Outside 46

[Murkus]

[Tower of Batu]

Batu is kissed. This seems to cause his brain to short-circuit briefly. When it regains the ability to think, Batu leans forward and kisses Div back clumsily. It doesn't help that he's got rather prominent teeth and Div doesn't.

Batu definitely doesn't have to feel bad about it being clumsy. Div has very little idea what he's doing. It probably turns into a whole mess, which Div pulls out of laughing, grinning at his... new boyfriend? Something. "Umh. Have you ever done that before?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

A few moments later and the Bat is back with a bottle of their finest. As is tradition, a small amount is poured into their glasses as a taster first and, upon meeting their approval, the glasses are filled. Sylvie is no expert on wine (and neither am I!) but she nods approvingly. Their vintage wine's strength is more in the quality of the vineyard used to make it than in how long it's been aged, and by whatever means those more familiar with wine would judge it, it is quite a fine wine.

"I shall return shortly to take your order for dinner, after which a range of appetisers will be served for you to enjoy for the rest of our descent, which should be about twenty minutes." That might seem like a long time to be going down for, but the elevator is descending at a rather sedate pace. Comfort is the priority, not speed. The Bat swiftly departs to attend to another set of guests.

"O-oh, I guess that answers your question, Spako?" Sylvie hurriedly starts flipping through to the actual food section of the menu. Thankfully it's not quite as extensive as the drinks menu. Should be easy enough for her to figure out a starter, main and dessert by next post!

[Deathkeeper]

[Inner Mountainside]

Spako sips at the wine once it’s delivered, swirling the glass thoughtfully.
”It’s very good.” he says simply. He’s not sure when he acquires such an appetite for the stuff, but he has to hold himself back from taking a big gulp.
He’s also flipping through the menu as Sylvie is.
”So, is the menu as good as you’d expect? How often to you attend such fancy places?” Spako asks. How far out of normal is she going for him, hmmm?

[Devixer]

Chapel

Faudre takes the key from the uncounscious guard, before going to each cage, one by one, and unlocking the door. She knocks on the bars of each of them twice in an attempt to wake more up, taking care to keep the noise and her voice low. "Follow me. I will help you out of this place."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

"W-well I, um, I thought I should...you know." Sylvie looks away, with just a touch of colour coming to her cheeks. "This was the best idea I had to try and impress you?" She promptly hides behind her wine glass, drinking it as slooowly as she can.

And then, mercifully, the Bat returns! Boy that was quick. "Are you ready to order? I can give you a little longer if you'd like."

"N-no, no no, I'm ready to order! I-I'll have the spicy mushroom broth for starters, the cave trout main, a-and the, um, the crystal monolith for dessert!" She might not have paid attention to the last one. Or maybe she has, since the picture makes it look like a big ol' shiny tower of crystal on a plate. Apparently that's a dessert.

[Deathkeeper]

Under Mountainside

Spako squeezes Sylvie close, grinning.
”Well, there’s more than one way to impress me, but today has been wonderful so far.” he assures her.
Turning to the waiter,
”I’ll have the stuffed mushroom to start, the house sampler platter, and the cassata cave cake.” he says cheerily.

[Earl of Purple]

Chapel

The slaves are released! The three young men immediately creep over to the sleeping guard, one going to grab the shotgun, another taking the man's knife. The third removes, carefully, the guard's gas mask, revealing an orange-skinned orc-face with tusks and a snub nose. The second escaped slave then drives the knife into the orc's eye; the orc dies without a sound, and they are thorough as they search the corpse for weapons and strip it of anything useful. He doesn't have anything other than the knife and shotgun, though the slave with the knife works on digging out his tusks to hand those out as crude daggers.

The women and the older man quickly seperate themselves from the now-armed trio of men, joined by the teenage lad, though all the slaves have disparate origins- most, especially the girls, are from various tribes; the older man was a travelling doctor who disagreed with the slavers, but the group who killed the orc were raiders.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

"Thank you. You'll be seated in booth five. Your food will be served shortly once we're down there. For now, enjoy the rest of your descent." The Bat smiles and turns away to attend to another table.

