[IC] 🦄 Tartarean Strands - Chapter 1: The Collision

[Morose]

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Lady Virginia Crypt, Andromeda Aldrich, and Nancy Parker

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Location: Soulless Fade Between & PE Fade Between -> Plains between River & Cave / DTTS Fade Between -> DTB Fade Between
Skills: Deduction (Investigative), History (Crypt Family) / History (Occult) / Locate (Emendator)

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Soulless Fade Between -> Plains between River & Cave:

She disagreed with Vlad's analysis that they were the ones to be sought Elsewhere. If that was the case, her father would not have implored Virginia to go seek life elsewhere - the Crypt family was odd and certainly some of them were mad, but her father had not yet qualified for a stay at a psychiatric facility. No, that was her mother's area of expertise, the abnormalities of the mind. She felt in her soul that her father had instructed her to come here to find something - perhaps him, perhaps someone else. Of course, the thought of trying to leave this strange and wonderful place as soon as they arrived was abhorrent to her. When else would they get an opportunity for an adventure such as this?

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Fraser," Virginia greeted. She was odd yet not impolite. And had the Great Bazhooli not just introduced her, she would have done her own introduction. Her mind was occupied with a deductive investigation of their surroundings. She drifted over to the walls of the decrepit church and gently ran her hands across the stone, feeling the etching of the Belladonna symbol. The Crypt smiled to herself. As divine as the unknown was, her heart fluttered when pieces of a puzzle began to fall into place. She was about to announce her find to her companions when suddenly, she was spirited away.

~Snapping~

Virginia blinked rapidly as she tried to become accustomed to her newfound surroundings. There were four others present, only one of whom she recognized. The girl with a shock of white hair, while dressed strangely, looked like a long lost Crypt cousin. But the one soul who she knew caused her breath to stop for a moment as she quickly realized that something extraordinary had happened. Ludwig, the brilliant man she had met at the Circus, was here in front of her.

"Oh, sweet Ludwig... Deprived as you are of the mortal coil, I am so glad to see you," she told him sweetly. She spotted the tiger by his side - was that not the Grand Duchess' companion? "I am afraid I am not dead - or perhaps only partially dead..." she mused. Her heart was still beating and she drew breath - what did the dead need of air or blood? "You must tell me of these Whisglemangers - they sound absolutely divine."

She then turned her attention to the others present here - they seemed to know each other. "I am Lady Virginia Crypt - it is delightful to meet you all," she said, giving a brief introduction of herself.

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PE Fade Between -> Plains between River & Cave:

Andromeda's mind just couldn't let it go. The world was imploding around them (or had been? It was rather confusing to keep up with) and they had met someone who could be the future Eve. She didn't care if that Eve was from thousands of years into the future or just a few weeks, wasn't the knowledge of how the Dice had become Justice relevant to their current situation? Their entire existence was a paradox, a demonstration in how the linear progression of time did not matter. She didn't see why Gio and Gil could just move on and write Justice off as the future's problem, when from what Andromeda could understand, their problems defied time - problems of the future were the problems of the present and the problems of the past were the problems of the future.

Maybe it was the distracting landscape or her mind's stubborn inability to refuse to stop thinking about the Dice being Justice, but Andromeda wasn't able to figure out much of anything. Their surroundings were objectively horrible to look at and she couldn't even put together another question or another thought before suddenly, her entire world shifted again and she was somewhere else entirely.

~Snapping~

Andromeda was instantly confronted by a man asking her if she rode on Gilbert's back. Her eyes narrowed instantly, assuming that he meant some sort of sexual innuendo by it. However, the more the man talked, the clearer it became that he was just mad. He had a tiger with him and Andromeda had to wonder if the man was supposed to be taking care of the giant cat or if it was the other way around. "Of course you're not mad," Andromeda agreed with him, finding it better to just let the insane stay in their only little world rather than try to snap them out of it. "You do seem really happy, too."

And then, he seemed to be distracted by an extremely pale woman who looked like the specter of a Victorian era woman who would haunt the halls of an old and infamous manor. She heard Gilbert's soft commentary that Nancy was nearby and Andromeda wasn't certain whether to be relieved or not. The chaotic Emendator was certainly a welcome addition, but with all of the Emendators (minus Evelina) here... It only brought more credence to the idea that this was the end of the world - maybe even the end of all worlds.

Faith was here - that was confusing to say the least. "Faith... is Eve here?" she asked, only for the Victorian ghost woman to introduce herself. The last name caught her attention. Back when she first became a Paradox, she had been told she could pass for a Crypt. "Erm, I'm Andromeda... Aldrich," she said, glancing at the woman and the madman.

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DTTS Fade Between -> DTB Fade Between:

Nancy's hands rapidly numbed as the Baron taunted Josephine, but his eyes had flickered over towards her. She couldn't help but wonder if he knew about how she had come to consciousness - the violent and horrific circumstances that had scarred her mentally and physically. Her innate abilities were telling her that the Baron was something akin to an Emendator, but incredibly different as well. Just using her senses to determine what he was stung and burned. And with her discomfort spiking, her enjoyment of conversing with someone like her was rapidly waning. If he did one more thing to the poor girl in his grip...

She didn't actually know what she would do.

~Snapping~

Nancy found herself standing in a drastically different scenery - there was no Baron here, but there was a Paradox she recognized and some rather sharp cliffs. As much as she had been severely annoyed with the Paradoxes and had been quite happy to go off to Egypt, seeing a friendly female face at the moment was a blessing. Nancy slowly closed and opened her fists, trying to slowly work feeling back into her hands. "Sophia - good," she said with a smile. "They're going to have questions, do your best to fend them off, I'm going to do a quick reading, maybe we'll get lucky and we can figure something out, yeah?" Maybe the Cards would work down here - maybe they wouldn't. She wouldn't know until she tried and so Nancy sat down cross legged and pulled out her well loved pack of tarot cards.

Roll Request - Nancy

Location: DTB Fade Between
Attempted Actions: Nancy is going to do a Card Reading, trying to catch a glimpse into the future and get some information about just what is going on here in this underworld
Skills: The Cards, History (General Human History)
Reasons for Skills: The Cards - for doing the reading and interpreting the result (if any); History (General Human History) - for interpreting the result of the reading (if any)
End Location: Same

[Sigil]

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Vladimir Alexandrov

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Location: Soulless Fade Between
Skills: Fal'shbort (Passive), Tretiy Glaz (Passive), English

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The Gologramma was not supposed to do any of this. Impossible. This thought repeated over and over in Vladimir's mind despite the other, more panache-y things that he continued to exhibit. The fact that they were in another place entirely was exciting. New. Worthy of adventuring people such as themselves. But what happened next have him considerable worry.

*****Snapping*****

One moment, he was making introductions all around with people close to him, a lady of a familiar bloodline, and ... violin guy! The next, something inexplicable and wholly unprecedented occurred in a day full of things already inexplicable and unprecedented. It made him wonder why he went through all of that knowledge based Training if none of it was ultimately going to be of any actual use to him in the here and now, ever. Question dor the ages, but not his primary concern at the moment.

Without warning of any kind, another change. This time it was not location nor reality, nor sudden appearance of Lovecraftian Horror. This time the change was to everyone else. Vladimir remained, but everyone, including Elizaveta whom he viewed as a daughter, was gone. Nut he was not alone. In their stead was a quartet of some of the oddest people he had laid his eyes on. And he lived in a circus. One of them was a woman in pants (imagine that) who seemed a little too nonchalant about this for his liking. Others were strangely dressed but up to now quiet, and another looked like the type who associated in seedy roadside taverns, the kind where there were at least a half score dark corners to brood in before emerging to order something flammable and insist that they leave the bottle like some kopek-storefront hoodlum and/or hired murderer. He already had a gun of some sort on his hand and was drawing something sharp, which he could respect but did not particularly appreciate now, being as he was a stranger. It did not amazingly alarm him. Vladimir had range and two hands filled with sharpened steel that he was fairly certain he could hurl with accuracy. Still, not the most sociable group.

"I am Master Vladimir Dimitrievich Aledandrov," he said with a slight bow, holding his blade-bearing hands to his sides, "known to all vith familiarity of Russian Imperial Circus as The Great Bazhooli, Artist of Impalements." He gave the k ives in his hands a twirl and tipped his very fine hat, continuing in his thick but slightly muddled Russian accent, "And I too have questions. Persons very dear to Great Bazhooli have been replaced. ...by you... and this is outside influencimg realm of my very considerable abilities. QVESTIONS! Am having them, too." The look of the man was less in the way of smiles and more in the manner of showmanly intensity, not quite hiding a sense of dark urgency. This situation simply would not do.

[Romero]

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William Fraser

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Location: Soulless Fade Between <~SNAP~> DttS Fade Between
Skills: Gislid

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The Duchess acknowledged William's introduction, but she gave no introduction of her own. To William, she would remain simply 'the Duchess' for now. Although 'The Great Bazhooli' had addressed her as a 'grand' Duchess, William struggled to connect the woman that he saw before him with an even more regal title than the one she already had in his head. Although she was clearly powerful, and her knowledge seemed to dwarf William's own, at least in matters of the strange and surreal, to William, she certainly didn't look like the heights of nobility. But there was something about her, a presence that she had maintained since she had first emerged from the flock of birds in front of the carriage what seemed like an eternity ago. William didn't know what it was, but he had brushed shoulders with nobility before, and this Duchess was something very different.

For all her presence however, to William she still seemed to be speaking in riddles. Something caught his eye though. A symbol, carved onto one of the crumbling stone walls. It had half-faded, but William could make out enough of it to recognise it as the same symbol that the Duchess had etched out on the floor of the church just moments before. Perhaps the Duchess really did have control over their journey to... wherever they are. That, or something really had drawn them here. William turned towards the Duchess, opening his mouth to question her about the symbol. He half-heard the less flamboyant of the two Russians introduce himself, but before William could speak, the world turned inside out. Again.

*****Snapping*****

For a moment, there was nothing but shades of black and grey. The same nausea from before struck William again, but he had braced himself for it this time. There seemed to be thick fog in every direction, but then details started to emerge from the darkness. He might have been prepared for the nausea, but he was far from ready for the phantom that loomed out from the shadows. If he had been in the unknown before, he was surely now in hell, for it must be Death himself that stood above him. William's blood ran cold, but after an instant, he realised two things. The first was that the phantom wasn't swooping forwards to claim William's soul. And the second was that he wasn't alone.

