GLoG 92: Generosity, Love, Opportunity, Growth

[Chaotic Bob]

[Memory Woods]

Poor Needs. Trying so hard to be intelligible to everyone else, despite being more out of his mind than the usual Magtok standard.
Delilah really isn't well situated to parse him, compared to anyone who spends more frequent time with him. Which probably explains the confused look at his second comment and why she chooses to just...not really respond to it? Maybe she thinks it'll encourage more nonsense if she does.
"The book suggests a plan of some sort, which I am hoping doesn't amount to just 'let's try drugging the witch'. She has a friend? Or something? Whatever she's doing wasn't really accounted for much, we weren't sure how mortality was going to treat her."

Which then segues nicely into Affytok's musing...
"Ah, I think we might be better off on that front than you think. It doesn't look like we really want to be there in the middle of...that disaster, but if we can get things rolling quick enough here, maybe she'll be winded. Even if it's just a bit, that's more than I think we could hope for right away, just walking right into her stronghold. I know she's shooting for some sort of super ascension, but she isn't there yet and that looked like she was expending a lot of power. That doesn't seem like something that's just going to spring back into her reserves right away."
This is all important enough that she's forgotten entirely to be an insufferable jerk to everyone nearby!
"We just need to ensure that the city-side of things has bottled up the shapeshifting freaks and then snatch up a few heroic-leaning sword-arms to join in, I think."

[Recaiden]

Anyone watching might see a rather small Drider making her way towards GLoG carrying a large webbed bundle upon her abdomen. Her emerald green chitin is easy to spot, and she certainly seemed to be enjoying the sunlight on her darker skin. Despite her body being that of an ambush or leaping spider, she makes no attempt to hide herself. Leap had made a deal to drop someone off here, and doing so would go much more smoothly if she didn't try to stealth her way inside.

It's not that they're watching the front gate, just that the entrance is pretty visible from a lot of the camp, and so someone comes out to investigate the new arrival.

That someone would be Anchor, a rather small human woman in sunglasses, a necklace of lion's teeth, a lab coat, and sandals. Her shadow doesn't quite look like her. She gives Leap a cautious wave.
"Welcome to the Good League of Good!"
...
Has she seen this spider-woman somewhere before?
Probably not. Wouldn't she remember where?

[Deathkeeper]

[Lake]

Gara droops to the ground, solely so she can get her claws onto her forehead in a very human expression despite her comparatively short front legs.
”It’s-it’s- I’m a Leviathan class dragon and I don’t know how to swim! It’s so embarrassing. And no, I can’t fly. No wings. Best I can do is make a really big bubble and hope it floats.” she admits.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dragon Therapy]

Sophie makes some more notes. This will take some time to untangle...

"Alright, then. Looks like our time is up for today. Thank you for being honest with me. I'm going to use what you've told me to make a plan for helping you over the course of our next appointments. Do you have any questions or concerns?"

[Dragon Therapy]

"I-I'd appreciate it if you kept the dragon thing, uh, to yourself? If you don't mind. For now anyway." Sylvie asks, hopping down from her chair with a little flutter of her wings.

Then she pauses and stares awkwardly at the ground for a moment.

"How long does it take, to fix someone like me? Spako deserves better."

[Morty]

[Lake]

"Awww." Brinika scurries over to Gara to pat her a little, wherever she can reach. "I don't know what Leviathan-class means, but it's okay to have to learn something."

[Dragon Therapy]

"Everything you say to me is strictly confidential and I won't tell a word of it to anyone," Sophie assures Sylvess. "I will do all that I can, but I can't assure you that this will be quick. Your being here and willing to be honest with me shows Spako that you're serious about getting better, though. You do deserve him."

[Earl of Purple]

Lake

"Are those people-sized bubbles?" Cheasadh wouldn't mind being in a people-sized bubble! Though if it floats off and then bursts it'd probably be a little bit dangerous and not a good idea.

She will go and join her sister in stroking Gara, trying to see how soft the fur is. "Yeah, babies have to learn how to walk and talk. At least you've got those down pat. Pookie hasn't figured out the talking yet." Pookie looks up when he's mentioned, and sees that Gara's getting all the fuss from the girls. Well, that's fine. No way is Pookie experienced enough to win against Gara. In fact, Pookie's not sure he has any moves that are effective against Dragon or Water types- and Gara's probably one if not both of those things.

