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

by **Torrocca** » Sun Jan 01, 2017 10:28 pm

Coming to a halt and catching his breath as he and his new companion reached their destination, Hectaros scoffed at the mention of magic. "Bah - magic? Trickery, more like it; trickery... or the will of their gods." He hushed down as Hablaratta filled him in on the rest of the situation, furrowing his brow in confusion as he took a seat nearby the others. "These natives... they just kidnap one of this group's own? And they don't even try to fight for her safe return? Why bow before these fiends? And... and..." he went wide-eyed and struggled for a moment with his words as his gaze shifted to Fritz. "A god? Here? It can't be... can it? The gods never show themselves..."

by **Holy Lykos** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 3:44 am

The Jungle

Sterling had managed to get himself lost in only a few minutes. His normally rather excellent memory was feeling muddled... almost scattered and broken. Normally he could find his way anywhere after he'd been there at least once. Its why he had gotten the hang of a teleport spell so easily. But right now? Nothing doing. He could barely remember why he'd thought this was the right course of action. The pony listlessly looked about and just sat himself down in the ferns, just for a bit. Sterling had no idea why he'd thought this was a good idea. Sacrificing himself to save all his friends and the rest of them. He thought it the only option, but maybe not.

But he was lost. There really wasn't anything he could do but keep walking. But he didn't want to do that either. Indecision was gnawing at him. His mood seemed to almost be even affecting his coat, the pony's vibrant coloring almost muted. He didn't seem to notice.

But then the boar's squeal made him snap his head to look in its direction with the same listless expression. They'd... Found one. Or at least one. Could he dare hope for two?

The pony pulled himself back to his hooves and turned 'round, starting to walk back in the direction he came from. It was an island, why was he being stupid and think he could get lost on an island. At least this one was small. He'd hit a beach eventually. He snorted a bit, flicking away some tropical bugs with his tail as he trudged, and trudged, and trudged.

This is what he got for letting his thinking go wild anyway, getting stuck and bugbitten in a terrible jungle. Where the hell had he even been going?

by **Highfort** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 4:25 am

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Above the Max Thunder Fury Road Beyond Ascalon Dome
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

The remaining scout car revved as it turned away from the battle and toward the canyon; the team seemed like they could handle themselves, now the question was whether the convoy was about to make it to safety or into another war zone. This was the territory of the fearsome, scantily-leather-clad Lord Monu Mentus, and no doubt the fighting would pique his and his gang's interest.

But that was a problem for the future. For now, three dragons remained.

Baron Primordial's intervention - though leaving an indelible, horrible impression on the radioman sprayed with blood and gore as the lizard dropped his metal cage from eighty feet in the air - saved the semi from meeting an untimely end beneath a car. The scout car rolled harmlessly into a dune, blasted by sand as the corpse of the once-mighty lizard of the wastes landed next to it. Frozen for a moment, the radio man unbuckled himself with shaky fingers and staggered outside, collapsing on the sand in sweat and tears as he retched onto the dust.

The convoy gunners got Nick's message quickly enough and grinned at Sandy's antics. Zeroing in their firing systems on the airspace the sorcerer had indicated, they let loose a furious burst of lead and water to fill the dusty skies. Just as the Pegasus veered toward the zone, the flak guns and water cannon went silent, and the shooters aboard the semi truck took their fingers off the triggers. And not a moment too soon.

As Sandy, Nick, and Baron Primordial emerged from the screen of smoke and water droplets, the firing resumed with a frantic intensity. The trailing lizards were caught squarely in the blast. Unfortunately for the team, the dragons avoided the worst of the damage, though they were dissuaded by the water pressure and the scraping of metal against their bellies. Breaking off from the convoy, they screeched in high-pitched tones and indicated to their grounded brethren that they should find better hunting.

"Good work, team. That's some pretty nifty flying you did there, Mr. Bela," Reigger chuckled over the radio, "Scout Two, what've you got in the canyon?"

"Don't see nothin', but I smell Monu Mentus. It's too damn quiet, no critters scurryin' about. Need a way to ward him off," the radioman responded.

"We lost the other car, too... Hm... A dragon strapped to our truck would give him the right idea, I think," Reigger motioned for his driver to pull on the breaks and the semi slid to a stop, the escort trucks following suit, "The rest of the dragons are breaking off; let's take this opportunity and regroup. Make sure Matheo's alright, recover Dorothy's body and the car, and strap down that dragon. Sandy, get your team down here to help secure this lizard. Bastard's huge."

by **Stormwrath** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 8:59 am

Pavilion

"I," Macy stuttered, "I don't know. They only restrained me with a kind of binding magic when they took me. It felt like I was bound by steel cables."

Something felt unsettling in the android's CPU, and she didn't know what this feeling was. It was as if someone was whispering something in her ear. "Fritz," she stared into his eyes, "I feel very strongly that I should help the others now. I feel like because I let myself be taken they are dijng these things for me, so..." She then glanced at Nivea and added, "I want to help you."

But as she heard the boar scream in the distance, she couldn't seem to want to stay put. "Ummm, what was that?" Could that be?

by **Northwest Slobovia** » Mon Jan 02, 2017 5:31 pm

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Above the Max Thunder Fury Road Beyond Ascalon Dome
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

Highfort wrote:"The rest of the dragons are breaking off; let's take this opportunity and regroup. Make sure Matheo's alright, recover Dorothy's body and the car, and strap down that dragon. Sandy, get your team down here to help secure this lizard. Bastard's huge."

Sandy watched the four remaining lizards flap away as he turned towards the convoy. Somebody let Reigger know we're a medical team too. We'll take care of Matheo. The dead lizard can wait for the live man. He swooped down over the truck they'd been travelling in, picked up the bag of healing supplies in his teeth, then raced to the wreck of the scout car. Last stop, everybody off!

He landed next to it, and remained Pegasus only long enough for Nick and the Baron to scramble down his flanks. He called through the passenger side window, "Matheo! Can you hear me? I'm a medic, tell me what's wrong."

by **Highfort** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 4:39 am

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Above the Max Thunder Fury Road Beyond Ascalon Dome
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

The convoy proceeded without further incident.

Matheo was patched up - two broken ribs and a broken leg were a small price to pay for getting to live. The lizard - a trophy for Sandy and his crew - was dragged atop the semi and strapped to it; serving as a warning sign for anyone else who wished to tussle with the convoy, it warded off Lord Monu Mentus' men and the People's Will patrols.

The two days were quiet - uncomfortably so, for Dorothy had been a regular aboard Reigger's expeditions. When they set camp, she was cremated as per her wishes, and her ashes kept in a little box until Reigger could find a proper urn in Alessio. Her family deserved that much at least, what little she had left of it in the Burrows.

Finally, it was time.

"You were good - better than good," Reigger patted Sandy on the shoulder as he saw the sorcerer off with the strange talking cat, Nick, and the unsettling cultist that was Baron Primordial, "Here's the transfer code; the funds cleared this morning so they'll be good for any tab you ring up here. If the assholes in central say anything, you can show 'em this and it'll square everything. You have any trouble, you let me know. I owe you more one, seriously."

One of Reigger's men wheeled out the cryo-tube, pushing past a crowd of merchants to deliver it to a nondescript hut. The Captain turned to gesture at the tube, "She does, too. If you ever stop by Judge's, and that damn shaman can figure out what's wrong with her, she might thank you in-person."

He winked, slipping a key into Sandy's hand, "I've heard she's a nice girl. And I know you folks have places to be. I rented you a storage locker for the dragon; we'll be gone by tomorrow, so I hope you find a way to drag that thing wherever it is you're going."

His eyes crinkled as he smiled, "Happy trails, and stay safe. Watch out for any unsavory types."

And with that, Reigger turned to the stacks of unloaded jars and back to the boring business of outfitting his crew for the return trip.

The team was free to browse the many stalls and shops that filled the busy mercantile sprawl of Alessio. Above them, a huge net caught new wares - and people! - as they fell from the gaping gate floating on the Alessio skyline, gently rolling them down to the market proper where they could be collected by the appropriate merchants or introduced to the right people.

Glade

Tears glimmered in the paper-man's eyes as he beheld his doppelganger's son - his son. Perhaps there was a chance for him - for the real Septimus Itum - to make good on what he'd done. Perhaps, when he returned, he'd finally be a father instead of running away as he so often did to focus on his work. The cardboard cut-out ruffled Marcus' hair and chuckled, "Well, I could definitely be better. But, then again, I did have a pretty good dad - even if he was busy and always left mother to dote on me."

Neste arrived, blustery with some mission or other, and saw Marcus off to the jungle to deliver the boar. Septimus reassured the young man with a smile, "I'll do my best. Go, make sure your friends are safe. I'm sure you'll do us proud."

And with that, his son was gone.

And that left him with her.

"I don't suppose you can tell where our flesh and blood counterparts are?" Septimus let out a bitter chuckle as he watched the Residents scramble off to handle the boar, "Septimus and Neste should be here, with their son, not prancing about across the universe! Instead, he's got us - poor facsimiles of pulp and paper."

Picking up his coffee cup, he strode over to Neste and gently stroked his fingers across her shoulder, sighing, "We should probably get to the clearing with them, no telling what might happen. You know if there's spare rain boots lying around so we don't melt in the mud?"

