Inside 62

[Mee]

Aiden's Apartment

Aiden sniffs and keeps his gaze planted firmly on the ground. "Yeah, I guess I did." As for other perks, there isn't much he can think of. Certainly not in his current state of mind.

Aiden's Apartment

"And you get to show off just how good your coffee is, compared to everyone else's. So there are definitely some up sides to all of this." Naku informs him, still maintaining the hug.

[Shadowcaller]

[Potter's Cafe]

The beetle lifts higher onto its hindquarters, an unnatural movement as if drawn up like a marionette, and Sebastian's hand does indeed move to play invisible strings. Chin propped up on his fist, he leads the gemstone insect through a strange little waltz as he talks. "In theory, I am told I'm doomed for greatness. The few other Planeswalkers I've met seem to live up to that." While also being madmen and murderers all, although that's hardly pleasant conversation.
"But I've only known about this for a little over a year, and that actually is most of what I can do. There are other things, like a sudden talent for drawing, and I'm told some degree of immortality. But for magic." He draws a glittering arc of brilliant blue sparks with a snap of his finger, and shrugs.

That's about it.

Not that that's not, well, amazing.

[Potter's Cafe]

"So you're saying that you have potentially endless but untapped potential, is that right?" The scholar asks with a gesture in his direction. But rather to wait for his answer she continues. "It sounds like you're in need of inspiration, perhaps a tutor of some sort? I don't know much about planeswalkers is promising endless of possibilities. There have to be something that you can learn from it. We might even be able to learn from one another."

[Slii Arhem]

Spoiler: Posts

Show

[An Artistic Park]

Syela walks toward the area, awkwardly holding a rather girly looking wand. What was she even doing here again? This is ridi- Oh. Now she hears the screams. Syela sprints the rest of the way and stops dead when she sees what's going on. oh jeez, she is not cut out for this...

She swallows and points the wand skyward. Here goes nothing. "Star power activate!" After an embarrassing transformation sequence Syela is sporting a large pair of curled horns and her solar scout outfit that is far too chest emphasising.

Whatever, she's gotta do something now. The gorgon is her first target. She sprints at her foe and on instinct she lowers her head to give the gorgon a super powered headbutt.

[An Artistic Park]

There is the single horrified step back as the Gorgon shakes free of the whitening powder and the dust cover, terrible smoke snorting from its nostrils, and Sebastian's heel collides with the tree roots. The brush of the other tarp falling aside and his head is turning, turning..

And then, very clearly across the park, he sees a model go still in sudden creeping gray. The collective scream shaking the tree branches loses a high note. 'Medusa' does not go through his mind, as it rarely does for anyone halfway sensible. But he sees the girl freeze halfway across the park, facing the horrible unknown behind him, and the clear horror on her face tells him all he really needs.

He turns back, and kicks the Catoblepas square where gentlemen are very much not supposed to. And whatever the dratted organizer might think, Sebastian can kick very, very hard when he needs. Plucking Napoleon off the ground, he's running straight for the restrooms of the park - for the solid, blocky cement shape and the metal grills used to keep them closed in the off hours.


[Potter's Cafe]

"S'your mug, if you don't want to get the full experience.." The waiter shrugs, watching the clay begin to tremble and rise up in spiralling patterns. It shapes itself into something of a shallow saucer before falling still, with ruffled, uneven edges and a hole big enough to hook a thumb through along one edge. He glances at her, lifting a hairy caterpillar eyebrow. "Uh, you want me to fire that up, or get you another one? We have some house mugs if you really don't want.."

The man across the way is looking now, lifting his head from the book and pushing the curly flop of hair from his eyes. His own cup is, of course, very carefully shaped and painstakingly molded. A neat little half-circle of a mug with a looping handle and banded ochre colors, the rim scalloped down.

[An Artistic Park]

Jamie freezes at the scene in the park, that she had been just about to wander into. For a moment, she hesitates, considering that these two beasts may be just a bit out of her league...but then she hears Sylea's shout, and she shakes her head, producing her own wand and raising it.

"Star power activate!" she shouts, and then Mikani is standing there in her tiara, swimsuit and flip-flops, musing for a moment that, really, she prefered her other outfit...before instinctively dropping, pressing her hands to the ground and calling on her vines to entangle the medusa!

