Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lutetia City: The Phantom Quarter

Liam winced slightly at the paladin remark, nodding his head slowly by way of response. He didn't like the idea of being on the wrong end of one of their oversized pistols... but supposed he didn't have much choice any more.

"Wand show, eh?" Bex raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Didn't think you had a wand to show off, Jax."

"Wahey," Liam interjected tentatively with a faint grin. Seeing that everyone else was settling in, he glanced around for a place to sit, ending up taking a perch on the edge of a table. "So, uh... you guys been out here long?"

Corby shrugged. "Varies between us. And depends what you mean by 'here'. Been lurking in this dump for coming up on a year. Before that, we moved around a lot. Used to try and squat in the nicer parts of the city. Fontainebleu, mostly. Lots of abandoned places 'round there. Had a few too many run-ins with shit, though, so we figured we'd come here, where nobody's gonna bother looking."

"Can I ask how each of you ended up ... uh, dead?" Liam asked.

"Suppose so." Corby shrugged again. "I signed up for it."

Liam blinked. "Come again?"

Sighing, Corby went on. "I used to know Ghast when we were kids. Were even in a gang before. He'd look out for me, best he could, more'n anyone in my actual family ever did. Then he disappeared, thought he was dead. And he was, but ... y'know. When I bumped into him again, and he gave me the lowdown, I wanted in. Not much else to it."

"I was a runaway," Bex chimed in next. "And an idiot. Got myself picked up by some shady guys. We think they were traffickers, but don't know for sure. Either way, they were bad news. Then these guys," she thumbed at Corby and Faith, "saved my sorry ass and brought me back here. I didn't ... join properly till a few months later. Suffered through being cold, hungry and sick till then. It was after getting pneumonia that was probably gonna kill me anyway that I said 'fuck it' and got Ghast to turn me, and here I am! Good as new. Ish."

Liam nodded, then looked at the other two expectantly.
 
Ben massaged his neck. This was a question he wasn't really asked often and he still found it a bit odd to think of himself as "dead."

"Well, I was living on the streets for a while, trying to survive on my own. I had to steal when I got desperate and one day things didn't go as planned. I tried running but they had a gun on them. Two shots and I was down. Next thing I knew I was here."
 
Grinning and winking over at Bex, Faith stretched out her body, leaning back to grab the pool stick again. She had an issue with needing something in her hands to mess with and generally it was a pool ball, but occasionally she enjoyed twirling the stick around. Letting her gaze drift around the room as everyone explained how they came to be what they were and she supposed where they were, the blonde wished she had a watch and trusted Corby to keep track of the time. Jax sighed a little before glancing at Liam getting a twinkle in her eye, feeling slightly mischievous.

"Well, you see. I was involved in some top secret military ops and I ended up capturing Ghast and man, he sneezed on me and the next thing I knew, woke up dead." Jax nodded her head and tried to keep a straight face before grunting a little.

"When I was three, my mom tried to burn the house down with me and my pops inside of it. She failed thanks to his quick thinking. Two years later, a gang broke into the house and slaughtered her brutally. Dad stopped paying me attention, so I sought it elsewhere. Got mixed up in some stuff and even got myself a new family. However, while out looking for weapons, I was attacked but saved by Ghast. I ran with him and the others for a bit and it was when I ran across the burned carcasses of my new family and the home we were living in torched, I decided enough was enough. Helped that when I went after the bastards responsible, they critically injured me and didn't have much of a choice." Shrugging a little, Jax glanced away, it clear those memories were still very upsetting to her.
 
"Man," Liam rubbed at the back of his head, whistling appreciatively. "You guys've seen some shit..."

"So," Bex folded her arms and eyed him curiosly. "How'd you end up bleeding out in the snow all the way out here?"

Liam grimaced. "Eh, nothing ... quite as exciting as you guys. Long story short, I got kicked out my house by my dad a few weeks back... Crashed at a few friends' places, but their parents didn't want me around long. Took a wrong turn at some point and ended up here, and then... next thing I know, I'm facedown in the snow." He shrugged, shaking his head. "Sounds pretty lacklustre after all of you."

"Why'd you get kicked out?" Bex asked.

"Oh, I..." Liam bit his lip awkwardly. "I may... have ... okay, this is going to sound really bad, but let me clarify that she came onto me." Another pause, as Bex raised her eyebrows sharply. "Okay, wait, not that bad. Oh, gods. I'm just gonna say it. I, er ... slept with my dad's girlfriend."

"Pfffffft!" Bex burst out laughing, clasping her hands over her mouth. Even Corby let out a small snort of laughter. "Oh man. That's class."

