[Nexus] Riverside VI

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

Nabrius seems almost amused at Astrana. "My kind cannot exist in the mortal realms on our own, as I'm sure you understand perfectly well seeing as you summoned me here. Some of the lesser beings can survive with only a small amount of assistance, an anchor. That's where you'd come in. Your soul would tie them to this world. I can assure you that's all it does. No harm would come to you in any way. Do you understand now?"

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia is silent for a moment, with her face buried in Irena's hair. "It was. I had no idea what I wanted. I'm glad I stayed with you though. Mush better choice than running off and being scared to be close to you like this."

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"And what kind of beings would I be 'assisting'? And what would that do to me? You have to excuse me, but I'm new to your kind of demon. The ones of my homeworld are a lot less substantial." Astrana asks.

[Suncrest Manor]

"I'm glad you stayed too, I still don't think I really understand any of this. I've never even been with another woman before except you." Irena replies softly, giving Nadia's neck a kiss as she applies light pressure to the new bite mark she now sported.

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

"Of course. It'd have absolutely no effect on you, aside from the fact that if you die then this being returns to my realm." Nabrius assures her, perfectly honestly too. "The being in question would be fairly minor. Just someone to give me a physical foothold in your world. You'll have a chance to meet them before you have to really make a decision."

[Suncrest Manor]

"Well I haven't been with anyone before you, so I guess we'll figure it out together." Nadia giggles and goes to give Irena a proper kiss on the lips. A nice and long one too.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"'Fairly minor'? Tell me exactly what this being does, what is it's capabilities?" Astrana demands.

[Suncrest Manor]

And... they make out. Irena moving her hands up Nadia's back, pressing her partner against her. It's fairly slow.

The TV right now shows 'Edijar' (or at least his stand in) having unwittingly captured the renegade Magclone in belief he's just Magtok himself on top of the building they both are trapped in.

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

Nabrius seems just a tad exasperated. She's one of those. "I suppose some might call these type a succubus or incubus, though the common diet of such beings doesn't apply here. They would have access to some glamours, but morely their own wits. Will that be all?"

[Suncrest Manor]

Not that they're paying attention to the TV.

Nadia kisses back with a building passion, but won't go as far as to pull the curtain. When they're done, she just happy gazes into Irena's eyes, raising a hand to stroke her hair. That is, unless Irena tried to take their kissing anywhere further.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

She's one of those alright. "Fair enough, now here is the information I want." She starts to count them on her fingers. "One, I want her full name, two, I want to know all her abilities, magical or otherwise, three, I want to know all general information about her, four, I want to know everything she did while she was in riverside and five I want to know what she did to Valente. Do you accept?" And if he does she will roll over the vial to him.

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena won't pull the curtain either, she's satisfied with lovingly gaze upon Nadia for now. "So when's our next date?" She asks quietly as the vampire strokes her hair.

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

"It's a deal." The demon says simply. He stops the vial with his foot and it disolves into mist. "Until we meet again." And Nabrius vanishes soon after.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Hm... How 'bout in a few days?" Nadia suggests, her smile growing. "It'll be very romantic. Just the two of us." And now she needs to come up with an idea fast.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor - Astrana's Room]

The tiefling is left with a rather dour expression on her face, she had expected instant information but instead she now had to wait. And if there was anything Astrana hated, it was waiting.

"Grrr..." She turns to the rest of the room, filled with various artifacts, all stolen from the fourth tower the day she left it.

Nothing that could help her now though.

She sigh and tosses her staff into the nearby bed, the very same bed Valente and she had shared not too long ago.

Astrana grinds her teeth together, everything had been a disaster today, it felt like she had lost everything in a single stroke. Revenge was what kept her up and now that she had to wait it felt nearly overwhelming.

She leaves the closes it with a loud slam, she needed to find Maria...

[Suncrest Manor]

"Okay... where?" Irena asks, peering curiously at Nadia. She was notoriously bad at secrets.

[Lord Magtok]

The Delectable Dancing Dragon

Spoiler

Show

The Delectable Dancing Dragon

The cook doesn't stay long. Just long enough to be sure everyone is enjoying, or pretending to enjoy, their meal. Samona, of course, is only provided with a glass of Ichor Liquor.

"Well enough at the moment. Things have been running fairly smooth as of late." A complete lie, but she's good at hiding that. Presumably this happens before the giant flying castle is hovering over their heads.

"You and your people have been doing a fine job of keeping the streets mostly safe. Must be part of the reason Magtok here set up shop in this part of the city." Freddie interjects, looking over to Maggy.

Magtok shrugs, and then sips on his drink to give him an extra moment to prepare a response and force down some loathsome little morsel of food. "That's part of it, yes. That, and the rest of the city just didn't even come close to meeting my specifications. I'm almost certain Northside's hiding something somewhere, and Eastside is just too prone to sociopolitical twists and turns right now to safely settle on a location."

