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

[Chedastan]

OPERATION: LAST CHANCE
DIMENSION: 4590K
LOCATION: Xo Research Base, Veraka, Xo'Lokako orbit, Vim System, HZSC space
TEAMS: SECRET OMEGA TENTACLE

---

Romulus was ready as well, in fact he had of course been ready the whole time essentially. He nodded in acknowledgment of those that had just returned back into the room, and it appeared for this brief moment that they had everyone back together again, though it obviously wouldn't last long.

He looked down at Kale, and could tell by her mere deep breathing alone that she was most likely and probably was nervous. He remembered when he was like that too, taking deep breaths with something nerve wracking was going to happen, he stopped doing it though after he was thrown straight into the trenches of Saint La'Beik on his first deployment 17 years ago.

He couldn't quite remembered now which was the exact reason for why he stopped being timid about everything on his first campagin, maybe it was seeing his radio operator get blown to bits from a previously undetonated shell? Or maybe it was him stabbing a youth conscript in a bayonet charge who was no older than he was? Whichever it was, it was enough to change him for the rest of life, and make him into the man and the General he was right now.

"Good, I've been ready. If we're all ready to go now, then I'll lead the front." He said to both Kale and Nex, before moving himself to the entranceway of the corridor, ready to walk in when they finally are.

---

SOUP

As soon as Giovenith placed her hand on one of her own, Nivea was genuinely surprised, perhaps even shocked. She was a murderer, was she not? And here was this angelic lady whom she only just met today, accepting her regardless and assuring her that she wouldn't be judged and there'll be a place for her. She couldn't help it, a tear had already made its way down her cheek, but she wasn't sure if she should be happy to be accepted, or if she should still feel somewhat disgusted with herself. The guilt of it, no matter how justified, still couldn't be so easily washed from her soul. When Marcus then spoke, it added some new light to her conflicting thoughts.

Going back in time? She had been introduced to many new concepts today, but even she knew that wouldn't help her peace of mind out any better. No, she had already accepted that she couldn't go back to her city of Bisith, even if it were to changed what had happened, there was no escaping the guilt and trauma of her actions, her sins. And even then, she certainly had a much higher purpose now, something that shouldn't be squandered because she wanted to delved into the past.

A second tear then ran down the same cheek when Marcus then placed his own hand over Giovenith's and hers'. She sniffed her astonished relief back, and wiped her eyes underneath her shades. These people were truly kind and forgiving souls then, granting her the exact polar opposite treatment she had been given earlier today, she almost felt beloved even.

Before she could say a word about how thankful she was to be with both Marcus and Giovenith, and say something constructive, a voice had suddenly crackled overhead. She was startled by the sudden voice that appeared to have come from nowhere, and was afraid initially of what it meant. But she soon quickly realized that it was only an announcement for something relating to the holidays (whatever it is they celebrate around here), and the voice of the woman had instructed them to return to the lobby. "I'm guessing we should go to that?" She then said to both Marcus and Giovenith.

[Holy Lykos]

OPERATION: LAST CHANCE
DIMENSION: 4590K
LOCATION: Xo Research Base, Veraka, Xo'Lokako orbit, Vim System, HZSC space
TEAMS: SECRET OMEGA TENTACLE

---

Of course, sometimes the huvidu-zaan had to be aggressors, in fact the tensions against the nearby theocratic empires had lead to the Zaan Collective debating going to war preemptively. A hard thing to decide of course, given it'd probably escalate to a regional war rather than a border skirmish or two.

So Bencarr was glad that Rwm seemed rather satisfied by his explanations. He trotted off to go help with cleaning up, leaving Rwm for now to catch up with her friends. Oren similarly went over to the communications console to start up the station's interstellar communications and call for help to fix up the station and an investigation to what was pushing the Skriitarii into their territory. She was the station's communications officer after all. With the crisis winding down it was about time to get some help. They might have to deal with some more direct military presence for a bit of course, but that would be a temporary measure.

"I'll follow you Romulus." Nex replied with a nod. He padded into the airlock area and hooked up his suit to the tether on the right wall, the one on the left open for Kale to take. "Tethers are long enough that we'll have freedom of movement unless we get pulled into space. So don't worry about getting stuck unless you decide to run around something in a circle for about ten minutes. Again Romulus, you'll have to wait until we reach the next airlock, only two per like I mentioned."

Venla joined them shortly after that, a bit more scratched up and bloody than before of course, given the close quarters fight in the med bay. She simply grunted before sitting down to rest and recover. The grunt could be considered to be her saying good luck,but she closed her eyes to rest while they went through disposing of the plant monster.

[Giovenith]

Caer Gloriana

Clover lifted her pouch and inspected the ring strung through one of it's strings, observing the subtle flashes of golden light through the air as she slowly turned it about. Good, at the very least, Lily Lightly's path back was still working. They were not totally lost. Perhaps, assuming Platinum still had her pouch, she could configure the magic hologram map in order to track the magic in her own ring-

"I agree with Brittle Bits!" Arrow announced, pulling her foreleg upward so quickly in declaration that it slapped Clover slightly (the latter of whom wasn't convinced it was an accident). "The Umbrum are unpredictable, and they will hold a grudge against the princess. Also maybe you too..." She casually pointed at Chrys. "... the sooner we put this to rest the better!"

"We don't even know where to go," Clover rubbed her cheek, annoyed. "If we're going to charge ahead, fine, but don't just go running blindly into the darkness. Let me run some tests first so that we can-"

"Too slow!" Arrow teleported next to Brit as if they were on the same side. "So sad! Stay behind if you want, let the big girls handle it." And she turned tail and trotted down the direction Brit had been heading towards. Razzalia, panicked, soon followed after.

Clover held in a growl and tried to keep her composure despite the growing unpleasant heat in her stomach. Anger was the enemy of objective thinking and intellect, the bread and butter of a good magician. When you held no effective authority there was no choice but to adapt, and so the apprentice staggered behind to assist Chrys.

"Have one of these," she said gently, pulling what appeared to be a soft ball made of gold from her pouch. "They're specially crafted with nutrients and energy. We've been mainly subsisting on these in light of the famine, they're not very filling and you can't live on them forever, but it will get you back up on your feet in a pinch."

She carefully placed it in Chrys' hoof. Once eaten, it would have a strange taste that was a blend of metallic and citrus, but it would burn away the physical and emotional fatigue and make her feel ready to move on. Clover gave one last head bow before heading after the rest of the group, levitating her hologram gem and her pouch around as she did, getting to work fast on the configurations before Brit and Arrow could possibly get them lost.

"You need to tell us what you know," Clover insisted impatiently to Arrow as they walk. "If you're going to insist on sneaking your way down here and accompanying us, you have no right to hold secrets about what we're doing."

"Pssh, I wasn't keeping secrets, Clever Clover," the black-robed mare said, adjusting her own bags casually. "You just weren't around to ask."

"Tell us now."

"What's the magic word?"

"Now."

"Well I never!" Arrow huffed and wrinkled her nose. "You really must work on your courtly etiquette more if you're going to be the future Queen's second-in-command, honestly!" She fluffed her hair. "I suppose it is better than spending our travel time glaring at each other silently in the dark though, I'd hate to make this all so much more awkward than it already is."

"I just really want my magic back," Razzalia piped up.

"Yes, yes, we know already dear," Arrow snipped, annoyed. "You'll get it back, just be patient. Anyway, where to begin?" She tapped her chin. "I was quite young myself when the last clash with the shadow ponies happened, but was talked about enough for so many years after that I can practically recite the story like my Abracadabras..."



There are few things you expect to survive the wreckage when a tower spontaneously explodes, least of all a fabric hat. The bits of brick, cement, and jewels could have easily shot through a pony's skull with the force at which they were scattered, the glitter grout that once held the elegant architecture together now only served to lend the fire's smoke a blackened noxious edge, yet still the queerly sewn together headpiece broke through the destruction without so much as a tear or a smudge on its jingly gold bells. It flipped and danced through the air, slowly making its way downward before gently settling on the cobbled path of a battlement below.

The hat convulsed and figited as two singed stallions hurriedly forced themselves out from the hammerspace within it, grunting at the tiny space they had to work with. They eventually stumbled out and turned to observe the burning tower. Another smaller explosion, probably due to some reaction to the contents within the tower's rooms, rocked the structure and sent a large stony chunk tumbling to the streets far below.

"Were the orders followed?" one of the stallions, King Bullion, asked, attempting to wipe away a black smudge from his face but only spreading it. He wasn't looking very royal at the moment - his clothing in tears and permanently imbued with dirt and soot, his face suffering the bruises and smears of a common hard laborer - but he didn't care.

Star Swirl replaced his hat atop his head and levitated a large gem cluster from his cloak (which was equally pristine as his hat, in contrast to the ragged state of the rest of person, similar to his king's). The cluster lit up and projected a holographic blueprint of the district they were in, scanning the area briefly before lighting up a big red X over the "screen."

"Everypony has been evacuated," the Archmage confirmed. "It's just us and them now."

"You said reinforcements are coming?" Bullion was relieved that no ponies of his would perish in the crossfire, but it'd be pretty nice if he and Star Swirl could get out of this alive too. "When will they be here?"

The Archmage didn't have time to answer. Another explosion rocked the castle walls where they stood, and their gazes were drawn back to the burning tower where the black smoke billowing above began to twist and expand unnaturally, a wailing howl like a somber herald's horn filling the air as it did. The two knew better than to waste any time seeing what else was to come.

"Go, go!" Star Swirl growled, grabbing onto Bullion's foreleg. "NOW!"

They teleported away just as the black crystals began to shoot up out of the pavement where they once stood. They found themselves on some other battlement, the precise location difficult to tell in the frenzy of the situation, but they took off immediately towards the door at the very end as the howling in the distance grew louder and louder. It vibrated the air like the world's deadliest symphony.

"Meadowbrook has fortified the eastern quarters against them!" the Bearded pony yelled over the howling to the stallion at his side. "It leads into the safe zone of the city, but we'll have to lose them long enough to navigate a path there!"

Bullion's eyes widened. "Wait-"

There was no need to wait as a wall of flames erupted from the pathway in front of the two without warning, barely enough time for Star Swirl to stop himself from running straight into but not enough for Bullion to slow his own momentum fully. The king managed to stop himself from roasting completely by throwing himself to the ground, but a single hind leg toppled into the inferno, only there for a few seconds before the Archmage ripped the king away but enough to make the latter scream in agony and to leave his leg an equally loud crimson. Star Swirl the Bearded held Bullion close and panicked at the state of his injury, then looked up again - the grim lighting from the green and purple flames flickered across their horrified and pained faces, and the sorcerer knew that this was no fire that water or ice spells could do anything against. It circled them completely, and had grown to such a height in such a short time that Star Swirl was unable to catch a sufficient line of sight for them to teleport.

Trapped there, it seemed that the two stallions were only minutes from death when the Archmage noticed splotches of blue on the pavement where they crouched. They lead towards the inner side of the wall, and he thought fast: In a flash, Star Swirl and Bullion became drawings. Geometric and stylized in their tiny, two-dimensional forms, they raced right beneath the flames (for stone was much more resistant than flesh to fire), over the crenels, and down into the pastoral mural painted on the inner half of the wall that faced the abandoned streets below.

They ducked behind two dancing painted figures' legs, knowing it would take a while for the enemy to discover where they had gone. Flattened tiny Star Swirl took the moment to heal Bullion's leg, at least enough so that he could continue its use, and they quickly whispered to one another.

"Meadowbrook is fortifying the quarters?" Bullion said in a hush. "But she couldn't do that on her own."

"They're taking turns," Star Swirl said.

"They? Your magicians, they are not coming for us? What about the reinforcements?"

"I called in other forces."

