[Nexus] Inside 50

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Somewhere]

"When I get tired of admiring? Well...when I'm bored of looking-" In one swift motion Isabelle reaches out to pull Becky close, put both hands on her posterior, and squeeze. "-I start touching, and feeling."

[The Bushranger]

[Somewhere]

Needless to say, this gets a reaction out of Becky.
Judging by the arched back and very happy expression on the shadowmancer's face, the reaction is probably the one Isabelle was intending to provoke...
"Mmmmmm, really now...that's...good to hear, 'cause I like the same."

...and she'll be letting her hands drift along Isabelle's sides.
While wriggling.
A bit.

[Gullara]

The barkeep is an older man with a graying ponytail and goatee and quite the belly. He smiles and snatches up a glass and bottle. "Absolutely."

Unfortunately it doesn't seem like she is here right now. There are two fairly large looking men sitting down on the other end of the bar together. A trio are also at a table in the corner, two men and a woman, all dressed in similar looking armor.

"Anything else I can help you with?" The barkeep asks setting Kirk's drink in front of him.

Near the Red Dog Tavern

Cassidy is going to be surveying the nearby area using her goggles and AR display, and can be skipped for now.

[Red Dog Tavern]

Kirk takes a slow sip from his drink, weighing his options. He could just wait and hope she shows up, but the bartender might be a wealth of information. On the other hand, if they don't get her tonight, the fact he asked about her might get back to her.

"Yeah, just curious. Any of your regulars here tonight?" He asks the barkeep.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Rocket Man Crater Thing]

After having spent the last 5 minutes inexplicably wrestling with a temporal anomaly from SPACE, KR touches down by Enshadu, looking and feeling a mighty pissed off.
"Step away from the cyborg." She says with a not inconsiderable amount of irritation, walking up and attempting to step on Enshadu's face a little bit more, driving it into the ground.

[Lord Magtok]

An Abominable Alley

"We merely seek to correct the errors. Surely even you can recognize the wrongs that plague this city and land? Many that stand no right to even exist at all."

"Of course I can; I'm looking at one right now.

You think I haven't done this before? That I haven't had this same discussion before, or considered doing the same? You've no right to impose your own values and beliefs upon the entirety of the Nexus, nobody does. You've already proven yourself fallible, capable of making errors, imperfect. Any Nexus 2.0 you make would be the same, with the added downside of robbing us of what little autonomy we have left."

Magtok hesitates for a moment, uncomfortably acknowledging the existence of the fourth wall whilst simultaneously championing free will. It's a very messy situation to be in, and feels frustratingly nonsensical. Our cyborg holds his fire for now, still trying to center the sights of his gun on the monstrosity as he grapples with this conflicting views.

"And no, Affidavit, I haven't a goddamned clue what shooting would do. I'm just trying to keep any more pastel-colored magical ponies from dying because enormous magical god-things keep screwing everything up for everyone."

[Morty]

[Rocket Man Crater Thing]

When he sees KR land, Wenomir finally shakes off his deadtime and approaches Enshadu's inert body as well. He can't help but feel that something important happened while noone could do anything about it...

Glory, Glory

"Hell no, fire!" Dalton shouts, hoping that will come off as the sort of thing a random bystander would yell before running away from the cops. Fire, big and scary and ugly to the eyes of the commonfolk. Deadly and monstrous, not at all the thing of beauty Dalton sees it as.

He keeps running. He leaps off the building, and reaches one beside it, but only just makes it. His legs hit the side of the building, scraping his knees up something fierce, stabbing little knives of pain up and down his legs as he pulls himself up by his arms. Gods, that was painful and tiring and hard, and he's hardly any farther from those Remmies, how the hell is he supposed to get out of this one?!

"Stay where you are and you will be given a ladder!" The biker shouts from down below. Indeed, two firemen are hurrying towards Dalton with an auxiliary lader. For now, the Remnants are giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he is a citizen frightened by the fire. And if he continues to try to escape them, well, it's evidence that he isn't.

And since they haven't kept a lid on Inside for so long by being naive, the other biker is driving slowly around the building Dalton is hanging off of, scoping out all the possible exits.

