Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 9: Everyone's Dirty Underwear

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"I'm Sean!" Sean protested fiercely, turning his glare from crushed cup to the ceiling, but Ryan had already slipped through the smoke-hole and onto the roof.

And just hearing his new voice again made Sean slump his shoulders in resignation. He'd never believe such an assertion coming from someone who looked and sounded like he did. Hitching his jeans up from where they hung annoyingly low on his flaring hips, he crossed an arm below his breasts, giving them some constraint as he sprawled back on his stool. The material of his shirt rubbing against his nipples was extremely distracting.

Swan gave him a concerned look and got him a new drink. But she couldn't refrain from flicking her eyes down the length of his legs, noticing how his sweater pulled tight against a full bust.

How do women like my sisters and mother and Candy and Blaize deal with tits this big? I'll admit, they're nice to look at - at least, they were until I got my own - but the fuckers seem to have a mind of their, movin' their own direction, movin' even when I'm not. Guess they're used it... Guess I'll get used to 'em too...

Eyes widening at that infuriating thought, Sean finally noticed others had changed as well, maybe in ways as drastic as his own. Lucia was covered in shadows like particularly tenacious snot, Ravi was... cattish when still a boy, Micah was trying for a part as the Tin Man and Frida was-

"Holy shit!" Sean sputtered. Yet Frida was taking the fact that she looked like she had all the substantiality of a faded, nineteenth century photograph with far more equanimity than he was dealing sitting on the other side of the gender divide.

He gave Mari an awkward shrug and a tight smile, trying to convey that he was grateful she was admonishing Ravi for teasing him, but was 'man' enough to take it, though when all was said and done, he didn't want to be in this position anyway. Turning away from Mari - mostly because of the smug smile he saw on Ravi's face - Sean focused on Frida to give his suspicions, but her ephemeral appearance didn't help. Neither did looking down, knowing what was hiding - feeling what was hiding - under his bulging sweater.

"I think we're... we're like mutants, like the X-men or somethin,'" Sean suggested in a low voice, his hand tightening on his new cup. "Some of us have powers or whatever, with a physical... mutation to go with it." He gestured sharply at the others with his mug. "Ravi's a were-panther, so has cat-eyes. Frida, you can see dead people, so you look, uh... sorta ghosty. Micah and Lucia... I dunno. Whatever, something I'm sure. My mother's an amazon it seems, so I got the packagin,' if nothing else..."

He trailed off, nudging the most obvious signs of his new packaging, then his deep blue eyes came up to glare at Ravi, shapely jawline tight as she pointed at him warningly. "And don't you say anything about me bein' an 'Ex-man,' Ravi. I swear."

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

"Why ever would I?" Ravi said with an expression of hurt innocence, made all the more theatric as he placed one hand over his heart. Sean glowered at him, not disarmed in the least. Ravi blinked and shrugged casually, taking a sip of the liquor in his mug and glancing off to one side, studying the carvings on the support pillars. Sean turned his attention back to the drink Swan had given him...

"...When you say it for me." Ravi murmured in belated conclusion, his amused tones smooth as a claw cutting silk.

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan suddenly stuck his head down through the flap. "Nice view up here, by the way, I'm gonna go scout in a bit. I wanted to say that tha new girl is right, y'all are startin' ta look like yer powers. Or whatever. You know what I mean. I'm jus' glad to know I ain't turnin' into a great big ol' bat!" Whatever Ryan's gift was, his radar like perceptions of the world, there didn't seem to be any obvious sign of a physical change in the boy. Those with very sharp eyesight however were starting to second guess that assessment. Concealed by the darkness and the smoke above it was hard to tell as it had been outside in the night, but he appeared to those observing carefully as though he were being seen through a shutter, opening and closing a dozen times a second.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia looked up at Ryan with eyes that, like Ravi's, clearly showed the nature of her own divergence from mainline humanity. She blinked, hoping (and failing) to clear away the odd optical effect he exhibited.

"Just be careful - and do not get caught." The emphasis in the statement was clear, with no need to elaborate; the Daltonites were unarmed in a city of warriors, and angering their hosts would be a monumentally bad idea.

Sighing, she looked around at the group again, taking in the many different changes and transformations... and finally coming to focus on Ravi.

They were the same, she knew - not only from the knowledge of their mutual panther-like traits, but at a gut level. There was a certain primalness to him, one she shared, one that no one else here exhibited in the slightest.

And yet, they remained almost glaringly different. While her own inclinations had turned almost instinctually toward protection of her charges, the young nobleman had slipped with ease into a different and far more extroverted mindset.

Perhaps it was merely an enhancement of their core personalities, she thought. Or a difference between the males and females of their... species? Without more information, it was impossible to say. But without a doubt, Sylvia recognized her fellow were-cat as a danger. He would bear close watching.

[Frida Ricci]

Click to reveal..

Just for clarification, if i didn't make it clear. Frida isn't translucent. It's more like she's in-between.. solid like a human, but pale (Autumn's description - like an old photo - is spot on) and kind of glowing and a little fuzzy at the edges, like a ghost. But you can't see through her, so she's not COMPLETELY ghost-like in that regard.

Frida nodded slightly, seeming to take Ravi's wry humor at the situation at face value.

"Yes.. quite right. I'll keep that in mind."

