[Nexus] Riverside X: Take a Walk on the Wildside

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Uh, Irena? I'm done, you can turn back now." Nadia waits for a moment. "Oh..." She's pretty sure she has no idea how to help with that either, if it's even possible.

[Malchenar - Valente]

Valente is taken off guard by that question. And why did she ask it so quickly? Maybe he's reading too much into it. "Um... six." He replies after a moment of thought.

"I guess it's Sylvia's turn then?" He looks at her. She sure is a strange girl. He's generally used to people being neutral apprehensive about his vampirism.

[Reinholdt]

[Kami Hunting]

"Maybe just live for yourself? I dunno." Harnel shrugs. Why does she feel the need to use her powers?

"Would I be able to learn how to do what you do, being part dragon?"

[Slii Arhem]

"Well, you made half the city..." Tina says, glancing down into the alley and swallowing loudly. She grabs Nina's cloak tight. "Go for it?"

Eastside Rooftop

Another slow step forward and Nina plus passenger are safely back on the ground, with no mishaps this time due to the closeness of the place they were walking to. The centaur breathes a sigh of relief and begins trotting onwards, aimlessly looking for a place that they might both sleep for the night.

"So how'd you hear about old Dionysus anyway?" Might as well chitchat while they walk.

[Exbourne Manor]

"I would rather compare you to someone who adds drugs to someone's water supply and laugh as they turn to violence," Johann says with utmost contempt. "We agree to those terms as well. Leave."

[Exbourne Manor]

"There are many that perhaps shouldn't drink what the brewer makes, though there's little he can do when it is forced upon him." Ramiro waves his hand dismissively. "Your opinion on the matter is entirely unimportant I'm afraid. Take the girl and leave this city, we accept your terms." His tone suggests that this is all the leeway that the god will receive.

"Maria, release her. Durin, show our guests out. There is much to do, and I'd rather not waste any time."

Exbourne Manor

The youth bows, and Dionysus returns to the casks of water without a word as his bearer picks up the cart handle and wheels it around, heading for Billie. He offers her a hand getting into the cart so she can stand behind the barrels as he pulls it free from the crowd so they can go get ready to leave Riverside behind.

Unless someone else would like to stop them.

[Terumitsu]

[A Location In Northside]

Given the sudden change of surroundings, the muse needed a moment to assess the situation. Given that the worm had been lying in wait for her, this was likely all the time it needed to start coiling around her although she managed to keep one arm free. Still, Ghoul didn't feel the need to free herself as urgently as some other being given the facts that constriction like those done by large snakes worked best when their prey had the need to breathe and that larger beasts were limited in their 'turn radius.' …Which is to say that there was a physical limit placed upon them by their own bones and muscle as to how tightly they could wrap themselves. Smaller things were able to avoid this due to needing only a fraction of the bone and flesh to move around and thus having their turning radius be comparatively smaller.* Of course, it helped having a cyberbrain that was quick enough to make this sort of assessment although the trivia it sometimes brought along could be annoying. Then again, that was a consequence of just how memory worked rather than any fault due to design.

Still, while she had comparatively less to fear from asphyxiation or from being crushed, that still left her with the plight of getting out. With little else she could do, Ghoul would attempt to plunge the claws of her free hand into the flesh of the worm, doing all that she could to damage the surrounding muscle in the process to inhibit it's movement.

*

Spoiler

Show

It might help visualization by imagining a human bending over forward with their spine. Even if the human were able to remove/alter the parts of the vertebra that prevent further motion, the 'meat' of their abdominals would reach a point where further compression would be impossible.. And that would be far beyond the pain threshold. Hope this helps.

[ThirdEmperor]

Eastside- Brawl

Shame. I suppose being stabbed would be a more immediate concern, but not shaking Francium off while he was winded might cost the ogre dear. The soldier's grip tightens once more as he regains his breath, and this time he doesn't stop there, trying to sink his teeth into the ogre's neck and tear away a chunk of flesh. As an unintended side-effect of reinforced bones, the Einherjar have a set of chompers to be reckoned with, although that's not much use in most combat situations.

[happyturtle]

Exbourne

Assuming someone unties Billie, she'll be glad to be helped up onto the cart. "Hey, leech. Gimme back my earring," she demands, looking in whatever direction Durin's voice was last heard from.

Wildside

Somewhere other than where the dryads and dog and boy are getting acquainted, a woman enters the woods from outside the city.

[Shadowcaller]

[A Location In Northside]

Ghoul attempts to rend the worm with her claws but it's like trying to stick them into a gelatinous cube. The claws will just sink deep into the worm (depending how much force that was used) and just stay there. There don't seem to be any kind of internal organs inside of it. This creature is apparently operating on another form of biology.

Meanwhile the creatures head suddenly turns into a wedge shape and starts to attempt to force itself into Ghoul's mouth with a great deal of force while holding her head firm with it's upper body.

