No.4657
>Location: ???
>Time: ???
>A flock of chickens bursts through an ornate wooden door, scattering out onto a gilded and marble-paved street, soon being followed by a pair of children - a brown-haired boy and a blonde-haired girl.
>In his position leading the pair, the boy shouts at one of the chickens lagging behind the others, causing it to panic and rush off in a different direction, leaving a path of chaos behind it.
>Turning back, the boy holds out a hand for the girl.
“Come on! They’ll catch us if you don’t hurry up!”
>Running at a much slower pace, the girl carefully avoids the debris from the chickens, her caution being fuelled by the fact that both of her hands are occupied with cradling a decorated tome of some kind. Still, as she reaches the boy she takes his hand, making sure to hold onto the book even more tightly with her free hand.
“You know I’m not as fast as you, Pontus!”
“Well-”
>The boy is interrupted as the sounds of someone shouting come from the other side of the building.
“-doesn’t matter! Come on!”
>The boy sets off, dragging the girl behind him, as a pair of armed men come out of the building looking around into the crowded and chaotic street until one of them settles on the two children.
“There!”
“Pontus!”
“I know! I know!”
>The boy drags the pair to the side of the street, bringing them in line with several stalls that have been set up, and starts knocking items from the stalls as the pair run along.
>After passing several stalls, the girl trips on one of the items, losing her grip on the boy and falling over. Noticing his hand is free, the boy looks over his shoulder, only to see someone grab the girl and rush into an alleyway - a slight grin crossing his face as he recognises who it is.
>Leaning down, the boy picks up a broken piece of pottery from one of the stalls and throws it at the guards.
“Hey idiots! You might want to hurry up, I’m getting bored!”
>Turning around, the boy sprints off again, heading back into the crowd, this time at a much faster pace as the guards chase after him.
>Within the alleyway, the girl thrashes and kicks at the person who grabbed her, all while trying to keep the book in a tight grip, only for the person to try and shush her.
“Phanes. Phanes. It’s me.”
>The girl looks up to see another girl with deep purple hair.
“Nyx!”
>Phanes jumps up and hugs the other girl.
“So, what did you get this time. . ?”
>Phanes pulls out the hug and slowly unveils the book in her hands.
“An introduction to concept creation in theory and practice. . ? Isn't that a little advanced for us?”
No.4658
>>4657>Location: Nunavut, Canada>Date: November 5th, 2017
>Blood stains the snow as a young man runs frantically through one of the forests of Nunavut, clutching a wound on his side with his left hand as he operates a walkie-talkie in his right.“Base. . . base. . . come in. . . we’re under attack! The forward base is. . .”
>The man looks over his shoulder, seeing a trail of smoke rising up into the sky above the treeline.“. . .gone. It was the Met-”
>The man is interrupted as he ducks, a white blur flying just over his head, and scrambles to get moving again as the creature that just attacked him picks itself up out of a bed of trees.“. . .Meta-Humans, we’re under attack from Meta-Humans!”
>The man bursts out of the treeline, arriving on a cliff overlooking a secluded valley, at the centre of which is a compound - which itself is currently on fire.
>Taking a moment to take in the sight, the man is silent before only managing to let out a single word:“. . .oh.”
>The man flies forward as the white creature slams into him again, pinning him down with a leg.“Beautiful, is it not? The chaos brought about by our might?”
>The man doesn’t reply, instead grunting as he struggles against the strength of the creature’s leg.“It seems you are a simple man, a shame. . .”
>The creature sighs.“War, stop playing with the man.”
>A hooded figure materialises behind the creature, their feet not touching the ground.“My apologies, Death. . .”
>War brings his foot down, smashing the man into a paste.“Don’t apologise, just be better, discipline is key. . .”
>Death trails off as they look into the distance, towards the North.
>Tilting his head, War follows Death’s gaze, unable to see anything.“Something the matter?”
“No. Return to base with Conquest.”
