event: portal three | the sky

[mayfield_mods]

The third portal is not what you expect.

It's found in the middle of the Greased Lightning auto garage in the center of one of the building's walls. The drone workers in the garage don't look at or speak of it, but they seem to be avoiding its presence.

From what you can see in the garage, the portal opens up into what seems like the interior of a train's carriage, or first-class seating on an airline. You can see down what seems to be a large, impossibly miles-long aisle, with floors and seats made of luxurious red carpeting. From where you're standing, you can see the arms and legs of the people sitting in those seats, and in some cases the backs of their heads. They're all very well-dressed, and seem pretty lively, although you can't hear anything from this side of the portal.

Upon stepping through, other than the same tingle felt by the other portals, a few other sensations may hit you. The first, and most jarring, is the sense of vertigo caused by suddenly being hundreds of feet above sea level. If your ears pop, that would be why. The second is the smell of delicious food wafting into your nostrils; the supper trolley must be getting close.

The third, and a little less pleasant, is a faint buzzing in the back of your head that will be more than a little familiar to anybody who visited the carnival. Glancing around the cabin, you may notice the same holes that littered the sky back at the carnival: pockets of pure nothing, each about the size of a dinner plate, are scattered here and there across the aisle. Looking at them for more than a few seconds hurts your eyes as well as your mind.

It is while glancing around the cabin that you may notice two things. The first is the windows of the cabin, outside of which you can see the surroundings of your vehicle. It's neither a train nor an airplane: it's a blimp, bigger than any you've ever seen. Above your window you can see the bottom of the great balloon your cabin is attached to. Below, you can see the ocean, and ahead on the horizon, land. It seems the airship you're aboard is headed straight for a large metropolis on the coastline.

The second thing you might notice, now that you're close enough to see them, is the fact that none of your fellow passengers have faces. Their bodies are moving, shifting positions and gesticulating as if they're talking to each other, but no noise emerges from the patch of skin where their mouths would have been. The same goes for everyone occupying the seats down the aisle, which stretches further than you can see. Even when you poke and prod at them, the faceless passengers don't seem to notice your presence- yet.

Comments

[drank_the_milk]

[Yuna, upon stepping through the portal, spends quite a bit of time just running around getting her bearings. She's already transformed into her gunner girl outfit, pistols at the ready. However, once she sees where they are, those go back in their holsters in fairly short order.]

A blimp? Do people even fly that way anymore? What if we crash or something? Didn't a huge blimp catch fire and crash that one time?

[allwehad]

[Margot has come prepared, a backpack full of miscellaneous useful things slung over her shoulder.

After the vertigo, she's struck with awe at her surroundings. They're flying. They're actually flying in some sort of giant airship and that is so cool, but...

Any excitement is wiped away at the sight of the people, at the holes. That's not okay and it makes her stomach churn sickly. For a moment, she's tempted to talk to one of them or try to catch their attention in some way, but what if these faceless people are dangerous?

Instead, Margot steps further into the cabin and toward one of the nothingness holes, having to avert her eyes as a blinding headache sets in. If only she could stare at it longer or had something to poke it with...

There's a pen in the pocket of her duster, she could try. But would it be worth it?]

[ghostlygames]

Wow~!


[Mindy had been all prepared to face the legions of terrible monsters that doubtless populated the other side of this portal, but finding herself on a blimp was unexpected to say the least.]

This is amazing! We're so high up~!

[Right now she's all but plastered to one of the windows, staring out excitedly.]

[its_decided]

[This wasn't natural at all - okay, granted, Nozomi had just stepped into a portal to who-knows-where and is trying to get her bearings straight at the moment, but still, it wasn't natural. Having already transformed into Cure Dream - opting the more familiar powers than the new ones she got just recently - her curiosity had gotten the better of her as she decided to poke at... the food.]

Oh, wow, it looks so delicious! ...I wonder if Karen gets the same thing back home...

[causesstampedes]

[Simba is freaking out. He's never been in a moving object before, and all the new sensations and strange movements cause the little lion cub to dash between the legs of the faceless passengers and find the nearest hiding spot.

All he cares about right now is getting off whatever this thing is.]

[mounties]

[Canada, sick of things being strange without purpose around here, is letting her curiosity get the best of her today, which brought her here. Wherever that is. She's carefully making her way around the cabin, with a rifle strapped to her back. You may catch her staring a little too long out one of the windows. She's never liked flying much.]

[ex_bloomnobly385]

[Yuyuko is quick to adjust to the altitude, no stranger to high places although this would mark the first occasion she was flying without means of her own power. The whole thing was new to her, the blimp, the holes in reality, everything.

