[NEXIS] The Dancing Fox Inn IX: No Longer Symmetrical

[Recaiden]

"Along with people and probably most things, right? You wouldn't have a favorite sort of creature?"
She's too generically cheerful; Leah is slightly disturbed.

[Mee]

Leo doesn't generally take the undead at their word, as the ones to which he's most accustomed are often deceptive and conniving. It's obvious to him, though, that Naku is far and above his typical zombie con, and he owes her some measure of trust for taking him in on nothing but his assumed work ethic. Besides, now that he has an opportunity to look, he notes that she does, in fact, radiate the presence of a spirit of her own, proving the validity of her claim.

"Well, it'll take some getting used to, I confess," Leo admits apologetically. "Still, I think I owe you that much at least. After all, I'm going to be working here, so I'd better not do anything to cause trouble."

Soon after this, he'll remember the original tone of their conversation and, unless Naku persists on the subject of vampires, continue, "Anyway, about spirit powers...Most of the time, it's up to each individual to discover their abilities for themselves, but a practiced spiritualist can occasionally get a sneak peek that could help to unlock it. I've never tried it before, but it's not invasive or dangerous, so I think it'd be worth a shot, if you're up for it."

Naku nods once. "I appreciate that. And speaking of trouble, if anyone starts harassing you, just let me know. Don't try to fight. Not sure if you would or not, but the DFI frowns on violence."

Then Leo continued on with the spiritual doodilyboppers. Naku wasn't too interested in keeping the conversation on vampirism, so she gladly let him change the subject.
"I'm all for it. Nothing lost either way, right?" With that, Naku hops off of the bar she was still sitting on, and cricked her neck slightly.

[GrandDM]

The door opens, and Silver walks in. He looks around for Amelia.

[McBish]

Amelia Jones walks into the tavern looking either tired or pissed off. It is slightly difficult to tell unless you know here really well. She carries her beaten up suitcase with her as she finds a small table to sit down at, placing an order for an irish coffee and resting her head on the table till it is delivered.

((Like a ninja, except she doesn't notice Silver right away.))

[GrandDM]

Silver drops into one of the other seats.

"Hey."

[Deathkeeper]

Mist comes by with Amelia's coffee.
"Hiya Amelia. Trouble at work?"

[McBish]

Amelia sits up as her table gets approached. She gives a sad smile and nod to Mist. "Yeah, though not really trouble so much as not having work once again." It looks like she hasn't been getting enough sleep lately, and is looking forward to some caffine to help get her body going.

Then when Silver sits down across from her she glances at her wrist out of habit. She sold her last watch awhile back and hasn't replaced it yet. "And you must be Silver. You said you wanted to talk about Harald?" I assume their phone conversation was pretty short and low on details.

[GrandDM]

Probably.

"Indeed."

He flicks a finger, and a tiny droplet of coffee floats up. Another flick, and it expands, turning into a large sphere of coffee which moves over to hover next to Silver's head and occasionally calve small pieces which Silver drinks.

"I believe you were employed for a period by my brother?"

[McBish]

"Yeah though he didn't mention anything about brothers. From the way he spoke it didn't seem like he really had a family, let alone someone who would come around asking questions if he died." Amelia says trying not to sound to suspicious. She knows familes can drift apart, and figures something like that must have happened.

"Yeah I started off as a bodyguard for a mission up in space. I always wanted to get up there so it was a good job for me. Then it turned into something I had hoped would be more permenent." She picks up her coffee taking a small sip from it. She seems a tiny bit amused by Silver's floating coffee trick. Silver sure likes being showy like Harald.

[GrandDM]

"Well, Henry always liked to remain in the shadows. And Harald never got on with me, what with his phobia of magic. Coupled with his demon-induced mental instability towards the end, it didn't exactly make for a happy family.

As for work... if you're looking for a job, Henry's starting a small facility. You'll have to sign a very stringent confidentiality clause, but the pay's good and you get everything provided. You'd probably be posted in my department, given that you have powers."

[McBish]

Amelia takes a few seconds to consider this offer. It sounded a lot like what Harald had offered her, and look how that turned out. The way her tenure ended at Harald's she has been thinking about how to stay more independent. Getting everything you need from one job sounds nice, unless that job becomes your entire life.

"What kind of facility would you guys be running?" She wonders if both the brothers are into science and technology like Harald or if they have something else up their sleeves.

[GrandDM]

Amelia takes a few seconds to consider this offer. It sounded a lot like what Harald had offered her, and look how that turned out. The way her tenure ended at Harald's she has been thinking about how to stay more independent. Getting everything you need from one job sounds nice, unless that job becomes your entire life.

