Hop In Losers, We’re Going On An Expedition!

[Strazio Rockwell]

Valerie exhaled a held half-breath, expelling several minutes worth of pins and needles. This feeling of shattered eggshells and fragile plates was often accompanied by one of his pupil's legendary tantrums. As one well-versed in dataverse lingo would say, he has absolutely no chill. One would be hard-pressed to find something amicable about Strazio's disposition, but Valerie cared deeply for his student. Despite the man's sour demeanor and hostile tendencies, Valerie found something strangely poetic in Strazio's tortured existence. He always found a way to progress and move forward despite the constant anguish he suffered. The weight of his childhood and resultant metamorphosis into the Avatar of Anger had no doubt ruined Strazio's mind and subsequently body. It was only a matter of time before the roaring inferno that was Strazio burned himself to cinders in his quest for vengeance.

One could only hope that he would burn only himself.

Another slow deep breath cascaded from Valerie's green-painted lips, negativity out, positivity in. The thought of a frozen adventure sent prickles and goosebumps up his spine. It had been decades since he had felt the crisp kiss of frost upon his bare flesh, and it most certainly was by choice. Few flowers, asides from the occasional icespine and chillylily, would grow in such a harsh climate. Not that he was incapable of forcing plants to grow in such climate, he very well could for where there was blood there were plants, but the thought of damning such beautiful blossoms to a terribly ephemeral existence did not sit well with Val. But perhaps the Frozen Fields would bring a nice change of pace, after all there was no telling what manner of exotic flora might exist out there in the snowy peaks and plains.

“Companions!” Valerie exclaimed, “let us abscond from this hallowed domain and enter a more frigid realm in search of adventure!”

The mere thought of new and wondrous plants to add to his collection sent the Verdant mage's mind spinning. There was no more mystery left within his home world, he had scoured every inch of the planet in an effort to experience every plant it had to offer. But this Omniverse was fresh and exciting, it was absolutely teeming with miracles of nature. And to explore its depths with the greatest of friends was certainly an exciting prospect. In fact this group seemed to be growing every minute, with several new additions on board. It was a blessing, he supposed, to have such affable acquaintances.

[Jams Bolero]

Jams, still standing near Jade as the giant who called himself "Tartaros" introduced himself and gave an irritated dragon his comeuppance, stood and contemplated on the group. He primarily focused on their anger. It seemed like everyone in this group was out for someone's throat, excluding a few like Val and the man who blew up in the distance. If this group's hostility was to continue at this rate, they would surely be found dead in a matter of hours, perhaps even minutes. Not as if Jams really was capable of mediating them, seeing as he literally just got here.

Beyond that, Jams also heard word of this group going on an expedition to someplace frozen. This certainly sends a chill down my spine. Bad puns aside, Jams begins a mental checklist of all the things he would need for a cold place. He would obviously require warm clothes, an applicable heat source, plenty of food to devour, and a good set of cool tunes to listen to. Several khakis, a few zip-up hoodies, maybe a lighter and some firewood. Oh, and a good laptop would probably do him well. Actually, upon contemplating the usefulness of a computer, Jams starts to wonder about something in Jade's greeting to Tartaros.

Jams decides to ask a quick question of the formally dressed girl beside him. "Garden gnostic? Nomadic neutrality? Those sound like usernames of some kind. Wait a second! Does this place have INTERNET?!" Although not really screaming, there was certainly an astounded tone in his voice and a glow in his eyes that obviously exposed his passion for technology. His face was simply beaming at this revelation as he stared off into the distance and waited for an answer.

[Soldier 75]

As the murky depth of unconsciousness cleared from Eric's mind, his thoughts struggled to form coherent ideas. A moment later, or minutes later, Eric could not tell, the first rational conclusion pushed to the forefront. This was a profound statement, one that was immersed in wisdom: Fireballs. Hurt. A lot. Gathering his strength, Eric reluctantly opened his eyes, gazing up at the perpetual whiteness of the "sky" above him.
The next step in this mighty quest of Eric's would most likely be the hardest: attempting to drag himself back to his feet. Rummaging through his mind, he searched for a suitable strategy. Suddenly, inspiration struck. Putting his plan into action, Eric surrounded his hands with energy, giving them a quick rub to confirm that the field was there. As Requiem fell into the outstretched palm of his right hand, he grasped the sword with both hands. He maneuvered his sword to where it rose up beside him, a silver spire of metal bordered by a vast sky of white. His hands slowly ascended its length, coming to a rest as they reached their full length. Pulling with all the might left in his sore body, the young mage drew himself up. Soon, his side was resting upright against the sword. Mustering his willpower once more, Eric heaved himself upward, and managed to get his feet underneath him.

Exhausted, he leaned heavily upon his sword, and looked up to survey the group. That dragon guy wasn't here earlier. This group is getting bigger by the minute. And it seems that he and the metal-clad knight are definitely not on the best of terms with each other. But I definitely need some help, or at least some guidance.

Beginning to hobble, Eric made his way over to the group, using Requiem as a make-shift walking stick. He halted in front of a brown-haired fellow, who appeared to be very excited about something. Collecting his thoughts, Eric started to introduce himself, pointedly keeping his hands behind his back. "Hello, my name is Eric, and I have no idea what's going on. You seem like a friendly enough guy, so hopefully you can fill me in on a few things."

[Tearen Wover]

So then one of the girls with the cool dresses gave Rebecca a note to give to Doggy Lady, but Doggy Lady was busy talking to the Mr. Armor man and then also some other people. The Green Lady was saying they should all go to the Frozey Place very right away, but Rebecca had to make sure that Doggy Lady got this note thingy first! So then Rebecca got off of the White Doggy's back and skipped over to Doggy Lady and pulled on her glitter dress a little bit.