They could run no further across the walls, not without sticking out outside the bounds of the mural, and so they counted the seconds without sign of trouble before hopping back into the third dimension and ducking behind an abandoned jewelry vendor.

"Archers then, or lesser sorcerers?" the king whispered as he looked for some sign in the streets of the direction they needed. It was bad enough when they were stuck atop the battlements, they were alive yes, but now they had to deal with the even more confusing twists and turns of the city. If they could find someplace to duck into and hide, they could safely take a look at Star Swirl's hologram map.

"No," the bearded Archmage answered, but did not elaborate as he pointed towards the open doors of a nearby tall building - a monastery.
They made the dash, trotting up the stairs and putting their magic together to push and lock the entrance behind them.

"Then who?" the king further prodded once inside. He stepped back from the doors, turned around, and walked forward slightly to observe their current location. They'd come into the public front of the monastery, the spot where wayward unicorns could sit and seek counsel from those who knew the Heavens best, filled with cushioned seating and illuminated only by the sunlight filling through the magnificent stained glass windows.

The Archmage bid silence so that he could use what little time they had to observe his map once again. The hologram cluster lit up and the conjurer's eyes flicked this way and that as he rapidly analyzed the twists and turns relative to their current position, zooming in and turning certain points and images to gauge the time and spells need to navigate each possible route so as to find the fastest and least dangerous. Soon though, the heavy stone doors of the worship center began to rattle, drawing the stallions' panic again.

"Hold them!" the king ordered, running back beside his adviser as the two worked together to keep the doors closed with their telekinesis. Nothing was pushing against them specifically, but a great force was roaming the streets outside and attempting to push itself outward in order to reveal as many hiding spots at once as possible and flush them out. They had to make certain theirs remained closed. It was difficult, but the stallions managed it and felt the pressure die away, relieved that the force had ceased and hoping that it had moved on. Letting go, they staggered back to some of the cushioned seats and took a moment to allow their pounding hearts to slow before making any more critical choices.

Star Swirl the Bearded used some sheet music from a basket beside the bench to fan himself. "I called in-"

The stone doors exploded into a green and purple inferno, ripping through the monastery front as it incinerated the benches and carpeting and blew out the windows in an instant. It came so suddenly and so violently that not even Star Swirl had time to react and move to save them, the force from the explosion itself propelling them all the way towards the far back and lending only a second to look up as they saw the flames racing toward them-

Bullion hadn't been sure at first if death by inferno was so fast that all your nerves melted before your mind was snuffed out, but that's what he assumed as he squeezed his eyes shut and instinctively felt the chaos rage around him yet felt no pain. His eardrums pounded in protest at the roar of the fire, the booming of the building being ravaged, and his own screams fighting for airspace to reverberate against the rest of the cacophony, but a distinct lack of the same agony he'd felt on his leg before in the rest of his body. As he summoned enough courage to struggle to open his eyes, he found them strained against not only the blare of the explosion raging in front of them - only in front of them - but of the even bright light standing between it and them, holding certain death back.

Once it could rage no more, the brutal inferno blossomed and winked out, the force holding Bullion and Star Swirl against the wall fading along with it. They slid and crumpled to the floor unceremoniously but unscathed, Bullion coughing up several wads of spit and choking back vomit as he struggled to overcome the terror and awe at the attack and at his survival overwhelming him. He looked up as the light that had saved them faded and lowered to the floor, winking out and leaving glory in it's place: a hunk of the purest crystal glittered in the sunlight and formed the shape of elegant but sturdy mare, standing tall in opposition to the smoking hole that was once the front of the monastery, the silvery gilding and tiara set upon her flashing with all the same lethal grace as the world's finest armor.

Outside on the streets, the same twisting black smoke from the tower slowly began to gather again.

Star Swirl coughed, but mananged to stumble over and help his friend to his feet. "I called your wife."

The statue-like figure turned her head toward the stallions, her flesh moving just as easily as any other pony's despite it's crystalline appearance, trotting to help the Archmage assist her husband and looking the latter in the eye. "You are absolutely wretched," she stated in a low and noble voice, taking in the tired, beaten, and filthy state of the brave companions.

"You look beautiful too, honey," Bullion chuckled but winced at the pain it brought to his abdomen. Yeah, he wasn't feeling like a king at all today.

Star Swirl was all business as he lightly felt at Bullion's ribs for any cracks and looked the Queen consort in the eye. "Argenta, the eastern quarters..."

"The halls of this monastery feed directly into them," she answered. "They hold strong. You are on the right path. Go now, I will hold them back."

No, no she wouldn't - she would finish this. Star Swirl the Bearded knew that and thanked her with a nod and deep bow before scooping up Bullion with his magic and placing the exhausted monarch on his back. Bullion laughed and gave a tired salute to his wife. "See you at dinner..." And then, more seriously: "You are invincible." Then he was finally carted off round to the back door, into the halls of the monastery and towards safe territory.

The Queen of Caer Gloriana turned back towards the blown entrance and the reforming blackness in streets, hearing the same harrowing howl that had caused her husband and his adviser to flee but herself standing firm. Her telekinesis gripped firm at her side but refrained from sheathing Mirare just yet as she slowly made her way outside and stood before the smoke.

She held no fear as the darkness twisted and swirled into disturbing forms of screaming faces and thrashing claws as it struggled to collect itself after her potent defense. Soon though, it pulled itself together and formed a swirling tower before dissipating completely and leaving a new entity in its place. She hovered there with eyes closed peacefully for a moment, and Argenta blankly took in the dark grey of her coat and the way her long black hair floated and bounced around her lovely face. She may have been just any other dark beauty, if not for the wickedly curved horn sprouting from her head that's tip glowed a malevolent red. Argenta slowly scowled. The floating dark pony's eyes shot open with an instant smile, and the purple mists billowing out far past her back from the sides of her green and red gaze.

"Argenta," she greeted so melodically, as if genuinely pleased to see the crystal unicorn Queen.

"Oriana," Argenta stated.

"Enjoying your time as Queen?" Oriana smiled. "I know I am."

Argenta took a cleansing sigh but did not flinch in her resolve. "It's time for you to go back down."

Oriana lowered and balanced upon a decorative curve of an apartment stairs' railing. She continued to smile, though it did not reach her spectral eyes. "After traveling all this way? Ohh, no Argenta, that's quite inhospitable. I think we'll stay for just a little bit. Unless you'd like to come back down with us?"

Argenta knew better than to try to reason with her, pulling the reflective blade of Mirare out and holding the sword horizontally in front of her. "If you do not go back down by yourself, I will fight you, and I will win."

The dark-haired unicorn with the wicked horn smiled wryly. "You really think you're seasoned enough to stomach that. I will show you otherwise."

The crystalline consort said nothing. She held Mirare fast but did not attack. A small part of her clung to the hope that by holding out for those few seconds more, it would be enough to convince the dark one to turn back and take her shadows down to where they all belonged in peace. It seemed that fate would grant her no such mercy today though, not as she watched the tips of Oriana's smile stretch farther backward that any pony should have been capable of and the air grew heavy. Shimmering crystal white and smokey shadow black, all the world was a chessboard, for though it is the king you try to capture, it is Queens who hold the power.



Clover cringed as Arrow loudly munched on a bag of chip-like snacks she had brought with her as they walked. Some kind of sweet crackers cut into various shapes, the older unicorn taking a moment to examine each before popping it between her teeth and leaving a delicate fall of crumbs as she chewed. The Archmage's apprentice tried to be patient, but after half a minute of Arrow pleasantly counting the petals on the fifth flower shape she'd pulled out, Clover snapped.

"Well?" she prompted, sticking a foreleg out demandingly.

"Well what?" Arrow asked, somewhat confused, then narrowed her eyes and pulled her cracker bag back. "If you wanted some, you should have brought your own."

"Not that!" Clover face-hoofed. "What did Queen Argenta do the Umbrum pony?!"

"Well she banished her of course," Arrow pinched an eye closed and levitated the cracker bag up to peer inside, giving it a little shake until a small trinket fell into her hoof. "Oh look, I got a prize!"

"How?!" Clover grabbed hold of the front of Arrow's cloak in frustration with her telekinesis and pulled her to a menacing closeness.

Arrow still didn't get it, levitating the bag to show to Clover. "It says right on the front they put one in every bag."

"The banishment!"

"Oh, that," Straight Arrow touched a hooftip to her chin thoughtfully, ignoring the brashness of Clover's grip on her. "Well there wasn't really a method to it or anything, she just kind of-"



The black crystals shot up around the Queen faster than any onlooker could have predicted, but Argenta repelled them faster. Mirare flicked and flashed to reflect and enchance her own magic light, pushing it as a force outward and shattering the crystals before they could fully form. That happened in one second, and in the next, Argenta was propelling backwards through the air over the roof of the demolished monastery before teleporting out.

Oriana narrowed her eyes. You can't hide. The green glow took over her sight and the purple mists raged, the mountain-carved ground where she stood blackening and breaking apart as her influence spread out. Vendors were overturned and architecture ripped apart, and the pretty gem-patterened roads uprooted themselves as the Umbrum pony turned back into blackened mist to travel along them. Where are you?

The answer came in the form of a painful wave of light charging through the roads in which she traveled. It was magnified by the embedded precious stones, each throwing off the magical charge in a thousand directions to thoroughly thrash through her, forcing her to manifest physically above the ground again to escape it. She grit her sharp teeth and glanced up in time to see Argenta pulling Mirare from the road and crouching to charge, responding with a flurry of energetic projectiles of flickering black, green, and purple.

Mirare caught a projectile within its mirrored blade, and with a flick, sent it flying out beside its wielder, erupting the abandoned property around them into an explosion. It did this for every blast, catching and flicking the explosions aside in a blur of sword twirling and fire until Oriana screamed and met the crystal pony head on, enveloping and teleporting them both before the Glorianan Queen had a chance to strike.

In a flash, Queen Argenta found herself inside of a cloud. Her telekinesis enveloped her before she could fall through, levitating herself in the vapory structure in the sky, but realizing that this would take away from her concentration from her attacks. Oriana knew this two, and her smokey form quickly formed with the cloud, turning it a stormy grey and trapping Argenta inside. Before she could swipe at the hated thing the Umbrum-cloud shot a fluffy tentacle upward and sucked in one of her legs, quickly pulling the rest of her body and racing upward toward her face, attempting to smother her. Argenta struggled, but knowing she could do nothing physically, savored her breath and looked inward, drawing deeply from her magic well. Her aura began to shine with a ferocity, and despite the Umbrum Queen's attempt to squeeze her dead quickly, the light pushed out and exploded such force that the entire cloud was turned back into water in an instant, forcibly separating Oriana from it and leaving the two mares one-on-one in the sky once more.

Argenta didn't let the water go to waste. Catching herself with her telekinesis again, she caught the water as well and split it into many droplets, then elongated and hardened them all into icicles which shone with the same magic light as Mirare. Using these in tandem with her sword now, Argenta went on the attack, charging and slicing at Oriana from many directions at once, leaving no room for her to slip out and no time to think to teleport. It was a dazzling display, the ice, the mirror sword, and the crystalline Queen all catching and throwing off the sunlight like the most mobile and lethal chandelier. Oriana was more agile than any mortal pony, and she dodged the attacks well enough, but not fast or well enough to seek a path of escape. She was growing frustrated and knew she had to think quickly to have a hope of victory.

"Even if you kill me," she said between dodges. "The others will live on."

Mirare nearly chopped her horn off.

"You will all go back to where you belong," Argenta repeated, keeping the flow of her attacks up.

"And we'll come back again," Oriana would have sweated at the energy she used to continue to both dodge and speak, if she could sweat anymore. "As long as what you did to us goes unavenged, we will always come back. The hurt will always fester. And when you are old and pass, we will revisit your sins upon your daughter." More dodging. "Your blood will dry up from this world before it ever takes your place."

