Inside

[TeChameleon]

[NomeCo]

Eddie gave the big goon he was holding over his head a vigorous shake.

"Really? This is when you decide to start calling people names?"

The little golem glanced at Rowan. "Can you do that... sleep pastry... thing again for this guy? If we can knock them all out without needing to risk concussions, it would make this all a lot easier, especially the cleanup. Especially since a lot of these guys don't seem to be in any position to risk further brain damage."

He shook the goon again. "If he can make more sleepy-pie, you're either going to eat it, or I'm going to put you to sleep, and it will be a lot less pleasant than a couple of mouthfuls of baked goods. Also, where did you learn the word 'precocious'? It seems a little outside your usual vocabulary."

Eddie wasn't paying much attention to the two new goons. He figured that if the others had trouble with them, he could step in once his current goon was incapacitated in a PG fashion. As violent as the little golem's life could be at times, he wasn't keen on ending sentient lives when there were other options available.

[The Shamrock]

"Recorded..? They're scans. Unless you're worried about someone finding out the specific atomic weight of the elements in your desk, you have nothing to fear. And should I be so discourteous as to keep permanent records, anyone wishing to access them would need to be able to flawlessly mimic grey telepathy, survive interfacing with my ship's computer, figure out an interface tailored to my specific neural net over the course of nineteen centuries, defeat my encryption, and be able to process more raw data than the average human mind can even hold. All of which renders outside forces accessing any data I do not wish them to... unlikely, at best. Not impossible, as I have long since learned that virtually nothing is, but highly improbable."

The alien's telepathic 'voice' had a sharp edge of annoyance, although it clearly got a bit sidetracked towards the end.

When the Fairy Godfather gave it a piece of gold, it took it telekinetically, and turned it over a few times in front of its huge, black eyes.

"Why... would I need... a... a piece of moderately effective conducting material?" the alien asked blankly. "I had believed you to be a businessman; an offer of trade is open for one or more pieces of your 'magic'- while much of what is aboard my ship is dangerous, I am certain that I possess or can fabricate stable technology which you would consider highly worthwhile to obtain."

A pause as X-1 ignored Boada's ongoing attempts to haul him out, the faint glow around his form suddenly harder than steel and resisting all attempts to move him.

"... okay, maybe not the cloaking devices. But if this bit of metal represents something of value to you, for example, I could give you a few tonnes of it easily enough. Simple flight packs for those among you not naturally gifted with it, grapnel beams, dimensional phase-shifters... those are all established tech."

[Earl of Purple]

The Shamrock

"You wanted magic, I gave you magic. Leprechaun gold. Try flipping it, it'll land heads every time. Unless it lands on its edge. Gotta be quick, though. Leprechaun gold don't last. Not interested in your gold, nobody'd take it off me. Your tech- even the 'established' stuff- sounds stupidly dangerous and risky if it's misused. I ain't got time to have you babysit my goons whilst they learn how to use a flight pack, grapnel beam or dimensional phase-shitter without turning their brain inside out or teleporting to the moon or whatever. Since your cloaking device has, as a side-effect, casually detonating suns. I can't risk collateral damage like that." The Fairy Godfather turns back around and glares at X-1, as Boada continues trying to drag him away.
"Please, stop. We've been dismissed, you've got leprechaun gold, and I don't want to get back in his bad books, OK? Come on." Boada swaps into her taller form to try and pick X-1 up and stuff him in a pocket.

[bc56]

Bypool Park
"Good, because I..." Mary begins awkwardly.
"I know you have a crush on me." She takes a deep breath, she's not done.
"And I don't feel the same way. I'm sorry."

[quillpleasant]

[To Lore & Game]

"Feel free to! They might not be exactly accurate to a physical battle - or a Ka battle - but another selling point of the Duel Disk's is its ability to make duels much more interesting to the outside observer." Micah knows of certain Duelists who take advantage of this and prioritise putting on a show for the audience over claiming victory, a practice referred to as 'dueltaining'. Could be fun to try out, save for the fact that it usually requires hard-light technology.

The names of Octavia's family sound familiar to Micah; he thinks he might've read about them in a grimoire while researching incantations. For her to be dropping their names so casually must mean she's the real deal - not that Micah ever doubted she was an angel.

"Well, I also have my brother, Samson. You could call him my 'choirmate', though he's no singer. He's... a bit of a character, but he's strong and fast, and he looks out for me in his own way."

Moving past the fountain, the park path leads into a small high street lined with detached stores, the one Micah leads Octavia to being a green-&-purple building with a sign reading "LORE & GAME" above the entrance. It's open, but Micah doesn't go in just yet due to the presence of a heavy-set twentysomething staring at the various books and boxes in the window display.

"I never took you for a window shopper, Samson," Micah calls out to the burly fellow with an overly wide sword on his back and curly hair styled into large spikes.

"Just admiring the handiwork," Samson says back as Micah moves closer. Turning around to see Octavia, he asks "So, you gonna introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, right! Octavia, meet Samson. Samson, meet Octavia," Micah replies, gesturing to each one as he introduces them.

