[IC] Welcome Back to the Guild

[Kaga]

Muse listened carefully to John’s words, before a look of confusion and concern swept across his face as the roleplayer’s explanation continued. Muse had experienced the death of many roleplays. It was a natural occurrence in this world – much like death itself is always a natural thing, but this… this wasn’t right. The way John described everything… felt very off. “Wait a minute,” Muse stopped him. “How do you know they’re dead? Were there… corpses?”

He rushed into the other room, where the tragedy had supposedly happened. Sure enough, John’s puppet character lied there. Instinctively, he crouched down to examine the corpse further, but, well, hard to infer anything from a puppet corpse. Points for originality, I suppose. Regardless, Muse stood up again and turned to face John. “This isn’t right.” He told him, his upbeat expression from just a few minutes ago now gone. “The death of a roleplay isn’t like the death of a person or character. Roleplays die a silent, unnoticed death. As they stop receiving the fuel of player effort and creativity, they simply… fade. First you stop noticing them, and before long, they’re just… gone, without a trace, as if they never existed. Like… like the torches from Shakugan no Shana, or victims of the crack in the universe from Doctor Who. They’re just… erased.” Muse explained. “So this? This isn’t the result of roleplay death. Someone else was here. And I think I know who…” he trailed off. Can’t believe he’d go through really any means to ‘cleanse’ this place of all its original inhabitants…

He then shook the concern from his face, suppressing it just for a bit. “But,” he spoke up again, trying to bring a pleasant smile to his face. “But, you know what this means?” he asked rhetorically. “All is not lost. Your roleplay’s not really dead.” He told John. “Besides, if I had to guess, I’d say you’re the GM, right? That puts you in control. You could easily bring life back to this place, just like GM’s are always doing. You could reboot the idea, if you like, or channel your inner Moffat and find an excuse to bring all these characters back to life – or, if you want to know the simplest way – you could just change back everything that just happened, because you’re the GM. And you don’t have to play by the rules of some Godmodder who made a mess of things.” He grinned, before growing slightly serious again. “Unfortunately though, it’ll probably be a good idea to wait on that. First, there are a lot of other roleplayers like you running around here, and I have a feeling not all of them landed in a place where their biggest concern would be hypothermia from the cold. There are some scary premises out there – zombie roleplays, alien invasion roleplays, Attack on Titan roleplays… You’d agree that saving the RPers like you comes first, right?”

[John Walrus III]

John listened to Muse's words, hopping from disbelief to hope to confusion. His world was killed? He was relieved that it was no fault of his that the roleplay had fallen, but still. And now he was being told that he was in control. Yes, he had made the world, become the GM. But surely he wasn't akin to what sounded like a god. But he thought of bringing it all back, to restore one of the few things he called his own.

But what of the others? That was the question Muse posed. There were more, he said, in need of more help than John. He glanced over at his broken Puppet and studied his die. "You're likely right," he admitted. He stood, wincing as his migraine redoubled its efforts. Something told him he'd have to get used to that. "But I want you to remember this," John continued. "If I really can fix this, this world I made, I will. While I imagine your help would be useful..." John stared at the dripping roof for a moment. "I will do it myself if I must."

He looked Muse in the eyes, trying to find something. They were tired eyes, the kind of eyes he'd always imagined belonged to someone who held more stress than one person ever should. But perhaps he was mistaken. John nodded to himself. "Let's go, I guess." He tucked his die into a nich in his jacket, before pausing to grab a page he had glimpsed and very carefully tucking it into his cost pocket. "I can go ahead," he offered, unsure what to do next. "I don't mind the rain."

[Neobullseye]

...So they were actually inside the Guild? No, that didn't make sense. As much as Rose seemed to be convinced of this, Leon was still seeking for another explanation. Sure, they only thing they had in common right now was the fact that they both clicked on a strange link, then immediately woke up in... wherever here was, but that still didn't say anything about what 'here' was. For all he knew, they could've been drugged by someone, kidnapped, then thrown into an area made to look just like one of their RPs. Of course, if this was true, then that meant that whoever was behind all this must've known a lot about the Guild in order to set everything up -- almost an inhuman amount of knowledge would be necessary. Not to mention it still didn't explain the fact that the thing they were standing on right now was floating!

