Reincarnation wars.

[D20ragon]

This story shall begin as all the great ones do: Once upon a time.
Once upon a time, there were 12 people, who lived on a smallish blue planet called Earth, on a Plane called the material plane.
They had no idea that there were other planets or planes to live on, didn't, (for the most part) believe in magic, and certenly didn't know that they were rather extraordinary people in themselves. In short, they didn't know a lot of things that likely would have made life considerably more interesting for them all. The only thing these people had in common, in fact, was that they all frequented a website known as Giants in the Playground, invented by a man named Rich Burlow. And though the site was full of fantastical topics, and they all took part, they were all extremely surprised when they received a Pm which simply read "Fate is Knocking", and looked out their window to find that it in fact was, leaning out of what seemed to be a sailing ship suspended by a hot air balloon, filled with some of the other 9 people who had received the message as well.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/artbreak/work_pictures/2979614/The_Minerva.jpg


artwork by Jose parra.

[ArlEammon]

Jacob stood up, furious, in his room. "Damnit Jim! Have you been spiking the sodas again!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, seriously. He heard that the delusional thought about living in the clouds, that the insane lived in the clouds, and that psychologists charged the rent. . . depending on if that analogy made any sense in this situation, what in the hell did it mean now? Jake went to his room to his bed. . . he looked out his window again, ugh. . . things were just weird, he needed a nap.

[Tris]

Travis just stares out the window for a moment. "Um..." He gets up and opens it. Poking his head out, he shouts, "Uh... hello?" He feels like the ship is calling to him and senses something otherworldly about it. He also, begins to feel a sense of adventure stirring up in him, like he can tackle any challenge.

[LordChaos13]

Erin blinks and rubs her eyes, taking another look
"Maybe I should be getting more sleep..."
Standing from her desk and approaching the window examining the strange apparition

[silphael]

Ethan stared his mug for one full minute.

Never got coffee hallucinations before, I really must go to sleep. Kinda late here...

He looked at the balloon again, and the "reality" of the balloon made something ring in his head.

Well, reality is subjective, though that gonna be usefull... probably.

"Hey, wait for me!"

And he climbed aboard.

[ArlEammon]

They sighed. Apocalypse was the first to speak. . . "Well, we'd better get him on board now, he has no idea what's happening." Shao Kahn nodded his approval. "We'll have to simply transport him on board ourselves. Now is the only time we can act against his free will to make sure his destiny, and our fates will progress. We refuse to let him squander his, and most importantly, our eternal lives just so he can live his humdrum, sub-mediocre life." Orochi calmly materialized as they were speaking.

The intangible but visible apparition slowly picked the young man up into his arms and brought him on board, calmly setting him slowly down on one of the ship's beds. "Now that ought to do it. We hope that he's not going to show confusion for too long, we know his dreams are quite surreal".

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob sighs to himself, glancing back to the monitor in front of him. "See? This is what comes of getting up before 6PM." he mutters to himself. With a flick of his hand, he shuts the blinds hanging from the window next to him, cutting off the rays of fading sun which streamed into his small room. Standing up from his chair, he takes a second to reflect on his rather odd sleep cycle before flopping back into the downright stupidly comfortable bed behind him.

Inside his mind, though, he is actually rather worried. He'd been pushing the limits of his tolerance for wakefulness for some time now, but it had never before resulted in such vivid halucinations. The only logical course of action is to get some much-needed sleep, but this presents a problem to him, as he has to produce a lengthy paper today on some obscure facet of differential equation theory. It is, of course, the reason for his being awake in the first place.

There's really no need to do that now, though, is there?
Heh. never really liked differentials anyways.
It's not like they're going to come in useful in the immediate future anyways. And should it become a problem, the prof is far too easy to lie to. It won't be an issue.
I concur.

Rob groans to himself. Voices in his head? He hadn't even realized until the last one mentally agreed with the others (not a habit he was in), but they each have a voice recognisably different from his. This can't be good.

With that, he rolls over and falls back to sleep.

[Morcleon]

Zach gave the balloon a calm and mildly curious look, sighing. Despite this outward lack of reaction, his mind rapidly ran through any signs of it being an illusion and came up with nothing. Slowly standing up, he walked over to the window and opened it.

"For the love of god, it's just a balloon!" A sarcastic male voice sounded in his head. Quickly following it, a tired drawl admonishes him. "Oh be quiet. He doesn't even know what's going on?"

"And I suppose you do?" quips a new voice, female and cold. Her reply comes in the form of a laughing voice, light and cheerful. "He probably does. It's in his job description, y'know?"

Sighing again, Zach places his hand on his face. This would take a while to figure out.

[LordChaos13]

"Oh I remember this, when the whole big wide world opens up, a world of Magic and Wands and I'm not crazy or freaky for calling things to my hand." A voice echoes in Erin's head causing her to sit up suddenly
"The day when the Professor found me, telling me I'm a mutant...I was in such shock." Another voice joins the conversation
"W-who's there?" Looking around bewildered, returning her gaze to the airship
"I don't know What you people are talking about. I grew up knowing about my powers, I'm not some uneducated fool."
"Why you...Remember what Harry said, focus, and Project" Erin's head shifting, looking into her own eyes through the mirror...Did they always have that sparkle in them?
"AAh! Ok! ok, your not uneducated!" The third voice screams as Hermione does the mental equivalent of holding her arm behind her back and pulling
"What's all the commotion?" Great, Another voice, thought Erin
"Just teaching this pampered princess what it means to share a head with a Leglimens. Oh dear, Erin looks so bewildered."
The twinkle enhances and the girl feels a sudden lurch, her perspective sucked into those eyes


Suddenly finding herself in the street, 5 houses in a ring around it leaving only a small road leading away into the fog
"Ok what the actual F*** is going on?"
"Your in our minds. Well yours, you own this street and that house over there, the rest are our personal domains. Though some are more...instinctual than others." Hermione appearing next to her, giving a look at the appearing Azula
"Oh please, you say that like I could or had too. I did enough meditation on that damn leaf controlling the Flame, I dont need any walls against the outside world."
"Well right now 2 out of the 5 of us can read minds, Kara knows a bunch of telepaths and you can be Very sure we'll run across some enemies with it given the only reason we would be pulled back from the Beyond in this way is if we are needed for some kind of combat. You are a liability Azula."
"Oh, here this should help honey." A moving portrait flying out of the leftmost house and into Hermione's hands, who passes it to Erin.
Suddenly memories! Information pouring into her head about powers, abilities, something about needing to get a wand asap

[silphael]

Err, boy, you talked about reality? About is being subjective? Well, that's more or less that. Except it's the one seeing it is the whole population of it, see?

Guess it makes somehow sense, right? But who are you?

Let's say I'm one of your four Avatars. I'll teach you how to become a true Maje...

How do you manage a typo in thought O_o?

I'll teach you that too. As for the others, well... they'll ensure you survive that far. I hope you're a modern boy though, I can't really explain to you how to use the newborn technology.

What if he isn't? I don't think we need that technology anyway, I'm here.

Don't be reckless before knowing what we're up to.

Err guys, you know if he can wield my sword? 'cause he'll need it, probably.

What?

Ok, let's make it simpler, we'll give you mostly instincts, and talk only when really necessary.

Oh, thanks... wait, what? Now I have to follow my intuition, right?

And suddenly the world itself began to make sense. Now, bound to anything, appear forms, describing what those things are. Reaching a box, he opened it to find a big sword with "Ironmeteor" written near the guard.

"Thank you for bringing it, I will have some use for it I think."

[D20ragon]

The knocking at the window increases, along with a mans irritable voice.
"I know you all are at various stages of questioning your sanity, but believe it or not, we have more important things to discuss. Just tell the voices to leave. They will, trust me. You've been doing it all your life. And then, climb in the bloody boat!
One or two of you has been good enough to do so, and I really need all of you!"

[LordChaos13]

"It's not proper to knock on a girl's window late at night you know." A different voice emanating from Erin's mouth but she shrugs and climbs into the craft

[ArlEammon]

"Jake will have a harder time shewing us away than the others." Orochi stated to the voice. "If you would prefer, we could take this moment in time to force everyone on the boat whether they want to be here or not. This is the only time we could force them on, and we may not get this chance again. Voice, what do you suggest?"

[D20ragon]

"Do what you please, but be quick about it,"
The voice says.
"I haven't got all day."
The source of the voice reveals itself to be a old stooped man, wrapped in leather cloak. He is standing by the guardrail, and only now turns to look at the few people aboard the ship.

[ArlEammon]

Lavos knew exactly what he needed to do to wake the others up to ensure they didn't think they were dreaming anymore. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEGH!!!" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfb_n7wjb5k) Lavos gave his iconic scream that could bleach an albino man even whiter than he already was through sheer terror. Shao Kahn nodded. "I heartily approve of this."

[3SecondCultist]

The first of the voices had come in from the cold.
At last, Alduin has returned! Zu'u unslaad! Zu'u nis oblaan! The prophets were wrong after all. Its growl was the rumbling of avalanches and icy peaks, accompanied by wisps of fire and cloud.
Well that's wonderful, but why are we here? James didn't really have a good answer for the second voice. For some time, his dreams had existed on the knife's edge, reflections of himself in a city of broken mirrors. But when he looked for his own image amongst the endless silver, he saw all of them instead: the proud dragon-god, the distant emperor, the confused serial killer, and the teenage-looking parahuman.
You are talking about silence, something that cannot really be said. And are we not silence in our own way?
Okay, you really need to stop that now, it's been irritating me for a while. On the other hand, I am enjoying your ability. It really is unique... Ciara, was it? It's quite amazing, the way you manifest the abilities of the dead. Are they really ghosts? Are there any vestiges of their original personalities, or is that all you?
I've told you already not to call me by that name! The head that wears the crown bears a heavy burden. But you know nothing of this, you are just a little man with no conception of what power really means.
Can the two of you stop acting like children for just a moment? This kind of existence does not suit me, and I do not need to listen to your mewling and cawing like animals. They had all been at it for some time, although James wasn't sure which persona was the most terrifying. The one who called herself Valkyrie had showed up after the rest, along with her small legion of shadows. But neither the watchmaker from Queens or the former ruler of Scadrial had tried to kill her, at least not yet. Could they even die in this form, or was he just imagining things? Yes, that had to be it. This was just another of his nightmares, and when he woke up he would be alone.

You know, in 1988, two psychologists published an article arguing that positive self-deception is a normal and advantageous part of most people's lives. It turns out that people lie to themselves about three things: they view themselves in implausibly positive ways, they believe that the future will be better than the evidence of their present can possibly justify, and they think they have far more control over their lives than they actually do. But you're way beyond that now. You're on the other side of that particular mirror, and lying to yourself isn't going to help anymore. So I will ask you again: why are we here? James paused, really considering Gabriel's question this time. Was he really lying to himself, and if so, was he going insane? If these four really had somehow found their way into his mind, then there must have been a reason. But as he got up from his bed and headed over to the window for some fresh air, he stopped in his tracks. What was a hot air balloon doing outside? But something else was going on here. His vision suddenly expanded, James could see eight other balloons at eight other windows, even though the path down to the deck was always the same. And as his eyes tracked over the figures on board, he began to tremble. There was real power here, called and amassed from dozens of other worlds.
I think... I think you're all here because in one way or another, I will need your help. Throwing on some clothes and his long grey coat, James began to make the climb.

[Tris]

"Well, this my chance" Travis says as he clambers aboard the airship. What it's his chance for, he doesn't quite know. Once he's pulled himself up, he feels a bit crowded, as if there are more people here than there should be. "Where are all the other people?" he asks.
(I was assuming other people were on the ship with me.)

[D20ragon]

"Had to split up. Multiple dimensions get things done faster, you know. I'll regroup once everyone's aboard."

[3SecondCultist]

As he made his way onto the main deck of the floating ship, James simply nodded in the old man's direction. He didn't trust himself to speak just yet: the odds of one of the four personas taking over were still too great. The faint stirrings of wind whipped at his coat, and brushed aside his wavy brown locks. This was certainly a strange place in which he had found himself. Still waiting, he resolved not to look down, for fear that fear might find him again. Best to focus on something else. The four figures were still at the forefront of his mind, watching the proceedings through his eyes. James singled out Glaistig Uaine from the multitude. Out of all the beings, she had been there the shortest but in that time, revealed the most about her own history. As if conscious of his attention, the parahuman slowly turned to receive him, piercing green eyes meeting his own.
What is your will, Lord Repositor?
I’m just trying to make sense of it all, trying to figure out where you stand.
Ah. Do explain?
You wanted to see the faerie – the higher entities of your multiverse, I mean - rise again, and the 'Scion' you described was a big part of that whole equation.
Yes. I understand what you’re getting at: a conflict of interest between my past loyalties and current incarnation?
Essentially. I mean, I may still be crazy, but let's say for argument's sake that you really are in my mind.
We all have our parts to play.
Parts?
Yes, parts. Like actors taking a role in a play. We wear our human faces and harbor our fantasies, but it’s the same individuals playing the parts, as the play starts anew on a different stage, with different faces and forms. If it all goes well, a figure from the crowd joins the stage for the plays that follow, and the roles are refined.
And all of us… you mentioned crowns earlier, kings and queens. Do we have a bigger part? Leading roles?
Everyone’s the lead in their own story. Some roles are bigger, some smaller, but none are more important than the rest. Do you understand?
What’s your role in this, then?
So we’re back to the topic of my… conflict of interest. I have my own particular role in this. I keep the company of the faerie who have left our metaphorical stage.
The dead. You keep the company of the dead.
Yes. The other nobles, their tasks are more immediate, shorter in term. What makes us truly noble is our role before and after this act. The others sleep, and we toil. We’re practiced, stronger, for that constant effort. The Crafter and Avatar will ensure the next act goes on without a hitch. And the High Priest will clean up after we are all done here, one way or another. So it goes, anon. The Crafter? The High Priest? Was she talking about the others? But instead of continuing this line of conversation, James dismissed Glaistig Uaine with a slight bow. It wouldn't do to offend the faerie queen, no matter how evasive her answer to his original question. She had certainly given him quite a bit to think about, at the very least. But James moved to focus back on the here and now. If what was happening to him was real, then he needed to keep both eyes open.

[Sen isSaqqara]

"Ah, ye gods. Fine. Fine." Rob drags himself to his feet, springing forward out of bed as he does each evening. On instinct, he grabs his phone and pendant, then does a quick mental check.

So who's in there, anyways? Anyone who can spontaneously summon new clothes?
Not that I know of.
I used to know this one trick, but it was more for removing clothes than summoning them...
Fufufufufu... Sounds fun. You'll have to show me that one some day.

Rob sighs again, then quickly throws a few spare sets of clothing in his backpack, which waits at the foot of his bed as it always does. Grabbing his headphones from his desk, he throws them in too. Slinging on his jacket, he shoulders the pack and steps out the window.

So who's doing the flight?
That would be me.
I recognise that voice. Eva?
Who else?
Oh gods, not this again...

Looping the other strap around his shoulder, Rob trudges off towards the waiting ship.