The presence of a face he knew, even slightly, did plenty to reassure William, even if the uncertainty in her usually assured voice unnerved him. But it was the others that unnerved him even more. Two women, a man and a... snake, all in the shadow of the phantom. That, however, was as far as William's understanding went. The three figures were all dressed in a manner totally alien to William, and the man's face was painted to resemble a skull. At least, William hoped that his face was painted to resemble a skull. The thought of the alternative sent a shiver down William's spine. It took him a moment to process that the man had just spoken, and that William must be one of the 'new guests', although their surroundings certainly didn't seem like a party. The Duchess seemed to recognise the figure, and the edge to her voice did nothing to settle William's nerve. Instinctively, he moved his hand to grip the hilt of his dirk. Although he felt he already knew the answer, he glanced towards the sky for a moment, or at least where the sky should be, behind the rolling fog. Just as before, there were no stars. But wile before he could have passed their absence off as his mind still recovering from his sudden transportation, now there seemed to be a choking emptiness where the stars should have been. They weren't shrouded, they simply weren't there.

Trying to push the thoughts of the emptiness from his mind, William turned back to look at the three figures. Keeping his hand on the hilt of his dirk, careful to not take his eyes off of the figures, William spoke, trying to ignore how his voice seemed to echo in the void.

"Who are you? Did you bring us here?"

[FantasyChic]

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Faye Masterson, Josephine Clarke, and Faith Masters

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Location: DttS In-Between, DttS In-Between, Evelina's Cave -> Plains Between River and Cave
Skills: Lore (Occult), Etiquette, Persuasion, Seduction, N/A

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DttS In-Between: Faye was a bit hurt at Richard’s words. It was that kind of thinking that continued the troubles that plagued the world. After all, thus far these people have proven themselves to be made of sturdy stuff, if they were standing here, in a literal hell, and were not freaking out. ”Richard, if you have any hope of surviving this, you need to let go of some of that and rely on other people. You know I have your back, but we might not be together always.”

Josephine, meanwhile, was enjoying herself. She was used to being in dangerous situations with men, and it had never stopped her before. Could it be foolish? Perhaps. But she didn’t have many skills that could pertain to their situation so she had to make do with what she had. ”Darling, don’t tease me like that. I’ve heard that promise before and have been disappointed. Surely you won’t let me down, right?” She could feel the Baron pulling her closer. The snake gave her pause, but it wasn’t a deal-breaker.

Before either of them could continue to comment, the Baron seemed to know more as, after his comment, things shifted.

***** Snapping *****

Faye noted a few of their members just vanished in front of her eyes. She scanned around her. ”Richard? Where did he go? What happened to them?” she directed her question to the Baron as he seemed to have the answers to their predicament. They were joined by two people she did not recognize. Their appearance seemed old though. They were dressed from before her time if she had to wager a guess. She didn’t like that implication. It meant there might be more people around, other than the group she was just in, experiencing this phenomenon. Faye had been gradually aware of what the Baron really wanted. He either wanted the alcohol or tobacco promised, he wanted their souls, or he was welcoming them to their death. Any of those options seemed bad. ”My name is Faye Masterson. I do not believe this is witchery, but either way, this is the Baron and I would very much like it if you would release Miss Clarke please.”

Josephine, meanwhile, had taken note of the disappearance. While some of the others she didn’t mind not having around, she didn’t feel comfortable not having Nancy to aid her. To top it off, they had two individuals who were in desperate need of a makeover. ”Oh, hello darlings! Josephine Clarke. This is my friend the Baron. Seems he wants to make a deal with us for aid in what has been described as a possible hell, but I don’t know, seems kind of lovely to be considered hell. What say you, Baron, your tobacco and alcohol seemed to have disappeared, but maybe you know where they went and what happened? I would be ever so grateful for your help.” She ignored the other woman’s plea. She could handle herself and she would not be handing over anything she did not wish to.

Evenlina's Cave -> Plains Between River and Cave: Faith had checked out of the conversation. If she wanted to turn into some Emo Queen, that was her prerogative. That was not the woman she knew and cared about. It seemed the time she spent here, wherever here was, had changed her. ”I don’t know what happened here. But you’ve changed. If I learned anything you lot taught me, it was that you need other people. You can’t do it alone.” She slowly followed Eve, but the woman was quick. She did what she had to? That was bullshit. Eve stepped behind a rock and out of view, so Faith ran forward and around. But Eve was no longer there. She didn’t hear her voice. ”Eve? Really? Oh, real cute. Abandoning me again.”

***** Snapping *****

Before she knew it though, she heard a voice. She turned to face a man she had not seen before. He was talking very animatedly. Faith backed up a few steps. ”Umm, ok dude. You’re not crazy. Mind telling me how you got here then?” And if that wasn’t bad enough, she heard other voices. Gilbert appeared as did Andromeda. While she was happy to see Andromeda, Gilbert was another story. She traded one useless Emendator for another. ”Oh New York was lovely. Had a grand time before the haze took it over. Learned about the Kin though, so that’s cool. As for Eve, she was just here. Decided she didn’t need help so this journey of mine was all for naught and now she has vanished and left me here, again, with no idea where the hell HERE is. I don’t suppose you two have any idea?”

[ONL]

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Robert Adler, Mahendra Huq Zalil, and Richard Barker

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Location: DTB Fade Between / DttS Fade Between -> PE Fade Between / DttS Fade Between -> Soulless Fade Between
Skills:

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N/A - N/A - N/A

DTB Fade Between

Well was this less than hopeful, wasn't it? Everyone were each throwing in their fifty cents onto the discussion on what they knew, which in regards to their current little mishap of a situation really didn't help. Kyra the wolf-lady gave an off-hand remark of what Robert could only assume was about the weather - or the lack thereof, all things considered, Riley mentioned Juno sending hitmen after her and her sister, whilst Caesar was playing ball with Kyra. Robert shrugged less audibly than he'd prefer, not in the mood to be corrected by either Mali nor Kyra, muttering under his breath; "Juno sounds like the last people I want to screw with then. Okay, let's follow…"

Robert didn't finish that line of thought, having turned to follow Caesar before he was gone. Not just in the sense of "Oh no, I'm not looking or someone's standing in my way." No, Caesar was just gone as well as Kyra and her enourmous ball of fur. In their place now stood two other women, none of which Robert had seen before. As if today hadn' been shitty enough already. Robert jumped back, taken back by it all. "Weird? That's the sanest thing I've possibly heard today…" he told the one called Sophia, watching in disbelief at the second one in a costume befitting his grandmother as she talked about them, clearly having more important business to attend to. "She's damn straight we're going to have questions, though with our luck none that you can answer. I guess names work for now. Robert. Who are you and where did you come from?"

DttS Fade Between

Mahendra did not like the manner of speech in which the so-called Baron was proclaiming to certain members of the group. The way he spoke to Faye and Josephine were most inapproriate for any gentleman, even a Caribbean man with a snake around his shoulders. Mahendra however, did not voice his protest of such vile behaviour in face of the snake slithering over to the American starlet, keeping himself in his mimed posture while his mind screamed at him to flee the horrible monster that frightened him. Mahendra wanted to flee, FLEE from everything, not paying attention to the Baron's cryptic words. Had he, the Bengali geologist would have certainly asked for their meaning. But alas, he was destined for other places.

Snapping

Richard didn't like the talk anymore than Mahendra did, but compared to the well-behaved Benganli/British man, the New York detective was far more used to the tone and intentions of such talk. It still left a sour taste in his mouth to have to listen to it, especially when Faye was one of the recepiants of the Baron's coy lines. Richard breathed in a long drag of his cigarette, finishing it with a satisfactory sigh as he threw the remainder down and crushed the ember with his shoe. It was the only satisfactory thing he had left it seemed, even more so as Faye just wouldn't drop the issue of…well, him. "…I know, Faye, I know you are. You're probably right, but a guy in my shoes have walked through too much shit to stop smelling it every step, you know? As far as I'm concerned, I'm already dead, in the very least rotten than most."

Those words were hard for the detective to get out, more than anything he wanted to give Baron a good wack over the head with his club, but Faye was probably right. In the very least, she had his back. Not many had told Richard that and meant it. Richard opened his mouth to say something else, before turning his attention back to where his detective skills were needed.

Snapping

PE Fade Between

Had Mahendra's mind finally snapped? Had the fears that grew to a monstrous capacity inside his soul finally shatter what little semblence of willpower that he left, leaving him standing dumb-founded as his eyes played yet more tricks on him? However much Mahendra would hate himself for showing such weakness, the possibility was real enough that the change of scenery didn't instantly click for him. What pulled him out of his trance, the same one caused by the terrifying mask of Gene's brother back in Cairo, was an unknown voice calling to him. Or perhaps, what the voice told him.

Mahendra shook himself out of his frozen pose, now aware of the world around him, a different one. A plane of reds, oranges and black, a strong smell thick in the air. Not the same they had been transported to. Mahendra turned to Kyra, looking at her and mustering up what little courage the Bengali could in the face of his deepest fear; "I…I do not smell of fear, my good madam!" Mahendra declared rather comically, though his words did make him even more aware of what happened around him; He was no longer in the company of the Fellowship.

No longer with any sight of the cursed serpent, Mahendra swallowed the lump in his throat and attempted to regain his normal composure of a good, Indian soldier/British academic that he prided himself in. Not that it was easy, considering he was in a very different place, with very different people. "My apologies, this is…most unexepcted. Oh my manners, Mahendra Huq Zalil." Mahendra excused himself, turning to respond to the man with the equally thick accent. "More so that we can possible imagine, my good Sir. I was just in a very different place, dark and…frightening, with my Fellowship and man not of the mortal world. And this is clearly not Egypt, is it?"

Roll Request Mahendra

Mahendra Huq Zalil
Characters current location: PE Fade Between
Characters attempted actions: As crazy as it might sound, Mahendra would like to examine the area around them in order to make an educated guess of where he's ended up now. More specifically the geograpy surrounding him and the ground he's standing on, learning from his mistakes and taking a closer look.
Any and all skills being used: Science (Geology) and Science (Geography)
Why each skill is being called: Science (Geology) in order to scoop up some of the red dirt and identify it and Science (Geography) to make a guess on where he might be with the general terrain around him.
Desired location: Pe Fade Between

Soulless Fade Between

Before Richard could make use of his detective skills, he needed a good old reality check as he suddenly found himself in a very different place. To make matters worse, not only had he been transported to another hellscape like from Cairo to wherever the egg-heads thought they ended up in, but Faye wasn't there. If he had preferred…needed someone there with him, it was her. "This isn't good. Faye? God damnit, not her…Not now."