[Mindfreak]

Rescue Mission!
Songdancer nodded.

Inside the warehouse there's many boxes and crates.
Like, a lot of them.
Madam Ghostie and Dipsnig will find that deep in the back of the warehouse are four men playing poker.
Their guns are simply leaning against their chairs as they drink beers and eat peanuts, ever so often one of them moans about his "terrible luck".
They haven't seen either Ghostie or Dipsnig, so if they play it right they can get the drop on them!

---

Secret Base
Songdancer shook his head.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
And then the crazy happened.
"Well...at least you're trying to do something...however crazy it sounds."
He thought for a moment.
"Though you might want to try paint that's harder to get off...I mean, I was able to clean that up easily."

[Morty]

[Rescue Mission!]

Dipsnig tries to sneak over closer to Cerise and whisper:
"I can disable their weapons from here. If I manage to do it, we should be able to threaten them into submission."

[Lost_Deep]

Riftside - Lex

The Rift expresses relief, and then paints him a picture of the problem. There is a man in a tan suit who wants to stop all of this, and Lex is the only one in position to stand between him and the Rift itself. The Rift will help in any non-fatal way it can, but it's up to him to confront it.

Through vague feelings of intent and the diagrams formed from painting rain on the ground, all of this is explained. Hopefully it will be enough to give him a good idea of what he has to do because there's no time for questions. The holo-deck fades away and is replaced by the vast rocky desert that Mr. Ecru is currently traversing, just as the man uses his beam of imposed reality to teleport much closer to the Rift and Lex himself.

((Lex is now facing Lost Deep's character Mr. Ecru, who is a bit miffed at losing his chance at what he saw as a method of ascending to godhood, just in case you haven't been following those scenes.))

Riftside - Mr. Ecru

The beam doesn't put him directly touching the rift, but it does put him within spitting distance of it. Another complication arises though, as a dinosaur with a rather technological looking bladed gauntlet fades into view in between him and his goal. One last obstacle, or something more insidious?

Riftside

Lex gets a pretty decent understanding of the Rift's message before he's warped. He quickly takes in his new surroundings. What do you know? Just like home.
He starts fidgeting with his Gauntlet, his clawed fingers working surprisingly fast at a spell. After a few seconds he'll turn his head and engage conversation with the newcomer, with whatever volume is appropriate for their current distance. He's also still using Truespeak, meaning he'll sound more like a native speaker of whatever Mr. Ecru's first language is, with only a hint of the deep reptilian voice Lex actually possesses.
Good afternoon to you, sir. I'd tip my hat, but I haven't got one. Might I ask what you're doing here, in the middle of this comfy place within a rift in the multiverse? It's not quite the sort of place you'd expect a dapper-dressed gent such as yourself.
At this point a soft rip can be heard as Lex appears to pull a thin film off his Gauntlet's screen. The small rectangle hovers in mid-air where he lets go, its surfaced covered in blocky runes. He immediately goes back to tapping, although he's still looking in the direction of Mr. Ecru.

"I am here to claim my godhood," Mr. Ecru states simply, "And if you stand in my way I will crush you like all the rest." He slams the suitcase shut for now, glaring at Lex. "If you step aside, I might find a place for you in the new tapestry of fate."

Lex might get the feeling that Mr. Ecru considers him a lesser being.

[Morcleon]

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Sam frowned upon hearing those words (and voice) but didn't pry. Hikari was still dreaming, and Sam didn't want to disturb her. Especially not if it turned out that this was her other personality.
Of course, she was sort of eager to meet Hikari's alter-ego. Alter-personality. Whatever you called it.

Jake slept soundly, mumbling something about chocolate.

[Skyfellow's - Upstairs]

The possibly personality-switched girl continues murmuring and twitching. After a while, she suddenly tightens her grip on Sam, and begins to gently nibble on her shoulder. "Mugyuu... yay, bread...!"

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Rescue Mission!
Songdancer nodded.

