Home 26: Rooms to let, fifty cents

[Rebonack]

[Suburban Street]

"Just down that way about four blocks," Khannie says, pointing down the street. "Daddy might have noticed the smoke by now, I hope he isn't worrying."

He should know that Khannie can take care of herself!

But...

He'll still worry.

Because he loves her.

Of this Khannie is absolutely certain.

She sets off toward her home.

"So... I go to school at Inari's. I've just been taking summer classes for my shadow magic, but we'll be starting up normal classes again soon. Will I see you around the temple grounds?" she asks.

[bc56]

Suburban Street
Jade nods. "I take classes on fox magic there." She pads along beside Khannie easily. "I'm kinda new to this fox stuff. I was a human first." She seems to have taken well to quadrupedalism and floof. But Khannie probably remembers seeing Jade as a humanoid and knows she can change back and forth at will, most of the time.

[Rebonack]

[Suburban Street]

Khannie raises an eyebrow.

"Fox magic? Like what sort? Or all of them, I guess?" she asks.

Depending on the fox they've got all sorts of different magic.

"Have you got one of those fox ball things?" she inquires further, making a little rolling motion with one finger at her palm. "All the foxes at the temple have got one, I think. Or can have one? They do most of their magic with it."

Khannie is pretty glad that there don't appear to be any more explosions going on nearby. No signs of Legion following them still.

Those are all good things!

But Maridia is still waaaay up high keeping an eye on things just in case.

"You used to be human? That explains why you didn't have the ears or tails when I saw you at the beach the first time. Are you going to come to this year's beach party?"

[bc56]

Suburban Street
"I was just learning kitsune magic, you know, fire and such, but nobody really knows what I am, so I thought I might as well try to pick up other kinds as well." She hasn't been able to shapeshifted into anything other than a fox, can't project illusions, or any of several other things. Or at least not yet. It's difficult to tell what she can't do versus what she can't do yet.
"I'm going to be there again. I can't go swimming though, so it's just drinks on the beach for me."

[Rebonack]

[Suburban Street]

"You can't swim? That's too bad. Swimming is half the fun of going to the beach," Khannie insists, giving her heel a scuff against the sidewalk. "Well, this is my house here. I guess I'll see you at the party?"

And then?

She'll wave and depart!

"By Miss Jade!"

Hopefully you don't get captured by any more super villains!

And this of course brings Khannie to none other than-

[Jace's Place]

In though the door Khannie goes with her typical, "DAD! ZEBES! I'm home! There was a big super hero fight in our neighborhood I didn't get hurt!" she announces loudly as she hangs up her jacket on the coat-hook next to the door. Then she sits down on the little bench by the door and begins taking off her shoes. "I managed to make a pretend lizard today at school with my shadow magic! Koji said he didn't think it looked very real so I made it bite his ear."

Koji being one of the werefoxes that occasionally gives her a hard time for being non-vulpine.

[Deathkeeper]

Jace's Place

Jace is busy humming a song about being blue.
"Khannie, what did I say about using magic against your classmates?" he chides.
But they both know he's not going to scold her too badly.
If Jace was a transmuter he'd probably have turned Koji into a newt by now.
Just for a few minutes, he wouldn't traumatize him too bad for harassing his daughter.

[Rebonack]

[Jace's Place]

"That doesn't count!" Khannie counters, looking around the entry hall for her slippers. Had Commissar hid them somewhere again? Why was it always her slippers he had to mess with? "And he deserved it. He made a shadow illusion of water in my chair when I wasn't looking."

Ah.

So there was some one-upmanship going on here.

Get Khannie's butt wet?

Okay she'll ignore that one.

For a little while.

But teasing her about her lizard illusion being lousy was just ASKING for a first-ear experience of how real she could make it.

"I didn't even add any structural aspect to it! It was just tactile so he felt the pinch but it didn't actually do anything," Khannie continues.

Getting bit on the ear by an illusionary lizard hardly counts as using magic on someone.

"Have you seen my slippers they aren't in the shoe rack again!"

[Gullara]

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

"I'll let you be a judge of that, Kitty. But the sooner the better. Someone's dead and we don't know why yet. She's not the only one that's going to feel uneasy about this whole thing until it's resolved. She of anyone will want to feel some kind of closure." Obriane argues back.

