Silly Plots 3: With government backing we can make it very silly

[UncleWolf]

A New World

As the trio make their way through the halls, Beauty stops when Connor pulls his reveal. For a moment there is clear hurt, worry, and even a bit of disgust cross her features at how he treats himself, but eventually she just reaches out with her hand gently to stroke along his bared chest. Doing her best to lighten the mood, she gives a smile before attempting to just throw the young man onto her shoulder. "Tragedy is all and good when done as a method of artistic expression, but I strive for balance in all things. If you insist upon using your craft in such a manner, then I will insist you bask in the attention that you know would be given to you. Particularly by an infatuated chambermaid." She tells him with a slightly crooked smile. The way she pats his butt as she carries him up the stairs is probably a telling gesture as to how she means it will come to pass. "Angel, if you would come with me as well, I shall show you what this world and The Mother truly is."

Sky High

At least the guided glance seemed to have made the reporter suddenly a bit self-conscious if she was now willing to hurry this along. "Two answers then." Jezebel says, inclining her head in acceptance towards her, as if wordlessly telling her "Deal.". "For the first one, I would say that the Masks and Vigil are in a loose partnership. There are simply some things that my Masks cannot do compared to those in Vigil, as well as vice versa, when it comes to protecting the city of Riverside. Your first report labeled us as a paramilitary organization, and while that is stretching the definition I could not outright call it a falsehood. But that's also the problem. My Masks aren't actually more than just a well armed security force for The Gardens. When it comes to facing off against armies and giant golems, there's only so much we can do." She explains, sounding like this is something she's thought about quite often as she's had a response ready quite easily.

"As for the future, it is to take life one day at a time for a while." She adds with a small smile, sweeping with her hand to gesture at the entire restaurant. "I am forced to admit that while I am mostly whole again physically, there was quite a bit more to the wound I suffered than that. That, however, I will go into length at the future interview. As for the Gardens and Riverside, it is much the same. A city is a living organism as much as you or I, so it also needs time to rest, recover, and regain its feet. I simply plan on helping it along as best as I can." Once the reporter finishes writing her notes, Jezebel will offer her hand with a gentle warm smile. "Like I said, come on by the Gardens and I'll gladly go into more details th-"

Before she can finish, a lean man wearing a similarly lean robin-egg blue seersucker suit slides over in his chair. Despite not having wheels on the chair, he's smooth enough to get it to seemingly glide across the glass until he's right next to Cessie. He looks mostly human, but his thin face has mottled patches of olive snake scales and his similarly colored eyes have snake slits for pupils. "Spade Samuel of The Skyside Rag here! I couldn't help but notice you two were taking questions and I had a couple of my own if you don't mind. Thank you!" He says quickly, tipping his hat out of respect to Jezebel before turning to face Cessie directly. Behind him, on his own table, he has a steak completely ignored in the hopes of getting a scoop.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Commander Mithar. I've gotta ask, what made you decide to go for a flying base for Vigil? Was it the thought of mobility and flying around or was there something more to it?" He asks, not bothering at all to wait for any answer to his introduction before getting right into it. Even if Cessie doesn't recognize the name of the "newspaper", his Orc rival should know it as a tabloid.

And not a good one.

[Shadowcaller]

[An Epic Quest]

Azul smiles. "Well, then you were pointed the right way. We know quite a lot about the wood you seek. For instance that it's worth more than its weight in gold and is about ten times as dangerous to have in your pocket." He leans back and let's out a small sigh. "And trust me, alvar won't be asking if you're happy to see them. They'll instead decapitate you for that." He then shrugs and places his hands on the table. "But hey, if you name what you're willing to pay then maybe we can work out some arrangement. I'm just saying that we're taking significant risks here which would have to be compensated somehow if you catch my drift."

[Thariza's Journey]

Ambrosia turns to look in the direction Thariza is pointing and frowns. "Looks like our choice has been made for us then. Come." She gestures for Thariza to follow, not that she likely needed it.

As the two move towards the tower though, the doors are not opening for them even once they're standing right before them. There are small arrow slits and a singular window higher up but no other entrance into the fortified tower. Ambrosia curses under her breath and bangs on the door. "THIS IS IKUE! OPEN UP!"

There is no response however.

[Sky High]

Cessie just stares at the reporter for a moment before inclining her head towards Laura. "One at the time, please." She remarks calmly.

