Inside 70: Surprisingly Pleasant

[bc56]

Jade nods along to the praise. She likes it, but she doesn't need it. Making the streets safer is it's own reward. And she got the testing for her new pistol she needed. "It's no problem, sheriff."

[WindStruck]

Solstice has to rain on Jade's little parade of fuzzy, warm feelings and butterflies. She nods to the sheriff and says, "We saw the official announcement. I would like to collect the reward. And how much are you offering in exchange for the other four?" Apparently she hadn't seen the posters about the other criminals.

The sheriff looked at Solstice with some concern but eventually shrugged. "Well, I figure they're worth five thousand dollars a head. And as a bonus, for capturing the whole crew, we'll throw a party and have you two as our guests of honor. How's that sound, y'all?!" The crowd cheered and then the criminals got marched off to the jail.

Solstice and Jade followed the sheriff over to the bank, where they just about cleaned the place out. A grand total of $30,000 which was split between Solstice and Jade.

Oh, and then there would be a party tonight!

What will Jade (and Solstice) do in the meantime? Or even during the party?

[Morty]

[Slums - Cabaret]

Michalson presents his detective's badge readily enough. Then he has to admit he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on here. But he'll dress it up real nice.

"I am looking for two people who may have passed through here. Neither of them is suspected of criminal involvement as of yet."

[Arkhosia]

Spoiler

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[What's Kraken Inside?]

Zee is honestly... kind of relieved?

Suzie probably would have complained really loudly if she couldn't read all these dead languages.

Comprehension or no, there probably isn't anything in here about Suzie's curse specifically. Though there IS quite a bit about cursing god-like entities. Most of them are ritual curses and prayers, though. Weakening various underworld gods and demons so that the gods of wholesome things can overcome them.

Is there any power to such prayers?

That's the question isn't it?

But...

There seems to be precious little about REMOVING curses from god-like beings. Typically when mortals want to curse the god of destructive storms they aren't too interested in ways to uncurse then.

"Are you guys finding anything?" Zee asks in a hushed tone. This is, after all, a library.

[Kraken open a book]

One thing that is probably quite apparent to Zee by this point is that Suzie doesn't have a lot of patience.

As she whirls through books at an alarming pace, the krakengirl's utterances of "Yes" and "No" steadily become shorter, quieter, more...bored. It is only a matter of time before Suzie gets fed up of this and something bad happens.

"Keep going, minion!" She answers Marina in a briefly more upbeat tone, even reaching over with a tentacle to gently pat her head for a moment. An unsual display of affection for her to show to her fishmaid, but then this is serious business.

Even so, time is not Zee's friend here. She might want to intervene before things go badly, or maybe she's content to just sit back and let things happen or they do.

Or maybe she's just foolishly optimistic.

"Thrice-damned books, why must you hide the answer I seek?!" Oh dear. A moderately raised voice. Time is very short.

What's Kraken Inside

"I found a couple mentions of shapechanging curses, but they appear to be aimed at mortals. The disdain in Marina's voice is much more about them not applying than any personal judgements about the worth and respectability of mortal beings. She doesn't deign to bookmark them as she flips through books, despite considering the knowledge possibly helpful - these were spells that turned men into simple frogs, not into complex humanoid forms!

[bc56]

Jade will enjoy taking a break in the tavern up until the party. She's happy to take a load off for a while, grab a few drinks (and probably a couple more once the party begins), etcetera. Of course, if Solstice has anything to say to her, she's there. She isn't going anywhere for a while yet.

[WindStruck]

Solstice doesn't even know what to do with all the money given to her, stuffing it in her little satchel. It would have been at least 150 $100 bills...

She rents a room, paying for it, insisting on paying for it despite her elevated status in the town. She goes up, takes a bath, and naps.

Then a while later she comes down, still in her silk robes and very much her Faerie self, not really wanting to dress the part of a cowgirl, but seems no one really cares at this point.

Various drinks and food are offered, but given her very picky pallet she turns them down about as politely as she can muster. Seems after a bit the party just kind of devolves into a thing where the locals get to celebrate with free booze and food.

Solstice takes a cautious seat next to Jade and gazes at her a bit before looking away. "Hm. This celebration was not what I expected..."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Philip Library]

Minerva's word of encouragement is met with a nod and a faint, "Hm." It's the nod of someone who acknowledges the thought but doesn't appreciate it as much as she wishes she could. She's much happier talking about Minerva than about herself.

