The double doors are a muffled chaos of meeping and clicking sounds. Then air pressure bubbles inner ears, turning it to a human conversation. She just barely in time has an old leather larger art carry case and a matching paint specked satchel of art kit is pulled from her shadow. Matthew grabs her straps, pulled right behind her. Heel shuffling as the door burst open by her hands.
Double doors slammed the handled into the walls by her entry as loud 'voices' of concerned art collectors are hassling the human galleries coordinator. The group is stopped short as eyes land at her and the little party. The eyes of the art group land on her as the doors open a softer time by Daniel. Jessica and Joshua effort to follow right behind; without the doors slamming them out.
"Someone called me for a repairs job, to impossible to make sense." She spoke at the approaching art collectors, Matthew lost hold as he shuffled away from the mock humans.
They all talked fast about their personal peices having issues. They all babble as the art coordinator hates her, a burning red face. Beyond pissed that she is here. In human sight, especially for Jessica, they are art collectors in rich suits and slick sweat of meaningless panic. The lads are cursed sight; some these beings are nightmare mock man. Others are damned lords of hell whom speak of their realms in details of art. There is a particular freak without a face, gurgling speak in a corpse as puppet body; it abnormal arm waving among the art owners.
"Miss Fallown, will you be able to repair the rag doll in the vaults too?" This was an SCP agent hidden among this groupie art keepers. Being a person of this area of expertise. The plastic hands... she can tell. Another machine shell based one. Another tell of the plague is potentially here. Clothus law reach.
"I have worked with all sorts of media these days. I will have repaired a resin artwork last week." She steps looking at each of the projects and the ones ready to be repaired.
She was looking for something on the backs of all these canvas arts. She eventually finds the two cats. Both her kittens, a small black sleek sleeping in hugging a strip tabby of grey and black. A image of babies whom exhausted themselves in rough play and slept in the poses then and there. They are still hugging each other from play bites game. They are newest members of her universe breakers collection. Being sweet brothers, laying peacefully with each other. She pulled them as tome pages carefully, keeping them undisturbed. She makes a deep checking over the current art stack. Seeing lost reptiles, bugs and removed being displaced by the brothers rough play.
"Excuse me, but please." She pushed by an art monster, right over with a mismatched canvas. She studies and knows what is wrong by it. So what is the excuse she will use. She brushed the surface and smirks.
"You had dropped this canvas on accident... spilled something half down it. Left it to dry in hope it will he easier to remove. Not realizing that you just allowed a corrosive substance to leach to long." There a look of horror and that it was sensible answer for everyone to assume. And now the art people rush about checking the other canvas. The dilemma works as now everyone is finding it, "Heat is changing the oil paintings or vinyl coating." She furthers and plenty of everyone with skill began to work fast in preventing further ruining. Just the sheer act of her words has glitched these items to be that way. Before they were universe broken, with her power - they became as she said it did.
The rage of art man gave way to terror as this meant the galleries failed to protect priceless art. She makes samples across each and all canvases. She checked under microscope and sent the samples to be substances checked. She has some unknown message runner pass on the result of the chemical reports. Some unknown runner slams in and out a side door on her behalf.
"You will be glad to know, these are all the work of protesters. Several are just covered in coffee and other typical household products. Heck, looks like their kit for a deep cleaners van." She thumbs the reports, "nail varnish remover is on the one. Car oil was soaked on the other." She passes the reports around, "my team never fails to impress me in the speed of chemical analysis." She pulled out a clip board box, takes out a form and fills all the needed parts. She took a random persons phone for the time and date. She slips the device back to that members pocket. She takes a badge out as a specialist inspector with all the holographic authentication.
In the contorl of a team whom handles vandalized artworks, there was swift corrections and importance of reversing damage. By accident, several arts showed its secrets in xray. Of lost what that art could have been before its concluded look. This made more work to document these findings and records without harming the surface. The more critical work of protecting and repairs took priority. It was all steady by the shift end, she files all the necessary documents and emails to the correct authorities about ownership and authentication of priceless pieces.
She stands back to the wall, beside her small team she brought with. Matthew staring dazed of the articulated soft care of hands on one fabric stretch. Josh and Jessica managed to get hands on drinks from a break room or vending machine. Leana had double take for what the brand logos on those drinks were. But these items changed as the focus of Jessica got head working out what she bought for each.
