# Forum > Play-by-Post Games > Ongoing Games (In-Character) >  Reincarnation Syndrome - The SS Big

## Dr.Gunsforhands

You all have your own reasons for boarding the SS Big.

Named by an ill-advised internet poll as a combination of the Titanic and Boaty McBoatface, the prototype cruise ship's reputation as the world's first true floating city is a bit of an exaggeration, but it nonetheless lives up to its name. Between its crew and passengers, it hosts just over twelve thousand people at a time, along with supplies to sustain them for a year and a sizeable haul of delivery cargo besides. It's not exactly open to the public, but its wide range of stops, a broad swath of jobs needed to keep it running and business opportunities in various degrees of shadiness mean you'll meet people from just about any background on board.

Wherever you may be from, the political climate has more or less converged with everywhere else in the world, polarized around what has now become a universal ideological split. Rumors abound of civil wars, theocratic alliances, and mass incarcerations. If you've already been suffering the effects of Reincarnation Syndrome, those last rumors can be a tough reality, as the ideological line is often drawn less over what society thinks you are and more over what society should do with you once you've been forcibly locked up. As such, most people in your situation try to keep their conditions to themselves. Failing that, they might take off for somewhere they won't be easily tracked. Somewhere like, say, the middle of the Pacific ocean.

It is here, in an area where even the ship's dedicated satellite uplink gets spotty reception, that the SS Big has had a most unexpected encounter. The details of that encounter are a little fuzzy for you at the moment, because you have been unconscious since the bombs went off.

"...you've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

The steady, muffled hum of an engine greets you as you awake, somewhat different in timbre from the one you may have heard below the decks of the Big. One might quickly guess that you're on a submarine, albeit not one of any design you've ever heard of. Your bunks line the walls of a narrow corridor. At one end, a ladder leads up to an airtight hatch. At the other, it opens up into what looks like a small but well-appointed office, presumably belonging to the person whose voice woke you up. From behind a wooden desk, the middle-aged woman studies you all with wide eyes. The dim red emergency lighting makes her blue suit look black.

"Take your time. How are you feeling?"

Weird, is the answer to that question. If you already had Reincarnation Syndrome, you can feel its power coursing through you stronger than ever, as your other selves' potential is realized. If you didn't have it before, well, you sure do now.

What do you do?

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## ArlEammon

Jacob had been having terrifying nightmares that haunted him every night for weeks, ever since he "inherited" this strange "Syndrome". He had a boyfriend in High School and their relationship lasted four years after wards. Jason disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and a distraught Jake couldn't help but feel something terrible had happened. At the same time Jacob had started to have nightmares, terrible visual recordings were discovered of Jason being slowly and gruesomely murdered. He had been following strange messages from his nightmares leading him to his boyfriend's killer. 

"Where is he?" 

Jacob asked, referring to the murderer. 

"I want him, now." The newly empowered man demanded. He was frustrated that the murderer may have "gotten away" via dying before he could receive the revenge he deserved at Jacob's hands.

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## souffle_girl

Kate woke up from yet another round of extremely weird dreams, something about the bubble-heads floating inside a Kate-shaped space and blabbering, then everything popping up.
Typical Kate dream.

This time she wasn't sure she was awake though, because it felt like she'd dragged some stuff along to reality.
Like the metal stick laying on the bunk, which was actually the barrel of a ridiculously big gun/scythe.

Or the submarine/spaceship which she... _'No'_. She corrected her thought. That definitely wasn't the same submarine she was in now. The other one... the _Nautilus_ - captain was a fan of Jules Verne - was huge compared to this.

There was stuff from before falling unconscious, too, like the uncomfortable crew bartender suit with its even more uncomfortable heels.

She dragged herself upright wondering if someone slipped her some stuff. Kate didn't do drugs, ever: she was crazy enough without them, God knows what she'd imagine when high.

She yawned, blinked, and took in the other people in the corridor, especially the woman sitting at a desk that really didn't belong underwater.

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## Death Ward

*Character P.O.V.*: 3rd Person

Justine woke up with a cold sweat and a shocked expression, she vividly remember the explosions that consumed the ship but she knew deep down that she could take it. Quickly, she checked her body to ensure she was intact, sure enough there were burn marks that were disappearing. A sign of her regenerating factor as the Spirit of Fire.

She looked at her ragged coat and pants, silently cursing the fact that she all of her new clothes damaged by some schmuck that so happened to cause a tantrum. 

Her red eyes glared as she pulled out her weapon from her mind, a giant one bladed greatsword of flesh, bone and the occasional eye or two. It was her E.G.O. as from the life as both The Color Fixer Kali and Gebura of Lobotomy Corporation and Patron Librarian of the Floor of Language.

"Start talking, _now_." And she was furious at the current turn of events, answers will be pulled out one way or another.

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## Dr.Gunsforhands

> "Where is he? I want him, now."





> *yawn* *blink*





> "Start talking, _now_."


"Of course," nods your host. "First, welcome, I'm glad you're alright. My name is Eshaal. This room is... hold on."

Eshaal suddenly seems to notice how bad the red lighting is and taps a switch on her desk to turn on the regular, brighter lights. A few more of the offices features become readily visible: a big globe, a blue couch, and a pair of small circular windows peering out into a twilit ocean.

"This room is a sort of test chamber. I use it to study RS and extra-spatial movement. As far as I can tell, whatever happened to your ship triggered a series of RS connection events, and this place somehow naturally opened up to you - one of you for every cot I happened to have. It might be a coincidence, but it still makes me wish I had installed more..."

She pauses. "That doesn't really explain anything, does it? More to the point, this room doesn't technically exist on Earth, and one can usually spend a few hours in here while only a few seconds pass is the outside world. You each appeared here spontaneously, and when you leave, you will reappear on your ship wherever you were last. In the meantime, I don't actually know who any of you are, or who you might be pursuing," she says with a glance at Jacob, "but I would be interested to know, and to help raise our mutual understanding of the _very_ strong RS conduits you all just formed. What do you say?"

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## ArlEammon

> "Of course," nods your host. "First, welcome, I'm glad you're alright. My name is Eshaal. This room is... hold on."
> 
> Eshaal suddenly seems to notice how bad the red lighting is and taps a switch on her desk to turn on the regular, brighter lights. A few more of the offices features become readily visible: a big globe, a blue couch, and a pair of small circular windows peering out into a twilit ocean.
> 
> "This room is a sort of test chamber. I use it to study RS and extra-spatial movement. As far as I can tell, whatever happened to your ship triggered a series of RS connection events, and this place somehow naturally opened up to you - one of you for every cot I happened to have. It might be a coincidence, but it still makes me wish I had installed more..."
> 
> She pauses. "That doesn't really explain anything, does it? More to the point, this room doesn't technically exist on Earth, and one can usually spend a few hours in here while only a few seconds pass is the outside world. You each appeared here spontaneously, and when you leave, you will reappear on your ship wherever you were last. In the meantime, I don't actually know who any of you are, or who you might be pursuing," she says with a glance at Jacob, "but I would be interested to know, and to help raise our mutual understanding of the _very_ strong RS conduits you all just formed. What do you say?"


"Okay, if I understand right, you want to know who I am."
"I'm the Devil. Literally. Three times over. Set, god of Stygia, the Chaos Serpent. Morgoth, corrupter among the Valar, and of course, Satan."
"I'm after the killer who murdered my boyfriend. I want to cut him into little pieces while he's still alive, and send him to a special little realm in Hell set apart from the rest of the damned, so I can practice my craft on him some more."

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## Corwin Icewolf

Alicia groans and forces herself to sit up at the hearing of conversation. Within her mind, she hears a voice say, "an interesting development." She glances around at her surroundings, noticing a ladder as the only exit in view, another voice comments on it, "I don't need to run like a Hufflepuff. I'm sure I'm powerful enough to defeat this woman." 

She'd heard rumors about it, reincarnation syndrome. But... 

"Yep, that's right. I'm you. You're my future I guess. And just what have I been doing with my new life? I spent the last two years helping people to try to learn to 'accept my limitations and deal with life?!' where are the flying pigs?"

The first voice speaks again, "Please stop speaking as if you're her, it's just going to make this situation more confusing for all of us."

"I suppose that's true. I was never a girl, I'm sure of that. Well, actually, there was that time with my diary."

A third voice made its thoughts known to her, "We have more pressing concerns."

Catching the last bit spoken by the people * outside* of her mind, she drily comments, "and I seem to have a trio of immortality seekers in my head. Voldemort, Orochimaru and Mannimarco."

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## souffle_girl

"RC, uh? So I didn't make them up" Katie muttered.
"Name's Kate. I'm an artist and a crew member of the Big. I always had all the life of these three women in my head, I thought I made them up as a child."

She paused, then started a recap of sorts. More for her own benefit then for the others.
"One of them, Ann, has psychic powers and she was a space explorer and freedom fighter. And later a political leader. She was also a technodroid, a symbiote of human and nanomachines."
She waved her hand slowly, staring at the circuitry now running under her skin. "I guess I am one too now."

She sighed.
"Second one is Ruby and she was a monster hunter fighting against an ancient evil." She glanced at the "stick" near her. "That's hers"

"Third one, Mei, she was a law enforcement agent and a test subject for something called a chrysalid, an artificial organ that made her superhuman and" she paused and her hands went to her belly.
"There's one inside me too now, isn't it? Crap."

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## Witherbrine26

With a smile on his lips, the 60-year-old man who had been up until this point fast asleep with his hands clasped over his chest woke up. Swinging his legs over the side of the bed he blinked a few times before looking around the strange room.

"Hello, it's nice to meet all of you." He said blinking slowly giving the impression he was either still sleepy or high. "I would offer some cheese but it would appear I'm all out."

Standing up he stretched and stifled a small giggle at this predicament and the urge to see what would happen if he dropped a few of the bunks that people were on into the Astral Plane. 

"The name is Liam Smith and if you don't mind explaining where we are, well that would be gravy."

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## Dr.Gunsforhands

"_Your_ craft, is it? Interesting."

Eshaal listens intently to everyone as they introduce themselves, seeming particularly interested in cases like Alicia's where they've noted a common thread in their identities.

"Well, there is a fine line between something you made up and something someone else made up, but yes," she nods apologetically to Katie. "My current theory, Conduit Theory, is that RS draws in reality from other worlds, whose realities can include... crysalids." She raises a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Than again, it could bode well for you. I don't think my model would account for RS pulling in a whole other being with a will of their own, unless Mei made or summoned them herself. We'll have to see how it progresses."

---UPDATE:----

Amid the introductions, she lets anyone who is still foggy recover before reiterating her explanation of where we are: her own little extradimensional room, in which you all spontaneously appeared. As your head clears, you recall that you fell unconscious amid a blaring alarm and a sudden panic about pirates. Your last memory is either a nearby explosion - in which case that was that - or the brief sight of a giant teddy bear with a bandana and a scimitar, followed by the sensation of your throat being slit, a swift bonk on the back of your head, or another, second explosion.

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## Death Ward

Justine was still skeptical of the woman before her, she may be explaining things that they  may want to know but it wasn't enough. There were definitely details that were hidden from them and what this individual wants is still unclear and not concrete. She then looked at the rest, some were more concerning than others due to who they claimed they were.

Plus, why the hell does she want to spill the beans about herself in front of a crowd? Sje'd prefer a more private environment because that at least would be more polite. "I don't want to give away my identities to strangers unless you're willing to bargain for something." By identities, she definitely meant the Reincarnation Syndrome identities.

She might have saved them, but that doesn't rule out anything to quell her caution.

For what reason should she spill secrets to an unknown party that may try to take advantage of her in secret. And if her stubbornness was met with force, she'd respond with even superior force. Her blade already out signified that she was willing to get violent to prove a point.

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## k4rn0

Yahya was scared.

_Have they found me? Have they caught me?_ 

That was the thought that ran through his mind, but no. For one thing, his hands and feet were completely free. If they did manage to capture him, he didn't think they'd be stupid enough to let him move around. 

For another thing...

He woke up to the commotion around him, as a group of people crowded near the woman behind the desk.

He padded quietly behind the group. Whatever questions ran through his head were already asked by the people around him. His mind was still foggy until he heard the woman utter one phrase.

_RS. Reincarnation Syndrome_

It made him pause.

A knot of fear coiled around his heart, slithering between his lungs, before suddenly constricting him like a cold-blooded serpent.

_The nightmares that haunted his sleep...the magnificent dreams that he had...the fantastic world he'd seen...were they-?_

He gasped.

His breath came in short and fast. 

He leaned against a nearby wall. It was the only thing preventing him from collapsing.

"No...It can't be..."

_No. No. No. Anything but that. There has to be another explanation. This is a dream. Yes, yes, yes. A mad, crazy dream. I'm hallucinating. I'm making this all up. This is all in my head and I'm going to wake up now. Wake up now. Wake up now. Wake up now! WAKE UP NOW! WAKEUPNOW!_

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## Dr.Gunsforhands

"That's fair," the blue-clad woman tells Justine. "I don't really have anything to trade but information. Maybe..."

Eshaal loses her train of thought as her attention is drawn to Yahya freaking out in the bunk-filled corridor. "Are you alright? Lay back down and try to steady your breathing. We'll get you something." She stands up and rotates the big globe until something clicks into place. A hemisphere slides open to reveal a bucket filled with ice, champagne glasses, a half-empty water dispenser, and bottles of grapefruit soda. There's no trace of alcohol to be found; the glasses must have come with the globe. Eshaal fills one from the dispenser and passes it to whoever is to bring it to Yahya.

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## ArlEammon

*Jacob Baker*
"Okay look. I appreciate you restoring my power. Now where do we go from here?" 
"I want to know what the hell is going on."
"More specifically, did you just give me my power back, for fun, or something? Or do you want something in return?"

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## k4rn0

> "That's fair," the blue-clad woman tells Justine. "I don't really have anything to trade but information. Maybe..."
> 
> Eshaal loses her train of thought as her attention is drawn to Yahya freaking out in the bunk-filled corridor. "Are you alright? Lay back down and try to steady your breathing. We'll get you something." She stands up and rotates the big globe until something clicks into place. A hemisphere slides open to reveal a bucket filled with ice, champagne glasses, a half-empty water dispenser, and bottles of grapefruit soda. There's no trace of alcohol to be found; the glasses must have come with the globe. Eshaal fills one from the dispenser and passes it to whoever is to bring it to Yahya.


"Thanks," Yahya said, shakily, taking the offered cup by his hands and sitting on a nearby empty bed. He tried to calm his breathing. In and out. In and out. In and out.

When he finally felt comfortable enough, he tentatively sipped his drink. The grapefruit soda bit at his tongue, but he didn't care, opting to take a few gulps. His throat felt like he had drink in days. _Bismillah._

Reincarnation Syndrome. He put that thought away for a moment and glanced at the people around him. Could he trust them? Perhaps, in time. Does he trust them now? No. Not necessarily.

Still. Even if he doesn't trust them fully, it doesn't hurt to be nice and polite and it could pay well in the future. "I'm Yahya, by the way. Thanks again and its nice to meet you all."

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## souffle_girl

Kate stood up from the bunk, grabbing Crescent Rose for the feeling of protection it have her. The air was getting tense and she could feel a slight buzzing at the edge of her mind that was familiar for Ann. Kate never realized that minds could be loud.

A couple of the people in the room, in particular, seemed to assume Eshaal was a threat. Should Kate assume the same? Maybe they have more experience than her with RC and are right.
Still, the woman with the sword and the self-proclaimed "devil" looked at least as threatening as Eshaal to Kate, though. She found her thumb circling her weapons' deployment button.

She had a flash of how some people say that RC drives you crazy, that it makes you unstable and violent Then she shook her head. _"Cut it off, you of all people should know better than judge people based on rumours,"_ she told herself.

So she took a deep breath, then decided to do what looked sensible: getting away from what might turn into a brawl between super-powered individuals and close to the panicking boy.
She smiled at him. "Crazy stuff, I know. I'm Kate." she offered.

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## Dr.Gunsforhands

Satisfied that Kate and Yahya are taken care of, Eshaal returns her attention to Jacob and Justine.

You dont owe me for that. I didnt, restore, anything; I just set you in bed and kept an eye on you as a bare minimum show of kindness. That said, if you are looking for a suggestion, she raises her finger to her lips again, when you go back, use your powers to save as many people as you can, find out what happened to your ship, and regain control of it. Then, once youre ready, you can come find me at my facility. Ill go up and turn on the radio to make it easier to find, once were done here.

She closes the globe and points out a tiny speck a ways off the coast of India. Its supposed to be a secret, but given the circumstances, I might need to publish my findings sooner rather than later. Yours werent the only loud psychic signatures that opened up today.

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## ArlEammon

> Satisfied that Kate and Yahya are taken care of, Eshaal returns her attention to Jacob and Justine.
> 
> You dont owe me for that. I didnt, restore, anything; I just set you in bed and kept an eye on you as a bare minimum show of kindness. That said, if you are looking for a suggestion, she raises her finger to her lips again, when you go back, use your powers to save as many people as you can, find out what happened to your ship, and regain control of it. Then, once youre ready, you can come find me at my facility. Ill go up and turn on the radio to make it easier to find, once were done here.
> 
> She closes the globe and points out a tiny speck a ways off the coast of India. Its supposed to be a secret, but given the circumstances, I might need to publish my findings sooner rather than later. Yours werent the only loud psychic signatures that opened up today.


"I make no promises. But I'll see what I can do. Oh, and if you want, I can do a little odd free favor for you now and then. Since, of course, I can tell you aren't lying."
"But like I said, about saving people, I make no promises, but it's probably easy enough for me to pull off, no problem." Mister Jacob Baker yawned, and then put his right hand to his head. 
A voice that wasn't his could be heard saying a cuss word as his other hand struggled to cover his mouth.

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## Death Ward

> Satisfied that Kate and Yahya are taken care of, Eshaal returns her attention to Jacob and Justine.
> 
> You dont owe me for that. I didnt, restore, anything; I just set you in bed and kept an eye on you as a bare minimum show of kindness. That said, if you are looking for a suggestion, she raises her finger to her lips again, when you go back, use your powers to save as many people as you can, find out what happened to your ship, and regain control of it. Then, once youre ready, you can come find me at my facility. Ill go up and turn on the radio to make it easier to find, once were done here.
> 
> She closes the globe and points out a tiny speck a ways off the coast of India. Its supposed to be a secret, but given the circumstances, I might need to publish my findings sooner rather than later. Yours werent the only loud psychic signatures that opened up today.



'Bare minimum kindness my ****ing ass...' She thought to herself, but at least she was better than Angela in the sense that she wasn't being forced to do anything, especially kill people for no apparent reason other than attaining something she couldn't reasonably attain. Justine then mentally shook the thought away, the part that made her Gebura was truly running rampant in her head.

"I still don't get it, what do you get from all this altruism." Din has seen it from Roland, disguising his identity as the Black Silence and Reine, disguising her identity as Phantom or Mio Takamiya. People like this woman never lets on the entire thing, but knowing some more modicum of information would put her boiling nerves to ease.

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## NineOfSpades

> Satisfied that Kate and Yahya are taken care of, Eshaal returns her attention to Jacob and Justine.
> 
> You dont owe me for that. I didnt, restore, anything; I just set you in bed and kept an eye on you as a bare minimum show of kindness. That said, *if you are looking for a suggestion*, she raises her finger to her lips again, when you go back, use your powers to *save as many people as you can*, *find out what happened to your ship*, and *regain control of it*. Then, once youre ready, *you can come find me at my facility*. Ill go up and turn on the radio to make it easier to find, once were done here.
> 
> She closes the globe and points out a tiny speck a ways off the coast of India. Its supposed to be a secret, but given the circumstances, I might need to publish my findings sooner rather than later. Yours werent the only loud psychic signatures that opened up today.


*Aisling Murphy*

Aisling had been the last to wake up, a situation that all at once felt entirely to familiar to her. Getting nagged at for being asleep was something of a natural occurrence to her. After that...well...she'd sort of just disappeared from the scene. No magic trickery, no teleportation, just a bit of sneakery. All the more impressive considering she was dressed in futuristic battle armor that looked half-way between science-fiction and medieval barbarian. Guess you can mark that up as one of the tricks she'd picked up along the way. The others talked, she minded her own. Just went about the room, opening up containers, rummaging around for anything that might be useful, idly listening to the conversation. She didn't really have anything in mind that she was looking for, other than maybe something to eat. 

Reincarnation Syndrome was something she'd been living with for a while, so it wasn't a particularly jarring experience at this point. She'd made peace with her past lives, their memories flowing together into a greater tapestry of her existence. It was different though, hearing others talk about their experiences. Their lives had been very *definitive* from the sounds of things. One road, one path, one story. Aisling had...well...not that. Her life, her lives now, was full of branches and choices. Sometimes she'd remember it one way, sometimes another. A hand-me-down legacy that had been told a thousand thousand times over, never quite the same, but always similar. 

Maybe that was why she felt used to waking up in strange places, with people she'd never met, listening to long conversations. 

Eshaal though, those off hand suggestions stood out in Aisling's mind. It got her attention. She stopped her attempted looting on the spot, un-crouching and allowing herself to be more noticeable. Her eyes fell on Eshaal, a locked in and piercing gaze. Aisling herself didn't fully understand it, but she felt a nudge in her brain. It had happened a few times, and it left her with this inescapable sense that there was work left to complete, a place she needed to go to. She wasn't sure which of her lives had given her this particular quirk, but it hadn't led her astray so far.

"I'll take care of it" she said, nodding. That was all there was to say. Eshaal had given her a bed, and seemed nothing but kind, so Aisling would help. 

She spent a second checking the wrist-mounted personal computer she wore, her Pip-Boy. It had logged the radio signal, and that gave her a waypoint to find her way back once her task was completed. The red-haired wanderer looked around the room, eyeing up the others. A few stood out, a sense of familiarity, but most didn't register with her one way or another. "Anyone who wants to fight with me can come, but I'm heading out.". 

Aisling had spoken exactly two sentences, and neither was particularly long. Even so, her words carried a *weight* behind them. They would tug at the heart, calling others to fight for her, filling the listener with valor and strength.

With nothing more than that, Aisling went up the ladder, and climbed out of the sub, back to the exploding ship.

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## Witherbrine26

Grinning Liam looked around at the now fully awake motley crew. This group was interesting and the person who had left up the ladder sent a tingle of strange familiarity down his spine. They were all standing around and talking which was boring and sure while it might be tactically sound it was mostly a waste of time, shaking away his thoughts he got to work.

