VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Lycan 01]

Geneva's Lab

"Carousel Court?" Dawn repeats, tilting her head curiously. "Oh yeah, I kinda remember visiting there last time I was here? It was really... colorful. And peaceful."

"Meh," Lucky grunts, finally pulling his helmet off. He shakes his head, causing his messy mane to turn even messier before he runs a wing through it to straighten it out. "Sounds boring, honestly," he sighs. "And probably hard to fit in." He might have a point; he's got quite a few scars on his face, and some of the more well-to-do or cutesy ponies may not appreciate his scoundrel-esque persona lazing about their candy-coated community.

"Oh come on, it's not thaaaat hoity-toity," Dawn replies with a small sigh. "I'm sure you'd fit in alright. Mostly." When Geneva finishes explaining other guests from their world, Dawn suddenly spins around to look at her. "Wait, did you say-"

"What?!" Lucky suddenly exclaims, eyes going wide in shock. "As in, angry Enclave mare Down Feather?!' He has no idea who or what a Persimmon is, but if Down Feather is here, he suddenly has much bigger concerns than visiting a pony town.

Before anypony/anygriff can say anything else, Lucky slams his helmet back on his head and tries to activate the radio system to scan the Enclave frequencies. Unfortunately, his helmet still seems to be a bit buggy as loud mariachi music blaring from the vox system, leaving him screaming and flailing around wildly.

Meanwhile the mega-roach does not grab the broom from Geneva, but instead its swarm of fanatical minions starts to charge up the handle and try to pester Geneva. Assuming she panics or otherwise tries to deal with the sudden bonsai charge of insects, the glowing radroach will scurry away and disappear into an air vent or other convenient escape.

[Recaiden]

Halae spins in the air, her feet twisting to shift her balance so that her legs will hit the ground first. It's not quite a graceful move, but it's absolutely enough for Halae to finish the movement on her feet, with her blade up, and ready for more. She doesn't even look winded.

"Not bad, yourself. So, do you need more?"

"No, you seem able to basically handle yourself, and you're here for good reasons."
Arlem spins around and puts her knife away.

"Welcome to VIGIL! Here's your communicator, here's your pendant that protects you from cuthun, and you can get a uniform up at the Academy if you want." Arlem is not wearing a uniform, obviously. "Are you going to be staying here at the base?" She hands over the named items and points a wing up the hill.

[Morty]

[Dragon Combat]

"Well done and welcome to Vigil, Nellens Halae," Calm Reed says as she approaches the two again. "I look forward to fighting by your side. And thank you for handling the test, Arlem."

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

Anika turns back to glare at Blanche and the blindfold she's offering. "And what am I supposed to do? Since I happen to see me in her, and if she's anything like me then she won't be backing down." She throws her hands in the air. "We're the suck-y people now and there is nothing I can say or do that will convince her otherwise." The druid let's out a grunt of frustration and gives a nearby stone a light kick. "Just great, and it's all my sisters fault. She's the one that convinced her of all these stupid things." Anika sigh. "She's a damn manipulator. Bet she made her hate me too." Pretty sure she managed that on her own.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

"Well, I'm sure you got pissed at your mother when you were the kid's age, right? What about trying what what your mom would do to help reconcile things?" She offers with a little tone of optimism. "If you see a yourself in the kid, then maybe the same solutions will work on her."

[Rebonack]

[Geneva's Lab]

"There are plenty of ponies from-" Geneva begins, only to abruptly give her broom a harsh flick, likely hurling the roaches coating it onto Lucky. "-from worlds just as depressing as ours. It's nice over there."

When the radroach makes a break for it, Geneva aims to bring the broom down on the vile insect.

Hard.

Whether or not a broom is a sufficient weapon to slay this monster remains to be seen.

"Yes, that Down Feather. She's been mostly friendly to me, though," Geneva admits.

Hmm...

Maybe it's just Lucky that she punches all the time?

No, that isn't wholly accurate. Down has used violence on Red Velvet before, too. Though that was less punching and more trying to figure out how to actually kill her. Often enough that Sunder had to politely request that Down stop trying to murder Red Velvet.

Red took the whole thing in stride, of course.

