Home 25: Still making mortgage payments

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Spako's Tower]

Sylvess quietly shuffles up beside Spako and peers at the looming mirror, putting a wing round Spako.

Well, he tries to put a wing round Spako. But the muscle memory lets him down as the automated gesture this time results in him poking Spako in the side with his wing. Sylvess blinks and adjusts accordingly.

"W-we'll walk past it together, okay? See, uh, see what the damage is?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Spako’s Tower]

Spako gulps. He doesn’t even take note of Sylvess’ failure. Sylvess does awkward, shaky things all the time.
”Um. Okay. Here goes.” he says, and pulls himself and Sylvess in front of the mirror.
Though really, they both already told each other what happened. Should they really be surprised?

[Gullara]

[A far too small apartment]

Valerie shakes her head to the first question. Nothing out of the ordinary at least.

"I've through the same thing. We're crammed in here pretty tight, and it's only going to get tougher when Maha gets a bit older." Honestly they don't really have room for her as is. There's some real improvisation going on. "We can definitely start thinking about some new options soon. Maybe we can coordinate with my parents so we won't be too far apart from each other."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower]

Electra pulls Cass in, and gives her a gentle kiss, holding her softly for a moment after pulling back slightly.

"I'm glad you like it," she says, continuing her gentle smile. "I thought it might brighten your day after the dreariness outside."

[Feelings With Fayyaad]


Electra smiles, reaching out to squeeze Fayyaad's hand, and stands up.

"It's alright. I feel like hitting up some of those shops you mentioned, anyways. Thank you for the beer and the talk. I think I have a better handle on some things now."

[Morty]

[Feelings With Fayyaad]

Fayyaad squeezes Electra's hand back and stands up as well.

"Anytime, Electra. I hope Cassandra enjoys the gift you eventually find."

[Murkus]

[Jim’s Apartment ==> Karaoke Party]

Batu will briskly lead his friend and his boyfriend towards a rather small and discreet club in one of the less crowded parts of Inside. In the basement, a rather lively party is currently ongoing. People of all species, shapes and sizes are seated around a stage occupied by two young women - one is a stocky dwarf, while the other is a somewhat chubby human. They're bravely but haphazardly yodelling their way through a song.

[Karaoke Party]

Jim grins wide as they enter. He says something to Batu, but what it is is immediately swallowed by the noise of the music. Regardless he moves immediately to find them a table and drinks.

[Karaoke Party]

"Oh wow. I've never seen so many different kinds of people!" Div shouts over the din. His hand slips habitually (and a little anxiously) into Batu's.

[Morty]

[Karaoke Party]

Batu finds a table somewhat further way from the stage, where the noise is manageable. For someone as awkward as he is, he navigates the place with surprising ease.

"All sorts of people do seem to come here. We should sign up for the singing and, uh, pick a song," he says. "Though I think there's also an option to get one selected at random and just do your best."

[Hattish Thing]

[Sterling's Room - Trog's Tavern]

Sterling blinks a few times, stumbling over towards his chair once again before collapsing into it.

"I d-don't..."

"Honestly, I didn't think I'd get this far. I... I don't know."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Spako's Tower]

"...huh."

Sylvess peers at his reflection. And then at Spako's. He twitches his wings. He waves his tail. He shifts to one side slightly and glances back at his behind.

"We, um, look a little different, huh?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Karaoke Party]

Jim nods at the crowd.
”Yep, this is an Inside club all right. Alright boys, what song are we picking? Because whatever you pick, I am going to sing it with you. And I will make you get on that stage with me no matter what. No stage fright in this party when I’m around.” Jim takes these commitments very seriously.
Probably because he can actually sing.

[Spako’s Tower]

”A little? You look a little different. I look...uh. Well you said it’s good, right?” Spako’s never looked athletic before. He’s never looked particularly weak by kobold standards either, quite the opposite. But most kobolds are easily overpowered by your average human, with the manual laborers and fighters maybe getting tougher and stronger than average humans. And he usually followed that.
But now he looks, well, almost as fit as Sylvess. Even if he seems unwilling to mimic the motions Sylvess is making.
”And uh, I think you might have been a little right about the other thing.” he says despite clearly trying not to look at himself too much.

