False Gods: Take 2

[Edmund_Gallows]

Mushi backed away and landed on Arliss's back, his wings transforming into great ice wings, easily bigger than Arliss himself. The wings curled slightly, protectively around Arliss. "You best not touch my elf."

Arliss growled, "I'm always up for a fight mate, but this little jackass tends to try to keep me from fighting. He doesn't like me killing people." The pirate sighed and crossed his arms, muttering, "Even if it's so easy..."  

[Ashenclaw]

When the little bat expanded his wings into giant icey versions of their original state, Telaer's eyes widened. Cuddles' flames poofed away and his kitty jaw dropped. They both remembered those wings. They saw them in the War. They were in a battle with a Death God and Telaer didn't stand a chance. Telaer could remember one attack. One that would have most likely ended his life had those wings not appeared in front of him. Telaer's eye changed again. This time they narrowed, and Cuddles' flames reappeared. A new War was easier to handle than memories of the first War. The man had changed, that was for sure. Telaer couldn't remember ever seeing him attack anything. Both of their eyes were focused on the bat. "I never got to thank you, and regrettably I can't do it now." This was different from Claire. He had never fought with or against Claire so she didn't link his memories to the War and the frenzies he could enter. This man did, however. "Listen, it is easier for me if you don't come anyhow. I'm only asking for the woman whose ceiling you shot a hole in."  

[Edmund_Gallows]

"Thank me for what?" Arliss reached behind him and grabbed the bat, pulling him off and forcing the bat to make the wings disperse. "And you, little rat, get to take a chill pill. I'm sorry I threw you." He set the bat on top of his head.

Taking a deep breath, Arliss said, "And don't think you can fight this battle on your own mate," He smiled, pulled his sword from his side, "I live for the fight, and quite frankly, I need to repay the nice Miss for shooting her ceiling." He didn't want to be shown up by this guy and his cat.

He honestly thought that the bat was just angry and that this guy just didn't want him in the way of whatever fight was going down. With a grin, he walked past the man, sword over his shoulder, and made his way downstairs.  

[ClaraDusk]

She folded up the paper and stifled a giggle. "That's almost cute." She smiled at him after she had tucked away the paper into her shorts pocket and tugged her jacket closed against the night chill. She crossed her arms tightly across her chest. "Now that we're better aquainted would you like to come back inside? We all need to prepare ourselves for whatever is coming." She nodded her head in the direction of the poisonous storm.

Another earthquake this one twice as bad as the last. Knives and guns clatter off of the table. Glass falls and shatters. The vase with the white rose gets knocked over by a fallen liquor bottle and crashes onto the floor. The only things that stand upright are heavy furniture. Buidings creak with the movement. The origin of the earthquake feels as if its gotten closer to Crossroads.  

[Skye Venorum]

Jamie fell over as the earthquake hit "Gah!" he gahed, barely catching himself "I hate earth! Hate hate hate!" he waited, braced, until the quake ended, then followed Claire inside "Aw, ****." he said, walking over to his table "That was some good scotch. Eh." he looked over to Claire "Hey, chika, can you fly?"  

[Ashenclaw]

Telaer took in a deep breath, and slowly breathed it out. He could do this. He could do this. He followed after the man and his bat. When Telaer approached the top of the stairs, he felt an earthquake hit and he ended up falling and tumbling down the stairs. Several steps from the bottom he was able to shove off of the staircase with his hands and land on solid ground on his feet. Cuddles had fallen off of Telaer's shoulder and landed on his feet next to Telaer just as the earthquake ended. "Stupid cat..." He looked around and frowned at the mess the earthquake had created. Even his rose had crashed to the ground. Telaer let out a sigh, and Cuddles mimicked it, though it came out as a mew.  

[AngelicTurtle]

Something was building. Io knew it. The ground trembled with it, and the fauna of the forest had grown increasingly silent and skittish as she approached the Crossroads. Io could feel a dread she had not known since the old days and, try as she might to push it away, Valko struggled against her. Whatever was building in the air, it was making Valko stronger, more belligerent, harder to keep in check.

A night in a bed, that was what Io needed. She found comfort in the embrace of the ground, but it had been some time since her last foray into civilization and she needed the company of someone other than Valko if she was to retain whatever sanity she had left.

The warm light of the tavern invited Io in from the darkness, but she barely managed to reach the threshold before a quake threw her backward onto the ground. She heard the crashing of glass and swearing from the people within. Picking herself up off the ground, Io hurried inside the door of the tavern.

"Is everyone alright?" Io asked instinctively as she burst through the doorway. After realizing whose company she had stumbled into, she immediately regretted her interruption.

((OOC: I hope this color isn't hard to read. Let me know if it is and I'll change it to something darker...also, hello everyone!))  

[Ashenclaw]

When another new person burst into the tavern, Telaer covered his face. "Not another one! How many more people like us can there be?" He refused to even look at the person, though he could tell she was a woman from her voice. Quite frankly she could have been absolutely normal for all Telaer knew, he was just overloading a little bit from everything that was happening. Cuddles rolled his eyes at Telaer and ran up to the woman. He let out a happy mewing sound, almost as if greeting her.

