[Nexus] NO XIII: Do Clockwork Penguins Dream of Mechanical Fish?

[Morty]

[Main Room]

Dipsnig's ears twitch and he smiles a little bit in amusement.
"Well, who knows? Maybe it was Magtok? He does have pretty bizzare tastes."

[Gullara]

[Main Room]

Kirk chuckles and shakes his head. "Alas, the mystery won't be solved quite that easy. Magtok, though. You might be onto something."

[Lex-Kat]

{Training Room}

Bianca finally tires of waiting for Ordo to speak again. She reaches for Shanaya's hand, attempting to drag her along. Come on, let's go meet the Boss. He's a Goblin, so don't be surprised.

[5a Violista]

[Training Room]

Having waited so long, Shanaya went into one of those "waiting for player interaction" animations.

...

Finally, her hand is taken. "No! I wanna hear what he'll say!" she complains in a whiny voice. The girl is dragged for a few seconds, but quickly she starts walking at roughly the same pace as Bianca, because getting dragged is painful.

[Shadowcaller]

[Main Room]

"Trying to put the blame on others are we Kirky? That just makes me all more suspicious, perhaps we should search his room for incriminating material?" Dena asks. "I mean, you got nothing to hide right Kirky?"

[Morty]

[Main Room]

"I'll leave it between you two," Dipsnig says. He'd rather not get involved in Kirk and Dena's games.
Bianca and Shanaya will find him there.

[Lex-Kat]

[Training Room]

Having waited so long, Shanaya went into one of those "waiting for player interaction" animations.

...

Finally, her hand is taken. "No! I wanna hear what he'll say!" she complains in a whiny voice. The girl is dragged for a few seconds, but quickly she starts walking at roughly the same pace as Bianca, because getting dragged is painful.

Hush. He's frozen in deadtime ooze. Bianca says, as she leads Shanaya upstairs. Sometimes it's harder to break out of, than most days.

At the top of the stairs, Bianca stops and listens for the goblin's distinctive voice. This way. and she leads her to the main room.

Hey Boss! got a new recruit for ya. Her name's Shanaya. She's like Vincent. she gets closer and whispers. Stuck in a video game. And Ordo's stuck in the training room. May want to do something about that.

[Gullara]

[Main Room]

"Be my guest. I have no secrets." Kirk says with a wry smile. He gestures in the direction of the rooms.

[5a Violista]

Shanaya is led to the Main Room, now.

"I'm not at all like Vincent," protests the 14-year old girl who owns a sword that's slightly too big for her. "I only have a 'v' in my middle name!" That is almost completely true. Her full name's Shanaya Evilene Klisvane, in case Morty wants to know. And, everybody knows that if your first name starts with a V, you're a villain. Unless your name's Vladimir, in which case, you're a vampire.

"OH. And sorry to not introduce myself sooner," she says. Shanaya holds her hand out to Dipsing, so he can shake it. "It's nice to meet you."

[Shadowcaller]

[Main Room]

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable being alone in a room with you anymore after learning this Kirky. Who knew you were such a villain?" Dena replies as she starts moving towards Kirk's room, leaving Dipsnig to deal with Shanaya and Bianca on his own.

[Morty]

[Main Room]

Dipsnig is now half convinced that what Kirk and Dena are doing is foreplay, so he's grateful for a distraction. And they seem to be taking it to his room anyway. Good.
The goblin - who's the one seen in his player's avatar - turns to the new girl and shakes her hand. Another person stuck in a video game. One wonders what will happen if she and Vincent meet. A reality breakdown?
"So, a new recruit then? I'm Dipsnig Razortooth and Bianca has no doubt already told you that I'm in charge here. Why do you want to join us and what skills can you offer us?"
It should be noted that there are two wolf cubs in the room. They're several months old by now and fairly big. One of them is female with dark grey fur and the other one is male, with silver-colored fur. They both pad over to the new person and sniff at her.

[Gullara]

[Main Room => Kirk's Room]

"There's this phrase I've heard before. Innocent until proven guilty. Whatever happened to that?" The drow chuckles and follows Dena along to his room.

[Lex-Kat]

{Main Room}

I thought your last name was "Klisvane", with a v? Bianca asks, one eyebrow raised. That'd be two vees, not just one.

[5a Violista]

qMain Roomp

"Yes, I am," the girl answers, as she nods vigorously. "She said that you were."

"I want to join because," Shanaya takes a breath pause here to think and look into the back of her mind. She starts numbering out the reasons why she wants to join. "1. Bianca said it'll be good. 2. It'll help me on my quest to find the Dragon Queen's shrines. 3. I want to get to level three. 4. There's got to be some other reason, as well. And, A. I can fight with a sword. B. I can also use magic and psychic and transformations and star powers. C. I've never really had a full-time job before, because of the child labor laws, so I'm not really good at this application process, and... D. I'm really good at doing what people tell me to do."

