[SESSION START. AND IT'S ABOUT TIME, LEMME TELL YA'. I MEAN, ONCE, THERE WAS THIS TIME THAT*gets smacked*OW.] You are all standing outsife the great, double doors leading to the massive library of Xivilai. The walls in this place-- whever you are --are cold and black. The doors are black. The candles pretending to illuminate the hallways are black, and you get the impression that if their flames could find some way to be black, they'd join the crowd. (outside, even. Bleh.) Sayuri has just been left alone in there with Xivilai, to discuss whatever it is that she wants to discuss. At her (and Margie's) behest, you are all out here to give them some privacy. Or to let Sayuri get killed. Whatever. The young girl named Ada is not far from your group, and she seems nervous about something. [Aaaand... action.] * Robert tinkers with something on Reason, making sure nothing shook loose on the trip to the library. * Togo leans against the wall. With his taste in clothes, he blends in rather well with the decor. * Rina stares at the doors, chewing on her lower lip. * Marguerite stands in front of the door, idly picking a bit of char from Bubba's barrel. Her face is grim, and her jaw is clenched tightly. * Yoji stands with his hands in his pockets, frowning slightly. She's gonna be okay, right Marguerite? As okay as ever, Rina. At least, as any of us really are. When planning fails, pray for luck. * Yoji smiles. "I'm sure she knows what she's doing." Or something like that. * Marguerite continues to focus intently on Bubba's barrel, not looking up. * Rina hugs her arms and nods. "Hope so, Yoji." * Yoji rubs the back of his neck. "Well, if she wanted to kill us she'd have already done that, right?" That would be the logic I'm going off of. Um... Not necessarily... Maybe. Maybe not. Someone that powerful... Who knows how their mind works. Prolly. Um. I'm not really worried about that lady killing her or anything. * Shiori nods. Best be prepared for the worst. No point in worrying about it. True. The worst, Togo? The worst is she's in there torturing Sayuri, at the end of which she'll finally kill her. Then she'll sweep out here, put us all to sleep just like she did last time, and then have an eternity to work on the rest of us at her leisure. But then, I said I'd give her fifteen minutes. So. You sound almost worried. Yeah. Not being a drone'll do that to you. * Rina bites her lip harder and tears her gaze away from the door. It settles on Ada. "Hey, are you okay?" Feh. Too late to worry now. * Marguerite sets Bubba down, and pulls out her DE. She begins swiftly disassembling it. Ada looks up at Rina. "'Guess so. I think I'm gonna bein twouble when Lady finds out I helped you get out." I forget who said it... "There's no use worrying about getting dirty when you're already waist deep in shit." * Rina sighs and forces herself to relax, then walks over to Ada and kneels so she's eyelevel. A very wise man. Yeah, probably. That was really brave of you, though. * Marguerite soon has the gun's parts arrayed in a neat order on the floor. She rummages in her satchel and retrieves a lime green cloth, covered in black grease and oil stains. She begins rhythmically polishing each piece in turn. Ada seems to straighten up a bit. "Y'think so?" * Yoji nods. "Thank you, Ada. You did great." ^_^ Ada beams a little. * Togo looks on for a moment, then turns away and pulls up his shirt, adjusting the bandages around his torso. * Rina grins. "Sure do. Not everybody would even think about getting in trouble with someone like her." Ada thinks about that. "I guess." * Shiori blinks at Togo. "Are you injured?" You all hear soft footsteps from off to your left. So, yeah. I'm sorry you might get in trouble 'cause of us, though. * Marguerite pauses for a moment, clenching her eyes shut. She then wipes at her face with the rag, getting it covered in smudges. * Togo looks over his shoulder. "Broken ribs from last mission. Mostly healed, but not fully." * Marguerite whips her head up, dropping the pieces and reaching for Bubba. * Rina blinks and looks in the direction of the footsteps. Ada nods at Rina, then turns in the direction of the approaching footsteps. * Yoji looks up and blinks. * Togo turns, pulling down his shirt. * Shiori turns cautiously. A man is approaching with a tray, on which are set a ceramic bottle with a vineyard label and a squat glass bottle with something etched into it, as well as a number of assorted glasses. He is a hair short of seven feet tall, narrow of frame and slight of build. His thin, drawn face is a very stark shade of white, which makes it stand out against the surroundings. THAT looks like the alcohol