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

[Monfrox]

"I am....dead...for a little while at least..." Brit yawned. "I was up alllllllll last night doin'...fuckin'....uh...fuckin'....inventorying for the uh....the hospital wing...oh man. I hate being in hospitals at night...and alone...shit fucks with my head..."

She checked her pockets. Phone? Well....yes bt it didn't work. Knife? Never leave home without it. iPod? Music was her life. Things were good.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, name's Brit. I don't get out of my apartment much, so I don't know a lot of people here."

Liar. She knew a lot of people, but as long as her past loomed over her she felt responsible for keeping her identity on lock. Still, she gave a two-fingered side salute to Rache and Chrys. Even Hans and Klaus, too. She could appreciate his choice of dress greatly, much like the other cultists walking around. Sometimes, she envied them. She wanted to do reenactments and always loved the World War Two era.

[Tiltjuice]

"The same - and hello, Brit," Chrys called out, slightly uncomfortably. Years of servitude and centuries of battle didn't do so well for the conversational arts, with the only social graces being those that had passed between herself and Dia, and Hans. The less than enthusiastic tone from the teenager, too, passed right over her head.

"Well, this feast should be a chance to change all that," she said, letting go of Hans' hand and turning to him. "I'm a little thirsty - did you want me to get you anything?"

The symbol above Hans' head, of course, stayed the same as it always had.

[The BranRiech]

Almost like a Ghost, Yuna had finally exited her apartment, dressed in her usual robes of course. It was quite obvious that they'd been cleaned in the day following their time following the day that Torii had left them (And returned, believe it or not). Drova's sister was unusually quiet as she grabbed a plate of food, deciding to sit over by Willow. She was almost stopped though, as she looked around the room, a fresh plate of food gripped tightly in her hands as she wavered.

"Torii?" She asked, looking the girl over as she entered the dining room. "Back already?"

The arrival of her friend didn't stop her from sitting down for a moment at the table, Torii's arrival shrouding Yuna's eyes from the shaking antiques that had been laid out. "Agh, sorry guys, mind if I sit here?" She asked, scooting in on the edge of the table.

She hadn't really planned to sit very long of course, her next course of action being to be about to hop up and go hug Torii as hard as she could...

...But a few bites were in order from her food first, of course.

--

Giovenith might have won the race to be the first to hug Torii upon her return, but Drova was coming in at a close second, completely abandoning his own plate of food. He rushed past a surprised Bran who was on his way to sit down, almost knocking the poor man over as he bolted over to the entrance.

"Torii? Y-you're back already?" He panted underneath his breath, loud enough for her to hear, hopefully (It would still sound like a hoarse whisper). "O-oh . . . Awesome!" He said, finally starting to slow down as he impacted with the hug of Gio and Torii, slipping his arms around both of them. He wasn't a very physical person, unless it was a fight, but the return of his girlfriend made a definite exception as he buried his head in her shoulder.

[Torsiedelle]

"Y-yeah, I'm back already.", Torii chuckled nervously. "One day later, exactly twenty-four hours!"

She hugged her friends back - that part she wasn't complaining about. "Definitely not a month later, right? Because, um, I thought I was gone for a few weeks."

So it had been just a day back home? That was both a relief and a worrying fact to her. Now she'd have to explain a few things, and she'd probably get some weird looks or questions...such a bother, it was. She knew someone would ask about Katya, too. That would be disappointing to tell, that her sister was still in their home country.

She awaited the inevitable "Wait, a month?", reaction.

[New Aksarben]

Sterling hummed quietly as he sat at his table, using a bit of his magic to eat without basically stuffing his face in his food. The pony had remembered that to most others that seemed an odd thing to do, but how else was a species without hands to eat? The food was quite delicious too, he'd have to thank whoever had made it later. Maybe after he found Willow. Or before, the chefs were probably here after all. But either way the pony continued to eat, sitting at a table a bit away from the other groups. The pony just didn't want to interrupt the various conversations already going on, mostly. Just eating the food was good enough for the pony, there was always time for socialization at some other time!

-------

A slightly confused alien in brown robes stepped out of the elevator and glanced around. "Seems to be the correct floor..." HE mumbled to himself in Squibban, as he looked around the room. So many strange beings were here, mostly human but some obviously alien like himself. The sight relaxed the Squib, but then he grinned as he realized most these people probably had things that would be quite unlike things he'd collected before! So many chances to barter for new things! But first food!