Richard turned his head slowly to look around him in this new and strange place, thankful to recognize Mosi and Lauren still with him, though still no sight of Faye. Instead he lay his eyes on two different fellas straight out of an overly-fancy costume party; A big brute of a Hispanic man with far more of an arsenal than the NYPD had on a good day, and a seemingly Russian circus artist, both asking questions. In the backdrop of a ruined church fitting a horror story or something, Robert was having a real bad feeling about this, but that much was obvious from the very first breath he took back with Baron.

"You're tootin' the wrong ringer, I have no idea what the Hell is going on around here. Only people that knows that was back from…wherever the three of us came from, don't ask how. Only thing I can tell you is that we came from some kind of Underworld. And yes, that's as looney as it sounds like." Richard attempted to answer Caesar, his attention flicking back and forth as he tried to look for Faye, however unlikely he was in that quest. Looking back to the Russian fella, he continued. "So what do we call you then? Sorry, haven't heard of you, but then again the Tsar's been dead for a while…

Richard bit his tounge as he looked down at his feet, Faye's words echoing in is mind as if to mentally wack him with his own club. Yeah, he was out of touch socially, and this wouldn't do. Looking up at Vladimir, Richard began to prepare another cigarette. "Nevermind that, sorry for…I don't know, replacing your comrades. I don't have any control over whatever is happening to us, no idea what this setup from Hell is and why we're here. Why a church out of all places?"

Roll Request Richard

Richard Barker
Characters current location: Soulless Fade Between
Characters attempted actions: Transported to a new and weird place, Richard would like to look around to see if he can find any clues as to where they might be. Putting on his detective hat and doing some good old gumshoe work!
Any and all skills being used: Deduction (Investigative)
Why each skill is being called: To snoop around their area and look for clues that might stand out to a seasoned detective as Richard.
Desired location: Same, moving around if he can.

[Dragoknighte]

Mali Anson

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Location: DtB In-Between
Skills: N/A

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As much as Mali wasn't keen on meeting up with the fabled Prosperine (assuming it was indeed the same entity as their home world, which she doubted, but not enough to eschew it entirely as a possibility), it was the only real lead they had to progress at the moment, so walk to the Cthonic Groves they would. It'd be 4 days' trip, but it wasn't exactly like they were pressed for time. The world had ended as far as she could tell. It wasn't like Double Ragnarok would occur if they didn't do everything with optimal efficiency. But then Kyra said something odd.

"Huh?" was all that Mali could get out before the elf(?) was suddenly replaced by a middle aged-ish, decidedly more modern, but exotically dressed woman. She was well suited for the desert, but still stood out from the Justice League (Mali's brain decided that's what it would call the subset people she recognized from before all this bullshit, whether they had actually lived in Justice or not. It would be easier that way). And in Caesar's place was a girl who looked a couple years younger than herself, but dressed from 80 years prior that seemed to know the other woman and began... fortune telling.

Now Mali was pretty good at dealing with shifting situations. Good thing too or she probably would have been a wreck by now, like Robert had been when they first popped up here. But this was too much for her to parse immediately. Evidently in Purgatory space isn't stable enough to not just randomly shunt you to who knows where if Kyra's words were anything to go by. Well, they had lost their two most skilled members for complete wild cards. At least they still had their goal. If these two didn't want to join in, well it wasn't like they were doomed. Kyra was alone with that wolf before running into them so traveling solo was possible. Mali had a gun on hand still. They could probably manage. Still, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed deeply. Why did everything have to be awful? Couldn't the universe just leave her alone? Well, while they were sharing names again.

"I'm Mali. She's Riley."

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Giosue Zino

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Location: PE In-Between
Skills: N/A

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If it was one comfort, despite the changing landscapes surrounding everyone and the acrid stench of sulfur assaulting them from all sides, it was that despite the appearance of the world around them, the physical location of people were pinned in place. Like mountains poking out from below the ocean. Perhaps it was that space itself here was fluid, dictated by the mindsets and cognition of the subconscious of those inside, thereby making them the anchors of reality. But that was too far down the line of speculation as it was when they were potential targets of Destruere attacks at any moment.

Gio turned to look at Gilbert and saw a man screaming at them in Russian. Ah. Nevermind about that entire last theory. But the sudden disappearance and subsequent replacement of Sophia, Gilbert and Andromeda did tell him a couple of things. There were more people here. And he recognized their garments so they were of the (probably destroyed now) timelines they had just left. Conveniently, one was even from Cairo from the looks of things. So this world beyond was multiversal. A dumping ground for all worlds and times. There were more survivors. But they were probably just as new here as they were. Except for one. The woman with the dire wolf seemed entirely nonplussed by her sudden appearance here, muttering about shiftings.

"Giosue Zino, The Watch at your service," the Emendator introduced himself, following suit of Mahendra. "This is the world beyond the living. Purgatory. Elysium. Whatever other name you might have for it. I take it the three of you ended up here after your timelines collapsed. The world suddenly faded out of existence and you ended up here?"

[Lady Luck]

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Tartarean Strands: Chapter 1

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Date: D-Day of the Collide

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And so the snapping is complete. There is much more to come. A few notes: Make sure to read carefully. Things are a tad confusing (both by design and just because of the large nature of this). Double check yourself when you are posting, we are all going to make mistakes so call them out if you see them or ask for clarification from each other if needed. No harm in double checking. (Seen just some small mistakes that can blown off by character stress but others could lead to trouble down the road.)

Also, check your characters. I found something the last round when I was typing up a reply. I had a gut reaction to a post and typed it up. Sat on it, and then when I went back to it later scraped it because I realized I was posting from ~me~ and not the ~character~. So this is a good time for all of us to check our character traits. Make sure our characters are responding and more than that thinking like the character would. (I think I have learned that if I have a gut reaction and want to speed out a reply that it is 99% of the time the WRONG thing to say.) So hoping people will learn from me and get back on track if you are off, or at least keep from getting off track.

Please note as well - this is a long term thing. There are plot lines out there, a lot of them. They will all go through slow and fast points. There are also check points for me to watch for before moving on to things. So hang in there. This is laid out as a 9 Chapter RP, could end up being more or could up being less. All depending on game play. So the build will be slow. The character development I hope will be great (both psychologically and skill wise.) Characters are going to go through a lot! So brace for it, it might be painful but as with any good story, the greater the pain the bigger the pay off, ^_~. There will probably be a point where each character is loathed by others, parts where they are loved. (Just like life.) - Don't worry, we'll get through it. Anyways, back to post.

Oh! One more thing! These video? They aren't just there for mood. >.>

PE Fade Between Bart Mahendra Gio Constantin Kyra	DttS Fade Between Josephine Elizaveta William Faye	DtB Fade Between Mali Nancy Sophia Robert Riley	Soulless Fade Between Vlad Caesar Richard Mosi Lauren	Plains between River & Cave Ludwig Faith Andromeda Gilbert Virginia

*Keeping this here for now for quick reference. Other ~Snaps~ will happen, so the list will change as needed.

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Soulless Fade Between

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Richard is trying to investigate what the hell is going on by looking around the ruins. As he looks he isn't sure what is going on. It does look like it is the ruins of a church but the thing is he isn't finding anything that tells him a denomination, the only thing he is able to find is the symbol of a flower but even that he isn't sure what kind of flower it is. It just doesn't look familiar to him.

Everything else seems to be stable for the time being. The sky is gray. The building, well what is left of it is gray. The waters surrounding the area seems to be not too deep and pretty much seems like you can see the bottom only a few inches to afoot deep. Shouldn't be hard to move through it to some solid ground. Air seems musty and still. It's quiet. Maybe it is a bit too quiet. Like when a parent has toddlers to deal with.

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DtB Fade Between

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Nancy, oh Nancy. Only Nancy would break out a deck of cards in the middle of all this. Thing is, a round of cards can reveal so many things. Though before we get to what cards she drew, let's look at the cards themselves. That deck she had? The one she has? Nope, not the same. This deck looks different. It has the same feel, she feels like they are the same, same connection to them, but looking at them the design is very different. Granted so is the place she is in versus the place she had been in. Maybe the cards changed appearance when she arrived just like the location did? Did that mean there was something different in the way the cards would read?

Drawing the first card, the one that represents the past, Nancy turned over The Tower. It represented unwanted change. Okay, that was pretty on the nose. Or maybe it wasn't. The cards themselves didn't always mean what the surface assumption. (As with most things.) The second card she turned over, which represented the present, was Justice. A card that mean cause and effect. Another surface meaning and another perhaps it was deeper than that considering who the other Emendators had met, not that she knew that. The final card she turned was, representing the future, Death. The card that could mean just change. It could mean death. Mortality, severe illness.

Thing was, that wasn't the end. As she had them laid out there in a row: three cards - representing past, present, and future, the started to move. The Tower (past) and Death (future) switch places, while Justice (present) remained in the center. Then the Death card (now representing the past) spun and inverted, changing it's meaning to delayed endings, long terminal illness, living unaware. Something was going on here. The cards switched again, going back to the way they were when she originally drew them, then they would change again. The cards were being far more interactive now than they ever had been.

[Lady Absinthia]

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Ludwig Zimmer

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Location: The In-Between: Plains between River and Cave
Skills: N/A

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The tiger shook out its head before moving towards Virginia slowly, sniffing her skirt before he started to walk around her, pressing against her hand. He seemed to know her or at least be alright with her presence. Or maybe she just seemed like a better companion than the man that was standing there bouncing on the balls of his feet with weak knees. "Yes, coil, snapped but bounce, can bounce. I don't need a coil if I can bounce." He gave her a tight lipped goofy grin and nodded knowingly, a bit too much and a bit too enthusiastically. "Partially dead, partially alive. Yes, many half and half. Not like curds and whey, maybe like curds and whey. Yes! Exactly like curds and whey. One thing, another thing, from same thing. Yes! Brilliant!" he said with a triumphant hand gesturing towards the air before writing back in his journal.

The mans head was nodding up and down as he wrote. "Yes, divine. Not good but other divine. Not devil but god, god like. Divine. Yes, Whisglemangers perfectly divine. Bottomless and they are black and they are eternal." Looking up from his book he pushed his glasses back up from the tip of his nose. "And smell, like flobbottom gas."

Ludwigs head snapped like on a swivel towards Andromeda when she proclaimed he was not mad and was in fact very glad. He smiled towards her and nodded. "Yes, yes, very glad," he chortled. His knees swaying left and right and right and left, around and around, to and fro, as if it was to a beat as he sung off key. "Faith and eve, eve and faith. Faith for tomorrow, yesterday was eve."

