The Guild Capitol: Chapter One

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The entrance to the portal that led to Asteroid Manifest was grand -- a great stone arch depicting sculptures of feathers and scrolls scribbled with Archean text guarded it, along with two Peacekeeper sentries who looked that the newcomers, nodding once in hello, before returning to their alert stations. The whole scene looked almost from a storybook, instead of smoothly paved asphalt, instead pretty marbled cobblestone (which was oddly flat to walk on) and a wide road headed towards many buildings that seemed almost out of place with how advanced they were compared to the stone roads. A large fountain rested in the center of a circled town square, four figures sculpted into it; one was a woman with a dryad looking face, her body wrapped in tight clothes as she was forever suspended in a graceful bound. A second creature looked to be almost spiderkin, but was quite large in comparison to vavare and had a much taller and leaner torso, with insect eyes and mouth that was locked tightly with vertical razor teeth. A third man was also sculpted, vaguely familiar to any who had met with Arya on the first mission; a simple silhouette with an almost cartoonish skull for a face. Finally, the sculpted man most heightened was none other than a depiction of Ragnarok himself, his swirling flames across the bottom of his robe forever suspended in stony projection.

Cafe store fronts littered with different aliens of all kinds and likeness, many walked around and avoided the new tourists though did smile and wave a few times as they passed. The large fountain was occupied by a woman, with fox ears and tail, wearing a top half of a kabuki mask while playing a shamisen, three orbs of water of different shades being played around with by the three draconic serpents that seemed delighted with her presence. On the other side of the fountain was a group of Terrans -- or would have been, if many of them didn't look malformed or changed, one man with spindly arachnid legs sticking out of his side as he wore a mask, a few of them having differing features of cross species from the Galaxy. One old geezer was covered head to toe in runic tattooos and was tiredly carrying heavy and thick gossamer dragonfly wings on his back as they sang merrily.

Across the way were a group of three normal looking Terran, all women, who were handling equines of massive size, two of them easily twelve feet in height, the third dwarfed by about four less feet. While the first two were powerful and the color of the sky; one a blue roan and the other a stormy gray, the smaller was spindly, quicker, and of a dark black, looking almost skeletal. The final oddity about these horses were the fact that they each had a pair of alarmingly huge wings. The bigger two gracious and feathery, and the tinier one with large, leathery bat-like ones.

Kay was attracting attention again. This timeby a group of three almost elvish looking people, all wearing that same wolf-embroidered tabard. They then quickly lost interest when they spotted Flora, who was waving them off, chuckling and returning to speak among themselves.

"Welcome to Capitol Square!" Flora said happily, "This is basically everyone's entertainment center for the more city-minded folk."

Dawn chuckled and nodded "Yeah, it is nice" She agreed and looked to Bianka again "Nice tutu"

Rigel smiled and went to pay for it and to have his and Dawn's sent to Vestia.

James picked an emerald green hoodie, because he didn't actually want something super fancy. He just put it on once he bought it.

Bianca got the tutu off, and climbed up James' leg to sit on his shoulder. She was aware that her claws could be uncomfortable sometimes.

"Okay, any ideas where we should go next?" James asked.

"Hm, I don't know, let's see what else is out here" Rigel said, chuckling and taking the lead to go out and find something else

Dawn chuckled and followed, glad they wouldn't have to worry about carrying anything with them from here.

James followed Rigel cheerfully. "As long as it's not a restaurant, I'm cool with anything," he said.

Bianca waved her tail at him. "Food is good. I've established that this is why Asher was grumpy that day."

Rigel chuckled and looked around the marketplace, since that seemed to be where they had ended up at. He motioned to a knick knack store. "How about in there?"

"Oooh, that looks fun," James said. "Yes, let's have a look!"

"What is it?" Bianca asked.

"A store for buying knickknacks," James said.

Bianca looked confused.

"You'll know it when you see it," James told her cheerfully as they followed Dawn and Rigel in.

Rigel held the door for them and started to look around the place curiously

"It's little things to decorate with" Dawn explained as she went in and started looking around "Some people collect certain things that look similar or were made by the same person"

James started looking around, admiring everything. "Man, this place is packed with stuff. Look, elemental snowglobes!" He shook one, and little flickers of flame swirled beneath its surface. "Okay, that's really cool."

Sawn and Rigel came over to look at the elemental snow globes "Oh, wow, that is very cool" Dawn said with a smile, looking a an air one as Rigel looked at an Earth one.

The air one poured swirls of light under its surface, shifting and twisting as the air brushed the edges of the glass. Tornadoes formed and faded away, shimmering into existence in different hues.

The earth one looked more like a solid ball made of layered sandstone, but as Rigel shook it, it would shift and crack, shifting to show different minerals and motions a bit like those of tectonic plates.

"Ok, I want these" Dawn said, staring at the mesmerizing scene. It was awesome. She looked to the water one, curious what it would show

The water one started out a deep bluish hue, like the ocean a couple thousand feet under the surface. As the orb was shaken, the color brightened to a lighter blue, gradually becoming almost white, and turning into ice against the glass, which cracked in places to reveal the darker water underneath.

"I've decided I'm going to make snowglobes if I ever have magic someday," James said. "Wow."

