Multiple Settings Mass Clans: Beyond

[Filament]

Pestilence doesn't immediately recognize that Nyx is talking but when he does he suddenly looks very embarrassed. "I didn't mean the good demons, like you and your friends. I just meant... The ones who support Undertaker." The tom would mew, sounding desperate to explain himself. "I would never mean to question your loyalties, Nyx." The tom would conclude, bowing his head to her as she finishes her snarky remark.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hal is not surprised by the sudden spotlight but he grounds himself and takes a deep inhale, reminding that this is after all what he deserves. "I like that Trin can take charge of situations and keeps a calm head during dangerous situations." Something he himself is extremely inept at. "I worry about the fact that if he were to die or be incapacitated, it would be impossible to find another cat as capable as he is. I would hope that statement doesn't come across as distasteful ass kissing. I briefly fought with the Mia'Moray military who were extremely capable and their leaders were quite good. They have not however, had the countless years that Trin has to hone his skills."
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Filament feels slightly flustered as she compliments him and tells him she's added her number to his PCD. "Sounds good! Take care and be safe." The tom would mew, dipping his head to leave. He definitely wasn't going to give her any calls without Pim's blessing and comfort. He makes a mental note to inform her of the exchange at the first opportunity.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"We just gotta find a vendor first." Flame would mew humorously at her dismissal of Trin. "Let's go find one, this is so exciting, if only we had time to eat all the food!"
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Holly watches in awe as cats from all walks of life, age and gender descend from the sky. Once they've landed, she looks over at Speed. "Isn't that dangerous for the pregnant mothers and the older cats?" She asks incredulously, not taking her eyes off of the cats as they begin to pack up their chutes.

 

[Moonsound]

Trin actively listened to Hal, one ear pivoting in his direction.

“Thank you. That was great. It’s normal to fear losing someone in your social circle. It would leave a hole that cannot be filled. A feeling I’m sure you can relate to and reciprocate Trin.” Whistleperry purred, giving Hal a grateful dip of her nose. As she addressed his words she opened the room for Trin to respond.

“Very much. I value my friends very highly.” Trin responded after a moment of pause. His tone was dry but the words were genuine, evidenced by the tom making eye contact with all three of them before he finished talking.

“Now Thrush and Thistle, you two must share for your friend. And no more whispering.” Whistle meowed, gesturing to the twins.

—

“Yes please! WHERE CAN WE FIND SOME SODA!?” Aceline yowled, careful to point her mouth away from Flame’s ears. She couldn’t but let a goofy giggle sneak out of her muzzle afterwards.

—

“Hey. Welcome back to the two of everything club.” PIM greeted Filament with a twitch of her whiskers. Anya, Saraphina, Vasteye, and Callista were still milling about with the AI. But everyone else had gone off. Rum and her sisters, as well as Purple and Bailey had taken off and scampered to who knows where in the Symphony. But one things for sure, they certainly weren’t the only minors running about unaccompanied. Keesipip and Penny were a ways away chatting over whether they wanted to go to a lecture or an alien history exhibit.

—

“…I guess a little?” Speed meowed, her tone revealing that she really didn’t find it dangerous at all. The danger didn’t click with her. To her it was as normal as riding a bike.

“I know my mom did it with me. And most cats carry three chutes. I forgot what it is, but it’s like more likely you’ve get caught in a pulsar gamma ray emission than for all three of our culture’s chutes to fail…I don’t know; skydiving was just never scary to me. My cousin was scared his first time though…..” Speed trailed off as a few memories resurfaced in her head.

“Skydiving’s nothing. YOU went flying through the vacuum of space in the middle of a warship engagement!” Speed said excitedly, giving Holly a light shove with a chuckle.

“How’d that feel?” She asked, her tone curious and congenial.

—


Elsewhere with Lexi Vettor…

“I can buy this?” Lexi asked, pointing to a green duffel bag on a shelf made of gold, marbled with bioluminescent epoxy to look like wood grain. The shelf alone looked like some otherworldly material you’d find by cutting down a gold tree from some dark alien world. In fact, considering where she was it could literally be just that.

“Yes ma’am.” Both one of the store employees as well as the Haven agent that escorted her stated with an amused dip of their heads.

“What about this? What’s this made of?” Lexi asked, shuffling over to a golden leotard.

“Yes ma’am. That is a finely woven garment made from a gold-rayon blend, with 2 millimeter AMF stitching, micro-knitted using 70,000 year old amber made from the tree sap of the now extinct Kisperus Sentinelis tree species of the planet No Vile Experiences. The amber pieces we use exclusively contained extinct fauna within them. Making this piece not only comfortable and alluring, but also one of a kind. Perfect to show off at a resort or a gala. We here at Garbonachi pride our brand on nothing less than unique, ostentatious, versatile and functionable pieces. With a fondness for our ‘new wealth’ clientele. ” The latex maned wolf employee explained in a stuck voice that didn’t match her friendly tone and mannerisms. She also has glowing eyes just like Cannibals, making her resemble what an ancient Egyptian on earth would call a god.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

As agreed upon, Thistle is up next. "I know it's rare since we don't spend much downtime together these days but I enjoy talking to you and listening to your stories. Less dour topics, of course. Tales of your outlandish experiences across the multiverse or facts about the current planet we're traversing. If I had all the time in the world I would spend it picking your brain." Thistle answers with complete honesty.

The tom pauses, gathering his thoughts and deciding how to phrase what he wants to say next. His gaze shifts between Whistleperry and Hal, clearly not ready to share his thoughts in front of him and a complete stranger. He glances at Thrush who gives him a small, encouraging smile. "Due to recent events - including my encounter with that medic droid earlier this morning - some very unpleasant memories and... feelings have returned. It's..." He releases a shuddering breath, "It's jarring. I haven't felt like this since I was a kit. I've overcome this armr ting once before but I'm afraid of losing years progress I worked so hard to achieve."

Thrush reaches around her brother with a foreleg and brings him in close for a hug. With her other paw, she touches the rune painted on his throat. "Remember the meaning of Thurisaz." She utters a phrase in their native language and it seems to ease Thistle's nerves a little. "I chose that rune for you and only you. Okay?"



Nyx hums, raising an eyebrow at Pest's statement. He said 'good demons, like you and your friends'. Even she wouldn't go that far for them. Both referring to them as 'friends' and characterizing them as 'good'. Before this strange group stumbled into her life, the last time she called someone her friend she was betrayed and poisoned.

"You have a wonderful Symphony Day as well!" Nyx calls back with a wave. She lets out a breath when Leffany disappears into the sea of animals. "Now that she's gone..." She slowly lays down to be on the same level as the scared felids and to show that she means no harm. "Are you two okay? May I get your names?" Asks the demoness.

 

[Moonsound]

“Javve, and this is my daughter Preach.” The brown tom says. His daughter gives a weak nod of affirmation.

“…She’s right.” Preach mumbles, looking at the ground with tear trails on the sides of her snout.

—

Whistleperry nodded along as Thistle spoke. The inner portions of her brow fell down a hair in concern but she pointed her attention to Trin.

“Mhmm, thank you. We all have memories that stick with us. Learning to comfortably address and share them with those we trust is something we can learn how to do together. Now Thru-“ Whistleperry stopped talking when a knock came on the frosted glass door. The glass door slid open and in walked the carbon wolf Haven agent. Silently she padded over to Trin and placed three plastic bills in front of him.

