A new arrival [Completed]

[notquitedracula.livejournal.com]

Character(s): Soma, Lucifer, anyone else who cares to jump in.
Content: Soma's arrival through the Niflheim gate, meeting the Original Lord of Darkness, various & nefarious other happenings
Setting: Niflheim gate
Time: Week 2, early morning
Warnings: Potential mild swearing, probably about it.


Soma was awoken, not by his alarm clock, but by the sun falling across his face. Shielding his eyes automatically, he sat up, flinging aside the covers and making to get out of bed.

Only to find he was not -in- his bed. Beneath his hand, he felt wet grass, and there was a very distinct early morning breeze blowing.

Now fully awake (and standing, though he would later have no idea how he'd gotten that way), Soma took stock of his situation. He was, surprisingly, fully clothed (and armed, though he knew for certain that he'd left Laevatain in a case at the foot of his bed).

Before him stood a gate that, in his sleep-fogged vision, was distressingly familiar. "Oh God, not this place again..." he muttered, palming his face. After rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he made note of the decorative nature of the gate (it looked like it was made of ice), and realized that it was -not- the gate to Dracula's castle.

But...

What -was- it?

From what he could see, his first guess was 'city'. There were huge domes surrounding it, whatever it was, and a steady stream of people going in through the gates. Seeing nothing better to do, Soma followed them in...

Comments

[floofy-chivalry.livejournal.com]

"Oh.... well, that's nice, I guess?" Sword offered, shrugging. It wouldn't have been very convenient at all to just appear in only pajamas here, not at all.... "City of Angels? What does that species look like? And where do you usually go, if you don't often stay there?" Sword raised an eyebrow, not quite sure just what angels were. And why would Lucifer consider his home only temporary? Home was where you lived in spirit, even if not in reality....

He gave the food in front of him a thoughtful look, realizing it would be too difficult to get it in through the gap. Off the helmet would have to go, then.... He stripped his gauntlets off first to keep them clean, then lifted his helmet off, squinting a little as his eyes adjusted and wiggling his long ears to work some of the stiffness out of them from being held down for so long. Ahhh, much better....

He gave Soma a sympathetic look, and took a taste of his own drink as well, coughing a little and just barely keeping from pawing at his nose; he'd never had soda before, and the sweetness was absolutely cloying. It was kind of nice though, and at least this kind wasn't carbonated.... "Water is usually the best thing to drink, anyway. Is the food good, at least? And your coffee?" He didn't bother with any of his silverware, just tearing a chicken strip in half to make it easier to hold and starting to munch.

[notquitedracula.livejournal.com]

Soma raised an eyebrow at Lucifer in return. "Los Angeles bit the bullet about three years ago where I'm from. Took half the United States' western seaboard with it."

Turning back to Sword, he smiled a bit. "The food is much better than the tea, or at least I think it is."

That much said, he took another bite and busied himself with the task of eating.

OOC: Return of the short crappiness!

[atsehaske.livejournal.com]

Ah? That's interesting, he came from a world with no Los Angeles. Not that he was terribly surprised, in fact, he almost suspected it. If the powers were moving in the way he thought they were, Los Angeles was not going to stay put.

"...I see." Lucifer placed down a handful of gold coins. He was tempted to put down thirty, just for irony. But he settled with maybe seven or so. Solid gold too, if anyone were to check their value. "As much as this has been enlightening, I'm going to exclude myself from further discussion."

With that he stood and headed for the door. There was some thinking to do, and he'd rather do that in private.

[notquitedracula.livejournal.com]

OOC Note: This is a joint post, composed between Inf and I in an IM window.

(Sword): The meal went by pleasantly enough, though Sword found it unfortunate that their other companion had left them. He'd rather liked Lucifer, and would have been shocked to find out the man's true nature. Even a kid's meal was too big by at least half for Sword to finish; the waitress was kind enough to give him a doggie bag for it, and the little knight set it down next to him, taking a moment to start grooming his hands and face clean with tongue and napkin. "So.... what are we going to do now?"

(Soma): Soma shrugged and yawned a bit, having long-since finished his meal. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm beat. Waking up somewhere other than where I went to sleep is one thing, but having to fight so soon afterwards is altogether too tiring. Is there a hotel on that map anywhere near here?"

(Sword): "I know what you mean...." He'd been pulled from a fight, after all. He shifted a little to pread his brochures out before him, picking out the ones about hotels and the map he was given, spreading them open on the table to peruse them. "There's a few.... the closest one doesn't look too nice, though." He pushed the O Pastor brochure over towards Soma so he could take a look.

(Soma): Soma picked it up, eyeing the cover (a depiction of the front of a somewhat dillapidated building) carefully. Shaking his head, he sighed. "Right now, I could sleep in the throne room of Dracula's castle. I can handle it if you can. That is, if you want to stick around me for a while longer."

(Sword): "No reason not to, I suppose." Sword was pulling his gauntlets and helmet back on now, gathering the rest of the pamphlets back up and sticking them into the bag he'd been given. The puzzlement was still seen though, however briefly before the helmet was plopped back on. Who was Dracula, and why did he have a castle? Maybe he was the king of wherever Soma was from. Some place called Japan, wasn't it? "I can handle it. I could probably even sleep in King Dedede's throne room. I don't know why I'd ever need to, though...."

(Soma): Soma watched bemusedly as his miniscule companion replaced his armor; even having seen it for himself, he would never have believed that, beneath that shell of green metal, there was such a... well, -cute- creature. "Then I guess we're stuck with one another for a while longer. Whenever you're ready, Sir Sword."

(Sword): "Better than being alone." Sword reasoned. As bad as that would be for Dreamland, he really wished Blade and Meta were here with them.... he just felt lost without his friends. Even Kirby would have been nice, despite not having a clue what he was saying..... if he was even saying anything at all.

