Inside 63

[Morty]

[A Bad Side of Town]

"Thank you, but I think I'll pass," Fayyaad says. "I got here to avoid politics, after I got myself involved in it too deeply back home. With good reason, but I still brought danger on me and my family. Was it politics that got you into this particular mess," he gestures around at the carnage, or something else?

[Darkcomet]

[A Bad Side of Town]

The woman shrugs. "Kind of, but not really? Unless Three had some scheme or something here. Now, I'm not gonna give you the whole story, but take it from me, the politics have a way of finding you eventually. Someone thinks you're a threat, or useful, or worse, both, and bam!" She mimes a gunshot with the gun still in her hand. "You're caught in it no matter what you wanted, and not on your terms." She looks around and pauses. "You know, maybe being surrounded by icy gore isn't the best place for political philosophy, particularly if any other crazies show up. We should probably take this somewhere else."

[Morty]

[A Bad Side of Town]

"That might be fore the best." Fayyaad pauses. "But I don't believe you've given me your name yet."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway - Crystal Gardens Park]

Electra fires at the cauldron as the monster winds up, and quickly makes a decision she's not happy about. She stops firing with her left hand, and brings her left shoulder in line with the cauldron as the front of her left pauldron separates from the rest of the armor and snaps up, revealing a hidden bank of micro-missiles. However, before she can fire, the monster bounds ahead and throws the cauldron. Instinct and training take over once more as the monster bursts into a flood of tar, and she leaps upwards, her pauldron snapping shut in an instant, not realizing that the flood has targeted the griffin, and not herself. By the time she realizes, it is too late for her to do anything but shout a warning to him.

"LOOK OUT!"

[Devixer]

Parking Garage

Naku sheaths her physical blade, and goes into a very distinctive half crouch, and pauses for a heartbeat, focusing on the strike she's about to deliver.

Then, in an explosion of speed forward, she rushes one of the gorilla things. She covers the distance in the blink of an eye, and draws into an upward strike. The creature goes flying straight up, and Naku jumps after it. About twenty feet off the ground, she catches the creature, and follows her first strike with a rapid flurry of other slices. She finishes killing the creature by spinning in the air, one leg extended. She catches the creature with her heel, hard enough to throw its broken body back down to the floor, and smash it through two more floors under where the skirmish is going on.

Naku lands next to the hole in the floor a moment later, and the only movement she makes is to slowly look over at the remaining creature.

The last creature is able to shift its attention from the woman over to Naku. The insurgent may have killed more of its squad, but this woman had strange new powers. Capturing her would probably lead to a promotion. It raised its plasma rifle and then it slowly slumped over on the floor, three smoking holes in the back of its head.

The other woman had taken advantage of the distraction provided by Naku and was now stepping out from behind a pillar. She hasn't put down her pistol though. In fact, now she's got it pointed at Naku. "S-stay back, you! I don't know what you are, but I'm not scared of you!" She says that, but her hands, knees, and pretty much everything else are shaking like there's an earthquake.

[Mee]

The last creature is able to shift its attention from the woman over to Naku. The insurgent may have killed more of its squad, but this woman had strange new powers. Capturing her would probably lead to a promotion. It raised its plasma rifle and then it slowly slumped over on the floor, three smoking holes in the back of its head.

The other woman had taken advantage of the distraction provided by Naku and was now stepping out from behind a pillar. She hasn't put down her pistol though. In fact, now she's got it pointed at Naku. "S-stay back, you! I don't know what you are, but I'm not scared of you!" She says that, but her hands, knees, and pretty much everything else are shaking like there's an earthquake.

Naku blinks once in response to the pistol being aimed at her. She holds her eyes closed for just a pause longer than it takes to actually blink, and when her eyes open back up, the glow in her eyes is gone, and all the remaining shadow swords dissipate in the light. She blinks a few more times after that first, as if clearing her head a bit.

"Nor should you be." Naku replies, flicking her blade down to splatter off the blood, before lining the tip up with its scabbard, and sliding it home. "Are you unhurt?"

