Inside

[Artemis]

Loran Jewelers

"I mean really, I think you're just hungry. None of my regular customers have had any weird effects. But if you're worried you could always find a big open spot to try your dragon shape? You said you had one. And I imagine being bigger would probably dilute the effect. Like how big people are harder to get drunk." Rowan suggests. He's still not convinced anything funny is going on.

[Loran Jewelers]

"That's a terrible idea!" Renault exclaims. "If I let the dragon out, I'm just going to be hungrier."


[Titania Park]

Raril sits back on the stones and flicks a dagger into his hand. Pure cold steel. Not necessarily the cold forged iron that was necessary to combat the outsiders of his home world, but against these fey, he'd read, just having iron might be enough.

"Girls, stay close. Don't wander off. Don't accept gifts or bargains. And whatever you do, don't fall asleep." The drow growls.

"It may be too late for that, Uncle." Tori says from beside him. "Hopefully no one wakes up with an ass's head."

Raril gives her an odd look.

"It's from the play."

[Ironsmith]

[A Dump in the City]

Hmph, no answers from the witches.
But perhaps an opportunity?
She heard Harley shout but it only made her more unsure. Would the gods smite them if they took the helmet off? But wouldn't they smite Harley too in that case?
Well, she wasn't sure what trick he had up his sleeve but it probably wouldn't be best to just seek cover over here.

And this was one occasion where she'd be able to use the big guns!

Pressing her back against the barrel she pulled out a metal tube which she pops the top of with a flick of her thumb. A red liquid emerges which she pours on the ground which quickly starts to grow.

"Okay, you know what to do. Hit them with the blunt edge." She tells the liquid before she vaults over the barrel and starts running towards the closest witch.

But running right after her is a second person that is seemingly made up of liquid. They flicker and shimmer as if the liquid is held up by some sort of holographic shell. One that shares Raheeda's face and holding the exact same weapon as her.

A Dump in the City

Excellent, his plan is working. Harley waits with baited breath as the witches begin to approach, cackling about his mask. Just a little closer...

Then his attention is caught by Raheeda's charge. Two Raheedas?? He doesn't have time to process that. It's now or never, even if the witches aren't as close as he would like.

Twisting around, Harley easily shimmies free of the rubble. He's always been a bit of an escape artist, powers or no. He gets to his feet and breaks into a sprint, heading right for the nearest witch. In his hand is a broken bottle from the trash heap, edge jagged and razor sharp. He lunges, swiping the makeshift weapon in a vicious arc. Hopefully the witch's attention will be focused on Raheeda.

[A Dump in the City]

"Gak!"

Is the approximate sound an old hag makes when slashed open with a broken vodka bottle, apparently. Turned away as she was from Harley, the former god and current trickster is able to get a surprisingly clean shot across her back.

But before there's much time to celebrate, the hag explodes into a swarm of black feathers and enraged cawing, taking off in every direction as a murder of crows.

Leaving only the original witch standing there, backing away from the Raheedas in one direction and Harley in the other.

"...Ah... Procy? A little help?" The witch stammers, holding up her hands defensively.

"Screw that!" The third, as-of-yet-unseen witch calls out from behind the trash pile that is no longer raining down on Raheeda. "I'm not trying this when we don't have numbers on our side. You're on your own, Pody!"

"...Well. Shit." The witch mutters, continuing to back away slowly.

[Rebonack]

[Titania Park]

Thankfully no one is named 'Bottom' in the audience so it's unlikely that Puck will be making that mistake.

As soon as the dagger comes out something rather curious happens. Raril will feel something, almost like gossamer strands being cut away and with it the dreamy feeling retreats ever so slightly. Almost as if Raril had just cut a little hole in the world. The hole is a tenuous one, but it's there none the less. And soon a voice comes drifting through it from the other side, distorted as if speaking under water.

"Oh hey a soft spot. Hellooooo? Can anyone heeeear meeee?"

That's definitely Zee's voice.

Several people nearby shush her and Raril. They shouldn't be chatting during the play!

Lapis, meanwhile, looks very vigilant! Her hands are held together like she's ready at a moment's notice to pull a sword from a sheath despite the fact that there's no weapon in her hands.

Meanwhile!

Sekhmet begins walking toward the stage and-

The stage just refuses to get any closer. But at least it isn't getting any further away?

