The (Un)Real World
Location: The Writer's Beach
Time: January 16th

Mark | Armageddon

"Ha, last I checked you weren't a pretty blue haired girl feeding me apples," Aramgeddon grinned and picked up an apple before setting it ablaze, "Besides, I don't get to walk around in this form much. Always being that mute steed for that poor excuse for a knight."

He laughed again and let more of the embers escape his mouth. The water pouring down onto him steamed off his black iron armor and fell off his skin in beads. "As for young Kyre Cwanuld and Kurumu Kurono, I could really care less!" He bit down on the blazing apple and chewed as he talked, "But BlackHarte beat me in a game fair and square, if we Chaos Servants keep our damn promises."

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Angelus gave a snort of displeasure as she was helped up, but decided to hold her tongue from saying what she really felt about the matter. Instead, she backed away from the humans and leaned against a tree until they were good and ready to leave that clearing.

Teri listened calmly to Vermilion's description of Time Sickness, and felt a pang of guilt upon realizing what Dimitri had nearly done to himself. However, that design choice was not an intentional one, "Trust me Vermilion, I didn't even know he could do that... When I made Dimitri, I used my Writing to do so. No programming was involved. When he was made, I thought of a personality and an appearance, and then let him loose in my computer. That being said, I didn't really think of him as a program or a construct. I thought of Dimitri as, essentially, a digital person who's occupation was being a butler. If I thought of him as person, then naturally, that comes with having emotions ingrained in his being as people do. I guess that may have had some worse effects than I thought. I had no idea that he would do that... It could only mean-"

Dimitri's eyes lit up at the notion, "I felt despair... I am equal to a human on an emotional scale... Then that means I have Viscus' strength as well - I might be able to lie!"

He jumped up and down in joy at the notion, his hands still clasped with Vermilion's "We can do this! It is only a matter of figuring out the process!"

Teri nodded at that notion, "That's right. You are capable as feeling as a person does; but you might have a little bit of trouble defining it... Then again; plenty of people don't get their emotions; so what do I know? Now, I suggest to get rest for those who need it, and to spread the word so a lynch mob doesn't form... Any who oppose?"

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Teri pinched the space between her eyes with a sigh, "So we're going to 'kill' Rugal to save him? I feel a yo dawg coming on... Now, This plan sounds fine enough; but there's one little problem.. Now don't take this the wrong way you two, but Viscus was really close to tearing you guys some new coding; and he was missing an arm. How do you think you'll take him out? Got any plans?"

Angelus watched all of this planning with interest, allowing the excitement of planning bring her back to a more calm state of mind.

"Don't get me wrong, Jake. I am irritated that a gun was pulled to my head; and that you Authors should know better than to languish in a haunted forest without any precaution, but that has passed. I am far more interested in these schemes we are cracking, even if my pride has taken a small hit. It only goes to show how much my reflexes weaken in this body. I shall need to rectify that with more training... Until that option is available, I'd rather focus upon this matter."

With a grunt that (almost) resembled a laugh, the dragon gave a snide glance to Jake, "Are you satisfied with your lecture? Or do I need to up the condescension?"

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Angelus chuckled at Jake's quick jib back; and gave him a small nod as he hide himself among the brush. Teri, on the other hand, was eating up what Mark had to say, a sort of 'spark' going off as she began to bounce off ideas with the Tech-Expert: "Yeah, with Principality they essentially had a skeleton key to anywhere on the ship! I bet I could make a few more before they go up there. I'd a bit tired afterwards; but I'd still have my spells to use if something goes wrong down here... Just let me know what kind of functions they need to have; and I'll make em right here! Or... Maybe somewhere away from Jake..."

To Dimitri, it was good to see his Lady return to her far more upbeat self again. With a firm grip on Vermilion's hands, he silently swore to himself that he would do his damndest to aid in overthrowing Viscus from the Rising Dawn. As he said before sending that E-Mail; no one hurt his Madam without feeling his wrath...

