Inside

[quillpleasant]

Cry Havoc

The elf stares at Raheeda in utter shock. Of all the reactions she expected, this wasn't one of them, and she seems entirely unsure of how to handle it. After a few moments she gingerly pats her on the back.

"Ah... don't worry. I won't kill you. Let's just... let's just get you onto the ground, yeah? I'll kill the guy myself, okay? Is that better?" Holding the yuan ti as if she was made of glass, Cea descends down towards the street, at a much slower pace than her ascent.

And on the street, Wenomir is busy breaking up a fight. His polearm yanks the masked elf backwards off Kothar, sending it sprawling on the street. Snarling, the undead flips around and scuttles towards the swordsman like a giant spider, arm stumps clacking against the cobblestone.

"Wait!" At the blind elf's command, his undead creation stops in its tracks, black tongue lolling out between bleeding gums.

"My brother just... gets excited, you know?" The elf's voice is soft and halting, each word an effort. "I'm sure he didn't... didn't mean anything by it." He sniffs the air, and turns his head towards the angelephant's corpse. "Just let me get my other friend and we'll leave you all alone... okay?"

"Not okay!" Cea's voice rings out as she touches down about twenty feet behind the blind elf, allowing Raheeda to disembark. "You and me, swordsman. We need to finish this." To Raheeda, she whispers "Go on, get out of here before things get ugly again. Better yet, take my brother with you, it's not safe for him here either."

---

Draco Street Bakery

Simon raises a tiny eyebrow at Ambrosia's report. That's just... weird. He nods slowly in agreement with Rowan.

"Well, you're half right. The world I was born on had portals, but they were magic, not tech. I escaped through one of them, and the world I ended up on didn't have magic or tech portals. I didn't even know for sure it had dragons until I met one."

He flicks out a forked tongue as he thinks. "The weird thing is, I was assuming it was like, a random phenomena. But labs and machines implies that there's an intelligence behind this, that it was done to me intentionally. But why me? I was just some guy."

---

Cursed

With a great degree of iron will, Harley does not shudder at Basiil's touch. Keeping his breath slow and even, he just watches, seemingly unperturbed. Which is a far cry from his inner state.

"If I do have some divinity left, it would be a lot different than yours. When I was a god I didn't care much about... duty and blessings and stuff." Yeah, his divinity is yucky and these guys definitely don't want it. Keep thinking that and maybe it'll be true.

He listens to the conversation with Raheeda, his eyes narrowing. Some of this he's already guessed, even if the specifics were unknown to him. But with each word, his disgust with the whole thing grows until anger is almost radiating from him.

But he keeps it entirely contained, just giving the great one a mild smile. "Are you trying to convince me of your righteousness, or just making small talk? You know, surely, that people are a far cry from weeds?" He shakes his head disparagingly. "Certainly, some people are born more sickly. But it should always be their choice to continue their bloodline or not. To take that choice from them is to take away their agency, and their hope."

He clicks his tongue against his teeth dismissively. "A wise old friend of mine once told me that the greatest strength of a society is their ability to care for their weakest members. It's why humans have been so successful. Survival of the fittest is the rule of beasts, and any enlightened species should be above that kind of needless cruelty."

A shrug.

"But I don't think either of us will convince the other. And what do I know? I'm just a silly rabbit."

[Shadowcaller]

Cry Havoc

Raheeda only sniffs in response, trying to stifle another cry. But her words seem to calm her down at the very least while they're descending. .
"I- I wish you wouldn't kill anyone." She weakly remarks as they touch down on the street, using her spear to prompt herself up into a standing position.

Slowly turning around she spots Kothar, Wenomir and the other elves and gives them a feeble yet friendly wave. Then wiping off all the snot coming out her nose as she cried with the sleeve of her robe she calls out. "Hi! I'm Raheeda! Nice to meet you!" She calls out.
Of course she didn't expect Kothar or the apparently undead elf to wave back, or even notice her, but introductions were important.

But then her attention is drawn to Cea, widening dramatically as she hears what she has to say. Then a moment later she whispers back. "Why do you have to defeat him? Is he your archenemy?"

Draco Street Bakery

"But you were a person from another world?" Ambrosia observes, feeling that she needed some clarification on that part.

"It probably didn't make you unique but it might have been a quality this intelligence was looking for. That or simply getting eaten by a dragon. Since it might have been pure happenstance that this intelligence came across the dragon while you were being eaten or digested by them and decided to make you a part of their experiment." Or all or some of his memories were false but she didn't want to concern him too much with mere speculation.

"All sort of scenarios are possible given how little we know right now and unfortunately it's stretching the limits of my expertise as this seem unconnected to dragons as far as I can tell." Even if the intelligence was another dragon it was using technology that she had no knowledge of.

