Home 27: Ward-bound

[Ironsmith]

Fort Aegis Resort

Sam double-shrugs.
”It can shift into a bigger shape when I need it, generate fires or ice, or light bright enough to burn. Speed up healing, that sort of thing. I’m not great at all of it. Alysha just told me it’s powered by strength of heart and the power of friendship. Which is to say that I have absolutely no idea. Unlike this body of mine, it didn’t come with diagrams.”
Which is unfortunate as a manual would have been really helpful.

[Fort Aegis Resort]

There's that excited burble in the back of Eun's head at the mention of diagrams, though at this point she can't tell what part of her brain that's coming from (or even if it's coming from her at all). "Um... yeah. I mean, Saturday morning cartoons aside, strength of heart and the power of friendship kind of are real things, but not something you can attach a turbine to." She agrees, adjusting her glasses. "And as for the myriad of abilities you just described... independently, I could see a mechanism for each of those, though 'light that burns' brings to mind gamma radiation, so..." She reddens. "I really hope I'm wrong about that. And, uh... getting all of those in the same piece of tech would be a chal-..."

Eun sighs and shakes her head.

"Yeah, I know, magic." She mutters, in a tone that implies she's getting really sick of that being the answer for seemingly everything around here.

[Morty]

[Underside Tunnels]

Brinika can't help but recoil away from Arthfael, covering her nose with her hand.

"...I didn't expect it'd be this bad. Sorry, Arthfael, we shouldn't have taken this route."

"Are you kids okay back there?" the driver asks, turning around from her seat in front of the rockamander.

[Earl of Purple]

Underside Tunnels

"Do you want to swap, Arthfael? Sit here, maybe? I can't see the river over this side, so you'll be further from the water." Cheasadh offers, and hands over the bucket. She'll partly stand, ready and willing to move if it makes the vampire more comfortable.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

Well, it's complicated. There's an area near a tall object where lightning will 'prefer' to strike it and not you. But then the electricity can snap to anything near where its target connects with the ground. So close to a tree, but not too close.

Anyway, the lightning here doesn't work by electrodynamics. It works by the nightmare's intuition as to how lightning works. And a little bit by Mist's own uncertainty.
The tree downright explodes, sending fragments of burning wood this way and that, and a fairly small jolt goes through the fox.

The song, well, it's a bit complicated for the nightmare to follow, so it's back in a neutral posture, searching for an angle of attack.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis Resort

"None of my spells have horrific collateral damage. I promise." Sam assures her.
"Do you want to hold it? You can't keep it; it picked me. Well, both of me. But you can hold it for a little bit." he offers. It's probably not going to enlighten her at all, but hey, maybe it will make her feel better.

Dreaming Fox Inn

Mist makes a rather high-pitched noise as he's zapped. He's going to feel that in the morning. Maybe? If he wasn't dreaming he would wonder if his pain transfers to his true self. Clearly this is not sustainable. Mist comes out from behind the tree, again harnessing his Ring. He hasn't had it long enough to be subtle. He just plays his song, of peace. Understanding. The Ring is a symbol all understand. Even nightmares. Probably.
"I've stung you, and you me. Is that not enough blood for the day? Are you sure you wouldn't rather discuss it?" he asks, before playing another section.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

All who have a will of their own understand the Ring.

Peace and understanding are poison to the nightmare thing. What you understand is rarely still fearsome; if you are at peace you do not feel the grip of terror on you-
It withers and cracks to listen to it.
But it still understands. It is still drawn to it. Perhaps it is right for a flawed person like who it was to wither away.

The flames spread to other trees, and a different scene appears through the smoke. Betrayal upon betrayal upon betrayal, a village burning, people abandoned to it. The scene pulses in and out in time with the music.