...as they vines spring forth, they might well carry a surge of water with them.

An Artistic Park

It is likely not heard by anyone but a few surrounding models, but there is a rumbling proclamation made in the park, one of the few things said in anything but fear.
"I. Hate. Cows."

Then wings flutter overhead, and a long metal rod is dropped into his sky-pointed hand.
"Star power activate." says a very irritable centaur as he tosses a very unwanted toga to the ground.
Walter's transformation sequence is actually a bit shorter than most, as the suit simply forms over the bare torso, which is already female to match the outfit. Most of the equine differences are skipped over, because who wants to look at a horse's rear during a magical transformation sequence?
Willa steps out of the light, Hat pulled low over her eyes and hands holding revolvers.
"Hearts, we can't get out but I think you can still go up. " she calls, but she knows Hearts isn't the kind to run. Willa levels her guns at the bovine, aim surprisingly decent even though she can only see its ankles, and fires both, a beam of dark and light energ flying at either side of the creature. And small beams as they are, they pack quite a kick.


Meanwhile, a small, pointy-toothed imprint in Sebastian's head makes itself known. Sobek can't drop in unannounced without the staff around unless he has an avatar, but he can ask to be invited to conversation.
You seem to be running from certain doom, would you like some help?

Hearts raises her eyebrows at all this going on. Well... "Nice irons. I guess, if we're showing off..." Hearts reaches into her neckline and pulls out a pair or revolvers. The Biggest, Finest Revolvers that Willia has likely ever seen. Holding over a foot of gun in each hand, Hearts levels them at the medusa, apparently not giving two whits about the petrifying gaze, and fires one .50 magnum bullet from each gun at the monster.

And she IS a good shot, even using these weapons one-handed.

An Artistic Park

A good many things happen, even considering the chaos and fear surrounding the brave man and women leaping into action. Syela is unfortunately dodged, being the first to charge at the more nimble of the two monstrous artistes, the gorgon's sinuous coils shoving her out of the way as she snarls with a notably aristocratic french drawl, "Jean-Claude, critiques!" If Syela can't stop herself in time, the plethora of petrified bodies around the gorgon could spell doom, as a reckless charge could easily crack one of the neo-statues in half on a direct hit, or do more minor damage if she only wings one with a horn.

The catoblepas bellows in response, though its deafening howls of rage at the word are drowned out by the resounding *GONG-ONG-Ong-ong!* as a certain someone tries turning its undercarriage into footballs and finds they instead ring like brass bells instead, doing little real harm to the beast as it whirls towards the source of a more immediate threat leveling weapons at it from across the clearing. It begins to advance itself, though even as it picks up speed it chooses its footing carefully, not so much as brushing up against the statues it's leaving in its wake as the cloud of petrifying breath still rolls out of its low-to-the-ground mouth. It head is heavy, held low by the weight of its bulky armored scales and less significantly by the jaunty beret clearly pinned to one of its ears that flops about as it half-charges, half-dodges, managing to be winged by one of the beams enough that it only barely dents the scales. The other hits solidly, sending it to the knees of its forelegs, but somehow still failing to penetrate, leaving a crack in the scale and a horseshoe shaped scuff behind.

Meanwhile, the gorgon herself did a marvelous job dodging the first assault, though that put her at risk for the two followups from different directions. Her remarkably quick reflexes allow her a moment of decision, though, as to which attack to be hit by. Considering the guns to be the greater of two evils between that and viney... water? She dives towards the magical attack, allowing it to push her out of the path of Hearts' shots and accepting some blunt force trauma and entanglement in exchange for not being shot. Not to say she doesn't have a moment to devote to her own offense, as she attempts to assault Jamie Mikani with a piercing glare as she angles into the attack coming her way.

Sebastian is perhaps beneficially ignored, though the kick he leveled at the more beastly of the two artistes almost certainly dealt him more harm than good, unless he was wearing some form of foot or shin protection.

[Devixer]

Aiden's Apartment

"That barely counts, they come by to look at the cute cosplayers," Aiden says, with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

[Mee]

Aiden's Apartment

"That barely counts, they come by to look at the cute cosplayers," Aiden says, with the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

Aiden's Apartment

"They might come for the cosplays, but basically all of them order your coffee, and I've only ever heard people like it."

