[IC] Welcome Back to the Guild

[Rithas]

Callum looked quizzing at the feline as it rolled over onto it's back, before suddenly realizing what it meant. "Oh....yeah, sure" Callum smiled as he started to rub the cats belly. He had two cats at home so this was a nice thing. He was way more of a cat person then a dog person, Cats could be left alone for two minutes and you won't come back to find that they've ripped anything, even things you didn't even know could be ripped. And also that they've shit all over the floor. Maybe it was just him. Plus, Dogs were always the animal people picked and then realized they couldn't or just wouldn't take care of. Therefor hating their life forever and ever.

So as Callum rubbed the cat's belly, He smiled. "So, I wonder what your doing here?"

[Animelover_princess]

Rae looked between the 2, then forced a small smile "i think the lizard thing looks interesting, and i don't think books should have to walk" she looked at the girl "you have to be kinda tired, right? i am, but are you sure you want to cart us around Muse? you did get hurt in that fight, right?" she looked him over, her hands clasping and unclasping in front of her "though you look all healed up now" she chuckled nervously, she scratched her head absently and tried to concentrate on the vague shapes that made up Books and Muse, she blushed "um, would either of you happen to have anything i could use to clean my glasses?" her voice was quiet and she was needlessly embarrassed she knew "my eye-sight's horrible, i really can't make either of you out properly"

[Kaga]

MK purred as Callum pet him, eyes closing contently as he inched around on his back a bit. At the sound of Callum’s question, the cat stopped purring for a moment and looked up at the roleplayer, before going back to what he was doing before — as if shrugging and saying “gee, I dunno man”.

[booksmusicanime]

Books shook her head. "I'll be fine with walking if I have to." She said with a slight smile. She was amused with the images her mind created of the things that Muse said. "I don't have anything to clean glasses with. My shirt isn't very clean." She said glancing down at her clothes. They were dirty from how long she had worn them and how much had happen since she first got here.

[Kaga]

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.” Muse told Rae. “I can apply some gradual healing powers when I need to. I’m all healed up now, see?” he smiled. “And uh… as for the glasses…” he looked around a bit, before grabbing the edge of his shirt, and looking towards Rae for her glasses. “May I?” he asked, before taking hold of her lenses, and wiping off as much grime and gore as he could with his shirt. Once the bulk of it was taken care of, he lifted the glasses to his mouth. “Hope you don’t mind.” he spoke quickly, before applying a little spit-shine, rubbing it in and wiping it off with his shirt as well. “They look clean now.” he told Rae, them back to her.

“As for the ride,” Muse stepped to the side a bit to distance himself somewhat from the other two, before taking a moment to casually stretch. “Lizard-thing it is.” In only a second or two, Muse transformed himself into the reptilian beast he’d just described — an eight-legged, sandy-colored serpent with a gecko-like head, at least twenty feet across without counting the tail. With a belly so low to the ground and legs so short, he did indeed almost look like a snake, ready to slither across the desert. “Well, hop on.” he told the girls, before quickly adding, “Wait, hold on a second,” and adding some horizontal ridges onto his back. “There. Should be easier to hold onto, now.” he told them. “Hang on tight!”

Once the girls had climbed on-board, he dashed off on his surprisingly speedy legs, scurrying across the desert sand in an S pattern, moving quickly enough to kick off dust into the air as he ran.

[Arty Fox]

All those nearby would hear a very loud scream of frantic terror. The owner of the scream, with a very powerful set of lungs, was Kole whose body had momentarily consisted of flailing limbs almost a metre off the ground at the sudden appearance of GM.

Breathing deeply Kole fingers flexed repeatedly up near his chest, almost practicing for the unlikely day when they would wrap themselves around GM’s neck, where he had raised his hands in defence against the sudden visitor. As the GM continued his rude ranting Koles mind began switching his sudden fear into sudden anger and embarrassment at being scared so easily.

“Well maybe you should keep better tabs on your pets and maybe then they won’t find their way under busses!” Kole hissed back, hoping his hear hadn’t stopped from shock. “If you like I can drop a house or a train or something instead.” He continued to spit back at the GM, despite what the more sensible part of his mind shouted. His body betrayed him though as he continued to shake like a leaf.

