HALO CLXXXV: The Titles End Here

[Shadowcaller]

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Jaahlyn is pretty sure-
No, she can't tell who Vax is even looking at due to her unusual eyes. But it couldn't be her could it?
She looks back to Sticks and Jim. They had dealt with the fourth tower in the past too hadn't they? In fact, now some of Sticks behavior and comments started to make sense...

[A Meeting of Minds]

The changes don't seem finished just yet as Utayo and Dorota might spot that the tail of the carp start to shift ever so slightly. As if their talking had made it stir in a sleep it shouldn't even be capable of having.

Ambrosia doesn't seem to notice at all though. Too focused on trying to explain. "Not in all cases. Some are of course born of other dragons or, ah, other beings. Though these do not have orbs which seems to put them at something of an disadvantage since the orb, well, empowers us. It's a, eh, bit hard to explain in words. I could show you later where there's more room."

She first explains to Dorota before turning to Utayo, nodding.

"Yes, I'm not quite sure what to compare it to. But I theorize that the dragon carrying the orbs were ranked highly in the dragon hierarchy as evidenced by how the dragon enclave I came across was structured." But as it only was only one it wasn't enough evidence to prove anything. "So I believe that at least to the dragons they were important."

A beat.

"And... as one." She couldn't quite say "and as a dragon" out loud but this came pretty close. "It also feels important in a way I don't seem to have words to explain. Something akin to, ah, hoarding instinct. But that's of course... manageable. Not particularly strange."
It was difficult enough trying to analyzing herself in academic terms but Utayo made it all that much harder. She didn't want to seem like some creature driven by instincts to her.

[Murkus]

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Sticks winces, standing with his stave against the floor and rather unfortunately draped in the same arcane implements as when he last encountered Vax. He had hoped Vax wasn't with the Fourth Tower any longer - or if she was, that it wouldn't be her they'd negotiate with. Ah well.

Unfailingly polite, Sticks bows and stiffly rises. "My lady! Forgive the intrusion - had I known it was you we'd be bargaining with, I might have... made other plans. But we are already underway, and we have need of your help. Not for my sake, but for that of the young man here. I prithee forget our grudges and hear him."

[Gullara]

Fourth Tower Compound

Jim has no idea what she means, but presumably there is Beef somewhere. And it's not him.
"They're both here on my behalf." he insists. Did Jaahlyn or Sticks stiff her on a deal at some point?

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Jaahlyn is pretty sure-
No, she can't tell who Vax is even looking at due to her unusual eyes. But it couldn't be her could it?
She looks back to Sticks and Jim. They had dealt with the fourth tower in the past too hadn't they? In fact, now some of Sticks behavior and comments started to make sense...

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Sticks winces, standing with his stave against the floor and rather unfortunately draped in the same arcane implements as when he last encountered Vax. He had hoped Vax wasn't with the Fourth Tower any longer - or if she was, that it wouldn't be her they'd negotiate with. Ah well.

Unfailingly polite, Sticks bows and stiffly rises. "My lady! Forgive the intrusion - had I known it was you we'd be bargaining with, I might have... made other plans. But we are already underway, and we have need of your help. Not for my sake, but for that of the young man here. I prithee forget our grudges and hear him."

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Vax looks up now, her black gaze fixing on Sticks. Her eyes are always so hard to read, and no different now. "If you'd managed to disrupt my plans I may have held a grudge. I'm not so petty as that when I have what I wanted. That said, I'm surprised you never went to Sekai instead, but I imagine Jaahlyn is to blame for that."

She turns her gaze on Jim, assessing him for a moment. "And who is it that represents this eclectic grouping? The one unfamiliar face."

[Keeper]

Fourth Tower Compound

"My name is Jim Puck. I'm Jaahlyn's boyfriend, and recently the victim of a particularly malicious vettir. I'm here because I am trying to make sure she doesn't hit me again, since she theoretically could."
She probably didn't do anything last night since he was still a cow, but if she knows he's gotten cured she might simply try to attack again and overpower Jaahlyn.