[ArlEammon]

Jacopocalypse
Jacob, or whoever he was now, looked around the balloon/air ship. . . it wasn't a dream. "What the hell?" Jake exclaimed furiously. "Who the hell put me here?" He noticed Rob making his way towards the ship. . . Jake looked in his surroundings. . . his house and another man was walking the other way. . . Jake started to get off the ship, but he was halted by strange voices. "NO. We won't let you leave." Apocalypse said dramatically. "Your destiny is at hand. We need to keep you here. If you do not go, you and everyone in your world, including us, will die."

[silphael]

On the ship, Ethan is still looking as the sword he "found".

"Well, I'm there since exactly 33 seconds when I will finish this sentence. And I meaned it."

Adapting quickly I see? You're doing perfectly well, I think. What do you think of those?

Can't you read it in my mind?

Indeed, but that's often helping to say something "out loud", especially in your new situation.

They are phasing out ofte- oh, like me you mean?

...

Can you stop making me waste my time?

Tons of newly awakened try to ask that from their Avatar, and you got 4 of those... gonna try to keep the other at bay... till they become usefull that is.

He then tidied the sword in the scabbard he wore since that morning.

Wait, I have a scabbard?

[D20ragon]

The old man raises a hand the color of parchment.
"shut up, all of you. I'm talking to your reincarnations as well. It's bad enough with nine people, but with all of your hoity toity incarnations, it's nigh impossible to blur the planes back together."

A faint sucking noise is felt by all of you. Involuntarily, your eyes shut. When you open them again, 8 other people, looking as befuddled as you are standing on the deck.

"Now," the old man says. "your probably all wondering what the hell is going on. My name is Fate, and I'd shake your hand, but what with all of you god-killing monstrosities locked up in you, I'd rather not risk my hand. If your wondering what I'm talking about, you'll find out soon enough, once I take you to the Well."

He glances down. "What the hell are we standing on? Is this a ship? I really hate unspecified reality laws. What they enforce physics for is beyond me. Anyways, I assume you need rest, or whatever you people do, so I'll stretch time a bit so as to let you get acquainted, or sleep or something. You can do that in the...galley? What do you call a room in a ship, anyway? I'd tell you more, but I really have to go. Multiple time/space continuums and all that. I'll make some time to be back in."
He steps backward, and vanishes, leaving you to suddenly end up in a room that appears to be part time machine, part office, part starship bridge, and part balloon basket.

[ArlEammon]

Jacob looked around at the assembly of eight other individuals after the strange wizard man disappeared. "Fate? Whaaat? Whomever's responsible for the wrinkly old man and the insane flying balloon ship and the kidnapping and the hallucinations and possibly the spiking of my sodas IS IN DEEP TROUBLE!!!!"

[3SecondCultist]

James watched the rather irate fellow with something akin to trepidation. Really, there was no need for such theatrics, was there? Either all of these people were figments of his overactive imagination, or he was most likely doomed. Both alternatives warranted a certain degree of caution. It would be best not to think about that now, though. He certainly had better things to do, such as making introductions. Silencing the background chatter of the incarnations, he moved to take center stage.

"Hello there. My name is James Valborn, and normally this would be the part where I say that I'm pleased to meet you. But given the circumstances, I hope you can forgive my rudeness. I'm just a bit confused as to where exactly we've all ended up. Does anyone else know?" He extended his hand out towards the crowd in greeting, slightly curious to see who exactly would be the first to shake it.

[ArlEammon]

"Hello James." Jake calmed down. . . "Ugh. . . well, I doubt that I'm going crazy, but whatever's happening is confused. I have no idea why all this is happening. At first I thought that I was high or something, because of the crazy voices, but now I think that I'm not so weird anymore. I hope that you can all forgive me for acting weird. Now I'm away from my medication."

[LordChaos13]

"I'm Erin, anyone else feel like pinching themselves? I mean I havent had a dream this coherent before, but first time for everything."

[Sen isSaqqara]

"I'm Rob. You'll get used to it. I'm going to go sit down over there and work some stuff out in my mind." With this, Rob finds a nice comfy corner to sit down in, and closes his eyes.

Let's see if I remember how this works. You're all in that little room in my mind?
Yeah. We showed the new guy around already.
New guy?
Yeah. I'm told that would be me.
Alright. Hold on a sec, I'm trying to remember how to open my eyes in there... Gah! What's this? Light sears into Rob's vision even through his closed eyes, highlighting the ship in strange colors and patterns, with little faded edges of code-like writing hovering near the edges of things. He manages to wrench his sight back off before looking at any of the others. Lifting one hand, he rubs his head a little.
What the hell was that?
That was probably the Sight. Opened your metaphorical third eye by mistake.
Sight? Oh, I think I know who you are. Let's try that again...

Rob opens his eyes to find himself in the familiar blank, white room of his mind. Screens coat one wall, showing the surrent state of his outside body. Of more interest to him are the four figures standing around, watching him.

First is a short woman wearing an intricate gothic dress, smiling up at him with a deadly grin and glitering violet eyes.
Eva?
Who else?

Next is a taller man, wearing long robes and an almost maniac expression on his face. He too breaks into a grin as Rob appears.
Master Elodin.
Glad to see you again. This can only mean we're in for some fun.

Standing next to him is a small girl, whose remarkably ordinary appearance perfectly compliments the somewhat lost look on her face. She is focused on a small tablet-like screen which hovers in the air in front of her.
Lain.
She looks up, and nods back, before returnign to whatever she's working on on the screen.

Last is a new figure, a tall man wearing a long leather coat. At his side he holds a long, runed staff. He looks exactly as Rob had imagined.
And Harry Dresden?
Yeah, that's me.
Nice to meet you. If I'm not mistaken, your talents should come in very handy over the next little while. As Elodin said, we're in for some fun. With this, Rob turns to the monitors looking out his eyes, over the ship outside.

[Tris]

"I'm Travis. I..." he starts to say. "I swear there are more people here." He looks around very confused. "It feels very crowded." He puts his hand up to his forehead and closes his eyes. His face has an expression of anguish. "I think I have a headache."

[Morcleon]

Groaning slightly at the disorientation, Zach blinks a few times, then stares around the room. "Ah... well, I'm Zach. And, well, this really doesn't feel like a dream. Everything looks far too realistic."

He smiles cheerily at the group, then delves into his own mind for a split second, forming a basic mindscape consisting of a small conference table. "Ah... now that we can all see each other..." He glances around and raises an eyebrow. "...huh. I can recognize Accelerator..." "Indeed. And I must say, that manga you read distorts my image far too much." "... and Sun Wukong." "Correct!"

"You've never seen my visage before, but I shall introduce myself, I suppose. I am Superior Saturday, bearer of the Sixth Key, trustee of the Architect's Will and ruler of the Upper House."
"And I'm John Taylor. Yeah, that one."

"Well..." Zach sighs and chuckles. "I suppose we should go check in on the real world again. Maybe we'll get an explanation for why you four are in my head..."

[Sen isSaqqara]

"Again," says Rob as he pulls himself to his feet and walks over to stand next to Travis, "You'll get used to it."

[LordChaos13]

"When will we be under the sun's rays again? Only I'm apparently partly solar powered according to Kara and Azula can Bend more flames for some reason. Even underground or indoors...Anyone else find that illogical?"


OOC: how powerful are Kryptonians in this setting? Obviously not golden age with Super Anything that comes to mind. But Superman can benchpress planets and Kara has left the universe by flying faster the maximum allowed (Infinity) while unconscious...And superman caught up by flying Faster than the sleeping girl.

[ArlEammon]

"When will we be under the sun's rays again? Only I'm apparently partly solar powered according to Kara and Azula can Bend more flames for some reason. Even underground or indoors...Anyone else find that illogical?"


OOC: how powerful are Kryptonians in this setting? Obviously not golden age with Super Anything that comes to mind. But Superman can benchpress planets and Kara has left the universe by flying faster the maximum allowed (Infinity) while unconscious...And superman caught up by flying Faster than the sleeping girl.

OOC: ((I really needed to be told when some characters are so blatantly broken, but I can say that Kryptonians can probably punch through the Force Fields of Star Destroyers in Star Wars or something. Something truly epic, but not quite powerful enough to be classified as one of the bygone eras.

[D20ragon]

Kryptonians power changes with the sun. There will be a large amount of world hopping in this setting. Expect Kara's powers to fluctuate wildly and even change, depending on the world.

The ship makes your head hurt. You look past walls into fields, forests, parts of cities, even what looks to be a solar system at one point. Along with this their are rooms huge and tiny, of all different times and ages. Clearly, the ship should not be big enough to hold all of this, yet somehow it does. Planer Anomaly flashes across the top of your vision.

[silphael]

Illogical? Different laws of the universe? Oh. Guess. I'm. Getting. To. Work!

Why am I afraid now?

Because you should. You'll discover what he did later.

Boy, you ate well since your birth, right?

Err.... I'm Ethan, btw.

Ok, you ate well. That's gonna help both big arms here... Ok let's make it that way.

"Mine usually shut up. One of those found that sending intuitions was less disturbing. Now I'm seeing explanations on everything I see, and I don't know why my nose isn't bleeding yet-"

My work.

"-err I know. And we are..."

Right now I have all first level spheres active, meaning I can see ghosts (not reincarnated souls), measure anything at sight, count time as I want, make any number of mental actions (so when I'm talking to myself I keep taking part in the conversation), see composition/living state of anything around me, measure the enthropy, and see the quintessence. I have no control on which one to activate, and sorting those informations use a fair number of mental actions, indeed.

[LordChaos13]

Erin winces as Hermione gets a good look at Kara's science lessons as a kid
"Oww. So apparently I have a witch that can literally conjure things from thin air with a stick and some words, lecturing an alien on impossible things. And apparently rocks that form in high gravity are heavier than one formed in low-gravity according to said alien. Even if removed from the gravity and put into a neutral one."

[3SecondCultist]

It is a simple enough matter, an artificial plane. Much like Sovngarde, in fact. Alduin's words shook the extended space he was occupying - what looked like a snowy perch atop a mountain peak, under a field of alien stars - as they resounded in James' head. There had been a battle here, long ago. Suddenly, Alduin stirred. The elder dragon's coal-red eyes narrowed as he began to shout in the direction of his host.
Zu'u ni zaamiil. You cannot command me forever, abomination! The words were accompanied by a blast of force, and an immediate struggle of wills followed. But while the World-Eater was strong, this was still a part of James' mind, and thus he was quelled before too long. Wrapping his hands around the dragon's scaly neck, he thrust Alduin's great serpentine body back down upon the mountainside. This was not the first time the dragon had tried to wrest control from him since he had arrived, and it would certainly not be the last.
Understand that I am in control here. I will not have you making trouble for me now, especially not when I might need your power later. Ziil gro dovah ulse! The words had escaped his mouth before he even knew he was speaking them, and it took him a few moments to realize that he had spoken the dragon's tongue out loud. Putting one hand to his mouth, James began to move towards an unoccupied corner of the room. He wouldn't hurt anyone on this vessel if he could just keep himself together.

[LordChaos13]

Erin blinks as the witch swaps tangents away from lecturing an advanced alien on physics

"What was that? What you said, it sounded remarkably like a combination of Paseltongue and an Incantation. Filled with power but a natural language, unlearned. Oh what I wouldnt do for my Dragon heartstring wand right about now."
The curious witch moving towards the man

[3SecondCultist]

"Please stay away! Rah wahlaan! I don't know what just happened... please stay away..." He trailed off, hands held up in an attempt to ward off anyone who came any closer. There was something very wrong here: he did not know how to speak Alduin's language, and yet the roar of ancient dragons threatened to choke him, to burst out from his lungs in a storm of terrible fire. He could feel the pressure rising within, that violent cacophony of hard syllables. The dragon himself lay coiled where James had left him; he could hear the low rumble of his laughter. But just as he could feel the cracks begin to widen, another figure stepped into the fold. A very tall man in a black cloak stood before him, with coiffed dark hair and a pale gaze that could slow down time itself.
Let me help you. An invigoration swept through him, cooling the errant flames. All of that fear, all of that pent-up rage had been submerged. It was as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on him. Rashek moved closer to James, putting his arm around him to support his lean frame.
Good, it worked. I was beginning to worry you wouldn't lower your defenses in time. My Allomancy can't work on you if you don't let it. Walk with me. He followed the figure off of the mountaintop, and back into the light.

"I'm sorry about that, these new abilities are taking a bit of a toll. What did you say your name was again?"

[LordChaos13]

OOC: not gonna react to dragon heartstring wand? :smallamused:


"I suppose I should answer Erin, although I'm mostly under control of one of the Reincarnations Hermione Granger. Leglimancy, especially when backed up by a willing participant and a Telepath and our unique situation, allows for quite a bit of brute forced direct control, not the best but it'll do for now. So I'm Hermione, for all intents and purposes.

"If you wish I can enter your mind and aid you, set up mental blocks restricting powers until you can handle them. Passworded to you of course, letting you set the pace of your learning your abilities. I used the same when I lived, though without the self-controls because I had a tutor who could adjust it as he wished."
A different voice speaking as Jean comes to the fore

[Sen isSaqqara]

Alright. I think I'm going to try the sight again. See what these others are up to and all.
You know about the downsides, right? You'll never forget anything you see with it.
Yeah. Believe me, I have my fair share of things I'd rather forget. In fact... Rob stroles over to a back corner of the room in his mind, resting a hand on what looks like just another section of wall.
There's one memory that I don't really want to remember. I kept locking it up deeper and deeper in my mind, but I still kept going back to it, until eventually I locked it up so well that, well... I think it's behind here somewhere. I don't even know what it is. I suspect it has something to do with losing you guys, as I don't really remember how that happened. My guess is that you don't either.
You know, we could probably cut it open and see what's inside.
Nah. Seems like it would be best just to let it lie. Besides, I don't really want to go cutting random holes in my subconscious. Rob sighs, then moves back to the control consoles at the front of the room.
Alright, let's do this thing.

He hasn't been paying much attention to the others so far, so when Rob opens up his Sight and focuses it on Erin (who is busy saying something), he's getting his first real impression of the girl. He opens his eyes wide, and tries to take in all the information he can.

[Tris]

Travis says, "Everyone's being too loud. I think I just need some space to just... think." He walks away from the others and sits down in a corner.

I'm sorry that you have to bear my burden. a voice in his head says.

What? Who are you?

I am Faen. Faen'arae Val'Sullisin'rune. What you are sensing is the emotions and feelings of others, but not only are you sensing the other eight people here, you also can feel the many others that they house in their minds, like I am in yours. For now you should rest here for a while you come to grips with your new situation. I will help you calm down.

[ArlEammon]

Jacapocalypse
Jacob's memories began to return. . . He was surprised that he was such a monster in so many past lives. "Well, this is just smashing, as the British say. I'm sharing my own spirit with four mass murders, and as it turns out, I am four mass murderers." Jake felt somewhat guilty. He had been responsible for billions of deaths, as Shao Kahn, Lavos and Orochi. Apocalypse was likely equally or worse to blame than even Lavos. Lavos, at least, was acting on pure natural instinct and not malicious intent with it's crimes.

[silphael]

Err, Maje?