Overhead, fragments of crystal start to pierce through the ceiling. Brief flashes of colour spread across above in incomplete patterns, gradually becoming clearer as they go down.

"It's kinda pretty, isn't it? Makes you wanna, y'know, hoard it." Sylvie mumbles, gazing dreamily up above. "Do you think maybe we could- oh! Food!"

Another Bat dashes past, dropping off a plate loaded with a variety of herb-based biscuits (the British kind, so crackers?) as well as an array of cheeses, meats, olives, moss, some sort of vine, a couple of interesting-looking dips and spreads...there's not much of anything on there, nothing more than a bite's worth, but it's quite the variety!

[Morty]

[Tower of Batu]

Batu definitely doesn't have to feel bad about it being clumsy. Div has very little idea what he's doing. It probably turns into a whole mess, which Div pulls out of laughing, grinning at his... new boyfriend? Something. "Umh. Have you ever done that before?"

"No," Batu admits, still blushing fiercely. "There may have been some other... men interested in men in my tribe, but they weren't interested in me."

[Deathkeeper]

Under Mountainside

Spako grins.
”You’d need a lot of bribery to take one of hose home, Sylvie.”
You’d also need to not be distracted by food, which they presently are.
Spako tries all of it.
Normally it’s a terrible idea to fill up on crackers, but being around Sylvie makes Spako remember he actually has a dragon sized stomach and he finds himself not slaking his appetite in the slightest by all the little mouthfuls here.
”Huh, it’s all really good, huh?”

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

Sylvie is content to let Spako have the lion's- or dragon's share of food. She nibbles on the odd piece, but isn't really concerned if she doesn't get to try anything. "Yeah, it's good. Didn't take you long to work your way through it though!" She giggles, lightly teasing him. "So we've got a bunch of time left to drink wine and enjoy the ride down. What should we do?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Under Mountainside]

Spako grins, a little embarrassed at his own gluttony. He can't help that he's hungry! He's a growing dragon!
He tries his best to look up at the ceiling and pretend he's distracted.
"I dunno, what're we supposed to do? Enjoy the ride, I think. Look at the pretty stones, right? Or did you have something in mind?" The stones are indeed pretty. Pretty, shiny crystals.
They really would look great in a hoard somewhere, arranged in a nice little pile.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

The deeper they go, the more prevalent the crystals become. Over the course of a few minutes, the ceiling has gone from a dull grey to a myriad of specks of colour all glistening in the light being given off by the elevator. "Enjoy the ride, enjoy each other's company I guess." Sylvie takes a moment to refill their glasses and shuffles a little closer to Spako, her tail curling round to entwine with his.

"I don't, um, I don't really know what I'm doing, Spako." Sylvie looks round at the various tables. Groups talking and laughing with each other, couples staring at each other, everyone having a good time. They're having a good time too, right? "T-this isn't how I was taught that dragons go about things. Dragons aren't meant to agree to go on a date like an hour after first meeting!" It makes her all a bit jittery. It definitely shows. But at the same time, Spako is nice, right?

...right?

They're meant to be talking about each other, aren't they? "S-so how did you come to be all the best bits of different coloured dragons combined? A-and the feathers?"

*****

[Ancient Temple - Closed Scene]

"Hello? Am I speaking to Shazhan?" That would be Shazhan's phone talking. Not the phone ringing, not a voice message accidentally playing, no. Just the phone abruptly talking with what sounds like a rather tinny male voice.

