Alexis says, "I will go with you to the Heart." while she believes there is some merit to what Cham said, she gives him a rather angry glare. But when she hears him making a point about what-ifs, Alexis says, "He has a point. If the Heart of the Universe tells you to go to war with Nature, do you plan to?" That question is so unfair and a double-edged sword, but Alexis has to know which edge of the sword Mittens chooses.

Harrison is having a ball. Oh, we mentioned this? Too bad!


----

Doug looks at J'Renn. "There is a place people understand one must go in preparation for entering the Heart. Any other method is assured destruction. I can show you the place and if you meet them there, you can offer your services there. Such a gesture will be seen favorably and help you greatly in fitting in around here."

He then looks at Darkthorne. "Raw materials or not. If it's so much as an extra atom of currency that has not already been properly brought into this place, they will notice."

Doug then looks at Prism Jr. "Your suggestion has much merit."
This message was last edited by the player at 13:49, Sat 24 Apr 2010.

Miranda seems to space out for a moment before looking at Paula. "I think this means balance could be restored. This sounds like something that has to happen. I also think we should go. C'mon! I know the place!" she tugs on Paula.

Mittens smiles, managing to suppress a giggle at Cham's commentary.  Had she dared to look at his comics, she'd probably have lost control.  This after her more or less saying "war is no laughing matter!"

She takes much better notes this time now that she has the proper tools.  Inside, she's having a hard time finding the words to answer Cham's and Alexis' questions.  A two-edged sword to invite Cham to speak his mind.  Mittens is pretty sure she mentioned the "dangers at the Heart of the Universe..."

"Dangerous you say?" she answers Raichel, wagging her tail with an eager look on her face, "I wouldn't have it any other way!  And this coming from the resurrected thunder goddess!  I can hardly wait!  Of course, you're welcome to join me, your holiness."

Mittens then turns to Timothius.

"As are you, King of Life.  Heck.  So's your watery ally.  I wanted to meet him face-to-face anyhow, and what better way to get to know someone that to team up with them in a life-or-death quest for truth?"

Then to Frank.

"It's nice to hear you boast of your queen.  But I won't call them pansies or heroes until I see some evidence supporting one or the other.  Maybe he would water bomb us on Alexis' behalf.  Maybe the Thunder King would lightning-bomb them on our behalf.  I prefer to fight my own battles and speak on my own behalf, so I offered him the opportunity to do the same, in any of the three places mentioned, and chat with me about his people being used as a threat against my people."

She's then smirks and looks over at Alexis, confident she's found the right answer.

"I've been asked twice now what I would do if the Heart gave me an answer you don't want it to give me.  If it does, I'll give it another shake to see if it was just pulling my leg like Cham suggested it might.  Or perhaps I'll hand it over to you to give it a shake and see what you get.  War or no war, I'd like to fight you one on one at the end of this quest.  Whether it's on friendly terms or not remains to be seen.  I'd prefer on friendly terms, but I maintain my earlier statement: I pity the fool who goes to war with the Fire Nation."

Back to Frank.

"That said, I pity the fool who challenges another without being prepared to stand behind what they said.  Frank threw down the gauntlet to the royal family of the Water Kingdom.  You're not a pansy who hides behind your kingdom, are you, Frank?  In that case, let's see if you live up to your own standards!"

She faces the camera.

"The royal family of the Water Kingdom may select any member of their royal lineage to answer him face-to-face on neutral ground of their choosing!

"Now.  A few more points of order.  One.  The lockdown is hereby lifted.  Kinda necessary if I'm to leave for the Heart and Frank is to leave for his face-off without breaking the laws of our Kingdom, now isn't it?  Two.  The leaders of each of the other nations are invited to select one among them as a representative to join me on my quest, Alexis already having offered to represent her nation.  And Three.  I hereby BAN any further attacks on the Nature Kingdom until I verify if it is justified.  Any citizen found guilty of breaking this law shall be handed over to the Nature Kingdom for them to exact whatever justice they see fit.  Closing comments from those present?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:02, Sun 25 Apr 2010.

