A Minor Plagiarism Problem...

[Lali]

The OOC Bit[/u]

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

There's a plagiarist on the loose.

Characters are being kidnapped or killed at random!

Why, my own Lali's already been taken prisoner... And Attori was killed off before anyone realised what was going on!

We need to send out a group to save the captured characters and stop the plagiarist once and for all!

So here's the plan.

One character from each Player has already been captured. One other character from each Player can join the group. When this character gets kidnapped or killed, you can replace them with another.

We'll be passing through as many crazy background settings as I can think of, so if you've got somewhere you want to send the group to on the way, just drop me a line and suggest it, and I'll throw it into the mix.

But I'll need a list of all the characters you may end up using (I think I'll say 10 as the maximum... And 2 as the absolute minimum, though 3s probably a better idea... just in case).

Oh, and as the plagiarist's player, I reserve the right to kill or kidnap your beloved charrie without warning. You have been warned!

Heh heh heh!

Anyway, go see the Character Information board for more... er... information?

[Lali]

The Depot was fairly full when it happened. Characters were lazing around all over the airport-terminal-like building. Calypso was sure he'd seen Harry Potter wandering around somewhere, and could only assume that J.K. was taking a break.

Kyndare, a powerful mage from another world, with nothing in common with Calypso except the fact that they both belonged to the same Author, was pacing irritably around the comfortable couch on which the weather mage was currently lounging.
"I. Am. Bored!" she growled, turning abruptly on her heel and pacing in the other direction, long black plait swinging out as she did so. "I haven't been in anything for ages! She's not writing my plots, she hasn't done any backstory recently, she hasn't even put me in any roleplays for I don't know how bloody long!"
Calypso watched her with some amusement, settling himself more comfortably as he said, "Enjoy the rest. Our dear Author's got a bit sidetracked at the moment. She's writing better in roleplays than in the real story. I've been trying to discourage her from the lousy sub-plot she's been trying out, but she doesn't seem to be listening."
The mage's pure black eyes darted to him for a second, then she raised an eyebrow - something which always annoyed Calypso, as he couldn't - and said, "Yeah, right. You're having fun. You and Lali have both been out of here at the same time for ages."
She resumed pacing, and Calypso simply smiled.

It was a few minutes later that Rydal, one of Calypso's in-story friends, appeared in the Depot, looking terrified.
"Plagiarism!" he howled, and the entire Depot went quiet.
Calypso and Kyndare both turned to face him instantly, asking simultaneously, "What?!"
"Laligin's been kidnapped!" Rydal gasped breathlessly, running over to them. "She was doing a scene with me, Attori, Taari and Ashan, in camp, and this thing swept in out of nowhere, killed Attori, snatched her, and vanished!"
Calypso blinked a little, then said slowly, "This sort of thing happens all the time in our Author's plots... Are you sure it's plagiarism?"
Rydal nodded. "The scene collapsed as soon as she was gone. The Author's not even writing now! I think she might even be asleep!"

Word had gone round the Depot faster than one of Calypso's lightning strikes. Worried groups of characters were gathering to discuss the matter, and cries were heard around the area when they discovered that other characters hadn't been seen for too long as well.

