Riverside 20: Another day, another disaster

[Ironsmith]

[Talman's Toys]

(Talman already gave her the badge back.) "Of course. Take all the time you..." Talman stared in disbelief as the cat nonchalantly walked into his store. His incredulity continued with the chain of assumptions that followed; that the cat would be blamed for the mess that existed well before it entered, that the elf who'd inadvertently wrecked his display owned his store, and that neither of them would find it strange that a small cat thought it could use a pocket watch.

Does... does it even have any money on it? Where does it keep it? "...You need not worry, sir." Talman replied, deciding to try to take this information in stride. It might be a cat, but business was business. "The state of this store is temporary. You are free to browse in the meantime."

[billtodamax]

DMside - Cathedral

"Hmm. Well, let us go somewhere else. There I might investigate this." Mia says and offers Violet to come in.
Should she come in, she will see the inside of the cathedral. While the metal from outside makeds it look alive, inside it's arranged to look rather normal. People here might feel the devine presure from the god, but the whole area appears comfortable. The walls have a mundane look which is only broken by the artifacts of the church hanging on the wll. The artifacts are mostly copies of great robots, plans or parts of the teaching of the church. The main area is covered with benches and on an upper floor there are tables as well.

Mia will lead violet to the right wing which seems to lead to some kind of work areal, At least the sound of smashing hammers, burning fire and raw machines emerge from there. Then Mia stops in front of a door. "Please go in, I will just change and be here in a minute."

The room mentioned is strangly silent taking the noise you heared outside. There seems to be some very good insulation. The room itself appears like a modern treatment room. There are some chairs, a bench, a table, set of tools and so on. Violet might look at them all if she can grab them.

If nothing else happens Mia will return and use some magic to check if there is a curse at all and if possible what is going on with her.

Violet does indeed come inside, looking with great interest at the artefacts on the wall, as well as any possible entrances and exits, and the position of any guards - if there are any. Violet you shouldn't be casing the place while you're asking for their help.

When she's left alone in the room she'll think about stealing the tools but she still hasn't got the hang of picking things up with her hooves. So do I have to like... do anything, or what. She says as Mia uses her magic. She'll find that there's no curse or indeed any current magic effecting Violet. Looks like she's just a perfectly healthy adult pegasus.

[Shadowcaller]

[Talman's Toys]

((Oh, whoops!))

Anika pockets the badge again, and is just about to turn to look if she could find any watches in that mess when she spots Reinholdt. Oh gosh!

And he even talked!
Normally, she would reach down to pet him, but her experiences with the skinwalkers had left her somewhat paranoid of touching stuff, in particular cats.
"Don't look at me, little guy. I got nothing to do with all this." Anika makes sure to gesture to the door and not the mess.
Then she just can't help but to smile at the little cat, not sure where he would even wear a watch. Was he some kind of cat-druid, maybe? While cute, it would be totally lame to just be able to turn into a common house cat.
"But hey, if you know anything about watches, maybe you could help me pick out one." That would be quite a story, a cat helped me pick out a watch.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Faction HQ]

"What happened?" Ith mutters with a sad smile, wiping a hand across her face in some futile gesture to get rid of the tears. "I dunno. Sometimes- sometimes miracles happen I guess. My god's doing, heck maybe my own doing." She pauses to wipe at herself again with the sleeve of her robes, sniffing, trying to get herself back under control.

It's not easy.

She's still shaking.

"A-and then it all gets taken away from you." A cough,a groan, weary eyes stare emptily at Wings. "Gods, I'm so reckless, I'm gon- I'm gonna get myself ****ing killed one of these days. What kind of idiot decides to just valiantly THROW HERSELF IN FRONT OF A DEATH GOD?!" She slams a fist into the wall behind her. Probably puts a dent in it, at least. "And then I felt- I don't know, Wings, if I hadn't been shocked out of my mind by feeling that, I might have just curled up and died right there."

She's exaggerating, a bit. She cut things very close though. Far too close. The shock and the fear is written all over her face. The trauma from the event, supressed at the time, all being unloaded now she's in a "safe" space. And only Ambriel there to deal with it.

