Personification Life: EPIC (IC Thread XI) [CLOSED]

[Northwest Slobovia]

The Burrows, Pub

Amanda's head jerked back when Sakarias mentioned the Soviet Union, and when she finished her chip, she quickly took a sip of lemonade before speaking rapidly. "The Soviets? In my world, they collapsed in 1991. So, you're from a different Earth's future than mine. Which, in retrospect, probably isn't so suprising, since you made no mention of magic in your world." There was a distinct pause as Amanda considered something. "Or perhaps not: maybe somebody covered for us, or perhaps the investigation collapsed."

Amanda shook her head, then answered one of Sakarias' previous questions. "Yes, the music's digital. I have a few thousand tracks on my phone; I've never checked the count. I also have some games, though I rarely play them. But other than talking and sending texts, the big thing smart phones provide are apps, like the restaurant guide I showed you. In Ascalon, people's phones are also their wallets; there's an app for that. There's a few different electronic currencies in use there, in addition to Demens' coins."

"We'll have to get you a phone, too, so you can stay in touch. The techpriests even have their own network that'll work anywhere."

Beer in hand, Audette greeted them, not so much as breaking her nonchalant grin. "Afternoon. I've seen y'all around, right?"

Amanda was about to take another bite of her roast beef when Audette spoke. She looked up at the newcomer, setting her sandwich down as she did so. "I'm not sure, but I don't think there are that many Americans here in The Burrows. Please, come sit with us. I'm Amanda Bela." Amanda wiped her hand on her napkin and offered it to the woman with a welcoming smile."

[Swith Witherward]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: ALPHA

---

"There's still a breathing human soul in you, is there not?" Minerva closed her eyes and drew a steadying breath. Of course there wasn't a human soul in her. That was somewhere else, and its void filled by her inner daemon. The woman didn't have it in her to explain this, however. Even had she wanted to, there was the mission at hand. Every last ounce of pain found itself crammed into a dark corner of her mind. Her focus was the grim present, not the empty future nor the brutal past.

"Right," she shook Romulus' hand to establish pax, then turned towards Myra. "What's the situation?"

The mousy girl released a pent-up breath and turned in her wooden chair. Fingers flew against the invisible screen as the locker bay unlocked itself for team access, and Minerva helped herself to her customary items as Myra laid out the situation.

"Extraction," the girl brushed brown bangs from her eyes before confirming team arrival via a few finger taps to the screen. "Heavy storm, and it looks like you're rescuing her from her downed craft... before it goes down. It's a former British RAF pilot named Julia Harker."

"RAF?" Minerva's brow arched.

"Discharged 2009. Not your era, ma'am," Myra shrugged.

Now those two make sense, Minerva quickly eyed the Jedi and professor before slipping her jacket back on. One can fly under his own power, the other can hold things aloft. A wicked idea sprang to mind. "We aren't going in as Alpha," the cultist leader tugged on her glove, "Let the General take this one-"

"But Delta is high risk, heavy recovery!" Myra twisted in her chair to face Minerva. "We don't send Delta on this stuff."

The cultist leader snorted. "Rescuing someone on a helicopter as it goes down in a storm? Sounds like a high risk recovery to me."

"Captain Blackwater, don't be a twat! You're every bit capable of leading-"

Minerva's scowl caused the teen to shrink back. "Assign the Professor as Tango leader, Myra, and the Jedi to him. Let them handle the pilot. I'm with the General on Delta. We can't afford to lose that equipment. It's damn near impossible to get parts here."

The girl eyed the other three before uttering a soft sigh. "You all make my life hell."

She turned back to her invisible monitor. "The Gate will drop you in the bird, in the cargo or crew area. You'll have just a few minutes to grab her and shove her out the door with you... Tango Team. Send a signal when you're ready, and Dweezle will open the Gate here. If you grab the craft and keep it flying, you damn well better let me know before you try to come through, 'cause Dweezle will need to route Delta to a Gatehouse large enough to handle it, and that takes time. If you still want to do this?"

"We'll go in two groups," Minerva corrected. "General, I advise that Delta goes in first. The pilot won't have accounted for your weight, and we don't know what cargo it carries. I'll move to the Co-Pilot seat - I presume there isn't anyone else on board?"

"None that I know of, Ma'am."

"Then, with the General's permission, I'll take the controls while he physically extracts her and tosses her towards Tango. Tango goes out the door or through a Gate. Delta deals with the chopper. Just make sure I step through the portal first, or I'll never reach the co-pilot chair in Time to prepare for the rest of you."

Minerva tossed an Orb to Sandy before picking up the one usually reserved for her. Her eyes met Romulus' as her hand dipped in preparation of tossing it to him. "What do you say, Romulus? Shall we try to establish trust between us again? I'll probably need your mind and suit to make this happen. I've Time to give. Shall we make this "high risk recovery" happen?"

"If you wait another ten minutes, you'll be stepping into the ocean," Myra quipped as Dweezle powered up the Gate. "It's now or never. Two minutes until Gate activation. Finish gearing up."

[Swith Witherward]

Groundtown

Yuna watched Willow and Pansy fly away, Cloud Duster in tow. She sighed and returned her attention to SkyWishes. "I hope you're right," the foreign filly could't keep the doubt from her voice. "But can we talk to her in a way she'll understand? Look at Moolisa. She's ready to go, and that tells me others probably are, too. Can we talk sense into any of them? Why would they listen to Sundae, anyway? And what is Sundae so... weird?"

At least Willow and Rache had a more pleasant night than the Luxan and princess, Rache thought. He nodded at the mention of the artifact. Really, until now, he hadn't given the device that brought them there any consideration. They were fortunate to have a Luxan along. Trust them to notice this shit.

The daemonpony's mouth curled into a subtle smile. "I'm guessing this hasn't been very pleasant for you?" he stated flatly. "Trapped in equine form and with your mask as your assmark, wandering through lands filled with cute things." Rache's ears perked. "I won't lie. I've personally enjoyed parts of it. I'm going to absolutely enjoy teasing the fuck out of that damn avatar, Naomi. Oh but she loves her Aegis. To know that you were seen without your mask! I won't tell her your eye color."

He glanced at Yuna and SkyWishes and then went back to business. "Once we reach Town Hall, you two will have an easier time of convincing the Chancellor to give you parts of the artifact. Do we know where the other parts are?"

[Holy Lykos]

"The Soviets fell? Strange. They weren't really enemies by that time anymore. They even had a consulate in LA. The big enemy for my time was China. We even ended up going to war with them as the resources dwindled, them invading Alaska like I mentioned earlier.

