Miyako shifts slightly away from the girl trying to comfort her. It could be a trick to lower her guard. The chances of anyone else inside the abandoned mall at this time being trustworthy seemed rather low to her. She pointed her can of mace at the girl and flinched, causing the unsecured hard hat resting on her head to fall in front of her eyes. "Don't come any closer!"
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The raven-haired youth freezes and looks at all the little fey like this is insane. Of course, it is, since elves aren't real(right?) and they definitely(maybe) didn't make shoes. Still, the look for Jo had to continue, so Alaina shook of the shock and wrote a description of Jo on the dry erase board before showing the nearest elf.
Jo would slowly turn to face the man, a confused expression upon her face. "Excuse me? Wha- Who are you, and how did you get in here? Wait, no, that's rude. Hello, my name is Joanna Veil! Most people just call me Jo. Ummm.... Where did my friend go? I'd like to find her so we can... You know, leave, go do our own thing for a while? I'd really appreciate it if you could help me with that."
This place is looking more and more like a war zone, and less and less like a mall. What could have happened here to cause this sort of mess?
Granted, Alex is not what one would consider a trained anthropologist or archaeologist, history buff at best, but still.
While the temptation to delve further into the ruins is strong, the primary mission, such as it were, is the alleged train that comes whipping through.
He turns down his flashlight to not shed as much light, letting his eyes get used to the darkness a bit as he slowly makes his way up the spiraling ramp... though the doesn't follow it perfectly, taking a 'zig-zag' sort of approach to climbing the ramp, and minding any worn or creaking spots as he does so.
The sounds of activity inside the building are a bit unnerving, to be sure, but he has (albeit a self-assigned) mission to do. No sense in getting distracted, though that hole in the ground does get another glance before he moves along, keeping his ears open and hopefully his steps light.
"Maybe you'd get a better reception if you didn't verbally attack everyone you met"
Fleur looks at the others.
"I would be happy if you'd accompany us, we're here to look at the Silver Train, if we can." Fleur calls to the others, while inwardly panicking - there's not a lot she can do if any of them just want to push her back out the door.
Huh.
Can't say as I blame her though...
Backing further away from the questionably threatening girl, Tracy allows a fraction of her attention to follow the three-way argument brewing between the other's present before closer observation makes the 'new' girl's plight clearer. "You know, what's inside probably isn't wheelchair compliant. How were you going to handle that?"
Miyako lifts the hard hat up out of her eyes and glances at the group again, "Y-You're all h-here to see the t-train as well?"
"I hoped something would present itself, but in truth I didn't actually expect to get up there."
The man in the red coat turns to leave and pulls his hood up. “Tell me, do you have an item of personal significance? If not, you should find one soon, and keep it close at hand. It’s easy to get lost in a Nightmare without a proper anchor.” With that he is gone, like a shadow fleeing from the light.
After a few moments of thought, the older fae makes a series of clicks, and the rest of the creatures reassemble into an arrow pointing back through the door you came through.
From here you can also see the much sought-after balcony to the west, a clothing store to the east, and a young translucent woman in a nightgown on a bed of floating butterflies gently drifting toward the balcony. You can also probably see each other if neither of you jumps for cover.
Sakura immediately moves to duck behind an object as she watches the floating figure.
Dedric took a step backwards as the girl spoke to him. She was right, it was suspicious for a man his age to be following young girls in the dark in an abandoned mall. Then again he was a teacher and if he learned anything of his time here was that teachers were due a certain measure of respect. So he breathed in deeply and pressed on again. That was when he heard the reference to the train.
Of course they were here for the train.
Oh, no no. First of all, I am not a pervert. My name is Professor Dedric Silva, I teach English at the local university. Now I’m sure you are all aware that as a teacher it is my responsibility to maintain young people such as all of you safe and focused on their assignments.
Dedric took a second to breathe and assess the situation. It’s not like he wasn’t curious about the train himself it just felt irresponsible to allow these girls to pursue this unsupervised. Well he was an adult, he could supervise them.
