Home 24: A house in this market?

[Chaotic Bob]

[Nigel's House]

Nigel really isn't handling that downswing too great, is he?
But at least he's being communicative.

Unlike the kids.

Some of the other neighbors have started to gather nearby on the street, in that way that people tend to do when something interesting is happening.


Meanwhile! Over at the other burning house.

That water-bending/telekinetic kobold extends his influence over the pegasii's rain as well, but only enough to keep the billowing steam from scalding everyone nearby long enough for it to re-condense back down into the fire. It's a fairly neat trick, all thing's considered, but it's clearly exhausting the little guy.
Hopefully the actual emergency services arrive soon.

Certainly more useful than the old lady flicking that trickle of water out of her hose and grumbling about terrible home safety practices.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ithuriel's Demiplane]

"Very thoughtful of you, Wings. And if there's any old MagBusiness that comes back to haunt you instead of half-chrome dome, I'll be there to back you up." Ithuriel sets the tray aside and hops out beside Ambriel, casually positioning herself just near enough for him to lean on if his legs are still giving him any bother. "I guess we ought to make some plans and get going though, eh? Make the most of the time we have now before I get sucked back into work." Such a shame she's so busy these days. They'll have to plan ahead, look for opportunities to meet up, that sort of thing.

Speaking of which...

"Oh, yes, do you still have the horn I gave you? Because you're welcome to stop by any time you want. There's a decent chance I'll be settling down by the fire of an evening - the occasional bit of company would be very much appreciated."

[Murkus]

Tina's Place

Cantata's eyebrows raise at the elevator. Perhaps some sort of automatic dna identification or something? Eh, it doesn't matter. She's here as a guest, not on some sort of mission after all! It would make sense though, considering how grand the structure is.

In Skyside! I get most of my work there, and the rent is relatively cheap. Cantata responds through text, shaking her head at first before typing. She follows the woman into the elevator, smiling. It's nowhere near as grand as your home though, that's for certain.

[Tina's Place]

"Ooh, Skyside?" Tina whistles. "I hear that place is dangerous. You must be a dangerous kinda gal." She steps in and presses a few things on a screen inside the elevator compartment. "And trust me, it's not so grand. It'll probably be a mess. Who the hell knows, I haven't been here in a couple of days, and I honestly forget how I left it."

[Rebonack]

[Nigel's House]

Stern scowls at that report.

Scowls!

"Keep an eye on things, Triage, I'm going to make a call," Stern says as she trots a short distance away. And the nature of that call? Reporting that there is very likely skinwalker activity Inside.

OH SWELL!

That isn't going to be causing any paranoia at all.

The rest of the emergency services should be arriving shortly, consisting of about 80% less pony. Unless something goes horrifically wrong, that means medical attention, fires extinguished, and official statements taken.

Hooray the neighborhood didn't burn down?

[billtodamax]

Nigel's House

Nigel - still mumbling fairly unintelligibly - will let the emergency services take him away to a hospital or temple or whatever such medical institution can be found nearby. At which point he will critique the doctors for their care mercilessly but that's mostly just to entertain himself.

As he's being carted away he'll wave to the babysitter. Hey, here, my number is <number>. Lemme know if you're not gonna be ok, ok?

[Chaotic Bob]

[Nigel's House]

By now the babysitter is functional again, which is good, since someone will probably want a statement from her as well. Not that she'll want to give it here.
Still exposed out here.
Maybe the nice emergency people will take her to a station or something for sanctuary and she can tell them everything there?

But hey! Nigel is being a total weirdo giving a minor his number being a dutifully concerned citizen and offering a way to reach out for more help! Which the babysitter will accept.
"Oh, thanks...I'll let you know? And um. I'm really sorry about your house. And leg. And your alcohol."
Wow she screwed up a lot of things for this guy in the span of maybe ten, twenty minutes.

That's not super uncomfortable or anything.
"Thank you though."


Overall though, the situation is relatively easy to contain. Fires are put out, no one but Nigel seems to be needing medical attention, and two whole hideous monster char-piles are found in the houses! No human remains anywhere, which is clearly a win for emergency services.
Most of the neighbors on either side can corroborate horrible noises coming from both houses immediately preceding and during the beginnings of the fires. A few figures ran from the first house, but it was dark and no one got a clear look at them. Presumably the babysitter and boy are amongst that group.

