It is about at this time that music begins pouring out of hidden speakers. The first chords play as the doors atop the stairs open up, revealing a tall figure with blond hair, surrounded by an aura of flowing smoke.
Quote from: BGM"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for long, long years I've stolen many a man's soul and faith
I was around when Jesus Christ had His moments of doubt and pain
I made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game
After he steps out onto the landing, (the figure is a man, judging by the lack of a shirt), he cocks his head to one side and smiles widely.
Quote from: BGM"I stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was time for a change
I killed the Tzar and his ministers, Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank, held a gen'ral's rank, when the blitzkrieg raged and the
bodies stank
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game
With slow and methodical steps, he begins to descend the staircase, still being chased by the smoky aura. The room behind him remains obscured in the thick, roiling mists.
Quote from: BGM"I watched with glee while your kings and queens, fought for ten decades for
the gods they made
I shouted out "Who killed the Kennedys?", when after all it was you and me
So let me please introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste
And I lay traps for troubadours, who get killed before they reach Bombay
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game
He stops, halfway down the stairs, and sings the next bit along with the hidden speakers:
Quote from: BGM"Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's confusing you, is
just the nature of my game
Just as every cop is criminal, and all the sinners, Saints
As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer, 'cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse, or I'll lay your soul to waste
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game."
He finishes with an elaborate bow to Bjorn, then, as the music completely dies away, says, "It's not really for mortals to enjoy these games, ultimately. Now, what can I do for you?"
Aside from a pair of some soft looking, loose white pants in an unfamiliar style, the man is wearing nothing, and carrying no visible weapons. He has blond hair that goes down to his waist, and is the most disturbingly handsome man anyone in this room has seen before.
Bjorn has been watching the entire spectacle with a bit of a blank face.
At the man's question, though, he shrugs. "We need to go down that long and winding road, like dreamers do. I don't really know what you're doing with all of this, but hey, I don't want to spoil the party. So please, please me, and give us a ticket to ride -- to Prometheus, if you're not him, or across the universe, if you are."
Oh god! My eyes and ears!
Even if he wanted to say something, Tom probably couldn't.
"Very well," he says with a shrug. "This may take some doing." He snaps his fingers and the previously vanished maid bustles in with a robe over one arm, and a tray balanced in the other hand.
The tray is silver, uncovered, and has as many silver cups as there are people in the room (not counting the maid, anyway). In the center of the cups is a very, very old, and very large horn, apparently hollowed out and stoppered with a piece of cork. Small ... biscuits? ... surround the horn.
As he takes the robe and puts it on (without actually bothering to belt it shut), the man says, "I am Prometheus, or, I suppose, I was him, and am what he became." He gives a small smile at that.
"Oyabun Hatake?" Tetsuo asks nervously. "You are Prometheus?"
"Good trick, huh?" the blond man asks with a much larger grin. "Well," he says with a shrug, "foresight is everything." He then gestures to the tray, which the maid holds out for anyone interested. "Nectar? Ambrosia?"
"Ambrosia? Like, the stuff gods eat? Er, well, duh. I'll try some!"
Tom strides over to the maid, and looks at the tray.
"So, uh, which is it?"
"The ambrosia is the biscuits. Cookies, almost."
"I bet they weren't baked, though."
"Details. Admit it, you just got owned," Nathan ceases the taunting and nods to Prometheus, "But we will, thank you. I hope we didn't inconvenience you too much with, ah, the mess we've made."
"The nectar is in the horn," the man agrees with a nod, lifting it and filling the cups. If Tom takes a white cookie-thing, he finds that it is very bread-like, though they don't flake or drop any crumbs. They're slightly chewy, almost like a raw mushroom, only the taste is much more like ... something that becomes hard to put into words after a mouthful. It's good, though. Really good. But the building weariness of pressing on for as long as you have without comfortable sleeping arrangements leaves at the first taste.
To Nathan, they actually taste exactly like the cookies Relm gave him.