Even for a sorceress who was able to stand firm and strong as long as she had, nopony could remain completely on track once their baby had been brought into things. Argenta's mouth steadily pooled with the metallic taste of rage. "You will NOT-"

She slipped - an icicle missed it's mark and in an instant, Oriana was gone.

Argenta floated there in shock for just a second before teleporting once again within the mountain city, the road beneath her cratering as she appeared. "Cowardly bitch!" she yelled out, stalking through the ruins of the neighborhood without abandon, stabbing Mirare this way and that as she searched out the Umbrum. "You threaten her then run away?! Get out here and take it like a mare!" Argenta lashed out a vending stand, blowing it into splinters with a swipe of her weapon in it's direction. "You'll face a baby because you can walk away after, but you'll never walk away from me!"

All the fire in the mother became nothing more than breathless spittle as a giant slab of upturned mountain road went flying into her back, smashing her into the row of buildings up front. Mirare went flying and clattered to the ground far out of reach. Oriana emerged from the ground and again and walked to the now smashed bit of slab and the crumpled Argenta beneath the large pieces. She smiled.

"Even the brightest diamond turns brass," the dark queen's magic lifted Argenta's head up by her hair, delighting in the way the dust and cuts marred the shine of her crystal. "And your looking glass is out of reach. Looks like mama's all out of presents for baby..."

A long black crystal shard materialized in the air, Oriana's magic gripping it and then holding it to the Glorianan queen's throat. "This is the part where I ask you for last words. But your last gurgles will suit just fine."

Argenta's eyes struggled to squint through the blood that was flowing into her eyes. It was dusk now, her ponies staying true to their duty to this world even as their queen battled on, the hazy purple and orange light paying a special compliment to the dark material poised to take her life. "But I do have words."

Oriana smirked without mirth. "A dramatic end for a queen of drama queens. How fitting. Speak them then, pad out your life legend before it ends."

Clear as the day, smokey as the night, or any of the colors inbetween, crystals were all the same deep down. You just had to remember better times... "I still love you."

Now it was the Umbrum's turn to slip. "You-"

... and give them a shine.

Blackness cracked away and the tip of the shiv was consumed by a brilliant blue. Oriana screamed and staggered backward, releasing the queen unharmed, and though she tried to toss the crystal away it seemed stuck in her own telekinesis against her will. It continued to be consumed by the blue. "No, impossible! You're tricking me!No, no, no, no!" She tried shaking it away from her, but it only grew blue, brighter, and began to spin. "It's not enough! You lied, it shouldn't be all! It can't, it-"

For a moment, dusk became day again, so great was the light. It cleared, and Oriana was gone, again. They were all gone, again. As twilight passed and the moon took it's turn, Argenta quietly prayed a request for a dreamer's protection before allowing herself to pass out.



Clover offered no amazement or bafflement at the end of the tale, energetic though it was. Her face remained stoney as she tried to analyze the little details of Argenta's reactions while also working on her recallibration to track Platinum.

"Deus ex machina," the apprentice huffed. "You are sure that's how it ended?"

"Yeeeeeeah," Arrow sniffed. "That's how it's said anyway."

"I have no idea what the last part was, it sounds fabricated."

"You calling me a liar?"

"No, I'm calling our tribe bad storytellers," Clover stated calmly. "But the rest of it had enough. Before we came down here, I already knew that the somber caverns were a result of that mining accident, and there was mention of festering. A haunting then?"

"A very advanced haunting," Arrow had to agree despite her disdain for the apprentice. "And hauntings in general are already quite rare. I'm not sure I know anything about dealing with them." She looked between Brit and Chrys. "And we're not exactly in the most academic of company."

"You've all had experiences with them though, haven't you?" Razzalia suddenly spoke up, mildly surprising the other two Glorianans. "That's what they do, besides the danger, make ponies see things? What did all of you see? Maybe if we can figure out how they target us, it can help us figure out how they operate overall..."



Girls didn't tend to grow up being warned about the folly of stalking others in the dark, though Smart Cookie still had plenty of awkward inner self-chastisment as she did just that to the pale young unicorn from a distance. Well what was she supposed to do, not follow her? If stalking others in a cavey labyrinth was bad, ignoring other ponies' presences when you were both clearly lost and alone was probably worse. Two heads were better than one, right? Though that sentiment really only applied when the two heads were actually working together and not just within the general vicinity of one another...

"Clover the Clever, if you can hear me, I demand you come rescue me this instant!" Princess Platinum called into the darkness, clearly growing a little desparate. "Please!"

Oh gee, how long could Cookie keep letting her think she was alone though? She seemed like just a kid. Smart Cookie wasn't old but she wasn't exactly a child either (maybe about 25 or 27 come the intended time of the next harvest, she didn't keep very good track), whereas this pony couldn't have been more than 18. But she was still a unicorn - not that Cookie had any aversion to helping her out of any kind of racist sentiment, but it wasn't exactly something done casually, 'Oh hey there fellow distrusted outsider! I was just hanging around on your tribe's territory and wanted to know if we could be lost buddies...'

Cookie's own thoughtlessness wound up making the decision for her: She wasn't looking down carefully and wound up kicking a particularly large pebble, her heart stopping at the loud clatter it made. Platinum noticed it too, immediately spinning around and firing up her horn into a shower of periwinkle sparks.

"Who's there?!" she demanded.

Smart Cookie had already slipped behind a rock formation and was sweating profusely at the shadows cast by the magic aura.

"I know you're there, I heard you! I am the princess of Caer Gloriana, you will listen to me!" It must have been a pony, the shadow beings wouldn't be scattering rocks, and Clover and the others would have announced themselves.

Oh dear, oh dear, she really couldn't just follow at a distance anymore now, the unicorn would be constantly vigilant now and lash out if Cookie messed up again. Knowing that there was nothing left to lose, the secretary offered a quick prayer in case she met her end by magical incineration and slowly stood up, one foreleg in the air. "Don't shoot nothin' at me! I didn't mean to scare ya!"

Princess Platinum flexed her ears and narrowed her eyes at the drawl of the voice. "You..." She walked a little closer toward the source of the voice, her horn aura fully illuminating Smart Cookie's face (and hurting her eyes quite a bit too). "... you're an Earth pony!"

Holding her breath, said Earth pony removed her hat out of respect. "Yes, yes I am, but I don't mean ya any harm, really! I found myself here by accident. I wasn't sure how to approach you, but-"

"Sneaking up on ladies is unacceptable!" the princess snapped. "I thought that even your bumpkin mothers would teach their boys that!"

Smart Cookie opened her mouth and was about to take offense to 'bumpkin,' but then put it off due to bewilderment at the last part. "Uh, I'm a mare, little miss."

"A mare?" Platinum squinted her eyes and looked closely at Cookie. "But all your locks, they're gone!" The princess' eyes widened in slight horror when she realized that Smart Cookie was in fact a girl. "Oh goodness, who did such a terrible thing to you, little one?!" There was concern in the royal's voice, but it was the concern one used when they found a limping puppy.

Cookie deadpanned hard both at being patronizingly addressed as 'little one' by a much younger (and shorter!) pony and at said pony's apparent belief that the secretary's short cut hair was the result of some sort of abuse. "Nothing happened to me darling, I cut it this way myself. All the washing and brushing was too much work."

Platinum gave a long gasp and let her mouth hang open in disbelief.

"Okay," Smart Cookie replaced her hat, accepting that there was a long, long way to go. "Are you lost down here?"

Platinum slowly closed her mouth and felt confused about how to answer. Was she lost down here? Well of course the answer was yes, but it was just... that seemed like the beginning to an offer of help. Getting help from an Earth pony? That, didn't really happen? If there was any need for help surely it should be a unicorn helping an Earth pony, an intelligent and structured race offering a bit of their own touch to those littler ponies who couldn't help staggering behind, like a big sister to a little sister. She naively assumed that even Earth ponies themselves would understand this "natural order."

"Um, are, you lost?" the teen unicorn parroted the question.

"Eeyup," the Earth pony casually flicked her tightened lips across her face.

Princess Platinum felt even more misplaced and confused just looking at the mud-dweller's expression. Where her mind expected a distant and shiny-eyed look there was instead a distinct sobriety and dry sharpness. It was the look that Star Swirl's mages used with her, and occasionally even Clover. It was the look of intelligence.

She shook her head. "How do I know you're not one of those shadow creatures?!"

Smart Cookie widened her eyes. "Shadow creatures?"

"Answer me then, knave!" Platinum did a little hop-skippity dance around Smart Cookie which the latter assumed was meant to be some kind of intimidating interrogation tactic. "Huh?! Huh?! Prove thyself!"

Cookie slowly blinked. Watching the little unicorn jump circles around her with little more than childish insistances to combat obvious fear was making her have her own image reconsideration. Whatever magic the pony had obviously wasn't a threat otherwise she would have already used it. The secretary studied the princess' face and took note of the light stains and smudge marks lining her eyes and cheeks; leftover make-up, washed off in some haste. Smart Cookie had never seen a unicorn without make-up. They piled it on like harlequins, determined to look elaborate and alien, to the point where Cookie wasn't really sure what to expect they actually looked like beneath it all. Seeing the aftermath of the paint mask melted away now, she felt disarmed at the fact that Platinum's wasn't at all different from any other older filly's in Groundtown.

Cookie sighed and lifted a foreleg. "I ein't a shadow nothin', if you wanna touch me and see for yourself you can."

Platinum narrowed her eyes, crouched, and slowly reached out a hoof to bop Smart Cookie in the chest a few times. She seemed solid and warm enough, and if the shadows really wanted to kill her they would have done it, wouldn't they? She stood up straight. "Alright Earth pony, I shall take care of you."

Cookie raised an eye but didn't comment. "'Kay. What's yer name?"

Platinum put her hoof to her chest. "I am Her Royal Highness the Princess Platinum, Crown Heir of Caer Gloriana, future Sovereign of the Unicorns, Defender of Grace, and Watcher of the Heavens upon the passing or abdication of my beloved father, the King." She held out her hoof to the other pony, expecting a bow and kiss.

The secretary just stared at the hoof before taking it in her own and giving it a simple shake. "'Kay, I'm Smart Cookie."

Platinum knit her brow and pulled back her hoof, mildly offended by deciding to make nothing of it. "Smart Cookie?"

"Yes," Cookie raised her own brow, silently daring the unicorn to criticize it.

"Oh," the princess wrung her hooves uncomfortably. "Are you some sort of wisepony to the Earth dwellers then?"

"Something like that."

When Platinum thought "wise Earth pony" she imagined cloaked crones stirring big cauldrons of herbs. Smart Cookie was younger than that though, and Platinum was still having a hard time getting past what she saw as the secretary's male looks, both her hair and the snappy, official-looking suit and hat she was wearing. She reminded her more of the Rabelaisian boys who earned spending change working as pages for richer ponies at court, though Platinum detested them for the way they always picked on her and Clover and Cookie didn't seem like the type to tease.

"And yer a princess, eh?" Smart Cookie suddenly asked.

"I'm the princess," Platinum corrected.

"I kinda figured you were all princesses and duchesses or somethin'."

Platinum scoffed. "Of course not, there is only one heir and that is I!"

"Well princess, I best be taking ya back to where I first ended up," Smart Cookie turned around and started back down a tunnel. "That's the last evidence I saw there of your tribe."

"Wait, wha?" Platinum was taken aback as Cookie expected her to follow along. "W-Wait, you shouldn't go ahead so fast, you'll need protection!"

Cookie looked back at the girl's concerned expression and correctly suspected that it wasn't the secretary who the princess actually thought needed protection. She smiled. "'Course, girly. We'll keep each other safe." She moved to put a foreleg over the princess' shoulders when she scampered forward but thought better when she was the girl's ears fold awkwardly. "Right, let's find yer friends."

