Difference between revisions of "Rebirth"

Latest revision as of 13:27, 29 March 2010

Anshera has arrived. Gummy - Warbear has arrived. Cernunnos arrives from Portal Plaza Cernunnos has arrived. Wildejagd - Motorcycle arrives from Portal Plaza Wildejagd - Motorcycle has arrived.

The main square of the city center is often a hub of activity, and today is no less so like any other day in that respect. What is different is that today the crowds are gathered around something...or perhaps more acurately someone. That someone being the self proclaimed 'lord of chaos'. With him is a small spidery robot which moves slowly about the area in a manner of searching.

Anshera takes Gummy - Warbear's reins and leads the mount along.

Jiggle.

JiggleJiggle.

Each of Gummy's ponderous steps causes a ripple through the cherry flavoured bear, hypnotising and soothing if the sleepy state of his rider is to be any indication. Or maybe she just had a nap. Arms wrapped loosely around Gummy's neck, and her chin resting atop the bear's head, one pint-sized, child version of Anshera is riding the mount and heading towards Mr. Chaos Man.

Augustus is pacing up and down the gathering on all fours. The Lupiod doesn't seem to be in a great mood but at least he isn't talking to himself yet.

Cernunnos enters the city center from the east, his arrival announced by the distinct smell of wet dog mingled with fish and seaweed. The horned wolf is soaking wet, and leaving muddy footprints on the cobblestones behind him. Slung over one shoulder is the world's largest Calamari snack, a section of green, rubbery tentacle about five feet long and a foot thick. Wildejagd trails a distance after him.

Medea wings in from the direction of the dwellings and abodes, the demoness surveying the crowd below idly. Upon spotting the old man, though, she tips her wings and starts to lose altitude -- not a dive, per se, but definitely aiming to land close to him.

Shafi, meanwhile, is away from the gathering, arms crossed and a frown present on her features. "This is a bad idea," she mutters, shaking her head and lightly swinging her bullwhip with flicks of her wrist.

The bot continues for a moment longer, tottering around the area and then it stops, stock still and emits a loud beeping sound that fills the city center and the ears of those around it. If ears is an accurate description at least. At any rate the beeping finally stops and Chaos chuckles heading that direction and beginning to draw on the cobbled street, "Here is where this portal is!" he calls out.

A murmer breaks out through the crowd.

Gummy comes to a stop at the edge of the first bit drawn on the cobblestones, and while 'Shera sits up, raising her arms to stretch with a yawn, Gummy lowers his head to snuffle at the lines being drawn.

~Yaaaaaaaawwwwwn~

Green eyes blink at Mr. Chaos Man, before the polymorph speaks, "Oh I do hope you're not mistaken, darling. One should be terribly, terribly dissapointed if she came all this way for naught."

"Lets get on with it twat." Augustus growls as he lays down and his tail goes stiff.

Cernunnos shoves his way through the crowd towards Chaos, growling as he comes to stand next to Anshera and Gummy. The lupine hunter grabsa sack from his waist, and holds it out to Chaos. "Right. Is this what you need?"

"Ooh, shiny," Dea says, braking with her wings and hopping to a stop a few feet from the beeping robot. "...Can I have one?" She reches out with a tentative finger to poke at the robot gently.

-CRACK- the elf's bullwhip sounds its cry for attention in the air above her head. "You people are all insane," Shafi calls out from her position, detaching herself from the wall she leans against and approaching, "What's so great about life? Everything that was there is here, minus the people - but you're not going to get those people back in this life anyway. What's the point? To struggle and suffer just so when the inevitable death comes you can end up right back here?"

A smile cracks on Chaos's face and he holds a hand out for the bag, "Excellent. Exactly what I needed and just in time," he says as he reaches into the bag and pulls out a large chalice. "In excellent condition too.." he adds as he looks into it. "Do I have a volunteer then?" he asks of the crowd.

