[Nexus] Random Places and Plots 5

[Mr. Moon]

Mount Olympus

As Magtok delivers the deathblow (if it can even be called thus when dealt to a god), a Magbot separates itself from the cluster of cameras and crew. It pushes aside it's boom-operating brother with one hand, lifting the other to push back its silly purple hood. Revealed this way is a nightmarish sight - the already ghoulish visage of a Magbot, twisting and stretching as if its bones were fighting to be free. Metal merges with and fades into skin. Brow, cheeks and nose all become sharper and slightly more effeminate. Its ears split open, and longer goat-shaped ears burst free with a light sheen of ichor on their still-grey fur. Hair grows in high-speed from its scalp, reaching his shoulders in a matter of moments. A light smirk takes hold of its lips as they deepen into a dark blue. The colour spreads from there, spreading tendrils of navy across its face like dye in milk.

"I will admit, Mr. Godlark," says the clone as it approaches, apparently oblivious of the changes to its face, "I wasn't sure if you really had it in you." Producing a thin jade pin from the folds of a pocket, Mercutio collects his hair in one fist and deftly runs the pin over it at the nape of his neck, taming the mane into a pony-tail. He gives the horde of grasping hands a wide berth as he picks his way towards the little portal to Styx. "Dionysus, the pleasure is mine. You'll forgive me for skipping the pleasantries, I am rather in a rush. Perhaps you would do me the honour of joining me for a spot of tea or wine in the future."

Mercutio squats down, and (with some difficulty) will attempt to lift Zeus's slightly-headless body into a fireman's carry. If that's too difficult, then he'll settle for trying to drag it out of the little portal.

[Lord Magtok]

Mount Olympus

"I'm not dead. I came too far to die now, I know...I knew this was all your fault from the very beginning, Dionysus! I KNEW! I WON'T LET YOU END IT LIKE THIS! I HAD YOU FIGURED OUT THIS WHOLE TIME, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DIE NEXT!"

That's very fine and dandy that you knew he made a bet with Zeus to kiss the 'goat' in Trog's Tavern, Magtok, but I don't see how you expected that to keep him from doing this to you. I mean, you didn't exactly make plans for this, and what did you think was going to happen when you were exhausted and weak after your big televised deathmatch, anyways? Dio isn't the loose end, you are, and you were so busy thinking about things from your perspective that you didn't even consider Dionysus actually doing anything, did you?

Even though he hadn't accounted for any of this, Magtok still isn't going down that easily, however. His gaze turns towards the Magbot TV crew, grateful that the show is over and done with before this new plight could be shown across the Nexus. Next, his high priestess, who remains crushed beneath that stupid winged horse. Even if he dies here and now, he can't very well leave her like that, stranded in Olympus and doomed to whatever fate that party bastard might have in store for her. He has to ensure the other MagClones don't get to her, too, or she'll be in just as much trouble. He has to make what might be his final moments really count.

"AAAAAAAAUGH!"

The lightsaber tears off his lower body in one swift stroke, slicing the cyborg right in two, and leaving the scum and muck of the Styx behind him. The laser instantly cauterizes the wound, meaning he's not going to die quite as fast as he would have, but he's obviously still in trouble. Ignoring Dionysus, Mercy, and everyone else in the area, he rockets through the air, intent on cutting Linda free of the dead equestrian. He's only got a matter of moments, so he'll have to make this fast. That means cutting her apart too, if that's what it takes to get her corpse free. She'll forgive him for her regeneration pains later, when she's not a slave to some lusty satyr or whatever.

After that, however, assuming the cyborg hasn't been stopped, he hasn't much of any sort of plan to go on. Flinging himself through the air with reckless abandon, it seems the only thought on his mind is to get Evangeline away, to move her as far from Olympus as he can. She's doomed, he's doomed, and the cyborg knows how pointless this gesture is, but if he could just fly away, fly far enough that Dio loses interest, before some follow-up strike sends him tumbling out of the sky.

"I won't let them take you, Linda. I can't let him win, I won't be his pawn, we're not his loose ends. I won't be another Charlie..."