[Giovenith]

Groundtown

SkyWishes didn't say much on their way to the grave, though inwardly, she was feeling tense. She'd been making wishes all her life, and all her life, the wish that had been most consistent was to bare witness to the magic that lay beyond her race. She was young and could be naive but nopony could say that she was not a freethinker, and it had always struck her as perpostorous that the pony races whose powers were all so clearly designed to work in sync should create division between them. Surely they were meant to be closer.

These new ponies however, Aegis, and Yuna, and Rache, were far beyond the realm of what she had ever wanted or expected. Smart Cookie had done her absolute best to explain where they had come from but it was largely beyond Sky's understanding. How can there be 'not this world'? The world was everything, that was why it was the world. Did that mean that they had poofed out of nowhere? They had magic that she had never seen before, and although she was tolerant, it was all more than a little frightening. Sky didn't know what to expect from them. She couldn't imagine what lay beneath the pony skin and where they would slip away back to once this was all over. It was all quite Eldritch in her mind, and her trust in her judgment of character only just ever so slightly outweighed her fear. Whatever they were they had been kind after all, hadn't they? And Smart Cookie trusted them, and she was the wisest of them all.

SkyWishes had long since built up some tolerance to the smell of death over the winter, but even so getting near the mass grave was always overwhelming. It was difficult to see ponies you once knew be so, so... disrespected, by nature itself. Of course, she knew that the process of decay was really no disrespect but an inevitability of all life, but the living were so used to remembering the departed as intact and at peace, shoving them away before the decay had chance to be witnessed, that it was always jarring to be reminded that in the end time held no reverence for any good times you may have had or how you wanted to remember the pony. All were broken down and all were equal in death. Sky had the good sense to stop in her tracks before they got too close.

"You two go ahead," she urged. "Whatever you need to do, I don't need to know. I won't judge, I'll just wait, go."

"No," said Chancellor Puddinghead.

"OH-!" SkyWishes scrambled back from the unexpected appearance of the leader, looking around trying to figure out how she had come so quietly and suddenly. Had she been following them for long? "Chancellor! You're back, how did you-"

The Chancellor lifted a hoof to silence the girl. "Move on, SkyWishes. We dwell in death's kingdom already, among forces without names. There is no need to step back from discovery now."

The leader had a stony look in her eye that Sky never liked when it appeared. The Chancellor was truly a pony of shifting masks, facilitating always between a quirky jester who found herself in the wrong job to an everpresent guardian of untold dark secrets. Nopony was ever sure just what she knew or what she could do. While sometimes it seemed as if Smart Cookie was the true brains behind the operation, other times it seemed as though Smart Cookie was little more than an affable puppet translating and putting on a warm exterior so that the Groundtownies might not totally fear the incomprehensible mind pulling the strings. It was hard to tell which was the true dynamic, but SkyWishes supposed this is what made them a good team, and why she did not feel the power to challenge or question now. Sky nodded and was lead along the rest of the path with Aegis and Yuna toward the mass grave, though her brief contentedness was shattered by the latter's wild screaming.

The inn waitress looked up to her leader for guidance over their disgusting circumstances. The Chancellor merely adjusted her collar.

"There's no need to cry," the politician reassured. "They've gone back to the Green from whence they came."

"Th-The Green?" Sky stumbled.

The Chancellor moved forward to Aegis' side, taking the muck of the dead significantly better what with her boots. She seemed to answer Sky's question but directed it to Aegis. "It's one of the things Smart Cookie and I first started researching together, ponies' origins. There's only so far our records go back before they are cut off. We know that the first house had to be built at some point, that the idea for it had to be conceptualized. Before then?" She looked forward towards the thicket of the forest. "No matter how advanced you think you are, at one point your kind had to venture their first steps out of the Green, the wild. And when we pass, we are reclaimed..." Her dark eyes glanced back down at the rotting corpses. "Taken home, and recycled to fuel the rest of time."

SkyWishes hurried beside Yuna and tried to give her a comforting embrace, confused as to what the Chancellor meant but too nervous at the whole ordeal to ask for an explanation.

"Girls," Puddinghead addressed the two now. "Why don't you go wait a little further back? Not too far, we don't want you getting caught by something."
There was something the Chancellor didn't want the two to see, which frightened Sky a great deal and caused her to tug on Yuna urgently. "C'mon Yuna, I'll take care of you..." And she tried to lead her away to a space with fresher air.

The Chancellor turned back to Aegis. "Do what you will, and then tell me what they tell you."

[Northwest Slobovia]

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Plotline All-Stops to Alexandria, Egypt
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

Sandy ran his gaze across the others’ faces, then swept his arms through a leading gesture.. “Shall we? We should start in the air, since we’ll have had warning in the real thing. "

The Baron nodded “Shall we ride on your back? Or should I find another means of flight?”

“I’ll carry you and Nick, yes. We should practice this as we’ll be doing it. Just a moment. Oh! Umm… once we’re airborne and ready, somebody will have to start the simulation. But we might as well get it set up.”

Sandy commanded the holodeck: “Simulate three fire lizards in the direction the convoy is heading, but freeze the entire sim until one of us calls for it to start. The fire lizards-- Start the fire lizards just beyond the water cannon’s range. Have them attempt to attack, um, the flying group as aggressively as possible.” The lizards appeared where requested, hanging in mid-air, motionless.

He took a couple steps back to get room, then quickly cast the spell to transform into the Olympians’ flying horse. He knelt down so the others could get aboard.

Primordial nodded and reached out to grab Nick. He placed the cat as delicately as he could on his shoulders before levitating himself up onto Sandy’s back. Despite his title as a baron, Primordial had never ridden a horse and the entire experience was awkward at least as he got his bearings. Trying both to keep his own balance and Nick’s, he haphazardly stumbled before eventually resting in the natural groove of the horse's back.

Once he and the cat were stable he nodded. “Alright, we're good to go.”

Sandy became uncomfortably aware of Primordial’s unfamiliarity with horses, and held as still as he could while the Baron figured out where to sit. He waited for Nick to set up the telepathic bridge between the three of them, making the requisite attempt to communicate, then suggested, Lean forward as I take off; we’ll need to gain a bit of altitude when we do this for real. You might as well get used to the sensation. He waited again, then slowly reared up on his hind legs, pumped his wings, and after another moment’s pause and a warning of what to expect, leapt into the air.

He needed little time to gain simulated altitude, and the convoy seemed to dwindle beneath them. A few hundred simulated feet above the convoy, he hovered in position for the start. Whenever you’re ready

Primordial followed Sandy’s advice and leaned forward pressing his own body against Sandy’s neck. As the flight went on Primordial cradled both himself and Nick using a very minor extension of his power. Essentially creating some very light telepathic seat belts to prevent them from pitching. As they got higher up and level out Primordial began to lean every so slightly back up into a more comfortably sitting position. He was learning quickly and taking advantage of his telekinesis to further stabilize them.

He looked off into the distance to gaze at the simulated bodies of the bloated lizards flapping towards the flying group. He reached down towards his side feeling the weight of the Lightning Gun rest in his pocket and he slowly drew it out. The lizards were too far away just yet for an accurate shot, but he waited.

<Cooool!> Nick leaned forwards into Primordial’s grasp, front paws on Sandy’s neck and hind ones anchored to the baron’s shirt by his claws. Emotions echoed from person to person: Nick's exhilaration and excitement was felt, but so was his nervousness. <Sandy, should I try to tune us all into your magic hearing? I might be able to merge some of our perceptions somewhat, but it might work better to all pay attention to our own eyes, ears, noses.... Wow, this is a smooth ride. Oh - Thanks, Prime! Uh...oops. Sorry?> Nervousness, again. (It seemed that Nick liked nicknames.)

Sandy was pleased that he and Nick were thinking about the same thing, then disappointed that it wouldn’t work now. I was just about to suggest something similar. You’ll want my Hearing when we do this for real, but I’d need to get the holodeck set up to simulate the Music the fire lizards should make. But now... all I Hear now is Primordial’s … cane. Hmm, interesting.

However, you’ll want my prey’s vision, and I’ll want your predator’s vision. I can see everywhere around me except right behind my head, but... there’s only a small patch where I have depth perception. Which is to say, I can see all three of the lizards -- and the convoy -- at the same time, but I know how far I am from only whatever is in front of my nose. I’d like to have a better idea how far each one is once they, um, start to maneuver for the kill.

Primordial nodded Of course. Primordial spoke through the telepathic channels in a complex and fluent manner that showed he was used to people hearing and reading his thoughts. He tried to make his thoughts and emotions easier for others to interface with although their was the constant mixture of Luxan emotions just below the surface. I can keep my eyes on the Lizards since I will mainly be focused on lining up a good shot on them.

As Primordial thought up the images and phrases to convey the ideas the dripping emotions of boredom registered in his mind as well as burning hunger sensation as he yearned not only for a real fight but the chance to do something horrible. That exact horrible thing and its targets weren't clear but given the Luxans nature that may have simply been their natural state.

[OOC: Collab with Fvaar and Prim]

[Giovenith]

Building

"The island!" Giovenith gasped, then gently squeezed Nivea's hand, smiling brightly at her. "Oh yes, we must! The island is perfect for you, it's a beautiful, relaxing place full of fun, warm sand, sparkling blue waters! We relax there and celebrate, it will make you happy and give you a stress free way to find your place."

Honestly, Giovenith was kind of surprised that Demens was even letting them to the island at all. He'd more or less kidnapped their asses by bringing them to his own personal dimension and then chastising them about needing to work harder on finding a way to defeat the Devouerers, but even Chaotic Greater Beings had some degree of respect for holiday traditions, she supposed.

"MB's favorite part is all the exotic things to chew," she remarked with a slight laugh, gently standing up and smiling at the rabbit. "Isn't it?"


Pegasi

Pansy skidded to a stop and gasped at the sudden voice, turning around to confirm. "Rache?"

He was indeed there, though how she had not heard him coming was a complete mystery to her. He didn't seem happy, though with the way they'd all dilly-dallied she suppose that was to be expected.

"Rache!" she stayed where she was and pointed ahead. "The boys went ahead to look for the secretary, and they told me to keep back at the entrance something happened. But they were gone for a while and, well, I just didn't feel right and I just tried to see if I could find them..."



Cloud Duster was getting bored, and that was always dangerous. The first person memory slideshow had been cool at first but he quickly failed to see the purpose for it.

"So how do you know all this stuff anyway?" he asked the disembodied voices as he floated in a blur between memories.

"Once you enter our domain, we have access to much," they answered.

"That's pretty cool. But why do you use it?"

The young stallion's conversational tone and lack of distress was simultaneously disturbing and disarming to the Umbrum. Many had futily tried to play brave with them before - the grey one was doing just that right now - but it was always clear the true depth of their heartache. This blue young one wasn't faking it, they genuinely couldn't feel fear or sadness from him, and what's more he wasn't self-righteously ranting on about their defeat like the green unicorn had either.

"It is the most we have we cannot be physical," they answered with some caution.

"You're not physical? I don't understand."

Looking within, the Private seemed... blank. That could mean a lot of things, but as they had just personally witnessed his capacity for callousness, they decided against assuming it was stupidity. Still though, there wasn't much he could do within their clutches.

"We were once physical," they said. "Not how we are now though."

"You seem upset," Cloud Duster remarked, gaping his mouth and unfocusing his eyes a little despite not actually facing these beings. "Did something happen?"

The darkness stirred and shifted in a malevolent way, and Duster neither challenged nor cowered from it. He remained perfectly still and dumb, saying nothing. They shifted and shifted, feeling discontent at the pony's curiosity, but also... longing, impatience. Part of their fury came from how they were improperly acknowledged, and so the offer to spill their story, even on a worthless pegasus Private, was tempting.

"Why do you care?" they hissed.

