[Nexus] Inside 53

[The Bushranger]

[Needle and Thread]

Jamie waves back, and hurries over. "Miss Krystal? What happened? Are you OK?" She knows Krystal wouldn't be just walking around like this! She does blush a little, though.

Shawna merely nods, and starts picking out a few items in her size.


[Two Evils]

"Well, so would I, but when you've got demon blood in you and you belong to AMEN," and she does in fact draw out the E, "then, well, it's kinda hard not to self-declare as evil," Becky observes, chuckling. "Although for me, I'm more looking for fun times."

[KerfuffleMach2]

Needle and Thread

Krystal nods a little. I'm fine, I'm fine. There were some giant robots attacking, and a few people, myself included, helped fight them off. Shawna over here got her clothes burned off somehow, though, so I let her borrow mine until we could get her some new ones.

She pauses a moment, then turns to Shawna. You know, now that I think about it...how did you lose your clothes, exactly?

Two Evils

Actually, it's pretty easy. Just give the finger to everybody. Ivaz chuckles.

So, demon blood, huh? How does that work?

[The Bushranger]

[Needle and Thread]

"Ooooh, okay. Just let me know if you need anything!" Jamie smiles, heading back to the counter.

"I attempted to block the death ray the robot was firing with my plasma blades," Shawna explains, selecting a comfortable top and jeans. "It proved an...ineffective tactic, which came as a surprise as I have never previously encountered an energy beam that I was unable to block in such a matter. While my own constitution was sufficent to withstand the attentuated impact, that of my clothes was not."



[Two Evils]

"It works quite well, thank you." Becky winks at Ivaz. "Basically, had fun with somebody, the offered to make me their follower, I accepted, bam."

[KerfuffleMach2]

Needle and Thread

Krystal nods a little. Okay. That makes sense, I guess.

So, WATCHTOWER...they, uh...are they lookin' to hire? Maybe?

Two Evils

Ivaz nods a little. Became a demon's bitch...eh, whatever floats your boat.

She chuckles. You still follow this demon person? Guy or girl?

[Recaiden]

As the air gets heavier, she begins to understand the challenge. It lies not merely in catching the child, but in finding a way to do so without suffocating first... A thing that, she's sure, will be quite literal, not merely a failure to retrieve the Object.

And, as such, when she gets as close to the child as she can, she pulls back her arm and hurls the ball at them as hard as she can.

"Now you're it."

Hearing her stop, the child turns back with a smile, shaking her head. The instant the ball leaves the Seeker's hand, it slows immediately, hanging in the air, moving only inches, then millimeters, then so slow you can't see it.
The child laughs, a high, slightly frightening sound, and pantomimes handing the ball. Then she hops around a decorative plant and starts running again.

[The Bushranger]

Needle and Thread

"Possibly, although recruitment is handled by the senior members, of which I am not," Shawna admits, slipping into a changing room to put on the new clothes.



Two Evils

"Princess was how it was described." Becky grins. "And yes I do, seeing as how she's Ilpholin, commander of AMEN..."

[KerfuffleMach2]

Needle and Thread

Krystal nods a little. Okay then, cause...well, this might sound a little bit silly, but...back home, I had always wanted to join a team of heroes. X-Men mainly, but maybe the Avengers, too. And here...well...guess I'm kinda lookin' to do that same thing.

Two Evils

Ivaz leans against the wall again, folding her arms across...well, her upper stomach, actually. Not much room above that to have arms folded comfortably.

That's twice you've mentioned them, and I've heard of them before. What do they do, exactly?

[The Bushranger]

[Needle and Thread]

"That is not silly at all. It is always preferable to fight alongside friends and companions," Shawna says, emerging already changed and handing Krystal's clothes to her. "If you would like, I would vouch for you having witnessed you in combat."


