Orpheus

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Ah well, it was too much of him to expect that they would’ve memorized the route from this corridor back to the main hall… Songbird shrugged and tilted his head to the side, a gesture for the humans to follow as he began walking to meet the elder halfway.

As they advanced, Inadi opened up the topic of the hooded figures. The guide stiffened.

“That boy, the one in the green hoodie… He’s a human. He used to be a part of the first- no, second or third batch. He and a small child named Emily fell to their deaths from the Shakespearean Star Fisher, or the SSF for short,” Songbird paused and his facial expression darkened. The item hunter remained silent for a while and nothing else sounded in the hall save for the clacking of their shoes against the smooth marble tiles. Finally, Songbird raised his head and continued on, “At least, that was what I thought… But, as you’ve all seen, he’s banded with those criminals.”

“As for the other ones, I think they’re humans from a previous batch. They’re a bunch of outlaws… I don’t know what’s wrong with them, to be honest. Or why they’re being hunted down like- Oh, I guess I should explain. They’re being treated like Class 1 criminals here. I don’t know why, but they probably did something horrible,” The item hunter explained haltingly, although his face was contorted into a mask of doubt and reluctance. The hooded figures were a mystery nobody had the chance to solve yet but… He had the chance to travel to the places where, coincidentally, these hoodlums passed through and for some reason… The maximum damage they’ve dealt was thievery. That was a bit too light for someone to be placed on the highest roster of lawbreakers so they must’ve done something to the Queen…? “The pink-haired girl stole a load of items off my cart once. Got me in a lot of trouble,” He curtly closed the topic before he could say something he would regret.

“And what exactly would happen if someone was caught helping these guys? Like say....what would you do to Mr. Cuddles is he was caught providing them anything?”

Songbird halted and turned to look at the boy with a look of utmost surprise in his face. In a few seconds his shock faded away and the nobody’s face was back to its usual irritated glower, but not before the item hunter cocked his head towards the approaching man as if to warn Inadi. This was a very sensitive topic after all; a mood breaker for the lovely world of Nowhere. “It’s not about what I would do. Brandy, Martini, Two-Thirds, Dissonance, Serenade, Cello and I, along with a whole lot of others, are simply guides at Her Majesty’s beck and call. Such matters are out of our jurisdiction,” He said quite loudly, then added in a quick, muted whisper, “Execution, if you’re lucky.”

"Excuse me, but you're in charge of the humans aren't you? This human wound up lost in the castle's maze room, it's a good thing he bumped into me."

Songbird straightened up and looked at Harper. The boy looked better. However, he had no time to ask the human a question as the old nobody suddenly shook him by the hand and- uuuuugh- asked him to find something. Well, he can’t refuse, can he? He was an item hunter after all. Y'know, sometimes having this kind of reputation was annoying...

Ah, the old man mentioned something familiar and it clicked. Amiel. Amiel Brightenburg. Loved ordering those heavy tubs of golden chocolate. This was his father.

“Of course, Mr. Brightenburg. I’ll tell him to meet with you in the main hall,” Songbird plastered on a smile and watched as the man left. When the elderly Brightenburg shifted out of earshot he sighed, flipped his hair to the side, and then placed a hand on his hip as a scowl fell over his face.

“It’s a freaking ball and I have an arm injury. Do I look like I want to take a job?” He snarled under his breath. Jasper volunteered (or more like declared, duh) that she was going along with him. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's not like you need my permission to go anyway,” Songbird sighed and started walking, "What a fudging chore. I ain't a babysitter for celery's sake." On and on he grumbled, and often emitted short intermittent chirps along with his complaints.

“Pick up the pace, people. This ain’t a catwalk where you can spend your sweet time twirling your hips.”

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

I'll be posting then. Sorry for the absence.

All right, rally up those votes, but for now I'll reply accordingly to the current set-up!

EEK I might have to update my post later after church bye guys

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Agh, sorry for the skip! Grandpa got rushed to the hospital yesterday and we all took turns guarding. I wasn't able to announce it because there's no wifi in Philippine hospitals unless you're in some rich first-class place like St. Luke's so... I'm really sorry. OTL

I'll catch up to the OOC and IC. I'm sorry for the inconvenience my absence/s or schedule have caused.

I'll post after Kathi, then.

@co-gm: Okay.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Oh pootchapoo, I almost forgot!

As we all know, Michi's going to be gone until the 19th. She said that it's fine for everyone to take a break until she returns. I'm all up for this, how about you guys?

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Pfft criminal au 8D

Oh yeah, I'm gonna post after Kimchi. ^ o ^ Really love Inadi asking questions, MUG. Thanks for the effort!

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Morris: Guild

“… Ah. I was hoping some of the residents heard something about the circus and spread it through the grapevine,” Lute muttered. Hmm, if that circus had been around for as long as Lady says, then they’ve built their foundations in this place already. He thought for sure that the townsfolk might’ve found something peculiar about the circus- bored minds do tend to wander to businesses they shouldn’t be poking in, after all- but it was a flimsy theory, not to mention that hearsay was not concrete enough to be used as evidence. They needed facts.

