| Map Quest | ||
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| Summary: This log title is far funnier when you're half asleep, I swear.   |
Connecting to the north side of shattered Higashi Ayase Street using a ramshackle collection of boards, pipes, and ropes, there's absolutely nothing seedy about this district. Homes have been built here nonetheless, from seeping shanties to 'affordable' apartments in the skeletons of old brownstones. Many of Twisted's darker denizens dwell here, lurking in the empty warehouses and docks that hang from the fringes of the island, sides tumbling off into the very-suitable blackness. If you feel at home, you probably are. It's not unusual for people to wander around the red light district. Unsavory types seem to gravitate to the seedy places, and they get up to all sorts of mischief all on their own. It's not even unusual for someone to stop outside of the DMC. It's even *that* unusual for that someone to have horns, wings, and a tail. But it IS a little unusual for someone to be searing large magical circles in the ground just outside of the joint. In fact, that only happens once every other month at most. It's one of life's little pleasures? Pains in the ass? One of the two, anyway. And it looks like it's October, because that is what a red-headed dragon-woman is doing at this very moment.
It's been a sad and depressing time for the quiet cat-girl as she sits around Dante's office, picking up the odd bits of trash and wondering what she should do. The flickering light and sound coming from outside catches her attention though. Quietly she pads to the window, peering out with a raised brow. She watches silently a moment pondering if she should investigate. Clearly it's someone else's problem. Nah, screw it. Her eyes scan around for an excuse, grabbing an old pizza box and deciding now's a good time to get rid of it. Outside. There's trashcans out there presumably. Moments later she's tossing it into a dirty silver can, using the excuse to watch the stranger closer. "Um... Hey? Are you....? Uh, is everythin' okay?" It's that or she asks if the girl has a permit.
There isn't much that can distract Liyara when she's focused on her sigil work, but it's not as though it takes her as long as it takes those silly humans with their chalks and their mutterings. Her memory is precise, and so are her movements. A ten minute sigil only takes thirty seconds if you're perfect. And of course, Liyara would contend that she is. So she waits until the sigil is done before processing that someone asked her a question. She makes a small, surprised sound, then turns and looks to the girl who asked her a question. "Oh, quite fine. Just making a map." ... On the sidewalk? "I'm terribly sorry, did the noise disturb you?" Well, it's not like people don't often make noise around here. To punctuate it, someone throws a bottle of beer down in the vague distance, causing a shattering and clattering sound. "I'm almost done. And I'm rather certain your structure won't explode, so you've no need to be concerned." ... That doesn't SOUND reassuring.
Tabitha makes her way down the steps, her head tilting to the side slightly, "Ya do know they sell maps at th' 24-7, right?" She crosses her arms as if there was a chill as her tail twitches calmly behind her. "I could lead you there if you needed." Looking back at the DMC she shrugs, "Heck, I could buy ya one if you need it badly enough." Is she being helpful or trying to start a conversation? Maybe a bit of both.
In point of fact, Liyara is VERY certain that the structure won't explode. 99.9^43% is pretty certain! But she's the kind of person that starts shit, whether she means to or not. In fact, this is her being cordial and friendly. Isn't that splendid? She thinks so. She likes being friendly, people don't arbitrarily burst into her lair and stab her if she's friendly. Well. Markedly less often, anyway. "Oh, that lovely little store on the corner? They had a delightful iced beverage, but I don't think anyone here sells the kind of maps I'm making." To be honest, Liyara hadn't even considered that someone else could make the map. Once she realized that her rituals didn't work right anywhere but the Usual, she just had to solve the problem. Which involved a lot more math than magic usually involves. The challenge was quite delightful; it took her several seconds of calculations. But that was then. This is now. "But thank you for your offer. Once I've mapped the universes adjacent to this spot, I'll be happy to let you have a look." ... Come again?
It's not that she's clueless but she's not exactly worried either and thus she simply responds with an, "Oh." The girl inches her way a little closer, glancing down at the runes. "They don't really like people defacin' public property around 'ere, by the way." Does she have a specific accent or is she just slurring her words on purpose? "There has ta be a better place you coulda done that." She looks back at the Devil May Cry and lets out a sigh. Under her breath she adds, "...no one's gonna see this an' assume we're not responsible." Good thing she's been saving the extra funds she's had left over.
If anyone was to actually ask Liyara *why* she was doing... well, what she's doing... she would tell them that she just feels obligated to help the poor displaced people get back to where they came from. And it wouldn't entirely be a lie; she *is* one of those poor displaced people after all, and she is ALL about helping herself. But altruism is only the barest fraction of her motivation. Forget going home right away. If she can figure out proper portaling, she could make off with multiple universes' shinies before returning home. Now that's how a real dragon thinks. "Oh, don't worry. I'm only burning the topmost layer. It's not permanent." Well. How considerate. The dragon woman brushes herself off and smoothes her dress for a moment before offering a hand to Tabitha. "Do you own this ramshackle facility? It's..." Don't say rubbish. Don't say wretched. Definitely don't say seedy. "...got a certain charm." Perfect!