At Faith's question he slammed his book closed and shoved it in his bag. Then he jumped up and over, landing a few feet over. "Ta-da!" he said rather proudly of himself. "Jumping!" He did it again. "Was here." Again. "Now here." Again. "Holler, Holler, Holler. Was with Miss Holler." Again. "Now, you. So glad. New people. Always new people. Not always, sometimes same, sometimes old ones, but many new. Glad of new and glad of old, not glad when alone." He jumped again. "Jump like jacks, and marbles, until marbles are gone, when gone then get new. Here and there, there and here. Wolf and tiger, judgement and eve, hog to cat, holler and faith." One last jump, hopefully. "And Virginia to Ludwig!" he said pointing to Virginia and then to himself before he took a bow that looked like he was trying very badly to copy a rather boisterous Russian he had once met.

With all his jumping around, he seemed to be kicking up some dirt in the process. Two little items rolled across the ground and stopped between the group without him noticing. Covered with dust, it was hard to say what they were but they didn't seem to be just rocks. They had definite edges to them and seemed symmetrical.

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Kyra Altham

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Location: PE Fade Between
Skills: Animal Control (Wolf)

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Kyra cast a glance towards Constantin as her wolf stayed close to her and rested back on his rear legs. Reaching out she rested her hand on the back of his head and gave just the slightest of nods. "Death has no boundaries." It was a rather vague statement and didn't explain much, or maybe it did. She didn't think on whether it did or not. She looked at Mahendra when he proclaimed that he indeed did not reek of fear. A brow barely rose for he did in fact smell of fear. Perhaps it was one of those things she had long forgotten to worry about. What others thought. Fear was fear.

It seemed introductions were once again in order and she nodded towards Gio. "Kyra, The Wanderer," she said. She hadn't used that title before with the other group but then again, they hadn't introduced themselves with a title either. "Ash," she added as she pointed to the wolf that was sitting at her side as calmly as if he were some pet instead of a wolf the size of a tiger.

"Collapse?" Her head tilted to the side slightly at that word. Looking up she gave this look of 'well that makes sense' before looking back at Gio. "Dead," she said pointing towards herself and then Ash. She hadn't gotten there it seemed the same ways the others did. She was in fact dead. It was one of the few things that still made her eye twitch when she thought about her last moments before everything went dark. She would had answered about this Egypt place but it seemed The Watch had an idea. Mahendra picking up some dirt and looking at it didn't seem to get her attention. Mahendra though would learn something interesting: in all his years, while this was dirt, he had never seen such a composition. It seemed to be compiled of grains and chips of rocks from places he was familiar with because of study. The thing was, they were no where near each other. It was like a compounded dirt that had been mixed together by some accident in a lab. (As if someone had taken samples from different continents and accidentally dropped them and they all mixed together.)

Ash got up and walked over towards Gio. It wasn't aggressive, more inquisitive. Sniffing the man slightly before his head turned and he looked towards Kyra and gave a muffled whimper-bark before shaking his fur out. Kyra tilted her head to the other side. "I see," she said before the wolf padded back over to her. "He says you smell like woman we met once." Ash nudged Kyra's thigh gently and she sighed. "Dark hair, light eyes, smelled faintly of time."

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Elizaveta Romanova

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Location: DttS Fade Between
Skills: Chteniye Dushi

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The Baron gave a toothy grin as he pulled Josephine a bit closer as Faye and Elizaveta spoke. "Now Chers', we are all friends here just looking for a good time. As she has said, I am the Baron and no, I did not bring you here though I am very fond of the lovely company, from all of you." he said with a rough dark chuckle as he spoke. "Witchery? I would be careful who is throwing stones Bebe'. Del'ataunt is but a child in the ways," he seemed to warn. "I could not let this one go. I would hate to disappoint her," he added as the snake slithered down and started trailing from Josephine's shoulder down to her waist. "And since the promise of a smoke and a drink have flown away, I will have to find another way for you all to pay for services desired."

Taking half a step back, Elizaveta looked at the man with the serpent slithering over him. Her eyes slowly going over towards William as he asked if this thing or any of them had brought them there. She too wanted an answer to that question. Yet it seemed that neither of them had an answer to that question. Elizaveta stood there, still looking as if she would strike the man if he tried anything but she nodded respectfully towards the two women that were there. "Grand Duchess Elizaveta Romanova," she said in a bird like voice that was laced with a thick Russian accent as she introduced herself. Romanova, now there was a story. There was a slight shake of her head. "Vas in Scotland. Then ruins. Nov here. No knov hov."

As they seemed not to know she did have more questions but she didn't like the mention about making a possible deal with the man they were calling the Baron. He reminded her far too much of a woman she had dealt with in the past. It didn't sit right with her. None of it did. Taking a step tentatively forward she looked directly at the Baron. Her hand gripping her sword tighter the closer she got to him. He didn't seem to mind. His grin growing as she locked eyes with him. "Careful little doll," he warned.

Elizaveta stopped for a second before steeling herself and stepping closer still. She stood there for a moment before stepping back sharply. "Vhat delivery are you?!? she demanded to know as she stared at him.

"Nothing you want to toy with," he said in a stern voice before looking back at Josephine and his face softening, if only in the slightest. "Shall we my dear?" he said gesturing in a direction.

[Natsu]

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Bartholomew Rosecliff

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Location:PE Fade Between
Skills: Alertness

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Staring off to the horizon, Bartholomew was satisfied to see that the beasts out there seemed uninterested in them, or at least unaware. This was, of course, good. He didn't want to go looking for a fight with these things, when they were still trying to get their bearings in the first place. "We don't have much to worry about from them for now, it seems." He said. Still, they were directionless, short of the pull the Emendators were feeling for one another. It was as good a plan as anything to follow it, but once they were together, it wasn't like everything would just be fixed. There was a long road ahead of them, that was for sure.

***** Snapping *****

The first sign he got that something had changed, was the voice that was totally foreign to him. Quickly turning on the spot, he looked and saw that most of the group had disappeared, replaced with strangers. Gritting his teeth, he was visibly upset for the first time in a long while. He couldn't do anything to keep his fellow paradoxes and Emendators safe if he wasn't with them. Still, he wasn't totally separated. With The Watch still here, hopefully they'd be able to regroup. Following lead from him, he said, "Bart Rosecliff." Looking immediately upon the wolf sitting in the girls lap. He'd never seen an animal behave like that before, and he wondered if she might have some kind of ability, akin to that of a Paradox or somebody from Babylon's world. As she appeared to communicate with the wolf, that was confirmed to him. If she was to be taken at her word, then she'd met either Nancy, or Eve. With a touch of urgency in his voice, he asked, "Was she on the shorter side, or closer to average, if I may ask?" Zeroing in on Kyra. If she'd met Eve before, that might tell them a bit more about where she'd gone off to before everything went to shit.

[Nallore]

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Sophia Harris, Riley Ridgeway, and Lauren Ridgeway

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Location:DTB Fade Between DTB Fade BetweenSouless Fade Between
Skills: N/A N/A N/A

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DTB Fade-Between:

"It's great to see you again Nancy, the others are doing alright for the most part anyway." Sophia said, telling her about the other Emendators and Paradoxes she was actually glad to see Nancy again for once she just wished that the other Emendators actually knew what they were doing. Before turning to look at Robert when he asked them where they came from looking at Nancy as she went to do a card reading, she started to think for a moment at his question. "I'm Sophia, this is Nancy, nice to meet you." She said and nodded towards Mali when she introduced herself and the other girl that was there, before turning towards Robert.

"Kind of a long story where I come from. But lets just say I came from Cairo Egypt in the 1920's or so roughly." Sophia said, she wasn't sure how they would react to her being a Paradox or not. She wasn't really going to mention to much about her original timeline that she had come from, one with all of the walkers moving around and surviving day in and day out as well. "As for, whats going on the end times maybe? I don't know I was with some others and then we were here, and then we got separated from each other, and here we are."

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DTB-Fade Between:

Riley quickly stood up looking at the two new women as one of them started to talk, she wasn't sure if they were good people or not she didn't have a weapon on her right now either as well. She looked towards Robert as he asked the two new women where they had came from, everything was really confusing for Riley right now. She however did listen and started to wonder why one of them was playing with some cards which was a really weird place to suddenly start playing cards with oneself. Though so far they didn't seem to attack or do anything hostile for the time being which was a good thing.

"Nice to meet the two of you I guess?" Riley said looking at the two women before looking over at both Mali and Robert she wasn't really sure about them either. But she had a feeling that she could trust these two more than the other two strangers that just randomly appeared and replaced two of their own. "So should we go the way that the Kyra lady had pointed out to us earlier?" Riley asked both Mali and Robert, she wasn't really looking forward to the four day trek but there wasn't really much to do right now either. Though Riley didn't like the fact that Mali had introduced her to these two people, but for now they didn't really have much of a choice other than work together.

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Souless Fade-Between:

Lauren looked at the big Mexican guy who was reaching for his shotgun and some Russian guy as well, they both seemed to be demanding answers, Lauren held her hands up looking at the two armed men. "I honestly don't have a clue so i'm just as clueless as you two are." Lauren said calmly as she watched Richard exploring the ruined church that they now had find themselves in. the air was really musty as well. Lauren turned to look outside seeing some water nearby wondering if it was okay to cross or not, they had already bumped into a creepy skull guy who was holding Jo as well.

"And i'd rather not get shot or stabbed right now." Lauren said as she eyed the others clothing which seemed to be really weird looking to her, but she didn't say anything about them. "I guess I can introduce myself, i'm Lauren Ridgeway." She said while looking around the room a little bit more. Lauren then gestured to the other two who had come with her, stuffing her hands into her dress pockets. "The three of us were near Cairo Egypt, we were exploring some ruins before all of this happened." Lauren said, right now she just wanted to get back to the others.

[Sigil]

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Caesar Gonzalez

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Location: Soulless Fade Between
Skills: N/A

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Cairo, 1920s, but they sounded American. Russian Empire, and sounded like it; spoke fluent enough English. The ones before were from his time, taken from the American Midwest though it wasn't their origin, most of them. And he didn't want to assume anything about their initial guide, Kyra. She looked like something out of a Hobbit movie, but even more anachronisically, she knew about Keystone. Maybe the big Brit was around here someplace too, and they'd had some favorable association. That was a frightening thought; favorable association with Keystone.

Back to point, all of these different people from different eras and locations, and despite his imposing demeanor no one was making a move on him. They were scared. Confused, like he was. Okay, they were not an immediate threat. Caesar still completed his action of unsheathing one of his machetes, but he made no motion of an otherwise aggressive nature. Caesar made a noise that fell somewhere in the vicinity of both a growl and a sigh, and took a greater eye to his surroundings.

