[Nexus] AMEN XLIV: Beware Falling Flowers

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

Ilpholin steps up and goes to backhand Roxanne across the face.
"You will never again do something so visibly grandiose without running it by me first. Do you understand?"

[The Bushranger]

[Main Room!]

Clarissa has nodded off in Becky's absence! The space beside her is open to sleep cuddles if Becky is in the mood for curling up and watching some tv! If Becky isn't and instead tries waking Clarissa, she'll find Clarissa impossibly easy to rouse.

Becky decides that watching TV while Clarissa-snuggling sounds good. So that's what she does! Of course, she might wind up rousing Clarissa anyway as she watches All My Magtoks.

[The Alexandrian]

[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

That's all well and good! Except that Roxanne is equipped with that full set of powered military-grade armor, like always. So backhanding her, while possible, will be analogous to backhanding...something more solid than flesh. Doing so is liable to (lightly) damage Ilphy's knuckles if excessive force is applied without scratching the paint job. Denting the armor, on the other hand...

The assault does do a fine job of communicating for her, though. And accurately representing her behavioral traits. Prone to violence. Sounds 'bout right given drow lineage. This Roxanne files away. The more you know...

"Understood."

"And in the future, kindly keep your hands to yourself."

-------
[Main Room]

Given time, Clarissa will wake. She stretches and yawns and attempts to loop her arms around Becky's upper torso.

"Mmm. Did I miss much?"

She whispers, attempting to impart a kiss to the side of Becky's neck.

"Hey. I heard these inbred human supremacists opened a cafe in Inside through the grapevine. Feel like being a general nuisance and making out on their porch? They can see what they've been missing out on."

'Cause once you go shadowbender, you never go back.

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

Gasp! Miltary-grade, huh? No matter. Ilpholin puts more than enough demonic essence into the blow, strengthening the blow to supernatural levels. Roxanne will feel it even if she doesn't expect to.

"Don't give me another reason to reprimand you then."

Also while hands off curtains can be fun in its own way, she makes no promises there either.

[The Alexandrian]

[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

... Hands off... Uh... Righto then.

Ouch! Good thing Roxanne disabled the suit's automated countermeasures else Ilphy might have more holes in her than a block of swiss cheese!

Roxanne endures the blow, but she doesn't take umbrage to it. She reacts to it without a thimble of vitriol or acerbity. But what a stroke of bad luck! Her helmet has been dented. It isn't dented beyond repair or anything, but there might very well be a renaissance artist's impression of the back of Ilph's hand pounded into the alloy plate.

Accompanied by the hiss of a chorus of pneumatic machinery and the hum of banks of pocket-sized supercomputers, Roxanne plucks her helmet off of her head and ensconces it in the crook of her right arm. The evanescence of a negligible dot of an innocuous glowing gas is visible as she coughs raucously. Ugh. The air of the Nexus isn't enriched like the air she's grown up breathing. Her secret identity is no more!

As far as aesthetics go, Roxanne isn't ugly. She's been genetically engineered. And whatever bred her didn't make an effort to conceal that she's been engineered. Her face is proportional to the golden ratio for the most part and perfectly symmetrical with high cheekbones, full, luscious, hot pink lips (but nicked and bleeding a little), a narrow, smallish nose, a gently cleft chin, subdued, piercing icy blue eyes, fiery scarlet hair, and a fair complexion. Her hair cut is appalling! It was obviously a rushed job. The cut isn't uniform. And that's appreciable even with the semi-ponytail it has been bundled into. The hairstyle is so...tacky! I...I cannot look directly at it! She's in dire need of a proper hairdresser.

Her body from the neck down isn't visible. And without an intervention hosted by the jaws of life, it may never be visible. But I'm sure Ilph could persuade Roxanne to take the jaws of life to it. Though Roxanne would never admit it, there are other ways to win someone's loyalty without fighting and bleeding at their behest for their benefit.

"Wow! You hit hard! I don't think you'll have to worry about me being naughty anymore. My skull may be thick, but not thick enough to withstand one of those."

