Planeside

[Ironsmith]

[Peccatorium]


"...She cares?!" Tuhma has a fist pressed to his mouth, clearly trying to stifle his laughter. "That's your defense? Do you have any idea, any idea at all, how commonplace that is? Of course she-"

"Now, correct me if I'm wrong, Tuhma." The demoness mutters, one eye flicking open. "But wasn't your entire defense that she couldn't be arsed?"

"I-"

"Yeah, I've heard enough." The demoness shrugs and waves at the judge. "We'll be withdrawing our claim now. Just send her down if you don't want her, I guess."

The judge frowns slightly and scribbles something down on the paper in front of him. "I believe I've heard enough. Adira, if you would?"

The angel dutifully stands, steps up to the podium, and is promptly handed a sealed scroll, which she brings back to Melody and Jaahlyn.

► Scroll Contents

On this day, the assembled court, under the judgment of
Justice Daniel Pechman
has rendered the verdict for the entry of applicant
Melody Janine Hopskins
into the Paradise of Elysium

Considering that, at her first trial, Melody Hopskins was deemed, in the words of my predecessor, "nearly an ideal candidate, save for one very significant detraction", it should come as no surprise that miss Hopskins would be considered strongly for a position in Elysium even before her life was cut prematurely.

As with her first trial, our judgment is to be rendered on her Mercy and her Humility; her capacity to forgive others their sins, and her recognition of the need to repent for her own. Her Mercy is exceptional; she has done what few others in her shoes would have, and not only forgiven, but learned to embrace her killer. If that is not proof that she can enable change in others, nothing is.

As for Humility, Melody is a meek woman by nature. This has been a double-edged blade, as a matter to weigh, as while there is little evidence to suggest pride and resistance to change when change is called for, this is not a very affirmative indication of the inverse; she could easily have been, as the saying goes, going along to get along. However, the qualities that would lead to a full-hearted embrace of change are all present, as demonstrated both by her new relationships and by the execution of her duties as a part of DEATHKISS.

In light of this, it is the judgment of this court that her entry and asylum in Elysium be
GRANTED

Effective immediately, Melody Hopskins is under the protection of our walls and may enjoy the providence of our fields. We welcome her to eternity.

Melody closes the scroll back up and swallows hard, staring up at the open door leading further up into Elysium... but making no move toward it. She turns and looks to Jaahlyn, as though expecting some indication from her that, yes, it was safe to go up.

[Shadowcaller]

[Peccatorium]

Perhaps she had subconsciously let all those papers get to her head a bit but after delivering that argument after just some minutes of deliberation she felt pretty darn good about herself.
So she had wanted to make a show of things. Like one of those characters in the moving pictures just calmly walk away from an explosion she had wanted to turn just as the judgement was delivered, smirk at Tuhma and calmly walk back to the waiting Melody.

Or at least that's how she had pictured it all in her mind. But despite her bravado she had been so nervous that entire time that as she turned around her hooves didn't work quite as she liked them to. Causing her to stumble. Nearly falling over before managing to steady herself by reflexively managing to push her other hoof in front of her. Ending up in what almost looks like a kneeling position.

It was a inhuman reflex one might say. Only developed by those with both hooves and two legs.
Not to mention millennias of existence but she wasn't sure that part was strictly necessary.

Yet acting as if nothing had happened she gets up and saunters, somewhat unsteadily, over to Melody and tries to pull her into a hug.

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

The hoatzin-mouth tunnel opens here, into a round tunnel with white tiles covering the surface. Gravity is towards the floor, but the tunnel's entire surface is floor; there's no set wall or ceiling. The Encyclopede will scuttle along the tube, twisting to look back at LB-M to ensure the little kitten-pokemon is following. The tube leads quite quickly to a library. Well, it has shelves filled with books, it just... doesn't have a ceiling or floor, just shelves stretching up and down and across as far as the eye can see, with narrow bridges suspended between them, lit by hovering glass spheres filled with light. Other Encyclopedes can be seen crawling up and down the shelves, often followed by an assistant of some kind- a porygon, a servoskull, or a homunculus of some kind hovering or crawling along behind it.

