Prelude: Nonohara's arrival (Ehlana, Humble Athena)

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

 

This thread will cover the time period starting when the siblings are first sent to the Inn, until approximately a month later when the main Crossroads Inn thread is. -me

"GO AWAY!!!" is the last thing the two hear before everything goes fuzzy. The burst of arcane energy from the fey sends both of the twins reeling on the edge of consciousness and staggering to the ground. They seem to fall for an unusually long time as darkness fades in and out, fuzzy all the while, though that could easily be a result of what is likely a concussion.

You don't remember hitting the ground, but eventually wake up sprawled on the hard ground. Your eyes open, stuggling to focus on the walls, and you see your twin lying a short distance away also struggling to clear their head.

Walls?

Your eyes move back to the brick walls on either side of the hallway that shouldn't be there. Looking either direction down the empty hallway you see doors spaced irregularly on either side, from a few feet apart to more than fifty feet apart.

[Ehlana]

Groaning faintly, Hime claps a hand to her aching head. It takes more than a concussion to put Himeko Nonohara off her stride when she's in mid-argument, however. Placing her hands against the floor, she pushes herself up to a sitting position "Furthermore... She begins, before realizing that not only have her surroundings changed, but more importantly her audience now consists solely of her twin. Her lips compress and her slanted eyes go flatter.

"Very funny, Fox-sama!" She abuses the empty air at the top of her lungs. "Now get back and face me like a man! Get your furry hind end back here now or so help me I'll tie all nine of your tails into one giant knot next time I see you! Then I'll get started on actually displaying how annoyed I really am!"

Abruptly, Hime blinks and weaves slightly. She shuts up for the moment, forced to the admission that maybe yelling quite that loud isn't the best idea right now, unless she wants to revisit her afternoon meal, but going the other way. "I'll sew a sealing slip to your forehead..." She mutters slightly hazily, leaning back against the wall.

Funny architecture.... Where are we anyway? Not in the castle or even the village anymore I don't think.

With no Fox making his appearance, Hime turns malevolent eyes on her brother. The malevolence isn't directed at him, but it still doesn't make for a very pleasant gaze. "Do you know where this place is?" She inquires abruptly.

[Humble Athena]

Nonohara Nushezumi (elder twin by seven minutes) sprang to his feet, the hairs along his arms and back standing at attention as he tried to process what had just happened. And she was asking him where they were?

He was still holding his bamboo training staff, he noticed. He willed his grip to lighten and relax. Wherever they were, it didn't seem to be a state of immediate danger.

"Not in the least, dear sister." He answers with an indifferent shrug. "Perhaps you should ask your audience. Oh, wait, he isn't here."

A few sweat-slicked strands of hair hang in his face, loosened from the knot at the back of his head by the fall or the exercise before it. He leans his staff against the wall and reaches up to undo the knot holding it all in place; for a few seconds, as the black strands fall down, he could easily pass for his sister. Then he gathers up the hair again and re-knots it.

Taking his staff in hand again, he looks around, down both ends of the hallway. "Perhaps we are in the afterlife." he suggests.

[Ehlana]

"If we were in the afterlife, I wouldn't be in the same place as -you-." Hime retorts rudely, falling into a pattern of sibling banter that is familiar if nothing else here is. Nushi has a positive gift for pouring soothing oil on the ever quick flames of her temper with his flippant remarks.

He caved my whole bloody world in a few hours ago with his little announcement and he doesn't give a curse. Yep, that's my brother.

"And where -you- would be, there would be oni...with big clubs...hitting you. I often think of it and feel jealous of them." Following her brother's example, she gets carefully to her feet, using the wall as support rather than placing too much weight on her left leg. The kimono over her armor hides it well, but that limb is crippled and will stand little use. Less acerbically, she adds. "More likely to be one of the spirit realms."

[Humble Athena]

"No, sister, you are mistaken. In my afterlife, there are supposed to be beautiful maidens with honeyed tea and sweet fruits, ever at the ready. Though you are right about one thing, if it were the afterlife, you surely wouldn't be there."