"However, I did see that not only the dragons body but its mind was also a part of you, Simon. Rowan described that it seemed to 'awaken' while you were sleeping. You have any idea what triggered this? Since it could have been one of Simon's dreams, or the emotional reaction to the dream rather. It might help if you go over what happened to me in detail."

More speculation but given that embarrassment triggered a physical transformation another emotion could trigger a mind shift of sort perhaps. Or it was just Simon's mind slumbering that made it able to take charge. It was possible that it was personality that took over in response to potential danger. Like say, being 'attacked' while sleeping.

Cursed

"I happen to put a lot of passion and pride into what I do." As is evidenced by the way they say it, even if their expression betrays little in the way of emotions.

"So I suppose you could say its 'small talk' then given, as you just observed, the fundamental barrier that exists between us and the humans you feel such sympathies for. However, I'm not sure that we're actually talking about the same humans. Since the ones I know actually have a very similar society structure to ours. Except they call their weeds 'poor' or 'peasants' and they don't take care of them especially well. Mostly they just let them work themselves to death for the rest. Quite unlike the humans you and your friend describes."

Basiil pauses as if considering something. Perhaps even getting lost in their own thoughts for a moment as their second head suddenly prompts them.

"The measurements? We keep getting distracted."

Basiil shakes their head as if waking up from a day dream. "Ah, yes. My apologies. You want to get this over with."

They now bring the measurement tape around Harley's chest. It still feels warm from the residue heat of his arms, much like the scales of Basiil's hands. "We do try to see the potential in everything though. Or at least I do." Harley can now feel the snake-being poke their finger into his nipple while wrapping the measurement tape around him. "For instance, your chest is what most evaluators would consider optimal, at least for a human. You got the nippels, the mammary gland, the whole package."

Harley might catch a glimpse of Basiil's second head rolling their snake-like eyes in a bizarrely human manner. If Harley had ever seen a snake up close before he's pretty sure their eyes weren't supposed to be able to move like that.

"However, Raheeda has the worst of both worlds. Large protruding sacks of fat and not even the utility of the glands to go with them." Holding onto the measurement tape with one hand, Basiil gestures at Raheeda with the other. "Has he already seen them? If not-" But they doesn't have time to finish the question since her reaction is immediate and predictable.

"What? No!" Her tiny nostrils flare up and her gaze becomes as intense. Harley might be reminded of that one time when she bit the cult leader back at the Ossuary. Shortly before her jaws extended and she bared her poisonous fangs she had this exact expression.

He might also note that there's a lack of hesitation or indeed doubt as to what Basiil was asking of her, as if such a request was already a distinct possibility in, and probably on, her mind. The tension which he's seen building in her all unleashed into a single venomous bite of words.

Basiil looks puzzled at her reaction, perhaps even a bit shocked as even his second head turns to look Raheeda's way. Whatever reaction they expected out of her it wasn't that. "Interesting." They pause as if giving the event some more thought before turning back to Harley.

"But my point was that most evaluators can't look past such flaws yet I try to. Since while it doesn't match our physical, or indeed even practical, ideals I believe that their achievements can make up for such things."

Raheeda now shrinks back as their attention is no longer at her while clutching her spear closely. Her expression now unreadable.

[quillpleasant]

Cursed

Harley nods at Basiil's criticism of class structure. "You're right, there are parts of human society that are just as awful. And were I talking to a human in charge of those systems, I'd be arguing with them just as much, because it's equally evil to value people based on their wealth as how they were born. 'Humans are just as bad' isn't, uh, the defense you want." He shrugs. "There are wonderful humans who take care of each other, and there are wonderful yuan ti as well." His eyes flicker towards Raheeda for a moment.

Then Basiil is poking his chest. He endures this minor indignity without flinching, despite thinking how bizarre it is. It's also noteworthy that the two heads don't seem to see eye to eye on everything. He wonders if they have one or two souls.

But when one of the heads starts insulting Raheeda, Harley tenses up immediately, hands clenching into fists.

"Hey! Stop being so cruel to her! I'm not going to sit idly by while you insult my friend for things that you perceive as flaws!" He stares at Basiil for a good few seconds, radiating fury. Then he looks over to Raheeda, his eyes turning sad. This must be incredibly hard for her, and he hates that there's nothing he can do about it.

Leaning back in the chair, he scoffs. "Besides, you clearly don't have the best grasp on human anatomy. It wouldn't matter if I had nipples or not, I have no use for them. Moon, what a weird thing to focus on." It would almost be laughable if he wasn't still so angry.

Harley waves a hand dismissively. "Just get on with it."

[Morty]

[Cry Havoc]

Wenomir was about to reply to the necromancer when his earlier opponent came back. At least now he has Kothar with him, which might even the odds.

"You're still angry that I broke up your mass murder?" he asks dismissively before glancing back at the necromancer. "Do you follow her? Or did she drag you here?"

