Riverside 19

[Arkhosia]

Eastside - a Quiet Little Park

The invasion left its mark on many places throughout Eastside, with so many places destroyed or ruined by infernals and devils. But some tiny corners have largely escaped the ravages of conflict, such as this small little park, a grass field dominated by a towering oak tree that only suffered a little scorching to its leaves. Down below, a young teen takes a seat upon one of the benches, setting down a worn black guitar case on the pathway beside it. A large greatsword lies within a set of straps on the bottom as she extracts an acoustic guitar from within, cradling the instrument in her delicate hands. Brushing over her shoulder a ponytail of ginger hair bound by a blue ribbon, the blue-eyed kitsune begins to strum.

[billtodamax]

Eastside - a Quiet Little Park

Walking through the park whistling a jaunty tune (probably, she's not doing it very well) comes Violet. She has a pair of spears fastened over her shoulder with some sort of makeshift sling and she's pushing a trolley that's absolutely laden with consumer electronics. The bulk of the cart is taken up by a huge flatscreen, but there's also a set of speakers, some sort of game console, a few computer parts, and various others.

She spots the teen and - feeling uncharacteristically generous - calls out to her. Hey, fox. You can probably snag an electric guitar from the store down the street from here. Upgrade that piece of crap, right? Won't get a TV or anything though, most of them are smashed. Violet always gives out such good advice. Ain't no owner or workers or anything, probably bailed when they saw how totalled this place was.

[Rebonack]

[Terrific Elf Relief Shelter]
Diesel Punk

Thank goodness there wasn't anyone in the bathroom at the moment, otherwise the woman's tactical entrance probably would have resulted in a scream. Or at least some really weird looks.

People are pretty on edge after the whole demon army invasion thing.

The bathroom is pretty unremarkable. Everything is made of wood, of course. This IS still a bunch of elf nonsense. But there are recognizable stalls and sinks and BIGGER stalls that house the showers.

Oh wait, no, someone IS in here. She can hear one of the showers running and steam rising above the stall.

Notably there doesn't appear to be any male/female division on the bathroom. Just private stalls for everyone. This might have something to do with the fact that all the weird elfs look totally androgynous and wouldn't have realized the importance of that distinction. Or maybe they did? Who knows.

Harley

The elf gestures at a nearby set of chairs that appear to have grown out of the floor. Where they there before? Probably. Harley just overlooked them or something. That's the best explanation. The elf sits down in the chair, somehow managing to make the otherwise mundane action annoyingly glamorous.

"Our maximum capacity is three hundred and thirty three persons," the elf replies amiably. Gosh why does this elf have to be so pretty? "Presently we are only at a third of that capacity."

So not overflowing! That's good, right?

"We have our own guards. All of the personnel here are equipped to deal with any threats that might arise. The well being of our guests is of utmost importance to us," the elf continues. "And all of our personal are terrific elfs. We have no demons working for us."

Not even ONE demon.

The elfs might be kind of speciesist. That should come as a shock to absolutely no one. They ARE elfs after all.

"We try not to discriminate between those in need. Anyone who is seeking rest and recuperation in these trying times is welcome here. We are supplying our own means, however there is something we could use aid with," the elf admits. "Many here desire electricity to power their artifice. This isn't something we can provide with our arts. If the city can spare any artifice to produce this power, we would appreciate such a gesture."

At that last question an elfy eyebrow is raised. "Conflicting interests? Of what kind?"

[Arkhosia]

Eastside - A Quiet Little Park

Violet gives the fox-tailed ginger quite the shock, and the teen practically jumps in her seat, the chord she was strumming turning sour halfway through as her fingers leap momentarily from the frets and strings. A cry of surprise follows as she fumbles and then catches her instrument, taking a second to inspect the wooden finish worriedly for another dent or scratch before her bright blue eyes turn up towards the speaker.

