Overlap [IC/PG-16/Accepting]

[Chaos Sonic 442]

BGM

Trevor was truly floored at what he saw with this library...it was massive...HUGE even! And although he was "shhh"d by the apparently librarian, he was not swayed one bit. This was perfect...simply perfect!

Countless books within these walls...I could learn what I need with ease now! Trevor nodded, already ascending the stairs some to view and look at the different areas and genres that they would have. Of course, he had to find one section: the history section. More accurately, he was looking for the history of Prana and Rama-Indri...if he were to learn things about the location they were in, perhaps this would assist him and his fellow guardians in their efforts in this world.

Whilst browsing through, he came across one book in particular in the mystery section of the library. The odd little oddity if anything... "Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu: The Adventure of the Innsmouth Mutations". He paused in his stride and looked at his grimoire that was floating beside him and staring at this oddity as well. "...this truly happens to be something I never thought would ever happen...the question is...why?"

To sell more books and copies of said book. After all, what unsuspecting reader wouldn't be drawn to both Holmes and the Old Ones at the same time?

"...I forgot Merlin did have his foresight and put that in when he wrote within your pages..." Trevor nodded, surprised at the Cabanomicon's understanding and even knowledge of theses things. Nevertheless, he shook this book off and continued onward...before passing another section to where he noticed a leatherbound book that simply had a cross on it and the letters KJV. He stared at it before putting a hand to his chin slightly. "I wonder...does our resident believer in the faith know they have this here? Surely not...I suppose I may have to bring Melissa up here one day."

Assuming she is a believer in this faith, Masters?

"Not at all. Remember, Arcana Cabana, our world...had something similar to this. And not only this, she wears the garb that would befit something similar." Trevor nodded, continuing to walk off to search for what he wanted. "Not an assumption, more like...an astute observation." Finally he found what he was looking for...albeit a small section, but the history of Prana and Rama-Indri was within his grasp. "Perfect. Now...let's see..."

[yui 571]

In the athletic section of the clothing store, Morgan and her small group were met with a man. Not just a regular man either, no, this man was more like a walking display of muscle. A man who seemed convinced the group was here to see him? Something like that. Morgan had picked up the general gist of things, but the finer details slipped her attention while she was checking out the other clothing options in this part of the store. What she did pick up near the end was that there was to be a competition, between Mr. Muscles Adonis and Aduain. Morgan just had to see how this would unfold, and appropriately followed the boys to a different store.

This should be interesting.

While Adonis looked incredibly strong, there was one important point working against him. She could tell just at a glance, Adonis didn't have nen on his side. Aduain did. Quite a crowd had assembled, cheering on the mighty Adonis, and the contest was soon underway! At first, it was nothing exciting. Then, she saw it happen. Aduain began channeling his nen into his arm, granting him strength that most certainly belied his size. Using that strength, he began turning the tide on Adonis, much to the dismay of the big man's fans. Just as Aduain was about to come out on top, however, he... stopped? Morgan watched with a raised eyebrow as Aduain stopped channeling nen, and allowed Adonis to swing the momentum of the contest back in his favor, victoriously slamming the fish's hand into the table. The crowd went wild! Adonis had won.

"That was a dirty trick letting me think I'd won!"

It was only appropriate to clap for the winner, at least, so Morgan did that. While Adonis and Fen talked about the pros and cons of being muscular or not, Morgan diverted her attention toward the unfortunate loser of the recent contest of strength. "A  dirty  trick,  yes," Morgan quipped. Not that she blamed him; she would have done the same thing. The only difference is Morgan wouldn't have let Adonis win at the last second. "Next  time  you  should  try  an  opponent  more  on  your  level." That would get the point across, right? The fact that another Hunter existed in this world was something Morgan didn't want to just ignore. Especially now that she knew he could properly use nen, Morgan wanted to see just what Aduain was truly capable of.

[Doggo 218]

Aduain did his best to repress the smirk he so very badly wanted to wear plainly on his face. Muscles without nen didn't mean much, he already knew that. But it was nice to know something from his world still held true here in Prana. Aduain had heard Fen cheering for him in the middle of things and was slightly embarrassed now to have her praise even for throwing it. But then, Fen didn't have nen. How was a nenless Fen supposed to know what he'd done? Unless Fen was it's own kind of nen. An idle thought for later anyway and Aduain tucked it away as he took in the slowly calming atmosphere of the store as Adonis made his exit and the crowd that had gathered began dispersing. Of course, there was one person present who had to be aware of everything he'd done and Morgan let him know as much without saying it.

"Well whenever she's ready I'd love to." the fish replied cheekily before Fen rejoined the duo, curious about nen of all things. "Magic huh... Well where to start. Nen's just... nen you know? Like everything that's alive has it. Well, I thought everything did 'til I got to Prana anyway." Aduain said with a chuckle as he put his hands behind his head while idly twirling one of his tentacles around his hand. "When you activate it, or get it activated, you sorta take control of the energy that makes you, you. From there it's just a matter of where you put it. Normally it's just sitting in and around you and keeps you younger-looking longer. But concentrated nen makes your muscles way stronger than they ever could be on their own so I just put it where I need it. Feet for jumping, arm for wrestling, all that stuff." The fish continued and he seemed deep in thought for a second before a realization flashed across his face.

"Oh! But nen kind of does something like your magic. Some people get a special nen power called a hatsu and it's always unique to them! For me my nen can act like water and since I can do whatever I want to my nen I can do whatever I want with the water." Aduain beamed while describing his hatsu. Just to illustrate the point he summoned a droplet of water from his resting nen that hovered above his finger only to dissipate it after a moment back into his nen. He left room for Morgan to add or correct him since he wasn't great at remembering everything he'd been taught about it. But eventually the group got back to shopping.

For the fish hunter's part there was no shirts or pants to be purchased as few things had been catching his eye. But he did take a shine to something else from the athletic goods. Sweatbands. Armed with five differently colored bands, one on each wrist and ankle along with one bunching his tentacles together on his head, the fish was ready to make his purchase. But it was at around this point that Fen remined Aduain Melissa still wasn't with them. A shiver went down his spine at the thought of the photo-obssessed fashionista finding him again before worrying what had happened to Meliisa for her to have been gone this long.

