The one chef watching paid no attention to his voracious hunger, he had probably seen people starved for weeks before being offered a decent meal, and so he didn't seem to stop being stoic.

The other chef finished cleaning at his own pace, not worrying that the meal was going to be done early. Neither of them had responded to the thank, either because they weren't allowed, or because they didn't speak Russian, they definitely weren't from Russia, yet, neither was that man, who was bilingual.

The few words they spoke to one another were in Italian, though one spoke a phrase in French, perhaps he had dabbled or was taking lessons. the man nodded, not really listening. Each time words were exchanged, Uladzislau was still being kept under watch by the man's one eye, witch moved independently of his other eye, which was making ocasional eye contact. What a skill!

When the barbarian was done, a knock came on the door, and the one who cleaned answered, some stuff was said hushedly and then they beckoned for Uladzislau to stand, without cleaning up. A man with a hand bandage for a broken hand and shades and an earpiece stood in front of him. He told him to get a move on in English.

Unlike the Italian, French had seemed to verge on sort-of understandable to Uladzislau. Though he wasn't paying any attention to what was being said, so it slipped on by.

Following instructions, the big, red barbarian stood up, watching the two chefs for further instructions. But it came from the man who was at the door instead. He looked to the chefs to see if he should obey the newcomer.

If they indicated to go with him, Uladzislau did so, bowing once to the chefs in thanks before he went. And remembering just in time to pick up his horned helmet which he'd taken off for the meal.

They rushed him along and bowed back, the one who cleaned up waved, almost enthusiastically before the other began to barrage him with negative remarks. He clearly was newer on the job and got a bit too friendly.

The man brought the barbarian into a car, where a man, who looked almost identical to him, was sitting in the drivers seat. The first man put him in the back, and pulled out some rope to tie him up with.

If he didn't resist, he stepped back into the passengers seat after closing the side door as if nothing happened, and nodded to his doppleganger. He would begin to drive.

Nothing is visible through the windows, and the car is air conditioned.

The barbarian looked at the car, looked at the two men, looked at the car again... got in back where he was told, and snarled in a bestial manner at the ropes.

Neito then ran to where his stand was whilst looking through the eyes of the center star.

@Neito

The boy had tried to flee, but Neito, as an adolescence, was faster, and caught up to him. His stand also moved with the boy, trailing him.

The boy began to look around panicked and began to cuss at the stars, on the verge of a temper tantrum.

Suddenly, in the boys' hands, a delicious coconut pie formed. He threw the soft desert at the stars angrily. However, even if they dodged the pie, when it landed... Something unexpected happened.

The pie exploded like a unit of dynamite, and blew up a hole in the sidewalk that was 2 1/2 feet deep, and 5 1/2 feet across. The ground was charred and smoking, and some remains of pie filling were flaming around in the hole and on the rim. A bout a quarter of Neito's present stands took damage and were destroyed, which hurt Neito pretty significantly for a tasty desert. His entire left side and both the limbs on that end got light burns and his clothes got tattered. He also got multiple scratched along that side which bled and stung.

The boy looked happily surprised.


@Uladzislau

The drive goes on for a couple of hours. Eventually, they drive through a noisy city-like area, but then the noise slowly fades away in the distance and the car stops. As soon as the man in the passenger seat opens the door to take out Uladzislau, the barbarian is surprised to see that the sun is low in the sky, and the sun will surely be setting in no more than half an hour.

The man undoes the ropes and rolls his eyes at any snarling, and offers the barbarian a bag to put over his head. Uladzislau feels oddly aware of the fact the man is concealing a gun (not so well either, probably above the law in most places, and also intimidation factor, rather than sneakiness). If he wants to save the fights for later, he might wanna comply.

A number of thoughts had gone through his head during the car ride, ranging from astonishment over the situation to worries about his missing passport and whether Mother was aware that something had happened to him on this odd trip overseas.

Other than a growl when he was reached for, cutting off when he realized that the ropes were being removed, Uladzislau made no complaints or comments. A bag over his head seemed okay as long as it didn't choke him. He came along without any fight.

The position of the sun was a surprise. My, that had been a late breakfast if sunset was nearly upon them now. A snatch of music passed through his head... no, it wasn't in his head. With the bag over it, though, he couldn't see the music video that his ring was projecting. It was a song that he'd known back home, though, by the Belarusian band Bi-2. 'The Black Sun' was the name of it when translated into English.

I continue de-summoning all-star as I approach at an even faster rate.

Neito is thinking about learning more about why this kid stole his clothing. "Everyone has a little good in them, right?" Neito whispers.