Dedric gestured towards the girl in the wheelchair. She must have been through so much if her state was any indication. Sorrow, there’s something he could sympathise with maybe he should help her, just a bit. He sighed loudly.
I must say that as an adult I do not think it is such a good idea for any of you to be here and therefore I plead with all of you to please reconsider… that being said I don’t believe that kicking you out would prevent any of you from returning. So this is what I propose. We’ll go and find that train of yours prove that there is nothing strange about it or that it does not even exist and return safe. I can help you with that chair if you wish. Once that is done can you all please promise me that you won’t do anything such as this again?
Could be a mannequin. Could be a revenant. Could just be another trick of the light -- though how did that place get light and... oh hey, clothing store... wonder if they have a replacement hoodie in my size. We can check that out after. Focus, dangit!
He stares at the young woman heading towards the balcony, missing Sakura for the moment as he fumbles out his camera, flipping it on and taking a couple of pictures... of COURSE forgetting to turn the flash off.
FLASH!
FLASH!
And then he's blinking and muttering as he turns the camera off and the flashlight and tries to blend in with the wall, which would be sort of comical given the clothes he's wearing but not the darkness.
It takes him a few seconds to blink out the brightness out of his eyes.
BAKA BAKA BAKA BAKA! Owwww.
...And then a few more seconds to wonder why he was just swearing at himself mentally in Japanese.
Alex attempts to once more head towards the balcony that is his goal once he's not completely blind by his action, 'lighted girl on bed' presence or not.
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A professor? The "local" university was far beneath what Kiyomi would even consider applying to, but she supposed that even that lowly position garnered a modicum of respect.
"Hmph. Very well. You may escort us to our destination, if you so wish." Kiyomi was tempted to say that she did not believe in the silly rumor either, but was definitely in no mood to explain why she was actually there to these nobodies. No reason to needlessly embarrass herself.
Miyako, now shaken out of her panic attack glances at the man and scrambles to her feet. "Silva Sensei?" She had tried taking classes at Obusa University, English being one of them, but quickly dropped out completely after breaking down in front of an entire class. She wasn't sure if Dedric remembered her, having only attended about a week.
May looked around the new area with interest and frowned when she saw her clothing. "Definitely don't have anything like this in America. She looks at the strange robot then to Sora then the raven and isn't quite sure how to react, she settles for letting Sora talk while she tried to figure out anything that looked familiar or hinted at where they were.
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not hearing the little claniod looking figure at first, I go over and pick up the feathers and return, walking into Sora yelling.
"Whaaaaa... I didnt know you could speak, female Clanoid! What have you done to my surroundings?"
Escorting these "Claniods" seemed to be the name of the game until these two showed up. Piece of garbage is playing tricks with my mind... Peculiar as well that these "two" need escorting across.
I've played this game now for about a zillion times.....
Am I going MAD?!?!
Instantly, I thought that both of them or at least one could be a glitch within the gaming system. Being engrossed within the game for so long I try to think as rationally as possible.
But this GaMe....I MuSt Go On!
Trying to snap back into reality, I replay what the little one had said again..
Repeating the line again...
"Where have you taken us?"
Recomposing myself,"Hold on, did you say where have 'I' taken you both? Now I know I'm not going crazy."
"My name is Hiro, and it seems that I'm- we're stuck within this game system within the abandoned Mall. Unfortunately, it (the system) seems to feel the need to embellish my childhood life from Academy days."
The distant clock tower strikes the quarter hour, pronouncing the time to the creatures of the night. A dark haze rises around the Bay Street Mall, like an inscrutable blanket of midnight. Those who are inside will find it impossible to leave, and those who are still outside will have a difficult time getting in by mundane means.
Out past the railing, you can not only see the short section of railroad that pierces the blanket of fog, but a small crowd of girls, one of whom sits in a wheelchair, and all seem to be speaking with a man who is a bit older than you.
You also see what they see.