"G-good question! Maybe we should ask around. She might have gone to a different store to find us." he offered.

[LordCowCow 839]

Trevor

Long ago, before the Great Dragon, this planet was a place of war. The people who lived here, without the protection and guidance of the Great Dragon, were constantly embroiled in war. Their society was built on fighting for control and the people knew no peace. These wars never truly subsided and instead they just continued to grow larger. Weapons of terrible destructive force were brought out on both sides. Which nearly rendered the entire planet uninhabitable. Even today many places on the planet are scorched and ruined due to their violent ways.

And then the Great Dragon appeared. Ending the wars and bringing an unknown era of peace to the land. Allowing the people to build cities and salvage what they could of the land. It is widely accepted that, without the Great Dragon's interference, the entire planet would have been lost.

Many of the books that Trevor looked through said similar. They all pointed to the appearance of the Great Dragon as the true start of society. As Trevor looked through the books he heard a soft, monotone, voice speak out behind him.

"You won't find much there."

A young woman with a flat expression on her face was standing at the end of the bookcase. She was looking at the book in Trevor's hand and spoke in a monotone voice. "I read all of them...They don't say anything about the time before the Great Dragon...and they don't explain what it is the Great Dragon did, either." she glanced up at Trevor for a moment and said "In fact it talks about this world's religion more than anything else..." she blinked. "...Unless that is what you were looking for. Just thought I would....mention."

---

Melissa and "Totally Not Devin"

“We were supposed to be getting fishsicles, right? We still need to look for those. They have to be here somewhere.”

Dora's eyes widened. "Oh! You want fishsicles? I like those! Do you know where to find them?" Dora was bouncing on her heels, excited at the prospect, and looking around as if they must be hiding around there somewhere nearby.

"Well, if yer looking for fishsicles, they're right over there,"

As the person spoke Dora stared up at them. Craning their neck to look at their face. "You're big!" Dora said. "Bigger than papa! Bigger than Brooke! But not bigger than my house. That's still bigger. But still very big! What's a foodie? Does that mean you're made of food? People thought Dora, that's me, was a sack of potatoes before but I never was actually food!"

She was silent for a full three seconds before, "Oh! Let's go get them now!" and, without hesitation, grabbed Melissa and the stranger both by the hand with her own, flipper-like, hands. Moving backwards towards where "Kyubaru" indicated she half dragged them along. Though she wasn't quite so strong they couldn't break free easily if they choose.

Whatever they did Dora made her way to the proper location and got three fishsicles. Which, as it turned out, were literally dried and frozen fish on a stick. She held one hand, with two of the food items, out to the others and happily took one from her other hand into her mouth.

Smiling she muttered through it "Is good."

As they stood there a voice called out in an exasperated tone. "There you are..."

A worn out looking young woman came up to them. She was looking directly at Dora and seemed to be purposefully not paying attention to anyone else. "Dora, you weren't supposed to leave my side. Have you been bothering people?" she glanced over at Melissa and then hastily looked away. Though when she spoke next she seemed to be talking to Melissa. "I hope she didn't, uh, cause any problems." She seemed clearly uncomfortable.

Unlike Dora who jumped up and down and proclaimed "It's Kira! Kira hi! When did you get here? Oh, I didn't get one for you, sorry!" She then pointed at the others. "This is....Koobaroo and um...ummm.....Ambrosia?" She smiled wide, with the food still in her mouth somehow, and added "they're my friends now isn't that neat?"

"You have too many 'friends'." Kira muttered. She looked at both of them again, particularly "Koobaroo", but this time with slightly narrowed eyes as she slowly moved over towards Dora protectively.

[radio414 902]

“Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
-Numbers 11:22 (NIV)

---

Dora seemed surprised that Melissa even remembered what they had come to the food court to get. Maybe that was to be expected -- Melissa had only known the Quagsire for an hour at most (and probably significantly less than that), and she wasn’t exactly shocked that Dora had forgotten -- but all that knowledge did was make Melissa feel bad for feeling bad just then when she was paralyzed by choice. She really should have known better, she thought. But she also only felt bad inasmuch as she always felt kind of upset at herself; it was a level she could manage.

Someone came up to Melissa and Dora and pointed out the exact stand the fishsicles were located, which was nice of them even if the other part, the subtle yet still present belittling of her already unsure choice, was not. Melissa wasn’t able to voice any particular concerns, though, partly because, well, even looking the person -- they introduced themselves as Kyubaru -- even looking them in the eye was difficult for whatever reason, and partly because only moments later Dora had seized both of them and dragged them along to the stand. She could have broken free, but she didn’t. Maybe such an interruption was for the best, really, lest such thoughts continue to fester in her head.

No, instead what was in her head was a fishsicle, as Dora jammed the thing right into Melissa’s mouth. “Is good,” Dora said, though Melissa wasn’t quite sure she agreed. Like, she wasn’t quite sure what she expected -- Dora was right. A fishsicle was a fishsicle, a fish popsicle. It wasn’t bad per se, Melissa could imagine some lenten fish fry event passing out the things as an appetizer to the rest of the meal, especially if the event was outside and everyone needed some way of beating the heat, but she wouldn’t order one again outside of it.

Instead of answering Dora’s implicit question, Melissa just chewed on it some more. Maybe it was an acquired taste. Maybe if she had to be with Dora longer, she could learn to love it. Again, though, the moment before she was able to even respond “Is alright” right back, another player entered the scene, a woman with a hand on her hip and a face that similarly betrayed her exasperation. “Dora, you weren’t supposed to leave my side. Have you been bothering people?”

Dora protested, and Melissa, as if by instinct, went to back her up. “It’s not a problem,” Melissa said. “I already finished my shopping for the most part and Dora has been nothing but friendly.” She held up her bags as if to demonstrate the former point. She also noticed that Dora introduced her as “Ambrosia” and recalled that Dora had gotten her name mixed up with her place of origin back on the upper floors. She didn’t make a move to correct her, though. It was fine as a name; it certainly wasn’t the worst nickname she’d gotten, and she’d gotten a lot. Instead, she just dropped one hand back to her side and with the other waved Dora goodbye. “It was nice to meet you, Dora,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll see each other again.”