[Ironsmith]

[Peccatorium]

Perhaps she had subconsciously let all those papers get to her head a bit but after delivering that argument after just some minutes of deliberation she felt pretty darn good about herself.
So she had wanted to make a show of things. Like one of those characters in the moving pictures just calmly walk away from an explosion she had wanted to turn just as the judgement was delivered, smirk at Tuhma and calmly walk back to the waiting Melody.

Or at least that's how she had pictured it all in her mind. But despite her bravado she had been so nervous that entire time that as she turned around her hooves didn't work quite as she liked them to. Causing her to stumble. Nearly falling over before managing to steady herself by reflexively managing to push her other hoof in front of her. Ending up in what almost looks like a kneeling position.

It was a inhuman reflex one might say. Only developed by those with both hooves and two legs.
Not to mention millennias of existence but she wasn't sure that part was strictly necessary.

Yet acting as if nothing had happened she gets up and saunters, somewhat unsteadily, over to Melody and tries to pull her into a hug.

[Peccatorium]

The judge raises an eyebrow at Jaahlyn coming forward to collect the verdict, rather than the angel, but doesn't object and simply hands her the scroll. The end result, after all, is the same.

Jaahlyn's brief stumble earns an amused chuckle from the demonic prosecution's table; probably the last part of this trial they're actually going to get to enjoy. The judge and angel make no comment on it whatsoever, and Melody simply sinks a little in her seat, embarrassed on Jaahlyn's behalf.

And speaking of Melody... it seems as though she doesn't really need any prompting for that hug. As soon as Jaahlyn has an arm around her, Melody has both back around the satyr, locking her into an almost vice-like grip, still clearly terrified despite the positive verdict.

"Welp. That's it for me for now." The demoness stands and rolls her shoulders. "I'll just leave you all to get ready for the next one. Keep up the good work and all."

And with that, she promptly falls back into her chair, limp and lifeless, staring up at the ceiling with vacant eyes.

Tuhma sighs and shakes his head, returning to the table himself and pulling over a set of documents, running his finger over them as he sets about reading. It seems he's going to be quite busy, as well.

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramid]

LB-M has no real memory of the Octahedron Archive, yet still, there is a sense of familiarity as she traverses the odd tunnel into the great library. Her eyes widen in awe as the great chasm of bookshelves opens before her. ~Whoa, that's a lot stuff. What's it all for?~, she broadcasts as she leaps out of the tunnel and hovers at the treshold. She is a very tiny thing compared to magnitude of it all. ~Are we going up? Or down? Or forward? Is it a long trip? Should I float or crawl along like you do?~[/color]

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

-That is knowledge. It nourishes us. But no, we are not visiting the Stacks today, we are performing novel research.- Mostly on LB-M, but the Encyclopede doesn't see any reason to tell the mewling that. -Travel as you feel most comfortable, though please stay close to me. Navigating is difficult for outsiders. We are going reverse alphabetically, though not far. We shall not leave the Ps.- So headed towards 'Pa' from... well, it's hard to say, really; the shelves aren't visibly labelled from here. The Encyclopede knows where it's going, however,

It doesn't take too long for the group to find another tunnel in the wall, actually the fifth, though the Encyclopede goes down this one. It's also round, with the same gravity effect and panelled with the same tiles. Headed in the opposite direction are another pair of Encyclopedes, followed by a large spherical robot with three stalked eyes and a number of dangling appendages hovering in the air and a heavily altered cyborg with a vacant expression on its face (pretty much the only visibly organic component) trundling along on caterpillar tracks, its arms replaced with mechanical limbs tipped with padded grippers and a small compartment built into its back loaded with floppy discs and papyrus scrolls. The Encyclopedes ignore the one LB-M should be following, and they all swivel on the wall/floor so the other two are on the apparent ceiling.

