| Loyalties | ||
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The Park of Twisted is truly an amazing feat if one stops to think about it. Chaos surrounds this small patch of order, leaving one to believe that it was all apart of some one or somethings master plan. There are things at work deep within the universe, and old faces that are now new slowly start to creep forward once again. A disgruntled being steps into the park, glaring at the world around him. This is a different place, but it still feels horribly wrong. Caliga Satanas has come to Twisted, leaving only a vague recollection of things and faces, yet they remain clouded as if the very fabric of this new reality seeks to keep them hidden. Dante doesn't have quite such a luxurious entrance. In fact, he manages to poof into existence a far distance above the ground. He peers at the now oncoming 'earth' with a slight look of amusement. A short time later, he slams into said surface, landing in a one kneed crouch. His impact manages to leave a small crater, as he fell from quite high up. None the less, he seems alright. Dusting himself off, he glances around the park momentarily. "Well... I guess the wise man doesn't hop into random fucking portals. Must be gettin' senile in my old age." The faint sound of the wind blowing through the empty streets can be heard as Dante and Caliga arrive. Some papers and leaves rustle in response, with little alternative fanfair. However, despite appearances, such entrances of people in this ramshackle place does not go unnoticed,. The faint outline, little more than a vague humanoid shadow, watches them from a nearby rooftop. It hardly moves, the only trace of someones presence being the soft, momentary pulse of violet eyes. Not everyone gets to have a neat, mysterious entrance. Not everyone even gets an entrance proper. Lucas is one of those perfectly ordinary - but not too ordinary - people that live on Twisted. The blind man that sees. Today, as ever, it seems, he's dressed in a dark grey sweatshirt, hood down. He's been wandering the streets today, looking for the same thing he's always looking for - and even though he never finds it, he's in a pretty good mood. Things have been quiet, and for Lucas, that's a good thing. He walks through the park, nearing the fountain on his way to the other side. He notices Devi, but doesn't seem to recognize her when he glances in her direction. Being blind has its disadvantages, no matter what kind of trickery one has up their sleeve. "Good day." ... So it is. Devi whips around and crouches. She heard footsteps. It doesn't take long for her to narrow the direction they're coming in. Part of her screams to hide, but she's invested something on this world and she's not going to hide from the people returning. As she finally decideds to go meet them, Dante lands, startling her nearly out of her skin."Damnit, I forgot how loud they can be." Big noise first. She peers around the fountian to finally see Dante, her face wavers between emotions, from anger to relief. "Dante?" Ah, number one! How ironic. When she hears Lucas, she turns again. Her face breaks into a grin. This is odd even for her levels. She secretly expexts someone to come out on a wave of roses in that corny anime way. "Eh! Lucas!" She gives a cocky grin and straitens to step forward in the line of... Sight/Sense. Dante glances over as his name is mentioned. He grins, hot goth chick, 12 o' clock. He offers a wave with one of his 'patented'(He'd like to think so at least...) smiles still plastered on. "Hey! Devs! You sexy piece of goth you. How you doin'?" As he closes in, he notices Devi's attention called away by a more recent interloper. He folds his arms and watches the two, evidently content to let them play out their meeting as well. He's a patient lech, after all. Darting from tree to tree, the not-stealthful-yet catgirl scans the area for the people she's been ordered to find, but of course Twisted's been mostly empty as of late so this has been a bit of a challenge. As her eyes fall on the crowd gathering at the fountain in the park she nearly falls out of the trees. "PEOPLE!!" Showing off her natural agility a little more, she pounces to the ground and onto her feet with barely a sound. She nearly skips towards the gathering waving her hand frantically. The concealed figure watches a moment longer, then moves back into the shadows. Moments later, the soft pale light of two volet eyes can be seen peering out from a nearby alley, as she steps into view, looking around slowly and cautiously. She says nothing, however, simply listens. Lucas stops walking when he hears Devi's voice, and then turns and smiles to her when she greets him. "Ah, hi! Sorry, I didn't rec'gnize you at first, there." His voice has an unmistakably... midwest... accent to it, near Southern. ... A hayseed, in other words. He turns to look at Dante, and smiles, but doesn't know the man. "Who's your frien--" His request for introductions is mussed somewhat by a flailing, shouting catgirl, who draws his attention quickly. "...Sorry, I know I was sayin' somethin'..." No, Lucas, you don't have to apologize for being distracted by a flailing catgirl. Then