[Nexus] AMEN XLIV: Beware Falling Flowers

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

"Trust you?" So hard to focus. Feels so good.

But...

"But Cedric doesn't trust you. And Cedric's my friend. He'd be cross with me if I didn't ask him first..."

[Mindfreak]

BioLab
Megan sighed and shook her head.
Opening her laptop, she sent a command to search for footage of Isabelle from the panther's video banks.
Until she comes to one of her going into Ilpholin's Office.
So...Megan sends a message to Ilpholin.
Hey, I need to see Isabelle ASAP. When you're done with her, send her down to my lab.

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

Needless to say, when the clothes are off, Ilpholin pays very little to her phone. Megan will get Isabelle in due time.

Ilpholin pauses at that to look at Isabelle.
"Cedric doesn't trust me? Why?" She actually appears a bit hurt.

[D_Lord]

[Ye Old, they really hope this isn't what they think it is, after remembering that Ilpholin got rid of the old one Office

I just thought of something.

What? We are about to make a deal of a life time.

If Ilpholin got rid of the old Security room, then what are we standing in?

Oh

CHOMP

I Love it when, they forget that fact.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

Ilpholin is upset that a squirrel does not trust her.

Isabelle is refusing to accept Ilpholin's offer on the spot, on the grounds that a squirrel does not trust her.

I am not sure which one of them is more crazy.

"He is not a very trusting squirrel. He's always looking out for me, but he's very cautious about things. B-but he is my dearest friend, he'd be so upset with me if I didn't at least ask his opinion on the matter first."

...I wonder if Ilpholin has ever been thwarted by a squirrel before?

[Reinholdt]

Spoiler

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[Ye Old, they really hope this isn't what they think it is, after remembering that Ilpholin got rid of the old one Office

I just thought of something.

What? We are about to make a deal of a life time.

If Ilpholin got rid of the old Security room, then what are we standing in?

Oh

CHOMP

I Love it when, they forget that fact.

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

You have to remember that Ilpholin spent the vast majority of her life as a nymph. Ilpholin was very much used to animals being the only ones that trusted her, prior to the Nexus, and it was natural to her to reciprocate. So yeah, it kind of matters to her a bit.

A part of Ilpholin is relieved that Isabelle didn't say yes though. "Well I won't hold you back from your dearest friend," she says, finally disentangling herself from Isabelle and getting off her.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

"Thank you." With a grateful smile, Isabelle gets up and gets to work on gathering up her clothes...and the odd feather. As enjoyable as that was, it's going to take her ages to get the feathers just right again!

"I'm glad you understand. I didn't have any other f-friends for a long time. Only Cedric. If I upset him..."

Isabelle thuds back into the chair, dropping her clothes in a pile in front of her. She's not smiling any more...

"I felt so lonely before I made him."

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

Ilpholin is somberly quiet for a bit, as she works on gathering up her own catsuit and getting dressed again.

"It's good that things change then, huh?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

"Yes. It is." Isabelle picks up a feather and idly twirls it around, staring at it. "They called me crazy, you know. When they saw Cedric, they called me insane. Said he was a monster. Do you think I'm crazy?"

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

"Hardly." Ilpholin shakes her head. "My best friend's a giant, one-of-a-kind, super intelligent spider." Or Darcy. It gets really hard to pick best friends when it comes to multi-species cross-overs. But she's not going to find someone whose friends with a squirrel particularly crazy.

"Besides, Cedric's adorable." Ilpholin adds, looping her belt back into place and putting back on her one handed glove.

[Reinholdt]

Mag's Room

Since some things are moving a bit faster than expected and other things are moving a bit slower than expected, an Ilpholin plot clone is knocking on Magtok's door. Knock knock.

[Lord Magtok]

Mag's Room

A loud roar is the immediate response to Ilpholin's knocking at the door, followed by a few laser blasted scorching the air all up and down Magtok's quarters. A Magbot screams in terror, and a loud thump follows, a shaking of the floor as something huge crashes to the ground. If that wasn't enough to convince AMEN's leader to turn right around and run away, Magtok answers the door only a moment later.

"Oh, hi Ilpholin! Just redecorating for Halloween and stuff. How are things?"

You're not fooling anyone with that phony smile or that terrible lie, Magtok. Certainly not whilst trying to block her sight of the disheveled room with your own frame, as a smoking, amorphous mass of...of something is dragged off by faceless humanoids in purple hazmat suits.

