Inside

[bc56]

Cry Havoc
Kothar looks skeptically at Vyzan, then at Wenomir.
"She would kill if we not stop her." He thinks about what he saw. "She was lead this group. I not trust him to control her. I think she not let him." He has no desire to let Cea go, that would be loosing a monster on the world. He shakes his head to Raheeda's question. "Some people just want excuse. I not think destroying bad place stop her."

A Local Shrine
Jade looks around. "Right. So right now we're what, out of phase with the normal world? Like light with the same polarity as a filter we don't interact with it. So I need to realign myself with it... How?" She doesn't exactly have any experience with metaphysics. She takes a deep breath. "Okay, okay. Magic could you help me out here? I need to... Oof!" As she was speaking, she abruptly returned to corporeality, falling onto her tails. "My clothes and hair didn't change back?" she observes. She's still clad in the peculiar red and white armor, and her hair is still black.

[Reinholdt]

[Temperance Teahouse]

"Then I'll leave it to you, scholar of dragons." Ilpholin tells Ambrosia. "As for whether the wood dragons will be there... maybe. I doubt they joined recently or anything, but one or two may have started off supporting the 'War God's' claims to give them greater legitimacy and linger there still. I'm sure we'll find out."

The nymph places her cup down and stands up. "Spako. Miss Ithil." Ilpholin will nod and turn to head off and prepare.

[Morty]

[Cry Havoc]

Wenomir looks between Vyzan, Kothar and Raheeda as he considers each of their words.

"I can't take your word for it. If she doesn't listen to you and kills again, it would be on our heads," he decides. "We need to at least try containing her. You can come with us to make sure she's treated fairly." He then points to Raheeda. "We can try doing as you say too. We'll take her with us and give her an offer once she's coherent again. Destroying this lab is something we must do regardless. As for the undead... they're not the real threat here."

[Hoshiki's home]

Michalson is used to this reaction by now. But whatever reasons she has for being nervous are none of his business.

"I'm a detective with the Intersection, but I'm not 'ere in an official capacity. It's a private matter."

[quillpleasant]

Cry Havoc

Vyzan doesn't seem happy with this course of events. He runs a hand over his cropped white hair, breath hissing as he considers. At least Raheeda seems to be reasonable here... but Kothar is another matter. The angelephant stares at him, and Vyzan scowls for a moment.

"Damn holy warriors," he mutters, shaking his head. Then he flinches, as if worried about provoking them further.

"Alright, you win!" he says to Wenomir, "It's not like I'm in a position to bargain anyway. But is this land so mercenary that ordinary citizens act as judge and jury? Shouldn't you turn her over to proper authorities?"

But the elf immediately seems to reconsider this question. "No, no... they'd just send her back. Me too, probably. Okay, I'll go with you. She gets treated as a proper prisoner, and we can give you information on the lab. Everything we know."

Vy crosses his arms, a slight smile crossing his face. "You're good people. Honest people, right? Maybe you'll even give us food, and clothes?" The stained and torn jumpsuits he and his sister are wearing have certainly seen better days.

[Hraithre]

[Hoshiki's home]

"Oh, okay", the girl says and relaxes a bit. "No clue what private matter he could have with someone like you. I'll tell hin you passed by. But are you sure you don't want to write in the guestbook?" She beckons at the book once more. She's clearly hoping Michalson would write down some juicy gossip for her to read later.

[Earl of Purple]

A Real Arcade

"You'd have to ask Khannie or Mary how many there are. There's an app they've got, organising all the Em Gees in the city. Or most of them, anyway. I've not got it, my phone's too old for that kind of app." She's not even got a flip phone, but an old-fashioned brick type mobile phone, with a yellow-tinted screen and chunky buttons. "And three other girls from the Orphanage made a wish the same day I did. I've seen one since, not sure about the other two." Ocette the Cardassian was at Jellymoon, but the other two remain in Skyside. "Mary died and came back, with her mum's help. I'm... That's a last resort, I think. I don't want to die first. And Khannie turned into a dragon, which didn't stick and now she's a horse and a fox. I've got no idea how that worked, if it worked. I'm trying to keep on top of things, but it's... kinda tricky, sometimes. Hunting witches, doing homework, trying not to let my dads find out I'm apparently a Doomed Hero. I don't want them to worry, they're great people." Sekhmet knows, so chances are they do, but they know she doesn't want to scare them so they try not to let it show.

Looming Spaceship

"Um, noooot exactly? I mean, your ship here's pretty hard to not notice, and the Fairy Godfather hired me to test your defences, see if you're good to rob properly. If what you say's true, mostly your defences are to keep other people safe. Which is good to know, and worthwhile. That ornery leprechaun'll pay for that info since it'll probably save him lives down the road. I'm Boada Slipfinger, mostly an independent pickpocket and second-storey girl, currently a scout for the Leprechaun Mafia." Internally, Boada's anatomy is reasonably close to human, though there's some obvious differences. The wings, and the muscles required to operate them, far less fat reserves than a human would have, a very rapid heartbeat, different neural architecture to accommodate the wings- which are also quite complex sensory organs, though in Boada's case it seems her brain isn't optimised to make the most of that properly- and hollow bones, which are nevertheless laced with natural carbon fibre reinforcement. "I've... got some time, though, if you'd like to show me around, point out all the various ways an unfortunate intruder could be extruded. Don't need to tell me how they work, just... y'know, where they are and what they'd do if I was stumbling around without you." She doesn't want to rob him, just gather info to pass on to encourage the Fairy Godfather not to rob him either.

