Signum Malum

[Mami Tomoe]

Okay. I got my roster up, I got my purchase log up, I've been accepted, so on, so on. But I have to get a post up, or I'm never going to. So here's this! Enjoy my mediocre writing, and reply if you feel like it. Okeh? Okeh.

Crunch. What a sickening sound... Though Mami didn't even flinch.

She felt... Helpless, for lack of a better word. Like she was bound, or like her whole body had gone numb. Only moments earlier, she had been fighting Charlotte, a witch in the Mitakihara area, and had been deep within its barrier - But as if it was but a memory, she could only recall teeth closing around her neck... Have I... Died? Is this what death is like?

Suddenly she was standing at a door - A doorbell had rung, and an elegant-sounding bell chimed through the white-and-gray hallway that had appeared in a split second. The door before her was a dark wood, with ornate gold designs along it, as if to signal the person beyond the door was wealthy, or incredibly important... And as she thought that, there stood her mother and father, with puzzled expressions. No shock was visible in their eyes... But there was some in Mami's. A gasp escaped Mami's lips - A gasp she never let slip, that she never let through her composure - And she darted forward... But something stopped her. Mami blinked and raised her hand to the doorway - What appeared to be an invisible wall stood between the long-parted family members. "We're sorry, darling, but it's not your time yet," a warm, motherly voice chimed, a chime tinged with despair.

Tears streamed down Mami's face and fell to the ground - The ground that looked like nothing but white - And she soon fell to her knees. She wanted to ask why she couldn't stay, why she couldn't be with her family... But she already knew why. Her wish... What a selfish wish it was. Static filled Mami's vision for a moment; The room turned black, the door disappeared, and a new figure was before her, one she couldn't quite make out, that spoke words she couldn't understand. She couldn't move, as if she had been chained in place. No matter how hard she tried... Something was holding her back. But what?

Mami's eyes flew open. A pure white sky awaited her eyes, and about a centimeter of water soaked the ground around her. She heard a trickle of water and saw a fountain behind her - A beautiful, ornate fountain... But dried, salty tears coated her cheeks still. There was no time to worry about family, about what she wanted to happen. She had to worry about survival now, and where she was. More importantly, where Madoka and Sayaka were. How had Charlotte changed her barrier so quickly... And how could a barrier be this empty?

She stood on weak legs and regained her composure. Shortly after, she curtsied, allowing two rifles to materialize on either side of her legs. She picked them up by their stocks, rested them on her shoulders and began to head east without a second thought. With her usual calm eyes and warm smile, she looked as if nothing had ever happened.

[Mami Tomoe]

This post's shorter than the last... But hopefully this is all right. It's all I can put my fullest effort into writing at the moment, as I have school projects to work on. Sorry.

Splash! Mami's head perked up, the only sign that she had noticed something happening in the area. She turned around and pulled her muskets onto their target in a swift motion, slipping her fingers onto the triggers as she did so, with a relaxed but determined expression throughout. Her slight smile returned as she realized the presence was far from magical - She was receiving no signals of a Familiar or a Witch from her Soul Gem, which just about exempted her from worry on the topic. Though that didn't exempt her from worry about a normal person seeing her like this...

Something had to be done. Or was there anything to be done? This person looked... Capable, at least. Not particularly strong, but who did she know that properly represented their strength with their appearance? Mami pulled her muskets up and raised their barrels on her shoulders, with them pointing nearly to the sky. "From the looks of things, it's not," she added to the girl's comment. "Looks, however, can be deceiving, so I'll be sparing an opinion on this place until I find out more." Why was she letting herself talk to this person? Why had she not simply walked away at this point? She had tried making friends only what felt like moments ago, and how did that turn out? Clearly not well, or she wouldn't be here. But going would be rude, wouldn't it?

"I'd advise handling yourself carefully here. While it may look safe, I doubt it will remain that way." She wanted to simply walk away, keep away from this person to the best of her ability - But at the same time, there was safety in numbers, wasn't there? What if she stuck around this person for... Well, just a little while?

But who even was this person? No one she knew. She wasn't a Magical Girl, from the looks of things, so support in that way wouldn't likely be offered. Surely she would get herself killed... She turned around and began heading east once again. But isn't her being put in danger all the more reason to help her? Mami internally sighed and said, "Come with me. There's safety in numbers," she chimed over her shoulder with a warm smile. However, she couldn't help but feel a little fear, as she was deciding to team up with someone she knew nothing of purely because they were there.

But if this turned out to be a bad idea... She could always call things off and part ways, hopefully with minimal violence.

[Undersiej]

"I don't fuck with you, leave me alone."

"I'm sorry but you're coming with me. Gambling here is illegal."

Siej started coughing, his right side hurting one more time today. Last night it had been worse--but it seemed he came out in the mindscape okay enough. That or he'd merged or something, as he found his way to his clothes on this plane. Now that he'd gambled his way to wearing some magic stuff, however, it seemed the guard from before decided it was time to be courageous.

"You're coming with--"

Siej inhaled deeply and so did she, all of a sudden.

"What was that?"

The black man inhaled deeply again, and so did she.

"Got somethin' to say?"

