| abstract
| - Necromundus - City Center The quirky architecture of the mist-laden city of Necromundus is distinguished primarily by the absence of many right angles. Wooden-slats climb walls that are rectangular cubes, but the lines from ground to gable form rather oblong angles, giving everything from the dominant clock tower to the grand gold-domed opera house a rather unstable appearance. Ghostly entities of many shapes and sizes can often be seen traveling the narrow, fog-shrouded streets, on their way to the Place of Choosing or preparing to resurrect after some sort of misadventure or accident beyond the great portals that lead to strange and distant realms. A cobblestone street snakes northeast toward low hills surrounded by wrought-iron fences and tombstones, while a rutted grass path heads south toward the stinking mire known as the Rotting Bog. "It amuses me," Calliope responds cheerfully, though it's the diet cola of cheer... effervescent, but artificial. "Do dragons pilot starships a lot where you come from?" And does Elvis talk to you? seems to be the unspoken implication. Newly dead, her reality is still THE reality. Or her former one, at least. She glances at Miran, blinking, almost as startled to see a fairly normal looking person as she had been to see a bipedal dragon--though substantially less terrified. If only she knew, eh? As for how she came to be here... "Isn't that a little personal?" "Coudln't help but ask." Narthic replies with a shrug. "Its been one of the few things the newly dead have to talk about, that is of course if they even remember or feel like sharing, which you don't seem to and thats fine." he states calmly, returning the nod to Miran when passes by in all of her clippy goodness. "And I wasn't a Dragon until I got here. I used to be a man once. Human. That sort of thing. When we first die we're given the option to pick a race that suits our..." he pausing, looking for the right wording. "..personality. All different kinds running around here. Demons, Angels, cats, dogs, elves, even cows. Though I have no idea how that got thrown in, but their around. I myself chose a Dragon, but your not restricted to how you want to look. Its just a matter of willing it, but it a little difficult to do at first. I could be in this form of a human, or I could turn into some much more terrifying than you saw earlier. How does a hundred foot long Dragon grab you?" he grins. "But that form is just more for show. Its easier this way, but I do miss my wings." he says, eyeing Miran. "How do you people manage this form anyways? Its so...constricting." Pausing the pendulum of the pouch, Miran lifts her brows ever so slightly at the response. "What a remarkably rude little doll," she notes- her voice a soft southern drawl. Her amber eyes shift to Narthic, considering the question. "We do not *all* get to choose," she corrects him, almost absently, twisting the ring on her finger. "I am not a shapeshifter, so I feel no constraints." She eyes Calliope again silently, though the bag emits a soft growl. "Evening," she finally offers in an equally insincere tone of voice. Garviel enters from the Snow Day's fairgrounds, the white wolf appearing perfectly at home in the cold and the snow, in fact there's still some crystalized on the edges of his fur. His tail is wagging slightly as he turns his expressionless muzzle over towards the small group, heading towards them with a bit of a nod to all. The blonde looks a bit irritated with Mir, though the growling bag gives her visible pause. She steps a bit behind her new friend, Puff the Magic Can Be a Dragon if He Wants To--and tries to look tough at the same time. Fail! "It's not rude if I don't want to share with everyone and anyone how I died, lady." She places a hand on her hip and hrmphs, then adds, grudgingly, "Nice outfit, though." "Yes, it is. Judging by yours, I'm going to guess dead in the park from an accidental overdose, or perhaps a rape homicide." Mir clucks her tongue distastefully and pats the bag gently, not removing her gaze from the woman. She doesn't blink, either. "Quiet, you." Though not directed at anyone specifically, the bag falls silent, replacing the growl with an emotion of grudging obedience and mild dislike. Miran continues to stroke the bag with her gloved hands, letting the silence and the gaze stretch on for an uncomfortable length of time. "Evening, Packleader," she finally says. "Guess I'm just one of the gifted ones then." Narthic replies to Mir, grinning toothily, and surprise surprise, one other thing he forgot to change in the transition to human was the teeth bit, since his are still all