[Nexus] Home 13: Insert Silly Title Here

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

"Forsake your delusion of perpetuating yourself longer, insect!"

The air surrounding Clarissa rumbles as her injured arm erupts in a torrent of hellfire! The tendon slice does hinder her, but it probably isn't as brutally effective in disarming her (if you'll pardon the pun) as Icarus would have expected. She has no muscle groups to speak of (barring her not at all permanent digestive "system"), but the incision does inconvenience her in that her hand restoring itself will gobble up some quantity of her precious combat time and thus that hand won't be available for offensive strikes this post! It is lucky for her that quality comes before quantity in most fields, the field of warfare included!

Icarus is liberated from Clarissa's hold on his wing! His wing also may or may not be on fire...

Just as chitinous exoskeletons are unrealistic IRL as they cannot support large creatures (as chitin, though a fitting skeleton for small creatures, doesn't carry the properties as a material to be able to handle the weight of animals our size) but are quite common throughout the Nexus as a whole, winged humanoids in the Nexus can, more often than not, fly, I'd risk submitting. The Nexus is a breeding ground for curious, chimerical marvels that never cease to stun me, after all! Clarissa couldn't and cannot discount the possibility that Icarus would be able to take to the skies! That advantage would've complicated this battle like nothing else in that Icarus's movements wouldn't be restricted to the regulation x, y plane by and large!

Clarissa's options open right up now that she thinks she's more or less crippled Icarus in respect to 3-space! She could furiously and repeatedly ram her fist into his chest (over where his heart would be were he an average human) to see if she could break Icarus's little heart with commotio cordis! She could try to rip open his neck! She could even try to traumatize his kidneys or stress his ribcage!

Decisions, decisions!

What comes after 'L'? Bow! Elbow! Elbow inbound! But elbows are rather short-range and up-close moves. They're speedy but with Icarus clawing at Clarissa's arm beforehand, she can sense that it is headed her way and react as the threat dictates (plus, Icarus might have to step in to throw it after scratching her arm hinging on positioning and where Icarus's wing with respect to the center of his body when it was temporarily captured ). And how do we take care of elbows in Clarissaville? We could try to block 'em with a wounded fiery arm and fail horribly or we could do this!

Clarissa attempts to duck under the horizontal attack and return the favor by trying to drive a solid Falcon punch at and to Icarus's kidneys (if his kidneys are located where they're located in humans)!

Excitement! And Clarissa isn't fully blockading the exit/entrance to the lift anymore!

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

((I'd assumed Clarissa to already be close enough for an elbow strike, as she was trying to keep Icarus in short-range and he was trying to pull back the wing when she grabbed it. I'd imagined it as him reaching across his chest to slash at the arm, then turning it to a right angle and jabbing outwards.))

True dat. Fairly sure Excelsior even has the genetic blueprints for such a creature lying around, acquired long after Icarus's creation. But he himself is sadly earthbound, one of Riv's projects that didn't come out on the fortunate side of 'hit or miss'.

And speaking of hitting....

The infernal flames bursting from Clarissa's wound take him by surprise, catching hold on his wings and arm before Icarus can retreat. This in turn leaves him off guard for the incoming retaliation, her fist hammering into his gut right where the kidney would be.

Icarus goes stumbling back, half coordinated retreat and half reeling from the battering he's received, trying to desperately to shake the fire off. Whether this succeeds depends on precisely what properties this variation of hellfire possesses.

Ick? And of all the times for Day to wake, it had to be now, with Clarissa beating the crud outta his brother. The miniature scientist is moving again now, groggily climbing to his feet and shaking his head to clear out the cobwebs.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

((Ah! We pictured the scene differently as I was operating under the impression that Icarus was oriented sideways while taking on Clarissa due to the groin-kick block. I assumed he'd be lashing out with his lead arm, awkwardly but feasibly passing under Clarissa's left arm (if his left side was facing Clarissa) to slash at her tendons with his curved, metal claws then plowing forward into a unforgiving elbow.))

Aw! Poor flightless Icarus!

This variation of hellfire is nothing more than fire from hell. It isn't super special fire with super special bells and whistles, so it shouldn't be too hard for Icarus to extinguish.