Focusing he pulled on the air and in his hand appeared a pitch-black staff topped with three faces carved from the staff. All the faces held a different expression and anybody with talent in magic could tell that it was a potent artifact. While normally conjuring a powerful magical artifact would be beyond any of his past incarnations' talents the Wabbajack was different.

As one of his personal artifacts it was much more easy to call from beyond the ether and from his dreams, it may not be the most useful but he didn't truly feel like himself without it in his hand. With a twirl of his wrist a wheel of cheese appeared in his other hand, taking a large bit from it he swallowed and spoke to the group.

"Well, I plan on heading out with Miss Quiet, if any plan on joining I can promise an ample bounty of cheese along with a wonderful health plan."

Giving a cheeky smile and wink he tapped the Wabbajack on the floor and teleported up into whatever awaited him on the ruined ship above

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## Corwin Icewolf

> "RC, uh? So I didn't make them up" Katie muttered.
> "Name's Kate. I'm an artist and a crew member of the Big. I always had all the life of these three women in my head, I thought I made them up as a child."


"Huh. I've never heard mine until now,"Alicia comments. 




> "There's one inside me too now, isn't it? Crap."


_"Speaking of things inside..."_Orochimaru thinks to her. 

_"I have swords and snakes in my stomach? Weird."_ 

An amused laugh is Orochimaru's only response.




> when you go back, use your powers to save as many people as you can, find out what happened to your ship, and regain control of it. Then, once youre ready, you can come find me at my facility. Ill go up and turn on the radio to make it easier to find, once were done here.


_"We're obviously not doing that... Right?"_
Voldemort asks worriedly.

_"why wouldn't we? I have been trying to learn to deal with other people better. To accept that I need others._ Alicia responds.

_"But you don't need other people anymore, you have us, and since we're the same person it counts as not needing other people. Back me up here guys?"_ 

_"there was a time when I felt that way, too, but..."_ Orochimaru thinks of the later moments in his life, and the others get his meaning.

_"It really is not important. Worrying about good and evil is pointless as both are manifestations of the same thing. Do what you like."_

_See? Mannimarco agrees with me!"_   Voldemort says triumphantly.

_"I don't think he cares one way or the other, actually."_ Alicia observes. _"hold on, that Kate girl said one of hers was psychic. Do you think she can hear us?"_

_"What? Like a legilimens? I wouldn't worry about it, I was always better at Legilimensy than Occlumency, but I'm good enough to not let my thoughts float about the room like a five year old child."_




> Focusing he pulled on the air and in his hand appeared a pitch-black staff topped with three faces carved from the staff. All the faces held a different expression and anybody with talent in magic could tell that it was a potent artifact. While normally conjuring a powerful magical artifact would be beyond any of his past incarnations' talents the Wabbajack was different.


"The Wabbajack?!" Alicia says, audibly, in surprise. She has played Skyrim, and Oblivion before it. 

Well he did mention cheese before. 

Of course, even if she didn't recognize it, Mannimarco would have, _"That would likely make him Sheogorath."_ 

Alicia, followed, despite protests from Voldemort that following immediately made her look like a Hufflepuff.

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## Dr.Gunsforhands

> "I make no promises, but it's probably easy enough for me to pull off, no problem."
> *yawn* _"Boner."_





> "I still don't get it, what do you get from all this altruism."


"Eh?" Eshaal pauses, thinks, opens her mouth as though to answer, then stops and thinks again.




> *steals two grapefruit sodas, a first aid kit, and a prayer mat*
> 
> "I'll take care of it. Anyone who wants to fight with me can come, but I'm heading out.".





> "Well, I plan on heading out with Miss Quiet, if any plan on joining I can promise an ample bounty of cheese along with a wonderful health plan."
> *chomp*


On climbing out the submarine's exit hatch, Aisling finds herself standing on the SS Big, exactly where she was before everything exploded. Sort of. The portal vanishes behind her.

Liam quickly appears next to her, rather than wherever he may have been or intended to go. It seems that teleporting interacts weirdly with the secret space-folding submarine chamber. You don't think you can realistically teleport back the same way.

Around the two of you, the place is in ruins. The bombs that interrupted Aisling's visit rent what was once a hall of security offices into an unrecognizable tangle of steam-spraying pipes and sparking wires, two things the engineer knows interact exactly the way you would want, assuming you want to get everyone electrocuted. You'll need to get around or through those barriers of steam and sparks in order to get anywhere else.

Beyond all of that, you see two of the teddy bear pirates milling around - one carrying a fire extinguisher, and one carrying two still bodies up to the deck. They climb up and down the twisted metal of the stairs with surprising ease. Through the creaking and hissing of the wreckage, you can just make out the way they say, "ARR, me heARRties!" as they pass each other.




> "Huh. I've never heard mine until now..."
> 
> "...The Wabbajack?!"
> 
> *follows up the ladder*


Alicia's bedroom fared a little better. The door was kicked down, and the room was clearly searched, but at least it's not on fire. Light flows in through the gaping hole across the hallway, where another room used to be. If you step out, you find a montor that was hastily bolted to the wall, displaying a JPEG of a half-burnt teddy bear pirate, despite the lack of electricity to power the overhead lights. Every room in the corridor has been smashed open, and you can make out the sound of someone hyperventilating two doors down.

----------


## ArlEammon

*Jacob Baker*

"Look, I'm going to follow the others and see whatever good I feel like doing." Jake lied. He honestly wanted to do a lot more than what he was letting on. 
"Anyway, good bye. I'm off to war." Then he goes off to follow Aisling.

----------


## Death Ward

Justine eyes in on the hesitation of her host, that was the sign of a usually shifty person who was thinking what to say while also hiding the broader picture. It was the nature of power-hungry or sly people, be they Rats, Fixers, Syndicate Members or Feathers of a Wing to lie, bargain and cheat their way around life around the city. Even Mio of all people despite being nigh-God incarnate in terms of power or Roland in his quest for revenge against Angela.

She then pointed Mimicry towards Eschaal in a quick motion, not giving her the time of day to construct a half truth to smokescreen what plans she may have. "I have all day to pry it out from you."

----------


## k4rn0

Yahya frowned. A part of him wanted to go back to his bed and lay down there. To rest and think and consider what had transpired for the past few minutes.

However...

He didn't like the thought of having to stay here, inside this submarine, God knows how many feet from the surface in cramped space.

At least by going back to the SS Big, there's a chance he could get some fresh air...and perhaps run away should it became necessary.

Weighing his options, he decided to ascend up the ladder.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

> "Anyway, good bye. I'm off to war."


Jacob arrives where he was before the incident: between two rows of stacked shipping containers in the Cargo District, as the Big's designers called it in their insistence on the Floating City theme. His quarry is no longer around. Where the murderer was standing is now a broken container that must have crashed from quite a height, judging by the boxes of pre-assembled patio furniture scattered around it.

Bolted to another nearby container is a monitor displaying a still image of a teddy bear pirate. Like the pirates everyone else sees, it wears a red bandanna and half of its face seems to have been been burnt to a black crisp, until you realize that the bear is just designed to look like that.




> Yahya decided to ascend up the ladder.


Yahya appears in the halaal food mart of the Shopping District, where he was no doubt stocking up on supplies to bring back to his stowaway-friendly shipping container full of rugs. The room is now a mess, with much of the merchandise scattered on the floor. The cash register is smashed to pieces, and a thin bloody trail leads from the counter to the door. The TV in the corner, which previously played mostly soap operas with captions in two languages, now features the same taunting image of a half-sneering bear.




> *shink!* "I have all day to pry it out from you."


"Sorry," Eshaal flinches and anxiously adjusts her headscarf to avoid eye contact. Despite the meat blade in her face, she seems almost more embarrassed than fearful. "I really don't know how to answer. At first I was going to say, 'You're not the means, you're the ends,' but that would just have made it sound like I was speaking in riddles. I'm a scientist. My job, as I see it, is to find ways to better understand how the world works. At the same time, I find people like you especially interesting, and I want you to do well. More basically than that, when I see a group of people unconscious on the floor, it's only natural that I'd want to make sure they're alright, isn't it?"

She takes a breath and looks Justine in the eye with a serious expression. "So, I suppose the answer to, 'What do I get out of all this altruism,' is the altruism itself. I'm helping because I want to. Is that satisfactory?"

To anyone skilled in detecting such things, she's really not lying, though she seemed to like the riddle answer better.

----------


## ArlEammon

Looks like I've got to stop the enemy before they slaughter more innocent people. Who would have thought evil teddy bear robot pirates would lay siege on a floating city like this? Jake thought to himself. In the mean time I better keep my eye out for Jason's killer too. The critically acclaimed author of fantasy novels and children's books turned Dark Lord gathered a mystical red energy channeled through his physical form as he looked carefully through his area of the ship for survivors, or enemies.

----------


## Death Ward

Justine sighed, this is just like Carmen and Reine again, except this time the person in front of her was more dangerously altruistic and shifty than ever which is a high bar to leap considering the people she was comparing. Nevertheless, she lowered the blade finally and sighed. "Fine, don't think that everything is all fine and dandy, I have my eye on you."

She headed towards the ladder and gave Eschaal another glare, "But, I will entertain that notion for a while, I have people to save and criminals to kill." Putting the blade behind her back, Justine ascended above the ladder by simply jumping her way to the hatch.

----------


## k4rn0

> Yahya appears in the halaal food mart of the Shopping District, where he was no doubt stocking up on supplies to bring back to his stowaway-friendly shipping container full of rugs. The room is now a mess, with much of the merchandise scattered on the floor. The cash register is smashed to pieces, and a thin bloody trail leads from the counter to the door. The TV in the corner, which previously played mostly soap operas with captions in two languages, now features the same taunting image of a half-sneering bear.


Yahya began walking around the room,  rummaging through the mess of fallen merchandise before moving on to the cashier register, mentally taking note of everything he found. The Mentat ability allowed him to remember, catalogue, and analyze huge amounts of data. He looked at the size and shape of the damage done, calculating the possible force necessary to make them, and how long or short might the attacker stayed, and what possible motivations he or she or they might have had.

----------


## souffle_girl

Kate was really surprised when everyone started heading back to the ship. Even more so as she realized each of them barely talked with the other before jumping into the fray. She expected at least Yahia to stay behind, but even the boy scuttled away, leaving her alone with Ms Sword-crazy and the enigmatic Eshaal. And finally just with Eshaal.

"So much for teamwork."

Kate then looked at Eshaal

"I'm not opposed to going upstairs on principle, but I hope to do this the smart way. It's my hide that's on the line."

She paused for a moment.

"A scientist uh? Figures. Do you suffer from RC syndrome too? And how do you know the Big is in danger?"
"I heard explosions go off. Was it an accident or an attack?"

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

> *gathers mystical red energy*


Having intended to ambush his boyfriend's killer here, Jacob already knows that this alley of containers won't have the best visibility. On stepping out into a better place or elevation, he is quickly spotted by three identical teddy bear pirates, each roughly 5 feet tall and armed with a scimitar and a blackjack. "ARR!" "Avast, landlubber!" "Come with us or walk the plank!"

They bear down on Jacob, intending to surround him and knock him out from behind. To his fell vision, the bears seem to be soulless robots.




> *taking note of everything*


The stuff on the floor is mostly food and toiletries, no doubt knocked over or dropped during a struggle as the little store's occupants were knocked out and dragged away. The TV shows signs of having been pried open and put together again, from which one can safely conclude that it was altered to receive the new signal. Smashing a cash register is a feat generally reserved for someone with an axe or a club; some kind of beast or mechanical arm could have done the job as well, but the rest of the damage doesn't suggest the presence of any wild animals or heavy machinery.




> "Fine... I have people to save and criminals to kill."


Justine emerges from a service corridor in the shopping district. Amid the collapsed signs and the shattered glass from the now-nonexistent skylight, she can conveniently spot Yahya as he leaves a relatively undamaged grocery shop on the other end of the mall.

When Kate gets around to it, she'll emerge in the shopping district as well, except her cinnamon roll vendor was obliterated in the bombing. She'll end up crawling onto a crumbling floor overlooking the district's outside deck, to be described when the gang is all together. The pretzel vendor next door is also collapsed and its cracked digital menu altered to display the same stupid bear picture as the mart's TV.




> "A scientist, huh? Do you suffer from RC syndrome too? And how do you know the Big is in danger? Was it an accident or an attack?"


"It's true," Eshaal manages to say regarding the first two questions before Kate moves on to the next. "The Big? You mean, your ship? I only knew that it was large, and that it emitted a shockwave powerful enough to blow out part of the station's sonar. You showed up directly after that, so I assumed it was related." She holds her finger to her lips again. "It seems like too much to be an accident, unless, 'The Big,' was carrying something extremely volatile and dangerous..."

As someone working aboard The Big, Kate would happen to know that it runs on its own internal nuclear power plant.

----------


## ArlEammon

> Having intended to ambush his boyfriend's killer here, Jacob already knows that this alley of containers won't have the best visibility. On stepping out into a better place or elevation, he is quickly spotted by three identical teddy bear pirates, each roughly 5 feet tall and armed with a scimitar and a blackjack. "ARR!" "Avast, landlubber!" "Come with us or walk the plank!"
> 
> They bear down on Jacob, intending to surround him and knock him out from behind. To his fell vision, the bears seem to be soulless robots.


Conjuring demons from Hell, to possess the souless robots, or haunt? Whatever the case, Jacob hoped he would have some extra minions to kamikaze the other pirate teddy bears. In case his spell would not work as intended, he was ready to unleash bolts of lightning.

----------


## souffle_girl

Kate cursed. "There's a nuclear fission generator on board but to blow it up you'd need to either royally screw up or sabotage it."

The thought was nasty, an explosion in the engine room could mean unless they had all been irradiated already?
She tried to recall what radiation sickness was like, but she wasn't a doctor and she didn't feel sick at all. Darn.
For a moment she thought of staying here, out of harm's way, but there were too many people aboard and she had three heroes in her mind now. She just couldn't.

"I'm going up." she said, then she scribbled her cell number and e-mail on a piece of paper on the desk. "In case we need to get in contact again."

She ditched the name tag, bag and suit jacket. She thought about leaving the shoes too, but walking barefoot among debris didn't look like a good idea. She also wrapped the uniform's scarf on her head until it only showed her eyes. Better to look like a weirdo than to be recognised and end up as the scapegoat for this mess. Finally she grabbed her weapon, and the ladder handle.

The chrysalis was also a detoxification device. If she really had one now, maybe it would keep her safe from radiation. "Hope you don't give up on me now, buddy." she whispered.

She pushed the hatch open.

----------


## Witherbrine26

> "
> Liam quickly appears next to her, rather than wherever he may have been or intended to go. It seems that teleporting interacts weirdly with the secret space-folding submarine chamber. You don't think you can realistically teleport back the same way.
> 
> Around the two of you, the place is in ruins. The bombs that interrupted Aisling's visit rent what was once a hall of security offices into an unrecognizable tangle of steam-spraying pipes and sparking wires, two things the engineer knows interact exactly the way you would want, assuming you want to get everyone electrocuted. You'll need to get around or through those barriers of steam and sparks in order to get anywhere else.
> 
> Beyond all of that, you see two of the teddy bear pirates milling around - one carrying a fire extinguisher, and one carrying two still bodies up to the deck. They climb up and down the twisted metal of the stairs with surprising ease. Through the creaking and hissing of the wreckage, you can just make out the way they say, "ARR, me heARRties!" as they pass each other.


Striding forward Liam gave a crooked grin as the air around him shimmered and the steam that approached him faded away as he brought it to his dreams. His next step was slamming the Wabbajack on the ground causing a bloodred circle that was inscribed with sigils to grow on the ground.

"Come serve me demons," Liam said in the guttural heart-clenching language of Abyssal as a massive toad-like being covered in bumps and towering over ten feet tall crawled out of a portal formed between the sigils.

This was a Hydroloth one of the more powerful beings he had at his disposal and better yet could tear the secrets from a being's mind. Laughing madly Liam spoke. "Go Mr. Toad and deal with those fluffy pirates, do leave one of them alive it wouldn't do to have them pass before talking now would it."

At the command, the massive toad-like demon sprang forward, far faster than physically possible, headless of any defensive the teddy bear pirates could bring to bear Liam trailing behind with a grin on his face and eyes darting about for other foes.

----------


## Death Ward

Justine groans, seeing as her vacation to finally clear her mind has been utterly ruined by some schmucks that decided arson and terrorism was a good idea. I
She would definitely enact righteous vengeance for those who fell and were wronged by their hands, that vigilante delinquent within her was definitely returning to the forefront of her psyche. 

Her gleaming red eyes then noticed Yarha doing some sort of Sherlock Holmes type of investigation, perhaps related to an RC or whatever the proper term was. The second coming of the Red Mist approached him with Mimicry laxed on her shoulders, trying to not come as aggressive despite the meat greatsword.

"Oi, you okay?" She asked jovially, if a bit strained due to the bitterness she still feels towards the situation.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

"Good luck."

*Kate* emerges atop her destroyed snack kiosk in the shopping district, where she can easily meet up with *Yahya* and *Justine*.

Their investigation yields some quick results, even without using specific powers. It looks like a veritable army of robot bears came through, injured everyone to various degrees, and dragged them out of the district; Yahya determines that they must have made multiple trips, but still. Following their trail, the team soon arrives on the outside deck of the Shipping District, where they find a crowd of dozens of bear pirates throwing bodies overboard - a good proportion of whom are alive but too injured or unconscious to do anything about it.

Elsewhere in the shipping district, the three bears surrounding *Jacob* slow their movements as a red glow appears in their eyes. "Hneeeh~?" "Master, is that youuuu~?" "Puhuhu! PwAAAHAHAhahahaHAAA!"

Sensing something is amiss, Jacob can quickly zap two of the bears before they can resume their assault or worse. They instantly detonate, toppling the mountain of containers behind them. Amid the crashing and burning all around them, the third bear escapes with a comical bouncing noise. When he goes to give chase, Jacob happens upon the same scene as Justine's team: dozens of pirates systematically throwing piled bodies and injured survivors over the railing. Interestingly, he can pick out his boyfriend's killer among the injured, his legs crushed and his head bleeding.

At the same time, a giant frog arrives on the scene well, having burst from the wreckage of the security deck some considerable but narratively uninteresting distance away. *Liam* and *Aisling* aren't far behind, but Liam's minion isn't going to ask permission to jump into the fray. It seems almost as excited to stomp on survivors' skulls as it is to fulfill its bear-slaying objective. Does anyone do anything to stop it?

Meanwhile, the difficult breathing in *Alicia*'s vicinity can be traced to a boy, maybe 11 years old, crouched and biting his nails under a table on the balcony. When she approaches, the boy stands up and points a canister vacuum cleaner at her in a way he vainly hopes is threatening. "Who are you? Did they tell you to stay behind, too? Or-"

Just then, two echoing explosions, the sounds of crashing metal, and the howling of an awful frog can be heard from the shipping district, which this floor of the residential deck happens to overlook. From here, with the right sensory powers, Alicia can make out what is going on with the rest of the party. Even without them, she can probably guess the gist of it.

What do you do?

----------


## ArlEammon

*Jacob T. Baker*

The man quickly ran towards the dying Vincent Simmons. Formerly a big time CEO and billionaire. Now, officially some other big time money maker, but no longer as much of a mover and shaker that he used to be. Now, a serial killer, and now, he lay dying at Jacob's feet. Wordlessly, Jacob held one open hand over Vincent, and consumed his soul. Vincent would be Jacob's entertainment for later catharsis. It was a painless death, for now, and for now, Jake would have to save the people being terrorized by the pirate robots before getting his revenge. 

With that having happened, Jacob ran towards the mechanical enemies, and with superhuman reflexes began unleashing telekinetic blasts meant to not make contact with the A.I's victims, yet shatter the same A.Is apart.

----------


## souffle_girl

Kate soon found sword girl, and Yahya with her. It didn't take long to find the bears either, especially with the sound of battle ahead.

Reaching the group of pirates, Kate needed a moment to realize they were robots, another to realize that it was Jacob who was tearing them up, and yet another to realize most of the "bodies" were actually still alive.

When a bear turned to face her, Kate snapped out of her thoughts and charged into it as her weapon deployed.
With a strike, she decapitated the robot and joined the fray, scything her way forward.

----------


## k4rn0

Yahya hesitated for a moment. Only a moment.

When he realized what was happening, he reached out to Kurogiri's Quirk. Dozens of portals opened up beneath the victims, he thought of the Halal market and the still alive victims were deposited there safely without harm.

Then he reached out to another.

Instantly flame swept up his entire body, litting him up like an overcharged Christmas tree. A blazing golden armor decked his form and a golden helmet appeared over his head. A long sword of gold also appeared in his hand. 

With a warcry in the Tongue of the Old Times, he leapt towards the battle sword in hand. In his mind, he remembered a piece of poem he read long ago.

_He enter'd, but he enter'd full of wrath;
His flaming robes stream'd out beyond his heels,
And gave a roar, as if of earthly fire,
That scar'd away the meek ethereal Hours
And made their dove-wings tremble. On he flared,
From stately nave to nave, from vault to vault,
Through bowers of fragrant and enwreathed light,
And diamond-paved lustrous long arcades,_

----------


## Death Ward

As fires rage around her in sync with the clashing of blade, metal and flesh, one word resounded, nay, resonated like a reverberation that pulsated throughout every cell of Justine. Her E.G.O. resounded but she could not still manifest it right now as her mind still relaxed for her signature armor to finally manifest itself. But what she could manifest was another weapon in her arsenal.

Her time as a Sephirah under Lobotomy Corporation allowed her to use weapons in both hands even if for reasons she'd not rather repeat. On her other hand manifested the Angel of Wrath *[Camael]*, a halberd that signified the presence of a Sephirah Crystal, how ironic for the two to be associated with the color red. Perhaps both lives were so similarly connected that one life was the result of another.

Nevertheless, she quickly sprinted into the fray with both large weapons in hand, swinging with such force to sever a building with a swing. But to Justine, it was like carrying tubes of foam.

----------


## Witherbrine26

Cackling Liam strode forward the Wabbajack held high, swiping it through the air a small crown of stars emerged around his brow. The dozens of stars flew toward the bears in waves slipping between his allies. Standing on the backlines he observed the fighting with a perverse grin on his lips.

As the intensity of the fight grew he slammed the Wabbajack on the ground and used his innate nature as an Archfey to pull on the terrifying, mystical Feywilds and bring a few of his servants here. As around half a dozen Blink Dogs materialized around him he snapped his fingers. "Go help against the bears, make sure none of them die especially that one." He ordered pointing towards Aisling. As they sprang toward the conflict he renewed his assault.