The Jungle

Opa made their way into the jungle, following the beaten path set by the boar hunters as they chased their quarry. The android was careful to remain away from the brunt of the fighting - realizing that a huge hole made by a plasma round would probably not endear the natives to the offered meat. Instead, they stood back and observed from behind one of the trees, ready to intervene in case anyone got hurt.

by **Chedastan** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:11 pm

Pavilion

Nivea simply nodded at Minerva, so still wasn't sure how this mess would resolve itself as soon as they bring the boars and themselves to the other side of the island, but she had a feeling it might not be too bad. Like she could tell deep down that something big is going to change from whatever happens, maybe even evolve to a great degree. She only hoped that it was for the better, but of course no matter what it was already better for her as it was now. As yesterday she would've been dead otherwise if it wasn't for the Building and Demens, and it was a wonder in of itself that she even had the chance to come here. She didn't want to take anything for granted after her near death via execution, she just wanted to live in her new chapter of her life's story, and do what she can in the darkest hour that will eventually come.

She waited idly with everyone else, knowing they'll soon be leaving once the boars were hunted.

Paper Romy

"All of us huh?" Romulus simply remarked as Nivea had told them all about the note. He sure hoped one of those fangled tech-priests had some hydrophobic spray on them, because otherwise him and the other paper residents will have a hard time transversing the Island without slowly dying. "Someone ring up a tech-priest, tell them to bring some hydrophobic spray if they have it. Wilhelm knows that the damn stuff is available in every convenience store in his Imperium." He asked, hoping someone had something that'll work.

"And if they don't have it, covering us up in duct tape should work too, but will take longer." He then added.

by **Giovenith** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:22 pm

"I always wanted to die in style!" Paper-Willow cheered, filling up a plate high with goodies, convinced it would be his first and last meal. "Not that I don't wish us luck of course! We better hury!"

The cutout stopped to consider something before bursting into the air. In very little time, he located Sterling.

"Jee, when you talked about not being afraid to die, I didn't think that meant you were eager!" Paper-Willow flew upside down above the unicorn. "Give it some time buddy, I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunity to fall once we face the Devourers!" He spoke as if the other stallion hadn't just yelled at him earlier. "Anywho, the natives sent us a message! They say all the residents gotta be in the meeting place, or else! If you really want to help your friends, you'll join us."

While swinging the shovel, a million things went through Giovenith's mind, but the thing that sprung out most was how they'd get the second boar after this one in time. She didn't know if she'd have the strength to do this again.

An idea came to her.

Sparing just a moment, a flick of her hand sent a paper bird swarm into the air and into the jungle. They would seek out another boar and accost it, hopefully driving it to the pit while they handled this one.

Paper-Willow looked up to catch the bird swarm. He laughed and held out his forelegs toward them. "Fly, brothers and sisters, fly!" He then turned back to Sterling. "Let's go."

by **Torsiedelle** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:39 pm

"Oh, now they want a meeting. Now they want everyone moving and putting in work. Now they have people doing their jobs and working together. Do they? Can they even manage that much? Oh, God, they're going to get us all kill, aren't they? Fighting and killing each other and then acting worried when they can't even get two boars! These are the people I work with."

Katya downed another shot of tequila. "Well, I'm not going to let them kill me like they want to kill themselves. I refuse to let them ruin this anymore."

Katya flung open the door and went to group up with the rest. Just who the hell was in charge, anyways? She wanted to know, because this was a farce.

She marched back down to the scene. Residents here and there, the hunting party was...somewhere...

"Minerva.", Katya said currly, approaching the small group. Her gaze followed Nivea and the others nearby. "Just what is the plan here? Where do you want me? I'm not about to die here too because a simple job got botched. I'll even help move supplies, keep a watch, whatever works!"

by **Swith Witherward** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 8:40 pm

Pavilion

"Nonsense, General!" Up until now, Naomi had nursed her cup of hot chocolate while working on her levitation abilities. The results were dismal as usual, for now she floated at the very top of the ceiling, her head occasionally bumping against the solid wood. "My Personnes faites de papier are not shoddy work. All we need to do is bubble them. The Lads can bubble, can't they?" She arched a brow at Minerva and the cultist nodded in affirmation. "Well, Minerva and her Lads can do weak bubbles, but those will be enough to keep everyone nice and dry."

She set the empty mug off to the side where it promptly dropped to the floor. "If the priests can make goop that keeps sand out of joints, then they can make goop that keeps paper waterproof. But you're all Scotch-guarded anyway... let me tell you, that effort was a bitch! And I used alum, in addition. Alum, grated Castile soap, some water and gum arabic, and some glue, and a bit of lint from Nila's collection ... sorry Nila! Anyway, after I dipped all of you, I pinned you to the clothes line and let Ogoti's sun toast you dry so you'd have flexibility. And then I opened my heart and pulled my favorite personality traits from memory, and shoved those up your assholes. Shake well, leave set by the trees, and wait for someone to wish you were here."

She slowly began to descend but lost her focus halfway through and crashed into empty boxes and wrapping paper. "I meant to do that," she rose and brused herself off. "Anyway, you skin isn't armored, so you'll be damaged like real flesh if cut or shot. And if you go swimming, you'll fall apart. But you can eat and drink, and even sleep. You can digest and poop, except it comes out as confetti. Sorry. And you can even get a little tipsy. But you can't be poisoned and, once wished to life, you can never become a 2D flat thing again. I'm afraid you're stuck fully formed and 3D. Also, if I die, so do all of you. That's how the magic works. You don't have souls." She tapped a finger to her chin. What was it she was forgetting? Ah! "And the only one that can effectively heal you is Miss Giovenith. She's the true master of paper."

"Ko matou o koutou tawhai sounds Maori," Minerva frowned. "It's rather subjective. Tawhai... rival, or equal, or pressure." Realizing her language skill might somewhat iffy, she added, "It's odd that they would use that phrase. Long before Chaos came into my life, my team coordinated with the 28th Infantry Battalion of the New Zealand Army during the War. Some things stick in the mind."

Katya's arrival distracted her from her musings. "The plan, Miss Katya, is to round up everyone and go to the clearing." Minerva tapped a cigarette against a knuckle before placing it between her lips. She fished a zippo from her pocket as she pondered a myriad of unanswered questions. The warm light cast her nose and cheeks ago as she puffed the tobacco to life. "We go because the alternative, if I understand it right, is destruction."

"Alright, so we bring two boar to the Natives. This fulfills contractual obligations covering Macy's release, yes?" her exhaled blue cloud rose the dance with the twinkling light strands above. "They want to see if the boar are worth the trade, but also that we follow through on our agreements. Just what exactly did you all say to these natives?"

"You're not planning to go armed to the teeth, are you?" A frown dominating his face, Fritz set his wine glass down and stared at Minerva.

"No," she confirmed. "Had they wanted to destroy some of us, they could have done so in the clearing. Every fiber of my being says this is a bad idea but, if we have something to mutually gain, and if Demens has something to gain, then we'll do as they ask. Keep swords at our sides, and our firearms securely fastened. I will personally handle anyone that compromises talks by drawing a weapon."

She paused as a new thought came to mind. "This might very well be Demens testing us. Damnit, I hate being uncertain." Another draw from the cigarette, another exhale. "Alright, everyone move out, including paper beings. It's a long walk to the other side. There aren't any paths cutting through the middle. Fritz' cultists guard our little village here. We might do one better by bringing some extra wine and beer. My Lads can schlep the casks."

Marcus passed the pavilion by. If the others were in the jungle, then he would join them. It didn't matter if Giovenith didn't want to ever speak to him again. The others... the ones that were trapped between their loyalties and between the objective and certain death... they needed everyone on board.

His hut was on the way and so he paused only long enough to sling his still-packed bag and his tied boots over a shoulder. He took the beach at a run, plunged into the jungle, and made haste up the path.

Jungle

Marcus passed Drova at a run. The prince's presence meant they were probably close to springing whatever plan they had. Surely Drova was the final step to the plan. "Be ready!" He offered a thumbs-up before continuing.

Giovenith's paper bird's flight was a graceful circle that sent it back through the trees to accost the second boar. You know the one. It had made that horrible grunt behind Brit but a few moments ago. This boar had just decided that the ass of the person in front of it was unwelcome in its world.

SLAM! The strike came too suddenly to made any sense of it. One moment, Brit was doing her thing. The next, Kafka was airborne and with a rump stinging hard enough to make even the most bravest soldier wince. She landed in a clump of ferns, bruised and perhaps confused, but nothing broken.

Boars don't like shovels. They especially don't like it when the shovels strike them. The boar in front of Giovenith had decided enough was enough.

SQUEAL!!!

Okay, let me break the fourth wall a moment here. I know boar. I fucking hate boar. And the thing I hate most about boar is the ungodly noise they make when pissed. It literally chills the bones and causes all the hairs on the back of the neck to stand up. You really don't know whether you should feel sympathy for it because it sounds like it's being tortured, or if you should run from it because it sounds like it's about to torture you. In the case of the boar being whacked by the godling, the animal was pissed off beyond all reason.

It spun and planted its front legs as if daring the godling to break the shovel over its head. Now braced, it issued a second horrendous squeal... which was met from a distance by the squeal of a third boar.

Crash crash crunch "I'm coming!" crash!

Giovenith's boar wheeled towards this new sound. The ferns parted to reveal-

Well, probably the last person Giovenith wanted to see. Marcus' eyes took in the situation in the clearly and he quickly surmised the purpose behind her actions. He stood stock still.