the woman ordered. * Yoji blinks and looks WAY up at the man. It also looks very, very good. * Rina looks waaaay up at the man, then stands and scoots out of his way. "Yup." He has a dreamy sort of half-smile on his face. As he approaches, he notices Ada. * Robert continues calmly tinkering with Reason. "Good day, miss Ada." "H'lo, mister 'Vode." "Since the doors are closed, am I to take it that the Lady Xivilai is closeted with somone?" Something like that. * Rina blinks. "Closeted?" * Marguerite drops Bubba, and picks up the cloth and pieces again. Ada nods. "Yeah. Lady's talkin wif' somone." The tall man nods slowly. "Very well. I shall wait, then." * Marguerite doesn't look up, but says "If it's not too much trouble, would you mind breaking out whichever of those bottles is stronger?" The man smiles. "I would love to, madam, but I no table on which to serve it, and holding the tray requires both hands." * Rina glances at the door again. "Bet someone can hold the tray for you." The man nods. "Perhaps, although that could be thought of as rude." * Marguerite slips together the DE pieces in quick succession, slips it into the holster, and stands. I am not worried about whether anything is "rude" at the moment. I am worried about there not being enough alcohol in my system. I'm not sure I want to see her sober. * Marguerite holds out her hands. "I can take that." The man frowns, and then shrugs, which he manages to do without moving the tray even an inch. "Very well. I shall hold the tray, and you may serve yourself." I think you should probably do what she says. ^_^;; * Rina giggles. The man bends his knees somewhat, lowering the tray to a level that is comfortable for Marguerite. * Marguerite grabs the etched bottle, and a glass. She ponders a moment, then replaces the glass on the tray, opens the bottle, and takes a nice healthy swig. The man tries to keep a disgusted look off of his face, and almost succeeds. (IIRC, there was peach something in the one that wasn't wine, yes?) * Rina covers her mouth, unsuccessfully trying to hide her laughter. (Xivie ordered peach wine, I think.) Try not to drink so much that your hand starts shaking. * Togo goes back to adjusting his bandages... he pulls some medical tape out of his coat and starts re-wrapping his ribs. * Marguerite gasps a little, and thumps her chest. "Yow. Now THAT'S the stuff.... and my hands only shake when I'm sober." The man says, "Ah, you may keep the bottle." * Rina shakes her head, her hand still covering her mouth. * Robert finishes his tinkering and pulls out an MRE from his coat. Anybody want some food? The smallest fraction of a grin crosses Maggie's lips. "Thanks, big boy." *wrapwrapwrap* Ada looks over at Togo. She looks confused. * Yoji blinks at Robert. "That's food?" The best kind. Builds character. * Togo notices Ada staring. "Hmm?" * Marguerite takes another swig, and sits down again, placing the bottle between her legs. This time she retrieves her MP and begins disassembing it. * Robert opens up the MRE and starts munching. So you must not eat many, huh, Robert. Whatcha' doin? I go through MREs like you go through alcohol, but fast. Eew. You know those things go straight to your thighs. I broke some ribs not long ago. I keep them wrapped to keep them from moving too much while they heal. At least my thighs don't jiggle when I run. Ada tilts her head. "Why do you haveta' do that?" MREs are made from rock, and so are my thighs. * Togo shrugs. "If they move too much, it hurts, and it slows down the healing." * Marguerite raises her head slightly. "If that was directed at me, you're going to fail to have anything between those thighs." Take things a little personally? Usually. That's how the best bar fights start. I bet you don't even pre-pay. Ada blinks confusedly. "Why don't you just fix 'em?" * Togo kneels down. "Fix them? Whacha mean?" Fuck no. They keep the best scotch behind the bar, and once you polish off the bottle it makes a great hand to hand weapon. Failing that you can use an Australian table wine. * Yoji looks confused. * Rina shifts uneasily and goes back to staring at the door. * Marguerite finishes breaking down the MP5 and starts polishing it. Ada scoots over to where Togo is sitting. She reaches out her hands. "Like this." * Robert finishes the last of the MRE and tosses the packaging back in his coat. * Togo flinches slightly. ... my ribs feel healed... magic? * Marguerite starts to hurry the polishing, and then quickly begins putting the pieces back together. Ada nodnodnods. Handy stuff, that. Better than a battlefield medic. * Rina blinks and looks over at Togo. * Togo grins slightly. "I don't have any