Leana nods to them, and takes them through to the public space of the gallery. The side that has the glass protector of the display. It gives them the time to gawk like other tourists and see the normal side of life. To take a break from the horror and hidden reality.
She walked behind Matthew as he takes in the faces, brush strokes and plenty a time was he looking at the fortune of the crowd. For a follower of Huggin, he manages to whisper advice and warnings. Plenty of people saved from pickpocket misfortune. He was stopping to speak to people to make surface communication. Make light hearted comments beside other public gallery members. He would point out a perspective that is overlooked with each of the art, in making a indirect commentary of those observing the arts. He turn people to take in the now and not be lost in bad head spaces. He invoked wisdom and even the courage to those that needed it. He was one with the crowd and smoothly paced at ease among normal people. He was soon blindfolded from the dangers of this situation. Unable to tell difference of mock human or fake corridor. She sighed knowing, she will just have save his sorry but if he walks into a realm without humanity.
She has to watch his back. She stays attached to Matthew shadow. Her own fashion of safe gaurding the public; making sure that art is just art. That no problems arrise from the way the blindfolded ones interacted with art. Especially his specialty to talk to a god eater without knowing it, she smiles with a slight sorrow. Wondering if his that much of an idiot or he genuinely thinks its a human.
Gentle at easing of her hands to touch the nonexistent; those to tied up to tight. To strengthen those that need the resolve. She invoked memories and nostalgic comments with those she helped. From passing to make hearts flutter. Sometimes being the distraction of a dangerous person. She can't meddle with when its time for folks to go, but she can make any human explanation of what happened be a reasonable science. Keeping the thin of these veils from being direct causes of missing humans and down play the dangers this world hides in blind sight.
She pulled Matthew away from a fake door. She grappled his clothing on his back, as he nearly face planted into a blocked canvas. He clearly forgot he was human, not some undertaker. She arm locked him, pulling him away from the canvas danger. She slides a look back, seeing a hazard suited kit being in the background of the oil work. A doorway that should have been empty.
She softly nods towards the gate and back to joining the rest at the guest cafeteria at the right of the entry. Josh and Daniel deep talked of what they think about the worlds. Jessica misinterpreted their talk as them talking about the painting everywhere, in her silent while playing with her plate of finished food.
She can tell something is wrong while the men are oblivious. It was one little shake from Leana that Jessica knew it. A little poke of Matthew and he doesnt flinch. Jess took in breath and realized it for herself. She then jabs Josh... he doesnt feel her. It dawns the implications for Jessica that real danger is in themselves.
"Wasn't that a lovely time?" Leana forced Matthew to sit down first. She made a tray of his food appear, and sits next to him, "All those broken things made me drool. I just couldnt help but feel like I ate to much." Both Josh and Daniel all turn at her with pale expressions, "I didn't cause the distortion. The fact that I picked up the restoration work means they will be functional worlds again. It be like it never happened, whatever broke them had never happened. It is to be forgotten between the stitches." She rolls her left hand, "Those art peices will be public viewing once again." She leans with this smug satisfaction.
"I got distracted by one the gallery paintings in the private section." Jessica pipes up, her voice unnerved shaken and knew it was pointless to freak the men out of something they ignored, "Why cant they put some of those of the back archives on display?"
Leana thinks deeply on what Jessica was implying. She ticked over just long enough to cut them from replying for her. Leana knew Jessica picked up the anger art picture from before, pondering if this was Jessica asking at all.
"The art locked in the back is made of materials that are either radioactive active or a biological chemical attack. The paintings containing Scheele's Green or Paris Green, both historically popular but highly toxic green pigments due to their high arsenic content." She pointed matter of fact, "Some paint was made with human body fluids." She sees they are the right level of agitated, "Many private collectors send their personal pictures to be repaired or evaluated. Some seek if they are authentic artists arts lost to time. The national portrait gallery is a sort of back hub for everything historically priceless canvas works." She postures with joy, "Some art work is direct from the monarchy of the United Kingdom. Here to be preserved or touched up. These paintings are not for publication or to be posted on any internet." She sees they are relaxed plenty for that after part.
Mind ticking over. Jessica enjoys this topic change and tries to eat another bite of normal food, hand shivering and pale skin tint. But that was when Josh jolted about something. Daniel pats Josh, choosing to be the one to speak up.
