End of the Beast, Section 1: Strange New Age

[CallmePrismatic]

Artemis sat. It was a familiar action at this point. It was, as he took it, Purgatory's major attraction. The Beast paced, either through nerves or anxiousness, and glared with his empty eyes at the people surrounding him.
How long had Artemis been in there? He had stopped trying to keep time in this place. Not the longest, that was certain, but it seemed he had been locked away for longer than an eternity but just a hair under forever. Except, now that he mused on it, he wasn't locked away, merely on extended guard duty, like the old days when he and Roland would stay up all night overlooking whatever nasty bandit that had chosen their town to ride through. The old days...
He knew they were old days because the two most recent 'guardians' (Who had coined that term? Whenever Artemis tried to remember the first time using, or even hearing, the term...well it didn't go blank, more like he was looking for something that never happened, something that just always was, a Beast in prison and the 'guardians' surrounding) were definetly not from his time, just as he wasn't from the time of the knight or the Englishman or the Chink (who hadn't actually known what the term meant) or any of them. The Beast seemed to have disregarded time gaps in his collection. Not that any of them had any difficulty in adapting. Once they had died, or whatever they did to get the Beast back, they found that they were connected immediatley, language and habits communaly shared, like a big happy family.
Artemis languidly drew his remaining gun. He spun it with little effort, not particulalry interested in the action. The Beast's gaze eventually settled on the deputy and Artemis wondered if he saw a glimmer of...hope, maybe fear, perhaps both...coursing through the demon. It had never done anything like this, the last two times (that Artemis had been present for) the 'exit' happened the Beast was just as suprised as the rest of them. Now he looked expectant.
Artemis broke the staredown to look at the others, trying to see if they saw any difference like he did.

[Death Dealer]

Rocco glanced over at Artemis, seeing him mess with his gun. Then he noticed a slight shift in his demeanor, and brought his eyes to face the Beast. He looked...happy! Happy, what did this abomination have to be happy about? Rocco took one of his thompson guns from his lap, the guns resting position for a good...what felt like at least fifty years. Silver and Black blended seamlessly on his guns, the metal very well wrought on them. Rocco kept a very close watch on the Beast, wondering if the others had noticed it's shift in demeanor as well.

[dementedmongoose]

"I-is it just me, or does that creature look less pathetically bored than I feel?" Asi asked no one in general. God, if I'd known it would be this boring, I wouldn't have even considered fighting him. Asi thought, frustrated with the monotony of this place. Drawing one of his swords, he placed it on his lap and began to examine it for scuffs, dings, and the like. Noticing nothing, Asi placed it on the ground, drew the other one, examined it, and noticed a ding. Asi swore under his breath, momentarily forgetting the curse on his blade, he was rapidly reminded as it caught fire, sending him backwards in shock. "AACK! GOD!" Composing himself, Asi looked around. "Well, that's one way to change the routine, don't actually recommend it myself, but, we weren't as bored."

[Toastburner B]

Red Eye looked at Lankington...The Beast. he reminded himself for the 11,000th time, and sneered.

"I not be liking it, meself." the pirate growled. "If he be feeling one of his exits coming, would it not be for the best to go in there and make sure can't leave? Or, at the very least, not leave comfortably?"

Nat sighed, and leaned back. "Then again, if we could be killing him in this place, I suppose it would of been done longer before I got here."

[Raiden]

A guantleted hand waved through Thomas's long golden hair, and his piercing blue eyes rested on The Beast. Or, the Black Knight, as he had seen it. His shield lay on what constituted for the ground in this place, and his sword was attached to his hip.

"So what? If he takes his leave, then we'll do what we've been doing every OTHER bloody time he's jumped the spot. We'll sit on our arses and wait for a new bloke to join our round."

It wasn't so much the waiting that upset him. It was the lack of female companions. You could only flirt with the same girls for so long before it just gets repetitive.