[Deathkeeper]

Lake

”Leviathan class means I’m supposed to be aquatic.” Gara moans, even as she’s pet.
If Cheasadh pets her on the chest, belly, or the back of her legs where her fur is, she will find that Gara’s fur is luxurious and soft, though her tail is more bristly.
”I’ve never made a bubble bigger than my head.” she admits.

[Morty]

[Lake]

Brinika will vigorously pet Gara's soft fur.

"Even if we don't tell anyone, you're pretty big," she points out. "Someone's going to spot you sooner or later."

[Earl of Purple]

Lake

"Oh, yeah. There's no way we're the most observant people here. Brinika's uncle is a wolf-person, so he's got a good sense of smell." So does Cheasadh, actually. Not as keen as a Wolfen's, at least at the moment- she could train it to get that good, though, and she's got a keener nose than Brinika.

[Deathkeeper]

Lake

Gara flops onto her side, clearly for reasons wholly unrelated to the fact that it puts her soft lavender belly-fur open for the attention of the girls.
”Well...I guuuueess. Just...don’t make it sound so bad, please?” she implores the girls.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dragon Therapy]

There's just a faint little sniffle from Sylvie when Sophie says that. Aww, look at what a little positive reinforcement does. "Uh, okay, well uh wheeen do I come back then? I don't, um, I don't really know how these things work."

[Morty]

[Dragon Therapy]

"We're going to meet again in a week," Sophie says. "Same day and same hour, if it's okay with you. Regularity and consistency are important in therapy, as is the time to process what we learn."

[Lake]

Brinika doesn't wait long before giving Gara vigorous belly-rubs.

"Yeah, Uncle Pathfinder is really hard to sneak by. And he has spirits watching over the place. They're invisible, though. But don't worry, we won't make you look bad." She giggles.

[Earl of Purple]

Lake

Cheasadh giggles as Gara rolls over, taking the hint and giving the bubble-fox dragon a bellyrub. "Your fur's so soft, it's like the biggest, warmest teddy bear ever. Huh." Something's occurred to Cheasadh. "Is Pathfinder my uncle too, now? I've never had an uncle before. Not one I knew, anyway." Her father's family were just as evil as he was, but he didn't like them; they weren't as racist as he was. And her mother's family cut her off because of Cheasadh's father.

[Deathkeeper]

[Lake]

”Well, Okay I guess. Magic spirits are cool. Hrm. I don’t really know much about magic for someone who works for a Hope goddess. I should ask Civvy to actually explain that some time.” Invisible sentries are definitely more militaristic than what Civvy seemed into, but Nurse was so powerful! Civvy must have some serious stuff in her realm too. Maybe it’s also invisible?

[Morty]

[Lake]

"Of course he's your uncle!" Brinika declares with gusto. "Aunt Reelshka is your aunt too now, and they're married, so that makes him your uncle. Just like Uncle Grimip is your uncle." Grimip is Tralka and Reelshka's brother. Cheasadh would have probably met him off-screen by now. "Is Civvy a goddess that you work for? I've met a goddess once. Well, two, really. But they were just like regular ladies. A cat-lady and a human lady."

[Earl of Purple]

Lake

"I've not met an uncle before. My father's family were all in Riverside, and my mother's family wanted nothing to do with my father." Which Cheasadh now thinks is totally fair enough. "Aww, I've never met a goddess. How come you meet all the cool people?" Cheasadh, you've just met a pink fox-dragon. You meet cool people too.

[Deathkeeper]

[Lake]

”Oh, Civvy only appeared to me once, as a human lady with bubblegum pink hair. There’s also Nurse, she was a pink fox lady with like, a bazillion tails. I don’t know what she actually counts as. But yeah I technically work for Civvy. She didn’t like, give me a title or anything but I guess if you work for a goddess you’re a cleric or something? I dunno. She didn’t really give me specific instructions.” Gara explains. Civvy had only really told her to spread good vibes and the essence of Pink.

[Morty]

[Lake]

Brinika's ears twitch.

"A pink lady and a pink fox-lady? This sure seems like your kind of goddess, Cheasadh," she says, grinning toothily.

[Earl of Purple]

Lake

"It... does. But... My parents weren't nice people. Dad was a priest of a really bad god, and I was raised in His worship. A monster attacked, and my parents died. I was rescued, and was brought here, after a few stops. And... And I learnt that my Dad wasn't a nice man. He lied, and he was racist, and his god was... Unpleasant. I watched him kill people in his god's name." Which is a bit of a shock, given her youth. "Sophie and Reelshka and Jace all helped, Sophie got me talking to other clerics and priests to get me sorted. That helped, a lot. I've not joined any of them, or worshipped a god for years." This sounds perfect for Cheasadh, but she's cautious enough around religion she doesn't want to jump in without looking. She's kind-of done that before, and it got her told off a lot.

