HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

[Shadowcaller]

[Rec Room]

The scholar gives Rein a glance. "I'm not sure its me she wishes to discuss things with, Rein." After all, if Calm Reed had come to meet her specifically then why had she just barely been able to recall her name?
Then she turns back to the monk. "So why is it that you're here, Calm Reed?" Normally she would just leave the room since it seemed like Rein was the person she was after, but she was curious.

[Morty]

[Rec Room]

"Yes, indeed. I came here in search of you, master Reinholdt." Calm Reed inclines her head slightly towards him. "Though it is no problem if Ambrosia is here as well. It concerns one of our own members, Blanche Turath. I am given to understand you are familiar with her."

[Gullara]

[A Meeting of Minds]

Ambrosia nods eagerly in agreement with Utayo. She was just so brilliant. "Exactly. 'God' has been used as a scientific term on my plane but there's hardly any consensus on its exact definition even within the academic community." And she was sure anyone outside it would at best scoff at the notion of trying to wrap it in scientific terminology. And at worst they would give you a chance to research those gods in person.

"Furthermore, I actually used the 'divine' as an obfuscating term- well, both of you are aware of the incident in VIGIL involving me. Utayo was even there to observe it in person." She gestures to the moonfolk.
"Since as I was point out it's nothing less than what she just observed. Once you understand that an idea such as 'divinity' is just intentional vagueness you see things for what they really are. Since I know that it was actually fey who created the dragons of my plane and much like the a fey like the king of rags they've found that the mask of divinity useful as few choose to question it. Since as I've mentioned its no coincidence that he can control dragons as well as they can. Being the one that made them in the first place. And once you understand that you also see what dragons 'safeguarding' humanity actually implies..."

She let's the answer hang in the air.

Then she turns to Dorota. "Since to be frank, I think the same answer applies to your own project, Dorota. Whatever has wrapped itself in the term 'god', or the people promoting its worship, probably don't like people looking into their nature or their organization too closely. Since usually, questioning the divine is akin to heresy, no? You would get into a lot of trouble on your own plane if the religious organizations there would learn of your research into your gods."

As she talks the others might have started to observe a light thumping sound in the background.
It's the carp sculpture with has started to lightly slam its fin into the table.

[A Meeting of Minds]

Dorota nods, straightening her glasses.

"That's... true. My research would be deemed heretical in my homeland. And I can't say I arrived at a satisfactory definition of a god myself. Treating as a matter of politics is tempting. After all, mortals have been able to deify themselves without the use of any supernatural power."

[A Meeting of Minds]

"That's a familiar scenario. There are many on my plane that object to this framing, suggesting it reduces the kami. I disagree of course. A greater understanding of kami exposes how remarkable they are." Utayo shrugs. "But many disagree."

[Reinholdt]

[Rec Room]

Master now? Ugh, is he really that old? Rein grimaces a little. When Blanche is brought up, his face quickly shifts to concern. Calm Reed said this was of some delicate nature. Rein's stomach sinks and a cold sweat threatens to break out. "Yeah I know her. Is she alright? Did she get hurt? Did something happen?" Reinholdt asks in relatively quick succession.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Meeting of Minds]

"Considering that definitions themselves often are a matter of politics, especially religious terms, there's no way you can completely detach it from that discourse, Dorota." Ambrosia gestures to Utayo, glad to be in agreement with her. "And it seems it works the same way even across other planes." It was almost funny that the universal truth wasn't something divine but rather that politics was the divine.

[Rec Room]

"I'm sure they'd call you first if that was the case, Rein." Ambrosia tries to reassure.
She had met Blanche once and she had seemed to be a bright young woman. Though she hadn't been able to guess she was related to Rein, despite both of them having cat ears, since the two seemed like very different people.
His concern for her now had made her draw the conclusion that they were however.

Still, she turns to Calm Reed questioningly. Just what had made her come all this way to ask about her?

[Murkus]

[Fourth Tower Compound]

"Wait a moment," Sticks interjects, "I thought we were here to discuss something called 'cold iron'? What's this neverath? What's so dangerous about it?"

[Morty]

[Rec Room]

"Nothing happened; she is fine." This does confirm to Calm Reed that Reinholdt is indeed her father. This might make things easier. "I have heard rumors that a notorious man named Magtok is her father. I believe him to have been one of your number at one point. I thought asking here would be more prudent. She is a busy woman and I would rather not disturb her if there is nothing to it."