(Hello! I can read it well, by the way ^^)  

[Skye Venorum]

Jamie quickly turned around and, seeing her clearly non-human eyes, gave a weak smile "If you're one of the lab monkey's minions, sorry, I got family backing me." he raised an eyebrow, and shifted his expression into a flirtatious smirk "If not..." he ran his fingers through his hair "Then hello there. You're just adorable."  

[AngelicTurtle]

Io smiled softly as Cuddles approached her, bending down and outstretching her hand for him to sniff before she gave him a gentle pet on the head.

"Hello there, little one," she cooed softly.

"Moronic girl! Surely you know what that foul thing is, what these pathetic, neutered shadows of the Great Days are? Or are you finally beginning to yearn for the battlefield? To once again seek the company of the reapers? I know your heart..."

"Enough!" Io shoved Valko further back into her mind, where his voice was little more than a whisper. She was tired. Tired of fighting him. But he was right on one thing. She knew what these people truly were.

Io looked up from Cuddles, though she did not stop stroking him, and focused her eyes on the man who had addressed her.

"I serve no one, I'm afraid," she said, fixing her gold eyes on his and blushing slightly at the compliment. She had become accustomed to Valko's constant berating and had not been complimented in some time. "My name is Io. I am sorry to interrupt your meeting...I feared that someone might have been hurt in the quake."  

[Edmund_Gallows]

Arliss just stared at the new person, dumbfounded. "So there's more of them... People like... Us?" He muttered under his breath, unsure of how the word "us" felt in his mouth. It sounded familiar, but he didn't like it. He didn't want to be part of a collective, part of a group. He only wanted a crew of like minded people to command, to pillage and loot. He wanted freedom, which he had up until today, when he became part of an "us".

"Arliss... Why don't we leave here? Get out while we can, maybe steal a ship?" Mushi pleaded in the man's mind, not wanted any memories to resurface. Not now, not ever. For the first time in Mushi's existence, he was scared, and Arliss could tell. Arliss loved it.

"I'm going to stay and fight Mushi." He said, under his breath to the bat. The elf itched for combat.  

[ClaraDusk]

Claire half rushed half stumbled inside at the sound of breaking glass. There was liquor everywhere and the smell was overpowering. She noticed that her rose wasn't on the back counter anymore and she hopped across the bar with one arm braced on the counter. She found her rose, nearly smushed by the bottom broken half of a heavy liquor bottle. She picked it up gently and a petal fell off. "Oh... If these earthquakes don't cease soon I'm going to Implode." She gingerly placed it in one of the plain glasses that hadn't fallen and broken and filled the glass with water.

"Can I fly? Well, not at night when its so chilly, I could fly during the day when there's plenty of sunlight and heat, though. Why do you ask?" Thats when a woman rushed into the tavern asking everyone if they were alright. She smiled warmly at her and greeted her, "I think we're all ok. Welcome! Sorry about the mess, and the smell." She rolled her eyes at Telaer and Jamie punching Jamie heavily lightly on the shoulder. "I will personally let you know when someone connected to a lab shows up, ok? Geez, your so paranoid."

She turned to see the hungover man and his mixed expressions. Just then, she remembered a name that connected itself to a face that looked sort of like him, but it had been a long, long time ago. She figured she'd try it out anyway. "You must've got hit on the head pretty bad or something, Arliss."

Stasis update---
Subject: 1A-M29
11:45 PM CST.
Condition: Optimal
Temperature: 98.6 F
Brain Waves: Abnormal - Warning! - Fluxing Rapidly
Heart-Rate: 3bps - High
Spider Report: 'Host is merely excited. Slightly aggitated. Anxious.'
15 minutes until Stasis Shutdown at 24:00:00  

[Edmund_Gallows]

Arliss tilted his head at what she said, confused. "Naw, I'm always like this. No earthquake could jar me." He stood up proudly.

Mushi jumped off Arliss's head and fluttered over to land on the barkeeps shoulder so he could whisper in her ear. "It's been nearly a century since he was the man you remember. If he remembers his old life, I'm holding all of you accountable for the emotional damage, and anyone who dies in the process." With a hiss Mushi flew back to Arliss.

"What was that about?" Arliss asked Mushi, using his linked connection for once instead of yelling at the small animal.

"Just letting her know you're going to kick a** and take names, and not to get in your way."

With a stupid grin, Arliss grabbed the bat and put him on his head again. "That's what I'm talking about!"  

[AngelicTurtle]

Io politely nodded at the welcome from Claire, but there was confusion in her face as she stopped petting Cuddles and stood upright. As someone who had once been a healer during the war, she could recognize those that were gods like herself. She had come across a small few, during her travels, but most of them were lone wanderers like herself and, if they recognized what she was at all, preferred to distance themselves from her company. It was unsettling, then, to see so many of them collected in one place. Had they been drawn here too?

"Excuse me," she said to Clair, whom she presumed was the leader of this band, "I apologize for the intrusion, but...what is going on here? Were all of you drawn by the building storm, as I was?"  

[Skye Venorum]

Jamie shrugged "Iunno. Claire seems to know the most about what's going on." he looked back at Claire quizzically "Hadn't really thought about it much. I've been wandering around since I woke up. Turns out we might be related." he went back to her, turning and slinging his arm around Claire's shoulder "I can't wait to try some of Nana's cookies." he said with a smirk, clearly trying hard not to laugh at his own joke.

"She is going to kill you. And I will mourn only the loss of your body."