After the two had left, she turned to Kyubaru. “It was nice to meet you also, and sorry you ended up with some food you don’t particularly enjoy,” she said. “I hope we weren’t too much of a nuisance. I should get looking for my friends, though.”

[Blake 312]

"You have too many 'friends'." Kira muttered. She looked at both of them again, particularly "Koobaroo", but this time with slightly narrowed eyes as she slowly moved over towards Dora protectively.

"Hey, don't worry, I'm just here cause yer kid dragged me along," The shifter held their hands up as if they had just been order to drop their weapon, "Anyway, kiddo, you can have the extra fishsicle or give it to Kira. I'm good, trust me."

The shifter turned to leave before things got any more awkward, having not been prepared to really interact, only to be caught by Melissa.

“It was nice to meet you also, and sorry you ended up with some food you don’t particularly enjoy,” she said. “I hope we weren’t too much of a nuisance. I should get looking for my friends, though.”

"Uh, yeah. It was nice to meet you, too, Melissa. You should really avoid those fishsicles though," The shifter flashed her a grin with their eyes closed before beginning to walk off, not wanting to meet her gaze. She was alright, at least. That was what mattered, wasn't it? They were still a villain who shouldn't get involved with someone that could be hurt by their presence. They were so caught up in these thoughts, that they failed to even register what they had just done...

[Chaos Sonic 442]

Long ago, before the Great Dragon, this planet was a place of war. The people who lived here, without the protection and guidance of the Great Dragon, were constantly embroiled in war. Their society was built on fighting for control and the people knew no peace. These wars never truly subsided and instead they just continued to grow larger. Weapons of terrible destructive force were brought out on both sides. Which nearly rendered the entire planet uninhabitable. Even today many places on the planet are scorched and ruined due to their violent ways. And then the Great Dragon appeared. Ending the wars and bringing an unknown era of peace to the land. Allowing the people to build cities and salvage what they could of the land. It is widely accepted that, without the Great Dragon's interference, the entire planet would have been lost.

Whilst reading, Trevor took the time to have the Cabanomicon proceed to make notes of all these things. So in short, Rama-Indri was a planet at war...embroiled with it. Most of the world is uninhabitable...this did bring up an interesting thought...would there be a way to see the other areas of this world? Questions for later, he figured. But what got him was this...Great Dragon. Normally...dragons weren't technically looked at as peace bringers...well, correction...the dragons he was taught...which generally derived from the Medieval era due to Merlin's general time and even own world, they weren't the best creatures around...but still...if something like that had this great of influence...then surely it wasn't just a mindless creature. Or in this case, a heartless creature.

Unfortunately, it seemed that all the works here in this specific location only dealt with this Great Dragon and not...

"You won't find much there."

Trevor heard this and whipped around, seeing a young woman with a blank expression on her face. When did she get here? How could she easily just sneak up on me like this?

"I read all of them...They don't say anything about the time before the Great Dragon...and they don't explain what it is the Great Dragon did, either. In fact it talks about this world's religion more than anything else...Unless that is what you were looking for. Just thought I would....mention."

He nodded, before turning towards the woman. "Alas, the religion of this world wasn't what I was hoping to learn...but I suppose any knowledge is good knowledge." Trevor flashed a smile, whilst the grimoire continued to finish up transposing the key points in these books and their passages. "Trevor Masters, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss...?"

[radio414 902]

“John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.’”
-Luke 3:11 (NIV)

---

That was kind of it, wasn’t it? Dora had found her friend again, Melissa knew where the stairs were so she could go back and find where everyone else was, and she could go back to the apartments with some new clothes and plus one fishsicle. Unless they’d left without her, of course, which they probably had given that they’d barely known each other for a day and she didn’t stand out much against the ice magician, fish, or actual zombie, did she? Melissa tried not to think about that but the wheels were already starting to turn and really the only other thing to focus on was Kyubaru saying goodbye to her as well. “It was nice to meet you too, Melissa,” they said. “You should really avoid those fishsicles, though.”

And then they were gone too. Melissa chewed on her fishsicle, not out of any sort of defiance against Kyubaru’s advice, more just out of lack of anything else to do. She supposed she was supposed to go up a floor, sure, but something was stopping her. Was it something someone had said? Was it the way they had said it? Was it a paralyzing poison in the fishsicle that only she was vulnerable to?

Okay, actually, now that she was thinking about the fishsicle again, like, it still wasn’t great, but she could more clearly see someone developing a taste for it. She wondered if Aduain had tried them. Or Devin. Maybe food could be used as a sort of peace offering since words hadn’t worked and she was still empathetic towards their plight. If that was the case she might as well get enough to share with everyone, so how many was that, five? Six in case she forgot someone or wanted one also?

It turned out the stall had a “buy five get one free” sort of deal, so six turned out to be the correct number. They even had a little thermos bag so she didn’t have to worry about them thawing out and just being fish sans sicle. As she was paying, though, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. “Wait a minute…” she said. It was completely unrelated to everything else that had been going on, but it just hit her.

How did Kyubaru know her name?

Like, Dora had just said “Ambrosia” a bunch when she wasn’t bouncing around other topics, and Melissa had failed to introduce herself properly to anyone else either time and yet, well, it had happened. They said “Melissa”.

Okay, so the worst-case scenario was that that photographer had already gotten their negatives developed and was now distributing glossy photographs to everyone they could find, and that the image of her had somehow entered the public zeitgeist on a level she didn’t dare imagine. That was pretty easy to come up with. The best-case was what, that Kyubaru had just made a lucky guess? That she had forgotten a moment where they had heard her name? Both of those seemed pretty unlikely. This was her first time at the mall, right?

“Oh, wait a minute.”

It wasn’t actually, was it? Maybe Kyubaru had been in that group under threat of the sand shark attack. There were certainly enough faces that she wouldn’t be able to remember all of them. Theirs certainly could have been there, especially since they said they were a foodie and probably appreciated all the options (or most of them, in any case). Crisis averted, mostly, and only mostly because, well, it wasn’t a definite answer, was it? What if-

“Miss, are you going to finish paying for these?” The person at the fishsicle stand snapped Melissa out of her wayward, in-danger-of-spiraling-out thoughts and she returned to the present. She apologized, did as she was told, and refocused her mind on moving to look for her friends.