[Reinholdt]

Mag's Room

"Well enough. Errr... do you need help in there?" Ilpholin asks, raising an eyebrow and looking at Magtok incredulously.

Admittedly, I'd shudder at the thought of what a demonic drow considers appropriately terrifying Halloween decorations.

[Lord Magtok]

Mag's Room

"No no, situation's totally under control. Just don't light any green candles for the next four hours or so, and maybe avoid actively thinking about fish. Well, not fish, something else, but if I told you what that something else was you'd think about it and then I'd have to-"

Magtok reaches an arm behind himself, firing a gun three times at the far wall, just out of the demony drowess's sight.

"Sorry, I thought about not-fish. Everything should be properly under control now, though. Can I help you with something?"

[Reinholdt]

Mag's Room

Mmm... fish.

"I wanted to just drop by and let you know, I'm going to this tournament thing Harnel's holding. He invited me to be a judge and I figured this would be an excellent opportunity to scout for recruits for AMEN. Anyone who doesn't hold back against a clearly inferior opponent, or rages at judge decisions, or full of pride or some such." All that dark side stuff.

"At first, I thought I'd just let you know, second in command, trust, sharing info, blah blah blah, etc... but the more I thought of it, the more I realized I needed something too. Something so that when I approach them, shows we mean business."

"In particular, I'm thinking AMEN needs business cards." And Ilpholin doubts anyone here knows business card design better than Magtok.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

"I'm sure Cedric will come to trust you in time. " And that's quite enough with the sadness and memories and stuff for Isabelle, so she finally starts getting dressed. "You say Mister Squiggles is one of a kind? I could probably change that...if he ever wants some super-intelligent giant spider friends, that is."

[Reinholdt]

[Ilpholin's Office - Isabelle]

"I'm a hundred percent certain that he does not." Ilpholin says, having discussed it with him a few times in the past. "He can be real anti-social sometimes."

Male spiders don't really have friends. They have rivals and bigger spiders that eat them after mating. At least his insert species name here works like that. No way in the world does he want to get caught up in that web.

"Well dear, it's been fun, but I do have work I need to get to." Ilpholin checks her phone briefly and frowns a bit before pocketing it. "Let me know if you ever want to go again." As she passes by, Ilpholin will lean in to go for one last voracious kiss, wrapping her arms around Isabelle for just a little while.

"Taaa."
Unless Isabelle has anything further to add or ask, Ilpholin will exit now.

[Lord Magtok]

Mag's Room

Spoiler

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Mag's Room

Mmm... fish.

"I wanted to just drop by and let you know, I'm going to this tournament thing Harnel's holding. He invited me to be a judge and I figured this would be an excellent opportunity to scout for recruits for AMEN. Anyone who doesn't hold back against a clearly inferior opponent, or rages at judge decisions, or full of pride or some such." All that dark side stuff.

"At first, I thought I'd just let you know, second in command, trust, sharing info, blah blah blah, etc... but the more I thought of it, the more I realized I needed something too. Something so that when I approach them, shows we mean business."

"In particular, I'm thinking AMEN needs business cards." And Ilpholin doubts anyone here knows business card design better than Magtok.

Magtok raises an eyebrow, but quickly dismisses whatever doubts were swirling about his mind, and nods dutifully.

"I'll put it near the top of my to-do list, just under all the 'do this right now or lots of people die' priority junk. Already have a general design in mind, too. Anything specific you want on it?"

[Reinholdt]

One shower later, and some super hugs for Mister Squiggles that he has no idea where they came from, and a fast forward IC and rewind OOC and we're here.

Mag's Room

"Just my phone number. Other than that, go wild." Ilpholin says. Have fun making it and then enslaving recruiting a resident artist to draw it. Yus.

"Anyways, I'm running a bit late. Thanks for the help." Ilpholin turns to head off.

[Lord Magtok]

Mag's Room

"Alright. Just remember, no thinking of fish or things related to fish, or we're...oh dammit, again?!"

Magtok rolls his eyes, shuts the door, and readies a shotgun.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[BioLab]

Let's fastforward a little bit and cut out some unnecessary messaging and walking about and stuff.

...and just have Isabelle arrive here and knock on the door. Presumably the first mechano panther she bumped into would've directed her here.