Well, whatever. Thinking about it when they had so little to go by wouldn't do them any good either way. Rose was right about one thing though; getting angry wouldn't do him any good either. "Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry," he muttered an answer. If nothing else, he should try to find a way to vent his anger in a more productive way. Like, say, finding a way to get out of this place and back to their homes, or at the very least finding out what had happened.

"I guess so," Leon started when Rose said that they were lucky to be up here. He stepped closer to Rose, still making sure to stay several steps away from the edge. He really, really didn't want to fall from here. "Not that a view of the entire world will helps us a whole lot if we're stuck on the lookout tower. Plus, I wouldn't really speak of luck, considering the fact that I've been kidnapped out of my home, taken to God-knows-where without any idea who did it, why, how or even when." He stopped for a moment, slowly shook his head, then continued. "Either way, staying here won't do us any good; we need to find a way out of here. ...This place was connected through that strange city through that bizarre tunnel, right? So maybe there's another one of those connecting areas somewhere around here. Well, you probably know this place a lot better than I do. Are there any places that look out of place to you? Not counting the areas thousands of miles below us, mind you."

[HylianRose]

She chuckled. Dream or not, she found it a bit humorous. Call her naive, but couldn't she enjoy this? She had to do something other than cry, right? She sighed and stood back up, stepping away from the edge. Things that look different? She blinked, looking around at the academy. "Well, to be honest, the school just went through renovations so somethings have changed. But I could try." She told him, stepping closer towards the garden. She began to run through the lay of the school in her head. On her way here, what had she seen that was out of place? She sat there, still as stone as she thought about it for a moment. Lily's room had been the same... She sighed. Where had the other tunnel been? Where the Nurse's office used to be? What's on the other side of the school? Her eye shot open. The Admission offices! "I know where one might be. I mean, it's worth a shot right?" She yelled over her shoulder at Leon, a smile on her face. "Let's go check it out." She told him before walking off towards the nearest entrance to the school.

She walked the halls with expert ease. The walls were beginning to lose their color, the tiles getting paler and paler. What was going on around here? Was her RP dying? She shook her head at the thought and continued down the hallway. "We're almost there..." She murmured to Leon as they turned several corners and eventually found their way to the Admission Offices. Well, what should be the Admission Offices... What stood there now was a large hallway, leading down to a bright white light. "Yeah, that's freaky as hell... What's down there?" She asked, feeling shivers run down her spine. To leave a place where she felt comfortable and go somewhere unknown? Yeah, didn't sit very well with her. "I... Actually I kind of want to... to stay here. That's... I can't..." She mumbled and turned towards on of the walls. She realized she probably couldn't stay here with the state of things but what lay beyond that tunnel scared her more than what was happening here. What if she turned around and Kalmaysia was just... gone again? She closed her eyes forcefully. "I want to go home..." She whimpered. She didn't want this to be real...

[Euclid]

In his dream, Euclid stood in a field much like the one he found himself sleeping in, except there was no growth. The grass was unusually short and the field seemed to expand on for ages, disappearing into the surrounding fog. In front of him was a pedestal, on which laid a book opened to a random page. On the page were scribbles, most of which he couldn't make out, but there was a significant note somewhere in the middle of all the written mess, something Euclid just couldn't deny.

Beware. You are not alone.

He tried to the touch the page, but the book slammed shut. Suddenly, he could feel his throat closing shut, his arms and legs bound to his sides. He attempted to scream, but nothing could be heard, and struggling free from his newfound invisible restraints was not a solution - and then, he awoke.

He found himself wrapped in vines, the source of which was protruding from the beast he had earlier napped upon. Struggling again, he tried to reason as to why this was happening. The Elder Roots were never violent or menacing in any nature, so why would they do this now? Searching for a solution, he thought back to when he watched Atlas Novus as he sat atop the hill. Earlier in the day, he had a thought. This was the very setting from a roleplaying game he had, weeks earlier, thought up and developed with a friend. If this setting were brought to life - if this wasn't some dream he happened to be having - then, surely, he'd be the master of his own domain.

