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Defenders of the Dust City



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Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:20 am
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Terian805 says...



All dreams lead to one place if you know how to get there. The Dust City

Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62jdo2ogkiU


Spoiler! :
The Dust City
The Dust City is a strange place,an almost infinite city of of wonders and of horrors. It is incorporeal, yet corporeal at the same time. And it is where the dreams of all the people in cities around the world coalesce into one place. There are so many places to see in the Dust City created from people's dreams, so the sky's the limit when making up places.

The Upper Metropolis:

In the higher regions of the Dust City, (amongst skyscrapers or other floating buildings.) live the Vapours, who have grown extremely powerful during their existence, able to afford the most extravagant and strange homes, food, and weapons. They are extremely vain, calling their home, 'The Upper Metropolis' and consider anyone who lives in the lower regions of the city, much poorer and socially inferior than them. They enjoy making expeditions out into the Titans Plain, as explained below.

The Vapour-Folk generally take the form of elemental gases, which may or may not resemble a humanoid. They could appear as huge masked heads, strange ethereal monsters, whirlwinds of pure energy, or most other things. Sometimes they might wear extravagant armour, or clothes. When travelling they coalesce into a huge mass of smoke, known as a Cloudmind, which combines all of their thoughts and feelings.

They are made up of seven great 'Houses' which all have their own ideologies, and image.

The Titans Plain
A desolate area outside of the main city , with large stretches of pure grassland and little habitation other than poor Dreamfolk villages. The plain is populated by the Titans. Ancient species of Dreamfolk believed to be remnants of the a long lost history of the Dust City. The titans are usually tremendously big, humanoid beings. They may look like gargantuan robots, beings made of wood and branches, or purely from gases. The ruins of Titan's corpses can be found around the plain, which some Dreamfolk have made homes in.

Vapour-folk Houses who can afford an expedition travel out into the plain within a Cloudmind, and possess the Titans, putting them under their control, so they can roam the plains and see things through the Titan's eyes. A Titan's eyes generally change colour in order to match the colour of the House of whom they are under control. The Vapour-Folk generally compete with each other in order to see who can gain control of the most Titans. .


The Blossom Wood:

A wood which is close to the edge of the Titan's Plain, made up of thousands of cherry blossom trees, and many levels of ground linked by wooden bridges, and covered with roses. It is represents the beauty of nature and natural things in the world, majorly falling in love with another person, each blossom represents a relationship in the real world, but falls should that relationship be broken up. Fallen blossom coalesces into a playful, joyful type of Dreamfolk who are made entirely out of blossom, and when they feel ready enough, they spread themselves onto other trees, and new relationships are made.
Some people believe that strange flickering shadows can be seen roaming the forest, the reflections of couples in love.

The Shadow Chasm:

The Chasm was created from the universal dream that people have of falling endlessly into a deep hole. The Chasm is exactly that, a massive pit which moves around the Dust City. Should someone fall into the Chasm, if they are skilled enough to visualise where they want to go, they will be able to reappear out of another sinkhole in the Dust City, which could be anywhere.
Random objects of all descriptions may be seen in the chasm, in constant state of falling. The Chasm can shift it's appearance once someone is inside as well. Think 'The Rabbit Hole' from Alice in Wonderland.

The Star Clock

In the skies above the Dust City, there is a huge mechanical clock made from silver. It appears to have power over the entire Dust City, and when it reaches six hours it sends out a wave of energy that carries the Dreamfolk back to their homes. Some people believe it is a ancient being, some people believe it is just a clock. It is populated by a group of Dreamfolk, called the Timeguards, small metal spiders who appear to maintain the clock and keep it safe.

The Glass District

An area of the city, named such because it is constructed purely out of of a shining white stone and glass, also named because it has become a place where people have nothing to hide. It is a black market of sorts, where Dreamfolk come from all around the Dust City to sell wares and materials from the real, and the dreamlike worlds. Many wonders can be found there, and can be sold for all manner of prices.
It is populated mainly by a type of Dreamfolk who are made from various materials such as metal, glass, or stone. But there are also a mysterious Dreamfolk held in much higher esteem than the rest of the population, called the Glassguards, who conceal their faces with White Cloaks. Should there be any trouble in the marketplace, the Elders will move in and sort the problem out. Nobody wants that.

The Kaleidoscope Realm:
One of the most beautiful places in the Dust City. Where the dreams of Artists and Musicians converge into one place, for this reason it is a favourite haunt of rich tourists from the real world.
It is set out like a tremendous chequerboard, that stretches out almost as far as the eye can see, with each square set in a different colour. However, the realm is constantly changing, which makes for some interesting situations. Buildings of all manner of architecture spring up from the ground, and then collapse once again, the squares shift into different patterns and artwork, and the realm is populated by Dreamfolk known as the Ethereals. The Ethereals are silent, usually very regal and arrogant, and only communicate in the Music that they play, each Ethereal having it's own sound. They wander the Realm seemingly aimlessly, most can drift through the air, and they constantly make their music. Except they can certainly be reasoned with, and understood if you know how.

The Dreadmill
A tremendous and unknown mechanical pyramid, which constantly moves around the Dust City on a massive treadmill. It is controlled and manipulated by a excessively violent, armoured creature, who is greatly respected and feared by everyone from the Metropolis Houses to the Lucids and the Impalpables for his tendency to burst upon any conflict he comes across, and quite simply cause havoc. There are tales however, of him being a much kinder and friendlier creature than people realize, but few have been brave enough to find out.

NPCs
Can be used by anyone!

Lanternhead

A Dreamfolk of the Glass District; an independent smuggler, and weaponry dealer. He is however, a fairly nervous, paranoid, and thoughtful person. He is named after his appearance, being entirely constructed out of glass, and his tendency to light up when he is excited or nervous. He likes wearing trenchcoats and hunting hats.

Moog

Moog is an unusual being, made from millions of tiny white cubes, which almost look like pixels. He can change into any imaginable shape, the cubes forming the shape, and moves almost like a liquid. He resides in a building much like himself, a shifting, pixel-like place. There, he offers his services as a spy around the Dust City, and is highly regarded, considering he can move into most places, being made out of cubes.

Jasmine Mallinson

A twenty year old, Gifted girl, from North London, studying Art and Design. Jasmine has the ability to adsorb herself into her own shadow, and then travel within it, which enables her to get almost anywhere when she is a shadow. She is pretty and dark haired, but is also fairly snarky and irritable around most people.

Emma Devierre

Emma is twenty six years old Gifted girl, and Dutch, currently based in Switzerland. She is a respected journalist, and writes travel columns for her local newspaper, inspired by her ventures into the Dust City. She is also Gifted and controls fire, suitable considering her red hair. Some people consider her fairly eccentric, and it's true she is fairly socially awkward and comfortable in her own little world.

Malakai Imari

Malakai is a Kenyan sixteen year old, living in Nairobi, where his father works as a lawyer. Malakai is a keen sportsman, and suitably his Gifted power is being able to adsorb kinetic energy to move incredibly fast around the Dust City and to gain powerful strength. He has a mechanical locket which he wears around his neck, which he can spin, and is his main source of energy. He is kind and thoughtful and tries to see the best in everyone, which sometimes comes to his disadvantage. He is also a practising Christian, taking after his mother.

Eddie Gray


Eddie is a Lucid, in his mid thirties, and lives on a farm in Alaska. He started isolating himself from the world, when his wife became an Impalpable, and tried to make him join them. He refused, so he is now constantly under attack from Impalpables who learned that Eddie's wife had told him much of their organisation. He is a skilled trapper and hunter, so he has managed to drive most of them off, and kill many who go after him. The Dust City is his escape from the painful reality which he lives through every day.


Spoiler! :
Lucids:

The Lucids are people in the real world, who found out at a late or early age that they were able to find their way to the Dust City by having a certain Lucid Dream which was important to them. They have no abilities to control the Dust City like The Gifted,
but they often understand the city well and how it works. The most skilled, can enter the Dust City, find someone else's dream, enter it, then reappear at wherever that person may be in the real world, but this is difficult.



Spoiler! :
The Gifted

The Gifted are like the Lucids, in that they can enter the Dust City at will, but they are able to manipulate this dream world in certain uncanny ways. They are normal human beings, yet they gain certain powers when they enter the City, like Flight,
Teleportation, Telekinesis, Strength,Elemental Powers, (Almost anything.) And they are able to jump into someone else's dream and find a way to the Dust City there.
They are often strange, eccentric, disturbed, or confused people, and are often less in control of themselves than Lucids

[spoiler]Dreamfolk

Abstract beings created by other people's dreams,
who aren't human but can look like anything you imagine. They are created within a certain 'area' in the Dust City and are confined their during the nighttime, when people begin to dream. However they are free to roam throughout the Dust City during the daytime.
They usually are able to manipulate their area in minor ways.


Spoiler! :
The Impalpables

An evil group of human people, who walk the line between the Dust City and the real world.
They attack and capture Lucids and inject them with a drug known as The Red Liquid which causes them to jump into the Lucid's dream and to trap the Lucid in their dream forever. They then use unknown technology to give non Lucid rich people in the real world a chance to enter the Dust City through these Lucids and see its wonders.

Some Lucids are extremely skilled in hiding and able to defend themselves, so most Impalpables are highly trained in some skill, which may include hacking, martial arts, engineering, or gymnastics. They also have an almost magnetic link to the Red Liquid, and can teleport to wherever there may be a high concentration of the drug, including inside a Lucid's mind.

They are led by an unknown figure named Mr Crow, who some say made The Red Liquid, and is one of the most powerful Gifted who ever lived, able to create and destroy dreams. It is said that there is another with powers similar to his.


This is obviously a contemporary fantasy Storybook, but you are free to write in whatever fashion you may like. We could have some action, romance, frightening parts, characters exploring their own minds, etc.

Character Template:

Name:

Age:

Character Type (Lucid, Gifted, Dreamfolk, Impalpable, rich person, ordinary person.):

Their city of residence:

How they enter the Dust City:

Powers (If any):

Skills (If any):

Appearance:

Personality:

History:

Other:
Last edited by Terian805 on Sat Jan 27, 2018 7:28 pm, edited 8 times in total.
"You can't live over your shoulder, overbehind."





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Wed Nov 01, 2017 6:00 pm
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Terian805 says...



Finn:

Finn fell asleep almost instantly as he lay back on his ragged couch in his apartment building.

Finn slept deeply, and he dreamed.


He dreamed he was in an endless state of falling. He was plummeting through layer upon layer of thick fog, and could have been falling for a thousand years. There was simply nothing existing apart from the mist.

This was until he landed on his back upon solid, earthy ground, unhurt of course, and sat up nonchalantly glancing about him. There was a forest, filled with trees, reaching their crooked arms desperately into the foggy sky. He looked onwards, but soon lost sight of the trees as they were swallowed up by the mist.

Finn got to his feet, time seeming sluggish and warped and turned. He saw a thing walking out the wood towards him.
But it was only his dog Roman, who padded along the ground, and then stopped and stared up at him almost expectantly.

There was a moment’s silence, before Finn spoke.

“Sorry Roman. I still haven’t sorted things out.”

“Fuck you.” Said the dog, already turning and walking away into the woods. “That was my line.”

Finn laughed quietly and followed it. “Come on, there’s no need for that. I go through this most nights now.”

“Well think how I feel.” Replied the dog. “Stuck in this stupid forest for all eternity. It can make a dog feel pretty pissed off.”

“But you don’t feel anything.” Finn chuckled. “You’re not even a Dreamfolk. You’re just something created from my mind to get me to where I’ve got to go.”
They were reaching the forest limits, and the path seemed to be levitating in the mist, spiralling into the abyss.

“Even things created by your mind have their own opinions.” The dog said irritably, and then bounded ahead onto the path until it was just a silhouette.
It then seemed to morph into another figure: a woman. Finn could not make her out.

The woman began to walk towards him.

“You know I still haven’t figured out who you are” Finn called towards her, and was met without an answer.
“You could be my dead sister, or you could be someone else entirely. But....”

He poised himself on the edge of the path, looking down into the mist.

“.....I guess I’ll never know.”

Finn jumped from the path, and almost immediately the air began to grown thick and cloying. He felt his corporeal body, from where it lay on the couch, seemingly slide from reality and materialise in another.

He then landed on a metal surface this time, and he was sat in an alleyway, and saw skyscrapers on either side of him, reaching up into an oily black sky.

Everything seemed more real.

And yet everything seemed imaginary.

Now and again buildings would glisten with glowing lights of all kinds of colour. Some skyscrapers seemed to bend and twist and shimmer. Though there were no sounds of human voices, Finn could hear a constant cacophony of rumbles, thunder, and earth-like groans, as if the very earth was in a fight with itself.

The Dust City. It was his second home, yet he knew hadn’t seen anything yet.

As he got up, and began to walk down the alleyway. He recalled what the night meant in The Dust City.

He knew that high in the sky, out of his sight, the gargantuan Star Clock would be watching over its domain and glowing with its unearthly blue light.
He knew that far up in the Skyscrapers, the Vapour-folk would be surveying the city from their perches, gorging themselves on rich food, and laughing amongst themselves.
He knew that far to the East, the Kaleidoscope realm would be shifting its form like ever; buildings rising and collapsing, the ground flashing like strobe lights in a nightclub, and strange folk wandering its halls.
And he knew that way off into the infinity of whatever reality he was in, the Titans would be travelling the endless fields, ready to be attacked and driven about for the entertainment of other Dreamfolk.

But Finn had seen it all before, and the only place he cared for right now was the huge plaza of which he was turning onto.

The Glass District: a relatively quiet part of it, but still.

The Glass District, the centre of the Dust City market, was a beautiful place on the surface, being entirely made from glass and white stone, and filled with salesmen bringing all kinds of wonders, taken from all kinds of realities. But it was still a hell hole for thieves, criminals, and mercenaries, all selling their services for the right price.

But again, Finn could have never have thought it by looking at the place he was entering now. The Plaza was purely white, as per usual, with looming glass buildings close by, and abandoned market stalls around its perimeter.

There was a curious lack of people. Now and again Finn glimpsed robed figures, and shadowy individuals scuttle past. There was one single figure in the middle of the plaza, who was garbed in a high collared trench coat, his face hidden by a hunting hat pulled well over his eyes.

Finn smiled and sped up his pace towards this man, until the two stood face to face.
The man then raised his head.

His face was purely made from glass.

“Finn.” The glass man said. His voice was vaguely quavering with apprehension, despite his obvious lack of vocal chords. “I trust you had a safe journey.”

“Not so bad thanks mate.”

“There were no troubles? N..no attacks?”

“Nobody.” Finn chuckled. “You know me Lanternhead. Anyone tries messing with me: they’re going to live to regret it.”

Lanternhead visibly relaxed. He had a tendency to get nervous in their frequent meetings.

“Good. I only ask, because what I am about to give you is something lots of Dreamfolk would like to get their hands on.”

“I’m sure.” Finn replied. He then pulled something from the pocket of his jeans. A key ring torch: it had cost him 20p down at his local store. “I believe this is yours?”

Lanternhead began to internally glow with a green light; he had a tendency to do that when excited, and snatched the torch from Finn’s hand, shoving it into his pocket. Finn knew that he fed off of light, but he was surprised to see how excited the other was to be given a crappy, 20p torch.

Well Dreamfolk valued different things to humans. That much was true.

“And now....” Finn waited expectantly.

“Ah yes!” Lanternhead delved deeply into his coat which seemed to go on endlessly. He pulled out a metal sphere, etched with unidentifiable runes, and glowing with magenta light.

“A Collapse Grenade.” He said, handing it over to Finn. “Took a lot of clever words, to the right people to get this thing. Detonate it anywhere in the Dust City and it will break down the barriers between this reality and the next for at least three days.”

Finn pocketed it. “I appreciate this man. Really. I knew I could rely on you.” He began to walk past Lanternhead, heading for the edge of the plaza.

“You said the Chasm was going to be appearing near here right?” He called behind him.

“That’s right.” Replied the other. Finn could here hurried steps behind him. He obviously had more say. That was what annoyed him about Lanternhead. He always had something to worry about, some issue to address.

“You know I make it a habit to know how my clients will use my products.” He said, drawing up beside Finn. “And that grenade is something that lots of people would like to get their hands on. So....?”

“Well take a wild guess Lanternhead.” Finn replied, continuing to walk.

“You’re attacking those Shadow People again?”

Finn’s silence confirmed it. He only continued to walk. They were drawing out of the Glass District now, and reaching a metal plateau.

Ahead the city just ended on a huge precipice, beyond that there only were endless fields covered with a rolling mass of cloud. Now and again Finn thought he glimpsed giant figures striding across the landscape, and imagined he could hear strange mournful cries and shouts.

“You know. Finn. M...maybe you’re rushing into this business too much.”

Finn stopped once they reached the edge and turned towards his glass headed friend.

“What I’m doing mate. I can’t stop doing it. Not for anything.” He said with certainty.

“I know, I know. It’s just...maybe you can’t do it alone. Maybe you need help.”

There was something moving across the plain at incredible speed. A shadow, something like a gargantuan rift in the ground. It was moving in their direction.
The Chasm, right on cue, to get Finn where he needed to go.

“You’re talking about these Gifted people, right?” Said Finn with a smile, and Lanternhead nodded.

The Chasm had reached them now. It was like a gaping, black mouth that sat patiently below, waiting to swallow them up.

“I mean....the other day I was in the Kaleidoscope realm,” Continued Lanternhead,” and I saw a girl....a human girl like you....and she was literally flying Finn. She was riding on the wind!”

Finn pulled a mask from his pocket. A simple thing, made from grey cloth, with only eye holes, and pulled it on. He poised on the edge of the precipice, his trainers poking over the edge towards the abyss below him.

“This thing doesn’t make sense.” Finn found himself saying, through the cloth and Lanternhead laughed for the first time in a while.

“And you’re saying that to a man made out of glass. But seriously Finn, can you imagine what a person like that girl would do to those Shadow People?”

There was a short silence.

“I’ll believe it when I see them mate.” Finn responded. “That’s a rule I’ve lived by for most of my life, and it’s served me well, that’s for sure.”

And then Finn jumped from the precipice.

As he plummeted towards the darkness of the chasm, he saw the figure of Lanternhead at the edge grow smaller and more obscure until Finn was completely swallowed by darkness, and Lanternhead disappeared altogether.

He did not panic as he fell. Panicking was the worst thing that you could do if you fell into the Shadow Chasm, no matter how weird it got.

And hell it was weird in there. There seemed to be random spots of light, all manner of colours, which flickered and darted across Finn's field of vision. He thought he saw other figures falling alongside him as well, and now and again the darkness twisted into arms and fingers which reached out for him.

Finn closed his eyes whilst falling, and envisioned a place, a destination. He focused, put all other unnecessary thoughts out of his mind.

