Trog's Tavern CLIV

[5a Violista]

The man at the bar successfully draws away all the flame from the bar. It's incredibly effective against the flame, as the flame is nonmagical so it has no resistance to being turned into a gem.

Zee's fire extinguisher isn't quite effective as that man's hand, but it still works pretty well against the burning floor, tables, and other similar things.

When she gets to the hand, the fire extinguisher successfully puts out the fire that's on the hand, but wouldn't ordinarily take care of the hand itself. Fortunately! Jade, with her light-weapon, managed to pierce holes into the the palm and forearm. Thanks to the concept of 'extinguishing fires' getting inside the hand by way of those holes, the charcoal arm is extinguished from the inside out...just ash and smoke in the wind.
It seems to have listened to being told off, since it's gone.



Maria takes advantage of the flash to go through the smoke and approach Jade.
The inaccurate blast went right through Maria's bicep, leaving ash and cinders around the partial hole it carved out of her.

Once Maria is close enough, she draws her scissors again.

The witch snips some of her own gray hair.
She then tries to cut a handful of strands from Jade's hair. "And thus, the burning knife cut the shape of life," she says, not (apparently) throwing an attack.

...
But, then again, previous attacks of hers involved grabbing her own eyeball and throwing it, grabbing rocks, stabbing her hand with scissors and flicking blood, and touching the floor. There's no definite way to determine what actually is an attack and what isn't for her.

[bc56]

Jade's hair is cut. "Knock it off!" she protests. Those paying attention might realize that she doesn't have any less hair than before. Maybe it's something weird about the curse. She lashes out with a punch at the witch's midsection.

[Rebonack]

Whoops!

Looks like the fire extinguisher has run out of foam.

Hmm...

How can Zee use her tools on hand to resolve this situation.

...
....
.....

She whips the heavy extinguisher around by the hose and lobs it at the witch.

Maybe getting smashed in the face with a large metal object will calm her down a little?

Guess we'll find out shortly.

[5a Violista]

The witch gets punched in the stomach, and has the side of her head smashed by a large metal object.

Neither of them have an obvious effect on her. Besides, of course, the cracking on her skin seems to split open, leaving a dim ember glow beneath the injuries. Just like a long-dead campfire, in the places she was hit.

She reaches to grab the hand that punched her, and then drops the hair she cut - trying to drop it into Jade's hand.
But she doesn't say anything.

Maria turns around, leaving her back wide-open to Jade.

She winds up, and throws her rusty scissors back at Zee as revenge for the extinguisher. Once the scissors get close to Zee, they'll light up and flash similar to the stones she tossed earlier. And then, after getting close enough, they'll explode like a bomb but with no shrapnel - just pressure waves, heat waves, flames, and so on.

[bc56]

Jade accepts the cut hair, confused. "Why?" she asks. She isn't going to strike Maria in the back. If the witch tries to leave now, Jade won't even stop her. "Why do you keep calling me a follower of life and the shape of life? What is it about me that has you agitated?"

[Rebonack]

Oh uh.

Flying exploding rusty scissors.

Those are the worst kind of scissors.

Zee slaps her hands together, and in doing so a rather large pair of claw-like-hooves materialize out of nowhere and slam shut around the projectile. The explosion sends a few jets of flame out of the gap between the limbs, but it is otherwise contained. Then the claws are gone, leaving a slowly expanding cloud of smoke behind.

The barmaid gives her actual hands a shake.

It looks like her palms are slightly scorched?

Seems that trick still hurt her. Just not as much as having a bomb go off in her face would have.

And then?

She watches.

Just in case the crazy arsonist decides to get up to anything else.

[5a Violista]

It's...possible that ignoring the witch is the best way to get her to leave.

Maria flies away from Jade and towards Zee. She continues glaring at Zee. Halfway there, she stops.

She holds her hand out over a car, and starts dripping blood on the car. Boiling blood. Twelve drops. "It was in August, such a lovely summer, that they began the massacring," she says. Then, she turns to Jade and clarifies: "The flower killing. The sunflowers were feeding the beautiful to the industrial dough mixer."

