Inside 59

[Halae]

[Plaza Meeting]

"I met her a little after the, uh, other you died. I heard about the funeral and wanted to make sure it wasn't actually my cousin that died. I'm glad it wasn't, and I got to meet Copi from that, so it all turned out well," she finally lets go, "There was a huge flash of light during an exercise, and then I woke up in an Irregulars bed, since my mech had apparently landed in their courtyard."

"Oh! and I found my dad!"

[Lost_Deep]

Plaza Meeting

Kate blinks. "Seriously? Forgive the saying, but once is an incident, twice is coincidence, three times is murder. Is there... is there just something wonky with that sector of space? Or what? I think that if that area has a missing person rate higher than the rest of the galaxy, even only trivially, we would know about it..."

[Halae]

[Plaza Meeting]

"No higher than any other part of the galaxy," Marley says, "It probably has more to do with the family than the part of space. Come on, there's an ice cream parlor nearby; real stuff, not the replicator crap that tastes like frozen rubber."

[Lost_Deep]

Plaza Meeting

"I heard that they've gotten synthesized soft-serve to be decent," Kate says, "I can't help but find it funny that we can travel between stars but they still can't synth milk right..."

Presumably they head toward the ice cream place, then.

[Halae]

[Plaza Meeting => Ice Cream Parlor]

Damn straight they do!

Marley will order a vanilla bowl for herself. Tasty tasty. She'll let Kate be the one to start up the conversation again once they're seated, though, consumed as she is by the frozen delight before her.

[Lost_Deep]

Ice Cream Parlor

Kate will get cookies and cream, and sit down. She has a few bites, and then says, "For once, I have a lot to say to you." Not usually one to start conversations, this is quite different from normal.

[Halae]

[Ice Cream Parlor]

"What makes you say that?" Marley asks around her vanilla.

[Lost_Deep]

Ice Cream Parlor

"Well, I want to tell you about, you know, back home, and how everyone was taking it, but there's something more important I should say to you that's connected to the nexus." Kate shrugs. "Both are complex topics that I have a lot to say on, so for once I'm the one with a lot to say. It's just... kind of an odd thought."

She's being awkward.

[Halae]

[Ice Cream Parlor]

"We never really did talk much when we saw each other, did we?" she says, "A few hellos, a 'how've you been' and then something would happen that would make it so we wouldn't talk to each other for another year or so."

[Lost_Deep]

Ice Cream Parlor

"That's how it is when you're on two different planets and one side doesn't want to spring for consistent T-net service." Kate shrugs. "But really, this is important. Let me start with the most relevant one. You mentioned you found out bout my... the other me's funeral? Apparently, when I got to the nexus something happened and now I have the memories from that Kate floating around in my head, too! And of course the other Kate's friends were right there, willing to help me, so it's almost like I fell into a support net almost perfectly made for me, apparently there's been people who are interested in me, romantically, and now you're here..."

She takes a deep breath.

"It's just... often confusing. And creepy when I think about it too much."

[Rebonack]

[Radiation Pit]

Fleeing past the stalker is pretty easy, mostly because it's providing first aid to the three lackeys and is otherwise indisposed.

Awaaaaaay!

[Barkhouse Bestiary]

Yep.

The old one. The one in that big tree. The one that was around before Mallside started existing. The place is still around, still offering custom animal creations, pet supplies, and totally mundane pets. And, of course, biological augmentation for those who are keen on that sort of thing.

That last one is the reason why Geneva is here. And the reason why the half-drow young man, Divaonar, is giving her a rather confused look.

"You want to know if I can turn you into a princess?" he asks, incredulous. "The Life-shaping abilities I got from Mom are pretty flexible, but I don't think they have the ability to confer royal titles."

"Well, I guess it wouldn't be a princess, exactly. It's just traditional that anyone who ascends to alicorn-hood would end up being named a princess," Geneva explains. "An alicorn, of course, being someone with the magic of all three pony tribes. And alicorn magic on top of that. It's pretty much the only way I would ever be able to cast a five allit spell for a project I'm working on."

Divaonar whistles. "That's a pretty tall order. I've seen the ponies around the Nexus, so I know how they work. But I can't say that I've ever bumped into one of their demigods before. Taking a stab in the dark would be really dangerous. Without a base-line I wouldn't want to risk your safety. I mean... if you could find one of these alicorns and bring them here I might be able to help-"

"But if I knew of an alicorn in the Nexus I could just ask her to cast the spell!" Geneva pouts. "That doesn't do me any good. What about a unicorn? Could you just turn me into a unicorn?"