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Melethia pouted as she was called 'squirt' and did her best to glare at the succubus, but it wasn't all too effective seeing as she didn't really mean it. "Hey, I am not a squirt! I'm... just vertically challenged is all... And Firebrand never really said what it was, but he musta had a reason, Miss Ella."

They were interrupted by the portal opening up below with Slindis following right behind Elena, and the Drow was looking more than a bit stressed as she made her way into the camp, checking everywhere for possible ambushes... Including the tree the two were on right now.

"Succubus, get away from my daughter right now unless you want me to finish the job." Melethia visibly blanched at her mother's words, and it was clear Slindis was in no mood to mess around.

Devon went over to the rest of the Authors and listened in on the plan and nodded. "Sounds like a good enough plan. What's our plan B, then?"

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Slindis pulled out an ebony-colored bow and nocked an arrow, leveling it with the succubus as she called out one last icy warning. " This is my final warning, Succubus. Get away from Melethia now. I know exactly how to use this, and the ammunition is cold iron, which I know will punch through your defenses."

Melethia stayed on the branch in fright, not knowing whether or not to run at this point. Ella had claimed the Slindis that had attacked her was a fake, but there was no reassurance from the succubus now. It was looking like it would be better for her to have stayed inside her mind at this point.

Disasterchild:

[quote]

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Slindis ran at the two while putting the bow back and drawing one of her rapiers. I won't you do a damn thing to her! She kept glancing at Ella as she pursued them, making sure to avoid the trees as she followed them. She couldn't afford to harm Melethia, so she opted to stay hot on their tail. If that Succubus so much as harmed a hair on the girl's head, Slindis would make sure she paid dearly.

As Ella fled, she noticed the elf's panic was making her slip in and out of consciousness.

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Slindis rolled under and jumped over the falling trees as she stayed right on the group, furious that the succubus would use her daughter as a shield for her escape. The succubus may be able to fly, but Slindis would ensure that she didn't let the Succubus live after the slip up last time. A quick glimpse up showed Slin that her daughter was losing consciousness out of fear, which urged her on even further. If she let the Succubus flee, there was no telling what could happen.

Melethia was slipping out of it, slowly withdrawing back into the safety of her mind as she glimpsed down to see her enraged mother in hot pursuit. Even leveling trees didn't stop her, and she didn't want to be awake for her death.

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Slindis closed on the campsite and saw that Ella was geared for a fight and drew her other rapier to ready herself for a fight. "What's going on is that that succubus attacked the campsite where I was at and she decided to use my daughter as a hostage to secure her flight. Now, unless you have a good and well thought out reason as to why I shouldn't finish this right now, step aside."

Puce could see the light flee the girl's eyes as she lost consciousness again. It seems that all the events that had happened that day were far too much for her.

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Slindis took a breath then spoke in an eerily calm voice. "Puce, there's two minutes to explain this. If the Succubus takes ti=his as a chance to flee or attack, she will not see the dawn. So go on then, I'm all ears."

The scary thing was that if the fight with the Fake Slindis had been any indication, she wasn't bluffing.

David
"Elena, Wait-" David said after Elena exploded, the battle at the Village taking it's toll.
This day gets better and better.... he thought before he followed the drow and the school-children though the portal, bringing them back into the madness that was daily life in the Rising Dawn.
He was about to talk to his love, but it was clear she wasn't in a talking mood.
So he went to get a drink, he needed one.
He then checked the time on his phone: One new message...
He opened it.

Rugal
As he was about to make this way out of the camp to find the temple, Rugal heard the sound of falling trees in the distance.
"...Oh for the love of..." He sighed before rushing to see what it was, hoping it wasn't something along the lines of a giant monster or something, though at this point, it wouldn't surprise him.
It was then he came across the stand off between Ella and Slindis, Puce attempting to explain the situation.
"Slindis, He's telling the truth." He butted in, revealing his arrival.
"Tomoya set up some kind of enchantment that resulted in Doppelgangers of the entire crew attacking us. Who ever you were attacked by wasn't the real one. It was a attempt to sow confusion among us." He added, walking in-between Slindis and Ella.
"I know this sounds unlikely, but if you ask anyone here, you'll get the same answer. Now stand down, I had enough displeasure fighting you the last time..."