He generally ignored the insistence of the one lady that she didn't want to get shot or stabbed. Who did? Immaterial unless he was intent on doing this to her. And if he did, her wants on the issue were probably going to be secondary to an attacker's desire to make with the stabbing. Likewise, he put no additional attention to the guy trying to get a rise out of the Russian and then turning his back on the guy. Unwise, in his experience. But no one was dead yet. This was a good sign.

So let's try a different approach. "A local girl... pointed me to the Chthonic Groves and someone named Proserpine. Does that mean anything," He paused for a moment to observe the people in his immediate area, wither scurrying about or standing there doing nothing, "to any of you?" His words carried an edge, but were otherwise softer and more inquisitive. It was probably the most polite he had been all day.

[Sigil]

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Gilbert Summers

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Location: Plains Between River & Cave
Skills: History

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There was a pause from the tall Emendator as Ludwig rambled off whatever it was he likely intended as passing along information, and/or making observations of the world around him. It was funny, Gilbert probably fluently spoke more languages, modern and ancient, than any single entity that had existed (to the breadth of his experience), yet when this man opened his mouth, complete gibberish seemed to pour forth like a syllabic gargoyle throwing rainwater away from the roof of a cathedral. At least he seemed to know what he was talking about, if no one else did. Probably how his people kept lore safe. There was no better cipher than confusion.

The lady in the Londoner attire, though he did not quite place the exact decade, seemed to know him intimately. Or at least personally, and surprised enough at his presence for them to not have arrived in this place together. Then, at length of the first round of introductory conversation, she introduced herself. "Your name is Crypt? I know of your bloodline well." He turned to Andromeda, who had likewise just finished introducing herself in response. "Recall, please, the stately woman who shared a drink with me. Pale, garbed in black, assisted in your training. The first, Belladonna. She is the progenitor of the Crypt line. This is her descendant." He returned his gaze to young Virginia, "It is a pleasure. I am called Gilbert Summers, The Hat. You might know of me in London as Gray Hawkins, a professor of history and philosophy. I have been called many other interesting things, though I was born to the name Gilgamesh." He scanned the area around him, then looked in the direction he felt Nancy's pull just earlier. "It has been an interesting day."

Faith's summary wasn't, in an odd twist of irony, something that gave him a lot of faith. Though it did point out that Evelina, the one that they knew and not a maybe far altered-by-time version of her was sighted and present up until very recently. It seemed that the explanation was going to be highly abbreviated, so Gilbert decided to open himself up to one of he most useful skills he possessed by pure qualification of being an Emendator to try for more direct and fulfilling answers: His ability to compress and experience human history. He shut his eyes for a moment, as if there were a mental barrier that prevented his instant ease of access, then soon opened them, a look of contemplative clarity beaming across his face. "That... explains so much. And yet does not..." he mused aloud. A single chuckle emanated from The Hat, and he looked to Faith with wonder and amusement. "It is amazing what can be realized with a change in perspective, Faith. You need to consider those words very carefully. For right now, listen to me. I do not know how much time we will have together."

"I looked into the history of this place, and saw nothing. Not blankness, not garbled impressions. Literally nothing. I saw no past, and I saw no chance at a future timeline that had already come to be. My ability to do so has not been compromised; I can still feel the edges of human history as I open myself up to the lines. This place is beyond it all. History is made by those who live and struggle and experience. This is a place where living souls go after they are done experiencing life. We stand, almost all of us, as Paradoxes inside of a Paradox. This is an afterlife, yet we are not dead, you and I."

He removed his hat and motioned toward Faith, continuing, "Evelina left you here. We took her place, is this correct? My arrival, and as such my departure from where I stood last was not voluntary. I would guess the same was true of her. Faith, I believe that there is so much that can be determined in this place. Please, walk me through everything you can remember about your time with The Dice. Exact words she used. Where she went. How she looked. What she did." His words were imperative but kindly, as a teacher might use with a pupil who was on the verge of understanding.

Gilbert turned his head suddenly to look at Ludwig. What he was saying seemed to crystallize in Gil's brain, between his words and what was discerned in the attempt to embrace history here. "And you... know things, do you not?" He seemed to be right about something, and self assured. While waiting on a fuller recap from Faith, Gilbert opened himself up to another Emendator ability in hopes of gathering more direct knowledge for himself. It seemed that this jump might prove very fruitful indeed.

Roll Request

Location: Plains Between River & Cave
Attempted Actions: Find Evelina
Skills: Locate (Emendator)
Reasons for Skills: Specifically, to focus this ability on Evelina
End Location: N/A

[Morose]

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Lady Virginia Crypt, Andromeda Aldrich, and Nancy Parker

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Location: Plains between River and Cave / DTB Fade Between
Skills: The Cards, History (General Human History)

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Plains between River & Cave:

Virginia listened with interest to the Faith's tale of woe - she recognized the name New York. It was part of the New England area in the colonies where she had trained in the art of combat against the Soulless as a girl. She seemed rather distraught over it, not deigning to introduce herself but Virginia took no offense from it. Customs were always looser in the Colonies, especially in times of distress. Faith certainly was feisty and spirited, reminding her of some dear friends she had lost along the way. "If I may," Virginia interjected. "I believe we are Elsewhere - I was instructed to journey here by my father, the Lord Dywell, by a message he sent through the flames. My family's lore heavily implies that this realm is connected to Belladonna and her eternal life," she explained. She knew that Faith had been addressing her companions from the Colonies, but Virginia did not care.

She smiled slightly at the tiger as he pressed against her hand. "Oh dear Myshka..." she whispered to the beast, kneeling as to be on the same level as the magnificent creature. "Elizaveta will be so glad to see you. She's here as well." Sure, animals were not traditionally thought of as intelligent, yet Virginia believed that on some level, Myshka would be able to understand her words. She saw the tiger as an equal. At Ludwig's words, she had to ponder them for a moment, yet she believed she understood what he was attempting to convey. They had been somewhere else in this Elsewhere and now they were in a new location - it seemed that experience had been something he experienced many times before. "Ludwig, dear... Have you seen my father here? Or heard tale of another Crypt?" she inquired.

Meanwhile, Andromeda couldn't help but despair slightly as Faith explained that Eve had been here and then vanished again. Her attitude about the female Emendator was hardly great, but could Andromeda blame her? She herself had become increasingly jaded with Gilbert and Giouse, trying her best to treat them with respect and defer to their judgment due to their experience... but more and more, they seemed to hardly be any different than the rest of the Paradoxes. It still shocked her how easily they had dismissed Lady Justice - and in many ways, that was representative of her issues with the men. "We met someone earlier today who claimed to be the Dice - she was some sort of deity or entity called Justice," Andromeda explained to Faith. "We had to choose Peace or Punishment - picked Punishment, ended up somewhere else, and then suddenly we were here..."

To further her growing disillusion with Gilbert, he brought up the woman that Andromeda had trained with intensely and introduced her as someone he had shared a drink with. Why couldn't he have just been direct and to the point? The next bit of dialogue though from Gilbert caught her attention and gave her something to think about - they were in an afterlife, somewhere outside of human history. Her nerves increased slightly, wondering who else she might find down here - maybe her brother, Walter.

Virginia waited patiently as the man, Gilbert Summers, asked for Faith to recall her conversations with this Evelina. Perhaps this trio was so tight knit as to not consider the opinions of those they did not know already - which she took to be a shame. They had a connection to Belladonna however, causing Virginia to grow in confidence of her deductions thus far. Something in the ground caught her attention and she reached out, attempting to pick up the symmetrical objects to examine them.

Roll Request - Virginia

Location: Plains between River and Cave
Action: To examine those little objects Ludwig accidentally kicked up and see what they are
Skills: Deduction (Investigative), History (Crypt Family)
Why: Deduction - examining the objects; Crypt Family History - in case she can think of a connection to an ancestor such as Belladonna with them
Final Location: Same

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DTB Fade Between:

One of her new companions, Robert, was demanding to know who they were and where they came from. It was a question was she was finding a little bit pointless - would Robert's situation be changed if he knew that she was the Cards and she came into consciousness thousands of years ago in Uruk? No. He would be in the same predicament as if she told him she was Nancy Parker from Louisiana. The other two unknowns were introduced as Mali and Riley. She was definitely more perplexed as she looked down at her cards - her first instinct was to narrow her eyes in rage, assuming someone had swapped them out for a different pair. The annoying woman, Mosi, seemed a likely culprit.

But before she could begin plotting her revenge, Nancy realized that these were her cards - she still had the connection to them, they felt the same in her palm. "Bloody hell..." she muttered under her breath, perplexed as she turned over the first card for the reading and saw the Tower. Unwanted change in the past was pretty on the nose. Turning over the next card, this one for the present, she drew Justice. That one was simple too - cause and effect. She braced herself as she turned over the final card for the future and her heart sank - it was her least favorite one, the Death card. "Fuck," she cursed. "Alright, that one isn't always bad... Death can mean loads of things."

She stared at the cards set out in front of her, before her eyes widened as the cards started to move, changing whether they represented past, present, and future. Death was now inverted in the past. Justice stayed as the present. The Tower went to the future. Nancy whistled slightly, fidgeting her fingers. The cards had never been this interactive before - they had never moved on their own. "Sophia, tell them that they are welcome to move if they want to, but we're busy," Nancy asked the Paradox.

There was only one thing that seemed constant for this reading - the present was cause and effect. The past was either unwanted change or a delayed ending, living unaware. The future was either unwanted change or change, death, illness... She couldn't fathom what was going on with this reading. Usually when she read the cards, it was always clear to her - there was no guesswork involved. She was still in her cross legged position on the ground and she decided that since the cards were behaving differently, perhaps she would need to try something different.

"Alright... Let's see if I'm bonkers..." she murmured, before Nancy reached out and just simply tapped the death card with her index finger to see if anything would happen.