"You know something we dont." Daniel figured out from how to relaxed she is being. That a feeling about her actions right this second isnt matching for amount of horror they been through to reach this art gallery. That she taking a lot of wasting time instead of going straight to this 'unlondon' mission. This makes Josh flinch and there a slow turn with Matthew. Everyone thinks he has the answers from her head.
"Dear wife, I dont know if you just dont know how to cook or that you meant this on purpose." He slide the tray to her, "My meal is hyperventilating." She turns looked at the plate and back forwards not caring.
"You may want to hurry and eat that before I have to hunt it again." She play poke his nose and he looked confused. Knowing his sight and sense of touch aren't matching. He drifted about the tables around of what other people are doing. Noticing the lack of conversation. She stabs a fork of the half alive meat and force him to eat it. She sighed glad be was cooperating for now. It was one less painful hassle later, so getting over it now was better. Having the DNA and energy to survive what is coming next.
"Can I try that?" Daniel asked cautious but alert with knowing she forced feeding it for a reason. She gave him his own fork amount across. He tries it with nearly vomiting. Kept down with a bit of a fight.
"What is it?" Josh asked but she shakes her head at them. She cleans up, eating the rest of it. Napkin wipped and blood stained.
"Your not in fit condition to go to that mission. The fact you can not completely feel your wife biting you arm was my tell." Josh looked how Jessica was totally gone from her mental world. Her soul trapped in a body acting on primitive instincts and the surge of needing nutrients. Daniel shivers in seeing his own hand, realizing the blood isnt some illusion of his broken mind. Leana hugs around her Matthew with accepting the madness setting in.
Daniel stayed seated and shivering. More and more his humanity slips. Soon left was the ender she met all those lifetimes ago. A broken man with a torn throat, caked in blood of a brown trench coat. A scarf snaking over his head as the makeshift hood.
Josh and Jessica are soon shifted too, alertness and self contorl has come back in them. That uncanny affect of seeing a married couple openly being cannibals. That the are content with fact of life. This is the side of them that belongs to the nightmare world. Leana isnt fazed. They have met the condition change to survive the next parts.
"What did you..." Matthew stopped his own tongue and watched his own hands shifting. His mind turned empty. Still she hugs around him, reserved and knowing. She hugged around with patience. She didn't have anything to say. He was cold in her arms, there was the man she met all those lifetimes ago. The one that became her favorite.
"So what's the deal? How did you gain being big bad here?" Daniel changing topic and with knowing they arent in human lands. He also gets that they arent just average humans.
"Eating them." She huffed, "Knowing what to target." She looked as vacant in her human flesh while answering in a not human voice, "Knowing what's on the menu." She pulled arm flesh and soon drips a made book of flesh. Broken pages and sticky parts, "Where best to collect soul fragments that have no bodies to occupy? To find the missing letters of lost languages." She lectures in wafted the cursed book, "These slipped eclipses are a perfect rest moment before. Before you leave what you knew behind." She plenty leaning on Matthew with watching over the mix emotions and the unsettling rawness of what is.
"We haven't crossed time eras yet." Josh laughed and Jessica giggles too, "You said bombs arent the only things to evade."
"That we are safe among creeps, so you allowed us to convert as some." Jessica smiles in a broken unhinged way.
"At least you lot are not going to loose your minds for the next parts." She said. She sighed, "Hazmat suits. Energy abnormal radarion counters." She thinks about the needed, "the lab with cursed objects and crystal stones." She sighed, "Recuited into the kingdoms." She tilted like she forgot something and then snapped.
"Tell them to stop the black hole experiment." That snapped Matthew awake with grappled her arms, "Blame the Seers, Darkwood and Dream cult. I wanted to speak to the dead through objects. They ripped the hole in the magnetic field." He really shaked her, "Oi!" She knocked his hands off, "We cut the power. We loose each other in the warp. You find a past version of me saving your sorry but from the mutants. You return among the undertakers all roughed up."
"That has to be an undertaker thing." Daniel shakes.
"Nah, she's soul broken. Her soul was shattered across not just space but also time itself too. She can use broken time to repair souls." Josh corrected and Jessica is shook confused, "We jumped tome eclipses. Its why we have Daniel and left Kyle. She lived through the between time and some. She seen the end of time for several universes. She watched many Enders pass onwards."
"And with that. You definitely not ready." She huffed, "I will have to knock your soul out. For sure." She tuts, "No one here is ready."
