X-DREAMERS [IC - BASE]

[TehUltimateMage]

Sorey -- Gateway

 

Sorey screamed.

 

It wasn't a scream of terror, or of anger -- he screamed because he was startled when he lost his footing, and continued screaming because he was falling for a little longer than he anticipated, tumbling down a ledge while exploring the north bank of Falkewin Hillside.

 

Adventuring did have its dangers. It wasn't the first time he had miscalculated like this, and he could imagine Mikleo taunting him about getting a little too excited about monoliths hosting writings in an ancient tongue, or abandoned chests scattered around dungeons. That was what best friends did, right? Witnessing your silly screwups and never letting you ever forget them. That was the disadvantage of having your best friend live part-time in your head -- it was hard for Sorey to hide anything from him, byproducts of clumsiness included.

 

"AAAAAAAHHH--- oof!" The young man landed face-down onto a patch of yellow and white flowers.

 

"Wow." Edna commented on the humor of the situation, her voice deadpan as ever. "Nice landing, star athlete. Perfect form. I give it a 10 out of 10 in the faceplant category."

 

"Thank you for your concern," he muttered into the ground, equally deadpan. The ledge he tripped over wasn't even that high, and other than maybe some bruising, Sorey was sure he was alright. Breathing in the flowers' perfume and the scent of fresh grass around him to get himself ready for the effort, Sorey pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position. He slowly looked around -- neither the ledge nor Alisha were anywhere to be seen, the time of day had changed, and instead he found himself in a circle of towering monoliths arranged around some kind of stone dais.

 

Immediately his curiosity was piqued and, forgetting the ache in his ribs, he bounced to his feet to take a look at the smooth rock formations, avidly running his hand over one to see if there were any inscriptions on the surface of the stone. "Looks like some ruins found us. Usually it's the other way around!"
 

"Sorey, I'm more worried about how it's like we're suddenly in a seraph's domain." In his mind's eye, he could picture Mikleo put a hand to his chin as he spoke, deep in thought. "Something doesn't add up, though. The sky's changed, but I don't sense any blessings."

 

The Shepherd tempered his excitement. "Right. We should take a look around, since I can't really tell how we got here." He shook his head from side to side. "Think we got hit by a teleportation spell by accident? Lailah, does any of this look familiar?"

 

"No, not really..." the fire spirit answered. Unlike the others, she had traveled to many places across the world and yet, this meadow looked wholly foreign.

 

There was another girl in the circle, he noted, as well as a stuffed toy sitting in a corner and -- his hand reached instinctively for the hilt of his sword -- a spider-like creature walking on two little stick-like legs.

 

"Wait!" Lailah's voice rang in his head, causing him to freeze what he was doing. "I sense no malevolence from that creature, nor from anywhere else nearby. We should be safe for the moment."

 

"That's one heck of a weird spider hellion, though,"  Mikleo commented. "Do you think it would have been human at some point?"

 

"I don't know," Sorey answered out loud. "If it was, we could probably purify it. We should try to find out more about this place first, and see if we can get back to Marlind before Alisha assumes I died."

 

"Excuse me," he said to no one in particular, though he eyed the little doll-like creature. Cautiously approaching the young dark-haired girl with the glasses, he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and smiled nervously, a little embarrassed to have been caught so off guard. "Excuse me," he repeated to her, "any idea where we are?"

 

"Careful tiger, don't scare her away by doing anything weird, like the thing you do when you yell at yourself," Edna added, trying to keep back a snort of amusement.

Edited April 4, 2018 by TehUltimateMage

[Mikasa361]

~Tara~

 

Tara gasped and turned around, frightened by the voice that came from behind. "Oh, phew, you're not a serial killer. U-um... I have no idea where we are. I just got here too." Her bright blue eyes were wide with worry and slight shookethness, and showed her emotions as if through a looking glass as she spoke. She was only twelve, being this far away from home and nowhere near anyone familiar, Tara was extremely worried about her own safety and security. She had Sakuyamon, but what if they were defeated anyway? Being alone sucked. But at least this newcomer wasn't hostile to her. "I'm going to the castle up there." Tara gestured to the tall castle in the distance. "Care to come with?"

 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Mikasa361

[ValidEmotions]

 

Circuitraider | Are we still bonding?

 

Not so much ‘upfront’ as more… transparent, the Autobot thought to herself. She had caught the intense glowing of Typheus’ eye, taking note of it as a significant form of body language.

 

"I kind of miss that... I'm not sure what's true anymore."

 

Could she say anything in response? Circuitraider didn’t know. She wasn’t like Ratchet, wisened by age and war, nor like Optimus who was a natural-born leader. She remained silent on the matter instead. Typheus seemed receptive to the rest of her words anyways.

 

Quiet though they both were, the silver machine seemed to startle at her question about family. She turned her head, shifting her gaze downward and watching his flustered state. Not organic but still so… She didn’t finish the thought, letting it be interrupted by Typheus’ reply. Not family, then. Coworkers, allies, friends in the least.

 

Looking back the way they had come, the Autobot nodded once in acknowledgement. “Returning is an acceptable option,” she started, blue optics drifting back towards the silver mech. “But you came this way for a reason. Have you found the answers you were searching for?” she questioned him.

 

Typheus stared out in the distance, as if it had whatever answer he needed. Finally, he gave a shake of his head, looking peeved.

