[Nexus] MagCave IV: Some Days, You Just Can't Get Rid of a Party

[Reinholdt]

Picnic Tree

"Yes, a few things I wanted to go over actually. Firstly, have you heard of a company called Umbrella? We have a few scientists from there and it's obviously shady from what I gleamed of it."

[Lord Magtok]

Picnic Tree

"Mhm. Umbrella is as shady as a surprise elemental, at midnight, on the darkest day of the year, within a magical darkness field thingy, inside an airtight, subterranean cave. Not a cave with any of that cool neon glow-in-the-dark algae stuff, or weird, blue, giant phosphorescent mushrooms, either. Completely insane, too. When not selling mundane pharmaceuticals, they were making zombies and zombie viruses and horrible bio-weapon monsters and a suspiciously large volume chainsaws for the zombies to use in battle and junk like that. If I remember correctly, they fell apart because of a zombie virus outbreak that took over their building, which later escaped into Inside and caused that whole quarantine thingy. If the company still exists at all, I'll be quite unpleasantly surprised. The two insist that they weren't part of the branch responsible for all of that nonsense, though."

Magtok doesn't sound terribly convinced, but he doesn't go out of his way to imply that the pair was lying, either.

"Those two don't seem quite so bad, but I've never actually tested any of their creations, and I've kept enough distance between myself and them so any potential shenanigans would be someone else's problem. With proper regulation and monitoring, they don't seem like they'll be any trouble. Oh, and I don't think it's relevant in any way, but the one with the cancer-sticks who can't stop slowly murdering herself with them, her friend said she had a crush on me or something when they came in."

His disinterest is nothing personal, has nothing to do with his distaste for cigarettes or anything. He just thinks the girl's too far beneath him for that crush to mean anything. As far as he's concerned, she's just another fan, an absolutely trivial face in the crowd watching the spectacle that is Magtok's unique brand of madness unfold from day to day. Speaking of which, he stops to glance at his wrist, and then hurriedly returns to the window, pointing that sniper rifle out at some enormous raccoon-sized abomination bouncing about in front of the MagCave.

"Oh, by the way, do you know if rabbits actually eat carrots, like they do in the cartoons? Elephants like peanuts, mice can't get enough of cheese, monkeys love bananas, and rabbits never go anywhere without a carrot, that's what the cartoons always said. At least one of those is just an urban legend, though, and I can't for the life of me remember which one it is. Don't want to go through all the trouble of poisoning carrots just to look like an idiot."

Yeah, it'd be a real shock to us all if that ever happened, right Magtok?

[Reinholdt]

Picnic Tree

"Hmm... yes, well as long as they don't zombify anything. I expect we'll have a horribly bio-weapon monster or two though. Do you prefer rocket wolf or mutant rabbit?"

I see what she did there.

"We don't really get much rabbits in the Underdark, except to feed to our spiders. But I think they eat carrots yes."

Oh yes. Magtok brought up something.

"Speaking of Inside, AMEN still has a seat on the Council, doesn't it? What should I expect?"

[Lord Magtok]

Picnic Tree

"If we can successfully convince them that you've earned the seat instead of removing it altogether, you can expect an awful lot of nothing. In theory, the Council is there to keep Remnant in check and keep AMEN and everyone else from getting into shenanigans against each other. In practice, nobody can be bothered to attend meetings, call for meetings to be held, or let out any sort of secrets about what sort of secret schemes they might be hatching against one another. You can go ahead and try to change that thought process, but I doubt you'll find it very easy to do so."

Magtok fires the gun, and a small smile spreads across his face. Woo, looks like he got one!

"Oh, and it's a little late for me to be saying so, but the MagCave was attacked by this specialized sort of bioweapon rats a few weeks back. I think I saw a rat lurking around AMEN not too long ago, too, back when Gordo was ruling, and there's apparently a huge tunnel network of them just beyond Inside. It might just be someone else who does bio-science stuff, but I'd have a look around the Umbrella duo's office, just in case."

Edit: A bagel flies out from Maggy's head!

[Reinholdt]

Picnic Tree

"Rats huh? I'll keep that in mind. Maybe double check that lab of theirs."

Rats were pretty cute though! Not as cute as spiders perhaps, but still cute.

"Tell me a bit about Remnant then. I suspect I'll need to meet with them somewhat soon. After things have settled in a little."

[Lord Magtok]

Picnic Tree

"First and foremost, they're not idiots. You can't say that for everyone in the Nexus, as I'm sure you've noticed, and you can pull a lot of shenanigans against a lot of nincompoops without really trying if you plan properly. Remmies don't fall for the usual nonsense. They're actually quite clever, and entirely willing to get their hands dirty if it'll help keep the peace."

