[Nexus] Inside 38

[Rebonack]

[Philip Memorial Library]

The shambling sound stops.

If there had ever really been a shambling sound at all.

The library continues to be vaguely foreboding as the girl reads, but now that she isn't thinking about it the place isn't nearly so bad. Maybe it reacts to the reader's fears somehow? That might explain a few things.

Anywho!

She should be able to finish her reading without further harassment.

Every now and again the Librarian will stop by to make sure she isn't being eaten by any of the more voracious books. That's a real hazard here given that they do that sometimes.

[Bombed Out Zone]

The cow-spirit gets exploded on! The ghouls don't prove to be terribly durable things. Though they're still terribly terrible. Quite a few get blown up by the energy blast and unless the spirit poofs when it dies they'll begin feasting on it.

More of the things are swarming out of the super-market.

And even more are swarming out of a shopping center behind our heroes. And the term heroes is used loosely here.

Amil gives a rather feral sounding snarl as her Swarm Cannon whirs to life and begins hurling... well... swarms of acid-filled grubs into the ghoul ranks. The weapon is cutting a pretty thick swath into the incoming ghouls, but more just keep pouring out of pretty much everywhere.

After a few moments of this she concludes that this solution isn't going to work and decides to try something crazy instead! Her weapon-arms split apart as her body begins to undergo a rapid and radical metamorphosis.

"This will take a little while, but I can probably get us out of here. Maybe. I've only been able to practice flying a few times though I'm confidant that I can do so without crashing."

"Yer doin' it again," Howard points out. "That thing werein yah say ya ain't got any idear what yer doin'"

The ghouls are coming!

Thankfully they're only coming at a slow shamble.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Streets]

Jakus says, "Mostly just what kind of person you are. For example, me summed up is big, strong, won't work when I don't have to, tries to be nice most of the time, and can't stand idiots."

"Hmm... Well, I think me in a nutshell would be fast, good at climbing, too quick to get angry, tries to help out if I can, and, like you, can't handle idiots."

[PurityIcekiller]

[Abrajin's Library]

Xalicus soon decided that getting the heck out of there was a good idea. He ran back to the way he came in. "Maybe I should have picked infinity instead."

[UncleWolf]

Masks Temple

The leader of the Masks rests next to her, looking her over with a bit of concern. "What happened then? Is there anything I can do to help?"

[The Alexandrian]

[Yellow Zone - Vegas Style Wedding Chapel]

Spoiler

Show

Yellow Zone - Vegas Style Wedding Chapel
"Just focus on my cookie smelling chest and you'll be okay."
He went over and signed up and then went to go grab a seat, all while still carrying Clarissa.

Exercise your restraint, Clarissa! I know that you can go for five minutes without eating something! I have faith in you!

...

Had. Had faith in you.

Clarissa begins to squirm about in Dave's arms. It might get harder and harder to keep a firm hold on her. She seems to be getting slipperier and slipperier.

"Are you-a ready to start the ser-vice?"

Dave might want to tell "Elvis" to skip right to the end or there may be no end.

-----
[Lester's Saloon]

Without any further ceremony, Percilia-prime marches into the middle of the bar! Mister C might immediately find himself engulfed in a cloud of cigar smoke and air permeated by the scent of cheap licquor. Splintery tables are scattered about the room. A bar is likely located in that explosion of smoke to the left. Percilia-prime walks to a dirty table in the corner of the room and sits down.

"He'll be here in a *cough* *cough* *cough* moment. Can you put up with these...conditions until then?"

Percilia-prime inquires. She's coughing up a storm. It is evident that she is no smoker and is fairly uncomfortable in this sort of environment.

[Zefir]

Corridor of Nothing

Legion hurries after the man, stopping short at the sight of the cell. Okay, on your toes. You had a plan for this. Look at the ceiling, then look down at the girl slowly. Eyes on her face. Nowhere else. Here we go.

Provided there's no problem, Legion gives a sigh of relief and asks hesitantly, "What were They when They were one?" There's a couple stops and starts, but she gets it right. That's what counts here.

The woman stands up. Her eyes focus yours and the tatoo on her nacked body shines to bright like it says 'look at me'.

"It will be wonderful..." she beginns to tell you details you never thought of and she discribes how each Object fits in it. In this euphoria her voice seems to change like several personalitys A normal voice speaking clear and serious. A higher voice which speaks about death pain and nightmares and at last a deeper voice which ever came up when the Objects where need to discribed.

