Plots: Serious, silly, random, oh my!

[Earl of Purple]

Fetchquest Inside

"Then I suggest you try, or I'll be forced to have you ejected and barred. The bouncer saw your ID card, yes?" Which would make getting back in harder, if he puts the information he remembers from it on a list and all the bouncers start to keep an eye out for it.

She takes the bag of peanuts and places them in a small bin she's got behind her desk. "You said you were here to meet somebody. Do you know who they are and which sin they went to experience?" The Twi'lek's a lot frostier now, upset at the loss of her snack and the fact she's going to get blamed for the cockroach infestation if Tahara can't control it quickly.

Outside

The hammerhead goblin takes the ID card and glowers at Mary, comparing her face to that on the card and looking it over, checking both sides as well. He'll look for anything that might say Mary's over the age of consent, before doublechecking her species and date of birth, and do all the things he did with Tahara's. Unless there's some pretty egregious issues with it, he'll return it and gesture for Mary to be allowed to enter.

[bc56]

Fetch Quest
Since the ID is fake, all the details are in order. There's no reason "Emanelle" shouldn't be allowed into the club. Which leads to the tall stranger, dressed in black, entering behind Tahara and pretending not to recognize her.

[Ironsmith]

[Fetchquest]

"Sadly, no." Tahara says, kneeling and releasing another wave of roaches onto the floor. "Sorry, guys, but could you tell your friends we need them to leave, at least for a little bit? It's important."

To their credit, the roaches seem to obey, scattering in much the same way the first set did... but the Twi'lek probably isn't going to see any more of them beyond that.

"Yeah, they just said they'd be meeting up here. Given the context, I want to say they might have booked Greed? Business deal, see." She shrugs. "...I'm sure they'll know us when they see us. Tell you what, could I just get a glass of water?"

[Earl of Purple]

Fetchquest

The Twi'lek frowns as more cockroaches are unleashed upon her establishment, though decides to trust Tahara that she's trying to ease the problem. "Lust is likely more private than Greed, but you know them best I suppose." She'll walk over to the wall and open the curtains, revealing a door labelled GREED behind it. "No, I don't have a glass of water. There are no taps in this chamber." She does have a bottle of water in her desk, but after what happened to her peanuts she's not going to offer it.

Mary enters, with the Twi'lek opening the curtains to the GREED door and possibly Tahara entering that chamber. That done, she turns towards Mary and mostly ignores Tahara, though she glances at the trash witch from the corner of her eye quite regularly. "Good morning, miss. What sin are you looking for today? Lust, Wrath, Gluttony, Jealousy?"

[bc56]

Fetchquest
None of those sound good to Mary. And while she just saw Tahara directed to the greed room, she's not sure why and not sure that there would be a window to let Mat in there. "Do you guys do vanity?" she asks. She's not sure there'd be a window there either, but of all the deadly sins it always sounded the least awful.

[Ironsmith]

[Fetchquest]

Tahara tilts her head toward the Twi'lek and gives her a wide-eyed stare. "...I look like I'm twelve and I'm made of trash." She snarks, hugging her torso self-consciously. "I really hope they're not interested in lust."

"Gross" didn't even begin to describe her thoughts on that one.

With that, Tahara steps through the door, ready to see the interior.

[Earl of Purple]

Fetchquest

The Twi'lek's lips twitch at Tahara's last words. "If he's in Lust, entertainment will be provided. And we won't ask questions about it."

Then she turns back to Mary/Emanelle. "We do have a room for Vanity. I hope you enjoy it." She walks over and opens another curtain, revealing a different door.

Greed
Tahara has found a gambling den. There's cards, roulette, dice games, and people crowding around screens watching people fighting each other. Finding a private place here might prove tricky; it's all quite crowded, with three servers wandering around with trays of canapes and nibbles. One of the servers, an Argonian in a maid's dress, approaches and offers a tray with small glasses filled with chocolate-dipped crickets. "Is there a game you are interested in, miss?"

