[Nexus] MagCave VII: Rest for the Wicked

[happyturtle]

Front Door

It's a knock on the front door - sometime after Halloween. In fact, it's the first day of Thanksmas - and a Happy one at that, since it's Happy knocking on the door.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

Well of course it's a happy day, it's the single most important day of the entire Thanksmas season! Didn't you see that parade go by through Inside earlier, with all the giant balloon mascots and stuff?

"Hi Happy, what brings you down here?" Magtok asks, as if he doesn't already know. November 28th only comes once a year, and the day that has been set in stone as Magtok's birthday, the only factoid about the original Magtok he still remembers, is still a very prominent and important day here at the MagCave.

The Lime Room - Sour Science Siblings

"Complaint withdrawn," Magtok apologizes, sorta. He takes a step back, and waits for Riss to continue with her demonstrations and explanations. Blargh, so like his staff to find a way to do something he's been doing for years, but do it better without any of the same flaws or limitations.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

Happy grins, a little self-consciously. "I didn't know what to get the cyborg who has everything, so I thought I'd take you out for your birthday instead," Happy says.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"Sounds great, I'll-" Magtok stops smiling abruptly, poking his head out the doorway to stare up into the sky, look left, look right, and then peer off into the distance past Happy's shoulder. Nope, nothing and nobody listening in, near as he can tell. "Do I take the blue helmet or leave it at home?"

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"I was thinking that new amusement park up in Skyside - the one where they don't bother safety testing any of their rides." Happy says. "That okay with you?"

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"So no blue helmet, or are we punching an amusement park owner and his clown mafia in the face?" Either's fine, really. Dangerous rides or dangerous felons, they both sound like a fine time.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"No helmet! Just ridiculously dangerous rides!" Happy says.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"Alright, let's go!" Magtok offers his hand to her, and steps out of the MagCave. Woo, adventure and such!

[happyturtle]

Magday Leavings

And off they fly to...

What do you mean, walk? They're just going to walk to the nearest Riftline station, take that to Groundtown, and get a shuttle up to Skyside?

Bad start, Happy. That's just pathetic.

[Terumitsu]

[The Lime Room]

If Magtok knew the truth of the matter, it was highly likely that he would have some evidence against the 'Sans Flaws and Limitations' bit. Of course, they would likely come up over the course of this meeting anyway given how integration was a rather important topic. In any case, Riss (Risses?) was (were?) visibly mollified and launched into her explanation. "If you might recall, I requested to see the plans for your telewarping system. Or, to be more clear, the equations behind the mechanism." she said, picking up a second device that, now that it could be seen and focused on more clearly, would look like a small thumb drive if a bit spherical. "I will concede that this request was made with some personal motive but the applications of the final product should be sufficiently wide enough that it would be an unequivocally superior choice when the need relates to anything dealing with instantaneous, extremely high bandwidth communications. Be that in the realm of high density computational systems or linking otherwise physically separate neural networks." She said, setting the devices down again.

"Installation is easy enough as it can be either a peripheral device or something in-built although I would reccomend not relying strictly on the peripherals as they draw more power than standard devices and may eventually shorten the lifespan of the affected port assuming that it is not designed for the increased load. As for how it functions, it is surprisingly simple to explain. Effectively, it creates a gestalt corridor between all linked devices where transmissions and reception can happen in a lossless environment. As there are no obstacles and no effective distance between each node, you may effectively communicate by FTL methods. However, I suspect that what you would find more valuable is that this means there can be no intermediary to listen in on the communications unless they exist as listening software on either device in use as there is no real medium that needs to be traversed." Riss said. Or at least her form with the braid.

"Because it relies upon light as the actual delivery method between corridors, it allows for usage even when a tele-blocker is in place as there is nearly no mass that is being transmitted. However this is only true up to a certain energy threshold or about what would be equal to a strong spotlight. So, unfortunately, we can't use the same methods to open up small portals behind defenses and eliminate targets that way. As for maximum bandwidth.." Riss paused to appear as if she were thinking for a a moment. It was unnecessary now but such small motions were habits she wanted to keep if only to keep people from being somewhat unsettled by the impassive ease it was to think of calculate something that would regularly be seen as at least taxing. "I could have upwards of tens of thousands of forms all thinking at maximum capacity before that would even begin to become an issue. she said, presenting a rather impressive scenario.

