[Nexus] Inside 51

[OrchestraHc]

Market Street

"A little more. Make a show. I'm a fool, don't know how cheap we're selling." Most people tend to get suspicious when they're offered wondrous trinkets dirt cheap. But they're all to willing to believe in the stupidity of foreigners.

Market Street

Pepperjack doesn't actually acknowledge it, but he understands Mel perfectly. "Ah, ma'am, it seems I underestimated the toll on Melbourne the mystic. While it would have been my pleasure to sell that fetish for a merely a coin, the energy it took from my sea-gypsy partner is worth a greater deal than that. Poor fellow. Perhaps, you would be willing to part with five gold coins? For a poor shrimp who can barely afford a puddle to sleep in?"

"I suppose." The woman acquiesces to the sudden price change. and pays for the bauble. It's still way cheaper than Azik's in Mallside.

[Gothic Roof]

"I tend to get sick, only if I do it physically though. Mentally I love crossing through dimensions. Do you really have the ability to open up wormholes?" The mage seems fairly curious. Calvin seems to be getting more impatient.

Gothic Roof

"Not personally, but I'd know one I can fly you through, not that I trust you in my universe." Young Star looks over to Calvin. He gives him a wry smile. "Cool your britches Cal. Unless you have a better solution, we don't exactly have much to go with. Our entry was a little less than legal and the we don't exactly have hard evidence he screwed with those peoples heads."

"What do you say, Let me take him to my world for at least a bit? At least keep him out of your hair for a while."

[Shadowcaller]

[Outside the Pokemon Center]

"I don't need a mentor. I can fight my own battles.*" She says defiantly. Becca's not going to let this girl think she's better than her.

* Using Pokemon of course.

[Outside the Pokemon Center]

"I believe that when I see it." Beatrix remarks. "Once Crystal is better of course." She glances at the emergency doors. While Crystal now were stable it didn't really feel right to do a pokemon battle while she were in that condition. She was the one that had put her up against the haxomon in the first place after all.

[Terumitsu]

Market Street - Walking

Copi looks at it, and after a moment, simply asks "How will I get back out?"

"The pathway will remain open until you wish to return." the Entity replied. "I would reccomend, however, remembering the nearest guidepost when you do decide that you wish to leave. As for what those appear as.. It can vary by a significant degree but it is always a rather fixed point. Or, at least, a fixed representation. Traveling as well requires moving between these locations which, in turn, requires focus upon the qualities you are seeking. That is to say, you will not travel between locations so much as concepts which leads the landscape being quite morphic. Imagine all points being the same distance from each other regardless of what point you happen to be at but only in reference to these posts. Is all of this clear?" they asked. This information would have been imparted even if Copi had decided to proceed without asking but showing such caution was a display of prudence at least.

[FireFox]

Taberna Lavernalis

Reynard hisses in vexation. Impossible. Is there nothing else you want?


Ashley's Warehouse

The thief just grins at the mage.

[Devixer]

Ashley's Warehouse

Ashley grins back, her face still somewhat red. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

[Lost_Deep]

Market Street - Walking

Copi smiles and nods. "Quite!"

I'll take your word for it, crazy girl. This is all rather confusing for me.

"Thank you for giving me this chance," Copi says before she steps through the portal.

[Reinholdt]

Taberna Lavernalis

Well that obvious ploy was cut off early, thankfully. "What I want is for you not to use Tobias' kids against him. No parent should have to suffer that. Yet you're already looking for workarounds so you can do it anyways. I'm not interested in playing the word game with you. If you can't follow the intent of my wish, there will be no deal." Rein leans forward a bit. "This is a compromise. I give up something I want to get something I want. In exchange you have to give up something you want to get something you want. It's not going to make either of us totally satisfied."

Rein has plenty of other things he wants, but they mostly pale in comparison.

[Zefir]

[DMC 2.0]

"Lifestyle god?" Yuki gives Mia a confused look. "Haruka was actually a demigod seeking to obtain godhood, so she tried to steal Futsunushi's power. Didn't really work..."

[DMC 2.0]

"Lifestyle god's are actually deieties you need to have a special lifestyle like war . They force you to follow a path you may never thought of." Mia explains what she ment.

"Deus Mechanicus isn't forcing us to kill, kiss, collect or spend. He just wants us to have a live including machines as we like."

