Vigil

[Gullara]

[New Arrivals]

Jillian's posture starts to slack at the conversation goes on. She slips gradually until she's resting her head on her hands on the desk in front of her. Maybe this is a lot of talking about things she doesn't totally follow.

[Magtok]

Perfect Water

"Yeah, sure. I can brew a cup or two - won't be the best you've had, though."

"I've never had a single cup of coffee that I didn't hate, so yours will be in good company," the cyborg shrugs. It's going to be hell, sitting around drinking that horrible bean juice and mentally rehearsing his speech to Wenomir and Cessie, but at least the hardest part of this journey is over, I think. And we had a conversation with our step-daughter that didn't end in anyone reaching for a firearm, so there's that! Magtok sighs and waits for the dawn with slightly less discomfort than usual on Vigil territory.

[Zefir]

[Prison]

"You are obviously new to the nexus." Mia says. "Mapping out the place is...impossible. Since there can be a new landmark like a small town or a mountain at any moment."
Not that it matters now but just when he speaks about those landmarks they suddendly come into exitence (partly places for MERC jobs I placed).
"I guess that doesn't help us as much as you think it will. I haven't heared of a TANBot yet. So it's still searching for your series, but we have two times people to find."

[Zefir]

[Village]


Well, maybe they have to disagree. Sophia nods and straightens up, giving Mia a bit more space.
"You won't help us with machines then?"

[Village]

Let's agree to disagree.
"What exactly do you mean with heling you with the machines? It should be rather obviouse that I don't want you to destroy them just to rebuild them."

[Keeper]

[A Fox Can't Be Cut]

The girl tilts her head. "Not really - I guess I should if I ever like, actually get into adventuring, or even just contact sparring. I can run away like, really good though. Being a fox makes it easy, and there's always somewhere to slip through in Riverside." Idly, Anastasia does reach out to give Faye a couple pets.

A Fox Can't Be Cut

Faye's coat is soft! Koshal smiles, though it's subdued. Koshal always avoids smiling wide enough to show his teeth; it freaks out some people to see a bovine face with teeth like minotaurs have.
"Well, having an option is nice. But more than one is better. Like I always wear my chain mail but I also-" He gently touches Faye's ear and the dog turns to grasp his hand in her teeth. Both immediately and instantly melt into Ana's shadow and reappear behind her.
"Have an escape plan too."

[Recaiden]

[Village]

Let's agree to disagree.
"What exactly do you mean with heling you with the machines? It should be rather obviouse that I don't want you to destroy them just to rebuild them."

That's the saying, yes.
"To help us build new ones, using our methods of construction."
"Though isn't it inevitable for machines to be rebuilt? They always wear out, normally, don't they?"

[Arkhosia]

[A Fox Can't Be Cut]

Ana can’t help but jump as Koshal materializes behind her, spinning around with eyes a little wide. She’s not frightened the cool shadow powers on display, though - simply startled.

”Oh! Wow, yeah something like that must be like, super handy. I’ve just got my fox form, though I think I might be able to sorta float? My mom does that sometimes, but I haven’t really figured out how.” After a moment, she tilts her head. ”So like, what are you interested in? Do you go adventuring often?“

[Morty]

[Prison]

Wenomir shrugs.

"You can call him, then. Do you need us to bring you a phone?"

[Gold]

[Prison]

"Please, it can't be that hard. Maybe with conventional cartography, but on a good day I could get the topology of an entire solar system in seconds." Does he know? No, he doesn't.

"Yes, I'll need a phone to place the call." TARBot can actually place calls without a phone (the helmet acts as one), but he doesn't feel like it right now.

When he gets the phone, he will punch in a 16-digit number and start conversing.

"New phone, who dis?"

"Hey, it's me, T-"

"Deactivate yourself."

"Wait! I-"

"Are you deadass? You stole my daughter's sword and almost fucking murdered her, so give me one good reason I shouldn't block your ass right now."

"I'm callimg from jail. I was incarcerated. I went the way of the man who has his chat logs leaked."

"That's funny, sure, but I missed the part where that's my problem."

"Huh, I thought for sure that you would go for that. Anyways, the guys who arrested me need you to doxx someone, so-"

"I'm on my way!!"

TARBot will then hang up the phone, look at Wenomir and Mia, and say "See that? I didn't even give him the location. The bot traced the call as we were speaking."

[bc56]

Emerged
"That will have to do," Ophelia supposes. "For now, if you could show me to a place to stay, preferably not that cramped cell, I would appreciate it. I believe I have much to learn, about myself and my... benefactor."

[Zefir]

[Village]



That's the saying, yes.
"To help us build new ones, using our methods of construction."
"Though isn't it inevitable for machines to be rebuilt? They always wear out, normally, don't they?"