"And no, no magic. I'm still unconvinced all these things people are calling magic isn't just some scientifically based thing that people don't fully understand." He mentioned, shrugging and scratching his chin a bit. "I might have to get one of those phones though yeah. Though I think I still have an internal radio in my body, Its how the Institute issued orders to synths, though most synths have had it removed so they can't be controlled. A phone seems a much nicer alternative. Are there games on it? I know pipboys had these cartridges you could buy way back that let you play games like an arcade and everything."

Beer in hand, Audette greeted them, not so much as breaking her nonchalant grin. "Afternoon. I've seen y'all around, right?"

Amanda was about to take another bite of her roast beef when Audette spoke. She looked up at the newcomer, setting her sandwich down as she did so. "I'm not sure, but I don't think there are that many Americans here in The Burrows. Please, come sit with us. I'm Amanda Bela." Amanda wiped her hand on her napkin and offered it to the woman with a welcoming smile."

"Oh, Nice to meet you, though I think I'm new here, unless you saw me running around while we were escaping." He nodded, offering up his hand as well for her to shake once she was done shaking Amanda's. "Sakarias Viitanen here. Don't mind my appearance, mentally I'm just as human as you two."

---

Meanwhile, Sterling simply smiled and let Rmw do her thing. She had her training after all and with her hands could do things Sterling couldn't do as much, even through Magic. He instead went and sat near where Nick was, making sure to keep magically petting him. He looked like he could use the extra relaxation anyway, with how tense he was. Unfortunate too, he'd really been a big help during this whole ordeal. But then something popped up in the pony's mind, and he looked over towards the two.

"Miss Otonako? Did you get hit in the head by any chance? If you did there's a possibility of concussion I'd think, or at least some other kinds of potential issues. I can't quite remember how to check that, do you remember Rmw?"

---

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: ALPHA

---

Maghrl watched the exchange between Myra and Minerva quizzically, one ear flicking upward as Minerva started listing off her idea to split into two teams. Oh that did sound fun, if no other reason than they'd be able to recover some valuable technology. What was so special about these helicopter things though? He'd never heard about them before! Was it something like a repulsor vehicle, maybe more primitive? Either way he wanted to see one and get to look over its parts. Maybe even try to help fix it up. It is always great to get familiar with new tech. IT'd been a while since he'd gotten time to tinker too!

"Maghrl no objectionwise plan!" He chimed in, rushing to collect some of his things and get situated. He was almost a purple blur as he rushed across the platform for his locker of things, grabbing a few things he'd stashed there, mostly a few tools just in case he needed to do something involving bringing a door off its hinges and wasn't able to use the force. HE still had pretty much everything on him from the trip(s) earlier in the day.

"Though, hope less tiringwise last few mission. Been long day for all us." He mentioned, glancing towards Minerva with a sympathetic frown. He couldn't imagine what she was going through right now, he'd never been that close with anyone and lost them. Either way, he dashed back over to Sandy when he was done, ready to follow him into the breach once it was their turn.

[Torsiedelle]

Burrows

Audette laughed. "And here I thought I was one of a kind. Yeah, I'm American, by birth.", She said. She shook Amanda's hand, then Sakarias's; they would both probably note that she had a solid, strong grasp, a sign of confidence.

"Don't mind me if you're speakin', just findin' me some company. I dropped off a girl I'm kind of lookin' out for.", Her eyes gleamed. "And now I'm bored, so you two seemed interesting to me."

She caught bits of what Sakarias said, and glanced his way, interested, but otherwise silent.

[Chedastan]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: ALPHA Pending

---

The General breathed a sigh of relief to himself when the Captain shook his hand, as it was a sign that maybe they could try to put that incident behind them, or at least remain civil to each other. But of course they had other more pressing and urgent matters to attend to that could'n't be concerned with their current grievances between each other. As Romulus listened to the exchange between Minerva and Myra, he understood quite clearly that they were going to be teleporting into a moving helicopter, which had raised a concerned brow from him. As he could only imagine how much his weight alone would most certainly upset the structure and distribution of the craft, and especially so given the adverse conditions that it'll be facing via a storm.

But given Minerva's confidence in his continual participation on this mission, and her cunning plan to execute for it that seemed sound enough in theory to the General, he relaxed a bit, still having enough trust in her to try and not get them both killed along with the pilot. Though hopefully when the plan is actually put in practice, the helicopter doesn't immediately start going down from his abrupt embarkation of it, because then they'll have way less time to work with then planned.

He noticed that Minerva then tossed their Orb at him and he quickly caught it in his gauntlet-clad hands. He looked back at her again when she asked her question to him, he paused for a few seconds to think to only then get urged by Myra that they basically had to go now very shortly. He was hesitant at first, given what he still witnessed, but he knew for practical reasons alone he couldn't say no to her, but for reasons other than that? A time to ponder later no doubt.

"Yes, Minerva, lets make this mission happen. I mean I'm still your executive officer, aren't I?" He tried to smile in good will, but he worried that it came off as a little forced. Hopefully he'll learn to smile again to her for real eventually, if he'll ever get over the whole thing that is. Maybe. Was what he hoped for.

[Relikai]

Konayama Miyuki
Bench

I screwed up. Miyuki thought as she realised how affected Tora was regarding the building.

You baka. You went to Tohoku didn't you. What did you do there for the people? How did you raise their spirits?

Miyuki stood up, carrying her items before crouching as she extended a gloved hand to Tora. Her smile was sincere, the singer looking at the girl's outfit as a whole for the first time.

Looks like something I could wear in the future... with no cameras.

"Come Tora, I'll find a place where we can rest, a place where we can get better. I hope you can trust me in this." Miyuki said, intent of going to the clinic together. Her throat was getting rough, a symptom which a fellow member had to go for an operation to treat it in the past. Miyuki felt that slight tinge of fear too.

What is going on?

[Torsiedelle]

BENCH

Torii hesitated - then took Miyuki's and helped herself up. "The Clinic would do. I don't feel too well, anyway."

She hadn't been coughing as badly, but she hadn't stopped completely, and between the wheezy, weak feeling in her chest and her swimming head, and all the stress from everything else, it was probably best that she get help.

"Thanks, again.", She told the other woman. She took a step forward, wobbled, and straightened herself out. It was a sudden loss of balance, and Torii almost found herself falling straight to the ground.

[Primordial Luxa]

Aegis blushed at Raches prodding a strange sight because he rarely displayed much emotion from behind his mask and because it looked very unnatural for a horse.

