Chronology: Ultimate

[BarrenThin2]

Frank Castle

The smell of iron greeted him as he scaled the ladder. It was an unmistakable scent, the metallic predecessor of blood. That it was this strong did not bode well. His pistol was the first thing presented as his head came over the top. Now, fortunately, there wasn't some massacre waiting to be discovered, but one could argue what he did find was almost more disturbing. It almost seemed to be someone's room, but the entire thing was covered in Radio Demon memorabilia. Across the room, sleeping, was Ruby. That creeping suspicion arose in his chest again. This certainly didn't quiet his fears that the Ruby the others had found was some sort of plant. Regardless, it was abundantly clear this wasn't the same Ruby he had met in the past, and as such there was no way to know what he could expect from her.

Slowly, Frank pulled himself wholly into the room, his pistol trained on the girl. Carefully, he tested his weight on the floor, immediately pulling back at the first sign of a creek. The old man barely let himself so much as breathe as he moved across the room. This girl was as likely a threat as an asset here. She needed to be treated as such if he wanted to walk away. Silently, Frank kneeled down, counting to three in his head. In an instant, his hand was clasped over Ruby's mouth and the pistol was planted firmly under her chin. "Scream and I'll paint the walls." A bluff. A good one, considering the pistol digging into her head, but a bluff nevertheless. "I'm going to pull my hand away. You're going to tell me who you are, as well as anything and everything you know about the Radio Demon and whatever this place is. The gun stays in case you get any ideas." His own voice was quiet, barely more than a whisper. Hopefully his glare would hide the fact that, short of her attacking him or revealing herself as some sort of monster, there was no way he would be able to shoot her.

thatguyinthestore​

 

[Ellya]

Atreus & Ellie
Ellie opened her eyes with a gasp and immediately shot up straight, checking herself for her weapons and looking around.
"Man... Getting knocked out and waking up somewhere new gets really old..."

Atreus woke up as well, in another room, slowly opening his eyes and rubbing his head.
"Mh..." he sat up straight. "... uh... hello?"​

 

[TheElenaFisher]

ʙʟᴀᴋᴇ ʙᴇʟʟᴀᴅᴏɴɴᴀ
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Blake looked at Thorne about to answer her when the entire world became static, her head spinning. Eventually, she found herself alone in a... dressing room? Obviously the Radio Demon was planning something, but what exactly?

Did the others end up in dressing rooms as well? Most likely, but she needed to get out first. Hopefully her teammates as well as the others were safe. Looking around the room, she eventually went over to the closet.

(Yes this is how short the Blake reply is)

AlexandraRoseLeclerc , thatguyinthestore
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ℭ𝔦𝔯𝔦
——————«•»——————
As Ciri, Geralt, Kassandra, Orbeck, and anyone else with them were enjoying their time in the bar, the world around her and probably for the others as well became hazy. Her head was spinning too and soon enough, that came to an end as she found herself in some room.

Alone.

“Geralt? Kassandra? Aloy? Orbeck? Corvo? Price?” Whether or not someone heard her, she had to at least try to see if someone heard her. Ciri then looked around the room that she was in, wondering why she was put in here of all places.

BarrenThin2 , FactionGuerrilla , darkred , Laix_Lake , StaidFoal , jigglesworth , thatguyinthestore ​

 

[darkred]

• Aloy
• Aloy weapons and supplies
• Jak/Mar
• Jak/Mar's abilities, weapons and supplies

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  Aloy
  Status: Alright
  =====================================================================
  
  Aloy winced "Dangit, what is with this creature!!!!"
  
  The Nora caught the alien before it bit her ear.
  
  thatguyinthestore
  
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  
• 
  
  Bow
  Hunter Bow
  Sharpshot Bow
  War Bow
  
  Forgefire FW
  Icerail FW
  Rattler
  Ropecaster
  Sling
  Blast Sling
  Stormslinger FW
  Tearblaster
  Tripcaster
  Heavy Weapons
  
  Some weapons can be picked up from dead human enemies, or shot off of machines. The following weapons cannot be purchased from merchants, and their ammo cannot be crafted.
  
  
  
  
  
  Deathbringer Gun
  Disc Launcher
  Firespitter
  Firestriker
  Mine Launcher FW
  Oseram Cannon
  Ravager Cannon
  Melee Weapons
  
  
  
  *Spear
  
  Sylens' Lance
  
  Stealth Weapons
  
  Blast Sling
  Traps
  Tripcaster
  Gifts given by Kassandra:
  
  Dark arrow
  
  Electric Arrow/Death Arrow
  
  
• 
  
  
  
  
  
  Jak looked around his dressing room, looking for a escape from hugging the two walking bananas.
  
  "Fine, I'll hug you guys."
  
  
  thatguyinthestore
  
  
  
• 
  
  Forms:
  
  Dark Jak
  Light Jak
  
  
  
  Weapons:
  Morph gun:
  16 mods
  Sleepytime
  
  
  
  Armor:
  Mar's armor
  
  Equip: Multiverse Watch
  
  

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Mood: Sociable, Guilty, Terrified
Tags:

thatguyinthestore

(GM)

DerpyCarp

-Art Credits--[/B]
Chiaki Morisawa Fanart [スタろぐ④] by ますぎ, minimally tweaked

Fire Flames Texture by arundel
Golden Floral Pattern from PNGkit,
original artist PaperElement?