[Shadowcaller]

Cursed

Basiil's eyes narrow as of all the things Harley just said one seemed to annoy them more than anything else. "I will have you know that human males have in more than one experiment shown themselves capable of-"
But before they can get into that they're suddenly interrupted by no one other than themselves.

"I couldn't agree more, let's get on with it." Their second head remarks, all of sudden in agreement with Harley.

Raheeda sticks out her (human) tongue in disgust at the whole thing and even the two attendants start to squirm uncomfortably.

"Fine, fine." Basiil hisses as they indeed do, this time without getting distracted every other minute. Now quickly going over everything above the waist. Every time Basiil speaks up about some new and strange topic about antonym they're quickly shut down by their other head which seems to have had enough of the "small talk".

Eventually however, Basiil starts measuring Harley's legs and will insist that he starts to remove the clothes below the waist too. Something which once again upset Raheeda. Once again lifting her spear in a threatening manner.

"I said no to that."

Both Basiil's head turn to her. "Now where is this coming from? First being bothered by your own form and now this? You really have let yourself be influence you to the point where you've forgotten your place. The body is something to be proud of." Sounds a bit strange considering that so far every yuan-ti Harley have come across have covered up most of their body.

Raheeda's response is to stare back at them, never lowering her spear.

"We did say something about her chest..." Basiil's second head reminds them.
"Oh, right. Of course."

A beat.

"Well, let's start with the samples then." They gesture for the attendants who now approaches Harley holding syringes they've somehow produced. "Blood and... well, let's just start with the blood."

[[brackets lover]]

A Real Arcade

Agate gasps as Asami just jumps off the edge, apparently, and rushes to the edge herself to look down. If Asami's OK, she's going to jump as well, since it's not like this is real reality. If Asami's plummeted into a spiked pit or has lost some more health, however, she's going to actually use the provided road.

[Security Room]

Eddie ignored the man with the briefcase in turn- if he pulled out a gun or something, he would be dealt with, but for the moment, the clerk could handle him.

Instead, he tapped the moogle on the shoulder, standing just out of easy grab range- the moogle would have to put himself off-balance to grab or strike at Eddie- and said "Please stop doing that."

[Spacy Invaders]

X-1 stared at Asami for a long moment, casually hanging upside down out of the bottom of his impossible mothership. Then the alien's "voice" was heard once again, although there was an odd sensation that he hadn't actually meant to broadcast these thoughts.

"Wait, AAC-1164's horrifying perversion of dimensional physics isn't recognized here? I'm a long way from home."

A beat.

"Wait, AAC-1164's horrifying perversion of dimensional physics isn't recognized here! I've dropped completely out of my native multiverse beyond any hope of getting back!"

Strangely, the grey sounded pleased and excited about that fact. It re-focused on Asami.

"Thank you, small human. This is some of the best news you could have given me."

Another slightly out-of-synch blink as a transparent display popped up in front of X-1's face. The grey's mental voice went from pleased to the point of near-gloating to slightly confused concern. "Were you aware that you appear to have stellar fusion happening in your pants?"

[Security Room]

The moogle freezes up in shock. "Eep!" they shout in a high-pitched voice, turning around to face Eddie, "Umm... Its okay. I was told to do this." They proceed to throw the balloon at the security camera, casually beginning to float away from Eddie.

[Spacy Invaders]

Asami tilts his head as the alien continues, briefly looking down at his jeans, a look of unnerve on his face. He looks up and raises an eyebrow. "Uh-huh," he says suspiciously. This definitely warrants looking into.

[A Real Arcade]

Asami could be seen on a dry depression in the landscape with a mountain on the other side, her model appearing as no more than a few pixels, the health bar totally invisible. She seems to be moving slowly.

Granted that this is enough information to Agate that jumping down is safe enough and preferable to the skeletons climbing up the path, she'd quickly find that the jump triggered a fan akin to the ones in some race car games that shot out frigid air.

The two have come to some sort of dirt road, where Asami stood and crossed her arms and bent her knees, slouching forward. "_{Brrrr... Man, that was cold.}"

[quillpleasant]

Cursed

Harley considers adding that regardless of the capabilities of human males, he isn't planning on having a kid any time soon, if ever. But somehow bringing up children seems like the exact wrong thing to do in this situation, so he keeps his mouth shut and stops thinking about it, just in case.

As Basiil pokes and prods, Harley sits as still and relaxed as possible. It's not hard- as he said earlier, he's endured far worse than this, as his many scars can attest to. And although he keeps silent him, he's actually quite glad for the no nonsense head's commitment to staying on task. The fewer arguments in favor of culling he hears, the better.

