Martyrdom

[Phrost]

The reaction was slow, but the reactant was fast in coming. The memories, in vivid detail, all came rushing back to Phiounuse. The medallion, the light, Rose's disappointment, the feeling of Rose's weak paw on Phiounuse's shoulder, the looks of sheer despair in Rose's eyes gazing into Phiounuse's. It all seemed a bit too real, so Phiounuse didn't think much of it at first. She figured it was all a dream, until the feeling of Rose's paw left her. "No," the younger Khajiit thought, "no, no, no, no." Almost automatically, she followed Rose to the small, make-shift encampment that they had made years before. Everything was still all to real. The feeling of the snow beneath Phiounuse's paws, the shivering, the feeling of the thin, worn sheet used to keep splinters out of the two, the absolute melancholy of the failure, and the sound of the same street-dog barking.

[lukuz13]

Waking up from his nap, Luke stretched, and let out a deep sigh.
"Man that was some good sleep..." He smiled glancing over to Netreya happily. "Better then cramped cargo holds huh?" He laughed where the large bird creature simply sighed, waking up as well.
Considering what his next move should be, Luke turned to the tv and made his way over to it.
"Wonder what Chops is up to..." He said, turning on the screen and contacting Chops, sending him a message.
"Busy? If not I think I'm ready for some action."

[Mr.Chocobo]

Facion slowly turned to the large dog.
"Your teeth are sharp, flesh hunter. Like mine." With the comment, Facion's white diamond teeth grew longer, giving Facion a frightening look. His teeth went back to normal after a second.
"Hunters should work in packs, honourable flesh-ling." He said. Facion didn't seem to understand that Drake couldn't reply in anything but a growl.
He was rather ignorant of flesh-and-blood beings.

[arentheawesome]

The girl glanced to the man named 'Darach,' and suddenly went quiet, backing up so her shoulders were against Drake's chest, horns barely brushing the dog's chin.
"Ah... Elrias," she mumbled, restricting eye contact with the man.
'Thank you for the compliment, youngling.' The voice echoed in the man's head, and didn't seem to come from anyone's mouth. Though, the dog was looking pointedly at the man. Did it come from him?
'I am using mind-connection to speak, if you are curious.' The dog smiled his strange smile again, and turned his blue eyes back to their path.

[squirejack]

Darach backed away a little thinking he had scared her, so he pulled out a Thermos and starting drinking his tea, then went back to messing with his construction.

[melamoto]

After a lengthy time of staying quiet, studying the dark skinned golem-like creature, Maller Addy approached Facion.
"I must agree, sir. Since ve vill be working together for now, I think ve should know each other a little better. I am Doktor Maller Addy. And you, have a very interesting body. I don't suppose you vould like to get together some time, for some surgery and medical experiments?"
Maller Addy gave Facion a friendly smile, just wide enough to be on the border between genuinely friendly and creepy, although having his eyes still hidden behind the reflection on his glasses didn't help.

[HansTheHuman]

The knife's eye made contact with Kyle's. The grin along its blade turned into a bewildered frown.
"I knew something was up. Your hand didn't feel right. And now that I can see your ugly mortal mug... I can see you are no demon!"
Kyle felt a fleeting spasm go through the hand he held the knife in. It clenched tightly around the handle and turned so the point of the knife was in line with Kyle's nose. The eyes of the knife bulged outwards and its pupils rolled round to face Kyle directly.
"How? No mortal could have gotten their filthy fleshy paws on a demonic weapon! Not without...oh. Fuck! The General has been playing with his mortal toys again. Okay, listen here, ya naked ape! It seems we're gonna be stuck together for a fuckingly dreadful long time, so I'm gonna teach you the ropes of using a demon weapon. If you are so retarded, which you probably are, to not notice the obvious that can be worked out from the fact I am talking and moving on my own accord. We are alive, sentient and evolving. We also resonate with our user and become stronger together. From the lives we take, we can evolve upgrades. So the more living things you and I stab, the stronger we get. Got it, air-breather? Now that we're best friends forever, do you have a name for me?"

------

The moon rolled over the sky of theatre, reaching the point of midnight. Two feet crunched through the snow over to where Rose and Phiounuse lay. The narrator told their tale.
"As Rose was sound asleep, a stranger arrived. He brought the word of a high Dunmer lord who wishes to see her and her sister at his palace."
A Dunmer guard approached the sleeping Khajiits. Phiounuse was awakened on cue, with her sister shaking her from sleep.
"Sister! It worked! We're going to the palace!"
Rose jumped to her feet, picking up Phiounuse with her.
"Come on! It's what we've wished for!"
Rose followed the guard on the walk to the palace, Phiounuse in tow in her left paw, her feet skipped happily through the snow. Smiles crept across the faces of the audience, Phiounuse could feel their grins of anticipation burning into the back of her head.

------

Luke's messaged arrived in the mind of Chops just as he walked out of the warehouse area and began to approach Roo's laboratory with the new recruits. Saying nothing, Chops formed his reply.
Chops' reply flashed onto the monitor in Luke's room. It read:
"I am bringing some late recruits to the living area. I shall be at your service shortly. Perhaps you could come down and greet them? ~Chops Esq."

[Phrost]

The mind is a volatile thing. It can make you feel sick, it can make you feel great. It can get you through tough times, it can make times worse. Phiounuse's mind wasn't unlike any others, but here, in this theater, it felt as if her mind took on a superhuman (or, rather, "supercat") quality. Her mind made it seem like the smiles of the demonic, almost satanic, crowd smelled of blood, sounded like bloody murder, and, somehow, had the aura of mass hysteria. the young Khajiit closed her eyes and reminded herself, "This isn't real. i don't know what it is, but it isn't real. It can't be..." She was cut off by Rose's arm holding her back from hitting the door of the huge castle that they now stood before.