After a moment's hesitation, she picked up the cup again, and took a drink. Admittedly, it was a little deeper of one that the sips she had taken before, as if to steel herself a little. But considering everyone else's altered appearances, and the comments regarding them, she was doing her best to push her fear to the back of her mind. She obviously wasn't the only one experiencing some sort of change to her appearance or situation.

After all.. you're being illogical. You've experienced nothing so far to prove that ghosts are a danger to you, in any way, shape, or form. So far, all they've done is look sad, or horrible.. and talk to you. And close some doors.

Still, she took another long drink before picking up a piece of the meat to nibble at while they waited for the return of the Chiderans.

[Dawn OOC]

“Rhay.” The voice calling his name was familiar; so was the accent. Turning his head, Ray saw Emiiseel striding toward him. Like all Chideran, the woman was striking, but Ray had always found the Emerald Fires to be the prettiest of the lines. They were classic Irish red-heads: green eyes, curly red-gold hair and milk-cream skin, usually dotted with freckles. Couple that with a body that decidedly toned and healthy and you had a distracting combination.

The young man pushed off the parapet he’d been leaning on and faced the Chideran. She was one of the friendlier ones, though still not what Ray could call friendly. Having a penis made being friends with them hard; their race considered sex with a man to be a kind of deviancy, on par with homosexuality back home, and that left most of them unwilling to be seen being too friendly with a man. Privately… well, Ray had found the occasional bit of company, usually followed by a subtle or open threat about keeping his mouth shut. He didn’t mind; man-curious Chideran were fun.

“There are Daltonites here,” Emii told him without preamble.

Ray blinked in surprise. “Are they visiting with a Link again?” he asked. He hadn’t known about last week’s meeting until three days after it was done. Emii had promised him that she’d get him if she heard of another.

“They do not have the Lhesk,” Emii told him as they turned and headed for the stairs down from the top of the wall. “They have a Caramine prisoner.” There was satisfaction in her voice. “Come, they are in the Visitor’s Hall.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Ryan straightened up from the smoke hole and scampered off before someone said anything else to him. He was a little surprised that Dorn had given her blessing to go running off, though he was a bit insulted that she’d think he’d get caught. So what if Pritchard and company had caught him – he was sure they cheated. Somehow.

The buildings were placed fairly close to one another. Ryan was able to hop from roof to roof, making a minimum of noise. There were places where he couldn’t leap, over major ‘roads’ or where the river passed through. But he was getting a feeling for the place. There was just the one wall, and it encircled the Door. Apparently, the Chideran didn’t fear being attacked from other Chiderans. The river cut through the town, with four wooden bridges spanning it for traffic. The Amazonian-esque women had large beasts to ride; they weren’t horses as much as Cape Buffalo, great heavy monsters with a skull cap of bone and a jutting horn rose from their skull cap. They were a variety of colors, some of them with black patterns, but it couldn’t hide the fact that they were the ugliest unicorns Ryan had ever seen.

His wanderings took him back to the wall. He watched the Chideran move around, six on guard duty inside the wall with another twelve in the guardhouse next to the northern door. As he was watching, something appeared at the Door. Ryan blinked at the creepiness of someone just ‘popping’ onto his radar like that.

A second later, he realized that the Chideran didn’t seem to be reacting to the newcomer’s arrival.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The door opened and Mermin entered, her sun-kissed California looks at odds with her furred and leather armor. A woman with dusky skin and auburn hair led the way. Something about her commanded attention; between wearing authority like a cloak and the golden circlet in her hair, it was safe to surmise that she was the leader. Behind her were several woman with black hair and ice-blue eyes, all of whom looked to be cousins or aunts to “Seanette”.

The leader spoke, her hands resting on her hips. “Welcome, Daltonites, Heroes of the Worlds. We of the DoorHold are honored to see you return. We had hoped you before this, to be honest.” Her dark eyes ran over each face. “Where are those who came before?”

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan squatted atop the wall amid the trees. He could "see" just fine and the add camouflage ensured that he would not be seen easily. He had been staring at the door, trying to figure out the weird way that space seemed to thin out within it. He "saw" the bubble of this world press up against something bare moments before something transitioned through from somewhere else. Ryan couldn't lay eyes on the door or the newcomer, but what he could see through his Rydar was something not human. It's arms and legs were longer, proportionally, than a humans. It was also male.

Ryan shifted his stance a bit, expecting that the newcomer would result in a ruckus and force him to move deeper into the trees to avoid being seen. Instead nothing happened at all. The Chideran didn't appear to have noticed the new arrival at all. Or if they had they didn't care one iota, and that seemed out of character for the militant babes.

Ryan frowned. Grumbling inaudibly he decided to see who it was, or what it was, that had come for a visit and didn't even elicit a reaction from the welcoming party. Quietly he shuffled along the wall until he located a vantage point where his eyes could spy the visitor.

Click to reveal..

Athletics 4 + Dex 4 to move along the wall (if needed)

8d10.hitsopen(8,10)=1

Stealth when outside: Dex 4 + Stealth 4

8d10.hitsopen(8,10)=3

[SalmonMax]

The last spokesman anyone would want set her cup down and stood up. There was no unsteadines in her movements, but her voice was unusually strident.

"They're old now. Old and home. We're the pinch hitters. Uh, you probably don't get that. It means we come in at the end of the..." she flaps a hand, trying to remember, "...inning and we bat a few homers and pull the game into a win."