Dragon-like and fangy. Someone's hiding behind him? Ain't that something for a change. During all this this, he manages to get a nod over to Garv when he appears. He looks back to Calli. "No need to hide, the worst Miran is going to do is berate you like so, or just beat you until your a cloud of smoke and in which case, you'll just pop back here. But I'd advise staying on her good side, that is..if she has one." he notes. All jokes today, the Dragon is. Which is pretty odd of the usually somber lizard. "Evening," Garvi replies to Mir in his low growl of a voice. He glances to Calli, "New?" he asks simply, tilting his still expressionless snout to the side, tail flicking back and forth slowly as he does so. Calliope glares spitefully at Miran. "Up yours, bi--" And -that- oh so clever retort gets interrupted by a squeak of alarm as she notices, for the first time, the bi-pedal wolfman thing standing nearby. She gapes for a moment, swallows, breathes, and then nods mutely. A moment later, finding her voice, she replies weakly, "Yeah. New. Does it show?" Heh. Bending ever so slightly to peer at the woman even closer, Miran's lips twitch into the ghost of a smile...the sort of smile that implies the owner takes pleasure in very unpleasant things, at the truncated insult. "At least she's feisty." Mir straightens, returning to her full height- not that she's much taller than Calli, for all that. "All of my sides are good, Narthic, the catch is finding the kind ones." She slides her free hand into a coat pocket she continues to examine the woman, now stepping in a slow circle around the girl and her dragon shield. Her heels make soft clicks as she sets them precisely one before the other. "I'm sure they are. Remind me the next time I see one." Narthic replies to Mir during her little walk of exaiming Callie. "And yes, at least that much can be said about her thus far. Nice to see a newly dead standing up to a Dragon. Stuipid maybe, but respectible in its own ways." he comments as the pseudo-human just stands there, not appearing that worried by the Demoness's actions. for action Calliope, for her part, being entirely human, is more than a little unnerved by the stalking assessment of Miran. She sets her jaw and tenses, refusing the urge to turn and keep Miran in her line of sight. That she can't die again isn't much comfort, at the moment. There are probably worse things than dying--and she doesn't want to learn about them just yet--if ever. "Yeah. I'm just chock full of moxie..." she mutters, tense and teeth gritted, with more than a touch of rue. "Mmmmmmmmm..." The sound is a low, deep sound in Mirans throat, uttered as she completes her circuit. "Full of something, at any rate...we'll have to look sometime. Welcome to Necromundus, Princess." Miran ignores Narth's jab and resumes her stroll to the tavern, chuckling to herself and petting the bag as it begins to purr. Garviel tilts his snout at Miran, "You know, think I liked it betterr when you just conned and swindled the newly dead, instead of stalking arround them," he comments, before he turns towards Calliope, "Well, nice to meet you, name is Garrviel Fairrskinned, leaderr of the Shining Pack," "And what fun would that be? Its more fun to lead them on." Narthic points out rather sarcastically. The faux-human then started to go back to the newspaper he had left on the bench earlier. As he walks, the etheral clouds enveloupe him again and within moments he back to his more familar Dragonic form. "Hmph...much better. Such weak visages humans have." Calliope watches Miran go, her shoulders sagging as her whole body untenses the moment the demoness is out of sight. She casts Garviel a plaintive and apologetic glance. "It's nice to meet you, too..." she nods, then adds, "but Miss Thang and her purring Prada -seriously- creep me OUT!" She casts a miffed look at Nathic, looks down at herself, and then back at the dragon. "'Scuse much, Puff Daddy, but this 'visage' was considered pretty..." she casts about for words, "pretty not weak! And... stuff. Where I come from? So... there." Hrmph. Garviel bats the air in Narthic's direction, "Don't pay them much attention, and my advice would be not to piss them off, they tend not to be...pleasant when angerred. Besides, fighting is rratherr pointless now, unless it's standing up forr something you believe in," he says to Calliope, tail gently swishing back and forth. "And no offense Calliope, but 'pretty' will not land you very far here...or maybe it will, who's to say? And Garviel is right" he says, nodding in agreement with Lupoid. "Fighting is rather pointless. I mean, even if you were to