[[brackets lover]]

[A Real Arcade]

Asami flashes a brief look of amusement after Agate finishes speaking. "You serious? Y-your phones too old? An app like that can literally mean the difference between life and death for you..."

Asami pinches the bridge of her nose, looking slightly frustrated. "Look, you said you just need the grief seeds, right? And its clearly not the time for you to be handling all this yourself," she lectures before smiling brightly, "So just rely on me for a bit, okay?"

The time having slipped away from them, the game seems to be nearly over by now.

[TeChameleon]

[Looming Spaceship]

"Should've known it was too easy. I'm never getting rid of this garbage..." X-1 'muttered'.

"Wait, 'hard to not notice'? Bugger, I should've known not to trust a cloak the TLK-series designed. I just haaaaad to install it, just because the cloak HSX-7853 designed was randomly detonating suns when I flew past them. At least it kept me invisible!"

A pause, and an oddly out-of-sync blink where first one eye closed, then the other, with a similar gap in re-opening.

"Er, right. Sorry about that. Will have to take a look at the cloaking device... make sure that the sub-cyclic normality assert-i-trons are still running properly too. Got triply-redundant ones for every hundred cubic metres of ship, and I'm still paranoid about them blowing out." The telepathic 'voice' trailed off into a mutter as the grey wandered off.

And also stayed right where it was after an odd, blurred sort of smear in reality as two timelines argued briefly, then shrugged and went on their separate ways.

Another weirdly-audible sigh.

"Anyways, I suppose that people knowing what not to mess with will be at least slightly helpful. Trouble with our technology is that it can do just about anything... the trick there is that it doesn't necessarily do those things well. Or without horrific side-effects."

The alien's tiny, lipless mouth curved downwards slightly... apparently about as far as it could get in terms of expressiveness... and the mental voice turned pensive. "Where to start... well, the general stuff... if it has a sign like the one on the warpstorm generator that you popped in next to-" X-1 waved a spindly arm at the bulky machine that the pair were still standing beside "- then you die when you touch it. I don't worry as much about those, since they're kind of self-regulating. If someone wants to ignore the sign, it's kind of on them, and setting up something to shoot them before they touch it is kind of redundant."

X-1 led the way to another area in an ambling sort of stroll. If Boada was paying careful attention, or if she was particularly sensitive to space-time events, she'd notice that their surroundings were subtly shifting as they moved through the lanes between piles of techno-whatsits in ways that suggested that they weren't obeying strictly linear space-time.

"Most everything is labelled pretty clearly, although some of it is kind of specific to my people, like the bits about doing things to their next cloning cycles, but you can be pretty bloody sure that I make certain that the signage stays in perfect working order. Keeping with generalities, signage where the warning flashes yellow means that it entails some fairly unpleasant, but not necessarily immediately fatal, stimuli. Basically, those ones hurt. A lot. And may also kill you, but it's not guaranteed with those."

The two reached an area that was less ominously lit, with generally smaller devices, and slightly less aggressive signage. "This is the green zone. The things here won't instantly kill you, and they won't cause your nervous system to re-write itself in agonizing ways or alter spacetime so that you become your own grandparent, or whatever. That doesn't mean that you'll enjoy what they do, or that you may not kill yourself accidentally anyways, just that they're not guaranteed to kill you or make you go insane with raw agony. That, or their effects are things that I personally happen to find amusing, at least when they happen to others."

"I suppose one thing to bear in mind is that everything in here is something that somebody, somewhere, thought would be useful or interesting. Unfortunately, every single one of those somebodies is one of my beloved idiots, and they're all, at absolute best, at least mildly insane. Some of them are fantastically useful, and we were working on removing the less pleasant side-effects, or at least making them survivable, but if it's on board here, it was too dangerous for it to be out in the wider universe." the grey was becoming more animated as it went on, spindly arms waving and huge black eyes shifting to glance at various bits of technology.

"One final thing- there is an area that I have not shown you, and will not show you; those are the code-grey items, that will not only kill anyone stupid enough to mess with them, but also everyone in the local stellar neighbourhood, and, unfortunately, will do similar if one tries to dismantle or otherwise disable them. It was such a joy being in charge of such an inventive lot..."

The short alien shook its head. "Anyways, if you'd like specifics, I would be happy to give them to you, but that little overview should be enough to keep you alive moving through the ship. And are you sure I can't persuade you to take something with you? I won't let it go if it isn't safe for you, but I really would like to get rid of some of this stuff..."

If Boada is looking to convince someone else to not try to steal from the mothership, specifics might not be a bad idea...