[Azisien]

Luke glanced up momentarily. There wasn't a whole lot to look at, but conversation would occasionally peak his interest. After all, conversation was more or less the only thing you could DO here, since the rest of the place was as the books described it: Bleh. But not too much bleh, and not too little. Just right. And yet, not right. Luke cursed quantum physics in his head. He could have just as easily said it out loud, did anyone here actually know what quantum physics was?

In the end, he decided not to speak. He glanced back down at his lap, returning to his meditative state. Though, he wasn't actually meditating, he had no idea how to. He was just bored on the verge of insanity, and doing his best to avoid the latter at all costs.

[MC43]

There was no point to conversation. That was the feeling Adon had the entire time he was here. How long had it been since that fight in the inn? Too long...

He sat still in place, throughout the entire time here, meditating, waiting for something to happen. He knew there was a reason why he was sent to this place, and it couldn't have been to sit there and reflect on his short life, or to listen to everyone else complain about there being nothing to do, or the story of how they got here, or whatever else was the topic of conversation.

So there he sat, silent, just as he had done the entire time...

[Rhiya Ravenwing]

Genes looked down, momentarily diverting her attention from the Beast. She had grown bored of looking at it now. It posed no challenge for her anymore, and she had long been standing vigilant against its escape.

"I don't know about you guys," she said quietly, but assertively, "but I have the sudden urge to follow the Beast out of the exit the next time it opens. The Gods will have to pay for the fate they gave me. I did not wish to die... By Zeus, they will pay."

Of course, this had to be one of the umpteenth time she had said it, but it still felt good.

[Toastburner B]

"I must admit," the pirate said, "I fails to see the point of this. We be the ones who stop the rampage of this beasty in life, and all we get out of it is to sit here for eternity."

The pirate sat up. "Do we be serving a purpose here? It not be like we've ever prevented Lankington from escaping once in all these centuries, so why curse those who brought him down with to a fate of sitting around doing nothing? Surely even one of the lower planes would be more interesting than this."

[CallmePrismatic]

Artemis considered replying to Genes but opted out. They all felt, on some varying degree, the same exact way. Artemis himself had bolted toward the exit portal the first time he had witnessed the Beast's escape, only to run through whatever Purgatory counted as air. Events like that tended to jade a person pretty quick.
Still the Beast was looking particulalry anxious. Every other time the Beast had made a foray the opening of the portal had taken it by as much suprise as everyone else. Now...it was like it was waiting in a doctor's office, the appointment looming ahead and just waiting for the cosmic nurse to stick his head out and announce he could come in.
As if on cue the flaming man stopped in his track and held his ground. The purgatory in front of him didn't tear so much as pull back, like a giant hand on the other 'side' was pulling on it like a plastic wrapper. Eventually the end of it disapperead and they all saw through to the real world. The Beast smiled at his 'guardians' and was pulled through, and as soon as the entire ordeal started it was finished, jarring but not sudden.
Artemis joined the collective unspoken sigh from the group. Now the only thing to do was wait without an enemy to focus on, at least until he came back with another addition.
And then something jarring happened. Purgatory exploded in light, and at the center stood a staggeringly ethereal figure. Artemis couldn't take his eyes off it and it in turn didn't turn it's faceless gaze away from the deputy. It seemed to be more real than everything and everyone around it and Artemis felt like a cartoon looking at a human being, like the figure was a dimension greater somehow.
COME
The figure seemed to meld into a solid line that engulfed Artemis and before he knew the process he was on ground, being blinded by the sun that made it through the staggeringly tall buildings surrounding him. He drew his gun and waved it in the air through the sudden confusion and in the distance he thought he could hear a woman or child scream but mostly he was taken in by the looming thought.
What's going on?
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OOC: Feel free to make the 'figure' to your liking if you want. And also don't be untempted to describe the future, I'm just tired or I would have done the same (just don't make it beyond like I, Robot, I don't wanna come back and see where we just entered a future where everyone's converted there body into pure energy or somesuch nonsense.)