[Sigil]

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Vladimir Alexandrov

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Location: Soulless Fade Between
Skills: Fal'shbort (Passive), Tretiy Glaz (Passive), English

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The heavy and accented eyebrow of Vladimir rose nearer to the brim of his fine hat as the man with the strange clothes and damaged nose made inquiry as to what he should call him. And after an introduction such as that? True, not his absolute best introduction ever, but much could be said for his situation. Snatches of conversation among the others in the ruined church led him to believe that they were in a situation similar to his. The confusion was still apparent on their faces. Perhaps that was why the man who used a strange dialect of English (or one with which he was not overly familiar, in any case) needed to know is name again. Preoccupation. It was okay. The Great Bazhooli was nothing if not gracious, especially with those who were going through their own crises. Though the crack about the Czar dying was irksome. Disrespectful, even. Though if their grand, noble, and farsighted leader of the largest Empire of their age had fallen to forces beyond the control of his velvet gloved iron fist, then the capable and patiently formidable Grand Duchess Elizaveta would ascend to the throne, gripping the reins of power and guiding the Empire toward further greatness. It was all good. And the man did return to apologize for ...something, but hey, it was a positive, right?

It would be more of a positive if he had his people with him. Even Violin Guy, though he kind of snuck in there at the very end. Still, pissing random new people off was counterproductive to whatever they were supposed to be doing, and if he flew into a rage and stabbed each and every one of them to death (too messy for his liking, and highly undignified unless under orders of his Grand Duchess or the type of party had shifted) then no one was getting answers of any kind. Being alone was a bad idea in a strange, new place, especially considering the dangerous entity that they had dispatched just prior to coming here. That was a sobering thought. Perhaps one that these others needed to know about, if they had not done their own dispatching prior to coming here. But first!

"No, no, good and strange sir! Is no needing for apology. Now, as you did not catching name first time," Vladimir motioned in front of him, subtly replacing the knives in their sheathes before flourishing his hands to show their new emptiness. He swept his tall hat from his head and held it in front of him, and filled his lungs with the damp, church air. With measured and level tones, Vlad rolled out baritone, Russian accented words, "I am Vladimir Dmitrievich Alexandrov, Master of Bazhooli Sem'ya and Great Bazhooli of generation, first heir to Baron Alexandrov." He bowed his head slightly, seeming to take on the appearance of a man walking someone else through an introductory exchange. "Master Alexandrov, Great Bazhooli, Vladimir; may call me vhat you vill," he leaned forward a bit, his voice lowering to punctuate his words with a serious aspect, "but vith respect. Da? And I vill endeavor to do same."

There was an immediate change in Vladimir's demeanor, returning to a lighter, less intense version of himself. Be it genuine or just for show, he even put a smile on his face. With bright eyes, he responded to the question put to the room. Why a church? Well, "Vhy not church? Church is good place. Church of Elsevhere, for maybe? Hmm..." He gave a moment of consideration, "Church vas vhere ve vere, vhen ve destroyed monster. Cast Gologramma, during and after battle in church. Took us here. Vas not supposed to do this, the Gologramma. Not for travel. Ah, but you should have seen monster! Vith bigness, long ropy testic- tentacles, tentacles; creature of solids and shadows, stink of burning sulphur. Strong vomens in battle, powerful, beat monster to half death vith skills most exquisite, most brutal, hmm, terrifyingly beautiful - but Grand Duchess purified, fell to dust."

The summary of Lauren came with a little head tilt from The Great Bazhooli, acknowledging her words and presence past her words describing the injuries she didn't want to receive. He didn't address it directly, but he did throw in, "Ruins? Egypt, da. So, nothing vith big scary sulphur monster. Is good." He flashed a smile in her direction. Then he looked to the very, very armed man who asked a question, "No! Am not having idea vhatsoevers. Nothing vith Groves, nothing vith Proserpine. But! But, I am liking your comfortableness vith things sharp and pointy. Is also good. Very good. For you, I make deal. Help vith Great Bazhooli's qvest, I help with your grove and local girl, if I am able."

"So! ...vhat is doing first?"

[rivaan]

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Priscilla Harker

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Location: Soulless Fade Between
Skills: N/a

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Mosi attention moved to the man who sounded like a Russian and sure enough he introduced himself and made it clear he was indeed from Russia. Though she rose an eyebrow, Imperial Circus was it? Well that part she didn't expect, but hey it was welcome change of pace. She liked Circuses and their many tricks. Knife throwing was indeed a fine art she could respect, but also found it a little bit sad in the way those fine implements of cutting and stabbing could be damaged should the thrower miss his target. Just damaged her heart of a smith.

“Nice to meet you, Great Bazhooli. I'm Mosi, Priscilla Harker, but I prefer to be called Mosi. Pleasure meeting you too, mister.” Mosi directly skipped addressing the man by his name and used what title he used for himself. It was more suiting since he did introduce himself as such and remembering aliases, nicknames and titles was generally way easier and more fitting than their simple names. She also greeted the Machete-man while she was at it. It didn't hurt to introduce themselves to at least know how to address each other. The detective guy then went ahead and started explaining about what was happening from their point of view. Lauren also joined in the explanation.

Then the Machete-man started speaking about some information he was apparently given.” Chthonic Groves and Proserpine...?” She repeated what the man asked as she thought about it. Trying to recall if she knew anything about those within her memory about those. Then suddenly she heard of shadow creatures and sulfur.” Wait... are you serious? Did you people fight one of the guardians of the City of Dionysus?” She asked in amazement. Shadows and Sulfur.” We saw a lost city in the shifting sands, the area was filled with stench of brimstone and there were many moving shadows seemingly guarding it before we were moved to another world for the first time!” Mosi exclaimed. Then she shook her head again. Recalling that she was first trying to figure out the Chthonic Groves and Proserpine thing, so she tried to focus on it again.

“Might as well try to reach solid land first.” She just vaguely tossed in her opinion about next course of action while she was trying to focus on recalling the information.

Roll Request

Location: Soulless Fade Between
Attempted Actions: Try to remember possible information on Chthonic Groves and Proserpine
Skills: History (General),Lore (Occult)
Reasons for Skills: Cause those represent her occult and historic knowledge.
End Location: Same

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Constantin Kolev

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Location: PE Fade Between
Skills: Tretiy Glaz(passive), Fal'shbort(passive)

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„I see.” He said when Kyra gave an answer and frowned. So... they were in the world of the dead? Did she mean that they all had died? He was certain he hadn't died back then, at least in battle. Unless his appearance here meant his death or was the cause of his death. As Mahendra introduced himself, Constantin realized that he hadn't, despite speaking with the woman. Though to be fair he was in the middle of introducing himself when that shift happened and he appeared here. He was honestly uncertain if it happened prior or in the middle of his introduction and it was weird feeling. He took a breath.” Not sure if you heard my introduction earlier cause I started it prior to appearing here... better repeat I guess just to be certain?” He said as he was calming down.” Name's Constantin Kolev, a firewalker and a member of the Russian Imperial Circus.” He introduced himself proper, but this time without the theatrical flair. It didn't seem like the right time for it.

Then he heard another person speak and focused his eyes on the man who called himself Giosue Zino. That was a weird name for Constantin, as well was the unusual way of calling himself. What did he mean by 'The watch'? Maybe he should ask, but then he heard the explanation about collapsing timelines and fading worlds? What?! The firewalker felt a massive headache coming his way as he rubbed his temples for a moment. So different worlds... collapsing worlds... They appearing here? Kyra informed them she was here because she and the wolf were apparently dead.

“I'm not dead... at least I don't think I died before I appeared here.” He informed Gio, trying to sort out his feelings.” Ve vere in England... A small tovn in a church. The vhole vorld vas hazy and veird. Then a creatures of shadov and fire appeared, with brimstone smell filling the air. Ve defeated it, using our abilities. After that my leaders and a friend of theirs attempted something, but at the end of it ve appeared at what appeared to be a ruins in a very shallow vater basin of some kind, just a few inches. Then soon later I appeared here instead.” He informed Giosue and looked at him.” Does that haze in my world and the shadow creature mean the world vanished or collapsed?” He asked, really concerned now. What about his family? What about the circus!?

He then looked at Kyra again, but this time at other man who was with them that introduced himself as Bart. Apparently they were speaking about someone they knew or met prior to them appearing at this specific location? Just how many were the people shifting about locations right now?

[ONL]

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Robert Adler, Mahendra Huq Zalil, and Richard Barker

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Location: DTB Fade Between / PE Fade Between / Soulless Fade Between
Skills:

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N/A - N/A - N/A

DTB Fade Between

Robert could relate to Mali on this one, observing her pinch the bridge of her nose and sighing. It was the typical move of someone having had a long and shitty day, and things just continuing to deteriorate. This day certainly could count as that. Robert on his own part resorted to rubbing his chin as he listened to the indroductions. Mali and Riley from the original group, and Sophia and Nancy for the new-comers.

"Sophia, Nancy, okay that's good to know." Robert said back to Sophia, dropping his hand from his chin-scratching as he holstered his gun for a moment. His hand was getting tired from holding it, probably all the stress draining his hand for blood circulation. Though he gave Sophia a confused look at her explaination, not sure if his lack of circulation had affected his brain as well. "1920's…Cairo…If that's the short story, the long story better make my lightbulb brighten up." Robert's usual sarcastic demanour returned for the moment, though dropping it as she continued to explain her predicement. It sounded just like their own; Were with some others, ended up there and got separated, all a big mess.
Robert turned to Riley as she asked if they should continue on the route Kyra pointed out to them, giving but a brief and annoyed look at Nancy being busy with her cards, before focusing on that part of the conversation. "Unless Miss Sophia and Nancy here have any other suggestions…" Robert began replying, halting his tounge upon hearing Nancy talking to Sophia as if they weren't even there. He sighed audibly, rubbing his eyes as he continued. "…O…k…? I really don't have any suggestions, so I guess it's our best bet? This really is a Land of Confusion. Though would you mind telling us what she is doing?" Robert asked, nodding in the direction of Nancy as she clearly didn't have time to acknowledge their presence.

Roll Request Robet

Robert Adler
Characters current location: DTB Fade Between
Characters attempted actions: Robert wants to get a read on Nancy and what the deal is with her, since she is clearly busy with something else he doesn't understand. Is she actively trying to ignore the group, or is whatever she's doing that important?
Any and all skills being used: Deduction (Person)
Why each skill is being called: Deduction (Person) in order to get a read of Nancy, her body-language and social interactions.
Desired location: DTB Fade Between, sticking with group.

PE Fade Between

Mahendra bowed the expected amount as the others around him introduced themselves, even for how strange and unusual they all seemed to him. Giosue introduced himself as "The Watch", which would have caused Mahendra to ask himself of what sort of "Watch" he was referring to. The further introductions and elaborations of his unknown and current location, however, made him delay such questioning for later. Kyra "The Wanderer" followed suit with Ash, who clearly was the enourmous-sized wolf at her side. Serpents troubled Mahendra deeply, but animals of the sizes of tigers and elephants troubled him less.