[Two Evils]

That is in fact something Becky has noticed, and appreciated.
"The Association of the Evil, Malicious and Nefarious. Basically we're the villains to the heroes at all these other alphabet-soup places. We have good TV, inexhaustable minions for fun and snacks, and Magtok, although his ugly mug is more than counterbalanced by the combined hotness of myself, Ilpholin, and Clarissa," she says with a chuckle. "Also, we're establishing a new base of operations in Riverside, but I'm not sure if I know about that or not yet, 'cause continuity is bent in a pretzel so I could be here."

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler

Show

EMBOH Air-Vault



"No need. I wasn't going to do this at first, since it feels a little bit like cheating, but-"

Magtok opens a telewarp portal in front of the wee pixie man, between that rocket and the same. The other end appears just in front of those gawking hero-types, aimed at the ground by their feet. Should his portal placement go as planned, certain superfolk will be getting a rather bitter taste of their own medicine. Let's just hope, for their sake, that the rocket is non-lethal.

Now ordinarily, as he was about to say, Maggy hates this sort of shenanigans. It feels flagrantly unfair, there's not much that can be done to stop it, and doesn't require any sort of thought or creativity to employ effectively. That said, while he does hate this sort of tactical maneuver, he hates people who apply Pokemon logic towards cyborgs even more. Being electrocuted to death, or having half of his body shut down on him without warning...that's just disturbed. Better to sacrifice a little misplaced honor and take a cheap way out than to die like a punk at the hands of some twisted sadist who doesn't know how to fight with dignity, right?

Besides, that pixie totally has it coming.

[EMBOH Air-Vault]

Well Magtok did throw an explosive at them. Which would do awful things to their squishy bits.
So in that regard, maybe the electro-rocket is just karma?

Although when you can just redirect the karma back at the people that sent it, it's a pretty awful punishment.


Their faces were kinda funny though, all bug-eyed and confused when the telewarp does its job. Funny before they got obstructed by a sheen of crackling electricity and smoke anyway.

Libby makes a little humming noise before glancing back at her 'kidnapper'.
"Not all of those were entirely 'super', unfortunately."
What does that mean? Probably nothing anyone needs to worry about.

Spoiler

Show

[Riftline Adventure Ride]

Dawn pulls the bottle of soda she bought earlier out of her saddle bag. She pops the cap loose, takes a few quick gulps... and then promptly dumps in the bits of strange crystal and arcane thingamajigs into the bottle, filling it up to the top with strange debris and fizzing soda. She then screws the cap back on tightly, grins, and looks around to see if there are any Mindflayer dudes or other major threats left.

[Riftline Rucks]

Geneva frowns slightly at her the ship. This place is so small. Where could they have possibly put everyone?

"Dawn?" the hippogriff calls out. "We need to find the hostages they took before we blow anything up."

Because blowing up the hostages by mistake would be bad.

Sunder gives her hooves a firm shake to dislodge the squidguts from them. "Alright. What have we got left?" she asks, leering about at the various slugmen still oozing around and doing slugman things. "Was that the last of 'em?"

[Riftline Rucuks]

Lydia manages to backflip away from the slippery Flayer, however her sword is going along for the ride! Thankfully she used her usual sword instead of the Lightning Rapier, being a little shy of that after the last time she used it...

"How many more?" she snaps.

[Riftline Shenanigry]

Dawn has something unknown and consequently unsettling!
Wonder what that thing does?

There's a lack of targets for her to choose at the moment, unless those slugmen happened to really freak her out. Or if she just decides she hates the floor.

Which answers Sunder's question as well: only slugmen and themselves here.
The remaining flayer has vanished somewhere into that fluid tank, which at least two of the sluggy folks are staring at curiously.


"Haha! Gotcha!"
The girl off to the side successfully manages to pull absolutely nothing out of the air, before tumbling back onto her rear. She's grinning rather widely, so apparently this was on purpose.
"We're all set folksies!"

