City of the Chosen: Roleplaying

[Raelifin]

TURN 7 - Lost and Found
This turn will take 3 hours of in-game time.

[LD]

Once again, please don't read till after the turn.
This IC RP is from events that happened last turn.

[ic=True Lies (Vic)]While Everyone Was Talking About Where They Had Been
"And where was I, Little Lady, before I was taken? Lyin' happy on a bed with two of the sweetest sisters that could be. Twin redhead firebrands they were, Sally and Sue, little balls of energy, ain't it true."

Not so. He had been sleeping alone over a bar, penniless after a crooked poker game where he'd bet his last bullets on a sure thing Flush. Only to lose to a Royal Flush. If only he'd known what was gonna come next, he wouldn't have been down to his last possessions and an empty room. Lost the cart too- the travelling one he'd been having as part of the medicine wagon act. Split with Chief Talks-Not-A-Lot, downed a swig of Dr. Poulsen's Wonderful Elixir (brandy and 50% apple juice) and he'd conked out for the night.

The crowd in general didn't seem taken with his tale, but he'd double down. "True it was and true it is. Unless that was the dream and this is reality."

"Sounds like a dream." The redheaded man spat.

Mya raised an eyebrow and snorted, but otherwise she and the others had nothing to say.

"So, who's next?" Vic moved the conversation forward.

<After Hearing about Juliet>

"So no one of us here knows if the others disappeared, died, was committed in an asylum, or naught before we were taken. Not a lot to go on. Though at least that demon-creature probably was considered dead. Maybe. Possibly. Wish we had more to go on here. Let's assume this "Juliet" was considered dead after she disappeared. That means we're all probably dead. Or we can't get back. But this ain't dispositive. Could be that some of us got back to our time, our place- keep in mind I'm assumin' y'all aren't a hallucination. I know I am d--n well gonna do everythin' in my power ta' set things straight and either head back to my time... or move up a bit in the future 'cause well, future prob'ly is progress- ain't it Mo-hon-dous? Athena? Right?"[/ic]

[Raelifin]

I felt like writing something. Here's a random bit of unimportant dialog between Medicine Man and Vitus.

[ic=Nowhere (Skyward Hub)]Vitus paced nervously around the circular room, always watching the others, never speaking. They spoke among themselves, but never to him. He wasn't worth it, wasn't interesting, and certainly wasn't friendly. Vitus had no friends. He had never had friends. Only enemies and strangers. He hoped to keep these strangers from becoming enemies.

<Where are you going?> said a voice.

Eyes turned on Vitus who had been creeping down one of the hallways, trying to escape. He was caught in the act, but he might still mitigate the damage. Vitus ducked his head and his dirty face seemed to shrink into his beard as he turned to face the group. "Nusquam." he muttered, returning to his spot.

The man with wrinkles on his face and paint atop the wrinkles asked again <Where are you going?>. The American Indian's clothing rattled as he moved closer to Vitus.

Vitus pulled back as his eyes locked on the Medicine Man in an intense stare. "Dixi: Nusquam!" croaked the man in rags. He said it one more time for emphasis, his voice burned with hostility, <I said: nowhere! Leave me be!>.

Emily and Mary looked over at the two of them and Vitus turned away as though their attention burned him.

<You heard the man! He's sitting right here!> cried Medicine Man, suddenly full of anguish. <Go back to talking about your womanly things and leave the poor soul to rest!> As he spoke, the American swept his arms dramatically, as if pushing away a tide. Before turning around, somber and quiet, his eyebrows danced with a mischief that hinted that he was not as serious as he pretended to be.

Emily scoffed and pushed her glasses up her nose, but she and the others at least made an effort to stop watching the interaction.

Medicine Man took a seat near the vagabond and watched as Vitus scrambled to make more distance between the two. The homeless man had an awful smell about him, but the Indian gave no indication that he even noticed it. For a while the two of them sat and waited for something to happen. Medicine Man eventually spoke. <My father was like you. He didn't trust anyone and wanted nothing but to be alone.> The rest of the group glanced over briefly as the old man played a sad note on his slide-whistle. <He died alone, too. We never found his body. I often wonder if he was happy in those last days, when the snow covered the ground and all he had to bother him were the spirits of the woods. We looked for him for days, and I remember hearing the howl of the wolf as I lay at night and thought about whether he could hear the wolf as well.>

Vitus looked at the older man and shifted uncomfortably. Tears welled along the bottom lids of the Native American's eyes, but his face was firm. As he spoke he looked out at nothing in particular, remembering the past with vivid detail. <We asked the spirits of the pines if they had seen him pass, but in winter even the evergreens sleep, and they were of no help. My mother hated my father; when he was around she had rattlesnake's eyes and saw nothing but darkness, and yet now that he had gone she missed him dearly. I could hear her weep to the moon when she thought I had fallen asleep. It was the first time I had heard her cry in years.>

Medicine Man was silent.

