Scene #9203: The Nightcrawler Crawls at Night pt 2

Owner	Pose
Madeleine Cadrasteia	NEVADA, UNITED STATES As the MCRD van is leaving the Sierra Nevada for the deserts of its namesake state, Madeleine points out a relatively plain sign for the 'Hawthorne Ordnance Museum'. "You know, I used to know a guy who worked with unexploded ordnance. Dangerous stuff, right? Well, he found out he was someone like me-" -Maddie gestures vaguely at her face, indicating her night-sky eyes in particular, though they're hard to see from the back seats unless you crane your neck to peek at the rear-view mirror- "-and guess what his curse was? Bombs." "I think the Glitch can have something to do with exposure - surround yourself with a certain piece of reality enough and you'll see how its edges don't always line up. If I hadn't already seen it in, uh, what I saw it in, I bet I'd have the Curse of Cryptids. Now that'd suck. 'Course, other times you see something completely new and the whole facade just shatters." "Anyway, guy was pretty hard to miss. Comes with the territory when you're practically a walking explosive. We don't talk anymore. I mean, I can't talk anymore with any of 'em but I stopped talking to him even before that." Madeleine stops the van for lunch at one "R&D's Bar and Grill", the only restaurant in the positively minuscule Gabbs, Nevada, to discuss the rest of the trip over burgers and potato wedges. "Fill up now, lest you be left with only twizzlers to carry you across the desert." She says that like it's some kind of terrible fate, which it may or may not be. "I mean it, they don't call Route 50 'the loneliest road' for nothing, this part of the country is emmp-ty. Make sure to hit up the restroom on your way out. We can hit up the gas station to resupply, if any of you want." How's everyone preparing for the road ahead?
Ozhira	The Beast listens but does not speak much as Maddie talks about Glitches and reality. They don't have much stake in the nature of Reality or how one interacts with it in non-obvious ways, so that talk kind of goes over their collective head. It isn't until the van stops by a restaurant that Ozhira becomes suddenly more active and aware. > "Fill up now, lest you be left with only twizzlers. . ." "We understand," the creature replies before promptly liquifying and melting on the seat into a gloopy red sludge that slips out under the doorjam before it's even opened. As what could only be described as a bloody puddle slides across the parking lot, its color changes to match that of the asphalt, becoming only a disconcerting ripple in the 'texture' of the road surface moving towards the restaurant itself. MEAT Others may be content to order food as customers, but the Devourer is clearly more of a pest than a guest.
White	White listens to Madeleine with slight signs of her attention, mostly the angle of her head indicating where she's looking. She's distracted at the same time though, trying to match Maddie's stated experiences and unfamiliar facets of her background against White's own experiences, trying to relate in a common and simple way with rather little success. Inwardly she wonders, 'Do all of their curses give them weird eyes then? I guess I have Evil Eyes, but they don't curse me unless I'm completely stupid. Does that mean I've got something like their curse too? What'm I rocking, the curse of the gamer or something? Puh-lease.' It's inane, but she's enjoying herself at least. Being "cursed with bombs" sounds like it would really suck, though. When the van lurches to a stop, White doesn't exactly have to wait for the others to get out first, but she does. Leaving her pillow in her seat, she steps out of the van without the particular urge to stretch that some others might have. She's certainly not going to argue with the plan of having some real food while the chance is there, since that spares her the effort of having to zoop her way back home with Dimensional Magic during the drive, and even if her apetite isn't what it used to be she's still a food appreciator. She orders a full-size burger and fries but ends up cutting the burger in half with her thread, storing the rest in her pocket-space for later... And even still, the burger-with-everything-on-it makes her hands look small as she grasps it and goes in for the biggest chomp she can take out of its narrowest end. She doesn't make much of a face if she enjoys the taste, but she somehow looks more content like this, and keeps going back in for more, so surely she isn't unhappy. If something drips onto her clothes despite putting napkins on her lap, the sauces or grease responsible fades away before long as she mindfully manipulates the silk to remove stains. If Ozhira ends up frightening the staff, White might take umbrage with that. She's rather appreciative of cooks, chefs, innkeeps and other people of that sort, so on principle she might have to give the goo some light corporal punishment... Somehow. She has to think a little longer about how to do that, though, since bonking her with something seems like it would just make a mess.