Vines and moss bloom into fantastic arrays of gilded metalwork with gemstone flowers. The booths and chairs of the food court are enveloped and are transformed into masterwork mahogany furniture with velour cushions. The carousel in the grand foyer can be heard, moaning to life as if from nothing more than a deep sleep. At last, when every surface in the mall has been repaired and transformed to glorious splendor, more phantoms begin to appear in the shops and corridors: finely dressed maids and servants with their faces hidden behind porcelain masks. The other phantoms seem to be reenacting an exaggerated pantomime of daily tasks- a dance that is not a dance.
Her arms spread wide, the young girl’s eyes flash open, and the butterflies scatter, leaving her tottering slowly on the railing. Not panicked or disturbed, but simply exploring the physicality of the space to find her balance.
What would you like to do?
The entire interior of the mall is now alive with ghostly activity and light. The derelict building is also restored to a luxurious extreme with gold and jewels. The back rooms begin to twist and distort chaotically.
Sakura carefully goes towards the butterfly girl, trying to stay out of site.
Yep, we've all gone insane...
Taking advantage of the new illumination, Tracy instinctively traces the fastest possible route to place herself where she can prevent this new girl from falling. Sliding her Maglight back to it's customary place is likewise all but instinct as she fits deed to thought.
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It was a rare occasion in which Kiyomi ever found herself at a loss for words. A ghost girl who travels by butterfly swarm is a pretty rare occasion. Kiyomi stammered out gibberish as she walked backwards away from the apparition; her heels betrayed her, tossing her unceremoniously on her rump.
"Wh... who are you? Identify yourself!" Kiyomi shouted out, pointing a trembling finger at the specter. Kiyomi never liked being proved wrong, and even through her naked fear she still held out hope that she was not seeing what she thought she was seeing.
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You know, had it been anyone else he was speaking with, the man in the red coat probably would have gotten a highly confused response. However, between Jo's own personal oddities and her time spent among the homeless, she was used to strange people saying strange things. Besides, on the off chance his advice worked, then Jo wouldn't be alone. And besides, it wouldn't hurt to follow it, right?
"Ah, thank you very much sir! I'll try to see this Otomeza thing after I find my friend," she said, her tone polite and more than a bit thankful. Jo did realize that the man was gone now, but that didn't mean she couldn't be polite to him after he had tried to help her. "And don't worry, I've got an important item thing! Always carry it on me. I'll try not to get lost. Anyways, I hope you have a good rest of the night! Thank you for your help!"
With that, the homeless albino girl would reach into her pocket, and pull out a poker chip on a string. Holding onto it tightly, Jo would look at the open doors, and then walked right through the darkest one. Chances were that was the one that her friend would be in. Hopefully that was what the man meant by heading into the darkness.
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The sailor pulls the camera up once more, the tell-tale hum of capacitors charging and the slight whir of mechanisms within as the auto-focus feature has some fits trying to range-find in the suddenly very bright environs. He makes an adjustment to the flash to make sure it doesn't auto-trigger, and starts pressing the trigger in almost machine-gun fashion, taking in the apparent 'servants', the girls and the older guy, the everything, only pausing briefly between presses to let the camera save the pictures to the digital card...
Honest to goodness hope some of this turns out. Otherwise, they'll AdSep me like there's no tomorrow. But who could I show this to?
...until the lens catches the girl doing the wobbly balancing act on the railing. He flicks the camera off and shoves it into his bag as he slowly approaches the impromptu ballerina with the impossible ribbons.
"Please be careful, miss. Here, let me give you a hand down."
Alex's tone is loaded with concern as he approaches the glowing apparition, tone quiet but not a whisper as he holds his hands out to offer the apparent ghost a hand.
Not on my watch, not in my Navy? No. Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed.
In the bright lights, though, the others can probably quite easily make out his tropical shirt, his khaki shorts, the exceptionally distinctive close-cut hairstyle of a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, with backpack flopping on a shoulder and tennis shoes rounding out the outfit...