win, they'll just come back and alot more angry than before." Narthic says with a shrug. "No one likes to decoporalize, more annoying than anything else." Ralisek lets out low sigh, swiping his hand across his forehead to collect a light sweat which had gathered there - despite the cold. He is exiting the Necromundus Passenger service. "How does... anything mean anything, though? If... no one can die. And everybody just poofs back? I mean..." she frowns slightly at Garviel, her look one of perplexity. "How does that--defend or promote what you believe in?" She sits on the curb, sighing and propping her chin in her hand, elbow on her knee. "I'm not planning on getting by on my looks..." she grumps. Then, "Not... that I have a plan... really... but... if I did, that wouldn't be one of them." So there. Or something. Garviel nods slightly to Narthic, before looking back to Calliope. He shrugs a bit, "Perrhaps it's just prrinciple...know the saying about how you would die forr someone? Well...I know I'd die orr discorrporrealize as many times as it takes forr my ideals, forr my kin, and especially forr my mate...that's all rreally, not much that'll get me too angrry at this point, nothing angrry enough to attack someone that is." his tail stops wagging as he speaks. "Its an odd thing, isn't it?" Narthic ponders aloud. "In life, you strove for so much because at the time the life you had was so precious. And now that we've all lost that in some form or another, a deal seems rather blase'. Or maybe thats just me. In some ways it was the fear of death that prevent many of us from doing what we wished. Here, that isn't here to hold us back, so in essence its a gift and a hinderance." he says thoughtfully, his tail meandering up behind him to scratch at the back of his head. He attempts a smile, which is more or less a grimace of teeth. "No one expects you to have a plan right away. Honestly, take your time. You have more than enough of that now." Calliope looks at Narthic, unhappily. "That's exactly it. It was the fear of death that gave life all its... its..." She frowns. "Maybe there's a way to get reincarnated. Then I could go back to being afraid of death and glad to be alive, again..." She looks from Narthic to Garviel and back again. "I mean, no offense, but an eternity of boring is -definitely- something to fear." Another pause, then, "So why the armour and all the other protective stuff I've seen for sale?" Garviel shrugs, "I think therre's things still worrth fighting forr...perrhaps you'll find something...orr someone worrth doing so forr." his muzzle doesn't change, but his tail swishes a little, "Monsterrs, each otherr, take yourr pick. Therre's little trrust herre, and a lot of people seem to pass some of the time by going hunting, therre's a varriety of people arround herre willing to pay and rrewarrd yourr time forr thinning the numberrs of cerrtain sects prresent thrroughout the worrld, even though theirr numberrs rreally neverr seem to decrrease, some arre still best kept in check." Ralisek walks up the street a bit to see the group, letting out another visible breath. "Newcomer?" He asks to no one in particular, blowing hot air into a closed fist. "As far as I know there is no going back." Narthic says. "You shouldn't think too much of an ideal like that. The life you knew is gone, as it is for the rest of us. Thinking like that will drive you mad." he points out with perhaps a grain of remorse. But its fleeting and quickly gone. "As for why the armor, well there are still things out there that can be considered a threat. And yes, like Garviel said, you may find something here that you did not have in life, that could not of had in life. If you want to look at the grand scheme of things, its the whole good versus evil thing and who'll end up on top. But that whole thing is something I've never really thought about." "Hunting? You mean... like... killing Bambi?" Calliope looks squicked. "Ew. Are there any popular pastimes that aren't redneck and gross?" She winces, then, realising Garviel's a creature that's quite naturally a hunter. "No offense to present company, of course..." She rolls her eyes at herself. "Words are not my friends." She nods a bit morosely as she considers Narthic's take on things, then blinks up Ralisek's arrival. "Ooh! A -person-!" She scrambles to her feet, beaming, then winces again with a glance at Garv and Narth. "I mean... a human person... not that you guys aren't people..." And to Ralisek (with undertones of worry), "Does any of your stuff purr or growl or talk to you?" "...I wouldn't say /that/ extrreme," Garvi comments, his tail no longer