"Giovenith," he spoke lowly and without taking his eyes off the panting animal between them, "I'll be Catch. You be Bay. Keep harassing him. Use the shovel and put a hurt on his flanks. Drive him down the path towards Drova. I'll distract him from the sides and pin to keep him from wheeling on you if he gets too mean. Like hunting dogs. You make the noise. I'll do the silent biting and then fall back so you can make more noise to drive him. Between our harassment, he's got no choice but to take that path."

Maghrl by now had gotten a good whiff of a boar's life force. His senses told him that shit was about to hit the fan. And that's when Sgt. Kafka sailed over his head, exposing him to the angry boar charging up the path towards him and everyone else still standing on the trail.

by **Torsiedelle** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 8:48 pm

"Hmm? Everyone? Do we have a way to keep in contact with any hunters who go astray?", Katya asked. Her throat caught at the next question. "And...what about my sister? They saw her. You think they'll...notice if we're missing one?", She asked. "Look, I don't doubt you. I'm just a bit shaken. I'm not as good at this as I thought I was. Anything I can help to carry? Or am I fine to break for the other side?"

She really just wanted to finish this job. So much for suggesting a little R&R for the holidays! She was going to give Mr. Demens a stern talking to if she got the chance. That would have to wait for another time, however, at least until after their safety was garaunteed.

If their safety was garaunteed.

Hey, they'd been in greater danger....a long time ago...

Whether it was the taste of tequila still on her tongue, or the worry over speed, she commented. "Maybe I'll help move the, um, alcohol? Crates and boxes can get heavy after a while, right?"

.......

"How big is this island? Why are me moving again? This all seems rather out of nowhere."
"All will be explained."
"You already said that, but I'm not exactly a patient person, Moonlight Man."
"Moonlight Man?"
"You smell like moonlight."
"And what the hell is moonlight supposed to smell like?"

This girl was annoying...but managable. Montressor wasn't going to leave a nun on her own, anyways. Wyminfolk were precious! But leading her along was going slow; she needed to check for bumps and roots, and couldn't run fast...unless...

"Hey, what are you doing?", She cried. The man turned and hoisted her up over his shoulder with little thought to her protests, and jogged to keep up with the strange foreign warrior and others. His questions wrung with him as well, or the rat's translation did, but...he would listen for now. Interjection could wait. This girl was heavier than he thought, despite being practically a skeleton.

by **Fvaarniimar** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:20 pm

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Above the Max Thunder Fury Road Beyond Ascalon Dome
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

"Wow." The cat gaped. "It's raining stuff. Can we watch for a - is that a person? WOW, it really is a gate!"

He could not stop looking around. A bulky bag jolted with every motion - attached to his harness with its cable. Sandy (and likely Prim) would have to know by now that the contents were spider silk and a snake ornament, the latter from the cultists of Time and Fate, and quite light. Said shapeshifter had presumably been saddled with the task of carrying the the heavier items Nick had brought - two paperbacks and a thick hardcover.

---

On the island, a laugh came from a little further up the beach. "That's ...
impressively...acrobatic, 'Willow,' but WOW do you ever look silly." Paper-Nick's 'fur' rustled as he shook out the sand.

As they walked, he agonized. He wasn't sure if he should read more into the offhand "brothers and sisters " comment - the pegasus might have merely meant that the birds were similar to them...
Can they think? The cat never had really interrogated Giovenith about her powers...

Real Nick would have pounced on the idea, assuming he had the guts. The paper cat remembered the desperation for family - had to admit that maybe he shared it - but hopefully he could be less silly about it. Kindergarten drawings for the cultists, really? At least his plans had been rather less absurd this year...

His and Willow's 'real' versions had gotten along almost from the start, once it was made clear that Giovenith hadn't been losing her mind. I wouldn't mind a brother...or twenty...

by **The BranRiech** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:49 pm

Drova

His brooding quickly interrupted, Drova looked up suddenly, a surprised expression on his face as the familiar form of Marcus came crashing by, running off into the wilderness in just another moment. "Woah, wait what!?" He shouted after him, before processing exactly what he had said. "Be ready!" Of course meant that Drova's entire role in the hunt was about to unfold. The boar would likely come crashing through within a minute, or maybe even less? Were boars fast? They surely didn't sound too fast from what he'd heard in the distance earlier.

"Good luck!" Drova shouted off after Marcus, though whether he was out of earshot or not wasn't much of a concern.

He readied himself, facing the direction his friend had come from. Either the boar was going to be directly behind, or a few more members of the hunting party.

"Don't take reckless risks. Fly out of the way. Be careful"

Nick's message from earlier still rang in his head. Easier said than done, when one was expected to jump out of the way of a thunderous beast. Simply agreeing to do it seemed almost like a reckless risk in itself.

"And if I fuck it up, at least Yuna doesn't have to see me get my ass kicked." He chortled to himself.

by **Holy Lykos** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:54 pm

Sterling looked over the Paper Willow and sighed. He'd hoped for a moment the real Willow had managed to return. He'd have to hand off his gift later. Priorities, right? Gio would likely find hers once the whole ordeal was done. Hopefully? He'd forgotten if he'd told paper Willow the gift he got for her.

But the Unicorn nodded, and gave a weak smile. "I... I don't know what I was thinking." Is all he really said. He used his magic to gently pick up the Paper Nick and place the cat on his back. If he was going to be running through the jungle the cat might get left behind.

"Lead the way, Willow? I'm rather lost." Sterling swallowed, preparing himself to run through the jungle after the Paper Pegasus

The Boar seemed rather pissed so far. No? Boars... THREE?! Maghrl's ears flicked back, a twinge of fear setting his fur bristling. The Squib could feel the third coming. Hell he could hear it! All three sounded and felt pissed beyond reason. Probably beyond influencing to come along peaceably through the influence of the Force. That road he probably hsould have mentioned he could try, but by the Void it was much too late for that.

The Squib let out a deep breath he didn't realize that he had been holding, before setting his face in determination. He stared down the Boar charging him and shot out both of his hands, trying to use the force to stop all momentum and pick the beast off of the ground. Should that fail he braced himself to jump as high as squibanly possible with the aid of the Force. He'd vault that fucker sooner than he'd let it gore him. For a squib was small and squishy when hit by a peeved boar's tusk.

But with the Force's help he might be able to avoid such a fate, and stop the boar in its tracks. Its not like these boars were immune to Force powers...

Right?

by **Giovenith** » Tue Jan 03, 2017 10:14 pm

Giovenith wasn't dumb or petty enough to try and sneer at Marcus during a serious matter. She made eye contact with him briefly and nodded before continuing her assault. She made her voice as low as she could while yelling at the boar, trying to rival it's own animal noises and show she was not intimidated by it, assaulting it with a crazy and quick barrage of swings and jabs and stepping forward with each one, trying to drive it back.

"Get back!" she growled at it. "Now! Now!" Swing! Swing! "Now!"

The paper birds, meanwhile, began to dart back and forth around the other boar, pecking at and cutting it with their sharpened sides. They tooted furiously and attempted to drive it. A few buzzed above Brit.

Paper Willow lead Sterling and Paper Nick back to the pavilion. Luckily everyone was still there. Or maybe it wasn't so lucky?

"We should stop talking about going and go!" the cutout impudently suggested. "We are on a beach, does anyone have a megaphone? That'll get everyone's attention to go!"

by **Primordial Luxa** » Wed Jan 04, 2017 11:20 am

RAIDERS of the LOST BOOK

OPERATION: BIBLIOPHILE
DIMENSION: Gallimaufry then 257P
LOCATION: Above the Max Thunder Fury Road Beyond Ascalon Dome
TEAMS: MU
RotLB

Primordial paused with a look of shock as he took in the sight of Alessio. The monolithic gate suspended above it was the point of his focus. His eyes became lost in thought as he gazed upon the chaotic portal of phantasmal light and writhing reality. The sight of it was noxious and overpower to the Luxa.

He whispered a subtle prayer to the Great Old Ones, especially his own accursed master, the All in One who was the sentience behind all portals, gateways, and rifts. The thought and process that allowed any two locations to connect and that could bar or open any points in space time. His faith was so absolute that he believed even in a land so devoid of his pantheon like this, there could be no gates without Yog-Sothoth. Without the One in All one could not so much as open a door how could one create a magnificent construct of fractured quantum energy and gravitational anomalies such as this without his blessing.

As the group walked around the stalls and took a moment to soak in the surroundings Primordial continued to gawk with bewilderment at their surroundings. From his expression one might think him a child in a candy factory. Every last thing, from ever last corner of reality which fell here seemed to excite him, and given his former profession as an interdimensional conquistador it was not hard to imagine why.

Small baubles and trinkets that seemed worthless even to the people using them held demining significance to the Baron who had read from dark books of their more sinister origins. While the vast array of unique creatures and citizens also confirmed some of the more interesting parts of the universe were present here.

It was a long while before Primordial was able to get over his exciment and focus on the task at hand. He followed around Sandy and Nick for the most part but was on the lookout for any stores or shops which he thought might carry something from his home dimension or related to his pantheon.

by **Torrocca** » Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:09 pm

Hectaros watched as the group began to leave the Pavilion, and began to get up himself; however, the pain from his leg's grievous wound caught up to him at last, after the surge of adrenaline he had on the way to the Pavilion dampened its pain. "Agh... I'll help hold down guard here. Won't be much use negotiating... or walking, really," the injured man explained to Hablaratta so that he could translate his words. He took a seat back down.

by **Monfrox** » Wed Jan 04, 2017 6:49 pm

Paper Brit had spaced out a little, studying at Drova's placement towards the hole Not that she didn't trust him, but she probably wanted him a little bit more this way or that way and hadn't gotten the time to really think that over. Of course, none of them had, and when everyone came crashing through, she looked around.

