| Truce Fountain, Indeed | ||
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| Summary: Johnny makes an appearance as he discovers Truce Fountain and has to compare it to one of the same name.   |
In the midst of typical streets, and flanked by relatively 'modern' buildings, is a small courtyard built around an impressive fountain. Intricate runes dot the base of the cement monolith, though few can guess at what purpose these might serve. At the apex, three layers of cascading water beg for one's attention, the sparkling diffraction of light through their downfall akin to the twinkle of stars in a clear night sky. The fountain's age is indeterminate, but it certainly appears clean, bright, and cared-for. To the northeast, the slight high rise of the Integra's Arms Apartments is apparent, and eastward there's a larger, mysterious structure that may pique one's interest. To the northwest is a vast, cubic building proudly emblazoned, 'POLICE'. Between this and the sidewalk is a sprawling, gated parking lot, where a variety of vehicles are parked at all hours. A guard's station and boom barrier prevent - or, at least, discourage - unauthorized access to the precinct. The shadows abruptly shift as though the source of light was being stolen. Twisting and convulsing the shadows merge into a singular point and then, without warning the entire view before your eyes turns black. There's no noise. No feeling of magic. Just darkness. As suddenly as it begins it's over. The light returns to normal. Only now, at the point where the shadows merged stands Johnny C. The maniac has arrived. Johnny steps towards the fountain now settled in the center of the courtyard and throws his hands into the air at his sides. "I WAS TOLD I NEED TO GET OUT MORE!!" He marches forwards and puts a boot on the edge of the fountain, "...clearly I should have listened to them sooner." The maniac leans forwards, wiping a spot of blood from the shiny metal on the front of his boot. "...but I was just having SO much fun!" He takes a moment to rest an arm on his raised knee and lean as he looks around to see who's around. "Someone wanna fill me in on how this got here?"
Oh. Great. /He's/ back. Rayne, having just stepped out of the police station, is already facepalming. It's that guy that she's pretty sure has killed several people, and yet /somehow/ he's managed to get away with it. This is part of why she wanted another detective on her crew. Having the superpowered one probably will help. "We had it built because it looks nice, Johnny," she says through gritted teeth. The maniac drops his boot back to the ground to join the first one as he turns and flails his arms at the fountain. "Because it looks nice...? BECAUSE IT LOOKS NICE?!?" He gestures wildly at it again, "Don't you know that that is?!? That's Truce Fountain!" His voice gets louder, "TRUCE. FOUNTAIN. It's not some hunk of concrete you buy at the store!" Rayne narrows her eyes. Something important she's unaware of? Likely something else from Twisted's past that's either been intentionally hidden... or just people haven't bothered to tell her about? Once again, Rayne's feeling out of the loop... And this time she doubts she can just call up the AI to ask questions of. "...It's been pulled from somewhere, then. Like all the rest of the chunks of Mabase, more than likely." It does make more sense, now that she thinks about it. Almost all of Mabase was pulled in from parts of the old Twisted. Why would this fountain have been specially built? "You know this place?" Just... ignore the bloody knife, Rayne. Johnny emphatically exclaims, "YES I KNOW THIS PLA-wait, we're calling it Mabase now? Huh. Ironic." This makes sense in his mind at least. "I mean, yes! It's the main fountain from Truce Village. MY Truce Village! It has the damn story of the fall of Zeal carved into the sides of it. One of the Ashtears did it under commission to the King in like..." He doubles over holding the sides of his head, "OWWWWW! Jeeze. That one was long buried in the back of my skull." His nose is bleeding. That's literally never happened before. "500? AD?" He wipes the blood away as he struggles up onto his knees. "I think something in my head just burst." Rayne's eyes remain narrowed... but for once in his presense, it's not in annoyance at Johnny. Well, not primarily. There's a little of that. "Zeal. Ashtears. Explain? I'm not familiar with any of this." It's causing him pain? Well, if it wasn't someone she was fairly certain (But can never find PROOF, damnit!) was getting away with murder from time to time, she might care more about that. Well, still, she can't help but say, "Maybe you should get the doctor to take a look at that." Sure, she says it in more a flat tone than actually sounding concerned. Rayne's gotten a bit jaded and hard boiled over the past couple of years. Her old friends from before likely wouldn't recognize her anymore... if she didn't /look/ exactly the same. The maniac props himself up on the side of the fountain and uses its water to wash his face. "So in 12,000 BC there was a kingdom of magic called Zeal where everyone was free to use magic. It