"Y-you forget, you know? When you've gone seven decades just having accepted that you can't have kids, only to learn otherwise like this." The tears start streaming again.

[Reinholdt]

[Talman's Toys]

"Uh, sure, thanks," Rein says to the mechanical staff, taking a few steps into the store away from the door. The owner must have stepped out? For lunch, or to take a breather from the mess. Rein doesn't know and he's going to stop guessing at this point. It surely can't be the mechanical man here though. That would be like... selling your brothers and sisters. Which everyone's wanted to do at some point. Huh. Maybe it is him.

"Watches? Uhh... Can't say I know much about them. I was more interested in the toys part of the Toy store." As advertised! "But I do know valuables! And which watches can fit perfectly into a magic powered murder machine. Honestly, magic powered murder machines have some of the weirdest prerequisites to activate. I'll try I guess."

Reinholdt shrugs and his fur turns a vivid pink color as he floats off the floor, hovering around at various heights and angles with no visible methodology. It makes it easier to examine the watches available. Rein primarily focuses on the material the watch is made of and any gem inlays the watch might have.

[Ironsmith]

[Talman's Toys]

Talman gestures to the wall opposite the watches. "Our toys are all over there. And I make my watches specifically to be incompatible with magic murder machines... you don't know a high-payout lawsuit until you've had wealthy adventurers blame a golem army attack on you and the clock you just had to include a diamond in." His bellows let out a wheezing, rueful laugh.

[Zefir]

Violet does indeed come inside, looking with great interest at the artefacts on the wall, as well as any possible entrances and exits, and the position of any guards - if there are any. Violet you shouldn't be casing the place while you're asking for their help.

When she's left alone in the room she'll think about stealing the tools but she still hasn't got the hang of picking things up with her hooves. So do I have to like... do anything, or what. She says as Mia uses her magic. She'll find that there's no curse or indeed any current magic effecting Violet. Looks like she's just a perfectly healthy adult pegasus.

DMside - Cathedral

Guards are around, thought there are just one inside the building. At last one you can see. The whole southside story has left a mark.

"No." Mia replies. "Just stand there a moment."

It will need quiet some time since Mia makes a few different checks. Some or just the normal healthchecks after she got the result from her magic.

"I guess I got some good news and some bad news.
The good first, your healthy and I couldn't find any signs of illness or such.
The bad one, at least I assume it#s bad for you, you are not cursed. From the Data I could take your body is the one of a Pegasus Pony. No transformation appeared to me."

Mia gives her a bit of time to 'curse' befor going on.

"With that I have to assume your mind has been put into this body and your old one is somewhere else. Which offers some options for you."

[billtodamax]

DMside - Cathedral

What do you mean I'm not... cursed. Violet says, irritated. I'm a buckin' horse! My body didn't like... go anywhere else, it turned into a celestia damned horse! What sorta operation are you running here anyway? Buncha yokels all palling around and being friends huh? THAT DOESN'T SOUND HALF BAD! She says with vitriol. You know, that doesn't sound half bad... Violet shakes her head, trying to clear it. Celestia, what the buck am I saying! Are you hearing this? Still think I'm not cursed?

[Shadowcaller]

((Ack, sorry, missed that it was my turn in this scene >.< ))

[Talman's Toys]

"Ha! If that's true, then you should be able to tell where a watch fits on me as I'm a magic powered murder-machine. But I'm not particularly difficult to activate though." Anika glances at Talman. "Uh, but I can't do it in here." A beat. "Obviously, way too many machine-parts around. But if you are as good as you claim, pick the perfect one for me." She couldn't really call him a cat as he was flying around all magically so he probably was a druid or some spirit being thing.

[Reinholdt]

[Talman's Toys]

"You make all this?" Reinholdt asks the mechanical man. He said as much. But that's even worse than selling your brothers and sisters! That's like selling your children. Rein will never understand the ways of the robot.

The floating cat stares at Anika for a moment. "Uhhh..." There were a lot of ways to interpret those claims of hers. "Right." Better just to not.

Well there were plenty of beautiful watches to choose from. Did she want a beautiful watch? Rein normally leans in that direction when dealing with random strangers. But this one was proud of being a murder machine, wanted a stranger's help, and hadn't already picked out a beautiful watch before now. Maybe he should go a completely different direction for her? Why is he picking out pocket watches again?