"Oh, um." The reporter glares at her competitor. "Since when do you care about her answers anyway, Spade? I thought you just made them up either way." Then she shrugs. "But I'm done, Lady Tel'vree. I'd love to meet you-" She quickly glances at Samuel. "Well, I agree on it. It's decided." Then with a curt nod she steps away. "Just be careful about this guy. Skyside don't care about the truth."

Cessie will patiently wait for the reporter to leave before finally turning to Samuel again. "So what did you want to know exactly? Just one question at the time so I can answer you properly."

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

"If you want two extra bodies to protect you from those bastards, you will open up!" Thariza shouts in the loud, booming voice of a large Charr soldier. Ambrosia doesn't strike her as much of a fighter, but the people inside really can't afford to be picky.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus' expression remains neutral, and he raises an eyebrow at Willa for a moment, before speaking.

"We can offer a number of things for your services, including services in kind, but if at all possible, we'd prefer to bargain with the...alvar, was it? Before taking more...drastic measures. Though, from what you've said, it doesn't sound like that's a very likely path." He very carefully does NOT mention that they can't afford to buy the stuff outright, and he's hoping Willa takes the cue from him not to let on to that, either. These people are likely to get up and walk away without helping them further if they don't believe they'll be making any profit, and he wouldn't put it past Azul to try to cheat them in some way, either.

[Deathkeeper]

An Epic Quest

Willa smiles. She wasn’t expecting to get away with the goods for just the scant amount of gold she carried in. Time to bluff.
”I’m sure you can imagine that what someone like me can offer is more valuable than money. And I would advise you not to dismiss the service my companion can provide. But he does make a point. Would they really be such poor hosts to us?” She’s still not sure what they think she is, but perhaps she can continue milking it for a while.

[Shadowcaller]

An Epic Quest

"Not sure its the best idea to ask the guy you're ready to pay if you should try to bargain with someone else, but luckily for you pretty much anyone in here can support me when I say that alvar are that poor hosts. You probably heard rumors that they are willing to trade but that was in the past. Their recent success with raids have made them bold as they realized they aren't forced to negotiate with humans anymore. A healthy dose of xenophobia will do that to you but gods know that us humans would have walked right over a more friendly-minded people." Azul let's out a humorless chuckle.
"Don't take me for a fool though. Vague promises won't convince me nor the people I work with, and they happen to have a pretty good idea what fey can and cannot do. So I want a concrete offer here, what exactly are you willing to give for the wood? Since we're probably the least expensive option considering the price of lives these days.

[Thariza's Journey]

Whatever Thariza did, the door soon gleans open, allowing them entry. Inside, it appears that a lot of barricades have been forced to be moved for the door to be opened. A small group, mainly consisting of humans but also a few of what best could be described as lizard people, look at them both in surprise.
Though they still have enough presence of mind to close the door if Thariza didn't do that herself of course. Then they start putting back the barricades. They approach Ambrosia, speaking some unknown language while they appear completely baffled at Thariza and are avoiding her like she was some dangerous wild beast.

"Erm, perhaps you should introduce yourself?" Ambrosia suggests.

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

"My name is Thariza," the Charr says. "I'm here with Ambrosia and I can help you when the raiders show up. Though we don't have as much time as I'd like."

[UncleWolf]

Sky High

Jezebel nods to her reporter, letting her go respectfully before turning to watch Cessie and her own troubles. There was quite a bit of amusement in her eyes, but she at least keeps it from making her laugh at the absurdity of the situation. She'll wait patiently for the newcomer to finish with his questions in the meantime.

Spade ignores the jabs of his competitor, choosing to once more tip his hat politely to her as she leaves instead. "My apologies, Commander. I'm just used to talking fast. I'll try to reign myself in." He admits before pulling a small notebook from his breast pocket. Instead of a pen, he seems to have a stylus implanted into his pointer finger to write with. "First things first I suppose. How is Vigil doing at the moment? It's no secret that you all have been quite active and seemingly stretched thin. Doesn't that wear you down?" He asks, genuinely seeming like he's concerned for their well-being.

[Shadowcaller]

Sky High

Cessie does not seem nearly as amused as Jezebel. Though her expression is still friendly if a bit firm as she addresses Spade. "No. Quite the opposite really. As you might know, we are not an actual military-unit and thus we don't perform any large-scale drills, only smaller training exercises. So there is a chance that longer periods of inactivity could make us go a bit soft. While in the best of worlds our job wouldn't be needed at all these dangerous times makes us improve significantly at our jobs. For each completed mission, we learn something new that can be applied to future situations."