Wonder if anyone will notice a statement-taking responder here and there being pulled off the side for about fifteen seconds.

[Rebonack]

[Nigel's House]

Notice people being pulled off to the side?

Well!

That depends on things.

Intersection members wear body cams for the purposes of transparency and safety and because videos of officers heroically saving people are great for PR. Would anyone monitoring the cam feeds notice anything nefarious going on? Like getting stunned and cocooned by an awful monster? Because that's likely to result in messages being relayed to the more shooty-inclined officers to look into the problem. It might also not help much that Stranger Protocol is in effect right now, which means among other things that none of the officers are going anywhere alone for any reason.

A call from Stern to the higherups informing them that there are body-snatchers on the loose?

That wouldn't put anyone on high-alert, would it?

Regardless of outcome, the NPCs will being doing their job admirably to get things cleaned up, people reassured, and injuries tended to. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Nigel's House]

Spoiler: In A Nearby Home

Show

"We're recognized? Isn't that an interesting little surprise. I wonder who else came from home?"
"Was this part of your insane little plan?"
"Oh, we can make it work. Hey. Do the thing."
"What 'thing'?"
"You knoooow. The thing."

Oh suspicion, you're the worst!
If no one can be subtly nudged into a position out of sight of everyone else, nothing obviously overt is going to happen on camera.

Disaster clean-up will proceed as expected for a few minutes, without anything particularly nefarious going on.
And then a thick grey fog begins to rise up out of the street.

[Lord Magtok]

Ithuriel's Demiplane

Spoiler

Show

[Ithuriel's Demiplane]

"Very thoughtful of you, Wings. And if there's any old MagBusiness that comes back to haunt you instead of half-chrome dome, I'll be there to back you up." Ithuriel sets the tray aside and hops out beside Ambriel, casually positioning herself just near enough for him to lean on if his legs are still giving him any bother. "I guess we ought to make some plans and get going though, eh? Make the most of the time we have now before I get sucked back into work." Such a shame she's so busy these days. They'll have to plan ahead, look for opportunities to meet up, that sort of thing.

Speaking of which...

"Oh, yes, do you still have the horn I gave you? Because you're welcome to stop by any time you want. There's a decent chance I'll be settling down by the fire of an evening - the occasional bit of company would be very much appreciated."

"Horn? Oh right, that horn. It's-" Is there a polite way to say it's sitting on a shelf in the MagCave somewhere, because Ambriel honestly never thought he'd see her again and didn't want to risk getting eaten by her deadtime? Hrm. I suppose we could always go badger Magtok and negotiate a trade, but technically we're not supposed to be acknowledging each other's existence, and though this Magtok might be civil with Needs, who's sort of a neutral third party, that's no guarantee he won't reveal himself to be a hardline Hegemony-supporting zealot who'd shoot Ambriel on sight just for being one of the Faction clones. That's a lot of unneccesary risk just to open a portal to Ithuriel's home, isn't it?

"Nope, gone," he shakes his head, hovering in the air and putting his pants on both legs at a time, simply because he can and most people can't or won't. "Can I bug you for a new one if I promise it definitely won't go missing this time?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ithuriel's Demiplane]

Oh, hey, Ithuriel kinda looks a bit upset by that. She's trying not to show it but there's definitely a sort of disappointed, forlorn look in her eyes. She grabs the tray and hurriedly turns away, making out as if she's just going to start cleaning up. "I only had two. Well, um, one now and I kinda of need that one. But, uh, I can make temporary single use horns. You'll just have to remind me to make another one every time."

Keep calm. Don't get too upset. He didn't know.

But it was a very nice looking horn, you know? And they were a pair that sort of went well together and it's completely irreplaceable and-

"I-It's kind of important. If you can get it back..."

