Inside 69: Nice.

[Rebonack]

[Midnight Park]

Myrrh Balm is pretty skeptical.

But she keeps her criticism to herself.

Air Brush gets bump!

"Not here," she replies as she quickly follows Violet out. "I don't keep recreationals on me when I'm working."

Because responsible people don't bring stuff like that to work.

Obviously.

Violet would probably know about that if she had a job.

Or at least a job that doesn't consist of robbing people.


[Intersection HQ]

Officer Cane would say that Nick is thinking rightly. Once an artifact has been made the Icon is denied to the adversaries. Too bad the other sects don't feel that way.

"I could put in word with my contacts regarding what we have. They would probably get back to us quickly. But keep in mind that these sorts of anomalies have been manifesting with alarming regularity of late. The iconographers probably have their hands full creating artifacts to get as many of these Icons out of the reach of the adversaries as possible," he replies.

So.

He's got people he works with.

People who aren't part of Intersection which he considers trustworthy.

Then?

The other options.

Cephus looks VERY serious when he replies. "The first expends the power in the Icon to mutate the world around it into a nightmarish hellscape. Like the 'dungeon' an unattended Icon will build around itself, just a bit more extreme. Then it would start growing new Icons in its depths. The second would kill you."

He doesn't elaborate further on the second one.

Just dead.

The end.

[Deathkeeper]

[Intersection HQ]

Nick shudders.
”Well, call them please, and if they can’t come soon get me one of those cases. I don’t want to be carrying this thing any longer than necessary.” It is a very strange feeling. Perhaps intoxicating is the right word. He doesn’t like it one bit.

[Rebonack]

[Intersection HQ]

"Of course, Commissioner," Office Cane replies before heading out.

He'll get a text message shortly there after that a pair of Watchers will be arriving within the hour to collect the Icon.

And you know what that means?

That means Nick gets to wait for 45 minutes or so with that spooky thing on his person!

...maybe he could just... drop it.

In the closet or something.

Put it somewhere out of sight.

That would be fine, right?

[Deathkeeper]

Intersection HQ

This is fine.
Totally fine.
Nick has to write an incident report anyway. He can spend an hour doing that. For forty minutes. No problem.
Just don’t do anything stupid with the horrible arcane object.
Easy.

[bc56]

Prison

The sulfur stink is even denser within the prison building. The whitewashed plaster walls have a faint yellow tinge, as do the thick reinforced glass windows overlooking a barren courtyard in the center of the compound. Two pairs of guards stand just inside the building, guarding the exit, and another pair stand ready for the vigilante's arrival. "If you'll head in there, you can get the paperwork started. We can take the prisoner from here." One of them gestures to a door nearby. The plaque on it reads "John McKenzie, Warden."

[Rebonack]

[Intersection HQ]

Just pretend it doesn't exist!

Just banish all memory of it.

Just like the memory of that sigil that you looked at.

Don't think about that, either.

Especially not while writing your report. Don't draw the sigil on your report, Nick. That would be bad. Probably best not to describe it in any detail, either.

Just a nice normal weird incident report.

Until the Watchers come to take away the Icon.

It's that easy!

[5a Violista]

[Market Street]

Kuriko nods and looks over the survey, as she takes back the clipboard. "This is great!" she says. "Thanks! So, was your mom also born in the Nexus or did she come here from somewhere else?" There's been a steadily-increasing proportion of second-generation and third-generation immigrants in the Nexus, and knowing the balance between the different groups is important in understanding how well cultures are integrating, if there's segregation going on, conflict between groups, and so on.

She starts writing things down in the blank area at the bottom of the survey, so she can remember to describe everything - including her observations of this person - there. And...hmm...what other things does she need to find out? "And these evil fae - where do they come from?"
She figures this question appears specific enough but is still open-ended, such that the answerer will associate it with something relevant: if they come from outside the Nexus, they'll probably assume that's what she's asking about. If they're coming from Riverside or Arkham Street or somewhere else, Kuriko's sure Peridot will assume that's what she's talking about.