[Village]

Mia sights.

"You are not wrong, but you give me the feeling that you don't wait for that moment and rather use that as an excuse to destroy them 'they would wear out anyway'."

[Recaiden]

[Village]

Sophia crosses her arms, and then scowls at the other arms getting in the way.
"I can understand that you're suspicious, but we don't just throw people - or things - away."
At least, not anymore. Can't afford it.

[Spectre]

[Cessie's Office]

A warm, gentle wind blows. It carries with it the scent of lavender and honeywort. Somehow, without an apparent source, the wind rustles papers and turns paintings crooked. It almost seems to whisper to itself as it blows. Then the lights start to flicker. A lamp sizzles and smokes before bursting entirely!

The office is dim, and out from the dark appears a bearded face. "Cessie Mithar!" Bellows the disembodied head. "Gaze upon my face!" The head belongs to an older man with ruddy brown skin and many geometric tattoos. "Your eyes show you Felran, Third of the Veroonai Enclave!" The face drifts closer.

On his tongue is a geometric rune. "In truth, you view but a fragment!" The steely gray eyes of Felran's disembodied head narrow. "I am kept against my will in the town of Serinet!"

"No one else is coming! You must hur-!" The disembodied head flickers and vanishes.

Something broke the wizard's spell.

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

Cessie stares at the spot where the head appeared.

That had been... abrupt.

She looks to Wenomir who she had just been talking to regarding the defenses of VIGIL. Someone projecting things into her office were certainly a possible safety concern but this one had been someone actually asking for help. "What... do you make of that? " She inquires.

[Morty]

[Cessie's Office]

Wenomir has the carefully blank look he always does when he's at a loss. It's a while before he speaks.

"It... seems that a sorcerer is imprisoned and managed to cast a spell to project himself. And he wants us to free him. Might be the strangest way someone asked for our help."

[Shadowcaller]

[Cessie's Office]

"Sounds like they're in a hurry though so we probably shouldn't dawdle when lives might be on the line. There's always the possibility of it being some sort of trap but that's not really an assumption we can afford to make here." Cessie takes out her communicator.
"Let's just make a role call for this and see who picks it up while we finish this meeting." They thankfully had other people who could arrange for this sort of thing. Didn't have to do it personally.

[Zefir]

[Prison]

Well Mia is not suprised by that. They are advanced robots which can do many things. On the other han this number is registered so everyone might have no problem finding out who it belongs to. It may only be hard to get here unless he usses the shuttle. Thats the bad site of a flying island that moves around.

"So it is waiting time?" Mia says. She would ask him about the sword he stole mentioned but concludes it is in his external space.

[Morty]

[Prison]

"To be blunt, this kind of technology is not safe in your hands, or that of your friend." Wenomir says this as if he was ever not blunt. "But we work with what we have. I'll tell our people to let him in."

[Zefir]

[Village]

Sophia crosses her arms, and then scowls at the other arms getting in the way.
"I can understand that you're suspicious, but we don't just throw people - or things - away."
At least, not anymore. Can't afford it.

[Village]

"Maybe it#s best if I take the time and see by myself." Mia says. "Just to prevent missunderstandings in the first place."

Thought Mia isn't really that happy to go with a demon to a demon lair. Even if they are meant to be the rebels

[Gold]

[Prison]

Yeah, but still. Who does that?

"Maybe. I've heard we're the result of wondering if one could without stopping to think of whether they should."

When the word 'friend' is uttered, TARBot shakes his head. "I only have one friend... who I direly need to apologise to."

[Zefir]

[Prison]

Mostt likly a point of wher you come from. In her world Robots and high tech are common. Mia could make a limb replacement that might appear to people as a real arm.

"I agree." she says to Wenomir.

"I don't think we can help you with that. We got other things to care related to you, as it seems."

[Morty]

[Prison]

"Hrm." Wenomir decides not to make any of his trademark cutting remarks like "I'm not surprised" or similar. Not after TARBot showed an actual moment of consideration for someone else's feelings. "We will see what happens when he arrives and we track down your hunter. Perhaps you'll have the opportunity to apologize to your friend soon."

[Gold]

[Prison]

TARBot considers other people's feelings all the time. The rare part is that he's doing that in a positive way, instead of considering what would make them feel angry and using it.

"Do you hear that?" What TARBot is referring to is the distant, but getting closer, sound of music that's audible to him and so probably also to Wenomir and Mia.

The music gets closer and closer, until its source is revealed: TANBot himself, a robot with the same build as TARBot save for a regular hexagonal battery instead of an energy core and a grey-white colour scheme instead of grey-blue, is blasting the music from a comically large boombox lugged on his shoulder. The volume is turned up to the max, but the audio quality isn't getting any better. TARBot is making a noise somewhat equivalent to laughter, but it's drowned out by the deafening tunes.

