Home 24: A house in this market?

[Earl of Purple]

Underside Entrance

Cheasadh's here, and excited. She's an eight-year-old gnome girl with blonde hair done up nicely in a pair of pigtails, her bright blue eyes sparkling as she looks around at what may be her new home. She's wearing a pink dress, and polished black shoes with white socks. She's dressed as smartly as she could in the clothes she had, since this is quite important. Whether her clothes actually matter is less certain, but she wanted to make a good impression. Her large nose wrinkles as she sniffs the air around her, smelling the caves before her and the flowers behind her.

[Murkus]

Saggitarius Towers - Night

When Tina steps out into the Lobby, it won’t be terribly hard to grasp exactly what Cantata meant by “need help”. Sitting down with a small bag beside her and breathing like she’d just run a mile, the mercenary is wearing a somewhat less formal dress that clearly had a longer skirt before a section of cloth was torn away. Whatever heels she had been wearing probably were damaged as well, since Cantata’s feet are bare aside from a pair of stockings.

Much more concerning than the state of her attire, however, is the large wet stain on her left side that she’s using her right hand to put pressure on. Judging from what’s seeped out onto her hand, it’s definitely blood.

[Sagittarius Towers - Night]

"Oh my god," will be the first thing Cantie hears, given that the elevator moves in absolute silence. Fettina bolts to her side. "Oh my god, Cantata, honey, what the ****. Oh m-- why aren't you at a hospital?" Fettina flexes her wings, wincing at the wound, clearly freaking out a little. "Is this, is this one of those crime things? Where you can't go to a hospital cuz they're watching the hospitals, or cuz they'd have to report it, or..."

Fettina keeps babbling as she tries to hoist Cantata onto her feet, flinching away at first, almost seeming to worry that she'll hurt Cantie more if she touches her. "What happened?" She finally blurts.

[Arkhosia]

Sagittarius Tower - Night

Cantie jumps a little as Tina's voice reaches her, amber eyes brightening in a complex mix of joy, relief, apology and worry. The latter is only partly from the spike in fear the empath feels - the pianist's distress is quite effective at making Cantata feel worried herself! She tries to sign with one hand as best she can, but the rapid series of questions is a little hard to keep up.

Helped to her feet, Cantata seems slightly unsure what to do now that the hand not pressing against her side is on the angel's shoulder (heh). She looks like she wants badly to tell Tina all she wants to know, but for now all she can do is gesture with a timid nod and glance toward the bag of medical supplies that was beside her.

[Recaiden]

Oliver walks on into the annex, and takes the seat offered. "I don't know a whole lot beyond the fact that there is some incriminating evidence that comes from them. Not enough to prove it though. That's where you come in. If you can get me inside the cartel, or even if you can just offer me information on how to access their headquarters, you may end up being the sole reason a killer is brought to justice." Oliver seems bent on the possibility of a heist to get the evidence.

I think about what I know. BC didn't keep a lot of secrets from me or the commander; that's not how she worked. But it wouldn't have been volunteered either. And there's a lot I never asked...
"Our leader was extremely organized. Would never destroy or misplace a record nor piece of possible blackmail material. If you can find it. One of the computer systems, you'd want to pull everything to do with the Earthly Court. The-" I pause, and ask for clarification. "How far are you willing to go to catch the killer? I don't want anyone at the HQ getting hurt."

[UncleWolf]

[Sagittarius Towers]

"Uh... I'm gonna pretend not to be concerned and just roll with it," says Tina, raising her eyebrows before ascending to the roof alone to wait. The roof is essentially the top of the Tower's stacked disc-shaped apartments, where nothing resides save for a vent pipe and a small terminal for maintenance workers.

Sagittarius Towers

It takes about twenty minutes, but when Nora arrives, Fettina is certainly going to regret being an entity of chastity. Her "Healing" outfit was almost certainly providing plenty of extra bloodflow, but her expression was quite serious. Despite an obscuring veil and hood, her frown was quite evident, and the only sound she makes when she arrives is the tap-tap-tap of a wooden staff taller than she is. The rest of her outfit is hardly more the ribbons, barely making her decent as it reveals her stomach, hips, most of her chest, her arms and legs. Some of the ribbons trail behind her, but perhaps what might strike Fettina most is that Nora is positively radiant. Literally.

