Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Pulling It Together

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia watched the exchange and followed Deacon out of the room. Only once they were well along the way to his room - and well away from the others - did she call out in a level voice.

"Mr. Knight, I'd like a private word with you."

[Deacon Knight]

Oh for crying out... It seemed like he was never going to get to his room at this rate. He'd been up all night searching for the treaty, then up all morning devising his new toy based on what theories he'd developed from his short sojourn to another world, then had spent all day in class only to come to the meeting. He was tired, drained, fatigued, and half a step away from loopy or irritable -he wasn't sure which yet.

"C'mon," he said waving her over to him. He figured it was time for 'Mrs. Dorn's High and Mighty Lecture Hour' and those were always fun, mostly because the two combatants (Deek and Dorn) were just so damn used to being right that neither had yet to admit they were wrong. "Talk while we walk, if there's one thing I don't have it's secrets in this place. You can lecture me on the way."

[Rorx]

Jason turns to Sean as Dorn has left, "The Door is in a store room on the top floor Sean. As to what to say about the bags and stuff, I don't know. Just say you've been told to go store it by Dorn I guess?"

He waves Zack over, "I guess we should see about picking up a sabre from the store, then head over to the utility room and use the grinder we use for keeping the lawn mower blades sharp. Ther should be an oil stone over there as well."

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

"Thanks Jason, I'll be there soon." Sean gave Jason a nod, then hustled to his room in Mars House.

Once back in his room, he started digging through his stuff that he hadn't had time to put away yet. With a heave, he pulled out his stuffed expedition backpack - still full from his last multi-day hike in the Canadian Rockies. He looked through, just to make sure everything was there: dome tent, camping and climbing gear (worn, but serviceable). He hooked up his sleeping bag to the handy straps. There were still a few envelopes of dried soup and a slightly stale package of crackers. He added a sweater and his power bars and Mars bars.

He made his way to the bathroom and filled up four water bottles. Then he ripped open one of the down pillows he took from Vena's place and filled one of his packs side pockets with (mostly) white feathers. As he was adding a marker and a pad of paper to his backpack, he stopped.

Sean ripped off a piece of paper and wrote a note for his dad and Savannah, and left them on the bedside table, just in case. He told them that he had gone to the Caramines' world to look for another student with a group of others, and that he didn't think he would be gone long. He also told his dad that when he last checked, Blaize Fairview seemed to be fine.

He put on his shoulder and thigh pads, but didn't bother with the helmet, and exchanged his running shoes for comfy hiking boots. He slipped on his football jersey, number 9, then swung the heavy pack onto his shoulders, adjusting the straps to take into account his pads.

Then his was ready.

He made his over Lancaster, getting s few looks, but he was a football player in football gear, it wasn't too bad. The backpack he explained by saying he was storing it in Lancaster, since storage was at a premium in Mars - the excuse seemed to suffice.

He went up the stairs to the storage area of Lancaster, carefully staying away from girls' wing, despite a brief, momentary compulsion to try to peek on Blaize again. Once at the top, Sean began looking for the right store room.

[Sylvia Dorn]

"You can lecture me on the way."

"Not so much a lecture as a request," Sylvia replied to the young man... probably to his surprise. And waited until they reached the door of his room before stopping to look him in the face.

"Look," she said in a voice just above a whisper. "Both you and I know that pretty much nobody here really understands what's going on. I have at least some idea from my experience in the field as an anthropologist. And you have a better grasp on the raw logic problems than anyone else in this building, myself included. So can we drop the animosity for now? Because those kids back there need reassurance, not constant cut-downs, regardless whether or not you can run mental circles around them."

[Micah]

Micah began heading towards the sports equipment storage room. Once there, he grabbed an aluminum baseball bat, then ran towards his bedroom. After he arrived at his room, he began packing a small backpack with his protein bars and a few cans of Ensure. He also gathered his football pads and helmet. Finally, he headed towards Lancaster, after putting on his varsity jacket, not knowing what the temperature on the other side would be.

Time's up. I hope I'm not late.

[Dawn OOC]

To Zack's unusual vision, an ephemeral form pulled itself out of the piece of parchment. For a long moment, it blinked around, then looked up at him. Its gaze was alien, lifeless yet full of inhuman cunning. It stared at him, the color of the parchment it had come from, intelligible words rambled over its surface. It stared at him as if it had forever to watch him.

[Deacon Knight]

Originally Posted By: Sylvia Dorn

"Because those kids back there need reassurance, not constant cut-downs, regardless whether or not you can run mental circles around them."