[Earl of Purple]

A Real Arcade

"You think I can afford a decent one? Nope. I got a dumb phone, which can send and receive text messages and be used to talk to people a long way away using the telephone network. It doesn't have a camera or a touch screen or games or wifi or bluetooth. It doesn't access the internet so I can't download the app, so I have other methods. Besides, most of the girls don't go to PREP. Khannie talks to them, I talk to Khannie, if anything big goes down, I'll find out about it again. It'll be fine." Agate's not too worried about the app's lack, since it's primarily a text messenger app and there's a fair amount of gossip on there.

"You can cleanse my soul gem, sure. But having a few grief seeds is useful, as a backup if I need it. Can you even see Witches, Asami? Or familiars?" Agate's thinking maybe she should take Asami with her on a witch-hunt some time. They can arrange to meet using her phone, as antique as it is, since it can and does send texts.

Looming Spaceship

"OK, so never ignore a sign." Boada follows X-1, walking carefully along. Her wings shiver and vibrate sometimes, as they pick up on spatial anomalies- though they don't have an effective way of communicating what they sense to the half-human's hybrid brain. Boada nods and produces from nowhere a pad of paper and a ballpoint pen on a length of beaded cable, where it was once affixed to a desk or counter, jotting down the colour-coding. "It... sounds like you have some complex feelings about the others of your kind. And... right." Boada makes a final note on her pad and puts it back wherever it came from- once it's there, then it's not, and she's instead holding a plastic jar filled with lollipops. She'll unwrap one and put it in her mouth. "There's stuff here that if stolen could end the universe as we know it. You should go over to Vigil, it's their job to figure out what to do with stuff like that. Do you want a lollipop? I got... strawberry, lemon, grapefruit, bubblegum, banana, earwax and iapapa flavours." The jar's proffered at X-1, as she talks.

Also, currently she's using a non-technological hammerspace of some kind. There's no obvious place where the jar came from, nor where she put the pen and notepad.

[TeChameleon]

[Looming Spaceship]

"Complex. Hah, that's one way to put it." X-1 muttered.

"Vigil?" it echoed. A bunch of screens popped into existence around its head, a few of which flickered. "Ah, good, there's an internet here. Vigil, Vigil... got it. I will bear that in mind, thank you. But..."

Another, even more out-of-synch blink. "Where did you get the lollipops from? And the notepad a moment ago? There is nothing that my instruments are able to track, which is..." a long pause, as the alien searched for the right word. "... unusual. Oh, and thank you for the offer, but I cannot digest anything that is not processed specifically for my people."

X-1 glanced up and at an angle, distracted for a moment. A portal opened next to it, the other end flush to a wall or the side of some machine, basically creating a wall next to it. A large wrench appeared in a swirl of particle effects, floating in the grip of the alien's telekinesis, and then delivered a hearty *WHACK* to the machine as X-1 gave a half-hearted hand gesture. "Half the time, flying this ship, I end up feeling like some kind of technodeity. The other half of the time, I'm a janitor in a burning building trying to keep things clean while the place burns down around my earholes."

[[brackets lover]]

[A Real Arcade]

Asami takes her headset off, nodding affirmatively to Agate. "I could see anything, really, if I chose to. My powers have no real limits. The waitress at Trog's calls it 'Sovereignty'. I guess that just means 'ultimate' and stuff."

Asami lowers herself to the floor, sitting criss-cross applesauce. A sudden gloom befalling her, she traces her index finger along the floor. "Which kinda sucks, too. I don't fight with the same threat of death looming over me. And the world I grew up in was filled with violent and destructive demons, which meant I could just kind of live how I wanted without worrying about anything ever."

She brings her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "I have a lot more stuff to worry about now that I go to school and all. It doesn't help that everyone's so much weaker than me. I always worry about my friends getting hurt on one of their little adventures, or worse," she confesses, raising a finger to her chin, "I guess that's what its like to be scared?"

Finally, Asami gets up, a nervous look on her face as she looks to the side. "A-anyways, if you see a witch, you can just call me over and I can be there in a flash, 'kay? Uh, uhm, which means we should like... _{exchange phone numbers, and all.}" Once again, Asami's index fingers press against each other in an iconic display of unrivaled anxiety.

[Earl of Purple]

A Real Arcade

"Sovereignty is rulership. The sovereign is the king, or queen. Or other monarch, I guess." Agate joins Asami in sitting cross-legged, and smiles at her. "Kinda good, though, right? Like, you're not at risk of dying, you could help people a lot like that." Agate shakes her head when Asami says she's worried about her friends. "Don't. I mean, yeah, it's scary, and I didn't know what I was signing up for when I made my wish, but... I'd still not change it, OK? Knowing what I know now, put me back in that bathroom before I met Kyubey, and have the furby thing offer me that deal? I'd still take it. But don't worry for me. I can look after myself. I've been looking after myself for years, ever since I arrived at the orphanage. It is scary, but I can handle myself, y'know?" She's trying to reassure Asami here, she doesn't want Asami worrying over her.