That's twelve drops. Starting at her feet and moving up her body, she starts dissolving into ash which blows away in the wind. "With the remaining red pulp, they made twelve burnt loaves."

Seriously, though, almost nothing she says makes any sense. There's no way anybody can make any sort of sense out of her random ramblings. Well...probably. One or two people have done it before, but that's it. But they were probably wrong, since obviously what she says doesn't mean anything.

Almost all her body is dissolved into ash and has scattered to the wind. As her head finally vanishes, the blood on the roof of the car begins flashing with a brilliant pink light...flashing in the same way that other things she has thrown have exploded.

Seems like there's maybe...ten seconds before it explodes. Not the whole car, but the blood on the roof of the car. The explosion itself won't be very big - especially if you compare its energy absorption rate to the other things that she exploded - but simple physics dictate that the car roof will likely become small amounts of shrapnel.

There's not much time to react. Just ten seconds.

[bc56]

Ten seconds is actually a long time. Plenty long enough for Jade to project a hemispherical hardlight shield around herself. That should stop the shrapnel from harming her, which is good, because she doesn't have her armor on (although it would protect her just as well if she did). This dress is really not the best choice for protective gear.

[Rebonack]

Hmm.

That blood is a problem isn't it?

Zee is wondering, though, if it stops being blood if it would stop being a problem.

That thought in mind, she begins jogging toward the car, holds out one hand, and twists.

The spheres of matter and shape respond to her intent, and where there was previously blood there's probably instead a thin veneer of oak bark instead.

Hopefully that works the way she was expecting it would.

Manipulating energy really isn't Zee's thing, after all.

With luck, this will also prevent someone's car from getting blown up.

Who likes getting their car blown up?

No one, that's who.

[5a Violista]

Turning the blood into bark immediately stops it from building up more ambient fire energy. So there's no way for it to build enough up to explode.

However,
Wood happens to be susceptible to fire energy.

The bark ignites and burns off all the energy. It won't destroy the car and it won't launch shrapnel everywhere. The top part of it will burn for a little bit and then go out.

...
But, it appears everything is over.

[bc56]

Jade stares dumbfounded at the locks of hair in her hand. What was that all about? She smooths out her dress, which had gotten a little rumpled during the fight, and starts heading back to the tavern to finish her drink. "Hey Zee. That was weird, wasn't it?"

[Rebonack]

"Yeah that was pretty weird," Zee agrees with a sagely nod. "We used to get crazies showing up at Trog's all the time trying to set it on fire. It's been a while now."

Too bad her fire extinguisher ran out of foam.

If it hadn't she could put out the fire on top of the care pretty easily.

Alas!

It is not to be.

Zee glances over at Jade? and looks her up and down.

"So! The dress is new. When did that happen?"

Asking the important questions here.

"I take it you still haven't had any luck with breaking the curse?"

[Deathkeeper]

G'nichi returns to trog's tavern! He's certainly looking different since the last time he was here. Namely, being a very large bipedal bronze/silver dragon hybrid who looks like he hasn't skipped a day at the gym in his life. And also currently has a pair of shorts and a shirt that looks like it might fall off any minute because it hasn't been properly button in the back around his wings. He was supposed to talk to Zee and the kids a while ago but that got derailed by a blizzard. So he had to show up late to that meeting.

[bc56]

Jade gives a little twirl to show Zee the dress. "I got it about a week ago, but I haven't worn it out and about until now." She finishes her beer and orders another. "I'm still as cursed as ever. I figured as long as I'm stuck like this, I might as well try being more of a woman. If you can't beat them, join them, you know?"

[Rebonack]

"Have you considered..." Zee begins, glancing over one shoulder. "Have you considered looking for someone who does deal in curses, hexes, and other impossible nonsense?"

She looks vaguely nauseated even suggesting something like that.

Apparently that idea doesn't sit right with her.

"Or are you planning on just living with it?"

And then a lizard arrives!

Or a former lizard, anyway.

"Oh! Hello again G'nichi!"

Wait.

How did she immediately know it was him?