"We shall relay your thoughts to mother," Prism Jr. says in answer to J'Renn.

---

Prism Sr. quickly considers what Jr. relayed to them and comes to a decision that now is the right time to speak up.

"Your majesty," they begin with a respectful bow, "You recall the person with Queen Alexis yesterday named J'Renn. She is from a place far removed from the politics of this region and is offering to pilot you in her ship as a neutral party."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:33, Sat 24 Apr 2010.

  Looking into the local Macguffin definitely fell under Darkthorne's job description.  "That would depend on what services they wanted and the methods of demanding it, but it most likely can not hurt to look into it if you think it will help."

  Most Kasketon's would be much more paranoid about all this, but they learned early in that exploring new dimensions via assault squads making tactical entries and examinations of every. single. location, was not really that good of a plan poli... polit... that weird thing.

OOC Style: Kasketon's do not give their sworn word.  Something many consider not even worth listing as a flaw until the 'swear to do this plot thing' moments come along.  Not that it would be an issue here, but the kind of quirk worth a reminder of ahead of time.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:33, Tue 04 May 2010.

J'Renn nods, (Excelent.  Once the flight ban is lifted I will require the coordinates of the place where we will all meet.) she projects.  (With this trip to the core I won't need to bother with local currency at all.).

"Balance? Will this really end in that?" The young skunkette shuffles her feet at the thought, "And do you think they'd actually let us go? Ah!" She jumps forward in surprise when Miranda tugs on her to move, quickly falling into step behind her.

Paula continues to express her worry, despite following along, "It almost feels like we're rushing into this... I really hope that you know what you're doing, Miranda."

For once, Cham actually fully listens to Mittens, if only because she mentions him by name. His ears droop dramatically as his cover appears blown.

"Uhhh... Cham, sir? I believe I reported in as Agent Superball, sir. However, I admit that the names sound extremely similar in the Gilgametic tongue, so it's an easy mistake to make." He pushes up his sunglasses again and they make a dramatic 'sheeen!' sound as a reflection of light moves along them.

At Mittens' asking for closing comments, Cham pulls out a gold star from hammerspace and lays it down on the table, "I think I'll save this idea as a favorite so far. Also... Hehe... this might end up kinda funny. Every nation gets one representative to send so that they can stick a fork in the other representatives when their backs are turned! Except for Chaos, though. They might use a spork... and that'll just be over the fighting for who gets to be the leader today and who gets to be the representative!"

Frank has a proud smile. "You bet I'll back my words, your highness! I will meet with and battle the king himself if he has the balls to fight me!"

Alexis says, "I've heard it said a couple times now how the Fire Nation would whip anyone or that you pity whoever goes to war with the Fire Nation. And it's nice and all to be patriotic, but be realistic. If the Water Kingdom does indeed decide to wage war on you, you will lose. Horribly and embarrassingly. Choose your words more carefully lest you force them to war from sheer honor. After all, claims like "I can kick your butt" are just another way of getting on your knees and begging them to come and kick yours."

----

Doug says, "Let's go then. I will give directions if needed, but mostly will be along to help those who are new here to get along smoothly." he heads for the exit of the bar. "Lead the way to your ship, J'Renn."

Raichel says, "Personally, I pity the fool who goes to war at all. Lives lost for some selfish ambition or pride. Those who go to war have already lost before the battle begins. Fire Queen, I am ready to depart when you are. Now that the Water Kingdom is being pulled into this discussion, we should at the very least meet with them and give them the chance to speak before continuing this conversation. I feel too much has been said FOR them and it's time they speak for themselves. I'm sure they've seen this broadcast already, so if we go to the designated place, I believe we'll find them there."

She looks over at Cham. She cracks a smile, figuring if he wants to keep playing "spy" and Mittens lets him, then it's not Raichel's place to take that from him.

Timothius says, "I second Raichel's motion. We have put what we all wanted to on the table more or less. And it's time we hear the Water Kingdom's position in all this. As for J'Renn's suggestion... I don't object at all."