Several souls look toward Shafi as she cracks her whip, "But..I just...don't understand why you wouldn't want a second chance..." a young looking woman replies. "To do it again and do it right?"

"That one! She volunteers!" Anshera declares, pointing towards some ragged looking woman hovering at the edge of the crowd. A titter and the polymorph looks to Cern, "You do need a touch of a bath you know, darling."

"Fuck it. Hopefully this fucks up and I'm gone for good." Augustus rises on two legs. "Beam me up Scotty." He barks as he heads towards Chaos. "Leave the bitch alone." He sniffs at Ashera. "She can be entertainment later if this turns out to be bull shit."

"Just had one." Cernunnos states in a matter-of-fact tone. "What I need is to go back to the desert and lie in the sun for a while." He stretches his neck and yawns, then walks a few paces away and flops down on the ground. He sits there and cuts a piece off the kraken tentacle to chew on.

Medea raises a brow as she looks toward the old man. Something about his smile... actually makes her blink in surprise. "...Yeah, I heard her volunteer too," she says, waving vaguely toward Anshera and the ragged woman at the edge of the crowd. A chuckle escapes her at Augustus' comment. If she's bothered by how Cern smells, she doesn't make any indication.

"You don't look like a demon to me - do things right /here/, it's not like Necromundus is the end of things," Shafi points out to the woman in the crowd, "This afterlife is still a life. You can still redeem yourselves here - I have been doing just that. I was /executed/, for good reason, and now I'm a healer doing more good than I ever even thought of in life." The elf shakes her head, "You don't need to be /alive/ to 'live' how you wish you had!"

Chaos smiles brighter at the 'volunteer and grabs her arm, her hand held out and a blade drawn across her palm. He quickly exchanges the blade for the chalice, blood dripping into it. "Now..for the words.." he says once he's satisfied and he moves back to the drawing on the ground and begins to chant.

With his words the wind picks up, blowing across and through the souls present. It's different though, it has an almost bitter sweet smell to it, and one can almost hear words whispered in it. '...crazy Aukami...' 'crazy old woman...'

Giving Augustus a dismissive wave, 'Shera beams first towards Dea's support, then towards Mr. Chaos Man as he takes the volunteer she'd chosen and draws her blood for the ritual. Clapping and tittering with delight, the polymorph stands up on Gummy's back after a moment, hands lowering to rest on his head.

Gummy shuffles forward, intent on trying to snuffle at the chalice. Bennatsuyu arrives from Dwellings and Abodes. Bennatsuyu has arrived. Blizzard arrives from Dwellings and Abodes. Blizzard has arrived.

A tiny orange fox prances through the forest of people's legs, snuffling out Dea swiftly. He stands at her side, brushy tail idly tapping her ankles as he watches the goings-on intently.

Augustus drops back onto all fours as the woman is pulled away. "Bitch." Is all he growls.

Medea looks down at the tiny fox at her feet. "Oh, hey," she greets, her head tilting a bit. "Did you come out to see if Old Man Chaos is crazy, too?" A pause, and then she giggles. "Well, okay. We *know* he's crazy. But you can be crazy right or crazy wrong. I want to see which."

A silver door forms before Chaos, a brilliant white light shining about it to engulf the crowd round about. To walk around it would show nothing on the other side...simply a door. As the chanting continues the door becomes more opaque, more solid, and then slowly...the silver knob on the right side begins to turn, the door slowly opening to reveal a darkness within so black that it seems to be trying to suck everything into it. And it's quite possible that it is as the wind changes, seeming to tug and pull at those around it.

One woman squeels as her cloak seems to pull at her, "It's got me!" she cries out as she tries in vain to dig her feet into the ground as she is litterally dragged toward the portal.

Seems this is the key phrase as with her words the wind picks up and more are pulled at, the portal sucking them into the darkness within. Bennatsuyu tips his head back to look up at the Demoness, ears focused on her. "...yes." He answers with a toothy smile. "The very same." He settles a paw upon Dea's boot toe at the sight of the portal, tailtip twitching, "Answer enough?"

