1. Let's try to keep 10 min posting rounds, no posting order, and please no more than one post for each of my posts. I'll won't post in less-than-10-min bursts, but after that it's pretty much first come first serve!
2. If/when we're dicing, declare and roll in 2 min as usual!
3. If you happen to be multitasking, make sure you can keep up with the deadlines. Otherwise, I'll ask you to stop your other scene.
4. Keep track of your own health and tempers.
5. Questions in the chat!
6. PM me your applicable flaws. This includes stuff like nightmares and phobias and hatreds and compulsions!
7. If there are any off-limits themes, imagery or events you do NOT want to see in a scene, PM 'em to me now.
8. This one's important:
PM me what you think your character's greatest strengths and flaws are. Gimme a list of like 2-3 each if possible!]
[Midnight Sun] [
6: Margaret's got a ward! Not sure if it's applicable but! She does have a five year old.
Greatest strengths!
- This bitch can hide in daylight. And she's good at it.
- She's very... very... very devoted to what she's doing because she has a very, very, very strong connrection to her ancestors
- Margaret is insanely perceptive
Greatest weaknesses
- the modern world actually confuses her a little (a lot)
- She has a huge amount of guilt over losing her second child and mate so she'll protect anything that moves
- anything remotely dealing with her remaining family is grounds for a frenzycheck.
to -singularity-
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] [Flaws: No partial transformation, monochrome vision
* Acts pretty devil-may-care, but actually does care? Is that a strength?
* A bit arrogant, thinks he's better than or at least on the same level as most people
Off-limits: I can handle pretty much anything except extreme sexual violence.]
to -singularity-
[Echoes of Laughter] Strengths:
1. Good humored
2. Creatively-minded (thinks outside the box)
3. Independent
Flaws:
1. Self-isolating
2. Lack of confidence (covers it with humor)
3. Distractible
to -singularity-
[Brutal Revelation] [Applicable flaw: Moon-bound (waning gibbous, -1 to dice pools)
'The usual' in terms of stuff I can't handle. Rape, extreme gendered violence, extreme violence towards children. I can handle slugs and snails and the like but I'll let you know if descrips of slimy crawlies make me start freaking out. LOL
Weaknesses
Her insecurity/self-loathing is probably the biggest.
She can be unfairly judgemental: if she likes you, she'll make excuses for your bad behavior. If she doesn't like you, she won't acknowledge your good qualities.
Strengths
Determination. She doesn't give up easily. Even heartbroken, it took her close to a year to hit the 'I can't do this anymore' wall.
Loyalty, which is in the same vein as above, and as one of her weaknesses; it might be hard to get 'in', but once you are, she'll back you up relentlessly.
Honesty. LOL. Sometimes brutal and blunt and unforgiving, but she speaks TROOF.]
to -singularity-
[-singularity-] Something a little different this time.
That's how Lukas described this jaunt tonight, driving out of the city. There are six of them in all -- too many to fit easily in one car, so at least a few of them are in lupine form. They go west, into the suburbs, past the suburbs, out to where the forest preserves dotting the land begin to run together into large patches of wilderness.
I asked Bleeding Heart for advice on this. I was looking for a challenge; something to bond potential packmates together. Something that requires more than raw physical strength. Something that makes a difference. She suggested a realm called the 'Solace of Singularity'. She told me only that it used to be a domain where Garou faced themselves, meditated on themselves, and emerged wiser for it. She says it may have been corrupted in recent years, though, and we're to get to the bottom of it.
When they park, it's well after dark. A waning half moon hangs low in the western sky, screened behind trees finally bursting into their spring foliage. Lukas leads them into the trees, into the darkness, across the Gauntlet, into the Umbra where, perhaps unexpectedly, he pulls a dagger from his belt and hands it to Sidewalk's End.
This is a talen, he tells him. It'll lead us where we need to go.
And with that, they set off. The talen pulls them in a direction their rational minds do not understand -- not any of the four cardinal directions; not up or down. Sideways, the same way the Penumbra is sideways from the Realm, only more so. Away from the realm, farther and farther, following not the shimmering moonpaths that twist and loop incomprehensibly through mindspace rather than distance but the draw of the talen itself.
Blurred and indistinct, scraps of scenery and snatches of sound flare and fade as they move on. The Ahroun is in his homid form. The Philodox glides along, silvery and lupine. The rest of them take whatever form they prefer; it seems to matter little here.
The farther they go, the emptier this not-world between worlds becomes. It's neither warm nor cold, dark nor light. The talen-dagger keeps pulling them onward, and Where the Sidewalk Ends can sense -- he can't say how, but he can -- that they're close now.
[Brutal Revelation] Earlier tonight, the phone rang at the Loft. They were expecting the call, and on the other end Sinclair said whoever answered to Stand back.
It may or may not be the first time that Maddox and Margaret have ever seen a Glass Walker employ one of the gifts so solely held by Cockroach's own, but it's the first time they've met Sinclair, Warcry, Brutal Revelation. Their first intimation of her, waiting to go on this 'hunt' Wyrmbreaker invited them on, is that voice on the other end of the line, so clear and normal-sounding.
Then blue sparks erupting from the handset, sparks that twist and merge into white-hot lightning, swirling and tightening out of the mic and speaker, turning red-orange at the edges as they coalesce into a vaguely humanoid form. Arms and legs stretch outward, a head evolves, and after a flash of light that leaves their ears ringing more than their eyes burning, there's a young woman standing there. She's got a tan that no one in Chicago can lay claim to, enough to hide the freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her hair is straw-blonde and bleached a bit by sunshine, the sort of hair you assign words like 'wheat' and 'summer' and 'surfer' and so forth. There's a blue streak in it, fading to turquoise now.
Her jeans are fraying at the edges, flip-flops on her feet, a red hoodie tossed on over a t-shirt bearing a squirrel. At the moment, the only modifications visible to the newcomers are the multitude of rings in Sinclair's ears, tiny dedicated circles of titanium plus an industrial piercing through the cartilage of one. Some of the rings have small, colored beads on them. One is red, and hanging next to it is a miniscule metal feather.
She smooths her hair back and starts to tie it up into a ponytail, revealing a tattoo of a quartered circle on the back of her neck. With a grin and hugs all around, she greets Kate and Lukas and Sarita. With just the grin, she gives a nod to Midnight Sun and Where the Sidewalk Ends, introducing herself before going to raid the talen chest.
Thus equipped, the talens hidden away in some dedicated Crown Royale bag in a pocket of ether, Sinclair jumps into the car, one of the homid ones, babbling Lukas's ear off while he drives about wyrmhounds and something about a curtain rod and asking for advice about sept politics in San Diego and... so on.
Time passes. They follow the dagger that Lukas gives to Maddox. Sinclair hangs back a bit, bringing up the rear without anyone saying maybe that would be a good spot for her. She strolls along with Margaret. She doesn't strike up a conversation just yet, not sure how alert to her surroundings she needs to be.
[Midnight Sun] Margaret had introduced herself, of course, but not before an oh whoa, she really can go through the phone and being genuinely astounded by this fact. big, blue eyes wide, and pale jaw is slack for a few seconds before she does give her hellos and... well... a-hunting they do go.
Something different, this time.
She follows along- it's well after dark and they're pushing into the trees and through brush that should be more familiar to the Child of Gaia than it is. She makes note of these things near her- there's a few rocks, she notes where the moss is (or isn't) growing. Margaret makes note of the smell.
Here's the thing about Midnight Sun- she's comfortable here. She's herself in the woods with trees and observing the sky. She's come far enough down south before that the trees manage to stay alive and that the ground isn't a frozen desert. It's warm enough for comfort. And they are pulled in a direction that their spiritual selves understand- sideways. They part the curtain and step through to the other side.
When they pass through, Midnight Sun is on all fours and off in lupus. She's more sand colored, more warm browns and tawny than greys (though there is grey there, about her shoulders and back) and white. Not enough to keep her camoflaged, but... she is better suited, biologically speaking, to this climate than she is in her home.
She hasn't stricken up a conversation, though. This is unfamiliar territory, and they can talk later.
[Honor's Compass] Okay, Katherine's greatest strengths are without doubt:
1. Her Honor
2. Her 'strength of self' if you will, or her willpower.
3. The Pack
Weaknesses:
1. The Pack, if that makes sense, they're also the ones capable of dismantling her
2. Derangement, her belief in her own destiny for greatness blinds her to reality
3. Pride, Katherine has a rather large abundance of it for her tribe, herself, her family
to -singularity-
[Honor's Compass] They'd all have met Katherine Bellamonte at some point in their travels of the Loft, these new comers.
