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X-DREAMERS [IC - BASE]

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Name: Lara Croft

 

[Players-- Stan, Scarlet, Cistina, Kazooie, Theo, Duke]

[Support-- Laverne Lamar, Dynarst, Slimes, Kelsier, Cicero]

[Status— Mildly annoyed]

 

~~He has no sense of object permanence, does he?~~

 

Theo had gone too far. Of course he did. He started throwing a tantrum, adding to Lara’s already budding headache. She needed a good drink of water and some ibuprofen when they all got to base. Lara felt her braid starting to come loose, and when she looked behind her she noticed the hair tie was gone. Ah well, she thought. It didn’t matter, the thing probably got snagged on a hook or something. Going back to Duke, when Lara turned around she noticed he was on the ground, confused and hurt. She never really knew Duke that well. One could say that they were acquaintances, but that was it. She had a lot of respect for him though, as she did with all the veteran agents. Duke really wasn’t a bad guy. He didn’t deserve to get decked in the face. Theo, however, was losing her respect pretty quickly. Lara walked over, calculating her approach as she did so. It would be stupid to blow up at him, it wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t like she and Duke were as close as she and Stan were. Damn she needed more friends. She sighed and spoke.


Oi, what the hell was that for? Was that really necessary?” Lara furrowed her brow, noting that Theo was almost like a child that lost its toy. He didn’t appear to have a sense of object permanence, it wasn’t like Arch had disappeared from the other world. “It’s alright Theo. He’s going to be back, he just needs to use the cube Badu gave him. That’s all.” Her tone was stronger than it was last time she tried to confront him. Part of her knew that, with what she could gather from Arch, he was a very protective person. He wouldn’t like it much if Lara was killed, would he? After seeing how protective he was over Cam.... Maybe that was how he felt about children. But Arch seemed.... kind. They were very different, these two. She shifted her weight to her good ankle, the one that didn’t just collapse on her. Hopefully he didn’t see that.... right?

 

Edited by Mikasa361

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Yusei-Header.jpg

[ Ready Player -- Yusei Fudo ; Typheus ; Fiddlestickes ; -- ]

Support -- ;

Status ; Disoriented -- Assessment ; Injury

Deck ; Standby }

 

Regroup -- Take Stock ; Return Home

 

- and snap them open when his hold on Fiddlesticks slipped. Yusei didn't have a chance to even inhale when his body hit the ground. His leg collapsed beneath him, poorly positioned in its landing as his boot scuffed up vibrant grass and healthy soil. His hip and then the back of his shoulders and head connected with the ground next, signals of fire ricochetting through his nerves. The palm-sized transport device bounced free from his hand, clattering along the ground before coming to rest.

 

He lost track of a few seconds, a handful of heartbeats. Groaning, with a scrape of clothing against dirt, Yusei attempted to roll over, taking longer than he would like to find his hands and then his feet. He couldn't get to all fours and had to settle for something in between a prone and propped position. Hearing didn't return first this time. Instead, it was sight, blotted out by a giant slab of stone. He realized in that moment that his head was angled slightly, one of the stone pillars rising a few feet away and guarding the platform behind it. Well, better to land outside of the gateway than to tumble headfirst into one of the stones. 

 

Finally, noise drifted into his ears, a cacophony of voices filled with ones he recognized after several moments and ones he didn't. It took a moment longer, still, for Yusei to register the noise as yelling. But with the stone pillar occupying his field of vision, the man couldn't hope to begin understanding the given situation. A second ticks by and the man nearly entertains the idea of resting his head upon the ground and passing out. 

 

Instead, he hisses through the flair of pain as he shifts his body once more, turning his head and sweeping his gaze in search of the mechs.

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Cistina ~ Gateway ~ Suddenly, people

After she addressed Kelsier, as if Asmodeus himself had spoke, she heard the tail end of a statement of Stan's, followed by more voices. She turned--it appeared as if there was another two new arrivals on top of the returning missiongoers. Cistina gave Stan a glance-over as waved, then turned to talk with the pink woman and smiled as she realized that he appeared unharmed, unlike his status after his recon mission into the ashen world. Though, it was a little eyebrow-raising to see a dirty gray youth sprawled in front of him, feeling at the grass with bulging eyes. I had not been aware that we were back in the business of conscripting locals into the organization. Though, I may not be able to judge considering my own actions。She turned back to the man in the rusty coat, and the words she was thinking of  disappeared when she saw him mobbed by the colorful amorphous blobs. It was more than a little amusing, admittedly, but despite their inclination towards him, it was likely that getting a horde of them unwittingly sicced on him and then not receiving any assistance from the woman in front of him was rude, not to mention detrimental if she wished to take the dagger without conflict.

She looked down and swished her dress with a hand as the catlike one hopped around, mewling playfully, then eyed the group on Kelsier. Putting two fingers in her mouth, she whistled a clear note into the air--hopefully drawing their attention--and hummed an old sea shanty as she took the hand out and swirled a finger in the air, blowing a gentle breeze to tostle the folds of her dress and hoping the motion would attract the creatures.

She turned again, though still turned just right so that she would be able to react had Kelsier decided to attempt anything, to assess her other teammates, just in time to see one of the newer agents haymaker Duke.

The chant of the forbidden spell came to her mind. She didn't even have to think to take off--what was that at the base of that pillar?--landing roughly and dropping to a kneel at Duke's side as Lara reprimanded the new warrior. 

 

"Duke! Are you alright?"

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[Name:-- Cicero Croft]

[Players-- best frens]

[Support-- more frens]

[Status-- Gotta play with frens!!!]

 

Cicero ran to his mama, who sounded very angry. He licked her led, which earned him a head pat. But his mom was much too distracted. Oh man, was she distracted. Cicero wanted his mama's attention, but that wasn't happening today. So he moved on to Papa Stan, who had a very funny face while looking at his mama and the very angry looking man. Cicero sniffed his leg and whimpered but to no avail. So Cicero ran back to his mama and tried to get her attention. He stood on his back legs, front paw on her leg. She pat his head again, which made Cicero very happy. But he could sense how angry the man talking to her was, which made Cicero growl. He growled his fiercest, he was his ancestor the wolf. Cicero bounded toward him and started barking. Content and thinking he scared the man enough, he ran to the weird little things that littered the ground. They looked like frens! Heckin' good frens! Cicero spent the rest of his time chasing the slimy things and barking at them. 

 

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b66ab1c5efcb9f5adfe252bf9169f6c7.png [ theo ; -- add. c. k. d. j. s. y. f. t. d. l. t. ; for. l ]

-- status.

legios ; dormant ]

grey ; knight of loyalty

--

Theo swings around at the sudden anger in Lara's voice, eyes aflame, and the knight has half a mind to punch her too before he calms his inner turmoil. No -- his anger is justified at the blond and the blond alone, and even if he does not trust anyone else in his present company he will not go around attacking bystanders, now. Not when he still represents the Grey Republic -- 800 years after the fact, a place only alive in his mind's eye. 

 

When he speaks, his voice is low, quiet, dangerous. "It was necessary," he confirms, drawing a breath. "Someone took me from the people I value most once. I don't take kindly to having that happen again." 

 

He calms the lightning filtering between his fingers, slow cracks until they disappear in the blowing breeze completely. The wind comes with it a girl dressed in yellow that he vaguely remembers, but Theo ignores her approach and turns, ending the conversation. 

 

"He better," he says, turning his eyes to the horizon.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Shoukaku

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latest?cb=20140214083846

 

Dynarst -- Gateway to the Starry Sky

 

The woman from the other group had snagged his wrist. Fear shot through Dynarst from the contact -- his instincts let his body go limp and passive, to simply follow along with what was to come. The light surrounding them was nothing short of mystical in its origin, and the skaa felt a certain apprehension. That man had warped, but it was like he and that boy were simply wiped out of existence.

 

Part of Dynarst didn't have enough faith in his own safety to make it through to the other side of the unknown, but the process was already over. He didn't even have the chance to think about shaking free or protesting, nor did he have time to process the changes. The woman holding his hand suddenly stumbled a split second after arriving. She had let go of him, but a fraction too late. The jerk of the motion, unfortunately, tossed Dynarst to the floor. 

 

Floor? The ground seemed too organic to be flooring, but too even to be natural.

 

He just stayed there on the cold ground or whatever it was, face down and defeated, his heart thumping in his chest and resonating through his whole body. Shouts were flung above him; people spoke in voices loud, firm, and assertive. He stayed down and out of the way, as he usually chose to -- unless ordered otherwise.

 

"Leave me," he heard the Duke lament. His voice cut through all the others. "It's time for me to return to the earth. Does anyone want the man in my head?

 

Such relatable words. Dynarst felt nearly moved to tears -- how could that man still be so lighthearted? Lefevre had the power of a god behind him, but if there was anything the skaa had discovered in the last few hours, it was that the man was a human being first, and a man of great power second. 

 

His own palms burned from hitting rough stone, though it seemed only a dull ache in the distance. He had to get up. Get up and prove his trust in these people. Gathering his will for a single heave, he struggled, one limb at a time, fingers feeling at the surface of the rock and clawing at it as he dragged his hands beneath him and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

 

"Lord... ruler..." he swore.

 

He had said that he would no longer believe in that tyrant's divine right, but the habit had slipped back in through the intensity of his awe.

 

For a handful of heartbeats he forgot to breathe at all, and when he did remember, his breath caught in his throat and he began to cough, almost as if his lungs were complaining about the sudden purity of the air. The chaos and the people and the noise seemed secondary to these colors that Dynarst had only seen in his life once or twice and only in glimpses -- the plants were green and some of their leaves were strangely shaped and of such a vividness that they left dark afterimages in his vision. And the sky above... It was flecked with tiny shimmering dots --  as if someone scattered white ash on a robe of expensive blue dye. Soft, harmless foreign creatures, even brighter flecks in the already bright landscape, bounced lightly around the fields.

 

He blinked twice, eyes tightly squeezing shut each time, to confirm that he was seeing things right.

 

"This is -- this is your world? Duke --" he exclaimed, and then saw Cistina's yellow robes, "-- Duchess! Lady! You're alright!"

 

The skaa didn't want to step off the platform he was on, due to the reverence he had for the plants growing out of the soil. There were so many! Nevermind that they were all green! He had never seen so many individual tiny plants clustered like this in such density. They even smelled sweet, strange, and delicious. This land could feed a city! He couldn't even imagine how anyone could live with this much abundance. 

 

The strangeness of the surroundings even seemed to downplay the strangeness of everyone who was on the scene. There was everyone he had seen on his world, of course. But to add to those were the harmless blobs, a frighteningly tall bird, a young girl with vividly red hair, and a man, dressed a little more normal than all the others, tucking something into his cloak and jumping to his feet.


Dynarst's expression changed when he recognized the latter from his scars.

 

"That's the misting Survivor!" the former street sweeper shouted, pointing at Kelsier. That man perked up at the mention of his title. Dynarst's voice cracked from excitement; his breathing threatened to outpace his heart. It made him feel lightheaded. "Those scars! Only man to survive the pits!! He's working for you too?!"

 

Even Lamar looked up. If his new surroundings were surprising, his expression was nothing short of being completely and absolutely stunned to be in the presence of a living legend. He seemed to turn pale and fidget with his hands, as if he were witnessing a ghost. He looked at Cam to gauge her reaction, but her expression was empty -- not only had she not reacted much to the change in scenery -- apart from fearfully backing away from any of the jolly slimes that chose to pursue her, she had taken one glance at the Survivor and decided not to buy in on his myth. He was only a man, was he not?

 

Kelsier dusted his cloak -- surprisingly clean, compared to the rest of the inhabitants from his world, ignoring the patches of slime residue -- and crossed his arms, pushing the scars on his arms into full prominence. The hundreds of tiny white lines followed the curve of his forearms and crossed all over his hands and fingers, front and back. He avoided looking at them himself for too long -- it caused them to itch, and they made him think bad thoughts. "Yes. I'm the Survivor. I'm pleasantly surprised that you know me already."

 

He smiled. A genuine, friendly, beaming curl of the lips. A smile that squinted his eyes and hid the rest of his unknown emotions.

 

"Of course--" Dynarst let out. "No one bears those scars and escapes alive. But I didn't think--- forgive me--!"

 

The Survivor held out a hand to quiet the worker. "I've been lucky to find my way here. I've been asking around to see if anyone would join our cause," Kelsier explained. "Everyone seems nice enough. They all hold strange powers, that I know, and with our combined abilities we will be able to defeat the Lord Ruler and free the people."

 

"You!" Kelsier addressed Duke. Duke... The same Duke that the woman who had kidnapped him had mentioned earlier in her musings. She never stated directly what exactly Duke's philosophy was, but Kelsier knew enough to speculate. "Duke, right? Thanks for stalling the inquisitor. You're still in one piece, so I take it wasn't too much trouble?"

 

[Anchor 2: Secured]

[MISSION COMPLETE...?]

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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   OH NOOOO!

   Yusei was clearly hurt bad; Typheus regretted asking him so many questions at once. He didn't have the strength for that. He involuntarily stepped forward to stop Yusei's fall, but the unknown construct caught him first, proving to him that it was like Sonic Chick in that is was Yusei's summon. At that reminder, he wanted to ask what had happened with Elise and why Yusei was out here, but he kept his speaker dead knowing the engineer was in a lot of pain. His eye narrowed and wings shifted at the description of an Inquisitor being the cause of it.
   That's a little conflicting though... why would the Inquisitor help him and Fiddlesticks, yet attack Yusei? Did they favor machines?

