Inside 61

[Slii Arhem]

Cafe 124

"Not my best work, but I usually aim for something between lawyer and average intelligent request. Anything you wanted to ask me about, fill in some blanks about your role in the magical ecosystem of the Nexus, why I'm still farting around as a supremely bored, learned, and powerful being without becoming a supervillain, what the best restaurant in the city is? Anything like that?" He gestures emphatically with his hands while he talks, almost getting back into the swing of this conversation thing.

[Deathkeeper]

Cafe 124

Pat pauses and considers the offer.
"Well, I've been getting along fine here, even though I can't really afford a place in the city itself and I have to travel a lot. There are always folks who I just can't convince to let me give them a wish, but I can't just force them, and my sales pitch will get better with time. But if you want, I don't mind hearing your thoughts on the subject of what you think I should be doing.
Though...if you don't mind, while I understand that you don't want to let me just have total control over how I look without any effort...I think I could use a little help if you want me to use what you just gave me. Since well, I can't actually create clothes or anything like that, and I don't generally wear anything with so much extra fabric that I could stretch them into a skirt, much less pants and shoes. she says, clearly embarrassed.

[Slii Arhem]

Cafe 124

"You're pretty much freelance, correct? Start selling your wishes. If people aren't interested in them when they're free, then make them a commodity. If they don't want to pay cash, make them undergo a quest that will get you something you can sell to a pawn shop. By increasing the trouble the wish takes to acquire, you'll both drum up interest and solve your money problems faster. And you could buy a skirt that you could roll up and tuck into your handbag, I suppose. Or use one before your locomotion became an ephemeral concept. But your best bet is a skirt with belt loops you can secure around your waist. Easily acquired. In fact, if you'll humor me in trying some on for me, I'll even pay for your first several, as compensation for the wish I asked of you." Even though that wish was to her benefit.

[Deathkeeper]

Cafe 124

Pat squints a bit, eyeing the man.
"Oh yeah? And if I didn't know you could have basically anything you wanted I'd be awfully suspicious of that request. But I guess I don't mind trying on some clothes.
But I feel like doing that would sort of...take the excitement out of it. It's not something that you didn't ever expect you'd get, and just help with some huge problem of yours. It's just something you went to some store and got. It just seems like so much less of a nice thing. Besides, I'm still in the phase where if someone doesn't word a wish right the wish just starts messing with them because I can't reel it in with some specific solution. I can't in good conscience ask for payment when I might accidentally make them into something that's going to be awkward. Even if technically speaking none of those incidents actually turned out bad in the end." she says, thinking about her words as she says them.

[Recaiden]

[Grey Zone-Over The Sewers]

Phoebe strolls along a street, running one errand or another, paying no mind to the manholes and other things that may lie beneath the streets.

So like humans; never thinking vertically.

One particular manhole of interest is open, and surrounded by yellow Caution tape. It's been like that for weeks. No one ever accused the local construction crews of being hard workers. The job will be done cheaply and up to code. Quickly? Not so much. A faint 'ting ting ting' comes from it as demon after demon climbs up. The leader is confident there will be something of immediate interest up here; there's no other reason to send so many on a scouting mission.
Eyes fall on Phoebe. Local creature. Tool-user. Acquire.
The creatures swarm forward as one: four bodies, way too many legs, far more claws than anyone would like reaching out for them.

[Slii Arhem]

Cafe 124

"Then you find friends or volunteers who are willing to help you practice until you get it right. And, if you do start getting successful in the dangerous quest and wishes for money business, hire a phrasing consultant with experience in the field." He smiles, making it blatantly obvious who she could turn to. "There's not no effort involved, it takes time. And if it didn't, it wouldn't be worth doing. But having people willing to suffer the end of your mistakes until you stop making them is an obvious first step. You need good-natured, but not exceptionally bright or thoughtful, people to say aloud their daydreams to you idly, and see where those inevitable mishaps lead you." He sighs with blissful, blurred, long ago memories dancing before his eyes, "You'll miss it more than anything, the excitement of a wish gone awry, when you're too good for it. Why do you think so many go "bad" and start willfully misinterpreting wishes? Not that you should, but it's a reason some do."

