[Nexus] The Glass Citadel VI

[RabbitHoleLost]

On the edge of reality, bordering the Nexus, there is a single stereotypical cliffside, shrouded in eternal night, a silvery moon shining, frozen in its fully visible state. Upon it is a citadel, its surface mirrored and made of tempered glass which tosses about moonlight in every direction.

The grounds include a full cemetery, some graves unmarked, and an expansive garden, though one has to wonder how anything grows there, considering as the villainess who resides in the citadel somehow made it eternal night.

Welcome to the home of Rabbit Vasque, Necromantic Villainess Extraordinaire.

Notes: The Glass Citadel is sentient, and capable of shifting itself to its whims, as well as being incapable to take damage. If you attempt to attack the structure itself, time will reset itself back a few moments. The only person currently able to manipulate its shifting shapes is RabbitHoleLost

The Glass Citadel's theme music.

Mirrors are ice which do not melt: what melts are those who admire themselves in them.- Paul Morand


---
She's running. The paths are old and familiar, even if she has no memory of inspecting every last inch of the grounds, and even if they've become overgrown with the plant life allowed to grow in her absence.
And suddenly, she stops, the spires of the citadel sparkling in the night sky.

Gasping for breath, she admires it. If she was going to live anywhere, die somewhere, she had had good taste.

[Reinholdt]

The Admiral is short behind.
Not actually needing to stop for breath, he slows down and looks up at the place and whistles.

"That is neat. Asking to be attacked by vampires though." Doctor McNinja vs. Dracula taught us that!

[RabbitHoleLost]

Rabbit wheezed, turning around to face the lich, still unnamed to her, head on with a small smile.
"I'd like to see vampires try to attack me." Slowly, she straightened out, rolling her shoulders back.
"I haven't been here in a while, so I can't tell you what we might find..."

[Reinholdt]

"Good. Won't spoil the surprise."
The Admiral tosses his old cigar down on the ground and grinds it into the dirt before taking out a small golden case from his suit and opening it to pull out another. Putting it in his mouth, he quickly lights it with a similarly gold made lighter.

"Want one?" He asks, holding up the box.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Shaking her head, Rabbit continues down the path, until the spire gives way unto the full Citadel. The graveyard to the side appears to be unkempt, some stones overturned in what appears to have been the job of graverobbers.
"Why even keep smoking? You can't possibly be affected by the chemicals anymore, and you certainly can't still be addicted."
She stopped by the glassy stair stoop, watching the lich with interest.

He would be an interesting thing to study, no doubt.

[ThirdEmperor]

Hey! I need to talk! You're the first person I've met who can actually stop reincarnation! Shouts the man formerly known as Prince, hauling himself up the hill.

[Reinholdt]

"Your loss." The Admiral shrugs and snaps the box closed before tucking it back into his uniform before taking a few steps forward.

"Ah. There are three reasons for that. First..."
The Admiral stops and turns to look at Prince. Well... then. He'll just keep that to himself a little longer. The Admiral steps to the side a bit, to get out of the way.

[RabbitHoleLost]

"Oh, frack." Rabbit turned on her heels, staring at the man who came up like a freight train.
"Look, what I'm going to tell you, anyone could do for you. Reincarnation is the reuse and recycle of your soul, right? Then the way to stop the cycle of Reincarnation is to destroy your soul. Go make out with a Succubus, or something."

[ThirdEmperor]

Oh, well, was kinda hoping you knew a way to send me straight to the after-life. Thing is, not everyone reincarnates, and most souls are only used a few times... But mine's one of the True Souls. I can never stop being reborn, and it's getting old. So if you know a way to send a soul to the afterlife that doesn't involve seducing a succubus, I would be very thankful.

[Reinholdt]

"I don't think 'seducing a succubus' is the exact appropriate way to term it. Besides, what if you deserve whatever hell people go to when they die at succubi's lips? Then you'd be wasting your time looking for another way when you have an easy one available to you now! Just call one nine hundred wantsex..." The Admiral winks at Prince.

[RabbitHoleLost]

"If you fell into the favor of a god or goddess, perhaps they could help you. Otherwise, I can't very well help you, I'm afraid. My expertise is in the art of keeping the soul around, using its energy, destroying a soul. I don't know much about the afterlife."
She'd been avoiding it for far too long to know how to achieve it.
"Perhaps you could bargain with a god? I'm certain there are several around."
Rabbit knew because it was her other hobby to know.

[ThirdEmperor]

Actually, if I ever die I get to go to the highest level of whatever heaven the local universe has. Services rendered for the gods, several millenia of faithful service and all that. Plus, I cannot go to hell. I'm one their most wanted list, at the very top.

And I've tried the gods, they want me here. Hell, they're the ones who made me unable to die permanently. Says the man, gasping for breath.

[Reinholdt]

"Well I certainly can't help you then, mister 'I'm so good the gods punish me by not letting me have my eternal reward'. If I were you, I'd go sleep with a succubus just to spit in their face. Well that and it'd be hawt..." The Admiral trails off, imagining such a fate.

[RabbitHoleLost]

She smiled ironically, giving a soft shrug of her shoulders.
"Then that is that. Who am I to defy the gods?"
She was Rabbit, of course. The Destroyer of Faiths, once upon a time. A professional shrine/temple burner.
But that was long in the past, it seemed.
"I'm sorry, but I simply can't help you."

[ThirdEmperor]

Celebite. Got bored of that sort of stuff ages ago. As for the spitting in their face, I've already become an athiest, and spent several millenia raiding every temple I saw and getting hit by every thunderbolt in the region. The man says, sighing. You mind if I tag along then? I haven't had anything better to do in a long time.