[Lycan 01]

Geneva's Lab

Lucky's screaming and flailing only intensify as he's now covered in a swarm of roaches. He's wearing power armor that's impervious to small-arms fire and even some degree of direct energy weapon impacts, and yet he seems to be quite unsettled by being covered in small insects.

Then again that's probably a natural response from most sane individuals.

While Lucky freaks out in the background, Dawn tilts her head to the side. She takes a moment to scan the local radio frequencies and see if she can access the Enclave channels Down might be using. After several seconds, she shakes her head. "Nope, Enclave channels are nothing but loud static. Even if she's listening or transmitting, there's too much interference, probably from all the electronics or energy discharge in this region."

The pegasus mare turns back to Geneva. "Do you know where Down is? Or might be?"

Meanwhile, the glowing roach is interrupted in its attempt to escape! The broom is brought down upon it! The roach is the size of a dog or other small mammal, but it's unlikely that such a direct impact would be survivable for it.

So instead it jumps up, strikes a kung-fu pose, and catches the broom between its two spiny forelegs. It stares up at Geneva with its bulbous eyes, which almost seem to narrow defiantly, as one of its antennae flicks at her before curling back a few times.

The Nexus' strangeness seems to already be effecting this radroach, as it apparently just told Geneva bring it.

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

Blanche's suggestions don't seem to inspire much confidence in Anika. "I'm not my mom, that's why I'm not going to have some stupid kid. And besides, even if my mom was here she wouldn't be able to do the same to me as a kid with vipers on her head and a lethal gaze." She shrugs helplessly. "So I dunno, I guess I screwed up and we can't do this. I just don't have any ideas how to deal with children unless we can put her to sleep somehow."

[Rebonack]

[Geneva's Lab]

Geneva is doing her best here to carry on a relatively normal conversation while battling a radroach with a broom and ignoring the fact that Lucky is flailing about like an idiot covered in completely harmless insects.

When did her life get so weird?

Probably after encountering a draconequus.

Huh... she idly wonders if Fortuna somehow has something to do with what's going on here. It wouldn't shock her, that's for sure.

"She has a house over in Carousel Court," Geneva replies as she discards the broom and aims to just seize the roach in her talons.

They are significantly more dangerous than a cleaning tool.

"I haven't been there myself, but I've talked to her a couple times. She was pretty shaken up by the whole skinwalker incursion. I guess the Enclave sent an expedition into Vanhoover and it went... about as badly as you would expect."

Pretty much everyone died horribly.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Geneva's Lab]

There is a sound not entirely unlike a filing cabinet sliding open and then closed again.

"Hahaha, yeah. After Private...squaddie...newbie? Whatever that low rank is, after newbie Summer Rays decapitated herself and both halves tried to eat her buddies, then Down had to torch her personally, she didn't seem to be taking the whole trip very well. Maybe it's because she recruited the kid herself? Still think she drinks about that one most nights. Man, it was a wiiiiiild time in that snow. Absolutely wild."
And then a sound not entirely unlike a certain skinsack slithering its way along the ground. Currently toward Dawn's hooves.

Is he supposed to be in here? Wasn't he supposed to be off doing something with Bubblegum or literally anyone else?
Probably.
Looks like Persimmon is here instead though.

Hrrk.
Which elicits the usual uncomfortable twinge of thought somewhere in Geneva's head.

[Lycan 01]

Geneva's Lab

"The proper term would be Cadet in most instances," Dawn hisses from behind her helmet, as her eyes betray very clear disdain and revulsion. At least she doesn't go with her first instinct of screaming and flailing and throwing Lucky at the thing slithering on the floor towards them. She has a very strong suspicion though, that this thing is something Lucky told her about during their trips. An old acquaintance. What was his name again?

"JACK!!" Lucky suddenly screams, half in surprise, half in... joy?

The roach-covered pegasus leaps across the room, picks up the slithering pile of skin, and... hugs it?

Yes, Lucky is indeed hugging Persimmon. "Sweet Luna is it really you?!" he asks incredulously, his visor showing his eyes to almost appear... joyful. Yep, too many hits to the head. Clearly.

Also the whole thing about Skinwalkers and Down having even worse PTSD than before seems to have gone over his head, at least for the moment. That reality will probably come crashing back to him soon. For now, though, he's just happy to see somebody he considers a friend, even if he doesn't know his real name apparently. Whoops.