[Morty]

[St. Lazarus's Apartment]

One day, this Skyside apartment will be visited by a figure one doesn't normally associate with the city. Calm Reed, a tall, pale and muscular woman wearing a buff jacket made out of the dark hide of some exotic beast and riveted with black Jade, and a straw hat on her head, will knock on the door. Some time after her induction to Vigil, she decided to pay a visit to the person alongside whom she did that. She feels a certain measure of responsibility for St. Laz.

[Rebonack]

[Nigel's Place]

Thick grey fog.

Well.

Normally that would be a pretty big problem, as far as ruining visibility goes.

Given that the Intersection members are already on Stranger Danger alert, the fact that all of a sudden someone is trying to ruin visibility is taken as a very real and VERY immediate threat.

"Eye open and ears on a swivel, everyone!" Stern Sleet bellows. "If you're equipped with thermals get them on! If you aren't pair up with someone who does! PEGASI! To me! We've got some cloud busting to do!"

And that said she and the other winged equestrians will begin attacking those clouds with a great deal of vigor and grim determination. Areas around the rescue workers are prioritized, though ideally the whole fog bank would be stomped into a thin layer of dew all over the ground. How successful this weather wrangling is depends largely on how much mist the offending awful thing is able to produce. Suffice to say, this has set the Intersection troopers on even higher alert than they were a moment ago. Before it was a potential threat that might still be lurking around. The mist all but confirms that the threat IS around and is actively leveraging for vectors of attack.

[Lord Magtok]

Ithuriel's Demiplane

Oh crap. It's important? Blugh, extremely important, if that look on Ithuriel's face is anything to go by. ****, now we have to get it back. Shoot.

"Oh. Oh, uh...actually! Actually, I remember exactly where I left it. Ambriel swiftly backpedals, hatching an elaborate scheme right here and now to get that horn back. It's not going to be easy, tough. Ambriel knows Magtok isn't going to just let him walk right in and take whatever he wants, no matter how good his explanation might sound, so we'll probably need to break in. We'll need to break into our own old home, and hope the security system doesn't kill us somewhere along the way. We can't let Ithuriel know about the plan or join in, either, or she'll insist we not do anything so stupid all for the sake of a magical horn.

"It's just a little out of the way, and it'll take me a while to solve all the old puzzles and such keeping it locked away. I'll have it back in a couple of days, promise," he insists, as if it were just a matter of dealing with some weird puzzles, and not abandoned lab experiments, hungry flesh-eating robots, and sapient, Napoleonic mold monsters. Dammit, this is exactly why I told you to hold onto that thing, Ambriel!

[Chaotic Bob]

[Nigel's Place]

Look at them scamper! Look at their alarm!
It's downright delectable.

There is substantial resistance to the attempts to control the fog, some active magic fighting to keep the effect up despite their attacks.
Some degree of skill and power is behind it...but only for around thirty seconds or so.
Then the various equestrians will find it abruptly easy to smoosh the fog away, as if it were completely natural!

Nothing looks different here. But that might not mean anything.

Nothing else is happening right now, though.

[Arkhosia]

[Tina's Place]

"Ooh, Skyside?" Tina whistles. "I hear that place is dangerous. You must be a dangerous kinda gal." She steps in and presses a few things on a screen inside the elevator compartment. "And trust me, it's not so grand. It'll probably be a mess. Who the hell knows, I haven't been here in a couple of days, and I honestly forget how I left it."

Tina's Place

That little remark earns Fettina a humble smirk as Cantata tilts her head a little, twisting her wrist in a "so-so" sort of gesture. I've been working as a mercenary as of late, it's certainly taught me how to handle myself. She replies, downplaying just how long she'd been engaged in her line of work.
The songstress leans against the wall of the compartment as the pianist's fingers manipulate the display. It's no problem, I can sympathize there. My work does tend to bring me away from home for a while.

[St. Lazarus's Apartment]

One day, this Skyside apartment will be visited by a figure one doesn't normally associate with the city. Calm Reed, a tall, pale and muscular woman wearing a buff jacket made out of the dark hide of some exotic beast and riveted with black Jade, and a straw hat on her head, will knock on the door. Some time after her induction to Vigil, she decided to pay a visit to the person alongside whom she did that. She feels a certain measure of responsibility for St. Laz.