[Lord Magtok]

Magtok's Not Making Out!

((Since Slii said I could skip Misha...))

Spoiler

Show

Makeout Murder Mystery


"Oh? Thanks I suppose. Who was it? A particular uncomfortable Reinholdt?" She doesn't seem terribly phased. Maybe a little surprised that Magtok didn't accept. That was unexpectedly nice of him.

She'd have to be unexpectedly... nice to him in return some time.

"No no, all of you. This caller wants every single Reinholdt removed from the Nexus, and I don't think they'd call me if they didn't have at least some idea as to how they'd do it, especially since it was a request for genetic material. I'm asking you to...****, I've already said way too much. Just watch out, and do so in a way that doesn't lead to DC cutting my throat open for being an accessory to apocalypses, okay?"

Ah, so it's DC, then. Yeah, it doesn't look like Magtok's keeping any secrets here after all, as worried as he might be about open conflict with DC and anyone DC can convince to side with him against those who'd shield 'The Cat'.

"Oh, Misha? Probably goes without saying, and I can't see you ratting me out to DC, but a brand new term of Riss's employment. Everything I just said is secret and to let Watch know is to get her fired. Your employment too, but I doubt that's much of a threat. Also, don't go selling Reina DNA to people unless she inexplicably stabs me in the kidney and makes it okay to do that."

Lime Room Robotics and Such

"Mhm. Obvious applications for the MagNet, and...I suppose I should do something about the dreadfully backwards Magbots I have running around, even if it's just something as minor as..."

Magtok shakes his head. No, she's clearly got plenty of other stuff to show, no need to get all worked up trying to find some extra utility for this project so she doesn't feel like it was an embarrassing waste of time. He can figure out those bonus tricks and gimmicks later.

[Slii Arhem]

Lime Twins

Magtok blinks, takes a deep breath, and then lets it out. Okay, let's not get too excited about this. It's not a major incident, you don't need to-

"I don't recall ever authorizing the use of my cloning tanks or the use of our resources to make some for your own frivolous personal use, Ms. Heln-Gelter. Especially not when I'm at a bare minimum for bodies right now, giving Magbots jobs I'd normally never allow them to perform unsupervised and struggling just to get by with only a dozen clones. Please tell me that's not what I'm looking at here."

Oh fudge, he's upset. If she doesn't have a good excuse, there's going to be trouble. Hell, even if she does have a good excuse, that still might not be enough. Run, Riss, run!

They're Not Makeouts!

"I...that 'disco is dead' clone got a phone call on his way out. Someone trying to enlist his...my...Magtok's help in removing you from existence. I declined, believe it or not, but the person on the other end had already made it clear I wasn't going to be paid anything if I cooperated, so I don't know quite how much you should read into that."

Magtok's jaw clenches again, just like it does in that future scene with DC's next call, where he's not sure how much more to say and strongly regretting what he's revealed already.

Makeout Murder Mystery


"Oh? Thanks I suppose. Who was it? A particular uncomfortable Reinholdt?" She doesn't seem terribly phased. Maybe a little surprised that Magtok didn't accept. That was unexpectedly nice of him.

She'd have to be unexpectedly... nice to him in return some time.

Monster Mag

Misha's face scrunches up, "I've been to Watchtower like, once and the only person I met there was awfully uptight. I don't think I'd talk to them about the weather, let alone important stuff. But if you're asking me to promise to keep it a secret, could we at least say that I'm your worker as well instead of you holding Riss' job over my head? Offering an incentive would work better." It's pretty clear Misha's just rambling and has no intentions of telling anyone beyond Riss herself. Mimi wouldn't even care to hear it since it's not particularly bloody or interesting from a pixie's standpoint.

"Eh, forget it. I promise not to spill any secrets, regardless of whatever else. It'd just get people hurt for no reason." As opposed to very good reasons, like the people being hurt attempting to force themselves on innocent and not at all entrapping fey women.

