The Wandering Muse

The lights and sounds issuing from the Wandering Muse attract all sorts. From the childhood street urchins to the upper middle class gamblers. All coming to drain away the hours with mindless entertainment.

A recently renovated arcade, now state of the art gaming center, complete with private rooms for custom games, The Wandering Muse houses 2 Arcade Floors, 3 Private Suites, a casino floor, and one Casino Quality Gaming cage (for chips, tokens, or tickets)

Several Dozen teenagers, a few adults, and one grumpy cat stand outside for the soft opening debut. As the sky darkens, the doors open. Crowds of customers, rush inside for the free food, drink, and tokens offered for the event. Surely this will bring in enough publicity to allow the place to stay open longer the estimated year.

Cautiously entering the place, which he sees now isn't a pub but an arcade, after the main rush, looking rather grubby, Solace looks out of place. Nonetheless, he politely asks the front desk where the food and tokens can be acquired.

Heading there, picking up as much food and drink as he can fit in his hands, as well as some tokens he heads for a quieter corner to eat, putting his backpack behind his seat while putting one chair leg carefully through one of the loops.
While eating he surveys the place, looking for any competitive gambling.

(Poker, Slots, and tables are on second floor.
Also there are several "masked signs" indicateing the place is special. A hob goblin sits at an elevator holding a tray of goblin fruits in it's grabber shaped hands. The humans dont seem to notice the creature at all some even deposiring trash in its mouth.)

Finishing his food quickly, Solace takes his possessions and tries to discreetly head over to the hobgoblin and ask "Who's the owner of this place? Did he put up those signs?"

(the hobgoblin on closer inspection seems to be a mix trashcan and patter holder with eyes that look out on the world painfully aware that his only purpose is to watch others enjoy themselves and use him as a whore for garbage. He looks up at you with an empty bag of chips covering his face, and says as best you can hear, "Master's... Son..." the hob seems to have trouble saying even thst much. not from choking or lack of freedom but almost like its intelligence was just enough to know to stay there. When you look closer at the Hobgoblin as a whole you notice he is anchored to the floor by vines of what look like iron, his legs are either feeding, ir being fed by the pencil thin wires wrapped around them.

As a fruit falls off the platter the vines quickly cover it and devour the trash, leaving a fresh scent behind. In fact the whole rom looks and smells fresh, no trash can be seen anywhere outside the designated areas.)

Solace quickly stumble back as he notices the vines moving towards the fruit. He then peers around, trying to see anyone else curious, and looking closer to the strange signs.

He explores the other floors before asking any of the staff whether the owner is here tonight.

(a young man, probably still a teenager tells you "eh, who cares the old man might be in his office but he said none of us are allowed in there. But Suzy and Pete were snoggin' and swear the heard the old man talking to himself in there. not like thinking aloud but like arguing about aome bad apples, or some crazy crap like that")

after ascertaining the location of the office from this teen, Solace heads up to the office and politely knocks on the door and asks "Did you put up the... um... Strange signs in the front room?"

(a shimmer appears around the door. the handke feels of marble even though it looks like brass. The inside seems to be connected to a place outside this one. your "special" sense are tingling. this really reminds you of the others, the ones that took you.)

Solace puts his hand on the handle, then stops,suspicious of the feelings surrounding the door.

he takes a moment to look around, then locates a good place where hed be able to see the front of the door and that has a good escape route, then knocks on the door, opens it uo then quickly retreats to his hiding spot, waiting to see who investigates.

( the door doesn't  open as much as vanishes, leaving you in a room filled with swirling clouds,  creeping vines, and prismatic orbs. several of the vines have formed into small projection screen, with the dancing lights displayed across them revealing parts of the mortal world and parts of the Hedge. Gamers plop onto a couch downstairs one second, the next a sprawling  lake of tea with biscuit  islands passes over the screen.  The rest of the room is spartan and filled with various things being worked on. the jumbled mess  more akin to a dump than someones office.

From behind you here the scurrying of some creatures under the junk. metal on metal clinks together in a rhythmic pattern, more mechanical than natural.  As the pattern stops the screens flash to a scene from outside the Arcade.  Several teenagers have circled up and are watching a fight that broke out.

While distracted a small mechanical spider has emerged from under a pile of junk, its head looking like a jewel, sparkling with the orbs lights. The body looks more like an 90's car phone than anything else. Each of the legs are segmented wire rabbit ears (the old ones from t.v.s). It looks over your figure and clicks harassing sounds at you. The jeweled head slides open revealing a barrel protruding,and it is pointed straight at you. Just then, the Door you hadn't realized coming through, shuts itself with a slow hiss of steam, leaving the threatening spider between you and your only known escape)

Solace backs off from the door and the spiderous monstrosity guarding it, just saying "Heyy, hey, I was just looking for the boss" as he days this he calls on his inner brightness to strengthen his surface,  with brighter flames and more tongues of flame lashing out.

Stepping around the room, solace tries to lead the spider machine away from the door in a vague hope of escape. " if your boss comes back, tell him I said hi. Unless hes the fishermans boss, then say nothing".

