[IC] The Collector

[shi12]

Alexandra was freezing and stiff, her awareness floating just between waking and the black abyss of unconsciousness. All she wanted to do was drift back to sleep but there was this nagging feeling, something primal and urgent telling her she needed to get up so that’s what she did. She struggled to open her eyes, the heavy lids fighting to slide closed as she attempted to sit up in bed. No wait, this wasn’t her bed, the ground beneath her numb form was ice cold like cement. Suddenly worried she forced her aqua eyes open and what she saw made alarms go off in her head.

The shape-shifter was in what appeared to be a basement, the walls a pale grey that was just a few shades lighter than the cement she had awoken on. There was practically nothing in the room; save for what she recognized as bodies that littered the icy floor. Other than that the room was strangely empty; no boxes, shelves, tools, tarps, absolutely nothing besides the beings littering the floor and a teddy bear.

How had she gotten down here? The vague memory of sitting in her living room flashed in her mind only to remember a cloth being forced into her face. She remembers fighting weakly to get the chemical scented rag off her face but her attacker easily fended her attempts of escape off as she melted into silent sleep. Then she woke up in this freezing dungeon with stiff limbs as if she had been sleeping for several days. Maybe she had been seeing as her pale skin almost had a blue tinge to it like the beginning of hypothermia.

Trying to pull herself back together Alexandra clambered to her feet, shifting from foot to foot to shake life back into her system before turning her attention to the bodies surrounding her in the slightly small room.

Closest to her was a teddy bear lying on its stomach, it seemed a little odd for it to be found down here seeing as it was the only object in the room but something about it gave her the idea it wasn’t all it appeared. The next being she took note in was the young woman not far from the bear, she had short black hair and from what Alex could tell from here she seemed to still be breathing. Several feet to her left there was a young boy with shaggy blonde hair, oddly enough he seemed to be the only one who wasn’t freezing though she couldn’t tell if the bear sized creature closest to the stairs was cold seeing as it was covered in fur. The last person she noticed was a girl with long pink hair, that wasn’t what caught her eye though. It was the fact she had little bumblebee wings on her back that shocked her. She too was breathing faintly though so at least no one was a corpse.

“Maybe I should wake them up; someone might know where we are… “Alexandra said softly, her bright eyes shifting to the door as if it would burst open any minute. That didn’t happen but she did notice what seemed to be a note taped to the door. It would have to wait though.

[Scarifar]

Daniel's eyes fluttered open, then he groaned as a wave of pain hit the side of his head. "Agghhh," he groaned as he put his right hand on the side of his head in an attempt to soothe the area. The last thing he remembered was someone whispering, "Nothing personal" in his ear before being knocked out. Realizing what had happened to him, he growled and yelled out "Son of a bitch!" as he raised his right hand, drawing it into a fist, forming a fire construct of a giant fist around his original fist, and brought it crashing down into the ground, forming cracks on the ground that immediately repaired themselves soon after that were formed. Daniel, noticing this, let his fire fist dissipate, examining the ground he had just struck.

[FoxFireOfDawn]

Cold. That was the first thing that came to mind when Xerc's body and senses responded. It was a comfertable temperature for him, but it would probably fade to a warmer feeling in time. He would need to move, something that he felt too lazy to do. But a large, overhanging feeling in the back of his head told him to wake up, so he did. Slowly opening all eight of his eyes, the familiar flicks and blurs of his fur soothed him. He pawed at his face, a method that refreshes him for days that seem a bit grim. He looked at him surroundings.

He was inside a basement that was quite cold and dark, but that wasn't the worst part. Before, he was in a lush forest. Now, inside quite a plain basement. There were other beings with him, and he seemed to be close to the stairs. He didn't stretch, for the idea of nudging someone or hitting a wall wasn't at all nice. He then noticed the teddy bear on the floor and tilted his head. He was interrupted from his thought by a boy who indeed wasn't normal, him forming fire just then that surrounded his fists. This didn't bother him, but the noise of this was quite loud. The floor also did repair itself after being hit, another thing to take note of.

