Riverside

[Gullara]

[Bird Watching]

Atsede actually flinched a little at the responses she got this time. She had, in fact, realized Dulcie was not into her, that was why she had dumped her, but she certainly had not been expecting this amount of venom from her. And she had been deliberately using her as a stepping stone? What, to make Reilana jealous or something? "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Skyla's answer actually genuinely stings though. Sure, it's not like Atsede had ever taken things 100% seriously with her, but ouch. Two relationships in a row that were nothing but setups.

Even before Atsede notices Reilana hand the cup over, she's standing up, but that only hastens her departure. "Fine. Fuck the both of you. Hope you rot in hell." And with that, she storms off, visibly seething.

[Bird Watching]

"Oh, chronic disability, a need for control, lack of respect for autonomy... take your pick, really." The words come breezily even as Dulcinea reaches for the cup Reilana offers her. She dangles it between her fingertips, oh so easy to drop, then feints as if about to strike. The viperous glint in her eyes take on a hint of something manic when cast in the vivid glow of the animated film. "Gladly. Now get out of my sight."

[Bird Watching]

Reilana watches Atsede go, an amused smile on her face. "I think that went well." She observes, but then casts her eyes around. "I think we should bail before we get kicked out of here, though." It's only a matter of time before some kind of security bears down on them for making a scene. The surrounding moviegoers sure don't look impressed.

[Wandering Riverside]

Irena couldn't imagine there was enough spirit problems in Riverside to make a living of, then again it wasn't like she was keeping track of that sort of thing either so she had to concede on that point. Maybe they were taking the the railway all the way to Inside too. "But don't they need equipment with them? Or do they take that on the bus?"
They weren't really questions at this point, just musings.

"Either way, sounds like I could learn her mom's to drive too." Irena smirks.

At that point Nadia can spot Raheeda returning. She was hard not to considering how brightly colored both her scales and clothes were. But something seems wrong as she acts oddly muted in contrast to when she entered, not to mention that she has obviously not showered.

"Cars got four seats after all, could take them all at the same time." Irena continues, not having noticed their red-scaled friend exiting.

[Wandering Riverside]

"I can't imagine Kitsuki would tolerate you." Nadia teases, but then Raheeda catches her eye. She steps out toward the approaching woman. "Raheeda? I was just thinking I ought to follow you in and make sure you had what you needed. Are you alright?" The shift in mood is certainly not missed.

[Reinholdt]

[Charity Dinner]

Reinholdt can only clock Braon's agitation. He notes the men approaching the prize table but as he's moving away from it now, can't confirm which prize they're picking up. His attention's too focused on Braon right now anyways.

Taking up her cue, he'll head towards the semi-isolated section of the hall deeper into the building. Most people are starting to collect their things and move in the other direction as the dinner comes to a close. There's certainly lingerers and no one's in any rush, but it's unlikely that Braon and Rein are going to be interrupted.

"Talk to me," Reinholdt says, waiting to hear from Braon directly before deciding how he's supposed to be feeling about this.

[Shadowcaller]

[Wandering Riverside]

"I can't imagine Kitsuki would tolerate you." Nadia teases, but then Raheeda catches her eye. She steps out toward the approaching woman. "Raheeda? I was just thinking I ought to follow you in and make sure you had what you needed. Are you alright?" The shift in mood is certainly not missed.

[Wandering Riverside]

"Why not? Seems to me like we should get along in theory at least." Irena could tell a fellow big-boob lover at but a glance!

Well, a glance and Kitty's choice of fiancee. But she could read their vibes. Yeah, she understood people too despite what might be said about her.

Then Irena's attention is turned as Nadia suddenly looks past her.

Oh, scalegirl again.

She appears startled, as if she hadn't been expecting Nadia to spot her so quickly.

"Oh hi." Raheeda replies reflexively as she's being addressed. "Uh, well, there were... people inside." She taps her index fingers together and shyly looks down on the ground. "I don't really like washing when there's strangers around." She seems to try meeting Nadia's gaze again. "I tried though but they were giving me strange looks."

Irena's eyebrow raises.
Seriously?

[Ironsmith]

[Outten Inn]

They're certainly... eccentric.
Honestly, it was expected from people who seemed to have decided to become professional criminals and actually seemed good at it.

So it wasn't really a surprise that Hana was good at other things as well.

Though that Hazel had casually just stolen a deck of cards seemed... well, like a non-crime honestly. Ava had never arrested someone for shoplifting and she hoped she never would be required to either. A warning at most.
"Mao? Isn't that the game where you make up the rules as you go along? I'm not terribly familiar with it. Poker or hold 'em are the games I know and I know that isn't terribly exciting." She holds up her palms to her side. "But I'd be open to try any game you know."

[Outten Inn]

"Yeah, dat's da one." Hazel confirms. "It was pretty populah back in da academy, since da whole thust of da game is leahning da unwritten rules as quickly as possible."

"Small wonder why a school dedicated to training spies would promote having that game played on campus." Hana smirks.

"Right. But... if you've neveh played, fohget it. Doesn't really seem vehy faih to you." Hazel smiles genially, before starting in place as the popcorn in the microwave starts popping abruptly. "What da-"

"Oh, yeah. I didn't tell you." Hana grimaces. "They do it the old-fashioned way here, with the kernels and the little explosions and such. No Hotboxes, remember?"

"...Is dat why dhey call it popcohn? I always thought it was cause you 'pop' it into youh mouth. Huh." Hazel grins. "Leahn somethin' new evehy day."

"...Okay. So that's Chess out, Mao out, Poker and Hold 'Em, uh..." She frowns. "Actually, you know what? Yeah. Poker. We can do Poker."

"We got any chips around heah?"

"...Well, no. But I guess we could just use pocket change. Probably best to keep it low stakes anyway."

Charity Dinner

Atya was already a little off-kilter tonight before the assassination story broke, and now her mind is especially muddled. Well, murder, not assassination. They don't know it was done for political reasons- it could be entirely coincidental. A burglary gone wrong, a random spree kill. It might be unconnected.

And the world might be made of pudding. Get real- this was clearly done to sway the election. But by who, and in what way?

There's a sudden horrible thought- what if this was done to cast doubt on her? If news broke of her past, it wouldn't take proof to make the public blame her. It wouldn't even take much effort at all. Ughhhh.

Her head pounding, Atya starts over towards the nearest waiter to get another drink, but she's stopped by the prize table as the horned men ask for prize clarification. She's about to wave over one of her aides to help them, but... huh. They look awfully similar to Braon. Something fishy is going on here, and it's a welcome change of pace from the swirling anxieties rushing through her head right now. She steps forward, her smile showing not a hint of her inner turmoil.

"A spiritual matter, huh? Sounds important." Atya plucks the voucher off the prize table and hands it over- she had the foresight to print one off ahead of time. The address can be found on the voucher.

