Cerril pointed him out that Willow finally noticed the hyoo-mun human (The Seer) waving around what looked like a glowing pen near them, catching in unpleasant surprise. Willow didn't entirely trust the technology of the humans. It attacked him with confetti, showed him mean things, and refused him snacks. That said, he felt antsy as his eyes followed the glowing tip of the device, slowly narrowing as he flattened his ears with a grimace.

"Bloody Tartarus is that?" he added in to the others' questioning, only slightly less civil. Like Cerril implied, he didn't want it to be something potentially harmful.

[Torsiedelle]

"Hmm, well, that certainly sounds interesting, but-", Torii was cut off abruptly as Yuna bumped into her. She jumped a bit when she saw who it was, still having some soar feelings, but before she could get into any more trouble, she began. "Oh, Yuna..."

She glanced at Flint, then swung an arm around Yuna. "Hey, I'm really sorry about yesterday. I want you to know that I ally meant what I said, and I only said it because I wanted to help, but that's not how it turned out, and I'm sorry. I don't want to make my friends angry with me, because I know how it feels, and I don't like it; I don't want others to feel that way as well."

A finger pointed to Flint. "So, why don't we make up and talk with Flint here? She's cool, and I just want to have a nice day with you guys. Want a beer?"

[The BranRiech]

Ki looked at her hands, curious about the glow. He was a bit nervous that she would use it on him but highly doubted it, and he wanted to see this.

"No" He said with a laugh, "I don't think I want to be turned to stone today. I would love to see it on something else though"

"It'd just be for a minute or so, but alright." Kei shrugged, looking over at one of the lamps in the room that she had shut off at the moment. She walked over to it, grabbed it with her free hand, and brought it back over by Ki. She touched it with the other hand, the glowing one, and it quickly spread from where she touched it, turning to smooth, solid Alabaster.

"Never tried that one before, very pretty, eh?"

She shrugged, and turned it back to normal, except of course, the light bulb shattered from the stress.

"Well shit."

--

Yuna didn't want beer.

"Uh, Torii? You alright?" Yuna asked, looking to Flint, the other Human girl that Torii seemed to be hanging out with now. "It's alright, if you're willing to forgive the others too, but I suppose we're good now, water under the bridge, or something like that shit?" She shrugged, giggling slightly to brighten her own mood more than Torii (Who seemed happy enough already!)

"And no, I . . . I don't drink."

[Primordial Luxa]

“Such is life” Primordial repeated nodding his head.

He let that hang in the air for a moment as he contemplated how to reply to such an emotionally charged topic. He mused about the strangeness of a creature of emotion and a creature of apathy confiding in each other and he wondered what it was that made Naomi trust him so much with these displays, he certainly wouldn’t trust himself with them. Regardless it was pleasant to hear her talk and so he indulged her desires.

“Well it’s good to hear my leaving hasn’t made your lives any less exciting. It sounds like you have all had a lot of fun in our absence. Typhoons, marriage, kids. That’s a quite a lot.” He paused looking into space and smiling. “Wish we could have been their” he finally finished absentmindedly.

It was then that his mind began to wander to what she had said about the death of Slaanesh and his smile faded like a wilting plant. Piece by piece it fell apart turning his expression into the traditional stone faced look that he normally possessed. “I am truly sorry about Swith. Truly I am. I can’t believe Khorne would do that, that’s just….” He trailed off not finishing the thought. Words simply couldn’t do it justice.

[Vrijeme]

Busted. The Seer thought as he noticed the pony-like beings had noticed him.

He quickly scanned them, making it seem like he was simply putting the pen up. He would check the readings later. The Seer nodded his head in greeting, looking them over and smiling.

"Brilliant." he whispered to himself, then looked at their faces, "To answer both of your questions at once, no this is not a detonator, it is a sonic pen. A highly versatile tool, much like a sonic screwdriver, except I can also write with it. I'm the Seer, pleasure to meet you both."

Both of his hearts started pounding with delight.

"Wow," he started, "I've seen fish-people, cybernetic men, werewolves, moving trashcans that could destroy entire worlds, living shadows, memory-proof aliens, which I still have no idea what they look like, living statues, lizard people, creatures that look like a cross between a potato and a human, gods, demigods, creatures claiming to be gods, vampires, creatures that carried their brains in their hand, living planets, living stars, and many, MANY other things. But NEVER have I seen horse-people. Or, pony-people?"

[Torsiedelle]

"Ah. I, um...forgot, I guess. You and Gio don't drink..."

The beer bottle was lowered to her waist, clasped between both hands awkwardly. "Well, I'm happy that we're cool.....hey, Flint, I'm doin' it! Being nice really worked."