   Yusei weakly held up a device splotched with red - his wound - that reminded Typheus of an Earth smartphone. Unable to properly explain what it was for, he propped himself up then mumbled some things... home? Contact? He then looked down at the metal plate on his arm and moved something on it, and just as Sonic Chick had, the blue construct pixelated and dissolved into nothing. Typheus's claws flashed over to Fiddlesticks as she let out a surprised beep and jolted back at the sight, nearly letting Yusei fall. "What the crap?!"
   "It's okay!" he quickly explained, "He summons things."
   She didn't directly respond, looking at him anxiously, then humming in response to Yusei grabbing one of her ears. Typheus looked at the gesture in puzzlement, before moving his left hand to support Yusei while keeping his right on his partner. Fiddlesticks shifted uncomfortably.
   "Why are you guys tou-"
   ...
   ..

   .

   A sudden instability! Fiddlesticks whistled in surprise and ran in place comically, trying to find firm ground and her threads panicking.

   ROLY THINGS! ROLY THINGS EVERYWHERE!
   There was an explosion of earth and sod behind her and the rolling things blew away, giving her a chance to stand properly, turrets held out for balance. She stood for a couple of seconds to shut her vents and blast shield against the debris as the thing struggled in the dirt, then moved away from it, forward into-
   Bonk! She opened her blast shield and saw she had walked into a rock. She felt searing embarrassment, and tried to bury it with an indignant huff, roughly shaking the dirt off her and the feeling with it. She started at a giggle near her feet and glared down at it.
   A... green... blob? With a glowing face...? The thing jovially bounced past her with complete disregard to what she was. She looked up, and saw another that was pink... and another.... and another.... wait, this was the Gateway...

   "Yusei?" Typheus's distinct basal tones floated out behind her, and she turned to see him standing in a hole almost as deep as him, soil scattered everywhere, his white hull smothered in dirt and bits of rock. She whistled and gave him a scan, picking up more muck than metal.
   "Did you hit the ground at high speed and I missed it?" she asked. He stared at her in worry.
   "I-I don't know. It was all dark. I lost Yusei!" He spun around, searching at his feet. "Yusei?!"
   "He used to be right here," Fiddlesticks said lamely, while also remembering that she wasn't standing before, and it didn't make sense that Typheus was in a hole. Something was off with this teleport, something different than when she was separated from the group... She looked around the Gateway, finding that they had landed just outside of it and many faces - a few she recognized, most she didn't - looking at them. There was also an unusual amount of the colorful roly things she had almost crushed on landing, jumping all over the place and laughing like it was a party. In fact, it looked like their teleport practically crashed a party. What the heck? Were they missing something?

   "Yusei!" Typheus's voice hit a harsh pitch. She whirled around and saw him on his knees, sweeping loads of dirt away. In a brief second he noticed she wasn't helping and glared up at her, prompting her to get down and help move the dirt with a sweep of her turrets. Yet two seconds later he was shouting "WAIT!!"
   "What?!" she snapped at him, pausing to shake off some stray earth that hadn't fallen off her. He ignored her and took out his retrieval arms, brushing clods of soil off of a pale shape. She stared down at it, confusion growing into concern.
   It was Yusei underneath all of the dirt. He wasn't moving.
   "Cryion's gas!" Typheus swore, "crap crap crap crap-! YUSEI!" He shook the engineer like it would somehow help. "Come on.... how do humans... I can't remember...!"
   He looked up at Fiddlesticks helplessly. This has never happened by accident before. This isn't happening.
   She just stared back.
   "...Did we just kill someone?"

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 Yusei-Header.jpg

[ Ready Player -- Yusei Fudo ; Typheus ; Fiddlesticks ; -- ]

Support -- Badu ;

Status ; Disoriented -- Assessment ; Injury

Deck ; Standby }

 

Regroup -- Take Stock ; Return Home

 

Something colorful entered the corner of his vision, prompting Yusei to turn his gaze and spot... a glob of slime with a face? With a yellow body, it rolled and bounced across the grass. Behind it, the duelist saw several more in various colors moving much the same as they exited the ring of pillars. His eyes narrowed faintly, brow furrowing. Where did these come from? 

 

Distinct voices began to cut through the Gateway, words filtering to his ears. Sucking in a hiss of breath, Yusei forced his body further, struggling to his feet even as everything spun in consequence. He needed to see who was speaking, unfamiliar as the source was. Duke was mentioned by name, more than once. What do they want from him? 

 

He managed a few steps, putting the pillar partly out of the way. Just enough to see Badu striding towards him, her dark billed mask no longer an unsettling sight after all this time. She picked up into a jog as soon as he fell back to the ground, left knee folding in surrender. Yusei barely caught himself, both hands striking the grassy field with open palms. The motion dislodged flecks of ash from his body. He watched the flakes tumble into the green blades. Strange. He nearly forgot about that.

 

A loud noise split the air, sharply drawing his attention away. Dirt assaulted him, provoking him to lift an arm up to shield his head. Something larger, more solid, than crumbs of soil slammed into his shoulder. It knocked him onto his side, a strangled gasp lurching free. He could hear Typheus, Fiddlesticks. But he was coughing too much to make an adequate response. Even as more dirt began to pelt his body and the ground surrounding. "Typheus..." Hardly even a croak.

 

How much time did he lose again?

 

Yusei came to, feeling like electricity was coursing through his flesh as something shook him rather violently. Something had a tight and uncomfortable hold of his body. For a moment, he blacked out again. Then panic found an opportunity to slip through the cracks of his weakened state. It jerked him back into a blurred state of alertness and, severe injuries be damned, he began to struggle. 

 

One arm was pinned down but his other wasn't completely immobile. His fist hit something an- "Yusei, take it easy. You're only making your injuries worse. Now let me take a look." The duelist sucked in a deep breath, blue eyes focusing as his vision cleared. Badu. When did she get here? Her gloved fingers were curled around his fist, effectively preventing the attack that it could have been. He was on his side again. Or maybe it was 'still'? 

 

His gaze drifted past the Plague Doctor, finding the two mechs that hovered over both humans. Yusei's heart thundered within his aching chest, his breathing needing more than a few moments to slow down. "Badu -" he started on an exhale, words cut short as fire flared to life at his hip.

 

"You're a right mess. What did you duel against this time?" Badu wasn't even looking at his face, hunched over his body as her fingers deftly explored his torn flesh. She peeled ripped fabric away, the dark blue of his coat darkened further with layers of blood, both dried and wet. She whistled, almost appreciatively, as she poked and prodded at the gouge in his side. 

 

His body went rigid, muscles tensing as a spasm rippled through. Grunting, it was all Yusei could do to keep from rolling away. He turned his head toward the ground, tucking his face into the crook of his arm as best he could. "All this ash... Where were you? A volca- You were in Luthadel, weren't you?" Was that shock? "Alright. Drink this and let's get you moving so this mess can get cleaned up." She tapped his shoulder, grabbing his upper arm in the next second and helping him to sit up.

 

A rounded glass container was shoved into his hands, cork stopper removed. Immediately, the scent of strong herbs ambushed his senses and his mouth ran dry in remembrance of the foul taste. This wasn't the first time. Gripping the bottle tightly, he brought the opening to his lips and quickly drank the green liquid down. For a few heartbeats, he worried over the possibility of rejecting the substance. However, he was able to consume the container's contents without much trouble. 

 

With the bottle empty, he stole a glance towards the Gateway, spying the individuals that had taken notice. A heartbeat passed and then he looked away, unable to avoid finding some relief as Badu's potion began to take effect. His muscles eased with the ebbing of pain, shoulders beginning to sag. She started to pull him to his feet, pulling his arm to lay across her shoulders as she took some of his weight. He complied with no resistance. 

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Jowan

Allies (?): Duke, Kelsier, Dynarst, etc.

Status: Injured (bandaged wound on arm, exhausted, gay)

can I take another step? I've done everything I can

 

"Sure, okay. Leave me with the children while you go have your love tryst, that's absolutely fine, not like the rest of us have significant others to get back or anything, nope." 

 

Well, that confirms that Duke has someone, right? Of course he did- it wasn’t a surprise or anything, Duke looked great and was very- Duke. It wasn’t like it mattered or anything. Jowan has no reason to care, and he was happy for him. Blood loss did weird things sometimes and he really needs to stop staring and Duke like some kind of weirdo. He looks away, trying to seem interested by Theo and Arch (which isn’t that difficult, given that one of them had been threatening him a moment ago). 

 

Bright light envelopes him and he’s transported back to the Gateway. It seems as crowded as it was the last time he’d been teleported there, but this time he recognizes most of the people present. Being aware of what’s happening (as well as not being chained up) makes for a far more pleasant arrival, and he takes a moment to breathe deeply and gaze at the scene. 

 

He doesn’t have long to relax. A fist catches the side of Duke’s face and Jowan startles, raising his hands defensively. It’s over before he can do anything or even understand why Theo had attacked Duke (and he decides that it’s probably best to stay away from Theo and the matter entirely). 

 

There’s a tall, confident blond man that Dynarst introduces as “the Survivor” that Jowan doesn’t recognize. He doesn’t learn exactly what the Survivor survived, or if he has an actual name, but he must be important because-- oh, Maker, Duke is calling the Survivor “Lord”, should he be bowing or something? 

 

He would have been fine with listening and trying to figure out what’s going on (preferably from a seated position), but Duke introduces him and he has to think up a response. His brains skids -- he’s not used to being given credit from anyone but Neria, and rolling his eyes and making a quip isn’t appropriate here. Whatever connection he thinks he feels with Duke isn’t real, and he can’t pretend otherwise. Right in front of an apparently very important man is an especially bad time. 

 

Duke isn’t bowing and neither is Dynarst, so it’s probably best to just follow their lead, right? Jowan starts to nod his head to confirm what Duke had said -- 

-- but then, Duke was also stuttering and Dynarst almost seems too shocked to think. It can’t hurt, right -- ? 

 

He ends up doing a stiff, jerky movement that leaves him in an awkward bow. His back curves, stretching his scars, and he’s glad that having his head down gives him an excuse to look at the ground. He’s safe, he knows that, but exposing his back is enough to make him tense in anticipation of the next blow. Maybe it’s Kelsier’s presence that makes a simple act so unpleasant. Authority figures and nobility have never brought anything but pain. Despite how friendly Kelsier appears and how much he talks of freeing the people, Jowan can’t help the way his chest tightens at the title “Lord”. “Lord Survivor, I only did what I could to help,” he says, his voice taking on some of the dull cadence of a servant that has learned that showing fear makes the punishments worse.  

 

He straightens himself and unclenches the fists at his sides, but is unable to look at Kelsier. Instead, he watches Duke’s reactions. Duke’s visibly nervous with awe, and practically seems to be vibrating at the chance to help Kelsier. It’s no surprise, with how prepared Duke was to charge into the Lord Ruler’s castle earlier. Jowan wants to help, really, and he doesn’t want to let his personal issues get in the way, but he doesn’t want to think about that at the moment. It’s been too long of a day to consider going back to fighting or talking to more people. He’d already agreed to follow Duke with whatever he decides to do, so he nods in agreement with his speech, but Maker, he wants to rest. 
 

Edited by Zor

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   Hard to Follow Everything

 

   Kazooie watched as the meadow contained within the ring of stones escalated in activity. One man was punched and decided to take the opportunity to lay in the grass for a while. Summer-clothes lady got after his aggressor for it. The yellow-dress lady went to the punched man. There was a confused-looking angel, and a woman in a bird mask left the group. Then the shy grungy man noticed the man who was tackled by slimes and regaining his composure. They started talking, and were speaking English, but Kazooie could barely follow the conversation. The punched man began talking about the things with them. Then the scruffy man awkwardly bowed.

   Is something happening? Is this a quest?

 

   There was a sudden explosion and sod and earth behind one of the stone pillars and she looked over in alarm, feathers puffing up. She couldn't tell what was going on over there either, but there was a lot of flailing! The bird-masked woman paused to watch the display, but didn't seem alarmed. All it did was add to the confused thoughts whirling around in Kazooie's head.

   "Yusei? Yusei?!" The voice was abruptly loud and clear, but also didn't sound quite... alive. The flailing stopped and she noticed the sudden hole that was over there, and the two giant robots standing by it... wait, robots?! Okay, so this place definitely wasn't the Isle of Hags. This wasn't the environment for robots.

   The machines were especially weird, looking both intimidating and personable. She made eye contact with the brown one, who was looking over at everyone else in confusion. The bright lights of its eye kept fluctuating in intensity, and it whirled around when the white one behind it began to panic, causing Kazooie to shuffle uncertainly, looking at all of the humans for some direction on how to react. Her black-and-white perception of reality told her that everyone had to be either a hero, a citizen, or a villain, but her intuition was practically useless here. All she knew is that everyone she had set eyes on had done at least one bad thing.

   Maybe you just need to talk to them, she told herself, Remember how much you and Banjo talked to people? It was easy to figure things out back then.

 

   She allowed her attention to list, watching the many slimes in the region disperse farther and farther out into the seemingly-infinite fields. It removed some of the clutter within the stone circle, and the commotion with the robots had died down to the both of them - plus the bird-masked woman - staring down at something, but she still prickled with apprehension.

   Everything starts with a good quest, she decided. Let's see how many quests I have standing in front of me... She frowned in thought, deducting that there were at least four different things to do. The best way to tackle them all was to look for a leader. The man covered in ash and slime residue had the confident stature for it, but something about him made Kazooie shuffle back in distrust, so she looked to the next two people: the lady in the yellow dress and mechanical-arm man. Would it be rude for her to simply walk through the discussion between ashy-man and the other men?

   The red bird puffed up her chest to resurrect her pride. Maybe, but who cares? It's not like anyone is in a hurry.

   With a casual stride, she approached the metal-armed man first, ignoring the others. He seemed distant, like all of the bewilderment going on around him happened all the time. He was taller than she was used to humans being, so she stretched up a bit higher to try and make eye contact; the most she did was get a good look at the soul patch on his chin.

   "Hey prosthetic guy! I haven't a clue what's going on or how I got here, but do you have quests?" she asked, "That's usually how I end up traveling: quests."

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    ♫ Name // Lara Croft  ♫

♫ Players // Stan, Scarlet, Cistina, Kazooie, Theo, Duke, Arch, Yusei, Typheus, Fiddlesticks, Towa ♫

♫ Support // Laverne Lamar, Dynarst, Slimes, Kelsier, Cicero, Cam, Badu ♫

♫ Status // Bored ♫

 

~~Time to go take a damn shower~~

 

Lara breathed a sigh of relief when Arch finally appeared. "See," she murmured, "we're alright. He's back. No need to kill anyone today." Lara then turned to the ruckus that was beginning to stir. She knit her eyebrows together at Duke's words- he had no qualms in returning back there? After everything that had happened, Lara was ready to take a rest. She already had an entire whiteboard of things to do in her room, and a few more things to add to that list as well. She definitely had more than enough to do, so her rest would have to be brief and effective. Hell, she still needed to:

  • Possibly report to Twilight if nobody else was
  • Get things for her dog at the bazaar since she didn't quite have the chance to yet
  • Contact Winston to see if there were any updates and interesting things going on back home
  • Get her hair trimmed
  • Take a bloody shower
  • Start working on a gym for base- or at least something better than those bloody plain fields. 
  • Talk-- and maybe even apologize-- to Stan
  • Get something to eat- she was absolutely starving
  • Gather intel at the bazaar and look for anything that could be of interest

Needless to say, Lara had no time, energy, or interest in going back to that world. She wondered what the bloody hell was going on through Duke's head that made him think it would be a good idea to go back there and cause an even bigger ruckus than the XDRS already had? Lord Survivor, her ass. She didn't have any desire to go back there and deal with the sand again, not when she wouldn't have the anchor to protect her this time. She cared for Duke as an acquaintance of hers, but she sure as all hell didn't wish to risk her own skin because Duke decided he would personally save the world by himself-- er, join whatever cause they were talking about, rather. They were all tired, they all needed a rest, and then regroup. She hoped that, as rash as Duke seemed to be, he had the sense to get some sleep and food and healing and whatever else. 

 

Bored of the situation, and not wishing to see how Cistina would react (Her assumption? It was not going to be pretty.), Lara decided she would head back to base and take that shower she had been meaning to take. Scooping up Cicero in her one arm, Lara approached Stan and nudged his good arm. "Oi, um..." Her voice was soft, almost a murmur, but she made sure that it was only Stan who could hear her. "If you get the chance later, I'd like to speak with you. Feel free to knock on my door when you have the time, I'll be taking a shower and getting some sleep." And with that, she finally took a look at the newcomer. "Ah,  my apologies for the lack of a proper introduction. Cure Scarlet, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Lara Croft, and I look forward to seeing you around base. Ah-- excuse me, I have a few things I need to take care of, namely hygiene. Hopefully I'll meet you again when I'm in a more... well... clean state, yes?" She gave Scarlet a half-smile and turned on her heel, walking off towards base with her dog in tow. Maybe there was some rice and hopefully chicken she could use to give Cicero a proper meal.

  

Edited by Mikasa361

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Stan -- Gateway

[needs a fixer-upper] - [emerged from a pile of ash] - [cool n collected]

 

"Oh, aren't you quite the gentleman?"

 

Prim and proper and not at all sarcastic! What a change from the usual. The red-haired girl spoke with an air of nobility, despite looking like a child, and Stan responded with a respectful nod. "Stan Gulliver--" he introduced himself in turn, "--space cowboy for hire."

 

He brushed his goggles with a hand. The corner of his lips lifted in a charming smirk, although the usual effectiveness of his Hollywood Hero attitude was somewhat dampened by the grime and aches he and his entourage suffered on that off-world mission. He figured that Luthadel probably shaved off a couple years of his life by tarring up his lungs. It was a little embarrassing to have his first impression be one caked in a layer of soot, but hey, at least this time no one was getting punched--

 

He had that thought just a smidgen too soon, because Theo whipped around and socked Duke right in the jaw.

 

The blond-haired agent fell, and Stan could only squint in disbelief. His mind couldn't even process what had just happened -- the whys and the whats and the whos as people went to check on the fallen agent or the new guy or the rest of the team completing the teleportation -- and Stan just put a hand to his forehead in defeat. 

 

The cries of the slimes or the small dog seeking attention weren't really helping with the general chaos. Stan shook his head to clear his thoughts, and zeroed in on the conversation between Duke and this man who all the collected Skaa seemed to revere.

 

What, was this their Jesus or something?

 

 

~~~

 

latest?cb=20141130035308 

Kelsier -- Gateway to the Starry Sky

 

Kelsier raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect for the young man to bend so easily. This blond-haired kid with the dark mark on his face had promised everything short of eternal servitude to him, and with the bruise blossoming on his cheek, the whole situation seemed almost comical. 

 

Young, eager, and naive. Duke's blind trust in others, more so than the strange magic or the presence of flowers, was really what cemented the fact that he was in a new world. Trust was hard to forge among the skaa thieving circles, and having gone through all the work building his own trusted friends, Kelsier knew better than anyone how hard and yet how rewarding it was to form lasting bonds. Still, he searched those bright blue eyes for the deceit and betrayal that nobles were so fond of using -- not that he expected nobles like those to reveal anything -- and gave a skeptical glance at the Duke's servant-man who, despite his richer looking matching clothes, behaved no different from the run down Skaa he was so used to seeing.

 

For the moment, though, Duke seemed sincere enough. He shared his goal, so Kelsier shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. 

 

"Please," he insisted with a sheepish smile, "Call me Kelsier. Drop the formalities. I'm far from what you'd call a lord."

 

Lord Survivor... The combination of words sounded nothing but pretentious. But, that was exactly what he was, wasn't it? He'd survived the Lord Ruler once. He could probably do it again.

 

Though this time, he wasn't content with merely surviving. 

 

"I like your enthusiasm," he replied to the two men, "But both of you look like you could use some rest, first. Repelling an inquisitor is no small feat, and if the... good conditions of this place are anything to judge by, it's better to do so here than risk another run-in."

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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Audrey, the Grave Robber

 

(Just this for now. I plan to come back with all three of my current characters in due time.)

 

After much time of roaming the XDRS headquarters, Audrey was fascinated by all she saw around her. Sure, the Gothic grandeur of the Ruins or the mansion upon the moor had their own appeal, but something this tidy and elaborate caught her attention. It was like no castle or ballroom she'd ever been in, with its lengthy hallways and constant attention.

 

Nevertheless, she started to get bored, and inevitably wandered back outside again. Maybe she'd be able to run into Badu again?

After exiting through the large gateway once again, she walked for a while in the permanent twilight, before spotting three people in the distance. One of them was undoubtedly Badu, who seemed to be helping an injured man along. The third was a woman with red-brown hair in simple clothes, holding a dog in her arms.


I wonder if she's what William would look like if he were a woman. Dog seems a bit young for hunting, but maybe she'd like to chat?

 

Audrey ran ahead, looking to greet this friendly new face.

 

"Evening. Or, I suppose it always is here. Might I make your acquaintance?"

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 ♫ Name // Lara Croft  ♫

♫ Players // Audrey, Yusei ♫

♫ Support // Badu ♫

♫ Status // Slightly entertained♫

 

~~The pleasure's all mine~~

 

 

"Evening. Or, I suppose it always is here. Might I make your acquaintance?"

 

Lara turned around to face a rather attractive blonde woman, her clothes appearing to be of an older time and a hat covering her eyes. There was a small mole on the right side of her face, almost similar to Marilyn Monroe... except the mark was on the opposite side. Lara didn't find herself necessarily drawn to the woman as much as she was to Stan, but... She was a looker, that was for certain. Lara gave the woman a half smile and a nod. "You might. Lara Croft. I've been around here for a little while. I suppose you're new?" Cicero wriggled in Lara's arms, and Lara chuckled as she pet the dog's little head. She looked behind the woman to see Yusei and Badu not too far behind. She slowed down so they could catch up. "Ah, Yusei looks pretty banged up. Makes me regret not bringing a medipack or two along. I mean, Badu came along so I figured we'd be alright..." Her voice suddenly dropped to a murmur. "Although I was never fond of her unorthodox methods, she did get things done, I suppose." Lara was still a bit sore about Badu injecting whatever the hell that was in her leg. Perhaps she would re-wash the wound and cover it well before her shower. After all, she didn't want her body wash entering it, it wasn't necessarily the most shallow wound she received. 

 

She nodded. "Er, anyway, back to you. What's your name? What do you do?"
 

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Stan -- Gateway

[needs a fixer-upper] - [emerged from a pile of ash] - [apparently a quest NPC now]

 

"See you later, Lara! Might end up waking you up for help on that report, but don't worry too much about that." He waved to the woman as she left, but had trouble drumming up his usual enthusiasm for a full body wave -- so he settled for one just from the elbow. He dreaded what kind of bombshell she would drop during the talk she was so eager to have, and Stan had a bad feeling that it would be related to her outburst from earlier.

 

Tsk. Women. How did they work?

 

From the corner of his eye he kept tabs on Duke, who was standing at attention as straight as a board, and the other man. Apart from newcomer Angry McLightning not being able to keep his fists in his pockets for a brief minute, it seemed that no one was actively trying to start a fight. (Frankly, no matter how efficient Arch was, Theo always seemed to find some way to undo the pair's collective goodwill.) The best course of action right now would be to treat Kelsier like any other guest and bring his plea to Twilight. Admittedly, he had an uneasy feeling about that man that he couldn't quite pinpoint -- even though he only met him three seconds ago and hadn't yet exchanged a word -- but his instincts told him to stay alert. His job ain't quite done yet.

 

"Hey prosthetic guy!" a voice interrupted his thoughts. It was... a bird? A tall bird, taller than a kid. Something that looked like the venusian ostriches with the big feet adapted to walk in sandy dunes, or something a lot more scrawny and red and a tad smaller than the chocobos he had seen in the past. The bird spoke, and Stan had the repeated realization that nothing really surprised him anymore. "I haven't a clue what's going on or how I got here, but do you have quests?"

 

"Quests? Hm..." Stan scratched his beard, pensively. Quests. Video game lingo... or fantasy world lingo? It was talking about collection quests, right?

 

He had to think quick on his feet. He cleared his throat. "Welcome to the Gateway, home of the eXtra Dimensional Restoration Squad! Right now we're havin' a real hard time rounding up these slimes that suddenly appeared here, so it'd be great if you could gather them up and around. Maybe sort them by color, since some people like to do that." He paused. Wait. There was nowhere to actually pen them in... this ain't a ranch. So he continued making the quest up: "But first, we'll have to find a place to put them, so why don't we go to our headquarters to see if we can find fencing of some kind? I'll have to be heading there anyway to prepare a report for Princess Twilight. If you round the planet, you'll eventually get to the castle we call home, and you're all welcome to make yourself home as well."

 

He saw Lamar nod at his words. The youth seemed to have now gotten over the shock of green grass and the presence of the Survivor and wanted to approach Cam again, but felt like the brilliant white wings of the angel were barring his way. Like he always did when he didn't want to announce himself, Lamar used everyone's distracted state to slink away.

 

((y'all free to timeskip to the base, I'm prepping Tea Party 2))

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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Cure Scarlet, Princess of Crimson Flames
<Status: Stable; mentally panicking>
<Location: Gateway>
<Agents: Stan | Kazooie | Arch | Theo | Duke| Yusei | Typheus | Fiddlesticks>
<Other Participants: Lamar | Dynarst | Kelsier | Cicero | multiple slimes>

 

Scarlet quickly curtsied as Lara left, listened as Stan introduced himself, and smiled. These people seemed friendly enough...

 

...or not. Before long, a dirty blond man in a white and red outfit had punched another blond man with a peculiar tattoo on his face. Pair that with just about the strangest bird she'd ever seen and the slimes on top of that...

 

This was one crazy place.

 

She listened as Stan briefly introduced the Extra-Dimensional Restoration Squad... and then completely froze up when she heard the two words she thought she'd never hear again:

 

Princess Twilight.

 

Ohgodohgodohgodohgod-- Cure Scarlet suddenly had the look of a deer caught in headlights.

 

Okay, get it together, Scarlet. It's-- It's just a name, you'll be fine, you'll be able to handle this. It took her a few minutes to calm down - that name never sat well with her - but she ultimately decided to remain as Cure Scarlet until she was absolutely certain that this wasn't the kind of Twilight she was thinking about.

 

And she seriously prayed that it wasn't.

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Mika and Coryn- A brief conversation turns into wingmanning

 

Players // Lara Croft, Audrey the Grave Robber

Other players // Yusei

Support // Badu

 

Audrey chuckled to herself.

 

“That sounds like Badu to me. Always experimenting, even when she knows she shouldn’t.” Then, after a short delay, she answered the question.

 

“You can call me Audrey. I’m a grave robber by trade, though my last job had me be a bit more… Direct in using my skill-set.”

 

To that Lara raised her eyebrow. She was a bit worried about how she was going to get what she had to say out to Stan. What was she going to do…? She was worried that after she told him what she needed to that he’d run, that she’d lose his friendship, and that she’d be alone. Perhaps not though. She didn’t know for sure. So she hoped that talking to Audrey would get her mind off her thoughts. She was interested in Audrey’s profession. It was essentially what Lara did, but…. Much less legal. Interesting, she thought to herself, I suppose now we have some sort of common interest. Although… It makes me quite leery how she said she had to be direct in using her skill-set. What does that mean? Do I really want to know? Lara smiled gently and nodded.

 

“I see. I’m an archaeologist myself. I tend more towards the tombs of ancient civilizations, I’ve found some rather intriguing items. Although…” She scratched the back of her head, feeling oddly self-conscious. “I’m not quite proud of some of the things I did to obtain said items. I-- er… Had to deal with a few characters who were in my way.” Lara smiled sheepishly at that. Perhaps the things she did weren’t all that sketchy, especially compared to the methods of some of her colleagues, but she didn’t really like the fact that she killed a man. It was…. Not her proudest moment, for sure.

 

The grave robber chuckled again, this time more bitterly. She knew exactly what that was like- skeletons, fish people, mushroom monsters, and bandits. Audrey had fought them all as a willing weapon in her employer’s quest to rid the Hamlet of its evils.

 

“I know what that’s like. I’ve probably seen it all by now; though, knowing my luck, I’m sure there’s more out there. Especially with the other worlds and all.”

 

Then, she abruptly asked a question.

 

“How much has Badu told you about where she came from?

 

Lara shrugged. She really had never talked to Badu all that much- not besides the usual I-need-medicine on missions. Did she regret it? Sure thing she did. It was beneficial in the long run to know more of her fellow agents, and she was slowly getting there. She had tried having a conversation with Xander the week previous, and it didn’t go too badly, so she thought. So perhaps she’d get to Badu eventually, as leery of the plague doctor as she was.

 

Not much, I’m afraid. You’d have to ask Stan or one of the other senior agents. I’ve normally kept to myself, besides talking to Stan or a select few of the others. It was rough adjusting to life here after living by myself for… Ah, four years? It was just my butler and myself. Er…. Not like you wanted to know about me.” Lara chuckled. “But to answer you, I haven’t really spoken to Badu all that much outside of missions.” She frowned. “Why do you ask? Was there something we’re not supposed to know?” She kept an eye on Yusei once in a while to see how he was doing. He no doubt needed some rest. Lara looked around, observing the sky. Had she realized how lovely it was before? …..That answer was no. Lara really needed to look at her surroundings on base more. It was quite the sight-- and she had seen many a sunrise and sunset back on her travels. She quickly turned back to Audrey.

 

Audrey listened intently, then smiling when she heard mention of a butler.

 

She must have been a noble like me. Turns out we’ve got quite a bit in common.

 

“Ah, you misunderstand. I just wanted to see what you knew already. Badu and I were co-workers back on my own world.”

 

Ah, I’m afraid I don’t know much. Interesting though, explains why you didn’t ask ‘who the bloody hell is Badu?’ Hm…. What is your world like, anyway? Based on your clothing alone I can see it’s quite different from my own.” She cursed herself for almost delving into her own life story. Why did she think Audrey would give a damn about that? But…. She supposed she needed another good friend here, considering most of her friends were at home doing whatever they usually did. Anaya was probably abroad and working on the next big engineering project by now. Whatever was going on, she was here. And while she very much liked being on base for the simple fact that it was a new experience, she very much missed the people back home, and hoped Winston was alright.

 

Audrey shrugged. “Wouldn’t really know, would I? I haven’t been to any of the other worlds yet.”

 

She looked into the distance, contemplating the fortress she’d just left.

 

“Though, I’ll say that such magnificent architecture wouldn’t entirely be out of place. Maybe just a bit gloomier.”

 

“Besides,” she added, glancing down at her own attire, “I try to look my best even when I’m on the job.”

 

Lara nodded. “And it’s successful.” She grinned. “I just try to go with what works best myself, I tend to climb cliffs quite a bit so I tend to go with comfortable clothing. Generally that means shorts in warmer climates. Although I have worn my casual clothing on expeditions before, haha.” Lara was ever more conscious of the fact that her hair was becoming looser by the second. She wished she had a spare hair elastic, but she assumed Audrey wouldn’t have one on her. So she gave up and combed her fingers through her hair, letting her tresses loose. Seeing as it was in a rather tight braid, it came out in waves. It felt freeing, but at the same time she really didn’t like it. She would fiddle with the ends of her hair had it been a lot shorter,  but it felt weird seeing as it hung around her hips.

 

Audrey looked away in mock shyness, grinning with her eyes shut and briefly swatting the air.

 

“Oh, stop. We both just have a practical fashion sense, that’s all. And besides, you were a proper lady at some point, so of course you were instructed in such things.

 

“‘Proper lady’. Haha, I stopped wearing dresses religiously when I was ten.” She grinned at Audrey’s feigned bashfulness. She quite liked this woman, with her snappy personality and their shared interests. “But I suppose I was…. And still am, I guess…? Back at home I’m a Countess… er…. But it feels weird to have the title, to be honest. I don’t even attend that many social events, and I just control my estate. It’s not like my title is particularly… I mean, it’s good, but it’s not the best title to have either. Besides, it’s just me. I don’t usually carry myself like a proper lady, especially considering my job. I mean, if we’re to think traditionally, I’m supposed to be looking for a husband right now. Hell with that.” Lara chuckled and rolled her eyes. “If it happens, it happens.” Lara smiled, until she remembered the person she had her eyes on for a little while now. She closed her eyes and swore through her teeth- Damn you, Lara, why the devil did you think about that?

 

“True. Free spirits like us don’t really want to be tied down, anyway. Too much world to see! And as amazing as I am, I can’t be everywhere at once.”

 

So, she’s a Countess? Lofty position, and more important she’s the one calling the shots. That’s not a luxury I had back home, where I was expected to smile and look pretty like some kind of delicate porcelain doll! Oh, Lara, how I envy you.

 

Then, Lara remembered seeing some other people off in the distance. One of them was clearly Badu, but the other was unfamiliar.

 

“Who’s that with Badu? He a friend of yours?”

 

Lara looked behind her. Damn, she forgot to check on Yusei again. She was too busy thinking of a certain someone-- LARA PLEASE GET YOUR HORMONES IN CHECK. She sighed, ignoring the warmth in her face.

 

Ah, with Badu? That’d be Yusei Fudo. Interesting chap, he’s a good friend of mine on this base. I haven’t many of those here-- not yet. We just got back from a mission, and it appears he got pretty beat up. He’s a good fellow, if you’re looking for a friend on base he’s your guy.” Lara chuckled. “I once had a thing for him, fun little fact. But that went away fast. He has someone back at home, anyway-- that is, if I remember correctly.” Lara grinned. “Besides, he’s merely a good friend to me. I’m trying to avoid falling for my fellow agents.Lara. Lara. Lara, sweetie. Quit trying to bull **** . You know you failed miserably at that. Lara sighed. “Anyway, he needs some good rest. I’d advise chatting it up with him once he’s recovered. Although, we’re all going to have to regroup-- I did hear Stan saying something about waking me to help with our report of the mission to Twilight-- er, Princess Twilight Sparkle, our boss if you will. I was intending on taking a nap, but I might just shower and go back to regroup with the other agents that went on the mission with me. I have a list of things to do, but they’re not all that important, you know?

 

Audrey felt somewhat surprised at this. Even after deciding romance wasn’t really something she wanted for herself though the title demanded it, she still had the mood for pursuit?

 

Most interesting. Perhaps if she needs help, I could back her up. Or maybe ask, if I feel like searching myself.

 

“What’s on your list? Maybe I could tag along, and you could show me around in the meantime.”

 

She craned her neck to look at Yusei a bit better. He seemed a bit stern, with one of the strangest hair arrangements she’d ever seen.

 

“Good call. I don’t think he’s your type.” She whispered with a slight cackle. 

 

Lara chuckled at that one. She agreed, Yusei wasn’t quite her type, though he was quite handsome. She didn’t think she really had a type.

 

I don’t have much of a type. I’ve dated a grand total of two people, though I have met a few people here and there…” Lara chortled. She pursed her lips together, not wanting to disclose what was weighing her heart down. “But enough about that, er…. I mean, later on you can come with me to the bazaar, I do have some errands to run. But I still have to shower, go report on the mission, and talk to someone… And that’s a personal conversation, I’m sorry.” A flush definitely crossed her face as she said this. Ah bloody hell, Lara, you promised yourself you wouldn’t let anything slip. She yet again scratched the back of her head and ran her fingers through her mane. She caught a snag. “Ow. How the devil did that get there? Anyway, I’m not sure if you’d be able to tag along for the meeting, but…. I can come get you when I’m done with those three things.” Lara smirked. “Of course, unless you want to root through my clothing and pick something for me to wear.” She chuckled at that. “Or not.

 

After a brief moment of Lara explaining herself, Audrey sighed, grabbed Lara by the hand, and started leading her back to the base.

 

“Well, if we’re going to get ready for your date, we’d better get going soon. Because I’m not missing a moment of this.”

 

Lara knew her face was bright red at that very second. She shook her head, yanked her hand out of Audrey’s grip and waved her hands in front of her as if to deny everything.

 

N-n-n-n-n-n-n-no!!! I-I…. W-what the devil are you talking about? I-it’s not a date!!!” Lara shook her head. This was very out of character for her, for certain. But…. This threw her off pretty badly. She hadn’t had a reaction like that since Anaya called her out for liking Amanda. That was…. A dark time. 

 

She turned to look at her new friend, and flashed a brilliant smile.

 

“You lack any sort of subtlety talking about this guy. So the way I see it, you need some help! And aren’t you lucky you met me today?”

 

Lara blushed.

 

Urgh…” She grumbled a few things under her breath, mostly about how she herself was the biggest bloody moron alive at the moment. She took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, it’s not a date, but…. I suppose I have a few things to tell him. Although I doubt I’m in his good graces… I don’t know, to be honest. I had a bit of an outburst towards him, and while he and I are seemingly on good terms I have no idea how he’s really feeling currently, at least about me.” She looked to the side and smiled shyly. “Erm…. He’s my friend, and I’m afraid that if I tell him anything he’ll stray away from me like I stray away from anything with a corset. In short…. I don’t want to ruin things. So I…. suppose I do need help.” 

 

Audrey’s initial fervor softened somewhat. She just met someone who lived a life much like hers, and yet here she was fretting over a friend like a lovesick schoolgirl. There was no way she’d let this stand; friends help each other out.

 

“Well, then, let’s be sure it’s a response you’ll want to hear, then. Come on, let’s go see what your wardrobe looks like.”

 

This time, the grave robber didn’t pull Lara along, but instead beckoned for her to follow.

 

Lara blushed and stared at the ground for a second, letting her brain process everything. Then she nodded, giving up, and followed Audrey to base. They continued to base, and Lara gave Audrey a tour of the place as they meandered to Lara’s quarters. She opened the door and placed Cicero on her bed. The puppy yipped and immediately went to Lara’s pillow, falling asleep. While it was cute, Lara didn’t like animals where she would be resting her head to sleep. But she would get Cicero a proper bed soon, and she was due to change the linens on her bed anyway. So she opened her armoire and gestured to it. “Er…. This is where I keep my clothing. Have at it, I’ll….. Go ahead and shower.” She slipped into the bathroom after grabbing her towel and robe. 

 

Audrey nodded. “Of course.” After she was sure Lara had left the room, she immediately threw open the doors of the armoire and started going through all the clothes. Whatever she found suitable was set aside gently. The rest was unceremoniously tossed into a jumbled pile, leading to a very small selection on the left and a mountain of assortments on the right.

 

This is going to be rough. Sure, the girl’s got a fashion sense, but none of this is suitable for a formal occasion. We might need to go with something semi-casual… Hang on, what’s this?

 

After a moment, Audrey spotted a neglected t-shirt buried under some other clothes. It was simple. Therefore, it suited the purpose by virtue of not belonging in the reject pile.

 

Looks like I’ve got something. I hope she appreciates all my hard work when she comes back.

 

Lara felt much more relaxed after her shower. Wrapped in her robe and her hair secured in the towel, Lara stepped out of her bathroom and gawked at the sight of all the clothes on the floor. There was clearly a method to the woman’s madness- Lara noticed three piles- a very vast “hell no” pile, much smaller “maybe” pile, and--- oh, hello…

 

It was the black cross-front top she had splurged on about a month before. She had only worn it once, and that was when Stan was away scoping out the world they just came back from. Audrey had a hell of a taste when it came to “cleaning up nicely”. Well, it was nice, and Audrey seemed quite proud of herself. Lara grabbed that and a pair of light washed jeans, along with the necessities, and slipped back in the bathroom to dress. She took a look in her full-length mirror and-- with no will of her own-- smiled at herself. She had to admit, Audrey had a pretty good eye for these kinds of things. Thus, she took the few minutes to dry her hair as much as possible and loosely braid it back. Lara slipped out of the room with a half-smile on her face.  “I ought to say, Audrey, you’ve got a keen eye for things.” She frowned at the piles on the floor. “Although I’ll have to clean that up before our little meeting, won’t I…..” She sighed. “Ah well. So be it.” Quietly, she slipped her boots on and waited for a message or a call from Stan calling her to the meeting.

Edited by Mikasa361

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   It's Just Stress, Right?

   Typheus had just stared numbly at Yusei and the woman that had come over to help. She seemed to know what she was doing, and so did Yusei. Everything was actually fine, somehow. That was good, at least...

   He stood up and walked away. Fiddlesticks' eye followed him, processing the unexpected move. No words? No sigh of relief? She glanced back at Yusei and his helper, then stood up to pursue him. "Typheus!"

   The Superiority model stopped two dozen feet away from the clearing's perimeter, not turning around. She ran up to him to study his expression. He looked distant, eye lights dimmed and not focused on her. "What is it?"

 

   It took him a second to finally look at her, and he shrugged uncomfortably. "What the Alkinest are we doing here?"

   "What do you mean? You said these people were saving the gigaverse or something."

   "No, why are we still here?" he emphasized. Fiddlesticks' eye flickered.

   "I tried to leave," she pointed out, "All I ended up doing was befriending a guy with spikes in his face who tried to murder pointy-hair over there... and he's still my friend, by the way."

   "That's exactly it!" Typheus said sharply, and she flinched back. "Barely twenty minutes on this planet and you stab someone, we go to a world where you warm up to an Inquisitor, and we come back and I nearly buried our escort alive!"

   "Not on purpose! I was justified! And it was a five minute conversation!" Fiddlesticks shot back.

   "That's not the point!" he snapped a little too loudly; his anger broke briefly as he glanced back at the clearing, seeing if anyone was watching them. He lowered his voice, "We're a danger to these people, same way as we were on Earth, and you remember what I said about that."

 

   Fiddlesticks flushed out her air intake in annoyance. "We also couldn't leave Earth until the mission was completed."

   "The mission," the Superiority model scowled, "a bunch of crap for a stupid crystal. Like that matters now." Fiddlesticks' gaze hardened and she hit his arm with a loud clang, making him jump. "Watch it!"

   "I don't give a crap that you think it's stupid! You have your damn pilot! What about mine?!" she cried angrily. "She's rotting in some IR cell somewhere being tortured or drugged up or something and I can do nothing about it because I'm stuck on this stupid rock with you!"

   "What if the IR doesn't take prisoners?!" he defended himself, even though he felt a pang of guilt.

   "I don't care!" she screeched, "A body is a body! And I don't care if we have to level this entire place just so I can see her corpse again!"

   "That's selfish and irresponsible!"

   "Being selfish and irresponsible is how we're not on a redemption line, Typheus! It's how we're not hoverpotties and cabinet underlighting and fancy glasses now! It's how we're not part of some Code Green's bed while he toys with his frickin' dokura!"

   "That's-!...Shame on you! Code Greens aren't like that!"

   "Is my view shameful or the Empire shameful, Mr. I-Let-Soldiers-Break-The-Rules-And-Escape-Death-Row?!"

   "It wasn't me, it was my pilot! Who is a Code Green!"

   "Not anymore!"

   "Thanks to you!"

   "I was within my right! It's his own fault for being stupid!"

 

   Typheus had it and swung his arm so hard the bang resounded through the clearing and Fiddlesticks crumpled to the ground. She scrambled back up on her feet indignantly, hunched aggressively, but keeping her turrets down. He struggled to keep his engine cool, loudly circulating air.

   "You are not allowed to play god with other peoples' lives," he growled at her, "You ruined his."

   "No one else seems to give a crap about mine," she snarled.

   "You're not supposed to care about yourself!"

   "No one else deserves my care!"

   "It's not their privilege, it's their right!"

 

   She hissed at him obstinately, slicing at the air in front of him while he glared in challenge. Yet, she didn't care to pick a fight. She just spat out "Collectivist!" in the most condescending tone she could muster, turned on her heel, and stomped off toward the horizon. Typheus' eye flickered rapidly as he processed the word. The human word for... no, he wasn't that. The Empire wasn't that, right? It wasn't hiding behind a facade of helping people, it was actually helping. People had a right to be helped by others..... right?

   You can't help that she was hurt by what you said, he tried to tell himself, but he was already rewinding through the argument and wilting at his feeble position. All they did was spit lies at each other. Mean lies. He implied it didn't matter if they completed the Earth mission and Fiddlesticks found her pilot again. She lives because of her pilot, exclusively for her pilot. He believed that if they found her corpse, the Pusher model would just lie down beside it and die there. Then he called her selfish for wanting her pilot back despite knowing that. Just to make matters worse, he took her blanket statement personally because his own pilot was in the same group she attacked, and he never seized the opportunity to say he cared about her, at least.

   What was wrong with him? Why was he behaving like those screechy numbskulls on human stream services? He was better than this.

 

   Typheus's angry denial shriveled up into self-loathing, and he remained in a sullen slouch just outside the clearing, deaf to everything taking place there. This certainly wasn't the first time this had happened to him, but that didn't mean he knew how to recover, and that reminder just piled on to the heap of bitterness he was feeling. For the zillionth time he wished he had just kept his speaker dead back then and let his pilot do all of the work. It would have made things easier. How can his past self be so stupid? How is he still being so stupid?

   It took his threads a few minutes to wander back to what started the argument: they shouldn't be here. Not even a day has passed on his mechanical clock and two lives had been threatened. He felt awkward around the others and could hardly believe their line of work, and it wasn't just because they were all organisms; Circuitraider was a machine too, and he was intimidated by her. She was huge and could also hack; he didn't know what he was dealing with. For all he knew she was staked out somewhere reading his processes right now. Everyone else seemed nice at least, but how long would that last? Until Fiddlesticks arbitrarily picks another victim? Until he misteleports again and nearly crushes someone? What about anything else that hasn't happened yet, like him flying into the castle and destroying someone's room, or things getting smashed in the halls, or them being unreliable with an anchor, or Fiddlesticks figuring out that there's a heat source in the kitchen and she burns the whole place down? It's a stone castle, but somehow she would burn it down.

 

   All of Typheus' worries were minuscule, but he worried nonetheless. Even if he buried it under layers of confidence and a false sense of security it would rear its ugly face again. It just felt like he couldn't do anything right...

 

-----------------------------------------

 

   Yeah, Questgiver!

 

   Kazooie nodded eagerly; there is a quest! Hah! See, every place has a quest available - except for that weird slime world - and this one sounded simple enough. Although she wasn't confident in this man's sense of distance. "Round the planet"? She needed to walk all the way around this thing? She looked around at the slimes, who have pretty much escaped the scene by now, uncertain if she should try and round them up right now or wait until a corral was built.
   "Sounds fun, but I think I'll just follow you there. Those things don't hurt anything, they just make you trip," she said nonchalantly.  She did a double-take of the scenery, noticing how much detail there was in everything. It almost made her eyes hurt. It certainly wasn't home, but the man said she could stay here; did that mean she couldn't go back?

   At least there won't be a witch problem for a while, she reminded herself with a chuckle. I could stay for a little bit. She looked up at a sudden bout of shouting further away from the clearing: those metal machines that were making noise earlier were fighting. As long as I can tolerate it, anyway.

Edited by skwerl56767

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<Mission 01 RECAP>

Participants: Twilight, Stan, Badu, Lara, Duke, Jowan, Arch, Theo, Yusei, Typheus, Fiddlesticks, Kelsier, Dynarst, Cam, Lamar, Hibiki, Scarlet

 