With difficulty the monster lifts its hand and the flames move to encircle the fox.
No, upon consideration it has not had enough blood.
But it did have to consider. It is tempted.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

Mist does not stop merely because of the flames. His knees shake a little but he doesn't run. He keeps playing.
"And are you sure you would rather not share your pains? To hurt me would make new pain, but sharing yours might lessen them a little." he offers. The memory in the smoke is a show of thought he latches onto. Showing the brass man empathy and aid helped him. It is Mist's way to try again.

[Gullara]

Suncrest Manor

”Mm, love you,” is all Eliseo gets in a sleepy response as the kitsune turns back towards him and nuzzles her face into his shoulder. She wraps an arm round Eliseo and pulls herself close, snuggling her body up tight against him - and finally, she begins to have some of the sweetest dreams she’s had in these past two months.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Love you too." Eliseo replies, smiling to himself, as he closes his eyes and falls asleep himself soon after.

Surely no ill fate could befall these kids.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Kid, get your ass out of bed."

Is what they're awakened by followed by a series of knocks.

[Arkhosia]

Suncrest Manor

Ana doesn't get up at the first knock, but she does drift awake in time to hear Irena's voice on the other side of the door - which is enough to startle her fully awake. She jolts up in bed, disturbing the covers. "Psst - El!" She hisses, trying to shake him awake if he's not already. She'll wait for him to tell her what to do if he stirs - but if he doesn't, she'll try to improvise.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Eliseo starts awake, but it takes his a second to get oriented. "Uh, yeah one second!" He starts climbing out of bed in his haste, but disoriented he messes up his footing and takes a tumble to the floor with a yelp.

[Ironsmith]

Fort Aegis Resort

"None of my spells have horrific collateral damage. I promise." Sam assures her.
"Do you want to hold it? You can't keep it; it picked me. Well, both of me. But you can hold it for a little bit." he offers. It's probably not going to enlighten her at all, but hey, maybe it will make her feel better.

[Fort Aegis Resort]

There it is again.

That unidentifiable burble that is either a seeq rolling around in her head, or her own limbic system lighting up as she becomes aware of the potential innuendo. Possibly both.

"I, um..." Eun stammers, neither willing to accept his offer and hold a potentially dangerous device in her hands without a much more comprehensive safety briefing, nor to turn him down and miss the chance to examine it up close, not to mention disappoint him.

...

Screw it. She's taking plenty of risks today. What's one more?

Eun holds out her hands in front of her, in just the right positions to hold the keyblade for herself.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis Resort

Eun might be vastly overestimating how dirty Buhan's mind is. Sam would entirely blank on how that's an innuendo if it was brought up to him.
Eun gets to hold a super magical weapon! It just sits there. Doing nothing.
Though while it behaves if she just wants to hold it, if she tries to swing it or really do anything with it, it'll vanish immediately back to Sam's hand.

[Ironsmith]

[Fort Aegis Resort]

"...Huh. It's, um... it's lighter than I expected." Eun comments as she runs her fingers along the edge of the weapon, idly wondering if it could really be sharp despite its appearance; properly speaking, it seems to her more like a fancy club than a "blade", all things considered.

Then again, she is dealing with magic...

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

The door is gleaned open and Irena peeks inside. "Need any help there, kid?" She remarks with a mocking grin.

She show no signs of having spotted Ana... yet.
Though her player doesn't know the exact layout of the room so it may only be a question of time.

[Arkhosia]

Suncrest Manor

Anastasia stifles a startled noise as she turns away only to hear Eliseo hit the floor. Oh no! Did he get anything tangled up in the sheets? There’s not anything broken is there?? These concerns are enough for her to hesitate for a second, having to bite back her instinct to go over and help instead of what she was already about to do.

When Irena peeks through the door, she might hear the soft shh of sheets being disturbed and a soft thump. Ana hops off the bed in her fox form and tries to shimmy right under it, wiggling her back half underneath and flattening herself as best she can. Now she just needs to hope she won’t have to hold focus too long to maintain this - and that Irena didn’t catch a glimpse of one of her tails the moment before she remembered to pull them in with her.