[Ionbound]

[Grey Zone-Over The Sewers]

Phoebe has the rather poor luck of walking past the manhole as the demons surge out. She screams and curses as they swarm towards her and shoves a hand in her pocket, trying to pull out a handful of grave dust infused with burning necrotic energy...Of course, if the demons are fast enough, they'll get to her before she can throw it, and it might not even hurt them.

[Recaiden]

[Grey Zone-Over The Sewers]

They are not known for their speed, this strain. One of the demons screeches as the gravedust withers it away. But then the other three have their claws on her.

Weak. Slow. May be ineffective. Should we render it down into raw materials?
The demons are reassured no, it will be useful intact.

Not crushing, not lashing with their spines. Just two of them trying to hold her in place while the third binds her hands with some sticky rubbery goop.

[Deathkeeper]

Cafe 124

Pat considers this.
"Well... the other thing is that I honestly can't do that for quite some time. I can only grant a trio of wishes in a day, and a few 'maxed-out' days in a month. So even if I was willing to just grant wishes of people who don't really know what they're asking for, which already sounds like it could get mean fast, I'd be burned out for half a year by the time I started making any progress at all. And I don't know if I really feel comfortable asking friends to risk that for me." she says self-consciously.

[Terumitsu]

Huntside Imports Delicatessen

Isaac resists his reflex to scratch his head. This is...complex...to be hearing over lunch.
"Oh...kay. I think that I follow you?"
Isaac thinks he saw something like this in a game book somewhere.
"So uh, I'm not sure I follow that analogy. I can see how all of those words have a somewhat similar meaning, but I don't see how stacking so many words that would do roughly similar things would do...anything, from what you just described about instructions and inscriptions." he says, interested but confused.

Huntside Imports Delicatessen

Hiram smiled at this reply a bit although for reasons more due to being in a mentoring position and watching a pupil struggle with the same things he once had. "Well, that's why it's an analogy. All of them break down at some point when you try to explain something through them without adding more and more until it all becomes one noodly mess of things acting like other things for the sake of explanation." he said. "Again, this is more advanced material than what I'll be covering initially but.. Well, to use another analogy, let's look more to math. Now, two and two make four, yes? Well, so does one and three. Or four and zero. All of these are effectively the same in function when viewed as a whole but when you take these expressions apart, you see that they have different components that operate in a way to produce the same result. This is closer to what synonymics is like. Plus, you know that game where you take letter tiles and try to make words from them? Uh.. 'Scribbles' or something?" he asked, clearly not clear with the actual game beyond it's concept. "Imagine if each letter were a rune and any letter in a word on the board can be used to substitute in for a letter you don't have in a word you are trying to make. That's another way to look at how this works as it basically makes the same letter, or rune in this case, pull double duty without being inherently changed." he said, dabbing again at his cheeks. He didn't really care just what this meat was other than the fact that it was tasty... Though he hoped that it just wasn't some dressed up long-pork. He was highly confident that it wouldn't be without there being some repercussions on the restaurant but he had heard that there were some truly weird things to find if one looked in the right place.

"There's a lot of 'kind ofs' and 'it's likes' when I can't use the usual field jargon... Well that's true for just about anything, though, come to think of it." he said, having a thoughtful moment as he let Isaac digest all this information.

[Ionbound]

[Grey Zone-Over The Sewers]

Phoebe curses and shouts as her hands are bound, even angrily spitting at the demons as they hold her and bind her, trying to struggle against the sticky goop.

[Recaiden]

[Grey Zone-Over The Sewers]

The humans will be alarmed. Retreat quickly.
Struggle all you like; once they close in on you you're in a bad way. Without some serious tricks or newfound strength, Phoebe shouldn't get out.
Two of the demons try to manhandle down into the sewers, headfirst down the manhole.
The third drags the husk of the poor necromancy victim behind it.