"Cut-downs?" Deek looked perplexed in a way the bordered condescending. "Sylvia, look, I didn't put the kid down, if anything I'm trying to save his life. These people think this is some kind of a joke or something where we all get to run about and play 'Spy' or 'Explorer' all over hell and creation."

He sighed. Letting his guard down to the emotions behind his eyes fro the briefest of moments. "It's like babysitting, except I'm not getting paid. I understand that there are times when people must act, not think, but this place seems critically low on latter despite us having ample time for it. Lucia running off on her own, Semper Fi Janitor in there wanting to pop caps at anything that moves and little Dahmer junior ready to follow him to the slaughter with gusto and something full auto. Sylvia... these 'kids' are in-fucking-sane and if Lucia Blake didn't have an ass that I've been wanting to grind my pelvis into forever and a day... I'd prolly let her wander about the universe blissfully ignorant and eventually get eaten by a T-Rex... in a jet... that's a Nazi or something... you get my point."

[Sylvia Dorn]

Much as she didn't want to, Sylvia had to admit that the little terror had a point. And hard as it was to swallow, she gave it to him.

"Point taken. And yes, I think it's nothing short of foolish for us to dash off after Lucia like this. But to be blunt, nothing short of sealing that door behind concrete is going to stop that bunch back there from doing this, and if we want them to get back in one piece, that means we go as well.

"Grab your pack. Mine's ready as well. I'll meet you back at the door."

Sylvia turned and paced off quickly to her own room.

[Dawn OOC]

Sooner or later, they all met at the door. The boys were hidden behind the girls, were a casual glance up the stairs wouldn't reveal them. The Door was there, with no sign of all the recent traffic it had seen. The group stood, and slowly, all eyes went to Sylvia, waiting for her.

[Sylvia Dorn]

"All right, then," the teacher said once everyone was together.

"Who has the raven feather we'll need to get to Caramine? And who has the white feather and slip of paper with thoughts jotted down we'll need to get back home?"

From her pack, she withdrew a small pen-knife; given the way she held her hand, there was little doubt about where the last part of the key for this adventure would be found.

[Deacon Knight]

Deacon was configuring something that looked like a GPS unit modified to be more compact and hand held. "Can't say anyone told me I'd need those things. Way to communicate people, keep up the good work."

Rolling his eyes he went back to tweaking his device.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean swung the large pack from his shoulders, then dug around in it, pulling out a pad of paper, a marker, and two pens. Reaching into a side pocket, he pulled out a handful of white, down feathers.

"Well, the feathers are small, but they're white and no one said how big they have to be."

Sean offered everyone a pinch of white feathers until his handful was done, then started tearing off sheets of paper from the pad and handed those out as well.

"I only have this marker and the pens to spare, so if anyone doesn't have one, you should write something down now. I figure it's better if we all have the stuff to come back, just in case, eh? Er, I didn't know we needed a raven feather to get there, though."

[SalmonMax]

Renata held out a single large black feather to Sylvia.

"I did. Lucia told me before she left. Here."

She turned her head to peer at the Door then.

"This is so stupid..."

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Thank you, both." Sylvia looked at the gathered materials. Frankly, it seemed like some sort of badly twisted scavenger hunt blended with a very liberal dose of H. G. Wells. The white feathers had probably come from a pillow, she realized. And the black one....

With a raised eyebrow, she asked, "Renata, where did you get a raven feather?"

[SalmonMax]

"There's a...sort of a lounge I guess, in the library," Renata answered. "And there's a stuffed one up on a little shelf on the wall over a chair. There's like...a statue head, and then this stuffed bird sitting on it."

She shrugs. "Feels real though. Not plastic or anything."

[Deacon Knight]

"Alright..." Deacon stood up and tapped the touchscreen a few times. "That should do it."

He faced the rest of the gathered. "Okay, so what's wit this key and why didn't I get the memo?"

[SalmonMax]

Renata shrugged. "Don't look at me. I'm not the one who has the big list of keys." She nodded at Sylvia.

"But if I got it right, the door needs some kind of...offering or something to get it to line up to the place you want to go to. So people call that 'keys.' Because, surprise, they open the doors."

"And this stuff's what we need to get it to take us to the Caramine world. At least that's what Lucia said."

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Like Renata said, the keys are essentially ingredients that open the door to a particular place," Sylvia said as she moved over to face the door.

Accepting the raven feather from Renata, she placed it into the little drawer-like tray. Then, she carefully pricked the tip of her right index finger with the penknife. Blood slowly dripped onto the feather... one drop, then two, then three. At that, she pulled her hand back, thumb pressed firmly on the tiny wound as she turned the knob with her left....