>A dark, swirling portal appears behind War.“. . .and send my apologies to Lord Anomaly, I have business to be settled.”
“Business?”
>War looks at Death for a moment, gauging on whether he should probe further, then shrugs.“Very well. . .”
No.4659
>>4658>Location: The Mail Room, The Axiom - Nexus of Magic>Time: Indeterminate
>The mail room of the Axiom is relatively calm, currently situated off to the side of the library, the only sounds being made within being made by letters as they arrive and organise themselves onto various shelves by a system of categorisation known only to them - and the occupants of the great nexus of magic.
>Then, suddenly, the calm of the room is interrupted as a small creature in the shape of an elephant squeezes itself through a gap in the wall, dropping down to the floor before looking around and making a panicked sound, a set of ear-like wings on its head starting to flap rapidly - allowing it to take flight.
>Still letting out the same sound of panic, the creature flies around the room, crashing into the shelves and sending letters flying everywhere as it does - the chaos of which causes the creature to panic even more, leading to it crashing into more letters, creating a feedback loop of sorts. No.4660
>>4659>Footsteps click and clack across the floor, as a figure approaches the Mail Room.
>Stephanie steps towards the mail, stopping and craning her head at the sight of the creature. "…Weird. You shouldn't be in here."
>She adjusts her glasses and then moves towards the creature - catching it with her hands. "Gotcha!"
>Stephanie turns the creature around to get a look at it's face. "Calm down little guy. What're you doing here?"
No.4663
>>4662>As the creature is placed on the ground, it immediately charges forward, hitting the door and falling over.
>Once the letter is opened, a space folds around Stephanie, or, more accurately, the concept of a space unfolds around Stephanie, engulfing her and a section of the room without any damage to it.
>Within the space, the image of a woman stands, smiling openly, but with a tired look behind her eyes."I don't know if these are reaching you, Phanes. . . but I hope they are, the others say. . ."
>The woman looks down for a moment.". . .well, what the others say isn't good, but I still hope. . ."
>The woman goes silent for a few moments, then sighs."Do you remember where we used to hang out? In the old days? Well, I'm going to send another message there, with a little slice of home after this one. . . if this one reaches you, try to go there. . . for me. . . and for Pontus, please?"
>The woman sighs."I'll only send it if this message is opened, so that way it won't disturb things, ok?"
"Oh, and take care of the little concept as you wish, I made him just like you used to. . . well, nearly, I could never quite capture the cuteness of the ones you made. . ."
>The space suddenly collapses in on itself again, harmlessly leaving Stephanie in the mail room again. No.4665
>>4664>The creature, now dubbed "Clumsy", blinks at Stephanie and then coughs, blinking again with no indication of any thought behind its eyes.
>The spell leads in two directions, unsurprisingly, with the source leading into the realm of Godspace, an odd location for a letter to be sent from, particularly as the intended direction for it appears to be on Earth, the North Pole specifically, where a lone, hooded figure sits in the frigid wind, awaiting something.
>A figure that Stephanie would recognise as belonging to a member of the terrorist group known as the MHA, if she kept up with the news, of course. No.4666
>>4665"A letter to Earth, huh? Now I'm really curious."
>She takes the letter, and then causes it to vanish. Being stored in some sort of pocket dimension. She looks down at the creature again."Ready to go?"
>She pats it on the head once more, as the pair vanish in the blink of an eye. No.4667
>>4666>Location: North Pole
>As Stephanie and Clumsy re-materialise on Earth, they're immediately hit by the cold winds of the blizzard currently engulfing the area around their destination, the temperature not affecting them despite the inappropriate (or lack of) clothing for the environment.
>Noticing their arrival, the hooded figure "stands" up, floating slightly above the ground as they do."I would rather not fight, I'm waiting for something, and would prefer to have all of my energy for when it arrives. So i'll ask politely. . ."
>The figure holds out a spiked sword, pointing it at Stephanie."Leave."
>As this happens, Clumsy sits down on the ground.