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[Gullara]

► SHOW SPOILER

[Bellamy House]

That question will bring Obriane pause since she had no idea frankly. She had mentally prepared for the start of this ever-so-awkward conversation but not its conclusion.
So in a way she's almost thankful that they were interrupted. Her head turns to the noise of the explosion, towards the window, but she isn't sure if she should get up or not. Then her mind managed to process that it wasn't just a random noise. It was likely an accident that had occurred outside.

That realization made her mind considered two options, either she'd go to the window and look or she should go straight out onto the street to help. The second option makes her look in the direction of the front door, whereupon she notices a stranger grabbing Maja. Or a Maja rather as there were suddenly two of them.

The shock of seeing this makes her freeze up, having a hard time processing what she was seeing as it was so strange. How had a stranger gotten in here in the first place?
The cries of 'mommy' breaks her out of the initial shock and she starts getting up but she won't be able to interfere with anything that Sirena is doing.

[Bellamy House]

The child calling out doesn't seem too out of place to Rein, given the loud noises that just happened. Reinholdt is on his feet quickly and dancing his way carefully over (so as not to step upon any small children) to the window to look. Wondering what exactly Annie and Ana had just done out there to cause such a commotion. Or perhaps it was one of Magtok's lame attempts to finally get back at him. It could theoretically be unrelated to all of them and just be a random occurrence, but that seems exceedingly unlikely given they weren't at a tavern.

Reinholdt himself looks far too catlike when he's peering out the window, trying to find the source of his current interests.

[Bellamy House]

Manja opens her mouth to cry out, to let everyone know she's down in the stairwell in the arms of someone who she can't tell if she feels familiar or is a stranger and reminds her of frogs for some reason, and that the hologram sitting on the chair isn't her but is instead her reflection, or something, that's trying to replace her.

Just breath comes out.


One of Sirena's robots notices that someone is looking straight at her. Obriane. It causes her watch to vibrate to alert her of this.
Sirena looks up to see who it was, incidentally making eye contact with Obriane. Drat, that was much quicker than she had hoped, though close enough to what she expected. She starts mentally counting down how much time left she has before being chased.

She takes a few more steps. She shifts Manja over to her left arm. She reaches for the door handle, and opens it.
Then she bolts out the door and shuts it with a 'thud'. She dashes off to the left down the sidewalk. And starts typing something in air, telling her computer to start what she has to watch out for and possible escape routes. A rifle shot, a rooftop chaser, and a few other things, are put as inputs. Creating a time portal would take far too long unless she can find a space to hide.

Rein, and possibly Kitsuki, could definitely see the leggy dame with a white lion tail, short shorts, and a leather jacket dashing down a sidewalk, with Manja in an arm.


Harley, meanwhile, looks over at the window for the crashing sound. Then over at (hologram) Manja.
She feels a little relief when she sees Manja isn't panicking but is just sitting there calmly like usual.
...
The slam of the door makes her jump and look that way, only seeing the closed door. Probably(?) just those other two girls coming back, she assumes, but...they're not there.
Something's definitely happening, but she can't quite figure out what, so Harley looks at everyone else's faces to see if they know what.

[Bellamy House]

Kitsuki's head whips back around at the sound of the door, and after a (presumed) word from Obriane, she can start connecting some dots. Someone was in their home, she doesn't know what they were doing yet, but she has to assume the worst until she knows. She turns back to the window and spies the figure running away.

She's honestly in no shape to give chase. Being pregnant at all would be enough, let along this burdened. She has one trick up her sleeve, though. With a shout and a flash like a sudden flame, Kitsuki thrusts herself towards the window and simply vanishes. She can be spied through a charred pane of glass, with a melted hole in its middle, an instant later, standing out on the sidewalk.

The chasing problem remains, however, and she did not intercept whoever was in their home. With a sweeping gesture a wall of white flame gouts out of the ground ten feet in front of Sirena. The barrier is accompanied by an amplified voice. "STOP!"