swishing, "Sorrrry, hunting is the generral terrm, generrally it has to do with, as the Drragon pointed out, good verrses evil, forr example, I often go 'hunting' a grroup of cultists who like to summon demons, keep them in check. Unlike the Drragon, I'm devoutly a followerr of good," his tail remains stopped behind him. Ralisek chuckles a bit at the comment, arching a brow towards Garviel and Narthic before setting his amused gaze towards Calliope, "Yeah, you'll find a lot of wierd things here." He points to himself, "I'm just lucky I didn't get stuck with fur and tail." He raises his hands up a bit on each side, smirk coming to his face. "Good. Evil. Two titles for two personal agendas." "If you want to be specfic, we're all spirits who happen to have bodies. And I'd imagine at one point many here were human. We simply chose something else. But at the core, we're relatively all the same here." Narthic replies, before those glowing orbs blink. "Ah yes. Well I do not pick sides. Not my thing. Peronally I'm a neutral party in that matter. Its simply a matter on point of view. And my point of view is to work with whoever pays enough, and at current thats no one, so I plan to watch from the sidelines." he says, before turning back to Calli. "You don't have to go out and fight, there are many craftsman about. Or those that are healers. There are other things to be done besides fighting other more vengeful spirits."(re) Calliope mehs, telling Ralisek, "I'm quickly growing accustomed to the weird. I think." She doesn't sound entirely sure of that. More hopeful. "So... I'm Calliope. Who're you?" A look of woeful confusion is cast Narthic-ward. "Healers? Again--my brain hurts. What's the point? If not one dies?" She sighs a bit. "I guess maybe I'll understand better after I've been here a while." (re) Garviel peers at Ralisek, "Says one who hangs with prrimarrily Demons," he comments, before looking to Narthic, shaking his snout, "I wouldn't say we'rre the same at the corre, otherrwise therre wouldn't be the strruggle of good and evil, and the bystanderrs." "Ralisek." The male human responds, reaching out a hand to shake. "Yeah, theres stuff here I still don't get, either." A small shrug to Garviel, "What, does that classify me as 'evil' in your book? Good and evil are just labels." "Thats coming the basis that we're made up the same stuff. We're all energy..in a sense. The differences is the thought, feelings, and personalities of each spirit." Nathic elaborates. "And as for healers, Calli, like I said before, no one enjoys decorporalizing. A healer just a way to prevent that. But again, you don't have to do anything if you totally felt like it. I hone my battle and magical skills because its something to do. And to defend myself." he says, before nodding over at Ral. "Agree with you on that one. Good. Evil. Two sides of the same coin. And I perfer sitting on the edge of it." "Nice to meet you," Calliope smiles, shaking Ralisek's hand. It's a good handshake, for hands that look like they've never done anything more useful than cradle an iPhone. "I kind of feel like I'm listening to a political debate--except no one's stating an agenda. Just a party." She wrinkles her nose a bit. "No wonder I never voted." Garviel shakes his snout to Narthic and Ral, "No, what you'rre saying isn't possible. If the two rreally werre the same, then therre would be no conflict, therre would be nothing interresting, but therre /is/ if you botherr to look arround. People do not have the same motives, same drrives. Saying they do is like wishing forr a uptopian society, something that'd neverr rreally worrk." he shakes his head slightly at Calliope, "Sorrrry, figurred it'd be fairrly black and white, good is just what it means, as is evil, although evil tends to be morre stuble than good, frrom what I've seen those associated with evil like to swindle, con, and cheat theirr way thrrough things. And no, not saying good is the shining knight on a white horrse eitherr, therre arre times when we have to dirrty ourr hands to keep evil in check. But both sides have differrent motives, differrent drrives, otherwise therre wouldn't be the conflict we have." "Don't listen to the guy." Ral whispers with a roll of his eyes, as he shakes her hand firmly, "Good and evil are perspectives. People have the same ideas, group together, and clash ideas with another group. If you wanted labels, group one and group two works just fine. Group one calls group two evil and vice versa. All it is." He jerks a thumb towards Narthic, "He knows his stuff." "They're the same in that their both striving to win. That there has to be a conflict