[A Meeting of Minds]

"The ideal is for scholars like us to divorce ourselves from contemporary politics, but it never seems to work, does it," Dorota remarks with a wry smile. "At least here I'm free to ask such questions without meeting immediate pushback."

[Gullara]

Fourth Tower Compound

Jim crosses his arms.
"Ma'am, to be frank myself, this woku visited my dreams two nights ago, got past Jaahlyn, and so I spent all of yesterday and most of this morning as a dairy cow. So if you have a more practical solution I'd be happy to hear it. But I am past the point of being slow and cautious."
There, it's just out in the open now. They can go past the stupid embarrassing part and start talking about solutions, right?

Fourth Tower Compound

Back in the day there might have been a 'I heard that, Vax!' in respond to the 'head servant' comment since Sekai had (and still have) eyes and ears all over the Riverside compound but now there's only silence.

The only other person that even knew Sekai in the room was Sticks and he didn't seem to care all that much for her either. Jaahlyn couldn't help but to be curious though as it sounded like an interesting encounter. Warlocks and other magic users usually seemed to have a sense for the dramatic so whatever had went down felt like it had to have been pretty spectacular.

But such thoughts are interrupted as Jim speaks up. She had a feeling it would come up eventually but not that he'd spell it all out so abruptly.
"Sh-she had three other psychopomps with her." The satyr felt like correcting though. "Otherwise she wouldn't even have been able to enter his dream. It was basically a mob hit."

[Fourth Tower Compound]

"Wait a moment," Sticks interjects, "I thought we were here to discuss something called 'cold iron'? What's this neverath? What's so dangerous about it?"

[Fourth Tower Compound]

"Young man, you realize that you've come to me asking for something you don't understand, do you not? Jaahlyn has my respect, but she's hardly an expert of such matters either. This is not a shop where you buy what you're looking for off the shelf." Vax replied, her tone notably more clipped.

Vax gives her attention to Sticks. "Illustrating my point; 'Cold iron' is a folk name, and a fundamental misunderstanding. I won't waste your time with the fine details, but it's suffice to say that nevarath is not crafted by mortal hands, and conflating it with materials that are is misleading. Nevarath can be quite effective at warding off spiritual influences when used correctly, but it's also toxic to living beings. It can also disrupt or do harm to benign spirits, perhaps even cultivating hostility in them if too grievously misused."

[A Meeting of Minds]

"Considering that definitions themselves often are a matter of politics, especially religious terms, there's no way you can completely detach it from that discourse, Dorota." Ambrosia gestures to Utayo, glad to be in agreement with her. "And it seems it works the same way even across other planes." It was almost funny that the universal truth wasn't something divine but rather that politics was the divine.

[A Meeting of Minds]

"The ideal is for scholars like us to divorce ourselves from contemporary politics, but it never seems to work, does it," Dorota remarks with a wry smile. "At least here I'm free to ask such questions without meeting immediate pushback."

[A Meeting of Minds]

"It's true. Unless you're talking about an ancient religion or practice, it's inevitable that it'll butt against the minutia of daily life." Utayo agrees. "Of course, many would disagree with this perspective. It's not my place to say they're incorrect, but I'll stick to my own methods."

[Reinholdt]

[Rec Room]

"Quite the opposite, don't they usually come to tell you in person?" Reinholdt asks Ambrosia. That's what all the cop shows do, so it must be true right?

Oh, but she's fine. The slight sigh of relief is overwhelmed by the sudden, loud SNAP that rings out throughout the rec room. There's a moment of complete non-reaction from Reinholdt as the top half of his pool cue drops to the floor. As if it was nothing more than a passing interest, Rein pulls his hand away from the remains of the wooden stick, splinters and blood sticking out of his hand. Ah. It was him. He should clean that up before it gets on anything. He drops the other half of the stick and his non-mangled hand works on pulling out some bandages, answering Calm Reed with a forced monotone.