Inside the warehouse there's many boxes and crates.
Like, a lot of them.
Madam Ghostie and Dipsnig will find that deep in the back of the warehouse are four men playing poker.
Their guns are simply leaning against their chairs as they drink beers and eat peanuts, ever so often one of them moans about his "terrible luck".
They haven't seen either Ghostie or Dipsnig, so if they play it right they can get the drop on them!

[Rescue Mission!]

Dipsnig tries to sneak over closer to Cerise and whisper:
"I can disable their weapons from here. If I manage to do it, we should be able to threaten them into submission."

[Rescue Mission!]

With only her head above the ground, Cerise nods to Dipsnig and replies in a soft voice. "Do it. I'll handle the intimidation part later."

[Morty]

[Rescue Mission!]

Dipsnig produces three bolts from his belt, and loads them into his repeater crossbow. Then he takes aim and fires all three bolts in quick succession, aiming for the weapons. Upon impact, the bolts will explode into sticky goo. Hopefully the weapons will be stuck to the floor and chairs, preventing the men from using them.

[Lord Magtok]

Kobold Tenement Fire

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"Stay where you are and you will be given a ladder!" The biker shouts from down below. Indeed, two firemen are hurrying towards Dalton with an auxiliary ladder. For now, the Remnants are giving him the benefit of the doubt and assuming that he is a citizen frightened by the fire. And if he continues to try to escape them, well, it's evidence that he isn't.

And since they haven't kept a lid on Inside for so long by being naive, the other biker is driving slowly around the building Dalton is hanging off of, scoping out all the possible exits.

Dalton doesn't have time to think. He can't stop to consider his options, because in the time it'd take for him to do so, these ****ing fascist pigs will have already smashed his teeth out with the butt of a rifle. His feet insist that he continue moving as fast as he can, so that's what he does.

"****ing ****, there's no way I'm going back to that ****ing Space Nazi again!"

Ha! No, I don't think Remnant would hand you over to Major 'Space Nazi' Jyarl this time around, James. If they get their hands on you, they'll make you confess to everything, and given your record, the public wouldn't have any other recourse but to order your execution via a volley of rifle fire. So flick the safety off your revolver as you run down yet another fire escape, Jimmy boy, and hope there aren't any more oinking bastards waiting for you, or else Remnant might have to learn a hard lesson about the downsides in teaching convicted criminals how to shoot to kill before letting them go.


Ice Rink

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[Ice Rink]

Once things are translated, Eileen quirks an eyebrow.

Scratches out another message.

She really needs to learn sign language...

'As long as I don't put out eye to be Odin'

She also sticks her tongue out at Tracey!

"Would improve comm lines, not necessary." Needs says with a nod. Going blind in both eyes, of course, would work even better, and with a crow on each shoulder to take their place, the symmetry involved would be tremendously powerful!

He doesn't say any of that, though. Just makes a few bird call sounds, and some less than earthly calls as well, and waits to see what happens.

[Terumitsu]

Riftside - Entity

"Figments, preprogrammed messages, imaginary friends made of color and emotion. We don't know, we just do what we were made for by the Rift, to ease the story along." There is a sense of relief though, as if the Entity's part in this 'story' has been completed. Most of the coinfaces begin to wink out, facing reality along their infinitely thin edges and ceasing to exist.

A few remain though, to answer the rest of their questions, "If you want to know who, you can meet her. At the center, hurry-hurry, she's in peril and might not be there if you dawdle. She'd like to thank you before she has to go."

A ripple across the pseudo-reflective surface of the Entity coincided with the vanishing of the majority of the little things. What if anything that was supposed to imply would be left unknown, though, as the next intonation was in reference to those that remained. Unlike the previous iterations of Intent, this one was actually quite simple to transcribe; meaning 'Would you care/like to follow?' and not too much else although there were currents and eddies of denotative meaning that were slightly too mired to make much sense of.

Though, even with the urging to continue quicker, the Entity did not seem to speed up.. Yet maybe time around them appeared to slow down.. Or perhaps it was space that simply compressed.. Or maybe the path they took through the shimmering myriad dimensions was shorter.. Or possibly something else entirely as there was no increased urgency to their flow yet, simultaneously, it would be hard for the mind to correlate their current rate of passage with that which they had before.

