Oblitus Magia: Verse 1 - Fateful Encounter in the City of Fools

[The Chou Lives]

The safehouse, as it turned out, appeared as a non decript shack from the outside.....but from the inside....

It was also a **** hole.

At least until Ange gave a knock on the floor, and a panel popped up to reveal a set of stairs leading down.



The safehouse consisted of three rooms, a large common room(as pictured), a kitchen and a workshop.





"One track mind.....not one to talk though." Mulvric answered, then started towards the workshop. "Gonna check when we have on hand....and then I'll cook something worth the wait. Your welcome to use the tool table." He motioned to Levi before sticking his head into the supply closest.



"Room over there...." Ange pointed off towards the kitchen while she was fiddling around with a table full of what appeared to be communication equipment. ".....Take what you need.....cept the chocolates in the corner."

( Ignore previous comment about fixing.)

: He eyes all the tools and chemicals at his disposal.: “ Thank you, this will do.”

As he got safety googles one, pieces the metal playing together with a wielded today, he took wires from a relic of defunct equipment to make new wiring of the glove, puts it back on to test the reflex motor coils, so far so good as it works with him.

“ All I need now is some pitch, engine grease and cola.” Yep, the mystery ingredients of the flaming gel was now known. How simple right? Hell kitty litter is a ingredient for the true bapalm back in Earth’s history. Goes to show what poison they feed the locals.:

[Tami]

The safehouse, as it turned out, appeared as a non decript shack from the outside.....but from the inside....

It was also a **** hole.

At least until Ange gave a knock on the floor, and a panel popped up to reveal a set of stairs leading down.



The safehouse consisted of three rooms, a large common room(as pictured), a kitchen and a workshop.





"One track mind.....not one to talk though." Mulvric answered, then started towards the workshop. "Gonna check when we have on hand....and then I'll cook something worth the wait. Your welcome to use the tool table." He motioned to Levi before sticking his head into the supply closest.



"Room over there...." Ange pointed off towards the kitchen while she was fiddling around with a table full of what appeared to be communication equipment. ".....Take what you need.....cept the chocolates in the corner."

Matthias had known about the existence of underground spaces. Criminals often used them to hide their stolen goods, citizens from the slums used them to hide family or friends being sought by the Administration or the Witches. Most were small, unfurnished, occasionally large enough for a mattress and basic supplies.

This, however, was the largest one he had ever seen. They had done well for themselves, well enough to hide out down here for days if needed.

While the others were settling in and talking, Mathias chose to look around and think about their current situation, though he did listen in on the conversations while he did.

[MrSandman]

Owen nods to the dragon and carefully carries Lucifer, using his psychokinesis to help support the younger man as he rests on his arms.

“Come along lad.”

After they reach their destination and with Lucifer still out, Owen nods at the mention of food.

“Much obliged.”

He uses Keen Eye and Identify as he looks around the hideout, seeking to discover what he can of it.

Owens attempt to glean information from the area yields only the obvious....they are in a underground safehouse. Ange is preoccupied setting up communication, and with the wires leading up into the roof he can assume they connect to something above that is used for that purpose....though nothing was spotted on the way in.

The place has the basics....lights, a television, games, books, beds. Several plans are spread out over a table, with complex schematics of the skytower and blueprints for improvised explosives. On the walls there are small rigged panels that emit a soft hum...likely related to the power.

[The Dog]

"I'm not saying that the Ruin didn't do it!," She snapped, irritable from her words being stretched about like she was some mad woman, "I'm saying the Administratum left us to die in the slums... telling us that we brought Ruin upon ourselves!"

The rage was poisoning her mind again, wanting to lash out at anything she could reach but like her sorrow, she bottled it up for another time. She couldn't let them see her cry nor rage.

"They left them to die and yet save us, for what?! Experiments? I-I... I just want to know why I couldn't save my family... why they didn't save them."

Selma took a deep, calming breath, and said "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I'm just... dealing with a lot right now, like you are. I lost my family to whatever it was too, and I haven't had time to properly grieve after learning it."

She rubbed her face with a hand, feeling hot tears begin to streak down her cheeks as she continued "But that doesn't mean I should take it out on you. It's just... I tried so hard to be strong enough, to make them strong enough protect them from this cold, unfeeling world, but I was too damn weak to do so and they all died because it!"