Miranda glances at Paula with a smile. "I don't know what I'm doing, but my friend sure knows! He's the smartest person ever, so I'm not worried." she begins hovering off the ground. "You wanna go? This could be very big, but I don't wanna force you into a situation you don't want to be a part of. If you wanna go..."

Miranda rather suddenly transforms into her alternate mode; a small spacecraft about the size of Miranda if she curled up. "...then climb on."

Mittens once again is made to smile by Cham.  Especially the bit about spork duels.  She doesn't understand the significance of the gold star but doesn't ask.

"Heh, yeah.  I'll be on guard against back forking or sporking, but I take that risk and invite all the nations to send an observer so they can keep an eye on me and know for certain I'm not plotting to back-spork their nation."

"Very good," Mittens says to Frank, somewhat surprised that he didn't back down, "Return to the palace immediately.  We'll be leaving soon."

She then nods to Prism.  Whoever those people with the Nature Queen were yesterday sure seemed neutral enough, and having a telepath around could be very very handy.

"A neutral pilot from a neutral nation," Mittens echos before answering, "I approve of this arrangement on the condition she shows me how to fly it.  Sounds like fun!  King Life has already approved of the idea too.  Anyone else who objects can simply not go.  As for Raichel's statement against war, and Alexis' warning, I feel inclined to clarify my own position.

"War may be a losing proposition, but often there's no choice.  20 years ago the nation I was born in joined in alliance with two other nations to defend themselves against annihilation from an enormous invasion of demons and beastmen.  The invaders wanted nothing less than to kill every last man woman and child of the alliance.  Hopelessly outnumbered, we won our safety at a great cost, but we HAD to pay that price.  Had we not taken a stand, we would have lost everything.

"Now 20 years later the beastmen and demons are on the ropes, themselves facing extinction.  The alliance wants nothing less than to kill every last man, woman, and child of the enemy.  The enemy has little chance to survive, but they fight on even when hopelessly outnumbered.  Pride is all some of them have left to fight for because hope of survival is long gone.  I can respect that.

"I can appreciate your concern for my people, Alexis.  For that I thank you.  I want you to know that I do choose my words carefully.  Some creatures may defend themselves with stealth and silence, but the Fire Nation is a mighty dragon!  We may be enjoying the warmth of the sun for the time being, but so long as I wear this crown we will not be complacent!  We will roar at the horizon to warn anyone with ears to hear!  The words I choose are these:  Those who do not provoke the dragon need not fear it's wrath.  But to those who would dare challenge this dragon, even should we be hopelessly outnumbered, we will defend ourselves - our lives, and our honor!

"Meeting adjourned."

She then faces Prism.

"Now.  Lead the way to the pilot."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:44, Tue 18 May 2010.

"By your command," Prism Sr. answers with a bow before heading in the direction of Prism Jr. and J'Renn.

---

"Anyone willing to carry me?" Jr. asks, figuring the live broadcast of Mittens' speech is enough that they don't have to relay the obvious news that Prism Sr. and the Royal Flush Gang approved of the idea and are on their way.  They also figure it's obvious enough why they'd request being carried.

  Darkthorne wonders on the comments from Raichel Alexis about agreed as Weak in general Water Kingdom of course being obvious winner in a war.  They suspect either a case of 'pacifist always have the best weapons', or 'peaceful cultures have no problems wiping out the entire civilian population with natural disasters because a few jerks are evil so it's okay'.  If Raichel isn't exaggerating at least.

  "I'll carry you I guess.  I don't suppose hanging around on a shoulder is a viable option?"  Regardless, Darkthorne goes to pick Prism Jr. up.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:24, Wed 19 May 2010.

J'Renn picks up her bag of plat and projects to the group, (I'll have my vessel pick us up here.) she states.  J'Renn concentrates sending a message the few miles to the spaceport (Pel'Rae, I am requesting a pickup at my coordinates for me, two others, and a small compound life form.  Please grant them guest access)  {Aknowledged.  Pickup will be ready in 5 minutes. Shall I prepare refreshments for the guests?}  (Yes, and we will be taking on board more later. Light refreshment now, and prepare Tapas for later.)  {Aknowledged.}
J'Renn returns from being a little spaced out to let the group know (My ship will meet us here.  It will be within teleport range in 5 minutes so you will all have time to prepare for transport.)