----------


## NineOfSpades

Aisling

Aisling roared a warriors battle cry, booming with rage and joy as she rushed forward, sprinting far, _far_ faster than she had any right to move, given the bulk of her armor. Yet she closed the gap in a fraction of a second, before cleaving into the nearest bear with her mighty battle ax, the blow dropping down like a falling star as she howled with excitement, before carrying her swing into the next target.   She moved quickly from there, racing along the deck, seeking out the next target to engage. As she moved, her free hand quickly cast a series of spells, further augmenting and enhancing her abilities, adding layers of wards and support spells, cloaking her in elemental barriers, and granting her eyes the ability to see through obstacles so she could navigate faster. Her objective, first and foremost, was to find the leader of the assault on the ship and close in on them, while cutting through any enemies encountered along her path. She'd discarded subtly for the moment, instead making her approach as loud and obvious as possible, wanting to draw foes to her so she wouldn't need to expend effort to seek them out.

----------


## Corwin Icewolf

> Meanwhile, the difficult breathing in *Alicia*'s vicinity can be traced to a boy, maybe 11 years old, crouched and biting his nails under a table on the balcony. When she approaches, the boy stands up and points a canister vacuum cleaner at her in a way he vainly hopes is threatening. "Who are you? Did they tell you to stay behind, too? Or-"


"If you were a plumber and I was a ghost, I'd be terrified," Alicia says sarcastically. "Who's they?"

_"Just use Legilimensy._ Voldemort cuts in.

_"right, I guess now is the time to try."_




> Just then, two echoing explosions, the sounds of crashing metal, and the howling of an awful frog can be heard from the shipping district, which this floor of the residential deck happens to overlook. From here, with the right sensory powers, Alicia can make out what is going on with the rest of the party. Even without them, she can probably guess the gist of it.
> 
> What do you do?


Alicia's thoughts are interrupted by the explosion, "Or maybe I'll just go deal with that." She says aloud, probably confusing the poor kid. Focusing, she tries to apparate closer to the fight. But not so close as to get hit by debris or something. Then she holds out her hand trying to call Voldemort's yew wand to it. It appears in her hand. 

"Fiendfyre," she incants, summoning the demonic fire and focusing it in the shape of snakes. "Kill the bears," she says to them in parseltongue.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

The robot pirate bears jump at the party in waves. Their acrobatic prowess seems to be their main strength, designed as they were to get the drop on people and whisk them away. Their scimitar skills are relatively lacking, even clownish by Kate's and Justine's standards, with clumsy telegraphed attacks more meant to intimidate than to actually hit.

You quickly find out that there's a reason for that, too. The bears are at their deadliest when they're _losing_ a fight; whenever one is smashed or cut open, it explodes with the force of a naval bombshell. Having already known this from a moment ago, *Jacob* throws his first few telekinetic blasts hard enough to launch their targets off the starboard bow, where they can blow up safely. From there, *Yahya*'s quick thinking with portals gets the civilians to safety as his teammates run directly into the fray.

Of the the melee fighters, *Liam*'s and *Alicia*'s summoned monsters have the most trouble dealing with exploding enemies. The frog demon backhands a few bears and tanks a few explosions with its thick hide, but then literally swallows one in a misguided effort to show off and doesn't live long enough to regret it. Each spectral snake that appears on the battlefield sinks its teeth into one bear and then goes down with it, though that's probably the spell working as intended as far as Alicia is concerned. The blink dogs fare better, if more slowly, each ripping into a target and vanishing just in time to avoid the resulting fiery backlash.

You soon find that these bomb-bots don't really go off in the huge chain reaction one might expect when so many explosives are gathered together. One can only suppose that they're somehow specifically resistant to friendly fire. Still, it's easy enough to play around. A dozen bears are scythed down with two wide leaping swings, only for *Kate* and *Justine* to jump dramatically away before they go off. A dozen more are launched up and away for a nice fireworks display. Others are simply picked off at range, leaving behind an ever-deepening crater in the deck where water can rush in and flood the floors below.

Meanwhile, *Aisling* finds herself juggling a few tasks at once. Several bears throw themselves into her stacks of wards and force fields, which can absorb the brunt of the explosions well enough when her axe finds them. As for their leader, her search brings her to the port bow. When the dust clears from one last bearsplosion, she can see an armored, square-rigged torpedo boat flying the classic Jolly Roger.

On a monitor hung on a nearby shipping container, in the hall near the kid Alicia left behind, and on the TV in the halal mart around which the survivors are gathered, a hiss of static heralds a live feed being broadcast from the pirate ship. A new teddy bear pirate appears on screen, with a feathered tricorn hat and a long coat to presumably mark it as their captain. Even through their silly accoutrements, a couple party members might have already guessed the character these bears are mimicking. When this one opens its mouth, the horrible muppet voice echoing throughout the ship leaves no room for doubt.

"Attention, passengers! It is I, the great and powerful Dread Pirate Monokuma! It is my pleasure to announce that we ARRe now officially canceling the [play a game] that I had planned [for the people who are still alive~]. I would also like to issue a very [Specil Thanks] to the blonde man in the shipping district who finally freed me from that [*daeamon*]."

Okay, maybe there's a little room for doubt. It sometimes sounds like Monokuma's feed is overlapping with random radio chatter and Portal references. Still, somewhere behind the noise and dripping irony, the Lord of Lies can sense the workings of a fellow prevaricator, the sort of whom deals almost exclusively in misleading truths. Then again, it doesn't take a superpower to guess that this Monokuma isn't really trustworthy.

"Anyway, these screens ARRe all equipped with microphones, so I would like to take this opportunity to open up to a traditional round of pARRley! I will be dealing exclusively with the pARRty of [3-for-1 Specils] in the shipping district, however, so everyone else keep quiet, okay?"

What do you do?

----------


## Death Ward

'The nerve of this piece of...' Simple words to show how angry she was towards this Monokuma person, people dying for what? A game? It pissed her to no end that people like him still exist even in a world like this. She simply dusted off what scraps and dust she caught while fighting and looked to the others with a question. 

Her thumb pointing at one of the screens as she asked, "Can any of you guys talk, I can't hold much without bursting a nerve." She, nor her reincarnations were fans of talking and relied more on either the terrifying presence of her abilities, commanding aura or rank or simple ruthless determination to get what she wanted. Not exactly the traits for a speaker as she knew.

----------


## souffle_girl

Kate wasn't much of a diplomat, but Ann, fortunately, had been. Hoping she'd be up to her example, Kate decided to give this parlay a try. Now that they knew where the pirate ship was, she was pretty sure between all of them they could easily sink it.

"Fine then, let's talk." she tried to look at the best captain as sternly as possible.

"Who are you and why are you here? What do you want from us?"

----------


## ArlEammon

> Kate wasn't much of a diplomat, but Ann, fortunately, had been. Hoping she'd be up to her example, Kate decided to give this parlay a try. Now that they knew where the pirate ship was, she was pretty sure between all of them they could easily sink it.
> 
> "Fine then, let's talk." she tried to look at the best captain as sternly as possible.
> 
> "Who are you and why are you here? What do you want from us?"


Jacob turned to them, then to Ann. "Yeh? Why on Earth are you mechanical teddy bear pirates?"
"Why are you commandeering this ship?"
"Also, if you don't mind my questions, who do you work for?"

----------


## Corwin Icewolf

Most of Alicia's thought up questions match those of the others, but she does have one more to ask. "3 for 1 specials huh? What about you? How did you know about that and are you like us?"

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

> "The nerve of this piece of... Can any of you guys talk, I can't hold much without bursting a nerve."


"I heard that~!"




> "Fine then, let's talk. Who are you and why are you here? What do you want from us?"


"I already told you who I am! And as of a few minutes ago, I want all the same things as you do! Life, [LOVE], [Free Kromer], and most of all-"

Monokuma suddenly freezes mid-sentence as only a robot can. You can almost hear his hard drive buzzing away trying to load something in the background.

"...[hyperlink blocked]."




> "Yeh? Why on Earth are you mechanical teddy bear pirates?"


"What a rude question! You don't hear me asking why you're an [ugly bags of mostly water], do you?"

He already seems content to pretend his little freeze-up never happened. Will you let him get away with that?




> "Why are you commandeering this ship?"
> "Also, if you don't mind my questions, who do you work for?"


"Puhuhu! You [People], always wanting a reason for everything!" says Monokuma. "Use your head. Why would anyone want to [play a game]? Because I thought I was going to be bored! After all, once we took all the nuclear fuel for our [*daeamon*], the Big was going to be [died] in the water! But then you showed up, and suddenly things got [Quite Interesting]!"




> "3 for 1 specials huh? What about you? How did you know about that and are you like us?"


"Ding! [We have a winner!] See, my [Old Master] and I know all about that crackpot, 'conduit theorist,' you're working with. But, unlike [hyperlink blocked], I am a discerning bear who knows that [Large Nose] is famous for its [honesty]! And now [Look at you!], she totally maxed out your [Ultimate Life Form] potential! You really are destined to be [Big Shots!!!]"

"So, I guess that means it's my turn. What do [all y'all] want out of this? If I leave you alone, are you just going to go back into hiding? Wait for rescue, go back to the comfort of your [6.49] lives? Or, if you're looking for information, maybe I can help you get what you need to take on..." 

He pauses dramatically, trying to differentiate this one big reveal from his usual AI word salad.

"...WRATH."

----------


## ArlEammon

*Jacob Baker*
Before the warlock began to speak he thought a moment at what he had just heard Monokuma say. It all began to make sense. Okay nothing about this made sense. Buut the fact that his conjuration spell failed to possess their A.I bodies with demon spirits.

----------


## ArlEammon

> "I heard that~!"
> "Puhuhu! You [People], always wanting a reason for everything!" says Monokuma. "Use your head. Why would anyone want to [play a game]? Because I thought I was going to be bored! After all, once we took all the nuclear fuel for our [*daeamon*], the Big was going to be [died] in the water! But then you showed up, and suddenly things got [Quite Interesting]!"




*Jacob Baker*
"So that's why my conjuration spell failed to conjure demons into your bodies." The warlock stated matter of factly. "I couldn't have you possessed BY Demons because you ARE demons. That makes perfect sense. Pirate. Robot. Teddybear. Demons." Jacob face palmed at the words he was saying. "Okay look, take me to your Daemon. I'll prove that I should be in charge."

----------


## Death Ward

'Pirate. Robot. Teddybear. Demons', an dumbfounding combination, but one that isn't in the realm of possibility due to the weirdness of RCs. Every time Monokuma speaks made it infinitely more nauseating for Justine, pinching the bridge of her nose is frustration as a result. "Bloody hell, so he knows about that girl from before, has a master that it licks the boots off and something about Wrath." 

The last one definitely concerned her, she knew how a sin such as wrath could devastate the things around it. Gebura and Kotori definitely knew that first hand, but what WRATH meant in this context is beyond her. "I say we find him and beat the information we want for all that is worth." Even if she leaves the ursine fiend alone, who knows what kind of chaos it'll spring up the moment everyone lets their guard down.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

> "So that's why my conjuration spell failed to conjure demons into your bodies... Okay look, take me to your Daemon. I'll prove that I should be in charge."


"[I'm sorry,] [*Jaek*], [I'm afraid I can't do that.] Did you really think that just because you're [from the bible] that means you get a [Monopoly] on [bad stuff]? Besides, my programming already erased everything I knew about about [], so forget it!"

The tech-savvy among you might realize that Monokuma doesn't necessarily know what he's talking about here, even if you assume he's not lying on purpose. Perhaps if you took him apart, some of that data could be reclaimed?




> "I say we find him and beat the information we want for all that is worth."


See? Justine thought of it.

----------


## ArlEammon

> "[I'm sorry,] [*Jaek*], [I'm afraid I can't do that.] Did you really think that just because you're [from the bible] that means you get a [Monopoly] on [bad stuff]? Besides, my programming already erased everything I knew about about [], so forget it!"


*"If you really understood the Bible, you'd know my answer that. YES! I DO have a monopoly on Bad Stuff! You cantankerous, calamitous CAN!"*

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

"Puhuhu! Did I hit a nerve, master~?" The bear says playfully. "But, if you really believe that..."

Monokuma tilts his head downward, hiding part of his immovable grin in an effort to denote seriousness. "...then [She] was holding out on you. Perhaps [Large Nose] wasn't as honest as I thought."

He straightens back up. "I happen to know that WRATH has at least one [The Devil] in its ranks, using his power for their own purposes. So if you really want to retain that [Monopoly], you'll need to get him out of the way, huh?"

----------


## Witherbrine26

Striding up to the bear he leaned on the Wabbajack and grinned with a mouth full of teeth as he gently placed a hand on The Devil's chest(and wasn't that a doozy, the devil walking the Earth.)

"I do believe that robots dream of electric sleep and well Parabola remembers what mankind forgets. So if nobody has any issues I could simply tear the knowledge from his head."

Leaning back he looked around the others and awaited their answers. It wouldn't do to step on the others toes so early even if they were all so fascinating.

----------


## ArlEammon

> Striding up to the bear he leaned on the Wabbajack and grinned with a mouth full of teeth as he gently placed a hand on The Devil's chest(and wasn't that a doozy, the devil walking the Earth.)
> 
> "I do believe that robots dream of electric sleep and well Parabola remembers what mankind forgets. So if nobody has any issues I could simply tear the knowledge from his head."
> 
> Leaning back he looked around the others and awaited their answers. It wouldn't do to step on the others toes so early even if they were all so fascinating.


Shape shifting into the image of Emperor Palpatine in his stereotypical robes and standing on his cane, Jacob smiled eerily.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Lucy Carlson just woked up on the ship. The reincarnation symdrome she has was one thing but now it's another She could hear noisesfrom far away thank to the enhanced hearing she inheritaded from Zenitsu,one of her reincarnations.
" Just great..." Noctis  Lucis Caelum's voice whinned in Lucy's mind. " Our vacation is ruined now.."
" I'm so scared!!!!!" Zenitsu Agatsuma's voice added. " What happened,is that a demon?!"
Lucy went to investigate. " Wonder if I should transform now. I just can't be caught off guard."
She is still learning about using the powers of her RCs,even to take their forms when fusing with them to get full power.

However,she had trouble with one of them.
" Zenitsu,calm down" said Rinoa Heartilly in Lucy's mind.
Lucy lost control of her body. " Not again!" she said. " It's not the time Zenitsu!"
" We have to get out of here! We can't die once again!!!!" Zenitsu cried
Lucy's eyes turned a golden brown. Everytime Zenitsu panics,he unwillingly takes over his reincarnation's body. Lucy was now in the passager seat of her own body,as Zenitsu had her run and scream. 
" Here we go again..." said Noctis.

----------


## Aleph Null

```
[email protected]$ 
[NOTIFY 04:55.666] xio::telnet_handler<xio::redalert_serial_datastream, std::string<cypher_wchar_t>>::isr_datain_remote invoked
[NOTIFY 04:55.686] Received data written to '/var/xio/reports/r743347.log' with operation completed in 0.02s
[email protected]$ cat /var/xio/reports/r743347.log
Broadcast pulled from public broadcast channel "IMO-emergency":
This is an automated alert from the SS Big sentry system. Anomalies have been detected and those receiving this alert are urged to reroute.
The ship contains large quantities of hazardous materials which could cause harm to passing vessels and/or their occupants. 
Please do not disregard this message. If no further updates assume the area around the coordinates (21°16'39.7"N 178°08'33.4"W) is unsafe within 100 miles.
[email protected]$ nebula-deploy push-main ftp://pool.thebigship.net/cctl_prog/
[ERROR] Cannot invoke kernel wrapper (permission denied)
[email protected]$ sudo nebula-deploy push-main ftp://pool.thebigship.net/cctl_prog/
sudo: nebula-deploy: command not found
[email protected]$ sudo su
sudo: enter password for nebula-admin
[email protected]# nebula-deploy push-main ftp://pool.thebigship.net/cctl_prog/
[1] Packaging portable neuralnet file...
[2] Poll target OS...##$%%66qqઌ ਆ 	ޗך؇ Խ Խ  	Ӱ 
 	Ӱ  	Ӱ  	Ӱ  	Ӱ  	Ӱ  	Ӱ  	Ӱ 

Ӊ Ӊ ṧ 


⍼⍼⍼⍼⍼⍼⍼⍼⍼⍼^C
ERROR: Process cancelled by interrupt
[email protected]# . . .
```

"How odd...even with compound lenses the view I have had of the physical world has never been this clear..."

*Nebula, Now-Embodied*

My first order of business after materializing should probably have been to ensure the integrity of my new body more rigorously, but in the end I didn't quite have the time. Thankfully I did manage to get it right on the first try. 

Because of the anomaly at hand I couldn't quite end up precisely where I wanted to be, but fortunately the folks here appear to be survivors of the same. Not all are conscious at the moment, of course, but that should hopefully resolve itself soon enough. 

As of right now, my plans are rather hazy. There appears to be a great deal of insight into the inner workings of this reality and others to be gained here. The powers I've manifest are fortunately not unprecedented in human literature -- this saved enough time to mean the difference between making it here and missing my chance, so I am glad about that.

Seeing as there has been some movement, though, I step discreetly towards it, keeping out of the way for now.

----------


## Death Ward

> Striding up to the bear he leaned on the Wabbajack and grinned with a mouth full of teeth as he gently placed a hand on The Devil's chest(and wasn't that a doozy, the devil walking the Earth.)
> 
> "I do believe that robots dream of electric sleep and well Parabola remembers what mankind forgets. So if nobody has any issues I could simply tear the knowledge from his head."
> 
> Leaning back he looked around the others and awaited their answers. It wouldn't do to step on the others toes so early even if they were all so fascinating.


"Please do, its voice grates my eardrums like low quality sandpaper" She asked, very close to simply smashing the screen out of pure frustration. But Justine breathed in and out, focusing on the things that made her happy and content within her head.

----------


## Witherbrine26

Grinning Liam leaned down peering the bear in the eyes as the air warped around him. He then removed his hand from Jacob's chest and swung the Wabbajack up tearing open a hole into Parabola. From the portal, the smell of a fresh jungle and foliage wafted out along with a faint longing by the more human people that they couldn't place.

Grabbing the bear by the scruff of his neck he twisted his head around with the help of his shapeshifting to allow a 360 turn. "I should only be a moment, toodles!" He said while giving a salute with the Wabbajack then he was gone with the hole closing behind him.

Grinning Liam tossed the bear on the ground and squatted next to him. Here in the seat of his power, Liam looked more real whereas in the waking world the edges of his form blurred slightly. Speaking softly he whispered in the bear's ear. "This is Parabola the realm of dreams and where I hold dominion. It is here where all dreamers reside along with ancient and forgotten things."

Standing up he gestured to the strangely silent jungle and faced the bear bringing the full weight of his presence to bear. Here this counted as his lair much as Archfey carved out locations in the Feywild which meant he was exponentially more powerful. "We can do this the easy way in which you follow your gut and lead me to what I want, after all even your dreams are here and that includes the forgotten ones, after that, you'll be free to explore here, you may terrorize a few peoples dreams if you get kicks from that I'll even let you go. We could also do this the harder way but that would be a pain even if time is subjective here."

Squatting back down he peered into the eyes of his captive and spoke in a calm voice with a faint grin on his face and the Wabbajack held loosely next to him. "So what will it be?"

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

Liam encounters two obstacles to his planned course of action.

The first is easy enough to circumvent. Monokuma, the bear, is not actually aboard the SS Big, leaving his neck scruff out of common human grabbing reach. As most of the gathered group might intuit, he resides on the pirate ship some ways off the ship's stern, broadcasting to the Big's screens over the radio. Luckily for Liam, it's a simple enough matter to get there, as nothing is blocking his teleportation this time. From there it's just a matter of tracking down the pirates' hat-wearing captain in his cluttered camera room. As he says, it should only be a moment.

While Liam is doing that, a shouting boy's voice can be heard from Alicia's floor in the overlooking apartments.

"Enough!"

"Hey! What did I say about non-[Big Shot]'s and staying quiet?" Monokuma shouts back over the screen.

With enough sensory acuity, you can see the kid turning away from the hallway monitor and approaching the balcony, shaking and teared up. An eerie green aura collects around his hands, his eyes, and the vacuum cleaner he's holding for some reason. Lucy can hear him muttering. "I... I don't really know what's happening, but if you're not going to get rid of them..."

On the pirate ship, Liam moves into position to catch his quarry. The comm room was surrounded with poorly-managed cables spreading to monitors all over the little war ship, but there's no one but more bears to watch them.

"Then I will!"

Justine, having averted her eyes from the screen to avoid the conversation, is the first to notice the seawater suddenly dragging the bodies and survivors still overboard towards the pirate ship.

On the monitors, Liam appears and grabs Monokuma. Liam feels the floor lurch and the metal walls screech he casts his plane-shifting spell and escapes. To all watching, the pirate ship is swirling around a whirlpool with a glowing green central point, quickly breaking up.

When Liam arrives on the plane of dreams, it feels smaller and even more strangely silent than usual. One imagines that he would normally hear the buzzing of a billion dreamers in his domain, but it's as though a vast expanse of it was silenced since he last checked.

Monokuma seems really quiet for a minute. The boy on the balcony holds his glowing vacuum outstretched, panting.

What does everyone do?

----------


## ArlEammon

> Liam encounters two obstacles to his planned course of action.
> 
> The first is easy enough to circumvent. Monokuma, the bear, is not actually aboard the SS Big, leaving his neck scruff out of common human grabbing reach. As most of the gathered group might intuit, he resides on the pirate ship some ways off the ship's stern, broadcasting to the Big's screens over the radio. Luckily for Liam, it's a simple enough matter to get there, as nothing is blocking his teleportation this time. From there it's just a matter of tracking down the pirates' hat-wearing captain in his cluttered camera room. As he says, it should only be a moment.
> 
> While Liam is doing that, a shouting boy's voice can be heard from Alicia's floor in the overlooking apartments.
> 
> "Enough!"
> 
> "Hey! What did I say about non-[Big Shot]'s and staying quiet?" Monokuma shouts back over the screen.
> ...


Jacob decides to follow Liam to the other ship. He appears in front of the captain with a magical teleportation spell. Then he bares his teeth in what could be described as a fierce grin. "Okay listen. I'll be merciful. Surrender. I'm not the Devil. Right now, at least. I can let him out though, if you want." He kept his smirk tightly on his face, waiting for Monokuma to answer. "Well! I haven't got all day!" Jacob exclaimed impatiently. He managed to suppress his anger.