[Shadowcaller]

[Sterling's Room - Trog's Tavern]

Libra narrows her eyes when Sterling suddenly seems to hesitate. "Come on, dude! You gotta give me a direction to work with here. You're literary dealing with an entity that can alter reality at a whim and you don't want me to get it wrong since I don't do takebacks. All I need to hear from you is a school of magic, that's it. A little itty-bitty phrase and it's yours." She shrugs. "I mean, I could give you time to consider. Though keep in mind, what I grant won't solve all your problems. That'd take away all the fun, no?" She grins widely.

[A far too small apartment]

"...sure." Astrana wasn't too thrilled about the idea of having Val's parents coming over all the time but any attempt to dissuade that now would likely just lead to an ugly argument. This was not a hill she would choose to die on. Parents sure were bothersome, weren't they?
"We could do that."

[Gullara]

[A far too small apartment]

"Okay, good. We'll worry about that later then." Valerie can sense the tension, but she doesn't really want to dig into it right now. Instead she goes over to the kids. "Hey girls. I have some good news!"

((And the scene can end there.))

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Spako's Tower]

Sylvess smiles and leans against Spako. "You always look good, Spako. I-I dunno why she thought doing any of this was, um, necessary. I-it's not."

There, that's the positive reinforcement out the way. Now for-

Right.

"Y-yeah. Um. I-I'm thinking we might- we might not have...waited."

[Deathkeeper]

[Spako’s Tower]

Spako doesn’t seem entirely mollified. If it wasn’t necessary, was it still good? He said it was good before but-
Wait what?
”Not waiter for- for the thing? As in, the egg thing? But we never decided- but that means you’re...”
It doesn’t really occur to him that they never really discussed the logistics of any of this, especially not with Winry.

[Murkus]

[Karaoke Place]

"I-I don't know any ones that they'll know here!" Div says. "Maybe we should try it random?"

[Morty]

[Karaoke Place]

"I wasn't going to back down now," Batu assures Jim. "Once I've set on something, I'll see it through." It's not something Jim or Div have likely seen much of from him, being notoriously indecisive. He picks up a flier with the available songs. "Now... what about this one?" He asks, pointing to one.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Spako's Tower]

"Y-yeah. The egg thing. A-a-and it might not be me, it might be you! I-I-I mean you look different too!" Sylvess stammers, his tail swishing agitatedly. "We didn't specify who was to, um, carry. W-we didn't specify h-how many! Or when! Or h-how! O-or a-a-anything!" The dragon whines, doing his usual agitated-dragon trick of starting to climb the wall. "WE DIDN'T PLAN ANY OF THIS! WHY DID WE DO THIS?!"

[Deathkeeper]

[Spako’s Tower]

Spako begins sputtering immediately.
”M-m-m-me? Why would it be me?! You’re- you’re” he pauses, clearly unable to think of a valid reason why it has to be Sylvess.
”Sylvess get your claws off the wall they’re torn up enough already.” Spako growls. ”You’re the one who insisted we go and summon the goddess right away when we’re still clueless and...and...and-” Spako looks off into the distance, panic overtaking his voice.
”Sylvess can you Change right now?” he squeaks.

[Karaoke Party]

Jim looks at the song on the list and grins wide.
”That’s fine by me. Any objections, Div?” he asks.

[Morty]

[Kathy's Shop]

Fayyaad will arrive here, riding on a flying carpet. Depending on whether or not Kathy was truthful, she might have arrived here before him or alongside him.

[Halae]

[Kathy's Shop]

Kathy's large bronze-colored mech was indeed keeping pace with Fayyaad's magic carpet, refraining from leaving him behind. as they approach the roof of her shop, she'll activate something from inside her seat inside the mech, and a section of the roof begins pulling itself open, showing what appears to be a garage within, with a landing pad inside meant to take the weight of a mech - that'll be as good a place as any for Fayyaad to land, it seems, as Kathy goes about doing herself.

She'll extract herself from the large machine relatively quickly, as it gets all her limbs back into place. Kathy will immediately go over to a wall and press a button, which will close the roof behind the pair before too much snow can get in. Then, she indicates a door off to the side, "Come on, it's this way to my living area."

[Morty]

[Kathy's Shop]

"An impressive means of entry," Fayyaad says, rolling up his carpet and leaving it beside Kathy's mech, then following her. "But I imagine it'd be difficult to get the mech inside otherwise."