[Temperance Teahouse]

Oh, shoot, her master plan to make him think she likes caviar has failed.
"But growing up I heard that if you don't like it, you should try it again in case it's an acquired taste." Seven times, in fact! If you still don't like it after seven times, then you can confidently say you just don't like it.

She doesn't change her mind about her drink, so she keeps quiet as he orders their food.

"So..."
Holly drags her fingertip along the table.
"How have you been since we saw each other last?" Pretty simple way to start a conversation.

[Deathkeeper]

[Intersection HQ]

Nick couldn’t possibly describe anything about any sigil in his report because he refuses to believe that he recognized it as any describe-able thing. And therefore he could not feature it in his report other than noting it favored green.
Nick also makes a note that if a Mrs. Dupree is found in the town she should be examined for possible cognitohazard contamination. Nick wishes he could just take a pill to forget the last few hours just in case but then he would wake up with a weird Icon on his person and a menu without any context and warnings. So he can’t do that.
Which is why he’s just quietly filling out paperwork instead.

[Rebonack]

[Market Street]

"Mom came here from the Tower of Shinar a little over a year ago," Peridot explains. "She was kind of around here before that? But not really. She wasn't herself yet, she was lots of different people who were all the same. Mom says it was kind of like Magtok."

People know about Magtok and his clones.

That makes the explanation very understandable.

"The lots of her were brought here a long time ago by someone else, though. Over a decade ago, I think."

Hopefully this answer isn't going to skew the survey results too much. It's pretty weird.

"The evil fae come from the Dreamlands. It's sort of like the real world, but not? Like on the other side of a mirror. But not, since that's impossible. That's why fae are so bad, they shouldn't be here. Oh! And they kidnap people! To take them back to the Dreamlands. They're pretty much the worst. That's why mom wanted me to make sure to stop them from stealing people," Peridot says. His job is very important and it is quite clear that he takes it very VERY seriously.

A beat.

"Did you know that you smell kind of like mushrooms?" the seraph asks.


[Intersection HQ]

After about forty minutes of completely innocuous incident report writing Officer Cane will return with two people.

A man in a smart grey business suit carrying a black plastic hardcase and a woman in a blue suit carrying a thermos. There's a gardening trowel sticking out of the woman's coat pocket that looks rather incongruous.

"Commissioner? These are Watchers Perez and Carter," Officer Cane says. The two humans nod each in turn. "They'll be taking possession of the Icon. All you need to do is drop it to remove it from your own possession."

This is all so weird.

Once the Icon is dropped, Watcher Perez will be collecting it and then storing it in the hardcase. It fits snugly in the black foam inside. And then the lid gets snapped shut and that's that. Imprinted on the outside of the case is a symbol that looks like a three pointed crown with a crescent above it, five nails driven through the crescent. The Sign of Koth. Watcher Carter sets the thermos down on Nick's desk.

"Tea made with king's crown. Watcher Cane said that you were exposed to the sigil of a Class-A devil. This will purge its touch from your mind," she says.

Should Nick smell the stuff, he'll note a very strong aroma of licorice.

[Deathkeeper]

[Intersection HQ]

Nick nods, and drops the Icon into the Watchers’ care. He sniffs at the thermos and winces. With a resigned noise he starts digging through his desk for a straw.
The biggest sacrifice that comes with being a griffin is not being able to enjoy using normal cups.
”It’s definitely made with something all right. I hope you know that if this kills me we have your faces on tape.” he jokes weakly. ”I’ve already noted the civilians who might also have been contaminated by it, if they were pulled into this city after I was done.”
But drinking a thermos of tea isn’t so bad. Probably.

[Rebonack]

[Intersection HQ]

Should Nick drink the tea he'll find that it also tastes strong of licorice, with a slightly bitter flavor.

He may also get a bit of a migraine as a squirming, wriggling, clawed idea is forced out of his mind.

Ouch.

