Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reaper hesitated a moment in thought. "That would probably be best." he replied.

The girl glanced over at Reaper and smiled. "Once you have checked up on the Goddess, you may come back here so that we can further discuss the situation."

Reaper shifted uncomfortably a moment. He couldn't just leave to the Goddess's realm himself. He had no idea how to...'shadow' to any location other than ones on Earth. He wasn't even sure he could use the spot dimensions to locate the place.

...He wasn't going to just outright say that though.

The child, glancing over at him, grinned and glanced at a nearby shelf. A small black beaded necklace lifted off of it's perch and floated over towards Reaper, sliding down into his pocket.
"That should also help you. Or at least give you piece of mind as you go there." she cooed, throwing him a small wink.

Before Reaper could say anything, or react, he began to fade out of being until he was completely gone.


EXIT Reaper TO HOME SWEET HOME

// Just so that I can bring them in wherever at some later point.... ///

EXIT Gossamer and Vice to UNKNOWN

After growing bored of watching what was going on in the world around her, Edel sat in one of the spare rooms of the first level of her building. Classical music playing from the air itself, a fresh brew of tea in front of her, and a nice soft sofa under her. She was half asleep when the phone rang from the room next to her. She looked back at the wall whit half-closed eyes and groaned in protest at it. Closing her eyes again, she simply sat up in her seat. When she opened her eyes, she was in a completely different room, sitting in a chair next to an antique phone hanging on the wall. With a sigh, she stood and gently answered the call.

”Goldencrafts, how may I help you?” She paused a moment, listening, then let a small smirk cross her lips. ”Yes, we specialize in nearly everything and anything.”
After a few moments, the smirk vanished and her eyes grew just a bit wider as her features turned curious. “….Why yes, I have heard of you.” she replied, looking back at the table with her orb and rose. With some unspoken command, the orb burst to life and rose off of the table. The bright glow of the orb expanded and formed what looked like a silver globe. A blue dot appeared in an area where New York should be…while a red dot appeared on an entirely different continent. “Though, I must say…the ‘caller id’ placed you well outside your usual place of business. Taking a vacation from the stress of these questionable times?” she continued, eyeing the red dot curiously.
After another pause, the smirk returned. “…Really? Well then, no sir, I do not find that hard to believe. From what I’ve heard and seen, there have been quite a few universal duplicates walking about this world. I for one can say I’m glad they’re universal doubles and not dopplegangers. Rather bad luck should you meet one of your own. ………Yes. ……. Yes, of course. So, what can I do for you?”
Another pause, and the smirk grew. Her eyes took on an almost cruely amused glimmer. “Yes….I am aware of your current ‘situation’. I am also aware of her current ‘condition’.” Another pause, the glimmer became simple pleasure. “Yes, sir. A ‘sleeping beauty’ scenario is relatively easy to cure given there is no ancient magic involved. …… Oh, it should be not problem at all. I will have to see her personally to be able to cure her, but other than that, not very much should be required.” she continued, careful not to let her voice become anything more than casual. Another pause. ”Oh, of course. I understand completely. Yes I seen that rather unflattering bit on the news about you. I enjoy reading up on old news when I’m in new places.” she lied. Most of what she knew was simply magic based right now. Much quicker than searching through various articles for information. ”It will be no trouble at all for me to come to you. I can see how it would be difficult to have all of the legal mess straightened out right now. And the awkwardness of there being another you in the city. …….Yes. …….Yes. …….Oh, we can discuss that when I arrive. I understand that…well, yes, I understand that money is….yes. …..Yes. ……Very well. Simply contact me again when you are ready to see me. …… I assure you I will not. …..Yes. …..Alright. I’ll be waiting for your call. Good afternoon, Mister Fisk.”
With that, she gently hung up the phone…her grin and pleased glint still in place on her face. She stood there a moment, staring over at the glowing globe above her table.

”Who was on the phone?” a gentle voice asked from one of the doorways.

”Just a customer.” Edel replied, making her way towards the globe to sit down at the chair in front of it. ”A very wealthy customer.”

”Do you really need money?” the voice asked.

”Money? No. Honeslty I have plenty of that. And if I don’t, I can simply make it.” she replied, looking from the blue dot to the red dot on the globe.

”Then why do you seem so happy?” the voice asked.

”Because he’s a very wealthy man….and a very desperate man.” she replied, letting the last few words come out in a low purr. ”I can always squeeze so much more out of desperate souls. And perhaps if I create this small miracle for this version…the other version will take notice and come to me as well.”