And then, all of a sudden, there was a speck of brilliant light at the bottom of the Chasm. It seemed to pulse, like a beating heart in the darkness.
Finn drew closer and closer to the light, until.....

....he lurched out of a stone wall, materializing from it, and fell to his knees on a bridge, breathing heavily.

He stood and glanced about him. Finn was incredibly high up in the Dust City this time, in line with the layer of mist that clouded the top of the buildings, and standing amongst the network of bridges that linked the skyscraper peaks. The view would have been magnificent had it not been for the mist.

“What is it with mist right now?” He internally questioned himself as he walked down the bridge. Finn knew he was in the right place to find the people that he wanted to find. Now the question was, had he been given the right information?

Of course he had. When Finn noticed a disturbance on a bridge below him, and a chorus of shouting, he threw himself down flat on his stomach, not to be seen.

There were three people.... well they looked like people at first glance, but they seemed like shadows, incorporeal and flickering, almost like candles in the mist.

The Impalpables. A suitable name, Finn had always thought.

They had found someone. Probably a Lucid, like Finn, and a younger girl from what he could see of her. A frightened one at that, screaming for help as two of the Impalpables held her wrists to the ground, and one of them carried something that looked like a human sized cage, but was made from a black smoke.

Finn watched them for a moment, and let the hate seethe through him.

This girl hadn’t done anything wrong. She was just a normal person like Finn, only had been unlucky enough to be picked by fate, as one who had a link to this strange place. And now these....people, wanted to trap her here forever, all for their own gain.
It wasn’t right. And Finn knew that at that moment, even more Lucids would be being hunted down by The Impalpables, all likely to suffer the same, despicable fate as this girl.

“Well as long as I have breath in my body.”
Finn thought, as he stood and drew the collapse grenade from his pocket. “This won’t happen to anyone.”
He pulled the pin from the grenade, and leaped off of the bridge, sailing down towards the group below him. Looks of surprise, seemed to cross the dark faces of the Impalpables, until Finn threw the grenade upon the bridge,

And the world turned upside down.

There was an explosion of purple light, things seemed to twist, and warp, Finn couldn’t see a thing, felt himself being turned over and over, and he heard screams and shouts from seemingly all directions.

And he landed, in a dark alleyway, the real world this time, surrounded by three surprised looking guys in hoodies.

“It’s the Wraith!” One of them yelled, and they came at him.

Finn ducked under a swing from one, caught his arm, and shoulder flipped him to the ground. He kicked one in the chest, sending him stumbling, shoved the next Impalpable into the wall and laid into him, hitting him, hitting him...
..until one man launched himself at Finn, dragging him to the ground.

“Fuck.” Thought Finn. “Getting careless.”

His attacker climbed onto him, and raised a fist, but Finn locked legs, rolled, threw him into the wall.
Finn kicked up to his feet, just in time to dodge a well aimed punch thrown his way. Finn moved backwards, deflecting blows, until he managed to clock him in the chin, and throw his opponent sideways.
His head hit the wall, he fell, and didn’t get up.

Two left.

One guy came at him with a knife this time, which flashed in the darkness, but he slipped backwards out of its reach. The Impalpable did a wide, circular stroke with the knife, which Finn jumped out the way of. Finn kicked off of the wall, punched him in the temple, and the Impalpable dropped unconscious.
The last Impalpable was just getting up from some attack Finn had dealt him.

He was dazed, and that came to Finn’s advantage, when he dodged the lazy punch, swung himself up, wrapped his legs round the Impalpable’s neck, and flipped him to the ground. Finn climbed onto the man, and hit him in the face till his knuckles were bloody. The man went limp.

Finn jumped to his feet, pulsing with adrenaline, and only realised soon afterwards that he'd missed the girl that he was supposed to be saving.

He squinted down the alleyway to look for her, but there was no sign. She must have fled the moment they had vanished from the Dust City and into the real world.

Well she obviously lived in London. Perhaps Finn would pass her one day, and neither of them would even realise.

The thought amused Finn as he wandered between the unconscious bodies on the ground and pulled down there hoods to take a look at their faces.

All three of his opponents were regular looking guys, from what he could see of them in the darkness, but none of them, he recognised. None of them were the people he was looking for, lucky for them. He would have done much worse than punching them in the face, had it been so.

"Well maybe one day."
Finn thought, as he wandered up the alleyway. "One day I'll find them."

With a rush of moaning wind, a red night bus flew past him, and Finn found himself on a London pavement. He couldn’t see a clock, but it had to be at least midnight.

He wandered down the pavement, getting a few curious looks from people for his dishevelled appearance, until he came across a sign which read,

East Islington.

Finn lived in Camden. He reckoned that would be at least a half hour ride on the night bus.

“Well best get going. Long day tomorrow.”



.
Last edited by Terian805 on Sat Apr 07, 2018 1:56 pm, edited 4 times in total.
"You can't live over your shoulder, overbehind."





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Sat Nov 04, 2017 10:15 pm
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Mageheart says...



Adrian Black
Gifted


He was standing in an endless chamber of only doors.

He could never understand why he called it a chamber. There was no clear definition of its walls or ceiling, and he was only able to determine where the floor was because he could touch it. And yet it had been a chamber for years, and would continue to be so for the rest of his life.

As he searched for a specific door, he hummed to the beat of One Short Day from Wicked. It was one of his favorite songs from that musical, though Defying Gravity would always hold a special place in his heart.

His mind drifted from the beloved song to that stunning sight that he had seen only a week before. When he closed his eyes, he could remember the girl who had soared through the air. The light of the Star Clock had enveloped her as she had flown past, casting a beautiful glow onto her skin. She had shown so much grace and power in that single, magical moment.

The thought of possibly running into her made blood rush to his cheeks.

It was silly to see her in that light. The Dust City was a magical place in itself, and he had seen countless other wonders. But that moment had stood above the rest. Whether it was the girl or the backdrop to her graceful flight, he wasn't sure. What he was certain of was his desire to once again see her.

After another minute of searching, he found the door he was looking for. There was nothing particularly special about it. It was a simple wooden one. It was befitting of an average suburban home. It was completely unassuming, and he loved the inherent irony of it.

He eagerly opened it and rushed through.

~v~

He never was certain of where he wanted to go when he entered the Dust City. It had never been a conscious choice to go there, but he took advantage of his freedom all the same. He had spent countless hours roaming through the streets of the city in an effort to finally understand it all. After seven years of doing so, his knowledge of its workings were far from perfect.

But he was observant enough to understand that a change had overtaken the city that he had come to love. Though he hadn't been attacked yet, he had overheard many stories recounting the people who had begun to terrorize the city.

He had been debating what to do about that problem for the past month or so. There was no simple answer to it. He couldn't suddenly prevent the Impalpables from coming to the Dust City. He didn't even know how they came in the first place. But he did know that he wouldn't stand a chance if he was thrown into a dangerous situation.

So he found himself entering the Glass District, in search of a man that he had never once spoken to. He didn't what to say. He wasn't completely sure of what the Dreamfolk he needed to locate looked like. He only had snippets of conversations to go off. The thought of accidentally walking up to the wrong Dreamfolk terrified him.

He spent a good thirty minutes searching. By the time he had located the weapons dealer, he had realized that he had no idea what he was supposed to say. Even when he walked up to him, he couldn't find the right words.

The man with the face of glass watched him. “Hello?” the Dreamfolk asked, a strange nervousness to his voice.

Adrian suddenly became incredibly self-conscious of his appearance. That was it, wasn't it? People were always scared of him because of how he looked. He really should have chosen to wear something different.

A greeting was good, right?

“Hi,” Adrian managed to get out. “Can I, um, buy a weapon?”

The Dreamfolk didn't say anything.

He hurriedly added, “You're Lanternhead, right? I didn't come up to a stranger and-” He fell silent when he saw that the man was staring at his hair. Adrian slowly held up a strand and stared at it as well. While it had been black and short moments prior, it had now become littered with dark red streaks and went past his shoulders. It was only when he pulled out a mirror that he had gotten into the habit of carrying around that he realized he had gained a small bit of stubble as well.

(He had also become several inches taller. This was something he was completely oblivious to.)

He concentrated hard. His hair lost its curl and color, but he was content with the length it had decided to adopt. “I'm really sorry about that...” he sheepishly said, forgetting about the stubble's existence.

“What kind of weapon do you want?” the Dreamfolk finally asked, though he sounded hesitant to broach the matter.

Adrian breathed a sigh of belief. He was talking to Lanternhead! “Could I have a knife, please?” he asked. He dug around in his pocket for the payment. The Dreamfolk supposedly fed off light, so he had made sure to bring a light source with him.

After a moment of searching, he triumphantly pulled out a fake candle and penlight. The Dreamfolk immediately began to glow green. Adrian took a startled step back in surprise – though he should have been used to odd things in this city by now – but Lanternhead didn't seem to notice. He was too busy digging through his bottomless pockets for the weapon that he had requested.

They quickly made the exchange.

After uttering a word of thanks, Adrian turned to go. Then he felt a shaking hand on his shoulder. He looked back to see Lanternhead staring at him. Being the center of attention made him feel incredibly awkward. “I almost forgot,” the Dreamfolk said, though he sounded like he wished he had. “What are you planning on using that for?”

Adrian stared down at the blade.

“Self-defense,” he quietly answered.

He tried to ignore how his hand shook at the thought of having to use it.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Lael says...



Stella Eimer


She was running, up and up what seemed like endless flights of stairs. Her breath and her heartbeat came fast in her ears, and so did the pounding of heavy footsteps behind her.

Can't get caught. Can't get caught . . .

The city was visible through the skyscraper's transparent walls, the many lights like blazing stars in the darkness. The building itself was completely illuminated, sure to be a beacon for anyone looking its way. Perfect for anyone to see that she was being chased, were this reality and not a dream.

Stella could almost see the door leading to the roof, and she pushed her aching muscles to run even faster. She yanked - not pushed, she'd learned that before - the door open and dashed out. Once again, she was thankful that her shoes had good grip, or else she would have been sent falling to the glass floor.

Without hesitation, though she heard the door slam once more as her pursuer came up, Stella headed straight for the edge. She placed her foot on the ledge of the roof and pushed off. With a flying leap, she was sailing downwards in a free fall.

Though the ascent up the skyscraper had seemed like a lifetime, the descent from it seemed to last only moments. As the street and racing cars below grew ever clearer, Stella closed her eyes.


-<>-


When she opened them again, the first thing she felt was the gentle breeze threading through her hair. A smile curled at the edges of her mouth.

Last week had marked perhaps Stella's most amazing experience yet in the Dust City. Although her dad had told her to be cautious in using her powers, she figured it couldn't hurt just once.

And so Stella had finally experienced what it was like to fly. She had flown past the Kaleidoscope Realm, the Blossom Wood, the Dreadmill (she shuddered), and even the Star Clock. The ride, soaring above the entire Dust City and seeing everything below had been only exhilarating - that is, until her powers gave out. That had sent Stella careening, screaming, towards the ground. The impact had been enough to knock her back into reality, to find - painfully - that she had fallen off of her bed in her sleep.

Anyways, Stella wasn't planning on trying to fly again anytime soon. Her powers had been unnervingly depleted for all of last week after that incident, and only now was starting to feel back to normal. Besides, if her dad found out that she had done such a daring thing, he would probably be beyond livid.

She decided to get a move on. Usually, she liked to hang about the Kaleidoscope Realm, since there was always interesting music of the wandering Ethereals to dance to. They seemed to like her, if only for her appreciation of their music. She didn't dare to bring her violin and play along, but it was as many in the musical world said: music was a universal language.

In the real world, she was the type of person who would skip in the hallways if no one was looking, but here, no one knew her, so Stella allowed herself to chassé, chaînés, even jeté as she wove through the passersby, moving to a rhythm no one else heard.

As she heard an Ethereal playing, in a more modern musical fashion, she changed the style of her dance to contemporary, with a tiny bit of hip hop thrown in. It was easy to get lost in the secure feeling of dance, wrapped in a captivating song. Lost to the point that she bumped hard into someone close by.

"Oh!" Stella exclaimed, her reverie broken. Though there was a bit of confidence in her knowing that she wasn't acquainted with anyone here in real life, she still found it hard to look people in the eyes sometimes, especially when she was embarrassed. Besides, she mostly never exactly talked to anyone while in the Dust City. She blushed and stared at the other person's shoes. "Sorry."

The person said something, but Stella didn't hear it. She immediately turned and ran, immediately hidden from view by the crowd.

Afterwards, she sat alone in the Blossom Wood. It was her number one choice when she just wanted some quiet time with few people to disturb her in her dreams, mostly just the friendly blossom Dreamfolk and the wind. That was perfectly fine with her.

It also gave her time to reflect. On her incident in the Kaleidoscope Realm, Stella couldn't help but think, Daddy would have known what to do. But he's not a dancer. He wouldn't have gotten into that situation. She cracked a smile at that. But . . . he is a soldier. A brave, patriotic soldier who seems to know just the right things to say.

She hadn't seen her dad in weeks, even in the Dust City. Although this was no different from any other time he had been sent off on his next assignment, she still missed him just as much each time. Being able to be able to spend time with Simon Eimer in the Dust City was a nice substitute, but Stella longed to see him in person, running towards the front door of their house, where she would meet him halfway and be spun around in his arms as if she were a little girl again, a princess whose knight in shining armor had returned triumphantly from battle.

Stella sighed and closed her eyes, feeling her essence lift from the Dust City and settle back into her body. She was soon woken by her alarm, and it was then that she realized that her face was wet with tears.
"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Philippians 4:7





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TinkerTwaggy says...



Pango Lyn – Awakened!
Gaze at the Pyramid of Light



Where… does regular end… And extreme begin…?

Pango Lyn opened his eyes, greeted by the beautiful gaze of Dust City’s rising sun as the words he had uttered echoed on top of his oh so familiar pyramid.

...Hmm. Good question.

Pango Lyn rose from his spot atop the pyramid – the construction was, as usual, glittering along with the sunlight, as if waking up to share its beauty every morning.

A wise man once said… ‘sweat and body odor is your body’s way of saying...

A huge grin plastered on his face, Pango Lyn bent his knees, the tail behind his back wiggling with gleeful excitement.

...Hey, slow down. You need a break.’

Pango Lyn slowly surrounded his thin, reptilian torso with his trusty straight jacket, the Madder Cloth. It locked itself around it, imprisoning his arms as his scaled skin turned cyan blue.

But thanks to the new Madder Cloth, the most powerful Pango-customized focus-giver ever made...

A sudden, loud, unstoppable, uncontrollable laughter thundered at the top of the pyramid, echoing through the horizon. Pango Lyn, still laughing, gazed down, a strange light dancing in his eye as he calculated his descent.

...My body will finally SHUT UP AND LET ME LIVE!

His morning quote having reached its exciting moment, Pango Lyn threw himself away from the pyramid, swiftly reaching its slippery side and sliding down towards the bottom, claws anchored on the construction so that he could control his improvised shortcut.

Is there a limit to how much LIVING I can live with my life?!

Pango Lyn slightly turned on the left to avoid a bump he knew would ruin his slide and make him fall, and without the possibility to use his arms, he knew that would certainly be a problem in the long run.

How will I know if I’ve gone too far?!

Continuing his monologue, Pango Lyn reached the bottom of the pyramid at last. However, with the momentum he had accumulated, he was forced to keep on running once his claws had reached the ground, moving forward at full speed. But finally, after reaching the end of his personal territory, he stopped right before falling off, gazing at the ground several meters below.

And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses… for a WHALE?!

Pango Lyn had just finished saying the world “whale” that the entire territory began shaking, as if coming to life. Then, a whale-like cry resounded in the air as The Dreadmill began its daily advance, its gigantic carpet-like wheel starting its endless cycle. In front of the construction, an impossibly large pair of sunglasses indeed rested, with its arms somehow attached to each side of the Dreadmill. Pango Lyn looked over yonder, giggling softly as he uttered the final line of his morning quote.

I shall find the answer… to these questions!

Pango Lyn sighed, satisfied with his performance. He gracefully turned back as his Madder Cloth detached itself from his torso, once again appearing like an improvised cape as he walked towards the two statues standing proudly at the bottom of the pyramid he had left. “Andor, Tleia!” Pango Lyn called happily. “Mornin’ to you, fam!”

“...Hey, uh, Pango?” one of the two statues began.

Pango Lyn.” Pango Lyn viciously interrupted. “How many times must I tell you that I have no last name, will never need one, and that Pango Lyn’s the full first name? Get it right already, names matter!”

“...Okay, but...” Andor, the male sphinx, shared a gaze with Tleia, his female counterpart. “...Um… Why?”

“Why, what?”

“He means, Pango Lyn,” Tleia said, “that we remain confused with your eccentricities. We’ve grown accustomed to our peculiar names and your peculiar games, but you keep adding new features to the Dreadmill, new quotes for you to shout at the world every morning, and we are utterly unable to follow any of it. Therefore, he – and by extension I – mean to ask the usual question, and this time, we would prefer if you answered us in full detail.”

“Yeah, uh… What she said.” Andor confirmed.

Pango Lyn sighed. “But gu-u-u-u-ys!” he lamented. “Half of the stuff I do is instinctive, and the rest I don’t remember how it gets to me! How am I supposed to explain anything like this?”

Improvise, darn you.” the two statues exclaimed in unison.

“...Fine. Hrrm. I promised I’d get better with words, anyway.” Pango Lyn sat on the ground, letting the fingers at the tip of his stubby arms move wildly like an insane bug’s antennas. “Well, I know for sure that today’s morning quote felt especially familiar. Enough for me to tell that I modified it.”

“Huh. Good start.” Andor commented. “Does that mean you’re getting some of your memory back?”

“Not really, no.” Pango Lyn replied. “And well, it doesn’t… It doesn’t feel like I lost my memory, more like… More like I’m not supposed to have a memory to begin with, and these weird things come inside my mind from somewhere, and it’s that somewhere I need to find to know what’s going on with me.”

“That much, we’re aware of, Pango Lyn.” Tleia calmly stated, nodding with approval. “Back to the main subject, if you please.”

“Right! I mean, it’s simple, really. This quote’s goal was to act as some sort of monologue-like introduction that fits with my current situation.”

“Ah, so, another one of your lines loaded with a mouthful of absurdity?”

“Definitely!” Pango Lyn proudly confirmed.

“And the whale?”

“That’s part of the quote. And I might upgrade the Dreadmill with a feature like that… somehow.”

“Eh, that’s fine, right, Tleia?” Andor intervened, shrugging nonchalantly. “I mean, at least now we can actually move around. And if there’s an ocean nearby, would be easier to cross it.”

