A Dance of Destiny IC

[AmberVael]

Rachel Wilder

Rachel holds up the tiny cylinder in one hand, clutching it almost possessively.

"I've still got it. And I'm not sure how they died... some kind of terrorist attack from what I heard. The authorities wouldn't tell me."

Rachel shakes her head and puts the cylinder back in her pocket, one hand clenched around it.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The man stroked his big, black beard.
"I am not pleased"
The creature on the floor hissed.
"Shessss, sasssou" it spat.
Lightning arched from the man's fingers, briefly lighting up the reptilian beast's skeleton. It squirmed in pain.
"You will speak to me in English, as I taught you"
"I is ssssssorry, Mastah"
"It was just one man. Nothing he had could harm you, and I arranged a meet in an isolated place. Yet, he lives"
"There were otherssssss, Mastah. Men with guns"
The man stroked his beard.
"Regardless, their technology can not pierce your hide"
"They were distractionsssss. The human escaped"
The man with the beard shook his head in anger and frustration. He seemed very impressive, but in truth he would only reach a grown man's ribs.
"You have failed" he said simply, and his hand that wasn't stroking the beard pointed a single finger at the creature.
"Ssssssoulasssa, sssssoulassssa!" it squealed.
"English" he said as a darkred ray of energy shot out of the tip of his finger and sliced through the creature's face. The hole wouldn't have even been visible afterwards, if it hadn't been for all the blood.
"Clean him up" the man said, and two more of the huge reptilian creatures stepped out of the shadows, dragging their brother out of sight.

The man turned.
"Now, as for you"
"We have come to collect our pay" the three men said, in perfect harmony. Not only did they speak at the same time, but they also looked exactly alike. What was left of their facial features was the same, they dressed the same and most of their scars matched. All three of them wore brown trenchcoats and broadrimmed leather hats. All three of them had a lit cigar in the corner of their mouths.
"Not yet"
"We've done our job. Our targets are dead. All three"
It was eery to hear them all speak at the same time, their voices echoeing off the stone walls of the tower.
"I have more work for you"
"We're not your flunkeys. We made a deal. Live up to it, or feel the consequences"
"Oh, don't worry, I will pay. I would just like to make a new deal first. I'll triple your pay. One new target each"
"We don't like complications. We'd like our pay"
The bearded man's face got red, or at least the few bits that weren't covered in black hair.
"Look, we may have agreed I'd pay you, but we never agreed when. Now I'm telling you. You get your pay when the next job is done"
"You don't want to make enemies out of us"
"If I wanted to, I could reduce you all to a whisp of smoke in a matter of seconds"
"We don't think so. You couldn't take care of your enemies yourself. You needed us. You need us. Ergo, we are more powerful than you are"
He sighed.
"Things are more... complicated than that. I wouldn't expect you to understand. Let's say five times the pay. All delivered after the three targets have been taken out. You know I'm good for it"
The three men smiled, and exhaled a puff of smoke at the exact same time.
"Deal"

857: Bólnautr Skoftason
They chose to go to the town. It wasn't much of a town, really. There were about twenty houses, or rather shacks, built out of rocks and driftwood. The only home that was built entirely in rocks was the druid's home. It formed a sort of halforb, with a hole at the top. Smoke slowly rose from the hole. The hut was decorated with whalebones and other skeletal creatures and had been built at a distance from the other houses, higher up and nearer the mountain, or "the rock". There was what Alfarin had described as a tavern, but was actually more of an alehouse. It seemed one of the sturdiest building in the village and definitely the largest, but it was also currently closed. There were no opening hours, but there was no need for them anyways. All the villagers knew when the place opened and closed, which would most likely be when the fishermen came back from sea. The docks were abandoned, but it was morning, so all the fishermen had already left. There was still one boat left, but it had been dragged ashore onto the rocks and looked like it was in need of repairs. Nearby the boat was a shed with some tools where a man was hammering away at a sword. All in all, it was pretty quiet in the village. The only other people around were some playing children on the rickety wooden piers, some women and two old men on a bench, who were sewing a fishing net.

1279: Taira Itagaki, Lt. General Mikhail Ratkunin
Night fell, and they slept. The rest was welcome after a long, long day.
The next morning though, decisions would have to be made. Where would they go from here?