He inhaled deeply again, and so did she. She never quite got a word in to say. In fact, she was through with them entirely now that she felt she cold ony attack or fall over dead.

Siej backflipped over the guard's staff as she horizontally swung it nearest the ground, rolling backwards and changing direction mid-roll. He was immediately off on a stolen breath (and it felt wonderful, truth be told) running from the gate leading from Camelot, still out of breath. It was strange to him that he could still run after that. And that was that. He had been warned. He felt the seal coming from the Psions as far away as another damn dimension. It wrapped itself into his spine and warmed him in a strange way. It wasn't a curse, but it was like one. It was a damn seal. He was told beforehand that if he used his powers for a week they'd snap his eye shut, but they didn't do that to him. It was possibly worse, as they didn't seem quite at full strength either and they were messing with him all coordinated to make up for it.

Best time of day for it, truth be told. For everyone but Siej. The houndman was blocked in his magic and chakras, making his maneuvers useless and leaving him unable to call either his Wyrm or his Daemon to the field. Wherever Fugo was the blue bastard had some explaining to do after that hellhound incident last week.

Everybody likes to get off but damn....

"Shut up and stop running!" It was a second soldier, a man who had suddenly appeared who spoke this, gaining on Undersiej with every step.

"I won the sword and everything else fairly! I swear."

It was true. Everything was "fair", if you could consider having a luck power and gambling with those "gullible, unfortunate fucks" by the fountain to be anything like fair. Needless to say they had felt the need to call upon those sucky Camelot squires since he'd won a sword, a gun, a map, a backpack full of goodies of the illicit kind and a crystal amulet... Perhaps the amulet could be sold as a Soul Gem? he thought, not knowing that it was in fact a Soul Gem; he simply had never seen one.

As fortunate as that was, he was running at a not-quite-so-staggeringly drunken pace across the waters of the fountain, followed by the other Camelot soldier and now he was running right at yet another, a scout. Thankfully, the man was just as short as Siej, and he jumped, his vibrams stepping onto his head. It was then that he saw them. Two figures, easy. He could usually see ahead (and in the past he'd Seen into the cosmos) headed toward two women. Neither of them looked like they could do anything about it. That is, until he saw those rifles.

"Shoot her!! Shoot her!!" She was armored and stuff... she'd live in severe pain if she was shot or something altruistic sounding like that.

He was running straight at them, hoping Mami would take aim immediately and shoot. He was running straight at them at first, then he turned slightly, running towards the gate in this little Nexus that led towards The Tangled Green.

[Mami Tomoe]

I'm entering rough territory now... I need to apply Mami's personality from here on out, rather than use pre-existing knowledge. Her strong sense of justice would make her want to know what's going on before she fires any shots, correct? Unless someone was clearly the villain in her eyes. And no one is.

Now, to finish off this pesky little notice: Sorry I've been slow with responding. The 18th and 19th of this month were busy for me, because of my birthday being celebrated with family and friends respectively, but now I should have faster responses.

Mami's newfound partner didn't seem very educated in the English language. And with a crack very reminiscent of a spine snapping, Mami realized her newfound partner must not be very educated period.

"Are you all right?" Mami asked. "That couldn't have been healthy, or safe for you," she added hastily. She had never understood why people cracked their backs, and had always assumed it was primarily a masculine thing, but she was apparently wrong. The woman, supposedly named Hyphen, curtsied and introduced herself - Something she thought only she did, and she never did it unless she was summoning muskets. She seemed quick to think, which could be a very good thing. "You're from America, are you?" Mami thought aloud. "I'm from Japan, though I'm well-versed in English, as well as Japanese. We needn't worry about communication problems, I hope," she added.

Though she couldn't act as if this situation was completely normal, though - This woman seemed like she was alive maybe two hundred or three hundred years ago, if her limited knowledge of American History was serving her well. "What year is it? I can't remember," she asked, her expression unchanging still. If this woman was from a different time than her, it may bring her closer to finding out just what this place was... And based on her looks, her way of speaking, and how she acted, she most certainly was. (Confirmation, however, was always nice.)

We don't belong here in the first place... You've got that right.

Suddenly, Mami heard running... And yelling. Something about fairness? And... Shooting someone? Calmly, she took in a deep breath and attempted to send ribbons from her outfit to tie those charging almost directly toward her - But no ribbons came. Mami let out a slight sigh and let her smile dissipate. Something was blocking her from her magic... But what? "It seems I've lost some abilities here," she thought aloud. "Give me a hand here, will you?" She looked over at Hyphen and tossed her left-hand musket at her. Mami tossed her right-hand musket into the air, curtsied once more and took a new left-hand musket, then caught the musket she had thrown into the air and dashed between the group of people that were running in their direction. She extended her muskets to face both the man leading and the two that had been chasing - She was more than confident that none of them would move an inch... But just in case, she was armed.

"Nobody's getting shot," Mami chimed. "At least until I get an explanation for what's going on here. For starters, who are you two," she gestured toward the two guards with her head - "and why are you running after this man here? Secondly, Who are you," she gestured toward Siej in the same manner, "And why might you be getting chased? What have you done wrong - Or right - That could make you a target?"

