PL IC Thread IX++ //Oddsbodikins & Atomic Kittens//

[The BranRiech]

After executing the attendant as she crawled towards Bran with a hostile intent, he was grabbed and tossed into the bus by the familiar grab of NVE. He quickly sat himself down and lamented the fact that he couldn't really shoot back at the enemies following them, faces carved into "Happy" smiles, and reminded Bran quite a bit like zombies as the cars started zooming after them. "We need to get out of here! What the hell is this all about?!"

[The New Velociraptor Empire]

NVE grabbed the device from the toolbox and tossed it to Torii. "Does everything except wood, just point and click." he briefly explained as he drove over the remains of the office drones. The Yellow Helicopters opened fire on Paul with their miniguns as they chased the bus. A couple of the Mediator's cars crashed as the drivers were no longer able to do their job of driving, because Tsu shot them. More cars appeared from behind as the Mediators fired back at the bus. Windows broke in another nearby office as the eyeless office drones began throwing things at the bus. One broke through the bus window and landed on the Klingon. It was a small ball of puffy fur with four little nubs that wiggled as it moved and huge duck eyes. It made a sound like a mouse squeak combined with a bike horn combined with a sincere question about love. They were almost out of the city, but the mediators had set up a roadblock ahead with the help of the office drones and the construction workers.

"I have no idea! Looking at the map the next town over is Night Vale, but it is too close to consider it any sort of safe haven. I still need time to figure out how to hop forward to Bielefeld, I can't just set a dial I need to work out the extradimensional topography. And I can't think and drive at the same time!" NVE shouted to Bran as he swerved onto a side street to bypass the roadblock. "At least this isn't Texas!" he quipped.

[Torsiedelle]

"Got it! Thanks, Boss!", Torii cheered, taking the pen. With it in hand, and her design in mind, Torii laid her rifle across the seat in front of her, standing up, and began to etch a design around the gun of lines and dots, almost like electrical wiring. The Sonic device was working for her purpose, and she'd soon be able to help everyone out with even greater power than before.

Hitting bumps and taking fire didn't deter Tora, although she did have to take a little more time. Something was happening with her rifle as she worked on it. It was taking on a new form (not necessarily changing shape, but its function was definitely going to be different in the end.)

"Just a few more...lines...here...and here....", She was touching up the final work on her rifle. What it looked like was unknown, as she kept it hidden.

As the reinforcements for the mediators came in, she finished up and tossed the sonic penknife back to NVE. "Alright, let's try this out!", She said, brandishing her new Dimitrov-Vintikov Energy Rifle, MK.1.

[The Carlisle]

The miniguns did a good job at shredding Paul. Unfortunately, Paul had a heal factor, so his planty skin grew over as soon as the bullets hit. Out of Paul's head grew a pair of glowing eyes. The new set looked at the helicopters. In a second, his back exploded with growth. It formed a thick eaven shield, covering Paul from fire. The shield then exploded with growth. Out of it sprouted hundred of stem-like tubes. A slit opened up in the shield, revealing the glowing eyes, which flashed brightly for a second.

Then the tubes started firing. Hundred, thousands of arrow-like thorns started firing continuously at the helicopters.

[The BranRiech]

"What can I do!?" Bran shouted over the din as he thought of various things that he could do to help. He remembered a while back asking Mon for some grenades for something, and of course, since this was PL classic where nothing at all made sense, Bran fished around a bit more in the rucksack and pulled out something that, in America, was quite illegal to own. But in a situation of life and death at the hands of robots and Strexcorp, grenades made quite the convenient excuse to use.

He rushed to the back of the bus and shot one of the windows out, pulling the pin and dropping them on the road behind them.

[The New Velociraptor Empire]

One of the three yellow helicopters spun out of control as it was assaulted by the thorns and exploded in a fiery crash behind taking out a few of the pursuing mediators. The remaining two fired a couple missiles at Paul. Bran's grenades took out another Mediator, which ran into an office complex. Another roadblock was up ahead as NVE turned right again now heading back into the city looking for another path out. Suddenly the ground trembled as if the enemies had summoned an earthquake. In the center of Desert Bluffs, one of the uniformly heightened buildings broke the skyline as it rose higher and began moving slowly towards the new path ahead. It resembled a small sky scraper as it was thinner than the office buildings but was twice as tall. The building walked around on six spider-like legs and had the an orange eye in the middle of the triangle logo.