They called me Enoch, but what were you wanting?

Can you somehow... ensure separation of the "souls" here?

Depends. Can you?

What? No!

Then I'm afraid I won't do it. More or less because of peacefull cohabitation with souls are here. You see, even me can have to bother about preparating before facing people head on. Well, I'm readied to face most part of those, but that's not the point anyway. I won't.

You're not very helpfull.

I'm not supposed to be. At least not in the sense of making everything for you. I could help you to do things, not really do it in your place. Well, I probably could do it. But, again, I won't.

Oh, that makes sense too.

"Err, people... when you talk to your past selves, can you please somehow isolate it? Because there is some people here that can hear your conversations, at least as very annoying. And, even if I'm pretty sure arrogance is the price of power, I don't think fighting each other could bring any winner. By the way, I'm Ethan. Of course that's not my True Name, given what I heard today it's probably around 10-15 syllabes long, and each of those is unspeakable."

I didn't sayed that, and you're wrong.

With a disappointed tone, he thought :

Oh... people can dream, right?

Tell that to fairy queen, make it less gloomy.

[LordChaos13]

Erin's thoughts and the thoughts of her riders immediately stop projecting
"Alright everyone with at least one passive mind reading ability raise their hand."
Her own hand rising

[3SecondCultist]

You might want to raise your hand there, considering my own abilities. Lie detection and supernatural empathy aren't quite mind-reading, but I've been noticing a lot of cognitive shifts in the last few minutes. My power can apparently pick up on all of that.. Lie detection? That might come in handy later on, assuming he could turn it in and off whenever he wanted to. He did not particularly want to know every lie his 'companions' ever told.
Oh don't worry, fine control is something that comes naturally to me. Well, at least that point was settled for now. Looking around the space, James slowly raised his hand. His gaze eventually fell on a distant man, one with a decidedly familiar face. For the third time that day, James formed sounds unknown to his waking mind. Instead of taking the form of a Thu'um, however, this time it was a single, inexorable word.

"Rob."

[ArlEammon]

"I, Apocalypse speak the Mind Speech as well." Apocalypse responded. "What is it you wish to say to Apocalypse?" Jake's past soul responded. Jacob still wondered what was going on. He wasn't sure if he was comfortable with being a person who had numerous evil souls dwelling inside him, that were him.

[Tris]

While still sitting in his corner, Travis raises his hand.

So, what's this about "housing other minds"?

All of you are reincarnations of various important figures in various universes. You are a reincarnation of me as well as three others.

I am Link.

I am Gandalf.

I am Pakku.

Link and Gandalf? But those are fictional characters!

In your universe that is so, but we do exist in our own universes. The Multiverse is larger than we could have expected.

[D20ragon]

The old man, Fate, stands up from his chair in the center of the room, throwng his leather hood of of his face,and revealing hair the color and texture of beaten gold,worked into feather shapes.
"Can we leave yet? I've been waiting here for a bloody long time. Also, why have you been all ignoring Daniel? It seems very rude."

He points to the young man behind him. Neither Fate nor Daniel were there a second ago... Or maybe they were? It all seems to blend together in your mind.

And why are you sitting in a field, with armchairs in it? Or maybe it's a cave?
Now it seems like a collection of gargantuan couches, with a wooden ships steering wheel in the center of the floor, which Fate walks over to and spins.
Did it change? Or was it always like that?

[silphael]

Raising his hand, Ethan added :

"Not sure if it's mind reading... but as a matter of fact, I'm hearing that you talk to your pasts. I think it's more soul based than mind. Depending on your powers that may or may not be the same, but for me it's only soul/spirit talking that i can hear. But again, it's "can". I won't listen to your conversations. No, not even in that case."

Right?

I think you're right. Not my specialty, but as far as I know, in your case that's separate.

You're not that good as teaching things, right?

Don't say that before having listened to Sentinel teachings...

I heard that!

I know. And I know they did.

Oh, guess I know what to do.

In his mind something like 15 mind voices began singing together. A nice melody, perfectly coordinated, but nothing else can be heard easily from him.

Good boy!

"I think you should all have a way to disturb reading somehow... but I'm more thinking about reducing headaches, stop being paranoïd. If you're following their instructions on that point, think about that : why should you believe what they are saying? You're in command..."

Ow crap, nosebleed.

And he began to try stopping that nosebleed.

[ArlEammon]

Jacob
"Um Sir," Jake said respectfully. "I'm confused. . . we don't have a ship's captain, or whatever, I still don't know what the hell is going on, other than that we are all apparently fictional characters or something, or more than one of them at the same time, which I REALLY hate, now that I've discovered I'm several shades of evil. How am I- nevermind, how are we supposed to know what to do other than wait for this ship or wherever the hell we are gets going?"

[D20ragon]

"I told you."
The old man says in a exasperated tone, his feet dangling down off of mars.
"you'll find out soon enough. Haven't I met you before? Perhaps a year or two ago? I collected you from earth? You killed Slaughter? No? Who are you all then?"

You look down, to find all 11 people in the... Solar system? Are sitting on planets, while the old man steers with a stick shift coming out of the sun.

"I think we've arrived here before,"
The old man says.
Anyhow, Jacob, what is it you want to know? Didn't the Oracle fill you in in a half hour or so?"

[ArlEammon]

"Oracle who? Oracle what? Oracle when and how? I thought the laws of physics were in place, number one? I didn't know magic was real, number two, or reincarnation, number three, or that fictional characters were real, number four, or that all my past lives were equal or worse than Adolph Hitler, number five. No, I don't remember anything about an Oracle."

[D20ragon]

"I should hope physics are in place! The government does its job, doesn't it? And watch who your calling fictional, young man. Just because you come from a backwards universe doesn't mean you have to be backwards. Now what were you saying?
You feel a faint quivering, and then:

"Oracle who? Oracle what? Oracle when and how? I thought the laws of physics were in place, number one? I didn't know magic was real, number two, or reincarnation, number three, or that fictional characters were real, number four, or that all my past lives were equal or worse than Adolph Hitler, number five. No, I don't remember anything about an Oracle."
"I should hope physics are in place! The government does its job, doesn't it? And watch who your calling fictional, young man. Just because you come from a backwards universe doesn't mean you have to be backwards. Now what were you saying?

"Multiple timelines, way of the future"a female voice coos. "join the future today!"
Side affects may include bewilderment, Befuddlement and hopeless confusion.
You feel a pulling sensation, and the man says
"Frickin ads.
Oh. You really haven't gotten there yet? And don't feel bad about your incarnations. It always sucks for a bit before you get used to it.

I'm sorry Daniel, but you'll have to be introduced later. I'm gonna terminate the time stretch. Hope none of you had breakfast? If you do puke, I'm gonna ask you to do it in a A-time. As long as you don't puke on yourself back then."
He laughs, and pulls what seems to be a pin from his pocket. He jabs at thin air, and with the sound of a popping balloon, you are back on the deck of the airship, feeling as though your stomach was a pudding in a whirlpool, and your head being attacked by a ogre with a jackhammer. You can faintly see the whirlpool and ogre, as well...
"Now, just out of the goodness of my heart, I'm going to ask you all what reality type we end up in. Being one of the Powers That Be has it's advantages, you know.
Any requests for realities?"

[ArlEammon]

Jake, wondering
"I'd like some place nice and hospitable, pleasant to be in with little danger." Jake said plainly. "Maybe a Paradise like Eden, but I don't really care, as long as it's a nice place to be in, thank you." Jake was unusual. As Apocalypse he had control over all his molecules, trying to make him puke would be almost useless if done through mundane ways through drugs, poisons, etcetera. Although Apocalypse would be wrong if he thought that people with more power and experience couldn't force him to do so if they were giving an effort.

[DoctorFaust]

Blinking, Daniel suddenly appeared in room crowded with strangers and a looming feeling of doom over his head. Sighing, he mutters, "This was one hell of a day to go crazy."

As he stand, the floor shifts under him, multiple times, each coming just fast enough to keep him completely disoriented and confused. As he finally gets his bearing enough to open his mouth, the wierd-ass old man pulls a pin out his somewhere and stabs reality, making everything collapse in on itself and drops his back down on the deck on an airship that looks big enough to hold a baseball field. Staggering over to the side, looking like he's about to vomit, he swears and says, "This really was a terrible day to go crazy..."

Huh, you're telling me. Wheel spins me out again and I end up in the body of a lazy bloody nineteen year old with a taste for bad leather jackets. This is my flaming reward for fighting with Rand al bloody Thor? I don't bloody think so.

Damn, I really have gone crazy. And the rest of these crazy bosh'tets are in here with me. Wonderful.

[silphael]

"You ask me what kind of reality I want? I-"

"You're not talking. Period. Anyway I kinda got what you wanted to ask, and I was about to ask for it. A fantasque place. Not gonna use the word "reality" for a place defined by common mind."

Nice one, boy. Big teacher got silent now.

Hope he won't refuse to speak now...

Impossible, he loves hearing himself far too much.

All those thoughts are more amused than sardonic.

Guess I somehow asked for it, right?

[Sen isSaqqara]

"I'd like to put my vote forward for the Reality of Infinite Babes."

Rob turns around for props from Elodin, just in time to get slapped across the face by Eva.

[ArlEammon]

"Infinite Babes? I'm fond of ham and pork myself. The Plane of Infinite Babes sounds very very tasty." Jacob responded cutely. The evil, mass murdering former lives all groaned at the pun of the word " Babe". Oh well, they tended to give Jacob incredible leeway since he was technically them, and it was in their best interests to treat him with the best treatment possible. Who cares if he acted decent most of the time? His good welfare was theirs.

[D20ragon]

"I'll put it this way," the old man grunted. "How many reality shattering revelations can the human body take in a day? Because they seem to have a remarkable lack of talent in that direction."

[DoctorFaust]

"I vote one," Daniel groans. "One would be nice. Fewer would be nicer still."

Really? Dis is the host of my reincarnation?

See? Even Sanya flaming agrees with me about him. That never happens!

...Give our host the benefit of the doubt. I think he's earned it. For now

That's mighty ominous, brain voices. Are you planning to knock me off the side of the airship? Because that would be quite nice, really. And I would thank you not to insult my taste in jackets, Matrim bloody "I really wish these jackets had a bit of lace on them" Cauthon.

[LordChaos13]

"Boys." The female Reincarnate mutters, shaking her head

"I'd like someplace where I can get into the suns rays as soon as possible. Kara hasn't spent this long without powers since she left Krypton...Whatever that is.
And I'd like to put forward the Reality of Infinite Hunks if only to counter the perverts that are my companions."

[ArlEammon]

"Ugh, all of these voices talking at once are giving my now immortal mind a head ache. . . could everyone just get this over with and stop talking." Jake said, annoyed. "Otherwise I do believe my head will explode, and none of you will like to see that, unless, of course you are all sadists." Jake quipped.

[LordChaos13]

"I am! Ooh I get control now, excellent." A very smoky burn added to the undertone of Erin's talking as the Princess of Fire piggybacks one of the other two Telepaths
Looking down at herself critically "Well, could be worse."

[Morcleon]

Zach grins at Jake. "Proper term for me is sociopath. But no, your head exploding would get blood on my jacket. Which is a bad thing."

"And as for realities...? Anywhere, I guess. Preferably one where I can reacquire some of my reincarnations' equipment. There are some pretty powerful things to be had..."

[Tris]

Travis steadily stands up and returns to the rest of the group. He remains silent.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Having gotten a respectable idea of who and what Erin is, Rob drags his Sight away for a second.
Someone want to shield our thoughts, in case one of the others is a psyker?
Already on it. I've developed a bit of a talent for it.
Good. This first one seems untrustworthy, and I don't want someone like him hearing our thoughts. Remind me to throw him off a cliff when I get the chance. Let's just hope they aren't all this bad. Let's see, who's next... Rob turns his Sight on James.
Is that...
I think so. Damn.
Hold on a sec. Something's up. He doesn't seem to recognise me. Perhaps he remembers something. Let's see how this one plays out.

[silphael]

Ok, Chorus, not good idea. Let's see...

Thinking quickly, he slipped just one tiny sheet of reality away... and that's was enough. No other voices at the edge of the mind.

"Jake, you were the one screeing earlier... well, that should be enough for me, for the other i don't know. But Peripheria is out for isolation now."

[DoctorFaust]

Finally having forced his gorge down, Daniel turns unsteadily and takes a few halting steps towards the group. "Gear, yeah, gear is good," he breathes. Pausing for a few seconds with his head cocked up to one side, he continues, "Um, I think the voices in my head are telling me to ask who the rest of you are. So, uh, yeah. Who are you lot? And, uh, do the rest of you have voices in your head like me?"

Now he gets around to asking it.

I would ask that you refrain from insulting our master any more than is necessary Sir Cauthon.

Ah, the great Darmud finally deigns us with his presence.

It is pronounced De-ar-moo-eed. Again, Sir Cauthon, though you might have earned your titles by what you did in life, you are not acting like a true night in death.

Vould you two just shut oop. So, master, I take it dat you recognize at least one of us?

Uh, I recognize Mat's way of talking, and I think I recognize Revan from a game I've played, you couldn't be anyone but Sanya, but I don't recognize the one that sounds like he talks in red.

My name is Diarmuid! Lover of Gráinne, wielder of Gáe Derg and Gáe Buidhe, slayer of the boar of Benn Gulbain! And I am not yet sure if I am glad to be serving under one such as yourself.

Oh, right, you. You were awesome in Fate/Zero.

[LordChaos13]

'No, this part of my mind is all quiet. What about you Jean?
Nope no voices here. Maybe your just strange. Have you been getting enough sleep?'
The sightly echo-y telepathic message hitting everyone in the room not actively fighting it

[ArlEammon]

"What?" Apocalypse said. "I'd recognize that voice anywhere. Is that you, my little red and yellow bird?" Apocalypse asked Jean rhetorically in an odd, supervillainesque tone. Jake felt like putting his hand over his mouth, but he knew that wouldn't do anything productive. He kind of just had no opportunity to prevent Apocalypse from doing anything he wanted. He was the major telepath of his little Club of Evil that now lived inside his mind.

[LordChaos13]

"What? Yellow and..."
A tendril of powerful mental power extends into Jacob's head, doing the mental equivalent of a tackle away from the other 4 and tearing through mental shields, leaving him frozen, at the very least temporarily. Her avatar in their mindscape glaring, the image of a Phoenix rising above her eyes aglow

"APOCALYPSE! You're that mass-murdering egyptian Nur. How in God's name did you think you can just get away with walking in here like nothing is wrong. You KILLED people, tried to start Wars and you think you can get away with that??"
Stalking forward, Jean's phoenix abilities mixing and stealing parts of Azula's bending, throwing sparks around her

[ArlEammon]

Jacobpocalypse
"Ms, or is it Mrs. . . ? Jean Grey, please ignore the mass murderer currently using my body as a speaking vessel. The voices you hear are coming from his mind, not mine."Apocalypse sneered at Jacob's statement. In Apocalyps'es eyes, Jake was weak and unfit, he only deserved to survive and have prosperity and comfort now because his past lives were comparatively far superior in strength and everything else he considered important.