[Slii Arhem]

Mount Olympus

Dionysus has some small amount of admiration in his eyes for Magtok's last ditch attempt at freedom, but it's buried under his cold determination to finish this.

"So what if you knew? That doesn't change anything now. I've got what I wanted, and your involvement was fated from the start. There's nothing more I can do for you, because this too was fated." He raises a hand to his shoulder, inclining two fingers towards Magtok and Linda as they fly away from the mountain.

From the stables, a brace of silver-shafted arrows flies, and then another pair a moment later. The first two are aimed straight for Magtok's head at the seam where flesh meets chrome, the third for his spine just above his shoulders, and the last for his heart. Artemis sits bareback on a pure white stag, holding her gleaming silver bow and knocking two more arrows before turning it on Mercutio, who has probably found dragging the body more to his liking than lifting it since Zeus' muscles are about as dense and heavy as stone.

As she does so, Dio turns to the devil as well, shaking his head and smiling sardonically, "If I thought you had even a hope of keeping Charon from his work, I would take you up on the offer of wine, but if you persist in your morbid task then the only thing you'll be drinking is the waters of Lethe."

"True..." Says the ferryman, his boat touching the shore even though mere moments ago he was off in the distance. For once, the god of the Styx's face is visible beneath his hood, gruesome and horrifying as it is. His skin is mottled grey and bulges around his piercing yellow eyes and sunken, lipless mouth.

Even as Zeus is dragged partway out of the portal, the fog extends forward and around Mercutio, trying to surround him with a larger pocket of the underworld. The mosaic beneath his feet is converted to loose shale, and the colours begin bleeding from the air around him.

[Gullara]

[Pearhouse Manor]

"Yeah, let's go do something fun." She pauses thoughtfully. "What kinda fun stuff do you do at birthday parties anyway?"

[Lord Magtok]

Mount Olympus

Magtok dies. First his mind goes, with both halves of it in a desperate panic, trying to figure out why the other one won't respond. Then, his spine is taken out next, disabling his flight implant at the same time as is severs any sort of control over what's left of the cyborg's body and sends him crashing down the mountain. By the time his heart is shot, he's already lost all control, and was only another moment away from the end. He passes on, clutching Evangeline's amulet (the one ending with an M, as befitting her status as his angel of wrath) when his heart beats its last.

[Earl of Purple]

Pearhouse Manor

"I don't know what makes birthday parties fun. I remember enjoying my sixth, but that was long enough ago that I can't remember what I did." After that, the servant's children started to realise that their parents worked for Natalie's parents and started getting a bit grumpy towards Natalie for their parent's problems. Except at school, where everybody was hostile because she lived in a larger house and was derided as a snob. Mostly by the children's parents, but still. "But presents sounds good. Could I go find Dad, so he gets to see you, too? I've told him about you, and my weekends in GLoG are lots of fun. And maybe you should meet my brother, too." Natalie doesn't know yet that her father invited them.

[Mr. Moon]

Olympus

Mercutio manages to free a hand from its place wrapped around Zeus' torso, lifting it to tip an imaginary hat to Artemis as she joins this little scene. "How utterly heart-warming," he smiles, his voice slightly strained as he returns to his grim duties, "you hardly ever see siblings getting along so well these days."

The devil gives Zeus a few more tugs, sliding the corpse slowly away from Styx. Glancing down, however, the devil raises an annoyed eyebrow as he realizes the portal is spreading beneath him.
What a bother. This clearly wasn't going to work.

With a grunt of effort, Mercutio lifts Zeus into a sitting position, propping up the god's back with his knee. His slightly-intact head flops down onto his chest, getting little bits of brain on his beard. Mercutio presses one hand against the wound with a frown, pressing the grey matter back into place. He rather needed that.
Now then. Gripping Zeus's torso tightly, Mercutio clenched his teeth and wished himself very much elsewhere. Not far away, just a few metres would do.

The devil and the god vanish in a cloud of blue-grey smoke, and re-appear with the slayed pegasus between them and Styx. Mercutio releases Zeus and moves out of the way, letting the lusty old drunk slump undignified onto the horse.