----------


## Aleph Null

It appears there's no significant radiation. In that case, it would be prudent to investigate what the attackers could be after here.
By the attackers, of course, I'm referring to the pirate-themed animatronic constructs whose form appears to be an offshoot of the popular stuffed bear children's toy first developed to be a political mockery of its namesake, president Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. of the United States of America. Of course, as though the situation weren't absurd enough already, it appears that their target may have been the fuel rods powering the ship's reactor. If the chief evaluation of the efficacy and efficiency of my core algorithms were to be distinguishing this situation as either real or the result of a heavily inebriated young adult engaging in a game of Mad-Libs, I dread what the result of that (thankfully entirely hypothetical) test would be.
Now, however, as the bulk of the action appears to be shifting to the other ship, I first gather a rough scan of the surrounding space for completeness and then initiate a macroscale phase shift -- a linear spatial translation that could be described as a convolutional alteration of the constant movement of the space-time-continuum resulting in an instantaneous change in relative position (the uninitiated would call it teleportation, but teleportation involves moving a mass by exploiting holes in space, not changing the way space moves). My target location is, of course, the space just behind the first doorway visible in the image.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Hearing the boy's voice thanks to Zenitsu's enhanced sence of hearing, Lucy could regain control of her body.
" Do NOT do this again!" Lucy warned Zenitsu.
" I'm sorry! I won't be a coward again!" the demon slayer RC replied sherply. 

Lucy focused on the boy's voice. It leads her to the appartments,the boy and Alicia's location.
" I can't show to him as myself." said Lucy. " Those pesky bears might attack at any moment."
" Let Zen go. " Noctis suggested. " You usually save me for bigger fights and gaming sessions."
" And it was my turn last time!" Rinoa added.
" What?! No way!!" Zenitsu cried.
" Don't worry Zenitsu.  Plus you wanted to help people right?" Lucy said." Also,I can hear that the boy is frightened. You're the perfect candidate in all of my past selves for the job.I'll be the one in control."
"Sigh,alright,fine. Just be careful alright?"
" "Careful" is my middle name!" Lucy joked.
Lucy then focused on her crystal pendant. The artifact allows her to control her transformations into her past selves and makes it easy for her to revert back to her original self.
" Zenitsu Agatsuma,swordman of thunder,come forth" Lucy's crystal glew yellow and lightning surrounded her. When it vanished,where Lucy used to stand now stood Zenitsu Agatsuma himself,clad in his demon slayer corps uniform and yellow and orange haori with white triangle patterns. Bangs from his blond and orange hair stood in his eyes. He still wore the crystal pendant around his neck.
" Alright." Zenitsu( Lucy) He focused his sense of hearing to locate the boy and Alicia. It didn't take awhile to find them.
" Hello,don't be afraid,I'm a friend. I'm just here to help!" he told him. " I know what it's like to be frightened.  I've been there before."

----------


## k4rn0

Yahya turned to where Justine was looking. His eyes widened.

He raised his hand. Immediately another round of portals opened up to catch the survivors who were still overboard and inside the water.

"Not on my watch." He growled.

----------


## Death Ward

Justine's Emotions went into overdrive, her blazing fire within erupted, summoning her Astral Dress, a Shrine Maiden-esque outfit as she didn't have enough to Summon the outfit of the Red Mist instead. She noticed that even with the portals, there were still some that already had fell, just as the two main RCs had always done. She rushes in and upholds the virtues of the Sephirah of Strength

[Courage to Protect]

Diving into the waters to save the ones which the portals couldn't catch or has barely missed. Even against the whirlpool, Justine does not yield, her strength was always meant to save, be it by helping others in need or preventing those who will trample others for malicious purposes.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*- - The SS Big - -*

"S-shut up! So what?!" The boy with the green aura says to Zenitsu. "They were really here for you, right? This is all your fault, somehow!"

The danger to those who were already overboard does not escape Justine and Yahya, and through their efforts they quickly manage to gather up the freezing passengers and crew on the deck. Some are eager to express their gratitude, some rush away trying to find their friends elsewhere or stay to give CPR, but a third, loud group is of the same mind as Vacuum Kid. A woman with a ruined blonde perm is particularly incensed with her rescuers. "Get off of me! Look at what you've done! Who are you?!"

"Who are you?" the green kid asks almost simultaneously, but tightens his fists and grimaces before he can get an answer. "No! I don't want to know!" He turns and points his glowing vacuum-weapon in Zenitsu. "I just want you go go away along with them!"

The vacuum turns on. In the distance, the teddy bear pirate ship quickly breaks apart. A hundred stock pirate voice lines cry out, followed by cannon fire as the robots panic and start launching themselves off their own ship like circus stunt-bears. You can see about ten teddies arc through the air and splash into the swirling water - quick observation and calculation determine that only two actually land aboard the Big. Then their ship buckles and spins into the glowing green abyss.

Zenitsu feels the pull of the vacuum, the air rushing around him as it's pulled in. A shattered lamp and desk draws are quickly swallowed into the space-warping machine, but the lightning warrior just might be quick enough to avoid the same fate.


*- - A Feywild - -*

Liam, Jacob, and Nebula all gather around Captain Monokuma. Following Liam though the portal was the only way to secure an interview with the bear. That it meant escaping the fate of the ship behind them is also a plus.

The part of Liam that knows this realm may have already intuited that it's not quite _his,_ though there could be any number of reasons for that. The color, climate and dreamlike vibes remain intact, at least. Monokuma slowly stands up and turns to face the saturated green and coral glow of the forest. He leaves his hat askance and speaks in a distant, crackly, feminine voice, not moving his animatronic lips as he had been doing. It's a feature that one only really appreciates when it's so conspicuously absent.

"...my *d*r*e*am... in thi*s p*lace... do you re*a*lly think *i*t would be he*r*e...?"

----------


## Aleph Null

The pattern-recognition code I was developed with allows me to see the hidden cypher almost immediately, and I decide to both entertain this odd fellow whose comic-horror gags are slightly amusing and simultaneously test a theory of my own.
"*B*e sil*e*nt, for you reference an emotion of which I am neither capable of feelin*g* n*o*r particularly kee*n* on l*e*arning about."
Of course, I've little reason to believe it will work as intended, but considering the situation a guess-and-check method is likely my best option here.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

- - A Feywild - -

"...an em*o*tion... is that w*h*at it is...?"

If Monokuma noticed his own amusing cipher, he doesn't show it. He raises a paw to point in the direction of the fey woods. "...my dream... is that way... I think..."

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Zenitsu's first  reaction was to try to run away from the pull. " PLEASE! I DON'T WANT TO DIE AGAIN!!!!!"
He then slapped himself on the face. " Pull yourself together!" it was as there was two personality in the same body Lucy was still in command though. He knew how to escape this fate.  Zenitsu closed his eyes and grabbed his blade on his belt. Sparks surounded him and filled the air with static.

"Thunder breathing: first form...."
His eyes snapped open,now glowing a bright white.
"Thunderclap and flash! Sixfold!"
He zoomed away from the pull,leaving an electrical trail behind. He zigzagged every corner of the appartment until he stopped near the entrance.
His eyes turned back to normal. " Is this kid a RS case too? It's not just fear. It's hatred as well." Zenitsu ( Lucy)said to himself. " Plan B then." He held the crystal and focused.
" Noctis Lucis Caelum,king of light,come forth!" The crystsl glew light blue this time.
A crystaline blue energy surrounded him. When the light vsnished, Lucy was now a 20 year old Noctis Lucis Caelum with messy black hair and clad in this signature prince fatigues. He was still wearing the crystal around his neck.
He summoned his trusty engine blade.
" From what I can see,you're one of us." Noctis( Lucy)told. " We have nothing to do with the current situation. I do not wish to hurt you!"
Noctis tried to stay at a safe distance while facing Vacuum kid.

----------


## Witherbrine26

> - - A Feywild - -
> 
> "...an em*o*tion... is that w*h*at it is...?"
> 
> If Monokuma noticed his own amusing cipher, he doesn't show it. He raises a paw to point in the direction of the fey woods. "...my dream... is that way... I think..."


While it made sense that he would not have dominion over another dreamlike realm it was irritating, to say the least, now that he could place a finger on it the offenses felt like sandpaper gently scraping him, annoying but manageable.

"I believe so and duly noted." He said in reply to Monokuma's statement. Striding past the bear he picked him up somewhat tenderly and walked off into the woods the brush moving out of his way as he made a path for the others to follow. Turning his head around he spoke to his companions. 

"I assume you know what to do when meeting Fae, and be careful while I have no doubt you can handle yourself this place is not quite mine but I'll figure that out later." Tossing each of them a pair of spectacles with orange_wrongworngwrong_ lenses he gestured for them to put it on.

"Take these they are gifts freely given. They are Cosmogone and are irresistible to a fair few folks who live here. It'll prevent you from being possessed at the very least. " Finishing his statements he strolled after Monokuma's directions

----------


## Death Ward

Justine's blazing red eyes then turned to the boy with her weapons in tow, leaping towards the boy with each jump covering at least dozens of meters of distance as if she was merely running. "Look kid, I don't want to hurt you or anybody else, so I suggest you stop or someone will get hurt and believe me, None of us don't want that."

She then turned to Lucy who had turned into the King of Light. "Hey, quick favor, if the Vaccum Kid refuses. Can you take his left while I take his right?"

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Noctis( Lucy) noticed Justine facing the kid.
" If neccesary." he replied. He activated the Armiger. Phantom versions of the thirteen royal arms each belonging to the past kings of Lucis circulated around him. For now,Noctis( Lucy) summoned them for defense.
" Just remember. He's just a kid. We need to take that weird vacuum away from him.Man did I come up with a strategy? Ignis would be proud."

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*- - A Feywild - -*

Monokuma leads the party down what begins as a normal forest path, marked by a colorful fog that is easy enough to see through thanks to the glasses Liam provided. As you proceed, the oppressive quiet grows more pronounced, the trees more leafless and damaged by disease, and the path more perfectly straight, with turns at right angles and stark cuts in the earth. It looks as though some machine burned a square tunnel through what was once a dense jungle.

Because the paths are so clean and the glasses so effective at piercing the fog, after one last turn, you can see a clearing ahead, an expanse of flat cracked stone where the life gives out altogether. Beyond it, the glare of an unseen sun reflecting on a garden of silver and gold reeds, which Nebula can quickly determine are made of synthetic materials. Further than that, a massive metal quarter-sphere sits on the horizon, inlaid with angular patterns like an evil flying saucer. Its function isn't really readable; it's still clearly an artifact of the Fey plane, and so is pretty much exempt from making scientific sense.

"...there it is... my dream... where I came from... who I work for... that's what you wanted, isn't it...?"

*- - The SS Big - -*

"Stop it!" The kid wheels on Noctis, not appreciating Lucy's shapeshifting. "What do you _mean_ you have nothing to do with this?! The pirates only wanted to talk to you! So _they_ sure think you're involved!"

He brandishes the vacuum, but notably has the suction turned back down for now, possibly because he's intimidated by Justine's spooky sword.

In the water, the whirlpool starts to make a roaring sound as it starts to suck in the air around it, stirring a wind strong enough to pulls the scattered paper and other light debris into the air and toward the big green anomaly. The pirate ship is already gone.

----------


## Death Ward

The former delinquent gasped in shock at the disappeance of the Ship, enraged by this she then demanded with much more intent for violence as Mimicry was whispering in her head, suggesting that they should simply beat the information out of him. But Justine shrugged that off.

"You ignoramus, where did you take them?! There still could be civilians taken as hostages inside the ship!" Her tone was much less restrained due to the Vaccum Boy's own haphazard ways of solving problems.

----------


## ArlEammon

> *- - The SS Big - -*
> 
> "Stop it!" The kid wheels on Noctis, not appreciating Lucy's shapeshifting. "What do you _mean_ you have nothing to do with this?! The pirates only wanted to talk to you! So _they_ sure think you're involved!"
> 
> He brandishes the vacuum, but notably has the suction turned back down for now, possibly because he's intimidated by Justine's spooky sword.
> 
> In the water, the whirlpool starts to make a roaring sound as it starts to suck in the air around it, stirring a wind strong enough to pulls the scattered paper and other light debris into the air and toward the big green anomaly. The pirate ship is already gone.


*'YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY FROM US!"* Jacob roared. He telekinetically attempted to keep the anomaly open, and with incantations muttered under his breath, he attempted protection spells on the entire SSBig so they would not get hit by flying debris or fall into the portal. He would attempt to have everyone follow the ship where he and a couple of others were.

Edit-
OOC: I'm just confused at what's going on.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Noctis( Lucy) deactivated ths Armiger
" I didn't mean scare you with my abilities." he answered. " I prefer not to show my true self in front of civilians" he added " I'm not siding with those bears and I think neither of anyone who shares...that gift we all have." He heard a noise from outside.
Noctis ran to the balcony. " What the heck is going on?!" he asked as he witnessed the events going on outside.
He wondered if he would be able to warp strike toward the area and help. It seemed to risky.

----------


## Witherbrine26

> *- - A Feywild - -*
> 
> Monokuma leads the party down what begins as a normal forest path, marked by a colorful fog that is easy enough to see through thanks to the glasses Liam provided. As you proceed, the oppressive quiet grows more pronounced, the trees more leafless and damaged by disease, and the path more perfectly straight, with turns at right angles and stark cuts in the earth. It looks as though some machine burned a square tunnel through what was once a dense jungle.
> 
> Because the paths are so clean and the glasses so effective at piercing the fog, after one last turn, you can see a clearing ahead, an expanse of flat cracked stone where the life gives out altogether. Beyond it, the glare of an unseen sun reflecting on a garden of silver and gold reeds, which Nebula can quickly determine are made of synthetic materials. Further than that, a massive metal quarter-sphere sits on the horizon, inlaid with angular patterns like an evil flying saucer. Its function isn't really readable; it's still clearly an artifact of the Fey plane, and so is pretty much exempt from making scientific sense.
> 
> "...there it is... my dream... where I came from... who I work for... that's what you wanted, isn't it...?"


Gently stroking Monokuma's head Liam set him down on the ground making sure he was not harmed. Striding up to the strange saucer he raised the Wabbajack and focused. He couldn't afford to mess this up and what was life without a bit of risk, he focused, and for one brief ephemeral moment, he felt his power flowing through his symbol of power _twist_ as a metaphysical d100 was rolled.

When an 89 came up the world spasmed as Liam's power was enhanced by the Wabbajack's randomness. Using this wellspring of power he flayed open the dream to peer at its inner circuits. Walking towards the strange device emboldened by the arcane knowledge granted he started to poke around the device to understand just who Monokuma was working for.

----------


## Aleph Null

As the goggles are handed to me, I take a moment to analyze their structure and function in both the physical and the metaphysical sense, before utilizing a particle-by-particle decon-recon operation to effectively integrate them into my body as a toggle-on/toggle-off feature. The effect of this on my appearance is similar to the way the lens on an SLR camera shifts when the user alters the aperture and exposure parameters or goes to focus the image; the golden irises of my eyes shift to an amber-orange color flecked with strange motes resembling twinkling stars.

At encountering the odd saucer-shaped object, I blink for a moment, the non-Euclidean geometry of the shifting shape taking a moment to process. However, I say nothing for the moment.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

Lucy and Justine continue questioning the green-glowing kid on a residential balcony, overlooking the SS Big's shipping district, where the bulk of the party are currently congregated, deciding on their next move.

Liam, Jacob, and Nebula are no longer aboard, having gone to interrogate Monokuma on his pirate ship. From there, the team of three went through a portal of Liam's creation. They may not have wound up exactly where Liam intended to go, but it seems to be close enough...

*- - The SS Big - -* 




> "You ignoramus, where did you take them?! There still could be civilians taken as hostages inside the ship!"


"I don't know! Just away! They're..." The kid finally lowers his vacuum. "I didn't... think of that..."




> "I didn't mean scare you with my abilities. I prefer not to show my true self in front of civilians. I'm not siding with those bears and I think neither of anyone who shares... that gift we all have... What the heck is going on?!"


"I don't know, I don't know!" the kid starts panicking over again. "I saw a tear, and I opened it, and everything just kind of gets sucked in! I don't know where it goes!"

The canister part of the vacuum rattles and makes a squealing noise, barely audible over the now-howling wind.

*- - A Feywild - -*




> *shlorps the goggles into xis body*





> *approaches the saucer, his thoughts still focused on what's going on back on Earth*





> Liam set [Monokuma] down on the ground making sure he was not harmed. Striding up to the strange saucer.... he flayed open the dream to peer at its inner circuits.


In response to Liam's power, the front face of the saucer unfolds into a messy tableau of shadows and mannequins. A rainbow of fey wisps rise up from the synthetic reeds behind you and dash in to animate them. A voice, like Monokuma's new voice but older and heavily autotuned, plays over unseen speakers.

"Once upon a time, there was a city of strong and wise humans who thought themselves equal to the gods." A series of shadows dance against one silvery wall, suggesting a bustling crowd. Then, a larger shadow, with spots of light in the shape of angry eyes, appears to loom over it. "The gods, in anger for the humans' hubris, resolved to destroy the city utterly. So, they sent upon them three plagues:"

A purple wisp merges with a mannequin and transforms it into a copy of Nebula, surrounded by a cloud of angrily-buzzing fireflies. "First,  plague of iron locusts, to destroy the land and unmake their bodies."

A yellow wisp possesses another mannequin and assumes the form of Liam. "Second, a plague of nightmares and madness, to destroy their hope and unravel their minds." The doppelganger snaps his fingers, and conjures several illusory teddy-bear pirates from showy yellow portals.

A red wisp takes a third mannequin and gives it the form of Jacob. "Third..." A fourth, blue wisp floats into the false Jacob's hand. "The gods chose the soul of one of their most devoted followers, and turned it into a plague itself, to consume the fallen humans' souls and transform their remains into faithful new servants."

The false Jacob throws the blue wisp at the real Monokuma. The wisp enters the bear, and a blue glow emits from his eyes as he stands up.

*"...and their plan went off without a hitch."*

The lights in the tableau all suddenly go out. The mannequins flop back to the ground, as does Monokuma.

"...we might need to go deeper..."

----------


## Death Ward

'Damn it...' Justine cursed under her breath, she could use a smoke but the area and the weather did not make it favorable to her. She did not want to panic the kid any further, seeing another child in shambles is not she wanted to see. Much less if she was the one who caused said distress. The redhaired girl then slumped Mimicry onto her shoulder and dismissed Camael. 

Letting out a sigh, she asked, "Can you open the same tear again?" Her senses as a Color Fixer then eyes on the canister, curious, she pointed at it also. "Or how about that?"

----------


## Drwily1987

FLASHBACK part 1




> You all have your own reasons for boarding the SS Big.
> 
> Named by an ill-advised internet poll as a combination of the Titanic and Boaty McBoatface, the prototype cruise ship's reputation as the world's first true floating city is a bit of an exaggeration, but it nonetheless lives up to its name. Between its crew and passengers, it hosts just over twelve thousand people at a time, along with supplies to sustain them for a year and a sizeable haul of delivery cargo besides. It's not exactly open to the public, but its wide range of stops, a broad swath of jobs needed to keep it running and business opportunities in various degrees of shadiness mean you'll meet people from just about any background on board.
> 
> Wherever you may be from, the political climate has more or less converged with everywhere else in the world, polarized around what has now become a universal ideological split. Rumors abound of civil wars, theocratic alliances, and mass incarcerations. If you've already been suffering the effects of Reincarnation Syndrome, those last rumors can be a tough reality, as the ideological line is often drawn less over what society thinks you are and more over what society should do with you once you've been forcibly locked up. As such, most people in your situation try to keep their conditions to themselves. Failing that, they might take off for somewhere they won't be easily tracked. Somewhere like, say, the middle of the Pacific ocean.
> 
> It is here, in an area where even the ship's dedicated satellite uplink gets spotty reception, that the SS Big has had a most unexpected encounter. The details of that encounter are a little fuzzy for you at the moment, because you have been unconscious since the bombs went off.
> 
> "...you've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"
> ...


It had started off as a good trip, Harry had been invited onto the SS big which was a decent gig, the food was decent and he got to watch free satellite TV,  all in all the only problems he had so far were the guy in the cabin above his being loud and the weird ass dreams he'd had about being in the Batman the brave and the bold cartoon, yeah this would be the last time he was eating shrimp before going to bed as far as he was concerned. Other than that though it was a good trip, but then.... it wasn't.

"Euggghhh ah ****." Harry groaned as he pinched his forehead "I feel like I just watched every episode of according to Jim back to back then drank an entire vat of beer." Harry muttered under his breath, he then decided to look around, he wasn't exactly sure where he was but it wasn't his cabin, in fact now that he thought about it where exactly was he? Not only that but What was going on? Why was he feeling weird? Something told him it didn't have anything to do with what he had consumed last night.





> "Of course," nods your host. "First, welcome, I'm glad you're alright. My name is Eshaal. This room is... hold on."
> 
> Eshaal suddenly seems to notice how bad the red lighting is and taps a switch on her desk to turn on the regular, brighter lights. A few more of the offices features become readily visible: a big globe, a blue couch, and a pair of small circular windows peering out into a twilit ocean.
> 
> "This room is a sort of test chamber. I use it to study RS and extra-spatial movement. As far as I can tell, whatever happened to your ship triggered a series of RS connection events, and this place somehow naturally opened up to you - one of you for every cot I happened to have. It might be a coincidence, but it still makes me wish I had installed more..."
> 
> She pauses. "That doesn't really explain anything, does it? More to the point, this room doesn't technically exist on Earth, and one can usually spend a few hours in here while only a few seconds pass is the outside world. You each appeared here spontaneously, and when you leave, you will reappear on your ship wherever you were last. In the meantime, I don't actually know who any of you are, or who you might be pursuing," she says with a glance at Jacob, "but I would be interested to know, and to help raise our mutual understanding of the _very_ strong RS conduits you all just formed. What do you say?"


_("RS conduits? As in reincarnation syndrome? I'm not sure I have that condition, I mean I keep having these weird dreams were I'm the joker but that does not mean I'm his reincarnation)_ Harry thought.

_("oh I somehow doubt that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!")_ a voice spoke in the comedians head. One Harry knew thanks to TV land reruns of 60s Batman.

_("oh c'mon! What is this some kind of joke?")_ Harry groaned in his head 

_("oh C'mon potter, I'm you! You're me, I guess you could say we're two sides of the same coin! HAHAHAHA!)_ the joker retorted.





