Realistic or Modern Call of the Multiverse

[Fus ro dah]

"Hey." He smiled at her, extending his hand to shake hers. "We really haven't had a lot of time to meet each other, I mean... one minute we're home, then here, then all that information was dumped on us and the weaponitemthings and now the labyrinth. It's insane, right?" He half chuckled. "I guess... Good thing I was already running away from home for a while."


A small frown settled when he remembered the sight that had greeted him in the kitchen and at that moment, he was glad this was happening.

 

[IceQueen]

Ari shook his hand. "Yeah. Pretty crazy for what my life used to be like." Ari commented. She smiled at him. "My name's Ari. And who might I have the pleasure of meeting?" She asked. She always liked meeting new people, but she would always get off on the wrong foot. That or they would piss her off right away.

 

[Ebonysdagger]

"Well, it would be best to work together but we really don't all want to congregate in a single lump. One good dragon's breath and we are all dead in that case." Raleigh mentions to the rest.


"So, Valeray, what time period might this labyrinth be set in? Any myths or legends attached to it that we might want to recall? Are the encounters set to random with one every three pixels or can we see them clearly on the map in the corner of the screen and get a surprise attack in on them if we attack them from behind? Any chance you have some defensive armor or the like we could wear?" He pauses for a second. "Answer that last one first. Other wise we are going to have to ask Loki there to go in front so his war frame can hold off the attacks, perhaps."


@The Villain King

 

[Riddle78]

Loki listened to everyone's queries,and chuckled when Raleigh nominated him as the party tank. "I think you misunderstand. Yes,my Warframe is armoured. Yes,it has shields. But,they're minimal. The shields can barely deflect half a magazine out of an assault rifle,and a small handgun can penetrate the armour. I survive on speed and mobility." He looked at Occam's Razor. My imagination limits what can be cut,and how? Under his helmet,Loki smirked. Not exactly a Switch Teleport.... But it'll do. Loki's attention was drawn to Valeray. "Master Valeray. Does the Labyrinth evolve?"





He leaned back,and continued. "As in can it change shape and dimensions rapidly enough to hinder our progress? And will we all make entry at different points?" He shook his head. "I'm used to teams of four. This will be new,for me." Loki decided to test a theory,then and there. I want a tunnel... Loki absently whipped the Razor to his side,hoping to rend a hole in reality so he may reach through. His target was a few inches beside the blind girl's hat.


( @Ebonysdagger @SkyFilms )

 

[October Falls]

Andy smiled softly and nodded at Raleigh's achnologement of her presence, and her accent. She nodded and averted her gaze. She didn't want him to think she was happy he payed attention to her.


But the mighty Valeray didn't seem to hear her. She frowned, but didn't ask about her Thunderhead ring again. Mystery was interesting too. This lack of knowledge might help her in the labyrinth... Somehow.


When Loki spoke of his history, Andy's heart broke. Even as an artificial clone/Tenno, he was still a living being, and no one should have to oh threw what he did.


Then people started suggesting partnering up for the Labyrinth. She frowned. She wasn't very good at socialising. A group may help her, but her lack of expressing herself through anything other than pain and music wouldn't make a group work properly and function as a team. She sighed and thought about her ring. Who would she be compatible with? Others were introducing them selves, and getting to know one another while she just sat their and listened. So much for her inner most desires to not be alone. Maybe Hicks would be interested...


Valeray asked if we had any questions, and Loki asked a very good question concerning the Labyrinth. Being quiet may be influential. Maybe....

 

[Yewchung]

What do I think of the laybyrinth?





"Sounds like too much effort," said Victor, splitting again. "You can do it, Victor Brandon."


"Victor Brandon?" responded Victor, raising an eyebrow. "We're doing designations now? What are you, Victor Alex? Adrien? Annoyance?"


"Alpha, actually."


"Al-fucking punch you in the face if you don't shut up. Besides, I thought we agreed that you'd take the labyrinth."


"Yeah, but it sounds boring."


"Besides, it's two to one now. Majority rules. "


"Oh really?" Victor said, splitting himself into three. "Well I'm the majority, now."


"Nope, the election has already been held. You can't change the results now."


Victor rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Was I always this annoying?" he asked, just sort of generally. Heck, for all he knew this universe might even respond.


"Yes."


"Yeah, pretty much."


"Um... yeah."


"Utterly."