there's the cautious footsteps from a nearby alley-way. He doesn't see their owner, but he turns his head just a bit, as if he might be able to see them out of his peripheral vision. He can't, of course. He's blind. But some habits die hard. "There's just a whole lot of people showin' up now. You must be more popular than a cock in a henhouse, Devi." ... ... Ow. Devi is /so/ happy to see your face Dante, she'll wait at least TWO minutes before destroying your world. Figurativly speaking, of course. "Not bad." She grins and turns to waves Lucus over, the courner of her eye catching the same step as Lucus. She doesn't recognize it outwardly and as Tabby bounds in, she grins again */This means that number 3 is around too./* To Lucus she states," At least I'm getting some kind of action. This is Dante by the way." She hollers at Tabitha, "You're late!" The yelling of the voices is enough to draw Caliga closer to the gathering group. Only one of the faces is truly recognizable to the man, that being the catgirl. The rest of them he truly doesn't know, or if he does, he doesn't remember. A quick wave is given towards Tabitha, regardless if she notices the gesture or not. There are new people to meet. Some seem friendly enough, others seem to prefer remaining in the shadows, no matter. "Let's see..." Caliga bows slightly towards the group, only to allow himself to speak once again. "Greetings. I am Caliga Satanas, and I am new to this realm." The words are truly as formal as one can get. Diablo may be all 'Everything is fine and dandy now!', but this one doesn't trust that for a moment. Dante blinks, peering around. "Getting a crowd here." He offers Lucas a wave, turns a bit...sends a wave Tabi's way. "Hey! How's my favorite, unfortunately underaged, cat-girl doin'?" He then manages to get 'distracted' further and turns to regard Caliga. He gives him a quick once over...but in this place, no real reason to get too defensive. We're all in the same boat here. He gives a bit of a wave. "Welcome to chaos, bucko. Enjoy your stay. Might be kinda permanent." As Tabitha arrives (wow that was a long run, wasn't it?) she puts her hands on her knees and tries to slow her breathing. "I'm not late. Yer early." Caliga gets the briefest of scowls before she takes a deep breath, standing tall once again. Glancing around at the group gathered she starts trying to take a head count, "Oh, hey! Lets see…" She points at Devi, "You… and" she moves her hand to point at Dante, "Dainty?" She grins mischievously a second before looking towards Lucas, "You… you I don't know. So what's up? This doesn't seem like a very good spot for a meetin'. What's everyone meetin' for? Munin continues to approach the group, eyes looking around and taking careful note of the details of the surroundings, as well as their occupants. She asks as she gets close "Exactly where is 'here', anyway?". Watching the various greetings, the color in the sky snaps back into her vision and she lowers her head slightly, her eyes shadowed by her bangs. "So everyone is alright? No one is missing a limb or nothing?" She nods to herself, as the question was rather redundant. She'd ask more (like where everyone went), but 8's entrance and Dante's wit inturrupt her. She smirks at the welcome though. Oddly true. "Hello, #8." It's not unkindly said and Devi is in no mood for real caution. The kanji on the back of her jacket slowly rights itself, frayed threads stelthily folding back in, making it look almost new again. "What do you mean we're early?" She decides to hold back the whole vagrent months, she rolls her head back towards #9 at a weird angle. "Twisted, number 9. We've all been dimention jumping." She moves slightly, putting her back away from the group, getting a better general view of them. Lucas lets his eyes face forward again once Munin steps closer, and he shrugs a bit, 'looking' around at everyone. "Am I interruptin' somethin'? I don't want to be a bother." He sticks his hands in his hoodie's pockets and waits patiently, not sure what's going on. So many people, and him without a clue why. "I do wonder..." He doesn't know what's going on anyway, so he just listens. All these numbers being thrown around, what was his again? ... He's forgotten. Poor kid. "Number eight?" Caliga's slightly confused by this proclamation, only to shake his head slightly. "Chaos is a needed thing. It helps keep balance in order. Fundamental laws of the universe and whatnot." There is a slight annoyance in the man's voice as he says this, merely because it feels wrong to agree with the demon on that point. "Whats with the scowl, Tabitha Li Bogard? Did I do something to offend you again?" A slight frown appears on Caliga's face, obviously confused by the offense he may or may not have given the poor catgirl. "It seems we're all denizens of this strange land now, so maybe some cooperation would be in order?" Dante peers at Tabi, then snorts. "If that 'dainty' comment was coming from something with breasts, I'd be offended." He maturely follows this with a stuck out tongue and a pulled down eyelid. He wheels BACK around to Cali and stares. After Cali is DONE alliterating his point, he closes his