( the spider stays at its sentry regardless of how you try ro maneuver. The barrel starts to light up, glowing more brightly. The spider's movements oddly resemble more like a stalking tiger waiting to pounce than an arachnid. while the intensity of the glow grows, the barrel starts to shift its focus. is it aiming for a weaker point in your defenses? as you look down you see a red dot center mast, no matter how you postion yourself the red dot follows as soon as a clear target exist.

After a few minutes the Barrel looks red hot, a bright blast of light illuminates the room slowly dimming revealing a man that looks like an old fashion knight stands in the room. His skin seems to be made if the same material as his armor, in fact it is hard to tell where one ends and the other befins. Long locks of raven black hair grow out of his helemt like a plume.

"Thank You for visiting, The Wandering Muse is happy to accomodate all of your other worldly needs. Should you require a private room or area for feeding, please notify a member of the staff. Have a nice day"

The man fades away as the light completely diminishes. leaving a spider standing on two legs, holding out a tray and a leaflet of paper. )

Solace takes the leaflet gingerly, takes one last look at the place, then walks backwards out through the door, reading as he leaves the den. He heads to the teenager who helped him before and says that the boss said he could use the phone. Dialling the number on the phone, Solace says "Hi... Ummm... Dorias... Masterson? Sorry for using this phone, but I don't have one myself. Did you, like, Escape as well? From the... Other place I mean. "

(The line picks up and you hear the hussle of a bar in the background.
"Hello, can i help you?" He is seems to be heavily intoxicated from the way he slurs his speech. However at mention of the words escape and Other Place, his tone softens and seems to sober up rather instantly.

"So others have come out recently, are you at my place still? Go inside and have a seat on the table and tell RO-43 to give you Hospitality. As you are a guesst in my home now, you have full protection and rights under the Accords of Time and Truth.

"I'll be back as soon as i can and we can get you settled into some simblance of your old life"

Solace Hangs up the phone, then thinks a bit as to who was meant by RO-43. That doesn't sound like a normal persons name... Maybe a staff number? No, he would have just said to ask the staff... Is it the wierd trash thing? But that thing can't move... Wait! RO-43 sounds kinda roboty. Does he mean that spider? it did seem to calm down after a bit.

Solace heads back to the strange door, once more opening it to the strange untidy room, and waits for the spider to come out. As it does so, crawling from jumbled parts once more Solace quickly informs it "Hey, Mr Masterson invited me in this time, he said to tell you to give me hospitality, and that I have accords of... Time and Truth? I think it was."

Solace slowly backs into one of the tattered chairs around the place, and waits for Dorias to return.

"Do you perchance have tea?"

(the spider scurried away, returning momebts later with a tray balanced on its head. on it is a pot of fresh tea, sugar, cream, and some biscuits.

The spider, who bows as he sets the tea down, backs away and stands at the ready in the corner of the room. On his under body you see the stamped designation of Ro-43)

Shadow-Diver walked down the streets of London, curious as to what the areas surrounding his new territory were like. He had finished marking the city block he had claimed with markings of his Tribe, as well as a few claw marks in the stone of the walls. Hopefully it would be a good deterrent of intruders and an attraction to other Uratha. That was the hope at least, but that was in the past and now he looked to the present.

"Certainly a lot more pubs than back home...not exactly the worst of things." He muttered under his breath, his search for anything of any real value thus far fruitless. Then his eyes spotted something unique, The Wandering Muse. A grand opening it would seem and it was already packed full of people. An arcade and a casino? It sounded both dangerous in terms of its effects on the shadow should it go unchecked, but at the same time the arcade aspect interested him. What exactly was it? Did arcade mean something different here than it did in the states?

A walk inside and an examination found it was not at all what he expected. It was a kind of arcade that he knew but on a much larger scale. His inner kid squealed at the thought but he remember to keep a professional thought process on it. He moved inside with the appearance and stride of some modern cowboy without the spurs or guns and scanned the room with his cold if still strangely colorful eyes. Was there anything out of the ordinary he wondered? He briefly switched over to his wolf senses and let the black and white vision flood over him and his hearing and sense of smell increasing dramatically. He took a deep sniff of the air and tried to avoid the deep scent of cigars and cigarettes while also trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary above the crowd around him. He was in strange territories it would seem....

I wonder whether he's looking for me with the rest of the thrillseekers Solace mused. He looks down at his long empty , chipped mug of tea. He'll be coming through that way anyway. Might as well take advantage of the free tickets.

Leaving his rucksack in the room to indicate he was there, Solace tells RO-43 that if Mr Masterson came back with out me then tell him where he was.

Coming down the staff entrance appears someone who doesnt look like staff at all. A short, sort of androgynous looking guy with sunglasses, very crumpled hawaiian shirt and hair that fades from deep orange to pale yellow. He doesnt smell like hes washed for a long while.

As he got to the bottom of the stairs he saw once more the various people playing gane machines. As he moved close to thhe nearest unoccupied one, he started looking for the free tokens he got when he came in when he realised what the game was. A fishing challenge. Nausea washes over him as he takes a few uncontrolled steps back.