"Good evening, your royal highness."

Oh hey! It's... someone? Someone in rather poof Shakespearean era garb, their face obscured by a white comedy mask. They didn't magic in. Or teleport. They're just sort of... there. Whatever this thing is, it's powerful and it seems to hold absolute sway over this realm within the Dreamlands.

"I'm pleased you have graced us with your presence. Please, do not be troubled. The girls have volunteered to take part in one of the play's songs. It will be a lovely chance for them to appreciate culture. They will be released unharmed and unchanged at the scene's conclusion. Unchanged save for, perhaps, a greater love for the arts. That is my only hope."

Also Meanwhile!

Upon reaching the stage, the girls will be hurried into position and provided with a frightfully quick costume change just in time for the curtain to rise again. Titania enters the stage with her train of faeries following behind her, glittering and prancing through the enchanted forest. The queen of faeries bids them to halt, and then asks that they see to their duties and sing her to sleep. The queen reclines and the song begins.

"You spotted snakes with double tongue,
⁠Thorny hedge-hogs, be not seen;
⁠Newts, and blind-worms, do no wrong;
⁠Come not near our fairy queen."

Khannie, all illusioned up in a faerie guise, sings along with the rest.

[bc56]

Titania Park
"Swear it," Sekhmet demands coldly. Fae are deceivers. She can't trust this bard unless she hears the oath. And thanks to Rose, she knows what that oath should be.

Meanwhile.
Mary, in fae shape, moonlight-pale and gossamer-winged, with elegant antlers and a dress of moss and cobwebs, dances in with all the rest. When the song comes, her mouth opens to join in. She has a lovely singing voice.
"Philomel, with melody
Sing in our sweet lullaby
Lulla lulla lullaby
Lulla lulla lullaby
Never harm
Nor spell or charm
Come our lovely lady nigh
So, good night with lullaby."

Now that her initial outrage has faded, Mary feels herself getting lost in the performance. It's not really so bad as she feared. It's almost... Fun?

Sekhmet watches her daughter anxiously, trying desperately to tell if her daughter is all right, and failing to make herself feel any better about the situation.

[[brackets lover]]

[Titania Park]

"That's good. All the actors here are dummy dummy-heads," says the mushroom-capped pixie, absolutely jealous that she wasn't invited to be a part of it. The jealousy even tinges the tone of her voice. "If you were a performer in this play, then I'd have to hate you on principle."

The pixie makes herself comfortable atop Venus's head, while Venus tries to get back to watching and paying attention.
"Hey, you've got flowers and leaves stuck on you," the pixie tells Venus, while tapping on her head.

Venus ignores her, and keeps on watching the play. She opens her mouth to comment on it, but the pixie beats her to it: "Helena would be happier in the long run if she found someone else. This Demetrius guy seems like he'd make a horrible husband."

"..." Venus says, her mouth just staying open.

The pixie flies off of Venus's head and then land's on Mogzoku's shoulder: "Ugh, I hate people who wear just flowers and leaves. Should've gone with mushrooms, they're so much prettier, see? Don't you agree?" she asks him. She tilts her head to show off the blue milkcap, as if to prove her point.

"Hey, that's not nice," Venus protests.

[Titania Park]

Mogzoku is relieved the mushroom-capped pixie doesn't hate him, knowing full well the risk drawing ire from fair folk would bring. "It does look nice, yeah," he says sheepishly, "You have a great fashion sense, kupo." With that, he waits and sees how his compliment is received.

_____

Asami notices the others becoming guarded. In turn, she decides to let herself be even more unwary. Unthreatened by the situation anymore, she remains seated and complacent, her eyelids growing heavy.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Dump in the City]

"Gak!"

Is the approximate sound an old hag makes when slashed open with a broken vodka bottle, apparently. Turned away as she was from Harley, the former god and current trickster is able to get a surprisingly clean shot across her back.

But before there's much time to celebrate, the hag explodes into a swarm of black feathers and enraged cawing, taking off in every direction as a murder of crows.

Leaving only the original witch standing there, backing away from the Raheedas in one direction and Harley in the other.

"...Ah... Procy? A little help?" The witch stammers, holding up her hands defensively.