Div scratches at his chin, "I could, but I can't promise your current magical potential would be intact, which still wouldn't help you. I'm sure Mom could have pulled it off easy, but I'm not her. Sorry."

Geneva heaves a sigh, her ears drooping. "It's okay. This was a long-shot, but I still needed to check. Thanks for your help."

And with that she heads out into-

[Hodgepodge Street]

"Well, that didn't work out," the hippogriff huffs. She steps off to the side a bit to allow a sapient red wagon to go rolling past. "That's another magical transformation place that won't do me any good. I guess I could start looking for a technological solution to the problem, but where would I even start?"

[Halae]

[Ice Cream Parlor]

"Hold on, I know that's all important, but there's a man in your life?" Marley brightens at that. She was never too greatly interested in finding someone for herself, but hearing about her family getting that sort of thing is big news for her.

[Lost_Deep]

Ice Cream Parlor

"No," Kate says with a shake of hear head, "I turned him down, and we're still friends. Apparently. I don't remember who it was, or the event, or anything. Apparently I have the memories, but it's still my memory, and my brain isn't real sure what to do with them, so... there's a lot of 'Wait, why do I know that?' or 'Why do I recognize that person's face?' Overall, really awkward."

[Rebonack]

[????]

Hmm...

Well.

Those fancy couches might be useful as cover.

And there's a candle stick over on that end table that looks pretty solid, that could probably be used as a weapon. There are a few butter knives over on the continental breakfast table. Those could be used for stabbing in a pinch.

But as far as information goes...

Well.

That's a bit on the lacking side.

"What are you in here for?" one of the thugs inquires through a mouthful of jelly-filled croissant.

[Hodgepodge Street]

Geneva eventually decides to find a place to sit down and settles on a small patch of grass between two trees. The trees, in turn, are between an old German style castle and a huge floating metallic sphere. She's about to call a friend on her wrist computer when suddenly-

"Hey! Watch what yer smurfin' doin'!" comes a tiny, irate voice.

Geneva glances down and notices some kind of tiny... blue person... that she had nearly sat on. Extra emphasis on tiny. This thing couldn't be bigger than one of her talons.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you down there," she replies, genuine concern in her tone.

"Yeah? Well sorry don't get me nothin'! Smurf you, ya freak!" the creature rails before scampering off.

The hippogriff gives a slight huff before dialing Jace's number. She figured it would be nice to share her findings thus far with him.

[Deathkeeper]

HodgePodge Street

Jace picks up quickly.
"Hiya Geneva. What's up?" he asks cheerily.

[Rebonack]

[Hodgepodge Street]

"Hello Jace!" Geneva chirps back. "The tests I did on your blood sample came back negative. There wasn't anything I could find that linked anything in your blood to any kind of field. Which is a shame, I was really hoping for a breakthrough."

Learning new things about magic is neat!

"Oh! And I've got some leads on that bridge idea, thanks for pointing me to Cessie. Though... umm... In the course of my research I bumped into a being that calls itself 'Libra'. It answered a few questions and gave me a 'prize' which I'm one hundred percent positive is a cursed Ogres and Oubliettes artifact. A die of wonder?"

Pause for effect!

"I've been trying to find a way to get rid of the thing for good, but I haven't had any luck so far. Unfortunately there isn't a Mount Doom nearby with a sufficiently fiery chasm I could cast the die into."

Geneva really isn't sure how many people would get that reference. The Hobbit was an Earth Pony epic of the pre-classical era that seemed to have some really close analogs in a lot of other universes, so it doesn't hurt to throw it out there!

[Deathkeeper]

HodgePodge Street

If this wasn't a phone call, Geneva would be able to hear Jace stiffen.
"Libra dislikes causing harm to mortals, but she is nearly all-powerful and has basically no morals. She likes helping people, but never does it in a pleasant way. And you get rid of that die as soon as you can, okay? Those things are bad news, you hear me?"

[Rebonack]

[Hodgepodge Street]

Geneva clicks her beak.

Amoral and likes 'helping' in an unpleasant way?