“Well, I’m not against it, of course.” Tleia assured. “It’s just easier to follow our little master when he’s clear.”

“I’m trying my best, you know!” Pango Lyn exclaimed.

As the trio kept on chatting, a purple thunderbolt made its appearance at the edge of the Dreadmill, announcing the arrival of a newcomer.

“Ah! Pango Lyn exclaimed happily, raising up as he turned to face the newly arrived figure. “Here comes a new challenger! Andor, Tleia, your positions!”

The two Sphinxes moved back towards their pedestals, waiting for their summoning should their master need it. Pango Lyn took several steps forward, as the new figure revealed itself. It was a fancy knight dressed in sapphire blue armor, and wielding an imposing, iron axe. A heroic red cape floated behind him, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face as he stared down at Pango Lyn. “Are you the one they call ‘Tiny Tyrant’?” were the first words he uttered.

“Yuh-huh! And I bet you’re here to deck me in the schnoz?”

“I’m here to stop the senseless slaughter of Dust City’s people!”

“A-a-and nighty-two!”

“Your reign of terror has been going on for too long! And now, you’re going to bite the dust you like to disrespect!”

“A-a-and three hundred and fifty-five!”

“I am… I… What are you–”

“No, go on!” Pango Lyn joyously exclaimed at the confused young man. “Continue, don’t mind me.”

“…Well, I am the one who will stop you!”

Nihihihihihi…” Pango Lyn giggled. “Four hundred and nineteen!”

“Okay, that’s it – What the hell are you doing?”

“Sorry, I’m sorry!” Pango Lyn happily apologized. “It’s just that I hear these heroic speeches so often, that I’ve started making a mental list on how many times I’ve head certain lines!” Pango Lyn giggled once more. “Nihihi… Fun hobby.”

The young man’s face went from confident, to utterly confused, to utterly appalled. “You… You insane bastard…” he whispered, dropping the medieval accent he had previously taken.

“A-a-and one hundred and ninety!”

“Yeah?!” the other one screamed, visibly upset. “Well I’m going to fuck your face, how about that one?!”

Pango Lyn’s grin grew wider, crazier, and a noticeable, eerie light began to glow in his eyes as the Madder Cloth wrapped itself around his arms. “…Twelve.” He whispered. “Well, minus the ‘how about that one’ part.”

The young man put himself in battle stance, firmly gripping his axe’s handle.” Boy, when I get my hands on you I’m gonna–”

Yes!” Pango Lyn shouted excitedly, jumping in place and clapping his feet with each jump. “I know, I know! C’mon, let’s make this an act! I’ll play the part of the drunken sailor, and you’ll be the baby seal! A-a-and… Go.” Pango Lyn had just finished his sentence that he immediately rushed at his enemy’s encounter, running like an unstoppable cyan blur towards the surprised warrior. He had just the type to raise and lower his ax that Pango Lyn was already behind him, having easily dodged the attack. By the timethe enemy turned back, Pango Lyn had already launched himself in the air. Then, from the magical depths of the Madder Cloth, he summonsed his ExÄrm-J, a giant, entirely black disembodied arm that mercilessly squashed the young man on the ground.

“Argh…!" the boy cried. "What’s that?!”

“That's J, my muscle man!” Pango Lyn gleefully replied. “And next comes H, my gunman!” having said that, a second one, golden in color, appeared as Pango Lyn maintained himself in the air with the pressure ExÄrm-J applied on the crushed teenager. ExÄrm-H began a rapid back and forth motion, and from its opened palm came out a dozen of egg-shaped projectiles, which detonated upon colliding with their target – which, of course, was the armored teen. To said teen’s surprise, the pressure around his body suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a much lighter one. As the smoke caused by the many detonations parted, he let out a terrified gasp as the grinning face of Pango Lyn appeared inches away from his. The dinosaur stood right on top of his armor. He inserted his feet’s claws between the armor plates and began tearing them off one by one.

“AUGH! My armor! This is not what’s supposed to happen in this dream!”

“A-a-and FIVE HUNDRED!” Pango Lyn exclaimed. “J, H, show ‘im what he’s won!” with that said, Pango Lyn lifted himself up with both ExÄrms before falling head first into the teenager’s stomach, hitting it with all the strength of the natural blue bony helmet that rested atop his head. “Whooo! Hyper Combo FINISH!” Pango Lyn exclaimed childishly, once again jumping wildly after removing his head from the teenager’s stomach. He sat on the ground, sighing with glee. “…What’s your name, man?”

The teenager slowly moved his head, a mixture of pain and confusion stuck on the face. “…My name’s Tom.”

“Pango Lyn – both words are the first name. Y’know, with each battle, I feel like I get closer to… discovering who I am, I guess? So, I’m super happy every time people come to challenge me and my Dreadmill.”

“…Oh. O…Okay. That’s… That’s cool I guess.”

“And it gets cooler!” Pango Lyn assured. “Since you’re here and all, you’re in no real danger whatsoever, and I really don’t care about winning or losing. So, since the Pyramid of Light over there can heal you, wanna practice with me? I could give you a lot of tips to get better with your axe! Or… Against fast opponents like me, I guess. I hear I’m very very savage.”

“…Y’know what, fuck it, sure, let’s do that.” Tom replied after long seconds of silence. “Weirdest dream ever.”

Nihihihi… One thousand and six!”

******


Pango Lyn happily waved at his new “friend” as Tom left the Dreadmill after timeless hours of training, during which, Pango Lyn had to admit, the boy had gotten better at using his axe. He even promised to come back eventually, feeling refreshed, and much less scared than he expected to be.

“So.” Tleia intervened as Pango Lyn gazed in the distance. “What now, Lil’Master?”

“After a good quoting session, a good walk!” Pango Lyn exclaimed, nodding decidedly. “We’re stopped near Dust City again for that reason anyway, and we need to go say hi to Gashley!”

“Ugh, can I sit this one out, then?” Andor intervened, approaching the two. “That girl sorta creeps me out.”

“I’ll have to agree with Andor on that one.” Tleia commented. “But well, she means us no harm, so, there’s not much to fear.”

“Righty-o! Then Andor gets guard duty, and I get to ride Tleia again. Let’s go, everyone!”

Tleia put a knee on the ground and Pango Lyn leaped on her back, gripping two rein-like locks of rocky ‘fur” on Tleia’s statue of a body. The Dreadmill slowly moved closer to the Titans Plain, circling around Dust City. Then, the signature whale-like cry of Pango Lyn’s construction resounded in the air, signifying to those who knew it that the Dreadmill would stop moving, and that its’ inhabitants would come out.

“Have a good rest, Andor.” Tleia said. “And make sure you warn anyone looking for Lil’Master to not come inside.”

“You got it, sis. Have a good trip, y’all!”

“Babai!” Pango Lyn waved. Then Tleia leaped away from the Dreadmill and ran through the Titans Plain, making sure she’d avoid running through the numerous villages that existed around the grasslands. As usual, Pango Lyn couldn’t help but scan the area, wondering about the lifestyles of his fellow Dreamfolk. He knew, of course, that each Dreamfolk was different from the other, and that he was especially different for his wacky tendencies and unusual area, but well, he couldn’t help but being curious.
Eventually, the landscape changed from limitless grasslands to the familiar skyscrapers of Dust City. And that would be when the numerous looks, gasps, finger pointing and even screams occurred like every time Pango Lyn showed himself without his lair, since according to some law he didn’t have knowledge about he wasn’t supposed to appear without his Dreadmill.

…Weird.

“Oh, let’s stop here and ask!” Pango Lyn exclaimed. Tleia stopped her race right in front of a passing lady: from her getup, a white dress covered in various bright colors as well as a bright red beret, she was an artist specialized in painting. Understandably, she let out a terrified scream when an elephant-sized statue of a sphinx squashed the ground in front of her with its front paws.

“‘Scuse me!” Pango Lyn exclaimed, waiving happily at the lady in front of him. “Hai! Name’s Pango Lyn – both words make the first name. So, uh, sorry for the scare, just asking for directions! D’you know where the Glass District is? I don’t come often, and the layout tends to switch places from time to time. I’m looking for a fortune teller named ‘Gashley Shatter.’”

The lady blinked several times before pointing to her right with a trembling finger. “F-Follow the… The path on the right. Then… Then you turn left, and you should find your way from there, since the buildings w-will start shining brightly.”

“Right! Because glass.” Pango Lyn nodded in understanding and bowed from his seat. “Thank you very much for your information. Have a good day, miss. Let’s go, Tleia!”

Without a word, Tleia resumed her race, taking a slower pace as she followed the direction given by the lady they had encountered. “In these moments I’m glad Andor and I bothered to educate your speech, Lil’Master.” She commented with a hint of honest relief in her tone.

“He-e-e-e-e-ey!” Pango Lyn objected. “I’m pretty sure you’re the one who’s scary this time! I’m usually too small to scare anyone right away, anyhow.”

“When you own the known title of Tiny Tyrant, I don’t believe your actual height matters anymore. You’re just scary by default.”

“…Well you’re still scary too.”

“I shan’t deny that, Lil’Master.”

The two finally reached Gashley’s lair: A simple, isolated glass house of a dark green color, with the title “Shatter Me Softly” written on a wooden plank above the place. With its round windows and large door, it looked like a fat, green bird who had just realized in horror that his ability to fly had vanished along with its feathers.

“Yellooooo!” Pango Lyn shouted as Tleia stopped in front of the house. “You there, Gash? I got some trade material for ya!”

The door slowly opened as a peculiar figure came out. It was a humanoid female figure, its body hidden by a large green gown with black pearls for buttons on the center of the clothing. One of the sleeves was bulkier than the others, but at the end of both could be seen the figure’s glass-like hands, typical feature of the people of the Glass District. She also bore large, white almond eyes with no pupils on a mouthless face, partially hidden by the large, crooked hat of the same color of the gown that sat atop the figure’s head.

“Ly-lyn♪” Gashley exclaimed tunefully, speaking in the typically singing tone of her kind. “Where have you been all this time? Fighting♫? Or, perhaps… Gathering my needs♪”

“Yup, yup, both of that!” Pango Lyn assured. “Come up here! I’ve got plenty of battle memory for… uh… Your research, whatever it is.”

“My research, yes♪” Gashly sung in return, leaping towards the paw Tleia offered her and nimbly climbing to Pango Lyn’s side. “I’m certain I’ve told you this, but you Dreamfolk are fascinating to me, and I wish to study the choices you make♪”

Pango Lyn raised an eyebrow. “Wait, but aren’t you a Dreamfolk yourself? You don’t really strike me as human – and if you are, I mean no offense.”

“While I technically belong to your category on a physical level… I cannot, Ly-Lyn, identify as a Dreamfolk when it comes to my mind♪ I am… Far too complete to be called a full Dreamfolk, which explains my isolation, and interest in both myself, and you♫” she explained, patting on Pango Lyn’s head as she finished her sentence.

“Oh, I… just assumed your entire kind of… um… glass people could predict stuff or explore memories.”

A crystal ball appeared on Gashley’s second hand and she placed it on Pango Lyn’s hand holding it firmly. “If you meet any, Ly-Lyn, that shares my ability, then please, introduce that being to me♪”

They stayed like this for several minutes, as Gashley gradually explained her usual procedure: she could pour a certain type of memories as images for her to see in her crystal balls, and she currently had a big interest in the quick choices Dreamfolk and other beings took in battle – an activity that wasn’t as widespread in Dust City as it could be, but one that Pango Lyn could easily attract. In exchange, she’d try to reach for Pango Lyn’s hidden memories to try and help him remember his lost past. And, as usual, Pango Lyn couldn’t help but ask himself how was it possible that Gashley only seemed to find musical lyrics and random quotes instead of precise images.

Do you feel like you're second-hand?

Do you feel you're afraid to stand alone?

Cut away every safety net

Live your life so you won't regret the road


Gashley opened her eyes. “That, Ly-Lyn, is all I have to offer♪” she said. “These lyrics, must be significant for you, and nothing is as clear in your memory as this, for the moment♫”

Pango Lyn nodded. “That’s okay for now. We’ll try to focus on these lyrics and find the rest. Thanks for your help, Gash!”

“And thank you for yours, Ly-Lyn♪ May the light shine through your body♪”

“And may yours shatter peacefully!” Pango Lyn replied, respecting the ritual sentence. With that, Gashley leaped off Tleia’s back and directed her steps back inside her home. “Welp, that’s all, this time.” Pango Lyn said with a hint of disappointment in the voice. “Guess we won’t learn anything new about my memory this time, or whoever made me.”

“Don’t worry, Lil’Master.” Tleia intervened. “It is a fastidious process, but it is certainly worth it in the end. Come, we should get back to our home.”

“Right. Let’s do that!”

But before Tleia could begin her dash towards The Dreadmill, a new figure appeared in the middle of the abandoned road, its cloak floating along with the cold wind.

“Well, well, well,” the stranger began. “Out of my comfort zone for what, five minutes? And I already run into my darling little Lyn.”

Pango Lyn rose from his spot. A dark blue cloak over an old white shirt, torn blue shorts that showed off numerous scars and bite marks across her legs and, her most striking feature, a rafflesia the size of a sombrero covering shaggy brown hair spread across the face like a helmet, hiding along the way an ugly claw-shaped green scar on the side of the cheek. It was indeed her.

“…Liz.” Pango Lyn said in a polite tone.

Lisière, my Lyn. Lisière.” Lisière corrected. “Hard name, I know, but you’ll get used to it.” Lisière put a hand to her rafflesia and raised it, giving a devilish smile to Pango Lyn. “You look sad. Still looking for your memories?”

“Leave… Him… alone.” Tleia warned in a menacing tone, staring down at the intruder of their peace. “Or suffer from the consequences.”

“You can always come to my place if you feel down, my Lyn.” Lisière continued, superbly ignoring the giant sphinx. “You know I’ll make it worth your while…”

“…Your scar is back.” Pango Lyn commented. “Who’s body did you steal?”

“You make it sound like I’m some sort of evil bug.” Lisière replied, amused. “If I don’t use my Parasite on people, I can’t survive myself, you know.”

Pango Lyn blinked. “…You’ve said that before.” He commented. “You said… You said some beings outside of Dust City did creepier things than that.”

Lisière smiled. “Oh, yes.” She confirmed. “And in case you don’t believe me, there are others who know that. But obviously, you wouldn’t, since you have no access to the World Above…”

Tleia chose this moment to raise her paw and squash the ground below it, her claws stopping inches away from Lisière’s body. “I said: leave him alone.” Tleia hissed. “Remind him of his unfortunate condition once again. Worsen his mood once again. See what happens.”

Still unconcerned by Tleia’s threats, Lisière walked on the giant sphinx’s paw and steadily climbed it, as if floating on the gale of Tleia’s frustration.

“Don’t move.” Pango Lyn ordered to Tleia. “It’s… It’s okay.” He stared as Lisière approached him with her confident, barefooted gait and grin. She leaned over, placing a delicate finger under Pango Lyn’s chin, lifting it softly. “There is so much I could give you if you let me in, my Lyn.”

“Why don’t you say sorry to Tleia, first?” Pango Lyn replied. “You’re always like this with her. It’s mean.”

“I see you’re still not ready to understand that they don’t exist, unlike you, my Lyn.” Lisière commented. “But that’s fine. When you want more information on the World Above, come find me.”

“Say sorry to Tleia.”

“I’ll do better than that.” Lisière leaped back, performed a flawless back flip and landed on her previous position, right in front of Tleia’s clawed paw. For the very first time, Lisière gave her a glare, her confident behavior replaced by a cold, calculated expression. “Love your enemies.” Lisière declared. “Love your enemies and always question your allies. Put your life on the line, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll exist, too.”

“Next time you bother my Master, I won’t waste time warning you anymore.” Tleia calmly replied. “I’ll simply squash you.”

Lisière’s smirk appeared once more. “You won’t. Because he can do that himself. Ask yourself why he didn’t.” with that said, Lisière turned on her heels and, cloak floating along, she disappeared in the narrow alley from which she came.

“Let’s go, Tleia.” Pango Lyn said calmly. “We can chat about all this when we’re back inside, right?”

“…Of course, Lil’ Master.”

The duo left as well, directing themselves towards their home, heads buzzing with conflicted thoughts.
"Is there a limit to how much living I can live with my life? How will I know if I've gone too far?
And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses for a whale?
I shall find the answers... to these questions."





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deleted221222 says...



Slayer - A Cacophony of Destruction


The light in the distance was beginning to fade away, enveloping the vast expanse of grass in an orange hue. The massive humanoids dotted around laid dormant as large clouds exited from their bodies. Very few of these titans continued to wander around.

Inside these titans were corridors and tunnels, dug out and used by Vapour-folk in order to reach the head. Most of these pathways were regularly frequented by them, but a few remained isolated as they led to dead ends, as it would damage the structure.

Inside one of these dormant titans, at the end of one of its corridors, a lone figure moved around, lugging around crates filled with small boxes. Drawing his swords, he dug his swords into the wooden walls, scraping out tiny holes to fill with a purple powder.

“♪A Cacophony of Destruction, this’ll be a feat!♪” Slayer sang to himself, a wide grin on his face. “♪To see those enraged Vapours. My! It’ll be a treat!♪”

“I see you’re having fun,” a disembodied voice came from behind Slayer. He turned around, only to see a floating mass of white cubes. “You’re not a good singer, you know.”

“Ah, Moog, you’re back already,” Slayer chuckled. One of Dust City’s greatest intelligence networks, Moog was pivotal to his little operation. It took time to gather the money to hire him, but in the end, it had paid out immensely. “Are there any Vapours coming here?”

“I have set up surveillance throughout the titan. If anyone enters, I’ll be the first one to know,” Moog replied robotically. This was something he had regretted taking, as if there was even a hint of his involvement, the Vapours would come down hard on his business. “You’re really planning to do this?”

“Of course I am!” Slayer answered back vehemently. He lodged another small box of powder into the crevice he dug out. Finally finished, he stepped back to admire the wall of explosives. “The look on the Vapour’s will be priceless as they find one of their precious titans without a head!”
“You do understand there’s still a vast amount of titans in these plains. This will not weaken them in the slightest.”

“Idiot! You aren’t seeing the bigger picture here. This’ll strike doubt and fear into their hearts. After this head rolls, no longer will little Vapour children be able to sleep at night. They’ll be too afraid of me! The Vapour Slayer!”

Moog watched silently as Slayer cackled madly to himself. This client was downright insane! Picking a fight with the Vapour-folk was the easiest way to find your head mounted on a wall. In his earlier days, Moog learned not to cross them. He wasn’t about to become a target again.
“What about the rest of Dust City?” Moog questioned. “Innocent Dreamfolk will be caught in your crossfire.”