fell when La Vos woke up. It's literally right there!" He points to the symbols on the sides of the fountain. "The Queen of Zeal got greedy and was syphoning off the power of La Vos to give her people magic." He stands and straightens himself up, brushing the grass and dirt off his knees. "She was a real BITCH too, but y'know." He lets out a sigh and holds a hand behind his head. "Ashtear was family name of a group of craftsmen in Guardia Kingdom. They were well known for doing work for the King and Queen." Johnny gives a shrug and sits down on the edge of the fountain facing Rayne. "It's... Chronos stuff. No one ever believes me about Chronos. Soon as you tell someone you've lost track of how long you've been alive and start telling them the history of a planet you watched everyone starts ignoring you and tuning you out." He adds without any humor in his eyes, "I'm not crazy, y'know." A pause. "...about this subject, at least." Rayne narrows her eyes, continuously getting closer and closer to eyerolling as the ramblings continue. Closer and closer to just walking away. But then there's that phrase. 'Lost track of how long you've been alive.' To anyone else, that might sound like further insane ramblings. To Rayne? ...It actually sounds like her father. "Sounds like my mother's people, except they just up and left the planet to all the 'primitives' and found some other planets to live on," she says instead of comparing Nny to her father. Yeah, no, she's not going to continue /that/ line of thought. "I didn't think this universe existed that long, though." Johnny smiles slightly at someone taking him seriously again who wasn't screaming in tongues. What? He has a very real very not-insane job that no one asks him about. "It didn't! It aged when it was connected to Chronos. Don't they teach history around here?" Not like anyone really knows any of this but him. "Okay, so I got kicked out of Metropolis and dumped onto this rock." His voice drops a moment, "I think I was dead at the time? It's really hard to keep track." He sighs, "Anyways, that rock became Chronos and I kept watch over it for waaaaaaaaaaaay too long. So then Twisted gets made and it got connected to Chronos." He adds to this with a smile, "I know this because I tried to come here before that and nothing existed yet. But it gets connected and it ages backwards. Then like a day or so later it was I dunno, a couple of million years old?" He takes out his dagger, wipes the blade off on his pants, and begins to twirl it casually. "So yeah. Then you tack on it getting merged with the other Twisted and the stuff Diablo did when he was in charge, and yeah. Craziness." It doesn't really matter if Rayne's believing him at this point, he's just enjoying rambling. "Me? I left just because I was bored. 65 Million years was a bit too long to realize I wasn't actually stuck somewhere." Oh, wait, no, Rayne's eyes are starting to roll in the middle of the rant again. That slight reminder of her father only worked for so long, and then Rayne is reminded that yes, she's dealing with an insane person. And Mabase doesn't have a very good(or any at all) mental health care system in place. Yes, Twisted is a pretty insane place itself. Were it pretty much anyone else, Rayne might be treating this with more seriousness, but... no, this is Johnny. She can't take anything he says seriously. By the end of this, her left brow is twitching, not that it's easy to tell with the fact that she's firmly facepalming by now. He stares a moment at the elaborate face palming and sighs, "I don't normally offer this, but I could just show you. I've actually gotten caught up on handing out judgements for the moment, but you know sinners." He says this last part with an annoyed sigh. "Plus I'm really fucking tired of the smell of sulfur." Rayne peers through the fingers of her hand, then says after a moment. "Okay. Fine. I'll bite. I'm not doing much today," she deadpans. What's the worst he can do, stab her? She can get better from that. Johnny griiiiiiiiins. He stands up, brushes himself off once again, and uses his dagger to cut the air in front of him leaving a swirling vortex being ripped into existence between the two of them. Stepping to the side he bows, gesturing towards the hole in space and time with the tip of his dagger. Standing straight again he offers a gloved hand towards Rayne. "This way to parts unknown..." There's still time to back down from this. Rayne looks at the portal with trepidation. She then looks at the offered hand, visibly shying away from it slightly. No, Rayne does not take the hand. Rayne has only physically touched her best friend about... five times? Instead, she simply takes a step through the hole. She wants to know if any of this rambling is true. She wants to /know/ more. Gegoshi isn't here to answer her questions anymore. No, Bishop would barely give her the time, if that. So the only way to know now is to /see/. Just as we'll /see/ if this is a good idea or not later on. The maniac is totally fine with his hand not being taken. That's what the gloves are for, after all. He doesn't want to touch people