"I just... I don't know what to do now." Selma finished with a deep, weary sigh, not knowing whether to scream, or sob, or just shut down completely.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

"One track mind.....not one to talk though." Mulvric answered, then started towards the workshop. "Gonna check when we have on hand....and then I'll cook something worth the wait. Your welcome to use the tool table." He motioned to Levi before sticking his head into the supply closest.

The Dragon took the position of a gargoyle, sitting about as stoically as one to to boot. "Safest thing for you, making me liquid food. Will keep me from killing one of the others... for a time."

[MrSandman]

The Dragon took the position of a gargoyle, sitting about as stoically as one to to boot. "Safest thing for you, making me liquid food. Will keep me from killing one of the others... for a time."

".....Safest thing for me would be a bullet in the side of your head..." Mulvric replied, eyeing a vial in his hand. "But the safest thing isn't always the right thing...."

Moving to his table, the man sets to work measuring and mixing components. "......So tell me, will I be calling ya witch killer for the rest of your time here....or do you have an name....."

[Yun Lao]

She hadn't expected that kind of outburst from the girl, but she should have. She had all the signs of being traumatized. Her family was caught up in whatever befell 9.

...****.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Selma took a deep, calming breath, and said "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I'm just... dealing with a lot right now, like you are. I lost my family to whatever it was too, and I haven't had time to properly grieve after learning it."

She rubbed her face with a hand, feeling hot tears begin to streak down her cheeks as she continued "But that doesn't mean I should take it out on you. It's just... I tried so hard to be strong enough, to make them strong enough protect them from this cold, unfeeling world, but I was too damn weak to do so and they all died because it!"

"I just... I don't know what to do now." Selma finished with a deep, weary sigh, not knowing whether to scream, or sob, or just shut down completely.

It was weird, yet cathartic seeing someone cry at this moment. Perhaps it was because that was just what she wished to do, yet held herself back that she could appreciate Selma's tears as if experiencing them as her own. Selma's and Xia's apologies didn't matter to Sigourney for mere words would never heal the pain of losing everything. That would come slowly with time... and washed with the blood of those responsible if she had her way.

"Ruin, Administratum, and anyone else who contributed to this will get their comeuppance... for now I need to be alone... and maybe get some chocolate."

[The Chou Lives]

“ Also where can a guy get new clothes? And might as well get names down. I am Levin. This day has just been the worst so far.”

[Tami]

"I'm not saying that the Ruin didn't do it!," She snapped, irritable from her words being stretched about like she was some mad woman, "I'm saying the Administratum left us to die in the slums... telling us that we brought Ruin upon ourselves!"

The rage was poisoning her mind again, wanting to lash out at anything she could reach but like her sorrow, she bottled it up for another time. She couldn't let them see her cry nor rage.

"They left them to die and yet save us, for what?! Experiments? I-I... I just want to know why I couldn't save my family... why they didn't save them."

Selma took a deep, calming breath, and said "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I'm just... dealing with a lot right now, like you are. I lost my family to whatever it was too, and I haven't had time to properly grieve after learning it."

She rubbed her face with a hand, feeling hot tears begin to streak down her cheeks as she continued "But that doesn't mean I should take it out on you. It's just... I tried so hard to be strong enough, to make them strong enough protect them from this cold, unfeeling world, but I was too damn weak to do so and they all died because it!"

"I just... I don't know what to do now." Selma finished with a deep, weary sigh, not knowing whether to scream, or sob, or just shut down completely.

Making his way over to them, "It is right to question why the administration does what it does. Even if they could have evacuated more, it isn't clear that they would." his voice was sympathetic, yet as harsh as the world around them, "There have been many theories, one that I find most likely is that they have a list, a ranking of citizens who they consider to be the most valuable. Not for the normal reasons most of us would assume. Probably the list is ranked for those who posses certain abilities that they find to be valuable. For what purpose, that is the question."

[MrSandman]

Selma took a deep, calming breath, and said "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that, I'm just... dealing with a lot right now, like you are. I lost my family to whatever it was too, and I haven't had time to properly grieve after learning it."

She rubbed her face with a hand, feeling hot tears begin to streak down her cheeks as she continued "But that doesn't mean I should take it out on you. It's just... I tried so hard to be strong enough, to make them strong enough protect them from this cold, unfeeling world, but I was too damn weak to do so and they all died because it!"

"I just... I don't know what to do now." Selma finished with a deep, weary sigh, not knowing whether to scream, or sob, or just shut down completely.

"Don't be a dumbass.....If ruin really did take A-9, there were a hell of a lot of people stronger then you who didn't fair any better..." Ange stabbed a wire into a piece of equipment. "The world doesn't revolve around your own failures.....they no more died because of you then because of me......"