“Why don’t you explain yourself!?” Kole continued in his fearful state, logic completely out the window with the kitchen sink. “dressed like” Here he waved his right hand at GM. “Like that?”

[Animelover_princess]

Rae smiled at Muse when he finished with her glasses, she done it tons of times, she didn't really mind as he was a lot cleaner then they were (even though he was still dirty) and she could see out of them now.
Truth be told, Rae was excited to ride the lizard thing. when he changed a wide smile crossed her face. she motioned for books to get on in front of her and climbed onto Muse's back. when they were both on he was off, she had to resist a giddy squeal, the rush of wind. she was grinning as they approached the forest.

[Kaga]

“Listen, hoe,” GM shot back. “I got a lot of pets to keep track of and not a ton of busses that fall from the sky. Shit’s complicated. I’m a busy guy and I don’t always have time to keep ‘em all right by my side. But if you’re really so adamant about it I guess I could give it a try.” he growled as a pair of Rin wolves appeared, standing obediently at their master’s sides with their eyes locked on Kole. “Also, what the hell do you mean why am I dressed like- oh.” he cut himselff off as he finally looked down and became aware of his appearance. “Well, you can’t get into Troll Disney Land if you look like a human, now can you?” he snarked, before returning to his usual appearance. “And as for the color, I can’t go full purple without needing to add fins, and fins are fucking tacky.” he ranted. “See? Explanations ain’t hard. Your turn.”

[Rithas]

"Your a rather smart cat aren't you?" Callum grinned as he kept petting. There was another faint...more girly scream. Callum slight raised his head and scrunched his face. "Hmmm" Callum wondered if he should just ignore that, maybe he should. He looked at the cat and tilted his head, "Um..." He gave a quizzing look as if asking the cat what to do next. Something. Off this old creaky abandoned building at least. It seemed to be on its last legs, and Callum hoped it didn't collapsed when he was in it.

[Arty Fox]

Kole wasn’t entirely sure what GM was trying to say, something about Troll Disney land or other, in his effort to explain such an outlandish outfit. While Koles anger had been diminishing, allowing logical thought to reintegrate itself, it was the sudden appearance of two large wolves that sent a horrible jolt through him. He could die if GM so wished it.
Taking a reassuring breath, and maybe a step or two back, Kole forced his fear into the back of his mind with gritted teeth before answering the GMs question.

“I dropped a bus on it.” He replied calmly, but with a slight shake in his voice under the Wolves piercing eyes. “I, I panicked and I dropped a bus on it.” He continued.

Kole wanted to find out more about this place and about the strange ‘people’ such as GM and Muse. He already knew that Muse had very little knowledge of things in general and the fact that he said his whole life before everything didn’t seem real made Kole wonder if maybe he was some sort of program, or possible just something created on the guild. But the fact that GM had said he had been doing some research meant that he knew something interesting, possibly a piece of important information that would tie all the pieces of this puzzle together. Kole hungered for that information but he had to be very delicate in this situation, he daren’t take out his phone just yet in case GM took it as an attack or took his phone away.

“That’s all there is to it.” Trying to draw the matter to a close lest he be forced to reveal his phone. He then moved to take the situation into his own hands. “Your turn. What are you? Specifically, are you another Roleplayer or some sort of program?” Such an answer might reveal Muses own origins and purpose.

[Kaga]

MK Ultra shifted his attention slightly towards the distant scream, ears and eyes perking in that direction. His purring ceased once more, and while it seemed like he was about to continue just as he’d done before, Callum’s unsure expression seemed to sway the cat not to be lazy and to actually do something. And so, the gray cat slowly rolled itself back onto its feet, getting up and walking towards the sound of the scream. After taking a few steps, it glanced behind himself to make sure Callum was following.