[Murkus]

Corridor of Nothing

Legion doesn't dare to look down. She almost hates to keep her eyes on the Holder's face, or her moving mouth. The Lady stands stock-still for what could be eons, stance rigid, arms pressed close to her sides. She nearly takes her eyes off the woman once or twice, but catches herself before that happens. Just wait. Wait and listen, no matter how bad (or good) it gets.

The answer itself proves... interesting. Despite the agony coursing through the Holder's words, all Legion feels is fascination and sheer ecstacy. It was amazing how little she knew about the Objects, and how much she would know now.

Quietly, hungrily, Legion waits for the Holder to finish. Her body smoothes out, and a hand falls to the hilt of the sword at her waist. With what she now understood, that Object seemed all the more appealing. Just... don't... look...

[Mindfreak]

Yellow Zone - VSWC
"Finish up in 10 seconds and there will be an extra hundred in it for you." Dave said as he got up. He kept Clarissa firmly in his arms despite her squirming.

[The Alexandrian]

[Yellow Zone - VSWC]

"Bythepowerinvestedinme,Inowpronounceyoutwohitched inspiteofthefactthatoneofyoumayormaynotwanttobemar ried!"

"Elvis" must have been a caller for an auction house before he took this job!

Clarissa continues to squirm. She's sorta starting to growl at this point in a very predatorial manner.

"Youmaynowkissthebride!"

"Elvis" shouts as he flicks a camera out of his pocket, flips it around, and prepares to snap a picure of the couple as they kiss.

[Mindfreak]

Yellow Zone - VSWC
Clarissa might feel Dave's arm move away from her legs and him shifting her weight onto his other arm for a brief second as he unsheathed his Wedding Katana and sliced through Elvis' camera. Or maybe not if he was one of his old ninja buddies and could stop it. He then sheathed his katana and returned his arm back underneath Clarissa's legs, all in a second. He then bent down to kiss her. Though she might have taken the second his arm was away to leap out of his arms.

[happyturtle]

[Temple of Cunningham]

"Umm..." where do they live, exactly? The last few days Ibby had been sleeping perched up in the rafters of Trog's with his head stuffed under his wing. Does that count as a home? "I don't think so... I just made some friends at the orphanage when all the scary starspawn where doing bad stuff around the city. And then the other day a Lego golem attacked Trog's and it got broke and I collected a bunch of Legos."

He pulls of his backpack and brandishes it.

The pack makes that clanking sound Legos make when shaken around.

"And I wanted to share some of them with my friends."

"Aye, lad, I can take you there. But can you tell me where your parents are?" Elder Cooke asks.

[Temple of Cunningham]

The unnamed, unexplained girl carefully takes a seat, taking off her coat and placing it somewhere its mud will be less offensive. Underneath, she's wearing a tattered but much less dirty white tank top, which leaves her arms bare.

Seems she has a small number tattooed on her upper left arm. Somewhat more importantly, her arms are just as bony as the rest of her. She's definitely a bit malnourished, and eats with a will to prove it. Eventually though she manages to eat as much as she can hold for the moment, and drops her head onto the table- not really intending to sleep there, but resting her head nonetheless, while her eyes rove the room around her.

"So, um... who are you?" She asks directly.

"I'm Pastor Ellen, dear. You can tell me who you are, or I can put you into some clean clothes and tuck you into a nice warm bed and we can talk after you've gotten some rest." she says, in a kindly tone. "I'm sure I have some of Sissy's old clothes around here somewhere. They'll be too big on you, but they'll do for now."

[The Alexandrian]

[Yellow Zone - VSWC]

Elvis's camera gets choppity-chopped! It fizzles and pops for a moment before dying completely.

"That was uncalled for, man!"

"Elvis" angrily shouts!

Meanwhile, Clarissa is kissed as she is harmlessly violently flailing about! Dave might get the feeling that Clarissa is about to change from her Valaira form to her Clarissa form! She must be fed, one way or another!

[Rebonack]

[Outside the Temple of Cunningham]

"Where? Umm..." Ibby glances over his shoulder toward the norther end of the city. There's still a bit of a hill over there, a loooong hill stretching from the sea to the mountains in the distance. Given the Nexus' weird habit of covering up bodies K'rax has been almost completely obscured by earth and plant growth by now, but many obsidian trees are still poking out of the ground.

"Mother is sleeping over there. Father is trying to figure out how to wake her up again," the boy explains. "Mother fell asleep once the stars weren't right anymore."

And now she's sleeping soundly.

Or at least as soundly as a terrorhorror can.

"It would be nice if you could take me to the orphanage. I've missed my friends."