"Not really. I suppose it doesn't matter though," he said. He looked up at Circuit for a moment, but didn't have much else to say, instead turning and making his way back to the castle, unknowingly putting a hand to his head in exasperated thought.

 

She followed him with her gaze as he started the return trip to Yusei’s garage. (She assumed it belonged to Yusei but there had been more than one station set up so it possibly belonged to several XDRS agents.) Typheus almost sounded like someone she had known, a self-sacrificing attitude. Is that concern…? After a moment longer, Circuitraider began walking, the castle stretching towards the star-filled sky.

 

She couldn’t recognize any of the constellations, couldn’t recognize any one of the stars that glimmered above her head. It unnerved her, somewhat, to be so disoriented and lost. You’re in your head too much.

 

I think, this time, it’s justified…

 

They aren’t Decepticons. No one here is. There’s no battle, no war. It’s just you.

 

Just me…

 

“Welcome back.” Yusei’s voice drifted on the air, calling for her attention. Circuitraider blinked and focused on the man as he set his dark glasses aside. “Your timing is good. I’ve just finished repairing Fiddlesticks’ damages.” The blowtorch was laid on the ground, cable disconnected. “I am, however, a little concerned about the wiring. We didn’t have any that matched so if something isn’t working right, let me know. I’ll let the other agents know to keep an eye out for cabling and wires that could fit better.”

[skwerl56767]

   XDRS Garage - Thinking Aloud

 

   Fiddlesticks waited, a bit impatient, yet making note of how her mending wasn't much different from a half-asleep Maintenance model. Obviously another mech would be more efficient with the repair work, but she had yet to feel a twinge or a surge anywhere, and as the pressure in her hull layers normalized she could tell it wasn't identical, but perfectly usable. So Yusei meant what he said about his engineering skills.
   She heard some flapping when the fluffy red bird left the garage, and watched her leave. She couldn't blame her; it was very dull, laying on the ground and listening to the roaring of the blowtorch, although in a way it was also soothing. Maybe it was that, combined with the heat, that made her more complacent about being still.

 

   At the thought of being still, Fiddlesticks twitched, then quickly stopped herself from twitching more. Distractions, she needed distractions... She began simulating things in her head, falling back on a tactic Typheus taught her, mentally playing a song and envisioning a pool of color mimicking the notes' transitions. It was still interesting to know that the calculations naturally followed the oscillation scripts that humans made. She absent-mindedly hummed a couple of a notes, before a thought occurred to her: Yusei said he was from a city. That meant he had access to a lot of information. Did he know about what she and the others did, or was he from a completely different place? She had never heard of a dual runner before, but humans called all sorts of things "monsters", even each other.
   "What city are you from?" Fiddlesticks asked the engineer out of curiosity. "I know about New York, and Man-Hat-Tan, and some place called Moss-Cow.... Apparently Toke-Yoe is fun too." Gee, I still can't pronounce them right, her thoughts muttered, annoyed about how punctual her accent was. "One time, I saw 'Feenix' out in the distance... when we were going through arids.... arids.... ARIZona..." Come on, auto-translate, work! "...but we didn't go into it. It would be too dangerous, even though you don't make cities like we do." She paused. Yusei still hadn't responded, but she didn't care much. Thinking aloud was enough to keep her from fidgeting.

 

   "Our cities are a lot smaller and taller than yours," she continued, "We put big walls around them, and 'floating points' that raise up the energy walls. Like big shields. They stream out a neutron dilution and electrify it to make the air act like a solid wall... like Duke's wall. You don't have those. Your cities are really big... and you count the rural sector as part of them. I don't know how you keep track of everything.
   "And what’s the dual runner? It looks like a motorcycle. I haven't seen one before, but I've only been in Arizona and someplace way up above it. They have some cool off-road vehicles, but they don't talk or anything." She stopped to recollect the time she and Typheus crossed a road, expecting it to be some kind of marker, caravan route, or pedestrian pathway, and she was too slow to avoid an oncoming semi. "Your vehicles crush really easily," she mumbled. "They look cool, but they don't last." It suddenly dawned on her, "That's why you're an engineer! So you can fix the runner when it breaks! Cuts your costs in half. Then you can buy DOOM and Quake, and more Celldweller, and Carpenter Brut, and Amaranthe, and Blue Stahli, and..." Wait, did Yusei even listen to that stuff? "...Er, games, and music," she finished awkwardly. She paused to let Yusei reposition her arm to finish his welding, and looked at the umber turret. Why is it her healers always covered the scratches too? They're too efficient.
   "I'm not being obnoxious, am I?" Fiddlesticks asked, faltering in realization that Yusei hadn’t said a word. "Typheus says I needed to talk more. He thinks I'm too quiet."

 

   “No, you're not,” he assured her, his gaze lifting from his work. The same faint smile crossed his face like before. His gaze dropped again and, after a bit longer, he finally said: “There. That should do.”

 

   She shifted excitedly at the mention of repairs finally being done, lifting her head when the engineer stood up to unplug the blowtorch. She double-checked his claim, running a quick diagnostic check.
   Yup! Pressure was normalized, circuitry was fine, and even though she could tell her hull wasn't the same she didn't feel like anything was amiss. She paid special attention to the turret Typheus had speared, a little worried about Yusei's ability to replicate the finer parts, but as she tested each part things still seemed to be working, if a little sketchy from the different materials. The ultimate test would be to fire it and see how it does.
   ...Not in here.