In all honesty, she's rather hard to miss. Not because she's pretty or dainty or sweeps into any single room with that abundance of elegance and breeding renown of her tribe but rather because she does all this without even trying for it -- there's a particular gleam, a spark to Honor's Compass that is without measure.
At her age, at her rank, this is honestly as it should be. That she should be in possession of the sort of demeanor that drew eyes and ears toward her out of immediate reaction was proper; rightly so.
She adopts her wolf form for these travels, and dances along as much as she walks on her paws; a lithe white wolf who seemed to glow, even without the aid of her gift with pale, pale eyes. How can a wolf suggest birthright in such a form -- somehow, Honor's Compass managed it.
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] The Theurge rides with the others because, well, that's what one does when one is being considered for a pack. One interacts and mingles as well as they can, testing connections, maybe testing each other's boundaries, seeing if there's a fit there. Or at least, that's what he remembers vaguely. Like he told Lukas, it's been a long time since he belonged anywhere.
Tonight, the drifter isn't drifting. He greets the ones he hasn't met before, Brutal Revelation and Honor's Compass, with a smile riding closer to a smirk than anything. To Kate, he gives thanks for her hospitality, which may or may not be a surprise. Maddox isn't a regular visitor to her loft by any means, but he's been in it, he's partaken (sort of) of a bit of her food and drink. There's no time to ask Margaret about her deed name, hopefully he'll get the chance later.
It's obvious that to fit into a vehicle, at least some of them will have to slip into something smaller and slimmer. Maddox doesn't wait to be told what to do, or for someone to make a suggestion. He's the new guy here. By the time the others climb in, there's already a gangly red wolf smooshed in somewhere. If he's nervous or excited, it doesn't show itself on his lupine face, probably because he's not. A layer of the umbra may be corrupted. His ears flick and he gives a but of a huff at, "Something that requires more than raw physical strength." Anyone with eyes can see that if they go to combat, the Fianna's probably going to find a place at the back.
When they pile out, though, his place is at the front. Dagger in hand, Where the Sidewalk Ends leads the way, a bit quiet. He's tall and skinny in his birth skin, dark hair flat for once. His hoodie is dark blue, his jeans torn at the knees, sneakers maroon. He supposes that it works. At the start of this journey, after they all got out of the car, Maddox talked, making idle conversation about the forest, his voice colored by a muddied, faded accent from across the Pond. The umbra. A book he read recently. He glides across the gauntlet as easily as breathing, and he continues chatting at or with Lukas. Until things start to fade, and the world starts to become bare. That's when the chatty Theurge starts to get quiet.
"We're close," he says, his voice a warning. By now he's been quiet for some time, dark eyes alert.
[Echoes of Laughter] The Strider smiles widely when Sinclair pops out of the phone. It hasn't been that long since she's seen their packmate who's been separated by half the country…she came back for Sarita's challenge, after all. But she's still ecstatic to see her and the hug is warmly returned. She's shaken off the effects of that mental attack she suffered alongside Kate and Adara and she's not exhausted on her feet, so she's able to be more herself around the Galliard and makes a joke about literally reaching out to touch someone.
Hey, you expected anything less?
Sarita is at ease before they head out. Maddox and Margaret are greeted warmly, with Maddox getting an apology for the odd reaction she had for the Theurge's sudden appearance on their previous encounter. Lots of people around and Strider trying to get settled into her duties as Elder and talk with some the Ragabashes equated to a bad reaction at someone she didn't know just popping in from upstairs. She slips her duster on, rolls her head on her shoulders with satisfying pops and then she's ready to head out.
She listens to Lukas explain the mission, head cocked to the side with that ever-present faint grin on her face. She's thoughtful, taking in the information. She makes a little joke about them heading to the "Fortress of Solitude," even though she didn't mishear. It just made sense in her head, and really…how can you fail to make a Superman joke when it comes up?
Maybe because now's a time to be serious? Yes, because that's always stopped Sarita from making jokes. I'm just saying, it's a hunt. Oh hush. She'll get serious when the time comes. This from the guy who made her joke-scream Dorian's name in public last night. And it was funny! …okay, you have a point. Thank you. Let's move on. Okay.
She takes up a spot right behind Maddox as they are led along by the dagger. She's moving in Homid for now, the form she's most comfortable in. Time will come and she'll change it up when that time is ready. For now, she prefers her natural form and she stays alert as she does so, ready for whatever may be coming.
Or so she thinks. For once, we agree.
[-singularity-] When they set out, Lukas bantered and talked with his packmates, his proto-packmates. He had a brief debate with Maddox about Life of Pi. He told Sarita that if Marlon Brando showed up in the SoS he was going to run. He looked at Sinclair's new-ish feather-ring with some interest, but ultimately didn't really need to ask about it. It seemed obvious to him.
Here in the umbra, their totem is close at hand. Even when everything else fades to the still, waiting quiet of the world-between-worlds, Perun stays with them: a rumble of thunder, a scent of ozone. The sense of lightning and strength in the air.
They fall quiet, one by one, as they near. We're close, Maddox says, and Lukas merely nods. "When you feel the barrier," he says, "take us across. Stay on your toes when we're in, guys, but let's tread carefully and thoughtfully. I asked Bleeding-Heart-yuf for a challenge and a puzzle, so let's not jump to any conclusions -- what we see might not be what we get."
[gnosis vs diff 5 to cross the "gauntlet" into SoS realm!]
[Honor's Compass] [Gnosis vs Diff 5]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 9 (Failure at target 5)
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] [Gnosis +1 (twilight song), diff 5]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 3 at target 5)
[Echoes of Laughter] [[Hot Gnosis-y Action!]]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 9 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Midnight Sun] [Did she make it?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Brutal Revelation] [gnosis!]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 5, 6 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[-singularity-]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 5)
[Honor's Compass] [Gnosis take 2?]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 5, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-singularity-] One by one -- with varying degrees of success -- they cross. The Theurge first and fastest. The Philodox last, fur just a little ruffled from a rough journey. It take a moment to acclimate their new surroundings. The blankness of the space between worlds is gone -- instead, they stand in ...
blankness, albeit a different sort of blankness. A pure white space, without limit or sense. Gradually, they begin to perceive -- or perhaps create, fashion from their own minds and expectations -- features, spatial cues, things to orient their concrete minds to.
A great white room, then. Circular, perhaps fifty feet in diameter. The floor flat. The ceiling one uninterrupted dome. There is light everywhere, though they can see no source. No shadows. The air smells and tastes pure, though -- perhaps not perfectly so. Not quite. Something's just a little bit off here. Even in this brilliant, pale space, something's just a little bit
dark.
"Okay," Lukas speaks first, low. "Everyone here? Anyone see where we should go next?"
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, they see it. Impossible to say if it was there before, simply camouflaged by the lack of shadow and detail in this place, or if it appeared as the Ahroun thought of it: a doorway, little more than an oval opening in the wall. Through it -- more whiteness.
[Echoes of Laughter] "Oh dear. Did we just get transported to the top office of Wolfram & Hart?" She's unnerved, yes. But once again, that joke couldn't be avoided. She keeps in close formation for the moment, right near point, and then her brow furrows as she sees the door.
"Hoo-boy. I think we got our pathway..."
[Brutal Revelation] A place like this feels fine to Sinclair, on some level. Predator and beast though she may be, she is also a Glass Walker. She's heard about places like this in virtual umbral realms, places where most wolves are wary to tread because they can't think in code. Places she has yet to visit. She looks up. She looks around. She breathes in deep, exhales, and frowns.
She rolls her eyes at Sarita. "Oh my god, everyone in this pack is a nerd." Clearly she caught Lukas playing WoW at some point.
Glancing around, she hears Lukas ask for a --
--and it appears. Her brow furrows again, just like the Strider's, and she glances at the Ahroun. Shrugs. Why not?
[Midnight Sun] The sound Midnight Sun makes is high to low, half a whine. her ears perk forward and her tail swishes back and forth, it stays low before it holds still and her muscles tense. She tenses and leans forward. The female snorts and cocks her head to the side. Attention is there for a second and... well.. if a wolf could look confused, it's clear the reference flew right over the ragabash's head.
She takes a few steps forward and sniffs at the door... or, well, in the door's direction.
[Honor's Compass] Honor's Compass gets slightly -- stuck.
If that's the right word to attach to trying to cross the Gauntlet here. It's like soft, melting taffy, sticking a paw through and then pushing against the membrane. Usually, there's a relaxing and you pass through but sometimes it will not give or you become wedged mid-way.
A most uncomfortable sensation.