"I could call you over. Or I could not do that, and call you anyway. Nobody's... Nobody's actually asked for my phone number before." Agate got Mary's and Khannie's numbers separately from asking, since mostly she's the aunt-sort-of to both Mary and sort-of-kinda-it's-tricky Khannie.

Looming Spaceship

"Huh? Oh, my pouch. Sprites keep their eggs safe in their pouch, but I don't have eggs and it's a useful place to put things to keep them safe. Some things, anyway. Too much metal irritates it and that's really uncomfortable." Boada nods as she explains, though she may be lying. "I don't even know if I lay eggs, I'm half-human, and they don't. They keep the child inside their body the whole time, growing it until they push it out. That sounds really uncomfortable and gross, to me. Like filling my pouch with coins and caltrops. But... pretty hard to find anyone who would know for sure, y'know?" Maybe another half-sprite, but that won't be easy. As far as she's aware, Boada is the first.

[Shadowcaller]

Cry Havoc
Kothar looks skeptically at Vyzan, then at Wenomir.
"She would kill if we not stop her." He thinks about what he saw. "She was lead this group. I not trust him to control her. I think she not let him." He has no desire to let Cea go, that would be loosing a monster on the world. He shakes his head to Raheeda's question. "Some people just want excuse. I not think destroying bad place stop her."

[Cry Havoc]

Wenomir looks between Vyzan, Kothar and Raheeda as he considers each of their words.

"I can't take your word for it. If she doesn't listen to you and kills again, it would be on our heads," he decides. "We need to at least try containing her. You can come with us to make sure she's treated fairly." He then points to Raheeda. "We can try doing as you say too. We'll take her with us and give her an offer once she's coherent again. Destroying this lab is something we must do regardless. As for the undead... they're not the real threat here."

Cry Havoc

Vyzan doesn't seem happy with this course of events. He runs a hand over his cropped white hair, breath hissing as he considers. At least Raheeda seems to be reasonable here... but Kothar is another matter. The angelephant stares at him, and Vyzan scowls for a moment.

"Damn holy warriors," he mutters, shaking his head. Then he flinches, as if worried about provoking them further.

"Alright, you win!" he says to Wenomir, "It's not like I'm in a position to bargain anyway. But is this land so mercenary that ordinary citizens act as judge and jury? Shouldn't you turn her over to proper authorities?"

But the elf immediately seems to reconsider this question. "No, no... they'd just send her back. Me too, probably. Okay, I'll go with you. She gets treated as a proper prisoner, and we can give you information on the lab. Everything we know."

Vy crosses his arms, a slight smile crossing his face. "You're good people. Honest people, right? Maybe you'll even give us food, and clothes?" The stained and torn jumpsuits he and his sister are wearing have certainly seen better days.

[Cry Havoc]

Raheeda turns to address yuan-two first since he seemed like he'd object more than the human. "Ehh, then she's out of excuses, right? We do her a big favor despite everything she's done. Then she's just a big butt." Hopefully the human wouldn't misunderstand that. She had heard they preferred the larger ones but hadn't really felt like asking Arinema about it.

Then with that addressed she turns back to Vy. She had heard something about clothes and food in their exchange?
She gives it a moment of through. While Cea was a mutant most elves preferred plants, right? While she was not too familiar with was edible in forests she still knew a thing or two about edible roots of where she lived.

"Food? Yeah, I got some of that." Reaching into her robes she soon pulls out a small bundle of carefully selected roots which she throws to Vy. "Here you go."

[Morty]

[Hoshiki's home]

"No, I'm afraid what I've got to say and show to him is confidential." Michalson really isn't sure if writing down something vague would hurt, but he'd rather play it safe. It's been enough of a mess already. "Have a good day, miss."

[[brackets lover]]

[A Real Arcade]

Asami places a hand on one of Agate's shoulders. "This is too heavy of a burden for anyone to handle alone, Agate," Asami says tenderly, "I mean, come on, why would you even enroll in the 'doomed hero' program if you thought you had everything under control?"

Asami closes her eyes and looks down disapprovingly before sighing and taking on a more relaxed expression. She pulls Agate in close and ruffles her hair affectionately. Enough has been said, and Asami would rather non-verbally enjoy their time together at this point.

[TeChameleon]

[Looming Spaceship]

"Your... pouch. I think my translator must be malfunctioning; the meaning I am being given is of a flexible physical object carried on one's person used to contain things. It generally does not include indetectable spatial anomalies." X-1 said, its great black eyes narrowing as it flipped screens about, closing some and opening others.

Then the squint transferred to Boada from the various displays.

"I did not think humans... or hybrid humans, I suppose... tended to speak so freely of reproductive matters. Refreshing to find one free of that particular silly habit."

More displays popped up around the alien, and Boada might perceive coloured lights out of the corners of her eyes as powerful sensor arrays scanned her.

"Your internal arrangements are all the more fascinating, now that I know of your hybrid status. Unfortunately, I am not able to discern a definite answer for you at this time, as to whether you are oviparous or bear live young. You have the genetic sequencing for both, but there is some form of interference... possibly whatever is preventing me from detecting your... 'pouch'?.. that is not allowing me to determine which genetic sequence has achieved expression."

