[Nexus] Riverside X: Take a Walk on the Wildside

[Lost_Deep]

Wildside

Viln Ehmin looks aorund a bit, not seeing Lenai. "Ah, thank you, Lenai. We'll be fast-"

"Here it is! So clever, and in a rustic barrel, of course. Come now, you two... bah, did no one bring a tap? I am not going to be able to sample the goods if I can't get into the barrel." The fashionable Quelan pulls out a surprisingly large goblet from a hand bag and approaches the barrel.

"Lenai, this is my sister-"

"Enthi Ehmin! Professional critic and connoisseur, specializing in liquor and fine cheeses. My sister said that you were making mead out here in these trees, and I am here to see if it is worth the trouble of appropriating and spreading."

"Enthi, be polite..."

"Have I threatened to harm anyone or compared anything to hardware? No? This is polite as I come, sister, and you know that very well! Now then, help me get this open..."

The last quelan stays back a bit. Understandable...

[Slii Arhem]

Wildside

Without warning a branch whips itself down and impales its tip through the lid of the barrel with a massive thud. The words that follow are calm, but the tone behind them is imposing.

"Find it in yourself to be more polite, or I will compare you to a liquid slurry slowly seeping into the ground. You'll find my comparisons of these things to be startlingly accurate." The branch removes itself, leaving a perfectly round hole for Enthi to sample from.

[Lost_Deep]

Wildside

"In my line of work, approaching everyone with-"

Enthi starts, before suddenly being cut off by the quelan in glasses, "We Don't Need To Hear You Rant."

Viln facepalms. In retrospect, this was a bad idea. She really should have seen this coming... especially given Enthi's tendency to steal the spotlight.

Enthi doesn't say anything more, instead pouring herself a goblet of the Mead. She smells it and sips it, analyzing it carefully...

[Gullara]

[Northside Hotel]

Astrana nods. "We need to disguise you before we leave though. I have an illusion rod you could use but it's set to a very specific illusion, just warning you." The tiefling replies as she picks up a bandolier filled with various rods. "It's the purple one, just tap it twice while holding it and it will activate."

[Suncrest Manor]

During the last week a lot have changed around the manor as a a spiked fence have been erected around it, keeping out all outsiders. Irena have also started to set up security cameras, alarms and locks around the house to prevent anyone unwanted inside.

Nadia might wake up to the sound of her girlfriend singing to herself outside their window. As the curtain is still drawn she can't actually see what she's doing outside but presumingly she's setting up security cameras on a step ladder.

"I'm a Mother Lover, you're a Mother Lover. We should...!" The rest of the lovely tune is not forum appropriated however but Nadia sure get's to hear the witch's best attempt to mimic it.

[Northside Hotel]

"Alright, no problem." Valente takes the indicated rod. And without any hesitation, he taps the rod twice.

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia sits up and stretches. Oh thank goodness, she doesn't feel absolutely terrible. Just a bit queazy. She gets out of bed and makes her way over to the window, straighening her pyjamas as she goes. Once there, she pulls the curtains back and slides the window open so she can lean on the sill and look out at Irena.

[Slii Arhem]

Wildside

Lenai seems to accept Enthi being shut up by her fellows rather than press the issue further. If that mouth of her wasn't flapping, then she could accept the obvious lack of respect so long as she only had to deal with it temporarily.

The mead is Savage. There is no other word for it. It is Spice, and Sweetness, and Tartness, and Savory, and all these other things competing for attention on her tongue, and in her nostrils, and behind her eyes. It is the sound of a heartbeat not her own in her ears, coursing and raging with adrenaline as it prepares to give the energy needed for one last lunge. It is the slowly cooling satisfied sweat of two lovers laying beneath the stars, and the fragrant wind that blows over their skin and carries a message to the animals in the surrounding darkness.

It is passion and anger and too much of everything. There are no subtle flavors, only the memory of things too weak to have survived the tumult, unable to adapt to the environment that is her palate. To call the burst of heat and pungent musk that grabs at her nose a bouquet is a mockery of such a delicate word. It is so much more than a refined sense of taste could ever imagine, or comprehend. Those used to pulling false flavors of oak and chocolate and mint from the air would be left dumbstruck as their expectations are matched and dwarfed by the onslaught of a single sip.

And once it has passed on to the gullet, no taste is left but the sense of satisfaction as the drink begins to work its Savagery from within. A direct link to Wolfy, forged through the tasting of his willingly given blood, can facilitate all manner of behavior and transformation while it lasts.

[happyturtle]

Residential Area

"We didn't ask any god to make this city his temple," the red-headed woman says indignantly. "We want no part in this!"

"Pbpbpbpbppbpbtttttt!!!!"

Billie's eloquent and witty response will be hard to top.