St. Lazarus's Apartment

As Calm Reed's knuckles rap upon the door, an excited barking greets her from the other side, and the soft tapatap of nails against the door. A second passes before the door open halfway, and a woman peers out from the gap.

But it isn't the woman Calm Reed might expect.

Instead of the armor-clad figure of her ghoulish companion, the shorter figure of a young brunette stands there in a dark green sweatshirt and a pair of jeans - new by the looks of it - and a shy yet questioning look. "Er, hello? Can... can I help you with something?" the woman asks, green eyes peering from under long bangs that suggest it's been a while since she had a haircut. The dragonblooded fisticuffer might note that while she seems young, the the a few small and faded remnants of old scars mar her lightly tanned skin.

Romero meanwhile barks happily up at Calm Reed as his head pokes out next to her. He squirms excitedly as the brunette holds onto his collar, eager to jump up and greet a new face.

[Morty]

[St. Lazarus's Apartment]

Calm Reed is surprised, but her face is as impassive as ever, still as water. She didn't know anyone else lived with St. Lazarus. Given her condition, she'd expect her to live alone.

"Is this where... St. Lazarus lives? She told me I could find her here," she asks directly.

[Arkhosia]

St. Laz’s Apartment

A flash of understanding passes across Fidelia’s face and she nods, relaxing a little. ”Yes, she does! She’s not here right now though... is there any way I could help? she asks. Giving Romero a pat when he whines at her and letting him get close enough to Calm Reed to do some investigatory sniffing and that classic “pet me please” stare up at her.

[Morty]

[St. Lazarus's Apartment]

After a few moments' hesitation, Calm Reed crouches down to pet the dog. Not even a high and mighty Exalted monk can resist them, it seems.

"I just wanted to check on her. My name is Calm Reed, a monk of the Immaculate Order and St. Lazarus's fellow Vigil member. She didn't tell me she was lodging with someone, however."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ithuriel's Demiplane]

He didn't know. He had no reason to think you didn't have plenty of them. It was foolish of Ithuriel to give him one that soon anyway. She was in deadtime so long, of course he forgot where he put it. She really can't blame him, not at all.

...It's still a little upsetting.

"You're a terrible liar, Wings." Deep breath. Smile. Wipe that stupid tear you let leak out away. She takes a moment more, then turns around and walks over to hug him. "I'm not angry or anything, but you clearly haven't left it anywhere safe. I do kind of need to get it back, but I don't want you risking yourself for it. Point me at the problem and I'll get it back, eh?"

[Arkhosia]

St. Laz's Apartment

Yay, pets! Romero wags his tail a bunch, sitting down as Calm Reed gives the whiny brat attention. He also tries to lick her face once or twice, before stopping. as he remembers that Best Owner doesn't like it when he does that to her.

The brunette, meanwhile, Simply nods. Her expression doesn't change much at first, suggesting that she isn't familiar with this "Immaculate Order", whoever they might be - though that might be something the monk has grown used to by now. The description of how she knows her does conjure up another look of understanding, however. "Oh, I think Jen- er, Lazarus has mentioned you once or twice. She responds, stepping back and letting the door open fully in a silent invitation. "My name's Fidelia, I'm her..." Roommate? Debtee? Assistant? Weird hobo that she's trying to pull some sort of My Fair Lady on? "squire."

[Lord Magtok]

[Ithuriel's Demiplane]

He didn't know. He had no reason to think you didn't have plenty of them. It was foolish of Ithuriel to give him one that soon anyway. She was in deadtime so long, of course he forgot where he put it. She really can't blame him, not at all.

...It's still a little upsetting.

"You're a terrible liar, Wings." Deep breath. Smile. Wipe that stupid tear you let leak out away. She takes a moment more, then turns around and walks over to hug him. "I'm not angry or anything, but you clearly haven't left it anywhere safe. I do kind of need to get it back, but I don't want you risking yourself for it. Point me at the problem and I'll get it back, eh?"

"No no, you gave it to me, and that means I'm responsible for it. The problem is named MagCave Storage Room C, and I can get there on my own. It'll be fine," Ambriel insists, gathering up his things.