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	Shinmyoumaru has been a pretty good passenger, even if she has trouble sitting still for too long sometimes. The fact that she got a window seat is helping a lot, because she likes to look out at the wilderness, so she's looking when Madeleine brings up the museum. And while she wasn't sure what 'ordnance' was but was too proud to ask, calling them bombs gives it away. "So... he just had bombs show up all the time?" Shinmyoumaru asks, having a mixed understanding of Maddie's curse. "Or he just kept exploding? That would be a pretty hard one to deal with... how would you even handle that? Exploding, I mean. Wouldn't it hurt?" A pause, and then as she tends to, she asks more questions: "What would the Curse of Cryptids even do? Ooh, maybe you couldn't find them at all..." Though she's been behaving herself, Shinmyoumaru is very glad to get out of the car when it comes to a stop. She hops out and immediately stretches. She may be a princess but she's not worrying about looking perfectly dignified. Nobody here cares! It's kind of liberating, honestly. She probably didn't even need to wear a fancy outfit (though she likes her dress, so she doesn't really mind). "I don't know why it's so empty," Shinmyoumaru admits. "You'd think more things would grow, or people would come, or... or something. Even if the humans didn't want it! It's just big and empty and kind of brown." Gabbs is not the kind of terrain she has much appreciation for. Shinmyoumaru's appetite is just fine, thank you. She orders off the full-size menu and she takes bites so big it makes her cheeks look like a chipmunk's. It looks a little ridiculous but for someone as small as she is, she has an appetite, apparently. "Pickle!" she says, cheerfully, once she finds one on her burger. "But it's so thin and limp..." Sorry, restaurant. Shinmyoumaru likes real pickles.
Calvin Nash	Calvin misses what Madeleine is referring to, though he's seen them enough times in person to guess. As is, he only sees the gesture of her hand. "What do you mean by that? How it 'don't line up.'" His COMP buzzes not long after. Chernobog: Interesting that you'd ask. Calvin: whats that sposed to mean Chernobog: I have known you, in this form and in those which preceded it, to have a certain disposition. Calvin: which is Chernobog: You impose order on what you are able to, and accept that which you are not. Calvin: its called growin up Chernobog: So you say. Many mortals have found their peace in one extreme or the other. Calvin: yeah well I aint one of em Calvin: and I aint bout to be Calvin inadvisably goes for a second Coke during lunch, which he'll be paying for both now and in a different sense later. The burger and potato wedges are at least substantial. this part of the country is emmp-ty. "Yep," says Calvin. "Drove on 50 once or twice before. They say it was gold, silver, iron--valuable shit--that got people interested in this part of the country. Back in my neck of the woods," he says, pointing vaguely in the direction of California with a thumb to indicate 'the warpgate' and thus 'my world,' "Lucifer and his boys got 'em up and runnin' again." "Even then, there ain't much between one town and the next." He shakes his head. "Damn sure would have sucked, way back then, in the cowboy times, to risk everything on some claim and come up empty handed." After lunch, Calvin does some stretches and requests a stop at the gas station to stock up. For some reason, he feels a little dehydrated! A big bottle of water (and disbelief at the price tag) later, he's ready to go.
Ivy Carrow	"I think the Glitch can have something to do with exposure - surround yourself with a certain piece of reality enough and you'll see how its edges don't always line up." Ivy listened, enraptured. Madeleine's world was--frustratingly--beyond her grasp to reach and explore, so all she had were stories. "It's strange that you brought your curse with you--maybe it's because, when you integrated, it was entangled enough in you that you brought that piece of the world into the multiverse after you?" "Fill up now, lest you be left with only twizzlers to carry you across the desert." "A sandwich isn't a meal!" Ivy agreed, enegetic, throwing herself from the car. "Let's keep our cooler as full as we can!" A few burgers later, and Ivy was filing back into the car. "I've been thinking on what you've said, about the world. It's not common to find worlds where the universe there is inherently predatory, but it happens." "There was a world, once, where if you spent too long in absolute darkness, with no one else able to see you...That was it. Gone." She looked out the window. "Went searching for a runner that went missing, and just found his pack, all torn up. Another place, if you ever told a lie, these 'men' in black suits would drive up and try to take you away, never be seen again." She sighed. "Didn't even have to be important lies; you'd get blackbagged for saying you had a boring day."
Angela	"So if his curse was bombs, does that mean he--tried to avoid bombs? Or was he just always around bombs and just had to deal? Or was he himself a bomb?" Ceri asks. Solace continues to hide twizzlers on their person to gift to her kids later. Solace looks at the sign, jerks a thumb at it, and looks questioningly at Madeleine. Solace honestly seems more relaxed in the empty. She buys a fair amount of food but gets it to go and takes it outside to eat. ''Ozhira is spooky'' "Wings, Ozhira, you don't ''have'' to eat like that." Ceri grumbles. "Tell me you didn't fucking eat the staff." Solace also buys a t-shirt with the bar's logo on it, and stuffs it carefully in her bag. Once on the road, Solace will quietly offer White one fry at at a time periodically, at least until White rejects one, like she thinks that friendship is giving someone one french fry at a time. Or maybe she is just curious at how much free food White will consume if it's offered periodically through the trip. Ceri and Solace, during the gas station, purchase some water bottles. Solace purchases a pez dispenser too, bewildered as to what it could possibly mean.
