Antagonist:
(Fo srs, don't take it srsly.. XDDD)

There was a blackness. It faded into white before opening up into something realistic. Things become less fuzzy and shifted into focus. Pizza was on the floor and then promptly eaten by a funny looking dog.

"Hey... wake up. Ahhh... something got stolen from one of the other sides and they want us to go and get it."

The funny looking dog nudged someone (or something) in what could have been a bed or a pile of laundry. Who knew?
The dog licked at the face of the other specimen that was clearly currently participating in a nice slumber.

"To sleep at a time like this... Lucky do---" The dog squinted at its own words.

((lol This is so random ))


"Mmmf." The previously-slumbering thing buried under a pile of dirty clothing swatted at whoever was nudging its arm without opening its eyes. Whatever it was poking it with, it was cold and wet! Not ideal conditions for sleeping at all. The air smelled like something that might've been cheese and anchovies. Or maybe mushrooms. It couldn't really tell, since its mind was still half-dreaming about chocolate-filled fillets dripping with fudge.

...Food!

"Whuh's goin' on?" Its eyes snapping open but its brain still in slow-motion, the words came out slurred as though drunk. Maybe it was drunk. There were a few empty bottles and aluminum cans lying around after all. It blinked its eyes and stared at the dog. Metaphorical question marks appeared above its head. It reached out a paw and poked the dog's nose.

(Chocolate filled filets! xDDDDD)

The dog wriggled its nose in response.

"Eyyyy... you drunk or what?" The dog looked around the room, taking note of the empty bottles and cans. "How the heck did I miss that..." It blinked at itself.

"Get up! Get up! Or I'll start digging into this mess of filth you're sleeping in." It sniffed the clothes. "Hmm. Second thought, maybe not. Maybe I'll just pour bleach on you instead." It looked around. "Is there even bleach here?"

It groaned and gingerly pulled at one of the articles the other creature was laying on, pulling it a small way out of the pile.

"Aha! Progress! Let's go before this gate closes! They're a pain in the ass to get back open in a place with shoddy magic."
The dog hopped around eagerly, jumping upon the creature as well.

((Sounds tasty though, right? ))


"Nya!!" The creature, who looked somewhere between a cross between a black house cat and a green-spotted alligator, swatted at the dog on top of itself. "Get off you mangy mutt! You're heavy!" It rolled over down the pile of random clothes to shake the dog loose before stretching and yawning, feeling its back crick in several places.

"Ahh....that's better. You were saying...?" It looked around confusedly for a minute before the dog's words registered. "Oh! The gate! Why didn't you wake me sooner?" It shot up from the ground and tripped over a can, skidding a couple of feet across the floor. "Do you have six clothes hangers? I've got five, but we need eleven to keep gate open while we pass through it. I really don't want to have to go through that episode where the gate slammed on my tail like the last time. Took me weeks before it returned to its pretty shade of green..." It flicked its reptilish tail a few times to emphasize its point while looking around for more of those elusive objects. ...Oooh, was that a purple rice crispy? It picked the crispy up and took a bite. Mmm. Avocado.

(Only if it's fake fish! )

The dog stared at the creature with a blank face.
"Do I look like I have any hangers? Stop eating and put these things in place!" It looked around the room briefly before dashing out of the bedroom door and into the main part of the apartment. Some rumbling could be heard and then the dog returned with six hangers in its mouth. It dropped them near the portal and began using them to keep the portal open.
"Hope your weird roommate doesn't mind!" If dogs could snort, that's what it was currently doing.

"There. Seems... uh.... sound enough... I guess.." The portal creaked a bit, then settled down.
"Okay. Finish doing whatever you need to do and then let's go!" The dog stepped into the portal and stood in the dark abyss. Swirls of white and black began surrounding the dog, wrapping around it until its form was no longer visible.
"I don't know why you choose that clunky form anyway." The mass of swirling smoke rippled and shifted, growing tremendously in size before finally giving way, parting, then disappaiting. Where once stood a dog, now stood a very muscular and tanned centaur. His hair and hide were a light golden brown with speckles of white. He clacked his feet on the supposed ground of the portal, but nothing could be heard.
"All right. I'm ready. I'm not carrying you this time; so move those legs of yours or change into something more mobile will you?"