[Rebonack]

[Geneva's Lab]

The little purple voice's reaction is understandable.

After all, 'Jack' is a pretty concrete manifestation of the sins of the Ministry Mares crawling across the floor.

Geneva can't help but be pushed slightly by the voice. But at the same time... she doesn't feel nearly as much disgust toward Persimmon as she probably should. After all, his awfulness managed to break the hex Fortuna had dropped on her. That was worth something. The sight of Lucky hugging Persimmon while covered in roaches is certainly...

Umm...

It's a sight.

Yes. That's what we'll go with. A sight.

Geneva has slightly more pressing concerns to deal with. Namely the radroach. With Persommon's sudden appearance serving as a distraction, she tries to pounce on it!

When you're part cat, pouncing on things just comes naturally.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Geneva's Lab]

Yeah, that voice isn't really a fan of Persimmon.
Not necessarily Persimmon himself, who is mostly just inappropriate but sort of okay otherwise, but what Persimmon physically is.
There is still shame in her initial response however.
Just a floppy pony. Just a floppy pony. Just a floppy pony.

Don't mind her. Just self-affirming mantra-ing.

"Cadet! Yeah! That sounds right. Cadet Summer Rays. She was a funny mare."
Less funny at the end, but we shouldn't remember people at their worst, right?

As Persimmon gets swept up in Lucky's grasp, his head flip-flops around just enough to conceal a flicker of disappointment at not successfully getting to "hug" Dawn, instead.
But confusion works too.
"Jack? Where? I thought we burned him agai- OH ME! Hahaha, I forgot about that. Heya Lucky! You should probably call me Persimmon though, you'll scare some people with all this talk of Jacks."
There is surprisingly minimal babble in this name correction, swiftly followed up wrapping his empty body around Lucky's helmet and hoovering up a few roaches into his literally loose lips.

This is nothing to be concerned about later.

[Lycan 01]

Geneva's Lab Full of Abominations

Lucky actually chuckles. Almost a sad laugh. "Oh, so that's your name? Guess I missed the big reveal while I was gone..." he says, before reaching a hoof up to idly pry the sentient hide off his helmet. "So... Vanhoover huh? She mentioned the Enclave having a hooves-off policy there. Wonder why in Tartarus they went there. Glad she made it out, though," he mutters, before his gaze goes from thoughtful to serious. He stares at Ja- Persimmon. "Where is she?"

Dawn saunters over to Geneva and leans in to whisper. "Somepony has a crush, if you didn't know~"

Geneva is probably too distracted by the radroach deflecting her attack with a swift roundhouse kick to knock her paws aside and leave her in a jumbled heap on the floor. It starts dancing around her making silly kung-fu noises.

Also another swarm of roaches seems to be materializing from the various dark corners of the room. The cult seems to have found new followers.

This is probably all somehow Lucky's fault.

[Halae]

[Dragon Combat]

"Well done and welcome to Vigil, Nellens Halae," Calm Reed says as she approaches the two again. "I look forward to fighting by your side. And thank you for handling the test, Arlem."

[Dragon Combat]

The swordswoman nods to Calm Reed respectfully. Having sheathed her blade, she takes the pendant and communicator curiously, turning them over in her palms as she looks at them. Very interesting, "Lodging here at the base would probably be better than staying at one of Inside's taverns," Halae admits, "I'm curious to see the workings of the manse, as well."

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

Blanche's suggestions don't seem to inspire much confidence in Anika. "I'm not my mom, that's why I'm not going to have some stupid kid. And besides, even if my mom was here she wouldn't be able to do the same to me as a kid with vipers on her head and a lethal gaze." She shrugs helplessly. "So I dunno, I guess I screwed up and we can't do this. I just don't have any ideas how to deal with children unless we can put her to sleep somehow."

Blanche almost seems on the verge of agreement before some of that stubborn resolve kicks back in and she turns back towards the grove. "Well, maybe, but I just can't settle with that." And with that, she will start to move forward, eventually climbing the steps of the grove with a calm and steady pace - not just to steel her nerves, but to avoid startling Natharia.