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

Ilpholin avoids looking at Roxanne's hair, keeping her eyes somewhere else. Ilpholin keeps her own hair short for practical reasons, but that was just too much.

"People frequently make the mistake that I compensate a lack of strength with agility and flexibility." Which is a total lie cause before she got demon powers she was pretty weak strength wise. Not below any human standard for someone who trained with her arms regularly, but certainly not up to par with the Nexus strength standards.

[The Alexandrian]

[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

Long locks are a convicted accessory of zombies, monsters, aliens, and brutes of every walk of life! Holds the title of premier zombie handhold! On top of that, it tangles and knots easy and is a bother to maintain on the battlefield!

Ilph is smart for clipping her hair short! Still doesn't excuse Roxanne's hideous haircut, though.

Roxanne isn't supernaturally or preternaturally strong either. She's not godly in so much as one of her stats and probably falls short of meeting the Nexus standards by a long shot. Barring her spatial distortion talent and superhuman reflexes (bullet time), she's as human as they come. Her sacrosanct combat exoskeleton and protean gear is what should repel her from death's doorstep.

Roxanne is sufficiently gullible to unquestionably accept most of what Ilph reports about any matter Roxanne doesn't know about as truth. Ilph is strong and, according to what Roxanne now believes, was always strong.

"Flexible, agile, strong, and resourceful. My-my, that is a deadly combination if ever there was one! You're one of those drow-beings, are you not? I'd wager a week's income that you're next in line for the leadership position in your society were I a gambling woman. Which I am."

Roxanne has worked out that the drow have a government and leaders thus far. And that's about all she knows about the drow lifestyle. Why not politely acquire information on this culture from her boss?

[Hattish Thing]

Ilpholin's Office

"Basically, you fill out this form, there's an interview process, then a background check, then we decide if you're in or not, usually without ever telling you for sure."

Ilpholin hands the form over.

Enshadu takes it gleefully and starts to sign with a bizarrely large amount of happiness.

Spoiler

Show

Name: Enshadu
Age: 145 (I can Live until I die.)
Sex: Male
Species: ...Robotish Thing?
Profession: Loremaster, treasure hunter, and murderer.
Reason for joining AMEN: ...I wish to help see this company rise in power...
Special skills/items you believe will aid/have decided to contribute to AMEN: My immense studies in science should help some of the company scientists, and my knowledge of some of the greatest lost treasures in the world will, once said items are recovered, be very useful.
References (Victims preferred): Badger.
Past Experience: None.
Other Information: Is scary. Doesn't play well with most.

He hands Ilpholin the paper as his left hand changes into a pincer.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Atlantis - Lab]

Weehee! Stuff is happening! Mad science-y plant stuff!

Isabelle is now paying close attention.

...

Cedric is shrieking at the plants. I don't think he likes them.

*****

[Outside - Training]

Well, now that she knows what's going on, Isabelle is quite content to wander off and merge with her plot clone in Atlantis.

So unless Roxanne does anything to stop her or get her attention back, Isabelle wanders off.

[Earl of Purple]

Atlantis- Lab

Nephrim has no objections to cutting Dam'bul's suit up. Dam'bul, on the other hand, is a bit annoyed because it's his favourite suit, but given that Nephrim could summon him into a weasel he's not going to complain too much.

Nephrim watches the surgery intently. The plant's growth might be advanced by the demonic energies roiling around Dam'bul's host, though it might not.

When there's nothing left to look at, Nephrim will approach Isabelle and Cedric, or Cedric if he's not on Isabelle's shoulder. "He's quite cute. May I stroke him?"

[Slii Arhem]

Atlantis - Labs

It will only be sped up if those energies have some sort of passive healing effect on the host. Otherwise, it will proceed as normal. "He should rouse in a few hours, and have full motor control by the end of the day. If there are any unwanted side effects, please tell me so I'll know they are possibilities. I probably won't be able to do anything about them from him, but knowing what might arise helps me prevent it in the future." Such side effects might include yellowed skin, lose of vision in one or both eyes, deadened pain receptors, hearing loss, minor seizures, or the loss of function in some or all of your extremities. Shayan isn't aware of most of them at this point, and each has an extremely minute chance of happening.