"And I don't even know how I could sell DNA to someone. Everything I produce all turns into water when I stop concentrating on it to change its state, so there's no real way to study it like that." Yet, anyway.

[Reinholdt]

Makeout Tryouts Canceled

"DC. Wow, shoulda figured. Why on Nexus is he pulling this now? Doesn't Watch have any actual threats to deal with? I mean, I didn't see them doing squat all when there was a self-proclaimed omnicidal robot on the loose vowing to destroy all of humanity. No, I was fighting it, and I know you were busy with your own survival Magtok and couldn't help, but they just sat up in their cozy tower, apparently plotting vague personal vendettas. What a bunch of ********. Honestly, of all the people who have actual justification to want to see me gone for wrongs done to them, DC has to be the lowest on the list. He's so damn petulant." As far as Rein's concerned, DC lost very little compared to say Happy, or GLoG, or even Magtok.

"Sorry. I'm ranting and I don't mean to. Thank you for telling me Magtok. I shall make sure we're prepared to defend ourselves should it come to that. Hopefully it won't, but I won't hold my breath."

"And thank you Misha, as well." Even if she was mildly coerced in the matter.

[Terumitsu]

[Lime Expo]

Really, any further use from the 'warp-net' beyond being able to exist as a distributed entity was bonus in her opinion. Though there was one quirk of the system she had nearly neglected to mention: "Before I move on, I should also mention that as an emergent property of this device, one is able to judge the direction and distance to any other linked device. With two actively working in known locations, one can triangulate the position of any additional device that is connected to that specific link cluster. As such, I would expect that a theif would be greatly chagrined if they attempted to use such a device to listen in on any transmissions." It had been a mild shock to descover she could triangulate the position of any of her active forms almost intuitively but had since found it to be an interestingly useful tool.

Moving to a second display, this one more adorned with graphs and diagrams on the interactions of teleportation and the basic effects that teleblockers had on such travel. There sat something that looked like it could be a very sophisticated grenade as well as something that appeared to be a very stylized projector of some sort. There was also a scavenged personal teleblocker attached to a ballistics gel dummy nearby for some reason although the teleblocker had seen some serious modification. "Beyond just making a communications system, I noticed that there are some interesting properties that arise when using one of these fields to inhibit extra-spatial travel. That, of course, is a clear use of those things but it is also... Blunt, in a manner of speech. To elucidate, the effect can be extended, to some degree, inside a frame of reference. This won't rip someone off the face of a planet by completely stopping all motion but I have found a way to create areas where travel is heavily inhibited or made too resource intensive to cross." she said, picking up the grenade device as well as a few ball berings that were sitting in a petri dish. The Riss-With-A-Ponytail stood several meters away and held up an unmodified personal teleblocker and activated it, setting it's dispersal at the highest rating. With a swift throw, the Riss-With-A-Braid sent the object flying at her counterpart whereupon the device cracked open and the area near the Riss with the ponytail quite suddenly darkened in a spherical shape emenating from the rather jagged innards that looked to be slowly falling to the ground.

Riss hurled the ball bearings at the darkened field and they too suddenly slowed their passage once they pierced the divide, stopping quite quickly and slowly falling to the ground as well. The dim field lasted for about five seconds more before it quickly began to fade, brightening as it did so until it was gone completely. "That was a single use device that effectively enhances the field's inhibitive properties in a localized area. As you likely saw, all things, including light, are inhibited in their ability to travel through the area and things with mass soon simply respond only to the force of gravity." Riss said. Or at least the form with the braid did. Speaking of that one, she was now manhandling the projector-like device and aiming it at her other self. What happened next was an almost black wall springing out of nothing between her two selves although it hardly seemed to be a truely physical thing. "This here is based in a similar concept but active only on a planar spread rather than in a volumetric area. This allows for a stronger effect but it cannot be used as an entrapment device unless several are working in concert to form a cell. Instead, think of it as an instant barricade or defensive wall while the other is a deterrent or short term trapping or holding mechanism. I suppose it could also slow bullets enough to be used as a defensive application as well if necessary. The idea is to pull more utility from our blocking systems as well as make them more of a liability against others should there be a need to field this in hostile territory. However, these effects only work within a teleblocker field. Otherwise they are useless. The barriers are not invincible, though, as the more energy applied to something attempting to pass through them, the quicker they will either disburse or need to undergo some time to recharge the capacitors." A solid shot from any good, vehicularly mounted railgun or even a decently potent grenade would be enough to collapse either of them but it would be one more shot that didn't kill anyone. True to her words, though, the black wall disappeared once Riss deactivated the personal teleblocker although the projector also was turned off shortly after.