The mention of other Dreamfolk seemed to strike a nerve, as Slayer began to quiet down. His pupils shifted steadily from red to brown.

“I know. What I’m doing may be dangerous to everyone else,” Slayer muttered. He sat down on an empty crate, looking deep into the scar on his palm, before raising it up to Moog. “I have to do this, though. What I’m doing is for the good of Dust City.”

“I doubt you have Dust City’s best interests at heart. The mere mention of a Vapour brings you into a frenzy.”

“And you don’t think I can’t be passionate about this?” Slayer complained, his eyes once again turning red. “Those fuckers up in their little skydome want to rule us! Force us into slavery just because we were born there! If you went through the shit I went through, you’d understand well enough that they need to fall!”

And just like that, Slayer went into another of his rants. Moog was barely able to pay attention, however, as something managed to trip his sensor. Focusing on the entrance of the titan, he could see a lone Vapour entered the building. A humanoid wearing a full suit of armour, Moog couldn’t see what house it was from. However, it did just open up a new opportunity.

“Is this enough to destroy the head?” Moog asked, omitting the details about the Vapour.
“Oh yeah, easily,” Slayer said, breaking from his monologue. “This is void powder. Best explosives in the city, courtesy of a little light fixture. You know what would be a riot, though. If we ran the Dreadmill into a titan! Just think, running over a cloudminded titan in that weird pyramid. You know, hijacking it may not be a bad idea…”

Moog continued to distract Slayer while using his sensors in order to lead the Vapour to them. Cautious of the white cubes, the Vapour released a bit of its gas from its armour, which promptly froze into a spear.

“...and once we’re at the wheel, we can just lead it straight through here. It can only be on a Tuesday, however, as transit is half price then,” Slayer continued to explain his makeshift plan for assaulting and taking control of the Dreadmill. Before he could continue on, Moog rushed behind the large Dreamfolk. “Hey, what gives? You were supposed to remember the plan.”

“I can’t accept what you’re doing.”

“If you were so pessimistic about my Dreadmill hijack plan, you should’ve said so. You’re in charge of three-fifths of it.”

“Not that. I can’t accept you trying to wage a war with the Vapours. They’re too powerful. You’re only going to doom us.”

“Too bad, cause there’s a wall of void powder here and I’m about to ignite it.”

“You’ll have to get past that first,” Moog stated, using his cubes to form the direction of an arrow. Slayer looked down the corridor as the Vapour passed into view, before stopping once it saw the Dreamfolk.

“Moog, what the fuck!” Slayer exclaimed, but when he looked behind him, all that was left was a note on the ground.

Think of this as a little test. If you want to prove that this isn’t just a fool’s errand, then prove it yourself. That Vapour is the only one in the titan currently. I’ll be watching closely.

As I haven’t fulfilled the terms of our agreement, you may redeem this note for 75% off our next contract.


“What are you doing here!” the Vapour shouted down the hallway. Slayer stopped reading the note and turned around. Outside of the humanoid’s armour was a spear made of ice. A Water Vapour. This fact just made Slayer smirk, and his eyes shifted into a deeper shade of red.

“Hah! Moog really is an idiot!” Slayer muttered to himself, pulling up his rag to hide his face. “No one ever gives me a coupon without regretting it in some way.”

“Tell me what you’re doing here right now!” the Vapour shouted again. “You’re currently trespassing on the property of the honourable Aqueous Vapour-folk! Speak now, or face punishment!”

“Ah yes, your punishment,” Slayer spoke out, drawing his two curved swords. Cutting his thumbs onto the blade, he let his blood drip down to its tip. “Let me guess. Whipping. Then 100 hours in the mines. Oh, we can’t forget the all-important mutilation. Trust me, I’ve gone through it all.”

“You are being insolent. So be it.” With those words, the Vapour rushed forward, its spear aimed directly at the Dreamfolk’s heart. Slayer’s grin only grew more as his blade edge was entirely coated in his blood. He bent his legs, as sparks of lightning began to course through.

With one push, Slayer quickly covered the distance between the two of them. Parrying the spear with his one sword, he jabbed his blade into the armour, piercing straight through. The spearhead, after flying straight past the Dreamfolk, seemed to twist and turn around, pointed directly at Slayer’s head.

Leaving the sword lodged in the armour, he tried to jump back, but the spear barely caught his neck, slicing a vein. Slayer screeched in pain, clutching his neck as blood started to gush from the wound.

The Vapour retracted his spear, before letting it fade back into his body. Grabbing the sword with its misty hand, it pointed it towards Slayer before rushing forwards again.

“Just kidding,” Slayer laughed, releasing his hand from his neck. The wound has shut completely. With his other remaining sword, he knocked the blade out of the Vapour’s hands and stabbed it once again.

“Ergh… but I sliced the aorta! I made sure of it!” the Vapour grunted as Slayer pulled the sword out and jumped back, picking up his second off the ground.

“You must not know who I am. I swear I was big news up there,” Slayer chuckled. His words finally made the Vapour realise who he was dealing with.

“The Vapour Slayer…”

“Ah, so you do know who I am. As such, you should know about my special ability.”

Slayer flipped his sword around, before plunging it into his own abdomen. Blood poured out once more, floating around his wound before dropping to the ground in a perfectly round circle. “I can manipulate my blood all I want.”

Instead of being intimidated, the Vapour began to grow in size. It laughed heartily to itself, before forming two ice spears out of its arms. “I can’t believe I’ll have the honour of slaying the Vapour Slayer!”

“Let’s see you try!” Slayer exclaimed, dipping his swords back into the puddle of blood. For a third time, the Vapour rushed forward. Slayer wondered if it was it the only thing it knew?

Generating a charge in his legs to contract his muscles, he suddenly ducked under the spears. With the same maniacal grin, he slashed through the Vapour’s armour, manipulating his blood to go inside.

The two spears folded back on themselves, stabbing Slayer through the chest. The intense stinging pain caused the Dreamfolk to cough up blood. The two spears then straightened back, ripping through his torso.

Slayer fell to the ground, the puddle of blood he laid in become bigger and bigger. The Vapour’s spears faded away as it knelt down, picking the Dreamfolk up by his chin. “I expected more from the fabled Vapour Slayer.”

“And I didn’t expect you to be such a fucking idiot! I can control my blood! Look at what’s surrounding you!” Slayer shouted out. Tendrils of blood shot out from the puddle, puncturing the Vapour’s armour. Jumping to his feet, Slayer, who had closed his wounds, grasped his two blood-soaked swords, before repeatedly slashing and stabbing the humanoid. “Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die!”

The Vapour stumbled backwards as Slayer delivered a final slash. Its vision became blurry, and it became harder for it to move. “Wh-... What’s happening to me?”

“Why don’t you look for yourself,” Slayer cackled, grabbing its chest piece and ripping it off. The Vapour, who was supposed to be a crystal bluish mist, was now tainted with red blots throughout its being. “You’ve fallen into my trap! Normally, I have to turn my blood into vapour before it can properly ‘infect’ a Vapour. Unfortunately for Water Vapours, you guys just suck it up naturally! You were at a disadvantage the entire time!”

The Vapour fell to its knees as it removed piece after piece of its armour. Every single spot of its misty body was blotted with red splotches. It looked up Slayer, whose face formed a maniacal grin.

“Time for the pièce de résistance. I haven’t earned the name ‘Vapour Slayer’ for nothing,” Slayer cackled. He reached into the Vapour’s body, before generating a high voltage shock from his hand. It cried out in pain while Slayer watched in bliss. “Blood isn’t my only power. I can also create electricity from my own body. It’s the reason I have these scars. And I know a particularly excruciating technique that I’ve developed for you bastards specifically.”

Willfully reopening the wounds at his wrists, a string of blood shot out and connected with two largest clumps of red liquid in the Vapour’s body. Grabbing the string with his hands, Slayer started to pull.

The Vapour could feel his body start… shrinking? No, it was starting to pull in on itself! The once large figure was now half of its own size. Then a quarter. Then an eighth. By now, it was no longer a mix of blood and water vapour, but now entirely made of blood.

Suddenly, the blood began to harden. The Vapour could do nothing but scream out as it was encased in a dark red molasse.

“That… took… a while…” Slayer panted, tired from the extreme loss of blood. He took the statue of blood in his hands, the shape of a face in fear. Most probably the same face the Vapour had made. Well, if it had a face. “Now comes the exciting part.”

Slayer started to generate electricity in every part of his body. His skin started turned crimson and lightning began to visibly arc. After building enough, he focused it all into the statue in his hands. Inside, a muffled, hellish scream echoed out, only further satisfying Slayer. Releasing hold of the statue, it started to float in the air, glowing from all the energy being sent to it.

A few of Moog’s cubes floated around, watching over the ensuing battle. He could barely continue to watch the torture taking place. What kind of experience did this ‘Vapour Slayer’ have to end up like that?

“Suffer! Suffer like I have! Fear the Vapour Slayer!” Slayer shouted as the statue reached its peak, exploding and releasing a wave of blood all over the walls and floor. There was no trace left of the Vapour. Slayer’s skin darkened again as his eyes shifted from bright red to brown.

“I… may have overdone it…” Slayer whispered, falling over into the pool of red liquid. Even a passive Blood Lightning Prison managed to cripple him. Or it was the vast amount of blood he was missing? At the very least, he wouldn’t die from this. Shifting around a bit to get comfortable, Slayer heard the sound of paper crumpling. Reaching behind, he took the discount coupon from his vest pocket. It was soaked in blood and ripped in two, most likely from the ice spear attack. “Just my luck, too.”

Outside the titan, the sun had passed the horizon, and on cue, a loud bell rang out through Dust City. The suddenness had caught Slayer unprepared. He wouldn’t have time to set a timer and get away. He then had a cunning idea, one that prompted his eyes to turn red once more.

The second toll rang out as Slayer started throwing handfuls of his blood at the void powder.

The third toll rang out as he finished making a direct connection between him and the closest pile.

The fourth toll rang out as he generated a high charge in his hand.

The fifth toll rang out as he watched it travel through his blood to the void powder, igniting the bare corner of the pile.

“♪The fall of Metropolis, this I want to see...♪” Slayer sang out as the sixth toll started to ring.

“♪A Cacophony of Destruction, show this to... me!♪” Slayer’s voice cracked as he felt his body being whisked away to the Upper Metropolis. The ignited void powder burst, sending sparks of purple that exploded across the hallway. A few trails landed in other piles of void powder, causing them to erupt as well.

As the chain reaction continued, the head of the titan began to weaken and sway, before a trail landed into the crate of void powder Slayer had forgotten to set. In an instant, the explosion coursed through the neck of the titan, breaking it off with ease.

Dreamfolk across the plane watched as the head of a titan flew straight into the sky from a bright purple explosion. The titan fell onto its back, causing the ground to rumble and shake.

The head continued to trail upwards through the sky, so high that the rest of Dust City could see, from the Dreamfolk at the lowest level to even the Vapours in their Upper Metropolis.

“♪A plan of momentum, one that I’ve seized…♪” Slayer sang to himself, watching his work sail through the sky. “♪A Cacophony of Destruction… Now, I’m pleased…♪”





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WanderingCloud says...



Mr Frank's Desolate Eve

In a pitch black room. Playing in a cassette radio, a song by Frank Sinatra,

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Let your heart be light

From now on, all our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas..."

Cans of booze littered about here and there. Papers, grease and scraps of metals and parts of machines mixed in. Sitting on his bed, moonlit eyes showed indignation. His already scruffled black beard dampened by tears of longing. Holding a golden pocket watch. Clicked it open. 11:59 PM. About time. From left his side, he got a bottle of expired poison for rats. Opened the cap.

For one last time, he clicked open the pocket watch. It was an heirloom of the family. While at it he drank the liquid from the bottle.

The pocket watch in his hand warped. "...H-huh?" Is this how death feels? It's already taking effect maybe?

Like mixing coffee and cream, his world turned and turned until he found himself in a hospital. It was eerily quite. Occasional beeps of a monitor could be heard. In front of him is also, him? Holding the slender hands of the most beautiful woman he ever met, his wife.

His wife smiled, it has been 3 years since she was diagnosed. In this cold hospital, in her deathbed. She was freed from pain and so was his beloved. As straight as an arrow, the line on the monitor beeped to her final breathe. He cried and cried but it was time. He sobbed while holding her warm hands slowly turning cold as ice. The tight grip of holding on since the time before they knew she had a Stage 3 cancer became limp and lifeless.

Then again, his world turned like mixing paints. Standing in an unknown house.

His 18 years old son doing alcohol and drugs sitting on an ashen sofa. The former would be much better without that latter. For it was the reason, he was shot in the chest by a policeman. Painting the sofa crimson. He was caught in a raid and was reported for illegal drugs. He came back home in a coffin.

His world twisted again. In front of Berdiville Church's huge wooden door.

Barely reached the event. He saw his daughter exchanging vows, wore a wedding ring and kissed a man. This is the last time he saw his daughter. He only remembered a glimpse of her white wedding dress, for he chose to forget this memories but it keeps coming back. Coming back. He wanted everything to stop. Let him control his fate again. So that he will be able to return or go forward. He could only close his eyes and feel the surge of bitterness of his lost loved ones.

The old man spasmed. It would be much better this way. He can finally see them again. Slowly, his body slouched downward.



***



In his brown eyes appeared a world of clouds. Variety in colors. Along which are twinkling stars. Air breezing on his wrinkled face. Rather met with a floor, there he realized he was falling. "Shit." That made him hold his breath.

Like streaming a video on the internet, the world around him paused.

A meter before he hit the ground, he stopped mid-air. Below are large turning gears, stopped. Even the breeze stopped. He opened his eyes again. "Ahhh... what to d...!?"

BAM!

"Stupid old man." He fell flatly on a silver platform. He searched the watch from his pocket. 12:00 PM. "I should have been dead by now. But..."

"...."

"......"

"......!?!?"

"W-where am I?" And lo, he fainted, again.

***

Small metallic critters crawled up on his body. Spiders it seems. Unknowingly his hand raised and

*SLAP*

the spider got away. "Ahhhh!!! W-where!? I could've asheshush pwee!! Is this? A spider? A metal at that."

*CLINK*

The metallic spiders held their sharp little claws pointed him. The old man's eyes moistened. And, he wailed. Looking at them, they like adorable tiny warriors yet terrifying of their numbers. Cute but deadly like thorns.

The spiders looked at one another. Feeling ashamed, at the same time awkward for the old man. One of the spiders asked, "W-who are you? You tresspasser. You're not a Timeguard. What are you doing here? D-don't cry..."

The old man wailed and wailed with occasional clattering of his bearded jaw. "I-Is this heaven? Or maybe hell? I-I hope it's the former. Uwoohhh..." Snots are now falling from his nose.

The one who asked, stood up straight. As if regaining his composure and earning back some dignity as a guardian. "You are not in heaven or hell. More like, in a chaotic hell, maybe?..."

"Uwaaaahhhh!!! I-I shouldn't have poisoned myself!"

"...S-shut your yammering! It might also be heaven, since here lives dreams of people. So stop crying! Damn!"

The old man stopped. He remained frozen in a wailing position. The metallic spider guards felt death at that moment. They can't move their bkdy. Cold oily-sweats ran down their gears.

Next thing they knew, the old man. Now crouching behind the talking 'spider'. Tapped on its 'supposed' tiny shoulders or back. "Thank you for the information, boy."

The old man skipped to the edge of the Star Clock and jumped.

The group of 'clock-insects' felt relieved. They never knew who that man was or will they ever want to. He must have an incredible power like those 'Gifteds'. "But it feels strange," said one of the spiders. "Y-yeah. Me too. It's kind of familiar yet not," another replied. "More powerful!" one exclaimed.

With things that happened earlier. They for sure don't want to meet this guy again, ever. But there is still the lingering feeling why 'he' is familiar.

***

Mid-air. Wide grin surfaced on the old man's face. "Yahoooooo!..."

Below are different variety of beings he hadn't seen in his whole old life. It is more easy to say that they have no distinct shape. And the place is crowded, to his surprise, the ground is glimmering? Must be made of glass.

Then again, a meter above before he hit the ground, he stopped. Truthful to say, everything stopped. He slowly stood elegantly in front of a smoky-like being.

He breathed air in and out, then everything resumed. Everyone continued to 'walk'. He tapped his heel and sure enough, it was glass.

The old man smiled from ear to ear. Looked around. Looks like a market of some sort. He walked to a stall.

There, a fatty man in red with blurry face greeted him. "Good day, sire. What can I help you? We have newly arrived items. Pick what you want."

Atop a table, laid gems, ornaments, and miscellaneous things. Before he could touch an item, a whale-like cry resounded. Must be a huge monster residing in this unknown world. Old man looked up. The fatty in red is shivering. "Mister? W-what is happening?"

"U-uhhh. J-just the Pyramid, luckily he didn't go here."

"Who?"

"A-ahh? Nothing. No one. Haha silly me, as if I dare to even mention its name."

Was about to ask another question. But then, a bluish light swept over the place.

**BOOM**

A strong wave swept everyone away. The old man on the other hand, vanished like a smoke.

***

He appeared again in his cluttered room. The expired poison on his left. Yet to be opened.

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Let your heart be light

From now on, all our troubles will be out of sight..."

"Huh?" Spacing out, he felt himself smiling. He opened the pocket watch, 11:59, at the back of the cover was written,

Made in Dust City

"It really is true."





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Mageheart says...



Adrian Black
Gifted

Traveling the dream world was enjoyable, but, as he made his way through the plains surrounding the Dust City, he wondered how much more enjoyable it would become if he had a friend. It wasn't a new idea. He had toyed with the thought of it before, but always settled on the same conclusion. It was far too terrifying to interact with complete strangers.

Even if it was normal for the people who wandered this world to be on the stranger side, he would undoubtedly be judged for his awkwardness. That was what happened at school, and there was nothing to suggest that conversations here would be any different. It was better to keep to himself. No matter what he did, he was going to end up alone.

A heavy sigh left his lips. Life was a cycle, and this was just one of its recurring themes. He had to make due with what he had. He tried to hum several tunes from Wicked, but none of them lifted his spirits. They rarely did when he got into a mood like this. He stared at the ground in front of him. There was an odd rumbling sound in the distance, but he didn't look up. Odd sounds were nothing new in the dream world. The abnormal had become normal, and Adrian rarely questioned it.

The sound grew louder and louder. Adrian continued on his self-determined path, though he had no destination in mind. It was only when he realized how much the ground was shaking that he finally looked up. There was a stone sphinx quickly approaching him.

And on its back was the infamous Tiny Tyrant.

He suddenly lost the feeling in his legs. He had never seen the Tiny Tyrant before, but he had heard the stories. That was enough for someone like him. He didn't want to play heroics; he didn't even know how. And how was he supposed to deal with someone like the Tiny Tyrant when he was only armed with a knife? He couldn't even gather the courage to grab the knife out of his pocket.