“Thank you.” Trin meowed. Without response, the she-wolf left just as quickly as she arrived.

“Now Thrush could you-“

“Can we start?” Trin asked, cutting off the pink therapist.

“Well, are you comfortable to?” Whistle asked, gesturing to the tom. Half of Trin’s mouth pulled back into a grimacing smirk.

“Very much so. Please let’s begin.” Trin meowed, nodding his head.

“Okay Trin. Your friend PIM sent me a lot of information about you and answered every question I asked to prepare for our session today. I cannot stress how excited, enthused, and over-joyed I am to work with you. You have a long history. You dealt with your mother dying early in your life. Your cousin passing. And many other things. PIM also reported that recently you’ve had spouts of anger and rage, and that’s okay beca–“ Whistleperry let her words stop in her throat when Trin started to get up from his relaxed prone position.

“How much does this session cost?” Trin asked, counting the plastics bills with a paw tap on each one.

“My intro sessions are free wh-“ Whistleperry meowed, confused.

“If my anger was “okay” we wouldn’t be sitting here talking about it. I’m tired of being lied to about how this or that is “okay” when animals clearly don’t think so. Thank you for your time Whistle, you are a wonderful therapist.” Trin meowed in an slightly annoyed tone. He picked up the bills in his mouth and set them in front of her as he hopped off the bed.

“W-wait, Trin I-” Whistleperry objected in a worried and concerned voice as the tom started towards the door.

 

[Mico the Shapeshifter]

Mico made a portal to a different dimension, it led to one filled have cats and some robot things. Okay, this one looks cool she thought. Mico then turned into a cat, then explored this weird Warrior Cats-like place. She went to a kingdom-like place and tried to go in, but a robot stopped her. "Name and species?" the robot said. "Uh, Mico the Shapeshifter" Mico replied. "Shapeshifter is not in my knowledge of species, please respond correctly" the robot said. "Ok um, Earth feline?" Mico said. "Ok, you may pass" the robot said, moving out of the way. I guess these robots weren't coded by a realm jumper. Or someone with a basic understanding of the multiverse Mico thought, knowing shapeshifters was something more people than you'd think knew about.

In the city there were lots of buildings, each having a different use. And there were cats, LOTS of cats. Mico then saw a police robot, and tried to avoid it. "Halt" the robot said. Mico looked behind her and saw the robot looking right at her. "Me?" She asked. "Yes, my scanners indicate you are not a real cat, you are required to come with me." the robot said, going toward Mico "how 'bout no." Mico said jumping away. She then shapeshifted to have dragon wings, then flew up and out of the city.

Mico landed outside the walls of the city and started walking to avoid attention. She found a cave then started making a little bed and stuff, Mico then looked outside. It was getting dark. She curled up into a ball and fell asleep, thinking about this new dimension.

 

[Moonsound]

(OOC: Mico, try again. You’re not interacting with any of our characters, you’re not following the story of what has previously been established, and you’re speeding up time. Nothing you posted is conducive to our RP. You’re supposed to be joining *our* story and writing *with* us, not writing your own story. Re-read what we have posted before, it’s not too much, so that you know what’s going on. And if you have any questions just ask. )

 

[Mico the Shapeshifter]

(oh, sorry)

 

[Mico the Shapeshifter]

I don't think I can join in good and IDK if I can RP good with you guys, also I'm really bad at text-based RP. I'm just going to go, sorry for wasting your time. I'm not leaving because of you I just don't want to fail and annoy you. I'm just going to go back to videogame roleplays, because I can do those without looking like a dumb.

 

[Filament]

Flame looked over at Aceline, slight concern in his gaze. "I don't know if that'll work. I think most vendors are stationary in their spots." The tom mews, suddenly sounding uncertain as he takes a fuller look around. It seemed like most of the vendors he could see were in stands but in all honesty he didn't know what a vendor of soda looked like.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"It's good to be able to see again." Filament would me as he rejoined pim. "She was a bit forward in giving me her number though." The tom would mew, adding an awkward chuckle at the end. "Glad to see the kits are at least safe enough here, probably safer than they were before."
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Scared." Holly would answer, remembering when she was shot out of a literal ship with a cannon strapped to her body. "I was terrified but I guess it was exhilirating, it made me feel alive." The orange she-cat would mew, seeming to be deep in though for a few moments.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hal would feel the need to chime in. "Nothing about this is okay. We're fighting demons, and some pompous piece of shit's son who is going to be here today and we have to elect not to murder him because of some bullshit god-ring bureaucracy. It's complete horse shit, nothing about this is okay and that's okay. I don't know if a therapist can help or not, you're arguably the most experienced and intelligent person here, I trust you to make the best objective decision but you gotta think past emotions for right now."

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Nyx resists the urge to wipe away Preacher's tears. She needs to stay professional. "I'm sure she is but you were paw selected to be here, why not make the most of it?" She gestures all around with a paw, "There's so much to do and plenty of time before the Symphony starts." Red eyes flicker between Javve and his daughter. "Are you afraid of being attacked again by other Prefunctorians? Would you feel better if I accompanied you until my shift starts?"


Thrush goes to speak but she is interrupted by the Haven agent making their entrance. She would've tried again at Whistleperry's signal but is cut off a second time but by Trin.

She frowns when the white tom leaves the couch, disappointed that he didn't even try. They've been in this room for maybe five minutes at most. When Hal speaks, she worries that he will push Trin away, making this whole session a waste of time. Surprisingly, the tom speaks some sense. "Even if she can't stop the storm inside your head, it might help to talk about something that's bothering you. Start small and keep an open mind." The inflection in her voice makes her last statement sound more like a question. The weak smile she gives Trin falters, as if unsure about her own advice.

 

[Moonsound]

PIM popped her brows at Filament’s comments, before her brows came down into a dung-eating, mischievous grin that would put the Cheshire cat to shame.

“Well you did rearrange her circuits. Screwed some new nuts into her bolts if you catch my drift. Scrambled her processor? Broke her firewall. Topped off her coolant? Tested her suspension. Added a 1 to her 0. Gave her some more RAM data?” PIM merowed as she walked with Filament, her vocal cadence on the verge of snickering.

“Haha! I’m just joking. I asked her, she said she just thought you’d want to chat after asking her something.” PIM cackled aloud, leaning against Filament as she did so.

“Whew! But yeah the little ones would have to persistently try to get into any serious trouble.” PIM meowed once her laughter died down. Without really going anywhere specific, PIM had lead Filament down a hallway that seemed to cater towards children. Game stores, restaurants run by youths, one of Milky’s songs were playing over the speakers, and all the furniture was sized a little smaller. The entire hallway was themed like a boardwalk, with the tramway being filled with water and the tram itself being removed for safety reasons. It was nigh a universal fact that any species’ kids had enough energy to traverse these hallways at a jog without problem anyway. The water way was actually connected to the underwater section of the Symphony too, allowing kids from ‘down under’ to come up and interact with the kids up top. All in all, the area was like a little world for young-ins and as such Filament and PIM got a few stares from the demographic of animals roaming around.