If it were physically possible, Liam was pretty sure he'd have been blushing. "Yeah ... er... I mean, she was kind of young for him..."
 
"That's not really something to laugh about, Bex."

Ben would readily stand in Liam's defense. He felt they had something in common, being brought into this without asking. He just sighed knowing she probably didn't care and would continue to find it amusing.
 
Faith slid off the pool table, snorting a little at the notion of Liam's dad kicking him out just because he slept with his bunny wife. Shaking her head, she glanced over at Corby and then at her invisible watch and back again. Truth be told, after revisiting her memories, she was in desperate need for some fresh air. She walked to Liam and patted him on the shoulder. "Could've been worse. Could have been invited into a three-way, eh? Regardless, welcome to the gang and don't worry about adjusting... it'll come eventually, maybe." She really needed to work on her encouraging words, someday.

"Been ten minutes yet?" She questioned, aching to smash some heads in.
 
"Oh, god," Liam pulled a face at Faith's suggestion, before sighing and shaking his head. "Nah, it's alright," he said to Ben, grinning faintly. "Mistakes were made. Was not my finest hour, but hey, sometimes you think with the wrong head..." There was a pause, before a mortified expression crept onto his face. "Wait, can I still-"

"Yes," Bex interjected, smirking. "Your dick still works. As Ghast and Arty are fond of reminding us." She paused for a moment. "Well, it kinda works. Think you're shooting blanks."

Liam looked visibly relieved, nodding his head. "Right. Yeah. Oookay."

"Whyyyy are you talking about this." Corby groaned, glancing at the clock. "You know what, it hasn't been ten minutes, but I don't want to have to listen to-"

As if on cue, at that moment the door was pushed open again. Ghast stepped into the bar with a grin on his face, a brightly glowing longsword held in one hand. "Guess who got away with the best trophy ever?" he called to the room at large, brandishing the sunlit sword dramatically. "That's right, this guy. Can I get a 'fuck yeah'?"

"Fuck yeah!" Bex exclaimed, at the same time as Corby facepalmed and muttered "Fucking hell."
 
Ben rolled his eyes and shook his head at what the conversation had spiraled into. His disbelief at his friends' immaturity was interrupted when Ghast stepped into the room, showing off his souvenir.

"Welcome back. Glad to see you're alright."
 
"Ugh, seriously? Is that all guys think about? Wait, no, don't answer that. I really don't want to know." Shaking her head, Faith just rolled her eyes, generalizing all males and not necessarily the boys in the room with her. Her eyes shifted towards Corby, glad that he was willing to leave now to go search out for Ghast. However, before the two could even step out of the building, the door swung open revealing Ghast holding a bitchin' sword.

"Man, oh man! Where the hell can I get me one of those!" Faith pumped her fist up, moving over towards the glowing weapon, almost drooling at it.
 
"Fight a paladin for it," Ghast replied with a smirk, gesturing down at where a bloody hole in his jeans remained as evidence of a gunshot wound from earlier. "But actually don't, they tend to come back with friends if you bloody their noses." He shrugged. "Didn't have much choice this time though, so figured - hey, might as well take home the prize."

The sword's glow was dimmer now than it had been during the fight, and its heat less intense, but it was still like getting close to a roaring fire. Bex snorted from where she was leaning. "Yeah, like you earned it," she teased. "I'm the one that got him to drop it."

"Yeah?" Ghast shot a grin back at her. "Woulda liked to have seen you try that before me and Corbs had made him drop his gun."

"Uh, hey," Liam piped up, flashing Ghast a half-smile.

Ghast turned to face him, his grin broadening. "Yo! New guy. Glad to see you haven't run away yet." He paused long enough to prop the sword up somewhere it wasn't going to catch anything flammable alight. "Feeling alright?"

"Yeah? Yeah. I think so. I feel ... normal, ish? Aside from occasionally becoming conscious of the fact I'm not breathing..."

"That'll happen. Good to try and stay in the habit of doing it, though," he noted. "Some people'll pick up on that. Paladins especially. And that's, as you've probably figured, bad news. And on that note..." His expression turned a little more serious. "You guys have anything here you'd miss, get it stuffed in a bag and somewhere easy to grab. Don't know if the palapigs are gonna come after us, but they know we're here now - here in the quarter, not here specifically - so it's a possibility."

He paused, and shrugged. "Unlikely, in my opinion. Seems like they've got plenty to worry about with all the massacres 'n disappearances. But best not to underestimate how far one of those tin cans will go for their bigotry."
 
