[Nexus] Home 13: Insert Silly Title Here

[Halae]

[Ormirrah's Apartment]

Ormirrah thinks about this for a long moment, "Yeah, I'll take some time to think it over," she says, "Can you give me a picture of this Therieshein guy? I'll need one if I'm looking to copy him."

[Slii Arhem]

Ormirrah's Apartment

"Never seen him? Fancy that, I figured him to be fairly well known. Well, here's one better." The carved apple house on the table turns into a beautifully sculpted and hand-painted pewter statue of Harnel, with removable cotton and leather blacksmith's clothes.

[Halae]

[Ormirrah's Apartment]

"I've heard of him, but I've never seen him," Ormirrah says, turning the statuette in her hands curiously. She picks at the clothing a bit before stopping, "Did you have to make the clothing removable?"

[Slii Arhem]

[Ormirrah's Apartment]

"I've heard of him, but I've never seen him," Ormirrah says, turning the statuette in her hands curiously. She picks at the clothing a bit before stopping, "Did you have to make the clothing removable?"

Ormirrah's Apartment

"Would you rather I give it to you completely naked? At least this way you can decently visualize him or whatever it is you said you do." Eris pulls out a tiny hourglass from a pouch on her hip, her eyes widening as she sees the sands nearly run out in it.

"Crap, I need to be somewhere and hit someone with a bus five minutes ago. Ciao muffin, and think on that offer." Eris slaps the sword on the table and leaps out the bedroom window, defenestrating herself for the sake of expedience.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain - New And Improved!]

Ooookay! Wow! Gosh, these guys mean business! Strictly business! Serious business! Business business, y'know!

Clarissa kinda really wants her body to be uncold now because detached chilly body is chilly even if it is sprinkled here and there all over the floor in little bits and pieces! Brr! Also, if she un-possesses her various body bits or self-destructs them in a brillant, super-cool explosion of blinding light and raw, destructive energy, she'd have to construct a completely new body later from scratch using a penalized, sloooow as a sloth version of her regen (stupid curse), and it's no fun at all to exist as a small slime, small animal, or Little!Clarissa for weeks on end. So boo! No! This fight stops now!

Step 1: Dispel stasis field (godmod approved) with Clarissa!Magic.

Bzzrt! Moving on...

Step 2: *Pinches nose* Make Icarus an offer he can't refuse!

"[AttemptedWeakMentalCompulsion]Stop![/AttemptedWeakMentalCompulsion] You guys seriously need to take a chill pill, okay? So I said some mean things to you! It didn't need to escalate to this level! Nobody else needs to die today, man! So why don't we start all over again?"

"I'm Clarissa and I'm here for my own personal gain. That got all thrown out of whack because of swearing and insults and wounded pride and such on my part and Riv's part, but it doesn't need to escalate any more than it already has."

"As I told your brothers and yourself multiple times, I don't want to fight you! I never wanted to fight you and I am genuinely confused as to how all this started! I just wanted to trade you guys things so that we'd have a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship!"

"Now if you'll please kindly order your men to stand down and allow me to thaw, I can see about healing some of your people and we can take it from the top without Riv present this time, maybe?"

"Listen, I know you don't trust me since I killed so many people just now and all, but if you don't give friendship this ceasefire or truce or whatever you want to call it a chance, more of your brethren will pay the price for it because I will defend myself to the last living cell!"

To be completely honest and blunt, I don't know how this situation escalated into a fight anymore either. >.<

[Terumitsu]

[Riss' Quarters]

Having plenty of experience in needing to fall back to sleep after a high-energy event, the muse had conditioned herself by this point to get all that she could out of the time she had. Of course, while sleeping late had once been a reaction to simply not having the opportunity to get enough rest, now it was a luxury that she would be hard pressed to give up. In any case, it was made all the better by whom she was surrounded by.

Of course, given that she had passed out while still in the pool meant that she would wake up rather pruney and perhaps just a tad overheated. Not the best sensation to wake up to but it was a definite step up to the fatigue from before. "G'mor.. Closer to noon now, I think? Good day in that case." she said after stirring and finally rousing to full alertness. I'm going to need a towel here, I think... Soaking for a while is fine but I think I literally stewed there.