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

"I know, Obriane. Really. But right now I'm half dead and tomorrow isn't going to be any easier." Kitsuki rubs her eye. Her patience is really growing thin at this point, but she can't exactly blame Obriane.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming of Birds]

xKrayger hasn't noticed Leah giving him any signal so he'll simply assume it's safe to talk to this being as long as he doesn't reveal too much about himself. You always avoid that.
"The creature was a bird, great and powerful. It drove people to fits of passion. It had somehow become separated from its master, the King in Rags. I do not know how that happened. I also do not think He knew how that happened. He seemed very upset about the matter. If I am fortunate I will never see either again." Good riddance to both in his opinion. Maybe this being can remove the shard and Krayger can be done with it all.

"It is difficult to say. I am in the Fairest of Lands as well, only able to reach out in dreams." Suddenly, the serpent stops and stares down at Krayger. "The King in Rags? The one bearing this title is dead. He was defeated and cast down deeper than any Gentry had ever fallen."

The clearing of the forest ahead, the edge of the treeline, it shifts and retreats away. There's just more of the forest ahead of them; they aren't out of the woods yet.
At this point, Leah waves sharply. "You shouldn't just speak such names, or say such things about luck."
She even looks at the serpent. "Why would you say such words? Are you too deep in sleep to realize what they're for?"

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming of Birds

Krayger nods at Leah's warning. He'll take her word for it.
"Clearly he or some piece of him escaped what you describe. The name is unmistakable. How else would we know it, so long after?" he asks of the serpent.

[Shadowcaller]

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

"I know, Obriane. Really. But right now I'm half dead and tomorrow isn't going to be any easier." Kitsuki rubs her eye. Her patience is really growing thin at this point, but she can't exactly blame Obriane.

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

Obriane sigh and peaks Kitty's forehead with her lips. "Alright, let's go to bed. We'll talk more tomorrow."

[Morty]

[Dreaming of Birds]

The serpent seems to calm down after being agitated.

"The King in Rags was forgotten. If he escaped... we did not think it possible. We didn't know where he was. He couldn't stay in the mortal world; it was too thin for the Gentry. But nor was he in the Fairest of Lands. If he is returned, then great danger looms over all of you. And perhaps us as well." It gives a strange sighing sound. "They say he had a title of the Eye of the Bird and took on a guise of a great bird or a flock of birds. But passion and power were never the King's domain. He was a Gentry of fear and things forgotten. I do not understand."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower - Wenomir]

Wenomir shakes his head, clearing away his initial reaction. Cassandra really doesn't need him being judgemental about it right now. Especially since she seems to have a plan to deal with it.

"No, I'm just surprised. I wasn't expecting that. But then, I don't know if I was expecting anything, really. Mind-magic is as far away from my area of expertise as it can get." He smiles. "What kind of plan is that? It sounds like quite an undertaking."

[Cass' Tower - Wenomir]

"I'm not sure how to explain it, there's a lot of kinks that still need to be worked out," says Cass, looking away slightly. Sounds a bit like code for "I don't have a clue", not that Wenomir would have any suggestions of his own on that front.

[Cass' Tower - Electra]

Electra considers for a moment, brushing some of her hair out of her eyes.

"So, I'm not sure you would necessarily need to enchant an entire body. While we're artificial, our systems often mimic the functions of biological ones. So...my thought was that you could enchant a 'brain' of sorts that could be then built into a body. Most of my kind have fairly standard protocols for the brain/body interface, to ease manufacture and repair. Maybe that's not an option, though?"

[Cass' Tower - Electra]

Cass looks thoughtful.
"I'm not as familiar with cybernetics as... I used to be, but that sounds reasonable. It's definitely a good start to explore."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower - Electra]

Electra nods.

"I can lay out the basics that would be needed for interface with a relatively standardized reploid body, if that would help. I can draw it out as a diagram, if that would make it easier," she offers.

[Arkhosia]

Kitsune Recovery Service

Perhaps ten to fifteen minutes after Kitty tucks Anastasia in for the night, one of the parents might be disturbed by a timid knock on their bedroom door.