"I am, of course, very busy, so scheduling will be necessary. I can do... day after tomorrow after five, Friday between the hours of twelve thirty and two forty five, or Saturday no later than eleven fifty." At least one of these is completely arbitrary, but it wouldn't do to look like she has a lot of free time.

"So, will Mister Bradanach be attending the tour himself, or sending his aides in his stead again?" she asks, tilting her head to the side. It's not quite accusatory... at least, not so much that she couldn't deny it.

[Charity Dinner]

Reinholdt can only clock Braon's agitation. He notes the men approaching the prize table but as he's moving away from it now, can't confirm which prize they're picking up. His attention's too focused on Braon right now anyways.

Taking up her cue, he'll head towards the semi-isolated section of the hall deeper into the building. Most people are starting to collect their things and move in the other direction as the dinner comes to a close. There's certainly lingerers and no one's in any rush, but it's unlikely that Braon and Rein are going to be interrupted.

"Talk to me," Reinholdt says, waiting to hear from Braon directly before deciding how he's supposed to be feeling about this.

[Charity Dinner]

"Of course he will." One of the aides replies icily. "On Saturday, 11:45 sharp. The alternative would be letting us have something nice, and we can't have that, now, can we?"

"Zip!" The other aide hisses. "Are you out of your mind? You can't say that, he'll find out, and-"

"Oh, grow a spine." The first aide frowns. "We're already covering for him more than we should. 'Urgent spiritual matter'. Hmph."

"...Succubi are a kind of spirit. And it did seem pretty urgent."

The aide waves his hand dismissively. "Whatever. He's not here to watch us. If he were, he'd be talking to the lady himself. And she's sensible enough to not tell him we said anything." The aide looks back at Atya, suddenly appearing nervous. "...Right? Please tell me you're that sensible."

"Yeah, sure, way to confirm that after the fact..."

"Shut up, Nil."

-

As soon as Rein is within hissing distance, Braon immediately sets into doing so. "What the hell happened?!" She demands in a whisper. "I could not have made that simpler! All she had to do was reach in and grab the fu-reaking ticket! It should have practically jumped into her hand!" She crosses her arms, staring at a spot just over the cat-man's shoulder. "You know something I don't, Rein? She enchant that thing without being assed to tell me at some point? Anti-cheating mechanisms or some sh... something like that?"

[quillpleasant]

Charity Dinner

Atya observes the aide's conversation with a raised eyebrow. These guys are not the most socially conscious or respectful, and combined with their clear worry about their employer... well, that tells her quite a bit about Bradanach's character. She can work with this.

She gives them a charming smile. "Don't worry, I'm no narc. Believe it or not, I know the feeling of having to work for a... overbearing boss, to put it politely." Which is true, at least partially.

Stepping a little closer, she lowers her voice conspiratorially. "Since we understand each other, off the record... what's the lowdown on this guy? Any tips on what I should expect? A lot of the people who bought tickets for a house tour might have some high expectations and I'd hate to disappoint."

By which she means that she's very much intending to disappoint, but in as tactful a way as possible.

---

Elsewhere, Jade and Jason will find their prizes to be of the highest quality. The heels are extremely fancy, just elegant enough to not be gaudy while still catching eyes with their shining gold and pearl design. They also have a minor magical enchantment, easily resizing to perfectly fit the wearer.

The BFT, while it's clearly seen some action, is still in great working condition, and polished to a brassy sheen. Three canister tubes allow for three different kinds of ammunition to be loaded at the same time, swapping between them with the turn of a dial. The reinforced tubing is flexible but almost impossible to cut through, and the controls are simple and intuitive. Perhaps the only downside is that it is pretty heavy, and wearing it all day would probably cause a little back strain.

[Reinholdt]

[Charity Dinner]

Reinholdt frowns at Braon. "I assure you, Atya doesn't think that far ahead." It was unlikely Atya would care enough to put an anti-cheat mechanism on the raffle anyways. So long as people were paying money into the charities, it seemed unimportant. Braon in this situation, could be a particularly good actor. He has seen what she can do in an ancient Egyptian headdress... no, bad Rein. That was terrible acting and Rein knows it! Effective though.

So Braon was probably in the dark too. Rein sighs. "You have to remember where we are. Rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful. They got there somehow after all and I'd have to guess that someone here is better at cheating than you. How good are you actually at magic anyways?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Outten Inn]

Spy training? Yeah, that checked out. Since it could also explained the path she had taken. No spy should be important enough to for their employer to not be able to cut them off. Part of the job as she understood it and possibly what had happened to Hazel then.

But about that question...
"Afraid new directives bans us from carrying cash all-together while on duty, it's supposed to help combat corruption." So all she had was her debit and credit cards. "However."

Ava reaches into her pocket and takes out a rock.

About as large a rock that you can comfortably fit in a pocket of that size.

She places her hands on the rock and in an intense red glow the rock appears to disappear. But when she removes her hands it seems to have instead been replaced by a small pile of coin-shaped rocks.
The detective holds up on of them. "Will this be acceptable? You can always cash them in for actual coins later on."
If they take a closer look at the coins they will see that on one side they have the east-side logo on them but on the other they have a small portrait of Ava in profile.
But not all of them as some have Hazel and Hana's portraits in a similar pose.

[Murkus]

[Crash Site]

Good Doctors

"A curious name," says Kalavak, eyeing Eun. "Where I come from, men are forbidden from the healing art. I was always slightly jealous. Not so much of the practice itself... more that they could know and study something that I could not. Please, please, tend to him!"

The bigger, wounded fellow, Shahala, looks at Eun as she crouches. He has his hand pressed tightly to his side - and if coaxed to remove it, displays a badly bleeding wound through armor that has hardened into a cracked ceramic substance. The rest of him is still covered in the roiling black stuff, fit to a muscular form.

The little bald man folds his arms behind his back and looks at Khafir, smiling a nearly toothless smile. "It's polite to give titles, you know," he tells her. Some of the birds that leapt out of him alight on his shoulders, his head.

Shahala will try to lean toward Eun. "There is something you must take," he whispers quickly, weakly. "Something that you must make safe. Many lives depend on its keeping. My people will come for it. Others."

Control Room

The two young ladies have a moment to talk, at least before the two large people return or Jade goes off to search for other people she can help. But the man in Olympia's arms mutters something, too...

"I see it. Unraveling," the wounded man whispers weakly, his eyes moving beneath their lids. "Unraveling. Taking. He is powerful. He is strong. Think it's a line. Or a ring. It's not. It's a hole. It's a hole." He whines like a beaten dog, the smallest sound. "Or a m-mouth-- Oh, God--"

[Gullara]

[Wandering Riverside]

"Why not? Seems to me like we should get along in theory at least." Irena could tell a fellow big-boob lover at but a glance!

Well, a glance and Kitty's choice of fiancee. But she could read their vibes. Yeah, she understood people too despite what might be said about her.

Then Irena's attention is turned as Nadia suddenly looks past her.