Katherine pushes her way through on a second, more forceful attempt and arrives, her fur sticking up along her spine. She snuffs once, enough to suggest her displeasure at that experience and then the snowy white wolf falls silent. Sits down a moment and looks around. There's a mental suggestion, in pack-mate's minds anyway, of a Silver Fang palace, quite like this with perhaps a touch more in the way of furnishings.
Trust that Miss Minimalism likes it.
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "I don't..." Maddox pauses, flicks his dark-eyed gaze to Sarita and raises an eyebrow, "know what that is." The pause and the tone suggest that wasn't what he was going to say when he started that sentence, and that he might like to find out what Wolfram & Hart is at some point in time. This place, though, this blinding bright white space, oval and empty, takes precedence now.
Lukas asks if anyone sees where they should go next, and a way appears. "Interesting." He looks down at the dagger he's still holding, and if it's stopped tugging him in any direction, he slips it into his messenger bag for safe keeping. He looks at the door that's appeared before them and he considers it.
He thinks of something bigger, something wider and with a bit more detail. He thinks of a door one might see on the old cathedrals of Europe, curious to see if whatever brought it into being is going off sound, or thought, or what.
[-singularity-] A doorway. A door. As they near, they see that's what it is. A door, utterly clear, clearer than any glass.
Midnight Sun tries to picture more detail. Something ornate, old, intricate. No dice. It stays as it is, clear, all but invisible, sliding soundlessly open as they approach. Beyond it: a pathway. Gently sloping downward. Gently curving to the left.
The talen-knife has all but stopped tugging since they arrived in this realm. Now and then it pulls downward, but that's all.
[-singularity-] [fuck, M-names. Maddox!]
[Brutal Revelation] [Let's call them Madge and Mads. That should be easier.]
[-singularity-] [Madge = madonna in my hed!]
[Echoes of Laughter] "It's a pop-culture reference." She gives Maddox a grin. "Don't worry, I'll set you down in front of the TV at some point and get you speaking my lingo."
She looks around, frowning a little, then back to the door. "All right, peeps." She gestures to the doorway. "Let's go push the Big Red Button, shall we?"
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] [call her Maggie, then! it's totally different from Mads!]
[Brutal Revelation] Sinclair nods towards the doorway. "After you, Fearless Leader," she says to Lukas. "I'll bring up the rear."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "I look forward to it," he says, grinning back at Sarita. "And maybe you can show me those consoles while you're at it."
The door doesn't change from simple glass. Maddox Hms, then shrugs a thin shoulder. "We can go together," he says to Lukas, still grinning, holding out a hand he does not expect to be taken. He at least intends to stay close to the front, to scope things out along with the Adren meatshield.
[Honor's Compass] Honor's Compass slips into formation behind Lukas and Maddox, alongside or ahead of the others, a smaller figure alongside her homid-formed companions as they guide through the doorway down toward the pathway.
The Silver Fang's nose twitches with keen inquisitive interest as they move; testing the air for scents.
[Honor's Compass] [guide should be glide. You know, I could spell once.]
[-singularity-] Down, down they go. Hopefully no one's superstitious and reading too much into the fact that this pathway, this passage, spirals. It's a closer fit than the vast round room they emerged in: enough room for two Crinoses side by side, perhaps. Enough room for all six of them abreast in human or wolf form.
Still no shadows, no scent, no ... personality to this place. Now and then they might imagine the intensity of the white light alters. Pulses, or fades for a second. They can't be sure, though, and if they ask each other -- no one can agree on the exact moment of these fluctuations.
Could just be their neurons, misfiring from too much lack of information.
Then, abruptly, they come around another loop of the spiral and see it. A door. Just like the one Maddox imagined. Ornate, heavy, oaken surrounded by an exquisitely graven stone arch. Bizarrely out of place here.
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "Well," he says, peering from beside and slightly behind Lukas, "this place is at least partly affected by thought, I believe. I did a little test upstairs," he explains, and that's the whole of his explanation.
"Anybody feel like knocking?"
[Brutal Revelation] A path that leads down can also lead up. A path that leads inward also leads outward. That's what some Theurge, high on something, told Sinclair once. They were talking about the Dancers. She heard later he fell. She wonders if he was trying to find a way to bring the others out. He wouldn't be the first. She's not sure he was ever right in that theory, at least as far as the Spiral Dance is concerned.
She waits for the others to go in long before she steps forward, sliding down from homid into hispo as her steps flip-flop across the floor, then turn silent as they become paws. Metal glints in her ears, under the fur of her left foreleg. She stays far enough back that she can hear them all, see them all, and hear whatever might come behind them. Before they get too far, she looks back, to see if the door Lukas seemed to have summoned is still there.
They find a different door, one that Maddox says he envisioned. She murmur-growls in her throat from the rear, saying: "Your door. You knock."
[Echoes of Laughter] She takes up spot right next to Kate, keeping to Homid still. She runs a hand through her hair as she gives one more look around on their way down the spiral. Is she superstitious? Maybe a little. Hey, you're talking about a group of werewolves walking through the spirit world. You'd have to be nuts NOT to be a little superstitious.
And then they come up to the door. She pauses, looking up at it. "Mmm...let's try this. Friend?"
Hey, if it's altered by their thoughts, it could work. Her own little test. Maybe Maddox is a Tolkein fan, or maybe they can all influence things. That's the only way to find out.
[Honor's Compass] The Silver Fang's thoughts are quiet for the most part, even given her form they are more silent than usual. Pack, though, have the (sometimes) unfortunate ability to attune themselves and listen in to the flickering thought processes of other members joined to them. Sometimes one broadcasts without intention or meaning.
Katherine's seem full of the date, the month, the passing note of poetry April is the cruelest month and her father's face. Down they spiral along the pathway, and the Half Moon looks at the door and imagines on the other side nothing but black, a chasm to tumble down.
down the rabbit hole
[Midnight Sun] Her tail twitches again, and her ears lay flat. The Ragabahs is somewhere in the middle, watching the theurge, smelling the door and picking up nothing but a door. Just a door. her ears perk forward and her tail wags. jaws part and she is obviously pleased by the Tolkien reference.
And down, down, down they'll go...
[-singularity-] The door does not open to the Tolkein reference. Apart from its sheer alien-ness in this white world far, far from their own, it seems quite ordinary.
[Honor's Compass] "Door open when wanted to. If you want opened by knock, so it go." The growled wisdom from the Philodox to the Theurge.
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "Hm." Again, and with a frown this time. Tolkien doesn't open the door, which means they'll probably have to do this the old fashioned way. He gives a nod of his head, either to a thought or to Katherine or to something else entirely.
Stepping out and around Lukas, Where the Sidewalk Ends studies the door, only he doesn't knock. He half-mutters, just loud enough for the others to hear, "Open says me," and he gives it a push (or pull).
[-singularity-] The instant his hand touches the door, a voice right by his ear, a touch above a whisper, but startlingly clear. Unaccented but strangely cadenced, as though the english tongue -- or any language at all -- is foreign.
"They... don't... respect you."
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] He huffs a laugh suddenly. Asks aloud, "So?"
[-singularity-] The door swings open at the gentlest touch. Inward. Beyond it is another white room, not circular by octagonal, bathed in indistinct, sourceless white light.
It is not empty. A form stands in the middle. It, too, is wholly white -- very vaguely humanoid in shape, faceless, featureless.
Sidewalk's End speaks aloud suddenly. As though drawn by the sound of his voice, the faceless form twitches. A slit appears in the middle of the head. It opens; nothing but blackness inside. Maddox's voice comes from it.
"I don't need your respect."
[Brutal Revelation] At the sight of the octagon, Sinclair tenses. Her fur goes on end for a moment before relaxing. The Unbroken sense in a flash the thoughts that ricochet through her mind then. But otherwise, she's alert.
[-singularity-] One eye on the half-formed thing, Lukas hangs back until Sinclair catches up to him. "What's on your mind?" he asks quietly.
[Brutal Revelation] In Sinclair's mind, rapid-fire, each image overlapping the last and melting into the next, they see a circle, octagon, hexagon, pentagon, square, triangle, a narrow passage, each smaller and tighter, more claustrophobic, more hemmed-in
until the passageway tightens, narrows to a line, a dot, and nothing. It is not a clear, coherent thought. It isn't meant as a message, a warning, anything. It's the first thought that comes to her mind, and it broadcasts suddenly to her packmates, along with the vague sense of unease that comes with it.
to -singularity-, Echoes of Laughter, Honor's Compass
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "It's true," he says conversationally, stepping into the room. Close, but not too close to the white figure. His hands go into his pockets and he studies that figure, curious more than anything. Fascinated. "If this is a realm where we're supposed to face ourselves," he muses, "but it's been warped somehow," he adds to the Unbroken, "what am I supposed to see here?"