[The Alexandrian]

[Main Room #2 - Zefir's Clarissa]

Zefir has several things running. And one thing he wanted to talk to Ilpholin after all. It's best if Clarissa knows as less as possible. I won't say he cares for her, but if she knows it things might change faster and in a different term.

"Money isn't that big of a deal in the Nexus. If you need some talk to the Ilpholin. So, let's get back to the topic. What should I know about the hatching?"

[Main Room #2 - Zefir's Clarissa]

D'aww! Zefir wants to be Clarissa's buddy!

"Okay! Listen up 'cause I'm only gonna say this once!"

Clarissa holds up her index finger for emphasis and smiles at Zefir, abandoning her pout for bigger and better things!

"M'kay. The dragon needs to be able to see you as it hatches to establish the best possible relationship with it. You can't transform into a dragon at will but it will think you are its parent nonetheless. Don't touch it while it is hatching! Just leave it alone. After the miracle of birth is finished, wrap it in a blanket or something and feed it some pre-chewed or blended meat. You heed those instructions and you'll do just fine!"

Zefir's going to be a father! Kind of!

[Zefir]

[Main Room #2 - Zefir's Clarissa]

Zefir put's out pen and paper. He writes down the important things.

"See me when hatching. Well that means I can't do it here. To many henchman. Not touching while hatching." He makes a small skull right behind that." Fireproof blanked, minced meat."

He looks down at the list and sights.

"Seems like I need to go shopping."

[Mindfreak]

[BioLab]

Let's fastforward a little bit and cut out some unnecessary messaging and walking about and stuff.

...and just have Isabelle arrive here and knock on the door. Presumably the first mechano panther she bumped into would've directed her here.

BioLab
Isabelle will find that knocking on the door is completely unnecessary! Since she does have her own space in the BioLab, the door just opens for her!
So she'll see Megan waving at her.
"Isabelle! Come on in! I've been wanting to talk to you about a project."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[BioLab]

"A project? Fire away then, Megan, let's hear what this project is!"

[Korias]

The Archives
Another sleepless night, another failed search. Korias's head slams against the desk in frustration, idly scratching the stubble on his chin. It's been far too long since he had seen anyone else from the organization - briefly wondering if Magtok was even around anymore - but he couldn't leave the archives just yet.

Picking up the lantern, he holds it over the map spread across the rickety wooden table. One of the only sources of decent light amid the seemingly endless shelves, it only served to illuminate a single thing: that Korias can't draw if his life depended on it.

He trudges along the past row after row of shelves, each one holding stacks of musty tomes and weathered scrolls, before he passes one of the many doors in and out of the archives. He gives it no second thought, but freezes, taking two steps back and eyeing the door suspiciously.

What's your game, door? He approaches, footsteps light on the concrete floor. It wouldn't have been the first time a door had led him around in circles. But those doors tended to look all the same. This one didn't. This one looked modern. With a deft twist and a jump back, the door creaks open into one of the many halls of the AMEN base.

Slowly sticking his head out from behind the door, he glances down both ends of the hall. Hello? he calls out, eyes squinting from the bright lights over head.

Spoiler

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((Hey guys. Mind if I pop back in? Used to be an old member.))

[Slii Arhem]

Outside the Archives

((It's okay by me Korias, but you may want to talk to Reinholdt about current membership practices and such, since his character Ilpholin is the current head of AMEN.))

In response to his greeting, a vine long yellow-flowered vine slips out of the door to the right of him and plants itself against the floor, followed by the head and shoulders of a fairly dark-skinned woman with short-cropped brown hair and a faintly confused air about her.

She turns her dazed eyes to Korias and they focus for a quick moment, just long enough to bring a smile to her face, "Hello mockingbird. Staying a while?"

[Mindfreak]

[BioLab]

"A project? Fire away then, Megan, let's hear what this project is!"

BioLab
"So, this is the basis of the idea. You're good at...ferrets. I'm good at machines. Why not combine the two? Make things that are already good even better?"
She breathes in.
"Input?"

[Reinholdt]

The Archives

It's fine. Ilpholin will want to talk to him at some point. Or maybe get Magtok to do it since one seems to know the other.

Becky's Room

It's far past time Ilpholin had a chat with Becky. She knocks on Becky's door several times.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[BioLab]

Isabelle tilts her head.

Cedric tilts his head the other way.

Isabelle turns and looks at Cedric.

Cedric shrieks.

Isabelle nods.

"Um...we don't know? Are you suggesting making half-machine half-ferret...things?"