[Deathkeeper]

[Under Mountainside]

Spako is more than willing to pull her close since she's being all self-conscious again.
"Well, I was born like this, except part brass and part sandy-yellow. Not sure why don't ask. I never knew if my dad or a great-times-whatever grandfather had been a dragon. Bloodlines are weird.
Anyway, I spent years trying to purify my bloodline, including rune magic and the like. Eventually, I helped a local minor goddess find a new home for some kobolds she'd accidentally made. So she helped me acquire a rune her mother used on her to make her a dragon. I don't know what she'd been before. It made me a lot closer, but I lost my hands and was wing-walking and it was awful so I bargained with her to give me a few drops of her blood so I could repeat the ritual and get myself all proper. And it worked! But now I have all of the mortal dragon blood she had, so I'm a mutt.

Oh and no, her blood was mortal stuff. Her divinity was...metaphysical? She's a goddess, but it didn't seem to like, be in the blood? Just a thing about her? I didn't get it." he pauses, running a claw through his feathers.

"Oh, the feathers I got when my master made me pretend to be a bird-king for like, a week. I was a bird for so long they kind of stuck. Or maybe he did it on purpose. My master could be a bastard sometimes."

[Lord Magtok]

Maggy Land!

The place where all those kids got killed on the teacups due to an accident involving giant tea bags from the sky, where the actual Magtok is the Mascot that everyone abuses, the only place with a haunted house ride that is actually haunted by the people who have ridden it. Where the log flume ride ends in an actual saw mill, the Ferris wheel has been known to break from its supports and go for a spin around the park, the space mountain often ends in explosive decompression, and the place known for the fatal yeti incident on the Magerhorn!

...Or rather, it was all of that stuff, once. Ten years ago, Magtok abandoned the place, overwhelmed by several hundred negligence lawsuits. Ten years ago, when the world was a sillier place, when the Good League of Good had more in common with the Avengers than a summer camp. Ten years ago, when Magtok was so much more carefree, unburdened by foolish mortal ethics or morality. He used to be so nostalgic for these days. He used to wonder why he ever let that Magtok slip away, why he started thinking about the consequences of his actions, why he ever agreed to help the heroes save the world, instead of take it for himself.

That misguided cyborg who saw the past through such rose-tinted lenses is dead now, however. It's easy enough to write off all these amusement park casualties as worthless NPCs who only existed for a single macabre joke, but there were real people who suffered because of the other things he did back then. Allies he hurt, friends he abused. Hardly any of us were really good people back then, and the world was full of so much suffering he'd willfully blinded himself to. Reinholdt's apocalypses never made the world dark and edgy, like Magtok always told himself. No, Magtok made it like that. Rein never cloned the girl he had a crush on, threw her into another reality, and told her she was the real Happy and they were the only ones to survive the apocalypse. Rein never cloned a small army of that same shapeshifter, pointed them at a war machine, and ordered them all to transform into his nemesis's dead child. Reinholdt didn't build this monument to our own vanity, and then deliberately allowed it to fall to pieces just so we'd have a spooky setpiece to frighten people with later on.

That was us. All of that, that was all us. Magtok was sick, evil, and twisted, and he let himself forget all of those sins because life was just a little bit more convenient that way. The Magtok he remembered, the affable, mostly harmless supercriminal who never actually hurt people, just messed around a little? No, he never existed. He wasn't real. We were awful, and it's absolutely humiliating that we've only really begun to notice this now, an entire decade later, digging through the refuse and ruins of our past.


"Hello?" Magtok calls out, carefully stepping over some broken glass, tracing his hand over ancient graffiti and peeling paint on what may have once been a cheap, purple imitation of the Disney World castle ten years ago. Someone had called him here this night, left an ominous note with a set of weird instructions in his pickup truck. Why? How much does Conference Z really know, and how? He swears, if he's getting tangled up in another one of those ridiculous evil organizations again, another AMEN or HATS or PEACE, he's just going to call up his brother and fly right out of here. He's had it with this stuff. We're not that Magtok anymore, I swear. We're certainly not perfect, no, but we're trying to be better. We can't let ourselves be the kind of person who'd make a place like this ever again.

[Hattish Thing]

[Maggy Land - Late]

At precisely 10PM, a trio of armored vehicles arrive just outside of the abandoned amusement park, gliding effortlessly through the inky blackness.