[Deathkeeper]

Skyway

Nick did already react to the limb behind him, but now there's floods flying in front of him and tar raining and hands flying out of his neck and- you get the idea; the whole place is a mess. Nick really can't follow all of this, and his neck is starting to have restricted air flow. And without the time or cognizance to do much of anything, he simply snaps his wings forward and with incredible speed, launches forward.

...and almost definitely into a building some distance away. He's certainly not going to be helping much from over there in his little crater (thank goodness for Union helmets) but at least the only real danger will be the goop on his neck wrapping him up slowly, and not the...well, all of that.

[Devixer]

Parking Garage

"I'm fine. Why do you care?" The woman steps back. "Trying to get me to lower my guard, eh? So you can c-capture me? Well, it won't work!" She has yet to lower her pistol, and she still hasn't stopped stammering or shaking.

[Murkus]

[Park of Seasons - Central]

"wOahhh" Zefir says as he is dragged by the stag. He hardly magaes to stay up, after all he is a normal man. Whatever Normal means in terms of nexus.

The mages stop as Adir threats them. The purple robed man holds his hands up defensiv. He immediatly casts a shield in front of him, Invisible for the bare eye and without any words.

"What" "is" "this?" The twin mages in red robes ask.
"I don't know." the woman replies. "I saw many people in the city with simular things. It must be some kind of weapon. A wand or so."

"Whatever it is, this guy threaten us with it." The gnome replies. He's obviously in a bad mood or maybe just easy to get mad.

"This is nothing between you and us, antler man. Neither did he gave us an answer to our request." The purple robed man speaks up, addressing Adir directly. "This man has done things in his past. Things he either pay with his service or pay with his life. Are you sure to be part of it? "

"I'm sure there are things I'll regret getting into more. This is pretty low on my worries list," The stag replies, trying to get Zefir to move with him and back-step the rest of the distance toward his truck. "Talking can be done without the formation, guys. Come on, C4. Stay close to me. I want to be able to jump right in if we gotta."

[Mee]

Parking Garage

"I'm fine. Why do you care?" The woman steps back. "Trying to get me to lower my guard, eh? So you can c-capture me? Well, it won't work!" She has yet to lower her pistol, and she still hasn't stopped stammering or shaking.

Parking Garage

"Because," Naku starts, before pausing for a moment to cross her arms, and shift her weight to one side. "You were just attacked. I'm not here to hurt you; nor here to capture you. I was just out for a run and heard gunfire. I came to check it out, and they shot at me. Now we're here.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway - Crystal Gardens]

Electra lands heavily on one knee, weapons pointed at the puddle as the griffin smashes into a building nearby. She holds there for several moments, waiting to see if there is any more movement from the creature, but nothing happens. She then realizes that the stuff over her eyes has taken on a slightly different consistency, and doesn't seem to be holding itself up anymore, as some of it has started to drift down to her cheeks a slight bit. She carefully places her left weapon on the ground, before reaching up gingerly and wiping the tarry mess out of her eyes and off of her face. She blinks several times as her optics clear, and she resets her targeting links, now that she can see with her eyes again. Her face still has streaks of the awful stuff on it, but for right now, she doesn't care. She quickly snaps up the weapon she put down, and rises to her feet, holstering them both, before running over to check on the friendly griffin.

"Are you injured?" The concern is evident in both her voice and on her face, and she moves in quickly to lend aid, whether that be help getting up or out from under any rubble that may have fallen on him.

[Deathkeeper]

Skyway- Crystal Gardens

Nick is still for a moment aside from his breathing when she first arrives, but shakily gets to his feet after a moment with a heavy groan.
"Me? No sirree, all good here. Ow. I'll uh, make it. Ow. Can you help me get this gunk off my throat?" he says woozily, not quite steady on his feet.