With a shrug she finished with an introduction. "I'm Renata. Renata Hodges."

[Frida Ricci]

Before the conversation progressed, Frida stepped forward, her fingertips lightly touching Renata's arm in apology for interrupting. The brief contact sent a small chill through the other girl's spine, though Frida seemed unaware of it.

"I don't think she means the old students, Renata. I think she means me. I believe I've been here before. I know, at least, that I've met this woman. I have a drawing that proves it."

Frida turneds to the Chideran, extending a pale, otherworldly hand to the woman.

"But I must politely ask for confirmation. You see, our memories have been altered, and I can only vaguely recall my previous visit. So I must ask for your name again, if we have indeed met before."

[Dawn OOC]

The clearing before the Door held nothing that his eyes could see. His Rydar was still fully registering the visitor, but his eyes were telling him nothing was there. Even the snow was unaffected by the visitor, marked only the steps of the Daltonites.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The woman leading things took another look at Frida. “You were more solid last time we met,” Oreili observed. “I am the Pimszt of DoorHold, Oreili the Travat-Slayer, of the Sunset Sands line. You are… Frigha?”

“Frida,” the student politely corrected.

“I have come to see the disposition of the Caramine,” Oreili announced, turning and walking over to Swan. The Caramine knelt next to Sean and put her hand on his foot again. The Pimszt stopped and stared, looking both concerned and wary. After a moment, she looked to Sean. “Daughter, what is your name?”

[Jeremy]

Ray closed his eyes for a moment, as he pondered over the news that had been given to him as he kept pace with Emiiseel. It had been at least a year now, and as much as he had been reticent about explaining his disappearance without the likely reception and repercussions- who was he kidding, mostly it was his obsession- he had loved the pure fantasy aspect of his stay with the Chiderans like a zealot.

But even Aragorn had responsibility- tons of it. It was time he admitted, for him to head home, considering that if the Camarines were involved now- the folks at the school would need his help. After all, there was a war looming and the Chiderans had prepared him for it.

"Well, after this I'd better start packing my bags... if I had any." He commented to Emii as they approached the Visitor's Hall. Ray reached into his furs and dug out a keepsake. It was just a quarter, stamped with the eagle on the back, but it was a touchstone for Ray Venkman, which he started flipping in his hand.

It always landed heads up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

There was already the Pimszt and a group of Chiderans already there, Ray and Emiiseel hung back quietly for the moment, but Ray raked his eyes over the Daltonite party. Most of the kids he didn't recognize, but that was not surprising given the ~12 months of absence. It seemed events had been going on while the year had gone by, and plenty of the other teens had undergone changes.

Clearly more apparent than he showed. Of course, he hadn't gotten his ability to 'tweak the strings', he'd never have gotten clear of those bats.

And yes... one very familiar person. There was Ms. Dorn, of course, whom Ray focused his attention on. If she or anyone else at the table looked his way, they'd see another Chideran, and a clearly male youth wearing furs the shade of his brown hair and darker eyes, knife on a chain around his neck.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

When the Chiderans walked into the Visitor's Hall, Sean thought his eyes were playing tricks on him as copy after copy of his sisters and mother trooped in after their apparent leader, if the golden tiara was anything more than a bit of jewelry. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands and looked again and realized he was wrong... mostly.

None of them were his sisters or mother, but they were each and everyone were close kin. The same black hair, blue eyes and fair skin, the shape of their faces and the shape of their lips so familiar. He licked his lips, noting a new fullness. My face, my lips... All were tall, most of them his height, though some were somewhat shorter or taller - one was much taller - with a mild variance to their levels of muscle mass, he thought. Judging anything more than the breadth of their shoulders was tough with their leathers on. It's like a whole slew of cousins and aunts I've never met.

When Oreili stepped up to him, Swan kneeling at his feet again, Sean shook his head and pulled his eyes off the family he never even suspected he had. He gave Swan a protective pat on the shoulder then stood up from his stool, meeting the Pimszt's eyes directly. He might have been in shock by the freakish situation he found himself in, but he be damned if he'd let them hurt Swan. She was only here because he was.

"I'm..." What do I say? Shanna? That was just a dream. A dream! ... Sean. Vena's so - second child. I... don't think she's expectin' me here. But there's been some trouble in Dalton and I - we - need to talk to her."

The Pimszt didn't look like a woman to be trifled with, regardless of how hot she was, but Sean stood up straight and firm, keeping a tight hold on Swan's free hand. "Swan's with me. She's turned away from the Caramines."

Just then his eyes widened in surprise at a boy hovering near the door he saw over the Pimszt's shoulder. "Ray?!" he mouthed silently.

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

Ravi had fallen silent when the Chideran entered, lounging in his chair and letting Sean and the other Dalton ladies take the foreground. He frowned a little at the sight of a familiar face - the boy who'd entered with the red-headed Chideran was from Dalton, he was sure of it. It looked as though he'd been here awhile though - the weather-tanned face and garments indicated that. What was his name again...? Ravi mentally shook his head. The other boy wasn't someone known to him other than as a face in the crowd.

So he turned his attention to the Chiderans, watching them intently as he sipped from his cup, his green-gold eyes flashing in the flickering torchlight. The variance in hues of skin, eyes and hair was interesting, as was their obvious strength and their confidence, a trait that Ravi admired in others as well as in himself. These, then, were good friends to have. And likely terrible enemies.