"I would totally fight a paladin for a sword like that, Ghast. Hell, I'd fight a whole lot if it meant that could be mine. You know how I am with weaponry, especially swords. They just do something to me." Jax grinned, poking her tongue out a little before flopping back down on the pool table, stretching herself out. She watched the bossman interacting with the new guy, giving him pointers about breathing, which automatically made her start practicing on her own breathing techniques, something she hadn't done all that much since she primarily hung out at here.

"Wait, what? We have to leave? Damn it, Ghast. I like it here." Jax shook her head, hating that they were going to potentially have to leave. "Can't we just stay low for a while? If the Palapigs come, we'll deal. Right? Right?" Frowning, she slid off the pool table and moved over into the corner, grabbing her bag, shoving her stuff inside of it before placing it back on the table, sitting back down again. "Got my stuff and I'll be taking the pool table too. It's my bed."
 
"Not leaving yet, nah," Ghast shook his head. "But I want everyone ready to go the moment we hear the sound of giant over-compensatory motorbike engines. And if that does happen, try and fuck up the sign on your way out - let anyone who's out at the time know not to come back here. If the pun is gone, so're we. Worst case scenario we'll meet back up at the laundry place in Lupaix, then figure out where to go from there."

"Already planning to bail? Guess things didn't go great after I blacked out..."

Ghast blinked, turning to face the stairs as Arty shuffled into view. He still looked a little worse for wear - his shirt was ripped to tatters and hanging loosely off of him, and there was some blood crusted in his hair - but for someone who'd been missing half of his head an hour ago, there were a lot worse states to be in.

"Arty!" Bex grinned happily upon seeing him. "Wow, I thought you'd take at least most of the afternoon in a dirt nap after that one. Yeesh. It was bad. But Ghast said you'd be fine, and he's the expert..."

"Yeah..." Ghast nodded. "Knew you weren't gone for good, buddy... but I was still kinda worried. Low-key. That's the first time any of you lot've been quite so ... thoroughly dead. Not ... not all ghouls are made equal, y'know? I dunno what you all can survive, exactly."

"Best try not to die too regularly, then," Corby remarked, folding his arms.

Arty smirked. "Aw, I'm touched that you were worried, Ghasty."

"Don't be cute with me, dumbfuck. It's your own fault for getting your head blown off. Congrats, if natural selection had its way you'd be outta here twice over now."

"I mean, hey, the breeding pool's safe either way I guess," Arty snorted, before glancing over at Liam, and smiling at him. "Hey. Nice to see you made it. Guess that means I didn't get my head blown off for nothing."

"Hey, yeah, uh, thanks man. Seriously." Liam smiled back sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout your ... y'know."

"Don't sweat it. Paladins gonna paladin." Arty rubbed absently at his head, as though making sure it was definitely all there. "My y'know is back and I was already pretty dumb, so can't have been too big a loss up there."
 
"If we do have to leave where will we go?"

Ben knew some of his old hiding places but he never thought he'd have to return to them. More than anything he was scared of the paladins actaully managing to track them down. Yeah he hadn't been too keen on becoming an undead in the first place but the last thing he wanted now was to die a second time at the hands of a paladin.
 
"Why can't we fight? I mean, I like this place. It's got a nice vibe to it and the pun is fantastic. We're not going to find something like this again, Ghast. I just... I know we're not all rwar-gonna-kill-you type people, but in a sense it'd be self-defense because they're stomping on our territory, right?" Jax shook her head, glancing over at Arty when he came downstairs, mostly better. Grinning, she waved at him, snerking at his final comment.

"Dunno man, you keep losing it, pretty soon you might be walking around like a zombie, mumbling something about brains in a desperate attempt to get what you've lost." Winking, she walked over and patted him on the back before scooting for the front door, opting to take a peek outside briefly.
 
"Probably somewhere else in the Quarter. If we keep moving around, eventually they'll give up the ghost and assume we're gone." Ghast shook his head. "You know I'd be more than happy to beat a few tin cans around, Jax, but even if we could take a whole squad of the fucks... and I dunno if we could, even if we could, that just makes us a bigger target. Nah, right now we're not ready to take on the Church. Won't be for a long time."

"No shit," Bex snorted. "I mean, come on guys, they're literally the army. Like, we're badasses, but we can't fight the whole fucking military."

"Not directly anyway," Ghast shrugged. "So yeah, much as I hate it, we'll have to peace out if they come looking for us here. Or else they'll keep sending more people after us."

"What exactly happened after I got blasted, anyway?" Arty piped up.

"Long story short? We drove off the paladin that shot you, I turned Liam here, then we all peaced the fuck out when the paladin came back with backup." Ghast answered. "Oh, and we stole the asshole's gun and sword, so we've got those now. Which is nice. I can give you the unabridged version later, if you want."