Maghrl sat down at one of the tables randomly, tucking into his food eagerly. Squibs were an omnivorous species, though some of the food he couldn't properly recognize. Must be some kind of local foods he wasn't familiar with, who knows. But either way delicious!

[Northwest Slobovia]

The Building, Dining Room

Ocho and Adrastus chose a table near the window, and seemed deep in discussion. Marcus had not returned, much to the old abbot's dismay. Further, the Overseer was missing. The knowledge unsettled the thade. It was entirely possible that the lizard had gone to ground, or the boy had shirked his duties. Then again, it wasn't like Marcus to remain out of contact. Neither cyborg had been able to reach him through his comms.

Sandy listened to the conversation for long enough to get a sense of it. He was puzzled by Marcus' disappearance; he seemed to be one of the more responsible teens. He excused himself long enough to fill a plate and grab a wine glass, then returned to his seat, and magiced wine into his glass.

When the conversation turned to communications, Sandy added one thing. "I've heard second-hand that physical law isn't consistent on Galli. Is it possible Marcus has gone someplace where he can't receive us?"

Maghrl sat down at one of the tables randomly, tucking into his food eagerly. Squibs were an omnivorous species, though some of the food he couldn't properly recognize. Must be some kind of local foods he wasn't familiar with, who knows. But either way delicious!

Sandy watched the curious purple person enter the dining room and find things to eat. He was only slightly surprised when it sat down opposite him and dug into his dinner; he was probably cheerful enough to attract strangers at this point.

Sandy greeted Maghrl with a smile. "Hello, you must have just arrived. Welcome to the Building! I'm Sandy Bela. What's your name?"

[The Carlisle]

Entering the Building lobby, she noticed a sign saying, "Thanksgiving Feast Upstairs", rolling her eyes in displeasure. The Anglican holiday was forever tainted to her by the history of its celebrators. Celebrating a good harvest and year on stolen land, stealing more and more from rigged buyouts, and sending in armies to kill the true owners. Giving only to themselves, the bunch of hypocrites. She considered skipping and going upstairs. She was quite tired from today and a good rest in her bed would do her well. But then again, her friends were probably up there and she wanted to talk to them, especially Gio. And the food... her mind pictured the corn and mashed potatoes, rubbing her stomach in response. Regardless, she remained conflicted. Though, in the end, her desire for food and companionship won out and she went up stairs to join in the feast.

She entered the dining room, the scents of cooked food invading her nostrils. She was dissuaded by the ham and turkey scents, but drawn in by the mashed potatoes and corn. You can never go wrong with potatoes and corn. Of course, something else drew her eyes. Something way more important that food. Something that shocked Kale.

"Torii?!" Kale said, confused. She left yesterday, and she was already back. She laughed, shocked but elated. She ran over to her friend, shouting "Torii!" before embracing the girl. "I'm so happy you're back!" she said.

[Primordial Luxa]

The Feast
Dressed in a seasonal suit that reeked of old pagan harvest tradition in both design and aroma Primordial sauntered into the dining room to join the various other gathered residents in their communal joy. He was humming a slightly discordant tune that resembled the classical "I'm dreaming of a white christmas" but obviously had a different set of morbid lyrics, that more closely aligned with his pantheon. Still he seemed very eager to join in the festivities and brought a tray or unidentifiable cooked meats and organs with a variety of stuffing and seasonings. The whole dish looked like a box of assorted chocolates due to the seemingly random nature of each treat. Both Primordial and the meat dish stank of rum and it was obvious that he had been drinking heavily in celebration before he got here.

Along with the meat he brought a trio of bottle labeled Fungoid Wine, Ulthar Gin, and the hard to pronounce Melhathanath Iquachaskrat Ale. He asked the cooks where he should place his own preparations and then joined the others at the table eager to converse about what had transpired with the sheep and which of the magic users had an opportunity to talk shop about the arcane. He wanted to take Minerva up on her challenge and was looking for a magician who was eager to discuss the finer points of rituals and spells so that the group as a whole could better organize their magical abilities.

Eventually his random conversing brought him to move to sit closer to Sterling and Anais who seemed to be the most interested and available members of the building at the moment. “How have your two been since I last saw you?” he said opening the conversation.

[New Aksarben]

Maghrl's ear twitched as he heard someone talking to him, thankfully in a language he could understand. When dealing with aliens one got used to having to say 'sorry I don't understand you', after all.

