Futuristic An Agent of Maniacles

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu looked at Sam quizzically. "Huh? Dude, I think you're just still Sam. You've never seen me as a vampire. You've always seen me as, well, me. I see you the same way." Kotsu said to Sam smiling, his horns disappearing again while he spoke, unbeknownst to him. "You're amazin', no matter what ya look like. So are these guys." Kotsu pointed his thumb at the Finder twins. "These guys look all beat up, but that doesn't make em any less who they are. They're still my friends. You guys are more human than I've seen anybody be human in a long, long, time. So, I hope that counts for somethin'." Kotsu said, smiling with his normal teeth. It seemed that whenever Kotsu had any positivity, it seemed to inadvertently affect his physical appearance.

mmarage

 

[Freikugel]

Fizzy didn't knew how to react, he hadn't been in a serious relationship since a very long time, was she angry? No, she wasn't. Bunny wasn't, but bunny wasn't happy right now.

It was true though, he had to focus on the mission ahead
He took the cigarette offered by BEasT

"Thanks..." stated while still looking somehow dumbfounded.

"These appearances, are they supposed to reflect inner turmoils? I in particular can't understand why I look like this" YES YOU DO DEATH!

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria / Alucard​

"Ahhahaha. Don't worry, Mr. Denton. I am already used to handle troublesome vampire brat." Alucard said to Denton as he watched Kotsu went ahead to talk with another people. He didn't even took Kotsu's threat seriously.

"Mr. Denton, I mean, Sir Denton. It has been a long time since I found another likeminded being, even more so a human. I like you, so I will give you a gift. Aria?"

"Yes, father?" Aria stepped next to Alucard. Her voice and expression were now devoid of emotion.

"Sir Denton here is a valuable person. Heed his command and protect him at all cost when I'm not around."

"As you command."

"Very well." Alucard's body slowly turning into a black haze, starting from his legs. "I want to look around for something interesting. I hope this will be the start of an interesting collaboration between the two of us, Sir Denton." He let out another laugh before he completely turned into flying dark mist and head out into a random direction. Vanishing in the distance.

 

[mmarage]

The twins looked at Kotsu and gave sad little smiles at his words. "...Thank you, Kotsu." They said in unison. The two then turned their attention to the vampire that had left. "...Very untrustworthy, and very much full of himself... pretty sure if I poked him with a needle, he'd pop from that buildup of hot air." 01 concluded without a moment of hesitation. Seeing how he treated Aria, his supposed 'daughter'... it was sickening. But... he was already gone, there was nothing that they could do.

02 looked over at Denton. "Hey, you're not going to trust that guy are you?" He asked, crossing his arms, his face set in a frown, turning his already cracked and faded features look more... disturbing.

 

[KotaKotsu]

"Yeah, you said it." Kotsu said to the Joes. Kotsu walked over to Aria. "Man, fuck that. If I had a parent like that, I'd kill em. I dunno how you put up with that fucker in your head for as long as you did." Kotsu said putting a hand on Aria's shoulder. "You deserve way better than that. Father or not. Nobody should disrespect you like that. You've got just as much rights as anyone else. Even Denton said so." Kotsu smiled happily at Aria. "You're awesome as all hell. And I'm sorry for ditching you. You probably needed a friend while dealing with that jackass." Kotsu said, attempting to give Aria a hug if she accepted.

Spoiled Bread

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

Aria let Kotsu hugged her, it slightly relaxed her after the encounter with Alucard. Yeah, she knew Kotsu was right. Her and Alucard's relationship were not a normal one in the first place. It's more of a master-slave relationship rather than father-daughter relationship, although the older vampire would insist that all his underlings were also his 'family' if asked.

"I-it's fine, but thank you. After we get out of this place things will go back to normal." Aria tried to reassure Kotsu, or rather, herself. She sounded unsure though. Looking at how she couldn't ignore him more and more, it would need a bit more time until he could just tramples her mind and take over the body.

"Also, please don't fight him. I can endure this. I am okay." She whispered to Kotsu in a hushed voice. Out of all the members, Kotsu's hotheaded nature would be the most likely to make him clash with Alucard, hence she felt the urge to give him some warning.

 

[Exzalia]

Bickles clears his throat. "Sorry to interrupt everyone, but we best be going. I sense A memory shard for owl due north from here , come on."

The group sets out trekking across the dunes of sand as dreams fly over head and falling stars brighten the color changing sky like shining rain.