Divider Set #02 by NorasFed, edited by me​

Searching for the purpose of things... Now wasn't that a familiar prospect? Even to the pyromancer whose fate seemed certain and solid, a punishment of some kind for existence itself, with reasons as clear as day when put on paper, there had always been a little 'why' echoing deep in his mind. Perhaps it had been denial in a way, there had to be more than this, it couldn't be so simple, so black and white. Being judged for a possible future without defence nor trial, it seemed wrong, it felt unfair... And yet, no one had batted an eye to it for the longest time. Who had been mistaken, him or the rest of the whole world? Both of them had taken the blame at some point, but now, he wasn't sure. Maybe they were both right and wrong at the same time, it all depended on the perspective one chose to look at the situation from.

Still, to lose everything so suddenly... Sage couldn't help but stop for a moment, even half-way of the task of taking the jacket off to offer his condolences with the Sign of the Soul. It made him wonder if he would have felt the same kind of disorientation and loss had something like what he had arrived to during the fear-toxin hallucination had actually happened, and much earlier in life. If he had done things just a little differently, resisted the circumstances instead of keeping everything quietly to himself... The image of the ruined and burning version of his Temple home was enough to send a shiver down his spine. No, he... doubted he'd have been able to live with such a thing weighting down his conscience.

Be it by your own hand or something else, if one had nothing to attach themselves to, he could see it like nothing more than despairing. If you felt like there was nothing to contribute to, no one to see your efforts, how did you even attribute meaning to a life like that? What were they living for? For the Descendant, it was... defiance. He had kept himself alive because he didn't want the others to 'win', so to speak. Death would have been too easy, to take it on and keep going had been the real challenge, but there was a part of him that felt a twisted sense of satisfaction, knowing that those that wanted to be rid of him without doing it so themselves wouldn't get that pleasure. If he had to suffer, he wouldn't be doing so alone. The one bound by fate vs those bound by duty, like a life-long mental round of chess in endurance.

It was very different than what Lealan was describing. When he looked at the Floran he saw Lucy, the broken, hurting version of her from that rooftop. 'Is that why you jumped?', he had never truly understood what had passed by her head that afternoon, perhaps until now. What his college friend had needed that day wasn't the moralistic superhero-wannabe that had gone after her, but maybe just, someone that cared.
The real strength of the punk biology student wasn't in the way that she acted like an unstoppable force, or the way that she exercised her own freedom to extremes like that, but to be able to reaffirm one-self repeatedly, day after day, despite how pointless it might seem at times, or how lost it might have felt. And perhaps, he had committed a huge mistake by cutting her off so promptly... He had given her something to attach herself to and then taken it away again due to being scared.

So stupid! Shit, how could he have been this blind?!

Tears had come to his eyes as soon as things had finally sunk in. Tears that he had soon dried out and tried to hide, not wanting to confuse the other over his reminiscing of the past. If only he had known, if only he hadn't been so caught up with his own worries... And even if he thought that, it wasn't as if he could have done much without the interpersonal experience to back it up. He didn't know because he had never had the chance to learn most things, and there wasn't much that could have been done about that back then. He had to fix it though, as soon as he could. Heck, he should have done it much much sooner!

"Oh uhh, I can't say I'm too fond of Cults...", he had eventually replied, keeping all of the internal turmoil to himself as if nothing had happened, "But I'm always up to hearing more about the religions of other worlds~! It's so interesting! I've been doing it with Kyou and Mimaki lately, their system is a lot more convoluted and yet, quite similar to Saraiiho's.", it had been at this point that the pyromancer had remembered that he had been trying to get the jacket off, promptly continuing to do so, as he already had one arm free, "Ohh, I get to talk too?! This should be fun!!!"

It was interesting to think that unbeknownst to the other, both parts were trying to fend off something with their chat. At this point, however, whichever internal past musings and re-interpretations had been brought about were louder than the illusionary choir of voices around him could ever hope to be. The young man didn't need anyone else to munch at unclosed emotional wounds really, he had the tendency to do it by default. No one was greater at making Sage feel terrible than Sage himself was. People often said that one's worst enemy was themselves, didn't they? Though it obviously wasn't as literal as it could be in his situation...
The younger version of him that had once been imagined mopping by the corner was no longer there once his gaze had met with the wall. Had it left feeling better or worse? Maybe only time would tell. He did feel like he had grown up and learned a bit more though.

Unfortunately, the Demon wasn't done with them and all sort of stability and reassurance that had been found went down in a matter of seconds. As soon as the jacket had been successfully removed, something sharp had touched his arm. The Descendant had been so shocked that the jacket had been let go off, dropping to the ground a couple inches further away from the motion, but the most notable thing had been the fire-aura coming back. Last time he had felt a similar prickling sensation the group had still been dealing with Scarecrow, in fact, none of that had been a nice time and the prospect of having to go through it all over again had him suddenly terrified. The flames had gone up immediately at the same time Sage had gasped in shock, a tall ragging fire that originated from him and him alone, tall, crackling wildly. If before there had been no intention to burn, this time it had been the opposite with the flare being so sudden and fierce that if the perpetrator had still been standing right beside him, they'd have gotten harmed, not to mention incredibly startled at the suddenness of it all.

Lealan was luckily not standing close enough to get caught in the burst, though there was certainly a human bonfire in the middle of the pair's dressing room. Anything attached to him that shouldn't be there would be burnt unceremoniously, as it had been brought about entirely in self-defense. In fact, even the v-neck black t-shirt that he had been wearing this whole adventure wasn't doing too well against the flames, getting noticeably charred and with spots eaten away, especially by the shoulder area. The typical drawing of fire wings in the air had gone past being a harmless fiery-line to have the insides of the shape fully filled up with flames and the whole room felt like a sauna, or worse, the heat still picking up. Was he trying to get rid even of whichever substance could have been injected? Certainly seemed so, though it certainly hadn't been a thought out course of action... Neither was it safe to the Descendant himself to keep it up for long.