But that's way better than letting it hang out in there.

"I'll oversee the welcoming committee and brief the local law enforcement of the new Inside district on the situation they're in now," Office Cane says. "And my colleges can sweep the area for any residual infection. Hopefully we'll be able to find out where the sigil came from in the first place."

Probably nowhere pleasant.

"I'll have a report on your desk by the end of the day."

Oh boy, paperwork!

Nick's favorite thing.

[Deathkeeper]

[Intersection HQ]

Nick shakes his aching head. Being a fuzzy mythical critter in charge of a whole police force is not nearly as fun as Nick Jr’s cartoons make it sound.
”See that it’s done, Officer. I don’t need to tell you how important it is to neutralize this threat. And let me know how the crafting goes.”
After that, he thinks that maybe he deserves a break for the day.

[5a Violista]

[Market Street]

Kuriko continues writing as Peridot explains. Of course, it's in shorthand but it includes some of the things about the Tower of Shinar and Peridot's mom, the dreamlands, and the way Peridot's voice inflects. "Yeah...I see...oh, kidnapping is awful!"

She tries to think up another good follow-up question, when the seraph asks about her smell. "...I do?" She sniffs, trying to see if there's an obvious 'mushroom' smell in her breath or on her clothes or something. "I didn't think I did, but that makes sense," she ends up saying.

Oh! The sociologist just thought of a relevant question. "So how do the fae cross into and out of the Nexus?" she asks. This question doesn't matter for her survey and what she's looking in to, but it could be useful as preliminary research for a future project: how the method and availability of entering/exiting the Nexus affects how people interact with it. Title still needs work. "And what way did your mom take to get into the Nexus, do you know?" She stops writing so she can look curious and interested, like the answer's important and if she just writes during the explanation, she might miss it - and that's not something she wants to do.

[Rebonack]

[Market Street]

"It is! It's terrible! They like stealing kids from their parents and that makes them bad guys," Peridot insists.

Obviously only bad guys would do something that terrible.

At the question of how they get here...

Well. Peridot isn't as sure about that. For whatever reason it's incredibly easy to read his body language despite how inhuman he looks. Something about the way he moves just makes his thoughts and feelings easily readable.

"Well... sometimes they come out of enchanted forests. There are lots of those in the parks. Sometimes they come out of holes, or out from under beds, or out of closest. Oh! And out from mirrors, too, I think. Anything that's like a doorway? I don't know how they do it. They shouldn't be able to do it, but they do it anyway because they aren't really real like you or me. They're like dreams that have sneaked into the real world."

Dreams that can club you over the head and drag you away to a slave block.

"Mom just logged into the Game," Peridot replies to the next question. "That's how any angel gets here. Unless they were created here like I was. I haven't ever been outside of the Game before."


[Intersection HQ]

Maybe Nick SHOULD take the rest of the afternoon off!

But that would be a story for another time, wouldn't it?

[Chaotic Bob]

[SNS Street Market]

Well, the place seems promising enough. These dwarves sold weapons apparently? Then he’ll just have to go from that angle.
G’nichi will look for shops that seem to have combat focused wares and ask if they’ve seen the dwarves Limil and Gashud and their cart in the last few days.

This is not the quickest method, though it is perhaps the most straightforward.
There are a lot of people that come and go through this place, customer and shop-wise. Most have no idea whatsoever of who G'nichi is talking about. There are plenty of dwarves that have come and gone, what's two more?

Eventually someone has something to give. It isn't one of the shop workers, however, but a customer nearby when he inquires.
They have an uncomfortable visage, this customer, in a rather literal sense. They seem humanoid, but looking directly at their face is like trying to stick one's hand in a bowl of glass. But with the eyes.
Which is after G'nichi's staff takes a stab at trying to filter the effect, prior to which the person(?) wasn't really perceptible at all.
"Ey, these dwarves of yoos. They from that spookdeath park?"

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

Melissa kind of wilts when Isaac starts talking firmly. But then she balls up her little fists and-

-gives an "Eep!" when several stairs collapse.