[bc56]

Fetchquest
Mary proceeds through the vanity door.
They've got a better chance of finding the missing squirrels if they split up and she can't blow her cover to Tahara just yet. She just hopes there's a window in the vanity room that she can use to get Mat inside.

[Meowmai]

► SHOW SPOILER

[Feline Family Friction]

Kill him? That's enough to set Blanche alert again as Liz spills the beans. The hands wrapping bandages around her side pick up the pace. "Shit- listen, are you sure that's what they were here for? Can you still access that data? If we know what they know, we can head them off-""

And then she hears that word. Ascendant.

It arrests a sudden motion to her feet, affixing Blanche in a forward lean. For a moment, she looks blindsided - and then her eyes narrow with a wounded fury. "Don't you ever fucking call me that again, kid." she snarls. Standing all at once, she yanks the bandage taut in a manner that does not look particularly comfortable. Then, stalking past Liz, she starts to survey the servers for damage, only pausing to reach down and haul the hacker into a sitting position on her way. "Help me fix this or keep your mouth shut."

[Feline Family Friction]

Elizabeth's eyes widened as Blanche snarled at her, the girl instinctively pulling back from her- as best she can while half-pinned and cuffed. She had known the barbed comment was a terrible idea, but she hadn't expected the soldier's mood to sour so intensely like that.

The hacker grunts, not finding Blanche's grip to be particularly comfortable when she was pulled upright. It still managed to be a remarkable improvement from lying on the floor though. She took in a few deep shuddering breaths. Right. Best to just... answer the questions. "I... I mean, I don't know. That's just a guess. I just... I can't see this data being worth k-killing for, unless... killing was always the plan." She swallowed anxiously. "I mean, maybe I can... shit. Shit." She looked around. The server room had seen better days, that's for sure. But, enough still seemed to be intact. And they must have backups. With the kind of money this company was dealing with, it'd be insane for them not too.

At this point, though, she'd taken enough deep breaths to regrow a little bit of spine. And Blanche's current attitude really ticked her off. So, against all common sense, Elizabeth opened her mouth again. "You..." There was a pause. Elizabeth had thought a lot about standing up to authority figures, all the cool and devastating things she'd say, but thinking and doing were two different things entirely. "You don't want me to call you that, then, then... take off that fucking armour."

[Keeper]

Dark Woods

Zulie...might have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
She just thought that as an apprentice to the camp's druid she should really know the woods as well as she can, and decided to try and go as far as she could, past even the protected areas.
Aaaaaand then manage to not get back the same way. It's fine. Totally fine. It's starting to get dark but she did come prepared and she'll be home in an hour or two...

[Ironsmith]

Fetchquest

The Twi'lek's lips twitch at Tahara's last words. "If he's in Lust, entertainment will be provided. And we won't ask questions about it."

Then she turns back to Mary/Emanelle. "We do have a room for Vanity. I hope you enjoy it." She walks over and opens another curtain, revealing a different door.

Greed
Tahara has found a gambling den. There's cards, roulette, dice games, and people crowding around screens watching people fighting each other. Finding a private place here might prove tricky; it's all quite crowded, with three servers wandering around with trays of canapes and nibbles. One of the servers, an Argonian in a maid's dress, approaches and offers a tray with small glasses filled with chocolate-dipped crickets. "Is there a game you are interested in, miss?"

[Fetchquest - Greed]

"I'm actually here to meet someone." Tahara explains with a smile. "But thank you. Has anybody come in here talking about a guy named Boorab? I have a delivery for them."

A knuckle sandwich is an item to be delivered, right?

[Earl of Purple]

Fetchquest: Boorab
Vanity

Mary enters a room of mirrors and diaphanous silk curtains, very nearly sheer, offering just enough concealment for the three people in the room to be hidden until after they've had a good look at Mary. Then, they come out. One is wearing exactly the same clothes as Mary, though she appears to be a much darker-skinned individual with a shaved head. The other two are nearly identical copies of Mary, one wearing a one-piece navy swimsuit and the other wearing a colour-reversed version of Mary's own clothing, the jacket the colour of Mary's trousers and the trousers the colour of Mary's jacket. "Hey, good lookin'. Are you happy with your appearance, or do you want to be even more beautiful? We can help."
"It's what we're here for." The first speaker is the duplicate in the swimsuit, then the duplicate in nearly-matching clothes speaks. "Unless you're a bit of a narcissist, anyway. We'll cater to that, too, but it'll cost you more."