They trek for what seemed like hours and yet the land was so vast, so featureless it doesn't appear they are making any progress. There were land marks yes, odd statues that looked like they belonged in a modern art museum, towers, spires, A herd of one legged...things galloping across the horizon. But everything was always shifting. A temple would appear for ten minutes growing out of the horizon, only to sink back into the sand disappearing as if it were not there. Land marks seem to vanish suddenly, whole mountain ranges melt away before them and strangely enough, they leave no tracks in the sand.

Where they even getting anywhere? Sam consults her gps and finds their exact location. But then that location changes on a whim, their little green arrow is here one moment, then thousands of miles away the next. They were going everywhere and no where at the same time.

Bickle pauses taking out his Magic book to consult it. "Well the good news is we can't starve here since we're not physical. The bad news is starving to death maybe a mercy because we're lost."

Owl flies over to him and peaks into his magic book. "I'd help you figure it out, but I don't remember how to read."

"I don't get it." Bickle ponders. "Dionysus said a mental mage should be able to navigate the sand lands but I'm not sure I'm up to the task." He looks up at Owl who was smiling unworried.

"Aren't you concerned Owl?"

Owl giggles. "We aren't in a world of logic we are in the dream scape, a world of anti logic. What is distance here? what is math? what are land marks?" She spins to the others.

"If you want to be in this world you got to think like it. Maybe we should try a different approach? Something illogical? Think as illogically as possible, maybe if we wish hard enough we'll make it some where, or maybe we need to do a little dance? Or maybe we should all make funny faces?" Owl giggles flying loops in the air like a happy fey.

 

[Freikugel]

Momma condition is worsening...
Elizabeth condition is worsening...
Death condition is worsening...
Denton condition is improving...
Bunny condition is worsening..

Denton shook away the thoughts, voices, sounds.... wait I'm not Denton... Fizzy shook away the sounds

"Yeah logic can't be applied in a world made of dreams... We're looking for Owl's scathered memory, for which we need to navigate through the sandlands.... to navigate.... Maybe if we don't see this as a sandland and more a vast sea, we could literally navigate it with as if it were to be sea.... Also Owl, you don't know how to read, but Owl did knew how to read. Maybe it isn't reading what you should do, maybe just try to do whatever it comes to you in front of that magic book"
DEATH, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE HERE

The sandlands extends like a vast sea
Looking for shards no one can see
Take a ship I guarantee

 

[KotaKotsu]

"Aria... You're my friend. I'm not gonna abandon you. I've gotten stronger." Kotsu said, his horns, teeth, and eyes coming back. "I've done... A lot of bad things. Things I can't come back from. And I did it to make sure I can save you all." Kotsu said, his cold expression forming again remembering everything before shaking it off. He couldn't bother with that while his thoughts formed reality.
_________________________________________________

Kotsu perked up a bit when Buckle mentioned that there was a shard of Owl's memory nearby. He walked without complaint despite the journey. He'd wade through this for years if need be. Even if the others left. He was resolved to getting his Owl back. The child before him was Cova. He'd distinguished the two that way. He'd have to keep calling her by her old name around the group. Cova was a beautiful name though. Kotsu smiled while watching her dance around and dart with her dress. His horns still flickering on occasion with screams.

He listened quietly to what Owl and Bickle were talking about. "Hmmm... Don't use sense?"

 

[GamerCarrot]

Vivian tried to think of a way that they could get closer to the shard without using logic but she was hitting multiple dead ends, she felt weird trying to think of something illogical when she usually thought logically. "Maybe... we some how get the shard or the place to come towards us? It's not a great idea but it's the only one I can think of that makes no sense in reality." She shrugged, feeling a bit insecure about her answer but it was the best one she had for the moment.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu thought hard about this. Sense. Think nonsense. Sense that doesn't make sense. "Maybe a... Teleporter? It's science fiction. Boat? That wouldn't make sense because of sand. Wings? A taxi with a skeleton man talking about the good old days of witches and creatures?" Kotsu scratched his head with both of his hands. "This is confusing."

 

[AbatedBigfoot]

Quentin thought nothing when the world in front of him changed into a never ending landscape. "I figured it wouldn't be too weird. It kinda feels weird." He looked as everyone was changing they way they looked and had slight fear when seeing some of them. "Why am I scared of these people. I've known them for so long now" he thought. One thing he thought was beyond weird was everyone was now way taller. He looked down and his heart sank. He was a kid again. His memory of his parents flashed in his head. His form was right after he watched his parents die and before he met the monks. Now he felt scared and alone.