to begin with. That one must prevail over the other. Thats what I'm talking about. If you ask me, the conflict is pointless. Obviously this conflict has been going on for far longer than we've been here, to be frank I don't ever seeing it end, so I fail to see reasoning in picking a side." Narthic says with what amounts to a tired snort. He nods again to Ral. "Thats exactly right. Its the most basic of explanations. Its like two kids fighting over who rules the playground." Calliope looks between Ral, Narth and Garv. "Right. That sort of frames my next question. This conflict--what's it over? What are the stakes? What's the prize?" Garviel just shakes his head at Ral and Narthic, "That's yourr opinion, apparrently therre's no point in trrying to convince eitherr of you otherrwise, as to use old analogies, the pot called the kettle black." he turns to Calliope, "As farr as I'm concerrned, the only 'prrize' as you say is making otherr's feel good, keeping people rrelatively safe. Even though you can't die, therre arre places in this rrealm that can be rratherr scarry, helping people feel at home, welcome those who arre new herre, the like. Can't speak forr them orr forr those associated with evil." Ralisek just chuckles a bit at that, shrugging, "Up to yourself what you'd like to believe. Everyone has their own opinions, but in the end, those opinions cause the conflict." "I take care of myself and the ones who I can consider friends in this place." Narthic snorts, getting up form his bench. "Need to find a nice quiet cave to go nap in." he says, as his wings unhook from his back. A stretch first, extending his leathery wings to their full thrity foot wingspan. Then a toothy yawn. One final glance at Callie and Ral. "I'll see you guys later. And Callie, if you need help with anything, I'll be around." he notes before finally looking over to Garviel. "Not gonna knock your personal beliefs, your alright in my book." he says, crouching low before jumping upwards, thoses two wings givng a full blast of air around the area as they pump to lift himself off the ground. "Take it easy." he calls down, before the Dragon moves off, wings flapping in the distace before they can't be heard anymore. "Wow..." Calliope murmurs, staring after the impressive spectacle of the dragon in flight. "That's kind of cool..." She shakes her head a little, returning her attention to those who remain. "So... the people you consider evil," she asks Garviel, "they oppose your agenda?" Garviel glances up at Narthic, nodding a bit as the Dragon takes off, "Good hunting," he wishes simply, before looking back to Calli, "Essentially, surre, we all have differrent rreasons, but those arre mine," he replies. Ralisek gives a simple nod, "Yeah, I ain't tryin' to run em down either." "No, no. I think those are good things to stand up for," Calliope assures Garviel. "I mean, make people feel good and welcome and keep them safe from scary places--what's not to love? I'm just trying to figure out how--or why--the evil people oppose or threaten those things." She looks at Ralisek. "I mean, you don't have any issues with the stuff Garviel wants, right? Do the folks you hang out with?" Garviel swishes his tail slightly, curling it slightly at the end, "Like to tell myself that good is selfless and evil is selfish, but I get the feeling Rralisek will disagrree with me on that," Ralisek gives a nod, "I do disagree. I've made friends with many demons, they don't want to kill me or cheat me or make me feel unwelcome." "Well... what -do- they want?" Calliope asks Ralisek, curiously. Garviel tilts his snout, "I didn't say they werren't, they'rre just morre inclined to follow theirr own desirres," he replies. Ralisek shrugs, "They all have different opinions. Generalizing bunches of people into good and evil isn't very easy." Calliope grins, wryly. "See, this is why I didn't elect to go any further than Philosophy 101 in college..." She rubs the back of her neck and winces. "Brain hurty, this stuff." She perks her eyebrows at Ralisek. "So, have you met any folks while you've been here you -would- consider evil? Or at least, people who often do things you'd classify as 'bad'?" "Well, I'd say rude, but not 'bad'. No ones a cerial killer I don't think." Ral says with a grin. "Politics aren't my forte either." Garviel shrugs slightly, "Therre arre those I feel arren't verry morral, but that's my opinion," he says. He nods to Calli, "Nice to meet you, feel frree to ask if you need any help arround herre," he states, before beginning to move towards the dwellings and abodes in the city.
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