"Oh geeze that was close," Lucas yelps as he hops up the rest of the stairs-

-right into the very spooky second floor. Okay yeah this is creepy as heck. The random voices and giggling are extra creepy as heck.

"You're right, Isaac... I'm sorry," Melissa admits with only a SMALL amount of petulant sulk in her tone. Then to make good on it she hugs her brother, too! "I'll stay closer. Which room do YOU think we should look in next?"

The giggling room?

The muttering room?

The mumbling old man room?

So many exciting choices!

Melissa tries kicking at some of the shadows just for the heck of it. All this ghostly power in the air and nothing to eat yet! It's like smelling someone fixing mac and cheese with bacon and taking way too long!

[Golden Flock Orphanage]

Isaac’s expression softens and Melissa gets a pat on the head.
”It’s fine, now that we’re clear on things. Now-“ he looks around at the various doors and their associated weird noises.
”I guess that one?” he gestures at the giggling one. Giggling is the creepiest. So they should deal with it first.

It's a curious effect, lashing out at the darkness with the ability Melissa possesses. It parts around her foot, like kicking through a cloud of particularly light whipped cream, before slowly drifting back into place in her movement's wake.
Somewhere further down the hall, another dark shape seems to flicker in the gloom before vanishing as the tall man did, though too far for clear discernment.

But they're looking towards a room now, not the rest of the hallway.

There is no door on this room, it appears to have been torn from its frame at some point in the past judging by the twisted pieces of metal where its hinges would have been. It was once an office of some kind, going off of the side and shattered remnants of desk, bookcase, and chair scattered about the edges of the room. The wood of the furniture seems black and dead, but devoid of the additional rot the conditions here should bring. Too dead for even bacteria and fungus to chew on it.

In the center of the room, sits the transparent, almost-white pale green figure of a little girl. She isn't facing the door, rather staring at the ground with her body facing the wall to the left. Her hands are moving as though she's playing with toys that don't exist. Occasionally she gives a hollow-sounding giggle amidst whatever game she is playing with herself.
This one is an actual, proper ghost.

The blackness of the shadows clings especially dark to the edges of this room, rippling with an almost mechanical tension. Like the teeth of a bear-trap, with a shoddy spring.

[Deathkeeper]

SNS Street Market

Oof. G’nichi has to squint so he isn’t stabbed in the sense of sight by whatever effect this person has.
”Um. I wasn’t given an address, but I was told something to that effect. So I believe so.” he tells the person, trying to contain his discomfort.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Intersection Canteen]

Michalson waves his hand in what may or may not be agreement. It's hard to tell and his expressions are generally unclear right now.

"Aye, I can handle most dazzle without drinkin' this. Well, most dazzle we're like to meet on duty, anyway. I drank it because of how serious that business felt. Though if I overdo it, it can feel similar. That's just how it is. No one ever said it'd be easy."

[Intersection Canteen]

Okay, the hand waving is a bit hard for Ith to interpret. She decides not to read too much into it for now. Maybe she can help, maybe she can't. No harm in trying next time though, right?

"Yeah, I get it. Serious stuff requires a serious response, and it sucks afterwards." Ith sighs, slumping back in her chair. Way to oversimplify it. "And we have ****-all to show for that one as well. I hope whatever crap AMEN is up to stays out of Inside."

[Earl of Purple]

Creepy Victorian Fungus House

"You take one, then! I found a notebook. I thought it got this bad because the thing they were got broken." The relic that had been hit with a shovel is passed to Melissa, and Jack starts to look around a bit more seriously than last time. She's really hoping there's another secret door out of here that she didn't notice the last time, because this room is currently a little bit of a trap. She also grabs her wand, because she really hopes it'll be useful against whatever it is coming up the stairs.