After filling all the cups, he places the horn back on the tray. The maid curtsies ever so slightly, then sets the tray on a nearby table, quickly bustling back into the reaches of the house.
"Please," the man says, seeing everyone else looking at Tom and Nathan, as though waiting for the boys to explode or choke to death. "Help yourself. I should at least be a gracious host, hmm?"
He shakes his head quickly. "As far as the Yakuza ... well. Reparations can be made, I am sure. To business, or did you want to enjoy yourselves a bit more, first?"
"Don't eat it!"
"You will never be able to savour normal food again! You'd better leave it all to me," pronounces Tom, eyes going starry.
Choking away sudden euphoria, he nods at Promtheus. "Thanks. I figure we can mix business with pleasure, eh?"
Nathan rolls his eyes, taking a cup as well.
"To business, please, although we're grateful for the hospitality. The whole reason behind our . . . tactlessness . . . was that we don't have the time to waste."
"I know," the man says charitably. "I do see to plan ahead."
The drink, once Nathan sips it, tastes like every fruit drink ever, only separately (somehow) instead of all at once. The first sip leaves him feeling a slight bit buzzed, and he can see faint, almost invisible aurae around everyone.
"As far as your treatment of the other yakuza ... I need to manage them, now. They've become unruly, lately. And I suppose that will cover your payment and passage, as well."
He takes a piece of ambrosia and dunks it into his nectar before eating it. "Now," he says, suddenly becoming intense. His eyes flash a luminous gold. "I will guide you to the Dream of fire. I will show you the advancement realm. I will do these things because that is why I am here; I am required to.
"At the same time ... there are things I could do for you that I do not have to do. And there are things I am allowed to do which could ... inconvenience ... you greatly. But I'm not making idle threats. Kishimoto Tetsuo here would be of great use to me, as would your twitchy sword-wielding friend. And you cannot take them with you into the Dream, anyway."
Mark and Tetsuo both look uncomfortable. Mark actually steps in front of Tetsuo, and says, "If you want to get to the kid, you'll have to go through me, first."
Nathan narrows his eyes. "Define 'useful', please. They're not staying unless they choose to."
Not about to be left behind in the narcotics department, Tom takes a sip of the nectar as well, quietly nodding to Nathan's words.
Tom also begins seeing aurae, most startling among them the brilliant silver glow around Nathan's right hand and arm.
"Of all the practices that humans undertook, slavery was the one that confounded me the most," Prometheus muses, shaking his head. "That was not why I brought Fire from the Dream to man. So don't think I was asking for them to possess.
"At the same time, I have to maintain a delicate balance of power between the Yakuza. I have no desire whatsoever to let this new land of mine slip into the clutches of the Pax or the Cabal. Either may participate in the contest, but this place is mine and I will not gladly relinquish it.
"Though, I am bound by rules, and am forbidden from directly opposing them. So I would need someone to act in my stead." He smiles, turning his golden eyes on Tetsuo again. "Someone who could reclaim a supposedly lost Yakuza family ... someone to gather up the slack and unite all."
Tetsuo blinks, understanding dawning in his eyes. "You want a figurehead," he says. Ironically, 'figurehead' seems to be in the boy's vocabulary, even though his English is typically only passable.
"I don't intend to put you in more danger than your own family did," Prometheus says agreeably. "And you should have Mark to watch over you. This is an affair of my own, and the Yakuza I want to keep controlling. And you won't be without your own power ... within the limits of certain dictates."
"The old rules?"
"The same."
"Then, I agree."
Mark looks uncomfortable, but nods. "I can watch over him," he concedes. "I wish my brother were here."
"I have one concern," Tetsuo says, slipping into Japanese and turning to face the group. "I do not wish to bring my sister back. She is...." He hesitates. "Where she is, is a place of hope and happiness. I have much to atone for, so will remain here and resolve my debt to you. In exchange, may I ask that you protect my sister?"
Nathan nods. "She'll be fine. You're sure you're alright with this?"