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramid]

LB-M decides to use her powers of levitation to stay close to the Encyclopede. ~Reverse alphabetical order? You're not wrong of it being difficult for outsiders! I would organize this place very differently!~ , the little mew thinks. Even without visible labels, she doesn't have too much trouble deducing which direction is which, but the alphabet she would use is in completely different order - so it isn't intuitive to her that they're moving towards 'Pa', nor why would someone put 'Pa' before 'Ps' to begin with.

When they get to the new tunnel, she instinctively shies away from the entourage coming towards then, before realizing she doesn't have to, the passersby have no interest in her. She spies their burdens and wonders: ~What's with all that odd junk? Is that all supposed to hold knowledge too? Will you put it all down in a different form or just stick it on the shelves as is?~

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

-How would you organise our knowledge?- The Encyclopede is genuinely interested; whilst changing the way they do things is likely far more effort than it is worth, there may be some ideas or possibilities for other areas of the Pyramid. -Indeed, they are probably transporting knowledge. I do not know where it is going or what will happen to it. They are from the Lower Geological Archive, and I am assigned to the Obscure Zoology Department. It is probably being transferred somewhere.- But without knowing what's on the plastic squares or rolled papyri, the Encyclopede doesn't know where it's going, whether they're handing it over to one of its colleagues to go on these shelves here or if they're merely passing through on their way to another department or even if they've collected it and are returning to the Lower Geological Archives with knowledge to be sorted and stored on their shelves. -It might simply be blank media, awaiting the effort of researchers and archivists to be filled with fresh discoveries or transcriptions.- The Encyclopedes barter knowledge for knowledge, or occasionally relics or specimens that interest the Wikipede.

They shortly arrive at a squat airlock-type door set in the side of the tunnel, blocky and protruding. There's a hiss and a creak as it opens slowly, and the Encyclopede leads the way inside. This chamber does have walls, a floor, and a ceiling, and it's... decidedly odd. Archaic oil-lamps are suspended from the ceiling to provide light, a large MRI machine has been pushed against the far side of the room, there's a PokeCentre healing device on another, and the entire right side of the room is dominated by a massive Colossus-style computer of switches and vacuum tubes. The floor is a single immense slab of pottery, a vast clay stele covered in delicate cuneiform etchings and then protected under a plexiglass cover serving as the actual floor's surface. -Would you please enter the device.- The Encyclopede gestures to the MRI machine.

[Shadowcaller]

[Peccatorium]

The judge raises an eyebrow at Jaahlyn coming forward to collect the verdict, rather than the angel, but doesn't object and simply hands her the scroll. The end result, after all, is the same.

Jaahlyn's brief stumble earns an amused chuckle from the demonic prosecution's table; probably the last part of this trial they're actually going to get to enjoy. The judge and angel make no comment on it whatsoever, and Melody simply sinks a little in her seat, embarrassed on Jaahlyn's behalf.

And speaking of Melody... it seems as though she doesn't really need any prompting for that hug. As soon as Jaahlyn has an arm around her, Melody has both back around the satyr, locking her into an almost vice-like grip, still clearly terrified despite the positive verdict.

"Welp. That's it for me for now." The demoness stands and rolls her shoulders. "I'll just leave you all to get ready for the next one. Keep up the good work and all."

And with that, she promptly falls back into her chair, limp and lifeless, staring up at the ceiling with vacant eyes.

Tuhma sighs and shakes his head, returning to the table himself and pulling over a set of documents, running his finger over them as he sets about reading. It seems he's going to be quite busy, as well.

[Peccatorium]

Considering how many people that died every second in her own world she figured this place worked on different sort of time. That or there were countless of courtrooms like these handling cases at the same time. Both seemed like equally plausible explanations for why everyone wasn't constantly busy with other cases.

"Hope I don't have to be here again..." She mumbles as she's hugging Melody, trying to calm herself down. She didn't want to get used to this.