“I suspect Sundae’s problem is a religious one, judging by briefly overheard snippets. In truth this place reminds me dreadfully of salem in certain respects.”

As the group entered the main area of the village Aegis paused a moment thinking hard and then finally said “I believe the other relics were a astrolabe and an hourglass, while the chancellor has a discus. I bet if we get them we could use some of their metaphysical properties to go back to our own time and place. I also suspect that the leaders of the other towns might possess the other relics which might give us a reason to get them all in one place.”

Aegis was walking towards the town hall where they had been attacked by cannibals last night hoping that the place served a formal role and that the town’s leader would be nearby. He was also curious to see what the outcome of the attack had been trying to confirm his own theories as to the cannibals nature.

[Relikai]

Miyuki supported Tora, placing Tora's arm over her shoulder as she made sure the girl was comfortable. Even when Miyuki was shorter and probably smaller in stature, she did not get through hours of dancing, training and performances without at least some muscle in her body.

"Come on, slowly." Miyuki said. "Take it easy alright? I got you, don't worry, I got you."

Supporting Tora, Miyuki made it to the clinic after a while, gently placing the girl on a sofa as she took out her bottle for another sip of water. Heading to the receptionist, Miyuki approached the person, bowing as she made her inquiry.

"Excuse me, will need to see the doctor for two." Miyuki said in a hoarse voice. "My friend isn't feeling that well, and I seem to have a sore throat."

My... my throat...

My voice...

No... no... no... No!

What is happening?!

[Torsiedelle]

Clinic

Torii was so glad that Miyuki had helped her along.

But she felt so sick.

It was awful, and as they entered the clinic area, she was overcome with such a strong feeling of nausea and weakness, she practically collapsed onto the couch, scrunching up on her side. Her stomach burned, her lungs still hurt, her head felt light and dizzy, and that was just the physical. She still couldn't stop going over every bad thing that had happened that day, and she was blaming herself for it all in some way or another now, the self-deprecating personality she was.

At least she was keeping her eyes on Miyuki, though they were swaying a bit, just like the other woman in Tora's vision. She'd drunk too much, for sure. She cursed and reminded herself not to let Audette take her drinking again.

[Northwest Slobovia]

"Don't mind me if you're speakin', just findin' me some company. I dropped off a girl I'm kind of lookin' out for.", Her eyes gleamed. "And now I'm bored, so you two seemed interesting to me."

Amanda's smile slipped momentarily at Audette's last comment, but her tone remained welcoming, gracious, even: So much for Southern charm. Maybe she's too drunk to remember her manners. "It is traditional to give one's name when meeting people for the first time. And do sit down, you'll be more comfortable."

[Fvaarniimar]

Clinic

Working on the other leg, Rmwtyliin managed to face Sterling. "Uh...?  It has something to do with talking, I think - but that is not everything, or I expect I would know.  I know pressing a wound can help, but it can hurt - that is why I am poking Ohttnako." Rmwtyliin used her unoccupied right hand to gesticulate around the tech-filled room, unconsciously matching the rhythm of the left.   "We did not have this at home.  I was taught - well, to watch a person as I did this. Telling me if it hurts will certainly help; if it does, a wound may be there.  I can press on your head, Ohttnako..." she turned to the unicorn again. "But that only tells us if she may be injured..." Her forehead wrinkled and the examination sped up as she thought. "Could that be enough for a concussion?" She started to carefully massage Otonako's face, working her way up. Very quickly the woman would find fingers pressing under her eye: the middle three, spaced their own width apart. Seconds later, they'd reached the other eye and started on the forehead...

"Does this hurt? How does it feel?"

--

Nick woke up, stretching on a leaf-covered forest floor. Oh. It was something of a relief that his nightmare had been a dream, and yet he sighed. Tina was a...what was she again? His mind felt fuzzy as he batted at a bright red leaf. The leaves around the cat rustled, and he quickly lost himself in batting, and jumping, and floating down no faster than the evanescent leaves themselves...

(Sterling might notice his paws' twitching.)

[Cerillium]

BUILDING
Collab w/Agy, Swith

Marcus' terrified scream intensified as Sentia's claws dug into all the fleshy parts of his head. The blast knocked him down the stairs, and he proceeded to tumble down the hard steps with all the grace of a rag doll tossed by an angry child. Bones snapped and his breath left him. He struck something entirely too solid, yet the object was absolutely too angular to be a wall. His optic dimly registered the hazy lines of Opa's serial number as the boy slid down the droid's surface.

The second explosion took the floor from under Opa's sturdy legs, and both dropped into the Building's debris. Thaddeus' pained shout thundered in Marcus' ears. The young priest was dimly aware that Opa's frame was the only reason he had survived; obviously Thaddeus had just lost several more lives. Marcus turned his head and forced himself to face death head on. But they weren't falling towards the lobby's tiled floor. Instead, they were quickly approaching a door.

Registering that Marcus and Sentia’s form were atop it, Opa splayed out its legs and raised its arms to shield the two beings from the worst of the fall. Impact damage registered across its legs, torso, and back, though the android quickly dismissed the prompts and focused on the morphing environment and the door immediately beneath them.

The door opened to admit the droid, the young priest, the cat, and Thaddeus. The trio landed hard upon the far wall, and Thaddeus crashed into them. Onto them. Throught them? The fuck?

“You know, it’s at times like this, when I’m trapped with a robot and dead cat from Agymnum, and about to die from asphyxiation in deep space, that I really wished I’d listened to what my mother told me when I was young,” the old cyborg rumbled from somewhere near Marcus’ left ear.

“What did she tell you?” asked the intrigued youth, suddenly realizing he’d never heard his patron discuss anything about his past before.

“I don’t know. I didn’t listen,” came the old cyborg’s snarky reply. Or we should say the reply came from a floral patterned Davenport festooned with odd bits of wire and hoses. It, along with everyone else, floated along in zero-g.

Marcus would have cried “not funny!” or something akin to it had a voluptuous woman not distracted him. It didn’t matter much that she wasn’t landscaped properly, although the fact that she was naked did give him plenty of reasons to pause. But he actually said nothing simply because he was now a gibbon clinging desperately to the toaster that was most certainly Opa. A quick headcount told him that the hottie was most likely the undead cat.

“The fuck!” the gibbon squeaked.

“Mind yer manners,” the Davenport growled. No adopted son of his would result to foul language at a pressing time such as this.

“Don’t be so harsh on the boy, Brother Usseio,” the naked woman swam through whatever ether the group was currently occupying to recline herself atop the Davenport.