((That is to say, any of them can happen at the player's discretion.))

The benefits of being able to regenerate from nearly any wound that doesn't involve the complete destruction of your remains far outweigh the risks to a normal person.

[The Bushranger]

[Main Room]

Given time, Clarissa will wake. She stretches and yawns and attempts to loop her arms around Becky's upper torso.

"Mmm. Did I miss much?"

She whispers, attempting to impart a kiss to the side of Becky's neck.

"Hey. I heard these inbred human supremacists opened a cafe in Inside through the grapevine. Feel like being a general nuisance and making out on their porch? They can see what they've been missing out on."

'Cause once you go shadowbender, you never go back.

Becky giggles, the demonically-infused shadowdancer clicking off the TV and sliding an arm around Clarissa. "Seems you know stuff I've missed. And sure, why not? After all, nothing better than rubbing it on...I mean in..."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Atlantis - Labs]

Cedric is indeed still on Isabelle's shoulder at the moment. He finds it rather comfy. She always ensures there's a patch of fur on the shoulder of her outfit so he's comfortable.

Anyway, Nephrim's request results in a rather loud shriek from Cedric. Isabelle gives her squirrel friend an odd look, then shrugs and shakes her head. "Cedric says no. I don't think he likes you. Don't know why."

[Earl of Purple]

Atlantis Labs

"Maybe it's my nature. I was created to represent everything that was truly Good- beauty, justice, love, and so on. I was an Angel- specifically, I was a Chorister, of the Celestial Chorus. But not all Angels liked the way things were run- a strict hierarchy, that repressed freedom and the right to choose, and so there was a rebellion. Again. I signed up, the only member of the Chorus to do so, and worked as a spy for several hundred years, until I was found out just before the war's end and I, like many others, fled and were banished. I've since spent several thousand years soaking in the essence of Chaos and Evil." So the question there is, is Cedric reacting to the inherent Angel, or the chosen Demon? Or something else, of course.

Dam'bul has deadened pain receptors, but doesn't notice; whenever he goes into battle or is otherwise threatened he turns his host's pain receptors off. That might actually play its part into why that particular side effect came about.

[Zefir]

[Main Room]

Zefir comes back after a day has past. It should be nearly time for the hatch so he seeks for Clarissa to get introduction. He never dealt with a baby dragon and don't even knew what to do.

[Slii Arhem]

Atlantis Labs

"Maybe it's my nature. I was created to represent everything that was truly Good- beauty, justice, love, and so on. I was an Angel- specifically, I was a Chorister, of the Celestial Chorus. But not all Angels liked the way things were run- a strict hierarchy, that repressed freedom and the right to choose, and so there was a rebellion. Again. I signed up, the only member of the Chorus to do so, and worked as a spy for several hundred years, until I was found out just before the war's end and I, like many others, fled and were banished. I've since spent several thousand years soaking in the essence of Chaos and Evil." So the question there is, is Cedric reacting to the inherent Angel, or the chosen Demon? Or something else, of course.

Dam'bul has deadened pain receptors, but doesn't notice; whenever he goes into battle or is otherwise threatened he turns his host's pain receptors off. That might actually play its part into why that particular side effect came about.

Atlantis Labs

((Sorry for taking so long to get to this.))

With Dam'bul konked out and Isabelle and Nephrim talking amongst each other, Shayan will slip out of the lab quietly to retrieve something from Cin's offices. Her eyes are more dazed than usual, and she doesn't think much of leaving the three alone with her plants.

In the corner, a yellow flowered hanging vine stirs momentarily as if it was settling.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Atlantis Labs]

Isabelle raises an eyebrow as Shayan exits the room.

...

She's now in an unfamiliar place surrounded mostly by plants that may or may not be dangerous...but probably are, and she no longer has Shayan to rescue her if something unpleasant decides to stir.

A word, a gesture, a flash of purple. That will hopefully suffice for now. Hopefully Nephrim will be of some use if an evil plant monster attacks.

