[Nexus] Remnant III

[Lord Magtok]

Infirmary

"Yeah, I...no, I know what you mean."

Despite his earlier remark, he reaches for a chocolate anyway. Gourmet chocolate is still better than no chocolate at all, I guess.

"It's just...she seems nice, if a little eccentric. She dropped by with gifts like twice now, both of them formerly extinct animals turned into cyborgs, and while she seems friendly and mostly sane and responsible with her powers, I don't think I could bring myself to ever trust her. It might not be fair to her, since she didn't pick the job or anything, but I don't want to have to fear suffering eternal damnation if we were to break up, or worry about being poked in the ribs to meet a quota or have to think about what happens to individual Magtoks and the structure of the afterlife system when they die if they're all getting funneled off to wherever would be most convenient for her or fret about how the fact that we're both effectively immortal means she could just wait for any other girl to simply expire before asking me out again even if she doesn't play a part in killing them herself and the fact that she can apparently keep two MagClones out of hells in exchange for a date means she could probably do something much worse to anyone who dies around me for being competition and she seems close enough to omnipotent that she could put up a bigger fight than Calublufiok if things got ugly and then there's the whole immortality gift/blackmail option she might have if my cloning stuff is ever destroyed and oh holy fudge I just realized I still haven't ended this sentence yet."

Magtok stops to breathe.

[happyturtle]

Infirmary

Missy has used the little 'bed goes up' control thingie to sit up by now, and she reaches out now to take Magtok's hand. The one that's not reaching for chocolate. "Wow. I thought I had bad luck with relationships."

---

1
Meeting Room

"Not to my knowledge. I think they went out a few times around Thanksmas, but nothing came of it." Delisle knows quite a bit more than this, as she keeps plugged in to Remnant gossip, but she's not one to spread it.

[Reinholdt]

Meeting Room

"I dunno... Not every day Magtok drops by and asks to visit someone in the infirmary." Ilpholin says, giving Delisle a wink.

[Lord Magtok]

Infirmary

"Hey, c'mon. There's no way it's been that bad. I mean, back around Thanksmas I heard you were dating that Magtok guy. He seemed pretty nice, except for the one time that he-oh right, nevermind."

It might be a little too soon for that sort of joke, Magtok. Then again, maybe not. I'm a terrible judge of the flow of time.

"In all seriousness though, how do you tell someone they're just too big and scary and all-powerful to date as equals? I mean, I can't just use my usual eccentric doofus way of saying things as bluntly as possible here, that'd just make me look like the hugest jerk mortal in the multiverse, and risk all those things I said happening, since I don't know her psyche and thought processes and nonsense well enough to figure out how she'd react. I can't just avoid her, because she magically poofs right into the MagCave whenever she wants to visit and oh wow it just occurred to me now that I might want to wear a bathing suit whenever I shower now."

Oh jeez, even when Libby isn't even in the room, she still finds a way to make Magtok feel awkward, uncomfortable, and oddly helpless.

[happyturtle]

Infirmary

Missy chuckles a little - but only a little. It still hurts.

"Let's see, I think I've heard them all." Missy starts ticking them off on her finger. "It's not you, it's me... I think you're great, but I don't love you and never will... I need to go back to rehab... I need to focus on my art... Dating you is killing who I am... I don't want the responsibility for someone else's happiness... Being with you has made me realize I'm gay... Maybe if we're both still single in five years... I don't think I can ever relax around someone who kills people for a living..." She pauses. "Hmm, maybe you could go with something along those lines."

---

1
Meeting Room

Delisle pretends not to notice the wink, and makes a non-committal noise that is neither a confirmation or denial of Ilpholin's assertion.

How boring.

[Reinholdt]

Meeting Room

... Yup. Ilpholin decides Delisle is perfectly suited for that administrative work as the drow sits back and twiddles her thumbs.

[Lord Magtok]

Infirmary

Magtok frowns.

"I don't think I can ever relax around someone who would stand to gain from my death, maybe? I don't think I could ever bring myself to say 'I love you' when this relationship feels more like a forced inevitability than a voluntary decision on my part? Stop coming here, I'm already in a serious relationship with a three-legged hobgoblin from Jupiter?"