“I have a damn tail!” You’d think that would be something for a gibbon to smile about. Marcus was an unappreciative primate. “How the hell? What the hell?”

“Reboot in progress.” This answer came not from the sofa nor the naked woman. A ten-gallon fish tank drifted into Marcus’ line of sight. The speaker was obviously the silk boxers (plum paisley, thank you) confined to the tank’s interior. “It has everything to do with everything, and nothing to do with no thing,” BOB the boxers explained. “We’ve reached a state of infinite improbability. It’s necessary in order to restructure what Is. That’s when everything Within passes through every conceivable point in every conceivable universe simultaneously.”

“We’re in a pocket dimension already,” the gibbon wagged a finger at the security device.

“Yes, but the Building contains dimensions within dimensions. Picture it this way-”

“Hush!” said the Davenport. “I hear something.”

Opa spat toast in protest, pulling the brown bread back into its metal jaws to warm it some more.

The fish tank coughed. “That would be the sound of approaching death,” Morbus remarked almost snidely. “We are experiencing morphological restructuring, which is temporary, or so I presume. We should start to hallucinate shortly, if we’re not crushed by large marine mammals. We can most certainly expect highly improbable things to happen.”

“Like what?” asked Marcus as he brushed a crumb from his white tea glove.

“Like this,” Morbus the Ballerina could only shrug as he poured out tea.

It took several heartbeats before the young priest could wrap his head around the fact that they were now sitting somewhere in downtown London.

“I’m still a Davenport,” Thaddeus quipped from under the weight of Opa the tuxedo-clad walrus. The walrus merely groaned in response, sipping tea as it adjusted its monocle.

Morbus smiled. “Aye, and a lovely one, at that. Mind the whale.”

“What?”

The sperm whale, also called "cachalot," is generally gray with wrinkled, prunelike skin covering a torpedo-shaped body. The blunt head accounts for a third of its body length and much of it is filled with a waxy, oily substance called spermaceti that lies above and ahead of the skull. This substance once was used for fine lubrication and for fueling lamps. Their status is no longer “endangered”, though it’s a safe bet that this particular whale felt itself more than just a little threatened.

“Oh dear,” Sentia tilted her hour hand as the grandfather clock took a tentative step back away from the descending whale, “It looks like the poor fellow is going to land on us.”

Marcus could only look on in horror as the damn thing keened its own deathknell in prolonged, high-pitched scream. The noise did nothing to slow its descent. Why would it? The whale dropped from the sky, hitting them and slamming them to the ground - through the pavement - into the underground - and out the other side of-



“Breathe out!” Klaus screamed as the flames consumed the air around them and threatened their own lungs. He held fast to the godling, crushing her against him and willing the last of his energy to keep her shield strong.

This was it. The End. No more. Perhaps it was full circle. But really, it was Giovenith herself that had given rise to his own purpose for being in Vaffelhelm all those years ago.

The child’s hand held the brush with the ease of a master as she dabbed along the tree’s bark. Her purpose was only for good. Every tree should feel unique about itself, just as how the Lord Dr. Seuss intended for it to be. Tiny feet tapped against the paint can, spilling it onto the roots, but her mind paid it no attention. Rather, she found herself pondering how to get everyone in the world to speak in rhymes, and she quickly surmised that the only possible solution would be to destroy all evidence of oranges.

“Why hello there,” a man clad in a gas mask and helmet emerged from the shadows behind her.

She turned to face him, her joy refusing to diminish despite his spooky attire. “Hi there, Mr. Shadow Man! You look like a blue star person.” The girl’s brush caressed the side of his mask, imparting a perfect blue star. “There!”

“Interesting,” said he. “Are you normally this detached from reality?

"Reality? Reality? John Milton's Lucifer once said,The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven..." she walked over to a tree and began painting stripes on it. “The mind is its own place, and its reality is my own. I am not out of my mind, in fact, I am in it. I am in reality as I say reality will be."

Klaus would have laughed had he breath to spare. The godling's first words in their old dimension suddenly carried so much weight. I am in reality as I say reality will be. And so I choose to make any reality. A god does as a god does, and thus a god does thus. Hadn't it always been so? And thus this god does what must be done. In reality, it's better that Pearlelei's Joy should thrive. I die that she should live. We promised to keep her safe, didn’t we?

The locket spun again, and the fury of Hell flickered into view. The flames had nearly consumed his spine. The Germanic avatar grit his teeth even as his lips softened to plant a tender kiss upon the back of Giovenith's head.

Goodbye, dear friend. I have so enjoyed watching you grow.

Strong arms went slack and Giovenith slipped from his embrace. Topsy-turvy went the world, with the fireball quickly gaining on the godling... [TO BE CONTINUED...]



But not all things were so cut and dry…

“For fuck’s sake!” the Davenport experienced several frenzied moments during which he morphed into a bicycle, a penguin, Antarctica, and a football team, only to find himself a couch once more. Pillow buttons glared at the gibbon and naked woman before he turned his attention to the fish tank that now housed the toaster. The nude Sentia merely looked on in detached amusement, a pair of boxers serving as inadequate headwear atop her thick, red curls.

“Haven’t you ever wondered how it all works?” the plastic lining one corner of the tank rose to indicate Morbus’ curiosity. Really, he’d always expected better of the Building’s tech-heads.

“Not really,” the gibbon confessed. He leapt through empty space and landed on the tank. It wouldn’t due to leave Opa exposed to Morbus too long. “But I suppose you’ll tell us now?” Marcus hefted the toaster from Morbus and hopped away.

Toast spat out and landed gently on Morbus, an apology from Opa for departing. More bread appeared in the slots and began to warm once again.

“The Building is comprised of small amounts of improbability. Always has been,” Thaddeus sighed through his cushions. “Chaos is, by nature, improbable. But that improbably cropped up in the worst times and made messes everywhere. Most of these events were triggered by Residents themselves. Residents are unthinking dipshits. Thus Demens contracted Charumati, and she fashioned BOB to bring some measure of normalcy and control to the Building. Improbability is dangerous in the wrong hands. What if there was a way to use this improbability for the Cause, however? If there was a way to make it a bit safer? To put it to good use against the Devourers?”

“Is that possible?”

The Davenport rolled its buttons. “Are we not simultaneously floating in several dimensions within the Building?”