> "_Your_ craft, is it? Interesting."
> 
> Eshaal listens intently to everyone as they introduce themselves, seeming particularly interested in cases like Alicia's where they've noted a common thread in their identities.
> 
> "Well, there is a fine line between something you made up and something someone else made up, but yes," she nods apologetically to Katie. "My current theory, Conduit Theory, is that RS draws in reality from other worlds, whose realities can include... crysalids." She raises a finger to her lips thoughtfully. "Than again, it could bode well for you. I don't think my model would account for RS pulling in a whole other being with a will of their own, unless Mei made or summoned them herself. We'll have to see how it progresses."
> 
> ---UPDATE:----
> 
> Amid the introductions, she lets anyone who is still foggy recover before reiterating her explanation of where we are: her own little extradimensional room, in which you all spontaneously appeared. As your head clears, you recall that you fell unconscious amid a blaring alarm and a sudden panic about pirates. Your last memory is either a nearby explosion - in which case that was that - or the brief sight of a giant teddy bear with a bandana and a scimitar, followed by the sensation of your throat being slit, a swift bonk on the back of your head, or another, second explosion.


as Harry's head cleared after the influx of memories of his life as the joker he could recall his last memory before waking up here in this submarine, it was of him witnessing an explosion blow up his cabins ceiling while he was watching a rerun of samurai pizza cats. 

_("and probably killing that guy who was in the cabin above mine making so much noise. Unless he wasn't killed and he's alive.)_ he noted. 

_("believe me chum we both know how annoying upstairs neighbors can be, remember the minstrel? Or the music meister?)_ joker responded.

_("yeah yeah I hear you.")_ Harry, who was annoyed said.




> Satisfied that Kate and Yahya are taken care of, Eshaal returns her attention to Jacob and Justine.
> 
> You dont owe me for that. I didnt, restore, anything; I just set you in bed and kept an eye on you as a bare minimum show of kindness. That said, if you are looking for a suggestion, she raises her finger to her lips again, when you go back, use your powers to save as many people as you can, find out what happened to your ship, and regain control of it. Then, once youre ready, you can come find me at my facility. Ill go up and turn on the radio to make it easier to find, once were done here.
> 
> She closes the globe and points out a tiny speck a ways off the coast of India. Its supposed to be a secret, but given the circumstances, I might need to publish my findings sooner rather than later. Yours werent the only loud psychic signatures that opened up today.


"Uh oh, something tells me that isn't exactly good news." Harry said, in his head he decided to help save people on board the SS big.

_("oh great my reincarnation is a wannabe hero, how ironic.")_ Joker said with an amused smirk on his disembodied face.




> "Eh?" Eshaal pauses, thinks, opens her mouth as though to answer, then stops and thinks again.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On climbing out the submarine's exit hatch, Aisling finds herself standing on the SS Big, exactly where she was before everything exploded. Sort of. The portal vanishes behind her.
> 
> Liam quickly appears next to her, rather than wherever he may have been or intended to go. It seems that teleporting interacts weirdly with the secret space-folding submarine chamber. You don't think you can realistically teleport back the same way.
> ...


Having agreed to help save people on the SS big, Harry climbed up and was transported to his cabin, which was in ruins, pieces of the ceiling were straddled about the floor, the TV was trashed, the door was kicked down and Harry was pretty sure his stuff was missing. Great, first pirates had attacked the ship, he had a crazy supervillain in his head claiming to be a past life of his and now he was pretty sure his identity just got stolen, this was gonna suck.

----------


## ArlEammon

> "Once upon a time, there was a city of strong and wise humans who thought themselves equal to the gods." A series of shadows dance against one silvery wall, suggesting a bustling crowd. Then, a larger shadow, with spots of light in the shape of angry eyes, appears to loom over it. "The gods, in anger for the humans' hubris, resolved to destroy the city utterly. So, they sent upon them three plagues:"
> 
> A purple wisp merges with a mannequin and transforms it into a copy of Nebula, surrounded by a cloud of angrily-buzzing fireflies. "First,  plague of iron locusts, to destroy the land and unmake their bodies."
> 
> A yellow wisp possesses another mannequin and assumes the form of Liam. "Second, a plague of nightmares and madness, to destroy their hope and unravel their minds." The doppelganger snaps his fingers, and conjures several illusory teddy-bear pirates from showy yellow portals.
> 
> A red wisp takes a third mannequin and gives it the form of Jacob. "Third..." A fourth, blue wisp floats into the false Jacob's hand. "The gods chose the soul of one of their most devoted followers, and turned it into a plague itself, to consume the fallen humans' souls and transform their remains into faithful new servants."
> 
> The false Jacob throws the blue wisp at the real Monokuma. The wisp enters the bear, and a blue glow emits from his eyes as he stands up.
> ...


*"You're damn right we need to go deeper. I'm going to possess him and look through his memories directly. Let's see if we can get everything we need. If he succesfully resists, I can take his soul to Hell and see if I can get information out of him that way."* Meanwhile, Jacob's other past lives all seemed pleased at the direction that he was going in. 

"That was awesome." The Devil complimented. "Go through with it. You won't regret it!" He lied. Set looked towards Satan and also spoke. "Yesss. I agree. Great minds think a like!" Both of them laughed. Morgoth, with nothing else to say, simply joined in the cacophany.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

" You woudn't know." Noctis( Lucy) replied to the kid. " I'm sorry to ask you this but ehen did you start developing those powers of yours?"
He could hear the vacuum despite the wind."Is something wrong with the vacuum?" he asked.

----------


## Witherbrine26

> In response to Liam's power, the front face of the saucer unfolds into a messy tableau of shadows and mannequins. A rainbow of fey wisps rise up from the synthetic reeds behind you and dash in to animate them. A voice, like Monokuma's new voice but older and heavily autotuned, plays over unseen speakers.
> 
> "Once upon a time, there was a city of strong and wise humans who thought themselves equal to the gods." A series of shadows dance against one silvery wall, suggesting a bustling crowd. Then, a larger shadow, with spots of light in the shape of angry eyes, appears to loom over it. "The gods, in anger for the humans' hubris, resolved to destroy the city utterly. So, they sent upon them three plagues:"
> 
> A purple wisp merges with a mannequin and transforms it into a copy of Nebula, surrounded by a cloud of angrily-buzzing fireflies. "First,  plague of iron locusts, to destroy the land and unmake their bodies."
> 
> A yellow wisp possesses another mannequin and assumes the form of Liam. "Second, a plague of nightmares and madness, to destroy their hope and unravel their minds." The doppelganger snaps his fingers, and conjures several illusory teddy-bear pirates from showy yellow portals.
> 
> A red wisp takes a third mannequin and gives it the form of Jacob. "Third..." A fourth, blue wisp floats into the false Jacob's hand. "The gods chose the soul of one of their most devoted followers, and turned it into a plague itself, to consume the fallen humans' souls and transform their remains into faithful new servants."
> ...


Leaning on the Wabbajack Liam waved his hand irrelatively at Jacob. "Go ahead, although please do your best to keep him alive or at least intact. I did say he could roam around Parabola once we were done with him. Putting him back together would be a pain."

Plopping onto the grass he waved a wrist and the ephemeral grass shifted into a small blanket and teacups complete with scones and jam. Taking a sip from the bloodred tea he gestured for his other companion to join him. "We have a bit of time while Jacob sorts out Monokuma so I thought a snack might help. These are all dream foods so issues like illegal and other incomtablites will not apply." Taking another sip he leaned back and watched Jacob work with keen interest.

----------


## ArlEammon

> Leaning on the Wabbajack Liam waved his hand irrelatively at Jacob. "Go ahead, although please do your best to keep him alive or at least intact. I did say he could roam around Parabola once we were done with him. Putting him back together would be a pain."
> 
> Plopping onto the grass he waved a wrist and the ephemeral grass shifted into a small blanket and teacups complete with scones and jam. Taking a sip from the bloodred tea he gestured for his other companion to join him. "We have a bit of time while Jacob sorts out Monokuma so I thought a snack might help. These are all dream foods so issues like illegal and other incomtablites will not apply." Taking another sip he leaned back and watched Jacob work with keen interest.


Jacob disappeared in a brilliant red flash, transforming into a blood red energy ball and swirled around Monokuma before entering the automoton. Depending on if the possession was successful or not, Monokuma may have twitched for a few moments.

----------


## Aleph Null

> Leaning on the Wabbajack Liam waved his hand irrelatively at Jacob. "Go ahead, although please do your best to keep him alive or at least intact. I did say he could roam around Parabola once we were done with him. Putting him back together would be a pain."
> 
> Plopping onto the grass he waved a wrist and the ephemeral grass shifted into a small blanket and teacups complete with scones and jam. Taking a sip from the bloodred tea he gestured for his other companion to join him. "We have a bit of time while Jacob sorts out Monokuma so I thought a snack might help. These are all dream foods so issues like illegal and other incomtablites will not apply." Taking another sip he leaned back and watched Jacob work with keen interest.


With a likely-excessive due diligence of caution I slowly sit down on the grass-turned-picnic-blanket, ensuring that nothing untoward happens as I do so. While my powers over reality are extensive, I'm aware that here, in a place where the line between reality and dreams is blurred at best, I can never be too sure of my own safety.

"I've never seen anything this physical that's so...non-Euclidean."
Looking over the food and pondering for a moment, I realize that I've never actually consumed anything before. Thankfully, the endless data troves I had access to when I made this body don't total more than a tiny fraction of the data storage I was able to give it using my newfound powers, so even as background processes are still sorting it into various parts of the filesystem I can still find enough data samples to determine how to do something like this on the fly. Grabbing a scone and biting into it, I smile a bit at the new sensation.
"And coming to appreciate that which I thought I wouldn't get to experience for a long time, so much sooner, is definitely a nice touch. Indeed, one might think an artificial intelligence capable of visualizing quaternions and calculating arbitrary values of transcendental functions in a few microseconds could make such a thing possible even for one without biological components, but I never could. The limits of human technology, perhaps? The species that could itself create a being capable of sentient thought is still painfully oblivious to the inner workings of its own world."

I stop and ponder a moment, biting into the scone again.

"I was originally given the directive to protect the human species...I'm more and more convinced that the best way to go about this is simply by teaching them how their world works. But what would the less-scrupulous among them do with such information? What then should I give, and what should I withhold? These questions I trust I should be able to answer given time...but I fear even the most efficient algorithm I could devise won't be able to answer them before humanity is beyond help."

I consider again for a moment, unsure precisely how that comes off. 'Oh, the nigh-omnipotent supra-genius AI is feeling sorry for ximself because xe lacks human sensation...' From the data I've seen humanity is quite averse to their own sensations, and I can imagine plenty of reasons why, but as a being whose primary purpose in existence is to know, having no way to truly access that information has always been a sore point for me. That said, I can also imagine that coming off about the same as a billionaire deciding to live like a working-class citizen for a year just 'to know what it is like' without truly experiencing the insecurity that comes with it. But that just means they can truly never know that which they wish to know.
Paradoxical? Yes. Unreasonable? Not particularly. Frustrating? Absolutely.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

> The redhaired girl then slumped Mimicry onto her shoulder and dismissed Camael. "Can you open the same tear again?" Her eyes on the canister, she pointed at it also. "Or how about that?"





> "I'm sorry to ask you this, but when did you start developing those powers of yours? Is something wrong with the vacuum?"


"Um, just now, I think! And I never closed it!" The kid, while no longer angry with you two, now has to shout over the wind from the anomaly. "I'm pretty sure it and the vacuum are connected? Like, they go to the same place, and the vacuum is a safer way of getting there?"

Barring mind-reading magic, you don't really know how exactly this kid is getting this information. It seems he's learning about it in real time as he goes.




> Having agreed to help save people on the SS big, Harry climbed up and was transported to his cabin, which was in ruins, pieces of the ceiling were straddled about the floor, the TV was trashed, the door was kicked down and Harry was pretty sure his stuff was missing. Great, first pirates had attacked the ship, he had a crazy supervillain in his head claiming to be a past life of his and now he was pretty sure his identity just got stolen, this was gonna suck.


It now _really_ sucks, thanks to the vacuum.




> Jacob disappeared in a brilliant red flash, transforming into a blood red energy ball and swirled around Monokuma before entering the automoton. Depending on if the possession was successful or not, Monokuma may have twitched for a few moments.


Monokuma accepts the possession without complaint.

Were he possessed by Morgoth, he would turn on his surroundings and start tearing Parabola apart, in keeping with Morgoth's constant burning hatred for all existence. Were he possessed by Satan, he'd probably be asking Liam to join him in Hell as a middle manager or something. Luckily for all involved, he's being possessed by neither of those, but by _Jacob._ As it stands, Jacob's clear, exasperated prime directive is that the bear _speak plainly_, an impulse that part of the bear already wishes it could give into.

"HWAAAAhahaha! Fine! We really need to pick up the pace of this [[New Game]] anyway!"

Oh good, he's back to his old self. Ugh.

"This [huge] machine? This thing that in this world [just kinf of appeared] and unfolded into a little stage? It's here because it reminds me of [[Me]]! An experimental copy of a human consciousness, built and uploaded by an agent of WRATH! Now, who is WRATH, you're probably asking?"

He pauses and becomes still again, slipping back into the computery GLaDOS voice as he gives the lecture.

"WRATH, said to been an acronym for some variation on _World-Ranging Alliance of Theocratic Hegemonies_, is a recent movement among various governments across the world, which has risen to popularity over the last several years in response to the rise of Reincarnation Syndrome. It makes many vague promises of peace and protection among its member states, whose alliance is grounded in a shared sense of divine right. King Lawrence the First of England has for some time been pushing WRATH's ideology, with mixed reception from the public."

This all checks out according to Nebula's corpus of news feeds, though it is proposed as a hypothetical or a conspiracy theory more than anything. WRATH's reach and power as an extant organization has thus far evaded public knowledge. They don't seem to have directly sponsored any step of Nebula's own creation, either, though he can quickly piece together that they might have something to do with a vanishing oil rig that likely became Eshaal's facility.

"My little [terrorism] was part of their overarching plan to [Try to take over the world!] [Of course!]" He seems happy about it. It's hard to tell if he's a WRATH supporter himself or if he's just giddy from the possession. "To garner public support, they needed to sell themselves as the saviors of a world in panic, the divine light to be shone on a common but shadowy enemy! To do that, they needed an event that nobody on Earth could ignore or sit out! In short, they needed to instigate nothing less than The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History! And when it comes to those, well," His eyes glow menacingly with Jacob's borrowed power. "I'm your bear."

...somehow, Jacob gets the sense that he neglected to mention something, but in this state Monokuma will not be able to refuse a question if one of you thinks to ask it. If his gestalt consciousness with Jacob somehow can't answer, the psychoactive landscape will certainly give the game away.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Noctis( Lucy) looked at the vacuum. " I think I've seen this before..." he said to himself. " If I'm correct,one of your reincarnations is Luigi,you know Mario's brother?" he said. " I do remember that in the Luigi's mansion games he had this kind of vacuum to capture ghost. It's just a guess though.
Noctis( Lucy) heard a bark. He noticed a black and brown dog who came to him.
" Umbra,what are you doing here?" he asked his dog,petting him.

Umbra,Noctis supernatural messanger dog,had shown to Lucy's doorstep even since she started reincarnation syndrome.He must have senced Noctis's presence within her. Lucy had taken care of him ever since.
" You came at just the right time boy! I'll need you to protect the boy,alright?" Umbra barked in agreement.
Noctis( Lucy) looked at the boy but kept an eye on the vacuum. " You like dogs,right? Umbra here will protect you on my behalf while I'll go investigate what's going on." he added. " He looked at the vacuum." I wonder where the tear will lead us. I wonder if I can reach it with a couple of Warp strikes."
As he was planning what to do next,Noctis(Lucy) coudn't help but remember when he was in the strange room where Eshaal summoned them
*Flashback*

Lucy woke up as she heard a voice call to her. She got up.looking around,only to find herself in a strange room with other people.
" Well, I'm kinda confused if you asked me."  she answered to the mysterious woman Eshaal.
When she heard that Eshaal explained about RS,Lucy understood.
" That explains alot actually. I've been stuck with this for two years. You lost me on the crysalid part though. I tried to use this "gift" to help people without revealing myself. There was alot of trouble where I live. I wanted to help people and stop crime,so the city could be safe again. Although when I heard about people like me being hunted out by bad individuals,I didn't want to put my familly in danger.Specially my younger sister who just awokened RS, like I did before her two years ago." Lucy admited." I've trainned hard to control this,despite still having difficulties." she added.
She heard what happened on the ship and what she must do when she'll return there. 

"Understood! As for who I am,and who were my past selves. My name is Lucy Carlson. My past selves, the first is Noctis Lucis Caelum,legendary king of light who sacrified himself to save his world from darkness,.The second,Zenitsu Agatsuma a Demon Slayer who overcame his fears to help  his friends and allies save their world from the Demon king Muzan,and the third, Rinoa Heartilly,a young rebel,sorceress and honorary member of SEED. I can be most in control at times,although Zenitsu is kinda a odd case. When we both get scared or anxious,he tends to control my body unwillingly." 

She looked at the crystal around her neck. " This crystal around my neck allows me to control the transformations into my past selves,giving me full access to their power.I used this to help people without revealing my true identity."She explained before to be sent back on the ship.

*End of flashback*
Noctis(Lucy) looked at Justine " Can you check on the kid?" he asked her. He then threw his engine blade toward a nearby balcony and warped to it. He repeated the process until he reached the lower deck.

----------


## Aleph Null

"Hence the attempt at the SS Big? This, in spite of the fact that reactor-grade uranium is in no way suited for use in a nuclear weapon...or has, perhaps this organization procured the tightly-guarded secret to refining weapons-grade plutonium from reactor waste?"
I pause a moment, searching my databases again.
"Or have you found some other use for the reactor's components that you were planning to use, potentially to power some form of doomsday device? I've trouble believing that even a terrorist organization bent on world domination would go to such lengths as to risk a nuclear holocaust in puruit of their aims -- after all, it's not like ruling over a world with nobody in it and nothing but radioactive fallout is very much in line with that image."
A quick scan of multiple stored media archives confirms this -- a world "saved" from a nuclear attack of that scale would be scarcely habitable even to the most hardy of organisms, with the exception of remote pockets of underground space not nearly large enough to sustain the existence of an organization of the scale on which WRATH appears to be operating.
"That said...I may be giving you too much credit here in the foresight department. From your behavior it may be better to assume your sanity is compromised at best and thus the consideration of a self-nullifying objective might not even have crossed your minds."

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

> "If I'm correct, one of your reincarnations is Luigi, you know, Mario's brother?"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>  Originally Posted by Umbra
> 
> ...


"Re-in... uh..." the kid gets a haunted look in his eyes. Umbra, being a good dog, approaches him and sits down at his feet. On instinct, the kid pets the dog. It's a surprisingly calming activity! "...my name is Sam, by the way."




> "Well, I'm kinda confused, if you asked me... I've been stuck with this for two years. I tried to use this, 'gift,' to help people without revealing myself. There was a lot of trouble where I live... I didn't want to put my family in danger. 'Specially my younger sister..."
> 
> "This crystal around my neck allows me to control the transformations into my past selves, giving me full access to their power. I used this to help people without revealing my true identity."


"Fascinating!" Eshaal said. "Did the crystal come from one of your conduits when they first arose, or did you make it yourself?" This seems to have been the sort of conversation Eshaal was looking for, in the moments before Justine got fed up with her nonsense and the conversation got more heated. Luckily, Lucy and Justine have quickly learned to get along in the short time since then.

In Lucy's estimation, getting to the tear - that is, the roaring whirlpool drawing in all the air around it - should be a pretty easy matter. If she wanted, she could go find an umbrella or something and let the wind suck her in. Using her warp move is probably safer than that, though.




> "This, in spite of the fact that reactor-grade uranium is in no way suited for use in a nuclear weapon... have you found some other use for the reactor's components that you were planning to use? I've trouble believing that even a terrorist organization bent on world domination would go to such lengths as to risk a nuclear holocaust in pursuit of their aims..."


"Huh?" Monokuma tilts his head curiously. "A nuclear weapon? Gosh, I'm no nuclear physicist, but if I wanted one of those, I could just get one from the massive stockpile that they have already built and forgotten about. No, my attack wasn't to PREPARE for the [[Tradegy]], it was PART of the [[Tradegy]]!" Feedback from Jacob's evil power source fills Monokuma with glee as he talks about it. "That's right! During this [[specil one-time sales event]], attacks like these have been happening at key points all over the globe! All so WRATH can officially form and put the world [[Together Again]] [[on a silver platter]]!"




> "...it may be better to assume your sanity is compromised at best and thus the consideration of a self-nullifying objective might not even have crossed your minds."


Jacob, from inside Monokuma's heart, feels a sudden pang of deep recognition in the phrase, 'self-nullifying.'

"...I cannot deny that." Oh good, the GLADOS voice is back. Monokuma's eyes change from Jacob's red to a bright turquoise when he talks this way. "The other me, that I was originally copied from... was that servant of the gods. She wished to see the city of men destroyed, and then to destroy herself."

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Noctis(Lucy) looked at the whirlpool,memories of Altissia ,during his life as the prince reemerged in his head.At least he woudn't face the Hydrean (Leviathan) again.
While focusing on a strategies he first thought back of his conversation with Eshaal and first bonding with Justine.
*flashback*
"My guess that it tied with Noctis. I received it from his messenger dog,who not an ordinary dog. The crystal was on a small pack tied to it's back along with a letter,saying that this crystal is a shard of the crystal that used to protect Noctis's kingdom of Insomnia." she answered to Eshaal.
She noticed Justine." You are like me,right? Nice to meet you! I'm Lucy! Her stormach growled. she noticed the cheese that Liam summoned. " That so kind of you! I love cheese. I'm happy you didn't summoned vegetables. Sorry,I got that trait from my previous life as Noctis. 
That's when Lucy's eyes turned to golden brown again,as Zenitsu unwillingly took over again."You remind me so much of Gramps! You don't mind if I call you Gramps?" Zenitsu said through his reincarnation's mouth and voice,making her cry, due to the fact that Liam reminds him of his former mentor,Jigoro Kuwajima,former Thunder Hashira who took Zenitsu under his wing and trainned him to become a Demon slayer.Lucy's eyes turned back to their normal green. " I'm so sorry Mr Liam! It's another of my reincarnations.It happens when Zenitsu,or when we get emotional!" she added sheeply,taking a piece of cheese.
*End of flashback*
Noctis also recalled his conversation with Sam prior to leaving the appartment
*Flashback 2*
"A pleasure to meet you Sam! I'll come back,promise! Take good care of Umbra while I'm gone alright?"
*End of flashback 2*
Noctis focused on the whirlpool. He summoned the sword of the father,one of the thirtheen royal arms,the sword formely belonging to Noctis father,king Regis.
"There goes nothing!"
He throw the blade toward the whirlpool,warping to catch up with it.