Clarissa backs away from Icarus as Day regains life, health, and consciousness. Her expression is a flavorful blend of resentment, surprise, and shock, like a cat that was caught red-pawed fishing for goldfish without guilt.

"I...uh..."

She stammers.

"He started it!"

Real mature, Clarissa! Real mature.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

That's Clarissa's side of the story. The side Day hears from his brothers, from Icarus, from the unfortunate duo of Borium and Lawrencium, is ever so slightly different. And guess which he believes?

You- Leave! Get out! Get out now or I'll have you killed! Arms crossed, face screwed up in a mask of rage, Day looks like the very image of a petulant child set to burst into an angry fit, but the threat is still very much a real one.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Icarus has begun to move back from Clarissa, widening the gap between them. His uninjured hand slips under the strap holding the freeze-ray to his back, injured appendages pressed to his side protectively, like an animal.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

Woosh! With a solitary snap of the fingers of her hand with a minor wound, a great ball of fire springs into this reality! It isn't one of those petty Mario fireballs! This is a fireball grenade spun by the Seven and the corrupted mother of all creation in all her ineffable loveliness and charm. And she's playing with it. Playing a game of catch with herself, to be exact.

"Fine then! Have it your way! If you're okay with your so-called brothers punching more holes in you with their ratta-tat-tat rifles than there are fish in the sea, so be it! You know as well as I do that the only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire. They started this by shooting you. I participated because I wasn't about to stand in one place as they futilely tried to murder me because come equipped with survival instincts. My final word of advice to you is watch your back because if these dimwits shot you, they don't care about your safety or your wellbeing and they will shoot you again."

"Now, if you'll be so kind as to open the pod bay doors and command your troupe to stand down, I'll be on my way."

Clarissa determines that she can't do anything to help Day. He'll grow-up to be the spitting image of Riv, if this outburst is anything to go on. He'll be a spoiled, bratty, certifiable megalomaniac, she decides. Perhaps he'll be her servant in the future. But for now, her efforts would be more or less lost on him. This upbringing will be his undoing.

All that's left to do is to stare into his eyes in disapproval and wait for an exit to open for her. And keep an eye on Icarus as Icarus is an untrustworthy opponent and she doesn't put it past him to stab her in the back if he has the opportunity to do so.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortresss Mountain

Oh, Clarissa. She really doesn't know when to quit, does she?

Yeah, they shot me! Because I told 'em to! Day screams back, all sense of dignity lost as he stomps his foot and waves his arm in the air. Because I knew I wouldn't die and you wouldn't die and they might have died but it was still better than the alternative! Better than starting a civil war over who wants to follow orders and who doesn't! But you didn't just kill them. You tortured them. That's not 'survival instinct' that's being a sick ****!

So- So you can think on this! An accusatory finger is leveled at Clarissa, shaking with sheer, self-righteous anger. You're a selfish self-centered stupid ***** with your head stuck so far up your rear end you won't pause and think that maybe, just maybe, the reason everyone's warning you to STOP is because you're about to ruin everything for everyone!

I think Day's opinion of Clarissa is pretty clear by now. In his opinion she's a egocentric moron who thinks too much of herself to listen to anyone else and, in general, can only be described by a particularly foul combination of expletives not fit for mention on a family-friendly forum. Suffice it to say he'd be quite happy with never seeing her again.

And look, the great steel gates have swung wide open to allow Clarissa's departure, as have the second set beyond, Riv cowering in the hallway between with his fancy electric katana in hand. That'd be the exit cue.

[Murkus]

Treehouse

Vierzt smirks and aims a light smack at her head. Right. I suppose you have what, ten boyfriends then?

Gelley gets smacked, and purses her lips as if offended. "Okay, that would just be gross." She squirms beside the drow and tries to get comfy, smirking underneath that inscrutable visor. Her relatively tiny body molds against his, as best it can. "Besides, you don't need a boyfriend to, y'know, do it."

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse of Love

Verizt blushes and blushes and blushes and blushes and blushes and blushes.

Well, yeah, but then it's just fopr the sake of it. It's less romantic.

It's hard to tell if there's any sarcasm.

[Murkus]

Treehouse... of Loooove

Or so Vierzt wishes, anyways.

"So?" Gelley asks very simply, looking up at him warmly. "Besides, what would you know about romance?"