Speaking of which, Isabelle tilts her head, looking rather confused. "Um...he's a squirrel. He doesn't know or care about what someone is. Angel, demon, whatever. He just doesn't like you."

Cedric shrieks in agreement.

"The whole angel thing and soaking in chaos and evil probably means he wouldn't like the taste of your blood though." Huh. Isabelle gives Cedric a light tap on the head, and the squirrel shrieks in protest. "Now now. Behave. It's not nice to talk about people's blood and how tasty it is."

[5a Violista]

Somewhere in AMEN

I am online again for half an hour, which means that Harley, the Evil Shapeshifter, is walking around, doing an unspecified action, like stealing all the chocolate puddings out of the fridge!

However, not only is her body active in stealing pudding, but she also is planning her next big plot thing to do outside of AMEN.

[Earl of Purple]

Atlantis Labs

"In order to ride a horse, I need to subjugate its will, mind control it like I do people. That hampers its effectiveness considerably. Alternately, I can take a foal and train it personally, but horses don't live very long. Not to me, anyway. I'd rather fly with my own wings, or if I must, ride either a demon or a fiendish creature of some sort. You'd be surprised at what natural animals can detect, let alone ones that have been improved via magical means." Nephrim doesn't pay much attention to the plants, confident they're not a threat to her, or at least not a permanent one.

[Slii Arhem]

Atlantis - Labs

The half-ignored plant in the corner seems to be aware that Shayan is no longer present, and after a certain amount of time that ensures to its senses that she won't be coming back, it's sure that she has abandoned these meals to feed it.

Without further consideration (as it's hard to consider without a brain) the plants flowers shiver for a moment before unleashing a tiny puff of pollen spores into the air from each. They're flung far and wide, and in moments they can be smelled from anywhere in the room.

With the smell of them comes a hypnotic suggestion that transcends language by going straight to the hindbrain instincts of those that smell it. Drop everything and come here. Stand among the flowers. Those that don't successfully resist the beckoning call may find themselves drawn to the inviting vines of the yellowish-green plant.

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

"Leadership in drow culture is more complicated than a single line of succession." Ilpholin explains. While she is admittedly one of the stronger females in the family, she still has barriers to such a claim.

Ilpholin's Office - Enshadu

Hmm... going to be lots of questions for this one. She's going to skip the obvious immortal question though. She doesn't expect she'll get a satisfactory answer.

"What do you mean by robotish thing?" Ilpholin asks after looking over the form.

Somewhere in AMEN - Kitchen

Why look at who it is. It's Stu! The talking flower in power armor.
"NOOOOOO! You're taking all the good stuff!!"

He exclaims upon seeing Harley steal all the chocolate pudding.
Not sure why he cares since he doesn't eat anyways.

[Hattish Thing]

Ilpholin's Office-Enshadu

He replies slowly, the clack of his metal jaw tapping against his normal teeth evident, even under bandages and a white mask. Well, Ms Ilpholin...as you can see, I'm not quite human really. I used to be a humanoid, but I....fell off a very high place and got blown up...twice....and cut in half...it's a...long story...I'd rather not go into it. Luckily, I fixed myself a little, and went to Elexxion. They repaired me and set to turning me into a cyborg thing. Now, I got two hands made of nanobots that can turn into anything, two mechanical legs, that actually function better than normal ones, a metal lower jaw, one special eye, and a few microchips in my brain. I think that classifies as...robotish thing...savvy? His hands then turn into a a pen and paper. See? They function fine!

[Reinholdt]

Ilpholin's Office-Enshadu

Ilpholin stares at him for a while before making a note on the application. "The term for that is called 'cyborg'. You're a cyborg."

"Moving on tell me a bit more about your professions, one at a time. Most don't choose LoreMaster and Murderer." Must be a lot of scheduling conflicts.

[5a Violista]

Somewhere in AMEN - Kitchen

Harley is surprised! She wasn't expecting someone to see her. Especially a flower.

She jumps, like, three inches into the air, and turns around. "N-no, I'm n-not," she stammers, with a bit of chocolate pudding still on her lip.
There's also a plastic cup of chocolate pudding in her hand. No spoon, though. How odd.