After some awkward silence and an intense search, Rein finally points one out. "How about this one?" He suggests.

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Outside:

Inside:

[Ironsmith]

[Talman's Toys]

"That is, indeed, what I said." Talman watches as the cat picks out a watch. Upon seeing his selection, he lets out a small sigh. "I thought I took that one to the back... brace yourself." He didn't get these words out much sooner than the watch clicked open, its hands spinning wildly, and everything going black.

"Medic! We need a medic over here!"
(coughing)
"Come on, hang in there just a little while longer... help's on the way."
"...No, it's not. Not soon enough."
"..."
"Did it work? Did we get 'em?"
"...Yeah. Yeah, we got 'em."
(more coughing) ""Good. Glad to have given those bastards what they had coming...""
"This was stupid, Hadian. If you'd waited a few more minutes, we... Jane, don't you dare close those eyes on me."

"...Jane?"


Talman clicked the watch shut unceremoniously. "I suspect you don't want that one. Absolutely horrible at telling time."

[Shadowcaller]

[Talman's Toys]

Anika peers at the watch. A skull? Seemed a bit grim...
I mean, magic powered death machines were obviously funny.

She opens her mouth to make a comment when the watch clicks open and the scene plays out and she immediately regrets the thing she had been intending to say.

"...uh, yeah. Something more cheerful." That had been awkward.

[Zefir]

DMside - Cathedral

What do you mean I'm not... cursed. Violet says, irritated. I'm a buckin' horse! My body didn't like... go anywhere else, it turned into a celestia damned horse! What sorta operation are you running here anyway? Buncha yokels all palling around and being friends huh? THAT DOESN'T SOUND HALF BAD! She says with vitriol. You know, that doesn't sound half bad... Violet shakes her head, trying to clear it. Celestia, what the buck am I saying! Are you hearing this? Still think I'm not cursed?

DMside - Cathedral

Mia was going to be smooth, but as the pony still can't keep a nice behaviour Mia straigths up.

"Listen PONY" she says specially getting that word out.
"You are a PONY now and I can't sense that you have been anything else. Since I didn't met you befor, I can only assume you have been a pony all along. I don't think your aren't cursed, I belive you are not cursed."
Mia pauses. There is an option, but if this pony has been a really a human, what is so powerfull to make this change without leaving any clue. Maybe this is some punishment including the speak pattern she got now.

"I have an idea to help you, but the people here won't help you when they know what you said."

[Lord Magtok]

Faction HQ

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[Faction HQ]

"What happened?" Ith mutters with a sad smile, wiping a hand across her face in some futile gesture to get rid of the tears. "I dunno. Sometimes- sometimes miracles happen I guess. My god's doing, heck maybe my own doing." She pauses to wipe at herself again with the sleeve of her robes, sniffing, trying to get herself back under control.

It's not easy.

She's still shaking.

"A-and then it all gets taken away from you." A cough,a groan, weary eyes stare emptily at Wings. "Gods, I'm so reckless, I'm gon- I'm gonna get myself ****ing killed one of these days. What kind of idiot decides to just valiantly THROW HERSELF IN FRONT OF A DEATH GOD?!" She slams a fist into the wall behind her. Probably puts a dent in it, at least. "And then I felt- I don't know, Wings, if I hadn't been shocked out of my mind by feeling that, I might have just curled up and died right there."

She's exaggerating, a bit. She cut things very close though. Far too close. The shock and the fear is written all over her face. The trauma from the event, supressed at the time, all being unloaded now she's in a "safe" space. And only Ambriel there to deal with it.

"Y-you forget, you know? When you've gone seven decades just having accepted that you can't have kids, only to learn otherwise like this." The tears start streaming again.

”F***, Ith...”

Ambriel is tempted to say something about how this is just how the Nexus works, that this kind of tragedy and drama is exactly the sort of thing this place does to people. It builds you up, does its best to make you as happy and excited and optimistic as possible, and then pulls the rug out from under you at the worst possible time.