[Deathkeeper]

G'nichi gives a little wave to Zee.
"Ah, hello! I ah, thought I would come visit. I saw your ah, kids yesterday and we said we'd meet up but I had to cancel because of a blizzard that stranded me in a strip-mall. Did they uh, talk to you?" G'nichi does not know if the hatchlings told her what happened to him and he doesn't feel quite right tattling on them.

[bc56]

"I have!" Jade replies, gesturing towards the portal to the Temple of Inari. "They couldn't help me. This curse is nasty. I'm still looking, but until I get a solution, I'm going to live with it. If I let the curse ruin my life, it wins." She downs her second beer and orders a third. Maybe someone should caution her about drinking too much. Who knows if this body can hold its alcohol as well as her old one? "So here I am, wearing a dress and trying to be the best woman I can be."

[Rebonack]

"Yes," is the answer G'nichi gets from Zee.

She knows what happened.

"I'm sorry things didn't quite work out the way you were hoping. I... could make adjustments? If you wanted? It's the least I could do to make up for my children breaking into houses."

Through windows no less!

Shame on them.

"I suppose that makes sense," she replies to Jade. "Have you tried anywhere besides Inaris'? Though... it could be one of those things that no one can do anything about. Sometimes this sort of nonsense magic is... umm... narratively powerful. For lack of a better word."

Narratively powerful?

The heck does that even mean?

[Deathkeeper]

”Well it wasn’t my house.” he chuckles. ”And our dear alchemist friend seems to have forgiven them. But well, I do think I look good, don’t I?” He gives a half-hearted pose, but can’t quite commit to it, looking around nervously and settling back down.
”I’m not sure I need the wings though. I’ve run into problems. Namely well, I can’t actually reach the buttons on these wing-shirts.” He demonstrates. As he says, between the wings and the muscles his hands simply cannot reach the middle of his back to work the buttons.
”And I can’t just go out without one right? Oh I also keep smacking them on doors.” It’s a miracle he hasn’t cracked something already to be honest.

[bc56]

"You mean I might not be able to turn back until it's right for the 'story?'" Jade asks. She understands the concept well enough, although not by that name. Her home universe behaves on narrative rules, although she wasn't aware of it until she arrived in the Nexus, which does not use the same rules. The heroes always defeat the villains in the nick of time, that sort of thing. She drinks the third beer, pondering that possibility.

[Rebonack]

"Maybe?" Zee replies to Jade's question. "That might be how it works. It's way outside my area of expertise, but I know some worlds can be narratively driven. If yours is, then it probably means that when it would be more interesting for you to break the curse, then it'll happen."

Or maybe it won't happen ever.

Who knows!

The Nexus is weird sometimes.

As for G'nichi?

Zee rubs her chin and gives a 'hmm' when the former lizard strikes a pose.

"If I'm being honest you're being kind of silly. I'm reminded of Spiderman 3 where Peter Parker got really confident after getting the symbiotic suit. He thought he was being cool, but he was acting like a doofus. People don't typically go around flexing in public," she points out. "But yeah... those wings are totally non-functional. You're way too big and they're way too small. You wouldn't be able to use them to fly. It would take some pretty extensive modification to make them usable. If you wanted I could remove them..."

[Deathkeeper]

G'nichi seems...well, crushed really. He certainly didn't have any confidence to begin with and he only shrinks down in his seat more. He should really stop doing that; it's terrible for his posture.
"Well, yeah, butbutbut you always see folks who can really rock the big look, and I just-I just need to figure out how to do that. And um, the wings work a little. They let me get a little higher when I needed to touch a ceiling. But really I think they're more trouble than they're worth. I already have enough trouble getting used to this shape." he mumbles. Those Boofers that assaulted him (and bullied him in the process) definitely went around flexing, and they were shirtless on top of it! They were also at a gym at the time, but still, he was in their heads because of that horrifying artifact, he knows that they did it in public too. And so do some of the paladins he has been madly envious of his entire adult life appreciates so much.

[bc56]

Jade looks concerned. "Interesting to who?" It doesn't really matter. For her, the only takeaway is that she is at the mercy of some unknown entity. She reaches for a fourth beer. "So I guess I should expect to have these boobs for a long time." She came to that conclusion a while ago. All Zee's doing is confirming it in her slightly drunken mind.