[Hattish Thing]

Ilpholin's Office-Enshadu

Ilpholin stares at him for a while before making a note on the application. "The term for that is called 'cyborg'. You're a cyborg."

"Moving on tell me a bit more about your professions, one at a time. Most don't choose LoreMaster and Murderer." Must be a lot of scheduling conflicts.

Don't call me that. I'm not a cyborg. I'm half-human. Not half-robot...er...please. I kill people for my lore. I know all I know because I killed whoever used to know my knowledge. I know things no one else does, because I killed anyone that knew. Marvelllous eh?

[Reinholdt]

Somewhere in AMEN - Kitchen

"You are! You totally are eating it right now! Look! LOOK!" Stu points wildly at Harley's face.

Ilpholin's Office-Enshadu

"So you're saying you kill people and absorb their knowledge? And then you gather treasure from that? Any particular kind?"

[Hattish Thing]

Somewhere in AMEN - Kitchen

"You are! You totally are eating it right now! Look! LOOK!" Stu points wildly at Harley's face.

Ilpholin's Office-Enshadu

"So you're saying you kill people and absorb their knowledge? And then you gather treasure from that? Any particular kind?"

He nods. Depends on what knowledge I learn. Ancient treasure maps, buried treasure, even locations to hidden alien technology.

[The Alexandrian]

[Main Room]

Becky giggles, the demonically-infused shadowdancer clicking off the TV and sliding an arm around Clarissa. "Seems you know stuff I've missed. And sure, why not? After all, nothing better than rubbing it on...I mean in..."

[Main Room]

Zefir comes back after a day has past. It should be nearly time for the hatch so he seeks for Clarissa to get introduction. He never dealt with a baby dragon and don't even knew what to do.

[Main Room #1 - Becky's Clarissa]

"I might know what you've missed but you know how to do stuff I've missed! You should've seen the ad the supremacists' sprayed on the wall! No nonhumans! They're begging for this! And they have it coming! I theorize that they'll envy us on a conscious or unconscious level. And if they can't lick us, what can they do but join us and dream."

With a solitary flick of her hand, Clarissa weaves a polychromatic teleportation portal that mirrors the front of the Sitar Strings.

"Whenever you're ready to go..."

Clarissa attempts to softly kiss Becky's neck. Mwah!

[Main Room #2 - Zefir's Clarissa]

Clarissa is fast asleep! On the couch! So Zefir should track her down without a hitch! Will he endanger himself attempting to rouse her?

-------
[Ilpholin's Office - Roxanne]

Roxanne shrugs. Her understanding of the inner workings of a government is sketchy at best.

"I wouldn't know anything about that. But you've an army of psychopaths, scientists, and criminals at your disposal, so I'd think your claim to the throne would be considered superior to those of others. Or if you haven't set your sights on the throne, anything else you aim for is well within your reach. Like territorial gain."

"All it'd take is a pinch of guile and a dash of power. And you've a fine stock of guile and power."

[5a Violista]

[QUOTE=Reinholdt;13900017]Somewhere in AMEN - Kitchen

"Where?" she asks, feigning innocence. She pretends that Stu was actually pointing at something behind Harley's face, like the sour milk on the shelf. She turns her head, and licks the chocolate off.

"What is it? I didn't see anything." Harley manages to keep a fairly straight face (not completely straight, though).

[The Bushranger]

[Main Room #1 - Becky's Clarissa]

"I might know what you've missed but you know how to do stuff I've missed! You should've seen the ad the supremacists' sprayed on the wall! No nonhumans! They're begging for this! And they have it coming! I theorize that they'll envy us on a conscious or unconscious level. And if they can't lick us, what can they do but join us and dream."

With a solitary flick of her hand, Clarissa weaves a polychromatic teleportation portal that mirrors the front of the Sitar Strings.

"Whenever you're ready to go..."

Clarissa attempts to softly kiss Becky's neck. Mwah!

Becky shivers, and grins.
"You know, I adore the way you think...lead the way," she purrs, kissing Clarissa's neck in return!