"Wait...oh. Oh. Oh fuck." She immediately skedaddled to a nearby anywherebuthere with a little "nyyaaaaah" like a certain bald slapstick character.

Sgt. Kafka sailed over the heads and foliage all along to the nearest mud puddle, landing face first into it.

by **Tiltjuice** » Wed Jan 04, 2017 7:03 pm

On catching sight of the boar, Dora drew on long-lost, ancient knowledge as adrenaline spiked in her veins.

She swore profusely in the colorful mariner's vocabulary her father's crew had used and she'd picked up as a child (one of the Lesser Horrors a parent - or a parrot owner - faces!) and raised her shovel, waving it back and forth in front of the closer boar and hoping it picked up on her as its main attacker. With luck, she could get that one to chase her in the direction of Drova and the pit.

by **Holy Lykos** » Thu Jan 05, 2017 12:59 am

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

While the rest of the residents of the Building worried about catching boars and holiday grieving, another group confronted a real monster of their own creation. A monster of thorns, vines, and blood that had ripped through the isolated station like a cornered animal, vicious and cruel.

The sound of creaking vines and a few more wet thuds against metal would hail the end of the final, stranded pirates. Rather sickening crunching sounds rung out following that, as the trio crossed the last opened bulkhead. The monster, luckily, was on the far side of the hanger. A dirtied but otherwise undamaged ship, or more accurately a shuttle, was parked on the side closer to them. The vessel had a rather sleek design, with many curves and organic looking designs over its hull. It was a serenely beautiful thing, were it not stained with blood and plant matter.

Bits of ship had obviously been ripped from whatever had been docked in the other bay. The hanger's design had two floors: a lower one where ships docked, refueled, and launched; along with an upper set of walkways to access larger ships and reach harder to reach spots. The hanger had two bays, with only one occupied. The remnants of another, along with an opened and force-field sealed bay, littered the other. They were on the upper level, near the occupied dock.

On a less lucky note, the airlock for them to open was on the far side, and on the lower floor. They would have to fight or distract the plant monster to get through and open it. It would only take a moment to open once Nex reached it, or if one of the others could pull the emergency release. The whole thing would be over in minutes, but said minutes might feel like hours, maybe even days or weeks.

But this was the last danger on the station. Once this was dealt with they could lick their wounds and rest easy. When the fleet arrived they could head to the surface knowing they wouldn't be attacked from space. Nexalis nodded to Romulus, silent as a church mouse, waiting for his order.

The actual General in the flesh didn’t paid much mind to the damaged and torn scenery, as having seen such devastation for over 17 years straight no longer had much of an affect on him. His younger self may have bothered to take more notice once, point out a noteworthy detail or two, but with his experienced eyes now, all he cared for was if there were any obstructions in the way to their objective.

The monster was close, he didn’t think he needed to point that out to Nex or Kale, as to him it at least felt very obvious to him at this point. He knew as well though that he probably needed to tell both of them what to do, given that he was undoubtedly the most experienced amongst the 3 of them. And Nex wasn’t the least subtle about wanting an order thrown at him.

“Nex, Kale, cover my flanks! I’ll lead through, get ready to cover me when this thing reaches us!” He ordered them both, taking his potent sword out. He glowed brighter than a holiday tree in the middle of a city of 8 million, the monster better know that they were coming for it.

The alien next to Romulus nodded, clenching its fists. Nex wouldn’t be as potent due to the space suit blocking his claws, but either way this monster was going into space one way or another.

“Stairs are at the middle section of the catwalks. It’ll likely try to hit us on the way down so be careful. Getting grabbed is deadly.” As they spoke, the plant seemed almost to ignore them. A clever person would realize a plant can’t pick up sound very easily, so it likely would only notice if they got closer. They had a bit of leeway before being under assault.

“Running is better than walking, too. It’s not accurate, just a brute.” Nex finished, taking a few steps forward, to get the three moving.

Kale stared at the plant and destruction in the hangar for a while. Bits of ship and alien all over the place. It was a horror scene, like the one after the previous fight. But she put on a straight face and kept calm. She needed to get rid of this thing, not shut down. She snapped back to Romulus when he gave orders to move. She gave a quick nod and moved up, heading the left flank.

“You’re probably right on that.” Romulus replied to Nex, having too realized that the plant monster wasn’t too perceptive. Obviously it meant as well that they would certainly have the initiative over the beast, which means they could take advantage of it by having them be the ones to flank it.

“Move quietly, I want to get the jump on this thing. When I think we’re in a position of strength, I’ll gesture for you two to divert from me and cover that thing’s blind spots. You two got that? Cause we need to get back to moving on this monstrosity.” He suggested to them both, hoping they understood what he had meant.

With a nod, Nex kept moving towards the catwalk’s steps down to the hangar floor. Heavy steps stepped over the mutilated corpse of a Skritter as he tried to step as quietly as he could. Luckily the plant was a deaf as a soldier with tinnitus next to a lawnmower.

Unluckily for them the stairs were in quite a bad state. The plant had obviously fallen down them, smashing some of the steps into more of a ramp. The handrail was also horribly askew, ripped from its anchoring and impaled into the metal floor. Nex frowned in his suit and gestured for the other two to come.

The alien figured it would have to be utterly quiet from here on out, just to be safe. Which hopefully meant not tripping as well, given the damaged route ahead.

“Got it,” Kale said to Romulus, moving as quietly as she could. Luckily for her, she was the lightest out of the bunch. Her steps barely made a sound as she moved down the stairs. The stairs gave her little trouble. Her years of hiking has given her a good sense of balance and a good intuition on where to place her feet. Like a billy goat, she hopped from stable step to stable step, moving down the stairs before the rest of the team got down.

Down on the floor, she got a good look of the plant monster. Its size practically tripled since the last encounter. All the energy from the corpses has allowed it to grow to a more monstrous size. Luckily, the plant monster hadn’t noticed her. A bead of sweat went down her head, her breath speeding up, as the nervousness set in. She knew she had the power to control it, but whether she would or not was up in the air. She was tired from before, only rested up for a few minutes. And it was much bigger than before. “You need to do this, you have to this,” She said to herself, taking a deep breath and preparing to wrestle this thing with her magic.

Romulus looked down at the plant monster along with Kale, not being as surprise that it had gotten even bigger, seeing as how it had proven itself a busy sort of beast. The dead pirates impaled on roots around them were proof of that. When he saw that Kale was already down there though, he quickly looked to Nex.

“She’s already down there, and that thing will notice her in no time! Cover my back, I’ll tell her to go to the far side, I’ll go rush towards that airlock, there’s no time to waste!” He whispered, or rather hushly shouted at Nex about what they had to do now. When it looked like that Nex got the memo, he jumped down and rushed towards the airlock that was visible. Trying to go as fast as possible to avoid whatever the plant beast had to throw at him.

“Kale to the far side, now! I’m going for the airlock.” He shouted at Kale as he brought his glowing blade to defend himself.

As Nex thundered his way down the stairs, and Romy jumped down, luckily the flooring was made to hold space ships, the beast burst into motion. Creaking vines, squelching bodies, the sound of plant matter against metal, rather disturbing sounds in general, heading right for Romulus.

Nex tore one of the slats of the stairs out of the wall and hurled it like a spear towards the plant creature, but that just seemed to slice off a few vines and embed itself in the central mass of the thing. No real damage was done. But the sound of movement and something large drew the attention of part of the creature and several vines rushed towards Kale and Nex. The lights flickered for a few moments as the creature tore itself away from the wall. It had been trying to get inside of the base itself, to seek out more things to eat.

The alien moved himself in front of her, before grunting “Kale, now’s a good time!”

Kale tensed up a bit as the plant monster barreled towards her and Nex. “MOVE!” she shouted to herself in her mind. Instincts kicked in and she sprinted off, following Romulus’s instructions. Going opposite of Romy, the beast was positioned between the two. She crossed her arms and started weaving the magic, putting all of her focus on keeping the plant monster still and not attacking Nex.

Rather luckily for them all, the plant seemed at least moderately affected. It slowed down its pursuit of the big, noisy thing that was shouting and roaring at it and seemed to be struggling to keep itself moving.

But it was still moving, its vines split between searching out Nex and Romulus. The general was getting closer to his goal though, and they would only need to distract Kale’s Monster for a short time more.

Thinking quickly, and remembering that the beast mostly concentrated on vibrations. The General sheathed his sword, and quickly ejected one of his 37mm autocannon shells, grabbing it before it fell to the floor. And then in an effort to try and distract the beast some more, he threw it behind him, aiming for a wall to hopefully make a loud enough noise with to get its attention. He obviously didn’t wait around to see the shell’s effect though, as he continued bolting for the airlock almost uninterrupted by his quick action.

The sound of a shell hitting away from the others certainly did seem to distract the beast, as it turned some vines towards that sound, seeking out whatever made it. The thing moved slowly, dragging along the ground as if weighted down by intense gravity. But some vines continued searching out for the original targets too, just less in total.