Tetsuo nods quickly, then smiles slightly. "I may only be a figurehead, but even they have some power. And if he can't be your ally, I can," he says.
"True," Prometheus agrees, though he sticks to English. "Is there anything else, then?"
"What're these, uh, aura's that the nectar made me see?" queries Tom, eyeing the drink. "By the way, Nathan, your arm's on fire."
"Good - then thank you," Nathan responds to Tetsuo, then takes a drink of the stuff himself before he hears what Tom has to say.
"Wait, what?"
"Well, it's glowing more than the rest of you," he responds, shrugging.
"It tends to. Magical golden hands and all," Dracos broke his inaffable silence, having not partaken of the devilish feast of divine faire. His curiousity battled with rationale but briefly won out. "Why did you give us fire? Out of curiousity," He asked of the well suited Prometheus.
Dracos
"Because it was dreamed that I have," he says with a shrug. "Whatever motivation man dreams for me now. Then, of course, it was because I wanted to empower man. To glory me above the others. I was a god, then. Of a sort, anyway." He shrugs.
"Power like that is fleeting, all things told."
"Mmm, being of your power you are still influenced by the dreams of man?" Dracos conversed, nodding slightly at the answer.
Dracos
"Obviously," he says with a nod. "I can't complain too much -- the wings were a nice touch."
Dracos nods, pleased in the reckoning of how things were laid out and the grokking thereof. He glanced to the others. "So I believe we have come to a deal there and a way forward."
Dracos
"Somewhat," the man says with a smile. "There is one other potential thing." He takes a deep gulp from his cup. "I happen to have, as it happens, Michael's sword. Would you be interested in it?"
"The archangel? Man, you people get all the cool toys," mumbles Tom, looking everywhere but the other people in the room.
"That would be the one," Prometheus agrees.
Dracos blinked. The levels of irony, contextual and not in the offer quickly bringing a wide smile across his face. "Indeed, that would be quite the interesting acquisition."
Dracos
"Excellent! What would you be willing to give me for it?"
Dracos' considered, more intrigued by it. "You wouldn't have offered without some price in mind. I can think of some things, but I'm curious what you're seeking. After all, you seem a being without casual needs."
Dracos
"Needs," he says with a nod. "But desires are another thing entirely." He points suddenly at Ginrai. "The dream of Man and Wolf is an old one. If you will give me this dream, then I will give you Michael's sword."
Ginrai blinks, as though just remembering where he was. "You want to take my power?" he says, uncertainly, looking to Phil and his friends for support and suggestions.
"It won't hurt you," Prometheus says with a knowing smile. "Trust me. I've more foresight than my brother."
"A dream which would be added to your own dreams, cementing your being here more firmly?" Dracos pondered, not immediately addressing the request though clearly having noted it.
"Actually, I intended to give it to someone else," he says with a slight smile. "But that's for me. I don't intend to ask what you'll do with Michael's sword."
"That's a fair point. Ginrai, it'd be your choice there...being your dream and all."
Dracos
"I'm not going to tell you what to decide," Nathan says to Ginrai, setting down his cup of ambrosia, "but it's an out, if you want it."
"I'd like to stick around New Delphi," he says slowly. "I mean, you are my friends and all."
Tom eyes Ginrai curiously, holding his hands back behind his head, and twists back to look at Prometheus.
"What powers does the sword have?"
"Only Michael can wield it, for one," Prometheus says, shrugging. "And of course ... there's nothing it can't pierce. For the rest, well.... Michael could tell you more, if you asked him."
"Nothing keeping you from Delphi," Bjorn says quietly to Ginrai. "But if you don't mind me saying, I think you've been having troubles since Paul died, and this might be your ticket out. I won't be happy to see you go, but I'd rather see you go than unhappy or dead, y'know?"
At Prometheus' reply, Bjorn cocks an eyebrow. "And Michael is... Wind?"