As Bart and Constantin introduced themselves in due order, Mahendra continued to listen to the group's discussions of their whereabouts - More specifically, Purgatory and Elysium, as Giosue referred to it as. "Yes, quite so Mr. Zino. Me and the Fellowship were investigating the sub-terranian ruins of Athribis, when the world turned into nothingness and we ended up…here. Or somewhere else, for I was not just a moment ago standing before a man calling himself…"Baron" it was. Then I was here." Mahendra explained his predicament to Giosue, crouching down on the ground as his attention shifted to the field he could perhaps find answers in; Geology. As the other continued to talk amongst themselves, Mahendra dug his fingers down into the ground and picked up some of the dirt, examining it in the palm of his hand.

This was not mere dirt. This was some extraordinary dirt!

Mahendra, in passing catching one or two words being exchanged around him, studied the dirt with an academic fervor as he realized what was so odd about the dirt. The various grains and chips of rocks were indeed familiar to him; he had seen similar samples across the world, from India to Egypt, to England and many other places, but not in the same deposit. "It is…mixed somehow." Mahendra spoke to himself, watching the dirt trickle off his hand and back onto the ground as he stood up. "A collapse…of many different places, then into one?" he continued to no one in particular, slowly beginning listening to the talk of a third party known to the group and Constantin's explaination. "The haze and creature of shadows…Yes, yes that was part of our world as well! Or at least the haze, for the shadow monster we never saw, but we did smell the brimstone. Only one of our female companions warned us of said monster, she called it a…a Destruere."

Roll Request Mahendra

Mahendra Huq Zalil
Characters current location: PE Fade Between
Characters attempted actions: Mahendra would like to attempt to make some sense out of his recent discovery of the mixed dirt, combined with the mentions of worlds and timelines collapsing. Has he heard tales or legends of such events taking place, perhaps in Egyptian mythology?
Any and all skills being used: Lore (Egyptian)
Why each skill is being called: Lore (Egyptian) in order to draw from his knowledge of Egyptian mytholgy and legends, if something sounds familiar to him there.
Desired location: Pe Fade Between

Soulless Fade Between

Richard began doing what he knew best, perhaps the only thing he was ever good at; snooping around. Like the good-enough detective walking the streets of New York and its many dark alleyways, Richard lit his new cigarette and let his detective skills do their magic - Wasn't that a phrase that he would knock himself over the head with, then he wasn't sure what would. Cigarette in mouth and his instincts at hand, Richard began looking around the ruins of what he could only presume was a church.

The thing was that he had no idea what type of church it was. Sure he had been inside many a place of worship back in New York over the years; Methodist, Catholic, Orthodox and several other Christian churches, even the temples of the Jews and Mosques of the Muslims, but this? The gray building gave no indication of its denomination, only a symbol of a flower. What type of flower he couldn't tell you, it was his ex-wife who had occupied their apartment with various greens, not him. "For once I should have listened to her blabbering perhaps?"

Richard returned to the group not long after having explored the ruined church, flicking the ash of his cigarette as he stood beside Lauren as she was a familiar face. She was no Faye though, who he could only hope was okay. Introductions were made by the odd-ball group of misfits, as well as questions asked of their shitty situation. Even the Russian comrade was introducing himself again. Perhaps being polite wasn't such a hassle as Robert was used to. Robert took out his cigarette and tipped his hat to each of the strangers around him. "I'll stick with Vladimir then, if you don't mind? Richard Barker, private detective." Richard greeted the others, placing the cigarette back in his mouth as people kept talking.

"You fought a monster? In a church? Did that church have a flower as a symbol, same as this one? Sounds like one big, mean squid-bastard then." Richard asked the Russian circus act, ignoring his fumble of words into testicles. Has the detective been a man of humour, he'd probably stiffle a laugh, but Richard was in no mood for laughing. Not while everyone were talking over his head about monsters, magic, groves, porcupines and guardians. Richard only kept smoking his cigarette as the egg-heads kept talking while his expertice was far from useful in that conversation. Though Richard did take note the mean-looking fella's arsenal. If anything, perhaps a kind word could get him a borrowed gun? "If we can help, I guess we can that too. These two were looking for a friend of theirs, Belladona or something wasn't it? Well, before everything collapsed and we had a not-so-pleasent bartering with some Caribbean trickster. But agreed, this place gives me the creeps. Never was much of a church-man myself."

Roll Request Richard

Richard Barker
Characters current location: Soulless Fade Between
Characters attempted actions: Richard would like to keep his senses open for anything that sticks out to him. Just being generally alert in the unnatural silence surrounding them.
Any and all skills being used: Alertness
Why each skill is being called: Alertness to open his senses and take in any sights, sounds or smells that makes his detective-senses tingle.
Desired location: Same, starting to move towards the water.

[Lady Luck]

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Tartarean Strands: Chapter 1

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Date: D-Day of the Collide

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Nothing really to add to this round here. I will suggest to make sure to double check character sheets for personalities and such like usual try to use your skills. Those from PE: remember it's been less than a day for most of you since you found out Eve left, and at most like 5-6 days: so personalities and relations that are in the sheets back in the PE topic would still be in play. Might want to give a look and refresh yourselves. Other than that, keep moving forward. ^^ Not a big update, just mostly roll request answers below.

PE Fade Between Bart Mahendra Gio Constantin Kyra	DttS Fade Between Josephine Elizaveta William Faye	DtB Fade Between Mali Nancy Sophia Robert Riley	Soulless Fade Between Vlad Caesar Richard Mosi Lauren	Plains between River & Cave Evelina Faith Andromeda Gilbert Virginia

*Keeping this here for now for quick reference. Other ~Snaps~ will happen, so the list will change as needed.

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Soulless Fade Between

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Mosi is trying to figure out a few things using her knowledge about the occult. Now, as far as the gardens go, she isn't getting hits on that in her mind. The name Proserpine though she is. Cult following back during the height of Rome Mythology, wine always draws a crowd. Thing is wine isn't what she is known for. Proserpine/Proserpina/Persephone (Rome/Rome/Greece) are most always known for the various abduction tales where she was taken from her mother and drug to the underworld. Tales vary but Hades couldn't find a woman so he went and got one and it is said that she spends part of the year in the underworld and part in the land of the living. (Reason behind seasons.)

Richard is trying to keep an eye out for things. This is probably a good thing to do in general in any area. Especially when you just start jumping and bumping around. Currently there isn't a lot that is sticking out to him anymore than anything else would be. Everything kind of stands out because it is all new but nothing is jumping out going "Hey! LOOK AT ME!" There is the faintest hint of sulfur in the air but it smells more like it is going away, like something was there but hasn't been in sometime. (Like when you open an old chest of clothing and smell the perfume your grandmother wore, before she died, twenty years before.) - Same goes for heading towards the water - everything seems calm for now.

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DtB Fade Between

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Nancy is trying to figure out what is going on with her cards because what she is seeing is a first. When it comes to Emendators, having a first after all this time is a rare thing and is bound to raise a lot of questions. As she touches she card, it simply stops moving. If she removes her finger it won't start up again. Seems like touching them just stopped everything. Nancy knows what the cards are trying to tell her, she just doesn't know that she knows yet. Yes, I know confusing but she is missing just a single bit of information and that she won't get well, until she gets it. Right now she is feeling she has gotten everything she can from the cards.

Robert, okay, I love Robert for trying to get a read on Nancy and figure out what her deal is. Thing is, Nancy is like the Riddler. She is a question, wrapped in an enigma, booby trapped inside pinata, set up at the end of a maze. And that's when she is being direct. What you can gain is that she isn't trying to do anything to harm anyone and while what she is doing might make no sense, it seems to have purpose and make sense to her.

[Lady Absinthia]

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Ludwig Zimmer

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Location: The In-Between: Plains between River and Cave
Skills: N/A

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There is a flash of a smile from Ludwig as he cradled his journal to his chest as if it was a precious baby, patting it on its back and bouncing it lovingly as he spun around with loose joints. The man was like a walking weeble-wobble. "Know things? So many things! I love things! And people! And places! And things! Many things! Knick-knacks, patty wacks! Get that dog a bone," he said pointing towards the tiger but giggling instead. "Tiger, a bone. Might steed, not as mighty as Dieter. My ferret not my brother, but good steed. I think, maybe. If let me ride?" he seemed to ask. The tiger seemed to growl. "Maybe? Yes! Maybe, for things!" The tiger seemed content around Virginia.

Whatever attention that Ludwig had been paying towards Gilbert was quickly side trekked at Virginia spoke to him. "Well..." he started but then seemed to snap out of it as he opened his journal and quickly starting thumbing through the pages. "Well, well, well, well," he said over and over and over again. Flipping page after page after page. Stopping he shoved his finger into his book and exclaimed, "WELL!" before turning the book around so Virginia could see it. It was a page and a drawing of a well, with flowers like the one Elizaveta had drawn in the dirt surrounding and climbing up it. There were words written but they weren't in a language that Virginia knew. Gothic was a trained language.

Pushing his glasses up from the tip of his nose. "One man trash is another's treasure. One's life is one's death. One's mad is anothers glad. One heaven is another hell. Just flip a coin," he said with a grin as stood there, his finger still tapping on the image of the well that he was showing Virginia.

Now the objects that Virginia picks up, the dirt starts rubbing off of them as she examines them. It is a set of dice. Very old, very worn. As far as she can remember through the stories there is no mention of dice with Belladonna but then again there is probably a lot the family doesn't know about the woman. Though, those from PE will instantly recognize the dice that Virginia is holding: they are Eve's.

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Kyra Altham

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Location: PE Fade Between
Skills: Animal Control (Wolf)

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Bart introducing himself received a tad of a head bob from Kyra, it seemed to be about as much as she gave towards any real movement as far as facial expressions went. That was until he started asking specifics. She hadn't considered it. Her eyes went up for a moment, as if she was in thought. She noticed a lot of things, taking in her surroundings and such but she really didn't pay attention to them if they weren't a danger to her. Her hand came up, leveling her palm off at her own head. Slowly she rose it a few inches above herself. "Taller," she said in a monotone fashion before lowering her her hand. (Quick reference, Nancy is shorter than Kyra. Evelina is taller is Kyra.)

The man who called himself a fire walker seemed to be going on about death. She snapped her finger and Ash looked at her. Licking his own nose he started sniffing around, mostly at the feet of those that were there before looking back to her. Her brow lifted. "Says you're not dead," she said looking at Constantin. "Blights, Soul-eaters," she said as he mentioned some creatures and described them.

