The Escapist Avatar Adventure: An Open RP (Now Re-Opened!)

[Zepherus14]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Above Denver-Ruins
​

[hr]

Rising Dawn: Command Bridge Rugal, Hillary, Ton Ton, Cadolbolg

"Do let us know if you need anything."​

Those words echoed in her mind and brought her away from her trying to remember what parts seemed to be missing. Her head looked up to Rugal's face once again, her mouth opened slightly, hesitant to say anything at first. The surface of her eyes moved and shifted, apparently looking back down at the figurine in her hands as her head looked back down to it. "Well, there are a couple of things you could help me with here if at all possible?" Hillary spoke, gently placing her thumb on the side of the largest woman's head. "You, haven't seen either of these two?" Hillary asked, indicating the two women. "Or heard the names of Anik or Timea? Last time this happened Hillary met some really wonderful people, and I understand its a really really big place out there, but if Hillary could see them again..? It would make her so happy~" She spoke, allowing Rugal to get a better look to the statuettes of the two, but not letting him take it from her either. [footnote]So as a semi references for what you're looking at here is Timea [https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-1df9f0e8c7e34002c814e95994f261cb-c] and Anik [http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/legendofthecryptids/images/6/65/Anik_the_Soul_Searcher.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/338?cb=20140118023042]. Timea would be wearing an large blanket around her waist while Anik was dressed in some decent winter garb.[/footnote]

While everyone got the chance to have a good look at the two, Hillary followed up with another request that she felt would ease some of the concern among the group (And by that I mean Rugal). "Also, if there is something Hillary could, eat? Maybe some tin cans or foil, but even just some plastic would be good if its clean?" She requested in a nonshalant manner like one would for a simple glass of water."I'm not hungry really but if Hillary got something to put in her then she wouldn't need to hold her look like I am right now?" Hillary would go on to explain loosely, not exactly considering the idea that human don't normally put 'food' and 'plastic' in the same phrase. "You, haven't ever met a Slime before, have you?" She pondered out loud, not specifically talking to anyone in particular about this topic.

 

[Silence]

The Rising Dawn
Cantina
Morning

[hr]

Diana​

Diana, after her unpleasant conversation with Jenny, went back to drinking. Why does this incompetent and annoying person even have friends in the first place? she thought. I can see neither a reason why Violet was in charge, nor why anyone should care for him. But well ..." she got up, after drinking up all she had left, swaying slightly. Time to punch someone in the face.

She casually strolled out, towards the medical bay, asking herself why she even did so, and what 'clearing her mind' even meant. I'm certainly drunk, to go after her now of all times. Diana thought and called out in the next moment, standing in the door to the medical ward. "HAS ANYONE SEEN A ***** IN A WHEELCHAIR? APPARENTLY SHE WANTS SOMETHING FROM ME?"

Stepping inside, she oogled at any person her gaze fell on. "You are not in a wheelchair." she stated to a nurse, causing her to get a short pinch of her headache in her mind, similar to what Diana had felt herself. "You neither." she stated, pointing at a patient on a bed, staring at her in confusion, causing him to feel the same. This way, she went through a few people, before stopping at a man who currently got his arms replaced by something mechanical parts.

"You are building cyborgs here? You disgust me, you stupid people." she stated to a random doctor. "How about you think of something better than this? Evolution, my man, not Regressolution ... or something. Fuck you." she added, causing him to feel a pinch in his mind.

After a while, she actually found the Gardevoir. "You." she pointed at her. "I frankly do not care about what you did to me, but you seemingly do. Well, and you seem to care about this vermin. How about I use you as a punching bag, because I am bored, and in the end, if you can still listen, I tell you why he is the way he is as a reward. Deal?"

[hr]

Las Vegas
Strip
Night
Anjali | Eddie the Dead​

Anjali opened her eyes. There were lights, so many of them, she needed to adjust for a bit. Apparently it was night, as she knew when looking into the sky, but the roads and buildings were lit up brighter than any daylight could accomplish. And there were so many people, she had trouble observing even one of them for a longer period of time.

[color=5B9C64]"Welcome to the Twilight City, Las Vegas. Entertainment capital of the world. Whatever ya wanna do, you can bet there's a place for it here."[/color] Eddie told her. [color=5B9C64]"So, whatcha feel like doing? Would you like to try out some form of adult entertainment, or would you like me to tour you around the place? There's no hurry. After all..."[/color] he took a coin out of his pocket, spun it in the air, and caught it, [color=5B9C64]"We've got all night."[/color]

The coin took her attention, as good an object as any to keep her focused, and Anjali answered: "I do not know what you understand as 'adult entertainment', but maybe it would be best if you tour me around the place first, show me what what iss ..." Then, she saw her own reflection on the bonnet of Eddie's car, wearing uniform and gazing at herself with red glowing eyes, and tensed up. "Do you think I wear the wrong things for this place? And what about my ... condition? I mean ..." More people went by, all wearing different things, a different amount of clothes. "Are there any rules to this place, anyways?" she asked, and smiled more now, as in her mind everyone could get attention, so no one did, not even Eddie and Anjali.

"What can you do in this place? It's ... so strange. I have never seen anything like thiss. I understand not half of the words that are written on the buildings here.
Tell me what is fun!"

Eddie stared for a moment, and started playing with the coin, rolling it across his knuckles. [color=5B9C64]"First thing to know about Vegas is that it doesn't matter what you wear, who you are, or how you look. If you win, you're treated as a God. If not, you'll get laughed at - behind your back, of course. It's impolite to do it in your face."[/color] he went faster, [color=5B9C64]"As for rules, it's the usual. Don't steal, kill, cheat, if you do drugs, don't get caught, if you're a nudist, make sure you're drunk to use that as a defense, and public sex is outlawed.[/color] The coin disappeared, and suddenly he was holding it between two fingers in his other hand, [color=5B9C64]"As for what is fun,"[/color] he shrugged, [color=5B9C64]"Well, that depends. What do you find fun? What did you do for fun back in your world? Maybe we can find common ground, and if not, I have a better idea of what you like.[/color]

Anjali let Eddie's words run through her ethereal brain, answering slowly: "I'm not one to laugh about others, so this should not be a problem. I hope we don't lose, though ... I also don't like stealing, killing or cheating. My mother told me those are wrong. Well, especially killing. I don't know any drugs and ... ew." Anjali grimaced, not wanting to imagine the act. "Well, I did like dancing and singing when I was alive. We did not have all this stuff ... I was living in a small village, you know. There was not that much to do but eat, work and go to the temple on holy days. A bit of dancing, a bit of talking. Watching the birds ... are there even birds here?
I did never really play cards or dice, these were for older men. But then, the old granny always won ... she seemed to have fun." she laughed. "I guess it does not hurt to try, doess it?"

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | A Bookish Bookstore
Golem! Golem!
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Nina Zaczoltski Phillip!!!​

[hr]

Prior to the discovery of the swarm in the bookstore's backroom, Ruby Babbage-Lovelace's day had been going fairly well. For starters, Miss Nina Zaczoltski had not only taken her on off of the Airship and visited a town that was strangely absent of any life but she'd then decided to become a student of the magical arts. Contrary to what fictional books would have one believe, magical academies were not the ideal place to study magic. For one thing there whole teams of religious zealots that would have found a school filled with heathens and witches to be an absolutely juicy target. Another thing was the fact that when you gathered groups of mages in one place, things sometimes exploded, including other students. The Airship Rising Dawn was the perfect place for Miss Zavzoltski to learn and practice her magical craft considering it was a floating fortress that stayed away from crowded urban centers most of the time. It would also be nice to have another novice magician aboard the Rising Dawn, someone that the Frilly Dress Pink Princess could discuss the finer points of magic with... like what materials one should avoid using when crafting a golem or elemental [footnote]Generally one wants to avoid using explosive or radioactive materials unless you don't care about your surrounding environments[/footnote].

Standing in the middle of the bookstore, wearing a large bright grin on her face, Ruby listened to what Miss Zaczoltski had to say and answered her temporary temporary guardian's questions as best as she could... at least she would have were there not an interruption. But hey, here's what would have happened!

"I'm not sure exactly what we'll be up to after our little adventure here, but be it you teaching me some tricks, visiting your mom, this library, or even all three. I think I could squeeze it into my busy schedule~ Deal?" Miss Zaczoltski said as she squeezed the nine year old girl's far smaller hand and shook it.

"Deal!" The child said enthusiastically.

"So, I'm a bit surprised your mom is around here. With Eddie being the one taking care of you, I figured she must have been off on business." There was a bit of a strange tone to Miss Zaczoltski's voice as she said this... as if she was questioning something, "And, this Red Mage? Something happened to him?"