[Morty]

[A Meeting of Minds]

Dorota frowns. Something isn't adding up...

"I'm not certain how the first dragons came to be, then. Did they begin as these wurms and find the orbs?"

[Gullara]

[A Meeting of Minds]

The changes don't seem finished just yet as Utayo and Dorota might spot that the tail of the carp start to shift ever so slightly. As if their talking had made it stir in a sleep it shouldn't even be capable of having.

Ambrosia doesn't seem to notice at all though. Too focused on trying to explain. "Not in all cases. Some are of course born of other dragons or, ah, other beings. Though these do not have orbs which seems to put them at something of an disadvantage since the orb, well, empowers us. It's a, eh, bit hard to explain in words. I could show you later where there's more room."

She first explains to Dorota before turning to Utayo, nodding.

"Yes, I'm not quite sure what to compare it to. But I theorize that the dragon carrying the orbs were ranked highly in the dragon hierarchy as evidenced by how the dragon enclave I came across was structured." But as it only was only one it wasn't enough evidence to prove anything. "So I believe that at least to the dragons they were important."

A beat.

"And... as one." She couldn't quite say "and as a dragon" out loud but this came pretty close. "It also feels important in a way I don't seem to have words to explain. Something akin to, ah, hoarding instinct. But that's of course... manageable. Not particularly strange."
It was difficult enough trying to analyzing herself in academic terms but Utayo made it all that much harder. She didn't want to seem like some creature driven by instincts to her.

[A Meeting of Minds]

Dorota frowns. Something isn't adding up...

"I'm not certain how the first dragons came to be, then. Did they begin as these wurms and find the orbs?"

[A Meeting of Minds]

"Perhaps too much of an anthropological discussion." Utayo suggests. Not that such matters aren't of interest, but they certainly don't have the resources to answer those question on hand. Unless Ambrosia simply knows of course. She glances at the dragon. "Such answers aren't necessarily always evolutionary. There are many cases where design does come into play."

[Felandria]

Fox in Box
Somehow, the foxgirl doesn't look reassured. If anything, that information makes her more worried.
"I have a problem. With magic. And I was hoping someone here could help? Someone who knows science and magic." That's a very vague request but she doesn't think she can be more specific right now.

Well, this is the ideal spot for that, we have plenty of both!

I’ll take you down to the labs, they should be able to answer your questions.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Meeting of Minds]

The scholar blinks as the word is said.

Design.

It was like Utayo was reading her mind.

Unfortunately, it seemed to always be the parts of her mind she didn't want her to see.
Of course, she could probably just make educated guesses based on what she had already told her but it was still uncanny sometimes. But it also made her... feel things.

She clears her voice yet again.

"A-as I said..." Wait, had she actually mentioned that? Suddenly she couldn't recall and she blamed her nervousness. "...the orbs are a divine gift of sort." 'Of sort'? What did that even mean? "So yes, they're very much designed actually."

Ambrosia pauses. She had hated this part ever since she had been old enough to understand it. Humans didn't know how lucky they were not knowing they had a purpose or not. Since she knew was hers was supposed to be.

Yet she still wanted to tell them. Perhaps she could just twist it around a little bit?

"The wurms were probably too given their extraordinary nature. It's plainly obvious if you look at ordinary animals and compare. Nature alone doesn't just generate creatures like that. No, there was a will behind and I believe we were made to... safeguard mortals. Like a divine gift, just as I said." Certainly a way to put it.

Fourth Tower Compound

Her plans?
Jaahlyn had always thought that Vax to exude a certain aura of menace, especially in contrast to her wife, but that had made her sound like a villain in a storybook. Just what was the history between the two? She couldn't help but to imagine them locked in some magical duel with one another. Two magic-users unleashing devastating spell after spell towards one another, turning the world around them into pure chaos.