[Thariza's Journey]

The group still appear baffled even once Thariza have introduced herself. She is probably at least experienced with humans enough to tell that some of them seem surprised that she was able to speak at all.
Ambrosia seem to be trying to reassure them of her good intentions in their own language but its difficult to tell exactly what they're worried about. There is one word that keeps getting repeated both by Ambrosia and the expedition members though, 'wolfen'.

They are all gathered in a old armory that seems to have been converted into a storage room filled with books, wooden boxes, various tools and perhaps most notably, no weapons.

But just as she has introduced herself, a man unlike the other project members come walk down the stairs leading further up into the tower.
He is clad in decorative armor in contrast with the other members practical desert-outfits, most noticeable a helmet with a visor that completely covers his face. Yet the horns that at first glance seem to be a part of the helmet actually seem to be coming out of his scalp. Furthermore, his legs that were mostly hidden by a robe actually seem to end in hooves.

"Calm down." He calmly orders as he looks down on them which seem to have an immediate effect. His gaze soon coming to fixate on her. "Welcome, Thariza." He repeats her name as if tasting it. "Are the alvar at the door, then?"

Ambrosia nods. "They're not going to give you up easily." Thariza might get a feeling that these two know one another as the scholar and the man's gaze meet.

"Ah, Lady Ikue. Seems our odds a much better then." The man makes a clumsy bow in his armor. "Still, it's unfortunate that you must be trapped here with us now."

"Ikharos." She addresses him in turn. "Waiting will do you no good. You will have to break out somehow." The scholar now looks to Thariza.

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

A Charr might look close enough to one of those Wolfen for people who have never seen the former, Thariza supposes. And who's this guy? Thariza knows horns that are part of someone's head and not their outfit when she sees them. Still, more practical realities are immediate.

"That's about right. I don't know if they can break in here, but they don't really have to. They can just wait until we all run out of supplies and die. We need to break out and flee. Which won't be easy, since they've got horses and we don't. Just how many supplies do we have? Or weapons... anything that might work as one, at least?"

She takes on the tone of an officer, without even realizing it. Those people have no clue about fighting, so it's up to her to assess this situation like a soldier would and take charge.

[UncleWolf]

Sky High

The reporter gives a nod and writes down a little scribble in shorthand as he takes notes. After a moment of chewing on his lip deliberating his next question, he looks back and forth between Jezebel and Cessie before coming to a conclusion. "One last question and I'll stop interrupting your little Rendezvous." He promises. "Anything else and I can always just make my way to Vigil to ask questions, but for the moment is there anything you'd like to say as Commander of Vigil to the general public? Anything at all." He asks, leaning against his chair and preparing to write every last bit of it down. "I might be considered a rag reporter, but I do have a large audience in Skyside." He points out.

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

Willa gives the man a skeptical look. He is just no fun.
”All right. I can call and interact with spirits. Bind them to things if needed. You want an enchantment? A spell? A curse? I can do these things for you. Medicines too. I don’t think I need to explain what I am capable of physically. It should be quite obvious.
My companion here is...different. He is stronger than you would think. Faster. And capable of getting into places with disguises you would not believe. And he can fight better than anyone else I know.

These services are that which we offer.”

[Shadowcaller]

Sky High

Cessie shakes her head. "I'm afraid not. I don't think VIGIL should be a public organization considering our mission objective. While we shouldn't be beyond scrutiny a military organization has to keep some secrets from the public to be effective in their mission. Anything I say to the public might serve to provoke our enemies and lives could be lost. If I would want to say something, there would have to be a very good reason for it and I don't have one right now.

[Thariza's Journey]

The 'lizard-men' unanimously step away when Thariza comes with this suggestion. Just the sound of her voice seem to be enough for them to realize that she is suggesting something dangerous that they don't want anything to do with.

Ikharos gestures up the stairs he came from. "We have some crossbows, knives, a spear... and Eos have a rifle. I'd personally be able to offer far more than a weapon but my hands are tied at the moment. Speaking of which, I need to return to my room. One of you should probably speak to Eos about the defenses though. She's at the top." And without as much as farewell, Ikharos turns and walks up the stairs again on his hooves.

Now the rest of the group seem to have questions for her. "Are you... mercenary?" One of the humans inquires, looking rather skeptical at this whole deal.