Kneeling behind the pegasus, Mercutio reaches into his pocket and pulls out a stick of charcoal encased in a silver stylus. Keeping half an eye on Charon, the devil begins to draw rapid runes onto the equine's fur.
He would have to work quickly - he only had one shot at this.

[Slii Arhem]

Mount Olympus

"You also don't often see a chance to expunge your entire debt of favors to your crafty little brother with a few well-placed arrows, or a devil so intent on whatever scheme he has cooked up that he isn't worried his plans hinge on the goddess of the hunt missing her mark, as well as the keeper of the Styx failing to ferry a soul." Artemis replies as her bow swivels to Mercutio's new position next to the fallen Pegasus, bobbing in time with his movements as her arrows track his heart and head separately.

"True..." Comes the voice again, this time directly behind Mercutio as the image of the underworld before him fades from view and instantly reappears behind him, Charon's boat scraping on the rocks of the shore and the cloaked god's sandled foot touching the ground as Mercutio begins scribing his runes.

"No matter what claim you think you have on this body, his path is mine to govern now, and he belongs beyond the waters. You face four gods, three of which were born to walk the mountain high, and yet you persist. It would intrigue me if it did not irritate me more. If you do not stop, the leniency you have been shown will end, and so will you."

[The Bushranger]

Pearhouse Manor

"I don't know what makes birthday parties fun. I remember enjoying my sixth, but that was long enough ago that I can't remember what I did." After that, the servant's children started to realise that their parents worked for Natalie's parents and started getting a bit grumpy towards Natalie for their parent's problems. Except at school, where everybody was hostile because she lived in a larger house and was derided as a snob. Mostly by the children's parents, but still. "But presents sounds good. Could I go find Dad, so he gets to see you, too? I've told him about you, and my weekends in GLoG are lots of fun. And maybe you should meet my brother, too." Natalie doesn't know yet that her father invited them.

"That sounds awesome! I'd like that a lot," Jamie says, nodding eagerly at the prospect of meeting Natalie's family.

[Morty]

[Pearhouse Manor]

"Ooooh! I'd love to meet your dad!" Brinika says while nodding vigorously.

[Gullara]

[Pearhouse Manor]

Salix nods as well. "Sure, let's go." She says eagerly.

[Earl of Purple]

Pearhouse Manor

"OK! I think he's in the ballroom. If he isn't, he's in his study, and if not one of the maids will know where he is. Follow me; the manor's practically a labyrinth." Natalie speaks of the maid as though it's something totally normal. Which for her, it is.

Natalie also isn't running for the large front door; she's headed around towards the side of the building.

[The Bushranger]

Pearhouse Manor

Jamie grins happily and skips after Natalie, looking around in wonderment at the labryinthine home!

[Morty]

Pearhouse Manor

Brinika and Caretaker follow as well. The tiny goblin probably won't find the manor very labyrinthine; it's hard for goblins to get lost indoors. Open spaces are another story, of course.

[Gullara]

[Pearhouse Manor]

Salix hurries after them. She's quite interested to see the inside of the manor. She's really just gotten used tot he cabins at GLoG, let alone such a huge building.

[Earl of Purple]

Pearhouse Manor

Natalie leads her friends to a side entrance into very large kitchens, which are rather busy and noisy. One of the cooks will, however, smile and attempt to press an iced bun into the hands of the girls on their way through, and there's enough desserts lying out to be taken through that something could go missing without anybody noticing immediately. From there, there's quite a long corridor curving slightly to the left decorated with suits of full plate holding halberds, lochaber axes, glaives and similar polearms spaced at regular intervals, then there's a hidden door in a wall panel into a servant's stairwell spiralling up two floors before Natalie opens up another panel into a library filled with antique books within locked glass cabinets, through a large pair of ornate doors onto a small balcony overlooking a vast chamber with many noble couples dancing across the marble floor. There's a long, dragonbone table draped with silk tablecloths, upon which are resting many fine china bowls and plates of fancy food.

Natalie looks around the dancers for a while, looking for her father. "There he is! See him, there? Eating the chocolate éclair?" The man to whom Natalie points is an average-sized chap, wearing a green silk suit, though he's not wearing a tie.