“So it’s been here for a month, and the first disappearance was two weeks ago…” That’s a mighty wide timeframe, but considering that the number of missing individuals climbed up until two days… Lute continued mumbling to himself, now having adopted the arms-over-chest thinking stance as he mused on.

Also, a “couple” of newcomers? It was vague language and they were prone to misjudging details during a situation like this so he didn’t want to judge whether it was suspicious or not, and merely gave Lady a shrug. “I agree with Syed on that one,” The virtuoso nodded at the mage and smiled wanly. As usual, Trixie and Lucien were pretty energetic about the mission. Lute was too, except he was feeling more wary than enthusiastic. For all they knew, the kidnappers could be psychotic perverts… “Oh, I mean, yes. We’ll definitely do our best to uncover this mystery and return the victims to their families,” He just added after the two in a less cheerful but sincere voice.

“… Ah, just what I was thinking of, Xandra,” Lute perked up when the metallurgist offered her opinion. “It’s amazing how people notice things that might’ve been hidden from your eyes. Although we’ll have to nitpick through eyewitness accounts…” in case they’re lying. Some people do that for the hype. “Anyway, let’s wait for Estelle and tell her about these too.”

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

I'll write up a post too after I've cooked and eaten lunch. I hope everyone's having a great day!

Stay safe, Kraken! / o /

College major? e n e... Uh... I don't know much courses, but Lute would probably take culinary arts.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

“Huh. Now this is a surprise.”

Unlike the much fancier party garb that he was wearing, a more casual ensemble was draped over the mannequin placed on his corner. Songbird cocked his head in surprise as a familiar pattern greeted his eyes. That floral design… Ah. It was one of the many scarves he decided to donate to Martini. It wasn’t as if he was going to use all of those that he had back home; even if he wore a different one every day, it would take forever for him to use all of the scarves at least once... Such was his obsession for procuring that certain piece of apparel.

Costume Change!

Anyway, it seemed like this set wasn’t meant for balls. He ran the fabric through his fingers and understood that it was meant for swift movement and heavy traveling as well. How thoughtful… His travel clothes had been horribly stained and ripped by that encounter with the witch, and although he didn’t say anything about it, Songbird was sorely disappointed and annoyed that he would have to order custom-made clothes that could withstand his lifestyle.

He returned just the same time as the humans did. Songbird touched the scarlet flower on his shoulder as the mermaid inspected them all one by one, and then let out a sigh of relief when she didn’t bark at him to go into the fashion labyrinth again. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem as if Martini wanted to go out yet- but at least she was happier and frankly that was a big boost already- and there was nothing they can do about that.

“If you say so. Eat your food, okay? The humans toiled and worked to bring all those plates to you. It isn’t an easy task with those chicken arms of theirs, so don’t waste their efforts,” The item hunter nodded towards Jasper and Leila but kept his eyes on his friend, “And thanks for my new clothes. I guess it’s time for me to be a walking advertisement board again, though I have to say, you outdid yourself this time.” He gestured to his new outfit with a pleased look on his face. When he was done talking, the item hunter stepped back and let the humans say whatever they wanted to say to the mermaid, but he moved out of earshot so he didn’t have to hear their words. When everyone was done, they all walked out of Martini’s room and back into the hallways.

“So, do you all know your way back?” Songbird turned towards the three Lost Souls with a neutral expression on his face. Now that Martini wasn’t in sight, he wasn’t in the mood to be all smiley anymore. “Or do we have to escort- …?” An elderly nobody was running towards their group at a laboriously slow pace. Songbird arched an eyebrow and his attention immediately shifted from the humans to the stranger. “That a friend of you three?” The item hunter asked, narrowing his eyes at the figure who kept approaching.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

I feel a wee bit better now, and I'll be able to put up my post around 9 pm here (around 4 more hours to go). Hopefully the Kraken is online by then so we can discuss scene setup, so until then I would like to ask both Kimchi and MUG to not post.

Thanks.

Let's wait for Michi's move-along because we'll mix the groups.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Morris: Guild

Wait, what were they going to do?

Estelle’s enthusiastic proclamation left Lute confused. Perhaps if he had paid attention the conversation happening twixt Lady and the two other members of the Pride, he would have his answer, but he wasn’t the eavesdropping type.

Well, he wasn’t. That’s not to say Delilah’s of the same temperament.

As his familiar clued him in on the happenings, the lavatory room swung open and his eyes fell upon the newcomer who entered the room. A blush spread up his face as the virtuoso realized that it was this person whom was the source of that strange gassy noise earlier. Good heavens… Lute didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or not for the man since his business was just about broadcasted throughout the entire Guild, but he made a conscious effort to avert his scandalized (and slightly accusing) gaze at the wads of tissues dumped in the rubbish bun. All right, time to think of something else…

Lute sighed. Well, it was rude but he didn’t want to sit anywhere near Tummy Rumble dude. He supposed he could just go over to where the others were and listen in on the new mission directive, and perhaps ask a few questions too.

“I’m sorry for swamping you with questions too, but,” The virtuoso appeared right beside Xandra and Syed, “Does this circus have a, er, ‘record’? Perhaps they have a performer who used to be a part of a gang or something. J-just asking.”