Nex grunted, trying to tear off a chunk of metal from the stairs as the beast got closer. Some sort of defense as he stomped repeatedly in front of him to draw it’s attention. Distracting seemed to work rather nicely, so far.

Kale noticed the others making distractions for the plant beast, which seemed to be working. The monster was moving towards the sounds made by Romulus and Nex slowly underneath her magic. An idea popped into her mind. Instead of keeping the monster in place she would let it move but only towards the distracting sounds and out of reach of her allies. As long as it was running around to distractions, it wasn’t attacking her or her allies.

“Nex! Keep making noise and run around!” she shouted, refocusing her magic from pinning it down to keeping it on path towards the distracting noises and its reachy vines away from Nex and Romulus.

The magic woven by Kale seemed to be working even better this time, a rush of vines, leaves, and roots smashing against the wall where the shell had been. The sickening crunch of bones could be heard from the Skritarii still in the vegetative mass, and the bulkhead wall seemed to buckle slightly under the sudden force.

Good thing that most of the plant was now nowhere near Romulus and Nex. The later continued his shouting and banging against walls, with the mass slowly realizing nothing but metal was near this part of the room. It’s vines and tendrils started snaking out again, more cautiously this time.

Romulus did finally reached the airlock in no time, and he promptly grabbed onto a latch and handle to try and open the airlock. It wouldn’t budge. Not one bit. If the alien corpses up against the door hadn’t been an indication, they had tried to escape that way only to find the door jammed.

Suddenly furious with the airlock reliably not working on him, Romulus started kicking the airlock down with massive blows from his armored feet. This time he was more lucky with his approach. While a more sensible way might have been to use his burning hot sword, a massive armored foot proved good enough. The plant had smashed the airlock itself a few times earlier (The mashed, dead bodies near it might have given that away), so the jammed door broke almost like paper.

Not as luckily for Romulus though, The sudden breach flung him out into space, along with the pieces of the door. The atmosphere inside of room was being vomited out into space, along with pretty much anything that would fit through the broken door.

Nex managed to prevent himself from going flying towards the door, mostly because he grabbed onto the broken stair pieces and held on for dear life. The alien tried to grab onto Kale as the door broke but barely missed. She was on her own to keep herself inside.

Kale, more busy with keeping the plant distracted and at bay than finding a firm tether, was swept off her feet by the atmosphere rushing out. Thinking quickly, she started weaving her magic into creating a tether to keep her from being flung out. Vines from all over the room grew in length and tied end to end to one another, forming a long rope. One end wrapped and tied itself to Kale while the other tied around the sleek and mostly intact spaceship. Kale guffawed as the whiplash from the sudden stop hit her, sending stars circling over her head.

With nothing to grab onto, the Plant monster rocketed at the broken airlock. Given it was already rushing towards the banging at the airlock like a crazed bull (albeit one without a head, body, or really any distinguishing features) to begin with, the monster started being fed through the new opening piece by piece. Its lack of protection would find the sudden, massive drop in air pressure and temperature outside the station would start both freezing and shattering pieces of it, one after another.

The monster kept trying to seek out something to feed itself though, the mindless thing it was. Its vines flailed through space like mad as more and more of it was pushed out the airlock by decompression, and it managed to latch onto something.

The General certainly wasn’t having the best of times being launched into space from his own admission, having hailed from an infinite flat world where the dimension itself had a highly noticeable flight ceiling, and hardly anything to constitute as void-like conditions. He wanted to vomit badly from the sudden effect of zero gravity, but through sheer willpower he managed to hold it back. But obviously it didn’t prove to help much in his new predicament, as he was now helpless as he was being only held by his tether.

And to make matters worse, the monster grabbed him by the leg and started pulling, another vine grabbing onto the other leg soon after. More and more vines started rushing to, and latching onto, one of the only things it could reach in the cold vacuum it found itself in. Its roots felt the barren soil of the moon below and started digging itself in as well, finding for the first time something that it felt right to burrow into.

In an uncoordinated response, he wildly aimed his wrist mounted autocannon at it, and started firing away in an attempt to free himself. With the creature’s size though, it wasn’t hard for even a blind drunk to hit. In quick bursts, a lot his shots managed to hit the plant beast. And added that with wild kicking on the vines.

The creature was massively slowing down by now, the cold vacuum of the moon’s lack-of-atmosphere leading to the moisture boiling away rapidly, both freezing and drying out the plant creature. It’s grip, if anything, was actually tightening around Romulus’s legs. The slugs firing propelled Romulus backwards though, breaking the vines away and leaving him drifting until his tether pulled tight. Leaving the general about fifty meters from the outpost.

From the distance the general had stopped, he could see the plant creature rapidly wilting and shriveling up. Its movement virtually ceased by that point. Bits of the plant, chunks of corpses, and metal from the station floated in a rather massive trajectory over the moon’s surface, littering it with debris. More than evidence enough to pronounce it dead and mission successful.

Back inside of the hanger, the pressure finally equalized. Much of the corpses of the rat aliens had been flung out, leaving the hangar actually rather tidy. Nex ended up falling back against the floor, slowly breathing out a sigh of relief as he let go of the stairs. “Kale, you okay?” He asked, voice crackling over her suit’s radio, along with Romulus’s “General, what about you? Still alive out there?”

“Yeah..” Romulus groaned, still not even close to being used to the zero gravity effecting his body. “It’s dead, I’ll pulled myself back now.” He reached for his tether, and started the slow process of pulling himself back to the station.

“Yeah… ugh…” a dizzied Kale replied, her head still hurting from the whiplash. The vines wrapped and tied tightly to her body, saving her from being spaced but also making it sore. She used a bit of magic to loosen the tight vines on her, tugging them off with ease and letting them drop to the ground. She got up slowly and moved over to Nex, holding her head on the way. “You fine Nex?” She said to the otter bear.

“Just great. Rather dangerous creature, wasn’t it?” He grunted as he pulled himself back up to his feet. He glanced outside just in time to see a small fleet of spaceships warping into the system, far above the moon. The designs were very similar to the shuttle next to them, so it would be a fair assumption to say they were huvidu-zaan ships. Romulus would get an even better view of them, seeing them almost pop into existence above him as they dropped out of FTL practically above him, give or take a few hundred kilometers.

The big alien grunted again, trudging across the hangar to help Romulus pull back inside. “Well that’s lovely. Local fleet came fast. Come help get the General back into the station, Kale?”

Kale moved up to Nex and joined him in helping Romulus back in. Luckily for her, the big tank-man was in space and had no weight whatsoever so her pulling actually helped. She assisted Nex in pulling Romulus’s tether so the big machine man wasn’t floundering in space.

As Romulus was being pulled back with the combined effort of all three of them, he took a long look at the ships that suddenly appeared in the distance. He didn’t quite get their design aesthetic though, seeing it as being more style over pure utilitarian function. He has been much more used to the simple shapes and styles of typical Imperium crafts as well, as their designs didn’t offend the eyes, and were simply coated in reflective paint and given the appropriate marks of Wilhelm to be adorned with.

“Okay, Romulus, try to get yourself upright before you pass the airlock’s threshold. The gravity kicks in there, and we don’t want you smashing face first into the floor.” Nex tugged on the tether, bringing Romulus closer and over the freeze-dried plant carpet covering the area under the airlock. “Should be hand holds around the airlock to help with that.”

“I got it!” He simply called over to Nex, as he positioned himself to not fall face first into the station. “Looks like your cavalry has arrived too, finally.” He remarked to Nex as he got back aboard the station by grabbing onto the holds to get him through.

“Yup. We called them to keep a more direct presence until we know there’s no more pirates. Skritarii tend to fly in swarms, but we might have gotten lucky. They’ll also be here to help fix things up.” Once the General seemed like he was properly oriented, Nex tugged on the tether again to help push him past the threshold.

“Now, we need to seal the emergency bulkhead to pressurize this room. Step back from the hatch, everyone.” The alien spoke calmly, as if this was rather routine for him. He turned around and glanced over at the stairs, realizing it would be much, much harder getting up than it was getting down. Nex let out a soft gruff chuckle, and sighed.

“Anyone bring a ladder?”

Kale and Romulus included thanks to their excellent players.

by **Giovenith** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 12:57 pm

Groundtown

SkyWishes didn't know what was happening to Yuna and frankly was scared out of her mind looking at it. It was unlike anything a simple fields and farms girl had ever seen. She considered running home crying and being done with this ridiculous and bizarre mission, but she knew that this was not what a good friend did. So instead the magenta teen wrapped her forelegs around her screaming friend and held on tight despite her flailing and bruising that resulted from it. "It's gonna be okay, Yuna! We're gonna protect you!"

Meanwhile, Chancellor Puddinghead continued to watch Aegis as the voice spoke with him. She was unable to hear it of course, but she knew something was happening.

I am, or I was, the sweetest pony in this place. The voice laughed despite her rapidly disintegrating state, seeming to not fear the Luxan as she crawled her way through his stomach, up his spine, and into his mind that she could better be heard. Her voice was confident and alluring in a wholesome way, as if she was looking down on an Aegis visiting her domain instead of being hopelessly consumed by him. I spread my love and my goodness and all cherished me. Because I was pious. Unfortunately, ponies were happy to accept my gifts but never my teachings, and so I remained a persecuted soul wearing a smile. You can't force ponies to see the truth. I learned the hard way that piousness cannot be taught. It is born.

It clamped down on him and an image overtook his mind.