Oh, scalegirl again.

She appears startled, as if she hadn't been expecting Nadia to spot her so quickly.

"Oh hi." Raheeda replies reflexively as she's being addressed. "Uh, well, there were... people inside." She taps her index fingers together and shyly looks down on the ground. "I don't really like washing when there's strangers around." She seems to try meeting Nadia's gaze again. "I tried though but they were giving me strange looks."

Irena's eyebrow raises.
Seriously?

[Wandering Riverside]

"Oh, I see. I suppose you couldn't have known that there's private shower stalls." Nadia looks to Irena. "I'll help Raheeda get situated properly and I'll meet you back out here." She suggests, glancing back to Raheeda to confirm that plan sounds good.

[Shadowcaller]

[Wandering Riverside]

Right, the private shower stalls. Were where those again?

She should really learn more about the layout of this place. But most people just weren't so shy about showering with others.

...

Gods, she wanted to take a shower with Nadia right now.

"Uh, sure." Irena nods distractedly, her mind suddenly elsewhere for a moment. "See you soon, babe."

Irena throws a glance at scalegirl whose face lit up like a sun at the mention of 'private' "Oh, there's such a thing? Happy day." Raheeda gives Nadia the the thumbs up. "Does it also have the tube water?"

[Ironsmith]

[Outten Inn]

Spy training? Yeah, that checked out. Since it could also explained the path she had taken. No spy should be important enough to for their employer to not be able to cut them off. Part of the job as she understood it and possibly what had happened to Hazel then.

But about that question...
"Afraid new directives bans us from carrying cash all-together while on duty, it's supposed to help combat corruption." So all she had was her debit and credit cards. "However."

Ava reaches into her pocket and takes out a rock.

About as large a rock that you can comfortably fit in a pocket of that size.

She places her hands on the rock and in an intense red glow the rock appears to disappear. But when she removes her hands it seems to have instead been replaced by a small pile of coin-shaped rocks.
The detective holds up on of them. "Will this be acceptable? You can always cash them in for actual coins later on."
If they take a closer look at the coins they will see that on one side they have the east-side logo on them but on the other they have a small portrait of Ava in profile.
But not all of them as some have Hazel and Hana's portraits in a similar pose.

[Outten Inn]

"Aw, what?" "Boo!" The two chorus at the mention of being prohibited from carrying cash. That was terribly inconvenient.

But they both seem willing enough to adopt play money for the game. It doesn't really matter, so long as they've got something to wager and therefore use for all those psychological games poker is known for.

So it doesn't take long for the coins to be distributed, the cards to be dealt, and the first ante to be put into the pile in the center of the coffee table... though there's still a slight delay in actually starting the game, as Hazel briefly takes a minute to retrieve the popcorn from the microwave, pull the bag open, and set it in easy reach between the three of them.

"So, I gotta ask..." Hazel begins after staring at her cards for a moment. "Ya did dat whole thing eahlieh whehe ya tuhned into a giant spideh at da exchange. And dhen just now with da rock. How much magic do ya know, Ava? Anything dat might be helpful going fohwahd?"

"Wait, she turned into a spider? Glad I wasn't around to see that..."

[Crash Site]

Good Doctors

"A curious name," says Kalavak, eyeing Eun. "Where I come from, men are forbidden from the healing art. I was always slightly jealous. Not so much of the practice itself... more that they could know and study something that I could not. Please, please, tend to him!"

The bigger, wounded fellow, Shahala, looks at Eun as she crouches. He has his hand pressed tightly to his side - and if coaxed to remove it, displays a badly bleeding wound through armor that has hardened into a cracked ceramic substance. The rest of him is still covered in the roiling black stuff, fit to a muscular form.

The little bald man folds his arms behind his back and looks at Khafir, smiling a nearly toothless smile. "It's polite to give titles, you know," he tells her. Some of the birds that leapt out of him alight on his shoulders, his head.

Shahala will try to lean toward Eun. "There is something you must take," he whispers quickly, weakly. "Something that you must make safe. Many lives depend on its keeping. My people will come for it. Others."

[Crash Site]

"So it is. Doctor Sara Afif Khafir. Pleased to make your acquaintence." She says, in a tone of voice that suggests she hasn't been pleased with anything in the past decade. She doesn't offer anything beyond that, at least not right away; she's never been much of a conversationalist, particularly not during times of crisis.

Eun stares at the wound and ceramic dumbfoundedly, not entirely certain how she's meant to go about treating the thing. What even is this stuff? Should... should she remove it, so she can get to the wound underneath? Wait, no, stupid question, of course she should, if she didn't she couldn't treat him at all and he clearly wasn't stable enough to risk that.

"H-hey, don't talk like that, you're going to be okay." She insists, reaching into her hotbox and producing a small, pen-like device. "Hold onto it. You can keep it safe yourself." She then clicks the device on, a little blue light shining from the tip, and starts working it around the edge of the wound; if Shahala's skin is comparable to humans', it'll melt under this light, but leave his circulatory, nervous, and musculoskeletal systems untouched. Hopefully, this will allow her to remove the ceramic without risking fracturing it further and leaving behind shrapnel.

Charity Dinner

Atya observes the aide's conversation with a raised eyebrow. These guys are not the most socially conscious or respectful, and combined with their clear worry about their employer... well, that tells her quite a bit about Bradanach's character. She can work with this.

She gives them a charming smile. "Don't worry, I'm no narc. Believe it or not, I know the feeling of having to work for a... overbearing boss, to put it politely." Which is true, at least partially.

Stepping a little closer, she lowers her voice conspiratorially. "Since we understand each other, off the record... what's the lowdown on this guy? Any tips on what I should expect? A lot of the people who bought tickets for a house tour might have some high expectations and I'd hate to disappoint."

By which she means that she's very much intending to disappoint, but in as tactful a way as possible.

[Charity Dinner]

Reinholdt frowns at Braon. "I assure you, Atya doesn't think that far ahead." It was unlikely Atya would care enough to put an anti-cheat mechanism on the raffle anyways. So long as people were paying money into the charities, it seemed unimportant. Braon in this situation, could be a particularly good actor. He has seen what she can do in an ancient Egyptian headdress... no, bad Rein. That was terrible acting and Rein knows it! Effective though.

So Braon was probably in the dark too. Rein sighs. "You have to remember where we are. Rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful. They got there somehow after all and I'd have to guess that someone here is better at cheating than you. How good are you actually at magic anyways?"

[Charity Dinner]

"Please, like you don't remember how good I am." Braon frowns, plopping her hands on her hips in a way that might remind him of that headdress again. "...Any way we could sneak a look at that snowglobe? If someone else did manage to out-cheat me, I want to see how they did it."

She glances over at the prize table again, at those horned men talking with Atya, her gaze lingering just a bit too long on them before returning to Rein. "...I think I might know who did it, though." She says after a moment. "And Adea help me, I hope I'm wrong..."