~~~

 

Following a short break, Twilight had gathered the involved agents back into the dining hall. The princess had taken a seat at her usual spot at the head of the table, silhouetted against the starry windows behind her and perched on a high stool. The alicorn herself rarely went on-field nowadays, now that Pascal had managed to get her own brand of teleportation going, but everyone counted on her to keep their records orderly and to provide information on the many strange things they encountered through their journeys.

 

I’m glad you’ve all come back relatively alright,” Twilight said, relieved, although concerned at the state of Stan's arm broken once again, and the bruise blossoming on Duke's cheek. She would ask about those later, when the time came. “Pascal dropped names in kind of a rush before heading off-world herself so I did get a little worried, but it seems that you’ve all held your own.

 

No wonder the place is so quiet right now,” Stan remarked. He placed the retrieved hourglass onto the table with a heavy thunk, before settling into one of the plush seats near Twilight. “A welcome return to simpler times.

 

Tea?” Twilight offered the group. Whether or not anyone wanted any, Twilight still motioned with her snout for a Luma to fetch cups and hot water. “We do have some new guests with us today, and tradition’s tradition. Would you mind introducing yourselves, before we begin? As usual, we do have a packed agenda so we’ll have to save any questions for the end. I’m princess Twilight Sparkle, head of the XDRS, or eXtra-Dimensional Restoration Squad.

 

Kelsier had picked the seat at other end of the long table and placed both arms crossed onto its surface. He was taking the strangeness of talking to a horse remarkably well. The older man answered first, even if the question was also directed to Arch and Theo and all of the other Skaa. “I’m Kelsier. I got transported here by the lady in yellow, and I’m looking for some help for my world.

 

Pleasure to meet you, Kelsier. Speaking of yellow, Stan, did you manage to contact Cistina?

 

Stan shook his head. “I can’t get a signal on her communicator when I call. Last time I saw her was here at the Gateway, so all we can really do is wait until she comes back on her own.

 

Scarlet and Hibiki - ending up sitting next to each other out of coincidence - exchange looks before silently deciding that Scarlet would introduce herself first. To be honest, the princess was a lot more relaxed now that she knew how silly her earlier fears had been. "ごきげんよう, Twilight. You can call me Cure Scarlet - or just Scarlet if that works. Er, well, when I'm like this, at least. I have an appearance that's a lot less fancy than this. My real name is Towa Akagi, and I am the princess of a realm known as the Hope Kingdom. As for how I got here... I don't quite know that. I was fighting a threat to my home with my friends, and before I knew it, I was here..."

 

"Just like me, then! I was fighting a threat to my home, too!" Hibiki then turned to look at Twilight. "I already told you my name, but let me say it again for everyone else here. My full name is Tachibana Hibiki, and it's nice to meet you, Twilight-denka! I actually got here almost the exact same way Scarlet did!"

 

Kazooie tried to stow the names in her mind. It wasn’t very successful; she pegged people by their appearances anyway. Perched up on a chair in this room filled with zany new creatures, with a cup of tea that some flying star stuck in front of her only adding to the medley of smells, it took her a moment to process that she was up next.

  “Kazooie!” she barked, snapping out of it. “Er, I’m Kazooie. I was sleeping when I woke up on a beach covered in those slimes out there,” - she gestured to the windows behind Twilight to indicate outside - “and then I was here. I don’t know what’s going on but I’m kind of used to it at this point.” She was tempted to ask if the mention of an agenda meant there were even more quests than Metal-Arm gave her, but she held her tongue, remembering that the pony said to save questions for last.

 

Cam, nestled near Arch, had her hands around the warmth of one of the tea mugs. The inside of the castle was comfortable, but not as rich as the exterior implied. And with all the strange humans and strange creatures huddled around the table, it seemed like something straight out of a book of children's tales. "I'm Cam," she said, though she thought her voice was lost among the chatter already going on.

 

"I'm Lamar," the other skaa said, louder. "Another inhabitant from Luthadel, taken back to this amazing place!"

 

A big welcome to everyone!" Twilight exclaimed after the introductions of those who were ready and willing.  "It's great to have you here, even though I'm sorry we won't really have the chance to run through the usual story we give to newcomers. Since this is primarily a mission breifing, let's get that underway first. Why don't we start our report from the beginning? Stan's group, then Duke and Jowan, then Yusei.

 

Stan cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "So turns out this world had two misplaced anchors, and this here is one of 'em." He tapped the side of the half-empty hourglass, which didn't look all too special. It looked like something found in an antique pawn shop. "Based on what Cistina mentioned over the call, she probably has the other on hand at the moment, but it's hard to say.

 

"So we land in Luthadel and start tracking once we realize there were suddenly two blips on the radar. Duke stayed behind with Jowan and Cistina to go after the other one, but for the rest of us we went on ahead."

 

Lara slipped her way in as soon as Twilight asked about the report. She quietly took her seat and listened as Stan very nicely explained about the other anchor, the beginning of the mission. She held back the urge to shudder as she thought of that damned sand again. She nodded- she supposed it was time to give her part of the report.

 

Right…  I took to the roofs of the buildings to keep an eye and see if there would be anything coming after our group from above.” She glanced over to Lamar, who seemed to be impressed by what was currently happening, but perked up at her words. She wondered if he was as confused about a purple pegasus-unicorn---- er, alicorn--- as she was when she first met her. “I was approached by a skaa, Lamar over there… We had a brief conversation about what I was doing on the roof, and for whatever odd reason he throws some sort of coin at me, stating that he would have to ‘move me some’, as he put it. It was strange, how quickly the coin accelerated though. And, er…” Lara scratched the back of her head, not noticing that her hair tie had fallen out and her braid was loosening. “I proceeded to judo-flip him off the roof. He survived with no injuries, it seems.Curses, Twilight is going to tear me a new one… In a nice, kind, cute and cuddly way.

 

"Objection! My pride was wounded!" Lamar interrupted. "But on a serious note, what I said was true. You were in our gang's territory, and the last thing we wanted was some inquisitors sniffing around and lynching every last one of us."

 

Kelsier's eyes looked over to the boy, analyzing him and his demeanor. He'd have noble blood since he had allomancy, based on the woman's words -- but his clothes were still dirty like a worker's no matter how many riches he accrued through thefts and cons. He wore all his cards on his sleeve, and Kelsier thought that he could only have survived this long either through sheer luck or a good crew. "Kid's a coinshot from a thieving crew, meaning that he can push metals away from him and use them as projectiles," the Survivor explained. He clenched his jaw before going on. "Most of the common people with magic abilities eventually get hunted down and systematically killed, probably to stop them from rising up against the nobility. Those who do have the gift either disappear into the underworld or hide their skills altogether."

 

Magic abilities? Dynarst's head was swimming. Not only were so many new things and colors going on right now, but it baffled him that there were indeed supernatural powers in his own world. He never knew that.

 

Lara glanced at Stan and continued, “Nothing significant happened until I reached Stan's group where our anchor was. It was an abandoned clock shop. There was golden sand almost covering the entire floor of the shop. The sand is…. very dangerous. We saw what it could do first hand. There were rats at first, turned into grotesque creatures by the strange sand. We managed to fight those off, fought off what appeared to be a human who also suffered the same fate.” Lara glanced to the side. “Arch,” Lara gestured to angel, “cleared part of the floor using his wind powers. Meanwhile Cam,” Lara gestured to the girl between Theo and Arch, “used a similar metal-wielding power to bring the anchor closer.” She bit her lip, but she continued anyway. “I attempted to use the handholds in the walls and chains in the ceiling to reach it, but fell into the golden sand.

 

What it does to you is dreadful. It feels as if everything is slowing down, and as if your entire body has been set on fire as you’re being transformed into one of those creatures. I’m not sure how long it was, but I did manage to grab the anchor. I’m not sure what else it does, but what it did was stop the progression and reverse it. It seemed to grant me immunity over the sand, and I was able to get out of the sand unharmed.” She closed one of her hands into a fist under the table, held it for a few seconds, and relaxed.

 

"...This is pretty troubling to hear," Twilight said after Lara's worrying report. Her ears drooped back, betraying her anxiety. "I'm glad you're alright, but please, be less rash!"