[Ironsmith]

[Peccatorium]

"Miss Hesperos, if I may." The judge gestures to the set of stairs leading up into Elysium proper. "It seems you and Miss Hopskins have both had a rough time of it. Moving into Elysium can be an adjustment, and it may be better if she has help from someone she trusts. If you're up here, and there is a possibility you may end up here again, you at the very least deserve to enjoy some of the benefits of paradise."

Tuhma looks up from his papers. "What? You can't- you can't just do that. We have a contract, remember? We'd have to have another trial, and-"

"She wouldn't be a resident. She'd be a guest." The judge points out, rolling his gavel in his hands. "And under article 77, subsection 3-"

"Yes, yes, I know your laws." Tuhma waves his hand irritably. "But seeing as to how she isn't asleep or dying, article 77 doesn't really app-" The incubus stops and buries his face in his hand. "...Son of a bitch. She's a fae and she's a psychopomp. Of course it applies."

"Precisely." The judge turns his attention back to Jaahlyn and Melody. "...So. Would you like to come in?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Peccatorium]

The satyr looks up. Giving Melody comforting look as she mouths. 'one moment'. Then she gently frees herself from the hug and steps out to address the judge.
She bows, once again moving with the well-practiced ease of someone that performed the gesture more times than can be performed in a single lifespan. "I would be delighted to make a visit, your honor. However brief a visit as I cannot say how long until I have to go back to work again."

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramid]

How would LB-M organize the library? The script used by the Octahedron has thousands of characters for morphemes and written words relate by shape of their logograms rather than their phonetic components. In its wider system, each morpheme is derived from specific function of a cellular automaton and hence has a distinct mathematical identity. LB-M finds her telepathic abilities are not up to the task of making someone else visualize this in an usable way. All she can give is a rough idea. ~Like, I wouldn't put them in a long hallway like that. I would make a dome spiral. Lots of rotating bits. Everything would have to be translated first, of course, so the glyphs align right.~

She thinks on what the Encyclopede told her for rest of the trip. It would seem to her these bug-types are scavengers of sorts. Scavengers and hoarders. Her impression is cemented when they reach the chamber behind the airlock. It looks like the furniture is cobbled together from stolen junk. She's starting to doubt these bugs have anything to do with Geneva or anyone else in VIGIL.

Upon being asked to enter the MRI machine, the gerbil-sized mew floats to the ground and jumps to the device, sniffing it skeptically. ~Can you tell me a bit of what it does first? I want to know if its safe.~ It might not be. She does have metallic parts inside herself, a strong magnetic field could interact with them in many detrimental ways.

[Ironsmith]

[Peccatorium]

The satyr looks up. Giving Melody comforting look as she mouths. 'one moment'. Then she gently frees herself from the hug and steps out to address the judge.
She bows, once again moving with the well-practiced ease of someone that performed the gesture more times than can be performed in a single lifespan. "I would be delighted to make a visit, your honor. However brief a visit as I cannot say how long until I have to go back to work again."

[Peccatorium => Elysium]

"Good, good." The judge nods toward the stairs. "Up you go, then."

If Jaahlyn follows his instructions, the stairs will indeed lead up and out through a set of double doors, into a sunlit street, lined in both directions by a series of large, marble buildings that seem to be vaguely evocative of Greco-Roman architecture, with doric columns lining their exteriors and murals of stern figures standing over the doors.

In sharp contrast to that, a brightly-colored bus comes rushing down the road almost as soon as they're out in the open. It starts to slow as it approaches their position, coming to a stop just in front of them, the doors on the side opening and releasing a stream of upbeat music on the both of them. The driver, a large man with long, unkempt hair, gives the pair of them a friendly smile and gestures for them to come on board. "Hey there, dudettes." He greets, amid the excited clamor of at least two dozen other angels moving toward the front of the bus and the windows on the side to get a better look at them. "Welcome to, like, heaven and stuff. All aboard the party bus, ladies!"