Apparently well and truly ignored, Shafi lets out an exasperated sigh. The blood drawn and strange winds cause the elf to frown in mild alarm, before a portal appears and starts sucking people in. "SHIT!" the healer barks, "I DON'T WANT TO LIVE AGAIN!" She brings her bullwhip around with another deafening -CRACK-, trying to wrap it around a nearby light fixture and hang on for dear unlife.

Shafi rolls her Mace with a 0 modifier. The result of the roll is Legendary (4). Shafi rolls her Strength with a 0 modifier. The result of the roll is Legendary (4).

Anshera ducks as someone flies overhead, narrowly missing beaning the itty-bitty polymorph and knocking her off Gummy's back. Her arms wrap around Gummy's neck again, the cherry flavoured bear's slick gummy feet sliding across the cobblestones as he and his master are pulled towards the portal.

"Fuck it." Augustus just stops fighting the pull. Hell, the devil dog seems to be bounding towards portal.

The female-aspected demon does something that might just be considered out of character for her. In fact, at any other time, it would probably be downright brow-raising. Dea scoops up the tiny fox at her feet and starts trying to back away from the portal, though the winds tug mightily at her. She snarls a guttural curse as her feet start to slide across the cobblestones, a metallic grating sound accompanying the complete halt to any ground she might have been gaining.

Cernunnos puts his fingers to his mouth and makes a high-pitched whistle over the sound of the wind, calling Wildejagd over to him. The lupine hops into the saddle and hits the gas. Rather than driving directly away, however, he loops around and behind the door, out of the path of the wind. From that relatively secure position, he folds his hands on the handlebars and settles in to watch.

The elf gets a good grip on the fixture with her whip, and an equally impressive grip on the whip, both hands clinging as though her very existance depends on it. Because well, to Shafi that's about right. The leather of the whip strains, the noises of stretching leather crackling forth. But still they hold strong... for a while.

Eventually, something must give, and it's not going to be the portal. The pole groans under the stress of the weight applied to it, and lurches - not much, but enough to adjust the angle the whip is being pulled at and ruin its grip. Leather slips over itself and the metal, and releases with a screeched, "NO!" from its wielder as she plummets into the darkness with the other souls.

Miran arrives from Dwellings and Abodes. Miran has arrived. Augustus has disconnected. Miran has disconnected. Bennatsuyu has disconnected.

You find yourself in an earthen chamber with a locked wooden door at one end and a larger device/portal at the other. A sign on the wall, written in an alien script (Hekayan to anyone who might recognize it), depicts a hazard symbol with a message about safety. Apparently, this facility has been without an accident for 65 days. Crates are stacked along the other walls, stenciled with markings that read: TDGC.

Augustus blinks a few times and drops to all fours. "Oh.. the fuck just happened?!" The Badger man yells out. After that? Its a good long tirad in Martian Latin.

Bennatsuyu squeaks in nothing short of dismay, having been too startled to make noise otherwise. "What." He eyenarrows at back at the door, worming to poke his muzzle of Dea's shoulder. His ear flicks dismissively at Augustus's outburst, and he paws it. Handles it. Oh my god thumbs! Bennatsuyu stares at his furred hands in shock. "I have too many fingers!"

Through the portal next is an Aukami with eyes glowing a neutral green. His silvery hair is a bit mussed up and one hand runs through it carefully to lay it flat. He uses the hand not holding a chalice with blood inside it. "Well...that wasn't so bad," he says looking around, then down at himself, "Um...although the ground seems quite a bit further away than it was before..." he adds.