 

Stan was eager to move the topic along, and during the talk he had fished something out of his pocket: a vial of grey water that glittered with gold dust settled on the bottom, which he had Arch give to him earlier. He held it between to fingers to catch the light of the chandeliers. "Bits of this sand could be found in public places," he interrupted, "but there was a whole pile of this stuff where we found the hourglass, and given Lara's experience, it would be a bad news if it were to spread. The hourglass and the sand -- the two must be related, you know, with an empty hourglass, and loose sand... It's coarse, and grainy, and gets everywhere..."

 

He sighed. "We're not in the clear with this world or this anchor just yet." The older man loosened his grip on the vial and Twilight picked it up with her telekinesis.

 

The pony brought it close and examined the contents for herself. "I can run some analysis and see what comes up. The symptoms sound similar to other corrupting forces, but it would be best to know what exactly we're up against."

 

"While we were dealing with getting the hourglass," Stan continued his narrative, "we get a communication from the other group going after the other artefact. According to Cistina's words, the second anchor can bend the flow of time -- so I'm wondering if it would even be related to the hourglass at all."

 

Stan turned his head to look at Kelsier. The blond man was staring forward, looking pensive, but Stan couldn't quite put his finger on why he didn't feel like the skaa man was trustworthy -- so he took a shot at it. "From what limited signal I got from her after she teleported back to base with the anchor's owner, it seems that Kelsier here is the man you'd be looking for to ask about the anchor."

 

Kelsier shrugged. "I'll tell you what I know once you are ready to hear my plea at the end of all this. But for the most part, I don't know much more than you all do."

 

Twilight, surprisingly, seemed satisfied with the response for now. She motioned for Stan to finish up. He, with some reluctance towards letting Kelsier off the hook, gave his ending remarks. "With Cistina back at base and the hourglass acquired, we decided to regroup with Duke and Jowan and come home. With, uh, some stragglers, in case an inquisitor was on our tail."

 

"...Well, as long as they're okay with being kidnapped... But I do understand that you put safety as your top priority. Nice work." Twilight gave Stan a respectful nod, and passed the report now to the next person.

 

"Duke, it's your turn. Go ahead and tell us what happened, from the beginning, from your point of view."

 

At the sound of his name, Duke looked up from where he had been tracing the finely curved oak of the table with his eyes. “Oh,” he said, a placeholder more than anything, and blinked once, twice -- to pace his inner thoughts, before he spoke once more.

 

“It was great!” he immediately blurted out, sweeping his cloak up with the movement of his hands as he gestured forwards, as if to physically motion his feelings on the mission that had just passed. “It’s just like Stan said; we got separated pretty early on, so we” -- and here, he gestured to Jowan, making a grand sweep with his arm and ignoring the other people gathered around the table entirely -- “made a new friend.” He stops at Dynarst, grinning.

 

“He was a little shy at first,” Duke explains, with a wink, “but of course, I won him over with my natural charm. As I have with all of you.”

 

A pause, for dramatic effect.

 

“But! There’s more. Atter we formed our party, we marched towards the ruler’s strongholdings -- as you do -- but were unfortunately stopped by the enemy. No matter!” At this, Duke held up a hand, forward as if to stop any interruptions, and with his spare hand he reached back for the chair he had previously displaced, not looking as he slowly takes a step back and lifts himself until he is standing on the chair, grinning like a pleased cat.

 

“The implications of such a situation are clear,” he said, “and I’m sure all of us gathered here today  understand what cruelty the worlds we meet are capable of. But I have no doubt in the ability of our fellow agents,” and here, he stepped forward, until the edge of his boot met the table’s end and he lifted himself onto the table fully, careful to avoid the various things scattered across it as he all but danced his way over to Stan and Lara, inclining his head as a show of respect to the two and everything they have endured, “and of course, in myself.”

 

Jowan groaned and dropped his head onto the table. Dramatics.

 

He clapped his hands together, grin growing ever-wider as a shimmering block of blue light follows after his fingertips, a barrier forming between around him, clear and intricate.

 

“Of course the fight was difficult,” Duke explained, “but we endured, and victory was ours!” He stomped the table with his foot as if to enunciate his words, and accompanying his action the thin barriers shot downwards and exploded into a spray of blue fragments, holding delicately in the air for a split second before vanishing completely.

 

“But -- but -- but --  you might be asking, Duke, what about the aftermath? The anchors? Your face?” He took a breath, prepared to explain further.

 

“The aftermath was, of course, glorious; my companion and I feuded off many marriage requests and honourable titles, as per tradition -- because we are in this for justice, not glory -- and retreated to find rest, with the help of Dynarst.” And here, Duke spun around, his cloak waving behind him as he gestured with both hands to the aforementioned man. Dynarst himself had covered his face with his hands from pure embarrassment. “When we met up once more, the others secured the anchors, so I saw no need for further worry.” A breath. “And finally, Theo punched me.”

 

And I’m sure everyone clapped,” Lara mumbled to herself, sighing at yet another display of Duke’s Table Theater.

 

“Half of that didn’t happen,” Jowan muttered, his voice muffled by the table.

 

At the sound of his name, Theo bristled, crossing his arms. He had half a mind to climb onto the table himself and show the blond what an actual punch was.

 

“And with that, I bid you all goodbye,” Duke stepped back, a foot behind him as he bowed. “Also, I’m going to need someone to help me file a violence claim against Theo for Natsuki, because I can’t read.”

 

Jowan lifted his head at this, surprised. Duke wasn’t serious, was he? Almost everyone could read, and Duke’s clothing and bearing certainly didn’t suggest that he was too poor to be literate.

 

At this, Theo growled; the knight stood up, drawing himself up to his full height, and red lightning sparkled between his fingers before -- in the flash of a second -- he speared Legios through the table, cracking lightning across the wood that was gone just as quickly as it came.

 

Arch, who was admittedly thoroughly charmed by Duke’s speech, jolted in his seat as Theo speared Legios straight into table.

 

"Now, now, settle down!" In a panic punctuated by clattering cups and spilled tea, Twilight's horn shone brightly and she lifted both her front hooves onto the table to brace herself; her magic jerked Duke up and away from the assault before she gained finer control of it to lift him with her pink glow and set him back into his chair.

 

Jowan blinked at the sparkling purple cloud of magic, but got over it quickly enough to turn to Duke. “You weren’t serious, were you? About not being able to read?” he whispered, surprise clear in his voice.

 

The magic came as a surprise to Duke; the blond stared back, suddenly panicked, as he felt an unfamiliar force quickly pull him backwards. However, a second later, his shoulders relaxed as he realised it was Twilight. GIving the pony a sheepish smile for rescuing him yet again, he remained perfectly still as she guided him back to his chair.

 

“Ah, ah,” Arch chided as he stood up to grab his husband’s shoulders. He kindly, but firmly, pulled Theo back down into his chair. Giving his husband a sharp, knowing glance, Arch pressed his lips together in displeasure as he turned to gaze at the sparks of red lightning dancing across the table’s newly cracked surface.

 

“Do forgive my husband’s outburst,” Arch said, his frown vanishing only to be replaced by a thin smile. “He doesn’t mean to harm anyone. He’s just a bit…” Arch trailed off. “...excessive when it comes to expressing his emotions. It won’t happen again, yes?” Arch directed the question at Theo. He stared at his husband with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Hurting our allies isn’t the right thing to do.”

 

Giving Twilight a salute to show his thanks, Duke turned to Jowan, blinking in surprise.

 

“What?” A second later, his thoughts caught up to him. Why would Jowan ask such a ridiculous question?

 

“No,” Duke said slowly. “I was -- uh, serious, I mean. Never really learnt how. Spent my childhood too busy avoiding persecution.” He blinked again, confused. “Why?”

 

“I just-- I didn’t expect that. You don’t seem like a kind of person that can’t read,” Jowan said, continuing to whisper. Andraste’s mercy, why did he say that? He wasn’t trying to insult Duke, it was just shocking. “I could try to teach you, if you wanted,” he said, a little too quickly. “I helped some of the younger children at the Circle sometimes, and I was… I was a tutor for awhile.”

 

Duke blinked. Jowan’s words came as a surprise -- was reading really all that important? Maybe in the world the other man came from, but the blond thought back to his own hometown and surveyed the people briefly. Of course, those that came from noble houses and worked in Chevire’s bureaucratic fields did have basic literary skills, but otherwise … he’d lived until this age being perfectly capable of everything without requiring reading or writing.

 

And well -- it wasn’t as if he was completely illiterate, but enough to be an absolute horror to any teacher. He stared at Jowan’s face for an intense second, thinking. The other man’s offer was thrilling -- he would take any excuse to spend more time with the mysterious, quiet man -- but Duke hesitated, remembering how Aster had laughed until he cried upon reading Duke’s status report the first time they’d worked together, professionally.

 

Well, caution to the wind. His name has been through enough to not mind another dig through the mud.

 

“A tutor,” he repeated, holding the silence between them for a split second longer before his face broke out into a smile, excited. “Sure!” He edged forward in his chair, positively brimming with curiosity. “You must be skilled, Chevire’s always had a lack of teachers,” Duke said, thinking back now. “Actually, we should go back together, then, you can confirm I can read …” Duke trailed off, internally considering how it would look if he not only returned with new literary skills, but with a friend as well. It would be a great way to show Aster his internal self growth, or something along those lines.

 

Drumming his fingers along the wood, Duke nodded again, staring at Jowan and waiting for his response with a smile still on his face. “This is great,” he said again, “if I can read, I can finally catch up on paperwork. And my debt.”

 

Jowan wasn’t sure why he was so afraid of being rejected, but he felt his heart skip a beat during the second’s pause before Duke agreed. “I don’t think many people would say that I’m skilled,” he said, but he felt a slight grin tug at the corners of his mouth. “I’m looking forward to it,” he said sincerely.

 

He faltered a little when Duke mentioned going back to his world, not expecting it. It felt like a big step, somehow, though towards what he wasn’t sure. He wasn’t against the idea, and if anything he found it quite appealing, but it felt like something that should be thought about first. “I think it’s fair for you to tell me more about your world first,” he settled on saying. “We haven’t had the chance to have that discussion yet,” and this isn’t the right place to be talking, he left unsaid.

 

If it had been anyone else, he would’ve shot them for pulling him back; nonetheless, Theo turned back as he felt Arch’s hands on his shoulders, long and nimble and surprisingly firm.

 

“But --” All words died off in his throat when Arch smiled at him, a familiar sight that was only just slightly wrong with the coldness in his husband’s eyes.

 

Ah. So he still wasn’t over the human-punching incident. Glaring at Duke -- after all, he was responsible for all of this -- Theo sighed irritably and jerked his head downwards in agreement, plopping himself back onto his chair with a resigned air.

 

Allies. No -- his allies were Arch, Jane, and Ezekiel, that demon brat. Everyone here -- they were only the people that Arch had suddenly found fondness in caring for.

 

Lara glared at Theo. She had just— JUST bought that table. “Bloody hell Catching herself, Lara sighed. She didn’t want to face the wrath of that lightning. Instead, she placed her head on the table and let out a distressed noise. That was ****ing expensive” Lara grumbled. She quite liked that table.

 

"Three strikes, yer out," Stan muttered. Then, louder, "Twilight, maybe you should do a little lesson on the friendship thing? With a side of anger management? It worked for Nata, sort of... actually, not really."

 

Twilight self-consciously put her feet back onto her chair. "Thank you for your... report, Duke. And Arch, your apology is accepted. I trust that you know Theo much better than anyone here, and please let me know if there are any things we can do to accomodate you two." She turned her gaze to Theo to gauge his reaction. "Understand, though, that there are healthier ways to cope with anger and frustration than violence on things or people, but we will be here to help you with it so long as you are working with us."

 

"Putting Duke's dramatic telling aside for now, from my understanding, Yusei, you weren't officially on the operation, were you?" The dark-cloaked man was standing against the wall instead of sitting, and it was hard for Twilight to decipher what he was thinking about. "What's your story?"

 

Yusei was too used to Duke’s flair. It helped that he was already unphased by Jack’s over-the-top antics and Lua’s enthusiasm. Maybe that said something about him, if he bothered to wonder on it. Hands in his pockets, the fingers of his right brushed against the small cube he had received earlier from a Luma on his path to the castle. “I wasn’t involved,” he started to say.

 

He wanted to hear what Kelsier had to offer, to see if the man’s words fell in line with the information Elise had given him. And that of what he had discovered on his own, as unintentional as it had been. It was possible that Kelsier didn’t know anything about the hourglass or the sand but he wondered whether Kelsier would provide details about his world. He was willing to explain a bit about who Lamar was.

Did Yusei know enough to catch any possible lies, or fill in any holes left behind by incomplete truths? He supposed that depended on the sincerity of Elise’s words. First-hand experience leaned towards supporting her. So was there any benefit to making Kelsier speak first, in forcing whatever hand he held to be revealed? It almost felt like a duel, but they weren’t opponents. At least, they weren’t positioned to be.

 

A slight frown tugged at the corner of his lips. This wasn’t a duel among enemies. That didn’t mean he couldn’t lure Kelsier in. “Typheus and Fiddlesticks needed an escort to confirm if the world was one they knew. We ended up separated and in an unrelated area, compared to the others; it seems Pascal, Stan, and I still need to work on refining the Gateway’s teleportation. In my search for the main group, I might have strayed too close to a significant area of the city and was ambushed by an Inquisitor.” Yusei didn’t shrug but he let his words end there, almost implying the gesture. “I returned to the Gateway without finding any other agents.” His gaze shifted from Twilight to Stan, then to Lamar and Kelsier.

