Welcome to Gaia! ::

Pulling up into a sitting position, Arrien slowly adapted to the upside-downness of the ceiling. Can't get caught up in this... c'mon. Jack-of-all-Trades, remember? Getting to her feet and shaking out her hands, she took a jittery breath. Gotta find the kids. Gotta find the kids.

It was probably just as well that she wasn't looking when Kochi made her leap to the ceiling. With her nerves, the motion probably would have panicked her all over again.

"Look... I dunno you two," she signalled Morty and Kochi, "but I've got a kid that's wandering off somewhere. And Lethe and Callix are somewhere, too, and I think Seung. That's my priority. Will you guys help me find them?" That was about as sane as she could be, at the moment.

Laughter can be heard in the distance as soon as it is clear Morty is having trouble breathing -- it bounces off the walls and grows louder with each echo, until it's clear enough to sound like two very self-pleased little girls (one an octave lower than the other.) It seems to be coming from up (down?) stairs.

Meanwhile, the same skittering Dusty heard before in the hallway returns, as a spider the size of a table casually strolls along the length of the ceiling. It seems to be blind, as it has no visible eyes; it is also white and nearly translucent. It feels its way forward with its front two legs, tapping them along the oozing ceiling -- and halts when it comes to Kochi, unsure of what to make of her.

It is not food, it decides, as it does not smell the life in it. It can smell the blood pulsing frantically through a nearby one, however, and so it turns and approaches Morty, poking at him with long spindly legs. It clicks and hisses at him.

Of all the things seen so far in the Fa'e HQ, this seems rather tame -- shouldn't it have a human head? Vomit burning acid? At least be wearing a straightjacket?

Not only did his mother just JUMP onto the ceiling and say some wierdass s**t he did not understand in the least in German (Although it sounded angry enough, then again, everything she said had a certain degree of pissedoffgerman in it) but this woman under him was talking in even wierder tongues, and ******** chest froze up completely, choking on nothing, and his very heavy body gave out under him. But... there was a woman under him who probably didn't appreciate two hundred and thirty eight pounds of hairy smelly teenage boy ontop of her. For Morty had passed out. The spider poking him, his mothing on a ceiling, HIM on a ceiling, and everything else was too much for him. For someone who claimed to be a horror movie buff and who played too much Silent Hill he couldn't take all of this sensory stimulation all at once.

All of this might of been too much for her son, but Kochi was just brimming with glee. She hadn't been to a good horrorfest like this since.... last month. But that was because she had snuck out and went to the- Her thought process didn't have enough time to flashback, so instead she resolved to grin down at the girly on the floor. "JA, ZUSTIMMUNG!" She called down, giving her the thumbs up. That's when from behind her, there was an awful smell. What the hell was that? Head swiveled to look at the massive spider thing. She had to feel some pity for it, as it appeared to be blind, as she for the most part was blind too. But when the thing poked her son and he collapsed, that was when she called all bets off. "Kümmern Sie sich um Ihre eigenen Angelegenheiten!" Nose wrinkled up and she swiped out an arm at the thing, claws bared.

((ZUSTIMMUNG= OK

Translation: Mind your own business!

"Kümmern Sie sich um Ihre eigenen Angelegenheiten!" ))

The spider hisses and immediately recoils -- first and foremost at the sudden movement (and disappearance) of its prey, and then at the attack from the non-live thing it had passed over before.

Though it looks fragile its exoskeleton nevertheless does a good job of protecting it; Kochi manages to leave shallow grooves in its outer shell, but it otherwise seems to be unharmed.

It clicks its jaws threateningly at her and begins to slowly retreat; no meal is worth this. It would rather take its chances with someone less able to fight back.

"Not so well," Cerena half-whined in response, "I have that stupid song stuck in my head. You know. It's a piece of cake to bake a pretty cake!" There was a pause as she sat up, holding her head in her hands. Wasn't she just squashed by some big furry thing a few seconds ago?

The humming in her head had died down though, and she could finally think through the constant sound of rushing water and the barrage of images that didn't belong to her mind.

...Not that she understood half of what was going on, even sane. "Where are we, Arri?"

... A song. Cerena... had a song. Stuck in her head.

Arrien didn't work well under pressure, not when the people around her weren't operating efficently. In fact, much the reason she'd come to Gaia in the first place was because she didn't handle this sort of pressure well. Two and a half years of Gaia life, it seemed, had not done anything to fix her poor temper under fire.

"In the HQ!" Grabbing Cerena's shirt and giving her a hard shake, the Jack-of-all-Trades hissed at her furiously. "The place went ******** Hollywood Horror on us, the kids are missing, and if you're about to tell me that you're batshit insane and aren't going to help, then I'm going to beat you until you start talking sense."

No more wondering where Dusty had gotten her violent streak, it seemed; the Guardian looked willing and able to follow through on her threat. If it weren't for Aylana calling attention to herself, in fact, she might have given Cerena a good slap just then. Instead, spotting the blue-skinned Fa'e, Arrien abandoned Cerena to her own devices instantly, craning her neck up to get a good look.

"... You could find Lethe?" There was a note of relief in her voice at last- the kids're smart, they'll stick together, if we can find one.... "What're you waiting for, then? Let's find 'em!"

Shaking her head she smiles alittle "Any of the fa'e I talk to my mind links with them. Don't ask me how it happen but it does. So I should be able to locate her unless she is captured or something along those lines." with a shrug she closes her eyes as she clears her mind.

Seeeking outwards she searches for Lethe's mind link. She would know it almost anywhere as the child was different from any of the other fa'e children she has come across as of late.

There were some things in life you were just born hating. Spiders and fire were on Kochis top list, right next to daywalkers and the sun. The german woman knew very well the body language of this freaky thing, despite that its body was severely wierd, and knew when it was on the hunt. And when that thing came near her son it certaintly wasn't coming to give him a hug. And this, this was not like those doors, this thing she was going to hurt and she was going to have a good time doing it.

Stuck to the ceiling totally unnecessarily Kochi gave out her own hiss at the spider, but it was more in shrill mockery of the creature as she followed it up with a horrible little laugh. "Das Spiel ist aus" The undead woman called out before setting on after it. One would think it would be horribly awkward to crawl along a ceiling, but by the way she was leaping across it it looked easy as cake. One claw lurched forward to grip onto the surface at the same time one foot did, and then on the side side, not to mention the serrated tail being a great tool for balance. Instead of simply swiping at the spider when she got close enough, though, Kochi instead decided to LUNGE at the thing in a full out tackle, and whatever she could grab onto she would with whatever limb she could to bring it to the floor.


((The jig is up))