"Screw that!" The third, as-of-yet-unseen witch calls out from behind the trash pile that is no longer raining down on Raheeda. "I'm not trying this when we don't have numbers on our side. You're on your own, Pody!"

"...Well. Shit." The witch mutters, continuing to back away slowly.

[A Dump in the City]

Raheeda will bullrush the witch with the force of an american football player in full gear. Attempting to use the blunt side of the spear to knock the air out of the witch as she comes charging.
Meanwhile, the second red Raheeda is running for Harley. Swinging around her red spear at the crows to shoo them away.

[Artemis]

[Titania Park]

Raril ignores the shushing. Usually he'd be embarrassed, and would hate interrupting the play, but they'd all been kidnapped!

"Zee!? Oh thank the gods, can you hear me? We've been transported to the Dreamlands. I'm not sure they'll put us back once the play is finished." He explains.

[Thursday Violist]

[Titania Park]

Mogzoku is relieved the mushroom-capped pixie doesn't hate him, knowing full well the risk drawing ire from fair folk would bring. "It does look nice, yeah," he says sheepishly, "You have a great fashion sense, kupo." With that, he waits and sees how his compliment is received.

[Titania Park]

The pixie smiles, then stands up on his shoulder and twirls around. "Yup! I do look really amazing. I agree, everyone should take fashion advice with me." She seems satisfied with Mogzoku's answer.

She flies off and to right in front of Venus's face: "See? He agrees with me: the leaf you're wearing looks awful. You need to come with me so I can help you."

Venus, who doesn't want to leave, says, "No, we're watching the play right now, I can't come with you."

The pixie turns and looks at Mogzoku, frustrated, and gestures at Venus. "You need to convince her! See? She's literally just wearing a leaf that's been magicked to look like a dress! It's so awful!"

Venus reaches out and tries to grab the pixie: "Shush, you...you...you bug."

[quillpleasant]

A Dump in the City

Harley shields his eyes against the sudden bird explosion. Not what he expected, but at least it was somewhat effective. However, from their earlier actions, these witches are clearly skilled at faking a retreat only to backstab their foes when their guard is down. And Harley will only be fooled once.

As the Raheeda-Double attacks the bird cloud, Harley scans the battlefield to see the true Raheeda attempting to barrel into the last visible witch. Confident she'll be able to handle herself, Harley calls out to the hiding witch, his helmet amplifying his voice to be quite loud.

"We came here in peace, and you attacked us. That was a mistake. Leave us alone, or I'll bury all three of you." It's not a very creative threat, but it's delivered with utter confidence.

[Earl of Purple]

Titania Park

"Weaving spiders, conme not here;
Hence, kyou long-legg'd spinners, hence!
Beetles black, approach not near;
Worm nor snail, do no offence.
Philomel, with melody, &c.

Fai.
Hence, away! now all is well:
One aloof stand sentinel." Agate's voice is deeper than the other two's, though she's also a good singer- she looks a little surprised that she's so good at it, actually. She physically hasn't changed, unlike the other two girls, but her dress is a lot finer and her hair's been braided and polished with glinting flowers in it. She's also wearing high heels, and walks gracefully when she's not paying attention and the fae magic does it for her, only to stumble when she's trying to move on her own.

[Ironsmith]

[A Dump in the City]

"Don't have to tell me twice! You lot just... try not to break anything around here. Or break it more, I guess is what I'm saying."

"Procy!" The first witch chides, just before taking a spear shaft to the solar plexus and collapsing to the ground, holding her chest and wheezing. "Ah, geez... ow..."

"Honestly, I didn't really want to get involved anyway. I just saw Pody getting her butt whopped- you know, your usual Thursday- and thought I should intervene. Otherwise Corvy would have had my adorable little head. Oh, well, can't say I didn't try."

-

[Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe]

This was starting to seem like a bad idea.

As Eun walks down the rows of ornate, dark oak bookshelves displaying various hardbacked books, she starts to wonder if, by mistake, she might have ended up in one of those novelty stores and she was reading far too much into the theme. Most of these titles don't even look like they'd have anything to do with actual magic... Snips and Snails: A Cookbook for Cauldrons, The Littlest Imp, A Series Of Unfortunate Ev-

Okay, that one was definitely not an actual spellbook.

