HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

[Shadowcaller]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]
Witches, Alchemists and Warlocks

"I was hoping to purchase a copy, yes!" Calanthe nods. "I assume it's fairly all-ages? I was imagining the kids would appreciate a new story for me to read them." She turns to Zhareen with mild surprise. "That's not a question I'm very used to answering, I must admit. Most people tend to assume accurately, but I suppose there are a lot of definitions to what I call myself. For me it means that I focus on natural means of magic. Alchemy, astromancy, and magic centering around conceptual channeling from natural creatures and materials. Manipulation of life force as well, if need be."

[Maid Café and Book Signing]
Witches, Alchemists and Warlocks

That's not a question Dorota was expecting. What do children read? She's vaguely aware some material isn't considered appropriate for them, but where's the line exactly?

"I... think it should be appropriate for all ages. Aspirational, even. With a young heroine and all." She tries to sound confident.

[Of Swords and Dragons]

"Well, I'm ready." Wenomir looks a little awkward. He can't really help with this. "I don't think I can do much for now. But this way it's a learning experience for us both."

[Maid Café and Book Signing]
Witches, Alchemists and Warlocks

"Ohh, that doesn't sound too different from what we're doing." Depending on your definition of "natural" of course. "And you're taking care of children too? Why, we might as well be in the same business!" Zhareen snickers and gestures at the students that she brought along. Who no doubt are preoccupied in teenager shenanigans. "But none of 'my' children have shown much interest in the book. I think it's because of that age when all they want is hanging out with one another." She let's out another chuckle. "But we've all been there, haven't we?"

[Of Swords and Dragons]

Ambrosia studies her sword for a moment and then turns her gaze skywards in quiet contemplation.

It takes a little bit before she addresses Wenomir again. "I try to refrain looking ignorant as much as I can." She remarks with a faint smile. "But in this case I guess there's no avoiding it."

She carefully angles her sword so it can't hurt someone as she starts walking back to the panel. "But I think I have an idea now. We're going to have to adjust our surroundings a bit however." The scholar makes some adjustments and suddenly they're back.

Back to the version of this place where the city is burning underneath a cloud filled sky.

Ambrosia let's out a small sigh. "I figure I could use the clouds to produce lighting even if they're technically not real." This too seems to be a memory of sort...

[Reinholdt]

[Kitchen -> Airbase]

It must be related to her immunity to radioactivity. Or perhaps she's only immune whenever it doesn't come up in conversation. Truly fascinating. Someone should kidnap Maria and run tests on her.

Maria is already being tortured just by being forced to eat at all, even if she does make an effort to proceed through the process quickly. Mildly held back by Seraphina's questions. Well Maria can't fault a person's curiosity. It is natural to know something about a person you've been kissing... usually before the kissing. Maria just got things all jumbled backwards this time around and continues to avoid eye contact, blushing pretty much every time she fails.

Answering questions still happens either way. Maria claims it was her mom who taught her how to cook, but this is a blatant and obvious lie if Seraphina has any kind of nose for sensing a librarian's lies. Maria is more than willing to explain the ritual in detail, including its flaws and strengths from a technical standpoint that probably flies over the head of someone without a thorough understanding of the foundational elements.

Moving on, Maria continues to discuss ritual specs while leading Seraphina through a portal to a base in the air rather than in the water. Maria's pretty sure Vlad is around here... somewhere. She's never actually visited him before. Well, two women wandering around an airfield chained together by the wrists will surely catch his attention sooner or later.

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

Rein gives her a little encouraging smile as Sirena ends up talking about it just a little regardless of her solo attitude. "Well, you know someone now and can always talk to me any time you need. Not just while I'm a maid. I assure you this profession is temporary!" Rein would die of embarrassment if he had to look this pretty every day.

"It's ok to fail, as long as you just keep failing forward," Rein says. "Trip into your next attempt, fall into marginal gains, and splat your to eventual victory. It's the secret to my success. Don't share that with everyone, but feel free to use it yourself, ok?"

[Thursday Violist]

[-> Airbase]

Seraphina and Vlad have never met before.
She is a perfectly normal human someone who looks more like a vampire or blood elf or something than anything else. She has pure white hair, eyes the color of fresh blood, sharp enough canines, pointy ears, and freckles. (She still looks this way because she hasn't drained enough stuff yet to go back to normal. She still wants more, but her mind's clear enough right now that she's completely in control.) She has lost blood recently, so she looks a little pale, but she otherwise looks pretty energized. In addition to the chain on her wrist, she's mostly wearing a cloak, as well. And, unlike Maria whos' blushing and avoiding eye contact with Seraphina, Seraphina appears to be pretty confident and alright.
Well, except, she has no idea where they're going, so she's just following around in that sense.