The vehicles park, remaining utterly motionless for several seconds, motors running silently. A second later, a cruel-sounding ringing noise pierces the air, rising to a painful crescendo before bursting. As if on command, any illumination within the area vanishes, including the cyborg's bright, crimson eye. His world is plunged into darkness for several seconds before there's a blinding flash of white light as the car door before him opens wide, the otherworldly light intense enough to daze and disorient. When the cyborg regains his bearings, he glances forward, eyes settling upon the vehicle, lit up somewhat by the harsh, glaring light coming from within. A cold, white mist pools out from the vehicle, revealing an individual shrouded in the white fog.

Tidy locks of well-groomed, wheat-colored hair fall over his unhealthily pale forehead, peppered and lined with streaks of gray, while almond-shaped eyes of cold and calculating gray peer out at the world from behind ornate circular spectacles of silvery siccatite and brilliant onyx gemstone. His unhealthily pale skin is perfect and unblemished, however, many late nights spent without suitable rest have caused dark circles to manifest beneath the figure's prying, bird-like eyes. In addition to his sunken and uncomfortably focused gray eyes, the man possesses a large, hooked nose and dark lips permanently set to smirk.

Although the man's physical appearance is relatively unremarkable, his equipment and garb stand out. The man is clad in an extravagant gray greatcoat, lined with thick fur. The well-worn coat is decorated with lines of faded silver and gold, wrapped tightly to his frame and fastened by glittering golden buttons. Beneath his enormous coat, the man wears dark-colored military dress, decorated with crimson clasps and ornamentations which all depict the same somewhat ominous-looking symbol.

After a moment, he whispers, quiet and intense.

"Get in."

---

Spoiler: Art:

Show

[Lord Magtok]

Maggy Land - Late

Is that...Gordon? No no, not Gordon. Gordon was never anywhere near that fashionable. His hair was considerably darker than this guy's, too. There's not a hint of anything draconic or blood magicky about this stranger, either. Honestly, I think the former leader of AMEN would be more likely to just shoot us in the back than bother with all of this spooky meeting in the dark and frying our left eyeball. I feel pretty comfortable saying this guy must be someone new, someone we've never met before. That has positive connotations, and also a slew of terrible, awful, bad ones, too. He might be a recent immigrant, too new to know better than to shoot a Magtok. Wouldn't that be a funny way to die, killed off only because some young upstart didn't know it was (false) common knowledge that killing MagClones doesn't accomplish anything?

"My brother knows I'm here. Not because I told him anything, because he's a weird wizard who just knows things. I just thought I should warn you, in case you were thinking of doing anything to me in your creepy Nazi rape van," Magtok scowls, blinking a few times to try to adjust to the glow of the car lights right in his face. As powerful as the urge might be to immediately comply and avoid being potentially shot in the gut for resisting the man's orders, Magtok chooses to resist for now. They can shove him in the armored vehicle if they want, they can answer his sass with more of their own, or they can mutter something about wasted opportunities and drive off, if they prefer to do that instead. All of that's fine, really. He's not about to just follow instructions without a good reason to do so, however. The implicit threat of violence isn't enough, we need an actual threat before we're cowed into anything.

[Shadowcaller]

[Ancient Temple - Closed Scene]

"Hello? Am I speaking to Shazhan?" That would be Shazhan's phone talking. Not the phone ringing, not a voice message accidentally playing, no. Just the phone abruptly talking with what sounds like a rather tinny male voice.

[Ancient Temple - Closed Scene]

Whoever is in the phone might be able to detect that while its consistent with the current-modern-RL-technology its also quite a few years and editions old. Indeed, depending on how much the person speaking can tell about the phone by being able to access it like this, its likely second-hand.