"A world without your pets." Matthew voiced.
"Indeed." She felt her heart stab, "There not there. Left to other worlds. Me too, I left too. Now we are going there. Going back." She shivered knowing, "Will they be ready for me?" She ponders in the reverse of it all. That human world was ready for her. Likely not. But life goes on.
She looked at the tome made of her flesh, and with subconscious thoughts. Its materials shifted. It was no longer a book of glooping gore of torn flesh. It wasnt even physical materialistic touch. It became a hunter window pane, a sigil call window. A floating half transparent shape hung in space. Tainted in her preferred reading settings, colored and contrasted lettering. The language her made work, her own hieroglyphics. It os also a completed tome, a tome of closed polish. Its starts and ends regardless of her in it. A soul system that can handle the universe soul density. Panes glitch and flex and bend. Some turn into a vapor and solidified back. Each chapter is a show of what the realm does to the souls in those chapters. She closed her eyes, her soul many parts touched all those pages. She closed her hand when she was in the right combination of placing her soul across access.
The air rippled, everyone was shifted with. She opens eyes again, they are normal people. Seating in a typical coffee spot. It is a short walk outside of national portrait gallery. She looked at the cups, everyone finished one. She scales her eyes at each that it mattered to. Josh, Jessica, Daniel are fine. Shaken but fine. She slides and finds Philip here. She unfazed. Slides to a very angry version of her Matthew. She actually a little unsure of his name. She locked eye with Omens fighting with Huggin. She smirks softly getting it.
"Why did you edit your name?" Philip asked.
"Format placement." She left hand lazed, "Do whats the task here?" She muttered and looked at the prompt sigil pane, "Guide. Hired as guide. Boring." She sighed, "Same as always." She leans, picked up her bag and stands up.
"Sit down, Laura." She sits down softly with feeling the cold burn of his voice, "What do we do now that you were kicked off the projects?" She slows blinks in thinking about it.
"Was that after I broke the project?" She ponders out loud, "Nah, well whatever. I just asked the desk man for a status update. Switch over to merchant." There a shattered glass look from them.
"Laura. Going back means death." Philip warns.
"As a human? Not fazed." She wafted her left hand again, "About time I stopped pretending too. My back hurts from the constriction." She rolled shoulder and it creaking in a clouded dust way. They backed off from her, "Anyways, humans arent normally welcomed the way we are going. But I think I can make this magic." She stands up again. Bag back up, "We waiting for nothing or what? Cup a coffee done." Matthew swings around and pushed her back down.
"Miss Marinette." She sighed annoyed of this voice. The distant dead relatives that made the cults happen. She scales the lack of wings but calm aura. Soul swapped again? Cold murder eyes is both of them so, hard guess.
"My wings and I let you back in." He demands. She scales deeply through his soul and she heard what she needed.
"Very entertaining." She softly spoke, "You dont need them. They will be useless." She turns away from them all, "I can hear them slipping. The layers. Not long now. Clearly ignored all the warnings."
"Wings or you will be banished." Slamming the table.
"You can banish me? That is new. I never been banished before." She smiles welcoming that outcome, "They repaired your soul fractured very well. You are not so empty on that back hit."
The stand off of this unpleasant people and her.
"You creep." Snarled with soon verses of Latin in deep archangel spell casting. A strong deep smoothing rolling. The longer he spat his words at her. The more that voice was hollowed. She stares watching the vein popping.
"Running out of lecture materials?" She gave a sassy back whip tone, "Do you want to swap books? Holy water with that?"
"There a particular reason for not giving back the guy his wings?" Josh asked softly in knowing plenty of her background to ask this. As anyone else here assumed the wing are fresh as the day then were cut off.
"A demon soul flew to heaven with angel wings. Loop hole and experimental. And let to a lot of interesting new things and soul graphing combinations." She softly spoke gently toward Josh. Josh stares lost a long time, "Pig can fly, lol." She did just say that, very cringe to over shoot the awkward soul stuff, "It helped with clothus soul repairs. That was incredible."
The coffee shop was silent, time stood still. There is a blade pointed at her throat everyone not on her side was armed and full of murderous intent. The enders are the only chill seated with her, no so afriad of what would come next.
