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

[Reinholdt]

Irene will lead her gangly gang to The Grove!

[LadyOfWar]

Thein comes in from stabling the horses in the beastpens.

Horse hairs are nestled among the fur of his hide jacket from brushing the great beasts. The white hairs from Raennall's steed stand out sharply. The horsehairs match Thein's own shoulder-length stark-white locks.

The young fellow looks rather concerned and keeps picking at his fingernails like it is a nervous tic as he walks through the hallways of N.O.

He is exploring the place quite thoroughly.

[Rebonack]

-The Brain-

Outside the base a rather large egg-shaped object of dull white and gloss green metal slowly descends toward the ground! It settles silently, whatever force holding it aloft making not so much as a whisper. And then with a pnumatic hiss the egg hatches a hatch!

And out of the hatch?

Tumbles an eight foot tall robot of color scheme akin to the egg! It comes to a rest in a kneeling position, its right arm folded out into what could safely be assumed to be a projectile weapon of some kind as it scans its surrounding for any hostile forces. Their ship had gone down under enemy fire, so it's only natural to assume their foes might be waiting for them.

Several smaller machines hover above the robot's shoulders, ready to ventilate anything that makes an overtly aggressive move.

Slowly the robot rises, though his ready posture doesn't change in the least. Another pair of Bits deploy as those hovering in the air drop down to the ground and unfold into immobile cannon emplacements.

Seems this guy is taking no chances.

"Well bugger it all. Where's the rest of the team? We should have had a common drop-zone."

[LadyOfWar]

Thein's through exploration of the inside of the base leads him to a window. He stares outside for a moment, looking slightly bored.

Then an egg-shaped thing drops from the sky.

The lad's vibrant green eyes go wide with surprise and wonderment as the egg releases a huge robot! Well, 8 feet tall is huge to Thein. He blinks once, just to be sure it's not a vision, and when the robot is still there after he re-opens his eyes he decides now is a good time to raise the alarm.

Thein turns back toward the inside of the base, cups his hands around his mouth, and yells, "Somebody come quick! There's a huge... thing outside. Mr. Dipsnig! Somebody! It's standing right out front, and it's got a ready-stance it might be dangerous!" Thein is being raised by a warrior. He knows a fighting stance when he sees one even if he cannot identify the robot's arm as a weapon because he has never seen a gun in use.

The lad turns back to the window, to keep an eye on this strange new arrival.

[Rebonack]

There sure is a big thing out there!

And it seems to be patrolling around several smaller things on the ground! It hasn't let its guard down just yet, either. Certainly tense, that's for sure. Almost like someone expecting to be attacked. The stance is far more defensive than it is offensive.

Yup!

"This is ROFL-Stomper Green reporting in," Green calls over his com. He gets nothing but static in reply. "This is ROFL-Stomper Green, please respond. Over."

Still nothing.

"Slag and splinters! This alien planet is playing havoc with navigation and com. And Ittriarch knows how many Meglings might be lurking around already," the robot fumes at no one in particular before kicking a rather large rock in frustration.

Woosh!

Down the mountain side the rock goes!

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside Dipsnig's Office]

That's disappointing. She'd threaten that? Well, he hasn't given her reason not to spread that around just yet, though. "What if I told you you're only wearing a bikini?" He looks her over again now that the cat's out of the bag.

[Outside Dipsnig's Office]

"Whu-" Dena looks down at her clothes and then up at Kirk. "Huh, funny." She says in a sarcastic voice until it slowly dawns to her while reading the other drows expression. "...unless you're really serious." Dena slowly rubs her eyes, sighting. "Remind me not to trust genies again, okay? And nice gawking by the way, very subtle." She shakes her head slowly.

[Gullara]

[Outside Dipsnig's Office]

"How could I resist gazing upon such beauty?" Kirk laughs and throws open the door to Dipsnig's office before she can protest. Assuming the door isn't locked for some reason, Kirk will step inside.

[Morty]

[Outside Dipsnig's Office]

On their way, the duo is joined by one of the wolf cubs, who follows them curiously with a chew toy in her teeth.
As Krik steps inside, Dipsnig looks up from a newspaper he's been reading while lying on his bed. When he sees Dena's attire, a look of confusion grows on his face. What brings you two here?

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside Dipsnig's Office]

Dena will attempt to push Kirk into the room while she grins confidently in Dipsnig's direction, "We're finally back from GloG boss and as you can see someone decided to play a little prank with my clothes."

She guides her hand along the invisible parka to show before taking a seat in the chair, crossing her legs.

[Gullara]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Kirk chuckles and takes a seat himself. "We figured we'd might as well get you the names we have so far. We managed to get a few people interested. Friend and Waterstrider, who can both be contacted by calling GLoG and asking for them, and Mintbalm, who we already sorted out a way for Grace to contact her."