....and the door opened into black emptiness. With only a moment's hesitation, Sylvia stepped off into nothing.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Whoa! The darkness emanating from the door was creepy. Sean took a deep breath, psyching himself up to literally step into the unknown. My sisters and mother went through one of these doors, I can too.

Sean's breath whooshed out in surprise as Ms. Dorn barely hesitated before stepping through the door. "Wait up, Ms. Dorn! Who knows who's on the other..."

... Sean followed Ms. Dorn into the black nothingness.

[Logic1]

Everett watched as the door was opened by Ms. Dorn. He found the darkness that ensued in the doorway unsettling to say the least. Deacon was right what were they dealing with? What had they gotten themselves into.

"Be careful guys. I'll see you when you get back," Everett addressed them all.

[Frida Ricci]

It was no less intimidating the second time through, but like before the eerily young woman showed little signs of distress. She stepped forward where the others hesitated, and disappeared through the inky blackness of the portal and into the darkness beyond.

[SalmonMax]

Face to face with magic for the first time, Renata just stared speechlessly at the black portal before her. Up until now, nothing had happened that couldn't be explained as weird goths on meth and conspiracies between the sheriff and headmaster. There'd always been, up until now, a chance that someone would yell, 'PSYCHE' and it would all turn out to be an elaborate hazing of the newbies.

Now though, here it was. A magic door, big, bold, sassy and brassy. In three-dee.

What the hell did she think she was doing?

"I don't know if I can do this," she whispers.

[Rorx]

Jason arrived as Sylvia stepped through the Door.

He had managed to shave some time off the half hour that he had asked them to give him, but helping Zack get a useable sword had eaten into that time. Jogging back to his house the had quickly changed into his hunting gear, grabbing the backpack that he kept ready for those occassions when he got away for the weekend. Rather than his rifle he simply checked the pistols and combat/survival knives that he had already laid out this morning. Leaving the house locked up he slipped his grandfather's book into a pocket of his hunting jacket and set off back to Lancaster house.

Catching Renatta's whispered doubts he gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "You don't have to come if you don't want to, but bear in mind that we are all going through here because you said you would back Lucia up and asked us to help you."

[Zack]

Zack had remained behind waiting for the room to empty, and then he spoke to the spirit. "Salutations. I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I was wondering if you could answer some questions I have about the content of the agreement you represent."

[Dawn OOC]

Sylvia stepped out into a bustling plaza. Well, almost into the plaza. She was in a section divided by a low wall made of white stone. The buildings were made of the same, and the cobblestone underfoot were almost white; perhaps it was just dirt coloring them. The monotonous color made all the bright accents and murals stand out.

However, it was the people that drew Sylvia up short. They had the classic Caramine coloring: white skin, black hair and black eyes. Most of them were armored; all were armed, even a pregnant woman walking with her children - heck, even the children had small nightstick-like clubs in their belts.

The guards approaching her had black armor; one carried a long spear. The other had a board with a quill held ready over it. The first asked, "Where are you from and what is your business?" He looked bored, as if this was something he asked every time and never expected to have change.

She heard someone behind her and turned, expecting to see one of the children. To her shock, there was a strange girl stepping out of the portal, wearing familiar clothes. Her hair was black, her eyes blue - and somewhat familiar. She looked like a younger version of Vena.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Stepping through the darkness didn't feel like much save for a coolness making Sean's skin pull tight with goosebumps. But once the darkness receded in place of the plaza, he felt distinctly odd.

His backpack and football pads didn't seem to be fitting right. Sean took several quick steps to catch up with Ms. Dorn. "Ms. Dorn, wait, something's not-" He'd taken no more than three steps when the sound of his voice stopped him in his tracks, his shoulderpads slipping from his shoulders.

The slien feeling of his chest... jiggling pulled his eyes down. He saw his jersey stretched tight across a pair of large protuberances - protuberances that all teenaged boys knew the sight of, if never from this angle before.

Sylvia turned and met stunning blue eyes filled with shocked disbelief.

"Tell me this isn't happening, Ms. Dorn," Sean said, wincing at the higher octave of his voice.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Ignoring the guard for a moment, Sylvia gaped at the girl... the girl who knew her, who spoke in a familiar pattern, who was wearing a familiar shirt....

Oh no.

Given what she'd been told in the past few days, it didn't take much to put together what was happening. But it still shocked her at a basic level.

Forcing her jaw to do something other than hang open, she finally said to him - No, her now... maybe - "I think that the genetics from your mother's side of the family have decided to fully... express themselves."