The short alien tapped the side of its face in a manner reminiscent of someone tapping the side of their nose while they thought, although it lacked said proboscis. "Is this a matter of immediate concern to you? The anomalous timeline detector might be able to determine your manner of bearing young, or possibly the future view-o-scope... how resistant are you to hard radiation? The future view-o-scope is somewhat less radioactive, but it was created by LTM-1845, and that one likes to think they have a sense of humour. So while it occasionally presents useful data, it more often than not shows something that a quick surface-thought-scan guides it to believe you would find embarrassing."

[Earl of Purple]

Real Arcade

"I didn't apply. I was assigned. Everyone on the Doomed Hero program was. I applied for the Plucky Hero course. And the wish with Kyubey's been broken before." At least three times, though Agate only knows of two. And only once did the method not involve dying, and in once instance it involved incinerating the Magical Girl's soul. That last would put Agate off the route, not that she knows about it.

Looming Spaceship

"The Sylvan word is" Boada makes a sound like the wind rustling through a bird's nest as the chicks adjust their weight underneath. If it's still caught by the translator, 'marsupium' would be a more accurate English translation than 'pouch', though still perhaps not quite right. And that's an external flap containing nipples where a joey dwells until it is weaned, though sometimes they are able to return to the pouch later.

"I was mostly raised by my mother, amongst sprites. And no, it's not an immediate concern. I don't have a sexual partner, and the person I fancied was married, which is fair enough. I wasn't going to pursue that without his wife's blessing, and she's a long way away." And also the person Boada fancied would no longer be able to recognise their wife immediately, either.

Her eyes widen as she's informed of the radiation. "I have no idea and I don't really want to find out." No more radiation-proof than a human, so not especially hardy. "But... This might help with the interfereence?" Boada suddenly shrinks, getting a lot smaller. From short-human she's gone to tall-sprite, a very large difference in height and mass- and there's no obvious sign of Boada converting the excess mass into energy or otherwise disposing of it. From a hundred and thirty centimetres tall, she's gone down to sixteen and a half centimetres, and kept the same proportions. Her clothes have also shrunk to match, though not the lollipop, and she's now holding it in both hands and awkwardly licking at the fruit-flavoured orb atop it.

[Keeper]

A Local Shrine

"There you are. Seems you just need to focus your will a bit." Stela would not but it's not really what fish are built for.
"As for your aesthetics...that's not something I know about since I met you ten minutes ago. Could be a regalia thing your powers give you? Or maybe just a little gift from Val. Try to focus on fixing it yourself and see."

Temperance Teahouse

"Oh okay just text me the when and where of the meeting place..." That can probably be arranged in the next few days.
Spako awkwardly sits there with Ambrosia, sipping his tea again.

[TeChameleon]

[Looming Spaceship]

"You're an... invisible kangaroo?" X-1 said after a moment. The blink was so far out of synch this time that it looked like the alien was winking twice, once with each eye.

There was a long pause, as three other aliens wandered past in various directions- all were completely identical to X-1, although this wouldn't be immediately obvious to a non-grey. They were, in fact, localized alt-reality versions of X-1; the entire ship was crewed by temporary duplicates of itself.

The alien nodded as Boada spoke, and then the fae shrunk.

X-1 was visibly nonplussed for the first time in their conversation, even its limited facial features managing to look utterly shocked as so many displays popped into existence around it that it was hard to see the alien at all. Skinny hands waved furiously as displays appeared and disappeared faster than the eye could follow, and Boada's now-tiny form actually had a halo of multicoloured light dancing around it. Even the lollipop was being furiously scanned, to the point that it would be getting very slightly warmer.

The telepathic voice of the alien had trailed off into furious muttering in what was either its own language or possibly just a rapid-fire stream of higher maths. Portals began to open around the scrawny form of the grey, and strange little techy devices started zipping out to hover around Boada- not close enough to be intimidating, but definitely close enough that you could tell they were interested in her. Or scanning her, or something of that nature.

Another two X-1s drifted into the great room to join the one that had been talking to Boada, and the three engaged in a surprisingly animated argument in the middle of a whirling mass of holographic displays, although any telepathic leakage was going at such a speed that it 'sounded' like a high-pitched whine.

Finally, a curt gesture from one of the X-1s... it was impossible to say if it was the one that had been talking to Boada initially or not... wiped both screens and other selves from existence. It strode towards the fae, shrinking in turn until the two were the same size relative to one another as they had been at the start of the conversation.

"What you just did is impossible." the alien stated flatly. "You altered your size and mass without any emissions of energy, not even the slightest trace of psychic waves... gravitationally, temporally, not even a kinetic dump. Yet at the same time it was clearly not an illusion, either, as your genetics could still be scanned, and they... are unfortunately as inconclusive as prior, although you do seem to have certain brain structures that aren't fully integrated into your nervous system, which was not something I could scan fully before. Probably sensory organs?"

[Earl of Purple]

Looming Spaceship

"I don't know what a kangaroo is. Are they usually invisible?" Boada has been to the zoo, but mostly because it's a good place to pick some pockets. She didn't pay attention to the animals.