"Oh yes yes! Name is Maghrl’laundersando’tamil’reumaur." The words came out of the alien's mouth easily, anyone not versed in squibaban would likely have trouble though. "But please-yes do use Maghrl. Is what Maghrl prefers-wants. Nice to meet Sandy-Human! Maghrl is yes-indeed new here. Fell through cieling-light to lobby-place."

--------

"Well, I was back in equestria but trying to get back here. I don't think I actually have met you before though I'm not quite sure. I've been gone a long time." The pony said with a weak smile. This man looked strange, but interesting. The pony brought more of the salad he had been currently eating to his mouth while looking up at the people who had joined him.

"What about you? How've you been?"

[Primordial Luxa]

Hearts Warming Quest
Aegis spotted the various strange artifacts which Willow and Rache were tinkering around with he raised a mechanical eyebrow as he walked over to quietly inspect with them. He didn’t have much experience with pony magic, but his general knowledge of the arcane told him a few interesting things about them just from sight. “What exactly do you have their? Those look like interesting metaphysical trinkets.” He had a glass of strange Luxan gin in one hand and plate of food in the other which nearly overflowing with tasty seasonal morsels.

[Fvaarniimar]

Rmwtyliin found herself with a question. "Are there any additional customs we must follow to..." There was a pause as she decided to rephrase, although not longer than Duncan spent translating.  "Avoid disrespecting your people, Madam Kkliio?  For example, formal greetings?" Fingers pressed into her thigh A hand sat against a thigh. (She knew they knew her pockets were clean, and her arms were tired.) Although the position induced her to consider the Fvaarniimarn gesture of deep respect, the idea of making it was dismissed in an instant. Instead, she pressed her fingers against the velvet, inhaling the (relatively) cool air.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion, Emerald City, Oz Palace of Justice, Ascalon

Up went the revolver, hammer cocked back, barrel pointing haphazardly at the ceiling but slowly falling toward the group. His eyes flicked over to Amanda and narrowed as he appraised the lawyer one last time.[...] "Mrs. Bela, get your friends and get the fuck out," and down went the gun, back to its holster

Amanda slid her gun out from behind her elbow, her eyes fixed on the Judge. He wasn't going to do something stupid, was he? No, thank God, Demens, and whoever else was handy. She recrossed her arms and relaxed again.

She barely heard the exchange between Septimus and the Judge as she thought about what the latter had said. Despite what it looked like, the Judge must have spoken to Demens, and something was different now. Demens seemed to have given the Cowardly Lion enough courage to threaten them more directly, but not enough to try anything. Right: so when he said Demens had saved their asses, it was probably only because Demens had offered to turn him into a buttplug to remind him of which asses mattered. The Judge still seemed to want them for something. Good, very good.

"You take care now, alright?" the Judge waved them goodbye, a fatherly smile having returned to his face as he stood in the candlelit room, "I got my eyes on you. Especially you, Mrs. Bela - you've got quite a way with your tongue. Make sure it doesn't get cut off."

Oh, the thug was going to threaten her again? She'd been threatened by mobsters before. Hell, magi had tried to kill her before. Time to remind him that she understood the street's crude justice: never show weakness. Amanda answered in subdued tones. "I know how it is. I'll be careful." Then she added her own smiling farewell in the cheery notes of a heartfelt "Merry Christmas": "Memento mori, Your Honor."

Amanda listened to Kleo's introdution to the Uppers without comment. It's a dodgy area; we got that. Wait... she got it, Septimus got it, and she had no doubt Thaddeus and Rodney got it. Rmwtyliin would get it to the extent she could, and that left the troublemakers. Hopefully, they'd get it before they got themselves or somebody else killed.


Dining Room, The Building

"Oh yes yes! Name is Maghrl’laundersando’tamil’reumaur." The words came out of the alien's mouth easily, anyone not versed in squibaban would likely have trouble though. "But please-yes do use Maghrl. Is what Maghrl prefers-wants. Nice to meet Sandy-Human! Maghrl is yes-indeed new here. Fell through cieling-light to lobby-place."

Sandy marvelled at Maghrl's ability to rattle off it's own name; it must have some lungs. "Oh, you've just arrived! I'll admit I can't tell you why Demens has people arriving through the ceiling lamp, but I can say that when you visit your apartment, you'll find it arranged exactly to your liking. It's part of the Building's magic."

Sandy stabbed his turkey with a fork and took a bite of it. "If you don't mind me asking, where did Demens bring you from? I'm from Philadelphia, a large city on Earth." Sandy didn't expect either name would be familiar to Maghrl, but that's exactly why he asked: if either one rang a bell, it narrowed down where and when the Squib might be from.