Just like me Ravi thought to himself wryly, his keen senses alive with the scents and sights around him.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Despite every instinct to the contrary, Sylvia held her tongue as first Renata and then Frida introduced themselves to their Amazonian hosts.

As the leader and Sean delved into the details of his - or her, depending on your viewpoint - heritage, she watched two more figures enter behind the main group. One was (unsurprisingly) another Chideran, albeit of a red-haired line reminiscent of the Irish back home. The other, however...

Her cat-like eyes went wide for a moment, then she cleared her throat and said, in a voice aimed in the newcomer's direction, "Mr. Venkman? Would you mind coming over here?"

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan slipped over and around the crenelations like a snake moving through grass. Hiding from the guards was a little more difficult as the trees thinned out, forcing Ryan to keep to the long shadows cast by the the towers, or to duck behind the level of the battlements. It proved easy enough however as he moved around to get a better look at the visitor.

Ryan blinked and rubbed his eyes. Whomever, or whatever, the thing that came through the door was, it was invisible to his eyes. Scrutinizing the creature he could see that it somehow walked above the snow, leaving no trace at all, even in the space not trampled by the Daltonites.

Ryan understood now why the Chiderans had not reacted; they were unaware of the interloper. Ryan scooped up snow from atop the crenelations and quickly formed a loose ball, tight enough to fly the dozen yards to the creature, but loose enough that it would burst on impact and cover it in snow. It flew wide missing the invisible target by a foot and landing in the snow with a barely audible poof. Cursing himself Ryan quickly formed a second projectile, and this time closed his eyes, relying purely on his new senses. The second snowball, guided by Rydar, was thrown and hit the creature squarely, coating it with a puff of white snow. "Yes!" Ryan hissed to himself quietly.

Click to reveal..

Athletics 4 + Dex 4 to throw the snowball 8d10.hitsopen(8,10)=0 Miss!

Second Snowball 8d10.hitsopen(8,10)=2 HIT!

[Jeremy]

Ray smiled as the others started noticing. Must have been a shock to see him, at this time. Fortuitous? Probably, given Ray's life story for the past year. But it would mean more Ghostbuster jokes for sure. When Ms. Dorn connected the dots and called him over, he readily obeyed, moving with a steady stride to the cat-like teacher. "Hello, Ms. Dorn. Hello, everyone."

"And," raising his hands in mock placation to his History teacher, "I know I owe you a paper on the Mongols, don't start on that." It had been due the day after the... beginning of his lengthy absence.

[Atomicweasel]

Mari looked about, mostly dumbfounded, as the strange progression of people made their way into the long hut. She couldn’t help but notice that many of the tall muscular women clothed in furs, with sun-hardened faces and grimly set jaws, greatly resembled Sean. There was a boy with them, whom Sean seemed to recognize, and Mari idly wondered, given the little she knew of the Chiderans, if he had been made into their slave.

No one is ever going to believe me. Mari concluded as she categorized the wonders she was surrounded by. There was her cat-eyed boyfriend, Ravi, right at her side. Behind her was Ms. Dorn, probably hankering for some Fancy Feast right now. A little ways off was Frida the kind-of-friendly ghost. Ryan had convinced himself he was Spiderman. Only Renata, the other girl, Autumn, and Mari herself, seemed normal.

So, what’s your hot new boyfriend like? Mari imagined Yani asking her, Oh, you know...he’s pretty cool. He turns into a panther. We like to go hang out with Amazons in the snow and stuff.

And then Mari had a bright idea. Her shiny red Verizon phone might be cheap and covered in glittery sequins and definitely outside her service zone, but Mari fished it eagerly out of her jeans pocket. The camera was especially crappy, just 1.5 megapixels, but it would do. Mari tilted her head back, her lips slightly parted as she framed the Chiderans in the screen. click.

[Dawn OOC]

“Vena’s second child was an abomination, born a boy,” Oreili replied, her mouth tightening a faction at the words. “I do not believe you to be her daughter.”

“Get Cassandra,” one of the unnamed Midnight Ices suggested. “Or Savannah.”

“Savannah is training at HeartStone,” another woman said.

“Summon Cassandra,” Oreili commanded. One of the Midnight Ices started to duck out, but Oreili corrected, “Wait. Take… Sean to her. This is Chideran business, with offense not meant to our Dalton allies.” Oreili turned to Sean. “You may bring your prisoner. Do you consent to go with the others of your line to seek truth?”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The man seemed startled when the snow ball hit him. Ryan “watched” as he jolted into motion, dashing toward the wall. At first it seemed he’d hide in the shadows of the wall but Ryan watched, astounded, as the form began to run up the wall, as if it were solid ground. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be headed for him. Halfway up it stopped, using the shadow of a tower to discreetly shake snow off its clothing.

[z022]

Lucia frowned at the thought of the group being split up. "Oreili, on Earth, Sean is male. He changed when we came through the Door. Many of us have changed..." Her eyes flicked around the group and then down to her arm, where a shadow was slithering over her wrist like a loving pet snake. "This didn't happen to me before, but it seems like we're all changing. Well, some of us."

She was keeping a calm face, but the strangeness and the touchy situation with the Chiderans had her rattled. When Mrs. Dorne called a boy over, she blinked a few times. She'd seen the boy before around the campus, but he hadn't been with the rest of them when everything with Door had started. She bit her lip and wondered how many students from Dalton had gone missing over the years because of the Door. Had he found it himself? Had he been taken by someone or something? How had he ended up with the Chiderans?