[Fvaarniimar]

Rmwtyliin, if she happened to be tired enough, could sleep through quite a bit. A general din? Perhaps. Venmii and Emm - her throat constricted - talking late into the night? Often. However, sounds previously unfamiliar and resembling those made by the weaponry which she'd heard earlier - those, she couldn't quite sleep through. The girl woke, if anything less grouchy than earlier, as she had been enjoying a pleasant dream. The details escaped her, but in some manner it had been comforting. The scene, once she'd reoriented herself, was not.

Rmwtyliin hadn't seen any of the reasons why the others were taking aggressive action; to her, it seemed as though the assault with deadly force was unprovoked. Therefore, action must be taken to stop it. Those who stood by during a genocide, or even a smaller attack, had some culpability in the atrocity.

What could be done? They'd sermed nice, and might listen to reason or privide an explanation, if she could ask for one. Beyond that... She hesitated to approach anyone with a weapon in their hand, and furthermore... Well, based on the eyes (Kale's seen in a reflection on a window) of both Kale and Paul and the... unquestionably supernatural... powers... The child trembled... shown earlier, Kale was actually causing the worst attack. Sighong in resignation, the girl maneuvered out of the cords and over to Kale. Granted, she seemed to be a spirit, although perhaps not of the sort Rmwtyliin worshipped.

The latter honestly did not think that the spirits whom she did worship would condone such behavior. Her country certainly wouldn't, and, as Fvaaviimkunz, her actions needed to reflect that.

(If she told herself enough, if she took on that role enough, maybe she could handle confronting the possibly-evil spirit. Mortal or no.)

After a long walk, during which Rmwtyliin kept her mouth firm and posture proper, and during which someone who noticed such things could have inferred the girl's thoughts from the movement of any other facial muscles they liked, the Fvaaviimkunz/Naabvimliikunz/Naaliiasz arrived at Kale's seat. Taking a deep breath, she tapped the girl - not hard enough to cause injury, but with an amount of force sufficient to have woken herself.

[Giovenith]

"... Well color me purple and call me a pickle!" Giovenith said in awe at the sudden appearance of the towering building monster, leaning over Marcus to press her face against the glass of their window to gawk at it.

The explosions, bus chase, gunfire, intense plant magic, and androids had been enough to drive this place into the abnormal, but this now pushed it all into the downright surreal. It was mind-blowing, and had stolen most of her attention in this situation. She might have actually appreciated it from an artistic standing were they not in mortal danger.

[Torsiedelle]

"Go for the eye?", Torii suggested to nobody in particular. She was itching to give her new rifle a try, and leaned out one of the windows to get a good view. She took aim, and pulled the trigger...

The rifle fired, instead of a bullet, a bright red beam projectile emitted from the gun, with a greatly reduced recoil to boot. Torii was surprised pleasantly by this, and formed two more rounds before stopping.

[The Carlisle]

The missiles were a lot more effective than the miniguns were. Not only was the shield/arrows gone, but Paul upper torso was hanging on by a thread.

Meanwhile, in the bus, Kale was poke. The glowing eyes flashed back to normal and Kale looked delirious. "Ummm..., wha...?" she said, unsure of what was going on. She looked to the girl next to her now. "Uh.... hi!" she said. She gave a weak wave.

Back on the roof. Paul, now cut off from Kale's control, started mutating. The damage was quickly repaired, replaced with a thick leaven scale-like skin. In fact, the leaven scale spread to encompass his entire torso and a ring around the top of his head. Paul's left arm shrunk to normal and was now raised at the helicopters. It morphed into an extremely thorny missile shaped bush, similar to that of a "Gorse". And like a missile, it launched at them, propelled with water like a squirting cucumber. When the Gorse missile was in between the two helicopters, it exploded violently, sending thousands upon thousands of thorns in every which direction.