Might want to dodge the saliva.

[Lost_Deep]

Wildside

Enthi doesn't say anything.

As the silence continues, Viln becomes more and more unbelieving. Enthi has always been a motormouth, especially about food and drink.

A single tear runs down Enthi's cheek. She takes another sip.

"There are no words. Attempting to use words to describe this, no matter how flowery or gifted they may be, would only be hollow praise, if not an insult."

...

"Lenai, I owe you an apology."

Viln sputters a bit about hell freezing over and then faints.

[Reinholdt]

Kami Hunting

"We met a confusion kami, it's perfectly normal." Cessie assures the half-dragon. "I think I will just watch it from a distance for now until we taken care of more dangerous kami." She knew that confusion could potentially could be very dangerous but she just didn't have the heart to destroy a sapient kami. It wouldn't be hard to find again after all and it could probably wait... right?

"Let's go and find another... and eat some ice cream alright?" She suggests to Harnel with a smile.

Kami Hunting

"Why aren't we destroying it? It's a negative kami, isn't it?" Harnel asks as he stands. Still going to get that ice cream either way.

"I think there's some shops this way." Harnel says, pointing. Usually can find at least one place that serves ice cream if you find a good shopping area.

[Slii Arhem]

Wildside

If Lenai was present, she might be seen to preen a bit under the praise, but instead the quelans eventually hear a quiet, "Harrumph. I should hope so. There are six barrels of it in total, including that one. Will you be able to carry them out on your own?" Such high praise for her work, even if it was largely because of the superior ingredients she had access to, has put her off guard after the earlier impertinence.

Of course, without her specialized process, Wolfy's blood would have been butchered trying to add it to an alcohol. She could at least take the credit for making something no one else could, even if they were given the raw ingredients.

And she supposes Kell deserves praise as well, tending to the increasingly large and threatening colony of bees that have turned the nectar into such rich and beautiful honey.

[Lost_Deep]

Wildside

Enthi goes about finishing her goblet, and then putting it back in her bag. "I am willing to do manual labor for this beverage." this would surprise Viln mightily, but she's already unconscious.

The quelan with the glasses tries to rouse Viln, but it's of no use. Viln is right out. She sighs, "If Viln was up, she could increase our strength so that we could... but as is there is no way. I could call some friends of mine to have them come by to pick up the barrels at the edge of the forest, if we can haul them there..."

[Slii Arhem]

Wildside

There's a moment of silence and then Lenai suggests the obvious solution, "Why not give her a sip of the mead? If nothing else, it should rouse her."

[Lost_Deep]

Wildside

"Um, perhaps?" The quelan with the glasses looks at Enthi, not sure if it would work.

"It will either wake her up or kill her outright, and she has proven surprisingly durable in the past."

Enthi gets a bit of it in the goblet and pours it into Viln's mouth. Almost immediately, Viln wakes up and curls up into a little ball, gibbering something in her native language, staring wide-eyed at nothing.

"There," says Enthi, "Now we just wait for her to come back and we'll be on our way."

Enthi then goes about corking up the hole in the barrel. Don't want a single drop of the stuff to get out.

[happyturtle]

Wildside

In the shadows, Kell watches the Quelans, not approaching them - simply watching their response. His eyes glow softly - not a literal glow, but the way the eyes of an animal glow in dim light, by catching the light available and reflecting it.

He has tasted the honey, and the flavour was frightening and elating at once.

He hasn't yet tasted the mead.

[Slii Arhem]

Wildside

"Right." Lenai's voice heralds the other five barrels being shoved up through the hole and it sealing up behind them. At the same time, she steps out from a tree behind Kell, hidden in the deeper shadows by the earth that breaks up the lines of her form.

"I've kept some, if you would like to try it. Otherwise you can wait for the next batch, which I expect will be larger." She whispers into his ear. He does deserve some reward, didn't she just say decide that to herself?

[Lost_Deep]

Wildside

Viln won't entirely recover, but will become close enough to sensible to give the three of them startling muscles using her magic. The three of them will then pick up the barrels, and leave. Both Viln and Enthi will thank Lenai as they go, in two different flavors of flowery and perhaps psychotic language.

[happyturtle]

Wildside

Kell shivers, his hair rising up, like an animal responding to alarm. He doesn't turn to look at her. "I am afraid of it, Mistress." he whispers back.

[Slii Arhem]

Wildside

"You have some sense then. It is a predator, but you are not its prey. You are its young, and it wants to guide you and show you how it hunts. Do you understand?" The orchard nymph coos softly, settling herself onto her knees at the base of a red maple.

[Morty]

Residential Area

"Pbpbpbpbppbpbtttttt!!!!"

Billie's eloquent and witty response will be hard to top.

Might want to dodge the saliva.