The smell of food keeps her from getting overwhelmed. Even if she had a mission, at least she could get something to snack on too. Speaking of which, she pulls out the letter from a pocket on the front of her shirt. Mementos, huh? Yuyuko gives a small smirk. How vague. She doesn't even know what kinds of things this Annie character treasures. Maybe one of the many noppera-bō would know]

Excuse me? Sorry to interrupt but I seem to have lost something. You wouldn't know anyone by the name of Annie, would you?

1/2

[ihatewalls]

[ Beat's first instinct on seeing a portal, any portal, is to jump right in. He missed most of the other oens, but today, he got lucky. Yeah, Beat's kind of weirded out by the sky and all the crazy holes in the sky... and how massively large this plane is. But, that food, that supper cart. Damn, yo. That shit smells delicious.]

Oh man, they musta' known I was comin'!

Yo, any of you guys see where the food cart we...

[It was at this moment, Beat realized something odd about the fellow passengers.]

[skypiratejohnny]

[How on earth this man found the portal, was a mystery, but enough snooping around the town and he eventually came across it. He was told earlier that the portals may have been a way to help them get out of Mayfield.

He took note on how the drones seemed to ignore the portal all together. Narrowing his eyes, he stepped on through, and had the most familiar feeling. Yet at the same time, it wasn't pleasant.

Glancing around, a brow arched over his shades. There was something here he had to look for... and he was about to ask a passenger a question when... oh.

This was a little nerve wracking.]

[flying_fleabag]

[Silverbolt has been hearing about these portals, and from a lookout perch near the garage, has seen people sneak into the Greased Lightning garage.

It isn't long before he puts two and two together and sees the portal in the back.

So he decides what any noble Maximal would do.

He flies head first into it with a cry.]

Do not worry! I have come to provide my aide!!

[He dashed in without really looking things over, so once past the threshold of the portal, he's a bit surprise to find himself in an enclosed space.

A really small enclosed space. He does his best to quickly bring himself to a stop, skidding along into what may his path before righting himself. This could have gone better...]

[beetlemania]

[It didn't take Ted long to notice the portal, not with it being smack dab in the middle of his workplace. He suited up in full Blue Beetle gear, grabbed his BB gun, and wasted no time in going inside.

And when he got there, he kind of wished he hadn't. "Freaky" was a good way to describe it. "Ripping off The Question's look" was another.

He's carefully moving through the blimp now, occasionally prodding a faceless passenger or trying to look out one of the windows.]

[afterthesky]

[Sarah Jane is of course instantly drawn to the holes. She has her watch out and is intently scanning away... and trying very hard not to look out the window.]

Well that's the obvious spot to start...

[roadroller]

[Well, she's already started investigating the librarian - a little followup was to be expected. Unaffected by vertigo, Rin is exploring the airship with an adventurous grin.]

I wonder who's flying this thing? ♪

[sgtgunpla]

[For once, Keroro was glad he didn't bring his Kero Robo MK II mecha with him. He's not as skilled in weapons like his corporal, but he carries his lightsaber beam sword with him. This time he takes advantage of his small size in dodging the no-faced passengers and trying to find out stuff about this blimp.

Though he's taking a small break and looks outside the window.]

Gero, why did they have to choose a blimp, de arimasuka? A space ship would've been so much cooler to explore.

[demonhunting]

[Sam comes in prepared, with a gun in his waistband, a silver knife in hand and a can of salt in his jacket. What he's not prepared for, though, is the sudden feeling of vertigo that has him gripping on to the nearest table to steady himself.

Nor is he prepared for the faceless passengers. In fact he almost stabs one before he realizes that it isn't attacking him yet, though he's still wary of them. And really, he kind of figures, after staring at the nothing for a little too long and pulling away with a pounding headache on top of a faint buzzing, that trying to touch those pockets of...well, nothingness is only going to end in disaster.

He's staring out the window after getting his bearings, just marveling at the sight for a moment before walking away, making sure to avoid any of the faceless passengers. Come to think of it, he's kinda starving.]

[kingofhero]

[It wasn't really on-purpose that Keith had entered the portal. He hadn't been aware of the other two portals in Mayfield; he'd just happened to notice this one first.

He also noticed the way people went in and never seemed to come out. Even if he wasn't so sure, it wasn't like Keith to stand idly by.

He simply hadn't realized that there was no way to get back. It wasn't for a lack of trying or that the others from Mayfield were somehow stuck and needed help. There just wasn't any real way to return to the town.

He'll walk down the aisles slowly, looking curiously at the passengers, and moving in the direction he hopes a pilot or steward might be in.]

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

[mayfield_mods]

[Whether you're inside the blimp or being crazy and climbing over the outside, everything is suddenly going wrong.

Seems like someone found the memento!

There is a MASSIVE explosion from the engine room, black smoke begins pouring from the blimp as it descends sharply towards a skyscraper. Inside the blimp, the faceless drones have gone from ignoring the interlopers, to attempting to murder them with anything on hand.

Better run fast, anyone left on board when this thing crashes isn't making it out alive...]