As for Sage? Well, he had been put alert like a cornered animal, with heavy accelerated breaths and most likely not thinking too much about what was going on... If for some reason the plant lady had decided to focus on his eyes, well, they were widened in absolute terror, seemingly frozen on a same spot of the room, but more than that, a couple patches of the usual orange color were blinking into a more muddy purple-shade, in and out. He seemed to be caught in-between some sort of transition? Something else was definitely trying to happen here.

 

[DerpyCarp]

Lealan gasps and makes a quick jump back from the flames, her Matter Manipulator springing forth and spewing several gallons water on reflex. Poor Sage would be besieged by enough pure H2O to fill a mid sized swimming pool in the span of a second before Lealan stops spraying him. Weather the spray had doused the flames or just made the place really steamy, Lealan would scratch the back of her head and begin to apologize. "Woah! Shit! Sorry!! You scared me and I just started to hose you down by reflex!! Are you OK?" The increased heat wouldn't bother her, thanks to the Floran having her Environmental Protection Pack still functioning, but a blush could be seen on her face.
thatguyinthestore Necessity4Fun

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Mood: Outraged, Apologetic, Relaxed
Tags:

DerpyCarp

-Art Credits--
Chiaki Morisawa Fanart [スタろぐ④] by ますぎ, edited by me

Fire Flames Texture by arundel
Golden Floral Pattern from PNGkit,
original artist PaperElement?

Divider Set #02 by NorasFed, edited by me​

Sage hadn't even seen Lealan jump away at all, being so caught in the terror he felt. For a moment he hadn't even been seeing the room anymore, his mind back at the second round of the fear-toxin, alone in the warped trauma-inducing reality. Not again, he wasn't going through that again!! Something else had been there too, as if encouraging the pyromancer to let go of the fear, tempting and yet so disconcerting. It wasn't a voice despite how much like having someone softly whisper right by his ears it felt; Giving bad advice for the situation. It was true that he didn't want to be scared, but he knew very well it wouldn't end there... Instead, he had internally embraced each and every emotion, no matter how painful, protecting them from getting stolen by whichever influence lurked nearby.

Then suddenly he was being assaulted by water...

Initially, it had just evaporated, trying to douse the flame-aura that burned tall and proud, but it had served to call his attention out of whichever nightmare his mind had locked him inside of. Suddenly seeing a torrent coming to his direction after having just come back to the immediate reality had been a shock and a half, the fire going down instantly. Unfortunately, that meant that now the young man was receiving the full brunt of the shower without resistance. The pressure had sent him backwards, stumbling at first, then slipping on the wet floor and falling straight to the ground in a half-sat, half-laid down position, a loud 'thump' resonating with the impact, followed by pain.

When he had opened his eyes again, the usual fiery gaze had patches of vivid blue all over it, like little uneven gemstones. They shifted positions and danced almost as if suspended in liquid and not even a second later the whole set was glowing ever so softly. From fear, to surprise, then nothing but anger. The flame-aura had re-ignited as the Descendant grit his teeth clearly about to lash out, the once warm shade of orange too had blue thrown in, as if the fire itself was stripped with interpolating parts of both colors.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

, Sage had shouted out, before the flames were gone again. He had gasped in surprise, bringing his hands to cover his mouth with sheer shock and confusion. Did-Did his voice just echo? Shaking his head as a way to push the invading urges and emotions away, he had hastily corrected the blunder "No, t-that's not what I wanted to say...!", he took a deep breath and sighed, "It's fine. It's my fault for startling you.", differently from the sympathetic gentle tone from before, this one had a dash of coldness to it and a distant rationality that was very uncharacteristic of him. It didn't sound self-deprecating either, the words had simply been recited the same way one would read a grocery shop list; Just impartial, factual statements.

"I'm okay, I think. I felt something like a needle poke my arm and all I remember was thinking about how I really didn't want to face the fear-toxin again... Though even that doesn't make sense anymore.", he could barely understand what had been so scary now. What an unpleasant feeling of nothingness, "Well, if there had ever been anything there, it's probably been reduced to ashes at this point~", the smile that had come with that had felt so, out of place? There had been something off about it, it wasn't reassuring at all.

Even the bit of shame that he felt over letting things get like that didn't make it to the outside... For how long would it stay active this time? The heat lingered in the enclosed space as an aftermath to everything, slowly returning to the usual temperature. The moment that he had stopped feeling things properly even the heat-aura had died out, any kind of worry had suddenly been thrown aside.

 

[Kameron Esters-]

Captain Falcon falls on his touch "Ow! What the--" Falcon looks around to see that there wasnt a bed around in sight "I'm not even gonna question it...." Falcon gets up to his feet and looks around one more time "No more questions at all.." Captain Falcon jumps back up into the attic opening.
thatguyinthestore

 

[Atomic Chucklenuts]

The boys had no success in finding the radio demon for quite a while. But suddenly, they begin to feel dazed as static appears around them. Their heads become a little clear, only now they were alone in what looked to be dressing rooms.

“Huh? Is this a dressing room?” Rex instantly caught on to where he was, due to being on set for one of his favorite shows that’s also a soap opera. “Ow. Where am I. And why am I in a- dressing room?” Rex takes a moment to process where he is and comes to a conclusion from his inner fan boy.

“Wait! Am I in. This is El Amor De La Pasión El Amor? Santo Metrónomo, ¡esto es genial!“ Rex found himself geeking out for a moment but regains himself, when he realizes he and the rest of the MPF could be endangered. “Okay, Rex. Now’s not the time to act giddy about this. You have to find everyone else.”
Rex then started to open the door to freedom. If he couldn’t open the door, he would instead search the closet and drawers.