She doesn't understand why Maria lied about who taught her to cook, but figures it doesn't really matter. It was probably, like, a step-mother or a motherly father or something, in that case.
She also doesn't understand most anything that Maria says in her explanation of how the ritual works. Lacking an understanding of ritual basics, it does just go over her head. But it sounds impressive, which is why she doesn't stop Maria's explanation.

Once they go through the portal and arrive at the airbase, she says, "Wow, I've never been through one of those before. Is it magic? Or is it some kind of fancy teleporting machines?" And she looks around for some windows, to see where they are now. (She doesn't wander off, though, since Maria is the only one who knows where they're going.)


[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

Sirena nods. "Yes, I will come to you if I need it,"
No, she won't do that.
Not only does that increase the risk of being found out as the attempted kidnapper, what if that causes weird time travel issues? Sure, she's trying to cause time travel issues. But telling someone you're a time-traveler probably causes a completely separate slate of time travel issues. Like, what if...what if...
She doesn't know! As evidence of how serious it could be, she even know what sort of issues it would cause.

She looks into the tea, and swirls it.
The catgirl sighs.
"Okay," she says.
Well, she decides to ask another question while staring into the tea. She tries to make it as nonchalant as possible, as if it's just a continuation of "it's okay to fail, just keep failing forward": she says, "Well, if you could travel back and fix all the failures, wouldn't you do it? It'd make you get to success that much faster, right?"

[Ironsmith]

[Airbase]

Vlad isn't an especially hard man to find. All Seraphina and Maria really need to do is look for a plane that might potentially be in service, then check underneath it for any comically large mechanical legs.

Like that one, there.

"Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through~" Vlad's voice hums through the metal grill around his face. "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do~ Life's been good to me so far~"

With old rock blasting in his ears (older still by his standards) and preoccupied with fixing up the plane, it could be a task getting Vlad's attention. Fortunately, Maria and Seraphina managed to time their entry just as he's pulling out from under the plane, rolling his shoulders as he sits up and finds himself rather abruptly confronted with their predicament.

"...I want to ask what happened, but something tells me you don't want to talk about it." Vlad rumbles, clicking off the music. "What are we looking at here? Steel? Silver? Mithril?"

[Morty]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

"If it lets you get into the proper mindset..." Seems reasonably logical to Wenomir. But there's something else. "Why the fire in the city, though?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

She shakes her head as she turns to him. "I can't stress enough that this isn't bringing me into the right mindset. It's the clouds, the storm, that's needed. Since this-" She gestures at the burning city. "-is a memory too. But it's not a happy one as I'm sure you can tell. "

[Reinholdt]

[Airbase]

"I believe it's actually Ancient Tech. Like, have you heard of Out-Of-Place Artifacts? It's a lot like that. Technology from the old days that is way more advanced than what we have now. I believe our Simulation Room also runs on the same principles. I'm afraid it's outside of my fields of study though." Maria has many fields of study too so you know it must be esoteric.

The librarian who first met and directed Vlad upon his arrival glances hotly at the ground with a deep blush, as if trying to burn a hole in the airbase and send everything tumbling down in it. "I-iron, actually." As Vlad looks at the chain connecting Maria and Seraphina's wrists between manacles, the most interesting thing he'll note is that there's no apparent mechanism for even attaching them to begin with. There's nothing to close, nothing to open, it's just a smooth cylinder the whole way around. This was clearly magicked on or something. Fortunately, the manacles and chain are all mundane in nature, without any elven runes or visible indications of blood magic.

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

Reinholdt nods back. "Good. I'm Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire!" Rein gives his flourish, which draws too much attention to some of the parts of the maid outfit. "And you are? You seem a little familiar... it's probably just the sunglasses." All the pink does remind Rein of a few people.

"Oh, yeah. Without hesitation or remorse. Time Travel for sure." Rein pauses for a second. "Oh sorry, was I supposed to say something wise and insightful like 'all my failures made me who I am today'... that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard honestly. Might be right for like... two percent of people, but for the rest of us screw-ups, we could use a do-over. And I would know. I'm the king of screw-ups. Heck, I even programmed the Simulation Room specifically to rerun memories and give you a chance to play what if you didn't screw up." Rein shrugs a little with a sad smile. "Probably for the best I've been too busy to use it."