Maybe he could try yelling his commands to the creature? No, his mouth was bound shut, so all he'd be able to produce would be muffled. Was there a weak point? The Elder Root was made of vegetation, designed to be made of shrubbery and wood and somehow imbued with sentience and a soul. Fire could work, but he didn't have a lighter. He wasn't the type. What could he do?

Euclid looked around in the darkness, trying to find something he could use when he spotted a figure not more than ten feet away from him, enveloped in shadow. He tried to scream for help, reaching out a hand toward the silhouette. The shadow replied with a gentle wave of goodbye, followed by a rather large and malicious smile that creeped across what Euclid could only assume was its face. The teeth had shone brilliantly in the moonlight - pearl notes of evil intent.

Euclid tried to scream again as the vines grew taut, starting to pull him into the shrubbery of the Elder Root who, at second glance, had passed away. He didn't understand why this was happening, watching the leaves of the beast turn a beautiful yet ominously deep shade of red. Starting to become submerged in the foliage, Euclid struggled once more, freeing his mouth from the vines and yelling the first word he had spoken since he came into this nightmare before being enshrouded by darkness once more.

"Heeeeeeeellllllp!!!!!"

---

The glass that held the picture in the teen's locket had broken. Underneath, the photo of Euclid was becoming worn. The teen sighed, placing it back in his pocket and returning to his watch of the sea.

"He's breaking," the teen said, a tear streaking his cheek.

---

The sound of rushing wind brought Euclid's eyes to open again, and he found himself free of his restraints, but hurtling at a high speed through the atmosphere. He was plummeting quickly. Soon, he thought. I will hit the ground - and that will be the end. As he thought this, he was absentmindedly grasping at the clouds, shamefully hoping that one of them would save him from what looked like the inevitable. He awkwardly shifted his head to look at his target below, but what he found made him more confused than scared.

Coming into view was a large floating collection of buildings. A fortress, he assumed, but the architecture was more proper and less defensive by first glance. It wasn't the fortress like area that caught him off-guard. It was the fact that it was, more or less on its side. It startled him and several thoughts ran through his mind as he came closer to a stained glass window. Then, it occurred to him.

He wasn't falling down. He was falling sideways.

The thought almost came to him a bit too late, but he was able to prepare himself before smashing through the window, sending shards of glass exploding inward towards the interior of the building. His speed had decreased dramatically, though he was unsure how. It didn't matter, anyway, as he slammed into the top of a table, pushing all the breath he had out of his body, before rolling off and crumbling to the floor. His body was motionless.

A few minutes later, he slowly tried to gather himself, rolling over onto his back so that he could survey his new surroundings. There were bookcases everywhere, lined to the brim with various books on a multitude of topics, none of which he could readily recognize in the moment. Chances were that he landed in a library of some sort. Riddled with pain and small shards of glass that pierced just the topmost layers of uncovered skin, he sat up and starting cleaning himself off, clutching his ribs in the process. That impact must have fractured something, he figured.

Eventually, he started to wander around, taking in the surrounding area; noting features, plotting escape routes in case of danger. The image of the shadow crossed his mind again, but he shook it off as he left the library, emerging into a large hall. Down the way there was a tunnel and inside were two silhouettes, slowly growing smaller. He had to ask someone for help, at least in terms of what was going on here, so he mustered as much breath as he could and let out a bellowing yell.

"HEY!"

[Neobullseye]

"Okay, works for me," Leon answered Rose's suggestion. It wasn't like he had any better ideas himself. As such, he followed Rose to wherever she wanted to go.
...Which turned out to be a light at the end of a tunnel. Well, that's not a bad sign at all, what are you talking about. And, much like the warped tunnel leading to the abandoned city, this thing didn't seem to belong here either, at least according to Rose -- who promptly decided to have a well-deserved mental breakdown.
What good is staying here going to do us?. Leon thought. It wasn't like someone would just randomly fall out of the sky to give them some answers. "Yes I want to go home too," he said. "And that's exactly why I'm going to see what's beyond this... whatever-it-is. Besides, look at it this way. Whoever did all this obviously has a lot of power. That is to say, if he or she wanted to kill us, why not just do that? In other words, the fact that we're not dead yet proves that he -- I'm going to call him a 'him for the sake of convenience -- that he doesn't want to kill us, or at the very least not yet. Per extension, it's pretty unlikely that there are going to be death traps everywhere." He shrugged, then turned towards the light. "Look, how about this. I'm going to look what's on the other side. If it's not a deathtrap, I'll come back to pick you up, okay?"