Miyako jumps slightly at the sound of humming, the eerie noise drawing her attention up. She aims her flashlight at the ghostly girl on the second floor, hand shaking in fright. As the strange phenomenon seemed to spread, she gave a yelp, backing herself against the wall again. Seeing the mall transformed into a spectacle of beauty, however, her fear subsides with the banished darkness, taking in the otherworldly scene in awe.
She starts again as the carousel springs to life, but the appearance of more spirits, clad in masks is what scares her once again, cowering away from them as they moved about.
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Sora watches as the... thing moves over to collect feathers, rather than answering her question. That was something she could deal with a little better than the world shifting around her. Her eyebrow twitches for a moment, before she takes a slow, deep breath, and exhales. "I'm... not so sure that we disprove the crazy bit." she says, twitching her lips back and forth for a moment, before adding in a sing-songy voice in english, "If I leave my grin behind, remind me... we're all mad here, and it's okay," then shakes her head. "We... came to see the train. I didn't think it would be like -this-. I'd like to say I don't believe in this. I'm scared, though, so... clearly I do." she adds, after a few moments.
"So... why is it that we're in your head, instead of you being in mine? Hashimoto Sora." She says, almost as an afterthought. She wasn't at all used to introducing herself... and if he'd kidnapped the pair, it was clear he knew exactly who she was. She forced herself to breathe slow and deep again, using only her nose. No sense in panicking...
"The last thing I remember was mirrors, and you in front of a game. That's why the Chesshire kitten came to mind. Through the looking glass."
Fleur watches the ghost? girl only remembering to breath once the butterflies dissipate.
As she regains awareness of her surroundings she glances over the frightened girl.
"Hey, don't be scared, I don't know what's going on, but I don't think it intends to hurt us."
And if it does, you can probably run faster than I can. she adds mentally.
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Dedric stared at the girl that called out to him. Her voice seemed familiar but he couldn’t really place her face. Who was her? He rummaged through his memories of prior students. She wasn’t in his class currently, maybe a dropout? That’s when it hit him, of course the girl that left after having a kind of meltdown. Kurosawa Miyako he thought, he still wasn’t sure but it was somewhere to begin from.
As he was going to confirm his suspicions the fog rolled in and a humming filed the air. A chill fell down his spine as his eyes looked to the balcony. There was a girl there, pale and floating. Something was wrong it had to be. Were those butterflies? No it must be a trick of some kind, someone was playing a trick on them. Dedric quickly surveyed the place for any signs of foul play and that’s when the light started to spread, the mall was transformed before his eyes. There was no denying it now, if this was a prank it was a very good one or maybe… maybe he was going insane.
Could I be hallucinating? Insanity? Maybe a gas? Could I have been drugged? No, my head feels clear and not sluggish like drugs should make you feel. Right? That’s how drugs work? And how could I have become insane in a moment? Is that even possible? Maybe some recent trauma I can’t remember?
His mind was all over the place and it was only when Miyako yelped again that he snapped back to reality and noticed the waiters and workers now crowding the mall in what he could only describe as some mockery of what life must have been in that location some time ago. He clutched his phone in a defensive position and saw the girl balancing on the railing as well as a man dressed in a tropical shirt and khaki shorts approaching her.
At that moment he only managed to stifle the roaring laughter building up inside him by pure force of will. No doubt about it, he was insane, there was no other explanation, maybe even the girls inside the mall weren’t there to begin with.
In a sudden moment of clarity he approached one of the cushioned seats and squeezed it, maybe that way he could dispel the illusion from his mind or find some conflicting sensory information to base his sanity around. If the seat wasn't real then he wouldn't feel it when he touched it, right?
Fleur: It occurs to you that if everything has been restored, that includes the elevator.
Dedric: The chair is not only tangible, it's easily the nicest thing you've touched.
Miyako: The mace in your hand seems to be sapping the fear from your body, like a warm stone on a cold rainy day. You feel a compulsion to hold it to your heart.
Jo: As you walk down the dark and distorted hallways, you can feel a reassuring warmth come from the poker chip in your hand. Each hall you run down has only one door left open. The walls seem to be bleeding thick black ink.