Xerc slowly sat up, afraid to hit the ceiling, so just in case, he lowered his head. Looking at the door, there was a small note attatched to it. After reading it, he lowly growled at the note, then looked at the others in the room. "This is going to be a handful..." he quietly said to himself.

[TheWendil]

Cold. It was so cold. Freezing even. Enough to chill her bones. Without thinking, Sasha shuddered in her forced sleep, trying to find some kind of warmth. Why was it so cold? The forests weren't usually like this until late in the winter. Even still....and why did her head pound over and over again? As if it hurt to even think? Groaning, Sasha committed herself to the painful task of opening her eyes. Only to wish she could go back to sleep.

This wasn't the forest. Far from it actually. The smells were too potent, too strong, with an unnatural tang about them. Nothing like the comforting fragrances of the dirt and earth. It looked like some creepy old cellar that usually led to either kidnappings or exorcisms. Last time she checked, she didn't have any demons roaming around inside her. Aside from the usual ones of course. Sitting up to scan the area with groggy eyes, she made a mental note of more life forms. Others who had apparently shared her fate in this mass kidnapping. Because at this point, it had to be a kidnapping. What else could it be? Though honestly, she didn't really see the use of dragging her along for the ride. It wasn't like she had anything noteworthy to show off around here.

"Where....how did I...?"

And then she remembered. The very thought of it made her growl in anger as she clawed at the cement ground in instinct. They cornered her. She was under the impression that they were just some amateur hunters who needed help until they suddenly shoved a sweet smelling rag in her face. Took a whole bunch of them before they finally resorted to the tranquilizer. Standup up, Sasha felt the small mark on her neck and winced. They weren't messing around, that was for sure. Shaking her head and muttering curses, she finally got a good long look of her fellow captives.

"Ok....so let me get this straight. We've got a stuffed animal, a pretty boy, some girl with cotton candy hair, a bigger animal than me....and someone that reeks."

Sniffing at the air, Sasha turned to the only other person who was awake and crouched down on all fours. In a single leap she was right beside her, sniffing her up and down. "This scent....it's strong and musky...you're not human, are you?" She wrinkled her nose before standing up and stretching out. "I take it someone has a weird fetish going around? Name's Sasha Walker." The dark haired girl extended out a hand in greeting.

"And you are?"

That's when she noticed the note to the side. That was also when pretty boy began lighting the whole place on fire. Tensing, Sasha snarled as she hid behind the girl on all fours, peering out with a glare. "Hey watch it buddy! Before you cook us all alive!" No sooner did she speak the threat out did she hear a low and rumbling voice.

"This is going to be a handful..."

The wolf...bear....predator thing had awoken as well. Widening her eyes, Sasha stared at the shadowy beast in wonder.

"H-Holy shit! You can talk?"

[Scarifar]

Daniel took a look at his surroundings for the first time after hearing a voice, noticing that he wasn't alone. The things around him weren't human, at least some of them, but he wasn't too bothered about that. He took a deep breath, and noticed how cold it was in the room. He wasn't really affected by it, but he could still feel it. Some were still unconscious, but there were some who were awake. "Anyone know where the hell we are? And why is this place so cold??" Daniel asked.

[FoxFireOfDawn]

"Yes, I have the ability to talk. What a shocker." Xerc replied, sighing. A lot of others ask the same question, which annoys him slightly but a bear-sized wolf that talks is quite surprising. He thought that since most people here were also supernatural, he wouldn't get asked the question. Looking over at the boy who asked the question of where we all are, he replied, "After reading the note on the door over here, it seems we are in a mansion owned by someone with the title of 'The Collector'. Looks like if we can find a way out, we can leave. If not, I assume we would have to stay here. We're probably in the basement, so that's why it's cold."