"Magtok is not and will never be Blanche's father." That should clear things up for Calm Reed. "Now, surely you didn't travel to a whole other organization just to ask that? What exactly did you want to know?" Leaving a sky island to travel to an underwater base just to avoid bothering a busy catgirl about who her dad is unlikely. This person clearly wanted to ask things that they couldn't ask Blanche directly. Perhaps planning a surprise party for her birthday? Figure out who to invite behind Blanche's back.
...
Maybe less worrying about Blanche and more worrying about stopping that bleeding.
Ow.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Meeting of Minds]

"I'm not sure about ancient religious practices but I think it's important to separate the concept of religion from organized religion. Since where organization goes politics usually isn't far behind." And she assumed that Utayo meant unorganized religious practices when she said ancient ones. Since it was all too easy to confuse the two.

Then she turns to Dorota. "And the politics of scholars isn't really supposed to be completely divorced from contemporary politics either. Since that's how you build an ivory tower and forget who our knowledge is supposed to help ultimately."

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Jaahlyn wasn't too fond to be lectured, especially when the people in question insisted on suddenly replacing old terms with ones that they just made up.
"I've used the term cold iron for-" A beat. "-a long time and everyone has understood what I meant. So I apologize but I don't see the point of suddenly changing it to some complex term no one but warlocks will understand."

Vax might find this attitude a bit perplexing considering that Baphoreth, Jaahlyn's alter-ego, who was frequently summoned by warlocks to learn of obscure secrets was known to speak in riddles and grant confusing visions. Hardly a being known to be concerned with clarity.

[Rec Room]

"On my plane they usually called everyone to a townsquare meeting where a town crier read the names of the dead soldiers out loud. I figured they would make use of the technology you have around here." In truth she didn't know either, but it just didn't make sense that they would wait so long giving people this information when they had such effective means of communication.

But then Ambrosia finds herself staring at Rein in shock for a moment before she gathers her wits and goes to collect the first aid kit in the next room. Whose location and function she had learned of during her introductory tour of the base.

She makes no comment on what Rein said but she had the same idea as him. Why go through all this trouble to ask Rein? Didn't Calm Reed that he possibly couldn't be as busy as his daughter? Especially concerning such an insulting rumor.
Had this been some kind of attempt to provoke him? Since if so Calm Reed had certainly succeeded.

"I'm going to get a medical kit, Rein."

She will soon return with the kit in her next post.

[Halae]

Lab

Jaahlyn's eyebrow raises and she looks puzzled. "Severance?" Then she grins mirthfully. "You're quitting already? Yikes and here I thought I hated work." The satyr giggles and then pauses for a moment while getting up into a sitting position in the bed.

"Use pictures, these two don't even know about the... y'know, memories." Libra insists which earns her a baneful stare from the satyr.

"Well, I don't know about pictures but..." She scratches the back of her head and feels around the bed until she holds up a nearly empty vodka bottle. "...this flask. Imagine if it contained all those fey memories-" She seems to be making a point by pronouncing it nearly the same way as Libra does.

"-right? Well, you're more like a shot glass. You can only contain a tiny fraction of it at the time. Since these brains they give us can only recall so much information at once." Jaahlyn taps the side of her head with the bottle.

"Yeah! And that's why she can't be 'in charge'! Since meat-brains can't be filled with bazillions of memories." Libra exclaims. "And even if they could, she wouldn't be Artie anymore since memories-" The star being gestures animatedly at her head. "-effects, uh, thinking n'stuff."

Jaahlyn frowns and launches another pillow at Libra but this one misses by a long shot. "Hey, are you telling the story or am I?" She points at Artie. "'cause severance is like pouring some of you into another bottle instead of a glass. A new one, which you then sell as your own. And I don't think you need me to tell you that's illegal."

They might need to ask for some clarifications if they don't understand vodka metaphors.

Lab

Artie scratches her head, which does look a little odd given the wings.
"That still sounds like it leaves the rest of me still around without the me-part. And you're comparing it to being a bottle but not a glass, but it wouldn't make my capacity for memories any bigger."
She gives Jaahlyn a slightly amused look.
"And if I recall, one of the first things you told me about the Orobou is that I should quit."

[Lab]

"That all sounds like soul splitting. Separating someone from their higher soul," Skye says with a frown.

[Keeper]

Fourth Tower Compound

Jim does not seem impressed.
”Well, I just said that I am not attached to this plan in particular and that you were free to give me a more practical solution. So is there or is there not?”
He at least attempts to have some sense of formality and softens his tone.
”And of course I defer to your knowledge on this matter. But I also ask that you respect that I am a mage by my mentor’s judgement. I have earned my staff fair and of my own merit. And I’ve been adult by all standards for at least six years. So please do not call me ‘young man’ like I’m a high school apprentice.”
Only Sticks gets to do that.