"I-I think uh, I think I-I'm fine with just this." The girl responds with a bit of confusion, subconsciously clutching the acoustic close to her form like some manner of precious relic she'd sworn to protect... or perhaps more accurately, like someone who didn't have much else and was terrified to lose what little they had left.

[Earl of Purple]

Terrific Elf Relief Shelter- Stabby Plot of Stabbing

That tree hut over there is pretty close to perfect. She'll lead him over there, and hope there's nobody inside. If there is, she'll look for somewhere else, possibly behind it if it's isolated enough.

If it is empty, she'll lead it inside and unwrap her arm. Beneath, it's blackened bones, skeletal and dead-looking. Elimnae can move it, but she doesn't, to encourage the impression it's dead and useless. "Can you help with this? You grew all the buildings, so your life magic must be potent." Her other hand rests on the hilt of her athame, imbued thus far with a single soul. She's hoping he'll lean over for a closer look, so she can surreptitiously draw the blade and bring it up and into his chest.

[Lord Magtok]

The Faction's Totally Secret Headquarters - Harley

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The Faction's Totally Secret Headquarters - Harley

Harley sticks out her tongue playfully. "I figured that at least some of you would appreciate the compliments."

Anyway. Serious time.

Harley nods. "It's fortunate you have those resources; they will be very helpful right now. I'll get you the contact info for some of the other government employees and will try to have all the info you'll need for later today."


Later this afternoon is pretty fast. Let's hope Harley can talk to all the right people in time and set it up. She'll probably have to use her phone more today than she ever has. So much for what she had planned later today...

Haz nods, and turns around to address Vlad, who's already vanished down the trapdoor to tell the others about the current situation. Okay good, he didn't even need to tell him what to do.

"Alright, you need anything else while you're here, councilwoman? Armed escort as you go about doing political things, maybe? There could be a lot of enterprising looters and scavengers about. Some of them might even be dumb enough to pick a fight with a pol." It wouldn't be the first time a city's been faced with disaster in the Nexus, though the people of this world were better about coming together and rebuilding than you'd expect. That was back in Inside, though. It's very possible Riverside is just a worse sort of community, and all the factional divisions and crime that had been going on here means rebuilding will be that much harder without a dependable supply of altruistic NPCs to keep it all together.


Faction HQ - Ithuriel and Magtok?

Spoiler

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[Faction HQ]

Three cans, Ambriel? Three? Well the good cop schtick might be a good idea but you're probably going to have to force that can into Ithuriel's hand. She's a bit distracted by the scene playing out in front of her, and she's not particularly happy seeing Haz wave that gun around. So much so in fact that she steps a bit closer, reaching one hand out to clamp around the dangerous end of the shooty-thing and gently pull it away from Magtok while she rests her arm on the helpless (probably not actually helpless) cyborg. "You know Magtok, I do recall you saying that it was important for you not to directly acknowledge these guys exist and that you really wanted to make sure you didn't come into contact with them for fear of it causing further conflict. And yet here you are, huh?"

You've got to admit, it looks a little bit dodgy, right? He must have known something like this would happen and yet he's here anyway, which does make Ithuriel a little suspicious. What's Magtok's angle here? Is this all some sort of setup? A sneaky attempt to do away with all these "faulty" clones or something? She'd like to think he's better than that now, but their prior conversation in Trog's suggests he's still got a villainous streak in there. "You're right Haz, I do know what Magtok is like. So you probably ought to realise that beating him up with a gun isn't going to be very productive. So, Magtok, be a pal and tell your friends what's going on, without any snarky comments. And as long as you play nice, I'll make sure they do too, okay?"

Magtok sighs in exasperation. Why does this sort of thing always happen when he doesn't have any kind of secret evil agenda at all? Nobody ever suspects him when he's actually up to something rotten, but the moment he tries to do the right thing and be a good person, everyone comes out of the woodwork to question his motives and attack his person. Is he just that bad at sounding genuine? Maybe he needs to figure out a way to make this an evil scheme after all, just so everyone believes he's as honest and well-meaning as he wanted to be.