"Well, I guess that's it, then," Ginrai says with a nod. "I mean.... I'll still be around. I can stick with Mark and Tetsuo for a while, even."
Prometheus turns to Bjorn. "Michael is your friend, isn't he? You've been closer to him lately than I have."
Bjorn is about to reply, when his vision again splits, and in a brief moment he again relives the Workshop -- or more precisely, all those moments relating to Mikey.
"Yes," he says, "I suppose I have." Looking at the others, he says, "Ginrai's for it. Let's take the deal."
"Hmm. Yeah, I've got another question," murmurs Tom.
"Ginrai's heading back, yeah? I'm not, though. I wish I could say it's 'cos I'm super-brave or something, but, hmm.
"Can you *see* these dreams, abilities, superpowers or whatever people have? Or if they *can* have them? Eheh, pretty obvious where I'm going with this."
"Of course," he says. "You want to awakened, is that it?" He purses his lips thoughtfully, and peers at Tom. "Ah," he says with a frown. "That is a strange dream. A dream of vengeance. You will come into your own. Simply take the bolts of fury that are thrown at you, and return them. Or seize them on your own, if you wish." He nods. "That should be the way of it, I think."
"Vengeance? That doesn't sound too good," muses Tom, speculatively. "But I haven't really.. hated anyone yet, so I guess I wouldn't know until then, huh."
Looking rather troubled, he slowly pours himself another cup of nectar.
"Some would call it justice," Prometheus says.
"Mmm. Well, in any case, I do believe in taking what's given to me," responds Tom.
"So! How DOES it work? I mean, before I do something stupid, like jump in front of some magic fireball or something."
Dracos nodded in agreement with Bjorn. "A friend at new delphi, I suppose?"
Dracos
"That's one way to do it," Prometheus agrees. "But if you want to know the skill of it, ask the Brothers of Morpheus to guide your dreams to learning."
"I'll do that when I see them next. Don't wanna get left behind, eheh."
Setting down his glass and reflecting that he really may *not* be able to savour mortal food again if he tries anymore, Tom stretches. "So how, exactly, do we get into the fire dream?"
Sipping from his silver cup thoughtfully, Prometheus says, "Fuji is the gate, right now. You will need to go there before I can open the way. I have ordered the Yakuza to leave you alone. I am not aware of any Pax or Cabal operatives in the area ... but that doesn't mean they aren't there. I'm also not allowed to directly assist you. So you'll need to get there, first."
"Any particular, uh, part? It won't be that hard to get to if nobody else is headed that way."
"The top. There's a trail." He furrows his brows. "There are many, actually. Go to Sengen jinjya, Kengamine. The highest peak of Fuji. The shrine there will be your answer."
"Sounds fun! I always liked hiking, only not," mumbles Tom.
"Well, times a-wasting!"
". . . anyone have a map?" Rez asks drily.
"We can probably catch a bus from somewhere," replies Tom, glancing at Tetsuo. "There'd be maps around the mountain itself, surely, tourist stands and that."
"What are you talking about? Hiking rocks. That said, there's probably other ways than doing it all by foot."
Dracos nodded to the bus comment. "Have any of the other groups already passed or entered that dream?"
Dracos
Hates posting midpost of another!
"We're not walking to Fuji, Drac. We're on a clock."
"Right, so we'll run," Dracos retorted back, drolly. "Or actually take a vehicle."
Dracos
"No," he says, shaking his head. "You may very well be the first."
"That's good... anyhow, let's take the bus up. If they don't go close enough to the top, we'll figure it out from there. Would your chauffer mind dropping us off there, Prometheus?"
Dracos
"He wouldn't, no," he says, smiling softly. "I will warn you, though. If you take my car, the watching yakuza may mistake you for me as Hayate ... and think you are searching for me as Prometheus. I'd really rather you didn't have to kill too many more of them, so do exercise caution."