"Daaaaddyyy~" Rebecca said, sort of spinning as she looked up at Doggy Lady. Doggy Lady didn't notice Rebecca right away though so maybe she had to say it again.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaadddyyyyyyyyyy~"

Still nothing happened so then Rebecca did it a lot.

"Daaaaaaaadddy. Daaaadddyy! Daaddyy Daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy daddy da-"

And then Doggy Lady finally looked down at Rebecca with some big eyes and Rebecca smiled and gave her the piece of paper that the pretty dress girls had gave her to give. And so then when Doggy Lady took it Rebecca ran back over to White Doggy and snuggled into him a little bit and played with his big soft paws.

[Jade Harley]

Jade briefly looked over the letter Rebecca had given her before folding it up and tucking it safely into her pocket. She would read it later, right now she had a job to do!

It was going to be one daunting task to get this group back on track, but Valerie and most everyone else had seemed so excited about gallivanting off into the Frozen Fields that Jade simply couldn’t let them down. Still, as she looked upon those gathered around in varying states of disgruntlement, her hope waned totteringly downwards until it was all lop-sized and didn’t seem much like hope at all, anymore. Not much of the situation seemed salvageable.

Come on, Harley! Jade reprimanded herself, a determined commander’s stance grounding itself in her posture. If a cute little baby caribou can get up on its wobbly legs within a few minutes of its birth in the midst of a snowstorm, then surely you can round up a few unruly people!

“Excuse me!” the Witch said, flagging down the attention of armored knights and dragons alike. Once all eyes were on her, she continued to speak: “The gate to the Frozen Fields is this way. If you want to come along, and I would be ever so glad if you did, then follow me!”

With that having been announced, Jade turned on her heel and strode off, a few of the others presumably following after her while some simply decided to go about their own business after investigating the mess of Primes and Secondaries goofing off in the midst of the Nexus. Of course, Becquerel was certain to lope along at her side, the Witch’s childhood companion and best friend sticking with her through it all. It wasn’t too terribly long before they arrived at the threshold of the Fields.

The formidable icy-webbed gate faintly howled as if there were some wintry beast residing inside, which Jade didn’t doubt for a minute. Mist wafted over its center from conflicting temperatures. Jade paused to appraise her newfound compatriots, a merry grin blooming across her features.

“Here goes nothing!” she cheered, wasting absolutely no time in bounding through the gate with all the sprightly bushiness of a squirrel on nitrous oxide. Bec followed soon after with Rebecca in tow, the claws of its hind paws clicking against the Nexus floor for the last time before it, too, was swallowed up by the daunting gateway.

===> There's Snow Place Like Home.

[Harlan Higgs]

The zombie watched the rest of the small conflicts unfold and resolve, an impassive look upon his face. Eyes shifting from person to person as they spoke, pointed, and finally left, Grundy stretched his massive arms. Jade was finally waving everyone onwards, and he would be one of the first to follow. This standing around and yelling was getting very boring, and if he didn't have a bunch of friends that might have gotten hurt clustered around him, he would have already thrown a punch.

But it seemed that the party was finally moving onwards, so the chalky monster strode confidently behind Jade, her dog, and his small passenger. Grundy was secretly very pleased that Rebecca had sang his song, and resolved to stick her right next to the floaty dog-girl on his "Smash If Hurt" list.

Traveling forwards to the huge, icy gate to the Frozen Fields, Grundy sheparded the rest of their group along the way. He even reaches out towards Karkat as he passed, intent on giving him a ride in apology for dropping him, but the grey, sticky troll just bared his fangs and hissed "Don't even fucking think about it, you mossy janksore."

Grundy humphed and withdrew his massive hand, lumbering a bit faster to catch up with Jade and Rebecca as they went through the portal, one after the other. Grundy held his stomach again and groaned in preparation for that now familiar lurch and dizziness that accompanied interdimensional travel.

===> There's Snow Place Like Home.

[King Axorn]

Axorn felt his sword knocked out of his hand and launched off behind him with a clatter as it hit the floor of The Nexus. Axorn snarled at the hulking armors response, but assumed a less aggressive stance anyways. Why did I have to run into this idiot again. Axorn thought. And he thinks he deserves my respect. Funny. I'm not the one that launched an armed robbery on a museum in the middle of a high-tech city.

"As if you deserve my respect." Axorn spat. "I'm not the one that stole from a museum."

Axorn turned and walked away, picking his sword off the ground and sheathing it. "If you want my respect, you're going to have to earn it, but I'm not letting this get in the way of the rest of my relationships here."

Axorn didn't like where this was headed, but he wasn't going to let this encounter spoil his experience with the rest of the group.

Axorn flew over to the young, dog-eared lass just as she began directing that they would now set out. Axorn complied, walking with the rest of the group to get his mind off of the encounter with the walking, metal hulk, that looked like he belonged in a completely different universe than the draconian. Axorn began pondering Omni's reasoning as he walked with the rest of the group towards the icy portal looming up ahead.

Axorn stopped all of a sudden and looked quite surprised. All of a sudden he had felt a strange sensation inside his head. Max was stirring from his unconciousness. The draconian smiled, genuinely exited of being able to contact his home. But as Axorn tried to reach out with his mind, using the invisible, form-fit mask as a conduit, he was suddenly blocked off on Max's end. Max was essentially putting him on hold for the time being.

He probably needs time to process what just happened, Axorn thought, trying to underrstand why Max had just shut him off at their first connection since his arrival in the Omniverse. He'll contact me when he's ready.

Axorn suddenly realized the group had reached the portal already and were passing through it. The draconian picked up the pace and ran through the swirling transportation device, and an all-too-familiar feeling tingled his bodily senses.