There's a church and a court over in that part of the neighborhood right now. If Maggy knows anything about people, it's that they won't settle peaceably. There's either got to be a clearly established border between one and the other, or a great big smackdown to decide which one gets to be in charge of everything. Or the deadtime of a side, I guess. Deadtime's an option too.

"Never been too crazy about sunlight, either."

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

If Astrana looks in the more public parts of the manor first, she'll have no trouble finding Maria. The vampire is seated in the living room, staring outside through a window. She looks frustrated to say the least.

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia laughs and shakes her head. "I have no idea. I'll figure something out and call you sometime tomorrow, okay?" She says.

[The Delectable Dancing Dragon]

Freddie chuckles and nods knowingly. "Northside's nothing but trouble. I had a warehouse there up until a few weeks ago. Whoever it is that's in charge there is secretive and likes to demand protection money. I won't have anything to do with it."

The rest of the meal goes well as long as Maggy can get the rest of his food down. There's more conversation, but nothing of too much significance. Freddie even insists on paying for the meal, especially considering that he gets a discount.

Back in the limo and back to Exbourne. Before she heads inside, Samona says. "Thank you for escorting me, Magtok. That went very well. I'll talk to you again soon." She gives him a wink and then she's off headed into the manor.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

She'll quickly approach the vampire, giving her a blank look. "Could we talk in private?" She whispers.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Sounds good to me." Irena says with a slight smile but then seems to hesitate. "Uh and if you're going out there. Please be careful okay?"

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

Maria looks at her a moment, then nods. She gets up in silence and leads Astrana to an empty room. "Is this about Valente?" She asks almost immediately after the door is closed behind them.

[Suncrest Manor]

"I will, but..." Nadia tries to kiss Irena again. "I kind of want to stay the rest of the night, if that's okay with you." She gives her a wide smile.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"Yes..." Astrana admits, looking down at her feet. "I wanted someone to talk to concerning him." The tiefling looks up at Maria, her tail almost dragging the floor. "He... wouldn't do this would he? I mean... not normally?"

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh! Of course!" Irena exclaims as the kissed. "I got a guest room... or a double bed. If you even need sleep that is." She seems to shine up quite a bit about the prospect of not having to be alone for the night.

"It's not magically enchanted but it's more then good enough for me."

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

Maria shakes her head. "No. It doesn't make any sense. He's always been a good kid, I know him that well at least. I don't know what could have caused him to betray us like that." She's entirely confident that that's true.

[Suncrest Manor]

"I don't really need to sleep, but that double bed sounds great." Nadia says, maybe a tad suggestively? It's hard to say. In any case, she'll sit up and guide Irena to do the same.

[Earl of Purple]

Club Pulse- Inside

Since both monkeys are linked to the same person, both know what's about to happen. The monkey in the vents wedges itself across the passage, trying to look like something that crawled in a long time ago, died, and got stuck in the vent and is now slightly dislodged. The magic keeping the skeleton active also goes into 'sleep mode', dispersing itself enough to be harder to detect but keeping itself intact enough to reanimate itself easily. It's also disconnected from Pontius's hive mind; its senses are no longer reporting what they register. The link will be reinstated when the monkey leaves 'sleep mode', but for now the mystic chord linking it to its master has been severed.

Club Pusle- Outside

The monkey remains where it is, and continues to listen.

Westside Children's Home

"No! Soldiers just use weapons. I want to be an inventor and scientist. They build things, and I love lego." Gremalphin, when he sees Michael and Lily, he waves at Michael. Since Lily can't see him.

[Slii Arhem]

Westside Children's Home

Michael waves back, putting down his assignment and touching Lily on the arm. He whispers something into her ear and reaches up to trace a line on her cheek, pointing to Gremalphin and Eon.

Lily waves too.

"Hiya Grem!" she says cheerfully. Her other hand flickers over the paper, paint brush leaving dots in precise patterns.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"Yes... but I intend to find out. We know where that woman took him after all. I don't get why you send someone to get him. I know your scared of AMEN but there must be something you can do. Can't you contact one of those other organizations if you can't deal with them on your own?" The tiefling argues, too tense to even really sit down at the moment. Her tail keeps going back and fourth like a dogs. But it's hardly out of excitement.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh... uh, we could go upstairs if you don't want to finish the movie." Not like they been following it particularly closely, but Irena had already seen it once before.

[Club Pulse- Outside]

Can the inactive monkey still see? If not I will just post for the outside monkey.

In any case, a strange worm-like creature crawls through the vents shortly after Lavthos issued the order and will likely find the 'dead' monkey after a while.

It takes it's body and once it emerges from the vents in Lavthos office, it turns into a naked Cybil who presents it to her master. "I found this laying around in the vents, not sure what to make out if."

