Fandom Planar Binding (CLOSED)

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"-I'm at peace now-"

"-on't let.... this sour your, our.... victory-"

"-smile one last-"

"AZURAAAAAAA!"

"CORRIN?, WHATS Happened to azu-, what happening to you?! where are you....."

Corrin was falling.

She’d been on solid ground just moments before; it was only her mind that felt like it was in free fall, an anguish that had been the purest, most vile feeling in her soul in all her travels. Yet now it felt far more literal; she could see her brother’s hand where it had been on her shoulder just moments before, the ceiling of the throne room, before the tumble she found herself in spun downwards and she lost sight of the familiar and saw Nothing.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t see, the stark difference between the world outside and the dark when she shut her eyes in a surprised blink apparent. She was tumbling through the idea of Nothing, of a world that had no shape to its existence or ideas, no concept of the conceptual, of dreams, or physics. Yet despite the place itself lacking such things, it seemed that did not apply to her. She could feel herself picking up speed, a sense that where she had started, the sense of a familiar reality, was rapidly becoming farther and farther away. She tried to scream, but this place did not have sound and did not accommodate. In a panic she tried to breathe in, and found air was likewise lacking. She thought she was going to suffocate and clawed at her throat, and yet, after few minutes of flailing, she was still conscious, still alive. It seemed that not even death held court in this place.

After a time, she wasn’t sure if that was a blessing or a curse.

She lost sense of time. There was nothing to reference, no heartbeats to count, no sights to compare. Just the endless sense of falling.

Til finally she felt it; a reality.

It did not feel familiar, but it felt real, and she could feel it nearing. Yet not close enough; she could sense that she was going to fall past it. With all her desperation, she willed herself towards it, to angle herself towards it in this place with no direction. To her surprise, this worked; she could feel it closing an a more rapid, more centered rate. She stopped her mindless spin to hold herself towards it in a straightened fall, and outstretched her hand. She could sense things she always took for granted; gravity, air pressure, temperature. It did not matter if they felt like hospitable versions of those variables; all that mattered was an escape from the abyss.

She was mere inches from crossing whatever threshold would take her to this Reality, when something grabbed her legs with the strength of iron chains. She stopped so suddenly that if momentum existed she would’ve been torn asunder, but instead she just hung there in the air, motionless, her fingertips brushing against a return to existence. She wanted to cry. She turned to see what had gripped her and saw nothing, just her own legs and the endless nothing behind her.

Whatever had its tendrils on her pulled back, and she tried in vain to scream again in despair as she was pulled back into the void. The fall was faster this time, guided and controlled even if it wasn’t by her, and the destination was closer than the forever she’d felt before. Whatever had stopped her, it was pulling her somewhere besides the Nothing, and thus she surrendered to it. Again, she felt that sense of reality, different still than the one of home and the one she’d almost reached, but anything was still better than Nothing.

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

She crossed the threshold. She felt air, and took a gasping breath, she felt the heat of a sun, and the heat of flame. She felt gravity pulling her down from where she’d appeared in the air. She embraced all of these just as she had her dear lost siblings when she’d met them again, tears of relief already forming in her eyes.

Then she felt pain as the gravity she was so happy to feel again pulled her into the cobblestone street below, and the speed at which she’d exited the Nothing cracked the rock and made her bounce once before coming out in a roll that left her curled in a defensive huddle as she caught her breath.

She could hear again, and the first sound she heard were screams.

She groggily tried to lift her head, her bodily functions catching up slowly to existence, her reflexes and adrenaline not quite online yet despite the obvious din of battle around her. It was a strangely familiar sight, for how alien the last chapter of her existence had been; the cobbled streets she’d been so violently introduced to and the stone and wood constructions that surrounded her reminded her quite a bit of the architecture of Nohr. The sound of metal weapons clashing against their own ilk was also familiar, as was how much of the street was aflame.

Wherever she’d been dropped into, it was engulfed in war.

The two sides were easy to distinguish; there were people, humans just like back home (at least on the surface), but other creatures too; strange warty little green people with large noses and clawed fingers, slender figures who seemed human apart from long, delicate ears, and others; yet despite their wildly varied appearances it, it was clear they were on the same side; they wore the clothes of civilains, and fled from a far more uniform existence; skeletal creatures layered in some sort of dark blue… stone, or metal, it was hard to tell. But a column marched lockstep through the streets, while a group of them had broken off to do what all invaders did in war time.

Terrorize. Kill. Destroy.

She saw a woman stumble out of a home with a soup pan lid tied haphazardly around one arm as a makeshift shield and a firepoker in the other; she waved behind her, and a man with a child in his arms scurried out; all three tried to round a corner, but one of the sapphire skeletons saw them, and silently sprinted towards them with a much better made shield and spear at the ready.

Corrin was still finding her footing as the woman screamed for the two behind her to keep running as she turned. The way she caught the spear on her ‘shield’ was heroic, even if it was clear to Corrin’s eyes it was pure luck, but it made the woman stumble, and the creature was textbook in its execution of the followup strike of its own shield into her neck.

Corrin heard something crack, and the woman fell.

She heard the man scream, unable to bring himself to follow what had been the woman’s last request as he stood their helplessly and watched her fall.

She was in an entirely different world, an existence completely divorced from her own, and yet she was watching a scene she’d seen so many times in her own wars back home.

The creature did not leave its kill to chance; its spear skewered the blank eyed woman on the ground through the heart before it turned towards the man, its eyeless face still perceiving him, its earless head still hearing him through some sorcery or another. Still silent itself, it pulled its speared free and took a step towards him.

That was as far as it got before a blade crashed into the side of its head, cracking its shell and sending crashing into the stone wall of the couple’s home.



The terrible sight had been enough to rouse Corrin from her stupor, for her to bury whatever confusion and dread she felt over what had happened to her under the weight of righteous anger. She hadn’t even considered how strange it was for her sword of all things to be in her hands despite what had occurred; she simply acted, and she turned towards the man and child behind her as she waved her hand in the direction of the alleyway

“GO!”

For a moment she realized how fruitless that was, to shout instructions to who was essentially an alien in her own language, but either he understood her or the motion was enough, and despite the stricken look on his face he turned and ran, even as the child reached towards where his mother was still laying before they both disappeared from sight.

She turned, and realized that the street was much quieter now; The invaders had faced no armed resistance on this street until her arrival. The column had stopped its encroachment, and the scattered raiders began to cease their violence against the citizenry in unison to turn towards her instead. Even the creature she’d struck was trying to stand despite the vicious blow she’d given. Corrin raised her blade towards them even as her eyes scanned her surroundings; there were only the two ends of the streets and a pair of alleys on either side as exits, and there were people fleeing down all of them; if she ran herself, she’d be leading the creatures’ attention towards innocents.

Were they innocents? She was leaping head first into a conflict she knew nothing about. Their panic, the creatures’ soulless actions seemed to point that way, but this was an entire different world)

She shook those thoughts off; she was already on this course; if it turned out to be wrong, so be it, but she couldn’t abstain and observe in the face of such violence against those who were so obviously not prepared for it. She wasn't built that way, for all the trouble it had already caused her. She couldn’t run, so that left only the obvious-

There was a crash beside her that made her jolt, followed by another, and for a moment she and the creatures were aligned in their actions as the entire street turned towards the sounds.

Others. Like her. She could sense that bit of the Nothing wafting off of them like a scent.

Likewise, there was a shift in the enemy as well; tiny pricks of light began to form in their eyes, that grew slightly brighter as each traveler was tossed to the ground of this new world. They began to ignore the citizens entirely, and the whole of the unit turned towards them and raised their spears before they charged forward.

“No!” Corrin shouted; if anyone was going to be able to explain what had happened to her, these people were it. She leaped into the air, and felt her skin begin to shift beneath her armor.

—--------------------

They were still coming through their own planeswalking grogginess when they felt the ground quake beside them; a strange, dragonlike creature had crashed into the ground beside them on a Renaissance style street, falling atop a column of what looked like lapin-lazuli covered skeletons that had been charging straight towards where they'd been tossed across the street like spilled toys from a box. The dragon spun as it fell, its mace-esque bladed tail cleaving through the ranks of the undead and scattering them to either side. Yet that was only a brief quelling of the tide before the dragon was swallowed by the wave of blue, and the new arrivals found themselves beset by the creatures themselves

 

[MyrtenRose]

She was still young, but after everything she had seen and done in her life up until this very moment, she did not believe anything could truly surprise her. Years spent in service to the Emperor, revered as a god on her homeworld of Dromund Kaas. Yet more years spent regretting those foolish earlier times, doing everything she could to make up for the time she proudly served him. Before she discovered his true colors, the depths of his genocidal madness...she was his wrath. She tore a violent path across the galaxy, from the Outer Rim to the Core Worlds and even beyond, into the great unknowns of wild space. She slaughtered famous Jedi, ambitious crime lords, and conniving fellow Sith, all at his command. Then when she learned the truth about what Vitiate wanted, how little he cared for his own people...it was like her eyes opened for the first time.

The years following that, as she struggled and fought to rid the galaxy of the man she'd once so revered, she saw things that put those years of service to shame. Visions, apparitions, strange new worlds...she did not think she could be surprised by anything anymore. But she was wrong. The experience that she was currently going through shocked her to her core. The voices of Senya, Theron, a handful of others all shouting out in concern, worry, fear, they all faded away into dull whispers as she plummeted. Spiritually, physically, mentally, it felt like all of her was just dropping into a black hole of nothing. There was no air, no signs of existence, no sounds, not a thing at all. Even if she were able to breathe, to speak, she doubted she would have done so with how caught off guard she'd been. Shocked into utter silence. Her eyes shut as she tried to reach out with the force to make sense of what was happening. She was not successful.

She didn't even know how long that sensation of falling lasted. Time had no meaning here in this void.

But then, after however long it had been, there was something. Existence, moving to meet her, or at least that's how she perceived it. But she did not make it. Something pulled in the darkness, something unseen. Unknowable. She was thrust into a different existence, as equally unknown to her as the void had been but far more relieving. There was wind rushing across her face and through her hair as she dropped. She could feel the rays of a sun bearing down upon her. And then, perhaps the most reassuring thing of all, solid ground.

Well, the ground was, at least. The impact was not so reassuring. Pain lanced through her as she hit the ground, bad enough that she was reminded of some of the Sith overseers back on Korriban. Pain was an old friend, however, and she willed herself to ignore it as she struggled to make sense of where she was now. It certainly was not the peaceful balanced calm of Odessen.

The streets were rough, fires were raging, and though she recognized some of those around as humans or near-humans, from the looks of things...there were others still that didn't quite look like any alien race she'd ever seen before. Green, clawed creatures, among others that were fleeing...or trying to. Skeletal creatures marched in formation, laying waste to their surroundings. Cries of pain, screaming, ringing in her ears as she clumsily rose up to a kneeing position. Then the ground quaked underneath her and it was all she could do to remain kneeling as she looked up at another creature she had no name for. One that was batting aside the formation of strange things, before sight of it too was lost in the horde.

Her head cleared at last, she stood tall as she was surrounded by them as well, her grey eyes sweeping from left to right to take in as many of them as she could in an instant. She needed answers, and these things did not seem at all as surprised at her arrival as she had been. If anything, it seemed she was almost...expected. Perhaps she could force some answers out of one of these things. The two cylinder hilts flew off her belt, one into each hand and with a snap-hiss, both ignited into bright blades. One a silvery, almost white color, the second a pale icy blue. Both of them radiated light that illuminated her, the creatures, and some of the surrounding area as well.