After some searching, Calypso and Kyndare had managed to round up the huge group of their Author's characters, and warned them all to be on the lookout for suspicious and unknown characters if they were called out.
"But we've got to do something!" Salina insisted. "If our Author doesn't know about this yet, how likely is it that any others do? You know how protective she is of her characters - and especially Lali!"
"What can we do?" Cade sighed, looking around at the inner circle, the most well-described of their Author's characters. "We're powerless. We can't let her know, we can't do anything ourselves..."
"Actually," Calypso said, his usual carefree grin masking the concern he felt for Laligin, "we can leave the Depot on our own."
Nalay, Kyndare's closest companion, gasped, "That's impossible!" and Liri Aiken, the real villain of Calypso and Laligin's story, said wryly, "Why would we want to, anyway?"
"To rescue Laligin, of course!" Kadyith the dragon cried, bouncing on her feet with excitement, and Calypso smiled at her.
"Right. We can go and fight the Plagiarist ourselves. There's plenty of other groups round here that are missing someone, so if we worked with all of them, we could probably do it. And even if we don't... with that many characters missing, perhaps our Authors will notice and sort the problem themselves."
Liri Aiken folded her arms, the black evening gloves ruffling as she moved, and glared at them all, fingers twitching near the hilts of the many knives she carried. "You're fools," she said flatly. "You'll risk yourselves for that Author's pet? She isn't worth it."
Kyndare wrapped a hand around Calypso's wrist, blocking off his magic easily, and gave him a warning look. "We need to work together," she reminded him.
"Only one of us can get out at a time," the weather mage growled, shaking her hand off and wishing he'd been quicker to zap Liri with a lightning bolt.
"Then I'll go first," Kyndare said calmly. "If I get into trouble, you can come after me. But I've got a greater variety of magic than you. I'll stand a better chance."
The others were all nodding, and, sighing, Calypso was forced to agree.

There was a large sign up in the Depot now, with a list of the missing characters. Next to it was Kyndare's name, below a brief outline of her intention to hunt down the Plagiarist. Word was going around about this as well, and some of the groups that had lost a character were sending others forward to find out more.

[Shira]

"Cheers!"

Three flasses came together, clanked, slammed on the table before being drunk.

Shira scowled -- even watered down by Zaza the whiskey here burned her throat. "Pour me," she gasped out.

"No, that's enough for you," Zaza scolded, taking the glass away from Shira with a tanned hand. Zaza had lived her entire life out in the sun, and it showed. Her hair, brown, was bleached light; it was currently pulled back into two braids that went down to her waist. Her warm brown eyes were already starting to show the effects of what they were drinking.

"Come on, Za. It's not everyday you learn that Shira's gonna have a bay-be." Josselin drawled out the last word with a grin.

Shira reached out over the table and tugged on the black band over his eyes. "Hush it. Joniak dosen't know yet."

"I'm sure he does," Zaza inturupted. "You did chase him around the camp with a frying pan yesterday."

Josselin laughed; Shira blushed. She hadn't told anyone that he had said she'd been getting chubby, and anyway, a frying pan was better than her first choice, and that had been the carving knives.

"Where the hell is he anyway?" Josselin asked. "I don't know. He was supposed to be here a half hour ago."

That was when they heard the calls of other missing members in the tavern.

"Joss, try, please." Shira handed him the ring that Joniak had given her years ago.

Josselin took the ring, and heldit loosely. He was a Seer, and a pretty good one. Maybe being only able to see auras instead of actual people helped make up for it in his Seeing. "He's blocked," he said eventually. "Alive but blocked."

Shira stood up. "We have to go get him!"

Zaza stood up, standing slightly taller than her, and pushed her back into her seat. "Shut up. You -we- don't even know where he is."

"But we have to go get him!"

"Yeah, Za."

((Well, the secrets out...))

[Lali]

OOC Awh, nice, Shira! ^_^ Heehee! Congrats


IC Kyndare was getting antsy, pacing back and forward, obviously itching to get moving and see to that Plagiarist. Calypso was just as bad, but who could blame him?

"That's it," Kyndare snapped, "I'm going."

Liri AIken rolled her eyes a little, playing with her knives, and said softly, "We really are sending the most idiotic of us, aren't we?"

As the black-eyed mage growled, a fireball springing into existence in the palm of one hand, Cade stepped in front of Liri, saying calmly, "We mustn't fight. You know that. And it's also only been ten minutes since you put the notice up. You can't expect everyone to have turned up already. Wait. Give it a bit longer - this is a big place and the news has to get around. You'll get help, don't worry."

"I can manage on my own!" Kyndare snarled. "Anyone else will just slow me down!"

Nalay gave her a hurt look, and she sighed, calming down a little. Apologising to her closest companion, she leant back against the wall again, muttering, "Fine, fine. Another half hour, but then I'm gone."

[Odango]

"I can't find Bunny."