He shrugs his shoulders, and in his pocket, his hand wraps around a small smooth stone, a talen of his own. He doesn't activate it, not yet. "Either they will or they won't, mate. Jumping through hoops to earn it's a bit too exhausting, though, so if I earn it, it'll be because of me, you know?"
[Echoes of Laughter] The thoughts that suddenly find themselves filtering into her head causes her to blink. She doesn't grasp it, her attention turning to Sinclair just a moment. It is only brief before Maddox speaks though...and then that void speaks back in the Theurge's voice.
"Iiinteresting." She keeps close to Maddox, following him as he walks in so as not to have him shut off alone beyond the door should it...well, shut. "I think whatever you're supposed to see, duders...you're probably seeing it."
She studies the human shape curioously, watching to see if it takes on any hint of Maddox-like characteristics.
[-singularity-] Whatever it is that darts through the minds of the bonded packmates, it makes Lukas give a quick shake of his head. It makes him put a hand on Sinclair's shoulder - just there, warm and steady. No words, no thoughts back.
The half-formed being gives another sharp, shuddering twitch. Its head twists at an unnatural angle, the slit disappearing to the back -- then swinging slowly about again, smooth as a machine. Now there are two holes above that slit. Now, viscous, pulling apart like taffy, arms separate from the torso.
"It's my doing," it says with Maddox's voice. "I don't need anyone else."
"You said you were experimenting upstairs," Lukas interrupts quietly. "Did you dream this thing up?" Maybe he doesn't say the rest: if so, what the fuck?
[-singularity-] "They... don't... see. ... How unique you are."
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Honor's Compass] Honor's Compass approaches her sister as she tenses; as she transmits her thoughts. The Silver Fang pushes against the side of the Glass Walker, melding their fur together. For a beat, Sinclair can feel the steadiness of Katherine's heart as she presses her head into the other female.
Unease. Rooms closing in, smaller and smaller.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Katherine was not afraid. She snuffs her sister's fur, then turns to address the situation of the thing. The Maddox thing. The Silver Fang approaches it, caution footed, then hangs back. The behavioral pattern of a curious animal. "Building shape from you. You speak, it parrot. Building. Like computer."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "Not at all," is the immediate reply, cast over his shoulder to Lukas. "I just thought up the door. That's probably what made this," he nods his head toward the figure, the corners of his mouth turning down as he just barely keeps from going Yeaugh aloud.
"So I guess that's true. It is my doing. And no," he says, lids lowering over dark eyes. The Theurge affects a sad, wounded look. "It's true, they really don't. Well," he amends. "Maybe Lukáš does. Hm," he says suddenly, and then, "&+1069;&+1090;&+1086; &+1087;&+1088;&+1072;&+1074;&+1076;&+1072;? &+1042;&+1099; &+1082;&+1086;&+1087;&+1080;&+1088;&+1086;&+1074;&+1072;&+1085;&+1080;&+1103; &+1084;&+1077;&+1085;&+1103;, &+1082;&+1072;&+1082; &+1082;&+1086;&+1084;&+1087;&+1100;&+1102;&+1090;&+1077;&+1088;?"
[Midnight Sun] I don't need your respect, the thing says.
The Child of Gaia takes some time, shifts back into her breed form. She's back on two legs, and the female... well.. she's pale. She's very, very pale, and if need be, she could probably blend in. The female runs a hand through her hair and shakes it out.
"Huh," she says, and runs her tongue across her teeth. She is watching the two of them. The white apparition and the theurge, "if you're the one defining it, then..."
She puts her hands on her hips and really, really pays attention at this point. She's watching. Always watching.
[-singularity-] Lukas, low: "Who are you talking to? Who really doesn't what?"
"I don't need their approbation," says Maddox's voice. Another sharp, unnatural twitch of the head. An angle that would break a human neck. The room flickers and darkens for a moment, like a fluorescent bulb burning out. Lights again.
"They don't even understand me. They wouldn't, even if I explained. Their judgment is nothing to me. I am above it."
Eyes open in that face. Lidless and huge. Very dark. Maddox's eyes. Another twitch; another flicker of darkness, as though some power line somewhere is failing as they speak. The form writhes in place, and then it has legs; it strides forward.
"I am not a computer." Such disdain. "I'm more than anyone could possibly realize. God, you people are pathetic compared to me."
It's only an armsreach away from Maddox now.
[-singularity-] "They don't... deserve you."
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Echoes of Laughter] "Ooookay, cowboy." She puts a hand on Maddox's shoulder, pulling him back away from it. "Let's get some distance now. I think it's a big crowded between you, me, your alter ego and your alter ego's ego."
Sure, it may be exactly what they need, is to force it take more of a form. It might give them answers. Or Maddox may end up as an extra in Saw 17: Electric Bloody Boogaloo. Better safe than sorry for now.
[Brutal Revelation] At the Russian out of Maddox's mouth, the nonsensical words before it, Sinclair growls, bristling again. She strides forward a bit as Sarita is pulling Maddox back and snarls at the white version of the Fianna, then barks. This time it's definitely a warning.
[Honor's Compass] The Silver Fang takes the thing's measure, it would seem and after a moment, shimmers and re-forms as a crouching female. There is something vaguely primal about Katherine at that moment; crouched on the ground; her fingers spread against it where they had moments ago been paws. She rises, her hair loose over her cheeks; framing her with a raw beauty better suited to another tribe.
"Not a computer. Are you an echo? A reflection? Are you anything?" Katherine's voice is smooth; unruffled by its evident disdain. She circles the thing.
[Midnight Sun] "Of course it's a reflection," she says, "it's just... like a funhouse mirror. The substance is still there it's just distorted."
"Bleeding heart said that this is what the realm was for, it's just... corrupted."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "Well that's a bit ah no," he says, starting with one thought and finishing with another as the thing gains legs and starts forward. He needs no encouragement from Sarita to put distance between himself and the thing in the room, he's already stepping back.
Whatever he was going to say, it's lost for the moment. "You're not hearing that?" he asks Lukas, surprised, and then he's stepping back further, looking around the octagonal room. Let the others be between him and bizarro Maddox. If it's anything like him, at least physically, maybe it won't actually be much of a threat. Maybe.
"There's another voice in here. I thought it was part of that. And if I say they do deserve me?" he calls out. "What then?"
[-singularity-] "I'm Maddox."
The face, such as it is, is ghastly. Lidless eyes. Holes for nostrils. No contour, no bone structure. A black gash of a mouth, and just enough expressiveness to stir off all sorts of uneasy recognitions. Those eyes flick to Katherine briefly, incredulously. Almost simultaneously, Sarita pulls Maddox back; Sinclair steps up, half-protective, half-threatening.
The simulacrum barely pays them any heed. It speaks again with Maddox's voice:
"I don't need their protection," he insists. "I don't need their help. They wouldn't understand even if I explained. I got this, man. I can handle anything. Anything at all.
"By. Myself."
[Echoes of Laughter] "I swear I saw this whole scene on Glee this week. Except I think Other-You has less Auto-Tune." Humor as coping for creepiness, always.
"Maybe you should try explaining," she says to the thing. "A little leap of faith never hurt nobody."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] By now Maddox is away by one of the walls, back turned to the thing in the room. He reaches out to touch that perfect whiteness, pauses for a moment when the thing speaks again, then presses his palms flat against the wall.
"Well that's just not true at all." If nothing happens when he touches the barrier of white, Maddox pushes off and steps back. Turns. He's got that cocky tilt of his head again, his mouth is quirked in a smirk. "First off, you're not Maddox, you're not nearly good looking enough." He steps closer, still hanging a bit back, staying behind the line formed by the Unbroken protecting him. "And if I didn't think I needed their protection, I wouldn't be hanging out back here, would I? "But, maybe you're right. Maybe I don't need their protection. Maybe I don't need them at all." His hand comes up to rub at the bottom half of his face. He looks from one Garou to the other to the other, starting, and ending, with Lukas.
"But. I want them. Or something like them. I want a pack. I want a reason to stay."
[-singularity-] "You're ... lying."
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[-singularity-] The thing ignores Sarita, more or less. Perhaps it's too self-centered to notice her in all but the most superficial ways. And only when there's no other choice. Instead, it addresses --
well. Itself, perhaps. It's starting to look more like Maddox by the second. Look; there's his longish nose. There are his dark eyebrows.
"If you wanted them," it says, "why are you talking to yourself?"
And it reaches for Maddox.
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "Am I?" he asks, and he's not addressing the Unbroken, or the imperfect replica of himself in the middle of the room. Maddox looks around him, seeking out the source of the voice apparently only he can hear.