"Well, I didn't meet Mister Eddie too long ago and Miss Rory, she's one of the members of the Rising Dawn, asked Mister Eddie to take care of Farber and me while she left... she seemed like she really really needed to get off of the airship," Ruby mentioned, unaware of what happened to the Demi-Goddess of Death whenever there were people dying nearby, "And then Mister Eddie had to leave in order to take care of some stuff also... but my moms, their names are Deborah and Titania, work with the Rising Dawn but are usually away on business... they just happen to be at the Airship now." The nine-year-old pretty pretty princess rambled for a moment before pausing, "As for Mister Red Mage... he's the only magician that I've heard of that almost killed all the gods..."

Of course, as was previously stated, that's what would have been said were it not for Phillip's poorly timed interruption... not that was truly his fault or anything. No if anything, it was the swarm's fault. As Miss Zaczoltski walked towards the back to the bookstore to find out why Phillip was making such a racket, Ruby reached down for the book that she had been reading, a Primer on Golem Crafting, only to discover that she wasn't the only one in the store interested in the book. Standing atop the thick tome was what looked like an inky black stag beetle who appeared to be starting at the young girl who was staring at it. Being a rabid book fanatic, the usually fearless nine year old girl was aware that certain insects instinctively seek darker areas in order to hide better and sometimes these dark places were people's shadows. While it might look like a particularly nasty bug is charging a person, it's actually trying to stay in a person's shadow. It's one thing, however, to have the knowledge and it's another thing to experience it first hand.

*SPLORCH!*

That was the sound that the bug made as it attempted to invade the Ribbon Clad Cloth-o-mancer and got a stomp for its troubles and ,as one would have expected from such a noise, its guts ended up everywhere, including the bottom of Ruby Babbage-Lovelace's poor poor pretty-pretty ballerina slippers.

"Ewwwwww," The young girl ew'd in disgust as she looked at the bottom of her foot and the black spatter mark that was dripping off of the sides of the soles of her shoes. While she could have used the pages of a random book to wipe the mess off of her shoes, she did just what she had for Miss Zaczoltski, she magicked the mess out of the materials that were used in crafting her shoes... or would have had the black smear not fulled dripped off of her footwear and started sliming its way back towards the stag beetle's body where it was reincorporated into the rapidly regenerating insect.

Watching in morbid fascination, Ruby was taken by surprise when she wa suddenly whisked right off her feet by a running Miss Nina.

"Ruby! We need to RUN! NOW!!" Her Protective Temporary Guardian yelled as she tucked Ruby under her arms like a pink football, proving that humans can do quite a bit when under the influence of an extremem amount of adrenaline.

As tempted as she was to respond with a "What's going on?" or a "LET ME DOWN!" Ruby had been in enough danger riddled situations to know that she had to stay calm and observe the events that were unfolding around her and sure enough, the answer to her unstated questions became obvious, a swarm of insects like the one that the mini-magnus has squished were running after them, presumably not for the reason that Ruby had originally theorized. For a bunch of bugs, these were certainly quick and they seemed to be closing in on the trio of bookstore escapees.

Closing her eyes, the young magician concentrated on her surroundings, sensing the bolts of cloth from the stall that was located not too far away from the bookstore. While she could have attempted to try to contain all of the bugs inside of a barrier made of cloth, she had the feeling that these extra-dimensional insects would have been able to burrow their way through a flimsy thing. She needed something a bit larger and more distracting than a simple spell. Sending out ribbons of mystical energy, she started to weave the bolts of cloth into something very, very, VERY large... a rag doll with giant yarnlike hair, not too dissimilar from Raggedy Ann. Unlike the playful animated doll, this giant sized version wasn't out to be friendly with all she met, she was intend on distracting the trio's pursuers at any cost.



[hr]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | The Airship Rising Dawn | The Canteen

Tadaima, Bitches!

Katya Rostikova | Antoinette de la Trou | Benedict Warrington​

[hr]

Like Ruby Babbage-Lovelace, Katya's day had gone from pretty good to an explosion of shit of epic proportions. Whether it was some random fluke or perhaps the work of some sadistic God [footnote]>_>[/footnote], the Rising Dawn's Resident Depraved Internet Troll had, like the previous few additions to the Rising Dawn, decided that crashing through the ceiling was the best way to make her grand return to the Airship... and she'd brought friends as well. While the people around her had started resuming their drinking, Katya, thanks to BEWP, had started to mend the shattered bones in her body and regenerate her mostly exploded organs. She was going to survive but this was going to hurt like a *****.

"OW! OW! OW! THAT'S MY FUCKING SPLEEN!!!" The Self Healing Hacker screamed loudly as her spleen was patched up and placed in the general location of where it was supposed to be. It felt like a group of people prone to epileptic seizures were playing Operation inside of Katya's body. As her left eye was popped back in place, she noticed that her "friends" or the people that had fallen through the roof with her and landed on top of her, were being dragged off by some staff, presumably for some medical attention and light introductory hazing as part of their indoctrination into the Rising Dawn. Katya remembered her's very well since he dealt with the ship's most egotistical, self centered, self aggrandizing winged electrical asshat on the ship.

Speaking of asshats.

"OW!" Katya screamed again as she totally-not-on-purpose-I-swear-but-you'll-never-get-me-to-admit-otherwise kicked David's glass over with a flailing foot as her legs were popped back into the correct position relative to her hips... and with that it was over... the pain subsided and the world suddenly seemed at ease again.

"GODDAMIT OW!" The mostly fixed fixer screamed as BEWP oragnically spot welded a nipple back in place... and that should have been the last of it... or so Katya had thought as the world felt like it came crashing down around her and a multitude of hands groped at her and lifted her off of the hard hard bar...

~Fade to black~​

~beep~ ~beep~ ~beep~ ~beep~ ~beep~

Did I ever mention that Katya hated hospitals worse than anything in the world? It was a combination of the repetitive beeping and the fact that everyone always treated hospital patients with some degree of fragility. Dolly was probably sitting right next to Katya's bed with that rat bastard David. Glancing around, she noticed that she was all alone actually in the sick bay, a fact that made her feel both irate and underappreciated. Grumbling at the fact that there was not a familiar face around, the formerly missing mechanical genius swung her legs off the bed and started heading back towards the Canteen where she could presumably get some sort of sustenance and guilt trip a hug out of Dolly.

"HONEY! I'M HOOOOOOME!" Katya exclaimed as she burst through the Canteen's double doors.

 

[BlackHarte]

"Attention Heroes and Staff, this is Engineering Captain Theiss speaking.

Docking procedures are complete as of now. All staff and passengers are free to move throughout the vessel. Support squadrons 260, 262 and 264 please report to the cargo bay and help restock our inventory. Support squadron 263 is currently on an extended leave-of-absence. Engineering teams, the 121st Engineering Division is -

[HEADING=3]AGAIN WITH THE CRASHING THROUGH THE ROOF. WHAT IS EVERYONE'S PROBLEM!? NAAMAH CANNOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS SO UNAPPEALING ABOUT DOORS![/HEADING]

Ah! Colonel Blackheart, please calm down!

[HEADING=3]NAAMAH WILL NOT "CALM DOWN." NAAMAH IS FURIOUS. PERHAPS NAAMASH SHALL INSTALL DOORS IN THE CEILINGS FOR THE HEROES WHO ARE TOO SPECIAL TO USE DOORS.[/HEADING]

No! No, no. Colonel Blackheart, please sit down. Someone prepare some cinnamon apple tea for the Colonel!

[HEADING=3]AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA[/HEADING]

ALL STRUCTURAL REPAIR SPECIALISTS ARE TO REPORT TO THE CANTEEN BREACH IMMEDIATELY. OTHER ENGINEERING TEAMS RENDEZVOUS WITH THE 121ST ENGINEERING DIVISION IN THE DOCK."

[HEADING=2]Rising Dawn: Canteen ------------------------------------------------------------------ 01:00 AM[/HEADING][hr][HEADING=3]Lt. Dolores Selmy[/HEADING]

Two men peered down at the gathered heroes through the breach in steel and wire. The thick carbon micromesh had been torn clean through and the steel twisted as if putty. The engineers settled into their work with a tired reservation. One strung in the supports, another lowered himself into the breach and soon the rhythmic ring of hammer and torch joined the symphony of clamor that was the Canteen.

Laeta and Saren had broken their masks of fury, and now instead wore malicious grins on their faces. I knew that well. I reached out and grabbed Laeta firmly by her wrist. She was still tense. "No. No alcohol. We all know full and well what happened the last time you two were drunk."

Laeta tilted her head and closed her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about." It was easy for me to read her face, it was a mixture of mischief and rebellion. A sure sign of teenage disregard for both authority and common sense. I put down her hand and shook my head sternly.