They'd forced her to promise to keep it a secret. This left her stuck between a rock and a hard place, as to break a promise was evil but so was what they were doing. She struggled with herself for days as they planned, pacing the fields anxiously and stopping herself once, twice, three times a day from running off to tell a grown up. She just didn't know what to do. She'd spent one morning trying to distract herself from it by making daisy chains under the willow tree when Blackwood's shadow overcast her. She'd shivered and folded her ears at his blank expression but he offered no harsh words, merely sitting next to her and joining in the chain making.

"You should come with us," he said simply, nipping a stem and strining another flower through it.

Sundae Surprise immediately shook her head. "No."

He sighed deeply, letting a long moment of silence hang between them. "You know how you think lying is a crime?"

"Lying is a crime!"

"Then tell me the truth: are you happy, or do you just feel like you have to be happy?"

This question struck a chord with Sundae and she wiped her nose with the sleeve of her dress. "Miss Ginger says we can't trust ourselves to know what will make us happy, because every pony is flawed beyond repair. We have to trust the Earth..."

"And did the Earth personally tell you that?" the teen asked with acid rising in his tone. It frightened Sundae though he'd never been overtly cruel to her. "Seems like a bit of a convenient setup for Miss Ginger, that you can only trust the Earth to know what's right for your happiness and you can only trust her to know what the Earth wants. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was actually saying you can only trust her to know what will make you happy."

This wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation and Sundae had always done her best to shield her mind in a spiritual fortress for when he did, safe from all negative influence. But sometimes it just wasn't enough. Sometimes no matter how hard she thought she was trying she still felt the little niggle of doubt whenever Blackwood or the other orphans started to say bad things about Miss Ginger. Just this fact alone made her feel like a horrible traitor to her perfect foster mother and only solidified her resolve to stand up on behalf of her and help keep the other orphans in line.

"Miss Ginger has always made us happy!" the girl said, hugging her flowers close and feeling her heartrate climb in panic. "She gave us a home, and food, and warmth, and taught us about the world! Why can't you just be grateful?"

"Sundae, just because somepony gives you nice things doesn't mean that you have to obey them or let them treat you in bad ways at other times," Blackwood said sympathetically. "A husband may bring his wife flowers after he strikes her, but that does not mean his actions are excused."

"Miss Ginger has never struck any of us!"

"Not all abuse is physical," the teen said. "Not all of it is obvious or done in a mean spirit. Do you think it's healthy that you are always so scared because of what she says? You say she keeps us safe, and yet I'll bet that you've never felt more in danger before than you have living here."

Sundae bit her lip and shifted her eyes toward the sky. The sky was blue and whispy clouds hung overhead, it was beautiful, and she knew it was beautiful, but anytime she saw clouds she couldn't help but remember all Miss Ginger had said about the pegasi and their desire to murder innocent fillies like her. It was a shame the sky could never just be beautiful. Nor the stars, which belonged to the unicorns. The dome above that encased the Earth was a constant reminder to her of violence and death.

She squeezed tears back. "But the world is dangerous! You should be scared! It's the truth!" Not very good at holding back sadness, she immediately pressed her cloak to her eyes and steadily wet it. "It was dangerous before I came here, you're wrong! My Mommy and Daddy got eaten up by the ground. That's scary!"

Blackwood sighed and shook his head, setting his daisy chain aside. "Sundae, of course the world is a scary place. Nopony is ever going to deny that. Bad things happen to good ponies for no reason. I can't tell you why it's that way, but I know there is a right and wrong way to deal with it."

Sundae slowly pulled her eyes from her cloak and she felt a tentative but comforting rub of her back. Glancing at the older pony's face, it seemed as if he didn't enjoy talking about this any more than she enjoyed listening to it. He seemed sorry. But he continued anyway.

"There is true sickness out there," he said. "And there are those who will tell you you have a sickness so they can offer a cure. Just because there is real sickness doesn't mean ponies can't fake sickness in themselves or others. You've never seen a pegasi hurt an Earth pony?"

"No."

"Nor a unicorn?"

"No... but that doesn't mean they won't!"

"Maybe not, but until they do, don't you think you're wasting your time?"

"So we should wait until something terrible has already happened?!"

Blackwood raised an eye. "Old Mr. Jelly from down the street could stab you at any time if he wanted, are you going to be scared of him forever too?"

It felt like Blackwood was speaking absolute nonsense to Sundae. "But Mr. Jelly is an Earth pony, he wouldn't do that!"

"Why not?"

"He just wouldn't!"

"But he could, couldn't he?"

"I-I guess, but..." Sundae's brain finally clicked into place the logic the elder orphan was trying to convey. It struggled to reconcile this new breakthrough with it's more cherished outlooks. "But it's different!" she sputtered, almost without thought and just grasping at straws.

Blackwood thrust his forelegs in the air. "It's really not! Sundae, Miss Ginger makes little ponies scared for stupid reasons because she knows only little ponies would believe them. She does it because she needs ponies to need her. And that's terrible." He was sick of trying to ease in this fact and laid down the cold hard truth.

"I do need her!" Sundae protested, beginning to hyperventilate slightly.

"For what?" Blackwood pushed. "If you can see that her reasons don't make sense, what's keeping you here?"

She felt backed into a corner and victimized. She just wanted to be left alone. "I don't know!" she cried, squeaking in frustration as she did. "I just- I just don't want to think about this!"

Blackwood refrained from sighing as he watched her begin to cry. He had done all he reasonably could, he couldn't force her into anything. He merely reached out a hoof and ruffled her mane a little. "We're going to leave tomorrow morning. You can come after us any time." He then stood up and made his way back to the cottage.

Sundae peaked at his retreating backside through her hooves then looked down at the daisies scattered on the grass and back up at the rolling blue sky. She sighed.

"He was ungrateful, he lead the good astray, but I forgave him," the voice told Aegis. "Look."

The scene shifted to a group of adolescent ponies facing off against a prim-looking mare holding a handkerchief to her snout. Sundae was with the adolescents, huddled close to one of the older fillies for support. She looked on with distress as the mare wept.

"Why are you doing this to me?" Miss Ginger sniffed. "I did everything for you!"

"We're not doing anything to you," Blackwood, at the lead, told her bluntly. "We're not children anymore. You don't have a right to keep us here anymore."

Miss Ginger gave the teen the most uncharacteristic glare Sundae had ever seen before turning and smiling to the filly herself. "Sundae, Sundae baby you look scared. How about I make you some breakfast?" she asked as if it wasn't even being suggested that Sundae was leaving.

"Don't listen to her, Sundae!" Blackwood hissed, turning back toward the girl. "She's just trying to make you feel guilty, and you don't have to!"

"Sundae, you were always such a well behaved girl," Miss Ginger cooed, ignoring Blackwood. "I'm not mad at you, I know you would never do something like this."

Sundae whimpered, looking back and forth between the two uncertainly.

"Leaving isn't wrong," Blackwood urged. "You're not doing anything bad by it!"

"If the outside world was any place for little foals, why would they bring you to me?" Miss Ginger countered in a sweet and calm voice, acting as if it were common sense.

"You're not a little foal anymore," said Blackwood. "And they don't know how she treats you."

"I treat you like a little daisy," the foster mare said. "Warm in the sun and always protected."

"She treats you like a pet, always trained and afraid of doing the wrong thing."

"Sundae..."

"Sundae!"

Sundae was near tears at this point. The older filly next to her put a foreleg supportively around her and confronted the two arguing. "That's enough, we don't need to put up with this Blackwood. Let's just get out of here." Sundae was more comforted by this prospect and silently nodded.

The teenage boy sighed and nodded. "You're right. Let's go."

Miss Ginger's smile dropped and her eyes widened. "No!" The teens shuffled past her. "NO! Sundae, Sundae please, come back!"

The filly did her best to ignore the mare's cries and focus on the road ahead. The other orphans - not really orphans anymore, she supposed - had promised to take care of her. It would be okay. She would be safe. Miss Ginger would be okay. Everything was going to be okay. They were half way across the front law.

"Sundae, stop!" Miss Ginger stood in the doorway, now screaming.

Keep going, keep going...

"Sundae!"

Just keep going...

"I'm not going to live like this!" the mare screamed, finally drawing the attention of the other ponies.

They turned to look back at the cottage and held a twisted look of rage that looked so wrong set upon the demure face that had raised them. Miss Ginger stomped down the steps of her doorway and the adolescents stepped back, afraid she might start chasing after them, but instead Miss Ginger turned and went galloping to the far side of one of her many gardens. They froze in confusion as she knelt down and ripped up something from the very back of the bed, and their eyes widened as she uprooted a plant with sharp green leafs and black berries.

This se
nt the teens into a frenzy. They immediately began to shout at her to put the plant down, stop being crazy, put the damn thing down. Several took a few gallops over but stopped when they realized they wouldn't be able to catch up to her in time and that charging her might put her over the edge. All they could do was continue to shout her out of it. It's not what Sundae did though. Realizing what was happening, she broke loose from the group and went sprinting towards Miss Ginger.

"No! NO!" she cried, ignoring the others calling her name. "Don't!"

Despite how fast she ran, all she could get was a moment of eye contact and a parting word: "You know what to do," said Miss Ginger, before the poison berries slipped past her lips.

The vision ended.