The two Hunters look at each other and shake their heads. Right. Crazy cultists of a crazy god. Fun. They then turn and leave. At least now they know who to blame.

[Gullara]

[Westside - During the Week]

As the week progresses, Tenebras Enforcers are having a harder and harder time keeping the peace. They don't have enough people to be everywhere, and subduing the people is difficult. Worse yet, the human members of the Enforcers (of which there are many) are not exempt from being affected, unlike their vampire counterparts.

It takes only a few days before tensions are high among the Enforcers. Their frustration becomes clear in how they chose to deal with the roving bands of people. Never lethally, but perhaps with more force than should be necessary. Their decreasing ranks and the increasing incidents aren't helping anything. No truly significant incidents have occured as of yet, however.

Anyone can encounter a Tenebras patrol if they so choose.

[Shadowcaller]

Kami Hunting

"Yes, but it's intelligent. Just destroying it would be murder and I don't believe it was that dangerous anyway." Hopefully.

To change the subject Cessie looks up the sign where is says 'ice cream' and quickly leads the half-dragon there. "Alright, so I guess I take the... red ice cream." She says while pointing one out. When in doubt, always go with your favorite color.

[Northside Hotel]

The rod activates with a glow and Valente will suddenly find himself in the illusion of a dark skinned woman. He's still in the same clothes but the illusion gives the impression that they are rather ill-fitting even if he can't feel this. As Astrana points out a nearby mirror in the room while trying to hide her faint smile, he might notice he looks very much like a human version of Astrana.

"I used it pretty often back in my world." She explains, somehow managing not to giggle.

[Suncrest Manor]

The witch is wearing ear-phones and don't notice Nadia immediately as she opens the window. She is thankfully dressed in more appropriate clothes then usually and have a pair of working pants on. Below the ladder she's standing on are a great deal of instruction manuals for the electronic stuff she have now spend a few days on setting up.

As soon as the notices the lampade she turns to her and takes the phones off. "Hello there lovely, what do you think of this huh?" Irena asks with a smile.

[happyturtle]

Wildside

Wildside

"You have some sense then. It is a predator, but you are not its prey. You are its young, and it wants to guide you and show you how it hunts. Do you understand?" The orchard nymph coos softly, settling herself onto her knees at the base of a red maple.

Kell speaks to a nearby bee. "Should I? Does the Mother Bee wish it?" But the bee simply flies around his head a few times and buzzes away.

"The Mother does not think anything made from her honey can harm her keeper, but as long as I remain to serve them, she does not care what I do." Kell murmurs. He'd never heard the bees so clearly. He'd always thought of Mother Bee as a protector and guide, but now he could feel her supreme indifference to everything but her hive. It was unsettling.

Now he turns to face Lenai. "I will drink."

---

1
D-Day - Billie

The two Hunters look at each other and shake their heads. Right. Crazy cultists of a crazy god. Fun. They then turn and leave. At least now they know who to blame.

Billie is dragged down into someone's lap, and someone else hits the gas. A few bits of clothing drift to the ground in the car's wake.

Anyone who would like to encounter Billie and her posse on the day events have truly stared is welcome to do so.

[Gullara]

[Northside Hotel]

Valente blinks a few times at the image in the mirror. Thankfully his clothing is baggy to begin with, so it just looks even more so now (though less so in certain areas). "Well, at least I look really good." He laughs and shakes his head.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Part of me didn't think you were going to do this much." Nadia smiles gently. It's nice to think someone is so concerned for her. "I could have helped you, you know. I do have a lot of experience with this sort of thing."

[Devixer]

Aegidus Manor

The closest she can see to a blind spot is her current position behind the carriage, as it provides decent cover from the angle that the cameras are pointing. From here, it's a straight shot to the front door if she wants to take it, thought that would put her under the eye of the cameras for a brief moment. There was also a servant's entrance she may have noticed during her approach, on the west side of the building tucked between some hedges for discretion.

Jane considers her options for a moment. First, she leans out from behind the carriage and pulls out what a small touchscreen. Using it in conjunction with some of the sensors in her eyes, she tries to see if there are any other forms of electronic security before making her next move.

[Slii Arhem]

Wildside

"Did you always get such detailed messages from them?" Lenai wonders aloud. She did find that the bees were more receptive as they grew beyond their normal size, but she hadn't thought about whether or not they might be getting more intelligent as well.

Before her knees, a small corked cask is pulled up by the roots of the red maple, and she gently brushes off the loose earth before pulling it free and standing, walking around Kell so that he can see it in her hands.

"You are going to stop calling me mistress after this point. You've earned your place here, and that is your reward. If you find my name uncomfortable, you can give me one of your choosing that I will know means me to your ears and tongue, but I will not respond to mistress anymore." With a ceremonial edge to her actions, Lenai uncorks the cask and holds it at chest height, waiting for Kell to take it.