[Slii Arhem]

Riss' Quarters

"Mhm." Misha purrs simply, stretching languidly above the water to give the other two a bit of a show. Seems she's determined to pretend that the more traumatic parts of last night didn't happen for the time being, in favor of moving on to all new traumas of the coming day.

"I can dry you both off if you like, and then we should decide on where we're going today before it gets too late." Preferably someplace exciting so that Misha can be distracted and not want to murder things that make Riss uncomfortable.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

((I'm presuming that, after the various retcons and so forth, this is taking place right before she self-destructed in the prior timeline.))

"Bull****."

"Don't even try that with me. You ****in' knew what you were doing this whole time, you meant to start this fight an' you didn't back down when we gave you the chance. And now that you've lost the fight you started, now you expect us t' show mercy?!"

"You've got three seconds to buy a chance at walking free. And don't you dare make one damn move or we'll ice you dead." Day struggles to his feet and grabs the partially dismantled cannon while his brothers flood into the room, dropping behind cover and taking aim at Clarissa.

Enemies on all sides. One very pissed off megalomanic. And the only way out of here is through a steel door and a sub-zero deathtrap.

She's really stepped in it this time.

'It' being an ant's nest with supersoldiers instead of ants.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

((Yep! Wait... Which one of the self-destructs? >.< ))

That door wasn't wrought of steel last time, I think. It wouldn't have been able to survive being lavaed without its structural integrity being forfeit, if it were.

"I wasn't the one who shot first either time! Achoo!"

Clarissa complains before she quietly and adorably sneezes! Being cold gives her a cold, it seems!

But hey, she got what she came for. She didn't get it as easily as she'd hoped or under conditions that were favorable to her, but in the end, she got it and that's all that matters! Now it is time to leave, if at all possible.

"Have you ever, achoo, had real bacon strip?"

The shivering Clarissa speaks through chattering teeth, absent-mindedly wiping her nose with her sleeve.

"Or a real steak or porkchop?"

"I could send you some, but you have to promise not to waste any of it."

And thereby engage in an act of gluttony. That's three for three, probably. She doesn't even have to trick these guys into complimenting their gluttony with pride and wrath.

"I could also send you shipments of special weapons to modify and sell, but only if I get a *Cough! Cough!* fair share of the profits."

Clarissa always shoots for the stars. Let's see if they're willing to express four of the seven cardinal sins!

She can try to corrupt them with the other three later, when it's more natural to do so and when this body of her's isn't in so much crippling pain and isn't under this much debilitating stress that she's doing her best to hide.

[Gullara]

[Riss' Quarters]

"Bleh." Mimi wakes with the same unpleasant feeling as Riss. Remind her to never fall asleep wet again. At least Misha stretching is a pleasant distraction. "Okay, sounds like fun." She says, fully prepared to go along with their plans.

[Terumitsu]

[Riss' Quarters]

"Hm? Oh. That would probably be quicker, yes. If you don't mind?" the muse asked as she made a small welcoming gesture. It might simply be that A bit of Misha had rubbed off on her but Riss couldn't shake the feeling that her nereid had a minor ulterior motive. Or maybe I'm just overlooking the very real generosity. Not like I would dislike either possibility, come to think of it. Either way, faster than trying to wring my tail out... I still have times where I'm surprised I actually have one now. Looks better than extra arms at least. Giving the limb a shake, she was reminded that she had yet to incorporate her nerve and muscular augmentations into it yet. The thought was filed away for later, though, as today was not one she wanted to feel ill through.

Or at least not the kind of ill one has from forign invasions in one's biological construction. Riss fully expected to feel all kinds of unwell from the stress of forced interaction but it was a softened thought given that she was going to be around the only two who made her feel safe, at least.

[Slii Arhem]

Riss' Quarters

Misha gestures with a hand and all the water on both of the other women should peel off of them, even depruning their fingers and completely drying their hair. The two Mimi and Riss shaped sheets of water will hover over to the pool before collapsing and joining the rest of the liquid at her feet.

"Ta da! So, anywhere either of you want to go? I've never been to Inside before... but I have no idea where we'd even start if we went there." Or has she? She's certainly not remembering it if she was there. Was it even there the last time she was awake?

