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Five hundred dollars had the mist silently standing in line, pushing whatever button she was told to push and heading for one of the pods, where she was directed. Izy? I don't know if this is going to hurt--

There was no reaction, but the pod in front of Syd opened, making her tilt her head curiously at the golem inside. Long white hair flowed around a rather pretty male face, one that almost seemed familiar. His clothes were high class--but seriously outdated, they looked as if they came from the renaissance period.

And he had taloned feet, she thought, staring at them curiously. She didn't even see gold eyes open and look at her--but she did hear someone sigh. "Well, Darkling," a very familiar, smooth voice said, making her jerk and look up. "You do look a bit different from this point of view."

She stared, her mind not quite comprehending the implications for a moment. The golem smiled slightly and stepped out of the pod, reaching up to straighten his coat and stretch his strange wings out behind him. One hand came up, touching her chin with a knuckle and closing her mouth for her. "Hello, Darkling, did you miss me?"

"I--Izy?" she stuttered, feeling like a moron. He was a foot taller than her, but delicate looking--almost too pretty to be a male. "What are you?"

"Well... I suppose you would call me an obsession incubus."

By the time Wilson was at the front of the line, he sort of knew what to expect. He raised an arm for the technician to snap a cuff around his wrist. Considering the raspy voice in his head, Wilson fully expected an old man.

The golem in front of him was not an old man. He took a moment to take in the black-and-green hair, the spikey hairstyle, the horns, even the patches of scales and tail. Gramps, that’s you? [Pipe it.] Shrugging, Wilson stepped forward to finally turn on the golem.

Groaning, the catoblepas rolled his neck and happily flicked his tail. He grinned at Wilson and opened his mouth, raspy voice and all, “This is a swell start, huh?”

Wilson appeared to still be thinking with his arms crossed and eyeballing the golem. “You know, for someone who sounds so old I didn’t think you’d be shirtle—“

Someone just might have gotten a heavy kick to the stomach. Hint: It wasn’t Gramps.

Rolling on the ground, Wilson clutched his stomach and rasped, “******** bent down to drag his hunter out by the hoodie. “Don’t flip your wig, kiddo. You’re a real wet rag, you know that? We’re going to find a neato thing to do while I still have this body.”

Wilson mumbled. “s**t.”

Harrison did find his way to the line, eventually.

The cuff set him back. "Hey, these're-"

He was moved along and told to pick up his weapon on the other side.

"The what?" he asked, "but-"

You heard them, keep it moving...holy pumpkin s**t. Stop! Freeze, /walk.

They both stared at the pod. Both of them recognized the body. Harrison out of dreams and the baseball trance he'd gotten sent to after the Horsemen island had blown up. B0nez because, well.

I just push this button, right here?

Obvs.

And you'll...

Test the freeeeak out of this beta release.

Harrison dubiously mashed the online button.

B0nez's eyes snapped open behind a pair of rectangular glasses. After some reorienting, he tried to press his hands through his stomach. He looked small, and young, with whispy hair tied into a ponytail and a skullcap emblazened with a ghostly crossbones. His jeans were old, and his sneakers ratty. He smelled vaguely salty, like an expired chip bag.

"Where do you report bugs? This one's....fleshy. And they've got the gravity turned on," B0nez noted. His voice was reedy and awkward.

Harrison offered him a hand out of the pod. "You can give them a printout."

B0nez eyed Harrison's hand suspiciously. He adjusted his glasses. It had been a long time since he'd been...aliveish. Or not a sword. He had seen Harrison doing things, of course, but Harrison was taller. And the STR and DEX bonuses were higher. This wasn't a concern when you were a ghost. Or a ghost sword. He frowned. They'd kicked him back to level 1. And in a body. There was nothing worse.

He ignored Harrison's hand and promptly failed to do anything but kick his legs and fail to push himself up with his weak, spindly arms.

Harrison waited, thinking that was nothing short of pitiful, then hauled B0nez out anyway. He ended up having an armful of pirate. B0nez seemed to take the take the height change in stride. He put one arm around Harrison's neck and pointed imperiously towards the door. "W!"

Harrison set B0nez down in a room that was shaping up to be the weirdest mixer ever.

"Well, we're plus 500 bucks," Harrison said.

B0nez edged slightly behind Harrison.

"The only parties I've ever been to are raids," he whispered.

Why was that? Melvin only smiled back. "You don't look like you rolled out of a trash can." It was a compliment, in one way or another, but around here, he felt it was a very accepable one. A lot of hunters he saw were rough around the edges, and someone who seemed pleasant enough and well groomed stood out to him. Little details he took notice of, espeically well-mainted people.

It was then that some bored techs told them to come over, and Melvin rose, letting a few people shuffle by to help with the overcrowding, before he took a spot.

They better not prod me with needles.

You're a weapon. A needle would break if they poked you. She certainly had silly concerns.