When Basiil directs him to undress further, Harley shrugs and starts unhooking his belt, but pauses as Raheeda interjects. He shares a little bit of the great one's confusion as to why she cares so much. It's not something that he greatly objects to, simply because he doesn't care much what happens to him.

But then he thinks for a moment about if their positions were reversed, and he gets it. He rehooks his belt, giving Raheeda a nod of thanks.

"Take as much blood as you want. Syringes are a lot nicer than how people usually get it," he says, almost cheerfully. He loses a lot of blood on a pretty regular basis, so what's a little more?

[TeChameleon]

[Security Room]

Eddie moves after the moogle, just as casually, but never letting him get out of arm's reach. "No, you weren't." he says. "And even if you were, I'm going to stop you until things are clarified by the bosses, because obliterating all security footage is stupid, especially for a security test."

If the moogle tries to blind another security camera, or attempts to fly upwards out of Eddie's reach, he was going to get grabbed quite firmly. Otherwise, Eddie was willing to see where this went, and was remaining aware of the rest of the crowd; odds were good that this... whatever it was... wasn't working alone.

[Spacy Invaders]

The blink was even further out of synch this time, eyes opening and closing almost a full second apart.

"This is your usual condition? Having internal temperatures of <15 million Celsius> is normal for you?" the alien's mental voice asked uncertainly, the human temperature scale clearly an automated conversion from whatever scale the grey used- even the 'voice' was different.

The alien's tiny, lipless mouth was actually hanging open in shock. "This was... improbable... for humans of my native reality. Especially living humans. Even GLC-4421's experiments never managed to stabilize a human at that temperature, and they were insane even by the standards of my beloved idiots. Actually, I think they were deranged enough to have ended up on my "royal" flagship somewhere, and that's reserved for only the most lunatic of universe-ruining scientific stupidity."

X-1 looked Asami up and down more slowly. "To all surface appearances, you are a standard human, and the street is somehow not being reduced to superheated plasma. Would it be improper of me to inquire as to what exactly you are?"

[Reinholdt]

[Temperance Teahouse]

Ilpholin arrives here and requests a table for three. The Phyrexian nymph is in her normal purple hair and emerald black eyes today so as to be found more easily by those who will be joining her. Her informal black and gold dress is a little low cut: eye catching, but nothing particularly scandalous. She sits and orders a ginseng tea to serenely sip, mind in constant motion despite the general stillness of her body.

[Earl of Purple]

A Real Arcade

Agate screams the entire way down. In the arcade, this is likely distracting to anyone nearby. Not because it's cold, but because she's suddenly discovered she's terrified of falling, even with the fan slowing her fall.

"Are you OK, Asami?" Agate will go over and try to hug the star-girl, broadcasting her movements so it shouldn't be a surprise. Hopefully the dwarf magical girl's bodyheat is enough to provide some level of recuperation from the sudden blast of cold air that so hampered her friend.

[Shadowcaller]

[Temperance Teahouse]

Ambrosia only had partly purple hair. It was still mostly black though as she got older it only seemed to turn more purple. With her armor she too should be easily recognizable as she enters the teahouse.
After a moment sitting down at Ilpholin's table. There was something peculiar about the woman, the way spirits interacted with her that reminded her of something she couldn't put her finger on. Perhaps it was those black eyes reminding her of a certain kind of fey. Yet she was sure this woman wasn't one, or at least not the kind she feared.

"Ambrosia Ithil. It's nice to meet you." She introduces herself with a nod though waits with offering her hand as to see if it even was a practice Ilpholin held herself too.

[[brackets lover]]

[Security Room]

"Yes I was. You're the stupid one, stupid!" the moogle rebuttles before getting grabbed by Eddie in his attempt to continue on to the next camera, "Hey, lemme go, you doodoohead!"

Some people pulled out their phones and started recording. The man, having received his keys, moves to the deposit boxes in the other room.

[Spacy Invaders]

"Clearly, your science isn't as advanced as ours. We can easily make stuff that has, like..." Asami argues, pulling out his phone, "5 trillion degrees, wow."

He closes his eyes, looking to the side. "Uhh, yeah. So, why don't you try using one a' our thermometers instead. Prolly get a more accurate read that way."

[A Real Arcade]

Asami lifts her headset off, looking down awkwardly at Agate. "Uhh, yeah, I just... have to go to the bathroom now."

Of course, being this close to Agate, Asami can't help but blush, patting the dwarf on the head in the forceful and aggressively sort of way one would pet a dog if it let them.

[Keeper]

A Local Shrine

"Get rid of- no! They are symbolically important! And that is also literally their purpose! They scare away animals." insists the khakkhara. And perhaps it hints at a past Ryu can no longer remember.
The snake begins ascending into their impossibly to strike at Jade from above.

Draco Street Bakery

Rowan seems to consider their options.
"What if I made a special cookie for you while you were like this? Then when you switched back, I could use the magic in your stomach to track where your body is. Then we'd at least know if you were being sent back home or you were intercepted somewhere in the Nexus."