Tera Markov shifted into a reverse Jar'Kai stance, before shooting forward in a sudden burst of motion, slashing out like a raging hurricane.​

 

[MidwayLives]

"Damien! C'mere! I love you so much!"

He could remember his adoptive dad's voice calling out to him. The memory was as clear as the wind was cool.

The way his father's eyes lit up as the child ran up to him. Most people wouldn't have seen anything out of the norm. Just normal bonding between a parent and their child. But most children weren't like Damien. He was what you'd call a 'Surprise'-a Gifted (human with supernatural abilities) born from two different types copulating. His body frame looked humanoid enough in structure, but his skin was covered from head to toe in a black, sticky tar-like substance. Tufts of spiky black hair poked out through the mess with a liquid that seemed to have the consistency of oil dripped from each individual strand. His yellow eyes lacked pupils and glowed as brightly as a flashlight's beam. His ears were curved like he'd stepped straight out of a fantasy world and come back as an elf. Two slits rested squarely in the center of his face instead of a 'proper' nose. His lower jaw jutted out slightly lik an anglerfish with teeth jutting out from the bottom and top of his gums. White as bone and sharp like a great white shark's. The ends of his hands were jagged, appearing more like the claws of a feral animal, than anything that could have even attempted passing for human.

As far as he knew, his parents, whomever they may have been were disgusted by him. 'He's...He's horrible! Oh god, why?' When the government came knocking after having heard the musings of a potential Surprise being born, they couldn't have handed the infant off any faster without just tossing him straight from the hospital bed. As a naive child, it always hurt to think that the very people you had to thank for your existence absolutely despised you. The federal agent in charge of the governmental group that Damien had been dumped off on didn't make things any easier. He was utterly repulsed by the child's origins, believing that the very nature of 'Surprises' meant that they were no better than inbreeding. Something to be looked down upon and judged rather than treated like just another innocent child.

But the agent who'd been given the task of raising Damien like his son? He didn't care one bit. He loved Damien like his own and did his absolute best to try and raise him given the extreme circumstances he was under.

Which is probably why it hurt so badly when the government pulled them apart. Believing that the agent had gotten too close to Damien, the child who the government had been referring to as Black Ink as of late, they pulled Ink away from his new family and shifted him into a 'camp' designed specifically to train Gifted children until they turned 18 at which point they'd audition before leading generals from the United States military to see if they'd be put into a USGU(United States Gifted Unit) or....disappeared. Angered at the loss of yet another family, Black Ink struggled to make connections, even more now that he was already well into his teenage years, having been pulled away when he was 14. It was only when an ice elemental who'd formed something of a close brotherly relationship with his cabinmates reached out to Ink that he finally started making friends. No, they were more than that, the five of them (the fifth being a baby that Ink & co had been tasked with raising!!!) were brothers who'd stick together through thick and thin.

Now, if only, it could have stayed that way.

Ink 'graduated' from the camp alongside his brothers: Zeke, Rostov, Butch, and Multi, and an old-timer named 'The Shade.'

Zeke, although he'd nearly set the military's operations back months by leading a brief rebellion that left the camp in ruins, had become something of the group's idol/rockstar. He could stand up to the feds when they tried pushing his brothers too hard and they'd usually concede. It'd cost far too much in manpower and money to even stand a chance of putting a force together to reasonably neutralize the ice elemental. Multi had also grown into his own with his Gift, [MR. LONELY] allowing him to create fully grown clones of himself but without any mind or reasoning ability. In the military's eyes, they were like the perfect soldier. Only followed orders and died for their mission. As he'd gotten older however, Black Ink's relationship began to fray with his brothers, as some relationships tended to do. Nothing was perfect after all. It's just that their views on how to handle the 'Big Taboo' began to differ over time. Even as far back as when knights still rode on horseback and before Europeans had even reached America, openly acknowledging the existence of Gifted was forbidden! Something that continued to the present day though of course countries like the US, China, and Russia, still sought to exploit them for their own means and ends.

If any civilians saw you, while you were acting as a member of a USGU, there were absolutely no exceptions. They'd have to be killed. Soldiers with less of a desire to harm others like Rostov and Butch always hated it and did their best to stay undetected throughout missions. Zeke begrudgingly did it as it was one of the few lines the government would not let him fight them on. Black Ink held no such reservations. Why bother holding back against normals? Because, maybe, someday, they MIGHT be able to TOLERATE being around someone like him? Due to his nature as a Surprise, Black Ink couldn't conjure up a 'glamour' like regular elementals or mutation types. It always ended up with holes in the skin, his real eyes poked through, or he just looked like a zombie walkin and talkin. One day while feeling particularly vengeful about the shitty hand he'd been dealt in life, he attacked a normal he'd seen robbing a nearby convenience store. He pulled the man inside of his viscous body. To the man's horror, it was nothing. Just pitch-black darkness as he felt what appeared to be multiple hands pulling and tearing at him, stripping the skin from his body, devouring the flesh, and expelling the skeleton from Black Ink's body. It was like being pulled into a room entirely within the depths of Black Ink's body that he controlled completely, an ability that elementals called an EXPANSE. His was fittingly enough called [FADE TO BLACK]. He'd save the skin from the man he'd ruthlessely killed and wear it in lieu of a glamour, working dilligently to manipulate his body to mimic the man's voice/mannerisms/and so on. All while wearing it like the world's most grotesque Halloween costume.

His brothers, understandably, were a bit put off by Black Ink's vitrol against normals, even if on some level they got it.

This conflict would come to a head tragically enough...

~~~



"ahh....*cough cough* damn it..."

He pushed a fallen tree trunk off to the side from where it'd been pinning the left side of his body to the ground. The other half of him had been left partially submerged in a pond located in the depths of the nearby woods he'd been skulking around in, fighting a group of Gifted terrorists that'd been calling themselves 'The Modern Crusaders.' After Multi had botched capturing the lot of them, the government trusted that Black Ink would succeed where Multi had failed and they were nearly right!

They just hadn't accounted on Multi being a traitor.

Refusing to accept the fact that he'd 'lost' the Crusaders to one of his brothers, Multi helped the Crusaders turn the tide of battle by informing them of Black Ink's 'condition': if he was to be doused with any manner of liquid, though water usually worked the best, it'd remove his ability to absorb blows/regenerate temporarily allowing him to be harmed by conventional means. At least until he was able to absorb the liquid itself. Splashing him with a cup? Ineffective as he'd absorb it within seconds. Knocking him into a pond or river? Hitting him with a fire hose? Perfect as it'd take much longer to absorb all the water present on his person. The battle had ended with the muscle of the Crusaders, B.Y.O.B blasting Black Ink point blank after his Condition had been met and launching him through the sky, smashing through trees, until finally he crashed into a pond. The group parted ways with Multi, both unsure of whether or not what they'd done being effective enough to have put Black Ink down for good.
​

Infuriatingly

for them, that was a proper hunch to have.

Digging the claws on his right hand into the dirt, Black Ink pulled his bloated body out of the pond. When he'd first landed in the water, his left arm had been hanging on by a few strands and the left side of his torso had been torn wide open, staining the water red and black with blood and tar. If he hadn't acted quickly by putting his Gift, [PAINT IT BLACK], into overdrive to absorb as much of the water as he could so his body could heal, he'd have likely lost the strength to stay afloat and either drowned or bled out. Whichever came first of course. The drawback being that he looked like a water balloon covered in tar. Now that he was OUT of the water and not continually dragging more in, it'd only take a moment or two to finish absorbing the water and letting himself heal. Slumping up against one of the trees he'd flown through, he panted and wheezed like a hospice patient on a ventilator.

"agh...multi....how could you...." Ink bemoaned, the shock and fury from seeing the same boy that he'd helped RAISE as a baby, turn on him so violently and side with the enemy churned his stomach. Almost as much as all the water he had sitting inside of him. "Blegh..."

*critch critch*

Footsteps. Had the Crusaders come back to finish the job? Try as he might, Ink wasn't in much of a shape to resist them like this. He was still wet which meant his condition was still active. If he took another blast like that from BYOB...

"Non-hostile detected. Agent Black Ink has been found. Agent appears to be in critical condition."

The voice was muffled and didn't sound like an authentic human's voice at all. Which made sense given who the 'voice' belonged to. Shifting and stomping through the underbrush were armored officers belonging to the UPRF(United Patriotic Righteous Force) or 'Uproar' as most Americans had taken to calling them. On the surface they were as American as apple pie or baseball and served only to help with more abnormal crimes that regular local police couldn't handle. In reality they were a science project by the United States government to try and create artificial Gifted. Taking the cadavers of normals/'party poopers' as they'd been called, usually insultingly, scientists implanted blood, brains, and hearts, from deceased Gifted(many of whom weren't likely willing donors) into them to see if they could give Gifts after death. While the true nature of Gifts and how they came to be is still wildly up for debate, most schools of thought generally agreed that it had something to do with your soul or 'box.' Once you died, then the box was no good. Which meant your Gift was bye-bye, finito, done. To whatever process created Gifts, the nature of trying to create Uproar officers was like trying to cheat the whole system. Many of the corpses when reanimated became intensely violent and had to be put down. Others carried too many hints/vague memories of the former owner of the organs and had to be neutralized. The ones who remained docile enough to be ordered around also suffered from severe disfigurements/decomposition as their body rotted the longer they used their stolen Gifts. Almost as though they were being divinely punished. Back in the 60s/70s/80s this was a problem and to try and compensate the government 'recruited' as many Uproar officers as they could to try and keep a steady flow of bodies going.

In the modern age, they could simply replace the parts that decomposed badly enough with prosthetics. Such was the case with one of the Crusaders's brothers. His arms, legs, organs, had all been removed. Only his upper skull/hair/brain remained. The rest was 100% artificial. Still, the majority of the Uproar officers lacked free will, having little more going on upstairs than 'do x, follow xyz orders, kill w when ordered to, retrieve c when ordered, etc etc'. Often when sent out on patrols, they'd have a handler, someone who'd guide/command all the present officers and respond to any media inquiries/keep the officers from making a scene. Black Ink was always creeped out by them. Little better than zombies in his opinion. But the fact that they were here was a good sign. It'd meant that the government had found out his signal had gone dead and sent an influx of troops to try and figure out how these upstarts could have somehow taken down one of their best agents! "hey...*cough cough* Officer...uh...#66, help me up..."

The officer didn't move.

"...huh? I..*cough* just gave you an order didn't I?"

"This officer is not currently authorized to accept orders from you, Agent#Black Ink." The synthesized voice growled out as the officers stood a few feet away from the downed man. Black Ink grit his teeth and threw his right hand up in exasperation. "Then...who's your handler??"

"Me."

A young man, couldn't have been older than 30-32 at most, stepped out to take his place in front of the officers. His dark blue hair was slicked back with what looked like frost covering it and miniature icicles poking out here and there on his scalp. The sides of his head had been shaved, giving him something of a wild mullet. His jacket which resembled military fatigues as was standard was pulled open revealing his toned physique, which was scarily enough nearly as pale as the skin of the literal walking corpses surrounding him. Black Ink didn't even have to look at him. Just hearing his voice had been enough. It was his blood brother, Zeke, the French ice elemental who'd shown him kindness back when they were both teenagers. The surprise's lower jaw trembled as Black Ink dug his claws into the bark of the tree he'd been sitting against and pulled himself up with some effort. "Z...Zeke, i'm so...sososo glad to see you. Look at what they did to me!!!"

"I know. I just came back from meeting them myself."

"w...what?? You went after them? *cough cough* Please tell me you got Multi..."

Zeke blinked and the officers quirked their heads as though Black Ink's words had left them all baffled.

"RCA and I sought them out to try and figure out your whereabouts. Why did you bring up Multi, Ink?"

Black Ink hesitated; he knew how close Zeke was with Multi. He saw himself as the big brother to everyone in their unit but Multi was different. Multi had always been by Zeke's side and idolized him, always wanting to take on missions just to try and prove to Zeke that he could be just as great. Often times the government had issues with Multi's reckless behavior but had to bite their tongues because if they punished Multi too hard, they'd run the risk of Zeke striking out against them again and they couldn't have that while a group of teenagers, an ex-soldier, and an old man were running roughshod over the world's tightest kept secret. But Ink just couldn't keep a secret. He'd nearly died because of Multi's interference. If he hadn't been there, Ink would have handedly killed the Crusaders (another hero by the name of Aster had already taken Crane into custody) and brought this matter to a close.

"he...he's a traitor, zeke. he helped Winters and the others. he told them about my condition."

"If Black Ink's statement is proven true in a court of law, aiding the Modern Crusaders could be construed as obstructing justice and sympathizing with a domestic terrorist organization." One of the officers stated matter of factly. Zeke was taken aback. He had noticed that Multi's main body-which stayed at the base for safety reasons. He could create a whole army, why bother putting himself at risk?-had been acting shifty as of late. Nearly falling asleep during drills, being fidgety and evasive. Zeke had heard about Multi having the mission to apprehend the Crusaders taken out from under him from talking to The Shade. But although he could usually throw his weight around to get Multi a better position, that just wasn't possible here. If the Modern Crusaders weren't stopped before the next administration, the risk of Gifted becoming known to the masses became higher and higher. They would never budge even if Zeke threatened to rebel again.

If they heard that Multi had not only aided the Crusaders but nearly killed Black Ink in the process....

"..."

"Zeke?? You believe me, don't you?! Don't you!?"

Zeke raised his right hand and balled it up into a fist. He swung it out behind him.

*CRACK*

Cracks in the air spread across from where Zeke had struck and a stream of freezing wind tore through the ground, leaving an icy trail in it's path as it impacted the officers standing behind Zeke, freezing them all in place.

"I do believe you, Damien."

Black Ink never stated it but he was always a little bit afraid of Zeke's Gift: [JUST DIE]. The inciting incident that'd put Zeke on the radar of the US government was when he'd been assaulted by a older Gifted and he retaliated, freezing over a chunk of his village in the process. All when he was little more than a frightened child. Facing the risk of having their son arrested for the destruction his outburst had caused, Irregardless of whether or not it constituted self-defense, they reluctantly gave him over to the US, believing that they'd refuse to hand Zeke over to French authorities.

"...but you know what they'd do to Multi if they found out."

Black Ink held up his hands in an effort to try and placate his brother.

"Z...Zeke please....it's not my fault..."

Zeke held out his palm towards Ink.

"I know and I'm sorry."

"ZEKE NO!!!!"

"[JUST DIE]."

!!!