A look over her shoulder showed an increasingly impatient guard and his quill-wielding colleague, and she added, "Let's deal with the customs folks first."

Turning back to the pair, she said simply, "We're from Terra, and we believe a friend of ours may have come through here in error last night. Would you happen to have a register of a young girl coming through alone, dressed like us, in the past twenty-four hours or so?"

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Originally Posted By: Sylvia

"I think that the genetics from your mother's side of the family have decided to fully... express themselves."

"Genet - But - How - Tit -" Before Sean could get a full word out, his new voice rising with each syllable, Ms. Dorn turned back to the welcoming committee.

He wanted to scream, or maybe laugh hysterically. My life just keeps getting better and better doesn't it? Now, I'm some sort of damned were-girl! Only the thought of looking completely like a stark raving lunatic in front of the eerie Caramines stopped him from giving into his urge, his jaw clenched tightly - and even that felt... off.

Sean shuffled over to the side, acutely aware of his new body, embarrassed by the way some things moved and shifted. His feet were loose in his hiking boots, and his jeans had slid from his waist to cling tightly to his wider hips, though the pant legs didn't seem to be pooling around his ankles - he wasn't sure, but he thought he might have been an inch or two taller.

He tightened the load-distributing straps of his backpack to better suit his altered frame, his movements made awkward by the unaccustomed weight of prominent breasts on his chest. He reached his hands up, underneath his snug jersey, trying to adjust his football pads for a better fit, though without taking them off, there wasn't much he could do. He shivered as he felt smooth skin, the large, feminine bulges somehow both exquisitely soft, yet buoyantly firm.

Sean's manipulations had raised the loose bottom of his jersey, revealing the beginnings of a tight, shapely abdomen. Something made Sean look up, and he almost vomited when he saw the covert glance the quill-armed guard shot his way, a slight, appreciative curve to his lips. He removed his hands from beneath his shirt with alacrity, then spun around to hide the expression on his face from the guard.

Shit. Fuck. Crap. What am I gonna do? Vanessa said the her daughters were essentially clones of her... that... that must mean I look pretty much like Cassandra now... Sean tried to picture his older sister from an objective point of view, trying to get an idea of what he must look like now. He shivered again, bile rising up his throat at the thought of that tall and curvaceous figure being his.

His deep blue eyes - the calm before the storm - were on the archway he and Ms. Dorn had come through, but his gaze was distant, funneling into a whirlpool of self-pity.

[SalmonMax]

Renata scowled at the black door when Jason reminded her of why this was happening.

"I know," she admits unhappily. "That was before I saw the black door of death, okay? This is crazy. Real people do not...go into things like that."

[Rorx]

Jason shrugs and moves forward to the edge of the Door, talking over his shoulder as he does so, "Well from what I've heard Ms Dorn has been through and back already, as have several others with her. I guess it's a qustion of whether you trust the people you are going with and if your motivation is strong enough. Indeed I went through last night only 3 hours out of surgery and barely able to walk, but then I was desperate to find out what had happend to my grandfather, and thought it unlikely that Brihn would harm me since she had just gone to the trouble to heal me."

He stops just beside the Door and smiles at her, "See you on the other side perhaps?". Then he steps through.

[Deacon Knight]

"Ignore im' Rena," Deek said casually nudging his head to the door. "He's a douche."

He passed by her and set a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Look, you're right, it's not the sanest thing, sure, but hell it beats sitting here on our duff watching Heroes reruns. C'mon," He nudged his head to the door again. "You don't have to go, but if you do, you can hang with me, I'll keep an eye on ya."

Still seeing the hesitation and fear in her he smiled a bit. "It's going to be okay, relax. We'll hop through, find Lucia, grab a handful of popcorn shrimp and blow outta there."

[SalmonMax]

Renata was ready to hate Jason for utterly failing to give her any reassurance. That was an old, comfortable, familiar hate; someone not coming through for her. She'd made a BFF of that hate, and whispered secrets to it when no one else could hear.

The anger that flared in her towards Deacon was relatively new, blindingly bright, and absolutely shocking. She was angry at herself for feeling grateful for his reassuring her. What Jason had so readily failed at, he'd somehow managed to pull off...and then she'd felt grateful and like she wanted to stick by him...and that sparked a deep yellow fire at herself for being such a numb cunt. What did she think, Deacon was going to save the day? Deacon was the shining knight? Deacon? Really? Deacon? And what if he WAS? Was that what she -wanted-? To be saved? What was next, she'd start gasping airily about having 'the vapors' and faint over railroad tracks while Deacon rode madly to her rescue dressed as a Canadian Mountie?