[Devixer]

Aiden's Apartment

"Yeah, I guess so." Aiden agrees in that annoying way people do when they want to be right about everything.

[Deathkeeper]

An Artistic Park

Willa uses a finger to pull her scarf up over her nose, as little as she knows that will do.
The spurs on her horseshoes spin and lower themselves to the ground, soon sending her shooting forward as if on skates. It's not incredibly kind to the lawn, but it's fast, and she's clearly practiced this enough to avoid hitting anyone.
"Eyes on me, JC! Or do you cheat as much in a fight as you do in art?" she taunts as she fires her guns in alternating shots, ten in five seconds, before pausing to let the cylinders spin and reload.

[Lex-Kat]

{Albert's House}

"Umm, about a year. Okay, thinking about it, it appears the healing applies to itself, otherwise it should be rotting by now."

Albert didn't quite think about that detail when he uses the wall turkey. He hands over the leg to Katrina.

"Well, you can have this one to experiment with."

Katrina takes the offered Wall-Turkey leg and places it carefully onto her plate, keeping it well away from her eggs. She watches it, as if expecting it to grow legs and try to leave on its own, but still manages to finish her breakfast. "So, what's on the agenda for today, sir?" she says as she gets up and attempts to take his dishes as well as her own to the kitchen.

[ThePhantom]

Albert's House

Albert finishes his breakfast just in time for his plate to be taken away.

"Well, I have an appointment scheduled, so if you want a fairly safe time by yourself, you might try Mallside again. Not to get a job necessary but so you can get used to the weirdness of the Nexus."

[Recaiden]

[Countdown]

The elf takes a few sandwiches and munches on them idly. Vegetables. Pah. Clearly just a diversion. Or perhaps dangerous?
He spends a while internally going over them for any poison, tracer, legion of nanobots, or other additive.

[Ionbound]

[Countdown]

Nope, nothing! Just cucumber and a little bread.

As the elf eats, the countdown timer eventually ticks down to zero and the doors behind it open, seemingly on their own, though those with very sharp eyesight might notice a pair of hidden ushers. A pre-recorded message plays, "Ladies and gentlemen, please find your seats. The presentation will begin shortly."

[Fenric]

[Countdown]

Agent 24 calmly walks in and finds a seat, at the end of a row near the middle front-to-back. She removes her sunglasses and puts on a pair of clear glasses in their place. Then she casually checks her watch before settling down to wait for the presentation.

[Recaiden]

[Countdown]

The elf minion goes ahead and takes a seat, moving carefully and precisely.

[ThePhantom]

Countdown

The envoy enters with the other guests, and finds a seat. He sits down but with some difficulties as tails makes it harder to sit on normal seats.

[Zefir]

Safehouse - Vigil

)(I don't put characters in the directory. Basically, it was a nod to someone trying on a new suit or dress, even though he's just wearing casual clothes.)(

Thanks. That was the goal.
He zips up a duffel, its innards having been stuffed with canned goods and clothes.
If we fill a couple more of these with various weapons, we should be good. I can't carry many, but I'll take whatever's heaviest.

Safehouse - Vigil

"We shouldn't take to much." Mia replies.
"After all we might use this safehouse in the near future."

[Ionbound]

[Countdown]

Once everyone finds their seats, a woman with red hair and round glasses covering green eyes that, if one were to look closely enough they would see are slightly slitted in much the same way as a venomous snake's. She's wearing a pantsuit, very professional and prepared, and when she reaches the center of the stage, she begins her speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to Anguis Laboratories. Here we have the most cutting edge of cutting edge technology, all to help you in your Research and Development needs. Our laboratories are the finest in Inside, and the scientists we hire are the best and brightest in all of the Nexus. But most importantly, more than the skill of our scientists or the shiny new machinery we have, is out 'No Questions Asked and None Answered' policy. Whatever we do here, for anyone, is strictly between themselves and us, and no one else. You want us to make anything, for any reason, and that's only between us. No one else. Not Remnant, not Vigil, not HALO, not AMEN...Not anyone. Any questions?"