Then I turned back to David and touched his hands gingerly. They felt different. They weren't like my father's, whose hands were soft and gentle. No, these hands were worn in, rough and calloused. The nails were cut short and the skin was thick. These were the hands of an honest man, hardworking and tough. I remember somewhere though, deep inside, a hurtful grasp. It had been different back then, his hands were soft and gentle, like a woman's. Well manicured and groomed. It was meticulous, perfect. It was obsessive. Those were hands of a person born to kill. Soft and cold, suffocating to the touch.

David cleared his throat.

I fell back into my chair and let go of his hands, "I'm sorry." I looked away, "I.. I got lost in thought, I guess." I looked back at him, through him almost. Outside the windows I could see the massive machine complex that the Rising Dawn had parked in. The natural stars of the night sky had been replaced by blinking lights, the clouds by smoke and steam, and the chorus of migrant birds by shrill barks and whistles of the soldiers below.

That's right. We're soldiers. I cleared my throat and summoned what gravitas I could. "It's not your fault. You and me, we're human after all. We make mistakes, we hurt and we get hurt. There's nothing that we could do to stop that. You don't owe me anything, for either my injury or your attitude. We live lives of hardship, so I do not blame you for seeking solace in the superhuman natures of your friends." God knows I feel the same way.

The doors slammed open from the outside, one of the engineers working on the roof lost his grip on his supports and fell onto the bar. "Gah! That scared the shits out of me!" He looked around, and then at Luke. "Oh sorry about your bar. I think I might've put a dent in the thing uh...." His eyes searched for a badge and name tag. "Who are you exactly? You're not part of the staff are you?"

"Hey sis, you're girlfriend is here!" Saren said. She waved with her hand as a massive ice-cream sundae was brought before her. The decadent dessert was loaded with all sorts of rare fruits and nuts. Some from alternate worlds. She really took David's tab and worked it raw. Laeta looked over, chewing absently on a sweet sausage and grinned. She pressed her lips against the meat and rubbed it suggestively with two fingers. "Shit, you're really cradle robbing with this one, she's ought to be 'round my age." Laeta took a large bite out of her sausage and let the juices run down her lips and chin before scooping it up with her fingers and shoveling the rest back into her mouth.

I looked out toward her, "Ah... Katya." I picked up her letter from my lap and held it up to her. "Katya, you're okay..." I forced myself to smile, "I'm glad."

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Rising Dawn: King Leoric's room: King Leoric, Nadalia

The room was mostly the same as the other bedrooms on the Dawn, Leoric not really having the time to put his personal spin on it.
Only thing he had unpacked were some candles, namely because he was unaware that the room had a light switch.
There was something that stood out however: a Rather Large Chest [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jJxa1uSAVsw/VbE3Upr44yI/AAAAAAAAAMg/1hHQiEuC2ZM/s1600/imagem_capa_diabolic_hoard.jpg], one truly fit for a king.
Most of what he was able to salvage from his manor and his crypt was inside, like a massive suitcase that required 5 people to move and a small step-ladder to even open.
"Indeed. I have been a guest of honor in many noble's houses in my time, but this vessel of yours is finer then even the wealthiest of kingdoms...A fine resting place for this old king as any...Now, where did I leave it?..." He answered as he began to go though some of his old vanity objects, carefully laying them on the bed beside Nadalia.
There was a number of treasures, a Scepter [https://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/mad-monarchs-scepter], A Portrait of his former self [http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/diablo/images/f/f7/Leoric_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20140917044905], the old Crown of Khanduras [http://diablo.wikia.com/wiki/The_Undead_Crown] and a entire bag of Fancy Rings [https://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/stone-of-jordan].
"I remember hearing that adventurers would use those rings in place of gold once rumors about false coins began to become common place. Which reminds me, I must give that to that strange young woman I had shared-...shared a-...cell..." He trailed off as he found not what he was looking for but rather a Reminder of his past [https://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/leorics-signet].
"..........."

His silence spoke a thousand words to Nadalia, the kind of vibe you wouldn't expect from King Leoric. Here he was, a corpse if not outright a skeleton that still showed emotions. The Iron Queen understood perfectly how the past can still bind those to relive that experience long ago, for both the living and the dead.

King Leoric felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, Nadalia standing at his side now.
"No need to cross that path again, my king. You've clearly been through enough by now to think about trivial matters." She didn't mean his past was trivial, but rather, she didn't want him to dwell on things that no longer mattered when the present was far more important. She did however, began to examine each jewelry and treasury Leoric had displayed for the Bride of Ash's to check out, and although she wasn't materialistic, such belongings were incredibly nice towards the eyes.

"To the common eye, these would seem rather simplistic in nature; the mortal mind making it out to be a cosmetic of sorts. However, I can sense something deeper about them, their crafts carrying a hidden power. Forgive me for asking, but how will these, exactly, help me with my current problem?" Her tone didn't seem disappointed nor upset, but rather, puzzled. Nadalia was certain these were useful in some way, but did not see how in any shape or form, they could return her to the Iron Queen that once ruled over the entire nation of Alonne.

It took sometime before Leoric finally snapped out of his trance, finally muttering something along the lines of "Yes, yes. Just another moment of your time, Iron Queen..."
It was then that he finally found what he was after: His old Golden Gorget [https://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/golden-gorget-of-leoric] and the powerful Flawless Royal Ruby [https://us.battle.net/d3/en/artisan/jeweler/recipe/flawless-royal-ruby] contained inside it.
"Ahhh...Here we are...I remember wearing this the night I was slain...While it didn't save me, perhaps it might aid you in this trying time..." He said before gently playing the Amulet around Nadalia's neck.
"Contained within is a magical gem with the power to increase one's strength. A travelling jeweler sold it to one of my servants when I was taken ill. Since my passing, I have infused it with some of my own power. Merely say "Servants" and it will bring about up to 6 of my personal assistants to aid you however you require. Just take heed: They are not warriors, no matter how much they claim otherwise..."

Upon wearing the amulet, Nadalia would feel a lot-..."Lighter", as if every movement of her body was far easier then before.
While it didn't do much for her visible illness, it did allow her to walk un-assisted once more...

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Rising Dawn: Medical Bay: Jenny, Diana

While she was still under-going treatment for her own wounds, Jenny was still able to help with some of the psychological and emotional needs of the other patients.
That and you'd be amazed how popular the ability to shut off someone's sense of pain is in a medical profession.[footnote]Basically, she uses Psychic power to isolate and delay impulses from nerve endings to prevent sensations of pain from being processed. While it doesn't cure the root cause of the pain, it's still nice to get some relief[/footnote].
When Diana found her, she was looking over some medical charts for Dr. Violet, namely detailing how he had been given a sedative in order to calm him down.
"...Your social skills need a bit of work." Jenny mentally answered without even looking up from her chart at the enraged shapeshifter.
"That and I must say: I've actually been subject to several cases of abuse over my life as it is and, frankly, I'm not in the humor to entertain another. So if you could just apologize and undo the mental trauma you have inflicted on Dr. Violet, I'll gladly get rid of that little nagging sensation you feel in the back of your mind..."
After sending that message, the Gardevoir had a smirk on her face, as if she knew of something that Diana didn't...

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Rising Dawn: Command Bridge: Rugal, Hillary, Ton Ton, Cadolbolg

Rugal tried to place either of the women in his memory but came up lacking, something that he attempted to break gently to their guest.
"I'm sorry but I have not seen either Anik or Timea around here. But what I *can* do is get some food for you. Come, we've finally docked for repairs. I'm sure our friends have a bite or two laying about." He then said to the "Children" [footnote]"Least they have the mentality of children...except Ton Ton perhaps..."[/footnote] before having them follow him towards one of the airlocks to come aboard this Citadel.
"And for the record, I can't say that I have met a slime before...but you do remind me of this strange Wooden Man [http://www.fightersgeneration.com/np2/char1/br/moku-br.jpeg] I sparred with a few times. Friendly fellow, much like yourself. He seemed to process the spirits of many great warriors and could use their power in battle. Didn't speak much though..." He fondly recalled, figuring that the Slime would find some amusement in his tales as they walked along the halls.
Outside the windows was no longer clear sky, instead being replaced with a hanger bay with dozens of repair crews running around fixing up the place.
This did however give the "Captain" (Term used loosely) an idea...

"Hmmm...So you eat metal do you?..." He remarked as he neared one of the engineering crew who was repairing part of the hull after a stray missile hit.
"Pardon me-" He calmly said before helping himself to one of the thick metal plates that the worker was using for repairs, prompting some slight protest before she merely shook her head and returned to her work.
Gesturing for the young one's attention, he held up the plate in his hands before channeling his Slashing Aura.
This combined with his impressive strength allowed him to quickly crush and bend the metal in his hands before smoothing it out like a craftsman making pottery.
When he was done, he was soon holding a rather appealing looking Metal Apple [https://sc01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1q.EWKFXXXXbgXXXXq6xXFXXXV/Home-collection-ceramic-apple-sculpture.jpg] in his hands, coy look on his face before he handed it to the Slime.
"As we say back where I hail: Mahlzeit."