"Ray Venkman...I know you. A little." She gave him a small apologetic smile. "Are you alright? How did you get here?" Her brow furrowed, "How long have you been here?"

[Jeremy]

"Well..." Ray started to answer, but then paused sheepishly as he fumbled about in his mind for a name, she was known to him, but not too well, "...Lucia. I'm fine, despite the circumstances of my gender the Chiderans have been hospitable enough. I'll save the story for later until we have the this issue wrapped up."

With a half-amused, half-apologetic look at, Sean was it? Then he turned back to Lucia. "Though I certainly believe you on the changing part. It may not appear so, but I've changed in a few ways too. And given what I know and what I've learned since arriving at the DoorHold... I find that quite plausible. Still, going or waiting, there's likely half a dozen family memories or secrets Sean here could quote to prove his...her... identity, so I doubt this is any real problem."

[SalmonMax]

"So wait," Renata demanded of Ray. "You're from Dalton? You went through the door before it was the cool thing to do? Aw man, I thought WE were the cool kids! And you wound up in Magic Lesbo Land...and just stayed? Like...hey school, hey parents, hey friends, screw y'all, I found magic lesbians. Outies!"

She burst into a laugh and shook her head. "Dude, that's cold. Did you even leave a note?"

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean gritted his teeth, the word 'abomination' striking a nerve. It felt incredibly insulting, even if Oreili didn't seem to mean it that way. As far as she was concerned, she was just stating a fact. Hands curling into fists, Sean lowered his eyes. A freak, yes. But an abomination?! Really?

Originally Posted By: Lucia

"Oreili, on Earth, Sean is male. He changed when we came through the Door. Many of us have changed..."

Sean grunted in displeasure, giving Lucia a disgruntled look and jerking her chin at Ray. "Thanks, Lucia," Sean said, his new voice dripping with biting sarcasm that would do any bitch proud, "let's tell everyone I used to be an outie and now I'm an innie."

But his anger didn't last, his shoulders drooping with heavy resignation as he nodded at Oreili. "Vena had a son," Sean admitted, throat tightening as he continued, "now she has... has another daughter, I guess."

Unaccountably he felt something like tears sting his eyes at the admission, but he ignored them as he took a deep breath then gave Oreili a firmer nod. "I'll go with, uh... my Line - Midnight Ice? - and speak with Cassandra." His lips curved with a faint, meager smile, wry and bitter "Hell, I want to see Cass' expression when she sees me. Savannah and my mother too, even."

He solicitously helped Swan to her feet, he blue eyes narrowing in warning. "Swan isn't my prisoner, she's my..." What is she to me? "... companion," he finished lamely. Several of the Midnight Ices shared questioning glances or condescending smirks.

"Lead on. Sorry guys, but I don't really feel like havin' all the family stuff out in front of everyone. Um, seeya in a bit, I guess."

Keeping an arm around Swan's shoulders, who slipped an arm around his trim waist in turn, Sean followed his newfound kin outside the Visitor's Hall. Several of the Midnight Ices bracketed him and Swan, bearing an uncanny resemblance to guards, in addition to their uncanny resemblance to the female half of his family. Eerie

"So, uh, how does this, erm, 'Line' stuff work? Are you all related to Vanessa - Vena I mean - or do you just share the looks and stuff?" he asked, eyes wondering around the village, the snow crunching underfoot.

The population was odd, and more than just because nearly everyone was a women, and a hot one at that. There were distinct sets of colouring - the Lines, he supposed - and each set bore a close familial resemblance. Each separate family had it's own colouring, no exceptions. Weird. He looked down again, hunching his shoulders and surreptitiously trying to ameliorate the constant... bouncing. Double weird.

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan cursed as the militant lesbians failed to notice. Then we watched the figure dash for the wall, and then up it. "Well fuck, that was pretty awesome," he breathed. Still he was entirely sure this was not going to end well for somebody. He crouched low and moved quickly and quietly along the wall toward the spot where the unseen man-thing stood perpendicular to the wall an dusted the snow from his body. Sticking to the shadow as best he could he leaned out over the parapet, a loose double handful of snow in his hands, chilling his fingers, ready to drop on the intruder, "Hey, mister, you got game, but who's team are you playing for?"

[Frida Ricci]

Frida watched Sean as he moved towards the other Chiderans, though she cringed inwardly at his confession that Swan wasn't his prisoner.

What on earth is he thinking? We said that he'd claim her as a prisoner to keep her safe. Why is he changing the story now? He'll be putting her in danger...

But she stepped forward again, speaking to Oreili as politely as before, and - surprisingly - taking the lead with ease, now that Renata and Ms. Dorn were tied up with the new/old Dalton student. She remembered Ray Venkman, as she remembered everyone, and she was fairly certain she had a couple rough drawings of him somewhere in her sketchbooks back at Dalton. Or maybe at home, last year was several sketchbooks ago. He was a bit of a loner, if she recalled, and they made good subjects, for they often spent time blacks of time hanging around and reading, or watching others. But since Ms. Dorn and some of the other students seemed to have focused on him, and Sean was leaving with the rest of the Chiderans, she focused back on the Pimszt of Doorhold.