Moving through the significant, albeit not blinding pain, Neito arrived at the boy's exact location. People are looking at him odd now, although nobody has jumped in because of an assumption yet.

Neito, even after being provoked, was not planning on resorting to violence. He was injured, half-naked and insulted, but he believed that everyone must have some good in them, right? He would ifnd the good in the boy by talking to him, and he would avoid a physical altercation.

(OOC: Nice! Character development! I'm actually kind of proud of you. good job)

When the boy saw that the man who he had stolen from in a sticky situation wasn't stopping after being injured, he entered a near state of panick, "It w-was just a prank, d-dummy" he complained in a whimpering tone.

He looked around as Neito drew closer, almost at his destination, "Rapist!!!" he yelled, everyone looked around and some people thought about it, but just as a group of college students were going to tackle Neito, a man yelled at them from a distant, "Hey! Stop it! This little shit said the same thing to me after he plucked my wallet!"

The boy swallowed hard and his face began to glisten with sweat, "N-no" he cried under his voice, on the verge of a breakdown.

"He's a petty criminal, and a liar!" he yelled, people looked around, and the college students, held back for now. One told Neito to stop before he reached the boy, warning him there might be a fight if he refused. "Bro, just stay there, so we know you're not going to hurt anyone" he said, implying that Neito would be hurt if he didn't listen. These group of six men were all quite buff, and most of them had cardio paraphinilia, meaning they likely took cardio exercises, and would have good stamina, of course, tehy didn't know Neito was a stand user, in fact, they might not even be sure what that is, and not all of them had seen the whole encounter.

Some women whispered among themselves about why the weird teenage man had gotten burnt out of nowhere, and how come the sidewalk exploded, one suggested it might be a sinkhole and that he had come here this way, but the others had payed attention, and were willing to be confused, so they disagreed with her.

Neito noticed all these things because he was clever. He might not understand the threat of the man, since he wasn't very street smart, and he might make a bad choice in front of all these people, who saw him as a potential threat.
This message was last updated by the GM at 12:04, Fri 18 Oct 2019.

Neito thought for a moment and concluded that he was going to let the boy keep the clothing.

"Keep the clothes", Neito said before asking the boy "But first why do you need them anyway?"

(You can put thoughts in the same post as actions, just put them in blue color and use italics)

The boy looked around, nervously put on the spot, then he said, "I-i'm ve-very poor m-mister..." the boy said, giving the crowd the puppy dog eyes. It wasn't convincing, but most these people didn't know the difference or didn't care to butt in.

The man told the boy, "That's what you said when you took my wallet" he said to the boy, "Thieving isn't legal, and if you keep this up you'll end up in a bad place" he told him, clearly a decent man like Neito.

"Give this man his clothes back, and I'll give you some money to buy your own" he told the boy.

The boy struggled inside for a bit and his face barely held his rage... He hated being told what to do, that much was clear. "I WANT THESE!" he yelled like a toddler, and stomped on the ground.

"Those belong to that man" he said, "I'll get you some of your own" he told him. The boy began to scream and freak out, which made people awkwardly look away and some to leave with no more sympathy left for the brat.

"Shut up ya brat! Where's ya mutha?" a man, who had a Boston accent, heckled to the child. He screamed out horrible cusses at the man, things he shouldn't even know like slurs and threats of
a criminal and violent nature. The people look at him disgustedly and an old granny passing by told him to watch his mouth when speaking to adults, the boy then fully lost his horrible little temper.

He began to scream at everyone and hot tears filled his ugly, scrunched up face.

Then, in front of the whole crowd, he puked on a man's legs, and instead of vomit, out came a rainbow swirl of liquid sugary candy that was boiling hot. The man yelled in pain and took off his pants and the boy started to call him a pervert, the group was against him now, and more people were gathering.

The boy was going almost feral, entering an animal-like, furious storm and swinging his weak arms everywhere hazardously.

Then, the candy-vomit-stained trousers began to shake as the vomit began to crystalize and move across the floor towards the boy. The granny from earlier called him a Demon and fainted.

Within moments, in the boy's hands, from the candy vomit, a colored wheel had formed, and with an evil look on his young face, he spun the wheel. People were confused and some were even horrified by the impossible things happening in front of them, but very few people had realized they should be scared for their lives.

The wheel finished spinning. The boy read what was on the wheel, and the boy said, "i sink, therefore i am". People were confused, but everyone looked at him when he said it. Then... everyone who had gathered, over thirty people, began to panic.

They were sinking into the ground. The granny, the man who had his wallet stolen, and Neito himself, along with countless others, were being swallowed by the concrete. They couldn't pull themselves out no matter how hard they tried. One man had been sitting on a patio chair which had a criss-crossing grid of metal lines. As he sunk through that, he cried out in pain, as his lower half was slowly shredded by the metal, like a horriyfing play-dough fun factory.

