Inside

[Earl of Purple]

Demonic Errands

Boada flies out of the bag and makes a run for it. She's been detected but not caught- not yet, at least. She's heading for the densest crowd, zipping low to weave between ankles and legs rather than flying about head-height. It's more dangerous for her, since she's more likely to get stepped on or kicked by accident, but it's going to be harder to see her and following at human-scale is likely to be tricky.

If Sekhmet's reflexes are quick and she's using telepathy to track Boada as she leaves her bag, it's possible to catch the half-sprite before she's managed to build up enough speed to escape, especially as Boada can move faster than her brain can work; at full speed she can't react to obstacles fast enough to avoid them, so she tends to accelerate slowly to control her speed.

[bc56]

Demonic Errands
"No." Sekhmet's hand moves to close around the diminutive pickpocket as she emerges from the bag. "Did you really think it was a good idea to steal from me?" She doesn't sound angry. Just disappointed.

[Arkhosia]

[Hospital Waiting Room]

Well, he had been acting like he wasn't there until now...
Not does he really seem to want to commit to their conversation.
But sure.

"Of course, I really have nothing to say on this matter so I will let you resolve it together however you wish. Just tell me what your decision is, not that there's any rush."

A timeskip later...

And so the hours pass.
Ambrosia talks a bit more with Tina and Cantata and then goes to check with the nurse again before sitting down with Thariza to just read and discuss a few things.

She goes to get something to eat.
Exchange some more words with the others, read some more. Nearly falling asleep for a moment and decides to meditate.
She invisibly flies around the area in her true form simply to stretch her wings for a bit.
Do some suduko.

Then finally they're getting called.
Two baby boys have been born and they're getting called in.

[Hospital Waiting Room]

A timeskip later...

Cantata is all too happy to spend the time signing with the other two, but even she starts to seem a little socially exhausted as the time goes on. She grabs food for herself and Fettina as well at one point, and spends some of the time reading or doing crosswords, even pulling on her earbuds and submerging into a podcast as she leans against her wife for a while.

When the group is finally beckoned in, the woman startles a little, stowing her earbuds away hastily and looking back to Fettina. She'll follow her in or help coax her forward if need be, squeezing the angel's hand and trying to quash the anxiety in her own stomach with a reassuring smile.

[Earl of Purple]

Demonic Errands

"Yes, you looked rich, meaning you've got more to steal. And you look like can take the loss better'n somebody who's poor. Which you could. I'd left you plenty and when you bought something for more'n you had left, you had another source of cash to pay. So you'd not even miss what I took. You also looked to be a tricky mark, so I thought it'd be a challenge of my skills. A challenge I thought I could meet, but evidently not. I'll give you it back, though. All the money I took, no worries. Just... let me go, a little. Hold me foot or something, so I still can't get away if you don't trust me." Boada sighs as she's held, buzzing her wings a little to ensure they aren't damaged by the grip, but doesn't struggle.

[bc56]

Demonic Errands
Sekhmet frowns. "Even if it's better for you to steal from me than other people, why are you stealing at all?" She sighs. "Uh, can't you find paying work? It's not like there's a shortage of jobs in the city." No one expects a moral lecture from a demon. Aren't they supposed to encourage bad behavior?

[Earl of Purple]

Demonic Errands

"Sure, I could. Not many for some of my... stature, though. Courier, but most people have phones and I can't carry large parcels. Ratcatcher, but I'm claustrophobic. Spy, which has its own legal issues. Adventurer, which combines spy and ratcatcher in one horrific mix of a job. Besides, I don't need much. Say I took five gold coins from you, yeah? Two is my rent for a month. One's groceries, which again last me a while. One is taxes to keep my neighbourhood safe. And then the last is savings, theoretically. In practice, I'd spend it on a date. There's this diner I know, they have boiled eggs bigger than my head, and there's someone I'd like to share one with." Of course, Boada could get a legitimate job at somewhere scaled for humans, as she's only half-sprite and has another size she can be. She doesn't feel the need to alert Sekhmet to that, however.

[Murkus]

[Hospital Waiting Room][Later]

Fettina is all too happy to be distracted with idle chatter, growing increasingly anxious as time goes on. She freezes up when they're finally called, the angst rushing to the fore and coalescing on her chest as one great weight. Her hand is taken and she looks at Cantie as though deeply lost. Slowly, though, the weight cracks. She'll let Cantie help her to her feet. Time to face the music.