 

  Typheus twitched for the first time since the meeting had started. He had been standing behind Twilight, facing the windows and completely silent, arms folded in thought. He had only been listening passively to the reports, just because it was part of his job to collect information. He had a translation segfault hearing a man say “my husband”, and processed the sharp crack of wood splintering yet didn’t react when it happened, but otherwise was lost in thought. He moved only when he heard his name, and bothered listening deeper just in case he needed to. Fiddlesticks, who had stomped off to sulk somewhere, was practically dragged into the room by a Luma and avoided being too close to anyone, glumly dropping into a corner and staying there. She too was lost in thought, nostalgically thinking about her pilot and wondering what she was going to do with herself now. Typheus had only acknowledged her arrival after all of the others, glimpsing her in his peripheral. He felt responsible for her distress, because he had hoped they could be of use to the X-Dreamers, but so far all they’ve done is go onto the wrong planet, lose each other, and lose every opportunity to take action. Everyone else so far has done something at least interesting. Heck, they even managed to take back some prisoners - uh, visitors. Fiddlesticks didn’t even manage to get into a fight despite being in hostile territory by herself. That combat model is going to explode from stress soon...

  He didn’t confirm Yusei’s words, only checking on his partner behind him with a soft whir, briefly making eye contact with Twilight and turning back to the window. He just needed a few more minutes to himself, that’s all.

 

  Kazooie eagerly absorbed as much information as she could. She was used to weirdness, and now there was so much of it! So many curious characters with backstories and relationships and intentions in their eyes. The fluffy winged horse seemed to be in charge of everyone. There were lots of humans, too, each with a unique look - there was even one with wings like her! She didn’t feel the safest, especially since her intuition was unnaturally quiet, but the overwhelming complex of sounds and colors left her distracted and speechless, and the seemingly-random conversation only added to the puzzle. She felt like the one kid who was down on the grass earlier, feeling it like it was a plush blanket he never knew existed. There had to be tons to do here!

 

"..." Kelsier sat with quiet resolve, listening to the stories in turn and picking through he information as carefully as Princess Twilight. Each agent who spoke revealed a piece of the puzzle, and each one’s method of storytelling told him a lot about who these people were. But the sand… he didn’t know that there was more of it than just the supply in his dagger. Plans started forming in his head. Its monster-making properties could be useful indeed.

 

Once Yusei finished and a few beats passed, Kelsier stood up. He looked from side to side, attempting eye contact with everyone in the room. He reached into his waistcoat and slowly slipped out the Dagger of Time.

 

With pewter-powered strength, he suddenly stabbed the dagger into the table. A challenge mirroring the earlier thrust of the spear. The dagger’s blade was not much longer than two palm-lengths, with a golden gem set in the metal near the twisted filigree crossguard. A small amount of glowing gold sand swirled within its vitreous handle — the same as the residue in the vial and in the hourglass.

 

A thief lord had this before it came into my possession. I don’t know where he got it, but he’s already been taken care of.” Kelsier motioned to the hourglass with his chin. “Bet it’s part of your matching set.

 

Collapsing back into his seat at the head of the table, relaxed, Kelsier went on to give his side of the story now that it was his turn. ”To give you some context, the city you were in is the capital of my world,  Luthadel, seat of a powerful man everyone calls the Lord Ruler. He’s said to be a god and has reigned for a thousand years, slaughtering anyone who’d oppose his iron reign. He created the inquisitors and the Steel Ministry to act as his personal agents. Even the nobles are scared of falling out of the Ministry’s favor, shall we say.

 

“This dagger has the power to rewind time for up to five minutes. The Lord Ruler must have known this too, somehow, so he sent someone after me. Me and an inquisitor were playing keep-away with it before Duke kindly intercepted my pursuer.

 

He flashed a grin at the younger man. “Nice work. I didn’t manage to see what exactly you did, but we’re both alive right now to talk about it, so I consider that a success.

 

The lady in yellow — another agent of yours — she brought me back here once she caught up to me. I was planning to use the dagger as a tool against the Lord Ruler and free the skaa… And I would request to return with it to my world to finish what I need to do. And,” he implored, “Duke’s goals align with mine. I would appreciate the help.

 

"I'm glad you did return safely with both of our guests, Yusei. We'll definitely let Pascal know about needing to refine the lock in system," Twilight finally said. She wanted to buy some time to think about Kelsier's request -- on the one hand, was it better to try to let world events play out without interfering? Or would working towards the greater good and giving someone the chance to beat hopeless odds a better moral decision? Or, to help rebuild a world plagued by something non-native?

 

After a few moments, the pony sighed, dropping her ears in defeat. "If Duke wants to help you, Kelsier, I can't stop him. But, it does sound like there's still more to do in Luthadel. We have both displaced anchors, though we will have to clean your world of the foreign sand before it causes even more chaos. Our next step would therefore be to prepare a group to dive back into that world again, after we figure out how to capture all the gold dust."

 

Seeing that everyone who appeared to be relevant had talked already, Twilight tapped a hoof on the table to call for order. "Thanks for the report, everyone! If there's nothing more to add, then we will adjourn the meeting. The other half of the agents are at the marketplace and should be back in a few hours. Feel free to take advantage of the quiet and get some rest while I run some analyses on these three items."

 

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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b66ab1c5efcb9f5adfe252bf9169f6c7.png [ theo ; -- add. 0 for: a. ]

-- status.

legios ; dormant ]

grey ; knight of loyalty

--

 

Following Arch is almost reflexive, as the meeting comes to an end; without thinking much of it, Theo pushes himself away from the table, still glowering, and easily falls a step behind Arch's quickening pace as the gathered group slowly dissipates. Uncaring for the actions of his new 'teammates', Theo gazes over too many faces he doesn't care to recognise before he realises that Arch was coming to a stop.

 

The angel sighed, and immediately Theo felt a spike of anxiety shoot up -- was his husband still mad? Theo did not doubt Arch's adoration towards him, but admittedly the knight has his ... moments. Considering the numerous events that had happened -- none of which was his fault exclusively, really -- in such a small amount of time, Theo would not be entirely surprised if Arch was still mulling things over. 

 

However, it seems his anxieties are unfounded. Arch's words are more self-critical than accusatory, and Theo frowns. He dislikes when the other man is like this -- when he places such high expectations on himself as a servant of Lua's greatness, and cannot see the good he has already done. There is nothing more brilliant in Theo's eyes than Arch's gentle smile and his peaceful mannerisms, and even now he can still see the other man's kindness in interacting with the village children, fighting in sync with Aselica's every movement. How could a man so wondrous ever doubt his own efforts?

 

"I don't think they're all human," Theo replies, musing to himself as he crosses his arms and feels the glide of his armour slide across his clothing as he does so. "But regardless of who, what, or when, I have no doubt you'd be able to work something out. Adaption takes time, Arch, and you're doing better than all the other idiots here." 

 

His eyes follow the movement of Arch's hand upwards as he shifts his hair, his eyes suddenly darkened with intrusive thoughts. The knight bites the edge of his mouth impatiently, wanting to help but not knowing how -- he couldn't exactly hit Arch's inner demons, could he?

 

To his surprise, Arch suddenly turns around, face excited, and Theo takes a step back to avoid colliding with his husband's wings as Arch gives a happy flutter -- how adorable -- and spins around, talking about -- a library?

 

"I don't listen to anyone here," he says, too surprised to really gather his thoughts, but he quickly composes himself. "The third floor?"

 

Looking around, he wonders how best to get there -- there would be stairs, he hoped, but if Arch wanted to go to the library he would make sure Arch got to the library in record time, even if that meant exploding a hole in the roof all the way up to the third floor. Before he can begin to plan his plan of attack, Theo turns his attention back to Arch who was still talking.

 

"We could research a bit," he agrees, upon hearing the other's intentions. Getting to know this organization -- and subsequently, their motivations and weaknesses -- would be helpful in his future endeavors. And if anyone decided to mock him again, but little details.

 

Then, he unfolds his arms, and accompanying the downward slide of his hands is a spark of red lightning as Legios forms, fully ready for battle. Staring up at the ceiling, Theo grips the twin spears in his hands. "Should we go?" 

 

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  ♫ Name // Lara Croft  ♫

♫ Players // Stan, whoever the heck else is in the dining hall at this point  ♫

♫ Support //Cicero, whoever the heck else is in the dining hall at this point ♫

♫ Status // Heart pounding, annoyed at Kelsier being Kelsier ♫

 

~~Chez moi ou chez toi?~~

 

Lara grumbled as she left the table. SHE. JUST. BOUGHT. THAT. TABLE. That was a really nice table. Lara was going to have to stupid-proof the next one that she was going to buy. Perhaps next time someone broke or damaged the table THEY would be in charge of replacing it. That new lot was going to be more than just a little bit of mischief, was it not? Lara took a deep breath and looked at the knife, which was buried in the table, as well as the damage Theo caused. It wasn't worth making them replace it now, not when they were new and had no money to do so. But damn, maybe she'd take the table home and use it for firewood. Or for firewood here. Was there a fireplace on base? .....Maybe there were some salvageable parts for a gym. Lara sighed in defeat. She supposed it was time for a new one anyway, this one was getting just a tad too small for the ever-growing organization. But she'd have to get it custom-made.... maybe there was someone in the multiverse who wouldn't ask any questions. Somewhere. 

 

Turning her attention from the table, which ruined her mood to look at, she noticed her braid was much looser than usual. She cursed under her breath as she looked for her hair tie. It was there, but it was very loosely looped around her rebellious locks. She slipped it off and readjusted it, not pleased at how flustered she was. What was wrong with her today? Why was she so distracted by every little thing? It was bad enough that she almost stopped paying attention staring at Stan's jawline. Well.... She really wanted to stare at all of him. But for the purposes of the meeting, she really needed to focus. So she tried her best to look at Twilight throughout the meeting, turning her attention to whoever was speaking. When it was Stan, though, she looked down at the table. She wondered if he knew something was up with her... they knew each other well enough, didn't they? Yet this was new even for her. Not even with her exes did she feel so.... stupid with love. She swore she was acting as if her IQ were docked by at least 100 points. This. Was. Not. Normal. Not even when she seemed so guilty in her report. WHAT was wrong with her...?

 

She looked back at Stan, who was staring at Kelsier. Well... it at least looked like he was. Look. I know Kelsier is attractive and all, but please. We have things to talk about. She stood back for a second, pondering how to get his attention off of Kelsier. It would be as simple as tapping him on the shoulder. Well, wasn't it that simple...? ...No. Nothing was ever that simple. Not when it came to Stanley Westley Gulliver. Still, Lara gently placed a hand on his good shoulder and moved to his side. 

 

"Oi," she whispered, "Whenever you're ready to go talk, let me know.

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Mika and Mage- I have a confession...

 

 Players // Lara Croft, Stanley Gulliver

 Other players // None 

 Support // None 

 

Stan glanced to the side towards the woman, concerned. Holy crap, Lara was pissed off at the treatment of that dining table, even though, inevitably, the gang never was known to treat their furniture well. That’s what magic repair skills were for. Bless Xander and Twilight.

 

Still, it seemed like from the meeting that there was still more work to be done at Luthadel. He didn’t know if he would be asked to man the rest of the mission, and he hoped not, now that they managed to bring back a local expert who seemed agreeable enough. That man with the scars… How did he end up getting so many? It looked like he had stuck his arms through a pile of knives.

 

Stan jumped a little when Lara placed a hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his thoughts. He let her question hang for a few seconds, then finally stood up.  “I’m ready, let’s go. We can go to my room.

 

Her heart was going about a mile a minute, how she was able to breathe was a feat in itself. “Right,” she replied, “off we go…” Lara wondered if he could tell how scared she was that she’d lose him… even with Audrey’s effort in finding a decent outfit, that didn’t guarantee Stan wouldn’t bolt out of there and leave her alone and hurt. Even so, she supposed it was best to get the rejection out of the way so she could not feel this bloody confused anymore. Her right hand began fiddling with the bottom of her braid, the nerves getting to her like it did every. Single. Time. She took a deep breath and glanced to Stan, who seemed ready to get this over with as well. She sighed. “I…. wanted to start off by apologizing for my actions during the mission. I understand I was rash, and my mind was all over the place, but that added to your stress and that wasn’t alright at all.” The nails of her left hand dug into her palm, and she winced. Maybe she dug her nails in a little too deep. “But, er…. that’s not all.” She glanced at Stan, unsure what to say.

 

But, erm….. maybe I should wait until we get there, I’d hate to have someone eavesdropping.” Lara cleared her throat. With that, she piped down, waiting for his answer. If he even had one, there was a strong chance of that not being the case. Even so, her heart felt heavier than normal. Each beat felt more like a thud. It didn’t hurt, but it bothered her more than anything else going on right now. She sighed and scratched the back of her head. Man…. maybe I should just retreat into my mind. I wonder how long I can keep that up until Stan asks what the devil I want… Lara bit the inside of her cheek. What was Stan going to say to her?

 

At the moment, Stan hated that he could read all the signs she was sending, from her tense body language to the extra attention to her appearance, from the fleeting eye contact to the flustered look on her cheeks. She had something to say to him, and it was going to be more than just a simple apology like she let off. They were friends before. Close. Or was it a ruse for her to get close to him? But nowadays she acted like so many other women before her — the motions were so familiar, and that comparison chilled him to the bone. He was convinced that he was different now, and it almost felt like someone else’s memories were injected into his brain and made them impossible to banish. And yet… he was afraid to become that person again who would leave a trail of broken hearts in his wake.

 

He had tried putting this moment off, to not see her or look at her for too long, and it looked like she had the same avoidant idea — but as the minutes passed the tension grew thick in the air and the longer he ignored it the darker the storm brewed. He knew that it never paid to put things off, but…

 

Upon reaching the foot of the stairway leading to the rooms, he stopped. He let Lara take a few steps up herself while he waited below, hesitating to follow her further. He ran an anxious hand through his hair, other hand clicking on the railing.  “Don’t… Don’t worry about me, you’re safe, and that’s all that matters.

 

Stan knew what he wanted, but he didn’t know if he wanted to let himself get what he wanted. All he really addressed was her apology. There was more to it, and now that they were face to face the pauses felt frustratingly long. All they were doing was more evasive smalltalk.

 

He let a pained breath huff out of his nose, and, closing his eyes, let his cursed instincts take over. He crossed the two steps between them and, wordlessly, pulled her close to him and pressed his lips to hers.