[McBish]

[Tavern Room #3]

"Tch. Wow. Though if you feel that strongly why even carry it? Demand that high?" Louis keeps trying to lead the conversation, but it's just not going like he planned.

Cody gives a little shrug. "There are a few people who use it on a regular basis, the demand has gone up a bit. I'm fine with selling to people who know what they are getting into. Why are you so interested?" He sounds like he is getting a bit more suspicious of all the questions.

----------------


[Red Dog Tavern]

Kirk takes a slow sip from his drink, weighing his options. He could just wait and hope she shows up, but the bartender might be a wealth of information. On the other hand, if they don't get her tonight, the fact he asked about her might get back to her.

"Yeah, just curious. Any of your regulars here tonight?" He asks the barkeep.

"To be honest you are about the only non regular in here right now." He says going back to putting a crate of beers into a cooler.

---------------------

[Rocket Man Crater Thing]

After having spent the last 5 minutes inexplicably wrestling with a temporal anomaly from SPACE, KR touches down by Enshadu, looking and feeling a mighty pissed off.
"Step away from the cyborg." She says with a not inconsiderable amount of irritation, walking up and attempting to step on Enshadu's face a little bit more, driving it into the ground.

When he sees KR land, Wenomir finally shakes off his deadtime and approaches Enshadu's inert body as well. He can't help but feel that something important happened while noone could do anything about it...

Nort quickly steps away from the cyborg with not a little amount of fear and awe in his eyes. He tucks away a device that looks like a cube attached to a pen with a tube, putting it back into his pocket. He had been considering what the robot had said about putting in as much power as he could. That seemed dangerous really, and he had been trying to figure out what a safe amount of electricity would have been.

[Morty]

[Kobold Tenement Fire]

As Dalton scrambles down the fire escape, he will see a biker puling over on the street below him. The Remnants are more or less positive he's involved in the fire and not a simple bystander by now. The other biker stays away, ready to cut Dalton off should he attempt to escape via another route.

[happyturtle]

Riftside

Charity finishes her painting of Archer, and all across the Riftside area, people should see a giant pug, lying on its side, and snoring. Despite being obviously a painting, it also looks like it could wake up at any minute. And of course, the paint rain still falls.

She turns away from that painting to look back at affairs.

"Why can't we at least try to make the world more beautiful?" she asks Needs.

Ice Rink

Tracey watches the sky for evidence of crows.

[Deathkeeper]

Riftside

Darn it all. What is it with humans and stupidly large ambitions? It's the same speech, too.
You know, an aspect of the manifestation of all evil once said the same thing to me (minus that first part) a short time before I threw him into a black hole. A second rip is heard as Lex pulls off another rectangle.
There's an expression where I come from: "Wanting a crown and deserving a crown are mutually exclusive." Which is to say,
His tone becomes much more formal, as he reaches seemingly into nothing and pulls out a blocky-looking firearm.
Be warned. I am on the business of The Powers That Be, and by Their power vested in me, unless you dispense forthwith to your own place, I will abolish you.
The gun's loaded with non-lethal taser rounds, actually. Although Lex wouldn't normally mind using lethal force on someone so clearly a danger to everyone around him, he doesn't think the self-proclaimed pacifist he's doing this for would agree.

[OrchestraHc]

[Tavern Room #3]

Cody gives a little shrug. "There are a few people who use it on a regular basis, the demand has gone up a bit. I'm fine with selling to people who know what they are getting into. Why are you so interested?" He sounds like he is getting a bit more suspicious of all the questions.

Louis pauses then sighs. He gives a very, "I certainly didn't want to do this," vibe. "I'll level with you. Those wizards are trying to kill my buddy. I know this isn't really your biz, but how do you feel about helping save a life?" Young Star tries out a tent pole of his belief system, that in the end, folks are inherently good.

[Tavern Room #3]

Secret Base
Songdancer shook his head.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
And then the crazy happened.
"Well...at least you're trying to do something...however crazy it sounds."
He thought for a moment.
"Though you might want to try paint that's harder to get off...I mean, I was able to clean that up easily."