[Gullara]

[Riss' Quarters]

"I flew over it some when I was getting Riss' present. It looks pretty neat." Mimi supplies. "Oh, I went to this big building with all kinds of people and places with weird stuff." She adds.

[Terumitsu]

[Riss' Quarters]

Well that was new. Until now, the muse had simply been able to make a sort of peace in her mind about Misha's abilities in that she had control over the tension of the water's surface and the energy to move it came from... Well, somewhere. But defiance of gravity like that was definitely new and she stood there with her mouth slightly open as she struggled to find a satisfying answer.

"I, uh... Mimi knows more about the place than I do.. I just borrowed a few idle hands to place the clues and placed an order so... Okay, have you always been able to do that?" Riss asked, her tail swishing along the floor in an odd mix of entertained consternation. Then again, she was always one who had been fond of puzzles. At least, one could infer that based on her particular focus and vocation.

[Slii Arhem]

Riss' Quarters

"Pulling water off of people? Yeah, technically, but I've never needed to before I met you two, so I never tried it. It's something I'm capable of, but hadn't thought of yet until I realized you guys looked uncomfortable being so wet." Misha doesn't realize that Riss meant making the water hover, but seeing how Misha herself is made of water and is standing up and therefore defying gravity, only with a solid ground beneath her, it really shouldn't be that big of a revelation that she could lift her element off the ground.

"That building sounds nice I guess, if there's interesting stuff to do there. Oh yeah, there was one other thing I though of that you haven't seen yet. Want me to show you?" Misha looks kind of excited about demonstrating this one, though it is much less innocuous than just hovering water.

[Gullara]

[Riss' Quarters]

Mimi would remind Riss she doesn't know much at all about Inside that she hasn't already mentioned, but whatever. She's now distracted by the current line of conversation. "Sure, let's see it." The pixie says eagerly, despite the question being more directed at Riss.

[Terumitsu]

[Riss' Quarters]

"No I mean the hovering thing you just..." Riss stopped mid question and just let it go for now. Given that it would probably stall them for some time, she decided that it could wait until later. She could keep her curiosity in check for that long at least although the offer of something else to tantilize her mind would make that something as easily said as done.

"...Never mind. I can wait till later. But what is it you're teasing us with now?" the muse asked as she began sorting through her limited wardrobe for a clean shirt that still had all its buttons. She really should replace those as well as... Well, maybe this outing she could simply stock up for later when she would be running around with more bodies. Wouldn't hurt to be prepared at least. Still need to finish some of the designs while I'm at it. Should do that today if we wind up taking the public transit.

[Slii Arhem]

Riss' Room

Misha's smile is not a good smile, and she brings her hands up with her palms together, holding them in front of her chest for demonstrative purposes. As she does, a cylinder of water as big around as her arm rises from the surface of the pool. The nereid slowly raises her upper hand away from the lower one, and at the same time the end of the cylinder rises while the walls stay where they are, pulling the core of the pillar of water upwards and leaving a clear void in the center. Misha holds the vacuum stable for long enough for Riss to realize what she's done before letting the top hand smack down into the palm of the bottom one, letting the mass of water she'd just pulled away rejoin the rest by being sucked toward it by the vacuum tube.

And when that high-speed tower of water collapses back into the surface, naturally that surface is going to have to go somewhere. Like upwards and outwards, all over the occupants of the room.

[Gullara]

[Riss' Quarters]

Mimi looks really perplexed at what Misha is doing. So she's just messing with some water? What's exciting about that. The pizie leans close to get a closer look, just in time to be splashed. She yelps and stumbles backward. Her shock turns into laughter the next moment.

[Terumitsu]

[Riss' Quarters]

Riss would probably be mildly annoyed that now all of her clothes were soaked if not for witnessing something that should be impossible given the extent of her knowledge. Or at least vanishingly probable to the point that it would boggle the mind to even attempt to comprehend the numbers behind the potential. Given that she had only just managed to save one set of questions until later, suddenly having an entire host of them enter her mind only made it that much more difficult to keep it from spilling over in a confused stream of babble. "Hold on.. You.. How did.. I.. I.. I'm just.. Well, I think I'll just settle on speechless, Misha. That was.. That was pretty incredible" she said. The regular exposure to the extraordinary was at least improving the time she needed to cope to some degree although it likely wouldn't ever cause her to stop asking questions.

