GLoG 93: Something something something babies

[bc56]

Near the Woods

"I'm, uh, half human," Sekhmet explains, "I was raised in secrecy by, uh, mortals. They took me from, uh, my mother's cult and raised me like a normal person." Sekhmet sighs. "I just want a normal life. To, uh, live with my husband and learn my trade, uh, and have children of my own. But, uh, I can't. My mother won't leave me alone, and if something does manage to, uh, stop her, then I have to take her place."

[Morty]

Arrivals

"Yes, it's in Inside. Near Arkham Street, but not too near. Couple roads over. Yes, it fell off when I put the choker on. It's in my flat, where my parents are probably waiting with the carriage by now. What did you say the time was? My flat's number 12D, Shackleton Road, the attic rooms. Front door's not locked right now, which... Is less worrying right now than being late for my wedding." Brides can be late, so long as it's not too late. And being turned into a cat is not the excuse anyone wants to use for being late.

"If we get some clothes on you and drive there quickly, we should be able to make it," Sophie says. "Do you think it would help if I came along and tried to smooth things over? It might be easier for everyone to swallow if you have someone to help explain it."

[Deathkeeper]

[Sapling Cabin]

"You should just ask if you want some honey, Maridia. And you get too many sweets at home, anyway," Khannie scolds. Ugh. Why does SHE have to be the responsible one?

Maridia makes some affirmative noises as she continues licking herself off. And occasionally Pookie. She's really not seeing any major downsides to this situation. Khannie glares at her.

Next up, Khannie needs to justify herself to a hippogriff!

"Umm..."

How's she going to do that?

"No I mean like a human girl," Khannie clarifies. "Petting human girls is weird."

And Khannie is definitely a human girl and not anything else. Don't pay any attention to the fact that she doesn't smell like one because adding an olfactory aspect to her illusion is hard.

Meanwhile!

"Oh... was it scary?" Gwen asks as Gilda stalks over, looking cross.

"It wasn't that bad," she huffs as she begins batting around a ball on the floor. She's going to studiously ignore the fact that her paw hurts a little. "I didn't even cry."

Sapling Cabin

Gabriel looks sideways at Khannie in a very avian way.
"Hmm. But you smell more like Ma. She's human sometimes but usually she's not because they can't fly or do psychic stuff. Dad too." Except Dad is more convincing. Geneva never quite loses all of the Mew-ness to her children who have had quite enough time to get used to all of it.
Hmm. Didn't Jace have a friend who is a gray hippogriff with psychic things and recently had children? The one Khannie met when she first found her daddy?

Meanwhile, Glory gives Gwen a look. A very particular look.
The "Gilda is lying but don't say anything because she'll get mad" look.
It's amazing how these things can develop so quickly.

[Earl of Purple]

Arrivals

"Yes, it would help. If you bring the choker especially. So, clothes, let's go. Where're they kept?" The half-elf will follow Sophie wherever she leads, as Ysable hasn't been to GLoG before and doesn't know her way around. She just managed to focus on the idea that the Good League of Good helped people whilst she was a cat, and so followed the directions.

[Morty]

[Arrivals]

Sophie will briskly lead Ysable to the main cabin, where the chest of clothes is located. The clothes found therein are hardly glamorous, but they'll do the job of covering her modesty for the time being. She also brings the choker with her.

[Sapling Cabin]

"It's less hectic than other places in the Nexus, at least. There's no high-flying adventure with spells and guns, just the usual daily busywork. I'm told GLoG used to be different, but that was well before my time. Our resident therapist is Sophie Mouchabière, if you ever want to speak with her."

Brinika, meanwhile, looks up at Miranda with a slight pout.

"I don't believe in cooties anymore. I'm too old. And I know some people like to be pet. Like talking cats and foxes. There's lots of talking cats and foxes around for some reason."

[Earl of Purple]

Arrivals

Ysable takes a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, plus a pair of sandals. And then, I guess, they're off to Inside, and the Dark Monolith of Khaine in Bloodwell Park.

[Ironsmith]

[Sapling Cabin]

"It's less hectic than other places in the Nexus, at least. There's no high-flying adventure with spells and guns, just the usual daily busywork. I'm told GLoG used to be different, but that was well before my time. Our resident therapist is Sophie Mouchabière, if you ever want to speak with her."

Brinika, meanwhile, looks up at Miranda with a slight pout.

"I don't believe in cooties anymore. I'm too old. And I know some people like to be pet. Like talking cats and foxes. There's lots of talking cats and foxes around for some reason."

[Sapling Cabin]

"That would be wonderful, thank you." Miranda smiles, before turning back to Brinika.

Oh. Right. Nexus.

"What I mean by that is, even in our time, human-to-human petting is something of an intimate gesture." Miranda corrects herself. "More personal than a hug, less so than a kiss. So, you know... not something you'd necessarily want to do with a stranger, or, for that matter, without permission."

She sighs a little. Yes, she knew she was being a little bit of a hypocrite. She'd done it to Geneva, a stranger she more or less regarded as a person, and the cubs were there to see it. She braces herself for one of the kids to point this out.

[Artemis97]

Near the Woods

"I'm, uh, half human," Sekhmet explains, "I was raised in secrecy by, uh, mortals. They took me from, uh, my mother's cult and raised me like a normal person." Sekhmet sighs. "I just want a normal life. To, uh, live with my husband and learn my trade, uh, and have children of my own. But, uh, I can't. My mother won't leave me alone, and if something does manage to, uh, stop her, then I have to take her place."

"There has to be a way to find you some peace." Balthier decides. "Break with your demonic half, kick your mother to the curb. I don't think the Hunter's magic would be suitable to help you, unfortunately, unless you want your mother done in. Perhaps your goddess could help? Surely she's more powerful than your mother."

[bc56]

Near the Woods

"I think she's more powerful, but..." Sekhmet looks disheartened, "She's limited in how she, uh, uses it. Most gods, uh, only can act through mortal agents, right? And there are other gods that would oppose anything preventing me from, uh, following my fate." She really feels trapped by circumstances. What can she do? She knows that usually, trying to avoid your fate just makes things worse, but she doesn't want this.

[Artemis97]

[Near the Woods]

Balthier spreads his hands wide. "I don't know what advice I can give, other than to seek out someone more powerful. Find a way. Make a way."

[bc56]

Near the Woods

"Uh, thanks for the advice." Sekhmet looks uncomfortable with the idea. Terrified, even. She doesn't want to deal with something more powerful than herself if she can avoid it.
By now, Balthier's probably gotten the impression that she's afraid of anything and everything, a strange trait for an immortal being as powerful as herself. For a demon, she's certainly quite unusual, as he's pointed out.

[Artemis97]

[Near the Woods]

"Well, I wish you the best of luck." Balthier says. "If you need something hunted, don't hesitate to ask. I'm going to go back to my archery now." He says, picking up his bow again.

[bc56]

Near the Woods

"Uh, okay, uh, thanks? You too." Sekhmet starts leaving. She'll have to find some other way to keep the cicadas from bothering her while she's reading, but at least she knows now what's making that sound. Unless Balthier or his wolf stops her, the strange demon princess will be gone back the way she came in a moment.

[Purple Eagle]

[Daycare]

Manja's toes pop out of Orin's mouth as she rolls, which causes the darker-skinned baby to make a noise of protest. She rolls to the side and gets into a crawling position, intent on crawling after Manja.

As it turns out, Svetlana's already in HALO and is talking with Reinholdt right this very moment... about Harley.

"Interesting..." Zither says with a grin, her sharp teeth on displayas she keeps an eye on the babies. "I'm glad your pregnancy worked out. Y'know, my husband proposed to me in HALO. He can be a worrier, too. I'm a mechanic, myself, and I use my sniping skills to hunt sometimes. It's a bit hard, I'm unused to any technology higher than steam engines, but luckily I can find work in the Nexus. If you want, I could check our your car... if you have one." She offers.

[Rowan Cabin]

"Yes, Mrs Trollfinger! This is Zara's first time attending to a parent looking to put their child in the daycare, because Zara's usually with the kids instead. Zara also thinks she could help distract the children while Mrs Trollfinger speaks witn the mothers. Big sis will make sure Zara watches you and learns everything!" Zara only stops to breathe after getting all that out.

She looks at the wall Reelshka's talking about. "Can Zara help with the wall?"

[Rebonack]

[Sapling Cabin]

"Fine I won't pet you," Khannie finally concludes, slinking back to the table to do her homework. Why's he gotta be so weird about it anyway? She had heard second hand that Miss Geneva had babies and these are probably them. Miss Geneva was always really nice and Khannie really hasn't seen her that much since she moved to her own house. Sometimes she and Nick Jr would play together and that was fun.

"Ugh..."

Stupid illusion still isn't working.

After much hemming and hawing Khannie decides to let her human illusion drop. That frees up enough mental space to get the visual, olfactory, AND tactile aspect of the orange illusion she's been working on to actually work!

Hooray!

She just has to be a dumb pokemon to do it.

Boooooo.

"Hey Cheasadh? You wanna try touching the orange? It's supposed to feel real but since I made it it's hard to tell if I did it right," the juvenile kangaskhan requests.

Meanwhile!

Gwen giggles when she's fixed with Glory's look.

Gilda does her best to ignore it all, her tail swishing back and forth before pouncing at her ball.

[Earl of Purple]

Sapling Cabin

After distracting Pookie from his quest to hug her by pointing out his pot of honey was now unguarded and all Meridia's, Cheasadh is able to approach Khannie. "Sure, I can do that. Can I pick it up?" She's already reached out to touch the orange and try picking it up as she asks, so she's going to find out if she can't when it slips out of her fingers. "It feels right, on a touch. Smells right, too." She doesn't move it closer to her nose before making that pronunciation; gnomes have large noses and a good sense of smell.

And, if she's able to pick it up- "The weight's a bit odd, but maybe that's because I know it's an illusion." And is expecting it to be weightless. She squeezes it slightly, feeling it compress under her fingers, before turning to her sister. "Hey, Brinika! Catch." The orange is thrown hard enough to reach Brinika, but not so hard it's hard to catch- although as it's movement relies upon Khannie's concentration, something may still go wrong.

[Morty]

[Sapling Cabin]

"I know, I know. I wouldn't pet someone just like that. It's rude." Brinika's ears flick up and down, then she glances over at Khannie. Looks like her human illusion dropped. That's awkward. She wonders how the new lady will reac- whoa. Brinika turns around just quickly enough to catch the orange, presuming the illusion holds.

[Rowan Cabin]

"Hmm. No, I'll take care of the wall. I'll ask my husband for help, perhaps. All the buildings were made for bigger people than me in mind..." Reelshka closes down her notebook. "Let's go see the two mothers, shall we?"

[Ironsmith]

[Sapling Cabin]

Unlike certain other members of her team, Miranda is rather nonplussed by the sudden appearance of what she would otherwise assume to be a fictional video game character. She met a hippogriff on her way in to be interviewed by a goblin for a position to be a caretaker at a daycare featuring said hippogriff's children, a gnome, and god-only-knows what else. She got it, this place was weird. If she didn't learn to take things in stride, she wasn't going to last very long.

With that in mind, she shrugs and braces herself to catch the orange if it passes by her.

[Rebonack]

[Sapling Cabin]

The orange smells a little off.

More like orange soda than actual orange zest that would be squirting everywhere if a real orange were squeezed. When Cheasadh tightens her fingers around it the internal texture feels wrong, like smooshing one of those foam balls instead of an orange. It elastically poofs back to a round shape instead of remaining squished.

Then?

Cheasadh throws it!

Khannie gives a little eep and focuses all the harder, trying her best to maintain the illusion.

C'mon c'mon!

Brinika caught it!

Khannie throws her hands up in the air and gives a little, "Woo!"

The illusion definitely isn't perfect, but it still feels like a real object even if there isn't actually anything there. Brinika could squash it flat between her hands and it would offer no real resistance. But it's still 'programmed' to act like an object. With her sensitive ears Brinika will probably notice that the orange didn't make a 'thump' sound when she caught it. The interaction was totally silent. Khannie can only manage three sensory inputs at once on her illusions thus far. Which is pretty good!

"Some of the nogitsune at Inari's are teaching me to do shadow illusions," Khannie explains, quite proud of her work. "They're like regular illusions but with some shadow stuff in them so they don't pop when someone touches them."

[Deathkeeper]

Sapling Cabin

Gabriel seems pretty impressed when Khannie's illusion goes down.
"So you are like Mom!
That's pretty cool.
Almost nobody's cool like Mom." Gabe doesn't really get it, he just knows Mom can look different when she wants to and the kind of thing she is is very unique and special.

[Earl of Purple]

Sapling Cabin

"Sorry, Khannie, I didn't think before I threw. It worked, though! It's a cool illusion." Cheasadh really should comment on the smell, but she's feeling bad for throwing it without warning Khannie first. Maybe next time she's given an illusionary orange.

Pookie's going to approach Miranda and tilt his head to one side, before spreading his arms for a hug. He's very sticky, with honey in his fur, so hugging him is ill-advised- as even Cheasadh demonstrated a few posts ago.

[Ironsmith]

[Sapling Cabin]

Miranda, however, is not especially bothered by the prospect of imminent stickiness. She sets her Hotbox on the table and sets it to print off a new shirt before she kneels down and gives Pookie a little hug, followed by an affectionate head rub. "Well, well... someone's gotten himself awfully messy, hasn't he?" She smiles. "At some point, we're going to have to get you all cleaned up." She turns her head toward Cheasadh as she speaks, still hugging Pookie, conveniently keeping him in one spot so nobody else would have to worry about a sticky fate. "How do you normally go about doing that? Any concerns vis-a-vis his fur I should be worried about?"

[Morty]

[Sapling Cabin]

"It didn't make a sound when I grabbed it." Brinika's knowledge of magic is best described as haphazard, but she feels like she should provide constructive feedback. "But it does look like an orange. Not that I see many oranges." She looks over at Gabriel. "How is Khannie like your mom?" Mrs. Geneva is a hippogrif and Khannie is... she's never really been sure how to describe her Pokemon shape.

[5a Violista]

[Daycare]

If Harley knew that she were there right now, talking about her, then she would be doing something completely different: she would probably immediately leave here, message Rein that they need to talk ASAP and head back there immediately, to get a story and set it straight.

"Oh, wow. Being a mechanic actually sounds pretty neat. I've always wanted to know more about machines and robotics, myself, especially after meeting a cyberneticist not that long ago," HarleyMoremi says. "I have a car, but it's doing pretty fine. Have regular maintenance on it, actually," she says.

Then, talking about herself, she says, "Actually, so, I don't really have much experience with technology, either. Or, rather, before coming to the Nexus. Space heaters and toasters and magnets and refrigerants were really the only things we had that ran on electricity." She laughs: "So, my first time driving? It was really scary. Luckily, I picked it up pretty quickly."


Manja assumes that she has a lot more experience crawling!
So she crawls away from the other baby, presumably retreating so that she can come back later with a tactical advantage.
She could just turn into a kitten and easily walk away that way, but it's not really something that she would consider unless there's something that she can't do as a baby (cat?)girl.

[Rebonack]

[Sapling Cabin]

"Thanks! I'm getting better at it," Khannie chirps brightly. "But doing complicated stuff AND keeping my disguise up at the same time is REALLY hard. Right now I can only make small things that feel real, but maybe if I get good enough I'll be able to make a disguise people can touch, too."

That's her goal, at least.

By her reckoning it's a good goal.

Khannie bobs her head at Brinika's comment. "Yeah, I can only make it do three things at once. So it feels real and looks real and smells real but it doesn't make any sound and if you tried to taste it then it wouldn't taste like anything," Khannie explains. "I guess if someone is REALLY good they can make something that seems real to all the senses at once but I'm not that good yet. Doing three senses at a time is SO MUCH harder than just doing two."

Khannie would forgive Brinika for not being sure what to compare her pokemon shape to. Kangaskhans look weird. Are they a mammal? Are they a dinosaur? Who knows! Weird.

"I think he means Miss Geneva is a pokemon like I am," Khannie reasons. "She's a mew, but mews get Transform so they can be whatever they want to be. Lucky," she grouses.

[Earl of Purple]

Sapling Cabin

"Give him a bath, we've got wolf shampoo that works reasonably well, but don't worry about it too much. He'll try to have a jar of honey in the bath with him, and he'll fight if he doesn't have one. I have no idea where he gets them from, but he'll find them anywhere." Cheasadh shakes her head, glad that bathing him is- for once- not her job. Miranda's kindly volunteered.

Pookie has the 'Honey Gather' ability, so he finds one whenever I think it'd be most amusing.

"It smells more like orangeade, than orange. Work on that before you show Jace." Cheasadh smiles, it's a much better illusion than she can do! Although Cheasadh's thinking of going into a priesthood when she grows up, which -had you told her that just a few years ago- she'd have found unbelievable, given her background.

[Purple Eagle]

[Rowan Cabin]

"Yes, Mrs Trollfinger! Follow Zara!"

And then Zara skips away, leading Reelshka to the daycare and towards where the two mothers are sitting.

[Daycare]

"Oh? Maybe it was the same one, or an associate of hers!" Zither pipes up in response to Moremi's cyberneticist acquaintance. "My husband's a genius with electronic gadgets, but I can't make head or tails of them. Now gears, that I know like the back of my hand." She grins, teeth on display. "I learnt to drive pretty early, I know the roads so I'm pretty good at it. First time riding a dragon was scarier, though."

Orin crawls after Manja and grabs at her leg to slow her down, aiming to stop her so she can... well, she'll decide when it happens. So much to do, and so many things to grab.

In front of Manja, though, is a stuffed white teddy bear, she might crawl over it if she's not careful! Meanwhile, Zara and Reelshka should be entering right about now...

[Ironsmith]

[Sapling Cabin]

Not that Miranda minded. She loved animals; small, teddy-bear-like animals especially. She smiles and scoops the small Teddiursa up, going outside to give him a proper bath. She'll let him hold on to any honey he has, not wanting to risk upsetting him by taking it away. She'll just have to make sure he doesn't get all sticky again when she's done; she likes this small creature, but not enough to waste her efforts.

[5a Violista]

[Daycare]

"It's possible," Moremi says, though she really doubts it. "She was a catgirl with a huge interest in death, so..." They just started talking.

"One time, I rode a dragon. Well...kind-of," she says. "Was trying to kill it, then it started flying and I hung onto it as it was flying up."


The baby Manja won't be stopped by the mere grip strength of a baby! In fact, maybe even nothing can stop her!
She has to make a slight detour because of the bear, though. She recognizes that it would be bad to try to crawl over it, when her goal is to reach the side of the room, something harder.

[Deathkeeper]

Sapling Cabin

"Looking different when you want." Gabriel explains.
"And somethin else?" he can't really explain the strange sort of feeling that pokemon give off. Like ponies there's the subtle understanding that physics is not on great terms with them...