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse of Love

Vierzt shrugs. It just seems.. pointless without love. He avoids the second question.

[Murkus]

Treehouse of... never mind

"Well if that's what you think..." Gelley shrugs, giving the drow one more squeeze before scooting away. Teasing as ever. "Best of luck with the girls, honey." She takes another swig of the beer Vierzt offered. "So, you got hot water in this dump?"

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse Of Hopeless Crushes on Superheroines

Verzt stammers and nods and looks flustered.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

((Blech! Standoffish scenes between evil chars are standoffish! I hate it when my chars are mean to another char, but this is Clarissa vs Riv and they cannot physically be nice to each other, methinks! >.<))

Nope! Or maybe, just maybe, Clarissa is playing the role of the Big Bad Wolf and she's setting herself up to blow Riv's house up (with combustible lemons)! Let's not kid ourselves. There was a snowball's chance in heck that Excelsior would agree to ally itself with AMEN or sign a nonaggression treaty with them that restricted what they could and could not do in the first place. Clarissa wants nothing more than to corner the evil market and run anyone who stands against her and her guild out of town. If Riv and his flunkies won't be her tools, then they'll be of use to no person or beast 'cept the worms, she'd tell ya. 'Cause if you aren't with AMEN, then you're against them. And after Ilph rose to the throne and sacked and drove Prometheus out, there only niggling doubt in Clarissa's mind that Excelsior wasn't with AMEN. So she gave them an opportunity to return to the fold. And now she must vie to annihilate them poetically, turning them against one another. Brother slaying brother. The death of an enemy at the hands of one of his own blood! An undoing of oneself by oneself! Sublime! Beautiful destruction!

Clarissa is creepy and horrifying like that! And if the guise of an uncompromising, selfish, stupid megalomaniac standing on a soap box and preaching to ears that are deaf to her cause serves her purposes, she'd say so be it. I'd pay her no heed. Except that she's here attempting to kick the wasps nest right here and right now. She's trying to fracture Excelsior in such a way that nobody will be able to put Excelsior back together again. Even with superglue! She wants Excelsior shattered into more pieces than Humpty Dumpty!

I don't really want to see Excelsior shattered, but after this scene devolved into insults and combat, Clarissa did/does.

But I won't drone on 'bout that any more than I already have, aside from professing that Day might've just crucified himself with that "I was willing to trade two of my brothers for the repression of an idea" line.

Clarissa turns her back on Day and begins to slowly but surely walk off to the outside of the base, smirking and prolonging her heated debate/unfriendly conversation with Day as she does so.

"Oh! You'd prefer your brothers dead and undergoing the same treatment in the afterlife or worse instead of being alive and in agony that will pass before the week is up? Even though you can have the medical resources at your disposal to keep them under until they've healed up? I can rectify that but...I think I'll leave that task to you, since you're the expert on shuttling 'em off to their ultimate demise and all. Y'know, I just thought that I'd make an example of them so nobody had to die, but tut, tut! Fie on you, Daedalus. You'd trade two of your brothers for the repression of an idea and I'm the sick one? I expected so much more from you, Day. You've sorely disappointed me. Pity. You had so much potential."

"Shoulder to shoulder, two-by-two, you'd march your toy soldier-men off to death. Your unthinking army of action figures perishing to kill an idea. But you should know that you can kill your men as much as you'd like but an idea, once conceived, is immortal. Especially a gods-given right like freedom! You'd rather your brothers didn't think. You'd rather they unquestionably shuffled off of the mortal coil than realize that they don't have to live under your heel. Because Riv is your god and you are his high priests. Well, look at your god now. And look at your flock! Oh, come now, they know that they're not the prototypical soldiers of Riv's legacy. They're the second generation, if not the third or fourth. A transitory stage of a long line of models that have yet to come. And if they become obsolete, what will become of them? I haven't seen the head nor tail of the zombie-soldier-degenerates that once composed the entirety of Riv's army hanging around here! Where could they have gone? They didn't have the skills to survive outside of Riv's perfectly controlled world. And where will you go once you're outdated? Like last month's shoes, you'll be thrown away. Disposed of. Donated to charity! Cast away. Because you're not tres chic! Because you're old news. Because your all washed up."

"By the way, and I'm inquiring for no particular reason, how much protein do you have in your diet? I don't think Riv would be one to waste!"