"And what makes you say that?"
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] When it moves he all but leaps back, ducking back behind Sinclair.
[Brutal Revelation] Sinclair, large and in a form prepared for war, opening her maw and roaring at the thing. It might not notice her. It might not care. But that's what she does,
and then she lunges.
[Echoes of Laughter] It reaches for Maddox. Sinclair lunges forward. And for her part, Sarita pulls the Theurge back behind her as she shifts up to Crinos. She's not attacking...not immediately. But she's there to support her packmate and back her up.
[Midnight Sun] She doesn't waste any sort of time. If she can get to crinos, she gets there. If she can't, then she's drawing a weapon. The ragabash adjusts her position. She'll stand beside Sarita if she can. The Child of Gaia is definitely, obviously tense.
[-singularity-] No words now. Just speed, surreally fast, as the Maddox-thing doesn't so much lunge as it whips forward toward the real Maddox. Distorting. Stretching. Crossing the gap like gravity doesn't even matter. Like it has no bones to break, no flesh to stretch. Like physical laws, physical space, doesn't even apply to it.
No words spoken directly to Maddox's mind either. Just a blinding shriek in his mind, debilitating.
[okay! i think it's not necessary to have full-on combat right now. so this is what we're gonna do:
- anyone attacking, roll an attack and a damage. i'll soak.
- anyone pulling maddox out of the way, do that too!
- maddox, roll your dodge and +3 difficulty (ZOMG NOISE!)
- i'll roll an "attack"!
- everyone, label your rolls!]
[Honor's Compass] Maddox leaps back.
Sinclair leaps toward the faux-Maddox.
The Gaian is tense and Katherine --
hangs back, arms crossed. Frowning. Evidently, the Silver Fang does not seem to think the entity poses a real threat. Or else she's firm in the belief her pack-mates can handle whatever that threat may turn out to be.
[Brutal Revelation] Maddox isn't Unbroken yet. Nor is Midnight Sun. But all the same, when his white-room-spirit-animal twin starts reaching for him, Sarita all but yanks the Fianna back while Sinclair gets between him and the... thing. And Margaret's shifting up, arming herself. Katherine hangs back, unperturbed -- or something.
No matter. Sinclair snaps her jaws, lunges, and attacks.
[Brutal Revelation] [sinclair is attacking!
dex + brawl + perun]
Dice Rolled:[ 13 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 10 at target 5) Re-rolls: 2
[Brutal Revelation] [...yeah. +9, splitting rolls up]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] [;_; DODGE OMG! +WP because OMG!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 4 (Success x 1 at target 9) [WP]
[Brutal Revelation] [and the second]
Dice Rolled:[ 9 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Echoes of Laughter] [[Claw Attack! Dex+Brawl]]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) Re-rolls: 3
[Echoes of Laughter] [[Damage]]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-singularity-] [soak vs sinclair!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 7, 7, 7, 7, 8 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-singularity-] [vs sarita!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 6, 6, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Midnight Sun] [Stabbity/slashing the thing comin' at Maddox. Dex+melee]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 3, 6, 7, 7, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 4)
[Midnight Sun] [Uh, damage...? Maybe?]
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[-singularity-] [Lukas: yanking Maddox outta the way.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6) Re-rolls: 1
[-singularity-] [soak vs Midnight]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-singularity-] [thing be GLOM at the speed of light!]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 7, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 7 at target 6)
[-singularity-] As one, the pack explodes into action. Jaws snap. Growls resounding. The Alpha grabs the Theurge and tries to put the smaller, weaker Garou behind himself; the Theurge, dazed from the shriek, tries to dodge.
This is one of the stronger warpacks in the Sept. They should be able to make mincemeat of this bizarre creature. Yet it's surprisingly resilient. It screams as their teeth sink in -- a noise that briefly makes their heads spin, ears ring, bile rising to the backs of their throats. And, utterly undeterred, it stretches on impossibly long and thin arm forward. Smacks its hand over Maddox's face.
Light flicker-gutters. Dies. The room goes dark. They can hear a muffled screaming; it must be Maddox.
It lasts only for a second.
They can see again. The creature is nowhere to be found. No blood, no traces, nothing. Maddox is still there. He looks a little dazed, but otherwise ... unharmed?
[percep + occult vs diff 8, folks. all or nothing roll - 2 or more succ to get info!]
[Echoes of Laughter]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 1, 7, 7 (Failure at target 8) [WP]
[Honor's Compass] [Per + Occult]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 3, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 8) [WP]
[-singularity-] In that window of darkness, Maddox feels intrusion. The alien coldness of the thing's hand on its face. Or what passes for a hand. What pretends to be a hand. The malleable substance of the thing creeping in through every orifice possible: mouth, nostrils, ears, tear ducts, pores. It's inside him, sampling, tasting,
and then gone again. Just like that.
[Roll Stamina vs diff 8!]
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] [stam!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 7 (Botch x 1 at target 8)
to -singularity-
[-singularity-] [annnnd down in flames goes the scenetank! answering questions:
all: +1 diff if you have no occult!
kate: it'll go around her if she tries to get in the way. it may have been possible to yank maddox out of its grasp, but it's not possible to "take a hit" for him.]
[Brutal Revelation]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 9 (Success x 1 at target 9)
[-singularity-] [stunned for 5 turns. after that ... well, you're mostly normal, but your negative traits are a little bit magnified. you're more arrogant, more cocksure. i may continue to ping you throughout SL with notes.]
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Midnight Sun] [I can think good! Yes yes! Per+occult]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9) [WP] Re-rolls: 1
[-singularity-] [henceforth, you're all pretty aware that something's ... weird about Maddox. hard to put your finger on it, esp since you barely know him, but. something is off. he doesn't really seem to notice it though.]
to Brutal Revelation, Honor's Compass, Midnight Sun
[-singularity-] [note to self: real!maddox took 4A. fake!maddox had 5 suxx on creation.]
to -singularity-
[Honor's Compass] Honor's Compass has not simply been standing back there watching her pack and potential pack fight out of cowardice or laziness but rather -- a reflection on the fact that she has been in similar situations, been faced with stranger realms than this that required a particular sort of study.
The sort of calm that a Philodox was intended for.
So, she can stand and watch Maddox get reached for, can watch Sinclair leaping into the fray, can see Lukas try to drag the Fianna out of the way without more than a brief twitch of fingers toward jumping in front of the apparent attack and cementing a niggling grain of thought in her mind. One that had been there since the figure had first appeared there, behind the door.
She is remembering the Rite of Reawakening and the challenges.
The tailoring to the personal Garou. Then, as the 'light' returns, pale eyes narrow speculatively on the Fianna's face. It is not simply a niggling now. She reaches for her pack-mate's minds. Do you remember the Rite of Reawakening, Lukas? Each Gate was special to one of us. I think this is along similar lines. See he is not the same, somehow.
It has morphed with him, become part of him as I think it always was. The questioning side, the uncertainty. The demands and taunts.
[Echoes of Laughter] She shrinks back down to Homid when the thing is gone. She doesn't say anything, just looks around with a frown, expression on her face clearly saying, Um, what the fuck?
[Midnight Sun] "...weird."
She looks back from her position, and the tension hasn't abated, and the death grip on her knife hasn't abated yet. She peers back at the Fianna, and the Child of Gaia
"... you okay?"
Somehow, she makes the high tongue inelegant.
[Brutal Revelation] Sinclair's attention perks slightly past her frustration when Katherine mentions the Rite of Reawakening. She wasn't there. She heard about it later, recorded everything she was told, but her knowledge of what happened in the underworld is still dim. Somehow it seemed not the thing of stories. It all sounded so... personal. So she didn't pry much.
She's tense. Good thing or bad thing? We fix?
to -singularity-, Echoes of Laughter, Honor's Compass
[Brutal Revelation] Sinclair is standing stock still in the leftovers, the remnants of one of the briefest 'battles' she's been in recently. Her tail wags back and forth a couple of times, more thoughtful than pleased. Her head is turned towards her packmates a moment, then swings around to peer at Maddox. She pads over and sniffs at him.
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] Maddox looks a little dazed.
Okay, Maddox looks a lot dazed. The Fiann doesn't respond to Midnight Sun's query, and he doesn't move away when Brutal Revelation comes closer for a sniff.
[-singularity-] [he smells a little ... pale. less. at least that's what sinclair thinks. a second sniff and he seems more like himself, though.]
to Brutal Revelation
[Brutal Revelation] [per + primal urge: *sniff!*]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[Brutal Revelation] [*brushes that roll under the rug*]
[Echoes of Laughter] Um...maybe it's a good thing. Unless we were supposed to help him fight those off? Oh hell, I'm thinking in circles now...
to -singularity-, Brutal Revelation, Honor's Compass
[Honor's Compass] I'm not certain, yet. I'm not sure we can fix him. He may need to do it himself.