It was then that Slindis noticed a very faint aura around Rugal, almost exactly like hers.

Rugal
Slindis gave the succubus a harsh look that showed she was going to keep a very close eye on her then walked off with Rugal. "One option requires that the entire group to have lost their collective minds, the other has me mistaking a situation horribly. Now explain what happened with my daughter, please." Rugal recognized that Slindis was quickly putting on a mental mask to try to disguise her inner thoughts on the matter, but the mask was suffering a good deal of cracks.

Rugal
As they walked off, Rugal stopped and said "Puce, Bring Melethia back to the camp, have Kurumu watch her. That's an order."
He was aware that Ella was on their said, but Puce could clearly see this was mostly for piece of mind for Slindis.
Then came the moment he was dreading.
"Ok....After we were split up after the drop, I ended up travelling with Puce, Kurumu, Ton Ton, Cadolbog and Melethia. We were trying to rejoin with the others. We were split up further once a pair of clones, one of Teri and...Yourself. She tricked me and stabbed me in the gut..." He said, lifting up his vest to reveal a scar where the knife went in.
"...After I....used a favour..." He said, pointing to his Red Eye. "I came to and I saw Kurumu nursing Melethia. Your clone lured her away.

Then stabbed her in the chest with her rapiers."
He paused as Slindis processed this.

"Now, I managed to get a second wind and un-ravelled the Imposter Teri's ruse. That's when I was told of what happened to her. Your clone then came to finish the job. It was hard, but....I killed her. I then took her power, a latent trait I have, And used it to tend to your daughter's wounds. It was touch and go for a while, but I managed to save her. However...
I do believe she still thinks that was really you...
That Demon? Melethia was in a state of shock for sometime afterwards, from what I gather she managed to get her out of it....
And that's what happened..."

Rugal

Slindis stood there in silence for what seemed like ages before responding with a simple "I see." and started to make her way to the outskirts of the camp as the enormity of what had happened washed over her..

After we're done here, I'm done with the blade. What good is it if it brings nothing but pain to those close to me?

Rugal
Rugal watched as Slindis walked away, her expression barely changed on the outside, but inside, He believed she was hurting extremely.
...From world-wide feared crime lord to shrink...
"Slindis, Wait." He said before he followed her.
Eventually, she stopped and said "I'd like to be alone..."
"I know you do, just before you do that, I want you to know it wasn't your fault. It wasn't caused by a lack of action or any malice on your part. It wasn't because of any failings on your end. It just happened because some sick man in a place of power was a coward." He replied, well aware of the irony in that statement
"And don't go thinking you should have been there to protect her, focusing on what you should have done prevents you from going what needs to be done."
He put his hand on her shoulder, hoping she wasn't going to preform some counter-throw and added "I'll watch over Melethia and I will make sure she knows that you would never do anything to harm her..."
And with that, he walked off and let Slindis be by herself.

I killed over 2000 people today.... He reminded himself, going back to business as normal after his experiences here wasn't going to be easy...

Rugal

When Rugal got a good distance from Slin, he bumped into Devon, an he'd clearly been watching the confrontation. "Fuck, she's really not doing too good, is she? And here I thought you having problems with that whole coup was bad enough..." It was clear to the King of Fighters that the Bard felt guilty about the scenario.

Rugal

Rugal Glared at the Bard, He knew about the Coop
Teri.... He thought as he remembered he had to leave soon.
".....She's strong, but she will need help. Just hope she realises that..." He merely said as he went to do as he said and check up on Melethia.
He was going to flat out explain to her that her mother didn't try to kill her.

Rugal

Devon gave Rugal an apologetic look before the head of the Cartel made his way over to Melethia. It didn't look quite as bad as it was earlier, but the fact that this had happened twice in a day showed that the girl's trust had been severely shaken.