[Fvaarniimar]

Mortimer regained some of his composure. <I... didn't know. I'm not sure that I did have it worse. From the glimpses you have shown me, it seems that you have been the target of some of this, not just an observer. I am sorry.> Mortimer's voice seemed clipped, calculated, forcedly calm. He seemed to be thinking hard about what to say.

Nick got up, maintaining contact and repositioning most of his body so that he was curled around Mortimer's ankle, head resting on a foot. <It prob-probably c-could have been a lot w-w-worse. Most of the people who... Weren't terribly nice (Image of frail, elderly man shaking a finger) at least didn't act on their thoughts. There were... A few times someone did, but the exorcism just (Image of smoke cloud, sound of chanting) made me cough a lot and the one time I might've been in real danger- she wanted to dissect me, and for some reason had access to the tools to do it (scalpel image again)- come to think of it that doesn't make sense, but I hardly could have tattled (Image of two human adults) without risking worse- I had enough warning, always, to duck. Not sure how to put this... I feel stuff that I'm going to feel later. Usually pretty soon. It can be hard to tell what I'm feeling because of that and what I'm feeling because of whatever my current situation is...but fear often means duck. Same if it's someone else's- you know, this- that means that they're going to start being mean.>

[Giovenith]

Wow, practically another Sterling.

"... Ponies. Ponies and horses are technically the same species, but ponies have smaller, stockier proportions and are stronger pound-for-pound," Willow answered bluntly tapping his hooves together while thoughtfully staring down the enthusiastic human. To anyone who had seen enough of non-sapient ponies before, it would be evident that the joints in Willow's forelegs were out of line with that of a "normal" pony. "Except for Cerril. But he can explain himself."

Still suspicious but with guard now lowered, Willow's eyes blitzed back to Sterling, admittedly curious about how his friend was going to react to this metric-ton of new information.

[Vrijeme]

"Ah, yes. I've seen humans riding your less sentient counterparts for the last three centuries." the Seer said, "An interesting race, those humans. I mean, they have so much potential. From the day they arrive on the planet, blinking, step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen, more to do than — no, hold on. Sorry, that's The Lion King. But the point still stands. Quite interesting.

Then far into their future. Planet gone. All rocks and dust, but the human race lives on spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, ooh, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement. They find this one place. Same size as the Earth. Same air, same orbit. Lovely. The call goes out, the humans move in. Truly remarkable creatures, they've interested my people for centuries."

He smiled, taking out the pen and notepad, jotting down some note.

[New Aksarben]

Busted. The Seer thought as he noticed the pony-like beings had noticed him.

He quickly scanned them, making it seem like he was simply putting the pen up. He would check the readings later. The Seer nodded his head in greeting, looking them over and smiling.

"Brilliant." he whispered to himself, then looked at their faces, "To answer both of your questions at once, no this is not a detonator, it is a sonic pen. A highly versatile tool, much like a sonic screwdriver, except I can also write with it. I'm the Seer, pleasure to meet you both."

Both of his hearts started pounding with delight.

"Wow," he started, "I've seen fish-people, cybernetic men, werewolves, moving trashcans that could destroy entire worlds, living shadows, memory-proof aliens, which I still have no idea what they look like, living statues, lizard people, creatures that look like a cross between a potato and a human, gods, demigods, creatures claiming to be gods, vampires, creatures that carried their brains in their hand, living planets, living stars, and many, MANY other things. But NEVER have I seen horse-people. Or, pony-people?"

"A Sonic Pen? As in a pen that uses sound to write and do things? That's amazing! The best we have back home are like quills!" Sterling was already amazed by this new person, and his eyes had gotten wide and excited upon learning this person could be an amazing source of completely new and different information. He instinctually started tapping at the chair under him with his front hooves from his interest and excitement, and looked this new person up and down to take in everything he could about them through his rectangular glasses.

"I've never heard of any of those things, are they all species you've met? That's quite amazing! Back in my home we only have the Diamond Dogs, Dragons, Griffins, Ponies like me, the various other mammalian species, and possibly a few others I'm forgetting right now. But those are not interesting at all compared to what you just said! How could a human meet so many other species in their lifetime? I thought they only lived around the same lifespan as a pony?"

Then this strange human started talking about the future, and Sterling blinked even more. "Wait, did you just speak about the future like you had seen it with your own eyes or know what will happen definitively?"

[Monfrox]

Flint smiled brightly. "See? Is exactly how I said it would be. True friends always forgive each other." She chugged a swig of vodka. "Is great feeling it is, truly." She grabbed a chair from the side of the room and sat in it. "So, how to pass the time now?" She asked.