[Rebonack]

A crushing blow to body and mind!

"People who go around flexing are also pretty doofy," Zee points out. "The point of staying in shape is because you care about yourself. You work at upkeep just like you maintain a garden or a machine. You care about those things, so you want them to be nice. I mean... I work out. I do a lot of heroics sort of stuff around the City. If I wasn't in shape I wouldn't be able to do my job. It takes some effort, but it's worth while effort because I care about myself and I care about what I do in the City. I care about the people who live here. And that means I care about you, too."

At the 'you' she reaches out with one finger to boop G'nichi's snoot.

"It's going to take some serious work to maintain that look, you know. It'll take commitment and effort. It helps if you come up a good reason why you're doing it. That helps keep you motivated."

Then she gestures at the wings.

"If you need anything modified just let me know. It's the least I can do to apologize for my unruly wyrmlings."

Them wyrmlings!

As for Jade?

"Interesting for who is right," Zee replies with a long-suffering sigh. "Hey, you do heroics and the like too. Do you have a workout routine? Our scaly friend here recently got rearranged and he could probably use some pointers for maintaining the look."

[bc56]

"Yeah, I work out. I'm not as strong as I used to be, not after I got... Rearranged." Jade gestures to her body, using the same language Zee did. "But I'd be happy to help." She looks G'nichi over. "She's right, you know. You really should stop the flexing. It looks silly."

[Deathkeeper]

G'nichi certainly doesn't look encouraged by being told repeatedly that he looked like an idiot doing a single pose for a second and a half.
"I thought dragons were supposed to be good at doing nothing for long periods of time and not suffering for it...
And is it not enough to just want to be physically qualified for heroics? The Arms are all fairly convinced that I'm qualified in the other respects. And I didn't think just wanting to look impressive was so bad a thing." he mutters. Ironically due to how the potion worked, even if Zee corrects him it'll still be how he works since it was based entirely on his perception. Just like how he occasionally craves metal even though Navvy probably doesn't actually do that.
"I think...I think I should really lose the wings. If I get into a fight they're just likely to get broken. They don't...feel sturdy. It won't...it won't hurt, will it?"

[Rebonack]

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to look impressive, but impressive is pretty subjective," Zee comments as she takes a few steps closer, examining G'nichi more closely. "Huh. Your metabolism isn't really like a half dragon at all. Some similarities with a metallic dragon, but... not really? There's some pretty unusual magic holding the whole thing together. Was this one of Yuriok's potions?"

A very special psionic mouse.

"Your shape is more fixed by self image than it is by anything strictly physical. I could get rid of the wings, but you would have to work with me on it. Having wings was part of your image of 'dragon'. The magic could actively resist unless you help me out. You would need imagine yourself without the wings while I'm working."

That...

Uh...

That wouldn't be TOO hard, right?

"And no, it wouldn't hurt. It would feel kind of weird, but it wouldn't hurt."

[Zefir]

The man at the abr just smirkes as he heares about the curse. Seems like his feeling didn't disapoint him. He turns his attention to his drink, but since there is not much to do he will overhear their talking with one ear.

[bc56]

"Wanting to look impressive is fine. But trust me, looking impressive can be bad." Of course, Jade is a very different kind of impressive. Voluptuous rather than muscular, feminine rather than masculine. But she and G'nichi are both unused to their altered forms. "I'm Jade." She holds out a hand for a handshake.

[Deathkeeper]

G'nichi shakes her hand, still clearly self-conscious.
"Well yes. But I don't see anything wrong with how I am now." Except those troublesome wings. Otherwise he's exactly what he's always wanted to be! Well, except being shinier than he anticipated, winged, and probably bigger than he would have thought before the Boofers got him so riled up. But most of that is fine. He never thought he'd appreciate having a dragon's diet so much.
That being said, imagining himself without the wings isn't too hard. He's certainly got a good image of what he looks like right now. And while he doesn't really know the differences in bone and muscle structure of backs with and without wings, everything else is quite easy.
And he can imagine himself flexing because Zee won't know about that.