Duster tilted his head. "I'm sitting here with something I never imagined was possible. Is it wrong to say I've always loved learning about new things?" He began to feel a pressure against his front hooves, though he pretended not to notice.

The Umbrum shifted more. They waited for the pony to say something else but he didn't, and so they spoke: "Do you feel done wrong by?"

"Not particularly," the Private answered. "I go with the flow. Do you?"

"Yes."

"But how could anypony do wrong to you?" The physical sensations around his body grew. "You're not exactly out and about."

"It was before."

"Before?"

"Before we were... this."

"Before you got your memory powers?" More sensation.

"Before, when we lived under the sun," they said with unexpected melancholy. "Like you."

The more their concentration slipped from his self, the more Cloud Duster began to regain feeling of what he realized was his physical body, the one outside this dreamy hallucination. It was like being half way asleep, woken enough to want escape but still unconscious enough where your brain had yet to return motor control of your limbs. They felt heavy like lead, and yet still he could slowly flex them with effort.

"The sun? Somepony took you away from the sun?" he continued to prod. "Why would somepony do that to another... pony?"

"Yes."

"Hm?"

"We were ponies."

"That isn't possible."

"IT IS!!!" they roared at him.

Duster flexed and flexed and flexed, and finally he felt the familiar shift and weight of his gauntlet knife popping out. "But how? Did you die? Do all ponies turn into you when they die?"

The Umbrum growled and shifted. "No, no you all go to Them. All save for us. We were damned, damned through no fault of our own."

The Private shifted and flexed his other physical foreleg, throwing it over the knife and summoning all his might to press. He kept distracting. "Well surely somepony must have done something wrong."

"The Queen!"

"Queen?"

"She should have become one of us," they hissed. "If she would not save us, then she should at least be with us! But did not, she only saved herself and was rewarded by Them with power and riches! That infernal light! Mark our words pony, your gods will know the depth of their mistake. Maybe not today, maybe not this century, but they will."

"My... gods?" he kept pressing.

"Yes, they wait for you in that great beyond," the voices grew lower. "They allow you to spite and slaughter each other now so that you might have need of them when they come. Your grey prey frolics in his servitude to them like a dog, much as other pantheons might envy the rights to his soul. They will expect the same from you should you live-" They paused. "What is that?"

The spirit leg of Cloud Duster, hanging there casually in the "air," slowly began to bleed from a cut. In the physical world, his pressing had inflicted the wound and the pain was making it's way to his unconscious mind. The Private gasped out at the feeling but smiled in triumph.

"NO!!" the Umbrum howled, attempting to grab hold of him once more, but too late.


Cloud Duster stirred awake and instinctively flinched at the pain on his leg. He quickly sat up and felt dirt fall from his back - his physical form had been brought to a small, dark part of the caverns where he could hallucinate without disturbance, but his cut had been enough to wretch his mind away from the terrible Umbrum dream. He quickly wrapped it with a bit of cloth tucked in his armor and got to his hooves.

His victory was short-lived. He heard a terrible howl and looked to the ceiling where the same black clouds that had assaulted Chrys, Brit, and the others gathered.

"You're not done yet!" they roared.

The trained pony quickly flew out of the way as the dark clouds struck downward where he had stood. Looking up, he figured out pretty quickly that this was one mess that neither words nor blades could solve. He had to get out of here and make sure they didn't follow. Whatever that plan was, it had to be thought of fast, emphasis on fast as Duster was forced to dodge another strike. The mist flew into a stalagmite as he did and tore it apart - which gave him an idea.

"Ah!" he cried out, suddenly flapping one wing rapidly while jerking about the other, causing his flight to become erratic and unsteady.

"Oh, did we hurt your little wing?" they chuckled darkly in their multi-layered hissing voice. "What a shame."

Like the snake after the injured sparrow, the darkness began to strike more rapidly and cruelly after the pony below, knowing he had no light with which to combat them and thus taking the opportunity to take some sadistic pleasure in prolonging his ordeal. They swiped, he managed to dodge, and with every strike more and more of the cave around them was obliterated. Cloud Duster hopped from this way to that at any supportive points he could guess out, careful to keep up his disabled appearance while also staying fast enough to avoid death. It took all his energy to so but he remained consumed in the task.

Eventually, a rumbling was heard and pebbles and dirt began to rain down from the ceiling, cutting through the cloudy darkness above and plopping on Cloud Duster's head. It worked!

"You wanted to know what it was like to be us?!" the Umbrum laughed. "Now you will!"

"Nope!" Duster answered, kicking up both his wings back into full action and sputting on a burst of full speed towards the exit.

A howl roared behind him, but it began to dwindle as the dark cloud struggled to keep itself coalesced with the heavy rocks now pummeling down through it in the cave slide. Cloud Duster pushed himself through the tunnel harder than he'd ever pushed himself before, determined to not get buried himself - but something caught his eye. He almost missed him what with his dark colors, but there he was...


"I can't stay here..." Willow mumbled, sitting down in the darkness and staring at the 'ground.' "People need me..."

"No, no Willow, no one needs you," Not-Toola shook her head. "If they needed you, they wouldn't be so comfortable tossing you aside."

"I love them..." the painter said, looking completely absent as he continued to look down.

"Ohh, I know you do!" Not-Toola sat beside him and gave him a comforting hug. "We're not asking you to hate them! Willow, if they don't need you, then they're going to be okay. They'll all be safe, be happy, they got on without you before and they'll do it again. The only one who has a chance of not being happy is you. Why don't we pick the option where everyone wins, where everyone is happy?"

Willow wasn't sure what made sense anymore. When your heart was aching you were prone to thinking all kinds of stupid things. There was so much to think about so his mind settled on Giovenith, envisioning a life for her without him. Giovenith, so easily beloved, designed to be so for when humans would clasp their hands in prayer to her one day. He'd always been so willing to fight within an inch of his life if it meant helping her, but for whom wasn't that true? He remembered the laughing faces of her Teen Club friends, the adoration with which Marcus looked at her, and the way that even gods of the darkest reaches of humanity were willing to put aside their very nature simply to help her.

What had he done to earn his right to stick out for her?

What had he ever done to earn his right to stick out for anyone?

What little fight was left in him faded as he felt his eyes grow hot and hear a croak escape his throat. Willow Streaks, so critical, and cynical, and spunky, put his head into his forelegs and cried.

Not-Toola gave his mane a stroke. "How about we get started on your new-" Her eyes suddenly widened and she looked up into the distance, shocked. "No, no, NO-!"


Cloud Duster's hooved fist met Willow's tear-stained face, ripping him from the heavy hearted nightmare and bringing him at long last back to reality.

"Wake up!" the Cyniscan shook the future pony roughly.

"Cloud Duster?" Willow's reddened eyes widened in shock, deeply confused at the sudden change in setting, the absence of Not-Toola, and the loud sound of rumbling rocks in his ears. "I- Wha-"

"No time! Get up, fly!" the Private forcefully yanked Willow into the air. "Fly now, or we both die!"

Summoning just enough sanity to obey his commands, Willow kicked himself into flight and held onto to Duster's hoof as the latter pulled them along through the collapsing tunnel and towards stable zones. During the commotion, the SS pin dislodged from the beatnik's sweater and was lost in the tumbling rocks.

[Stormwrath]

Apartment 3H

Not much had gone on in Macy's apartment, other than Macy lying on her stomach and reading from her tablet. At the moment she was reading on swordfighting tips that she could find on the internet, and there were certainly a lot of them. It was hard to distinguish which ones were legitimate and which ones are not, but she figured that these are all effective ways to last long in close combat.

Macy had been practicing her swordplay ever since she had entered tutoring. That was nice of Katya to teach her, she thought. To add to that, she had been using the holodeck more lately, getting occasional tips from other people who were also using. Maybe for once her newfound skills may be put to the test one day...

Then suddenly the alarm blared, causing Macy to fall unceremoniously off her bed. A string of questions and scenarios formed in her CPU. Were there armed assailants storming the premises? Were there hordes of monsters of the Middle Earth kind? Was the great war of the gods coming now? No matter, it was probably something bad—she should go for her sword as fast as she can. Bursting out the door to her room, the android rushed to the living room and was just about to get her blade until...

"This is not an emergency. The holidays have arrived, and I'm not going to spend another bloody minute in this dimension. Island time, people. Chop, chop, or we'll leave you behind!"

"Oh!" she withdrew her hand. Guess a vacation wasn't as bad as say, the apocalypse, am I right?

"Holiday island! I see..." Macy sheepishly laughed to herself and scratched her scalp. Some of her closer friends might be there, such as Kale, Katya, and Rnwtyliin, and she knew that with them it's going to be so much fun. But what could she bring to an island vacation? She had never been on one before, and certainly not with a group of assorted sapient beings. Macy figured that perhaps she could bring along what Matthew told her about his own vacations. Good thing she can now join them—the tech priests had finally made her waterproof.

She went back to her room and began to throw all sorts of stuff indiscriminately onto her bed. "Let's see, there's gotta be some beach clothes around here, and swimsuits, and a mat, and an umbrella, and a floaty..." The pile of stuff on her bed kept on rising and rising as she began to list it all down. Hopefully she realizes that she doesn't need to bring all of it.

Going to the pile, Macy plucked one of the swimsuits that she had there. It was a two-pieced cerulean bikini that certainly that would certainly look good on her, as recommended by a fashionable Resident (she had no idea who it was), but she was worried that it may perhaps be a little too revealing. Maybe she should bring that along with her pink and white swimsuits, just in case. Oh, and that beach hat she got from Ascalon would certainly look good on her. The android was having a hard time picking out the clothes she was going to wear that she nearly forgot to actually start packing.

[Swith Witherward]

Building
Marcus exhaled two years' worth of stress as he rose. The smile capturing his face chased away the last vestigates of the negative emotions playing havoc with his heart. It was going to be alright. The crackling fission between him and his adoptive father, the pain left by his birth mother's departure, the disappointment shadowing his soul now that his birth father bailed again, and even his residual sorrow over Giovenith's death - it all slipped away. Hope replaced it, and mingled with a desire to use a bonfire and some marshmallows as a means to mend the rift with Tori.

"Hah!" he lifted Gioventh and gave her a twirl before setting her down to bus the table. "Polite is as polite does!" No priest worth his oil would leave a host with filthy dishes.

The spoons clattered together under the soapy water. Unknowingly replicated his father's own habits, he pawned the washed items off on a rarely seen Mechadendrite claw to set for draining. "Nivea, you'll love it. But you'll need stronger shades,"he mused as he worked. "And maybe some breathable long-sleeved things so your skin doesn't burn. Something that keeps you cool, too," he set the last bowl in the drainboard. I have just that. Give me ten minutes to pack. I'll meet you in the lobby."

He was gone in an instant, checking off a mental list of things to throw into a hammerspace duffle. It took him an extra five, though the reason for the delay was obvious once he made his appearance in the lobby; Sentia perched atop his head.

Lobby
Bug-out orders sucked. Bug-out orders that result in tropical getaways inspired. And so it took very little time for the Chaos and Nifid cliques to throw crap into bags and assembly in the lobby proper.

Minerva swept through the group to address any that had come down unprepared. How often did she forget that not all Residents dated back to the Drone days? "Your attention, please," she stepped onto the chair behind the front desk. "We'll leave momentarily. Make sure you've not left the coffee pot on, and pack plenty of sun screen. If anyone needs a suitcase, speak up! You can borrow from the Lad's stash. This vacation was Miss Katya's idea... therefore she's paying!"

The cultist leader tossed a playful smile Katya's way as she set her feet back on the floor. "I kid, I kid!"

There was business to tend do, naturally. "Volker, make sure to bring the lists. We'll transition you there on the off chance Demens brings any newcomers in. Rudolf can man the desk - sorry Dolf, but buck up, love! We'll send for you on Christmas! Somebody has to stay behind for those still out on adventures. Might as well be a familiar face."