[LordCowCow 839]

Homeward Bound

As day approached evening several of the wayward travelers from different dimensions made their way back to the place they currently called home. Be it together or separately.  They each would see the same, or similar, sight out in front of said home when they arrived.

An incredibly small vehicle, a van, which was far too small for even the smallest among them to fit into. There was lettering on the side of the truly mini van reading 'FCC' but nothing more to indicate who it belonged too.

When they entered the house they would find it swarmed by tiny, winged, people.

They varied from several inches to, at largest, a foot tall and had insect-like wings on their back. Which didn't make so much a sound as they flitted around. They carried various equipment that, it seemed from their actions, was being used to clean the surfaces of the interior of the building. A sharp eye would be able to read the words on the back of their shirt as "Fae Cleaning Crew".

At first they didn't notice that the residents had returned. And, even when they did, most of them didn't pay them much heed if not interrupted and just went about their business. Cleaning, literally in some cases, around them whenever one of the group got in the way.

Though one, a larger one, greeted them quickly with a "Ah we'll be outta your hair soon don't you worry." in a melodious, if a bit high pitched, voice.

---

Trevor

"Alas, the religion of this world wasn't what I was hoping to learn...but I suppose any knowledge is good knowledge. Trevor Masters, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, miss...?"

The girl nodded along with the sentiment that Trevor expressed. She didn't answer his question right away. Moving in an arc around him, but keeping her distance, she set down a large, old-looking, book she had been carrying under her arm onto a shelf and shook the arm. Indicating she had been carrying around the heavy thing for some time.

She stared blankly at Trevor for a while as the uncomfortable silence stretched. "My name is Keres and I come from a different world than this. You do, too." the last was a statement, not a question, and she followed up with another "You know magic. It's different than mine." her eyes flicked downward and she broke off her blank stare suddenly. "Different from hers. All of the magic is different. But it all works here." she had gone into more of a mutter by now and seemed to almost forget that she had been talking to Trevor. Her brow furrowed for a moment, the first indication of expression on her face, and she shook her head before looking back at Trevor. "...Hello." she said, having forgot to say it at the start.

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"My name is Keres and I come from a different world than this. You do, too."

"Indeedly so." Trevor nodded firmly, already confirming this at this point. Honestly there was an uncomfortable silence between them before she finally spoke and introduced herself. Then again, what Trevor was glancing at the whole time until conversation was finally struck...was that heavy book she carried. The arm shake truly indicated that she was holding that thing for a while...way longer than one normally would. It was a large, older looking book...if he had to guess...it might've been as old as the Cabanomicon...maybe even older! "Was summoned here by our esteemed lover of top-hats to Prana along with some others." he explained, shifting his stance slightly.

"You know magic. It's different than mine. Different from hers. All of the magic is different. But it all works here. ...Hello."

He nodded slightly, only holding up a finger before smiling. "Ah yes, all magic is different...but the core elements and methods of said magic remains the same. Wouldn't you agree, Keres?" Trevor flashed the three rings on his left hand for a moment, before continuing. "Allow me to explain...well, at least attempt to explain. Where I originate from, my master explained the way magic works using somewhat of the basics of science. These rings, for example, allow the wearers to project the electromagnetic energy of their nervous system and give them physical form..." he paused, allowing the grimoire of his flip through it's pages and display in pictures exactly what Trevor was explaining.

"With that in mind, a sorcerer's electromagnetic energy from one's self mixing with the electromagnetic energy around in an environment produce the desired product of magic." Trevor nodded slowly, smirking. "It's why I was taught specifically...that a sorcerer is absolutely nothing without his rings. But I figure that perhaps the way magic was explained and taught to you was quite different...and I'd honestly be interested to hear it. Perhaps we can divulge magical explanations on our way out of here? And perhaps I could even learn what that book you hold is."

[radio414 902]

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
-Proverbs 8:17 (NIV)

---

The actual looking and finding, now that Melissa could actually do it and wasn’t accosted by any more random strangers (or at least she hoped everyone she’d met today had started out as a random stranger), was pretty easy, all things considered. They were all still on the ground floor; she only had to go up a few stairs. Better still, it only looked like they didn’t even know she had gone; they had, in fact, noticed her absence and the only reason they hadn’t gone looking for her was that she had found them first.

Either way, shopping was done for the day, and they all left with whatever food, clothes, or athletic gear they had acquired on their trip. Getting back to the apartments turned out to be just as easy as getting to the mall in the first place -- they just had to follow Natasha’s directions in reverse. Really, when you thought about it, that wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise, though, was the state of the common area of the apartments, because they were not in the state they had all left them in. The most obvious example of this was the fair folk, a whole throng of whom were cleaning everything up. Melissa could just make out “FAE CLEANING CREW” on the back of all their garments.

Really, she should have been more surprised, and maybe she would have been had she not just gotten a frozen fish jammed into her mouth by a humanoid Quagsire but less than an hour ago. Or everything that had happened the day before (really before that if she included her first meeting with her voices). Or anything to do with Aduain. Or -

“Ah, we’ll be out of your hair soon, don’t worry,” one of the larger faeries said.

Melissa knew what they meant, though she still very nearly checked her hair for stray gossamer. Her instinct took a different tack instead. “It’s no problem,” she said. “Um, do we- are we supposed to tip? I don’t think I have any physical money, I just have this.” She brought her wrist up next to her face, and her watch helpfully flashed her available balance. It was lower than she remembered it being, but if she thought about it more, that was to be expected. She had just been shopping, after all.

“Tip? Why would ya want’ta do that?” was the reply. After a moment’s thought, they added, “I guess you could send it to the company…”

It was certainly a complicated question, one Melissa hadn’t read up on any literature about. Just saying “it would make me feel good to contribute to your wellbeing,” felt both obnoxious and dangerously close to being true, while “To encourage you to continue doing the best job you can” felt like she’d be talking down to a group already clearly hard at work. Best was probably “because I think I should,” and even that had problems. In the end, Melissa decided to ignore the question entirely. “I think I know how to do that. Okay,” she said and started fiddling around in her watch looking for the correct option.