Soft gold-white light pours from her, but so does a large amount of radiation and white magic. She holds a little box in her right hand that Fettina might recognize as a Geiger-Counter, but she's kept it off. "Rad Protect" She invokes with a flick of her staff, bathing Fettina in the same light for a brief moment before turning on the Geiger-Counter. For a second it screams, but with a couple twists of dials it goes down to a steady slow ticking. "We've got a half hour for this before that spell gets overloaded, less if what I'm going to do breaks it but then it shouldn't be too bad. Still, strip and lay down. You're going to have to throw away anything you're wearing after I do this. And I fully expect Intersection to pay a visit as well."

[Underside Entrance]

Near one of the several entrances to the goblins' subterranean nation, a family has gathered. Two adult goblins, one little goblin girl and a little gnome girl who has recently joined the family. Today's the day to make it official.

"I'm sure we're going to see them soon," Brinika says. "Seeing Uncle Pathfinder can't be hard if there's mostly goblins around."

And, indeed, another part of the family is approaching. Reelshka and Pathfinder are carrying the new woblins, Balthuk and Maltrika. The boy is fast asleep, but the girl is looking around with wide-eyed infant curiosity.

Underside Entrance

Cheasadh's here, and excited. She's an eight-year-old gnome girl with blonde hair done up nicely in a pair of pigtails, her bright blue eyes sparkling as she looks around at what may be her new home. She's wearing a pink dress, and polished black shoes with white socks. She's dressed as smartly as she could in the clothes she had, since this is quite important. Whether her clothes actually matter is less certain, but she wanted to make a good impression. Her large nose wrinkles as she sniffs the air around her, smelling the caves before her and the flowers behind her.

Underside Entrance

Uncle Pathfinder is easy to spot as he holds his little girl swaddled up and against his shoulder to better let her see the whole world around them. A small cart is pulled by a small ghostly ox behind them, towing their baby supplies, furs, leathers, and a couple small kegs of mead for trade. The Wolfen is more than happy at the moment, adjusts his pack and the child, and gives a wave when he sees the others waiting for them. "I believe we have everything we require." He's not unarmed despite the friendly nature of their trip and keeps a small spear in his bandaged left hand.

[Morty]

[Underside Entrance]

The passage of a spirit-ox has the goblin populace rather curious, particularly a small group of goblin kids trailing behind it. Reelshka is walking beside it, holding the sleeping woblin securely. Brinika bounces in place when she sees them approach.

"Hi auntie! Hi uncle!"

"I suppose this is a regular family outing combined with a trading expedition,"] Rapnuk observes. The rather mild-mannered bespectacled goblin could hardly be more different than his brother in law, but he's also pretty happy to be here. His family has got pretty weird, but it's still his family. "If the stuff in those barrels is strong enough, maybe the archivists will be easier to talk to."

"I've got all the paperwork from GLoG that says Cheasadh was in their care and that they know we're adopting her," Tralka adds. "There was this woman where I talked to who lived in the same cabin and kept an eye on her for a while. She filled everything out remarkably nicely."

"I've dealt with them before, so hopefully this'll be quick," Reelshka says.

[CosmicHobbit]

Oliver has flipped open a notebook he bought recently and has started jotting down notes in it when Yone asks that question. "Well, I'm not going to kill anyone unless it's the only way for me to survive, but a few people may need to be knocked out in order for me to find the evidence." He's telling the truth, but who knows if some unexpected event will happen that forces him to break this promise.

[Earl of Purple]

Underside Entrance

"Sophie's always been awesome. I didn't appreciate that so much when I first met her." Cheasadh nods. She'll run off to the goblin children if she recognises them, to say hello. She'll wave at Reelshka whatever happens, though. It's always nice to say hello, especially to her new aunt.

[Recaiden]

"Hmm. Justice is all well and good, but some of these people are my friends." Or were, anyway.

"Promise to avoid killing anyone if at all possible, and you bring me a copy of whatever you find. Then I'll tell you what I know." My challenge brings us to a staven pinnacle. Here, such a promise will not be easily broken, even for a human. Maybe Oliver will notice this. Probably not. Someone should have warned him.