That last one shows promise. Mostly honest, with a teensy bit of hyperbole mixed in. There's no way Libby would ever believe the nonsense in those first two, though.

[happyturtle]

Infirmary

"Haven't you ever had to reject someone before?" Missy asks.

---

1
Meeting Room

Delisle takes out her tablet and taps away on it, getting work done while keeping Ilpholin company. Exciting.

[Lord Magtok]

Infirmary

"Well, there was that one...no, nevermind, she was eaten by deadtime. That one pixie was tortured almost to death by the KNAVES, and I...oh wait! Awful, annoying, terrible, pain in the neck ninja nature girl! I told her...oh wait no, Saurous told her because I couldn't bring myself to do so because she'd murder the crap out of me the same way she obsessively did so to my enemies, and that was long after she'd already stolen a DNA sample or something with which she made this equally weird daughter thing."

Magtok bites his lip.

"...Crap, I think I have some sort of weird rejection-aftermath phobia thing. This could be...well, I'll figure out a way around it later on, maybe."

Oh hey look, the door out! Now might be a good time to take it, Maggy. Just wave goodbye, say you'll see her later, and then bury this disgusting weakness of yours as deep into the recesses of your mind as it's capable of going.

[happyturtle]

Infirmary

Missy chuckles. "Do you want a big strong girl in power armour to tell her you aren't interested?"

[Lord Magtok]

Infirmary

"Heh. Nah, I think I'll pass on that. Sounds like a set-up for an incredibly awkward demand for a show of proof that ends in disaster."

Magtok is nothing if not trope-savvy.

"Let me know when you've bounced back and such, kay? When you do, I'll...well actually, I have absolutely no idea what I could do that wouldn't be weird or raise the security level here or potentially lead to horrific property damage. Maybe I'll just say that's good news like normal people do and then change the subject. Anyways, it's probably time for that meeting thing with Vas, so thanks for the help, and I'll see you later and junk."

[happyturtle]

Infirmary

"There's one thing we could do... maybe..." Missy blurts out, then bites her lip. "Um, I mean, if you weren't too busy..." Missy, he has clones. He's never too busy. "I mean, it's nothing important or anything. I shouldn't keep you."

[Lord Magtok]

Infirmary

Magtok comes to an almost violently abrupt halt. Whenever someone says that it's nothing, it's always something. Always.

"Ilpholin's a big girl, she can hold a conversation with Vas for a few minutes. What's up?"

[happyturtle]

Infirmary

"I want to find the right place to bury my heart," Missy mumbles, realizing it sounds silly. "I'm not sure exactly... there's someone..."

And there it is, the familiar ache inside, not at all changed by having a mechanical heart beating inside. The pain is such a relief to her, that she almost laughs.

"... someone I want to find, very much."

[UncleWolf]

Infirmary - Vas's Room

"You're going back to work already, aren't you?" Jake says with a sad smile, taking both her hands, the flesh and the prosthetic, in his. "You work too hard."

Jyarl's Place

"I like to have a new name," Hellstomper says. "Did you getted a new name when you joined the tribe of Remnants?"

Infirmary - Vas' Room

Vasquez squeezes his hands gently. "Maybe, but someone has to." She tells him before giving him a short kiss. "I'll see you later, promise." She tells him before heading out.


Jyarl's Place

Jyarl shakes his head. "No, I didn't have a new name. I regained an old one though." He admits. "What would you like to be named?"

[Feia's Cell]

Were she in a position to do so, Feia would mention that the cold tube sounds like a clever idea.
But as things are, she simply thinks that in a somewhat hazy manner, lingering around the edge of consciousness.

Freezing would certainly be an effective means of stopping, or at least stalling, the woman's death.
She had accepted her fate, shortly after she realized what was happening, and won't be putting much stock in Bugs and Co.'s ability to pull it off quick enough.

The oxygen mask can only be effective for as long as it takes for the lungs to fail; that is, it will only work now.
The lungs are being attacked first, of the remaining critical systems, followed by the brain, leaving the heart for last.
It's a suitable resource moving hub and it would be inefficient for the egg to begin poking holes in it too soon.