"We don't have fighting experience." Another one points out. All the humans appear to be male, the lizard-folk are more difficult to tell the gender of.

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

"I'm a soldier," Thariza corrects. "Well, I was. But I still have the training. I can tell none of you have any experience in real combat, but right now you really don't have much of a choice. We can either get out or somehow put up a defence effective enough that the raiders will give up, at least for a while."

[Shadowcaller]

[Thariza's Journey]

Ambrosia looks mighty displeased by this outcome. She seems to partly be translating what Thariza is saying to the people in there before turning to the charr. "I think I've convinced them to follow your lead for now." She pinches the bridge of her nose.
"I'm going to talk to Ikharos again to see if I can convince him to help out. He's a spell-caster of sort so he will be a lot more help than these people." She gestures at the gathered crowd. "They're mostly scholars, so don't expect them to do anything risky. Especially those heliots." She gestures at the 'lizard-men' that are standing in the back whispering to one another. "Think you can manage all that on your own for a while?"

The people there look increasingly worried, especially as the sound of what must be a lot of horses can be heard even inside the tower.

[An Epic Quest]

Azul seems to consider Willa's offer. "I'll tell you what, 10 gold and I'll let you come along on a little expedition. Then you can speak to the people in charge and they can decide how much your services are worth. Deal? I'm sure you can come to some kind of agreement. They need a lot of help right now."

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

Thariza's tail swishes nervously. She's putting on a show, but she's not a leader and she doesn't know how to motivate those people. Being tough and commanding works for Charr, but all Charr are raised to respond to this.

"I hope so. Let's keep our heads down for now, everyone. We'll see what those raiders will do."

[UncleWolf]

Sky High

Perhaps surprisingly, Spade gives a respectful nod and tips his hat to Cessie at her answer. "Much obliged and very well worded, Lady Mithar." He says, sounding entirely sincere as he stands up and puts away his notepad. "If you don't mind, I'll probably swing by Vigil in a couple days for more, but as it is I think I've gotten all I need. Again, much obliged." With that, he takes his chair and heads back across the restaurant to his own table where his food is already waiting and growing cold.

Once he's gone, Cessie will find Jezebel with her elbows on the table and leaning forward with a wry smile. She was incredibly amused by the entire exchange and wasn't bothering to hide it at all. "Maybe if we're lucky, there's a third one ready to swoop in." She jokes before lifting her fingers to signal a waiter. "There have been worse interviews, I suppose. For either of us."

[5a Violista]

Mindscapes

Somewhere there's a world connected to the Nexus. Like the Nexus, it randomly draws people in without care. While people sleep, it takes them here - or at least, some version of their mind? People aren't really sure exactly how it works. All people know is that it somehow connects to the minds of citizens of the Nexus.

Anyone who finds themselves here will first notice they're in a giant featureless white...place. The ground is white. The sky is white. The horizon is white. Everything. Lighting seems to come from nowhere.

And, littered all over ground are thousands of doors. Each one goes in to the unique mindscape of a different person in the Nexus. There's old doors, decorated doors, doors with people's names on them, sci-fi doors, stone doors....as many kinds of doors as there are people. If you know someone well enough, then with enough time you might even be able to pick out their door. Who knows? you might even find your door.

Do you dare open it? See what's inside? Or do you want to try someone else's?

Maybe if you explore this place enough, you might find something interesting. Learn some secrets.
Or maybe not.

[Reinholdt]

[Mindscapes]

You know how you're supposed to wake up when you're falling? Well one day, Rachel decided to remain asleep instead. Doing so resulted in her landing here. Fortunately, the cat ears and cat tail that sticks out of her otherwise human frame marks her as a catgirl, meaning she landed on her feet completely unharmed. Brushing her red hair back into place under her large black mage's hat, she looks around with confused blue eyes. Contrary to her hat, she's wearing a classical white mage's outfit, and the staff she's holding could theoretically be used for either.

"Helloooo? Anyone there?" She calls out. Even if there was someone there, they could possibly not answer. After all, there were so many doors littered about, that anyone could be behind any of them. She'll wait and see if anyone's out here first before deciding on one of those doors though.

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

Willa frowns at him. She doesn’t even feel like haggling at this point. Dear gods she’s going to be here for a month isn’t she? Is she going to be led on a continuous chain of talking to new people forever? Hopefully Libra has found something else to watch.
”Deal. Let’s go.” she grumbles, dropping ten small gold coins onto the table. There goes a large chunk of her funds.