Temperance Teahouse

Spako Alrenn arrives at the teahouse. The winged kobold keeps a very neutral expression. But his brassy scales are highly polished, and his red uniform is impeccably clean. He lets his wings drape over him like a cloak as he takes a seat.
"Spako. I believe you're who I sent sent for." he says in a measured tone.
"Hello again, Ambrosia."

[TeChameleon]

[Security Room]

"You are damaging bank property, therefore I won't be letting you go." Eddie said calmly. He reached to the side of his head with his free hand and turned up the gain on his eye lights, a blazing yellow today, so that his face was reduced to little more than two burning eyes in the shadow of his hood.

The man moving into the safety deposit room was noted, but Eddie didn't attach any more importance to him than the movements of the other bank customers.

[Spacy Invaders]

"Would you be upset if I were to join you on the road?" X-1 thought at Asami. "My ship warping space like this is probably not amazing for the structural integrity of the Nexus, and I would like to speak with you further, at least for a few minutes."

It didn't bother reacting to Asami's claims of superiour technology; it'd heard similar nonsense claims from it's people often enough to recognize defensive dissembling when it saw it.

[quillpleasant]

Draco Street Bakery

"Yeah, this is the third world I've been to. Counting my home world," confirms Simon. He listens to Ambrosia, nodding his little head. She's right- there's way too many variables here. Without some more concrete information, it could really be any number of scenarios, and unfortunately the dragon scholar may not be able to figure it out herself.

But hey, progress is definitely being made!

"So I have a theory on what might have triggered the 'possession.' It was right after Rowan transformed my human body into this once, the next time I fell asleep in fact. So my guess is that maybe the transformation somehow endangered or shook up whatever balance we have, and then sleeping make it easier for another soul to influence the body."

He raises his wings in a shrug. "That's my best guess, at least. From what Rowan said, it made my eyes glow green and it spoke out loud through my mouth, but it didn't like, attack or anything. Just threatened. So I have my doubts as to if it could actually fully take over, since why wouldn't it if it could?"

At Rowan's cookie suggestion, Simon gasps audibly. "Dude! You're a genius! That's like, a really good idea. Wow, if it is in the Nexus we could just go there and kick everyone's ass!" His excitement seems to make him forget that in the stress of a life or death situation, he'd be forced to use his current tiny body instead of the big powerful one.

[Reinholdt]

[Temperance Teahouse]

"Ilpholin Xar'cha," the nymph replies pleasantly. "The pleasure's all mine." She inclines her head politely to each of them and does not attempt to initiate a hand shake, never being one for that tradition. Her emerald gaze wander the partially purple-haired person and the militaristic-like kobold, openly sizing each of them up. The armor is a distinctive choice for a pre-mission meeting, but the way Ambrosia moves in it suggests it's like a second skin.

There's a gentle wave of Ilpholin's hand at the table itself. "Feel free to order anything you'd like, it's on me."

[Shadowcaller]

Temperance Teahouse

Ambrosia gives a respectful nod to Spako. "Long time, no see as they say. How goes the dragon business?" She inquires before turning to Ilpholin as she asks them if they want anything.

"I will just have my usual blend." The scholar smiles gently. "The personnel here know me quite well by now." It was in fact her favorite spot to have an interview with every dragon capable and willing to enter. Usually they didn't even want to leave their lairs.

Draco Street Bakery

Simon's theory certainly wasn't bad and she trusted that he knew his own body better than most people. Though ironically, given how little time he had spent in it, he probably didn't.

But as interesting as his theory was, it was Rowan who genuinely surprised her. She had no idea that baking magic had so much utility. It probably even tasted a lot better than those magical potions people consumed.
"That's impressive, Rowan. I don't think I really understood just what your baking was capable of." She compliments, feeling that she needed to make it up for underestimating him due to his 'softer' appearance.

"But I should point out that this intelligence, if you're remembering this correctly, saved you from being devoured by a dragon, Simon. So if this actually leads to you finding them you should probably give them a chance to explain themselves before jumping directly to the ass-kicking. Furthermore, you might need this lab to survive as far as we know." Even if Simon seemed to be fully alive, as opposed to the dragon, the fact he remembers himself getting eaten suggested that things might not be so clear-cut.

[Earl of Purple]

A Real Arcade

"Right, you do that. I'll stay here. But, uh, hurry back, yeah? I'm not sure how much longer we've got before the money I put in runs out." Agate's a little disconcerted by the head-patting, as she's not a dog or a cat, and tries to avoid it without success. She'll let go of Asami so she can go to the loo.