——

“What did you just call me?” GM growled defensively, his eyes narrowed at Kole while the wolves snarled at his sides and took a step or two forward aggressively, as if their brains were directly in-sync with GM’s and all it took was an angered response from their master to set them off. “Listen kid, if anyone here is a ‘program’, it’s my pets.” he hissed, stepping forward and petting one of them on the head. “I am the programmer. Which, in a world like this, kind of makes me god, doesn’t it?” he grinned. “In fact…” he stepped even closer to Kole, now right in front of him, and a good handful of inches taller than the roleplayer as he lightly took hold of Kole’s chin, lifting his face up so his eyes met GM’s. He smiled wickedly down at Kole as he seemingly examined the roleplayer’s face. “…One could even say that you are somewhat like a program in my eyes.” he cooed. “Fairly complex program, I’ll give you that, but you’re still so… malleable. I mean, you call yourself a living thing, sure, but, what even are you? A big lump of cells holding themselves together with the instructions of a brain? And what even is a brain, then? Nothing but electrical pulses between neurons, right?” he rambled rhetorically. “So really, those neurons might as well just be a bunch of wires, or a real nice circuit-board, and it would only take a programmer like me to mess with how some of those wires are connected to suddenly completely change the device’s functions, you know? Make it do whatever I want…” he mused, running his fingers through Kole’s hair a if admiring the brain underneath.

“And you know what?” he chirped. “Sometimes, I don’t even have to manually screw with any of the software up in there. Sometimes if you push the right buttons — figurative buttons, I mean — you can make people do the craziest shit just with words and actions alone. Sometimes all it takes is good ol’ fashioned psychology to completely fuck a person over! Isn’t that hilarious?”

[booksmusicanime]

Books watched the forest grow closer. Her blonde hair was tucked into her shirt so it wasn't blowing into Rae's face. She looked calm and happy but on the inside in her mind it was a mess. She couldn't get her thoughts sorted out. She had always dreamed of things like this but now that she was here her brain was going into overdrive. I wish there was a way to know what is going on back home. She thought to herself as she stared ahead.

[Kaga]

Muse smiled internally, a warm feeling filling him as his chameleon-like eyes caught a glimpse of Rae’s smiling face as his body twisted and turned across the desert sand. He still wished he could do a bit more to help Books feel happier, though, but at least Rae felt a bit more comfortable.

Muse’s rapid footsteps slowed as he reached the desert-forest border, his short legs unable to travel as well in the thick undergrowth. Upon slithering himself into the forest, he soon came to a stop. “Welp, here we are.” he told them, lowering his body to the ground so that the girls could easily step down. He then glanced around the area, trying to get a feel for what sort of roleplay it could be. If it were a temperate forest, he perhaps would’ve assumed a wolf pack, or a medieval, or, really, it seemed lots of roleplays spent at least some time in a generic, temperate forest setting. But this wasn’t a temperate forest. Rather, it was quite clearly a dense, tropical jungle. “Hm. Hot in here.” he mused, slowly pacing around a bit to get a better look around. “Heh. Good thing I’m cold-blooded right no- ack!” he winced, suddenly feeling a sharp pain in his neck. “What the hell…” he mumbled, reaching for his neck with one of his forelimbs, but his leg was just a bit too short to reach the source of the problem. “Must be bugs around here.” he commented, turning his head to reveal the dart lodged in the side of his neck.

…And then, he started to feel woozy. “Woah… dangerous bugs.” he added, pupils dilating a bit as his head and body slumped to the ground. “We should prah… puh… probble… probably watch out for the… for that…” he warned half-heartedly, his concentration clearly already slipping along with his speech.

[Animelover_princess]

Rae quickly slid off Muse's back and looked around the forest. it was pretty thick, but it was better then the desert. she approached one of the trees and ran a hand down the trunk, hard but mostly smooth too, odd. she looked down at the ground to all the leaves. the trio's footsteps were pretty obvious on the leaves right at the edge, she took a step in and realized the farther in leaves didn't get crushed when she walked on them, must be enough water that they're strong even after they fall off the trees, but for some reason this made her feel uneasy, she looked over at Muse and saw something hit his neck "Muse?" he said something about bugs, and she approached, it was not a bug, his voice slurred and Rae immediately went for books, putting herself between the girl and the forest "Muse!"