Geneva:

Spoiler

Show

"-nusual degree of resonance, and not altogether comfortable either."
Her mind friend is musing to herself about something or other.
"Geneva, you should get a sample!"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Needle and Thread

Krystal smiles as she takes her clothes back. Thank you. I appreciate that. A lot.

And then she starts getting her clothes back on.

Too bad her denim jacket got stepped on several times by the robots. And had a robot explode on it. She liked that jacket.

Two Evils

Ivaz seems somewhat interested in all this.

Uh-huh, uh-huh...Ya know, I might just have to check out this place. Been a while since I worked anywhere. Kinda miss the seemingly endless resources.

[Lycan 01]

[Riftline Waiting Game]

Dawn hops up to hover, putting a bit of space between herself and the slugmen. She also wants a good vantage point. She ascends up into the air, her hooves held aloft to strike or defend against attacks. The bottle of highly unstable... whatever she just made... is held between her teeth, ready to be spat out or thrown at any moment. She narrows her eyes and scans around the room, particularly paying attention to the container the Ilithid zorped into, ready and waiting for any further twists or tricks...

She ignores the strange child for the moment. Something doesn't seem right...

[The Bushranger]

[Needle and Thread]

Shawna smiles, then steps over to the counter to pay for her clothes!
Jamie, of course, compliments her on her multicolored hair...


[Two Evils]

"Hmmm, I dunno, you might chafe having somebody telling you what to do," Becky says with a chuckle, crossing her own arms and raising an eyebrow. "The more hotness around, the better though, I always say."

[KerfuffleMach2]

Needle and Thread

Krystal will wait patiently for Shawna to complete her transaction.

Two Evils

Ivaz waves her hand a little. I can take the frustration of taking orders as long as I have a constructive outlet.

And by that, I mean people to maim. A lot. Might not be in good condition when I return them. Or in one piece.

((And I'm out for the night. See ya!))

[The Bushranger]

[Needle and Thread]

It doesn't take long, and Shawna walks back over with a smile.



[Two Evils]

"How do infinitely respawning henchmen do ya?" Becky asks, grinning at Ivaz.

((night!))

[McBish]

Market Street

"Well, be careful. Wouldn't want you to overstep the budget. Causes all kinds of problems, but you know that. He looks at his watch.
I suppose I really should get going sooner or later."

Angie smiles at the thought of running out of money. It would fre up a lot of time, get her out of a lot of boring meetings. Too bad she wouldn't be able to help nearly as many people. "Well I won't keep you any longer. It was a pleasure to run into you Mist. Enjoy those berries. And hang onto that card, I love doing favors."

[Rebonack]

[The Mispelled Cemetary]

CLONK! would be the sound of various weapons and skeletens thwacking at the Crusader's shield. Thankfully they don't seem to have the presence of mind to realize that they could just attack somewhere other than the shield to cause him harm.

The crawling one gets dusted, though.

Until such a time as the Crusader decides to do something else the unded will continue their totally fruitless assault.

Ha!

Skeletens are dumb!

[Metropolis Square - Airship Port]

"Bye!" Tango calls after the crew as they depart along with a number of other passengers.

Escaping from the train before it leaves proves plenty easy. People are allowed to disembark before they let anyone else on after all.

Anywho!

The Airship Port proves to be pretty extensive. There are a great many gleaming steel and glass towers that seem positively skeletal compared to the sky scrapers of the rest of Metropolis square reaching high into the sky above. Each has been fitted with elevators and cranes for the loading and unloading of passengers and cargo to the myriad of airships docked at the tops of the towers. Large signs made of lots of little light bulbs are at the base of each tower displaying the name of the ships docked at them and other various bits of information.

This place is pretty neat!

[Abrajin's Library]

Through the Magic door they go!

Beyond is a hallway with lots of lamps and end tables. On the floor. On the walls. On the ceiling. Some floating in mid-air. Others orbiting those that are floating in mid-air. It's kind of weird.

But more importantly there are doors with little signs on them! Each sign with the name of a school of magic. And since there are a TON of ways to classify magic there are a TON of doors.