...Maybe she missed the sign saying she was in the kid's section or something? It... probably would behoove her to at least check the rest of the store, right? Worst case scenario, she doesn't find what she's looking for and she can just walk out and say as much, without going into detail about what she was looking for and saving herself the trouble of looking like an idiot.

"BOO!"

Eun shrieks as a candy-corn-toothed gremlin jumps out of the shelf behind her, whirling on her feet just in time to see the little trickster scurry back between the books.

...Well. So much for not looking like an idiot.

[bc56]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe
"Do you have Erished's 'Translation of Sumerian Esoterica' in? I came into possession of these old tablets and..." someone is asking the clerk. Then there's a scream. "Uh, hang on, I think someone needs a reassuring voice."
"It's no trouble. It came from the mundane section and if I get it, you can take care of the line. It's probably just book gremlins anyway."

Someone walks calmly into the aisle where Eun shrieked. Between her red skin, horns, batlike wings, and barbed tail, it's clear that she's a demon. She's dressed in a modest, floor-length black dress with crimson embroidery around the edges. "Hello? Is everything all right in here?"

[Keeper]

Titania Park

"Is now a good time? I mean you're all together, so probably. I really think this is a problem for smarter people. But no one's doing anything so I guess it's up to me..."

The Peerless Bard really should have reassured the children they were temporarily abducting like they did Sekhmet, or what happens next could probably have been avoided.
There's a brief static around Khannie like an intake of breath. And then every unsecured phone in the audience that was left on goes off at maximum volume. Not at once, mind you. Just a couple, and then more and then the rest, timed just off so that it's as discordant as possible. Of course, Khannie was probably a courteous show-goer and turned her phone all the way off. But her watch has no such option and even hidden behind the costume she's in it's absolutely belting out the most tinny and low-quality version of its ringtone that's ever been heard.

Loran Jewelers

Rowan just shrugs at Renault.
"Well, what do you want me to do then? I don't know how you work, or how hungry you get."
Rowan is trying to be helpful but he's still a tiny bit offended that Renault has basically accused him of magically poisoning him.
"I still think it's in your head, dude. My cooking is perfectly safe."

[Rebonack]

[Titania Park]

"An oath?" the Bard replies to the demon queen in a voice that none but she can hear. "What you request is no small thing. To speak an oath is to be calcified; my spirit will not abide such a thing. My nature is one of creativity and fluidity. But know this; not one audience volunteer who has performed upon my stage has been retained. All have been released. It is all part of the show. I will not sully the reputation of my stage lest the curious be afeared and shun my productions."

Seems... reasonable?

But it isn't an oath.

Sekhmet will recall pretty vividly that when Rose swore to her it made her almost... more real? The Bard has no interest in that.

Regardless!

Just look how the girls are doing! Everything is fine they're probably having fun up there on the stage. Or, at the very least, something approximately similar to fun.

Meanwhile!

"Oh, hey, yeah I can hear you," comes Zee's voice from the other side of the rather tentative breach. "The park up and POOF!ed away. It's just an empty lot now. But the veil of separation is really thin here. Now that the illusion's gone I'm preeeeeetty sure lots of people have been crossing back and forth? As in regular people. As opposed to irregular people. Given how this play ENDS I'm going to bet the park just pops back here when it's over. It should be fine? If it isn't then Lapis should be able to get you out."

At that Lapis looks very proud of herself!

"I took the perks for obelisk making so even if the faeries are bad faeries I can build a way for us to get out it's really swooshy and neat!" she says in an excited whisper. The way out being swooshy and neat definitely improves its neatness dramatically.

Also Meanwhile!

As the song is winding down and the faeries are about to exit the stage so the next part of the scene can begin DISASTER strikes!

Phones!

Not just one phone.

Or a few phones.

BUT SO MANY PHONES!

All going off in a great cacophony! The lily pixies are dispatched once again to hunt down and confiscate the ringing phones out in the audience! They'll be pretty aggressive about it and the tiny little bug-people are surprisingly strong when the need arises. Maybe not quite Tinkerbell from Hook but definitely more than you would expect from someone so small.

The girls on the stage, though, are met with displeasure by the elves putting on the play.
"Ugh!"
"Rude."
"Terrible!
"Such an ugly noise!"
"Get them off the stage!"
"Out out, shoo shoo shoo!"

And then the trio of girls are rather hurriedly booted right out of the glade lest their noisy ringing phones cause even MORE disruption!

