Strangers in Strange Lands (the Kier and Creampuff)

They are...fighting?

Fighting the urge to purge Bumbler bits... Kieran starts to fight against the pull, not wanting to be caught in the middle of this pattern battle.

YES YES DARLING, OUR PATTERN WILL CONQUER THIS ONE, IT WILL BE OURS!

What sounds a like thunderclap literally shakes the room. For a few moments, all color leeches away form the room and everything the Kier can see. Then it returns, but the hues all tinted red. Then, green. And then blue.

That is when the world seems to start to spin.

And crackle.

All of this was foretold. The Phong knew of the coming of our divinity, and taking this keep is only the first step. This miniature city, in an identical room to our own, filled with Unicorn images... it must be meant for us, and us alone. Our Labyrinth, so much larger and stronger than that tiny thing... it must be trying to consume this one. This is the next step in the Kieran conquest of the multiverse. As foretold by the earliest Phong, of all people.

Kierenne braces herself for the conflict, and pours all of her will into maintaining the image of her own Pattern in the face of this tiny adversary.

The sound is vast. Deep. More than a mere sound. More like a vibration striking a chord in Creation itself. A wrong chord. Discordant. Wrong. But...huge.

It blots out all other sound, all light and feeling, every sensation. As sensation returns, it is rather uncomfortably like being the water in a goblet and having someone or something drink it.

Followed by the impact.

Kieran and Kierrenne actually feel bones break. Several. Fingers. A few ribs. Kieran's foot. Kierrenne's left arm above the wrist. As their eyes open, all seems blurry at first. Sand in their mouths. Likewise beneath them, as well as in all kinds of tiny crevices in their bodies. The sand tastes of salt, which naturally doesn't make any cuts or scrapes feel any better. Quite the opposite. Each of them has a migraine and cannot quite focus. They sense each other, vaguely. Not because of any interference but because they're simply so hurt. Healing is swift, but there's so much to do! As they they slowly regain consciousness after how long? Minutes? Hours? Days? They can sense broken teeth mending. Kierrenne feels a collapsed lung re-inflate. Kieran has the curious sensation of feeling his toenails grow back.

Eventually a warm tongue licks Kierrenne's cheek. When she opens her eyes, she focuses them (with some difficulty) on Creampuff looking at her rather like a kitten looks at a mother cat.

Above, in the cloudless sky, are two suns. One gold. One red.

Ow. Trying to focus on anything but pain

Ow. That was worse than...whatever...brain..hurty...ow.

As things seem to sort themselves, Definately...ow....

Two suns. Ow. Whoever set that trap. Ow. I'm going to...do something painful. Too hurty to think. Ow.

We've were torn and reconstitu...ow..

Panic at his last thought lances through the haze of pain, which brings clarity, as he mentally checks himself to make sure everything is here.

Kieran closes his eyes and concentrates on not pain. Not hurting.

[OOC: Everything we had on/in us made it here?]

"Awww. Creampuff knows her mommy. I love you too, sweety."

Kierenne sits up and looks around. She sees Kieran there, and notices him moving. Sand. Sand in uncomfortable places. Hrm. The discomfort is... interesting. But I'll get back to that later. My other half is alive... anything else can be corrected.

She checks her person, taking stock of what came here with her from the room. [Should be the mask, her torn suit, sword, sheath, belt, Prospero's key, deck of trumps, and Kieran's suit.] She looks farther for... anything... Phong, miniature cities, full-sized cities, shade, food, water.

She also feels for her brother through the Trump, checking the intensity of the Distortion. I need you in my mind, brother. "Later, you can be in my body."

Contact between the twins hardly has any distortion at all. But still hurts. Pretty much everything hurts right now.

They seem to be on a flat white plain that stretches as far as the eye can see. Featureless, even formidable. And hot. Around them, their personal possessions seem strewn about, along with a handful of Phong corpses. Three or four have been stripped and eaten.

Creampuff does not look hungry.

Well, dear heart. We're mostly free of the Distortion, I think. We can use the trumps to go back to Amber. Then we can return for the Phong. Oh, and Prospero. Oh my, it's so hard to choose.

"Creampuff. How did you avoid being mangled? It took me... well... ages to heal back from that. And you've been around long enough to have a few snacks."

We should tell Random about Prospero's world and Creampuff's world. But the Phong, the keep, the gargoyles, and the miniature city, they belong to us alone.

Kierenne takes out the deck of trumps and inspects them for damage, then takes out King Random's trump and begins to concentrate on it.

Your highness? It is the Kier. We have news.

Good, good, that emptiness was starting to grate at my nerves. I'm not sure which to work on first though.

Wobbly standing up, he retrieves his mask, his semi-tattered wetsuit and gets dressed a quick survey brings Fleshrender's blade into sight, which he flows into a bracer.

How long were we out? Creampuff seems to have taken care of herself nicely.

"Theory. We being pattern based were...whatever happened to us painfully, so bore the brunt of it when the two collided. The Phong had begun to feel some effect of the meeting, but they had been in close proximity to a pattern for sometime, having lived in that shadow near it for who knows how long. Creampuff fared the best I think due to her lack of proximity to a pattern in her life, who knows how close any pattern, if any, exists in her shadow."

Seeing that they were attended while out, Kieran hug Creampuff, "Good Creampuff, good girl. You did very very well taking care of Mommy and Daddy! "

Kieran checks the full uneaten corpses for signs of death. Violent reassembling? Creampuff herself?

Kieran then inspects the partially eaten ones for signs of decay, "How long have they been rotting, this may give us a clue as to how long we were out."

I agree, he must know about Prospero's machinations.

As far as anyone can tell, the Phong bodies seem to have been killed by impact. They don't look more than a day or so dead.

King Random's image appears. "Well! We were wondering where you two were gone!"

"By all means.." The King stretches out his hand.

Impact, that's..interesting. We were taken apart and reformed but they were dropped?

Kieran scouts the blank area and sand looking for marks of trespass. Since they were dropped here, anyone moving around would have left tracks.

Turning to his twin, Kieran asks, "What does King Random say?"

"He says we can step through to him. You go first, and bring Creampuff while I hold the connection open, then I'll follow." She glances around for anything else that should be brought, but the Phong corpses will rest on naked sand under two suns forever. Masks, weapons, deck, key, and Creampuff are all they need. The neoprene is welcome, but not strictly necessary.

She thinks to Kieran, What if we weren't disassembled? What if it was just impact like the Phong, and we healed?

Who knows what happened, but that feeling was..awkward.

Offering a hand to Creampuff, "Daddy is taking you to meet Uncle Random, Creampuff. Mommy will follow in a second. Let's go, don't be afraid."

Taking her hand, Kieran's empty hand reaches forth to the King, waiting the regent's grasp to bring him forth.