Leaving Stuck Square

"My fault, probably. I forgot humans have heavy bones." Because Jack's are hollow. She also pulls out a little battery-powered torch, which she'll use to assist on the light front with Anchor's ball of light spell. Jack has a bit of difficulty ignoring everything, and has to fight the urge to point her torch directly at the tall and shadowy figure beckoning to her, but manages to get through the darkness without being lured off track. This time, anyway.

Hive Sewers

The Tineye can't really resist following at this point, and recoils in fear from the creature before her. She's really quite worried now, but... Not much she can do about it. She's starting to think she should have taken the opportunity to escape a long time ago, because things are getting worse.

[Murkus]

[Moonrise]

"What makes you so sure?" Orrey says, but when he raises his eyes to one of the people at the bar, they all start to move as though closing time has been called early. People pick up coats, hats, weapons. The shadows seem to come alive. They shuffle by beneath the green lights, an army of phantom people, the destitute armed with less than legal weapons and ideas by a man who may or may not be sane himself. Some of them bump shoulders with Deadlight's people or flash them sick grins as they pass. Oh yes. All friends here, those smiles say.

[Recaiden]

[Left Stuck Square]

Anchor can't really apologize for that.
"Yeah, we weren't really built to fly..." she says, sheepish anyway.

"That was a strange little place. Now what?"

[Hive Sewers]

"Don't worry. Some of us look a little strange, or really strange, but we're not going to hurt you." Which doesn't mean the Tineye will like anything that happens.

The coatroom is more normal than the rest of the place, with lots of racks holding jackets and robes and shawls, shelves for shoes, trays of potions and papers. Of course there's also little slender crab monsters suckling on protuberances growing from the wall.
"You should set your things down here. What was it you stole?" Surely the Tineye is eager to show it off.

[Earl of Purple]

Out of Stuck Square

"I don't know. We could go see if we can find somewhere else that's interesting. Oh! I think I know somewhere nearby. Wanna check it out?" Jack grins and points in the direction she's pretty sure she needs to go in. She can recognise the spire of a nearby temple, and that's telling her roughly where she is.

Hive Sewers

She puts her rucksack down. "Um, silverware mostly, some coins. I could melt it down if I can't sell it, but metal's risky. Still the most valuable stuff, for a thief. Maybe some weaponry, that goes well on the black market. Atium if you could get it. Metal's risky, though. Iron and steel mistings can track metal if they're close enough to it, but usually they let you know where they are by trying to take it from you." She opens it and reveals some fine silk pyjamas used to wrap around three large silver candlesticks, to prevent them rattling. There's also a few bags of coins and an obsidian knife, an ebony-and-ivory chess set and an antique gold watch.

[Chaotic Bob]

[SNS Street Market]

Unfortunate side effect of Inside attracting literally all kinds. Some of them aren't so compatible with everyone else's senses.
In the face of G'nichi's discomfort, the individual proceeds to do absolutely nothing different whatsoever. Must not care. Or maybe aren't aware of what it means?
"Yeee, yeee, them. The Boofness leeed them ayonder."

That sounds like a lead.

[Deathkeeper]

[SNS Street Market]

"Uh, 'boofness?' Also, can you point me to where it took them?" asks G'nichi, utterly confused at what he just heard.

[Chaotic Bob]

[SNS Street Market]

The individual points.

There is an immediate straining whine that comes from G'nichi's glasses at the motion, as it seems like they're pointing several directions at once with one limb that is also in several places but also mostly just that one(s).
I...um...this...um???
The staff is trying very hard to compensate for whatever the individual is doing but it isn't working at all.

"The Boofness nyext to ayonder weightgymlifts."

[Deathkeeper]

[SNS Street Market]

G'nichi almost cries out in pain as his eyes are assaulted.
"Ah, the gym. Thank you." G'nichi finds this to be a perfectly good excuse to turn away and go looking for a gym instead of looking at this...person.

[Chaotic Bob]

[SNS Street Market]

"Weeelcome."
As soon as this is said, the staff gives up entirely and the figure becomes blessedly imperceptible in its entirety. They're definitely still there, but sane physics no longer even tries to parse it for G'nichi's eyes anymore.
I don't think I liked them.