"Fine, sure, whatever. I came here because the fate of the world is in jeopardy, again, and I might need help with it. A death goddess I dated has been kidnapped by an evil dragon so that she achieve some sort of apotheosis through divinity theft. This is bad news for the Nexus as a whole, obviously. Fortunately, the divine essence in question is...somewhere, hidden away from the dragon. I have no idea where. Needs said there's a half-dragon and bodysnatchers involved too, but MERC's been tasked with dealing with them, so I'm not too worried about that. I'm probably going to keep my distance until it's time to take the fight to Feia herself, but when that day comes, I'm going to need a lot more firepower than I have right now, because as you can see, a single Haz could take me down in seconds. I'm nowhere near ready to take on a dragon right now, but Libby needs me, and-"

"Mag, do you still have access to MagCave Storage Room C?" Ambriel interrupts, passing that can of soda mentioned a post ago to the purple-robed cyborg.

"MagCave what? What's that got to do with this?"

"MagCave Storage Room C. Is it still accessible?" Wings repeats, undeterred. He shoots a quick smile towards Ithuriel, and she may recall that's exactly the storage room he mentioned earlier, back in her demiplane.

"It is, yeah," Mag answers, still unsure what some stupid storage room has to do with the end of the world as we know it. From the looks the rest of Faction is giving Ambriel, there's quite a few others in the room thinking the same thing. Was there some deadly superweapon in there they all completely forgot about?

[billtodamax]

Eastside - A Quiet Little Park

No, really, noone's there. If you don't take it someone else will, y'know? Violet tells her. The whole city's like this. Free stuff everywhere. Got to get in quick though! Any looting you do now is legal. Or, at least, noone will stop you. Violet doesn't make the rules she just abuses them.

[bc56]

Terrific Elf Relief Shelter - Diesel Punk

The woman puts back the carbine, draws the hammer, and cautiously opens one of the showers which isn't running, looking to see if there's anything amiss inside. If not, she'll go in.

[Arkhosia]

Eastside - A Quiet Little Park

The foxgirl sidles away a couple inches, curling her floofy tail around her subconsciously. This lady had a lot of stuff, what if she tried to take it from her too? "Could... could you, like... stop?" She asks with as much bravery as she could muster, glancing at those spears a little too fearfully to actually come off as stalwart - not that her body language helps of course - poor girl looks absolutely primed to run, not to go for her sword. "Some of us... some of us s-still have rent to pay, y-y'know?"

[billtodamax]

Eastside - A Quiet Little Park

What, am I bothering you? Violet asks, leaving her trolley to step closer to the kitsune. Just trying to give out some friggin' advice here and I get it thrown back in my face. You think I don't have bills to pay? Violet steals things and fences them to pay her bills. She can also sense fear, and moves in closer.

[UncleWolf]

Jezebel's Manor

Jezebel lets out a long, slow, and shuddering breath before reaching up to push her hair back over her ears and back from her horns. The gesture ends with her hand on Cessie's, which she brings to her lips to plant a gentle kiss on her knuckles. "By the Warp, how can I feel bad with that sort of reasoning being thrown at me?" She asks, finally breaking out into a smile and a chuckle. "You're right, Cessie. I'll recover and I'll recover with the help of those around me. Even more, I think it's time to stop having all these doubts about it as well. I am who I am. Missing memories won't change that. I'll get them back somehow but I can't dwell on them now." As she speaks, her words get a bit firmer, more resolute.

"And speaking of no more doubts, I would love it if you were to just lay next to me for a bit." Jezebel turns to Cessie, gently pulling on her hand to try and pull the mage herself into a kiss.

Lotus Gardens

The Receptionist looks around, making sure she was the one being spoken to, but she frowns at the implication that she was part of the Eastside government. "I wouldn't really say I'm part of the government, and with the Lady having removed herself from office I doubt I have any link to it at all now. But I don't think Eastside has much of a jail left for prisoners regardless with the Hunter's Hall being crushed and all." She points out before peering down at the pixie. "...but we have something that can hold her here for questioning. Or are you looking for judgement rather than interrogation?"