"What kind of facility would you guys be running?" She wonders if both the brothers are into science and technology like Harald or if they have something else up their sleeves.

"Research and development. Not of or for anything in particular, just researching and developing new things. I can't tell you any more until you've signed the confidentiality clause. Henry's very careful about that, especially after what happened with everyone turning on Harald. Admittedly it was the demon's fault, but still..."

[McBish]

A look of guilt on Amelia's face is quickly covered by something closer to indignation. "Hey I didn't turn on your brother. I was working on a plan to-" She cuts herself off shaking her head. Any plans she had to save Harald weren't put together quickly enough for them to do any good, why bother bringing them up. She feels that what happened to Harald is her fault, for not stopping the demon when she had a chance, for not even trying.

"Honestly I didn't mind working for your brother. But research and development is something I don't do much these days. I'm not sure how much help I could really be." While working for Harald she mostly just worked to make sure things didn't blow up when they weren't suppose to.

[GrandDM]

A look of guilt on Amelia's face is quickly covered by something closer to indignation. "Hey I didn't turn on your brother. I was working on a plan to-" She cuts herself off shaking her head. Any plans she had to save Harald weren't put together quickly enough for them to do any good, why bother bringing them up. She feels that what happened to Harald is her fault, for not stopping the demon when she had a chance, for not even trying.

"Honestly I didn't mind working for your brother. But research and development is something I don't do much these days. I'm not sure how much help I could really be." While working for Harald she mostly just worked to make sure things didn't blow up when they weren't suppose to.

"Oh, I didn't mean you. And I'm pretty sure you could be a lot of help. We always need people to charge the mana capacitors, and you have combat experience which would be a lot of help if the portal - oh damn, I shouldn't have said that. Ah well, too late now. Anyway, we always need people who can fight and people with magic, and you fulfill both criteria."

[McBish]

Amelia considers that as she sips her coffee some more. It seems to be helping her wake up, or rather stay awake. "Yeah I guess that makes sense. You know I'm not like your average magic user, if there is such a thing. I can't really cast spells per say, more of an ablity to channel a specific type of energy." Amelia explains in case Silver has no idea how her magic works like she assumes.

"Well I may be interested. I'd like to be able to hear more, maybe meet with your other brother."

[GrandDM]

Amelia considers that as she sips her coffee some more. It seems to be helping her wake up, or rather stay awake. "Yeah I guess that makes sense. You know I'm not like your average magic user, if there is such a thing. I can't really cast spells per say, more of an ablity to channel a specific type of energy." Amelia explains in case Silver has no idea how her magic works like she assumes.

"Well I may be interested. I'd like to be able to hear more, maybe meet with your other brother."

"Oh, I know. Hold on a second."

He closes his eyes for a moment, and then the door opens and Henry walks in. He resembles Silver closely, but he's taller, leaner and has his hair cropped short.

"Greetings. Silver has filled you in on the basics; what more do you wish to know?"

[McBish]

Henry, being all Sherlock like and deducy might be able to spot a few things about Amelia. Her shoes show the signs of wear and tear you would expect to find for a runner. Her jacket is a man's, the zipper is on the wrong side for a womans, and is old enough to have gone through repairs a couple of times including replacing all the lining of it. She keeps an important memento on a chain around her neck and often touches it under her shirt checking to make sure it is still there subconciously.

"Well I'm not enterily sure. Where is your facilty, how many workers do you have, would I be living there or would you be looking to set me up somewhere off site? Do you intend to do anything about the technology that Harald left behind? Why do you two want to hire me?" She says asking as many questions as she can make sense of in her head. She probably has more but these will do for now.

[GrandDM]

Henry, being all Sherlock like and deducy might be able to spot a few things about Amelia. Her shoes show the signs of wear and tear you would expect to find for a runner. Her jacket is a man's, the zipper is on the wrong side for a womans, and is old enough to have gone through repairs a couple of times including replacing all the lining of it. She keeps an important memento on a chain around her neck and often touches it under her shirt checking to make sure it is still there subconciously.

"Well I'm not enterily sure. Where is your facilty, how many workers do you have, would I be living there or would you be looking to set me up somewhere off site? Do you intend to do anything about the technology that Harald left behind? Why do you two want to hire me?" She says asking as many questions as she can make sense of in her head. She probably has more but these will do for now.