[Secret Base]

"Oh normally we would. Any other piece would have been enchanted." Eve says as she waves her hands. "If we wanted to we could make the picture last for months without worrying. But you have to measure your punches, push to hard and they'll push back harder. If we made it downright impossible to clean up or permanently disrupted their vision, they'd just be angry enough to take revenge, lash out, or even chase us down. And a few of us are pretty young."

"And why show our hand early?" Emmi adds. "That and it gets them to waste money on clean-ups."

[Lord Magtok]

Riftside

Needs hesitates, starting to question the righteousness of his crusade, before shaking his head and pressing onwards.

"Where is the line drawn?" Needs gestures towards the dead catboy. Charity isn't the first person to think she knows what's best for the Nexus, and has the power to force such a vision upon it.


Kobold Tenement Fire

Dalton lands and keeps running, slowing down only for a moment to raise up his gun. He points it at the biker (aiming for center mass, as Remnant advised when up against standard humanoids), and fires off three bullets, roughly in the guy's general direction. He keeps scurrying away after that, sprinting down an alley, hoping against hope that the others will be too busy ducking for cover or caring for their fallen comrade to capture him.

Gods, he really hopes they don't get a good look at his face. The gasoline smeared on it should obscure his features slightly, but if any of them come down by Sitar's Strings...

[Morty]

[Kobold Tenement Fire]

The biker falls out of his vehicle, but he does so before Dalton fires - he ancipated it by a second, and it was the only way to avoid getting shot. He does get hit, the bullet catching him on the side. The armor absorbs some of the impact, but he's still in no shape to chase the arsonist just yet.

His friend, however, is. The bike's engine roars as he rides in front of Dalton, firing three goober rounds from his sidearm at his legs.

[The Bushranger]

Ice Rink

Eileen crosses her arms.
Leans back.
Awaits the arrival of a murder.

[Earl of Purple]

Riftside- Fool's Gold

"Yes, a chat, like a cat in a hat, who came back with a fox in socks." The dwarf nods as he speaks, an eager tone entering his voice.

[BladeofObliviom]

[Augurine Elmouse]

There's a faint *VOIP!* sound in a nearby alley, along with a flash of hellish light, shortly before the Sorcerer strides from his position toward the entrance. He's fairly tall, redheaded, clean-shaven, and clad from head to toe in a dapper gray suit and fedora. He looks like he's just walked out of the 1920s, actually.

In any case, he enters the building, looking around for any sign of the person he's meeting here.

[antonm1107]

[Skyfellow's - Upstairs]

The possibly personality-switched girl continues murmuring and twitching. After a while, she suddenly tightens her grip on Sam, and begins to gently nibble on her shoulder. "Mugyuu... yay, bread...!"

Startled, Sam attempted to wriggle her way out of Hikari's grasp. "Hikari...? C'mon, stop nibbling me, it's creepy."

Having just awoken, Jake snorted upon hearing those words and sat up, though he didn't comment on what Sam said. "Why's she nibbling you?"

"I think Hikari's suffering from M-P-D." She continued attempting to wriggle out of her grasp, annoyed at Jake. "I think this side is some sort of insane side."

"Multiple personalities? C'mon, you know how to deal with that stuff. Or maybe not, seeing as you're an amnesiac and all." Jake stood up, yawning. "Well, I'm up. I think we should wake up Ms. Crazyface, too."

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I was gonna have Jake make a dirty comment about the nibbling, but... blegh, leaving it out.

[Mr. Moon]

Red Zone

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Red Zone

"You are using several terms that I do not understand. Is there some kind of database I could access? I require some kind of information influx to understand your aid."

Hmm... she doesn't sound emotional, but her word choice might imply some emotions. It's up in the air whether she actually has them.

"Um. I could probably get you a dictionary?" Ace frowns, looking around his vantage of the Red Zone. "There's a MagMart a few blocks away. They should probably have one. What terms don't you understand?"

[Lost_Deep]

Red Zone

"Basta, she, ugly, hey, god, robot, lunch, boy, lady, live, confuse, card, firework, disconcerting, Miss, scary, MagMart." The robot lists them off easily, internally going back trough her memory and picking out all the words that she can not match notions to.