Sensing no further interruption from the gibbon, the boxers atop Sentia’s head adjusted in order to glare at Marcus through the narrow fly, “Without going into the specifics, we overhauled the Building but we didn’t have what was necessary to keep it stable. And then the Drones happened, and everything was threatened at that point. So they brought in Blackwater and Klaus to keep the Drones occupied while Thaddeus and Charu continued his work on improbability-”

“Wait, wait,” the gibbons waved his paws. “Now you’ve gotten ahead of yourself, or behind yourself, or you’re not even on the same topic. He worked on virology-”

“Are you done interrupting?” BOB interrupted.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” the gibbon sputtered.

“Neither does American politics, but there you have it,” Morbus interjected. “Nothing made sense at all until the banana and Nilla wafer pudding.”

“What?”

“Your girlfriend. Nothing made sense until she came along with her nonsensical nonsense,” Thaddeus snorted. “Giovenith offered to share Nilla wafers. Klaus had vanilla pudding and bananas in his pocket. Her kind gesture intrigued him. So he asked the trees about her.”

Marcus slapped a palm to his forehead. “That is the most impractical… no, that’s just stupid. Fucking bullshit plot device. How you get from Building to Drones to pudding, and then Gioventh-”

The fish tank laughed. “NOW is seems so. Back THEN, it wasn’t. And back then, Klaus had all but forgotten himself. It was the trees that told him what Giovenith said. It was her words that drew him back to reality. ”The mind is its own place, and its reality is my own. I am not out of my mind, in fact, I am in it. I am in reality as I say reality will be." See?”

The gibbon looked to the Davenport, boxers, woman and toaster. Was it making any sense to them?

“Klaus came to me,” the Davenport said , “and we struck up a friendship. Nice change considering we were enemies for years. Parts of his mind started to return, thanks to Giovenith. He became interested in helping with the Building.”

The gibbon frowned. “Klaus- oh god.”

Nothing was said after that, owing to the Five O’Clock Crosstown barreling out of nowhere to knock them into a different dimension. [TO BE CONTINUED...]

[Cerillium]

SOMEWHERE OVER AN OCEAN, FAR, FAR AWAY
collab w/Altito, Ched, Lykos, Slo, Swith

It was a fucking bad mission to start.

First of all, it was supposed to be her holiday, her not-working shift. But then, suddenly word went in that the other pilot was involved in an accident on his way here, so she had to be there. The PMC is small, after all. Small team of bodyguards, maybe one or two strike teams, small transportation team, but it is growing.

Second, the transportation requires them to move through the storm that is currently happening. Of course they have to stop for a refuel or two, but why? Why now? What is so fucking important with the package? God, if that package turns out to be just food, she’ll kill her boss. Period.

Third, and pardon her narration on the second one, the fact that they have to go with helicopter and only armed with machine gun! Damn, it was a bad start already. Don’t know what is on her boss’s mind. Perhaps it was connected to an affair she was involved with her boss’s son? But also sacrificing her comrades? Or is it just another assignment? No one knew.

And then it happened.

The storm was so raging, it really broke the morale. Only few screams, and all she could heard was the glass killed navigator and co-pilot. This is bad. Julia couldn’t took the helicopter stable by herself, she was not a multi-role expert, sadly.


OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

The cultist leader worked quickly to gather up the rest of her things. Once the Gate was ready, she stepped to the front. "I'll go in. Count to ten, and then step in after me, General," she advised. "Professor, the moment he leaves, you both count to ten and then step in together. Got it? Just count and go." If all else failed and the bird were going down, the Gate would hopefully bar them from stepping through into the air or ocean.



The pressure change told Minerva that there was more than a storm causing the deck to pitch. In fact, they were rapidly descending. She blinked into the cargo bay's gloom and took her bearings, then slipped from Time into... nothing.

Though that's not entirely true. Her cursed atoms still vibrated away as happily as ever. And then magic compelled the molecules in the atmosphere surrounding her to yield a bit, though Minerva herself didn't require air. The rest... didn't matter. Who needs photons when you have a Daemon that saw with more than eyes? For that matter, who needs heat? This was Hell. Not the Lake of Fire preachers warned their congregation of on a Sunday morning. This state, this curse, was given to her by Elohim himself. Hell was separation from Him for all eternity. She sighed and acknowledged her feet leaving the deck as gravity failed and Purna took the lead. The Daemon inserted a claw into reality, and entropy smiled.

The Daemon existed both in and out of Time and thus, to Minerva's senses, the world was bleak and colorless, and everything within in frozen in place as they moved along. The cockpit door offered no resistance to Purna's intrusion. Within little time - literally - Minerva found herself on the flight deck... and facing a nightmare.

Bloody hell! she suppressed a growl as Purna's gaze swept the interior. The cause of the catastrophe was readily apparent. The craft, a massive Mi-26, had suffered a strike. Perhaps a bird lost in the storm? (That's one fucking huge bird!) Whatever it was, it had gone through the right window, instantly killing the co-pilot and sending glass into the navigator's chest. The remaining pilot, a woman, appeared to be doing all she possibly could but, barring having an actual secondary person in seat, landing would be a bitch. High on fuel, low on payload, Minerva presumed whatever had been inside had gone out the back ramp not too long ago.

Minerva whined. By now, Romulus' lips had started to form the beginnings of the "wuh" sound. If she hoped to keep the bird level upon his arrival, she had to break with tradition. So much for dragging the frozen pilot to the middle of the cargo bay for pickup by Tango.

"Hello, Julia," the red-headed woman appeared from nowhere. Pale hands unfastened the co-pilot’s seat belt and removed his headphones, and then she lowered him from his seat. Her tight leather kept his wet blood from touching her skin as she slipped into the unoccupied chair.

“Whoa! WHOA, SHIT!” screamed Julia, scared, panicked, over who called her. Angel? Demon? Or both? She introduced herself as Captain Blackwater, and said something about giving control to her and large man in power armor. What?


"Well, this is lovely,” the woman’s accent gave her away as British, though it was a bit antiquated and carried the soft flavors of India along its vowels as her calm voice floated through Julia's own headphones. “Glass cockpit? We'll need to spend a few hours getting Bran acquainted with something this modern."

The bad news was that there wasn't any time to pass along the status to the teams. They'd come through all right, and if they hoped to keep the helicopter, Minerva would need someone in the pilot's chair, and they could use a navigator. And where the bloody hell were the flight engineer and technician? Minerva sighed as she grabbed the yolk between her legs and slipped her boots into place on the pedals. Her free hand slapped against the window, imparting a bit of Purna's magic to draw the broken shards together to forge a temporary pane.

"Name's Captain Blackwater. Now we haven't much time. In a few moments, we're going to take on a large man in power armor. Best give me control for that."