eyes...his head lolling backwards. Snoring noises follow shortly afterwards. Tabitha scowls at Dante this time, and then turns her attention back to Caliga. "Ya need ta quit being so disrespectful to Senior Diablo." She crosses her arms, "That's it. I don't have a problem with ya outside that." …yet. "…and you guys've been dimension hopping. I'm a native." She shrugs at her own comment and asks, "Can I ask you guys a list a names?" Reaching into her pocket she produces the paper Diablo had given her. "It's getting' waaay too hard to find these people. Munin hhmms, eyes looking each person over a few times, obviously sizing them up. A few names are known. With that, she abruptly vanishes. Meanwhile, on the rooftop, the nearly translucent figure who had been up there earlier can be seen standing, and leaving the scene, almost as if it never left the roof. Lucas shrugs at the catgirl's request, and offers her a warm smile. "Name's Lucas. Can't see how much use you'll get out of it, though." He still doesn't quite understand, but with all these people around, he'll stick around and make sure the girls are alright before leaving. One could call it chivalry, but it's more just a subconscious thing. The girls could probably more than take care of themselves. "...So do you always congregate like this?" Devi quickly shakes her head at Lucas. "Not a bother at all. In fact, I'm thrilled to see everyone." And anyone. She watches 9 run off and looks at Caliga, shoving Dante to wake him up. All they need is #2,5, and 6 to show up and it'll be a real party. She's not suprised to see 9 fall back, her eyes glancing to the momvement on the roof, and noting what that suggests. To Caliga, she turns her attention. "Cooperation for what? You're new, some of us have been here longer. Unless of course.." She stops. He knows Diablo. "Unless you've got some information that the rest of us lack?" She arches an eyebrow slightly at him in question. She mutters, "It'll be a giant vag or something." She shakes her head at Lucas again. "This doesn't usually happen. I'm sure it's not an accident though." she frowns slightly. Dante is pushed. He grins widely as his charade is destroyed. He slinks over to Devi, trying to wrap an arm around her shoulder. She could easily 'defend' it, if she wanted too though. "Devi, wow. I LOVE it when you play rough..." Yeah, this guys got all sorts of skewed priorities. Tabitha sighs a little at Lucas's name. She was really hoping to get another one of these names off the list. She briefly glances at Devi, still trying to find a way to ask her name but afraid with how much time has passed. But the rest she already knows. Well, except for the one who vanished already who's direction she currently scowls at. Maybe she should go after them? The sound of Dante being shoved perks her interest and her ears up again. "Huh…" Yeah, all that for no real comment. Waste of text really. When Tabitha sighs, Lucas shrugs. "Said I didn't think you could do much with it, didn't I?" He offers a sympathetic smile, and then looks around for a bit, before deciding to take a seat on the fountain. No reason to stay standing around. He'll just remain part of the background for now. Patience is a virtue ... or so someone once told him. Maybe it was Foster. Hmm. Lost in thought. "Cooperation is always needed to see a society thrive. It's basic knowledge." Caliga's eyes roll slightly as he answers Devi's question. "We're here now, so we all might as well make the most of it. Unless you prefer to continue to label us by numbers..." A slight grin starts to form at the corners of his mouth. Caliga reaches into his jacket and pulls out a small ring, which he then tosses into the fountain. "There are things about this world that I wish to find out. I'm rather sure that some of us here have other things they need to accomplish, so cooperation is /key/." Devi can't help but roll her eyes at his flambouynce, pushing his arm off her shoulders quickly. He's cute enough to not brunt her full rage and honestly, she's still kinda in shock to see everyone again. She waits paitently for Caliga's answer, smirking in her own right at him. "Better to label you as dogs until you've shown your a Man." Some here have already earned her respect enough to be called by name. It's honestly not hard. But his answer has rubbed her the wrong way. "You argue both sides." Devi turns away from him, returning her gaze to Tabitha, answering her former requst. "Devi D, by the way, for your list." She looks back to Lucas and Dante. "You guys do anything interesting in the time that time had gone funny?" Maybe she was the only one who suffered for this one. Maybe it never really happened and she's found her nitch of crazy. That one time I got lost outside of time. Bah. Dante looks distraught as his arm's pushed away. He clutches his chest in mock agony for just a moment. He peers a bit closer at Cali while he finishes his soliloquy. At the end of it, he laughs a bit, offering a thumbs up. "I feel your pain, dude. I need to get laid pretty bad myself. Don't worry, you'll feel better once ya do." He glances back over at Devi as he's addressed and offers a bit of a shrug. "Well, the