-

The aides exchange a look, seeming to silently debate the next course of action before the first turns back to Atya. "The man is absolutely shameless." He says after a moment. "He is absolutely going to try to get you to show him the bedroom, so to speak."

"And apparently quite charming, somehow." The other aide elaborates. "I don't know what people keep seeing in him, but he does have this way about him that apparently works."

"...Really, though, just don't let him out of your sight and keep out of arm's reach at all times." The first frowns. "I don't think he'll try anything... direct, not on a lady of such high standing as yourself, but don't assume that."

"...Okay, at this point you're probably scaring her, Zip..."

"Good! She should be. Lord Braeg is scary. Do you want to be in a room alone with him?"

"...Point... point taken."

[Reinholdt]

[Charity Dinner]

"Sure," Reinholdt says with a blush and a pull at his collar. "But different types of magic." Rein's really good at the one magic trick he can do and terrible at all the rest.

"Raffle's over so I don't think anyone would mind or notice if we took a look now," Reinholdt says, eyes lingering on Braon's hips for just a moment longer than they should before he motions for her to follow him towards the raffle globe. Shouldn't be too abnormal for someone to drop by and take a look at the fancy tech.

On the way, he has a pair of questions though. "Who is Adea? And who do you think did it? Wait, that's a dumb question. Brennan Bradanach, right?" They already know who did it, by name even!

[quillpleasant]

Charity Dinner

As the aides describe Lord Braeg, Atya feels her heart sink even further. Great, just the kind of unpleasant touchy jackass she was worried about. Why couldn't Braon have won? It might have been awkward, but she genuinely likes her. It would have been so nice compared to... whatever this is.

"Well, I appreciate the candor," she says, giving them a tired smile, "But I've seen scary. I'm sure I can handle him just fine. And if he gets too aggressive, well... Daisy will be there."

She gestures towards the entrance, where the hulking gray cyclops-beast is politely waving to departing guests. "Every girl needs a best friend who can rip too-aggressive suitors limb from limb, don't you think?" Atya smiles fondly, then turns back to them.

"So. Tell Braeg I'll be ready. And I certainly will be." But her tone is a little distracted as she's just noticed Reinholdt and Braon poking around the globe. Probably figuring out how this happened at all, and she can hardly blame them.

Speaking of, they'll find that the raffle globe is basically a big glass sphere with a handle that stirs up the tickets inside. Each ticket is a match to one that was bought, and with enough turns one will be brought to the top to be chosen. The numbers are compared to a digital readout on the side, into which the names of each buyer is entered along with the numbers on all their tickets.

It's nonmagical, and has no real resistance to that kind of cheating. Reinholdt was right that Atya didn't think that far ahead, although to her credit it's not her globe- it belongs to the convention center she's rented out for this dinner. They usually use it for bingo, which is probably even more high stakes.

[Ironsmith]

[Charity Dinner]

"Daisy? Who is Daisy?"

"Erm..." The second aide points over toward the doorwoman discretely.

"...Ah. Well. That... will hopefully be sufficient deterrence." The first aide clears his throat. "We'll be certain to pass your message along, miss Xilo. And... this conversation didn't happen, right?"

-

Braon rolls her eyes and starts fiddling with the device. "I'm not going to get into the theology of it right now, but I'm pretty sure you could have gotten 'the goddess I worship' from the context." She mutters annoyedly. "And if you think Brennan Bradanach is his real name, then-"

Well, wait. Maybe it is, in a manner of speaking. She'd never learned what it was prior to his oh-so-important Lording.

"...Well, it's not the name he normally goes by, at any rate. That would be Braeg, Lord of Lesserwood." She adopts a mocking, nasally lilt to her voice as she recites the man's title, sticking out her tongue disgustedly for emphasis. "...He's a relative of mine. One I really hoped was going to leave me alone."

[bc56]

Crash Site
Considering Jade is eight-ish years Khannie's senior, "young lady" is a bit of an unusual term for her.
"What?" That sounded like cryptic nonsense... Which means it's probably very important.
"Why can't magic ever be straightforward?" Jade wonders.

Charity Dinner
"Fit's good," Jade comments, wiggling her toes inside the shoes.
"Nice. This thing is bulky," Jason replies. He's set the device down because he doesn't need to be carrying it right now. "My design will definitely be more compact. And made of lighter material."

[Rebonack]

[Crash Site]

That sounds like...

Definitely some words.

Symbolism stuff?

Olympia has studied plenty about mythology, so she knows a thing or two about symbolism. And the sortsa symbols this guy is talking about definitely don't sound like great ones. Something unraveling into a mouth?

Yeah that sounds pretty bad.

Olympia will keep this in mind, but fer now she's gunna focus on making sure the guy is recovering.

"Hey, take it easy," she says to the injured man. "You're still kinda hurt so don't overdo it, okay?"

[Gullara]

[Eastside Debates]

The Eastside elections are rapidly approaching. Before that, though, two of the front running candidates are participating in a debate. This year the primary debate is being hosted at one of the major community centers in Eastside. The building was constructed in the last couple years and is dedicated to community outreach.

A large crowd is gathered in the main hall of the building. The low drone fills the room as people talk among themselves, waiting for the main event to begin. After some time of this, a smartly dressed woman stands up from behind the moderator's table. Nadia Rizzo isn't necessarily the most well known face in Riverside—less so in Eastside, as she lives on the opposite side—but the philanthropy of she and her wife has extended to all parts of the city. In fact, they were major donors for this very center.

"Good afternoon, everyone." Her voice cuts through the murmur, and it dulls in its wake. "Welcome to the Eastside mayoral debates. My name is Nadia Rizzo, and I'll be acting as the moderator today. You've all been waiting patiently, so let's get things kicked off, shall we?"

Nadia turns back toward the stage where two podiums have been set up. "Allow me to introduce your mayoral candidates. First welcome your current mayor, Felandria." Nadia gives the mayor a moment to walk onto stage and place herself behind her podium before continuing. "And the new contender, Atya Xilo." Another pause much like the first.

[Wandering Riverside]

Right, the private shower stalls. Were where those again?

She should really learn more about the layout of this place. But most people just weren't so shy about showering with others.

...

Gods, she wanted to take a shower with Nadia right now.

"Uh, sure." Irena nods distractedly, her mind suddenly elsewhere for a moment. "See you soon, babe."

Irena throws a glance at scalegirl whose face lit up like a sun at the mention of 'private' "Oh, there's such a thing? Happy day." Raheeda gives Nadia the the thumbs up. "Does it also have the tube water?"

[Wandering Riverside]

"They're just the same showers, but with walls around them." Nadia explains as they walk back inside. "The people that work here are very helpful, so if you ever come back and need something don't be afraid to ask."

[Felandria]

[Eastside Debates

Felandria makes her way to her podium, wearing a blue pantsuit.