"The location is classified. We have a few hundred workers, but since we have teleporters you don't need to move house. We've already cleared up Harald's stuff - that is, what's left of it since Mastermind and the robots took off into outer space - and as to why we want to hire you... firstly, my brother did, and he never got on with people. He found them too slow. That means he found something in you worth keeping. Secondly, you have a power neither I nor my brother have ever seen before. That makes you interesting."

[ImpSyndrome]

Naku nods once. "I appreciate that. And speaking of trouble, if anyone starts harassing you, just let me know. Don't try to fight. Not sure if you would or not, but the DFI frowns on violence."

Then Leo continued on with the spiritual doodilyboppers. Naku wasn't too interested in keeping the conversation on vampirism, so she gladly let him change the subject.
"I'm all for it. Nothing lost either way, right?" With that, Naku hops off of the bar she was still sitting on, and cricked her neck slightly.

Considering the tone of his comments preceding, Leo hopes that he has made his pacifist attitude clear already. Just to be safe, though, he confirms, "Alright, I understand. I just hope that visitors and customers abide by the same standards..." Now for the matter at hand: the spirit tap. "Alright, this could take a few minutes," he tells Naku. "Just bear with me..."

Leo's senses fade back out as he attunes himself to spiritual energy, and he focuses on Naku's presence. His first step will be to determine whether or not her spirit has functional capacity of any kind; if she possesses any natural defenses, this may take a few minutes. Determining the details of her ability (or abilities) will come next, so long as she has any.

((Seeing as Leo's never done this before, I hope you'll be OK with it if we proceed slowly over multiple posts. That'll give me plenty of room to flesh it out.))

[Mee]

Considering the tone of his comments preceding, Leo hopes that he has made his pacifist attitude clear already. Just to be safe, though, he confirms, "Alright, I understand. I just hope that visitors and customers abide by the same standards..." Now for the matter at hand: the spirit tap. "Alright, this could take a few minutes," he tells Naku. "Just bear with me..."

Leo's senses fade back out as he attunes himself to spiritual energy, and he focuses on Naku's presence. His first step will be to determine whether or not her spirit has functional capacity of any kind; if she possesses any natural defenses, this may take a few minutes. Determining the details of her ability (or abilities) will come next, so long as she has any.

((Seeing as Leo's never done this before, I hope you'll be OK with it if we proceed slowly over multiple posts. That'll give me plenty of room to flesh it out.))

Oh, he had made his views fairly clear, that the DFI is a non-violent place, however, is a very, very important thing to Naku, and she wanted to make sure that it was established.

"Take your time." Naku said, hopping back up to sit on the bar.

Due to her having nearly no defenses, and all of those being ones that she has to think about, Leo will be able to find her spirit very, very easily, and that is has an enormous amount of nearly untapped potential.
For abilities, as he found it easily enough, he could sift through and discover things just as easily, it would appear that she's just starting along the path of using blood and dark magic.

Her spirit's also definitely there, and one of a living, albeit fairly diseased, person.

[McBish]

"The location is classified. We have a few hundred workers, but since we have teleporters you don't need to move house. We've already cleared up Harald's stuff - that is, what's left of it since Mastermind and the robots took off into outer space - and as to why we want to hire you... firstly, my brother did, and he never got on with people. He found them too slow. That means he found something in you worth keeping. Secondly, you have a power neither I nor my brother have ever seen before. That makes you interesting."

Amelia nods as she listens. "I only asked about the location because when I worked with your brother I realized his lab only had exits and entrances except through his teleporters. That put me in an awkward situation I don't hope to be in again."

She sips her coffee as she sits up straighter. She figures she might as well try to get as many benefits as possible if she takes this job. Making the pair of brothers convince her to work for them puts her in a position of power. Not that she is really in any position to turn down a job. Almost all the money she made working for Harald went to paying off her debts, which still aren't payed off.

She sets down her coffee leaning forward across the table. "Getting hired because you have an interesting power sounds like a good way to get yourself made into a test subject." Not a pleasant prospect in most cases.

[GrandDM]

Amelia nods as she listens. "I only asked about the location because when I worked with your brother I realized his lab only had exits and entrances except through his teleporters. That put me in an awkward situation I don't hope to be in again."

She sips her coffee as she sits up straighter. She figures she might as well try to get as many benefits as possible if she takes this job. Making the pair of brothers convince her to work for them puts her in a position of power. Not that she is really in any position to turn down a job. Almost all the money she made working for Harald went to paying off her debts, which still aren't payed off.

She sets down her coffee leaning forward across the table. "Getting hired because you have an interesting power sounds like a good way to get yourself made into a test subject." Not a pleasant prospect in most cases.