[Recaiden]

[Countdown]

"So I guess asking for samples of past work is out of the question."
The elven visitor smirks.

[Red Zone, Streets]

Maybe, the thought occurs, they can just leave. There's such a variety up here, perhaps they would blend right in.

It is with this in mind that a pair of giant alien demon wasps crawl out of a manhole and start along the street.

[ThirdEmperor]

[Potter's Cafe]

"I think I'd like that." The mage smiles, and leans forward to lift the beetle from her arm, letting the little thing scuttle excitedly about his palm. He plucks a crumb from his saucer, giving the beetle a nibble. "It's taken a while just to get this far, from hearsay, vague references, the occasional meeting with a true maniac. Somehow, I'm the oddity in all of this." Bastian gestures to the surrounding weirdness. Not least of which the crocodile attempting it's best 'inconspicuous' at the bar, heavy sunglasses and all.

[Fenric]

[Countdown]

24 quietly wonders what the point might be, but waits patiently for some demonstration of ... well ... something. Lab facilities are not overly difficult to come by in the Nexus, so the woman's great claims require greater proof.

[Shadowcaller]

[Potter's Cafe]

Ambrosia shoots the strange crocodile a glance, truly bizarre. But then she turns back to Sebastian. "So I'm guessing your gift is rare then." Or at least rarer than hind-leg walking crocodiles with sunglasses were. "Could prove a challenge but my family is known for inspiring people. It's said that we're related to the muses themselves." She smiles faintly, it was entirely true though. Dragons were to inspire great deeds in both spirits and mortals. Or so the stories went at least.

[ThePhantom]

Countdown

The envoy raises his arm as high as it can reach, barely reaching the height of the people around him. Hopefully someone will notice that, its a problem will being a species that's short compared to the majority.

[Gullara]

Spoiler: Previously on An Artist Park

Show

An Artistic Park

A good many things happen, even considering the chaos and fear surrounding the brave man and women leaping into action. Syela is unfortunately dodged, being the first to charge at the more nimble of the two monstrous artistes, the gorgon's sinuous coils shoving her out of the way as she snarls with a notably aristocratic french drawl, "Jean-Claude, critiques!" If Syela can't stop herself in time, the plethora of petrified bodies around the gorgon could spell doom, as a reckless charge could easily crack one of the neo-statues in half on a direct hit, or do more minor damage if she only wings one with a horn.

The catoblepas bellows in response, though its deafening howls of rage at the word are drowned out by the resounding *GONG-ONG-Ong-ong!* as a certain someone tries turning its undercarriage into footballs and finds they instead ring like brass bells instead, doing little real harm to the beast as it whirls towards the source of a more immediate threat leveling weapons at it from across the clearing. It begins to advance itself, though even as it picks up speed it chooses its footing carefully, not so much as brushing up against the statues it's leaving in its wake as the cloud of petrifying breath still rolls out of its low-to-the-ground mouth. It head is heavy, held low by the weight of its bulky armored scales and less significantly by the jaunty beret clearly pinned to one of its ears that flops about as it half-charges, half-dodges, managing to be winged by one of the beams enough that it only barely dents the scales. The other hits solidly, sending it to the knees of its forelegs, but somehow still failing to penetrate, leaving a crack in the scale and a horseshoe shaped scuff behind.

Meanwhile, the gorgon herself did a marvelous job dodging the first assault, though that put her at risk for the two followups from different directions. Her remarkably quick reflexes allow her a moment of decision, though, as to which attack to be hit by. Considering the guns to be the greater of two evils between that and viney... water? She dives towards the magical attack, allowing it to push her out of the path of Hearts' shots and accepting some blunt force trauma and entanglement in exchange for not being shot. Not to say she doesn't have a moment to devote to her own offense, as she attempts to assault Jamie Mikani with a piercing glare as she angles into the attack coming her way.

Sebastian is perhaps beneficially ignored, though the kick he leveled at the more beastly of the two artistes almost certainly dealt him more harm than good, unless he was wearing some form of foot or shin protection.