Her hair has grown back out to be rather thick and voluminous, and she has matching blue eyeshadow and lipstick.

She stands in front of her Fel sized podium, which is a little shorter than it would be to accommodate those in the front rows so their view of her isn’t blocked.

Once Atya enters, Fel will offer a handshake.

[Shadowcaller]

[Outten Inn]

"Aw, what?" "Boo!" The two chorus at the mention of being prohibited from carrying cash. That was terribly inconvenient.

But they both seem willing enough to adopt play money for the game. It doesn't really matter, so long as they've got something to wager and therefore use for all those psychological games poker is known for.

So it doesn't take long for the coins to be distributed, the cards to be dealt, and the first ante to be put into the pile in the center of the coffee table... though there's still a slight delay in actually starting the game, as Hazel briefly takes a minute to retrieve the popcorn from the microwave, pull the bag open, and set it in easy reach between the three of them.

"So, I gotta ask..." Hazel begins after staring at her cards for a moment. "Ya did dat whole thing eahlieh whehe ya tuhned into a giant spideh at da exchange. And dhen just now with da rock. How much magic do ya know, Ava? Anything dat might be helpful going fohwahd?"

"Wait, she turned into a spider? Glad I wasn't around to see that..."

[Outten Inn]

Ava was good at reading people and situations, it was her specialty in fact.
She was, however, not nearly as good at being deceptive or putting on a poker face which made her poker skills somewhat patch-work-y.

She takes a quick glance at her cards and then looks up at her opponents.
Hm.
Now how much was she going to reveal?
"Going forward? As in when I'm investigating these business you mean? Well, I am somewhat restricted by my profession but I know a fair bit of magic. Shapeshifting is what I'm best at but I know basic rock shaping and some other elemental spells." Along with other utility magic but that was harder to summarize in a few words.
"What about you two? What are your specialties?"

[Eastside Debates]

The Eastside elections are rapidly approaching. Before that, though, two of the front running candidates are participating in a debate. This year the primary debate is being hosted at one of the major community centers in Eastside. The building was constructed in the last couple years and is dedicated to community outreach.

A large crowd is gathered in the main hall of the building. The low drone fills the room as people talk among themselves, waiting for the main event to begin. After some time of this, a smartly dressed woman stands up from behind the moderator's table. Nadia Rizzo isn't necessarily the most well known face in Riverside—less so in Eastside, as she lives on the opposite side—but the philanthropy of she and her wife has extended to all parts of the city. In fact, they were major donors for this very center.

"Good afternoon, everyone." Her voice cuts through the murmur, and it dulls in its wake. "Welcome to the Eastside mayoral debates. My name is Nadia Rizzo, and I'll be acting as the moderator today. You've all been waiting patiently, so let's get things kicked off, shall we?"

Nadia turns back toward the stage where two podiums have been set up. "Allow me to introduce your mayoral candidates. First welcome your current mayor, Felandria." Nadia gives the mayor a moment to walk onto stage and place herself behind her podium before continuing. "And the new contender, Atya Xilo." Another pause much like the first.

[Wandering Riverside]

"They're just the same showers, but with walls around them." Nadia explains as they walk back inside. "The people that work here are very helpful, so if you ever come back and need something don't be afraid to ask."

[Wandering Riverside]

"Oh, so what people work here? Usually the people in charge tend to have..." She gestures at her head while trying to think of a word she seems have trouble remembering.

"...hats. Or jewelry, like yours." She gestures to Nadia's diadem. "In fact, you seem to be a pretty important person around here." Had she actually gotten help from a queen?

[Reinholdt]

[Charity Dinner]

"Obviously. I wanted to know what she's the goddess of. I've met a few goddesses in my lifetime already. But hey, if you're uncomfortable and concerned that she can't hold up..." They all tended to be quite different from each other, except for the ego they have in their particular field.

"So you think Lesserwood," Rein's just decided that's a good name for this Braeg or Brennan fellow, "Is here because of you? Not a coincidence thing? Watching you, saw what you did, one upped you perhaps?"

Reinholdt doesn't see anything special about the snowglobe itself, but does point out the tickets. "There's a digital component to these. Maybe that's where things went wrong."

[quillpleasant]

Eastside Debates

Although Atya has been feeling quite nervous leading up to this debate, those jittery feelings melt the moment she walks onstage. At this point there's no more preparations she can do, no more second or third guessing or researching Riverside's history. All she can do is her best, and just like everything else in her life, Atya is ready to go all in.

She's certainly dressed for the occasion. Although too ostentatious an outfit might render her too unrelateable to the public, Atya's background in fashion isn't easily cast aside. A glittering gold cocktail dress with a matching purse, and a white-feathered shoulder piece, courtesy of her many pet birds. Her blonde bob has a subtle curl to it today, with feather earrings and black heels completing the ensemble.

As she makes her way up to her podium, waving at the audience, she looks over- and up- at Felandria. Atya is short for an elf, and she hadn't realized quite what a size difference there was between her and the current mayor. Why, she's over twice Atya's height! How... interesting...

Focus. Atya steps over and returns the shake with her own comparatively diminutive hand. "So lovely to finally meet you! Good luck tonight," she says encouragingly. Just because they're competing doesn't mean they can't be friends.

Returning to her podium, Atya takes a deep breath, then smiles at the audience. Time to put her best foot forward.

---

Charity Dinner

Atya sighs, and gives the aides a tired smile. "What conversation? You just claimed the prize and left." She has no interest in getting them in trouble, nor in tipping off Bradanach that she knows anything about him.

Well, this is certainly not going to be any fun. Unless he gets extremely aggressive, in which case her and Daisy will have quite a bit of fun indeed. But more than likely it's just going to be a complete and utter drag. She didn't have to make the tour a prize at all, it's her own fault!

But at least it raised some money for a good cause. That's what's important here.

Nodding at the aides, Atya excuses herself, and makes her way over to where Braon and Reinholdt are examining the machine. "Hey... I'm sorry, Braon. I could have lied and said your name instead, it just caught me off guard," she begins, before being uncomfortably reminded of the fact that Braon might not have been cheating at all. Maybe the offer to put her name in was just being polite, and she had no intention of going through with it at all. If that was the case, then a profuse apology might just make the fiendling uncomfortable.

Ugh, why do people all have to be so complicated? This is why she likes Daisy so much- no complex feelings or secrets hidden there.

[Gullara]

[Eastside Debates

Felandria makes her way to her podium, wearing a blue pantsuit.

[img]

Her hair has grown back out to be rather thick and voluminous, and she has matching blue eyeshadow and lipstick.

She stands in front of her Fel sized podium, which is a little shorter than it would be to accommodate those in the front rows so their view of her isn’t blocked.

Once Atya enters, Fel will offer a handshake.

Eastside Debates

Although Atya has been feeling quite nervous leading up to this debate, those jittery feelings melt the moment she walks onstage. At this point there's no more preparations she can do, no more second or third guessing or researching Riverside's history. All she can do is her best, and just like everything else in her life, Atya is ready to go all in.