[Morty]

[A Meeting of Minds]

"Well, I-" Dorota was about to say something, but then some movement of the figurines caught her attention. "Let's see how these are getting on."

[Shadowcaller]

Lab

"Whoa." Jaahlyn remarks in reaction to what Skye said, remarkably not slurring a single word despite looking more than a little intoxicated.
"Let's not invent hierarchies here. Both souls, I mean bottles, are equal." She lightly shakes her bottle. "One just happens to have more liquid in it and you know what liquid does? It weights you down, just like memories do." She stares at the tiny amount of liquid in the bottle as if caught in a memory of her own and then shakes her head.

"So-" The satyr looks back at them. "-what I'm saying is that you're worrying about the wrong thing. Since you're never gonna drink straight out the bottle like some drunk, you're gonna drink out of the glass. And when you do that, does it really matter how much is left as long as the glass is full? Since, uh, neither bottle will ever run dry y'know? The full bottle just looks more impressive."

Libra looks completely lost now. "Uh, yeah. What she said."
But she was only getting more frustrated with all this confusing talk. Artie straight up refused to be happy and frankly didn't even seem to know how she could become happy.

She should have just mind swapped the two or something. Maybe make them fall in love? Skye was too young though...
Well, anything would be better than all this indecision. But she would give them some more time to make a decision at least.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Meeting of Minds]

"Well, I-" Dorota was about to say something, but then some movement of the figurines caught her attention. "Let's see how these are getting on."

[A Meeting of Minds]

By now all three sculptures have animated to some degree.
However, Utayo's carp is acting much more life-like than the other two, flailing around on the table just like one would expect a carp would.

Ambrosia's tiger is walking around on the table but its not really acting like a tiger or even a cat. It seems clumsy and rather stiff with the behavior of a electronic toy rather than an animal. It has curiously grown a set of tiny wings though.

Dorota's construct is not moving around at all yet rather than the complete lack of motion one would expect from a turned off machine its cubes are all sliding against one another ever so slightly, almost as if was breathing. Ironically, these slight movements seem less stiff than the tigers.

"Not sure what I expected but as a first experiment I would call this a success." Ambrosia remarks as she turns to look at the now animated sculptures.

[Keeper]

Lab

For once Artie has to agree with Libra. She has no idea what Jaahlyn just said. Artie mostly just looks confused.
”I’’m not hearing anything that says it isn’t doing what I’m afraid it’s doing. But also I have absolutely no idea what you just said. At all. Can we please drop this analogy and just tell me what this does?”

[Earl of Purple]

The Beach

An old Volkswagen van pulls up here. It's covered in psychodelic colour swirls and patterns, and has had all of the mirrors removed. Four elves (and possibly a mushroom) exit. They are Leotello, tall and slender, with dreadlocks and green eyes, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a leaf and a pair of worn jeans; Mycroft, short and scruffy, with paler skin than the others and red eyes, wearing a pizza-stained white shirt and baggy joggers; Rovert, with blond stubble as his hair grows back and purple-black eyes, wearing a pair of cargo trousers and a string vest under a ripped teal blazer. Finally, the source of their issues, Nevah; the only woman, with ash-grey skin and silver hair in loose braids, wearing a navy-blue sarong and a white t-shirt. She's also smoking a pungent cigarette.

The group will find a shuttle to the base and load themselves into it, Neveah passing her cigarette to Mycroft who also produces a plastic bag so he can hyperventilate.

[Halae]

[Lab]

"It's memory storage," Skye explains simply, actually having understood the explanation to a degree, "like painting a picture or writing down an idea to get it out of your head. Your mind can only hold so much information, so you put the information somewhere else so you can access it later; you just have to look back at the picture or notes to be reminded of the contents, so you can use them properly elsewhere. It sounds like this is simply a more extreme version of that. And, similarly, someone else can read the notes you've written to understand what you were thinking at the time."

[quillpleasant]

The Beach

The elves are indeed followed by a mycoid lady. This Lia is dressed all in flowing black, with a conical mushroom cap that resembles nothing so much as a witch hat. She seems cheerful, and even a little giggly due to the time she's spent with the elves, but there's an undeniable air of melancholy about her.

