A-Myst the Forest

[Little Rose]

It took only a few moments in the hot and humid entanglement that was this jungle to completely dry Myst from her unwanted swim. She carried the towel in her hand because it was too hot to wear around her shoulders like she had thought about. The bright blue and yellow of the towel also clashed with her outfit, but in her hand, it almost looked as if she were going to the beach or a pool party. She was fortunately too oblivious to this idea that she held onto it without complaint. After all, the towel was perfect for wiping the sweat off her face.

Good thing she didn’t wear much make-up last night.

Myst has lost her lipstick though, between the lake she fell into and the constant wiping of her face. Now her lips, while a bit raw from the towel’s rougher surface, were a cherry blossom pink. She would give anything for chapstick.

The woman has not yet summoned a pair of shoes for the terrain either, and despite looking like something that didn’t belong here she was toughening out the soft spongy ground that was the earth that collected all the moisture that she and other produced to feet the delicate eco-system. Madamoselle Cassandra stopped at a tree, placing their hand on the moss-covered bark of the monstrously sized plant. She gazed out at the everything trying to gauge what she was getting herself into...

[PepsiYuuka]

She counted her steps to the seconds in her head.

Coruscant was modern, certainly, but stifling. She had taken the attempts to renaturalize Japan in her time for granted- the amount of grey, even under the sky of Tier 1, was a pain to the eye when stared at too long. It was a city of conformity. Sure, perhaps it was different below her apartment in Tier 2- but urban crime wasn't her specialty. She was just a normal woman. Even given her hobbies, there was no need to get messed up in dealings more illegal than absolutely necessary.

How this boredom had dragged her here she didn't fully understand herself. Maybe she had just snapped after pounding her head against the library table trying to apply reason to physics intended to be magic. But what she did know was that when information was unreliable, the only way to learn the truth was to find it out yourself. Risk be damned.

And that was, in short, how an unassuming physics major from T2 had found herself here. Well, she had to admit- it sure was more green.

Head snapping upwards to stare into the sky above, Renko paused for just a moment, then wrinkled her nose. It just doesn't add up, she thought to herself. Literally. The time she had counted in her own head and the time that had passed- they were different. Not by much, but just ever so slightly. She had heard tell of this phenomenon before- but as far as she could tell, there was no reason for it to be happening now. It was mere seconds of difference, but it was enough to bother her, who was supposed to always be accurate.

With a sigh she simply kept walking, pulling her hat from her head as she did so to fan herself slightly in the heat. She was beginning to regret her choice of verse to explore a little bit, though she told herself at least it couldn't have been as bad as Ashen or something. Whatever- she had her goal in mind now. She was going to figure out what, exactly, was causing this distortion around her, and she was going to find it. No way around it.

Strangely, it didn't take long.

Renko had at least enough sense to note that it was probably unusual for a girl that much smaller even than herself to be wandering around what was basically jungle. Not to mention that she, too, seemed caught in this time mess. Or perhaps she was the reason for it? She was still unsure.

"Hello," she called as she approached, keeping some amount of distance while still making herself visible through the foliage. It was a short, simple introduction- though Renko was intentionally trying to come off as nonthreatening. Then again, it was very hard to be threatened by just about the most generic, slightly boyish looking human woman ever with no remarkable traits that was carrying nothing but an unassuming briefcase and that seemed just as sweaty and lost as you. "Got a minute? I'm kind of lost."

I'm irresponsible as usual and posting here first.

Renko's full profile is here. Under Renko, obviously.

[Little Rose]

Cassandra heard the snapping of twigs and finally a voice coming out of the clearing. She looked surprised to see someone so soon appearing there. Her light brown hair had to be pulled back behind her ear before Myst could smile at the short female - not that she had any room to talk. "Bonjour." She greeted back, happily accepting conversation for normalcy. Unfortunately the topic was not the best subject choice as she did not know where she was either. Her already short stature slumped under the weight of the question, and you never saw a French girl look so destroyed. "Ah. I am so sorry. I have no idea where I am." Her accent thick and her English musical.

She looked around in hopes to help her in anyways, but couldn't find anything like a sign or even a road. Not even a beaten path.. She looked so defeated when she turned back. "It would seem we are simply, lost." She offered, as little help as that was. "I know that I came from there." She said, pointing to the distant past of her walk.