Soon Sora awakes too with him questioning where he is. “Oh. Where am I? I thought me and Rex was in the city, why am I in a room. Who put me here anyway?” Sora would also try his luck at leaving the room simply be opening the door. If the door happens to be locked, he’’ try his hand using the keyblade, hoping to get him out of here.



thatguyinthestore

 

[DerpyCarp]

Lealan's expression doesn't change from getting yelled at, or at least from what Sage can see, the helmet is kind of in the way. "Hey, don't worry about it. We both over reacted! It's fine. Anyway, back to what we were talking about. Tell me about your God." Lealan slides up to the male and slings an arm around his shoulder, the metal cool to the touch even after his burst of flame.
Necessity4Fun

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Mood: Distant, Chatty, Relaxed
Tags:

DerpyCarp

-Art Credits--
Chiaki Morisawa Fanart [スタろぐ④] by ますぎ, edited by me

Fire Flames Texture by arundel
Golden Floral Pattern from PNGkit,
original artist PaperElement?

Divider Set #02 by NorasFed, edited by me​

Sage had been grateful for Lealan's lack of a reaction to everything, even more her lack of reaction to the weird state that he currently found himself in. Was she just that nonchalant about things, or had the phenomena somehow gotten missed? Or maybe even, they hadn't interacted enough previously for it to be obvious that this wasn't a normal mechanic of his powers? Whichever it had been, it was still nice to not have to explain it all over again. While still not really knowing a lot about it.
He had given Killua everything he could understand thus far and it surely hadn't been enough. He had come to grasp the trigger and effects but, in the matter of where it was coming from and why things got a lot blurrier. ...Though the way his voice had just echoed did make him think about-- The pyromancer had stopped that train of thought entirely, not wanting to consider it much further. Again, denial. Perhaps he had been in denial the whole time, the implications were nerve-wracking. Best not to think about them until they became hard to ignore.

Did anything even change visually? It was hard to tell when you, yourself, was the subject, he could just tell something was amiss feeling-wise. Raising his head sightly, the young man had been reminded of where he seemed to be, and the presence of a long put-together mirror with it. Though before he could have attempted to get back up, the Floran had been already beside him, an arm around his shoulder, unknowingly pinning him back down. There was no way that he could just leave now, that'd be rather rude after she had gone to the trouble of sitting already. A resigned sigh had echoed through his mind, only deeper once the other had pushed the previous conversation topic.

Hints of disgust and contempt also seemed to be prompted by the mention of the Deities alone... Faint, yet quite noticeable.

That wasn't coming from him either.

"You're a very relaxed one, aren't you Lealan?", he had pointed out with a cheery chuckle, blinking with mild surprise at her statements, "It's good, makes it feel like I worry too much, unnecessarily, which is true.", did it even sound like appreciation at all? That's what Sage had been trying to get across... A small sigh had left his lips, "I can already tell it's going to be weird keeping this conversation like this, but eh whatever, let's do it anyway."

With a shrug, the Descendant had taken a deep breath as if trying to balance out the very contrasting emotions that were coming forth. When had said it was going to be weird, he had really meant it, as his adoration and fondness for the subject seemed to be fighting something else's complete distaste for it. This sort of internal tug o' war game was rather uncomfortable to be experiencing...
He had also taken the moment to warm up a bit, using the way the encounter with the plant girl's metal had felt like being stabbed with an icicle due to the largely diverse temperatures, prompting the heat-aura to come back to his rescue as he shivered. At least he wouldn't be dripping wet much longer now, and maybe it would also dry the floor in the process. They had made a bit of a mess.

"Now then, where to even start from?", leaning back a little as if against a wall, the pyromancer had directed his gaze to the ceiling again, rather peaceful. It was such a rare casual stance, at least coming from him, all it was missing was having his arms crossed behind his head as he did so, "No one knows where the Deities came from... Unlike the Concepts that are the building blocks of the Universe and were kind of created alongside it, there's those that suggest that the Deities themselves might not even be from the same Universe on the account that they're all so, unique. Whichever it is, each is capable of channelling a Concept through their very bodies and by putting those powers together, brought Saraiiho into existence. The Sun and Moon, and everything else on the planet."

"We don't have names for them, just their titles or type in whichever language you speak. Since I was raised by a Clan, mine isn't actually English, it's Bh̀-liwê ^(Hiliwee), a put-together coded rune-based system, to keep everything about Magic and the like hidden away. So you would refer to it as Fhènks ^(F-hinks), which isn't that far from a couple of languages now that I think about it.", Sage had chuckled softly. One could still tell that he was enjoying the exchange, despite it being much more matter-of-fact and distant than the way he'd normally get excited and increasingly more energetic and louder with the subject, "It is described as a huge majestic bird of never-ceasing fire, incredibly tall, taller than even you or me. The Deity of Fire and Transitions. Everything that I can do it's thanks to It, even though I come filled with limitations, using a power that's not exactly made for me... If I went too overboard, I could burn myself from the inside-out."

"Why the idea of transitions though, is a bit more complicated to grasp.", wait, he was just going to skip through that like nothing?? No matter how one looked at it, it hadn't been a subject one should be so nonchalant about... And yet, here we are, "Apparently, It can't die. Or well, not in the usual ways things die... It just catches on fire, turns into ashes and comes back as a newborn version of itself. Rebirth; An eternal cycle of endings and beginnings... So people eventually began to pray to it for guidance during trying times, because if you want something to end and something else to start, there isn't anyone better to oversee it happening, right?"

"In a way, it's disheartening to think that everything will inevitably end and nothing is forever. But it's also reassuring to know that seemingly eternal harsh times too will come to an end eventually. Our Clan is built around such ideas, they're non-materialistic, existentialist, always trying to cherish every minute of Life as the next, but also bracing for when things will come to an end. Relationships, lucky streaks and life itself... Some of us don't do attachment at all because of that, though that's not all bad. It might be lonely to some if it's forceful, yet others are happy by themselves, it depends on how you take it..."