Victor sighed, resigned. "Alright then, fine. Everyone, looks like I'm going through the labyrinth instead. My designation is Victor Brandon, and these are Victor Dennis and Victor Echo." The two waved, before sitting down to eat hot pockets of their own. "Those two lazy jerks are Victors Alpha and Charlie. You can probably ignore them."


Meanwhile, the other two Victors snuck out of the room, presumably in search of some place to sleep.

 

[Snek]

@Alad V @Ebonysdagger


"No, you will not receive any armor to wear, but you will all receive a basic weapon if you don't have one already. I'll show you your choices before the training session begins. As to the contents of the labyrinth, there is no specific theme or mythology that it is linked to. The foes inside will vary largely. Some of them, you might notice as remarkably similar to creatures from legends and myths from your respective worlds, but this is a coincidence. Other creatures will be completely new to you, and you will have absolutely no idea what they are when you see them.


"You will have no navigation system, aside from the powers granted by the artifacts, and your own sense of direction."


Valeray raised an eyebrow at the Tenno's query.


"No, the labyrinth will not change or shift in structure. It is a normal, maze-like labyrinth, save for the huge variety of monsters and traps contained within. You will all begin the labyrinth in the same room, and you will end the labyrinth in the same room...unless one of you is dead, of course. But like I said, death will not be permanent in that instance of space and time. It will set you back a ways, however, so I'd recommend not doing it."


He winked upon the mention of the last statement.

 

[Nivrad00]

Alice rocked her empty cup back and forth absentmindedly, listening intently. She was trying to actually absorb the information, understanding that the maze would be hazardous and that being confused could result in bad things. Her only distraction was Victor, who was continuing to divide himself. She gave a snort of laughter when Brandon dismissed two of his clones.


"Weapons?" she said, as Valeray brought the topic up. At least they were actually fighting instead of solving puzzles or some crap. A frown crept across her face. "I don't, uh, really know how to fight with anything, so I might not be much help," she admitted to the rest of the table.

 

[Fus ro dah]

( @Icefox11 Sorry for the late post! The site keeps doing stupid stuff.)


"I'm Dorian." He smiled and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, Ari. I totally get the whole thing, my life before I came here was pretty simple. I swear, I'm still waiting to wake up, or realise I'm really engrossed in a book I'm reading. So if the multiverse is a thing, this means we're not all from the same world, right?"

 

[IceQueen]

"Well, probably not." Ari said. "Then again, I don't know much about this multiverse stuff. Before my life was just school, free time. Plus, were I come from, everyone wears the same color." She said. She thought of home and sighed. "Everything looked like a sea of gray with a few dots of black and white."

 

[Fus ro dah]

"That sounds... really boring." Dorian quirked a brow at her. Seriously, what kind of world was she from? "Is the entire world shades of grey? Or is it just the clothing? It sounds so... weird."


He looked over at Valeray curiously. "How long until this trial thing starts, hrmm?"

 

[IceQueen]

"Just clothing." Ari said. "The only reason I am wearing color is because I was siting at home, the only place I can wear color. Well now I can wear color any time I want." Ari said. She sighed, happy she could wear something other than white. She hoped she would never have to see that horrible blankness again.

 

[TheFallOfitAll]

Hicks sat and listened to everyone. Partner? Who would ever want to be partners with me? He thought to himself, no one, was the answer. He wouldn't want one, anyways. It'd be easier, he'd not have to worry about anyone else, just himself. And that suited him just fine. He pulled his sword up, and looked at the blade.


It probably needed to be sharpened, but that would come later. Over all, it was a mighty fine blade, very simple too. It was perfect, asides from the blood on it, but didn't care. He'd get the chance to prove himself with it soon enough.

 

[Yewchung]

"So, Valeray," said Victor, finishing up his hot pocket. "Does this whole deal with 'coming back from the dead' apply to us clones, or does this universe have some rule like 'clones aren't real people' or something?"


"Because in my opinion," said Victor, playing with the yo-yo, "clones start being their own people the moment they break synchronocity."


"Although," said Victor, sitting backwards in his chair, "this power seems to be encouraging using clones to take blows for you, so I'd probably be fine with using an instance clone to take a lethal trap or something for me."

 

[Snek]

@Yewchung


Valeray furrowed his brow.


"I'm not quite sure what you mean. The clones cannot die, because they are never truly alive to begin with. They are simply destroyed, or they fade away, but they do not 'die'.