A figure finally stepped out of the doorway and into the room. A young woman wearing a black and white lace dress that looked like something out of the Victorian era stood holding a doll of some kind wrapped in her arms. Her hair was long, and about as curly and dark as the woman sitting before her. The biggest difference being the dark curtain of hair she kept lying across half of her face, allowing only her right side to be visible.
She walked up to the table, the doll still hidden behind her arms, and took a seat at the table across from Edel. ”I thought you said you don’t like getting involved. Isn’t that why you stayed in the room with me when that other man came here?”

”That is a different matter, sweetie.” she replied, looking away from the glowing globe. ”I have little problems to worry about from humans. Beings with actual power, on the other hand…well, those I do need to be carefull about.”

The woman stared at Edel for a moment, then let her dark eye wander down to the doll in her hands. It was a dark haired girl that was dressed in a bright pink Barbie dress. The most noticeable thing about the doll, however, was the tight purple costume that was worn under the dress…and the purple mask that let the hair flow out from the back of it with small cat ears on the top. It was hard to tell how she’d gotten her hands on a Catwoman doll…considering the costume was old compared to the ‘modern’ cat woman. This particular version was out and about in the city at one point…months and months ago. The doll in her hands seemed to be in perfect condition. If it weren’t for the clear joints in the arms and legs, the doll would be unnervingly life-like.
The woman straightened out the dolls hair, and played with the dress a bit. ”How are older brother and sister? Are they still looking?” she asked.

Edel sighed a bit and looked back up at the globe. The glowing orb shrank and dimmed, becoming nothing more than the glass ball it had been before. After a moment, Edel replied. ”Yes, they’re still looking. Don’t worry about them, they’ll be fine.”

The girl just fiddled with her doll, apparently content with the news.

Edel grinned a bit and turned back towards the glass ball. Before she could do anything further with it, there was a knock from the entrance of the shop. She turned towards the shop and stared for a moment, then her expression turned into something rather close to anger. Close to it, but not completely. She didn’t want to become obscene in front of the poor girl. She DID want to rip the head off of the new guest at the door though. And she DIDN’T mean the one on his shoulders. Oooh, no. She hadn’t forgotten about what she’d seen at the hotel. Of ALL people….

”Sweetie, why don’t you go upstairs and play with your dolls while I talk to the new customer?” Edel said as politely and calmly as she could.

The girl looked up at her and studied her face a moment. ”….can I have a new doll?”

Edel laughed a bit, then glanced back at her. ”Not this one sweetie. I promise I’ll let you find a new doll soon though.”

The girl looked a bit disappointed, but carefully stood and excused herself from the room as silently as she had arrived.
Once she was gone, Edel turned and stared at the entrance, her eyes sharp as razor blades. Another knock at the door, this time with a bit more authority to it. Muttering something under her breath, she stood and stormed towards the door to her shop. She wasn‘t sure what he was here for, but she was going to have QUITE a conversation with the man..

Edel led Blackstone down the Victorian decorated hall and up a spiral staircase to the next floor. There she opened the first large oak door to her right and gestured him to step inside. He stepped into a large white room that had a much more modern feel than the rest of the home. Large clear picture windows running along the far wall, a crystal chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling, designer furniture, and a large Asian rug covering the center of the floor.
Edel entered the room behind him and closed the door. A sharp clack of the lock soon followed.

”Now then, Richard…” Edel began coolly. ”Why don’t you have a seat so we can talk. Can I offer you anything? Coffee? Brandy? Tea?”

”Tea.” he replied as he took a seat in one of the chairs.

As Edel walked over towards him, a large silver tray and tea set rose out of the glass table between the chairs. One large pitcher and cup was positioned in front of Blackstone, and the other sat in front of the chair across from him. ”So…” Edel began as she sat down. ”Why don’t we start off with something pleasant. I assume there IS a reason you came here to see me, so why don’t we start with that.”

Richard sighed slightly and took a sip from his tea. ”I could always use your help, Edel.” he began. ”But as I said, that is NOT the reason I came here. I really have missed you.”

Edel looked away from him and took a drink from her cup. Her body language was suddenly aggressive again.
Richard looked at her a moment, then sat his cup back down and leaned back in his chair. Crossing his arms in front of him. ”Perhaps we should move towards something a little less pleasant then. As far as I’m aware, I’ve done nothing to spark your anger. So, why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”

Edel sat her glass down and slowly let her eyes move back to his. They might as well have been bolts of lightning with all the aggressive energy that was behind them. ”Very well…” she replied in a careful tone. ”You say you’re pleased to see me, that you missed me, that you want nothing from me right now. But…I know that I wasn’t the first woman you ‘visited’.”