"M...May..Maybe we can dig underneath us. I've always wanted to dig through the ground to the other side of the world so maybe that's where it is. Since in the real world it's impossible, maybe here it isn't. It's just a thought that though". He said shivering. He didn't want to feel scared but he couldn't keep his body still.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu walked over to Quentin and started pinching his cheeks lightly. "That's not a bad idea but why aren't you this cute in the real world?" Kotsu asked inquisitively while pinching and playing with Quentin's new face.

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Thinking illogical wasn't a hard thing to do. You started by thinking of the usual ways to do something, in this case navigation, then did the opposite. The direct opposite or at least the unreasonable. Normal distances didn't apply, neither did normal directions.

Memories were things you lived and recalled, but not things you could ever return to, if that made sense? It did to Denton. They were the familiar events from a different perspective, at a distance. Denton placed his hands in his pocket, walking forward, circling around the group.

"It is pretty tricky, huh?" He smirked. "I think we should walk backwards in one direction, our eyes of course facing forward. We give up looking entirely really, think about other stuff, talk. We keep focused on one spot, though for sure. Keep moving back. Owl should take the lead, or I suppose it would be her in the back. It's her memory fragment. It could theoretically respond to her presence. It could materialize then. Memories have a purpose. The purpose is to be remembered to teach, to make us reflect. I imagine things with purpose don't like being ignored, especially when the person that gives them purpose is in the area. The Sandlands may let the memory appear in the distance or in front of us once we let go of the want to find it. "

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu scratched his head while listening to Denton. "But don't that mean if we all wanted it to come to us it would? Dude, I don't do something that doesn't make sense. I try to make sense. And that's my two cents for free. Forty-nine more times, Denton and you get a knowledge dollar." Kotsu said with a smirk.

 

[Exzalia]

Owl flies up to Ouentin grinning. "Yay! Some one my age, and I like your idea! We should try it."

Owl spins to Kotsu manifesting a shovel in his hand. "Help us dig!" She says happily and Kotsu stares at her.

She wasn't afriad.

Owl pauses staring at him a moment, noting his shocked expression then she says in a innocent voice. "Looking like a monster and being one are two different things. My captures were monsters, but they didn't look. I know my mind is, failing, but I haven't yet forgotten how un-monstrously you have treated me." She boops him on the nose.

"So get digging."

The three begin to dig while the others keep thinking.

"I think we should walk backwards in one direction, our eyes of course facing forward. We, give up looking entirely really. We keep focused on one spot, sure but keep moving back. Owl should take the lead, or I suppose it would be her in the back. It's her memory fragment. It is theoretically respond to her presence. It could materialize then. Memories have a purpose. The purpose is to be remembered to teach. I imagine things with purpose don't like being ignored, especially when the person that gives them purpose is in the area. The Sandlands may let the memory appear in the distance or in front of us once we let go of the want to find it. "

Bickle nods "Well that's another idea, any more suggestions? Hows the digging coming?"

Quetin and Kotsu were still only finding sand, and cats, just random cats in the sand. Perfectly healthy purring cats, no luck yet.

 

[Kinggunlucky]

"Not necessarily," Denton said. "It could want to find us, but this place is big, big with a mind of its own it seems like anyway. It might need a beacon, a way to know that Owl is here to get to her. And if the way to do things in this place is illogical, going the opposite way while facing an opposite direction seemed the most reasonable to actually cover some ground."

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu blushed as one of his eyes becomes normal again as Owl boops his nose. "You... you're not afraid...?" Kotsu held back his excitement. He'd still done some things that he couldn't be forgiven for. He'd taken life after life in the sake of strength. The worse part is, he'd do it again too. Helooks confused as he finds more cats by helping them dig. His eye had gone back to being red while he thought to himself about how he'd be able to talk to Owl again. But if he needed power, he might have to put their happiness on hold. And that made him actually depressed. "Do... Do you own any of these cats? They just keep comin'..." Kotsu said to Owl, petting each one as he found more. Kotsu paid half attention to Denton. "That also makes sense, but Owl wants us to dig. So wouldn't this be a way to a memory? These cats are cute. Maybe that'll help her remember something? Dude, I'm trying here." Kotsu said to Denton clearly getting confused. "I do chemistry, not philosophy dammit. Ya got the wrong guy for this."

 

[Freikugel]

"Maybe this landscape is a shard of memory" Added Fizzy

 

[Exzalia]

The sand lands
part 2
Quentins villiage​

Owl flies up in front of them and says loudly. "Lets try Joes idea, the shard is north, so lets go south aaaannnndddd lets adds Dentons walking backwards to it. Quetin and kotsu, keep digging."