[Murkus]

Sagittarius Tower - Night

Cantie jumps a little as Tina's voice reaches her, amber eyes brightening in a complex mix of joy, relief, apology and worry. The latter is only partly from the spike in fear the empath feels - the pianist's distress is quite effective at making Cantata feel worried herself! She tries to sign with one hand as best she can, but the rapid series of questions is a little hard to keep up.

Helped to her feet, Cantata seems slightly unsure what to do now that the hand not pressing against her side is on the angel's shoulder (heh). She looks like she wants badly to tell Tina all she wants to know, but for now all she can do is gesture with a timid nod and glance toward the bag of medical supplies that was beside her.

[Sagittarius Tower - Night]

"Oh, I can do that," Fettina chirps nervously, snatching up the bag. "But this isn't a hospital! And I'm not a doctor! But I probably have better **** than this upstairs, honestly, hon! We'll, um. Get you fixed right up. Just don't die, ok? You aren't gonna like, die, right?" Tina sounds genuinely terrified. Into the elevator they will hustle, and the tube will begin to rise with a pneumatic hiss.

[Earl of Purple]

Aran's Condo

So, after a long night of sleeping, Aran will awaken. He's going to wake up first- Ursagridd was awoken from hibernation, and whilst humans don't hibernate, that's not always for a lack of trying. He'll find himself held, gently but firmly, against Ursagridd's wide chest. He can probably tell that Ursagridd hasn't heard of pyjamas, and is therefore nude.

[Deathkeeper]

[Aran’s Condo]

Aran wakes slowly; he doesn’t normally sleep in, but he finds himself doing so this time. He sighs as he finds himself with a face full of beard and his torso pressed against a much wider, softer one. He’s never felt so content in years. All his fears and stress, gone at last. Hrm.
”Ursa. Ursa wake up. Good morning.” he says quietly, smiling as he pokes at the bear’s oversized belly.

[Earl of Purple]

Aran's Condo

"Mmmm, you smell nice." Ursa squeezes Aran against his chest, speaking sleepily before waking up more and sitting upright. "Ah, good morning Aran. Did you sleep well? Your... Bed, is it? Very cosy." He stands, and turns to look at Aran, which has the unfortunate side effect of making it hard to ignore his nudity.

[Deathkeeper]

[Aran's Condo]

Aran frowns, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He finds himself feeling very strange about this entire situation, which feels oddly familiar.
"We should get you some pajamas. They make soft cotton ones. You'll like them.
...
Are you sure your connection didn't do anything to my head?" he asks. He still can't quite put a finger on it.

[Earl of Purple]

Aran's Condo

"Pyjamas. What a funny word. What does it mean?" Ursagridd scratches his head and stretches his arms out wide. "Probably the magic flowing through the leylines of your thoughts, adjusting how you think ready to command the power I grant you." Ursagridd frowns a little, wondering back at what he did yesterday, to nudge things into a less awkward direction. It's best it doesn't come up, since it really wasn't anything big, but... he'd just woken up. The bear-spirit in human form decides he'll check it out later, after breakfast.

[Murkus]

[Sagittarius Roof]

Fettina stares.

"So you wear that... so you don't ruin your normal clothes...?" Says Tina. At the screaming of the Geiger counter - which, indeed, she does recognize - she looks a bit more leery. "Um... I'm suddenly less and less sure about this. I mean, I deflected some lasers the other day, but I don't know how I do with radiation."

When she says to strip, Fettina pouts. "Nora, any other time you would have asked me that..." She makes a mock sobbing sound and starts to shimmy out of her things.

Fettina will lie down. She looks quite good naked - possibly even better than when she was human. But she has no sexual characteristics to speak of. She lets her wings spread out beneath her and puts her arms behind her head, like she's about to get a tan. "Can't I just bask in your glow for a couple minutes?" She wags her eyebrows. "And ogle you some."

[UncleWolf]

Sagittarius Roof

"Ogle all you want. If this works, you owe me. Greatly. This is literally the sort of thing I can pull only once a moon. And at no small expense to myself. Calling upon such powers is horribly taxing since they do not like being called upon." Nora explains a frown there on her face as she looks up at the full moon bright in the sky. Once Tina lays down, Nora stands next to her, staff raised in both hands above her head. She wastes no time and begins to chant.