[Undersiej]

At the gate, Siej wept. He didn't cry, which was reserved for the harder of tear-jerking, but he cried a slower, deeper cry. It hurt him all the way through to be locked outside these gates which he had immediately known to be heaven. The line of people here had fallen in number dramatically as he waited with a wet face. He'd also come to the realization that he'd died in his sleep the night before, of a stabbed right lung.

----------------[/Flashback]------------------

Siej stopped, huffing as hard as he could while the two Guards behind him slowed their pace but didn't lower their weapons. In fact, they raised them at Siej, though were mindful of Mami and Hyphen's rifles. Apparently they'd seen modern weapons as they stayed well back from Siej and the two women. With great courage Siej stepped forwarids, then spoke.

"I died and went to heaven but was locked out. Woke up here and haven't stopped trying to get back my clothing until recently when I made out with this fancy sword." He unceremoniously unsheathed the weapon, The Unbalanced Blade, and tapped it lighty against the ground. He turned towards the guards and pointed the weapon at them before sheathing it. They'd tensed up when he drew it, but now that he sheathed it they could see that he didn't intend on fighting now that the ladies were helping him, or at least were trying to squash this mess.

"I was gambling, and for that I'm not sorry. I at least now have money and something to fight with other than Jade." He opened his cloak and revealed a gun on a shoulder holster overtop of his blue and flattering shirt. They didn't seem impressed, but were suddenly again wary of him.

"You didn't need to do that thing to me!" the woman said, "And why did you make me breathe so deep I saw red stars?"

"I was stabbed in the lungs!" He shouted, gasping as he grabbed his right side. It had healed at a remarkable rate, and his hindbrain apparently decided that the shout was a sign that he shouldn't be trying to regenerate right then. Unfortunately, the holes were still there even though they were now small and manageable (ish).

"You don't have to shoot 'em, I just want to know where the nearest bounty office is or mercenary hideout so I can join or somethin'. Or guard station. Or whatev'. I need a job and/or money or at least some direction now that I've landed in Hell. Or wherever this nexus is."

He blinked.

How do I know this is a Nexus.

I don't know.

Who are you?

Who do you think?

Oh yeah!

[Undersiej]

IIOOC: Double Post only because I can't edit! I forgot to do this part.))

"If you wanted to join the guards, you shouldn't have made me breathe. It kinda hurt to breathe so deeply."

"Just means you need to open your lungs, ma'am."

"You primes new?" The male guard asked Mami and Hyphen, stepping closer. He could tell that they were not from around here, though, all things considered, nobody did when they first arrived. They weren't armored, and one appeared to be wearing a bonnet. He would've chuckled if he hadn't been out of breath. These guards were new and were more apt to talk than fight unless unprovoked, so the conflict seemed resolved.

"Anyway, do you have cell phones or something someone can buy?"

"You can get communicators and Mobile Dataverse Devices cheap at the guard station. I happen to carry an extra for 100 OM."

"Gimme one then, I got the pay."

"But you're a gambler."

"Pretend you didn't see it happen." He was trying his hypnotic gaze on the woman and the man simply looked at her. She was oddly charmed by the attempt and apparently didn't see it for what it was as she nodded before handing him a Mobile Dataverse Device. She regarded the two women.

"You're all free to go, but if you'd like to be debriefed we can head to Coruscant or Camelot, as we work with them both now."

"Where?"

"You'll also probably want to visit the cartographer until you get familiar with the Verses."

"The who? You mean like a Muliverse?"

"Maybe. What's a Multiverse?" The guards and Siej looked at each other confusedly, not sure what the other was talking about though Siej had an idea of what this Omniverse was considering him once having been a roleplayer. That must be where this place was, on some level at least. And perhaps that portal was the key to moving between the Verses. He didn't quite know or understand yet, but he was intrigued. Maybe the two women knew more. He looked at them for guidance, wordlessly.

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami wasn't exactly the most interested in the conversation at hand - Only one thing so far had fully captured her attention (Though maybe nothing was interesting her by comparison). She was glad that things had been resolved peacefully, yes. She was paying attention, yes. But she was still dwelling on the 'Died and went to Heaven, but was locked out' part. While she appeared to just be relaxing herself, getting out of the battle-ready state she had just been in, but in reality she was completely shocked. Was this Purgatory? She wasn't the most educated when it came to religion, but she was pretty sure this was close, at least based on what she knew thus far. It was discomforting, at the least, but it was a slight reassurance, knowing that she might just get accepted into Heaven eventually, even after being a Magical Girl and all. It wasn't the most clean lines of work, but she had done it well enough to deserve Heaven, hadn't she?

She internally shrugged. It was a possibility, at least.

Hell? Did he just say this was Hell? People really did seem to assume this place had religious implications, didn't they? Her included, even though she thought little of what happened after death for most humans. For Magical Girls, obviously she thought about it, but otherwise... No, not really.