"Maybe you made the right call, Day. I guess that I have to agree with you. You've gotta cook your meat before it expires!"

That's harsh, Clarissa. But you had to get the last word in edgewise. Pride wouldn't let you live it down if you hadn't.

If nobody moves to stop Clarissa, she'll teleport away, taking her leave of this cold, snowy land that Excelsior calls home.

But Day/Riv/Icarus might have a chance to issue a rebuttal first, if you'd like! Since this might be the last time Day/Riv/Icarus run into Clarissa unless they declare her their nemesis or something like that or bump into her randomly on the streets of Inside!

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

And for the first time today, Clarissa scores a hit. Unfortunately for her. Because if there's one thing every single member of this amazingly messed up family has in common, besides being terrible people, it's that every last one them, when hit, tends to hit right back.

The gates are suddenly not standing open to allow Clarissa to pass, but slamming shut in front of her. And if she was to look back, which I suggest she does, she'd have about half a second to dodge the incoming jet of flash-freezing chemicals, courtesy of Icarus and the freeze ray.

Well then **** you! And might I inquire where Mini-Clarissa's been in all this? Because although I'm sure the real, life-size version is quite capable of tanking a shot from a measly 9mm gun like the one Day carries, I'm not so sure about the version with the biomass of a few mice and a sliver of flesh pried from beneath a fingernail would be able to 'walk it off'.

[Murkus]

Treehouse thingy

"Oh, relax! I won't try and seduce you! I just wanna get clean, is all," Gelley gives him a wink and hops up, asking, "Which way to the bathroom? Or shower, or whatever?"

If he points, or at least stammers an answer, she'll smile at him. "Thanks. Join me if you waaant!" She finishes in a sing-song voice before bouncing off. It's hard to tell if she's teasing. Her head pops back around the corner, her thick, dark hair dangling freely. Her mouth is set in a stern line. "...to get clean." She grins and pops off again, for good this time.

Vierzt can follow the oddball if he wants.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

Oh my goodness! Are you saying that... The pizza clones were...

Riv makes Clarissa look like a heroine by comparison!

Nah! Riv probably just sent them off into the wilderness to die or worked them to death in the incinerator room, right? Right?

Oh! Right! Mini-Clarissa! Yeah, she'd have been attempting to defect to AMEN with Clarissa! Or join with her to form one Clarissa where there were once two, more like! Why would she compromise herself by staying with Day and his crew? But because I neglected to address that in my last post, she's fair game to shoot at, although she is in close proximity to Normal!Clarissa and will meld with her after being painfully wounded, which does happen as evidenced by the cartoon quote taken almost directly from the wascally wabbit himself, Bugs Bunny!

"You got me, pal! You got me! Oh, this looks like the end! I can't hold on much longer! *Coughs!* I'm all washed up! Everything's getting dark! I can't see! Don't leave me! Doc! Doc. *Coughs!* *Wheeze!* Goodbye, pal. Goodbye."

'S a wonderful Bugs Bunny impression if ever there was one! Clarissa always had a canny affinity for drama and acting!

Shoot her in the back, will they! Clarissa had suspected as much. She would have been surprised if Riv's commanders hadn't betrayed her! And that's why she had primed that fireball grenade in the post before last! That great fireball grenade of chaos and sin! It should function similarly to the Great Chaos Fireball from Dark Souls! Of course, Clarissa isn't lobbing the grenade at Icarus and Day. She's lobbing it into the space between her and the freeze ray! Let's see what overrides/counters what! Thermal energy or the absence of thermal energy! Order or entropy! Lawful evil or chaotic evil! Place your bets!

"Hey! The instructions spell out quite clearly that you're not to bounce Wonderflonium!"

Clarissa quips as she is, at least temporarily, shielded from Icarus's popsicle machine beam by an orb of lava! It doesn't give rise to a respectable pool of lava, but Clarissa is crossing her fingers that it'll be enough to ward off the ice for a few minutes and melt a Clarissa-sized hole in the floor that she can drop down!

"You're not putting me on ice that easily, flyboy!"

Shutting the gates was a straightforward warning alerting Clarissa to the backstab! Gotta catch her off-guard or something before that arctic cannon will freeze her!