“Like these two.” PIM meowed as two other god-ring enforcer Vatocians flagged them down. The two GREs had stopped two kittens that looked normal enough except they had four ears on their heads like bow-ties. That and they looked like living anaglyphs; if you looked at them for only a second you’d think there were actually six kittens there when there were only two. On the right and left of each kitten was a semi-transparent version of them that would flip between contrasting colors instantly. The kittens themselves were brown and gray but their anaglyph “shadows” would ‘blink’ into new colors that always contrasted heavily with the opposite “shadow;” like red and cyan or green and orange. And weirder still, their anaglyphs were not aligned with them in terms of time. The kittens colorful “shadows” would reflect exactly what the kittens were doing but one was delayed by a 4 seconds while the other was doing what the kitten would be doing 4 seconds into the future. Thankfully, the anaglyphs were noiseless so you didn’t have to hear six overlapping voices, just the two.

“Were you or were you not kissing?” One of the Vatocians asked, placing a three fingers hand on their temple in annoyance.

“Yes!”
“No!” The two kittens chimed in unison.

“I mean no!” The gray boy kitten corrected him self, while his future anaglyph gave his compatriot a coy grin.

“What is the issue?” PIM asked.

“You’re a synth?” The Vatocians asked, to which PIM nodded.

“Great. Sorry, we know you’re off duty it’s just that one of the kids isn’t a kid. They’re a body morphed adult. Buuut, they’re not telling and the censor can’t figure out which one is morphed. They’re both saturated with enough morphogens to indicate only one of them is morphed.” The pair of vatocians explained, one explaining the first part and the other explaining the second.

“Sounds like somebody planned to confuse the censor.” PIM stated, glancing at the kits.

“My species’ age of consent is 25 years and I am 25.” The brown girl said to PIM innocently.

“The gray one’s species age of consent is 35 minimum under special circumstances. And yes, they are both very much so adolescents of their species. At least in appearance.” One GRE informed, their mannerisms showing that the kids tried to pull this on them earlier.

“The gray boy is a Vetus Sapiens and the girl is a Kikod. Can you see which one is morphed?” The other enforcer asked. PIM nodded and looked at the duo. As soon as she did so, their anaglyphs started rapidly changing colors.

“Stop that!” PIM chided, but it fell on deaf ears. After a couple seconds, PIM let out a frustrated grunt.

“The color switching messes with my opticals. They’re both extra-dimensional, it’s like trying to watch a movie in reverse while scenes get added, removed, and edited.” PIM meowed, shaking her head.

“Soooorry.” The little girl teased before the two of them adopted a smug look.

“Cut that out. One of you is committing a serious crime and the other is in danger. We saw you two kissing and hugging.” One of the Vatocians said.

“What? It’s illegal for kids to kiss in the god-ring?” The boy asked mockingly. This garnered an eye roll from both of the enforcers.

“You got anything?” PIM asked Filament, cocking her head. She leaned into his ear to whisper.

“We can also just go if you want. We’re not on duty.” The AI said. As she did so, both of the kits gasped at something unseen, but went back to their normal smugness a moment later.

—

Javve nudged his daughter and nodded out of affirmation to Nyx’s statement. He wanted his daughter to have a good time. Preach glanced at her father, then Nyx.

“…okay.” The sheline croaked, sounding like the word got stuck in her throat. Javve gave her a smile and placed his tail on her back.

“Just for a little while would be perfect, thank you. What were you planning on doing, we wouldn’t want to mess with your schedule.” Javve meowed, dipping his head to Nyx. Softly, he encouraged his daughter to stand back up to her full height and did so as well once she was back up. He wiped one of her cheeks and gave her another smile.

—

Aceline studied Flame closely before pursing her lips.

“You don’t know where to go?” She queried, worried for Flame’s sake. It was kind of new to see him look like this.

“Snack bag?” A tall felid biped asked. Suddenly beside them and placing a paper bag down in front of them.

“Ooh, thank you.” Aceline chirped, looking into the bag and pulling out a juice pouch. It was colorful and depicted three different species smiling happily with the brand name superimposed.

“I don’t know how to open this. It’s like a futuristic can right? ” Aceline asked, spinning the pouch around. She saw the straw taped to it but it was not clicking that she should use it. She’d never used a straw before.

—

Speed watched Holly, tilting her head a bit to get a different angle at the carrot furred she-cat.

“We can go into the symphony now if you want. Ah-ah-aye didn’t mean to bring up any bad feelings for you. My bad.” Speed meowed, standing up but pinning her chin down against her chest in guilt.

—

Trin paused and stopped in place when Hal spoke. He let out a loud exhale before taking another step only to stop when he heard Thrush’s voice.

“Talking never helps.” Trin meowed cooly, bordering on coldly.

“That is not true and you know it.” Whistleperry stated. Almost immediately Trin turned around.

“If I were paralyzed from the waist down, you think me talking about my lost dream to be a profesional sports player would help?” Trin asked incredulously.

“We are talking about mental issues.” Whistle stated.

“Which are caused by physical ones. They’re also issues no one cares about nor should. If I do a job for a company and then tell my boss I’m feeling down, two things will happen. If my work suffers because of it I will be fired. If my work doesn’t suffer because of it, they will do nothing. Both outcomes are determined by my actions, not my mental state. Because nobody cares.” Trin explained in an impassioned voice.

“But your work is affected by your mental state, yes?” Whistle asked calmly.

“Maybe! But the same as there are functioning alcoholics and drug addicts, I function and that is the part that animals care about. Even now you know what Hal just openly said was a reason he enjoys my company is because of what I can do. His worry is not that me dying would siphon the world of some magical-ness that is me, or that he’d actually miss me. No! He’d miss what I can do! He’d miss me because I am an invaluable asset to him. He doesn’t care about my mental state. If I were to storm out of this room right now, I might. Might! Get a scolding and a slap on the paw. Then everything would go back to normal because nobody cares. The only point when anyone would care about my mental state would be when it hinders the abilities others need of me. That’s it. And if I were to just stop right this moment, if I stopped being useful I would be quickly abandoned. If I lost all my money, skill, talents, everything. Nobody would want me anymore. Because I wouldn’t be of use. And only then would anyone “care” about my mental state. But not through empathy or compassion, but more like a lesson or something to blame. Like looking at a ship’s black box recording to see where the pilots messed up and caused the crash. Why does Thistle enjoy my company? I have stories to tell and I know stuff. So if I was stupid he wouldn’t like me. I fit a checklist, and just barely at that. And that’s fine, but don’t tell me anyone actually cares how I feel inside as long as how I feel doesn’t affect them.” Trin’s breathing grew shallower and his tail lashed.

“Don’t you care about how you feel inside?” Whistleperry asked, cocking her head. Trin paused at this and twitched his whiskers.

“That doesn’t matter. If no one cares about something it doesn’t matter. If I draw an image that no one likes then it is bad. I can believe it to be good all I want but that would make me delusional. What I want doesn’t mean anything.” Trin responded, rolling his eyes.

“I’m am so sorry. I wish I knew what has happened in your life for you to come to that conclusion. I wish I knew what you knew.” Whistle cooed gently. Trin clicked his tongue and turned around to leave.

“Wait! Before you go-“ Whistleperry grabbed the bills and padded over to Trin.