 

   "Welcome back," Yusei suddenly spoke to someone. Fiddlesticks looked out the garage and noticed Typheus and Circuitraider returning, their movement quieted by the soft grass. She kept her eye fixed on the former as he approached, Yusei going on the explain concern over her new wiring. She rose up to greet him, although mostly in scrutiny to make sure he wasn't trying to hide anything.
   ...Typheus's expression was too distant. There was no telling if he was beating himself up over something, or simply thinking and observing.
   "I'm fine," she habitually told him anyway, “See?” He just blinked, coming back to reality, but still not responding. She brought out a retrieval arm and tapped his eye lens playfully. "Boop!"
   "Thank you," Typheus said to Yusei, turning away from her. Fiddlesticks hummed quietly in dismay, uncertain about what was on her partner's mind. Was it something she did? "If you still have the time, could you take us to the mission launch?" He glanced at Circuitraider, and Fiddlesticks's gaze followed, curious to see if she would come along, but maybe she would rather stay behind and relax.

 

   ((IC Approved))

[hikarinomemori]

[ A king in all senses. - Illidan ]

 

"...you look surprised to meet someone who's ten-thousand years old. I'll admit... it's strange to hear of someone so shocked at that." Illidan finally located his Warglaives (damn his blindness), but left them where they were for the moment; he would pick them up as soon as he was ready to leave the room.

 

...which might be soon, if the man's words rang true. "...a tour? Mmrph... I suppose I should learn my way around. And if by 'welcoming party', you mean Pascal, then yeah, I've met her, but I don't know where she is now. There were two others with me, but one went back outside and the other decided to explore the floor below us."

 

He then heard an introduction of sorts... A name? At least he had something to call him other than Majesty - because damn, he resembled a king in every sense of the word. "Xander, hmm...? Nice name. I'm Illidan."

Edited April 5, 2018 by hikarinomemori

[TehUltimateMage]

"Castle?" Sorey echoed. He swiveled around on his heels, the tails of his mantle fluttering at the sudden movement, and peered into the distance. She was right: he could see the tips of some construction in the distance. "I think it'll be good to look around here first to see if we miss anything."

 

Nope. Not staying for the ruins at all, no sir-ee. Maybe one of the other, nonhumanoids in the circle would have more information for him. He approached the friendlier looking one, and he winced -- he could hear Lailah's excited yelling in his ears.

 

"Oh my gosh, it's so cute!"

"Looks kind of like a Normin. On four legs. With tiny eyes."

"Ugh, girls and their reactions to anything that looks even remotely small, fuzzy, or soft."

"You're cute too, Mikleo, but in the little brother kind of way, not the tiny rabbit kind of way."

"But Mikleo's small, alright."

"Hey! I'm taller than you!"

 

"I think it's pretty cute," Sorey added to the discussion that continued on without him. "That's cute, right?" he asked the young girl he was speaking to, pointing a finger straight at Masala, the living plush. He then squat down to take a better look at it, introducing himself to the pokemon in the process. "Hi, I'm Sorey!"

Edited April 5, 2018 by TehUltimateMage

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Philip (Making his way downtown to the castle)

 

He was glad to be wearing the things that made everything darker. Excited to see actual plant life again (more importantly colour), Philip was scared at the same time that it may wither away at a slight from him. Instead, he leaned down and observed the plants, careful to hold his breath when he did. He was getting to distracted however that he frowned and gave a slight growl of disapproval at himself.

 

Going back to the task at hand to find Xander, Philip was walking again. Well, he wouldn't really call it walking, it was more like a power jog due to the Entity twisting up his body to its liking. He paused at the castle door, hesitating on how he should do this. Should he knock politely? Or should he barge in and make himself at home? Maybe no one would notice if he just barged right in?

 

Philip could feel his heart hammer in his chest as he lifted his hand onto the doorknob, wishing now more than ever he could close his eyes. Opening the door slightly, Philip quickly slipped in before closing the door behind him. If he could whistle, he most certainly would have at the beautiful state of the mansion. Instead, he let out a half choked snarl. This place was huge! Now how was he supposed to find Xander in this place!? Stepping further into the mansion, Philip hugged his bell more out of comfort than anything.