That didn't explain what the ballistic gel dummy was for, though..

[Lord Magtok]

Pomp and Circuitry

"That doesn't explain what the ballistic gel dummy is for, though." Magtok points out. Silly cyborg just can't wait to get past the more cerebral and non-violent applications for Riss's latest developments, and wants to get right down to menacing the world with a phallic instrument of death. Ugh, villains and their silly superweapons.

Faked Out of Makeouts

"Thank you Misha," Magtok concedes awkwardly, which is probably as close to an acknowledgement that his methods of coercion could use some improvement as we're going to get.

"But yes, that was the one thing. Unless we need to talk about the Skyside project for whatever reason, it can finally stop being Halloween around here."

No Magtok, there's nothing Skyside-related to talk about that hasn't been already talked to death with Reina. Stop trying to find some weak excuse to keep her and her boobtacular Halloween costume around.

[Slii Arhem]

Makeout Tryouts Canceled

"DC. Wow, shoulda figured. Why on Nexus is he pulling this now? Doesn't Watch have any actual threats to deal with? I mean, I didn't see them doing squat all when there was a self-proclaimed omnicidal robot on the loose vowing to destroy all of humanity. No, I was fighting it, and I know you were busy with your own survival Magtok and couldn't help, but they just sat up in their cozy tower, apparently plotting vague personal vendettas. What a bunch of ********. Honestly, of all the people who have actual justification to want to see me gone for wrongs done to them, DC has to be the lowest on the list. He's so damn petulant." As far as Rein's concerned, DC lost very little compared to say Happy, or GLoG, or even Magtok.

"Sorry. I'm ranting and I don't mean to. Thank you for telling me Magtok. I shall make sure we're prepared to defend ourselves should it come to that. Hopefully it won't, but I won't hold my breath."

"And thank you Misha, as well." Even if she was mildly coerced in the matter.

Pomp and Circuitry

"That doesn't explain what the ballistic gel dummy is for, though." Magtok points out. Silly cyborg just can't wait to get past the more cerebral and non-violent applications for Riss's latest developments, and wants to get right down to menacing the world with a phallic instrument of death. Ugh, villains and their silly superweapons.

Faked Out of Makeouts

"Thank you Misha," Magtok concedes awkwardly, which is probably as close to an acknowledgement that his methods of coercion could use some improvement as we're going to get.

"But yes, that was the one thing. Unless we need to talk about the Skyside project for whatever reason, it can finally stop being Halloween around here."

No Magtok, there's nothing Skyside-related to talk about that hasn't been already talked to death with Reina. Stop trying to find some weak excuse to keep her and her boobtacular Halloween costume around.

Make Outs are on the Agenda

"Yeah, I guess the Halloween party's been going a little late. Gotta prepare for Thanksmas soon right? I guess there's nothing left to do but kiss and say goodnight." Misha knows curtaintacular tension, and it's so thick here you could... probably spread it thinly on toast really. It's not quite that thick.

So obviously they're going to kiss. It's so apparent to her that she's been expecting it this whole time. She steps back too, so neither of them will mistake her for one of the kiss participants. She's taken.