What might not be immediately apparent is that this white flame is spiritual in nature and can't burn living flesh. It sure looks convincing, though. The air even ripples, as though super heated. Hopefully it's convincing enough to slow her down.

[Morty]

[Mouchabière Residence]

"Hmm. Probably not, no. I don't know on what basis we're seeing these memories," Sophie admits. "Seeing the Exaltation's last moments with him was logical enough. This seems like just another day in his life. Either way we should leave these two lovebirds alone and see what we find next."

[Halae]

[Mouchabière Residence]

Trick raises an eyebrow. She can't help but notice that Sophie had waited until after the two hot men had finished up with one another, "Right. Well, lead on. Hopefully the next one isn't so voyeuristic."

[Keeper]

Bed Talk

"Well... I met with one of the leaders of VIGIL the other day actually. Did I mention that? I should probably tell you more of what's going on in my life..." Jaahlyn gives him a sheepish smile. "They wanted to apologize to me actually since one of their members had mistaken me for a demon." Though this is a fact she quickly moves on from. "But yes, they do want to prevent murders but it's harder when it's systematic. They can take down a killer or even an whole organization of them, but constantly protecting them from hundreds if not thousands of potential ones? That's a lot harder. Especially since they would be associating themselves to demons too then." She let's out a small sigh.
"It's a real mess. It might just be the best idea though so thanks." The satyr nuzzles in closer to him.

Bed Talk

Jim smiles, happy to be close to her. "You're welcome. Though I'm sorry I can't be more directly helpful about this whole thing. It sounds like a mess. And a half."
And more than that still.

[Morty]

[Mouchabière Residence]

Sophie has some jokes lined up about how maybe next time they'll see him with two men and one of them will be more to Trick's taste, but she decides not to press the teasing too far.

As the couple depart from this memory onto the next, they'll see that it takes place in a city or a town of some kind. A number of buildings are located near a canal and are currently in the process of being torn down. Aside from mortal workers, there's a number of supernatural creatures participating. A number of blood-red giant monstrous apes and what looks like worms made of rock and soil are tearing down the buildings. Sophie's predecessor is overseeing the works, but is also confronted by a crowd of angry, desperate people and a towering man with very dark skin and blonde hair and beard, tied into thick braids.

"My lord, please! Where are we supposed to go? It will take even you years to build new houses!"

"You will be provided for." The Solar isn't looking at the mortal who is pleading with him. His eyes are fixed on the demolition efforts. There's a very unsettling gleam in those eyes. "I never should have built this residential area. It will be underwater if a flood should happen. And the buildings are packed too closely together. I will build new houses and they will be perfect."

"This... this is folly." The large man tosses a pair of ornate, white metal gauntlets off his hands. They sink into the earth below his feet. "I will not destroy what I helped build on your whim. These houses are not yours to destroy as if they were a clay jug you're not satisfied with."

[Halae]

[Mouchabière Residence]

Trick grimaces as she pulls Sophie into a hug, looking out across the destruction, "And there it is. Perfectionism, and nobody to stop him from making it a reality, with no plan. That's a lot of lives ruined."

[Shadowcaller]

[Bellamy House]

Kitsuki's head whips back around at the sound of the door, and after a (presumed) word from Obriane, she can start connecting some dots. Someone was in their home, she doesn't know what they were doing yet, but she has to assume the worst until she knows. She turns back to the window and spies the figure running away.

She's honestly in no shape to give chase. Being pregnant at all would be enough, let along this burdened. She has one trick up her sleeve, though. With a shout and a flash like a sudden flame, Kitsuki thrusts herself towards the window and simply vanishes. She can be spied through a charred pane of glass, with a melted hole in its middle, an instant later, standing out on the sidewalk.

The chasing problem remains, however, and she did not intercept whoever was in their home. With a sweeping gesture a wall of white flame gouts out of the ground ten feet in front of Sirena. The barrier is accompanied by an amplified voice. "STOP!"