magic, so I was healing the old fashioned way." Wow. That's cool, Ada. * Togo ruffles Ada's hair a bit. "And thanks." * Marguerite slams the clip home, and slips the MP5 back in her back. She stands, takes a drink of the "peach wine" and reaches for Bubba. Ada grins. "'Welcome." * Robert holds out an MRE to Ada. "Want one?" * Marguerite frowns at the door. "Mm." Ada sniffs at it and shakes her head. "No, thanks." Your loss. Last chocolate pudding one I have left, too. * Togo pulls a finely-crafted wakizashi from his coat, and starts slicing through the bandages. * Rina fidgets. "C'mon, aren't fifteen minutes up yet?" * Robert mixes up some vaguely brown colored stuff and chows down. Just about. * Sayuri (from the other side of the door), unlocks the door and pulls it open slowly. It is fairly obvious she's been crying, her hair looks a bit worse off than normal, her eyes are still teary, and she looks nervous and tired. * Togo shoves the bandages back into his coat, puts away the wakazashi, and stands. Sayuri! Are you okay? * Marguerite looks Sayuri in the face. "You okay?" The man looks over at Sayuri. "Am I to take it that you are finished talking with the Lady Xivilai?" Are you alright? * Sayuri looks everyone over, and smiles weakly at the expressed concern. "Alive." She turns to the tall guy and chuckles. "I get the feeling it would take my entire lifetime to finish such a discussion, but for now, yeah." * Marguerite corks off the bottle, and stashes it in her satchel. * Rina rubs the back of her neck and smiles sheepishly. "Ah, yeah. So... um, how'd it go?" * Robert finishes off his 'chocolate pudding' and stands up, hefting Reason. We're glad you came out...well, mostly okay. The man nods, and walks past you all and into the library, murmuring the usual respecful things like 'excuse me' and such. * Sayuri shrugs, and dodges the man. "It went." She's alive, that's what matters. All things considered, that's a rather large miracle, so let's not count our blessings. * Marguerite follows the man in, not saying anything. * Rina opens her mouth to say something, then pauses and shuts it. She nods. * Robert stows Reason and waits for everybody to enter. * Sayuri watches Maggie, and sighs. "Yeah, everyone c'mon in." * Sayuri turns around and walks back into the library slowly. * Yoji follows Marguerite in, then. * Rina shrugs and walks in. * Shiori follows the others in. * Togo follows. * Robert steps in last and closes the door behind him. Xivilai is still sitting where she was last. The tall pale fellow walks up to her and sets the tray on a table before her. He breaks the neck off the bottle rather than uncorking it, and pours the deep red wine into three of the glasses on the tray. * Sayuri finds her previous seat and flumphs down into it. The room, for that matter, is just like you left it, too; very, very big, and filled with books on every surface that will hold them. * Marguerite snags the closest seat to Xiv available. * Rina looks at Xivilai nervously, but she walks over and sits near Sayuri. (Ada chooses to remain in the hallway, thanyouverymuch.) *** Yu-Mei is now known as Xivilai (*snicker*) * Yoji finds a seat and sits down. * Togo eyes Xivilai for a moment before sitting down near the others. * Robert paces restlessly. * Marguerite fishes out the bottle from her satchel and opens it again, taking another drink. ('Night, A... denied.) So. I've got a couple questions. On behalf of the team, really. * Xivilai quirks the corner of her mouth in a smirk. "Very well. Ask." * Sayuri leans deep back in the chair, quietly in thought. Well, last time I checked, you had us in cells. Are we going to be let out of this place? And, for that matter, where IS this place? As for where you are, you are roughly one mile under the peak of Black Mountain, which is in the southern end of the Kanefthali range, near where it curves aroung to join the Ironwall. This is where I choose to make my home. As for wheather I will let out, (here she smiles coldly), you will have to convince me to do so. * Rina glances at Sayuri, then fidgets in her seat and turns her attention back to Xivilai. That is where? Iran? Libyan Georgia? China? * Xivilai picks up one of the glasses the tall pale guy poured, and has a sip of the wine in it. The Shardae Dominion, which is south of the Empire of Elnohfey. This is about fifty trillion miles, two-hundered and thirty thousand years, and seventeen dimensions removed from where you were before I brought you here. * Robert blinks. ... well, fuck. * Yoji boggles. ... wonderful. * Rina blinks a couple times. So we're not on Earth anymore, huh. That's a hell of a commute. * Shiori