[Mindfreak]

Yellow Zone - VSWC
Dave tosses a wad of $1s to Elvis guy.
"Here's $300, enough for a new camera. Now
I suggest you run."
He takes out a dinosaur meat sandwich and tries to hand it to her to see if it might calm her down.

[The Alexandrian]

[Yellow Zone - VSWC]

"Why would I run away when you just ruined my-"

"Elvis" furiously shouts before a wad of cash is tossed in his direction. He picks up the money and jogs out the glass double doors at a slow pace (which is another way of saying the as fast as he can). "Elvis" is quite out of shape, isn't he?

Clarissa greedily ravenously devours the sandwich. Hopefully Dave was not foolish enough to hold onto the sandwich after Clarissa sunk her teeth into the tantalizing treat. If Dave did, then he might find Clarissa inadvertently biting at his hand. If she manages to bite Dave's hand, her canines might draw blood. If her canines draw blood...let's just say that Dave won't find the experience very pleasant. Neither will anyone even remotely close to the chapel.

[AmberVael]

[Abrajin's Library]

It's possible that the infinity room would be a better choice. It's also possible that the room will drive him mad the moment he enters. But hey, sometimes madness is good, right?

...maybe?


[Philip Memorial Library]

It doesn't take too long for the girl to find everything she needs and... read it, apparently. Maybe she's taking pictures with her eyes? It's kind of weird and unexplained. Eventually she finishes and goes to head out of the library, mission accomplished.


[Temple of Cunningham]

"I'm... Aleph." She says, as if trying to decide on her name, or perhaps remember it. Either way, she doesn't sound particularly certain on this point. "Um, there might- might be people. Who come after me." She looks up at Ellen uncertainly, not sure how the pastor would take that news.


[Masks Temple]

"I had to do some work that I was putting off because I really didn't want to do it... and then I went to a wedding. There was a guy at the reception acting all rudely to me, because I'm a eudai. And I already wasn't very happy because of the work, and because the wedding..." Grace trails off, then takes a deep breath and finishes what she started to say. "...it made me jealous. Not of either of the two, really, but just their situation. And she had so many guests, you know? People who really cared about her. Who do I have?"

Grace looks up at Jezebel. "I can't think of anyone but you, and we don't even know each other that well, really. Not yet. I want to, but we haven't had the time. And I haven't made any real friends, just associates and business partners. The one or two people I thought might be, that could be, I don't even know where they are. Just vanished."

[Mindfreak]

Yellow Zone - VSWC
Dave's fingers are bitten and a crimson river drips from his hand.
"Ouch!"

[VampireRot]

[Bombed Out Zone]

The cow-spirit gets exploded on! The ghouls don't prove to be terribly durable things. Though they're still terribly terrible. Quite a few get blown up by the energy blast and unless the spirit poofs when it dies they'll begin feasting on it.

More of the things are swarming out of the super-market.

And even more are swarming out of a shopping center behind our heroes. And the term heroes is used loosely here.

Amil gives a rather feral sounding snarl as her Swarm Cannon whirs to life and begins hurling... well... swarms of acid-filled grubs into the ghoul ranks. The weapon is cutting a pretty thick swath into the incoming ghouls, but more just keep pouring out of pretty much everywhere.

After a few moments of this she concludes that this solution isn't going to work and decides to try something crazy instead! Her weapon-arms split apart as her body begins to undergo a rapid and radical metamorphosis.

"This will take a little while, but I can probably get us out of here. Maybe. I've only been able to practice flying a few times though I'm confidant that I can do so without crashing."

"Yer doin' it again," Howard points out. "That thing werein yah say ya ain't got any idear what yer doin'"

The ghouls are coming!

Thankfully they're only coming at a slow shamble.

[Bombed Out Zone]

The poor buffalo headed spirit dissolves into nothingness, the remains of its essence retreating back to its native plane. Neither Isaac nor the other spirit seems particularly worried about it, though they are worried, just about themselves due to the ghouls.

The snake-spider-lady shoots off more fireballs at clumps of ghouls advancing on them. But she quickly starts to look weary at the magical excursion.

Isaac stands around looking annoyed and angry. But doesn't do anything. Useless magicians.

[TechnoScrabble]

Red Zone

Five bogeymen appear in an alley and disguise themselves as a happy couple and a trio of muggers. They begin staging a robbery in the alley!

[The Alexandrian]

[Yellow Zone - VSWC]

Mmmm. Blood.

Blood tends to intensify Clarissa's hunger. It sends her into a state where all she can think of is feeding on anything organic. Even Dave. She does pause for an instant before morphing into Clarissa form in Dave's arms. That might give Dave a moment to escape.