"Just have to sneak in when he's not around, take the elevator down, make three lefts and then a right, and then smash the door off its hinges and hope the security system is still down before grabbing the horn and running back the way I came. Easy. A child or a talking cat could do it; it'll just take some planning to sort everything out," he shakes his head, tucking his wings in so he can squeeze them through the holes in his shirt. It's slightly trickier than it was yesterday, now that his wings have been restored to their original glory, but that's the price we pay for looking great again.

[Morty]

[St. Laz's Apartment]

Calm Reed steps inside the apartment confidently and takes a look around. It looks... what she assumes is normal in these parts. Which to her is still odd.

"I'm honored to meet you Fidelia, but I'm afraid I don't know what 'squire' means." And therefore whether she's St. Lazarus' servant, comrade or something else and thus how to treat her.

[UncleWolf]

[Thad's Apartment]

"Well, Sarcadian certainly sounds like quite a character. And it sounds like you might be set for life, eh Thad?" What interesting people Lucy has stumbled across here. Certainly not a night she'll regret anyway. "I suppose if there's no danger of Thad losing his apartment, I cooould free you from your captivity, Vivi, and give you some other means of contacting me. After all, I might not find myself in need of a rest stop any time soon." She leans a little closer to Vivi, staring and smiling at her, drinking in her beauty and letting out a soft, quiet whistle of adoration, "If I may be so bold - what if you find yourself longing for a repeat of this night before I do? Whatever would you do, wondering and waiting wistfully in the hope that I grace this place with my presence again..." She reaches out with a finger to gently trace along Vivi's jawline, then goes right back to indulging in her own little breakfast feast.

*****

[Thad's Apartment]

"That is a very fine point! I suppose I am held somewhat captive, then, am I not? I must make sure this apartment is kept, or else," Viviana cedes, fluttering her dusky lashes at Lucy. Her eyes widen a little and she erupts with a larking peal of laughter at Thad's reaction and his explanation. "Oh, don't worry, lovely boy. You think correctly. And don't talk like that - we can do a great deal more than stand you. Sarcadian fancies you terribly. I would anticipate more gratuitous gifts and expensive favors in your future."

Vivi goes on eating her breakfast then - apparently happy to tease them both and let them stew. Her table manners are terrible, and she is absolutely ravenous.

Thad's Apartment

Thad groans and puts his head on the table, trying and most likely failing to hide his embarrassment at how he's being bought off and enjoying it. Even he would have to admit he's sort of walked right into the situation and the conversation itself so he can't be upset at least. "Just...at least knock before you two come barging in here to repeat the experience. Or give me a call. Just some sort of warning." He mumbles into a stack of pancakes.

[Arkhosia]

St Lazarus’s Apartment

There’s nothing too remarkable about the place for Reed to notice. It’s a simple place, a modest kitchen leading to a living room with a couch that leads to a closed bedroom - most likely a one person apartment, from the looks of things. It’s well kept too, though that’s partly helped by the slightly spartan amount of furnishing and decoration. The only detail that might seem curious is the blankets neatly folded by the side of the couch with a pillow stowed away on top, and a clearly secondhand small trunk below the pile that served as a place for Fidelia to store her clothes.

”Well...” Fidelia pauses for a moment as she stands by the kitchen counter, thinking. She actually wasn’t entirely sure. I mean, she knew what a squire was, but it was one of those words that she’d gained an understanding of through conversation and context rather than seeing a concrete definition. ”From what I understand, a squire is kind of like a knight’s assistant. I fight with her, and maintain her equipment.” and also run errands and do chores, but that was more of a responsibility from living under Jen’s roof.

[Deathkeeper]

Koshal retrieves his armor! Now that he has that and his sword, he's a proper squire again!

Another dilemma lies before him though: What is he going to do with a handcuffed gremlin?
(The gremlin is going to try to roll away into the woods, fairly pathetically.)

[Countryside]

Hrm. Koshal isn't the law here. He doesn't have the authority to punish this criminal. But he can't risk bringing this very vast, possibly powerful gremlin to a populated area for justice. He also thinks this crystal gremlin might have something to do with the crystals in the water.
So he once again tries to pray for guidance! Only this time Faye is watching reeeeal closely. If he doesn't get some sort of sign maybe he should just let it go.