Alex: The young woman pirouettes gracefully in place, a flash of silver in her hand arcs in your direction. As you watch her fall from the balcony, you realize she's just slit your throat with a straight razor. Your life is pouring from your neck, and it's hard to breath. Your blood pours down over your shirt, your chest, and your dog tags.
The girl is now falling from the balcony, a straight razor in her left hand.
Miyako tightens her grip on the can of mace at the strange, calming sensation, bringing her other hand up to clutch it, and her flashlight, to her chest. Her breathing slows to a normal pace as she feels her heartbeat regulate as well. Her panic abated, she steps away from the wall, eyes shifting to the girl as she falls.
There's another flash of fear, but the typical crippling panic doesn't set in. Instead, the accelerated heart rate and gasps for air are put to use. The rush of adrenaline allows Miyako to sprint forward and try to catch the girl, forgetting for the moment that it may just be a spirit who's in no danger at all.
"...gluk... gluk..."
The sailor attempts to stanch the bleeding with his hand and his shirt, crushing it all against the wound as he slumps to the ground.
Hang on, damnit. Hang on. ...quit your post only when properly reli--
Despite his efforts, his rational mind (as much as is remaining at this point, because cut, bleeding out through throat, etc) is fighting a losing battle against dead.
I can't die here. She has to be stopped.
Sakura screams when she sees the spray of crimson blood and rushes over. Finding the man trying to hold in his blood she desperately grabs at his throat trying to help him.
Through the blood-ridden haze Alex flops onto his side as he feels someone grabbing at his throat and with two bloodied hands attempts to grab whoever his Samaritan(?)'s hands are and press them against his neck.
"...grggl glrg...Pussssh....hrrglld...!"
What he was *trying* to say was 'Push hard'. Hopefully whoever is helping him understands that.
Dedric passes his hand over the cushion letting the feeling of the fabric linger in his fingers.
It's surprisingly soft. Does that mean this isn't a hallucination? Is this really happening? It can't be really happening there's a floating girl on the balcony!
As he looked upwards to confirm that the girl was indeed there and not just gone like some mirage he managed to catch a glimpse of that same girl leaping down from the balcony, and the man in a tropical shirt reaching for his neck desperately and slumping to the ground.
What just happened? Did she do something to him? Is he hurt? What...
In this moment he notices Miyako sprinting towards the falling girl. Without much thought he jumps to intercept her before she reaches her while also trying to place himself between the two.
Korusawa! No!
If that girl did or did not attack the man didn't matter, she has shown some unusual abilities and therefore no one should be approaching her before some verbal contact is established and her motives discussed. He wouldn't let any of the girls near a potential danger such as her.
With his hands at his throat, Alex can feel the blood-slicked dogtags almost burning with heat.
Sakura desperately presses harder despite her lack of upper body strength.
May was pretty sure she was having some kind of -serious- hallucination but it seemed Sora was having the same or she was hallucinating Sora as well or...this was going to be difficult.
She had the idea to ask Sora something that May herself wouldn't know maybe that would prove they were both in the same boat at least. "The f$%$ is a Clanoid?"
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So... not only was she dealing with a ghost, she was dealing with a murderous ghost that had just sliced open the throat of a man on the next floor up and left his blood dripping down the balcony.
Kiyomi was having a really, really bad night. In full panic mode, Kiyomi clutched her head muttering to herself. "Oh god, I'm going to die, I'm never going to see Yuki again, oh god, oh god..."
"I... don't really know. I think it might be a manga? Clan-something anyway... it makes sense with the school uniforms..." she responds, then shakes her head.
"What do we have to do to get out of here, Hiro-san" She says, looking to the person who seemed some combination of lost and crazed. 'Invest emotional ties. Make them feel special. Be friendly. If they don't get upset, you keep yourself safe for a little longer.' she thought back to the lessons she'd gotten. She'd never taken them seriously, really...