Honor's Compass seems thoughtful on the matter, she moves a little nearer, studying the Fiann's eyes in particular.
to -singularity-, Brutal Revelation, Echoes of Laughter
[Honor's Compass] Honor's Compass seems thoughtful, she moves a little nearer, studying the Fiann's eyes in particular as if looking for a light to be glimpsed within. "Are you better now?" She questions, head slightly tilted.
[Brutal Revelation] That white version of him was a jackass, Sinclair thinks at them firmly. If that's a part of him now -- if it always was -- maybe he's not even any different than he was before. A beat.
Maybe that part of him will just get worse til ...um. It starts to get better?
to -singularity-, Echoes of Laughter, Honor's Compass
[-singularity-] [hold on a sec!]
[-singularity-] Wyrmbreaker has not said a word yet. He looks around, turning in place -- quick, tense pivots. Finally:
"Let's get out of this room. I don't like it here."
There's another door. None of them can say if it was there before. It's clear, like the first was; and like the first, it leads to another path, spiraling down. White. The light flickers now and then. More than it did before. Sometimes, they can hear a faint crackling, like a bad connection in a high-voltage wire.
"And let's talk aloud," he adds. "I know none of us know what happened to Maddox right now, but ... if we cut him out we cut Midnight out too. And that's at least one, maybe two sets of ideas we won't be hearing.
"Kate mentioned a Rite we did last year. Rite of Reawakening, to bring back the spring. Seven gates, seven trials, seven champions -- one for each of us. She said it might be something like that, where each of us will be tested in turn by facing ... our doubts or weaknesses or something like that.
"I think that's possible. I also think maybe that was the original intent of this place. But Bleeding Heart said it may have been corrupted. The thing about the Rite of Reawakening is, that was ultimately designed to help us. Each and every gate. This thing ... we can't assume the same."
A pause.
"Sarita said maybe we should help him. Help each other. Kate and Sinclair said maybe we need to do each of our trials ourselves. I'm just paraphrasing here," he adds, "trying to get everyone caught up. So -- feel free to correct me."
[Honor's Compass] "Hm," The Silver Fang says aloud now, still peering quite closely at Maddox like he were growing a strange fungus she was studying for a Science Project. "Perhaps it is an infection of sorts, rather than a boon. He may begin to exhibit the characteristics of the Other. Does he smell corrupted?"
She leans back, as if to gauge.
[-singularity-] [if you wanna smell him again, percep + primal urge. difficulty = 10 - your occult or enigmas score, whichever is higher!]
[Midnight Sun] "Okay... so... I think that if we're trying to function as a pack, and see if this actually works, then... it's in our best interests to work together because we are supposed to be working as a unit," she says.
She looks at Maddox again, hands on her hips and taking up all the space her rather diminuitive form could take. She really, really looks at him then shifts down to lupus. This, of course, takes her some time, but the ragabash...
Well...
Something doesn't make sense.
[Honor's Compass] [Sniff?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 5, 8, 10 (Success x 1 at target 9)
[Midnight Sun] [Da fuq? Per+primal urge, diff 10 - 2 (enigmas) -2 (lupus) = 6]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[-singularity-] Something's definitely off about him. Alien? Tainted? Altered? She can't tell exactly what, but ... off.
to Honor's Compass
[-singularity-] Something's definitely off about him. Either altered or alien ... she can't tell exactly what, but ... off.
to Midnight Sun
[Brutal Revelation] Her ears twitch as she sniffs Maddox, then the Galliard pulls back, looking over at Margaret. She opens her jaws to start to speak, in a guttural version of wolfspeak as it would be, when her Alpha says much of what she thought to introduce to those who couldn't hear the discussion the already-bonded packmates were sharing. There's a flicker of -- not irritation, not anything like that, but faint amusement.
"I not say that," she corrects, becuse -- well. That's what Lukas just asked for. "Fianna and Gaian, not pack yet. Private still private. Not all lines gone because he maybe-pack, Alpha. But not leave him twist in wind alone. Not keep secrets." Her communication is imperfect. At very least, her pack knows her. At very least, she can hope they intuit more than 'words' and body language can get across. Her tail sweeps.
She moves around, trots around her packmates, weaves between them, emerges again. She looks at Maddox. "Not know you. Not know what you hear. We help. We not be able help, you not speak. We guess, and it air. We grasp straw. We not know you. Need help."
And to Margaret: "You also. I will protect, help, but --"
She chuffs, doesn't finish. A bristle goes through her, a tension -- an aggravation that soothes a moment later, and she sits down.
[-singularity-] ST notes:
- the way for maddox to "win" was to basically do the opposite of what his weakness (arrogance) suggested -- i.e. ask for help. but tbh i did not expect that to happen this early in the game.
- i love this pack right now. they are totally hitting the notes i hoped they would ("what the hell, is he changed somehow?" "we need to work together!")
to -singularity-
[Echoes of Laughter] She's frowning, having taken a lean against the side of the wall. "What was it that you heard that you said Lukas couldn't? Because honestly hommes...I got a fair idea that none of us did."
Her head cocks the right, watching him closely. Not suspiciously, just...closely. Curious and studying. "Any clue may be able to help, y'know?"
[Honor's Compass] "Something is wrong with him." She declares, her delicate nostrils pinching after a brief intake of the air around the Fianna, she steps back, shaking her head a little. "I cannot put a finger on it, but I believe as I said earlier, it is the presence of the Other inside him. Whatever it wants, it seems willing to... squat, oui, inside."
She glances toward the newly evolved door, crosses toward it.
[-singularity-] - realm ultimately does draw from them, though not completely, and somewhat corruptedly. corruption will get worse as they go deeper.
to -singularity-
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] They sniff him over, examine him like he's a germ in a petri dish. Sinclair even speaks and gestures in wolf speak. Sarita asks questions.
Maddox stands up under it, his gaze unfocused, expression blank. If he hears them, there's no sign of it.
[-singularity-] [next post or so and you can come outta your daze. remember though: arrogance amplified. you won't actually notice it yourself, of course.]
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Midnight Sun] "... cleansing?"
Ears perk forward and she trots forward to nudge against the rather dazed Fianna. Her ears perk forward again, only to fall partially backward.She cocks her head to the side. Her eyes are wide, and that same pale, pale color. She makes a low pitched whining noise and nudges again. Her tail is low, but not tucked.
She doesn't follow along to the door yet but, eventually, she does.
[Brutal Revelation] Sinclair, sitting on her haunches, abruptly gets up, walks over, and quickly -- very quickly -- bites Maddox neatly on the arm. Just enough to draw a little blood. It probably doesn't even hurt more than a minute.
[-singularity-] It's not blood that comes out. Nothing comes out.
Just void inside.
[-singularity-] [this is, in case it's not already obvious, as much a shock to maddox as anyone.]
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Brutal Revelation] Seeing that -- tasting nothing in her mouth -- Sinclair growls, low and disturbed, and knocks Maddox down. Trips him, flattens him, something. And if he doesn't fight back, if nothing stops her, she just pins him to the floor, staring at his face.
[-singularity-] [and yes -- as far as you can tell, you're just... you.]
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[-singularity-] ST Note
At this point, I was gobsmacked. I did NOT expect that big reveal to happen until the climax, or perhaps just before!
to -singularity-
[Echoes of Laughter] Um. Well, that's...interesting. Her look as Maddox doesn't bleed...doesn't do anything...is just a wee bit nervous.
"Oh, fuckbeans."
Yeah, that about covers it. When Sinclair knows him down, she frowns and steps forward. "I see what you're getting at there hon...but if the bite didn't help, I don't think that will either."
She's out of her element a bit here. She's better with the real world than the Umbra. And of course it was THE THEURGE who went down first. The irony is thick enough to be a Raimi horror comedy.
[Brutal Revelation] To Sarita, she just snarls. It might be anger towards the Strider; it might just be her tension coming out. "Not trying hurt. Holding still."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] There's a pain, sharp but abrupt, in his arm when Sinclair bites it. Maddox's dark eyes start to focus, his awareness starts to sharpen, but before he's fully aware of what's happening
he's being knocked to the ground. Tripped, flattened, pushed down with a startled, "Ah!"
There's a hispo wolf pinning him down, staring down into wide, staring dark eyes. "What the fuck?" Turning his head, he tries to lift his arm, examine puncture wounds in his hoodie and his arm. There should be blood. There should be something.