"All present," said a squeaky voice. Minerva turned to find Chi the Chibi with Chaos children in tow. They were a welcome sight in Volker's eyes. How long had it been since everyone (read: normally parked people) gathered to fellowship?

"We'll leave in twenty minutes. Hurry now," Minerva urged. "And Marcus, I believe we're leaving behind some Brothers and Sisters. We'll need a few with us to get things running on the Island. Two years' of neglect will keep them bustling."

"Already in the works," the young priest confirmed. And then, impulsively, he gathered Katya in a tight hug. "Thank you," the whisper brushed her ear, "Best idea ever." He let go of her and stepped to the side to await Giovenith and Nivea.

[Giovenith]

Building

Giovenith was pretty much packed and ready to go at any given time what with her hammerspace pockets, though she stole away to her apartment to both gather up Turtleboss and to stick a quick note on the front door in case Willow returned while she was gone. Goodness gracious, where on Earth was that pony?

Going back to the lobby to wait, she approached Nivea once again with several supplies at hand. "This is called sun screen," she said, putting the bottle in the newcomer's hand. "It's a kind of creamy gel that you rub on your skin so the sun won't get too hot and burn you. You'll need it especially because your skin is so pale. And here..." The godling also handed her an empty water bottle. "You fill this up with nice cold water and take it with you where ever, okay? It's important to drink a lot of liquids when going someplace hot, otherwise you'll sweat it all out and pass out."

[Torsiedelle]

Lobby

"Oh, don't mention it.", Katya said, first once, then twice. Was it her idea? She gushed, having Marcus embrace her, and she felt a certain pride in seeing everyone suddenly so animated. She squeeled and hopped up to give Volker and Minerva both hugs, and ran off for the halls. "I have to gather some stuff!"

It was a good thing, a good reason to fly up the stairs and through the halls to 2F, and to immediately jump to grab suitcases. She pulled out boxes and began to sift through belongings, picking out extra clothes and outfits on top of swimsuits, smaller items that had value to them, and of course doing the same for Torii, and on top of that....

Katya reached into an awkward spot under the bed, and...there it was! She yanked it out, and watched the violin case slide in front of her.

She stepped out, a stuffed suitcase in one hand, violin case slun across her shoulder, closed her door all the way, and ran back downstairs. She was happy, to say the least, bubbling with excited as she bounced back towards the desk and alarm.

[Northwest Slobovia]

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Plotline All-Stops to Alexandria, Egypt
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

<I'm...bored?> Nick sounded rather taken aback. <We're up against a -! Oh, Prim. Meh.> I think I should try to look out - as much as I can concentrate. Sandy, Prime, I have an idea… As the others watched, Nick imagined a television in each head, with his viewpoint displayed on it. Sandy and Primordial’s vision would shift oddly, with Nick's viewpoint first superimposed and then shrinking jerkily to fit the appliance.

Sandy was surprised at the Baron’s effortless telepathic contact, and briefly wondered whether he too was a telepath, but the truth became disturbingly clear moments later. Unbidden, Sandy’s subconscious flickered with the image of a stalking tiger and the poetic couplet “Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright/in the forest of the night.” Reflexively, he shook his maned head to dismiss the mental flotsam.

Nick’s new approach to sharing his vision … would work, but was less than perfect. Hmm… picture in picture. It will suffice, but… looks a little odd to me. It might[/i]... be better for both of you to embrace my… panoramic vision, and-- Nick? See if you can merge in -- oh, what’s that term? Oh! -- foveal spots where you’re looking. That way, we’ll all see the same thing: one wrap-around image with detailed spots where each of us is looking.[/i] A flash of bright colors and pointed teeth smiles in his mind signaled Primordial’s agreement with Sandy.

<Er, okay…> Looking towards the water cannon, the cat tried to superimpose the image of it on that from Primordial. It shifted, blurred, shook, blurred again - and clicked into place, a bright, sharp oval touching the bottom edge of the Luxan’s vision.

Simultaneously, Sandy’s vision flickered - and vanished, replaced for the moment by Primordial’s. <And now - oh, carp, sorry Sandy! Uh, just hang on.>

Determined, the cat rolled his eyes upwards. The oval jerked, clouds suddenly on the truck. <Come on, come on!> His frustration would hardly help the mood! A few seconds later, Nick focused on a reference point in Primordial’s vision - and his eyes moved to match it. <That - worked?> Focusing on a spot just slightly higher, he confirmed that smoothly shifting his foveal spot was possible. Concentrating on each point along the line, he shifted his vision to the fire-lizards -

Simultaneously, he grimaced. <This takes a lot of focus. Sandy, brace yourself. I'm patching you in.> The flying horse’s vision appeared, or rather, soft blurry colors which had scattered themselves through the panorama resolved into images and started shrinking.

Primordial gave a minor grumble of annoyance at the strange sensation while thoughts of other strange alien experiences filtered through his head. He quickly suppressed them to avoid any telepathic disturbances.

Their vision, complete with Sandy’s giant stubbornly jerky foveal spot, froze. Let us thank the Greek pantheon for Pegasus’ excellent sense of orientation…

<This isn't working.> Frustrated and embarrassed, the cat seemed to brace himself. <I'm sorry, Sandy! It's just too distracting, and I have to drag your spot around by guessing andIREALLYthink itcouldwork if we had... more time to figure it out...> The Belas’ Jeep suddenly invaded the trio’s vision with little regard to perspective, blurred in random spots. Nick's ears perked up, as did his mood. <Could we/We could work on it on the way there!> A map - or rather, the impression of one. <Ohcr- carp. Oh, carp…Sorry...>Finally, vision returned to normal, save for little things...colors which could resolve into images, flickers at the edges of awareness, slight tints to the palette. “Mreew!” <Erm, so let's practice the attack with my original idea… we can work on PrimORDIAL's later, but we do need to practice now instead of spending our holodeck time fighting our own heads/minds/eyes...>

Difficult to resolve into coherence though the images had been, Nick was still tuned into them. Two “imaginary” TVs popped into existence, <On second thought - being able to see our own viewpoints might have helped,> shortly followed by a third. Sandy's was notable for a panoramic widescreen, with his current focus at the center.

That’ll have to do for the moment, Sandy grumbled. Could one of you start the simulation?

[OOC: Collab with Fvaar and Prim. Also, the Building having been informed by the stage manager that the Raiders were part of the Mysterious Way in which Demens did his work, kindly muted Minerva's announcement.]

[Saldinado]

Ascalon-
Le Joyau de la Bretagne

Meanwhile, Henry just sat back and watched everything that was going on between the group. He knew that this game was built for those who had experience. Who knew what to do and how to do it with little to no problems. And judging by their words as well as this little tablet, it would seem that perhaps these little sets of personal data about them were very valuable to them as well as other people. Although the reason for such actions were rather blurry to him. Seeing the man get up from the table to retrieve something, he watched his female companion do something on her arm as if she was checking something. And soon the man came back with some optical cord or so and gave it to the woman, so used it to plug it in to her armbrace. Hearing what she said about turning off their phones, Henry complied with her and nodded as he took out his phone and turned it completely off as he did for that reason of security plus to help him conserve energy; he then looked up at them as he waited for Jeanne to do what she needed to do.

And as if on command, she did just that, as her armbraces projected such images and actions that were only seen in sci-fi movies or television shows. He was completely entranced by what was happening in front of his eyes as he just sat there in awe-struck at the sights that were currently happening. And even so, he was still listening to what they were talking about. He then saw the couple that they were talking about that guessing from what he heard, were the ones that were following them. And while looking at everything that was happening, he continuously chimed in on the discussion, trying not to miss most of the detail as his mind had the ability to focus on one thing more than the other. Apparently this Al-Farsi. stranger has been following not only Amanda and them, but also her husband Sandy. Such an peculiar thing. It seemed that whoever this person was, even to the point of being chased and followed in his own car. And yet there seemed to be a motif in all of this: This idea of selling and buying data bases and info on each other and other people. This was all a big business for them it seem.

Bobbing his leg under the table, Henry turned to look at the one who seemed to ask them a question and gave a rather sly smile as his lips curled. Sighing softly as he took off his glasses to clean them, Henry began asking away. "So from what I saw and heard from all of this, there's apparently somebody by the name of Al-Farsi. that's been following not only us, but her husband as well," he said pointing his head in Amanda's direction before continuing, "even to have him drive in such a cautious and relentless way? So I do hope you mind me asking exactly how you are connected to this man as well as the people that are currently outside waiting on something and the reason behind such measures? And the reason as of why you buy and sell such information like who we are and what certain events have happened for example? Is there some type of digital commodity that has a grip on security and private information? Well it's not really private anymore seeing as this is where it ends up. And also..." He then leaned so that he can get a better look at Jeanne and Marin and put in his glasses. "Is there a connection between these dataslates, this couple, as well as this man and his little group that somehow might explain at least some of what's happening?" He said with a calm and rather kind tone with his eyes looking rather serious and not in the mood for having metaphors or half-truths being thrown at him. "And how this affects any of you?"

[Tiltjuice]

Exotic chews! signed MB excitedly.

*flash**flash**flash*

Some seconds then passed, but scarcely enough for the dots to clear from the vision of anyone still left in Cuisine's apartment.

*flash*

And the odd pair were, once more, in the lobby, Cuisine strolling over to Volker while MB perched on the top of the phone booth.

[Chedastan]

Building

"An Island?" Nivea said mainly to herself, trying to envision what their holiday spot must look like. In her mind she envisioned something from a brightly colored storybook that depicted such a place on the surface, a lush and lively place in the middle of a blue sea, something that would've been considered a place of fantasy back in her home. But of course she was actually going to be experiencing such a wonderful thing for real, just that thought alone gave her joy from the mere simply thought of it.

She obviously definitely needed some sort of break after today alone, though at the same time she felt she could be doing something more for the Building, after all she is still alive now because of them. Though she figured there'll be a time to repay them soon enough, and besides she still needed to recoup herself and get integrated into living in the Building and figuring out its usual operations. She only needed to relax for now, surely?

Though from what Marcus was now saying about how she needed even stronger shades and different clothes, she was needless to say only a tad worried now. Though she figured they'll have her set up for anything, especially since she hardly had any possessions of her own on herself. As Marcus then left the room, Nivea then figured she should probably make her way down too. And as such she followed Giovenith down back to the lobby. But not before giving thanks to both Cuisine and MB for the soup and company.

Lobby

Upon getting out the elevator's doors she preceded to take a few paces out of it, then looked around, taking a glance at her provided family portrait again. It was odd to see something so familiar, yet have it feel so alien. She then turned her head and was suddenly awe struck by the mass of red hair that was being a sported by a woman near the front desk, she almost thought her head was on fire for a brief moment! She didn't even realized Marcus was also there as well, nor even the mass of other people that arrived in the lobby too, she was surprisingly very distracted by that woman's wild and fire-like hair.

She then came to her senses again and stopped gazing at the woman's hair when Giovenith then handed her two different bottles. She then explained to her what each of them were for, Nivea appreciated the thoughtfulness. "Thank you! So does the sun like burn people usually, like really badly, all the time? Like can it cause blisters?" She then asked, her eyes trying to look at Gio and not the redhead at the desk, but her eyes kept darting back and forth, she figured it must've looked very obvious to the Godling (if it weren't for the fact that she was stilling wearing her shades). She then finally saw through her glances that Marcus was there too, prompting her to try and get his attention by calling out to him and waving.

[Cerillium]

PEGASI

Sensing Pansy's unease, Rache forced himself to outwardly relax. "It's going to be alright, Private," he drew beside her, a wingtip patting her shoulder in reassurance as he peered in the direction she indicated. "They might have gotten lost or found something interesting to investigate." Or Duster was doing his best to murder poor Willow. The daemon-pony's jaw clenched at the thought.