[Dane Regan]

Dane strolled through the jungle, heading roughly in the direction of the gate. He'd probably get there soon enough... maybe. "Oi, Clownpiece. How's your pet?" Dane spoke loudly, disrupting a few birds and scaring them out of their nets.

"He's obedient." Dane heard some rustling after Clownpiece spoke. "Where are we heading? I think we should go to Camelot and I can show you my Shrine and then you can meet Yuuka and Reimu and Cirno and all my other friends... But most the Shrine - I made it myself."

Dane shrugged, not looking at her and busying himself with hacking through the shrubbery. The fire didn't spread far, but there was a large circle of scorched ground about half a mile behind him. "Sure, whatever, I could use a rest stop for a while."

His ears picked up the faint sound of chatter ahead. Two voiced - but more could have been silent. He twisted around, looking at Clownpiece and China. "I'm gonna scout ahead. Just keep heading that-a-way, and we'll be cool, yo." He held his selfie stick by the wrist strap, spinning it around and then teleporting away.

Being hidden was always amusing to him. Just a feeling of empowerment. Like he had bested everyone else's senses. He ran silently, circling around the two girls. Both looked about twenty, maybe eighteen to nineteen at the youngest. Not that appearance mattered in the Omniverse, since Clownpiece was apparently older than him - but then again, she didn't act it. He shrugged, having friends never hurt anyone, and the two looked lost. The could be useful.

Drifting in, like a leaf on a stream, Dane tapped his hand against the shoulder of the girl with the French accent while removing his invisibility. "Sup."

Out the corner of his eye, he spotted both Clownpiece and China entering the small clearing, and on the other side was the Nexus gate. He didn't think much would come from the engagement, but he could be wrong. Maybe they'd recruit a new party member or two.

[Little Rose]

Cassandra was too engrossed with helping this other person to notice anyone coming upon her, despite neither having the ability to do so. When she felt the tapping on her shoulder she locked up out of fear - which has not completely subsided from her experience with the fountain - and turned around quickly. She began to backup frightfully away from him, but a tree stopped her firmly. Her hands went from her sides to folded across her chest, she could feel her heart pounding against her palm. “Mon Dieu, Monsieur! You scared me.” She exclaimed, trying to compose herself once more.

He gathered she wasn’t the sentry type. Even if she was, she clearly was more ‘Flight’ than ‘Fight’ type. The girl in question didn’t look particularly impressive at all if Dane was going, to be honest with himself. She was attractive in her own way, probably made most guys turn their heads without a second thought. However, she was timid and on the short side. He couldn’t help but imagine a rabbit who has been snuck up on and cornered by a hunter. Be the wolf or man, she had been caught off guard rather well.

Shh... Dane’s voice whispered inside her mind. With it, he sent her mind on a rollercoaster back into time, where a man once did much the same. Myst’s mind she stared back in the face of a mane with endless silver hair and long nails whose hand reached out the same way that Dane’s did. Who’s voice she heard was hard to define, but it said. ’I am not here to hurt you.’

Myst’s heart still raced, but she felt a lot more trusting at this point and even took his hand. Dane smiled as genuinely as a Psychopath like him could. “Pardon moi, I waz not expecting someone to be standing behind me.”

“That’s alright, Miss. I do that to a lot of people. What are you two doing out here?”

“I was just inquiring this young woman if she knew the way around this place..” Renko interrupted. Turning to the… Gentleman. “Would you possibly know how that I may leave this place?”

Dane blinked very slowly at the new person. If only because of how boring that was. He pointed towards the same way that Myst had earlier. “That way.” He said, giving her the broadest and possibly the rudest vague answer her could. This did not go well with Renko, but Dane couldn’t be bothered. He found the one who fearfully ran away more interesting. “What about you miss?” He brought it back around to the French girl, even pulling her along towards his friend and her pet.

Myst felt a little flushed that he was giving her so much attention but followed along as to not be rude, despite the display her escort was portraying. “Ah... I just, how you say… Arrived here? Om-” She stopped wondering if she would sound crazy…

“Ah, so you are new-new. That might explain why you are so jumpy. Yeah, Omni keeps things interesting around here.” He continued to lead her away from the tree. “This is called The Tangled Greens. It’s your typical jungle/forest setting. Not much at all here to do.” He informed the new girl.