[Fvaarniimar]

Rmwtyliin buried her face in her hands. Oh, no... Somehow, she'd made this worse. Perhaps disrupting the... spirit's? Girl's? She didn't seem evil. If anything, she seemed - ill. Perhaps she thought she was being attacked? That would explain her actions at least.

The Fvaarniimarn pulled a small canteen-like vessel, what appeared to be a nut, and a square of rough linen from a pouch previously underneath her clothes. Squinting at the 'nut', she removed a small stopper and tilted the shell. A drop of oil formed; catching it on her finger and marveling slightly at the icy sensation, she dabbed it onto Kale's forehead, careful to get none in her eyes. A smell that Kale might have compared to camphor, or to peppermint, filled the air as Rmwtyliin repeated the same general procedure with the linen and the canteen to dampen the cloth. While she was at it, the girl removed a few nuts. Resealing vessels and pouch, Rmwtyliin swished the damp cloth through the air to cool it and then placed it on the older girl's forehead.

Kale's forehead, for twenty minutes or so, would feel considerably colder than would her surroundings. As water evaporated from the cloth, its actual temperature also would drop, although only slightly. Rmwtyliin didn't know why any of these things worked, but she did know that they did. Cracking several nuts, a few between her teeth and another between two much larger ones, she ate the tooth-cracked nuts herself and placed the other in the other girl's mouth.

Having done all that someone with her pretty basic medical training could, Rmwryliin started murmuring soothing words which were considerably more so if the intended recipient understood Fvaarniimarn. (Besides, continuing to try to help Kale meant that she could postpone her duty to do something about what was going on outside... Not that she'd consciously admit to that motivation...)

[Rygondria]

One of the three yellow helicopters spun out of control as it was assaulted by the thorns and exploded in a fiery crash behind taking out a few of the pursuing mediators. The remaining two fired a couple missiles at Paul. Bran's grenades took out another Mediator, which ran into an office complex. Another roadblock was up ahead as NVE turned right again now heading back into the city looking for another path out. Suddenly the ground trembled as if the enemies had summoned an earthquake. In the center of Desert Bluffs, one of the uniformly heightened buildings broke the skyline as it rose higher and began moving slowly towards the new path ahead. It resembled a small sky scraper as it was thinner than the office buildings but was twice as tall. The building walked around on six spider-like legs and had the an orange eye in the middle of the triangle logo.

Reginald seeing this shouted," Bloody hell a walking building ! Hmm never expected to see that but oh well. atleast i get to shoot stuff". Reginald then fired his elephant rifle at the pursuers even one shot at the building. He then said," Could some one pass me my ammo sack"!

[Cerillium]

"... Well color me purple and call me a pickle!" Giovenith said in awe at the sudden appearance of the towering building monster, leaning over Marcus to press her face against the glass of their window to gawk at it.

The explosions, bus chase, gunfire, intense plant magic, and androids had been enough to drive this place into the abnormal, but this now pushed it all into the downright surreal. It was mind-blowing, and had stolen most of her attention in this situation. She might have actually appreciated it from an artistic standing were they not in mortal danger.

Marcus didn't have time to remind Giovenith that pickles were green. He was trying to see the building monster but her hair had gotten in the way. "Giovenith, be careful. They might aim for the windows!"

It was a somewhat stupid observation. The entire bus was a massive target. The boy shot a glance at the velociraptor (indeed, Texas would be less wild!) and shouted, "NVE, I have internal processors faster than most computers. Give me the calculations and I'll crunch the numbers for you!"

[The New Velociraptor Empire]

Torii's attack knocked the logo off of the building, dropping the burning hunk of metal and plastic onto the street below. It revealed a large glowing crack not just in the building, but in space and time, it seemed to give a wicked grin as corrupt as the denizens of this place. NVE swerved onto a side street to avoid the behemoth, smashing through an incomplete barricade. Paul's missile thinned out the remaining airborne forces, new helicopters fresh from the factory could be seen approaching in the distance.