[New Aksarben]

Dining Room, The Building

"Oh yes yes! Name is Maghrl’laundersando’tamil’reumaur." The words came out of the alien's mouth easily, anyone not versed in squibaban would likely have trouble though. "But please-yes do use Maghrl. Is what Maghrl prefers-wants. Nice to meet Sandy-Human! Maghrl is yes-indeed new here. Fell through cieling-light to lobby-place."

Sandy marvelled at Maghrl's ability to rattle off it's own name; it must have some lungs. "Oh, you've just arrived! I'll admit I can't tell you why Demens has people arriving through the ceiling lamp, but I can say that when you visit your apartment, you'll find it arranged exactly to your liking. It's part of the Building's magic."

Sandy stabbed his turkey with a fork and took a bite of it. "If you don't mind me asking, where did Demens bring you from? I'm from Philadelphia, a large city on Earth." Sandy didn't expect either name would be familiar to Maghrl, but that's exactly why he asked: if either one rang a bell, it narrowed down where and when the Squib might be from.

The Squib thought for a bit, scratching his chin. Earth, Philadelphia? What did those even mean? "Not-Heard this Earth. Is Earth a human-species planet-Place?" The alien responded, tilting his head as he idly brought a bit of what seemed to be some kind of poultry to his mouth to take another bite. Again, Maghrl reminded himself to find the chefs after he finished eating. It was quite delicious!

"Maghrl home-original is Skor II in Basic-Tongue. Planet around-near Squab-Star. Maghrl is Squib-Species, Squib live on Skorr II. Is Outer Rim World-system on edge of New Republic. Never heard-known of this Earth-Planet. Is part-member of New Republic?" He asked, curious if this earth was where he was located. HE'd heard the term before ,but it only referred to dirt in BAsic. Why would anyone name their planet Dirt? that'd be like calling their star sun, or something like that!

[Giovenith]

"You were up all night doing wha-"

Amid the socialization, none of the crew had really noticed the way the antiques had began to shake until the clattering rose to a point were it could no longer be ignored. The pieces banged loudly against the table and shivered about as if consumed in their own little segregated earthquake, drawing Willow's surprise as he tore himself away from pleasantries to try and put a stop to whatever was causing this so that the old items would not be damaged. They continued to shake and clatter against his touch though, the pony struggling to make them stand still as they began to shutter more and more into an almost blur.

As the items blurred, so too did the surroundings, but only for a handful of individuals: Willow, Brit, Rache, Chrys, Aegis, and for some reason, Yuna. The room around them blurred into indistinguishable blotches of colors and then melted away, leaving them standing in an empty blackness before they all were pulled downward by a strong sensation, and everything went black.

For everyone else on scene in the Building, it would appear as though they had soundlessly, inconspicuously vanished while one wasn't looking. You saw them, turned to pick up another biscuit, or admired a curtain, or blinked, and they were gone. It would have been easy to assume they all just got up and left for their own devices.

Why didn't Demens stop it? Why didn't Demens stop anything? He thought it was good for them to go anyway, so he sat back and decided not to intervene. Chaos beings - what can you do?

Yuna and Aegis

It was quiet when the princess and the Luxan awoke. The only real sound was a muted crunching, which upon opening their eyes, they would find to be the crunching of fresh snow they had been laid in. It was everywhere. Once the darkness faded, they had found themselves in a dense wood deep into a winter, the whole environment around them nothing but the white of snow and sky dotted by many, many small, vertical streaks of bare brown. Soft flakes fell from the sky in a whimsical way, and the whole scene seemed something out of a children's fantasy novel.

The only problem was that they were alone. The other residents were nowhere to be seen, not even tracks in the snow from where they could have wandered off, nor tracks that showed where they themselves could have been dragged in for that matter. It was an eerie, confusing, quiet loneliness.

They were also both suddenly Earth ponies, the sentient ponies without wings or horns, but go figure.


Brit and Chrys

The military gal and the Conservator had found themselves in a similar situation as Aegis and Yuna, awaking in a wintry setting, only they would find themselves in a small, snow-covered field rather than a wood. Said field rested between a cluster of trees (not the same one where their friends were located) on one side, and what seemed to be the hard, wall-like beginnings of a mountain on the other. The sky was easier to see for them, bright though grey as it was. They'd find themselves as unicorns.