[bc56]

Demonic Errands
Sekhmet doesn't buy it. "There aren't any other jobs for people your size? No tiny businesses?" There has to be a community for diminutive people, right? Even ponies have their own neighborhood. And a tiny neighborhood could easily fit in inside somewhere, it wouldn't even take up much space.

[Earl of Purple]

Demonic Errands

"Yes, but not that many. Toytown caters mostly to Toytown. There's more cobblers than coffee shops, lots of fairies know how to make shoes, and it's hard to make coffee in thimbles. But I'm not a fairy, I'm half-sprite. Besides, nearly all of them are owned by the Fairy Godfather's toadies, which... is good, keeps them going even if they aren't technically profitable, but I've been on his bad side before. I'm in his good books now, I helped take out a major supplier for pixie dust, but I'd rather not draw any more attention to meself than necessary, y'know? Things with him are balanced in me favour for now, but our earliest dealings left scars." Money laundering is apparently good for the community's businesses, and Toytown's a good way to wash money coming in from the Fairy Godfather's more criminal enterprises.

[Rebonack]

[Cersei's Cauldron]

Sphinx will get plenty of encouraging comments from those gathered. It's all quite pleasant, really. There are a few helpful pointers on how to deal with lacking hands. As things wind down the time for snacks arrives! And some chatting. It's then that Lydia will bring out the copy of the journal she made. Simple printer paper bound together with a couple of clips. Nothing terribly fancy.

She offers it to Sphinx.

"I've marked the relevant passages, but knowing what being a sphinx is like no doubt you would be able to find them on your own without too much trouble."

[Wolfbane]

The Inside Docks

The glass elf also follows, though she has more trouble than Henry and Michalson in navigating the crowd of workers- unlike them, she's not visible, and has to jostle and push sometimes to make her way through. If either are alert to such things, they may realise they are being followed by someone they can't see, and though she's making noise it's not especially loud amidst the bustle.

[The Inside Docks]

Michalson listens to the speech with a detached analytical mind. He's never had a very reverent attitude, which is normal for people from Sigil. His subsequent life experiences didn't change that. Instead he's alert for anything the Matron might be saying that isn't apparent.

"Why, that's mighty generous, ma'am. It will make our job that much easier and smoother," he simply says. He is unaware of the elf following them.

The Inside Docks

"Thanks for that, Ma'am. I'm sure we'll be out of here quickly."
Hopefully the Matron won't regret her offer after Henry snoops extra hard with his ability to literally shove his face through every solid surface on the ship to check for things hidden out of view, up to and including using it to check the underside of the ship.

The Inside Docks

There's a gentle psionic nudge sent to the glass elf every so often, whenever she seems like she may be going off balanced, in order to help straighten her up and provide support. The Matron seems to be looking out for her, even subtly guiding workers to move around her rather than through her. She might not be invisible to the priestess, but the woman had gotten some sense that she was trying to hide given her movements.

The blind elf gives a broad grin to Michalson as she sits down on a deck railing. "Oh please, you don't have to be any more courteous than you wish here, Mister Michalson. Mister Henry might be bouncing off the walls in his eagerness, but one does not have to be psychic or have eyes to see that you are being cagey, cautious, and would likely wish to be anywhere else than here." She gives a little shooing wave. "You won't be harmed here." She'll keep her seat and wait for the two to do their checking, taking a tea break in the meantime.

The ship is as she promises. There's certainly a little contraband, a little content in the grey areas, but overall there's nothing outright deadly or dangerous. The arms locker is locked and guarded, the secret compartments obvious enough but mostly empty of anything other than a few more precious goods such as currency and baubles, and like every ship there was a moonshine still on board made of spare parts and poorly hidden. Notably, the Captain's Quarters are likely for a man and do not seem to belong to the Matron. While the maps are kept under lock and key with the Captain not present, all that seems to be present are antique knives and blackpowder pistols on a wall. Whomever the Captain was, they certainly liked to have a collection. The Matron's room is...likely disappointingly barren. It's almost spartan in arrangements. A full bed with a soft mattress, a dresser filled with outfits, and a small stand for her staff to go against. The only splash of color was a crystal vase holding rosemary.

The room that might actually garner some interest though is the radio room. It is off now, but the equipment is hot from use and there's a wide array of vinyl records on a shelf that seem to get heavy use. If either know how, a quick check shows it was tuned into an unregistered station. Pirate Radio. They had been broadcasting something, and likely for a long time.