The terrifying sphinx suddenly stopped in front of Adrian, its front paws stopping inches away from his face. At this moment, the creature lowered its head, allowing for the grinning dinosaur on its back to jump on it, gazing into Adrian's eyes with lively eyes.

"Challenger..." was the Tiny Tyrant's first word. "Are you a new challenger?"

The shark-toothed grin he gave made a shiver run down his spine. He desperately wanted to run away, but he was frozen with his fear – though it was odd associating the stories he had heard with the small dinosaur-like creature before him. He towered over him. He didn't look intimidating, (especially with the straight jacket that he was wearing as a cape), though Adrian was sure he could be if he wanted to.

“The name's Pango Lyn – that's my first name, so call me both. And I'm,” Here the Dreamfolk poked him with the tip of his tail. “going to fight you.”

The gesture should have been frightening, but the same conflict remained. It was hard to fear something that was physically smaller than him. It was the words he spoke that caused the most fear. Adrian's eyes widened, and he frantically shook his head. He couldn't find the strength the speak.

The eager grin was quickly replaced by a pout. “Why?”

He gave him a blank look.

“Why don't ya want to fight?” Pango Lyn asked, crossing his arms. He wasn't angry; he seemed oddly disappointed. He still should have been terrified. He knew that. But his tense muscles started to relax, and he found the sight to be somewhat adorable. “You can shapeshift. You have to be an interesting opponent!”

“How did you-” he started to ask, only to fall silent when he noticed that his voice sounded older. He sighed, and focused on returning to his actual form. Content with finally having the right appearance, he explained, “I can't, um, fight.”

Now the look had shifted to one of intrigue. There was a little twinkle to his fierce green eyes. He was getting an idea, though Adrian didn't know what. “You can't?”

He nodded.

Pango Lyn tilted his head to the side. “What's your name?”

There was that look again; that burning desire to do something. The lack of explanation for it should have been alarming, but it wasn't. Pango Lyn could easily defeat him if he wanted to. If he wasn't hurting him, that meant he didn't want to fight. Adrian took solace in that fact.

“Adrian Black,” he replied, “but everyone calls me Adrian.”

A conversation like this was unprecedented. He had never heard stories of the Tiny Tyrant not being, well, a tyrant, and people never sought him out. Being given attention from someone as strange as Pango Lyn made his heart soar.

“Well, Adrian, how do you feel about training there?” He dramatically spun around and gestured at the enormous shape in the distance. He felt a rush of adrenaline. Was that the Dreadmill? Was Pango Lyn inviting him into his home? He couldn't be, could he? Because no one would ever do something like that for Adrian Black, especially when they had only just met.

“Are you...are you sure?” he quietly asked. The Dust City had blessed him with so many wonderful opportunities, but this was far too special for even that. “What would you gain out of it?”

He was teeming with a contagious, bubbly eagerness that Adrian rarely felt. Seeing his new friend – was it too soon to call him something like that? – be so happy made him feel the same way. “I'd get an entertaining fight, and you'd get a chance to train. A good trade, right?”

He eagerly nodded. Even though it was far from a conventional friendship, he knew spending time with Pango Lyn was something that he wanted to do. He hadn't been more sure of something since he had first ended up in the Dust City. “When will we go?”

Pango Lyn's grin grew. “Now.”

His tail suddenly elongated. It was only for a few seconds, but it was enough time to grab Adrian around the waist and plop him down on the sphinx's back. Once his tail returned to normal, the little Dreamfolk joined him on the sphinx's back.

“Let's go, Tleia!”
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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TinkerTwaggy says...



Pango Lyn: “I’m the Boss!”
Chaotic tunes of a tiny tyrant


“Cut away all the safety nets…
Live your life so you won’t regret the road...”


Pango Lyn frowned. He tried to scratch his head with his hands, then realized they were still trapped in his Madder Cloth – he sometimes forgot he still wore that, it was so comfy – then prepared his tail to do the job for him. Then, he realized he had a fancy new guest to ride back home with. “O-o-o-o-oh, that’s right!” Pango Lyn exclaimed, gazing at Adrian.

“Wh-What is it?” the latter said in that shy, shy tone of his.

“Pango Lyn slightly moved towards him. “Can you scratch my head, please? I was trying to do that myself to properly show off that I was… um… perplexed for a sec there, but I realized I can’t do that with my Madder Cloth on. And that’s where you come in, big guy!”

Without a word, Adrian placed a hand atop Pango Lyn’s head and scratched it, to the latter’s satisfaction. “Thank you!” he frowned again. “...But I still can’t remember that song.”

“Oh, you… You sing?”

“Yuh-huh! It helps me get my memories back! I just returned from a trip to Gashley’s place – she’s a good friend – and she got a few lyrics back into my head, but that’s about it. Got a lot of songs in there! Some of them are super cool, too.”

Adrian glanced at Pango Lyn with a mix of awe and sadness. “You’re amnesic? That’s… that sounds tough.”

Pango Lyn giggled. “That’s why I sing, big guy! C’mon, harmonize with me there, We got a few minutes ‘til we reach my place.”

And for the following minutes, Pango Lyn took it upon himself to teach the lyrics of his favorite song to his new friend, and by the time they reached the Dreadmill, they could at least sing the refrain together. Though unfortunately, they were unable to test their synchronization further, for trouble arose the moment they arrived.

“Lil’Master,” Tleia spoke, startling Adrian, who hadn’t yet heard her speak. “Trouble lies in front of us.”

“Aww, but Ad and I just started enjoying the–” Gazing down, Pango Lyn noticed two figures in black suits wearing attempting to assault a third, much smaller one. But more importantly, they were damaging the Dreadmill’s side wheel while doing so.

“...Tleia.” Pango Lyn said in an eerily emotionless tone as he rose. “On my mark, if needed.”

“Confirmed.”

“Ad.” Pango Lyn continued, turning his gaze towards Adrian. “Stay here. When Tleia moves, grab her neck.” Having said that, Pango Lyn jumped away from Tleia. The two men had already stopped their action to turn towards Pango Lyn as he walked towards them, two oval projectiles – affectionately referred to as Eggs – resting in his free hands. Then, he spoke.

Maybe you’ve heard about me,
All in the news today.


With lightning speed, a first Egg was thrown towards the men. They instantly leaped backward and only then did Pango Lyn notice that their faceless white heads were faceless because of a mask-like headgear that surrounded their entire heads, over which they wore fancy black hats.
But it did not matter. They had scratched the Dreadmill.

I’m kind of legendary:
In the most destructive way.


The Egg, of course, was but a diversion: Pango Lyn leaped forward and dashed towards the man on the right, his head ready to strike with all his might. At the last second, the man jumped, placing an arm forward as he opened his gloved hand: a thunderbolt came out of it, and struck the spot Pango Lyn stood on a second ago. Pango Lyn had already changed position to put his feet on the Dreadmill’s side tracks, using it as a bouncing platform to follow the masked man in mid-air. Then, his tail briefly elongated as he performed a front flip, whipping the adversary in the process. Without waiting, Pango Lyn plunged head first after him, striking the exposed stomach with his powerful head and rose, staring at the other one.
The action hadn’t lasted more than a few seconds.

Open a dictionary
Turn in to “Mastermind.


Like the first one, the second masked man pointed a gloved finger at Pango Lyn – but before he finished his action, Pango Lyn placed a foot on the ground and used the claws of his Flutter Sharpies to pick up his defeated foe before raising him as a human shield: just in time to block the thunder strike.

You’ll see a picture of me
With my other bros in line.


Pango Lyn opened his free hands, dropped the body and threw two more Eggs at his new enemy – one of which detonated on the sand, blocking the enemy’s view with the projection. Pango Lyn used the opportunity to once again leap towards the Dreadmill’s side tracks, evading a larger thunder strike in the process. He then jumped off of it, landing right in front of his foe, who had desperately shot another one of his thunderbolts at the Dreadmill, narrowly missing Pango Lyn. The latter of whom jumped and performed a mighty somersault, hitting the masked man with his tail in the process and smashing him into the ground.

I’ll burn your village and I
Won’t even look behind
I… need… Not… Be… Kind.


Pango Lyn slammed his foot on the enemy’s face, squeezing it along with his mask.

I’m the boss.
I’m the boss.
And just in case I didn’t get my point… across…!


Pango Lyn’s eyes widened with passion as he pressed his foot harder, utterly crushing the head of his enemy beneath it until only a flat white puddle remained.

...I’m the boss.


Pango Lyn stared at the remaining enemy, slowly approaching him. But before he could do anything, the masked man shouted something and promptly vanished in a bright light. Pango Lyn immediately jerked his head towards the third figure, pressed against the side of the Dreadmill’s tracks, away from his position. It was a small, child-like woman with blond hair, pale skin and generally thin figure. She appeared terrified, and strangely enough, an eerie sky blue light emanated from her body, giving her a generally ghostly outlook. Unaffected by her appearance, Pango Lyn marched towards her. “I’ll just tell you one thing.” he began in a calm tone. “Don’t do anything bad to my Dreadmill. And I won’t do anything bad to you. Okay?”

The woman nodded, breathing heavily.

Pango Lyn retrieved his joyful smile and nodded along. “Good! Well, my name’s Pango Lyn, and this is the only home I’ve got. Why were these guys attacking you?”

The tone seemed to slowly calm her. She shook her head – a sign that she did not know, either.

“Okay, uh… Well, what’s your name?”

“...Ella.” she whispered quietly.

“Ella? Ella! Okay, Ella. Do you fight?”

Ella vehemently shook her head, as if the very concept scared something within her. Pango Lyn pouted and let out an exasperated sigh. “What the heck is wrong with everyone, today? If you don’t fight, how d’you stop these two creeps for doing… Whatever they wanted to do to you? Okay, Just… Hold on a second. Tleia! Tleia, can we just make a few exceptions today?”

Tleia approached her master, with Adrian still sitting on her back. “As you wish, Lil’Master. I don’t believe neither of them would be a problem for us, anyway.”

“But it’s not even – I mean, yeah, that, but seriously, this is getting stupid.” Pango Lyn approached Ella once again, pointing a finger from his stubby arms at her. “Listen, lady, stupid people are stupid. And they use fighting to be stupid and to be rude. And you know what? You should be rude to rude people! So, if you’ve got nothing to do, I’m gonna teach you to have to be rude to those who deserve it. Or… You can watch, or something, but just hop in, okay? You’ll be safe.” Pango Lyn jumped back on Tleia’s back and placed himself next to Adrian, grumpily crossing his arms as all three of them waited for Ella to take her decision.

“Are you… are you okay?” was the only sensible thing Adrian could say. Pango Lyn let himself fall on his new friend’s knees, gazing at his surprised face as he covered his body with the two sides of his Madder Cloth as if he attempted to cover himself with an ineffective sleeping bag. “...Nobody should be helpless. Helpless people are annoying.” he simply said.

******


“...Huh. Well, that’s… A lot of people, all of sudden.” Andor commented as he observed the situation from afar, with Tleia nodding in approval next to him.

The group had finally boarded the Dreadmill, sitting in front of the massive construction’s pyramid, forming an improvised circle with Ella and Adrian looking around them in awe, and Pango Lyn sitting alongside them, arms crossed, frown on his face, thinking hard on how to teach something to two people he had learned on his own. Andor and Tleia remained on the ground.

“I GOT IT!” Pango Lyn exclaimed, jumping in place. “I got it, I got it, I got it!”

The two guests jerked their heads towards him, surprised.

“Ad!” Pango Lyn said, pointing at Adrian. “You have a weapon, right?”

“Yeah… I have a knife.” Adrian admitted, almost guiltily.

“Goodie!” Pango Lyn exclaimed, clapping his hands with satisfaction. “We’ll start with that.”

“What do you mean?” Adrian asked carefully.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’re not gonna fight me for real!” Pango Lyn immediately corrected. “That would be mean, you’re not ready yet. No, we’re going to train your reflexes. See, if you have a dagger, then you have to learn how to get in close. Smoothly, too! So, I’mma shoot my Eggs at you, and you’re gonna try to dodge them – or deflect them with your weapon since you totally can – and then you’ll have to try and scratch me at least once. Meanwhile, Ella’s gonna watch!” he turned to her. “Just so you can see Ad’s evolution, okay?”

Ella politely nodded, letting a tiny smile decorate her pale face.

“Okay! Welp, it’s you and me, Ad!”

Adrian rose up, suddenly getting much taller than he normally was. Pango Lyn giggled. “You, uh, changed form again.”

“O-Oh, right. Sorry.” Adrian took his natural form again, then reached for his pocket and grabbed his sole weapon. Pango Lyn stared at him, realizing something. “...Hey, Ad. If you can shape-shift… Try to use that to your advantage okay?”

“But… What advantage can I have with shape-shifting during a fight?” Adrian inquired, genuinely confused. Pango Lyn grinned. “The reach, Ad. The reach.” Having said that, Pango Lyn leaped back, before summoning two of his Eggs in his hands. “Ready?”

Adrian nodded – then immediately gasped and ducked, for Pango Lyn’s oval-shaped projectile passed over his head. He had the right idea to gaze back up and move away: a second Egg followed, detonating where he stood a second ago. But to Adrian’s surprise, a sudden impact hit him in the head and he fell on the ground. He rose back from it, incredulous.

“I knew you’d move there, so, threw the third one with my tail above your head.” Pango Lyn explained. “The second one was sorta there to make you move, anyway, so, you were pretty much doomed.” he giggled. “Expect more trick shocks like these, Ad!”

During the next infernal minutes, Adrian found himself desperately trying to dodge the numerous Eggs that Pango Lyn threw at him with a relentless passion, devoid of anything but his childish wish to aim, fire, and score a resounding bull’s eye.

Then came a moment where a cornered Adrian had no choice but to duck beneath a series of Eggs, only to be greeted by a last one right above his head. Recognizing the trick, Adrian drew his blade and manage to hit the projectile, deflecting it away for the first time. Emboldened by his success, he ran towards Pango Lyn, whose grin grew larger as he threw an Egg right in front of Adrian, taunting him to repeat his action. Midway through his sprint, Adrian’s body grew into a much more athletic one, and he once again used his dagger to deflect the projectile. A third Egg experienced the same fate, but by the fourth one, the dagger’s blade broke as both Pango Lyn and Adrian froze in place, staring at the weapon.

“...Oh.” Pango Lyn commented. “Darn, I… Did I give them too much power?”

“I… Don’t think so?” Adrian replied, unsure of himself. “I took a few of those in the head, and it didn’t hurt that much.”

“Right? And it did not look like a bad blade, either, ‘cause not all daggers can cut through my Eggs.” Pango Lyn pointed a finger at Adrian. “Maybe that muscly form of yours went to rough on it, Ad.”

“Muscly…?” Adrian looked at himself, first with surprise, then with exasperation. “Sorry about that.” he apologized. As he took his original form once more, Pango Lyn bumped his head against his stomach. “Stop, already!” he exclaimed, pouting as he looked up. “Stop apologizing to me. You did exactly what I wanted you to do!”

Adrian’s eyes widened. He seemed confused.

“Shape-shifting, Ad! Shape-shifting! It gives you reach, strength, stamina, height, and even physical resistance. You can modify your body in any way you want, which means that you can fight in any way you want to!” Pango Lyn’s grin appeared again, as his eyes gleamed with excited passion. “You are the ultima human being, because you don’t need to be bound by styles.” Then, Pango Lyn’s smile disappeared. “...Do not believe in styles, anymore. How can I express myself? Totally and completely? Ask yourself that. That way, you won’t create a style. It’s a process of continuing growth.” Pango Lyn jerked his head towards his Sphynx partners. “Did you memorize it?!”

Only Tleia remained on the ground: Andor rose and ran inside the pyramid. “We memorized it, and Andor is about to write it down.” Tleia assured. Then, she looked at Adrian. “Don’t mind us, young one. Our little master still has problems with his memories, and quotes such as this one tend to appear from time to time. They are our only clue to understand exactly who he is.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much it.” Pango Lyn added. “And that one fits what I want to tell you, Ad. Shape-shifting will give you your own style. It doesn’t matter if you change form without looking: embrace that. Because that’s what gives you the best reflexes, y’hear?”

Adrian gazed at Tleia, then back at the smiling Pango Lyn, his breathing accelerating as the hand that held his broken dagger trembled. “Th-Thank you.” he whispered. “I’ve… Nobody ever told me that before.”

“Well, we are buddies now, so, gotta stick to my role!” Pango Lyn exclaimed pridefully. Then, he frowned. “Although, I’m not sure what we can do about your dagger now...”

It was at this moment that Ella chose to move. Rising from the ground with a spectral grace, she calmly marched to Adrian’s position and timidly took his hand within hers. An appeasing glow emanated from her hands until a dome of light surrounded them. Seconds later, the dome turned into sky blue-colored bubbles, and both Adrian and Pango Lyn’s eyes widened.

“Wow…! Wow, wow, WOW!” Pango Lyn exclaimed excitedly. Both him and Adrian could see a new dagger having replaced the previous one. Its gun-like handle was curved, and attached to it was an orange, metallic structure, at the tip of which a large, gray-colored blade rested, ready to be used. It had even come with its own holster, black in color, which was already attached to Adrian’s waist. He gazed at Ella, who smiled in return. “It suits you.” were the only words she offered.
"Is there a limit to how much living I can live with my life? How will I know if I've gone too far?
And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses for a whale?
I shall find the answers... to these questions."





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Fri Mar 30, 2018 11:21 pm
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deleted221222 says...



Slayer - A Method In the Wind


“Bring those boxes here, Slay,” the lion-headed dreamfolk yelled. “And hurry up! We don’t have all day!”

“Right, coming boss,” Slayer replied. He heaved the stack of crates over to him, lightly applying a hint of lightning to his muscles. He dropped them by his employer’s feet, and the contents inside clattered around. “Oops.”

“Gah! Put them down gently,” the dreamfolk complained. “This stuff is valuable. I don’t want lost profits.”

“Yes, Lionhead. I’m sorry,” Slayer apologized, lowering his head.

“That’s Mr. Lionhead to you,” Lionhead huffed. Slayer could hear the sneers of his coworkers behind the stack of boxes they were sorting through but ignored them. Lionhead gave a few more instruction for Slayer to follow, before moving onto the next group of dreamfolk lazing about.

“Good job getting on Lionhead’s bad side,” the fairy behind Slayer chuckled. She was sorting through the crates he had dropped, clicking her tongue when she found cracks in the items.

“He has a good reason, though. He’s putting himself in danger by hiring me. The least I can do is get the job done properly,” Slayer said, picking up another set of boxes. After losing the Moog’s 50% off, he needed more money. Unfortunately, there weren’t many places that wanted to associate themselves with the Vapour Slayer. Lionhead was the only one willing to give him a fair job.