 

What he wanted… was for her to be happy. If he was right and she was in love, it could spark joy just for a moment; if he was wrong, she would push him away and never have the chance to be hurt by him.

 

When he broke the kiss, he smiled. Part of him wondered how genuine his reactions were, but for now, all he could do was to make her moment magical. “Nobody can eavesdrop if we don’t end up saying anything,” he whispered.

 

Her eyes were probably wider than they’d ever been. A part of her was still scared, scared that this wouldn’t last as long as she wanted it to. But at this point… it didn’t matter, did it? She took one of her hands off his face and rested it on his shoulder. Her other hand caressed his face, noting that he probably needed a shave. “Mon Dieu,” she whispered, “you’re…. you’re not just trying to get something from me, are you?” She chuckled, her face growing quite warm. Was it her? No, her shirt left enough exposed so that she wasn’t sweating. But what of him? It didn’t seem so, but perhaps she didn’t need to know. ….or did she? She moved her arms so that they wrapped around his waist- noting here that he was a little squishy. Yes, she liked it. “I suppose you picked up on it rather quick… and I’m not sure whether or not I want to kiss or kill you.” Her voice had reduced to a light purr. Another chuckle escaped her throat. She let out the rest of her air and took in another breath. “But now that it’s been heavily implied- yes, I’m afraid I’ve…. fallen in love with you,” she said in a whisper, “and I’m not entirely sure what I’m to do about it.” She rested her head on his shoulder, allowing herself to relax, just the smallest bit.

 

Still, she had to wonder. Was he just toying with her? He had been a serial flirt, that she knew. She didn’t want to let her guard down that much, but just enough that she could enjoy this. Lara wanted to cherish the moment, even if it wasn’t going to last very long. After all, here he was, in her arms, clearly aware that there was something between the two of them that they both previously refused to admit. Thus she gave him a brief squeeze, trying to process if this was even real. It had to have been. Just the slightest piece of her, perhaps the same part of her that was overthinking it, was disappointed that she hadn’t had the chance to say it. She was ready to woman the **** up, but perhaps this was for the better. Her arms relaxed around his waist yet again. Lara allowed herself to calm down, nothing was going to hurt her— not right now. Part of her had a feeling things would be different, and she had hoped so. She’d been hurt one too many times. Perhaps Stan knew it, from the very brief mention of her past relationships, but ah. Those didn’t matter as much, did they. Only painful life lessons, that’s all they were meant to be.

 

Perhaps, then, she could allow herself to love Stan as much as she wanted to. She removed her chin from his shoulder and parted his lips with her own, this time soft, gentle, and deliberate. She felt him sigh into the kiss, and she felt her own eyelids flutter just a bit. Lara parted from it, and took a step back. She looked up at him, this time with a soft expression. “I have to say, you have a very interesting habit of surprising me. I…. quite like it.

 

"You could both kiss me and kill me, but I don't think you'd be into kissing corpses even though you do raid tombs," he quipped once she gave him a chance to reply. This time, she surprised him with her own kiss, taking the initiative and muffling his lips just as he was about to speak. "Surprises are the best. Keep everyone on their toes...."

 

He shook his head. "But I don't think anyone else would be surprised by this. We basically bicker like a married couple anyway, and I was wondering when this'll all boil over... And I was hoping it wouldn't have exploded during the mission like it did."

 

Yes. That was mostly his own fault for not addressing it sooner. She wouldn't have been too stubborn to come along, in that case, nor risked her life to impress him. And while he wanted to say that he wouldn't have cared if she were gone, the truth was, he didn't want to see anyone else close to him be taken away so suddenly. Why were the people he always got the closest to the people who always insisted on putting themselves in danger?

 

He paused, then took a few more steps up to the second floor. He looked back toward Lara, beckoning her to follow him up, reassuring her that he wanted to continue even though he didn't want to linger in the halls. "I.." he stammered, finding it hard to meet her eyes directly,." I really like you too. I've liked you ever since you were plucky enough to leave your world and tag along with us."

 

She nodded, snorted and rolled her eyes when Stan had said they bickered like a married couple- he wasn’t wrong, not in the slightest. “Yeah, but I guess I sort of like that. I can tell you that it’s not something I’ve had the chance to do before.” Her smile softened and the corners of her lips dropped a millimeter. “Ah….. yes, that…. really came to a head back there, didn’t it. Not that I regret anything, except maybe yelling at you over something so… petty. It was petty.

 

She noticed Stan take a few steps and immediately took a few of her own. “Ah! Right, where were we heading…. your room? Right, your room. My room’s a bit of a mess anyway, um…. I made a friend, and she decided to root through my closet to find me something to wear after my shower. Not something I’d wear to a mission recap, but she has good taste.” Her smile returned, and she noticed she was feeling a bit more confident than before. Had this all been simply because she was too worried about what Stan would say? Had to have been, she had been both feeling and acting unusual recently.

 

But that confidence left as soon as he made his little confession. Her face flushed again, and her body instinctually moved closer to him as they walked. He seemed to radiate warmth, which she didn’t mind quite one bit. Lara leaned in and pressed one gentle peck on the cheek, giving him a warm smile as they continued down the hall towards his room. She went back to fiddling with her braid, rather flustered that he admitted he liked her. “I…” She blinked. “I may have liked you for the same amount of time, might even have been part of why I came along in the first place, but…. Er…. It was maybe a few weeks ago when I realized it was deeper than that.

 

"I'm sure I've told you in the past how my dashing good looks used to strike women straight in their hearts -- and it's good to hear that I've still got it, if it caused you to follow me to the ends of the multiverse." Stan grinned, fully expecting her to elbow him in retaliation. He could still feel the spot where her lips had bumped into his cheek. The skin there prickled, eager to be touched again. "I'm glad you're making new friends with some of the newcomers. Place is going to get real lively real soon."

 

He reached out his hand -- his human hand, with fingers that could still feel -- and found hers. He entwined them together, noticing the unexpected smoothness of her palm. "I assume this was what you wanted to talk about in my room, but since you've already been out with it..." He thoughtfully ran his thumb in circles, rubbing against the underside of her hand, "I reckon it's a good excuse to hide from prying eyes for a bit."

 

Stan smiled. "Shall we?"

 

Yeah,” she said with a grin, “especially considering I’d been mostly keeping to myself, this’ll be a change. And I have someone I can practice my French with, always a plus.” She snorted. Evonna did seem like someone she would be friends with, for sure. Soon, he took her hand, and she went quiet again. So many firsts between these two, it was actually quite nice.


His hand was rough, but not dry, thank God. She had wondered for some time how they’d feel underneath those gloves that made her overheat. Strangely, even her hands seemed a little small in comparison. “Right, yes, it’d be nice to get away from nosy fellow agents for a bit. You know how I like to get away and decompress after missions like that,” she mused. “Although,” she said whilst noting her cheeks hurt a little from smiling like an idiot, “it’ll be nice relaxing with you for a change.” Lara gave his hand a squeeze, lifting his hand to meet her lips. “Let’s go.

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Kelsier - Dining Hall

[Post-meeting] - [and negotiations]

 

Now that the meeting was over, people were beginning to leave. That was a good thing. Made it less formal. Kelsier gave the dagger a nudge with the back of his hand, but it was wedged into the wood real good. He didn’t think anyone could rip it out unless they themselves had pewter-strength. Only one person, really, was upset by the scarring of the tabletop, and Kelsier saw no harm in adding some extra marks to an already well worn surface. Frustratingly, his stabbing would have been a lot more dramatic, if it weren't for that other young man and his explosive powers getting to stab the table first.

 

The building they were in was majestic, but still sparsely decorated -- almost as if they had taken over the keep without actually owning it. He could support that. But regardless of the situation and intent of this group, they had powers beyond even Mistborn, and maybe even beyond the Lord Ruler. Could he get a piece of that? Kelsier had refrained from using any of his emotional allomancy all meeting to see how it would play out, but so far it seemed that everyone was alright with him. 


I figure you’re some sort of hero back in your world, Kelsier?” The small purple horse had rounded the table and trotted up near him. It was so small only a child would be able to ride on its back. And moreso than all the other things that it could do, it was beyond strange to see a horse talk, now that he saw it up close.

 

Something like that,” the Survivor replied. “Heroes are only from stories, and even then, we don’t know if they’re telling the truth.” He pressed his lips together and pushed the corners up in a cheeky, closed-mouth smile. “But I do want to make a difference for the better.

 

"Don't we all..." The pony climbed a chair and sat down. She didn't really say anything right away, as if she were searching for some difficult words to avoid making real promises.

 

Kelsier didn't give her the chance to say them. “Duke?” he called. That young man was still in the room, talking to his friend. “Could you talk a little more about your abilities? I like your flair for the dramatic, but you really didn’t explain anything back at the meeting.

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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Sorey - 3rd Floor Library

[nerding out with the full gang] - [holds up arch: "is this a seraph?"]

 

"They have a copy of the Celestial Record? No way...!"

 

Sorey put a finger on the spine of a book. He pulled the leatherbound volume out from a shelf with many other similarly wide books in the one of many aisles simply marked History and Mythology, examining the leatherbound cover with its corners protected by metal brackets. This copy wasn't as worn down as his own, as if it were -- disappointingly -- only read once or twice. Mikleo had a similar volume in his hand, flipping through it silently and thoughtfully, his eyebrows furrowed from intense focus. Sorey peered over his friend to see what he was reading, noting that he could understand the symbols forming the writing, but oddly enough, he consciously knew that it was in a language that he could not comprehend normally.

 

"2500 years ago," it read, "the people of Unova were united through the power of two heroes, twin brothers from the Kingdom of the Vale, using the power of an ancient mythical dragon. However, as the years passed, both brothers began to disagree, and this tore the dragon apart -- one, who followed the truth, and the other, who would stand by ideals."

 

He heard the door to the library creak open. Sorey froze, then peeked out from the shelves to see two figures come in. Both were young men, likely only a couple years older than him, though the blond one seemed to be wearing radiant wings on his back. He thought he could sense something akin to malevolence, but not quite, in the angry-looking one, though he was nearly baffled by the purity emitted from the one that looked like an angel.

 

Sorey ducked back into his row, out of sight and undercover. Edna woke up from the nap she was pretending to take, first opening a lazy eye and then finally sitting up. All of the Shepherd's friends were out for some fresh air, although the small blond-haired girl decided that she wanted no part in looking at human-penned books all day like the others.

 

"Is he a seraph?" Sorey whispered to everyone, motioning to the winged one with his head.

 

"In the most archaic, technical sense of the word, yes, he is a seraphim angel," Lailah answered.

 

Sorey nodded, seeming to take the information at face value.  "Right. Seraphs come in all shapes and sizes. So, it shouldn't be hard to talk to him and see if he's holding any blessings? I mean, he does look kind of powerful."

 

"Yeah, he looks like a wind seraph, with those wings," Edna egged him on. "You should recruit him. Make a sublord. We need a windy boy."

 

Mikleo slapped a hand to his own face. He watched the self-satisfied smile on Lailah's lips -- that gleeful expression that appeared whenever she landed a well-received pun, except in this case, they were all part of a much larger joke. And Edna was as insufferable as ever, with her monotone voice and her little hidden smirk. It was obvious that the winged being wasn't exactly like one of their kind, but, he had to concede, that perhaps that fact was not as obvious to the common human senses. 

 

"Oh, but we need a vessel to put him in," Edna continued. "That book will do. Meebo, would you so kindly pass it over? Provided it's not raunchy material, but what would a baby like you do with that stuff on hand?"

 

Mikleo's face turned beet-red at the comment, and he shoved the book of Unovan lore into Edna's hands. Sorey was looking around the corner of the shelf again, but this time he stepped out and gave the angel seraphim and his friend a wave. He ignored the squabbling trio behind him. "Hey!"

 

Sorey didn't think too far on what he would do after getting the angel's attention. But it was a start.

Edited by TehUltimateMage

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Jowan 

Allies: Duke, Kelsier
Location: Dining Hall

 

Jowan’s head is still buzzing with thoughts of teaching Duke magic by the time the meeting ends. Not that he’d been ignoring what was happening; all the information had been important, and he would have been a fool to not listen. It’s just that none of it seems quite as important as their plans, even though logically saving a world should matter far more. He’s never been good at prioritizing information. 

 

He turns to listen with interest to Duke’s explanation. It’s sort of like the magic discussion they’d promised that they’d have, and he doesn’t want to miss any of it. 

 

As it turns out, it’s a good thing that he decided to pay attention. Duke hasn’t gotten any better at explaining things; his explanations are meandering and easily derailed, and he keeps saying things that don’t make sense without context. It takes him a while to even get to what Vylcan is. It’s probably even more confusing for Kelsier, who’s known Duke for an even shorter time than Jowan has. 

 

He doesn’t mind so much as he might have. Duke’s voice is nice to listen to, even if he’d make a terrible lecturer. Jowan smiles a little at the thought. 

Then things go wrong. Duke wipes away the grimace as though it’s easy, hiding it behind that omnipresent smile. He doesn’t get far before he’s hissing at himself, and Jowan -- 

 

-- he can’t help but flinch a little at that. It’s different, he knows, but Duke talking to himself is a disturbing reminder that he’s technically possessed. It’s completely different. Duke’s flesh is undistorted, hasn’t been twisted and warped and then torn and left in a bloodied heap by a templar’s sword. Duke isn’t acting cruel or speaking with a voice that doesn’t match his body. 

 

He feels sick. 

 

He tries to push thoughts of Conner out of his mind. They aren’t helpful, relevant, or pleasant, and Duke still has a pained, far-off expression on his face. Jowan doesn’t miss that Duke still hasn’t actually explained what he can do with his powers. As much as he spoke, he hadn’t actually said anything to answer the question. Still, he hopes that Kelsier has the sense to not try to pull anything more out of him. “Are you alright?” he asks, voice soft, trying to get over his own memories to help Duke. 
 

Status: Minor Injuries

Edited by Zor

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