She found it eventually, and let the faeries get back to work as she headed upstairs to put her newly purchased clothes away. Melissa only did most of those things, though, tossing the shopping bags containing clothes onto her bed to put away later. Normally, she would have been diligent about something like that, but there was something across the hall she needed to take care of first.

Melissa stood in front of the door to Devin’s room. She didn’t knock, she just said, “Devin, are you in there?” and paused as though she was going to wait for a response, but it was only a formality, she kept going all the same. “I, um, I don’t remember if you were around to hear this earlier, but a bunch of us went back to that mall today. It’s still standing if you can believe that. Anyway, um, I met someone who recommended these fish things, and they were interesting enough, I thought, to share with everyone back here. I came to you first, though, because, I don’t know, I figured if words didn’t work yesterday some sort of gift might, so you can take the best, most appetizing ones first if you want.

“That being said, I’m actually pretty bad with food gifts -- I remember this one time a friend of mine put honey in her coffee because I had brought it for her -- so if you don’t take any I won’t be offended or anything. But if you do, well, they’re here.”

[Doggo 218]

The trip to the mall had proved more fun than Aduain could have imagined. Nothing quite topped the showdown with Adonis of course, but the new look he was sporting was worth getting excited about, however minor a change it actually was. He was still drawing curious looks every now and then but then he realized an athletic band scrunchie for his head tentacles wasn't exactly a hat like Mauvache had gifted him so perhaps this was considered rude. But then not every person in the mall seemed to be wearing a hat either but the fish hadn't paid enough attention to put together if the people eyeing him were wearing hats or not. Truly Prana had a deep and complicated culture. And a lot of different things to eat. the boy might well have wasted his allotted wages in the food court then and there had he not been with the others.

As luck would have they eventually found Melissa too. Or she found them. Another detail the hunter wasn't concerned with in the scheme of things. The important part was the girl hadn't been followed meaning whatever the fashionable stranger had done to her had satisfied them. That didn't stop Aduain from keeping an eye peeled for a while, expecting an attack from any angle. At one point he did relax his guard as he struck out to climb to the roof of the building from the inside to go swing around that light fixture he'd seen before. But his efforts were caught fairly well on with a warning from security rather than simply kicking him out as they might have had a right to do. Real mood killers those guys but then maybe it was better he not try something dangerous in front of so many people. They might worry about him. And clearly they didn't know what nen was so trying to explain all of that would be a hassle. Another day he thought as he departed with the others.

How Aduain still had the energy to be nearly bouncing as he walked up to the group's new home was anyone's guess but bounce he did. It only got worse at the sight of the cleaners. The Fae Cleaning Crew, or so their clothing labeled them, were a sight unlike anything Aduain had seen. Such tiny little people, working away tirelessly at tidying the living space. Melissa undertook some dealings with them and excused herself to her room leaving the fish with Morgan and Fen.

"So what'cha guys gonna do now?" he asked aimlessly for a moment before looking to either side. The boy leaned in and whispered "I'm probably gonna try flooding the shower rooms and see where that gets me." With the less than innocent plan stated he stood back into a much more relaxed pose and volume to continue speaking. "So if that sounds fun I'd love to have ya! But I can do that whenever if we got something else cooking." He beamed wondering what other wonders Prana was hiding. He almost hoped another random door to some other cool world would open up for them to take a peek into for a few minutes.

[Skaia 576]

Fen began to ponder on where Melissa had gone off too, trying to figure out first when they had split off from each other. As she retraced her memories, it didn't seem to be all that important as soon enough Melissa had ended up finding them. Glad that her fellow fighter against multiversal evil was fine and now accounted for, Fen was happy to leave the mall. Sure, she had barely scratched the surface of what the building actually had to offer, but there were always other days that she could explore the labyrinthine building. Though, seeing the antics that Aduain had gotten to during the rest of their journey here, Fen decided that perhaps it would've been best to come here by herself next time. 

Getting back to their apartment building the girl was curious to see a bunch of small flying people working at cleaning the room, though by their uniform appearance assumed this to be their job. It was entirely possible that they were also just a bunch of hobbyists who enjoyed cleaning buildings, but as Melissa had talked to them about sending money to their company, she figured that this was likely not the case. Giving a small bow to the Fae Cleaning Crew, she as well added, "thank you for your help." Keeping a place like this constantly clean was probably no small undertaking. 

As the group began to settle in, Melissa going back upstairs, Aduain brought up what was next on their agenda. The girl, while not tired, was certainly not up to going out and doing yet another expedition in the day. She also couldn't help but feel bad for the Fae as the fish boy had made his comment on flooding the showers, giving a mental condolence to each of them and wondering what other types of room wrecking mischief they had to deal with in other buildings. As the boy seemed willing to put it on the back burner for now, Fen smiled commenting, "well, I'd prefer if you didn't but, well, for now. Hmmm..." The girl put a finger to her chin before looking around, her eyes settling on a different room in the building. "There's a room over there with stuff I don't recognize, so, maybe we should try figuring out what it all does?" The girl looked over to the rec room, seeing the oddly green felt table and the box with a glass window in it. If the kitchen had been anything to go by, she couldn't begin to imagine what kind of other wonders existed in this building for them to find. 

[LordCowCow 839]

Trevor

"Electro...magnetic?" Keres seemed unsure what Trevor said. "So...everything is....Thunder magic?" That sounded rather limited to her but she felt she was missing something about the explanation.

She shook her head "It doesn't sound the same." In fact what she understood as magic, even specifically Thunder, didn't sound anything like he said. Which made it all the more strange to her that they both could practice magic in this place just as easily.

When he mentioned the book she pulled it closer and shook her head again. "That...is not something I should say yet. I found it and..." her voice trailed off and she stopped. "You wanted to go right?" She started to turn and then paused. "Wait."

The woman raised her arm up to check the watch for something. She silently read something for a few moments and then said. "A friend told me what to do in these situations..." Looking a bit more she continued, as if reading from notes, "If a man you don't know tries to go somewhere with you tell them you have a very large boyfriend waiting for you and back away slowly." Keres looked up at Trevor. "Sorry." she said, without changing tone, and started to back away.

Spoiler

So lemme know if you want to let her go/talk more/etc. This isn't a "you can't talk anymore" as much as it might sound like it. Might be easier to get lines from me if you want to keep going with this interaction though.