[Vrijeme]

Busted. The Seer thought as he noticed the pony-like beings had noticed him.

He quickly scanned them, making it seem like he was simply putting the pen up. He would check the readings later. The Seer nodded his head in greeting, looking them over and smiling.

"Brilliant." he whispered to himself, then looked at their faces, "To answer both of your questions at once, no this is not a detonator, it is a sonic pen. A highly versatile tool, much like a sonic screwdriver, except I can also write with it. I'm the Seer, pleasure to meet you both."

Both of his hearts started pounding with delight.

"Wow," he started, "I've seen fish-people, cybernetic men, werewolves, moving trashcans that could destroy entire worlds, living shadows, memory-proof aliens, which I still have no idea what they look like, living statues, lizard people, creatures that look like a cross between a potato and a human, gods, demigods, creatures claiming to be gods, vampires, creatures that carried their brains in their hand, living planets, living stars, and many, MANY other things. But NEVER have I seen horse-people. Or, pony-people?"

"A Sonic Pen? As in a pen that uses sound to write and do things? That's amazing! The best we have back home are like quills!" Sterling was already amazed by this new person, and his eyes had gotten wide and excited upon learning this person could be an amazing source of completely new and different information. He instinctually started tapping at the chair under him with his front hooves from his interest and excitement, and looked this new person up and down to take in everything he could about them through his rectangular glasses.

"I've never heard of any of those things, are they all species you've met? That's quite amazing! Back in my home we only have the Diamond Dogs, Dragons, Griffins, Ponies like me, the various other mammalian species, and possibly a few others I'm forgetting right now. But those are not interesting at all compared to what you just said! How could a human meet so many other species in their lifetime? I thought they only lived around the same lifespan as a pony?"

Then this strange human started talking about the future, and Sterling blinked even more. "Wait, did you just speak about the future like you had seen it with your own eyes or know what will happen definitively?"

"Oh, I see," he said, smiling, "You two think that I'm a human. No, no, you see am I am a Time Lord. A man from the planet Gallifrey. I arrived here in my TARDIS, which allows me to travel through time and space. And in fact, I've been to the future, and I've seen it. Of course, it's possible that it won't happen like that, time, after all, is not a straight line. It's much more like a great big ball of, I can't believe I'm about to say this, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff. Time Lords have a MUCH longer lifespan."

[TotallyNotEvilLand]

Cerril raised an eyebrow at this strange human. He mentioned the future, the past, as if he had seen it all... Odd. Probably some loony cultist or conspiracy nut. Or he was just on drugs. Then he mentioned the timelord thing... He'd have to ask more questions about that later. "I'm an Arkadat... I suppose you could call us the result of an awkward accident involving horses, humans, and insects. We're from Earth, by the way. Not aliens. And, like I'm presuming your race does, we also live a long time. My mother is 12,000 years old." Cerril said, looking down at Saren. "And this is a half-Arkadat pony. And my son. Say hi to the time lord, Saren."

Saren yelled enthusiastically at the Time Lord, waving his hooves. "Hi, time wowd! I'm a pwince!" He said, before calming down and returning his attentions to the birds outside.

[Erucia]

Cinnamon looked offended by Dora's look, and returned with her own that seemed to ask 'what the fuck are you looking at?' before the girl walked away. She looked to the others and sighed. "I guess. I'll just say that while I didn't choose my way of life, I certainly don't regret missing out on growing up. I also ain't messed up in the head, thanks." She looked around for something to do to pass the time.

"Well, as long as you're not full of regret, then I suppose you'll manage. I suppose that there's always room for enjoying things in life now, since you're practically in your prime," Ray gave a meager smile, and then abandoned the subject. He didn't quite know what else to say to Cinnamon, since she didn't seem particularly keen on continuing conversation. Or perhaps he'd read her wrong.

"Anyways, if we're holding you, then I apologize." He glanced at Albert with a disappointed look that screamed his opinion that the events had not gone the way he'd wanted them to.

[Giovenith]

Willow puffed, humored, turning his head away with a sly smile and raising a foreleg upward toward Sterling's direction, as if to mock-dramatically cry out, 'Behold! The Almighty Living Library! Isn't it fabulous?' The hoof then came gently down onto the table as the gray pegasus dipped down to sip his drink, discreetly absorbing and analyzing the steady flow of new information in his head.