"Liyara." The dragon-lady offers her name as she shakes the hand. "I'm sure your friend appreciates it." It's not as though the place could really tolerate going any more to seed. "How long has he been gone?" Just step on the delicate subjects why doesn't she? Once the handshake is over, she crouches back down to the sigil and whips out her dagger with a speed that would surprise most people, but isn't really anything new to Tabitha of all people. She gives her index finger a deep prick, and then presses the bloody finger into the sigil, which slowly starts to glow as blood spills into it. Blood that's made of fire, Tabitha might note. So, she's going on with the ritual while making small talk? Ok. Totally not rude.
Eh, Tabitha's used to people being rude. Demonic sigils and fire aren't exactly something new in her life either. "Since everything broke, I guess." Okay, now she has to ask, "...what are ya doin' exactly, Liyra?" That's not a typo. She's just having difficulty with the name. "...Liy-lara?" Her ears fold as she scowls at herself. "Liy-hara." With a shake of her head she sighs, "Sorry. I'll get it eventually." The girl's eyes close and she curses Johnny inwardly for reasons which would only make sense to her. "But yeah, what're you doin'? Kinda looks... bad?" Not that she's making any effort to stop her, mind you.
As the sigil glow brightens, the circles within start to rotate counter to each other, and brilliant orange runic symbols start to blossom on the ground, the nearby buildings, pretty much anything even semi-permanent around the area, even the outside of the DMC. It's probably fine. "Well, I'm attempting to sort out where different realities bleed most strongly into this one. For the purposes of helping people leave." Mostly herself. "It just... relies on fire. I'm not exactly a conjuration specialist. I have to make do." She powers rituals with fire blood! ... Which actually requires a complicated energy conversion system to be worked into the sigil, which makes each and every ritual casting completely unique, and requires constant re-calculation and adjustment almost as complicated as figuring out the exact arcane patterns needed to make the magic work at this distance away from The Usual. ... But Liyara doesn't bother explaining this. Cats and humans are smart enough to be worth conversing with, but hardly her intellectual peers. She'd bore them, and they'd just make her sad trying to follow along. "...And at the risk of appearing uneducated, when did everything break? The literature on the history of this place is abyssmal." Ah, so she's a newbie.
Tabitha nods her head at the explanation with a slight 'ah' again. Her hands tighten into fists a moment and then she opens her palms holding two balls of fire. She grins a little, closing her hands and poofing them away, "I might be able ta help somehow?" She shrugs, "Maybe?" Flicking a stray hair out of her face, the girl recrosses her arms, "As for when? Uh. Few months ago?" Might be longer than that. She's not really paid attention. "The Twisted Street shattered an' everythin' went crazy?" She lets out a sigh, her posture sulking a bit. "Probably a bad time for me ta quit the Council in hindsight."
The walls, ground, and in fact even the sky all start to rumble and quake in the area as more of Liyara's blood fills the circle. It's... probably not that strange. It's Twisted. Well, it used to be. Things like earthquakes and sky quakes happen all the time, right? Don't they? They do. Surely they do. When Tabitha shows off her great balls of fire, Liyara gives a musical laugh. It sounds wonderful and pleasant, like the air right after the rain smells. That's gotta be a rehearsed laugh. Or magic. Or both. "Oh, I'm afraid you and I are of a type in that regard." Liyara stands from the sigil to show Tabitha that she's literally bleeding fire. "And anyway it's calibrated for a specific amount. More or less, and well... I'm less certain your structure wouldn't explode." ... Right but how MUCH less certain? "Ah, I've heard of the council. A bunch of elves and a construct? Or was it a bunch of demons and a construct? Or just... a bunch of constructs? The literature is vague on that, too. It's..." Don't say mind-bogglingly infuriating. Don't say disturbingly buffoonish. "...got an air of mystery about it." Sufficiently saved. Liyara awards herself six points.
The nekojin lets out a laugh at that. "An air of mystery, right." She grins, "That's not how I'd put it." She crouches down to watch the light show, resting her crossed arms on her knees. "There was a bunch of 'elves' I guess, an' demons, yeah. That was all before I got roped inta it." Screw it, she just sits down on the pavement. Actually.... She looks up and down the broken street. Probably a good thing cars can't really drive on what's left of the road here at the moment. "What do you wanna know? I was born 'ere." She pauses to consider her choice in words, "More or less."
The rumbling gets more intense, and Liyara looks unconcerned even as lines of arcane gibberish seem to start flowing down the walls and along the floor and sky, glowing a molten shade of orange, all of them. It won't be long now. "Ah? A native. So you're not from some other world like the displaced people I've met. How interesting." It is interesting, though. Natives to an inter-universal nexus. Do they have unusual sensory organs or mutations to go with their birthplace? Do they have a time head? "...And the only things I'm interested in knowing, I suppose, I'm about to find out." She pauses, glancing over to Tabitha as the rumbling gets so loud that dust starts literally shaking itself off of the DMC. Well, that seems unhealthy. "Unless you know where I can find a computer with..." She jumbles the word around in her mouth for a minute, like a marble that wants to escape, but doesn't know how. "...Internet." Godsspit that's a new word. That's a good time for Tabitha to say something useful and world-shaking, because the world shakes around them, lights up, and then... explodes! Liyara was a liar! ... Wait, no. Everything is fine after the light and noise settle down. It was just bright and loud. Everything seems to be alright. Though the floating map of what used to be Twisted Street that's pulsing in the air above the Sigil is new. It's tangerine-colored, but pulses a deep pumpkin every few moments. For whatever sense that makes.