And she did! the voice, Miss Ginger's voice, enthused. It will take a while, but consuming copious amounts of that explosive powder will leave you dead by the next night. She's already sent it on its way to the witches, the birds will fall soon after, and finally there will be peace in this land!

The voice laughed, and laughed, and laughed, the laugh growing in higher pitch before it disappeared as Miss Ginger's essence dissolved forever.

Chancellor Puddinghead approached Aegis and shoved something into him - the golden discus. "Cookie said you needed this. I'm sure you need it a lot more than we do anymore," the leader said. "Now tell me what you heard."

The discus flashed with gold light.

Young pegasi

"How are we going to get out of here?" Willow asked, ears pinned and wings shivering. The caverns were only slightly warmer than the outdoors, and something about his current state of emotional defeat was making it harder to tolerate the chill. He was terrified at the thought of becoming as ice statue like the leaders in the story.

"We live near mountains ourselves Willow, did you really think they'd leave out a training seminar on out to survive being lost in a cave?" Cloud Duster chided comfortingly. He turned his head and surveyed the large 'room' they'd found themselves in. Yes, this would do nicely. "I'll get us out of this mess."

The future pony wasn't in a position to argue. He just wanted to get out, he didn't mind leaving that in the hooves of somepony more adept to these situations. That was what soldiers were for, right? Not that he was happy about it. Willow used his sleeve to futilely try to wipe frozen tears from his eyelashes and felt shame in it. No matter how hard he tried to be strong for others, to not be selfish or sorrowed, those buttons had still dwelled within him ready to be pushed. Even when his country and species was at stake he couldn't help but be reduced to a morose self-mourner.

"This place is too big to find Smart Cookie," he said with a shuddering sigh, closing his eyes. "I don't know what I was thinking coming down here. Things aren't supposed to go like this. I don't know what to do anymore to make things right."

"The best out of many bad options," Cloud Duster's voice was suddenly closer, and Willow opened his eyes startingly at how the Private now stood directly in front of him. He tensed awkwardly as the young soldier gently lifted his chin with his hooves. "Do not feel so alone. We all want so much to be good. Good intentions fuel necessity, but sometimes only when paired with bad actions. You have served all you have to offer here."

Willow cringed awkwardly but didn't feel like he had the audacity to shake the other stallion off. The proximity forced him to fully notice something that had always tugged at the edge of his attention during this adventure: Duster's eyes never seemed to change. Oh sure, they widened, narrowed, his pupils grew and shrink, the rest of the face holding them in place moved like any other. But they never radiated. Not in that subtle, nigh-indescribable way that was the bread and butter to much interpersonal connection, they never lit up with enthusiasm or dulled in disappointment. They only ever stayed fixed, concentrated, and glassy in varying degrees.

"Right," Willow forced a smile. "I remember what you said, don't worry."

"Good." Cloud Duster gave a glassy smile back.

Believe it or not, Cloud Duster genuinely liked Willow. The artist was a novelty in his world. He was dumb, but dumb like a baby, so washed out and pure he just didn't know any better. Yes he'd constructed a cynic's mask to hide that, but it was so cheap, held by a tattered thread and constantly needing to be hurriedly shoved back into place. No matter what the grey pony had looked upon these days there remained an innocent glaze over his eyes, as if didn't click, as if he genuinely thought this could all be fixed with just enough insistence and effort. It wouldn't surprise Duster if the artist saw death as little more than a long sleep.

Willow finally tried to back up and reestablish his personal bubble but the grip on his face tightened and dug into his jaw bone. Duster's expression didn't waver. "U-Uh, Duster..."

Much like love and hate, preservation and destruction were closely entwined in the soul. We felt it when gazing upon the fragile glass figurine, the pristinely presented meal, the resting flock of birds in the field. Perhaps it was our nature as twisted and flawed beings to know that such perfection was not meant for this world. No matter how lovely or special it was there was still that itch there, an itch for tragedy in the classical sense, to see impossible greatness fall. Crush the figurine, devour the meal, scare the birds. Sacrifice the innocent.

"Look, we really need to get go-" said Willow.

Duster lurched forward without warning and bit Willow's ear, hard. The painter screamed at the unexpected pain and tried to punch the other pony off of him, but Duster twisted his forelegs down to his side, picked him up, and threw him across the cavern. The wind was knocked from Willow as his back hit the ground hard and pebbles dug into and cut his wings painfully. Struggling to collect his breath, he frantically reached a hoof to his ear, feeling that it was luckily still intact but bleeding profusely.

Willow scrambled to his hooves. "You- Wh-" the words were cut off by shocked hyperventilation.

He was allowed no more time to question what was happening before another punch sent him slamming against the rocky wall. Willow had never been punched before, not truly punched at full unrestrained force, not even by his worst bullies. It was a disempowering feeling that left him confused and panicked. It made his senses scream out for the instant assistance his safe upbringing had always guaranteed, No, stop! Somepony stop this! This isn't allowed! He might have literally screamed just that if he wasn't immediately pinned to the cave well and had several more powerful punches repeatedly delivered to his stomach. He felt suffocated, near-vomit, and terrified with each blow, and was grateful to finally be allowed to crumble onto the floor and curl around himself once they were through.

Cloud Duster wasn't through. He crushed a hoof down on Willow's wing and forced it to spread open flat against the ground, flicked out his gauntlet blade, and swiped it cleanly across the feathers, severing the primaries and effectively clipping it. Realizing what was happening, Willow tried to overcome the debilitating pain and scramble away but was put down again by a kick to the head, unable to do anything as Duster stomped and clipped his other wing. Without flight, Willow was effectively at the Cyniscan's mercy, as he was now not only stronger but much faster and able to swoop the artist from any angle. Willow would never be able to outrun him even if he was in any condition to be trying. Seeing no other options, he fought back the only way he could, with words.

"Why are you doing this?!" the artist finally found his voice again, though his throat immediately felt sore from the shrillness his terror lent it. "Sweet fucking Celestia, Rache was fucking right about you!"

"Shh," Duster hushed, unfazed by the screaming. He quickly pressed down on Willow's throat with his free hoof, knowing from experience just how to keep him down without allowing him to die or pass out. He ignored the painter's futile clawing at his foreleg and slowly waved the gauntlet knife in thought.

He'd never cut up a pony before, but after dissecting one or two rabbits and squirrels, he figured he could expect pretty much the same thing from any warm-blooded living thing. The act had never served a sadistic thrill to him, he was a biologist at heart and had merely become curious one day after peeling up some dandelions, watching the sticky white sap ooze from their plucked greens and realizing, 'Hey, animals. Don't know what's inside them. Let's try that.' But he would have to be very creative with Willow. He had to play into the gossip and fears of the idiots in the cloud city, take every despicable thing they thought the unicorns capable of and bring it to life.

"D-Duster! Cloud Duster!" Willow coughed. "Listen, listen to me! Whatever we di- did- we're sorry, okay?!" He croaked as Duster's hoof pressed down more but managed to roll away enough to get enough air for speech. "Li-Listen! Just listen! Everything is going to turn out fine! We're so close, this winter will be over, everything, your life will be back to normal, things will be better! Let me go, I won't tell anypony and I promise you you'll enjoy-"

"You're a terrible bargainer, Willow." Duster regained his grip on his throat and silenced him.

He could rip his organs out and put them in a pentagram design. Cliche, yes, but it would probably do the trick for the most paranoid and warhungry among them, others would need a little more shove. Soldiers could be arrogant, many of them loved to think anypony lower than their rank was incapable of understanding reality as they did, convinced that all naivety and false expectation had been punched out of them and they could walk about freely as enlightened gurus on this oh-so-harsh world; this was precisely what made them so easy to trick. A brain constantly preoccupied with patting itself on the back about what a good job it was doing not being a pussy wasn't inclined to admit to itself that its latest thirst for justice and/or vengeance was based on little more than a well-placed remark or rumor from a faceless Private shining your shield. Sure there were exceptions, Commander Hurricane himself specifically warned against this weakness constantly though to little effect where it mattered, and if he understood that there was a 99.9% chance Lt. Star Catcher and Lt. Aurora Mist had taught it to him. But the Commander was gone and likely dead and there was only so much a handful of regent ponies could do when the riled and desperate citizenry no longer heeded their wisdom.

Then there was Rache. Such a shame, he had such high hopes with Rache. Seeing him take down that full grown ghouling single-handedly, well, Cloud Duster had decided right there and then to take out his little companion, aim the inevitable fury at Caer Gloriana, what pegasus wouldn't want to rally with him after that display and such tragic news following it? To be honest, Cloud Duster wasn't sure that even with Rache on their side the pegasi would ever be able to take out the unicorns, but he didn't really care. If they actually managed to win and killed whatever sordid magicians were causing this winter, sweet! If not, well, who didn't want to die in style? Isn't that what all warriors wanted? Mutually assured destruction seemed infinitely preferable to slowly starving in a freezing hut. Just as he'd decided up there in the mountains: if the world was falling apart, it was going to fall apart because he allowed it to. Unfortunately, it didn't seem that Rache was very on board with anything Cloud Duster had to suggest, but no matter, he could make do with the rest of the city. They'd be just angry enough about the ceremonial torture and murder of some poor untrained, uneducated, charity case of a pegasus to let it be the straw that broke the pony's back.

Thistle Whistle would have never approved.

"She can't stop me now," Duster said aloud, raising the knife.

"Yes I can!!"