[LordChaos13]

Grabbing the projected emotions and crushing them before Jacob feels them.

"Mrs Jean Summers nee Gray.
And you share the same soul. You ARE him, just given the Cure and a new name. And the Cure just reverted. So tell me right now why I shouldn't render you catatonic and end your villainy this second."

[ArlEammon]

"Dear woman, I'm a kind, compassionate person, or at least, I never murdered or did lasting bodily harm to anyone. I never hurt or fought against the X-Men, never ruled the world, never kicked puppies down the stairs or anything like Apocalypse has ever done. I was born as a plump, innocent little baby and grew up to become a plump, almost innocent man." Apocalypse laughed in derision. "He's not lying. "

[LordChaos13]

"Hmph by that logic I've never fought Apocalypse. As far as I'm concerned your simply yet another time he has cheated Death. But fine, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this one time. But a single kicked puppy and your brain leaks out your ears."
Backing out of the mindscape, letting Apocalypse, a powerful Telepath Jean wouldnt have been able to so easily incapacitate if he wasnt surprised, recover from her stasis

[ArlEammon]

Jake wondered what would happen if both this new woman and he fought and killed each other, that wouldn't be good. It probably wouldn't be good for this current situation that the old man wanted them to be in."So um, what about you, Ms, your current identity, what is it now?"

[LordChaos13]

"Me, Myself and I. Well and We and Us but we try not to talk about them much...Terribly annoying gigglers you see."
The inflection changing, Jean retreating back into the mindscape

"I'm responsible for my past and future deeds and it is shared among us. Combined we fight, a team of Me."

[ArlEammon]

"Well if we're supposed to cooperate with each other it won't make sense if we, you or I decide to kill the other. Please keep that in mind, and also, I"m not an ordinary person anymore, I don't know if I can hold back my evil selves from over riding my control"

[LordChaos13]

"You realize that if all your previous lives were Evil...What makes you different? Assuming I buy the premise of different life different everything."

[D20ragon]

"you know what? Screw it," the old man suddenly says. " I'm gonna give you the whole shabang. Mortal vision, of course. If you ask me, you Namers are a lot more trouble then your worth. I don't know why the other powers are so fascinated with you. Right. Unless one of you has some pressing need, I'm taking us out of this reality stretch."

[ArlEammon]

"I'm heavily religious, and have found that faith in my God has made all the difference in the world. I don't think that Lavos, who is more feral and kind of like an animal with Humanoid intelligence is really evil, but if he was, then he had no Church to go to, no one to instruct him in what to do, and kind of lived millions of years in the past. As for Orochi, he's quite an interesting fellow, I can't tell much about him, but apparently, even if he stayed evil until his final destruction, I was made a new person in another life, which brings me to Shao Kahn. Shao Kahn definitely didn't have a Church to attend, or someone to tell him either, since he lived in an entirely different universe and finally Apocalypse, went bitter and mad with rage, and had nothing like my beliefs, since they were almost totally unavailable for thousands of years, since he lived in ancient Egypt."

"Of course I believe that none of us had an excuse for our actions, but if we're all the same person, then I am confident that I was made this way for a reason. What ever that reason is I don't precisely know."

[LordChaos13]

"Urk. You did not just...Lavos I'll give you but Shao Kahn was not only in sometimes direct contact with Deities and followed their rules in setting up the mortal combat tournaments but was directly influenced by his universe's One Being, essentially God.
Apocalypse grew up in Egypt, Which while a pantheonic religion as opposed to your monotheistic one, wasn't any more or less inclined towards Good and Evil. Assuming that religion, especially the one you likely believe in given accent and ethnicity, can change a soul from Evil in all known cases of sapience to Good and Innocent is pure folly."

[ArlEammon]

"Yes, well the older gentleman that brought us here has arrived, I don't know if we should continue this discussion and ignore him." Jake turned to the older gentleman. "Sir, what are you talking about, please inform us what you are talking about, in modern English please, with the normal nomenclature."

[D20ragon]

"I. Am. Taking. Us. Out. Of. This. Crafted. Reality."
The old man drawls.
"that slow enough for you? Now, hold on to whatever portion of your body you deem most necessary to your existence, because, I assure you, I am not in a mood to talk to Namers right now. You do know at least the name of your race? Good."

He takes the needle out of his pocket, and then pauses, looking embarresed.
"errrr... I don't suppose one of you can take this reality(he points at the ships floor) off my hands? I'm afraid I haven't been following physics quite as well as I could have been, and I really don't need another infraction on may list. Matter is not to cease to exist and all that."
He looks around pleadingly.
"Please? It's not that hard to take care of, just a bit of extra strain, and I really don't care what you do with it afterwards. So what d'ya say? Do an old man a favor?"

[LordChaos13]

"Can I get the metaphysical equations down to a 4th dimensional level of simplicity? If so I'll take it. I'm familiar with changing dimensions up to 3 in an enclosed space using Magic, though I know there will be a lot of differences."
The witch brought to the fore again by the lure of potential knowledge about this new world opening up (also deja vu from her preteens)

[D20ragon]

"Oh sure! Do whatever you want with the dimensions. I find around 7 or so to be comfortable. You may want to leave some areas in seperate dimensions, just to ease travel. Also, if it's wanted, I could bend some rules, give ownership to all of you to ease the strain, because, to be honest, I'm not sure how much strain Namers are supposed to take. Just so long as I'm free of this mess, I can set it up however."

[ArlEammon]

"I had in my mind, a large island, filled with the best water, and plenty of room to shelter all of us. The water would be far superior in purity and life giving qualities and nutrients than all the water on Earth combined."

[LordChaos13]

"Why not transfer ownership a little at a time, until it's too much for me, then if anyone wants a share they can speak up"

OOC: I asked for the blueprints in maximum 4 dimensions, mostly because Hermione is human and it would be easiest to read. Multiple higher dimensions is fine.

[D20ragon]

He glances at Jacob.
"there's probably a island somewhere in here, and definitely on one of the planets."
I can keep the layout like a ship, for ease of use, and you'll find a map in the center. As for who owns it, I'll just leave the key next to the map. That all settled? Good. Now, I'm taking us out."
And he slashes the fabric of reality with the needle.

As the ship unravels, you do as well. It is not painful, but rather, deeply confusing, as you mix and join, and seperate from the others on the ship. Only the old man seems unaffected, drifting serenely on the strands of reality. Seemingly of its own will, the ship weaves itself back together drifting at the at the top of a well mouth that seems of undefinable size.

It stretches down forever and a day. Above your head, a bucket, shifting in size, shape and form drifts downwards. At the bottom of the well lies the sky,it seems. Endless stars, worlds, and universes drifting in a sea of inky black.

The old man clears his throat, looking absurdly proud.
"This," he decrees "is the Well of the Worlds."

[Tris]

Travis simply stands there with his mouth gapping open. He continues to remain silent.

[ArlEammon]

Jacob. . .
"Why does this bizarre place seem so familiar?" Jake said to the old man. . . 'By the way, sir, what was your name again?" Apocalypse and the others looked at the strange place. This was a very different place, but they also thought that the area was somewhat familiar, despite having no memory of ever being there. "Why is there a Well of the Worlds here?"

[D20ragon]

"My name is Fate", said the old man, smiling slightly. "I see you are beginning to understand. This is the first Well of the Worlds, laid down at the same time as the multiverse itself.
Now, if you would be so kind..."

He gestures to the bucket, now hanging parallel with the lip of the Well. It has now grown into the size of a small boat.
"Ladies and Gentleman, please step into the Bucket. I promise, you will find someone more friendly towards Namers where you're going. It is, after all, her job. I'm afraid there's no time for questions, even if I wanted to make some." He hops into the bucket, which stays, but stays steady, hanging above the multiverse.

[DoctorFaust]

Trying to surreptitiously hold onto his crotch as Fate, or whatever his name was, pulls out another pin, Daniel slides up to the rest of the people on the airship. "So, are you all figments of my imagination, or are you real p..." Cut off suddenly as the old man pushes the pin into the air and makes reality bend around the ship, all Daniel can do is gape in awe at the spectacle of the Well of Worlds. "Well, damn."

I think we might agree on something for once.

Following Fate blindly as he jumps out into the Bucket, Daniel says, "Why do I feel like this has happened to me before?"

Huh, may the Dark One take me if I know.

[ArlEammon]

"A bucket? Lovely. It's time to ride the bucket." Jacob said, groaning. "Oh well.' He looked across the waters, they were so pure, he wondered sometimes if he could see the bottom. . . yet there were space nebula below them, he was confused. All of this was like madness, yet he finally somehow knew it was real. "Well, I hope there's no change I will get sea sick".

[Tris]

Travis takes a deep breath in before saying, "I am ready." He then, leaps into the bucket preparing himself for whatever Fate has in store.

[Morcleon]

Zach chuckles. "A bucket for a well. How very appropriate." He hops into the bucket, settling himself down near the side and gazing out into the multiverse.

[3SecondCultist]

Well of the Worlds... James let the words sink in of their own accord. The scope alone was enough for him to take a moment and wonder at the scope of it. Whatever structure made up the forefront of his mind was silent, as the four incarnations stood just as quietly. Alduin was dusting himself off, volcanic jaw clenched in angry pride. Rashek and Sylar stood off to one side, their tall frames cast in shadow. James realized in that moment that the two had been acting as though they knew each other, which should have been impossible. In fact, under this light they looked a bit like brothers; of course, the former was more like a medieval model, whereas the latter owned a 'scruffy Queens' look. And lastly, Glaistig Uaine - or Ciara, or Valkyrie, or the Faerie Queen, she did have so many names - was bent over on the matte grey floor in supplication, the ghostly visages of her newest 'nobles' around her. James still had so many questions, so much he needed to learn about why he had been chosen and what was going to happen to him now. But he knew better than to ask anything of anyone right now. In all of these stories, the main characters either figured everything out exactly when he needed to anyhow. Taking care to keep his distance from the man he somehow knew as Rob, James began to climb into the bucket.

"Forgive me for asking, but is anyone else a bit nervous? It's just that this is all pretty new to me."

[ArlEammon]

'Of course, I just hope we can get this damn LSD, hallucination, scizophrenic, or reality warped situation behind us and do whatever we're supposed to do." Jake stated angrily. "So. . . " He turns around to James. . . "Uh, who are you? And who are you? I mean, how many yous are in there? Huh?" There was a mysterious breeze out in this place, as if there was a wind blowing, yet they seemed to be out in space.

[silphael]

Can they stop with alternated rules? That's kinda making me drool all over the place. Also can I talk about some precise point?

Which one?

The one you're precisely applying right now.

Oh, sure.

Ethan's mouth began talking in an posed voice, a voice eons old yet surprisingly young. A voice seeming... somehow complete.

"Okay, first, I'm Enoch. Again, not saying my True Name, won't help you anyway. Talking to the vessels here : you are in command. Period. If you don't want to let them talk, just don't. They will try anything to make you believe you can't impede them, but that's somewhat wrong. About what I do... well, let's say that warped reality makes making implausible things easier."

Then he stepped into the air, walking - although he seems to be moving thousands kilometers in one step - alongside the bucket.

"If you want to make the weight on yourself lighter, use whatever kind of definition you want, it should work for me. Also, if you want to have a big soul talking, ask me, I should arrange some place for that."

"So after that show off, let's move to She Who Waits For Us, right?"

[LordChaos13]

Erin vanishes with a subdued Crack sound, reappearing within the radius of a star (preferably Yellow and earth-like)
Arms out letting the rays infuse her cells for a couple seconds before another Crack of Apparition returns her to the Bucket

"Well that was refreshing." The now super-tough girl comments grinning

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob keeps a careful eye on the man he knows to be Alexander as he quickly scans the others. He's less careful than he could be, but it seems justified.

"I've no memory of this place. Or any like it, for that matter. Nonetheless... Forward to victory, no?"

Rob walks forward to stand in the air above the bucket. He sees no need to put himself in an enclosed space like that when he can follow along perfectly well on his own.

[3SecondCultist]

James turned to Jacob, grey eyes utterly still as if to counter the latter's apparent irritation. He did his best not to betray the mercurial foundations hidden beneath his artificial expression.
"I introduced myself earlier. As for the incarnations, they're a colorful group in their own right, but I expect you'll be meeting them soon enough. I don't want to speak for them."

[ArlEammon]

"Well um, this is awkward. . . I"m trying to restrain Apocalyps'es mind reaching out to scan you, beware if you have secrets to hide, I'm not trying to do it myself." Jake said passively. "I suppose that it's only safe to say that I have the worst karma of the entire group, if such a thing exists." He said absent mindedly.

[LordChaos13]

"I can block that. Actively or passively."
A glare sent in Jacob's direction as she says active, leaving no doubt the kind of 'defense' she would do

"Although I should warn you, I have to work to keep out of people's heads, so if you happen to think very loudly I might hear it by accident."

The others feel a shield go up just outside their minds, protecting from Apocalypse and other Telepaths. Not enough for a true Psychic Assault, but enough to prevent mind-reading

[ArlEammon]

"Well gee thanks for the warning, officer Jean." Jake said sarcastically. He looked out across space and wondered what exactly was going on. . . "So, I see a lot of beauty out in space. It's strange that I'd be seeing this on the top of a magical space starship bucket." He jumped down from the top of the bucket to the bottom. " I didn't know I'd ever see this at all. . . One thing I've discovered about my powers is how easy it is to jump dozens of feet in the air, or now that I come to think of it, lack of air. How are we breathing out in space?"

[LordChaos13]

"I'm a telepath. Mental privacy is brought up every week my entire life on average. Also when an Omnicidal maniac is trying to pry into peoples minds I am going to stop you."

[ArlEammon]

"My name is not You. It's not Apocalypse, Yamate no Orochi, Lavos, Shao Kahn, Adolph Hitler or Snidely Whiplash. My name is Jacob. I am pleased to meet you." Jake said sarcastically once more. "If only Shao Kahn had the power to conjure tea and crumpets to have with you, I'd discuss this misunderstanding until it was absolutely necessary, but I have a feeling that the end of our bucket ride is coming up pretty soon."

[3SecondCultist]

His previous resolution not to ask any questions put aside for the moment, James turned to face the old man.
"They both raise a few good points. Where are we exactly, Fate? You called this place the Well of the Worlds, but it isn't anything I've ever encountered before. And how are we standing here, as opposed to just floating away? I assume you've tampered with the natural laws here somehow." He leaned over to the edge of the bucket, staring out at the star fields while still doing his best not to notice Rob. At that moment, he felt torn: as much as he wanted to be back in his bed, he was somewhat curious as to what was going to come next.

[LordChaos13]

"Hey don't besmirch Hitler's name, he was a nice guy before Grindlewad used him as a puppet."
The bookish voice of Hermione butting in
"Your name is whatever you call yourself. Whether you call yourself Jacob, Apocalypse, Mallard the Puppy-hugger doesn't change the rules of grammar and the usage of the word You is perfectly acceptable."

[ArlEammon]

You
Jacob wondered why Hermione was speaking to him. "Hermione, you're pretty smart, as is Jean, although she's a telepath, so it's almost a given. Anyway, if that abusive Severus Snape can redeem himself in the end, why can't I?"
Jake turned his head and heard James talking.