 

[yui 571]

Between the shopping, the arm wrestling match between Aduain and the mighty Adonis, and a brief scare where Melissa seemed to have gone missing, going to the mall was quite the eventful trip! Morgan, for one, was glad to be able to return to a set place afterward, and kick back, and unwind. What was really curious, however, was the little van parked out front. Very little. Tiny, in fact. Not quite teensy enough to be used as a toy, but certainly too small for even a zombie of Morgan's dimunitive stature to ever fit in. While the rest of her little shopping group seemed content to head straight inside, Morgan spent a bit checking out the van first. To be able to drive this, one had to be very tiny indeed! But, upon closer inspection, a bit of poking around, and nearly slamming the van door on her pinky, Morgan was able to confirm that this was indeed a fully functional automobile!

Frankly, that only made her even more curious. Who was the FCC? Were they really this small? Or were they perhaps clowns? The Festival Clown Committee?

Eager to find out, Morgan returned to the great indoors, and was immediately met with the mildly disappointing - but still exciting and fascinating - answer. Rather than faire attendants, the building was full of fae attendants! Some of them were small enough to fit in the palm of Morgan's hand, A bigger one among the fairies gave Morgan a quick wave, assuring her that the crew wouldn't be here much longer.

Maybe I should start my own cleaning crew. The ZCC.

Now, Morgan was a rather experienced Hunter, she liked to think, having seen many of the wonderful places and peoples Lemuria has to offer. But fairies were certainly not real, as they only ever came up in... well, fairy tales. Yet here they were. Truly, this was a world with all sorts of stuff she could never see back home! I should write this stuff down. Morgan would have to make sure to buy a notebook next time she was out shopping! For now, however, she had questions for these tiny people.

"Are  you  the  only  fairies  in  this  world?" the zombie inquired.

"What gave ya that idea?" they looked confused at the question. "There's a ton of us. Just cause we're small doesn't mean you couldn't have noticed..."

A whole bunch of fairies... frankly, Morgan hadn't noticed. "Is  there  other  weird  stuff  in  this  world  too?  Like...  centaurs,  or  dragons,  or  boy  bands  made  of  plants  or  something."

The fairy huffed "Who you calling weird, miss four-fingers, hmph."

"Well  then  we're  both  weird," Morgan huffed back. Before the two could get any further into who was truly the weird one in this equation, another fairy had flitted over to the scene, admonishing her co-worker and sending her off to clean a different part of the room, before offering Morgan a pretty sincere apology.

"Oh,  it's  okay.  Don't  worry  about  it!" And yet... her question remained unanswered. "Plant  bands  and  centaurs,  though?  Yes?  No?  I'm  new  here  and  want  to  know  what  to  expect."

The one who had shooed the other away seemed to think about the question "Sure, why not!" they responded in a chipper voice.

So even such outlandish things as those existed! Then maybe. Just maybe... "If  this  world  has  fairies,  and  centaurs,  and  plants  that  can  sing,  are  there  also  other  zombies  besides  me?"

[Blake 312]

The shifter had slinked away, returning to their room before the others got back. Of course, this involved climbing up the wall, which wasn't exactly inconspicuous... but it was what it was. They would never truly be full from everything they ate, but... at least it was filling in a metaphysical sense. Settling in, they looked around the depressing room with a sigh, before sitting on the bed. They couldn't just stay holed up in here forever, could they? Building up courage in their chest, quite literally with some mass growing there, they stood up and headed to the door, their form shifting back to the hooded appearance from before, but with blue eyes beneath it...

“Devin, are you in there?” The shifter paused, and so did Melissa, if only for a moment. “I, um, I don’t remember if you were around to hear this earlier, but a bunch of us went back to that mall today. It’s still standing if you can believe that. Anyway, um, I met someone who recommended these fish things, and they were interesting enough, I thought, to share with everyone back here. I came to you first, though, because, I don’t know, I figured if words didn’t work yesterday some sort of gift might, so you can take the best, most appetizing ones first if you want.

“That being said, I’m actually pretty bad with food gifts -- I remember this one time a friend of mine put honey in her coffee because I had brought it for her -- so if you don’t take any I won’t be offended or anything. But if you do, well, they’re here.”

Devin's face contorted at the mention of the fishsicles again, trying to figure out how she managed to bring those abysmal things back in one piece. Gulping and trying to look normal, they opened the door, meeting her gaze for a moment, before quickly looking aside. They took one of the fishsicles and nodded sheepishly.

"I, uh... heard, I just... didn't feel comfortable. I'm sorry. For everything." they lifted the fishsicle up, taking a nibble of it... Their form losing shape somewhat immediately, before they nodded. "It's a bit, uh... yeah, it's pretty dreadful. I do appreciate it, though." 

Devin laughed a bit, though it sounded slightly hollow. They wanted to meet her head on, person to person, but...

[Chaos Sonic 442]

"Electro...magnetic? So...everything is....Thunder magic? It doesn't sound the same."

A loud sigh escaped Trevor's lips, shaking his head. "N-No...not everything is..." he began to massage the bridge of his nose for a moment or two. "That's on me, I suppose...I mention the word 'electromagnetic' so naturally, hearing the word 'electro', one would assume that was the case. However, it's not what you think..." Was he basically giving science facts to people now? It surely seemed like it...then again...

"To put it simply...I was taught that both magic and science were one in the same." Trevor began again, trying to attempt to explain once more. "In some cases, the magic isn't something divine or demonic in nature, as some would have it...in my world, it's simply a greater force that can be explained through rational thought and discovery. The only supernatural aspect of it happens to be the fact that we sorcerers use our brainpower to tap in and harness the Magic Power we have...these rings..." He showed them off once again.

"These act as a catalyst. Recall how I mentioned the electromagnetic energy from one's nervous system?" he continued. "In science, it's said and proven that we are constantly surrounded by electromagnetic radiation, be it in the form of radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, etc. Well, knowing that, the rings act as a sort of...bridge between one's nervous system and the physical world. Does that make sense?"

After that attempt of a much more...in depth explanation, Trevor watched Keres look at her watch...and the next things she said made him really face palm.