[Thursday Violist]

Cult Clash

G'nichi crosses his arms over his chest, looking down mildly menacingly at the gathered cultists.
"I don't know what's going on here, but does this actually warrant beating the snot out of each other? This many of you? You could at least do everyone the favor of not spilling onto the street where you're likely to get people hurt.

Well?"

[Cult Clash]

Too many people start answering, explaining themselves why they're totally justified in fighting and, yes, the situation warrants it, but the other side is not at all justified at all and is completely in the wrong and that G'nichi should totally see how just they are in fighting and help them.

The other side is blasphemers! They're infidels! Unbelievers! The only thing they're good for is a roll in the hay but Mr Dragon-man can't you help them see reason? How dare you side with them! Who cares if 'innocent' people get hurt, the other side is just so awful that the ends justify the means! That guy punched my wife! Well, that guy is a horribly corrupted monster and needs to be stopped! How dare! Look at that person, they brought a weapon! They deserve it!

...

Things like that are thrown around, along with various insults.


Zophiel notices that, on the opposite side of the park, the still-ongoing brawl appears to be starting to turn into a riot. He sighs - he wanted to see if the dragonguy could actually stop the fighting, but...well, maybe he can stop it from turning into a dangerous riot. He starts to go around the crowd.

[Morty]

[The Inside Docks]

Michalson doesn't bother denying the Matron's reading of him, because a) it would be pointless and b) she's right. The paucity of their findings doesn't surprise him. Anything they're looking for is going to be under the surface. The radio room at last promises a possible lead. The detective will ask to examine it without supervision.

"They were broadcastin' somethin' on an unregistered station. I doubt this 'ere contraption could produce the dreams we heard about, but I've seen weirder."

[Keeper]

The Inside Docks

Henry is slightly disappointed that he isn't able to find any secret compartments or something.
"Well...yeah, I guess. Honestly I feel like unless we find something labeled Dream Machine or is notably pulsing in a mystical fashion we're probably not going to really know what we're looking for." he admits.

Cult Clash

G'nichi's nostrils flare up like pilot lights and he fires a gout of flames (safely) over the heads of the cultists.
"I don't care for your excuses. Settle this peacefully or I'm calling the cops or breaking this up myself. And you don't want either of those. Settle it with a card game or something, I don't care." Just not the kind that banishes people's souls to hell, preferably.

[Earl of Purple]

The Inside Docks

Once they're alone, the glass elf reappears. "I think... I will join your family. Our family. Are you... worried about the investigators? You did not seem so, when they were present." She's confident they're alone, since the Mother could find her even when she wasn't appearing in the visible light spectrum.

[Morty]

[The Inside Docks]

"Aye, you've the right of it." Michalson picks up one of the vinyl records. "We need to examine them somehow, without lettin' them know we're doin' it." He will search for some headphones or another way to listen to the records without its being immediately heard.

[Gullara]

[Hospital Waiting Room]

During the wait Kirk will eventually migrate back towards Tina when the conversation ceases. He largely stays close to her, but remains moody and none too talkative unless pressed.

He flinches when they're finally called, revealing just how tightly wound he was. He takes a moment longer than the rest to gather, but then he moves up just behind Fettina to follow in.

[Thursday Violist]

[Cult Clash]

Fire is eye-catching and scary.
The people in front of him definitely back off and seem quite a bit more meek. Seems like it was effective for some of the crowd!

However, there's a major problem: a couple of the people just decided that trying to get G'nichi on their side to fight with them is more trouble than it's worth, especially since he doesn't seem sympathetic to their side.
So they try to force his hand into breaking it up himself: someone comes up behind him with a piece of wood and swings it at the back of his head, while shouting at him.
Some people gasp as they watch someone wind up and swing like that.


Zophiel arrives on the other side of the crowd, just in time to stop a mugging by one of the cultists against someone who was just passing by. He grabs their arm and firmly tells them to stop....
....Sadly, he doesn't achieve any more success than G'nichi.

[Ironsmith]

Felandria considers the situation for the moment.

She could head away from the clicking, and hopefully find Skitty that way, but if Skitty went the other way, she could get hurt.

If she heads towards the clicking and Skitty is that way, she can save her, and if Skitty is down the other way, she should be safer there.

So the choice is clear.

Fel straightens herself out and whips out her wand of magic missile, and heads towards the clicking.