“Wow, I don’t know what are you talking about here, Captain, but I sure as hell won’t giving you the control. Look, all we need now is not another pilot, but navigator, co-pilot, a bloody flight crew! So I suggest you help me instead of trying to take the control of this helicopter!” screamed Julia, angry over the captain’s surprise action, and her seeming more concerned with the helicopter than the safety.

But...wait, how did she get here?

“Ever see a talking animal?” Minerva smiled. “Or an eight foot tall man? You’re about to. I’m afraid you’re going to get a crash course in the Bizarre, no pun intended.” [If you mean Pegasus by “talking animal”, he’s mute. --NWS]

Not a moment after she spoke, something massive appeared in the cargo area. Though the portal was good at getting people where they wanted, it wasn’t always good with precision. The unbalanced weight slapped the bird’s yoke hard against both pilot’s hands. The helicopter, which had been in a shallow dive, plummeted.

“Two more in ten seconds,” Minerva’s tone was all-business. “If you want to fly, fly. You better increase the power because I don’t care how good a pilot you are, there’s no way in hell this craft will hold together for a barrel roll.”

Well, at least until the tech priests got to it and made changes.

As Romulus finally made his interdimensional transition onto the aircraft, he quickly felt it make a slight jolt as he planted his feet on its floors, no doubt being caused by the sudden introduction of his heavy weight onto it. But likely the storm was causing more of a disturbance than he was, as he had looked around and saw that the helicopter was of a fair and moderate size for a cargo transport, probably capable of carrying a full platoon of men on board with heavy equipment and supplies to come along.

While it appeared to be of a more inferior and primitive design compared to most Imperium helicopters he was knowledgeable of, for what he knew of aircraft and his track record of riding in them, this craft in particularly ought be able to hold his weight just fine, assuming other factors didn’t come to play. And he certainly felt them, as he could feel the helicopter descending downwards at a fast rate, they didn’t have much time to waste.

Maneuvering himself through the craft and attempting to keep balance at the same time, he made his way towards the cockpit and called to Minerva as he approached. “I’m here now, what’s the current sitrep Mineva, our original plan still a go?” His heavy steps becoming more apparent to them as he got closer to the cockpit, and the nose of the craft taking an increasingly significant dive downwards once he got up the doorway.

Ducking his head under the cockpit’s doorway to peer through it and at first see the body of the copilot that lay on the floor, and then both Minerva and the pilot they were to extract in their seats at the controls. Did they think they could keep this bird from falling? He thought, then looked at Minerva questioningly, realizing this was definitely not to the plan they had.

“I’m guessing some plans have changed considering I’m not already dragging this pilot out for Tango to extract?” He said while he quickly glanced behind him to see if they had come shortly after him, then looked right back at Minerva and Harker.

“They’ve lost their navigator,” the cultist leader gestured to the dead man in the chair behind the pilot. “Romulus, we might need your suit to do some quick math for us, and-”

The helicopter’s powerful engines whined in protest as two more figures emerged from a portal and onto the cargo section’s decking.

The small jedi landed on his feet and glanced around. Seemed like he landed in the cargo bay. And everything was just about on its side. Oh that was disorienting, for sure. He bent himself to be as close to even with the floor as he could manage without falling over, using the force to more or less anchor himself towards the ground. It worked, though it was obvious something was up.

Was the plan still a go? He didn’t see Minerva, though up where the cockpit seemed to be Romulus’ power armor was pretty much blocking up the whole doorway. Amazing he was able to bend enough in that thing to peer through how he was, though the helicopter’s tilt might be helping him. Either way the fuzzy alien bounded across the cargo bay to see what was up, his head poking in through a gap left by Romulus. “Plan still go through? Or new planidea, Minerva?”

Blackwater gave little time to prepare, so he grabbed what he could and warmed up his magic. He stuffed a couple of jars of the Balm into his pocket, and after a moment’s thought, gave himself Eyes of the Wolf: heavy weather meant dark. He skipped the Wolf’s Ears, though: the engines would be loud enough without hearing their ultrasonic screams.

He crossed the gate at the count of ten and… scrambled for support in the steeply falling chopper. He grabbed one of the seats lining the walls and hung on, trying to get his bearings. Oh, Romulus had walked to the front in his panoply; even with only a flying animal’s instinctual grasp of aerodynamics, he knew that was the problem. He shouted down the length of the cargo hold. “General! Get closer to the middle of the chopper! Your armor’s weight is tipping us forward!”

Looking back around to see the Healer in the cargo bay shout at him, the General realized that contrary to what he thought the aircraft was capable of, it could not handle him being at any particularly end of it and he was currently making it nose dive forward. Realizing the mistake he made, he quickly scrambled back to the middle of the cargo hold and kept his balance once there. He turned back around at the cockpit and responded back to Minerva’s previous mathematical request for him,

“And do what sort of calculations, Captain? We got to keep this helio balanced and staying in the air, and try to get the hell out of this storm!” He called to her from the cargo bay, then he turned his visor down and tried to see what his suit could even relay to him that could help their situation. “Look I can try something here if you need me to, but don’t expect a miracle from it.” He said again and hoped he’ll be able to even do something.

As the chopper righted itself, Sandy pulled himself to his feet and nodded a thank-you to Romulus. Their situation seemed more dangerous than the simple rescue Blackwater expected. Was it worth trying to save the chopper?

“This bloody weather!” Minerva spat through clamped teeth. “General, Sandy - oh, whoever of you has a damn orb handy! Contact Myra for that Gate. It’ll put us west, over the bloody xeno jungles, but we’ll have better weather.”

At least, this was her hope. She didn’t have time to look anything up prior to mission start. The SOP needed changes, most definitely.

Her eyes flashed towards the soon-to-be Resident. “Shit’s about to get real, lovely. If I say “Bail!”, you go with them. No questions. No balking. I’m immortal. I’ll survive the crash.”

[CAT XIII]

Clinic

Otonako felt fine, besides a few bruises on her leg which she pointed out.

"Here, there's a bruise here," she showed her where it was, "It doesn't hurt that much though."

Oto felt a little uneasy when Rmw started massaging her forehead though, she didn't want any head injuries, she wanted to be ok.

"It's been too quiet, what if something happens? What about the bad feeling I had earlier? No, I have to be able to fight if they need me to."

Her forehead thankfully felt fine, a little sore from where she had crashed after the piece of wood hit her in the head, but fine overall. The trouble was at the back of her head, where a small patch of skin had been struck by the flying material. If Rmwtyliin touched that, Otonako would probably wince.