1928: Robert Lester Salinger (AKA Doc)
Robert had lucked out when he met professor Gatsby in the hallway. He'd asked the man to see someone at antiquities and he had explained his problem, and the professor had made time in his schedule for Robert. They were now in his office. There were surprisingly little antiquities on the wall. There were, however, collections of pinned down butterflies, dried flowers, glass cabinets full of jars with the strangest things, even a human fetus, it seemed, a collection of animal skulls and even a stuffed aligator.
"Now," said professor Gatsby, "as you can see I do not specialise in weaponry. Not conventional weaponry anyways". He smiled thinly and slid open one of the drawers on his ink-black desk. He took out a small glass box and put it in front of him on the desk.
"You know what this is?"
"A really big hornet?"
"Close, very close. This is the Vespa Mandarinia Japonica, or the Japanese giant hornet"
"Where are you going with this?"
"Just be patient. This isn't just any hornet. As you can see, it's really big, but size never really did matter in the animal kingdom. Why else would the most deadly animal be a mosquito? This one isn't quite as deadly, but many people would find it more scary. It has the ability to shoot, and I do mean shoot, flesh melting poison. They prefer to shoot it in your eyes, actually. So that would make you blind and in pain, but you'll live, right? Not with these little critters. The acid also contains a pheromone which will attract all the other hornets in the hive, which will then proceed to hunt you down for their turn of spraying acid on you. Don't even think of outrunning them either. Even if you could still see, these babies can fly 50 miles a day."
The professor smiled and tucked away the box.
"See, I don't specialise in human weapons, but in animal weapons, a field not to be underestimated. I teach biology here, but my real passion lies in these sort of creatures. Nature's little freaks. You're in luck you ran into me, because I'm exactly the man you need. See, the weapons you described aren't blades at all. Not in the common sense of the word. They sound like talons, actually. The closest thing I could think of would be those of the giant armadillo, or even more likely an extinct species, such as the velociraptor. However, several years ago I came across something even closer."
The professor booted up his computer and tapped away at the keyboard for a while, then he turned the screen to Salinger. It showed a picture of something that looked a lot like the "blades" the creature had attacked him with earlier that night in a glass case.
"Look familiar? I found those in a small museum in Bergen, Norway. I thought they were fakes at first, since the museum wouldn't allow me to do any tests on them, but I've become convinced they are real. There is no way to reproduce something like that. There's only one pair of those in the world though, and it's in that little museum. If you were attacked with those, I would guess your attacker paid them a little visit."

1948: Jarvis McArthur
Jarvis employed every last bit of his strength to crawl up the rusty ladder. He fell of twice, but the third time he made it, collapsing again on the stones above. He eventually made his way to a bus stop, where he fainted.

He woke up in a hospital room. His arm had been fixed, but it still hurt like hell. Judging from the light that was filtering through the blinds it was somewhere around noon. He looked around. No flowers, figures. The door opened and a nurse walked in, followed by Jonathan. The nurse smiled politely at Jarvis. He could see she didn't mean it. She checked the bandages and everyone was quiet for a while. She then left the room and gave Jonathan a friendly nod, which seemed more sincere at least.

"Hi there, Jarvis, how are you doing?"

Century of Toth: Jonathan Morris, Anna Rachel Wilder
Rachel retrieved her items and walked up to the edge of the slide, where she had a chat with the stranger. As they talked, he dressed himself and tied Ennio's hands with his belt. Even as Ennio started to move again Jonathan climbed up the slide to put his hand on Rachel's shoulder. He certainly had a better view from here, but there was still just the road, puddles and loads of trees. he could just see more of them from here.

Spoiler

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Feel free to adjust your inventories accordingly. Ennio had some items in his pockets, which are now in Jonathan's pockets: a wallet, a photo of Rachel, a pack of chewing gum and a gun.

[Lonna]

{{OOC: Sorry this is late. I've been working on it for the last couple days, but my school has fall break starting Thursday so the teachers have been piling on the work to get to a good stopping place before break.}}

Taira Itagaki

Evening:
The servant's words landed like a blow. She had known her father was dying, even that he would probably pass while she was away, but hearing that he was gone made it immediate and real. She had never been good enough for him, and now she would never have a chance to change that.