"...I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this isn't it." Melody mutters as an aside to Jaahlyn.

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

-And what of the first editions, once they have been translated? How shall we store those? We favour first editions, when we can get them, as well as revised printings.- Which reminds me that this Encyclopede should have had an alphabetic descriptor, since there's multiple alphabets in use.

-This was a magnetic resonance imager, but we have altered it. It no longer uses magnetism, so it can be safely used to examine ferric and pseudoferric materials and entities. Instead it remaps leylines and surges pulses of geomantic energy through the sparkling carbide diodes and ephemeral spline reticulators.- Which may make sense to LB-M, or may not.

[Shadowcaller]

[Peccatorium => Elysium]

She looks at the stairs, back at the judge and then at the stairs again. Quietly wondering just how many poor souls that probably had decided to try to make a run for them if their sentence have been less favorable than Melody's. Only to of course be shut down by whatever the court used to enforce its will.
It was almost cruel having it there. So close to salvation yet so far.

It's with these poor souls in mind she starts to make her own journey up the stairs.
Reminding herself that she couldn't save everyone. At least those that got sent to Abyss didn't die right? Well, not in all cases at least. But having your soul turned to goop probably wasn't the most pleasurable of experiences and it was probably as close to true death as you got around here.

But these dark thoughts are interrupted when she follows Melody through those doubledoors.
She looks around for a moment in the city they now had found themselves in. Trying to restrain any feelings she might have about it for now as she didn't want to look like a clueless newcomer. After all, she had been in places like this before.

Certain fey's manifestation's of the heaven of her own world could look a bit like this when she visited them. Since they often assumed that she would find herself more comfortable around marble buildings considering her past. But why they usually left them unpainted she had never gotten a satisfactory answer for. She supposed the humans of the future thought they just looked better that way despite how cold it made them look.

Then there was a bus. Now that you never saw in heaven and it made this place feel a lot more like the nexus with its mix of strange features.
"Agreed. This place feels more like the nexus than heaven." She whispers back to Melody before turning to address the man. "Hi there."

"Stepping on board isn't going to give me wings is it?" The satyr half-jokes as she puts one hoof onto the train. "Since I already got a pair so it might lead to complications." Well, Baphoreth had them and they sure weren't sharing them despite not even working properly.

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramids]

~What would you even do with all those first editions once they've been properly translated? I'd just get rid of them. It's not like they'd last. Information is forever, storage mediums aren't~, LB-M answers the question of library organization.

As for the machine, most of what the Encyclopede tells her makes little sense. She sort of knows what magnetisms is, but has no clue what theory of leylines is supposed to be in play, and geomantic energy just sounds completely made up. But, she can't really see any danger in it, so she hops into the machine. ~Okay! Fire away, or whatever. Let's see what happens!~

Depending on image resolution, the machine finds out most of the same things as Geneva's scans earlier: while tinier than usual, LB-M adheres to normal physiology of a mew, besides her unusual coloring. The machine can detect the proto-implants still waiting for activation inside her body. Is there something else the machine might look for?

[Ironsmith]

[Peccatorium => Elysium]

She looks at the stairs, back at the judge and then at the stairs again. Quietly wondering just how many poor souls that probably had decided to try to make a run for them if their sentence have been less favorable than Melody's. Only to of course be shut down by whatever the court used to enforce its will.
It was almost cruel having it there. So close to salvation yet so far.

It's with these poor souls in mind she starts to make her own journey up the stairs.
Reminding herself that she couldn't save everyone. At least those that got sent to Abyss didn't die right? Well, not in all cases at least. But having your soul turned to goop probably wasn't the most pleasurable of experiences and it was probably as close to true death as you got around here.

But these dark thoughts are interrupted when she follows Melody through those doubledoors.
She looks around for a moment in the city they now had found themselves in. Trying to restrain any feelings she might have about it for now as she didn't want to look like a clueless newcomer. After all, she had been in places like this before.