"I have no idea what most of those words mean. It's just... Sprite magic. And yeah, that'd probably be my wings. They tingle sometimes, but I don't always know what that means." The wings are integrated enough that she can fly with them, able to subconsciously use the data they gather on the air conditions to fly around and hover whilst compensating for breezes, people walking past, and so on. She also always knows which direction's north, except when using the maglev parts of the Riftline system.

[Morty]

[Cry Havoc]

"We cooperate with the authorities as necessary. Sometimes, we're better suited to handling a particular threat," Wenomir says curtly. "You'll be given food and clothes, yes. She'll be our prisoner, you'll be... a visitor, let's say."

[bc56]

Cry Havoc
"We bringing them?" Kothar motions to the undead with obvious disgust in his voice. "Too dangerous." He doesn't want to have to babysit two monsters inimical to life, and he doesn't think it's safe to let them run free whether in Inside or on the skybase.

A Local Shrine
Jade gets back to her feet. "Black really isn't my color," she says, examining one of her tails. "C'mon, be a redhead again." No change. "Ugh!" Jade clicks the high heel of one of her boots against the floor impatiently. "How about more comfortable clothes then?" she tries. She has no idea what she's doing, but this time there's a reaction, the armor glowing and reweaving itself back into elegant robes. "...Huh. Something more casual?" The garments change again, becoming a white sundress with red stitching.
"Close enough, but I really want my old clothes back." Nothing.
"Why does it work like that?"

[quillpleasant]

Cry Havoc

The bundle of roots is tossed to Vy. Unfortunately, being blind, he's not the best catcher, and they bounce off his shoulder and fall to the street. Wincing, he motions with his hand and the angelephant turns to look down. Apparently using its vision to spot them, he picks up the roots and dusts them off before beginning to gnaw hungrily on them.

"Thank you, friend! It's been a very long time since I've eaten without a feeding tube," he says cheerfully, the food seeming to go a way to diminish his nervousness.

Wenomir's comment gets a bemused expression. "So you're vigilantes. Well, it could be worse. At least you're reasonable!" He sighs, shaking his head. "I feel bad for Cea though... free for less than a day. If only she could stop herself." Or at least be more subtle about it. He takes another thoughtful bite of the root.

Then he glares in Kothar's general direction. "You can't expect me to leave my brother behind! Or my cousin. Don't worry, they only do what I ask them to, so they're harmless." He raises his arms towards the angelephant and it kneels down, allowing him to scramble up onto its shoulders, where he perches like a child. "See? Harmless!"

[TeChameleon]

[Looming Spaceship]

"Er... no. A kangaroo looks like this." X-1 said, a startlingly lifelike hologram of a kangaroo appearing next to it and absolutely towering over them before it remembered to shrink the image down so that it was roughly the right relative size. "And I've never heard of one being invisible, aside from that one time that CFL-1198 dropped their cloaking device on Australia. THAT was a fun five hours... You have no idea how fast these overgrown hopping rats can move until you have to try and catch one with only a vague idea of where it is. I think we died about seventeen times between the three of us, too. First time I've ever seen someone get kicked in the back so hard that their <kidneys> shoot out their nose."

More screens pop up and are idly flicked through or dismissed, apparently not much more than a nervous tic as the alien ponders. "Looking more closely at your genetics, I can infer the presence and form of certain probable structures that are somehow being obscured, but it's not definite enough for me to be comfortable offering to connect your sensory wings more correctly. A fascinating structure by the way, and surprisingly efficient."

"Ordinarily, I would scoff at the notion of 'magic', but having witnessed you perform the impossible while under full sensory scan, I am more inclined to believe it. Actually, thinking about it, those genetic sequences that I can infer... there is a way..." the alien's telepathic 'voice' trailed off musingly.

The screen flicking became more purposeful, and the faint telepathic keening noise, almost like tinnitus, of high-speed thought came from the alien for a moment or two. Then it nodded, apparently satisfied for the moment.

"It's worth a try, anyways..." came the thought, and then another copy of X-1 smeared into existence as the first stepped aside slightly. Time and space twisted slightly harder than usual, pinching off this copy into its own isolated fragment of time. Faint light danced around it for a moment, and then...

... then, it suddenly sprouted wings that looked a good deal like Boada's. It shrank down, shot back up to full size, shrank part way while zooming around the room in full speed flight, expanded past its previous maximum size and then burst into a shower of sparks, confetti, and a surprising lack of gore.

After a moment of stunned silence, X-1 commented "Well. That was... unusual."

[Shadowcaller]

Cry Havoc

The bundle of roots is tossed to Vy. Unfortunately, being blind, he's not the best catcher, and they bounce off his shoulder and fall to the street. Wincing, he motions with his hand and the angelephant turns to look down. Apparently using its vision to spot them, he picks up the roots and dusts them off before beginning to gnaw hungrily on them.

"Thank you, friend! It's been a very long time since I've eaten without a feeding tube," he says cheerfully, the food seeming to go a way to diminish his nervousness.