While she was sure it wasn't anything that dramatic here she was unwittingly bringing the two together.

Well, as awful as it might have been, she simply had to learn more now.
"I'm not in the habit of seeking out unknown warlocks, Mrs Teplos. I've been bound to service before and right now I'm taking something of a vacation so I don't want to risk it." She explains, her gaze shifting from Vax to Sticks. "And I didn't actually know you had a history."

[bc56]

Fox in Box
"Just lead the way," the foxgirl replies, glancing nervously at the window again. She doesn't like being reminded of the water just outside this pressurized container.

[Morty]

[A Meeting of Minds]

Dorota frowns. Divine design... that's something she's been looking for. Evidence that there's a plan and design of some kind, rather than random chance. She may never find it in regards to herself, but Ambrosia seems confident.

"That's rather straightforward. And more direct than I'm used to, when it comes to gods."

[Murkus]

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Sticks doesn't like confrontation, especially when it leads to violence. He has no taste for battle. It tends to make him a bit nauseous. When fighting it must be, he prefers it to be against a foe he can attack without qualms. In spite of her monstrous true self, Sticks isn't sure Vax ever qualified. Even taking her violent nature into account, it wasn't as though Malechenar ever seemed like a pillar of virtue. Sticks always had a feeling that they had some hold over Vax and Zhareen.

If anything, he and Vax's goals are likely comparable.

"It's easy to forget how small the world is," Sticks says, his shoulders easing down with a modicum of relief. He lets Jim explain, then glances at Jaahlyn. "She's referring to one of the head-ladies at Malechenar, Jaahlyn. A sometime ally of mine." Of course, Sticks couldn't have known that Jaahlyn was bringing him to Vax, or that Vax, Sekai and Jaahlyn all come from the same world, or at least places with the same laws of magic...

On the account of their history, Sticks says, "You couldn't have known." He matches Vax's bottomless gaze with one of fey witchlight. "It doesn't seem like there's need for any further quibble." It doesn't surprise him that Vax is, if nothing else, practical.

[Shadowcaller]

Lab

Artie seems pretty annoyed at this point.
"I don't know what I want! What you did was awful but it's done! I can't go back to being a guy. But I don't know if I'd be happy being what I was after I got snake brain'd. And I repeat, I don't trust you to go mucking around with my soul. And I definitely don't want anyone to have to deal with my responsibilities."

Lab

Libra let's a audible 'tsk'.

"How typical. Would it help if I got you drunk first?" Libra replies in a sarcastic tone, seemingly having completely forgotten Skye as her gaze focuses on Artie. A dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Fortunately, I'm not so easily insulted and there's a solution to your problem. Severance. To divide you and cut you free from all that baggage you don't want." She waves dismissively.
"You'd probably look the same, mostly. But you'd be your own person. No longer the tiny tip of a giant iceberg."

If Skye wants an answer to her question she might need to repeat it since Libra seems to have genuinely forgotten about her.

[Keeper]

Lab

”…that’s a low blow, Libra. It was a moment of weakness.” Artie says quietly.
At the proposal, Artie’s eyes widen.
”Divide? As in make me a mortal snake and leave behind my Orobou self? I-I can’t do that. That would just leave behind a version of me who still has to deal with everything. Or put my fey self back in charge and last time they were left to their devices they created a eugenics campaign.”

[Reinholdt]

[Feline Inquiry]

One of the base's airlocks will open to allow in Calm Reed, the Exalted monk from Vigil. Notably, it doesn't appear that she took a teleporter or sumbarine. Indeed, by all appearances she simply swam down from the surface. When she enters the airlock, she brings her palms together in an abrupt gesture, which causes all of the water to spring forth from her body and clothes, landing on the floor. Then she steps into the base proper. She's looking for Reinholdt, but anyone can encounter her.

[Rec Room]

Reinholdt can't be in the office all the time. Those papers have been slept on already a dozen times today. So instead, he's invited Ambrosia here for a game of billiards.