[Ionbound]

[Grey Zone-Over The Sewers]

Phoebe shrieks as she's dragged down into the sewers, likely all to no avail.

[Recaiden]

[Into the Sewers]

Mercy is for weak, imperfect creatures.
Her screams do nothing but draw a little bit of puzzled attention from inhabitants of second-floor apartments.

Welcome to the sewers, Phoebe.
The demons carry her back over pipes and streams and tunnels. Finally, they reach a place where the floor is made of a thick black ooze, a carpet of demonic flesh that is all too alive, and set the captive and the corpse both upon it before vanishing into the dark. Flickering crystal lights are set into a ceiling that seems too far away.

A voice sounds in Phoebe's head.
What have we here?

[Ionbound]

[Sewers]

Phoebe mutters a litany of curses as she's dumped onto the goo. When the voice rings out in her head, she angrily replies, "Where am I?! What do you want!?"

[Deathkeeper]

Huntside Imports Delicatessen

Isaac thinks about this and nods.
"Well, I think I understand what you mean in terms of theory. I don't really have any idea how you'd apply it practically with real magic, but the basic concept I think I get." he says, somewhat shakily.

Hiram needn't worry. He's eating legitimate, non-sapient barbecued reptile ribs. Nothing at all morally wrong with that.

[Recaiden]

[Sewers]

Phoebe mutters a litany of curses as she's dumped onto the goo. When the voice rings out in her head, she angrily replies, "Where am I?! What do you want!?"

Telepathic laughter, and Phoebe might feel herself sliding away on the creep.
Welcome to your new home. I want you. 'Phoebe', you call yourself?

[Ionbound]

[Sewers]

Phoebe blinks and says, "You want me? That isn't creepy at all. What's going on?"

[Recaiden]

[Sewers]

You are joining us.
You might already feel the corruption seeping into your skin.
Phoebe might hear something large half-walking, half-slithering along the ground towards her.
It will remake you and then we will harvest you for useful qualities. If you are lucky, your genes will be compatible and most of you will survive.

[Ionbound]

[Sewers]

Phoebe shudders as she tries to stand and says, "No...No! I won't join whatever this is!" as she attempts to turn and run away.

[Recaiden]

[Sewers]

Foolish. You will be assimilated or devoured.
She should be able to stand, though her hands are still bound.
Let's see how fast you can run.

Throughout the tunnel complex, the low insectoid demons that caught her originally are called and move in pairs to block exits and close in on Phoebe.
She can run, but getting away is unlikely, as she has to go through at least one pair of the demons, and they can scent the traces of muk on her.
Plus, if she got confused about the direction they came in, all too possible in the dark, she could run into something much worse.

[Rebonack]

Weather Factory

"I'll leave you to it, you're the expert. Now, I grew up in Equestria, I know things, but don't let that cramp your style. It's your tour, do your best!"

Given how much caravan showboats, she'd feel hypocritical if she didn't let other people showboat when they felt like it.

"Alright then, we'll start with the straight forward stuff and go from there!" Fortuna replies as she sets off down one of the hallways, gesturing with a wing for Gilded to follow her.

They'll pass a few other workers along the way, which will give Gilded an interesting bit of insight into how others interact with Fortuna. Some exchange pleasantries with her while most seem... vaguely uneasy, as if they were ready to bolt the moment she does something weird. That might be due to her pulling off shenanigans here at the factory or maybe it's just the result of Forte being what she is. If it bothers her at all she doesn't make a show of it.

"Alright, the weather floor!" Fortuna proclaims as they head through a cloudstone door and out into a wide factory area. At present they're on catwalks above it, because what kind of factory doesn't have catwalks above dangerous machinery? Below water is being fed into a series of huge cloudstone machines that busily process it into magical cloud and raw rainbow to be piped off to another section of the factory. "This is the core of our operations here, manufacture of the raw cloudstuff. Our nucleator is a state of the art cloud generator, one that I'm sure is wholly unique. We've incorporated other Nexus technologies into our design to push the boundaries on speed, reliability, efficiency, and minimize power consumption. With water supplied from The River here Inside, we can generate hundreds of thousands of cubic feet of cloud per day, the foundation to the rest of our weather manufacture operations."