“-here. My intro sessions are free. I’m sorry I couldn’t make you feel any better-“ Trin opened his mouth like he was going to snap “-that’s my fault. I should have gotten to know you better and I’ll be sure to do better next time. For free as well. I have not been useful so I should not be paid, it’s only fair.” Whistleperry spoke in a soft tone and voice. She used the opportunity of Trin’s mouth being open to give the money back to him. With a pang of shock Trin closed his mouth around the money. Whistleperry gave him a staid smile and started back towards the beds. The red eyed tom glanced back but nevertheless still continued to walk out of the office.

 

[multifreddie13]

A Capella floats back down to the floor as Nastiel trots away to respond to a call. Not the answer she was expecting, but at least she now knows that she got a free pass to the Symphony. “Oh aiight! I guess I’ll se ya around then.” Shouts A Capella in response.



She was about to turn to find her seat to watch the show when she noticed a picture laying on the ground. She went to pick it up with her right wing to look at it closer. The photo shows her, when she was 7 years old, and her family. Her family consists of her mom and dad, and her older brother when he was 15 years old at the time of the photo. In the background is the skyline of her hometown, Manehattan. What stands out from the skyline are two identical tall towers that loom over other skyscrapers. The date on the photo shows that it was taken in 1984.



“Oh snap! They must of taken my shit to the lockup already! Awesome!” A Capella cheered in excitement. She put the photo in a safe place and took off to find the lock up until she heard her stomach grumbling. “Heh, I’ll have to eat first” she chuckled.

 

[Blackrabbit]

C.C.M.C.C

Name: Oyster

Species (anything but human, preferably non-bipedal): Cat

Age: Roughly 21 Moons

Physical description(pictures are allowed): Oyster’s fur is long and white all over. His eyes are gray. He wears a necklace of cowry shells given to him by his mother.

Background: Oyster grew up on the planet Ravenna, a water world with only a few large continents inhabited by giant, hostile, mole-like monsters. Civilization exists on large, floating wooden barge-cities (held together by ropes and cables) spanning dozens of miles across that float from place to place. Oyster grew up on one such barge-city: Big Sky. His parents were fishercats, but his dad went missing at sea when he was only two moons old. When Oyster was an adolescent, his mother, Poppy, died during an inferno that engulfed half of Big Sky. Ever since that day, Poppy’s spirit has followed Oyster around, tormenting him. He blames himself for her death and would do anything to get her back. After, Oyster worked with his best friend Rukey running small gigs and theft jobs in Big Sky, until one day, when they stumbled upon an unstable, opalescent portal shimmering in the lower hold of a derelict barge. Despite Rukey’s protests, Oyster stepped through the portal (which closed in a great purple explosion after he stepped through) and has been stranded in Starworld ever since. He’s been working odd jobs for the gang boss St. Elmo in the ragged edges of Starworld Bay. His latest job brings him to the World’s Symphony, where’s he’s been tasked with smuggling a backpack full of interstellar stimulants to a high-profile client.

Personality: Oyster is a deeply insecure cat with strong self-hatred and feelings of guilt. The only time he feels truly free is when he’s with his friends (which he hasn’t had many of after Rukey). Since coming to Starworld he’s picked up the habit of compulsively lying to cover up his past. He can be brave around others, but when he’s on his own, he’s meek and panicky. The only thing that’s allowed him to survive in Starworld Bay is his lying tongue, sharp mind, and willingness to get his paws dirty. He believes strongly in fortune, destiny, and luck, and knows that he can save his mother’s soul somehow and find a new place to call home.

Are you capable of opening portals between universes? Yes [ ] , No [X] , Unsure [ ]

 

[Moonsound]

(OOC: Oyster is ACCEPTED!!!! )

 

[Rhodes]

oioioioiioioioi sorry I'm hella late)

Name: Rhodes

Species(anything but human, preferably non-bipedal): Caracal

Age: 20 months

Physical description(pictures are allowed): (Emerald eyes dusted with flecks of gold instead)


Background:
Ex: Home planet, family, occupation, anything like that will work.
Born in a lab on the science planet Lateria 1XF5, she was raised with no family. Well, none that she knew of. Her sole purpose in life had been "train, and kill whoever we tell you to kill". The 'we' was unknown to her. The planet was, as you'd expect, very clean and orderly, like a hospital-type thing. Labs all around, creatures being created and bred, strands of DNA being manipulated. There was a huge arena where she'd frequent, fight, compete, win. So the structure on Lateria 1XF5 was each scientist had its own mutt, and they'd send the mutt out all over the galaxy to do their dirty work. The mutts' brains are linked to the scientists' to allow the scientist full control, but once that link has been severed (either by death or some other method) the mutt is free to roam. It was when Rhodes, or Specimen-1573, was sent to Starworld to hunt down a target, then her creator had presumably been killed and the link severed, so she's stayed on this world ever since, freelancing as a mercenary.

Personality:
- too adventurous for her own good, careless
- independent, mostly a loner but can work as a team
- direct (says what's on her mind before she can think it through)
- loyal to close friends
- live the present to the best and worry about the future later
- calculated

Are you capable of opening portals between universes? Yes [ ] , No [x] , Unsure [ ]

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Nyx stands and dips her head to the duo. "Wonderful!" She leans in and stage whispers, "This is actually my first time attending the Symphony and not just watching it on TV." She continues, speaking at a normal volume, "Funny thing? I was just trying to figure out what to do before I came over here. Pest?" She faces the orange tomcat, "Would you like to come with?"


"I'm sorry we wasted your time. I don't know why I thought this would help at all..." Thrush meows quietly to Whistleperry, "Thank you for your kindness." She stands and gestures with her tail for Thistle to follow. She follows Trin out of the office and back into the hall. Her expression is blank but her eyes are dull and tired.


Thistle joins his sister outside, appearing to be in a worse mood than when they arrived.

The siblings share a short exchange in the near-dead language. Towards the end of their conversation, Thistle asks a question: "Songr senere ? " he mews, like a kit asking for a bedtime story.

She smiles softly. "Later, I promise. Will you...?" Thrush taps her throat three times.

Nodding, Thistle begins humming to himself. Not a song, but one long note that starts high and dips low. He repeats this, the tail end of each one edging lower than the last.

When everyone is gathered in the hall again Thrush wonders, "What now?"

 

[Blackrabbit]

(tw: blood)

Oyster winces when the scissors come out. The sickening lurch in his stomach tells him he already knows what’s going to happen next.

“Tell him, Oyster, tell him it wasn’t me!” Mina says, her voice coming out hoarse and muffled because of St. Elmo’s paw around her neck. Oyster watches as the gang boss holds his former lieutenant like a trapped mouse.

“She…” Oyster begins. He cannot finish the sentence, can hardly move his mouth at all, can hardly move any part of his body. His paws shake.

St. Elmo moves his face close to Mina then, so close the fishy whisper of his breath moves Mina’s fur with each word: “You lying b*tch. I know you sold me out to God-Ring. I know you’ve been feeding them information, I know you’ve been spilling our movements, OUR DEALS! I F*CKING TRUSTED YOU!” St. Elmo’s ear-stumps wiggle with each shout. Oyster slams his eyes shut, opens them again.

Mina mumbles a prayer, and St. Elmo closes her mouth with his paw. “I want you to watch what happens next very closely, Oyster,” he says.

It’s hard to breathe. The room is dark and hot and stinks of seawater and unwashed fur. Through the thick metal hull of the ship drifts the thunderings of Fye’s voice: All these smiles and frowns and grimaces. Some of you don’t have mouths. Haha! Today is the day. The World’s Symphony!