"We came, hoping for some assistance. Some answers, perhaps. Brihn of the Lhesk told us that you might be able to help. But perhaps a bit of an explanation of what we've been through is in order. How long has it been for you since I was last here...?"

[Sylvia Dorn]

Looked at her fur-bedecked student and simply shook her head.

"Mr. Venkman, you've managed to go native in record time. And your assignment on the Mongols isn't due until Tuesday, so you've still a couple of days."

At that point, Sean made her intentions clear to go off in search of his family. Sylvia's face hardened for a moment, her muscles tensing through her limbs as slitted-pupils and her nostrils simultaneously flared a bit. She made as if to call out, then stopped, and almost visibly forced herself to relax.

After a deep sigh, she looked again at Ray, while listening to Frida's conversation with Oreili. His tanned skin, a slight increase in his height, a few other tell-tales that didn't seem entirely in keeping with the changes that those from Dalton had experienced crossing through the Door. To her previous statement, she added, "That said, I believe this has been much, much longer for you than it has for us, hasn't it?"

Eyes still on Ray, she piped up to the group at large, "I'm going to wager that it has been quite a long time indeed, Frida. Months, maybe longer. And I'm beginning to understand why Earth is so rarely visited via the Doors by other worlds that the experience is virtually unknown in our history."

She looked up, taking in the group almost as she would students in the lecture hall.

"Given what we've seen, both here and with Lucia's interaction with Ahvia's world as well as with the scarcity of recorded interaction back home, I'm starting to think that it's not so much a matter of time passing faster here as it is one of time passing slower on Earth than in most other worlds.

"Think about it from a trade standpoint. These Doors are apparently known and used for cultural interaction and trade by a number of worlds. But who is going to want to send a trade delegation to a place where a day's negotiation can mean months lost back home? I imagine that our world is viewed as something of a backwater by most who know of it, for that very reason: in a temporal sense, it may be a literal backwater."

[Jeremy]

Ray paused as Ms. Dorn's words, and they hit... he'd thought all this time in the back of his mind about his parents and occasionally what everyone else would wonder about him, and he'd underestimated the time differential. But so was Ms. Dorn, to some extent, as he rubbed his head in a display of shock.

"Actually, it was last week. I learned about it days later, too late to come by then, but I know nonetheless. Perhaps it's not even that Earth goes by slower, it's that Earth's time progress compared to the other worlds are inconsistent. Fact is," with a sharp glance to Renata, "I spent my first week being held prisoner by what I'll call man-bats who kidnapped me. After escaping, I bounced to the DoorHold, and there I've been."

He sighed as he confronted this new fact, "Thus, we have a year versus ostensibly a few days, and now a week versus days or whatever it's been. But the ratios aren't constant."

[Autumn Keane]

Knowing nothing about Ray, or previous trips through the Door, Autumn leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table as she sipped from the carved wooden mug. The warmth of the alcohol pooled pleasantly in her stomach as she watched the proceedings wordlessly, listening intently to what everyone had to say; any information she could glean now might prove useful later, once she'd had time to mull it over for a bit. Inwardly, she lamented the fact that she hadn't thought to bring her bow, or anything more substantial than a pocket knife, but she supposed some arrangements might be made if the need arose.

Strange as it was, she had to admit that Dalton's field trips were way more interesting than any other school's.

[Micah]

At the mention of the name Ray Venkman, Micah turned from his inspection of some of the scenes on one of the supports for the roof. He stepped closer towards the door, looking quizzically at the man dressed in furs. He slowly made his way around the room, until he was beside Ms. Dorn. Micah openly stared at Ray, his gaze not leaving ray's face. "Is that really you, Venkman?"

[Dawn OOC]

“Your world is a backwater because lately your Door has not worked,” Oreili informed them. “The reputation of unreliability and the relative youth of your Door has meant that firm trade lines cannot be established.”

“How young is your Door?” Ahvia quietly asked Lucia, but it was Sylvia who answered.

“Lancaster was built in 1975,” Sylvia supplied. “Thirty-five years ago.”

“That is a short time, by the reckoning of the Doors,” Ahvia confirmed. The exotic woman smiled a little. “It takes time for others to learn of the Key and travel.”

“General Dalton forbid us to travel to Dalton and said he was destroying the Door,” Oreili said, her tone coloring with disdain. “We respected his wishes, and told others what he had conveyed. Your world has been either unknown or avoided. Further, there is no temporal disconnect with our world. We learned that during the war-”

“Wait, our Door doesn’t work?” Sylvia interrupted.

“Sometimes. Your people were able to leave after their meeting, but our attempt to come and find them after they did not return was unsuccessful.” The Chideran made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal and to her, perhaps it wasn’t.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The man didn’t turn his body to look up at Ryan; instead his neck elongated and twisted around to peer over his shoulder easily. “You can see me,” the man mused, his efforts to knock off the snow ceasing. It was weird seeing him but not seeing him.

“Who are you playing for?” Ryan repeated.

The world rippled and twisted, and Ryan found himself looking into glowing yellow eyes. It wasn’t quite enough to illuminate enough to read but they would be easy to see in a dark room. The rest of him appeared human, though his proportions were wrong; his mouth was too wide and his neck just hurt to look at, twisted that way. His skin had a natural blue tint to it and there seemed to be an elasticity in his frame that was almost disgusting to watch in action. “I am a scholar. I study the sexual relations of several cultures, the Chideran included.” The man swiped a bit more snow off his black wool-or-something-like-it overcoat and asked, “What is your team?”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“All members of a Line descend from one of the Twelve Maidens,” one of his ‘aunts’ said. Gray hairs streaked through her black, making her easily the oldest woman in the group. “They are the progenitors of our people, the first warriors to carve out a home in the Ice Lands.”