blinks. Well, I've always wanted to travel. * Xivilai raises one eyebrow. "Did you trully believe you were still on your world?" I'd have figured the navy for this, though. See this world, and a few others, too. * Rina shakes her head. "Not really, but..." She shrugs, looking down at the pretty black carpet. Well, we didn't really have any way to know we weren't. ^_^;; * Sayuri sits up in her chair, and rubs her eyes. * Marguerite rubs her temples. "Yes, but at this point I'm willing to believe I'm in a universe where rap doesn't suck." * Robert blinks. Dimensional travel is not exactly fucking NORMAL where we come from. * Togo shrugs. "We were knocked out inside a castle and woke up inside a dungeon. Easy mistake to make." That's like believing in a world where MREs are gourmet cuisine. * Xivilai smirks. "Well, I would not know. You'll have to find that out for yourself." Okay, okay. So escape is out of the question. All the same, I think we all have business back on our own world. * Sayuri looks about at the lack of people (ab)using the alcohol, and reaches forward and grabs one, muttering "Never a better time, I don't think." As for convincing you... the mission we were on is an obvious botch. That two-bit carny mage is long gone by now, and in any case, he has you for backup. * Xivilai looks at Togo with an eloquent look that indicates that she wants to know why that should matter at all to her. * Rina nods and looks back up at Xivilai. "People'll be worried 'bout us." * Marguerite takes a swig from her bottle. She notes it is half gone with some displeasure. All I want to do at this point is go home, shower, and sleep until I'm sober, at which point I will wake up, get another bottle, and drink myself asleep again. * Togo eyes Xivilai, and shrugs... then starts staring at the butler, a small frown on his face. Well. Everyone should have such high ambitions. I like to keep my goals attainable, thanks. Everybody wants to rule the world. * Sayuri takes a sip of her wine, huhms, and looks at Xivilai curiously. "Soooo... what do you plan on doing with us, then, since the idea of letting us go seems foreign to ya." * Xivilai has another sip of wine. "I plan to study you, mostly. Also, the thought has crossed my mind that you ought to be punished for assailing one of my students, although I am still considering wheather to actually do this." ...study? * Rina goes pale. "Study?" Not an option. Oh, wonderful. Yes, study. You are all quite interesting. * Yoji looks at Rina, and gives a start as he understands her reaction. Yanno, Robert, it doesn't sound like YOU have much to do in the decision process. * Sayuri nods once, and falls back into her chair. "Figur'd 's much." But I might be wrong. Nerves and alcohol, and all. I'll die on my own terms. I'm interesting. Great. Peachy, even. I'm not a lab rat, and I'm not about to let myself be treated that way. That goes double for Rina. * Marguerite blinks. "Mm. Peachy." She takes another drink of the "peach wine". * Rina glances around the room. Aw, come on. You have a crystal ball or something like it. You can't take a correspondence course in humans instead? Okay, so we're interesting. I got that. But you said before we had to convince you to let us go. Yes, I did. And you can begin any time. Obviously you're not interested in our plans, futures, hopes, dreams, crap like that. So what exactly do you want to hear? It is unlikely that letting you go will have any profound positive effects on my existence, but if you can prove otherwise, then by all means do so. If you are unusually important to the world I plucked you from, that might be a convincing reason, as well. What's so interesting about us, anyways? Feh. * Rina looks over at the door. "Now I feel like I'm writing an essay or somethin'." * Xivilai chuckles. "Well, for starters, there's the girl with the iron bones and the boy who sees without the benefit of actual eyes," she says, indicating Rina and Togo respectively. That doesn't seem like a big deal for someone who can hop dimensions just like that. * Xivilai looks over at Sayuri. "And there is young Sayuri here, as well." I don't know how "important" the GCI is, or how we figure into it. All I know is I got a commander to report to, and she's gonna be right pissed if we don't show soon. Ah, but I have never seen anyone with iron bones. And so it is interesting to me. * Sayuri looks down at her cup of wine. * Togo shrugs. "I got my eyes shot out. Not much of interest there." * Marguerite takes another swig. * Robert whistles a hard little tune. * Yoji blinks. "Couldn't your magic make someone with iron bones?" * Xivilai smirks at Yoji. "It has been