Through the Looking Glass.

by **John Hino** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 1:54 pm

"I'm not convinced that's a good thing."

by **Trev Anderson** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 3:24 pm

"You and me both..."

by **Narrator** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 8:33 pm

There were a lot of things that the team might expect, as they slowly reached the courtyard between the Manor and the Admin Building. Perhaps a Mad Max-esque fortress, guarded by scarred and burnt rebels. Perhaps a group of post-apocalyptic humans, holding out against the Weird Shit that the world had turned into, holding guns, shooting first and asking questions later. Perhaps nothing but a graveyard, filled with corpses and mangled bodies.

It is probably safe to say that you would have to go quite far down that list before you would come across a scenario like the one that the approaching team now discovered.

There were...picnic tables. Filled with some very familiar faces, apparently enjoying some sort of pancake breakfast, with bacon and orange juice and the works. At one table, a 16-year old Anita Fernandez joked with a 16-year old Haley Crusek. At another, Zoe Waleker and Kara Vanderbilt were having some kind of heated debate about physics and which were the worst thereof, while Altamira Vazquez urged them on.

At the grill, Domanic Taylor, wearing an apron, was laughing at Victoria Valentine's attempts to distract him, as he flipped some sausages.

Suffice it to say, something was wrong here.

by **John Hino** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:00 pm

"Okay... now this? This is weird."

by **Gemma Sloan** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:02 pm

Gemma stopped, tilting her stony head to the side as she regarded the scene, not certain what was going on. This was a little out of her depth though. Dealing with sentient vines? Sure. Post-apocalyptic picnics? Not so much.

by **Jennifer Newgate** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:13 pm

"The fuck is this..." Jennifer mumbles.

by **Trev Anderson** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:16 pm

"What...the....fuck...."

by **Altamira Vazquez** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 9:24 pm

"Howdy, y'all!" Altamira waved. "Is smelling good, yes no?"

by **Gemma Sloan** » Sun Apr 19, 2015 10:52 pm

Gemma's flames died and she took a step or two back, eyeing Altamira closely.

by **Altamira Vazquez** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:44 am

"Is no? Breaking the fast is the goodness, yes?" she said, cocking her head to the right oddly.

by **Vertie Easley** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:56 am

"Ah ha! Altamira, fire and familiar. Totally my first guess."

Vertie's more socially acceptable scouts moved to the tables and people, noses twitching for the food.

by **Trev Anderson** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 8:00 am

Trev hesitantly sheathed his knife but still looked a bit uneasy

by **John Hino** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 9:25 am

John sheathed his sword, faking a smile. "It's good to see you Altamira."

"I recommend not eating anything... assuming it's even real," he whispered.

by **Brigid Plunder** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:04 pm

"All of them seem... off."

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:12 pm

"Ah, come on, y'all can't say stuff like that till y'all have introduced y'allselfs!" Haley laughed at the newcomers. "C'mon, y'all've got more nerve than Carter’s got Liver Pills."

by **Jennifer Newgate** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:14 pm

"And top think I thought Haley was obnoxious before... She's not even any older. What the hell is going on here?" she asks no one in particular while taking a careful step towards the strange assembly.

by **Haley Crusek** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:18 pm

"Sit down! Have some food. Y'all look rode hard and put up wet."

by **Gemma Sloan** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:26 pm

"So you don't know who we are?' Gemma directed at Haley, but with the sound of a more general question.

by **Madrox Saavedra** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 1:30 pm

"Well, it's normally considered polite to introduce oneself first, I suppose," said someone who was less familiar to at least some of the crew. "Welcome to Xaviers Sanctuary. You're safe here."

by **John Hino** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 2:01 pm

"Jennifer. How many minds do you sense?"

by **Jennifer Newgate** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:21 pm

"Just this weird hum..." she says, trying to brush her mind over Haley in particular.

by **John Hino** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:38 pm

"Anything from him?" he asked, motioning to Madrox.

by **Trev Anderson** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:56 pm

"....she sounds like Woody's girlfriend from Toy Story. She didn't talk like that did she?"

by **Narrator** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:12 pm

John Hino wrote:"Jennifer. How many minds do you sense?"