[Earl of Purple]

Mindscapes

Somebody else arrives! They're tall, very tall, and female. She's got dark orange skin and blonde hair, plus deep black eyes with no differentiation between pupil, iris and sclera. They've got a very slender build, and an inhuman one. Her torso's no longer than an average human's, yet her arms and legs are so long and gangling that she stands about eight feet tall. She's wearing specially tailored clothes, a set of green pyjamas. She looks around in confusion. "Am I still asleep? What is this place?"

[5a Violista]

[Mindscapes]

In this large expanse, there's actually two ways to leave. Waiting until you wake up is the easiest way. The other way is to collect certain maguffins from enough doors, and the space will freely let you back into your own dreams. The maguffins are, of course, pretty trivial and likely useless, but, hey, neat collector's items, right? ((How many would y'all say is a good number? Like, 3? 4? 5? Fewer? More?)) Of course, if this is your first time here, it's unlikely you know this, so...

This space seems to be nearly infinitely large, so it's rather fortunate Rachel and the pyjamad woman are near enough that they can see and hear each other.
...
It's actually pretty easy to hear in this space. No sounds other than themselves and each other. No colors except for the doors and each other. If you weren't asleep

Unless they choose to go looking for specific kinds of doors, or choose to peek inside doors to see what's on the other side, picking one door is as good as any other.
Nearby doors include: one that looks like it should lead to a 6-year old girl's bedroom, a half-burned door that feels warm to the touch, a large and thick wooden door that looks like it's designed to withstand several battering ram hits, one regular one with a glass window on top (with moonlight shining through), a cold glass door that's all fogged up, one that's literally just a curtain, one that looks like the tent flaps of a military tent, and a purple-and-black one that literally exudes feelings of foreboding and danger.

Or.
They can stand around and talk, too. Wait until they wake up, or wait to see if more people will show up. That's an option.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus simply watches with a neutral expression. When Willa hands over the 10 gold, he rises from his seat slowly.

"Yes, let's get this started."

[Reinholdt]

[Mindscapes]

Rachel had almost given up on anyone responding and was about to resort to knocking on doors when suddenly there is another person here! They certainly weren't there a moment ago. How very strange.

"I was hoping you could tell me," The relatively short catgirl calls up to the gangly giant. "I have no idea." Neither, apparently, does the newcomer though. So Rachel's still going to have to poke around if she's going to find answers. And possibly Macguffins.

"I'm reaaaally lost this time." Rachel sounds like she gets lost a lot.

She does.

Well if anyone can tell them what's going on, it's probably whoever is in that military tent. They might claim it's classified and above her clearance level, but at least they're most likely to know. So Rachel motions where she's headed to the giant in case she wants to follow, before pushing the tent flap aside and heading in. "Uh, excuse me. Coming in. Sorry to intrude."

[Shadowcaller]

[Thariza's Journey]

The humans and the lizardmen don't seem to have any better ideas so they close up the barricades and hunker down.
Soon enough, the sound of hooves stop and a sharp deep voice cuts through the whispers of the towers defenders.
"WE WILL BURN YOUR HIDEOUT IF YOU DON'T YIELD IT!" Then silence again.
Sounds like they're expecting a reply, or perhaps are already moving out.

If Thariza looks through one of the arrowslits she can see that a large group of riders have gathered outside the tower. They're all dressed in fairly uniform clothes if haphazard linen and leather could be called such. Their light armor and weapons on the other hand appear to be of high quality, or at least that's what Thariza's experienced eyes can tell even from a glance. This is what Ambrosia brought her here to study.

[An Epic Quest]

"Excellent!" He accepts the coin and then flicks it to his hooded companion who accepts it without a word. They do seem to study it for a moment however, as if they assure that it's real before stuffing it inside their cloak.
"Don't worry, it won't be far. No need for you to pack any supplies. Though I'm afraid you won't be able to enjoy my company there. I still have my duties here in the city, you're going to go with one of our guides instead. But unless that's a problem I feel that our talk is over." He gestures towards the companion. "Tah-Rah can take you right to our guide."

The inhuman figure takes a step backwards, seemingly waiting for them. Already gesturing at the door.