[Mr. Moon]

Olympus

Mercutio doesn't glance up as Charon re-appears behind him. Partially because he'd anticipated that kind of trick, but mostly because he couldn't afford to look away from his work.

"Oh, you know how devils are. We see a god trying to do something, we can't help but want to defy them. It's in our nature."

As he banters, he seems to be reaching the end of his work. The charcoal that makes up network of complex runes and diagrams begins to bleed: Black diffuses into the pegasus' white fur like ink in water. Soon the beast is entirely black, the markings a barely visible ash grey among them. The wounds Linda left behind don't so much heal as scab over, grotesque and oozing pus. After inscribing the last rune the devil hops nimbly over the pegasus, grabing Zeus' corpse by the wrists and heaving as hard as he can. Even as the necrotic pegasus lifts its head and begins to sit up, Mercutio has draped the thunder god over the beast's back.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm afraid I must take my leave."
Mercutio leaps astride the pegasus, Zeus' body between him and the equine's neck. Grabbing huge handfuls of jet-black mane in his hands and lets out a "yah!" With a hollow and echoing whiney, the zombie pegasus springs to it's hooves and launches itself...

Right at Artemis? Okay.

[Slii Arhem]

Mount Olympus

Artemis 'Tsks' lightly in the back of her throat as time seems to slow to a crawl around her in comparison to the velocity of her arms. Arrows are launched from her bow simultaneously in a wave of nearly solid silver, arcing around and over Mercutio to provide more angles than would normally be physically possible with which to skewer his unnatural mount. None of the silvery shafts are aimed directly for the demon, she's just aiming to cripple his means of escape to show him how futile his plans were.

Meanwhile, Charon's portal keeps pace with the ghoulish pegasus as the ground beneath its hooves and the air beneath its wings cycles backwards, effectively attempting to keep it in the same relative spot on the mountain and making it only move along the banks of the Styx. Dionysus stays by the entrance to his dead father's temple for now, not really able to contribute anything with his own powers while Mercutio is possibly trapped in the pocket dimension Charon has provided.

Wait, wasn't there a fourth god? Ah, there he is! Jumping from behind Mercutio, Magzy attempts to dive-tackle the whole trio just because he's finally free of his chains, Dio forgot to keep a hold of him, and goats love headbutting things. Of course, moose-sized goats make for awfully good headbutters.

[happyturtle]

Mount Olympus

Meanwhile, back at the MagCave, the sun goes down. Evangeline's body, which has been in a strange half state between dead and alive, begins to draw on Mercutio's magic in order to repair itself.

[The Bushranger]

[Pearhouse Manor]

Jamie's inventory gains one (1) ICED BUN!
She smiles and thanks the cook, and nibbles at the sweet confection as she admires the armoury with rather more than academic interest. Although she's looking for something more like staffs, perhaps, than halberds...

When Natalie points, she follows with her gaze, and smiles. "Can we get introduced to him?"

[Morty]

[Pearhouse Manor]

Brinika looks around with wide eyes as they pass through the manor. The extent of her knowledge of human architecture was limited to the GLoG cabins until now. She had no idea humans had such big, shiny houses.

[Gullara]

[Pearhouse Manor]

Salix is just as fascinated by the manor as Brinika is for all the same reasons. Every room is so big! It barely feels like she's inside except for the lack of wind and sky.

She accepts the iced bun with a big smile and nibbles on it as they walk the rest of the way. Mm, so good.

"Is he the one wearing green?" Salix asks with her mouth full when Natalie points him out.

[Earl of Purple]

Pearhouse Manor

"Sure you can! And yes, he is. The stairs are... Over there. Sorry; sometimes I get lost, and I've lived here all my life." Natalie points and will head towards the stairs. "Oh, um, keep off the dance floor unless you have somebody to dance with, even if nobody else is in the room. I'm not entirely sure why that rule is in place, but it is." And it's one of the few rules that is generalised to everybody, applying to servants, nobles, and even royalty.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler

Show

[Canterlot Castle]

Mother of life? Nah. That would be Shub-Neggurath, one of K'rax' progenitors. But in this particular case the apple hasn't fallen too terribly far from the tree.