Wenomir's comment gets a bemused expression. "So you're vigilantes. Well, it could be worse. At least you're reasonable!" He sighs, shaking his head. "I feel bad for Cea though... free for less than a day. If only she could stop herself." Or at least be more subtle about it. He takes another thoughtful bite of the root.

Then he glares in Kothar's general direction. "You can't expect me to leave my brother behind! Or my cousin. Don't worry, they only do what I ask them to, so they're harmless." He raises his arms towards the angelephant and it kneels down, allowing him to scramble up onto its shoulders, where he perches like a child. "See? Harmless!"

Cry Havoc

Raheeda looks to Vy. Oh right, the blind thing. She kept forgetting about it.
"Sorry! Should have just handed it to you."

Then she turns to his reanimated 'family'.

...

"Oh you misunderstand, uh, him." She really ought to learn yuan-two's name at this point. She was sure the human had said it many times but she had just never registered it.
"It's too dangerous to them." The yuan-ti gestures at the undead creatures. "They draw a lot of attention which is bad when there's... bad people around." Raheeda had no idea what sort of threats there were in the flying city so she had to make it as general as possible.
"People that want to steal or uh eat them." Ghouls were like that. "So it's best if they stay, for their own safety." She nods.

Then Raheeda strokes her chin.

"But I dunno what a vigilante is though."

[Morty]

[Cry Havoc]

Wenomir rubs his eyes as his poleaxe shifts back into a longsword and he sheathes it. As usual, the argument after the fight seems to take longer than the fight itself.

"It's easier to let him bring them along," he tells Kothar, then points a finger at Vyzan. "But it goes without saying that you are responsible for their behavior." He then looks to Raheeda. Who is she, anyway? "You... can come along too, if you want. Or be on your way."

[Thursday Violist]

[Church of Venus]

Reinholdt nods slightly towards Ambrosia. It wouldn't be terrible to split up here and check different things out. Especially as it looks like he's going to be very busy very shortly. For he doesn't make an attempt to hide or move when the sermon ends, simply nodding as he gets one of the after-activity pamphlets passed to him. His eyes narrow slightly as the monkey heads off and wishes he could follow. Perhaps if the conversation doesn't escalate horribly.

He gives a polite smile to the cloaked man who confronts him. "You are correct. Mmm... sort of. I never intended to come here, but while Venus was staying with us she expressed such regret that she wasn't at her home. She requested before leaving us that I visit some time and well... frankly apologize. She is very persuasive and I finally worked up the courage after seeing some of your group at the maid cafe event we held. I see now that I horribly misread the situation. You have such a beautiful community here with such a loving goddess. Could you ever forgive my folly? Now that she's returned to you, everything is right once more I hope?" Maybe he'll get some proper confirmation that Venus is in fact here. Maybe cloaked won't buy Rein's story at all. It is only mostly false.

[Church of Venus]

While Ambrosia wasn't recognized she knew that she drew a lot of attention. That little girl commenting on her armor before the sermon for instance. So she didn't trust in her ability to move about undetected, nor was that really part of her methodology. The way she dressed was meant to draw attention, not avoid it.

But that said, she was going to try to talk to the high priest. Approaching him with her tome held at her hip she reaches out a hand. "Excuse me? Do you have time for an interview? I represent HALO." People had already seen her in the company of Rein so there was no reason to lie here.

[Church of Venus]

The cloaked guy squints at Reinholdt and tries to see through his lies. Or, rather, he tries to figure out what, exactly, Rein is lying about: he can tell that there's something not entirely straightforward about what he's saying, but...sadly, this particular guy isn't known for his brains, so even though he can tell Reinholdt seems to be trying to pull one over on him, he can't figure out exactly what or why.

He glances back at the high priest, looking for some guidance, only to notice the high priest is distracted by a certain Ambrosia.

He's got to figure this out on his own, then.
The cloaked guy looks back at Rein and thinks through what he said again.
He frowns, frustrated that he still can't figure out what Reinholdt's trying to do here, before latching onto something he does know: "Yes, we did have a lot of people go to the maid cafe event. Our goddess wanted to make sure a lot of people went there and she stressed how important it was," he says slowly and cautiously, trying to not fall into whatever unknown wordsmith trap he knows Rein has laid out.

"We are also supposed to be forgiving, too, so I suppose I can forgive you."
He pauses, figuring that Reinholdt probably came here to see Venus and help her escape again, then adds, "You're not going to be able to see her, anyway. So it doesn't really matter. We've told her she can't reveal herself except when she's allowed."

The guy looks smug and self-satisfied that he managed to successfully navigate Reinholdt's conversational labyrinth without any assistance and without letting Rein succeed in whatever he was going for. (Which he still doesn't know, he just knows that Rein is likely to be disappointed in that he can't verbally hoodwink him.)

---

As Ambrosia confidently goes towards the front, she absolutely gains the high priest's attention, such that she even slightly helps Rein out. The high priest looks her from feet to head, and then leans confidently against the chair he's on without looking away from her. (Said chair is actually made of a still-living bush.) He even places his hand under his chin like he's in charge and he knows it.