"The sick one is you. You are why there is monsters among humans! You are why we had to make the cult to defend the blind from the horror! You are the mock human in corpse suit." She softly nodded approval of these facts. Things she did to survive. She bend rules to repair the broken ones. She used the scraps of lost tome pages to eclipse strange rules and make bend of natural laws.
"This is the aftermath of your scar tissue repairs of the mulch you put back together?" Josh was in awe. Having figured out things from the people and circumstances.
"This was paper pulp. Still is. But thats what makes this universe work. The tar pit seals the unfinished properties to stay under. The salt and fresh water layers help the soul density changes. The chemical toxins of the ocean trench keeps the normally whole souls from the insanity. Even then, the trench goes deeper. This place was such an undertaking. I crossed so many Enders to learn forbidden knowledge. This is my retirement. All that for this. Not the slightest grief about it. From what it was to now. I am happy." She takes out a dream made cigarette. A black paper rolled herb thing, lit by black flame at her finger tip and flames in rainbow clouds.
"Explains the time jumping locations. The near death experience in the national gallery of not humans." Daniel nodding to himself.
"The gallery is just the window gates to realms that I couldn't excuse existence. The rules." She sighed.
"What so this universe became your personal workshop for your pleasure?" Snarled several.
"It did. I didnt intend on it. But as the longer it go me to put things on track, the more I adapted the ways I can align and repair bits. This became the afterlife for the creatures the hide from humanity. All the veils and crossing points. Humans blind enough and touchable. Plenty of lean way to net up the broken lost unfortunate souls." She held pause over her own confession and just shrugs, "I am content in my broken ways. As are others. This is the safe place for freaks like me. I didnt repair this tome to be for untainted souls to stay. In fact, we have a keep the pure folks out policy. I didnt install back the god system this universe started with." She laughed to her own amusement of that madness, "You can always just leave if you want. Go on, exile soul out of here. See what I did to survive."
"The trees eat people." Josh reminds those that been to the beach, "What was that about the tar?" She smiles shaking no.
The whole lot of cultist here turned at each other for unrelated reasons. Likely a side effect of her presence makes them use the law bend operations.
Some smart folks were making use of magic energy here for later uses. She slide stare of a clothus nearby knitting life energy out of the aggressive winless angel. She can see the mistakes and misfortune spreading. She sits all that bit longer relaxed seeing the warning. She slouched at the coffee table, a cup from her storage being drank.
Time is stopped, so she uses it with mental logging the galleries biggest threat issues and what exactly the real cause could have been for active alertness. She is erased existence. They wouldnt called upon her unless something worse is happening. She down played and cleaned up what she can to smooth the issue. But the root cause is something she mental tasking to figure out. Her soul fragments making visiting those worlds of canvases.
The whole lot drowned the archangel out, his voice not reaching her. As he spat at her over questioning her rights to play god. Assuming she did everything to become one and sees them as toys. In a part of her, that wasnt wrong. But deep down, this was her only method of saving this tome form being beyond a soul active system. She didnt want them to become like those erased and ate by existance eaters. Damaged but survived.
She cant be angry at these souls that dont know the bigger things. Like how the gods abandoned this universe. How the afterlife collapsed. Dreams became human reality because the boundaries of unknown are thin. It was for a while a water Balloon to pop in this vacuum. The natives that are dead on the sand shorelines up on black sand due to the formation. All these things that broke other tomes, erased those tomes and became worm food. Is the exactly the screwed up this universe needs to be 'normal'. No soul here is normal, they just arent aware of their own mistakes.
"Give me the wings." Time bursted back to moving. Normal chatter of a London establishment rolls of tourists. Expensive coffees. There a significant difference of people left standing and caked in dried blood. The blood and mistakes are graphical computer glitched to corrections.
"You should ask your wife." Huggin tuts particularly loud enough, in whatever situation the two gods had going on on Matthew shoulders.
"I have a wife?" He seems shattered by the revelation.
"Death do us part. So ex-wife." She corrected, "Undertakers in vow, we are soul bonded." She nods certain.
"Like she said." Huggin nodding, "And you cant get anymore above authorities then the one that made gods." She tilted a little broken a bit to whay that meant. She wafted a sigil pane up. She reads through a few guide books across many races. She closed the windows in realizing there a broken word system here. Their assumptions at play too.
"Can we please just get to the unlondon vaults?" Philip snarls impatiently in bring up why they all came here for. Difference levels of why but to the same place goals.