He doesn't, though. That's really more of a Magtok sort of thing to say, isn't it? No, Ambriel has something else in mind right now. It's going to take some careful manuevering, watching Ith to make sure she's not swinging her fists a second time around, but he’s going to try to close the distance between the two of them and wrap her up in a hug with both his arms and wings before anything else gets dented or broken. He doesn’t really have anything smart to say here; any sage wisdom or expression of sympathy that will amount to anything, so he opts to just keep quiet and hold her there, allowing her to lean all her crushing, superhuman weight on him if she needs to.

[Reinholdt]

[Talman's Toys]

Reinholdt rubs his face with his paw and sighs. Of course. "Sorry. Forgot I was a treasure hunter extraordinaire and can't help but sniff out the magical talking cursed watch." What can you do?

Much more quickly, Rein chooses another option. "This one instead maybe?"

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[Ironsmith]

[Talman's Toys]

"'Cursed' is a strong word. The Memento Mortem doesn't actually harm its user... it's just that what it's supposed to do isn't particularly helpful to the average person. Now, if you were, say, a police investigator, then it'd be useful..." He paused, realizing that he had started rambling about it. "...Anyway, you've made an excellent choice. For telling time, that is."

[billtodamax]

DMside - Cathedral

Violet looks like she's barely holding back her anger as Mia scolds her. It's a cold anger. She does eventually manage to push it back down, putting on her best smile. What do you suggest I do then? I value your input. The spiderrump bay turned me into a... pony after I wished I was stronger, faster, and could fly. Mia can probably tell - Violet really doesn't want to be a pony anymore if she's willing to treat someone with a modicum of respect to get there.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Faction HQ]

Of all the cheek - she's got superhuman strength, but she's not built like a whale!

Any bone-crushing hugs or further wall-destroying outbursts are suspended as Ambriel hugs her though. Instinctively she clings to him, her wings folding round in turn to mimic his embrace.

...there is perhaps still a little bit of squeezing to her hug. Not as bad as when she really means it though.

"Gods, I'm sorry, Wings. I'm so sorry. This wasn't meant to happen. This wasn't meant to be a thing that could happen. A-and I shouldn't have just barged in on you like this and-" She rests her head against his chest, tears soaking his clothing. Doesn't seem like she wants to move any time soon.

[Shadowcaller]

[Talman's Toys]

"So how much does that one cost? Looks a bit too fancy for me." Always the critic, eh, Anika?
"If its too expensive, I should go for a more down to earth one. I really just need it to tell the time. Maybe something that goes with my clothes?" She gestures down at her 'dress'.

[Ironsmith]

[Talman's Toys]

"Perhaps one of these?" Talman produced a watch in a lacquered wooden casing, which had a newt engraved on the front. "Significantly cheaper to produce, and more befitting your current dynamic, I would think." He clicked the watch open, letting her see the interior, which featured a leaf-shaped inlay and a set of tiny, cast-iron hands. "So long as you take good care of it and don't allow the casing to rot, it should serve you for the next several decades."

[Reinholdt]

[Talman's Toys]

"Oh. There's a budget." Rein thought the feathers were some new high end fashion statement, but no. They're just a poor costume addition. Anika really should have mentioned the budget thing first before asking for a perfect watch. She's going to have to settle for a good watch instead.

Rein glances at Talman. He can elaborate on the price of that piece. Just in case, Rein picks out the last watch he's going to bother with. "Here. This one," Rein says, his heart not in it anymore.

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[Shadowcaller]

[Talman's Toys]

Anika should probably have mentioned the budget, yes. Though at the time she was confident she could afford everything in here, until she remembered hearing that the price was actually higher than she had expected. Who charged that much for a watch anyway? Back in her world they just cost 1 gold a piece!

Eyeing the wooden-watch, she looks skeptical. Especially after hearing that she needed to be 'careful' with it. Unless it was made of ironbark that watch wouldn't even be able to be exposed to water. "Current dynamic? What's that supposed to mean?" She inquires with a raised eyebrow. "And can it handle water? Sand? I'm looking for a pretty durable time-ticker here." She then eyes Rein's suggestion and then Tallman. "Is that one durable?"