The casual tone while reciting such things was rather off-putting. Sad sentences and happy sentences, they all seemed to make no difference, shared in the same friendly way, skimmed over with smiles at the end of ideas that maybe shouldn't be there. It made one wonder whether it was as disconcerting to watch it as it was being to feel the brunt of it all. It honestly felt like watching a child read a script they didn't quite get the meaning of; The words themselves seemed to hold no weight or depth to him at that moment.

"On the other hand, we're considered the mediators of all the Clans. Visitors come to us when they're having a bad time, to pray of course, but also to talk to somebody if they need to. It's a lot harder to carry a burden alone and not everyone has people they actually talk to and such... So we offer support for those that need it, to help them bear through things until a stormy night finally opens up into a bright sunshine~!", Sage had smiled in a gentle innocent way, as he had been doing for a while, "It's encouraging, though courage itself is another Clan's thing."

"And well, that's the bulk of it, there's a lot more intricacy and traditions I didn't talk about, but I'm honestly starting to wonder if this isn't getting too boring for you or something like that~", there had been a little soft laugh, "I'm aware that I tend to talk a lot."

 

[DerpyCarp]

Lealan nods as Sage talks, absorbing the information as she can. When he gets to the end, she waves his concerns off. "No, don't worry. I asked for information and you provided. Now, you talked about both your Deity and your people. Sadly mine are not as intertwined as yours, so which would you rather I start with, the Cultivator, or what we know of them at least, or the Floran's? Otherwise I'll just start to ramble, and you can see what it's like on the outside!" She gives him a wide smile, full of sharp black teeth. Without the rest of her face or her voice to give it a better context, it would appear threatening to most, in a primal, predatory way.
Necessity4Fun

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Mood: Distant, Playful, Relaxed
Tags:

DerpyCarp

-Art Credits--
Chiaki Morisawa Fanart [スタろぐ④] by ますぎ, edited by me

Fire Flames Texture by arundel
Golden Floral Pattern from PNGkit,
original artist PaperElement?

Divider Set #02 by NorasFed, edited by me​

"Oh? You're letting me choose~?"

The playful response had been almost automatic, carrying a smile whose reason was nowhere to be found. Normally Sage would have gotten caught up on the comparison between the amount of information shared and the short-ish reply, worrying whether the other had really understood all of that or if things were just being said to make him feel better. And yet, whichever concern and disbelief that had made themselves known this time, were all instantly barred, barely felt, even less acknowledged. He had simply taken everything face-value and promptly moved on without thinking twice on the subject. Did it even matter whether or not Lealan was paying attention...?

Similarly, the vicious missing context smile of the Floran, that would have at least made him flinch back in normal conditions, hadn't elicited any sort of response. In fact, the pyromancer had taken it with complete indifference, blinking blankly as if he hadn't even seen it in the first place. 'Fear' had like most emotions become something undecipherable; Almost as if locked behind an encryption of some kind. He didn't even try to move from the same position he had been in since the slip and fall, he had no reason to do so yet. It was absolutely fine in there.

It would be fine anywhere else too.

"Hmm...", he had brought a finger to his mouth, glancing at the ceiling again in pretend-thought, "You know what? Rambling is fine.", the young man had announced with a nonchalant shrug, "I want you to start from wherever you'd like and then ramble to your heart's content~", another smile, it was getting difficult to tell what they were even supposed to mean. If it is that they meant anything, "Feel free to show me exactly how it feels to be listening to it, though I doubt it's going to be nearly as long or complex.", was that- Was that a challenge?! It came with such a confident side-glance too... w-what the heck? Why??

Not much later from having said those words, Sage had suddenly come to a full halt, eyes widening a little. He could feel something beginning to change inside him again, with previously frozen emotions and sensations slowly resurging.
A little dull 'ah' of understanding had left his lips in a low tone. Finally, the effect of this thing was starting to fade! It had come a bit earlier than last time too, which probably meant that it hadn't been that great of a fall to begin with. He was relieved by the news, though it still would not show properly. The exchange had been starting to get a tad too weird for his liking.

 

[DerpyCarp]