It will take approximately five minutes for damage to start appearing in dangerous bulk in her brain, and eight for the heart. She'll have long since been unable to independently breath, but that is the absolute limit on salvation.

If that can't be made, the woman dies, but the egg has all it needs to be finished. The child will be at the final stage of development.

Feia's Cell => Surgery Bay 1

The Cold Tube will get there quickly. It appears like a stretcher except with extended glass sides. They'll scoop Feia up and put her on it before putting up the sides and hooking her to the monitors. A liquid nitrogen tank beneath the tube is opened and a chilled fog is pumped into the chamber, almost like a weaker version of a cryostatis chamber designed only to slow her body down and give them more time to keep her alive.

Bugs begins to last for a moment, but when the monitors show an oxygen loss in her blood, he curses again. "Move it! Surgery Bay 1, Incoming!!" He shouts to both his aides and through his comm device before the three of them grab the tube and begin to sprint their way out of the cellblock and towards the Infirmary. "Prep Life Support. Oxygenation and Dialysis take priority." He tells the crew that is prepping as quickly as possible."

It takes the trio just a minute, sprinting all out for them to get to the Surgery Bay. As soon as they arrive, he begins granting more orders, ignoring standard Decon Procedures as they'd take too long. Two of the four Orderlies begin to insert tubes into Feia's arms, one each. One tube begins to pump Feia with more blood even as the other draws more out to run it through a machine, providing her with oxygen that her lungs lack the ability to give. The machine also filters out the waste products in her body that would build up from excessive tissue damage and kidney failure.

"Someone tell me what the hell is going on with her!!" Bugs snaps, knowing that no one in the room would be able to tell him since they were in the dark just as much as he was.

Main Gate 1.0

The scorpion again shakes his head. He didn't thought that they will talk about that. In the time he came from, such talking could have caused being arrested. He remembers that people wear different dress, some people act like they wanted. This time seems to be more open then his.

"If that would be the case it would be me who made the laws. Laws are made for a big group of beings not for one individual. I'm sure about that, please show me where I have to go."

Main Gate 1.0 => Interview Room

The scorpion will be taken to an Interview room where a dark tan human in a Remnant uniform awaits him. It was Aliz's turn for "interviews" this week since he'd drawn the short straw.

Meeting Room

Before the hour is finished, Vasquez arrives, dressed in her uniform and nods to Alice before taking a seat across from Ilpholin. "I hope you don't mind if Alice stays."

[Lord Magtok]

Infirmary => Meeting Room

"Sure. Not my area of expertise, I think, but I'll help however I can."

Magtok raises an eyebrow, trying to sort out precisely what any of that means. He's just drawing a blank, though. More odd Jedi sorcery beyond his understanding, probably. When and/or if Missy wants to explain things further than that, she can feel free to do so, but Mag won't push for answers, not without trying a little harder to unravel this puzzle on his own first.

"Get better soon, Missy."

Despite what he said a moment ago, it's really about time he got going. Ilpholin's probably freaking out without him right now, whimpering about a right to an attorney or somesuch nonsense. It's what Magtok would be doing in the same situation, after all.

[happyturtle]

Infirmary

"Thanks Mag." Missy says as he goes.

---

1

Jyarl's Place

Hellstomper thinks about this, taking this question very seriously. "I want name that says I be Remnant tribe now." she says solemnly.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Surgery Bay 1]

Feia certainly isn't in any position to tell them what is going on, at this point.
Consciousness fled from her a short time ago. Perhaps permanently, if damage in her brain gets misplaced.

But she did mention the child, earlier, when they had first asked.

If someone were to follow up on this, and examine the egg, the reasons would become fairly clear.
Numerous growths have spread out from softened portions of its shell, and woven their way to various portions of her body, much like roots of a plant.
As opposed to passively receiving nutrients from its mother, like a normal egg/baby would, this one has been actively taking them for quite some time.

At this point, rather than simply siphoning off small fragments of various passing needs, unique enzymes have been produced to break down surrounding tissue and pull that back towards the egg, for processing and incorporation into the developing embryo.

It has stepped beyond parasitic passenger, into matricidal thief.