Greed

"Oh, everyone's talking about Boorab, miss. Follow me." The waiter leads over to where a group of gamblers are staring at a screen, making bets. On the screen is a no-holds-barred cage match; on one side is a very large orc, hands up around his head, as a red-furred squirrel-person punches and kicks him. The squirrel is tall, lanky, and a little battered; he's wearing a pair of speedos (as is the orc), several fistfuls of fur have been pulled out, his nose is bleeding and his left eye is starting to swell shut. The orc isn't faring quite so well, and after the squirrel climbs onto his back and clambers to his feet on the orc's shoulders, reaching up to hold the ceiling before driving both feet into the orc's head. The orc collapses. "That's the third match in a row he's won, miss."

[bc56]

Fetchquest
Vanity

Mary looks around in the few moments before the attendants show up. Is there a window in here? Even if there is, she doesn't have time to open it before her doppelgängers appear.
It's weird. They all look like her, or rather, like she currently looks. Not her real self. Considering that both her jacket and trousers are black, the inverse color copy doesn't have much to work with. But Mary at least knows which of the options she wants. "Yes. I want to be beautiful." She genuinely does - it comes out of a misguided sense of how she should be, thanks to her mother's succubus minions.
Sekhmet would have a fit if she knew what her daughter was doing right now.

Hopefully this process gives her a chance to open a window, assuming there even is one.

[Arkhosia]

► SHOW SPOILER

[Feline Family Friction]

Elizabeth's eyes widened as Blanche snarled at her, the girl instinctively pulling back from her- as best she can while half-pinned and cuffed. She had known the barbed comment was a terrible idea, but she hadn't expected the soldier's mood to sour so intensely like that.

The hacker grunts, not finding Blanche's grip to be particularly comfortable when she was pulled upright. It still managed to be a remarkable improvement from lying on the floor though. She took in a few deep shuddering breaths. Right. Best to just... answer the questions. "I... I mean, I don't know. That's just a guess. I just... I can't see this data being worth k-killing for, unless... killing was always the plan." She swallowed anxiously. "I mean, maybe I can... shit. Shit." She looked around. The server room had seen better days, that's for sure. But, enough still seemed to be intact. And they must have backups. With the kind of money this company was dealing with, it'd be insane for them not too.

At this point, though, she'd taken enough deep breaths to regrow a little bit of spine. And Blanche's current attitude really ticked her off. So, against all common sense, Elizabeth opened her mouth again. "You..." There was a pause. Elizabeth had thought a lot about standing up to authority figures, all the cool and devastating things she'd say, but thinking and doing were two different things entirely. "You don't want me to call you that, then, then... take off that fucking armour."

[Feline Family Friction]

"Does it look like I'm wearing fucking red and black to you?" The catgirl snaps a withering glance over her shoulder, clearly frustrated. "Or the goddamn bees, for that matter?" The black and yellow of Brightlance, another faction under the umbrella of the Ascendancy. Some corner of her brain had to note some approval for the contempt this kid seemed to have for them - though it was hard to show a sense of proper respect about it when she kept being rankled onto the defensive.

After a moment, Blanche looks to the terminal, thinks for a moment and sighs. "I'm not sure trying to kill me for this means they're dead set on killing the CEO. They could be going for ransom or blackmail, and plenty of folks are very willing to do that when there's a lot of money on the line. Doesn't change the fact that we've gotta stop them though - think you can walk me through this?" Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

[FracturedSimulacrum]

Dark Woods

Zulie...might have taken a wrong turn somewhere.
She just thought that as an apprentice to the camp's druid she should really know the woods as well as she can, and decided to try and go as far as she could, past even the protected areas.
Aaaaaand then manage to not get back the same way. It's fine. Totally fine. It's starting to get dark but she did come prepared and she'll be home in an hour or two...