"A friend told me what to do in these situations...If a man you don't know tries to go somewhere with you tell them you have a very large boyfriend waiting for you and back away slowly. Sorry."

"Oh....OH!" Trevor's hand did indeed meet his face as he shook his head. "T-That's not what I was meaning at...oh dear...that's a first time for that. Um, I apologize miss Keres. I'm terribly sorry. I didn't mean for that to be what you...oh dear." He took this as a sign to just leave the young woman be. This had become a lot more awkward than he thought, even more to the point that his face was red. "I...perhaps we'll see each other again. Terribly sorry about all that!" he said, bowing a few times before turning and walking off. He could hear the sounds of chains rattling...which meant the Cabanomicon was most likely in a sort of laughing fit (if only it had the mouth to laugh with). "Not...one...word..." he muttered, already walking out, face as red as his clothes.

[radio414 902]

Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
-Matthew 15:10-11 (NIV)

---

Melissa looked at the remaining fishsicles in her hand and selected the second-best one. They’d certainly seen better days, even after having been impaled on a stick and frozen up but she was committed to the bit now. At the very least, she had to share in the misery.

It was worse, but a manageable sort of worse, like, she already knew what to expect with these things, so the surprise was gone, but yes, the journey home had not been kind to them, to the point that she was almost not sure if she should inflict such an experience on anyone else in the building without adequate warning (or maybe even with adequate warning? Or maybe there were some lounging around that had taste buds more suited to this? Wait, was this what she had been doing to people?). Still, she managed to swallow it without too much difficulty, and she returned her focus to what Devin was saying otherwise, especially his apology.

“I’ll say it again: I forgive you,” Melissa said. “Um, forgave you, will forgive you, whichever tense works best there. I’d say other things I said then too, but I don’t think reminding you of everything that’s happened is the best idea. I also don’t want you to think there’s any pressure that I think any of that needs to happen. But just know that I still mean them too. The- I’ll shut up.

“I’m going to go back downstairs now. If you’re going to try to stop me inflicting these” --  Melissa held up the remaining, quickly deteriorating fishsicles -- “you better do it quick. At least come hang out, even if it’s just sitting in the corner watching everyone else have fun like I was planning to do.”

[Doggo 218]

Fen didn't seem keen on the flooding the showers idea but Aduain could hardly blame a creature clearly not built for water for not wanting to. And since she had another idea in mind he was more than happy to play along before his grand undertaking. He peered into the rec room at the girl's suggestion and saw some oddly normal looking things. A pool table and television set most immediately. Things the boy had seen before normally wouldn't comment much on. But then seeing such average things here in this other world was strange and cool in its own way so for the time being the building was safe from water damage.

"Sounds fun! Should probably see just how cheap they are with the stuff. Hope they got ping pong!" the fish began lightly bouncing in place with each step as he began moving toward the rec room. Upon entering all that came into view beyond the pool table and tv were a couch and armchairs set up around the tv. Aduain scanned the walls carefully for hidden compartments but saw no obvious indiciations of anything. There was a terminal like in their bedrooms that would allow the purchase of new thing so it seemed if they were going to get anything else they would have to pay.

"Wow, there's cheap and then there's cheap, ya know? Guess we should be grateful we even got the pool table." Aduain voiced his disappointment. This didnt stop him from running up to the tv to examine it. It took a minute due to a button arrangement he wasn't familiar with but soon enough felt like he knew what to do. "Hey Fen, let's check out what Prana tv is like! Maybe we'll be on the news." he said excitedly as he turned the device on, an image flashing onto screen. What immediately met the young hunter's eyes was a horse racing track. That much was familiar enough. But something seemed off. The more he looked the more one of the horses looked fake. Almost like it was a costume with two people inside it. That was a pretty funny joke but then another one caught his eye. Was that a zebra? Well there was one horse for sure-- no that was an elephant with a prop horse head on the end of its trunk.

"What the- What kind of- but who-" the boy was speechless as he tried to process what was happening. "Wait there's one!" Aduain shouted almost in relief. On screen now was a close up of an actual horse. Except the horse was incredibly well dressed in a three piece suit. "Prana really is something else."

[LordCowCow 839]

"If  this  world  has  fairies,  and  centaurs,  and  plants  that  can  sing,  are  there  also  other  zombies  besides  me?"

"Zombie?" the fairy said. "Like in the movies? I saw one of those before...they don't look like you, though." the fairy smiled at Morgan. "You don't drip as much. And you don't smell as bad as I bet they do!" They seemed to not really have gotten the actual question. Seeming to think that zombie was some sort of insult Morgan was giving to herself. "You seem much nicer than them, miss!"

With the way that the faerie had scolded the other fae one might assume they were some sort of leader. However another fairy came up and tapped that one on the shoulder and said "Hey, you've been told not to chitchat too much, come on, we gotta get back to work."

"Oopsie." the fairy said, and it went off as the new faerie sighed and told Morgan "Sorry about that miss."

-

Several fae had come up the stairs while Melissa and Devin were talking. They didn't notice the two at first and seemed to be arguing as one of them kept getting closer towards the doors.

"But I'm sure they're messy. The big people are always real messy in their own rooms. We really should clean there to if we want to do a good job."

"No, no, no, remember? We were told NOT to go into the rooms. We could make em mad."

"I don't remember, maybe you were told, but I was told just to clean."

"That's cause you don't listen to anything else you dope."

"Don't call me a dope!"

They were getting nearer to the two as they argued. Only one of the group looked to have even noticed Melissa. However it seemed much more focused, and somewhat horrified, on the dripping fishicles in Melissa's hand.

[Blake 312]

“I’m going to go back downstairs now. If you’re going to try to stop me inflicting these” --  Melissa held up the remaining, quickly deteriorating fishsicles -- “you better do it quick. At least come hang out, even if it’s just sitting in the corner watching everyone else have fun like I was planning to do.”

"P-please don't make everyone sufferrrr," Devin whined, a toothy frown appearing in the darkness of their hood, "They're so baaaaad! But I... I guess I can come downstairs... If you think it's okay..."

Devin nodded and prepared to follow, only to see the fiaeries approaching... and staring at the fishsicle with absolute horror. Rather than saying anything, Devin was mostly confounded by the small creature. Of course this was a different world, but fiaeries existing still wasn't on the bingo card... Wait, this was their chance!