[Mr.Chocobo]

Facion gave the odd doctor a look. It wasn't a look anyone could recognize, but Facion was thinking something rather like
'My body?'
"I doubt you have any instruments that can get in me. And I wouldn't trust a fleshling with the insides of my body off the bat, anyhow." Facion said shortly. He looked down upon the man, he seemed small in compairison to the hulking figure that was Facion.
"But I will tell you this, I began my existance in the heart of a dying gas giant. A certain material, what I call my Hendrel, or Bright Heart. It is similar to the core of a planet. It keeps my superdense metal and carbon together. I actually have a small pull, if you've noticed. Gravity. I can control it, to decide how dense I am." Facion explained.
"I can use this to fly, become mist, or become even tougher. My size is directly related to this though. The less dense I am, the bigger I become. I do not need food, or sleep. I need not heal, either. All I need do is absorb more materials into myself, to replace lost substance, or fuel my Hendrel. Need you know more?" Facion said, chin high. He pounded his fist against his chest, the resulting sound was exactly the sound you'd expect from a being of solid superdense metal and carbon.

[melamoto]

Maller Addy pressed his glasses up the bridge of his nose again, nodding while he listened to Facion talk. "Ah, a most interesting biology. Or should it be geology?" He a gave a small chuckle at his own joke, "So you say, I vill show restraint. But in time, I am sure I vill have plenty of opportunity to learn more from you. I look forward to working alongside you. And maybe, some day, inside of you."
Maller Addy gave another warm smile, and held out his hand to shake with Facion, not appearing to notice the ease with which his hand could be crushed in the process.

[duskskully]

Kyle pondered for awhile thinking up a name and then finally he asked,"How about Sharp Crimson? How does that sound?" Kyle then a waited for a response as he put his back up against the door.

[lukuz13]

-Luke nodded to the message glancing at Netreya with a smile tilting his back back.
"Ready to meet knew people?" He grinned.

After a while of walking, Luke and Netreya made their way into the living area looking for Chops and more over these new comers he had heard about.

[Mr.Chocobo]

Facion walked and shook the odd doctor's hand. He wasn't quite sure what this ment, but he assumed the goal wasnt to squish the life out of his hand. He lightly held it. And lightly, by his standards, was only slightly painful.

" Thank the planets that I need no sleep..." he said as he entered the living area.
" But... what will I do while the rest of you sleep?" he asked plainly. His deep, resonating voice filled the room as if it had its own mass.

[HansTheHuman]

The TV of Blade's room responded with its interface displayed on the screen. The full menu appeared as it has done with the other recruits who engaged it, except for the wiry hand sticking out the 'Contacts' icon and waving to Blade.

---@phiounuse---

The Dunmer guards opened the castle doors, a loud creak bounced down the hallway before the two Khajiits. Stepping through, their paw-pads were welcomed by a warm red carpet that lead up to the main foyer. the interior was of dark elf design with that typical pretentious architecture so loved by elves. They passed paintings and carved stone busts of the Dunmer royals that had lived in this palace in their generation. The foyer opened up to a grand staircase with the red carpet slithering up the steps. Stepping slowly down the steps to greet the Khajiit sisters was the Dunmer lord of the palace himself, dressed in purple noble attire and his sleek black hair tied back in a ponytail. His red eyes looked over the Khajiits, and he smiled warmly to them.
"Ah! Excellent! You're here! Please, come with me. Don't dawdle now. A new future awaits you." The lord departed to the east tower, Rose followed pulling Phiounuse with her.
"This is it! We made it, sister! Finally!"
After trekking the many halls and stairs, they arrived at the top room of the east tower. A circle of an arcane pattern was drawn on the floor almost spanning the entire circular area of the tower's room. The Dunmer lord paced round the circle before facing the Khajiits.
"You have probably known me as Rires Rosendoom, lord of this grand palace. I saw the light from your medallion and ordered you here, there is something special about it and you. Now, without further ado, there is a trial you two must complete." Rires first turned to Rose.
"Please step into the center of the circle, Khajiit maiden." Rose did so, a merry skip in her step. The arcane circle emitted a humble white hue of light around Rose's feet. Rires remained stoic, but a look of anxiousness could be seen. Rose stepped out of the circle and the light died down. Rires, with a quiver of anticipation, turned to Phiounuse.
"Now you, Khajiit kit."
A sudden shuffling noise sounded behind Phiounuse. The demon audience have wriggled to the edges of their seats and leaned in towards the 'stage'. They awaited Phiounuse to play her vital part.

---kyle---

"It sounds crap." The knife's verbal bluntness seemed to challenge its physical sharpness.
"The fuck do I look like to you, a race horse? Fine, names aren't important anyway. Do you have a sheath or scabbard to put me in? I'd like to get away from your smell."

---@facion---

Chops and new recruits stepped into the foyer of the living area, Luke standing before them with Netreya. Chops rotated to reply to Facion.
"As you know, I and the other machines do not sleep either. We are at your service whatever that may be. I am sure all minds of sentience have a motive for entertainment, so lets see if we can't keep you amused. I also know with all certainty that Roo, The Scientist, would wish to see you about your unique being. Don't worry, he won't be as perverse as the doctor." Chops gave an explanation of the rooms connected to the foyer before leaving them to their own devices.
"Contact me through your television interface or ask a member of The Breed. Thorsten F Gunterwick Esquire shall always be ready to provide!"

[duskskully]

Kyle then got an angry face and decided to put Sharp Crimson into his old combat knife sheath, the combat knife he had there had broken the day before he got to the Hub. Kyle then decided to go and listen to a song on the jukebox. When Kyle got to the jukebox he decided to play "Black Betty" by Ram Jam.