"Hear me, O' Mother Moon, Goddess of the Sky Above
Hear me, O' Father Stone, God of the Ground Below
Hear me, See me, Heed my Call
I Call upon you as the Daughter of Atom and White"

Even if Tina normally can't sense magic, there is a large buildup of it circling around both Nora and Tina. White lines etch themselves around the pair, trapping the magical buildup within. As much as Nora has joked before, she certainly seemed deathly serious now as her vestments fly around her, being pulled every-which-way by the magic spilling forth.

"I Command you, Mother, as your Master.
I Command you, Father, as your Lady.
With my Words I Call, Summon, and Bind you.
Born of both your worlds, given your Gifts, I take your Power for Mine!

Two beams of light are summoned, one from the moon and one that seems to rip up through the apartment building. The beams shrink until they only cover Nora herself, and the White Mage lifts up off the ground for a moment. Her body glows and she lets out a soundless scream before setting back to the rooftop once more. She visibly shakes with power and tightens her grip on her staff as she raises it up.

"Penultimate Purge!" She shouts, calling forth a scythe blade of golden light on her staff before swiping it down at and through Fettina's throat.

Just as soon as the lightshow and strike begin, it all ends without a single bit of pain for Tina, but Nora is left on her knees. The Geiger-Counter had been screaming throughout the process, but now it was dead silent and all trace of power seemed gone from the Mage for the moment.

Underside Entrance

There's a slight twinkle to Pathfinder's eye and he gives a small smile. "Not all of it is for them, of course. There's a bit of the mead for you as well in a couple skins if you find it to your liking. Furs as well. They're not all for trade. There's plenty of gifts for family and friends." The Wolfen explains. "If the mead seems to be everyone's liking overall, I will send word to some tribes and let them know what to bring."

[Deathkeeper]

Aran's Condo

"Pyjamas. What a funny word. What does it mean?" Ursagridd scratches his head and stretches his arms out wide. "Probably the magic flowing through the leylines of your thoughts, adjusting how you think ready to command the power I grant you." Ursagridd frowns a little, wondering back at what he did yesterday, to nudge things into a less awkward direction. It's best it doesn't come up, since it really wasn't anything big, but... he'd just woken up. The bear-spirit in human form decides he'll check it out later, after breakfast.

[Aran's Condo]

"They're soft clothes you wear to bed. Like what I'm wearing. Anyway, you're going to want breakfast, aren't you? I should probably show you how the shower works and all that..." he says, waving off Ursagridd's explanation. When it comes to this kind of magic, he really prove or disprove what the spirit is saying yet.

[Earl of Purple]

Aran's Condo

"Clothes especially for sleeping in? Why? The bed is comfortable already." Ursagridd's a little baffled. He'll probably chalk it down to 'mortal modesty', which... He really doesn't understand. "Breakfast would be nice, yes. And shower? You can make it rain indoors?" That's a surprise, for somebody that didn't have magic until yesterday.

[Morty]

[Underside Entrance]

"What's mead? Can I have some?" Brinika asks.

"It's alcohol, dear. You'll have to wait till you're older."

Rapnuk smiles.

"I won't say no to that, but surface alcohol tends to go to our heads pretty quickly."

"A whole pack of goblins wandering about boozed up on Wolfen mead might just be worth seeing," Reelshka remarks. "But let's get going. The archive is pretty deep underground."

"Can we sit on the ox?"

[Earl of Purple]

Underside Entrance

"Is it real enough to ride? I mean, it's real enough to pull the cart, but would riding it too put more stress on how not-dead it is?" Cheasadh's not got much experience with spirits, but she'd hate to be sat on an ox when the ox decides it's had enough of existing and disappears. Since then she'd be falling, and oxen aren't exactly small.

She's also mistaking it for a ghost, which might not be fully accurate.

[Deathkeeper]

[Aran’s Condo]

”Warmth, or comfort, or modesty. But anyway, let’s get you an education on cleaning up.” Aran says, shaking his head. He’ll give Ursagridd a thorough lesson on how the shower works.
”And use it if you don’t mind, or the whole place will smell like bear.” he says teasingly.