[LordChaos13]

"Who said he did? Professor Snape did horrible things for misguided reasons. Harry forgave him because, well it's Harry. That doesn't make things right, it means someone could forgive him.
And in no conceivable way is being a mole and an as*hole comparable with trying to kill everybody several times."

[3SecondCultist]

Something nagged at James from within. In the antechamber of his mind - he'd taken to just calling it the Hall of Perception - one of the four figures stirred. Sylar strolled up to the fortified glass pane that acted as the fourth wall, actively listening to what Jacob had just said. Moving James' mental avatar aside and assuring him that this was only temporary, the superhuman took over bodily function. As if to emphasize this shift in control, James' features abruptly began to morph into Sylar's long, grizzled face and decidedly large eyebrows.
"As someone who has gone through more than one crisis of identity, I can just say that names aren't as important as all that. The only things that should really matter are your individual will and your image of self. Whatever Snape did, he definitely had his own reasons. Don't complicate things. Also, there is no real 'end' to a story: just a point at which the storyteller stops. We're all living proof of that, aren't we?"

[ArlEammon]

"All I know is that I'm starting not to care, because I'm not actually who I was billions, thousands or hundreds of years ago. As far as I'm concerned, I"m 30 years old. born to a small town near the West Coast in a life of dismal weirdness until I finally discover that fairies, unicorns and angry goddesses exist. This is the present. It should be everyone's time to make things better for the future, and it is wrong to get in someone's way when all they want is a better one."

[LordChaos13]

"Oh yes, because clearly putting up mental defenses around people's mind so you cant break in is preventing you from being a good person."
Erin rolling her eyes
"I'm not stopping you being good, just rather skeptical about the abberation that is 'Jacob' as opposed to the other facets of your Soul."

[ArlEammon]

"Oh well, James seems to know what I'm talking about. Maybe he was a kitten slapper in a past life, but maybe he's a good person now. I appreciate his input into the discussion. I even appreciate, to a tiny degree, Jean and the other's input. They seemed to be decent people from what I remember of their history, they are misguided into believing I cannot be different from what I was."

[3SecondCultist]

Sylar tapped his temple, an amused smile flitting across his features before disappearing.
"Well thanks, but I'm not actually James. He's surrendered this body to me for the moment, although he's listening in right now. For those who don't know me, my name is Gabriel Gray, but you can call me Sylar." His dark eyes swept the expanse of the bucket, taking in everything he could. His power took over instantaneously, filling his subconscious mind with everything from body language to astral aerodynamics. If he focused on Fate, maybe he could get some answers as to what was going on.

[LordChaos13]

"I'm Skeptical, I don't THINK you are different but am giving you the benefit of the doubt. Otherwise you'd be drooling right about now. So prove me wrong Jacob."

[ArlEammon]

"Well then I suppose that I can finally give you a little more than a tiny bit of credit. I might be kind of scared if I found out that my next door neighbor used to be an evil tyrant from a Banana Republic or something, and had gone through and survived a handful of coups he actually started, anyhow, I do wonder when it will be time for us to end our bucket ride. My Indian name is "He Who Fidgets Without Mercy."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob starts at Sylar's emergence, floating closer as stealthily as possible and sub-vocalizing a string of Latin syllables. When he announces himself, Rob sort of freaks out.

He's just letting that psycho walk around in his body? Damn.
Oh come now. You've let me use yours before, on occasion.
Yeah, 'cause you're not a total psychopath. And besides, he's powerful. Remember last time?
From what these guys have told me about it, we should probably just drop him here and now. I don't usually go in for that kind of thing, but... Better safe then sorry, right?
Perhaps not in front of the reality-warping deity-being?
Fine, but one errant twitch... Eva, I give the signal and you've got full control. I've got a cold-blade ready to go in our right hand.
Got it.

Rob relaxes his face, and walks up next to James and the others.

[Tris]

"People can always change" Travis says, but beyond that he has little interaction with the rest of the group. He simply stares outward into stars.

[ArlEammon]

"So, does anyone have anyway to pass the time? Ummm. . . I"m thinking. How about. . . I . . . uh. . . "

"I am the very model of a modern Major-General,
I've information vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I know the kings of England, and I quote the fights historical
From Marathon to Waterloo, in order categorical;a
I'm very well acquainted, too, with matters mathematical,
I understand equations, both the simple and quadratical,
About binomial theorem I'm teeming with a lot o' news, (bothered for a rhyme)
With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse.
I'm very good at integral and differential calculus;
I know the scientific names of beings animalculous:
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
I know our mythic history, King Arthur's and Sir Caradoc's;
I answer hard acrostics, I've a pretty taste for paradox,
I quote in elegiacs all the crimes of Heliogabalus,
In conics I can floor peculiarities parabolous;
I can tell undoubted Raphaels from Gerard Dows and Zoffanies,
I know the croaking chorus from The Frogs of Aristophanes!
Then I can hum a fugue of which I've heard the music's din afore, (bothered for a rhyme)b
And whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense Pinafore.
Then I can write a washing bill in Babylonic cuneiform,
And tell you ev'ry detail of Caractacus's uniform:c
In short, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
In fact, when I know what is meant by "mamelon" and "ravelin",
When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a Javelin,d
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I'm more wary at,
And when I know precisely what is meant by "commissariat",
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery –
In short, when I've a smattering of elemental strategy – (bothered for a rhyme)
You'll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee.e
For my military knowledge, though I'm plucky and adventury,
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General."

[LordChaos13]

About halfway through the first line Phoenix twists her own perceptions and that of the others inside Erin's mind (including Erin) to not hear a single word from you

[3SecondCultist]

Upon Rob's approach, Sylar paused. Here was a threat, come to end him if he tried anything. He didn't even need to read the entity's mind to know what his purpose was - intuition alone served that purpose. It was a good thing, then, that his motive really was just observation this time around. Slowly, he raised his hands in the universal gesture of surrender. The smile was gone now, but Sylar made sure to keep his outward demeanor calm.
"Woah there, I don't mean any harm. I just wanted to get a feel for the mechanics again, you know? It's been a little while since I've been free to walk around in my own body. How are you doing, Rob?"

[Tris]

Travis smiles at Jacob's singing. "I like that song" he says.

[DoctorFaust]

Listening silently as Jacob sings through the entire bloody Modern-Major General's Song, Daniel simply smiles and continues looking out over the edge of their bucket while it drifts through space.

When Jacob finally winds down the song, Daniel turns to go talk to him. "It's nice to see that there's another theatre geek among us. You ever see any other Gilbert and Sullivan?"

[ArlEammon]

Jake looked to Daniel and smiled. "I'm not such a fan, it's just easy to remember the whole thing when you have a supernaturally intelligent mind all of a sudden. I can remember every epic math mistake that made me look developmentally slow unnecessarily. Every single one of them. It's embarrassing, but way more than worth it since I have all this intelligent and power."

[DoctorFaust]

"Oh, so you got smart reincarnations."

I heard that.
And so did I.

"But in all seriousness, it's good to see that at least someone seems to enjoy having people living in their head. All I want to do right about now is get right the hell home."

[ArlEammon]

"It's actually kind of scary having four mass murderers living in my mind, knowing that they are closer to me than my own family and yet are all irredeemably evil. It's weird, I get the fact that they actually are me, and yet they are their own distinctively unique people outside of me. I don't understand exactly what's going on even after all these explanations, but I can feel it, this is not just reincarnation. "

[DoctorFaust]

"Eh, its just like that guy over there said," Daniel says, hooking his finger over towards Travis. "Everybody can change. And I mean, I have the former dark lord of the sith living in my bloody head for christ's sake. Ain't like I got much room to judge."

[D20ragon]

"You all aboard?" the old man asks. "get into the bucket, not above it, around it, or parallel to it, but in it. This things made to withstand 6th and 7th dimensions, where as you, my fine Namer friends, are not. And I don't want to hear a word from your soul-dwelling housemates, either."

With that, he gives the worn wooden handle in the floor a tug, and you begin to drift down, towards and at once surrounded with the glittering multiverse. You drift through galaxies, then pass through the atmosphere of planets. The well seems impossibly wide, it's worn stone sides barely visible. You reach out to touch a star, and it darts away from you, laughing a cold, silver laugh.
The moon reaches out to bite the bucket in two, but you drop away from it quickly.

A rowboat, manned by a tall man with a long beaded face, and silver hair drifts by, casting his nets. He winks at you, then tosses the contents of a net towards you, the stars, planets and universes spinning around the bottem of the bucket. The tall man waves as he rows away, and the cat on the back of his boat waves farewell also.

[DoctorFaust]

Reaching out as the boat floats past, Daniel calls out, "Kitty, no! Come back to us!"

[ArlEammon]

"Okay, I can't do this anymore. . . Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?" Jake said a very long, drawn out tone, like he had just seen the most confusing thing in his life.

[LordChaos13]

Erin right alongside Daniel, hand outstretched to the Kitty
"Kittyyyyyyyy!"

[Morcleon]

Chuckling, Zach leans over the side of the bucket and meows at the cat. "Meow~!"

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob keeps a steady hand, almost completely ignoring what's happening to the cosmic bucket as his vision locks to the skin just below James's eyes.
"So you do remember me. Does your host? Or are you in charge now?"

[Tris]

Travis lays down on the surface of the bucket and closes his eyes.

So, I know who Link and Gandalf are, but who are the other two?

I am Master Pakku. I was a master water bender from the Northern Water Tribe. I taught Avatar Aang and his companion Master Katara.

Oh! You're that Pakku! Yeah, I've seen Avatar. That's what we call the show that represents your world.

I am Faen, an drow and an empath. That's why you can sense the emotions of others. I lived in the city of Chel and was a friend to Ariel Val'Sarghress, heir to Ill'haress Quain'tana. I... don't seem to remember what happened next. I've forgotten things.

Travis frowns for a moment as he lays there.

[3SecondCultist]

Sylar blinked once upon the dimensional shift, taking in their new surroundings with something between fear and wonder. He had seen quite a bit in his time, but the universe apparently still had surprises in store for him. But there was another matter at hand, one far more pressing and immediate.
Wait, what are you talking to him for? Who is this, Sylar, and why do I know his name?
He's either our best friend or our worst enemy, but I can't tell right now. Just let me handle things, I can promise you that I will return your body to you in a moment, totally unharmed. In the Hall of Perception, there was a pregnant pause as James considered Sylar's words. Should he fight him now, try to regain full control? Glaistig Uaine rested a delicate hand on his shoulder, the cool breath of the teenage parahuman tickling the back of his neck. Four shadows flanked her, three vaguely shaped humanoids of indeterminate gender and one that was more definitively male. Should a fight really break out, she would be ready to enter the fray. But as he thought about it, James swiftly came to the conclusion that there would be little point in a struggle if Sylar was just going to give his body back. For all that he knew about the man's past life, he felt as though he could trust him. There would time enough for questions later.

"We've come to a temporary agreement, and James will get this body back when I'm done. And after what happened, we all worked together to set up powerful mental blocks. He doesn't remember anything, and most of the others are gone. Rashek and I stayed to keep an eye on things, to make sure the transition period worked out in our favor, you understand." Sylar began to move towards one side of the rowboat, in order to get a better look at the stars. His hands were at his side now, ready to throw up a full-strength telekinetic shield. Either Rob would attack him, or he would stand down. What happened next was entirely in his hands.

[D20ragon]

"go on, pick 'em up," Fate says as the cat fades into the distance.

"you may as well, the're just making the bucket messy."

He picks up a universe up off the floor, watching spin in his hand.
"and besides, it's not every day the Fisherman gifts a bunch of Namers."

[LordChaos13]

"You do realize some of us don't know what a Namer is right? Ignorance is no excuse except when ignorance is the only possible mental state, I have had no chance to learn what a Namer is."
The bookworm witch comments, poking a quivering star cluster curious

[D20ragon]

"Ach. I forget that you people really know nothing yet. A Namers what we here in the multiverse call a mortal. On account of them being some of the only beings that name things so prolifically."


The star cluster tickles your fingers with cold light, and darts away shyly.

[LordChaos13]

Coaxing it into her hand, the witch coos at it.

"So it's like the Wizards of my time calling people Muggles because they lack Magic. Lacking the negative connotation of course."
Nodding, playing with the little shy
"I think I'll call you Alina, greek for Light." Smiling down at it in her hand

[D20ragon]

The star cluster scoots up your sleeve, onto your shoulder, where it sits, glowing.

[LordChaos13]

OOC: Can I keep it? Pwease? :smallbiggrin:
Its so cuuute


Letting Alina perch herself there the girl returns to the side of the Bucket, she already had a Zone of multiple dimensions and now a pet constellation

[D20ragon]

Of course!

[ArlEammon]

Okay. . .
"Things are looking terrifyingly cute right now. Apocalypse is no match for Cutethulhu." Jake laughed for a second. "So. . . guys, I"m curious, who here has found that they're quality of life has probably been improved dramatically by their empowerment?"

[LordChaos13]

"Her name is Alina, not Cutethulu. Isnt that right my little Light."

Looking back at Jacob
"Its a little early to tell dont you think. I mean not an hour ago I was and my computer and now I can fly at am solar powered."

[ArlEammon]

"Eh, for the first time ever I now understand Science far beyond a High School Level. I can build a computer far more advanced than Earth's best super computer, the size of our own PC's worth billions of dollars. If we ever do return to Earth, I hope that. . . wait a minute. . . I'm a little concerned. . . um, Fate, what's going to happen to our family's and stuff back home, I'm a little worried."

[LordChaos13]

"Having improved mental capacity means nothing if the quality of life from other efects takes a downturn. We are being transported somewhere and without all the facts one cannot make an adequate decision of positive or negative. In the short-term this is more interesting than my computer, but quality of life is not measured on so short a scale."

[ArlEammon]

"I just thought of something though, what about your people's family's? They are going to worry why their sons, daughters, boyfriends, etcetera, are gone all of a sudden."

[LordChaos13]

"Time turner. I can go back to within a half hour in either direction of when I left. They wont notice I've left.
Then again, likely wouldnt even if I hadnt gotten time travel." The girl mumbles

[ArlEammon]

"Time turner? I beg your pardon? What? Oh well, some day I'll understand the difference between a donkey and a hole in the ground. Time travel just seems so unreal. I suppose though, if Orochi and Lavos are real, so is Time Travel."

[LordChaos13]

"Magical item created by filling specially runed and charmed glass usually in the form of an hourglass, filling it with Time Sand retrieved by either small temporal fluxes or the usage of a Time Turner itself. Restricted only to the Department of Mysteries in London although they have been known to lend it to recruits they have their eye on, or at the behest of high ranking officials such as the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, uh the parliament with hereditary not voted in members."

[ArlEammon]

"Interesting. . . Hermione. Witanegamot was the real life councils the Old Kings of the British Isle had before the Normans came along and conquered England. I have heard that the British Isles got the idea for Parliament from the Witanegamot which came previously. I have some questions, Hermione, if you don't mind me asking, about Wizarding Britain's history prior to your time. What do the records say Merlin was like?"