White	White might feel full after her half-burger, but being fed fries periodically... Well, she can't just say no, can she? Don't answer that. You're wrong. She can't. She might not emote about it, but she keeps leaning over to nom the fries as they're offered to her. It's a part of her code, a part of her very soul that she cannot allow food to go to waste. If the food is given to her, she must eat it, no matter the cost. Even if that cost is an ungraceful stretch in her seat to try not to put any pressure on her stomach, and the social image of being doted on like a fat little lizard. She's eaten a dragon, she copes. She won't be defeated by a potato stick. Or many potato sticks. She still can't figure out why Solace is doing this, but acts like it's normal regardless as she endures the burden of her creed. It's a good thing her much larger arachne form wouldn't fit into the van.
Ozhira	When Ozhira disappears into the BBQ kitchen, it's fairly quiet. Orders keep going in, meals keep coming out. It isn't until roughly when the team is more or less done eating that a ruckus kicks up in the kitchen itself. After some banging around, the head chef herds a slimy mass of tentacles and teeth and eyeballs out the back door at the end of a broom. Every time he shoves the beast, they snap at the implement. Outside, the creature suddenly wheels around and slides across the lot, fading from view while the chef invents entirely new curses for invasive slimes. They meet back up near the gas station; rising out of a puddle of red slime and adopting their humanlike guise again. The expression is one of closed-eyes contentment, "We are, filled with beef." is the only explanation they offer for the adventure. > "Tell me you didn't fucking eat the staff." They pause, glancing up in thought. A finger lifts to touch their chin lightly, "We did not. We-- got into the freezer. Humans have decent meat. But.." Their expression gets a bit more neutral-mischevious, "There was a lot more, there." With Calvin buying water and others getting snacks and candies, Ozhira pauses, "What else, should we get? We have eaten, so we-- think we will be fine."
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	Shinmyoumaru also makes a quick stop at the gas station to buy some things, including a large bottle of water, because this is not her first rodeo (or road trip) and she knows what to do by now. She also makes a valiant attempt not to steal any fries when they're going around. It is actually a success. Not a single fry gets stolen from Solace (or White, if that's how you choose to read it). See? She can behave!! "That's disgusting," is her response to Ozhira, when they return to the group. "You really shouldn't put it that way! It sounds disgusting that way. AND it was still frozen! You can't eat frozen food, it's crunchy and makes your teeth hurt. Except ice cream, that's fine." Also, she once again will not sit next to Ozhira. But that's not new.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Shinmyoumaru: "How would you even handle that? Exploding, I mean. Wouldn't it hurt?" "I'm sure it did hurt," Maddie says with a nod. "As for how we live with it, we kind of don't. Our fate isn't to have died, past-tense, of our Banes, or to die, future-tense. it's to be dying of them, present-tense. So the mechanisms of fate and causality spit us back out into the world if something kills us. At least, that's true in my home world. I haven't died enough times to really test any theories about how it works in the multiverse - my curse is a little gentler now, but that could mean I'm less immortal. Which is kind of worrying." Ceri: "So if his curse was bombs, does that mean he--tried to avoid bombs? Or was he just always around bombs and just had to deal?" "Little of both! Living with a curse is like, one part avoiding the stuff that triggers it, one part accepting that it'll come to you eventually - it always does - and being ready for when it does. I'm never not gonna be afflicted, but that doesn't mean I have to mope about it, y'know? Some days I still do mope a little, when it's really getting me down, but I try to have a life that doesn't completely revolve around it." Seeing Shinmyoumaru complain about the pickles on her burger, Madeleine flags down the bartender and orders a plate of pickle spears. "Hold on, White," Maddie says. "Did you just put a hamburger in your sleeve? That's gonna stink up the van after a couple hours in the heat."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Calvin: "What do you mean by that? How it 'don't line up.'" Madeleine sets down her burger and laces her fingers together. "The world is wrong, at least where I'm from. Folks who made it thought they were building on nothing, but their 'nothing' was my people's whole world. It's like..." She pauses to grasp for a simile. "Like building a sidewalk and thinking it'll stay there forever, but some tree grows next to it and starts shovin' the blocks around. I saw through the cracks in the sidewalk, so to speak, and once you see that there's something beyond the sidewalk it all comes crashing down. You can never look at it, any of it, the same way again. Hence the eyes. That's why we talk about seeing the Glitch, singular - it's all one big web of seams and fault-lines." Ivy: "Maybe it's because, when you