[bc56]

Titania Park
It does seem reasonable. But the fae wield seeming like a sword.
Before Sekhmet can protest, however, her phone starts going off. Along with all the other phones. "Auuugh!" she fumbles her device out of her purse and powers it off.
Then she looks around and notices the girls are missing from the stage. She immediately puts two and two together, albeit incorrectly. The bard wouldn't swear to leave the girls unharmed. There was a distraction, and now they're gone.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" The demon queen is furious again. "WHERE ARE THEY!? WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY DAUGHTER!!?"
She's never assumed so fearsome an aspect before, shrouded in darkness, flame, and noxious smoke, with claws like burning daggers and eyes that burn with all the wrath of Hell. Her daughter is gone and as far as she knows, it's the Bard's fault.

[Ironsmith]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe
"Do you have Erished's 'Translation of Sumerian Esoterica' in? I came into possession of these old tablets and..." someone is asking the clerk. Then there's a scream. "Uh, hang on, I think someone needs a reassuring voice."
"It's no trouble. It came from the mundane section and if I get it, you can take care of the line. It's probably just book gremlins anyway."

Someone walks calmly into the aisle where Eun shrieked. Between her red skin, horns, batlike wings, and barbed tail, it's clear that she's a demon. She's dressed in a modest, floor-length black dress with crimson embroidery around the edges. "Hello? Is everything all right in here?"

[Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe]

"Yep! Fine! Totally fine!" Comes the hasty reply, followed quickly by Eun turning around to greet the-

...That's not the clerk.

Eun stares wide-eyed at the demoness in front of her, her face slowly turning a shade of red to rival that of the newcomer.

Yup. This was almost certainly the wrong bookshop(pe) for her to come to. Just for the opposite reason of what she was anticipating.

Eun hastily grabs a book from the shelf and clutches it to herself protectively, as though she expects that to ward off the demoness somehow.

[bc56]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe
"Good. Uh, you can put the book down. I don't bite." That would probably be a more believable statement if the demoness' fangs didn't show while she was talking. "It must be your first time here, right?" Experienced shoppers do their screaming in the sections that aren't full of mundane novelty books.

[Ironsmith]

[Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe]

And even if she did, How To Tame Your Sandworm probably wasn't going to provide much protection.

"Um... y-yeah." Eun admits reluctantly, loosening her iron grip on the book. "First time."

Even putting aside her rather embarrassing reaction to the candy critter scurrying around the shelves, Eun certainly doesn't look the part of even an amateur witch. Not unless the uniform's changed from smocks and pointed hats to hospital scrubs and labcoats. She's clearly far outside her wheelhouse.

[bc56]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe
"That's better," the demoness also relaxes once nobody is threatening to hit her with a book. "You, uh, look like someone who doesn't know what she's looking for. Need any help?" she pauses, "Oh, and, uh, I'm Sekhmet, by the way." Queen Sekhmet Brignole of the Scorching Depths isn't an unknown name. She hosted a big party last summer, and before that, she ascended the throne when her mother attempted and ill-fated invasion of Inside (although that might be before Eun's time). Her name and face show up occasionally in gossip rags and other disreputable news media, and more rarely in actual upstanding ones, usually relating to her public relations and outreach (not that long ago she held a press conference where she committed to combatting the black-market trade in succubus-venom-based drugs). So Eun may have heard of her, but given her scientific proclivities and known workaholism, it would be quite excusable to not know.

[Ironsmith]

[Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe]

As soon as Sekhmet mentions her name, Eun visibly relaxes and lets out a pent-up breath. She knows that name, apparently. Likely through their mutual colleague, Miranda. "Like you wouldn't believe." She sighs, returning the book to its spot on the shelf and busying herself aligning it with the lip. "I've, um... been trying to stay away from all the magic stuff. It just kind of, um..." She makes a swiping gesture over her head. "...But I don't think that can really last forever. And there are few things I'm going to need to deal with that are going to require basic theoretical knowledge, at least. So I was hoping to find some kind of basic guide to start... but I've been having trouble finding anything all-purpose on the internet, so now I'm just... um... yeah." She gestures toward the bookshelves next to her.