[Rithas]

Callum glanced around as it seemed that the cat was going to do something. Probably the distant scream, "Ah..." Callum wondered if it wanted him to follow it. Maybe it did? When MK Ultra (Which was still a silly name) Turned it's head towards him. Callum guess that it did, indeed want him to follow it. "Okay, Towards whatever that was then" Callum was following closely behind the cat, walking the pace of the feline.

[booksmusicanime]

"Muse." Books said looking out from behind Rae. She looked at Muse and she saw a dart on his neck. "Someone or something shot him with a dart." She mumbled looking at Rae. Her blue eyes then focused on the forest in front of them. "There has to be something in that forest that did that. There has to be." She said to Rae softly.

[Animelover_princess]

Rae looked back at the girl "don't worry Books" she looked forward again, scanning the trees, unfortunately she still couldn't see very well "stay behind me, i'll think of something" she looked at Muse and called out again, he was probably completely unconscious, already. she looked around, trying to keep herself between the girl and the forest. Rae was terrified but if something was going to attack them she'd try her best to protect the smaller girl now that their protector was out of the picture at least temporarily. her heart pounded and she took a deep breath.she saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked around, panicked. she really didn't want to scare books but she was pretty sure the situation was already past that point.

[Arty Fox]

Kole knew he had made a mistake. He screamed and panicked internally when the GM snapped and the wolves snarled at him, baring their glistening teeth in anticipation. He even took a deep breath when the GM stepped right up to him, almost close enough to hear Koles heart pumping incredibly fast in utter fear.

He shivered at GMs touch and struggled to stare into those malicious eyes. No, not malicious but certainly not benevolent. Resisting the urge to pull away, and driving down the embers of rage at being examined like an interesting thing of the floor, Kole listened with fearful but rapt attention. His stomach did a queasy flip and legs visibly twitched trying to get away from the fingers dragging themselves through his hair. Kole did not like this, he didn’t like this one bit and wished that he could be very far from here and the blackened husks of buildings that seemed to gawp in testament as him.

But the possibility of information kept him in place, in such a small amount of time he had already drawn some answer from GM. It was obvious that the GM was able to summon creatures to wherever he needed them, but not straight into being so far which meant he had a few hidden away somewhere. Furthermore it seemed he wasn’t bound like the rest of them by normal means of travel, such as walking and running, and possibly had a very clear idea of where everything was in terms of the different roleplay ‘worlds’. He had quickly sorted through the rather tangled answer that the GM had given him, fear was a very good motivation to think fast, to conclude that as far as he knew the GM didn’t consider himself to be a program of any kind. However Kole wasn’t quite sure if the matter was closed just yet as did a program even know that it was a program? Kole was very certain he wasn’t a program and stood by that fact resolutely. But still he needed more answers, he needed more information.

“Yeah.” Kole tried to grin after the less than confident strangled laugh he gave. “So you came here by your own accord then? If so that’s an amazing feat of both science and engineering considering that no piece of equipment at the moment, or at least nothing that has been disclosed to the public, can create something even close to this.” He pressed with restrained excitement. “Plus wherever we are evidently has an unusual effect on electrical devices.” A momentary flicker of panic passed over his face as Kole realised he may have said too much.

[Kaga]

“Naw man… I’m still here…” Muse droned, still technically conscious but his concentration and thinking more than clouded. His (relatively) well-off state was primarily due to his large size. Had he been of human build when he was shot, the toxins might’ve even been enough to kill him. “Dudes… my head is so heavy…” he continued, his skull lying limply on the forest floor. “Why did none of you tell me…?”

As Muse’s overly-intense high prevented him from being even remotely useful, humanoid figures started to appear from the shadows in the forest. Becoming visible, the trio of hunters were revealed to be tribal females. The women wore very minimal clothing, animal skins fashioned into makeshift bras and thongs. On their heads, they wore headdresses made of green feathers, which lay close to their scalps, covering much of their hair, which came down no further than their shoulders. The rest of their bodies were covered in body paint with intricate black-and-green designs.

The three women approached calmly but sternly. One, seemingly the leader with a distinct black feather on her headpiece that the others lacked, stepped forward towards the group. “The beast talks?” was her first question, arms crossed with the blowdart reed still visible in her hand. She eyed the ‘beast’ suspiciously.