"Well, since you asked~. Please save any questions until the end!" Lealan inhales. "It started long ago, when the universe re-spawned. We have evidence of at least two previous iterations of our universe, and that certain beings 'souls' for a better term, have survived throughout, like Dreadwing the Pirate, for instance. Anyway, in our most common iteration, first came the Cultivator. From them spawned the Ancients, a race of beings of great power and technology. They were capable of creating amazing works, including inter-dimensional gateways, challenge rooms, and some even speculate that they built the Glitch, an entirely Robotic race. While the Cultivator was bringing about the other races, they crossed the stars and created wondrous works. Eventually this came to an end, with the Ruin." Lealan's voice takes a darker tone when she announces the name. "The Ruin ran amok, consuming life all across the galaxy. Eventually, the Cultivator and the Ancients found a way to stop it. They managed to seal the Ruin away, perishing to the last, leaving only their creations and warnings behind, the most important of these being the Ark, and the 'Infinite Sanctuary.' From there, the Cultivator was weakened to much that they could not do much else, the battle with the Ruin was too great, for they were not a fighter. They bestowed upon the six chosen races six artifacts, objects of great power, and keys to the Ruin's prison. These artifacts are: The Avian's Wheel of Kluex, The Apex's Genesis Coil, The Floran's Bone Trophy, The Glitch's Royal Medallion, The Human's Master Manipulator, and the Hylotl's Mirror of Wisdom. Each of these artifacts were passed down through their respective races by different means, each helping the race as they grew, and eventually spread throughout the stars." Lealan takes another breath. "The first to go beyond the skies, ironically, were the Avian. Developing FTL technology and spreading their religion of Kluex to any who they could find. Naturally nobody believed them. Meanwhile, the Hylotl and Florans evolved on the same planet. My people were savage, tribal people. Bloodthirsty hunters always seeking the next hunt. Eventually, the more peaceful and philosophical Hylotl began a war with my race, though nobody knows how it actually started. Scattered and divided, the tribes of my people should have lost and been wiped out. But due to our special innate abilities, and much more durable forms, we managed to chase the Hylotl into the oceans, where we couldn't eat them. Left on our own, with no major enemy to fight, we began to fight among ourselves, until the best/worst possible thing happened. A lone Avian ship crashed landed on our planet, the pilot was quickly devoured weather they had survived the impact or not. You see, while my race were tribal and simple, we had two innate gifts that helped us here. One is the ability to manipulate the growth of other plants, mostly used in construction purposes. The other is the ability to interface our plants with the technology of others, and don't ask me HOW it works, because I have no idea. None of us do, it just works." The Floran shrugs. "Back on topic. Using our ability's, we quickly rebuilt and modified the Avian craft and took to the stars, killing and stealing what we needed as we spread through the galaxy like a plague. Our races greatest hunters would gather together on our home-world's Ceremonial Hunting Grounds to participate in a massive Hunt/Competition for the Bone Trophy. Until recent years, it was passed from one Hunter and Tribe to the next, until recently, I and a young prodigy named Nuru laid claim on the Artifact. At that point, the Earth had been destroyed and I was tracking down the rest of the artifacts to use them for their collective purpose. Using the Ark, I was transported to the Ruin. I tunneled down through it's body, killing any natural defenses, until I managed to get through it's outer brain and to it's heart, where I killed it. The Ruin, in either a natural reaction, or maybe even an act of spite, blew itself up in it's last moments. As powerful as I am for my race, and as powerful as my armor and Tech may be, a planet exploding around me was too much. I thought I was dead. And then I heard it." Lealan looks away from Sage as she remembers. " 'Protector... Do not follow the myriad souls of those that came before you. Though even I succumbed to the Ruin... When we fought, I shattered, broke apart into near infinite pieces... Much was simply lost, though fragments of myself, ancient and wild, broke away and became something new... What little of myself remained stayed to watch what I had left behind. You united my artifacts, Protector. The six races I gifted now stand as one. You have planted a seed of peace that will grow and spread throughout this vast universe. The Ruin is destroyed, the universe is saved, but there is still so much to do. And now, to you, I give my final gift - the last of myself. Return Protector. Live again.' " A water like fluid leaks down from underneath Lealan's helmet, drawing a wet line to her chin. "I don't know if there is anything LEFT of the Cultivator. At least, anything substantial. I've looked, but the universe is so vast, and I am but one Floran." Lealan looks down, quiet. Her mouth pulled into a small frown.
Necessity4Fun

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Mood: Troubled, Attentive, Reassuring
Tags:

thatguyinthestore

(GM)

DerpyCarp

-Art Credits--[/B]
Chiaki Morisawa Fanart [スタろぐ④] by ますぎ, minimally tweaked

Fire Flames Texture by arundel
Golden Floral Pattern from PNGkit,
original artist PaperElement?

Divider Set #02 by NorasFed, edited by me​

As emotions had been returned to him, Sage had been washed over by a powerful wave of relief, hearing the other's reaction or therefore lack of. Was it just her being nonchalant and casual about everything again or could she tell what was happening without any sort of explanation? It was really hard to tell with the Floran, she was another of those people that he had a difficult time reading... Oh well, whichever it was, it was nice that nothing that had been said which was a tad on the weird side of things. A tad? Unsure, he had surely given himself some eerie vibes here and there, which didn't seem like a good sign. Or maybe he had just been overthinking things again, but it felt just so virtually different... Didn't it? How much of that was a by-product of lacking sympathy and anxiety, and how much was actually something else?

Regardless, with the blue streaks gradually dying out and leaving behind only the familiar warm shade of orange, he had gotten to receive Lealan fully as himself. Having successfully dried himself and most of the floor itself too, the temperature had dropped back to environment levels, the pyromancer retracting the heat-aura once it was no longer needed. It was also a way to guarantee a huge portion of emotional... malleability?, --odd term he had just come up with but okay--, during what had turned out to be a surprisingly long and complex backstory dump from the plant girl's end.

Then again, he had asked for it... And it wasn't bad at all! Quite the contrary actually.

Giving off a little nod in acknowledgement of the questions at the end request, the young man had finally sat upright since the fall; Legs crossed, arms over his lap and an attentive, anticipating gaze, like a kid excited for story-time. It sorta reminded him of certain gatherings back in the Phoenix Clan, though he wasn't allowed to join the bulk of the crowd with everyone else for them.

Right off the bat, the Descendant had already been exposed to completely new and unthought-of notions. The Universe had been reset?? And twice for that matter? Sage had flinched back sightly with apprehension over the idea, clearly shocked. It was like... Well, this was a hard one actually, uhhh like starting a worldbuilding game, then dropping it entirely once you're bored with it and hitting the start button again? But on a Universal scale???? Yeah, not the best metaphor probably, but it wasn't like he had anything else to compare it to.
Just imagine the level of dominion over the Pair of Reality, Time & Space, that it would take to pull something like that off?! And to do it so thoughtlessly without caring for the lives already established... Unless the previous Universes had ended up so desolated that it justified doing such a thing. It was just, so extreme. It really put one to think, about what might have happened to Saraiiho had the Deities really decided to destroy it over their disgruntlement with humanity. What a disturbing trail of thought, really.