Paula looks at Miranda nervously, looking away briefly as she thinks about if she really wants to do this.

"It does sound rather big... and I don't think I've ever been involved in anything on this kind of scale before... But, well, I do trust you Miranda." She smiles at her and gets inside the spacecraft Miranda's turned into, "If you say that your friend knows what's going on, then I believe you! Besides, Master Ito really wanted me to make friends while I was away, and see new things. Maybe I can do that here, too."

Sighing and going through a silent prayer routine, Paula tries to calm her nerves and prepare herself for this.

At Mittens' assurance that she's welcoming some kind of representative from all of the nations, Cham gives a little bounce of excitement but quickly straightens up over-officially.

As she adjourns the meeting, Cham straightens his sunglasses and gets up with the party, seeming like he's planning on following at least for a little while. However, he almost immediately stops when an odd ringing is heard. It gets louder and louder before Cham pulls out a red rotary phone from nowhere and picks up the reciever, "This is Agent Superball. Adviser to the Queen of Fire and avid bouncer... Mmhmm... Affirmative... Copy that."

He holds up the receiver for Mittens, stone-faced, "Sir, it's the Chaos realm. They're wanting to inform you that a representative has been chosen and will arrive shortly." As soon as he says that, however, a blue shape begins to work its way out of the phone as if it were some kind of rabbit hole. The shape forms arms and hands and grunts dramatically as he pushes himself out of the receiver until he finally pops out at his normal size. There seems to be a spork lodged into his back.

It's Cham! "Yep! It's me! I'm totally not lying about being a representative of Chaos! Now we get to spend even MORE time together, fending off anyone who would get in our way to the Wizard of the universe!" He pulls the spork out of his backside and begins fencing the air with it.

Behind him, Agent Superball is standing stone-still and still holding up the phone stoically.

Alexis says, "Ch.... riiiight." she is amused simply because of how confused she is by Cham, but this barely pulls a helpless smile from her. She has a sense of humor, it's just that this has all been very emotionally stressful for her.

----

Doug uses the 5 minutes to finish his drink, prep the bunch for what the starting point will be like and some basic rules about it, such as not entering until everyone agrees lest the huge conglomerate of royalty see you as trying to usurp their power/influence, etc. Basic common sense, but still. Once aboard, Doug seems unphased by the beauty of the ship, remaining expressionless. He helps guide them to the right place and they would be there shortly.

Raichel loses it and laughs, seeing Cham spill out the phone. She hugs herself, eyes squinted closed and slightly hunched over. After so long putting up the ruse of being serious, Cham broke it with a superior entrance. Raichel has to admit she can't beat an entrance like that and won't even try. "Welcome aboard, Cham." she says in a pleasant tone, calming herself but still smiling.

Timothius is laughing also, covering his mouth to hide the fact despite his voice betraying him.

Miranda is so small, though, that "getting inside" her is akin to getting inside a moped. You ride on it. XD

Either way, Miranda covers the two of them in a force field before going at Mach 2 or so until hitting space, then she just warps. With the sudden shift in speed, Miranda makes it to the destination around the time J'Renn does, give or take. Seeing the same things everyone else does, Miranda lands with Paula and transforms back to her normal self.

(Fast forwarding a bit to get RP going. J'Renn, Mittens, Darkthorne, etc can play out the meet, greet and flight in a separate thread if desired. Please lemme know on OOC channel.)

Frank is there at the Gateway of the Path to the Center. He did not even bother engaging in conversation with the water royalty that's there since he knew nobody would be watching so it'd be his word against King Urser's as to what all has been said.

Shelly is there with her father King Maximus Urser. But something is different. Rather than the King wearing the crown, Shelly is. She is seen smiling and playing with a handheld gaming system.

(See Chapter 2)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Sun 23 May 2010.