What might not be immediately apparent is that this white flame is spiritual in nature and can't burn living flesh. It sure looks convincing, though. The air even ripples, as though super heated. Hopefully it's convincing enough to slow her down.

[Bellamy House]

Kitty manages to do more than Obriane who isn't nearly fast enough to act when the intruder darts away. She wanted to but she wasn't even sure what she should do. Attack her? Grab her? She had punched a kid her age once and that had caused her father to raise his voice against her for the first and only time that she could ever recall. Something which still stuck with her to this day.

So it would take a moment to even come to terms with that idea. She would start to run after her but it would be far too late to stop her getting away unless she slows down or stops soon.

► SHOW SPOILER

[Spookysitting]

"I dunno how well this will help," Leis frets, "I think your mom was saying that this is for making it easier for spirits to possess you, and she'd be very upset if that happens." Her hands are already moving when she says this though, and soon enough the mask is tied securely.

The tiefling looks up through the doorway with concern as she finishes the knot. It's not good that they're all separated like this. She moves to grab one of the rods, turning it over in consideration - then jumps when Jaazha speaks up. "Oh! Um, one of the ghosts cast a spell on me, I think." She glances down at the short skirt again with mild annoyance. "We might want to go get the rest of your sisters before they cast any weird spells on them too."

[Spookysitting]

Leis would know that the masks alone wouldn't create a link between the host and the spirit. Usually one at least had to take a mind-altering drug was required to get in tune to the spirit world. Of course, both children and tieflings had it easier than most as their minds were more open to spiritual influence. So a tiefling child would be particularly attuned, for better or worse.

Eshe can feel as if something large is looking over her shoulder as she puts on the mask on. Astrana had made sure to take them to a zoo at an early age so she would know what a rhino smells like and that scent now penetrates the air. The almost overwhelming musk of such a big animal.
But as she smells it she gets the idea that it smells her too, a sign of curiosity.
However, her mother has taught her that while rhino's don't see all that well they have a quite acute sense of smell. So while it's easy getting close to a rhino when there's a upwind they can detect people from quite a distance otherwise and decide to investigate.
And how does a curious rhino investigate something? They charge in, something which this spirit might just do if provoked. What does that mean in this context? She has no idea, but if there's anything Astrana has urged it is caution when it comes to animals. Always show them respect no matter how harmless they might seem.

Meanwhile, Leis and the girls can hear the ghosts rummaging around out there but they won't be able to see them. Whatever they're doing isn't especially loud at least which is probably a good sign. Or a bad one.

Bed Talk

"It feels like I'm the biggest mess at this point which is why I'm so glad I got you right now. Someone to lean on, to talk to. The gods know I need it more than ever right now..." Jaahlyn murmurs before she slowly seem to drift off into sleep.

[Morty]

[Mouchabière Residence]

"Get out of my sight!" the Solar shouts at the Dragon-Blooded, his eyes almost wild and his jaw clenched. "I will finish these works without your help, if you doubt my plan enough to erode your loyalty."

Sophie leans against Trick and sighs.

"I was expecting we'd see something like it. He seems convinced about his own infallibility. And the man who refused his orders... I think that's one of the Dragon-Blooded. Witnessing such outbursts from other Solars must have pushed them into open rebellion."

[Ironsmith]

[Bloodplunder Residence]

"There wouldn't be much point in doing that." Aikobaz points out. "We're still in a dream, remember? Nothing we do here is going to affect the people out there. Not for real." She gestures out over the collection of yurts. "Unless you want to live out a fantasy of being the one to provide them with fresh water just now, I..."

...Well, actually, that wouldn't be a bad use of their time. Maybe not productive, but... they are in a dream. Maybe it'd be a good idea to make sure Aigothurz gets to have a pleasant one.

"...You know what? Never mind all of that. Let's go."

[Uninvited]

"...That's, um... yeah, that's what we're all here to talk about." Siana agrees simply. "...Sorry, I just... thought it might be a good idea to get that over with. Your moms should know what happened, and it wouldn't be good to give them the impression that any of us were withholding that information."

