revenance_rpg | What's this, what's this?

Given the fact that she tended to be curious at the best of times, it was no real surprise that Nepeta made her way out to the mansion. She wasn't really intending to come across anyone in the process, but on finding that North was already there, she wasted no time in heading over next to him.

"You don't mind anofur purrson joining, do you?"

After making a point of drawing attention to the mansion, Wash couldn't well walk away from it. Plus, he wanted to know if there was any information to be had in there, and he didn't want to get it secondhand.

There was a moment of hesitation when North arrived. Things were still rocky between them, and Wash still wasn't sure that he wanted to mess with that - not without being able to fix it - but he didn't want North to have to go in there alone, not when he could offer backup. Nepeta showing up didn't really change that. "Or two," he added, approaching the pair.

"Hey, the more the merrier, right?" North replied, nodding to both of them. He certainly wouldn't mind the help, with the way things were going with Theta. He wasn't sure how much help the AI would be today, and having someone like Wash around was a bit of a relief if nightmares showed up.

Having a third didn't bother Nepeta in this least. After all, there wasn't any indication that this was supposed to be a solo quest, and no one could really say what they were supposed to be doing in the mansion anyway. For all she knew it could end up being actually beneficial to having multiple people once they got inside.

"Right," she answered with a nod. "Besides, the meowre we have, the easier it will be!"

"Hopefully." Provided there were no giant monkeys involved, at least. In that case, more had been completely disastrous.

It didn't take long to fight their way through the woods leading up to the forest, and the gates were already unlocked. Wash wasn't sure if that was a good thing or just creepy as hell - didn't a lot of horror movies start like this? He shrugged the thought off, glanced over his shoulder to make sure North and Nepeta were still with him and ready, and pushed open the mansion's front doors.

It’s obvious from the first glance at the foyer that this place used to be something large and grand. Glass cases are placed by the doorway, and dual alicorn statues stand at attention along the walls, guarding twin staircases that lead to an open upper level. Sadly, now the mansion is simply just big. Three of the four glass cases have been shattered or are missing entirely; only the fourth still stands, holding its treasure of what looks to be ancient golden pottery. The floors are covered with debris, the statues coated with dust, and in one corner of the room several dinner plates lay cracked and forgotten. There are three doors here: two are on the upper floor at opposite ends of the hall, one on the right and one on the left; the third door is on the lower floor. Be careful - there are Nightmares here, and they won’t hesitate to knock you down a flight of stairs.

North was still there, fighting back a yawn. He'd hoped that fighting would help wake him up, but instead it was hard to focus and think clearly. If he wasn't wearing his helmet, he'd probably have tried to slap himself to wake up, but taking off the armor probably wasn't the best move right now. He sent a comforting thought back to Theta. He needed the AI right now.

"Nice place they've got here," He remarked, casually. "So, which way do we want to go?"

Well, it was certainly an interesting-looking place, from what Nepeta could see. If Equius had been with them - or present at all - he probably would have immediately gravitated to the statues, but Nepeta didn't really care much for them. They were certainly impressive statues, yes. But that didn't mean they were terribly interesting beyond that.

"We could start down here," Nepeta offered. "Unless you purrticularly want to try one of the ofur doors?"

North wasn't on his game, from what Wash could tell. Not good, especially when dealing with an unknown situation. He kept his comments to himself and an eye on his fellow Freelancer - at least he could back North up. He glanced around the foyer, taking in everything he could in a quick sweep - the statues, the staircases, the pottery, the plates - before nodding. "Might as well," he commented, heading for the doors on the lower level. "I'll take point." Easier that way, given that North was out of it and he didn't know how well Nepeta could fight, if at all.

He paused for another moment, waiting for them to catch up with him, before opening the door, gun trained on the room the second the door was wide enough to pass through.

This room is an absolute wreck. The buffet and china cabinets against the wall and the table and chairs in the middle of the room make it obvious that this was once a dining room; however, the cabinet is run down and nearly empty, china is cracked and cutlery is bent, the chairs are broken and scattered about the room, a handful of crayons is scattered across the top of the buffet, and the table is smashed in the middle and lying in pieces in the center of the room. One of the largest intact pieces of table seems to have a small symbol drawn on it in white chalk.

North nods, letting Nepeta go first before taking up the rear. He wasn't quite sure what she could do, and it would probably be easier to protect her that way, if something happened.

He glanced around the room. It really wasn't much of an improvement from the first room.

"Theta, are you picking anything up?" North asked as he set his motion trackers. Something about this place was giving him a bad feeling. Theta, still not ready to appear, answered in the negative. North's bad feeling hadn't helped.

Nepeta seemed to be entirely unconcerned about anything that they might find. If a fight happened it happened, and she simply walked out into the room, with only the briefest of glances around the room. The nightmares weren't really like any of the things they had to fight back at home, but she's figured them out well enough to not be too worried. It would only take a moment to bring out her claws should she need that and that was enough for her. Besides, she had her Dream Eater and that made a lot of difference!

After a moment or so, she turned back to the others.

"I don't think anyone lives here anymeowre. It's been left alone fur too long."

"Jeez," Wash muttered under his breath, looking around the room. Whatever had happened in here was probably ugly. He'd worry about whatever had caused it still being around if, as Nepeta pointed out, the room hadn't looked as though it had been undisturbed for a good while. "Riku and Namine did say it was a wreck last time they were here." He gave the room another look. "This is probably where those plates in the foyer came from."