Shaking his head to get the idea out of his mind, the Floran had continued into what felt just like her Universe's version of The Book of Creation, the mythos behind the formation of the planet and everything on it. Though, this seemed to be even more vast than that. It sounded like a Universe with more than a single planet and the starscape in it, unlike Saraiiho's Universe which was described as an empty sandbox of sorts... The thought of having so many different civilizations and planet in there made his mind race to the point the pyromancer had got himself dizzy. There were so many possibilities! It was very disorienting! A mild headache rose from the overexertion of thought faculties, though it seemed to get completely overshadowed at the mention of the Ruin, replaced by overwhelming dread and guilt.

As soon as the subject had started, the Descendant could see nothing but Toayî. A destructive force hinged on no more than to end everything and everyone equally, rampaging through the Universe... Maybe it would be the Entity, if his body wouldn't burn much sooner, forced to contain a power much too strong for it. But this was still a rather scary thought, it had been part of why the Take-Over had worried him so much. Imagining a freed Concept of Fire in a whole different Universe?! It was nothing short of terrifying.
Sage had wished so strongly to be left to his own devices once upon a time. As much as the Multiversal adventures had their dash of enjoyment, the risks would be just too great; He was just as much as an erratic shotgun as he could a ticking time-bomb... For the whole portion of the matter, the heat had picked up to candle levels again, and his expression had been unusually serious and gloomy. It had taken so much effort to essentially seal the Ruin away... He trembled, imagining the remains of Its rampage, all of the worlds and people that had most likely been lost. Even if had all happened so, so long ago, he silently mourned the collateral damage of an entirely different Universe, his hand travelling towards his chest almost by instinct... The Sign of The Soul, dedicated to all of the abruptly cut off tales.

...Humbly offered to all of the Universes existent and yet to exist.

From the struggle of stopping destruction to the wonder of life, the next topic had been a brush over the many races that had been mentioned in the very start. He didn't know what FTL stood for, but the idea of space travel was still somewhat clear. This would have been disconcerting if it hadn't been the experience with the Axiom earlier, now it was just, mildly apprehension-inducing... Progress~!

The rest of this section had been very dual in a way. On one hand, there had been the mention of wars in between the groups, a notion which sadly wasn't too unfamiliar. You see, the Clans fought and have been fighting for territory in influence ever since they've been conceived... With the era of Closure, the main 'hubs', --he guessed they could be called that?--, the points of origin of each Clan had been bestowed the duty to keep Magic and the existence of the Deities hidden and ambiguous, so those camps sort of rule religiously where they stand. However, once one starts moving far from these locations and smaller groups of different religions come across each other... Well, it doesn't always end with a peaceful merge or the emergence of a Mixed Clan.
If Saraiiho's map was to be compared to a lot of alternate Earth ones, the ongoing or put on stasis conflicts would be clear from the boundaries of the nations themselves. It's all a lot more scattered and separated apart. There are Clans that openly hate each other even now on more modern days and if the pyromancer had to be honest, despite all of the good-sounding things about the Phoenix Clan, they were way too stuck on their own traditions. As a result, anything remotely different was seen with suspicion and every other Clan had something to be badmouthed and mocked about. Heck, he too ended up perpetuating some of those biases that he grew up exposed to!

And it was his Clan's stubbornness that kinda played in the other side of this coin. Because as violent and brutish as the Floran's tribalistic behavior sounded to him, the young man could tell that Lealan spoke of it with some fondness. Behind the very straight-forward and objective words of hers lied a sense of belonging and kin that he hadn't known for most of his life. They even had the same powers! Her usage of 'we' and 'us' here wasn't one-sided and delusional like his was; Saying things like 'my Clan' when well, no one else really thought like that. The Descendant tried to hide it, holding his inner turmoil deep inside, but it really hurt.
Gripping at the black t-shirt right by the chest as a reaction to emotional pain, an unnatural glow in his eyes, the tension was there if one looked for it; A mix of wonder but also, envy. And grief. Grief over a plethora of stolen, lost opportunities. Sure all of the previous experiences, no matter how painful, were part of what Sage, well, Sage. But it was impossible to not mourn the extremely unfair and harsh hand that life had given him, even if just for a split-second...

The conversation moved on, he tried to move on with it. Taking deep breaths and hiding melancholic sighs under those, Sage had been able to calm down somewhat, feeling the tension clear up slowly. The other spoke of how her own race spread through the Universe, though they were just as destructive, ravagers. Interesting to think about when part of their Ability matched those of Centaur Descendants, the Clan that was all about nature protection and such... But he digressed. After gathering all of the required tools to reach The Ruins resting place, Lealan had ended up committing an unplanned ultimate sacrifice for the Universe, perishing as a result. And then the Deity she had spoken of a couple times before had kept her story from ending there.

Once it was finished, the Floran hadn't been the only one in tears. Summed to the already ongoing tensions, the retelling of the speech verbatim had broken him, silent tears travelled downwards as if to gently caress his cheeks in reassurance and comfort. If only Leo, Hershel or Alexis had been there too; It felt awfully lonely without them. For a moment all he could do was sob, merely able to shake his head at her but incapable of conjuring any more sounds or words. Even if the Descendant dried them with the back of his hand they kept resurfacing.

Eventually, he had just decided to go for it regardless.

"I don't think- I don't think that They want to be found.", he had hiccuped through the words as the tears would not cease, "You made, a selfless sacrifice by ending the powerful creature that could destroy the Universe... Whether that was your plan or not, The Cultivator thanked your efforts by doing one of Their own... Instead of Reincarnation, what you got bestowed with was Rebirth; The chance to continue your own story, to partake and explore the Universe that you've saved.", the next words, typically recited during departure ceremonies, had been uttered with The Sign of The Soul and closed eyes, " 'A story ends so that another can begin', or in this case keep progressing. I'm sure They're content with that choice, wherever Their Light might be now."