[Terumitsu]

[Limes From Dust]

Spoiler: These keep getting longer so I'm putting this in here to avoid text-wall carpet-bombing this thread

Show

"That shall be made clear momentarily." 'Ponytail' said as she slipped on a pair of thick, white gloves with what appeared to be aerosol nozzles around the wrists. They had been resting right next to the arm that looked awefully like a standard issue arm for any Magclone save for similar apertures along the sides. Producing three bullets of three common handgun calibers from a drawer, she said: "I would reccomend covering your ears if you lack auditory baffling systems." as she pointed in the way one does when making a gun with their fingers. Even before the motion had completed, there was a rush of mist, or perhaps 'dust' might be more accurate, that poured from the wrist of the glove and formed what was unmistakeably the barrel of a handgun; the rest of the firearm following soon after until a somewhat plastic-looking weapon in full Mag-Corp purple was in her grasp, the bullets having been absorbed during the gun's assembly.

And then: *BANG!* The whole process from pointing to trigger-pull had taken maybe four seconds total. However, instead of the dummy suddenly sporting a fancy new ballistic puncture wound, a grey shell had appeared, darkening around where it intersected with the bullet's path. "Reactive system based upon the same concepts although it has the side effect of somewhat inhibiting the wearer's movements and the power pack quickly runs out as it has to do double duty. This is just the prototype stage but I expect to be able to eventually incorporate it into the next generation of defensive robes as this method is simply more effective than the current version. Of course, if you wanted to know what would happen if there was no barrier.." The dust flowed again to allow for the barrel to be able to incorporate a larger caliber before another pull of the trigger sent a magnum bullet deep into the dummy's torso. A second later of adjustment for a yet larger bullet and the gun was fired a third time, tearing right through the dummy and bursting out the other side.

Letting go of the weapon, it quickly turned back to dust before flowing into the wrist ports once more. "Speaking of the defensive robes, the shield system they use is the basis for this technology. Neither is an energy-based shield but a physical network of 'foglites,' or nanoscale motes that can link to each other for various purposes. While the shield is basically a set design of a polerized, transparent mass that imitates non-newtonian fluids to halt projectiles, this is a more finely implemented usage of the same basic concepts although now various configurations can be selected and used at a whim." Riss said, casually strolling up to the dummy with a purple dagger forming in her grasp in mere moments. "As long as the item in question does not exceed 150cm in length, three kilos in mass, or require electrical power, you can fashion anything you wish." she said as she plunged the dagger all the way to the hilt into the dummy's shoulder. "And supposing the item in question breaks?" she said, giving the dagger a vicious twist so that the blade snapped in the wound. "You can easily enough break it down and reform it." she said as the blade turned to dust and flowed from the 'wound' although a notable quantity seemed to stay inside.

"Suppose you come across an object you want to copy for later use? Perhaps a key of some sort or some interesting mechanical device?" she said as she placed a palm on the dummy's head and a thin film of the dust flowed across it's face. Holding out her other hand, the dummy's head was recreated at a smaller scale and briefly shown off at different angles before being returned to it's component particles and returned to storage inside the glove. "Of course, solids doesn't mean no moving parts as I showed you with the firearm earlier. And there are a few instances where it doesn't even require a solid form..." she said with the twitch of a concerning sort of grin as the dust began rushing between her fingers at the dummy's head like some kind of infernal sandblaster, ripping and tearing small chunks from the mass which began forming a growing pile at the 'feet' of the dummy. When she finally pulled away after probably a good ten seconds beyond what would have been enough to prove her point, she had to hide a small smile as it was rather viscerally satisfying to simply rip something apart like that. Of course, there now was a ragged stump of a neck to serve as a monument to the fact that a head had once existed in that place.

Both forms cleared their throats in unison in partial embarressment for getting a tad carried away before 'Braid' picked up the explanation while 'ponytail' cleaned up the sizable mess with a hand broom and dustpan made from the shapeshifting dust. "Breakdown does happen, however, and there is no way to currently include a fabrication mechanism into either the gloves or the prosthesis. However, manufacturing more is a highly easy task and the storage tanks can be 'recharged' with ease. Currently, the gloves have an operation time of four hours of constant use before needing to be powered back ip while the prosthesis works odd of the same internal power source and thus is only limited by your internal battery." she concluded over the noise of the dustpan being rapped against the inside of a rubbish bin. "...Amusingly enough, making it purple was the hardest part as I had to figure out how to get that color in macroscale while keeping all the microscale properties from being adversely affected." she said, adding in a bit of an afterthought about the development process behind this particular creation.