~~~

Before Zeke could freeze over his brother and leave him for dead, something neither could explain happened.

The ground gave way under him and Zeke blinked as the ice faded away from around his hand.

"ZEKE!!! HELP ME!!!!"

"Damien..."

Then it all went black.

EVERYTHING.

Had he died? It would have been quite the miserable way to go, wouldn't it? Killed by your brother who just couldn't bare to give up his baby brother despite what he'd done? Black Ink knew that the decision probably tore Zeke up inside and in truth if the situations had been reversed? Black Ink didn't know if he could have done it. Not with such efficiency anyway. Was this what being dead felt like? Just pitch-black nothingness for all eternity? Well, in a strange enough way, that almost felt comforting.

It felt like he was trapped inside his own Expanse. A one-way ticket to [FADE TO BLACK].

It felt.... peaceful.

*SPLAT*

Or at least it had for a time.

His mass shifted and wriggled as he reformed himself and stood on all fours. His claws digging into the ground as he looked around. Well, his condition had faded which meant that Zeke probably hadn't killed him given that he'd have been an icicle by now. But what the hell was this place?? Was it someone else's Expanse? Had he been pulled into it somehow? Nearly jumping into the air at the quite loud obstruction of A DRAGON crashing it's way through like it didn't give a damn, Ink shook his head. Think later, act now. That was what he'd always told himself before every mission. The normals, the enemy, they wouldn't think twice about hurting him. So why waste the time even considering the options?

Just go out there and wreck shit up!

"[PAINT IT BLACK]..." Ink snarled, his fangs grinding against eachother, his only clothing being a torn up pair of black jeans, holes at the knees and a lack of shoes with his feet veering far off from looking like a human's and more like a feline's, perhaps a cheetah. Rearing himself up, he ran on all fours into the midst of battle, swinging his elastic arms around and biting at whatever he could wrap his mouth around. As long as there wasn't any damnable water in this place, wherever it was, he'd RIP THROUGH ANY FUCKERS THAT GOT IN HIS WAY!!!!!!​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The skeletal horde was prepared for resistance, programmed for it; they did not yet know it, but this group was but a mere smattering of multiversal travellers that had all been pulled to the same place. blades of energy, draconic forms, shadowy masses, all of these were within their creator's designs.

Or so he would've thought, but it did not work out that way at the start.

Tera's lightsabers hewed through the monsters' lazurite coverings like they would have through any droid's armor; the mummified, incredibly dry flesh beneath caught flame in her wake as she dashed through their ranks, the path she took a curving line of still burning limbs and spines cut down.

spears were raised to meet Ink's charge, but he was a hard target to catch on the end of; though likewise, he found his prey hard to chew as he got his jaws around one.

Corrin had created space for the others to find their footing with her crash landing, but it had put her in the middle of the horde; her throat rumbled with a growl as she spun back and forth as the creatures lowered their spears to encircle her, all sides stepping forward in lockstep to make her circle smaller and smaller. a few spears jabbed forward testingly, scratching against the metallic sheen of her scales, but she knew better than most that there were gaps they would find purchase in if given the chance. She didn't intend to give it; most of the others were on their feet now, her head able to see above the crowd of violence to see some joining the fray and others fleeing.

She gave a mighty flap of her wings and took off with enough force that the gusts crashed into the encroaching enemies, their lines briefly in disarray as one of her strange, hand like claws caught the side of a building and she turned her featurelss face towards the crowd she'd left. Water began to gather in an orb in front of her jaw-

a massive wave of flame crashed into her, and she roared in surprise pain as she lost her grip on the building and fell back to the ground; another group of foes had come around the corner, called by the sounds of combat or by whatever silent communication these creatures used, these ones dressed in red robes atop their skeletal frames and carrying golden staves; they had levelled them at the draconic beast and let those flames unleash, to apparent devastating affect on the dragon as it stumbled back to its feet as the around her new landing spot once more lowered their spears in unison and began to advance.

 

[MidwayLives]

the mummified, incredibly dry flesh beneath caught flame in her wake as she dashed through their ranks, the path she took a curving line of still burning limbs and spines cut down.

spears were raised to meet Ink's charge, but he was a hard target to catch on the end of; though likewise, he found his prey hard to chew as he got his jaws around one.

*SPLURK SPLURK*

The spears tore through Ink's body at various angles. One plunged through his hand and out the back. As the length of the spear continued to shift through the slick flesh, Ink snarled like a feral animal, and bit the owner of that specific spear right in the face. Armor creaked and strained under the bite force of Ink's jaws. Before the steel gave way as Ink closed his mouth around the figure's face and shook it violently like a dog with a toy they'd grown obsessively attached to. Bone, flesh, armor, Ink rolled it all around in his mouth before defiantly spitting it out in the face of the nearest warrior next to him. Grabbing the shaft of the spear that was still wedged in his hand, Ink raised his right hand in the 'chopping' motion as his back seemed to vibrate and writhe before multiple streams of tar erupted from his body like someone had gone and struck oil.

The streams flailed all over, spraying oil all over the nearby attackers, before taking shape into multiple arms. All protruding out of Ink's back. They took got ready to chop and lashed out.

*CRACK CRACK CRACK*

The shafts of the spears were splintered like firewood and the heads of the blade spilled out of Ink's body, harmlessly dropping to the ground at his feet. The baseball sized hole in Ink's hand closed up within seconds as did the rest scattered across his body like an acupuncture session gone terribly wrong. He raised his two main hands in the air and slammed them down as he bared his fangs and screeched. "GRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" He didn't know what was going on, truthfully, he didn't really want to know. These things, whatever they were, weren't exactly pushovers. Ink was just lucky enough to have a body that meant weapons like this usually either slid off him or came in one side and out the other with no ill effects. Still, he was a touch surprised. Spears? He'd have thought 'how backwards' but as he rolled his shoulders and the arms still protruding from his back flexed and prepared to throw an onslaught of punches and slashes, he thought back to an idle conversation he'd had with the agent who'd 'adopted' him/despised him for being a Surprise but had begrudgingly taken on the role of 'grandpa' for public relations.

He'd been a water elemental who'd served in Vietnam and Ink had wondered just how the US could have lost like the history books said! 'We had guns, tanks, planes!' The child exclaimed to which the veteran laughed.

'Yeah? So fuckin what? I'll tell you something, Ink. When I served, at first the guerillas were terrified of me. Their guns didn't do jack, I pulled myself together from their bombs goin off, I turned into a stream of water and burst out of any traps they set and yet, despite all that? Those fuckers scared ME even more.."

"Huh? Why, Grandpa...?"

"Because no matter how many of their comrades I drowned, waterboarded, sliced up. They just kept coming. We could have razed the entire goddamn country to the ground, hell, we nearly did and those fuckers still wouldn't stop coming. Take it as a lesson to keep close to your heart, Ink. Don't EVER underestimate your opponents."

"okay grandpa..."

Ink hadn't taken the agent's words to heart. He'd underestimated the Crusaders as a bunch of in over their head idiots. They hadn't even gotten their Gifts until a year and a half ago. In that time they'd still managed to defeat Aster, one of the strongest Gifted out there and become a waking nightmare for the federal government. Even without Multi's interference, they showed no desire to give up despite seeing Ink was physically their superior in every way that mattered. They would have gladly gone down fighting. Making that mistake had nearly cost Ink his life. He wouldn't do it again.

The shadow of twenty fists loomed over the undead.

He'd keep attacking and attacking until they didn't move anymore. No surprises, no walking away thinking it was all said and over with. Right here, right now. He'd get out of this. He HAD to! He had to get back.... home.

The fists crashed down like stretchy, gasoline smelling, meteors. Crashing into anything that got too close.

"COME ONNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!"​

 

[MyrtenRose]

"..." That, was a welcome surprise. The creatures' flesh burned away from her strikes, and not in the usual manner. No, these ignited into flame, with the faint acrid smell only getting stronger with each one downed. It was a spectacle to behold. Yet it was also a problem. If these monstrosities had any answers to give, at least one of them had to be kept intact...however, that was a lesser concern to staying alive. And not just herself in this case, these things were rushing that flying beast as well as that other strange being.

