[Nexus] Inside 54

[Zefir]

[Passed Out Street]

A young kitsune pass bye . It seems like her change was gone again so she looks like a human with a fox tail and ears. As she notice the men she runs over to them.

"Oh my god are you OK?" she sais. She goes to them checking if they are alive.

[Hattish Thing]

Generic Shop of DOOOOOM

Trucido lies there, his white coat now stained with his own blood, his left hand completely mangled and broken. He's alive, although his skull has been fractured.

[Lord Magtok]

[Some Precinct Office Somewhere]

Spoiler

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[Some Precinct Office Somewhere]

N'alae only shrugs as she enters, keeping the disruptor pointed at Magtok the entire time. "If making ourselves targets is what remotely enforcing laws is called nowadays, then yes, we most certainly are, but no more than usual. As for what we can do to you, that is merely a matter of when Vasquez's patience will run out, and if you can keep your operations running in the meantime. We know you have limits, and with the damages you've suffered and the bad PR from your activities with AMEN, well...I doubt this is a good time. It is not as much as he would like, but I've played the long game before, moreso than most know," she cryptically claims, "But we've run out of time for conversation. Guards," she addresses a couple generic guys with blasters, "Take him in for the paperwork on the sabotage charge, as planned. Conspiracy to kidnap charge ran into Remnant interference." She does not address the bit about dysarthria at all, apparently ignoring it.

The burly Generic Armored Goons will proceed to drag Magtok off to do...paperwork. Generally it's stuff like 'I acknowledge the charges and the price thereof', yadda yadda yadda. Basically it's paperwork that says he will pay it, so they can throw it at him later if he tries to back out. He can try to interrupt this, of course. N'alae probably hangs around just to be sure and all that.

Magtok has nothing more to say to her, and complies with the paperwork.

[Aric Kale]

Generic Shop of Passoutia

Garn is laying strewn across the road in an awkward position. His windpipe looks damaged, but other than that and a nasty cut along his side, he's the picture of health. He does not wake up at the fox-girl's call.

[FireFox]

[Riftline Station]

Having not spoken to Reinholdt the duration of the trip, Tovia frostily steps out of the car and walks down the streets at a brusque pace.

[Reinholdt]

[Riftline Station]

Hmph! Women.
Well Reinholdt's not going to play her game. She's the one hiding some project she shouldn't be doing. It's her guilty conscience that made her trip, nothing else.

He follows Tovia, keeping barely up with her pace and staying behind her.

[Slii Arhem]

[Inside Docks]

"Okay. Thanks, Ken." Becca gives him a smile, but her attention is drawn back to the weird pokemon. She moves toward it and crouches down just in front of it. "You're kinda funny looking, aren't you?" She says, though in an endearing tone. She takes her Pokedex from her bag and flips it open. Nope, nothing on whatever this pokemon is. Weird.

Of course, the goomy doesn't reply. She has no idea what Becca said! But she is excited to see someone finally! So first thing she does is slide on over to Becca and start crawling up her leg. "Oh, ick! You're so slimey!" Becca protests.

Inside Docks

Ken comes back up with the pokeball, his blush sufficiently driven away as he walks up on shore one last time and lays it on the ground next to Becca and her gooey new companion. He's shivering mightily, the cold autumn weather not doing him any favors after this many dives.

"*CHEW!*" He shoves his nose into his arm to keep from sneezing all over her as he wonders how he's going to put this...

"So what were you thinking trying to go after that Mew? You could have gotten you and your pokemon seriously hurt you know." Which is what he spent so much effort trying to prevent both before and after Becca noticed the Mew and everything went to heck.

[Temple Heist]

It wouldn't feel like there was anything to touch on the inside for the first few centimeters of reaching until, quite suddenly, there was very much something inside there that would feel very much like a wooden mask encased in gold foil. Maybe there simply was nothing inside the case to vibrate which was causing the problem? Would make sense from a preservation standpoint at least. Plus suspending it in air would keep any shocks from potentially knocking it off some rest where it might then fall and become damage as well. That and it was easier to see all sides of the thing as it felt like there may be a small bit of torque to whatever force was keeping it aloft. Although that quickly stopped once it was touched.

In any case, this didn't seem to be the mask that was being looked after although it certainly might feel like a semi-ornate thing with the crude serifs to the design. It wasn't apparently magical either so that might be a plus. Or not depending on what was considered valuable by the elemental.

Temple Heist

Ah, perfect. Now to see if she can implement phase two of her hastily thrown together plan.

In a complicated bit of manipulation, Merideth will attempt to craft a replica of the mask she's found out of the material of the stand, slide it up her forearm to where she's gripping the real thing, and change places between the two to let the replica spin and hover in the case as she retracts her arm downwards through the stand and pulls the mask along with it. If the enchantments on the walls and floors are also on the stands, it may take a while longer, but it would be worth it for what she's planning. She should have a while longer before anyone comes back here if she's lucky, and having this thing as a hostage might help her if she's not.