[The Dog]

It was weird, yet cathartic seeing someone cry at this moment. Perhaps it was because that was just what she wished to do, yet held herself back that she could appreciate Selma's tears as if experiencing them as her own. Selma's and Xia's apologies didn't matter to Sigourney for mere words would never heal the pain of losing everything. That would come slowly with time... and washed with the blood of those responsible if she had her way.

"Ruin, Administratum, and anyone else who contributed to this will get their comeuppance... for now I need to be alone... and maybe get some chocolate."

"Getting comeuppance sounds like a good idea, as does being alone right now." Selma agreed, before looking around the small safehouse they were currently in. 'Though actually finding somewhere to actually be alone will be somewhat difficult.' Selma thought with a hint of bitterness.

[KingofPie]

"Room over there...." Ange pointed off towards the kitchen while she was fiddling around with a table full of what appeared to be communication equipment. ".....Take what you need.....cept the chocolates in the corner."

It was here where Omu chose to fully reveal himself, finally in a safehouse. Still in order to maintain a sense of...structural stability he coiled himself like a snake, head pointing in the direction of a kitchen. "Anything's better than potatoes and gruel. ...Pretty sure the gruel was just cement anyway."

"I'm not saying that the Ruin didn't do it!," She snapped, irritable from her words being stretched about like she was some mad woman, "I'm saying the Administratum left us to die in the slums... telling us that we brought Ruin upon ourselves!"

The rage was poisoning her mind again, wanting to lash out at anything she could reach but like her sorrow, she bottled it up for another time. She couldn't let them see her cry nor rage.

"They left them to die and yet save us, for what?! Experiments? I-I... I just want to know why I couldn't save my family... why they didn't save them."

She hadn't expected that kind of outburst from the girl, but she should have. She had all the signs of being traumatized. Her family was caught up in whatever befell 9.

...****.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."

Omu raised another Kakuren Scroll, sticking his head through it. Another popped up, not to far from Xia, where his head emerged as the rest of his body remained coiled in the corner.

"Oh, so you can feel remorse! Whoda thunk it?" He shrugged with a few of his legs. "Not judgin' or nothin'. Just coulda sworn you were the cold shoulder type..."

[grampagen]

The mask woman's words were enough to draw her back out of her rage for the time being, as indicated by the long exhale she gave. Bitterly, she barked out a laugh or two before asking, "The Great Kinu... How did you end up in the same place?"

Well, wasn't she the inquisitive one?

"Where to begin...," started the ponderous mask, pressing a finger to those stilled lips as if to hush the observer dumb.

"I come from a land of wild beasts, warrior-poets, and kings. Standing opposed to the feral things that settle beneath the thunderplains, it is a place of great plenty and cruel scarcity, for opportunity exists only for those with strength enough to seize it."

"Here, where the mighty rule, the greatest are made to answer only to their own power. Should one King fall, another shall swiftly take their place and with it the honours and glories."

"But there are those who exist that are blinded by ambition and consumed with thoughts of vengeance, who seek primacy atop the natural order by any means necessary...but they too were deceived, by the one who controls the King. Which brings me...here."

Stopping the recitation of her saga for a moment, Kinu paused briefly to make sure she hadn't completely lost her listener.

"...let me ask you this: If a chick is smothered by the eggshell, it will die without being born. Can somethin' be alive without truly having begun to live?"

[Sub-Zero MKA]

The safehouse, as it turned out, appeared as a non decript shack from the outside.....but from the inside....

It was also a **** hole.

At least until Ange gave a knock on the floor, and a panel popped up to reveal a set of stairs leading down.



The safehouse consisted of three rooms, a large common room(as pictured), a kitchen and a workshop.

Xia had avoided looking anywhere but forward for a reason. The slums they were walking through reminded her too much of where she spent her early years in A-4. On the street, rummaging through richer people's garbage for food, clothes, scraps of anything that she thought would help her survive. For a girl as young as... she had no idea how old she was when she first realized she was alone, but for a girl that young, surviving was hard. There was an endless number of people who wanted and tried to take advantage of her, in every way that entails. She was lucky she was fast enough to get away, and suspicious enough to avoid those situations outright most of the time.

If nothing else, her time in the slums of A-4 taught her to not trust anyone completely. It was why she was reluctant to trust those Witches, the Boss People, and these people with their theories and insinuations. If Mulvric had proof The Ruin wasn't alone in destroying A-9, then she would become a believer. Until then, she would trust her instincts.