Jennifer sensed precisely as many minds as there were in the adventuring party. Everyone else seemed to be blanks, but that weird hum was there.

The bacon, at least, seemed real, or so Vertie's socially acceptable scouts seemed to claim.

by **Jennifer Newgate** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:15 pm

"Nothing. From any of them..." she says, growing increasingly uncomfortable.

by **Gemma Sloan** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:17 pm

"Who's in charge here?" Gemma asked.

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:18 pm

"Sit down, precious, and rest a while. Clearly, you're exhausted," VIctoria said, flashing a predatory smile.

by **Trev Anderson** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:36 pm

Trev's hand moved back to the hilt of his knife, eyes darting back and forth nervously.

by **Vertie Easley** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:45 pm

"People food meat smells like people food meat." Vertie said as the squirrels moved away again sniffing at the humans. The rats stayed on the fringes of the group, noses and eyes working.

by **Narrator** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:22 pm

The people smelled wrong. That was the best way to put it. Off.

by **Gemma Sloan** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:25 pm

"You didn't answer my question," Gemma growls at Victoria. The forward edges of her wings burst into flame again.

by **John Hino** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:53 pm

"No minds? Hrm... would have guessed Altamira was doing this."

by **Vertie Easley** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 7:19 pm

"People don't smell of people." vertie stood taller. "I agree that she could do something like this...if she is here, she's spread out...and she's hurt...like Theresa."

by **Victoria Valentine** » Mon Apr 20, 2015 7:34 pm

Gemma Sloan wrote:"You didn't answer my question," Gemma growls at Victoria. The forward edges of her wings burst into flame again.

"Well, aren't we the impatient one?" Victoria smiled. "No one's really in 'charge', darling, we make things go as we please."

by **Gemma Sloan** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 8:23 am

Gemma's frown deepens and she starts walking around the picnic, trying to move herself closer to the Manor. It isn't exactly subtle.

by **Jennifer Newgate** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 9:38 am

Jennifer stands back and continues to let her mind try to reach something, mainly expecting to sense an ambush of trap in a mind hiding behind this. But with every moment that she doesn't find anything the scene in front of her becomes more and more inviting just from the fact that a break from constantly expecting something to fall them in the back is very alluring. And the smell of barbecue only adds to the sense of wishful thinking. At the very least she could use a small break from everything and this scene is so utopic that it's hard to argue with. But worst of all, it radiates a sense of 'home' that none of their hideouts in the ruined city even comes close to, promising to just let them be happy for a while.

She blinks her eyes and redoubles her efforts to find some kind of malevolent presence, but the temptations are all just her own. She takes a couple steps towards the group of impossibly-age people before addressing her companions. "I don't think this is a trap, whatever it is. And it sure smells like real food to me. And I mean real food, not shit scraped from a can. Maybe we can take a bit of a break while we try to figure out what happened here?"

by **John Hino** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:19 am

"If it's Fae magic at work here, then eating the food is a very bad idea. Real or not."

He stepped closer to one of the fakes, wondering if Viv's gift of sight would reveal anything.

by **Vertie Easley** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 2:02 pm

"Well..as lovely as that sounds. These people aren't our friends, they're...like..badly done copies or something. Like Haley, it's like someone saw she was from Texas from her file and stuck "Texan stereotype 1" onto her image. It's like a bad DR program."

by **Brigid Plunder** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 2:24 pm

"You don't suppose it's the Danger Room, or some splinter of ASHLIE, do you?"

by **Jennifer Newgate** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 3:00 pm

"I can't sense any sentient mind and Vivienne said we'd be able to see Fey magic. If it's a simulation I don't even care right now, it smells delicious. This is a chance to take a fucking break for once, to take an hour of not having to deal with all the bullshit out there. That's what this placed used to be and I'll gladly take a bad stereotype of Haley as a compromise. It's as close as we're ever gonna get to the real deal. It's nice, it's warm, people want us here even if they're kind of freaky. Don't tell me you didn't miss that."

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