Reginald would find a fuzzy ball of fur about the size of a basket ball had made it into the bus. It had huge duck eyes and squeaked cutely as it skittered towards him on four little nubs that were presumably legs.

NVE had his pride hurt a little as he passed his scrawled notes on the local map to Marcus. "I ran out of room, so I wrote the rest on the side of he bus back at the station." he explained. The notes suggested that the area was some sort of pseudo-pocket universe with some spacial and temporal similarities to Bielefeld, though it had two focal points within it. Desert Bluffs was on one, and a town called Night Vale was at the other.

[Rygondria]

Torii's attack knocked the logo off of the building, dropping the burning hunk of metal and plastic onto the street below. It revealed a large glowing crack not just in the building, but in space and time, it seemed to give a wicked grin as corrupt as the denizens of this place. NVE swerved onto a side street to avoid the behemoth, smashing through an incomplete barricade. Paul's missile thinned out the remaining airborne forces, new helicopters fresh from the factory could be seen approaching in the distance.

Reginald would find a fuzzy ball of fur about the size of a basket ball had made it into the bus. It had huge duck eyes and squeaked cutely as it skittered towards him on four little nubs that were presumably legs.

NVE had his pride hurt a little as he passed his scrawled notes on the local map to Marcus. "I ran out of room, so I wrote the rest on the side of he bus back at the station." he explained. The notes suggested that the area was some sort of pseudo-pocket universe with some spacial and temporal similarities to Bielefeld, though it had two focal points within it. Desert Bluffs was on one, and a town called Night Vale was at the other.

Reginald seeing the fuzzy ball creature backed away from it and said to himself,"What oddity of creature is this. Should i shoot it or let it go. I will test it to make sure it is not aggressive". Reginald then brought out a piece of spam he found in the bus and a piece of melon and placed them near by to examine if this creature was a herbivore or a carnivore.

[Swith Witherward]

Torii's attack knocked the logo off of the building, dropping the burning hunk of metal and plastic onto the street below. It revealed a large glowing crack not just in the building, but in space and time, it seemed to give a wicked grin as corrupt as the denizens of this place. NVE swerved onto a side street to avoid the behemoth, smashing through an incomplete barricade. Paul's missile thinned out the remaining airborne forces, new helicopters fresh from the factory could be seen approaching in the distance.

Reginald would find a fuzzy ball of fur about the size of a basket ball had made it into the bus. It had huge duck eyes and squeaked cutely as it skittered towards him on four little nubs that were presumably legs.

NVE had his pride hurt a little as he passed his scrawled notes on the local map to Marcus. "I ran out of room, so I wrote the rest on the side of he bus back at the station." he explained. The notes suggested that the area was some sort of pseudo-pocket universe with some spacial and temporal similarities to Bielefeld, though it had two focal points within it. Desert Bluffs was on one, and a town called Night Vale was at the other.

"Don't worry about it, NVE," Marcus smiled. "No genius works in an orderly fashion. I'm not a genius but I once wrote a love poem on the inside of an access panel because I didn't have paper, and I use the walls as a place to draft blueprints."

He removed a small object from a pocket and turned a key at the very top of it. The device was spider-like, with multiple legs and a red optic. Once wound, Marcus placed it on the window and watched as it slipped out to survey the raptor's notes on the outside of the bus. The spider returned to him and he slipped it back into his pocket. His processors worked at a blinding speed. "Alright," he said after a few heartbeats and after he'd written the results into the margin of NVE's notes, "I've taken everything into effect, included some dimensional fluff taught at the Observatory, tossed in a wild McGuffin, and I believe these calculations will help. Night Vale sounds interesting, though. Almost mysterious."

He handed the notes back to NVE and shrugged.


A savage grin crept onto Swith's face. Buildings that were monsterous? Helicopters out to get them? She toyed with the idea of crushing everything in sight, and then remembered that she wasn't allowed to display power. Well, shit. No fair! No fun! She sunk back into the bus seat and sighed. Her nose soon detected the odor of Spam. Ah, inspiration.

Swith rooted about the bus floor until she found an intact can. She tore the top off (because Spam keys were annoying) and slopped the tinned meat onto her palm. Her fingers worked quickly to form the spam into the shape of a tiny naked mole rat and then scooted over until she was next to Rmwtyliin.