[Down the Drain]

Towards the ominous sound of a few dozen crimes against gods and man, then.

Fortunately, they don't all appear to be congregated in the same place. For instance, as she approaches the next maintenance waystation, Felandria will see another of these creatures scratching at a damaged door, attempting to slip under the enlarged crack between it and the floor, only to pull back every so often for no readily-obvious reason. As the giantess approaches, it turns to her and hisses, baring a set of tooth-covered phalanges as it slowly approaches her, chittering out a warning and staring at her with vacant, beady eyes.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hospital Waiting Room]

During the wait Kirk will eventually migrate back towards Tina when the conversation ceases. He largely stays close to her, but remains moody and none too talkative unless pressed.

He flinches when they're finally called, revealing just how tightly wound he was. He takes a moment longer than the rest to gather, but then he moves up just behind Fettina to follow in.

[Hospital Waiting Room]

They're allowed to go to the room where Dena presumably is waiting. Yet the gorgon isn't actually there. The newborns, however, are.
Held by one of the nurses he holds them out for the group to see.
"Miss Xifhara is still recovering in the room next over if you want to talk to her." He informs them with a nod towards the door next to him.

[Gullara]

[Hospital Waiting Room]

In the nurse's arms are two babies, similar in some ways, different in others.

The first has ashen grey skin and near white hair with the slightest hint of gold. He's dozing quietly, undisturbed by having just been born evidently. The other has warmer tones, dark brown skin, if still a bit ashen. His hair could be interpreted as a very light blond. This baby squalls with the stress of being alive. Both children have pointed ears, though the first's are more prominent. Maybe the second's features are a bit more soft and round, though both are pretty soft and round at this point. Babies tend to be that way. Closer inspection reveals a small glimpse of the first's eyes. Bright, pure red. The second requires less careful inspection, being more wakeful. His eyes are blue... no, green. In fact, his eyes don't match one another.

[Murkus]

[Hospital Waiting Room]

There are chunks of time in a human life like fulcrums on which swing the weight of the earth. These are moments so solid, so tangible, so layered with mighty profundity, that it seems impossible a mere human memory should hold them. Unthinkable that a person's meagre brain could contain all the weight of that one moment, hundred faceted with meaning, implication, consequence, and glittering gemlike, crystallized in the corridors of the mind.

Fettina is coaxed into the delivery room and feels it like a rushing forward. The world is billowing past her. It feels calamitous, like a hurricane. It feels majestic, like... like she doesn't know what. She struggles to stand for a moment yet all she can manage to do is look at the little ones and put her hands over her face as she utters a sobbing cry.

It's... hitting her, now. She's going to need a moment.

[Keeper]

Cult Clash

G'nichi whirls, catching the piece of wood in his hand and glaring down at the man.
"I'm sorry, I was talking to your friends over there. Did you have something to say to my face?" he growls.
Hopefully they don't notice the bright pink wand tucked into the back of his belt which definitely wasn't what warned him that there was someone sneaking up behind him because she's kind of embarrassing in general.

[Thursday Violist]

[Cult Clash]

Don't worry, G'nichi. Nobody is going to insult a dragon for liking pink things. And probably nobody noticed that it's the wand that's secretly telling things to him.

The cultist who swung the wood freezes in place.

...

Then suddenly lets go of the piece of wood. He puts his palms forward, and backs away in anticipation of G'nichi retaliating. The guy even tries to dash away!

Except one gal who is with the other cult, with a massive blackish-purple right hand that reaches her knee, stops him. And grabs onto his leg. She holds him in place, and looks at G'nichi expectantly, hoping he'll thank her and do something: "I got him! Here, you can do whatever you want to him now!"


Although that single attacker was the only instance of outright violence happening right around G'nichi, there's quite a bit more happening farther away. Over in the area where Zophiel is, actual, physical fighting breaks out on a large scale. A punch to the face, a gut punch, someone getting kicked on the ground, someone trying to rope in bystanders, knives are drawn, opportunity theft...things start happening. People scream. Although a large part of the crowd are cultists who came here to argue and insult other cultists, only a handful of them were actually mentally prepared for violent conflict.

With the paladin Zophiel right there and since the fighting spread like a spark hitting tinder, he decides the best choice is to help the people trying to flee to actually flee.

[Rebonack]

[Playground in the Playground]

That name doesn't... quite work the same way anymore.

But hey, who cares right?