[Zefir]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

The catgirl sticks to her first impression: she doesn't mind that the half dragon is wearing just butler pants. Looks pretty nice, if you ask her. Leaves the shoulders visible, which is nice.

She looks in the direction the half-dragon man points. "Oh. Huh, I see," she says. "Honestly, I don't really mind spoilers, but if you say it's good enough to not spoil then I won't mind it."

She grabs a few more of the little fruity cakes.

"Alright. I guess...well, I'll just sit down and pick up a book later," she says. "Eating these are more important."

She finds a seat at a table nearby, and says to the half-dragon (after glancing at his shoulders and pecs), "Hey, thanks."

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

The half dragon looks confused.

"You should know that those snacks are not the important thing today. The book is." he claims. He does know that you need to eat but setting eating over books while not starving is unaccaptable. at last she should get the book and THEN eat, but he also feels that people don't like to hear that.
"No need to thank me. This is my job. Not sure where to draw the line in this service, but we do what is needed to help where it is needed."

[Thursday Violist]

[Airbase]

Vlad isn't an especially hard man to find. All Seraphina and Maria really need to do is look for a plane that might potentially be in service, then check underneath it for any comically large mechanical legs.

Like that one, there.

"Lucky I'm sane after all I've been through~" Vlad's voice hums through the metal grill around his face. "I can't complain, but sometimes I still do~ Life's been good to me so far~"

With old rock blasting in his ears (older still by his standards) and preoccupied with fixing up the plane, it could be a task getting Vlad's attention. Fortunately, Maria and Seraphina managed to time their entry just as he's pulling out from under the plane, rolling his shoulders as he sits up and finds himself rather abruptly confronted with their predicament.

"...I want to ask what happened, but something tells me you don't want to talk about it." Vlad rumbles, clicking off the music. "What are we looking at here? Steel? Silver? Mithril?"

[Airbase]

"I believe it's actually Ancient Tech. Like, have you heard of Out-Of-Place Artifacts? It's a lot like that. Technology from the old days that is way more advanced than what we have now. I believe our Simulation Room also runs on the same principles. I'm afraid it's outside of my fields of study though." Maria has many fields of study too so you know it must be esoteric.

The librarian who first met and directed Vlad upon his arrival glances hotly at the ground with a deep blush, as if trying to burn a hole in the airbase and send everything tumbling down in it. "I-iron, actually." As Vlad looks at the chain connecting Maria and Seraphina's wrists between manacles, the most interesting thing he'll note is that there's no apparent mechanism for even attaching them to begin with. There's nothing to close, nothing to open, it's just a smooth cylinder the whole way around. This was clearly magicked on or something. Fortunately, the manacles and chain are all mundane in nature, without any elven runes or visible indications of blood magic.

[Airbase]

"Huh. No, I've never heard of Out-Of-Place Artifacts, but it sounds pretty interesting." Though, Seraphina wonders what they'll do if it breaks down. If it's way-advanced ancient tech, they'd have to hire some kind of archeologist-mechanic to fix it. "The people who fix it probably charge a lot."

The singing definitely helps them find him. Very helpful.

Seraphina actually hadn't noticed herself that there's no open or closing mechanism. If she had, she wouldn't have spent so long wondering if, while delirious, she had asked Rein to grab it for them.
She gives some unhelpful context to Vlad: "My memory's been messed with, so I can't remember how we got them," she explains. But she suddenly pieces together a clue, that she can't remember how they got the manacles, and she can't remember what her diplomatic mission is. Which implies the two events were correlated. "It seems like they're important for some reason, but it'd be nice to have them off enough that I can finally put my sleeve back on."

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

Reinholdt nods back. "Good. I'm Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire!" Rein gives his flourish, which draws too much attention to some of the parts of the maid outfit. "And you are? You seem a little familiar... it's probably just the sunglasses." All the pink does remind Rein of a few people.

"Oh, yeah. Without hesitation or remorse. Time Travel for sure." Rein pauses for a second. "Oh sorry, was I supposed to say something wise and insightful like 'all my failures made me who I am today'... that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard honestly. Might be right for like... two percent of people, but for the rest of us screw-ups, we could use a do-over. And I would know. I'm the king of screw-ups. Heck, I even programmed the Simulation Room specifically to rerun memories and give you a chance to play what if you didn't screw up." Rein shrugs a little with a sad smile. "Probably for the best I've been too busy to use it."

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

Sirena laughs. "Yeah, you're pretty famous, I've heard of you before," she says. She mimics his flourish, and says, "I'm Sirena," she says, "The Navigator." With a capital N, actually.