The dark comforted Rache. The storm outside indicated possible Windigo activity in the passage beyond him - but a monster under the bed seldom feared the other monsters lurking there. This was a new playground, and Willow was somewhere in the gloom. But could Rache in good conscience leave Pansy behind to go look for him?

"We will stick together, as friends should," his eyes met Pansy's. "We need to find Willow and Duster."

Rache closed his eyes to better sample her emotions. These were the fingerprints unique to each soul. He thought Pansy's beautiful. If only other dark creatures treasured such innocence. The beings that tormented Golden Cornucopia would never fully understand it. They only preyed upon fears and feasted upon insecurities. Fuck them.

Satisfied that he had a good sense of her spirit, he offered a gentle nudge to her cheek and some advice. "Our past shapes us as though we were clouds, each win and each loss forming us into who we are today. Don't allow yourself to succumb to self-doubt, Miss Pansy. My judgment is seldom wrong: you are a remarkable mare. Commander Hurricane himself would be proud to have you by his side. I'm certainly lucky to have you with me."

He shook out his mane and put on his sternest pony frown. "Though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you should fear no evil, for I am with you..." Rache trailed off. Heresy was so damned delicious but it was best to not test Elohim's patience, even in a land where He had no say. He snorted instead before casting a solemn nod Pansy's way. "Let's go."



GROUNDTOWN

Yuna thought that Puddinghead didn't fully appreciate just how grimdark the recycling process was when Luxans were involved. The princess was all-too-happy to leave Aegis to his snacking. Her mind cleared and her spirits lifted as the pair trampled back through the snow. They paused at a distance within the Chancellor's sight, and Yuna scooped snow into her mouth to rinse the bile taste from it.

She swished and then spat, and wiped away the residual flecks with a foreleg. "I'm sorry, SkyWishes. I'm usually not this queasy." She usually didn't prance around dead things, either. "The Chancellor's right, though. It's a cycle. No, a circle. We're born, we live, and then we die. And our bodies decompose. That gunk feeds the worms and insects. Those are eaten by birds, or else make holes in the earth for plant roots. And things eat the birds and plants. My people believe that a part of us exists in all of nature, and all of nature exists in us." A half-hearted shrug accompanied these words. "But that doesn't mean I have to enjoy the gunky smell."


LOBBY

Volker waved to Nivea. So many things to square away! "Miss? Don't worry about any belongings. We'll make sure your hut has extra clothing and shoes." One task down. A million to go. And here was Cuisine! Perfect!

"Cuisine, manning the bar again this year?" the front desk cultist smiled. "We're sending along some extra things. Make a quick list and I'll see to it that your items arrive by evening."


Katya's explosive excitement only served to bouy the joy bubbling in Marcus' heart. He watched her go, and then turned towards the sound of Nivea's voice. Aha. Giovenith was there, too. He politely scooted through the growing crowd in order to join the pair.

"Hullo Turtleboss," metallic fingers gently scratched under the waterbear's chin. The size of a small dog, and with too many legs and odd things sticking out of him, Turtleboss looked for all the world like a happy grub in Giovenith's arms. "I see you've met our newcomer." He pointed to the cat perched on his head. "Nivea, meet Sentia the Cat. She belongs to my sire."

The one person he hoped to see hadn't arrived yet. "I packed my guitar, just in case Tora wants to do a duet by the campfire," he murmured to Giovenith.

[Holy Lykos]

Lobby

Sterling trotted into the Lobby, hopefully with Tori and the other girl in tow. Sterling had offered with the rain coming it might be a better idea to scrap the exploration of the village until the weather cleared, and maybe just have an indoor 'campout' slash sleepover in the dining room overnight. Seemed a good enough idea, they had no idea how bad it might be raining, or if it might be dangerous out in the wilds at night. That lead to the pony arriving just as Minvera was explaining things. A trip? Maybe that would help his and the other's stir-craziness!

His ears flicked up and he galloped off up the stairs, with a passing "Nice to see you! to people he knew, especially Giovenith. The pony of course would come back to give a much better hello, but for now he had to go get his things packed. As the pony ran, he started to plan and think through what he'd need and want. A few books, toiletries, the little clothing he had, and a few other things. Not much really. He didn't have much in the way of things he would absolutely need.

Oh, and grab his fez. He hadn't worn it in a while, but he very well couldn't leave it here! It wouldn't take him long, and he'd be back down in the lobby before they could say something silly and pointless to say, but a good measure of time anyway. Well not really. A phrase was a horrible measure of time.


Meanwhile, Maghrl had gotten what he wanted packed up (mostly junk and parts, honestly, and bits of half build robots), and dashed into the lobby with bag clanking and clunking. He gave a small little salute to Minerva, fuzzy hand to fuzzy forehead for a brief moment, as a way to say "I've arrived!" Mostly because he was dashing around and checking out all the people he hadn't met or seen before. This manic state lasted for a few moments before he honed in on Marcus. The alien started babbling about robotics and parts in a mix of basic and , almost marveling at the cyborg. After doing so for a few moments or so, the Squib blinked and composed himself with a deep breath, glancing at the ones in the group he had approached. The jedi was a bit embarrassed to realize he'd forgotten to properly introduce himself, so he set about doing that, gesturing rather actively to himself with both hands.

"Squibname Maghrl’laundersando’tamil’reumaur. Short-wise Maghrl, Mag, yes yes. New living-building-mate?" He tilted his view over towards the Humanish looking, but not quite smelling person. He slightly recognized Marcus and Gio but he couldn't quite remember ever talking to them. "Mag's squib, yes yes. What new person be?" His nose could very well tell a human from a non-human, even those races superficially similar, so he was curious. But the squib held off of his confirmation method of rubbing fur against this new person or item. She likely wouldn't get why the squib did so after all.

"This trip-thing.... Common-wise for building, maybe yes yes?"


Along with the squib, a tired looking Sakarias made his way into the Lobby to sit down with bag laid over his lap. He gave a stretch, not really tired in a conventional sense as much as mentally. He assumed this call was about some sort of holiday vacation, something he hadn't been on in forever. A small smile graced his weathered and beaten face as he simply people-watched while he waited for them all to head out... somehow. Would they take a vehicle? Or more of that magic malarkey. He was certain it was perfectly explainable, just beyond his understanding both as a synth and a human. But he couldn't deny it was powerful when he saw even small amounts of it.

[Torsiedelle]

Torii lumbered in behind the pony. She was feeling dejected - with camping plans ruined, she was beginning to consider just returning to her room again and not coming out. Then, she heard the chatter.

They were going to the island? Torii's spirits were boosted. She already had all of her outdoors gear, looking like she was ready to invade a small state with her bags and weapons, and her guitar, which thankfully hadn't been rained on during the walk back. She spotted Katya and her friends, and a grin grew on her face...and then died down. She looked away from Marcus and Gio, and focused on Katya as she approached them all. "Hey.", She said, tugging Katya aside, as the two began to speak in hushed Russian. Torii was stepping away from her friends.

Their chat only lasted a minute. Katya seemed a bit worried; Torii apparently wasn't feeling too well, so she grabbed her guitar. Torii kept her duffle bag slung across her shoulder, and lifted her rifle to hold properly, making sure to keep the barrel aimed down. Katya went back to keeping an eye on everyone, walking around and waiting, while Torii found a spot by the teen club door, to lean on the wall.

[Swith Witherward]

ETHEREAL WOLD, THE GATEHOUSE OF FREYWOLD

ETHEREAL WOLD, THE GATEHOUSE OF FREYWOLD

"It's for the best," Meps pinched her nostrils closed as the horrid stench filled the air. She cast a glance at the 'droid's optics and repressed a shiver of her own. Little pleasure could be had over the beast's swift demise. Even less pleasure could be found in cooked meat.

She hefted the droid's arm onto her good shoulder, propping it against her chest like a soldier would a gun, and begrudgingly reminded herself that things could have gone far worse. At least more parts weren't scattered across the clearing. "Alright Opa, job done well," the small hand sought the cool metal flank again, patting it in reassurance as she spoke, "There's no point to remaining here. Let's go home. We'll put on tea while we wait for the service team."

The least she could do was keep him company during that time. He'd saved them both as far as she was concerned, and she held him in much higher esteem for it.


The game of solitaire blurred as Myra focused her gaze on the figures emerging from the portal beyond it. Her hand wiped the cards from the screen a second later. "Ho shit, what happened?" she rose and moved to help but Meps warded her off with a hasty hand wave.

"We're fine," the lizard snorted as she scurried towards the exit. "Page a salvage team, won't you? Plump haunches shouldn't be wasted. I'll put this arm in a tub and come back for the rest of him."

"But he's-"

What, exactly? Large? Mechanical? Scary looking? Myra was understandably timid around certain types of machines... considering what the Drones had done, she had every excuse to be. Yet to blindly mistrust all machines was... well, speciest, especially for a drake. The teen swallowed back her fears and slowly approached the android, each mechanical tick or whir from it causing her to wince or flinch.

"Sorry about your arm," she paused a few feet from the android and nodded towards the exposed wires and connections at his shoulder. "Does it hurt much, Opa?"

ETHEREAL WOLD, THE GATEHOUSE OF FREYWOLD

"I do not. Have the. Implements. To consume. Tea," Opa pointed out, following Meps through the portal without further word. The patting of their flank confused them briefly, reminding them of Sister Gull and yet being unique. It was, as far as they could tell, a gesture of endearment and approval. They were useful.

It was nice to be useful.

Emerging through the portal, Opa noted Meps placing their ruined arm in one of the transport tubs. One of the tech-priests would be able to reattach it with a little work on the frayed wiring and the crushed metal and carbon housing. The approach of Myra, the coordinator of all the outgoing ocean-gate traffic, was noted and they turned to address her with a whir. Her gesture was answered promptly, the combat droid turning to offer her a better view of the exposed shoulder, wires and gears buzzing and whirring uselessly within.

"There is no. Need to. Apologize. I am not. Programmed. To feel pain," Opa explained, "I am aware. Of the damage. But I do. Not feel it. In the same. Way that. Organic beings do."

Opa paused for a moment, walking over to Myra's table and computer, "Sister Meps. Said there. Would be tea."

"Tea?" Myra cautiously followed the large droid. His state stymied her. Pain makes us stronger, as her father was wont to say. If Opa felt no pain, was he limited to how much he could grow as a being? Would he never be stronger than he was created to be? She eyed him cautiously. His creators only saw metal and circuits, most likely. Myra was too animistic to accept that limited view.

Vying voices drew her attention to the door, and the girl sighed. "I guess he broke the news to her. She's not going to take kindly to being abandoned."

"-so it goes with the other Residents. That's how it is," the insistent male voice seemed to leave no room for bargaining.

Meps bristled as she stepped into the Gatehouse. "He is assigned to me, and I have repairs to manage. You can't ship him off to a stupid island."

"Then you'll go with it," a young male attired in old Nazi garb followed in the lizard's wake. "Minerva's orders. And don't you start with that shitty attitude of yours." He turned and offered a smile to the teen. "You're coming along, too, Myra. Time for a holiday. They've assigned me to cover for you here. The three of you need to get back to the Building-"

"Opa is damaged. I am damaged!" Meps wasn't one to take orders from clueless, magical folk.

John held up a hand to curb her. "It will be fixed. Ogoti will fix you. If you keep quarreling, so help me, I'll bubble your reptilian ass and sell you to a dragon as a suppository."

The threat drew a spurt of laughter from Myra. He'd find a way to follow through with it, of course. It was better if everyone simply complied. The teen hitched a smile to her face. "Meps, c'mon, it won't be so bad. You'll see. Why you such a cranky old fusspot? There's an ocean, and you can tell me the universe story. You promised you would."