attempted before, with less than spectacular results." * Sayuri chuckles to herself. "There are some issues with Rina's construction, Yoji, I thought you were there to see the equipment and schematics." Clarke's law. Go fig. Well, I'm sure your world will develop technology eventually. ^_^;; * Rina shudders. * Yoji looks at Sayuri. "That doesn't mean I understood them." ^_^;; * Marguerite 's left eye starts twitching. "Eeeh. Need some of alcohol's bed partner..." She pulls out a pack of Camel Unfiltereds, and her lighter. "Mind if I smoke?" * Xivilai looks quizically at Marguerite. "I beg your pardon?" * Sayuri looks up at Yoji. "Lemme put it this way, then. If it were that damn easy, everyone would have 'iron bones'." * Sayuri then looks down at her wine again. * Rina looks over at Xivilai. She's still pale, but she speaks evenly enough. "No looking into me to see how I tick. Iron bones suck, anyhow." Smoke. Roll a drug in paper, light it on fire, get high off the fumes. Best way to kill yourself I know of. Well, I didn't think it was simple. I just thought it would be easy for a massively powerful sorceror to do. * Xivilai frowns at Marguerite. "No, you may not 'smoke', then." * Togo hmms. * Marguerite frowns. "Fuck." She puts the cigarettes back, but compulsively flicks the lighter open and closed. It lights every time the cover is opened. I dunno how important we are. We've stopped a few people from blowing things up and armies of giant killer vegetables, and in theory we'd be doing more of that if we got outta here. * Marguerite takes another swig. * Sayuri looks over at Margie, looks at the wine glass some more, and puts it down slowly. "Too tempting." Good girl. As for a benefit to you... That takes discipline. (I'm not drunk yet! Really!) * Sayuri looks over at Robert, and snorts. ( I'm not as think as you drunk I am? ) (No, I really am not drunk. The rolls prove it.) * Togo lowers his glasses. "You can see I have no eyes. Just keeping me here and watching me have no eyes isn't gonna tell you much." Scientists have this little thing they do. Studying things in thier natural habitat. *pushes glasses back up the bridge of his nose* You let us go, you can... watch us. Study us in our- what he said. Ah, but studying how you see without them will. * Marguerite takes another swig, and notes sadly that the bottle has only two or three left. * Togo taps his glasses. "These." They let me see kinda like a bat does. * Marguerite slips down farther in her seat. Her eyes unfocus. I can make out shapes and stuff, but detail is kinda sketchy, and no color. * Xivilai nods thoughtfully. "I see." It's nowhere near as good as having my eyes, but it's the best I can do under the circumstances. * Rina sighs and hugs her legs, not caring if her shoes touch the chair. Eh. How'mportant're humans anyway.... in the long run? * Robert puts a hand on Rina's shoulder and squeezes lightly. * Yoji looks at Marguerite. "What could be more important than people?" * Togo reaches into his coat and pulls out a glasses case. "If you're really that curious, I have a spare pair you can keep and study." * Xivilai smirks. "Your offer is duly appreciated." She gestures, and the case vanishes. * Sayuri looks at the wine glass longingly, looks over at Maggie, looks at Xiv, and sighs. * Rina glances at Robert and offers him a half-hearted grin. * Robert looks down at Rina. * Togo looks down for a moment, then shrugs. "I'll have to talk to tech about another spare if we get back..." * Marguerite suddenly sits bolt upright "Hell! I gotta GRREAT idear!" She points to Xiv. "Yer a wizard, right? Whyn't you prog... prognis... look ahead'n see how importn't we're?" Relax. Nothing bad is going to happen. 'S what you think. * Rina stares at Margie. ... Marguerite, hold out your hand, please. * Sayuri mutters, "Well, at least she's creative." * Togo facepalms. * Yoji eyes Marguerite. * Xivilai raises an eyebrow at Margie. "I must be hearing things. Are you actually asking to be mind-probed?" Eh, screwya, Marrine. I'm drunkas fuck, annI'm proudovvit. ... * Rina 's eyes go wide. "Mind probed?" * Marguerite stands, albeit with much difficulty. "Shure. How bad caanit be?" I think she means precognition. ^_^;; * Sayuri blinks. "You'd have to mindprobe to divine the future?" Don't mind her. She's drunk off her ass. * Sayuri huhms to herself. Like I was saying... it's the same thing with Rina. You keep her, you can see she has iron bones. She can tell you how she got 'em. Big deal. * Marguerite looks down as she suddenly realizes her foot is wet, and notes she had spilt the rest of the bottle. "Fuck." Are you able to do that? See the future with