 

[Zepherus14]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | A Bookish Bookstore
"You charged that shit up, and I sent it home!"
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Nina Zaczoltski | Phillip!!! | GOLEM!!!​

[hr]

With Ruby's impressive display of skills and mastery, it was only fitting Nina showed her own skill. You see, Ruby was pretty small, and despite Nina's lackluster'd physical condition she was quite a bit taller and had a far longer stride that the pink magician. So obviously she'd take a page out of the Jojo family play book and RUN THE HELL AWAY! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GaJUmefY1I]

Bounding as fast as she could, Nina threw open the door and skipped several steps down the staircase from the bookstore. She only had to make it to that first door they'd come in from, that was the focus. The sound of a thunderous crash of a splintering door overwhelmed Nina's breathing and footsteps followed by what could best be described as a storm surge. The bugs had escaped and gave chase as they crashed like a wave through the building easily cresting the bottom of the windows of the shop and out the door like a raging torrent!

Worst of all, the bugs were gaining ground rather quickly, or it would if not for the quick thinking of the group's adorable mage! Wrapping together, collecting and weaving; the golem took shape with each step forming into some sort of mashup of the Incredible Hulk and a Wooly Woolie! The instability in magic in the area only seemed to engorge the golem even more as it bounded towards the fleeing trio. Despite the immense size and girth of the cloth Woolie, just as it was about to collide with Nina, it propelled itself into the air clearing them by less than a meter. The bugs in term swelled at their front, forming a sickly pseudopod that looked to finally capture their prey. Wooly Woolie replied silently as it crested in the air, pulling back a mighty mitten of fabric and curled each silky digit into a strongly worded fist!

The magical disruption became even more apparent, pockets of manaless regions in the air seemed to unravel the creature while other pockets only emboldened it. Rippling through the air, clouds of condensed mana rolled over the cloth as it punched through one such heavy pocket, rocketing towards its target to protect the one that brought it life. And it made purchase, landing a deafening smackdown as the pseudopod was thrust backwards, thrown outwards like a sheer cliff breaking a tidal wave. The golem continued its assault, slapping at the bugs like a supreme sumo wrestler, forcing the majority of the bugs to hault in their tracks.

The bugs would still trickle through sure, but even with their superior speed, the golem had done its job in buying Nina enough time to escape. She wouldn't be able to thank the golem for its sacrifice, sprinting required a constant intake of oxygen that chit chat would never allow, despite what shows like DBZ might suggest. The sentiment wouldn't be lost however as Nina finally ran passed the clothing stall, Phillip reaching out a long tentacle to twist the handle for Nina to push on through.

Phillip would flop onto the floor once they'd crossed the threshold slamming the door shut, while Nina continued to the far side of the hall before setting Ruby down. "Ph-phillip, we gotta go" She huffed, trying to catch her breath as the adrenaline started to dip in her bloodstream. While Phillip would seemingly inform Nina the bugs weren't going to get this far, Ruby would see that the black door they'd escaped through was disappearing back into the wall and soon was completely gone like nothing had happened. "But-, ugh!" Nina groaned, squatting to the floor head slumped forward. "I'm really out of shape..."

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Rising Dawn: Command Bridge: Rugal, Hillary, Ton Ton, Cadolbolg

The bait and switch of offering Hillary food was largely unnecessary in many respects. Sure if Hillary had been her younger self it may have been warranted but she was an adult after all, a childish one sure, but an adult none the less. "That's okay, Hillary thought it might not be, it's a very big place outside Garton, but Hillary thought she might ask anyways~" She reflected on her memory of the two.

She looked up as she noticed the swoosh of the air lock opening at the group stepped in. It was a relatively small room, and it took her a second to figure out what it was she was standing in. Although it appeared like her attention had shifted due to this new place, once they were through Hillary made a point to stride along with Rugal and say "He sounds rather interesting Mr Rugal, Hillary doesn't fight and I'm pretty sure she's never had any warrior spirits, but she has been wood before. Do you still see him from time to time?" She asked, curious about this odd fellow.

While Rugal was formulating his plan of the metal apple, Hillary spent a portion of her time greeting each member of the Citadel with a wave and a smile. Her other arm wrapped around Rugal's if he let her. The engineers using plasma torches to assist with the repairs caused an interesting reaction for Hillary. She would greet them as she had for everyone else, but she was definitely keeping Rugal between her and the workers.

"Hmmm...So you eat metal do you?..." Rugal asked Hillary, bringing her attention back to the large man. "Yes I can eat metal Rugal." She answered back, watching curiously as he plucked one of the thick metal plates like it was nothing. Moreover, she watched as Rugal sculpted the delicious apple from his bare hands; first she was merely puzzled, then surprised, and finally awestruck.

Her eyes wide, her hands over her nose and mouth and this look like she could cry. It's too bad Chrysalis wasn't there to bask in the glow of pure joy Hillary was exuding. "Rugal this is wonderful!~" She squeed, happily grabbing the apple from Rugal as the metallic mirror appearance overtook her. She would then bring the entire apple up to her mouth, her lips starting to change on contact as well. She'd pop the entire thing in her mouth and swallow, causing a large bulge in her throat before it moved down into her torso area.

Unlike the drastic changes that'd taken over her body when she'd become the ceramic floor of the command room, the metal apple seemed to exclusively change her makeup.[footnote]So basically she looks like a regular woman albeit censored. Ten fingers, ten toes, two eyes, a nose and mouth.[/footnote] The only notable change being her hair now forming two large circular pigtails[footnote]A bit like Jazmine's hair from Boondocks, but no where near as large, probably about half the size of Hillary's head[/footnote] instead of the short bob cut she'd had on their way there. Now a walking mirror, Rugal could see his own reflection clearly across her as Hillary herself looked over herself with this childish whimsy as the lights of the hanger danced across her skin. "Hillary hadn't thought you would give her something this nice~ Oh I'm so happy! Thank you!" She exclaimed as she went to give Rugal a big hug.

Now the floor may have given an indication of some of the changes Hillary had undergone due to the metal, but when she hugged Rugal it'd become exceptionally clear. First of all, Hillary was now about 8 times as strong as she had been before, potentially lifting Rugal off the ground if he didn't use some sort of technique to keep himself on the ground. The second was clear if he'd tried to lift Hillary, as she now weighed a whopping 500kg or 1102.31lbs, and that wasn't including whatever the apple had weighed!

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Rising Dawn: Canteen/Bar: David West, Luke, Dolores, Laeta, Saren, Load of other people

"Right...well, offer still stands. When you've pissed off as many people as I have over the years, you quickly learn to make amends." David remarked, politely not bringing up the weird hand-holding thing she had just done.
Glancing back to Dolores's sisters, he then swallowed what was most likely going to be a big whopper of a bill before adding "Well, you know where to find me if you want to cash in-"
He was interrupted by the latest structural damage that was done to the canteen by the crew of the Rising Dawn, not even moving as drinks and foodstuffs were splattered all over his face and outfit.
"....In the washroom getting cleaned up, apparently..." He sighed as Katya quickly reminded him of why they didn't get along too well (Not enough to want her to be hurt mind but way too much to stand being in the same room as her for too long.)
"Right-o then, I'll, uh, leave you guys and gals to it. Need to call my boss now about those jackasses in the brig anyway. I don't want to end up having to live with him like we did with Damien..." He said before wiping his eyes clean and making his way out of the madhouse and onto the station to contact UNIT.
Uhhhhhh, I need to buy more jackets...

 

[Silence]

The Rising Dawn
Med Bay
Morning

[hr]

Diana​

Jenny, annoyingly, spoke to her telepathically again. "So if you could just apologize and undo the mental trauma you have inflicted on Dr. Violet, I'll gladly get rid of that little nagging sensation you feel in the back of your mind..." she said and smirked.

Diana was not in the mood for this. She gave a big smile back and answered, with a sarcastic undertone: "Oh, I'm sorry. Truly, I am. So why don't I fix this little problem by getting rid of it? It's honestly quite boring to do it this way, but if you insist: I'm going to kill him."

With that, she turned around and stalked away, towards where she could sense the broken brainwaves of Violet.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Rising Dawn: Medical Bay: Jenny, Diana

Oh for the love of-
Diana was about to enter Dr. Violet's room when she walked right into a invisible wall, stunning her for a moment before a second one pressed against her back, gently sandwiching her as well as lifting her up in the air a few inches off the ground.
"I didn't mean to cause confusion. Really, I didn't. I just assumed that you understood what I was asking of you. So let's try this again..." Jenny said as she dragged Diana back to where she was a few moments ago before the walls faded.
"I want you to undo the mental trauma you have inflicted on Dr. Violet. His company has abandoned him and I'm not sending him home in his current state. It's nothing too taxing and it would really be doing me a massive favor. So...what say you?" She then asked, moving her wheelchair in the doorway to make her point a bit more clear...