[shi12]

Alexandra had almost fallen over when the dark haired girl had appeared beside her, cringing when she sniffed at her with a look of distaste and disgust at what she smelled. “No, actually I’m not, but that’s the least of our worries and I’m Alexandra Valentino if you really want to know.” She says quickly, a smile on her face before a cold shiver runs along her body. This reply however was quickly dismissed when the boy she had spotted before cursed, slamming a flaming fist into the cement with obvious rage. So he wasn’t all he seemed either, he was definitely human though and so was the girl who was now crouched behind her like a frightened animal. Her eyes turned from the beast who had spoken with a small nod in agreement.
“They really shouldn’t be shocked; you are a Barghest after all. It is quite cold though.” She chuckles, blowing a jet of warm steam from her lips like one would imagine coming from a dragon. Suddenly her form stretched, her pale skin turning into ebony scales as her bones creaked into their new place. Her eyes became large and round with slits for pupils and her teeth became sharp and pointed. By the time she stopped shifting the only recognizable thing was the aqua eyes staring out at the group, in her place now stood a small dragon who was giving off a fair bit of body heat but not enough to overheat the creature on the wall opposite her. “Well that’s better.” She sighed out with a cheery smile of teeth.

[Scarifar]

"Note?" Daniel asked as he went over to the door to examine said note. "Great, just great," Daniel said after a moment. "We're kidnapped by a madman and forced to play his games." He grew angrier, summoning fire around his fists, the flames licking his arms. Somehow, he managed to calm himself down and let the flames fade. "If we're going to get out, we might as well work together. The name's Daniel," Daniel said, then noticed something odd. "Hey, since when was there a dragon in here?"

[FoxFireOfDawn]

"I estimate that you're a shape-shifter, then." Xerc replied to the the girl called Alexandra. These people would prove for an interesting experience away from home. He momentarily stood to shake his body, yawn, then sit back down. "My full name is Xerolo'kk Hirnacht'k, but just call me Xerc." He said, bowing his head slightly. He then looked at those still unconscious and sighed,"What shall we do with the others? I don't think it's wise if we leave them like this."

[yoyohayli]

Bea was drifting in and out of consciousness. She could hear the voices of several others around her, but they sounded distant and the words jumbled together so they didn't make any sense. Her limbs ached, along with her wings; flying away from and attacking a very determined hawk was extremely tiring. At first, she had assumed the bird would give up the chase like most others when she hid in her flower garden, but it kept badgering her until she was finally captured. Struggling to break free from its talons, she could see the red ribbon tied around the bird's foot, indicating ownership. It had dawned on her that this thing had been trained to capture her and squeeze her until she fell unconscious.

Bea knew humans had a history of kidnapping her kind to show off in carnivals or even dissecting them alive to learn more about their magical properties, but this was different. If this had been a random human trying to find a fairy, they wouldn't have trained a hawk specially to find and capture her alive. Someone had found her, maybe studied her for a while before making the decision to take her. She had a bad feeling there was something much more sinister than a curious human behind this plot.

Eventually, Bea came to and she was able to push herself up into a sitting position. She noticed first that she had, at some point, reverted to her more human form. The fairy was minimally clothed, as per usual, and this fact wouldn't have bothered her had she not noticed the other creatures in the room. Some looked relatively human, some looked absolutely terrifying, and there was a small stuffed bear for some reason. In a panic, she shrunk down to fairy size and buzzed around the room, looking for some sort of small hole she could fit through. Finding none, she noticed the note on the door and, after reading it, turned to face the others in the room. She wasn't sure yet if they were friendly or even if they would be interested in eating her, but she knew that she couldn't get out of here alone. Deciding it was best to keep her distance a bit, she flew close to the ceiling and gazed down on the enormous creatures below her.

[TheWendil]

Sasha yelped as the girl next to her suddenly began to morph and change shape. She scurried over to the teddy bear as she glared up at the now manifested dragon before her. "That's...new. You could at least warn people next time when you do that!" Grumbling to herself, she continued to watch eveyone else in the room. It looked like the only one who wasn't awake was the teddy bear...if it was alive at all. Bending over the thing, she sniffed it over before frowning. Ok, maybe it was alive. And very much not human.