After giving orders providing for her new companion, she retrieved her naginata and spent a quarter hour in the dojo. She did the most violent exercises she knew as exactly as possible, not bothering to warm up - her muscles were still loose from her earlier exertions. Her face was still as stone as she whirled, thrust, and slashed, but two tear tracks ran from the corners of her eyes, forcing her to blink repeatedly as she focused on guiding her blade precisely through the movements, blurs of motion halted in an instant only to reverse and split the air again.

Panting a little, Itagaki brought the last form to a close, then carefully hung the naginata in its usual place on the dojo wall. Just now she could face neither her husband nor the stranger she had promised to protect. Too much had happened too quickly - she needed to rest. Calling out for a bath and clean clothes of her own, Itagaki retired to her room.

Next Morning:
As usual, Itagaki rose early, dressing for the day in mourning colors. When she inquired after her husband, the servants informed her that he was still asleep. Not wanting to disturb him, especially when he was so badly in need of rest and healing, Itagaki ordered that two servings of breakfast (hot rice, goat's milk, and a few of the newly ripe cherries) be brought to the stranger's room.

Going ahead of the servants, she knocked loudly on the frame of the rice paper screen that was the door to the room. "Mikare-san, I'm coming in!"

[Voshkod]

Lt. General Mikhail Ratkunin

"Ninety eight, ninety nine, one hundred." Mikhail finished his sit-ups. Unlike many of his peers, he had not yet been issued his "General's gut." Of course, years of bad food and marching helps, he thought with a little smile.

When the knock came, he wrapped the kimono around his lower half. "Enter," he said, in his Russian command voice, and then caught himself. "Please come in," he added, in Japanese.

[Lonna]

Taira Itagaki

Itagaki pushed aside the screen and entered her guest's room, her expression neutral as she looked him up and down. "You had better put that the rest of the way on. The servants will be scandalized."

She turned away to let him adjust the garment, thinking. Whatever language he was speaking before I came in, I don't think it was the same as what I heard at the burial grounds. And whatever that last word was, just before I came in, it sounded like a command. He must have been someone important in his world. Judging that he had had enough time to put on the kimono properly, Itagaki turned back just as the servants arrived with breakfast. When the food had been set out, she dismissed them with instructions not to bother her unless it was urgent or her husband was awake. As soon as they had gone she guestured to the low table that held the meal.

"Please, join me, Mikare-san," she said, kneeling next to it as she spoke. She waited until he was settled, then got straight to the point. "I will be blunt. There is something - perhaps in your world, perhaps in mine, perhaps in another world entirely - that is responsible for the death of my father and the defiling of my mother's grave. I do not know if your people prize honor so highly as mine, but understand this: My honor depends on avenging my father. You said the one that wielded the weapon was a Zherman; I say he was a tool. I believe you were a person of some power in your world. I want you to tell me as much as you can about how you got here. If the puppet master, the man responsible, came from your world, I want to go there."

[ForzaFiori]

Bólnautr Skoftason

Bólnautr looks around at the rather empty town. Well, this was YOUR decision he thinks to himself. He looks at his men, pairing them up in his mind. Alright, here's what were going to do. Redboot and me are going to the druids home. While he may not like what were doing, I'd like for him to ask the gods to help us, or at least not hinder us. Arngier and Skalf, you two will take the left half of the town, looking up from the docks. Gerhald and Alfarin, You will take the right side. Knock on doors, ask people in the streets, and so on. Explain why were here and what we'll be doing. We will all meet back up in the tavern once its open, and try out luck some more there. We will leave tonight when the tavern closes, but don't mention that. If anyone asks, we're leaving sometime tomorrow, possibly even the next day, due to the fact that your fearless leader, he gives a sarcastic bow, Is still recovering from his time at sea. Lets get to this. He gives the men a nod, then heads off towards the home of the druid with Redboot.

[Voshkod]

Lt. General Mikhail Ratkunin

Mikhail adjusted the kimono. "Apologies. Where I'm from, this would not have been a problem." He sat. "First, my thanks. You've helped me here, when I was lost, and I owe you that. I do have my own sense of honor, different from yours, but it is there." He sipped the goat's milk.