He looks back up at Sinclair. "Seriously what the fuck?"
[Midnight Sun] What she sees is nothing. Or, rather, what she sees and smells and fails to taste is a lacking of something there. We can talk all sorts of things about logic and what it dictates, but Margaret nudges the theurge again. Lingers longer than necessary and really focuses. Come on, do something-
[Mother's Touch- Int+medicine, diff 3]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 3, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 3)
[Echoes of Laughter] "I wasn't thinking you were trying to hurt, just that holy okay, he's talking."
When Maddox is--understandably--freaking out a bit, Sarita moves to take a crouch next to Sinclair. On the other side from Margaret, obviously. "Dunno, but we'll get it figured out."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "You'll get it figured out?" he asks, angling his head to look at Sarita with a definite sneer. "Really? Well I just feel so much at ease, thanks."
[-singularity-] For a moment, nothing. Midnight Sun can all but feel her own Gnosis hesitating, as though uncertain how to weave itself into flesh that encases ... nothing.
Then it works. That small gash Sinclair opened closes. The void is sealed away again. Out of sight, out of mind. Right?
[Honor's Compass] When the Theurge finally speaks, the lovely Fang standing by the doorway turns, a hand grasping the door-frame and frowns down at Maddox; it deepens at the lack of blood. Then, as Midnight Sun attempts to heal him -- "I do not think -- " -- she pauses, and stares down at the Fiann.
"The Other is inside of you, Maddox." Katherine's voice was gentle; genteel. "I believe healing him will not, ah," the Fianna sneers; Katherine's mouth twists. "There it is."
[Echoes of Laughter] She frowns. "We. The inclusive, not the royal." She stands and looks to the others.
"Yep," she agrees with Kate. "My thoughts exactly."
[Brutal Revelation] Sinclair just chuffs back at Maddox asking her what the fuck, and ignores Sarita's half-spoken reply. She stays where she is, keeping him pinned to the ground. She's just staring, pale blue eyes in a face lined by charcoal-and-steel fur. "What you hear, we not hear? Echoes of Laughter ask you. I say you need speak so we can help you. Speak."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] [percept + PU, diff 10-4 (enigmas)]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 7 (Failure at target 6)
[-singularity-] [you smell fine to yourself. you can try again if you want, but the truth is... you'll always smell fine to yourself. if you hadn't seen the void inside you with your own eyes, you would've never believed anything was out of order.]
to Where the Sidewalk Ends
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] There's a fostern Galliard all but standing on top of him, or at least keeping him held in place. Maddox cocks a brow at Sarita from his prone and pinned position when she says that We is inclusive, not royal. He huffs at Katherine. The Other is inside him, yeah right, what does she know? Margaret seals his wounds, and Maddox draws his now uninjured arm toward his face for a sniff. He gets the faded scent of detergent and the outdoors beneath old cigarettes. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
He drops his arm to the side and looks up into the grey muzzle, those pale eyes.
"There was a voice," he says. "It said you guys didn't deserve me." They can practically hear the self-important sniff of disdain. "And that I was lying when I said I wanted you."
[Midnight Sun] Her ears go from half perked to completely flat and her tail is stiff. The tension doesn't abate, but her ears do, finally tart to perk forward, her fur is no longer bristled and stiff.
"Did you lie?"
[Honor's Compass] He huffs at her.
She arches an eyebrow at him. "Naturally, you believe a disembodied voice over those standing flesh and blood beside you." She quips, without mercy for his current predicament. She leans forward a little. "I do not believe this is Maddox speaking, I believe this is the thing we encountered when we first entered.
Do you remember? I called you a computer. I think that is too mild a term for you though. I think you are little more than wasted particles. Come out and play, don't hide. You said you did not need us, or anyone. Why are you creeping around inside Maddox?
Are you cowardly, then?"
[Brutal Revelation] There have been times when Lukas has held down a fiend while Sinclair -- or Asha, she thinks with a twisting pang -- tore their throat out. No one is baring teeth or claw to tear Maddox's throat out, but Sinclair holds him down all the same, heavy forepaws on his chest and body angled to quickly and easily slam him back down should he try kicking, thrashing, any of it. She doesn't sit on him, though; in hispo her weight could break his homid-formed ribs.
She does hold him down, though, while Philodox and Ragabashes question. Press. Ferret out the truth, as is their way. As is their duty.
[-singularity-] Katherine is an Adren Philodox. She is a Silver Fang. When she speaks a command, she expects to be obeyed. Even when she's speaking to some -- creature, some thing, some wasted particles out in the far reaches of the Umbra.
There's nothing, though. Just what looks like Sidewalk's End staring back at her, perhaps baffled. No darkness oozing out of his pores. No sudden reemergence of some blank, featureless entity.
[Honor's Compass] No response.
Some Garou would snarl, here. Frustration bleeding into Rage and then that was all she wrote. Katherine merely studies the lack of reaction with a mildly chiding expression. "Yes, so. A coward of sorts. Perhaps Maddox will come out, then. Perhaps he will decide he does want us or --"
Her eyes venture to the door.
"We could simply leave. Decide we don't want you."
[Echoes of Laughter] Her attention flits from person to person. She's frowning...a bit on edge. Her mind runs her in circles while she's trying to ferret out a possible tactic here, so instead she just keeps her attention on Kate, Margaret and Maddox-thing, keeping alert for any clue that might come to her.
[-singularity-] Lukas, quiet all this time, has been watching them. Mostly Maddox, pale eyes occasionally flicking to the others. At this point, as Katherine bares her proverbial teeth and goes for a kill that Lukas isn't quite sure is right, or worth it, he speaks up. Quietly, but firmly.
"Hold on," he says, the Ahroun, the pragmatic. "Maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves. Maybe the ... copy, whatever it was, is inside Maddox now. Maybe it's something else entirely. We don't know enough. We've tried to figure it out, but so far all we know is when he's cut he's got a void inside him. We don't know why. We don't know how to fix it. And I don't know that talking will help too much more.
"We've been sent here to get to the bottom of this. And right now, I think we're still pretty close to the top. I think we need more information. So let's try to set down a plan for what comes next. What if it's another room? Another ... facsimile of one of us? How do we deal with that?"
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "Not at the time," he answers Margaret truthfully. "I'm starting to think the better of it now. And if you must know," here he nudges against Sinclair's unrelenting paws, pinning him securely, "I only believed it some of the time. But it was right. You don't know me. And you certainly don't deserve me."
He shifts, but doesn't thrash or kick. Maddox just pushes on Sinclair's paw, and looks up at her again. "Well you get off? I'm not a coward, but I know my limits. Look at me," he says, lifting his arms up over his head as if to try and display his non-existent "guns." "Do you really think this is a threat?"
[Echoes of Laughter] She frowns, then shrugs to Lukas. "Try and stop it from taking over its host-to-be, however possible, and if it does anyway then we do a little compare and contrast between the voidy-void personalities."
[-singularity-] "But how? What did we do wrong last time?"
[Honor's Compass] "One of us should go ahead next," Katherine says, looking between Maddox and then Lukas. "We are bonded, we perhaps will get a greater grasp of what is taking place during and if we are taken over.
Perhaps also there will be a change, with Maddox already with a Host."
A beat, then she adds quieter: "It worked off his thoughts, his replies. Something about how he interpreted its meaning."
[Echoes of Laughter] "I don't know. Kill it quick enough? Cover Maddox in seran wrap fast enough?"
She runs a hand through her hair. "I don't know that we were even supposed to stop it. Maybe it's like some kind of--pardon the term, only using for comparison reasons--inner demon. And we gotta let it in before we can excorcise it."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] "Or," Maddox offers, likely still from the floor, "it's corrupted? There might not be a right way anymore." Duh.
[Midnight Sun] Her ears stay forward, and her tail untucks from its previous location and instead swishes back and forth. She starts to head towards the next door and she looks back, body turns and she half bows. Her back half is higher than her front, before she straightens again.
"We should go," she says. It's in her shoulders, in her tail, the perk of her ears, "the answer is elsewhere?"
[Brutal Revelation] Sinclair has been silent for some time now. Maddox pushes at her paw and she just huffs at him, snorting through her nostrils in a burst of warm air. It doesn't seem like she's planning on letting him get up just yet.
And then she does, rising off of him and flowing straight into her birthform, still wearing that hoodie. She sniffs, staring down at him. "I don't think any one of us should go off alone," Sinclair says levelly, quietly. "The reason Bleeding Heart sent us here was to bond as a pack -- and as possible packmates. She's brittle and weak, but she's wise, and strong in matters of spirit. I don't think she'd send us here if it were challenges we had to meet alone."