 

~~~~

 

Masala (Gateway party!)

 

Masala looked up and over as she heard a conversation. Two new humans that appeared seemed to be talking about the mansion. She sighed, slowly getting up into a sitting position to tilt her head to see the castle better. It seems that she was going to have to drag herself to the castle, no one else was going to pick her up and carry her to it obviously.

 

She froze, slowly turning her attention back to the humans upon hearing the word 'cute’. She saw one of the humans pointing at her and calling ‘it’ cute. She inhaled sharply. “DON’T CALL ME CUTE!” she screamed in the human’s face, her face scrunching up as she yelled. Unbeknownst to her, it was just tacking up to her adorableness factor and before she could stop herself, she swung her front paws at him.

 

Her eyes were still closed as she swung wildly and felt one of her paws catching him in the face. When Masala opened her eyes to glare around at the remaining humans, she noticed the man - Sorey - was now sprawled out on the ground. Feeling her legs buckle underneath her, Masala sighed. “Can one of you humans carry me to the castle? I'm afraid I just wasted the remaining energy I had left.”

[ValidEmotions]

Sora | I'll Bring It Back...

 

Lowering his hands once more, he studied the stone as Evonna showed it to him. She could control magic? That was good to know. He wondered if she fought with a weapon too, or if she was just a magic user like Donald was. "I've got magic too," he informed. Holding his hand out before him, fingers spread and palm facing forward, a flash of light sparked. 

 

It always seemed like the Keyblade appeared with some sort of chime to his ears, as if light had a musical sound. It was, however, always so brief that he wondered if he even truly heard it at all or if it was merely... part of a dream. "It's called a Keyblade," he explained to Evonna, trusting that Hush was aware of the weapon. "It lets me use different kinds of magic like fire, ice, and lightning."

 

Staring at it, a frown slowly crept across his face before his eyes began to widen. At the same moment, Hush moved and a dark portal spilled across the floor like murky ink, wisps of shadow swirling as if alive. The Dusk disappeared, leaving Sora to wonder if he'd scared the Nobody away. The boy left the Keyblade to float as he started speaking again. "My blade's changed..." he stated, fear bubbling up in his chest as he brought his hands together. "H-How? I didn't - !"

 

Pulling his hands apart, more light flashed between his palms, fading to reveal four keychains. They hovered in a circle, rotating slowly so he could see them all clearly. He stared at them, his face scrunching. He should have eight! Where were the other four? Did he - 

 

Relief flooded his nerves as he spotted the pink-colored charm, its five points mimicking a star. Kairi's Wayfinder, her lucky charm... He still had it. "It's still here..." he breathed, reaching out to grab it and pull it closer. The other three chains vanished the same way they appeared.

 

Movement dragged his attention away from Kairi's charm and back to his present situation. Hush had returned, a piece of paper in his hands. 

 

Home?

 

Sora stared at the drawing, studying the lighthouse for a few moments. Bringing Kairi's charm to the crown-shaped chain at the end of his blade, he watched as the former replaced the latter in a spark of magic. Instantly, the blade was reshaped and Oathkeeper hovered before him. I promise...

 

"That's your home?" Sora asked, turning his focus onto Hush as Oathkeeper dissipated from sight. "Did you draw that?"

[TehUltimateMage]

~ A little earlier...~

 

"Can you hear me?" Pascal spoke, her communicator floating by her head and glowing a blush pink. Her eyes scanned the information of the terminal one more time to make sure everything ended up alright.

 

" L͠ou͞d,̡ b͝ut ҉no̧t͏ cle͝ar̶," came Stan's answer. His voice was peppered with static, but she could hear him!

 

"Perfect!" she exclaimed, eyes shining with excitement. She clapped her hands together once, satisfied that her trial was successful. "I didn't think cross dimensional communication would even work so try to contact me from time to time to test it out, alright?"

 

" ̷̕Pa͝s̷c̢͠a͟͟l̷?̴ ̧͢P̡͢͝a̵s͢cal̀,̡͟͞ ̧͞wè̵̴'͘͢r͠e̴̶̡̛҉ ̸̵͢l̢͞҉͝ǫ̴̴̸̛s̶̛i̢̛͏͞҉ņ̵g̶ -҉̢͘͞-̛͘͡-̴͘-̨̡͝͠͡-͘͜͞͏̧ .̡̕͟͢͡ "

 

"Huh? Didya need anything else from me, Stan? Stan?"

 

The glow of her communicator grew faint as the connection was severed. Pascal guessed that she celebrated a little too soon. It didn't ruin her mood, though: now it was confirmed that it was possible to make phone calls between universes. She just needed to go back and continue testing things, metaphorically throwing things at the wall until something began to stick.

 

She sat for a little longer in front of the holographic screen, bored but eager to hear back from the mission group. The Gateway was the best place for a signal, after all.

 

After barely half a minute, Pascal had enough of sitting still and waiting. She closed the terminal screen, got up and did a full body stretch, welcomed any more lingering newcomers, and headed back to the castle.

 

There was much to do.

~~~

 

 

Pascal -- First floor corridors > Storage Rooms >  Dining Hall

 

"Twilight~!" Pascal shouted through the castle, as if calling the horse's name would make her suddenly appear before her. With her cardboard box tucked under her arm, the Amarcian took the time to peek into every communal room she passed and even some that were supposedly private) in search of the organization's leader. Sure, she could ask the Lumas, but then the Lumas would have to go around searching for Twilight and she didn't want to trouble them with this task.

 

With communicators, she could just say "Call Twilight" and instantly be in touch with the princess. She'd still want to visit her in person, of course, but it would enable her to rattle off her reports before she forgot about them. This report was less of a report and more of a request: after sending Stan's group off, Pascal figured that they might as well take this time to get some supplies for the newcomers to help them settle in and get comfortable with world-hopping.

 

In one of the dark rooms she checked, Pascal thought she saw some movement within. "Twilight?" she called out again, this time softer and uncertain. There were certainly a lot of rooms in the castle still left unoccupied, or otherwise heaped with junk, and even with her low-light vision she couldn't really discern what it was.

 

More movement. Like a skittering. She paused in the doorway to observe it, letting the light from the hallway create a patch in the room. It seemed like it moved too fast to be a pony. Pascal lifted her lips in a confused pout. Could it be possible that there have been other beings that warped here, but not through the gateway? Was there something growing in the castle? Did Duke accidentally release a colony of large, carnivorous hamsters?

 

Feeling the side of the wall, she flicked on a light. Instantly, a giant purple shape darted over and behind the storage boxes and then carefully peeked out from between them, six eyes glinting.