"The artifact you hold is, aside from the athame that Loki possesses, one of the only artifacts that is particularly dangerous to the user. Except, where the athame is physically dangerous to the person holding it, the shades you chose are mentally dangerous. They draw the user into an illusion of life, but the clones only have as much personality as you choose to give them. They do not act on their own, but situations where this seems possible are probably just your subconscious forcing the clones to play out their roles as you see them in your head. The clones are not 'their own people', and they are not alive. You must be able to understand and accept this, or else your artifact will be more of a burden to you than an asset."


He rubbed his nose and turned to Dorian.


"When will we begin? We can begin now, if you are all ready."

 

[Yewchung]

"Oy oy oy oy!" said Victor, raising an eyebrow and pointing his hot pocket at Valeray. "Not a real person? Are you trying to start a fight here? Because I'd say I feel very strongly about my own existence. In fact, I'd say it's pretty much the one thing I'd say I believe in above all else, being that I, you know, kind of have to exist in order to believe in anything."


"Hold on a sec, Dennis," said Victor, frowning. "Are you saying that all of our minds are being run entirely by Alpha's subconscious? Then... what if Alpha were to be placed in a permanent state of sleep, or suspended animation or something, somewhere in this mansion? The Victor Legion would not only be theoretically safe from all damage, it'd free up space enough to run some stupid amount of clones at once!"


"What? But that'd mess with the whole classification system," said Victor, frowning. "I get your point though. What if, in addition to that, Alpha's mind were somehow sped up, or Alpha were placed in some location with sped up time, so that I have an even more stupid amount of clone power."


"If we're going that far, may as well go full on brain-in-a-jar, don't you think?" commented Victor offhandedly. "I mean, I'm not sure what benefits that'd have, but since brain cells don't split, hooking a brain-in-a-jar up to life support and then putting it in some localized sped up time field could persist theoretically forever, and provide theoretically infinite brainpower."


"Oh, and some infinite number of universes in the multiverse must have figured out the human brain," said Victor. "There's got to be some universes with surgery or something to increase brainpower even further."


"Alright, Echo, go find Alpha and tell him about the plan," said Victor, pointing at another. "Valeray, I'm going to need to know what kind of time field stuff you have going on here, and whether or not it's possible to speed up a local area. Or, failing that, how inter-universal time linkage works. Oh, and life support stuff. I'm also going to need some sort of drip to put Alpha under. We can assign Charlie to Alpha Maintenance or something. Just get back here in time for the Labyrinth, or we're leaving you behind."


Victor sighed, but ran off, in search of his other parts.

 

[Ebonysdagger]

"Well that didn't take as long as I expected for the nut to run wild with his cloning ability." Raleigh sighs as he sits back to watch what happens hoping they will get onto the labyrinth soon. "Hey, I don't think everyone's introduced themselves yet. The one with the boots, what was your name?"


@SkyFilms

 

[October Falls]

As the conversation continued, the more she became more confused. Hicks obviously liked being alone, and Andy was okay with that. Even though she knew how lonely it was to be alone, Andy understood his reasons. It didn't seem like anyone else wanted to even get to know her, so Andy kept to herself and started to think of ways to win. She may not have been absolutely ready to inertly die, but she wanted to get it over with. She was a patient person, but this whole experience was exhilarating in it's own way.


Everyone at the table were already getting along, which caused Andy to softly smile. For once in her life, she finally didn't feel alone. Not with these strangers, now soon to be comrades.

 

[Snek]

@Yewchung


Valeray face-palmed.


"Victor, you are way overthinking this. It isn't..."


He paused and sighed. These kids still had a loooooooong way to go. He could only hope that they would be able to keep themselves alive long enough to make it through the labyrinth without any trouble, but something told him that a clean, smooth run on the first try was...unlikely.


"Victor, even if your frankly ridiculous theory about local time warping and brain acceleration was valid, there is only so much output that one individual's brain can give. You'd overload yourself and probably die if you tried. And I have been to several universes that have discovered the human brain's secrets, but we are not cutting corners and we are not taking shortcuts. The training is here to properly guide you through the learning process at the right pace. If you try to skip to the more experienced levels too quickly, you'll all find yourselves in over your head, with artifact powers that you have no hope of understanding or controlling.


"Now, are we all finished eating? The time to enter the labyrinth draws near."