Certain fey's manifestation's of the heaven of her own world could look a bit like this when she visited them. Since they often assumed that she would find herself more comfortable around marble buildings considering her past. But why they usually left them unpainted she had never gotten a satisfactory answer for. She supposed the humans of the future thought they just looked better that way despite how cold it made them look.

Then there was a bus. Now that you never saw in heaven and it made this place feel a lot more like the nexus with its mix of strange features.
"Agreed. This place feels more like the nexus than heaven." She whispers back to Melody before turning to address the man. "Hi there."

"Stepping on board isn't going to give me wings is it?" The satyr half-jokes as she puts one hoof onto the train. "Since I already got a pair so it might lead to complications." Well, Baphoreth had them and they sure weren't sharing them despite not even working properly.

[Elysium]

"Nah, that's a resident thing." One of the angels next to Jaahlyn pipes up. "They used to have a big hall of boxes for the halos and the wings, but these days it's all automated. Makes the manpower we have more efficient." She extends a hand to Jaahlyn. "Grace, by the way."

"...That's a bit on-the-nose, isn't it?" Melody mutters.

"Right. Say, you're a singer, right?" Grace smirks. "What's your name again?"

"Hate to break up the bonding moment, dudettes, but we gotta get all of you up to the city proper pronto." The bus driver interrupts, gesturing for the two of them to board the bus.

"Hey, hey, no rush." Grace smiles and slaps on a baseball cap, which she had laying on the seat next to her, with the words "Pearly Gate Tours" embroidered on it. "It's paradise. We've got time for a little banter and sightseeing."

[Shadowcaller]

[Elysium]

Jaahlyn looks to Grace, so she knew who Melody was then? She really shouldn't be so surprised by this anymore considering how interconnected everything around here seemed to be. Those angels knew they would show up here since they had been following the trial. They would probably not just take photos of just about anyone.

Sometimes she was a bit slow on the uptake it seemed.

She steps on board and tries to find a free seat close to the driver. "So is everyone greeted like this around here or is it just us?" She then glances at Melody, half-expecting her to gain wings at any moment now.

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

-Put them in one of our vaults with some of the more fragile historical artefacts and pump out the time until they're needed again. Perhaps to make a new translation without losing any of the original information.- That's probably one way to make a storage medium last, store it somewhere with no time.

The machine is silent as it works, runes and glyphs flaring across the surface of the inner chamber, though LB-M might not get a good look at them as she's going to vibrate slightly. It's probably no better than Geneva's machine, though the magic used does allow it to trace origin. So in addition to scanning LB-M's body and mapping out her anatomy, it's also trying to figure out where every piece of her came from, using sympathetic theories of magic to figure out where else is vibrating at the same frequency the machine is vibrating her.

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramid]

"Pumping out time" makes as much sense to LB-M as "geomantic energy". As far as her understanding of "time" goes, it's not a fluid that can be pumped in or out of anything. But maybe she's just wrong.

Her physical form was condensed from ectoplasm left over from a disassembled memory cylinder. Other parts of that cylinder are now spread all around Geneva's lab in VIGIL's base. Depending on how far into the past the machine can reach, it can find a link to all the people who handled the cylinder, most notably Geneva and Khafir, and trace their steps all the way to a volcanic Seaside island, where the trail abruptly stops. Alternatively, it might pick up her spiritual connection to First and Second Light-Bringers, her quantum electronic precursors accidentally made by Dr. Eun Bu and Mia, cleric of the machine god.

LB-M is herself unaware of any of this. She does not have enough context to decipher the runes inside the machine, she can just admire them as they flash before her eyes.

[Ironsmith]

[Elysium]

clunk!

Melody's face turns bright red as she draws in her new wings around her, holding them more tightly to her body. They're going to take some getting used to, apparently. Until then, she's smacking them into doorframes.