[LordChaos13]

The witch beginning a long lecture on the subject
"He attended Hogwarts like myself, though it was early in the schools history. He was a Slytherin, the house for the Ambitious and the cunning and it is said he was taught by Salazar Slytherin himself, one of the 4 Founders of the school and namesake of the house. He is the Prince of the Enchanters and worked in King Arthur's Court and often fought against Morgana his half-sister.
Near the end of his life created the Order of Merlin which championed Muggles and was the reason behind the first laws of Wizards spelling Muggles and the Statute of Secrecy which forbade knowledge of Magic to enter the Muggle world, only immediate family of a Muggleborn or Halfblood or the muggle husband or wife of a witch or wizard. Although over the years it ceased being an actual Order and became an award of 3 Classes, I myself having earned a 1st Class award for my role in the Death Eater Civil War of 1995 to 1998."

[ArlEammon]

"The 90's? I thought that the book's setting took place in a much earlier time, or something, than my generation. . . but I think my confusion lies in the fact I've only read summaries of it on Wikipedia. You know though, I've never figured out why witches and wizards don't end up calling their scrying orbs "Wiccan-Pedia".

[LordChaos13]

"Oh yes that...No, even within those they got the year right. Harry's parents died Halloween 1981, his birthday is 1980, our first year was during 1991 for a few months then '92.
And really? That is the lamest...We dont even HAVE scrying orbs for Merlin's sake!"

[ArlEammon]

"Lame magical puns aside, you I think that we can come to an agreement Hermione. As Lavos, I have tremendous energies that constantly emanate from me. An entire civilization used my magical energy as a giant Wizarding World, if you will. If you choose to, I hope we can agree to a trade regarding my powers. If you want, I will grant you access to my energy for use and I will see if I can learn anything kind of useful from some of your other selves.'

[LordChaos13]

Hermione shakes her head "I dont NEED more power. I have plenty within my own magical core. Heck I have practically infinite magic simply because it recharges so fast. The limitation of my magic is in memorizing hundreds of esoteric spells and of a hard cap on the power I can use at any single second, something not helped by you dumping a load of likely incompatible energy into my system."

[ArlEammon]

"Interesting. Oh well. So. . . um, gee then. . . I'm not exactly sure how to pass the time here. I guess I'll do some experimenting with my powers then." He leaves Hermione, and he walks to the other side of the bucket. Jake concentrates, closing his eyes and clenches them shut tight. Soon his body is covered in what appears to be blue metal, and he resembled Apocalypse exactly, before transforming back into his previous form. "Interesting. I can already shape change to a limited degree."

[DoctorFaust]

Reaching down and grabbing one of the universes thrown into the bucket by the Fisherman, Daniel twirls it around a few times in his fingers. "You know," he says, "These things are actually pretty cute. I might keep this one."

Stuffing the small red orb into the epaulet of his jacket, Daniel turns to listen to Jacob and the girl he doesn't know talk about magic, something he knows almost nothing about. Nodding idly at a few points where he recognizes plot points of the books, Daniel starts in astonishment as Jacob suddenly turns into a dude made of metal.

So if other people are testing their powers...

"Hey, anybody got some coins on them?"

[LordChaos13]

"Does it have to be gold? Because if not I can conjure some. And even if it does...My Conjurations last a day or so for that."
Reaching into the void hand going under the rim of the bucket pulling back a dark blue handbag. Pulling out a long wooden wand
"Ahh this feels better. 10 and 3/4 inch vinewood, with the core made of Dragon Heartstring." Golden sparks flying from the tip

[DoctorFaust]

"Uh, no. Just coins, or some dice. Preferably unweighted. I want to try something."

[D20ragon]

Fate twitches his wrist, and a pile of change lands on your lap.
"that enough?"

[LordChaos13]

A wave of her wand and the will of her magic causes an assortment of coins of various size and shapes, each one a different currency she had encountered, and a few sets of dice of multiple color and amount of sides
"Select whichever is too your liking. They'll disappear in a few hours though unless you have a pressing need to keep them, then I can make them permanent."


OOC: Hermione will silent cast a lot, simply so I dont have to make up spell names.

[3SecondCultist]

"If you need gold, I can always transmute it for -" Sylar stopped and watched Fate and 'Hermione' create the materials out of thin air. These newer companions certainly were quite interesting. Still waiting for Rob to make a move, the watch-maker moved to grasp a cluster of red stars from the net. They felt cold, but not the type of cold that belonged to earth, like snow. No, this was the chill that preceded the wind, that sang through one's bones in the quiet of a tomb. He called the stars together with his will, until all the points of light coalesced into a miniature singularity. Gently, he allowed it to settle several inches above his outstretched palm.
To see the world in a grain of sand, am I right?

[DoctorFaust]

Picking up a double handful of coins, Daniel grins at Fate. "That quite enough, thanks." Moving over to an area less occupied, he hefts both fists up to shoulder level and says, "Anyone want to take bets on how they land? Cause mine goes on at least half landing edge down."

Without waiting for a reply, he jerks both arms up suddenly, flipping the coins up and out, shouting as he does, "Dovie'andi se tovya sagain!"

[3SecondCultist]

"My bet is on them staying aloft, actually." As he spoke, Sylar manifested a miniature telekinetic field in order to keep the coins from hitting the bottom of the craft. He grasped the metal edges with his mind, feeling the worn grooves of burnished metal, and held them all in place. He suppressed a smirk as the shower of coins halted in midair. Still quiet, his eyes met Rob's once more, searching for a sign of what was to come next.

[Tris]

Travis sits up to pick up a galaxy. "So, what are these actually. I mean, do these have actual stars with actual planets? Do some of them have living beings." He brings the galaxy up to his eyes and stares at it.

[LordChaos13]

"I bet your wrong, and that they'll land heads up. In fact I'm certain hovering is not in their future...Accio coins." A flick of her wand and the hail slides sideways, neatly stacking up heads-up on every single one at her feet

[DoctorFaust]

Storming over to the two people who decided it would be fun to mess with his experiments with his powers, Daniel growls, "What. In the Dark Ones name. Made you decide it would be a fun idea to mess with what will likely be the one time I can reliably figure out if my bloody ta'veren powers work in this flaming hell hole?" Reaching out and grabbing at a few of the coins as they fly past, Daniel starts chinking them together in one hand. "If you want to mess with your bloody powers, do it on your own time." With a sudden snapping sound, Daniels voice goes back to his own, though no less strained with anger. "And that goes double for your hosts. At least unless you want to risk the anger of the luckiest man in several universes, the dark lord of the sith in a time where there was more than two scheming lackwits plotting to kill each other for power at a time, the host of a fallen angel who willingly gave up his power for the sake of others, and a man who fought and defeated King Arthur on a..."

Stopping his tirade as James releases his telekinetic of the coins, Daniel chuckles as they begin to land. "Whatdya know. Edge down."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob takes his time thinking over his next move.

So someone still knows what happened to us.
After all you put into hiding that memory, do you think you're ready to face it again?
I don't know. I suppose we'll leave it alone for now.
I guess this means I can't kill him. Ah well. So what do we do now?

Rob watches as Sylar!James mess with Daniel's coins.

Well, at least one of his personalitys is still an a bit of an ass. From what I saw with the Sight, though, it looks like this 'James' construction is not a bad kind of guy.
Looked sort of scared, if anything. We should probably keep an eye on him, as much for his sake as for ours.
Taking what he said as exact, he also seems to be down by a few major players. He's still quite powerful, but perhaps not quite as dangerously so as he was before.

"Come on now guys, leave him alone. He's just trying to figure out how things work around here, same as we are." Rob strides over towards Erin, James and Daniel. "Unrelatedly, could I speak to you privately for a moment, James? And I do mean James, Sylar, so let him back in, if you will."

[3SecondCultist]

Letting his hold on the coins go, Sylar bowed his head slightly towards Daniel in mocking deference. Still, that was better than nothing at all. Upon hearing Rob's request, he only paused for a moment. It would be better for everyone if he were to let the man have what he wanted. He took a moment to shift back into James' original form before handing him the controls back.
Thank you for holding up your end, Gabriel.
Anytime. Be careful dealing with this one though. Despite all of my abilities, I still don't really have a solid read on him. The last first time we met, we sort of got into a mental duel, and I'd rather that history didn't repeat itself. I'm not sure who would win this time around.
Oh... okay then. Good advice. When we get a moment, are you going to tell me anything you know about this?
Not really, no. As if to emphasize his point, Sylar stepped back within the shadowy expanses of the hall, stopping near Rashek and shooting the silent monarch a significant glance. The Allomancer simply nodded in assent. Together, all four of the incarnations fixed their collective attention on the conversation to come.

"I'm here." Moving away from the other figures on the boat, James looked for someplace to sit down. After watching what Sylar could do, he felt incredibly vulnerable in this form. If he wanted, could he manifest the powers of those beings currently residing within, or was that solely their province? He would likely find out soon enough. However, he might have preferred not using his abilities against his only allies, as Sylar had done. The incarnation had already proven to be a bit reckless when left to his own devices, although he hadn't done any real damage. And he had kept his promise, despite James' earlier reservations.
"So, what is it? I'm sorry, you just seem incredibly familiar. Nobody is giving me a straight answer right now."

[D20ragon]

Travis sits up to pick up a galaxy. "So, what are these actually. I mean, do these have actual stars with actual planets? Do some of them have living being." He brings the galaxy up to his eyes and stares at it.


Fate grunts at Travis's question. " 'course they have life on 'em. The're universes, what'd you expect?"

He points at the one in Travis's hand. "that ones in the middle of a war, actually. Been going on for, oh, 140 years? The Sla-ar are doing well. Course, they dont know about the traitor yet..."
He shakes his head.
"pity, that. It looks like I lost to Death again. She was betting on the Kingdom.
And for those of you making trouble, never forget that I could destroy any one of you, incarnations and all, with the power in my little finger alone. Besides, didn't I say something about keeping your incarnations quiet? I think I did..."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob thinks for a moment before replying to James.
"Yeah, makes sense. We used to be rather good friends. Hells, I'm pretty sure we ruled the world together at one point. I'm not really sure what happened, as I sealed the memory away because it hurt too much, but so far as I can tell the last time I saw you was just before we got our incarnations taken away and our god-like powers revoked. Aside from the fact that I dissapprove of some of your incarnations, as far as I know we parted on good terms. Sylar seems to know more, but from what I can tell, he's hiding what he is for good reason. Anyways, that's the short version. Anything you want clarification on?"

[D20ragon]

"ruled the universe did you?" Fate asks.
"hope it was enjoyable."
He chuckles, and snags a tiny golden bird from the air as you float down.

[3SecondCultist]

Ignoring Fate's commentary for now, James leaned in so that the others could not hear.
"Hold on, ruled the universe? How did that come about, exactly? And I don't suppose you know how our powers and incarnations were sealed away in the first place? There is just so much that I don't know. Honestly, I trust you about as much as I do Sylar, considering what I know... and what I can't remember. But you seem upright enough, and I can imagine us as friends." Adjusting his coat in the astral wind, he stared back out at the endless universes and his features broke out into a grin. Sylar had quoted Blake when he was in control of James earlier. Show off. At least it was a more or less apt depiction of their place in this reality.
"So, Fate, could you please tell us when we'll be arriving at our destination? I don't know about the others, but this constant mystery is making be a little bit anxious."

[Tris]

"Wow..." Travis drops the Galaxy and lays on the ground again. He returns to his mental conversation.

So, I've heard of drow from D&D. Are you from, say, Faerûn?

No. I am from a completely different world. It's not a D&D setting.

So, what is your world like?

Well, the drow are the descendants of the dark elves who fled underground during the demon invasion. There are a number of underworld civilizations. Chel is the largest, but it is currently in a civil war. The surface is largely inhabited by humans, but some of the drow are attempting to resettle the surface.

[D20ragon]

Fate looks at James. "Yes sir Mr. Universal emperor sir! Right away sir! I'll send you there double time sir!"

He twists his finger, and suddenly, James feels he is falling incredibly fast, his lungs desperately trying to catch a breath. His eyes feel pressed back into his head, skin trying to pull away from sinew...

Meanwhile, for the other inhabitants of the bucket, everything seems normal. James seems a tad removed, but normal.

Fate glances at Rob. "I almost forgot! Wasn't there another Universe conqueror? Maybe he's unsatisfied too? I could have sworn there was..." He looks pointedly at Rob, then at Travis.
"Hell! Boy, didn't I just tell you to make your incarnations shut up? Here."
The needle comes out, is inserted into reality. All of you gasp as you feel something wrap around your soul. There is a profound silence, as you realize that you can no longer hear your Reincarnations. Fate sits back, wiping sweat off his now haggered face.
"I swear, some people! I show them things no Namers ever seen, and the're not satisfied!"
He shakes his head.

[LordChaos13]

Erin whimpers, shocked from the sudden tearing apart of the fledgling symbiosis
Taking her constellation and stroking it, trying to recover and drawing comfort from her pet

[D20ragon]

Alina snuggles closer to you, emmiting a tinklely purring .

[LordChaos13]

Erin dawws and cuddles her more

[3SecondCultist]

Oxygen. The three-syllable word was so often taken for granted, but at that particular moment, James began to feel like all the ink in all of the worlds wouldn't help him breathe again. He grasped at the taut skin around his eyes, trying to get a hold of himself. Why had Fate consigned him to this? What had he done that warranted such a retribution? When he tried to move, he found that his limbs were dragging him down, as if he were falling through the floor. Eventually, he felt the reserves of his strength begin to wane, and he collapsed to his knees. Better to conserve his energy for now. The voices within had gone silent, too. What was happening to him?
Calm down, James. Try to think! Whatever's happening, Fate won't let you die. No matter what he says, he has some reason for his bringing us along on this journey. So hopefully he'll release you from whatever this is soon.

[ArlEammon]

"Fate, dear man. . . I'm not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to dealing with people who have power, but could you please show mercy to poor James? It's true you have shown us things I'm sure no one has ever known, well, no Namer, that is, has ever known, but being Namers, all of this is new to us. Things that are new aren't just exciting and fun to explore, but sometimes the unknown can be terrifying to us."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Gods, thinks Rob, glaring at Fate, What an insufferable prick. If I still had... Had what? What am I even thinking?

"We didn't conquer the universe, we just ruled the world. A world. Or maybe more, I don't really remember. That was after we killed the Light and took control of his little venture. It matters little; that was the past. Leave James alone. I may not have as much power anymore, but I wouldn't be worth having here if I didn't do what I can to stand up for those who are being hurt when they can't fight back."

[D20ragon]

Fates voice screams in your mind.
Oh you're damn right I won't let you die, James. Your life is to precious for that, isn't it? But rest assured I know what you did. I know, James. And don't think you can rest easy for a long, long time. Even Jacob has a better soul than you and Rob, and he's sharing it with mass murderers!

[D20ragon]

"Oh, sure." Fate spits over the side of the bucket. "It seems trivial. I don't even care that you ruled those worlds. But don't worry, you'll understand more later. And you might even understand why I'm not killing all of you right now."