There's also a swarm of floating mouths that are full of eyes. Mouths full of horribly long teeth like one of those deep sea fangly fishes. A few members of the swarm turn to regard our heroes, but they soon turn back to checking all the little drawers on the end tables.

[Black Goat Woods]

Descriptions like 'spooky' would be a massive understatement.

The park's vegetation is dense and tangled, pull or thorny brambles and blight-eaten trees. Everywhere uncanny mushrooms and patches of fungus grows from the decay and rot that chokes the life from the wood. Fungus with a disturbingly flesh-like quality to it...

Despite the wild appearance of the park's vegetation there are well maintained pathways and the occasional wooden sign nailed to the powdery trunk of a beetle-gnawed tree. So clearly something must be working on the upkeep of the trail. Probably a something that is best not met.

Eventually the path splits in three, each with a sign. Lake Hali. Dunwich Hill. Carter House Estate.

Where to next?

The crazy burned guy will see the OTHER crazy guy heading up the path toward Dunwich Hill. Which may or may not be the correct way to go. Who knows!

[Riftline Ruckus]

Geneva gives an irritated sigh as she focuses on her EFS, trying to find any indication of either non-hostile contacts that might need saving or that nasty squid thing hiding inside the walls somewhere.

"But... we need to get the people they kidnapped out of here first, right?" the hippogriff asks. And then like a crazy person says aloud to no one, "What are you talking about Twilight? A sample of what? You keep cutting in and out?"

Sunder raises an eyebrow at Geneva, then glances over at Bob.

The elemental simply shrugs. "Keep your guards up, my friends. I do not believe our foe is finished yet."

[The Bushranger]

[Riftline Rumble]

Lydia takes a deep breath, then looks to Geneva.
"You are talking to yourself. Are you well, or did they successfully crack your mind?"

[Darkcomet]

[Interrogation Room - Red]

"Only if we act instead of assuming that all will work out in the end. We don't have the luxury of complacency, Mr. Russel. But I don''t fancy such philosophical debates. You'll be released, after which..." The possibly-not-elf proceeds to go on about a lot of boring logistical things like robot specifications and maintenance and pay.

Wait, did she mention something about repainting it just now? This may offend Red.

[Deathkeeper]

Market Street

Angie smiles at the thought of running out of money. It would fre up a lot of time, get her out of a lot of boring meetings. Too bad she wouldn't be able to help nearly as many people. "Well I won't keep you any longer. It was a pleasure to run into you Mist. Enjoy those berries. And hang onto that card, I love doing favors."

Mist nods. "Likewise. Don't forget to stop in sometime."
And with a wave of his hand and a swish of his tail, he'll make an exit.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Needle and Thread

So, back to WATCHTOWER now? Krystal seems a little bit anxious. Guess she's looking forward to joining up.

Two Evils

Ivaz laughs. Sounds like my birthday came early.

Alright, ya twisted my arm. Let's go check this place out.

[Lost_Deep]

[Mystique Physique - Shawnee]

"It's fine," she says, "Gave me a chance to turn back to normal. I'm still getting used to this but it feels... natural enough. It's good."

[Red Zone - Somewhere Else]

"Just a trifle. If I'm right, it should catalyze with your excelsior riddled physiology rather well." he stands and moves closer to kilt, whereupon he'll attempt to inject something from a needle into her leg, "I do apologize, but i need you awake to experience this. Otherwise, the tranquilizer will turn it into a poison, and we can't have that."

Mystique Physique - Shawnee

"Guill would be happy to hear that. She worked for three days straight! Very impressive, all said and done." Oh... wow. Three days. "Anyway, is there anything you would like to know?"

Red Zone - Somewhere Else

"I have enough excelsior in my system that I could be awake through having my rib cage torn out, a little shot is nothing!" She growls back, apparently caring more for her image than the fact that this madman is about to science her.

[Gullara]

[Abrajin's Library]

Through the Magic door they go!