The list is full of a lot of rather common words...

[Gullara]

[Red Dog Tavern]

"To be honest you are about the only non regular in here right now." He says going back to putting a crate of beers into a cooler.

[Red Dog Tavern]

The drow chuckles good naturedly. "It's good to have loyal clientele. How about you treat the two men at the end of the bar there to their favorite drinks. On me." Kirk picks up his glass and moves down the bar and seats himself next to the two big men. "I hope you two gentlemen don't mind if I join you."

[Astrid's Apartment]

When Astrid finally comes home, she'll find Ignai sitting at the table. Strewn over it's surface are a number of open news papers, all open to various job advertisements. The elf doesn't react to Astrid coming in. She's slouched over the table, having fallen asleep a couple hours ago if the little pool of drool under her mouth is any indication.

[McBish]

[Tavern Room #3]

Cody looks surprised by the revelation and then concerned. People asking about his costumers doesn't usually end well for him. He stands up taking a few steps away from Louis. "Look if you know those guys, you know that crossing them isn't the best idea." He frowns thinking about it.

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[Red Dog Tavern]

The men closest to Kirk turns to him as he gets his new drink. It looks like he has been in a fight recently, his eye starting to swell and turn dark. "Thanks mister. We don't mind at all. How are you doing today?"

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[Astrid's Apartment]

Astrid returns home with a doggy bag in one hand. She spots the sleeping Ignai and quietly closes the door behind her. She has changed her outfit, wearing a simple pair of black dress pants and white button up shirt. She slips off her shoes by the door and heads over to the kitchen setting down her doggy bag and heading into the bathroom to hop into the shower real quick. She comes out dressed ready for bed and wearing her robe.

[Morcleon]

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Startled, Sam attempted to wriggle her way out of Hikari's grasp. "Hikari...? C'mon, stop nibbling me, it's creepy."

Having just awoken, Jake snorted upon hearing those words and sat up, though he didn't comment on what Sam said. "Why's she nibbling you?"

"I think Hikari's suffering from M-P-D." She continued attempting to wriggle out of her grasp, annoyed at Jake. "I think this side is some sort of insane side."

"Multiple personalities? C'mon, you know how to deal with that stuff. Or maybe not, seeing as you're an amnesiac and all." Jake stood up, yawning. "Well, I'm up. I think we should wake up Ms. Crazyface, too."

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I was gonna have Jake make a dirty comment about the nibbling, but... blegh, leaving it out.

Skyfellow's

The nibbling girl blinks open two crystal blue eyes, bleary and confused from sleep. "Hawaa...? Nibbling...?"

She lets go of Sam to do a catlike stretch and flops back down on the bed. She looks the amnesiac girl up and down critically with a raised eyebrow. "Well, considering that we both have our clothes on, I think it's safe to say that we didn't actually do anything last night. Of course, that still raises the question of who are you, why are we in a bed together at Skyfellow's, why is that guy over there giving me a weird look, and where the hell did my bread go?"

She gives Sam a small grin as she waits for an answer.

[Mr. Moon]

Red Zone

"... Oh." Ace frowns deeply. This was going to be a looot harder than he had anticipated. "That is... a lot of words."

Maybe Ace wasn't the right man for this job. As much as he wanted to help, there was a rather... vast difference between him and Robot Lady. But who could she go to? Ace couldn't just leave her alone in the Red Zone, she'd get sold for scrap before the sun set. But where could she go? There was GLoG, he supposed, but they were more inclined towards nature than technology. He had too many petty crimes under his belt to walk right up to Remnant's front door and ask for their help. Besides, they were useless. NO was a possibility, maybe. He didn't know much about them, to be honest. What about that Magtok dude? He was a cyborg, that was kind of like a robot. He'd at least know something.
Good gods, this was a terrible idea.

"Right. Let's start with the basic stuff. Nouns. This is Basta, she is a panther." Ace taps her on the head. "Robots are... Well. Self-contained machines that move on their own power. You're a robot. Do you understand all this?"