He looks at Rob. "do at least try to keep those thoughts to yourself. In this instance, however, I am, as you put it, an insufferable prick. You're quite right.
And Jacob, I do apologize. Its been a long time sense any Namers have seen any of this. Of course you're frightened."

Fate seems completely different then he seemed a second ago.

[3SecondCultist]

Wh-what are you even talking about? I'm just a librarian from the East Coast! You brought me here in the first place!! Please don't hurt me anymore, please... A single tear began to roll down his cheeks, although whether out of fear or the current vertigo, he couldn't tell. Some vague part of his mind was conscious of his companions getting closer, of voices emanating all around him, but he couldn't focus on that now. There was simply too much pain to maintain a hold on anything solid. He was just floating, a minuscule object in infinite space.

[D20ragon]

James drops out of his falling, coming to rest quite gently on the bucket. A blanket wraps itself around his shoulders.
Again, fates voice enters your mind.
I am most terribly sorry. You seem to have very little memory left of your past life. I am sure it will become evident in the future. And one last thing.
I am sorry your fate had to be like this. I am, sadly, merely a messenger of fate, not fate itself. You have my condolences, my boy.

[ArlEammon]

Silently contemplating if this Q like old man had any junk and testicles to kick, Jake thought against kicking him and ran over to James and put his arms around him as he laid on the ground, there didn't seem to be anything wrong. . He didn't say anything to him but he turned around to Fate. "I think that with all of your power and knowledge you cannot sympathize with lesser beings incapable of your level of morality."

[Tris]

Travis sits up. "What? What's happening?" He looks around at everyone. Suddenly, he feels a great dread come over him. His expression is very worried.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Realization dawns for Rob. He hadn't quite figured out that Fate could still hear his thoughts.

My apologies, Fate. I'd thought that Mr. Dresden was shielding my thoughts from general viewing. Perhaps if you would be so kind as to assist him, Elodin? The master namer's talent for putting his mind in a nigh-unreadable state of organized chaos was part of what had initially driven him insane.

In the meantime, though, if you would put James's mind back where it belongs, it would be much appreciated. I don't think he actually knows what he did, so punishing him for it would be rather cruel. You'd be better off throwing his incarnations in the metaphorical mental brig, not him.

[D20ragon]

Fate looks at Jacob reflectively.
"perhaps I have. I was once a Namer myself, you know. All the powers were."


"I had to see how much he remembered. You seem concerned about him, so perhaps you are not to far gone. In any case, his mind has been restored.

[ArlEammon]

"Regardless, I know that to deprive someone the chance of a better future, no matter how vile they are, by taking away any chance of redemption and blessing others with their repentance, is not just cheating the redeemed, but also those they could have helped."

[3SecondCultist]

As he brought himself back to his feet, James took a deep breath. He was back. Jacob was busy speaking to Fate about something. His still-overclocked nervous system was in the midst of getting its bearings, but he could at least make out what Jacob, Fate, and the others were saying now. He inched closer to the old man, his expression one of constructed neutrality. In truth, he wasn't angry at the entity for what it had done. It was probably necessary, in a way that was entirely beyond him. But it didn't help the anxiety, the faintest of tremors coiling under his skin. This was truly a being of deific power, and he resolved to be more careful around it. "Thank you for letting me go. For what it's worth, I truly am sorry for my past misdeeds, even if I don't remember them. I don't know about my incarnations, but I will have a long chat with them about all of this when it's permitted."

[DoctorFaust]

Walking over to Fate as soon as he releases James, Daniel hauls back and slugs him in the face.

Spitting at Fate's feet, Daniel growls, "I don't know who he was in his last lives. I don't know what those lives did to deserve that. But right about now, I am willing to bet all four of my reincarnations that the man you just almost killed is a better person than you are. And you can give me back access to my bloody reincarnations right goddamn now. Either do that or send me home."

[D20ragon]

Fate spits blood.
"I deserved that, you may be sure. But you're wrong in one place. I'm not a person. I'm a power. And I'll do what I have to to make sure the multiverse survives. And if that means scaring one Namer, I'll do it. And I'm afraid I can't send you home. For better or worse, we're stuck in this."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob plants himself to the concept of the bucket's bottom. Trying to seem as calm and nonchalant as possible, he walks over to James and tries to help him recover. He has to shout to be heard over the wind, even at point blank range.

"Sorry about that. I seem to have gotten you in a bit of trouble. Good thing is, I think you passed his little test. Anyways, yeah. Remind me to tell you the full story sometime. I don't think right now is ideal for the telling of epic tales."

[D20ragon]

"Look, Jacob. This is a lot bigger then you, and maybe I know. You have every right to lecture me, but save the final judgement till all this is over. Now, I want everyone to hold onto something, because I'm going to make us accelerate."
He waves his hand. The wrapping around your soul vanishes, and you can sense the presence of your reincarnations.
"I advise you to use all of your capabilities to hold on," he says, and pushes the lever on the floor down, fast. You hear a jangling noise, and look up to see the bucket detach itself from its chain, before the sound of wind drives all sound from your ears, and the speed at which you rush downwards overwhelms all other sensation. Fates voice in your head seems far away, though audible.
"Don't open your eyes, any of you. Some things are not meant for you to see..."

[3SecondCultist]

"It's alright, I'm alright. Just a little bit of vertigo, you know?" Even as he spoke, however, a faint cough undermined his conviction, as he held back a wave of nausea. Some people hadn't spent an abundance of time aboard an aircraft, and unfortunately James counted himself among that number. Whoever he had been, whatever powers he had in his past life, they seemed to be beyond him now. He still needed answers, but he had already begun to realize that it might be better for him not to know everything right away. At Rob's suggestion of a later re-telling, he settled for nodding. Opening his mouth now wasn't the greatest of ideas anyhow.

And then the vessel's descent began to pick up speed.
No, oh no. Not again...
Fear not, Lord Repositor. Let me help you this time. Ciara moved in to catch him, holding him up beneath his shoulders. Her sinuous fingers were wrapped around him. She was silent, supporting him, helping him right himself. He understood this much. The need, the drive. James took his first step with Ciara. The second was only partially supported. The third was on his own. He stood in front of the glass pane in the Hall, once more in control. The other three incarnations were mostly quiet, although he could hear Sylar and Rashek were muttering something behind him. No matter, he always had the Faerie Queen to talk to.
Have you all been watching the whole time?
Yes, and I'm sorry we couldn't help you sooner.
It's alright, I just want to move on. But I must say I'm surprised at your reaction. Such a human response, from someone who considers themselves to be one of the Fair Folk?
There was a time I’d have swiftly responded to that. You would be dead, if you were fortunate enough.
Right, of course. Tell me, do you tend towards conflict like some of the other parahumans in your world?
No. Which is a good thing, I imagine. My other half was always more patient, more relaxed than most. Its duty was always at the end. For those who had duties at the beginning, it would be harder.
But how do you define beginning and end, when it’s all one big cycle? Sylar said much the same before.
Beginnings and endings... I’m tempted to say you just know. That it’s instinctual, you know where you are. But that’s something of a coward’s answer. More correct to say that you can distinguish the two when there’s a long, long journey in the middle. James sighed inwardly. It would appear that talking for Glaistig Uaine for any extended period of time was pointless. He had better focus on what was to come instead of this nonsense. Getting a grip on the edge of the vessel, he sat and waited for the descent to finally end.

[ArlEammon]

Jake clenches his eyes shut and holds on with all of his power. Even his durability was being somewhat tested by all of this madness. So much change and difference in his life all at once. He made a strange sound, which was exactly the same as Doctor Zoidberg's, from Futurama. "Woo woo woo woo"!!!

[Tris]

Travis is relieved when his past lives return. He grabs on to the nearest thing he can hold onto and closes his eyes tight.

[LordChaos13]

Leaning against the bucket, cradling the cluster. her expression blank as the 5 aspects reunite and mold back the way they were

[ArlEammon]

Jake continued to hold tightly. How long was this going to take? He certainly didn't want to lose his cool and maybe get himself dead or something by opening his eyes. He felt so strange as the world seemed to change around him. Today was certainly an odd day, wasn't it?

[silphael]

Silent for a long time, Ethan reopened his eyes.

"You know, that's not because you're not hearing your souls anymore that they are away... you kinda lack sense of self control, and I mean it. Oh, and Fate... if you indeed have the power to separate ourselves, you would already be doing what you're going to ask us to do, right?"

[D20ragon]

"Shut up and let me steer," Fate snapped over the howling wind.
"I'm not a god. Some things are beyond me."

[ArlEammon]

"Oh for the love of God get this over with. . . " Jake said to no one in particular. "When the hell am I going to realize I'm not in Kansas anymore? This is like a drug induced trip that never ends!"

[D20ragon]

"You all can open your eyes now," Fate says. "we're gonna fall right past, so you'll want to depart from the bucket. I don't care how. The oracle can tell you more. I'd say I hope to see you again, but I'd be lying. I wish I didn't, but I will. See ya."

Stepping backward off the plummeting bucket, he falls through space.
"The one you want is the wooden door," he calls, before vanishing from your sight. Sure enough, what appears to be a closet door hangs some thousand feet away, slightly below you, and to the left. The distance is closing rapidly, as you plunge wildly downward, just to the left of where you need to be.

[ArlEammon]

"Oh well, I gotta do it. . . Let's get this acid trip over." Jake said, making his way to the wooden door. . . "Good by normalcy, good by life. . . good by everything. My family, my home and my past. . ." Jake said as he walked towards the door. "My mother and grandmother were kind to me, as was my grandfather. What waits behind the door, more insanity?"

[DoctorFaust]

Peering over the edge of their bucket after Fate falls off, Daniel jerks back as he sees how fast the bucket is falling. Gripping the edge, he stutters, "So, um, a-are we g-going to have to jump out to that thing?"

[ArlEammon]

Jake turns around. . . "Oh sorry, I forgot the rest of you probably don't have rocket propelled feet. . . " He turned around and picked up the bucket, attempting to safely bring it towards the door."

[3SecondCultist]

At the first moment of the bucket collapsing and the group falling towards the door, James could feel the nervous sweat begin to build. His breathing had become ragged, his eyes drawn and his mouth hanging open slightly.
Tell me, does the fundamental overthrow of everything I once knew as reality constitute a good cause for a panic attack? The question floated in the Hall, and he was somewhat surprised when Alduin was the first to answer it. The dragon's eyes - pinpoints of red in the howling dark - stared him down, always unblinking.
The rules have simply changed, joor. I know not my own purpose here, as my mission was thwarted too early. Wuldsetiid los tahrodiis. You must expect everything now! Spreading his wings, Alduin began to claw his way towards the frosted glass. Not for the first time, a cloaked figure stood in his path: Rashek.
Be careful, World-Eater. I will not have you upsetting the balance here, no matter what your errant pride says.
You do not fear me... stronger than most, I think, or more foolish. But you are still one of them, still joore. None of your puny metals can stand against my Thu'um!
Yeah, he wouldn't really be standing alone. And good luck getting anything to stick to me.
Rahyol! I am but trying to help. There is a Thu'um that could be of use here, it allows one to cross currents of space at immense speeds. It contains the prefix 'wuld' for whirlwind, and the joint suffixes 'nah' and 'kest', for fury and tempest. When chained together, it releases a powerful magic. Allow my will to guide your own. Although still apprehensive of the last interaction he had had with the ancient dragon, James opened up his consciousness to Alduin. There was an immediate rush of power, followed by a dizzying array of images and strings of what he presumed to be the dragon language. Everywhere he looked, he could see names written between the spaces. It was more than simply knowledge; it was pure truth, the barest of glimpses at the cosmic strings between the stars. It did not last. His outward expression changing in a moment between one of abject terror and fiery determination, James let loose the whirlwind Thu'um, hurling towards the door. Thankfully, there wouldn't be enough power in the Shout for him to actually collide with his target.

[Erik Vale]

One of the more silent members of your group finally does something. As soon as he's told the group needs to depart from the bucket, he just stops moving along with it, watching it fall as he walks shakily to the door his thoughts in complete turmoil. He actually mouths something.
'Let this be an acid trip like the other guy says.'
This of course stirs up the voices in his head again.

[Tris]

Travis gets out of the bucket and approaches the door. "This seems too real to be a hallucination. It even kind of seems extra real like... hyper-real or something like that."

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob walks calmly towards the door with the air of one slightly amused, but not particularly surprised, at the world around him. Despite completely ignoring gravity and physical orientation, and walking at speeds disproportionate to his gait, he arrives in a timely manner and opens the door, holding it open for the others to fall through, as is only polite. He waits for all of the others to make it through before passing through himself, keeping an eye out for anyone who looks like they might miss the target.

[Erik Vale]

As Erik arives he nods at Rob.
"Thank you."
'That's better. Not so hard now is it.'
'Leave the poor man alone. I'm shocked out of my... mind, I'm somewhat surprised he can function.'

Erik's face seems to be less pale then it has been most of the trip.

Erik
Aleandrea
Sonea
Six
Wolverine

[ArlEammon]

"So . . . uh, here it goes. . . " Jake said. . . he opened the door, stepped in for a few steps turned around and tried to make room for the others, by getting out of the way, and then he looked around himself. "So what next?"

[D20ragon]

Chapter two.
The the closet in the Well.

You appear to be standing in a large walk-in closet. Racks of clothes, some made of silk, gold, or starlight, among other, stranger fabrics. The floor is almost impossible to stand straight on. All shapes and sizes of coin slip and slide beneath your feet, along with swords, pens, gems, papers, helmets, and numerous other items. The walls are covered with pictures and tapestries, murals and doors, windows, all showing seperate views, and in the corner, in a pile of instruments and masks, a gauntlet the size of a redwood stretches to a vaulted ceiling filled with drying spices, boats, chandeliers, and too many streamers of silk and other fabric to count.
The room is long but narrow, and lit by torches and stars, candles and lightbulbs, and many swarms of fireflies.

[ArlEammon]

"Quite odd. . . " Jake noted. He made his way, searching for another place to walk to. . . Ten or more people would not fit side by side in this narrow hall. Jacob looked around. "Guys, I don't know if this back on Earth or not, but it's finally indoors and well, not floating in space, I'm happy now."

[3SecondCultist]

The floor was uneven. Odd, sometimes the first things to pop in one's head made the least sense. Alduin had long since retreated back to his snowy peak, his facsimile of Sovngarde casting an alien glow on the matte stonework. The Hall of Perception was otherwise quiet. Sylar and Rashek stood on either side of James, both staring out at the sight through the door. Ciara's eyes were closed: she was likely off in her own world somewhere.
Well, it looks like it's just the two of us with you for now. I'm sure they'll be back before too long. Raising his hand off the floor, Sylar began to make use of his most recognizable ability. James was soon hovering about a foot off of the floor, moving silently towards the closest of the windows and ignoring the menagerie of items.
It's as if these are different worlds, lying just beyond our reach.
They are. I suspect that this is a common-place, a space between the planes. I've seen one like this before... except that was was an inn. Quite a bit more rowdy than this atmosphere, if I may say so myself.
Personally, I'm a little bit fed up at the lack of answers here. I mean, Fate brought us along for a reason. The pageantry does kind of go with the territory, but there's no need to stick to the script all the way, is there?
I wonder what would happen if I were to reach out, past -
Don't! Don't touch anything if you can help it, James.
Agreed. I said that I recognized something like this, but like Alduin said, the rules are changed. Even a place like this can contain hidden dangers. I will keep burning Tin, just to make sure. Rashek's augmented Allomantic senses scoured through the spaces of the room, probing for any forms of danger.