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse thingy

"Oh, relax! I won't try and seduce you! I just wanna get clean, is all," Gelley gives him a wink and hops up, asking, "Which way to the bathroom? Or shower, or whatever?"

If he points, or at least stammers an answer, she'll smile at him. "Thanks. Join me if you waaant!" She finishes in a sing-song voice before bouncing off. It's hard to tell if she's teasing. Her head pops back around the corner, her thick, dark hair dangling freely. Her mouth is set in a stern line. "...to get clean." She grins and pops off again, for good this time.

Vierzt can follow the oddball if he wants.

Viezt gapes openmouthed at this crazy girl he loves.

And follows her.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

Sure. Maybe Riv did toss the Drones in the incinerator or send 'em on suicide missions. Totally possible. But Clarissa said it herself; Human flesh is delicious, nutritious and best of all, plentiful. Even the scrawniest drone still has a good forty pounds of edible muscle and fat on them. Meanwhile, Excelsior's forced to use it's one and only cloning machine for food production, burning countless hours that could otherwise be used to create even more firepower.

So, whatcha think the odds are Riv would let all that meat go to 'waste'?


The chemical jet flash-boils into steam with explosive speed where it strikes the lava, which added to the already significant velocities involves likely ends with the fireball being blasted back to leave a nasty dent in one of the walls. A dent and nothing more. The great benefit of mountains is that they tend to be rather stable, leaving Clarissa with at least a dozen feet of solid rock to melt through if she wants to escape.

And neither Day nor Icarus is about to wait on that. Icarus lets up on the throttle only long enough to adjust his aim before firing again, another lance of deadly cold fit to turn flesh to ice shooting out at Clarissa. Across the room, Day's also lining up a shot, but not at Clarrisa. No, he's aiming to shoot the fireball he expects her to conjure up in defense, hoping the supersonic impact from a bullet will be enough to disrupt it.

[Murkus]

Treehouse - Steamy Stuff

Aw, Vierzt is in love! Tread softly, dear drow - Gelley might not be quite so smitten with you.

The heroine explores Vierzt's bathroom a moment, glancing over his personal items for anything amusing. I would assume it's a lavish affair, with one of those walk-in showers and a seperate bath. Not having expected him to follow, she shuts the door, and disengages her suit with a mere thought. The metal plates detach from her body with a hiss of air, like a seal being broken. The purple under-armor beneath seems to mold against her body, and is left in the same shape when she sets it aside. One after another, the pieces pop off, until only that inscrutable mask remains.

That... she decides to leave on.

Vierzt could follow along at any time. He might enter while she's undressing, or perhaps already in the shower. Does he wait, or peek, or lose his nerve? We'll have to see.

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse


Vierzt bites his lip nervously and quietly tiptoes into the room when the water comes on, careful to be silent and somehow blushing against his ebony skin.

[Murkus]

Treehouse

He'll see Gelley in the shower, then, a shapely blue creature behind the glass. She's a bit broader than most women, which wasn't too hard to see with the armor on, but it fits her frame well. Her curves are better for it, and with her back turned, the eye is drawn to her generous hips.

She doesn't notice Vierzt when he sneaks inside. The heroine turns her face up, into the water, and draws her hair back behind her shoulders. A sigh escapes her.

[The Alexandrian]

[Fortress Mountain]

...

Soylent Green is people! Soylent Green is people!

Eww! Riv is soooooo much eviler than Clarissa! Soooooo very much! But at least she struck paydirt and he's the one who will be strung up by his own personal army for his crimes, not her!

I'd be insanely shocked if Riv's army isn't rebelling against him with the unveiling of that startling revelation!

"Rally 'round the flag, boys! Cast off your chains and pick up your rifles 'cause we're going to wage war! Rise up! Don't be cattle! Rid yourself of your despot and his oppressive generals! Pick and choose your own destiny! Live life according to your own rules! Be chaotic! Be violent! Be all you can be and then some!"

As for Clarissa, she's done toying with these mice. There's work to be done, and we all know that the war business and pleasure mix about as well as oil and water.

Okay! So the lava orb didn't do the trick! Drat! Hmm... Let's take a step back here and analyze the situation...