magic? You let us go, you can see how she lives with it. How she deals with it. All that kinda stuff. * Robert takes his hand from under his coat, as his job has been done for him. * Rina bites her lip and nods. * Xivilai ahs. "Ah, divination. The spell of tongues was rather foggy on what Marguerite was attempting to say." Yeh. Probably because she's drunk like a sailor on leave. * Yoji nods. "You can't tell how Rina got her bones just by looking at her. You'd probably need the data that the guys who did it to her had." So that's it right there. You let us go, you learn a helluva lot more than you will with us couped up here. Hm. Very well, I suppose having a look couldn't hurt. * Sayuri sighs, and taps her knee with one finger. * Marguerite flumps back down in her seat, a silly grin on her face. "Yeh. Go'n see." * Xivilai looks to the tall pale fellow. "Rollandar, please clean up the mess after we're gone." The pale fellow bows. * Togo eyes Mad Dog for a moment before snorting and turning back to Xivilai. Gone? Thefuck're we go'n? * Xivilai stands. "If you would all be so good as to stand, it would save you the trouble of falling on your arses after the teleport." * Rina slowly unwraps her arms from her legs and sets her feet on the floor. Probably to a casting room. * Robert helps Rina up. * Yoji stands up. * Togo stands. * Shiori stands up. ( Xivilai's British? =P ) * Rina stands up. "Teleport, huh?" she asks nervously. * Marguerite manages to get herself slowly to her feet. She absentmindedly grabs Bubba. * Sayuri blinks at Xivilai, and sighs, shrugs, and stands, picking up her backpack. "Not like I care right now anyway." Unless, of course, you'd rather not see into your futures? Some find it rather unnerving. Um. I'd rather not. * Marguerite grunts, which is rather unladylike. o/~ Falling faster, time goes by, Fear is not seen through these eyes. o/~ * Xivilai shrugs. "Those who do not wish to see their world, it's future, and your own, please have a seat once more. Those who, like myself, are curious, remain standing." * Yoji takes a seat. I think I'll pass. * Rina glances back at the seat, then at Xivilai. She bites her lip, but remains standing. You guys really want to go through life knowing what's going to happen to you? * Robert ruffles Rina's hair a little. Relax. * Togo remains standing, expression neutral. Fear is just a temporary chemical imbalance. * Sayuri shrugs. "If it were that easy, Yoji, again, everyone would do it." * Rina sticks her tongue out at Robert and smooths out her ponytail. * Xivilai looks around. "Are you all ready?" Feh. Stup'd m'rine. Fearza best mot'vater. ...argh. * Yoji stands up. * Rina nods slowly, taking a good look around the room. ( De nine o' pentacles be sayin' that youse is gonna be havin' many adventures! ) ( @_@ ) *blinks* Y'don't have to go, Yoji. (Bwahahaha!) Machiavelli was a fool, mercenary. * Xivilai nods, and then you're in another room. * Robert is like a rock, mainly because he eats them. * Rina blinks and immediately looks around the room. * Yoji examines his surroundings. * Marguerite stands stock still for a moment, then woodenly moves her head around. * Sayuri looks around, at both the room and everyone else nervously. (The room has no doors. It is round in shape, and the floor is black marble polished to a mirrorlike shine, as is the cieling. All aroung you are large windows that stretch from floor to cieling.) Well, I know that if I'm the only one who doesn't go, it's gonna drive me nuts. So. ^_^ * Rina looks out one of the windows. * Togo looks around for a moment, then, again, turns back to Xivilai. * Shiori glances around a bit. * Robert keeps an eye on Rina, and one on Xivilai. (The windows all depict various scenes. One shows a group of bizarre two-legged creatures drinking from a puddle of something. Another shows a white marble hallway filled with fog. Yet another shows a placid and endless field of blue-green grass, stretching on until it meets a stand of mighty purple mountains.) * Rina shakes her head and looks up at Xivilai. * Marguerite stomach growls, and she goes digging in her stachel. Noisily. * Togo semi-starts, and turns back to the windows. "... color..." * Rina blinks at Togo. "You can see color in the windows?" If you are ready, I shall begin. * Togo turns around slowly, looking at each of the windows. "... it's been two years..." I'd almost forgotten what it was like. Interesting. * Rina smiles at Togo, then turns back to Xivilai. "I'm ready." * Shiori nods. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You aren't going to show us anything really far into the future, right? * Sayuri frowns to herself, and sets herself in a more rigid, stance. "Whatever." * Togo shakes his head, and turns back, though his gaze repeatedly drifts back to the windows. "Ready." * Marguerite comes up with some form of energy bar. Her eyes gleam, and as she unwraps and munches, her eyes become slightly less glassy. Yeh, I'm ready. * Xivilai approaches a window, seemingly at random, and reaches her hand into it. Her hand cannot be seen on the presumed other side of the window, which ripples like water after she touches it. ... yow.. * Sayuri looks at it curiously, and closes her eyes briefly. * Rina tilts her head. The rippling continues aroung the room, and Xivilai begins chanting, although the way she does it sounds more like singing, really. While none of you can comprehend the words, some of you pick out a rhyme scheme, from which you are free to draw your own conclusions. +() * Yoji watches and listens. (After she finishes, the windows stop rippling. Each of you finds your attention drawn to a single window, leaving many unwatched.) * Marguerite polishes off her energy bar. * Robert watches, entranced. (Are we drawn to different windows, or all to the same one? ^^) (Each of you is drawn to a different one. Wait for a bit while I tell you what you see in /msg. o/~) * Yoji watches. * Rina blinks at the window. * Sayuri , after opening her eyes, stares and falls to her knees, the tears coming out of her eyes once more. * Rina blinks at the window and brings one hand up to touch a spot near her right ear. * Robert crosses himself reverently. * Marguerite grins and chuckles a little. ... got the bastard... * Robert sings softly, o/~ Let me die on my own terms... let me live... and let me learn... o/~ * Rina stares at the mirror a bit longer, then shrugs and grins, murmuring to herself, "Least I got ice cream." She doesn't remove her hand from that spot, though. * Shiori blinks several times and blushes furiously. * Togo chuckles, turning away from the mirror. "Red never looked so beautiful." * Yoji blinks in confusion. "I don't understand." * Sayuri continues crying, and looks up at her mirror, smiling weakly. "You'd think I'd be happy." (Did I get everyone? ^^;) (I think so.) * Marguerite 's grin fades a bit as the alcohol works its way out of her system. The mirrors fade out gradually, save for one. Xivilai stands reguarding this mirror, her backs to you all. * Rina blinks and looks at the others, pulling her hand from her neck. * Yoji scratches his head. Sayuri? Are you okay? And the truth shall set you free. * Sayuri looks at her hand, then looks up at Rina, wiping her eyes. "Dunno. You tell me." Or die trying. Well, that was awfully vague and unhelpful. ^_^; * Rina walks up to Sayuri and holds her hand out to her. "Y'don't look okay." But at least I didn't see anything horrible. ^_^ On a hot summer night... would you offer your throat to the wolf with the red roses? * Togo is... as close to grinning as he's been seen. * Sayuri smiles softly, as she grabs Rina's hand to pull herself up. "Dunno. Maybe I'm not." * Yoji looks at Sayuri. * Xivilai continues staring at the mirror in front of her. * Marguerite still smiles to herself. She seems almost oblivious. * Rina tilts her head at Sayuri, then gives her a quick hug, adding quietly, "If you wanna talk about it, I'll listen, 'kay?" * Sayuri oofs, and blinks, saying nothing at the sudden hug. * Togo shakes his head, and his expression returns to normal. That is, none. * Rina smiles sheepishly at Sayuri, then turns to Marguerite and giggles. * Xivilai turns abruptly away from the window, which continues displaying it's little scene. "You are all going home. Now." * Yoji sighs at Sayuri. Well, whaddya know. * Rina blinks. * Yoji smiles. "Great!" * Sayuri recoils from the quickly moving (and insistant) Xivilai. * Rina tries to peek at the window behind Xivilai. Fine with me. Enjoy your studies. * Yoji also tries to see what Xivilai saw. * Shiori tries to peek without looking like she's trying to peek. You're damn right we're going back. You could kill me and I'd still find a way to show up to that. Yeah, seems like mine'd be kinda fun, too. So do you mean NOW now, or in a minute now? (Oh, more lookers. Whee. ^.