The boy snickered and ran off, nobody tried to stop him now.

Neito was sinking into the concrete, he needed to do something.

(goddamn! sorry, Uladzislau, i could've sworn I replied to your post. My bad, shit. I bet you were wondering when I was going to reply all weekend.. Yikes what a shame.)

The two men were walking with Uladzislau now, and they led him into the building he could not see. They stopped and so did he. For a while, he heard some clicks and beeps, indicating a stronger password system, a door opening, with what seemed to be metal plates shuffling out of place. Very high-tech, almost science fiction.

He got pushed slightly to show that they were continuing to walk now, the two were careful not to agitate him, realizing he was a bit on edge.

Slowly, it got colder, until he realized they had been descending down stairs for a while, and there was no heating. Eventually, they came across a curtain, which they stopped behind, the man on Uladzislau's right, the driver's almost doppelganger went through, then came back out and made a gesture, probably a nod of confirmation, and they went through, the thin layer of fabric was hoisted above the red skinned man's face, but he was quite large, so it still irritated him for a moment when it brushed against the bag covering his face, almost like having a bag put on him again, though with the added downgrade of him being impatient from the last, perhaps. Then again, it might not have made him care.

The two men sat down the barbarian, and sat on either side of him. The two men holding his arms lightly in case he were to try something tensed up, as if something was coming towards them.

Suddenly, the bag was ripped off Uladzislau's face, and he realized he was inside a makeshift church, with an altar, some pews and a bottle of vodka rather than holy water. There was an extremely expensive looking book, that had no title, and probably wasn't a bible.

Most of this stuff he didn't see right away, because in his face, there was the face of a pale man with bags under his eyes, and dark, thick hair.

He was smiling at him, almost like they were comrades. "Hello" the man said, his mouth didn't move when doing so, but Uladzislau still heard him. Almost as if he was whispering in his ear from behind him. It was eerie at the least.

The man pulled back and let the barbarian view the room more, which is when he noticed those things.

Then, he returned to his pew. "We're just waiting for your friend" he told the red skinned man, "Then you're re-education and assimilation will begin. Don't worry, we will never use force to teach you something" he said all this without moving his lips, and even though he was across the room, Uladzislau heard it as if he was speaking to him in a dream, where he understood the exact words without any way of that communication being possible. With a scary, but unidentified smile, the man bowed his head and disappeared into thin air with a puff of black smoke.

The two men gulped and nodded to Uladzislau, "Do not try to leave the room, sir" they told the man, as they left through the unsealed, unprotected curtain with a shiver clearly going down the driver's back as they left.

The man was sat there alone.

The chill didn't bother Uladzislau at all. If anything, it was more pleasant than the streets were. That he was being taken down a flight of stairs while blindfolded by this bag worried him, on the other hand, and he had to trust that the two with him would keep him from missing a step.

More cloth. Ugh. What was this, a changing room for a new costume? No. Someone in his face with a weird way of speaking. And a... church?!?

The startled barbarian sat stock still where he'd been seated, eyes going this way and that. Then they settled on the vodka bottle. A drink. Hmm. It wanted it, but felt wrong just jumping up to get it. This was a church and he ought to be on his best behavior in God's house, shouldn't he? It was what his parents would have expected of him.

He looked again, at the altar, wondering what denomination of Christianity this might be. He knew that the Orthodox churches weren't strong in America, a more Protestant and Catholic nation like England and Spain combined.

Then he eyed the book from where he was seated. Eh? Something told him that wasn't a Bible. Slowly, cautiously, the red-skinned barbarian got to his feet and crept over to the book to look at it more closely.

Suddenly, the book began to float towards him, and landed in Uladzislau's hands without a sound.

It waited for a moment, until suddenly the pages opened up by themselves.

Uladzislau had an ironic feeling for some reason, as if he's lost something he didn't actually have

The book was high quality but had no labels or cover, just many, many words in delicate and exquisate hand-done calligraphy. The cover had a picture of a snake with two connected eyes, making an infinity shape. The symbol was made of what seemed to be pure gold, and popped out of the cover.

Uladzislau couldn't read, it had no pictures, and the back was completely empty. The book's frame itself was dark black and had crimson corner-pieces on the corners.

He almost jumped out of his boots, he was so startled by the book coming to his hands.
Wary, but astonished, he watched the cover open by itself and pages turn. There was much writing, but he had no idea what the language or even the alphabet was.