Future, eh? Sure, why not. Willow had already been sent flying into another dimension because of a chipmunk, why should he question this 'Time Lord''s claims about time travel? In fact, hadn't Miss Sparkle of Golden Oaks Library once claimed she'd been visited from her 'future self'? Right, that was the same day Cerberus attacked the town (typical Ponyville hazards). To digress, during his time on Earth, Willow noticed that there were an awful lot of individuals who appeared no different than humans yet called themselves something else, Giovenith herself being one. Truthfully, he had always assumed that 'human' was just an all-encompassing term that could be split off into different lines (like how Pony could be split into Unicorn, Pegasus, Earth Pony, Alicorn, etc.), but evidently not so.

[Mincaldenteans]

Entering the lift with the others, Dan had tilted his head and studied the new fellow in mild curiosity but his gaze did move on to the rest in the elevator. The only being he knew of in here was Dia, the rest were more or less new in some aspect, having never actually talked with them much. Even Bran, and Javert to which Dan recalled being part of the group that had assaulted the warehouse that particular night. Of all the people Dia was the most imposing figure, the lift felt a bit cramped though thankfully not stuffy. Moments after would find the group in the communal area where another gathering had already taken place.

"So much for Haven," Dan quipped lightly to no one in particular with a smile at the sight of the social gathering.

Rudolf had seen horror and he had seen ugly but never had he seen anything so horrifyingly ugly. It set his spine to shivering and left a sour, salty taste in his mouth. He would have stared for much longer had the front door not banged open, thus drawing his eyes towards it and away from the Justin Bieber picture staring cheekily up at him from the Underworld Times.

The Klingon was much better to look at. More interesting at any rate, and he had the fortune to run into a creature who actually understood him. That is, a creature who understood the species. Rudolph had never actually met a Klingon before, but Klingons were known - and known to be the only good part of a particularly peaceful alternate dimension that any of War's cultists gave a flaming fig about. The species embodied war as well as honor.

What is that? Rudolf asked himself.

A Klingon, his inner daemon replied with a satisfied purr.

Rudolf squinted at the alien. What's he clinging on to?

There wasn't any time for the demon to answer. Mezran was now in the building. "Good afternoon," Rudolf smiled at him. "You'll want an apartment. Come over this way. I have papers. We get you settled in, ja? Then you go eat. There's a feast upstairs."

Mezran made a low a rumbling sound before he spoke, the deep resonant tone sounded more like barking words as he spoke, "I do not require such accommodations, but I would be..." he struggled for the human term, "grateful if you could direct me to the nearest Starfleet base. This place," he said with a bit of discomfort, "Is quite... alien to one such as I and I believe the residents would not take well to a Klingon warrior stalking its halls."

He paused for a moment then, "But a feast you mentioned?" The Klingon's stomach growled at the mention of it as though it had a mind of its own, "Is there any gagh? My lunch was stopped short today."

[Tiltjuice]

Dia appeared to have disappeared, though that was an illusion; he'd hung back somewhat and was behind the door. Quite naturally, as he'd caught sight of Hans. There wasn't any use raining on his parade, or so it seemed judging by the flowers in Chrys' grasp. The blonde in question had led Hans over to the latest group.

"Hi everyone! Great to see you all!" She made a beeline to Dan and Javert as the people she felt closest to, having fought alongside them. There was something interesting about Javert, too, such that she had to restrain herself from tackling him Jacob-style. The gentleman at the back, though, disturbed her in a way she couldn't quite place, and she shot a look at Hans. Dora, too, had appeared from nowhere with a plate piled high with oysters, snails and fish.

"Help yourself, guys," she drawled. "I would have brought a couple of dormice, too, but Cuisine drew the line at being too authentic. He feared it would scare off some of the guests."

[Swith Witherward]

“Such is life” Primordial repeated nodding his head.

He let that hang in the air for a moment as he contemplated how to reply to such an emotionally charged topic. He mused about the strangeness of a creature of emotion and a creature of apathy confiding in each other and he wondered what it was that made Naomi trust him so much with these displays, he certainly wouldn’t trust himself with them. Regardless it was pleasant to hear her talk and so he indulged her desires.

“Well it’s good to hear my leaving hasn’t made your lives any less exciting. It sounds like you have all had a lot of fun in our absence. Typhoons, marriage, kids. That’s a quite a lot.” He paused looking into space and smiling. “Wish we could have been their” he finally finished absentmindedly.

It was then that his mind began to wander to what she had said about the death of Slaanesh and his smile faded like a wilting plant. Piece by piece it fell apart turning his expression into the traditional stone faced look that he normally possessed. “I am truly sorry about Swith. Truly I am. I can’t believe Khorne would do that, that’s just….” He trailed off not finishing the thought. Words simply couldn’t do it justice.