Rache and Willow

The last two found themselves in a slightly different situation than their friends. It was still very much winter when they awoke, but instead of finding themselves surrounded by mountains or trees, they seemed to only be surrounded by vague, empty greyness itself. The "ground" beneath them had a plush buoyancy, and it didn't take Willow long to discover it wasn't ground at all, but cloud. He tested it, pushing his hoof against it and having it gently push back, confirming that this was indeed designed cloud: packed especially tightly together so that those walking on it would not accidentally bust it open with their hooves and fall through. But that would mean it would have to have a designer, and that would mean...

"Rache, I'm not sure what happened, but I think we're in a safe environment," he said, not yet looking at his companion. He assumed a daemon would have the power to survive being on a cloud and not falling through. "I can tell this is packed cloud, which means there must be intelligence around here, so we're not stranded. It makes sense that this new planet would have- sweet everloving Celestia!!"

Willow bolted backward in a small whirlwind through the air in shock when he managed to look at his companion, who would have the surprise of seeing he'd been turned into the small breed of pegasus that the artist also was.

[Tiltjuice]

"What the!" Chrys called out, understandably startled by the change in setting and she was a unicorn?

SHE WAS A UNICORN!

Unfortunately for Brit's comprehension, the sudden shock had caused her initial outburst to be in ancient Greek for some reason. Perhaps the reflex fallback on the language of someone who'd helped bring her up, in a rough and ready sort of way.

Bright white-blonde hairs like that of a palomino waved in a slight breeze as she raised her head and her mane caught the air. Then the chill set in; but for some reason she didn't mind this as much.

She lowered her head again and tapped Brit on the ...shoulder?

[The BranRiech]

"A month?"

Drova wasn't foreign to the idea that time could pass differently for people when they were in other places, but the idea that Torii was gone for a month was just a little surprising to the Prince. He was too wrapped up in his hug to notice the large amount of people who'd just vanished, including his sister, but Torii was much more important than keeping tabs on silly Yuna. "Well, to us at least, you were . . . Uh, only gone a day."

Drova smiled.

"Well, regardless, Miss Torii, it's delightful to have you back. How was it? Where did they take you?"

--

"Huh." Yuna's face curled into a look of suspicion as the antiques began to clatter, bending the reality around the group, plucking them literally out of their seats, sending them all tumbling into a new world. Her wings instinctively began to flap, trying to keep the girl aloft in their strange purgatory.

It didn't last too long though, of course, and she quickly seemed to lose consciousness.

Cold!

Yuna's eyes shot open, rushing to her feet. She stood, if but for a moment, before tumbling back into the snow, her back legs refusing to allow her to stand without the support of her arms? No . . . Front legs?

"W-where are my fingers?" She asked, bending her neck down. "O-oh Gods!" Her eyes drew down to her four legs. Fingers and toes appeared to be absent, replaced instead by 4 perfectly shaped hooves, standing in the snow, little flakes swirling around her as she realized her current predicament. Standing there, the snow began to coat her, contrasting her fur (Her former skin-color).

[Monfrox]

Well, she could've blamed it on sleep deprivation or something of the like, but that just wasn't her style. Brit pulled her head from the snow and shook it.

"Ow. Good thing I didn't bite my tongue...wherever the hell I went. The fuck is this shit?" She looked over to Chrys and about paled when she saw her. "Whoa..."

This surprise caused her to lean back to try to get a bit of room for her head to think clearly, but also brought into view her own new form to her. In a split second, her calm, off-beat demeanor shifted to internal screaming and panic as her eyes went wide. She slowly looked around them, looked at herself, looked at Chrys, tried to breathe.

"Well now we're getting into some deep shit I don't know if I'm ready for this also what. What. What!? WHAT!!"

[Torsiedelle]

Torii flinched and laughed as yet another friend drew her into a hug, and she found herself being held by three people at once. She lightly pulled herself away and gave them a moment to just breath...or for her to space out a little as she thought about Drova's question of where she was taken.

"Uh, oh, yeah.", She snapped her fingers. "We went back home? To Torsiedelle."

Same scratchy voice and strangely energetic bobbing of her body, but she definitely was a bit mellowed out, and maybe confused. "Emergency, right? They said that's what it was before we had to leave in a hurry. Well, I found out my parents are back together.", She rubbed her neck, chuckling. "Thing is, the emergency was an explosion. My dad took up a job with North Caucasian back home. They, uh, do automobile and machinery stuff, and do military contracts. Anyways, a factory he worked at had a big explosion, and we thought he was hurt really bad, but it was just a leg wound. He was all joking and walking around like usual, just out of work for a little bit, so that was good, but, um..."