"I am sure, now, that I am a man out of time. I am from the . . . ." He paused. How do I say "Soviet Union" in Japanese? How do they say Korea again? "I am from the lands north and west of the Land of the Morning Calm. I am a General there, I command two hundred thousand men and a thousand . . . ." He paused again. "A thousand iron carriages. We call them 'tanks.' We are in a war with the Germans, a war we are winning. I was ambushed, captured by the Germans, and tortured."

He ate a few cherries. "They locked me in a room with a dead monster. The monster had this." He held out the amulet. "When I took it, I appeared in the graveyard, tied to a chair."

He gazed at the amulet. "Just like that. And an old man with a sword came to kill me." He looked her in the eyes, a steady, angry gaze. "I want to go home, Taira-sama, to kill more Germans, to be with my men."

[Lonna]

Taira Itagaki

For an few seconds Itagaki's face was perfectly still, her formal white face paint giving her the look of a porcelain doll. Then her cherry red lips curved into the slightest of satisfied smiles. There was neither humor nor happiness in it, and her eyes remained serious, almost cold, but it was the first time her expression had shown anything but schooled indifference and determination toward her guest.

"You have a war to finish; I have a father to avenge. I think our goals are not dissimilar, Mikhare-san. That stone brought you here. Perhaps it can take us both back to your world."

[Hairb]

Robert "Doc" Salinger
Several hours later...

When he first made up his mind to skip town, he never thought he'd wind up running to Norway, but with the steerage class ticket in his pocket, it looked there was no turning back. He hadn't liked pawning his rifle, but it was a liability and he needed the money for the voyage. The car he had left on the far side of town, with the keys hidden under the mat. There was no chance on earth it would still be around when he got back - if he got back - but it was out of his hands and no longer his problem. The list of things that were his problem had just grown, though, and even finding out why dinosaurs, dinosaurs for heaven's sake, had got involved in small-town organised crime wouldn't make it safe for him to go home.

In the cold, dusty Men's Hostel bedroom, Robert shivered and rolled over into sleep.

[Voshkod]

Lt. General Mikhail Ratkunin

"I have a war to win, Taira-sama." His eyes were ice, the ice that fell on the corpses outside Moscow in that first winter of the war, and they did not thaw. "Tell me, if you will. How did your father die? At the hands of the German?"

[Lonna]

Taira Itagaki

The small smile dropped away, and Itagaki brought out her fan to hide the face below her eyes, which now harded with determination and... anger? "The Zherman was the tool, yes. But I do not think he was here by his own will. He was confused and afraid. He has paid his debt, but the one who sent him still lives."

[HardboiledJJ]

Jonathan Morris

Long stretches of nowhere lay before the gunslingers eyes. Aimlessly wandering towards a random horizon would do little good. And she did have a cylinder after all. . .

"Well, since you do still have it, we hopefully have another option. Bare in mind his is the blind leading the blind but. . . From what the Doc mentioned, certain individuals can focus on the stone inside. I don't know how such folks are chosen, but apprently we both fit the bill. Point is, we could hopefully focus on your time and place. Since we're both new to this, two heads may be better than one-especially since you've got more to hone in on so to speak."

Jonathan takes a respite from the madness coming out of his mouth and look down at Ennio. A new question arises. Almost mumbling to himself he thinks out loud.

"Alright. . . maybe we hold the do-hickey at the same time but what about our lowlife friend. . .? Could hold him with the other hand. . .see if it's possible to carry others with you. . .

Sorry for mumbling. . .just trying to set my head right ma'am."

[AmberVael]

Rachel Wilder

Rachel looks down at Ennio and scowls, crossing her arms. Uh uh. No way she was going to be persuaded to take that little ****head back with them. Nope. Not happening. She looks up at Jonathan and the look in her eyes says he has to be kidding her.

"If I take him back, I'll have more mobsters or cops than I could shake a stick at swarming me in a day. Leaving him somewhere else buys me a little time, at least. I don't know about you, but I don't feel bad about leaving him here. The man tried to kill me for crying out loud! You think that makes me sympathetic to his situation? No. So he's going to stay here unless you have a better solution. I'm not going to kill him, but he got me into this mess and he'll have to work himself out of it on his own."