“If you are of a Line, you are of that family,” a short Midnight Ice added. She barely reached Sean’s collar bone. “But over time, small variations in the children have resulted in different traits and appearances. Like me being so short. You’re traditional Midnight, though,” she added after eyeing Sean up and down.

Suddenly, the short Chideran leaned in. “You really took a Caramine for a companion? What’s she like?”

“Fantastic. I’m fantastic,” Swan said, leaning around Sean’s breasts to answer.

“Perhaps the next one I see, I’ll have to spare and find out,” Shortie said, smirking. “How’d you capture her, anyway?”

[SalmonMax]

“Sometimes. Your people were able to leave after their meeting, but our attempt to come and find them after they did not return was unsuccessful.”

"Oh," Renata said, conking her wooden cup on the table. It was empty. Hadn't she just filled it? She frowned for a second, not sure how many she'd had...then remembered what she was saying. "That was Miss Pritchard. She said she could..." Renata flapped a hand around like a bird briefly as she searched for the word. "...turn the door off. For a little while. With magic or something."

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

"Allow me." Ravi said smoothly as he refilled Renata's cup, taking another for himself as he did so. "Yes, the Pritchard woman is responsible for the gaps in our memories as well, we believe. A lot of events have been just wiped away, leaving fragments of images behind."

"Like man-bats." Ravi said with a frown, looking at Venkman. "Until you said it, I didn't remember. But now..." he hmm'd, retaking his seat and lounging back in it once more. "Now I remember some strange creatures like that as well. And being naked on a table." He shook his head in annoyance.

"Bloody infernal woman has set our understanding back days." he growled softly.

[SalmonMax]

"I don't remember any man-bats," Renata said, frowning. "Not even a little... Hm, maybe you guys went through the door a few times I didn't. Maybe that's why you've got powers..."

The idea that she might still get powers after going through the door enough times was heartening to her.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"Okaaay, I think I understand," Sean said, not really understanding. He wasn't the best student, but he wasn't terrible either. He knew about Darwin and genetics. The families - the Lines - should have differentiated more than they appeared to have done. Hell, even the oldest in the group of Midnight Ices looked like his mother's somewhat older sister, her cheeks still smoother, only the grey in her hair adding to her age.

Shortie blatantly seizing him up made him stand straighter - which he quickly regretted when tits jutted out. Her question about Swan and Swan's claim made him faintly blush despite himself. He ran a hand through his hair, noticing a finer texture to it, though relieved that it didn't seem particularly longer. For some reason, he had almost expected long hair came with chick-hood.

"Um, yeah, she is - that is, I found Swan-" Sean stammered, not sure exactly what to say that wouldn't dig them into a deeper. Swan gave his hand a squeeze and gave Shortie SpIce a firm look and spoke for them.

"Sean found me gravely wounded upon the field of battle, my enemies not having mercy enough to finish me off. Not knowing of my allegiances, I was taken to a chirurgeon to have my injuries tended to. I was brought to Sean's home to recover and distance me from my assailants and then Sean shattered my bonded bladed, dispelling its dire enchant. Thus, I was bound as a companion, not through might, but through honour."

"Really?" Sean sputtered just as Shortie said the same thing disbelievingly. Swan just her a sharp nod then glanced up at Sean, giving him a bland look. Technically, I guess what Swan said is true...

"I mean, really, that is how it happened, basically," Sean said, recovering, then continued, trying to change the subject. "You said you're takin' me to Cassandra, but Savannah - she's in... HeartStone? For training? Is my mother here or there too?"

[Dawn OOC]

All of the Chideran were staring at them. Sean looked around at them, feeling conspicuous. “What?” he asked. “What’d I say?”

“You are Chideran, to shatter a Caramine bond-blade,” Shortie told him. “They are magically strengthened, much as our own. But how is the wielder of the blade still alive?”

Swan’s eyes widened as the oldest one spoke again. “Caramine can die when their blades are broken. Even those that don’t die can be so dehabilitated as to need care. If you broke this one’s blade, then it was not her blade.”

“I used it before my memory loss,” Swan said. “It called to me, but I didn’t like it. That’s why I had Sean break it.”

There was another moment of silence. “I… do not understand,” the elder said. Suddenly her eyes narrowed. “Sean, you claim her to be a companion. Chideran only collar prisoners without honor, not their companions. What is this Swan to you and then to us?”

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"I - uh - I'm not sure," Sean stuttered, face reddening as he quickly took the belt off from around Swan's neck. Swan looked up at him, rubbing her neck, reddened by the ad-hoc collar. "We were... informed that Swan - a Caramine - would be in danger coming here, maybe, erm, killed out of hand. The collar was a ruse to give us time to explain."

The belt looped tight around his knuckles, Sean met the eldest's suspicious blue eyes directly with his identical pair. He squeeze Swan's hand in return.

"I found Swan hurt, alone and lost, even her memories taken from her, a woman abandoned. She needed... someone and I couldn't just leave her with no one. When Swan found out who she was - who she had been - she made the choice to leave behind all she was. How could I turn away from a woman who has turn away from all else she has known?"