She doesn't take off the sunglasses. "Yes, it might just be the sunglasses. They're very pink, so they stand out a lot." If he's met someone wearing pink sunglasses, then that might give a sense of familiarity to them.

She leans back in her chair. "No, I agree. Or rather, the correct answer is probably to just live with it, but that's not really who I am."

Sirena eats a strawberry.

"Thing is..."
She sighs.
"Oh well. Nevermind, it's not that important."

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

The half dragon looks confused.

"You should know that those snacks are not the important thing today. The book is." he claims. He does know that you need to eat but setting eating over books while not starving is unaccaptable. at last she should get the book and THEN eat, but he also feels that people don't like to hear that.
"No need to thank me. This is my job. Not sure where to draw the line in this service, but we do what is needed to help where it is needed."

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

That catgirl disagrees. The snacks are so much more important because they taste too good. Besides, if she got absorbed into reading the book, then she wouldn't be able to admire the HALO workers' outfits. Like the butler pants but no shirt. Or the maid outfit on that guy. Or the fact that there's literally a really large maid outfit just lying on the floor, which just hints at a much larger story that's going on.

Speaking of much larger stories going on, this catgirl looks over and spots another catgirl, Rachel, in a maid outfit. She ends up staring a bit too long, as she wonders why Rachel appears to be acting like a customer instead of like all the other maids, and she starts wondering the story behind that too.

[Morty]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

"Oh." Wenomir has questions that he probably shouldn't ask. Ambrosia is secretive and it's often for a good reason. "You can tell me about it if you want. If not, I understand."

[Shadowcaller]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

She had of course expected this response. Though even so she isn't sure how to reply. Her gaze drawn to the seemingly ever-burning city like a moth.

The scholar looks back to him and for a moment it is as if she's looking at a different person. Then she let's out a small sigh and closes her eyes. "I dueled a man at this very spot. The man that set the fire ablaze." Her eyes open again. "You remind me of him if I'm going to be honest." She lifts her free hand to gesture at him. "Which I suppose is why I'm telling you this right now." Ambrosia then falls silent for a moment until she seems to realize something. "I mean that in as a respectful way as possible. He's not a bad man despite what he did."

[Morty]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

Wenomir isn't sure how he feels about the comparison. Would he light a city on fire if he felt he had to? He hopes he wouldn't... but he can't be sure.

"Why did you duel him, then? And why do I remind you of him?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

"We had come to a... crossroad in our relationship. Whatever friendship we had ended that day I'm sad to say. Doyun is a man of unfortunate circumstances. Much like yourself. Of low birth. Quite intelligent. Force-conscripted into an army he didn't want to fight for..." Ambrosia smiles faintly. "Exceedingly bitter and opinionated when it came to certain topics." She nods to the city. "Which is why he burned down the city I suppose. To send a message."

[Reinholdt]

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

"O-oh," Reinholdt rubs the back of his neck. Well hopefully Sirena's only heard good things.

"Navigator. That's a cool title. A cool title to go with a beautiful name," Rein continues, deflecting a little with a smile. "What kind of ship do you work on?" There's all kinds of ships to choose from. Battleship, spaceship, fan ship, to name a few.

Reinholdt fiddles with his lacing. "Sounds like it's important to you. Isn't that important enough?"

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

The most likely explanation is that Rachel is actually one of the employees on break, but even then she doesn't seem the part given how all the employees seem to be suffering from perpetual blush syndrome while Rachel seems right at home.

Rachel even catches the catgirl looking at her and provides a soft wave to who she presumes to be June. This is an extreme presumption given that she's never met a June in her life, nor is there any reason around the presumed June to indicate that might be her name. In fact, if Rachel were to present this extraordinarily illogical leap verbally it would probably result in so much shame to her and her family that any grandchildren she may end up with would surely still feel it tainting them. So she keeps this all to herself and leaves things at just a friendly wave and goes back to pretending to read the menu for what feels like the fourth time.

[Morty]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

"Bitter and opinionated, forced by society into a role he didn't want... yes, I can see why I remind him of you." Wenomir looks on at the burning city. "I'd like to say I wouldn't go to such extremes, but... I don't know if I can."

[Thursday Violist]

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

Sirena fails to mention whether she only heard good things or not.