She's certainly dressed for the occasion. Although too ostentatious an outfit might render her too unrelateable to the public, Atya's background in fashion isn't easily cast aside. A glittering gold cocktail dress with a matching purse, and a white-feathered shoulder piece, courtesy of her many pet birds. Her blonde bob has a subtle curl to it today, with feather earrings and black heels completing the ensemble.

As she makes her way up to her podium, waving at the audience, she looks over- and up- at Felandria. Atya is short for an elf, and she hadn't realized quite what a size difference there was between her and the current mayor. Why, she's over twice Atya's height! How... interesting...

Focus. Atya steps over and returns the shake with her own comparatively diminutive hand. "So lovely to finally meet you! Good luck tonight," she says encouragingly. Just because they're competing doesn't mean they can't be friends.

Returning to her podium, Atya takes a deep breath, then smiles at the audience. Time to put her best foot forward.

[Eastside Debates]

Once the candidates are in place, Nadia takes her seat again, facing the two. The rifles through her papers as the hall falls silent again. Alright, it's time to begin.

"Let's not waste any time. For the first question we'll start with the incumbent mayor, and then Atya can give her response. Now-" Nadia glances briefly at her paper, but otherwise keeps her eyes up. "Upon being elected, what would be your first priority for the city? The first policy you're pursue." Nadia asks, and gestures to Fel. A bit of an open ended question, but one for them to establish themselves for the evening.

[Wandering Riverside]

"Oh, so what people work here? Usually the people in charge tend to have..." She gestures at her head while trying to think of a word she seems have trouble remembering.

"...hats. Or jewelry, like yours." She gestures to Nadia's diadem. "In fact, you seem to be a pretty important person around here." Had she actually gotten help from a queen?

[Wandering Riverside]

Nadia laughs lightly. "Oh no, I have no actual authority, but people know me and I'm friendly with them." She downplays a bit, but it's technically true. "There's no fancy headwear, but the people working here will have uniforms and name tags."

[Murkus]

[Crash Site]

Good Doctors

"Likewise, Doctor Khafir," Kalavak says, inclining his head briefly.

Shahala remains quiet for the time being, allowing Doctor Bu to assess and begin treatment. The ceramic-like substance comes away easily - very easily, in fact, and when the damaged skin is removed, the shards and splinters of armor melt away right along with it. Shahala's biology underneath does seem comparable to a human's, and he seems to have been stabbed in the side with a rather large, savage sharp instrument. His armor roils and bubbles oddly, the liquid forming into intimidating ridges and bladed shapes - but the warrior makes a mild whistling sound, like a birdcall, and the material seems to calm.

As Bu is trying to help him, Shahala will interrupt one more time - though it seems pretty critical. He tries to grasp her shoulder, leans forward to minimize his voice, and says, "He doesn't intend to let me leave here alive. Do you understand?"

Rather suddenly, the whole giant, living vessel shudders...

Control Room

Seveira finishes talking with her large, fleshy friend. If Jade can tell at a glance by looking around, she'll sense that the other people here - roughly half a dozen human forms - are all already dead.

The man in Olympia's arms grasps weakly at his head, and smoke begins to leak from it again. Instead of the prismatic, dreamlike colors from before, it's turned a noxious black. He cries, "God is a mouth-- a mouth!"

The room gives a violent shake. Even Seveira and her ally are jittered on their feet.

"Hm." The enormous woman glances aft. "Fire might have reached some of the beast's gas reserves. Valves unconstricting where they shouldn't." She glances at Olympia and Jade. "The whole heap could be in flames or pieces soon. I'd say we search likely places and leave..."

Suddenly, Seveira's friend 'Zebal' gives a grunt of warning. Seveira turns to look at the way Jade came - to find someone familiar standing there. At least, to Jade. It's the antlered fellow in the black liquid armor. He is wounded, but recovered enough to be mobile. He leans his body against the arch of the chitin door. In one hand he brandishes an odd looking weapon - like a crossbow without a string, bearing a bolt made of condensed smoke. In the other he holds a stoppered iron flask, this etched with some kind of curving script.

By Seveira and Zebal's sudden tension, the man is a definite threat.

"All of you," the black-armored man gasps, "Stay still." He points his weapon at Seveira. "Where is the adelarch?"

"You're mistaken," Seveira says, raising her hands with her back to Jade and Olympia. "I'm only--"

"I know what you are, ilthtik." He seethes. The black-clad raider glances at the heroines. "Have you told them?"

[Ironsmith]

[Outten Inn]

Ava was good at reading people and situations, it was her specialty in fact.
She was, however, not nearly as good at being deceptive or putting on a poker face which made her poker skills somewhat patch-work-y.

She takes a quick glance at her cards and then looks up at her opponents.
Hm.
Now how much was she going to reveal?
"Going forward? As in when I'm investigating these business you mean? Well, I am somewhat restricted by my profession but I know a fair bit of magic. Shapeshifting is what I'm best at but I know basic rock shaping and some other elemental spells." Along with other utility magic but that was harder to summarize in a few words.
"What about you two? What are your specialties?"

[Outten Inn]

"Oh, a bit of this and that." Hana shrugs. "We did a lot of cross-training at the academy. Hand-to-hand, impersonation, escape artistry... could never quite get the hang of that last one, though. My claustrophobia kept flaring up and I'd just shut down." She smirks. "You should have seen our first encounter with Intersection. I did not much care for being shoved into the back of a cop car."

"Tinnitus is still actin' up." Hazel confirms. "Foh me, I'd say da hahd one was cryptography. Evehyone struggles with dat, but foh me it's just dis weihd fusion'a math and stuff dat just... it don't compute." She taps her temple with her finger. "Gives me a mighaine evehy time."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that. You used to pull me aside for all those late-night study sessions." Hana chuckles. "At first I thought you were just flirting with me. Then I saw your actual work, and... well."

"Hey, be faih, I was totally flihting with you." Hazel flashes her wife a finger-gun with her free hand. "I'd kinda written it off as a lost cause, but it made a great excuse ta bring you back to my dohm. Dhen you went and actually held my feet to the fihe on leahnin' dis stuff. Still don't think I could get cehtified again if I needed to, but it wouldn'ta happened da fihst time if ya hadn't been dhere."

"Aw, honey..." Hana reaches around the table and wraps an arm around Hazel's shoulder, pulling her into a little hug and planting a kiss on her cheek for good measure. "You're smarter than you give yourself credit for. I might have provided the motivation, but passing the test? That was all you."

Hazel laughs and pulls Hana in, but then looks up and seems to sort of re-register Ava's presence. "...Right. Sorhy. Kinda cut ya out of da conversation." She apologizes, returning to her original spot. "...What about you? You deal with anything like dhat while you wehe training ta be a cop?"

[Crash Site]

Good Doctors

"Likewise, Doctor Khafir," Kalavak says, inclining his head briefly.