[Lord Magtok]

When Life Gives You Lime Rooms...

"People aren't going to believe it when I say I never actually requested you make it purple. Nobody could possibly...that has to be the multiest multi-tool I've ever seen. Something to pick locks, or tear right through them. Do the same to people, maybe make an example of the next person to...Riss, you realize that are people out there, living beings who make a name for themselves with their weird, wonderful powers, who've suddenly been completely, totally outclassed forever by this one thing? I'm not even going to miss the shapeshifting gene splice thing anymore..."

Magtok shakes his head, more talking for his own benefit than for Riss's. Is there anything he couldn't do with a device so multifunctional? A complicated situation that his genius wouldn't weave right past with the greatest of ease? Probably, but Mag can't imagine what it could possibly be. He's so giddy, he's going to have to have this thing copied and sent out to all the other clones. Yes, all. Even Intrepid should have one of these things, they're so amazing.

"So...the dummy, that is the ballistics gel sort, right? Bones and whatnot inside equally authentic? I should expect about the same, and not suddenly wish you'd shown the device on actual bone instead of cheap plastic at some inopportune moment, right?"

A terribly minor concern, more to show Magtok's paying attention and asking questions than to actually clarify anything.

[Terumitsu]

[Lime Flavored Genius]

"Yes sir. The materials used were designed to imitate bone and flesh for the purposes of accurate data assesment." she said, permitting herself a mild smile at her employer's overtly positive reaction. It was as good as praise, really. "There is one thing that I need to mention. The arms that have this built into will be three kilos heavier as I can't create mass from nowhere. Just be aware that there will be some mild additional weight and inertia because of this although I have done what I can to compensate so as to prevent any miscalculations in movement." she said as her other form dumped the mess she had caused into a waste bin and then setting the gloves down.

"Also, the same technology was incorporated into something I feel might be useful in getting the facility back up to par as well as making it more difficult for further invaders should that time come.." Riss said, moving over to the white wall. Looking closer at it now, it seemed to be a lot of hexagons stacked on each other and looking like honeycomb in a way.

[UncleWolf]

[The Lime Room]

Setting the leg armor on the same table as the arm, Riss would take a moment to adjust her costume before simply making a face and heading over to the duffle bag she had never gotten around to really taking out of the room. "I see..." she said, pausing for a moment before pulling out her rather boring, standard articles of dress. "Mind if I do a quick change? Costume kinda gets in the way." The fact that it was now showing quite a bit of leg was something that seemed to be lost on her, though. If given an affirmative answer, then she would go about changing outfits behind a somewhat large device that had no immediately obvious purpose although it might possibly make sense as some kind of scanner.

In any case, she would go on to inquire: "So have there been any attempts to repurpose another bit of your psyche to serve the same purpose or is this a case of.. I suppose the equivalent would be like a fused connection or a stripped screw preventing an exchange?" Once she was either given an negative response to her changing or had the time to get into something less prone to getting caught on things, the muse would slip around to a table near the corner where there was a collection of tools as well as a simple mag if hung glass. It was seemingly archaic in this kind of room but she wanted to find out what, if any, visible ports or ways to connect to the heart core there were. Hard to scan anything on the inside if there was no way to get to it. Of course, there were other ways to find out but no reason to not at least see what a visual appraisal would yield.

Lime Room

The Techno-Paladin turns his back at the mention of changing and faces away from her, his hands folded neatly behind him. "I don't mind." He admits as he rocks on his heels slightly. At her next question he just shakes his head before realizing she might not be able to see his motion. "No. It wouldn't work. It's like..." Aequitus starts, frowning as he tries to come up with a comparison. "It's like a piece of sheet metal that has been cut in twaine. You can weld it back together, but the two sheets will never again be one even if it is lined up perfectly. The weld leaves an obvious scar that will keep the sheet from uniting evenly for eternity. You'd have to destroy what the sheet was and reforge it to get even close, but then it wouldn't be the same piece of metal now, would it?"

[Arkhosia]

Front Door

Someone's knocking on the door!

[Lord Magtok]

It Was the Best of Limes, It Was the Worst of Limes...