He fires once more.

"I'd keep my distance. They'll try to get to you, figure out what makes you tick and then exploit it in every conversation to keep you from causing them any trouble. It's too late for me already, they have an old Magtern working with them and they're willing to leverage that against me when necessary, but you still have plenty of wiggle room. Don't let them near friends or family, keep conversations short, and above all else, don't let them intimidate you."

Fwoosh! Another bagel flies through the air!

[Reinholdt]

Picnic Tree

Hmm. Might be hard, considering Raril lived in the city and all. It'd be difficult if they went after hi... hmmm... maybe she could turn that around in her favor if they did that.

She taps the her knee with one finger as she's mulling this over when... BAGEL!
...
"Are you all right? You seem to have pastry ejectitis."

[Lord Magtok]

Picnic Tree

"Gypsy curse. Every time I say the first syllable of my name, Mag, that happens."

Fwoosh! Bagel!

"Been meaning to find someone who knows how to dispel things, but the bagel curse just hasn't been enough of a bother to warrant not doing like a buhzillion more important things first. I'll get to it when I get to it."

[Chaotic Bob]

[The MagGrove]

That place with the trees and the stuff.
A certain giant robo-sloth is napping in a tree.
Somehow. Despite probably being bigger than said tree.

How exciting!


[Somewhere Else Entirely]

Probably behind whichever Magclone seems to be doing something most important.

Libby is here!
In all of her naked-for-precisely-seven-seconds-before-her-cloak-catches-up glory, humming something that sounds suspiciously like an 80's love song.

Also a cyborg velociraptor.

[Lord Magtok]

Somewhere Else Entirely

Magtok sighs in exasperation, lowering a bizarre-looking firearm covered in all sorts of weird nozzles and tubes and baubles and glowing plasma reservoirs.

"1317-M, would you please stop staring at my forehead? We're conducting important ballistics tests here, you'll throw off my aim if you keep-"

The Magbot he was scolding removes the target practice watermelon from atop its head, covering the bright red bulls-eye as it tucks the large fruit under one arm. It shakes its head, and points a finger just past its cyborg master.

"Libby, sir. Behind you. With a velociraptor."

The first two words were more than enough to convince Magtok to turn around, but it's not until that last word is uttered that his eyes go wide and he swiftly spins around and raises up that weird laser weapon in the general direction of whatever happened to have been behind him.

"...Right. Standard chicken-sized raptor. Not the giant murderous Utah one like in the movies. Forgot about that."

His shoulders drop, as does his fears, and he lowers the gun as soon as he sees the prehistoric lizard for what it is. Though a velociraptor certainly could still rip him apart, since it's not the enormous killer movie monster, he's inclined to not feel quite so unsettled by the beast.

"Oh, and hi, Libby."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Somewhere Else Entirely, Or Ballistics Land]

Libby gives Magtok a cheerful little wave, before tying back blond hair with a tie that may or may not be composed of phalanges.
"Hello, Maggy dear."

The velociraptor says hello too.
Namely with an unpleasant sounding metallic screech and by leaping at the bigger cyborg's face from a few feet away.
It keeps its more organic claws largely in-check, but the robotic side seems to possess laser talons. Which might be slightly harder for it to control, because they're still on target for Magflesh.

On the bright side, they seem to be set to stun instead of kill!

"Hello, sir Magbot. 1317-M, if I heard right."

[Lord Magtok]

Shooting Range with Libby

"Yes, ma'am. I'll just be going now, ma'am. So you can engage in your shenanigans without outside interference, that is. Please make sure my lord gets home alright, ma'am, he needs to finish shooting just above my head when he gets back."

The Magbot bows its head respectfully, and then walks right out the door. Meanwhile, Magtok's finally stopped screaming! Now he's just sort of gaping in terror instead, lying on the ground and keeping absolutely still, in the hopes that the ferocious lizard will lose interest or fail to see him if he doesn't writhe about in terror.

[Chaotic Bob]

[I Preferred Ballistics Land]

"I'll make sure he's in one piece! Have a good night."
Libby gives a little finger wave to the Magbot as it leaves, then looks over at Magtok, down on the ground with the raptor.

It seems to be utterly failing to stop noticing him.
Instead it is trying to lick his more robotic eye with a tongue that smells a bit like its last meal. Namely dead things.
"Aw, he likes you. I knew he'd be perfect!"