I don't know how much Brinika knows, but I don't think it's all of it- at least, not all of it from Cheasadh. Cheasadh's also very nervous, as she speaks. She's still not sure how Brinika will take it, let alone Gara that she's just met.

[Lord Magtok]

Memory Woods

Spoiler

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[Memory Woods]

"Curious. I wonder what could cause a disruption of such magnitude to distract her so thoroughly. A shame we can't, mmm, take advantage of it right now, hmm?" The MagPuppet mutters thoughtfully, rubbing the metallic part of his chin.

[Memory Woods]

Poor Needs. Trying so hard to be intelligible to everyone else, despite being more out of his mind than the usual Magtok standard.
Delilah really isn't well situated to parse him, compared to anyone who spends more frequent time with him. Which probably explains the confused look at his second comment and why she chooses to just...not really respond to it? Maybe she thinks it'll encourage more nonsense if she does.
"The book suggests a plan of some sort, which I am hoping doesn't amount to just 'let's try drugging the witch'. She has a friend? Or something? Whatever she's doing wasn't really accounted for much, we weren't sure how mortality was going to treat her."

Which then segues nicely into Affytok's musing...
"Ah, I think we might be better off on that front than you think. It doesn't look like we really want to be there in the middle of...that disaster, but if we can get things rolling quick enough here, maybe she'll be winded. Even if it's just a bit, that's more than I think we could hope for right away, just walking right into her stronghold. I know she's shooting for some sort of super ascension, but she isn't there yet and that looked like she was expending a lot of power. That doesn't seem like something that's just going to spring back into her reserves right away."
This is all important enough that she's forgotten entirely to be an insufferable jerk to everyone nearby!
"We just need to ensure that the city-side of things has bottled up the shapeshifting freaks and then snatch up a few heroic-leaning sword-arms to join in, I think."

"My name is Legion; for we are many. We act now," Needs insists, shaking his head as he dismisses the idea of recruiting people from the facestealer fighters outright. His brother has struck some bad deals and made some questionable decisions in the pursuit of power. Tenuous, fleeting, temporary power, which won't remain with us once this chapter of our lives is over. The Nexus public doesn't need to know about all of these things, and most of them, no matter the strength of their sword arms, are more likely to get in the way of The Plan than help bring it to fruition.

"It's time," Needs says to his wrist.

"You're talking about Operation Saint George?" asks a voice within his arm, another Magtok half a world away.

"Owner of a Lonely Heart, Roundabout, Starship Trooper," he answers plainly, tracing some runes in the air with his free hand as he waits for the admiral to decipher his meaning.

"What? Oh, song titles. Let me just look that up to be sure-" There's a brief pause, as the clone confirms that those songs are all by the same band. "Right, okay, I get it. I'll have everyone ready in-"

"Seven and one minutes, thirteen seconds."

"****, Needs. You're on all the magic right now, aren't you? Fine, eight minutes. I've got a lock on your coordinates, so get your **** together and make sure Magtok goes to bed on time." Needs taps a button on his wrist, ending the call, and then discards his prosthetic arm entirely, the whole thing turning to ash at his touch. It won't be needed where he's going, after all.

[billtodamax]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"Oooh, that's smart." Tuskfang's tail wags. "My cousins give their molerat Kip snacks all the time and he's fat. But he doesn't need to fly. He digs sometimes if he finds soil and not rock."

[Off to see the DORFS!]

"M-Momma says all b-babies are like t-that." Asher declares, eagerly rushing forward to scritch and pet the cute little animals, telling them that their safe and they're the cutest. Then he tells them if they eat too much they won't be able to fly, like his mom told him, and Endok just said too!

Then a molerat is mentioned! Another animal to meet! His wings flap happily, as happily as a wing movement can be, and calls out to his friends, old and new. "C-Can I meet Kip, t-too?"

Off to see the DORFS!

Ator and Bab scuttle forwards toward Asher and happily accept the scritchings. They understand safety and that they're cute just fine. The rest of the words don't really seem to penetrate their baby brains but they appreciate hearing words directed at them anyway.