The metallic scraping of Medea's feet against the City Center's cobblestones halts abruptly as she is pulled through through the portal. She tries take a step forward and stumbles. "Hrk," she grunts, staggering into a nearby crate and trying to gain some semblance of equilibrium. There's a long, long silence from her before she speaks up, quietly. "...Benny. What. Is wrong. With my *feet*?" The fact that Benny has too many fingers seems to have escaped her for the moment.

"My nails are too long... and where is my tail.. my tail?" Augustus then spends the next few moments trying to catch his own ass as he spins around.

"Huhm?" Bennatsuyu wriggles over her arm to hang upside down and peer at her feet, shoving aside the tail that gets in his face. He doesn't identify it as his own. "Wow! You! You have hooves!" He exclaims, and crawls /further/ down Dea to get a good look. "Stop moving!"

Hmmm... Fuzzy wuzzy wuz a bear... Hey! He still kinda /smells/ like Cherry flavour, but Gummy is distinctly... not a gummy bear anymore. In fact, it seems he's become a black bear with cherry red eyes. And looking just about exactly the same as before, is one pint-sized, child Anshera, arms hugging around his neck as she's carried along on his back.

A blink as she looks between Auggie, Medea and Benny, "Well now... I daresay you all look /rather/ odd."

Last through the portal is another Aukami, the female well-launched through. She crashes onto one of the crates, eyes flashing a shockingly bright purple color before she lands on the ground on all fours. Shafi closes her eyes and groans, rubbing her face... and then pausing. "What the fuck...?" she mutters, opening her eyes again and peering at her hand, "My skin... my /fingers/... Oh, Light, not again..." She slowly stands and starts examining herself. "/Taller/? I was too tall already... Damnit, I /DIDN'T WANT THIS!/" the firey-flickering glow of her eyes turns to a sharp, angry red as she tries to snatch her whip and nearly loses her balance in the process.

The Chaos Aukami looks over the others, a frown on his lips and his eyes shift toward a deep blue as he takes in the room, "Well...a nice little welcoming area..." he says as he looks back toward the portal then the locked door which he moves toward, steps wobbly just yet and he nearly stumbles before catching himself on a crate. "Perhaps taking it slow would be a good idea...yes..."

"I'm.. I'm not a Martian?" Augustus finally seems to come out of hyper doggie mode. "Okay okay! Augustus.. Marty.. whatever. You! Who are you?" A long nailed finger is pointed at the various folks about.

"Quit moving, he says," Dea mutters, finally settling for sitting down on the crate clumsily. CLANK. Platemail's a lot easier to deal with when you're dead and you don't have to worry about how much the bloody stuff weighs, apparently. She lifts the leg with the Benny-Lotorian clinging to it, and scowls. "Great. I'm like a picture-book drawing of the boss-man or something now. You're... uh... different too, Benny."

"You've got nice horns though?" Bennatsuyu places his hands upon either side of his head and grins toothily. That much hasn't changed. "I know. I've got too many fingers for some reason," he nods sagely, as his tail curls around his feet. He kicks it off. And it returns yet again. He glances around at the others. "Everyone's...off."

"Well, I rather don't know what happened to the rest of you, and Gummy, but one finds she doesn't look any different than before." Intones Anshera as she flops over onto her back, one hand held out before her face, while the other pillows behind her head. And later on, rage! As she discovers she can't shapeshift anymore. Oh my.

Something jiggles in the lock of the wooden door. Muffled voices can be heard from the other side. The door opens, revealing six tall bipeds in dark green containment suits and rebreather units. Five of them are staring at monitor readouts on their sleeves. The fifth lets the key on the chain rattle back into the container on his hip, saying, "Seems like the readings were consistent."

His flashlight sweeps the chamber, settling on the cluster of people and the bear that just came through. His mouth falls open, and his eyes go wide. The flashlight drops on the ground, rolling back and forth. The light dances in the eyes of the newcomers.

