Little Crow
-Evening, Semperviren Forest-
The questions and assurances poured in, the crow looking to each of his allies as they spoke up.
"Does something call you away, little friend?"
The Reaper slowly nodded in response. He was grateful that there was no animosity between them. Meanwhile, Akira questioned Vaga. The psychic asked if humans were rare in their world, and the disheveled crow was about to answer before Akira curtly changed the subject. After his piece, he skimmed Vaga's surface thoughts, where he gathered that Vaga was currently getting a read on the psychic's personality. Also, if he cared about the answer to his question, he would find out that humans were indeed rare where he came from, as one could go several years without seeing more than a dozen. Vaga himself hadn't seen a live one in decades.
After individually acknowledging each of the humans' reactions, the crow turned back to Vaga and opened his beak.
"Caw."
"What's that? You discovered an empire that magically enslaves beings from other worlds to use in its totalitarian conquest?"
Vaga looked past Little Crow and to the rest of the group.
"Well, that's certainly not good. I would hate to reduce your manpower in this noble quest without giving anything in return..."
Vaga thought for a second, considering what he could give the group in return. He seemed to have an idea.
"Say... this place doesn't look comfortable. What if I told you I could give you all a safe place to stay? My friend returns home, and you all get a 'home base', so to speak. Is that a fair trade?"
The pair of birds stared out at the group to gauge their reactions, and if the group was open to it, Vaga would gesture for them to follow as the two-crow murder went back through the open door.
If Akira was still peering into Vaga's mind, he would find no deception or trickery. Wherever was on the opposite side of the door was truthfully a safe spot for them to rest with no catches, hidden fees, or traps.
---
On the other side of the door was a greyscale world, devoid of all color- save for any colored light sources that the group would have brought inside. They emerged onto an island, adrift in a void of fog and closed doors. The floor was made of ancient, weathered stone tile, and an empty fountain sat in the middle of the area. Along one side of the island, telegraph lines and ruined mortar walls ran.
One way, the telegraph lines extended into the foggy unknown, while the other declined into another, larger island. There was a stairway to said island, with stone steps and intricately designed iron railings. The larger area had something more akin to checkerboard tile using different shades of grey. At the north end was another door, where the telegraph lines entered into the side. In front of the door was a macaroni-shaped desk, adorned with a typewriter, a dead succulent, and other clutter. The rest of the space was practically empty- besides the eight other pairs of office desks and chairs in varying degrees of disorganization and disrepair. Finally, in the very bottom of the area, there sat a lone phone booth. Like a debris field around the main islands were smaller ones, many of which hosted streetlamps.
Another telegraph line came from the other side of the door, which led to a third island. This one was separated by the main landmass by an old-school elevator, though it was blocked by a rope and sign that read 'OUT OF ORDER'. From any vantage point, nothing important seemed to be up there anyhow. Especially apparent due to the elevator, this entire realm had an apparent theme around the early 1900s of America.
Vaga led the group down the stairs, kicking aside a glass bottle as he did.
"It's not much, but it's safe! Both from the weather and your tyrannical foe..."
The larger crow went behind the macaroni desk to rummage through its compartments for a moment. He soon found what her was looking for, and held it up for all to see. A handheld item, that bore a six-inch grip connected to a large metal ring. A porous puck was suspended in the center of the ring via eight metallic coils. Though none of them would likely recognize it, this resembled an early microphone.
"This is how we'll keep in touch. When you need to come back here, speak into this, and we shall open a door from your location to here. From then on, you can go back to that place anytime you wish. Just don't use it with enemies nearby, since they can follow you through... and that would be less than ideal. Questions?"
Vaga perked his head up, inspecting the group for any amount of confusion they may have.