[Deathkeeper]

Jace’s Place

”Sure, Khannie.” he says in that exact way her dad does when he thinks she’s not quite right about something but is dropping the issue.
”Did you check your room? The closet? Under your bed? Under Maridia’s bed?”
Living with a dragon means you have to accept that sometimes your things show up in their “lairs.”

[Rebonack]

[Jace's Place]

Jace will hear the receding *thump thump thump* of Khannie running up the stairs followed a minute or so later by, "I found them!"

They were, in fact, under her bed.

She had forgotten to put them away again but she is unlikely to admit that.

The same thumping, now muffled by slippers, is heard in reverse as she comes running back down the stairs and manages to avoid tumbling.

"Hey dad did you want to see the lizard illusion it's really great," she asks as she pokes her head into the kitchen.

At this very moment?

She's mostly glad that her dad isn't grilling her about the super hero fight.

That's just normal boring stuff.

[Deathkeeper]

Jace's Place

Khannie might be surprised that instead there's a little velvet box sitting on the kitchen counter while Jace dries the glasses he's been watching. They never installed a dishwasher.
"Actually, I had something for you. It's not your birthday yet. And your birthday gift will be something else entirely. But I wanted you to have this. Well, I wanted you to have this knowing full well you can't really use it until we get this little issue of yours resolved.
Mostly, because I missed my daughter getting her ear pierced and like hells am I taking that standing up." Khannie is probably aware that her dad gets really annoyed when he misses things that are important to her life.
Maybe he considers too many things important milestones in her life. But that's what happens when you miss her first steps, words, job, and her first seven birthdays.
Khannie probably also is aware that Zebes has only told Jace that a stupid magic cat roped Khannie into a dangerous magical job in exchange for her wish and it can backfire but probably won't for a while. He doesn't know specifics because if he did he would be trying to atomize Kyubey at the moment.

Inside the box is a single silver stud, set with a hexagonal gem that oscillates between red and blue and orange and purple.

[Recaiden]

Dreaming of Birds

Krayger nods at Leah's warning. He'll take her word for it.
"Clearly he or some piece of him escaped what you describe. The name is unmistakable. How else would we know it, so long after?" he asks of the serpent.

The serpent seems to calm down after being agitated.

"The King in Rags was forgotten. If he escaped... we did not think it possible. We didn't know where he was. He couldn't stay in the mortal world; it was too thin for the Gentry. But nor was he in the Fairest of Lands. If he is returned, then great danger looms over all of you. And perhaps us as well." It gives a strange sighing sound. "They say he had a title of the Eye of the Bird and took on a guise of a great bird or a flock of birds. But passion and power were never the King's domain. He was a Gentry of fear and things forgotten. I do not understand."

"You thought the gentry of forgotten things would stay forgotten?" Leah muses. A dangerous suggestion, to draw parallels between those levels, but it might be what the snake needs to hear.

"This place is thick enough - but what is the danger? Don't you know the saying about fear?"

[Rebonack]

[Jace's Place]

A box!

What could it be?

Khannie carefully opens the box and gasps at the sight of the stud.

"It's pretty!" she says. "Thanks daddy!"

Holding the box with one hand she'll move in for a one-armed hug.

"I can't really take my right earring off but maybe we could get my left ear pierced, too?" she suggests.

Because her job as a Magical Girl came with one (1) ear piercing for some reason.

May as well get the other one done, right?

[Deathkeeper]

Jace's Place

"Well, Zebes told me that when everything gets worked out you might lose the stud you already have, so I wanted to make you a replacement. I suppose we could get the other ear done but then if the purple one breaks I'd have to get you another one and I don't know if our allowance can take it."
That's true. Zebes wasn't sure if Khannie's soul gem will continue to exist if they successfully get her soul out of it.
It's also true that enchanting gems is really expensive.

[Rebonack]

[Jace's Place]

"Yeah we don't know what'll happen," Khannie admits. "I might even turn back into a kangaskhan which I would hate,"

She would hate it SO MUCH.

"But if that happens we'll find a different way to make me human again, right?" Khannie asks, looking hopeful.

This is the Nexus, after all.

There HAS to be other ways to make a little kangaskhan into a human girl for REALS.

"I don't think both of the ear studs have to be magic, right?" Khannie asks further. "What's this one do?"

She's actually pretty curious here.

What kind of cool magical thing might it do?