"It sounds like my comparison to Discord was spot on, then... Well, I've stowed the thing in my inventory spell, but apparently it can roll itself if it feels like it needs to 'help' me. Most recently that resulted in me having a nervous breakdown over... something. I can't really recall exactly what happened, which is weird since I usually remember everything that happened so long as I'm paying attention."

Really, though.

That particular fact is really creeping her out.

She doesn't just forget things.

"I don't think I can just throw it away. I tried ditching it and it just ended up in my inventory spell again. I don't suppose you know any good places for destroying powerful artifacts of chaos magic?"

Maybe give it to a grey knight? They're notoriously good at stomping on CHAOS.

[Deathkeeper]

HodgePodge Street

Jace sighs.
"Oh, boy. Mine was content to sit in a lockbox forever after it turned me into a kangaroo for three days. Uh, you could try going to Vigil or the Irregulars. The former make it their job to get rid of public dangers and the latter have tons of tech, even if they don't really share it they might consider destroying it for the same reason. I don't know of any public places, although specialists like Azik might be able to analyze it. I doubt it though. Libra's powers usually defy examination."

[TechnoScrabble]

Bombed Out Zone

The robots continue to cover the figure's retreat, showing amazing cohesion and tactical sense despite their size and unsubtle design. The one nearest the figure turns to him and bleeps a response, lights on the front flashing as a small arm extends towards the canister.

????

Jakkal stares at the thug. It's a predatory stare, with no malice, only a cool, calculative assessment of the man. It passes over any other thugs there, and his MIU, a heretical piece of bio-tech with a sinister intelligence all its own, scans the room for signals while simultaneously running numbers for combat, suggesting to Jakkal the best courses of action.

"Eez eet henny ahf hyoor bizeeniss hwy Hy am here?" he asks, his telekinetic field slowly moving the butter knives and other objects around wherever the thugs aren't looking.

[Ionbound]

[Theatre of Masks]

The Goop wasn't hardened against heat, so turning on the flames will quickly force it to become brittle; pieces will still cling to Certain's clothing and body, but without the adhesive quality it had before it'll simply start breaking off like mud that's dried on someone, meaning Trick has to deal with a demoness rocketing towards her.

Well, that's easier to deal with than you might expect; the reason fighters only go for a tackle when they've stunned their opponent is how vulnerable it leaves them to a counterattack. Trick is heavily fortified against fire, both from her heritage and her remaining enchantments, meaning it's mostly the physical aspect of the other woman she has to worry about.

Trick will roll out of the way, and reach inside her jacket for something on either side of her body, though she doesn't have the time to pull it out just yet, given she's doing this in the midst of a dodge roll.

Well, that's not nice. Luckily for Certain, she's gotten rather good at aerial maneuvering and so she air-brakes mid leap with her wings, possibly buffeting Trick before landing as close as possible to the tiefling and trying to grab her throat with a supernaturally strong, clawed hand.

[Darkcomet]

[Radiation Pit]

And then N'alae beams right back to where she was before, and decides to give the stalker bot an update.

"She's leaving, though I was promised contact information. I also found out she uses personal illusions. Made sure to take a helmet cam picture, since it wouldn't be fooled. Are those three stable?" She asks. She's certainly being rather liberal with sharing the Maiden's capabilities. Might be some diplomatic sucking-up measure or something.

[Rebonack]

[Hodgepodge Street]

"...a kangaroo?" Geneva replies, incredulous. "How could getting turned into a kangaroo possibly be construed as-"

She gives a sigh, rubbing her own forehead. "Actually, no, I'm not going to think about it. So VIGIL or the Irregulars, barring the existence of a volcano that's good for destroying artifacts in? I suppose that's better than nothing. Certainly better than keeping it on me and just hoping for the best."

Because you never know when it might strike!

"Maybe I should look into getting rid of the die now instead of focusing on my other projects... If that thing decides to roll itself it could spell instant disaster for whatever I'm working on."

That would probably be the safest thing to do, at least.

"Who's Azik? I can't say that I've ever heard of him before," Geneva inquires. Sure, she could just look it up. But Jace mentioned the guy and it's far more social to ask a friend.

[????]

The thugs appear to be normal (and disarmed) humans. There aren't any wireless signals of any kind coming into the building. In fact, the place seems to be somehow sealed off from any form of radio contact, too. Weird.

"Geeze, man, I was just making small talk," the thug says. "No reason to be a jerk about it."