[Gullara]

[Outside the Pokemon Center]

"I believe that when I see it." Beatrix remarks. "Once Crystal is better of course." She glances at the emergency doors. While Crystal now were stable it didn't really feel right to do a pokemon battle while she were in that condition. She was the one that had put her up against the haxomon in the first place after all.

[Pokemon Center]

"Well yeah." Becca shuffles her feet. "Um, she's doing okay, right?" She asks, looking uncharacteristically ashamed for just a moment.

[McBish]

Nort's Place

"No. Not about to happen. The technology you will be working on is ours. Any attempt to replicate or sell that information will go poorly." Lawrence snaps. And here they are, back to threats and intimidation.

Nort shrinks back a bit and nods. "I can understand that. What about data from the machine but not technical plans. Nothing that would let me rebuild it. I am not interested in building weapons anyways. It might be useful to collect some data about what happens around the machine." Like how the results of a nuclear bomb exploding is interesting to physicists.

------------------------------

Gothic Roof

"Not personally, but I'd know one I can fly you through, not that I trust you in my universe." Young Star looks over to Calvin. He gives him a wry smile. "Cool your britches Cal. Unless you have a better solution, we don't exactly have much to go with. Our entry was a little less than legal and the we don't exactly have hard evidence he screwed with those peoples heads."

"What do you say, Let me take him to my world for at least a bit? At least keep him out of your hair for a while."

"And what is going to happen to him after all this. You take him back to your witch, she digs in his head? Seems like that is what he wants you to do. Trick you into fighting his fight." He shakes his head. "But it is better then my plan. Take him, keep him for all I care. I just want him out this city. If the man came back loose in this city he would have to be taken care of. If he doesn't come back to the city it doesn't much matter to Calvin what happens to him.

[FireFox]

Ashley's Warehouse

Ashley grins back, her face still somewhat red. "What are you looking at me like that for?"

'Cuz you're beautiful. Ally replies casually.

Taberna Lavernalis

Well that obvious ploy was cut off early, thankfully. "What I want is for you not to use Tobias' kids against him. No parent should have to suffer that. Yet you're already looking for workarounds so you can do it anyways. I'm not interested in playing the word game with you. If you can't follow the intent of my wish, there will be no deal." Rein leans forward a bit. "This is a compromise. I give up something I want to get something I want. In exchange you have to give up something you want to get something you want. It's not going to make either of us totally satisfied."

Rein has plenty of other things he wants, but they mostly pale in comparison.

Reynard stares into Reinholdt's eyes for a long few minutes. Finally he sighs, gets up, and walks over to the bar. And what, exactly, am I getting from you in return for abandoning half of my plans?

[Reinholdt]

Taberna Lavernalis

"I thought that was spelled out in your initial offer. I'd work for you."
Detestable as that may be.

[Morcleon]

[DMC 2.0]

"Lifestyle god's are actually deieties you need to have a special lifestyle like war . They force you to follow a path you may never thought of." Mia explains what she ment.

"Deus Mechanicus isn't forcing us to kill, kiss, collect or spend. He just wants us to have a live including machines as we like."

[DMC 2.0]

"Oh. Those kind." Yuki shrugs. "No, they aren't that strict. If you follow them, you're expected to do certain things, but it tends to be rather loose for most churches." He emphasizes his words, scowling slightly.

[Devixer]

Ashley's Warehouse

Ashley just blushes at first, then responds, "Thanks. So are you."

[FireFox]

Taberna Lavernalis

I was just wondering where you draw the line. Not so that I can try to push you over it like some villain, but so that I don't ask you to do something that will make you want to shoot me. The Trickster decants a dusty bottle of red wine before turning to look back at the flaming hawt sniper. Kidnapping? Sabotage? Would you, I don't know, kill Quinn or Orianna?


Ashley's Warehouse

Ally grins at that. Ready to go?

[Reinholdt]

Taberna Lavernalis

Reinholdt's attention hasn't followed Reynard, finding some place on the floor to stare at instead.

"Oh I already want to shoot you. And yes, yes, no, probably."

"You can go ahead and presume anything relating to GLoG inhabitants are right out, except maybe for Tobias himself. Most everything else is fair game."