 

[supercrunched]

Watching the kid with the armada of clones reminded Indira a lot of her younger twin brothers at home, and the thought of that was...kind of annoying, actually. She clenched her jaw and turned away, resolutely ignoring the impulse to chastise Victor to sit still and be polite to Valeray-saahib and stop cloning yourself, you're confusing the guests. There was absolutely no need to make herself seem unlikeable (any more than she probably already had), even if he looked like the mischievous type. This wasn't a house party and there was no need for anyone to be on their best behaviour. Even if there were, it wasn't her job to say anything. It wasn't worth it. Harassed Older Sister impulses needed to be controlled.


She stood up slowly, picking up any empty dishes she could reach and shuffling over to the sink (which took a while, considering the bizarrely large kitchen). She didn't particularly fancy the idea of going to her death, but the Arsenal Dice weighed heavily in the back of her mind, making her curious. She'd been sucked into a parallel universe and the past twenty minutes had been spent having lunch.


Boring.


"If it's alright, can we leave now, Uncle?" Turn on the tap, grab the sponge, squeeze out some soap, turn off the tap. "Also, you wouldn't happen to have a pair of shoes, lying around, would you? If I'm going to die a couple of times I'd rather not be barefoot."

 

[Nivrad00]

Alice stared at the Victors for a while, but, sensing he was rambling about something she wouldn't understand, she turned back to the table.


Her plate was still clean and untouched. She always had a hard time eating when there was something important happening. Biting her lip, Alice looked across the giant kitchen. She still wasn't certain about the particulars of her new job, but she had the feeling that it was at least as monumental as this room. Probably harder, too, than working part-time as a cashier in Maplin's....


"Well, I'm ready to go," she said, standing abruptly. Seeing Indira, Alice grabbed her plate and glass and followed after.

 

[Ebonysdagger]

"Ready here. I'm rather eager to try these out." Raleigh does not mention that he could only read three spells in the book so far. Hopefully this will work like it does in all those stories where more of it will be revealed as he gets used to using its power.

 

[Snek]

@Alad V @Icefox11 @TheHallowedGamer @TheFallOfitAll @Yewchung @SkyFilms @Keo Major


Valeray crossed his arms and looked around the table.


"That's three ready votes, what about the rest of you? We've got nearly an eternity to do this training, but I imagine you'd want to get it finished as soon as possible. So, are you all ready to go yet?"


Looking at all of the faces, Valeray began mentally cataloging the teens so that he wouldn't forget them.


Loki, the humble Tenno soldier.


Aria, the strong-willed tough girl.


Andy, the heart of the group.


Raleigh, the straightforward-yet-defensive intellectual.


Shalin, the level-headed blind girl.


Sam, the adventurous, brash one.


Hicks, the decisive telekinetic.


Dorian, the imaginative author.


Victor, the honest and righteous sociopath.


Indira, the motherly voice of reason.


Alice, the loyal-yet-independent hothead.


Kaius, the transcendent oddball, born to be a hero.


They were a unique bunch, to be honest, but their positive qualities complemented each other well, and Valeray was certain that they would grow to become powerful allies.

 

[Fus ro dah]

Dorian shrugged as he glanced around at the others, making a mental note to try and invent these hot pocket things once he gets back home. It seemed simple enough, dough and filling... he just had to lean how to make dough.


"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's get this thing going."

 

[October Falls]

Was Andy ready? Andy was somewhat eager to start her training as a multiverse guardian, and the longer she sat here with the optimistic people, the more she hated the feeling of waiting for death to consume her. No, she wasn't going to die. Not yet anyway. She didn't want to be alone anymore. With this bunch, she didn't think she would ever be alone.


But then she frowned. She remembered all those people that she got close to when she was younger, and all of them died. She had convinced herself a long time ago that they weren't coincidences, and that maybe she was cursed. What if that applied now, with this bunch of misfits? Hopefully not...


She shook her head, trying to forget about it. She had risked everything to come here when she quenched her curiosity, and now she'd put everything into this new job. She finally felt wanted, and useful. She liked it here. And she never wanted to go back. Starting a new life sounded good, especially with a chance to prove herself in the Labyrinth.


She knew she was going out on a limb here, but it was better to change for the better in order to survive in this new life instead of sulking in her old one. She glanced at her ring on her right ring ringer and smiled, stood and nodded, "I'm ready." She answered. 'Lets get this over with so I can kick some asses.' Andy thought, and debated if she should say it aloud. Na.. might not want to piss people off just yet.