When he sees TARBot, he sets the boombox down, turns it down to a volume more appropriate to background music, and says "One of my biggest opps, behind bars right in front of me. You're lucky you're in here - I might have run up on you again otherwise." TARBot says nothing.

Then he turns to Wenomir and Mia and says "So you're the smart fellas that locked up this cringe ass goober? If so, that's very based of you."

[Zefir]

[Prison]

I for once don't assume he is just able to step in. I mean we are in a prison no public museum. So it migth be handwaved that he had to go through a security to get in here.

"Please mind some manners and turn the box off." Mia polotly replies. If he does she continues if not she just does it herself, likly by asking the boombox to shut itself for a bit.

"He tols us someone is behind him and likly you which might be troublesome if he manages to succeed. He also said you might be able to track that person down. Can you help us?"

[Keeper]

[A Fox Can't Be Cut]

Ana can’t help but jump as Koshal materializes behind her, spinning around with eyes a little wide. She’s not frightened the cool shadow powers on display, though - simply startled.

”Oh! Wow, yeah something like that must be like, super handy. I’ve just got my fox form, though I think I might be able to sorta float? My mom does that sometimes, but I haven’t really figured out how.” After a moment, she tilts her head. ”So like, what are you interested in? Do you go adventuring often?“

A Fox Can't be Cut

Ana doesn't seem to get Koshal's point that you can have armor AND cool magic tricks. Maybe her fox thing doesn't work if she's wearing metal. Magic works like that sometimes.
"Oh yeah. As Lady Danir's squire I'm expected to go out and perform knightly deeds. Maybe not all the time and not big full-knight scale knightly deeds but you know. That sort of thing."

[Recaiden]

[Village]

"Maybe it#s best if I take the time and see by myself." Mia says. "Just to prevent missunderstandings in the first place."

Thought Mia isn't really that happy to go with a demon to a demon lair. Even if they are meant to be the rebels

"Okay. You know where to find us. Same place as when you came to repair that ship."
"Juts come by whenever you're ready." Sophia says. She has low hopes about all this, but Mia is cooperating, and that's something, right?

[Morty]

[Prison]

By all the dead gods, the Riddle of Steel and whatever other higher power Wenomir can think of at the moment. This robot is as obnoxious as the other one, but in a different way.

"He came here and tried to rob us. Then he told us he's being hunted by someone for his power core and that it will be bad for everyone else if that someone obtains it." He pauses. "And yes, do turn this music off, please."

[Gold]

[Prison]

I hadn't considered that. Handwave it we will.

"Okay, okay, fine. Xenogenesis probably would have been the better pick anyways, for my intro music." TANBot reluctantly clicks the boombox off.

"He tried to rob you? Average LARBot behaviour." TARBot rolls his head, since he has no eyes to roll. "But yeah, if I can get a DN I think I can help you."

TARBot thinks for a bit. "Zeeland. His name is Zeeland."

TANBot turns to him with a start. "Zeeland? Seriously? Weird name. It also matches up with a whole ass province somewhere in the Netherlands, which makes searching the guy hard. Though, I have talked to a Zeeland before. He called me a goober because I tricked him into clicking on an IP grabber. That should serve as a reminder not to click suspicious links, unless I posted them in which case click it like it's an annoying person's NFT."

TARBot perks up at this. "That could be him. They say insanity heightens one's gullibility. In completely unrelated news, TANBot, it says gullible on the celing."

TANBot actually looks up at the ceiling, confused as to why there's nothing there. After a few seconds, he shrugs and gives up. "There's nothing there, but go off. Anyways, if the guy chasing you is named Zeeland and is of our series, then I have your guy." TARBot gives a nod of confirmation.

"Well, I can pull up a picture of his house, as I am wont to do, but from what I've gathered he actually goes outside and touches grass so there's no guarantee he'll be at home." TANBot turns to Wenomir and Mia to ask "What do you think of that?"

[Arkhosia]

[A Fox Can't Be Cut]

Koshal's point hadn't entirely gone past Ana's head - she'd just laser-focused on the point of escape plans. Any further thought of either manner of defense are quickly forgotten once he responds, however, and the fox's eyes go wide. "Oh wow, you're a squire? Like, the real deal? Man, that must be like, a lot of responsibility!"

[Zefir]

[Prison]

Mia looks skeptical at the two robots especially at the one in jail.

"I am not sure he told you the right man. If i got it right he can travel through time and shouldn t he have some simularity to you in his name. Usually?"

I am not sure if he told the truth or not but when he needed a moment Mia was not sure if he just had to think up a name.