The topic of joining the guards rose, and Mami immediately dispelled her rifles, causing them to splinter into pieces, then disappear - The one she had passed off to Hyphen included. "We won't be needing those for a while. I'll give you another if the need arises," she explained. "I'm afraid I have no interest in joining any guards - I'm just going to see myself out." She could do so much more if she worked independently rather than with a guard force. She turned to Hyphen and said, "Care to join me?" The offer was opened to Siej as well, though they didn't seem to be off to a good start. Mami didn't take very kindly to his type - Gamblers, she meant. She started heading east, as she had been heading before, half-expecting Hyphen and possibly Siej to follow... Though she wouldn't promise herself that she would.

Mami stopped and blinked - She hadn't introduced herself, had she? "How rude of me," she muttered under her breath, then turned around. "Before I go, I'll introduce myself; I'm Mami Tomoe. Pleased to meet you." Though she noticed something in Siej's eyes - What seemed like a plight for help. Though I implied it... Maybe I should directly tell him he can join us. "Come along - You're more than welcomed to."

At that, she turned to the east and started walking.

[Undersiej]

Siej smiled. It seemed things were going his way. Hayfen, or rather Hyphen, introduced herself after Mami Tomoe and he was thrilled someone decided to stay a moment. He started up the Mobile Dataverse Device with the large button on the side and noticed it used English (at least, that's what it was in his eyes) in a jaggedy script. It also doubled as a Communicator. For a second he thought to dump the thing into the pockets of his black Kinesis Cloak, the Sigil on the back's responsive glowing with the power of the seal's magic burning brightly. But instead he kept the device in his hands, and tried to learn it. Being somewhat of a technopath, he found the device simple enough, and started a post regarding the bounties he saw on the first advertisement.

"Thanks for this! I won't Gamble along your territory I swear." He whispered: "At least while I have this and you're around."

"You better not," the female guard shook her fist at him then said, " If you're serious about joining us, you can follow him to Coruscant or me to Camelot. And by the way miss Hayfen, this is the Nexus and she's headed in the direction of Coruscant I believe. It's a big city Verse she's headed to."

"What about the bounties? It says here on this thing there are two people you're looking for nearby?"

"Yeah. Artorias and Enel have been seen together near the gate in the East towards Coruscant. If you see them, kill them or capture them. Preferentially the latter. We can pay you in Omnilium."

[Alain the Carnedge]

Parry. Slash. Dodge. Thrust. It was so easy for him now, he looked more like he was moving to an unheard rhythm rather than fighting. Alain sidestepped, following up by kicking his third target out of the nearby window, completely ignoring the man's scream of pain as blue flames consumed their body, eventually turning it to ash that was blown away by the wind. The flames spread to the building as Three fell, so Alain walked out, completely unconcerned, while waiting for his fourth and final target to notice the flames and run outside. Sure enough, they sprinted out, roaring in fury before turning to him, eyes full of pure rage. Alain merely grinned at him as he ran up, dodging the wizard's magic blasts like they were moving in slow-motion. He stabbed and hit Four directly through the heart, causing their body to be covered by a pure, yellow light. "Ah, crap..." Alain teleported as soon as he saw the light, sprinting away and flipping in an unnecessary attempt to dodge the coming explosion. Fragments of memories entered into his mind just before he realised he was looking at nothing but white, making him very quickly forgot about that. He also realised he was still in the air, falling, as well as feeling slightly ill. Reacting to the first two immediately, the blood-red blade transformed into a scythe, and he only had time to hope the 'ground' was solid before he stabbed into it.

Alain held on, the scythe tearing through what seemed to be the ground for a few seconds before stopping, at which point he let go, landed on his feet, and took Sresveltr back as the laser-esque blade disappeared, now reverting back into a sword. With the newfound safety from landing on his head, breaking his spine, or whatever horrible injury he'dve had from messing up the landing, Alain looked around, got to enjoy the amazing white scenery, saw few people staring at him with a "The hell?" expression, wish he had a camera for that...Oh. Wait. He sighed in exasperation as he judged the danger level of his current situation. Seems he interrupted a conversation and he wasn't really sure if they'd be happy about it. Alain'd usually look at their weapons, but it was pretty evident he was going to lose if he initiated a fight. He didn't feel that great, they looked fine, he was outnumbered, there was only one real outcome. So the best course of action was to try and start up the conversation that was presumably going on.. He hoped it might give him some clues as to where he was, what to do, anything.

Alain cracked his fingers on his neck then put his hands in his pockets before speaking."Oh, don't let me interrupt you. By all means, continue your conversation."

[Mami Tomoe]

Sorry I took a while to respond. Busy, busy, busy Mami...

So Hyphen was staying behind. Siej was occupied otherwise, it seemed. And... Someone else had appeared. She glanced over her shoulder to see precisely who it was that had appeared... But it was no one she knew. They seemed to be putting away their weapons, so it seemed no hostility was growing between them, at least nothing she needed to handle. Knowing she would be on her own was a little relaxing - However, she would need to watch her own back, as usual, since she wouldn't have someone else to do that job. It was nice to have someone that could watch your back, yes, but it wasn't nice to worry about someone else's fate under your own watch... Even though it was the kind of thing Mami did every day. Rather, had done.

As she grew further from the group, she broke into a light jog.