Shahala remains quiet for the time being, allowing Doctor Bu to assess and begin treatment. The ceramic-like substance comes away easily - very easily, in fact, and when the damaged skin is removed, the shards and splinters of armor melt away right along with it. Shahala's biology underneath does seem comparable to a human's, and he seems to have been stabbed in the side with a rather large, savage sharp instrument. His armor roils and bubbles oddly, the liquid forming into intimidating ridges and bladed shapes - but the warrior makes a mild whistling sound, like a birdcall, and the material seems to calm.

As Bu is trying to help him, Shahala will interrupt one more time - though it seems pretty critical. He tries to grasp her shoulder, leans forward to minimize his voice, and says, "He doesn't intend to let me leave here alive. Do you understand?"

Rather suddenly, the whole giant, living vessel shudders...

[Crash Site]

Eun yelps and drops her device as the vessel shakes, scrambling for a moment to retrieve it before it rolls into a nearby crevice.

Well, damn.

Fortunately, she can produce a second one easily enough. And while she does, she frowns at Shahala, trying to parse what he's said. Kavalak wouldn't let him leave alive? Wasn't he just encouraging her to stabilize him? And for that matter, hadn't he had ample time to finish Shahala off prior to her arrival?

It then occurs to her that Shahala didn't say "Kavalak". He said "he". For all she knows, that could be in reference to some unseen third party, or even the clearly-organic ship itself.

"...Let us worry about that." She says finally, once again shining her penlight over the wound. This one is rather different from the first, promoting rapid clotting where it's shone, effectively causing the injury to scab over several hours before it otherwise would have; time that would normally be spent bleeding out. It's a crude solution compared to applying medigel, but she's not going to risk all the unknowns of his biology on that one; this would be a terrible way to find out he's allergic.

[Charity Dinner]

"Obviously. I wanted to know what she's the goddess of. I've met a few goddesses in my lifetime already. But hey, if you're uncomfortable and concerned that she can't hold up..." They all tended to be quite different from each other, except for the ego they have in their particular field.

"So you think Lesserwood," Rein's just decided that's a good name for this Braeg or Brennan fellow, "Is here because of you? Not a coincidence thing? Watching you, saw what you did, one upped you perhaps?"

Reinholdt doesn't see anything special about the snowglobe itself, but does point out the tickets. "There's a digital component to these. Maybe that's where things went wrong."

Charity Dinner

Atya sighs, and gives the aides a tired smile. "What conversation? You just claimed the prize and left." She has no interest in getting them in trouble, nor in tipping off Bradanach that she knows anything about him.

Well, this is certainly not going to be any fun. Unless he gets extremely aggressive, in which case her and Daisy will have quite a bit of fun indeed. But more than likely it's just going to be a complete and utter drag. She didn't have to make the tour a prize at all, it's her own fault!

But at least it raised some money for a good cause. That's what's important here.

Nodding at the aides, Atya excuses herself, and makes her way over to where Braon and Reinholdt are examining the machine. "Hey... I'm sorry, Braon. I could have lied and said your name instead, it just caught me off guard," she begins, before being uncomfortably reminded of the fact that Braon might not have been cheating at all. Maybe the offer to put her name in was just being polite, and she had no intention of going through with it at all. If that was the case, then a profuse apology might just make the fiendling uncomfortable.

Ugh, why do people all have to be so complicated? This is why she likes Daisy so much- no complex feelings or secrets hidden there.

[Charity Dinner]

"...The conversation we just ha- ow!"

The second aide clears his throat as the first rubs his ribs, wincing. "...We'll be going now. Good luck, miss."

---

"A digital component?" Braon blinks, staring at the machine. What the hell was that supposed to mean? How would-

...Oh.

Braon sighs and claps a hand over her forehead, gritting her teeth in a barely-successful bid to keep herself from swearing profusely. Would her enchantment even have worked with the added degree of separation? She certainly didn't know. Would the fact that she didn't know have thrown it off? If she didn't know what constituted an effective cheating method, how would her enchantment know about it?

And then Atya comes in, and of course she has the much simpler solution just lined up and ready to go. They really could have avoided this whole farce with, like, ten more seconds of planning, but instead literally everything had to go wrong.

Story of her life.

Braon sighs and massages the space between her horns, fighting off a migraine. "...It's fine, it's whatever." She mutters unconvincingly. "Just another layer to this whole fricking mess we have to deal with now. I shouldn't even be surprised at this point."

Just very, very disappointed.

"Listen. I'm going to go home and sleep this off like a bad hangover." She continues, gesturing over her shoulder. "If either if you want to come with, it's fine."

Wait, no, that didn't come out right.

...Didn't come out wrong, either, granted.

"...You know what I meant."

[Shadowcaller]

[Outten Inn]

"Oh, a bit of this and that." Hana shrugs. "We did a lot of cross-training at the academy. Hand-to-hand, impersonation, escape artistry... could never quite get the hang of that last one, though. My claustrophobia kept flaring up and I'd just shut down." She smirks. "You should have seen our first encounter with Intersection. I did not much care for being shoved into the back of a cop car."

"Tinnitus is still actin' up." Hazel confirms. "Foh me, I'd say da hahd one was cryptography. Evehyone struggles with dat, but foh me it's just dis weihd fusion'a math and stuff dat just... it don't compute." She taps her temple with her finger. "Gives me a mighaine evehy time."

"Oh, yeah, I remember that. You used to pull me aside for all those late-night study sessions." Hana chuckles. "At first I thought you were just flirting with me. Then I saw your actual work, and... well."

"Hey, be faih, I was totally flihting with you." Hazel flashes her wife a finger-gun with her free hand. "I'd kinda written it off as a lost cause, but it made a great excuse ta bring you back to my dohm. Dhen you went and actually held my feet to the fihe on leahnin' dis stuff. Still don't think I could get cehtified again if I needed to, but it wouldn'ta happened da fihst time if ya hadn't been dhere."

"Aw, honey..." Hana reaches around the table and wraps an arm around Hazel's shoulder, pulling her into a little hug and planting a kiss on her cheek for good measure. "You're smarter than you give yourself credit for. I might have provided the motivation, but passing the test? That was all you."

Hazel laughs and pulls Hana in, but then looks up and seems to sort of re-register Ava's presence. "...Right. Sorhy. Kinda cut ya out of da conversation." She apologizes, returning to her original spot. "...What about you? You deal with anything like dhat while you wehe training ta be a cop?"

[Outten Inn]

Well, that was a lot of combined expertise. She hadn't even known there were schools for this. The 'secret agents' she had come across had all been pretty ordinary people who happened to come across a lot of information in their day-to-day routine, which was why they had been recruited.
But these two were anything but ordinary.

She shrugs at the question. "I never did much formal training like that. Where I'm from they were recruiting anyone willing to hold a weapon which already put me in leagues above most of my peers due to my magical talents. By the time I came to Eastside my résumé was already pretty impressive so they hired me right away."