either. "I am Johnny C. Lord of the Demon Cities, Judge of Retributions, and one seventh of the Council of Hell. I swear on whatever mumbo jumbo that entails that it's safe and I will see you back here safely." Once he's sure she's passed through the mouth of a portal he follows behind. "Besides, I have to check on Caliga's cherry tree." Watcher's Cliff [1005 AD](#5472R) Named for a legend about a pair of spirits that once watched over those living in the mountains, Watcher's Cliff gives one a perfect view of the Fairgrounds, Truce Village, and the entire surrounding area. The view here is so unobstructed it looks unnatural as though it was built specifically for this purpose. Behind the cliff the rockface of the mountain is visible without the usual foliage covering it. Because of that a cave is barely visible, obscured only by the rocks which seem to block it from every angle but looking directly upon it. Even though it looks like a slim crack, on closer inspection the mouth of the cave is actually quite large and seems to go deep into the mountain. Rayne says just before she enters, "Rayne Hurris, Cheif of Mabase Police, daughter of a bounty hunter and an admiral, formerly one fifth of the Council of Twisted. And lot and lots of other 'formers' on top of that." Then she's through and looking around the... really far more stable looking landscape out here. It takes a moment before she looks back and says, "Caliga?" Wasn't that the guy that said nominated her for being on the council in the first place?
Johnny's mood is obviously lifted being back here. He takes a deep breath of the air and lets out a content sigh. Oh, wait, she was talking. "Caliga, yeah. Annoying guy. Big sword. Stupid looking earrings? Likes to act smarter than he really is?" He side glances, "No, wait. That's pretty much everyone." He shrugs, "Yeah, he needed me to help him stay alive or some crap so I had to dust off some pretty ancient skeletons from the closet. That's a subject I'd rather not talk about if it's all the same to you." Johnny walks up to the edge of the cliff and looks down pondering to himself. "...it doesn't look like anything is out of the ordinary. Oh, hey. The coffee shop is open!" Why is the view here so clear anyways? "Care to stroll down and see the village?" That's a rhetorical question. Already he's turned and started down a trail leading down the mountain.
Trail Into the Mountains [1005 AD](#5462R) Leading up into the mountains is an old trail that seems to be naturally made, despite no signs that anyone has ever come this way. Winding upwards beneath the overhanging trees the trail is just hidden enough that no one could see it unless they where walking along it. Even if one where to run it would still take a good hour to reach the next juncture giving travelers time to notice how eerily quiet it is as though the world around has somehow been muted. About halfway up the path there's just enough of a break in the trees to realize there's an additional path which can be followed but only if you push or cut your way through. The maniac nods his head as he walks, not really bothering to turn around and see if she's catching up. He's not even twirling his dagger. He actually peels off one of his gloves and brushes it against the leaves as he walks past them. "Caliga? Better than I want to. He's a fucking ass hat who decided he knew what was best for me and tried to erase part of my memory." Johnny's voice deepens as he says that, clearly not a happy topic. "....and no, I never said that. I don't think 'Intrinsic' is part of my vocabulary." Now he's just being a jerk and the reappearing grin is sign of that. "It... yeah. I guess so. This whole planet is tied to the time stream in some weird way I can't really explain so when you connect things to it time reacts really weirdly." He pauses mid-stride and one eye twitches. "That.. is probably why I didn't age." He considers that a moment longer and starts walking again, "Or I was dead. I think I was dead when I was at Cale's house. I think Sammy killed me." He rubs one of his temples, "Thinking that far back hurts my head..." Luckily they're almost at the end of the trail at that point. Time flies and all that. Rayne nods once at the description of Caliga... it vaguely fits with what others have told her of the man. The backtalk of her word choice gets an eyeroll from her, though. "Yeah, well, been killed a few times, myself. It always sucks. Honestly, I'm surprised it's not happened here yet. There. Twisted." Where even /are/ they now? "Time stream, though? Time works differently here?" As they walk out of the trees they come to a large clearing with a few kids running around. Johnny takes this moment to put his glove back on. "Well, Twisted doesn't actually have time does it? It's in the void outside time and space so it doesn't really flow. It just sits there and burns up." He lets out a laugh and points down the lane towards the houses as they get closer to it. "I have no idea. I'm crazy, remember?" Rayne lowers an eyebrow at Nny's comment about time in Twisted, but in the end decides that part's the ramblings of an insane