"Alright Jo," the teen said to herself in a nervous tone as she walked quickly as possible down the hall. "The only one open door thing has gotta mean that she's close now. So all ya gotta do is find her, convince her to get out of here, and everything will be fine. I mean, we can just find another place to sleep tonight. Won't be that bad, now will it? Yeah, we'll both be fine so long as we're together! Yep, everything is gonna be perfectly fine, just you watch!"
Fleur almost dashes after Miyako, before realising someone is bleeding up on the higher floor.
"Let's see if this magic elevator works then." She heads over to the elevator, and urgently pushes buttons to try and get up to the top floor.
She's not had proper first aid training, but she's spent a good deal of life in hospitals and knows how to inject someone or apply a bandage.
Miyako skids to a stop as Dedric intercepts her path, the intervention making her assess her surroundings once more, including the now red razor. She gripped her new found security blanket tighter, trying to keep herself in her uncharacteristic state calm in the presence of blood.
" You two obviously are not part of the gaming system. Lets all calm down. Sorry about before, this game is getting to me. I've been here for so..... long it seems."
At least that's what I think. NO! I'm the one with the unclouded mind, a mind that analyzes everything down to the minut detail...I'm not going to start believing in all of this hocus pocus crap! THINK STRAIGHT Hiro-san
"First, you - Clanoids are little minions that are within the game and it seems that some type of entity or alien thingy has brought us all here, inside of this game I use to play: Mischief Makers. I've played now, I don't know how many times and always get to the end and it's my mother that destroys me. Hopefully with these." Holding out the three feathers, and points to the clay pots. "by placing these in the vessel with an item that we have brought with us."
I begin to walk over to the pots and demonstrate what I was talking about...
Picking up the clay pot, I place one of the feathers inside. Placing the clay pot down ever slowly down on the ground, I then start rummaging through my bag only to find my Boy Scouts all-in-one handy dandy tool as well as an unopened emergency blanket package.
I proceed to open the package and places the blanket inside the clay pot as well.
Grabbing the pot off of the ground,
"By adding both items into the pot within this game this should give us something either completely off the wall and strange or very useful. Either way this first combo is going to be our test run."
"Now all I have to do is --- Shake, Shake, Shake!"
Shaking the pot vigorously...
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A circular design of angles and figures etches itself into the magnificent vaulted bay window in the food court. Pixel by pixel, an image of a stylized secondary school hallway fills the circle in stunning sixty-four bit graphics. Hiro, May, and Sora, you see the food court through a circular window that tears into the fourth wall of your scene. The glass bows, bends, and a small bubble separates from the surface, shooting up to the balcony of the mall.
The falling girl stops just above your heads, Dedric and Trish, and her eyes open. A piercing emerald gaze watches the two of you struggle, and laughs in a high, grating cackle. Turning in mid-air, she slashes at both of you. One of you will have to take the hit to protect the other, otherwise she will cut you both.
The bubble of illuminated glass bursts in a shower of black feathers and shouting. “Yare yare! this is like herding cats in a violin factory!” A familiar raven makes a quick pinwheel over Alex’s body. “It’s a crime that you have been denied this choice, Uoza, but this world needs you for a short time longer. Lucky, though, that the job’s half done.” The bird dive-bombs Alex and Sakura, stopping just short of them and spreading his wings. There is a bloom of azure light, and a second magic circle traces into the linoleum. Alex, on the brink of consciousness, is pulled up by his dogtags into full view of everyone but Jo and Alaina, and the blood on their surface seems to seep into the metal.
A part apart; a fate undone;
By blood and rote, I seal this heart;
Bind this spirit; turn the lock,
and rise again to keep the watch.
You’re not sure what language the words are in, but you all understood them and could easily repeat them exactly. The only way to describe it is that the raven is speaking in the one, pure language that the names of spirits are spoken in.
There was no time for you to get out of the way, Sakura. You are caught in the magical circle, and the transformation will take place in your arms. Gain 1 Magic.