[[brackets lover]]

[Security Room]

The moogle struggles for a few seconds, becoming increasingly distressed. At the sight of Eddie's eye lights, the moogle wailed, "WAAAAAAAAH!" Tears suddenly streamed down their eyes. It was clear everyone in the bank was looking at Eddie and the moogle now, a cacophony of judgemental whispers filling the room. The exception to this was the man in the deposit room, coming out without his briefcase and promptly joining in on staring at the scene in astonishment.

[Spacy Invaders]

Asami pulls out his phone, starting a timer on it. "Alright, a few minutes, then. Starting now."

[A Real Arcade]

Of course, Agate's reaction is what makes it fun. With a wave, Asami heads off and speedruns going to the bathroom, tripping over herself at least once.

Shortly afterwards, she returns, smiling friviously. "Guess whose back, back again~" she sings to Agate.

[bc56]

A Local Shrine
Jade frowns. "This thing's not an animal and we want to kill it, not scare it off! Being able to surprise it is more useful!" She leans back and raises the staff in both hands, trying to block the serpent's unexpected lunge. "How am I supposed to kill this thing?" she complains. She's never fought a spirit like this before.

Cry Havoc
Kothar glowers at the elf, not believing a word he says.
Then the other one starts slinging threats, and he tightens his grip on his weapon. He glances at Wenomir, waiting for a signal to engage. If they aren't coordinated here, the delay could be disastrous.
As soon as it's time, he'll charge at the undead elf again and try to bisect it with a sweep of his axe.

[Keeper]

Temperance Teahouse

"Oh, the fort is doing great. You should visit again some time. The kids are old enough to answer your questions now. We've wisely not had any new ones." Spako slips into his usual casual tone before reigning himself back into his Mission Voice.
"The House blend is fine for me."

Draco Street Bakery

Rowan isn't offended at being underestimated. It's kind of the point of the way he looks.
"My magic can do lots of things! Protect you from magic, make you feel stronger, make people smaller or fatter. I haven't done this sort of thing before but I could probably figure it out with some trial and error." Rowan's only restriction is that he can't really do flashy attack spells besides the one.

A Local Shrine

"I'm sorry the symbolic representation of my soul and willpower isn't practical enough for you." He sounds genuinely upset. The snake is also fairly upset about a staff being shoved into its face and thrown onto the ground.
"You could try beating it to death. Or shooting fire at it. An incantation usually isn't required for one this small."

[TeChameleon]

[Security Room]

Eddie had use the defensive 'I'm cute and harmless' act a few times himself, and recognized it when he saw it. Even so, he did not like the staring, much less the whispers, but he kept a firmly professional stance as a shield. "Sir, you have been damaging bank property." he declared loudly. "Please come with me and we can sort this out in a quieter setting." With that he started walking towards the employees-only section and an empty room.

The moogle could either follow along or... follow along. Barring teleportation magic- and even that could potentially be risky depending on how delicately tuned it was, given that Eddie would absorb a bit of it before the target popped out- the moogle was more than a little unlikely to be able to break his grasp without leaving an arm there. And even then, unless moogles had some hitherto unknown ability to drop their arms like a lizard dropping its tail, Eddie would simply move to keep the arm attached to the moogle, then resume his movement towards the conference room he was planning on going to.

As he moved, he spoke quietly into his radio, warning the other security guards that there was trouble happening, and that he did not think the... whatever this thing was... was acting alone.

[Spacy Invaders]

A hairless brow-ridge arched upwards at Asami setting an actual timer, but there was a briefly-broadcast sense of resignation... the telepathic equivalent of a shrug... that cut off with the feeling that it hadn't been supposed to be broadcast at all.

The alien took a step forwards that ended up with it right-side up and within conversational distance of Asami. Now that it could be seen more clearly, it... still looked exactly like the pop-culture image of a grey alien. Hairless, bulbous head, three long fingers on each hand, lacking both clothing and the things that clothing usually concealed, and a very dim aura of light that might or might not be visible in the daytime.

Simultaneous with the alien stepping out of it, the giant mothership retreated to above the roofline in an eye-searing jumble of non-movement, X-1 carefully not looking in that direction until it was finished.

"Thank you for your time, small human." it started. "As it would appear to be impropriety for me to inquire as to your exact nature, I will instead ask after what you know of the reality I now occupy. What manner of universe is this? Does it connect to others? Are you aware of any peculiarities of its physical makeup and rules? Where might I find the lizard-people in charge?"

[bc56]

A Local Shrine
"You know that's not what I meant!" Jade protests, "How was I supposed to know this is your true spiritual self or whatever?" Without really thinking about it, she releases the staff to look at it properly while arguing with it... Which leaves her wide open to attack. Hopefully her spiritual armor is as good as her power suit.

[quillpleasant]

Cry Havoc

Not everyone ignores Raheeda's greeting. The blind elf swivels around at the sound of her voice. "Oh... hello Raheeda! I'm Vyzan, and this is my brother Aranin." He gestures to the helmeted corpse that stands slavering beside him.