He approached the counter and smiled to the other techs. This was a job he wanted, through he didn't get why they seemed this lazy over testing. Part of him wanted to smack them for being this lax about an experiment. "Hand." One grumbled.

"Wow. Your people skills really are top notch. You could try and seem interested in your work." The man who gripped his hand nearly cut off his circulation and slapped a bracelet on. Not even bothering to talk, he jutted a finger down the line, and Melvin rubbed his wrist as he followed the group.

He followed the arrows for weapons pickup, and was excited to think he might be able to exchange his weapon. Someone far more agreeable and less - wormy. When he arrived, he stood before a pod, somewhat like the one he slept in, and was rather confused. It was then that he was informed to touch his wristband which was beeping at him.

"Hmm." He turned it on, looking around and waiting, until the pod opened. He stared for a moment, stepping back, and waited to see a new weapon. Maybe it was being created in the pod. Was this how weapons were created?

Instead, a short, plump girl stepped out, sporting a outfit that defiantly wasn't American, with an assortment of beads, a decorated headdress and outfit, and detailed boots. Her hair was curled in segments, and there seemed to be a part trailing behind. Striking a pose, she grinned, bearing a set of sharp teeth.

"THIS is what I was talking about when I say gorgeous." He stared a moment at this woman, and then shook his head as if his ears had betrayed him.

Saliva, are you...still here?

There was no response in his head, and he looked at the girl, who was inspected her hair for a moment as if to make sure all things were set the way she liked.

"Saliva?" He asked, pointed, and she shot out a hip and opened her arms in a Ta-Da fashion. "Conquer of boils. Envy of ghouls. Gem of desert." Her accent was heavier than in his head but still understandable.

Moving over to him, she was able to look him all over, and as she did he rose his hands up as if he had spotted a rat on the ground when he noticed the train of her dress was a worn pattern. This was Saliva - a worm woman.

He covered his mouth, stepping away from her, and she glanced to the door as she saw more people walking. Oh right. They had to move, and there were other people she wanted to meet. Melvin was already walking out that door as he touched the wall, feeling ready to be sick. This couldn't be happening. It was bad enough he had to touch her as a weapon, but now she was alive near him. A living shadow monster.

Clerise grinned. "Nona," she repeated, edging closer, ignoring the fact that Balthazar looked like he wanted to cry.

"You're Sasha's weapon, huh?" She offered a hand to the harpy looking lady, stopping short only to blink at Sasha. Balthazar was yanking at Clerise's grip on his wrist, but was failing to get away.

"This is Cap'n-- er, Balthazar," the redhead explained, gesturing at her weapon in golem form. Her red eyes gleamed in Nona's direction. This could be...intriguing.

She remembered the kiss with Pepin, and wondered if making out with golems was against any sort of policy.

However, Clerise did look to Sasha, trying to gauge the other girl's reaction. "What does she mean, enjoy?"

Five hundred dollars was an awful lot of money, Gale thought, as he stood in the back of the room, arms folded across his chest, a musing expression on his face. Yet he hadn't really done anything with his money, and considering that it had been, for the past several months, just gathering dust at the bottom of his sock drawer, he thought he might put it to good use - not to mention, it was mandatory.

Which turned out to be a very good thing. Or maybe it wasn't.

He hadn't really decided yet.

"So," he said, and walked in a slow circle around the figure that now stood in front of him, straight backed, several inches taller than himself (but who wasn't, Gale reminded himself with a mildly exasperated mental sigh). He had long black hair that was braided into three plaits - one longer and thicker one that fell part of the way down his back, and two smaller, thinner ones on either side of his face. His skin was pale, and partially scaled on the left side, going down his neck and disappearing into the collar of his shirt, which was a dark grey-blue tunic that looked Asian in appearance. On the top of his head were a set of pale blue horns that matched the pale blue, fringed tail that was currently curled around one of his legs.

"You're, ah...not quite what I pictured, I have to admit."

Jinhai, who was currently staring down at his hands, absently flexing long fingers, turned his head, arching a dark brow.

"You're shorter than I pictured."

Gale rolled his eyes. "I look taller when you're a rifle."

The bracelet around his wrist felt odd and heavy, clinking against his skin. Reaching down, he rubbed at the metal, frowning a little, but felt the sweep of a tail against his leg and glanced up, catching the blue-eyed gaze of the dragon.

"What?"

Jinhai shrugged. "Nothing. I've just..."

He trailed off a little, clearly uncertain as to how to say what he wanted to say, and Gale waited not-too-patiently, shifting from one foot to the other and still turning the bracelet around his wrist.

"It's been a long time," Jinhai finished, and smoothed a hand down one of his sleeves, idly picking out a stray thread. "It's...odd."

It was Gale's turn to shrug. "Well, I can imagine."

There was that icy gaze again, followed by a somewhat exasperated snort.

"I sincerely doubt that."


[ exit ]