St. Elmo slashes the scissors across Mina’s throat so fast Oyster barely even registers the movement. The sheline’s life spills out in a hot flood from her neck, turning her tortoiseshell fur a deep crimson as she crumples to the floor. Oyster stumbles backward to avoid her body, the bile rising with a cry in his throat. But he issues no sound.

St. Elmo steps over Mina’s body like it’s dirty laundry. “She left some unfinished business,” he says, “business you’re going to finish for me, right, Oyster?” The room wobbles in Mina’s darkening eyes. Oyster meets them, and the world spins around him. He shifts his gaze up to St. Elmo. “Yes sir,” he says.

I need to get out of here, he thinks, I need to get out of here or I am going to die.

—

Oyster salivates around the World’s Symphony flag held in his mouth. He hasn’t eaten all day and still has no desire, but his stomach is powerless against the savory, sweet, sour, and spicy smells emanating from vendors and stalls all around the pavilion. Rukey loves mok pa, he thinks.

He shifts the weight of the backpack on his back, then scans the area to make sure no one’s looking at him. No one’s looking at him, right? The backpack is specifically engineered to look as nondescript as possible: rectangular, black, with a few zippers and draped in a huge World’s Symphony banner.

The press of bodies on the pavilion makes Oyster pant. The sun’s beating down and there’s hardly any shade on the path or on the closely trimmed grass leading to the stadium. When the breeze lifts, he can smell the salt from the ocean wafting over from behind the stadium, and it’s the only thing that keeps him on his feet and walking forward.

Is there any way out of this? After dropping off the backpack to St. Elmo’s client, Oyster would only have to disappear into the crowd. It’d be almost impossible to find him in the mess of twelve billion-plus species that is Starworld. But where would he go? He has no one anymore. He can’t be alone again. He doesn’t think he’d survive it. Not with Poppy following him around.

He stops in his tracks at the medical checkpoint, scans it for metal detectors or security guards. There’s quite a few God-Ring, but also a bunch of multicolored droids. Right now, a line of species—mostly cats—in God-Ring security garb is making their way through the checkpoint. Oyster holds back, his paws fidgeting. To steady himself, he reaches up to touch the shells around his necklace, relishing their cold smoothness. When they’re all through, he proceeds to the closest droid.

“Hello,” the droid greets him.

“Good, h-how are you?” Oyster says.

“Name?”

“Oyster.”

“Species?”

“Cat, from Big Sky.”

“Acceptance of your ticket to the Symphony acts as a formal consent to all rules and terms espoused in the symphony itinerary, which includes a quick check-up. If you do not consent, please leave now.”

“Sure. Okay.”

“Hmm… You haven’t eaten all day and your blood sugar is low. Be sure to enjoy some of the delicious food on offer from all the multidimensional vendors attending today’s Symphony! In any case, your other vitals look great. Would you like to be vaccinated against any or all diseases currently known by God-Ring that have vaccines and are compatible with your biology?”

“I already have been,” Oyster lies.

“Oh! Well, there is an as yet unknown affliction going around Starworld right now. I could give you something to boost your immune system if you would like.”

“No, I’m fine.”

The droid looks mildly put out. “Well, then, you’re done. Have a wonderful Symphony Day!” it says. This place is crawling with guards. If even one stopped to ask what’s inside the backpack, that’d be it for him. Curtains. Oyster can't stop shaking.

 

[Moonsound]

(OOC: No worries. Rhodes is accepted!!! Yahoo! )


“It wasn’t a waste.” Whistleperry whispered to Thrush with a wink. Careful to be just loud enough for her to hear, but not loud enough for Trin to hear as the tom passed through the threshold to leave. She waved goodbye to Thrush, Thistle, and Hal as they left.


After everyone was gathered in the hallway Trin thought for a second to respond to Thrush.

“What’s the E.T.A on the demons arrival?” Trin asked over the comms.

“15 minutes. They’re all going through customs and doing the final scan before they’re let into the Symphony. The symphony starts in 20 minutes, and the Mia’Moray have been given the honor of first performance.” One of the handlers informed concisely.

“Yay!” Lula’s voice cheered over the comms.

“In that case, I’m going to a soda parlor and then I’ll head to the demon’s suite. Any of you can come if you want.” Trin meowed with a shrug, glancing at Thistle when he hummed.

“Maybe tell me what that was.” Trin added on as he turned to go.

“Also, local intelligence is saying that the recent death of the head of the Bavlietta crime family, as well as rumors that the False crime family has moved into Starworld has stirred up a lot of trouble in the underworld. The symphony is already a hot spot for criminal activity but this year, it seems there will be a spike. So be on the look-out; criminals are confused and desperate right now. They’ll probably get sloppy. You’ve got a whole lot of syndicates coming together today, unsure if they’re going to get attacked or if they need to be attacking someone. Keep civilians safe, watch for any deals.” Nastiel chimed in over the comms.

“No wonder False Lamb didn't come with us.” Trin mused aloud, as he went about finding a soda parlor. After a quick tram ride and a jog up a flight of stairs he found a hallway themed similar to the 1950s era of earth humans. The floor was smooth black cement like a road, the walls were painted a light blue, the lighting was bright, and the music was playful whimsical brass instrumentals. Trin unconsciously began walking with a pep in his step due to the ambiance. Several storefronts were passed until Trin found the venue he’d been seeking. A bar decorated with red and white tiling, silver barstools with red leather and three bipedal cougars milling about behind the bar. Behind them was a wall of kegs, faucets and soda spouts. Trin smiled and hopped up onto a stool.

“Can you make me a large soda? Surprise me, preferably something tropical fruit flavored.” Trin asked.

“Have you heard of Jahi Jahi?” One of the workers asked.

“No.”

“Great! We’ll use a fruit from our planet.” The worker said with a smile. They quickly whipped up a dull yellow colored soda topped with whipped cream and put it in front of Trin. He thanked them and gave the drink a test lick only to hum in delight and continue.

 

[multifreddie13]

With so many options to find, A Capella kept looking for a specific vendor that would serve her preferred tastes. When she saw one of the venders was serving meat to one of the attendees, her stomach gurgled in disgust. She still doesn’t understand how other creatures, like Griffons, can stomach meat in general. As she quickly flew away from the cooked meat vender, she noticed another that served dishes that cater to a herbivore lifestyle. She lands, looks at the menu, and starts to crave items listed such as hay burgers, daisy sandwiches, vegetable kabobs, you name it. Licking her lips, and making her final decision, she walks up to the vender.



“Hello miss, what may I serve you?” Asked the feline vender. “Do you guys serve hay wraps?” Asked A Capella.



“We do! Would you like a side?”

“Chips”

“Say no more” the vender then turns to the kitchen and shouts “We need an order of hay wrap with a bag of potato chips!”



As the wraps are being made, A Capella asks the vender. “How do you guys know how to make hay wraps? That’s typically something from Equestria.” “Oh so that’s where you’re from. I’m surprised, and not at the same time” responded the vender. “What do you mean?” A Capella asked as her curiosity peaked. “You see…” the vender continues as he leans his paws on the counter. “You’re not the only pony like creature to set foot, or hoof, in the Symphony. Almost every creature knows about the magical place. As a matter of fact, the famous 6 use to visit the Symphony long ago. We don’t know much about them. All every creature knew was they were very notable in, what I’m assuming, your world.” A Capella is astonished to hear about the connections between her home world and this dimension.