[Ironsmith]

[Talman's Toys]

"Miss, if you wanted to, you could spend the day skipping it across a lake and it'd be no worse for wear. So long as you clean it regularly and don't submerge it or expose the internal mechanisms to sand, it should be fine."

[Shadowcaller]

[Talman's Toys]

Anika taps her chin. "Which one is cheapest? The one you suggested, or kitty's suggestion?"

[Arkhosia]

[Seeking Help]

"I guess we better go talk to her about it then." Nadia will lead the way back into the living room. "Hey." She starts, sitting down across from Anastasia. "Have you heard of the Sacred Order of Cunningham?" She asks the girl. If Ana looks at Eliseo, he'll just shrug. He doesn't have any idea.

Seeking Help

Anastasia had finally managed to think of a topic she could use to break the awkward silence when Eliseo's parents return to break it themselves, and she looks towards Nadia with a quizzical look. "I, uh - no, I'm... not familiar with them."

[Ironsmith]

[Talman's Toys]

The wooden one, by a slim margin. It depends on if you think [THE ROUGH PRICE OF A ONE-POUND PORTERHOUSE STEAK] is worth the amenities." His hand clicks as he sets the wood watch on the counter. "It's a hefty price either way. I would recommend you deliberate carefully before choosing."

[Gullara]

[Seeking Help]

"Well." Nadia begins. This might be a bit touchy. "They're a religious organization, of sorts. To be honest, I don't know much about all that. But I do know that they do all kinds of public outreach and support. They also... run an orphanage, and arrange for foster families when appropriate. That sort of thing. Under the circumstances, they'd be in the best position to help you."

[Lord Magtok]

Faction HQ

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[Faction HQ]

Of all the cheek - she's got superhuman strength, but she's not built like a whale!

Any bone-crushing hugs or further wall-destroying outbursts are suspended as Ambriel hugs her though. Instinctively she clings to him, her wings folding round in turn to mimic his embrace.

...there is perhaps still a little bit of squeezing to her hug. Not as bad as when she really means it though.

"Gods, I'm sorry, Wings. I'm so sorry. This wasn't meant to happen. This wasn't meant to be a thing that could happen. A-and I shouldn't have just barged in on you like this and-" She rests her head against his chest, tears soaking his clothing. Doesn't seem like she wants to move any time soon.

"It's fine. Everything else can wait." Wings had nowhere better to be right now anyway. Ithuriel can stay like this as long as she needs to. A few gears begin turning in his head after a few moments, though. A death god...Libby, perhaps? No no, she wouldn't do anything like that. Magtok might not get along very well with Ithuriel or Faction, but he wouldn't ask one of his catgirls to respond to Ithuriel's pranks by inducing a miscarriage of all things, definitely not.

"You said a death god was involved. Do I need to get the boys together for a deicide strategy meeting?" Whoa now, calm down, Ambriel. You're easily the least threatening MagClone in a fight. I know you lot have a history with this sort of thing, killing (or at least bloodying the nose of) such juggernauts as Zeus, Harbinger Epoch, and Calublufiok, but let's remember who we are, and how limited our resources are in this day and age. You guys couldn't handle one single quadrant of Riverside; you're not about to topple a god of demise anytime soon.

[Zefir]

DMside - Cathedral

Violet looks like she's barely holding back her anger as Mia scolds her. It's a cold anger. She does eventually manage to push it back down, putting on her best smile. What do you suggest I do then? I value your input. The spiderrump bay turned me into a... pony after I wished I was stronger, faster, and could fly. Mia can probably tell - Violet really doesn't want to be a pony anymore if she's willing to treat someone with a modicum of respect to get there.

DMside - Cathedral

Mia is a bit suprised about Violet's dislike of her new form. She is cute and fluffy and colorfull. All the people love you, thought it would be extremly hard to spread the word of a god in this form, but that's not what Violet does eight now.

"One option for you might be to do what I assumed happened to you. If we gather you a temporary body which will be closer to your original one, we can transfer your soul in it. That way ayou would be an android and not a pony. I just can't say if it will solve your problem with your speaking."

[Shadowcaller]

[Seeking Help]

Irena starts fiddling with her cellphone as the others talk. Occasionally glancing up to make sure Nadia isn't giving her the evil eye. She just didn't know anything about this!