[Dark Woods -to- The Bearcave]

Bathed in twilight, the primordial forest surrounding Zulie shifts unnaturally. The deciduous trees flanking the roving druid-in-training creak and groan, their leaf laden boughs seeming to stretch up into the clouds above. A gentle wind carries mirthful laughter to Zulie’s ears and the sweet floral bouquet of fresh honey to her nostrils. As she progresses, a shimmering portal comes into view. Though translucent, this vine-ringed portal refracts only distorted views of the world that lies beyond. In point of fact, gazing through the portal is akin to peering through liquid glass. Budding flowers poke through the soil at Zulie’s feet, ushering her toward the gate. On a lark, a hummingbird flits back and forth between this side of the portal and whatever lies beyond, the surface rippling lazily to mark its passage.

Should Zulie venture into the portal - traversing space and time as she vaults an enchanted realm or three - she will find herself standing within a well-furnished subterranean cave. While no strange sensations accompany her trip, she might be surprised that she has somehow squeezed through a glassy portal fitted to the frame of a magnifying glass gingerly placed on a crumb-covered engineering drawing of a factory of some sort. Variegated off-white high back armchairs of differing sizes but uniform shape attend the lacquered walnut table on which Zulie stands, sits, crouches, or otherwise exists. In those armchairs, a sleuth of bears, raccoons, and badgers wait. Their expressions range from doofy astonishment to quiet anger. In all, there are, perhaps, a dozen “bears” - all wearing silly hats - surrounding her.

The weedy, cigar-smoking raccoon with the fez in the second biggest armchair is the first to pipe up.

How’s this scrawny little thing supposed to help us rob the First National Bakery? What’s she gonna do: let the wind blow her onto the roof?

At this, a gold-colored grizzly bear sporting a snazzy top hat and a monocle stands up, points at the map, and, in a refined tone befitting a gentlebear, declares.

I fail to see how that’s your concern, Rufus. This lady doesn’t need to assist us unless she wants a cut of the payout. She is Becca’s bonded druid, and her role in this - and any consequences that result from her actions - rest squarely on Becca’s shoulders.

The Gentlebear grabs a yellow highlighter sitting on the table and spins it idly in his paw.

Now, I believe that before we summoned this lady, we were discussing code names. Rufus, you were thinking -

A black bear with matted emerald fur decorated with flowing golden patterns gawks at Zulie from beneath a loud deerstalker. It isn’t easy to tell how large she is while seated, but she is certainly on the large for an emerald-colored black bear. On the table in front of her, a decapitated gingerbread man with the letters “NITCH” scrawled on it with jelly and half of a mug of milk rest (and only one in peace). After a momentary pause, the emerald-colored black bear breaks the gingerbread man in half, offers the lower half to Zulie and, assuming she’ll accept it, pours milk into a dirty glass for her. How does she manage all that with no thumbs? Why, with her teeth, claws, and a little incantation, of course!

Clearly, this bear thinks a pick-me-up would do wonders for Zulie’s energy levels! Zulie should just ignore that “TCH” scribbled on it! It’s probably not important. And while she is at it, why not also ignore all the WACME-brand gadgets - rockets, ray guns, dynamite, and extending boxing gloves - cream pies in wooden crates labeled “DANGER,” and that statue of Becca, Red Rufus, The Gentlebear, Don Bearleone, and about ten other “bears” equipped with a helpful plaque that reads, “Esteemed Members of the Berenstein Bear Crime Syndicate.” None of that is, was, or could ever be important, and these fine animal people absolutely positively are not crime bears.

[Keeper]

The Bearcave

Zulie is far too smart to go wandering into any strange-
Oh, hm. She appears to have managed to end up on the other side of the portal anyway. Was she pushed? Slipped? She has no idea what happened, but she knows for sure that she was certainly not stupid enough to go through on purpose.