Sighing, Sasha turned her attention back to her new "friends", trying to ignore that annoying buzzing sound coming from up above her. "Like I said, the name's Sasha...and could you quit your damn noise already!" She looked up at the cotton candy haired girl, who evidently was the source of said buzzing, and narrowed her eyes. "My hearing's a lot sharper than yours, so that buzzing you're making is only making me crinch." Good lord, was eveyone here a supernatural?

Well, maybe not eveyone. Picking up a familiar pungent odor, Sasha closed her eyes and focused fully on the scent. Following it blindly, she found herself sniffing up at pretty boy's legs. Daniel was his name? "You're in luck." Sasha got up from the ground and stood next to the blonde, taking in a few sniffs to make sure. "It looks like you're the only other human here. Great." Crossing her arms, she glanced over at Xerc.

"So you're a Barghesty thing? Er, did you live in the woods? No offense, but with your looks, I'd thought you'd be a bit more...I dunno, feral? You're definitely more polite than me," she admitted.

[Tack the Cobbler]

He was dreaming about walking towards a locked door. The world in his mind was made of light and shadows; an apparently square room (though he couldn't tell in the darkness) with an entrance at his back that emitted a nephilistic, white glow, and a very plain door in front of him. Even in his sleep he could feel his clammy skin freezing, and for a moment he wondered if this was death and he was going the wrong way--despite all the hope that the simple door filled him with. As he pondered this, he heard a deep chuckle behind him, and a long, skewed silhouette appeared on the floor next his own.

But when he turned around, there was no one there.

Lars shuddered and his eyes opened to a grey cement floor, which wasn't quite right--he had been walking home to his apartment the night before, a little bit drunk, maybe, but not so inebriated to get himself in trouble with the law. He supposed his parents could bail him out but he still felt a bit annoyed that he'd have a criminal record. It was certainly cold though, and he'd slept sitting up, his arms wrapped around his knees and his head buried in his legs. He felt a bit sore, and it couldn't hurt to get up and stretch his legs to get the circulation going.

But when he looked up he discovered that, no, he was not in a holding cell, and no, this was something his parents couldn't get him out of with money. He felt his heart thumping in his chest and an oncoming panic attack set in; small gusts of wind seemed to appear from underneath him, blowing at his dress shirt and causing his hair to stand on end. Calm down, he though to himself. You're a smart boy, you'll get out of this. He quickly scanned the area, ignoring his fellow abductees for the time being to look for a crack in the wall or a vent in the ceiling--anything.

When he realized there was none, he took a deep sigh through his nose to calm his nerves and turned his green eyes to look at the others; a mistake. A dragon, a giant wolf, a teddy bear, two (seemingly) humans...and a buzzing noise above him, which turned out to be a...fairy? He wheezed and the panicky feeling came back. Was this a fever dream?

[Scarifar]

Daniel took a step back, started, when someone crawled toward him and started... sniffing him? Even by his standards that was just weird. Still, it seemed like everyone was awake. "Alright people, listen up," Daniel said to everyone, trying to get their attention. "We have been kidnapped by some crazy ass psychopath who calls himself the 'Collector'. We need to find a way out, or else we'll be stuck here until we die." Daniel continued on, saying, "We can't force our way out, or else this happens." He constructed a fire sword and sliced a nearby wall, creating a huge gash that quickly repaired itself. He let the sword dissipate and asked, "So, any questions?"

[shi12]

Alexandra let out a deep chuckle, reveling in the warmth of her new form. “My apologies, I guess I should change back though.” She replied. With that being said her form shrunk back down to the young woman she considered her true form. The scales disappeared and her bones snapped back into the human like frame once again. “I guess this is a little less intimidating, seeing as that young man over there seems to be having some sort of panic attack.” She adds, stretching her arms to make sure the change went correctly. Her eyes were locked on a boy with bright red hair and with a look of concern she crossed the space between them, stopping beside him cautiously. “Calm down, alright.” She says comfortingly before swiveling to face the rest of the group.