Richard’s features turned puzzled a moment. Not the first woman he visited? He didn’t visit anyone other than Edel. Not woman anyway. He ran into Alex, but that wasn’t exactly a pleasant meeting for either of them. He’d done a favor for Shadow…and he may have flirted with her a bit…but she found him, not the either way around.
”What do you mean?”

”Sapphire.” she spat, her anger now very evident in her voice. ”I’m talking about Sapphire. I SEEN you with her in that Gotham hotel.”

Blackstone stared at her with a dark brow arched in confusion.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Reaper turned his attention towards the others in the room. More importantly towards the Goddess that took the majority of the blast. She didn’t seem to be recovering very well. And now that he was really looking at her and not worried about something else happening….her…clothes seemed to have taken a bad hit as well.

Alcina stood in the spot where she had arrived, her hands still covering her face. She couldn’t hear anything…she couldn’t feel anything…she couldn’t see anything…her whole body just felt numb and there was a nonstop ringing in her ears. She could sense that she was in a different room…back on earth…and the two other beings were with her still.

”Are you alright?” Reaper asked as he approached her.

No response. At all.

Reaper grimaced a bit and turned towards a nearby couch. He pulled the dark red throw cover off of it and draped it over her. ”Hang on…” he said with a small sigh in his voice. ”I’ll see if I can find Edel.” he said as he carefully moved Alcina towards the couch and helped her sit down.

With that he left the room and began walking around to try and find the Witch of the house. He could sense a blood signature that was similar to Edels in a nearby room and walked in.
Rather than finding Edel, he found another woman with long black curly hair sitting in front of a table full of dolls. The woman looked up at him with the one eye that wasn’t curtained with her long hair, found him apparently uninteresting, and turned back to something in her hands she had behind the table.

Lying on the table, was the same Cat Woman doll she had been holding earlier. There was a mess of doll clothes scattered around her, and a few between some of the other eerily realistic looking dolls she had lying about the room.
One of the other dolls she had out on the table, was a woman with thick green hair and green skin. Though she was wearing a bright, sparkly orange party dress, it was clearly a She-Hulk doll.
Another doll had blond hair, beard and curled mustache, and was wearing a green outfit an mask across his eyes. A bow was connected to one of it’s hands, and a nice collection of arrows were slung over the other shoulder. It couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than a Green Arrow doll.
A girl doll sat beside of it. Long blonde hair, a black leather outfit and jacket, and what looked like fishnets on the legs of the doll. A Black Canary doll.
Lying on the other side of the table were two male dolls, both in black and green suits. Green Lantern costumes. One had black hair and was wearing a mask, the other was an African-American man. Beside of them was another boy doll. This one in a black costume with a large skull symbol on his chest. A plastic gun was attached to both of his hands. Lying a few inches away from them was another male doll. This one wore a red costume with small devil horns and two interdicting D’s on his chest. A Daredevil doll.

Reaper stared at the girl for a beat, then grimaced and looked back around in the hallway. Nothing.

"Hey," he said, looking back at the woman sitting by the table. "Do you know where Edel is?"

"Busy with the man." the woman replied, continuing to focus on her dolls.

"Well, what room? I need her for a moment."

The woman picked up the Daredevil doll, and it...at least it looked like it...pointed at the ceiling on it's own.
"Upstairs, second room." she replied. "But she won't like it if you bug her." she said, then paused for a beat. Curiously, she peered up at him with her large, dark eye. "You won't like it either."

Reaper looked at her a moment, then turned and mumbled a thanks as he headed out of the room. What was that supposed to mean? She was busy with the man...was she busy with a man? You know what, he didn't care. She could multi-task. Make one of those creepy ghost...hers...and come tend to the Goddess.

{Enter U. Strange and Reaper from New York City}

In a flash of golden light, Steven Strange Jr. and Reaper appeared in the lovely, old fashioned drawing room. The former blinked and looked around, then relaxed. It had worked. "I assume this is the right place?" If it was this universe's version of his house, he was going to be very unhappy.

Steven raised his dark eyebrows. "Message received. I'll just..." His lips twitched slightly. "Enjoy the decor until you're ready to leave."