[Northside Sewer]

Down in the sewers another of the creatures have taken after Samona, it will by tracking her footsteps trying to lay in wait for her underneath the floor and then create an instant pit underneath her as she walks. If Samona have any special senses she might be able to feel the vibrations underneath however.

[Suncrest Manor]

Eventually the water starts to take an Irena-shape once again, slowly raising from the floor not unlike the T-1000 from terminator 2. So once Irena sits there naked on the floor with her discarded clothes around her she only have one thing to say, "****, that hurt."

((I'll post for the other scenes in a minute.))

[Morty]

[Malechenar Corridors]

The corridors are empty now, Michalson can neither see civilians or guards in the corridors which seem to be completely empty at the moment. There is nothing stopping him from snooping around. Or so it would seem.

The wizard continues his wanderings, taking everything in and looking for any signs of his targets. He remains vigilant all the while. They could be pretending to be fooled in order to lure him into a trap.

[Gullara]

[Northside Sewer]

Samona feels the movements below her a moment before the hole opens. She lunges forward, and tries to grab the man and tug him back where she was before taking off running down the sewer with the woman still in hand.

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia moves over to Irena and offers to help her up, where she will then guide her onto the couch. She then wraps her arms around her fiancee and holds her tight. Gods that was terrifying.

[Exbourne Manor]

Maria does indeed cut Billie free and lets her go. Durin just looks at the woman for a moment. "I lost it." He says. Indeed, he did drop it when he had more important things to deal with. Like Zeus for instance.

[Terumitsu]

[A Location In Northside]

If the creature's body was soft enough to be apparently unaffected by her talons, then it would certainly have enough give to it for the muse to twist away from the wedge the worm's face had become. Ghoul couldn't say she knew what would happen or why it was doing this in the first place but it seemed like something she didn't want to have any part of. Just as an additional precaution, although she had yet to open her mouth for any reason, she clenched her teeth together as tightly as she dared.

Shifting her claws back into hands once more, the muse would attempt to use the momentary extra space to try and move so that she would have some increased leverage in her attempts to get free. That said, even if that failed, the fledgling had another thing in store for the large worm. With a few short and quick mental commands, she set off her second and last flashbang. The heat from the magnesium explosion would burn like hell even through the vest she wore but her assailant wouldn't have any such protection.

[UncleWolf]

Wildside

Aconia watches Cole, waiting for his answer as she begins to gnaw and lick at a scratch on the back of her hand that the boy had given her while they were wrestling around.

[happyturtle]

Wildside

"Because women are supposed to protect men. For you to touch me would show disrespect, and for me to touch you would show that I am without ..." His voice trails off. Without honour. But wasn't he? He'd ran away from his vows, then repudiated them entirely. He'd given his name to a woman. He'd spoken her name. He was standing here uncovered in front of these girls - had rolled around and fought with one of them.

He pushes Scora hard, trying to escape. "Never mind!" he snarls.

[Gullara]

[Wildside]

"Hey!" Scora lands on her back as she's shoved over with ease. Cole will be free to escape. The serpentine dryad sits up and crosses her arms over her chest. "Hmph." She pouts. What a weirdo.

[UncleWolf]

Wildside

"But we didn't think you did anything improper!" Aconia shouts after him in distress before looking sad and dejected as she stays seated on her haunches. "Really..."

"Sorry."

[happyturtle]

Wildside

Cole is starting to storm off, angry and embarrassed, but Mori isn't beside him. When he looks back, he sees her trying to lick Scora's face. He looks from her to Aconia, and then down at his feet, where he sees again the pale circles of skin where the betrothal anklets used to be.

"I'm sorry. I don't even know the rules anymore," Cole says.

[Gullara]

[Wildside]

Scora laughs a little bit and pets Mori. Nothing like a cute dog to chase away a bad mood. She's a bit surprised when Cole stops, though. "Why does there have to be rules?" She asks.

[UncleWolf]

Wildside

"It's okay, we don't know the rules either." Aconia admits quietly, still feeling bad about it all. "If you don't want to wrestle again, that's fine."

[happyturtle]

Wildside

"Because there are always rules. Maybe the Lady knows. Or the Wolf," Cole says. Then he remembers that Wolfy said he had to figure things out for himself, and sits down on the ground so he can bury his hands in the earth for comfort.

[Gullara]

[Wildside]

"Well fine then." Scora gives Mori a pat before slithering over to Cole. She circles around him, studying him a bit. "I got it. Your rules are whatever you want them to be." She nods. Makes sense to her.

[UncleWolf]

Wildside

"Alright, I'll keep my distance for now." Aconia says, hands behind her back for a moment as she tries to understand the situation. She might be older than most dryads who were just born, but she still lacked experience where rules and such were concerned.