integrated, it was entangled enough in you that you brought that piece of the world into the multiverse after you?" "Oh, hundred percent," Madeleine says. It's like... most souls are made of one kind of thread, and it's all real. Mine has two, one real and one unreal, and they get all tangled up in each other. Even if I know which of 'real' and 'not real' I prefer - the second's a lot kinder to me - I'm as deeply tied to one as the other. That's why I can't just hide in my little pocket dimension all the time: sooner or later the real, my curse, sneaks in there with me." "Some Excrucians, especially those who just recently saw the Glitch, try to tear that part out of them, become creatures entirely of the Not. It never works. They can't get rid of it all, or they unravel entirely. As much as it might suck to admit, we're as much expressions of the Glitch as subjects of it." "Anyway." She looks down at her plate, with its half-finished burger soon to go cold and the veritable mountain of potato wedges remaining. "Talking about this stuff isn't great for my appetite. Food's part of 'everything', and tuning in to how it's all wrong can make it hard to enjoy a meal. I'll get a to-go box for the fries at least. Anybody who wants can pick at 'em in the car." Poor White! So many potato sticks to be fed... Ozhira's antics at the restaurant earn a facepalm from Madeleine when she learns about them at the gas station. "Well, I guess we're not stopping here on the way back." Back on the road, the highway indeed gets lonelier and lonelier. Entire stretches of landscape pass by with hardly another car in sight. "At least we're making good time," Madeleine comments. "Keep an eye out for anything interesting, might be good to stop and stretch our legs."
White	White is warned about hamburger-sleeving, and instead of her usual flat and firm sort of 'no' Maddie gets a "Nuh." instead. White immediately starts gingerly shifting to sit upright again as she hears herself make that sound. But, that's brief and passing, as at most the only explanation she gives for now is a little shake of her sleeve if someone seems confused. No burger there, for sure. Besides, folks would've heard the chip bags crinkling when she moved if they were really just stored under her clothes. She's too lazy to really be very punitive to Ozhira at this point, but she does weave together a very plain roll of silk to give the meat-goo a bonk on the head with. It's a firm bonking with a very soft implement, and then White unrolls it to leave it on her head like a towel. She doesn't want it back if it has meat-goo on it. Of course, the point of doing this at all isn't stated aloud, so it might feel like a random act of minor mischief. Then, she's back to listening, trying to relax. She might not have equal interest in every world, but a world under such abnormal supernatural conditions might at least give White a little perspective to hear about, compared to another version of Earth. After Maddie finishes, she spends a few moments contemplating, comparing and contrasting. It sounds more esoteric than what White is familiar with, but then again if a normal person in her world was told about the System from start to finish it'd probably sound the same way. In an attempt to not just sit there and be a food-disposal and a pretty face, she quietly tries to engage. "Where I'm from... Most people aren't that way, but certain... Titles and skills, for a few, will... Affect their soul. They're pieces of a larger puzzle." She seems comfortable being back on the road though, settling into her original spot and leaning against the door a little, sightseeing through closed eyes and watching not just one side, but all sides of the scenery pass them by.
Angela	Upon learning that Ozhira literally went into the meat freezer, Ceri looks disgusted. "What is wrong with you?? They ''serve'' that to people!" She looks disgusted all the way through the talk about the exploding man, frowning at the idea of being constantly murdered by something that's just kinda gonna get you eventually. It's so direct that it feels a little unreal to her. Solace, of course, is as stoic as ever but she probably wasn't very picky with where she got her food so long as she was reasonably sure it wouldn't be rotten, spoiled, or poisoned. "Well it's probably easy to avoid tigers... Bright colors though...I guess The City usually dresses pretty subdued..." Not that there is NEVER color, though, as tiger ambush has proven. Why does Solace keep offering White snacks. She can't seem to stop herself. .. But it's not like anybody's told her she was a secret spider monster. Maybe she's just fascinated with the little glimpses of personality she's seeing. "I think my appetite is gone for a while." Ceri asides to Madeleine, half listening to the lore. Then she remembers she helped 'liberate' a whole bunch of faceless maids. Maybe she should just not mention it. Or think about it. And pay more attention to the backstory. IT might save her life some day. Maybe she can buy a tiger just to be on the safe side... "I guess it'd be too easy if you could just 'stay at home' and avoid all the fuss." She says. ''Titles and skills for a few, will... Affect their soul.'' "...Colors..." Solace says, while observing White. "I think it's more literal this time, Solace."