"Interesting... let me have a look at it and then get dressed will you? While I can't see it, others surely can."

She places the monkey on his desk and then goes to change clothes without a word. It will take a while but eventually Lavthos will take up a blue gem from his desk and cast a detect magic spell on the creature unless it do something first.

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor]

"We're not afraid of AMEN, but based on what we know of them, we won't be able to just walk in there and take him without a fight." Maria says. That said, she doesn't look all that happy about it. Ramiro forbid her from taking any action.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Well, its not like we were really watching." Nadia laughs. They definitely missed a lot. "Besides, you already fell asleep once. Might as well get to bed."

[Westside Children's Home]

Hey look, it's Dana coming to volunteer at the children's home. It must be Sunday, because otherwise she'd be working at Mallside this time of day. *nodnod*

She's quite a young woman, no more than twenty years old. Her hair is dark brown and pulled up in a messy bun. Her skin is fair and she has hazel eyes. After she's taken off her jacket, it's revealed she's wearing a red dress with white polka dots that looks like it came right out of the 40s.

[Earl of Purple]

Club Pulse- Inside

The undead monkey has slight necromantic energy about it, binding its bones together and granting movement to its limbs. There's more complex magic, too, magic granting it limited self-awareness and also enabling it to act as an extension to the will of its master- they seem to conflict, but actually mesh so that the master doesn't have to focus on it to move it- rather, he's alerted when it sees something the monkey thinks worth seeing. All the magic is inactive, and harder to detect due to actively trying to hide; the monkey is designed for stealth, and somebody has spent quite some time trying to ensure that if it is captured, very little can be learnt from it. Also, the monkeys themselves tend to be quite conspicuous, especially in Westside. Some are well-hidden, but there's plenty which aren't to stop people looking for the well-hidden ones.

Exbourne Manor

Pontius is walking up the drive in his shadow-blending robes. The stealth-oriented necromancer has news, and not all of it is good. When he reaches the door, he'll knock on the door/ring the bell.

At the moment, one of the monkeys on the manor's roof is trying to draw his attention to the fact somebody is walking up the drive and is trying to be stealthy.

[Slii Arhem]

Westside Children's Home

Lily's head turns slightly towards the door as the air changes in the dining room. A whiff of perfume rushes past her nose, light and most likely undetectable to the other children. It's sunday!

She bolts out of her chair, leaving it tottering dangerously on its legs, and rushes to the door.

Michael is far to slow to stop her.

"Daaaaaaaaaaanaaaaaa-*WHAM!* Ooof!" And she smacks right into the doorframe, inches away from her target.

----

Eastside - Streets

Disgruntled people, average looking folk by all accounts, have trickled into Riverside. They seem to be from a fair mix of races, although humans are the most prevalent. One common thread among them is a badge they all wear, some hidden and some not. It's in the shape of a broken shield, and each one of them are stained with soot and smoke from a nearly forgotten fire.

For now they simply travel in groups of two or three, scanning the streets for suspicious looking individuals and keeping close watch on any they might see.

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor]

"Why just walk up? You're vampires, aren't you supposed to be sneaky and subtle?" That's racist!

Taking things into your hands seemed to have been a better idea by the minute though. "You must do something, if he's under some sort of enchantment, that witch could effectively be taking advantage of him right now. He might never be the same person again." Astrana says, keeping all those emotions bottled up for now. Poor, poor Valente...

[Club Pulse- Inside]

The blind vampire let his hands go over the bones one by one, enchanting his claws with the blue magic of the gem he makes a more through search. It might still fail but now he's really looking for it. Living or otherwise, monkeys had never turned up at the club, nor had they climbed into the vents and died.

If that doesn't work, he will pick up an black gem and attempt a speak with dead spell.


[Suncrest Manor]

"Yes, I suppose... let's get to bed then." Irena says, slowly getting up from the coach and turns off the TV with the remote. "Maybe we can try to find something to help me with my 'change' tomorrow."

[Zefir]

Westside Children's Home

"But if you invent weapons for others aren't you the one who caused the death of every person killed by these things?"

Much to philosopic, but he his parents wanted him to become a soldier and no office man.

[Earl of Purple]

Club Pulse- Inside

This is not a casual search, which is what the magic is designed to fool. Therefore, the vampire whose name I have forgotten will find the magic and determine that the skeletal monkey is a necromantic construct. And it's not destroyed; it has the potential to 'wake up' at any moment, the magic reactivating and enabling the monkey to escape or at least move.

Westside Children's Home

"I'm not going to build guns. They're just good to practice." Gremalphin then gets up and chases towards the door. Though he stops when he reaches Lily. "Are you OK? You ran into the doorframe." I suspect Lily knows that, Gremalphin.