Things wouldn't be the same again, would they? Not unless she found a way out of this place. And the opening she had seen in the direction she was heading seemed to be a fitting lead. She didn't know exactly where it would go... But she was confident it would help her. If it wouldn't, and there were people in the area... Well, that just wouldn't make sense. Why leave something hazardous open for the public? Mami shrugged internally. Being left to her own thoughts was almost painful. While it helped her focus, not having anyone to talk to... It was hard to have someone sneak up on her when everything was white.

It gave her time to think about what had happened, at least. It's not your time yet. The sadness, what felt almost like bitter resentment in her mother's tone, filled Mami's ears. She shut her eyes tight, as if she could block the memory away if she didn't think about it... But that would likely stay with her forever.

...But maybe it would have helped to stay back with the others, rather than run ahead in the direction she originally thought was good to head in. Was traveling blindly really the best way to do things? No, not by any means. But it was better than attaching herself to a group she might not see live for very long. Though there were things that had been said, as she had slipped out of earshot, that she didn't understand. She promised herself that she would figure things out later, somehow... But not now. Going back would just slow her down. Besides, she had survived for more than a year hunting Witches - What could stop her from surviving a little longer?

From the looks of things, the walk to the opening she could see would take a while... But she was already pretty far along on her way. Maybe it would take another hour and a half of walking, if she slowed down her pace.

I don't think getting out of here will be as easy as just walking out of the opening up ahead... There's going to be a lot more of a journey ahead of me. I'm sure of it.

[Mami Tomoe]

OK... Since posting speed belly-flopped, I'm gonna do a thing. If anyone else wants to follow suit, that would be fantastic~
Also, since Mami talking to herself would be weird and not exactly in-character, thoughts take the place of speaking, if that's all right.

Mami didn't feel like she was getting anywhere (But she still trekked onward with confidence). Then again, what could she scale things by? Here she was like a simple drawing on a blank canvas - She couldn't scale anything, aside from maybe by the group behind her, that still seemed content to talk amongst themselves. They only appeared to be little coloured dots on the nonexistent horizon at this point, while the Fountain continued spouting what she assumed was water behind them. While she appeared to be quite far along her way, she didn't feel one bit like she had made progress... Maybe that was the nature of this place? Perhaps it wore down travelers trapped inside by keeping a glimmer of hope dangling in the distance, never moving an inch closer, until they took their last, exhausted breath...

That was depressing. At that, she pushed the thought aside but not out of her mind. It might be useful later.

Mami broke from a jog into a run, hoping she could get to the opening just a little faster if she put in more effort. Fire raced through her lungs, as she had been moving for longer than she was usually comfortable with - Which was a lot, as she was used to traveling a lot for hunting Witches. Though this seemed like a lot more. While hunting Witches usually involved a lot of vertical climbing, like reaching for the rooftops and going underground or into sewers on rare, unpleasant occasions, this was just straight, horizontal travel. Excruciating, boring horizontal travel. Like cross-country, but worse. There wasn't even anyone to try and talk to, or even to look at, aside from the ever-distant group from before. And trying to talk to them for any period of time would probably make her lose her voice.

Perhaps this wasn't all that bad. Being on her own was something she was used to as a Magical Girl - Most had territorial and moral disputes regularly, and this was no exception (Aside from her being the only Magical Girl here). She didn't work well with others, either. I'd probably be a little more comfortable here if I had a few answers... But I don't see answers coming any time soon.

Suddenly Mami felt a sharp pain in her temples, like she had been shot through the head. Omni's voice echoed through her mind - Everything he said felt familiar, like a memory... But she didn't recall ever hearing any of it. As she felt the possible memories pulse through her head, she tried to piece things together - Omnilium can get me whatever I need here. People here want Omnilium, and will possibly kill for it. There are others... Possibly other Magical Girls, and depending on my luck, I might need to fight them. As long as I remain 'interesting', I'll be reborn. Omni's going to be watching me... And waiting. But for what?

Well, first, it would help if I knew what 'being interesting' meant in this case...

This left more questions than answers, and that simply wouldn't do. Besides, how discomforting was that, knowing someone was watching you? While she was somewhat used to Kyubey looking over her sometimes while she was hunting, she wasn't used to having someone always watching her, at least not so openly. Mami shrugged the thought off, stopped and glanced up with a relaxed smile. "Waiting for me? It would help if I knew where you were," she muttered to herself, then broke into a run again. If I don't know where you are, I'll just have to find you.

[Alain the Carnedge]

So since the update speed's gone straight to hell, as Mami's already said, I'll just post anyway for now.

Well, this conversation's exhilarating. were his most recent thoughts. Alain was bored. The others went back to their conversation quickly enough, though they didn't exactly look excited about it, and he got the answers he wanted through the amazing power of eavesdropping. Problem being that they then started introducing themselves to each other or talking about something else irrelevant, which meant that his interest very quickly shifted to a "who cares?" attitude. His complete indifference to the new way the chat was going let him think about how he got to White Hell a bit more, so after about a minute or two of thinking, Alain's mind started to piece it back together.