Raven looked up from his homework at the sudden statement. "What?" he asked, brushing his tousled blue hair away from his coffee-brown eyes, where it fell right back as soon as he moved his fingers. He was mildly annoyed at the interruption, but then decided that since he was working on a chemistry assignment, he really couldn't be that upset. It wasn't that he had a problem with chemisty--it was the other way around. If the science weren't such a bitch all the time, he could actually deal with it occasionally.

As long as it was in very small amounts.

It wasn't fair. Even when Odango wasn't writing him, he still had homework. 'To keep you in character,' she always said. She'd even set up an apartment-style double room outside of Flawed, within the Depot--which was where they were now.

"I can't find Bunny," Dexter repeated. His blue eyes were wide, worried--a little bit scared.

"He's probably in one of his moods," Carolyn yawned, leaning back on the couch. "You know he does this sometimes. He's probably moping to himself somewhere. Just call him and tell him to stop being such an emo kid. He'll get pissed off and come back to yell at you and he'll be fine. Either that, or Odango's writing with him right now."

"She's not," Dexter said. "I would be there with him, or one of you would be, or Jailbait. She never writes him alone. And he's not answering his phone." His voice was slowly getting a touch more frantic and he was toying with one of the pink and red suspenders hanging from his bondage pants. "And I can't text him, my phone got shut off because I couldn't pay the bill. I called him from a payphone. I called Jailbait and he's not with her. And he's not at The Willow House, I was just there a half hour ago and they said he hadn't come in all day. Carolyn, seriously, something's wrong! What if he--" Dexter snapped his mouth closed, refusing to let himself finish his sentence. His boyfriend had been severely suicidal about a year before now and had actually tried to kill himself twice--and while the younger boy had promised he'd never try again, that he'd talk to someone if he felt like hurting himself ...maybe he didn't, this time.

"Fuck," Raven muttered. He pulled his cell out of his pocket, dialing Bunny's number. Voicemail. The same voicemail it had always been, at least--the last time Bunny tried to kill himself, he'd changed it just before, explaining and apologizing to anyone who tried to get in touch.

"I'm going to go look for him," Dexter said, heading toward the door. "There aren't that many places he could be--he can only walk or bike so far--"

As he put his hand on the doorknob, a frantic knock came from the other side and he pulled it open. Jailbait was there, looking up at him with terrified green eyes, her black eyeliner a little smudged, as if she'd been about to cry but just managed to keep the tears from falling.

"Something's wrong," she said quickly, her voice high with worry. "I just got a text from Bunny. He needs help. I don't know where he is--I tried to text him but he didn't write back again. He won't answer his phone. We have to find him! What if he's hurt!?"

"Shit," Dexter whispered, his already fair skin going completely pale. No, nothing could happen to Bunny, he wouldn't let anything happen to Bunny, if something did he wouldn't ...A sharp pain shot through his chest and a wave of nausea surged through his entire body at the thought of losing his boyfriend, the thought of him in any pain at all, or even worse ...

He glanced over to Raven and Carolyn, the same worries in both sets of brown eyes. "Oh gods," Carolyn whispered, her dark brown skin suddenly a few shades paler. She looked over to Raven, sliding off the couch and sitting beside her boyfriend on the floor, taking his hand. He squeezed once, trying to be reassuring--to her or himself or to both of them, he wasn't completely sure.

With another curse, much louder this time, Dexter ran to his and Bunny's room, a few thumps and crashes coming from the back of the apartment. When he came back out a few minutes later, he was slipping various types of knives--a switchblade, a butterfly, and a few others--into various pieces of clothing, one clipped to the back of the waistband of his jeans, one clipped to the inside of each of his boots, one slid into a front pocket and one into the back. Two new chains were looped around his waist and three rings shimmered on the fingers of each hand, where there had been none before.

Everyone in the room knew he used rings as makeshift brass knuckles.

"If this is Odango's idea of a dramatic plot twist just to keep things interesting, I'm going to fucking kill her myself," he growled, grabbing his keys from a hook on the wall and pushing past Jailbait and out the door. "I've seen her ruin too many relationships for the sake of making a point and I'm not going to let her hurt mine. I don't care if she's the writer, I don't care if she's God. No one fucks with the people I care about."