Sandy nodded, noting he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. “And no water.” She added.

“There has to be water somewhere, logically, but that’s mute point because Primes don’t really need water for survival,” Dane informed her.

Myst blinked, before sending a musical laugh into the air as she realized the mix-up. “Non. I mean there are no large bodies of water around.” Then in an act of trust, she continued, getting a little more shy about what she had to say. “See, I can’t swim. And I almost drowned at the fountain. These two men helped me out, but it was traumatique.” Her French accent still shining through.

[China]

As they travelled, his new master had decided to name him. She (he had by this point come to the conclusion that the master and her friend qualified as actual people and thus deserved their gender-specific pronouns) had called him Afrátos... whatever that was supposed to mean. Awkwardly, somewhat afraid of having his arms sliced off with lasers again, he had informed her and her friend that he actually already had a name... or two names, actually; 'the Ceramic Beast', which had been his creator's name for him, and 'China', which had been the one used by anyone who thought the first sounded too long-winded for use in casual conversation... not that he'd ever had a whole lot of that.

Of course, the only thing the new master took from that explanation was that her predecessor had been allowed to decide his name and he had not objected then... so she insisted that his name would now be Afrátos, giving him no say in the matter. For his part, the fast food – who introduced himself as 'Dane Regan' – seemed to simply prefer to refer to him as a 'thing', which China didn't mind all that much; things weren't food, after all, so at least he didn't have to worry that 'Dane' here might try to take a bite out of him if he got hungry at some point.

He then learned that the master was known as 'Clownpiece'. The Ceramic Beast had no idea what a 'clown' was, yet if a being such as she was only a 'piece' of one, he imagined a full clown must truly be a terror to behold, and dearly hoped that he never ran into one.

It wasn't much longer after that that they came across two more foods. For a moment, China broke out in a grin, thinking that they might be about to fight again, though this time he would be on the winning side.

Alas, his hopes were dashed after Dane simply started talking to the pair... well, one of them more than the other. As Clownpiece and China closed in on them, though, he turned pleading eyes upon his master, not wanting to let this chance slip by, “Can me-me eat one? Please-please kind-friendly master?”

“Huh?” frowning, the hell fairy glanced across and down at him; the height at which she was currently flying put her not far above his head, “Why do you need more food?”

“Me staaaarving, master, not-not eating for so much-much long time, will never survive!” though his voice remained in the same breathy whisper as always, the desperation in his tone was plain to hear.

“You're eating right now.” completely deadpan, Clownpiece pointed at the severed leg clutched in one of the Ceramic Beast's left hands.

China looked at it. The limb had been intact up to the top of the thigh when he had first torn it from the corpse to bring along as a snack for their journey, though by now everything above the knee – bone and all – had been consumed. Guiltily, he hid the food behind his back... as if that could somehow cause his master to forget it was there.

“It not-not fresh-new, though. Please let get more yum-yums!?” by the time he said this, though, they had reached the others.

“No! No eating, bad Afrátos!” his new master glared at him, hands on hips.

“You don't let... your pet... eat?” one of the foods asked, seeming shocked, “Why would you do that?”

“Yes-yes,” China moaned quietly, sidling closer to the yum-yum, giving it his closest approximation of a 'puppy-dog eyes' expression, “so sad, me not get-get foods ever... so much hungry. Please let eat.”

“Aw, pauvre chose...” the yum-yum reached out, as if to give him a hug, and China smiled. His mouth formed on his face, but he chose not to open it, realising that the sight of the vast, fang-filled maw would likely intimidate his prey. Instead, it looked simply like a long, curved line in the ceramic surface... a nice, cheery smile.

It seemed like its guard was well and truly down. It would take just a second for him to sever its jugular, he was sure. China's fingers flexed, all except those still holding the old food behind his back; something else that would likely panic this one, should it catch a glimpse of it. As soon as the prey embraced him, he would act.

At the last moment, though, the two-legs food was yanked backwards by Dane. One appendage lashed out after it, but the master's friend had anticipated this reaction, so had acted quickly enough to be sure the razor-sharp claws would pass harmlessly through thin air.