[Morty]

[St Lazarus’s Apartment]

A knight... St. Lazarus mentioned the word, didn't she? It seems to just mean a heavily-armored warrior.

"Curious. I did not know she had a retainer. She didn't mention anything when we met, so I'm guessing she's met you after we joined Vigil. We did that at the same time, mostly by chance."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Lake Cabin - Private Party]

Electra blinks for a moment, watching Fayyaad stretch. She forgot that he doesn't know about her technopathy. Neither did Cass, until now. Oh well, it's not such a huge secret anymore. She blushes slightly.

"I guess I've never told you about it, but I can mentally access electronic devices and take control of them more or less at the hardware level. It's something I seem to have acquired when I arrived in the Nexus; I'm still not entirely sure where it came from. But if you'd like to be in a more cozy atmosphere this evening, we can certainly bring some wood in for the fireplace here."

She nods at Cass after a moment.

"Yeah, it does definitely help. I'm surprised, though, I'd have thought you'd be able to teleport more than I can. I have a mass limit, after all, but I understand that there are some magic users who can teleport massive objects around."

[Lake Cabin - Private Party]

"That... does sound useful and potentially overwhelming at the same time. Like having very acute senses, I suspect. You can recognize sounds easily but noise will overwhelm you."

He has little to add on the topic of teleportation, so he will simply help bring the wood in and proceed to light the fire with pyromancy. He sits down in front of the fire afterwards, slightly winded from the effort.

[Lake Cabin - Private Party]

Cass frowns. "There is some variance for these things." Nexus gotta Nexus, after all. "I can teleport short distances, if if I feel like wearing myself out, and I can move much longer distances at a swift, though not instantaneous, pace via a gateway. True long distance teleportation is beyond my ability at the moment, however, without any form of assistance."

[Nova_Eclipse]

Electra does a half shake of her head at Fayyaad's comparison. It's sort of similar and yet not at the same time. She doesn't really know how to describe it properly, and the tiefling manages to escape to the outdoors to retrieve fire wood before she can find the words. She blushes slightly as she looks to Cass.

"Sorry, I guess I made an assumption I shouldn't have." The blush deepens a bit. "I'm still not very good with magic."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Ithuriel's Demiplane]

Ithuriel doesn't like this. It's written all over her face. She couldn't look more nervous about this. Her hug even becomes a little more...clingy.

Ambriel appears to be doing a very poor job of reassuring her.

It probably shouldn't be that surprising. She's spent far too much time stuck in deadtime and not having Ambriel as her cute fake-angel boyfriend.

She lets out a very heavy sigh. "You're going to insist on this, aren't you? This is- it's going to be one of those things, isn't it? Where you have to do it alone because you can't just-" She pauses, cutting herself off before she says something stupid. How obnoxious would it be to criticise him for not letting her do everything? What, does she just want him to keep him locked away and never let him do anything, like some sort of pet?

"I'm sorry. I don't want to see you get hurt or killed, but I can't be that overly protective of you." Ithuriel steps back and rubs her forehead, trying to reconcile the conflicting interests in her mind. "It's not like you have to go get it immediately-" she mutters, almost pleadingly. "But I'm not letting you leave without one of my temporary horns, so you've at least got a way out if things do go wrong, alright?"

[Murkus]

[Thad's Apartment]

Viviana leans in to Lucy's tracing finger as she tries to seem so sultry and then tilts back her head to giggle. Partly at herself. Her cheeks darken with a blush. "You make an excellent case, Lucy." She looks at Thad. "I possess one of the 'phones' only irregularly, dear, and I can barely use it." She gives them a wink as she pops one end of a sausage into her mouth. "Thus, no promises. None at all..."

[Tina's Place]

The little chrome can carries the two women upwards with only the lightest touch of a jiggle, the only indication they've begun to move at all. "Psh, I wish it could be called work. I just get myself into trouble." She looks at Cantata. "A mercenary, though. Like... you fight people for money? What's that like?"