He shook his head a little at the thought, hopping down from the table "I'm ready now." And starting to feel oddly reenergized. Maybe he'd just been more hungry than tired?

(Soma): Soma put down a few coins for the tip, then nodded to Sword. "Right then. It's almost due west, about a mile and a half... Just hope those glowing things don't decide I look like a meal again..."

(Sword): "Pretty far still...." Sword observed, but accepted the distance as a necessary evil as they set out. "You have my sword, if it comes to that."

(Soma): Soma smiled a little wryly, but didn't disabuse the miniscule knight of the notion. Who was he to point out that, if such a situation came up, Laevatain was apt to be far more effective than a blade the size of a steak knife? "Yeah, it is a pretty fair distance... I'd offer to carry you, if I didn't think it would impugn your knightly dignity." As if being that cute underneath that armor didn't do that already...

(Sword): Sword snorted quietly at that, rolling his eyes under the helmet at the suggestion. "I can walk by myself, thank you; I've had to cover ground before." Honestly.... 'impugn your knightly dignity?' He didn't much like being made fun of. It wasn't his fault Soma was too tall, after all.....

(Soma): Soma shook his head. "I didn't mean it like that. It's just that I can cover distances like this really, really quickly. Or... How do you feel about flying?"

[notquitedracula.livejournal.com]

"....flying? Like on the Warpstar?" He blinked at that, curiosity making the slight offense forgotten almost immediately. He hadn't known anyone else had a Warpstar besides Kirby.... Or was it more like when Meta turned his cloak into bat wings? That was pretty cool, too....

Soma raised a brow. "Warpstar? What's that?" He'd never heard of such a device; the mass produced hoverboards had just started gaining popularity where Soma had come from, but he was certain there wasn't one called a 'Warpstar'...

"It's.... well, it's a magic star." Sword smiled sheepishly beneath the helmet, wondering just how to explain it when he didn't entirely understand the thing himself. "Tiff usually summons it for Kirby, especially when he's in trouble.... It flies to where it's been summoned, and Kirby jumps on it so it can fly him where he needs to be. I think he controls it with his will."

Soma nodded, thoughtfully. "I see. Well, I don't really, but I think I get the idea. But that's not really what I had in mind."

"I've never been on it; all I can say is what I've seen." Sword shrugged. "What did you have in mind?"

Soma gestured for Sword to follow him off the main concourse and onto what amounted to a curb. "Well, you see, I can become things other than what I am. It's... a long story. Most people freak out when I do things like this around them, because it reminds them of a really, really evil person. Which is kind of ironic in the long run, but that's not the point..."

"You can?" Sword blinked in confusion, but followed willingly enough. "Long stories are usually the most interesting, though.... What do you swallow to turn into something that flies, a feather? Why does it remind them of an evil person?"

Soma shook his head. "True... but why would I need to swallow anything to turn into something else? I just... -do-. And the abilities I have are usually the mark of a specific type of demon where I'm from; a vampire. It'd be easier to show you what I'm talking about than to try to explain it..."

"Well, Kirby swallows things to change forms, and he's the only person I know who cou--oh." He would have scratched his head at that, instead just shrugging. "Okay, then. What sort of demon is a vampire?"

Soma sighed a little bit. "A vampire is a demon that drinks the blood of its chosen victim, and can either turn that person into another vampire or kill them outright. They usually prefer to kill, because it's simpler."

"....That's pretty nasty." Sword agreed, after considering the mental image. "How come you can change then, if you're not one? What did you want to show?"

Soma chuckled a little dryly. "I was -supposed- to be one, or so I've been told. Not just any vampire though; the lord of them all. Dracula. The most dangerous single mortal being ever to walk the earth. He was killed about twenty years ago... and I was born the same moment he died. There's more to it, but like I said, it's a long story... and I'm sleepy. For now..." Soma took a step back and drew his coat closed around himself. As he did, his entire body seemed to collapse, forming a much smaller shape with large wings and taloned feet.

"Supposed to be one.... maybe Nightmare made a mistake." Sword mused. Beneath his helmet, his eyes widened in appreciation as he watched Soma shift. "Wow...." He hadn't even needed to inhale a feather or anything! And it wasn't just the coat, like Meta did with his cape.....

Soma blinked his newly-poor eyes a couple times, adjusting the night-oriented retinas to the nearly noontime sunlight. It took him a moment to get his bearings, at which point he looked over at Sword, who was now about his own height. "Shall we?" he asked, with a slight grin.

"....I guess so....." Sword blinked back, wondering what he was supposed to do. After all, he couldn't change....

Soma backwinged into the air, circling overhead a couple times before swooping down and snagging Sword by his pauldrons. That done, he winged higher into the air, catching a warm updraft and delighting in the newfound freedom. He made his way leisurely up the street, only remembering after a couple blocks to ask his passenger if he liked the view.

[paixaonpcs.livejournal.com]

It was a simple opening, because that was all they could do. No flashy entrances of fog machines and fireworks. From a blossuming flower of white and gray energy - and a hint of red? - they came; three of them forming almost an equilateral triangle, but not on purpose. They didn't have the brains for that. They didn't have anything. They simply followed orders.

There was red. Red from other kills, still clung to the tips of long arms, pointed at the end with four "fingers" tied tightly together by two belts. Red from the blood that didn't fade away as they traveled through between the different paths not on the same level as this... this... place. Place didn't matter. Place had no meaning. What was meaning?

The three jittered in odd motions; twitches and jerks. No eyes. Zipper-like mouths, flapping open to show into the true emptiness that they were.

And then one straightened, like a toothpick, before lanky legs stretched out across the ground and it aimed to attack the group.