[Zefir]

"I'm sure there are things I'll regret getting into more. This is pretty low on my worries list," The stag replies, trying to get Zefir to move with him and back-step the rest of the distance toward his truck. "Talking can be done without the formation, guys. Come on, C4. Stay close to me. I want to be able to jump right in if we gotta."

[Park of Seasons - Central]

Zefir is draged, but tries to slow Adir down.
"Cool down man." Zefir says. "I'm not that scared of them."

The mages continue to move now. all raised their hands in defense. They take a lot more range to Adir, but still try to surround them.
"So what's oyur answer ?" The purple robed man says who is walking straith after the two. "are you with us or with them?"

Zefir is not answering yet. First he waits for Adirs reaction.

[Slii Arhem]

A Certain Silver Theater/Cafe

Sitting comfortably, at about the right time to catch Sebastian's shift, and in around the right place for him to notice her, and recognize her usual look and stylings, The Meddler sips a rather elaborate drink with an air of resignation.

And waits, of course, for this coincidental run-in to get moving at last.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Silvergroan Theaters - Oh Boy Here Come the Puns]

It's a rather slow day, as if the oncoming air of sudden rearrangements was enough to scare people away from the open, breezy little airs of the cafe. On the far side of the restaurant from where the fourth wall becomes glass - and then, to those looking in, the screen of the darkened cinema behind - in the little painted vista beyond the far windows, people stroll by in their strange fashions without a glance, caught in the balmy atmosphere of the sky that's always calm and the rolling sea that's always flecked with spots of sun.

It has, of course, been a massive source of confusion and trouble.
They've had customers refusing to come back from the far side, which is, of course, against policy.

The last few moviegoers are trickling out before coincidence finally comes through, Bastian's head peering around the door for stragglers. With a sigh, he takes a chair and sets himself down at the table.

[Slii Arhem]

Sliverblown Theaters - Cast for 1UR to Destroy the Current Meta!

"I'm supposed to be here to demand to know what you were thinking, getting yourself in that way. Or I was supposed to be. I mean, it would have ruined your disguise for the whole ensemble, certainly, showing up with such obvious changes that mark you as unique to Willa especially." The Meddler begins, reasonably. Bastian's favorite coffee exists comfortably in another bottomless cup before him, appearing from nowhere and having always been there at the same time. She waits, letting him digest her words and perhaps enjoy some of the brew before diving into the meat of things.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Silverpawn Antiques - We Buy Unwanted Transformations]

"And I'm sure that's everyone up top's sole concern from the matter." Bastian states, his voice rather flat and sour, shifting to reach back and pull his tail out from under him. It's still something that's easy to forget, a trailing coil of soft gold-mottled-green, like verdigris on gilt foil.
His eyes are still alien and wide, ears bent back to rejoin the curve of his skull in a thin soapbubble skin of membrane, fanned between soft golden spines that twitch more expressively than he'd like. There are claws, click'ing softly against the mug as he lets his shoulders slump, his posture drag into comfortable exhaustion. "I can see why they find it 'entertaining' to set her on us. Not my idea of funny." There's definitely been some fondness lost between them.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway - Crystal Gardens]


Electra smiles gently, obvious relief on her face.

"Sure, just take it easy for a little bit." She moves in close and kneels down a bit, noting his wooziness, and places a steadying hand on the griffin's massive shoulder. Gently, carefully, she begins scraping the gunk from his neck, taking care not to tug on his feathers too much. Whenever she gets a good handful of the stuff, she flicks her hand out to the side, and away from him, so as not to splash him with it. Perhaps not quite obvious before, but from this close, and at this angle, he can see the small domes with what seem to be blue lenses or gems inset into them where her ears should be. She works in silence for a few moments, before speaking again as she continues to work.

"Sorry I wasn't more help with that...," she trails off, trying to find the proper term, and at last finding something acceptable, along with another clump of the tarry substance, "Er, creature. Um, incidentally, are those things common here?"