"Dexter, wait a second!" Jailbait cried, grabbing his hand and pulling him back inside.

"Don't fuck with me right now, Jailbait!" Dexter growled.

"Calm the hell down!" Raven yelled. "Leave her alone! Bunny's her best friend, she's not trying to get in your way! We need to find him, but we have no idea where to start yet.."

"Yeah," Carolyn agreed. "You won't be any help to him if you just go out there looking randomly. We need to find a place to start before we go looking."

Jailbait took her phone out of her pocket, flipping it open and going through the menu. "I'll read you his text," she said as she opened the folder. "Maybe it'll help. Let's see ...'was getting food weird thing came place collapsed gone dont know where i am need help'. He did it in a hurry," she continued after flipping her phone closed again. "There's no punctuation or capitalization, and you know how he is about things like that."

"Weird thing came?" Raven asked. "Place collapsed?"

Dexter screamed another curse, slamming his fist into the wall. His three friends jumped, looking over at him as he murmured, "Odango had nothing to do with it. She's not even writing him anymore. It was plagarism." He swore again, but softer this time. After a few moments and a deep breath, he made his way toward the door again.

"Wait," Carolyn said. "Take my phone. I want you to be able to keep in touch if you need anything."

[Riemman]

Kitten scowled, highly irritated as much-too-hyperactive, thirteen-year-old Saix ran from a surprisingly angry Dzyth. Not much could get him riled up against the alternate version of his lover, but, apparently, Saix dumping - on accident...pfft, yeah, right - a jug of ale on Dyzth's "ceremonial" clothes did the trick.

He tried to ignore the crazily giggling Saix and the angry shouts from Dzyth, trying to focus on Xyphos, who was lounging, looking immensely bored, on a lounge chair sipping a wine glass of blood. Glancing back down at his sketchpad, he grit his teeth as he erased yet another line which dared to come out wrong.

Skye looked up, smirking slightly at peeved expression on Kitten's face. The poor boy looked like he was going to self-destruct soon, or at least commit murder. It was a typical day, he supposed. Riemman and Kyvvas were off with the Author-person, and he was stuck here with the other goofballs until they were allowed out to play. Ah well.

Before Skye could return to painting his toenails in peace, however, he caught wind of the commotion going on in several different spots of the Depot. Confused, he glanced around, catching Xyphos's eye. He seemed to be the only one who had a remote idea of what was going on.

"It seems a plagiarist is on the loose," he answered the unspoken question, his voice an easy drawl as always, but his golden eyes watching the goings-on sharply.

A thrill of fear shuddered through Skye. "A plagiarist..." he murmured weakly. Some normal day.

Kitten didn't move, his hand tightening on the graphite pencil he held. He'd overheard, and he wished he hadn't. This was bad.

Saix and Dzyth hadn't heard or noticed, both of them too caught up in running and chasing. That stopped when a deafening roar cut through the noise in the Depot, and Kyvvas came barreling through, only to crash to the ground as he tried to land. He was berserk, whipping his head and tail around and roaring madly, as if he were fighting off some unseen attacker.

Saix 'eeped' and slid under a table, peeping out in fright. Dzyth stopped short, searching frantically in Kyvvas's direction and beginning to panic when he didn't see a familiar head of purple-tipped black hair. Riemman never left Kyvvas alone.

Xyphos's mouth tightened. This wasn't good. There was, thankfully, a plus side to being a vampire hybrid.

'Kyvvas! Calm yourself!'

'No! No, no, no! He's gone! They took him!' Kyvvas screamed mentally, causing Xyphos to wince.

'I'll KILL!!!' Kyvvas cried, accompanied by another deafening roar. Saix 'eeped' again and huddled farther under the table. Kitten and Skye simply shrank back into their respective seats. Dzyth clenched his fists in frustration.

"What's he saying?" he demanded of Xyphos.

The half-Vampire merely raised an eyebrow in his direction before sighing. "The plagiarist's taken Riemman."