"Do you honestly think someone as smart as my brother would have relied entirely on his teleporters? He'd have had several other exits that worked in various manners as insurance against whatever method of blockage was brought against him. He just didn't want you knowing about his secret escape routes.

I can assure you that the Cube has multiple entrances and exits, all available for use by cleared staff at any time. As for being a test subject... Silver? You run the Para department."

"Short for Paranormal, if you were wondering. Anyway, we run tests on our staff, but only with consent. If you don't want to take part, that's fine."

[ImpSyndrome]

Oh, he had made his views fairly clear, that the DFI is a non-violent place, however, is a very, very important thing to Naku, and she wanted to make sure that it was established.

"Take your time." Naku said, hopping back up to sit on the bar.

Due to her having nearly no defenses, and all of those being ones that she has to think about, Leo will be able to find her spirit very, very easily, and that is has an enormous amount of nearly untapped potential.
For abilities, as he found it easily enough, he could sift through and discover things just as easily, it would appear that she's just starting along the path of using blood and dark magic.

Her spirit's also definitely there, and one of a living, albeit fairly diseased, person.

Leo focuses so closely on trying to determine Naku's abilities that it takes him several seconds to note the unexpected state of her spirit, and what he discovers shocks him. He assumed that, being a vampire, Naku was among the undead, but hers is quite clearly that of a living being. It seems that his evaluation of her nature was entirely backwards, and he feels horrible about misjudging her, which clouds his senses for a minute. He makes a note to apologize to her later and re-focuses his efforts on probing her spirit for hidden potential.

He has some difficulty in his endeavors at first, unable to clearly identify any significant traits. It's only after three or four minutes that he realizes that the difficulty lies not with his senses but in the density of power in her spirit. Much of it radiates a dark aura, but the primal power of blood is also present; this unnerves him substantially, as the only other person he knows capable of using blood magic of any kind is his sworn enemy, the one who tossed him into the Nexus.

((If Leo should find anything else about Naku's potential, please let me know, but he shouldn't be capable of learning too much for his first attempt at this process. Either way, he'll return to his normal senses and share his findings once he's learned everything he can.))

[McBish]

"Do you honestly think someone as smart as my brother would have relied entirely on his teleporters? He'd have had several other exits that worked in various manners as insurance against whatever method of blockage was brought against him. He just didn't want you knowing about his secret escape routes.

I can assure you that the Cube has multiple entrances and exits, all available for use by cleared staff at any time. As for being a test subject... Silver? You run the Para department."

"Short for Paranormal, if you were wondering. Anyway, we run tests on our staff, but only with consent. If you don't want to take part, that's fine."

"Yeah well he didn't share that any info like that with me. And I did not like feeling trapped like that is all. I think I would skip out the testing, at least at first." Amelia finishes off the last of her coffee setting down the mug, her stomach growling the slightest bit. "So why don't you tell me more about the job you want me for. Fighting weird monsters?"

[GrandDM]

"Yeah well he didn't share that any info like that with me. And I did not like feeling trapped like that is all. I think I would skip out the testing, at least at first." Amelia finishes off the last of her coffee setting down the mug, her stomach growling the slightest bit. "So why don't you tell me more about the job you want me for. Fighting weird monsters?"

"Partly. Our Portals division is dedicated to exploring new universes, finding out if they're hospitable, and establishing connections to that world and with any indigenous populations. Unfortunately, there are a lot of strange and hostile things out there."

[Mee]

Leo focuses so closely on trying to determine Naku's abilities that it takes him several seconds to note the unexpected state of her spirit, and what he discovers shocks him. He assumed that, being a vampire, Naku was among the undead, but hers is quite clearly that of a living being. It seems that his evaluation of her nature was entirely backwards, and he feels horrible about misjudging her, which clouds his senses for a minute. He makes a note to apologize to her later and re-focuses his efforts on probing her spirit for hidden potential.

He has some difficulty in his endeavors at first, unable to clearly identify any significant traits. It's only after three or four minutes that he realizes that the difficulty lies not with his senses but in the density of power in her spirit. Much of it radiates a dark aura, but the primal power of blood is also present; this unnerves him substantially, as the only other person he knows capable of using blood magic of any kind is his sworn enemy, the one who tossed him into the Nexus.

((If Leo should find anything else about Naku's potential, please let me know, but he shouldn't be capable of learning too much for his first attempt at this process. Either way, he'll return to his normal senses and share his findings once he's learned everything he can.))

He probably won't pick up anything else, though buried waaaay deep down hidden amongst the other things, is a tiiiny pin-prick of shiny bright light. Exactly what it represents is . . . difficult, to say the least. But it's there.