Just as Leon was about to step into the light at the end of the tunnel, he heard a crashing noise coming from somewhere nearby, freezing him in place. What in the world... "Okay, forget about going through here. New priority; finding out what the hell that noise was,' he said, just as much to himself as to Rose. "Stay close to me. Whatever caused that noise might not be friendly, and I don't want either one of us getting jumped on before the other can react."

((I have to do a minor bit of Godmodding here, Rose, mostly for the sake of easy flow. Don't worry though, it only consists of making your character following mine -- or vice versa, whoever leads doesn't matter --, something which seems like a logical reaction to me anyway. If you disagree anyway, tell me and I'll remove it.)

Some time later, as the two were exploring the halls of the school, they heard a loud voice coming from behind him. Leon, still on alert, instantly spun around. "What- Who are you?" he called out to the other guy.

[Euclid]

Bad idea to yell, he thought as his vision went blurry. He started to grow dizzy as he walked forward, stumbling and falling to his kness, palms pressed against the floor. He started to hyperventilate, realizing that his crash landing had more of an impact than he had initially thought. He crawled over to a pillar and sat against it, waiting for his breathing to regulate normally for he could even think of answering. Soon, his vision came back and he looked down the hallway at the two shadows.

Three shadows. There was a third standing behind the two, and its smile was easily recognizable. It was the shadow Euclid had encountered on Atlas Novus, the one who waved him into near oblivion. But, the image of his stalker, as quickly as it had come, dissolved in the blink of an eye. He started to grow fearful, but he hid it well as he raised his voice to reply to the query of one of the silhouettes.

"My name is..."

Hold on, he pondered. Giving out your name is something you never do. Keep it under wraps. Use your go-to.

"...Euclid."

He exhaled, sliding up the pillar until he was able to stand again. Clutching his ribs, he began to walk slowly towards the shadows further into the tunnel, not sure of what exactly he was going to encounter in the moments to come.

[HylianRose]

She listened to him intently, her stomach slowly churning. She felt like throwing up. What he said made sense but she still... She shook her head. No. This isn't like you. Stop. she closed her eyes and stood straight, breaking away for the wall that had been her support. Even if it's real, even if it... hurts, she had to try.

She took in a deep breath and when she let it back out, a loud crash resounded. Her eyes grew wide and she froze. What? She turned to look at Leon, the only person she knew for now and the only one she figured she could trust. Go find out what that noise was? She blinked and then shook her head. "No. I might be open to new things, but I'm a scared-y cat! I don't see how the Ghost Hunters on TV go after sounds like this. I just.. can't handle it." She said, her heart pumping. Jesus, and when she had just gotten her shit together. She looked up and noticed that Leon had already started walking. Blinking, she looked around the room. Yeah, no. She'd rather be with him than alone next to this freaky tunnel of doom.

She stopped, frozen, when they happened across another person. She could see the look of fear in his eyes but when she went to look, nothing was nearby. What? She turned back to face him, hearing him tell Leon his name. Elucid? That was a strange name. She watched as he walked past them, towards the tunnel. "Not you too! I'm telling you, that tunnel is bad news! I'd rather stay here where we know, well I know where everything is, or at least should be!" She yelled, her frustration evident in her voice. What could a say to give them reason to stay? She thought for a moment. Food! "I could even show you where the cafeteria is. We could at least get medical supplies and food rations before we find out what's out there." She told them, hoping Elucid would stop and look back. She looked over at Leon. "We should probably also try to find a way to make sure we can get back here. With all of the supplies here, it's a perfect place to come back to." She said, her heart still racing. She hoped to God this worked. She didn't want to go through that tunnel just yet...

