This was an uneasy first meeting. What had started as a bit of a shock soon settled into confusion and concern, for the most part. The boy with the hat, for his part, had tried to keep her talking, largely because he seemed unsure of the situation and wanted as much information as possible, confirming god knows what. It was hard for her to get a read on him. Ironically, the mental exercises were helping her think straight, so it's all good. When the girl decided to essentially let the situation be what it is and go with it to find Laurence, that put a little confidence into things. Alex, the last boy, was understandably suspicious, and made this fact known. He was very authoritative about it, too. [color=ed1c24]"I understand the mistrust. It's a difficult situation to deal with. There's no need to give the order, though."[/color] She [i]wanted[/i] to help, anyway she could. Because...now that she had her head back...she remembered seeing people being victimized by the Shadows, consumed or...much, much worse. Raven took off in place, apparently able to keep herself in the air and roughly in-place so she didn't leave people behind, like she had apparently done with Laurence. [color=ed1c24]So, Laurence, Ava, Alex, and uhh...Hat-Boy. Right. Got it.[/color] So, she turned towards a wall, used her claws against it to get some quick lift over the lip of buildings, then swooped back down in a glide and the occasional flap to pass them and lead them away from the Charnel Place to where the alley proceeded further, saying "This way!", and needing them to keep up a pace with her doing this idle-glide. She could fly in place, but obviously that needed more energy. Raven never understood how hummingbirds had the energy for it all the time. Along the way, she started to speak to the three of them. [color=ed1c24]"Alright, this is going to be about as hard to swallow as everything else, but try to remember I've been living here a while now, so I know a thing or two. You're not in the world you know. I'm sure you figured that out, yourselves, but let me drop the [i]other[/i] shoe: This is a world where everybody's inner-selves live, their true being. It's a world of everybody's minds, where all the creatures that speak say whatever reality their real-world counterpart really thinks and how they view the world. You [i]could[/i] say that it mirrors the soul. I've been thinking of it as a 'Metacognitive Universe', or Metaverse, for all you Philosophy majors."[/color] [color=00a651]"Oh no... Are you saying what I [i]think[/i] you're saying?"[/color] [color=ed1c24]"What do you think I'm saying?"[/color] The hat boy stopped for a second and began to sing [color=00a651]"Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of [i]pure imagination[/i]..."[/color] in a decent impersonation of [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVi3-PrQ0pY]Gene Wilder.[/url] There was a snerk from Raven's direction, and she had to land and lean against a wall with one wing, covering her beak with the other to keep from laughing too hard. [color=ed1c24]"Don't [i]joke[/i] at a time like this, Hatman."[/color] [color=00a651]"Hakuro."[/color] Raven paused for a second, remembering how she'd addressed him earlier. Yeah, okay, fair point... [color=ed1c24]"Right, right...sorry."[/color] [color=00a651]"So, the things, then, that you're afraid of...?"[/color] She looked at all of them seriously now. [color=ed1c24]"Everyone has a dark imagination in them, somewhere. The 'They' I mentioned are Shadows. Shadow of people, dark imaginings made manifest, living nightmares, etc. I've seen alot. You three were just about to walk into a place the more [i]feral[/i] creatures come to hunt for prey."[/color] Giving them a second to let that sink in, Raven soon took off again, saying [color=ed1c24]"We should go. Some Shadows are worse than others."[/color] as she turned and again started a lazy flight that she was trying to keep in pace with their walking/running speed, but she would prefer that they remained swift, if they could, if they wanted to avoid the darkness... Every now and again, she would swoop up to get their bearings, though Hakuro had one question that came to mind. [color=00a651]"If everything here is a Shadow, what're [i]you?[/i]"[/color] [color=ed1c24]"Not [i]everyone's[/i] a Shadow. I mean, you've [i]seen[/i] how easy it is to get lost in here. But as for me...I dunno. There's alot of darkness here. Maybe I'm [i]light![/i]"[/color] [color=00a651]"But you're a [i]Raven![/i]"[/color] [color=ed1c24]"Nobody's perfect!"[/color] >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Elsewhere... [center][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K_xO8JltXc[/youtube][/center] This place was [i]really[/i] off. His surrounfings held twisted optical illusions and voices whispering out of thin air from...nowhere. It seemed like London, but it seemed NOT like London. The sky was wrong, the fog was weird, the distant landmarks appeared to be [i]listing[/i], and there was a distant banging and shouting from somewhere. All in all, not a great experience. Worse yet, any sort of...well... Okay, one might [i]guess[/i] that they were perpetually cast in a bad light, but the truth is that they were blackness in the [i]shape[/i] of human beings, clothing fairly normal in the dissonant picture of the normal coating the abnormal. The point is that they all appeared to be muttering themselves...and each one was traveling down an alley or down the street or into a building in EXACTLY the right speed to keep ahead and out of Romani's reach, disappearing around a corner or in a door without him discovering anything. It was almost as if an elaborate prank were being played, but if so...then half or ALL of London had to be in on it.