"Wow, that is a lot! Kind of a renaissance woman, huh?" Leslie says. "Prosthetic engineering is a pretty popular field in Skyside, too. If you want to start a career in it..." She sees the same look on Minerva's face from the first time she mentioned Skyside. "Oh! Right! So, you've probably noticed that this world can be pretty confusing to navigate. There are a few places with stabilizing landmarks to make it easier, which makes them popular for some of the big organizations. Skyside and Riverside are the big ones. Skyside is a big city on a floating island with a lot of research and tech firms. I've, um, not really been to Riverside."

[bc56]

"It's exactly what I expected. You'll catch on when you've been here longer." Jade shrugs. "It's what cowpokes do." As Solstice gazes at Jade, she might notice some differences. Her appearance has shifted slightly towards what Solstice finds attractive. Her body and clothes can both be affected by the change. But she doesn't seem to have noticed.

[WindStruck]

Hm, something seemed different about Jade. Seems she prettied herself up for this party, wearing a more western-themed dress, styling her hair and the like. It wasn't something that bothered Solstice. It absolutely didn't in the slightest.

Solstice just shrugged at the comment, looking around at the rowdy party. "Perhaps we should go?"

Might be rude seeing as they were the guests of honor. But on the other hand, didn't seem like they were a focus of attention.

[Purple Eagle]

[Tiffany - Nightclub]

It's not so loud that you can't hear people, but it's still loud enough that you need to shout.

"Huh?!" Tiffany says.
She turns her body so she's now dancing with the elf. "Blaze of Snow is still pretty new!" she responds. "Not very popular yet! More people be here later tonight when Synthetic Sparks scheduled!" She drops some words to be heard better.

[Tiffany - Nightclub]

"May be new, but I like 'em!" Ted replies, really getting his groove on now that Tiffany's dancing with him. "Got potential!" He does as she does and speak in fax-speak. "Synthetic Sparks are awesome, can't wait!"

He acts like he's decided he likes what he sees. "I'm Ted, you?"

[bc56]

"Sure. They got their excuse to celebrate. We aren't needed anymore." Jade stands up and stops partway, surprised. She's wearing a dress now? She knows why, of course. Her curse is acting up again. She doesn't specifically know it's Solstice causing it, but it doesn't matter. She rolls with it, smooths out her skirts, and waits for Solstice.

[5a Violista]

[Nightclub]

Tiffany nods: "Yeah, they are, aren't they?" she says, speaking of Synthetic Sparks. "They really got a good theme going! Can't wait to see what they'll pull off tonight!"

"Tiff!" she responds, to introduce herself. "What clubs do you normally go to?" Since, after all, he looked like he was new here but gives off the feeling that he's been to a bunch before. "Any nearby?"




[Philip Library]

Coincidentally, Minerva likes talking about herself. Well, not necessarily about herself-herself, but instead about things that she's interested in, in general. Plus, just talking with others is, in itself, nice. Doesn't matter what it's about.

"Yeah, I guess I am one," Minerva replies with a nod of confirmation.

"I actually haven't been around enough to really notice any difficulty in navigation," she says. Maybe when she gets to know the place better, then she'll notice the differences but everywhere seems pretty new to her anyway so there's no difference in being different to her and different to everyone. "A floating island? Is it just, like, magic? Or is it natural? Or is it more of giant fans or levitation or something?" she asks, curious about how it works.

Anyway, it's good to be told basic things. "Might be interesting to visit Skyside," she comments. "Maybe when I get time off from work, or something. Then I could spend a whole day looking around." Or, with two bodies, one of them can go. But she doesn't bother mentioning that, since it's still kind-of confusing to think about, let alone talk about. "Any places in particular you'd recommend visiting?"

[WindStruck]

Solstice nodded, and she discreetly made her way out with Jade. "I am not sure if I liked my experience here.. and as it turns out, I already had some lodgings arranged elsewhere. I think I should go there."

[bc56]

"All right then! I'll see you around!" Jade waves farewell and walks off into the sunset, her skirt swirling around her legs.

[WindStruck]

Solstice reciprocated the gesture with a small smile, bidding Jade farewell.

Hm, but how to get back? A train was pulling up on the tracks again. Though it looked far too futuristic for the rest of the rustic setting.