For a moment, the Ceramic Beast forgot his situation and hissed in annoyance, his eyes narrowing and mouth twisting up into a snarl as he glared at the evil food thief.

Then he remembered. By that point, though, he had lost his chance to move; the swordsman was already in front of him, his expression wrathful. China leaned back sharply, trying to put as much distance as he could manage between Dane and himself, turning his eyes pleadingly upon his master, only to find her looking just as mad.

At least, for a second or so, before a sudden look of shock crossed her face. An instant later, before he had even had time to wonder what this could mean, he heard a loud shattering sound and half his vision went dark, as he was thrown to the ground.

“What the hell, Dane!?” Clownpiece yelled incredulously.

Letting out a wheezing cry of his own, the injured Prime rolled onto his front, dropping the severed human leg in his panic; leaving it lying on the ground, in full view of the two yum-yums. Attempting to scramble away before he was attacked again, a hand clutching the side of his face where one eye – along with much of the upper-left portion of his head – had been caved in by the man's punch.

Only after having rushed behind the hell fairy and pulled her down to the ground so that he could cower behind her like she was some sort of shield, did the Beast look back at his attacker.

Dane's expression had calmed, though his voice remained harsh when he responded to the master's question, “You said you could keep it under control, remember? If you can't stop it from attacking every random person we meet, it's going to have to be put down.”

“Nooo,” China moaned, pressing his face into the fairy's back, in a childlike attempt at hiding... if he couldn't see the fast one, then the fast one couldn't see him, right? “Me be much good-good, please not hit-hit!”

[Clownpiece]

Clownpiece glared up at Dane from where she’d hit the ground, the glass-like form of the beast she now knew as Afrátos cowering behind her. Or at least, as much as something twice her size could. The words the swordsman spoke were the truth. She hadn’t objected to his threat when she boasted that she could train Afrátos, but nevertheless, it left a sour taste in her mouth.

“Come on Dane,” a small hint of anger seeped into the hell fairy’s voice, almost completely masked by her pleas. “It takes a lot more than an hour to train something! You should know this!” She conveniently ignored the fact that the ceramic beast had been displaying a surprisingly level of intelligence. He knew how to speak, he (mostly) understood what they were saying, and it seemed like he had some sort of grasp on stranger concepts, like deception and such. Still, she was the embodiment of lunacy in mortals, she knew what the hearts and minds of people were like, how stubborn and difficult to change they could be, especially those struggling under the grip of madness. Surely a debatably intelligent beast such as Afrátos couldn’t be too different from humans.

“Yes-yes! Listen to master!” Afrátos agreed quite suddenly, voice filled with terror. Dane stared down at her, eyes flicking about minutely as he seemed to study her.

“...Fine,” he conceded after a moment. “But if it’s not ready by the next time we’re in a city, village, or whatever, it’s becoming a set of fine china.”

“Don’t worry!” the blonde child found herself assuring for a second time, hopping right back to her feet. “I’ll beat it into him one way or another!”

Probably not literally, of course. Afrátos was far to fragile for such a thing. Still, she had a few tricks hidden in the light of her torch she could put to use. The hell child decided to let Dane deal with the diplomatic side of things, put his words to use against the two people they’d met. She had to discipline her pet, after all. The bright purple light of her torch flared up as she turned on her heel. She knelt down, bringing herself to eye-level with the ceramic beast, a faux-grin plastered on her face.

“Now, promise me you won’t attack people without my say so~” she sang, and the light of lunacy burst forth from her torch. Afrátos stared at her with his one good eye, and though he never looked directly towards the light, she could tell it was still affecting him. Anxiety. The beast shrank back on himself even more, its last remaining ear folding backwards. “Don’t worry~” she placed her free hand against his glass carapace, soothing him even as she induced that anxiety in him. The spell she was casting slowly began to alter, and she began to let up on the panic and fear, replacing it with a foolhardy confidence. “As long as you listen to me, and only attack who I say, you’ll be just fine.” Her voice was mellow and kind.