^) (Gimme a second, people. :P) * Sayuri snorts to herself, and mutters softly "Fool." * Rina 's eyes widen and some of the color drains from her face. * Marguerite deliberately peeks! (Blah. Fine. I'll paste it in here. :P) Those of you who look see Dejiko fighitng against an odd group of men, and fighitng incredibly well. She's really amazingly good. But she's still loosing. Her left arm has apparently been dislocated, she's bleeding from lots of wounds, and she has no weapons on her. You see a very large man with a grissly beard and the number '13' tatooed on his meaty arm in red. The man strikes Dejiko in the jaw, hard. Her neck twists into an unusual angle, after which she flops to the floor. * Yoji pales a bit. "Him again..." * Yoji goes completely white. ( I'm dead-nyo. ) ( At least she didn't get hit by a truck :P ) * Sayuri blinks, and shivers. "Spooky... wait... wait." * Rina stares for a moment, then closes her eyes. "Thirteen?" I saw him! I saw myself fighting that same guy! Funny thing to see. Hm. Thus it was, and thus it shall be. Always fighting. Fighting isn't all there is to life. * Sayuri walks back towards Xiv, and says something softly to her. * Rina opens her eyes, looking back at Marguerite and Robert. "Is not. But I'm not gonna let them kill Dejiko." When you find the something else send me a memo. I already have. * Togo doesn't much react. * Xivilai says something quietly to Sayuri. And no, Rina, we're not going to let Dejiko die. * Sayuri nods sadly, as if a puzzle were solved in her mind. Course not! * Xivilai straightens up and clears her throat. "What you see is a possible future that I cannot allow to occur. I have my reasons. Get ready for the return trip." Not a problem. * Togo nods. * Marguerite grabs her satchel. "Ah, the futures of mightbe." She pauses. " I hate being only slightly drunk. Only possible? Good. * Sayuri says, softly, but loud enough that people can hear, "I'm sorry." * Rina tightens her ponytail as she considers. "Yeah, okay." * Yoji blinks at Sayuri. * Rina blinks. "What about, Sayuri?" * Sayuri shakes her head once, and sighs, looking down. * Xivilai makes a gesture with her right hand, and you all find yourselves standing outside of the caslte you went into to confront whatsisface the mage. ( Baltham? ^_^ ) * Shiori blinks. And we get out with our skins intact. Amazing. * Yoji looks around. Dejiko is just walking out of the enterance, frowning. She looks up and sees the lot of you, and she fails to repress a relieved smile. "There you are." Don't ever be sorry for something you haven't done yet, Sayuri. *** Xivilai is now known as Dejiko * Yoji looks nervously at Dejiko. Togo, would you call for a ... nevermind. * Rina looks around and notices Dejiko, then waves at her with a wide grin. "Hi!" * Sayuri stretches, and smiles sheepishly at Dejiko. "Hello." ... you had better not be about to lecture us... Hey, Dejiko. You're not going to believe this one. * Dejiko approaches the bunch of you. "I was worried. Where have you been?" You're familiar with the phrase "long story"? A few dimensions and a couple hundred thousand years away. * Yoji quirks his mouth slightly. "In Another Dimension." In an alternate dimension at the mercy of a sorceress who took us all out with a nasty look. * Sayuri smiles to herself, "Black Mountain, Dejiko." Yet another triumph for GCI Intel. *spits* * Dejiko raises an eyebrow. "Hum. Yes, that does sound like an interesting story." She considers something for a bit. "You can tell me all about it on the way home, I think." * Sayuri then giggles, and then laughs, loudly. * Yoji blinks at Sayuri. If home has 3 year old scotch, then let's get moving. I don't know if home has any scotch, but the plane does, remember? Come on, let's go. What's so funny? Ah, yes. Planes. * Togo starts heading for the plane. * Rina grins and shakes her head, then turns to Yoji. "Everything. I wanna go home." And get ice cream. Definitely ice cream. There's more to life than fighting, and ice cream's it! * Marguerite trudges. Heh. * Shiori follows the others. Sounds good to me. * Rina hums to herself and starts walking towards the plane. You remind me of my daughter. Life's all roses and ice cream. * Yoji follows the group. Nah. Just ice cream. * Dejiko walks towards the plane. "So, what was the name of this sorceress?" Out of curiosity, of course. * Sayuri stops laughing, and wipes her eyes, walking towards the plane. "I dunno if my life'll ever be the same again." * Rina turns around and walks backwards, studying Dejiko's face intently. "Xivilai." * Dejiko stops walking a bit, frowns, and then starts up again. "Ah ha." ( People call her... Tim. ) That being the case, then yes, I am definitely interested in hearing this story. Let's get to the plane. (I think I'll call it a game there. What sayest thou?) Yep. ( Sounds fine. ) (Fine with me.) * Sayuri looks back at her bookbag, and chuckles softly, and sadly. "Never the same." "I don't believe reality would be the way it should, but I believe in fantasy, the future's understood." Shut UP and let's get in the air. A bath and a drink await. [END SESSION. LIKE, TOTALLY.]