She smiles, and stops looking at the back of her mind. Score! She guesses that she just had a good interview with the boss. If everything goes as well as she thinks it did, then she can put that on her college application form in four or five years.

{Main Room}

I thought your last name was "Klisvane", with a v? Bianca asks, one eyebrow raised. That'd be two vees, not just one.

Shanaya's smile abruptly ends. "Um..." She spells out her name in her head, counting on her fingers. Then, she does it again. "Oh. You're right, aren't you? At least... (She deliberately thinks) that's what you would think, but I didn't get to choose my last name, it was my mother that chose it, so it doesn't really count." She just makes up stuff to save face.

[Shadowcaller]

[Main Room => Kirk's Room]

"I don't think that applies to drow, do you?" Dena asks with a glance at Kirk as she steps inside his room.

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

"That just sounds unfair." Kirk says amusedly as he follows after her. Kirk's room is as uninteresting as ever. Somewhat barren, it looks almost unused, save for a few personal effects. He does keep it quite neat. "Go ahead and look for this evidence, I don't mind."

[Morty]

qMain Roomp

"Yes, I am," the girl answers, as she nods vigorously. "She said that you were."

"I want to join because," Shanaya takes a breath pause here to think and look into the back of her mind. She starts numbering out the reasons why she wants to join. "1. Bianca said it'll be good. 2. It'll help me on my quest to find the Dragon Queen's shrines. 3. I want to get to level three. 4. There's got to be some other reason, as well. And, A. I can fight with a sword. B. I can also use magic and psychic and transformations and star powers. C. I've never really had a full-time job before, because of the child labor laws, so I'm not really good at this application process, and... D. I'm really good at doing what people tell me to do."

She smiles, and stops looking at the back of her mind. Score! She guesses that she just had a good interview with the boss. If everything goes as well as she thinks it did, then she can put that on her college application form in four or five years.



Shanaya's smile abruptly ends. "Um..." She spells out her name in her head, counting on her fingers. Then, she does it again. "Oh. You're right, aren't you? At least... (She deliberately thinks) that's what you would think, but I didn't get to choose my last name, it was my mother that chose it, so it doesn't really count." She just makes up stuff to save face.

Dipsnig's ears twitch. Fortunately, he's pretty resistant to craziness at this point. Especially this particular brand of craziness.
"Dragon Queen's shrines, you say. Why are you looking for them?" It might be important. Possibly.
The pups, meanwhile, keep up their sniffing. They will not be ignored!

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

"Kirky, you know as well as I do drow are an unsavory bunch. If a crime is committed you always look at the drow, once you searched the goblin of course." Dena replies as she suddenly starts to look through Kirk's all belongings, not really searching for anything. She just wants to make a bit of a mess really.

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

"Of course, of course." Kirk regards her with a smirk as she goes around the room. "Though it seems to me that you're not looking very hard. This wasn't an excuse to get me alone with you in here, was it, Dena?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

Dena turns to look at Kirk as she pulls out a drawer from his desk. "If I wanted to be alone with you, I'm pretty sure I could have just asked. We all know how desperate you are for women's attentions these days after all." She muses as she starts to pull out things and throw them on the floor while just glancing briefly at the contents. "So how was Shalyn anyway?"

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

Kirk chuckles. "She was a pleasure to spend time with." The drow steps into the room further and positions himself a short distance away from Dena. "It's curious, when she showed up here, she was mentioning all these things she'd heard about me. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you Dena?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

"As I said to the boss, we talked for a bit. Interesting woman and if sure you felt the same way." She says with a smile. "I may have told her a few things about you, I'm guessing she mentioned my name?"

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

"And educated guess actually. It sounded like the kind of story you'd tell." Kirk shakes his head. How does he put up with her?

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

"Yeah, she was actually pretty interested in for some reason. I asked and she actually had a pretty curious view about mating. Did she tell you anything about that?" Dena asks innocently. Kirk might recall that Shalyn had told him in her culture women were only supposed to take care of two things, beasts and babies.

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

"Very briefly." Kirk didn't really linger on the topic. It's not of much interest to him. "Apparently what you told her made an impression. You must have had a lot of positive things to tell her." The drow says with a smirk.

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

"Yep, I really deserve credit for that lay." Dena replies absentmindedly as she seem to have found some of Kirk's underwear in his closet which she stretches out a bit. "So she didn't mention something about wanting special babies?"

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

...

"What?" Any hint of amusement has left Kirk. Dena might get the distinct impression that she's treading on dangerous ground. "Explain."

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

Dena turns to the other drow and gives him an odd look, "Hey, relax. You did use protection after all right?"

[Gullara]

[Kirk's Room]

"I said explain." Oh dear. Kirk actually looks angry.

[Shadowcaller]

[Kirk's Room]

Dena sigh and puts down Kirk's boxers. "Alright Kirk, I don't remember it perfectly well as I was pretty drunk but she got this cultural thing where you find men with beneficial features and have children with them. But you did have protection right?" She asks once again.