[Evilorber]

Evil broke into a run. His bag with heavy books inside didn't really help him in the process. He glanced back, luckily the "things" hadn't noticed them now. He didn't know where he was going, but he continued running. He continued running for another 10 minutes before he couldn't run anymore. He stopped to catch his breath, and noticed how it had gotten dark really quickly. Suddenly, he heard a bush rustling, he wasn't sure who it was. Probably that man. he tried to convince himself that it was, but he couldn't take any chances. He began running again when

SPLAT

Evil tripped flat on his face over a branch. At least, he thought it was a branch. He couldn't tell in the dark. He rolled over, and then he saw something. A very large object, floating above them. A spaceship? he thought. No, an Island...

[nautilusmp]

Noticing that the youngster had already started running, Nautilus ran after him. Nautilus could have run faster, but looking at the youngster's bag, he didn't go the fastest he could. He knew he couldn't run quickly with that bag either, and beside that he regarded that he was at least partly responsible for the youngster due to the fact that he was quite possibly the only man the youngster had ever seen inside the Guild and that he had stayed there a bit longer. Despite that, he decided not to bear the load of any part of the bag, thinking it would give more time for their pursuers to get to them compared to the time saved by sharing the load. His thought that suddenly stopping while over-exerting oneself running would make one unable to run after the stoppage adds his reason not to share the load. However, he tried his best to ensure that the youngster ran as straight as possible.

After about a mile of running, Nautilus and the youngster finally reached another setting, which was very dark. So, we go from a midday straight into a night? he thought. Abrupt weather and terrain changes were still acceptable to him, but abrupt time change wasn't. He just couldn't get the idea. He then grabbed his pocket for his cellphone, which had got a flashlight, but apparently the battery's flat. "Now how would you charge a cellphone inside the Guild?" he muttered to himself, but easily audible to anyone nearby, particularly the youngster. He didn't bring the charger with him, and even if he brought one, finding the right outlet would be another problem. He didn't ditch his cellphone unlike what the youngster did, though, in case those two problems finally found a solution.

Nautilus walked slowly at first, but soon after that a noise was heard from the bushes. He looked at the direction of the noise, wondering what made the noise. By the time the youngster started running, he realized that he might have made a mistake by not trying to escape to a safer roleplay. But seconds later, the youngster seemed to hit something and fell to the ground. The ceiling was even too short for the youngster, so he paid extra attention to the ceiling. After the youngster rolled over, Nautilus lent a hand and helped the youngster to stand back up. Only then that they took a look at what lies above them. At first, Nautilus thought it was an entrance to a cave, but he finally realized that this ceiling was the very cause of the sudden darkness in the setting. It was an island, floating above ground.

"So, it was one of those floating island roleplays...," Nautilus said. He did not know much about floating island roleplays because he was not interested in them and hence did not read much about them. However, he had the impression that in floating island roleplays, significant events rarely happen on the ground below. This meant that if they wanted someone to rescue them in this setting, thay had to find a way up, which is the first problem. Even if they found a way up, one more crucial problem would face them, and this made Nautilus at first unwilling to go up to the floating island: they had no idea what happened above them. All sorts of scenarios may happen up above: post-modern cities with all its technological advances and problems brought with it, a floating superhero or supervillain team base, last settlements after an event rendered the land below uninhabitable, and so on. The last item on the list, however, made Nautilus rethought whether he and the youngster should go up. "Do you think we should go up?" Nautilus asked the youngster.

[Ebil Bunny]

Ebil lay there, getting more and more bored as the time went on. First he began tapping the floor, then rolling around, and then a water drop fell on his face.
"Ack!" He exclaimed, jumping to his feet and looking around. Then he saw another drip come down.
"Guys, the ceiling's dripping!" Ebil told them, pointing to the place that the water came from. He looked outside, and his thoughts were confirmed.
"And it's also raining harder. No doubt, this place will spring a ton of leaks, and we'll drown." he said pessimistically.