[Deathkeeper]

Jace's Place

Jace bend down to kiss her forehead. As he is wont to do.
"If that happens I will get someone to make you human again within the week. And that's a promise. So if that's what it takes to keep the rest of you safe, don't hesitate to take it. Daddy will take care of you."
Jace is also really hoping she doesn't have a problem with her name, too. Zebes thought of it and he holds no grudge but it does have -khan in it. Does that bother her? Maybe they could just get the spelling changed if it did.
"The stud makes you resistant to transmutation and polymorphic effects. I uh, thought that might be important for you."

Dreaming of Birds

"He told us he had lost control of the creature while he was still disguised as a mortal. Perhaps the Eye was being controlled by another? It could be why you sensed some other being." Krayger says in a clipped tone. If Leah is suggesting they keep names to a minimum he'll try to be sparse on certain details.

[Rebonack]

[Jace's Place]

Honestly?

Khannie really doesn't mind her name. She was given that name by her family, her REAL family, and it beats the pants off everyone calling her kangaskhan for years. It's a reminder of where she came from and quite honestly the only one she needs.

"Thanks, daddy. I love you," she says quite genuinely.

Then?

Stud descriptions!

"Oh... well... One of the powers I got already makes me really hard to change," Khannie explains. "But once the Magical Girl powers go away I think that'll be gone. So once I'm human again this will be really important! And it's pretty, too, thanks dad."

Lots of thanks dad today.

She holds the little box in her hand, looking down at it.

"One of the kids at school said I won't be able to stay a normal human for long. She said no humans ever do. But... that can't be right though? There are LOTS of normal humans in the City."

[Gullara]

Kitsune Recovery Service

Perhaps ten to fifteen minutes after Kitty tucks Anastasia in for the night, one of the parents might be disturbed by a timid knock on their bedroom door.

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

The door is opened by a rather tired looking Kitsuki. She had a guess that it was Ana, given Annie has never knocked even once. That's why they have a lock.

"Is something wrong?" She asks blurrily.

[Shadowcaller]

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

The door is opened by a rather tired looking Kitsuki. She had a guess that it was Ana, given Annie has never knocked even once. That's why they have a lock.

"Is something wrong?" She asks blurrily.

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

Ana will caught a glimpse of Obriane in the bedroom, giving her an oddly enthusiastic wave before slumping back down into the bed.

[Arkhosia]

Kitsune Recovery Service

Anastasia, tired herself, blinks and suddenly feels rather guilty at how obviously exhausted Kitsuki is looking right now. ”Erm, sorry to bother you, it’s just…” the teenager fidgets, embarrassed. “I’m… I’m worried I’m going to wake up out there again, so, can- is it okay if I stay in there with you two tonight?”

[Morty]

[Dreaming of Birds]

"Perhaps it was foolish of us. If the Gentry can be cast down, they can also come back. They have few limits," the serpent agrees. "If the King in Rags exists physically outside the Fairest of Lands, he will try to return there. Or take his revenge on the mortal world. He's spiteful and cruel." It looks down at Krayger. "That may be true. Maybe a dream of my master's reached it through the cracks? I do not know how that could happen. But if one of the Gentry walks the mortal world again..."

[Gullara]

[Kitsune Recovery Service]

"Oh, well-" Kitsuki looks back at Obriane, then back to Ana. "Yeah, you can." She steps aside to let Ana in then closes the door behind her. "There's not a lot of space, but we can make it work." The master bed is hardly big and luxurious, but it's not tiny either. It'll be a bit of a squeeze, though.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming of Birds]

"He told us he had lost control of the creature while he was still disguised as a mortal. Perhaps the Eye was being controlled by another? It could be why you sensed some other being." Krayger says in a clipped tone. If Leah is suggesting they keep names to a minimum he'll try to be sparse on certain details.

"Perhaps it was foolish of us. If the Gentry can be cast down, they can also come back. They have few limits," the serpent agrees. "If the King in Rags exists physically outside the Fairest of Lands, he will try to return there. Or take his revenge on the mortal world. He's spiteful and cruel." It looks down at Krayger. "That may be true. Maybe a dream of my master's reached it through the cracks? I do not know how that could happen. But if one of the Gentry walks the mortal world again..."

"If one walks the mortal world again, the others might also." Leah finishes.
"Is there not anything there for you or your master?"