[Lord Magtok]

Fine, Whatever. Ballistics Land

Magtok tries to wipe the eye and the area around it with a finger, before pressing his palm against the beast's chin, in the hopes of nudging it off of his head without agitating it and getting himself murderized in the process.

"Eergh. Extinct animals every time you show up...is this going to be like, a thing, for us? Should I pack a dodo the next time someone tries to kill me?"

Though his remark is dripping with sarcasm, I'm not entirely sure it would be beyond Magtok to do exactly that. Knowing his luck, though, the dodo would survive the encounter and he'd be dragged off into the abyss without any sort of ironic pest gift to offer Libby for psuedo-revenge.

"Oh, and I suppose I should thank you for having the foresight to take out whatever part of its brain would've had me killed, I guess."

Because no wild animal in their right mind would turn down a perfect opportunity to claw Magtok's face off, of course.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Weee, Ballistics Land!]

The raptor's maw had opened slightly more before Magtok pushes it back closed and nudges the head away.
It looks slightly annoyed, but with a touch of Libby's hand upon its tail it gets off of the other cyborg's dress.

Libby resists the urge to look somewhere else entirely at his last statement, instead just giving a "Yes, that is definitely something I did before bringing it here" smile.
"Well, you don't have to give me anything. I just think these would be nice additions to your collection of odds and ends."

What mad scientist wouldn't want some dinosaurs and extinct super-mammals to play with?
"The little Magtok flare built into them helps them fit in, don't you think?"
The reaper seems extremely fond of her handiwork with the cyborgification.

[Lord Magtok]

Ballistics Land

It's not a dress! D=<

"It does, I suppose."

Magtok sounds a little reluctant to admit that as he picks himself back off the ground, but least he's willing to admit it, right? Definitely, probably, maybe progress for Libby!

"So umm...did you have anything in mind for this date and such? Places to go, things to do, that sort of thing?"

Magtok honestly hasn't put much thought into that date he promised Libby. In fact, I think he's been going out of his way to avoid thinking about, planning for, or even acknowledging the inevitability of that date. You can't evade Death forever, Maggums.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ballistics Land]

Hooray, Maggy complimented her handiwork!
However slightly doesn't matter, just the fact that he did!

Libby acquires a little metaphorical glow, seeming rather pleased, and hums for a moment.
Almost seems to not register his question.

After a moment, her pleased look settled back down into a simply serene one.
Lightly scratching the not-metal side of the raptor's head, she looks back towards Magtok and gives a faint shrug. Not her job to organize the date!
"I believe it is your city, Maggy dear. Where do you think would be best?"

[happyturtle]

Front Door

Someone's arriving at the MagCave. It looks like it's Happy Amakirr.

[Lord Magtok]

Ballistics Land

"Thermal-bubble shielded paddleboat cruise just above a valcano full of crazy rainbow lava, then? With Gordon out of the picture and Ilph busy, there's no one to rule against it. There's also a Grove that apparently looks like a smiley face from above for some reason. And also Trog's, maybe after or between those two things, since it has both food and a tendency to attract violent psychopaths."

She's Death. Obviously violent psychopaths killing each other in the face would be right up her alley.

Front Door

Magtok doesn't doubt for a minute that it's Happy Amakirr. Darcy was gobbled up by deadtime along with that dragon bard guy ages ago, and while Happy didn't do much better when it came to deadtime, at least the other half of her relationship was gone. If one of the two was going to make a comeback in some manner, it'd have to be her.

"Hi Happy."

The entrance to the MagCave swings open the moment after he says hello. The cyborg clearly hasn't changed at all since they last met, but why would he? When one has absolute control over their own image, aging is little more than a joke. A cold red eye sweeps across her face even as he warmly greets her, searching for some sign of tension or fear or concern. As nice as it might be to see someone you've presumed dead for a while, that only means that when they do come back, it's probably for something urgent and terrible and apocalyptic.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"Happy" seems perfectly relaxed. "Nice to see you, Magtok. Can I come in and chat for a bit?"

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door => Fayer

"Sure. Can I get you anything?"

He leads the way into the massive, garishly decorated foyer, fighting back the urge to ask what brought her all the way out here, as if to imply that she wouldn't be welcome unless some sort of serious business was at stake, or that coming all the way out here to talk is silly and she shouldn't bother visiting if she can avoid it because Magtok is clearly too important and busy and evil or somesuch nonsense.

[happyturtle]

Foyer

"A private place to chat. If this is that, then we're good." "Happy" says.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ballistics Land]

That's a dangerous assumption, Mr. Magtok.
What if Libby is seeking to avoid the more unpleasant sides of her job around you? Hm?
Possible!