There is a longer pause before anyone replies as the phone is placed on the tomb floor of the temple. "Well, well, well, who could access this property in such a manner and demand that I would identify myself before they do? Such lack of maannerss. Why don't we start over with you introducing yourself, oh mysterious voice?" The speakers voice sounds oddly distorted and large parts of it will be impossible to make out if its played back on electronic recording device.

[Hattish Thing]

Maggy Land - Late

The gray-coated man shrouds his face in eerie multicolored light as an electronic cigarette is lit, casting shadows through the mist which dance and flicker across his attractive and unusually angular face. His expression remains disturbingly neutral, not a trace of emotion evident upon his unhealthily pale face.

He gazes towards the cyborg for for several seconds. All is silent before the individual speaks, his voice still little more than an unnervingly intense whisper, ominous and low.

"You have zhirty seconds."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

"Well, I like them. They're nice feathers." Sylvie nods, having listened intently to Spako's story. "A-and it sounds like you had to go through quite a lot to become what you are now. I suppose I just sort of take it all for granted. I think you being all kindsa dragon is waay better than just being one sort." Look at how awesome Sylvie is pretending to be all the colours as a kobold! Way better than if she was just a copper kobold, right? "Oh, and the place where I found you? I just sorta, um, found a picture and ran over to investigate. Where was that?"

*****

[Ancient Temple]

"Oh? When you're calling someone you're unfamiliar with, isn't it customary to make sure you've got the right number first? But yes, you're right. Pardon me for just a moment." The phone falls silent.

...

It stays silent for about a minute before the screen brightens up, projecting a tiny, flickering image of a man with silver hair and blue eyes, leaning on a cane. The next time he speaks, the audio is considerably louder and clearer. "I had to make a couple of adjustments. I should warn you, this is going to drain the batteries quite quickly, but I'll happily make you a new phone afterwards to compensate you if you so desire. My name is Professor Affidavit. My research suggested we might have some shared interests, so I thought I ought to say hello. Unfortunately I lacked the means to approach you in a less mysterious voice-y manner."

[Murkus]

[Tower of Batu]

"No," Batu admits, still blushing fiercely. "There may have been some other... men interested in men in my tribe, but they weren't interested in me."

[Tower of Batu]

"Well, too late for them now," Div says, taking Batu's hands and eking a step closer. "...Do you wanna go kiss some more?"

[Lord Magtok]

Maggy Land - Late

Magtok complies after an intense staredown that lasts eighteen of those thirty seconds. This is absolutely a bad idea, but curiosity gets the better of him. Besides, if this Conference thing is a bunch of weird creepy rape Nazis, aren't we obligated to investigate it from within? Isn't it our duty, as greatest former supervillain the Nexus has ever known, to For the greater good, for the safety and well-being of the Nexus, and all that other nonsense VIGIL is always trumpeting about? Also, if it isn't bad news, maybe we can get some money out of this. Gods know we still need to find a phone to contact MERC with, and repairing all the broken stuff in the MagCave isn't going to be cheap. We've always been good at finding opportunities in strange places and betraying others the second it's convenient for us to do so; maybe we can utilize those talents again.

[Hattish Thing]

Maggy Land - Late

As the cyborg eventually succumbs to his curiosity and slides into the vehicle, the gray-coated man turns his head, facing forward. The vehicle itself is quite expansive and relatively luxurious, with comfortable seats crafted of fine white leather. The entire vehicle is extraordinarily bright, illuminated by several long panels giving off a harsh, white light that causes the entire vehicle to appear somewhat sterile. A bitter, almost glacial chill can be felt within, and a pale mist hangs over the floor of the armored transport.

The figure in the gray coat exhales a cloud of thick, white vapor as Magtok enters the armored vehicle, before offering a gloved hand. His shake is somewhat limp, unsettlingly gentle. Once this non-verbal introduction is carried over with, the figure speaks, quiet but intense.

"Shut zhe d-door."