"He didn't," she gently correct Primordial. "Atosh went rogue a while ago. Charumati and Ogoti teamed up with the Germanic set to put a stop to him."

Naomi leaned forward, propping her arms on the table and laying her cheek on them. She didn't want to think about Charumati. The memory still pained her, especially as she'd given her grief over the nativity again that year. "We missed seeing you at Christmas. I knitted some scarves for you all. You know, as a gift. I can bring them by later."

A sigh escaped her. "Primordial, can I ask? What happened to you and Insidious? What happened to Aegis? Will he die? And the big magic box? Why did it go crazy and malfunction? It was frightening in there. It did some very cruel things, and had cruel things in it. It was so pretty when I was in there before, and so peaceful. I felt like I could meditate in there for hours."

Mezran made a low a rumbling sound before he spoke, the deep resonant tone sounded more like barking words as he spoke, "I do not require such accommodations, but I would be..." he struggled for the human term, "grateful if you could direct me to the nearest Starfleet base. This place," he said with a bit of discomfort, "Is quite... alien to one such as I and I believe the residents would not take well to a Klingon warrior stalking its halls."

He paused for a moment then, "But a feast you mentioned?" The Klingon's stomach growled at the mention of it as though it had a mind of its own, "Is there any gagh? My lunch was stopped short today."

"Starfleet base?" Rudolf grew quiet and tilted his head, listening to his inner demon, and then nodded his head. "There isn't one. There won't be one for a long while. You're in the past. You're in a different dimension. But the Residents are accustomed to all sorts of things. You might even enjoy fellowship with my people."

The cultist could only imagine the horror of being isolated from his brothers. To be alone, the only one of his kind in an unfamiliar place. To lack the ability to go home? To find a wife? To hear another speak German or to raise a stein in celebration of a good mission or to toast a friend? At least the Ponies had arrived as a pair. At least the Fae could seek out other Fae. But this large male in front of him? It was worse than anything even Sig endured.

"You'll need a place to stay," he advised. "Here, sign and get a key, and then go feast. It's a meal to honor love between one of my kinsman and a Conservator. Er... warriors. You'd be welcome there."

Rudolf slid the clipboard across the desk. The magical nature of the paper reformed the words into the pIqaD alphabet. "Oh, and take a brochure. It'll tell you about the place. The local hangout is the Chaos restaurant, but it's neutral ground. No magic allowed, no fighting. Drink and eat as much as you can."

Again, a pang. "And if you go to Chaos sometime, tell them to put it on War's tab. I'm Rudolf, by the way. It's good to meet you."

[Altito Asmoro]

"Raka, Raka Rahmandi. And no, I am not a city police. I just try to be secured here, so I bring my gun and armor, Mr.....?" said Raka to the man.
"I am a bit lost here, a new guy in here."

"I'm Luce," came the simple reply. "Welcome to Bielefeld. It's not the worst idea to carry a gun here, but on the whole, the city is very safe. The police here are very efficient, and for the rare supernatural threat, there are people to handle that. I happen to be one of them."

He indicated his tan-and-gray uniform, and then gestured to Chrys' identical tan-and-gray and Hans' modified Nazi uniform. "So are they. Here in the Building, and in Chaos Restaurant and Nightclub, are the two safest places in the entire city. No fighting is allowed in either, which is an important consideration when considering that there's a lot of us who like to roughhouse. For relaxation, too, there's a gym and swimming pool downstairs, a communal recreation room complete with piano and TV on this floor, and a library. In summary, we're a friendly lot, usually, and always happy to answer questions."

"Thanks. So...what is the use of this meeting, aside from friendly conversations, meeting new people, and drinking? I mean, isn't it quite strange for just this kind of activities, and not to do anything?" asked Raka, simply.

[Tiltjuice]

"Thanks. So...what is the use of this meeting, aside from friendly conversations, meeting new people, and drinking? I mean, isn't it quite strange for just this kind of activities, and not to do anything?" asked Raka, simply.

"As someone who's sent around the world quite often to do nothing but talk, I understand your confusion. Really, though, it's a party, not so much a meeting. My Sister's lover and his fellows threw this party for her sake; only, it hasn't quite gotten started yet as people have been arriving throughout the past hour or so. I'm sure there'll be things to do shortly. In the meantime, there's quite a delicious spread of food available, if you're hungry. Do you have any special food requirements?"

Luce rethought his opinion of Raka. There seemed to be a single focus about him, as if he were businesslike. The short speech might be due to natural reserve, or feeling out of place as he'd mentioned earlier.