Are you weak, Renata? she demanded of herself. Do you need a hero to do your dirty work? Or even DEACON?

Fuck that shit. Fuck all OVER that shit.

Funny thing about anger. It occupied the same emotional "space" as fear. You couldn't be angry and afraid at the same time. There'd probably been a study that proved that.

She didn't give herself another chance to look at the door. She just plunged into the black...and was gone.

[Deacon Knight]

Not even realizing the inner turmoil Renata was going through Deacon patiently and compassionately waited for her reply. When she bolstered herself and sped off through the portal with renewed resolve he was more than happy to accept all the credit for his motivational encouragement.

"Damn," he said, a bit shocked at how suddenly courageous the woman had become. "I'm good."

Shrugging with a content grin, he stepped in after her.

[Dawn OOC]

The Caramine seemed unconcerned with the stream of people through the door. Instead one of them answered Sylvia. "We'll need to check the records," the man who seemed to be doing the talking. He looked and nodded at the other man, who turned and double-stepped over to a small building. As he ducked inside, the man hefted the board again and ask, "Do you have anything to declare, or any licensed, restricted materials?"

"Terra? Is that a protectorate of ours?" The new speaker stood by the door to the small building; he walked forward as they noticed him, his black eyes unreadable. He wore robes that were silver or ice blue, depending on how the light struck them. "I'm not familiar with that name."

[Sylvia Dorn]

"Ocean world," Sylvia quipped in reply. "Over 70% of the world's surface. Very recently introduced to the doors. And as far as I'm aware," she said in an attempted segue away from any further information on her homeworld, "we've nothing to declare other than the usual gear for travel, though it would be best if we could see a list of licensed and restricted items to make sure. We're just trying to find our lost friend; if she hasn't been through, we'll probably head back home."

[SalmonMax]

Renata didn't have to try to act like some offworld yokel...she was doing just fine at that on her own. Her jaw fell open as she looked around, focusing on the weird town, the townsfolk, and finally the guards themselves.

Holy shit...are they going to ask if we have any fruit to declare next?

That's when she looked over and spied a new girl. With a puzzled frown, Renata went over to her and glanced back at the door. "Did you follow us or something?" she asked in a low voice. "Who are you?"

[Deacon Knight]

Deacon barely noticed the plaza, the people, the girl or the guard. Although he was aware -in a sense he knew where not to step- he paid more attention to his small, heavily modified GPS. He left the negotiating to Sylvia, she certainly had the tongue for it, all the the group needed was one smart quip from Deek and they'd probably all be tortured and killed. He decided that wasn't a good idea.

The Badonkadonk-a-tron started to beep and vibrate loudly, as it zeroed in on Lucia, or, at least the part of her Deek calibrated it for. Instead of the usual droning female voice a vocal pirate could be heard, "Arr! Yer booty be thata way matey! Yarrr!" And an arrow appeared on the screen like a compass pointing in the direction of Lucia, at least, he hoped.

"Well damn, it actually worked..." He mumbled softly to himself. He approached Sylvia, rather heedless of any commotion going on. "Uhh, I got her, I think I can get us to her."

[Frida Ricci]

Frida gazed curiously at Deek's Badonka-gizma-thingie and studied it over his shoulder, so quietly the young techie probably wouldn't even noticed if he hadn't suddenly heard her clipped British accent murmuring right next to him.

"Is there a reason you've got it set to speak in a buccaneer's accent? Or perhaps it was just accidental.."

[Deacon Knight]

She startled Deek a bit, being more engrossed in his toys than his surroundings would have made it possible for a herd of raging elephants to stealthy sneak past him. Needless to say the lovely Brit was far more preferable than a raging elephant. She smelled nicer too.

He smirked at her, pointing to the screen. "Actually," He whispered softly back not wanting to interfere with Syliva. "It was intentional. See, when thinking about rescuing her I really couldn't think of any reason why we'd want to. I mean, seriously, she's kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. But, then I thought about... 'pain in the ass'... 'ass'... and it fell into place. For all her faults she's got an ass like," Deek made an hourglass shape and exaggerated a great deal on the lower curves, accenting it with what Frida guessed was a slap. "Blaow!"

He composed himself, cleared his throat and continued his train of thought (derailed as it may have been) "Ya know? Anyway, since it's calibrated to locate her booty, it seemed like a pirate was a best choice. Sort of a means to remind me why I'm doing all this..." His grin grew wide as he looked to Frida. "Besides, think of all the butt jokes later."