Bjorn shrugs. "Even if we left here on foot, if we're headed towards Fuji, they'll assume we're going to visit Prometheus. If we take your limousine, so that we think we're Hayate, then they might possibly show restraint. I somehow doubt that violent foreigners would earn any such consideration. But if it makes you feel any better, I promise to stop killing when they start running."
"If they aren't bright enough to run, then feel free to kill them," Prometheus agrees. "The vehicle is yours. Do you intend to rest, first? It is almost nightfall. I suppose if you drove all night and slept in the car you'd reach Fuji around sunrise, though...." He shrugs. "I leave that to you."
Looking at everyone else, Bjorn comments, "It's a tough call. I'm going to have a hard time not attracting attention if we don't go at a relatively quiet time." He scratches his arm thoughtfully. "Those of us with the Earth Totem can probably climb a mountain in the dark without too much problem, but I'm guessing that Tim and Tom aren't too keen on that. So getting there for sunrise might actually be best. On the other hand, sleep is good. Thoughts?"
"Eating divine food seems to have reinvigorated me," replies Tom. "We should really leave right now- the quicker we move, the less likely it is that we'll need to kill anyone at all. We could take shifts driving if we have to, anyway.
"Oh, and if it's just hiking, I should be cool, even if it's dark..."
"Get there for sunrise. People can sleep in the car - I'd rather not waste any more time. Sunrise seems like a good time to be doing it in any case."
"Then, the car awaits."
"Thanks for your hospitality. And your advice," remarks Tom, jauntily heading off back towards the car.
Prometheus nods absently, already taking another piece of ambrosia.
Nathan nods to Prometheus, before turning to follow Tom.
"Thank you for the help, and the food - and the loan of the car."
"Thank you for saving the world," he replies in a dry voice. "Really."
Nathan has already turned away and is heading for the door, after Carthrat.
Which is a good thing, otherwise his expression might have given away the fact that he's trying to work out if that was sarcasm or not.
Dracos graciously allowed someone else to drive as they headed off in Prometheus' car, taking the spirit guide's instructions as they prepared to scale fuji upon the next dawn.
Dracos
The driver is the same one as last time. He remains quiet, and the drive is uneventful -- aside from a number of stares given by numerous people at the limousine. Limos are kind of neat, one supposes.
There's time to doze, if not comfortably, in the vehicle. The driver pulls into a parking lot on the lower southern slopes of the great mountain with excellent timing. The sun will rise shortly, as the pre-dawn glow fills the eastern sky.
Setting foot on the mountain is a bit odd. Now that everyone can see it, the same double-vision of the mountain occurs. This time, however, the second image is only slightly larger -- though, it does have an ominous and highly visible red glow at the top. The glow is visible to Tom and Tim, even though they hadn't seen Gibraltar.
"Your stop," the driver says politely, turning off the engine, and opening the doors.
Nathan steps out of the limosuine first, his eyes sweeping across the parking lot. There's nobody else here, right?
The parking lot is -- for the moment -- otherwise deserted. Glowing vending machines illuminate the path towards the peak. Distant rivers of light dim in the rising sun. Shortly they'll be invisible beneath the light, and only later will be recognizable as highways.
Still, Fuji is a major tourist attraction. It can't stay empty for long.
That's a relief, at least.
Nathan retrieves his bow from the warbag and slings it over the shoulder, buckling on his quiver as well.
Once everyone else is ready, up the mountain they go.
"Calm before a storm of fire?" Dracos jibbed as they started up the mountain, the early hour not harsh yet.
Dracos
"You never put a volcano on the stage unless it's going to erupt," replies Tom.
"I guess it'll be hard to get lost with that there, though!"
"Well, no. Sometimes it is for the throwing of someone into it," Dracos proceeded to sidetrack in thought. "Or alternately, simply to provide the correct backdrop to giant towering demons."
Dracos
"We've already blown up one city," Bjorn points out, stepping up the pace a little. "Let's just pretend this one is here simply to throw ourselves into."
"That one was asking for it."
"Haha, now you're just saying stuff to shit me."
"At least I got to loot some stuff before it went up, though!"