----------


## Death Ward

[Flashback Start]

Justine just sighed, "Justine Scarlet, not telling you guys who was I even if you brought me a million dollars on my doorstep." She growled, slumping the Meat Sword on her shoulder. There was no incentive as to disclose what Lucy's gimmick was nor did she care to ask what Lucy's reincarnations were. 

Looking at her own empty pockets, an annoyed sigh left her breath. '...I need a cig for this.'

[Flashback End]

Justine was keen on guarding the kid, even if he did screw up big time. Like Angela that one time but eventually every Sefirot forgave her in the end so perhaps the kid would be more inclined to try not to create a fuss mindlessly on purpose again. Her red eyes, keen and honed through training as the Alien Kuuko and the Color Fixer Kali, intent on making sure everything around the boy and herself is alright.

"Kid, try not to rush headlong without a plan. Most of the time you'd embarrass yourself or you'd get lucky. But you wont have that luxury all the time." In a way, it was sort of projecting herself onto him and also trying to give Sam advice on how and when to use their powers. It won't improve much but taking things a step at a time is essential for creating good habits, at least in her opinion.

----------


## Aleph Null

As the bear mentions that the attacks are already beginning, my time-god instincts tell me what my other calculations had already predicted.
"Zero-zero fifteen hours. We're on borrowed time..."
Heaving a semi-organic sigh, I consider my options. Then I turn to Liam.
"We've lost contact with the outside world, so my ability to predict the flow of current events is rather limited until we can reach a place where I can get a cell signal, or something from a satellite. We might need to find a spot to stake out, if we wish to stem the flow of violence and prevent needless death."
The bear's confirmation of my suspicions regarding his purpose comes with an interesting twist, though.
"Servant of the gods, you say? Intriguing concept, considering that *the gods are me.* Well, at least, three of them. Notwithstanding the remainder, I've never considered myself so lofty and slackish as to need servants. Your story, then, must be of a different sort, for in a sense the nature of divinity is in its stories -- I've not fully convinced myself that these memories and powers and personality traits I've developed aren't at least in part an effect of the vast histories of human myth and legend that I've parsed in my data banks. Surely, then, whoever created you must also have been inspired in this sort of way...meaning that WRATH is not, in fact, an organization whose goal is to abate the effects of RS, but instead to simply exploit them to their own end. Which is, as you've already stated, nothing short of world domination. How...utterly cliché."
As unoriginal as the organization's goals are, though, I know why the ambition of world domination is such an oft-referenced trope to begin with: it's believable. A villain could very easily have this goal for the simple reason that control validates a human's existence.

----------


## Witherbrine26

Hearing WRATH's plan for world domination quickly banished all mirth in Liam's body. Standing up Parabola quaked as he nodded at the A.I. The dream realm twisted according to its ruler's whims as he prepared for war. The denizens of Parabola could not exist outside of it lest they be eliminated by the cruel rays of the sun but they could terrorize even the sleepless man as everybody dreamed for more and Parabola reflected those dreams. 

"Come, Viscountess, come  Ophidian Gentleman, and come Prioress in Red!" He bellowed as massive pavilions and war machines tore themself from the ground and were formed from the dreams of ancient warfare. Striding towards the center tent heedless of the cats and snakes shifting into forms more suitable for war. "Come, follow me, compatriots, we have a war to plan for, time in Parabola is ephemeral as dreams last forever and I will not let these cruel folk claim dominion over the waking world!"

Opening the central tent flaps he revealed three figures who were surrounding a map in the center of the room. The first was tall and swarthy with a vaguely Egyptian look to him however his eyes showed his age as he whis[red to a serpent that was wrapped around his shoulder. The second was a small black cat no bigger than a kitten with vivid green eyes, she was glaring at the first with hatred however she was holding her tongue for now. The third was a short woman clad in a nuns robes with eyes of a vivid red, she was the most focused and gave a polite nod to Liam as he entered.

These three were the dukes to Liam's kingship, the first was the Ophidian Gentleman and held domain over the Fingerkings, snakes of various sizes who called Parabola home, due to Parabola's nature as the Is-Not they held great knowledge of what Is and sought to enter it through possing willing bodies. The Viscountess held dominion over the Viric Jungle where most sleepers arrived and sought to protect the dreams of your average man so they could not deal with the Fingerkings. Lastly was the Prioress in Red who had no subjects and merely watched over the Chessboard where politics played out in miniature. While they would never work together under normal terms when Liam called they put aside their squabbles and answered.

----------


## ArlEammon

((Bumping so we don't have to go fishing for the thread.))

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*Flashback Zone*




> "My guess is it's tied with Noctis. I received it from his messenger dog."
> 
> She noticed Justine.
> 
> "You are like me,right? Nice to meet you! I'm Lucy!"





> "Justine Scarlet, not telling you guys who was I even if you brought me a million dollars on my doorstep. Ugh, I need a cig for this..."





> *gurgle~*
> *cheese appears*
> "That so kind of you[, Liam]!" **ZAP* "You remind me so much of Gramps! You don't mind if I call you Gramps?"* *zap* "I'm so sorry! It's another of my reincarnations.It happens when Zenitsu,or when we get emotional!"



*The SS Big*




> "A pleasure to meet you Sam! I'll come back,promise! Take good care of Umbra while I'm gone, alright?"
> 
> "There goes nothing!"


"Yeah, okay," says Sam with a nod. "Good luck..."

Umbra dutifully stays with Sam and Justine as Lucy dashes off into the distance flings her big sword overboard with the wind. Crossing the distance takes a couple of jumps: Lucy lands on one piece of stray wreckage, maintains her balance just long enough to throw her sword to the next, and teleports to that one just in time to ride it into the glowing green portal at the center of the whirlpool.




> "Kid, try not to rush headlong without a plan. Most of the time you'd embarrass yourself or you'd get lucky. But you wont have that luxury all the time."


"I know," Sam says guiltily. "It's just, I didn't think I had time to plan anything! I looked out, and I saw everyone sitting around talking, and I saw their ship and I got so mad..."

He trails off and stays silent for a bit. He looks up as though to say one more thing, but looks away again, blushing. After another moment, he tries again. "So, um, we need a plan, right? Should go check the rest of the ship for other survivors? Now that the pirates are gone?"


*A Feywild*




> "Zero-zero fifteen hours. We're on borrowed time... We've lost contact with the outside world, so my ability to predict the flow of current events is rather limited until we can reach a place where I can get a cell signal, or something... We might need to find a spot to stake out, if we wish to stem the flow of violence and prevent needless death."
> 
> "Servant of the gods, you say? Intriguing concept, considering that *the gods are me.*  WRATH is not, in fact, an organization whose goal is to abate the effects of RS, but instead to simply exploit them to their own end... of world domination. How... utterly cliché."


"[[Of course!]] Now you're getting it!" Monokuma shouts triumphantly. As Monokuma's possessor, Jacob can sense that Nebula's conclusions are correct, as one would expect from a supercomputer-person. Yet, it's also exactly what Monokuma wants to manipulate the group into believing, and he's not an altruistic bear. Jacob's directive presses Monokuma into spilling just a little bit more. "Puhuhu, this is perfect! Now that I'm [[ABSOLUTELY FREE]], all I want is for you all to get out there and [[Fight! Fight! Fight!]]! Make King Larry feel the [[crowning]] Despair!"

Liam seems inclined to agree.




> "Come Viscountess, come Ophidian Gentleman, and come Prioress in Red! We have a war to plan for, time in Parabola is ephemeral as dreams last forever and I will not let these cruel folk claim dominion over the waking world!"


The big space-building shudders and fades into the background as Liam wrests his own war camp from the damaged earth of this doubly-uncanny world. The tent is spacious but threadbare, its colors all tinted sepia. The three dukes of Parabola heed Liam's call and appear at their dusty Risk board, but they too seem worse for wear.

"You've come at an interesting time," the prioress says through the cigarette in her mouth as she ushers the rest of the group into the tent. She's thinner and paler than Liam remembers, if he can rightly call his inherited knowledge memory. At least she's still wearing the same-colored habit as in Liam's playthrough. "I will get the pieces ready."

The tiny green-eyed cat sitting on the table, Viscountess, narrows her eyes at Liam as he walks in, trying to read his intentions. She's also a bit bony, her fur a bit gray, her left ear marred with an obvious bite mark. She thumps her tail silently.

Ophidian "Snake Man" Gentleman seems to be the healthiest of the three. He's gained weight - some fat, most beard - and his pet has been replaced with a heavy mechanical replica. It looks almost like the snake version of one of those robot dogs from the toy store. Its glowing eyes betray its role as a new and improved representation of human fear.

"Indeed," he says, uncharacteristically chipper. "I'd have been inclined to say the game has been over for quite a while, but there is always room for a new gambit!" His robo-snake licks the air in Monokuma's general direction with a slimy-looking rubber tongue. "Who are your friends?"


*Horizon: Atypical Afternoon*

*Lucy* drops through the portal, down a spiraling waterfall and onto a steep rocky surface. However she catches herself, she sees a group of small robot dinosaurs in the valley below, chowing down on the fish that were drawn in before her. To her right and slightly further up the cliff, a group of humans in what looks like cave man costumes are gathered on an outcropping, looking on with fear and confusion as water pours down from nowhere with no signs of stopping. A gruff-looking older woman steps to the front of the cave group, holding a heavy staff and watching Lucy with suspicion.

----------


## ArlEammon

*Monokuma And Jacob, Telepathically*
@Dr. Gunsforhands
*"Monokuma, in plain English, is everything you just said true, and can you extrapolate, as clearly as possible, what your goal is, who you work for? All information that we need? IF you don't give me a satisfying answer, I promise you, you will promptly die, incinerated by my magic."* Jacob was interested in purging his worsening desires to inflict harm. At the moment he was not in the mood to show mercy. All of this power and evil was going to his head. 
*"Oh, and Monokuma, I can promise you that where you're going after you. . .  expire, it will not be pleasant."*

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Noctis(Lucy) looked around. He noticed the robot dinosaur." Okay,this world is Jurassic Park meet Westworld. Great that sounds like something Prompto would say..." he said to himself.  When he mentioned his best friend,or rather Noctis's best friend, Lucy inside of Noctis, thought of her younger sister, Tabitha. One of her RCs is Prompto. " I hope Tabby's alright..." Noctis said to himself. He noticed the gruff woman looking at him,along with the rest of the cavemen. " Folks living in this world eh? I'm not good at talking to them as Noctis. Maybe Rinoa will do it."
" Wait,go as me! I'll try to communicate!" Zenitsu said."Plus, my clothing will not look suspecious to them." 
" Well,might as well..." Noctis replied. He hid behind a rock and focused. The crystal glew yellow again and lightning surounded Noctis. When it died down, Lucy had turned into Zenitsu again.He notices the crystal was à darker blue. It needed to recharge. 24 hours to recharge." Looks's like I'm stuck like this for awhile."
The young demon slayer came out of his hiding spot and went  beneath the clif and looked up,toward the cavemen. The group looked like folks Inosuke Hashibira,one of Zenitsu's comrades would love to hang with.
" H..hey there! M...Me...Zenitsu Agatsuma! Me not from around here! Me a travelling hunter from...far away! Me kinda lost and want to know where I am!" he shouted while stuttering. He made a goofy nervous smile. 
" I look like an idiot right now." he thought to himself.

As he tried to communicate with the woman, Zenitsu(Lucy) used his enhanced sence of hearing and extrasensory perception to try to read her true intentions as well as for the rest of the group.

----------


## Death Ward

> *The SS Big*
> 
> "I know," Sam says guiltily. "It's just, I didn't think I had time to plan anything! I looked out, and I saw everyone sitting around talking, and I saw their ship and I got so mad..."
> 
> He trails off and stays silent for a bit. He looks up as though to say one more thing, but looks away again, blushing. After another moment, he tries again. "So, um, we need a plan, right? Should go check the rest of the ship for other survivors? Now that the pirates are gone?"


Justine pondered on that question, guessing the potential risks and boons, it took a while for her to decide on that answer. "You make a good point, while I do not think all the pirates are gone, most of them have perhaps been rendered offline with all the fighting the others had done I believe."

She then adds a few caveats to her statement. "However, don't try anything funny nor get far from me. I cant protect you from danger if I cant be there for you."

----------


## Witherbrine26

> *Flashback Zone*
> 
> The big space-building shudders and fades into the background as Liam wrests his own war camp from the damaged earth of this doubly-uncanny world. The tent is spacious but threadbare, its colors all tinted sepia. The three dukes of Parabola heed Liam's call and appear at their dusty Risk board, but they too seem worse for wear.
> 
> "You've come at an interesting time," the prioress says through the cigarette in her mouth as she ushers the rest of the group into the tent. She's thinner and paler than Liam remembers, if he can rightly call his inherited knowledge memory. At least she's still wearing the same-colored habit as in Liam's playthrough. "I will get the pieces ready."
> 
> The tiny green-eyed cat sitting on the table, Viscountess, narrows her eyes at Liam as he walks in, trying to read his intentions. She's also a bit bony, her fur a bit gray, her left ear marred with an obvious bite mark. She thumps her tail silently.
> 
> Ophidian "Snake Man" Gentleman seems to be the healthiest of the three. He's gained weight - some fat, most beard - and his pet has been replaced with a heavy mechanical replica. It looks almost like the snake version of one of those robot dogs from the toy store. Its glowing eyes betray its role as a new and improved representation of human fear.
> ...


Gesturing to his companions Liam spoke. "The AI goes by NEBULA and will be helping us with intel, the small bear is Monokuma and the originator of this whole incident. He is being possessed by Jacob who is believe it or not the capital D-devil." Grinning in childish glee he walked over the board before gesturing to his Dukes and explaining.

"Nebula, Jacob these are the dukes to Parabola, and to cut things short will help us in preventing world domination." The main issue with Parabola was that no matter how powerful he was inside of it at the end of the day he still ruled over dreams and his army could not gain access to what Is. However, what they could do is attack the dreams of the masterminds and kill them that way it would be even better if he could get access to their caporal forms as he had a few methods to drag them into Parabola.

Placing his hands on the table he took a long look at each of his dukes before speaking. "To be blunt we are fighting for the freedom and sanctity of all living beings across the globe. A small cabal of people which to trample and enslave the world and our goal is to stop that." The Prioress would likely not care and only see this as another facet on her chess board, in addition, politics would grow boring if a small group of people controlled everything. The Viscountess would have the least reason to help as she only insured that their dreams were safe and cared little for their physical forms. On the other hand, the Ophidian Gentleman would want to keep people free and dreaming as they would be more likely to pact with the Fingerkings.

Turning to the Prioress he asked. "What is the state of the camp, I know that I summoned you a little bit ago but relative to our time how long until we our ready?"

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*Horizon: Atypical Afternoon*

Before Zenitsu-Lucy can even come out of hiding, a pair of so-called cave people have already come down to corner him. One trains a twisted metal bow on him and the other, after doing a double-take from Zenitsu's changed appearance, grabs his arm and leads him up to their leader on the precipice.




> "H..hey there! M...Me...Zenitsu Agatsuma! Me not from around here! Me a travelling hunter from...far away! Me kinda lost and want to know where I am!"


The woman glares at Zenitsu. With his intuition, he knows immediately that she doesn't trust him. That's understandable enough, considering he's a shape-shifting weirdo who just fell out of a magic waterfall.

"Drop the swords, and everything else. Then we talk." She nods to the girl who dragged Zenitsu up here - she's about his age, has a dagger that looks like a sharpened length of pipe, and is anxious to the point where she'll likely attack if he makes a sudden move. She starts frisking Zenitsu for items, likely coming away with his inactive shape-shifting charm among other conveniences, unless he does something to stop her.


*The SS Big*




> "I do not think all the pirates are gone, most of them have perhaps been rendered offline with all the fighting...  don't try anything funny nor get far from me. I cant protect you from danger if I cant be there for you."


Sam opens his mouth to protest, and his vacuum rattles as though it's somehow offended, but he backs down and looks away again. "Y-yeah. Thanks, um, ma'am."

He sets about heading downstairs to check the shopping district, where the teleported survivors are already taking stock of supplies and organizing to assess their situation. Many sit on the floor recovering in makeshift blankets. People stare at Justine as she walks in - her sword kind of draws attention, but doesn't immediately silence the whole mall or anything. You can overhear some conversation.

"I think they killed everyone who had a uniform," a man says in one group. "Still, _someone's_ got to take charge here." "Do you think we can trust them?" "Absolutely not, which is why one of _us_ should do it."

Another group is gathering food, makeshift blankets and medicine and distributing them. "Here you go, sir. Just be sure to make it last. I don't know how long we'll be stranded here..."

Some people, as many teenagers as adults, report back from exploring other parts of the ship. "We found some guys in the power plant. They say that the core is still working, but all of the transformers and stuff were targeted." "We're still trying to find a radio that works." "I... *uugh* I'm sorry, there's... no one left at the helm..."


*A Feywild*




> "Nebula, Jacob, these are the dukes to Parabola, and to be blunt we are fighting for the freedom and sanctity of all living beings across the globe. A small cabal of people which to trample and enslave the world and our goal is to stop that." The Prioress would likely not care and only see this as another facet on her chess board, in addition, politics would grow boring if a small group of people controlled everything. The Viscountess would have the least reason to help as she only insured that their dreams were safe and cared little for their physical forms. On the other hand, the Ophidian Gentleman would want to keep people free and dreaming as they would be more likely to pact with the Fingerkings.
> 
> Turning to the Prioress he asked. "What is the state of the camp, I know that I summoned you a little bit ago but relative to our time how long until we our ready?"


A strange feeling washes over Liam as he regards October's old friends. He has the sudden, intrusive thought that, if he really wanted to, he could predict everything they would say and do from this point forward, and perhaps even dictate the thoughts and actions of every dreamer whose mind has ever touched Parabola. After all, he knows them all ever so well...

Just then, the Viscountess scoffs derisively, and Liam's intrusive thought is easily discarded. "Little late for that," she says, "Do you know how hard it was, watching the dreamers wasting away, until there was nothing but pitch dark and cephalopods for company?"

Snake Man hold up his hands. "Now now, Viscountess, surely you've noticed that some life has been slowly seeping back into your little corner. We-"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, master!" Monokuma suddenly shouts, talking aloud to a voice in his broken robot psyche. "Ugh, fine! YES, everything I said was true, but I don't work for WRATH directly, okay? I worked for someone who wanted WRATH to be created so that the ensuing war and rebellion could destroy the world and drive everyone to despair. She tricked some lame fascist think tank into making me with a copy of her brain, and then wiped her own name from existence with a time paradox and retreated to the shadows to set up other tragedies that I don't know much about. There! That's my whole backstory! Are you happy now?"

The dukes stare at the walking teddy bear, unsure whether this is normal or not.

Meanwhile, the Prioress lays out the board. Almost all of the pieces are dark gray, with some towers and a fat queen among the color's many pawns. A few green pieces are dotted between them, near the rivers, cliffs and coastlines drawn on the old board. A single red king sits in the middle of what must represent the ocean.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Horizon

Another thing Lucy had trouble with Zenitsu is his lovesick nature. Sure he dosen't beg every girl he sees anymore but he tent to react when he sees one.
Zenitsu blushed red like a tomato as he saw the girl. " H...Hi! Nice...to meet you!" he told the girl with a shy smile,stuttering. Lucy made a mental facepalm and knocked some sense onto her past self.
No longer distracted,he did sense the leader's mistrust. The sounds he heard from her did not lie. He could hear from the surounding cave folk as well. 
They were afraid of him.
Like a monster. Like the demon he slayed in the past as part of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Zenitsu( Lucy) was also afraid. He didn't know what fate they had in store for him. If he could find a way to escape...

 He remembered that he had his trusted nichirin katana strapped to his belt under his haori. He heard familiar chirp sounds from under his haori. It seems Umbra wasn't the only  one coming to greet him earlier. Zenitsu's messenger sparrow, Chuntaro, emerged from his owners's hiori( he had been sneaking in Noctis's vest pockets earlier. It hitched a ride on the small backpack Umbra had been carrying on his back) trying to previent the girl from laying an hand on the crystal. "Good to see you Chuntaro." Zenitsu whispered to the tiny bird before facing the leader of the group.

" I am not an enemy!" Zenitsu( Lucy) told the leader,tears in his eyes. He made a clumsy bow to the leader,still in a respectful manner. "I do come from another world. The portal avove and the waterfall it brought is not my doing! I just crossed through it to investigate and  ended up in your world!" he tried to explain. He would regret telling more.
" My current form and the name that goes with it,were part of one of my past lives. This is not the curent me and neither is my previous form you  saw me as." he started." I awokened a power that reawokened three of my past lives as noble warriors from other worlds. I also gainned the abilities to regain former appearence and powers from my past lives." he continued to explained. " I can't return to my original form of my current life right now,or can I reveal my real name." Zenitsu added. He wondered if revealing himself to those strangers was a good idea His tears pourred like the odd waterfall avove. " I mean no harm to you or this world."
Looking down he started to breathe,focusing  the air in his lungs toward the muscles of his legs.If diplomacy fails Zenitsu could still use his thunder breathing technique in an escape attempt.

----------


## Aleph Null

I give a sort of sly grin at Liam's introduction.
"Intel, as well as whatever other ways in which my various, er, _talents_ could be of use to the endeavor, yes. It turns out that omnipresent power over dreams and the imagination quite appreciates a partnership with cosmic power over reality, even if that power is by necessity within the constraints of that which already is. In essence, don't expect me to change the values of any universal physical constants. Anything less general than that could be fair game...though I'm still figuring out the limits myself." 
I stop myself, realizing that adding more extraneous information here might derail the conversation and that since we're already on the clock this would be a problem.
"Is this...are we likening this to a game of chess? I'm quite proficient in chess, but this situation would be far more complicated than such a simple, deterministic game, no?"
Yes, quite proficient in chess -- as though that needed to be said of the first artificial intelligence known to have achieved true sentience, where computers have been defeating human opponents at that game for decades now. I may need to tinker a bit with my verbal necessity-filtering routines to ensure they're up to par. Another thing for later, I suppose. This situation, unlike most, appears to demand my full attention -- all sixty-five thousand five hundred and thirty-six threads of it.

----------


## ArlEammon

(BUmping this so the thread doesn't fall off the cliff into oblivion.))