"Have you been experimenting or is this something that just came to you again?" the muse asked, trying to smile despite her burning questions although her sheer amazement was a definite boon in that respect.

[Slii Arhem]

Riss' Quarters

Before her eyes, all the water is pulled off of both women and all of Riss' clothes to be put back in the pool again without even another superfluous gesture from Misha, "It's something I've known how to do. Most people know that nereids can drown you with a kiss, but being able to pulp someone's organs just by placing a hand against them and pulling the water in my arm back to create a void is a way of defending myself that few expect. The only difficulty with it is that the void collapsing so quickly creates a lot of heat, so it boils off a lot of my mass to do it with my own water." The nereid twirls her fingers and lets thin streamers of liquid extend from under her nails, trailing along in the air behind the movements of her hand.

"So by hovering thing, you meant like this? I thought for sure you'd seen me make water rise up before."

[Gullara]

[Riss' Quarters]

"I don't get it. What'd she do besides splash water all over us?" Mimi asks. She has no idea why Riss is so impressed by that. It makes no sense!

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

"Yeah, right." That is not the tone of voice of someone who's sold on the deal.

Unsurprisingly, the tone of someone who's rather pissed. "Yeah right. I'm going to let you go, after you killed my brothers, for bacon. Bacon I won't even get, mind you, because as soon as you're out that door you'll take off running." There's not a friendly face in the crowd; The soldiers are grimly impassive, jaws seemingly locked into permanent scowls, while Day has his face all scrunched up like a kid about to pitch a fit.

Which he is. Only, y'know, unlike most children, he's got enough firepower at his disposal to level a few small towns. "So, why should I trust you? 'cause in less you can provide a damn good reason to think you ain't gonna run for it, I'm thinkin' I'll ice ya right now."

[Terumitsu]

[Riss' Quarters]

"Well, not like you've just done. I mean, most of the time I thought you were just somehow piling water on top of water or I might not have been looking at the right moment." Riss explained as she donned her garments. "I just.. I'm at a loss on where to even start trying to figure out how you do that. At least, not without just falling into the lazy answer that's right infront of me... Although it could just be prejudice against it which is why I'd call it lazy so.. I don't know. It's like a big deal and a small one at the same time for me is all. Big, because you are telling just about all that I've learned for most of my life to quietly sit down and kindly shut up. Small because, well, it is you after all and it's not like I'm gonna think any differently about you because of it... Okay, a bit of a lie there as you just keep getting more interesting the longer I stay around you but then I'd just start sounding all lovey-dovey on you."

Once Riss had gotten herself dressed, she would be casting about her attention to try and find clothes for her fey. Whenever we do go visit that beach, though, should try to find a place without any people so we can avoid any attention from ignoring that little more.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

So Day and Riv's soldiers look like they normally do, then.

Mmm, that candied pride! Day's intractable snootiness is sending a shiver down Clarissa's spine back! It may very well be totally indistinguishable from her cold shivers, but that doesn't change that it's there all the same.

Clarissa is also being smart and crafty, taking advantage of this opportunity to stealthily absorb heat from the air around her and store it up in her center in a compact orb where it won't register on thermal scans or melt the icicles hanging off of her. It never hurts to have a Plan B when you have to work with an undisciplined backstabber with a bad attitude. In a room of this size, nobody will be the wiser if she siphons the heat slow and steady. At the very least, all she has to do is keep him talking.

"Yes, bacon. Think about it! Someday, you'll be the outdated soldier here, Day, and if things keep going the way they're going..."

"As for guarantees *Achoo!* we can sign a demonic pact between the two of us so that the deal must be honored or else our things are forfeit."

That's right. Sign the dotted line and sign away your afterlife privileges like the power-mad, unethical mortals you are.

[Slii Arhem]

[Riss' Quarters]

"I don't get it. What'd she do besides splash water all over us?" Mimi asks. She has no idea why Riss is so impressed by that. It makes no sense!

