A Study in Scarlet (DCStuck, OPEN)

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Sirion shot Lagola an odd look as she squeezed between him and Beth. It wasn't one of annoyance, surprisingly enough. He was just taken aback slightly and he wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe it was further respect for her willingness to act when she saw him crossing some line. She was certainly going to great lengths to surprise him today, whatever constituted "today" out here.

Regardless, Sirion listened intently to Beth's description, eating up every word about their shared enemy while tuning out the woman's more personal details. "So he's got you guys' powers too, huh? *** damn, between the ten of us and... however many pinkies there are out there, this bastard probably has all twelve aspects at his disposal! But how'd ya get rid of 'im? And what about a name?! What the hell are we supposed to call this douche?!"

In response to Ryan's question, Sirion glared at him and answered, "No, it's got nothing to do with f***in' chucklevoodoos, stubby. Grimdark's when ya get taken over by the power of the monsters out here in the ring." Blunt as he was, it was certainly a topic Sirion knew plenty about, given his title. He literally had the power to make any one of them go grimdark that very moment.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Lagola was reeling from these descriptions, not to mention the very real possibility that this demon had control over every aspect. It just made her all the more fearful for their living alpha timeline selves who would have to deal with him. But as scared as she was, she knew this still wasn't much to go on. Their alt selves likely knew all of this already, at least at the point in time Beth's dream projection presently inhabited. With the information they had, they could at least warn any past selves who came through here, but they needed more if they were going to provide any useful insight into this foe's downfall.

As she pondered this, however, another dreadful piece of information came to her.

This demon had... killed the Angel of Time.

Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly when this was relayed to her. Sure, it was just one of many iterations of him scattered across paradox space, just like them... but still. He killed the Angel of Time. The unseen hand guiding Lagola along her journey. A mysterious, powerful entity who sought only to do good. Killed. Needless to say, this did not sit well with Lagola at all.

And strangely enough, this revelation made her... angry.

The need to stop this foe was a given from the start, but now... Now she really and truly wanted this monster to DIE.

When Sirion spoke up again, Lagola nodded along, her face reflecting a stone-cold determination that looked wildly out of character for the meek bronze blood. Still, she had to sigh at his behavior, slouching slightly with exasperation. "Sirion, come on. They're trying to help us. You can at least show some gratitude."

By now, she was surprising even herself. Not just because of the confidence she was displaying... but because her desire to help Sirion was quickly evolving into a need to help him find peace, both with the issue at hand and with himself, in exchange for his protection and the boost in assurance he was rubbing off on her.

She stared up at him, her sharp stare betraying confusion and wonder. Was she... starting to feel pale?

[DMis]

"All but Hope. There was a male version of myself, a Thief of Void, a Huntress, a half yokai, a Sprite, the aforementioned Angel of Time, and an unawakened Rogue of Hope were at the battle. That battle leveled the top of a mountain... He's called Clockwork and no we barely landed any hits on the jackass. He had his fill of humiliating us and just left of his own violation," Beth answered. "Ryan. There's a version of you alive on Nexus Island. If you need another me to talk to- third bubble on the left. Just watch out for the shifting crystals."

[jessie]

Kamulo made a little "oh!" of pleased surprise when Ryan passed her a sketchbook, brushing a hand down its cover. Wow, how nice of Ryan. Now, if only she had something to write with... oh, duh, dreambubbles! If she could conjure a cloud, she could imagine up a silly little pigment pen. It appeared in the air before her, and she began scribbling down everything she'd heard and deduced in pretty cerulean ink.

As she was writing down the list of people Beth cited at the battle, she began another line of questioning. "Clockwork, huh?... He just left, you say? Could you wager why? Was he distracted, or bored? Did he say anything? Further, did he say anything throughout the whole fight?"

[ryocker]

Ryan stared toward where she pointed. "Another you..." This seemed insane, but with how much weird stuff had gone on since his arm got lopped off and he died... "We'll try finding her later. Right now, we um, need to get more about this clockwork guy."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Sirion looked down at Lagola with a raised eyebrow, still barely showing any reaction to her intervention beyond annoyance. Inwardly, though, he continued to marvel at her show of confidence. He really didn't even mind that she was using it to put him in his place. Maybe his relief at finding information was overriding his humiliation, but if he had to be honest with himself, he was just glad that he was finally bringing out the boldness in Lagola after all this time. If reprimanding him was what it took for her to grow a posture pole, Sirion was all for it.

Wait... Wanting her around to help him, bringing out her inner strength, willingly allowing her to calm him down... Was Sirion seriously starting to feel...?!

He quickly shook those ridiculous thoughts out of his think pan. They had been dead for what felt like an hour. No sense in jumping to conclusions based on a few measly displays of trust.

"Clockwork?" Putting aside his mixed feelings, Sirion returned to the topic at hand with a deadpan scowl. For such a powerful adversary, that name sounded profoundly disappointing. But hey, at least it was something to go by. "Wouldn't surprise me if he was the type uh guy to f*** off 'cause the b*tches he's fighting ain't putting up a fight."

He tapped his chin and stared at the ground, not that his change in focus was particularly evident. "So... everything but hope, huh? Guess that's a blessing worth counting. If he had hope, he could just believe that reality itself doesn't exist. All the more reason to take the prick down."