[happyturtle]

Wildside

"You live here?" Cole tries to remember what they said before. "The Lady is your great-mother?"

[Gullara]

[Wildside]

Scora stops in front of him and coils her tail around herself. "Apparently." She shrugs. "That's what she said. It's kinda complicated. And yeah, we do live here."

[happyturtle]

Wildside

"I tend the bees for her," Cole says.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Whoa, so, uh what's going on?" Irena asks as she's hugged. "Was I dying?" First now is the witch starting to sound a bit worried.

[Northside Sewer]

The worm-creature raises from it's hole as Samona rushes past it, the man suddenly panicking as he see it. "Oh stars..." He says as the creature quickly crawls after them like a huge snake.

[A Location In Northside]

((Too tired to post for this scene right now but I'll add it tomorrow.))

[Kami Hunting]

"I don't know. You're a different kind of dragon right? Besides, I haven't seen any half-dragons at all within my home so I can't really tell, such relationships are forbidden." The dragon explains, while looking away for a moment. The memory of her own shared kiss with the half-dragon all too clear.

[Malchenar - Valente]

It looks like Astrana is about to say something but Sylvia is quicker. "Ohh! Okay! Astrana, do you and Valente have had copulation?"

If the tiefling would had been drinking something, she would have spat it out the instant she heard that question. "...what?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know it was private!"

"I think you forgot to ask truth or dare too... but yes, just don't ask that kind of questions again."

Sylvia blushes, "Sorry! I didn't know!"

The warlock shakes her head, this had been very silly. "Valente, do you want to continue or do something else?"

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"That bitch of a goddess sent a scorpion to sting you to try and get me to do something." Nadia squeezes Irena tighter.

[Malchenar - Valente]

Oh geeze, did she really just ask that? Valente is pointedly looking elsewhere when Astrana answers. "Uh, yeah. Maybe we can do something else." That game was getting awkward fast.

[Reinholdt]

[Kami Hunting]

"Guess I'm glad I'm only half-human then and it's only mildly discouraged." Harnel says, mildly concerned about that.

"Still, forbidden doesn't mean it never happened, right? But yes, I'm a very different type of dragon. We're less... narrow." Physically narrow.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"****, why can't she just leave us alone? We already have her ****ing child!" Irena clenches her fists and grinds her teeth, looking ready to hit something.

[Malchenar - Valente]

"I'm not sure what we could do, I don't even have any books with me." The tiefling says with a sigh.

"We could always sneak over to the compound, I mean, you're members right?" Sylvia says with a smile.

"He's a member, I'm just his girlfriend. Besides, weren't supposed to."

"Eh, good enough. It's not far away and it sure beats sitting here all day."

[Kami Hunting]

"It haven't happened yet to my knowledge, but I've been living in my own world for several years so it's not like I would know much about that. When I kissed you... that was the first time I kissed a man." She says with a slight blush on her cheeks. This was all new to her, even if she was pretty sure she had mentioned that before, she was feeling so giddy right now that she didn't really care.

The wizard continues his wanderings, taking everything in and looking for any signs of his targets. He remains vigilant all the while. They could be pretending to be fooled in order to lure him into a trap.

As Michalson is looking around the seemingly empty castle he might note that one of the doors along the corridor have been left ajar and that a green glow is escaping from the inside.

Otherwise the halls seems strangely empty without anyone in sight even if he might be able to hear people inside the rooms.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"I know, Irena." Nadia slumps back into the couch, keeping one arm around her fiancee. "I wish there was some way we could be away from her forever."

[Malchenar - Valente]

"How far is not very far?" It'd be kind of a relief to get out of here. If it was just Astrana in here with him maybe it'd be better, but he's feeling more than a bit awkward with Sylvia here too. Or maybe it wouldn't have been all that good with just Astrana either, considering the current situation... Ugh, in any case, the compound is sounding tempting.

[Northside Sewer]

The worm is going to have to move fast if it hopes to catch up to Samona. Even carrying another person, the vampire moves at an impressive speed. She's going to have to do something if she wants to lose this thing any time soon, however. For the moment she settles with taking a left on the next intersection.

[Morty]

As Michalson is looking around the seemingly empty castle he might note that one of the doors along the corridor have been left ajar and that a green glow is escaping from the inside.

Otherwise the halls seems strangely empty without anyone in sight even if he might be able to hear people inside the rooms.

This looks more and more like a trap. Michalson pushes the door a little more open with his broom (if he found one - otherwise he'll produce his staff from his extradimensional shadow space and use it) keeping his distance.

[Reinholdt]

[Kami Hunting]

"Oh really?" Harnel asks.
Before stopping, going to grab her sides and twirl her to face him and give her a passionate, hungry kiss.

"There. Now that's the second time." The second's always better than the first! Supposedly. Depends on who you are I guess.