[Northwest Slobovia]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

Sandy didn't need a second prompt from Blackwater. He activated the databall, and shouted an order into it, not waiting for an acknowledgement. "Gate for the chopper now, please!"

To the cockpit's other occupant, he called, "Miss Harker? Captain Blackwater means us. My name's Sandy, this is Romulus, and this is Maghrl. We'll get you out of here." Sandy used the databall's glow to illuminate their faces in turn, so she'd know who was who. He then held the orb at arm's length so the others could see it as well, and prodded it for a map. He waited for it to come up, ideally one showing their gateway home. Wait, what was that about 'xeno jungles'?

[Holy Lykos]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

Maghrl gave a wave to the pilot when Sandy introduced him, smiling brightly. He was also appreciative of the general's attempt to balance the chopper, it was much less strain on him. The Squib guessed this person they were rescuing was human, though like normal he couldn't quite tell if they were male or female. Human dimorphism was strange to him, but the alien guessed this one must be male.... female? No yeah she was female for sure. The voice he'd heard earlier must have been hers, then!

"Xeno jungle? one Romulus burned down?" Maghrl inquired, an ear twitching as he held against the doorframe of the cockpit entrance, ready to grab the pilot with the force as soon as told to, and use the momentum to go back towards Sandy. Perfect plan!

---

Sterling frowned, watching Rwm work over Oto. She seemed fine, but it wouldn't hurt to check like this. "If she seems fine, I think she could then go back to whatever she was doing. Might need you here though Rwm, at least until we've made sure no one else needs help." Speaking of needing help, it seemed Tora and one of the new people had come in. Sterling trotted up, seeing as he was the closest thing to a receptionist right now and smiled sympathetically.

"Oh dear that doesn't sound good. What's going on with her? Did you two inhale too much of the dust from the ceiling collapsing or something?" He asked, noting through his magic that Nick seemed to be stirring. He continued with the soft petting and stroking, the only evidence of his magic was his horn lighting up blue and the same color running along his back, where he was petting. "Lets get Tora to lay down, she looks like she needs rest. You do too, miss! Have you been drinking enough liquids?"

[Chedastan]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

He was about to say something to Minerva's mentioned suicidal carelessness for what he could only assume to be her determination for trying to get the helicopter out in one piece and desire to stay with it in the likely event of it crashing, but he stopped himself when he remembered that she wouldn't really die for good in that event, and she'll be back with them in no time at all. Still though, Romulus wasn't exactly comfortable with the idea, that he would've otherwise reprimanded men under his command out of general principle alone. But of course right now they still had much more bigger problems to be concerned about, which fortunately Sandy was quick to attend to.

"Wait xeno jungle? Like any environment wouldn't have already been alien to us in the first place, but Wilhelm forbid the wildlife here be as inhospitable as the last one." He said with reluctance as he looked down at the Jedi and hoped there weren't any big spiders here in... Earth was it? They were scrambling as it were already, so he guessed knowing the actual location had to have came second to that, still though he knew it was sloppy work for them as far as he was concerned. He then looked back at the cockpit and called out to Harker to add more to what Sandy had said to her. "Yes, Harker, just start running to us when it's time and shit has gone south, we'll get you out of here." He said with assurance.

[Torsiedelle]

Clinic

Tora forced herself to sit up and nodded slowly. She looked pitiful.

"I drank a lot. Alcohol. I think I breathed a lot of dust, too. Been coughing real bad.", She said. She rubbed her face and shook her head, mumbling something about Marcus and Gio, and the building, though it was mostly unintelligible. Finally, she seized up just a bit to be noticed, and slowly exhaled. She was keeping down her drink, or trying to.

......

Tavern

Audette nodded and sat down, though keeping a little distance. "Sorry about the entrance.", She said, not shy, but a little annoyed with herself. "Name's Audette."

She gave Sakarias a nod as well. "I didn't see much, though it was a pain getting out. Nothin' I ain't used to, though. I'm not that easy to kill, you know."

[Altito Asmoro]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

Julia was thoroughly confused right now. Too many to swallowed, after all. All talks of this required a clear state of mind, and unfortunately she has nothing of it, which is dangerous right now.

Julia turned to the man, who introduced himself as Sandy, "I don't think this is the right time to introduce ourselves, but I appreciate you, Sandy. My name's Julia, Harker, which is my last name." The...ball glow enough light to illuminates the faces of the people around her. And then he mentioned something about xeno jungle. Xeno...what?

"I'm sorry, but what is this...Xeno jungle? It's...it's not something dangerous, right?" said Julia, worriedly. Quite worried, obviously. Since she is about to be rescued by a group of extraterrestrial people...

[Northwest Slobovia]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

"I don't think this is the right time to introduce ourselves, but I appreciate you, Sandy. My name's Julia, Harker, which is my last name." The...ball glow enough light to illuminates the faces of the people around her. And then he mentioned something about xeno jungle. Xeno...what? [...] "I'm sorry, but what is this...Xeno jungle? It's...it's not something dangerous, right?"

Sandy looked up from the databall as Harker spoke, then answered her in a matter of fact voice. "You'll want to know our names in case we need to move quickly. If the Captain says 'Go with Sandy', you'd need to know who I am to know what to do."

Several seconds passed, and then the penny finally dropped for Sandy: Blackwater said that the gate will put them west... back on Galli. Oh, those jungles. Oh, boy! "'Xeno' meaning 'not from Earth', and specifically, large animals from other planets. We're going back to the world we came from, to a place that has a hell of a reputation." A wicked grin came to his face. "Do you have a gun? Like big game hunting? You can get some great trophies!"


The Burrows, Pub
Team All American

Clinic
Audette nodded and sat down, though keeping a little distance. "Sorry about the entrance.", She said, not shy, but a little annoyed with herself. "Name's Audette."

Amanda's expression grew pleased, then serious as she heard all of what Audette said: the poor woman was just a bit drunk, but was otherwise civilized. "Glad to meet you, Audette. Sounds like you've had a horrible day already."

[Altito Asmoro]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

"I don't think this is the right time to introduce ourselves, but I appreciate you, Sandy. My name's Julia, Harker, which is my last name." The...ball glow enough light to illuminates the faces of the people around her. And then he mentioned something about xeno jungle. Xeno...what? [...] "I'm sorry, but what is this...Xeno jungle? It's...it's not something dangerous, right?"

Sandy looked up from the databall as Harker spoke, then answered her in a matter of fact voice. "You'll want to know our names in case we need to move quickly. If the Captain says 'Go with Sandy', you'd need to know who I am to know what to do."