[Rebonack]

[Underside Tunnels]

Wow.

Arthfael is really going overtime to make this trip as memorable as possible isn't he?

Khannie makes an urp sound and covers her nose.

That smell is totally gross.

"You could have told us just being near water makes you sick."

But wait.

He was at that beach party.

And he was totally fine there.

What's the difference between ocean water and river water, anyway?

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

Mist does not stop merely because of the flames. His knees shake a little but he doesn't run. He keeps playing.
"And are you sure you would rather not share your pains? To hurt me would make new pain, but sharing yours might lessen them a little." he offers. The memory in the smoke is a show of thought he latches onto. Showing the brass man empathy and aid helped him. It is Mist's way to try again.

It is absolutely impossible for this work, that this entity of fear and torment should find a comforting ear and actually have its pains lessened.
Of course, in a dream, something being impossible doesn't have to stop it happening.

The flames do not recede, but they stop spreading, and become...less important.
In the smoke drift bits of other scenes.
- A figure with the same spar as the nightmare, more beast than man, makes a deal; this village he will let go and not protect.
- Others turn silent around him on the ways and streets. Do they suspect? Do they know?
- The fellow leaders thought and acted as he did, and now all are set against each others, their little society riven by conspiracies.
- There are no good signs left of the winds. Only doom coming from all directions.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

Mist nods gravely at the scenes. They do not paint a hopeful picture.
”I see. This did not end well, did it? It seems that grave mistakes were made. But you have been here a long time like this, haven’t you? From the way it looks people suffered greatly. But you needn’t stay here for all time screaming into the void. Surely there’s something else for you?” if this wasn’t a dream Mist would probably be questioning what and who he’s actually speaking to to know what else it could be doing.

Fort Aegis Resort

"Heh. Lots of people say that. Until they've been swinging a weapon around for an hour. Fighting sucks." Sam doesn't like it much at all.
The sides of the weapon do actually have an edge, its geometry not unlike that of an axe blade. Not a razor, but certainly can cut.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

No, it did not end well.
Grave mistakes were made.
People did suffer greatly.
It hasn't been all that long, for all that it feels like forever.

But...perhaps...there is something more productive to be done? Yes, in the city on the water, and on the dark of the moon, aren't there better things to scream at? More worthy targets to destroy?
Yes, there are, aren't there?
The monster gathers the flames around it like a shawl and rises up, looking off to the south.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

No no no! Don't you realize that it won't make anything better? Didn't sharing make you feel better? Time itself does not bring absolution, but maybe you could do something to help. Isn't there something you could do to fix some of the problems? I could help you do it. Even do it for you, if you can't leave here." Mist plays a bit more of his flute. Peace. Doesn't that sound nice? And not murder?

[Ironsmith]

[Underside Tunnels]

Brinika can't help but recoil away from Arthfael, covering her nose with her hand.

"...I didn't expect it'd be this bad. Sorry, Arthfael, we shouldn't have taken this route."

"Are you kids okay back there?" the driver asks, turning around from her seat in front of the rockamander.

Underside Tunnels

"Do you want to swap, Arthfael? Sit here, maybe? I can't see the river over this side, so you'll be further from the water." Cheasadh offers, and hands over the bucket. She'll partly stand, ready and willing to move if it makes the vampire more comfortable.

[Underside Tunnels]

Wow.

Arthfael is really going overtime to make this trip as memorable as possible isn't he?

Khannie makes an urp sound and covers her nose.

That smell is totally gross.

"You could have told us just being near water makes you sick."

But wait.

He was at that beach party.

And he was totally fine there.

What's the difference between ocean water and river water, anyway?

[Underside Tunnels]

"I told you I have a problem with running water." Arthfael replies defensively, wiping his mouth on his forearm. "I'm... I'm fine if I can't tell it's there, or if it's relatively calm, but an underground river is... is just..."

He clamps his hand over his mouth again, a pulse running down his throat as he holds back another round of vomit.