 

Pascal's eyes swept the room and noticed the changes in light where spider silk reflected on itself. Giant cobwebs adorned each corner and connected the sealed crates, and she didn't doubt that the places she couldn't see from the doorway were even denser with webbing.

She slowly reached for her staff and loosened it from its harness. Holding it in front of her like a club, she kept her eyes on the monster.

 

Then, equally slowly, she backed out out of the room, clicked the light off and gently shut the door. She stuck a hand in her pocket, taking out a piece of red chalk, and scrawled on the door:

 

Quote

 

giant spider within!!! open with caution!!!! -- pascal (it might be friendly since it didn't try to eat me on sight)

 

 

 

 

 

Her duty to other agents complete, she wiped the chalk dust on her trousers and continued the search.

 

~~

 

Dining Hall

 

"Twilight, I found you!" Pascal exclaimed when she poked her head into the dining room and witnessed the purple pony (and this time not secretly a purple spider) in the same room as a giant white, fluffy fox dragon, and Hibiki, from earlier. She waved to the girl with the red bows, greeting her as well. "Been a while, Hibiki!"

 

"Anyway," Pascal continued without giving time for anyone to speak -- Twilight just sheepishly sighed and nodded, letting her go on -- "Twilight do you think it's a good idea to take some of the newcomers on a little field trip? Just one to fetch some food and oh, some more supplies. The ripple caused a lot more people than we originally expected, you know?"

 

"That's an excellent idea," Twilight answered, her response somewhat strained. She seemed like she was in the middle of something, glancing briefly back at the furry dragon and flicking her ears nervously, but Pascal couldn't really tell what or why exactly.

 

"Awesome! I'll see who I can round up. Hibiki, do you want to come with?" While turning around and getting ready to dash off, Pascal suddenly remembered that she had to deliver something. She pivoted a full three-sixty, steadying herself with a hand on the table, before fishing out a cube for Twilight and placing it gently onto the table.

 

"Also the coms are ready, but only for existing agents. I still need to hand the rest of them out. Also, also, Stan's on mission right now, along with Xker, Duke, Cistina, Badu, Lara, and three newcomers."

 

"Duke..." Twilight repeated, somewhat concerned. "I'm sure they'll be alright," she said, though it was entirely to remind herself to have faith in her friends. "Thank you for your report, Pascal."

 

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by TehUltimateMage

[Mikasa361]

~Tara~

 

Tara backed away from Sorey and the very cute creature. While she agreed with him that it was adorable, she just shook her head. “I-I’d rather not comment. D-definitely not a good idea.” When Masala attacked Sorey though, Tara giggled a little bit, feeling a little less anxious. It was funny watching a guy older than her get attacked by something so cute. 

 

“I told you it wasn’t a good idea to comment…” While she was still scared, this made her feel a bit better.

[hikarinomemori]

[ A friend returns! - Hibiki ]

 

"Pascal-chan! It's good to see you, too!" It was good to see a somewhat-familiar face. Whatever she mentioned to Twilight, it sounded fun, but...

 

"I'd like to come with you, Pascal-chan, but I think I'd rather learn my way around the castle first. Maybe you can ask Illidan-san if you see him, or that girl with the space bat... oh, god, never learned her name..."

 

Who was that girl? Maybe she should have gone outside with her...

[TehUltimateMage]

Sorey -- Gateway > on the way to the castle

 

 

The adorable little plush creature yelled with scream of pure indignation, voicing its displeasure at being called cute and before he knew it, Sorey was on the receiving end of several powerful strikes to the face. Pushed off balance from his crouch, he tumbled backwards from the power and rolled twice before losing momentum and landing sprawled out on his back.

 

"Oh my gosh Sorey are you okay?"

 

He almost didn't hear Lailah through the hysterical laughter in his ears, but he could feel her presence outside of him. Once the stars in his vision cleared he could see her leaning over him a little too close for his comfort, her deep green eyes pools of concern.

 

"It's alright, I'm fine," he said, squeezing his eyes shut to banish the rest of his dizziness and waving a hand in the air to encourage the Seraph to give him some space. "I've had worse."

 

The Shepherd slowly peeled himself off from the grass, and during this time Lailah retreated back into his head in an attempt to bring some calm back into his mind.  "You can't learn from your mistakes if you don't make any," Sorey replied to Tara, trying to salvage the embarrassing situation.

 

Despite saying that, he approached Masala again at her request to be carried. Even if it sounded like she was blaming him for the fact that she was out of power. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to bring you along if we're heading the same way. Come on!"

 

He crouched down and held his arms out so that she could climb or jump into them on her own terms. When they were all ready, he began to head towards the castle but not before bidding the ruins a silent farewell. He'd be back, for sure.

 

~~

 

That spider creature he had observed earlier had already left the circle of stones during Sorey's encounter with the plush bear. However, it didn't take him very long to catch up with it. It seemed that they all had the same idea: that maybe there was civilization in that building in the distance, or at least shelter.

 

"....Hello," Sorey said, testing to see if it understood him. "Are you heading towards the castle too, spider-man?"

[Kiran]

Anders [ Near the Gateway ]

 

Keaton’s appearance was still strange, but Anders had to admit that he felt slightly more comfortable when there wasn’t a very large dog a few feet away from him. He wasn’t concerned about Keaton being dangerous anymore; it was just that he had some rather large teeth. His experiences with large teeth over the years hadn't been the best.