booze is plentiful, so I guess that's good. Can't say the 'hookup' grounds're quite as fertile. Also, I discovered that jumping through random portals is a good way to get into REALLY shitty situations around here. That help at all?" Tabitha crosses her arms and huffs at Caliga, "Outsiders and yer cries of conspiracy. You people are all th' same." She lowers her voice to mock him better, "Someone's brought me here against my will! Someone's after me! Someone's replaced the universe with a 'nother one!" She rolls her eyes, letting her voice fall back to normal, "Grow up." She very nearly ignores what Devi says next as she blatantly ignores everything else said (sorry Dante) and then she can't believe it once she accepts it. "Wait… What?!? You're WHO!? Running his hand along the fountain's structure slowly, Lucas looks toward Devi with those glassy, un-seeing eyes. At least he looks right at the person he's talking to. A lot less awkward than talking to someone who's always staring slightly off center. "I didn't really notice anythin' ... but well..." He waves a hand in front of his eyes and grins, obviously poking fun at himself. "...I've got a nice case of tunnel vision, you know." At least he's not sensitive about it or anything. "... What happened?" As he finishes his questions, the man glances to Caliga, Tabitha, and Dante again. One supposes it's a purely social gesture - but he does it convincingly enough. Devi rolls her eyes again. "So dramtic. Did you feel like you were gone in said portal for any amount of time?" IT WAS ALIENS?!?! No no. She glances to the side at Tabitha, her eyes narrowing at the excitment. Being searched for makes her feel very uncomfortable. Very uncomfortable indeed. "You heard. Devi D." She'll let Tabitha soak that up for a minute, since it seems so vital to the girl. She shakes her head at Lucas' joke. "I'm just fishing right now. It might have just been me." Crazy again, mother. "Dogs have a habit of turning on one in the pack that shows weakness, Miss D." Caliga's grin turns dark slightly as he studies Devi for a moment, noticing the kanji on her jacket. The dark grin turns into a scowl, only for him to grab at the jacket, studying the mark further. "..Where did you.. That's impossible." A glance is given towards Tabitha, only for him to chuckle slightly. "You already have my name. It seems that mine however, was here before I arrived..." Another glance is given towards the jacket, only for Caliga to move away. Shadows start to seep forward to envelop the man. Once the shadows pull away, its as if he were never there. It seems that he's off to find another Devil to speak with. Tabitha rolls her eyes; muttering to herself, "Jeeze, he coulda told me that in th' first place. He musta been runnin' me 'round just ta see how long it would take." With a heavy sigh she straightens up, nearly standing at attention towards Devi, "On behalf of th' once Great Council of Twisted I am to swear my allegiance to you ta fulfill any obligation you require. " The girl gives her speech mechanically, her eyes bouncing back and forth as if reading it from a sign. That task done she grins, "Two down." At the pat on his shoulder, Lucas looks to Dante and offers an easy grin. "Goin' blind ain't the worst thing that's ever happened to me. I'm doin' fine, thanks." He offers Dante his hand, for one of those them there traditional handshakes. ... Wait, going blind's not the worst thing that's ever happened to him? Neat! He must have all kinds of war stories! ... Or maybe he survived a torture chamber?! Or maybe he's died before?! Do tell! "But I had some bad Chinese last nigh Devi makes a funny noise in the back of her throat as Caliga lunges towards her, a quick arm whipping out to smach his hands away. "You fuckin nuts!?" She glowers at him til he dissappears. "Crazy people. I'm telling ya." She shuffles her shoulders, readjusting her coat back to perfection. Rolling her head around, she listens to Tabitha swearing. Devi stops, head down and turns slightly to grin darkly at her. "I am obligated to fetch a pint of your blood." */J/k/* Tabitha holds out her arm, her face devoid of emotion. "Yes ma'am." With her other arm she draws a black-bladed dagger with a badly carved head of a man sticking his tongue out on the base of the hilt. "Shall I make th' cut myself, or would you like ta?" Wait, she's serious? Lucas leans to one side, looking around Dante at Devi's request, and has a look that says he /thinks/ she's joking. When Tabitha pulls out a knife and holds out her arm, though, he coughs and rolls off the fountain to head towards the two. "Y'should probably put the knife away, young lady. Sorry, I must've missed your name. Don't mean t'be rude." Devi's face kind of falls as Tabby whips out the knife and has /no/ objections to Lucas' interferance. "Wow, drone much? This is what Diablo sent you to do? Be a puppet for others?" Her face contorts as she struggles over the idea of total compliance to requests and demands. It's not working well. Tabitha begins to twirl the dagger casually at her side like a gunslinger with a gun. "Oh good. I was hopin' ya wouldn't ask me ta do that." Giggling slightly she leans back