"...I swear, I didn't think I was going to hurl." He adds through his fingers. "Normally, I just get a really bad case of the shakes. I don't..."

He trails off and stares at the ceiling, covering one ear with his other hand and trying to bury the other in his shoulder. Please let them be on the far side of the river soon.

Fort Aegis Resort

"Heh. Lots of people say that. Until they've been swinging a weapon around for an hour. Fighting sucks." Sam doesn't like it much at all.
The sides of the weapon do actually have an edge, its geometry not unlike that of an axe blade. Not a razor, but certainly can cut.

[Fort Aegis Resort]

There it is.

Eun runs her fingers along the edge of the weapon, nodding to herself. "Sharp" maybe wasn't the word to describe it, but the use of a narrow wedge combined with the weight of the blade itself would make it an effective tool for chopping something up. Finally, something about this thing that made sense.

"...I imagine it would get tiresome to use for an extended period, yes." She quietly confirms, holding it back out to Sam. As certain as she is that it'll end up back in his hands anyway, due to some unseen and archane mechanism, going through the trouble of returning it seems only polite. "How did you get it, exactly? What do you mean when you say it chose you?"

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

No no no! Don't you realize that it won't make anything better? Didn't sharing make you feel better? Time itself does not bring absolution, but maybe you could do something to help. Isn't there something you could do to fix some of the problems? I could help you do it. Even do it for you, if you can't leave here." Mist plays a bit more of his flute. Peace. Doesn't that sound nice? And not murder?

In the cloak of flames Mist glimpses...the same things he saw in the orb, back when he was awake. The movement of clouds, the running of herds - things were peaceful then.
The nightmare seems to get a bit more solid. But in the end, isn't it just a dream? What can it accomplish?

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

”Dreams can be powerful things.” Mist says as he slowly approaches the nightmare.
”And if your power is wanting, I did promise you could entrust your wish to me. I can try.” If any of those people are left, perhaps Mist could do something for them?
He gets closer. If the nightmare allows him to touch it he will reach out, drawing on his Mask to try to pull out the Aspect of who the nightmare was before it was fear and hate. He pulled Message out of Leah with it once, surely it can work on whatever it is.

Fort Aegis Resort

”Like I said, near death experience. Buncha nasty monsters. My other sword didn’t work on them well. Just came to my hand. Same thing happened to other Me. Only it’s the same one, so we can’t have it at the same time. That’s how we know we’re the same. These things don’t listen to multiple people at once but here we are.”
At least they shouldn’t. Alysha did admit no rules concerning them are concrete.

[An Unspecified Park -> A Spooky Mansion]

"Great. I'd crouch for this; less likely to fall over."

There is the feeling of the world shifting around him again, but this time it is a very literal feeling. The fog violently swirls like a maelstrom and the ground itself seems to lurch upwards into a low grade hill.
Afterwards, the fog seems to simply fade away as if it were never there.

Not that it especially helps the atmosphere of where he suddenly finds himself.

In addition to now standing on a slight incline, Henry appears to be in the middle of a yard populated by knee-height, nearly-black-it's-so-dark grass, with a tall, metal fence that seems to have been entirely constructed out of jagged spears tied together by other, loopier spears, all of it underneath a deeply overcast sky that strongly implies dreary rain at any given moment.

Oh, and the rather gothic, three-story manor at the top of the hill.
Shouldn't forget that.

There's a little cobble path over there, that leads right up to its spans-the-entire-front-of-the-building wooden porch, and a set of double doors armed with stained glass windows.
Said stained glass windows seem to depict a serpent or dragon strangling and eating a knight.

Spooky Mansion

And now Henry is fenced into someone's yard! Great. Clearly he was summoned somehow by the voice.
Well. This might as well happen. He probably shouldn't anger the weirdo powerful enough to just summon him from far away.
Henry walks straight up to the door and knocks.
"Uh, I think you called?" he says aloud.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Spooky Mansion]

As the door before Henry swings open, a familiar voice can be heard from further within.
"Hah! I can't believe that worked without leaving half his organs in the park."