The symbol on the cover reminded him of an amulet he'd seen once in a movie, something about a big, furry dragon-thing and a boy riding on it. But the name and plot eluded him entirely.

Holding the book carefully in one hand to avoid damaging it in any way, he turned a few pages with the practiced skill of one who had dealt with many volumes in a library. His training as an archivist had not abandoned him as a barbarian, at least in this regard.

Although he couldn't make out anything the book was saying to him, it became clear to him, perhaps just through the sheer energy exuded by the book's 'aura', that this was a manifesto, of some kind. It was a call to action, and a philosophical theory all-in-one. This was a holy book for the unreligious, and it was dangerous, terrifying, and imminent.

A barbaric growl rose in Uladzislau's throat, and he crossed himself with the hand not holding the book. While it seemed in-character for a barbarian to rip up a book for kindling or just out of rage, he couldn't bring himself to do so. Years at the university learning to care for things argued against it.

Closing the book, he tried to put it back where it had been resting. Face down.

He succeeded in doing so. The minor adrenaline spike relaxed, and the half-life of the aggression chemical was reached a few times until it dissipated and was absorbed back into his body to be recycled.

He would realize that things here were quite boring, though that wasn't necessarily painful for him, it might be nice to have a break, even if he was in the hands of 'the perhaps enemies'.

Considering his options, Uladzislau returned to where he'd been sitting and sat down again. He closed his eyes, thinking about what little he'd heard and learned about 'stands' so far, and wondered about his. There were so many questions, so much confusion.

He found himself (mentally) floating amidst bookshelves again, like the brief vision he'd had when Miguel returned his ring to his finger. He looked at the shelves, and at the veins of lights connecting him to them and them to each other. What was this?

There were a few books among CDs or DVDs and other, less clear objects on the shelves, and he tried to reach for one. It floated to meet his hand, and to his surprise he felt it as if he was holding a real book.

Opening the hefty, over-sized paperback in the mental vision, he turned a few pages, but could read nothing. However, it did have quite a few black and white drawings in it, mostly of anthropomorphic animals.

He kept turning pages, looking through World Tree (though he did not know the name), puzzled by it. Until he happened to open his eyes to check for anyone maybe having come into the church with him.

And did a double take at finding the book he'd been examining in his vision here in his red hands, solid and real.

If he had bit his tongue, he would have realized he was awake. That book he had dreamt of had materialized itself... What an odd power.

Looking around to see if someone had arrived here as well was perhaps a guilty act for him, considering he probably wasn't alone, considering that man was shown to be able to go invisible, and there could be surveillance present as well... THough that wouldn't mean he wasn't lonely... The people in his old life who would have comforted him would be better off not being here, so it wouldn't be like himself to push them under the bus so he could be comforted, he loved his family, and that means enduring this all so he could see them again.

And Miguel, perhaps he hoped Miguel was here so that they could work together to escape this place, maybe even he didn't care that this would be bad for Miguel, who had already escaped this force's clutches once again... He either wished Miguel was here or he hoped he'd never be found and could maybe even settle down and live a peaceful, quiet life.

It was getting boring here, so maybe it was time to rest, although Uladzislau wasn't sure if he wanted to let his guard down, these people hadn't shown any signs of unecessary violence, though they were captured with force, where he currently tired and bored, was a pretty relaxed place, although the more Uladzislau looked around the more he noticed this church was makeshift and although it appeared like a normal church, it wouldn't logically have existed for long down here, it likely had no connections to any religious leader, and was instead something else.

I resummon All-star to destroy the concrete around me.

Neito, realizing he is under attack, begins to use his swarm stand to pummel the concrete around him.

He managed to free himself by destroying the waist-high ground and leaping out, however his jump seemed to be incredibly stiff, as if he was weighed down. His mind was racing, and he was beginning to sink faster and faster.

This effect was... beyond confusing... there must be some way to stop it... right?

He thought about what the boy had said, "I sink, therefore I am" that was a play on an old quote Neito had heard before in his studies, "I think, therefore I am"... by a man named Réné Descartes, a french philosopher from the 1600s.

Perhaps that held some information on how to deal with the effect. Because, even though Neito had freed himself, every step he took, landed in the ground like it was soft mud, and sucked him in. Each yanking of his foot from the solid ground took more energy than the last.

He needed to either incapacitate, maybe even try to kill the child who had fled and was running faster than he could, or he had to find a peaceful way to evade and negate the effects.

He did notice, that the man who had been shredded by the chair, was now unconscious, perhaps dead, from blood loss.. He was no longer sinking. The granny had fainted and she was no longer sinking either... they were no longer... sinking... or thinking...

Neito then said ¨I get it now!¨ and after that phrase tried sleeping.