"I... I told her they were bad, back me up on this!" Devin suddenly blurted out, "Before she makes anyone else eat one!"

[Chaos Sonic 442]

After a while, the young sorcerer walked through the door, his hat still covering his face some after his apparent...honestly he couldn't tell what that was with that moment. Nevertheless, he was pretty much the last one to walk in...and he saw the others watching what could only be described as...fairies...

"...I have nothing to say on this..." Trevor blinked a bit, already seeing his grimoire moving slightly.

Query...would these have any relations to Mor-...

Trevor immediately put an end to that conversation, as he grabbed the Cabanomicon with a sigh. "Let's not bring her into this, shall we?"

...duly noted...so will you be letting them know about the library...and maybe your new fri-...

The sorcerer immediately closed the grimoire and sealed it back up where it hung on his side, before clearing his throat slightly. "I see that we have guests...from the look of it. Hopefully we all didn't just come back at the wrong time." he said, waving his hand dismissively. "I also see that your venture with shopping has been successful, least from the general assumptions. Hope all went well with you all. I've done some searching myself around here, found the library and it was nothing less than exactly what was needed."

[yui 571]

"Zombie? Like in the movies? I saw one of those before...they don't look like you, though. You don't drip as much. And you don't smell as bad as I bet they do! You seem much nicer than them, miss!"

Mmmmm... that sounds like a no. While the compliments from this fairy - who had to get back to work - were appreciated, they pointed to the general conclusion that there were in fact not more people out there like Morgan. Still an anomaly, then. While it could certainly be worse, the likely fact was a bit disheartening. If there were others like Morgan, then that would have been a good sign that he was in this world, somewhere. Though perhaps that was for the better? After all, Morgan wasn't sure how she was supposed to get back home after whatever adventure was here had reached its conclusion.

"I see that we have guests...from the look of it. Hopefully we all didn't just come back at the wrong time."

"Mm?" Turning to face the source of the voice, Morgan was met with that magician. T... Trevor!

"I also see that your venture with shopping has been successful, least from the general assumptions. Hope all went well with you all. I've done some searching myself around here, found the library and it was nothing less than exactly what was needed."

"It  went  well  enough," Morgan confirmed. A library? Morgan wanted to know more about that! If nothing else, it would probably have some books worth checking out. "So,  what  were  you  looking  for  in  the  library?  Books  about  magic?  You  make  it  sound  like  a  pretty  big  place!"

[radio414 902]

“Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”
-Numbers 11:22 (NIV)

---

“Maybe not,” Melissa agreed, looking back down at the still-dripping fish carcasses. “Maybe Aduain, though? The person who sold me on trying these -- her name was Dora, um -- she looked kind of like a fish person, or at least a salamander, I guess. I know that’s not the same, but now I just don’t want food to go to waste. Fish can thaw, right? Maybe Fen can make something out of them when they’re completely thawed out.”

She was still looking down at the sad excuses for snack food in her hands that she did not notice their conversation had attracted some onlookers. Devin noticed, though, and they were quick to summon their aid. “I told her they were bad -- back me up on this before she makes anyone else eat one!”

“I said you didn’t have to!” It came out faster than she could stop herself, and it felt weird to say, like any sort of follow-up would be way too accusatory for her to handle. She certainly hadn’t meant it like she was shifting blame. After all, she was the one going up to people’s doors and reminding them of things they didn’t want to talk about. This was her fault, really. “Okay,” Melissa said. “I won’t. Let’s just go downstairs, then.”

She turned and waved at the still-concerned faerie on the way down with a slight grin as if that was supposed to assuage their fears. Or hers, really.

Trevor had arrived when they got down. He was busy talking with Morgan, though, something about other places he had gone besides Mauvache’s office, so instead of immediately joining in, she made a turn into the kitchen and stuck the fishsicles in the freezer where they could be forgotten about, at least for a time, then went back around and joined in just as Trevor was finishing up. “How was Mauvache, though? Did you have to make an appointment to see her or did you just walk in? I need to talk to her too, I think… at some point, at least.”

[Skaia 576]

Fen was glad that Aduain had seemed to have a better grasp on everything that was in the rec room than she did. Though, she couldn't help but be left confused by every term that he had used. She hadn't heard of "ping pong" before and the "pool table" certainly didn't live up to what she thought it would be. A pool, as she understood it, was just a hole filled with water so she couldn't understand why a table designed for it would need to be lined with felt. Or why it was so shallow for that matter. Looking at it more closely she thought that perhaps that was what the holes in it were for? Regardless, it had seemed like the ideal game for Aduain. 

She walked over to the terminal as the fish boy had sat down, looking at what was there as if it were in another language. Sure, she understood every word individually - except for perhaps "foos" - but either the strings they were put in or just what they were supposed to imply she couldn't figure out. So, instead, she looked over to the glass pane on a stand that Aduain went to go inspect as well. He, once again, seemed quite comfortable with the technology as he made the box come to life with moving images and sound. She had seen magic before that had made projections like this, but the closer she looked at the glass the more she realized how elaborate all of the sounds and images were. She nodded in agreement with Aduain's statement, but she was actually far less focused on the odd horse race on screen then just the screen itself. 

Curiosity taking her over, the girl walked over to the television set and looked at it more closely, seeing a series of buttons. Fiddling around with it, she pressed one that caused seemingly nothing to happen. Instead of pressing it again, she instead held the button down which caused the volume on the device to quickly escalate so loud that there was a chance that everyone on the first floor could clearly hear it. Panicking a bit, the girl started to press the other buttons on the device, one causing the images to flick and relight with an entirely new scene on screen. The girl kept trying to find the right button until she finally pressed a button that caused the screen to go black. "Whoops..." The girl muttered, before pressing the game and causing the incredibly loud scene of a pair of boxes duking it out for a crowd came on. "Uhh..." The girl winced at the sudden spike of volume, until she finally found a button that she pressed down, causing the volume to slowly and steadily return to normal. Letting out a sigh of relief, the girl thought aloud, "these Prana devices have their own set of hidden dangers on top of their marvels." The girl nodded to herself.