[Slii Arhem]

[Silverpawn Antiques - We Buy Unwanted Transformations]

"And I'm sure that's everyone up top's sole concern from the matter." Bastian states, his voice rather flat and sour, shifting to reach back and pull his tail out from under him. It's still something that's easy to forget, a trailing coil of soft gold-mottled-green, like verdigris on gilt foil.
His eyes are still alien and wide, ears bent back to rejoin the curve of his skull in a thin soapbubble skin of membrane, fanned between soft golden spines that twitch more expressively than he'd like. There are claws, click'ing softly against the mug as he lets his shoulders slump, his posture drag into comfortable exhaustion. "I can see why they find it 'entertaining' to set her on us. Not my idea of funny." There's definitely been some fondness lost between them.

Silverspawn Hatcheries - When the Predators Get Rough, Just Make More Babby

"You're so damn happy to look for interference where there wasn't any. At least, none from my end. Libra's crew was the opposition, we just stuck our fingers into them to stir the pot from both ends, to use a metaphor too lurid for you to understand. Not that it matters now. The game's over, and I'm coming to you because you appreciate good coffee." She sips, somehow disturbing neither the surface of the drink nor the elaborately quaffed and caramel-drizzled cream glob floating atop it.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Silverspoon Diner - Reservation Only]

"Oh, I can understand. I can also disagree that's any different from what I've said." But there's a downwards glance towards his coffee, the almost acidic fizz of rippled earth colors bubbling up around the rim of the mug. The steam rolling off a becalmed black lake that returns no light.

It is good coffee. Maybe he has a sip or two, against his better sense of righteousness. "So, this is all wound down at a say-so? It's all over so quickly? Really over?" His shoulders twitch, not sure if they should be shrugging. "I hope I'm not running out of questions yet."

[Deathkeeper]

Skyway- Crystal Gardens

Nick shakes himself off and eventually lays down, clean but tired.
"Don't worry about it. You did most of the work. And no. Ain't seen one of those things before. I'll have to file a report on those imps, now. Darn nuisances."

[Slii Arhem]

Silvermoan "Theater" - Your Most Satisfying Curtain Call

"Oh it's different, if only because you've got the order of events backwards. Libra assembles a team to take out a world-ending threat, so there needs to be a threat. So we provided one, all wrapped up neatly. Awful, evil, yet completely defeatable by some women and girls given magical powers by a capricious entity. We didn't sic Libra on anyone. She sicced magical girls on the Nexus, we just balanced the scales." She gestures, a sort of half-shrug of fatalistic "what-can-you-do?"

"But it's over. The numbers were run, and it just wouldn't work. They'd be over with the threat too quickly, and the likelihood is high that one or more of them would come out psychologically scarred, but otherwise unharmed. Uninteresting, shuts down too many possibilities. Not to mention that the path there was focusing too much on a couple of key players while neglecting the rest, and involving far too much direct intervention between Libra's side and our own, rather than the original intended use of proxies."

Then she stops, and considers something with a slow, malicious grin, "Well, at least the planned villains and antagonism is over. I've been cleared for freelance work, here and there where appropriate. Anything that releases a bit of stagnation from the world. And if another threat comes up from another side, then there could still be a call to arms. But we've officially pulled out of that race."

[ThirdEmperor]

[Silverhone Knife Company - The Edgiest Jokes]

"I'll only hold my tongue here, because terrible things could come of arguing time with you." Which is suspiciously close to cheating, but he's feeling slightly entitled to breaking a few rules of conversation after all he's been through. No matter how polite. "And all of us get left behind? Am I even allowed to tell them, now?" In an uneasy way, this really does feel rather like an abandonment.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway - Crystal Gardens]


"I'm just glad I was able to help," she muses, rubbing her hands together to clean the remnants off of them. Her face is still streaked here and there with bits of the stuff. "But now what happens? You mentioned before that I needed to get registered as a citizen. I'm pretty sure I'm stuck here, so I should probably do that as soon as I can. And I need to find a place to stay and some kind of income to pay for everything..."