[Mindfreak]

Yellow Zone - VSWC
He instantly places her on the ground and bounds away into a hiding place in the ceiling.
"Clarissa, please stop it right now!"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Red Zone

Demon Queen, formerly Zel, happens upon this staged robbery.

If the bogeys were shown the picture Ivaz had of her, they may notice some differences. Her skin is paler. Instead of white, the swirl on the stone in her chest is red. Her eyes ate also red. She looks like she hasn't slept much lately, either.

She approaches without caution. Move away from them. Now.

[happyturtle]

[Outside the Temple of Cunningham]

"Where? Umm..." Ibby glances over his shoulder toward the norther end of the city. There's still a bit of a hill over there, a loooong hill stretching from the sea to the mountains in the distance. Given the Nexus' weird habit of covering up bodies K'rax has been almost completely obscured by earth and plant growth by now, but many obsidian trees are still poking out of the ground.

"Mother is sleeping over there. Father is trying to figure out how to wake her up again," the boy explains. "Mother fell asleep once the stars weren't right anymore."

And now she's sleeping soundly.

Or at least as soundly as a terrorhorror can.

"It would be nice if you could take me to the orphanage. I've missed my friends."

He stands up and wipes the dirt off his hands, onto his jeans. Or some of the dirt. It doesn't look like it'll all come off without copious amounts of scrubbing. Which is probably why his wife, Pastor Ellen wasn't the least bit concerned about all the mud on Aleph. "Aye, lad. Jus let me leave a note for Elly." He scrawls a quick note, steps inside the church, and sticks it on a magnet board near the door. "What's your name, lad?"

[Temple of Cunningham]

"I'm... Aleph." She says, as if trying to decide on her name, or perhaps remember it. Either way, she doesn't sound particularly certain on this point. "Um, there might- might be people. Who come after me." She looks up at Ellen uncertainly, not sure how the pastor would take that news.

"Don't worry, dear. The Prophet gives sanctuary to souls in need. That's why you came here, is it not? Sanctuary, as well as a hot meal and place to rest without fear?" Pastor Ellen says.

[The Alexandrian]

[Yellow Zone - VSWC]

"Gruh!"

"So...little...time...so...many...bodies."

Clarissa mumbles as she drags herself to her feet with a cruel grin. Uh-oh!

[PurityIcekiller]

[Abrajin's Library]

Well, going crazy would definitely help Xalicus fit in better in the Nexus. At any rate, he headed to the Infinity room to check it out.

[Red Zone]

As she wandered around the city looking for somewhere important-looking, Kyinde spotted the "muggers". "More knaves? I hope they actually try to fight back this time."

She stepped forward, unaware of the creatures' true natures, and brandished her short sword. "Excuse me. I think I have to put you on ice now." Punning before battle wasn't very directly effective, but it was good if you wanted to annoy your foes.

[Rebonack]

[Temple of Cunningham]

The boy waits obediently outside for the kind man to return, having slung his pack onto his back once again. When the question is asked he smiles proudly and replies, "Ib'ahalii Ezekiel Bar-Raril!"

He really likes his name a lot!

And it's just his. No one else's!

Should the fellow start off toward the orphanage the boy will follow close behind, his hands clutching his back-pack straps. That's the proper way to walk when wearing a back-pack after all.

Oh!

And he has a question of his own, too.

"What's your name, mister?"

[Mindfreak]

Yellow Zone - VSWC
Dave gets the heck out of there. He'll wait until she was done feeding. There was nothing he could do.

[TechnoScrabble]

[Abrajin's Library]

Well, going crazy would definitely help Xalicus fit in better in the Nexus. At any rate, he headed to the Infinity room to check it out.

[Red Zone]

As she wandered around the city looking for somewhere important-looking, Kyinde spotted the "muggers". "More knaves? I hope they actually try to fight back this time."

She stepped forward, unaware of the creatures' true natures, and brandished her short sword. "Excuse me. I think I have to put you on ice now." Punning before battle wasn't very directly effective, but it was good if you wanted to annoy your foes.

All of the disguised bogeys stare at her.
"Wat?"

[PurityIcekiller]

[Red Zone]

"You're doing a mugging, aren't you? And I don't let that kind of thing happen."

This was getting awkward, or at least confusing. Kyinde glanced around. "...Should I leave now, or should I just fight you because you're here?"

[TechnoScrabble]

Red Zone

"Erm...yeah," one of the muggers gives her a weird look, "I don't think you're the one we're looking for. You just be on your way and we'll keep on mugging."