An Artistic Park

Willa uses a finger to pull her scarf up over her nose, as little as she knows that will do.
The spurs on her horseshoes spin and lower themselves to the ground, soon sending her shooting forward as if on skates. It's not incredibly kind to the lawn, but it's fast, and she's clearly practiced this enough to avoid hitting anyone.
"Eyes on me, JC! Or do you cheat as much in a fight as you do in art?" she taunts as she fires her guns in alternating shots, ten in five seconds, before pausing to let the cylinders spin and reload.

[An Artistic Park]

Syela, thankfully, recovers just past the gorgon, but she manages to trip and fall on her face in the process. She spits out a few colourful curse words as she springs to her feet, looking for the threats. She pulls out a little canister and stomps over to the gorgon. "**** off!" And she tries to spray the pepper spray right into the gorgon's eyes.

[Lex-Kat]

{Albert's House}

Albert finishes his breakfast just in time for his plate to be taken away.

"Well, I have an appointment scheduled, so if you want a fairly safe time by yourself, you might try Mallside again. Not to get a job necessary but so you can get used to the weirdness of the Nexus."

"By myself?" Katrina says, a little worry coming through in her voice. "I guess... It shouldn't be too bad, right?"

[Ionbound]

[Countdown]

The woman looks over the crowd, then begins to speak, "Alright...Well...I don't-" She then cuts off as she notices the Kobold and says, "Yes, sir? You want to ask a question?"

[ThirdEmperor]

[Potter's Cafe]

"Heh. It sounds like your family has quite the history, but, uh.." His eyes haven't left the awkward reptile trying to hunker down incognito behind the bar, and fingers drum on the side of his chin, clearly bothered. It's not like he can ignore this. Turning a blind eye only means getting blindsided by whatever manner of nonsense this is forecasting. "I.. Gah. I am sorry, it's only.. I have to attend to this. Only a second, I promise." Flashing an apologetic smile, Sebastian pushes away from the table and strides for the counter, looking dangerously cross.

It's only the meddlesome lizard's fault if he's going to have be rude.

"And what do you think you're up, following after me?" He demands in hushed tones, leaning menacingly over the little creature, arms crossed and chest puffed up with indignance. "Because I do not need somebody sticking their snout in every time I go for coffee."

[Deathkeeper]

Potter's Cafe

The creature puts down the newspaper it has been reading, and its face is not the one Sebastian is familiar with. Everything about the odd little creature is bigger, his eyes are farther apart, and he seems to be wearing a rather familiar hairdo not normally found on any crocodile save one. The sunglasses stay in one claw, abandoned moments ago.
"Dammit kid, you ruined my entrance. Can't you even get that right? What do I think I'm up to? I'm wondering why someone who went out of their way to go and buy themselves a crocodile and make it a Holy Temple Croc of Sobek couldn't have gotten off of his bony ass, picked up one book, and skimmed it, not even the abridged section in the back which I literally had written for stubborn stupid meatheads. I'm wondering how someone such a god-damn coward that he practically panicked at a few arachnids had the stones to think it was okay to just ignore all the very few things expected of him by his god Do you know how many holy days I have that I honestly care about, kid? Like, three. Five if you're a priest with a Holy Croc, which I remind you that you do. And today, today of all days, which has a holy ceremony so damned simple it's literally 'take your croc for a swim at exactly high noon.' That was literally your one job today.

So I send Krokorok here to figure out why I don't hear a peep of a prayer from you today, and not only did he get inside in under ten seconds because you keep your key under the welcome mat, Napoleon's food bowl was empty, he was crying to know where you were, and the staff I so explicitly told you to keep safe was sitting out in the open. Oh, and then he told us that you haven't touched my holy book since Krokorok gave it to you.

If I have to remind you, Holy Crocs are smart, and your stupid magical influence has only made him smarter. I can't judge but if he was sapient I would not be surprised. You've gotta leave your kids at some point but he's barely two months old! There's bits in my book about proper sitters for Ra's sake!

So, I tease you kid, but don't think for a second that you're off the hook to be as heretical as you want just because I like you. Especially not when it involves endangering Napoleon like that. The hell do you have to say for yourself?" rages the god, volume more in Sebastian's head than the actual air, as few turn to regard the god's tirade.
And he is in fact so angry that somehow he manages to actually look halfway menacing despite the body he's using. Or maybe that's because to Sebastian with his mental link to the god he starts to look more like his usual avatar as the god actively blocks the normal appearance he actually has.