Electra trails off for a moment as her internal HUD brings up an overlay of data on her visuals. She curses softly to herself, and mentally makes a few commands before minimizing the overlay to a corner of her HUD. She shakes her head.

"...and I'm going to need either a recharge bay or a lot of food." She closes her eyes for a moment and sighs, rubbing the bridge of her nose with finger and thumb.

[Slii Arhem]

[Silverhone Knife Company - The Edgiest Jokes]

"I'll only hold my tongue here, because terrible things could come of arguing time with you." Which is suspiciously close to cheating, but he's feeling slightly entitled to breaking a few rules of conversation after all he's been through. No matter how polite. "And all of us get left behind? Am I even allowed to tell them, now?" In an uneasy way, this really does feel rather like an abandonment.

Silverphone Telecoms - Silver Bells A'Ringing

"Whether or not those villains always existed after we created them or never existed once they were no longer needed is invalid to this conversation." She grins, no stranger to cheating herself, "And I'm of the opinion that you're better off without the likelihood of dancing yourself to death, Sebastian. I'd hardly consider it being left behind. It just means we're no longer technically enemies." Even so, she imperiously waves her hand, "Do whatever you like. I won't renege on our end just because things didn't turn out. It'll be more interesting if they know what happened, and why. Heck, form a support group for magical girls out of work, you might get more bites than you'd think."

"I'll be in touch, anyway. Willa knows how to find me, and she, or he could teach you just fine. It's not freedom, but I've been given a longer leash to try some of my own ideas."

[ThirdEmperor]

[Silverdrone Apiary - You Catch More Flies]

"I suppose I worry, that you're threatening or warning me." It is probably the sternest sentence Sebastian's ever fixed her with, and the most serious look. My, he has very expressive eyes as of late, great golden lanterns of guilt. "So far nothing you've really done is anything but, say, being the hand of divine intervention. I'd rather keep liking you, for the most part. I mean, a little freedom is more than some get." He tears a satchel of not sugar into his tea, shaking the little packet with vicious agitation. A spoon flails at the mix, despite it already being the perfect temperature and, worse, the perfect sweetness.

[Slii Arhem]

Silverloam Graveyards - Luxury Plots, Now in Golden Groves

"Aww, that's sweet of you." The sarcasm just rolls off her like a palpable wave of smug as his little sugar packet diffuses in the endless amount of drink and does nothing to affect its flavor. "But I know that look. You're too used to entities that would play with you for their own amusement. I'd rather play with you than with you though. What do you say to a bet, to end this on friendly, if competitive terms?"

[Deathkeeper]

Skyway

Nick nods.
"That sounds reasonable. What kinda charger you use? 'Cause there's plenty of places to eat around here." he offers, taking off his helmet and wiggling his feathery ears.

[Murkus]

[Park of Seasons - Central]

Zefir is draged, but tries to slow Adir down.
"Cool down man." Zefir says. "I'm not that scared of them."

The mages continue to move now. all raised their hands in defense. They take a lot more range to Adir, but still try to surround them.
"So what's oyur answer ?" The purple robed man says who is walking straith after the two. "are you with us or with them?"

Zefir is not answering yet. First he waits for Adirs reaction.

"If we get boxed, it's over. No way. No way I-- oy! I said stop!" Adir hesitates for but an instant before blasting several holes in the dirt at the feet of the purple robed fellow. Clods of topsoil spatter his nice clothes, and the collective's ears may begin to ring with the pistol's deafening report. The stag swallows, ears flicking, and says, "C4, I gotta tell ya, if it's join or die, I say we go for option C and get the hell out of here."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Skyway]


Electra looks up at Nick in surprise, then smiles appreciatively.

"Well, I normally use a Cain Labs spec 121A High Performance Reploid sleep pod, and usually, I would recharge while catching a quick nap in one of those, but in this case, I think some burgers might pose a better solution." She stands and stretches, arms above her head, before swinging them back down as she relaxes slightly on her feet. "What do you recommend?"