"Hello," she said in the girl's native tongue. "Listen, I know this is all new to you, and you seem to be lacking the modern language skills. This," and here she lifted the naked mole rat up... it squeaked and waved a paw, "this is Duncan. He's an interpreter rat. He may look ugly, but he's got a good heart, and all those wrinkles in his skin just mean he hasn't been given much to absorb yet. You put him on your shoulder and he listens to what people say, and then he translates the words for you. And when you talk, he listens and then translates the words to whatever language is necessary. It's a good way of learning a language, plus you won't feel so alone and frightened with Duncan around. Just don't let the raptor eat him."

She settled the spammy rat onto the girl's shoulder. "See? It's just like that!"

The rat listened and then repeated "See? It's just like that!" in Rmwtyliin's native tongue.

Swith returned to her seat and hunkered down. The magic cap wasn't limited to forming spam-daemons, so pooh on red tape and pantheon agreements.

[Fvaarniimar]

Torii's attack knocked the logo off of the building, dropping the burning hunk of metal and plastic onto the street below. It revealed a large glowing crack not just in the building, but in space and time, it seemed to give a wicked grin as corrupt as the denizens of this place. NVE swerved onto a side street to avoid the behemoth, smashing through an incomplete barricade. Paul's missile thinned out the remaining airborne forces, new helicopters fresh from the factory could be seen approaching in the distance.

Reginald would find a fuzzy ball of fur about the size of a basket ball had made it into the bus. It had huge duck eyes and squeaked cutely as it skittered towards him on four little nubs that were presumably legs.

NVE had his pride hurt a little as he passed his scrawled notes on the local map to Marcus. "I ran out of room, so I wrote the rest on the side of he bus back at the station." he explained. The notes suggested that the area was some sort of pseudo-pocket universe with some spacial and temporal similarities to Bielefeld, though it had two focal points within it. Desert Bluffs was on one, and a town called Night Vale was at the other.

"Don't worry about it, NVE," Marcus smiled. "No genius works in an orderly fashion. I'm not a genius but I once wrote a love poem on the inside of an access panel because I didn't have paper, and I use the walls as a place to draft blueprints."

He removed a small object from a pocket and turned a key at the very top of it. The device was spider-like, with multiple legs and a red optic. Once wound, Marcus placed it on the window and watched as it slipped out to survey the raptor's notes on the outside of the bus. The spider returned to him and he slipped it back into his pocket. His processors worked at a blinding speed. "Alright," he said after a few heartbeats and after he'd written the results into the margin of NVE's notes, "I've taken everything into effect, included some dimensional fluff taught at the Observatory, tossed in a wild McGuffin, and I believe these calculations will help. Night Vale sounds interesting, though. Almost mysterious."

He handed the notes back to NVE and shrugged.


A savage grin crept onto Swith's face. Buildings that were monsterous? Helicopters out to get them? She toyed with the idea of crushing everything in sight, and then remembered that she wasn't allowed to display power. Well, shit. No fair! No fun! She sunk back into the bus seat and sighed. Her nose soon detected the odor of Spam. Ah, inspiration.

Swith rooted about the bus floor until she found an intact can. She tore the top off (because Spam keys were annoying) and slopped the tinned meat onto her palm. Her fingers worked quickly to form the spam into the shape of a tiny naked mole rat and then scooted over until she was next to Rmwtyliin.

"Hello," she said in the girl's native tongue. "Listen, I know this is all new to you, and you seem to be lacking the modern language skills. This," and here she lifted the naked mole rat up... it squeaked and waved a paw, "this is Duncan. He's an interpreter rat. He may look ugly, but he's got a good heart, and all those wrinkles in his skin just mean he hasn't been given much to absorb yet. You put him on your shoulder and he listens to what people say, and then he translates the words for you. And when you talk, he listens and then translates the words to whatever language is necessary. It's a good way of learning a language, plus you won't feel so alone and frightened with Duncan around. Just don't let the raptor eat him."