Association was the name of this game. Sure, the hearts and minds of mortals were stubborn and inflexible, but they were still malleable to a degree, and as questionable as it was, trauma changed people on a dime. Dane had no doubt already traumatized the poor beast, he wouldn’t want to get on the swordsman’s bad side again. Now, if he associated that with panic and terror, and if Clownpiece was able to alleviate that, then he’d associate her, and her words (and hopefully commands), with positive feelings. Basic training, bad things happen after unwanted behaviors, good things happen after wanted ones. Though she had a nice little advantage; she could induce those feelings. Foolhardy confidence, panicked dread, mania and depression. A little bit of madness could go a long way....

“Alright?” the young lampad grinned innocently at her pet, still petting his ceramic head with her free hand, still consoling him. “Listen to me and I can keep you safe from Dane, and anyone else who would hurt you.”

[China]

His head felt strange. One moment he had been terrified, and the next he felt almost fearless... it was strangely liberating. In all his life that he could recall, China had been at least a little afraid of something. His creator the Archmage, and that man's many other minions, had all made it abundantly clear to the Ceramic Beast just how fragile and useless he was. To such an extent had this affected him that even after being cast out by them, and even after journeying for lots and lots and lots of time (literally decades, in fact; not that China was educated enough to know this) to find the most harmless possible spot to settle in, he had still been worried by the possibility of such simple things as having a branch break under his weight and drop him to the ground, or being knocked over by a medium-sized or larger animal...

Being as frail as the china from which his name was taken, China had no lack of things to be afraid of. In the past, those 'lesser' worries had been overridden only by his hunger and by his greatest fear of all; death by starvation. China knew that his appetite could never truly be sated; that the sharp pangs of hunger he felt could only ever be dulled briefly by his meals. He also knew that he needed to feed frequently in order to fuel the self-perpetuating spell which kept him going, yet with his body digesting food almost the instant he swallowed it, he had no way of telling how much he actually required in order to sustain himself... it wasn't like he could experiment to test it out, either; for all he knew, the first sign that the magic was fading would be when he suddenly dropped dead.

For the first time, though, that worry seemed to fade away. As the light of her torch flickered on the edge of his vision, the violet flames illuminating her face whilst one small hand rested reassuringly on the unbroken portion of his head, China found his mind filled with something he had never truly experienced until this moment; confidence. The ardent belief that he truly had nothing to be concerned about at all. So long as he listened to master, everything else would work itself out.

“Yes-yes, master, me listen much-much. Me be good-nice. Promise.” he said in response to a statement she made; asking him to behave, and promising to keep him safe in return. With his mouth having vanished entirely by this point, these quiet words came with no associated movement of his jaws.

As as he spoke, the Ceramic Beast closed his remaining eye and nuzzled against the Hell Fairy like a cat might its owner. For a moment, Clownpiece seemed surprised by this reaction, but then went along with it, wrapping her arms around him protectively and holding him close.

He wasn't sure how much time passed whilst he remained like that, contented for once under the comforting light of the new master's torch... before too long, though, his peace was broken by the sound of Dane's voice.

“Are you done hugging that thing yet? We're ready to go.” both the Ceramic Beast and his master turned to face the swordsman when he spoke up. The two foods stood by his side, smiling tentatively at the pair of them...

“'We'?” Clownpiece asked, glancing between the battle-hardened swordsman and the pair of harmless-looking girls.

“Yes, these two are Cassandra Myst and Renko Usami.” he indicated first one of the yum-yums and then the other... strangely, it seemed to China that both appeared surprised for some reason that Dane had known their names... though they must surely have told him themselves, as how else could he possibly have known? “They'd like to join us for a bit, since neither of them really has anything specific they want to do right now... and I figured that would be fine, as its not like they could possibly be any more of a hindrance than that mindless pet of yours.”

“Foods coming-coming?” the Ceramic Beast responded, tilting what remained of his head inquisitively to one side.

“No. Not food.” Dane growled, glaring at the ravenous golem, “These two are not your dinner.”

“Well, whatever.” the Hell Fairy shrugged, “If you want to drag them off to wherever it is we're even headed now then I guess that's fine.”

And so, without further ado, they made their departure. Back towards the Nexus Gate they went, despite each of them having only just passed through there a short time before to reach the Green in the first place.