Her eyes lift. "I'd just rather nobody go off and scout by themselves." She looks over at Lukas. "Maddox made the mistake of not communicating with us. I don't entirely understand why, or if he was being unduly influenced. We almost made the mistake of not communicating with Margaret and Maddox in the aftermath. To be honest, I don't have a goddamn clue what we did wrong. We defended each other. We tried to keep him away from the thing that seemed to embody the worst of him, amplified."
And she looks back to Maddox himself. "Something's in you, and we don't know how to get it out. If you can wait, we can try cleansing you later. If you can't conquer it within yourself, we'll deal with the worst that comes from it however we can." Her head shakes. "Other than all that, I don't know what to do other than press forward and try to understand more of what's become of this place. Maybe if more of us experience something like this, we'll be able to grasp what's happened to Maddox more fully."
She glances at Lukas, and nods towards the door he summoned.
[-singularity-] A pause; a disturbed glance in Maddox's direction. Lukas can't help it. He saw what was inside the Theurge. It's hard to trust him right now -- to understand who or what was actually speaking.
"We'll go," Lukas says, "but first we decide what to do next. As far as I can tell, we have these choices if we're faced with another doppleganger. We can try to kill it first. We can try to resist its ... thoughts or suggestions somehow. Or we can just let it in and see what happens next.
"Normally, I'd make the call, here and now. But if Kate's right and there's one of those things for each of us, then this is one call too personal for me to make. So let's do this instead: let's move on. See what comes next. Maddox recognized that door that led us to his room. Maybe whatever comes up next, one of us will recognize it too. If you recognize it -- tell us. And then tell us what you want to do. Tell us whatever you're hearing or feeling or smelling or planning ... just tell us. And the rest of us will help, however we can."
A pause.
"We'll get through this. We're confused and anxious and we don't know what the fuck is going on right now, but we're the Unbroken. We're smart and we're strong. We'll figure it out. We'll get through this."
[i'm totally gonna roll char+leadership for pep talk! :D]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[-singularity-] [SHADOW LORDS DON'T SUCK, KAHSEENO.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 3, 3, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 7)
[-singularity-] Lukas listens to all of them -- one after another, Maddox earning a brief and disturbed glance. Lukas can't help it. He saw what was inside the Theurge. It's hard to trust him right now -- to understand who or what was actually speaking.
"I think we're all making good points," he says, "but I agree with Sinclair. We don't separate. We stick together, we communicate. We don't know enough right now to know if anything else would help -- but what we need is more information, and that's only going to come if we lay it out for each other.
"Other than that -- the way I see it, we have these choices if we're faced with another doppleganger. We can try to kill it first. We can try to resist its ... thoughts or suggestions somehow. Or we can just let it in and see what happens next. Normally, I'd make the call, here and now. But if Kate's right and there's one of those things for each of us, then this is one call too personal for me to make.
"So let's do this instead: let's move on. See what comes next. Maddox recognized that door that led us to his room. Maybe whatever comes up next, one of us will recognize it too. If you recognize it -- tell us. And then tell us what you want to do. And the rest of us will help, however we can."
A pause.
"Okay. Let's move on."
[Echoes of Laughter] "Sounds like a plan." She nods and pushes off the wall, waiting for move with the group.
[-singularity-] So it's through the clear door, into another hallway. Down-spiraling. White. The light around them flickers as they descend -- like a fluorescent bulb starting to go back. Now and then, buzzing, crackling at the far ranges of their hearing.
Largely in silence, they go down for one, two... three turns of the spiral. Perhaps more. Hard to tell after a while, and then
there's a door there. It's absurd to see it here: the Gates of Moria, straight from the Peter Jackson movie. A stone wall in the middle of this blank, flickering white reality. Two columns, an archway, vines, stars, a crown and anvil, and the runes across the arch -- all of it exactly as it was in the movie.
Lukas makes a faint, low huff of laughter. "This'll be a story for your records, Sinclair," he says.
[Brutal Revelation] At the sight of the door, straight out of Tolkien, Sinclair barks out a laugh. "Oh Sarita, you spaz," she says fondly,
and it's a wonder that she can laugh now, laugh when Maddox is possessed by something, laugh when a month ago the threat of harano was a very real sword hanging over her own head, laugh when they're going down, down, spiraling into that pulsing, headache-inducing whiteness.
"Who knows the Elvish word for 'friend'?" she asks, glancing over her shoulder just in case there's a pond there with a monster in it.
[Honor's Compass] Honor's Compass smiles, and her eyebrows rise high as she peers at her Strider sister. "I wager this is your door, then. I do hope Peter Jackson never hears of this or we'll be paying royalties to him and Tolkien's ancestors."
[-singularity-] Elvish for friend: "Wasn't it like... moorlok or something? Morlok? Murloc?"
[Midnight Sun] She can't stop her tail from wagging, because... it's all here. Right down to the leaves; Margaret can all but smell the semicolons and the long, trailing paragraphs of description written all about this place. Her ears are forward and her attention swings to the strider.
"Mellon," except, you know, being in lupus doesn't translate out easily, so she ends up saying something that sounds an awful lot like the word melon instead. So, apparently, the elves believed friends and fruit were tied.
[Echoes of Laughter] She crosses her arms over her chest as she sees it, smirking. Her eyes pass over the damn thing, covering it inch by inch.
"Hey. Better this than the fucking top floor of Wolfram and Hart. You know?" She grins and rolls her shoulders, looking at Kate. "I guess so. Don't worry, I won't tell him if you don't."
She purses her lips, thinking. "Well, let's do it. Amy keeps saying I need to get something inside me before I snap. I just don't think this is what she had in mind. And the word is...well." She looks around. "Should probably get ready first."
[Echoes of Laughter] "...or we could just get it out there, too."
[Where the Sidewalk Ends] It doesn't look at first as if Sinclair will ever let him up. When she does, Maddox rises with little grace and some effort, dusts himself off, and huffs at the mention of a cleansing. As far as he's concerned, there's nothing wrong with him. He feels fine. Okay, so the void inside is a little off. More than little off. He doesn't feel hollow, even takes a second to lightly tap the back of his hand, seeing if he can feel it.
They move on, through another door and down the spiral passage again. This time, Maddox doesn't aim for the front of the group, nor does he bring up the rear. Or at least, not on purpose. He doesn't assume a place in the pecking order, just makes his way down. They were told to check this out, after all. So he stays with them, and this time there's no banter with Lukas or his packmates.
When they get to the door, he huffs a laugh at the gate. "If there are dead dwarves on the other side, I'm out."
[-singularity-] The door does not budge when Midnight Sun says it.
[Midnight Sun] "... apple?"
She knows it was some kind of fruit word...
[Brutal Revelation] "Drums in the deep," Sinclair says, low and sepulchural. Then, almost gasping: "They are coming."
[Honor's Compass] Honor's Compass turns and looks at Sarita; her expression easily interpreted. She inclines her head a little toward the door.
Simply: you have to say it.
[Brutal Revelation] "Drums in the deep," Sinclair says, low and sepulchural. Then, almost gasping: "They are coming."
It's meant as a joke. That's what they're doing now. Cracking jokes about Jackson, Tolkien, murlocs because Lukas is an enormous nerd now. Even Sinclair, heartbroken and falling apart when she left Chicago, is laughing. Maddox seems 'fine'. Just 'fine', when everyone in the group knows they have no earthly idea what's inside of him, what to do about it, what it's doing to him while they're laughing.
She's a Galliard. She was a singer and she was even a cheerleader. Her control over her voice is startling at times, her ability to evoke an emotion, a thought --
She doesn't always employ it. At times she is brutally, painfully blunt. And what she says now, all but quoting the book-movie this door came out of, is perhaps supposed to be a joke. But there's something darker in it, too. It isn't even intentional.
But the truth is, they don't know what's on the other side. They don't know what's coming.
For Sarita.
[Echoes of Laughter] "No, you got the right word." She nods and looks around. Waits to make sure everyone's ready with...whatever they're gonna do. "A'ight. If it's a Balrog, I swear to fuckin' Christ..." She grins, briefly. "Mellon."
[-singularity-] A deep, echoing rumble, as though from the bowels of the mountain itself.
Only this is no mountain. They're not on earth -- not Middle Earth, not Planet Earth. They're a million light years out in the Umbra, only that's not even accurate because it's all spiritual so there's no distance involved, just thought-space, mind-space, soul-space --
they're so far from home, here in this alien land, and the etched door begins to glow. Begins to become three-dimensional.
Begins to open.
[annnnnd pause!]
[Brutal Revelation] [no YOU first!]
