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

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.

There would be nightmares. He should have expected this. Well, he'd just have to do his best.

Cactus and Winnie charged on ahead, Winnie taking out one of the sheep and Cactus swinging his tail around wildly. He was going to hang back when he felt Theta stir in his head. The AI recognized it was a combat situation, and that he'd half to help.

North sent a thought of encouragement to the AI, and backed up a bit onto the other stairs, taking aim through his rifle. At a distance like this, a clean hit was a given.

Oh, Nepeta most certainly could fight. Her bat was the first to launch itself into the battle proper. but Nepeta followed shortly thereafter, claws drawn and ready.

No one could really say that her method of combat was anything well defined. However, it was also both surprisingly effective and remarkably efficient. It also made her look a little bit like a troll-shaped whirlwind of claws, but it was certainly making a dent in the Nightmares.

Edited 2013-04-06 22:01 (UTC)

Wash paused for a moment, blinking at Nepeta's fighting style. She was part cat, part person, part death hurricane, and at the moment he was extremely happy he had a ranged weapon. Fang at least had the sense to stay above the battle and out of range, and Melody kept to the outskirts of the fight. Wash shook off his surprise and aimed at another Nightmare on the outskirts of the fight, firing twice and taking it out.

It didn't take long for the last of the Nightmares to be destroyed. After a quick visual sweep, Wash shrugged and started up the stairs behind Nepeta, picking up dream pieces and munny as he went. "That went fast."

North blinked. He'd only managed to get a few shots in before Nepeta went to work. Needless to say, he was pretty impressed.

"Yeah, guess we showed them," he said. He was quietly thankful though, since he wasn't sure how effective he and Theta would have been in the long run, not to mention it saved him some ammo.

There's a split-second's worth of pause, and then Nepeta puts her claws away as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened in the first place.

"They haven't efur been really hard," Nepeta answered with a shrug. "Not after Sgrub."

Part of Wash wanted to ask what exactly Sgrub was and get an answer with some detail this time; part of him didn't want to know. There were more urgent matters at hand, he told himself. Instead, he reached the top of the stairs, headed to the left, and pushed the door open.

This is a stark white room, very lightly furnished: a long white table in the middle of the room, a wardrobe against the far wall, and curtains in the window. The table is littered with papers, crayons, and a single book. What brings the spark of personality to this room is the makeshift decor. The walls are covered in brightly colored crayon drawings depicting, for the most part, people. Those familiar with the mansion might recognize some of the drawings: a blond boy and a redhead man eating ice cream at the top of a clock tower; three friends sitting on an oddly shaped palm tree; a boy, a duck, and a dog all ready for adventure. There are, however, a slew of new pictures as well: three figures in brightly colored armor; a boy in a bright green hoodie; two alicorns, one blue and one white. Look closely - you may find yourself or other familiar faces among them.

"This is different," North had to comment. If he wasn't able to look out and see the stairs they'd just come up, he could have sworn they were in a different building altogether. There was no real way to connect the two rooms, as far as he was concerned.

He walked around the room, looking at the pictures curiously, trying to put it all together in his mind.

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