And it seemed they had decided that the biggest one was the threat to take out first. A big blast of flame slammed into the flying animal and laid it low. Gifts from a second, newer group of those monsters. They were dressed differently...perhaps higher ranked? Whatever the case, two could play at that game. One of her lightsabers flew from her hand, arcing in a perfect throw to cut down a few more of the spearmen in her path. That was followed by a jump, aided by the force, that took her over the hordes to land by the flying beast's side. She lashed out with a force repulse the moment her boots touched the ground to knock the horde back, just enough to get some breathing room. She rose to her full height just as her thrown saber returned to her waiting hand. An attack by the elements themselves, well, she was more than willing to fight fire with fire. Tera telekinetically stowed both lightsabers back on her hips, her hands extending outwards, and bolts of unnatural lightning shot forth from her fingers, initially aimed towards the closest spear wielding abominations but intended to sweep across until the bolts were coursing towards those ones in the red robes.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The foe was scattered; while the dragon had been the largest, most apparent threat, the other two had swiftly revealed themselves to be dangerous in their own right; a whole contingent of the creatures were scattered across the ground in front of Ink, only some of them beginning to rise back to their feet, and the crowd that had been charging Corrin had all stumbled back to find their footing again after Tera's impact. The lightning danced across her fingertips before arcing out for the creatures

it scattered harmlessly across their frames, the blue stone coating they bore shimmering slightly as the lighting splashed against them and tore into the stone behind; at most, the robes of the ones in the back caught flame, but that was all. A quiver in the force gave warning to what came next, but the dragon reacted before she needed to; its silver and black wings outstretched to cover Tera's flanks as a sudden hail of arrows came from the roof, their tips not quite strong enough to pierce the dragonflesh even as the creature snarled in pain as it finally managed to force itself back to its feet. once more a ball of water began to coalesce in front of its 'mouth', an this time it was unleashed, shot forward into the enemy lines like a cannonball. as it impacted the first creature, the target's shell once again began to shimmer, and the ball immediately lost its shape; but the not its weight or momentum, and what began as a ball became a crashing wave that scattered the enemy's ranks once again and sent the robed ones in the back tumbling to their knees.

'Thanks for the help!' echoed a far more girlish, scratchy voice, though still stinted with pain, in the Jedi's head than the growls that had come from the beast before. It took off towards the rooftop, the arrows had come from though not without leaving a question as she went 'Do you have any idea whats going on? Can you understand what I'm saying? is that other thing on our side?'

She reached the roof, and saw these skeletal beings were not uniform; the creatures preparing their bows for another volley still had arms and legs, but beaks and wings as well, all coated in that strange shimmering blue.

She crashed through the storm of arrows and into the roof, collapsing it entirely and her prey along with it, before she burst through the walls of the room she'd briefly occupied to emerge back onto the street below

 

[MyrtenRose]

".......Kriff." She cursed as that move proved to be completely ineffectual. All it did was serve as a lightshow. The lightning ceased to shoot from her fingertips as she reflexively ducked from the incoming force sense of danger, but that proved to be an unnecessary move as the beast covered her with its wings. It was only then that she felt something familiar, a voice speaking directly to her in her head. She'd spent way too long with the ghost of the Emperor haunting her head, trying to manipulate as he always did, until she had purged him from her head with a brutal battle in the center of her mind. This voice, however, was far more friendly.

Tera straightened up and nodded, replying mentally: You are welcome, and no I have no more idea what's going on here than you do. All I know is these things chose to attack us, but if I can get a moment to focus intensely, I could perhaps probe one of these things' minds to see if they have any answers...if these things even have minds in that sense. Think you can isolate a stray? She questioned, letting her reply in galactic basic speak for itself in regard to understanding the other's words. As for the other thing...she had no clue. Tera offered no answer on that, but she turned to face said third being just as one of her lightsabers shot back to her right hand and ignited.

She was not sure of the being's allegiances, but one thing she was sure of was that was oil it was spreading around wildly. And if nothing else, these things burned with ease. The once dark lord of the SIth slowly stepped forward towards Black Ink, subtly deflecting any spears or throwing any arrows off course with the force through her free spare hand. Her silver saber sliced across the cobbled streets in a dragging move until it struck some of that loose oil staining the street, at which point it erupted into a massive burst of flame. She reached out with the force, forcing the flames to move in the direction she willed, deep into the hordes to obliterate them on masse.

At the same time, she pulled back, likewise moving to telekinetically pull said oil guy out of there before he was at risk.​

 

[MidwayLives]

a whole contingent of the creatures were scattered across the ground in front of Ink, only some of them beginning to rise back to their feet,

They just kept getting back up...

Good.

"I don't know if I'm alive, dead, or in between. Hell, I don't even know where I AM."

His multiple arms wriggled in the air like snakes as they receded into his back. Taking another primal stance with his claws pressed into the ground and his haunches raised, the ground under his cat-like feet caved in as he burst forward, charging headfirst into another wave of enemies. They stood their ground and the ones in front raised their spears and stood shoulder to shoulder. They didn't understand what this creature was and the way it manipulated its body was an oddity in it of itself. But they'd stand together and attack when he slammed against their defenses. The ones standing at the front lowered their spears and held them forward, let the enemy impale himself onto them as he barreled forward with all the undue grace of a grizzly bear asserting its claim over the territory.

"But I don't care. It doesn't matter one bit. I'll rip apart every single ONE OF YOU!!!!"

One, perhaps overeager, soldier stepped forward and plunged their spear right into Black Ink's chest. They'd definitely hit their mark and stalled the beast's charge, his clawed feet digging up trails of dirt as he came to a screeching halt. Had this strike been the one to do it? He'd been able to recover from previous stabbings and strikes. Maybe the right spot just hadn't been struck. Black Ink looked down at the spear, half of it was sticking out of his chest. Try as hard as they could, the soldier couldn't pull their weapon back. If the creature had been hurt at all by the stab, it didn't cry out at all.

"...."

The soldier felt a strange pulling sensation overtake their spear. For a moment or two it looked like it'd be yanked right out of their hands. It wasn't until they gave the currently skewered Ink another once over that they noticed his body seemed to be absorbing the entire length of the spear. The soldier dug in their heels but Black Ink reached out and grabbed both of their shoulders and grinned, the gesture spreading from ear to ear. "It's like I get another chance. A do-over." He pulled, hard, and the soldier felt their footing disappear as they were pressed against Black Ink's torso and pulled in, little by little, until both weapon and wielder were gone. Absorbed inside Black Ink.

For whatever intelligence the soldier may have possessed, decrepit and undead as they appeared to be, they'd find themselves surrounded by nothing but utter darkness. Whisperings of incoherent words filtered in here and there but they both sounded too close for comfort and too far to follow.

*SNAP*

They felt something grab their left arm and rip it off.

*SNAP*

The right leg was next to go

Multiple arms extended out of the depths, practically engulfing the soldier, in an obscene coiled mess of limbs and claws.

Such was the fate of anything pulled inside of Black Ink's expanse: [FADE TO BLACK].

The other soldiers took no chances and continued to press onto Black Ink. Digging their heels in, they stabbed him over and over. He snarled at them and closed his hands up into fists. "If I win here, then it cancels out that pathetic loss I was forced to suffer..." He grunted and multiple bulges spread across his chest and back as though something was going to punch it's way out through his skin. His viscous body gave way and parted as an empty suit of armor clattered to the ground directly in front of Ink. "Figured I could use some new digs. Don't think he'll mind...But..." The soldiers directly in front of Ink were thrown back as bones shot out of his body like shrapnel from a grenade. They were covered in a layer of slime and saliva as they pelted the horde like a macabre rainfall.

"Never did like digesting bones..."

Ink snapped the spears that were still stuck in him in half. He punched one soldier in the face, caving their helmet in. He opened his mouth as wide as he could and closed it around the head of another and slammed it's body around like a dog playing with a chew toy or a predator tenderizing it's prey. Once he'd finished indulging his baser instincts, he whipped his head off to the side and tossed the soldier quite a fair distance, heaving the body through a nearby window. Wasn't like he cared about property damage. Now that he'd been given some breathing room, he looked down at the armor and oozed his way inside. Armor usually had to be custom built to fit the wearer's physical specifications but with Ink's perfect control over his body, he molded his frame enough to be able to squeeze inside just right. Though he did disregard the gauntlets and helmet, tossing them away or at any other soldiers with all the aloofness of a child tossing away a toy they'd grown tired of.

"come on...COME ONCOMEONECOMEON!!!!" He roared at the horde. Ready to take on all comers.
​

Her silver saber sliced across the cobbled streets in a dragging move until it struck some of that loose oil staining the street, at which point it erupted into a massive burst of flame. She reached out with the force, forcing the flames to move in the direction she willed, deep into the hordes to obliterate them on masse.

Fire...

It didn't hurt him nearly as bad as water did(even just being knocked into a pool could have activated his condition) but given the fact that his hair secreted the stuff, it'd made sense to try and avoid the stuff whenever possible. It was also the first time that he'd realized, that, hey, other people besides him and the dragon had been pulled to whatever this strange place was. He gave a wave of thanks for the assist. ​

At the same time, she pulled back, likewise moving to telekinetically pull said oil guy out of there before he was at risk.

"ahhhhhHHHHHHHH"

TK...

He absolutely hated it.

Anyone with a sufficent enough grip over it could splatter him, force him to regen, and just play the keep away game all day with him. Same thing went with fuckers who could teleport. Just vwoomping all over the place.

But, for now, he'd tolerate it.

"thanks..." He growled as he was pulled back beside the jedi. ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

As all three had to different degrees realized as they fought, the creatures had some sort of resistance to the unnatural, Corrin sure it had something to do with whatever the stone coating them was. but it did not render them immune to physics

The tidal wave of fire born of Ink and Tera's cooperation swept over the horde, burning hot enough, oil getting in enough joints and gaps between their armored plates, that they ignited en masse. The creatures did not feel pain; even as their insides burned, they continued to try and stagger forward for the group, but legs crumpled and arms fell apart as their internal workings burned away, til finally the street fell silent.

It was not total silence. The sound of warfare echoed from all sides, but for the moment, this street was free of it. Civilians who hadn't made it out of their homes poked their heads through doors and windows, one woman rushing out to a man who laid wounded in the street that had not yet perished. some gave the trio odd looks, but out of suspicion, fear, or respect, none approached them.

The dragon hobbled over to where Ink and Tera had ended up, something dragging in her hind claws. Her side was blackened where the magic flames had struck her, a messier, soot color compared to the other black scales on her, with bits of red dripping through places. She thudded to the ground once she was close enough, legs folded beneath her like a deer who shared her antlers would sit as she regarded the two, faceless expression unreadable as her voice echoed in their heads.

'Thank you both so much. I don't know what happening, but at least these people are safe. I... I fished this one out the building I.... broke. Careful, I don't think the other ones in there are fully dead either, just... just stuck.'

she shuffled her legs, passing from back to front in a way that kept it pinned as the sound of stone scraping against stone broke the silence, one of the winged versions of the monstrosities dragged and held in place by against the ground despite its struggles as she spoke again.

'you said you wanted to try to peek in its head? you can do that?' she aksed, voice tinged with a bit of wariness past the pain

 

[MyrtenRose]

But, for now, he'd tolerate it.

"thanks..." He growled as he was pulled back beside the jedi.

She only gave a slight, curt nod in response. Truth be told, she didn't quite know how to feel about this guy. To be fair, she could say the same about the flying beast but that one did not seem as off-putting as the oily individual.
​

​

'Thank you both so much. I don't know what happening, but at least these people are safe. I... I fished this one out the building I.... broke. Careful, I don't think the other ones in there are fully dead either, just... just stuck.'

she shuffled her legs, passing from back to front in a way that kept it pinned as the sound of stone scraping against stone broke the silence, one of the winged versions of the monstrosities dragged and held in place by against the ground despite its struggles as she spoke again.

'you said you wanted to try to peek in its head? you can do that?' she aksed, voice tinged with a bit of wariness past the pain

I...do not know. She was hesitant to admit her uncertainty, but it was the plain truth. I've done it before, but that was elsewhere. I do not know the rules of this place...or if it even has rules, or if this thing has a mind as I understand it, but...I can try. Tera knelt down, taking a deep breath as she did so and stretched out a single hand closer to the monstrosity. The once sith lord took this moment of relative quiet and put it to good use, eyes sliding shut as all her focus going to try and obtain any knowledge of importance, if this creature possessed any.​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

The Dragon continued to regard Tera with some modicum of suspicion, nigh impossible as it was to read on her, but she didn't remove her grip on the creature so she could do... whatever she was going to do. As Tera began, her head tilted towards Ink, her breathing still heavy..

'How about... you? Are you hurt? Its kind of hard to... tell.'

Tera's felt against the creature's mind, and found... something there, but to call it an actual mind was a stretch. It was a facsimile, a computer almost, but made of the same stuff of souls and force ghosts, and just touching it with her own mind felt akin to putting her foot into swamp water. Parts of it felt like it belonged in this vessel, tattered remnants of a life of combat and glory that ended in some sort of violent betrayal, but the wholes were filled with some dark, miasmic... something, that did the actual directing of the form.

'PLANESWALKERS FOUND. COLUMN DESTROYED. ATTEMPTING SPARK EXTRACTION. PLANESWALKERS FOUND. COLUMN DESTROYED. ATTEMPTING'

The she felt something else. an actual mind, something as ancient as Vitiate that attempted to grip her own thoughts through the connection.

'I would've thought you smarter than that Jayce. poking through my dreadhorde's thoughts? You- Hrm. You're not him.' The voice, dark and lilting, seemed bemused. 'Then I really don't care what happens to you.'

That miasmic intensified, threatening to smother her entire soul under brackish, sickly energy-

Tera's eyes snapped open. She was on her side, next to the crushed remains of the dreadhorde aven who's mind she'd been into, a rounded Dragon's snout nudging the side of her head.

'Are you okay?! Sorry, but it was doing... I don't know, but something awful was coming out of it and into you and so I uh.... did that' the voice said, nudging one of the shattered pieces of lazurite with a paw.

There were additional pieces of thoughts she'd pulled out of the creature's broken and horribly repaired mind, but her thoughts were addled, and she felt like she had to cough nonexistent water out of her lungs, her soul attempting to make sense of the attack it had been subjected to that was nothing like the powers of the force

 

[MyrtenRose]

Tera's felt against the creature's mind, and found... something there, but to call it an actual mind was a stretch. It was a facsimile, a computer almost, but made of the same stuff of souls and force ghosts, and just touching it with her own mind felt akin to putting her foot into swamp water. Parts of it felt like it belonged in this vessel, tattered remnants of a life of combat and glory that ended in some sort of violent betrayal, but the wholes were filled with some dark, miasmic... something, that did the actual directing of the form.

'PLANESWALKERS FOUND. COLUMN DESTROYED. ATTEMPTING SPARK EXTRACTION. PLANESWALKERS FOUND. COLUMN DESTROYED. ATTEMPTING'

The she felt something else. an actual mind, something as ancient as Vitiate that attempted to grip her own thoughts through the connection.

'I would've thought you smarter than that Jayce. poking through my dreadhorde's thoughts? You- Hrm. You're not him.' The voice, dark and lilting, seemed bemused. 'Then I really don't care what happens to you.'

That miasmic intensified, threatening to smother her entire soul under brackish, sickly energy-

Tera's eyes snapped open. She was on her side, next to the crushed remains of the dreadhorde aven who's mind she'd been into, a rounded Dragon's snout nudging the side of her head.

'Are you okay?! Sorry, but it was doing... I don't know, but something awful was coming out of it and into you and so I uh.... did that' the voice said, nudging one of the shattered pieces of lazurite with a paw.

There were additional pieces of thoughts she'd pulled out of the creature's broken and horribly repaired mind, but her thoughts were addled, and she felt like she had to cough nonexistent water out of her lungs, her soul attempting to make sense of the attack it had been subjected to that was nothing like the powers of the force

The experience was exactly what she feared--no, more than that. This monstrosity could hardly be said to have a mind, what she pressed against and entered was more like something broken apart and stitched back together several times, and each time getting stitched back there was just less and less left there. She could feel scattered memories in the dark, but the rest? It was an alien feeling...utterly inhuman. Something that defied definition. It was not an easy thing, to put some degree of fear into someone who had once been a dark lord of the Sith, but that managed it. As she brushed against that, her own mind couldn't help but recall a childhood memory.

The time when her father shared a story with her, a tale of a planet deep, deep within unknown space. A ghost planet rendered decayed and lifeless by this gray, impossibly sentient sludge that filled the oceans, overran the rivers, destroyed trees and other foliage until there was nothing left but itself. A horror that hollowed out an entire world as easily as it could any man, woman or child. A world surrounded by rings of lifeless ships left behind by those who had the sheer misfortune of landing upon that deadly planet. Whether that story was true or was nothing more than a fanciful legend designed to impart fear into those who heard it, she still didn't know today.

But the truth of it didn't matter.

What she felt in here reminded her of that story. At least up until she dove deeper and pressed against an actual mind. She pushed in, and it did likewise back. It knew she was there, spoke directly to her, and that thought was as disquieting as her memory of that story was terrifying. The words felt like they loomed over her, and the dreadful feeling only got much worse afterwards, almost as if she was about to drown in this psyche--

Tera snapped out of it in an instant, her eyes opened to this reality once again. The raging fires all around her provided some comforting warmth, even if the circumstances of them were not so good. Her heart raced, she struggled to get her breathing under control, her mind was jumbled, and it took her some time to steady herself enough to even address the flying beast.

"...I will be fine." She said out loud this time, not really wishing to speak mentally at present, and likewise not really sure she herself believed the words she spoke. Yet she moved on, nevertheless. "Thank you for what you did." She gestured in gratitude, complete with appreciative head nod. Getting out of there when she did was for the best, she felt sure of that. Tera was silent for another minute, her gaze remaining locked on the flying creature's own eyes.

"I did pick up some things, and a name...but not quite the answers I wanted. To be honest? I feel as though I am stuck with more questions now. I don't suppose the name Jayce would mean anything to you?"​

 

[MidwayLives]

As all three had to different degrees realized as they fought, the creatures had some sort of resistance to the unnatural, Corrin sure it had something to do with whatever the stone coating them was. but it did not render them immune to physics

The tidal wave of fire born of Ink and Tera's cooperation swept over the horde, burning hot enough, oil getting in enough joints and gaps between their armored plates, that they ignited en masse. The creatures did not feel pain; even as their insides burned, they continued to try and stagger forward for the group, but legs crumpled and arms fell apart as their internal workings burned away, til finally the street fell silent.

It was not total silence. The sound of warfare echoed from all sides, but for the moment, this street was free of it. Civilians who hadn't made it out of their homes poked their heads through doors and windows, one woman rushing out to a man who laid wounded in the street that had not yet perished. some gave the trio odd looks, but out of suspicion, fear, or respect, none approached them.

Having mostly gotten what he'd wanted out of the horde, that being a new outfit, so he wasn't walking around in a ragged pair of jeans, and more importantly an outlet for him to vent his various frustrations-losing to the Crusaders, nearly being killed by them, and then having his own brother turn on him when he'd not been in the wrong. If he'd kept it bundled up anymore, Ink may have very well worried that he'd have....

Well, perhaps, exploded wasn't the right word to use at the moment.

As the townspeople stared out at the man, woman, and dragon that'd saved them, Ink growled. Little more than a low rumble but between it and the gnashing of his fangs, he'd hoped to keep anyone from coming any closer to him. Where they were seemed to be just fine for them and for him as well. It very much seemed that no matter where he went, he'd always be stared at. On one hand if he'd looked like 'this' his entire life, you may have very well gotten used to it.

But you just didn't.

Society could grow and evolve but from where Ink stood, it'd be too little too late. He'd been plucked from family after family because either one didn't want him because of how he looked, or the others felt they were loving him unconditionally despite his ghastly appearance.
​

The dragon hobbled over to where Ink and Tera had ended up, something dragging in her hind claws. Her side was blackened where the magic flames had struck her, a messier, soot color compared to the other black scales on her, with bits of red dripping through places. She thudded to the ground once she was close enough, legs folded beneath her like a deer who shared her antlers would sit as she regarded the two, faceless expression unreadable as her voice echoed in their heads.

"Grrr..."

Ink flared his, well, the slits on his face in lieu of actual nostrils.

If this place was anything like home? Then this had to have been one hell of a Mutation-Type Gifted. Still, most of them were more than capable enough of standing up on two legs and dressing like a regular person. To see a creature like this running around on all fours, well, it was a bit odd.

This of course completely disregarded the fact that Black Ink himself preferred running on all fours. Just always felt quicker that way to him, more fun to boot.

But until he got a better idea on what the hell was going on, he just wanted everyone to keep their distance. His lips pulled back and he snarled in the dragon's direction but didn't make any otherwise immediately hostile gestures.
​

Thank you both so much. I don't know what happening, but at least these people are safe. I... I fished this one out the building I.... broke. Careful, I don't think the other ones in there are fully dead either, just... just stuck.'

she shuffled her legs, passing from back to front in a way that kept it pinned as the sound of stone scraping against stone broke the silence, one of the winged versions of the monstrosities dragged and held in place by against the ground despite its struggles as she spoke again.

'you said you wanted to try to peek in its head? you can do that?' she aksed, voice tinged with a bit of wariness past the pain

"...Huh?"

Thought-speak.

Ink was by no means a stranger to it. Elementals used it because in their natural state, lacking their glamours, they didn't have mouths, visible ears, noses, none of it. So having your grandfather figure scream in your head made having a dragon looking beast talk with all the cadence of a young girl a smoother pill to swallow.

"Yeah...Wasn't a problem. Them, I mean. Sticks and arrows. Like we're back in the stone age."
​

The Dragon continued to regard Tera with some modicum of suspicion, nigh impossible as it was to read on her, but she didn't remove her grip on the creature so she could do... whatever she was going to do. As Tera began, her head tilted towards Ink, her breathing still heavy..

'How about... you? Are you hurt? Its kind of hard to... tell.'

...It, er, she was actually concerned about

him.​

Well, chalk it up to an abundance of caution, if nothing else. If more enemies came then of course he'd have to be in fighting shape.

Still, an earnest question didn't deserve a rude one in reply.

Holding a claw over his wrist, Ink waited a moment.

"Well, I felt a pulse, so I'm not dead. So, I'd have to say I'm doing pretty well all things considered." As far as any lasting injuries went, Ink waved off the need for worry. "Most conventional weaponry doesn't really do much to me. Swords, spears, knives, hell even arrows. I'll shrug it all off or absorb it. Nothing that goes inside my body never comes back out." He gestured to the armor he'd stolen off a horde soldier he'd swallowed. "Unless I want it to anyway." Making his way over to the injury he'd noted when the dragon first came over, he hesitantly reached out to place his palm over the burn. "Name's Black Ink. Seems like you got burned pretty badly over here. Fire's no good for me either. I stick around in it too long and those sticks and stones might actually start to hurt me."

As he pressed his palm down and splayed his fingers apart, the dragon would feel a damp feeling over the spot, though of course, there'd obviously still be some stinging. Not much he could really do about that. He wouldn't say it aloud, not even if he was pressed: but he'd considered it something of a thanks for caring enough to ask him. "Hate to sound like I'm bragging but I took all those attacks head on because I wanted to. I knew that from just a once over, they didn't seem to be carrying anything that could hurt me. But I could have dodged them. The spears, arrows, whatever. My Gift....It lets me control tar, oil, you name it. As long as there's still a speck of me, I'll be able to heal up, even if it takes a while. All the stretching, regenerating, whatever. It's all an extension of me, what I can do. I can't do much about healing, [PAINT IT BLACK] isn't suited for that, but if I keep my hand pressed down and spread myself across the site of the wound, it should at least dull the pain a bit. Til we can do somethin about it."
​

Tera snapped out of it in an instant, her eyes opened to this reality once again. The raging fires all around her provided some comforting warmth, even if the circumstances of them were not so good. Her heart raced, she struggled to get her breathing under control, her mind was jumbled, and it took her some time to steady herself enough to even address the flying beast.

"...I will be fine." She said out loud this time, not really wishing to speak mentally at present, and likewise not really sure she herself believed the words she spoke. Yet she moved on, nevertheless. "Thank you for what you did." She gestured in gratitude, complete with appreciative head nod. Getting out of there when she did was for the best, she felt sure of that. Tera was silent for another minute, her gaze remaining locked on the flying creature's own eyes.

"I did pick up some things, and a name...but not quite the answers I wanted. To be honest? I feel as though I am stuck with more questions now. I don't suppose the name Jayce would mean anything to you?"

Ink glanced over at Tera and quirked his head to the side.

Had she been 'booted out' so to speak? He wasn't a mental-type and his 'aunt' figure who was, didn't use telekinesis, she manipulated the light spectrum.

But as a child he'd heard musings here and there that if you tried to pry into someone's head, the wrong person, they could just as easily kick you out of their mindscape.

These things hadn't seemed so tough, though the regenerating and willingness to keep trying to march admis the flames had been a touch unnerving. Now that he'd had a second to stop and relax after getting his fun beating up on creatures that couldn't hurt him, the one he'd bitten the head off...It tasted a little dry.

Zombies? Maybe?

"If the dragon doesn't know, maybe one of the folks around here do. They ought to be able to answer some questions, right? We DID just save them."

Black Ink glanced over at the window he'd shattered by throwing a headless soldier into it.

Well, saved them, with a fair degree of property damage. He wasn't a miracle worker. ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Well, chalk it up to an abundance of caution, if nothing else. If more enemies came then of course he'd have to be in fighting shape.

Still, an earnest question didn't deserve a rude one in reply.

Holding a claw over his wrist, Ink waited a moment.

"Well, I felt a pulse, so I'm not dead. So, I'd have to say I'm doing pretty well all things considered." As far as any lasting injuries went, Ink waved off the need for worry. "Most conventional weaponry doesn't really do much to me. Swords, spears, knives, hell even arrows. I'll shrug it all off or absorb it. Nothing that goes inside my body never comes back out." He gestured to the armor he'd stolen off a horde soldier he'd swallowed. "Unless I want it to anyway." Making his way over to the injury he'd noted when the dragon first came over, he hesitantly reached out to place his palm over the burn. "Name's Black Ink. Seems like you got burned pretty badly over here. Fire's no good for me either. I stick around in it too long and those sticks and stones might actually start to hurt me."

As he pressed his palm down and splayed his fingers apart, the dragon would feel a damp feeling over the spot, though of course, there'd obviously still be some stinging. Not much he could really do about that. He wouldn't say it aloud, not even if he was pressed: but he'd considered it something of a thanks for caring enough to ask him. "Hate to sound like I'm bragging but I took all those attacks head on because I wanted to. I knew that from just a once over, they didn't seem to be carrying anything that could hurt me. But I could have dodged them. The spears, arrows, whatever. My Gift....It lets me control tar, oil, you name it. As long as there's still a speck of me, I'll be able to heal up, even if it takes a while. All the stretching, regenerating, whatever. It's all an extension of me, what I can do. I can't do much about healing, [PAINT IT BLACK] isn't suited for that, but if I keep my hand pressed down and spread myself across the site of the wound, it should at least dull the pain a bit. Til we can do somethin about it."

When Ink first started to reach for Corrin's side, the dragon edged away, likely because he'd just said that anything that went inside him didn't come back out. But the pain of movement and a decision to put a modicum of trust in the being that was in the same predicament as her and the mage meant she didn't move very far, and the beast let out a lower, less pained rumble from its throat as the burn's sting started to fade slightly, while she listened to Ink describe himself.

'Glad you're alright then. I don't think any of us are supposed to be here, but it looks like they have magic here too. dragons where I'm from don't handle magic very well.'

It was around then that the attack on Tera began, and so did Corrin's (Slightly panicked) violence to end it

Tera snapped out of it in an instant, her eyes opened to this reality once again. The raging fires all around her provided some comforting warmth, even if the circumstances of them were not so good. Her heart raced, she struggled to get her breathing under control, her mind was jumbled, and it took her some time to steady herself enough to even address the flying beast.

"...I will be fine." She said out loud this time, not really wishing to speak mentally at present, and likewise not really sure she herself believed the words she spoke. Yet she moved on, nevertheless. "Thank you for what you did." She gestured in gratitude, complete with appreciative head nod. Getting out of there when she did was for the best, she felt sure of that. Tera was silent for another minute, her gaze remaining locked on the flying creature's own eyes.

"I did pick up some things, and a name...but not quite the answers I wanted. To be honest? I feel as though I am stuck with more questions now. I don't suppose the name Jayce would mean anything to you?"

'Sure. Just glad I didn't hurt you by accident. Wasn't even sure that would help' she answered with relief to the first statement.

Holding the dragon's gaze was a little difficult considering that it didn't seem to have eyes, but Tera had Corrin's attention regardless as the beast shook its head.

'No idea. Maybe.... uh... sorry, I haven't caught anyone's name. I'm Corrin. But maybe he, sorry, are you a he I shouldn't- we should ask the people here.' She cut off her own ramblings with a flustered huff that came out as a draconic snort. She knew better than to try to ask those questions as she was, so she forced herself to all fours again, and the other two saw her form began to glow and shrink in on herself. talons became feet, limbs arms, and the tail disappeared before the glow vanished.

Left in place after the transformation was a young woman in silver and black armor bedecked with a dark blue cape. The plate was clearly designed to be flexible, and left portions of her legs and all of her feet exposed. a mess of pale blonde hair was held back by a hairband sporting a small metallic butterfly that exposed slightly pointed ears, and a dull golden sword that carried a dragon motif had formed in her hand during the transformation.

She immediately fell to one knee after forming with a woozy stumble, said sword planting into the cobblestone to keep her from falling over entirely as she heaved a heavy breath. blood dripped slightly but assuredly through a portion of the armor near her lower stomach. and she blinked a few times before forcing herself back to her feet. It was just pain. Nothing vital.

She gestured vaguely with the hand not balancing against the sword towards the woman treating the wounded man, before she growled and pushed herself up from her makeshift crutch to stand all the way and start walking in that direction, and the pair heard the girl's voice out loud for the first time

"excuse me, miss? Can you understand us? Where are we?"

The woman regarded her with suspicion, but running from the trio meant abandoning the man to them, something she apparently wasn't willing to do.

"...Tenth district."

"Tenth... what? Tenth district of what?"

She gave Corrin a strange look.

"Ravnica. Where else?"

 

[MyrtenRose]

"Name's Black Ink. Seems like you got burned pretty badly over here. Fire's no good for me either. I stick around in it too long and those sticks and stones might actually start to hurt me."

'No idea. Maybe.... uh... sorry, I haven't caught anyone's name. I'm Corrin. But maybe he, sorry, are you a he I shouldn't- we should ask the people here.' She cut off her own ramblings with a flustered huff that came out as a draconic snort. She knew better than to try to ask those questions as she was, so she forced herself to all fours again, and the other two saw her form began to glow and shrink in on herself. talons became feet, limbs arms, and the tail disappeared before the glow vanished.

"Tera Markov, is my......."​

Left in place after the transformation was a young woman in silver and black armor bedecked with a dark blue cape. The plate was clearly designed to be flexible, and left portions of her legs and all of her feet exposed. a mess of pale blonde hair was held back by a hairband sporting a small metallic butterfly that exposed slightly pointed ears, and a dull golden sword that carried a dragon motif had formed in her hand during the transformation.

She immediately fell to one knee after forming with a woozy stumble, said sword planting into the cobblestone to keep her from falling over entirely as she heaved a heavy breath. blood dripped slightly but assuredly through a portion of the armor near her lower stomach. and she blinked a few times before forcing herself back to her feet. It was just pain. Nothing vital.

Her introduction trailed off as she stared at that display, head tilting slightly to the side. "Ah. You're a human woman. Or close to one." She hardly skipped a beat before adding matter of factly: "Excellent." A transformation from beast to lady, sure that might as well happen here. It wasn't like today had not been full of strange sights and experiences and creatures.​

She gestured vaguely with the hand not balancing against the sword towards the woman treating the wounded man, before she growled and pushed herself up from her makeshift crutch to stand all the way and start walking in that direction, and the pair heard the girl's voice out loud for the first time

"excuse me, miss? Can you understand us? Where are we?"

The woman regarded her with suspicion, but running from the trio meant abandoning the man to them, something she apparently wasn't willing to do.

"...Tenth district."

"Tenth... what? Tenth district of what?"

She gave Corrin a strange look.

"Ravnica. Where else?"

Tera nodded in agreement, following after the barefoot warrior Corrin and glancing between the two as they briefly conversed. "The tenth district of Ravnica." She repeated, her eyes beginning to narrow in response because that told them next to nothing. "If I may, what is Ravnica? This city? Country? Planet?" ​

 

[MidwayLives]

When Ink first started to reach for Corrin's side, the dragon edged away, likely because he'd just said that anything that went inside him didn't come back out. But the pain of movement and a decision to put a modicum of trust in the being that was in the same predicament as her and the mage meant she didn't move very far, and the beast let out a lower, less pained rumble from its throat as the burn's sting started to fade slightly, while she listened to Ink describe himself.

'Glad you're alright then. I don't think any of us are supposed to be here, but it looks like they have magic here too. dragons where I'm from don't handle magic very well.'

Black's saucer like eyes blinked, once, twice, three times.

"...Magic??"

Nobody back home REALLY knows what caused Gifts. They just happened to BE. Ink never thought them to be magic. He'd chalked that kind of stuff up to phonies like 'mediums' or psychics that you'd see on TV peddling bullshit like being able to bend a spoon with their mind or converse with a dead loved one. All child's play compared to what a REAL Gifted could do.
​

'No idea. Maybe.... uh... sorry, I haven't caught anyone's name. I'm Corrin. But maybe he, sorry, are you a he I shouldn't- we should ask the people here.' She cut off her own ramblings with a flustered huff that came out as a draconic snort. She knew better than to try to ask those questions as she was, so she forced herself to all fours again, and the other two saw her form began to glow and shrink in on herself. talons became feet, limbs arms, and the tail disappeared before the glow vanished.

Left in place after the transformation was a young woman in silver and black armor bedecked with a dark blue cape. The plate was clearly designed to be flexible, and left portions of her legs and all of her feet exposed. a mess of pale blonde hair was held back by a hairband sporting a small metallic butterfly that exposed slightly pointed ears, and a dull golden sword that carried a dragon motif had formed in her hand during the transformation.

She immediately fell to one knee after forming with a woozy stumble, said sword planting into the cobblestone to keep her from falling over entirely as she heaved a heavy breath. blood dripped slightly but assuredly through a portion of the armor near her lower stomach. and she blinked a few times before forcing herself back to her feet. It was just pain. Nothing vital.

Black Ink watched the transformation go down and then just kind of coughed off to the side.

"not really sure what just happened...i thought you were JUST a dragon..."