She looks up in surprise at the bears, and probably wisely takes a moment to stay silent and hear what they're talking about. Still, supernaturally large bears in hats discussing robberies isn't...well-
Oh a cookie.
Zulie takes the cookie, though she doesn't take the milk. Who knows where that glass has been. Or what kind of milk is.
"So. Uh. I don't remember being bonded to anyone. And I can't help but feel like I'm...underdressed." On one hand, she's wearing way more clothes than everyone else. But she's also obviously lacking you know. The half ton of fat and muscle and the fur coat.

[FracturedSimulacrum]

[The Bearcave]

Doubtlessly, Zulie was shunted into the shimmering portal by a vicious attack hummingbird.

As Zulie claims and consumes her half of the gingerbread snitch, the emerald bear nods in approval and then merrily joins in, popping her portion into her toothy maw and crushing it in one powerful chomp. The cookie itself is sweet and spicy - as gingerbread should be - with flavors blending and complementing each other as opposed to one flavor dominating all others. Aside from the cherry jam, this cookie is the quintessential gingerbread snitch man complete with gumdrop buttons, beautiful frosting, and a crisp exterior cradling a soft, cake-like center. Though the exterior of the cookie is at room temperature, the interior is pleasantly warm. It is highly unlikely that Zulie will taste the gingerbread snitch's fruity wallet containing a tiny, chocolate picture of its gingerbread spouse, gingerbread children, and gingerbread doggo. That is definitely for the best since Big Bad Becca, who is apparently Zulie's bonded bear or something, is far too distracted to explain how the gingerbread man snitch is an immortal spirit of renewal that goes mad when it goes stale (not that it was ever really sane to begin with, snitching on the Berenstein Bear Crime Syndicate and all) and must be periodically destroyed so it can be reborn in the Muffin Man's Eternal Oven.

That strange truth notwithstanding, a hush falls over the bears and the "bears" as they behold Zulie's hardcore and ever so slightly gruesome rebellion against "the man" - which strikes a handful of them as highly abnormal because she is clearly a hu-man and is thus rebelling against three-fifths of herself. All eyes are on her as she declares she feels underdressed, and at that, the bears squint at her, cock their eyebrows at her, and generally inspect her. There is something off about her appearance, isn't there? She feels underdressed. Huh. Maybe -

Sweet Titania, this human is naked!

A honey badger in a sequined homburg tugs the brim of her hat over her beady eyes and rasps!

Chaos sweeps through the Bernstein Bear Crime Syndicate. A beret-wearing panda recoils at the sight of the hatless human, his chair tipping backward and spilling him onto the floor. A sombrero-wearing sun bear coquettishly bats her voluminous lashes at Zulie as she gets an eyeful of the hatless human. The Gentlebear covers his eyes with one paw, snatches a hat from the emergency hatbox hidden underneath the table, and blindly waves a red flatcap in Zulie's general direction. Rufus nabs a sugar cookie from a plain glass plate situated on the table near Zulie's feet, shoves it into his mouth, and scrabbles across the room and up a wall to avoid being permanently scarred by haunting memories of Zulie's hatless, horrifying, and alien anatomy.

Becca is unshaken by Zulie's indecency. She simply shrugs, chugs her mug of milk, and calmly considers her relationship to Zulie amid the bedlam and clamor that has overwhelmed her partners' sensibilities. In a sonorous yet oddly feminine voice, she rumbles.

Golly, miss, I don't, uhhh, recollect being bonded to anyone either...

Becca wrinkles her wet, black nose and rubs the back of her head sheepishly. Honestly, she has some misgivings about this whole "bonded creature" gig. It's better than being locked up in the clink, but she doesn't know anything about humans...

But she has a human right here!

A-actually, I'd like to trouble you for your advice, miss. You see, I am scheduled to be bonded to a human druid later today, and I don't really know anything about humans.

Becca roots around beneath the table and produces a small black box and a scrap of paper.

So there's this female human druid kid named -

Big Bad Becca glances at the paper. If Zulie does the same, she'll note that a list of ten names has been printed on it paper. Her name is the last name on the list. The page number indicates this is page 102/102 of a some Weekly Fairy Godkid Candidate Report (at least according to the letterhead).