"Oh. Um, actually..." Sirena looks down, feeling a little embarrassed about it. "The title actually has nothing to do with working on a ship." She rubs the back of her neck, too. "It was because of some...other thing. It was a while ago, but I still like the title." She did a not-so-brief stint doing magical girl things due to stories she had heard about her mother, and she still has most of the equipment and other things she used. "Kinda wanted to be a hero when I was younger. Even joined a group and everything. I was pretty cringey. Whatever. Doesn't matter. I can accept my cringe-worthy past."

"Ha, ha."
Sirena eats another strawberry, and swirls her tea. This conversation has gotten her thinking about how she can next progress
"Thanks for the tea. Actually...to be honest, I'm rather new to the Confl...I mean, the Nexus." Only true through a technicality. "So I'm hoping to find out who all the major people and groups are." Her previous problem, she can see, is that she's been trying to cause butterfly effects by herself. More people she gets involved, the better. "Do you know the best place to look up all of them?"


[Maid Café and Book Signing]

Rachel would be correct! It is June.
And it's apparently a pretty common name. It'd make sense that Rachel can correctly guess just by looking, since she does look like a June. No need to use an illogical leap. Just 'you look you'd be a June' would be good enough.

June the catgirl waves back.

She doesn't immediately do anything, but she does eventually take the wave as an invitation to come over.

She grabs her small plate of tiny fruit-covered cakes, and goes over to Rachel's table. "Hey," June says. Her ear flicks, and she looks pretty obviously at Rachel's maid outfit. "Nice outfit. You on break, or something?" she asks, since that's the most logical conclusion, that Rachel's working here too.

[Arkhosia]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]
Witches, Alchemists and Warlocks

"Good. Most of the children I take care of are girls, and making sure they have access to fiction with people like themselves is important after all." It surprised Calanthe that this was a concern she'd have to consider, admittedly. In her coven there had been nothing but stories centering women to tell.

"Hah, I suppose I see what you mean yes!" The woman smiles. "Maybe we will need to compare notes - my charges are younger, but a number of them are growing quickly...."

[Shadowcaller]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

"I don't think he would have either when we first met. Not in a thousand years. A pacifist by oath in fact until the empire made him break it." Ambrosia closes her eyes and shakes her head as she forces herself looking away from the city. "But we shouldn't dwell too much on things that cannot be changed." She's wearing that stoic impassioned expression once more. "Since we came here to practice." One can imagine that the surroundings provide a huge distraction though if this really is one of her most vivid memories.

[Morty]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

Oh. Calanthe must be a teacher, nanny or babysitter of some kind. Someone who willingly deals with multiple children at a time for a living. Horrifying. It's like people who choose to be soldiers or mercenaries.

"Oh, I'm sure our book will provide an encouraging reading. A common girl standing up to the powerful. We all need such figures to look up to." Is she saying this right? Hopefully.

[Of Swords and Dragons]

Wenomir looks at Ambrosia for a moment, unsure of himself.

"We did. But what happened here obviously weighs on you. Can you focus past it?"

[Reinholdt]

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

"I mean, that's fair. There are other things to navigate too. Obstacle courses, decisions, life, uhh... kitchens." Kitchens were difficult to navigate. For a long time Rein just had experience with campfires.

Reinholdt smiles a little. "Being a hero is a pretty noble aspiration. I don't think it's cringe at all. Difficult though. It's... easy to mess up and easier to get discouraged." Not many people make it past those early years and attempts.

He has think for a bit about her next question. "Hmmm... that's actually difficult to say. I think you can find info on most of the organizations and places pretty easy from said organizations and a tavern barkeep or two. But each has their own biased take on the other? Even the neutral organization isn't all that neutral. Well, I can at least get you started.

HALO here focuses on research and less violent means for improving the overall lives of others. VIGIL takes a more direct approach when that doesn't work and action is needed. GLOG used to be a place that healed the souls of villains and helped them find redemption, but has ironically fallen itself, giving up on adults in favor of babies. MERC has a group of specialized professionals to hire out for any number of jobs.

There used to five or six darker organizations devoted to selfish gains, but those have almost all evaporated. Most of what's left has actually converged into Skyside I believe. I've heard whispers of the rise of a necromantic corporation called Black Abyss there that's grown rapidly in power and size. Then there's the ever difficult to remove Slaver's Guild still keeps refuge in that city. I also think there's a powerful Warlock with many demon allies that maintains a strong presence up there as well.

There's two other major cities. Inside is the most stable with a single faction more or less keeping things running. Riverside is a mess of factions and becoming more and more dangerous lately as tensions are rising over there over something pretty stupid. It's always been fractured with its clear divisions and I suspect until someone unites Riverside once more it'll continue the cycle of violence. Still, I think it has a level of diversity that the other cities can lack at times.