She settled the spammy rat onto the girl's shoulder. "See? It's just like that!"

The rat listened and then repeated "See? It's just like that!" in Rmwtyliin's native tongue.

Swith returned to her seat and hunkered down. The magic cap wasn't limited to forming spam-daemons, so pooh on red tape and pantheon agreements.

Rmwtyliin didn't recognize Swith as the woman who'd upset the others until the latter was halfway through her speech. Given that said speech was actually in Fvaarniimarn, and she had been very nice, the girl decided that the woman was probably just as much if a victim of circumstance as were any of them. "Th-" But Swith had already walked away.

"Um, should we go find someone to talk to?" She didn't expect the rodent to respond. When he apparently did, she looked at him oddly for a few moments, before realizing that that was likely the translation of what she'd said. Looking around, she spotted a girl, pressed against a window - one of the ones from earlier, actually. She approached.

"Hello. I'm..." she decided to assume first-name basis, a bit rude but..."Rmwtyliin. I'm from Fvaarniimar, four-125s 1-25 4-1s FV. Um. I have no idea how any of this happened... Oh, and this is apparently Duncan... That woman over there - the girl indicated Swith's general direction - gave him to me to help translate."

[Giovenith]

"Oooo, you're the new girl," Giovenith carefully leaned back onto the edge of her seat, letting Marcus to the technology and math things he was good at. "Good thing we can communicate with you now!"

She stumbled a bit, keeping herself upright under the constant swinging of the bus chase. Buses were known for their lack of seat belts for the purpose of being able to escape quickly in the event of a fire, though it came with the wobbly consequences of having to hang on tight when you were being hunted down by scary helicopters and building beasts.

"I promise you, these things only happen like, at least once a week," the godling reassured with a nervous smile, the best kind of nice small talk and greeting she could manage under the circumstances. "You'll love being here the rest of the time!"

[Fvaarniimar]

"Oooo, you're the new girl," Giovenith carefully leaned back onto the edge of her seat, letting Marcus to the technology and math things he was good at. "Good thing we can communicate with you now!"

She stumbled a bit, keeping herself upright under the constant swinging of the bus chase. Buses were known for their lack of seat belts for the purpose of being able to escape quickly in the event of a fire, though it came with the wobbly consequences of having to hang on tight when you were being hunted down by scary helicopters and building beasts.

"I promise you, these things only happen like, at least once a week," the godling reassured with a nervous smile, the best kind of nice small talk and greeting she could manage under the circumstances. "You'll love being here the rest of the time!"

"This sort of violence... It occurs once in every one 5 and two 1s days?! I... But why? Why are they attacking them? Why did they attack them earlier? It is not like this at home. Attacks like these, they are the stuff of history books for me, and sad history at that. Also, I still do not understand why I am here! I have thought that the spirits had sent me, but I know not why I would be sent to a place so... hostile!" The girl flinched internally at her frankness, but it had been a long day and the words continued to spill out. "There is so much strange, here, too - a vehicle which flies as if a bird, a girl..." she pointed to Kale - "With powers held by spirits, a giant lizard who even seems to be speaking, a powerful spirit held in the ceiling and controlled by a stick which moves up and down. I even touched the stick, before I realized what it did! What is one to think?" Her expression, at first revealing little, had feeling creep into it as she went on, bending the lines into a script some could read, one which telegraphed emotion as surely as any paranormal ability.

[Giovenith]

"Oooo, you're the new girl," Giovenith carefully leaned back onto the edge of her seat, letting Marcus to the technology and math things he was good at. "Good thing we can communicate with you now!"

She stumbled a bit, keeping herself upright under the constant swinging of the bus chase. Buses were known for their lack of seat belts for the purpose of being able to escape quickly in the event of a fire, though it came with the wobbly consequences of having to hang on tight when you were being hunted down by scary helicopters and building beasts.

"I promise you, these things only happen like, at least once a week," the godling reassured with a nervous smile, the best kind of nice small talk and greeting she could manage under the circumstances. "You'll love being here the rest of the time!"