 

“What- no,” he said, taking a small step back from Keaton. He could have sworn that he’d said “let’s stop wasting time petting each other” and not “let’s all pet each other”, so how had Keaton managed to misinterpret his words so much?

 

It wasn’t that he was adverse to being pet or anything. In all honesty, it was quite pleasant, but only when it was someone he trusted. He had no desire to shift into a small, vulnerable form at the moment, especially because the last time he’d done so he’d been chased. “I’ll pass,” he said, eyeing Keaton warily in case the wolfskin tried to continue approaching. 

 

He raked his fingers through his already battle-disheveled hair, pulling a few more strands free from the leather tie. He was tempted to point out the flaws of entering a strange castle, but he didn’t have any other suggestions. “To the mysterious castle that we know nothing about it is, I suppose.” 
 

[ValidEmotions]

Yusei | Mission is a go.

 

Watching the brief interaction between the two mechs from the corner of his eyes, Yusei cleaned up the tools he used and put away any supplies that had not been spent during the repairs. At Typheus' question, he nodded. "Yes," he replied simply. 

 

"I'll stay," Circuitraider spoke up, seeing the questioning gazes from Typheus and Fiddlesticks.

 

"Very well," Yusei responded. Space cleaned up, he stuffed his gloved hands into his pockets and glanced at Circuitraider one more time. "You're free to rest here in the garage," he informed the machine. She nodded once. Looking briefly over at the mechs, he started walking towards the Gateway. The planet was so small, and the Castle was placed at nearly the opposite pole, that he had no trouble with traveling the distance by foot. 

 

Leaving the garage, he took the 'back way' to the Gateway as it generally made no sense to walk around the castle to the front. He was silent for much of the trip there, focusing ahead and wondering how long ago Stan's team might have left for their mission. The stone pillars eventually appeared in the distance, the Gateway gradually coming into full view. It was empty.

 

Locating the terminal propped against the stone platform that Pascal had pieced together for their missions, Yusei woke the computer system from slumber and searched for the information he wanted. Good. Everything was still set from Stan's jump. "Step onto the platform," he instructed, keeping his eyes upon the monitor. It took a little fiddling - he would have to discuss with Pascal about the user-friendliness of her contraptions - but he eventually got the settings he wanted. A countdown appeared on the screen.

 

Moving away from the terminal, he climbed onto the stone platform and checked his duel disk to ensure it was as he needed. "Stay still." On the screen, the countdown reached zero and the world shifted around him.

[Coryn02]

Creecurr, Arachnia's Brood

 

As it wandered towards the castle of the day-walkers, Creecurr was addressed by one of them, asking him if he was also moving towards the castle. It also called him a spider-man, which he found justifiable from the standpoint of their kind.

 

The ettercap turned to look at the one who'd spoken, who wore a resplendent white robe, accompanied by a small animal in its arms, and what appeared to be a juvenile with dark hair.

 

I'm not really in a position to fight, and they don't look too dangerous... I hope my Common isn't too atrocious.

 

"Yes. Do you know what realm this is?"

 

Creecurr had heard stories about the mirror planes, and didn't like the sound of either very much. Regardless of which one was being assessed, they were both very dangerous for mundane creatures such as himself.

[TehUltimateMage]

Sorey -- En route to castle

 

The monster spoke his language -- though a slightly rough version of it -- and Sorey wasn't too surprised to have discovered this even if he was half expecting the creature to respond in a series of clicks and screeches. Its waddling gait made it seem a lot more harmless than its initial appearance and, looking closer, it almost looked cute! But a different kind of cute compared to Masala.

 

"I'm not entirely sure," said Sorey, continuing to pace forth towards the castle. "I don't think we're in a Seraph's realm, but this doesn't really feel like a normal land, either. Something's definitely off, though. The sky and ground are all weird here."

 

((posting now to free everyone here up for either a timeskip to either the castle or meeting up with anders group))

 

 

[Coryn02]

Hush, Child of Void (Bit of a short one this time.)

 

Hush nodded, and then looked at his own drawing, which he had shown Sora and Evonna.

 

"Hard to remember. Drawings help."

 

After a moment, the Nobody held the paper to its chest with both hands.

 

"Your home?"

Edited April 29, 2018 by Coryn02

[Mikasa361]

~Tara~

 

Tara found herself extremely disoriented by everything that was going on around her. All of this was so new, she did not want to follow Sorey to the strange building. She shyly hugged herself and followed anyway, knowing that at least she could hide behind someone if something popped out at her. She shivered a little bit, nervous of what may come.

 

~Evonna~

 

Evonna jumped back and cursed at the odd blade-like object. A blade shaped like a key? What was this? She cursed again when Sora freaked out. Nothing scared her more than the sounds of someone losing their mind when Evonna was already startled. She peered at it when she was able to calm down just a tiny bit. It was... Kinda cool. Then Sora took out a small keychain. For a second he almost freaked out again, but then he calmed down at the sight of one specific charm. Did Evonna want to know? Sure. Would she ask? Probably no. Then the creature was talking about how it missed its home. Evonna did too. Did her family miss her as much as she missed them? Did they think she was at school?

 

Evonna looked at the odd creature and raised her eyebrow. “You… Miss your home? What do you miss about it?”