((Fake fish with peanut butter? ))


The cat-gator pouted and gave the half-eaten treat one last forlorn look before dropping it and scuttling after the not-dog.

"There's nothing clunky about being a cat!" It whined while clambering into the portal after the now-centaur, "And the tail gives me a more impressive look! Nobody messes with alligators!"

Half way through its complaints, a comical puff of green and pink, glittering smoke engulfed the alli-cat, and when the smoke cleared, a large, bipedal goat with black and purple fur stood. It flexed its now five-digit fingers of its hands and smoothed down its mane. "...Although I suppose I do miss being a little taller than you." It mused, trotting to the side of the centaur and watching the sides of the portal quiver slightly. "Er. I guess we better get going. I don't think my 'roommate' would be too happy to come back and find out that we totally trashed his place while he's on vacation in the Bahamas."

For a few moments the bipedal goat trotted through the portal in silence. Then, "We should go on a vacation too." it suddenly said, green eyes abruptly lighting up at the idea. "Somewhere......I dunno, far away? I don't think we've gone on a faraway trip in decades. Whaddya think?"

(That sounds better! )

The centaur man snorted. "Only in that form are you taller than me!" He kicked at the hangers holding open the portal causing it to promptly shut with a popping sound. He turned to face the inside of the portal, or what should be anyway, it was too dark to really tell. After a few short moments, his eyes adjusted to the dark and what couldn't be easily seen, with light pouring in before, was now glowing. Tiny lights along the portal walls. They dotted the interior with no set pattern and glowed and pulsed like something living.

"A vacation?" The centaur put his hand on the upright goat. "I have a feeling this will be as close to a vacation we can get. The thing that was stolen was a dragon morphing scroll. That's one even we don't have! You have to wait at least 5 years before you can even begin to prepare for that one! To think, someone just up and stole the thing!" Curses of a strange language spat out of his mouth. "Well, we have to report over to the Rewhlands first. Maybe they'll know something and it won't be as bleak as it sounds."

((...I'm all hungry now, despite having a large bowl of instant noodles (tomato flavored) and several pieces of Hershey's chocolates ))


The baphomet sulked at the centaur's words. Not even the pretty lights within the portal could cheer him up. "Ugh, it's not our fault the damned scroll got stolen because they're too stupid to have more guards guarding it, why is it always us that gets the shoddy missions? I'm definitely sending in a complaint to the union after this. We need a pay raise, seriously."

A glow at the end of the portal-tunnel grew larger, signaling the end of their trip within the not-space. "At least I suppose that if we have to report in and then get sent on a mission, it means that Leftknot won't be able to strangle us for destroying his side of the room until we get back. With any luck, he'll think someone broke in while we're away." The goat said, stepping out from the portal and into a large, white room surrounded by large, intricately carved stone archways all leading into a differently colored swirling portal. He pressed a few buttons on a panel near the portal they stepped out of to sign out, clearing the portal for others' later usage.

"How long've we got before we have to report in? I could do with a hangover potion right now." He muttered, rubbing his knuckles against his temples.

(Lmao, and I reply like 5 years later... )

The centaur snorted. "Well, comfortable living in whatever world of our choosing seems decent enough to me." He thought back to the world they were just in. "Maybe too comfortable for somebody." He grinned at the baphomet.

"Leftknot isn't stupid. He's going to know what's up. I'm not taking the blame for your ... questionable living though. Remember, I stopped living there right after that Hallway Egg incident." The centaur shuddered at the remembered thought.