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	Shinmyoumaru listens to Madeleine. She's never really asked her about her world, or her curse, before, and she's learning a lot. Even if she doesn't precisely understand all of it. "I guess it sort of makes sense," she agrees, even though privately she doesn't think it entirely does. The simile is not a good one for her, and doesn't quite land. She wants to try to relate it to Gensokyo's barrier but she can't quite manage it. She asks of Calvin, eventually, "What's cowboy times like?" Pickle spears are a lot more to Shinmyoumaru's taste than pickle slices, apparently. She's happy to crunch on them, and any leftovers come with her. She does not steal Madeleine's potato slices either, out of a lingering sense of fairness. Back in the car... "We don't have anything like that," Shinmyoumaru says, about what White says. "Well, many people have a title, or two, but it doesn't change them. But a lot of people in Gensokyo are - " Hmm. How to put this. "They're the beings that the world forgot," Shinmyoumaru says. "Legends and myths! I live there because humans have forgotten the inchlings, now... there's a lot of youkai and witches and things too, and forgotten items." "So they're all different, too. And some of the worlds they're used to aren't the same, or... they look at it differently? I suppose?" Shinmyoumaru isn't sure quite how to put it - she's not a scholar - and she's frustrated by that. She looks up at Maddie: "I wonder if a curse got forgotten, if it would show up there?" So she leans over and whispers to White, but not all that quietly, "If you want a better hammer I can get you one," having seen her bonk Ozhira. "Or I can do it! Just give me one of those potato wedges." Either she can see that White is uncomfortable with them, and is thus more perceptive than she lets on... or she doesn't, and it was sheer chance. Pick one. It isn't obvious which. But Shinmyoumaru does grin big when she says it.
Ozhira	The beast is bonked-- More confused than injured, Ozhira swivels their expression on White with a slow, owlish blink and an indistinct chirp. The hit doesn't produce a splatter or anything; they seem relatively solid at the moment. Just the usual softness of hair volume. The roll unfurls, covering their head and eyes, but Ozhira doesn't seem bothered by this. "What is this?" Their tone isn't indignant or angry; curious, mostly. > "What is wrong with you?? They ''serve'' that to people!" "We are people," the creature answers simply, confusion now directed at Ceri, "We are many people. And other things." The Devourer itself is still a huge part of their mental landscape, after all, even if it is no longer the sole majority. Back in their seat in the van by the backmost window, Ozhira chirps again-- more contendedly this time-- once the group is back on the road, "We do not know much, about titles affecting souls. We only understand, how the song changes. When a voice is joined, the harmony evolves. Grows. We have not-- joined a voice, in a while. Since we were found. Since we were named. Do new names, really do this?" Shinmyoumaru conspiring with White goes unnoticed.
White	White still does her very best to Eat Potato Stick, the delays between being fed helping her keep up. The concern about Ozhira in the freezer spurs White to briefly examine herself with the Evil Eye to be sure that nothing odd is in her body aside from a tumorous mass of potato-flesh, then seems to return to disinterest over Ozhira's presence in the freezer. She was more annoyed for the cooks, personally. Solace's one-word comment draws her lidded gaze next, though. "I remember... Someone asking, if I was a 'Color'. Because of my name." It's not quite a question, but it seems she's still at least a little curious about the term. "I think it was Miss Angela. Though..." She pauses, doing her best to put together a simple question and comparison, and sighing through her nose in thought. "... The Colors... Work for the city? The Rulers, the ones I mentioned... Until recently, none of them ever worked together." She thinks to herself with some amount of smugness, that she might have started a trend in that regard. It's easy to sway a group when you're holding multiple seats by yourself, after all. Even if the way you sway them makes them want to punch you really hard. As for Shinmyoumaru, White nods as if agreeing the concept is strange. Though the offer for a hammer has her head tilt in a way that makes her long braid slide off her shoulder. Assuming she got a chance to skim the inchling's 'Skills' earlier in the drive like she meant to, she starts to have a growing hunch about the plan she has in mind... And covers the potato wedges with her hands almost protectively. It's not right to waste food! Then again, she starts to look like she's slipping in her devotion to her ideals, as she considers just how full she's already gotten. Besides, she's already acted on the impulse to apply incredibly light violence to satisfy herself, and Ozhira's plain and innocent confusion along with a rather straightforward question (by her standards) is good enough to move on for now. "In... My world," she starts, hesitating as if it feels strange to call it that at all, "Titles are magic. You do things, and you get a title. The title makes you stronger. But Ruler Titles are special... They change the mind, slowly. Most of them, at least." She then pauses again and decides to add one more morsel of detail. "Because those titles... Are based on the people who originally had them. They're special."