The con artist looks like she wants to spit at the mobster.

[HardboiledJJ]

Jonathan Morris

Jonathan can't blame Rachel for the look she shoots him.

"I'm just thinking out loud trying to guess what this thing can and can't do. Grain of salt and all that. But I'll agree, from what you've described he'd be a liability to take with us."

The gunslinger turns his head to the bound mafioso.

"Well sir, looks like the wronged party has chosen to stay your execution in lieu of banishment. Karma is a bitch. If she's feeling real generous maybe she'll let me loosen those bonds just a bit before we go."

[AmberVael]

Rachel Wilder

Rachel says nothing more about the situation with Ennio, simply pulling out the cylinder again and looking curiously down at the little amber stone within it. She frowns and looks over at Jonathan.
"So... how do you think we go about getting to the right place? Just focus on it really really hard?"
She doesn't want to touch it again until she knows what she's doing.

[HardboiledJJ]

Jonathan Morris

Rachel is quiet on the Ennio subject, and the gunslinger nods in agreement to her silent judgement.

"I imagine the more specific the better. For me, I've got "July 10th, 2009, San Francisco, CA" But you're over a hundred years past my time-I've got no clue what it's like there. If we're both holding it, and you can picture a specific place at that date, I reckon we're all the more likely to get where we're hoping for."

[AmberVael]

Rachel Wilder

Rachel blinks at Jonathan. She was still only half believing and thinking about it all, trying to cope with it while silently reassuring herself that there was undoubtedly some good explanation. But his blatant words just brought all the absurdity of it to the front of her mind, and it couldn't be ignored.

"A hundred years past your time? So what... like, 1900's?"

She sounds pretty skeptical, and Jonathan might think it odd that she made no comment about the other things, but has trouble believing that he's from another time, as facilitated by the very device she was talking about using with him. Rachel taps the cylinder with her fingers almost nervously, trying to get things straight and retain some of her sanity.

"Wait, Campbell died in 2009, and he definitely wasn't a hundred years old when I saw him. If he'd made time travel, someone would have found out- especially if he'd used it, so I really doubt he traveled back in time and gave a time traveling device to you. You also don't have one, and I do, yet you claim to have come here by one."

Rachel narrows her eyes at him, realizing that something about all of this didn't add up. She shifts her weight backwards, then decides to take one step back, away from Jonathan.

"So what's the story? How'd you get here? How do you know Campbell?"

[HardboiledJJ]

Jonathan Morris

Jonathan sighs, almost relieved to get it out.

"1896 to be exact, Miss Rachel. Short version: I've had a crappy day as well."

His right hand strokes his mustache, as he tries to think how much he should describe.

"Aw hell, ma'am. I suppose there aint much I can say that's too out of line all things considered. I'll try to keep it brief. . .

I was a lawman in the California territories. This mornin' I got a message to meet a friend o' mine out in the desert. It was a trap. Someone had gathered up a nasty posse o' folks with a deadly disposition towards me. There was some bounty hunter with 'em-almost too good to be human-he made mention of some bigger picture, and how I had to die. . ."

Thinking of how he failed Charlie, failed to make it home to his wife and child, the gunslinger's face grows weary. His eyes squint into the horizon, looking for what isn't there.

". . .and he did it too. Batted down everything I threw at him like a child. After killing my friend. . . .before I could escape. . .try to get home and warn my famly. . .

Jonathan turns back to Rachel, his face a mask of strained confidence.

"As I gather, Doc died recently too. He grabbed me while I was waking up on he other side, before moving on all the way. Asked me to do a couple favors for him.

I used the cylinder he had on him. Likely a spirit world equivalent to the one you have. Maybe that's why we both ended up in the same spot-cuz we both used it around the same time. Mine wasn't really tangible though I guess, so I could see it not being with me when I came back.

Look. . .I wouldn't blame you if you wrote me off as loon. But I'm just trying to do this for the Doc, hoping I might get a second chance. . . maybe get back home."

There it was. All laid out. His hand returned to his mustache, awaiting her reprisal. Likely the only reason he'd gotten away with saying so much was shock, disbelief, or a combination of both.