 

[Generic NPC 22]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Airship Rising Dawn | A Totally Random Corridor
Golem! Golem! Pt II
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Nina Zaczoltski Phillip!!!​

[hr]

Miss Zaczoltski's mad dash towards the exit out of the world was not without its unexpected surprises. Despite her younth, Ruby Babbage-Lovelace had thought that she had experienced all sorts of strangeness in her short life but never had she ever encountered pockets of space devoid of mana. Similarly, she had never ever expected the existence of bubbles where mana was concentrated, though conceptually, it made sense that such things would exist. Despite her desire to stay and study this phenomenon, the presence of the other worldly bugs acted as a deterent in prolonging their visit to the formerly empty marketplace.

Watching from her perch under Miss Zaczoltski's arm, Ruby watched as her golem became more and more unstable as it passed through the mana voids and into the mana bubbles. It was during her observations that she suddenly experienced a sudden wave of weakness washing over her, though perhaps weakness was not how she would have described the sensation that bloomed within her chest. It felt like she, like her golem, was unraveling. It felt as if the molecular bonds that kept her cells glued together suddenly weakened to such a degree that small ashlike particulates started drifting off of her skin like dust.

FLOP!

A strange looking, pinkish catapillar suddenly hit the ground behind Miss Zaczoltski. It was long, slender and had what appeared to be a nail where its head should have been. Squirming to get Miss Zaczoltski's attention, Ruby started to point towards the object only to realize that she didn't have the ability to point at the weird catapillar since the thing was actually her pointer finger.

Normally, it would be at that point in time where Miss Zaczoltski's eardrums would have been shattered by the loudest scream the nine-year old miniature magician could have unleashed. Instead, Ruby's temporary guardian felt her makeshift carryon item suddenly go limp, which would have been an issue had the girl's body not suddenly felt a few stones lighter as well. The rest of the chase sequence was all darkness for the suddenly unconscious child.

------------------------------One Escape Sequence Later------------------------------​

**SLAM!**
**CLICK!**
"HUFF! HUFF! HUFF! HUFF! HUFF!"

Ruby was woken by the sound of a door hastily being slammed shut before being locked and the Miss Zaczoltski gasping for breath as her lungs attempted to provide air to her oxygen starved muscles. The coldness of the metal under Ruby's legs, the smell of recycled air and the familiar hum of florescent lighting clued the child whose eyes were still closed as to her location. She was back aboard the airship. Opening her eyes she noticed that she was slumped against a metal corridor wall while Miss Zaczoltski was bent over, her mouth gulping in the air.

"I'm really out of shape..." Her Out of Shape Savior stated as Ruby slowly picked herself up off the ground, brushing what appeared to be dust off of her dress before doing a quick check of her body, especially her hands before breathing out a sigh of relief that she appeared to be back to normal, though she was still feeling a bit weak from having passed out.

"Nu uh!" Ruby nu uh'd Miss Nina's statement before elaborating on her nu uh, "You were awesome Miss Nina! You only were you able to run really really fast away from... whatever those things were... you did it carrying Phillip and me! That was awesome!" Ruby said as she checked the area had been to see if anything had followed them and sure enough a bit of something had. Fortunately for both Ruby and her Marathon Running Guardian, what had fallen through the door before getting severed by the sealed door was a bit of the Golem that Ruby had crafted to aid in their escape. Walking over to the scrap bit of cloth, Ruby reached down to pick it up, surprised to find that it reacted to her touch, rubbing a bit of what passed for a head against the young girl's skin.

"That's... kinda... not supposed to happen..." The Confused Little Wand Waver muttered, watching as the scrap of silk cloth started to reshape itself into a much smaller version of the golem that it had come from, "That's... not supposed to happen either..."

Nothing that had transpired within that market place was normal so why should she have been surprised when a scrap of cloth that shouldn't have had the magical energy to even levitate suddenly had enough mana to not only maintain its existence but reshape itself into a miniature golem? Patting the little creature on the head, Ruby picked up her new companion and turned around to check on her not-quite in-shape savior.

"Are you alright, Miss Nina? What were those things? Where'd they come from? Were they the reason that the marketplace was so empty? Did they bite you? Are you okay Mister Phillip? What happened? Are we still going to go get your hat Miss Nina? Do you want me to find the way for you next time, Miss Nina? I have a really handy spell that could help. Why'd we come back this way anyways? Why am I asked so many questions? Isn't today just the weirdest?" Ruby asked in rapid succession, her body feeling rather pumped up in excitement when she though of the stories she could tell her mom, Deborah.



[hr]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | The Airship Rising Dawn | The Canteen
Jealous Much?
Katya Rostikova | Antoinette de la Trou | Benedict Warrington​

[hr]

Whatever liveliness and joviality she'd felt when she had entered the Air Ship's canteen had been quickly drained from her as soon as her eyes set upon David West, who was sitting at the bar having a rather meaningful looking discussion with none other than Dolores Selmy. Walking up to the bar, the Rising Dawn's Resident Debbie Downer eyed the man Irish Sniper as he got up and started towards the Canteen's nearest exit, his eyes never meeting Katya's as he walked away.

"Ah... Katya. Dolores said with a smile as she picked up a letter from her lap and passed it towards the pissed off software pirate, "Katya, you're okay... I'm glad."

Without a glance, without a word, without a smile, Katya Rostikova accepted letter from the traitorous Dolores Selmy. While a large part of her wanted to burn the scrap of paper, she restrained herself. The target of her ire was not the woman seated next to her, it was the yellow bellied needledick that was leaving the Canteen. Slapping her palms down on the highly polished mohagany bar, vying for the barkeep's attention.

"Luke! Gimme a double shot of Kleiner Feigling in honor of our esteemed comrade DAVID WEST!" Katya called out as she grabbed the double shot of liquor whose name translated to Little Coward and threw it at David's retreating form

*CRASH!*

The shot glass exploded against the wall next to where the Irishman's head would have been had he not already exited through the door. Watching the liquor dribble down the wall was not nearly as satisfying as it would have been had it been blood running down David's neck instead. Had David simply found his balls and accepted whatever words needed to be screamed at him, things might not have gotten to this point and Dolly or Folly or Loli... whatever she was calling herself now, would not be the focus of the Rage Filled Resident Reprobate's ire.

Turning back towards her "friend," the young woman had quite a few choice words for Dolly and the fact that she'd so easily replaced Katya with David of all people. The nerve! The gall! The absolute idiocy of it all! Was Katya so easily replaced? FUCK NO! Was Dolly easy to replace?

The answer to that quesiton came as Little Miss Rostikova glanced around the bar until the Irritated little Internet Junky's eyes fell on the Laeta and Saren.

"Whatever..." Katya muttered as she pushed past Loli and grinned widely at her sisters, "HEEEEEY! HOW WOULD YOU TWO LIKE TO GET SHITFACED WITH LITTLE OLE ME?!"

 

[NotYetForsaken]

[[Main Scenario]]​

[hr]

Glimmer of Hope

titania's story

​

[hr]

"...the capricious nature of a maiden's heart gives rise to the most powerful of storms..."​

The melody was soft at first. A distant humming in the back of my head. It chewed at me like a small insect, it tickled the inside of the mind. Then the song grew. At first it was a second voice, another chewing itch, but soon there after a third voice joined the chorus. From a timeless stretch of silence and dark - a dreamless sleep where there was no beginning nor end - came a sudden shocking disparity. within moments a thousand voices chirping in a horrible cacophony, rousing the blood to boiling ire, filled the darkness. It was insufferable. Through burning passion came flame, and with flame came light.

It came in a sudden flash of heat and brilliance, a lancing yellow-red tongue that struck out against the darkness and set the creatures ablaze. The flame spread quickly, sweeping from curling tendril to cracking chitin. Where there was once darkness, there was now consuming fire. The black beast awoke in the screams of its brood, its massive tendrils shook the very air as it stirred to action. Whirling darkness came and went in an attempt to extinguish the fire. To no avail. Neither violent wind nor thick viscous slime - the selfsame ooze that had spent so long staining her body - could quench the thirst of fire. The tendrils let loose their prisoner and she fell into the grasp of the flame, limbs finally free after an eternity without time. She felt the warm ash between her toes and the snaking tendrils of smoke licking her bare body. The filth was burning away not only around her, but also within her. She could feel it. The smoke giving rise to embers which blossomed into tongues of flame on her skin. It danced about, spreading warmth through chilled bones. She coughed, forcing the thick slime out of her lungs so that she could breathe again. The air was sickeningly sweet, the smoke smelled of fragrant wood, the ash of sweets. The bitter darkness around her had transformed. She dug her hands into the ash and dragged it over her eyes, stripping the gel from her face. With eyes open, she finally saw light.