“Woah… izzat body paint…?” Muse mumbled, crawling along his side as he attempted to move his head to get a better look at the women, his legs kicking the air in a mostly useless attempt to propel him forward. His movements now much more closely resembled that of a worm than a snake. “Dude… that’s so fucking creative…”

After a moment passed, the leader spoke up again. “…Apparently so.” She turned back to the girls. “What sort of creature is he?” she asked sternly. “And secondly…” she tilted her head slightly as she looked the two girls over. “What tribe are you from?”

——

MK Ultra continued to guide Callum across the post-apocalyptic landscape, traveling quickly and nimbly like felines do, occasionally pausing and looking behind himself to ensure that Callum was following, as well as giving the roleplayer a few seconds to catch up with him. Were it not for the cat’s bright yellow-orange eyes and matching collar, MK’s gray fur would’ve blended in almost perfectly with he duo’s bleak surroundings. For a while, they walked on mostly in silence, with the exception of the sounds of footsteps and the soft jingling of MK’s collar tag. As they approached a certain broken-down building, however, two familiar voices slowly became audible…

——

GM blinked. “‘Unusual effect’?” he echoed. “What unusual effect?” he asked, distracted from his admiration of Kole’s skull and all the potential that lay beneath. “My computer’s been working just fine…” he mused, facial expression seeming legitimately curious, before he cracked up laughing. “Hah! Then again, I suppose it’s not exactly a normal computer, is it?” he grinned. “But still, what electrical device?” he became serious again. “You mean your phone or some shit?” he asked. “Maybe it’s cuz you’re not from here… interesting…” he mused, before the wires connected in his head and suddenly he found himself glaring angrily at Kole again. “Now wait just a fucking minute!” he snapped, his face barely an inch away from the roleplayer’s. He swiftly reached into Kole’s pocket and grabbed his cell phone. “You used this thing to drop that bus…” he seethed, glow-eye flickering intensely as he examined it, as if he could use that eye to see things that Kole couldn’t. “How’d you figure that out so quickly?”

The two wolves stayed close to GM’s side, growling lowly to match his emotions… until their ears perked up, something grabbing their attention fully as they craned their necks around, sniffing the air wildly. Then, amusingly, GM did the same thing — well, minus the sniffing part. “What is it, girls?” he asked softly, but the Rins stayed silent. During that silence, GM finally noticed a familiar chiming sound…

…And then he caught sight of MK and Callum standing in the doorway, and he hardly had time to form an ‘oh shit’ face before the wolves reacted.

Barking and snarling, the two canines immediately turned around, no longer focused on Kole at all as MK demanded full attention. “Hey, leave it!” GM ordered. “Leave that cat alone!” But the clones didn’t listen, instead stepping forward menacingly before darting towards the creature, MK puffing up and racing away for dear life. “Shit, shit, shit, fuck… aaaugh!!” GM exclaimed, wracking his hands through his hair in frustration. “Canine instinct too strong… noted…” he seethed, attempting to calm himself down. “Well whatever… they’re just copies. I can always make more.” he told himself, though his annoyance still clearly showed.

[Rithas]

Callum followed the cat for a while, trying to embarrass himself by tripping over nothing. But after a while, they could both hear voices. As the walked in. It took what felt like a second for suddenly wolves to start chasing Mk Ultra, and for him to sprint away. Now, Callum had always like cats more then dogs, and one of the worst things was the fact when his family thought it would be a good idea to foster a dog. His poor pets weren't even allowed in the garden, since the dog kept trying to kill them. So when the wolves or whatever they were started to chase. He only had instinct.

"Fuck no!" Was the only thing he said before, with a random though to think. A shit ton of bricks, and if by shit ton then you mean what was about twenty tons of bricks suddenly falling from the sky, some already forming a bit of a wall between the two. Then yes, it was a shit ton of bricks. "Oh shit..." Callum jumped back fro the impending barrage of bricks. Before quickly turning around to see who the voices were. "Oh hey Kole" He waved to him before quickly grimacing "Oh shit!" Callum jumped back in surprise. "The hell are you doing here!"