[AmberVael]

Rachel Wilder

Rachel sits there, her rational mind laughing and rejecting everything, while simultaneously trying to uneasily rationalize and deny the fact that she's in the middle of some weird swamp somewhere. All the facts and questions and events the day had brought are pressing on her, cracking at her sanity one bit at a time.

"Wait, lets just assume everything you're saying is true... even that leaves questions. Why didn't Campbell come back using this thing? And you said he'd died recently and was there before you. He died a few day..."

Rachel pauses, realizing that if she didn't know where she was, and was accepting his story as true for now, then she didn't know WHEN she was, either.

"He died in 2009, and you died waaay before that. How did he get there first? Unless he used his little device to travel back in time, but if he did that why didn't he come with you? Is time not linear or something? ****."

Rachel puts her hands on her head, closing her eyes, the blur of the day and the really weird thoughts and complicated questions and problems getting to her.

[HardboiledJJ]

Jonathan Morris

"I'm sorry ma'am. I was worried bringin' that mess up would confuse the issue more. The truth is I don't have all the answers."

Jonathan sits down as well, trying as hard as he can to be comforting in an unrealistic time and place. Wishing he'd thought of a better way to broach the subject, he tries to answer Rachel.

"I do think maybe time is less solid on the other side. At least that's my guess. Doc was already there when I "woke up" so to speak. The Ambrozium mineral inside can only be controlled by those with a strong enough "destiny" he said. Old coot said you could somehow actually quantify such a thing. It is beyond me how, though."

The gunslinger groans as he thinks of one last little thing. He was already ruining the poor woman's day, he might as well be completely open.

"Here's one last twist. Doc says that mineral aint from Earth."

[AmberVael]

Rachel Wilder

Rachel sighs and thinks about it all, then shakes her head. It was all confusing, all too much after this day. Neither of them were thinking straight, whether this was some kind of delusion or all completely true. She rubs at her eyes for a bit, then gets back to her feet.

"I don't know what to believe and what to think about all this. I need time to let it sink in."

She holds up the little cylinder and looks at the stone within once more. Ambrozium? Not from earth? She didn't know, but there was something funny about it. What though...

"I'm going to try and get us back to the hotel I was staying at. If it works, your wacky story is going to have a hell of a lot more credibility- and I'm not sure I want it to work or not."

[HardboiledJJ]

Jonathan Morris

"For what its worth, thank you."

[Voshkod]

Taira Itagaki

The small smile dropped away, and Itagaki brought out her fan to hide the face below her eyes, which now harded with determination and... anger? "The Zherman was the tool, yes. But I do not think he was here by his own will. He was confused and afraid. He has paid his debt, but the one who sent him still lives."

Lt. General Mikhail Ratkunin

"So long as a German breathes, they still owe a debt of their lives," Mikhail said with utter hate in his voice. "But yes, we agree, we share a common foe."

[AmberVael]

Rachel Wilder

Rachel smiles tensely and holds out the cylinder so Jonathan can touch it too, putting one hand on him just in case as she reaches out a finger to get ready to touch the stone.

"Ready?"

Assuming he says yes, she concentrates hard on her hotel in San Fransisco, 2009, about one minute after the time she should have vanished, then touches the stone.

[Lonna]

Taira Itagaki

Itagaki furled her fan with a snap, her expression once again impassive, though there was faint disapproval in her eyes. "Do you know how to use that?" she asked, pointing her fan at the amulet. "Like the other, I feel a pull toward this stone. I desire to hold it, as if some evil spell gripped my will." She shook her head slightly, then tucked the fan into her obi and very deliberately folded her hands in her lap. "I will not touch it now. Set your hate aside and tell me what I must expect from your world."

[MrEdwardNigma]

857: Bólnautr Skoftason
"Wait"
Alfarin raised his hand.
"Leader? Who made you our leader?"

"Yeah, he does have a point, Bólnautr... Alfarin's been more of a leader so far than you"

Arngier clenched his fist.
"Bólnautr here has lost a great deal. He is a good, honest and brave man and those beasts up there took his wife!"