Also there is a team of 6 cherubs. The li'l angels are all sitting in a circle, praying. Upon everyone's arrival, the cherubs stand up and line up in an almost military fashion in greeting to the new arrivals. No saluting, though.


Interestingly, Murla, the queen of darkness, is also there. She has an amused smile on her face and a slight sneer like she sees everyone here as her playthings.

Miraculously, the current King of Thunder is here as well. He is holding a staff and looks at Raichel with a nervous look.

The only others of note here are a huge rock monster standing about 20 feet tall and some beautiful man with white hair dressed in off-white/grey robes and holding a large wooden staff that looks more like a stick found in the woods. The only person besides Raichel who might know THESE two would be Blake, but he isn't likely here for a number of reasons. Speaking of whom, there is no representative from Death. That is unsurprising.

The place is certainly magical looking. There is a rainbow colored path made of who-knows-what and seems to converge from paths that stretch off to the various planets. The path just stops at the gate. People can not see a path on the other side of the gate and any attempt to go to the other side of the gate simply shows the person the backside of the gate. It is clearly an extra-dimensional gate of sorts.

The gateway itself is simply that. A large, thick gate that seems to be made of every attribute whether blunt or otherwise. For instance, it's existence hints at it being made of order. But the gate is not consistent, continually mutating before one's very eyes, making it also seem to be made of chaos. Interlaced throughout the gate are fire, water, lightning, vines/tree branches , and an unsettling low-pitch grinding sound like lions growling and metal twisting can be heard from it. The gate forms eyes when everyone is gathered. The eyes are made of pure light, only interrupted by the skulls it has for pupils. It turns its gaze directly at each person there.

The place quakes a little, the sounds of the gate get slightly louder and the quake slowly passes. In the same sound that gate sounds have been growling with, a voice can be heard coming from the general direction of the gate, "Get familiar with each other. When you are ready, I will give you the rules."

(See Chapter 2)
This message was last edited by the player at 01:42, Sun 23 May 2010.

Hundreds of millions of tiny crystal bugs are cracking up from Cham's hilarious entrance, making Prism's colors shimmer like a rainbow disco ball.  They work together to laugh as a whole so the giant monarchs know that they too thought the joke funny.  They're led outside along with the others to a limousine and ride shotgun so the chauffeur knows where to find Prism Jr. and the others.

---

Prism Jr. notes the plan to stay and wait for the ship to arrive and informs Darkthorne and the others, "The royals are on their way. Shoulder will work nicely when they arrive, thank you."

Mittens giggles at Cham's antics, smirking at how much they have in common when he starts fencing the air.  She still does that all the time.  Usually with a sword, sometimes with a fork.  But he definitely more than one-ups her crazy.  And having someone around who makes her sane by comparison can be a good thing.

Once at the limo, she opens the sun roof and sits on the roof to wave at the crowds of cheering citizens like she's some kind of rock star.  Individual chauffeured luxury vehicles are provided for each of the monarchs in the motorcade.

"Hey, someone get us all name tags and pens," Mittens commands to her secret servicemen.

Where she comes from, people's names hover over their heads.  Helps a lot when so many look like they could be identical twins or gear covers distinguishing features.

Upon arriving at the Ye Olde Seedy Tavern, she hops off the limo, waves at Doug and the others, introduces herself, and announces: "Prism here said to expect a nice ride from J'Renn.  Let's get this show on the road!"

After labeling herself, she begins passing out name tags and pens.

"And for the sake of those of us who don't have perfect name-recall, please wear a name tag."

Mittens makes no mention of "what's with the tiny Prism clone on that person-I've-never-met's shoulder," or "Who's the skunk?  Or the robot?  Or the other skunk?"  She figures these questions can be answered readily enough in time and would only slow down getting on with the adventure if asked now.  Her elite guard persuade her to allow a few of them to go with (assuming J'Renn's ship has room for so many passengers.)

Prism does NOT want sticky name-tag all over their backs, so they just grab hold of the name tag around the edges with their thousands of chest hands rather than peel-and-stick.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:53, Sun 23 May 2010.