[Devixer]

Ashley's Warehouse

Ashley smiles and nods. "Yup, lead the way."

[FireFox]

Taberna Lavernalis

Aww, why do you have to be like that? This is going to be fun! I'll stop scheming against the Black Fox and the two of us can mess with other people. I'll even let you pick the target. Reynard says graciously as he adds something to the decanter.


Ashley's Warehouse

The thief offers her hand to the mage and sets out for GLoG.


Streets

Three people, dressed for a fight, appear here. A Charr, a blue-haired elf, and a silver-haired man who has "HALO" in gold letters on the back of his bulletproof vest. He starts speaking into his headset. Patrol Team Beta is commencing first mission.

[Devixer]

Ashley's Warehouse

Ashley takes the offered hand and is happy to follow Ally to GLoG.

[Reinholdt]

Taberna Lavernalis

So much fun...
People at GLoG are out. Rein's on a mostly positive and professional basis with NO. He's just started repairing relations with Watchtower, helping Wenomir. He doesn't want to mess with HALO and why screw with Remnant? Magtok's too bloated on enemies right now.

"What about that one guy? Brent Star... Starling? Head of the Hoomans. He sounds like he'd be pretty uptight and easy to rile." Reinholdt doesn't normally think about targets to screw with. Opportunities just happen to come up a lot.

[UncleWolf]

[Junktion Junkyard]

"well, I'm no genetor, but the whole "Talking and moving" thing seems to put you in the living camp. I'm May. You?" the techpriest tilts her head quizzically. Are they just new here? If they're disoriented like this, it must be the omnissiah's guidance that led them here in the Nexus, of all places.

Junktion Junkyard

"I'm Rapture, and this is my sister Purity." She says, gesturing towards the young enginseer. "As for the tank, that's Momma Bess. Well, what's left of her, which is a damn sight more than there should be..." The short driver mutters to herself as she looks at the bastardized Hellhound/Leman Russ. "I tried to blow us up once the Roaches bogged us down and got in."

[Halae]

[Junktion Junkyard]

"If you tried to blow her up to destroy an enemy, I'm surprised she survived," May says, looking it over, "I don't recognize the overall pattern, but... was this two tank grafted together? I don't know how to describe it. Assuming the spirits were willing, it's beautiful in its drive to continue on."

[UncleWolf]

Junktion Junkyard

"Yup." Purity says with a grin before turning to face the tank as well. "We didn't have much choice really. Our original Hellhound had been eaten away by bioacid and we couldn't move unless we transplanted some of her into a half-built shell of a Leman Russ Executioner. We call her a Leman Russ Hellbringer. The Magos we tried to rescue didn't like her one bit, but it was his only chance for survival. Have any Caff?"

[Lord Magtok]

Truth

It's a funny word. It stands for solid fact, fidelity, objective knowledge. Things that we believe, beyond the faintest shadow of a doubt, are a part of reality. People have died in the pursuit of it, equally many have dedicated their lives to destroying or distorting it. There are some we consider wise, and full of great truths, and others who wouldn't know truth even if you bashed them over the head with it.

As one might expect, with the Nexus being what it is, truth is just as funny a word there as in real life, perhaps even more so, for being so strange. Cities and empires rise and fall with the same frequency as the sun's routine voyage across the sky. People suddenly exist, and then just as abruptly cease to be just as quickly. Nothing is absolute, and everything is in constant flux. A maelstrom of blood and tears, with no end in sight, and no definite origin.

Meet Julianna Delgado. Just ten minutes ago she had four very simple beliefs, that to her, were absolutely, indisputably, the truth. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, that hell had finally come to earth. The world was at war with itself, and every man, woman and child was conscripted in a conflict that would not end until one side or the other was completely exterminated. The government had betrayed its people; dealt with foreign devils to exploit her native people for money and drugs, and only by blood could they atone for these sins.

Secondly, though it would seem to contrast harshly with the above, Delgado was certain she was going to get out of this hell-hole entirely unharmed. It was a solid fact in her mind. The end had come, and by sheer force of will, she was going to beat it. By gun, by machete, by whatever else she came across in her travels, she would single-handedly take on all comers and rise above the carnage and war crimes, triumphant and proud. Of course, this obviously wasn't very likely, and her bravado had already gotten a few other folks from her unit killed in senseless charges on forces with better training, weapons, and fortifications, but nothing short of death would've ever wrested that idea away from her. Juliana lived and breathed revolution, and would not rest until her war was over.