[RabbitHoleLost]

"Er.." Rabbit looked up to the admiral, tilting her head awkwardly, hoping perhaps he would have something to say.
But then it hit her. What did she owe this man?
"Look, nothing personal, I just don't like people. And the last person I sat around to talk with brought some crazy shadow thing that hurt really bad. So, er, maybe some other time, but I'm not real keen on letting a blessed soul into my house full of undead."

[Reinholdt]

The Admiral rolls his eyes. One of those perfect people who could do whatever they want to whomever they want and STILL make it to the highest level of heaven? He's calling BS. This was the Prince's punishment, just as it was his.

"I've got a song that may make you feel better at least."
The Admiral breaks into a rousing bit.

There's no doubt that he's grinning now.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fair enough, but I'm no blessed soul. Edgar Valentine, ex-Eternal Champion, and current drifter, wander, adventurer and ne'er-do-well. If you ever need help, I'll be in one of the taverns and I pretty much never have anything else to do. Says Edgar, walking off.

(And it wasn't his punishment. He was created to fight off a demonic invasion, and the gods just kinda forgot about him.)

[RabbitHoleLost]

Rabbit watched him go, taking his name down in a mental note. If anything, he might make a good partner in the future.
Or a scapegoat, if she brought the wrath of the Gods down.

"So. You were telling me about that smoking habit of yours. And why you insist on keeping it."

[Reinholdt]

"Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they'll continue singing it forever just because..."
...
"Oh. He's gone. Oh well." The Admiral switches out his old cigar for a new one and ponders. Mmmm... succubus....

"Rightly. There are three reasons I smoke. One, force of habit. I was pretty much a chain smoker in life, that much I remember. Two, it is there as a constant reminder to me of what I cannot have." He takes the lit cigar out of his mouth holding it in front of him with an examining eye and rubbing it gently between his bony fingers. "I cannot feel this cigar's. I cannot smell its smoke. I cannot taste its tobacco. If not for sight, it may as well not exist to me."

He pauses before putting back in and puffing on it, its tip smoldering bright red for a moment. "Lastly, it makes me look pretty damn cool."
What's the lich going to do? Get lung cancer?
He does have to clean his teeth fairly often though.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Clutching her head, she shook it. Gods, that song. Why would he even start that song?
"Ah. Right. I forget you fully undead can't really feel nor smell nor taste." She scrunched her nose up.
"Not that I can imagine it tasted very well to begin with. You men and your images." She chuckled, showing the lich the way in through the door, which had just formed from the wall of solid glass.

Inside stood another lich.
Another lich who dropped his silver platter, along with his lower jaw.
"M-m-mistress..."
"Oh, hello, Solmuel."
Suddenly, the undead seemed much more pleased, now that the surprise had worn off.
"Are you...replacing me? Am I free to go?"
*snort*
"No, Solmuel. This is a guest. Not your replacement. You earned this punishment, don't you forget it."

[Reinholdt]

"Says the woman in the Hatter's hat. What image are you conveying?"

The Admiral chortles, then steps inside after Rabbit. "Sorry old boy. I don't loathe to be in your place anytime soon. Did that scene for far too long. You'll have to tell me how you earned it sometime though."

[RabbitHoleLost]

Solmuel slunk off, and Rabbit shrugged.
"I like hats. He defied me." Two simple enough questions answered as she went through the hallways, leading him to the kitchen.
The same exact path she had lead Talic through years before.
Of course, the name 'Talic' would mean nothing to her now.
"You knew I lived here, right? Cal...Calublufiok informed you?" The name was strange on her tongue. Unusual.
It also sent unpleasant shivers down her spine to think that anyone she didn't inform knew where she dwelled.

[Reinholdt]

The Admiral watches Solmuel for a bit, feeling more than sorry for him. He had the same issue once. He contemplates trying to free the poor lich. But that meant sticking his neck out and maybe ending up with the same fate. Wasn't worth it.

Turning, he followed Rabbit to the kitchen. "That I did and that he did. Or she did depending on the day. Never actually saw the place for myself mind you."

[RabbitHoleLost]

"Right. So I've likely learned all I'm going to learn from you." Groaning, she sat on a glass stool, balancing herself there for a few moments in silence before she chanced a glance at him again.
"You're free to go, Mister I don't actually know. I suppose I have a few leads to follow up on."

[Reinholdt]

"Yes... you are kind of asking odd questions. What's the matter? Slip and hit your head on the glass too hard?" The Admiral leans in the doorway, puffing away.

[RabbitHoleLost]

Rabbit looked up, focusing on the undead before her. She smiled slightly, though it didn't carry to her eyes at all.
"I died. There was a little piece of my soul in my journal, and when I died gods know how, that was activated. It was sort of my own little secret. I don't fancy the idea of being dead. But I apparantly stowed my soul away in that journal before coming here, so I don't have any memory of my life or my death in Nexus."

[Reinholdt]

"Ah. Maybe Calublufiok got to you after all before he died. He does like to keep his promises. The bugger." The Admiral shakes his head and shrugs. Who knows.

He starts to turn to leave, but stops, looking back at Rabbit with desperate eyes. "... Before I go, could you... could you do that thing you did in the tavern... with your hand?"

[RabbitHoleLost]

"Maybe he did. I guess my next best guess is to ask Reinholdt, mmm?" Rabbit gave another weak smile before he worded his request.
"Oh..oh..that?" She blinked. "You want me to do that again? Why?" It was just a comforting mechanism, something Rabbit used frequently to calm her zombies down.

[Reinholdt]

"Oh... err... no reason. Forget it. It's silly."
...
Awkward.
He lingers for a bit, hoping she'd do it anyways.