Hmm, although it never hurt to by yourself that extra time. Even though manipulating the walls is sluggish, she'll sink a leg into the floor and try to extend her reach through the walls near the entrance to this museum that's closest to her and seal it off as she did the alleyway, by warping the stone from the surrounding walls to fill the gap. If both that and the mask pilfering works, she'll move on to the next stand and attempt her trick with moving her hand through its stand again to feel what lies beneath the case.

Shayan's Meeting Point

It'll be several hours after their appointed meeting time that Cin shows up, and he really doesn't look too good.

He limps into the area, literally dragging a broken foot behind him in the dust and cradling a ruined arm to his right side. Speaking that it's his left arm that's crushed, it tells just how badly he's been pulverized by the falling building. His clothes are in tatters and completely drenched in blood as well. His lower jaw is obviously dislocated as well, wrenched to the side so he's unable to move his mouth, and his nose is in the middle of trying to repair itself.

Issue is that because his regenerative abilities require a large amount of calories, it's literally eating him away slowly even as it attempts to repair his body. At the moment he couldn't be more than 120lbs from his previous 180, and he appears older as well with graying hair.

Even so, he didn't do too badly for having an apartment building dropped on him. But if he doesn't get some sort of calorie consumption soon, it's obvious he's going to waste away to nothingness.

Meeting Point

Shayan is out of the ambulance by the time Cin arrives, and almost before he's within eyeshot she's rushing over to him so that she can lift him up and get him over to it with her vines, so that he won't jar himself any further and have more injuries for his regeneration to deal with. She speaks to him in a low voice, hoping he won't try to respond and waste more energy.

"You will have to share the back with a patient I picked up to run further tests on, but I think you'll enjoy her company for the trip. I'll start you on a nutrient and saline drip until we get you back, and then on a hardier diet once we're there. I don't want to have to resort to my new breakthrough with you since I don't know how it will interact with your physiology, but all of my tests so far were positive, so I will if it's the only way to save you." Considering her options, she reaches a vine up and attempts to hit Cin with a spray of sweet pollen, attempting to hypnotize him with the scent into following a short command.

"Be still and rest until we're back home." It may be overkill, but his body will be more likely to listen to the command now and keep immobile, eliminating the small twitches that could otherwise tear muscles further and dig in bone fragments.

[FireFox]

Riftline Station > Magic Lamp Toy Store

Tovia leads Rein into a shop filled with all sorts of magic toys for kids, evidently brought from all over the multiverse. Despite the fantastic items for sale, the shop is curiously devoid of costumers. After Rein steps in, the genderbent Toby locks the door and flips the sign around to CLOSED.

[Reinholdt]

Magic Lamp Toy Store

"You own this place or do the errands consist of beating up shopkeepers?" Reinholdt says, stepping aside and looking at a toy train that runs itself.

[FireFox]

Magic Lamp Toy Store

Geez, Rein. I'm just picking up an order. She walks up to the sales counter and smiles at the being there, a dark skinned man with eyes of fire, who then hands over a thick envelope. "Who is your friend? If he is a Peacekeeper, your death will not be quick."

[Reinholdt]

Magic Lamp Toy Store

"I'm a Pieces Keeper. Actually the second cousin to PeaceKeeper. We have a have a very inbred family."
No. No you're just a smartass Rein, and kind of a jerk.

Though great. They're already picking up illegal substances. Rein should have figured by the whole 'Magic Lamp' title.

[FireFox]

Magic Lamp Toy Store

No, he's cool. You're cool, right pal? Oh, hey, you know, I've never asked: where do you get your papers? Tovia opens the envelope and goes through it's contents in front of the treasure hunter. Birth certificate, Social Security card, driver's license, artifact permit, passports, wizard's license, business cards, concealed ward permit, et cetera.

[Reinholdt]

Magic Lamp Toy Store

"So cool, I might as well be a corpse."

Reinholdt looks for the name on the papers as well as place of origin that might indicate where Tovia plans to use them.

[FireFox]

Magic Lamp Toy Shop

The Druidess frowns when Rein doesn't answer the other question about his own fake IDs. It's like he doesn't trust her or something. The name is Tovia Solomon, the place of origin seems to be an Earth of some reality, and, while the documents will satisfy any bureaucracy in the Nexus, they seem to be focused on Eastside.

Fantastic. Great job as always, Jean. Tovia grins once more at the Ifrit, then tucks the envelope into an inner pocket of her suit.

[Reinholdt]

Magic Lamp Toy Shop

Oh that was directed at Reinholdt? He thought Tobias was asking the Ifrit. Mostly because Rein doesn't have papers. He gets by as a cat when it comes to stuff like that usually.

"So... are you abandoning your life as Tobias and embracing your inner female for good then? Might be a nice change for you." Not have to worry about all the usual Tobias stuff.