Solstice trotted up, quickly putting on her gloves and entered the strange contraption again. Normally she'd be quite against it, though she had no other idea how to get back... and compared to everything else she went through today, it wasn't so bad as long as she was prepared for it.

The train made several stops. Solstice got off when she thought some of the surroundings looked more familiar again. Okay, now where were we going? What was it called? Trog's... Trog's...

>>>Moving Back to Trogs!

[Rebonack]

[Slums- Vacuums]

"W-well, I didn't want to scare you away," the batgirl replies, slightly flustered. "But it, ah, it worked just fine! Everything is fine."

Super fine, even.

"Oh, ah, Beatrice. My name is Beatrice. I was a little worried about sharing my name around the barghest. Fae and names, you know," she explains.

Also they never asked.

Very rude.

"You know, if the two of you can provide me with further fae power sources I think I can make it worth your while. You did, ah, an excellent job."

Sounds like she wants to turn more awful faeries into more cute pokemon.

Clearly making a better world for everyone.

Spoiler: Texts

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>BridgeBldr: No, I'm sorry. Can't say that I've ever heard of that orginization. I know VIGIL used to be called Watchtower but I don't think there's any relation there.

[Cormorant House]

Wow.

That's all Magdalene can say.

Wow.

She figured she was being pretty respectful by asking first just in case the cap had some kind of problem with it and that lady STILL blows up at her? The hell is her problem? It's gotta have something to do with this Nexus place. They just don't have nearly as many zombies as back home. Or maybe they do, but they're just all concentrated in one spot? There were tons of 'em in the Blasted Zone. Things are nice enough here that they don't have to worry about the dead getting back up and murdering everyone in the middle of the night.

Great.

More power to 'em.

Magdalene is just...

Ugh.

She helps Billie move the bodies in silence.

Though eventually she'll speak, her tone subdued.

"Look, I'm just trying to figure out what's normal around here, okay?" she finally says. "This place isn't as (flowered) up as my home is. I'm not... I'm not usually around people who are still alive."


[What's Kraken, Inside?]

Oh uh.

Getting loud.

Zee makes a 'quiet down' motion with her hands.

"Look I know not finding what you need right away is frustrating but you should really keep quiet while you're in here," she warns.

[Deathkeeper]

[Slums- Vacuums]

Hector and Hector look at each other.
"Well, I don't think so. Now that we're just a normal human and a tiny fox I don't think we can handle raiding any more faerie nests." says biped!Hector sheepishly.
Meanwhile!
"I haven't eaten anything material in a week and also I'm an actual flesh and blood creature now so I think my stomach's completely empty." the fox informs Beth. It seems being a pokemon hasn't made him any less verbose.
But it's entirely possible he's just saying ZOR over and over again and the Nexus is helping him out.

[bc56]

The house is quiet. Too quiet...

[Terumitsu]

[The Old House on the Hill]

Sam just kind of sighs.
"That better be rust. I thought I was done going into old places and seein' bodies." But he shoves his old squatter memories away. For a moment he was just sad until he remembered that he's dealing with an actual spook here.
Letting out a sharp breath as the copper stench assails his sensitive nose, he slowly makes his way towards the closet. He takes a deep breath. "Okay, here we go..." He hefts his weapon with a two-handed grip as he yanks at the door handle. One of the many benefits to having so many arms.

The door stuck for a moment, then came free.

Inside was... Not a lot. Even the dried trail seemed to just cease as if cut with the finest knife at the door's frame. There was a shake of.. Something. Not something felt from the ground but as if the ears and eyes trembled on their own.

A blink.

Another.

And there was a door of stone and a latch of rusted iron pared with a once-brass lock now hued a green like a briny sea. It was old, yes, but large and seeming unweildly enough to where simply breaking it would require more than just a good knock. The key-hole itself was also of a strange triangular shape with arcane images still clear around it.

The air here, oddly, had no tang of metal or must, though. It was as if this room was keeping all of it out.. Or perhaps keeping something else in?

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Philip Library]

"Oh! Um, I could just take you there, if you want. The train ride isn't as long as you might think," Leslie says. "Like I said, I don't get out too much, but I do know a few restaurants! There's a rotating one with a good view that they finished repairing recently."