Perhaps something friendlier, like this DOOM game. Solace picks up one of the guns, sticks in a token and get started

[OOC: Stepping out of the thread, another thing has been called to my attention. Apologies, would have loved to see what happens.]

Shadow-Diver looked around cautiously, his vision black and white, surrounded by prey unaware of the wolf among them. When he inhaled deeply he only smelled the stench of humanity and the thick smoke of tobacco. When he listened all he could hear was the raucous noise of a building full of people. Perhaps there was indeed nothing here after all, nothing of immediate concern.

The building might need some control eventually, lest spirits bleed over to the material world and try to anchor themselves in someone lost to the depravities of this world. This was too far out from his new home though to require any of that just yet. He felt his blood boil in anticipation of the future, he was close to being able to hunt. It had been a couple months since his last hunt, the need grew strong in him and he couldn't help but move towards it. His senses shifted back to that of a regular human's and the feeling died down a little but it still thrummed hard in his blood.

Shadow-Diver turned about and left the strange Arcade, having stayed for an extraordinarily short amount of time, and never even touching the free food. Anyone keeping track of who came and went might find that a bit suspicious but the Storm Lord didn't much care. If challenges came to him because he visited an arcade then let them come. He had more pressing matters to deal with near his new home, a great many matters to deal with in fact. But still, the Wandering Muse....he would keep track of this one to see how it flourished.

After playing DOOM for a while and blowing the last of the free tokens, Solace realises that this masterson isnt going to turn up any time soon. Solace will visit some time in the future certainly and hopefully this Dorias will be available.

Until then though.

Solace took his things, prepared himself for the chill and decided to see if there any bars. Perhaps he can convince someone to get him a drink...

Returning to the arcade a very different person, Solace sat down on a seat near the door, and called one of the staff over. Requesting a private room with a mirror and no windows, and somewhere for Chi-Chi to stay, he was given directions downstairs and a key. Pulling Marelle lightly with him, he informed the staff that Mr. Masterson personally gave him permission to stsy in the room for the next day . If he had a problem with that then he would be free to visit his office.
Once inside he took a moment to appreciate it. It was laid out quite comfortably, with a large leather couch, a minifridge in the corner, and some sort of small intercom near the door. There was a mirror opposite the couch, large enough for the occupants to observe themselves. Clearly this room was made for the truly vain.
Solace headed over to the mirror, and after a bit of working himself up, he went on to say "You don't have to follow me through. And i wouldn't suggest bringing Chi-Chi, wherever hes gone." He said quickly, so as to sound stoic, though the brief gasp afterwards ruined the effect somewhat. Then, he proceeded to trace a finger around the edge of the mirror, which dissolved like film being burnt to reveal a smoggy tunnel which dripped water and... were they leeches the size of eels? Halfway theough the tunnel there was a staircase of stone and moss which seemed illuminated. Then, determined but slow, solace let go of Marelle and walked through.

"I never trusted mirrors when I was alive and I don't trust them now. " she told him after she lead him to the mirror. Still looking around only to find Chichi balled up comfortable on the couch. Still she hoped that after he returned he would be in better health than before.
"One more thing when you get back I would like to talk to the guy that owns this places maybe I can get some real cash from working here aftrer I get. The cops off my back for that stolen card I use to get us here." She told him with a smile but the worry in her eyes as she planned her next strep were all to serious. For they would be coming for her after she used that card, but it was for a good cause

the mirror heals up fairly quickly, as it had burnt through but in reverse. as it does you see solace much brighter through the holes, his hair now waving wildly around and the whole tunnel being lit up. after the hole has closed, silence.

This goes on for a while. maybe ten or fifteen minutes.

Then, without warning, the mirror burns through agian, and solace comes tumbling out, with lashing vines of cast iron that harden on contact with the real world around one arm and one leg. In his hand are three strange objects. They look like fine glass bulbs, with a gas flame in the centre. "Hold these"He says,passing them to Marelle as his arm and leg seem to shimmer and grow bright, and displace themselves around the iron as though they were some sort of viscous gas. "Good thing they were just pretending to be iron" He seems perkier than before. He takes one of the bulbs he passed to you and, breaking the thin pointed end off on the minifridge, pours the flame down his throat.
"That... Was pretty intense."He sits down on the sofa, and invites Marelle to join him, taking the two bulbs off her and puts them on top of the fridge.

Having watched all this as  Chichi made a mad dash under the bed in the room.  Having no place else to run, she stood there in shock as her inner thoughts where to run from the bright flames that where coming her way, only to see at the center of it all was Solace.
Huffing as to hide the fear with in her, she took the bulbs that he had given to her before he melted through the iron things that held him.
But she had fully wanted to say what the fuck as she watched him in the small battle by drinking what ever was in one of the bulbs and then sit down in the couch that Chichi had quickly left for the safety under the bed.
Looking over where the dog had gone," Chichi bad dog running from something like that."  she said although honestly she didn't blame the poor creature and wanted also to hide but turned back around to face her new and shiny friend.
" Do I even want to ask what all that was about or even how you." she said only to sit down across from him because his glow felt like the heat from the morning sun.
" What is in those viles?" she said as she pointed at them in his lap.