Sky High

Cessie returns the nod. "Thank you for the honest words. I trust that your reporting of VIGIL will follow the same standard, and if that's your intention you are welcome to swing by at any time. We are protecting Skyside too after all and could use all the support we can get." She nods again. "Farewell."

Then her attention turns back to Jezebel and she can't help but to smile even if she didn't quite get what was so amusing. "I don't see what's so funny. That all went well, didn't it? I could see a million ways that would have turned out far worse so we should consider ourselves fortunate. I mean, when it comes to being questioned about our past we've both made questionable choices, haven't we?" She reaches out to touch Jezebel's hand.

[Earl of Purple]

Mindscapes

"Last I recall was going to bed. This... is not my bedroom." Makuro looks around, before deciding to follow Rachel into the military tent. If anything else, the catgirl may need protecting. Hopefully they aren't startled by her inhuman appearance, whoever is on the other side of the door. She's a little surprised that such a tent isn't guarded, though perhaps the guards lie on the inside of the tent.

[Morty]

[Thariza's Journey]

"I've got a better idea! Leave this tower alone and we won't riddle you with arrows!" Thariza responds, with a bellowing voice. "Why do you care about a tower in the middle of nowhere, anyway?"

[5a Violista]

Mindscapes

As they go through the tent flap, they'll find themselves in a completely separate space. It's still wide-open, with the blue sky above them. And, if they look behind them back at the tent flap, it will look like they just came out of a military tent. A pretty large one, too, possibly that of a commander or some other military leader.
Obviously, if they look back through the flaps, they'll see the white space.

Around them, at first, looks like a military camp. Military tents around, places to sit, soldiers looking busy, weapons in racks, cannons, horses...
At second glance....
You know when you're building something with Legos, but then you run out of the pieces you wanted so you have to grab random pieces and fill in the rest of the building with them? It's like that. Someone ran out of "Military Camp" pieces and started supplementing them with "Wizard's Tower" pieces. One of the tents has a bookcase as a wall. Some groups of soldiers have a wizard. Sometimes a soldier is carrying a magic wand instead of a gun. Sometimes there's a pointy hat or robes instead of helmets or tactical gear. Some of the tents appear to be made out of stone bricks. A candle on a skull. Stone stairs that go to nowhere. And so on.
Nearly everyone present is human, but there are the occasional catgirl or catboy here and there, so Makuro doesn't appear that out of line. Nobody seems to be paying them any mind, however.
...
Also, nearly everybody has extremely generic faces. The farther away they are, the more plain and featureless they are. Many soldiers even look exactly the same as others. And, sometimes when one walks behind a tent, it just...vanishes.

"Hey, kitten!" one of the soldiers yells out in the direction of Rachel and Makuro. "Are you done cleaning my gun? Bring it here!"

Shortly afterwards, a purple-haired catgirl comes out of the same tent they just did. "Yes, sir, it's right here." Her details are well-defined, much more than anyone else in this space. She's also in military fatigues, but...in addition to that, she's got a collar around her neck, with a bell and a leash attached.
She pushes past Rachel and Makuro ("Pardon me,") and runs towards the soldier who yelled. She hands him a rifle, and says, "Here you are, sir, is there anything else?" He doesn't respond, but it looks like someone else yells for her and she runs off towards that soldier.

Just standing around looking at everything doesn't feel like it will give them any answers to what's going on or where they are.

[Reinholdt]

[Mindscapes]

"I was at a convention." And nodded off cause she stayed up too late the past two days of the con.

Rachel looks around the odd mash-up of military and wizardry. "And I am officially completely confused now." At least she almost looks like she fits in equipment wise. So many blank, non-description faces though. How is she supposed to know who is in charge, if they all look so similar?

Well someone pushes their way through who was clearly not in charge. Rachel balks for a moment at the collar and leash. "H-hey, wait!" She says, following after the only other defined person besides Makuro. Rachel thought catgirl slavery was abolished back in *%. Was she time traveling again? No, this felt too surreal to be normal time travel. Was her chip on the fritz? She just had it checked.

[Earl of Purple]

Mindscapes

Makuro should stand out. She's not a catgirl, she's a pure human... Although she doesn't look like it, with her slender, elongated limbs and unusual skin colour.

She'll follow Rachel based solely on the fact she's not got any idea what's going on. All these feline people... She's not seen any of those before, but then this is an unusual place. They don't exist where she's from, she's pretty sure. Maybe a few, if they're like her, with additional powers and no memory.