She follows the group over to the base, looking at it with trepidation. "We're sure this is entirely safe, right?" Being underwater is not something she relishes the thought of. But it can't be as bad as Skyside, right? The thought of those slow, rickety elevators hanging in the air makes her stomach flip and she swiftly gets inside, trying to think of anything else.

[Earl of Purple]

The Beach- Shuttling Down

"Yeah, it's safe. Gotta be, otherwise they'd not be on the seafloor, yeah?" Leotello's confident, even though Mycroft very clearly is not.

When they arrive in the shuttlebay, or other entrance area, they're going to hang around rather than just wander aimlessly.

[quillpleasant]

Shuttling Down

Although Lia was expecting to be almost as horrified by water travel as she is by air, she's pleasantly surprised to find this is not the case. The shuttle is a much smoother ride than Skyside's rickety elevators, and even though she couldn't survive in the sea, it feels somehow more grounded than the open air.

As the shuttle descends, Lia peers out of the viewing port, eyes wide. It's like a whole alien world out there. There's fish! She's never even really seen fish before. It's almost like being underground- cool and dark and with a comforting weight overhead.

When the shuttle opens, she steps off, feeling oddly chipper about the whole experience.

"That wasn't nearly as scary as I expected! So who are we here to see?" Unless the elves didn't even make an appointment.

[Shadowcaller]

Lab

For once Artie has to agree with Libra. She has no idea what Jaahlyn just said. Artie mostly just looks confused.
”I’’m not hearing anything that says it isn’t doing what I’m afraid it’s doing. But also I have absolutely no idea what you just said. At all. Can we please drop this analogy and just tell me what this does?”

[Lab]

"It's memory storage," Skye explains simply, actually having understood the explanation to a degree, "like painting a picture or writing down an idea to get it out of your head. Your mind can only hold so much information, so you put the information somewhere else so you can access it later; you just have to look back at the picture or notes to be reminded of the contents, so you can use them properly elsewhere. It sounds like this is simply a more extreme version of that. And, similarly, someone else can read the notes you've written to understand what you were thinking at the time."

[Lab]

Jaahlyn let's out a small groan and rubs her forehead tiredly. She hated when her metaphors didn't land. But at least it looked like it hadn't missed completely.

The satyr gestures to Skye. "In a roundabout way, yes. Just imagine that you're, or Artie in this case, is the painting slash notes in that metaphor. The painter would be all the memories that don't fit, which would be the majority of them in the case of most fey. But this isn't a painting to realistically depict nature or a portrait. The painting is more of a fantasy, something you wish you could experience. Since, as it turns out, some fey want to experience what it's like being in the physical world. That or they need to work in which case the painting is a lot less pleasant."

She lays down in the bed again. "In my case, I don't want to work again for a very long time, but unfortunately you need money to live. Isn't that the worst?"
Jaahlyn pauses for a moment and closes her eyes but a moment later it appears like she isn't quite done yet. "If you want to extend the metaphor think about how artists like me say how they're putting themselves in their work? It's like that."

"Okay, okay, so severance?" Libra makes a circular motion with her hand.

Jaahlyn looks up. "Didn't I explain that already? I'll make it simple then. You take some of those fey-memories and make a new fey of them. Kind of. I'm not sure if they would even be a fey anymore honestly. But I also know its considered a crime. The sort of thing that makes the high court go after you, just so you know.."

The star-being sticks out her tongue. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. It's not like they're gonna find out."

[Earl of Purple]

Shuttling Down

It doesn't involve alchemic substances or music, so the high elves did not succeed at planning beyond the immediate idea.

"Uuuh..." Leotello gets a deer-in-the-headlights look as Lia asks the question, and Mycroft chuckles.
"We, uh, didn't plan. At all. We just wanted to get Neveah here in the hopes it'd be good and they could help her or point us somewhere that could." Rovert smiles nervously as Neveah sighs.
"This is why I got the tickets for the Elvish Parsley concert, Lia. These guys couldn't plan their way out of a paper bag if you gave 'em scissors and a bottle of water." Neveah's fond of them, though! They're idiots, but they're her idiots.

[quillpleasant]

Shuttling Down

Lia seems baffled by their lack of a plan. How do you just... not overthink things to the point of near paralysis? But after a few moments a grin slowly passes over her face.

"No no, I love that. Spontaneity is lovely sometimes." Acting without thought, just to help someone. Lia can romanticize that far more than it needs. Just like she does with everything.