"See everything's about the angles and the curves. Everything," Reinholdt says, taking another shot and missing narrowly. He tsks. He doesn't really play this game particularly often and the angles and curves he's usually invested in take a lot more gravity into account. Rein's not horrible, just underdeveloped.

[Shadowcaller]

[Rec Room]

Ambrosia is silently studying how Rein is approaching the game. The curves and angles he was talking about didn't seem all that relevant when she wasn't even sure about the rules yet.

She watches Rein narrowly miss and how the cue ball unfortunately disappears down into one of the holes.

Now the question she had on her mind seemed a lot more relevant. "So we are using the same cue ball then?" She holds up her cue, for once not wearing her gloves as this game seemed to require a lot of fingertip tactility, and moves in to pick up the white ball with her other hand.

[Morty]

[Rec Room]

Calm Reed steps inside the room and hesitates briefly when she sees the two in the middle of a game. But she is already here, so might as well continue with her mission. She bows to the both of them, hands hidden inside her robe's sleeves.

"Greetings. I hope I am not interrupting."

[Gullara]

Fourth Tower Compound

"My name is Jim Puck. I'm Jaahlyn's boyfriend, and recently the victim of a particularly malicious vettir. I'm here because I am trying to make sure she doesn't hit me again, since she theoretically could."
She probably didn't do anything last night since he was still a cow, but if she knows he's gotten cured she might simply try to attack again and overpower Jaahlyn.

Fourth Tower Compound

Her plans?
Jaahlyn had always thought that Vax to exude a certain aura of menace, especially in contrast to her wife, but that had made her sound like a villain in a storybook. Just what was the history between the two? She couldn't help but to imagine them locked in some magical duel with one another. Two magic-users unleashing devastating spell after spell towards one another, turning the world around them into pure chaos.

While she was sure it wasn't anything that dramatic here she was unwittingly bringing the two together.

Well, as awful as it might have been, she simply had to learn more now.
"I'm not in the habit of seeking out unknown warlocks, Mrs Teplos. I've been bound to service before and right now I'm taking something of a vacation so I don't want to risk it." She explains, her gaze shifting from Vax to Sticks. "And I didn't actually know you had a history."

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Sticks doesn't like confrontation, especially when it leads to violence. He has no taste for battle. It tends to make him a bit nauseous. When fighting it must be, he prefers it to be against a foe he can attack without qualms. In spite of her monstrous true self, Sticks isn't sure Vax ever qualified. Even taking her violent nature into account, it wasn't as though Malechenar ever seemed like a pillar of virtue. Sticks always had a feeling that they had some hold over Vax and Zhareen.

If anything, he and Vax's goals are likely comparable.

"It's easy to forget how small the world is," Sticks says, his shoulders easing down with a modicum of relief. He lets Jim explain, then glances at Jaahlyn. "She's referring to one of the head-ladies at Malechenar, Jaahlyn. A sometime ally of mine." Of course, Sticks couldn't have known that Jaahlyn was bringing him to Vax, or that Vax, Sekai and Jaahlyn all come from the same world, or at least places with the same laws of magic...

On the account of their history, Sticks says, "You couldn't have known." He matches Vax's bottomless gaze with one of fey witchlight. "It doesn't seem like there's need for any further quibble." It doesn't surprise him that Vax is, if nothing else, practical.

[Fourth Tower Compound]

Vax shakes her head. "Sekai isn't the head of anything these days. The head servant at best." She makes a dismissive gesture with her hand. "But enough about that."

"So you have a spirit problem, do you?" Her blank eyes affix on Jim. "And you think you need nevarath to solve it? I assume that was Jaahlyn's idea? To be frank, I would have expected more caution. Nevarath is as valuable as it is dangerous. It's not a tool to be thrown around in haste."

[A Meeting of Minds]

The scholar blinks as the word is said.

Design.

It was like Utayo was reading her mind.