- Zoo-lie who is, umm -

Becca wrings her paws as she searches for the right word.

- well, if I help her out, I won't go to Fey prison, and the kid has been on this list for months - I've stolen it a few times - and, uhh, she isn't ever going to get helpful Fey animal helper like me because there are only one-thousand-and-nineteen creatures registered on the list and I can't officially register because I'm a crime bear.

But I think this would be good for both of us. I mean, I don't know much about her, but everyone on that list has lived a tough life.

A-and I just...

Becca nibbles her bottom lip and ponies up. She opens the small black box revealing an emerald-studded silver ring.

Is this an appropriate gift for such an occasion? I heard that humans give these to each other when they marriage-bond-ceremony with each other, but the chump I knocked the teeth out of for that info swore she didn't know if it was an appropriate gift for a druid-pact-bond-ceremony.

[Keeper]

The Bearcave

Zulie awkwardly accepts the hat. It is...a strange feeling. Like she's agreed to something without saying a word.
"Uh. That's my name." she says dumbly, not really sure how to respond.
"If you can't register, how does bonding to someone get you a pardon?"
She's not sure how any of that works. But the ring does certainly make her blush.
"Um. It does seem a little more romantic than I think the occasion calls for. But um, maybe something that matches? Like bracelets or something? I mean it's definitely nice I just don't know these things."

[Ironsmith]

Fetchquest: Boorab
Vanity

Mary enters a room of mirrors and diaphanous silk curtains, very nearly sheer, offering just enough concealment for the three people in the room to be hidden until after they've had a good look at Mary. Then, they come out. One is wearing exactly the same clothes as Mary, though she appears to be a much darker-skinned individual with a shaved head. The other two are nearly identical copies of Mary, one wearing a one-piece navy swimsuit and the other wearing a colour-reversed version of Mary's own clothing, the jacket the colour of Mary's trousers and the trousers the colour of Mary's jacket. "Hey, good lookin'. Are you happy with your appearance, or do you want to be even more beautiful? We can help."
"It's what we're here for." The first speaker is the duplicate in the swimsuit, then the duplicate in nearly-matching clothes speaks. "Unless you're a bit of a narcissist, anyway. We'll cater to that, too, but it'll cost you more."

Greed

"Oh, everyone's talking about Boorab, miss. Follow me." The waiter leads over to where a group of gamblers are staring at a screen, making bets. On the screen is a no-holds-barred cage match; on one side is a very large orc, hands up around his head, as a red-furred squirrel-person punches and kicks him. The squirrel is tall, lanky, and a little battered; he's wearing a pair of speedos (as is the orc), several fistfuls of fur have been pulled out, his nose is bleeding and his left eye is starting to swell shut. The orc isn't faring quite so well, and after the squirrel climbs onto his back and clambers to his feet on the orc's shoulders, reaching up to hold the ceiling before driving both feet into the orc's head. The orc collapses. "That's the third match in a row he's won, miss."

[Fetchquest]
Greed

Tahara holds back a grimace as she watches the fight take place. Apparently, he'd already met who he was here to meet, and said meeting probably hadn't turned out well for him. After watching the match for a little bit, in the hopes of finding out where it's taking place from the context clues, Tahara will decide to just ask the attendant point-blank if they know where that arena is; it's very important that she meets Boorab right away.

[Earl of Purple]

Fetchquest
Vanity

The mimic with Mary's current face and colour-reversed clothes is in white, rather than black. There is also not a window, or not one visible with all the mirrors and diaphanous curtains.

"You already are, honey. But we'll help... For a price. What aren't you happy with? Nose, eyes, boobs?" As she speaks, the doppelganger's face changes, still resembling Mary but her nose changes shape, then her eyes change colour, and then her breasts inflate and deflate again. The girl in the swimsuit steps closer and puts an arm around Mary's shoulders.

Greed

The screen only shows the cage the match is taking place in, although there's another screen- far less popular than Boorab's- showing another cage, with a slender leonin fighting a bulkier wolfir.