Ivy Carrow	"So, you're nothing and something at once?" Ivy's gaze was measured. "You're the girl and the tiger?" She seems to make a decision, nodding to herself. "That's rough! At least the nothing you are isn't as hungry as some nothings out there." "Where I'm from... Most people aren't that way, but certain... Titles and skills, for a few, will... Affect their soul. They're pieces of a larger puzzle." "Titles do that?" Another world, another set of mysteries. "Normally, people are given titles based on the way they've changed, or what they do...It works the other way around in your world?" She leans forward toward White, rubbing her hands together. "That's so cool! Is there something that determines what kind of titles have that power?" "Because those titles... Are based on the people who originally had them. They're special." "Oh, I have GOT to visit your world!" Ivy laughed, pulling out her phone and tap-tapping away.
Calvin Nash	Didn't even have to be important lies; you'd get blackbagged for saying you had a boring day. "Lemme tell ya somethin'," Calvin says, wagging his index authoritatively at Ivy. "You put three of them suits in a room together and lock the door, somethin' is comin' out." "That type of shit don't stand on its own two legs." Like building a sidewalk and thinking it'll stay there forever, but some tree grows next to it and starts shovin' the blocks around. "Don't suppose the folks that put the sidewalk down are too understandin' 'bout the tree." Tell me you didn't fucking eat the staff. Calvin is pretty sure they didn't, but gestures towards Ozhira with an index and an imperious lift of his brow all the same. What would he have done if they had? Say 'spit that out?' He holds it for a moment longer when he learns where they got their food. What else, should we get? We have eaten, so we-- think we will be fine. That softens his expression. "Somethin' to pass the time, if they got it." It's a big if, since 'they' is a gas station. What's cowboy times like? "That was two hundred some odd years before I was thought of," he says to Shinmyoumaru. "But I learned a little 'bout it in school. Times was hard. It was easier to get sick 'n harder to get better, for one. Harder to get from place to place, too. If you wanted a fresh start at life, odds were you might kick the bucket tryin'. And people back then agreed even less about who counted as 'people' than they do now." "They say the cowboys was free of that. But you ask me, I figure a lot of that's myth. Even back then, you had to go pretty far to get out from under money. Just 'cause you manage to didn't mean life was any easier."
Angela	"Are you?" Ceri says skeptically and, frankly, a bit derisively on the idea of Ozhira being person, let alone people. "People care about hygiene and don't ooze all over where people get their food. It's completely unsanitary." She would absolutely say this even if, say, Calvin went in there and ran his tongue all over the meat in there. In fact, she'd probably be more grossed out by that because it would also be strange. Ozhira doing this is something she, unfortunately, doesn't find STRANGE. It's just gross. That name again, Solace thinks. Solace senses that White wants more information but she looks to Ceri whom she seems to believe is more of an expert on this. "Colors aren't 'rulers' or anything like that, though they might be your capital R Rulers in the sense that they tend to have unusual abilities, are incredibly powerful, tend to have special permissions that other Fixers don't, and there's only 'one' of each Color, just like there's only one 'Pride' at a time. I couldn't say if they are 'corrupted mentally', but they tend to be a bit eccentric and generally get away with doing whatever they want unless a Wing comes down on them--Wings are corporations that rule each District--or country--within The City." Solace nods haplessly. She's not a City native even if she's learned some of the ropes. "...Even without magic power," Solace says. "Power can corrupt the mind. ... But power needed to survive." She gives a shrug as if to say 'That about sums it up!'. "So they are a kind of legacy..." Ceri murmurs.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Shinmyoumaru: "I wonder if a curse got forgotten, if it would show up there?" "Well, it sounds like Gensokyo's where stuff's supposed to go when it's forgotten. Maybe if someone who wasn't already forgotten got sent there, or if something was forgotten even by everything else in Gensokyo, they might have something in common with me. That ever happened? I guess you wouldn't know, if it'd been forgotten by everybody." "One of my good friends had a curse that made people forget about her, every time it consumed her fully. It was really hard on her and us. Because you never notice when you forget something, right? Only when you can't remember. Only when you find there's an extra seat at your dinner reservation and you don't know who it's for." Calvin: "Don't suppose the folks that put the sidewalk down are too understandin' 'bout the tree." "Not one bit," Madeleine says, grimly. "They're like the folks up in, wossname... Canaan! Even call themselves angels, and try to look the part. Think they've got the right of it all, want to make the world unto a garden or whatever. Real sticks in the mud for the most part." Ivy: "You're the girl and the tiger?" Maddie emits an uncomfortable noise. "Err... mostly the girl, really. The tiger's more of... an agent of the curse, not its subject. It's like... oh, hey, check it out!" Taking the first possible opportunity to change the subject away from the tiger itself, Madeleine points at an upcoming exit sign and reads it aloud. "Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park. Let's check this out, I could use a break from driving." The 'Berlin' half of the site is an abandoned mining town, a number of its buildings still standing. The 'Ichthyosaur' part is what has Maddie's attention. Just off the highway is a huge concrete mural of one of the ancient fish - life size at 50 feet long, according to Madeleine - and a large barn containing a complete-in-situ ichthyosaur fossil. Its head alone is a good nine feet long, with frankly disturbing bone-plated eyes. "They're still around in the real deep water on some worlds," Madeleine explains as she looks over the skeleton. Well, THAT's a comforting thought. "Hey Shinmyoumaru, ever caught something this big? Heh."