Unfortunately, it seemed to always be the parts of her mind she didn't want her to see.
Of course, she could probably just make educated guesses based on what she had already told her but it was still uncanny sometimes. But it also made her... feel things.

She clears her voice yet again.

"A-as I said..." Wait, had she actually mentioned that? Suddenly she couldn't recall and she blamed her nervousness. "...the orbs are a divine gift of sort." 'Of sort'? What did that even mean? "So yes, they're very much designed actually."

Ambrosia pauses. She had hated this part ever since she had been old enough to understand it. Humans didn't know how lucky they were not knowing they had a purpose or not. Since she knew was hers was supposed to be.

Yet she still wanted to tell them. Perhaps she could just twist it around a little bit?

"The wurms were probably too given their extraordinary nature. It's plainly obvious if you look at ordinary animals and compare. Nature alone doesn't just generate creatures like that. No, there was a will behind and I believe we were made to... safeguard mortals. Like a divine gift, just as I said." Certainly a way to put it.

[A Meeting of Minds]

Dorota frowns. Divine design... that's something she's been looking for. Evidence that there's a plan and design of some kind, rather than random chance. She may never find it in regards to herself, but Ambrosia seems confident.

"That's rather straightforward. And more direct than I'm used to, when it comes to gods."

[A Meeting of Minds]

"God is such a nebulous term though, isn't it? Equal parts a term of respect, an object of myth, or one who wields immense power depending on who you ask and where you go. The term has colloquial use, but is far from scientific." Utayo says, her tone taking on the cadence of a lecture. "Where I came from the world is full of gods of a sort, yet now the same energy that they draw upon for their power fuels the mundane technologies of day to day living. Likewise so many stories of gods on another planes I travelled to can be attributed to being like me. Albeit with power lost to time, but fundamentally similar. Yet another were the faded recollections of great monsters that once threatened the plane. I'm sure with the right frame and context, the beings Ambrosia describes could be similarly understood."

[Keeper]

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?

[Reinholdt]

[Rec Room]

"That's right. Part of the game is if you think you can't get the shot off and sink your ball, is instead hitting the cue ball to a position where your opponent can't make the shot." Reinholdt explains to Ambrosia. It's probably not the best strategy, but it comes up from time to time.

He pauses when a third person arrives and looks over to Calm Reed. Not someone he recognizes. Those robes stand out a little. "Oh no, you're not interrupting. It's quite often that third parties bet on the game's outcome. Are you a new member?"

[Shadowcaller]

[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.

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."

[Shadowcaller]

[Rec Room]

"That's right. Part of the game is if you think you can't get the shot off and sink your ball, is instead hitting the cue ball to a position where your opponent can't make the shot." Reinholdt explains to Ambrosia. It's probably not the best strategy, but it comes up from time to time.

He pauses when a third person arrives and looks over to Calm Reed. Not someone he recognizes. Those robes stand out a little. "Oh no, you're not interrupting. It's quite often that third parties bet on the game's outcome. Are you a new member?"

[Rec Room]

What Rein was talking about didn't seem like an optimal strategy to her, no.
But any further thoughts she has on the game are interrupted when Rein addresses a newcomer.
Ambrosia looks up and finds herself looking at a familiar face. Since how could she forget the 'dragon' herself.

"Unless she quit VIGIL I believe she's only here for a visit. Calm Reed was it? We spoke- must have been more than a year ago now." The only reason she even still recalled the name was because she had used Calm Reed as an example of a 'social dragon' a number of times.

She places the cue ball back where Rein had it before making his shot, but all her attention is on the monk now.

[Halae]

Lab

Libra let's a audible 'tsk'.

"How typical. Would it help if I got you drunk first?" Libra replies in a sarcastic tone, seemingly having completely forgotten Skye as her gaze focuses on Artie. A dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Fortunately, I'm not so easily insulted and there's a solution to your problem. Severance. To divide you and cut you free from all that baggage you don't want." She waves dismissively.
"You'd probably look the same, mostly. But you'd be your own person. No longer the tiny tip of a giant iceberg."