Naku, totally unaware of what he's doing, hums quietly to herself, and taps her fingers in a bit of a pattern.

((Not too much, I should think. Especially for the first attempt.))

[ImpSyndrome]

Unable to sense any additional details, Leo allows his senses to return to their normal state. His face, which was blank this whole time, suddenly becomes a portrait of guilt and shame, and he says, "I had no idea...Naku, I'm terribly sorry. I shouldn't have assumed so much before really getting to know you...It's clear now that your spirit is no less natural than my own. I feel horrible for misjudging you..."

Once he gets over himself, the spiritualist will report, "It took a bit longer than I originally anticipated, but I did learn a few things. It seems I was correct in my initial evaluation: you definitely have the potential for incredible abilities. Your spirit is ripe with powerful magic, stemming from the essence of darkness. Unfortunately, I can't tell exactly how you might be able to draw on this magic, but given some time and focus, I'm sure you'll find a way to bend it to your will.

"I found something else as well," Leo will continue, but his speech will slow down, and he'll tense up a bit. "There was another power source there...the essence of blood, likely a product of your vampiric nature. Now, I don't know much at all about blood magic, but I'm not going to make the same mistake of assuming the worst of it without knowing the facts. I would advise caution if you choose to pursue it, but I'm afraid I can't tell any more than that."

[Mee]

Unable to sense any additional details, Leo allows his senses to return to their normal state. His face, which was blank this whole time, suddenly becomes a portrait of guilt and shame, and he says, "I had no idea...Naku, I'm terribly sorry. I shouldn't have assumed so much before really getting to know you...It's clear now that your spirit is no less natural than my own. I feel horrible for misjudging you..."

Once he gets over himself, the spiritualist will report, "It took a bit longer than I originally anticipated, but I did learn a few things. It seems I was correct in my initial evaluation: you definitely have the potential for incredible abilities. Your spirit is ripe with powerful magic, stemming from the essence of darkness. Unfortunately, I can't tell exactly how you might be able to draw on this magic, but given some time and focus, I'm sure you'll find a way to bend it to your will.

"I found something else as well," Leo will continue, but his speech will slow down, and he'll tense up a bit. "There was another power source there...the essence of blood, likely a product of your vampiric nature. Now, I don't know much at all about blood magic, but I'm not going to make the same mistake of assuming the worst of it without knowing the facts. I would advise caution if you choose to pursue it, but I'm afraid I can't tell any more than that."

Naku just waves a hand at the first. "Naaah, don't worry about it. Miss-assumptions happen, just so long as you get something from this, I'm totally cool with it. Thank you, though."

Then she listens to everything, before nodding. "Dark and Blood. Sounds about right. Let me put it to rest, though, both of them are from the vampiric nature doodilyboppers." With that, Naku hops back off of the bar. "Blood magic . . . honestly, is just scary stuff. I've had more friends ripped apar-. Never mind. I appreciate the words of warning, but no worries, I don't plan on going down this path at all. Or at least as much as I can avoid it, I intend to.

Well, I appreciate you checking, and I'm glad you found what you did. Thank you."

[ImpSyndrome]

Spoiler: Previous post

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Naku just waves a hand at the first. "Naaah, don't worry about it. Miss-assumptions happen, just so long as you get something from this, I'm totally cool with it. Thank you, though."

Then she listens to everything, before nodding. "Dark and Blood. Sounds about right. Let me put it to rest, though, both of them are from the vampiric nature doodilyboppers." With that, Naku hops back off of the bar. "Blood magic . . . honestly, is just scary stuff. I've had more friends ripped apar-. Never mind. I appreciate the words of warning, but no worries, I don't plan on going down this path at all. Or at least as much as I can avoid it, I intend to.

Well, I appreciate you checking, and I'm glad you found what you did. Thank you."

It seems to Leo that Naku is no stranger to his discoveries; he wonders if she was already aware of her powers before he offered to discover them. Regardless, he doubts that further intervention is required, as her awareness of her potential should make it that much easier for her to learn how to utilize it. "Glad I could help," he responds shortly. "Now, I think I'd better get back to work...I think you mentioned earlier that some of the rooms need tidying...?"

((I don't have anything else of great significance to add to this scene, so we can close it up and just put Leo to work whenever you're ready. He'll have other plot-related things to do later, but for now he'll help out around the Inn and interact with some of the customers if Naku and Mist are busy.))

[Deathkeeper]

Mist will nod and take him by the shoulder to show him the rooms while gesturing with his head to Aiden who's been waiting for a few pages for Naku.