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	Shinmyoumaru had had a plan for that potato wedge. It wouldn't be wasted at all! AND someone could have eaten it afterwards (not her, given what she intended to do with it). But when White protects her snacks, Shinmyoumaru puffs, but accepts this as fair - it's not like White ignored her, that was a clear enough answer. "All right," she says, and stops leaning over quite so far. Plus, there was another answer too. "Oh, like inheritors!" Shinmyoumaru draws herself to her full height, puffing her chest out slightly in pride: "I'm one of those. I'm the descendant of Issun-boshi himself! He was the first famous inchling; he fought an oni with a needle and won the Miracle Mallet for the inchlings and married a princess! I want to be like him! That's why I'm here." Shinmyoumaru pauses. "I mean, not HERE here. But the Multiverse. I'm going to make sure nobody forgets us again because I'll be famous!" She has immense sympathy for Madeleine's friend. "Being forgotten would be the worst curse I can think of..." She really did mean to respond to Calvin, too, so she does: "I understand that. People overlook the weak, and the people they don't think of as important. I hate that!" she declares. "Someone needs to stand up for the people nobody else stands up for. But if it was a long time ago... I kind of wonder what it was like, to be there. To travel and see places nobody has been to before..." She seems a little wistful. To Solace, she agrees, "Power is important. If you don't have power, nobody listens to you, and the people with power can do whatever they like, and you can't stop them... But it's all right if you're careful." Look at her! She'd never be corrupted. Nope. Definitely not. Not even once. But then there's a stop. The mining town has no interest for Shinmyoumaru; she's seen abandoned towns before, and to her they seem sad. A place that once had people, but now doesn't; nobody cares about it, or nobody remembers, or both. She doesn't like to dwell on it. But the fish... "Wow!" Shinmyoumaru's eyes sparkle. "I've never seen a fish that big! I've caught a carp as big as I am," and she's arguably not even exaggerating, or not by very much; she might have been taller but it was heavier. "But never something like this!" "...I wonder what you could use for bait?" She glances over at Ozhira, because 'a big blob of meat' seems like it would probably work, actually. "Or a rod? I'd have to make mine bigger or it would never work!" It still wouldn't work. She's not that strong. She's not sure anyone is that strong... or if they were, if any rod and line would stand up to it!
Ozhira	All Ceri gets from Ozhira for her scolding is another somewhat confused look and a tilt of their head, "Of course we are." They even try a smile, which fails spectacularly in a way that makes them look more like a carnivore sizing up a steak. It's unintentional, but that probably doesn't matter all that much. Calvin had advised them get something to pass the time, but at the little gas station convenience store, nothing was able to get their attention. Fortunately, they seem content to stare out the window at passing terrain for oddly long periods of time. Coming to a stop, the Creature totters out to 'stretch their legs' such as it is. The empty mining town has their attention; Ozhira has always been a fan of creeping around empty, abandoned, or disused structures. It's the a good place to lie in wait for unwary prey items. But the bulk of the group instead is going to the museum-- and so the beast follows. Icthyosaur Bones. The Beast pauses in the grand presence of a colossal marine predator's fossilized remains, their arms spread out a bit from their sides, jaw slack. When Shinmyoumaru sizes them up for bait, she finds the creature already trotting over to an info placard to examine it more closely. After a minute, with the text and the pictures, Ozhira leans back to look at the bones again. Unsubtly, their left hand reaches up to wipe what might be drool from their mouth. "We want to eat it." Their head swivels, gaze resting on Madeleine, "You said-- they still swim, somewhere?" It's only here that they catch Shinmyoumaru's glance, head tilting with a curious chirp. It takes another moment of thought before the girl-shaped creature deflates a bit, "We are far from the sea," Obviously it can't happen today, "And-- on a mission. For nightcrawlers. Already."