If Skye wants an answer to her question she might need to repeat it since Libra seems to have genuinely forgotten about her.

Lab

”…that’s a low blow, Libra. It was a moment of weakness.” Artie says quietly.
At the proposal, Artie’s eyes widen.
”Divide? As in make me a mortal snake and leave behind my Orobou self? I-I can’t do that. That would just leave behind a version of me who still has to deal with everything. Or put my fey self back in charge and last time they were left to their devices they created a eugenics campaign.”

[Lab]

Skye growls in frustration. Being ignored is awful.

But Artie is clearly working through something here, and Skye might be able to contribute, "What about putting Artie in charge? Give her total control over the way it works. That way she can keep its more egregious violations in order, using a more balanced mind than it sounds like they have."

To Skye, Fae aren't inherently evil, just alien. Fae being guided by a being with a conscience is perfectly acceptable.

[Shadowcaller]

[Lab]

"She is in charge." Libra insists, suddenly not ignoring Skye anymore. "The problem is that, ehh..."

There's an audible pause as the starfilled being considers.

Then she suddenly makes a circular gesture. "I think I'll let someone else explain."

But with her gesture everything within the room, with the exception of Skye and Artie themselves, suddenly looks as star-filled as Libra herself. As if they were all suddenly floating around in space.
Then as if rapidly approaching a planet they can see what appears like a great mirror but rather than reflecting them it reflects a person that at least Artie will be familiar with.
She's laying in a messy bed with completely disheveled hair and a party hat covered one of her horns.

"Tiiiny favo-" Libra starts as she holds her index finger and thumb together.

But suddenly the satyr haphazardly throws a pillow at Libra which goes through right the mirror and then through Libra herself.

"Go away."

As she rose up to hurl the cushion it will be apparent that not all of her chest is covered up so if either Artie or Skye is feeling particularly shy or polite they might want to look away.

Libra flinches as the headrest passes through her and then let's out a small sigh. "Look, I just want you to explain the fey thing to her. She's kind of your, uh, well you know one another, right?"

Jaahlyn raises up a bit further, prompting herself up by the elbows as she gives Artie a lazy smile. "Oh hey Artie." Either she's too out of it or simply doesn't care enough to cover up her chest. "What fey thing do you want explained?"

[Keeper]

Lab

Artie winces, blushes, and respectfully looks away. She and Jaahlyn have a complicated history. They’re kind of friends. But Jaahlyn doesn’t like Orobou. And she is keenly aware that Libra has proven they can’t really get away from her if they wanted to.
”I believe she wants you to explain what severance is and the nature of mortals becoming fey.”
Which Artie already mostly knows as she’s lived it. But she’s no expert, plus she was high for most of her apotheosis due to the drugs required and the nature of having your mind fused. And Skye has no idea of any of this.

[Halae]

[Lab]

Skye's interest is obvious, with the way her gaze lingers a moment, but her face turns red and she looks away, "... Yes, that would likely be helpful information."

[Shadowcaller]

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.

[Keeper]

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."

[Morty]

[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."

[Rec Room]

"Indeed. I am Calm Reed from Vigil. I do recall you... Ambrosia, if I am not mistaken." This man must be Reinholdt, but the monk will let him introduce himself. "I come to ask some questions of a perhaps delicate nature."

[Thursday Violist]

[Train approaching HALO]

June sits on the train, gazing out the window. Her large snake-tail takes up both her seat and the seats around, so she's got plenty of space; nobody crowding her in. She watches the landscape pass by, as she wonders what this other June is like. What's it like to meet your alternate-universe doppelganger? Will they get along? How long have they been here? What's the real differences between them? Do they have similar histories? Do they actually look so similar that Zee mistook them for each other? (Ha, well, obviously not that similar; the other one probably didn't fall into an exploding mutation pool during a sewer civil war.) What sort of adventures have they gone on? Does it compare to undersea caving? What is their home alternate-universe like? Did they arrive here in the same way she did? There's so many questions she has.