"Sure, I guess." Arty shrugged, grinning. "Glad you took that guy's shit, though. Wish I could've seen the look on his face."

"It was a thing of beauty." Ghast grinned back. "He was sooo mad. Oh, then the other paladins gave him shit for it, which was even better. Guess he was a jerk even by their standards."
 
"Well it's good to hear there are at least some paladins with a good head on their shoulders. Where are we going to go though? If they don't know about this place then we could probably stay. The quarter is full of abandoned places like this that they are more likely to look."
 
"What if we just set up a trap somewhere else in the Quarter, make them thing we're there, when we're really not. I dunno, just..." Jax grunted a moment, pausing by the door to glance at the rest of the group. "I know we're not able to take them on directly or potentially indirectly at the moment, but I'm not about to just roll over like a bitch." She shook her head, but knew better than to press it. Stretching out her arms above her head, she let her bones pop a few times before just saluting and stepping outside to take a gander around.

"Don't worry, I'll be all ninja-like and won't go far." She managed, poking her head inside the door frame before closing the door behind her to get some fresh air, despite not truly needing it. Sometimes bad habits didn't die quickly.
 
The young woman looked both sorely out of place and at home in such a desolate place. Her silvery hair, pale white skin, and fluid movement seemed to give her a ghost-like appearance as she traveled down the deserted road. But despite qualities, she was quite a stunning creature. The putrid air of rotting corpses did not seem to fully phase her, with her nose slightly wrinkled in disgust. But she had been coming here quite often lately, usually in the evening and almost like clockwork. For those unfortunate souls who lingered in this dump, she was almost a welcome fixture. A flower to gaze at to brighten their day.

She entered the nearly run down building, pulling up the ends of her red dress in order to climb the creaky staircase up to the second floor. There, the building seemed a stark contrast. It was roomier than one it may seem on the outside, and sturdier. It was almost as if magic had forced reality to become something completely different.

The young woman sat down the satchel she had been carrying and pulled out a few of the items inside. Bones, a few pieces of incense, and a small vial filled with a crimson liquid. She then also pulled out a dark silver rimmed mirror. Walking over to the middle of the room with the ingredients to where a circle is drawn and placed the incense and bones at particular points. She placed the mirror in the middle and stood with the vial in had. In an unknown tongue, she began to chant, tipping the now open vial and dripping blood on the silvery surface of the mirror.

"I summon ye, come forth and serve me!"
 
The blood pooled in the middle of the mirror, before spreading over the glass to make it a deep red; clearly something was happening. The smoke from the burning incense thickened within the circle, getting to the point where seeing anything inside the circle was impossible, before a thundering roar could be heard from inside the smoke, flames starting to lick the edge of the circle. An orange glow was visible from inside the smog, twin pricks of light staring out. The blackness receded, revealing a tiger standing within the circle, it’s orange stripes seeming to burn like fire as stalked around the cell it was caged in.

“Who dares wake…” it began, voice sounding like the epitome of rage, some burning anger which rose from the depths of the being, before it stopped, noticing the young woman on the other side of the line.

It looked at the human, and looked around it, taking note of the bones an incense. Clearly, Sarkova wasn’t where he thought he was, it not being sandy or at all like a desert. This human was using bones and incense for gods sake, perhaps this was a society far away from where he last was, unused to summoning? Such items were fairly primitive in Sarkova's eyes. The flames retreated from the edge of the circle, and the fire that was part of the tiger died down a bit as the creature sniffed the line surrounding it, looking for some weak spot it could exploit. It took its time with this, partly to be thorough and make sure he was properly bound, partly to irritate the human summoning him.

Eventually, the tiger seemed satisfied that there was no escape, and sat down, looking at the human cautiously. He wasn’t entirely sure of this society, whether they revered demons as some did, or viewed them as little more than slaves. Then again, this might be some rogue summoner trying her luck at some impressive spirit.

“I am summoned” it said, sounding less angry now, and more curious, looking at the woman in a strange manner, reflecting both its wariness and inquisitive stance on her.
 
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The woman's lips twisted to a small smile, her arms folding across her chest as she stared at him as well. The ghostly woman waited until he had settled from his inspection, not in the least seeming irritated or impatient. Instead, she seemed almost as if she expected this. "Welcome to Lutetia." She said, almost as if she were purring. There was something more to this woman, gazing up at the summoned entity with her silvery grey eyes. Almost as if she seemed both young and ageless at the same time, and although she seemed gentle and kind.. There was a hint of deviousness twinkling in her eyes.

"My name is Sumisu." She said, bowing her head slightly. "What is your name?" She asked sweetly.
 
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