...Maybe that wasn't the right call, in hindsight. Maybe Ana and Stasia wanted to keep the details of last night under wraps. Maybe this was like that time with MERC, and letting everyone in on what happened was just going to cause more panic and embarrassment. She should have done now like she did then and sworn herself to secrecy.

...Absum, give me strength. Siana thinks to herself as she stands there, awkwardly shuffling between her good foot and her cane.

[Reinholdt]

[Bellamy House]

"MANJA!" Reinholdt exclaims upon noticing the stranger with his daughter in her arms. He certainly didn't notice that the glass had been melted as he immediately dives through it, prepared for shards and shattering and ultimately dramatic exit with little context. Instead he has to deal with the intense heat of molten glass as he flies at Sirena.

"Owowowohgodowfuckowow." The pain doesn't stop Rein from flying after Sirena in a desperate dad move, but it does prevent him from saying the important things, like all the cool one liners you can make after leaping through a window. He's pretty fast when he's flying though, Sirena won't have a lead for long.

[Halae]

[Mouchabière Residence]

"This is something we're going to have to stay cognizant of, dear," Trick says, nuzzling her face into Sophie's hair, "Keeping you grounded, keeping the power from going to your head. I've had a few times like that myself, and I'm nowhere near as strong as you're capable of being."

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder House- Dreaming of a Winter Wonderland, But It's Spring

"It is just a dream. And this has helped me greatly. I will rebuild this city, and make it my capital. If that aqueduct can be repaired, at least. As it stands, I don't know enough about civic engineering to figure out what I'd need to do to fix it. Let's go to the camp anyway." Aigothurz grins and they'll find themselves surrounded by yurts and busy individuals, mostly orcs or heavily orc-blooded hybrids, though there's a few humans here and there, as well as other races. The yurts are goat wool and hide stitched together, with low wooden doors painted bright colours. There's a few exceptions; notably the one Aigothurz is heading towards now. That one is large, with faded silk panels sewn into it. "That's my father's house, which he shares with my mother and their wife. I'm not sure how prophetic this will be; this is where I left my family camp. They'll have moved since, and I don't know enough to hazard a guess as to where. Depends on rain, his dreams, and the reports of the scouts."

[Morty]

[Mouchabière Residence]

Sophie shudders as she watches her predecessor order his soldiers and demons to keep complaining citizens away from him.

"I know. I feel it sometimes. The power under the surface... the feeling that I know better than others and can bring them around to my point of view so easily. So why not just tell everyone what to do and have them do it?"

[Halae]

[Mouchabière Residence]

Trick runs her fingers through Sophie's hair, "Because we have grounding. We understand the needs of those around us, and want to help them. Not help ourselves, not finish our projects, but see to their emotional state."

Calming words. Nothing that Sophie doesn't already know, but important to repeat.

[Morty]

[Mouchabière Residence]

"I'm so lucky to have you." Sophie reaches up to give Trick a kiss on the cheek. While she enjoys being married to someone a lot taller than she is, it can make things difficult. "And all my friends and coworkers who keep me grounded. Does Toby count, I wonder." With that quip to lighten the mood, she looks at the scene again. "We've seen enough here, I think. And we need to go deeper. Whatever that memory I had was about, it strikes me as having happened long before this man was born."

[Thursday Violist]

[Bellamy House]

The wall of flame is, in fact, fairly effective at getting Sirena to pause.
Her computer didn't warn her that she'd have to worry about a sudden wall of scorching flame! And, even though Sirena's absolutely confident that she could get through it fine, what about the kid? Toddlers can't survive getting burned up! Sirena glances back to see what kind of awful vigilante would rather painfully burn a kid to death than let them get kidnapped.
. . .
And she sees that she's very rapidly losing her head-start.
At this rate, her robots that she had out prepared will be too far away to help her!
Um.
Um um um um
um um um um um umumumum umumumum

Sirena types out something really quick, and her watch creates a pink energy shield around Manja to protect her from the fire.
And she's really got to get going or she'll be caught and ganged up on. Sure, she still might be able to accomplish her goal of disrupting things, but if that happens she won't be able to see for herself whether or not she was successful!