"This sort of violence... It occurs once in every one 5 and two 1s days?! I... But why? Why are they attacking them? Why did they attack them earlier? It is not like this at home. Attacks like these, they are the stuff of history books for me, and sad history at that. Also, I still do not understand why I am here! I have thought that the spirits had sent me, but I know not why I would be sent to a place so... hostile!" The girl flinched internally at her frankness, but it had been a long day and the words continued to spill out. "There is so much strange, here, too - a vehicle which flies as if a bird, a girl..." she pointed to Kale - "With powers held by spirits, a giant lizard who even seems to be speaking. What is one to think?" Her expression, at first revealing little, had feeling creep into it as she went on, bending the lines into a script some could read, one which telegraphed emotion as surely as any paranormal ability.

"I understand your confusion, it happens to all the ones who first arrive here," Giovenith continued to reassure in a soothing tone, reaching out politely to offer one hand, while using the other to grip her seat. While her initial reaction was to give the usual brief explanation of life in the apartment, another bump in the road and the screaming obvious turned her to a more serious tone, "We're attacking them, because we have reason to believe they have every intention of harming us. Believe me, I also avoid violence Miss, but this is not a place where all others will leave you be to respect that." Her memory rolled back on all of the invasions.

[Fvaarniimar]

"Oh." She frowned. "Usually we try to be diplomatic. It helps that we are on an isolated island, without any resources worth stealing." Her lips pushed out, suddenly appearing similar to a fish's face. "I guess maybe that does not always work. Defending yourself is okay. And what do you mean, "People who first arrive here?" I thought we'd all been..." She searched for an appropriate expression... "Twisted, bent, folded, torn in time? Toh-ree was saying "we", I thought." Raising her head somewhat, she looked the girl in eyes that she belatedly realized were lavender; as Fvaarniimarn eye colors were found a bit odd by others in her world, she just chalked the oddity up to regional differences. "Also, tell me. There seems to be so much about this world that frightens me, that causes me discomfort. Yet you say that, one-5 and one-1 days in one-5 and two-1s, I will be very happy here. I really do not understand! Your face seems to indicate sincerity, but your words seem to have contradictions."

[Giovenith]

"Oh." She frowned. "Usually we try to be diplomatic. It helps that we are on an isolated island, without any resources worth stealing." Her lips pushed out, suddenly appearing similar to a fish's face. "I guess maybe that does not always work. Defending yourself is okay. And what do you mean, "People who first arrive here?" I thought we'd all been..." She searched for an appropriate expression... "Twisted, bent, folded, torn in time? Toh-ree was saying "we", I thought." Raising her head somewhat, she looked the girl in eyes that she belatedly realized were lavender; as Fvaarniimarn eye colors were found a bit odd by others in her world, she just chalked the oddity up to regional differences. "Also, tell me. There seems to be so much about this world that frightens me, that causes me discomfort. Yet you say that, one-5 and one-1 days in one-5 and two-1s, I will be very happy here. I really do not understand! Your face seems to indicate sincerity, but your words seem to have contradictions."

"Twas more of a generalization on the time periods," Giovenith explained as best she could. "Well, you see, there's this special place, a building actually, where a bunch of different people all live together. And because we're all so different, we often wind up getting into mischief like this."

If one could call gunfire, helicopters, and building monsters "mischief."

"My name is Giovenith, by the way."

[The Carlisle]

Kale felt odd as the girl did her strange ritual. But weirdly enough, it seemed to have an effect. The deliriousness from before dissipated and her head felt level. She felt she could focus better. Kale gave a smile to the girl. "Thank you," she said.

Now, what was she doing again? She looked around, seeing Paul wasn't around. It felt as if she blacked out for a bit before coming back. What happened?

Through all of this, Paul was taking action. Out of Paul's back grew two more Gorse Missiles, which then fired and went towards the new helicopters. After that, Paul put his hands palms up in front of him. Out of them grew thorny caltrops. He then threw both fistfuls of caltrops on the road behind them.

[The New Velociraptor Empire]

The StrexPet (as the creature was called but not known by Reginald) skittered up to the food and opened a circular mouth of rotating saw teeth that devoured the sample morsels. It vibrated a bit and then grew a little bit larger, now the size of a beach ball with it's gaping mouth going for Reginald's leg.