"A curse on all the houses," mutters one of the Hekayti behind the keyholder. "Better notify the shift supervisor. I don't think these are your standard-issue intruders." "Shafi," the so-named Aukami provides for Augustus's demands as she again bends over to grab her bullwhip. This time she's more careful, and manages to snatch it up clumsily. "You," she growls towards the Chaos Aukami (he's holding the chalice!), "FIX. THIS. NOW!" Very, VERY red eyes. Blood red. Of course, it's short-lived as some more people show up. Red shifts to an orangish yellow as she backs away. "Hey, it's not what you think..."

From his place beside the crates Chaos in Auk form narrows his eyes, hand placed to his brow, an attempt at keeping the light from glaring too hard in his eyes, "There seems to have been a mix-up, gentlemen. If you could tell us where we are?" he asks rather calmly of the men in containment suits. The chalice of blood is carefully set aside..not a drop spilled. It's not that he's ignoring Shafi so much as that these people take precidence.

"Oh you sick bastards! What did you do to my elegant tail?" Augustus points a finger at the newcomers. "You farmed that shit didn't you? I aint nobody's new coat ya hear?" Medea smirks at Benny. "Very funny." She snorts, shaking her head. A quick glance at the others is all she manages before the door opens, one of her gauntleted hands coming up to shield her eyes from the light. "Urgh," she grunts, squinting. "Must you? Really? I just tripped through a door from the afterlife and now I get to be *blind*. Great."

Bennatsuyu squints at the newcomers! "Urgh," He manages, and bounds to Dea's side, covering his face. "What the hell iz even happening?" That bothersome tail again! He brushes it aside, and peeks through his fingers. "They look like you do," he observes candidly, nudging Dea's plated arm with a shoulder.

"Remain calm," advises the lead of the Hekayti team. "Restrain your beast." He gestures toward the bear before kneeling to pick up the flashlight. A Toveil behind him speaks into a commlink: "Adarl, we confirm the life signs that were detected after the collector activated. We will take them to the warehouse to await questioning. Recommend someone bring a tranquilizer gun for their pet, just in case."

Blinking, 'Shera can't understand one bit what the Hekyati are saying and as such, dismisses their babbling with a light shrug. The gesture at Gummy catches her attention though, and she looks over to the shift supervisor, then to Mr. Chaos Man, "Darling," She calls, "Whatever are they saying about my dearest Gummy?" Announcement: Brody shouts, "Welcome Miran to OtherSpace!"

"Warehouse? Fuck you! Ya want to skin me ya do it here." Auggie paces back and forth. "Come on come on!" The Badger man edges closer to the newcomers and tries to bark, but it doesn't quite work out in this form.

"Sounded like sleep aid," Chaos replies to Anshera. "Might want to try and keep your friend there under control," he gestures toward Gummy. His attention turns back toward the Hekdayti team, hand lowering now that the flashlight isn't in his eyes, "Okay, so now you might answer? Where are we?" he asks, the words drawn out as if this might call attention to him.

"Augustus, calm down," Shafi remarks, shifting an arm out to try and cut him off from the suited newcomers, "You're not a lupoid anymore, dipshit... We're all different, see? Look at my fuckin' hands, they're weird... Another two feet taller, shades..."

"Do we look like Medlidikke to you?" the Hekayti inquires of Augustus, shaking his head. "No one's skinning anyone. We just have to make sure that you're not carrying any infectious diseases. And we'd like to ask a few questions about how you came to be in a locked chamber ten miles below the surface of Hekayt Prime."

Medea looks from Benny to the Hekayti in the doorway, and then back at the little copper Lotorian. "...Really?" she asks, her brow furrowing deeply. "Hrm." She shakes her head back and forth and can't seem to think of much else to say, at least for the moment. Rather, the ex-demon studies her hooves intently. They're apparently very very interesting. "Under control? Gummy's the most sedate creature there ever was, pet." Anshera replies with a faint smirk, the little former-polymorph flashing a sharp-toothed grin towards the Hekayti.