[Shadowcaller]

Jezebel's Manor

Cessie smiles grow wider when she can see that Jezebel is breaking out of her melancholy.
It was a real relief to hear her speak with more confidence even with all the gloom and doom that that befallen her in the last few days.
So even if she was a bit leery about doing with someone possibly coming in to the room discovering them, she couldn't say no to a kiss. Not after all Jezebel had been through. She had to do everything in her power to cheer her up.
She lay down next to the former daemon and creeps underneath the covers as they start making out. She didn't really let her hands wander, still unsure about Jezzy's health, not to mention touching another woman in such a way. But this was to be about Jezebel, not her.
"I'm all yours for the day, if you want me." She whispers as they lay still for a bit, restricting herself to run her hands through Jezebel's hair.

[Arkhosia]

Eastside - A Quiet Little Park

What, am I bothering you? Violet asks, leaving her trolley to step closer to the kitsune. Just trying to give out some friggin' advice here and I get it thrown back in my face. You think I don't have bills to pay? Violet steals things and fences them to pay her bills. She can also sense fear, and moves in closer.

”N-no, I’m - I’m s-s-sorry...”The girl weakly attempts to lie as she shrinks away from Violet, gripping her guitar tightly and lowering her gaze. Poor girl looks absolutely terrified at the more hostile change of tone, and an overactive imagination can’t stop from conjuring up a thousand possible terrible things that Violet could do to her. It’s always possible the terror looks pathetic, but she really just looks like a scared little girl more than anything else

[billtodamax]

Eastside - A Quiet Little Park

That's friggin' right. Violet says, backing down a little herself. She looks around for a bit to make sure she's still exuding her aura of menace (check!) before turning back to the girl. So what, you like... busk for a living or somethin' She spits on the ground next to her in an automatic motion. Not like she's deriding busking, more like she had spit in her mouth and wanted it out.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Faction HQ]

"Serious business, huh?" There's definitely some doubt in Ithuriel's voice. Can you really blame her after Magtok's little outburst in Trog's? Not outright disbelief though, so that's something. Probably because of all that whining about Libby. That sounds very Magtok-esque too, to get all wound up about some girl like that. Wait, would Wings get like this if something happened to her? Ambriel coming in to save the day, tears streaming down his face as he cries for his beloved Ithuriel - that's an amusing image.

...

Wait, did she just imagine herself as a damsel in distress? A hint of red comes to Ithuriel's cheeks at that realisation. Hopefully no one picks up on it.

"O-oh, yeah, storage room c. Very important. If you can get him in and out of there safely" She leans in close to fix Magtok with a withering stare to make sure it's clear exactly what would happen to him if Ambriel isn't kept safe, "I'm sure that'd go a long way towards earning Ambriel's support at least. And if y'got Wings backing you, then you get me too."

[UncleWolf]

Jezebel's Manor

When the kissing is done, Jezebel has a small smile on her face that she can't quite get rid of. She lays on her wide, Cessie in her arms as she leans her head into the mage's hand. This felt...right and was just what she needed after the trials of the last few days. "Mmm...as much as I would love to monopolize you and keep you under these covers for the next couple days, I suspect I could honestly use a fair bit of true fresh air and could go for a walk to stretch my legs. I ache from being in bed for so long." And ache for other reasons, but that one too. "Would you mind helping me dress at least?"

[Shadowcaller]

Jezebel's Manor

"You take me for a common servant now, lady Tel'vree?" Cessie asks, teasingly while still holding onto Jezebel. "Maybe this once considering your injuries, but don't make a habit of making such requests. I certainly wouldn't ask you to dress me." Her words are bit overly intricate as to signal that she isn't really being serious.
"You want me to help you up too? Or can you do that on your own?"

[Gullara]

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