[Euclid]

When the girl mentioned medical supplies, Euclid halted, staring down at his lightly cut arms. Busting through the window did scratch him up a little, and he was surprised that the damage wasn't greater than it had been. No matter - getting bandaged up was his top priority over everything else at this point. Turning back, he looked at the two that stood at the end of the tunnel, his pursuit of the shadow quelled for now.

"Alright," he replied, his somewhat deep voice echoing off the walls of the tunnel as he made his way back to them. "Lead the way."

Even the benevolent can't be trusted.

He leaned up against the wall, tired and weak, waiting for them to lead him to some type of medical facility. Given his current location, he had no idea where to go, or where he could even start for that matter.

---

"He's pathetic," spoke the shadow, the familiar grin of illuminating white passing over its face as its voice carried dual tones. The young man placed the locket on the railing, continuing to stare out over the sea.

"You don't know him like I do," he replied, giving a small but gentle smile. "Give him time; you'll see."

"I'm not here to help him," retorted the shadow. "Just to make him fall in the end."

[Neobullseye]

... Euclid? What kind of a name is that? A fake one, that much was obvious, but why would someone pick such a strange and obviously false name when trying to hide their own identity? Why not something remotely plausible like, say, Jesse or James? Well, whatever, that wasn't important right now. Whoever the guy was, he was obviously in pain and needed some medical attention -- or at the very least some painkillers, if they could find any.

Luckily, Rose seemed to know exactly where they could find them -- or at least claimed she did. Although it wasn't hard to understand that Rose simply didn't want to leave this place just yet, she did make some good points. If they could find some food and other supplies in here, it would be stupid not to take them along. Plus, with 'Euclid' in the state he was in, he'd likely collapse again before he reached the end of the hallway.
"Very well, let's do that," Leon nodded at Rose, purposefully not using her name as to not put the girl into a corner. "Since you know the way around here, you should lead the way," Leon said. He then walked over to Euclid, who by now was leaning against a nearby wall again. "Come on, Euclid,give me your hand," he said, holding out his right hand for Euclid to take. At least that way I'll know you won't stab me with it.

[Evilorber]

"Do you want to go up?

The question rolled in Evil's head. Besides the fact that it was floating, and at quite a distance from the ground it seemed. There wasn't exactly an easy way up. Evil also was not familiar with any floating island roleplays, although he was familiar with Sci-Fi. Would it work? He thought, as he looked back to the brightened area of the forest. "Well we need to get up somehow." he thought. "We might need to do more running, i'm just gonna empty this bag." He opened his bag. "Geography? Nope." he tossed the book out. "English? Nuh-uh." Also tossing that book out. "Eolas an tSlí? Don't think I need to study religion in Irish anymore." He must've been an Irish roleplayer. He didn't sound very Irish, probably because of his prepubescent voice.

By the end of it he was left with a reading book, some semi-blank copies and a couple pens. He lifted it onto his back again. "Right. So before we start running, i've got an idea." he stepped into the lightened area. "I made this roleplay, so i'm like the GM right?" he asked himself, more than the person. Right, so i'm just gonna think really hard about a hoverboard and poof, a hoverboard will appear. That's how it works, right? Asspull?" He must have stood there for five minutes, but to no avail. "Well that didn't work." He was about to start running again, when he had another idea. "We're in darkness..." he looked back at his books. "Light is very visible in darkness. Too bad I don't have my phone on me. How's yours? Bah, light's probably not light enough." He began looking for branches, throwing them in his bag and then dumping them on the books. He looked to the man. "Come on, you gonna help or not? I don't feel like running, besides, we're in some different roleplay so I doubt they can follow us into this one." he then went back to gathering wood for a large fire to signal anyone on the island.

[Euclid]

Euclid stared at the man's hand for a few moments and thought things over. He didn't very much relish the idea of physical contact with another person, much less the actual course of doing so. Besides, he didn't know either one of them - or whether or not they were actually real and this wasn't some figment of his imagination. Knowing this, he held up a hand in refusal, pushing off from the wall. The pain in his ribs caused him to wince slightly. "Thanks for the offer," he replied, starting to shuffle past the other man. "But, I think I can make it without any assistance."

Good job, Euclid, he thought as he made his way into the opening of hall they were currently in. You're managing to avoid death, betrayal, and human contact; all without sounding too rude. Brownie points.