"Did you kill people before or after taking their stuff?"
Nathan shuts up, and goes back to walking rather than answer that one.
Tom goes silent when Nathan does, looking rather uncomfortable. He opens his mouth, briefly, as if he's going to continue, but clamps it shut, looking just about everywhere but the people he's travelling with.
It's a while before Nathan responds, but he eventually does answer.
"So I guess to answer your question, yeah, we killed Cabal's oracle and took his stuff, but it was too late to stop him killing ours. It's . . . a . . . sore point, alright?"
"Uh..huh. But... no, never mind. Sorry," offers Tom. "But you seriously blew up a city?"
"Well, we didn't, but . . . you hadn't heard what happened in San Francisco months back?"
"I missed everything since like a third through January," replies Tom, blinking. "Fucking dream."
"Well . . . Seventh Cabal had a facility under San Francisco called the Workshop where they were imprisoning metahumans and experimenting on them. They had Bjorn, so we broke in and got them out. One of them was a powerful pyrokinetic - and they'd just murdered his wife - so he decided to blow the place sky high. And no, we didn't know he was going to do that once everyone was safely away."
"So to answer your question, no, we didn't blow up San Francisco but we helped the guy who did."
"Oh, well.. can't be blamed for some nutcase, I guess. Yet," mutters Tom.
"Yeah, we probably can be. I don't know how many people died. I don't think it was many, but I'm sure some did. So yeah, we fucked up, and badly - though I don't see how we could have stopped it."
"At least we're not nuking at the point where we're nuking Silicon Valley on the off-chance that someone might need it."
"Just because you *could have* stopped someone morally bankrupt enough to blow up a lot of shit doesn't mean it's your fault if you *don't*," replies Tom, blinking.
"Yeah, it does," Bjorn says, quietly. "Everyone wants, needs, to do the right thing. Sometimes we get it wrong. That's what makes us human. But what makes us good is that we recognize that we made a mistake, we do what we can to fix it, and we learn everything there is to learn from it.
"Ashnod wasn't a nutcase. He was a good man, driven to extremes, and he took what he thought was the best course of action. I think what he did was wrong. I think what was done to him was wrong. None of that was 'my fault,' like you said, but what it comes down to is: at that time and at that place, I didn't do the right thing. So I remember Ashnod, and I remember San Francisco, and I do my damndest to make sure that next time, I can and will do the right thing."
Lapsing into uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, Tom eventually speaks up again.
"I guess we'll never escape being human then, huh."
"Why would you want to?" Bjorn grins.
"So I can fly or something," replies Tom, nodding. "There's gotta be perks, right?"
"I think you get that anyway, possibly through explosive means but it is not an exclusive set to the human set," Dracos drolled.
Dracos
The hike has been progressing well. Down below, the distant parking lot can be seen to slowly fill up with further vehicles. There's a complete lack of yakuza or security guards to complain about Nathan's bow, so that's a plus.
The switchbacks and branching paths along the trail point to various shrines and scenic points to visit. Prometheus appears to have chosen the highest one, but from this spot it's easy to see. It's the one that's glowing most brightly with volcanic fire in the doubled vision everyone gets.
Tom picks up the pace, following the signs as best as he's able!
Nathan is quickening his pace as the dawn gets lighter - as he can see better, he gets more confident that he's not going to fall on his face if he hurries the hell up.
The less people to see them up here, the better.
All told, the walk takes about three hours. There are stations, presumably where rangers hang out to watch over travelers, but all are empty as they are passed. The path ends up switching back a lot, and there are obvious efforts to reinforce the walkways to resist erosion, but the altitude is high enough that by the time the peak is gained, everyone's feeling a mild rush.
The peak everyone is heading towards is the one Prometheus specified -- Kengamine. There's a shrine up at the top, and waiting for the party are two people. Two very familiar looking people. Nathan spots them first, and possibly (since the group is in shadow at the moment) before they realize they're being approached.