“Ah, there’s the infamous stoic Slayer,” the giant crow beside Slayer laughed. “You know, I have a few contacts. I could get a few contracts in the market. Slayer-branded weapons. Think of the profits!”

“Thanks, but that’ll bring attention to the market. I don’t want to involve anyone any more than I have to.” Slayer carefully placed a new stack of crates onto a wooden platform and gave the ropes to the crow. “Here’s Desiree’s stock. It’s fragile, so be careful.”

“Eh, worth a shot,” the crow muttered, before flying away with the crates. Slayer continued to earnestly pick up and send off boxes. The market relied on Lionhead’s transport services. He couldn’t mess it up.

A few hours of work later, and the final boxes had been delivered by the crow. Slayer slumped against the wall of a building opposing the open courtyard, awkwardly trying to put his equipment back on. His body was sweaty, and it was messing with his electrical powers.

His coworkers surrounded Lionhead, eagerly waiting for their paychecks. Once they had all received theirs, Lionhead walked up to Slayer. He held out a brown bag and emptied the contents -a single black pearl- into Slayer’s hand.

“Really? This much?” Slayer asked, dumbfounded at the amount.

“Despite your clumsiness, you did help a lot. You probably reduced the workload by about three hours alone,” Lionhead begrudgingly admitted. “I’d give you more, but I took the costs of what you ruined out of it.”

Lionhead walked away while Slayer drooled over the pearl. He clenched it tightly. It would be enough to pay Moog twice as much for the mission he had planned.

A few confused noises had woken Slayer up from his trance. His Lionhead and his coworkers were looking up at one of the buildings, pointing and muttering something. They watched a figure set against the sun glide above the buildings with ease. Even the crow looked up with envy.

Slayer stepped forward, admiring the strange figure. It wasn’t strange to see Dreamfolk fly, but there was something different about this one. Smaller, more fragile, and lacking in any kind of ways to actually fly. He could feel a slight draft travelling the same direction that it did. “Lionhead, who is that?”

Mr. Lionhead, and, well, I don’t know. It may be one of them Gifted I’ve heard rumours about.”

“Gifted?”

“Really? They’re about as famous as you are, Slayer,” Lionhead muttered. “They’re supposedly humans that all have weird powers or something.”

Slayer looked back up to the gifted flying atop the building, before ducking back down. The wind had stopped at that moment. Gifted. Human. Weird powers. Wind.

Follow it, Vapour Slayer told Slayer. He could feel his other side try to push out. It had a hunch, and Slayer was obliged to follow it. Charging his legs, Slayer jumped high into the air, to the surprise of the shipping company’s employees.

“Slayer, what are you doing?” a few of his coworkers asked. He looked back down, his other side’s smile growing on his face.

“I’m going to follow it,” Slayer answered, though he didn’t know if it was him, or his other side. He pulled up the rag to hide his face. He looked back to the landscape of Dust City. In the distance, he could see the figure duck in and above the buildings and streets.
Charging his legs again, he ran forward before leaping from the building. Slayer landed crudely, breaking a few of the roof tiles, but kept his momentum before jumping to another building. The figure was fast, but he was slowly catching up.

The enigmatic gifted continued to dance in the air. Slayer had already realized it. They weren't going anywhere specific. They just wanted to fly. It made them more unpredictable, but it wasn’t impossible to surmise their next move.

As they ducked into one more alleyway, Slayer jumped down to meet them. He pulled out his blades, stabbing them into the two walls to slow his descent. The clattering sounds as he finally landed had surprised the gifted, and they dropped onto the floor along with him.

Finally able to see the gifted face to face, Slayer was surprised to find a young girl. Her long black hair settled down with the wind. So she can control the wind, Slayer thought. His eyes shifted red as his mind wandered to what she could be capable of, especially against the vapours.

Of course, being cornered by a large black creature with red eyes and two sharp blades would scare anyone. On instinct, the girl screamed while pushing her arms towards Slayer. He was hit by a surprise gust of wind, pushing him to the ground. She started to run away, before pushing towards the ground and launching into the air.

“Haha!” Vapour Slayer laughed out loud. He knew that she could control the winds. He swiped up one of his blades and cut his hand. Manipulating a few drops of blood, he shot them forward. They travelled with the wind and splattered against her white shoes before the girl disappeared above the building.

Jumping to his feet, Slayer climbed up the wall back onto the rooftops. The wind had died down, but he could feel the drops of blood he had thrown still nearby.

On the streets, Vapour Slayer told Slayer again. He looked down, watching the crowd of Dreamfolk wander around. There was a tinge of black in the sea of colours trying to move away as quick as possible. Slayer was surprised at how fast she could fly to jump over the building into the crowd, but he doubted why she didn’t just fly away. Unless she couldn’t do it forever.

Slayer leaped off of the building before falling to the hard ground, his swords clanging loudly as he planted them into the ground. The crowd had stopped and started to give space to the Dreamfolk that had just landed from the sky. They moved back, while a few weaker Dreamfolk were pushed to the front. The girl was one of them.

“Found you…” Vapour Slayer said in a singsong voice. The girl panicked. She launched into the air, but her push off was much slower. She was growing weaker. Slayer ran forward, jumping into the air to follow her. He caught her by the ankle, before dragging her down to the roof below them. He landed hard, breaking apart the roof tiles and causing the platform to rumble a bit.

Slayer pushed the girl to the ground, forcing his entire weight on her. She struggled a bit, even attempting to push him off with another gust of wind. All Slayer could feel was a gentle breeze. She attempted to hit his arms, but they were simple mosquito bites compared to what he had suffered through before.

“Hey, hey, hey. Let’s not get violent,” Slayer said.

“W-what do you want?” the girl asked, frightened.

“You can manipulate air, correct?” Slayer asked. The girl was sweating, but she reluctantly nodded. Slayer’s eyes turned red at the answer. “So, tell me. How effective do you think you are against Vapourfolk?”

The girl paused, questioning what he meant. Slayer realized that the girl wasn’t struggling to get free, but was doing so under the crushing pain he was forcing on her. Reluctant because of Vapour Slayer, he loosened his hold on her.

“If you don’t try to escape, I’ll let go of you,” Slayer offered, his eyes turning back to brown. There wasn’t any visible agreement from the girl, but he trusted that she understood. He climbed off her, before squatting on the ground. The girl coughed and panted while Slayer watched.

What are you doing? Vapour Slayer asked Slayer. She’ll run the first moment she gets!

“I don’t feel good about this,” Slayer said. “Sure, she may be invaluable to this cause, but we’re just dragging in civilians at this point.”

Who cares?

“I do.”

“Uh… W-who are you talking to?” the girl asked, still coughing a little.

“Just the devil on my shoulder,” Slayer said.

“Okay…” the girl whispered.

“What’s your name, kid?”

“S-Stella…”

“Okay, then, Stella. You can leave now,” Slayer said, standing back up. “I’m sorry for chasing you.”

Stella was stunned at Slayer’s response. Chasing her just to ask her a question, and leaving before he even got an answer. Slayer brushed it off, before walking towards the edge of the rooftop.

Inside his head, Vapour Slayer was struggling to break free. Slayer did his best to calm the raging beast, but a small part seemed to pierce through the wall. He turned back to Stella, spooking her with his red piercing gaze.

“My other half here won’t agree to anything unless you agree as well. Meet me here tomorrow. That’s not an option,” Vapour Slayer threatened. A drop of sweat dripped down Stella’s neck. Slayer forced himself back into control again, and before he lost himself again, he jumped off the building, leaving the girl above.

As Slayer landed in the alley, he made sure he still had the black pearl. He looked up to the Star Clock, looming over Dust City. Its infamous tolls began. He gripped the pearl tightly. Today was the first conflict he and Vapour Slayer had. He hoped there wouldn’t be any more, not until they were done. He sighed before the final toll whisked him away.





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Terian805 says...



Finn:

Snap,

The camera flashed, and Finn’s camera lens was filled with happy faces.
Finn poked out his head from under the camera cover; giving his best smile to the wedding guests, all assembled on the drive, in a tight cluster of smart jackets, polished shoes, and extravagant dresses.

“OK then everyone!” Finn called out. “Can I have the bride, groom, and the bridesmaids all over by the steps? Then you’ll be able to talk about the annoying photographer, who kept you here for way too long!”

A murmur of laughter passed through the crowd as everyone began to disperse, and the relevant people that Finn had called out, began to make their way over to the gravel towards him, and his dog Roman who was sat beside him patiently.

Finn had been worried he would have to leave Roman at home, the dog never liking that at all. But luckily, the bride and groom had conceded when he asked if he could bring his dog to the wedding, as long as he was kept outside.

Finn caught sight of his mum; sat in her wheelchair, and gesturing him over to her. Finn abandoned his camera and jogged over to her.

“You’re not finding this too boring are you love?” She said with a concerned look on her face. “I really thought it would be good for you to have another job.”

However tedious the wedding had turned out to be, Finn knew she was right. Kate Beckett had phoned him up one week ago, suggesting that he accompany her to the wedding of one of her close friend’s daughters, and take pictures for them.

“You’re spending too much time away in the City Finn.” She’d said through the phone. “I’ve barely seen you over the last month. You need to get out more. Do things that you love again. You used to take pictures all the time, and would have jumped at a chance like this...”

Of course she wouldn’t like him going to the City as much as he did. It was linked with so much of her pain, and suffering after all. It was the City that had crippled her for life. So if she wanted him to spend less time there, Finn knew he couldn’t deny it.
So Finn had agreed to come. He’d dug his camera and tripod from its cupboard, put on his best suit, shaved, and combed his curly blonde hair. But through all of that, he couldn’t help feeling the guilt that he always felt at times like this. If only his Mum knew the difference he was making. If only.

“It’s not boring at all Mum don’t worry.” He replied smiling. “You were right it’s good to get out again.”

She nodded, seemingly satisfied, and began to move off. “I’ll see you later.” She murmured and Finn nodded, patting her on the shoulder, and running back to where the guests were waiting expectantly by the steps.

“OK then.” Finn said, “Can I have the bride and the bridesmaids up on the steps first please.”

The bride herself, Kristin, Finn believed she was called, nodded. She did it excitably, constantly smiling, as if the entire world was filled with an inordinate amount of excitement. She was a good match for her new husband, Will, who looked no less happy all the time in his suit and tie, and was someone whom Finn felt the inordinate urge to punch in the face.

Kristin moved up to the steps, and the bridesmaids arranged themselves around her, giving their best camera smiles.

As Finn was about to put his head under the protecting cloth to take the photo, he stopped and noticed one of the bridesmaids. She was pretty, dark and wavy haired, and had a very set expression about her. Moreover, Finn saw the sleeve of her dress was hiding a nasty gash on her shoulder. She was hiding it well, but Finn had trained himself to spot things like that.

Wait, where have I seen you before...

“Um Finn?” Said Kristin, and Finn realised he’d been stuck staring at the girl, probably fairly creepily as well. He blushed, shoved his head under the cloth, and called out as he prepared his camera, “Ready...one....two...three...”

***

After that embarrassing moment had transpired, Finn took his camera and his laptop down into the garden, where a tremendous gazebo had been erected on the grass: surrounded by cedar trees, and fallen autumn leaves. He entered the gazebo, followed closely by Roman, who he had to order to stay outside. Some of the kids would probably go play with him at some point.

Finn found the bar, sat, ordered a beer and began editing photos. However, after around two hours, he began to get bored, and light headed, and when Will came over to introduce him to a group of people, Finn couldn’t help but be swept up in the festivities.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of shaken hands, smiling faces, hurried introductions, music, food, and dance. A tremendous mansion had been rented out for the ceremony, as well as its broad garden. Finn was amazed to find out he could go more or less wherever he wanted, and always there was some table stacked with food, or some record player droning on.

He was confused as to how all this had been paid for, and he asked as much of his Mum, when the two of them were stood drinking by the gazebo.

“I think it’s the groom and his family who had most of the burden. I heard he has some ridiculous job in Paris, which lets him pay for crazy stuff like this. Sobers you up doesn’t it?”

As the evening drew on, and the grey April sky grew as dark as ebony, Finn was wandering around the garden with what may have been his fourth beer, and Roman padding by his side, he caught sight of the dark haired girl from earlier. She was sat at a table alone, with a glass of wine beside her. Finn doubted that a girl as pretty as her wasn’t here with some guy, but he took the chance anyway, taking the empty seat beside her and nodding to her smiling, as Roman went and lay down beside them, obviously exhausted, poor dog.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

Wow this is going well.

“Thanks for your work earlier with the photos.” Said the girl. “I know Kristin and Will are really grateful.”

“Well thanks I appreciate that. I don’t reckon I could have ever done justice to you and that dress of yours though.”

For a moment she looked mystified, then suddenly burst out laughing.

“Not the most original pick up-line, I’ve gotta say!” She chuckled, “I bet you’ve used that a lot!”

She idly scratched Roman behind the ears, who looked up at her idly, then went back to sleep.

“Yeah I suppose I have.” Finn smiled. “I was harbouring it all evening as well.”

She laughed again at that. “What’s your name?”

“Finn, what’s yours?”

“Jasmine.”
***

Finn lost track of how long they talked, telling each other about how they’d found themselves at the wedding. Finn never mentioned the wound on her shoulder, and was still trying to place what was so familiar about Jasmine. Several times Finn caught sight of his Mum, whose eyebrows seemed to be getting higher every time she saw them together.

“Do y’know Will as well?” Finn asked her.

“Well...funnily enough yeah. We...we used to part of the same line of work.” Jasmine replied.

She laughed nervously after she’d said that, having stuttered through the sentence like she was making it up as she went along. Finn, though intrigued didn’t bother pursuing the subject. She seemed grateful when he did so.

It could have been five minutes, or five hours later when the two of them had migrated to the bar, neither of them caring how close they were sitting, whilst Jasmine rattled on about her placement in Art College, and Finn pretended to be interested, He offered some dumb comment when necessary: making her laugh far more than they actually were funny.

“It’s just...it’s just so tedious.” She rambled on. “I wish I could be like you. Go where I want...doing what I want...taking photos when I want. Instead of holed in a classroom listening to some knob talk about stuff which I’m going to forget the next day. It’s just stupid y’know?”

“Yeah.” Finn laughed. “I..” He stopped dead in his sentence.

Across the room, stood by the entrance to the gazebo, was Will. He was deep in a serious conversation with another man. A fairly short, raven haired figure, dressed in a dark trench coat.

No.

No it can’t be Thomas.

He’s dead.


“Finn?” Jasmine asked, but he was already up and walking, murmuring an excuse to Jasmine, and pacing towards the exit where the man was leaving. He found his camera on a side table nearby, booted it up, and slung it over his shoulder. There were a few angry words when Finn pushed several people aside in his journey, but he barely heard them.
He eventually reached the exit, bursting out into the chilly evening air, and the raven
haired man was already far down the pathway.

Memories came flooding back to Finn.

Years of his childhood...spending weekends running to the house next door, hand clasped in his older sisters hand.

Two kids their age, running out of the house and embracing them, laughing happily.

The gates creaked as the man pulled them open, to where a car was visibly waiting for him on the drive, whilst Finn silently jogged down the path-way, his camera ready in his hands.

A train ride; the tracks rumbling beneath the floor. Finn sat next to his sister, listening to music.

The man pulled open the back door of the car and began to climb in.

No!


The door slammed shut and the car roared down the driveway just as Finn reached the gate. Like lightning, Finn lifted his camera, and the flash spluttered just as the car vanished into the darkness.

Finn cursed, and leaned against the gate: catching his breath, and taking a look at his camera. Then he exhaled in relief as he saw he’d snapped a photo of the car taking off, and the number plate itself, CM6854.

Well.... that’s something.
***

Five minutes later he walked back into the bar, to see Jasmine still sat in the same place, looking at him expectantly with that pretty face. He took his seat, whilst his head was buzzing.

“Holy shit. If that really was him...”

“Hey...Jasmine.” He said. “You saw that guy talking to Will?”

“Nope . Sorry. He must have been an interesting person to take you from me for that long.”

Finn laughed awkwardly, “That won’t happen again, no worries...” Before she leaned over and stopped him with a kiss. Finn leaned in easily and they stayed like that, still at the bar, for a few seconds.

Finally, she broke off and looked him in the eyes. “Now I want to ask you a question?”

“Yeah?”

“Where are you staying tonight?”
***
A few hours later, in Finn’s dark hotel room Jasmine was asleep beside him, and Roman was asleep in the corner, but Finn was still staring at the ceiling, his thoughts buzzing with the events of the day.
Four people rising on the seats opposite, walking down the corridor to the train door behind them.

Something went wrong.

But Finn knew that he’d never figure out how that had happened tonight. And anyway, he’d returned to his hotel room with a pretty girl. Why shouldn’t he be in a good mood?

Finn knew there was only one place he could go when he needed to escape like he did now. So as his eyelids began to grow heavy, he turned over and let darkness claim him.

***

As it usually occurred, Finn wandered through the forest mist curling in his wake; something seemed different. He could hear whispers all around him, seemingly swallowing him up as much as the mist did, and now and again Finn thought he saw dark shapes and figures fleeing madly through the forest, turning in all directions, seemingly aimlessly. The conscious part of his mind didn’t think much of it. It was his dream after all, and dreams changed from time to time.

The train carriage rattled and screamed, and Finn leapt to his feet.

Roman came as always, and didn’t say a word this time. Finn was almost saddened to not hear him say "Fuck you," again.
He crossed onto the floating pathway, and looked ahead of him to see the woman coming his way. There was nothing he could do though, and he was soon dragged into the misty abyss as always.

Finn lurched into reality upon a sandy beach extending out into an endless ocean. The sky itself was glowing here, casting the light onto the deep black of the ocean, and as he turned, he could see the towering buildings of the Kaleidoscope Realm, over the top of a looming sandy hill, which roared with violet, red, and blue light in the distance.

It was always random where Finn might appear when entering the Dust City, he knew that much. But he counted himself lucky when he appeared on the Luminescent Peninsula, near the Kaleidoscope Realm but much more of a tranquil place. It wasn’t filled with haughty Ethereals, and gawking rich tourists to the Dust City, brought there by the Impalpables. In Finn’s opinion, the Peninsula had more of a quiet beauty to it.

As Finn turned and began to walk down the beach, he noticed in the darkness several glowing pink lights which seemed to be moving towards him at a high speed. As they drew ever closer, they began to become clearer to his eyes, and he saw five childlike figures, dressed in jeans, trainers, and t-shirts, with spheres of pink light instead of heads. They were riding bikes, sand being thrown up in their wake, and Finn could hear a happy and carefree laughter reverberating across the beach.