"Spontaneously generated purple death traps shooting from the walls? A giant, stylized trident just speeding right out to impale some unlucky bastard walking down the wrong hallway?" Those aren't questions, Magtok, they're fantasies. We're looking for actual questions here. Comments, concerns, issues you might have with Riss playing God Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Front Door

"Hello?" The door doesn't open just yet. A camera juts out of the side of the cave, peering suspiciously at the mystery visitor as our cyborg greets the stranger via intercom.

[Arkhosia]

It Was the Best of Limes, It Was the Worst of Limes...

"Spontaneously generated purple death traps shooting from the walls? A giant, stylized trident just speeding right out to impale some unlucky bastard walking down the wrong hallway?" Those aren't questions, Magtok, they're fantasies. We're looking for actual questions here. Comments, concerns, issues you might have with Riss playing God Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Front Door

"Hello?" The door doesn't open just yet. A camera juts out of the side of the cave, peering suspiciously at the mystery visitor as our cyborg greets the stranger via intercom.

Hi.
It's Caelynn!
She has a bandage covering her head wound, but otherwise appears fine.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"Oh, Caelynn. How've things been?" Magtok sounds mildly surprised to see her as the door slides open. Did he expect her to get kidnapped again or something?

[Arkhosia]

Front Door

"Oh, Caelynn. How've things been?" Magtok sounds mildly surprised to see her as the door slides open. Did he expect her to get kidnapped again or something?

Pretty good, actually.
I just wanted to thank you for rescuing me from AMEN.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"Right, that." Magtok replies rather awkwardly. He's already trying to stop thinking about that. Not his finest achievement, at least in his eyes. I mean sure, he might've saved someone from untold torture and humiliation and possible death, but it wasn't cool or dignified or brag-worthy at all!

"...Did you want to come in here, or have me step out there? It's still kind of a mess in here, half Halloween and half Thanksmas. Can only allocate so many Magbots and stuff for decorations when I'm not having guests and there's still battle damage that needs patching."

[Arkhosia]

Front Door

"Right, that." Magtok replies rather awkwardly. He's already trying to stop thinking about that. Not his finest achievement, at least in his eyes. I mean sure, he might've saved someone from untold torture and humiliation and possible death, but it wasn't cool or dignified or brag-worthy at all!

"...Did you want to come in here, or have me step out there? It's still kind of a mess in here, half Halloween and half Thanksmas. Can only allocate so many Magbots and stuff for decorations when I'm not having guests and there's still battle damage that needs patching."

No, it's fine.
Also, I wanted to ask you something.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"You did?" Magtok raises an eyebrow. Near as he can tell, he didn't leave any important questions unanswered when he dropped Caelynn off at her apartment. The note covered pretty much everything about the escape he could think of, though naturally, it shied away from his ties to the organization and its leader. Can't very well just let Caelynn know he's on a date with the woman leading the very same organization that kidnapped and tortured her, right?

[Arkhosia]

Front Door

"You did?" Magtok raises an eyebrow. Near as he can tell, he didn't leave any important questions unanswered when he dropped Caelynn off at her apartment. The note covered pretty much everything about the escape he could think of, though naturally, it shied away from his ties to the organization and its leader. Can't very well just let Caelynn know he's on a date with the woman leading the very same organization that kidnapped and tortured her, right?

Yes. I wanted to ask you if you were free tomorrow.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"Tomorr...ow?" Magtok freezes momentarily, caught completely off-guard by the question. Is she asking him out? Secretly Arkhosia in disguise, planning to lure him into a trap? Intending to offer up her services as a freelance MagMinion every now and then? Some combination of the three? Why would she do that? Why would anyone do that?

"...I think? I'll have to move some Magbots around, but...yeah, I should be available. Where, and when?"

Also why, and for what reason? She seemed fairly uninterested in conversation with him prior to the abduction, is this just a weird sort of obligation thing she thinks she has to do? Maybe she was drunk on Halloween, and that's the only reason why she didn't say much? He hadn't considered inebriation as a possibility before, so fixated was he on her ego-wounding lack of laughter at his goofy, eccentric behavior.