[ThirdEmperor]

[An Artistic Park]

Sebastian's best run is a stumbling hobble, the toe of his shoe horribly bent down and the toes beneath feeling distinctly twisted. Every other step is a near fall, or a hop to keep his balance, nearly sideways on his foot to avoid stepping on the broken toes. There's a great deal of swearing.

Reaching the concrete shelter of the restroom, he throws Napoleon scuttling inside and slams the grate after. Nearly turning to see what's happening behind him, he catches the urge in time, slapping a hand over his eyes instead. Careful. With a patient exhalation, Sebastian speaks into the open air. "Yes?"

[Shadowcaller]

Potter's Cafe

"Very well." Ambrosia looks slightly confused at the abruptly departing Sebastian. Did he actually know that... crocodile?
The scholar looks at it with renewed interest, she hadn't notice it before but there was a certain aura around that creature. It was far greater than it appeared, some kind of great spirit which made it the... fourth one she seen so far? They were certainly populous around here. The question was what relationship they had, it didn't look like Sebastian was too happy about it coming in here. Where they rivals perhaps? Or perhaps something... more? Great spirits were usually difficult to deal with, her father no exception. Perhaps these two had a similar relationship? If she only could send over a kami to spy on them...

[ThirdEmperor]

[Potter's Cafe]

"I.." Sebastian squeezes his eyes shut and pinches thumb and forefinger over them, drawing a deep breath as he waits for the explosion of noise inside his head to wind down. So many foreign thoughts pushing through, and at volume, feels like a headache trying to speak with him. "Wait."
"You sent someone in my house?" An eye cracks, picking up blustering steam again. Sobek can give him evil looks and false images all he wants, but Bastian is angry, and can hardly keep from giving voice to the mental argument. "That is not acceptable. I've let you and your spirit form in, yes, but having your toadie come poke around is another thing entirely. I have a right to some privacy in my life - which, by the way, would be why the staff is perfectly safe in my care. You yourself said nobody is coming to look for it. Besides this minion, apparently." He glances back over his shoulder, to make sure everyone's not staring at him like a lunatic.

Nothing to see here, folks.
Just a man glaring at a crocodile.

"Look, I.." An irritated sigh. "I'll go see to Napoleon, I hope he's not too upset with me. But whatever hold I've given you on my house, with the shrine and all, does not go as far as inviting the whole of your lot in."

[Deathkeeper]

Potter's Cafe

Sebastian should be happy. Sobek's presence makes Krokorok actually capable of speech, and is not conversing by "krokororkrok" over and over. It would make him look more nuts.

Sobek actually chuckles with a self-conscious eye roll.
"Eheh. Funny story about that. I didn't tell him to snoop. I told him to knock on your door and check on you because I was busy making a public appearance at a ceremony. But the guy looked under the mat when you didn't respond, and you might have noticed that he doesn't really have the same sense of privacy as you. Pokemon are very communal. So I didn't actually know about all of this until he left, at which point I was more mad at you than I was at him, and I dealt with him privately.

Also, this is him by the way, regardless of my borrowing. You might want to stop being such a jerk to him in case he remembers this conversation.

Either way, the point wasn't that people are actually going to steal it, the point was that I think I deserve a little bit more respect for what I have been offering, and despite my 'son's' overzealousness to help in this case, that point stands. I'm not going To curse you for minor stuff like this, but bottom line is that I am a friggin god and RTFM is really not the most unreasonable request.

Listen, just read the book, okay? I left a package at your place. I really, really need someone smart and mostly responsible to take care of it. Do it and we're a-ok. It'll be a bit of a hassle, but it should help you out with a lot of stuff if you can take care of it for a while." says the deity, still haughty but much more calm.

an Artistic Park

The voice answers immediately.
Woah kid there is some mojo flying around there. And that foot looks awful. You know how to heal? Because Napoleon is still too little for me to channel through safely, and since you're not a cleric you can't call on me to do stuff like that. I can throw mana at you to power whatever you already know how to do, though. he offers.