man. It's really hard to tell with this guy. Well, not really, it's ALL ramblings of an insane person, but figuring out which parts actually have truth to them or not is the hard part. She glances town the path that he's pointing as she says, "Yeah, I'm having a hard time forgetting that." Northern Truce Village [1005 AD](#5407R) Most residential housing is crowded around the Northern part of Truce Village. Here tall, slim houses are squished together creating dense blocks of housing with small alleyways between them. As you proceed farther to the West the houses spread out a bit better at least until you start seeing the remains of the homes lost during the war for North Zenan. Large sections of housing are little more than burned skeletons. A few are in the beginnings of being replaced with apartment buildings. Johnny turns towards the houses waving at children as they run past oblivious to the two of them. He'd be humming to himself if he still did such a thing these days. His pace slows as the two start walking between the actual homes and he notices the damage done to them. "This.... this isn't right." He almost looks like he's about to cry. "They were prospering when I left." He looks to one missing house in particular and his heart sinks. "That's... sad." He's not going to elaborate on this. Instead he just marches faster, hurrying past towards the fountain. "Okay, maybe I shouldn't have told Caliga to act like he was Magus, but I thought for sure they'd have recovered from this better. Let's just get this over with." Rayne picks up her pace to keep up with Nny as they rush forward. "...Recovered from what? Get /what/ over with?" Damnit, she can't get involved in another universe! Dealing with Mabase and Twisted is already almost overwhelming her, she can't get emotionally involved in another whole world now! Some of this is starting to remind her of towns in Cevernal after Tuuk raids, however. Central Truce Village [1005 AD](#775R) The village of Truce is built around a very old, large Fountain. Dubbed the Truce Fountain, this centerpiece is carved with intricate runes which tell the story of the fall of the once great Kingdom of Zeal. All around are various shops built on the sides of the main road. While the occasional car or motorcycle are seen traveling between towns, here the citizens of Truce prefer to travel by walking and the streets are moderately busy, even at night. "Look. We're not getting into it. I live on Twisted now, not here. I'm not going to get involved. I was a watcher, anyways. I watched. Look. There's the fountain." Sure enough, in the middle of the Village nestled between shops is the same fountain now standing in the center of Mabase. "Wait." He rushes past a few people and stares at it. "...that can't be right." He turns and looks at the buildings around them and crosses his arms. "It's the same fountain." He lets out a laugh and shrugs, "Well, nevermind then. I guess I'm crazy after all." If Rayne pays closer attention the one here is far newer looking than its counterpart, but it's an easy detail to overlook. Rayne frowns. Great, another person that's not giving her information. This seems to be her lot in life. Well, he seems to have her same sentiments... well, at least everyone is more or less ignoring the two of them. She follows to the fountain and puts a hand on it as she looks around, then looks down. She frowns, having assumed the fountain was manufactured for Mabase. Apparently manufactured based on this fountain. "It's a very close likeness, yes. But the one they made in Mabase is a bit more weathered looking, don't you think? Maybe some chips from... less skilled sculptors." Johnny lets out another sigh, "Why would someone go through the effort of making a knock off fountain that only exists on one world? Are they taunting me?" He growls and takes out his black bladed dagger, stabbing edge of the fountain and cutting a small hole into it. Luckily it doesn't cause any significant damage, or at least any that couldn't be easily repaired. A few people walking by make a commotion at the sight, but most seem too busy to pay any attention. "FUCK!" He puts the dagger away remembering for a moment where he is. "Was there something else you wanted to see or can we get out of here?" For some reason he's far less interested in giving a tour now. Rayne's eyes widen a bit at the stabbing of the fountain. "Hey now, that's public property! Don't go just... poking holes in it!" She sighs and facepalms again, then says, hand still on her forhead, "Yes, yes, yes. We can go. The fountain is still here." She glances away and mumbles, "I wouldn't put it past Bishop to be taunting people at random, either." She then catches herself. No, that actually doesn't sound like Bishop. Taunting people would be a wasted effort to him. She sighs and starts walking back the way they came. "So yeah, let's get back." Having already made a scene, Johnny has no problems making a bigger scene, but for a change he keeps it in check as he storms off, looking back at the fountain mournfully a moment before jogging to keep up. "I don't know what a Bishop is but I