But, one of them will hurt you, won't they?

He stared at the ground, back turned and waiting for the other two to join him in the exploration. It wasn't the first time these thoughts have come into his mind. He always thought the worst in people, no matter who they were. Sometimes, these thoughts led to the falling out of friendships and relationships but, in a way, he was able to keep himself protected from the outside world. Now, faced with new people, he had no idea how to interact with them without saying something wrong.

Turning slowly, he put a smile on his face.

"So," he started, clutching his ribs but doing his best not to show the pain or his weakness. "What are your names?"

[Kaga]

Muse smiled as John’s words; at his readiness to rebuild his world. “That’s the spirit!” he exclaimed. “You’ve got the determination… I think you’ll be a natural at augmenting reality. I’ll be sure to teach you and the others soon, once I gather some more of you, maybe find a good base of operations so we don’t have to run around so much…” he began speaking out loud as he made his way towards the door.

“We’re heading out! We’ll be rid of the rain soon!” Muse told Ebil, narrowing his eyes slightly as he walked past. “Hopefully we won’t run into something worse!” Though he didn’t at first respond in words, Ebil’s apparent inability to be concerned with anything other than the water dripping on his own head did bother him – almost made him wonder how well the guy would fare when faced with danger other than unicorn magic or wrinkled skin from the rain.

“You two wait here for a sec,” Muse told the two of them before heading out the door. “I’ll get us some transportation.” As he walked outside and into the rain, he purposefully left the door open. Once he was out from under the roof of the building, his body transformed in only a few seconds into a large black dragon, body wide and wings wider. Crouching down next to the door, he extended his arm and reached with his clawed hand inside the doorway, palm up. “Climb onto my hand.” He told them. “I’ll carry you out of here.”

[John Walrus III]

Muse commended John for his will. John allowed himself a small smile, feeling assured that he would see this Puppets thriving first-hand. He was mildly confused as Muse stepped outside, though, as he couldn't imagine where there would be any working transportation. His thoughts were answered when the figure outside the door quickly changed into an enormous shadow. The following clawed hand didn't exactly comfort him. He stood for a moment, trying to wrap his head around it, before deciding Fuck it! and jumping aboard the enormous living transport, though not without his worries. Still, if he understood what Muse was telling him, a transforming dragon would be one of the lesser oddities to come. He rested carefully upon the partially scaled hand, trying to block out his migraine and awaiting Muse's companion.

[Ebil Bunny]

Ebil gasped as Muse turned into a massive black dragon. Sure, he had already known that Muse could shape shift into anything, but he never expected a dragon. He ran to Muse's paw that wasn't occupied, careful not to slip in the mud again, and held on as hard as he could.
"I'm ready when you are!" Ebil announced, trying not to show his fear of heights.

[nautilusmp]

"Well we need to get up somehow," said the youngster.

Nautilus took a number of steps back into an area in the setting that is not covered by the island. Unless the characters up there can fly, there should be an easily accessible way to go up the island, he thought, as he looked for any shape in the island that they can climb on. However, he didn't seem to find them. So, they can fly? Well, that could be justified, otherwise unnamed characters will fall off the islands rather frequently, he concluded. He then looked at the youngster emptying his schoolbag, and Nautilus just smiled. That youngster must have been sucked into the Guild when he used his computer before his school's lesson started. "I guess we'll start our run up this thing?" Nautilus said. The youngster walked toward him and replied his question.

"Right. So before we start running, i've got an idea. I made this roleplay, so i'm like the GM right?"

Nautilus waited for the youngster's further moves. What did he mean? Will he try to flick his hand hoping plot advances? he thought. He didn't ask the youngster about that, believing that sooner or later he would get the answer. Five minutes later, Nautilus could confirm that the answer was yes, and that even the GM of a roleplay is still a roleplayer, an ordinary human who can't bend his own roleplay according to his will.

"Well that didn't work. We're in darkness... Light is very visible in darkness. Too bad I don't have my phone on me. How's yours?."

"Mine's out of power, and we haven't found a way to recharge it here," he answered.