Wenomir's question seems to confuse Vyzan. "Neither? Cea is my sister. We escaped together, and now we're seeking a happy and peaceful life." He smiles serenely.

"No we're not!" snaps Cea, her annoyed tone suggesting this is a common disagreement. "I seek a lot of things, and peace isn't one of them. Right now," she glances at Raheeda, jerking her head at Wenomir. "I'm seeking revenge on the man who killed my brother."

"But..." Vyzan's milky eyes blink in confusion. "He was already dead. Remember?"

"It's the fucking principal of it! The swordsman thought he was alive, so he should be punished just the same," she replies, her shoulder mouth unhooking its teeth with a cracking sound. The three gleaming orbs are suddenly there, spinning around her erratically. "Besides, these are the kind of people who would kill you just for existing, Vyzan. Look how eager the lizard is to slice you to ribbons." She glowers at Kothar.

"I can't look..."

"You know what I mean!"

---

Draco Street Bakery

"Oh god, yeah you're totally right. Yeesh." Simon looks distinctly uncomfortable at the idea of needing the lab to survive. He had thought this was the afterlife upon arriving, and the idea that his life might actually be quite precarious sends a chill down his spine.

"So maybe just track them and find out information. Ass kicking pending on what we find." Either way, knowing seems like a good idea. Or does it? Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

But he's easily distracted by hyping up Rowan. "Yeah, isn't he cool? Just the baking skills alone are awesome, but my boo is to talented at magic! All that subtle stuff is way more impressive than like, flashy fireballs and stuff." More useful outside of life and death situations, certainly.

[Reinholdt]

[Temperance Teahouse]

"That right? Small world." The nymph waves down a waitress to get their teas. As she wanders back to the counter, Ilpholin returns her attention to the two before them. "The mission is simple enough. Retrieve the Spear of Jarowit. I believe there are three reasonable approaches that could be taken. Join the cult of personality and wait for an opportunity to get close enough. Infiltrate and extricate with a stealthy night approach. Or the smash and grab, forcing the spear into the open by aggressively calling out Jaryło. Casualties are undesired though, so I don't much favor the last option. What are your thoughts?"

[Shadowcaller]

Cry Havoc
Kothar glowers at the elf, not believing a word he says.
Then the other one starts slinging threats, and he tightens his grip on his weapon. He glances at Wenomir, waiting for a signal to engage. If they aren't coordinated here, the delay could be disastrous.
As soon as it's time, he'll charge at the undead elf again and try to bisect it with a sweep of his axe.

Draco Street Bakery

Rowan isn't offended at being underestimated. It's kind of the point of the way he looks.
"My magic can do lots of things! Protect you from magic, make you feel stronger, make people smaller or fatter. I haven't done this sort of thing before but I could probably figure it out with some trial and error." Rowan's only restriction is that he can't really do flashy attack spells besides the one.

Cry Havoc

Not everyone ignores Raheeda's greeting. The blind elf swivels around at the sound of her voice. "Oh... hello Raheeda! I'm Vyzan, and this is my brother Aranin." He gestures to the helmeted corpse that stands slavering beside him.

Wenomir's question seems to confuse Vyzan. "Neither? Cea is my sister. We escaped together, and now we're seeking a happy and peaceful life." He smiles serenely.

"No we're not!" snaps Cea, her annoyed tone suggesting this is a common disagreement. "I seek a lot of things, and peace isn't one of them. Right now," she glances at Raheeda, jerking her head at Wenomir. "I'm seeking revenge on the man who killed my brother."

"But..." Vyzan's milky eyes blink in confusion. "He was already dead. Remember?"

"It's the fucking principal of it! The swordsman thought he was alive, so he should be punished just the same," she replies, her shoulder mouth unhooking its teeth with a cracking sound. The three gleaming orbs are suddenly there, spinning around her erratically. "Besides, these are the kind of people who would kill you just for existing, Vyzan. Look how eager the lizard is to slice you to ribbons." She glowers at Kothar.

"I can't look..."

"You know what I mean!"

---

Draco Street Bakery

"Oh god, yeah you're totally right. Yeesh." Simon looks distinctly uncomfortable at the idea of needing the lab to survive. He had thought this was the afterlife upon arriving, and the idea that his life might actually be quite precarious sends a chill down his spine.

"So maybe just track them and find out information. Ass kicking pending on what we find." Either way, knowing seems like a good idea. Or does it? Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

But he's easily distracted by hyping up Rowan. "Yeah, isn't he cool? Just the baking skills alone are awesome, but my boo is to talented at magic! All that subtle stuff is way more impressive than like, flashy fireballs and stuff." More useful outside of life and death situations, certainly.