NVE took the notes from Marcus and looked them over, as he did the bus scrapped against a wall and suddenly smashed through a mobile home as he broke out of the town. "Brilliant! The exit is still in the sky where we entered. Just need to shake off these forces." NVE said. as the bus shook.

On the roof, Paul's missiles took out another helicopter as the other dodged and made a swipe trying to knock Paul off with force as all it's weapons fired. The Mediator's cars swerved and were slowed down by the spike trap.

Up ahead a tribal horn sounded as in front of the bus, coming from the desert was a herd of strange four armed deer (the legs were regular, they just had four arms in addition) with spears and bows. Riding upon the lead dear was a man in a tweed suit and a helmet fashioned out of one of the deer's heads and had a revolver that looked like NVE's. He could be heard shouting, "I AM KING OF THE DEER PEOPLE!" as he rode towards the bus holstering his gun.

On the radio, the weather segment ended, and returned to it's overly positive format with calming Renaissance instrumentals.

"Are you achieving your fullest potential? Are you finding the right solutions for your challenges? Are you making the most of what you’re given? Do you believe in a Smiling God?

Of course you do! We all do. We must!

Well, what if I told you the Smiling God was smiling more than ever? What if the Smiling God had a smile so wide that you could see yourself in its mirrored teeth? And what if I told you that your gauzy reflection looked perfect – just perfect?

You would like that. Of course! We all would. We must!

And what if I told you you’re perfect self hated your imperfect self? And as the Smiling God smiled wider, you could see a tongue pressing through the teeth – thick, and pink, and gray, and wet.

And what if I told you you could see your imperfect self in the shining sheen of the bulging tongue? And in your reflection you were slack and sallow? And maybe bleeding. A lot.

Bleeding so much!

And what if I told you you could kill your imperfect self?

What if I told you you could achieve your fullest potential?

StrexCorp Synernists Inc. is a proud supporter of the Desert Bluff's community.

StrexCorp. Believe in a Smiling God.

Believe in your perfect self.

Strex.

Strex."

[Fvaarniimar]

"Oh." She frowned. "Usually we try to be diplomatic. It helps that we are on an isolated island, without any resources worth stealing." Her lips pushed out, suddenly appearing similar to a fish's face. "I guess maybe that does not always work. Defending yourself is okay. And what do you mean, "People who first arrive here?" I thought we'd all been..." She searched for an appropriate expression... "Twisted, bent, folded, torn in time? Toh-ree was saying "we", I thought." Raising her head somewhat, she looked the girl in eyes that she belatedly realized were lavender; as Fvaarniimarn eye colors were found a bit odd by others in her world, she just chalked the oddity up to regional differences. "Also, tell me. There seems to be so much about this world that frightens me, that causes me discomfort. Yet you say that, one-5 and one-1 days in one-5 and two-1s, I will be very happy here. I really do not understand! Your face seems to indicate sincerity, but your words seem to have contradictions."

"Twas more of a generalization on the time periods," Giovenith explained as best she could. "Well, you see, there's this special place, a building actually, where a bunch of different people all live together. And because we're all so different, we often wind up getting into mischief like this."

If one could call gunfire, helicopters, and building monsters "mischief."

"My name is Giovenith, by the way."

"Oh. Um, hi - Gee-oh-veh-nith. What do you mean - different? Like those here who seem to be reflections-of-the-spirits-in-the-people despite not being Fvaa and despite power of that magnitude not even being attributed to spirits, much less them? Like the giant lizard who is dressed, or, perhaps, I suppose those time-torn as I am? Come to think of it, are there any others here who are?"

(Of course, Duncan continued to translate.)

And then the broadcast occurred. Before, it had gone over the girl's head. Now, it was comprehensible.

"W-what's a smiling spirit? It sounds evil. Does it smile to fool people?" "Spirit" in Rmwtyliin's tongue didn't carry quite the same connotations as would "god" in English. Perhaps problematically, it was the closest analogue to the word.