I... think that's the most notable of all of them, but there's always something else to discover, some other group making moves. Like... there's a church in Inside that's starting to become a little prominent. We'll see if it gets bigger or fades away. That sort of thing. You never really know for sure."

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

Rachel truly nailed it, if only she could know...

The red-headed catgirl's tail flicks. "Hey there. I don't meet too many other catgirls who aren't immediately related to me in some way." Rachel was pretty sure she'd know if June was related to Rein, cause it would have been in the time travel packets that Leah read to her and she... fell asleep during... it's hard to listen to all that boring stuff, ok?!

"Oh no, I'm not one of the staff. I thought this was a maid cafe event so I came dressed with the proper cosplay and everything! Akiba Maid War. But they confiscated my weapons..." Rachel's ears droop a little. "Ah well. I managed to get in a few good pics for my twitagram account. The Rachers are going nuts over them, so not a total loss." Rachel tilts her head a bit as she looks June over. "Who are you dressed up as?"

[Thursday Violist]

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Sirena Serenade]

"Oh, no, there definitely are cringe ways to do it," Sirena reiterates.

She leans on the table. Wow, that's actually more information that she was hoping for. At best, she was expecting him to tell her about some kind of directory or site or maybe even a phonebook to look it all up herself. But, no, she's already getting a basic overview and starting point.

Sirena thinks as he describes them, thinking about which of these organizations she could use. Obviously she can't use HALO. VIGIL, too, though for entirely different reasons. But it's good to hear they seem to be doing alright so far... And GLoG doesn't seem like it'd be that helpful to use: what's she going to do, train babies to be child soldiers or something?
No, that'd be way too difficult.
Some of those darker guilds seem they might have potential. MERC, too, though it'd be a touch difficult to control outright. At best, she could offer them some jobs. And, between the cities, Inside seems to be the most difficult. . .but, then again, since he mentioned that church there definitely would be chances to control smaller groups within Inside.

She'll just have to have her computer run simulations to see which organization would be the most useful, and which would be the easiest to influence.

"I see," she says simply, sipping some tea. "Thank-you, that was very informative."

Her watch that's hidden under her sleeve makes a single beep, apparently to notify her that it just finished doing something she had told it to do earlier. Probably just a timer or alert, or something along those lines. Sirena doesn't react, though.


[Maid Café and Book Signing]

"We've both got red hair, so how do you know we're not related?" June says, teasing. She immediately laughs and adds, "Kidding. Red hair's not that unusual." Her tail is pointed upwards, a little curled at the end.

She smiles.

"I didn't know I was supposed to dress up," she says, "so I suppose I'm just dressed up as myself." Just...normal clothes. And heavy jewelry. And a single earring that looks like a plain iron spike.

...
Just in case, June glances around to check if anyone else is dressed up besides the staff. There's a handful of people who're all wearing matching cloaks, but...doesn't seem to really be an overall theme.

"Yeah, I didn't know I was supposed to dress up." She looks back at Rachel and her outfit. "I'm June," she says, introducing herself. She pulls out her phone, and tries to figure out how to connect to the internet, since she's not really getting a good signal with her phone plan this far underwater. Never really bothered to get the undersea plan, after all. Didn't think she'd need it. "You've got a twitagram? I haven't really used it in a while but I do have an account."

[Shadowcaller]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]
Witches, Alchemists and Warlocks

"Oh, they're not under the influence of some spell are they?" Zhareen inquires when Calanthe claims that some of her charges are growing quickly. "Since I read that sort of thing is awful for emotional development."

She turns to Dorota. "A good role model on the other hand, that's great for emotional development. Did you have any role models like that when you grew up, Dorota?"

[Maid Café and Book Signing - After the Serenade]

Once Rein and Sirena has finished talking he's getting approached by Ambrosia, fully clad in her Jane Everywoman costume. "Rein, could I borrow you for a few minutes?" It seems like she's just been waiting on him to finish talking to the catgirl.
"I have a few questions. First and foremost, the identity of the feathered snake-person." There's only one person matching that description here, Artie. If Rein even knows her name of course. Ambrosia is neither gesturing to her nor mentioning the name. "Since she's fey, a dangerous fey."

[Of Swords and Dragons]

Wenomir can read her hesitation at his question.

The scholar closing her eyes for a moment. "Let me just try calling the lighting. We don't need to duel if I understood things correctly. You just need the lighting itself for this to work and I think I can do that at least."