He glances down at her tome, briefly wondering what kind of magic tome it is, and then at her outstretched hand.

As a power play, he notably doesn't shake it or anything, but instead gives a nod of acknowledgement.

"Ah, I see. And what interest does HALO have in an interview?" he says, in a tone suggesting he thinks he already knows why Ambrosia is here, and he's just asking to be polite. "I thought you cared more about science and research than religion."

The high priest looks like he's in his fifties or sixties, by the way. His short beard is already speckled. And, Ambrosia probably already guessed this but the high priest is also partially-fae - and being a dragon she might be able to sense this from this close. Unlike the other two (and a small number of the congregation), however, he has basically no mutations to speak of. Looks standard human.

He pauses, and looks her up and down again, and comes to a decision: "If it's short, I can answer a few questions. If it's longer, either you need to schedule something or interview someone else. After this, I'm busy."

[Reinholdt]

[Church of Venus]

Reinholdt tilts his head innocently, trying to figure out what the cloaked guy is trying to figure out. What mental gymnastics is he going through to keep Rein from the truth? What deeply intricate plan is he weaving to- Oh. He'll just tell Rein she's here then. Well, that's certainly one thing Rein needed to know.

"You have my thanks. You are most gracious with your forgiveness and that's a huge burden off my shoulders." Reinholdt lowers his head deeply for a moment towards the man before raising it again with a friendly, relieved smile.

"Ah, is that right? It feels a shame to keep her beauty locked away like that. She is... inspiring with her presence, is she not?" Rein offers him a silly, love-struck grin. "Who is that decides when she's allowed? Perhaps the next time she's allowed in public I may be permitted a fresh glimpse of her radiance. Do you get to see her? Have you remembered to bring her her favorite dessert?" Why he'd be very important if he was allowed to meet with the goddess himself.

[Shadowcaller]

[Church of Venus]

"Perhaps I should have introduced myself by name instead then since am Ambrosia Ithil and I am a scholar of dragons. Though in this case my interest is spirits and fey. A field where religion and science just so happen to intersect." She makes a dismissive gesture.

"While I'm sure that halo benefits from my research I'm really here on their behest. So anything said here can be kept between you and me should you want it to be."

She clears her voice.

"Now, if I'm allowed a few questions, I have heard that you hold fey in high regard within this church, is this true?"

[Earl of Purple]

[Looming Spaceship]

"Er... no. A kangaroo looks like this." X-1 said, a startlingly lifelike hologram of a kangaroo appearing next to it and absolutely towering over them before it remembered to shrink the image down so that it was roughly the right relative size. "And I've never heard of one being invisible, aside from that one time that CFL-1198 dropped their cloaking device on Australia. THAT was a fun five hours... You have no idea how fast these overgrown hopping rats can move until you have to try and catch one with only a vague idea of where it is. I think we died about seventeen times between the three of us, too. First time I've ever seen someone get kicked in the back so hard that their <kidneys> shoot out their nose."

More screens pop up and are idly flicked through or dismissed, apparently not much more than a nervous tic as the alien ponders. "Looking more closely at your genetics, I can infer the presence and form of certain probable structures that are somehow being obscured, but it's not definite enough for me to be comfortable offering to connect your sensory wings more correctly. A fascinating structure by the way, and surprisingly efficient."

"Ordinarily, I would scoff at the notion of 'magic', but having witnessed you perform the impossible while under full sensory scan, I am more inclined to believe it. Actually, thinking about it, those genetic sequences that I can infer... there is a way..." the alien's telepathic 'voice' trailed off musingly.

The screen flicking became more purposeful, and the faint telepathic keening noise, almost like tinnitus, of high-speed thought came from the alien for a moment or two. Then it nodded, apparently satisfied for the moment.

"It's worth a try, anyways..." came the thought, and then another copy of X-1 smeared into existence as the first stepped aside slightly. Time and space twisted slightly harder than usual, pinching off this copy into its own isolated fragment of time. Faint light danced around it for a moment, and then...

... then, it suddenly sprouted wings that looked a good deal like Boada's. It shrank down, shot back up to full size, shrank part way while zooming around the room in full speed flight, expanded past its previous maximum size and then burst into a shower of sparks, confetti, and a surprising lack of gore.

After a moment of stunned silence, X-1 commented "Well. That was... unusual."

"Oh, I think I've seen one in a zoo. I was a little distracted at the time, though." Finding people with a fat wallet and enough distraction that the wallet can find its way out of their pocket and into Baoda's hands without anyone noticing is harder than it might seem, especially in a crowd with undercover cops and others that are working on detecting and catching pickpockets.

Boada winces as the tinnitus-like telepathy clamours into her brain, but she watches the copy expand, contract, fly and ultimately explode. "Yeah, I don't generally explode. And I'm stuck at two dimensions, too. Either this one or my short human one. I can't stop part way, get taller, or get shorter." It's a minor limit, and not one most full sprites have- because most full sprites can't change their height at all, which might raise unfortunate questions regarding Boada's mixed heritage.