"Anyways, it wasn't an accident, and that's all I'm really willing to say. I don't like it when some dirty terrorists mess with us, but it's all fine now, because Russia is at war in the Middle East now, and we joined them the same day. When we were back home, there were so many Russian soldiers, since the Stavropol military base has Russian and Chinese forces in it besides our own. I also saw some Hinds back in the city. You know, big Russian attack choppers? Those things are pretty awesome, put Western aircraft to shame. I wanted to get close to one, but, uh, we were in a pretty high-security state, and that's a lot of soldiers with AK-12's and AK-74's."

Torii trailed off for a moment, until her eyes met her friends again. "Oh yeah! Anyways, we spent some time at home. It was surreal at first, and for a while I just felt kind of lost, and I didn't want to be there, but I got used to it. I guess it was cool, being with my family for a bit. I got hurt, though, banged up my own leg a bit.", She nodded, bending her leg as a little demonstration. "It's healed now. Uh, what else...oh, we explored Stavropol a lot. The capitol is cool. Besides that, we celebrated Thanksgiving after me and Katya insisted we do it, and then we made Christmas plans. We wanted to all come, but Dad isn't too keen on being here and embarassing us, and Mom has her business. Katya stayed behind too, to help Mom and work out of financial issues, since we won't have our money while we're here. Anyways, they let me come, but Mom hooked me up with an escort, being all paranoid and whatnot. Speaking of, should look for her. Funny thing, we got into a car crash, I think? Last thing I remember before getting here. Life is weird sometimes. That, and my escort isn't a good driver, but I don't even know how to drive at all."

What a mouth full. Torii cleared her throat and sighed. "Oh, and you probably wanna know about Bielefield? Yeah, things are still fucked there. Anti-Ab shit and all. It's not that bad back in Torsiedelle, but I think that's because we're going crazy for Ab stuff. My escort is an Aug, people who get cybernetics? You wouldn't know it, though. I haven't seen any aliens or ponies yet, though, so I guess we just don't have experience like Bielefield. I know that damn country needs to get it together. At least we got this place, right? We can fit in here, I bet. So, with all that out of the way, um, it's only been a day, right?"

[Giovenith]

Brit and Chrys

The two newly unicorn... i... fied... girls didn't have much time to exchange shock over their circumstances. They didn't even have time to brace themselves as another unicorn plowed into them, which to their credit, they wouldn't have had any way too. She hadn't run into them, she'd just sort of... appeared, tangling herself up with the other two ponies as she tried to pull her deep violet cape and satchel away from their limbs. Once freed, the blue unicorn looked around the three of them in a panicked state, as if she hadn't just plowed into two strangers.

Her expression tensed in clear fear as distant, muffled shouting was heard from the direction of the wooded area.

"Go, go!" she suddenly urged the two girls in a squeaky voice, pushing them toward the direction of the mountainside with her head and front hooves. "They're coming this way, hurry!"

--

"Only a day," Giovenith confirmed, nodding along at Torii's story. "Time must be very different here... if we ever return to Bielefeld, it might be many years in the future..."

That was a scary thought. What if they returned to a horrible anti-ab dystopia? What if another Drone attack came in their absence? How horrible!

"Well, at least you're back now. Maybe we can use your experience to find more out about this place!"

[Northwest Slobovia]

"Maghrl home-original is Skor II in Basic-Tongue. Planet around-near Squab-Star. Maghrl is Squib-Species, Squib live on Skorr II. Is Outer Rim World-system on edge of New Republic. Never heard-known of this Earth-Planet. Is part-member of New Republic?"

Sandy's forehead wrinkled in consternation. "New Republic...? I don't think so. We don't have interstellar trav--" Republic? Wait a second... He tried a new tack: "There's a New Republic, that replaced the Old Republic, after... um, the fall of the Empire?" If that was the case, Demens' reach must be far greater than he imagined.

[New Aksarben]

"Maghrl home-original is Skor II in Basic-Tongue. Planet around-near Squab-Star. Maghrl is Squib-Species, Squib live on Skorr II. Is Outer Rim World-system on edge of New Republic. Never heard-known of this Earth-Planet. Is part-member of New Republic?"

Sandy's forehead wrinkled in consternation. "New Republic...? I don't think so. We don't have interstellar trav--" Republic? Wait a second... He tried a new tack: "There's a New Republic, that replaced the Old Republic, after... um, the fall of the Empire?"