With his gaze aimed towards the ceiling, a couple more tears had run down, a little sniff echoing before he had tried to dry them again. Finally, he wasn't crying anymore, though the next subject was just as heartwrenching. Initially, the pyromancer wasn't sure if he should say anything at all. It's not like she had asked him after all. But in the lingering tense, emotional silence that had lingered around, at some point, the words had just come to him anyway. Once he had realized it, it had already been too late to retreat.

"...You're so lucky.", Sage had been startled by his own sentence, soon scrambling in a mild panic to fix any misunderstandings, waving his hands in front of him, "I mean-! Don't get me wrong, it's obvious that you've been through a lot, I'm not trying to disvalue that! Never!! But-", the young man had deflated sightly, a troubled gaze had been averted until he had spoken again, "But you're free and you had others with you in many steps on the way, even a whole race and- ... I said things like 'my Clan' and 'our' but, it's really just a 'me vs them' situation."

"I'm not allowed in gatherings or meeting or events... Even the volunteers that don't really know what's going on get warned out of even talking to me. I've been put aside and treated like a monster my whole life, I can't even step outside without a Siren Array going off and letting people know I'm leaving, neither was I allowed to leave at all before. So, when you're talking about cool adventures and such, I can't help but be just a tad envious. I didn't even have to be a different planet, I just wanted to see the world right outside the torii. And even that was too much.", his smile was sad, and ever so sightly twisted with deep emotional pain. The subject didn't even affect him as much anymore, after all the times it has been recited like this. There had to be something of concerning here.

"When you mentioned The Ruin, it had sorts hit a very close spot for me, but because I'm standing on the other side. I had the potential to become something like that, heck, maybe I still have. I don't know how things are going to work after that wish, I'm scared that what I feared the most is happening. That the once strict boundaries between what's me and what's the Entity have been blurring and mixing... I know that I'm me right now, but there are other times where I can't tell anymore; I don't know who's in control. It's like having two people sitting in the driver seat of a car and trying to drive at the same time, it's disconcerting.", there had been a sigh, hard to tell what it was supposed to mean. Frustration? Resignation?, "I was concerned before, when it had risks but at least it made sense, I had a grasp of how things worked. Now I don't and that has me in circles a bit.

"...I- Don't even know why I'm saying any of this, the words just started by themselves and kept going."

With another sigh, he had given it pause, the silence reigning in the room once more. Then he had finally gotten back up, politely tapping Lealan's arm for her to let go of him and proceeding towards the clothing rack.

"I should put this back before Alastor decides to teleport us somewhere else again...", he had commented, promptly picking his jacket back from the pole it had been hanging off of and wearing it back, "Same goes for the sundae."

True to his words, Sage had picked the 'sweating' cut of dessert up for the defiled table, once more trying to use the leftover water to clean the smeared runes. Some more of the paint came out buuuut, it didn't seem like this was going to work properly. More taps in sympathy and apology. The cup had also been dried on his shirt. Not that it was going to last, at least not until the entirety of the ice-cream had melted and matched the temperature of the environment, but at least it wouldn't be dripping as hard as before. The leather jacket remained crumpled on the floor where it had been dropped and hadn't been approached at all. Even if it seemed awfully disrespectful to not put it back where he had found it... Interacting with the garment again seemed like a terrible idea after what had happened last time.

 

[DerpyCarp]

Lealan stretches her arms while Sage goes to clean the room. She hops up and continues her stretches, a loud series of clicks and pops sounding from her body. "I'm fortunate, I suppose. My kind value Strength above all, and that I have in spades. But before I proved myself in the hunting grounds, I was a monster to them, and not because of anything I did. I was an experiment of the Apex, specifically the Minikong. I won't get into the details, but basically they tried to rip me apart and make me into a pair of super weapons. When that didn't go well, they put me back together with all these augments and tried to made due, and I killed them all in a mindless rampage. And the planet they were stationed on. And the worst part of that is that the programming to DO that is still in me. I don't know when someone will just, shut me off and let Fatal Circuit back in, turning my rampaging self loose."
Lealan wipes her hand on her face to clean up her tears from before. "In addition, Floran funeral rites dictate that when one dies the tribe will consume them in their entirety. Not only did I lose any memory of my tribe and even who I was before, but I have all this Impervnium inside of me. This stuff is so strong that even Florans can't consume it, and that by default makes me ruined to my kind. I was fortunate that Nuru took such a shine to me, or I may have gone on with my life without knowing any of the kinship of my people."
Lealan huffs, watching Sage as he goes about cleaning. "So I can kind of get what you're talking about. For the longest time I only had as much value in my self as much as I could find in the eyes of others. I've done terrible things: Murder, Theft, Piracy, Heresy, Defiling, etc. All to get a sense of purpose and belonging. Somewhere along the way, I was taken in by the Protectorate, and they all died with the planet Earth. I suppose somewhere along the way, I stopped caring so much about what others though about me, and found some actual companions. Companions who know what I can do, don't care, and accept me instead. And that's what you need to see, I think. You need to look at who you know, both at home and among us, and see that we don't care what you could be, we care about who you are." Lealan focuses on Sage with a teasing Grin. "If you can do that, then maybe you can have some of that Freedom I wave so carelessly." Lealan moves to the door to open it, and see if maybe it leads somewhere new. "I don't know if it's you or this place, I'm not normally so talky or touchy feely. I'm going to blame you for now."
Necessity4Fun thatguyinthestore