Beyond is a hallway with lots of lamps and end tables. On the floor. On the walls. On the ceiling. Some floating in mid-air. Others orbiting those that are floating in mid-air. It's kind of weird.

But more importantly there are doors with little signs on them! Each sign with the name of a school of magic. And since there are a TON of ways to classify magic there are a TON of doors.

There's also a swarm of floating mouths that are full of eyes. Mouths full of horribly long teeth like one of those deep sea fangly fishes. A few members of the swarm turn to regard our heroes, but they soon turn back to checking all the little drawers on the end tables.

[Abrajin's Library]

Xavier looks around the room in obvious awe. "Wow." Just think of all the information stored here. This place is so vast, and there's so much to explore. He has to drag himself back down to reality, however. They're here for a reason. "Okay, so I guess we should look for some sort of transformative magic. Once we find that, we'll need to find some that can be preformed without requiring you to be a particular variety of magic user."

[Lost_Deep]

Abrajin's Library

"Yeah... and then hope that there is an easy way out. This place seems to be really easy to get lost in." Kirin looks at the doors, both looking for transformative magic and generally reading the labels. There's some interesting stuff here, for sure...

[Slii Arhem]

[Hodgepodge Street - Fountain Way]

It is weird, isn't in?

Given the way the Nexus pulls in new people and places all the time one might expect it to be constantly growing. In the course of time will it consume all possible and impossible universes and combine them together in a chaotic mishmash?

Who knows!

Huh. Now there's an odd sight. Sitting there near the edge of the fountain eating a hot dog is an elf. Half elf maybe? With straight black skin and raven hair. Eating a hot dog. And for once dressed in something other than her creepy and vaguely bird like robes. A plushy pink panther head backpack is sitting on the soaking wet ground next to her.

It's Raven! Wearing a violently pink one piece swim suit! And she looks like she might actually be having fun!

What madness is this?

Hodgepodge Street - Fountain Way

"Maybe there is no difference. After all isn't it people-or other forces of will-that give things cause? Perhaps the nexus makes a great crystal, and people fight over it. Did it make something to fight over? Perhaps. But perhaps it simply grabbed a crystal and the willful beings in it saw fit to fight over it. If the things it makes have a purpose, then perhaps the Nexus itself has some kind of will, but that would raise just as many questions as it would explain. Infinity each."

"No matter what assumptions you make about the nature of the nexus, it's unlikely that they are true. It's similarly unlikely that it is false. This might be some kind of cosmic lost and found, a place things go so that they are never truly forgotten. It may be a nothing, an extraneous variable in the multiverse, so there is nothing to say how it should not act. It could be a reality TV show, or a work of fiction, engineered by beings beyond gods as gods are beyond us. Things which would drive eldritch things mad. Or sane, as the case might be, but that's a whole other ball game."

"Of course, it could be that by making these theories, are are now retroactively true. It could be that by making these theories, they become retroactively false. It could be, and I would not be surprised if this is so, that reality does not care what we think, nor what secrets we desire to find, nor what secrets we do find."

Hodgepodge Street - Fountain Way

"Retroactivity is stuff and nonsense. Something can't suddenly come into being and then therefore always have been, there's always a trace of when it wasn't left over to find. And if you can't find it, you aren't looking well enough." Waldorf sits himself down next to Raven, letting his pants get absolutely soaked.

Without turning to the girl, he asks her, "Aren't you worried about your backpack? It's a fine thing you know, if it were mine I would hate for whatever is in it to get damaged by the water."

[Rebonack]

[Abrajin's Library]

Hmmm...

Let's see...

There's a door on transumation, one on alteration, one on metamorphosis, one on cosmetic magic, one of life-shaping, one on biomancy. There's even a door on eldritch evolution that's giving off a rather spooky vibe.

Those all sound like they're related to rearranging things or people.