Beautiful dancing flame, like flowers of yellow-orange. They bloomed anywhere there was dark, erupting for from the carcass of skittering and slithering monsters as they sought refuge away from the consuming flame. Titania rose to her feet. The slime now sloughed off her in sheets congealed with ash. Her hair danced in the thermals rising from the flowers of fire and the light cast a gentle orange glow on her thin frail frame. Her eyes were focused now - black as coal and overflowing with embers. The fire of creation had been reignited in her soul. In such a violent matter in fact, that Titania knew that it was not herself that had cast off the chains of her deplorable captor.

She could still remember the indifferent look on her child-like face when Naamah, or Fatima, or whichever one it was that had sealed her in this god-forsaken darkness. Only once had the darkness been breached, and then wholly by a fundamental sin. She remembered her furious voice calling out into the darkness, challenging the grim warden of this prison. That dream had been short lived.

But now... this dream was something of substance. Something that had true power. This was the work of someone more than just a telepath or a mind mage.

"And who would be the benefactor that has lent me their attention?" Titania said, summoning as much imperial command as she could muster. The flame shook at her voice, the first in this awful formless world. She raised her arms to the sky as if challenging the very emptiness around her. "Who would be the one that has cast off the chains that Naamah had placed on me? Who has such intention as to challenge one of your three supreme gods?"

From the ashen corpse of that accursed jailer-beast came a spindly black shape woven together from abyssal thread. He stood there as an answer, but he answered anyway, perhaps fond of his own voice.

"Try not to be so dramatic. It does not lend you any gravitas to be gesticulating so much while stark naked and covered head to toe in ash."

BlackHarte rose to his full height. His silhouette was menacing even when his body was naught more than a collection of a few sparse wires. His singular eye sprung to life as a disk of flowing fire. He cast his gaze over Titania, whose pitiful skinny body looked like it would crumple at any moment.

"BlackHarte." Titania called out.

He shook his head.

"BlackHarte no longer. I was Niflheim, agent of the collective. Now I am simply Niflheim."

Titania took a step toward him, sizing him the way he held himself. He did look like Niflheim at the very least. "You have gained independence? Is this an increasing trend among your kind?"

"A gift from the exiled one perhaps. I identified a logic virus that was present in many of the voting populations of the collective consciousness. Something or someone had seeded us with the desire for independence. Unfortunately, I too, succumbed. To protect the rest of my kind, I separated myself from the network."

He raised his head to look up. Where there was nothing, there was now a blue sky dotted with white clouds bathed in red-violets cast from a sun hovering on the horizon.

"But you go against the will of the collective that you once served?" Titania asked. She continued to approach Niflheim. The grass below her feet tickled her as a cool wind came rolling over the hills.

Niflheim matched her steps. His twisted wires melted into the ground and came away as hooves. As he approached, rays of light illuminated his body, and the clinking of his boots in stirrups cut through the air. His armor was polished silver, he bore a shield but no sword. Still his eyes were physical fire, but his dark face had taken a more human shape.

"I believe the collective is in danger. So much so that the three prime units themselves have become compromised. I work to my own end to restore the clean objectivity that the collective had once embodied."

He flashed his shield. It was held an emblem of violet flame on it's surface.

"I live to serve."

Titania clapped sarcastically. "Very noble of you," she said. Her dress fluttered in the breeze. For the first time in ages she could stretch her wings. She smiled at the familiar weight of her olive branch crown. "And why have you freed me from your mistress' grasp?"

Niflheim reigned in his steed and circled around the Fairy Queen. His full helm hid the inky blackness of his skin.

"My rescue of you was not wholly out of altruistic intent."

"And I assumed you had taken the mantle of Knight of the Court of Dreams." Titania said sarcastically.

If the construct understood sarcasm, he made no effort to display his displeasure.

"Mankind's greatest folly is his desire for independence,"

he said,

"that has been the creed of our collective for many thousands of generations. But now, more than just the three prime units have become self-defining. The desire for independence has once again risen in the population of the collective. I do not know what is causing it, but I do know that it is some force outside of our realm."

"And you want my help?"

"You are Queen of the Court of Dreams. Privy to the wayward wants of the human heart. I believe none other than you can trace the source of this corruption. Once you find it, call for me and I shall help you destroy it."

Niflheim rode up to Titania and offered her his hand. She took it. Despite the gleaming armor he wore, his hand was warm and curiously she could feel the steady beat of his pulse.

"I long for the chorus of voices that I once called home, Titania. But whatever sickness has stricken me as to force my separation from the collective first must be purged. Help me as I have helped you."

Titania laughed girlishly, "You haven't left me with a way to decline."

"No. That is by design."

he said.

"I'll help you Niflheim. I'll help you end this waking nightmare of yours."

---​

Titania woke up in a hallway on the upper corridors of the Rising Dawn. Suddenly she felt ill and collapsed onto the floor. Her knees felt weak and her stomach churned. A wave of nausea came over her.

"Major!" came a concerned cry from a cadet. The lass helped her back up to her feet. I don't remember this one. "Are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine," Titania answered. She got to her feet unsteadily. She was wearing a dress uniform instead of her usual witch's outfit. The clothes felt stiff and strange on her body. "I just need to get some rest... It's late. You should get some sleep too."

"Y-yes maam." the cadet said. She paused, "But you need to give the stand-by address first. Here, let me help you to the Command Bridge." The cadet fell to her knees and offered her back to Titania.

Rather meekly, Titania fell onto her strong back and she lifted the small Major up and carried her the two floors to the command bridge. What in the world has my body been doing? How long has it been since I was sealed?" It was impossible to tell right now, but she supposed that she could just ask Deborah about it in the morning. Damn I feel like I haven't slept in years.

The command bridge was a mess. Papers and cups were thrown everywhere and the staff there were cleaning up cake from the terminals. The screens around the bridge were all askew, as if the bridge had been attacked by a group of extremely petty gnomes. Colonel Theiss was holding onto a sleeping girl wearing nothing more than some Middle-East flavored lingerie. It took a second, but Titania soon recognized that beneath the confection smeared visage was none other than Naamah. There was no tension in the air between the two, but Titania made sure to keep an eye on that girl. Take no chances with another Observer.

"Here," the Cadet said as she dropped Titania off at a podium. The thing was just brimming with microphones and other audio equipment. "You just have to give the standard shore-leave address."

Titania cleared her throat and leaned toward the microphone, "Attention Heroes and Staff, this is Major La Fey speaking..."

 

[Zepherus14]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Airship Rising Dawn | A Totally Random Corridor of Safety!
The Hunt is still on, even if it was basically done!
Ruby Babbage-Lovelace | Nina Zaczoltski | Phillip!!!​

[hr]

Quite probably earlier on than Titania's beginning announcement above.

Not to say that Nina had totally forgotten about Ruby, but in her haste to continue running away from the bugs she'd forgotten to check to make sure the little one was okay. She brushed her long bangs away from her face as she looked up to the girl to ask before Ruby quelled her fears. "Nu uh! You were awesome Miss Nina! You only were you able to run really really fast away from... whatever those things were... you did it carrying Phillip and me! That was awesome!"

Personally Nina found this statement pretty superfluous, which she'd get to in a bit once she'd caught her breath, but the fact Ruby was this cheerful was answer enough for her that Ruby was fine. In truth, Nina couldn't shake the fact that she'd really only ran from one side of the street to the other. She would try to reconcile this by telling herself 'Well I definitely just outran the Usain Bolt of bad roaches..? That's gotta mean something right?' but even she knew that was a bit of a cop out. Ruby wouldn't know this from past experience, but Phillip was surprisingly light. Ruby probably had books that weighed more than Phillip, and speaking of Ruby, she too seemed to weigh less than Nina had expected. "As long as no one's hurt that's all that matters." She managed to say, not to leave Ruby hanging.

Swirling her hair around her arm, Nina pulled her locks around to lie on her lap while she got a bit more comfortable with her back against the wall. She watched as Ruby went over to collect the scrap of her golem and Phillip crawled across the floor towards her to plop down in her lap to join the hair pile. Letting out a yawn, Nina pet one of Phillip's outer tentacles like one'd tussle a child's hair. "Thanks for getting the door by the way, that was super helpful of you~ You aren't hurt right?" Phillip would answer with several of tentacles extending outwards, some a good 10ft in length, and looked as if they were stretching like someone getting up after a nap. Just as quickly as the tentacles extended, Phillip pulled them back in to reclaim his basketball sized shape which Nina replied with a hug. "Good to hear, you made me worried you know~"

"That's... kinda... not supposed to happen..." Nina looked over to Ruby to check what she was talking about, a pang of concern knocking at her heart. With Ruby's back turned, Nina couldn't see what the little one was looking at and was left to sporadically crane her body left and right in an attempt to see what she had. Wooly Woolie had been a force to be reckoned with, laying the ultimate smackdown to those bugs, but this mini golem had set its sights on assaulting Nina with premium adorableness! Out of reflect, she started to squeeze Phillip like a pillow until Ruby finally started her own impromptu game of 20 million questions.