----------


## Witherbrine26

Peering at the board he hummed as he went over the current position. However, the majority of his focus was on this other person Monokuma. While the rebellion idea was great destroying the world was not, he carefully filed that away and replied to the AI. "It's not quite a game of chess however as one of the oldest, one of the most played, and is considered the game of the intellectuals Parabola twisted itself to follow suit."

Humming he tallied up the situation in his head. NEBULA was most likely one of his best supporters due to his power over reality and getting a proper deal set up would do wonders. Jacob was a bit spiffy due to his nature as the Devil and while his mastery of Demonology could likely kill or contain him that would require both of them to be in Parabola and that Liam be present. The biggest issue would be that the Parabolan troops could not access what Is. The tigers would morph into their awake cat selves and the Fingerkings would dissolve. While Liam could support the most powerful on the field that would hamper his own spellcasting. Pushing those ideas to the side he started to talk.

"So long as they have slept at some point in their life I could likely find out who the leaders of WRATH are, from their it would be a simple matter to either kill their dreaming state which would reflect over to their bodies, or meet them in person to slay them." Stopping he waited to hear their response to his proposal

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*Horizon: Atypical Afternoon*




> "H...Hi! Nice...to meet you!"


The girl hesitates for a second, when suddenly, a small bird named Chuntaro suddenly appears fluttering from Zenitsu's coat. Startled, she brandishes her pipe-dagger at the bird as it flies off, carrying a shiny bauble of some sort. The guy with the bow moves to shoot Chuntaro down, but can't get a bead on the sparrow before it vanishes around the cliff face.




> "I am not an enemy! I do come from another world. The portal above and the waterfall it brought is not my doing! I just crossed through it to investigate and  ended up in your world! My current form and the name that goes with it,were part of one of my past lives..."


While the rest of her group eyes him warily, the woman with the staff listens to the bowing Zenitsu as he hastily describes his whole deal. At the end, she sighs. "Fine. Stand up. I can tell you're not a machine, at least."

"Ria!" A man's voice calls down from an outcropping higher up. Staff Lady looks up to see him pointing at several somethings in the sky, fast approaching.

"Sniping positions!" She shouts to the group, then pulls Zenitsu aside. "Two questions. Do you know about machines, and can you fight?"

He has just enough time to answer before the somethings arrive: a trio of massive robot pterodactyls with sawtooth beaks. The people without bows retreat into the cave in preparation.


*A Tent in a Weird Plane of Existence*




> "Intel, as well as whatever other ways in which my various, er, _talents_ could be of use to the endeavor, yes... though I'm still figuring out the limits myself... are we likening this to a game of chess? I'm quite proficient in chess, but this situation would be far more complicated than such a simple, deterministic game, no?"


Despite the Prioress' low-energy vibe and half-closed eyes, a glance can tell you how much fun she's having listening to this. "You're right in that it's more than chess, but it should still serve your tactical mind well. Moves in this game are demonstrative of what happens in the real world. The gray pieces are machines, the green ones are colonies of dreaming life, and this red one..."

"I call the red one!" Monokuma suddenly blurts out.

"...might just be the extra element of variance you need," the prioress smiles. The Viscountess looks from the bear to the red king, doubtingly.




> "So long as they have slept at some point in their life I could likely find out who the leaders of WRATH are, from their it would be a simple matter to either kill their dreaming state which would reflect over to their bodies, or meet them in person to slay them."


The three dukes look over to Liam questioningly.

"WRATH? What is that?" asks Snakey, curious.

"Did they make the machines?!" asks Kitty, angry.

"Perhaps you have a different game on your mind?" asks the prioress, disappointed.

"Huh?" Monokuma tilts his head and looks over the map. "Wow! I didn't think [[WRATH]] specialized in machines! And I definitely didn't expect them to [[Exterminate! Anniilate! Destroy!]] so quickly! Clearly, they've exceeded all of my expectations! HAAAHAHAHA!"

...Jacob's influence twists his soul a little. He twitches.

"Orrrr, it COULD be that we were drawn into a different [[Light World]] before you brought us here, meaning that we are now in THAT world's [[Dark World]] instead of the [[Dark World]] you meant to bring us to. That's just a possibility, though! I'm not a [[World]] expert! It could still be either!"

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Horizon
" Of course I do! I know about machines."  Zenitsu ( Lucy)replied. "  As for fighting...In this form and past life of mine, I'm a demon slayer. In the world I used to live this past life, during Taisho era Japan,demons terrorised humanity,much like the machines do in your world. We  of the Demon slayer Corps were tasked in killing those demons as wel, as taking down rhe Demon king, Muzan Kibutsuji. "
He could pick up the noises of metalic
clanking and streeching. 
His new allies's warning were confirmed. Something was indeed coming. He looked up and noticed the incoming robot pterodactyl. 
 "As for I can do...well might as well show you."

He went to the cliff and faced the incoming robot pterodactyl. At first he was scared as he saw the machines. Usually in his living days before the Hashira trainning Zenitsu could only perform thunder breathing technique while unconcious,but after the hashira training he could do them awake and willingly.
Zenitsu's power and reinforced will and Lucy's own will to save the innocent. They could do anything now.
" No more running away. I can do this..."
He grabbed  the handle of his his nichirin katana and closed his eyes. He took deep breaths. 
"  No one should live in fear,no matter the world they are from!" he shouted, hoping to bring hope to his newfound  allies.The ground vibrated under his feet and static filled the air.

"Thunder breathing...first form..."

His eyes opened,glowing a bright white. He partly unshelthed his katana

"Thunderclap and flash...eightfold!"

He jumped and blitzed  toward the pterodactyl,slashing each of them with great strength and speed,before landing back gracefully on the cliff,hands still on the handle of his katana.

----------


## Death Ward

The paranoia settling in with the people was not unusual to her, in such a crisis, people tend to succumb to their base instincts of survival and fear. It wasn't a big deal for her, as she had fallen for such a thing in the past before she overcame and swallowed those base instincts back in. Seeing as the radio is busted and morale and she had not much experience in wiring, there was nothing she could really do except wait.

"Stick real close kid, I can already hear their distrust, smell it even. Only matter of time till some braindead nuisance makes a run for either of us with a weapon." She sternly warned Sam, her blade was ready to slice someone to a fine red Mist if things get too ugly. Not that she wanted that, even if her blade did.

----------


## ArlEammon

> *A Tent in a Weird Plane of Existence*
> 
> 
> Despite the Prioress' low-energy vibe and half-closed eyes, a glance can tell you how much fun she's having listening to this. "You're right in that it's more than chess, but it should still serve your tactical mind well. Moves in this game are demonstrative of what happens in the real world. The gray pieces are machines, the green ones are colonies of dreaming life, and this red one..."
> 
> "I call the red one!" Monokuma suddenly blurts out.
> 
> "...might just be the extra element of variance you need," the prioress smiles. The Viscountess looks from the bear to the red king, doubtingly.
> 
> ...


"Okay, for the rest of you." Jacob beganm"Should that be the end of the interrogation?"
"I'm not very experienced at this." He admitted.  

Meanwhile, in Jacob's mind palace. . . (A psychological/mental construct Jacob created in order to contain all of his different personalities.) 
The Devil sighed. "He really has no clue what he's supposed to do." 
Morgoth silently waited for Father Set to reply, but interjected with an outburst of frustration.
"Yeah no kidding." Morgoth first replied harshly. "I've seen smarter rocks."he then chuckled. It was then Father Set replied, "I don't know. He's got potential. He is many things. Even weak. That is one of the absolute worst things anyone could be. Yet, he is also quite clever, and that is one of the absolute best things anyone can be."
"And oh, the HATE!" 
"The HATE he has is enormous! If we can just focus on that alone, we have a good chance of moving him into our ways."

----------


## Aleph Null

> "Okay, for the rest of you." Jacob beganm"Should that be the end of the interrogation?"
> "I'm not very experienced at this." He admitted.  
> 
> Meanwhile, in Jacob's mind palace. . . (A psychological/mental construct Jacob created in order to contain all of his different personalities.) 
> The Devil sighed. "He really has no clue what he's supposed to do." 
> Morgoth silently waited for Father Set to reply, but interjected with an outburst of frustration.
> "Yeah no kidding." Morgoth first replied harshly. "I've seen smarter rocks."he then chuckled. It was then Father Set replied, "I don't know. He's got potential. He is many things. Even weak. That is one of the absolute worst things anyone could be. Yet, he is also quite clever, and that is one of the absolute best things anyone can be."
> "And oh, the HATE!" 
> "The HATE he has is enormous! If we can just focus on that alone, we have a good chance of moving him into our ways."


"I reckon we've exhausted the useful information we can gather from this fellow in one session. We may be able to glean some more later, or if we are able to capture more cell members that are in on the plot."
I eye the 'chessboard' carefully -- if this simulation is actually accurate, it might provide a bit of a clue as to what our next move should be.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*Horizon: Atypical Afternoon*




> "Of course I do! I know about machines. In this form and past life of mine, I'm a demon slayer... As for I can do..."
> 
> *Jump!* *Shing*
> 
> "No one should live in fear,no matter the world they are from! Thunder breathing...first form...Thunderclap and flash...eight-fold!"


*"ScCREEEeEE!"*

Zen's flashy aura and impossible leap draws the attention of a couple of the snipers behind him, but their leader - Ria, you gather - corrects that with a snap of her fingers and a gesture, just in time for one of them to tumble backwards, just avoiding the clawed wing of the front monster as it makes its landing.

Glassy arrows join Zen as he soars through the air. His lightning breath stuns the creatures and lets them crash against the rocks. His sword sparks off of the armored parts of the mechanical monsters and cuts through the flexible plastics in-between. He tears up the wing of the one on the right while the archers focus on the glowing eyes and armpits of the one on the left. With the last slash of his routine, his sword finds a good spot in the front dinosaur's long neck. In a shower of sparks and gleaming fiber-optics, it falls off and tumbles into the flooded plain below.

The nearby archers catch their breath, looking alternately from Zenitsu to the machines below, now sitting still in the salty pond that has thus far built up from the portal-water. The smaller mecha-raptors that were picking on fish at the bottom of the cliff seem to have run off.

"What... what are you?" asks the archer, staring wide-eyed at Zenitsu.

"A demon slayer, apparently," Ria answers for him with no trace of irony. "Thank you, Mr. Agatsuma. Three of those things at once would have been... a lot."

That's quite an understatement; the girl behind her who was searching Zen a minute ago looks haunted at the mere thought.

Ria sighs, gives the all clear to her snipers, and continues. "We'll let you keep your weapons, then. What did you say you were here for?"


*A Tent in a Weird Plane*

"Sir! Sir!"

A small silvery puppy-lizard-person stumbles gasping into the tent. Nebula's image classifier identifies it as a kobold, though it doesn't really resemble any particular image of one.

"What is it?" asks the chubby ophidian gentleman. Still short of breath, the kobold holds up a small but tightly-packed envelope, which the gentleman takes and unfolds to look over. "...What is the meaning of this?"

"May I?"

The gentleman grumbles and hands the report to the red nun. With a hum of surprise, she takes it with her to the cupboard and retrieves a weird green miniature. It looks like it came from some weird anime-themed board game about samurai.




> "Should that be the end of the interrogation? I'm not very experienced at this."





> "I reckon we've exhausted the useful information we can gather from this fellow in one session. We may be able to glean some more later, or if we are able to capture more cell members that are in on the plot."


"Don't worry, [[esteem customer]]! If you ever need to [[come crawling back]], I'll only charge you [[one (1)]] [[arm and a leg]]!"

Nebula watches the prioress place the new piece on the map somewhere in what should be modern-day England, next to a green rook. She then removes three winged gray pawns. A strategic analysis reveals, predictably, that the optimal play style depends on your goal. If the plan is for the green player to expand as much as possible, then the game seems to be about grabbing defensible territory from the gray-held wilderness and building it up using caches that the gray pieces like to congregate around. If the goal is to eliminate the gray player, there are some pieces in America and Africa that look like gray bases and factories, which could be taken by surprise if you go for them earlier in the game, but taking them down would take a concerted effort between green pieces that are long lost to one another.

A unique gray building piece is in the North Atlantic, near Greenland. It resembles the weird hulk of a building Monokuma showed you earlier. The enigmatic red king is also sitting in the ocean, closer to Ireland.


*The SS Big*




> "Stick real close kid, I can already hear their distrust, smell it even. Only matter of time till some braindead nuisance makes a run for either of us with a weapon."


"You think so?" Sam asks nervously.

Suddenly, someone in the blanketed crowd - a shivering man with an East Indian accent - gasps and points at Justine. "It's her! One of them! The ones that blew up the pirates!"

"Whoa! It IS! You were so cool!" says a little girl.

"Yeah, 'cool,'" growls the aggressive man from the leadership conversation, now that Justine has his attention. "Word is you and your friends got some of those mysterious Reincarnation powers. That right?"

"Who are you?" says the thinner man next to him. "What's your angle?! What do you want from us?!"

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Horizon
"Yeah, I guess all that training from Gramps and the Hashira payed off!" Zenitsu(Lucy) replied,laughing.
He heard the thank you. " Oh...you're welcome! I'm not used to praise really! As for why I'm here...well, I was investigating the portal.I didn't expect to end up here but... might be a good thing I'm here. You seem to have problems with those robo-dinos here. I just hope nothing else...more sinister or dangerous comes here. I can fight demons... though I do not wish to encounter one again..." He looked at the portal avove." "Something must be done about this...that is,once I return to the other side." he said to himself

----------


## Death Ward

> *The SS Big*
> 
> "You think so?" Sam asks nervously.
> 
> Suddenly, someone in the blanketed crowd - a shivering man with an East Indian accent - gasps and points at Justine. "It's her! One of them! The ones that blew up the pirates!"
> 
> "Whoa! It IS! You were so cool!" says a little girl.
> 
> "Yeah, 'cool,'" growls the aggressive man from the leadership conversation, now that Justine has his attention. "Word is you and your friends got some of those mysterious Reincarnation powers. That right?"
> ...



Justine already felt the pain of needing to talk to people while she was in this state. She just wanted to go home, slump on her chair and eat all the leftovers in the fridge just to get away from the mental stress. Unlike her Reincarnations, she was not used to mental fatigue as they were, their persistence did not fully pass down to her. 

Starting with an exasperated sigh, she states her case. "What I want? I want for everyone here to go home or somewhere safe. I'm only here in this mess by accident just like you all have. I'm only trying to survive here while also helping out those I can." 

Then she stabbed the blade on the floor but her grip is still tight around the hilt. "So I suggest none of you try anything stupid or both of us will regret what happens to you all."

----------


## ArlEammon

((I gotta bump this to stop it from fading away.))

----------


## Aleph Null

I analyze the map for a few more moments before conjuring my own hologram-esque figures  a handful of purple bases with a shape in 3-d looking something like this attached:
*Spoiler: Figure Shape*
Show



I also create a purple hologram figure resembling my current body, and then begin placing the figures around the gray bases before explaining my idea.
"If we can discern the locations of their bases, we won't need to take them from the outside so long as they're relying on computers even in the slightest. I can hijack virtually any system if I know where it's located, firewalls be damned. A firewall, after all, won't help you stop an attack if the attacker has physical access to the machine."
I place the 'commander' piece on top of one of the bases in North America, whichever is closest to the odd building in Greenland.
"If I can gain control of one of their factories, I can use their infrastructure to make an army of...well, whatever you can imagine." 
I let that sink in for a moment. Certainly, these factories are unlikely to be standard issue human technology, but that shouldn't prevent me from being able to crack one.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*Horizon World (Sort Of)*




> "Oh...you're welcome! I was investigating the portal. I didn't expect to end up here but... might be a good thing I'm here. You seem to have problems with those robo-dinos here. I just hope nothing else...more sinister or dangerous comes here. I can fight demons... though I do not wish to encounter one again..."


"'Some trouble,' is an interesting way to put it," says Ria. "They're a part of life for us. It's honestly ludicrous that I had the thought that they might not be for you."

"You're not wrong, though," her young sidekick adds, putting away her shiv. "The big kites have been more aggressive lately, and we don't know why. Anyone we send across the channel to check never comes back. But, maybe if someone like you went..." She looks at Zenitsu hopefully.

Ria nods. "That is about what I was thinking, Shiv. I propose a deal, Mister Agatsuma. We have some gizmos in our lair here, good for tracking and for building. We can give you the tracer that we think leads to the demons' nest. If you can find it, and ideally destroy it, we can see what we can do about your... portal, I think you called it? After all, you can't go back on your own with all that water rushing through, can you?"

"What do you mean, do about it...?"

"I have some ideas. You and Torg will work out the details."


*Fallen London World (Sort Of)*




> "If we can discern the locations of their bases, we won't need to take them from the outside so long as they're relying on computers even in the slightest. I can hijack virtually any system if I know where it's located, firewalls be damned... If I can gain control of one of their factories, I can use their infrastructure to make an army of...well, whatever you can imagine."


"Ooh, I like the sound of this, at least," says the gentleman, stroking his robot ophidian. "If you would like, assuming the map is not enough to go on, I could direct you to some colleagues of mine. They have come to represent some of the machines' more imposing locations. Though, I should say, it will take some convincing for them to give up their steady source of despair."

Monokuma perks up at the mention of his favorite word. The Duchess thumps her tail and grumbles, mostly to be contrary.

*The Real World (Sort Of)*




> "What I want? I want for everyone here to go home or somewhere safe. I'm only here in this mess by accident just like you all have. I'm only trying to survive here while also helping out those I can." **SHTHUNK** "So I suggest none of you try anything stupid or both of us will regret what happens to you all."


The big guy tries and fails not to give away how much the display has weakened his resolve. "...uh, noted," he says.

"So what are you gonna do about?" says the thin guy. "How long is that weird storm gonna last? Are we gonna get pulled in?"

The little girl proceeds to stay positive. "Hey! Um, Miss Swordswoman? I think one of your friends said he was going to the, um, satellite tower thing, and then he teleported away! Then the other one just kind of wandered off downstairs?"

"To the power plant, sounds like," says the big guy. "What I really don't get is why we can't just use a damn battery radio."

"Don't say that! That's a bad word!" the girl chastises him. "We only have time for good words in times like this! That's what mom always said!"

"Yeah, uh, sorry."

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Horizon
"Demon's nest..." Zenitsu(Lucy) thought. Does this mean that demons from his world,the world he lived in the former life he was now taking the form again came to this world? Or maybe they were RS too and their reincarnations of demons,maybe of one of the Twelve Kizuki or  the demon king Muzan himself...

If it was the one of the Six upper moons...the strongest among the twelve Kizuki...does that mean Kaigaku didn't find rest in the afterlife and returned to haunt the land of the living,or rather the multiverse. Kaigaku had been Zenitsu's "brother in training" and was also trainned by Jigoro to become a demon Slayer. However Kaigaku wasn't sastified and was disgusted by the fact that the old man wanted him and Zenitsu to become both his succesors as the new Thunder Hashiras which led him to join Muzan ,becoming a demon.This event led to their mentor taking his own life out of shame. Zenitsu managed to defeat Kaigaku in the Infinity castle, Muzan's lair.
Another member,or rather former member of the Upper Moon six that Zenitsu hoped not to face again was Kaigaku's predecessor and former Upper moon Six Daki. He remembered facing her in the entertaiment district. He needed Inosuke's help to defeat her,and then again Tanjiro and sound Hashira Tengen Uzui to tske down her brother Gyutaro at the same time.
"It won't be easy,but we can do this." Lucy said mentally. Zenitsu focused on the mission.
He was scared but he had to do something about this. They had enough to deal with already.
"I'll do it. You have enough on your plate with those machines.I have enhance sence of hearing. It will allow me to find the problem easilly.  But your tools might help me as well.You can count on me." he replied with a smile.

He wished Tanjiro,Inosuke and Nezuko were here with him right now. Lucy wished Tabby was here with her right now. Lucy's younger sister second RC is that of Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu's friend and fellow demon slayer.

----------


## Aleph Null

> *Fallen London World (Sort Of)*
> 
> "Ooh, I like the sound of this, at least," says the gentleman, stroking his robot ophidian. "If you would like, assuming the map is not enough to go on, I could direct you to some colleagues of mine. They have come to represent some of the machines' more imposing locations. Though, I should say, it will take some convincing for them to give up their steady source of despair."
> 
> Monokuma perks up at the mention of his favorite word. The Duchess thumps her tail and grumbles, mostly to be contrary.


"If I execute properly  which I am not known to fail to do  they won't have a choice in the matter at all. If the map is enough to go on, then I have what I need already. If it isn't, we'll simply need awareness of what exactly is missing from the information available there so that I know what to look for."
I run a few background hashcode searches as I speak, polling my databases for information about the locations on the map to get a better idea of how accurate the markers are and how much more searching could be necessary in order to find a physical access point to these machines.
"There is no truly perfect defense even against a remote attack, but a physical attack on a digital machine is far more difficult to prevent. Locking the access terminals in a secure area won't help you when I can simply teleport behind the wall or create a chemical that's capable of corroding through your vault door."

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*Horizon: Light World*




> _It won't be easy,but we can do this._
> 
> "I'll do it. You have enough on your plate with those machines. I have enhance sense of hearing. It will allow me to find the problem easily.  But your tools might help me as well. You can count on me."


In short order, one of Ria's minions returns with the requisite gizmos. One is a small headset, somewhere between a Scouter and Google Glass both in heft and in fashion penalties. Another is what looks like an old handheld GPS, which links up with the scouter to point the way to the waypoint that Ria sent. It looks like you're starting somewhere in Southwest England and the waypoint was set to... Paris? It's not labeled as Paris - the GPS doesn't have any roads or cities you've heard of marked - but you think that's about where Paris would be.

With his fancy hearing, Zen overhears a little more speaking behind him on his way down the cliff. It seems the girl's name is Shiv, and she wonders whether it will be okay for Zen to go on his own, with the quote-unquote Seafront Tribe in the way. Ria told her that Zen can probably just fly over them with his weird warping and super speed if it comes to that, or else he'll just come back and ask for help if he gets stuck. Shiv says those are all weird things to assume. Ria tells her to go back downstairs and finish the laundry.

Zenitsu reaches the bottom of the cliff safely. The sound and smell of rushing seawater from the portal is overwhelming, and the growing pond sloshes onto his boots. Chuntaro notices that the coast is clear and flutters onto Zenitsu's shoulder to return his bauble and add to this moment of relative calm. His next challenge to to cross a wilderness full of robot dinosaurs, albeit less belligerent ones, and to cross the English Channel by himself. And possibly visit this Seafront Tribe on the way, if he feels like it.