Tabitha is definitely of two minds here. Well, she's normally of four minds BUT STILL. On one hand she feels she should get involved and stop this because it looks bad. The other half can't really imagine things getting any worse. This is one of the worst corners of Mabase after all. At worst it would probably just break off and have to be reconnected by a bridge or something. That does nothing to stop the looks of people in the Sweaty Pits opening windows to look out or the few random people charging out of Happy's Eight Treasures like it's the end of the world. Again. Luckily it goes by fairly quickly, although Tabitha does nervously leap to her feet at the worst of it. "...you, uh. Yer kiddin' right?" She looks around and just sorta flails her arms, "All of this? Because you couldn't find a computer?" She gestures towards the door of the DMC, "There's one on Dante's desk!" That's roughly when she notices the floating map. Either it appeared just then or she's slow. Who knows. "That.... What is that?"
"Who's Dante?" Liyara asks, her hair only a little frizzled from the magic. She's definitely improved her calculations since the other night. She's pretty sure. She strides over to the orange map and pokes at it briefly. "And this... is a directory." When she taps it, she taps on the representation of the DMC. It expands outward into eleven more copies of the building plan, which all look mostly similar, and Liyara looks somehow satisfied. "That's a much more reasonable number of--" Before Liyara can even finish her sentence, a twelfth appears. Then the third one disappears. Then two more appear. Then The first disappears. The dragon-lady's eye twitches slightly. "Dark (and empty.)" ... Ok. That's certainly a few words that she said.
The girl sighs at the question. "Dante. The friend who owns th' building you nearly..." She trails off watching the weird display of appearing and disappearing buildings like it was a broken hologram or something. 'Dark and empty' might as well be a trigger for someone made from what she is. Tabitha takes a nervous half-step back. "That doesn't seem like a good thing." Someone should really give her a manual about this.
"Ah, the missing malcontent." Liyara just throws out a judgement about Dante, who she's never met, based on his building. ... Well, it's not like she's wrong. The winged woman gives a grimace as many of the maps disappear or are joined by others. After watching for a few moments, though, it's clear that certain versions of the DMC stay, even after an extended period of time. Seven, to be precise. "It's not good. Several of the overlapping connections to other realities are not..." The golden tail behind Liyara swishes back and forth irritatedly as she gestures with her hands at the world around them, which doesn't help much. "...stable." You don't say. "As for your friend, divination magic isn't exactly my specialty, but I'm sure there's a seer somewhere in this..." Don't say gods-forsaken place. Don't say bleak, desolate wasteland. Definitely don't say apocalyptic hellscape. "...diverse realm." That'll do.
Tabitha really doesn't want to talk about Dante, crossing her arms again and sighing. "He'll come back whenever he does." She says it pretty defiantly for someone who's practically living in his office. She could probably say quite a bit more about overlapping worlds considering Johnny cut a hole into another world and threw her out once upon a time, but she's too busy huffing over what feels like yet another person telling her he's not coming back. Everyone else has written him off as dead after all. "...look, is this something that needs ta be worried about? There's people I could reach out to, but I -really- don't wanna talk to them if I c'n avoid it." She's talking about the stable realities, obviously. Not Dante. Why would you think Dante?
"Well, if you're not worried about him, then I'm certainly not worried about him." Liyara states flatly when Tabitha appears to get defensive. Liyara has never understood that reaction of humans. It's not like SHE would ever get defensive. She's above that. And shame on your for thinking otherwise. That's just... ludicrous. "...Honestly I think this is just normal for this place and I'm the one who's still learning about it." Or maybe humans are entirely too stupid to figure this out even with the thousands of them congregating around and pooling their stupid monkey brains together to make something that resembles an abstract thought. "...But you could tell people, if you were worried." Liyara pokes at the maps again, and sighs. "...Well. I suppose I've figured out which ones bleed over here." She waves her hand and both the orange map, and the smoldering sigil disappear. "Sorry to have disrupted your evening."
The cat-girl just blinks at the response, not expecting Liyara to be so quick to just hand wave everything. Literally as the case may be. "N-no, you didn't disrupt anythin'. Frankly it was nice ta have the distraction." Her immediate knee-jerk reaction is to find some way of keeping her here but nothing really comes to mind. "Are you sure I can't help ya out somehow?" She has no idea how pathetic she probably seems right now, but to be fair she's bored out of her mind. "I mean, I know this place pretty well by this point."
"Oh?" Liyara glances back at Tabitha. She looks the girl over again for a moment, and her far-too-green eyes gain a look of mischief about them. "...Then maybe you could show me to this..." Blood of Tiamat, how do you say it again? "...Internet." | |
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