[Morty]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

"Yes, it's to get me in the right mindset." Wenomir nods. "We've already fought twice. This is... to discover something beyond that."

[Reinholdt]

[Maid Café and Book Signing - After the Serenade]

Reinholdt would certainly ask questions about her watch. What's the beep mean? Where's she going? What time is it? But there is certainly something as being too curious. Well, not too curious, but rather too intrusive. Sirena was still a guest here and whatever that watch beep meant, it was her private business. Perhaps it meant cringe hero time.

"You're welcome. Please enjoy your tea." Reinholdt gives Sirena one more encouraging smile before finally stepping away to allow her room and space to read the book without his endless meddling.

He starts to head back towards the kitchen when Ambrosia catches up to him. "Yeah, now's a good time. This about the stunt? We should probably do it soon." Things look like they're getting a little less busy so an exciting event to round things out is just what's needed.

But this was about something else entirely. Reinholdt frowns a little. Some sort of inter-membership conflict? "Shouldn't you be asking them that? Is any of that a problem? We're all surprisingly dangerous for a group of nerds. You especially, I'd point out." Rein says, waxing about being dangerous in his maid skirt while carrying a tray.

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

"Oh, I know cause I'm a time traveler from the future here to prevent the worst timeline and I had to be briefed on all my siblings." Rachel says, fidgeting with her own watch.
...
Oh wait, she wasn't supposed to tell anyone that. Dammit. Least of all where other people might overhear her.

"HAHA, just kidding. I... uhh... it's the eyes." Obviously. Somehow.

Rachel looks around at all the people not dressed up. "Oh. Huh. I thought this was a maid cafe for some Con. Well, that's ok. Sometimes you just gotta be willing to dress up anyways." And Rachel is always willing to cosplay. She has yet to show up on screen with regular clothes even.

The catgirl nods and smiles back. "Rachel. Nice to meet you June. Oh yeah, absolutely. I'm CosplayFelineAngel on twitagram. You can see just about all my different cosplays on there. I'd be happy to follow you back if you'd like." Rachel's done some professional work already based on the pictures that June is having trouble getting to load and can't see. You really never think to get the Under the Sea plan until you need the Under the Sea plan because you've befriended and/or become mermaids.

[Zefir]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

The half dragon guy has looked at the costum lying on the floor. He does know who it belongs to, but he doesn't know enougth about her to explain that. He knows that barly any other people have the dislike of clothing like him. Well he should drag it away sooner or later. People might slip over it, thought anyone who misses that is either over six meter high or blind. Anyway. he should go back and serve the.... Wait! Where is his plate? That catgirl he talked to took it with her, likly mixing it up with her plate. So he steps up to her who is now talking with another catgirl. (He doesn't knwo June or Rachel)

"Excuse me." he says as he interupts their conversation. "I think you took the wrong plate. Also I still suggest you to grab a book instead of so many cakes. To mayn cakes can be unhealthy, but to many books never harm you."

[Shadowcaller]

[Maid Café and Book Signing - After the Serenade]

Ambrosia takes a moment before replying as she considers the words in her head.
"Do you remember what I told you about the reason I'm hiding? That I'm trying to avoid getting a leash put on me? Well, when I said she was dangerous I meant to me more than anyone else. Since she belongs to the group that would be holding the leash. So I don't really want to get her attention by asking suspicious questions."

She let's out a small sigh. "Since I was going to start performing the stunt when I spotted her and got paranoid. Which is why I'm asking you about her right now."

[Of Swords and Dragons]

Ambrosia nods. "Let's do it then." She moves over to the door and locks it. "Just to be safe." The scholar explains as she turns back to him. "Now, it would be a lot easier if I just used my actual body for this but let's at least try something first."

She raises her hand and closes her eyes in concentration.
"Get ready now. Try to repeat what you did in VIGIL." Ambrosia remarks after nearly a minute of focus.

What comes next is probably either horrifying or comical depending on your perspective.

Since a massive lighting bolt does strike.

Specifically, it strikes Ambrosia's hand.
And just like before the thunder is not far behind.

KRAKROOOM!!!

The poor woman being thrown even further backwards than last time as lighting strikes her directly. Possibly temporarily blinding Wenomir for a second as it lit up the entire area.
But once the flash is gone Ambrosia is miraculously not a charred corpse laying collapsed on the wheat field. Judging by her groans she's even alive. The only thing hurt is her do as her hair looks completely disheveled.

[Arkhosia]

► SHOW SPOILER

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

Oh. Calanthe must be a teacher, nanny or babysitter of some kind. Someone who willingly deals with multiple children at a time for a living. Horrifying. It's like people who choose to be soldiers or mercenaries.