He didn't recognize every detail of the speech since he realised the group's incessant chatter was giving him a headache, but he got the gist of it. "EgOmnilium", as he was calling it, was used to create whatever X desired, X most likely would be any being identified as a "Prime" as what's-their-faces had said previously said. Of course, this is only a theory, seeing as EgOmni didn't provide any proof that I can recall, and theories needed testing before they were any use. I'm also also unable to die as long as I'm "interesting" which isn't really a help. Death'd likely have some kind of consequence anyway, assuming that EgOmni wasn't lying for kicks which'd probably mean I'll just outright die, so there was still no reason to take stupid risks like assaulting the group in front of me, obnoxiously annoying as they are. His only other options were to walk, talk to the group (he considered that less appealing than the attack), or test his theory. He decided to go with option four, imagining a vehicle fast enough to appeal to his laziness.

About five minutes of straight thinking later, Alain was reconsidering this course of action. He was concentrating for what appeared to be forever, no results, and his distinct lack of contribution to the chat was apparently starting to seem suspicious considering he was starting to get glances. He'd turned around to, against his better judgement, walk away and deal with the foot pain, but his vehicle of choice, a purple Suzuki Hayabusa bike, was sitting there. Thank god. He thought, as he turned toward the group again. Might as well announce I'm leaving.

"Well, it appears that I've forgot my script so you'll require a replacement actor. Sorry to say that my work experience with you all hasn't been all that pleasant, so forgive me if in future situations I'm not overjoyed to see you again." Alain bowed in the most mocking fashion he could before flipping onto the Suzuki and driving off to the southeast.

[Mami Tomoe]

Mami found herself drawing ever close to the opening she now decided was a gate of some kind. It was a gate, but not in the way she typically thought of one. It had no door, and she had generally thought gates had doors. So was it an opening or a gate, she wasn't sure... However, whether it was a gate or an opening, she was close to the stone half-ring. She was unsure how long it had taken to get there - It felt like days at this point - When had she ever been in a Witch's barrier that took such an excruciating amount of time to travel through? Perhaps this 'Omnilium' that her memories, which she had played through dozens of times at this point, could give her some means of faster travel... Or some food, to help with traveling on an empty stomach. Or a bottle of water, even, because while she hadn't broken a sweat, she was still pretty tired.

At this point, just about anything would be nice... Maybe she shouldn't have left her best chance at having a friend here? Or at least someone she could stand beside for the time being?

Being alone wasn't too much trouble. She was used to it. So what was the big deal now? Maybe being in a place that was nearly nothing just felt so empty that being around someone just felt so necessary. She felt tempted to try and use this 'Omnilium' to create a companion... But that felt dangerous. And additionally like she was condemning someone to her fate as well, whatever it was. Besides, who would she summon? Madoka? Sayaka? She hardly knew either of them. That girl - Homura, was it? She couldn't do that. For all she knew, that girl was a lunatic, and had nearly gotten herself killed.

...Well, there was someone. Someone she was doubtful would be happy she was brought here, or that would have to be anywhere near her... Kyoko Sakura, the Magical Girl she had worked with some time ago, that had left her on a low note. A very low note, she felt necessary to punctuate. She doubted bringing her here, to this world that was just a blank canvas, would be done with a cheery smile and a shared Pocky like old times. But then again, when did Magical Girls not have grievances with one another? Rarely. So maybe she could do this without getting into too much trouble?

In the end, Mami decided it wasn't worth the risk... At which point she stopped dead in her tracks, with the toe of her right boot skimming the center of the gate she was heading towards. Her hair flew forward as she stopped so quickly into the gate, then out again back to its normal place... It appeared undamaged, so perhaps it truly was an exit of some sort. But what was through this gate? Could she even know without going through herself? She could shoot the gate. That wasn't exactly the smartest idea, but it was an idea. She didn't have her ribbons - Which was odd, as her magic was entirely based upon ribbons - So she couldn't send a ribbon in with the hopes of it coming back with something unscathed. That wasn't a luxury she had in this place, it seemed... Which was something that made her incredibly uncomfortable.

But lots of things were discomforting, weren't they? At that, Mami took a deep breath and stepped through the gate to Camelot.

MAMI HAS LEFT THE BUILDING-- I mean, NEXUS. So I'd not recommend posting here expecting a reply from me.

[Alain the Carnedge]

This was a lot longer than I originally thought it would be, but whatever. Alain is out of the Nexus.

Glad I decided to drive, walking would've driven me insane. Alain welcomed the change of standing to riding a bike. It was something to keep his attention on, and his travel distance was already significantly further than he would've been walking. His only problem was that his bike seemed to be locked at 80MPH and never went over, though it was only a minor complaint, he'd take riding a Go-Kart over walking. While abandoning the first group, or mocking them as he left, might not have been the best idea, he wasn't too concerned about it, they were way behind him at this point, and besides... .Having people around me would be helpful or possibly lead to my doom, someone might antagonize the wrong person, or get themselves into a difficult situation which would bring everyone around them down, most notably, me. I'll get some more information at my arrival spot, assuming the residents aren't hostile-Oh, speak of the devil.