Their walk was, for the most part, uneventful. Throughout the entire journey, China cast many a surreptitious glance across at his master as she chatted amiably with her friend and the newcomers. He had already been awed by the raw power she possessed, but now, knowing that she could even suppress fear and provide comfort with her magic, he found himself desperate to please her... for all he knew, she might be the only person in the entirety of this strange, new world with such an ability at their disposal... and having experienced such contentment once, he longed to do so again.

He was so fixated on this thought that it wasn't until they were more than half the way to their goal that he remembered the severed leg he had left lying on the ground back the way they had come. He was so shocked by the concept of forgetting to eat that for a minute he actually couldn't even bring himself to worry about having missed a meal.

Before long, though, he recovered and begged to be allowed to run ahead and go hunt. Having a fair idea of just how effective her latest attempt at training had been on 'Afrátos', the master allowed him to do so, provided he promise not to hunt any 'people'... people was the word she used, though judging by the way she and Dane acted, he now knew that they didn't really mean by it those that he would consider people... they meant two-leg yum-yums. It seemed that the pair of them actually really did think of those foods as genuine people, just like them...

It was a strange concept to China, the idea of considering something edible to not be food, especially if it wasn't a master, like Clownpiece, or scary, like her friend... but he would have to do his best to remember it if he didn't want to upset the Hell Fairy or get hit again by Dane.

In this instance, however, the warning was unnecessary, as he never encountered one in any case. By the time they reached the Nexus Gate, the only food he had managed to snag was a two-foot-tall, grey-furred primate with a black and white ringed tail... the headless corpse of which he currently gnawed on as they made their way back through the portal and into the eerily white landscape beyond...

[Dane Regan]

During China's post.

"Sorry about that, Clownpiece thought he'd make a good pet." Dane shrugged, he didn't care about China - although he sensed some concern from Myst.

With some shock still on her face, the girl in question came back to her senses. "Daccord..." With the limited telepathy he'd been using on her, Dane recognised that word to mean 'okay', or something similar. Although he probably could have guessed that from her tone.

"Don't worry about it." Dane waved his hand dismissively. "You're safe with us. And so is... Afrátos, if he'll behave." He was going to make a point of glaring back at the creature but decided not to.

Strangely, he could still feel her pity towards the monster. She looked at it with a sad look. "He... He will be okay? Oui?"

"I've seen him recover from worse - don't worry about it." Dane neglected to mention he was the cause of China's last major injuries. "Anyway, what's your plan? You heading anywhere?"

Myst watched China carefully, apparently none-the-wiser of his attempts to eat her. She looked at him with concern. "Non... Je ne suis pas anywhere to go. I 'ave no place to be." She finally turned to him. "Why?"

Perfect, a new recruit.

"You could stick with us. Clownpiece and I are pros." Dane roughly pointed his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing towards the hellfairy. "If not, we could drop you off at Camelot - that place is pretty safe."

At the mention of Camelot, Myst went from curiously interested to somewhat confused. "Camelot? Like ze Englan' fairytale?"

"No idea." Dane shook his head. "Only heard of that place when I got here."

Maybe someone from 'England' or whatever named the place - if Omni didn't himself.

Myst blinked, "Well... Either way... As long as you do not ask me to go into water, I can come along." She said, making a personal promise to make sure the porcelain creature is okay.

"I don't plan to head to The Deeps anytime soon, so I reckon you'll be fine. I'm not a fan of swimming either."

'The Deeps' sounded like a horrible place... "Where are you going then?" She asked, already stepping next to him to follow.

"No idea... Dunno what CP's plans are but I've got a few thoughts..." He was about to turn towards Clownpiece, hoping to get the crew moving, when he remembered the other girl. Renko if his brief telepathic skims had yielded correct results. "You wanna tag along too?" He held out a hand, waving her over.

She hopped over, somewhat more lively than Dane expected but by all means not energetic - not in the sticky jungle heat. "Sure. You lot seem like good company, I'll follow you. As long as you're going somewhere more interesting than here, anyway."

"Yeah... I'm done with The Greens too. If you picked this place at random, you really drew the short straw." Dane straightened his back, then called out to his fairy friend. He'd had enough of this forest. And fauna in general.