Cry Havoc

Drat, neither of the warriors had waved back and Cea hadn't even replied to her question!
Raheeda had really hoped to start some peaceful communication here.
But at least the elf boy(man?) replied which makes her smile widely at him. "Good to meet you, Vyzan, Aranin." She gives both him and the corpse a nod. Having the blessing of Yul did make undead act more friendly towards her if they didn't have the orders to do otherwise.

However, his conversation with the elf lady makes her puzzled. Especially by that last thing the lady-elf said.
So rubbing her chin, she casually walks up and grabs the corpse of the people killed that was killed in the initial attack and lifts him up by the neck with one hand. "But Cea, did this guy also kill your brother? Or did you have your pets kill him for another reason?" Her feathery eyebrow raises. "Since for all you know, this could have been the swordsmans brother." Presumably the dead businessman looks nothing like Wenomir.

As she talks Kothar attacks the zombie elf in the background which made her turn to look, dropping the corpse down on the ground.
Her glaive appears in her hand after having simply disappeared a few minutes ago. Yet despite the violence she keeps arguing, pointing at the fight. "Or someone here is yuan- uh, the axeman's brother." Then she gestures to herself. "I could be his sister and he thought you were gonna kill me." Raheeda had an extended idea of family though usually she didn't use terms like 'sister' or 'brother'.

Draco Street Bakery

"Fascinating." Ambrosia comments, her quill eagerly writing all this down. "So is that how you turned Simon into a kobolt? Since I had wanted to ask about that before we did anything else." Though she was really asking about the why here.

It was something she wanted an answer to before they started to track this lab down since she admitted to be curious about it as well even if it didn't seem directly related to her dragon research. It was just so bizarre that she had to know more.

[Temperance Teahouse]

Ambrosia was going to tell Spako about Ugi but she didn't want to do so with a complete stranger nearby. The first line of defense was secrecy has her father had always reminded her. She would have to tell him about that later.
"Oh, I'd love to Spako. Since I have quite a few things to tell you as well." Considering the last time they had met was during the time she had attacked vigil she wanted to make a better impression.

But then she turns her attention to Ilpholin's plan. Quite an ambitious one, wasn't it?
"Well, miss Xar'cha, before I answer that question I'd like to make you aware of HALO's plan for fighting the 'king'. Since we've been working on a story, a narrative, which we believe can be used to weaken him." She pauses as the next part was going to be a difficult sell. "I believe that if you tap into the character we've made that defeated him in the story it would help with whatever plan you end up going for."

[Earl of Purple]

A Real Arcade

"Is it the real Slim Shady?" Agate smirks, confident she's identified the musician if not the exact song. She'll put her headset back on to see where they've got to in the time since.

[Morty]

[Cry Havoc]

Wenomir shakes his head slightly. A fight is inevitable, but if he can drive a wedge between the leader and her underlings, he has to try.

"It seems your sister dragged you into a fight against your will," he says. "You don't need to go on. Surrender and we'll deal with you fairly." He stares into Cea's eyes. "She's right. You're awfully self-righteous for someone who slaughtered innocents."

[Gold]

To Lore & Game

Perhaps it says something about Octavia that her first thought upon learning about a game is considering how it might be weaponized. It's not that she's a living weapon built for combat or anything- oh wait, yeah. She literally is.

Upon realizing that the monster has no real physicality, she steps back up alongside Micah, watching with interest as he packs up the device. -thank you for showing me, micah cardcaptor. perhaps another time i can see some of the other monsters- Even if she doesn't know how to play the game yet, it's undeniably cool visually.

-alright, lead on!- she says brightly, ready to follow his lead to the store. -you said your grandpa runs it, right? what is a grandpa?-

"Don't mention it!" Micah says sweetly. "Though, if you want to observe a monster, the best way is to watch it in battle."

"It's just this way," Micah says as he gestures Octavia to follow him down the street and through a small park with a fountain and trees of various species.

Octavia's question about what a grandpa is gives Micah some pause; he was aware Octavia didn't have as much knowledge of human culture as the average person, but it never really hit him how little she knew until now. Not that he minded teaching her at all - in fact, he quite liked the feeling of expanding someone else's world, so to speak.

After moments of hesitation, Micah answers with "Well, it means different things to different people. For some, a grandpa is an old guy who cares for you, and for others he's just an out-of-touch geezer... but, y'know, officially it's just your dad's dad," adding the last part quickly out of a sense of minor embarassment for having waxed philosophical all of a sudden.

[bc56]

Cry Havoc
Kothar snarls. "The lizard" is a lot smarter than he looks and he doesn't like this situation. "We not attack if you surrender," he confirms in his shaky Tradespeak.
On the other hand, he spins his axe through the air, demonstrating his skill and willingness to follow through if the elves don't surrender... As if what he did against the angelephant wasn't enough