He slowed down for a split second before recognizing the fresh blood on the approaching figure's tattered clothes, and while he couldn't see fangs, he already assumed they were a Vampire. Alain went back to max speed immediately, Sresveltr appearing in his right hand in a brief flash of red, the bloodsucker having very little time to contemplate his un-life choices before the bike and it's red rider drove right past, edge of the blade going straight for his throat. The vampire's scream of terror was the only sound before the connection, cut short by the blade severing the head from the body, the disembodied head spinning in the air a few times before hitting the ground. Alain drove on with the blade still in hand now that he was aware of the hostile presence. The group had mentioned that there were vampires in the Sale Doors or whatever it was called, so they weren't totally useless after all. Other bloodseekers were standing near what appeared to be the gate, and he considered for a mere second, should he just drive in and leave them be? Nah, that's no fun.

He grinned psychotically as he jumped off the Suzuki, which hit one of the vampires and stopped just outside the gate. He lunged at the nearest bloodsucker, who froze in fear as it pierced their heart. Oh, they're just novices who think they're tough. Disappointing. Novices are easily panicked, so this shouldn't take long. Alain kicked the vampire off Sresveltr, which appeared as a scythe in another red flash. The vampires overcame their fears and ran at him all at once in an attempt to overcome his power with numbers. His left arm turned completely black, as did part of the Nexus's "ground". A blue shield appeared around him as the humanoid leeches attacked, their weak strikes barely doing a thing against the barrier, the pool of darkness now igniting in dark flame. They scattered, some catching fire and running away trying to put the flames out, the others quickly burning to death, turning to dust in their desperation attack. Alain dispelled the barrier and attacked those who remained, their fear making them pathetic in close-quarters. All that remained was a lot of vampiric dust and one who didn't charge him at all. Shield, chestplate, pale skin, red eyes, all that nice stuff. Probably their leading leech. Alain approached the lone bloodsucker, dragging the scythe's blade across the ground as he walked, though no sound was made. "So, having fun there?" The vampire hissed at him and drew their blade. "You have merely fought the lowest type of vampires, mortal. Those who have just turned are fools and cowards. Those inside the Pale Moors shall soon know our Lord's, Dracula's wrath. However.." The vampire held out his hand and Alain didn't care enough to stop him. He can pull whatever tricks he likes. He won't win regardless.

A small flash of light and what looked vaguely like a walkie-talkie and a really small phone appeared in his hand. "I'm not really a social guy." Hell's he trying to pull? The Vampire shot him a withering glance. "Quiet. Anyway, you have defeated the ones who were just turned, and I wish to have a fair fight with you, so let's make a bet. This is a Communicator and a Dataverse Device..." The two devices levitated in his hand. "Defeat me, and you get these for your own use. Do we have a deal?" Alain grinned, and the vampire knew his answer before his mouth has opened. "Alright, deal." The vampire carefully put the devices near the gate to the Moors before turning around and lunging in a vain attempt to draw first blood. Sresveltr appeared as a sword again, and Alain sidestepped, hacking at the Bloodsucker's head. They barely blocked using their blade, making an attempt at a shield bash, but Alain backstepped, ran forward in a low position, using the length of his blade to his advantage, and, while it didn't hit skin, it almost pierced their armor and went straight through their abdomen. The Vampire ditched his blade and attacked using his claws and shield, relying on pure savagery. Alain didn't have much time to weigh his options, the bloodsucker's relentless assault kept him on the defensive until the leech got an opening and tore apart the left arm of his cloak, stabbing into the "flesh" under. What was underneath barely resembled flesh, as it was almost completely black, save for the glowing purple scars. The Vampire's sudden realisation that his opponent wasn't just some "mere" human had made them panic for a split second, and Alain took the opening, adrenaline overriding the pain. He attacked in a frenzy, the sudden onslaught throwing the vampire off enough that he could only defend, the blade leaving gigantic gashes in his shield. He stabbed through the leech's only safeguard and the arm behind it, the vampire's screech of agony letting him know he struck true. The vampire charged with what was left of his shield in a desperate last stand. Alain tore Sresveltr out of the vampire's devastated guard as he was knocked through the air, doing a handspring to land on his feet. The Vampire picked up his sword, one more flash and Alain was holding the scythe. The two combatants sprinted at each other with intent to kill, the vampire stabbing as Alain used his scythe to pole-vault over them, flipping and slashing downwards so the blade went into the back of the leech's neck, and tearing through his throat. Alain landed behind them, running up to the dying undead and pulling out the blade in his throat without remorse, beginning to walk toward his prizes without another word.

"You..." Alain turned around as his weapon disappeared, to the sight of the vampire coughing blood and laughing. "Maybe you should consider joining us, all those in the Pale Moors not under my lord's control shall be exterminated soon enough..." Alain ignored him and kept walking to the unwelcome sound of the vampire choking on his own blood until he expired, the vampiric dust flying back into the gate where it came from. Alain picked up the devices and put them in his pocket, wincing at the pain now that his adrenaline rush faded. He straightened his bike up before using some of his Omnilium to create bandages, which he wrapped around his arm so that any normal human being wasn't immediately hostile to him. Until his life-force had settled enough that his cloak could repair itself, he wasn't going to look all that stylish. He also created some headphones and, with some creativity, managed to make them in such a way that he could "install" the communicator and Dataverse Device into it so that if he touched the left headphone, it gave him a microphone to speak into, if he touched the right, it created a holographic screen to do stuff on. Messageboards, emails, bounties? I'm gonna have fun with this. Alain grinned as he got back on the bike and rode into the gate to the Pale Moors, exhilarated at the idea of something different from the blank slate he was on before. Don't think I'm gonna miss it for a while...

