[Nexus] Skyside: The City of Eventually

[Beans]

[Tempest Row - Widowtek]
Aoife smiles; oddly for a lady running a piercing and tat shop, she... has neither. Not even her ears.
Oh, ears then? How're we doin' those today, darlin'? The petite woman speaks with what people from most Earths would call a Geordie accent, the kind found in the Tyneside area of Britain. Exactly how real the accent is... well, who really knows?
She comes up to sit atop her desk, looking the customer up and down.
There's Helix, Industrial, Rook Daith, Tragus, Snug, Conch, Anti-Tragus, and Lobe. She even has a handy little diagram for those first-timers!

[Recaiden]

[Widowtek]

The first-timer is somewhat bewildered by the list, but the diagram helps. "Lobe." She eventually says. That's the most easily symettrified one, to her. The conch piercings, though, they also have potential.

[Beans]

[Widowtek]
Aoife slips off the desk, leading the girl toward the racks of different jewelry. Alright then, see a pair you 'specially like, before we get on with the pointy happenings? They've a good selection, both in style and price range.

[Recaiden]

The girl follows along, in quick bursts of moving, and looks over the rack. Very quickly she picks out a pair of black-tinted loops. "These. Ah, what are the needles made of?"

[Arkhosia]

Widowtek

A Drider walks - or gets stuck in the doorframe, if it's a single-door entrance - in.
Hello.

[Beans]

The girl follows along, in quick bursts of moving, and looks over the rack. Very quickly she picks out a pair of black-tinted loops. "These. Ah, what are the needles made of?"

[Widowtek]
Aoife picks up a piercing gun, fitting a sterilized contact tip for the bits that hold the earlobe. Standard is surgical-grade steel. If that's a problem, we have alternate tips in silver, aluminum alloy, titanium, and carbon fiber.

One of the shop girls comes over to help the drider. "How may I help you?"

[Arkhosia]

Widowtek

Auria looks a bit content. It's not every day she finds a shop she can actually fit through the doorway.
Just browsing.

[Recaiden]

[Widowtek]
Aoife picks up a piercing gun, fitting a sterilized contact tip for the bits that hold the earlobe. Standard is surgical-grade steel. If that's a problem, we have alternate tips in silver, aluminum alloy, titanium, and carbon fiber.

"I think would not work steel. Silver is sharp enough." The girl eyes the piercing gun suspiciously. She can't see all the moving parts and that makes it questionable.

[Beans]

[Widowtek]
She nods, loading in the sterilized silver cartridge with a click.
Alright, darlin', sit in this chair, get comfy, and we'll be ready to get you pierced.

[The Bushranger]

Tempest Row - Attila's Cantina

The atmosphere in here seems lively enough, with the cantina already being filled with a variety of exotic races. Most of them tend to trend towards the more science-fictionally scale of exotic, however there is the odd elf or orc dotted amongst the clientele, enjoying a drink with a Twi'Lek or a Klingon.

The corpulent Hutt at the bar, dressed in a bright red canvas vest, takes a quick look at the green-haired woman, and quickly decides to give her something which is most definitely not the strongest drink in the bar, but still strong enough to knock the average human off their feet after a few glasses.

"Not messing around, huh? Ho ho ho!" Says the Hutt, chuckling as he pours out a measure of the bright green concoction and passing it to the lady.

"Nope. I realised I probably made a big mistake, and there's no way of getting out of it," she says, shaking her head. "Since it seems that in a land of airships and airship mechanics, there's really no call for one more tinkerer."

She takes the drink when it arrives, and slams it down!

[Recaiden]

[Widowtek]

She takes a seat, biting her lip nervously, and nods to indicate her readiness.

[Beans]

[Widowtek]
She sets the gun's holding mechanism on the girl's earlobe, then fires it.
The piercing gun's needle... well, it goes through her earlobe, that's how they work.
It will, um, hurt and all, but not that bad.

[Recaiden]

The ears are pierced as intended.
It's just a bit of extreme pain from the silver. Nothing she hasn't felt before.

The girl breaks into a smile.

[Beans]

[Widowtek]
Aoife... has actually seen that before, but not on a newbie. Mostly on the people with piercings all over the place.
After a bit, she disengages the cartridge, removes the gun, and loads in a second one; the first she puts in a small dish to sterilize again.
She dabs with rubbing alcohol at the pierced lobe, then goes to pierce the other.