[Keeper]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe

Of course, that's ignoring the fact that you ARE magic at this point. And you do have a spirit that could probably let you make a few sparks if you asked just on call at all times. And you could probably ask Sam but...ok being fair he's not the best at explaining things with words. Buhan pipes into Eun's mind.
Yeah Sam is not exactly the pinnacle of vocabulary. He also cheats with his magic by having an artifact attached to his heart.

[bc56]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe
Sekhmet doesn't know Eun through Miranda (well, she probably does, but she doesn't know that this is Eun yet).
"You're in the wrong section for that. This is, uh, mostly normal books for magic-users. And some novelty books for, uh, normal people," Sekhmet passes a critical eye over a shelf of cookbooks themed after magic and potion brewing.
"Over here, I'm sure we can find a good beginner's grimoire somewhere," Sekhmet heads a few isles down to where the books are less colorful and have much less clever titles. Many of them don't have titles at all. "A good book for learning magic has to be part theory, part practice, and partially a, uh, catalogue of tools and ingredients. But these books aren't, uh, usually mass-produced." Somewhere like the Nexus, mass-market spellbooks are a bit more common, but where Sekhmet comes from, they only exist because some past occultist decided to write down their work, or to copy volumes that they were working with.
"Let's see..." Sekhmet begins pulling volumes from the shelves and flipping quickly through them. "You didn't have a specific discipline of magic you wanted to learn, did you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[A Dump in the City]

"Don't have to tell me twice! You lot just... try not to break anything around here. Or break it more, I guess is what I'm saying."

"Procy!" The first witch chides, just before taking a spear shaft to the solar plexus and collapsing to the ground, holding her chest and wheezing. "Ah, geez... ow..."

"Honestly, I didn't really want to get involved anyway. I just saw Pody getting her butt whopped- you know, your usual Thursday- and thought I should intervene. Otherwise Corvy would have had my adorable little head. Oh, well, can't say I didn't try."

A Dump in the City

Harley shields his eyes against the sudden bird explosion. Not what he expected, but at least it was somewhat effective. However, from their earlier actions, these witches are clearly skilled at faking a retreat only to backstab their foes when their guard is down. And Harley will only be fooled once.

As the Raheeda-Double attacks the bird cloud, Harley scans the battlefield to see the true Raheeda attempting to barrel into the last visible witch. Confident she'll be able to handle herself, Harley calls out to the hiding witch, his helmet amplifying his voice to be quite loud.

"We came here in peace, and you attacked us. That was a mistake. Leave us alone, or I'll bury all three of you." It's not a very creative threat, but it's delivered with utter confidence.

[A Dump in the City]

Real-Raheeda let's out a threatening serpentine hiss as the witch collapses to the ground.
How many times would she let herself be fooled by this stupid witch?
"Would you stop that? All we wanted was to ask some questions. But nooo. You gotta go all temple priest on us!" She shifts her hold on the spear and in a smooth motion turns it around so the pointy part is now aimed to the witch. "So do you actually know anything or can we go and leave you alone now? There was a little hatchling around here. She could have been hurt by all that garbage you're throwing around." She's of course talking about the little girl they heard before running into the witch.

Meanwhile, Redheeda is continuing to wave her spear at the birds until she finally seems satisfied. Then she turns to Harley with a smile.
"Cool! Good work, Harley!" She raises her hand into a give-me-five motion. If of course Harley even recognize it.
It might soon dawn on Harley, while being so close to her, that this Raheeda clone is completely made of blood.

[quillpleasant]

A Dump in the City

Much like Raheeda, Harley absolutely doesn't trust that the witches are actually giving up. He keeps hold of what's left of the bottle, just in case.

"If you forgot, we're looking for a trash witch named... Tara. Talah? Something short with a T." Yeah, he really can't remember. He doesn't expect the witches to know anything, but it's worth a shot.

He's also a little distracted by Redheeda. A surprise double would be interesting enough, but one made of blood? That's just cool. Harley returns the high five without hesitation, although he does wonder if it'll make his hand all bloody.

"Okay, you've got to tell me how that works. Are you controlling both bodies at once, or are there actually two of you?"

[Earl of Purple]

Titania Park

Prumathe is also worried about where Mary, Agate and Khannie have gone, of course he is! He's also, however, well aware that he's much less threatening than his wife, so whilst he's remaining where he is and doesn't add anything, this is because he's thinking anything he says or do to support her will undermine her. And he can't top the display of fire and fury Sekhmet just pulled off, either.