[Earl of Purple]

Aran's Condo

"And what is wrong with the smell of bear? It'll keep the wolves away." That's... Likely not a problem Aran's likely to encounter in a flying city, Ursagridd. He'll follow, though, and be truly amazed at the shower- like a small child given a mechanical toy for the first time, asking a lot of questions like 'how does it work?' and 'where does the water come from, and where does it go once it's down that hole?'.

[Arkhosia]

[Sagittarius Tower - Night]

"Oh, I can do that," Fettina chirps nervously, snatching up the bag. "But this isn't a hospital! And I'm not a doctor! But I probably have better **** than this upstairs, honestly, hon! We'll, um. Get you fixed right up. Just don't die, ok? You aren't gonna like, die, right?" Tina sounds genuinely terrified. Into the elevator they will hustle, and the tube will begin to rise with a pneumatic hiss.

Sagittarius Tower - Night

Cantata attempts to reassure the angelic woman with a shake of her head, a slightly pained smile and a thumbs up with the hand across her shoulder, letting the woman guide her onwards and upwards. It is yet another moment that she finds herself longing for her voice once more, but it isn't really the time for such things.

Once they arrive, Cantata will attempt to guide Tina into helping her to a prone position somewhere, before attempting to convey why she's here by gesturing to the wounded area and trying to demonstrate that it's rather difficult for her to get a good view of it. It makes trying to patch it shut all the more harder, which is why she gestures to Fettina before trying to mime the act of sewing it shut with a very apologetic look on her face.

[Felandria]

"It's pretty neat. You could cook the steak longer next time."

Neverest is one of those awful people who wants meat well-done.

She rotates an eye towards Violet.
"For something this size? I suppose you eat pizza with a fork too?"
Humans are so weird.

Once she gets down to it, she offers Reginald the last bite of her steak.
What a good fluffy little guy he is!

Reginald nibbles the steak joyously.

Pizza?

With a fork?

Even the big floopy slices, you fold up and eat.

[Deathkeeper]

[Aran’s Condo]

”Here we value our homes smelling clean if we can afford to. We also don’t have any wolves.”
Then Aran inhales And goes into an incredibly long explanation on how plumbing works, which will likely go entirely over Ursagridd’s head but will hopefully suffice to impress him.
”And use one of the towels to dry yourself when you’re done.”

[Earl of Purple]

Aran's Condo

Ursagridd nods and agrees with the explanation, but it does go over his head. Also impresses him, simply because he doesn't understand it. He'll dry himself with a towel, too, after he shakes himself to get the worst off.

[CosmicHobbit]

"Hmm. Justice is all well and good, but some of these people are my friends." Or were, anyway.

"Promise to avoid killing anyone if at all possible, and you bring me a copy of whatever you find. Then I'll tell you what I know." My challenge brings us to a staven pinnacle. Here, such a promise will not be easily broken, even for a human. Maybe Oliver will notice this. Probably not. Someone should have warned him.

"Right. Friendship over justice. I get it. I used to be that way too. Well, that and I got my kicks out of breaking the law. But that's not what we're here to talk about."

Oliver, not used to promises being hard to break, nods and says, "I promise. I can just knock them out, and copies are relatively easy to make."

[Recaiden]

Yone's earrings catch the light a little more than normal for a moment. Oliver has given his word.
I tilt my head curiously.
"This was a long time ago. Surely you're not in a hurry? What changed - more justice, or less friendship?"
I don't trust this guy, but I think he means well.
"But, as I said - the base is inside a crashed spaceship in the North Forest. It looks like it's still a ruin - we never used much of the space. On the second subdeck of the center section is where you want to be. Watch out for the robots." I hand over a passkey that should get him into the files. "Now, BC might have the evidence, if there is any to be found, on her personal drive instead of the HQ system. It'd be on the Main Page then, but you'd be on your own as to hacking in."

[UncleWolf]

Underside Entrance

"Yes, but just two at a time." Pathfinder tells the children. "And thank him after you get on. He may be an ox, but he deserves respect." He points out. "And with luck, perhaps the people here will at least like the mead even if it proves to be stronger than their usual fare." But still, they must move on and Pathfinder will lead the ox-drawn cart behind the others. As he says, the children can climb onto the ox as long as they'e gentle about it. The ox is cool to the touch and slightly spongy, as if it weren't all the way in reality or at the least fully physical.