[Halae]

[Kathy's Shop]

"I can fit it through the door, but I haven't gotten around to reinforcing the stairs enough to take its weight," Kathy says with a smile, and opens the door. Immediately, a bit of warm air rushes out, along with a smell Fayyaad may or may not recognize as the pungent aroma of a reptile - a hot, vaguely fungal smell that accompanies many snakes, and a quick look will allow Fayyaad to spot one such a reptile within a climate-controlled enclosure on the far side of the living room. A kitchenette exists in the corner, with a hallway leading off into the rest of the floor - presumably where the bedroom and bathroom are. There's also a couch in the middle of the floor, a stereo system set into a wall, and a coffee table, all with a tiled floor that would feel terribly cold on waking up in the middle of winter if not for the heating system warming up a variety of spots on the floor.

"It's not much to look at, I know, but it's at least very comfortable."

[Morty]

[Kathy's Shop]

"It is indeed cosy," Fayyaad admits, looking around. "And I see you're keeping pets."

[Halae]

[Kathy's Shop]

"The snake's name is blinky. She's friendly, as long as you don't touch her with cold hands," she'll head over to the stereo system against one of the walls, and bring up a holographically projected screen, where she'll start flipping through the names of songs, "Hmm... I don't generally save many dance tracks. Usually, just stuff with a steady beat that I can work to."

[Morty]

[Kathy's Shop]

"I can work with something that has a steady beat," Fayyaad says, taking off his coat. "Even if it would take some improvisation. This is easier with some dances than others."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

Our derpy dragon duo have discovered they're both pregnant, been interrupted by kobolds, and are now at said kobolds' fort! Which is also a spa! Which they're about to try out!

Sylvess nods at the kobolds when they confirm they're not kicking dozens of people out for the sake of two dragons. "W-well, that's, um, that's good. Thank you." He turns to flash a particularly childlike grin at Spako. A dip in the baths sounds sooo good right about now! "Please, lead the way. O-oh, and don't worry about my satchel. It's waterproof. A-and I can never take it off."

[Deathkeeper]

[Fort Aegis]

The towel-bearing kobold guiding the dragons out of the lobby leads them through a makeshift hallway half made by the natural stone walls and half by crude wooden partitions. There are only a few pools, but the kobolds tried to separate them into several rooms for potential customers. There isn’t a terrible amount of rhyme or reason to it. There’s also a number of columns here and there, presumably to keep the fort over their heads from caving in the tunnels. The cave stone walls are also carved, but also show signs of frequent use, such as names engraved into corners and tool hooks stuck into the walls.
The large section they’re lead to is frankly enormous, hot water giving off a pleasant heat. There’s not much in the way of decoration here. Just a pool and some assorted items left by the inhabitants. As promised, its empty save for one elderly kobold getting out as they turn the corner. She takes one look at them and scurries away down the hall.
“Erm, yes well. Here you are, Masters. The community pool. Ring the bell if you need us. Don’t fall asleep. Enjoy.” Their guide attempts to abscond, leaving the two dragons on their own.

[Murkus]

[Karaoke Place]

"I-I... Sure! Oh, gods, this is gonna be really embarrassing..." Div has stage fright! He blushes and nods to them. He does look a little impressed with Batu. Those are good traits to have! "Let's do it."

[Morty]

[Karaoke Party]

"That's the point, honey. Everyone comes here ready to embarrass themselves. So we're in good company." Batu isn't quite as confident as he pretends he is, but he seems determined to power through it like a snow-plough. He steps up to the stage and their selected song starts playing. He holds Div's hand firmly and begins, with enough gusto to drown our his nervousness:


"Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak

Somewhere in this town

See me and the boys we don't like it

So were getting up and going down..."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Fort Aegis]

Be sensible, Sylvess. Show some decorum. You are a great and proud dragon, the inheritor of a noble bloodline that stretches back across thousands upon thousands of years.

These kobolds look up to you. You must present yourself appropriately, show them that you are indeed a dragon worthy of respect.

You are not going to jump in the pool like a childish little wyrmling.

You are not going to jump in the pool.

You are not-

With a look of utter, childish glee upon his face, Sylvess roars with delight and jumps in the pool, splashing hot water everywhere.