"We all lost something in the attack, Arngier. We're not here for Bólnautr's own little feud against these dragons. They're a danger to the tribe. We're here for them. And if we're to have a leader, well I think it shouldn't be the guy we found unconscious on the beach and had to drag up to the castle"
Skalf gave a nod. He seemed to agree. His hand also glided onto the shaft of the hammer on his belt.

"I don't know... Bólnautr is a good guy too"

"You said it yourself. Alfarin's been a better leader so far"

The skeleton's voice still sent a shiver down Bólnautr's spine. He seemed to have the same effect on most of the others, save Alfarin.

"We haven't been travelling long. Bólnautr had some bad luck when the boat sank, but that was only because he faced the dragon" Arngier yelled.

"What are you saying, the rest of us did nothing? What about Snorri, eh? It was he who brought the beast down, and it cost him his life. We all did our share. It wasn't all Bólnautr. Besides, you're sworn to defend him anyways"
Alfarin seemed angry too, but in a much calmer way than Arngier. His face didn't get red, and his gestures weren't quite as uncontrolled and violent.

"Sworn to defend him because he saved my life! If that doesn't make him a good leader I don't know what would!"

"A man's life can be in danger if he forgets to breathe. saving someone isn't hard, it's just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Hell, I've saved people in my day without even wanting to save them. I just happened to be killing whomever they had a beef with. Frankly, it says more about you than it did about him"
At that last word the skeleton turned his gaze towards Bólnautr. It was a dreadful stare, with those empty eyesockets of his, a spider crawling out of one of them as he seemed to look straight through Bólnautr.

Arngier was really angry now.
"You...you..." he spat, his finger shaking at Redboot, but then he took a deep breath and walked off, sitting down on some lumber several meters away. The skeleton laughed.
"Poor kid can't handle a little conversation! Wonder how he'll do in battle!"

1279: Taira Itagaki, Lt. General Mikhail Ratkunin

Spoiler

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You have a good RP going, I don't have much to add for the moment. Mostly waiting for any decision you guys make, but do take your time, this is good.

1928: Robert Lester Salinger (AKA Doc)
Robert woke up as the floor outside the door creaked. He pulled his gun out from beneath his pillow and lowered himself onto the floor carefully, pointing his gun at the door.

There was a knock.

It was silent for a while.

"Robert? Are you in there?"
That voice was familiar...
"It's me, Lawrence"

Salinger put on his pants, opened the door and let his friend in. They hugged.
"****, Robert, we've been worried sick over you!"
"How did you find me?"
"Oh. I asked Ernie. We didn't know what was going on when my sis found your stuff in her back room. She instantly knew something had to be wrong so she called me, and I called Ernie. He only managed to find you through sheer luck. He made a whole bunch of calls and just about an hour ago we got a call from this motel. The guy actually asked us if he was getting paid for telling us where you were..."
"Ernie? He's here too?"
"Oh. Yeah, sure, downstairs in the car. Look, Robert, what's going on?"

Spoiler

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You might want to update your inventory to add the ticket and take away the rifle and such

Century of Toth: Jonathan Morris, Anna Rachel Wilder
They both touched the stone, and time seemed to freeze for the briefest of moments, while space twirled. They could see the footprints, leading off to nowhere, the car, splattered in blood, and Ennio, crawling up the slide. Then the swamp was gone, and they felt that familiar sensation of being crushed and pierced, but it was different still, because this time they felt that they were not alone. Beyond the pain, they could still feel their hands clenching the Ambrozium, and clenching each other. There was an image of a crossing. At one point they seemed to be going four directions at once, but then they felt that sharp pain again, followed by sweet release and a beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep somewhere in the distance.

They were in a room, but it wasn't Rachel's hotel room. The first thing they noticed about the room was the huge metal spider. Well, it wasn't really a spider, but it had several metal bows arching down from a flat centre onto the floor and they were standing in the middle of this dome. The platform they were standing on was glowing slightly, but it was hardly visible in the light shining in from the windows. On the outside of the metal dome there were a whole bunch of panels on the thing and it was connected to a huge computer with tons of wires. Besides the machine and a whole lot of cardboard boxes the room was nearly empty. The only other pieces of furniture in the room were a bloodcovered couch and a desk, with not much on it beyond a computer and a dirty diaper, of all things. There were only two exits to the room. One led to the bathroom and was closed, the other had been left open and led to a hallway, a generic hallway in a 20th century appartment block, after it had been through some riots, a fire and several bombings.