The train slows.
The shore is now visible. Not as cool as the mountains, but pretty amazing nonetheless. June watches the slowing landscape, the salt smell begins to permeate the train as someone a row over opens the window.

"End of the line: HALO. Please exit."

June watches other gets up and out of the train, and then gets up herself. She slithers towards the door out, and exits the train.

Outside, however.
It's not the sea.
June exits the train, goes down the stairs, and....all of a sudden, she's no longer by the sea. Not by anywhere, actually.
Just a featureless, endless expanse.
And she's there, on a train platform in an ocean of emptiness.
She turns back.
Even the train is gone. Just her, the train platform, and the sky above her, and the color white. An empty white. A void white.
"Hello?"

She looks around. There's nothing there, just...
Oh.
There is someone else here: on the train platform, even.
A woman with a cloak, with her white hair peeking out - Seraphina - sleeping on a bench, here in this endless expanse of nothing.

June moves towards the woman. "Hey...hello? Do...do you know where we -"

► Pain

Headache.
A piercing, painful headache, as if the entire universe is flooding into June's mind. She looks at Seraphina again, and it feels like Seraphina's mere appearance is painful.
Like...her form is resisting being defined.
Like...it hurts her eyes. June can't describe it, exactly, what's wrong. Just that there is something wrong and her mind can't decide what she's supposed to be looking at.

And then..."Oh. Oh. I see, I understand now." June laughs. "That's the worst cosmic joke I've ever heard."
She laughs.
As things start to make sense, the nothingness of the white expanse turns into the nothingness of a lightless void. The station platform crumbles away, leaving the dirty ruins of an old castle, floating in the nothing. Seraphina still sleeps, but laying across a throne instead of a train station bench.

"It all makes sense now," June says. "Finally this whole farce makes sense. The whole reason for my existence...ha ha ha." If it weren't so hilarious, June would find it sad. She moves towards Seraphina, holding her six arms out.


Seraphina wakes up from that. She looks around, confused for a moment as she takes in the surroundings, but then quickly spots June. "Hey..." She sits upright onto the armrest, backing away from June. "Hey...look. You don't have to do this." She rolls off the chair, and backs away from the six-armed snake lady.

June just laughs: "You wouldn't understand," she eventually says, darting forward and grabbing Seraphina with all six of her arms. She wraps her snake body around Seraphina's waist and legs, and squeezes.
And squeezes.
And squeezes...

Luckily, Seraphina notices something: The snake lady's neck is very close to her. And...Seraphina opens her mouth. Two sharp, vampire teeth. She pulls the snake-lady just a little closer, and bites into her neck.

Far too many moments later...
The station is normal.
Seraphina wakes up on the bench, on the train platform, and brushes her hair out of her eyes. She feels something wet on her lips, and wipes it away, and feels that her hood has fallen down. She quickly puts it back up, and...sees that the train is about to leave. Lucky! She quickly gets up and runs onto the train...
Geez, she can't believe she fell asleep while waiting for that train. Once on the train, she checks where it's going and which transfers she needs to take to get to Vigil...obviously, she still needs to find someone who can help sort out her memories, like the fact that she can't remember where she's a princess of or what sort of diplomatic mission she came to HALO to do, but hopefully someone in Vigil can help her with memory stuff.
She glances back out the door just before the train door closes, saying goodbye to the nice experience she had at HALO (and glances at the phone and phone number she received there...), and glances back out at the empty station and out at the shuttle down to HALO.

[Reinholdt]

[Rec Room]

"Oh, is that right?" Reinholdt inclines his head towards Calm Reed, failing to introduce himself at all. Oh no.

"In that case, should I step out and let you two discuss things? I don't mind giving you some space," Rein offers with a smile. Ambrosia often has people asking after her. She is quite knowledgeable after all.