There is another Philip Bloom, and a nurse. The other Philip is wearing a long white trenchcoat, with his arms crossed behind his back. The nurse is dressed exactly as she was in the Workshop.
Great.
"Hello Caber," Nathan says, fingering his bow while staring at the pair bleakly, "What do you want?"
"Well, to know where you're going," the not-Phil says, shifting slightly, showing his hands slowly. The nurse offers a vapid smile. "Once that became obvious...." He trails off, then frowns.
"This is very difficult for me," he says. "I hope you respect that."
"I'm afraid I miss the greater subtlety in the necessary hardship of copying me for excessively long periods of time or in the hardship of trailing us. Perhaps as in any good exchange, something for either side," Dracos folded his arms over his chest considering.
~Okay, maybe I'm forgetting something... but how do they know where we are without knowing what valid important target might be in the area?~ Dracos scribed handily upon the shared mindspace.
"Cryptic as usual," Nathan responds disinterestedly, reaching back with his free hand to pull two arrows from his quiver, "but the last thing I am in the mood from for this country is another delay."
Don't try and guess what they do or don't know. Just put him the hell down and continue.
"I've no interest in holding you up," Caber says, one hand going over his -- now that you look closely -- wrongly colored eyes. Phil's are green (now). The nurse shakes her head when the Phil-Caber collapses to his knees.
"Failure of emulation," she says, vapidness vanishing as the Phil-Caber sits like a marionette with cut strings. "We are legion, and attempting to emulate you was among our poorer choices. Soon you will have drifted far enough that we cannot be you, anymore."
Surely you know better than that, Rez. Besides the casual demonstration there... the important thing is getting in but that isn't the only important thing. Knowing that we can easily be tracked down or by what method may be useful.
"A legion should be stronger than that, but I suppose bad decisions are pretty common for you anyway." Philip casually replied. "And I'm afraid that's not interesting enough to accept your proposition, Caber. Make a more interesting one, or the legion will lose another number."
Dracos
The nurse doesn't even flinch, just kicks the Caber-Phil off the edge of the path. The mountain isn't very steep at that point, so he rolls a few yards before lying there, still. "Won't that cause later complications?" she asks. "But we are here to observe. We would not be exposed if there was genuine risk to us. Operating in that fashion doesn't benefit what we are. Do as you will; we are here as a message. We can follow you. We know where you are."
She pauses then, turning to look at the fallen Caber-Phil. Now that he's gotten a bit more distance from the genuine Phil, he twitches a bit, then raises his head to look upslope.
"But there is more. Do you know it?" Caber-Phil just grins from where he's lying, not trying to get up.
"I think it has been a very long time since I last did something that did not involve in some form later complications. Also, don't you have something more important to do in the grand scheme of things? It is an interesting message to be sure but all it invokes is slight curiousity in why you are revealing this at this venture."
~Not that this is a surprise, but I think the emulation they had earlier they are using to track me specifically.~
Dracos
"Events tend to cascade," the nurse-Caber says with a philosophical shrug. "I take it, then, that our message is clear." She pauses. "We could make the message clearer."
Then, there's a shift, and where there was a nurse-Caber, there is now a nurse-Caber, and a woman with shoulder-length brown hair, and green eyes. She looks to be in her mid-thirties, and is dressed in the same outfit that everyone who fought their way through the Workshop recognizes.
"You can't be allowed to win, you realize," the woman says, looking at Bjorn squarely.
This close to the Ward, the Dream almost burns as Bjorn feels out through it, pushing his mind against the nightmares and daydreams of Caber.
"I realize," he says coldly, "that you are a mimic and a puppet. I realize that even were you to make a thousand copies of your betters, you would be beneath my notice. And I have long since realized," he says, reaching up to take off his sunglasses, "that neither you, nor your masters, nor anyone living has the power to deny me anything."