[Undersiej]

After their little talk the two guards gave Siej a stern look, but the male actually broke his hard glance into a smile when the wolfman stuck out his tongue. The young man was wondering what to do now, as the others were scattering quickly, paying him no more mind now that the threat of his run had ended. He had already decided to check up on the local bounties after he'd settled in, but he'd had no idea where he was headed. The man checked his new device, configuring it as quickly as he could as he moved to sit on the fountain's edge. Legs crossed and arms in the thinker position, he scrolled through screen after screen of settings, finding that it also served as a sort of phone. Unfortunately, he hadn't thought of acquiring any contact information from the guards so that option was out for the time being. Besides, he doubted he'd get their numbers after their little skirmish.

With a sigh he checked the message boards, posting an ad saying that he was looking for a group to take down the missing bounty heads. He wondered just how long that would actually take, considering that he didn't know anything about this 'Nexus' place he had found himself in. He shuffled in his position, smiling at the jangling of coins in his pocket. After a few minutes of searching he found an Atlas program that he quickly installed into his Datalink Device. He was forever grateful for it, despite not knowing what any of the symbols meant so far, though he noted that it also had a GPS function in it as well. From the looks of things, there seemed to be at least seven gates that led somewhere, and there were buttons on the touch-screen that showed completely different locations when pressed that led him to believe that those things way off into the distance were, in fact, portals to another realm.

If he was right about reading the symbols on screen, anyway.

He looked up, and with his (very good) eyesight could see that Mami had traveled quite a far distance ahead of him, and it'd take all of forever to catch up without using a power or something. He smiled, ready to try to break the psionic lock on his powers. He stood, stretching his arms and legs by kneeling, squatting, and raising his arms above his head.

"TruePortation."

He said it with force, and he could feel his energies rising throughout his body from his torso, spreading to his legs. However, he felt a deep cold pierce him from his spine, and felt something inside make a small noise and felt something of a 'pop' that echoed in his head three times. For a moment, he was frozen in time, unable to think, speak, or act in any way other than to move his eyes. His perception of light began to fade, and everything around him seemed to melt as the curse began to take hold of his being. Suddenly, a creature appeared, a Tengu with a smile on his face. Instantly he recognized him as Dave, a Tengu who was as tricky as he was clever.

"Oh, so you made it after all?"

Unable to speak, he thrashed from within the curse's stun lock, finding himself barely able to move milimeters. The power contained within allowed him to move more and more before he was vibrating as if Phasing. But still the curse did not fade.

"You suck, bitch. You suck, bitch. You -- suck -- bitch!"

His anger mounted, and he thrashed with greater force. All of a sudden the icy feeling in his body became more pronounced and the cloak wearing man felt the bindings that held him in place shatter, freeing him. The darkness that clouded his mind seemed to diminish, but Dave was still there.

"No, you suck, bitch!" He almost went to draw his switchsword, but thought better of it.

"..."

Dave vanished from his view, and the rest of the world took on a brighter tone, much like it had originally been. However, things took on a soft, nostalgic glow that took him by surprise and made him feel somewhat high. He realized slowly that he awakened himself psychically against the lock the others had put on him across the gap but was unsure of whether he could still use his powers. Siej stretched again before scratching his head and shaking his hands, still feeling a dark chill piercing his every fiber of being. Finally, he moved into a ready position for running.

"TruePortation!" he shouted. Unfortunately, the same thing happened, but this time he could see the darkness before it took him. He moved quickly out of the way and the entire space where he had been standing seemed to shift and stir, the air buzzing as if moving very rapidly. It was a strange curse indeed, obviously meant to lock all of his powers gained through having lived temporarily in the MIndscape, and he lamented.

"Now what? With this stupid curse I can't do anything."

He felt a pop in his lower spine, and suddenly that feeling of cold left his legs but still lingered slightly. He wondered if he was cold to the touch, though he noticed a bit of frost clinging to his lower arms that had already begun melting. He doubted it was a power or something, as he'd never been one to try the Chill Touch before. He was more at home with flames. With the pop also came a feeling of being stronger in his legs and arms, giving the impression that his natural speed had returned--but not his mystical speed. He sighed again, putting away the Datalink Device in his cloak's pocket without no more than a further glance at it. He looked around, noticing the others were gone.

Just how long have I been standing here?

He looked into the distance and saw that Mami had completely faded from view and that he was alone again. Like she had thought, he felt sort of bereaved of companionship and felt somewhat vulnerable despite being somewhat of a forced loner. He withdrew from a pocket his pack of cigarettes and lit one up, starting on his long walk towards one of the gates. With a long drag off of his cigarette he realized very swiftly that he was in for quite a long walk and quite an adventure to get somewhere even remotely close to home.