One of Bennatsuyu's ears twitches, and this time it isn't the fault of an overly curious tail. He paws Dea's arm reassuringly. "Yea. Do...do you hear that?" He turns his head towards the back of the chamber.

"Hekayte Prime....never heard of it," Chaos replies. "Think we should probably do as he asks though," he adds that last to the rest of the group. With Benny's question he turns his head in the direction indicated.

Hear what? Someone cursing steadily, that's what. Miran slides forward on her bunny slippers, her handbag clutched protectively to her chest. The momentum she carried, now without control since she has no wings, carries her right into Benny and the little woman falls over, landing squarely on her keester. "Ow! Hey...that actually hurt!" The Hekayti research team leaves the door open, heading down a machine-carved corridor toward a T-intersection with a sign that directs left to the WAREHOUSE and right to the COLLECTOR - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY - HAZARD GEAR REQUIRED.

With a silent command, Anshera sets Gummy to following after Mr. Chaos Man, the bear's pace a touch fast, but still quite ponderous in it's own way.

Shafi just lets out a long sigh and rolls up her whip, reattaching it at her hip before following after Chaos and the others. On the way she leans to mutter lowly at Chaos, "You /are/ going to fix this."

Bennatsuyu is tripped over! "OW!" He iterates. "My tail!" He picks up the thing, kinked up in the middle where it was stepped on. "Miran! Way to be late. Come on, we should go," He takes a few cautious steps forward, tail in hand, and looks back at Dea and Miran quizzically.

Chaos follows after the Hekayti and into the hall, eyes going between the two directions until Shafi addresses him, "Oh? And what is it you expect me to do?" he asks, eyes looking her over rather openly, "besides, you look rather fetching like that," he adds before he follows toward the direction marked WAREHOUSE. Seems more people blowing through the portal isn't new for him at this point.

"...Yeah, I do..." Dea murmurs, looking at the back of the room... just in time to catch the newcomer shuffling out. Her eyes go wide. "Miran?" Her shock lasts only a few moments, however, as people start moving off. "...Great," she grumbles, getting to her feet with no small measure of effort. She pauses, making sure she's got her balance, before she steps forward slowly, deliberately placing one hoof in front of the other as she follows.

To the eyes of someone untrained in the vagaries of being dropped into a new form from the afterlife, she might just appear drunk. Miran pushes herself upright, rubbing one cheek. "Excuse me, do I know you?" Movement away? Rude! Miran follows. "Hey, you with the horns! I was talking to you." She glares down at the little orange and copper creature as she walks past. "What? Don't look at me like that. Your tail is fine."

The warehouse is a cavernous facility with crates full of non-perishable food, potable water bottles, medicine, and containment suits. Several Hekayti are just getting done with the setup of a makeshift gathering space for the new arrivals. The space, bordered by crates on three sides, includes a long plastic table where a senior Hekayti in a containment suit sits in a chair with a PDA. He looks up as the newcomers are shown in. "Do any of you speak Hekayan? Is there one among you who counts himself as the leader of your group?" "You zzz-" Bennatsuyu pauses, and paws his muzzle. "Zztepped on it." He toddles along in mild confusion, just another member of the herd. "Miran. How come you look normal?" But he does gingerly let the tail go, curling it experimentally.

"You got us here, so find a way to fix it. I want my elf body back. I want my UNLIFE back!" Shafi complains, eyes now shifting through their exploration of the rainbow to settle on a depressing blue shade, "I /said/ this was a stupid idea, you asshole, didn't I say this was a bad idea?" She continues to complain even as the Hekayti speak. totally not the leader.

Chaos smirks at Shafi's words and shakes hi head, "What's done is done," he replies softly. That said he steps out of the group, "I seem to have some understanding of what you are saying, and if by leader you mean the one that did the incatation that opened the portal and brought us here...that would be me," he replies to the Hekayti. Food you say... Being a real bear sure does make Gummy hungry, and so those ponderous steps take him over to the nearest food filled crate so he can start pawing and snuffling at it. Anshera doesn't really seem to care if he wants to have a snack, the little elf-looking child flopping back over onto her stomach to give the black bear a snuggle, "How dull." She sighs.