"Hey, kid," she calls out tentatively as she nears the top. "Er, I don't know your name, what do you go by?"

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

"I told you to stay away!" Natharia's voice is raw with hurt and anger. She sniffles and Blanche might hear her shift and stand up. It seems her question isn't getting an answer.

[Shadowcaller]

Moonwell Grove

Anika shrugs. "Knock yourself out. Just don't get yourself killed. I'm gonna quickly fly back to VIGIL and get something, 'kay? So be careful."

And unless there are any protests, Anika will turn into a hawk and quickly make her way back to VIGIL to get whatever she's getting.

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

"I told you to stay away!" Natharia's voice is raw with hurt and anger. She sniffles and Blanche might hear her shift and stand up. It seems her question isn't getting an answer.

Moonwell Grove

"I know kid, I'm not trying to intrude, but, um, I thought you might want your blindfold back." Blanche answers softly. After a pause, she continues; "Look I won't come up top, okay?" She pauses near the top, taking a seat upon a carved stair as she speaks. "I'll just be over here, whenever you want to come and get it." True to her word, the catgirl will be content to wait there until Natharia is ready to retrieve it from her.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

"You're just trying to trick me. I'm not letting you get near the well." Natharia accuses. "You and Anika already killed these snakes, didn't you?"

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

"You're just trying to trick me. I'm not letting you get near the well." Natharia accuses. "You and Anika already killed these snakes, didn't you?"

"No tricks, I promise." Blanche tries to reinforce her word by raising a hand over the rim to show Natharia the blindfold in question. "Some of them, yes, but only what had to be done to ward them off." She shrugs. "Perhaps that was the wrong choice, I dunno. I don't take pleasure in killing animals, but I was under the impression that it was harmful for them to be here."

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

"Who told you that? Anika? She's stupid." Natharia shoots back. She makes no detectable move toward Blanche yet. "My mom did this and she hates my mom. Of course she says it's bad."

[Arkhosia]

[Moonwell Grove]

"Who told you that? Anika? She's stupid." Natharia shoots back. She makes no detectable move toward Blanche yet. "My mom did this and she hates my mom. Of course she says it's bad."

"Yeah, well, the motivation wasn't something I was aware of at the time." There's a tinge of humor in her voice. "But, well, I wouldn't call her stupid. Just... impulsive. Doesn't think before she acts, lets her emotions decide things for her, y'know?" Blanche answers, before thinking for a second.

"I dunno if it's just that. I don't think Anika wanted to cleanse this place just to hurt your mom; from how she talked about the way this well was like, she used to really like this place. I think she just wants that place she liked back." She adds, "If you want, we can call your mom, see if it's okay with her to do this. If she says no, I won't help. Scout's honor, one different person to another." The last bit is said in good humor.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

There's some silence before Natharia replies again. "Throw my blindfold up on the edge." She instructs.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

With a nod, Blanche does so, waiting for Natharia to speak again before doing anything.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

Blanche will need to wait a bit longer while Natharia cautiously steps over, grabs her blindfold, and then runs back over to the well. Then she speaks again. "I can't call my mom. She's up at Vigil right now." She explains.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Grove

"What do you mean? Does she not get great cell reception there or something?" Blanche asks quizzically.

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

There's a moment of silence before Natharia replies. "What are you talking about. She's way up there. And I'm not leaving." The last is said firmly.

[Arkhosia]

Moonwell Glade

Blanche blinks. "Oh, uh, sorry, I kinda just assumed she had a cellphone." Somehow, it had never crossed her mind that folks from more medieval backgrounds might not have bothered to modernize or adopt the strange technologies that were so mundane to someone like her.

"...Hey, why are you so adamant about not letting Anika cleanse this place anyways? Is it, like, special to you in some way, or is it just because she wants to cleanse it? What's so important about it?"

[Gullara]

[Moonwell Grove]

"It's not dirty or bad, so it doesn't need cleansing. My mom made it like this. Anika and those other Vigil people just think it's bad because it has snakes and it's different." There's a small thud and a grunt from by the well. "If it's so bad then why was I born here? Does that make me bad? No, that's stupid. I'm not a monster! Anika's just a big jerk!" The girl's voice rises as she speaks and there are a few more thuds. "Ow! Ugh!"