Lore & Game

Octavia has more questions- like, 'what's a Ka battle?' But she figures that there'll be plenty of time to dig deeper into that while they work together. Gotta do something to pass the time, right? Back home, everyone sang while they worked of course, but that might not be the right thing to do here.

-noted: one choirmate. i can't imagine that! there were eight hundred eighty seven ophanim in my choir, not including me. everyone in this world seems so lonely in comparison- she muses, lens clicking in sympathy, -i look forward to meeting your sampson-

Which turns out to be sooner rather than later. As they approach the building, Octavia zooms her camera in to study it. So this is one of those 'stores' that people talk so highly about. It doesn't look all that different from the buildings at PREP, made out of similar materials with a brighter color palette. Fascinating.

As introductions are made, Octavia's head shifts back into a polaroid camera, snapping a picture of Sampson before he can protest. As it prints out, she withdraws the large sharpie from her coat and labels it with blocky letters.

-designated sampson, choirmate of micah cardcaptor. hello! your brother says you are strong and fast, and he seems to appreciate you- she says, tucking the photo away and stepping forward and stiffly holding out a hand in the way she's seen other people do when greeting each other.

[Morty]

[Hoshiki's Home]

Michalson returns here yet again, dearly hoping he'll get to walk away from here on his own... one and a half leg. The photo is in his pocket as he knocks on the door.

[Keeper]

NomeCo

"I don't really carry that many curse-pastries on me." Rowan admits with a bashful shrug.
"Oy! Who are you calling fat, tubby? You ain't too slim yourself, bub." accuses Ratticus as he peeks out from under Rowan's hat.
Still, Rowan shrugs, unbothered by the comment.
He is throwing another spectral pie at the evil scientist, though.

[bc56]

Secret Lair
"I'm hooome! I just had the weirdest thing happen," Jade opens the door to the secret lair and steps inside. "Oh yeah, wh..." Jason looks up from a project and starts to reply, "Jade? Is that you?" "Uh... Yeah? You don't recognize me with black hair?" "Have you seen yourself in a mirror? Your whole face has changed."
"What!?"
Jade runs into the bathroom and gets a good look at herself. "What the... I look completely different!" She feels her face, confirming that it's real, then glares off into space. "This isn't funny! I want my face back! I don't want to be stuck looking like someone else, I..." Almost immediately her face returns to normal and her natural red color flows back into her hair. "... Huh. That worked?"
"So what's this about something weird happening?"
"It's a long story but I think I got recruited to be some kind of goddess..." And she relays what she can...

A Local Shrine
Later, Jade returns to the shrine, now with her original appearance restored. She looks around cautiously. "I'm back, are you guys still here?" She's not sure how to greet her fellow spirits, or even if it matters. She looks across the room at her idol. "Sorry, this is all still weird."

[Halae]

Bypool Park
"Good, because I..." Mary begins awkwardly.
"I know you have a crush on me." She takes a deep breath, she's not done.
"And I don't feel the same way. I'm sorry."

[Bypool Park]

Skye stops. She stops, and stares at Mary, mouth open.

Part of Skye's training, from an early age, was a deep well of composure and discipline. She wants to deny what Mary is saying, she wants to fight against it, she wants to scream, she wants to sob, , she wants to pin Mary down and make her return the feelings she has.

But she doesn't, because her parents raised her better than that. She can't keep all of her emotions from leaking through - tears run down her cheeks. But she doesn't scream, she doesn't sob, and she schools her face from becoming angry. The roiling tempest in her gut is safely contained, away from her friend and crush.

When Skye speaks, her voice is tight, barely controlled. She is infallibly polite.

"Thank you for letting me know as respectfully as you could."

[Hraithre]

[Hoshiki's Home]

Michalson only has to knock once before the tall swordsman opens. "Hello, Mister Detective. I've been expecting you", Hoshiki says, looming in the doorway. "Do come in." He moves aside and allows Michalson to step forth. The interior of the old mansion has been recently, if a bit sloppily, refurbished. The swordsman's new tenants have taken care of most of it while he's been gone, fighting giant desert monsters and what not. He leads the detective to the mansion's dining room and beckons him to sit down.

[TeChameleon]

[The Shamrock]

"An intriguing dichotomy." the alien's mental voice commented, as X-1 continued to ignore Boada's attempts to remove it. "You acknowledge that my technology is dangerous, even appearing to admit to a certain amount of fear of it. Yet you dismiss me as if I were one of your underlings."

"On the one hand, it is further proof that I have well and truly been relieved of my long-standing and onerous duties by simple virtue of being so far away from them that there is no conceivable way for me to return; on the other, it is a bit annoying to go from being leader of a species held in the terrified respect of at least three galaxies to being casually dismissed by a minor gangster." X-1's mental voice took on a sharper edge.

"You are presuming a great deal on my good nature and willingness to be insulted so that you may maintain your 'image' in the eyes of your subordinates, despite knowing almost nothing of my capabilities. I would have thought that achieving the position you have would require greater wisdom." The grey was... not spoiling for a fight, exactly, but it was indicating that it wasn't entirely unwilling to go in that direction, either.