[LordChaos13]

Erin floats an inch from the floor held aloft by her Kryptonian abilities as she examines a few of the paintings curious

[DoctorFaust]

Jumping over the edge of the bucket after Jacob reports his findings, Daniel cautiously enters the space closet. Gasping as he sees the wide array of everythings strewn on the floor and arrayed on the walls, he cautiously approaches one of the stacks of clothes, flipping through the top few and staring in wonder at their fantastic make. Noticing a particular brown trench coat, he fairly squees with excitement and pounces on it, throwing off his leather jacket and swinging it on. "Oh, man, this is just like christmas," He says, digging through one of the other piles.

Just be careful not to prick yourself on any of the bloody weapons in there.

Yes, because all we in here know exactly how annoying a little prick can be.

You know, I'm not sure if I should be offended by that, surprised that past me is almost as sarcastic as I am, or happy that Revan was just as much of a snarker as I played him to be.

You...played me? I'm almost certain that you couldn't scam me, since we are the same person, so I will just attribute this miscommunication to the time difference between our respective lives.

[Erik Vale]

Erik returns to stillness.
'I smell trap, but there is so much good stuff here.'
'Great, a klepto.'
'You try funding a battle against a god and beings quite able to destroy the world on charity, I'll stick with picking up things people leave lying around.'
'I doubt it's necessary.'
'I don't think being unecessary is a good enough reason at the moment.'
'See, wolf boy agrees with me.'
'I don't, don't call me wolf boy, which is also the wrong animal.'
'I know, but you twitch so wonderfuly. Well how about we ask our host.'
'We already know he shares that same trait with you. Which is why he's already flicking a coin through his fingers, poorly...'
'I wonder if any of this stuff is ours, what a day to be without a couple of bags of holding.'

As it was, for the most part coins flattened out in a round disk shape around Erik as he semi-hovered millimetres above most, pressing the rest down and out of the way.

[ArlEammon]

"I'm just glad that I can conjure my things instead of needing to find them again. " Jacob said. "No need for to find the Warhammer and Scythe that Orochi is fond of, they are both things I can call forth from the air as if by magic. Nevertheless, at least I can look around to see if there are any people in this weird, but welcoming place. I say welcoming, because I'm just not used to being surrounded by space."

[Tris]

Travis enters the closet, but does not touch anything. He says, "This room is wondrous and all, but I would like to find somewhere to settle down where I can have a solid grip on reality. Everything is just so confusing here. What are we supposed to do in here anyway?"

[3SecondCultist]

"I'm not sure what it is that Fate wanted to show us all here. Maybe we're supposed to find this 'oracle' that he mentioned - or maybe they're supposed to find us." James did not exactly relish either possibility. He moved away from a window displaying an astral jungle towards an empty space near the center of the space, where the others could hear his voice. He didn't know where the old entity had gone, but he had left them all somewhat adrift in here. It was strange that they hadn't seen anyone yet - a closet merited an owner, didn't it?

[silphael]

What's that place? Seems like Tellury, but not quite...

"Odd place, but I don't think we're there to just stand around..."

He begins looking for something, new clothes most probably.

[ArlEammon]

"This place reminds me about Apocrypha, that creepy place of Hermaeus Mora's in the Elder Scrolls Five." Jake said absent mindedly. "Hopefully there's no tentacle portals, or weird illithid like monsters to worry about." He continued to look around the area, but never completely seperating from the main party.

[Tris]

After nothing happens, Travis decides to poke around the place. He picks up a sword that was hanging on the wall nearby and observes it. "I've used swords before" he mutters. "I wonder If I'll be getting the Master Sword. It has been mine historically. There's also Gandalf's sword."

[ArlEammon]

"You're Link? Whoah dude? You're Gandalf? Who else are you? I'm a big fan of both of you." Jake exclaimed to Travis. "I'm glad that we have such a wise man and such a courageous man with us at the same time."

[Tris]

"It's a bit overwhelming to know that I was once, such people. My other lives are Master Pakku from Avatar and a drow named Faen. Faen can sense the emotions of others, so that's why I had to take it easy at first. I'm new to this empathy thing, and suddenly I'm in the presence of so many minds. I've gotten used to it now."

[ArlEammon]

"Well feel in luck to be the comparison to Father Christmas and Mother Theresa to my Adolph Hitler and Genghis Khan. I'm quite surprised I haven't been driven to insanity by remembering all of these people's heinous actions. It's no fun being the next life of an evil, sadistic bastard like Shao Kahn." Shao Kahn responded. "You weak, pathetic fool!" Jake winced. "SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!"

[silphael]

"Oh, as I thought, we already reached godwyn point a while ago... boy, they have done those crimes, not you. Do as you feel you should, and you'll be fine, you don't have to save their souls, they do."

Hey, I'm not THAT old...

"I know Majes whose avatars - no, not that one - were Primordial Fire. Itself. Who killed more beings than that? Primordial Plague? Wait, I think someone else had it... And before you ask, avatars are souls helping you to majyc."

After a short break, he continues :

"I guess I haven't been properly introduced : I'm Ethan, young Maje by the force of things, accompanied by Enoch, usually acting as his Avatar, Sentinel, but right now I still prefer not acting too rash... kinda went badly last time I did, Kisidan, Knight of the Ninth Circle and Commander of the Order of the High Heaven, Shield of her Majesty, empress of Abel, and Haru, Ravemaster, basically. Kinda jealous each time they do that. Kinda think I'm the weakest here, but I have the Power of Friendship!"

"Wait, what?"

[Erik Vale]

"So who exactly do we have in our heads, just trying to get everything straight? I got one Lady Sonea, Black Magician. One 'Noble Six' who still varying between quiet and chatty, one Aleandrea Datson, the last spirit eater, and Wolverine."
'What, no special intro for me?'
'Do you need one?'

[ArlEammon]

"Apocalypse, Orochi, Lavos, and Shao Kahn, I'm afraid. Well now, this is awkward meeting Link and Gandalf. . . It's not the meeting I would have expected if I had known you guys were real, of course, I had no idea I would be someone other than who I am either."

[3SecondCultist]

"I-I don't feel the need to explain myself to you. And I've introduced myself already, back on the flying craft. But as you all know, Sylar is among those in my head right now." The two incarnations flanking him within were quiet, letting James do the talking for now. Apparently, they had better things to be doing: Rashek's sweep of the room extended through and beyond his own senses. He could feel the tin coursing through the phantom Allomantic tract inside of him. Had he ingested the alloy while he was sleeping? No, he had already had the solution within his body somewhere, hidden away for when he would need it... for when the incarnations were woken up. It took a moment for the full implications of that thought to sink in.
Wait. You said that there is history here. The two of you obviously remember or know each other, despite coming from entirely different universes. Whatever is happening right now, it's become clear to me that my own body was somehow prepared for all of this without my knowledge. Would you care to explain any of this?
Not really, no. I mean, I could. But watching you scrabble pitifully around in the dark for answers is just so much more fun, isn't it? Don't take this the wrong way, but despite our helping you out, we have a vested interest in maintaining some agency over our own lives. And the more you know about the past, the more at-risk that freedom, that agency becomes. Better to just leave it alone.
There is a lot you do not know about this history, about recurrence. It is the simple law of all universes that the status quo is always changing, a fact which is in itself unchangeable. For every eternal god in every 'fictional' world you show me, I shall point to their inestimably temporal creator. Nothing is fixed, do you understand? Fate and all the rest, they may be bound by some esoteric rule, but the rule itself must be accountable to circumstance, otherwise it is meaningless. It is by our actions that the words 'right' and 'wrong' are defined in the first place. All of this is to say that Gabriel and I are refusing to give you more information about your past than is necessary for your immediate well being. We choose what we believe to be right. Can you accept that, James? There was a pause in the chamber as both figures stopped what they were doing to wait for his answer.
Well, I can't say that I'm thrilled about the two of you actively keeping things from me, but I'll keep quiet for now. Still somewhat irritated, James turned away from the rest of the group to explore a particular nook that had caught his eye. Maybe he could distract himself from the raging catastrophe that his life had become.

[DoctorFaust]

As Daniel trudges over the piles of coins and assorted weaponry while most of the rest of the group levitate over the difficult terrain, he manages to close the gap between them and himself enough to overhear the end of the Erik talking. Bowing formally to introduce himself, he says, "Matrim Cauthon, the Prince of Ravens, Knotai of the Seanchan armies, Marshal-General of the Band of the Red Hand, the man who overcame the taint of Shadar Logoth and lived, ta'veren, first blower of the Horn of Valere in my cycle, the Son of Battles, the One-Eyed Fool, and the owner of a very nice hat that I happened to buy off of a Forsworn by accident. Diarmuid of the Love-Spot, lover of Gráinne, wielder of the great and little furies, slayer of 2400 men in single combat, owner of Gae Dearg and Gae Buidhe, savior of the Fianna. Revan, the former Lord of the Sith, the Prodigal Knight, husband of Bastilla Shan, ally of Mandalore the Preserver, slayer of Mandalore the Ultimate, twice master of the Star Forge, and the man who fought the Sith Emperor to a draw and inspired Darth Bane, to my regret. Sanya, wielder of esperacchius, Knight of the Cross, wielder of the Coin of Magog, thrower-away of the Coin of Magog, descendant of the great king Saladin, and a very good swordsman. They're also all kinda braggarts on occasion if you couldn't tell," his voice cracking from time to time as his personae shifts.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob takes one last look around to see if there's anyone left who hasn't made it through the door yet. Introductions are starting inside, and he wants to make sure he's in time for a stylish entrance and introduction of his own.

[Tris]

"Well, I am Master Pakku, a master waterbender and teacher of Avatar Aang and his waterbending teacher Master Katara, Link, the Hero of Hyrule among many other titles I have gained throughout my lifetimes. I wield the Master Sword to fight whatever evil threatens the land, Gandalf the White, formerly Gandalf the Gray, one of the Istari, wielder of who guided the Ring-bearer on his quest to destroy the One Ring, Faen'arae Val'Sullisin'rune, a drow empath, daughter of Ash'waren Val'Sullisin'rune, and friend of Ariel Val'Sarghress."

[ArlEammon]

"Gee, you guys are just talking about what you do as well as who you are, so I guess I should reciprocate. Apocalypse can pull Mutant powers out of every orifice, metaphorically speaking, since he has total control over his molecular structure. In addition, he has intelligence that is only lesser to Reed Richards and a few Super Humans on Earth. . . and he is absurdly durable and hard to damage, and impossible to permanently kill. Impossible, that is, until he finally made the wrong people angry at him . . .I"m getting glimpses in my memory about him being in an argument with the Avengers."

"Then there's Orochi. He united all of China and Japan from centuries apart in order to cause a war that could finally find someone potentially strong enough to defeat him in combat. Keiji Meida, Honda Tadakatsu and Lu Bu all had to fight him at once, and if I remembered right, it still wasn't quite enough. Nevertheless, he was finally defeated by the combined forces of the three great Japanese Clans, the Three Kingdoms, Jin and the Mystic Realm."

"Orochi is capable of magical attacks, although his greatest power is his ability to just fight so incredibly well."

"Lavos was a creature that destroyed the planet's surface after winning a nuclear exchange with the world's countries. He has an outer shell that is highly durable, and has an eeeery roar that comes straight out of a horror movie. His presence is so powerful that me just existing might be causing some strange space time distortion I don't know about. . . and he was the source of magic for the Kingdom of Zeal. He has a plethora of powers I can't even list."

"Finally, we have Shao Kahn, who tore the living souls out of the entire Planet Earth one time, leaving few survivors to fight with him. He is both a sorcerer and a mighty warlord. He is equal with all the greatest Mortal Kombat warriors, but he is also cunning. He can conjure magical weapons from the air, and he has super human strength, being able to kill most opponents with his great Wrath Hammer. A warhammer wielded with two hands."

[silphael]

"If he's there, that means he didn't, as he died : he just destroyed the age of magic, not the world."

[ArlEammon]

"I'm sorry, it's been a while since I've played Chrono Trigger. I thought they fired nuclear missiles at him or something." Jacob replied. "Anyway, yeah. . . the temporal space stuff is messing with my head."

[ArlEammon]

"Well people I'm sorry I wish we could stay and chat but I"m nervous being in a weird dimension other than Earth. . . I've got to keep going, there are two massive doors at the end of the Hall, I'm going. . ."

[Erik Vale]

"A way out? Good, let's go."

[ArlEammon]

Jacob opened the doors, the massive doors and went through them. . .looking around, it was time for him to make way in the entrance once more and see what was going on, if anything, and how the surroundings differed from where they came. He was almost expecting to see their new host, Cthulhu inviting them to sit down with them for tea.

OOC:
((Cthulhu is not actually there. Jacob is musing in a sarcastic way inside his head)).

[D20ragon]

A small woman sits at a cluttered table, drinking tea. Several seats surround the table, but all are piled high with books, dried flowers, bones, jewels, papers, teabags, and several open fires. Even the chair the woman sits on is stacked high with books. As you enter, she turns and grins at you. You recoil in shock. Her face is a clock, the hands running around it, pointing to half past twelve, in neat roman numerals painted on the rim of her face. She wears a red silk riding jacket, and glasses on a silver chain. Wings composed leaves, all in various seasonal colors sprout from her back.

Welcome dears! she says, a happy smile breaking out on her face.
I do hope Fate wasn't to rough with you? He did at least show you the well? Oh! I suppose you all have so many questions. I will try to answer all of them. My name is Time, though I'm callled the oracle.

[Sen isSaqqara]

Rob strolls past Jacob into the new room, having shut the outer door behind him. looking sround the room, he bows to mask the slight surprise on his face at the visage of their new host. Huh. Never seen that one before.

"Rob Desaqqara, at your service. We've had no real trouble on the way here, but I thank you for your concern nonetheless." He moves to the side to allow the others to introduce themselves, though privately he doubts that it is really neccessary.

[Erik Vale]

"Sure. How about why are we here, and I don't mean here here, just here."
Erik's words are almost grumpy as he walks through the door.

[ArlEammon]

Good evening, or whatever "time" it is. Oracle, or Time, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am afraid that I'm a little surprised to see you. I had never thought that I would see the day when I was proven to that magic, reincarnation, and fictional characters were all real at the same time, and that I was some kind of monster. I am glad that I could take part in some kind of adventure, even if I had to take part in it during a most inconvenient moment in time."

[silphael]

Grabbing a chair - he somehow managed to find an empty one - to sit, Ethan added :

"At least you hadn't asked "when?" , the answer would have been far more complicated. Jacob, which "magic" are you talking about, by the way? We have like... 5 or more different ways of it to work here."

"Err, sorry, did I interrupt something?"