Then he kept talking and telling of where he was before the snap. Her eyes went back up again, as if she was trying to remember something that hadn't been of interest to her in a very long time if ever. She had a look on her face like she was trying to get together a bibliography for a book report. After a minute something seemed to click. Lifting her hand she pointed her finger in a direction. "Typlyon's Ruins. Six days journey," she said dryly before lowering her hand.

More talking but Kyra wasn't putting more in right then, other than to repeat herself about the Blights and Soul-eaters as the Destruere were mentioned. Mahendra is trying to figure out just what is going on by looking at the dirt. Guess this is what a soothsayer would call a dry tea reading, lol. Anyways. Talk of end times seems to actually be avoided much in Egyptian Myth from what he can remember. That they try not to give details on end times because they felt it would bring it about. The whole creating the whole thing you are trying to avoid by trying to avoid it. There are whispers about Coffin Texts and that after many cycles it will finally end though - maybe that is why there is so much in one place that shouldn't be. Renewing.

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Elizaveta Romanova

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Location: DttS Fade Between
Skills:

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The Baron seemed to be pushing for them to keep moving with him and following him. This did not sit well with Elizaveta. Yet there seemed to be nothing she could do right then if the woman wanted to go with him. She didn't seem to be under a spell or anything. Maybe she was up to something as well? Women had to do what they had to do to survive usually and if the woman had an idea she wasn't going to get in the way but then again the other woman with her didn't seem to like this Baron person anymore than she did.

Sighing a bit, this was one of those times that Elizaveta wished her Tretiy Glaz would kick in but that wasn't how it worked. It usually came at the oddest times with the oddest of messages that didn't make sense until after everything unfolded. Her people were missing, she was in a strange land, and the closest thing she had to a friend was a man she had met on the road just hours before. Keeping her hand on the hilt of her blade she looked up at the sky. Dark, no stars from what she could see. Not that if she could see them it would help but it would have been nice to see a star or two.

All things considered she nearly cast Vyzov, a flock of birds could be useful but then again, this thing, this Baron, she didn't know what he was but she knew there was something dark that didn't sit right with her. Perhaps she should just bide her time. It was the best she could do for now. Looking towards William she asked him, "follov or go alone?" Should they go with this Baron and the other women or strike out alone and try to find the people they had shown up in this place with.

[Romero]

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William Fraser

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Location: DttS Fade Between
Skills: N/A

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Considering recent events, William hadn't been expecting any kind of concise answer, and he wasn't wrong. The two women responded to his question first, but the only thing he really learnt was their names. Or at least what they claimed their names to be. The woman in the pink dress introduced herself as 'Faye Masterson' also introduced the skull-faced man as 'the Baron'. For a moment the rest of her sentence threw him off, until he realised that she had changed who she was addressing, and it was this 'Baron' who she was asking to release 'Miss Clarke', presumably the woman that the Baron had his arm around. And as if on cue, 'Miss Clarke' introduced herself as Josephine Clarke. For the second time in as many moments, the Baron was introduced. William frowned slightly. More noble titles, and in the Baron, someone who looked even more ill-suited to the title than the Duchess. That was not the only thing about this unusual trio that stood in contradiction. Faye had been calling for the Baron to release Josephine, and yet the latter seemed more than comfortable in the mans clutches. Both women had felt the need to introduce the Baron before he had a chance to himself, and yet neither introduced the other. And perhaps most disturbingly for William, both had ignored his second question as if he had never even asked it. His mind was racing with the possibilities. Either they were as clueless about their situation as he was, or they were keeping the information to themselves. Before he could start to put the pieces together, the Baron spoke.

The skull-faced man had been the first to notice William and the Duchess arriving, and if he was at all phased by them, he didn't show it. He confirmed his title, but gave no other name, but he at least answered William's question, claiming to not have had a hand in bringing them to this shadowed realm. William didn't trust him for a moment, but at the moment, he seemed to be the only one with any real sense of what was going on. The insinuation in his tone as he leered over Josephine suggested he wasn't going to be playing the role of a knightly savior, although the skull drawn across his face might have already been a clue in that regard. The snake that slithered down his arm as he spoke, entwining itself around Josephine's body, put William even more on edge. He had glimpsed snakes before, of course, but in his experience they kept to themselves. This snake was different, it almost seemed to be acting like an extension of the Baron's will. He watched it warily, until the Duchess spoke again.

The Russian seemed to have regained her composure, introducing herself to the two women, although it was the first time William had heard her say her name. Elizaveta Romanova. William turned the name over in his head for a moment, before settling for the Duchess. Despite her being the closest thing William had to a companion in this strange starless world, he still barely knew the woman. And anyone who was that many rungs above William deserved the respect of her title, even if it was only in William's thoughts. Realising that he was now the only member in their unusual party without a name, William moved to remedy that, opening his mouth to speak. But before he could get any words out, the Baron spoke again.

The Duchess had been slowly moving towards the Baron, never taking her hand off the hilt of her sword, but the Baron's apparent warning seemed to fall on deaf ears. Whatever the Duchess could see, or sense, about the man, she clearly didn't like as she quickly stepped back. But if the Baron was phased, he hardly showed it, quickly turning his attention back the woman in his clutches, gesturing to lead her away. For William, the scene all seemed surreal. Not only were his surroundings otherworldly, these strangers hardly seemed any more grounded. All three of them had greeted William and the Duchess almost without batting an eyelid, and yet they must have both just appeared out of thin air. The music at the back of William's mind was a slow, eerie staccato that was doing nothing to settle his nerves. He didn't know if the three strangers were human, Soulless, or something worse. The only figure that he had even a glimmer of trust in was the Duchess, so it was to her that he would stay close to. At least until he had some idea of what was going on. Moving forward himself until he was just a pace or two away from the Duchess, still facing the three figures, William didn't release the hilt of his dirk. The Duchess had apparently reached the same conclusion as he had, turning towards him and asking the same question that William had been about to ask himself. To follow this 'Baron', or to set off into the fog. Much to William's distaste, there was only one real option. He shrugged slightly as he turned back to William, keeping his voice low.

"Whatever this 'Baron' is, he seems to know this place. For now, I fear he is our only chance of finding our way back to the others."

Turning back to the Baron and the two women, William tried to put on a charming smile as he spoke again. For now, he would wait and see how the other's would act, rather than risk doing something he would regret.

"William Fraser. A pleasure to meet you all, I am sure."

[FantasyChic]

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Faye Masterson, Josephine Clarke, and Faith Masters

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Location: DttS In-Between, DttS In-Between, Evelina's Cave -> Plains Between River and Cave
Skills: Lore (Occult), Etiquette, Persuasion, Seduction, N/A

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DttS In-Between: Faye knew the danger of the situation and Miss Clarke did not strike her as dumb, so surely, she must as well. Was it bravery on the woman’s part or was she really looking for a good time from someone in a culture’s version of hell? Faye could not be sure, but as the situation stood, she lost ties with those she came with and now only had Miss Clarke, a woman and a man in period garb who spoke much like the time period they dressed from. If it were any other time, she would question that, but seeing as how they were all brought here via a haze, was it so crazy to think people from other times could be here too?

She didn’t trust them. Not yet, but she knew she could not do this alone. She walked over to the William and Elizaveta and spoke in a whisper to them. ”I do not trust this man, but he seems our only way forward. I don’t like leaving Miss Clarke alone in his clutches, but I cannot make you follow. He desires payment and from my research that either means alcohol or tobacco or souls. I fear thus far it is the latter he is aiming for.” She turned her attention back on the Baron.

”I believe you were promised alcohol or tobacco but they seem to have vanished. I am sure once we find our companions again they will be happy to provide you with that payment. Until then, we would really need a guide.”

Roll Request

Character name: Faye Masterson
Characters current location: DttS In-Between
Characters attempted actions: Faye is going to scour her thoughts and based on her research to see if she can connect if there is some way to please this Baron without resorting to losing a soul.
Any and all skills being used: Lore (Occult)
Why each skill is being called: This falls into occult territory maybe, so hopefully she read up more on the Baron.
Desired location: Same as above

DttS In-Between: Josephine felt the snake worm its way around her. Snakes reminded her of the Bible, Adam and Eve with the devil turning into a snake to tempt them to eat from the tree to damn all of humanity. Now granted, she didn’t believe in God so much, but she did believe in the corruption of human beings. The Baron seemed pleased with her and Jo knew she was walking head first into danger. She wasn’t stupid. Far from it. She was a woman who knew what her skills were and how to use them. She didn’t intend to give up anything without being all right with it.

Still, to see the others jump to her defense made her glad. ”Really now, I am all right. I would very much like to get out of here though. This doesn’t set the right mood. Perhaps you know somewhere else we could go? Obviously we have no clue where to start making our way around here.” She peppered her words with as much heat as she could muster. She wasn’t sure if this man or being or whoever could do the job, but he seemed for it.

”However, I do not like the thought of leaving my friends alone. I’ve grown so fond of them, you see. I’d very much like to find them before any fun is to be had.”

Roll Request

Character name: Josephine Clarke
Characters current location: DttS In-Between
Characters attempted actions: Jo is going to do what Jo does best and that is flirt her way out of this situation. Using her skills to get the Baron to help them without resorting to actually doing anything.
Any and all skills being used: Etiquette, Persuasion, Seduction
Why each skill is being called: Etiquette because she wants to be respectful, should this being call for that. Persuasion and Seduction combined to use her feminine charm to get the Baron to go along with her plan.
Desired location: Same as above

The In-Between: Plains Between River and Cave: Faith ignored the ramblings of the madman. She felt he was a lost cause to help them, but Gil seemed intent on questioning him. Whatever for was beyond her grasp and she had already lost faith (ha irony) in Gil’s ability to lead. She had been burned by the only person she felt capable of knowing her and helping her, so what choice did she have? And Gil talked down to her like she was a child and she was, quite frankly, sick of it.

”In case it wasn’t obvious, we are no longer at our cozy little home. As far as I am concerned, we are no longer Paradox and Emendator. We are on equal footing, so put your condescending nature away. I will not be talked to like a toddler. I came here to find Eve. I found her and she did not wish to be found.” Faith crossed her arms but listened as Andromeda spoke.

If this Justice woman was The Dice, then perhaps Eve spoke the truth. ”Eve said she was here for a long time. When I came here, I woke up underwater, under the ice over there. Eve broke me out and we came to the cave. If this Justice was her, perhaps she has been here a long time. In which case, she does need help whether she agrees to that or not. We need to press onward anyway. Eve warned that there was someone here that would not be happy to see us all here.” Faith grabbed her back of weapons, just in case.