He moved around the other side of the room, pausing between the buffet and the remains of the table, rifle held low but still in his hands just in case Nightmares decided to show up. "Look at this." He nodded towards the table wreckage - namely, the symbol drawn on one of the larger pieces. "Ever seen anything like it?"

"Doesn't look like a lot has changed," North remarked. Even if it was ugly, it was a long time ago.

North wandered over to the table, staring at the symbol.

"It's not ringing any bells for me," He said, trying to think through the fog in his brain, and trying to encourage Theta to run a scan for anything that might match. If he turned his head, he could sort of see the spirit's sigil.

By and large, Nepeta was pretty used to various symbols. This one, however, looked like none of the many with which she was familiar. If it was here, it had probably meant something to someone at some point, but what that was, she certainly couldn't say.

"If it's here, it's purrobably fur a reason."

"Could be," he murmured in response to Nepeta, giving the symbol another long look and committing it to memory. "It may show up somewhere else."

Melody, tired of being left out of the conversation, leaped onto the table debris to examine the symbol herself. Conversely, Fang was just bored. Spotting the crayons, he landed on the buffet with a squeak and snapped one up in his mouth, munching on it for a few moments before spiting it out in disgust. That wasn't a treat! That was awful!

Wash just shook his head slowly. Of course Fang would mistake crayons for candy. Of course. As to why there were crayons in a dining room in the first place...well, he had priorities, and figuring that out wasn't one of them.

The crayons were a weird addition, out of place in such a stately room. Something about that seemed off to North, and he wracked his brain for a connection. They definitely seemed newer, as if they were placed there recently.

He smiled a bit when Fang tried to eat the crayon. It reminded him of something a kid would do. He tried to catch the bat's eye, figuring he could at least help get the taste of it's mouth with a real treat. Cactus sat expectantly by North's feet as well, alternately gazing up at his person and keeping an eye on Melody. If there was a clue, he wasn't going to let her take the credit.

They did seem as if they'd been a more recent addition, but what - if anything - it meant was something that Nepeta wasn't able to figure out. On the other hand, her chalk wasn't going to last forever, and she certainly wasn't about to let her dedication to shipping wall falter on account of not having the appropriate materials on hand!

As such, once Fang was done trying to eat the crayons, Nepeta wasted no further time in picking up the crayons and neatly tucking them away in her sylladex. Out of place though they might have been, that didn't necessarily mean that weren't still perfectly functional, and better that they get used than lie around in some abandoned mansion.

"I supurrse we can keep an eye out fur it elsewhere."

Part of Wash wanted to ask why exactly Nepeta wanted old crayons; the other part of him didn't think he'd like the answer and therefore didn't want to know. He noted where she'd put them and kept his mouth shut about it. "Guess so," he said instead, giving the room one last once-over, then heading towards the door. "If there's nothing else in here, we should move on." Recognizing the cue to leave, Melody hopped down from the table and pranced across the room to catch up with him.

The indication from North wasn't too difficult to catch - snacks! Fang zoomed across the room and landed on North's helmet, chittering excitedly. Snacks time! It was snacks time! Yay!

Well, it didn't look like any traps had been set off, so North figured that it would probably be alright for Nepeta to take the crayons. They could be used as evidence later.

He wasn't leaving just yet, having a bat on his helmet and a cat staring up at him. He dropped a treat down to Cactus, and passed one to Fang, before addressing Winnie as well.

"Before we go, anyone else want a snack?" North asked. Since he was already sharing, he figured he should open it up to all. He's pretty sure he brought enough treats with him.

Assuming they needed evidence for anything. Nepeta certainly wasn't going to make the assumption that they were, but stranger things had happened on more than one occasion. For now, she'd simply be glad to have something that would be of use later on down the road.

"I don't think so," she answered, as her own Komory Bat came in to land neatly between her horns. Admittedly, her bat was more than happy to enjoy the various treats, but she had to yet to really trust other people with them yet.

Wash rolled his eyes. That bat could be counted on to do several things consistently, and begging for treats was definitely on the list. "Fang..."

Hearing his name, Fang gulped down the treat, squeaked his thanks, and flapped over to land on Wash's head instead. Hi, person! Your friend gave me a treat! He's really nice!

Wash gave a short sigh and passed a cookie down to Melody, who had been waiting patiently. "I think we're good," he said, heading back to the door and pushing it open. "Guess it's up the stairs, then. Left or right?"

"It's alright, Wash. I don't mind sharing." He had more than enough, and could easily pick up more if they encountered any more nightmares.

He followed them out into the hallway, looking in either direction, although he could also have been shaking his head to try and wake himself up a bit as well.

"How about left?" he suggested, not daring to point in the direction. Something told him he might have gotten it wrong if he did.

Neither of the directions seemed to be better than the other, as far as Nepeta could tell. Nor did she really have much a preference one way or the other as far as direction went. They both got them up to the next floor and that was all that really as far as she was concerned.

"Left it is!"

True, it was entirely likely that there were going to be Nightmares somewhere, but Nepeta bounded off towards the left-hand set of stairs without so much as the slightest bit of concern. If Nightmares showed up, she'd deal with them then and not before.

Of course, that was right when Nightmares showed up. On the stairs.

"Of course." Wash rolled his eyes, pulling the rifle off his back and sighting the Nightmare furthest away from Nepeta in one fluid motion. He didn't know how she fought yet, or if she could - better to give her a bit of leeway until she reacted. He took the shot, sending a Nightmare plant falling to pieces as Fang and Melody both charged into the fray, intent on helping.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject