Reinholdt's Repository

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

"I shall meet you here then. Have a productive week." A productive week is a good week. Apparently. "Goodbye."

Jedrek stays under the waterfall to train for a few more hours before he too leaves.

[Getting that Song out of your Head]

"Well... it is... stolen... Magtok property," Reinholdt explains between gasps as he crawls up the wall back into a standing position.

"He's not exactly... fashionable." Too be fair, cloning machines don't tend to come in too much variety to begin with. "Just lie on the table when you're ready."

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

A productive week probably means getting a lot of tips at work. Or figuring out how her different new weird powers work. Or finding an actually decent library.

If the week is productive, then it probably is good.

---

At the start of the next week, June comes jogging back up the Battle Creek trail, eventually reaching the falls. She is, of course, wearing a different outfit - including a white T-shirt that has black threading, and a lightweight jacket - looking for Jedrek. He's probably already here, she figures.

There is a small blanket of snow on the ground, but the air is also a little warmer than it was last week.

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

"I'm sorry that everyone you knew is gone, but uh, at least you are free now?" Kestrel tried awkwardly offering some comfort, but this kind of thing was out of her league. She was well-meaning, but never exactly well-spoken at the best of times. "And that head priest sounds kinda stuck-up to me. Being trapped in a jar for that fun prank? Seems harsh."

Kestrel's focus was on the cat flying around her head, so she didn't notice Reinholdt starting to lick his lips quite suspiciously.

Hang on... did she just hear that right? She could make a wish, get anything her heart desired? Was this really happening? This was to good to be true! "Wait... you can do that!? Just grant a wish? Any wish? Oh gosh, I've always thought about what I'd say if the opportunity to just... make a wish like this, but it's really hard! What if I wish for the wrong thing!? Heck, heck heck, there's so much to choose from... like... oh gosh I don't know I don't know. Hang on, you aren't one of those wish granters who'll like... twist my words to be all bad right?"

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

One swirl of darkness later and regular ol' Damon is once more standing over the gnoll. He's of no mind to prolong the gnoll's suffering, or to try and save them. Instead he sets a hand down, wreathed with black flame, to swiftly ignite the creature and burn him to ash. As far as he's concerned, the most value this gnoll can provide is as a meal to him.

And hey, there may even be some opportunity after this to put it to use. If they bump into any more gnoll guards, maybe gnoll-Damon can shoo them away or something.

...or at least keep them at ease long enough to then easily execute them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

It's unlikely that this particular gnoll was a guard as he doesn't seem to have been armed, or at least didn't carry any weapons with him while taking a leak as no weapon can be found on the ground either.
No other gnoll is in sight but there are defenitly signs of them as smoke can be seen starting to raise not too far away.

Then the group, Damon included, can hear shouts and screams in the distance. It sounds like the other group have started their part of the plan. It will certainly draw any attention away from them.
As Ilpholin, Cerabella and the owlguards that have come along with them reaches Damon they can see that the tomb isn't really above ground in any sense of the word. All they can see is a single, unguarded, hatch in the ground with a long ladder leading down into a lit room.

It can be presumed that there are people down there. Likely gnolls.

[Murkus]

[Getting that Song out of your Head]

"Well... it is... stolen... Magtok property," Reinholdt explains between gasps as he crawls up the wall back into a standing position.

"He's not exactly... fashionable." Too be fair, cloning machines don't tend to come in too much variety to begin with. "Just lie on the table when you're ready."

[Getting that Song out of your Head]

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I've actually been in his cave. It was missing a lot of stuff, though. I guess that was you," Fettina giggles. "Alright. I hope this all works okay." She will do so. She's not too afraid. She climbed on a lot of tables like this to get her augmentations.

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Jedrek is here. He's probably been here for awhile, but that's just because he stayed here overnight to better attune himself to the area where he will be teaching qi. He is wearing similar garments as he wasn't wearing when he was under the waterfall, though they are technically different. He seems to have multiple gis of the same color. It wouldn't hurt for him to consider other fashion choices some day.

When June comes jogging up the trail, Jedrek waves her down. "Over here." He'll lead her to an area not far off the trail. A small clearing that's flat-ish. It was a little less clear last night and it might be evident, based on how some of the fallen logs and sticks have been moved to the edge of the area.

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

The cat fairy frowns a little. "It's alright, I'll find them!" He says with determination in his heart as he prepares his body and mind for a perilous and emotional journey!

Kes asks him about wishes though and he raises his paws up. "Of course! Well... almost any. Kinda. Keep the wish reasonable ok? I mean, it's not good policy to turn everyone everywhere into your own personal love slave or something." He twists until he's floating in the air on his back like he's floating on water, tail twitching below him. "Look, this isn't a thing I reluctantly owe you because the rules of magic say so. This is repayment for helping me out. It ain't going to be bad or nothin'. There's no wrong answer. Don't bother overthinking it, just pick whatever comes to mind."

Rein starts creeping closer, entering into stalking mode. He sees food, he's going to kill food! And eat food and/or leave it on Kes' doorstep as a present. Slowly. Slowly now.
Rein's butt starts wiggling.

[Milton Island Assault]

The entrance is... more mundane than Ilpholin expected. Just an actual hatch in the ground. From Cerebella's reports, she had imagined some grandiose, heavyset doorway. She supposes flying creatures are naturally wary of traversing belowground. A wisdom not unfounded. There are many terrors in the deep.

She peers back and forth for a bit. She can't see anyone, which probably just meant there were a bunch of gnolls lined up with bows waiting for the first person to come down. Well scrambling for their weapons anyways, if they heard the screams. "I'll go first." Unless Damon has a plan of his own or another protest arises, she'll head down with her feet and one hand on one side of the ladder, sliding down it so she can reach the bottom facing into the room, a translucent purple arm shield prepared to intercept an ambush.

[Getting that Song out of your Head]

"Yeah, that was me," Rein says, taking more credit than he's earned.

"I hope this works too." He goes around to the console and starts up the procedure. "I've never targeted specific memories to copy before." Seems like the kind of thing that you should mention before getting started. Oh well! Minor details!

The machine starts up regardless and Tina gets a version of a catscan. It's not perfectly precise, so there may be a bit of Tina getting mixed in with Carmen's memories for the clone, but it's better than going too narrow and leaving missing some of Carmen's memories. The whole thing takes about ten minutes before Rein says it's ok to move again. "And... now we wait. It'll be about another half-hour before the actual clone is ready. A lot of it was done in the prepwork."

He offers his hand to Tina to help her off the table. "Then we just get Carmen to take out the Carmen memories from your head. Easy."

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Having multiple of the same outfits makes perfect sense, especially if you're using public washers: it's much easier to wash a lot at the same time than to have separate or frequent washings.

June notices him and follows him.
She arrives in the unusually-cleared clearing (completely ignoring the wandering spirit who got curious as Jedrek was clearing out the sticks and logs and decided to stick around to watch), and wonders what they're going to do that requires using all this space. "How early did you get here?" she asks. Even before clearing out all those logs and sticks, he would have spent a lot of time trying to find a good place to hold this. "The trail's decently long, so it must have taken a while to find a place like this."


[Getting that Song out of your Head]

Between studying the body as well as some of the books that Rein took from the treasure room, there should have been enough information to make everything work out. There shouldn't be any problems (with the possible exception of accidentally copying too many memories over).

So,
They have half an hour to wait, so the definitely have time to do or discuss whatever.

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

The clearing isn't that big, but it is big enough to fit the semi-giant of a man and his student in comfortably enough to walk around each other. For those dramatic moments when circling each other becomes necessary.

"Oh, uh... yesterday morning. Guess I lost track of time." That happens. He's been on this trail plenty, so he at least had some ideas of where not to look. After he found the clearing and cleaned it up, he just kinda got lost in his meditation. Has it really been twenty four hours already? "It wasn't too hard to find. I asked one of the spirits."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

Damon takes a few minutes to cook and devour his meal. It's not pretty. Probably not something the angels want to watch. Once he's done, he makes haste to catch up with the group, and will follow along down the ladder after Ilpholin.

For just a moment he considers objecting, but he's not formally on bodyguard duty here, and he's quite confident in Ilpholin's capability. For his part he just goes down the ladder normally, keeping the flames off his hands and feet to avoid heating up the metal too much for whoever's next on the list.

[5a Violista]

Battle Creek Falls

"Oh, wow, a full day?"
That's actually really impressive.

She glances over at the spirit she noticed. Was that the one that helped?
June looks back.

June starts some dynamic stretches. "So you can see spirits, then." Good to know it isn't that weird.or unique.

So..."So, what first?"

[Murkus]

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

It's up to Reinholdt if too much gets copied over. Tina hops off the table, stretches, and yawns. "Machines like that always make me wanna take a nap."

Fettina is totally down to watch some TV or just chat with Rein until the process is done.

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

If the owl-men are disgusted or not is difficult to tell as their inhuman expressions betray very little to Ilpholin and Damon. They seem proffesional enough to, focusing on scouting for more gnolls in the area rather than staring at Damon and his victim or the hatch.

Cerabella's reaction to it is easier to tell however. They wouldn't have been able to tell this before without the owl soldiers to compare her to, her eagle-like face have a strange way of mimicing the expressions of more humanoid beings. While she doesn't strictly have eyebrows her eyes seem to be able to act as if she had with how she can raise either eye. Her beak also able to move more like a pair of lips despite its hardness. Indeed, just the way she sometimes tilts her head gives her a much more expressive repertoire than any of the draachi soldiers coming with them here.

Thus they can tell how odd she seem to consider Damon's behavior is just by the way her right eye seem to raise and her beak moves. It almost looks like she is about to inqure what he's doing when Ilpholin decides to descend to which she simply nods. That gesture seems to at least be universal as the owl-guards start to give her some space as she starts descending into the hatch.

Just as she lands though, Ilpholin finds herself almost face to face with two more gnolls. Unlike the draachi, the gnolls expressions are easier to read. Their eyes widen in shock and they quickly back away as they see her. Having likely already been coming this way to investigate. "Hello-" One of them starts until she (or he? Ilpholin might not be able to tell gnoll genders apart) appear to realize that Ilpholin is not one of them.

It doesn't look like either of the gnolls are armed though it's possible they could have some kind of smaller weapon hidden away somewhere. Their clothes are more akin what you'd find on a modern explorer rather than any leather and rags that the nymph might have been expected.

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Jedrek shakes his head slightly. "Not see, exactly. But I can sense their lingering qi. I know to some that's the same thing but... well I mean I guess they're right," Jedrek says, suddenly less sure if there's any actual difference. It's like saying bats can't see. Sure it's technically true, but they can act as if they can, so does it really matter?

"The first thing we have to do is learn some basic stances. This will help you center your body and your mind and let the qi flow through you more naturally until you learn how to make it flow yourself." Jedrek steps in front of her, facing June. "Try to mirror me," He says, first standing straight and spreading his legs wide with feet forward.

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

Oh heccers no! Tina's not going to tempt Rein with a nap like that and then not follow through. Reinholdt 100% finds a place where he and Tina can nap for the required length of time.

Which means they're a little late to meeting clone Carmen as she's coming out the vat of sustenance liquid. Which might be better? Because she is most certainly naked at this point. There are towels and clothes for her nearby, but no one around immediately to tell her what's going on. Rein and Tina will arrive a few minutes later so hopefully she'll have had time to adjust to a sudden reawakening of consciousness. On the plus side, Rein appears to have near perfectly copied the memories with next to no extra Tina in Carmen's head.

[Milton Island Assault]

Truthfully, even Ilpholin is given some pause by Damon's behavior. She has not seen him eat before and it's certainly an experience. The mission comes first though so she doesn't let it hold her up.

As far as last words go, 'hello' isn't the worst, but it isn't going to make epitaph of the year either. Ilpholin's response is even less quotable, a 'shnnk' as she darts forward and spins with a sword, aiming to sever both of their throats in one smooth motion. She even compensates a little extra in case they try to step back further. Sure, they don't have weapons in their hands, but that doesn't make them any less monstrous. Demon loving filth. Besides, these are clearly the grunts. Not worth keeping alive compared to higher value targets.

Only after her prey is dispatched will she look around the chambers she finds herself in.

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

"What!? Ew, no, I don't wanna turn anyone into my love slave, that's just gross... Hmm... okay... um... cus well, I'd really like to be able to fly. But... if I get one wish, shouldn't I, idk, say something like 'end poverty'?" Can... can you do that? That's probably out of your reach. Eugh, this is such a tough choice!" Kestrel paced back and forth, hands on her head. Uhh... just what first comes to mind? Then, um... then I wanna be able to fly!" Oh gods. Was that the right choice? Or was it way too selfish!?

Then she looked up, and saw Reinholdt looking rather strange. "Um, Rein? What are you up to..?"

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

"Oh, huh. Lingering qi?" June tries to imagine what that would feel like.

So.
Stances.
She nods. "Okay, makes sense."
She tries to mimic his stance. Spread legs - whoops, she spread too far compared to him. Copying him exactly would be better. She moves her feet back to be the same distance as his. June can do that one really easily, but she really hopes they transition quickly because - she noticed under the waterfall last week - being in the same place and being so static is pretty hard; letting something flow through her is a lot harder than flowing herself along with it.


[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

Carmen wakes up in a completely unfamiliar place.
She thinks back, trying to deduce where she is and what happened. Last thing she remembers...okay, she met those two. Was going downstairs to kill that girl, but didn't happen. Instead...oh! Yeah! He said he knew another way for her to get out of that dungeon!

Carmen looks around the room.
She is definitely not in that dungeon. She can't remember what his idea was but it involved that girl he was with somehow. Giving her a copy of her memories? Or something.
But!
She's not in that dungeon!
Carmen squeals in glee and hugs herself. This is fantastic! Whatever he did worked! And here she is! Free!

...
Oh. She's. . .
After noticing, Carmen quickly dries off and gets dressed.

[Murkus]

[Getting that Song Out of your Head]

Fettina and Rein probably arrive a couple minutes later. The angel is still stretching from their nap, arms in the air and wings spread at her sides. When she sees Carmen she gives a little start. A smile slowly emerges. "Hey. How... how are you feeling?" The process of resurrecting someone in a cloned body on her world might be similar enough, but she's never actually had to experience it before.

[Reinholdt]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

"Yeah, sure, flying's cool." The cat fairy spins in place and a blue energy gathers in his paws. Kes probably feels tingly as a blue aura wraps around her body and starts to magically alter her.

That's when Reinholdt pounces! Diving right at the cat fairy and smashing into him! The cat fairy probably would have dodged or something but was distracted granting Kes' wish. The blue energy suddenly flashes pink and the pleasant tingles feel... a little less pleasant for a moment. Having knocked the fairy to the ground, Rein tries to catch it in his mouth, but the fairy recovers quickly and rolls out of the way. Rein tries to bat him with his hand but the fairy zips back up in the air, flying out of reach.

"What the hell was that?! Your friend is an idiot, does he think he's a cat? Whatever, I'm out! PERSONAL SPACE JEEZ!" Completely offended, the cat fairy goes to zip out of the room, leaving them both behind. Rein would probably chase him, but he got entangled in one of the pews he knocked over in the process and is standing back up.

Kes will inherently feel a difference in her body. Her feathers are stronger and her bones are lighter. She can indeed fly! She will be pink like Rein is when she does it and it's probably very embarrassing. But there's one bigger disadvantage. See, she can fly... she just can't land. No matter what she tries or how often she practices, when she attempts to land, she'll crash. Hopefully into something soft. Unfortunately this aspect has been inherently built into the wish due to SOMEONE'S meddling. If she ever finds some way to remove this landing curse, her ability to fly will evaporate with it.

[Battle Creek Falls]

"Uhh... yeah. Spiritual energy? Imprint left behind? Spirits, uh, aren't my expertise, but the strong ones can manipulate qi themselves." That's how they make the place cold or slam doors shut. At least according to him.

Jedrek watches June as he leads her by example. "Make sure your spine is and stays straight. You want a flat posture. Good. Now you want to bend your knees and lower your upper body in a squat. Done properly, it will look like you're riding atop a horse."

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

"Good to see you're up," Reinholdt says, stepping in with Tina. "I'm pretty sure everything should be in place. You shouldn't notice a difference between bodies after a day or so." He rubs the back of his head and looks off to one side, avoiding Carmen's eyes.

[5a Violista]

Battle Creek Falls

It's just as good an explanation as anything for how ghosts work.

As June gets more into the position, recognition goes across her face! "Oh! I know this one!" she says, getting more into a squat. Compared to Jedred, she is tilted a little more forward, and she moves her arms into an asymmetrical position, so that one is higher and farther out, and the other is closer to her chest and more horizontal. "It's called, um, chair? Parallel? Um...something like that."


Getting That Song Out of Your Head

Carmen stretches her arms and shoulders, then rolls her neck, and says, "Yup! I'm doing great. Whatever you guys did worked, 'cause I'm here! And not there!"

She obviously doesn't remember the act of being beheaded, since that happened after Tina got the memories.

Reinholdt must still be mad at and hate her, she figures, since he's not willing to look at her.
Oh well! She's still free so that's really all that matters.

[Murkus]

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

"So? What are you gonna do now that you're free?" Fettina crosses her arms and leans on Rein's shoulder a little like he's a stationary wall, eyes still on Carmen.

[Meowmai]

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

The sensation of ones body changing was not exactly a pleasant one. It wasn't painful by any means, but as the blue magic enveloped her and her bones began to change, Kestrel couldn't help but just squirm in discomfort at how damn weird it felt. She looked up at the cat fairy to thank them, but it was at that very moment that Reinholdt leapt to strike. The birdgirl tried to yell a warning, but it was far too late, and so in horror she saw the fey catch the fairy and apparently try to bite it. Thankfully, the spirt wriggled free, but unfortunately it seemed all it's goodwill had been dried up, and it flew away in a huff. "Hey, no wait, look, I'm sorry for my friend, come back!" She would get no response.

Kestrel turned to Reinholdt, crossing her arms with a huff. "Okay, what the heck was that for! He was granting me a wish, but now he's gone and ran off!" Then she paused, thinking for a moment. She had felt the magic acting upon her now? That weird sensation of her bones changing? So... maybe she had got that wish granted still?

Leaping into the air, Kestrel was disappointed to find that nothing happened. She tried again, and still nothing. Shoot. So Reinholdt had ruined it! No, hang on, wait! It would be silly, but what if she tried flapping her arms?

Kestrel leapt up into the air once more, this time flapping her arms awkwardly as if she really was a bird. To her surprise and joy, she found that she didn't fall back to the ground. She was doing it! She was actually flying! This was the best day of her life! Wait, but had her skin just turned bright pink? That was weird, ew. But who cares! She could fly, all on her own, just as she had always dreamed of doing! Laughing and giggling, she swooped around the room. There wasn't really enough space to fly around as she wanted to though, so she soon decided to land. Once her and Rein were out of this building, she could fly all she liked!

But almost as soon as the birdgirl thought about landing, things went horribly wrong. Her arm, flapping about as it was, smacked into the side of the stone wall, and with a yell Kestrel went tumbling towards the ground. She tried to angle herself to land on her feet, but as she did a jolt of pain went through her leg and she tumbled over, stumbling directly into Reinholdt and knocking them both to the ground with her on top of him!

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

"Close. It's the horse stance. Though the concept is more or less the same." You're sitting down either way. "You'll want to keep your back straight and your arms level," Jedrek suggests as potential adjustments June could make to improve her stance. Or rather adjustments she needs to make. "Make sure your hips stay loose. Ok. Stay like that."

He stands up and picks up a stick he set aside, relatively straight and of medium height. Stepping over to June, he will lay the stick long ways atop her knees. "Your training first requires you to keep your balance and not let this stick fall."

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

Reinholdt is not remotely still mad at Carmen. What he is, is embarrassed. While he was entirely professional and the perfect gentleman in setting Carmen up with her clone, he did see a lot of Carmen's body in the process.

A thing apparently only Rein knows or has thought about. He'd rather keep it that way too and not draw any more attention to it than necessary. "Maybe she should stay at your place Tina while she gets her feet back on the ground," Rein suggests, fighting to stay perfectly still as she leans on him.

[Fey and Falcon Escapades]

Reinholdt looks at Kes like she was asking the most obvious of questions. "He looked tasty!" Rein says throwing his hands up a little, frustrated he failed to eat the whatever it was.

Oh-ho, but now Kes is flying. "Woooow. Lookit you! Go Kes! WHOOOO!" Rein cheers for her pumping his fist in the air. It was an exciting moment and even he could see the way she grinned in the air.... Cause it was coming right for him! GAH!

Oof. Ooww. This was... Rein knew Kestral had a thing for him, but he never expected she would be so forward to literally throw herself atop him. It's kind of really attractive if he was being honest.

He smirks up at her, licking his lips. "But you look even tastier..." He doesn't wait for her reply before leaning up to push his lips into hers, kissing her with a wild passion. He goes to grab her hands in his and entwine his fingers in them and if she tries to pull away will take advantage of the leverage and attempt to roll her instead, so that he was on top as he kissed her. If they end up in this position and Kes seems alright with it, Rein's passionate embrace grows, his hands starting to wander. Clothes will begin to be lost and a curtain will fall over the scene.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Milton Island Assault]

For those looking for a masterclass in how to ruin food, Damon will certainly provide. His method of eating involves expertly burning an entire body to ash with terrifying speed, digging out every scrap of bone and flesh from within the remains and scorching them down, then shovelling the ash into his mouth as it widens to an unpleasant degree-

But the less said about that the better, eh?

Damon follows down close behind Ilpholin. At the site of hostiles, he readies himself to leap forward and silence one of them, just in case Ilpholin misses...not that that's likely.

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

June keeps to that position, making whatever little changes he says. Back like that, legs keep on being like this, arms being boring, hips like this not twerking, head holding steady, etc.

"Okay, understood," June says. She can totally do this. "Should be easy."

Her balance's fine, but it's about ten seconds in that her arms start to get restless. She rotates her right wrist and then shoulder, and then left, then both wrists at the same time.

It only takes twenty-five seconds before her legs feel like they need to move. Luckily, she can tap her toes without knocking the stick off. Unluckily, tapping her heels while keeping the stick in place is a bit harder.
When that happens, the stick falls.



The ghost, meanwhile, also starts doing the horse stance, too. Well, inasmuch as ghosts could be said to be doing it, since they don't really have muscles or anything like that.


[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

Geez, Rein, what are you thinking about, anyway? Making it all awkward. Nobody else is thinking about it, and Tina's got every single one of Carmen's memories in her head still.

Carmen thinks long and hard about what she's going to do next.
"Well."
"Hm."
"Hm hm hm."
"So...my friend Jo has got to still be alive, somewhere. I need to find her, and if she needs to be rescued then I'll rescue her, and if she doesn't remember me, then I'll make her remember me."
Seems reasonable.

The half-succubus woman bites her lips. "Speaking of, you still have my memories, don't you? If you do, I can remove them if you want." She doesn't say anything about what Reinholdt said, since it's not really her say, isn't it?

[Murkus]

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

"Hey, dude, come on, don't volunteer me for stuff!" Fettina says to Rein. She glances at Carmen. "I mean... I want to help Carmen out, but... like... no offense, girl, I'm not sure I can trust you. Not at my place at least."

"I do need to dump these memories though. I haven't been peeking, but I get a little mixed up sometimes. I guess you can get rid of them, yeah." Fettina raises her eyebrows. "I could put you up in a hotel or something near my place while you look for Jo?"

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Ghosts have it much easier at maintaining the pose. Or perhaps they don't. If they mentally imagine the strain, isn't that enough for the strain to actually exist? As far as ghosts are concerned.

Jedrek has a time allotment in mind for how long the stick should be in place before June's ready to move on to the next step. Twenty-five seconds is not it. Though he considers it pretty decent for a first attempt.

Without judgement, he simply replaces the stick on her knees. "Again. Less moving."

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

Rein's thinking about whether it would be more awkward to apologize or to say nothing! Carmen hasn't brought it up though, so neither will he.

"Sorry, sorry. It's not like I have a place is all." Says the guy with a secret cloning facility. And an underwater organization. And a maximum security mausoleum/vault. Sure, nowhere for Carmen at all.

Right. Get the memories out, everything's perfect. Give or take the fact that by killing Carmen and bringing her here, they released whomever it was she was tied to back in that dungeon. Ok so slight oversight.

"I haven't heard of a Jo myself. Maybe you should head to MERC? They may be able to help you find and/or rescue her."

[5a Violista]

[Getting That Song Out of Your Head]

"No, it's okay," Carmen says to Fettina. She hasn't exactly been super-trustworthy, after all.
"I just...there's a lot, so give me a few moments. And I'm sure you don't want me to erase the wrong ones, too."

Carmen clicks her tongue against her teeth, and begins weaving together magic again, so that she can erase her memories from Tina.

"I bet I could probably find a place easily enough," she says. Totally not going to change someone's memories to let her stay with them. "Just let me know how I can get to MERC? That should be good enough, I think."


[Battle Creek Falls]

Ghosts are weird.


June looks down at the stick on her knees.
"Okay."
But, first, she decides to hold on to the stick and stand up straight. She bounces on her feet a little.
"Okay, ready."

June gets back into position, and puts the stick back on her knees.
She bites her lower lip, hoping that helps her stay in place better. It would be a lot easier if he would just let her move her hands and arms, but that's not supposed to be it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Milton Island Assault]

Truthfully, even Ilpholin is given some pause by Damon's behavior. She has not seen him eat before and it's certainly an experience. The mission comes first though so she doesn't let it hold her up.

As far as last words go, 'hello' isn't the worst, but it isn't going to make epitaph of the year either. Ilpholin's response is even less quotable, a 'shnnk' as she darts forward and spins with a sword, aiming to sever both of their throats in one smooth motion. She even compensates a little extra in case they try to step back further. Sure, they don't have weapons in their hands, but that doesn't make them any less monstrous. Demon loving filth. Besides, these are clearly the grunts. Not worth keeping alive compared to higher value targets.

Only after her prey is dispatched will she look around the chambers she finds herself in.

[Milton Island Assault]

For those looking for a masterclass in how to ruin food, Damon will certainly provide. His method of eating involves expertly burning an entire body to ash with terrifying speed, digging out every scrap of bone and flesh from within the remains and scorching them down, then shovelling the ash into his mouth as it widens to an unpleasant degree-

But the less said about that the better, eh?

Damon follows down close behind Ilpholin. At the site of hostiles, he readies himself to leap forward and silence one of them, just in case Ilpholin misses...not that that's likely.

[Milton Island Assault]

The gnolls are both cut down by Ilpholin before Damon has finished his meal and too descended down into the hatch.
Before he and the others climb down however, Ilpholin has a chance to look around. There are all sort of labeled items in boxes on the floor. Some of them rather innocent-looking such as a metal broom and a comb while others are clearly of a magical nature like football-sized grey orb which is inscribed with an alarming amount of glowing runes.

The room is nearly completely filled up with these boxes, leaving just a large enough path to walk on from the ladder to the only table near the southeast corner of the room and finally to the massive door in the northeast corner. The table has a number of documents piled up on it but what's really going to draw Ilpholin's attention is the binding circle located between the table and the door.
Within it sits a scantily clad gnoll with two massive bat wings sprouting out of its back. Considering the gnolls glowing eyes and otherwise otherwordly apperance, this might just be an actual demon.

"Wow, that's some nice murder right there." She remarks, sounding remarkably unconcerned with what just happened. "You looking for a servant? I'm pretty cheap in that I don't cost anything at all. Yay for slavery, amiright?"
Damon will of course see this too as he climbs down, the draachi soldiers and Cerabella after him.

[Reinholdt]

[Battle Creek Falls]

Jedrek nods as June gets ready again. He can't disapprove of recentering oneself before continuing.

What he does not do is let her move her hands and arms! That would not do at all.

He does join her in the exercise however, uncomfortable with asking someone to do something he himself won't do. And he counts. The seconds. The minutes. Testing how long she lasts. If his count is accurate. He's not exactly the master of telling time, as has already been established. This may prove bad news to June in the future!

[Milton Island Assault]

Ilpholin eyes the demon with steely hatred, flicking some of the blood on her sword onto the ground. The disadvantage of energy sword arms usually included the mess. "The length of your remaining life depends on the answers to my questions." Ilpholin informs the succugnoll. It's very polite, but it doesn't sound very polite.

The nymph walks around the circle, giving the others room to enter and being careful not to touch the circle itself. She wants to examine the door, but she's keeping both eyes on the demon. It probably was an actual binding spell, knowing these gnolls' repulsive habit of summoning demons to do their bidding. Or it could be a clever demon trying to pretend to be bound. "Where's the staff?"

[5a Violista]

[Battle Creek Falls]

But why! she wants to protest. When you're riding a horse, you use your hands and arms. How are you supposed to do things like use a lasso or talk with someone else or look around you or re-straighten the blankets or whatever while riding a horse if you can't use your hands?

Regardless, she still does it.
Unfortunately, she's unaware that he still needs to train himself on keeping time, so she doesn't do it herself.
After about two minutes, she starts glancing at him, hoping he'll give off some clue about if this is good enough yet.
She starts isometrically stretching her shoulder muscles and leg muscles, so that she can stretch and use them without actually moving her position.

At about four-and-a-half minutes, one of her legs spasms a little, (she was isometrically contracting one leg but not the other, so it made her really off-balance after that once that happened), causing the stick to lose balance. Trying to quickly adjust herself to keep it on her legs then makes her fall backwards.
The stick, of course, falls off.

June straightens her legs and looks over at him. "How long was that?" she asks. And, "How long can you do it for?"