Sirena closes her eyes, exhales, double-checks Manja's energy shield, and runs through the flame wall, fully expecting to get burned. And is incredibly dismayed when she immediately discovers it wasn't even capable of burning her or Manja in the first place.
She got straight-up fooled by some dumb illusory fire!

The kidnapper starts sprinting again, but has completely lost her head-start.
...
Really, it's only a matter of time before someone catches up. Even with her battle form boosting her strength and speed, it's not enough to outrun everybody especially after stopping for so long in front of the spirit-fire.



As a result of the reaction of everyone else, Harley tries to grab the hologram Manja to...well, she's not exactly sure why.
But, as expected, her arms just go straight through the hologram.

Her brain breaks as she tries to process what's going on.
Manja's not here
How?
Manja's out there
Once it's had time to restart, dozens of thoughts fly through her head, trying to come up with why and how and more complex thoughts such as is this all a distraction and this is all my fault and if this is another assassination attempt, what's going to happen next...

Since Rein is chasing after, Harley figures she probably doesn't have to worry. In that case, the new worst case scenario, Harley thinks, is if this was a distraction to draw everyone's attention away from Obriane and Kitsuki's kids.
To follow up on that thought, she checks if the other kids were also illusions (they're not) or if it was just Manja (it was just her), and forcefully tells them, "Stay together, don't move," at least until both Kitsuki and Obriane are back in here to watch over them.

[Bellamy House]

► SHOW SPOILER

Kitsuki's head whips back around at the sound of the door, and after a (presumed) word from Obriane, she can start connecting some dots. Someone was in their home, she doesn't know what they were doing yet, but she has to assume the worst until she knows. She turns back to the window and spies the figure running away.

She's honestly in no shape to give chase. Being pregnant at all would be enough, let along this burdened. She has one trick up her sleeve, though. With a shout and a flash like a sudden flame, Kitsuki thrusts herself towards the window and simply vanishes. She can be spied through a charred pane of glass, with a melted hole in its middle, an instant later, standing out on the sidewalk.

The chasing problem remains, however, and she did not intercept whoever was in their home. With a sweeping gesture a wall of white flame gouts out of the ground ten feet in front of Sirena. The barrier is accompanied by an amplified voice. "STOP!"

What might not be immediately apparent is that this white flame is spiritual in nature and can't burn living flesh. It sure looks convincing, though. The air even ripples, as though super heated. Hopefully it's convincing enough to slow her down.

[Bellamy House]

► SHOW SPOILER

Kitty manages to do more than Obriane who isn't nearly fast enough to act when the intruder darts away. She wanted to but she wasn't even sure what she should do. Attack her? Grab her? She had punched a kid her age once and that had caused her father to raise his voice against her for the first and only time that she could ever recall. Something which still stuck with her to this day.

So it would take a moment to even come to terms with that idea. She would start to run after her but it would be far too late to stop her getting away unless she slows down or stops soon.

[Bellamy House]

► SHOW SPOILER

"MANJA!" Reinholdt exclaims upon noticing the stranger with his daughter in her arms. He certainly didn't notice that the glass had been melted as he immediately dives through it, prepared for shards and shattering and ultimately dramatic exit with little context. Instead he has to deal with the intense heat of molten glass as he flies at Sirena.

"Owowowohgodowfuckowow." The pain doesn't stop Rein from flying after Sirena in a desperate dad move, but it does prevent him from saying the important things, like all the cool one liners you can make after leaping through a window. He's pretty fast when he's flying though, Sirena won't have a lead for long.