already don't like it. I've been mocked enough in my life goddammit." His dagger still in hand, the maniac begins to twirl it ignoring the looks he's getting. "You'd think being in charge of dishing out punishments to the damned would earn me some fucking respect. I do important work for fuck's sake!! I certainly do a better fucking job than Alessa ever did." He's mostly just yelling at himself at this point. Rayne glances back. "'A' bishop is a higher ranking priest. But in this case, it's an AI's name. Gegoshi's replacement, if you're familiar with her." She sighs as she sees all the people eyeing him with deserved suspicion from the knife twirling. "You're the one that asked if we could get out of here, so are we or not?" She's not going to say it, but the normal looking world about her is actually making her a slight uneasy. She's gotten too used to Twisted. Truce Fountain Courtyard (again) Johnny says, "Gegoshi got replaced?" That's interesting. "You'd think Diablo would have had a problem with that..." Her question gets a nod from him as he gestures down an alleyway and out of everyone's line of sight. Soon as he decides it's private enough he takes the dagger and rips another hole in the air, marching through it whether she follows behind or not. Within seconds they're back, although now the skies above Twisted have grown much darker as night has set in. It's only a little jarring if one's not used to it suddenly going from day to night. Johnny takes a moment to sigh at the fountain. "I'm sorry I drug you through all of this for nothing." Rayne nods. "Yeah, she... oh, Diablo doesn't really have a say in much anymore. Gegoshi kinda... retired and went off to do her own thing." She sits on the edge of the fountain once they're back, looking up at the sky. Well, at least she wasn't due in for anything tonight. "...space is relative and time is all wibbley-wobbley, is it? Is it even the same day we left?" With a shrug he decides to take a seat about an arm's length next to her. "Should be? Maybe a few extra hours later? I can't really say I've ever paid attention to it before." But that's not the part he's interested in, "It's just... Diablo /owned/ Gegoshi didn't he? They made a big deal about it when ownership was transferred over to him. Wouldn't /he/ have to do something for her to retire?" Johnny goes back to twirling his dagger again as he watches cars come and go. "Something doesn't add up." Rayne looks back to Johnny and shakes her head. "She was operating as a free agent. I don't know the details of how his 'ownership' ended." There's a little bit of sourness in her tone at that word. She doesn't like ownership of people... and then she winces. Right. Casdy. She forgets about that sometimes. She scratches a fingernail on the fountain's stone in irritation at herself, then looks down as the nail gets caught in a nick. "...Like I said, this one looks like it's seen a bit more than the one you just showed me." Johnny kicks the ground at the thought of that. "If they're going to rip off my fountain, they could at least get it right!" He shakes his head and growls slightly. "Besides, shouldn't the city have NICER things?" He crosses his arms, "I can't imagine repairing a fountain of a few knicks and scratches would cost very much." Rayne deadpans, "Yes, /your/ fountain which you yourself just added a decent knick yourself not, what, ten minutes ago?" She taps the knick her finger just caught on. "Maybe this one was out in the wastelands somewhere and we didn't see it, and it drifted in after the whole... dimensional collapse thing happened?" she ventures, but really isn't so sure of it, herself. "Why /would/ there be a beat up fountain instead of a pristine one? It actually kinda sounds unlike Bishop. And I certainly didn't have anything to do with its construction." Johnny leaps to his feet ignoring the sound of his shirt ripping, "At least I didn't fucking destroy it like I wanted to do!" He looks down at the long string coming off his shirt and yanks on it, ripping it more. It looks like a piece got caught in a hole when he stood up. "FUCK THIS." He just cuts it off and leaves it dangling. "I need a bite to eat. I'm going to the 24-7. If you tag along I'll buy you whatever. Maybe make up for dragging you all over hell and back tonight." Rayne stands up as well and shakes her head. "No, I think I'll pass. I have some things I need to get done tomorrow morning, and it's... gotten late fast." That last part is said at a deadpan. She looks down at the hole his shirt got caught on and tilts her head at the shape of it. It almost looks like someone stabbed a knife into the stone there. "Huh." Johnny shrugs and holds his arm up straight as we waves, "Maybe some other time then. Take care, Rayne Hurris!" See? He does pay attention sometimes. "Good luck with the Police Chiefing." That last statement hits him more as he walks away than it did as he said it out loud. "...Police?" He looks back suspiciously, "...Chief?" Yep. Time to go. Johnny vanishes out of sight trying not to make obvious his sudden desire to run. | |
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