A reptilian brow arched. "Alright, then. But don't expect me to enjoy it."


Fifty tubs flocked on the Building's lawn by time the Gatehouse trio arrived in their own vessels. Meps held her tongue as she loosened Opa's hoist straps, and then they made their way into the Lobby proper. Nila had taken the liberty of packing for the Eudadoti. Myra excused herself to gather her own belongings.


THE LOBBY

Marcus didn't expect things between him and Tora to quickly smooth over. He was a bit concerned that the girl chose to remove herself from their proximity, but he wouldn't allow her to dampen his own excitement with one of her sullen fits. He focused on the Squib instead.

"Mag-" The name was impossible for Marcus to repeat. He brushed it off and tuned his ear to better understand the Jedi's squeaking, rapid speech. "Trip - vacation. It's stepping away from a regular work for the purpose of recreation. We used to go to Island of Ni every winter. For Christmas. It's an Earth holiday."

"Hi Giovenith! Hi Marcus!" Myra's hands clasped clasped their shoulders, spooking Marcus.

He sucked in his breath in anticipation of Sentia sinking her claws into his head, and forced himself on to introductions. "Mag, this new Resident is Nivea. She's a courier. Nivea, this is Myra. She's one of the Gatekeepers. Myra, Mag. Mag, Myra." It wasn't exactly proper but the young priest didn't believe anyone in the group would care about protocol.

The newly arrived teen flashed a smile at Nivea ("Nice to meet you.") before offering a wave to Tora.


Ogoti was indeed on hand to heal Meps. It took him only two shakes in the hallway upstairs. She begrudgingly joined the group once more, her travel bag slung over a shoulder and the tool case handle firmly gripped in one hand, to stand beside Opa.

[Giovenith]

"Not all the time, usually just when it's very hot," Giovenith explained. "And it doesn't hurt you too bad, not in anything but extreme cases anyway, usually sun burn just makes you a little red and stings slightly. It goes away pretty quickly on it's own though and we have medicine for it. People with pale skin like you and me are a little more vulnerable, the darker your skin is the more resistant you are, but it's still always a good idea to apply sunscreen just in case."

The girl smiled in greeting to Marcus, and wondered if he meant the cat belonged to Thaddeus or Marcus' birth father. She still didn't know that it was the resident known as Septimus, not really being familiar with the ties and lives of that particular Building group, and considered that once they got free time to themselves she'd ask if there was anything else about his past he was comfortable sharing. Upon hearing about his hopes for Torii, she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"She's not mad at you Marcus, really," Giovenith reassured. "I talked to her, she took it really, really well. If anything, she's probably anxious about hurting your feelings."

This was contested slightly by Torii's sudden appearance and her standoffish behavior. The tomboy walked away before anything could be said, and seeing how dejected she looked, Giovenith decided to send a paper bird over. Once in front of Torii, it refolded itself into a bear shape and began to do a silly little dance.

Another teen club member soon arrived. "Myra!" the godling gave her fellow dragon girl a big hug. "You're back in the game, great! Oh, Torii will be so happy to hang out with you again, you two always got along." She turned back to Nivea. "Nivea, this is my friend Myra. She's every bit as nice as Marcus and me, so don't be afraid to ask her for help too."

[Torsiedelle]

LOBBY

Torii didn't want to acknowledge the little paper bird, but...oh, it was Gio. Torii wasn't mad, but she was upset. She felt like there was a wall there now, and then she didn't know if anyone had seen those notes, and even with Myra there, she was too mad at herself to go join them. It sucked, she thought. She fumbled with the barrel of her rifle and looked at the floor to distract herself, until that little paper bird became a dancing bear.

Torii began to raise a foot to stomp the thing, but she caught herself and lowered it back down. That little thing didn't hurt anyone, afterall, and the message touched her. Her friend cared enough about her to try cheering her up with a happy little animal...

"Come on, little guy.", Torii mumbled, pushing off the wall. So they didn't hate her...maybe. The fear caught in her chest, but she ignored it. She slung her rifle and stepped back over to the rest of the group, but she didn't look any happier; she looked nervous, and lonely.

[Chedastan]

Lobby

Nivea nodded to the Godling as she explained why the sun could hurt people's skin, having found her explanation quite informative. She was also quite delighted by the amount of residents that had suddenly wanted to meet her, as it wasn't often back in home that people gave the courier much mind. Though all these beings that she was meeting all at once was understandably getting a little overwhelming to her, though she still felt joyous enough from the occasion itself to try and not mind too much. So it was only natural that she first waved and gave a warm smiled to Sentia the Cat who was on top of Marcus' head.

When Maghrl had then showed up though, she felt a bit unsettled and surprised by his appearance. As his small, blue furriness had either reminded her of something described as one of H'ades' impish devil minions, or how some of the rats back home tended to grow to unusual sizes. But when he had introduced himself to her, she settled down and began to warm up to him, having reminded herself that she couldn't be anymore weirded out than she already was. Though Maghrl's rapid speaking had still left her somewhat confused, if only in her effort to try and keep track! But thankfully Marcus had intervened to introduced her to Maghrl and also Myra who had showed just then too. No doubt her unaided response would've potentially been awkward.

"Hello Maghrl and Myra, and yes, my name is Nivea. It's a pleasure to meet you two." She said happily to both of them, then glanced towards a odd figure she spotted leaving the crowd. It was a woman for sure, but she had something with her, something metal. She couldn't quite make it out exactly, but it looked like it was something with a thin, round cylindrical barrel, what was it, was it dangerous? She figured it was probably nothing of her concern, and it was probably not the place to ask such a question right now. Though it did gave her some suspicion none-unless, though maybe she should be more suspicious of things in general.

She then looked down at Maghrl and realized he might've been also asking what she actually was, as it must've looked like she clearly wasn't a surface dweller. "To answer your question Maghrl, my job is being a courier, yes. But if you were asking what I am, I'm a Nevidan, though my people descended from the rest of Mankind about two thousand years ago after we had our exodus to Terra's underworld, if that makes any sense." She answered him as simply and as best she could, though she wondered if he'll easily understand.

[Holy Lykos]

Lobby

Maghrl gave short bows to those he was introduced too, and grinned when Myra showed up. It looked rather mischievous on his face, mostly due to his general appearance. The purple alien had met Myra, even if briefly. "Myra! Mag want pastwise to visit Myra at Gate, help Myra less boredom-wise. Got rather busy project-wise, droid-bots, Force-wise, yes yes." He nodded, hoping she understood his rather strange apology for not visiting her up at the gatehouse like he'd promised before one of the missions he went on. His rapid pattern of speech would make it difficult of course, but he could always repeat himself if needed.

He also gave a rapid nod to Nivea, grinning. He tapped his nose a few times before speaking more. "Yes yes, Nivea smell near-humanish. Human, not quite, slight scent of something weirdish for human, you bet. Squib noses work well, yes yes. Courier? Mail, packages?" He asked for clarification, tilting his head with one ear cocking to make a 45 degree angle with the other one. A pretty obvious sign of curiosity.

He thought he might as well introduce what he was too though, so gestured to himself. "Maghrl Jedi. Warriorish Monk, peacekeeper, philosopher, Force-sensitive, yes yes." He also gestured rather animatedly towards his robes, though they seemed more patched than one could expect for a religious order, with the tunic under seeming to have many, many added pockets. The jedi also seemed to be lacking shoes or boots, at least right now. "Specieswise, Maghrl Squib. From Skorr II in Galactic Rim, yes yes. Greatwise barterers, hagglers, super-sensitive furwise even tell counterfeits!" He seemed rather proud of both his occupation and species, but hell he was enthusiastic about pretty much everything it seemed. Hard to keep a Squib down.

"Ni funny name islandwise, Marcus-droid. Yes yes!"

[Northwest Slobovia]

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Plotline All-Stops to Alexandria, Egypt
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

Nick let out a sound somewhere between a cough and a mew. “Start simulation!”

The fire lizards broke their vee formation, the two trailing ones climbing as hard as they could and banking into shallow turns. The lead lizard picked up its wings’ pace, slowly accelerating. Sandy considered their motion, their goal snapping into crystal clarity in his mind’s eye. He dug his own wings into the air, starting to maintain his altitude advantage over the fire lizards. They’re trying to catch us with a pincer movement! I’m going to bring us as close to one attacking the convoy as I can while staying above the others. We should stun that one first before taking on the other two.

<Only three lizards? Or are more coming?>

Three should be enough, since we’re just practicing. Which was true enough, though a tiny voice in Sandy’s head wondered what they’d do if there were more.

As Sandy moved to intercept the Lizard that was swooping maliciously towards the convoy, Primordial began pulling the Yuggothian weapon out of his pocket and prepping it. Keeping his arm straight was made slightly difficult by the constant motion of the pegasus and the irregular vision effect he was experiencing. But he simply treated the entire experience like a pleasant narcotic overdose and was able to ignore the worst of the effects.

Aiming the rough lump of irregular metal at the attacking lizard he pressed down with two of his fingers while massaging other lumps on the weapons with his other digits. The whole thing shimmer brightly before a bolt of white hot lightning shot forth. It only began to break up a few meters in front of the lizard where it cascaded over its body.

The lizard’s back arched as a spasm shook its whole body. It tumbled through the air, wings limp, before regaining some control over its motion. It was still unsteady and had dropped substantially by the time it started forward again, its flight slowed.

Oh! That worked nicely! Sandy studied the lizard’s movements, judging its speed. Sandy’s eyes did only part of the work; he was keenly aware of the air across his own body as he analyzed the beast’s flapping, intent enough that Nick and the Baron may feel imaginary wings through the mindlink. It’s not much faster than I am now. If you can spare another shot, we may be able to slow it down enough to catch it after we deal with the other two.

A sense of disappointment radiated from the Baron at the sight of the creature writhing in pain. Not at the suffering itself, but at the fact that the weapon hadn’t done more damage. It was clear the Luxan was used to only needing to shooting something once with the gun. But he lined up another shot and discharged a second radiant bolt of electricity to blast the creature a second time. This time he was able to aim better and tried to land a blow on the creature's wings in a way that would ground it more potently.

The electric bolt struck one of the lizard’s wings squarely, and it writhed like it had been mortally wounded. It simply fell and fell and fell, finally slowly extending its wings to break its fall. It skipped across the ground, kicking up huge clouds of dust as it bounced along on its neck, belly, tail. It slowly dragged itself back into the air, barely able to keep itself off the ground. The convoy opened fire on it, their heavy flak guns seeking its vulnerable spots: mouth and eyes.

Fantastic! Sandy was elated. That was simply an amazing weapon! A dubious form of magic, but that was for another time. It had done what... years? Decades? Of gunfire had not: bringing down one of the fire lizards. The Baron felt Sandy’s emotion which picked up his own slightly and brought a small smile to his lips, he was still disheartened by the fact it hadn’t completely annihilated the creature but he supposed not everything could be easy.

[OOC: Collab with Fvaar and Prim]

[Altito Asmoro]

Ascalon
Le Joyau de la Bretagne

Well, this been fun, but she's getting increasingly worried that perhaps her roles in this place is getting down. She didn't wanted to leave, but it is a must perhaps now. She politely nodded to the new people on the same table, before looking to Amanda, "I'm sorry, Amanda. I...I have to take a leave for now. I believe I have my needs filled down, though I don't think I want to be involved in anything. At least, not now. I kind of want to settle down a little bit for now..." she trailed off and stopped. She nodded to Henry and Amanda, bids farewell, before went out from the restaurant.

She hailed the car that will take her to the Building again. There are much to be done for now.

[Tiltjuice]

The gray-eyed redhead had not spoken in quite some time, it was plain.

Had anyone turned to look, she was no longer visible to them; not even if they had ended the imagery playing therein.

She appeared asleep, though her eyes stayed open.