Nushi gives her a look, then rolls his staff along the wall towards her hand. "Catch." He announces, trusting her to be able to do so. "Or we'll be old and withered before we get anywhere." Heavens forbid he seem to be doing anything nice for her.

"So.. one of the spirit realms? As good an explanation as any, until we learn differently. But that makes this your area of expertise, dear sister, so lead the way."

[Ehlana]

"That's not the afterlife, that's a -dream-, it's what happens when you close your eyes and start snoring fit to wake the ancestors." Hime retorts, catching the staff easily and tossing it back with a contemptuous flick of the wrist. "If you're in -that- much of a hurry, go off on your own, tick off some spirits, get yourself killed and then come back and tell me who's version of the afterlife is more accurate. Me, I'm going to look for someone to ask about this place." Limping, she moves to the closest door and knocks, attempting with moderate success to arrange her features in a less homicidal expression. Really, only her eyes remain unfriendly, flashing with anger.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

There is no answer from the door, though there are a few odd things about it. First the knock is odd in a way that Hime cannot place, but it doesn't have the normal hallow sound a door into a room does. Second, there is an odd blue light leaking out from the keyhole and from under the door. Finally, she sees an odd symbol above the door that she doesn't recognize.

rolls Luck roll: both of you. Include this roll along with your next post

[Humble Athena]

"Careful!" Nushi exclaims as the stick comes flying back in his direction. "You're more likely than I am to upset spirits, with your pride and your temper." He's about to continue on when he notices the unusual characteristics of the door Hime's chosen. "That one, really? You aren't going to open it, are you?"

Luck Roll: 7

[Ehlana]

"Would you rather just stand in this hallway until you grow gray whiskers?" Hime demands, less than inclined to listen to -anything- Nushi has to say at this point, though she notes the unusual characteristics as well. "But no, I'm not, not yet anyway." Stepping a little back from the door, she brings her hands up over her eyes, than murmurs a single short phrase. When she uncovers her eyes, they are a single, solid color, the shining blue of seawater in brilliant sunlight. With those strange eyes, she stares fixedly at the door.

OOC: Casting Detect Magic, concentrating for long enough to try and determine what school of magic is involved, assuming the door is magical. Rolls

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

When she casts detect magic, it seems that everything is magical; the door, the hallway, the air...
None of it seems to radiate a particular school of magic, then it seems to start leaning toward one while she is concentrating, then it is gone again.

[Ehlana]

"Everything's magical here...even the dust. We're definitely not in the mortal world anymore." Hime states brusquely. "And now, yes, I am going to open the door. Feel free to stand behind me if you're scared." She adds the last rudely and then, because she's not a total fool, pulls the door open slightly and peeks through the crack, her eyes normal once more.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

She pulls the door open to peek through and sees...more blue. All there seems to be are varying shades of light blue playing across the entire opening, making it impossible to tell if whatever it is stand one inch inside the door or a dozen feet. Occasionally her mind thinks there is a flicker of an image, but its either a trick of the light or too fast for her eyes to catch it before its gone.

[Humble Athena]

"Careful!" Nushi exclaims when she puts her hand on the door. He ignores her snide suggestion that he hide; if anything, he should be standing in front of her, to protect her. But even if the stubborn ninny would let him, he couldn't understand the spirit world the same way she could.

When the door is cracked, and they haven't been attacked by fanged tentacles or dissolved into dust, he looks over her shoulder in curiosity. "What do you see? What is it?" He whispers.

[Ehlana]

"Just blue." Hime turns her head to whisper back. Returning her gaze to the opening, she taps a finger on the door, momentarily indecisive. Only momentarily, however, Nonohara Himeko was not built for uncertainty. Standing straight, she flings the door wide open, staring down whatever lies beyond. She does, however, take care to keep her hand on the knob, just in case she should want to fling the door just as abruptly shut.

[jj_wolven]

Crossroads Inn - Hallway

Both of the twins now see the same patchy blue fading from one shade to another, almost randomly. As Hime continues to stare at it through her detect magic, she is momentarily able to identify the school as conjuration before it fades away.