"They're clean," announces one of the Toveil workers after sweeping the group with a medscanner. He taps the device, checking and re-checking the results. "A little too clean, really. No signs of prior illness, broken bones..." His voice trails off as he stares from one newcomer to the other. Then, silently, he steps back. The Hekayti behind the desk turns his attention to Chaos. "The portal was apparently activated as a result of our activation of a new dark matter-gathering system. Any babbling you might have been doing was undoubtedly just a coincidence."

Medea makes her ponderous way in behind most everyone else, though to her credit, she at least doesn't end up flat on her rear. That's not to say she doesn't stumble a couple of times in the interim. 'You with the horns' doesn't appear to have registered as having been addressed at her just yet. The ex-demon seems to grasp enough of the conversation to come to the mistaken assumption that people are looking for somewhere to place blame. "He did it." She points an accusatory finger at the Aukami.

"Normal?" Miran pauses to eye herself, twisting her head about to try and peer down her back. "Hmm..." she closes her eyes, her face screwing up in concentrated effort to alter her appearance, then opens one. "Nothing? No tail...or wings...or horns....? This is...AWESOME!" She's rather ignoring the official group sort of gathering as well, doing a small happy-dance instead.

Bennatsuyu tawdles to a halt right at Medea's side, and pats the staggery 'hey you with the horns' reassuringly. He swivels his ears to listen. "Babbling? Hardly." He snorts. Chaos blusters for a moment, "Well...I don't..understand.." he gets out and then it seems to dawn on him exactly what's being said. He turns toward Shafi, "See, they did it, not me. Talk to them.." he thrusts a finger at the Hekayti that's just addressed them.

"We're not looking to blame anyone for anything," the Hekayti supervisor replies. He taps a few keys on his PDA. "So, which planet were you on before the incident occurred?" "It could be a combination," Shafi replies stubbornly, "There are a ton of realities out there, this one just happened to be the one doing the experiment that your stupid ritual needed to complete some kind of circuit." She turns her attention to the Hekayti, then, "We weren't on a planet, we were dead. You just resurrected people, congratulations, NOW SEND ME BACK!"

Gummy claws at the crate for a moment, then takes to headbutting at it. Foood, Gummy is hungrrrrriiiiies.

"I'm afraid," Benny stumbles over to grab Shafi's leg. Knee-height. He's just a tiny thing. "That izz all too eazely granted." He says seriously, looking up at Shafi with his muzzle crinkled in a frown.

"Alive alive with no tail or horns and not naked...!" Miran chants and twirls a few more time, stopping when she becomes dizzy. "This is the best day ever. Where's God or Jesus? I have some hands to shake."

Medea looks from the Hekayti at the table to the Chaos/Aukami, and smirks wryly. That amusement is gone, however, at the query about planets. She nods in agreement with the information already offered. "We were dead," she echoes. A look aside to Shafi, one brow raised. "If you're alive now, all that you need to do is die and *poof* you can go back," she points out. "That shouldn't be too hard."

Chaos nods in agreement with Shafi, "We were in Necromundus City before we came through the portal. The city of the dead."

"City of the dead," the Hekayti supervisor repeats. He doesn't seem to find the words all that appealing. "I've never heard of it. Clearly, you aren't dead. If our scans are accurate, you've rarely if ever been sick - let alone seriously hurt."

"We /were/ dead," Shafi explains slowly, "/I/ lived in Fastheld and then got my /head cut off/. Are you hearing me? I was /beheaded/. Then I ended up in Necromundus, and guess what? Every time you die there you just come back in the middle of the city. It's the afterlife - you just pulled us out of the afterlife. Made us alive again... in different bodies, I might add, what the hell am I?"