"Bah, light's probably not light enough," the youngster replied.

Nautilus looked at the youngster cutting branches. For a while, he wondered what the youngster was doing. He thought they would climb, but the youngster's actions didn't seem to advance the plan. It took Nautilus a long time before he finally realized what the youngster was doing, and how silly he had been all the time.

"Come on, you gonna help or not? I don't feel like running, besides, we're in some different roleplay so I doubt they can follow us into this one," the youngster said, in what Nautilus perceived as a slap on his face for being so dumb.

Ah, we're gonna make a fire? Let's hope anyone noticed, Nautilus thought. He searched the pocket in his shirt, and found a gas lighter. The shirt Nautilus was wearing actually belonged to his father, who was of the same size as him and he was only wearing it by mistake, due to him also possessing a shirt of the same model. Nautilus's father was a smoker, so he always had a gas lighter ready. "Maybe it'll be easier for them to see us if the fire isn't almost directly below them," Nautilus said as he began moving the branches and books the youngster had put to another area some distance away from the island so that it would be more easily seen by anyone above looking down. He then grabbed the gas lighter and set fire on a book with 'Eolas an tSlí' written on it to start the bonfire. "Hey, young man, where do you come from?" Nautilus asked, really wondering the place of origin of the youngster due to the incomprehensible text.

[Kaga]

Muse carefully pulled John and Ebil out of the doorway, cupping his reptilian hands around them as he drew them in towards his chest, trying to hold them securely but also gently. “Comfy?” he asked, grinning a bit nervously, before turning his head towards a spot of clear sky in the distance. I sense a lot of them over there… good place to start. he told himself, before spreading his wings and taking to the sky, the rain still pounding on his black scales. As he ascended and began to fly forward, his torso protected the two roleplayers not only from the rain, but from any threat that could possibly appear in such an unpredictable world. Sure, it probably wouldn’t be as fun as riding on a dragon’s back, but there’d be time for that later. For the time being, protection was the primary concern.

Muse’s vision was partially obscured by the thick rain hitting him, making him squint his eyes, but he blinked once he broke through into clear skies, his view clearing. Up ahead, he could see a dot in the sky that was likely some sort of floating city roleplay. “I think some roleplayers landed up there.” He reported to his passengers. “We might as well take a look.” Poor guys were probably pretty freaked out, waking up on a floating chunk of land… He set his sights on the city, then, but before long, he grew distracted by a flicker of light below them. Looking down, he noticed a fire burning – and it felt like more roleplayers waited down there, too. In fact… Ugh, I know I shouldn’t cheat, but… Using his transformation powers, he sharpened his vision enough to clearly see the RPers’ faces. Plausible for a dragon, I suppose. he told himself as he focused on the party below, eyes landing on a very familiar face. Now way… it can’t be! His eyes grew wide as Muse nearly forgot about the floating city completely. He had to confirm this. “Hang on, we’re taking a detour!” he shouted before swiftly diving towards the ground below, clutching the players to his chest even more tightly.

He reached ground level in barely a few seconds, his wingbeats nearly extinguishing the flame as easily as a child blowing out their birthday candles as he prepared to land. Once his feet touched the ground, Muse placed John and Ebil back on solid ground as carefully as he could while still maintaining his haste, all without taking his eyes off that one familiar roleplayer. “You!” he exclaimed, running towards him as he returned to his typical human form almost instantaneously. “Youyouyouyou!!” face full of disbelief, he grabbed Nautilus by his shoulders, then by his cheeks, then tugged on his skin and put his hands all over his face, confirming that his eyes weren’t deceiving him. “You! Are you… are you really you?! I mean, you – I don’t even remember your name, and I feel really bad about that – I’m not even sure I ever asked, which I feel even worse about – but I remember you! You, you were with me, and then, and then you… and I thought… but now…!” Muse’s speech broke up as he grew more and more emotional with each piece of thought he managed to spit out, all before tears finally managed to break through his eyes. “You… you’re alive!” he exclaimed, his mouth widening into a grin as tears rolled down his face, hardly able to stand on his own feet as he nearly fell to his knees. “I’m so glad…!!”