"Oh, I'm sure our book will provide an encouraging reading. A common girl standing up to the powerful. We all need such figures to look up to." Is she saying this right? Hopefully.[/color]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]
Witches, Alchemists and Warlocks

"Oh, they're not under the influence of some spell are they?" Zhareen inquires when Calanthe claims that some of her charges are growing quickly. "Since I read that sort of thing is awful for emotional development."

She turns to Dorota. "A good role model on the other hand, that's great for emotional development. Did you have any role models like that when you grew up, Dorota?"

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

If only Dorota knew how formidable a horde Calanthe was tasked with helping manage. She'd likely be appalled, amazed or possibly both.

"Oh, no!" The witch laughs. "nothing quite like that! It's simply - well, you know how it is with children. Blink and the years will pass and they will have sprouted up in no time at all. A number of them are approaching their teens already."

[Morty]

[Of Swords and Dragons]

Oh, Riddle. Though aware of Ambrosia's pride, Wenomir is unwilling to just let her lie there.

"I think it went better than the last time. Are you alright?" he asks, approaching.

[Maid Café and Book Signing]

Dorota grimaces briefly. Without knowing, Zhareen touched a very raw nerve.

"...I didn't. I had to find my own when I was older," she says. It's not the time or place to elaborate on her childhood.

[Thursday Violist]

[Maid Café and Book Signing]
Sirena and tea

The beep on her watch will likely forever remain a mystery.

However, it's clearly not important enough for her to look at it. Sadly, it's not even cringe hero time, it just means it finally managed to track down something she had lost a while ago.

She nods, and turns in her chair so she can enjoy the tea.


June, Rachel, and the half-dragon guy

Oh, a time-traveler! That's believable, June thinks. Rachel's even acting like it's true.

She laughs as well, treating it like it was an off-the-cuff joke. "Oh, yeah, my eyes are pretty amazing, aren't they?" she says. They're just a bluish green. The kind that looks like it could be a little different depending on the lighting and surrounding colors.

June flips her hair.
Then, she makes a confession: "Okay, I only became a catgirl, like, a year ago. With that in mind, I'd be more concerned we were related if you weren't one too."

She tries a little more to connect to twitagram a few more times, then just gives up and types out "Cosplay...feline...angel..." so her phone will save it for later. "Ha, that's actually a pretty clever username." Feline Angel? Yeah, that's pretty cool.

June looks up at the shirtless half-dragon guy.
Her eyes drift down a little.

"Oh! I did?" She looks down at her plate and realize it's more of a platter than a little plate. "Oh. I did...sorry," she says.

She pushes the plate she took from him towards the half-dragon guy. "Um. Maybe I should just get a book now, then."

[Reinholdt]

[Maid Café and Book Signing - After the Serenade]

"Ah I see. I suppose that does complicate things." Reinholdt becomes more thoughtful as he mulls it over. "Why are you so sure she's a part of that group?" Not that Rein doubts Ambrosia's assertion. He just wants to know in case it comes up again later with someone else.

"Her name's Artie I believe. Or Arty. Or Artemis. Maybe just Art? But I don't know much else about her to be honest. She is Dorota's assistant and never went through a proper conversation with me. Might have had one with Felandria. I'll have to check with Dorota honestly, to see how it all went down." Their open door policy, no really join pls, is finally starting to need refinement now that numbers are up and dragons are hiding from fey enslavement. "I can keep an eye on her for you, at least until today's over."

[Maid Café and Book Signing - Catgirls and Eye Candy]

Well the eye thing doesn't even work all that well, since Rachel's eyes are a lighter blue. Must have seen just the green then. Undersea lighting and all.

"Ah yes... wait. You can become a catgirl? Well, you certainly seem to have adjusted to it well." After a year, you learn how to avoid sitting on your own tail, even if you do fail from time to time anyways. Rachel does smile at June's compliment. "Aww, thank you. What's your username?"

Suddenly, a wild dragon! Mostly. Rachel looks up at Mr C as he addresses June.
Her eyes drift down a little.

They linger since Rachel doesn't need to check her plate, she already knows it's currently empty. But she can't agree with him about books! "I don't know. People who read too much miss out on living sometimes and that hurts! It's better just to get out there and... uhh... do whatever. Things. Probably. A-at least, I think." Rachel realized half-way she was being confrontational and immediately tried to backpedal. "I'll take a book too please. And whatever she's having." It frankly looks delicious.