Then all of a sudden, as they drew closer, Finn heard a shout of joy, and one of the figures skidded to a stop in front of him, jumped off their bike, ran towards him, and threw their arms around him.

“Finn! So good to see you!”

“Good to see you to L!”

Finn knew the Glow-Children well now. Exile Ethereals from the Kaleidoscope Realm, for daring to learn the human tongue, they were confined to be riding the Peninsula on their bikes for all eternity, constantly persecuted and ridiculed by the other Ethereals.
They never seemed very sad about it though, especially L, a certain Glow Child who adored Finn.

The other Children were clustering around them, some looking nervous, others interested.

“L.” One said. “Who’s this?”

“It’s Finn, K!” Cried L: finally releasing Finn. “He’s from the otherworld!”

The others all looked confused, then interested. Or as interested as they could be, whilst having no faces. One called out, “Was that mean girl from the otherworld too?”

Finn started, and then looked about for the Child who’d said that. “Excuse me?”

“There was a mean girl skulking around here about ten minutes ago.” L clarified. “We tried to welcome her to the beach, and she told us all to go away. She looked nervous...wait, that’s her there!”

Finn span to where L was pointing, towards a nearby rock, and sure enough he saw a dark silhouette crouched there, watching the proceedings, who immediately darted off when spotted.

Impalpable!


Finn rushed in that direction and vaulted over the rock, to see the figure running up a hill towards the lights of the Kaleidoscope Realm. Finn was faster though, and soon caught up, tackling them and dragging them to the ground, Finn however soon lost his balance, and the two rolled back down the hill again in a tangle of arms and legs, Finn unable to see anything in the darkness and the grass.

And soon enough, they rolled to a stop in the sand, Finn on top, and the Glow-Children rushing over to them, obviously eager to see the woman who had so offended them.

Then, illuminated by the pink light of the children’s heads, Finn looked down to be met with the angry gaze of Jasmine. He started, and then hesitated, words seemingly stuck in his throat. When Finn found his voice, he laughed.

“Well.” He said. “This is awkward.”
"You can't live over your shoulder, overbehind."





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TinkerTwaggy says...



Pango Lyn
“Come and play, please!”
Gleeful strings of a tiny tyrant


“Okay, Ad! One more time!” Pango Lyn exclaimed. Then, he giggled. “♪We’re gonna celebrate, oh, yeah, all right, don’t stop the dancing♪” he jumped in place before bending his knees, staring at the wonderful sight of an Adrian that didn’t hesitate. Without further ado – and with the comfy Madder Cloth wrapped around his arms – Pango Lyn initiated his terrifying dash, reaching Adrian’s side with only two leaps. Adrian drew his new dagger and, at the same time, his body grew in size and muscles for him to counter the dash with a mighty thrust. Pango Lyn ducked below the arm and performed a somersault, briefly elongating his tail to increase his reach. Rapidly taking the body of a child, Adrian managed to sidestep with enough speed to dodge the attack. His eyes widened as he noticed that the Madder Cloth wasn’t wrapped around Pango Lyn’s arms anymore – both of which were occupied with one of Pango Lyn’s trusty Eggs. Grinning with joy, Pango Lyn threw one, which Adrian narrowly dodged by dashing on the side. Pango Lyn immediately followed, looking for a swift headbutt. But Adrian expected the move, turning back to perform a thrust with his dagger. To Pango Lyn’s surprise, the arm expanded in mass to become muscular again, and a red aura appeared around the dagger as if to enhance the ability of its blade. The impact threw both Adrian and Pango Lyn away from each other.

“Lil’Master!” Andor cried out as she moved towards Pango Lyn. Adrian’s eyes widened as he rose from the ground, unsure of what he had done.

“It’s okay,” Tleia assured, walking to Adrian’s side and looking down at him with a calm gaze. “Do not worry. This is part of Lil’Master’s gamble.”

“What did… What did I do?” Adrian inquired, worried despite himself.

“You’ve given him a Memoir Trigger. When Master Pango Lyn receives a hit strong enough that leaves him with more damage than expected, it threatens his life. The few times that has happened, the Master has managed to regain significant portions of his fading memory.”

“So, I… I hurt him?”

“No, Adrian. You’ve helped him. You’ve helped him greatly. However, we will wait to see just how much. Andor?”

“On it!” Andor replied. He delicately grabbed the unconscious body of Pango Lyn and walked inside of the Pyramid of Light, where Pango Lyn, for the first time in years, would be able to rest and dream.


******


She was asleep. She was… a dream. She was a dream with screens, thousands of screams, filling her view with their light. The light was everywhere, in her eyes, in her ears, even in her back. She didn’t know how, but she could “see” all of the light, all of the screens that produced it. Then, she tried to move – quickly, she realized that she couldn’t. She was bound to her chair by strings – and no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t tell if the strings came from her, or from the screens. What she did know is that the strings were beautiful.
They were black, with a ray of light passing through their dark forms, and they were hot, too. They made her feel happy. For the longest time, the dream was just that – her, the screens, the light and the strings. But soon, the strings disappeared, and she began to panic. Their warm embrace was gone, and she was left with only cold, as the screens’ lights disappeared one after the other – until one string and one screen remained active. On that screen was a… creature. A creature that looked at her. It turned back, and suddenly, she could feel what it felt, see what it saw, be what it was. The strings connected her to the creature.

“Lin, Lin! Come and play, please!”

Smiling cheerfully, Lin accompanied the creature throughout its adventure, jumping up, grabbing coins, dodging hammers and crushing turtles. She kept on going and going until finally, she reached the end of the journey. And then, the screen blacked out. Panicked, Lin looked at another screen, searching for another creature, another land, another adventure. Fortunately, another screen lit up.

“Lin, Lin! Come and play, please!”

Giggling to herself, Lin happily obliged. But midway through her journey, another screen lit up.

“Lin, Lin! Come and play, please!”

And another.

“Lin, Lin! Come and play, please!”

And yet another.
“Lin, Lin! Come and play, please!” ]

Lin’s giggling turned into an excited, roaring laughter as she looked at her screens, her creatures, her wonders and wanders. She couldn’t move, bound to her chair, but her strings brought her freedom. Her screens brought her sensations. They brought her the movements she could never have. All the lives she could never have. All the happiness she could never have. They were her. And she was infinite.
“Lin, Lin! Come and play, please!”]

Lin closed her eyes, smiled and never woke up.


***


Pango Lyn opened his eyes, woken up by the sound of repeated explosions. Almost immediately, Adrian’s face appeared in Pango Lyn’s sight, followed by Ella’s.

“You’re awake!” Adrian exclaimed. “Are you… Are you okay?”

Pango Lyn’s face was illuminated by a tender smile as he rose up and gently placed his forehead against Adrian’s. “But for you...” he declared with absolute confidence, “for you, I can open my eyes again. But don’t worry about that just yet, Ad.” Pango Lyn’s smile turned into a mischievous grin. “We’ll talk later. Tell me, now. Why can I hear explosions outside?”

“Th-That’s what I… wanted to tell you. Um… Someone is attacking the Dreadmill. She said it was nothing personal, but she needed to take… To take Ella. So, Tleia and Andor went outside to fight her.”

“Does she have a weird, plant hat on her head?”

“Oh… Yeah! Um… You know her?”

Pango Lyn nodded. Lisière. She’d never touch the Dreadmill willingly – she knew Pango Lyn wouldn’t bother talking if she did, and clearly, she wanted to talk to him, most of the time. She had probably been hired for the job. Pango Lyn gazed at Ella. “You’re popular, I guess,” he said jokingly. “But don’t worry, ‘kay? I’m gonna take care of this. You stay here! And Ad?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Be awesome and protect her. If I die, you’re up!” he smiled. “No worries, though, I’m not gonna die. ♪‘Cause if you’re messing with me, I am a dangerous weapon – I am the sharpest of blades; I’ll cut you down in a second♪” Pango Lyn moved out of his personal room, locked deep within the heart of the Pyramid of Light. Singing happily, he ran all the way back to the entrance, noticing that Andor and Tleia weren’t at their usual spot. They were indeed fighting outside.

♪‘Cause I was born in this pain,
It only hurts if you let it,
So if you think you can take me
Then you should go and forget it♪


Smirking with satisfaction, Pango Lyn walked to the edge of his dear Dreadmill and looked down: his companions were there, facing Lisière together. From his spot, Pango Lyn could easily see that certain parts of both of their bodies had been blown off, but that Lisière hadn’t taken damage yet. Andor and Tleia could easily turn the tides with a well-placed hit… But they had the Dreadmill to protect, could easily harm it, too, and of course, Lisière was aware of it.
Well, then. It was time for the Tiny Tyrant to make his presence known.

♪And after all this time, you’re back for more!♪


The three combatants immediately stopped their movements and looked up to gaze at Pango Lyn, whose gaze was locked on Lisière.

♪So I’ll take what’s mine, and start this war!♪


Pango Lyn jumped from his spot, performed a flawless front flip and activated his Madder Cloth as he landed, appearing like a shiny cyan cannonball ready to fly again at his foe.

♪I’m coming at you like a tidal wave♪


“You've always had such a talent for this.” Lisière began. “Great entrances, wonderful acrobatics, and fitting quotes. You’re a champion of dramatic weirdness, my Lyn.”

“Tleia, Andor.” Pango Lyn called. “Go back to the Pyramid, and get some repairs. I’ll handle her.”

“Yes, Lil’Master!” the two exclaimed in unison. Tleia gave a last look of disdainful hatred to Lisière, and jumped onto the Dreadmill after Andor. Lisière and Pango Lyn were left alone, staring into each other’s eye.

“You came for Ella, right?” Pango Lyn asked.

“Yes, I did. Well, the idiots who pay me want her, anyway. I don’t really like this job, to be quite honest. I have better things to do than breaking your toys for no reason.”

“Sounds fitting, though. I think you’re a bully.”

Lisière let a sly smile decorate her scarred face. “You’re not wrong. Still, this is not my style.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m surprised that you accepted.”

“Come now, my Lyn. This was the perfect opportunity to see you again.”

“You know I’m not going to let you walk away. You attacked my Dreadmill. You might lose your body.”

“Don’t worry, I have others.” Lisière’s provocative smile disappeared as she raised an eyebrow. “...You’re happier, today.”

Pango Lyn let out a sigh. “Are you ever going to say what you want from me?”

Lisière smirked as the claw-shaped scar on her face pulsated. “When your body is abandoned against my bosom, and your mind is a hollow.”

Fine.” Pango Lyn exclaimed with a childish pout. “I’ll just beat you up.”
"Is there a limit to how much living I can live with my life? How will I know if I've gone too far?
And why did I spend my life savings on sunglasses for a whale?
I shall find the answers... to these questions."





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Terian805 says...



Finn:

“So,” Finn asked. “How long have you known you’re Lucid?”

He was sat next to Jasmine, with their feet dangling over an abyss of swirling colour.

They could see the shifting, spinning, whirling, rising mass of the Kaleidoscope Realm for miles, towers, buildings, and streets forming, decaying, and twisting into each other like the tentacles of some giant beast, whilst from within windows, down in dark corners, and below the writhing masses, there were bursts and flashes of colour: red, blue, green, yellow, purple. Finn always thought seeing the realm was like you’d taken endless amounts of LSD.

Further in the distance, past the glowing figures of the Ethereals, as they drifted past the midnight skies, playing their haunting music, Finn could glimpse more solid stable streets and buildings, still glittering with the psychedelic colours, but where figures were roaming seemingly aimlessly in all directions, likely both Dreamfolk and Human.

But his eyes were soon drawn away from these wonders in front of him, to the wonder next to him. Jasmine’s dark hair fell across her eyes, and her mouth was as set and stony as ever. Finn couldn’t help feeling a rush as she answered him.

“I’ve known since I was ten. It was some kind of party that my parents were throwing sometime near Christmas. We lived in a big house...there were so many strange unfamiliar faces, passing me through the corridors. I’ve never been great around big
crowds, it scared me, y’know? So I just decided to head off to bed.”

She leaned forward, elbows on her knees. “But I kept dreaming about big crowds. I dreamt I was in this dark, smoky room, with endless dark figures rushing around me, and whispering all these nonsensical stuff. So I tried to get out of the dream. I just ran and ran and ran, and before I knew it I’d lurched out into some random street.”
She turned to him, her elfin face cast with blue light. “And the rest was history.”

Finn nodded understandingly. He’d listened with interest to the end of Jasmine’s story.
“Hey can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“I’m assuming you’ve been dreaming the same thing since then, every time you come to the Dust City.”

“Yep.”

“Earlier on when you came here, was there anything different about your dream?”

She looked at him in confusion, then after a moment nodded slowly.

“There was. It seemed like there were trees, that were towering above me. Sometimes I could see them, sometimes I couldn’t.”

Finn grunted.

“What?”

“You see, that was my dream. I dream of a forest before I come here.”

“Wait..how does that work?”

“No bloody clue.” He chuckled. “Looks like our dreams can kinda bleed into each other now. Next thing you know we could be jumping between them.”

He saw Jasmine narrow her eyes, and then nod. There was a moments silence before she said. “Weird.”

“Yeah but everything’s weird in this place.”

“You can say that again. Hey have you heard about these people running about who have superpowers?”

“Superpowers?” Finn laughed.

“Sure. People who can do some crazy shit, which nobody else from the real world can do.”

“Yeaah. That rings a bell. Hasn’t somebody been seen flying over the city?”

Jasmine nodded almost excitedly. “Recently I’m pretty sure I saw a dude throw fire at a building.”

“Mad.”

“Yeah. You must have seen someone do something cool once. I’ve been hearing Dreamfolk talk about this stuff day in day out.”

Finn thought for a moment, resting his hand on his chin, and then made a noise of affirmation.

“Long ago, I reckon I did. I might’ve been...fourteen? fifteen? I don’t know. But I met this kid on a bridge somewhere. Obviously a new fish to the Dust City, because he looked absolutely terrified. I tried to explain to him what was going on until I swear he changed into a completely different person. He then changed back, and just legged it down a stairway somewhere.”

“Crazy. You’ve got to wonder where people like that are now.”

“Yeah. We might pass that guy in the street tomorrow and never know that we had. Take for example today. I saw you at the wedding and I thought, wow she’s hot. I thought myself lucky to have you back with me at the hotel, and never thought I’d tackle you on that beach.”

Jasmine blushed and laughed. “I almost thought we’d be going straight back into it when I saw you, but this time in the Dust City.”

Finn moved closer and put an arm around her shoulder, “Yeah I’ve never tried that before. I reckon it would be a cool new experience.”

“Y’think so?”

“Yeah. I know some good spots around the city as well. What d’ya say to carrying on where we left off?”

Jasmine answered by smiling, moving her arms round his neck and kissing him on the lips several times. Finn moved into her embrace, kissing her in return. He moved her onto her back, whilst his hand moved to her midsection, her shoulder, down her arm...
...and straight to the fabric of her jumper sleeve, which he pulled up, exposing the jagged gash down her arm.

She sat up and pulled away, frowning, and pulled down her sleeve.

“Are you going to tell me where that came from ?” Finn asked pointing at her arm.

“Yeah. I was cooking. I had an accident”

“No I don’t believe you. What I reckon is that about month ago, you were jumped by some hooded guys in an alleyway.”

“What?” She exclaimed. She looked at him, suspicious, angry, eyes flaring. “How the hell do you know that?”

“Relax, because afterwards, what I think is that you had an extremely handsome young saviour who came to your rescue.”

She stared, as the jigsaw pieces came together.
“That..that was you?!”

Finn laughed and nodded.

Jasmine looked like she’d been punched. “Well..I’m sorry I ran off. Seems pretty rude now. But how did you fight like that Finn? And where the hell did you come from? What made you want to help some random girl?”

“Slow down on the questions why don’t you?” Finn chuckled. “But in answer to the first, I’ve always been fighting. At school when I wasn’t taking pictures and drawing, I was probably beating the crap out of someone I didn’t like. And I guess that’s kind of carried through to adulthood y’know. I mean... I see the Impalpables out there....throwing their weight around doing this screwed stuff to innocent people. And they do it just for their own gain. Purely for selfishness. I’ve...I’ve got to root that evilness out Jasmine. I’ve just got to.”

“They call me the Wraith, you know.” He smiled. “Like I’m a ghost who comes out of nowhere to wreak vengeance upon them. Like an unquiet spirit. I like that. It makes me sound badass.”

She moved closer and interlaced her fingers with his. “But Finn...why do you do it?”

He looked at Jasmine as she looked up at him through her dark hair, “What do you mean?”

“No offense.” She said. “But nobody does something in this world, purely out of the goodness of their heart.”

Finn looked straight in her eyes, and they were both silent for a moment.

Four people on the other side of the carriage got to their feet and walked towards where Finn sat.

“They killed someone I loved.” He said softly.

“Who?”

“My sister.”

“What was her name?”

“Her name was...” Finn exhaled. “Ella.”

“Did you love her a lot?”

“Yeah. She was a Lucid. Like you and me. In a way, you could say that was what killed her, the Impalpables going for her in the exact way that they did to you on that street.”

Jasmine nodded. “Well...it’s brave of you....and...honestly I would do the same thing you do y’know. If...the Impalpables killed someone I loved.”

Finn nodded. “Well since we’re having a heart to heart...was there any reason why the Impalpables went for you?”

There was another silence, that sounded like the world was hanging in the balance.
Jasmine chuckled almost nervously, “How are you this good?”

“I train myself to notice stuff.”

“Well yeah..Funnily enough there was a reason. You remember I told you I worked with Will, the guy at the wedding?”

“I remember.”

“Well we...had been working for the Impalpables all the time. And I found out about it.”

Finn nodded slowly. He could imagine the Impalpables controlling regular companies behind the scenes. It was all making sense now. “Jasmine, I have to tell you something. You remember how I got up to chase after that guy at the wedding? The one who was talking to Will?”

“Yeah that was weird.”

“Well he was the one who killed Ella.”

“Finn!” She put her hands up to her mouth. “Oh my God!”

“I know.” Finn laughed grimly.

“There’s something going on here. We’ve got an opening to the Impalpables. We should take it.”

“Wait what?”

“We should. We can go hit them where it hurts. Pay them back for attacking me, and killing your sister.”

Finn made a noise of affirmation. “I knew we were meant to be together. We think alike. Do you know where the company you worked for is based?”

“Paris, I’m pretty sure.”

“Great. We could probably get their through the Dust City. I’m sure we could figure it out.”

Jasmine moved up closer. “Sounds like a plan. Maybe I could be your sidekick. You’ll be the Wraith, and I’ll be...Wraith number two?”

Finn laughed, “You’ll have to work on that name. Wraith one and Wraith two...enemy of the Impalpables.”