[FireFox]

Magic Lamp Toy Shop > Streets

What? Of course not. Why would I do that? She unlocks the door, flips the sign back around, and exits the store.

[Reinholdt]

Streets

Rein laughs a bit. "What? You don't get tired of being you and all the baggage and difficulty that comes with it? You don't ever wish for a clean slate, free of mistakes and responsibilities? That people won't judge you on your name alone?"

[FireFox]

Streets

Well yeah, of course. But responsibilities aren't so easily abandoned. I have a family. And a kingdom. I can't just... give up on them!

[Reinholdt]

Streets

"No. Suppose not." Rein did. Course, he exploded his kingdom entirely when he did, so probably not a good example here.

"So what's the point of the papers then?"

[Zefir]

Generic Shop of DOOOOOM

Trucido lies there, his white coat now stained with his own blood, his left hand completely mangled and broken. He's alive, although his skull has been fractured.

Generic Shop of Passoutia

Garn is laying strewn across the road in an awkward position. His windpipe looks damaged, but other than that and a nasty cut along his side, he's the picture of health. He does not wake up at the fox-girl's call.

In front of Generic Shop with Passedout

The fox-girl grabs her mobile phone after making clear both are alive. She calls for the ambulance. After that she tries to move them into better positions. You know the things you should do as a first aid reaction.

The ambulance should arrive a few minutes later. If they don't wake up they will be brought into the nearest hospital. They also take the kitsune with them, just for futher reference.

[FireFox]

[Streets]

Tovia suddenly whirls around and leans into Reinholdt, a vulpine smirk on her face. So I can clone myself and give her a clean slate. Duh.

[Reinholdt]

[Streets]

"... I'm not letting you borrow my clone machines." Reinholdt leans back a little, stunned certainly. Not sure if disturbed or not.

[FireFox]

Streets

I was planning on using my magic anyways. I've never done anything on this scale before. It'll be fun! She looks searchingly into his eyes. His creepy, creepy eyes. You seem surprised. Isn't this the natural solution to the problem of wanting a clean slate, yet not being able to abandon responsibilities? Well, the second natural solution, but I've been doing that one already.

[Reinholdt]

Streets

His eyes reveal... nothing! Not even what he's looking at. I'm not sure she'd want to know either. "I'm pretty sure natural has nothing to do with it. Explosions is generally the answer. Not the best answer. Actually, guess that depends on how much you like explosions."

[FireFox]

[Streets]

I was going to say "logical", but I hate it when you laugh at me. The genderbent Tobias scans the area, then leads him into a forum that blends ancient Roman architecture and apparel with the modern Italian scene of people sitting on tables outside storefronts, drinking espresso and eating gelato while they watch passersby. There's a plaza up ahead where two men in purple-hemmed togas are debating the merits of their respective philosophies in regards to coping with living in such a chaotic place.

Tovia strolls up to an aqueduct that runs tangent to this forum and waves to the naiad lounging within.

[Reinholdt]

[Streets]

"Still mad about the tripping thing, huh? Sorrrrry... yeesh."

Reinholdt feels like he should be drinking espresso and watching passerbys while he's here.

"So all these errands are to set up this... uh... this uh..." I'm sure Reinholdt would finish that question about cloning, but naiad. He's totally not staring! Or you probably couldn't tell if he was.

I'm not sure if it's a cat vs. fish thing or not here.

[FireFox]

[Streets]

Tovia bends down and she and the naiad quickly kiss each others cheeks. "How's the family?"
An excellent question. I'm afraid I never know exactly. Exactly what, how many children you have?

Hey, this is my acquaintance Pronoe. I did her a favor once and she introduced me to some people.

[Reinholdt]

[Streets]

"Greetings Pronoe. I'm Reinholdt, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire." Reinholdt gives his flourish.

"Some people being...?" Please say cyclops, please say cyclops, please say...

[FireFox]

[Streets]

"Babysitters."

No, really. And through them I found a good housesitter who worked as an intermediary for me to buy an apartment. Did you know that there's this huge network of teenagers that have formed a babysitters guild? They are X-men style mutants, supernatural beings, engineered super soldiers, sole survivors of calamities, and, of course, magical girls. They do good deeds and random acts of kindness as a hobby. Isn't that awesome? As she gushes, Tovia pulls a pack of Lucky Strikes from a pocket and takes two cigarettes out of the pack before setting it on the side of the aquaeduct. She gives one to Pronoe, takes the other herself, and lights them both.

[Reinholdt]

[Streets]

Ugh, smoking? Really? What a terrible habit. Fitting perhaps for some babysitters, but that stuff will kill you!
Reinholdt takes a cautious step away to avoid breathing in the smoke.

"That's... huh. Have you told Jamie about this guild? She might want to join." Or be the kid who doesn't listen to their supernatural babysitter vampire.