Pansy came barreling furiously through the air and slammed full force into Cloud Duster. He was instantly winded and went flying through the cavern air before slamming into the adjacent wall like a bug on a windshield. His gauntlet clattered out of his reach and the force of his impact caused several medium-sized rocks to dislodge themselves from the cave ceiling and temporarily pin him beneath their weight. He yelled in disgust and fury as he struggled to push them off of him. Pansy was at Willow's side in an instant.

"Willow!" she gasped, taking in his bruised and slightly bloodied state in horror. "Oh four winds, your wings! Oh I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should have been with you! I didn't know, I didn't know what he did!"

Willow coughed and clung to Pansy as he helped himself back to his hooves. "H-He tried-"

"I know, I saw!"

"We need to get out of here!" the young stallion grew frantic, now trying to shove her toward a nearby tunnel. "Hurry, go! Before he gets up!"

"Willow, you'll never be able to keep up!" Pansy exclaimed. "And I won't be able to carry you and fly fast enough!"

Cloud Duster pushed off the top boulder sealing him in the rubble and began to work on wriggling himself free from the rocky hole.

"Pansy, please, I need to protect you!" Willow begged.

Here, Pansy's eyes hardened and narrowed. She jabbed Willow in the chest with her hoof. "I'm not the one who needs protection here!"

The painful wince the jab elicited told Willow she was right. He was in no condition to be fighting for anypony. But he could afford to die, she couldn't. He had no choice, he had to tell her the truth. "Pansy, Pansy you're-"

"I am a Private of Cynisca!" Pansy interrupted him, pointing to herself. "I was taken from my home at age seven and brought up to defend others! Everything he was put through I was too!" She pointed at the struggling Cloud Duster, who stopped his struggling to level the iciest look Willow had ever seen at them. "You were not! You need to go now, I'll take him on so you can escape."

"No!" Willow near-screeched in frustration. "I can't let you do this! I can't burdening others because I'm weak! I can't-"

The painter's heartbroken tirade was interrupted by a tight hug from Pansy. She held him there and he marveled at her warmth. She let him go and held his face.

"Willow, there's nothing wrong with needing protection sometimes," she stated, sympathetically. "Weakness is when we refuse to do things that we can because we're too selfish or afraid. It is not when you give it your all and still need a helping hoof to get the job done. There is nothing weak about relying on others where you falter. There is nothing weak about friendship."

Willow stared at her, eyes flicking slightly here and there as he took in her face. Her presence. Her existence. At that moment, she ceased to be the meek companion he'd traveled with the past two days. The mare standing here was the one he had watched on stage for twenty-two years, the divergent pegasus who was the first of the three subordinates to defy all she had been taught and say four revolutionary words: "I don't hate you." That was what so many ponies forgot, that it was Private Pansy who initiated the bond that would be the beginning of everything ponies stood for, the first to reject hatred and refuse to let those evil bastard winter spirits use her anymore. She had reached out the hoof that Clover the Clever and Smart Cookie took. It was from her heart that an empire of magic and love ultimately sprang. She wasn't weak. She wasn't a comedic coward. She was likely the strongest pony who'd ever lived.

Once again, tears ran down Willow's cheeks, but this time they were tears of happiness. He was standing here as a living childhood legend looked him the eye and told him he could do it. Winter had scratched his soul, but he smiled as the glow from the herald of spring healed it all and left him renewed.

He nodded, and lifted his head to look her in the eye once again with typical Willow spunk. "Come find me as soon as you kick his ass."

Pansy smiled back and gave a salute. "You bet!"

"Kick my ass?" said the voice to their far right, and they turned to see Cloud Duster fully emerge from the rock pile. "A corny speech does not an asskicker make. Allow me to give you a dose of reality."

Pansy turned back to Willow and urged him toward the tunnel. "Go!" He nodded, turned tail, and sprinted at fast as his legs could carry him into the darkness. Private Pansy turned back to Private Cloud Duster with a scowl, and he just stood there atop his rock pile making cold eye contact with her as she marched forward. "Well?"

"I wasn't going to hurt you, Pansy," he said in the most monotone voice she'd ever heard him use. "I didn't see a need to. But believe me, I can hurt you like you've never been hurt before. I'm giving you one chance to get the hell out of my way so that doesn't have to happen."

Pansy narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth fiercely. "Never."

Only Cloud Duster's eye twitched. "As you wish."

And they simultaneously exploded through the air toward each other, static rolling off their manes.

by **Giovenith** » Fri Jan 06, 2017 1:53 pm

Brit

"How fucking astute of you," Not-Willow growled. "Figure that out all on your own?" He dissolved into shadows and rematerialized closer to her as Giovenith. "Or did you, perhaps, need a few hints from Clover?" She dissolved again and reappeared some feet away as Clover. "Not that it matters much. What is a pony or a person anyway?"

Shadowy smoke began to leak from the cracks in the cave walls.

"A collection of memories and feelings piloting a meat robot," Not-Clover said, levitating and shrugging. "If you can't differentiate between reality and a perfect recreation of the sensation, what do you even care? How do you even know now that your life is more than a dream, more than a false story played as a game by a mind far beyond?"

The cave began to feel steadily more claustrophobic.

"Save us a speech about how we don't understand you," Not-Clover shifted into a Not-Chrys. "Every memory and desire of yours is already ours. Ladies are nowhere near as complicated as they like to pretend they are. Nothing about this quest so far, nothing about your life, has ever serviced you." The creature turned and smiled. "Call me a cheap imitation if you want, but I think you know damn well that the real things never have a chance of giving you what you want. But I do. Isn't that what you want? Someone to understand you? Who will ever understand you more than we understand you now?"

Unicorns + Rache

"What is the meaning of this?!" Arrow demanded.

Clover ignored the others and quickly figured out that this was one of the other interdimensional travelers. There was no time for curiosity though. "Yes, the creatures swapped Brit for this one, now they have her and the Princess. If they can do this, then it will be pointless chasing them, they'll just switch them from tunnel to tunnel no matter how much we track them. We have to get to the source of their power, destroy that, so that they will be in one place and one piece for us to save them."

She brought up her hologram again.

"We're very close, and we'll have to fight with everything we've got," she said. "Now let's go."

The magician took the lead galloping down the tunnel.

by **Monfrox** » Sat Jan 07, 2017 11:35 am

Brit didn't let the appearances faze her, or at least tried not to, but she was tired. Sick and tired of the same bullshit for the same reasons. It got to her. She felt herself shaking from trying to stem her rage, but it showed. The proverbial beast was pounding at at it's cage door, demanding to be released after so many years of being locked up.

"Like you give a God damn what I want. Like you even genuinely care about me. You think you understand me just be looking at what I want and what I've been through? You don't even try. You just sit and go 'Oh look at her! Isn't she funny, thinking she has free will in our domain! She doesn't know she's just like puddy in our hands!' My God did not create my self and breathe life into my wretched soul for the express purpose of coming here and being your little fucking toy to play around with when your bored, pretending to me like you just want me to be happy, until you toss me away and leave me to rot when I cease to be entertaining! Fuck you, you ugly, repulsive, manipulative, self-centered, high and mighty, hoity toity little freaks! You think your so smart because you can see into other people's minds when it takes more than that to truly understand someone! You get the fuck out of my head!"

She suddenly had a little spark of a thought. She knew that what she was seeing wasn't actually happening. Or, well, that's what she hoped was going on. If this right now was just an illusion, then could she take it over? Or over take it? She would love nothing more than to give them a taste of their own medicine. She remembered how her mind looked that time she ventured into it. That old burnt out visage of Khe Sanh was an appropriate allegory for her mind's constant fight. She tried to visualize that, if only to try. If this didn't work, well, there was still the slingshot. It wasn't like she had those special powers, but she was also a unicorn. he felt the chance for this to work was slim, but she'd try if only to find out.

by **Primordial Luxa** » Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:46 pm

Groundtown

“It’s Sundae!” Aegis blurted out as the visions dissipated. His eyes were shut as he tried to focus on the jumble of sense impacts which were assailing him. The sight of Sundae and Miss Ginger was tinged with the emotional death kneels of his feast. He wondered just how long those corpses must have been stewing to produce such a strong link to the past and the plane of souls.

“She’s done something. She poisoned the other tribes I think. Using the fireworks.” Aegis groaned as he tried to process all of it. The raw emotions felt by Miss Gingers spirit were overwhelming. He smiled though as he began to understand

“She’s sent something poisoned to the other tribes. Food? She filled it with the explosive powder I think. She plans to wipe them out. The trap already got sent to the unicorns, the Pegasi are next.”

“That all I got. I have no idea about the cold or the Windigos. But Sundae has a plan.”

by **Tiltjuice** » Sat Jan 07, 2017 8:39 pm

Chrys shook her head to and fro, stunned a bit by the unexpected mental contact. Her mind was awhirl now, with possibilities darting everywhere. The Umbrum had said she could be a counterpart for the Queen - and now this Windigo wanted Clover - but Clover thought the source of the Umbrum's power was the key to saving Brit and the Princess...? But Clover had to be kept safe.....?

She sat down momentarily, only to jump back up with a flash of panic as Clover dashed into the lead. Focus, Chrys! she snapped at herself, and promptly ignored her own command to wonder if Hans had picked that up. Hans...how had he done that anyway?

"No. No. First things first. Clover, then the Umbrum's power source and Brit. And the Princess. And then the Windigo?" she wondered out loud to herself.

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

Last Chance Collab Part One

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