[Ironsmith]

[Bloodplunder House - Just Not Nana's]

"That depends on how you're looking at it." Aikobaz explains as they walk toward the yurt, eying a passing family of ducks warily. "If you think of this as your father's house as you left it, then yeah, it won't be up-to-date, it'll be as you remember it. If you think of it as your father's house as it is now, it's going to be accurate in every sense but the location. If you think of it as your father's house as it will be when you see him again, it's... probably going to be different, but there's no anticipating how. Especially if you approach it with some conceit of what might happen, such as worry that he may be attacked and killed by another tribe while you're gone, or if you think he will have taken on at least one more wife in your absence. You might end up dreaming those things into being, and end up clashing with reality as a result. You see?"

Aikobaz stops short of the yurt's entrance, stepping to one side. "Regardless, he's your father. After you."

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder House- Not Nana's

Aigothurz nods slowly as Aikobaz explains how they work. He's... not sure how he's thinking of it, so he's not sure what to expect when they go in. They'll find out, he guesses, on the status of his bed. "When he married again, he needed my mother's permission and acceptance, and Silverleaf had to court the pair of them. Mum still only agreed after Father gave her the best stud from his herd. Not because she was uncertain about Silverleaf, but because she wanted to be sure Dad was." Silverleaf is not a very orcy name, though there's not much time for questions before Aigothurz knocks hard on the door and opens it.

Inside, the yurt seems comfortable. the floor covered in sheets of brightly-coloured felt, save near the central fire pit. There's some supporting poles, but mostly the wooden frame is self-supporting. There's eight low beds near the outside, as well as low wooden tables decorated with brass urns, ceramic pots, and a collection of whale teeth carved with nautical scenes. There's four people present, a pregnant orc woman in her thirties with skin the same shade as Aigothurz' wearing a very loose robe, a quarter-human man slightly older, with surprisingly human teeth wearing a pair of dark linen trousers decorated with glass beads and a necklace of small skulls, hagstones, and a very large tooth all on a braided leather cord, an orc girl aged about eight wearing a sleeveless blue dress and hefting an axe, and finally a late twenties-looking halfling woman with long silver hair, wearing a robe like the orc woman's. The halfling notices the newcomers first, and gets up with a massive grin. "Aigo! This is a surprise!" She'll run over and leap into Aigothurz' arms for a hug.
"Hello, son. Aikobaz. A nice dream you cooked up here."

[Ironsmith]

[Bloodplunder House - Not Nana's]

Aikobaz flinches as she's addressed directly, by someone who should not by any means actually know her name, or that they're meeting in a dream. Immediately, she's questioning if they've accidentally let a psychic into their shared dream (not good; last time that happened was with Brignole, and she'd rather not do that again) or if it's interference from Aigothurz, who doesn't seem to quite understand how the shared dream works and is assuming (and therefore willing) that the shaman would be as aware of the dream as they are.

The latter seems more likely, she thinks. And if Aigothurz is dreaming that his father knows her on a first-name basis, she concludes he thinks they'll meet on such terms at a later date.

As family.

Aikobaz won't notice, but as she returns the greeting, her wardrobe is going to change, resembling the outfits of the people in front of her, most notably that of the orc all but confirmed to be the chief's wife. "...Hello." She says back, giving an awkward little wave.

[Halae]

[Mouchabière Residence]

"I'm so lucky to have you." Sophie reaches up to give Trick a kiss on the cheek. While she enjoys being married to someone a lot taller than she is, it can make things difficult. "And all my friends and coworkers who keep me grounded. Does Toby count, I wonder." With that quip to lighten the mood, she looks at the scene again. "We've seen enough here, I think. And we need to go deeper. Whatever that memory I had was about, it strikes me as having happened long before this man was born."

[Mouchabière Residence]

"Should we go to the deepest parts, then?" Trick prompts, "The deepest memories are often the strongest, most important ones."