"Okay, so we need to find someone to help Neveah. HEY! Come help us!" she yells, putting her hands to her mouth and shouting down the corridor. She's not a very loud person, but maybe someone's in the general vicinity. Otherwise they can just start searching.

[Keeper]

Lab

Artie politely nods and doesn't say that she already knew most of that because Jaahlyn already explained it when they met the first time.
"Alright, well, that still makes it sound like there would be two me's slithering around.
And yes Libra, they will find out. My manager already told me that you're being held in contempt of the Court for stealing my Masks in the first place."

Shuttling Down

There is an arrival almost immediately. A heavyset individual of fishy disposition, carcharhinus geist, wearing swim trunks and dripping slightly from having been in the pool recently.
"Oh hey folks, what's up?" he asks casually with a smile.

[Earl of Purple]

Shuttling Down

Henry's appearance doesn't really phase the high elven group. They've been in the Nexus a while, so they're used to a lot. Neveah is the one who speaks up first, though. "I've got a family curse that needs breaking. Started with my great-grandmother; she didn't have a reflection at all. My grandmother did have a reflection, but it hypnotised her whenever she looked it in the eyes. She usually woke up before she did anything dangerous, though it was close a few times. Mum entered a trance whenever she looked in a mirror, regardless of if she looked at her reflection or not. And when I look into a mirror, I also fall into a trance, but apparently something drags me into the mirror afterwards. I've... always awoken from the trance eventually and had to climb out the mirror, but I thought the curse was transporting me inside, not some entity dragging me through."
"I fought it off recently. We came here soon as practical. We attended a concert between then and now, but we booked it last year and there was no chance of mirrors being there. Neveah planned it all out, with her curse in mind." The curse as she thought it was, rather than the actual curse.

[Halae]

[Lab]

Skye grunts, "So what is the resolution to this situation?"

[quillpleasant]

Shuttling Down

As the ghostly shark approaches, Lia smiles in greeting- then pauses, sniffing the air. Her eyes widen, and she licks her lips without even meaning to. This individual has the undeniable ectoplasmic scent of a ghost.

Although corporeal undead are the more delicious of delicacies, their necromantic energies rendering them far more flavorful than mere corpses, ghosts and the like are out of Lia's reach due to their intangible nature. Always fond of literary references, Lia has taken to thinking of the consumption of a ghost as a kind of white whale for her- a dearly treasured aspiration to one day achieve. And here is the best opportunity she's had yet.

No, no, no. It's impossible. Not only would she be utterly unable to physically overpower such a solid looking individual, it would also be rude. This shark man is probably lovely, and undeserving of consumption. No, she cannot give into her baser instincts, no matter how tempting.

Lia realizes that she's been staring hungrily at him in silence, and gives her head a quick shake. "Greetings! My name is Lia, it's a pleasure to eat you. I mean meet you. As my friends said, mirror curse. Needs fixing. Yeees." She clasps her hands behind her back and smiles winningly. Just a normal greeting from a normal girl.

[Keeper]

Shuttling Down

Well that's certainly a bunch of stuff that got thrown at Henry at once.
"Oh. So is it like, any reflective surface or just mirrors specifically?" Honestly any sufficiently shiny surface can be as good as a mirror but curses are magic and intent matters to magic.
He doesn't know how to respond to the looks Lia is giving him so he just pulls out his phone.
"Um. Mister Reinholdt? Do we have anyone knowledgeable on mirror curses? Yes um. Bloodline. Varies on individual. Miss Maria? Okay, thanks."
He glances back at the group.
"Well, we have a researcher already going to look for you. But going through books does take a little time..."

[Earl of Purple]

Post-Shuttling Down

"Flat, solid, and as close to perfectly reflective as possible for the trance. My great-grandmother never cast a reflection at all, even in puddles or dirty windows." Which helped a little with her glasses; no matter how filthy, and no matter where the light came from, at no point did she ever have to deal with a reflection of her own eye. "Distorted fairground mirrors and puddles don't work on me, but... the curse seems to be getting worse every generation. I've got time, though, I'm patient. Been living with it for sixty years, I can manage a week or so." For Nevaeh. dirty windows and frozen puddles generally don't work.

The elves are also going to introduce themselves, after groaning. Neveah seems to be patient, but Leotello, Mycroft and Rovert are not.