Daedalus is a little (immortal) kid with short arms and a teensy-tiny little pistol. Icarus, on the other hand, is a bulky supersoldier brandishing a freeze ray at Clarissa that obviously isn't fueled by Wonderflonium. A freeze ray that that sprays chemical supercoolant at Clarissa. She has one shot to neutralize that rifle or she's done for. Nix that. Or half of her is done for. Now, which comic book superhero has the most effective technique that she shamelessly copy to pull off gumming up the works?

Spiderman! Spiderman! Does whatever a spider can!

Let's web up Mister Freeze's Popsicle beam! And like Sonic the Hedgehog, we gotta go fast!

With a lightning-fast whip of both of her wrists, the now tar-like blobs that were at one point Clarissa's gloved and somewhat insulated (against snow, not supercoolant) hands are whizzing across the room, moving under their own power according to Clarissa's designs and the initial thrust Clarissa imparted to them, sheltering themselves behind her gloves in a desperate struggle to remain gooey and warm and gun-barrel clogging! Clarissa herself has her right side to the hot lava wall, so while her left side begins to be superchilled and freezed, her right remains warm and cozy!

The paths they are attempting to take are arcs to the left and right of the chemical stream and they'll each split into two projectiles stuck to one glove midflight! Hey, maybe if they hit their mark and do their job they'll cause the high-pressure weapon to backfire and freeze Icarus! Wouldn't that be ironic!

Environmental effects for the win!

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse

He'll see Gelley in the shower, then, a shapely blue creature behind the glass. She's a bit broader than most women, which wasn't too hard to see with the armor on, but it fits her frame well. Her curves are better for it, and with her back turned, the eye is drawn to her generous hips.

She doesn't notice Vierzt when he sneaks inside. The heroine turns her face up, into the water, and draws her hair back behind her shoulders. A sigh escapes her.

He just stands there for a minute trying to process the scene.

Eventually he'll give a tap on the door.

[Murkus]

Treehouse

"Oh! Vierzt, hey!" Gelley favors him with a glance over her shoulder, raking some fingers through her hair. "I didn't think you'd take me up. Well?" She asks without turning around, "Why're you still wearing clothes?"

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse

Words can't express how crazy Vierzt's emotions are right now.

He slowly begins to undress.

...Are you serious?

[Murkus]

Treehouse

"Am I ever?" Gelley asks no one in particular, which really doesn't answer the question. She flashes him a sidelong grin, turning her head to do so, but hardly affords the drow a glance beyond that. Perhaps a mischievous peek or two.

[ThirdEmperor]

Fortress Mountain

Hardly a revelation. They knew from the start what they were eating. Butchering the Drones and serving them for supper isn't even the worst on Riv's list of offenses against his 'children'. They would have revolted already if half of them weren't too brainwashed to understand the concept.

But this an awful lot of OoC talk. Let's get back to IC then, shall we?

Glomp! The spiraling coils wrap the artic cannon in their fiendish clutches, clogging the barrel. It doesn't explode though. Only the lowest of idiots would design a weapon that explodes the moment it jams. By which I mean the artic cannon wasn't designed by Excelsior.

Snarling through his teeth, Icarus falters for a moment. Then he releases the cannon's grip, balancing it under the crook of his arm to free up a hand for trying to tear away the tar-like goop... While at the same time making sure not to actually touch the stuff, lest he end up stuck as well.

Quick, Clarissa, hit him while he's trying to do something without actually doing so! Otherwise the paradox might bring the whole mountain down!

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse

"Am I ever?" Gelley asks no one in particular, which really doesn't answer the question. She flashes him a sidelong grin, turning her head to do so, but hardly affords the drow a glance beyond that. Perhaps a mischievous peek or two.

Vierzt takes his sweet time undressing, and finally has to step in.

He either shivers or sighs, depending on the temperature.

[Murkus]

[Treehouse]

After finally working up the nerve, Vierzt won't be dissapointed. Gelley turns, smiling, warm water running off've her visor and down the front of her body. Gel sizes him up, saying, "I, uh, dig the no-pants look."

Surprisingly, it looks like the heroine is blushing. Despite her words, Gelley's not quite as brave with these things as her sister, and she certainly didn't expect Vierzt to be. She talks a good game, that is all.

[Dark Elf Bard]

Treehouse

Vierzt blushes and manages a smile.

You're pretty good looking yourself.