[Ironsmith]

[Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe]

"...That... does explain why I couldn't find any wikihows on the subject." Eun acknowledges. Publishing a grimoire's contents on the internet is probably asking for trouble. She decides not to linger on her mistake... at least, not in the conversation. That's still going to be with her all day.

"A... a particular discipline?" Eun pauses to think about it. Of course there are a bunch to choose from. Asking someone to "teach her magic" without specifying a specific field would probably be loosely equivalent to someone asking her to teach them science.

"Well... I guess what I'm looking for is, um..." Eun pauses again, internally wondering if she should really reveal this to Sekhmet before quietly deciding she could be trusted. Cortez vouched for her, and that's good enough for Eun. "...I wanted to see if there was a way to transfer consciousness from one body to another. And if so, how to do that and what the physical requirements of such a body would be in the first place."


[A Dump In The City]

"Oh, her?" The witch in the trash heap lets out a mild exclamation of vague annoyance. "She doesn't come around here anymore. It's our turf now. Last I heard, she crossed the wrong heroine and her junkyard got converted to a landfill with built-in incinerator."

"What's... what's this about a hatchling?" The first witch rasps, still rubbing at her sternum.

[bc56]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe
"That's, uh, anything but beginner magic," Sekhmet begins. "And risky. It can be done, but it shouldn't be. Not without a very good reason." Eun is lucky though. She just happened to ask someone who has actual experience doing exactly that. Sekhmet's successfully performed three such operations. But Eun probably doesn't know that, because Miranda probably only vaguely knows that.
Will Eun trust Sekhmet with a full explanation of her embarrassing problem?

[Shadowcaller]

A Dump in the City

So the trash-witches were kind like tribes then? And Tara was a tribe of one?
Also, what was a land-fill? Or the word it came with for that matter?

So many questions.

"Er, child." Raheeda clarifies as she indicates the imagined length of a child with her hand. "An undeveloped one." She had heard humans also had eggs but they were inside of them. Which was why their bellies got so thick. For extra layers of protection around the egg.

"We saw one around here but she ran away. Not sure what her deal was but I'm sure Tara's older than that." Then again, it wouldn't have been the first time she had ran into a small female that was possessed by a witch.

Meanwhile, the hand Harley uses to slap the red-Raheeda's with is covered in blood.
However, this only lasts for a moment as the red liquid starts leaving his hand as if being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner in outer space. Moving like liquid metal to a magnet as the red-Raheeda reabsorbs it.
Not that she even seems to notice this strange interaction. Too busy thinking about Harley's question.

"Uh... hmm, I don't know. Never thought about it bef-"

But before she can finish that sentence she collapses into a giant pool of blood on the ground.

[Ironsmith]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe
"That's, uh, anything but beginner magic," Sekhmet begins. "And risky. It can be done, but it shouldn't be. Not without a very good reason." Eun is lucky though. She just happened to ask someone who has actual experience doing exactly that. Sekhmet's successfully performed three such operations. But Eun probably doesn't know that, because Miranda probably only vaguely knows that.
Will Eun trust Sekhmet with a full explanation of her embarrassing problem?

[Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe]

...Oh. Joy. It's forbidden. Or at least as close to it as it can be without a central authority actually enacting a ban. Which means Buhan's probably not getting her own body for... well, probably ever. Granted, there's not much stopping Eun from ignoring this warning and going on to learn this magic anyway, but it doesn't bode well.

"It did sound like an advanced concept. And risky." Eun says with a nod. "But there are, um... a few applications for that sort of technique I was hoping to... maybe kind of explore."

She stands there a moment in awkward silence before letting out a little sigh and internally booping the Buhan button.

[Keeper]

Spellman Sisters' Bookshoppe

The change between Eun and Buhan is intentionally as painless as possible. Eun's probably gotten used to it by now. But usually she has the common sense to undress first. Instead she and Buhan get to experience the rather painful experience of bursting out of Eun's outfit as her form swells into Buhan's familiar round and blue look.
Sekhmet gets the "experience" of seeing a pig-lady desperately trying to cover her chest with what's left of Eun's labcoat.
"Eun what the hell that hurt. And just because I like showing my curves doesn't mean I have no modesty!"