[Deathkeeper]

HodgePodge Street

"Construed as what? Azik runs a shop in Mallside that specializes in magic items and artifacts. I've been to his shop once or twice." comes the response.

[Rebonack]

[Hodgepodge Street]

"Construed as helpful, I guess," Geneva replies. "But maybe all of them aren't supposed to be 'helpful'. Maybe most of them are just supposed to be a nuisance."

Or downright dangerous.

"Someone specializing in artifacts could be helpful, they might know how to dispose of one. I think I'll check that place out next," Geneva decides, rising from her seat and poking at her wrist computer. After a bit of fiddling a new quest marker appears on her HUD, providing her with directions to both Mallside and the shop in question!

Hazzah!

Having an advanced phone/radio/targeting system/map/gps/inventory device sure is handy!

Geneva takes to the air and begins winging her way to Mallside at a leisurely pace.

"So a kangaroo, huh? Was that as absurd as it sounds?"

[Radiation Pit]

"They are stable," the stalker replies. "A transport is being sent to retrieve them and a crew will be left to salvage or repair the damaged dropship as possible. Moving the lackeys on foot would be hazardous. The Radiation Pit is not safe for unshielded beings."

It isn't safe for shielded beings, either. But that's beside the point.

"Doctor Diabolical has been informed of your request for correspondence."

[Deathkeeper]

The Skies of Inside

"Usually the things she does are just for fun or 'helping' but the Dice are random. I wasn't even sure they were hers until now; that's another thing to add to the list, then.
And it was more absurd than it sounds, since the curse in question was half-assed and wasn't even anatomically correct." he adds irritably.
Jace was an extremely cartoony marsupial.

[Gullara]

[Pokémon Park]

Vis looks at the pictures and back at what the spider found.
"Well, it looks like on the pictures so it should be correct." Vis replies. He only knew about resin from the dex and never used it befor to catch a pokemon. Joltik like electricity.
"I think we need to open it and then hide."

[Pokémon Park]

"Right, gotcha. Clawra? Claw that tree." Becca picks the crustacean up and holds her in front of the spot. Clawra doesn't hesitate for a second before swiping at it with her strong claws carving a chunk out of the wood. "Ack!" The swing throws Becca off balance and she tumbles to the ground with Clawra in hand. But if Vis looks at the tree, he'l see it's leaking resin. Success!

[Rebonack]

[Hodgepodge Street]

To be fair, getting turned into a cartoony kangaroo is probably better than getting turned into a real kangaroo.

"Well, at least you're fine now. Hopefully all of its effects are just as harmlessly inconvenient, but I wouldn't bet on it," Geneva reasons. "Chaos artifacts aren't exactly known for being stable. Or predictable. Or... anything like that, I suppose."

And then?

Geneva spots something that makes her begin laughing hysterically. One of those 'oh my goodness I can hardly breath' sorts of laughs.

It might be somewhat concerning for the person on the other side of the line.

It's somewhat concerning for Geneva, too, since it's hard to fly straight when she's laughing so hard.

What could be the problem! Dice of Wonder attack? Did she fly through a cloud of laughing gas? Afflicted by Tasha's Hideous Laughter?

Stay tuned to find out!

[Deathkeeper]

Hodge-podge Street

He was awfully glad to still be able to talk and hold things.
"Uh, hello? Geneva? What's up?" asks Jace worriedly.

[Rebonack]

[Hodepodge Street]

"I'm flying over a tiny version of Moarboar!" Geneva squawks between fits of giggles. "Filled with tiny people reenacting the War of the Ring. Just... different types of humanoids instead of ponies and boars. There's even a tiny Barad-dur and a tiny Mount Doom."

Geneva dips a wing and flies lower, circling above the dreadful (tiny) mountain belching ash and flames into the air like a (also tiny) furnace. The volcano is about as tall as Geneva is and the forces of darkness scatter when she comes in for a landing. Several random pedestrians boo at her for interrupting the show. She gives them an apologetic grin and mouths 'sorry' at them. "I've got an evil artifact to dispose of. It'll just take a second."

That seems to placate the onlookers.

Everyone knows that you're supposed to toss evil artifacts into Mount Doom.

Best hazardous magical waste disposal spot around!

"I think I'm going to try tossing the dice into Mount Doom. It might turn out to be useless, but it's worth a shot. What do you think?" Geneva inquires over the phone whilst removing the Original Die of Wonder from her inventory.