“Sounds good.” Jasmine rested her head on his shoulder as the two of them looked out into the endless shimmering mass of the Kaleidoscope Realm. “You’re cool Finn. You take pictures, you punch bad guys in the face, you’re hot, and you have a cute dog. You’re cool.”

“You’re cool too.” Finn murmured and put his arm around her, as they both sat on the precipice for five minutes or five hours, Finn couldn’t quite tell.

Soon however, something began to change, down below in the myriad. The twisting buildings and light began to form into some kind of a huge valley. It looked like a massive half-pipe which stretched off into the distance to Jasmine and Finn’s left. From the floor of the pipe, he could dimly see around thirty different dark figures walking up across the pipe. They looked as if they had appeared from a staircase down below the pipe.

“Hey.” Finn murmured, rousing Jasmine from his shoulder.

“What?”

“I think you need a demonstration.” Finn replied, pointing down to what he had seen.

“A demonstration?” Jasmine narrowed her eyes as they sparkled in the light. Then she looked down at where Finn was pointing, and slowly shook her head.

“No. Nononono not a good idea mate.”

“ Sure it is.” Finn replied. He began to stand up and pull up the black mask over his mouth and nose. Becoming the Wraith.

“That’s around thirty rich assholes down there with three Impalpables escorting them at the most. Somewhere out in the Dust City, there’ll be a Lucid who’s been paralysed and kept in the city forever. Those people were perfectly happy to buy the lucid’s dreamway in order to get here for their own entertainment. In this kind of situation I need to teach them a lesson.”

“Finn. Please...don’t go down there.”

Finn positioned himself on the edge of the precipice, pulling up the hood of his hoodie, preparing himself.

“That was a good night we had Jasmine. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Finn, no...!”

But Finn just gave her a salute, and dropped off of the edge.

He hit a metallic surface which curved down the half pipe. He let the gradient take his body, sliding faster and faster, as the figures drew closer and closer in his field of vision. He thought he could see fingers pointing up at him, and he smiled under the mask.
As the gradient began to get flatter, Finn caught sight of a figure out front who was fluctuating and flickering., like a black candle.
Only one Impalpable. Fantastic.

Finn aimed himself straight for this figure, and just as he drew to be about a yard away from it, he pushed himself to his feet, and was propelled into the Impalpable, colliding with them and pulling them to the ground.
There were cries of shock from the rich tourists around them, as Finn rolled on top of the Impalpable, and smashed a fist into the black, featureless face. Hitting an Impalpable in the Dust City felt weird. Like hitting plastic. They had a way of changing their forms here.

The Impalpable threw Finn off with unexpected strength, then rolled to their feet, pulling out a gun-like weapon etched with magenta runes.

Finn rushed forwards as the Impalpable aimed it for his head, and grabbed his opponents arm, diverting a blast of purple energy into the sky. He cracked a knee into the Impalpable’s arm, flipping the gun into his own hand. He tripped them, and twisted his opponent to the ground, holding them in an arm lock, whilst pointing the gun at the rich tourists.

This is probably collapse-grenade tech. I can figure out how to use it.

“Right then!” He growled at the tourists who were looking at him with terrified faces. “You lot are going to tell me exactly where the Lucid is whom you used to get here.
Otherwise I’ll find where your real bodies are, and I’ll kill you all, you understand?”

Just as he finished those words, various cat-flap like openings appeared in the pipe, and from them climbed what looked like fifty Impalpables, all totally armed.

The Impalpable who Finn held in an arm lock spoke in a grating, inhuman voice.
“We’ve got you now Wraith.”

It’s a trap. Of course it is. Stupid, stupid....

I can’t take on that many....

Jasmine was right...

What to do?

THINK!


But all of a sudden, there came a cry of surprise from an Impalpable nearby, who dropped from their cat flap up on the half pipe, crashing to the ground with a crunch.
Another man, dropped down from the same cat flap as calls resonated between the Impalpables, who began scrambling down into the pipe.
The man rushed over to Finn, who still had the Impalpable in an arm lock. He was dark haired, with thick dark stubble, chiselled features, and was wearing some kind of khaki style uniform.

“You don’t like these guys?” He asked.

He spoke with a strong American accent.

Finn nodded.

“You and me both. Then let’s get the hell outta here.”

Before Finn could protest, the man dragged him from the Impalpable, with unexpected strength. The two of them rushed up the half pipe, followed by the yelling of Impalpables and the explosions of energy all around them.

They dived through a nearby opening, and into the twisting mass of the Kaleidoscope Realm.”
"You can't live over your shoulder, overbehind."





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Mageheart says...



Adrian Black
Gifted


With Pango Lyn off to fight a battle with a foe that Adrian didn't quite understand, he found himself waiting alone with Ella. He sat down on the ground beside her and tried to come up with something to say – Pango Lyn was a brilliant fighter from what he had seen during their training sessions (and from the plethora of stories he had about him prior to their first meeting), but the fact that the battle had gone on for as long as it had suggested that it wasn't as easy to win as expected.

He snuck a glance over at Ella. She was in the middle of taking a leaf out of his book and sitting down on the ground. While he struggled to find the right thing to say, the battle continued to rage on in the background. (He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what half of those sounds were coming from.) Fighting with Pango Lyn had been nice. He hadn't really had to think about what to say or do. His instincts had taken over for the most part, and his newest friend had supplied the little bit of guidance he needed outside of that.

But now he was left with Ella.

Ella, who hadn't really interacted much with him except when fixing and upgrading his knife. Her power had been mystical; he had never seen anything quite like it, and he had seen many enchanting, wonderful things during his time in the Dust City. He studied her for a moment, then quickly looked away. He didn't want to make things even more awkward than they already were. As he debated getting up and finding something else to distract him from the worry that followed every noise in the battle unfolding outside, he suddenly realized that he had found the perfect topic to talk about.

“Um, thank you for earlier,” he said. He hesitantly glanced over at her. “I didn't want to upset Pango Lyn earlier, but I just bought this dagger, so it would have been kind of bad if it broke right after I got it...”

Ella gave a silent nod. Adrian was beginning to suspect that he would be doing the majority of the speaking in this conversation, and the thought of having to do so was not an enjoyable one.

He mulled over his words again, trying to decide which would be the best ones to use. He wanted to mention that he was kind of like her, too – he had strange powers, powers that no one else in the Dust City seemed to share. But before he had a chance to settle on the right thing to say, he noticed that Ella had suddenly becoming slightly taller than him. He frowned, looked down at himself, and then quickly changed his form from that of a child to his normal self.

“Are you...are you like me?” he asked. “I can shapeshift, but I guess you'd already know that from my sparring with Pango Lyn.”

Ella shook her head.

“You're not?”

A nod.

He looked her over again, now trying to figure out what she could possibly mean. Why wouldn't she be like him? She looked relatively normal, so that had to mean that she was from his world, right? Or could there be Dreamfolk that looked just as human as he did? He hadn't met any yet, but the Dust City was a strange place. Anything was possible there.

“Are you one of the Dreamfolk?” he hesitantly questioned.

Ella started to shake her head again, then paused and thought to herself for a moment. Adrian was worried that he had said something wrong by implying that she was one of them, but she soon put his fears to rest. “I'm somewhat like them,” she decided. “The Dust City is my home now.”

He felt like all he was doing was asking questions, but everything that Ella answered with only made him more curious and confused than before. “Where are you from, then?” When he realized the question might have been a little too intrusive, he hurriedly added, “I'm from Philadelphia.”

“I lived in London, once,” Ella said. She looked somewhat forlorn at the thought, but there was a noticeable detachment in the way that she spoke. “I think it would have been six years ago, but it's difficult to tell in the city.”

“Oh,” Adrian said. He stared down at the ground. “I-I never thought about what it would be like to be stuck here. It must get lonely being with just the Dreamfolk, since everyone from Earth just leaves at the end of the night. But I still don't-I still don't understand why you're not like me.”

When he heard her move, he raised his head to see that she was in the middle of getting up. He hesitantly followed her lead and did the same. Once they were standing, Ella began to wander aimlessly around the room – like him, she had probably grown bored of sitting still. “I'm the host for Avatar of Renewal,” she finally answered, her voice soft.

He joined her at her side. “Is that like the Avatar in the Last Airbender?” he blurted, then immediately turned red in embarrassment when she turned and gave him a blank stare.

“I represent hope,” she simply said.

“Oh.” He came to a stop a few feet behind her, trying to get a grasp on what she was talking about and failing miserably. Whatever it was, it sounded important, and he was starting to understand why someone would have been after Ella in the first place. “If you're something like that, then what am I?”

“One of the Gifted.”

“Gifted,” he repeated. He let the word settle in before he spoke again; he liked how that sounded. It just felt right. “I know...I know I can't do much yet, but if people are after you because you're someone important, I-I think I want to try helping protect you, too.” He gave her a small smile. “If you're alright with that. I know Pango Lyn's a better fighter than I am.”

Ella gave him what could have almost been described as a smile.
mage

[ she/her, but in a boy kinda way ]

roleplaying is my platonic love language.

queer and here.





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Sat Nov 03, 2018 2:59 pm
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Terian805 says...



Finn:

Finn dropped twenty feet, passing into an open space between the half-pipe, and the Kaleidoscope Realm, before he crashed onto the edge of a rooftop, dropped another five feet and landed on a glowing purple road.
The road was progressively curving downwards, like wire.

His khaki clad companion grabbed his arm, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, and pulled him to his feet.

“They’re gonna be following us. Let’s go.”

“Who are you?” Finn demanded through his mask.

“The guy who just saved your ass. Let’s go!”

The two stumbled off down the twisting road, just as a blast of energy hammered the space where Finn had just been lying.

Those have got to be knockout weapons
, Finn thought as he followed Khaki over a rooftop and slid down a two hundred degree alleyway onto another rooftop which was beginning to collapse into a road.

If they were built to be lethal, they’d send us straight back to the real world.


Finn remembered there were several ways to escape the Dust City, as he avoided a purple energy blast by crashing into a crimson room, and jumped onto a tilted blue walkway. One was suicide, which Finn disliked, a method which was not one hundred percent effective, and painful. You could also hold your breath for as long as possible, or you could say a word over and over whilst standing still. All of these methods however, Finn knew would let the Impalpables get to him, and even capture his real body.

This isn’t good. This is really not good.

Finn followed Khaki across a horizontal church steeple, and down a neon green bridge. He heard his companion call back to him saying, “If we can get to the populated part of the realm, then we’ll be fine, they won’t follow us there.”

The two jumped off of the bridge, landed on a road that resembled a writhing snake, slid through a narrow alleyway. They passed an ethereal enclosed in a bubble of blue energy, which looked at them confused with eyes of light as they ran past.

Finn ignored it, and jumped between two buildings. The buildings were merging into each other, and almost took Finn’s head off as he moved past. Everything here was constantly warping and shifting, Finn could tell that at any moment the ground beneath his feet could fall away, or a building could spring up right in front of him.
They landed in what looked like an airfield, striped with many neon colours, leading up to a horizontal gap on a wall up ahead.

The opening was rapidly closing.

Khaki rushed for it, and Finn had no choice but to follow him. They charged for the opening, as it grew narrower and narrower, passing another ethereal watched them in its form of red light.

Out of nowhere, a ten foot wide gap appeared from beneath their feet.
Finn cried out and wildly for the gap, catching it by the tips of fingers, as did Khaki. But as he tried to pull himself up, he saw an Impalpable drop from above and grab Khaki’s leg, and in several seconds the gap was about to cut off Finn’s fingers.

“Drop!” He yelled, and they did, falling onto a metal slide which curved onto a fissure, after which there was a wide metal platform.

Finn saw Khaki smash his free boot into the Impalpable’s face throwing him into the side of the platform with a clang, and knocking him through the fissure, just as Khaki and Finn were propelled across it and onto the platform.

The two rolled to their feet, and Finn chuckled.

“Don’t you hate this place?”

But before Khaki could answer, an Impalpable dived out of a nearby window and crashed into him, dragging him down into another chasm.

Damn, I’m on my own then. He seemed like a cool guy as well.

Finn wildly looked for a route to the populated area of the realm and spotted a glowing red bridge, which was twisting back the direction he’d originally intended to go.
Finn rushed down it, went left, went right, before an Impalpable jumped from an upside down building, landed in front of him, and lunged.

Finn blocked a punch, and hit him in the side, before taking a blow to the chin and reeling back. He caught the third strike, and dragged the man into another punch; he caught another on the nose before kneeing the Impalpable in the gut and throwing him off the bridge.

Finn’s vision blurred as he ran, and he winced as he felt his nose, his fingers coming away scarlet.

Huh, never broken my nose before in the Dust City.

Finn ducked through an alleyway, swung across an upside down flight of stairs, and ran straight into an Impalpable on a rooftop. Finn hit him, missed, dodged; hit him again, before the roof went into a total slant sending him both tumbling off. The two bumped and crashed into all manner of buildings, before Finn slid towards the Impalpable and kicked him in the face sending him through a window.

Finn landed on a bridge, twisting off into a spinning mass of metal. Two Impalpables jumped onto the bridge, charged for him, and Finn ducked away from one of them, before a tower exploded upwards from beneath them and sent one Impalpable hurtling into the skies.

The other came at him, and threw himself into Finn, grappling him and pulling off the bridge. The two fell for several seconds, slamming into buildings and rolling off rooftops, before they crashed into a wide circular platform. It was glowing with a bright scarlet light

They both got up laboriously, Finn stumbling at the pain in his body. Then with amazement, he noticed Khaki on the other side of the platform.

He had three Impalpables on him. One of them was firing one of the purple guns, but Khaki was doing a good job of avoiding the energy blasts.

He’s so fast, Finn thought. With practised jabs and swings, the man was knocking all three opponents away, whilst taking punches to the stomach and to the face like he was made of rubber.

He’s looking rough though. Nasty bruise on the chin.

Finn’s original opponent was staggering towards him, dazed from the fall. The Impalpable pulled a gun from his black uniform, before Finn span away from the blast, caught their arm, hammered him in the face, and ripped the gun from his grasp. Finn swept their legs from under him, knelt and shot him in the back of the head.

The Impalpable stopped struggling, stiffened as he glowed with purple light, and then went limp.

Finn jumped to his feet, and rushed towards the fighting group further away. He shot one Impalpable in the leg who crumpled, and then fired again for his head.

Nothing happened.

Temporary ammo, interesting.

I might know where these guns came from.

Finn pulled one Impalpable away from beating up Khaki, and clocked him in the chin, sending them stumbling back. Then another one turned and kicked Finn in the chest, sending him reeling back and rolling to his feet.
The same Impalpable came at him and Finn deflected several hits, before dropping him through a sweep to the legs.

He noticed Khaki beating up the Impalpable Finn had shot, before a purple blast ricocheted off of Finn’s arm.

He felt his shoulder go numb, and he growled, rushing at his attacker, deflecting the gun arm and hitting him over and over again. His numb arm eventually failed him however, and Finn took several hits to the face and chest stumbling back with the blows and seeing his vision go hazy.

Then all of a sudden, Finn noticed a spiked tower amongst the Kaleidoscope Realm, further behind his opponent. So as the Impalpable raised the gun into Finn’s face, he rammed into them, pulled them backwards, and shoved their head into the spike.
The Impalpable disintegrated into black dust, sent back to wherever his real body was.

Finn grabbed the purple gun, rushed to Khaki, and tossed the gun to him. He caught it, turned, and shot an Impalpable laid prone further away.

Bloody hell that was a good shot. He did that effortlessly.

There was one more Impalpable, who was walking cautiously towards his two opponents, illuminated by the crimson light of the platform.
The Impalpable lunged at Khaki, unbelievably fast and sent the gun spinning away across the platform with some rapid hand to hand blows.

Finn went for the man on his other side, and the Impalpable took them both on at once.

This one’s good.

Finn landed a hit, and then reeled back from another one.

Very good.

Then somehow, Finn shoved the Impalpable backwards, Khaki clocked him, and Finn kicked him to the ground.

He rolled to his feet, staring at Finn with his featureless black face and tilting his head.

Then, Finn saw Khaki throw some circular object at the Impalpable who caught it, obviously without thinking.
“We’ll see you later asshole.” Finn heard Khaki say, as the object exploded with purple light, which seemed to rip directly into the Impalpable, who disintegrated into black energy, until he completely disappeared.

Finn turned to his companion.

“Collapse grenade?” He asked.

“That’s right.”

“Handy aren’t they?”

“Sure are. Come on!”

For the last time, Finn followed him over the platform, and they dived through a gap in the warp of metal. For a moment, up was down, and left was right, until Finn tumbled into open air on solid ground this time.

He heard exclamations of surprise around him, and looked up to see a crowd of Dreamfolk whose gazes had been drawn to the surprise entrance onto the street.
Countless eyes watched Finn and Khaki as they both groaned and pulled themselves to their feet, the eyes of animals, robots, humanoids, non-existent eyes, Finn lost track.

He smiled at the crowd, “Don’t worry everyone. My friend has a habit of running off. I had to go get him again.”

Finn caught a glare from his companion, as the crowd slowly began to move off, and he smiled back.
“Thanks for coming to my rescue there man. I would’ve been done for otherwise.”

“No problem I guess.”

Finn began to sit down on the street, exhaling heavily with exhaustion.

“You’re American.” He found himself saying.

“You’re British.” Replied Khaki sardonically.

“What’s your name anyway?”

“Simon Eimer. What’s yours?”

“Finn Beckett.” Finn replied. “You really could take those guys on. You’ve had training?”

“Yeah I’m actually in service right now.” Simon replied.

“Wow.” Finn replied raising his eyebrows. “What’re you doing here then?”

Simon seemed to hesitate for a moment, as he leant up against a wall, and then seemed to exhale with what seemed like defeat.
“I’m looking for my daughter. She’s disappeared. I think they took her.”

“God. Well...you have my sympathies man, but if the Impalpables have her....it’s not likely you’re going to be seeing her again....”

Simon turned on him with a sudden anger. “I’ll see her again. Don’t you ever tell me otherwise.” He then exhaled again and went back to staring into space.

Finn thought for a moment. “You know...if you’re trying to hunt down Impalpables...I might be your guy.”

Simon looked at him in confusion.

“You see...I’ve been hunting them down for a while now. And....I might be onto something. I recently got a lead on them. A lead right to the heart of their organisation. If you want a chance to find your daughter, you should come with me.”
Finn locked eyes with him. “I could use people who can fight like you.”

There was a moment’s silence before Simon shrugged. “I guess I’m in.”

Finn got up from where he was sat. “Brilliant. Do you know where the Glass District is?”

Simon nodded.

“Meet me there. That’s where we’ll be starting.”
"You can't live over your shoulder, overbehind."








Be careful or be roadkill.
— Calvin