Calvin Nash	Even call themselves angels, and try to look the part. "Every world's got its peckerheads." I'm the descendant of Issun-boshi himself! "Oh yeah? I heard of ol' One-Sun. You gotta have b--" He stops short of what he'd say with no filter. The fact that he's uttered 'peckerhead' already doesn't occur to him. "Ahem. Oni'll take a mile if you let 'em. You gotta respect somebody that puts his foot down like that. To do it with a needle?" He utters a low whistle. "They don't make too many like that. That's for damn sure." To travel and see places nobody has been to before... "Well," says Calvin, "That was part of the problem with them days. People had been there before. But they looked different and acted different and prayed different, so." He shrugs and looks bitterly out the window. "It came down to power, like you said, and the people that looked like me had more than them other folks did." "There's still some people today that come from them other folks. But not nearly as much as there oughta be. What we're trying to do with the Assembly is make someplace that makes people who don't act that way. We can't do nothing for the folks that're gone, but we owe it to the ones who ain't here yet." "Anyway," he says, using the word like an air freshener. The opportunity to get out and stretch is welcome. Leaning from side to side with both hands just above one knee, then the other, then repeats the motion, holding the outer arm up and outwards along with some controlled breathing. Another set, bending at the waist, bringing the arms in like curling, opening them wide as he comes out. Another, twisting at the waist with one leg on the van's running board, one arm extended, then the other. Eventually, he makes his way over to the skeleton. "Like this?" he asks, rubbing his chin. "I reckon as big as he is, you gotta start worryin' 'bout the boat, too. Gotta be big enough it don't tip over from reelin' 'im in. Which'd be pretty damn big. Prolly have to use harpoons. More than one." We want to eat it. "Damn," he marvels. "Don't they feed you at home?"
Ivy Carrow	"Err... mostly the girl, really. The tiger's more of... an agent of the curse, not its subject. It's like... oh, hey, check it out!" "But you said you pulled it with you, so it has to be at least a little--" Her gaze snapped. Landmarks. A perfect deflection. "Oooh, what's that?!" "You see this?!" Ivy spun around, throwing her hands in the air, smiling BIG. This is the kind of TREASURE you'll find everywhere, if you just know where to look. I don't have the patience for archeology, but, to think, there's whole universes of what 'has been,' and you can catch a glimpse of it beneath your feet...! "We want to eat it. You said-- they still swim, somewhere?" "Oh, DON'T they?!" Ivy has been Activated, rounding on Ozhira. "I have a whole CATALOG of Beast worlds with prehistoric life. Some of them are settled by people, some of them aren't! A lot are cordoned off as wildlife preserves, for conservation or research, but there's some that are still legal for hunting!"
Shinmyoumaru Sukuna	They still swim somewhere... "I want to fish, too," Shinmyoumaru agrees with Ozhira, perhaps accidentally. "Maybe not THIS. But the fish that live with it! Where you get one, you get other kinds, things they eat. Something like this isn't going to eat seaweed!" Shinmyoumaru is a teenager, as best anyone can tell (she's a little reticent to give her actual age beyond declaring she is not a child) and she tries not to laugh when Calvin self-censors. She's not quite as innocent as she looks, perhaps. (Hanging around Seija helps.) "Well, it looks pretty empty..." Shinmyoumaru looks around. "If you told me nobody lived here except spirits and elementals I'd believe you! But if there's people too, they must either really like being by themselves, or really hate it." Shinmyoumaru only sort of understands the rest of what Calvin says - oh, she knows all the words, and she gets some of it; she understands bias and even hate. She doesn't exactly like most youkai, or any oni, herself. But the history of Americas passes her by. The only time she's ever been has been with Madeleine's trips. She tries to understand: "Well, at least you're working with them now," she decides. "I hate it when people get treated like they don't matter, or... anything like that! Maybe I should come see your world sometime," she says, thoughtfully. "Just, you know. Sometime! Especially if you wanted to see Gensokyo." And then Shinmyoumaru rattles her needle at Calvin for emphasis. Given it is a sewing needle sized for either a long thrusting sword or a very short spear, for her, who is (currently) about four feet tall, it's quite a bit bigger than the usual, tucked in a scabbard made out of cloth and bamboo. But still, by the standards of oni, pretty small. "I can do it too," she says, proudly. "I learned his style; I trained myself! I'll show you sometime!"