[Lord Magtok]

Maggy Land - Late

More power plays. He's barking orders from the word go, shorting out Magtok's eye, making the armored car unreasonably cold to tempt Mag to whine for an adjustment, or suffer in silence. He doesn't respond to provocation when called a Nazi or a rapist, doesn't appear to worry about Needs or debase himself by allowing Magtok to deviate from the script. Magtok knows these games, he's fought these social conflicts before, but it's rare that he ever dukes it out with anyone who knows all the rules, who deftly puts together such a nearly flawless performance as this. He's impressed. The handshake needs work; it's far too slimy and limp for the stranger's purposes, but beyond that, this conspiracy spook and his fleet of armored cars has done everything perfectly.

Magtok closes the door, just a little more forcefully than necessary. He adjusts his robe, allows his chrome and circuitry's own warmth to make up for the automobile's frigid interior, and sits in silence, staring back into the inky depths of those John Lennon glasses. He doesn't say a word to the man this time, waiting for the grey-coated stranger to make the next move instead.

[Hattish Thing]

Maggy Land - Late

The figure in the gray coat taps at a button built into his chair, one which appears to signal to the driver of the vehicle ahead that it is time to move on. Effortlessly, the luxurious armored vehicle glides forward into the night, blending in perfectly with the inky blackness. The man himself continues to stare forward intently, fingertips placed against one another in a sign of confidence. His expression remains neutral, the harsh light bathing his deep cheeks in shadow due to the harsh angles of his face, reflecting off of his large, onyx spectacles. After several seconds, he presses a button built into his side of the vehicle, retrieving a glass of sparkling water from within a secret compartment.

He takes a sip, painfully slowly. After what feels like an eternity, he speaks.

"I vhould g-get comfortable, if I vhere you."

[Deathkeeper]

[Under Mountainside]

"Well, I like them. They're nice feathers." Sylvie nods, having listened intently to Spako's story. "A-and it sounds like you had to go through quite a lot to become what you are now. I suppose I just sort of take it all for granted. I think you being all kindsa dragon is waay better than just being one sort." Look at how awesome Sylvie is pretending to be all the colours as a kobold! Way better than if she was just a copper kobold, right? "Oh, and the place where I found you? I just sorta, um, found a picture and ran over to investigate. Where was that?"

[Under Mountainside]

Spako baps Sylvie on the nose.
"No. Being pure-bred is great and you're super hot and don't you dare say things like that." Spako chides, exactly as promised.
"That's Vigil. We defend the Nexus from threats. That's the goal anyway. We try our best." he says nonchalantly.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

"U-u-uh." Well. That was very direct. Sylvie's mind appears to shut down for a moment as she blushes furiously and frantically tries to think of something to say in response to that.

"I-uh, ah, aaaaaah." Nope still broken. The explanation of Vigil fails to get a response out of her as she's still a little lost.

"Spako, you can't just say things like that." She eventually mumbles awkwardly.

[Deathkeeper]

[Under Mountainside]

" A'course I can. I just did, Missy." Spako boops her on the nose again.
"And you're going to have to get used to it, because it's true. You really don't even need to wear that outfit if you don't want it, but you clearly do. Either way I'd like to see you-you more." he insists, giving her another squeeze.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Under Mountainside]

Too much booping! Too many compliments! She should run awa-

No no, we're not doing that again. Not really anywhere to run to anyway. Besides, the elevator is slowing down as it nears the end of its descent!

"I-it's not how dragons do things. I don't, um, I guess I don't mind though. A-and we can be us-us later. I just can't around other people."

[Lord Magtok]

Maggy Land - Late

Magtok leans back in his seat, but otherwise makes no other effort to 'get comfortable.' No asking the man for a drink (gods know he isn't stupid enough to accept food or drink in a situation like this), no asking for the AC to be toned down, nothing. He only ceases his cold, suspicious glare for a moment, to try to peer out the window and determine which direction they're headed. He's not too worried about where he might end up, though. Worst case scenario, Needs would drop everything to rescue us, right?

"So how much are you prepared to tell me before we get where we're going?" Magtok asks, arms folded together in his lap.