This part of the trip isn't terrible. There's really only a couple gyms immediately nearby.
One is a giant chain location, the sort that filled with rows upon rows of every machine and populated primarily by soccer moms and college students. This one's the closest one, just at the end of the market strip, before the area turns residential again.
The other one of the smaller ones, primarily occupied by athletes and bodybuilders hefting weights in front of large mirrors. This one's a little further, where the area becomes just a touch industrial, with nearby small-scale warehouses.

[Deathkeeper]

[SNS Street Gym]

Well, this is probably the worst possible place for G’nichi to be sent. Now he feels ridiculous and inadequate. It also smells like sweaty mammals. Still, G’nichi decides to investigate the smaller one, as it’s more likely to be near where a business deal took place than a big chain. So he has to go up to the people inside and ask if they’ve seen a pair of dwarves, since he was pointed this way.

[Reinholdt]

[Temperance Teahouse]

Oh, shoot, her master plan to make him think she likes caviar has failed.
"But growing up I heard that if you don't like it, you should try it again in case it's an acquired taste." Seven times, in fact! If you still don't like it after seven times, then you can confidently say you just don't like it.

She doesn't change her mind about her drink, so she keeps quiet as he orders their food.

"So..."
Holly drags her fingertip along the table.
"How have you been since we saw each other last?" Pretty simple way to start a conversation.

[Temperance Teahouse]

Rein frowns in thought. "I dunno. If you have to acquire the taste, it always felt like to me you shouldn't. Like... at some point, it's saying you like it just to make other people suffer the same you have. I dunno." He must really not know cause he said so twice. Which means her way is probably best.

The treasure hunter shrugs and shakes his head, moving on. "I've been good," Reinholdt lies, having spent the last few days stressing out about this date. Now that he's in the moment, he doesn't know why. It just feels natural. He was always at his best when he was being impulsive with a plan. Calculated chaos. Dating. "At least, nothing particularly special happened between then and now. How about you?"

[5a Violista]

[Market Street]

Kuriko nods and starts writing again. Functionally, the two ways seem very similar, Kuriko decides, if 'logging into the Game' is anything like what she's familiar with. Both factions can just appear out of what seems like nowhere, through the use of an outside force. Kuriko wouldn't be surprised if their power structure is actually pretty similar, between the 'evil fae' and the 'angel's.

She'll definitely have to look farther into this to see if she's right.

"Well, thanks! That was really helpful!" she says. The former-mushroomgirl stops writing. "I've got to get a bunch more people to fill out the surveys. Have fun!"


[Temperance Teahouse]

Impulsive with a plan is the best.

"That's too bad: I think it's boring when nothing happens. I've also been well," Holly says. Then, trying to make it seem like a joke, she adds: "But I did have some excitement: some jerk put a hole in my roof. Just as well, I was planning on moving out soon anyway." She actually wasn't, but since there's no telling when that guy will come back, and it's pretty hard to live in a place that has three demolished walls, a hole in the roof in this weather, and a hole in the floor as well, she's actually currently in the market for a new place to live.

[Hattish Thing]

Prison

The sulfur stink is even denser within the prison building. The whitewashed plaster walls have a faint yellow tinge, as do the thick reinforced glass windows overlooking a barren courtyard in the center of the compound. Two pairs of guards stand just inside the building, guarding the exit, and another pair stand ready for the vigilante's arrival. "If you'll head in there, you can get the paperwork started. We can take the prisoner from here." One of them gestures to a door nearby. The plaque on it reads "John McKenzie, Warden."

Finally concerned with the stench, the vigilante whispers something into his helmet, causing it to begin to read and analyze the air around him. Once the small group arrives at the destined area within the prison, he'll pass along the gith woman to the two guards, but not before asking a question and ordering his suit to conduct a sort of liar's test based upon the answer.



--

No matter the answer, he'll head into the warden's office.