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Absolutely," Lagola sternly agreed, her expression then softening slightly as she addressed Beth again. "You say you have a Rogue of Hope amongst your team, right? W-Well, we have a Seer of Hope. I wanna believe that, given the time travel abilities he possesses, if there exists any point in any timeline where he... Clockwork acquired either of their powers, that version of him would've made his move already. Maybe. I-I wanna believe that, at least. However, whatever the case may be, it's crucial that his attempts to steal their powers never succeed."

She averted her gaze and rubbed her arm, her trademark bashfulness briefly resurfacing. "I-I'm sorry if that sounds forceful of me, but... it's doubtful that we can be of much help... being dead and all. Facing him head-on is a daunting task; Sirion and I can attest to that."

[DMis]

Forsaken froze upon hearing Sirion's comment. "Wanna watch who you're talking about, Pup. And last I checked I'm still alive where as I'm guessing you're one of the ones he has killed," she warned as the crystals and tendrils came out again. She took a breath before looking to Lagola and the other two. "In order- didn't speak. I can only assume he grew bored with the group. Was silent the whole fight."

[jessie]

Her laugh was nervous, and she waved a hand dismissively. "Please forgive my friend here. I'm sure he knows you put up quite a fight. It's very impressive how you got out alive while evidence suggest that's not the norm!" She laughed again, trying to smooth everything over with a happy tone.

Kamulo continued to scratch down notes in the notebook, hashing off bullet-pointed lists and cordoning off tidbits. Goodness, she'd love to get this Clockwork onto a therapy bench and pick at his brain, if she wasn't positive he'd kill her ghost for being 50 measurements near him. She wrote down what Lagola had said about Hope players, drawing a circle around the information. "Curiouser and curiouser... It is quite lucky he doesn't have Hope. I'll admit, I'm a tad intrigued as to what would happen... but it's probably better to stop him."

[ryocker]

Watching Kamulo write- whilst being nervous about all the yelling- Ryo suddenly realized. "...Wait. Did he seem to have, uh, the classes on top of the aspects, or just full use over the aspects? B-because if he could use those powers together- Light seeing the future, Space to go anywhere, time to be at any time and void to just... cease, wouldn't that mean, he's... um..."

Because of the way his head tilted, it was easy to tell Ryo was looking down. Whatever he just realized he was afraid to say- and seemed to be looking around frantically. "...And now we're probably dead," he sighed, realizing he had just noted how this guy could essentially be anywhere. Thereby showing he could be close by without them knowing it.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Look, all I'm sayin' is that if he cared enough to kill you guys, he would've," Sirion grunted, folding his arms. "This freak puts up a hard fight, I can tell. I fought monsters the size uh mountains, so I know what I'm sayin' when I say that if something's too boring or pointless to kill, then what's the point?"

Hearing Ryan's comment, Sirion nodded curtly and stated, "Yeah. If someone doesn't take this prick down, we can kiss our entire reality goodbye. Now if no one has anything else to contribute, I say we split and start spreading the word. The more people who know, the closer we get to saving their sorry a**es."

[ParamountKeymaster]

In response to Sirion's comment, all Lagola could think to do was shoot him an awkward frown and raise her hands, wordlessly expressing that he needed to calm down. Regardless of how brash said comment was, it did get her thinking about one thing. Sure, she wouldn't put it past such a powerful adversary to ignore an opportunity to kill someone if he didn't perceive them as a threat, but she wasn't about to doubt these players' collective power either. She believed they had it in them to take Clockwork down, and it was highly possible that Clockwork saw it too.

By that logic... what if he let them live for a reason?

While that possibility left her scratching her head, Lagola wholly agreed with Sirion's proposal for their next course of action. "Yes, it... might be vital to inform others of Clockwork's presence... a-as well as gather anymore vital clues that might be out there. If enough ghosts possess enough information, we might be able to inform any living dreamers of something they didn't know."

Lagola rolled up her sleeves, and pounded her fist against her palm. "Beth... Thank you. I... I wish you and your teammates the best of luck. And... if the opportunity arises..."

Her white eyes were narrow. Her tone was low and gruff. The Angel of Time was in the back of her think pan.

"...skewer that son of a b**** for me."

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"Please."

[DMis]

Forsaken sighed. "I didn't observe him having the classes. And he rarely seems to meet with the dead. Careful where you all tread. Things will get rougher from here on out," she offered. "Don't you want that privilege for yourself Lagola? Why not when you 5 get your army together- Contact me. Me and my team will happily keep him occupied for you guys."

If Ryan remembered anything from his short time with her- he probably would have called her bluff, but Forsaken wasn't sure of this one.

[jessie]

With a start, Kamulo glanced over at Lagola. She didn't get to spend much time with her in her timeline, but she did remember that Lagola wasn't like that. Perhaps something happened in the timeline to make this Lagola radically different., Yes, that had to be it.

"Meet with him? Oh, no, no not any time soon! That would be, exponentially stupid." She side-eyed Sirion. "Perhaps at some point but, for now it is better to remain passive. Information collection and distribution." Kamulo was sure that, if they met Clockwork now, they'd be deader than dead. Could it be possible, to kill a ghost?

"...5 of us?"

[ryocker]

Ryan blinked. That doesn't sound right..." he thought, but soon dismissed it. He didn't have time to note any infrequency.