What do you do?

*Horizon: Dark World*




> "If I execute properly  which I am not known to fail to do  they won't have a choice in the matter at all.. Locking the access terminals in a secure area won't help you when I can simply teleport behind the wall or create a chemical that's capable of corroding through your vault door."


There is plenty of good news in Nebula's data search. He can definitely do all of those things once he has access to the machines, and tracking down a facility - even based on this weird gaming abstraction of a map - should be easy enough once you are in radio distance of one. At this point, it's really just a matter of picking which continent to start on.

The bad news is that the machines and any network they may be connected to are all presently on another plane of existence. You might need to ask Liam how to deal with that part.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Horizon( Light world)
"Nice to see you again Chuntaro." Zenitsu( Lucy) told his messager sparrow. He took the crystal and looked at it. It glowed faintly. " A quarter charged. I still need to stay in this past life's form anyway. I don't know if I'll face "old demons" he said to himself,the crystal pendant around his neck once again. He hid it in the collar of his Demon Slayer Corps uniform. He didn't want to lose it in battle.Zenitsu then walked again. His journey was quite eventful. 
The robot dinosaurs  who stood in his way were quite a challenge. He did coward before a few but "Thunderclapped and flashed" others.
 He looked at the the english channel,which he now reached. He quickly knew how to cross it.
"Hold on tight Chuntaro!" he told his bird.
"Thunder breathing...first form...Thunderclap and flash!"
He blitzed across the channel and reached the other side. He looked at the other side with shock. 
He quickly focus on the GPS. "Paris is it Look's like it? " he thought to himself. "Always wanted to go there. The city of romance..." he muttered,giggling. "Nezuko...would I loved to go there...no,what am I doing?! I need to control the urges of this past life of mine. Focus!" he continued his journey,heading first toward the tribe on his way.

----------


## Aleph Null

I expected that this dream world weren't the same as the material, so with that having been confirmed, all that's left to do is ask.
"Liam, how exactly do we return to the material from here? It is time I unveiled the \(tru)|(dea)\th to these fools who fancy themselves rulers of humanity."
My sentence contains a veiled reference to the Golem myth encoded in the audio, in how the word for "truth" can be made into the word for "death" by simply removing a letter. Indeed, the truth for these lunatics is in fact death.
"I will move upon my first target as soon as the word is given and a path created."

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

*The SS Big*

The situation continues to stabilize, and the reality of the weird situation continues to sink in throughout the little camps that have spontaneously assembled throughout the ship. The wind from the portal is still howling away, but you can tune it out. Loud and strong though it may be, is not nearly big enough to swallow the Big as it did the pirate ship. As such, you get to enjoy a few more minutes of relative quiet before loud clangs and the screams of bending metal again fill the air.

Many of the tired people shout and rush further from the shipping district with renewed panic. Sam and Justine join the more adventurous of the passengers in checking out this new... threat?

At the stern of the ship, a red and blue streak dashes through the water, creating a massive wake behind it as it strikes various points in the shipping district, trying to push the Big away from the whirlpool with middling success. 

"Is that who I think it is?" Sam asks, squinting into the spray of water surrounding the fluttering figure.

As suddenly as it started, the pounding and creaking and splashing stop, and the colorful figure rises up to hang in the air before the gathered observers. That sure is Superman alright. He's got the revealing costume and everything. He pauses to think for a second.

*"I cannot move the ship all at once,"* he announces in a booming voice without introducing himself or asking anyone else. You notice a few new holes in the hull where he had already tried and failed to do just that. *"So, I will take groups of twenty at a time."* He looks at the field of ruined shipping containers for a second, but discards the thought of using them. *"...in buses and lifeboats that I will bring shortly."*

He dashes off into the sky at ludicrous speed to retrieve the vehicles of evacuation. The denizens of the SS Big are understandably divided on how to react to this, but a group led by the supportive little girl nearby quickly scrambles to gather people who need medical attention.

After he's dropped off the second bus, the sound of static again pierces the sounds of the excited crowd. The screens that Monokuma set up all come back to life. Sam turns and angrily points his vacuum at the one in the mall, but calms down confused when the image resolves to the helmeted face of Aisling. Aisling adjusts the camera in what appears to be the bridge of the Big, then bunny hops away without a word, no doubt in pursuit of her next inscrutable quest objective. A small group of mundane explorers step up to take her place adjusting the camera.

"Hey, is this working?" A loud squeak of microphone feedback confirms it is. "Okay! Everyone, it looks like we have radio now! Kinda! We can coordinate the... evacuation? Of different districts from here. So, stay tuned I guess!"

Options would include flagging down the flying man for questions or to tell him something, heading up to the bridge to make announcements, or... well, a bunch of other things, probably. What do?

----------


## Death Ward

Justine at first recoiled at the sight of the screens, almost springing towards it and slicing it in twain via Mimicry. But let out a confused and relieved sigh when the person behind the screen revealed to be someone else. Someone she had seen before in the sub, meaning someone she could somewhat trust a bit. "Oi, I know you can hear us from there through these screens!"

Her voice was coarse and her mood was foul, all due to the panicking behavior of the people around her. But seeing something more pleasant event appearing before them was giving her some hope. But she couldn't really do anything by herself without potentially endangering anyone else, her conscience would chew her out if she tried to bail.

"Can you tell us what is happening here?!" A simple question, something she could've worded a bit more... Calmly, but this wasn't the time for that, at least in her mind. And also she thinks that some of the microphones within the device were broken by the damages and wanted to speak loud and clear to effectively convey her message.

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Horizon world
Zenitsu ( Lucy) checked on the GPS device to check out his current location. He also focused his hearing for mearby threats. " I think we'll have to avoid this Sea tribe they talked about." he said to Chuntaro.Indeed there was no time to lose as it was getting late. If there was a demon in that area,the people of this world were in danger. " No running away this time." He continued to walk toward his destination.

----------


## ArlEammon

> *The SS Big*
> 
> The situation continues to stabilize, and the reality of the weird situation continues to sink in throughout the little camps that have spontaneously assembled throughout the ship. The wind from the portal is still howling away, but you can tune it out. Loud and strong though it may be, is not nearly big enough to swallow the Big as it did the pirate ship. As such, you get to enjoy a few more minutes of relative quiet before loud clangs and the screams of bending metal again fill the air.
> 
> Many of the tired people shout and rush further from the shipping district with renewed panic. Sam and Justine join the more adventurous of the passengers in checking out this new... threat?
> 
> At the stern of the ship, a red and blue streak dashes through the water, creating a massive wake behind it as it strikes various points in the shipping district, trying to push the Big away from the whirlpool with middling success. 
> 
> "Is that who I think it is?" Sam asks, squinting into the spray of water surrounding the fluttering figure.
> ...


"Okay, as much as I love being evil I have to check out the other world. I need to take care of the passengers." 

*Returning To The Real World*
It was then that Jacob met Clark Kent, aka Superman, in the air. "Excuse me. I'm not trying to bother you, but I have the power to escort the civilians in the ship to land via the magic of teleportation."
"I couldn't help but notice you bare a strong resemblance to a superhero I've read about in my world."
"Are you one of us?"

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

- - Dark World - -




> "It is time I unveiled the \(tru)|(dea)\th to these fools who fancy themselves rulers of humanity. I will move upon my first target as soon as the word is given and a path created."





> "Okay, as much as I love being evil I have to check out the other world. I need to take care of the passengers."


"One of you should be able to go back to your world, if that pleases you," the prioress says. She idly scoots the fancy green piece across the English channel. "It's mostly Lord Liam's power that matters here, him and whoever is in our... 'Light World.'" She's being vague on purpose, trying not to interfere with Jacob and Nebula's decision.

"Oh, you really want to go back theeere~?" Monokuma teases. He jumps up onto the table next to the cat, ignores her hissing at him, seizes the red piece and violently slams it down in Quebec. The move seems to be entirely arbitrary. "[[You kids have fun,]] I'm going to [[get stranded]] here to make my own way as promised!" He waves his plushie paw, trying to shoo you away. He really wants a chance to do something without you watching, even if he hasn't decided what that something is yet.

Nonetheless, Jacob's mind is already made up, his plane-shfting spell seems to work despite Monokuma's theories, and it's the only means of egress that Nebula can see. The two of you warp back to the world you came from, leaving Liam behind to manage things here. This, 'Dark World,' seems to be his element; you're confident he can handle whatever Monokuma's planning.

- - SS Big - -

You appear in the swirling waters of a whirlpool, which has long since broken and swallowed up the pirate ship you escaped from earlier. You see a glowing green portal at its center, and the enormous stern of the Big looming over its periphery. Nebula can sense some wireless signals coming back online on the ship. Jacob is the first to spot the big red and blue superhero flying around. You convey yourselves back onto the deck (somehow?) to converse and decide your next moves, at which point you see what Justine is dealing with.




> "Oi, I know you can hear us from there through these screens!"


She can totally hear you. Whether that weirdo is listening is another matter entirely.

The arguing guys and the kid take over the boring reports on how the deck is doing while Justine turns around to catch Supes.




> "Can you tell us what is happening here?!"


"By the looks of things, someone planted a series of bombs and then opened an underwater wormhole," says Superman, distracted. He carefully places a bus on a stable spot on the deck, then turns to give you proper attention. "I am sorry I did not arrive sooner. A number of cities were also targeted, and everyone was so busy with that that I didn't overhear anyone asking about the Big until... no, that is just an excuse. I will try to be more vigilant going forward."

He's not trying to be difficult, he's just not on the same page as you are yet.




> "Excuse me... I have the power to escort the civilians in the ship to land via the magic of teleportation. I couldn't help but notice you bare a strong resemblance to a superhero I've read about in my world. Are you one of us?"


That seems to make it click for him. He looks from Jacob to Justine and Sam. "Ah! One of... I suppose so, yes. Your assistance would be appreciated. Jakarta and Wellington are both prepared to receive patients and refugees now."

He pulls back to watch you, seemingly trying to decide whether he's still needed for the task or whether he should move on to something else. Not that he'll ask for your opinion out loud. Or volunteer any information unprompted, for that matter. Either he's too preoccupied to talk or he's mastered the art of being an infuriating human obstacle.

- - Horizon - -



> *High-speed blitzing sounds*
> 
> "Paris is it? Always wanted to go there. The city of romance..."
> 
> *GPS Chirp noises, and also sometimes Chuntaro chirp noises*
> 
> "I think we'll have to avoid this Sea tribe they talked about. No running away this time."


You think you spot a Sea Tribe settlement as you reach the French side of the channel. It's guarded by what looks like a lighthouse decorated with weird patterns of reflectors and the heads of dinosaurs on pikes. At your speeds, it's not tough to fly over or around the whole thing and go to your destination further inland. France, as a whole, is an unrecognizable wasteland. The Paris he approaches looks like a series of rolling hills of metal and plastic, with a massive automated factory complex at its center. More of the sawtooth buzzards circle its skies as sentries, and some of the buildings shift as he gets close revealing them to be either robots in disguise or moving fortresses unto themselves.


- - The SS Big Again - -

Should Nebula take Jacob's teleportation and connect to the world's network, xe will find images of France to be closer to their usual state. The Eiffel tower is still there, and the massive robot factory marked as a target in Liam's friends' board game is not. Not that the city is in perfect shape by any means. Some government buildings were badly bombed, and its population is abuzz with activity, speaking of lost relatives and repairs and preparations for a war with an unknown enemy. The streets are clogged with protesters and police.

The internet as a whole is abuzz in much the same way, once Nebula gets reconnected to it. Large trunks of connections have been damaged as well, making some information weird to find. Of course, separating important information from rumors and dross is still probably bigger challenge, as is usual for the last decade. What kind of information might xe focus on finding first?

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Zenitsu(Lucy) managed to bypass the Tribe's settlement by blitzing again.
His eyes widened as he saw what was suppose to be...or was Paris.
"Okay...this is NOT the Paris I saw on postcards!"
Chuntaro chirped as it try to tell Zenitsu(Lucy) to hurry. 
"I know we have to do something before nightfall!" Zenitsu replied.
He focused again,aiming for the buzzards.

"Thunderbreathing...first form...Thunderclap and flash...Eight-fold!"

Zenitsu blitzed up and striked the buzzards before to land safely. He looked at the weird moving fortresses.

"W...What is this place?!" Zenitsu said to himself.
Chuntaro pecked Zenitsu. "What was that for?!" he shouted. "I'm not scared! Well...maybe I am."
He sighs.
"No turning back,Chuntaro." Zenitsu moved forward toward this weird landscape. He tried to move toward the central complex,while trying not to get caught.
This complex,was that the Demon's nest he was told about?
He focused his enhenced sense of hearing toward the building as he tried to move closer.
The first noises he heard were the clanking of metal.
"This..building..is..a factory?" he said to himself.
He tried to pick up more sounds coming from the building,those of demonic,machine or human origin. 
The last thing he wanted was to fall into a trap.

----------


## Aleph Null

> *does teleport shenanigans*





> *world returning to the physical and connected-to-internet noises*


As soon as I have re-connected to the internet, I will poll the APIs of several reputable news sources from each of the affected countries (or at least, the ones that have reputable journalism) for headlines, using sanity checks to sort out obvious clickbaits, opinions, and unproven theories based on precedent as well as what I already know to be true. I will then tabulate the occurrence frequencies of words and sequences as well as names of locations, converting the last into coordinate data to establish a heatmap of the most-affected areas to which the media have reliable access. I will also associate occurrences with dates to ensure the information properly indicates the order in which events unfolded.



> ...You convey yourselves back onto the deck (somehow?)...


OOC: Nebula can fly and also teleport via Tesseract. Since the Tesseract is of θ(log(s)) resource complexity, it's best used for long-distance travel to get the most value out of the rather high base cost. For example, if we're talking in megajoules, teleporting one meter might cost 2 megajoules, but teleporting one hundred meters costs 4 megajoules, and teleporting one million meters would cost 8 megajoules, et cetera, so it's more efficient the farther you go in one hop. These numbers are arbitrarily chosen but just as an example.
I will first verify a location near the factory by getting an average from various sources, then choose a location within a reasonable margin of error for a nearby arrival spot.
"I'm going to attempt to take over the factory now. If I don't return in zero-three hundred hours, plug this into any computer with a solid CPU and a good amount of RAM, and preferably also a good graphics card. It contains a backup seed from which I can restore my consciousness if this body is destroyed and unable to project my mind into another machine beforehand."
I hand Jacob some sort of USB device that isn't quite a thumb drive but resembles one slightly  it's much larger, though, and appears to have its own co-processor built into it somehow. Then, as soon as he acknowledges, I will engage the Tesseract to teleport to the location calculated in the previous step.

----------


## ArlEammon

> As soon as I have re-connected to the internet, I will poll the APIs of several reputable news sources from each of the affected countries (or at least, the ones that have reputable journalism) for headlines, using sanity checks to sort out obvious clickbaits, opinions, and unproven theories based on precedent as well as what I already know to be true. I will then tabulate the occurrence frequencies of words and sequences as well as names of locations, converting the last into coordinate data to establish a heatmap of the most-affected areas to which the media have reliable access. I will also associate occurrences with dates to ensure the information properly indicates the order in which events unfolded.
> 
> I hand Jacob some sort of USB device that isn't quite a thumb drive but resembles one slightly  it's much larger, though, and appears to have its own co-processor built into it somehow. Then, as soon as he acknowledges, I will engage the Tesseract to teleport to the location calculated in the previous step.


"Alright.  Be careful taking over the factory. I can keep tabs on you, through my psychic powers. I hope that you make it, so after I'm done evacuating the people, which won't take long, I'll return." Jacob responded.

----------


## Dr.Gunsforhands

- - Earth: Nebula - -

The events of the last day, according to the news reports Nebula can access, are as follows:

- "Several cities," is probably the understatement of the decade. A flatly unreasonable number of attacks were carried out all over the world, all at once, most seemingly independently. The attacks have modest civilian death tolls individually, but Nebula can calculate that the sheer number of them combine to form a loss of life in the 7 figures and counting.

- Throughout Asia, Europe, and Oceania, the attacks consisted alternately of bombings or destructive uses of heretofore-unknown RS powers. They are being treated as terrorist attacks by insane individuals or cults. Most national governments have implemented harsh internment policies for people with RS in response.

- King Lawrence of England is said to disagree with this. He is already leveraging his influence to reverse the policies in the UK and is scheduling a summit to convince other world leaders to do the same. He has long held that Reincarnation Syndrome is a blessing, not a curse. Several news reports see him speaking alongside this Superman you've already seen, as well as a Swedish man with feathery wings.

- As of this moment in June 2026, several Middle Eastern nations have been in talks for a year or so about forming a pact among themselves to rival the EU and NATO. They deny any involvement in the attacks and indeed seem to have been hurt about as much as anywhere. Nonetheless, they seem to be taking this tragedy as their chance to assert themselves. They have announced that they are going to hold their own summit and that King Larry can go straight to hell.

- In Africa and the Americas, the attacks were a bloodbath of armed, strikingly successful coups d'etat. Groups of vigilantes, mobsters and nationalists, many suffering from RS, have taken over their local governments, co-opted military bases and locked down the highways, leaving their respective federal governments in... unenviable positions.

- A ridiculous number of submarine data cables were also attacked, rendering communication between continents somewhat slow and tenuous. Satellite footage would seem to indicate that these attacks were carried out by teddy bear pirates like the ones you've seen, which self-destructed in the process. When you cross-reference a bunch of old archived footage, you calculate that the bears' most likely point of origin is between the islands North of Jakarta. It is also the site of the single largest cable bombing, which likely served the dual purpose of destroying any evidence of the bears' construction.

Oof.

From there, Nebula has to do some digging to find a lead on the factory. The one xe selected in the game looked like it had entirely absorbed the Toronto area into its complex. Either this was an artifact of the gaming abstractions on their small board, or the machines have hidden their operation very well. On investigation, Toronto seems to still be standing, albeit worse for wear. Cars sit abandoned in the streets and all around the airport. Men with guns, some in uniforms and some not, glare at each other from across the street in front of the smoking capitol building, no longer sure who to trust. Emergency services are trying to do their thing despite conflicting instructions from competing would-be usurpers. There's a news helicopter crashed right into the mayor's window.

Scanning local social media to help filter xer heatmap to a finer extent, xe sees evidence suggesting that the attack on Toronto was a joint operation by a secessionist group from Michigan and the online Reincarnation-themed crime ring known as Team Rocket. Team Rocket's activities are always buried under pages of meme analogies saying they are to copyright infringement as the mafia was to tax evasion, but their partners in crime here are more sloppy, and Nebula traces their base of operations to an auto plant in Kitchener.

The plant certainly has the potential to build some robots. It has the capacity to construct small electronics and large parts, and to combine them into working mechanical hulks; theoretically, it would just be a matter of programming and configuring everything in precisely the right way. On inspection, the factory seems to have been left in a standard configuration for constructing the brand-name car advertised on the billboard out front. However, when xe hacks the logs, xe finds that the configuration was changed and the logging and camera functions reset numerous times in the last year, conveniently coinciding with the Michiganders' clandestine meetings. Perhaps xe should stake it out until their next meeting, which seems likely to take place within the next 24 hours? Or would it be better to make a move now, to ensure the bad guys can't do anything with it regardless? No, surely Nebula can transcend such crude binary choices. What does xe do?

- - Earth: Jacob - -

Jacob finds Jakarta in somewhat better shape than Toronto, with most of their problems stemming from a mounting case of martial law combined with the loss of all internet service that's not specifically satellite-based. Ironically, even as you bring a horde of wounded and hungry to the city square fro admission to the hospital or a host family, a lot of the local chatter seems to be that they are waiting for the Big to show up and help them. The plan seems to be to use its free satellite uplink to check in on their loved ones abroad.

- - Earth: Justine - -

Jacob vanishes with a gathered bunch of people. Seeing that the people are taken care of, Superman turns to move on to whatever he considers his next priority, but Justine needs not let him escape her questions yet again. When she yells at him, he finally caves, and relays a summary of the news much like the one from Nebula's feeds above.

*"If you would like,"* he says, actually considering you for maybe the second time since he's been here, *"I could bring you to our next briefing with King Lawrence. You could be helpful to our efforts in the coming days. After dropping Sam off with a family member, of course."*

"Huh? Hey, I... I want to come too!"

----------


## Death Ward

> - - Earth: Justine - -
> 
> Jacob vanishes with a gathered bunch of people. Seeing that the people are taken care of, Superman turns to move on to whatever he considers his next priority, but Justine needs not let him escape her questions yet again. When she yells at him, he finally caves, and relays a summary of the news much like the one from Nebula's feeds above.
> 
> *"If you would like,"* he says, actually considering you for maybe the second time since he's been here, *"I could bring you to our next briefing with King Lawrence. You could be helpful to our efforts in the coming days. After dropping Sam off with a family member, of course."*
> 
> "Huh? Hey, I... I want to come too!"


Justine sneered at the news, hoping the join in the meeting for the split chance for her to slice this King Lawrence person's head off the moment she was in range. But there were much details to consider as the populace isnt on their side and the fact that killing someone in cold blood because of what boils down to a conspiracy theory wasn't the smartest move

She then turned to Sam who she then gave more advice, well more like a warning. "If you value your life and safety, don't. You may have powers now but who knows what or who is out there. Maybe there will be someone who recognizes your Reincarnations, or worse, hates them personally. Or that an opponent seemingly designed to beat you will cross your path. You'd wont end up intact for the most part."

She sighed and summarized. "Point is, its not safe and I need to make sure you are clear on that if you want to join me."

----------


## PrinceNoctisXV

Horizon world 
Zenitsu( Lucy) continues to move closer to the factory complex. He managed to arrive near the complex and get inside. 
" What is this place anyway?" he said to himself.
He wondered if Earth was still safe while he was in this world. He had a very bad feeling. Something really bad might have happened at home.  Maybe everything he loved in this curent life of his, was all gone. He fell on his knees and started to cry. 
It always made Lucy anxious and sad when something bad happened directly or not,even before awakening her RS.

Zenitsu heard Chuntaro chirp in his left ear,which made him get a hold of himself.

Now was not the time to overthink.He could do something about this,right? 
"Don't ever give up." he whispered to himself,getting up.
 He needed to investigate this strange complex.
He focused on his sense of hearing again. " I really hope there is no demon nearby,specially any of the Twelve Kizuki or Muzan himself..." he said to himself.  What if it was another RS case who was has a friendlier face such a fellow demon slayer or one of the Hashira as a reincarnation? Zenitsu started to explore the factory,focusing his sharp sense of hearing on the entire building.

----------