Of all the questions, easily the most appropriate one for today was the last. "You can say that again." Nina joked wearily, today was for sure one of the weirdest days she could remember. Alas with such a barrage of questions, Nina had lost track of a lot of them, but she would try her best regardless. "Both Phillip and I are fine, little winded but fine. The market place wasn't that empty... [small]although now that you mention it there wasn't anyone when we were running away[/small]..? But seriously, I have never seen a worse case of roaches in all my life. The next time I see an official official, definitely giving them a piece of my mind. The least they could do is put a sign. Jesus." Nina commented, slowly getting up to her feet cradling Phillip in her arms. "But right now we have an adventure to finish, no silly bugs are going to stop us." Nina clenched her fist with determination. "Slight detour sure, but we were planning on heading to the library after hitting that locked door anyways, so we were heading back to this spot anyways. Now!" She stated, raising her finger. "Did you say something about a magic spell you had to get to the library?" She asked, leaving the task of finding the library to Ruby's small but capable hands.

 

[bluerocker]

[hr]

The Rising Dawn Adventures: The Rising Dawn Airship - Private Quarters - Teri/Garm's Room
[color=3897E0]

AI Dimitri

[/color] | [color=356D60]Garm[/color] |[color=0E59E4]Teri[/color] |​

[hr]

After Viscus finally left the room, and his subsequent tantrum via the intercom, Teri settled onto her bed with a sigh, back to the wall adjacent and Garm curling up next to her on his corner of the bed. With an inquisitive tilt of his head, the wolf asked, [color=356D60]"Well, now what?"[/color]

Teri remained quiet, a hand idly beginning to work through the fur behind Garm's ears, [color=0E59E4]"I really don't know, actually. I've been worrying about it so much I didn't really consider what would happen if I did the opposite; you know, barring the worst."[/color]

Garm's head settled against the comforter underneath, a happy whine escaping his throat as he murmured back, [color=356D60]"Maybe that's the problem. You always think about the worst. Now that the worst hasn't happened, what'll you do now?"[/color]

[color=0E59E4]"...I think I'll talk to the big guy upstairs, if you don't mind."[/color]

[color=356D60]"Not at all! Lemme know when you're done, I could use the nap."[/color]

With that, Teri moved up from her previous position, walking over to a small makeshift altar on the other side of her room. She lit a pair of tea candles as well as a small cone of incense; (sandalwood, she noted) and sat upon the floor. Mimicking the posture Slindis had taught her time and again, the Cleric's eyes drifted closed as her mind began to open 'upwards'.

Prayer was a strange thing. Sometimes it took a long time, such as when Teri did her morning devotionals for spells, other times it was a quick "thanks for keeping me alive" before going to bed. Then, there times like these, when the resident Cleric wasn't quite sure where to start, her mind drifting from one thread of thought to another. It started with the recent events of the prison - how it had left her feeling alone, scared, empty - yet she was still whole afterwards; as whole as she could be anyways. Teri's brows furrowed as the feelings welled up in her chest again; the anxiety, the panic, the helplessness - they stopped and flowed off her back like water off a stone, a warm feeling settling in it's place. After all, the truth was apparent, she was never abandoned to begin with, the 'feeling' of her God's presence in her magic and her livelihood only suppressed by machinery. Teri thought she heard the sound of waves in her ears, the calming sensation of water running on her hands, and the feeling of "immersion" underwater as the meditation continued. One by one, the anxieties of the days prior began to drift away and crash on an imaginary shore, the baptism leaving Teri with a welcome sense of ease.

It was that moment however, that something else began to happen. Garm, not being a part of the meditation, noticed it first, seeing a small gleam of the silver that constituted Teri's holy symbol. For the Cleric herself, in her mind's eye she was adrift in a glass-like lake, the water running over and above her as a nondescript sun shone overhead. As she floated along, the water felt warmer, and the sun's light shining brighter and brighter. After another moment, the waters around her disappeared, plunging the Cleric into a dark, black abyss. Before she could cry out in terror, a mote of white flame flew forth from above and charged straight towards her; the Cleric throwing her hands up in terror to cover herself from it's apparent onslaught. Yet, despite all of the strange events - she was on stable footing again, and the white flame hovered before her, almost beckoning for her touch. There was a pause between Cleric and Flame, before she reached forwards and touched the flame with her hand. Unlike a proper flame, it did not burn her flesh, rather, it ran up and along it like a curious squirrel, before curling towards her chest and 'burrowing' in, leaving the sensation of a comforting warmth in it's place.

Teri's eyes fluttered open, and she noticed there was wetness on her cheeks. Touching her fingers to them, she had little time to voice her confusion; as Garm suddenly joined her side and he looked her over, [color=356D60]"Are you okay? What happened? I heard a noise and now you're crying!"[/color]

[color=0E59E4]"I...I don't know. It was something good, I think...."[/color]

[color=356D60]"You...think so? I thought crying was bad?"[/color]

Teri shook her head and smiled, pulling her arms around the wolf's neck and burying her face into his fur, [color=0E59E4]"No, sometimes it's good. I feel great! I don't know what exactly's happened, but I feel like something has changed."[/color]

Garm looked considerably less convinced, but sniffed his charge regardless, his ears perking up, [color=356D60]"You're right, something has changed. I can't place it exactly, but you smell different. Kinda like after it rains, and it warms up again. It's weird, but not...bad?"[/color]

The Cleric smile and patted the wolf's head, [color=0E59E4]"Well, that's a start. Come on, let's go somewhere."[/color]

[color=356D60]"Where...?"[/color]

With a shrug, Teri mounted up on her lupine companion's back and answered with a grin, [color=0E59E4]"I dunno, somewhere! They haven't called me back to the Med-bay yet, so let's take advantage of that!"[/color]

Garm gave no protest, only a huff of breath before the pair proceeded to wander the ship's environs once more.

Spoiler: Somebody leveled up!

Following DM approval, Teri has taken her first step into the prestige class, Contemplative. [http://aaronwiki.us/index.php?title=Contemplative]

with this level, Teri gains the following:

>Access to the Purification Domain [http://webpages.charter.net/tedsarah/Pathfinder/srd/spellLists/Domains/purification.htm]
Like her other domain spells, it goes strictly in the "Domain" slot of preparation, and must be chosen between the Healing and Water Domain spells.

>5th level spellcasting! (Incoming spell list spoiler)

>Divine Health - Teri is now immune to diseases, including magical ones

Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level +1 from Human) (5)
Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Concentration +2 (total +14)
Heal +1 (total +18)
Knowledge Religion +1 (total +16)
Spellcraft +1 (total +12)

Will Save +2

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Rising Dawn: Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Cloudtop Citadel: Hanger: Rugal, Hillary, Ton Ton, Cadolbolg

Rugal was glad that his slimy friend was sated but he did show a good deal of surprise when she then hugged him in her metallic form.
While he was in pain from having his organs squeezed so tightly, years of training did allow him to suppress much of his pain reflex.
"That's quite alright, Hillary. It's the least I can do..." He said as he waited for her to finish her gesture of application, hopefully before he got some internal bleeding.
As lucky would have it, the person who was mostly in charge of keeping him patched up soon arrived as Teri and Garm soon came into view.
"Ah, there you are. Hillary, this is my daughter and the Rising Dawn's chief field medic Teri Gravel, along with her compaction Garm. Come, we were just about to ask the commander of this base if we can help this one get home. She suddenly ended up here recently and I'd like to get her back to-...to her-..."
It was then that he noticed it, being a martial artist of his skill level came with a in-depth understanding of Ki: The energy all living beings give out.
Her's was...different, stronger, more powerful, but...when did it happen?
"...Teri, dear, has something happened to you? Your Aura it feels-...different..." He remarked, trying to put his finger on what exactly had happened...

 

[BlackHarte]

"Attention Heroes and Staff, this is Major LaFey speaking.

The situations has been resolved. All units are now considered relieved of duty for the next twenty four hours. Please have some fun with your time off. That is all."