Our heroes walk past the fly-eye swarm. They continues to pay them no heed and extract a small wand from a drawer. Upon finding it the various eyes in the swarm begin clicking at each other excitedly. Sounds like a language, but it is pretty incomprehensible.

[Hodgepodge Street - Fountain Way]

"It will endure," Raven replies to the question, her tone expressing at once certainty and vague disinterest. "Your topic seems rather too deep for the shallow end of the pool. Though I apologize for listening in. It is just so rare to hear flatlanders musing on the nature of existence outside of the occasional academic. I might perhaps offer my own insight? Though like your own it is quite limited by my own limitations."

She looks about sixteen years old in human terms. And she's very clearly trying way too hard to seem completely serious. Though... that comment about the shallow end of the pool was probably a joke.

[Lost_Deep]

Hodgepodge Street - Fountain Way

"Feel free, every additional voice on the matter adds some depth. Everyone has their own view of the situation, and especially in the Nexus such views often vary greatly." Copi sits down as well, honestly interested in what this girl has to say and not caring about getting her little unspecific shoe things wet.

The 'flatlanders' comment was noted, and is partially what Copi is taking into consideration when talking about greatly varying views.

[Moff Chumley]

[Everysize Hotel]

Zefir will just lean on the wall and shrug.

"Your plan after all."

[Everysize Hotel]

"I suggest fire. Fire solves everything."
EVERYTHING.

"Well alright, yellow road it is. Fire's a good backup plan." The Moff ponders exile to the yellow road versus death by being set on fire; they seem about as equally cruel. "I guess we'll get started."

The Moff, clipboard in hand, gets up and summons a volunteer from the other room (let's say a youngish human male). With a rather convincingly cheery smile, "Hi, thanks for lending us your time. Take a seat" (The Moff points at a comfy chair) "and we'll get started, this should just take a second." The Moff pulls a folding chair in front of the volunteer and takes a seat himself. "All I need you to do is listen very, very carefully to what I'm about to say, alright?" The victim volunteer nods, and with rather uncomfortable eye contact, The Moff slowly intones "Everything is the same size."

There's a moment of stillness, and then the volunteer slumps over, clearly dead. The Moff makes a face. "Rats. Light 'im on fire and send in the next one."

[Reinholdt]

[Everysize Hotel]

".... Dang. I'm impressed." Stu takes note.

Before taking the body and dragging it away to set it on fire with his flamethrower.
"HAHA! BURN SUCKER BURNNNNN!!"
It seems irrelevant to Stu that the "volunteer" is already dead.

[The Bushranger]

[Interrogation Room - Red]

"Only if we act instead of assuming that all will work out in the end. We don't have the luxury of complacency, Mr. Russel. But I don''t fancy such philosophical debates. You'll be released, after which..." The possibly-not-elf proceeds to go on about a lot of boring logistical things like robot specifications and maintenance and pay.

Wait, did she mention something about repainting it just now? This may offend Red.

"So, what's the paint scheme you're suggesting again? Oh, and call me Red, please. Mr. Russel wasn't somebody I care to think about too much," Red says, frowning a bit as he leans forwards in his chair. "...oh, and I'll need first say on who gets to be my crew."

===

Needle and Thread

So, back to WATCHTOWER now? Krystal seems a little bit anxious. Guess she's looking forward to joining up.

"If there is nothing else that you need or desire to do?" Shawna suggests, giving Krystal an encouraging smile.

===

Two Evils

Ivaz laughs. Sounds like my birthday came early.

Alright, ya twisted my arm. Let's go check this place out.

"Just follow me," Becky says, giving Ivaz a wink before turning to lead the way, putting just a bit of 'unnecessary' sway in her hips.

Of course, they could always get sidetracked on the way there...

[KerfuffleMach2]

Needle and Thread

Krystal shakes her head. Nope, I got nothing.

Two Evils

According to Ivaz, the sway is actually completely necessary.

She'll hook her thumbs into the waistband of her skirt and leisurely follow Becky, staying far enough back to have a full view of her.