"Column A, column B." Grace shrugs. "Every soul that makes it to Elysium is a major triumph, for us and for them, so we try to roll out the red carpet for newcomers as much as possible. Make them feel like celebrities, if you will." She grins. "Which is easy enough to do when they're already celebrities. Big fan of both of you, by the way."

Melody reddens. "Oh. Um... thank you?"

"Don't worry. We're past the part where anyone judges you for it." Grace smiles and adjusts her cap as the bus doors close behind them. "Have a seat, please."

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

The machine only tracks the physical components of LB-M, so really any other traces of the ectoplasm and the physical components of her implants will be detected. Perhaps other parts of the Octohedron, if they're from the same batch and the chemical compositions are similar enough and produced from the same ores. It's working through similarity and sympathetic ties, rather than emotional or historical ones.

It won't take long before she's taken out, the Encyclopede making notes with its long antennae. -Nothing unexpected about your organic anatomy. Your cybernetics, however, are outside our experience. Where did you acquire them?- The door opens again and a projector is wheeled in by a pair of myr, small robotic-looking constructs of shining metal with large noses and small eyes. One of the myr takes a fibre optic cable from the projector and plugs it into the vast computer, whilst the other flips a switch and the projector hums to life, projecting a map of LB-M's anatomy onto the wall.

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramid]

Most things similar to LB-M are within shell of the Octahedron and thus outside the machine's reach, for same reasons why many scanning methods would see its shell as an opaque block. But there's one more direction the machine could point to - an obscure trail to Phoenix Lake campground. But the similarity is weak enough - partial strands of DNA - that the machine has trouble telling what the object in the other end is. It's not a mew, that's for sure.

LB-M jumps in excitement when the Encyclopede brings in the projector and shows her the scans. ~Oooh! Neat! I can't see inside myself on my own, not this easily~, she muses as she admires them. ~By cybernetics, you mean my machine parts, right? I didn't acquire them. I designed them and grew them inside myself. But they aren't finished yet. I need to eat and grow, so they can grow with me.~

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

-Indeed I do. How did you achieve such a thing? I was not aware of mews having this ability. Our prior examinations of your species have mostly been of purely organic individuals. We have no previous record of indigenous tool use amongst pokemon outside a few rare and somewhat esoteric exceptions.- There's a bird that insists of going everywhere with a stick of leek, for example, whilst others always carry spoons, or wear power-regulating belts, or carry immense logs. Although the ability exists amongst many varieties; the Encyclopedes are well experienced with pokemon throwing rocks.

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramid]

~Oh, it's because my mind pre-existed becoming a mew. I designed them while I was still a thoughtform. I had access to a lot of information and processing power that I do not have right now~, LB-M replies. One could even say it was Geneva who did it, through hypnotizing herself by watching Lantern blueprints for long enough.

[Shadowcaller]

[Elysium]

clunk!

Melody's face turns bright red as she draws in her new wings around her, holding them more tightly to her body. They're going to take some getting used to, apparently. Until then, she's smacking them into doorframes.

"Column A, column B." Grace shrugs. "Every soul that makes it to Elysium is a major triumph, for us and for them, so we try to roll out the red carpet for newcomers as much as possible. Make them feel like celebrities, if you will." She grins. "Which is easy enough to do when they're already celebrities. Big fan of both of you, by the way."

Melody reddens. "Oh. Um... thank you?"

"Don't worry. We're past the part where anyone judges you for it." Grace smiles and adjusts her cap as the bus doors close behind them. "Have a seat, please."

[Elysium]

This sudden transformation makes Jaahlyn stare. Since she had expected either that it would happen as soon as they had stepped through those double doors or after some kind of confirmation meeting at an office or something. Not after what seemed to be a random amount of time after arriving.

It takes her a moment to realize that Grace was actually answer her question at the same time.
"Oh, uh... I wasn't even aware that I was a celebrity until a few hours ago. Still a bit hard to accept." She glances at Melody. "For both of us I think." Jaahlyn wasn't blushing though. She rarely did when it came to fame, possibly since it was something she could recall reaching on a number of occasions. Gaining it in a place like this was new though.