Edited April 30, 2018 by Mikasa361

[hikarinomemori]

[ Quite the gentleman, isn't he? - Illidan ]

 

It wasn't hard to notice Xander's unease at Illidan's feeling for the Warglaives; the Demon Hunter had to stifle laughter. "What's the matter, assassins got your tongue? Don't worry, I won't attack you unless you give me a reason to. It'd need to be a damn good reason, too - I'm not some mindless murderer." He picked up and sheathed the Warglaives, hoping that he'd at least reassured Xander that there was no reason to believe that he was an enemy.

 

"And... please, don't apologize for your first impression, Xander... I get those kinds of reactions a lot..."

 

~

 

"You are my brother no more..."

 

"Today, justice will be done!"

 

"You've doomed us all!"

 

"Betrayer!"

 

~

 

"...I'm sure it's not hard to see why."

 

[ Back to the castle! - Ray ]

 

Ray simply smirked at Keaton's response - someone liked to deny things, didn't he? Regardless, she just dropped the issue there, and continued on the way to the castle with her new companions.

 

And once back at the castle, Ray couldn't help but grin. Keaton might look somewhat like a Lycanroc, but his personality was like a tried-and-true Rockruff. His digust at the place being clean, however, caught her off-guard. Luckily, she had just the witty comeback for this, given his earlier statement. "Hey, look at the bright side, at least a clean castle keeps the fleas away, right?"

[Coryn02]

Creecurr, Arachnia's Brood
 

The boy spoke of a seraph, and voiced his concerns that the land and sky were strange. Creecurr followed and held up his end of a conversation.

 

"I felt that as well. This isn't my homeland; someone must have brought us here. I intended to go to that castle and find out why."

 

The ettercap pointed a clawed digit in the general direction of the building in question.

 

"Have you ever been to the Feywild?"

 

 

 

Hush, Child of Void

 

The Nobody's hands shuddered as it held the page in its hands. It looked away, and absentmindedly kicked at the floor with the tip of its toes.

 

"My family. But... Hard to remember."

 

'It's been so long now... Even if I find my heart again, what if I don't remember what home looks like by now?'

 

Hush thought about its mother, and felt like crying.

 

"Your family?" It inquired about Evonna's own life before now.

[Kiran]

Anders [ to the castle at last ]

 

Anders let out a huff, almost offended. Fleas were a common ailment in Darktown; the filthy, overcrowded conditions and poor hygiene made them impossible to permanently eradicate, no matter how many times he prescribed deathroot creams or cleansed his clinic. Even now, the mention of fleas brought an itch to his scalp. “I don’t have fleas,” he said, reaching up to scratch the back of his head. 

 

He didn’t share Keaton’s enthusiasm for the size of the castle. It was far larger than anything in Darktown, but it was small compared to the Viscount’s Keep. At least Keaton didn’t seem upset anymore. He still wasn’t interested in any petting, but he hadn’t been able to help but feel a little bad about how hurt Keaton had looked. 

 

“...You’re upset about it being clean?” He took a surreptitious sniff, and failed to notice anything out of the ordinary. The room wasn’t even that clean; the floor was partially covered with dust in places. “Did you expect mushroom-covered corpses and shattered wine bottles?” As he spoke, he looked around the room. There was no sign of another person in the hall, and the wide, echoing space made him uneasy, as though they were trespassing and about to be attacked for it. 
 

[skwerl56767]

   XDRS - Gateway

   Typheus wordlessly followed Yusei, assuming he was now leading them to the Gateway. Even though he could find it on his own, the engineer would probably appreciate it if he was obedient and could be carefully watched, especially with Fiddlesticks hopping ahead of him every few steps in a vain attempt to keep from running off. Despite her physical anxiety, her mind was churning with concern about the first impression the other... X-Dreamers, they're called, would make on Xinschi-uual. They were no strangers to technology, but anything that couldn't be explained? New species wandering around with no ties to a spaceship? Never mind how high the tension was wound on the planet; the mere presence of the agents would unsettle everyone, and she knew that she needed to mull over how to properly introduce the two groups.
   Introductions. Not her strong suit. Maybe she should just stand back and let Typheus bother with it. At least he understood psychology.
   Yet, the mentioned mech knew just as much as her, just in different areas and with more speed. He wasn't concerned about how the Xinschi-uual - assuming the mission even went to Zirhon - were going to act. He was worried about cleaning up the aftermath, which he would certainly have to do because Fiddlesticks would just add to the chaos. That's her job.
 

   When the three arrived at the Gateway it was vacant. Typheus quietly stood by one of the gate stones as Yusei continued to the center, and finally turned his attention to Fiddlesticks. She had stopped near him, her retrieval arms out and scraping the panel opening and her face. He habitually bumped her with his arm.
   "Stop doing that," he muttered. She just shot him a defiant look and grumbled in response, still scratching up her face. Typheus sighed. He didn't know how or why she developed that nervous habit, but he wished she had chosen something more normal... like when Violet hugs herself and shrinks up, or when Pixie pretends to not know what's going on. That doesn't leave deep gouges in your face and scrape off paint. This was almost like she was psyching herself up by making her damage indicators go haywire, which he knew were already broken in the first place.
   "Step onto the platform," Yusei said, referring to the stone in the middle of the circle. Glad at a chance to interrupt the Pusher model's fidgeting, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her up onto it. She just obliged, letting out another growl. While Yusei kept interfacing with the monitor, he tried to distract his companion, first grabbing her retrieval arms and then making her look at him.
 