She watched with interest as Daniel demonstrated the effects of using brute force as a means of escape. “Well then, there has to be another way but we can’t figure that out if we stay down here.” She replies, looking at the door up out of the basement again. It might be unlocked, then they’d be free to finding a way out of this crazed man’s house. “We just have to figure out what we’re doing with those still unconscious. Do we carry them with us or try waking them?” she wonders aloud, actually talking to herself but it sounded like it was addressing everyone.

[Scarifar]

Daniel looked at Alexandra with a puzzled look. "What are you talking about?" Daniel asked. "Everyone's awake. There are 6 of us here, and there's some teddy bear that no one seems to have claimed yet." He walked toward the door and tried the doorknob, the door moving out smoothly. "Alright, guess it's safe to say the door's unlocked. I guess we can grab the bear and move along. Might make for something useful later." He stuck his head out the door, looking in every direction, seeing nothing. "Seems safe enough, come on," Daniel said, walking outside.

[Tack the Cobbler]

Lars nodded mutely at the dragon/woman. He should calm down. Because wolves aren't the size of bears and firebenders belong in the ATLA series and dragons certainly don't turn into girls. Because this was a lucid dream and he didn't want to wake up to every piece of furniture in his apartment in shambles.

But unlike most of his lucid dreams, trying to change the setting didn't work...maybe he'd just have to play along until something roused him. He took a deep breath to compose himself, and stood up cooly.

Then he shouted after other human boy, who was leaving the room. "There are six of us awake, yes, and the bear." And his gaze wandered over to the figure dozing off in a corner. "But this one's still asleep as well. She's right, we'd either have to wake them up or carry them."

[yoyohayli]

"I can't help my buzzing!" Bea cried down to Sasha. "It's how my wings work. But I guess if they're a problem..."

Bea lowered herself onto the ground lightly and resumed her human form. No one in the room seemed too hostile, although the boy with the fire powers was making her more and more nervous. She watched cautiously as he demonstrated the effect of trying to escape by force, jumping back a little at the sparks created by the fire sword scraping the wall. If this cement room was self-healing, but the door had been left unlocked, whoever had put them here wanted them to wander out and up the stairs into...a trap? Death? None of this made any sense.

"If we're going out there," she said, following a safe distance after Daniel, "we need to be extremely careful. We don't know who we're dealing with."

[rocketrobie2]

Mr. T had been awake face down for hours but he hadn't gotten up yet for a reason. He was terrified. He had been hearing voices of not only human sounding but other things that he didn't even know how to comprehend. He had decided to play dead ever since being kidnapped hoping he would some how get back to Dexter. Now that he had been sitting there for hours he heard buzzing of something that sounded like a fly or a bee. Mr.Teddy liked Bees so he lifted his head up and peered around looking for the Bee but instead saw a group of people which terrified him so he immediately went back to putting his head on the floor and shaking with fear hoping they wouldn't notice him.

[Scarifar]

"Well, we're not going to find out what dangers lie in our path by staying in that freezer of a basement," Daniel replied to Bea. Then a thought occured to him: he didn't even know anyone he was trapped with. Still, we might as well acquaint ourselves. Can't team up if we don't even know each other's names." He walked back inside, stepping past Bea. "So, let's get- is that teddy bear moving?" Daniel said as he noticed said bear shaking.

[shi12]

Alexandra had been listening to everyone try to figure out what they should do when she noticed the little teddy bear move on the floor. Until then she hadn’t even paid it much attention but now that it appeared to be trembling her practically melted. In seconds she had rushed over and plucked the fuzzy being off the floor, hugging him tightly like a child would do. “Aww, poor thing is terrified.” She cooed, hugging it protectively against her chest.The shape-shifter had a slight pout on her lip as she held the bear, her eyes looking at it with a bit of worry mixed in her usually cheerful aqua eyes. “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure no one here wants to hurt you, and if they try I’ll protect you ok?” she says, smiling brightly down at the plush creature wrapped in her arms.

Her gaze shifted upwards for a moment, looking towards Daniel. “Maybe we should introduce ourselves, we have no idea what we’re about to face and knowing a bit about everyone might make it easier to work together and get out of this place.” She said, gaining her composure yet still hugging the bear.