Dzyth's eyes widened and, for a moment, he stood there in shock, before heading back to his room and returning with two daggers strapped to his thighs and a short broadsword on his back. He was nowhere near the swordsman Riemman was, but he'd try his best to get him back.

However, his plans were dashed as Xyphos held him back, shaking his head.

"Why!" he all but growled.

"Somehow, I doubt that you can beat the dragon. Therefore he gets dibs," was the dry reply.

Dzyth blinked and glanced over, and, sure enough, Kyvvas was heading for the large sign, snapping his teeth at any character stupid enough to get in his way. He scowled, but sat down. He didn't like it, but Xyphos had a point. He couldn't really beat a dragon.

[Lali]

OOC SHORTSHORTSHORT but it's here and I'm not any more. Night night. Sorry.


IC All of Lali-Author's characters heard Kyvvas's roar. It would have been far more difficult not to hear it. They scattered either side of the notice, abandoning Kyndare to the charging dragon, and somewhat impressed when she simply stood there with her arms folded and said flatly, "Name and Author?"

Calypso spotted a couple more characters heading their way, and edged back around to the board, grabbing the pen tied to the frame and telling Kyna, "More on the way."

She waved a hand at him impatiently, telling him, "Then write their names down," and looked back at Kyvvas, adding, "And you'll need to tell us who's been taken as well. This lot want to keep records."

[Riemman]

((Is okay Lali!! XD We love you anyways.))

Kyvvas stared down at Kyndare angrily, huffing loudly, which caused dark plumes of smoke to emerge from his nostrils. Yeah, he was pissed.

"Records?! You want to take records at a time like this?" Kyvvas growled out angrily, not really caring whether or not the mage understood. She was the powerful magic-wielding person, so if she didn't understand it was her fault anyway. He really didn't have the patience to try to mind-speak with her. Probably wasn't possible anyway.

He growled again. "Kyvvas. The Author-person is Rie." Why she insisted on being termed Author-person, Kyvvas would never know, and quite frankly, at this point in time, didn't care. "And if you don't know who's been taken to get me this angry then you're idiots. My Ryder's been taken. Riemman."

[Lali]

OOC Thank heavens for that.


IC "Don't blame me," Kyndare told him, rolling her eyes (though since they were entirely black, that went unnoticed, as per usual). "It's this lot are crazy about the names. His brother," and she jerked a thumb towards Calypso, who was dutifully writing down Rie, Riemman, Kyvvas, under the headings, Author, Lost, Searching, "says he can magic the ink so they know what's happening to us while we're away."

"We'll know if you're still alive," Calypso corrected her. "That's about all it can tell."

"One Plagiarist isn't going to be that difficult to defeat," Kyndare snorted, and gestured to Kyvvas, adding, "Especially with a dragon on our side. Now, can we go?"

Calypso finished writing up the names, sighing to himself. Kyndare was really far too impatient, impulsive and impertinent (that's what came of being raised by fairies. All the imps) to be heading a rescue mission, but she could be bloody dangerous when she was pushed, and her magical abilities far surpassed his. She'd have the best chance at taking on whatever was out there, and freeing the kidnapped characters. (Though he couldn't help thinking Laligin would do an even better job - but he was a little biased there.)

"I'll tell you how to get out of the Depot in a moment," he told her, glancing back at the others approaching them, and then looked at Kyvvas. "If you don't mind me asking, how willing would you be to carry any of the others in the group?"

[Riemman]

Kyvvas snarled a little at the thought of carrying anyone other than his Ryder, but visibly restrained himself.

"If it'll help me get my Ryder back, I'll carry whoever you want," was the growled reply, though he was clearly not happy.

[Odango]

Dexter is extremely annoyed. No, Dexter is pissed off. Dexter is furious and angry and livid and all of the other synonyms he can be bothered to think of right now, because apparently it's a good time for the people and the dragon (or whatever it is, he really wouldn't know) in front of him to argue about who is best suited to go out and find the missing characters when his boyfriend is one of the ones who has been taken and needs help right now.