She was about to ask more until her order was ready on the opposite end of the counter. “Plus, we have a license to make and serve foods from different universes” chucked the feline vender in a half joking manner. He then went to the opposite end of the counter and gave the tray to A Capella. “Oh, no need to worry about the money, the food is free here at the Symphony.” The feline reminded her as he smiled. With this reminder, A Capella smiled back, “Thank you”. As she took off in flight with her meal, the vender responded, “Sure thing! Have a wonderful Symphony Day!”

 

[Filament]

Filament looks slightly embarrassed as Pim lists off a plethora of analogies for what he and Rosie did. "Jeez Pim, you really gotta rub it in, huh?" The tom would mew, trying to sound serious but losing it halfway through and giggling a bit. When she starts talking again he pays attention to her and when she's done he looks contemplative. "Yeah, I asked her if she thinks that cats like me or synths get into whatever after-life Flame is practically a tourist of at this point." The tom would add.


As he follows her down the hallway, a deep seated discomfort sets within him. He doesn't like children, he doesn't hate them, but they are too fragile and too big a responsibility for him to be comfortable feeling responsible for.

Once they arrive on scene of the other God-Ring officers, their first statement only makes the pit in his stomach feel heavier. One of them was an adult? If they'd been anywhere else, and these two weren't currently messing with his head and mismatched eyes, he'd be inclined to unleash a beating.

"Well if one of them really is an adult, then we can't just do nothing, that's repulsive." He was now starting to wonder how these kinds of rules worked between himself and someone like Pim. He was legally classified as an adult in his species, but his species' developmental dimorphism was more akin to humans than members of the Felidae family. He knew from his time in school that males of his species developed much slower than females....

Becoming sidetracked, he just gives her a nod. "I don't have that Eye from Red's ship anymore. This is a super basic model and isn't really helping with whatever they are doing. At the same time, I'm not comfortable leaving these two alone. They need to be separated."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Once again Flame would probably surprise her. He'd admittedly spent more time dead than alive while the crew had been in the multiverse. "I don't actually know. Maybe just bite into it and suck the juice out?" The tom mews, staring at it in confusion. He wished one of the dimension hoppers were here, they'd know how to open the pouch. Speed would almost certainly know how to open it. He recalled that she or Trin were big fans of sweet drinks.

"Uh, maybe it has something to do with the straw?" The tom would ask, remembering what a straw was from his food fight with Hunter. That's when it clicked. "I think I got it." He grips the straw between his teeth and points the pointy end at the pouch before stabbing the top of the container. "Okay, it's kind of weird but you kinda draw air into the back of your throat to get it out. It doesn't make any sense to me, but I've had something similar to this with Hunter forever ago."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Oh it's okay, that was quite some time ago. That wasn't anywhere near the scariest thing I've encountered with you guys." Holly looks pensive and stares off for a second. "Honestly I was more scared of being trapped in space forever. I know it's probably surprising but I prefer to stay planetside. I don't like deep space." The she-cat would elaborate, thinking it over.

"It would be nice to see the symphony though."
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hal is stunned at what Trin is saying to the point where he interrupts him. "That's bullshit! Trin!" The tom would snap at the point where Trin was babbling about him only caring about him because he was a good leader. "How can you even say that? How many times did that Filament cat come chasing after you? Do you think that all of us only want to keep you alive because you're the best equipped person to help us fight this battle?" The tom would growl. "It's like you're insinuating that you think you're the only person leading this. What about Pim or Speed?" The tom would mew. "Isn't it possible we just like you as a person?" Jesus how jaded was this guy.

"What about that Holly? You think she gives a shit about the mission? I don't but I think she gives a pretty big shit about you, how many times has she tried to console you?" He's mad now, he came back to help them, even though he knew he wasn't wanted.

"And you're forgetting who should be the most important person in your life right now. The cat who loves you and adores you. You think Thrush only cares about you because of your skills? Honestly, You're ancient and you can't see that she loves you with everything she has? Even I notice and I'm not even paying attention."

With that, Hal turns and leaves, not caring to hear any rebuttal. He makes his way to the first restroom and gets into a stall, loading his lethal rounds into his gun. With a deft pawswipe, he flushes the toilet and heads back to the main concourse, separated from the others and trying to look for a landmark to get his bearings.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Uh sure." Pest stammers, giving her a grateful nod that she heard enough of what he had said to extend a gracious offering. "I was with Lula but I'm not sure where she went."

 

[Moonsound]

“Not many do. Come on, let’s head in.” Speed meowed, nodding for Holly and Stalker to come. The gray she-cat slid her empty ice cream pan into a pocket on her vest and started towards the Symphony entrance.

As she passed through the checkpoint her eyes immediately fell onto a certain white cat with long fur. Speed studied him for a few long moments before smirking. With a skip in her step Speed strolled over to Oyster, gesturing with her tail for Holly and Stalker to keep watch on her.

“You okay? You look a bit nervous. First time at the symphony? You’re not smuggling anything in your bag are you?” Speed meowed to Oyster in a joking tone with a smile. Though her eyes held a more knowing mischievous glint in them.

—

Lexi strutted out of a store with her brand new green bag slung on her side, looking quite proud of herself. She waved goodbye to the store employee who’d helped her and went on her way. It was only half a minute later that she passed a group of animals wearing bright orange and purple one piece suits, similar to the black stealth suit she used to wear. Lexi was going to pay them no mind until a iridescent fox girl among them stopped.

“Lexi? Lexi Vettor. No way, I thought that was you.” She said, bringing the entire group of animals to halt. Lexi stopped and slowly turned around and forced a tiny smile on to her face.

“That’s my name.” Lexi stated unenthusiastically.

“I barely recognized you without your stealth suit. Finally grew out of it huh?” The Fox girl said in a voice that was somehow simultaneously genuinely proud, encouraging, and happy but also snide, sardonic, and patronizing. One could have assumed that was just the way the Fox girl’s species spoke but it was not.

“…I haven’t seen you since training.” Lexi meowed, ignoring the question and stepping towards the Fox girl with entirely fabricated familiarity. Unfortunately what Lexi didn’t expect was the Fox girl would do the same action out of genuine familiarity and pulled her into a one-sided hug.

“Right. We were top of our class. Lexi and Lévo.” The she-Fox said, squeezing her legs around Lexi’s neck one last time before breaking the hug.

“Yeah. Lexi and Malévo.” Lexi reiterated in a deadpan. She never liked the shortening of the Fox girl’s name just so that it went well with hers.

“I really thought you were going to make it into the Lifeline corps. I did. W-what happened again?” Malévo asked in a rosey-cheeked, perfectly innocent tone of voice.

“I couldn’t sense quickly enough…” Lexi said in a clear but low voice.

“Aww. Too bad. I think you’d have made a great lifeline jumper. So did you just get that bag? It’s what made me notice it was you. Last I heard you were a huntress. Your salary and that bag don’t exactly, line up.” Malévo said. Once again her tone was both sweet and sour, benevolent and malevolent.

“Well there’s this guy-“ Lexi started, only to get cut off. The sabertooth was actually grateful for the cut off. Talking with Malévo was still as exhausting as ever. Lexi always felt like she needed to compete with her, ever since training.