Maghrl nodded, as if that was common knowledge. "Yes yes, of course-yes" HE responded, wodnering why the basics of galactic history were so unknown here. Was this place really that much of a backwater? That they only barely knew about the two largest events in recent galactic history. He munched on some more of the poultry on his plate as he thought, humming softly as he thought about this. "Maghrl must-must be far-very away from Galaxy Center and Republicness. Is Earth-planet in far outer rim of galaxy? Maybe even in the unknown regions?" He asked, tilting his head again raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

His little tail swished lazily in his robes, making them swish in turn across the floor. He reached into his robes again and pulled out a very advanced looking computer chip, looking over it idly for a moment as if he was checking something on it. The alien huffed slightly, before setting the little computer chip to hover with his force powers, before reaching into his robes and pulling out a small tool which he also set to hover, controlling the tool into making small adjustments on the device before replacing both in his robes. "Next Sandy-Human tell Maghrl you have-not heard-known of the Jedi Order! Even FarOuterRim knows of Jediorder and Sith!" Surely she'd heard of his order. He'd been surprised that no one had even noticed him by the robes. It was pretty common for Jedi to go around in that particular set of robes after all.

[Charmera]

Sandy's forehead wrinkled in consternation. "New Republic...? I don't think so. We don't have interstellar trav--" Republic? Wait a second... He tried a new tack: "There's a New Republic, that replaced the Old Republic, after... um, the fall of the Empire?"

Maghrl nodded, as if that was common knowledge. "Yes yes, of course-yes" HE responded, wodnering why the basics of galactic history were so unknown here. Was this place really that much of a backwater? That they only barely knew about the two largest events in recent galactic history. He munched on some more of the poultry on his plate as he thought, humming softly as he thought about this. "Maghrl must-must be far-very away from Galaxy Center and Republicness. Is Earth-planet in far outer rim of galaxy? Maybe even in the unknown regions?" He asked, tilting his head again raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

His little tail swished lazily in his robes, making them swish in turn across the floor. He reached into his robes again and pulled out a very advanced looking computer chip, looking over it idly for a moment as if he was checking something on it. The alien huffed slightly, before setting the little computer chip to hover with his force powers, before reaching into his robes and pulling out a small tool which he also set to hover, controlling the tool into making small adjustments on the device before replacing both in his robes. "Next Sandy-Human tell Maghrl you have-not heard-known of the Jedi Order! Even FarOuterRim knows of Jediorder and Sith!" Surely she'd heard of his order. He'd been surprised that no one had even noticed him by the robes. It was pretty common for Jedi to go around in that particular set of robes after all.

"What's a Jedi?" Asked Asdra as she moved towards the two of them, curiosity compelling her to investigate. She had come to the dinning room with her usual Garb. She didn't have any formal clothes at all, so this was really the best she could do when it comes to her wardrobe. She paused, realizing she was being a bit rude, interrupting a conversation. "Sorry for interupting. I'm Asdra. I'm new here." She looked to the Squib, he looked a little odd, but the stuff that came out of Genlabs were much more disturbing.

[Swith Witherward]

LOBBY

"You can't shoot with gumdrops for ammo," Volker scratched his chin (and thus it was so!). He offered his most sympathetic look to Audette. "And I'm afraid you're stuck for the time being. Who is your boss? We've had several people fit that description."



DINING ROOM

Ocho and Adrastus were so wrapped up in their conversation that they failed to notice Willow's group vanish. The old abbot paused a moment to reassure Sandy that the young man's tracking implant wasn't dependent upon radio waves, and then fell back into tense dialog with the thade.



UA

Rodney uncrossed his fingers. Nonplussed, he followed the rest from the Judge's throne room. He'd refrain from questions for now, although he offered the judge a polite nod as he left.

Thaddeus braced his hands against the box's walls as it rolled from the room. It came to a stop and his optics winked as they adjusted to the sudden light. A quick head count revealed nobody was dead. Relieved, the old cyborg fell in step with the group.

Kleo solved the mystery of his missing vehicle. Much pleased to still have it, he muttered a benign apology for all the trouble caused and then listened to her as she lay down the rules. Really, she asked for nothing beyond and above what he'd expect to hear from any officer in a major city.

"Weapons are allowed then?" he asked once she'd wrapped up her spiel. He supposed she'd explain identification, permits and the rest next.



