Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sighing with relief, Vrtn took his first, limping steps through the gateway. He looked to his left, and to his right, feeling thoroughly unimpressed. Then again, he thought, after about three worlds, everything looks the same...

He hefted the small pack he had with him. He didn't have much--just some food he knew wouldn't make him sicker than he already was. Vrtn walked on, hoping to find whoever was in charge.

Vrtn stepped on a divot; he grinned through his grimace in pain. It felt like a few iron rods were stuck through his ankle after having been dipped into a vat of boiling magma and acid, with a two-year-old jiggling them in place for good measure. Hopefully, I tore a ligament, he thought, knowing full well that one sprained ankle wasn't going to be enough. What he needed was a full on injury--a lost limb, a gaping hole left by a lance, a few steps from a horse--and he'd get rid of what felt like a worsening cold...

Hopefully, I'll bump into someone who works here and has a big axe, he thought, limping onward.

Joe groaned and removed the jacket, holding it in his arm. "I suppose this'll do."
He shook his head. "Nah, I gave all my stuff back. Sorry."

Joe smiled. "Yeah? Well, maybe we can go gun shopping some time." He figured it wasn't a good time to start talking about powers he wasn't sure he had with someone he had just met.

Steven nodded. "It's cool, really. I wish I had some sort of mystical power. But hey, you know, we truck on through." He paused, noticing a hesitancy. "What, you do have a power?" he asked. He was pretty quick, apparently. "Dang, that would be cool. C'mon, out with it."

Ruki had left shortly after she said she was going to, missing the majority of Joe's and Steven's conversation. Apparently the squads hadn't been dissolved all that long ago, because the dorm sections were still completely intact. She didn't have much trouble finding where the Squad Blood Moon hall was. Passing up the doors labeled "Captain's Office" and "Wreck Room," the young dragon instead opened the door to the first dorm on her left; it was completely empty, save for a small desk, chair, small bed, and a few shelves. "Well," she thought, "I'll need to get that bed exchanged, but other than that this will work out nicely. Good thing the dorms are neatly organized; nearly everything else seems a mess in this place..." For a moment, she wondered if all the other dorm rooms in this hall were empty... They must have been, though, she realized, as the three of them had arrived on the same day and were sent on a mission not long after.

Vrtn felt fairly ignored. I know I look like crap, but I'm still alive here, he thought grudgingly to himself. They probably don't understand me...

Vrtn set down his small bag--he must have kept something from one of those other worlds he visited! He rummaged through it, feeling through various fruits and wrapped pieces of meat until he found a small, glittery pebble.

That'll work, he thought.

Vrtn held the pebble up to his eye; he didn't remember what it was called, but he knew it allowed one to be understood by everyone, regardless of language. He tossed it into his mouth, and swallowed.

It tasted horrible as it slid down his throat...but, he groaned and bore it.

"Excuse me," he said. "Does anyone know where I can get a room, maybe a job?"