At last Vitus spoke up. <Why did he leave?>

Medicine Man gave a sad smile. <My father's job was to gather the souls of the dead and take them to be reborn in the great cave. He was the only one who could do this because he was born with spirit eyes. I still remember them, blue as turquoise beads, but clouded and blind to the world. Carrying the souls was hard work for him and each time he came back from the cave he was less happy. He wanted to stop, but it was his destiny. And then one winter day, as we were traveling south to make a trade with our cousins of the Red-spears the sun came down from the sky to meet us. The sun told my father that Coyote sent a message saying that if my father would go see him and sell his eyes that Coyote would carry the souls forever-after. As the sun left and night began my father left us. I never found out what happened to him, though I suppose he died.>

Vitus stared at Medicine Man's face from behind his bushy beard. <You're a liar.> he accused. Medicine Man smiled and turned to look at the rogue. Vitus flinched away automatically.

<All men are liars.>

Vitus spat on the ground and grumbled <All men are fools.>

Medicine Man played another sad note on his whistle. <And now, at long last, one of us speaks the truth.>[/ic]

[LD]

[ic=Awakening (Athena)]
An unconventional problem and an unconventional predicament. I've been here before.

Athena, symbol of transhumanism, the woman/man/all/naught/am that I AM/IS, considered her surroundings. She was in a sleep pod; padded; and she was blinking off a nightmare. White wall, white light. She'd been drinking- then- stabbed? She'd seen the b*tch-no- she felt her side. Fever? No. Her probe monitors told her that. What about the digital records of her health? A spike about fifteen hours ago [GM- don't know if that'd be the appropriate time], then normal. She'd blacked out, or slept? Unclear. And concerning.

She sensed several heat signatures nearby; and she looked around. She grabbed the side of her pod and she pulled herself outside. She watched others clamber outside.

They wore- old clothes- like actors'.

They were preoccupied.

Some greeted each other, but not her. Athena put a hand on her forehead and considered, staring up--- she had no hand. But, she felt it, raised it. Still, it wasn't there. She raised her other arm.

She was... Not quite visible.

She was... hallucinating? Captured?

She was... feeling something new; something she'd never felt or seen. She'd been here before. ... She'd adapt... And overcome.[/ic]

*Edit: changed last word from escape to overcome... Athena seems to be more about confronting a challenge than fleeing from one.

[Raelifin]

TURN 8 - Dark Inhabitants
This turn will take 1.5 hours of in-game time.

[ooc=Note]As always, feel free to add in small details about the environment, characters, or items. (You can also specify big details about characters you control, too!) I will try to adapt to anything presented by players in the fluff.[/ooc]

[LD]

As always, players please read only after the turn. (Raelifin may read at any time).


[ic=Wistful While Erstwist Allies Are Shotdown (Vic)]
Mirrors reflecting demons. Damn that foresight. Maybe Juliet had been behind that and maybe she hadn't. He'd probably used up his currency with the group though.

Who needed them anyway.

Vic had Athena, and she, more than anyone, knew what needed to be done to get out of here. She was from a future with "automobiles" that drove themselves [greek: auto... self], "computers" that added information into a massive web that floated in the sky throughout which people could grab possibilities and information that traveled at the speed of light. With understanding of wonders like that and of the machine in the train-like control room, she was his ticket to a past... or at least something familiar.

Familiar- like the nagging pang in the pit of his stomach that he needed something to fill it. Food, whiskey, even... water. Harder than the pangs that'd come in the midst of a ten hour poker game, or a five hour scientifically plotted campaign at whist.

The rest- they'd use up any resources they found- if there were any. There were what- 12-11-10? Who knew now that Mohandas and that girlie had gotten themselves disappeared or kilt.

He had a feeling he needed to go down the stairs and look at something. A good feeling. A premonition. A vision--and one alone could live longer that one with fools behind his back- fools who trusted him not a whit. He'd win th' game wi'tout them. He had to.

He was wistful for their trust, but as allies now, they'd be erstwhile...former partners...erstwist. He'd lost the first trick, with Juliet interrupting his play for lead, and he'd lost the second, with shadows striking out. He'd not lose a third.

He wished... he wished life was as simple as whist. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whist) ("In Scarlett, the sequel to Gone with the Wind, Alexandra Ripley mentions several times that Scarlett O'Hara is an extremely skillful whist player.").

[/ic]

[ic=Grasping at Straws (Vic and Athena)]
Grasping at Straws
A Song For Athena and Vic's Psychotic Reactions...

A flash occurred to Vic and he fell stumbling. He heard a voice and a cry for "Help." The voice...familiar, was that of Athena.

"Juliet got t' ya?" Vic asked as he stumbled around in the smoky darkness of the tunnel.

"No... No..." Athena's voice in his head repeated again and again. He saw a flash; she would hear some crucial information about Mohandas- the man- who came and went and who was from the future like her.

"I'ma sort of turned around here. Any'thin I can do?"

"No... No..." She repeated. Maybe she heard him and maybe she didn't.

"Tell you what." Vic said. "I know y'er gonna hear s'thing 'bout that fellow Mohandas. M'bye wise it'll be vital to us gettin' out of here. Dude's alive. Came to me, made me an offer- I refused. He weren't right happy 'bout it. Then he went. Think he knows what's goin' on.

Vic saw a flashing light and he stumbled toward it.
[/ic]