on her heels, her tail swishing behind her happily. "…and no, I am ta find these people an' swear my loyalties. Help if they need it. Then he's supposed t' start trainin' me other things. Kinda glad ta get another one out of th' way." She smiles at Lucas, still oblivious to his condition. "An' my name's Tabitha, sorry." With a laugh, Lucas seems pleased that Tabitha put the dagger away, and leans back on his heels. The way he looks straight into her eyes when talking to her doesn't make it any easier to pick up on his condition. "Well you got a nice tail on you there, Tabitha. But what's all this 'bout servin' people? Aren't you a little young to be runnin' round pledgin' your life to others? Scuse me if it isn't my place to say so. Devi nods her agreement with Lucas, straitening and shoving her hands into her pockets. "At any rate, I don't need or want a lacky. Unless you've got a geine that can grant all of my wishes, I'm good." She doesn't need to have to watch out for people that aren't supposed to be following her. Le Blah. Tabitha glances back and forth at both of them as she sighs, her tail changing it's pace. "Look, Senior Diablo offered me a place as his sudent, this was one of th' first tasks I was given. I take this seriously, if ya don't like it, fuck off. " She shrugs as she sheathes her dagger finally and crosses her arms again. "I ain't a slave, and I' ain't that young. My Grandmother was barely older than I am now when she found th' portal ta Hell. An' she…" Her gaze falls to the ground and she sighs. "Nevermind where I was goin' with that." "Hell? Diablo?" Lucas sounds a bit thrown off by that, and shakes his head. "You in some kinda trouble, Tabitha?" ... He just sounds too concerned for his own good. "Doesn't sound like any place for a teenager, or the kinda company she should be keepin', not that I'm a wise man or anythin'." He shifts and sticks his hands in his pockets, waiting for an answer while he looks at the girl. Some people just don't take things lightly. Devi says, "Then you'll break your oath to me? I don't want anyone swearing fealty to me or anything." She crosses her arms like it determind the whole situation." Tabitha laughs, both at Lucas's worry and Devi's question. "Why don'tcha just order me not ta. Then I fulfill my obligation -and- you win." Leaning towards Lucas she grins, "Hell's a nickname. Senior Diablo is the person who took over tha Council from Concordance an' abolished it for the good of the people. He's a Hero. Maybe not as big ov-a hero as the Advent but…" One of her eyebrows raises as she stops mid-sentence and pulls out her list again. "Wait.. Wasn't Crucks, um, I mean Cru-oo? Wasn't that tha name of the Advent?" She pulls the list to her eyes and scowls at it. "Okay, that's two he's set me up for… Lucas looks a little lost at Tabitha's words. "I don't know much about Crutches or the council, but it still all sounds real dangerous. You be careful and all that." ... Crutches? ... Really? After a moment, he sighs and leans back, letting the ladies talk amongst themselves. Devi shrugs. "Then I order you to break your oath with me. If you were to give that oath of your own free will, I'd take it. But not in these circumstances." Devi sits on the fountain seat, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her head fall, streaching the muscles. She only half listens to Tabitha's explination to Lucas. Tabitha nods her head with a slight grin at Lucas, "Yes, yes. I'll be careful." Standing tall towards Devi once again, the girl bows slightly, "Then under yer orders I break my oath until such time as I feel obligated ta do so of my own free will." That settled she pockets her list and glances around the park. "…I wonder if I should bother lookin' for tha other names on th' list?" Lucas shrugs at Tabitha's question and doesn't answer it, since it doesn't really seem directed to him. Instead, he just looks between Devi and the catgirl before smiling. "Well, are you two ladies finished here? I was gonna go swing by the cemetary for my daily rounds, if either of you's lookin' for company." The subconscious only goes so far at staying his hand… Devi nods. "Good. I can handle that." She stands again. "I actually need to go have a drink. The UR should be proper again. They'll have something. Good seeing you two." She turns and starts out of the park, towards the bar. Tabitha spins back around on one heel and waves to the both of them. "Good seeing ya too! I think I'm gonna head off an' find out if findin' these fakes on th' list are part of my task, or just him getting' his kicks. Goodbye, um… Lucas?" With another wave, after all she still hasn't figured out he's blind, the girl dashes off quickly back towards the trees. Somehow leaping across the trees seems faster than running along the street. Must be something to do with Twisted. Further adding to Tabitha's oblivious nature, Lucas waves back with a little grin. Once the two start moving out, he'll head back towards the cemetary. Maybe he'll find what he's looking for today, in that ever shifting memorial to the dead. It would be nice to finally say a proper goodbye. | |
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