Her instincts were telling her that she could trust these people. At least some of them, anyway.

The safehouse Woman spoke about was half a step above the slums, but at least it had a roof. That was until Woman revealed a secret flight of stairs in the floor. A secret passage. How appro..propriat... Appropriate! How appropriate. Heh. She smiled to herself for seemingly no reason as she descended quickly. The area under the safehouse was better, but not much. It had everything she would need: space to train, food, and a place to sleep. For her, she had come to expect nothing less from the places she shacked up in at night. In fact, other than Chan Li's home, this was the nicest place she had been in. Even Uhco lived in a ****-hole shack in the slums of A-7. Her stomach was rumbling from lack of food for that day, but she had other things to get to. Her face still stung from that bitch witch doing whatever it was that she did to her and turning her face into a street-sweeper. And she needed to train for the day.

---

Xia's face was covered in white bandages after she returned from getting her injuries looked at by the doctor Woman mentioned. When she returned, she took her jacket off and flung it somewhere out of the way, but not before she pulled the old, dusty journal from one of the pockets. Chan Li gave it to her right before she left him and A-4 to explore the rest of the Centers. Over the years, she had been looking through it, learning tidbits and practicing them when she could. Going from Center to Center was illegal, so she didn't have much chance to practice a lot of them. Bear Mauls the Lamb was the worst one. She couldn't use it in a sparring match or even a fight without leaving a trail of bodies behind - or at least a trail of body parts. Even trapped underground in this safehouse with anti-government rebels and a bunch of randoms, she couldn't risk killing anyone.

Except the Dragon. From a practicality standpoint, she was expendable. A few others were, too, but she didn't care for having too much blood on her hands. I suppose I'll save it for the next guard or Witch I see.

She hadn't anticipated herself in this position the day before. It was a risk even leaving 8 for 11. Those scrawny bastards looked far too shady, but she was hard-pressed and desperate. Those damned dogs. She hated them, but they weren't worth going to prison over. "I'm going to find the little bitch who ratted me out and break my foot off in their ass," she muttered as she walked to an out of the way area.

She was wearing an athletic shirt under her jacket, which she pulled over her head and flung on top of said jacket. She was left in her tank top and black yoga pants. As she started her exercises, Chan Li's voice echoed through her head. "A fighter is only as strong as their spirit will allow. Cultivate a strong spirit, and the body will blossom."

Her body moved fluidly from one motion to another, her spirit ebbed and flowed, waxed and waned like the waves of the sea crashing against and subsided from the shores of the beach. It had grown. It wasn't much, but it was just enough to be noticeable. She had always felt there was truth to what Li taught her, but every so often, she found some evidence that strengthened her faith in him.

Blue streaks of energy trailed her fingers with each movement. There we go. The ability to cut through another person with her bear hands may have made her sword redundant. ...Eh. Variety was the spice of life, as she heard from some random homeless guy years ago. I'm hungry. She finished, hands by her side. She breathed out slowly, then turned to find Woman (Ange). "Where's the kitchen?"

"Room over there...." Ange pointed off towards the kitchen while she was fiddling around with a table full of what appeared to be communication equipment. ".....Take what you need.....cept the chocolates in the corner."

She cocked her head as both thanks and acknowledgement that the chocolates were off-limits and took her leave.

The kitchen was a bit more well-stocked than she imagined. Chicken, vegetables, everything she needed for a good meal. She pulled out a few pieces of chicken, a carrot, and a corn cob and set them aside. There was one of those metal box things... stove, if she recalled correctly. She never bothered to learn how to use one. She just let Li do all the cooking. In hindsight, it was a wonder she didn't pick up on more than she did, but her expertise lied more in food preparation up to shoving it in the box and letting that do the cooking for her. And besides, there was nothing quite like the taste of food cooked over an open flame.

She walked out briefly to see if she could find some spare pieces of wood, a metal wire grate, and some tongs.

[The Dog]

"Don't be a dumbass.....If ruin really did take A-9, there were a hell of a lot of people stronger then you who didn't fair any better..." Ange stabbed a wire into a piece of equipment. "The world doesn't revolve around your own failures.....they no more died because of you then because of me......"

Tear streaks still on her cheeks, Selma scowled at Ange as she said "I don't believe I asked you in regards to how I should feel in regards to my loss. Especially since it seems I've got the Administratum witches after me and now have to hide out here with the people-eating lizard woman."