[Reinholdt]

Meeting Room

Ilpholin glances up as they come in. "I have no qualms with it." She replies. Her eyes briefly flit over to where Magtok would be. Ah well... if he doesn't hurry, he'll miss the good parts.

Ilpholin looks back at Vasquez. "As you know, AMEN has recently undergone a leadership overhaul, removing Gordon and placing me and Magtok in charge."

[UncleWolf]

Meeting Room

"This isn't exactly news to us." Vasquez says, folding her hands on the table in-between the pair. She doesn't admit it, but she's actually slightly surprised that the new head of AMEN even came here so soon. While not an unlikely outcome, Vas had figured that there would have been a bit more internal strife to happen first. "As for Magtok, don't worry. We aren't holding him from this. He just has other matters that are important to attend to at the moment. I'm sure he'll join us shortly."

Jyarl's Place

"How about Jefferies?" Jyarl asks her after a while, putting thought into it as well. "It was the name of the woman who died to save you from the building." He tells her, trying to make it as gentle as possible.

Surgical Bay 1

When one aide finally does scan Feia, what they see on the screen makes little sense. Oh, they understand the purpose of what the egg is doing, but...

"That's a stupid way to replicate unless it was to provide the offspring with specific traits, but even then, it'd be useful only for the mental traits, but unless it's a really simple lifeform, that's only really achievable through magic, isn..." Bugs' short monologue stops as he takes another look at the sorceress. The look lasts for just a moment before he gives another loud curse. "We need to wake her up and get her to talk!" He tells his aides.

"But she's out. Like a broken light." One of his aides tries to reason as she watches Bugs dig through the supplies. "Not only that, but her lungs are shot!"

"It doesn't mean we can't get her to talk though." Bugs tells her before grinning when he finds what he's looking for. "Get a scalpel and perform a tracheotomy, but under the voicebox. Make sure you don't cut through." He tells them as he rips open some sterile packaging to get to his goal.

Clueless, the orderlies do what they're told and open up a small slit in Feia's throat, beneath the voicebox. "With her lungs shot, she can't get air flowing through her..." He mutters as he grabs a tube from an electronic breathing machine to feed through the slit, aiming upwards slightly so the air will feed up through her throat and out her mouth. With an afterthought, he makes sure Feia's mouth is shut before going to finish his task. "But we can."

With a remote in hand, and a bottle of smelling salts in the other, he reverses the direction of air flow and puts the salts under Feia's nose. If they work, he'll switch the direction of air once more.

[happyturtle]

Jyarl's Place

"Jefferies. I be brave and strong like her," Jefferies Hellstomper promises. Then without warning, she flings herself at Jyarl and hugs him tightly. "I be brave and strong Remnant."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Surgical Bay 1]

Well aren't they a clever little group of doctors.
She perhaps toyed with the idea of waking up eventually, if their cold tube idea was successful and they took the appropriate measures.
But not really with waking up so soon, with them having done little more than life support and severe cooling.

Which would probably make this a horrifying and horrifyingly painful situation to wake up to if she was capable of experiencing either of those sensations.
Instead, she is merely confused.
Still feels like she's dying, but things seem to be...generally working. Sort of.
There's a dull sensation of brokenness everywhere, and her thoughts feel muddled. Something is wrong in her head too.
Not sure what.

Looking around feels uncomfortable too.
So she doesn't do much of that, opening her eyes long enough to feel that she can, then closes them again. Lights and movement and everything just mixed wrong in her head.
"Uerrgh."
Such an incredibly dignified first word, miss Feia.

[Zefir]

Main Gate 1.0 => Interview Room

The scorpion follows. As long as they go through double doors he won't have any problem passing it, but when they pass normal doors (likely the one into the interview room) it will look odd. Both claws where hold up over his head while the tail is hold down.

He will then take place in the room so he can watch the man. Obviously he won't try to sit down maybe just because he is unable to do so or that he fears the chair breaks under his weight.

"Hello. Are you doing the recruitment?" he asks.

[Reinholdt]

Meeting Room

"I am hardly concerned about Magtok. He's a big boy. And I do believe the first thing I mentioned was that I know that you know." Hence 'as you know' in the previous post!