I bet Kip and Ator and Bab would all be friends. Olon says. Probably Scout too they just have to get used to him I bet. She adds magnanimously. They were pretty scared of us when we first met them too but now they love us. Endok chimes in.

[Deathkeeper]

[Lake]

Gara looks at Cheasadh with pity, gently curling up to give Cheasadh the best approximation of a hug that her serpentine shape can provide. Brinika hopefully doesn’t mind getting caught up in that.
”Aww, you poor girl. Well, if you get permission from your mom I can introduce you to Civvy. I can go to her Realm whenever I want though I haven’t actually...done it yet. But...this time I don’t want to take you anywhere without you telling the adults. I don’t want to uh, look like I’m kidnapping you.”

[Morty]

[Lake]

Brinika certainly doesn't mind to be pulled into a dragon-hug with Cheasadh. She gives the gnome a sisterly hug herself. She knew some of that, but not the rest, but she doesn't care about it right now.

"You've got a new family now. Me and mom and dad and Aunt Reelshka and everyone. And we all love you. We do gotta ask them before we go to there, but it should be fun!"

[Off to see the DORFS!]

Tuskfang nods enthusiastically. Of course, he does most everything with enthusiasm.

"Yeah! We could go visit them in Underside or they could bring Kip with them when they visit. Mom says they're going to come see my baby siblings."

[Earl of Purple]

Lake

"I do. Thank you." She grins, happy to hug Gara back- she's like a massive teddy bear! Except less sticky. She's actually a little curious about Civvy, but it's a very cautious curiosity. She doesn't want to wind up like her father did, or her brother who she hasn't heard from in a very long time.

[Purple Eagle]

Off to see the DORFS!

Ator and Bab scuttle forwards toward Asher and happily accept the scritchings. They understand safety and that they're cute just fine. The rest of the words don't really seem to penetrate their baby brains but they appreciate hearing words directed at them anyway.

I bet Kip and Ator and Bab would all be friends. Olon says. Probably Scout too they just have to get used to him I bet. She adds magnanimously. They were pretty scared of us when we first met them too but now they love us. Endok chimes in.

[Off to see the DORFS!]

Tuskfang nods enthusiastically. Of course, he does most everything with enthusiasm.

"Yeah! We could go visit them in Underside or they could bring Kip with them when they visit. Mom says they're going to come see my baby siblings."

[Off to see the DORFS]

"I've never b-b-been to Under-Side!" Asher reveals, his purple eyes glowing excitedly and his silver skin revealing itself, which Tuskfang already knows about. "C-Can we go, please, Tuskfang?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Lake]

”Well, I can carry you back to talk to your folks if you want. I’m sure it’s fine; Civiron is a fairly well known goddess. Or I could just stay here. Uh, either way.” Gara doesn’t want to come off as suspicious...

[Morty]

[Lake]

It doesn't take long for the two girls to speak to their aunt, and once she's been sufficiently assured that it's safe, they're sent off with Gara, presumably with some lunch packed.

[UncleWolf]

It's not that they're watching the front gate, just that the entrance is pretty visible from a lot of the camp, and so someone comes out to investigate the new arrival.

That someone would be Anchor, a rather small human woman in sunglasses, a necklace of lion's teeth, a lab coat, and sandals. Her shadow doesn't quite look like her. She gives Leap a cautious wave.
"Welcome to the Good League of Good!"
...
Has she seen this spider-woman somewhere before?
Probably not. Wouldn't she remember where?

Entrance

Leap gives a wave in return and walks on over before turning and gesturing at the person-sized package on her abdomen. "I've got someone to drop off. Smuggler off of a transport ship and I've made something of a bargain to leave her here." She explains. The drider sounds a bit glum to be doing a good deed however, as if she really didn't want to be doing this. "She's probably going to need food and water and some medical attention as she's been unconscious for most of a day. My fault, I admit, but my venom shouldn't leave too ill of an effect apart from a nasty headache."

[billtodamax]

Off to see the DORFS!

Oh yeah! Olon nods enthusiastically. Pretty sure she hasn't thought about the sort of people that live in underside. You always come down here but we never- WOAH! Endok interrupts. ASHER YOUR SKIN GOT ALL COOL AND SILVER! He reaches out to gently prod Asher.

[Morty]

[Off to see the DORFS!]

Tuskfang giggles.

"Yeah! He looks like that sometimes. We can go to Underside but I'd have to ask mom first. It's far away from here and deep underground. Like here, but bigger."