He'd roll with it though. Wasn't as though she were an unattractive young lady. Just in his experience when you'd looked like she had in her dragon form, that WAS what you were. Many mutation-types would have killed to even come close to looking as human as Corrin did. As normal as she did.

The blood was hit or miss though.
​

"...Tenth district."

"Tenth... what? Tenth district of what?"

She gave Corrin a strange look.

"Ravnica. Where else?"

He'd never heard of a place called Ravinca.

Which didn't surprise him, most places generally didn't have zombies in armor wielding spears and bows.

Or maybe they did, he'd never been out of his home country even as an adult, too much of a risk for foreign countries to persuade him to stay/join them instead. In which case he and everyone he may have even vaguely cared about would have been hunted down by the American government. For if he wasn't with them, he was against them.
​

If I may, what is Ravnica? This city? Country? Planet?"

"...another planet??"

Black Ink held his claws out in front of his face and quietly counted off the planets in the solar system.

By the time he was done, he gave his own input.

"...how many planets do they have where you're from??" ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"Tera Markov, is my......."



Her introduction trailed off as she stared at that display, head tilting slightly to the side. "Ah. You're a human woman. Or close to one." She hardly skipped a beat before adding matter of factly: "Excellent." A transformation from beast to lady, sure that might as well happen here. It wasn't like today had not been full of strange sights and experiences and creatures.



Tera nodded in agreement, following after the barefoot warrior Corrin and glancing between the two as they briefly conversed. "The tenth district of Ravnica." She repeated, her eyes beginning to narrow in response because that told them next to nothing. "If I may, what is Ravnica? This city? Country? Planet?" ​

Black's saucer like eyes blinked, once, twice, three times.

"...Magic??"

Nobody back home REALLY knows what caused Gifts. They just happened to BE. Ink never thought them to be magic. He'd chalked that kind of stuff up to phonies like 'mediums' or psychics that you'd see on TV peddling bullshit like being able to bend a spoon with their mind or converse with a dead loved one. All child's play compared to what a REAL Gifted could do.



Black Ink watched the transformation go down and then just kind of coughed off to the side.

"not really sure what just happened...i thought you were JUST a dragon..."

He'd roll with it though. Wasn't as though she were an unattractive young lady. Just in his experience when you'd looked like she had in her dragon form, that WAS what you were. Many mutation-types would have killed to even come close to looking as human as Corrin did. As normal as she did.

The blood was hit or miss though.



He'd never heard of a place called Ravinca.

Which didn't surprise him, most places generally didn't have zombies in armor wielding spears and bows.

Or maybe they did, he'd never been out of his home country even as an adult, too much of a risk for foreign countries to persuade him to stay/join them instead. In which case he and everyone he may have even vaguely cared about would have been hunted down by the American government. For if he wasn't with them, he was against them.



"...another planet??"

Black Ink held his claws out in front of his face and quietly counted off the planets in the solar system.

By the time he was done, he gave his own input.

"...how many planets do they have where you're from??" ​

Corrin glanced between the other two as they interjected. Ink didn't know what magic was? What did Tera mean by which planet? Though where else could she be besides a different world? But it didn't... exactly feel like she'd gone through space....

She fell silent, and a small part of her was relieved that the woman seemed as confused as they were as she gave a nervous sneer and turned back to her bandaging.

"What sort of question is that? Ravnica is Ravnica. The city, the world, whatever you want to call it. You're just like those... things, aren't you? Some terrible creatures from the abyss. We appreciate your help but please, take your trouble elsewhere."

 

[MyrtenRose]

"...another planet??"

Black Ink held his claws out in front of his face and quietly counted off the planets in the solar system.

By the time he was done, he gave his own input.

"...how many planets do they have where you're from??"

Tera shot him a side long glance in annoyance. She sure didn't see how that mattered right now, that was hardly the most pressing question she could think of at this time. Nevertheless, after a moment of silence on her part, she obliged him with an answer. "Billions." She stated bluntly, her gaze moving back to the woman immediately afterwards as she waited for an answer to her own question.​

"What sort of question is that? Ravnica is Ravnica. The city, the world, whatever you want to call it. You're just like those... things, aren't you? Some terrible creatures from the abyss. We appreciate your help but please, take your trouble elsewhere."

Her stare turned cold in response to that disappointing answer. Ravnica is simply Ravnica. Fantastic, that sure helps a lot. She studied the woman and debated whether to swallow her discomfort and press into the woman's mind as she just had with the monstrosity...but she ultimately decided against it. The process was more than a little invasive. Doing it against something that proved to be hostile was one thing, but against the more innocent people around here was another. They had just earned some goodwill through their actions, and she sure wasn't about to make all that vanish by potentially damaging their minds.

It seemed if she wanted to find out where she was, she'd have to find that information elsewhere. However...

Tera's harsh stare softened, and she put on extra cordial airs as she spoke again. "As you wish. I'll leave you be, but...one more thing. Does the name Jayce mean anything to you? Or the word planeswalkers, does that ring any bells?"​

 

[MidwayLives]

Tera shot him a side long glance in annoyance. She sure didn't see how that mattered right now, that was hardly the most pressing question she could think of at this time. Nevertheless, after a moment of silence on her part, she obliged him with an answer. "Billions." She stated bluntly, her gaze moving back to the woman immediately afterwards as she waited for an answer to her own question.​

"Wow...."

That....sure was a lot.

He would have liked to have visited another planet someday.

Maybe there were Gifted out there, even in the void of space.
​

"What sort of question is that? Ravnica is Ravnica. The city, the world, whatever you want to call it. You're just like those... things, aren't you? Some terrible creatures from the abyss. We appreciate your help but please, take your trouble elsewhere."

He couldn't read minds or have telekinesis.

He was what he was and that mostly entailed being able to imitate people/stretch/and generally just be a big sticky mess to fight.

So, while what was her name, Tera? While Tera asked the questions, Ink reached over and grabbed the helmet that he'd discarded earlier in the fighting. He was sure it'd clonked one of the horde's members in the head pretty damn hard. Digging one of his claws against the metal, he scraped at it to create eyeholes for him to peer out through when he slipped it on. These things didn't seem to have had any kind of eyes at all, probably didn't need them what with looking like walking corpses and all. His claw scraping against the metal lead to sparks flying and the hissing didn't sound at all dissimilar to a feral cat meowing in the dead of night.

He stopped and clicked out a circular piece of metal. It didn't matter if the hole wasn't up to spec or if it needed to be bigger. Fine control over his body came in clutch yet again. He was going to repeat it for the second eyehole only to stop at the woman's words.

"Grrrr...."

He'd seen what they'd just been through. He'd fought what had been slaughtering them like cattle.

But to be called a 'terrible creature' stirred up a rage in him so fierce, Corrin could have seen the helmet in his grasp starting to creak as tension lines from stress spread across the helmet. This woman, hell, probably nobody here had any idea what he really was. Nor would they have likely cared if he'd tried to take the time to explain it to them. It wasn't their place to know, and he didn't feel inclined to ever explain himself to normals.

That's what they all were.

Normals. Gutter trash that was utterly beneath him.

He could have taken a page out of the government's usual book and slaughtered all the locals here. Devoured them, ripped them limb from limb, bled them dry, so and so forth. It was the norm whenever people 'not in the know' saw him or any of his brothers. They were to be killed, their bodies disposed of, and anybody who may have had even the vaguest contact history with them hunted down and removed as well. You didn't want rumors to start flying, people to try connecting whatever dots there may have been and becoming a risk to the 'Big Secret'. His brothers saw it as a terrible but necessary action. Black Ink didn't feel any remorse about it at all. Maybe when he'd been younger but nowadays? It was just getting rid of people who would have never accepted him, or people like him. There was never going to be anything other than one side wanting the other dead, not in his eyes, or his heart.

....Yet, he relaxed and stayed his hand.

He finished making the adjustments on the helmet and slipped it on, his eyes leering through like two spotlights from a lighthouse.

"...For appreciation, you folks got a funny way of showing it. I'm outta here." Black Ink hissed as he started walking north. The direction itself wasn't important, at least not to him. He just knew that if he stayed any longer after hearing a comment like that, he'd end up coming into conflict with Tera and that dragon girl, Corrin. He didn't want that. "It's the same, no matter where I end up..." He muttered under his breath, mostly to himself.

"If this whole place is Ravinica, or whatever, then I can't get any MORE lost right?"​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

Tera shot him a side long glance in annoyance. She sure didn't see how that mattered right now, that was hardly the most pressing question she could think of at this time. Nevertheless, after a moment of silence on her part, she obliged him with an answer. "Billions." She stated bluntly, her gaze moving back to the woman immediately afterwards as she waited for an answer to her own question.



Her stare turned cold in response to that disappointing answer. Ravnica is simply Ravnica. Fantastic, that sure helps a lot. She studied the woman and debated whether to swallow her discomfort and press into the woman's mind as she just had with the monstrosity...but she ultimately decided against it. The process was more than a little invasive. Doing it against something that proved to be hostile was one thing, but against the more innocent people around here was another. They had just earned some goodwill through their actions, and she sure wasn't about to make all that vanish by potentially damaging their minds.

It seemed if she wanted to find out where she was, she'd have to find that information elsewhere. However...

Tera's harsh stare softened, and she put on extra cordial airs as she spoke again. "As you wish. I'll leave you be, but...one more thing. Does the name Jayce mean anything to you? Or the word planeswalkers, does that ring any bells?"​

"Wow...."

That....sure was a lot.

He would have liked to have visited another planet someday.

Maybe there were Gifted out there, even in the void of space.



He couldn't read minds or have telekinesis.

He was what he was and that mostly entailed being able to imitate people/stretch/and generally just be a big sticky mess to fight.

So, while what was her name, Tera? While Tera asked the questions, Ink reached over and grabbed the helmet that he'd discarded earlier in the fighting. He was sure it'd clonked one of the horde's members in the head pretty damn hard. Digging one of his claws against the metal, he scraped at it to create eyeholes for him to peer out through when he slipped it on. These things didn't seem to have had any kind of eyes at all, probably didn't need them what with looking like walking corpses and all. His claw scraping against the metal lead to sparks flying and the hissing didn't sound at all dissimilar to a feral cat meowing in the dead of night.

He stopped and clicked out a circular piece of metal. It didn't matter if the hole wasn't up to spec or if it needed to be bigger. Fine control over his body came in clutch yet again. He was going to repeat it for the second eyehole only to stop at the woman's words.

"Grrrr...."

He'd seen what they'd just been through. He'd fought what had been slaughtering them like cattle.

But to be called a 'terrible creature' stirred up a rage in him so fierce, Corrin could have seen the helmet in his grasp starting to creak as tension lines from stress spread across the helmet. This woman, hell, probably nobody here had any idea what he really was. Nor would they have likely cared if he'd tried to take the time to explain it to them. It wasn't their place to know, and he didn't feel inclined to ever explain himself to normals.

That's what they all were.

Normals. Gutter trash that was utterly beneath him.

He could have taken a page out of the government's usual book and slaughtered all the locals here. Devoured them, ripped them limb from limb, bled them dry, so and so forth. It was the norm whenever people 'not in the know' saw him or any of his brothers. They were to be killed, their bodies disposed of, and anybody who may have had even the vaguest contact history with them hunted down and removed as well. You didn't want rumors to start flying, people to try connecting whatever dots there may have been and becoming a risk to the 'Big Secret'. His brothers saw it as a terrible but necessary action. Black Ink didn't feel any remorse about it at all. Maybe when he'd been younger but nowadays? It was just getting rid of people who would have never accepted him, or people like him. There was never going to be anything other than one side wanting the other dead, not in his eyes, or his heart.

