Quote:> Apologize and explain yourself

You stop thrumming musical nonsense and ease off the ground.



GENO
"We're sorry for having done that; we meant no harm from it."
"We only meant to experimentally zoom between your antlers, and it appears we had too much 'zoom' and not enough 'asking permission first'."

Antlers' facial features are impossible to discern, shrouded in shadow as he is, but you imagine him lifting an eyebrow. (Do deer-people have eyebrows? You're not about to get up close and personal enough to find out -- at least, not yet.)

ANTLERS
"You've come quite late to this conclusion."

GENO
"The portal is between your antlers, isn't it? There's no other opening here. It has to be on your head."

ANTLERS
"Hmm."



Antlers approaches Geri and leans down for a closer look, just a bit, wisps of something dark and nebulous flickering at his feet.

ANTLERS
"The girl is quite large. If the portal were between my antlers, did you just intend to climb on my head and be done with it?"

GERI
"H-hey, who are you calling 'large'?"

Despite her indignation, though, Geri must concede his point. There's no way she could squeeze herself through the gap, even if it was a portal. She shrinks back a step.

ANTLERS
"I'll ask the questions, now. How did you get here? This Void is private property, shielded and hidden from the Nexus Directory."
"Anyone capable of entering this place uninvited should be more than capable of exiting, and yet..."



ANTLERS
"You're not."

Geri's eyes widen to saucers. A disconcerting realization creeps to the forefront of her mind -- Antlers here might not have anything to do with her certification test at all! As you hover into place beside her, you can practically hear her gulping.

GERI
"Well, I was trying to warp myself someplace else completely, but I must've overshot the spell 'cause Geno exploded, except it didn't, but I didn't know that 'til I woke up here with my wand all melty and my memory borked, and..."

She hesitates.

GERI
"I think that's what happened? Eurgh... my head feels fuzzy."

Quote:> Defend Geri

Antlers seems unimpressed. You hover closer to his eye level.



GENO
"Hey, like, she's got basically zero control over us, so if you're gonna get mad get mad at us."

Geri looks at you with something like admiration. Antlers does not.

ANTLERS
"It would've required an impressive amount of mana to come here; mana which the girl clearly doesn't possess."

GERI
"Right now. Possess 'right now'."

Ignoring Geri's interruption, Antlers continues:

ANTLERS
"You, however..."
"A Soul Vault this durable would not contain a mouse."

(04-17-2017, 03:15 AM)typeandkey Wrote: »*Considering we are some kind of eldritch abomination made from 800+ souls and contained, at one point, seemingly infinite power, we probably did something very much to deserve our soul imprisonment. Probably enough to get us on the "Megaverse Police's" Most Wanted List. Live and learn, I suppose*

(04-17-2017, 07:21 AM)infuriatingCrimson Wrote: »AHEM Speak for yourselves, I happen to be a bear.

(04-17-2017, 02:45 PM)Smurfton Wrote: »

(04-17-2017, 07:21 AM)infuriatingCrimson Wrote: »AHEM Speak for yourselves, I happen to be a bear.

yeah i didn't word that right, anyone who dared step on his lawn was cursed, not terrorized.

(04-17-2017, 04:32 PM)btp Wrote: »

(04-17-2017, 02:45 PM)Smurfton Wrote: »yeah i didn't word that right, anyone who dared step on his lawn was cursed, not terrorized.

It's fair to say we might not be the most reliable of narrators.

Quote:Pretty sure my story is at the base level of crazy when our backstory is already that we
- contain 816 souls
- are mostly (but not all) predatory birds
- used to be a conglomerate lich-thing
- ended up on megaverse police's most wanted list
- for jaywalking
- are imprisoned in here

(04-17-2017, 05:18 PM)infuriatingCrimson Wrote: »My only gripe is the jaywalking bit. Perhaps a bit...small time.

Quote:> Turn '... and should I be concerned?' into a running gag

You rotate in place and stare down at Geri.

GENO
"... What did you do with the Soul Vault, and should I be concerned?"

Indignation twists Geri's face into a comical frown.



GERI
"Hey, I didn't do anything! At least nothing I wasn't s'posed to. Part of the test was I had to channel mana from an external source to make a portal happen, and I did."
"Just not very well."

Her voice tapers into silence near the end, there, and Geri gives a helpless shrug. Growing impatient for an explanation, Antlers clears his throat a second time. Geri makes a 'go on' sort of gesture with the stubby remnants of her wand.

Quote:> Sassy mode, activate

GENO
"Okay, listen stud. As much as it would seem we're a small thing against you, able to be flipped about, we are way more capable of m--"

GERI
"Geno! Play nice!"

She interrupts you with a fierce little whisper, which you figure Antlers could hear from a hundred meters away.

GERI
"I'm kinda curious what you're all about, too."

She glances up at Antlers and supplies a little exposition of her own.



GERI
"Geno's my familiar. Before I landed us here, I was in the middle of my Level II Warp Mage certification test."
"I was super, super nervous. Probably why I messed up so bad."

ANTLERS
"Mm."

GERI
"My chronospatial magic teacher, Madam Diavla, assigned Geno to me as part of my training. I think it's passed down? I'm not 100% sure."

ANTLERS
"Aha."

GERI
"We're re-ally sorry about the zoomy thing just now, by the way. Geno and I haven't known each other very long, and we're both pretty confused, and..."

ANTLERS
"Fascinating."

That word is so laden with sarcasm that even Geri realizes she's boring him. Turning pink with embarrassment, she clears her throat and nods at you.

GERI
"But um, I'll let Geno tell its own story."
"Go on, Geno. Stage's all yours."

Your parts debate among themselves as to how you'll tell your story. Eventually, you settle on:

Quote:> The thing with the wizard, undead slave birds, the bear, and the breaking of major laws in the Fourth Ring of Netherym
> tl;dr WILDLIFE SAURON

SpoilerShow

This noisy jerk wizard named Hawkspace'd curse anyone who dared set foot on his lawn and all the predatory birds that lived nearby into eternal servitude, delivering the mail and terrifying the populace.

After a long while of going farther and farther afield for more eagles, hawks, raptors and the like, the countries in the area decided they'd had enough of getting terrified by birds, and sent their best to take him down.

In response, he stuck all 816 of us together into one sorta lich-thing to defend him. We defeated them, but in the fighting, our master fell. From there, we struck out, terrorizing the populace, delivering our own mail.

SpoilerShow

I recall something about breaking a major law of the Fourth Ring of Netherym, possibly shattering a few universes... honestly the details are kinda fuzzy.

GENO
"... and that's the story."




Antlers is quiet for a long while. Geri shrugs.

GERI
"...Take it or leave it, I guess."

ANTLERS
"I see."

The dark flames that flank Antlers' steps die down, and he moves to examine you closer.

ANTLERS
"The Soul Vault is sturdy indeed, if you cannot use your full power without the girl's assistance."

Antlers looks over his shoulder, in the direction one suspects the real portal is hidden.

ANTLERS
"The only proper exit to this plane is reserved for my personal use. As much as I hate to damage this reality, I may be capable of tearing another one -- provided you don't mind my borrowing some of your mana for the operation."

Geri turns to you with questioning eyes.

GERI
"... It's your power, so... your call?"