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder House - Not Nana's

The bare chested mostly-orc smiles at Aikobaz' discomfort. "Relax, my real self probably isn't aware of this dream. If he is, he can't interfere with it. Aigothurz expects me to know things I shouldn't, and by the time you actually meet me he will know your name, even if he isn't aware of this dream. And he probably isn't. Aigothurz forgot the time differential; this world doesn't orbit at the same rate as the Nexus', it has twenty-five hours in a day. You might be dreaming, but right now it's the middle of the day for me." Which means if he does dream the dream, it won't be in time to interfere.
"Oh, ignore all that! I'm Silverleaf, I'm Aigo's halfmother. That's Urgabash, he's Aigo's dad, and that's Shabaan, our wife and Aigo's mother. Inside her is Aigo's younger sister, she's not been named yet. It's bad luck, y'know." The halfling's speaking quite rapidly and excitedly. "I'm so happy to meet you! Aigothurz' never was willing to court much in the tribes. Too much pressure, too many suitors, y'know. He's gonna conquer the world, y'know."
"Silvy! We aren't courting. She's... she's a cousin, sort of." Aigothurz is a little exasperated about his half-mother's enthusiasm.

[Ironsmith]

[Bloodplunder House - Not in Nana's Anymore]

Aikobaz gives a little sigh and shakes her head, barely hiding an amused smirk. Yup. These are Aigothurz's relatives, all right. "Technically, we aren't related in any way except being under the same roof for the moment." The empress points out, deciding to get in on the ribbing. "But I'd hardly call what we're doing 'courting'. He hasn't even brought me the head of one of my worst enemies yet." She gives Urgabash a little shrug and a playful roll of her eyes, all but stating this was on the level of forgetting to get her a card on her birthday.

Meanwhile, the entrance to the yurt suddenly finds itself occupied by a small waterfowl, which slowly waddles into the room, honks at the pregnant orc, and settles in next to her, nesting in a convenient blanket.

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder House - Not in Nana's Anymore

"You're an empress from a world I can't get to, I'm a warrior destined to be a warlord but currently without armies, generals, or anything like that. I don't know how you expect me to find your worst enemies to deliver their heads to you. Besides, all the ones I know about you've already turned into ducks, slaughtered, and cooked for their families." Aigothurz might be mistaken on the last point, but Aikobaz has several times commented on eating her enemies once they've run a fowl of her power.

After that comment, which has succeeded in temporarily shutting up Silverleaf- a tricky accomplishment for many halflings- Aigothurz will continue. "This is Empress Aikobaz the Third, she found herself in the Nexus without her power or palace or, indeed, her empire. Just the contents of her bedroom. Nana's basically adopted her as another granddaughter. Which makes courtship a... little tricky, all told." Both because they're spending enough time together they might already be either living together or siblings, which would put pressure on the relationship, and because of the power imbalance between a ruler who's lost it all, possibly never to regain it and someone destined to take it all but hasn't yet. If it takes Aikobaz too long to rediscover her empire, then Aigothurz' own success might fuel jealousy and resentment.

[Ironsmith]

[Bloodplunder House - Not in Nana's Anymore]

"Well, there's always Brignole." Aikobaz quips, with a sardonic smirk on her face. Even as much as she loathed the other girl, siccing a warlord on her with orders to bring back her head would be a bit much, unless Aigothurz wanted to get off on a technicality by bringing the rest of her, still attached, as well.

Her smile fades a bit when Aigothurz mentions her preferred method of execution; reminders have been popping up all over the camp, and that last mention is a bit too much to keep it out of her mind entirely. "...Ah, well, not... not exactly..."

Outside, some of the other tribesmen can be heard yelling and clamoring to arms, filling the air with a crescendo of panic and anger. A vaguely feminine, but very commanding, voice can be heard a little farther away, and a few more mallards dart into the yurt, heads low, diving for any cover they can find.

"Pleased to make your... make your acquaintance." Aikobaz says diplomatically as the chaos continues around her, trying and evidently failing to keep her mind on the conversation. "I'm certain our meeting in reality will be very-"

"URGABASH! I WOULD HAVE WORDS WITH YOU! YOU AND ALL OF YOUR KIN!"