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Dipsnig shakes his head. Prank? I think I'm better off not knowing. Good job, though. I'll send those names to Grace as soon as I can. Do you have any details on their magic?
Meanwhile, the pup tries to sniff Dena's ankle.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"The genie girl could grant wi-" Dena suddenly stops to look down at the pup at her ankle. "Hey! What is it called?" She asks curiously, her attention completely diverted to the cute puppy.

[Gullara]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Kirk glances down at the wolf. He chuckles at Dena's enthusiasm. "Cute." He can acknowledge it, even if he feels the need to otherwise act stoic.

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Normally Dipsnig would be irritated by the distraction, but he's got a huge soft spot for his wolf pack.
Oh, that's Neeta. She's one of Viima and Kullervo's cubs. They're growing fast.
Neeta sits down and looks up at Dena.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"Oh, hey little guy." She says, turning back to the cub and very gently attempts to lift it off the floor.

[Gullara]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Kirk shakes his head a little then returns his attention to Dipsnig. "Let's see. Mintbalm can grant wishes; Pathfinder has a sort of shamanic, spiritual power; and Friend actually has a curse that makes it so he's unable to come into contact with magic."

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office]

The pup is two months' old, so she's actually pretty big - weighs 10 kilograms. But she's lifted off the floor nonetheless. She peers at Dena with curious blue eyes. Her fur is light grey, similar to her mother's.
Dipsnig, meanwhile, nods and writes something down, having produced a notepad and a pen. Right... not bad. I'll send it to Grace soon.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Dena isn't going to hold on to him for very long as she attempts to place the pup in Kirk's knee, "Hold it for a minute will you, she's adorable you know?" She tells the other drow, smiling sweetly while petting the wolf.

She then turns briefly to Dipsnig, "So any idea where we should go next boss?"

[Gullara]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Kirk blinks in surprise as he suddenly has a wolf on his lap. "Adorable. Sure." He doesn't protest, however.

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Neeta squirms and wriggles in Kirk's lap until she achieves a comfortable position. Then she looks up at the drow, a wolfy grin spreading on her muzzle.
Dipsnig, meanwhile, responds to Dena: Maybe drop by at HALO? I understand there's plenty of magic users there. They don't get out of there much, but it could be worth a try.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"HALO?" Dena raises an eyebrow. "I've heard the name but that's it, what kind of organization is it?"

[Gullara]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"Bunch of do gooders. Or they're supposed to be at least." Kirk says with a certain amount of distaste. It's not entirely rational. Perhaps his time in AMEN has conditioned him to not trust them even though he's never really come into contact with them. "I think I'd rather hit up Watchtower, for the time being at least."

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Dipsnig shrugs. So long as you bring back names and contact info, it doesn't matter where you go. I was just giving suggestions. Watchtower are a grumpy bunch, but maybe some of them will be willing to talk.
Meanwhile, Neeta makes herself comfortable in Krik's lap, resting her head on his leg.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Dena shrugs, "Doesn't matter to me, I'll let Kirky here decide where we go next. He knows his way around after all." She looks at the other drow with a smile.

[Gullara]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"Alright, that sounds good to me." Kirk pets the wolf a bit absentmindedly. "Watchtower will do for now. I know they have at least one magic user, and there's bound to be more." The drow stands, picking up Neeta and setting her on the ground as he does so. "We'll get to that in not to long then."

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office]

Like I said, so long as you bring some info back. Try not to get blown up, though. You know how those people are. He hasn't liked Watchtower much ever since DC tried to double-cross him.
Neeta is set back on the ground, where she picks up her chew toy again and stretches.

[Shadowcaller]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"Great, a bunch of loonies, how quaint." Dena says before turning to Kirk. "You don't have any 'friends' there do you? We encountered a whole bunch at GloG, some which were rather rude."

[Gullara]

[Dipsnig's Office]

"Hey now, I barely know anyone at Watchtower." Mostly Harnel, and that's just having spoke to him a few times. "I'm sure it'll be fine. We'll talk to you later, Boss." Kirk nods to Dipsnig and goes to leave the office.

[Lex-Kat]

{Entrance}

Bianca steps out from the shadow of a plant. She does not look happy, and is covered in dried deadtime ooze. She marches toward Dipsnig's office, knocks on the door, then tries to open it before recieving a welcoming answer.

If the door opens.... I'm sorry, Dipsnig. I wasn't able to get anywhere on that rare gems job. My friend and her demon wife got trapped in a thick deadtime ooze. I had to fight my way out.

If not, she'll go in search of Dipsnig, relaying the message where she finds him.

[Morty]

[Dipsnig's Office, After Kirk & Dena Left]

Dipsnig shrugs. Easy come, easy go. Not the first pointless, unsolvable job we've been given.