"What I'm actually here to discuss is a ceasefire between Inside and AMEN. I feel, and the others agree, that the constant back and forth is nothing more than a drain of resources and a waste of time for the both of us." Not to mention a waste of civilian life.

[Lord Magtok]

Meeting Room

Magtok walks in, bowing his head to the two Remnant officials in the room. He doesn't say a word though, just takes his seat and tries to catch up on whatever he's missed.

[UncleWolf]

Jyarl's Place

Jyarl kneels down to hug the newly named Jefferies, understanding just how she felt. "I know you will be." He tells her. After a moment, he picks her up and walks over to the couch, flopping backwards onto it so she's laying on his chest. With a yap, Gorgutz hops up on it with them and snuggles in next to Hellstomper. "But for now, lets just relax, okay?" He tells her before turning on cartoons.

Meeting Room

"But doesn't that defeat the purpose of your organization?" Vasquez asks with a quirked eyebrow. "After all, you are the Association of the Malicious, Evil, and Nefarious. While I traded Gordon's life for his cooperation, you have no such compulsion to do so."

Interview Room

Aliz looks up from his paperwork to glance over the scorpion. "I am." The mage says, writing down the note about how the wannabe recruit could squeeze through the door. "Tell me about yourself."

Surgical Bay 1

"Take a moment and collect yourself. We've bought you some time, but we need your help." Bugs tells Feia, looking at her eyes to see what all neurological symptoms she might be showing. "Feia, I need you to listen to me very carefully. If you can, nod if you can move. If you can't move, but can understand me, hold your eyes shut for precisely 3 seconds."

[happyturtle]

Jyarl's Place

Yay! Cartoons!

Jefferies likes the more violent ones the best. Old School Tom and Jerry ftw!

Vasquez's Place

Jake and Gus have a long and tedious discussion about their mothers. It's not dissimilar to communicating through space with a time lag, since each has to first watch the film of the other speaking, and then film his own response.

The frequent form shifting eventually becomes tiring, and Gus takes over so he can eat a few pizzas. Jake hates eating otherwise than with impeccable manners, using a knife and fork, so Gus generally handles all the binge-eating duties. They only occur during times of frequent shifting, so it isn't needed often.

Holding Cell

Billie is in restraints, for her own safety. Her eyes are red and puffy, and she tries to think of a way she can get to Gus, to get him to change his mind.

She can't be Elaine. She can't.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Surgical Bay 1]

Move?
She can probably do that. The egg shouldn't have eaten much important musculature.
At least, she thinks. It may have mutated. Certain parts of it are...unstable, last she checked.
Which is a bit why it is feeding on her now, why she has been harboring it in the first place.

But that doesn't really matter at the moment, does it.
Focus on the clever man's question.
They have to want Feia awake for a specific reason, and if they're going to make an attempt to spare her death, she owes at attempt at complying, yes?


For the brief time her eyes are open before she clamps them shut again, they seem to have an inability to focus on any one thing, flicking around in a somewhat erratic manner, more than a little dilated.
Afterwards, she gives a sort of slow, halting twitch of the head that is supposed to constitute a nod.

Faint movement, for the clever doctor.

[Reinholdt]

Meeting Room

"Doesn't having anything more than a tattered group of rag-tag soldiers defeat your purpose? You are Remnant after all." Ilpholin clasps her hands in front of her. "They are names. But they should not be restrictions." Especially when there's just so many shades of gray to take advantage of!

"You are correct that I have no compulsion to make this offer. It is provided voluntarily as something I think as beneficial to both sides."

[Zefir]

Interview Room

Aliz looks up from his paperwork to glance over the scorpion. "I am." The mage says, writing down the note about how the wannabe recruit could squeeze through the door. "Tell me about yourself."

Interview Room

"I'm Tovpir. As obvious I'm what you call scorpion. Even if my body is different since it is stone like and not chitin. Long ago I worked for the authority. More specific in the military. My kind was welcomed due to our natural ability's. I was a scout back then and since I'm alive one of the good once."

Tovpir keeps standing around, since there isn't something he could sit on.