The Playground in the Playground is one of the oldest playgrounds in the Nexus, dating from the days long past when things were far more chaotic and there was an actual dragon in the plastic cave that dominates the middle of the chip-yard. The terrible dragon is long since slain and the dungeons below are supposedly in accessible to random curious children so it's all good, right?

Lack of dragon aside, it's really a pretty nice playground! A sandbox with little sit-on backhoe toys. A child-hurling merry-go-round of the sort that were universally torn out in the 90s lest children manage to harm themselves whilst doing children things. Some see-saws, swings, monkey bars, slides. Even a great wood and metal big climbing structure that someone could absolutely fall off of. In short, the sort of playground possible only in days long past.

Lapis should soon be leading by the hand from Trog's toward the swings since clearly those are the best and most fun thing at the playground.

"I like this one it's my big favorite it's got a cave and swings and sometimes there's a train that comes by but it isn't a big train that people ride on it's just a little train for climbing and playing but it isn't always here I think maybe it's magic," Lapis rambles gleefully.

[[brackets lover]]

[Playground in the Playground]

Asami would try to take a moment to eye her surroundings, obviously rushed by the more energetic kid pulling her hand. When they got to the swings, she tilted her head, getting eager to go on them. In response to Lapis, though, she raises an eyebrow. "Somehow, I doubt that."

She'd be following Lapis' pace, watching and waiting for her to play on something before going to anything herself.

[Rebonack]

[Playground in the Playground]

Well, getting to the swings isn't too hard. There's a whole line of them set up. The sort that consist of a simple rubber strip with a pair of chains attached hanging from a metal pipe structure high above. The sorts of swings you can go REALLY HIGH on! And possibly jump off of which is dangerous and absolutely a thing children will do. The wood chips are all dug out under the swings from heels digging in, exposing the packed earth below. A place that has been used and loved and worn.

Lapis clambers onto one of the free swings next to a dwarf boy who is absolutely not paying any attention to what she's doing.

"It is maybe though because magic is things that don't make any sense and the train doesn't make sense sometimes so the train must be magic!" Lapis concludes definitively as she walks herself backwards until she's up on her tippy toes before letting herself swing forward.

Lapis' grasp of what is and is not magic might be a bit... tentative.

[[brackets lover]]

[Playground in the Playground]

Asami would be right by Lapis, getting behind the nearest available swing and placing a single foot atop it, pulling it towards her slightly. She then placed her hands on the chains and pulled herself up, standing on the swing and rapidly building up the steady initial motion. As she swung, she absent-mindedly stared forward, airing out her thoughts in a carefree manner. "Well... I don't think that's the case. Like, there's this story from this one greek philosopher about these people that lived in a cave their whole life and there's this like wall with shadows on it, but they can't see where the shadows are coming from, so its like, they think the shadows randomly appear cause they don't know about the stuff outside that causes the shadows. So, like, it could always just be something you don't know about." She muses for a moment. "All I know about magic is stuff i've heard from friends, but i'm pretty sure it has rules and stuff. I tried using it once, but I wasn't very good, so I gave up."

[Earl of Purple]

Playground in the Playground

Also in the playground, digging in the sandpit, is a young boy. He looks to be human, or mostly so; he's about eight or nine years old, with pale brown skin and curly black hair. He's wearing a pair of jeans and a red woollen jumper with a Thanksmas tree design, and he's using for a shovel a plastic spoon.

[Rebonack]

[Playground in the Playground]

Lapis listens to the allegory of the cave in this truncated rendition and immediately thinks, "That sounds sad why don't they go looking for the things making the shadows?"

The problem here is that Lapis doesn't have a firm grasp of an allegory. It takes her a few moments to make the connection that-

"Oh this is just a pretend story, isn't it? Like Cora's pretend stories about the princess and the wizard and the sword-girl," she realizes. And the horse, technically. The horse is important to the story too but isn't a character the same way the princess, wizard, and sword-girl are. "I don't know if magic has rules but if it does they're lots of different rules because the people at VIGIL that do magic do all kinds of different things and they're all different ways. It's all pretend but even pretend things can change the world if people believe them."

Then?

She considers that last point.

"How come you just gave up can't you just get better by doing it lots?" Lapis inquires. She has learned that most regular children don't get any skill points to spend on things. Or maybe they do and they just get spent automatically? Lapis really isn't sure.

Gradually she's building momentum, swinging steadily higher.