When asked, the server smiles. "Oh, yes, miss. He's in Wrath. I don't think the bouncers there would let you have a fight, though. Your... nature makes you an unfair fight, I think." Which happens to be one of the rooms the Twi'lek mentioned.

[bc56]

Fetchquest
Vanity
No window - that's a problem. But Mary's a little tied up with the doppelgängers.
"Well, um... Yes, the boobs. And the curves to go with them. And my teeth are crooked and my hair is coarse." If she was in her own form, she would have more complaints. As it stands, the only reason she can't fix any of these things herself is that she's not skilled at partial shapeshifting, especially not into things she hasn't been before.

[Rebonack]

[Spring Vacation]

What?

It's definitely spring break that wasn't last week or anything everything is on time right now.

What this means, of course, is that Khannie gets a whole WEEK to spend with her family. So... her dad, basically. And possibly a whole gaggle of dragons and dogs, depending on how many of them are coming on the vacation versus staying at home and causing trouble. Would Zebes even be able to survive a week of keeping Maridia, Sirius, and Commissar out of trouble?

That's certainly a question, isn't it?

So.

Vacations.

Khannie had read about this place, a confluence of three of her BIG areas of interest. Magic, history, and ADVENTURE! Also puzzles, probably maybe. She keeps a pretty close eye on Paragon and there are more than a few heroes that are uniquely focused on mapping new locations that pop into the Nexus. Maybe not so much exploring them as just keeping tabs on them. 'Here's this new thing there might be some hero potential here'. This particular spot was flagged as a mysterious mystery and included a few pictures and WOW it just looked really cool!

Suffice to say, when Jace and Khannie arrive the teen is pretty excited.

Suffice to say, when Jace and Khannie arrive the location seems... pretty nondescript.

It looks like just about any camping site. A nice little stream over there, alder trees bursting with fresh emerald growth waving above the water. Wildflowers just beginning to awaken for the new year. Blackbirds and thrushes twittering in the reeds. A patch of dirt near a firepit that has been used countless times to set up tents. An enclosed bathroom and shower building over yonder. There are a few other campers set up around the site. Some in tents. Some in RVs. There's even some sort of... house built on the back of a huge tortoise? That's certainly a way to get around.

But what REALLY has Khannie's attention is that cave over there.

Like everything else it isn't terribly assuming. Just a hole in a limestone cliff face that you have to get down on your hands and knees to squeeze through. But Khannie has seen pictures of what's IN there.

So!

It's here that Khannie shrouded in her faewild dragon illusion sets down (because what sort of weirdo owns a car?), dumping all the supplies she carried and allowing her illusion to dissipate in a cloud of glittery sparkles, revealing the definitely normal human teen girl below it. She puts her hands on her hips and looks EXCITED!

"This is so cool! So set up first, right? Since it's late?" Khannie asks, shielding her eyes with one hand to peer off toward the horizon. It's already late in the afternoon and the sun is dipping low. First order of business will be setting up camp and obligatory roasting of treats over the fire. Exploration can wait until morning.

[Keeper]

Spring Vacation

Bringing fancy camping supplies is easier when you have a handy haversack. And dragons.
They brought...most of the family.

I mean, Veronica isn't here so it isn't the whole family. But still. When you have two pocket sized sidekicks and two extremely portable dogs there isn't really much justification for leaving people at home...

"Okay, Khannie. It's very important that you know how to do this. So you have tent responsibilities today."
Jace reaches into the haversack and pulls out a large box containing a somewhat elaborate tent.
They're sorcerers they aren't going to sleep in a little normal tent like a normal person.

[Rebonack]

[Spring Vacation]

"Ugh," would be Khannie's response to having a box thrust into her waiting hands. She glowers down at it. This dumb tent. She's tried setting this thing up before, usually in the yard but occasionally on other camping trips. It has managed to make a fool of her every single time thus far.

Why is it that she can manage arcane formula just fine but a tent is what bamboozles her?

"Fiiine," she grouses.

It is, of course, at this exact moment that Maridia decides to take advantage of the fact that Khannie's hands are fun and escapes from her backpack. "Oooh someone's cooking chocolate things!" the fairy dragon observes as she takes flight, hovering a good ten feet off the ground.