Sean turned towards Swan, taking her other hand and looking down to meet her solid black eyes with unwavering sapphire. "What are you to me, what are we to each other, I don't know yet. We are still learnin' who we are." Sean's lips curved into a self-mocking smirk as she quickly glanced down at the protrusions jutting proudly from his chest. "In more ways than one. But I would like to call you... friend."

"Friend," Swan murmured, a faint, enigmatic smile gracing her lips, a woman's smile.

Sean turned to faced his kin once more, standing close to Swan's side, still holding her hand, his free hand balling into a fist pressed against his thigh.

"So... Friend. That's all the answer I have for you. Is it enough? It will have to be."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan stifled a laugh, purely to avoid being heard by the humorless lesbians with sharp pointy weapons, and grinned, "You're a peeping Tom!" The invisible man-thing stared at Ryan, apparently failing to understand the slang. "Nevermind. What about the Caram- ... umm ... Cara ... Caramines?" Ryan struggled to remember what the proper name was, sometimes he was so blissfully intent on giving people the wrong idea and thumbing his nose at everything that he actually failed to recall proper names and the like. "Have you been there? Oh, and how do you do that?"

"Do what?"

Ryan pointed and waved at the invisible form, "That. Being invisible and walking up walls and stuff."

[Dawn OOC]

“It is enough, though there was a time that I thought to kill any so-called sister who named a Caramine ‘friend’,” the elder said. “You will have to prove, again and again, that she is friend or companion to you. I suggest being very loud about it.”

Sean didn’t get a chance to ask about that before the elder was moving on to another topic. “Vena is with Savannah at HeartStone. She requires purification before she will be allowed to burn in battle again. Cassandra has completed her purification. Savannah merely requires training and she is there with the other girls of her age.”

The elder eyed him and asked, “What is your training, Sean?” They seemed to have accepted his name, despite it being a boy’s. “Have you found your weapon yet?”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“I study the sexual natures of the Caramine as well as many other peoples,” the stranger told him, apparently unphased or ignorant of the insult Ryan had delivered. “If you war with them as so many do, then you will find my area of expertise to be most unhelpful.

“I am a walker.” The mysterious person seemed to be waiting for Ryan to react; when the boy didn’t, he continued, “I am named Joran. I walk where I will, in darkness or light, and am normally unseen. Yet you see without eyes, as the worlds think of them. What are you, and what are you named?”

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan scratched his head, confused, "The world thinks of what? Who?" He scratched his head, "Umm, I don' really see you, more like ... umm, sense you?" He shrugged, almost embarrassed, "I dunno really how it works or what I am. Most people, humans I mean, don' have Rydar ... err, umm, I mean they don' sense stuff around 'em, ya know? But me, I can, like, sense everything around me. I can even sense tha way tha door works, an' where here becomes there. If ya catch my meanin'." He offered a half hearted, and slightly unsure, smile, "So... you aren't really on a side then I guess?"

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Purification? "Training? Weapons?" I sound like such a retard. Elder arched a brow and Sean barely stopped himself from smacking his forehead as he looked at all the attractive women, each and every one baring at least one visible weapon, and baring it with unconscious familiarity.

"Oh, right. Uh, few people get trainin' in... weapons like those. I haven't. But I'm a pretty good boxer, and not bad at wrestlin' either," Sean said modestly.

"Boxer," one of the Midnight Ices grunted, and Sean couldn't tell if she was condescending, unfamiliar with the term, or something else.

"Y'know, boxin'? Erm, fist fightin'?" Sean explained helpfully, shrugging off his backpack and shifting into a balance, upright southpaw boxing stance to demonstrate. His right hand was held up about eight inches from his face at eye level, his left hand beside his chin, arm tucked against the ribcage to protect him from body.

He mimed bobbing and weaving, then tossed several jabs followed by a strong left cross. A pretty typical demonstration of boxing, something he had practiced for years. Only this time, it felt all wrong. His fists were noticeably smaller, his arms slimmer, his mind exaggerating them into girlish daintiness. He could feel the arm tucked to his side pressing against one of his full breasts, and each bob and weave, every punch he threw made them wobble like jello in an earthquake. He imagined he would have to worry about body blows a lot more now, instead of just taking the hit, but he supposed he would get used to them. I'll probably have to get a sportsbra or something to they don't keep bouncin' all over...

His eyes widened, the thought infuriating. Get used to them?! It felt like total surrender. He only been here for less than an hour and already he was strutting around a pair of tits on his chest and no junk between his legs, worrying about bras. He wasn't ready to capitulate yet. Only, how did he fight this?

"Yeah, so, boxin'," Sean said, picking up his pack and slinging it over his shoulders. "My fists have always been enough for any tussle I've ever gotten in. My sisters have already, uh, found weapons they prefer?" He had a sudden image of Savannah chasing him through their home with a battle-axe, screaming at him for changing the channel. "And what's this purification?"

Sean settled the pack on his shoulders, tightened the straps and let the members of his Line continue leading him and Swan towards wherever Cassandra was. His boobs jounced with every step.

[Jeremy]

Ray sighed. "Yes, it's me, and if you doubt it, flip a coin fifty times and see if any come up tails." Then he raised an eyebrow at the cattish boy. "I'd find it hard to forget something like that. What woman do you speak of?"