“-Ooooooh. Lexi Vettor landed herself a rich boyfriend. Or is there another name after Vettor now?” Malévo cooed, prodding the huntress’ shoulder playfully. The she-foxes’ words completely derailed her thoughts.

“Huh?…Ha-ah- I mean yeah. Yeah! No! What I’m trying to say to say is, I do have a boyfriend but we’re not married or anything. It’s still just Lexi Vettor.” The sabertoothed sheline meowed emphatically, stumbling over her words at first.

“Lucky yooou! I’m so happy for you. I haven’t found that special someone yet. Hell, I’d even settle for a shared relationship at this point. Ha-ha-Ha-Ha!” Malévo letting out a clearly practiced laugh that required more practice. Lexi joined in with her own forced laughter only to be caught off guard when Lévo’s laugh suddenly stopped.

“What’s his name? I wonder if he’s in the lifeline database.” The fox girl asked, lifting her left leg and opening up a holographic display in an instant. A harsh panic shot down Lexi’s back. The thought of, She’s gonna search him up? went through her mind like a bull through a china shop.

“Haaal—Ha ha. Trin. His name’s Trin.” Lexi instinctively started to say Hal, only to end up playing it off like she was still laughing. She hadn’t felt this nervous in years. Why did social affairs have to be so stressful?

“He’s probably not even in there…” Lexi murmured clearly. Hoping the fox would just let it go.

“Oh please. Someone rich enough to buy you that bag is definitely jet-set…..here he is. He looks cute, little short.–“ Malévo pulled up a picture of Trin and was showing it to the other animals in her group, “-Let’s see if he’s on a wealth list anywhere…oh.” The fox and her compatriots went silent once she was able to pull up the red eyed tom on a Starworld wealth chart. Aptly called ‘Stars.’

“Yuuuuup.” Lexi purred, awkwardly but also smugly. She finally got something up on the fox, even if it was a lie. It still shut her up.

“…Wow. Um…is he here with you?” Malévo queried, with an expression that showed she was still a little taken aback. As were her compatriots.

“No. He couldn’t come—earlier! He’ll be here later. I’m here with my team to do security. For the demon empire.” Lexi meowed, just barely correcting her lie. If she was seen with Trin any time later she would look like a liar. She just really didn’t want Lévo going to look for him.

“Aww, I would have loved to congratulate him. Tell him what a great catch of a girl he’s got with you.” The fox girl said, touching Lexi on the shoulder. The huntress let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and smiled.

“Aww, thanks Lévo.” She purred.

“I’ll just call him.” The fox girl said, already dialing the number in the database.

“What?”

“It’ll probably go to his secretary’s secretary or something like that right?” Malévo said, bobbling her eyes lightheartedly.

“Yeah.” Lexi agreed, her panic dying down again.

“Hello. This is Trinity’s contact number, you have reached his personal secretary. My name is PIM.” A familiar voice answered on the other end.

“Uh, hi PIM. I’m a friend of his-Trin’s girlfriend. I wanted to give him a message.” Malévo meowed unsteadily and unsure.

“Who is speaking?” PIM’s voice responded curtly.

“Malévo Sorez and Lexi Vettor.” The fox girl answered, pointing her wrist towards Lexi so go say something.

“…Hi PIM.” Lexi meowed after hesitating for a bit. The line went silent for a couple seconds that felt much longer.

“Hey Lexi. What can I do for you?” PIM’s voice responded in a much more friendly and congenial tone. Malévo and the others all reacted in surprise as well.

“My friend here wants to send Trin a message. Can you let her do that?” Lexi asked, unsure if she wanted PIM to say yes or no.

“Of course. I’ll pass along a message to him for you.” PIM responded.

“Oh okay. Just tell him he uh, he’s really lucky to date such a great girl like Lexi. And if he’s as smart as he is rich he’ll marry her.” Malévo said into her communicator. The like went silent once again, this time for much longer.

“………I’ll be sure to tell him that. And Lexi?” After a long silence, PIM’s voice returned.

“Yes PIM?” The she-cat in question answered.

“Are you enjoying your bag?”

“I am, very much so.” Lexi purred in relief.

“Wonderful. Talk to you soon.” PIM meowed and the call ended. Lexi and Lévo looked at each other for a second before the fox hugged her again.

“So glad to hear that you’ve got a boyfriend. I was afraid you’d be alone forever. Looks like I’ve got a lot of catching up to do Mrs. Peeress to the mega wealthy. Trin’s not open to multiple wives is he? Ha-ha-ha-ha!” Malévo joked and let out another round practiced laughter. Lexi joined in until the laughter gradually died out.

“I guess I’ll be seeing you around. Bye Lexi.” The fox girl said, waving to the huntress as her and her group started to wherever they were headed in the first place.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

The twins flinch simultaneously at Hal's sudden yelling. Thrush easily shakes it off and regains her composure while Thistle's wary gaze turns to the ranting tuxedo tom.

He does have a point. Trin seems to be selectively blind; he doesn't see everyone around him who genuinely care about him and his wellbeing. The duo watch Hal stalk off in a huff.


When Trin calls attention to it, the humming stops and the siblings share a look. Reading the subtle shift in her brother's expression, Thrush explains. "It's a vocal exercise. To, y'know... make it lower."

Thistle shrinks in on himself, face flushing with heat and ears falling back. He looks anywhere but at Trin.


"I'm sure we'll run into her later. If not, you can just call her." Nyx informs Pest, tapping her ear piece. "Okay! Are you ready, Preacher? Where do you want to go? There are plenty of exotic food stalls, excursions, games..." the demoness lists off things Triss mentioned that she thinks young animals would enjoy. The only young animals she knows of that would enjoy long lectures would be Thistle and maybe Thrush. "Lead the way, young lady."

 

[Blackrabbit]

Oyster stares at Speed and his jaw drops open. How could she possibly know…? What if she’s got some kind of fancy God-Ring gadget that allows her to see through fabric? What if she’s got a cybernetic eye? Anything is possible in Starworld, he thinks, forcing a smile. Stay cool. Stay cool if you don't want to end up like Mina.

“Yeah, hahahAHhA, my first Symphony. Everything is so...larger than life," He makes a big circle with his paws, then continues: "What a beautiful day though, right? And the perfect temperature. And all this food,” he mews too quickly, glancing over Speed’s shoulder at Holly and Stalker. They’re all wearing God-Ring security uniforms.

Poppy appears in the air above Speed and Oyster looks away. No one else can see her and he doesn’t want to stare off into space. That might seem suspicious. Then, Poppy’s whispering right in his ear: “She knows, scum, and you’re going to end up in jail for the rest of your little life.”

“That’s not true,” Oyster breathes, then raises his voice so Speed can hear, “I don’t suppose you can help me find someone? It’s my cousin. His name's Adony. Said he’d be on the second or third floor of the stadium, I think? He’s a cat, like me, but he’s got short fur. T-tabby.” No criminal would ask a security guard for directions. That’s gotta throw the sheline off. Maybe she’ll even lead him to his client. Unconsciously, he strokes his necklace again.

 

[Moonsound]

Aceline stared at the straw curiously. Carefully she bit down around the weird tube and breathed in through her nose. When nothing happened she snickered and just happened to pull in some of the juice.

“Mmm!” Aceline hummed in shocked realization. After taking a few gulps she stopped drinking and smiled.

