The Big Apple

Eugh, the skeleton had asked him a question. Kendrik was still a little hesitant to look at the skeleton, much less give an answer, but it didn't look like he had much choice.

"Don't think so?" Kendrik said, staring at the skeleton's robes. "Feels like I'd've remembered ya if we'd ever met. And what in the f*** is a ghost?"

Queenie watched the exchange with disguised interest, until Kendrik's last comment, when she interjected, "Really?" she scoffed, "You don't know that a ghost is? As in, an invisible, intangible being, usually a dead human soul?"
She raised her eyebrows, almost impressed with his ignorance, "Look, hon, I don't know what to tell ya. Really, I'm more interested in the 'god' side of this."

She turned to the reaper, addressing him directly, "You don't happen to exist across dimensions, do you?"

Kendrik, however, could easily glare at Queenie. "I was goin' ta get to that 'god' thing eventually," he said, crossing his arms. "I just don't have any of those ghosts where I come from. Or souls."

"Neither do I," she said, shaking her head, "but I got over it quickly, I suggest you do the same." The hostility in her voice made it sound as though she were ready to get violent, which she was, but she didn't think she would have to.

"I just found out about it!" Kendrik said, throwing up his arms. "Gimme a sec to get over it!"

Spoiler

@PrincessInk, that's alright! Thanks for letting us know.

@TheMulticoloredCyr and @TheSilverFox, let's just pretend that Meryl wasn't in the roleplay up to this point - it'll be easier than trying to keep her in as a NPC.

Kirux ducked behind the grim reaper at the sound of the arguing, an almost comical sight given both of their sizes. The reaper, who had been theoretically about to give a response to Queenie's question, just watched the fight unfold, clearly as uncomfortable with it as Kirux was.

Ryder stepped between Taber's still unnamed friend and Queenie.

"Now's not the time to be fighting," Ryder said, glancing between the two. "We need to figure out how we got here and how we got back home."

He glanced over at Kirux, who ducked down even more behind the reaper when he realized Ryder was looking at him. "We also need to get someone else," he reminded Kirux. The boy peeked his head over the reaper's shoulder. Keeping his voice soft and calm, Ryder asked, "Can you go get him now?"

Kirux straightened and nodded. A second later, a strange thing of darkness burst from the ground - it wasn't like the darkness he knew in the slightest. To his shock, Kirux walked right through it, and never came through it.

It only took less than a minute for Kirux to emerge again, quickly pulling Taber's friend through before the portal (if that was what it was) closed behind the both of them.

Queenie threw up her hands, rolling her eyes and looking generally done.

"Of course," she said sarcastically, "There has to be another one. Why don't you people, or whatever you are, just go pick up your entire extended families. Hell, grab their pets too, because it isn't crowded enough around here as it is."

Some part of her knew she shouldn't go off on them. The rest of her didn't care. She would already be well on her way home if she had landed here with her sister. She might already be home, even, d that emotionless know-it-all was there.

But no. She couldn't land here with someone trustworthy. She had to be here with the ever-growing band of gods-knew-what-kind-of-creatures who all seemed to have the attention span of rodents. And good gods was that frustrating.

Lunis hissed, pulling out a dagger and aiming it at the skeleton. It had been one thing to watch the spectacle from the ledge of a second-story window on this abandoned building. It had been another for Kirux to jump out of some strange hole, catch Lunis before he fell to the ground, and then drag the panther back through the hole. The panther had no idea what had happened in the last minute, and he wasn't quite happy about it. To say nothing about being next to the giant skeleton.

"I don't think he's gettin' over it either," Kendrik said to Queenie.

Ryder was doing his best to stay calm, but it was growing nearly impossible with all of the chaos going on around him. He took a deep breath and, in one last attempt to stay calm, he quietly suggested, "The exit is right there."

He pointed at the door Kirux had brought them through.

Giving people a choice made them reevaluate the situation. While he had fought Queenie over the earlier suggestion of going to the hotel, he was starting to think that giving them a little freedom was the only way he could get some order in the group. They would realize that leaving was a bad idea, and eventually come back - it had happened countless times with the members of the resistance.

Queenie looked at the door. She wanted to leave. She should leave. But...She closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. She didn't know the first thing about magic, and this was magic, there was no way it wasn't at this point. And, unfortunately for her, the others seemed to have a much better working knowledge of the stuff.

"You seem to believe yourself the leader here," she stated, perhaps a little too standoffishly, "Why is that?"

Whether it was out of habit, or something more intentional, he pulled up the hood to his hoodie. "I'm the leader of a resistance against Notch," he reminded her. "I never asked to be. I just filled a role that someone had to do. I can't say that this is anything like what I've been through, but I...I know a thing or two about ending up in unusual places."

His voice caught a little on the last sentence. He should have been keeping Ryder and him separate, but it was hard to draw the line when it was that part of him that was better qualified to lead.

"Leader or not," Lunis said, "I'm not going out that door until I know what the deal is with this giant f***ing skeleton."

"His name is Grim!" said Taber, voice a little muted - he was a tad afraid of the panther. "And he's a skeleton, a god, and a dead person!"

Lunis glanced over at Taber. "Thanks," he said. "That clears things up."

"I'm not dead," Grim quietly protested, but knew that his words were going to fall on deaf ears. This was exactly why he had tried to hide by turning into a ghost - people were scared of him when he looked like this instead of the human form Lucifer had made for him.

"You missed part of the explanation earlier," the boy with the blue and brown eye said, turning to the bipedal panther. Grim felt movement behind him as Kirux used him as a shield, but he didn't turn to look. He was too busy trying to figure out what the panther was going to do next - he couldn't let Kirux get hurt just because the panther was afraid of Grim. "He's the grim reaper. He was created by people believing in him. I don't know how that works, or why he's here, but I don't think he's planning on harming any of us."

The boy glanced over at him.

"You're not, right?"

Grim nodded, and Kirux ducked behind him a little more.