....Yet, he relaxed and stayed his hand.

He finished making the adjustments on the helmet and slipped it on, his eyes leering through like two spotlights from a lighthouse.

"...For appreciation, you folks got a funny way of showing it. I'm outta here." Black Ink hissed as he started walking north. The direction itself wasn't important, at least not to him. He just knew that if he stayed any longer after hearing a comment like that, he'd end up coming into conflict with Tera and that dragon girl, Corrin. He didn't want that. "It's the same, no matter where I end up..." He muttered under his breath, mostly to himself.

"If this whole place is Ravinica, or whatever, then I can't get any MORE lost right?"​

The former dragon wilted slightly at the snap. Not that she was angry at the woman herself; she understood where the anger was coming from, how scared she must be. But it wasn't like the trio had their own fears to deal with. "I promise miss, we're as lost as you are; we don't know where these things came from, we don't even know how we got here- hey, wait!" Corrin turned and started to try and catch up with Ink's knew dreadhorde vessel, a small wince as she jogged.


"Please, Ink, whatever's happened to us, it happened to all of us." she said as she caught up and laid a hand on a shoulder "Splitting up before we have any idea what's going on isn't going to make fixing it any easier. Maybe it doesn't seem like you need our help, but... we could really use yours"

The woman watched the dragon hobble after the other creature, though Tera caught her eyes flicker down to the section of Corrin's armor that was still dripping some red, and a bit of shame in her eyes before she glanced back up to Tera.

"...You're really not from here, are you? Everyone knows who Jace Beleran is; he's the the former guildmaster of Azorius. Ten Guilds in Ravnica, ten masters. If he's back, then, well... the conclave is your only bet, really."

She preempted the obvious question, and pointed down the street opposite of the way Corrin and Ink had started.

"But that's a fools errand, it is." she said with a grim frown. "Thats where these monsters are all coming from"

The sky above, cloudy with storm clouds since their arrival, rumbled again. Now that she'd pointed it out, they could see that in that direction was the storm's center, slowly but inevitably twirling over that spot

She returned to her erstwhile patient, and gave a small sigh of relief as she checked his pulse and found it stable.

"Now please... leave. There's a good chance those things are going to want vengeance on you, and we can't move him any farther than back inside and hoping we can hide."

 

[MyrtenRose]

The woman watched the dragon hobble after the other creature, though Tera caught her eyes flicker down to the section of Corrin's armor that was still dripping some red, and a bit of shame in her eyes before she glanced back up to Tera.

"...You're really not from here, are you? Everyone knows who Jace Beleran is; he's the the former guildmaster of Azorius. Ten Guilds in Ravnica, ten masters. If he's back, then, well... the conclave is your only bet, really."

She preempted the obvious question, and pointed down the street opposite of the way Corrin and Ink had started.

"But that's a fools errand, it is." she said with a grim frown. "Thats where these monsters are all coming from"

The sky above, cloudy with storm clouds since their arrival, rumbled again. Now that she'd pointed it out, they could see that in that direction was the storm's center, slowly but inevitably twirling over that spot

She returned to her erstwhile patient, and gave a small sigh of relief as she checked his pulse and found it stable.

"Now please... leave. There's a good chance those things are going to want vengeance on you, and we can't move him any farther than back inside and hoping we can hide."

Jace Beleran. Guildmaster of Azorius, one of several such guilds...it wasn't much but that was all she needed. She had a full name and a new direction to go. This conclave was the place to go. Twice over, it seemed, for it was also the source of the monstrosities plaguing the streets. "A fool's errand, you say..." Tera couldn't help but smirk at that. That was something she had heard more than her fair share of. So many tried to express to her more or less the same sentiment with things she planned to do that she'd lost count of how many, but it was like a good friend had once told her: She'd made a reputation for herself by accomplishing things that many others dared not even attempt. She wished that friend was here now, it would certainly have made things easier, but no matter. Their absence did not rid her face of that self-assured smile.

"You have my appreciation." Tera thanked the woman sincerely before turning halfway to look at the other two. "Hey!" She called out. "I don't know where you think you're going but I did us all the privilege of getting a proper heading, and the full name of a guy we should investigate. This way!" She thumbed over in the right direction before turning about and proceeding down that way. "That is, if you'd rather get to the bottom of things instead of, oh I don't know, getting even more hopelessly lost. Your choice."​

 

[MidwayLives]

Where was he going exactly?

He wasn't sure.

But wherever it was, he doubted the people there would be any more gracious.
​

he former dragon wilted slightly at the snap. Not that she was angry at the woman herself; she understood where the anger was coming from, how scared she must be. But it wasn't like the trio had their own fears to deal with. "I promise miss, we're as lost as you are; we don't know where these things came from, we don't even know how we got here- hey, wait!" Corrin turned and started to try and catch up with Ink's knew dreadhorde vessel, a small wince as she jogged.

"Leave me alone, kid."

When it became clear that Corrin wasn't going to give up and kept pursuing him, he turned, and his skin started to bubble and steam. Much in the same way that you'd see tar pits bubble and ooze.

"Goddamn you, I said..."
​

"Please, Ink, whatever's happened to us, it happened to all of us." she said as she caught up and laid a hand on a shoulder "Splitting up before we have any idea what's going on isn't going to make fixing it any easier. Maybe it doesn't seem like you need our help, but... we could really use yours"

"..."

His posture slowly relaxed and the texture of his oily skin returned to normal.

Or as normal as it could be for him. Being a tar covered humanoid was what he'd been about from the moment he first opened his eyes as a newborn babe.

"....I was going to be killed before I wound up here."

No need to really sugarcoat it. She'd have no idea who Zeke was or the history between them at all. Maybe he just wanted to get it off his chest.

"My own brother was going to do me in. He didn't seem happy to do it. But he'd still have done it all the same. Next thing I know, I'm falling through...nothin. Just darkness. Felt like what you'd see if you stuck a flashlight inside of me." He said though it was unclear if he'd been trying to be funny with the metaphor or not. "Then I wind up here. Some new world, country, planet, whatever. YOU saw what WE did. We saved these ungrateful ***** and they're gonna call us...me....a creature....."

Ink glanced away from Corrin and sighed.

"...Didn't mean to just dump that on you. I barely know you. Just, same ol, same ol for me. My own folks couldn't even stomach looking at me. Not the best first impression, ya get me? But..."
​

Hey!" She called out. "I don't know where you think you're going but I did us all the privilege of getting a proper heading, and the full name of a guy we should investigate. This way!" She thumbed over in the right direction before turning about and proceeding down that way. "That is, if you'd rather get to the bottom of things instead of, oh I don't know, getting even more hopelessly lost. Your choice."

He gave Corrin a return pat on the back.

"...I'll stick around. See what turns up."

He started to head back, walking slow enough to keep pace with the wounded woman.

"...sorry I kind of said some undig..nasty things around you. Was wrong of me."

Most people he usually called a ***** ended up dead. The inhabitants of this town were a rare exception. ​

 

[Schnee Corp Lawyer]

"....I was going to be killed before I wound up here."

No need to really sugarcoat it. She'd have no idea who Zeke was or the history between them at all. Maybe he just wanted to get it off his chest.

"My own brother was going to do me in. He didn't seem happy to do it. But he'd still have done it all the same. Next thing I know, I'm falling through...nothin. Just darkness. Felt like what you'd see if you stuck a flashlight inside of me." He said though it was unclear if he'd been trying to be funny with the metaphor or not. "Then I wind up here. Some new world, country, planet, whatever. YOU saw what WE did. We saved these ungrateful ***** and they're gonna call us...me....a creature....."

Ink glanced away from Corrin and sighed.

"...Didn't mean to just dump that on you. I barely know you. Just, same ol, same ol for me. My own folks couldn't even stomach looking at me. Not the best first impression, ya get me? But..."

"Your brother?"

Corrin looked stricken, her eyes widening before she let her gaze fall to the ground as her next words came out soft.

"Thats strange. Mine tried to kill me right before I was taken too. My sister tried to stop him, and..."

...and they were both dead now. One by his hand, one by her own. She couldn't bring herself to speak their names so soon, to lay out a disaster that felt so fresh to a stranger. But if something similar had happened to Ink, then... maybe it had something to do with what happened to them. They'd have to ask Tera if anything similar had happened to her.

"...In any case, I get it. But don't treat them so harshly. neither of us are exactly normal." she said with a wan frown, one of her hands twisting in on itself to become a pair of talons instead before they shifted back. "no matter our intentions, if these other creatures also weren't from here, we can't really blame them for being suspicious of outsiders. But thank you. Genuinely. Until we get our footing here, we're going to be the only friends we've got" she said to his agreement to sticking together.

"You have my appreciation." Tera thanked the woman sincerely before turning halfway to look at the other two. "Hey!" She called out. "I don't know where you think you're going but I did us all the privilege of getting a proper heading, and the full name of a guy we should investigate. This way!" She thumbed over in the right direction before turning about and proceeding down that way. "That is, if you'd rather get to the bottom of things instead of, oh I don't know, getting even more hopelessly lost. Your choice."

"We're coming!" she said, turning to follow after Tera and giving Ink his own solid thump in the back in return, the sound of the lazurite coating he was wearing being struck making an odd sound, like a can of oil being knocked.

He gave Corrin a return pat on the back.

"...I'll stick around. See what turns up."

He started to head back, walking slow enough to keep pace with the wounded woman.

"...sorry I kind of said some undig..nasty things around you. Was wrong of me."

Most people he usually called a ***** ended up dead. The inhabitants of this town were a rare exception.

That got a less morose sound out of Corrin finally as she snorted. "You're fine. I spent the last 9 months in a war camp. Not many words I haven't heard, or been called myself." Not that she'd ever use them herself, she wasn't raised that way, and Takumi had teased her once trying to get her to drop the f-rock and snickering at the failure.

Assuming they were all speaking continental, anyways. That was still confusing, that they all understood each other so clearly.

She kept the pace at a jog once she saw Ink was letting her set the pace, until they reached Tera. "So where are we going? What did you find out?"

 

[MyrtenRose]

She kept the pace at a jog once she saw Ink was letting her set the pace, until they reached Tera. "So where are we going? What did you find out?"

She didn't even look back as she answered, her eyes staring straight ahead with every step. "When I was poking around in what passed for a mind in that thing...there was a voice. Not its voice, but something else. Something...old. It thought me to be someone else at first, called me by a name. His name. Jace, the voice had said, right before..." Tera fell silent for a moment before she decided not to share that bit. "Nevermind that part. The crucial part, though, is that when the voice spoke, it clearly knew this Jace. There's familiarity there, and my thought was that said familiarity would go the other way too. That perhaps this Jace might be able to identify the voice. Or, failing that, help me understand something else I heard. The monsters were hunting for planeswalkers, I also caught that in my mental probing, and they had found them. Or...us. I think. That would explain their sudden focus upon us back there." She thumbed over her shoulder again.

"That woman back there gave me the full name. Jace Belaran. Apparently, he's a famous man. Or infamous. Everyone knows him around here, at any rate. A former guildmaster of something called Azorius." Idly she wondered if that was analogous to jedi grandmaster. "She informed me that the conclave is our only bet if that man's actually around. Should be difficult to miss, she revealed that it is also the point of entry for all the monstrosities. So even if this man isn't around, I figure cutting off the things at the source is the right way to go." Tera finally glanced over her shoulder towards Corrin.

"If we even can. Woman said it was a fool's errand. Can't speak for you two but I took that as a personal challenge." She remarked with a smirk.​