She takes one of the seats on the pair opposite to Grace so that Melody could either decide to sit next to an angel or a satyr. She has to take it slow though as her hooves and moving vehicles didn't agree with one another.

"So do you guys, you angels, follow us outside the courtrooms too? Since it seems people know about DEATHKISS at least." She could only hope her life wasn't considered demon or angel entertainment.

[Ironsmith]

[Elysium]

If Melody followed Jaahlyn any more closely, she'd be hugging her the whole way. As it is, she takes a seat next to Jaahlyn with no hesitation; the angels might be friendly(?), but Jaahlyn is a familiar presence whom Melody knows has her best interests at heart.

"Well, of course we do." Grace smiles. "It's just like in the mortal world. People talk. Somebody decided that talk needed to be compiled into an easily-readable format, one thing leads to another and boom, you two both turn up in the gossip rags." She grins. "And yeah, absolutely there are people up here who know DEATHKISS. We all have a good laugh at Too Hot For Heaven; no offense, miss Hopskins, but the entire concept is rather ironic when you think about it."

Melody blushes again but doesn't say anything.

"Personally, Demon Undercover is still my favorite. Terrific mood-setter. To the point that my husband and I use it as a signal of sorts. When I put it on, he knows to ex-"

"Okay, okay, I get it, you've heard our stuff." Melody gripes, grimacing and squeezing her eyes shut. "Can we talk about something else now?"

"...Oh." Grace holds a hand over her mouth. "Oh, that's right. I... my bad, I completely forgot. So sorry." She looks over at Jaahlyn, quietly asking if she was uncomfortable with the subject, as well.

[Shadowcaller]

[Elysium]

Jaahlyn gives a shrug in response. Of course she wouldn't be uncomfortable with DEATHKISS as the subject. She hadn't really been involved in the band beyond that one concert after all. But she didn't like the idea of Melody being uncomfortable so it was best to stop talking about it.
"Okay, but you haven't been able to view me, right?" Since that would be a concern depending on how far back they could look. "Since my 'mortal world' is... not like this." She gestures through the nearest window with a view of the city.

Which made her realize something.

"...also, where are we going?"

[Earl of Purple]

The Bronze Pyramid

-So you are- were- a mindform given physical shape and incarnated into a mew? How fascinating. Our own experiences and experiments in that field have mostly been dismal failures. We have successfully translated our minds into a noncorporeal state of psychic energy, but all attempts to detranslate such entities back into a physical form has failed. Even if we preserve their prior body so it is ready for their mind to reinhabit and return to physical nature. Well, mostly. There are some entities we have encountered that are roughly similar to an external projection of self, and some of those we have been able to return to physicality using certain rituals and specially prepared objects, however such things have typically proven highly dangerous and very hard to control or contain.- Various forms of demon, devil, and some ghosts. -May I inquire as to how you came into the form of a mew?-

[Hraithre]

[The Bronze Pyramid]

LB-M stares vacantly ahead for a moment, her tail swishing back and forth. She subs her nose with both paws, then shakes her head. ~I don't know. I prepared the blueprint, but how that blueprint was translated into physical stuff is unclear. I wasn't there for that part. Or well, I was, but I was asleep for most of it. Um...~

She stretches her memory. ~There's a complex theory that some information, perhaps all information, has mass and possibly a shape in dimensions beyond the usual three plus time. A device capable of traversing those dimensions can, ummm, pull and turn to get the information back into the visible world. But there was something about conservation laws needing to be satisfied... a reaction mass needing to be jettisoned? Can't tell what they used. It doesn't sound too different from what you've already tried, but maybe there's a dissimilarity I can't detect yet.~

The biggest, perhaps the only, difference LB-M actually has to many ghosts, demons and devils is that she is not strongly malicious in temperament.