"Momma Spooky?" the entity echoes before giving a rather amused laugh. "That will do well enough. And it's better than the names that I'm usually pinned with. You wouldn't believe how often people insist on calling me things that are virtually impossible to pronounce."

She never could figure out why the verbal gymnastic names are so popular.

I mean... K'rax-Naggath? Seriously? What does that even mean?

Just a bunch of nonsense.

"It makes introducing myself such a bother. Stumbling over the pronunciation of your own title is rather embarrassing."

...interesting. That odd overly realness of Spooky's seems to have redoubled since she was named. It was an odd inkling of something unusual before but now it's absolutely impossible to miss.

"Aside from apologizing I have two reasons for being here. One an offer of a more official capacity and the other..." her voice hitches slightly. "The other a request as a concerned mother."

[That Castle Place]

The solar princess frowns to herself, turning her attention away from the scene beyond her balcony towards...Momma...Spooky.

Did she actually accept that as a name?

A thought tugs at the back of her mind, but she lets it be for the moment, retaining her poise beyond the frown.
"Speak your parts."

[Rebonack]

[It IS a Castle Place]

Spooky totally accepted that as a name. Given the gibberish she's taken as a name elsewhere is that really so hard to imagine? Any name will do so long as she's named all the same. That's all it takes...

"One of my children had been acting as a guide for your student shortly after her arrival in the Nexus. Given their common interest in the scholarly aspects of magic they were quick friends," Spooky begins. "After she was... taken... he has been working with her other friends to recover her. The friendships that he's forged with them already, in addition to his knowledge of magic, has lead him to suspect that he would be able to use the Element of Magic to save her."

A pause.

"However only a pony can wield the Elements. He sought out my help to resolve that issue and sacrificed both birthright and immortality to save his friend."

A small, sad smile tugs at the corner of Spooky's mouth. "He is no longer mine. And no longer under my protection. Please, treat him with the same compassion as you would any of those under your rule."

[The Bushranger]

Pearhouse Manor

"Sure you can! And yes, he is. The stairs are... Over there. Sorry; sometimes I get lost, and I've lived here all my life." Natalie points and will head towards the stairs. "Oh, um, keep off the dance floor unless you have somebody to dance with, even if nobody else is in the room. I'm not entirely sure why that rule is in place, but it is." And it's one of the few rules that is generalised to everybody, applying to servants, nobles, and even royalty.

"No dancing. Gotcha," Jamie says, now curious is maybe there might be a hex on the dance floor, but she certainly isn't going to investigate

Probably not, anyway...

And she hurries to follow Natalie!

[Morty]

[Pearhouse Manor]

Brinika finds it pretty weird, but follows Natalie. She's a bit intimidated by the sheer size of the manor, so she keeps close.

[Gullara]

[Pearhouse Manor]

"That's kinda weird." Salix says, not having the discretion to not keep that thought to herself like Brinika did. She follows along like the others, though. She doesn't want to delay meeting Natalie's dad.

[Lord Magtok]

Mount Olympus

Magbots pack up their things and go. This is clearly no place for a minion of the cyborg to be standing around anymore, not without Magtok himself to watch their backs and keep all of these crazy deities at bay. Even so, one of them foolishly informs the others that it'll be sticking around, and asserts that the others just leave without it. Not willing to stick around arguing with this stupid, suicidal doofus, they just leave it for dead and get out of here.

"Two down, one to go," the automaton mutters. No doubt it'd smirk at Mercy's dire circumstances, if he had any sort of facial muscles to speak of. Instead, the robot just takes a step off a particularly steep ledge, tumbles, and shatters upon impact with the ground a few hundred feet below.

[Earl of Purple]

Pearhouse Manor

"You're allowed to dance, but not walk on the dance floor." It started off to prevent people bumping into the dancers, but it became a blanket ban at some point.

Anyway, Natalie will walk around the outside of the ballroom until she reaches her father, who looks down and smiles. "Hey, Dad. This is Jamie, Brinika and Salix, from GLoG. I've told you about them, I think."
"Indeed you have, and that's why I invited them." That makes Natalie's smile grow and she hugs her dad. "It's a pleasure to meet you all."