"Why?" Bickle asks.

"Cause i like cats."

Quentin peaks out of the hole a little annoyed as the group starts walking backwards south instead of north, backwards into the vast desert.

They only take two steps.

Denton trips over something hitting his head not on sand, but on, or rather, in water. They had arrived at a river...some how. All of them turn to see a lush Nile cutting through the sand and across it, Owls Village.

"The memories!" Owl says excitedly, "they must be over there. I feel them!"Everyone looks at each other excitedly, they had done it! It had been easy.

Too easy.

Suddenly they hear a scream, as Quentin is getting out of the hole the sand gives way and the hole widens into nothingness. Kotsu being closest to Quentin leaps grabbing the boys hand, he stares down in shock as the sand beneath them collapses revealing a whole other world beneath the sand. Indeed the sand was the clouds of another plane of the dream world, and Quentins digging had caused it to rain.

In an instant the hole swallows them all, choking them with sand dragging them down through a meter of dust before plunging them into the air. they fall diving like fallen angels into a cold wet atmosphere, above them the sand clouds close sealing them off from their goal.

Below them, Quentins cottage, his entire village lay sprawling out safe and un harmed, rice fields stretch off into the east and villagers go about their evening chores.

"HAHAAH!" owl squeals laughing hard. "WEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!"

"We're gonna die!" Bickle shouts as the ground races towards them.

"If you believe you're going to die you will." Owl shouts at them "Pretend your a feather! Samantha remember when you had wings? you have them again!"

Owl abruptly stops falling and begins to float down gently, the others plunge past her. Knowing you weren't going to die and believing you weren't going to die were notably two different things. Especially when the ground was clearly racing towards them, their subconscious minds simply refused to believe what their logical mind was telling them. It knew better, they would die and it reacts the way any good subconscious would, by bracing their bodies for the impact.

"It's just a dream, the fall won't hurt, it's just a dream the fall won't hurt!" Bickle repeats to him self in vain.

Owl can see her allies mentally were not ready for such a task. She swoops down and calls to them. "Alright fine I'll make it easier."

With a flash of mental magic Owl creates a giant whoopee cushion under them.

"There now can you believe you won't die?"

Bickle looks back at her, then at the whoopie cushion. "thats not big enough to break our mo-"

"Bickle you have ten seconds to be illogical or you're dead!" Owl shouts at him.

 

[KotaKotsu]

Kotsu snatches the Joes up in his whips. He knew everyone else would be fine, but his friends would be the most susceptible to the fall with their already damaged bodies. He plummeted toward the ground and caught his footing as he touched down beside the whoopie cushion, staring up at his falling friends. "And I thought 'It's Raining Maniacles' was a stupid song title." Kotsu said with a chuckle as he lit a cigarette and placed 01 and 02 down gently.

 

[Freikugel]

"Shit!" Exclaimed Fizzy as he was falling

Something illogical, something illogical

Bunny will always be there for you She said with a smile

The stuffed animal grew up in size enormously and caught Fizzy with one hand placing it safely in the ground, it would later return to its normal size and place itself at Fizzy's right hip.

This place is really something thought Fizzy making sure everyone specially Sam were fine

 

[Spoiled Bread]

Aria​

Aria plummeted into Quentin's cottage like a meteor. Collapsing the building and making an Aria-shaped hole on the ground. She crawled out of the hole unscatched.

"Must not die. Protect Denton first."

She immediately got up and look for any falling Denton. She spread both of her hands in an attempt to catch him if he needs it.

Kinggunlucky

 

[KotaKotsu]

"Woah! Sweet landing, Aria!" Kotsu holds up a 10 point sign for Aria as a congrats for sticking the landing before wondering where he got it from. "What the... Why? Why do I have this?" He said tossing it in some random direction.

 

[Kinggunlucky]

Watching the others fall proved to be...not very useful. The vampires didn't seem to care to much about bodily harm. He guessed after so long being able to heal and regenerate. Fizzy's bunny grew gigantic and caught Fizzy.

Think, think.

Nothing really came to mind to stop the falling. Shit. He saw Aria with her arms out. How thoughtful, but he couldn't allow that to happen. The embarrassment of falling into her arms fueled him to think faster. It would have been major credibility points down the tube.

Denton thought about gliding down in the smoothest manner possible. He straightened out his falling body, so his feet would land first, his momentum slowed, and he landed gently beside Aria.

"You okay?" He asked. "You made quite the mess. Thank you for the assist offer." He patted her on the head.