   "Whatever you do," he warned right away, "do NOT get caught up in the fight again. We can't explain how we managed to travel to Earth and back in under a year to the Empire. It will blow our cover."
   Fiddlesticks just stared at him for a moment, finally falling still.
   "What about the rebels?" she asked.
   "We can let select groups know, but not Carace or Sanctuary."
   "Why not?"
   "Do you want to get their hopes up when we don't even have the crystal?"
   Her blast shield flickered in annoyance. "I guess not..."
   Typheus just nodded in response and let go of her, only to nod again when Yusei joined them and instructed to stay still. He still believed that Fiddlesticks was jumping the gun, thinking this mission took place on Zirhon, but just in case he was wrong he had to make it clear to her that they weren't visiting just to wreck the place and leave, even if they spawn right in Gryn's throne room... though if that happened, he had more to worry about than keeping the inexperienced Pusher on a metaphorical leash.
 

   The scenery around the platform began to spin, the colors changing and blurring together. There was an odd sensation of being both there and not there at the same time. Fiddestick's voice came out in static beside him, "Typheus, can a-?"
   ...Typheus blinked, or at least, he thought he did. "Can a what?" he said, his own voice having an unnatural distortion to it. The world shifted further, the blending colors now separating out into distinct hues, the eerie silence becoming punctuated by faint, echoing tones.
   "Fiddlesticks?"

Edited May 18, 2018 by skwerl56767
Grammar.

[ValidEmotions]

Sora | Restful Shopping

 

The conversation about homes continued, starting to move towards Evonna. Shifting his weight backwards onto his heels, Sora listened to the quiet voices of the other two, his gaze drifting down the hallway. At the end, something moved into sight and he straightened up. "Huh?" he breathed, watching it. It drew closer, the indistinct shape becoming more detailed. 

 

One of those weird little stars. He didn't recall what they were but they seemed rather harmless. This one, a blue fellow, was definitely approaching the trio talking in the hallways. When it was close enough, its face seemed to brighten up as its mouth parted to say, "Pascal says: 'Hey new recruits! We're doing some off-world exploring and shopping! Meet at the Gate in a bit, okay? Hope to see you there!'"

 

As it spoke, the star seemed to gesture with its body, its voice tilting into a higher pitch. Was it... trying to mimic the white- and pink-haired girl? Sora smirked, a snicker threatening to spill out as he watched the innocent antics of the messenger. Finished with its message, the star twirled and hurried away. 

 

Humming to himself, Sora glanced at the other two after a few moments. "Well, I guess I'll go. Until then, I don't know about you guys but I'm beat. I'm gonna rest up before this shopping trip starts up. Maybe I'll just relax at the Gateway," he stated.

[TehUltimateMage]

Sorey -- Walking from the Gateway > Front Hall

 

"Fey... wild?" Sorey echoed, repeating the word to try and tease out its meaning. Some humans did call the Seraphim by other names such as fairy or fae, so in a technical sense the feywilds could be another name for the seraphs' domain. "I've been there, kind of, yeah," he replied to the friendly monster. "I grew up there. It's pretty nice! Food's abundant even though you have to hunt it for yourself, and I couldn't ask for better company from the people who live there."

 

~

 

While they were talking, their steps had eventually brought the group to the foot of a small castle with grand doors left slightly open. Shifting Masala so that he could hold her in one arm, Sorey freed his other hand to push the doors open enough for both Tara and the spider monster enter, before stepping in himself.

The castle was not nearly as lavish as the royal palace of Ladylake, but he couldn't help but crane his neck to take in his surroundings from the shimmering titles on the floor to the simple painted walls and the shiny lighting fixtures meant to resemble candles and candle holders. It was modest, and not quite homey yet, as if it had been stripped bare and left unoccupied for a good while. But even if the story of the building's finishes told him it was left more or less unused, he could see that the lights were on and that there were already three figures standing in front of the grand staircases that led up to the rooms above. One had the body of a person but the ears and tail of a dog, one looked like a fairly normal human, and the third was a girl that looked about Tara's age (and seemed to have similar styled modern clothing). There was also a very tall man near a corner who looked like he was made of sticks and shadows underneath his cloak -- looking very hellion-like -- although, be couldn't sense any malevolence. It seemed like the area and its people were safe.

 

"Look at their postures," Mikleo's voice caressed his ear. "They don't look like they're native to here, either."

 

When he said that, Sorey reflected on the spider's words from earlier, about being brought here for a reason. Mikleo was right -- so far, everyone they had seen or met had an air of being lost or disoriented.

 

"This place looks pretty cool!" he spoke up to break the silence and draw attention to himself, enjoying how his voice echoed off the walls.

[Moonlight_Eevee]

Masala

 

After the man had picked her up, she had dozed off, her energy level was really low and not to mention she was hungry. She was slightly drooling and woke up with a start when the man's voice bounced off the walls of something. "Huh!? I'm awake!" she exclaimed, her voice bouncing of the walls. She wiped the drool off her muzzle with her paw wrinkling her snout I'm disgust. "You can put me down now." 

 

Philip

 

Philip had stood off to the side, not knowing what to do and he blended into the shadows. Or so he thought. He was glad for that ability but most days the Entity tortured him if he tried to do that. He did notice the little red panda was being held by someone else but he was glad she had made it in. She didn't look like she was about awake for much longer outside.

 

Ruby

 

"Maybe later, for now, I'm off to explore!" Ruby said excitedly. She wanted to learn as many human things as possible! She left the area and took flight outside the giant structure, trying to find a good place to enter it from.