"I did a lot of urban exploring and parkour in my youth though as well as other things I can't really condense into words."

[Wandering Riverside]

Nadia laughs lightly. "Oh no, I have no actual authority, but people know me and I'm friendly with them." She downplays a bit, but it's technically true. "There's no fancy headwear, but the people working here will have uniforms and name tags."

[Wandering Riverside]

"People both knowing and being friendly with you is like the ultimate authority though." Raheeda points out. "Since why else would people listen to you? Clothes and names don't have that sort of power."

She tilts her head. "And your a warrior to boot. That's pretty impressive. You're some kind of hunter then? Or soldier?" Humans didn't have that many hunters in her experience. The exception being Arinema and Hound's peoples.

And those werewolf tribes.

[Ironsmith]

[Outten Inn]

Well, that was a lot of combined expertise. She hadn't even known there were schools for this. The 'secret agents' she had come across had all been pretty ordinary people who happened to come across a lot of information in their day-to-day routine, which was why they had been recruited.
But these two were anything but ordinary.

She shrugs at the question. "I never did much formal training like that. Where I'm from they were recruiting anyone willing to hold a weapon which already put me in leagues above most of my peers due to my magical talents. By the time I came to Eastside my résumé was already pretty impressive so they hired me right away."

"I did a lot of urban exploring and parkour in my youth though as well as other things I can't really condense into words."

[Outten Inn]

"Oof." Hana mutters.

"Yeah, not foh nothin', but dat doesn't make it sound like a vehy prestigious careeh you got goin'." Hazel grimaces. "I know, I know, I sound like a freakin' hypocrite when I say dat, since we've been let go and all, but..."

"'Warm body that can hold gun' isn't exactly a title to be proud of." Hana finishes. "...Does explain a lot, though."

"Don't get me wrong. Wohking in law enfohcement is a pretty high calling. It's just... discouhaging ta heah the bah's been set so low. Especially since it's a high calling." Hazel gives a little shrug. "You'd think there'd be a little mohe funding and training and caheful selection and such, is all I'm saying."

"Yeah. It's not really anything against you." Hana affirms. "That kind of work environment must be hell on you, too. Like, if those are the guys you've got to work with..."

[Shadowcaller]

[Outten Inn]

"Explain what exactly?" Ava prods as she didn't like the tone that was said in. "Since cops from around here have to do a lot of formal training, It's just that I'm not from around here originally and I did get some education. I was home schooled a lot and to advance through the ranks I had to take the few formal classes I ended up getting. The kind of classes that usually just rich people can take."

[bc56]

Crash Site
"Woah woah woah, nobody kill anybody, we can talk this through," Jade says, trying to step between the arguers. Her fingers tense in her armored gauntlets, preparing the sequence of gestures to create a shield around her in case someone does make a move.
"I'm going to guess you're both looking for the 'ring-mouth' thing that guy was raving about," she points out the injured man. "What's so important about it?"

[Reinholdt]

► SHOW SPOILER

Charity Dinner

Atya sighs, and gives the aides a tired smile. "What conversation? You just claimed the prize and left." She has no interest in getting them in trouble, nor in tipping off Bradanach that she knows anything about him.

Well, this is certainly not going to be any fun. Unless he gets extremely aggressive, in which case her and Daisy will have quite a bit of fun indeed. But more than likely it's just going to be a complete and utter drag. She didn't have to make the tour a prize at all, it's her own fault!

But at least it raised some money for a good cause. That's what's important here.

Nodding at the aides, Atya excuses herself, and makes her way over to where Braon and Reinholdt are examining the machine. "Hey... I'm sorry, Braon. I could have lied and said your name instead, it just caught me off guard," she begins, before being uncomfortably reminded of the fact that Braon might not have been cheating at all. Maybe the offer to put her name in was just being polite, and she had no intention of going through with it at all. If that was the case, then a profuse apology might just make the fiendling uncomfortable.

Ugh, why do people all have to be so complicated? This is why she likes Daisy so much- no complex feelings or secrets hidden there.

[Charity Dinner]

"...The conversation we just ha- ow!"

The second aide clears his throat as the first rubs his ribs, wincing. "...We'll be going now. Good luck, miss."

---

"A digital component?" Braon blinks, staring at the machine. What the hell was that supposed to mean? How would-

...Oh.

Braon sighs and claps a hand over her forehead, gritting her teeth in a barely-successful bid to keep herself from swearing profusely. Would her enchantment even have worked with the added degree of separation? She certainly didn't know. Would the fact that she didn't know have thrown it off? If she didn't know what constituted an effective cheating method, how would her enchantment know about it?

And then Atya comes in, and of course she has the much simpler solution just lined up and ready to go. They really could have avoided this whole farce with, like, ten more seconds of planning, but instead literally everything had to go wrong.

Story of her life.

Braon sighs and massages the space between her horns, fighting off a migraine. "...It's fine, it's whatever." She mutters unconvincingly. "Just another layer to this whole fricking mess we have to deal with now. I shouldn't even be surprised at this point."

Just very, very disappointed.

"Listen. I'm going to go home and sleep this off like a bad hangover." She continues, gesturing over her shoulder. "If either if you want to come with, it's fine."

Wait, no, that didn't come out right.

...Didn't come out wrong, either, granted.

"...You know what I meant."

[Charity Dinner]

Reinholdt moves beside Atya and pats her gently on the small of her back. The last thing Atya needs before the debate is a raffle scandal. Those follow you forever. Though maybe it would be worth it to avoid this guy. Braon didn't exactly elaborate when he asked her about him and that honestly concerns him a lot more than if she had. "So when's this guy coming over?" It wouldn't do to have Rein there with his underwear on the floor when it happened after all.

Braon suddenly makes an offer that is rather unexpected and Reinholdt has to stare for a few seconds. "I... don't mind?" Reinholdt says looking at Atya with uncertainty. Because he honestly has no idea at all what Braon meant by that. Maybe Atya does? How does one collectively sleep off a coming migraine? He... it doesn't... what?

[Rebonack]

[Crash Site]

Olympia presses her lips into a thin line. God's a mouth?

What the heck is this guy on about?

This isn't one of those weird void god situations, is it? Are these guys void god cultists? Ugh. Why couldn't this have just been a nice normal crashed space ship that got attacked by pirates.

"I mean I dunno about anyone else but I don't really care what they are; I'm just here to help people that are hurt," Olympia pipes up. "This situation sucks already we don't need more shooting, okay? Just calm down a little and let us get the survivors clear of the crash. Then you guys can start clobbering each other over arches later."

She's pretty clearly disapproving of the threats. But then again, the warrior might not be too keen on getting lectured by a girl in a sparkly, frilly outfit.

Is she gunna have to deck this guy?

She's got the uncanny feeling she's gunna have to deck someone in the near future.