After a few agonizing seconds, the elevator doors open. Fleur, you see a young girl with pale white skin like porcelain covered in old burn scars tumble forward out of the elevator. Luckily, you were waiting to one side as all people in this universe do every time they wait for an elevator because standing in front of the door, ready to spring inside, is a terrible idea that only ends in pain and social awkwardness. Seconds after her, someone young and thin-limbed falls down as if from out of the elevator shaft. Fleur, Jo, and Alaina are now in or near the elevator on the first floor.
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Despite the brightness, the burning agony... or was it a frigid cold... the senses weren't working... the dog tags... searing... but... purifying, as eldritch soothing waves washed over the hapless sailor, held aloft by the thing that most represented him.
And then an aqua light/darkness that would be impossible to describe in a normal visual spectrum erupted not only from where his throat was slit, but from his fingers, the tips of his feet, eyes, nose, mouth, ears...
TO. QUIT. MY. POST. ONLY. WHEN. PROPERLY. RELIEVED! TO. RECEIVE, OBEY, AND PASS ON TO THE SENTRY WHO RELIEVES ME ALL ORDERS OF THE COMMANDING OFFICER, OFFICER OF THE DAY, AND OFFICER OF THE WATCH ONLY! TO GIVE THE ALARM IN CASE OF FIRE OR DISORDER! TO...
His chest heaved under the strange energies rushing into and out of him, yet he did not scream in agony. Whatever arcane powers were flowing through him... they did not hurt, though they did pulse in a strange rhythm, each burst possibly leaving an after-image in the eyes of on-lookers shaded in aqua as Alex... changed.
Strange he became, though at first it could have been left as a trick of lighting, then his back arched as his flesh reshaped under the occult surges, becoming more and more feminine with each surge.
Despite this, the 'darker' side of the pulses seemed to encase the nascent energized being in what appeared to be a navy blue serafuku, tastefully lengthy with crisp military edges.
Even as this eruption occurs, his (her?) head turns towards Sakura, and despite the energy beaming out of nearly every orifice, the cast on their features is an apologetic one.
Overwhelmed with the energies coruscating through their body as they began to slow to a steady hum that was gradually diminishing, Alex hovered by the dog tags for a little bit longer, as their now aqua-tinted hair grew out to about shoulder length, facial features closer to Asiatic yet still notable for how close they resembled the sailor's before whatever happened to him.
It was an exhalation and fight for inhalation, as if they were attempting to take a breath in for the first time, versus an actual word. Their chest heaves a bit as they regain breath...
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As the wounded man began to glow and change above her, Kiyomi slowly got back to her feet, Her eyes affixed firmly to the sequence above. Some kind of magic-Kiyomi was far gone enough to accept it for what it was-was making the American into something else; something that Kiyomi recognized from her youth, a fantasy that dwelled in the depths of her most childish and irresponsible dreams.
"Beau... tiful..." Kiyomi's lips, made small by fear, grew into a wide, almost manic grin. "Exquisite! Entrancing! Is this what we came here for? Is this our reward for bearing this horror show? If I have been chosen, then I answer the call! Come, give me what is rightfully mine!" Kiyomi spread her arms wide, as if to embrace the power she was already certain was coming her way. If she needed to undergo the same brutal process the American had, she could not possibly care less.
Sakura watched amazed by the transformation of the large man became a smaller woman. The energies cascading from hi-, no her ran over her arms, a surge of excitement running through her instead of nerves or fear. Some part of her instinctively releases the girl's neck lest the more slender and feminine form be crushed under the desperate pressure she'd applied. A small thought ran through her head.
She unzipped her bag and took Tomoyo from it holding her close as her eyes looked at the girl.
"Bakana... This isn't some kind of game, Oshiza." The raven begins to lazily circle the vaulted ceiling. For the first time, with the phantom spinning rapidly through the air, and the bird making slow loops, you all notice the strange way time is being distorted in this strange environment.
The doll glows with a feint silver light, pensive and patient. With the tendrils of arcane light still hanging in the air, you feel as though this vessel is ready. You can hear the chant repeating in your head.