He still can't really see who it is though, given that the entirety of the door frame seems to be filled with hanging strings of beads. They're not beads, they're teeth.

There is also an incredibly thin man standing there, too. Incredibly thing. His shoulders are about as wide as Henry's face.
One has to imagine there's a lot of biological issues with being this thin, given that his various limbs don't seem thick enough to even support the bones they hopefully contain, but he seems otherwise healthy enough.

There's a rather skeptical look on his aggressively bearded face (Henry can only make out a set of blue eyes in the mass of brown hair sprouting out of literally every part of his head), while literally pencil-thin fingers seem to nervously pick at his (rather too short for his arms) green sweatshirt. Despite being a rather warm day, he is also equipped with sweat pants and (weirdly normal-sized) snow boots.
"Henry, huh?"

His voice is several octaves too low for his body.

[Deathkeeper]

A Spooky Mansion

”I’m rather fond of my organs.” he grumbles, but Henry tries to get over what is hopefully a turn of phrase and look at the…gentleman in front of him.
”uh, yeah. That’s me. Did you guys call? Because it seemed like you got the wrong number so I can just go if that’s the case…”

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

The monster is still, conflicted. It allows Mist to get close enough to touch it, it's color becoming somehow at once darker and paler, less intensely what it is. And the last vision in the flames is some last few people, leaving once and for all, to go somewhere safer. It does not know if there is still anyone to help, but it shows Mist a place - though in the dream it seems nonsense, upon waking it may well still be there, and now sensible.

The nightmare has always been a nightmare. There is no core of something else to bring to the surface. But there is a sort of potential, fear not for the sake of fear, but for the reaction to fear. The flames begin to fade away, for it matters not what terror first wrought the nightmare.
The person it sprung from is dead. Not the sort of dead from which things return. Not the sort of dead that leaves much behind. But there is something, a sense of running free, of excitement and wonder...at once very close and not here at all. Mist feels that he might have to break something to pull out this Aspect, as in many ways it doesn't belong here. But he could do it.

[Chaotic Bob]

[A Spooky Mansion]

"...huh."
There is an awkward moment of nothing after this statement.

And then the man is going to more awkwardly try to hug him.
"Welcome home, bro."

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

Mist can’t say why exactly he pulls. Perhaps he does so because he feels like he can lay the nightmare to rest if he does so. Perhaps he is enticed by that strange sense of freedom he can nearly taste as he reaches for it.
But for whatever reason, he does pull.

Spooky Mansion

Wow Henry doesn’t know how to respond to that. He just kind of…slowly closes his arms to return the hug.
”Um. Bro?” he squeaks.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

The door is gleaned open and Irena peeks inside. "Need any help there, kid?" She remarks with a mocking grin.

She show no signs of having spotted Ana... yet.
Though her player doesn't know the exact layout of the room so it may only be a question of time.

Suncrest Manor

Anastasia stifles a startled noise as she turns away only to hear Eliseo hit the floor. Oh no! Did he get anything tangled up in the sheets? There’s not anything broken is there?? These concerns are enough for her to hesitate for a second, having to bite back her instinct to go over and help instead of what she was already about to do.

When Irena peeks through the door, she might hear the soft shh of sheets being disturbed and a soft thump. Ana hops off the bed in her fox form and tries to shimmy right under it, wiggling her back half underneath and flattening herself as best she can. Now she just needs to hope she won’t have to hold focus too long to maintain this - and that Irena didn’t catch a glimpse of one of her tails the moment before she remembered to pull them in with her.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Uhh, don't come in! I'm naked!" He shouts too late and to no avail. Naked is a bit of an exaggeration, given he's just in his underwear. He shoots a glance toward the rapidly vacated bed before looking back at the door. He rubs his knee. Looks like he bashed it on the floor pretty good.