[Recaiden]

There comes a slight wince at the alcohol swab, but she keeps smiling when it comes time for the second ear. Mostly, she waits.

[Beans]

[Widowtek]
Not long before she's done, yay!
Well then, let's get those rings in, shall we?

[Recaiden]

Hurrah!
"Yes, let's!" She waits to see what Aiofe is doing, not sure if she's to remain in the chair or head to another place.

[Rebonack]

[The Cloudtops]

Pillars of steel and glass rise high into the air, all but obscuring the skyline from the ground. These stand as monuments to the ingenuity and tenacity of the inhabitants of Skyside.

That or the sky scrapers were just yoinked from somewhere else. There's a good chance of that, too.

And in those buildings people are going about their daily lives. Apartments. Offices. Entire floors with blackened out windows seeing to horrific experiments. All of the wonderful, normal things one would expect of the Nexus. The sun is shining through the crisp autumn air. The pigeons are trying really hard to not be noticed by falcons. And on the one hundred and twelfth floor of the Herpderp building Jarl Gobstopper is enjoying a cup of tea on the balcony.

Then?

Then there is a ripple in the air.

Jarl raises an eyebrow. Ripples in the air aren't terribly uncommon in the Nexus. That usually means that someone or something new is about to show up. Jarl sets down his cup and turns his attention to the growing distortion. Hopefully it'll be a new art museum.

Skyside could always use more art museums.

Alas, it isn't an art museum.

It's a giant monster.

A massive, hulking monstrosity of armored plates and colossal spikes and a few too many mouths, hellish heat radiating from its body. The thing stumbles backwards after appearing and slams into the lower floors of the Herpderp building, causing the whole tower to shudder.

"Oh dear," Jarl mutters as he leans forward slightly to peer over the edge of the balcony. "I suspect this is going to make the insurance adjusters upset."

The beast gives a bellowing roar and begins thrashing about, ripping into the Herpderp building as it struggles to tear its dorsal spines free. Just as it begins to steady itself another towering abomination materializes out of the rift and slams into it.

This second monster is, if possible, even more horrific to behold than the first. Its flesh has an almost plant-like quality to it despite being studded with massive metallic plates. Fissures and pits in its body glow with phosphorescent light and hiss with noxious fumes. Tremendous wings stretch from its back and dozens of thorny tendrils ending in slathering maws writhe all around it. Its draconic head sports a mouth packed with a wholly impracticable collection of teeth, acid dripping from tusks and poison gas hissing out of its jaws. Lightning crackles and arcs between its four clawed arms, one pair noticeably larger than the other.

With a reverberating, warbling cry the second monster clamps down on the first with its sickle-like claws and thorny tendrils even as the first gouges into the second's torso with its vorpal horns.

Two titans of immense size locked in combat while people in the streets below flee for cover to avoid being trampled underfoot or slain by toxins, flames, or arcs of lightning flashing between the beasts.

Someone, somewhere, begins to play The Monster Mash over some loudspeakers.

((Woo! Giant monster fight!))

[happyturtle]

The Heights

Willow can't see the giant monsters, due to her off-Skyside view, but she can sure hear them. She doesn't know what it is, but it calls for getting into her Black Maul gear and going to investigate!

Costume change!

[Beans]

Hurrah!
"Yes, let's!" She waits to see what Aiofe is doing, not sure if she's to remain in the chair or head to another place.

[Widowtek]
She takes the rings that the gal selected and, making sure they're sterile too, carefully sets them in those new holes of hers! Classy!

[Ashen Lilies]

[The Cloudtops - Lazarus Towers]

The sound of sudden kaiju attacks attract the attention of Dr. Graves, who looks out of the window. From his view at the top of Lazurus Towers, he can vaguely make out the fight between the two giant monsters, but too much is obscured by buildings in the way. There's a knock at his door, and after a curt "Enter" from Dr. Graves, a young woman with mousey brown hair wearing a white blouse and a black pencil skirt enters.
"Doctor, the noises are coming from a pair of giant unidentified creatures that dimensionally shifted into the vicinity of the Herpderp building." She says, her tone crisp and businesslike.
"Thank you, Ms. Atherton. Please have Zacharias fetch my coat, and find Ms. Piper. I'll be going down there to see what's going on."

[Tempest Row - Attila's Cantina]

"A tinkerer, huh?" Says the Hutt, looking genuinely curious.
"Where are you from?"
The sound of building's smashing causes a quick hush from the clientele, but they quickly return to their conversation. That noise came all the way from the Cloudtops, not anywhere close enough to put them in danger.