IF YOU GIVE A DAEMON A CLOUD

Rache stared at the "ground". For the briefest of moments, he assumed Hans had a subconscious conniption fit and had turned the floor into cotton, or a spongecake, or- woah! Grey sky?! Sky? The uneasy feel of the atmospheric breeze caused Rache to open his wings. He head tilted. Where was the leathery flap? There should have been one! He flapped again, lifting a few inches from the spongecake. Nope, feathery. Feathery?

"The fuck is this fresh hell?" the Daemon murmured as hooves touched down ag- wait. Hooves? Wide eyes beheld the strange, finger-less things at the ends of his arms. Granted, it wasn't too unusual considering his normal feet were cloven, but these were - oh by War's Throne, dare he say it? - cute hooves.

"-sweet everloving Celestia!!"

"Huh?" Rache's crisp blue eyes settled on Willow. The pegasus carried many of his host's former characteristics. His expression remained ever-grim, and his coloration matched his former Nazi uniform. A short vest made out of its material covered his plump torso (which was good, as it kept Rache in the Materium). The pony flapped and spun above the cloud, revealing his god's mark on his rump, then folded his wings to land on the spongecake.

"Hee hahahaha!" the Daemon's barked laughter ascended a half octave above his host's normal range, the sound making him chortle harder. Back legs kicked in amusement as he flopped around the cloud. The front legs curled against his belly to stave off the stitch in his side. Hans had turned them into many things over the centuries, but this was - hooves down - the most humorous.

The laughed tapered off into soft, hiccuped wheezes. Rache wiped a tear from his eye. "So this is what you feel like?" the pony rolled to his feet and then lifted from his cloud to meet Willow's level. It allowed him to get a much better view of the ground below, and he hastily tacked on, "And this is Equestria, ja?" (Sadly, the transformation had done nothing to strip him of his Bavarian accent.)

[The BranRiech]

"Yeah, it's only been a day, but a bit has happened."

Drova broke his way out of the hug, stepping back a little bit. As much as he didn't want to, he had to tell Torii about the fight between Marcus and him, simply because it was over her. He knew she'd find out eventually, and probably from a source that was a little more hostile towards Drova's side of things. He eyed his girlfriend. "Marcus and I got into a fight like . . . 20 minutes after you left." He said, face looking down at Torii's feet, not wanting to know he reaction. "He thought I didn't appreciate you enough, and we . . . Well, we fought a bit." The prince admitted depressingly.

He looked back up, in an effort to see if Torii was frowning or not.

"Sorry. I-I really didn't mean to fight."

[Northwest Slobovia]

"Maghrl must-must be far-very away from Galaxy Center and Republicness. Is Earth-planet in far outer rim of galaxy? Maybe even in the unknown regions?" He asked, tilting his head again raising an eyebrow in curiosity. [...] "Next Sandy-Human tell Maghrl you have-not heard-known of the Jedi Order! Even FarOuterRim knows of Jediorder and Sith!" Surely she'd heard of his order. He'd been surprised that no one had even noticed him by the robes. It was pretty common for Jedi to go around in that particular set of robes after all.

Sandy gave a big nod: now what Maghrl was saying made sense. "Earth is very far, far away indeed. Another galaxy, in another... dimension. Sorry, cosmology isn't my strong suit. But, yes... yes we have heard of the Jedi." Sandy hoped Maghrl didn't ask how he knew; that would be hard to explain.

"We're in another dimension now, definitely 'unknown regions'. We've only just arrived ourselves. Until the day before yesterday, this Building, and nearly all of us here, were on Earth." Well, not exactly his Earth, one so similar to his that would make his historian colleagues renounce their profession and become hermits. He hoped Maghrl wouldn't ask about that either: parallel timestreams were easy to talk about, but hard to explain. Sandy couldn't even remember how he first heard about them: it was doubtless some work of science fiction, but he had no idea which one.

"Sorry for interupting. I'm Asdra. I'm new here." She looked to the Squib, he looked a little odd, but the stuff that came out of Genlabs were much more disturbing.

Sandy looked up at the young woman as she asked about Jedi, trying to guess her background from her appearance. Some sort of physical profession, it seemed, but Sandy couldn't make sense of it: a pipefitter, perhaps, or an athlete from another culture.

Regardless, he gave her a welcoming smile. "Hello, hello! Welcome to the Building. Please, get some food and then sit with us. I'm Sandy Bela, one of the Buiding's leaders." He gestured towards where serving dishes had been laid out.

Sandy caught a fragment of the conversation Ocho and Adrastus were having. How could you lose somebody with a tracking implant? He'd have to listen more closely to them while Maghrl explained Jedi to Asdra.