Thirdly, Julianna was, like many other people, under the impression that inter-dimensional travel was just some sci-fi nonsense, or something that could only happen in the far, far future, and certainly not to lowly peasants like her. She quite reasonably assumed that the warehouse full of captured government accountants her unit had captured was going to stay a warehouse full of accountants, and no interdimensional portal was going to suddenly change that. As she disengaged the safety on her ancient, battered Kalashnikov, the very last thing she expected was to be somewhere else. Certainly not standing in an alley with terrifyingly inhuman beasts sprawled out before her, instead of the cowardly slaves of that diabolical government she'd been expecting to see.

That didn't make her stupid enough to shoot them, though. I mean come on, who would do a thing like that? You'd have to be one sick bastard to kill creatures just because they happen to occupy the same space the enemy did a moment ago, no matter how alien or ugly those weird creatures might be! It's obvious the situation has abruptly changed, and in response to those changes, Julianna promptly cowers in fright, brandishing her rifle in fear as she retreats from...from those things! Dear god, how did she get outdoors, and where did her unit go?! What the hell is going on here?!

[Halae]

[Truth in the Streets]

Before Julianna stands a curious looking individual. whether he can be described as birdlike or reptilian is left to personal opinion, but there's not denying that he's not human. He wears blue armor with a cylinder shaped upper body and a pigeon chested front, with much wider hips then would normally be appropriate for someone of his size. he wears no helmet, and the plates on his head shine in the sunlight of the day. At his waist hangs a mono-filament sword, and on his back is an assault rifle - don't want to be under equipped in a place like this, after all.

"Umm..." the turian says in his weird humming voice, looking up from the clipboard he holds in his hands with curiosity, "Can I help you?"

[Junktion Junkyard]

"Would you be willing to let me fix her up? It'll take some time, and more time to find the right parts for a good fix, but this sort of work is what I live for." May seems eager, her eyes lighting up as she has ideas.

[Lord Magtok]

Truth/Streets

The fatigues-clad revolutionary stumbles, tripping and falling to her feet at the sight of the abominable bird-man. Her weapon remains trained on the obvious threat even as she falls, bracing the gun between her legs as she centers the weapon on that foul devil before her.

"Back! Get the **** back! I'll ****ing shoot, you ****!"

She spits on the ground, trying her best to hide her fear for the creature under as much rage and potential for reckless destruction as she can. Ms. Delgado doesn't open fire yet, though. Can bullets even hurt devils?

[Halae]

[Truth Street]

"Whoa calm down," the turian says, "Nobody's attacking here, so why don't you point the gun somewhere else and we can talk this out like reasonable adults?" He doesn't seem worried. Kinetic barriers were built for this sort of thing, and that looks like a really old model of human weaponry, "What's your name? I'm Karrus."

[Lord Magtok]

Truth, Streets

It had ample warning. Could've backed off when told to (in a strangely foreign tongue that Julianna doesn't recall being fluent in until just now), or ran away, but instead it just stood its ground. She can't very well wait for a thing like that to bring one of its monstrous superweapons to bear, those things look absolutely awful, so instead she scrambles back onto her feet, and tries to swing her weapon at poor Karrus's face, bludgeoning him with the butt of the rifle.

[Halae]

[Truth, Street]

Combat instinct takes over for Karrus when Julianna swings at him. He's not going to seriously injure her, but he'll move in closer to disrupt her swing and deliver a punch to her jaw. even if Julianna manages to maintain her swing despite his maneuver, it'll just get deflected off his shield.

Julianna shouldn't be too hard by this. Dazed, maybe knocked down, but not truly injured.

[Lord Magtok]

Truth, Streets

"****er!"

Ouch. That's certainly going to leave a bruise. Probably going to hurt like hell, too. When the adrenaline dies down, I mean. Right now Julianna has a hideous alien monstrosity to bury. She backpedals away, her breath escaping her in a pained hiss as she hurriedly brings the business end of her weapon to bear on Karuss. He can parry her weapon with his arm elegantly enough, but let's see how he does against bullets. A simple three-round burst should be enough to put down the devil-man, right?