[Lost_Deep]

Weather Factory

"It's always good to see someone else be clever with cross world tech. Very nice. Very nice," Gilded says idly, doing some math in her head. Questions, she assumes, will wait until the end of the tour.

[Ionbound]

[Sewers]

Phoebe runs, pure primal terror fueling her legs as she sprints off into the darkness, unknowing and uncaring of what might lay before her.

[Recaiden]

[Sewers]

What lays before her is rough stone, streams of sewage, and look, the snapping pincers and many membrane-covered legs of a pair of demons, reaching out to recapture her.

[Ionbound]

[Sewers]

Phoebe swears again as she tries to skid to a halt and nearly pulls a shoulder out when, forgetting her hands are bound, tries to get another handful of dust.

She then stumbles, and swearing in pain and anger, finds herself having landed on her arms, and thus having no way to get up again.

[Recaiden]

[Sewers]

Is that the best you can do? I'm disappointed.
The pair of demons close in, gliding in, grasping hold of her, binding her feet as well as her hands in that same goop.

Then she's carried back the way she ran like a prize hunt, just captured and paraded off. Unless she can come up with some way to resist them and escape.

In the flickering light she will likely be able to make out other shapes scurrying across the living carpet. Small things like giant grubs, smaller things that look like the bellows for a fire, but with squirming tentacles where there should be a handle. Over there is a squirming tower of ...something, and there's a patch of giant rounded shapes, rising from the muk like galls from an oak tree branch. Just large enough to hold a curled-up person inside.

But you are at least spirited. We can use that.

[Ionbound]

[Sewers]

Pheobe's eyes widen as she sees the bioconstructs rising out of the muk, and writhes, trying to get away, all likely to no avail as she says, "N-no! I won't help you! I won't!"

[Recaiden]

[Sewers -> Underground Hive]

Refusal is not an option.
She manages to get the drone-demons to drop her once, sending the bellows-octopi scurrying over to investigate her and lick at her to see if she's food (verdict: not tasty), but they should quickly pick her back up and bring her over to the galls, which are slowly expanding and contracting, all together, like a great creature breathing.

They drop her onto the muk, where a depression opens, the awful stuff flowing out of the way to form a little bowl to hold her. They back away a short distance as something else glides up. The mental voice becomes louder, more present.
I am curious as to how you dispatched my drone so quickly. You will tell me what you know.
This doesn't specifically come across in words. Pictures, feelings, impressions, alien compulsions.

Spoiler: Description of creature

Show

Take a centaur: half woman, half horse. Replace the horse legs with those of a wasp, and the lower body with a giant bobbit worm. Give her the massive, twisting horns of a minotaur, fuse the fingers into three long claws. Elongate the back of the head into slinking segments, horns on top, hair tangled together into twitching tentacles. Separate the lower jaw to form mandibles, and wither the face away until it's barely more than a skull, with sunken eyes glowing green. From the back of the shoulders add on two lashing winglike claws that arch over her back. Cover the whole body in chitinous plating and spikes.

This demon towers over Phoebe, and the claws lash forward to try to tear away any belongings she might have, such as more of that killing powder.

[Ionbound]

[Underground Hive]

Phoebe clutches her head as she's compulsed to reveal, "I-It's magic...My magic...I can control dead things...Make them hurt, make them grow, make them move...Anything, really..."

The demon will cut into her longcoat, the one thing providing any form of protection from the muk. It has many pockets on the inside, all filled with reagents, currently inert, but all useful to Phoebe's magic. Under that, though, all she wears is a t-shirt with a skull on the front, and a pair of jeans, none of which have any pockets.