Rugal

Back to square one... Rugal thought as he sat beside the little elf again, still wrapped up in his jacket.
"....Must have been rough on you, seeing her again like that..." He said, unaware if she could hear him or not.
"...I want you to understand something. That....insult of a copy was not your mother. She was merely the pawn of a desperate teenage psychopath who is too afraid to fight like a man." He said, letting a bit of anger out, He could have attacked the team in person at any time, but he didn't.
Least I have the common decency to fight my rivals in person... He lied to himself.
It was then becoming clear she wasn't waking up.
".....You can't even hear me, can you?...." He asked, not expecting a reply.
He briefly scanned the area, making sure no one was in ear-shot.

".....You want to know why I know Slindis didn't hurt you?.....Your mother is...a wonderful, beautiful, kind hearted woman. She's endured god knows how much, fought for it too. I can see it her eyes, she wasn't handed her power to her on a sliver platter, She earned...more then I can say for some people..." He said, thinking of Tomoya, Riki most likely getting some god given power for just existing.
"....I actually met her before all this you know....Back in a place I'd rather forget. Only good thing I could remember about that time..." He said, remembering....
_{My little pon-}
He visibly looked un-comfortable remembering it, a twitch, a shiver.
"....I know for a fact that she wouldn't ever hurt you...It may not seem like it, but she loves you very much.
....I swear to god if you choose now to wake up... He thought after his confession.
He checked again, no one, no one heard him say any of that aside from possibly Melethia.
He let out a little sigh of relief at that fact

Then he remembered he made statues out of dead people for 20 years.

Dimension: Avatar Adventures Universe

Location: Corrupted Forest | Corrupted Temple of Light | South America
Time: Midnight| January 2nd

Rising Dawn Encampment: Aftan | Akane | Angelus | Caim | Cadolbolg | Cadolbolg | David | Devon | Elena | Ella | Gabrielle | Jake | Kurumu | Kud | Kyre | Mark | Melethia | Puce | Riki | Rugal | Slindis | Tajuh | Teri | Ton Ton

Teri nodded grimly, and began to make her way back to camp; "Then I'll do what I can down here. Best of luck to the two of you. As for myself, I'm going to get Slindis and Melethia in on this. We'll need their help if Rugal goes down."

With Angelus following close behind, Teri left Mark and Jake behind as she went to find the Paladin and her daughter.

As they walked, Teri spoke to Angelus, "Don't tell Caim about this plan. We'll need this attack to be genuine."

The dragon nodded grimly, and began to quietly lock away what had transpired there moments before....

Rugal

The girl shifted around, and Rugal could tell that the girl was recovering on her own this time. _{"...if I keep runnin away, you wouldn't like me, Wheathair...}

Rugal

Rugal was a little surprised to get a response, now all he could think about was how much he let his mouth run.
"Oh don't go thinking that for a minute, I can actually have a decent conversation with you. Did you know that one of my employees is nearly 30 years of age and STILL isn't toilet trained?" He asked the elf, sadly pointing out a fact of life when you work with Dr. Victor Von Doom.
"Believe me, You are going to need to do a LOT worse then that to get rid of me, kid..." He smiled.

Rugal

The girl began to stir, blinking to see Rugal looking down at her. _{"...really?..."} she smiled weakly, and Rugal finally noticed that the girl seemed to not have any blood loss issues while the bard that had asked to touch her arm seemed to be suffering from minor blood loss when he last saw him.

_{"I'm really sorry for making you worry about me, Wheathair..."} The girl was tearing up as she looked up at him.

Rugal

Rugal was a little puzzled by her skin seeming less pale after he gave her to Devon.
"Don't be. Rather worry about you then half of the madness that goes on around here. I swear, this group attracts the strangest people..." He said, he was here since Tomoya attacked and he STILL didn't know everyone.
And that's before the massive number of personal issues everyone seemed to have, though he was forced to include himself on that list.
"Also....Just....how much did you hear when I was talking back then?...." He asked with a low and somewhat embarrassed tone.

Rugal

She wiped her tears as she spoke up a bit louder. "I didn't hear nothin' that anyone else will hear, Wheathair, an' the people here are kinda weird." The look in her eyes, told Rugal she would take those secrets with her to the grave.

"Are you okay, Wheathair? You look like something's eating at you, and I wanna help you like you helped me."