[The Bushranger]

[Tempest Row - Attila's Cantina]

Cat, feeling a good buzz already, is about to launch into song in answer to the Hutt's question, when she hears the crash outside.

Turning her head to the door, she pauses, turns back, downs her drink, and slaps a bar of gold on the counter. "Hang onto that, ansh I'll anshwer yer question when I get back, awright?" she says, before hopping off the barstool, and crossing into the (thankfully close-by) bathroom.

From behind the closed door comes a flash of light...and then she emerges.



...and hurries out the door before launching herself into the air in the direction of [The Cloudtops]!

[Rebonack]

[The Cloudtops]

Well.

These two are making quite the mess, aren't they? Someone should probably assign cool-sounding nicknames to them. And maybe use a hurricane-related category system to classify them. And possibly get some giant robots out here as well. Giant robots can always liven up the scene.

Anywho!

Quite suddenly and without warning the plant monster seems to register that its surroundings have changed and it pauses its assault for a moment. A pause that its foe swiftly takes advantage of.

The spiky dinosaur monster swats away the draconic plant monster's claws and hefts its bulk into its foe, sending the plant monster toppling over backwards and rolling across the street. Much to the chagrin of anyone who had left their vehicles in the middle of the road to flee for their lives, of course. As the plant beast struggles to right itself the dinosaur leaps on it with its terrible talons, causing the breath to whoof out of the plant monster's lungs.

Sadly the plant monster's breath happens to be a toxic cloud of caustic vapor that begins corroding metal, melting glass, and doing awful stuff to anyone alive who happens to be nearby. Its melting into the dinosaur, too, buts it body is regenerating at a truly astounding rate.

[Recaiden]

[Widowtek]

She takes the rings that the gal selected and, making sure they're sterile too, carefully sets them in those new holes of hers! Classy!

That's definitely one word for jewelry. The girl reaches up to feel the earrings. Yep, really there, and hops out of the chair. "Thanks!"

[Murkus]

Tempest Row- Cloud 9

"Trust me, pal, wouldn't be what you want. It never works out. Just unlucky to do that sort of thing willy-nilly. Now, reincarnations, those are way simpler, they're my thing, for obvious reasons. But no one likes the element of randomness, and I don't blame 'em. The last me was all paranoid I'd wind up all whiny or something when my turn came up." Iggy says, still friendly.

"So what, it's not the same you when you do the whole pheonix deal?" Stevie crosses his arms and leans on the bar. "Not sure I'd want somethin' like that."

[The Bushranger]

[The Cloudtops]

And so the rather tipsy transformed Cat soars up to Cloudtops on what appears to be nothing but thin air, flying above the dueling monsters and looking down with a frown!

Given the chance to aim at the back of the not-plant monster, though, she's thinking straight enough to point her weapon at it and fire! Six shots, not five, are you feeling lucky today, punkmonster?

Each shot contains a small magical dart, which upon impact attempts to latch onto the monster's hide and then discharge a massive electical jolt!

Presumably she can aim straight enough to get at least one hit.

Right?

[Beans]

[Widowtek]
That's definitely one word for jewelry. The girl reaches up to feel the earrings. Yep, really there, and hops out of the chair. "Thanks!"

Aoife gives her the usual spiel about keeping them clean, don't take them out or you'll heal up again, blah blah blah.
While also hoping this young lady doesn't try to avoid payment.

[Recaiden]

Aoife gives her the usual spiel about keeping them clean, don't take them out or you'll heal up again, blah blah blah.
While also hoping this young lady doesn't try to avoid payment.

The girl hesitates and listens to the spiel. "Right, ah, how much do I owe you for that?" The girl pulls a little pouch of coins from a pocket of her cloak and offers it. "This gonna be enough?" It should contain approximately <lots more than a piercing and pair of earrings>, but in this Skyside economy, who knows.

[Beans]

[Widowtek]
Aoife blinks, opening the pouch and extracting the actual amount, then returning the rest in the bag.
This'n here's enough, darlin'. Sure, she could take advantage of this seemingly naive young lady's... well, naivety, but it'd be really pretty low.

[Recaiden]

[Widowtek]

The girl seems a bit surprised to get the pouch back, but replaces it in its pocket when she does. "Thanks for the earrings!" A quick wave, and she starts to rush back the way she entered.