Kooshie wrote:Asher watched Ares uncertainly, but nodded respectfully. "I know people can change. Forgive me for my skepticism, it only stems from desire to defend the people I care about."
He looked at Spinner again, "The Family... were very cruel to him when we were captured," Asher said, "And the past few weeks have been extremely stressful. Kay's temper is a bit short at the moment, especially when concerning the people who imprisoned us."
He sighed, looking up at Spinner, "I doubt we know much more about the Family than you do, if you have Ares to provide you with information. Does he help you?"

"With what he can." Spinner nodded, "He did turn himself in, after all. From what we've he and Lady Heny have had... less that favorable pasts. Ares holds a lot of guilt upon him by his own merit, even if he doesn't show it. You could say the twelve planets Heny had destroyed was his doing. He's... a bit mad, we'd think, as he admitted that once the Family has fallen he'd happily off himself to end it all. An odd phrase if unnerving...

"He's shown us many things, such as the planets the Family has been targeting for conquest within the next few months, a few military tactics that he himself had used when with the Family, and even weakened points that he had purposefully placed within the daily guard schedule before he defected. We are currently sending scouts to confirm his words, and if they prove correct, his alliance could prove a lot more decisive than we first thought..."

Asher frowned. "You mean he's the one who killed Heny's..." His voice trailed off. He didn't want to finish that thought. It was unpleasant.
"That is good news," Asher said, "Knowing the Family's plans would be very beneficial. Did he know that Inari was going to be targeted next, or was this a recent change in the Family's plans?"

Kooshie wrote:The water one started out a deep bluish hue, like the ocean a couple thousand feet under the surface. As the orb was shaken, the color brightened to a lighter blue, gradually becoming almost white, and turning into ice against the glass, which cracked in places to reveal the darker water underneath.

"I've decided I'm going to make snowglobes if I ever have magic someday," James said. "Wow."

Dawn nodded and watched the globes curiously. "These are amazing , but beyond my abilities." She said softly then looked around again, seeing what else they had and if there was a merchant to tell them the price on those globes. She wanted them all.

"I wonder how they do it. I bet Starr knows," James said thoughtfully. "Maybe she could teach you." He trailed his fingers over a graceful horse decorated in beautifully painted tack, admiring it. "Man, this place has good stuff."

Rigel chuckled and looked to the horse "Just don't let Tala see that, she will probably think it is an idol or something." He joked.

Dawn chuckled and picked up a clock, looking at it. "That would be nice."

"He wouldn't have known." Spinner was rather surprised at the idea, "After all, he helped make sure Inari's Followers wouldn't come across any trouble when assisting the escapade of Merith and his friends. He told us, and we later confirmed when contacting Inari during the time, that he had set up a clear path for escape that day when he fixed the Guard schedule to have the bulk of them at other places, leaving the path between the prisoners and the ships relatively free. He had apparently defected a mere few hours later."

"What Tala doesn't know won't hurt her," James said, laughing. "I like horses. They're awesome." Holodeck horses and model horses, anyway. Not so sure about the real thing, they were kind of moody, or so he'd heard.
He looked at the clock Dawn was looking at.

~~
Asher nodded. "So you had no warning that Inari was going to be attacked. Which is worrying, because it means the Family are deviating from their plans." He considered that, "The Family are aware that he's a traitor, I assume?"

Spinner nodded, "Much so. He's here not only for the protection of the galaxy, but for his own as well. He's also warned us of one other thing."

Asher nodded again. "Then they would certainly want to change their plans." He looked curiously at Spinner, "What would that be?"

It was a clock based off the old coo-coo style. She chuckled when it went off and the bird came out. "Oh, neat" She said and set it down gently.

Spinner suddenly looked perplexed, "It appears the Family is no longer in need of the Dakkan Daggers to kill Keepers, and only pursue Heny to be rid of an open weakness. They've created a biological weapon that can eradicate a Keeper through disease. They call it Project Kronos."

James smiled at the funny clock. "Oh man, I can check 'seeing a coo coo clock' off my bucket list now! Awesome." He went over to a shelf full of model shuttles, "Hey look, a Terran Skyliners C-Class," he said, picking up a small, slightly space-shuttle-shaped one, "Asher and Lark always went on about how great these things were. They always looked so approving when someone drove one in to be repaired!" Yay photgraphic memory, perfect for remembering random facts about a subject he didn't really care about.

~~
"Oh." Asher looked thoroughly shocked at that. "Well, that's... interesting news indeed." Possibly very bad for some of his friends, and definitely bad for Inari, who was with the Family now. He shuddered. "I suppose we may not be seeing Inari again, then," he said softly. Unless they toyed with her long enough for her to be rescued, ugh.

The High Inquisitor looked uncomfortable at that. "Well, it is best to not lose faith." Was all he said. "We are grateful of the information as it is. Though it is a virus more than a disease, we are already trying to find some vaccine or cure to fight against it."

Dawn chuckled and looked over to James and the shuttles, coming over to him. "Hm, should we get one for them?" She asked thoughtfully

"It would be a nice gift for our friends." Rigel added "Anyone know when their birthdays are?"

"That's... sensible." Asher said weakly. The thought of what the Family could do with a virus that could kill immortals was a bit sickening. "You have a sample of it, then?"

~~
"Hmm," said James. "Nobody talks about their birthdays much around here, funny that. Even the kids kind of keep it to themselves!" He laughed, "For the record, mine is July tenth. I know a lot of peoples' actually, but that's just from medical records so I'm not sure we're allowed to say."