One of the Hekayti pops open a crate and takes out a foil-wrapped ration packet, which he cautiously offers to Anshera. The Hekayti behind the desk continues listening to the newcomers.

"You rely too heavily on thoze, ah, scanz." Bennatsuyu shakes his head slowly. "Every one will give you the zzzame tale, and I doubt we got together to lie about it." He muses aloud, eyeing the Hekayti supervisor.

Sitting up, 'Shera reaches out to take the ration packet, but little pint-sized arms aren't quite long enough to reach. So she stands up on Gummy's back instead, one foot lightly stomping so he'll stop making such a fuss, a subtle scrape of her heel across his back causing him to turn towards the Hekyati and take a step or two towards him. Aha! That's better. Leaning forward, the odd looking child reaches out to take the ration packet again.

"New bodies wouldn't be all messed up, though..." Miran offers. "Just like when we recorporealized. Good as new...or, well, whatever 'new' was for us when we arrived in Necro." She wanders over to the ration crate and paws for one for herself.

"I lived in Florida, and..." Dea trails off, her brow furrowing as she goes silent for a few moments. "...And I got shot. In the head. I was dead." She mimes the action of shooting oneself in the temple and shrugs. "I don't know for how long. Time's sort of... meaningless there. And then *stuff happened* -- what exactly did happen really doesn't matter to me right now -- and I'm here as a..." She blinks. "I don't know what I am, either." The last observation's rather quiet and subdued. "I've been deceased for over a century now. This is...a rather different experience for me considering when I was alive before I was a gentleman in victorian England," Chaos replies. "Up to this point I've been the creator of chaos in Necromundus. But now..." he yawns here, "..oh..don't think I've slept in a long time, but I'm suddenly finding myself in need of rest," he admits.

The Hekayti supervisor nods in response to Chaos. "No matter where you come from, it is understandable that you might feel weary after what you've gone through. We'll set up temporary accommodations for you here - cots, blankets, pillows. Food and water, of course. If you'd like access to the infomatrix, I believe we can make arrangements for that too. Let you get caught up on where you are now."

"Whatever has he been babbling about this whole time?" 'Shera asks, giving a light sigh as she slices the ration packet open with one talon-like nail and upends it on the floor.

Food! Gummy snuffles and sniffs at it first, then merrily slurps it up, barely chewing before the rations get swallowed.

The blue of Shafi's eyes darkens, the Aukami woman letting out a long sigh and shaking her head. "Yeah, sleep, whatever," she says lowly, "Before we go - what are we? My fingers look funny, and Auggie looks like a badger, and... that one has hooves... like you guys... and is that you, Benny?" She finally seems to notice the Lotorian.

Medea frowns a bit. "Info... matrix," she says, mulling the words over thoughtfully. "I wonder if they mean the internet." Pause. Blink. "I wonder if it's faster than 56k." Shaking her head as if to shake off that thought, she looks over at Shafi, then at the Hekayti supervisor, a faintly expectant expression on her face.

"Aukami. Lotorian. Hekayti," the supervisor replies, ticking off the various races as he looks from one newcomer to another. "Nothing we haven't seen before." He stands, switching off his PDA. "I need to give a preliminary report to my superiors. Do not hesitate to ask these other Toveil for assistance." He slides the PDA into a holster strapped to his containment suit. "Welcome to Hekayt Prime and, if your story is accurate, the realm of the living." The supervisor moves past the group, heading for the exit.

"I am," Bennatsuyu replies to Shafi, patting his chest. "Rezzt, I think, will be good for everyone." He looks at Dea over his shoulder, ears lopsided. "I wasn't paying attention. What did he tell me I am?"

Chaos frowns at this, slightly confused, "Mmm, don't know what infomatrix is, but getting info and a place to sleep sound nice about now," he replies. His eyes shift to a deep violet color and he watches the other go.