Rachel realised she'd pretty much driven her fingernails into Jonathan's hands and let go of him and the Ambrozium. She twirled and landed on the couch. travelling sickness, or something like it.

Spoiler

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Hardboiled, could you edit your inventory to add in Ennio's stuff I mentioned in last post? Thanks.

[AmberVael]

Rachel

"...this is sooo not where I was trying to show up."
She looks around, taking it in, and then gets the strangest feeling, a sort of sense of rising suspicion and horror.
"Oh god. What if... they said it had been a terrorist attack. They had been burned... what if..."
Her mind works frantically, having little to go off of as she gets unsteadily to her feet, getting more and more freaked out about the situation, feeling that her fears were even more confirmed as she wrestles through the few facts she has.
"I-I think this is where my sister- a-and Campbell- died..."
The day's rapid and mind wearing events appear to be taking their toll on her. She has little reason to jump to that conclusion, but it just feels right, and plus she's getting horribly paranoid and shell shocked by everything she has been going through.
"Oh god oh god..."
She continues to murmur under her breath, eyes wide, as she backs away from the bloodstained couch, whimpering a little.

[Voshkod]

Lt. General Mikhail Ratkunin

"What you can expect?" Mikhail laughed bitterly. "Wars you cannot imagine. Millions of soldiers armed like the German, with bigger guns behind them, and bigger guns behind those guns, and . . . . and . . . . men in mechanical birds dropping fire from the sky." He shook his head. "War where men kill women and children without a second thought, and burn cities. My country has been at war for two years, and ten million - ten million!" He slammed his hand on the table. "Ten million people in my country have died. More then are in Japan all together. You ask me to put aside my hate? Taira-sama, you can't understand my world. Your world of honor died in the First World War. And the Revolution."

[ForzaFiori]

Bólnautr Skoftason

I am acting as leader because the rest of you cowards have yet to man up and take charge your own damn selves. Yes, we all have lost things to the beasts. But when the dragon came down on our boat, who was it that pointed out the man on top? Who was it that pointed out to Snorri where to shoot? Who here has taken on the man on who rode the dragon? Not you Redboot, or you Alfarin, or any of the others. I'm taking charge because someone has to. As soon as one of you stops sucking your mother's tit and decides to challenge me for it, I'll stay the leader. Yes, you found me unconscious on the beach. But if you had that dragon-man try to pull you into the depths, something tells me that you would be hard pressed to be alive, let alone awake. He fixes them all with an icy stare, meeting even Redboot's empty eye sockets, then pulls his spear and shield from his back. So what is it? Does anyone wish to challenge me taking the leadership position? He twists the spear, pointing it at Alfarin. How about you? the rest seem to back you. Maybe that will help your balls drop enough to draw your sword so we can decide this once and for all. Or would you rather back down, and help us recover what we've lost? he does another twist of the spear, pointing at Skalf. Your hand seems itching for a fight. Draw your hammer and let's decide this. He turns finally to Redboot. As for how Arngier fares in battle, I'd say he'd do alot better than a walking sack of bones. At least he still has life to fight for. What motivates you, staying a disgrace to nature for longer? He spears his weapon into the ground and yells. So who is going to challenge me! Step forward, so I can slay you and get on with saving the rest of our clan!

[HardboiledJJ]

Jonathan Morris

The gunslinger is almost oblivious as Rachels nails pull out of his hand. This strange machine. Things surrounding him in familiar fashion but alien design. The blood, scorched walls, and rubble. . .

Good lord. Almost like the anarchist attacks they used to worry about in London.

His eyes stop their routine scan of a crime scene when he sees Rachel stand from the couch.

This isn't fair. She shouldn't have to see this.

The gunslinger shifts, trying to find the right words. The corners of his face turn down in a empathetic frown. He doesn't have them. He just feels guilty for what he imagines she'll end up being drawn into. Awkwardly, he gives the poor woman a hug and tries to turn her away from the morbid scene.