“It tastes pretty good. Like fruit juice but somehow fruitier!” Aceline chirped, happily going back to drinking from the pouch.

“Do you want to try it?” Aceline asked Flame, her mouth partially muffled by the straw.

—

Preach was silent for a while. Milling over the options. Slowly she opened her mouth to speak, unsure of what she wanted and ready to merely settle for “food.” But at the last moment an idea sparked in her head.

“Can we go ice skating? I’ve never been.” Preach asked, a hopeful grin growing on her face.

—

Speed grinned at Oyster.

“Sure. I can help…-“ Speed gestured for Oyster to follow her, “-It’s nice to know that the old stereotype that long furred cats are the best smugglers is still around. They would always tell me I wouldn’t get caught because I could hide stuff in my fur and no one would suspect someone who could obviously smuggle stuff to be a smuggler.” Speed said as she walked, giving Oyster another knowing look.

—

Trin hummed in response and went back to drinking his soda. Allowing a silence to fall over them. Unfortunately for Trin the quiet didn’t last long as his PCD went off. An event that practically never happened. PIM accepted all his business calls, which were rare to begin with and no one else called him. Trin tapped his ear and a hologram projected from the top of his ear on to the bar counter, showing a fox he didn’t know.

“Just tell him he uh, he’s really lucky to date such a great girl like Lexi. And if he’s as smart as he is rich he’ll marry her.” Malévo was shown speaking into her own communicator. Off to the side of the projection you could see a quarter of Lexi’s head.

Trin stared at the projection for several moments, looked over at Thrush, looked back at the projection and then chuckled.

“I guess I have to marry Lexi then. This fox girl said so. She’s even a lifeline jumper. What do you think Thrush?” Trin asked humorously.

—

Filament would have never know PIM was having a conversation elsewhere. She gave no indication of her mind being occupied or even looked zoned out. If anything she looked zoned in on trying to find a solution for the two “kits.”

“Can we just separate them?” PIM asked.

“Nope. We don’t have the animal power to watch them for the entire Symphony and if we split them up they’ll just find each other again.” One of the GRE’s informed.

“And I’m guessing we can’t detain both because we’d be imprisoning a victim or something?” PIM asked.

“Yep. Both their species have clauses like that in God-ring law. Detainment of any member of their species must be supported by credible reasoning before they can be detained for any purpose or length of time. If we detain both we violate a charter.” The other valerian said with a nod.

“Accessory to statutory-“ PIM started.

“Nope. Our handler’s been going through these two’s species charter for the past 15 minutes. And both of their species do not allow the victim of a situation like this to be charged with any wrongdoing without exception. They’re immune. Taking any dna sample violates their privacy and thus their charter. We can demand a child’s familial details but we if we ask an adult, we’re violating a charter. We’ve asked to trace them back via security camera footage and they don’t actually show up on camera. They would have had to have been filmed by a specially equipped camera but those are only placed in areas deemed ‘vitally important to security.’ One of them planned this out really well.” The valerian was quick to stop PIM from reiterating already failed attempts. Their frustration evident in their voice.

“Heck, the only reason we can even stop them here is because they are in the Symphony. As soon as they step outside we can’t even “bar their freedom of locomotion” for more than 10 minutes unless they’re violent. We even got someone to call the girl’s foreign diplomat and the pri—The hard working embassadress, had the gal to say that asking for this single exemption of their charter was a waste of her time and an embarrassment of OUR ability to secure the safety of adolescents at Symphony. Their rule blocks us, but it’s our fault.” The other valerian practically hissed.

“So if we detain the one who is actually an adult, we’re fine?” PIM asked for clarification.

“Yes. They can claim violation of their charter but once the day is over their morph will run out and they’ll just be a liar.” Both of the valerians nodded.

“I think I know someone who can help. Fil, go find Purple. Unless you know someone else who might be helpful.” PIM meowed, looking over at the tom with a grin.

—
Meanwhile in the dead realm…

“How long have we been walking?” Merlida asked out of the blue.

“A while.” Foofi responded in a neutral tone.

“Everything looks the same.” The pink furred she-cat explained her reasoning for the question. As far as the eye could see in all directions were rolling plains. The only indicator that they were going in a specific direction was the sun.

“Just keep an eye out for anything that might kill us.” Foofi stated matter of factly.

 

[Firestorm of TempestPack]

Thrush watches the hologram with interest, she's never seen *anyone* call Trin before. She frowns the second Malévo mentions Lexi and Trin are dating. A feeling like a knife sinking into her gut makes itself known when the fox says Trin should *marry* the huntress. "This may be amusing to *you* but not for me." Thrush comments. "I will talk to Lexi about this."


Thistle peeks over Thrush's shoulder, eyes narrowing to focus on the portion of the huntress' head that is visible. "Aren't she and Hal..." He lets the question hang. There is a slight rasp to his voice that wasn't there this morning.



"Of course." Nyx walks with Preach at the front of their little troop, looking around and reading the signs they pass. The farther down one particular hall they go, the colder the ambient temperature gets.

They make it to a section that is decorated to mimic is a forest in peak winter. There are leafless trees scattered about the snow covered area where avian and arboreal aliens perch and climb. Sculptures made of ice and snow to look like different races are in various stages of completion as their constructors work. Small structures made of ice line one side between doorways and branching halls, each one is a different style: from traditional dome-shaped igloos and well crafted suburban houses to mini ice castles with multiple levels and decorative spires. These ice shelters contain comfy couches or blanket nests for Symphony goers to relax and warm up, some have tables and chairs where different races sit and enjoy steaming foods or beverages, and some lack furniture all together.

Of course, there are vendors at their stalls selling things. Hot foods and drinks, *cold* foods and drinks, frozen treats, trinkets, toys, sporting equipment, and paw-made clothing and accessories for cold weather.

Throughout this winter-ified section, snow gently falls from the ceiling, giving the animals milling about a nice dusting. While the floor is covered in a good few inches of white stuff, it doesn't feel as cold as one expects snow to feel. It's still cold and wet and able to be shaped, as shown by the sculptures, but the longer one stands in place, the snow melts adound their feet. But doesn't turn to water. It evaporates. In fact, shortly after the flakes land on any of the warm blooded aliens, they quickly melt away, leaving their fur, skin, feathers or scales dry.

"There should be a rink around here some-" The demon is cut off when a lump of snow pelts her in the side. Nyx whips her head around, easily spotting the perpetrator trying to hide behind a food stall, a brown jackalope with twin spikes for antlers growing between their upright ears. They snicker and make a break for one of the igloos.

Nyx grins and takes off after them. Once close enough, she drops down and pivots on her front legs, dragging one hind paw in an arc across the floor and throwing snow all over the rabbit hybrid who squeals.

A chorus of giggles can be heard coming from the domed ice structure.

Nyx watches the young jackalope return to their friends, all smiling. "Okay okay," she laughs, "you little chuckleheads better stay out of trouble." The demoness peers into the closest doorway and waves for Javve, Preach and Pest.



When Foofi says 'watch for anything that could kill us' multiple sets of eyes turn to the large red wolf walking on her own, parallel to the group. In their first encounter with the dire beast, she took down that hammer-wielding wolf in a near-feral rage. Thanks to Jaystorm, he was able to calm her down. Barely. She seems fine ever since she joined but even Jay, who calls Bloodspill a friend, keeps a wide berth.