Aegidus Manor

There does appear to be wiring of some sort around the front door, indicating that there may be an alarm system, but since the windows have wrought iron grills over them they are not afforded the same protection. Interestingly enough, though the servant's entrance does have more of the same wiring, there is no power running through it at this time. It's likely the result of lazy servants not wanting to have to remember a password or use a keycard every time they have to come or go at night. Whatever the reason, it's been disabled and no one has caught on to repair it.

[Reinholdt]

Kami Hunting

"Yes, but it's intelligent. Just destroying it would be murder and I don't believe it was that dangerous anyway." Hopefully.

To change the subject Cessie looks up the sign where is says 'ice cream' and quickly leads the half-dragon there. "Alright, so I guess I take the... red ice cream." She says while pointing one out. When in doubt, always go with your favorite color.

Kami Hunting

"And the last one wasn't?" It's just murder. No big deal. But Harnel won't push any further on that.

"I'll take a Rocky Road." Harnel says. He's not even sure what flavor red is. Maybe strawberry.

[Shadowcaller]

D-Day - Billie

One of armored servants of the burning light is wandering around, looking with an concerned eye at the growing group of hedonists hanging around Eastside. Finally she decides to approach the group. "Can anyone tell me what's going on here? Is this some preparation for a festival?" She says loudly in hope for an answer.

[Northside Hotel]

"That I can agree with." Astrana says, laughing as well. "Just try not to draw too much attention to yourself okay? Your clothing is a bit ill-fitting right now." The tiefling remarks while lifting the now loose arm of his shirt to empathize her point.

[Suncrest Manor]

"You do?" Irena asks in surprise. Nadia might recall that Irena so far have managed to destroy one camera and damage another one. Not to mention all the time she spend on the support phone trying not to scream at the poor support team. "I thought you only did like drawings and stuff." Thankfully she hired someone else to set up the fence.

[Malechenar - Fourth Tower Compound]

Within the ritual chamber of the compound the summoning circle have been activated and a group of three hooded people are sitting in a circle around it.
"So we are supposed to sacrifice a secret to summon him right? Which mean I must burn the book within the circle."

"No, it means you must offer it to him, how the heck do you think he is supposed to use a burned book?"

"Maybe he absorbs the smoke-"

"No, just focus on what you're supposed to do."

"Right, right, sorry mistress, just a bit nervous right now." One of the hooded figure says as it pulls up a book and starts to chant the summoning rite. This may or may not be nessecary.

"Mercutio, arch-devil-"

"Devil." The other figure corrects.

"-devil of the tenth ring, I offer a great boon of secret knowledge concerning the vampire faction of Tenebras, wretched from the very mind of one of their officers." The figure pauses, looking worriedly into the circle.

"...so am I supposed to tell him what I want now or wait for him to appear?"

There is a sigh coming from the other figure. "The offering is just for him to appear, it doesn't concern the deal itself. Now you just need to wait." And wait they will until the devil shows up (or until it's clear he have decided not to.)

[Gullara]

[Northside Hotel]

"Yes it is." Valente looks down at himself... This is so weird. he briefly wonders how women, especially Astrana, deal with this. And he can't even feel the weight.

...Right, they were doing something. He looks up again, looking rather embarrassed. "Uh, should we get going then?"

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia laughs. "That's what I went to school for. Before that I did a lot of construction stuff. I know basic plumbing and electrical on top of that too." She arches her back a little, stretching again. "Let me get dressed and take a pee and I'll come out and help. I'm actually feeling pretty good today."

[Devixer]

[Aegidus Manor]

A disabled alarm? This was either Jane's lucky night or a trap. In any case, she starts to step toward the hedges, watching the cameras for any movement and doing her best to stay out of their field of view.

[Shadowcaller]

[Kami Hunting]

"Erm... well it was different." Cessie weakly excuses herself before getting that ice cream for herself. Better to change the subject entirely. "So I was thinking to settle down here a while actually. It looks like I'm actually needed after all and I think I might need some more practice hunting down kami." Especially after that latest encounter.

[Northside Hotel]

"Yes, as soon as you're done admiring yourself." Astrana replies followed by more laughter as she opens the door for the young vampire. "Ladies first right?" She then adds with a wink.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Good, then you can set up the rest of the security system right?" Irena jokes before going back to setting up the security camera.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Don't think you're getting out of work that easily." Nadia blows Irena a kiss then disappears back into their room.

Not too long later, the lampades walks around the side of the house dressed in a flannel shirt and a set of overalls. She's ready to do some work. "Hello up there!"

[Northside Hotel]

The vampire coughs. "Of course." Valente rolls his eyes good naturedly and walks out the door.