He curses quietly under his breath. If anyone else were standing in front of him, he'd bitch them out without hesitation, but seeing as it's a dragon or something equally ridiculous, he's not sure if that would be such a good idea if he wants to live to bring Bunny back. After a few moments, he decides that he really doesn't care that it could easily turn around and snap his neck and he opens his mouth, about to growl out a few very unpleasant things, but then Carolyn's cell rings in his pocket and he digs it out and flips it open.

"What?" he asks.

"It's Jailbait and don't growl at me like that."

"Sorry," Dexter sighs, his empty hand toying with the knife handle sticking out of his pocket. "What is it?"

"Milo and Sigrun are here. From Die Engelmacher," Jailbait says. "Takeji and Poppy are with them. No one they know was kidnapped, but Takeji rounded them up and I guess talked them into coming to help us, so call if you need anything. Milo, Sigrun, and Takeji can all help you much better than Raven and Carolyn and I could."

"All right," Dexter says. "Thanks, Jailbait."

"And one more thing," she says. "You left so quickly I didn't get a chance to make sure. Are you wearing that pendant I gave you? The wood one with the protection rune I carved?"

"Yeah," Dexter answers. "I usually do."

"Good. Don't take it off for anything, all right?"

"I won't."

"Okay. Take care of yourself. Good luck."

"Thanks. I'm leaving as soon as the morons in front of me quit arguing with each other about whatever they're arguing about. I'll call to check in in an hour. Bye."

"Bye."

With that, Dexter hangs up, dropping the phone back into his pocket and going back to waiting and being angry.

[Shira]

"Xian Li..."

"Charlie, you are not going to go get Alice back and that's that."

"Why not?" He asks, already knowing the answer, already knowing how his boyfriend is. He glances over at a four year old Kayla, who sits at one of the tables in the Depot, headphones on as she carefully colors in a quick sketch Xian Li had made her only an hour before.

"You have a daughter. You have a family -- Jaime and her kids. You --"

"You're part of my family. And you're still hurt from the accident, and don't you lie to me either, Li," Charlie says, putting his hand on his lovers.

Xian Li just looks away, absentmindedly running his fingers over his still bruised ribs. "It doesn't matter," he finally says. "You're not going. I'm going to go get her and I don't care what you say."

Defeated, as Xian Li can be stubborn as hell when he wants to be, Charlie sighs. "Fine," he finally says. "But I won't forgive you if something happens to you." Charlie tugs Xian Li into a hug, as they'd been cuddling on a nearby bench before the short text message from Alice came through.

"Fine," he whispers in Charlie's ear, mocking the older man, though there's a touch of sadness in his voice. "Wo ai ni," he adds, tightening his hold.

As much as he wants to, Charlie doesn't tighten back, knowing it would hurt Xian Li. "Wo ai ni su," he says back. They keep the hug for a few moments before Charlie gently taps Xian Li's lower back.

"Get going before I seriously change my mind."

"Yes sir."

----------

He'd gone back to the apartment, grabbing some things out of Charlie's closet. He'd found the sword now strapped to his back by accident a few months before -- Charlie kept it hidden way in his closet, on the highest shelf in the back. "For safekeeping," he'd said when Xian Li asked him about it.

Xian Li had also changed, now in tighter fitting black pants and shirt.

"The author-person's name is Kimmi. The person missing is Alice. And my name is Xian Li Yong," he tells the person writing everything down.

"Did you just say Kimmi?"

Xian Li turns around and sees a man the same height as he, dressed in all black with an eyeband over his eyes. "Yes, I did," he says.

"That's two for her..." he says with a frown, looking toward the ground. Shaking his head, Josselin looks back up, recongnizing Calypso's aura. "Joniak's missing," he says to Calypso. "Also one of Kimmi's."

'Calm down,' he growls carefully to Kyvvas. 'Rash decisions are made in anger, and we can't have any mistakes. Especially now.' His dragon speech is very harsh, very slow, but it's understandable, thanks to Riemman teaching him a bit.

((OMG Shira posted. xD And Odango: you get a for having an awesome siggy. ^_^))

((Wo ai ni: I love you. Wo ai ni su: I love you more/too.