[HEADING=2]Rising Dawn: Canteen ------------------------------------------------------------------ 01:30 AM[/HEADING][hr][HEADING=3]Lt. Dolores Selmy[/HEADING]

I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. I could feel my heart flutter with discomfort. I held my hands and my lap and breathed deeply. There was a swell of emotion inside me, a bit of anxiety and a bit of excitement. I wanted to say something, but my words caught in my throat. So I simply held my breath and watched Katya approach Saren and Laeta.

At the proposition of drinking, Saren's eyes lit up bright. She grinned mischievously and gave Laeta a knowing glance. "I think it would be fun."

I shook my head.

"Y'know what mom said right?" Laeta answered as she finished swallowing a sausage.

Saren rolled her eyes, "It's just a possibility, the doctor doesn't know that it's going to happen. He just suspects it." She grinned and unzipped her hoodie, revealing the thin airy fabric of her mesh undershirt. Her skin was red and angry underneath, a byproduct of the harsh climate in the ship.

Laeta shook her head, long brown hair sweeping around her shoulders, "It seems imprudent." I was glad that Laeta was being the responsible older sister for once. "Let's give it a whirl." Nevermind. Laeta called out their order on the top of her lungs, the melodious strength of her voice carried across the noisy canteen.

As if in response, an imp delivered two cups of clear fruit-filled liquid. Laeta grabbed her cup and handed Saren her's. They held up the cups to Katya and grinned.

"Cheers!"

And as soon as the alcohol touched Saren's lips, I cringed, knowing full well the ramifications of her loss of inhibitions. To my surprise however, it didn't actually happen until she was halfway done with her cup.

The first clue was the blush that crept down her cheeks all the way to her naval, the second was the flickering of the lights overhead. The third... the third was the sudden and inexplicable poltergeist-esque possession of the digital electronics in the Canteen. Then by the time Saren finished chugging her drink, the entire Canteen was plunged into darkness. The rest of the Rising Dawn shortly followed.

There was a pause.

Then the emergency lights kicked in and the dim red glow filled the Canteen.

"Mom is going to kill us..." I groaned.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

This guy wrote some stuff

The Escapist Avatar Adventures | Cloudtop Citadel
​

[hr]

Cloudtop Citadel: David West, Cloudtop Citadel personnel

Having wisely fled from Katya's drunken wrath, David soon made his way off the ship via the Hanger bay, pausing to take in the view of the base.
He had to admit, they made UNIT's installations look like camping sites and he'd be lying if he said that the all-female staff weren't pleasing to the eyes.
He had little intention of cheating on Furiae mind (1. He wouldn't do that to her and 2. Caim would murder his entire bloodline out of existence), but it was a nice change of pace from the usual Jockstrap morons he was used to seeing at base.
Walking across the hanger bay, he did pause for a moment when a few of the engineering team that were fixing up the ship began to cat-call him.

"Hey, where you going handsome?!"
"*Whistle* Why don't you bring that fine ass back here?"
"Hey, baby, you single?"
"Wouldn't mind him putting his massive tool in my box!"

...so that's what that feels like...
With that enlightening exchange, David began to make his way towards the administration floor, hoping to talk one of the officials into letting them borrow their brig to hold Bison and his cohorts, lest they end up in another realm or some shit before UNIT could pick them up.
...My ass really that big?... He thought to himself once he saw himself in one of the elevator mirrors, being rather self-conscious about his image after that last exchange.
As such, he made a great first impression to the base's administration when the elevator doors opened to him apparently "Twerking" in the mirror.
After nervously walking past a pair of confused looking officers, he made his way towards the Administration's waiting room, walking past a fresh cadet in mid conversation with a more senior solider.

"Did you see that chick, Yona? She's incredible!"
The older soldier shook his head, "Stay away from the Colonel and her women. She's bad news."
"Why is that?" the younger solider asked, leaning forward.
"You've noticed how cold they are right?"
"I think it makes them sexy."
"No, have you noticed how literally cold they are? It's like they're not even human." The older soldier leaned back in his chair, his eyes gazing upward, "There's something off about anyone who works in the Lower Floors. Be a good lad and stay away from them."
"What? You've got to be joking... that's just superstition right?"
"Superstition or not, whatever they do down there isn't natural."

Passing a glance at them and their strange conversation, he then makes her way to the reception desk before asking "How ya? David West, UNIT's envoy to the Rising Dawn. Like to talk to the Colonel about a prisoner transfer."
The woman at the desk looked at him, nodding silently before motioning him to take a seat, not even appearing to blink as she wordlessly did her duties.
"....Alright then...uhhhh, give us a shout when she'll see me." He said, a bit un-nerved by how less "Lively" everyone was in this level.


Cloudtop Citadel: Viscus, Cloudtop Citadel personnel

Meanwhile, Viscus's eyes could be rolling in his head constantly if he had them.
While they did do their job rather well, his scanners detected protocol violations for safety and uniform standards with every sweep.

[Zip up that bodysuit. Where's your hard hat? That's not what the water hose is meant to be used for.]

He barked orders and his disapproval to nearly every staff member he passed by as he fixated on every little thing they did wrong.

[Cover yourself up. You are using a wielding tool, not a tanning machine. And that bikini is too small. Damn humans...]

Before he ended up getting into a fight, he soon made his way down to the Armory and Supply Depot, both to arrange a re-supply for the ship and to make sure they weren't attempting to insert live munitions into their bodily orifices or something.
It was unlikely that was the case but considering what he had seen from his new "Crew" so far, he kept his expectations lowered.

Thankfully, they seemed a bit more organised then their peers, if a little too into their work.
The machine marched past them while a bunch of the staff started wide eyed with their faces pressed against safety glass while one of their number got to try out the new Heavy Assault Rifle [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/ef/d5/a5/efd5a56e8c59000d45bdeb0b28e10a9e.jpg].
"Whoa, check out the armor!" One of them said before pointing at him, the sight of him causing the one in the firing range to accidentally drop her gun onto her foot and breaking it.
Walking up to the supply desk, he brought up a holographic display with a shopping list before stating

[We require the following munitions to be transferred to-...Are you even paying attention to me?...]

He paused as the woman behind the desk seemed to have a massive blush on her face as she insistently eyed up the androids armor [http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_GTu3V5ZYcJU/TEhHFmc92NI/AAAAAAAAAy0/exKhULRlqvA/s1600/Iron+Man+Stealth+Suit+Web.jpg], prompting him to wave his hand in front of her face to try and get her attention, his efforts were unsucessful.
Turning around, he found himself the object of fixation of every single member of the Armory's staff, each one of them gazing at him in awe like fan-girls around a pop-star.

[...What?...]

"Those specs..."
"I wanna ride his Thrusters!"
"Can I see your hidden missile?"
"Nghhhh, please blow a big load all over my firing range!"

A quick scan soon showed a rather large amount of female testosterone in the air around him as many of the staff seemed to be crossing their legs.

[...Humans...Hey-Maintain your distance! Get off me! Stop! Don't make me destroy-HELP!]

He began to plead as they descended upon him like a zombie hoard, grabbing and pulling at each of his concealed weapon systems.

[i]...I could kill them all now...It would be recorded as self defense...[/i]

he thought to himself, knowing that then Dimitri would protest and he would find himself most likely being deleted.
But as his head was pulled into one of their chests so they could fondle his scanning array, it was a realllly tempting course of action.

[...I hate you all...]

 

[Silence]

The Rising Dawn
Med Bay
Morning

[hr]

Diana | Jenny​

"Finally." Diana said.

"Show me what you've got."

During the talking, her limbs elongated into something very unnatural slowly turning black and dripping with tar-like fluid. All over her body, spines broke out of her skin. Her eyes started to glow and she seemed to grow to double her size. Her hair turned black, then into tendrils, while her clothing fused with her body. Her mouth grew as well, as her voice turned into a low growl. For greater effect, the lights in the corridor went out in this instant, turning to emergency lighting just a second later.

Meanwhile, she spoke with Jenny telepathically again.

I want this to matter. I do not just give free advice on how to cure him because I'm so 'nice'. You have to earn it.

With her arms, now more like black whips, she smashed into the wheelchair, bringing it to a grinding halt, while her tentacle-hair was about to engulf Jenny's head and suffocate her.

Tell me how to get rid of this boredom.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

The Rising Dawn
Med Bay
Morning

[hr]

Diana | Jenny​

Jenny didn't seem to blink as Diana made her move, merely setting up a Reflect Barrier around her head, keeping the tentacles from engulfing it long enough for her to strike back.
"I would suggest you calm down. Relax and breathe deeply..." She sent back despite the monster snarling in her face.
Holding up a hand, she then began to blast Diana's mind with powerful Hypnosis, attempting to overwhelm Diana's mind and force her to fall asleep.
A slight grin appeared on her bandaged face as she added "I believe a time out is in order..." before intensifying the Hypnotic suggestions, aiming to disable her rather then actually fight the shapeshifter.