Several seconds passed, and then the penny finally dropped for Sandy: Blackwater said that the gate will put them west... back on Galli. Oh, those jungles. Oh, boy! "'Xeno' meaning 'not from Earth', and specifically, large animals from other planets. We're going back to the world we came from, to a place that has a hell of a reputation." A wicked grin came to his face. "Do you have a gun? Like big game hunting? You can get some great trophies!"

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAM: DELTA

---

"Wh...what? Not from Earth? Oh, bloody hell!" said Julia, shocked and surprised, both by the calmness of Sandy and the fact that...she will be somewhere that is not from Earth, which is to say, not good. I mean, it can be good but for now she doesn't thinks she can adapts fast there.

Then Sandy asked about a gun. And then Julia looked to her waist, a pistol there. "Oh yes, a gun, I have. Not big game hunting, more like a loaded handgun with 1 spare clip. And...I think there's a hunting rifle or a sniper rifle back there," as she pointed to the back part of the helicopter, where there is a rifle there, lied down.

"Should we take that rifle too?"

[Cerillium]

OPERATION: HARKER
DIMENSION: 134A
LOCATION: EARTH
TEAMS: DELTA, TANGO

---

The grin forcing its way onto Minerva's lips couldn't be stopped. This was living! They weren't quietly going into the night. Oh no. They'd kick and scream all the way.

The Captain's head turned slightly to catch a glimpse of Harker from the tail of her eye. So far, so good. The woman hadn't gone daft from all the nonsense thrown at her. Yet. There was always the future. Or it might be that she hadn't gotten a very good look at the fuzzy rodent-dog in the strange robes standing beside Sandy.

"Right," she called to Sandy. "Wouldn't set foot in the place without twenty sturdy Lads beside me. We'll have a hell of a good time, if we set down." Her eyes returned to the glass pane in front of her. Instruments weren't going to be very useful soon. Might as well adjust. The only view presented to her was one of water, though. Sheets. It seemed a right bastard of a storm, and they were in the middle of it.

"...in, Tango. This is Myra. Dweezle gives the go for Gate Zeda," Myra's cool voice hailed from the orb in Sandy's hand. "I've ...patched in...ulus's suit. Blackwater, um, turn left heading 2-7-5."

"Wat?" Who the fuck appointed the teenager air traffic control? "Look, active the bloody gate. Let us worry about this side. You guide us once we've arrived. Delta, out."

Lightening briefly illuminated the cockpit. A second flash recaptured it, only the eerie blue glow didn't fade away. "That's us," Minerva muttered as she pushed the stick to begin the turn and climb. The craft, though not as light as its cousins, responded well despite the turbulence around them. Cultist fingertips teased the collective lever and throttle as she increased engine output, and then she neatened their path with deft rudder pedal work.

"Listen up," her voice vied with the jet engines as their speed increased, "If I say bail, bail, Sandy. Take Harker and the Jedi with you. Get clear of the blades. Leave the General. I'll take him through shadow if necessary." Her jaws clamped tightly again as the Gate's hard outline appeared beyond the sheet of water. "We're going to drop like a stone the moment we clear it. Zeda is-" Fucking high? An unnecessary joyride? Well, let's hope everyone has an empty colon. "-difficult. Air's too thin. The partial pressure of oxygen is low, Sandy."

A sudden realization screamed its way into the Captain's head. Minerva, so focused on retrieving something -- retrieving it because it had value to them, because they needed it, because without it they would have to make due with-

What? As though this stupid piece of machinery was their only hope and dream? Losing it would be losing equipment. Gaining it would not patch the hole torn through her heart when Klaus vanished. Was she so mentally unbalanced that she would risk losing even more people over something so trivial? Perhaps she couldn't actually salvage the helicopter? Perhaps she was just as useless here as she was earlier? When she fucked up, people died. Horribly.

"Scratch that!" The helicopter's fuselage groaned as they neared the gate, but Minerva knew they had a few minutes to spare before reaching it. "If anyone would rather use Alpha Gate direct to Myra, say so now and do it. Someone slap a pin on Harker so she can go through the gate. I'll keep us level."

[Giovenith]

"NO!"

That was what it was supposed to be anyway, though it hardly got out with the way the burning air was tearing at her throat and lungs. She was afraid, deeply afraid, so it was difficult for Giovenith to keep her hands steady as she tried to dig in her pockets for the tool to help them escape. Time slowed down in her vision as she caught hold of something, and she winced her eyes as she dug her other hand tightly into Klaus' sleeve before he could drop her entirely.

It would take a miracle for this to work, but it was all they had.

From Giovenith's pocket came something not magical, not god-blessed, not ever particularly whimsical: Out came a plastic water bottle. The top was loose and with all her might she tossed the liquid inside upward into the air creating a shower of it. In a mere few seconds it was evaporated by the sheer heat. Within that mere few seconds, the godling managed to yank the war god with her through the brief reflection of the water before it turned to steam, and they were gone.


CRASH!

The first thing evident upon landing was the distinct buzzing of fluorescent lights. The second was an overwhelming smell of putrid meat.

Giovenith slowly lifted her aching face to make eye contact with a pair of eyes exactly like her own. They were set behind a large pair of blocky black glasses which belong to what could most basically described as an identical clone of the godling, save that this one's hair was a pure cherry red and cut into a long swept bob. Her clothing, similarly, was identical in shape to Giovenith's, save that her sweater-dress was navy blue rather than cheerful pink and considerably more clean and well-pressed, and she also a hairband with a leaf-wing pin was set upon her head. Her expression was deeply confused and her face covered in brownish-blood: the godling and the Chaos god had landed atop a kitchen table and interrupted the other godling's meal of raw pig intestines, hence the smell.

By that girl's side was another girl, this one about four years old and sitting in a booster seat, though the way she stared and smiled at the new arrivals conveyed a much higher intellect than that. She too looked much like an identical albeit younger version of Giovenith, though her hair was also white like the artsy godling's, and her tiny version of the sweater-dress uniform was a cheerful orange. She had what looked like a juice box between her wee hands, though with what looked like a cartoonish picture of a steak on it rather than any fruit.

The kitchen all four of them were located in was a single part of large and luxurious penthouse with white carpets, wall-sized windows, and what looked like a shiny grand piano next to the large flat-screen television. Beyond the windows however was a white void so pristine and empty that it itself was the source of the distinct fluorescent humming.

Giovenith's hands snatched out and grabbed the shoulders of the clone in blue and began to shake her as the godling jabbed hurriedly in some foreign tongue. The girl merely looked awkwardly back and forth betweem the godling in pink and the Chaos avatar on their table.