The mists in his eye sockets are not calm, barely-moving pools of grey here; the Dream of Fire makes them roil and heave, touched with burning red, like the sulphurous gases of a muttering volcano. "Leave, mimic," he grates. "Tell your masters where we were. Tell them what we've said. And hope they take our message."
OOC: Switching from Mind Link to Nightmare Prescence. Tremble at my words, dog!
Utterly baffled, Tom just stands.. back. Yep, right at the back!
Nathan calmly nocks an arrow to his bow.
"As you'd have it," the Caber-as-Megan says. She vanishes, and the nurse climbs down the slope to where the Phil-Caber is. The two of them slowly work their way down the still snow-laden mountain. While Phil-Caber seems to steady himself after a distance, neither of them look back.
Nathan watches for a long moment before he finally removes the arrow from the bowstring.
"Target practice is really tempting right now."
Bitching aside, he continues up the mountain regardless.
"Won't have too much of a lead," Bjorn says, putting the sunglasses back on, and relaxing somewhat. "Better get going to make use of what we will have."
OOC: Switching from Nightmare Presence to Mind Link, since you'll all use it anyways.
There's not much further to go. Caber was awaiting the group before the shrine. The shrine is small, not actually a building. Just a tiny shelter to cover some religious artifact or another. Prayer-ropes and papers adorn it liberally, and there's a plaque with information about Fuji-san to one side.
A low fence keeps you from stumbling into the crater. The crater itself looks pretty steep, though here is mostly lined up with the doubled-vision. Mostly, because while mortal eyes reveal a snow-covered expanse, basically just a pit, the other image is of a seething lake of fire. No heat can be felt from the image, however.
Not long after the Cabers reach the path below, and then vanish behind a switchback, Prometheus steps out from behind the shrine, casting a wary glance downslope. "Idiot," he pronounces. "Well," he says, turning his attention back to the party. "You made it, so all seems to be well. You are prepared, I hope?"
"Actually, I need to go to the bathroom. Number two. Where's the facilities?" Bjorn says.
Well. That's what he wants to say. But it's probably not appropriate. So instead he just nods.
"As ready as we can be. I should have shot the bastard, though."
Prometheus ignores Nathan's comment, his golden eyes hardening. "Very well," he intones. "This is where Fire sleeps. You've come too far to back down." He flexes, and a pair of enormous wings spread from behind him. "As I was cast down, so too shall you. Step within the circle of the crater." He gestures to the volcano.
Bjorn steps forward as Prometheus indicates.
Nathan nods and steps over the fence; moving as quickly as he dares down the crater wall.
"I have a really, really bad feeling about this," opines Tom. "So, nothing new here."
He steps forward as well!
"That means something is going right, Tom." Dracos follows his comrades down with the expectation of pain, suffering, etc.
Once everyone steps across the barrier, Prometheus intones, "And as it ends, it begins." There's a pause, as everyone feels a wing buffet them out over the caldera. Flailing wildly, the sense is not of falling, but tumbling through the sky ... and looking down, the lava seems to somehow clear. It's still there, but the senses go through it. A nest of serpents ... or maybe a single serpent with multiple heads -- an orochi? -- slumber, sinuous necks tangled like cable or piping.
For those who went to the Earth Dream, the sensation is familiar. For Tim and Tom, the experience is new. For everyone, it is unpleasant.
The border of life and death stretches beneath you, and then slowly gives way, letting you fall down -- through the lava, beyond the serpent, into a rushing torrent of blinding sensation. A relentless assault of sound, scent, touch, smell, taste ... everything melding together until awareness is entirely washed away.
Then, nothing.
This ends Chapter Two.
Tom goes now goes to Uphill Battle (http://www.soulriders.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1002509#1002509).
Nathan now goes to Insanity (http://www.soulriders.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1002508#1002508).
Bjorn now goes to Spirits in the Material World (http://www.soulriders.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1002506#1002506).
Tim now goes to Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep (http://www.soulriders.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1002526#1002526).
Dracos now goes to Atheist Peace (http://www.soulriders.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=1002507#1002507).