[Riss' Quarters]

"Well, not like you've just done. I mean, most of the time I thought you were just somehow piling water on top of water or I might not have been looking at the right moment." Riss explained as she donned her garments. "I just.. I'm at a loss on where to even start trying to figure out how you do that. At least, not without just falling into the lazy answer that's right infront of me... Although it could just be prejudice against it which is why I'd call it lazy so.. I don't know. It's like a big deal and a small one at the same time for me is all. Big because you are telling just about all that I've learned for most of my life to quietly sit down and kindly shut up and small because, well, it is you after all and it's not like I'm gonna think any differently about you because of it... Okay, a bit of a lie there as you just keep getting more interesting the longer I stay around you but then id just start sounding all lovey-dovey on you."

Once Riss had gotten herself dressed, she would be casting about her attention to try and find clothes for her fey. Whenever we do go visit that beach, though, should try to find a place without any people so we can avoid any attention from ignoring that little more.

Riss' Quarters

Misha's clothes are at the edge of the pool where she left them. No need to pack them in a dresser for her when she can pull whatever dirt is on them out with the water.

"Oh, well, I pulled water up in a tube and then pulled the center of that tube out while keeping the edges from collapsing. That made a void in the middle, and voids like that like to be filled, so they'll pull anything nearby into them. When I let the core go, it got pulled into the void really fast and slammed into the water below it, which is what made the big splash. If that core had've hit a person or a wall at those speeds it would've probably crushed whatever it hit even though it's water. Water doesn't like being compressed so it impacts things really hard." See? She can totally be smart about stuff when it's her native element!

It helps that she's had the knowledge of endless centuries of experimentation with her abilities compressed into her head to selectively remember.

"And the floaty thing is kind of different. You know how one water particle is light enough to float? Well I... I guess the best way to put it is that I separate all the water particles so I can move them easily against gravity, but they're all close enough together to look and act like normal water. At least that's how I figure it works after Archimedes tried to teach us about atoms." Misha is not yet too good with puzzling out atomic structures, but she's already applied it to herself.

"Like clouds. They're up there in the sky, but they're nearly as wet as lakes and oceans." Not that Riss had much experience with "cloud" and "sky" before the Nexus.

The nereid will get dressed and dry her own clothes before explaining any further, not commenting on the prospect of more lovey-dovey gushing and how the thought of it may be warming her liquid heart.

[Gullara]

[Riss' Quarters]

Mimi looks at Misha, her confusion still obvious. Event he simplified explanation went right over her head. Or at least what's so special about it. She doesn't bother asking again. She just looks mildly irritated as she pulls off one ring and shrinks down to pixie size. The pixie flits off to where her clothes are stored and pulls on some rather tight pants and a baggy shirt that swoops way down in the back.

[Terumitsu]

[Riss' Quarters]

While there was some rudimentary sense behind what Misha was saying, there were some things that just didn't mesh. Still, Riss was willing to assume that Misha was just explaining the concepts to the best of her current ability and let it go at that. At least for now. "I think I understand what you're getting at with the second part and I'm.. Really just impressed by the first part but I think we're starting to bore Mimi now." Riss said, noting the pixie's irritation. Still, there was a very evident grin on her face from hearing the mention of atomic interaction. She liked hearing about the progress each of them had made.

Once she had finished fussing with her fasteners she tugged lightly at the collar of her shirt before turning to her fey and smiling. "Both of you look great." she said, her tail giving a complimentary swish before picking itself up and curling around her waist. No need for it to accidentally brush up against someone while they were out and about. "So, are we ready?" she asked.

[Slii Arhem]

Riss' Quarters

Misha happens to be wearing a red bikini top this time around, as well as a skirt that covers marginally more than usual by extending to her knees. Of course, tied together over one hip and shows quite a lot of leg on that side, but this is practically conservative for her.

Not like she needs to worry about the cold. It's the heat that bothers her.

"Yeah, let's go before something awful happens to delay us. Mimi, can you show us the way to that shopping place Riss guided you to? If it's not too much trouble."

[Gullara]

[Riss' Quarters]

"Yep. Sure, let's go." Mimi flits over to the two other women and hovers in front of them for a moment. Then she flies, slowly for her, ahead of them, leading the way to Mallside.