"I wonder if bored druids shape their groves.
But a paddle-boat ride sounds fun. The AMEN pool?"
The reaper's opinion of that organization is a touched mixed.
On one hand, plenty of dying to keep her busy.
On the other, plenty of death-reversal to be confusing.

[Lord Magtok]

Foyer

Magtok shakes his head with a dreary little smile.

"Heh. Don't know if you've heard, but privacy doesn't exist in the Nexus. There's always an omniscient reaper of souls or robot god or whatever else eyeballing me in my sleep, regardless of how many wards I put up, and where."

He pulls up a chair that wasn't there a moment ago, and takes a seat as the entrance closes.

"They're largely harmless, though. Bound by rules regarding what they can and can't do for or against mortals. Beyond the all-knowing peeper or two, though, I don't think anyone's watching."

Except maybe Pat, if there's an ant or two in here. No need to spend an entire afternoon explaining that, though.

Ballistics Land

Magtok chuckles.

"No, no pool. The valcano's lava, I mean. I don't know if they even have a pool, actually...I might have to ask Ilph about that later."

I...wow, he's not joking, is he? I don't know if I'd trust the thermal shielding junk he designed anywhere near as much as he does, given how the vast majority of his robots and gadgets and such wind up so vastly incompetent.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ballistics Land]

Lava pool, water pool, death pool.
Same difference.
Although you'd think Magtok would be well aware of the presence of a normal pool, given his tendency towards laziness...

"Where else would they store all of their laser sharks, Maggy?"

At some point, the velociraptor veered away from Libby's hand and began to stalk around towards Magtok again.
Sniff sniff sniff.
Maybe he smells funny?

[happyturtle]

Foyer

"Close enough," she says, and her form shifts slightly to become the younger, green-eyed Darcy. "Sorry for the subterfuge. Last I heard, my counterpart is perfectly well on that island with her blue daughter. Anyway, I want to talk to you about AMEN."

[Lord Magtok]

Ballistics Land

"Even if they had laser sharks, I can't say I'd want to be anywhere near the body of water in which they're held. Fish don't know the meaning of the word loyalty. They're not exactly-"

Magtok peers suspiciously at the velociraptor.

"I suppose we could start with lunch in that grove place."

Where something absolutely awful is going to happen to pester Magtok, of course. He knows full well that things are going to get weird and awkward and uncomfortable, and because of that, the place most likely to be infested with doom-wolves and rabies pixies is first on his list. Best to get all the pain and suffering and terror that karma has planned for him out of the way all at once, and then move on to better stuff. The paddleboat appears, and Magtok reaches a hand out to help Libby into the passenger seat. A telewarp portal opens in a wall across from the weird aquatic hovercraft, leading to the aforementioned destination.

"Oh! One more thing, should we bring..."

Magtok peers at the velociraptor again, trying to decide on a gender-neutral name for it.

"...Rhode? Will it be alright here with Magbots and such?"

Foyer

Magtok raises an eyebrow. Huh, well that just about refuted everything he suspected over the last sixteen seconds or so. He's suddenly got a lot of questions to throw at Darcy about how she escaped deadtime's vicious clutches, but it's probably best if we save those for later.

"Anything about AMEN in particular, then?"

[happyturtle]

Foyer

"I don't plan on doing the infiltrate and spy thing again, and I'm not going to interfere with whatever your plans are. I just want to know Ilpholin is safe and that you'll keep a clone or two looking out for her." Darcy says.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Ballistics Land]

Libby accepts his hand (restraining faint glee) and hums a bit more.
"The grove it shall be. I think it'll be better than you expect..."
There she goes again, being prying and nosy about his feelings.
But it's only because she cares! Right?

The raptor peers up at Magtok rather equally suspiciously, before proceeding to sneeze rather messily at the bottom of his dress.
Then, looking rather satisfied, it proceeds to trot off to go terrorize some Magbots.

As the dinosaur leaves, Libby smiles and gives a little dismissive wave of her hand.
"I'm sure they'll get along swimmingly. No worries, Maggy dear."

[UncleWolf]

MagFirmary

After a while, New!Pat looks over at Tinman and reaches up to stroke his cheek as Worker!Pat walks out to go and work on something in her Labs. Both of them have a gentle smile, having enjoyed their time with him. After the door shuts, New!Pat leans her head up a bit and looks down at the spot where the bagels and such popped out. "Want me to fix the bagel thing? I could grow something if you'd let me."