Aikobaz sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, shaking her head. "...Lovely."

[Earl of Purple]

Bloodplunder House- Not Nana's

"That'd get me expelled. And then sent to superhell, which is probably run by her mother." So all in all, a bad idea.

But then the booming voice! Urgabash snarls and stands up, striding towards the door- which bangs open before he gets there, with nobody visible opening it (because Aigothurz can't see ghosts, and has inadvertently altered Urgabash enough that his abilities and knowledge aren't accurate). He's followed by Aigothurz, hand on the hatchet at his waist, whilst Silverleaf helps her wife up and will escort her to the door, aided by the eight-year-old I forgot to introduce. Others will also show up; a younger quarter-human orc, holding a double-ended spear and the hand of a male human with no clothes on, who is also holding a spear. A pair of four-year-olds clutching wooden swords. A very short orcling with silver hair, a few years younger than Aigothurz and swinging a bolas. A frail and quite old one-eyed half-orc leaning on a walking stick and holding a goat horn to his ear. A halfling man with a spikey silver hair in multicoloured robes and lots of jewellery, riding a pygmy camel.

Ultimately, however, the whole tribe's united by bonds of blood and loyalty; these are simply the ones related closest to Urgabash in various ways.

[Morty]

[Mouchabière Residence]

"Yes, I think so. Maybe we'll be able to recognize those relating to whatever it was I half-remembered. It must have been some great war, between the Solar Exalted and something very powerful. I wonder if other Exalted fought beside them back then, not against them."

She'll lead Trick away from this memory. The road leads on, with more shimmering memories alongside it. Soon the memories belonging to Sophie's immediate predecessor will fade away, replaced by someone who looks to have been an orphan girl in a very different place before being chosen. But they must go deeper still.

[Halae]

[Mouchabière Residence]

Trick will be memorizing different examples of bearers of the exaltation. The handsome diplomat. The oprhan girl. Where they ended up at the end of their lives. It should help to paint a picture of where all these people were and how they got there.

[Morty]

[Mouchabière Residence]

As the two women pass by the memories, they'll see many other bearers of the Exaltation. They come from all walks of life, shapes, colors and genders. They're diplomats, brokers, criminal masterminds, storytellers, wayfarers and sailors. What connects them is their ability to forge and utilise connections with people and places.

Finally, Sophie stops near a memory deep in the past. It appears to show an airship sailing above a forest... but it's not a forest of trees. It's a forest of clawed hands in an alien landscape. The bearer of the Exaltation seems to be the captain of the ship, a woman with skin darker than Sophie's and deep purple hair in long, thick braids. She steers the airship into the centre of the arm-forest with grim purpose.

[Gullara]

[Spookysitting]

Eshe's nose wrinkles under the mask, but she's also fascinated! She never knew the mask would be like this! "Hi mister rhyno. Can you help us with the ghosts?" She asks.

Jaazha gives Eshe a concerned look, but keeps focused on the matter at hand. "Yeah, but you gotta lead the way out. The ghosts could be right outside." She frets.


Meanwhile the other kids are still huddled in the closet. "It must've went past by now." Rosabel complains quietly.

"You don't know that." Orlane protests. Despite that, Rosabel cracks the closet door open to take a peek.

[Bellamy House]

Kitsuki curses to herself, She would've preferred that this person never realized the actual lack of danger so quickly. She's trying to quickly plan her next move when instead she doubles over, bracing a hand against her belly. Oh... okay she's not going to be able to chase (if that was even a good idea in the first place).

Inside the three toddlers are quite distraught. Su-Jin is loudly crying and Chaytan is insisting mommy should come back. None of them seem keen on disobeying Harley's instructions at least.

[Halae]

[Mouchabière Residence]

Trick lets out a hiss under her breath as she looks at the forest of hands, "Like the Far Realm. Whatever that is, it's probably an enormous threat."