"No way! You gotta help me with the tent, no flying off and bugging the other campers," Khannie demands of the colorful magical lizard.

"Nuuuu but that's boring!" Maridia laments, wilting in mid-air like a delicate flower blasted by the withering heat of not being able to steal other people's candy.

[Keeper]

Spring Vacation

Just wait a few years when you have to set up NIKEA furniture for your college dorm. PREP did the work for you THIS year.
"C'mon Khannie! You can do this! You're not a real adventurer until you've properly set up a camp. Besides it's not even like we have to worry about basically anything else since the fire pit is already here and the bathrooms are over there and the little rec building in the front with the ping-pong and pinball tables is in the front." Khannie's uncle insists.

"Zebes, we didn't come out here so we could go to an arcade."
"Okay, but pinball though. Nobody ever actually has pinball."

Of course, this is actually all a clever ploy by Khannie's dad and uncle to obfuscate the fact that they could absolutely set up that tent but want Khannie to do it.

[Rebonack]

[Spring Vacation]

Khannie is in sort of a difficult place here.

She's got the tent under one arm and she's grasped Maridia's tail with her other hand.

The maneuver she just used to get Maridia within grabbing range as the fairy dragon was trying to go zipping off was actually pretty impressive. It involved messing with Maridia's perception of where the treats were to trick her down into a nice round of snagging.

"Waaaah, no fair!" Maridia complains as Khannie sets the tent down and begins opening up one-handed while a dragon wriggles around under her other arm. Just pop that thing open and-

What a mess.

Where is she even supposed to start?

Khannie pulls out one of the tent poles and watches it flop uselessly. Is this one of the ones she's supposed to insert into one of the other ones or-?

"Where the heck are the instructions," Khannie mutters as she digs through the box. "How the heck would you even DO ping-pong?" Khannie inquires, raising an eyebrow at her uncle. "You're gunna have to show me once we've got the tent set up. Playing some games should be okay until it gets a little darker, right? Then we can do campfire stuff."

Exploring, after all, doesn't start until tomorrow.

[Keeper]

Spring Vacation

"Weeeell it usually involves one of my bigger forms, I admit...
Speaking of-"
Zebes flips into a marginally larger shiny kobold and offers to take Maridia off her hands.

"If that's what you two want to do I suppose it's fine." Khannie never was the type to be entertained with playing catch on the lawn or something. He just hope he brought enough coins for those quarter-munching tyrant-machines.

[Rebonack]

[Spring Vacation]

"Treason! Betrayal! Destruction of tiny cute dragon solidarity!" Maridia shouts as she's passed off to Zebes. In spite of this egregious display of skulldruggery Khannie's arms are now free to pursue her great work!

Erecting a tent.

She upends the box and begins digging around in the pile of fabric and poles.

"Are there even any instructions in here?" she asks, looking increasingly exasperated by the tent. She could just try to wing it? That would be an adventure and a half.

"Are you any good at pingpong, dad?"

[Keeper]

Spring Vacation

There are instructions!
Waaaaay in the depths of the tent. No doubt they will flutter out the moment Khannie gives up.
"Well, my reaction speed is fine, but they certainly didn't have it in my home town."
So yeah, he's terrible at it.

[Rebonack]

[Spring Vacation]

Right about the time Khannie goes "UGH!" and shakes the box above her head, actually.

The instructions come drifting out like a leaf on the sweet spring wind and settle gracefully right on her face.

Because of course they do.

Was the box magiced up to make it do that?

Khannie'll bet it was.

Either way, she yanks it off, her eyes quickly scanning the page, flicking from image to pile of tent clutter and back again. Okay. So this goes HERE and there goes THERE but this thing has to get inserted into tab H but not before connecting peg G into...

...

Khannie decides to just sweep off a spot on the ground to lay down the tarp first and tent-peg it into place. At least THAT should be simple.

"Did they have any cool games where you grew up, dad?" Khannie asks curiously.

Oh no.

She's asking for deep character backstory! Did Jace ever get any of that?