[Lost_Deep]

Eastside - Streets

Kate Kyland isn't really a suspicious looking person...

She's a rather unnotable girl. She is not notably tall, short, beautiful, ugly, shapely, boxy, skinny, fat, or unnotable. She has the kind of face that reminds you of that other person you know, but not really all that much now that you get a good look at it. However, her straight hair is worn long and is bright orange.

Er... well, her long hair may be somewhat suspicious, as it glows brightly. I, personally, think that it's not really suspicious, but rather kind of odd. Lots of things are odd in the Nexus. Nothing really to worry about.

The little bit where she can walk into or out of the Wellspring tower at will may be a bit suspicious. That and the fact that she takes notes on the cell phone reception, wifi networks, the electric lines, and other notes of the infrastructure.

But how suspicious is that, anyway?

[Gullara]

[Exbourne Manor - Ramiro's Office]

As usual, Mortius will be let in and escorted right to Ramiro's office. The vampire looks pleased to see the lich. A pleasant change from the usual lack of emotion. "Mortius. You have something to report I assume?"

[Exbourne Manor - Unoccupied Room]

"Don't you think I know that? He's my nephew." Maria rubs her eyes. "If someone could get in their and just take him out it probably wouldn't be that hard, but he'll probably resist or have someone watching him."

[Suncrest Manor]

"Yeah, sure. I'll help however I can." Nadia takesIrena's hand as they go up to the bedroom. Once they're inside Nadia looks a bit sheepish. "I just realized I don't have anything to wear to bed." Besides underwear of course.

[Westside Children's Home]

"Lily!" Dana exclaims and kneels down beside the girl. She tries to help her sit up and check to see she hasn't hurt herself too badly. "Are you okay? You now you shouldn't be running around like that."

[Slii Arhem]

Westside Children's Home

Lily seems mostly unharmed, but there are tears welling up in her eyes and a red mark on her forehead where it collided with the wall.

She blinks through the tears and tries to throw her arms around Dana's neck.

"Dana! You're back and I missed you and you shouldn't ever leave and and... can I have a story?" There's a pleading sort of smile on her face.

Michael, seeing that his sister is okay, sits back down to his assignment. He tries to catch Gremalphin's eye and shakes his head, a small smile forming over her antics.

----

Eastside - Streets

Looks like Kate has picked up a pack of followers. The glowing hair could have been passed off, but the copious notes she's taking mark her as someone worthy of interrogation. Whoever she's working for, be it Genesis or someone more sinister, she's sure to have a wealth of information.

Two of the men raise their hoods and begin following Kate at a distance, keeping behind crowds and waiting for her to reach a part of town where they can approach her without too many witnesses.

If such an opportunity arrises, they'll come up to her, making enough noise that she knows they are there. No sense startling her. That would just put her on edge.

"Excuse me ma'am, have you heard the Celestial Voices today?"

[Earl of Purple]

Exbourne Manor

"There's two monkeys at Club Pulse. One has been detected and placed in sleep mode; until I'm sure it's safe I can't use it. I cut the link between it and me, so there's no way of them knowing who sent it. The other overheard a very interesting conversation, and is still in position to overhear more. If I seem distant, it's because new information has come in. The monkeys are linked straight to my brain; I hear what it hears, and see what it sees." He'll then relate the conversation between Lavthos and the earth vampire several pages ago; I forget which and lack the time to look.

Westside Children's Home

Gremalphin smiles slightly, and rolls his eyes at Michael. He then gets up to return to that SCIENCE! homework.

Eastside- Streets

A skeletal monkey approaches Kate, but especially the group following. It seems like a good time to pick up information, after all, about all those sooty/burnt/singed people around. It is trying to keep hidden, but its success depends on the observation skills of those around it.

[Zefir]

Westside Children's Home

Eon just looks confused at the new person.

"Who is that?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Exbourne Manor - Unoccupied Room]

"I'm taking steps to prevent that, I got her blood which means I can hit that bitch with a rather nasty curse. I'm just waiting for some more information about her before I strike." Astrana admits.

"I... happen to have something of Valente's too. Just in case something would happen to him." And that was a lot harder to admit. But still, she could use something very dear to Valente with the same results.

[Suncrest Manor]

"What do you mean? You got underwear don't you?" Irena replies, looking puzzled as she start to take off her shirt. Nadia don't know that much about Irena does she?

[Club Pulse- Inside]

This was interesting, Lavthos takes the legs and feets of the monkey and places them in different drawers of his desk and then turns back to the other remains once again.

He picks out a dark crystal and will then try to reactive the monkey with it.

[Lost_Deep]

Eastside - Streets

Kate generally sticks to most traveled area, but sooner or later she steps into a park, and can be approached witnesslessly.

"Huh? Uh, what do you mean? I don't know what you're talking about."