The centaur's hooves clacked upon the swirling stone floor beneath them, changing color and position with every new step. "I'm sure they want us there as soon as possible, but it's not like the scroll is of any use to whoever just yet. They still have go through the long ass process." The centaur pondered a moment, staring at each portal before finally choosing a mostly blue one. "I think Faervin has some cheap potions now; we can check that place out."

((Me too...xDD;;))

The baphomet groaned as he buried his face in his hands. "Ugh, don't remind me. That had been a total disaster. Seriously, I thought he was going to kill me when he saw the mess." He followed the centaur over to the blue portal. "I suppose we can stock up on some other potions too, even though they're all expensive as heck even with the discounts we get with our membership cards. Never know when they might come in handy...I'm all out of Slow potions. Though why Faervin insists on calling them potions when they act more like exploding bombs is beyond me..."

He muttered under his breath and jabbed at some buttons on a panel near the portal, entering their access codes. The last time someone had entered one without authorization had not ended...prettily.

"How much do you have left?" He asked as he waited for the thing to finish processing. "I've got about a hundred Crystals right now, enough for maybe three or four bottles of the cheaper stuff."

()

"Stocking up is a good idea." The centaur nodded in agreement, then his eyes went wide. "Aagh, I left my satchel in another... realm." He groaned, placing a hand upon a wall of the corridor. Very dramatic. As he stood near the wall looking defeated, another portal lit up, signaling its use. It reached the corridor and its occupant stepped out, a peculiar-looking creature. It wore a long and flowing yellow garment that obscured most of its body, save for the head which was adorned with three rows of short spikes. Its snout was short, but pronounced and unlike a human's, and its two eyes were large and solidly colored a faded green hue. Its movement was akin to gliding and that was its action as it glided over to the centaur. It made no sound and the centaur was only aware of its presence once it spoke, a light and fleeting sound.
"Saer, there you are. I'm glad I was able to find you." The centaurs ears perked up (if they could) and he turned around quickly. "You left this at my place last night." The creature held out a familiar-looking piece of-- oh the satchel! Thank goodness! The centaur's eyes had grown wide, first at the sight of the creature, and then wider at the sight of his satchel. He tried quickly to compose himself, but failed and latched onto the satchel.
The creature laughed lightly and then fixed its eyes upon the baphomet. "Oh... who's this?"

(( ))

The baphomet had slunked behind the centaur when it saw the strange creature emerge from the other portal, almost subconsciously. One never knew if it could be another one of those debt collectors again, and it had a lot of them after a certain fiasco that included an exploding tag, a washing machine, and three large bags of baking soda mixed with flour.

"Oh, er...hi." It stepped back out from behind Saer after seeing that the other apparently didn't recognize it, and, therefore, could not be one of its debt collectors, "I'm Femto, Saer's partner...most of the time." It glanced back at the centaur. "Your roommate?"

Speaking of roommates...Leftknot would be back soon. Femto hoped they'd be long gone by the time the foul-tempered yet very OCD fuzzball tracked it down.

Saer ponders on the word roommate. "Hmm... roommate.. something like that.."

The creature makes a hissing sound. "Shut it, Saer." It turns to face Femto. "Nice to meet you, I'm Laivar, Saer's other partner." The creature inches closer to Femto.

Sear speaks up with a stutter. "Now now, Laivy, let's not get into that." He turns to face Femto. "Laiver here has been helping me lately with a ... collaboration of sorts. Some.. thing. It's very complicated."
Laivar snorts with a small laugh. "He mooches off my energy."

"Hey! It's not just that!"

"Oh yes, a very intimate process, right? Mooching energy. Let's not forget the--" Saer reaches over and clamps the creature's mouth shut just as a portal opens up.

Saer speaks hurriedly. "Aha! That's our portal! Thanks for the satchel. I'll see you in a few, okay? Or never. I'm sure that works for you. Time to get going!"

He grabs Femto and proceeds quickly to the open portal and then steps inside.

"Wait, was that the right one?"