[Deathkeeper]

[The Old House on the Hill]

Sam groans. This just keeps adding up. He isn’t even sure what he’s supposed to be doing here at this rate. But he doesn’t feel like turning around now. Even if he could easily just tackle his way through one of the windows if he really wanted.
Resolutely, he draws his oversized key and pokes the end of the keyhole with it. He has no idea how this works but magic is magic. After that he pulls on the latch. This thing has never failed to open a lock before.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Slums Vacuums]

"You'd be surprised what a tiny fox is capable of," Beth comments. "But, yeah, I think we've had enough stress and excitement for one day. I might come back some other time, though. Could I maybe get your contact info, Beatrice? Or your collaborator's, as far as that goes?"

She needs to look into these Watchers and decide what to make of them. The mean bean machine did a good job this time, but who knows what kind of crusade a pointedly anti-fey organization like this might go on with it from here?

[5a Violista]

[Philip Library]

Minerva bites her lip as she considers it. It sounds really good, like a great opportunity.
"...I don't really have much money yet," he says. "Just a couple small tips so far, because I'm still probationary-slash-getting trained at work."

So what is she saying? "So, I'd love to go, and I might be able to pay for a train ticket, and I can pay you back later, but if we do anything more than just going there then you'd probably have to pay for it." Might as well get that out at the start, to set expectations.

[Terumitsu]

[The Old House on the Hill]

Sam groans. This just keeps adding up. He isn’t even sure what he’s supposed to be doing here at this rate. But he doesn’t feel like turning around now. Even if he could easily just tackle his way through one of the windows if he really wanted.
Resolutely, he draws his oversized key and pokes the end of the keyhole with it. He has no idea how this works but magic is magic. After that he pulls on the latch. This thing has never failed to open a lock before.

The key... Well... Something weird happened.

Had Sam ever poked the key at things that weren't locks before? Like, had he ever gotten something akin to 'Error, Lock Not Found'?

Because.. That would happen. For a moment, there would be a feeling of something solid as metal touched metal but the lock itself would then just.. Crumbling wasn't the right term as that implied breaking. Vanish wasn't either as that could be just fading or.. It was as if the lock just ceased being a lock. It was still present visually and one could use all the terms to describe it as a lock but it was as if all cognitive connection of this item and being a lock just evaporated. It was just.. Metal with a hole in it yet that was all it was. It wasn't even holding anything fast or closed as that was something pertinent to a lock. And.. This wasn't a lock. Never was in the first place but it was like something just 'clicked' and a strange realization set in.

So, without any lock keeping the door closed, the latch was easily pulled open and a burst of freezing yet mountain-pristine air rushed out.

And inside was surprisingly well lit.. Ice covered the walls and ceiling, becoming a strange fun-house mirror as every surface was smooth as if polished. And.. Faintly glowing? There certainly wasn't anything in the terms of actual sources of light other than that. Thankfully, the floor itself was that same petrified-nearly-amber wood though with that also being smooth, Sam may want to watch his step as the stairs in front of him seem to have lost the banister to the encroaching frost.

[Hattish Thing]

[Cormorant House]

Billie is characteristically silent throughout the trip back.

She's not pleased with the task at hand, the heat only made things worse.

This was something that needed to be done, however. Doing the right thing is rarely easy. "I know," she remarks coldly. "You have a lot to learn." She'll continue to haul the bodies out towards a second medical vehicle stationed beside her patrol car. So many bodies, so many vehicles to carry them away. It would be comical, if it wasn't so awful.

After some time, she'll mutter another response. "I'll help you, after we're done here. Until then," she states, "you need to just listen."

"This isn't your world." She's somewhat gentler. "But you'll learn."

---

[Slums - Cabaret]

The man behind the door frowns.

Ugh, he really was a cop. Or a detective, or something.

All the numbers and bars and stuff, it was pretty difficult to understand. Still, it was official looking, which meant trouble if he just turned the guy away. "Um," he stammers, "you got a name for these people? Or something? You're looking for a needle in a haystack, pal."

He sighs before unlocking the door. "But sure, have a go at the place, I guess. Dressing rooms are off limits, though."

"Go it, flatfoot?"

---

Jade's Lair

"I know a bunch of heroes. We can help you." Jade releases Naomi. "I can arrange a meeting, if you'd like. Not today, but soon."[/QUOTE]

Naomi had never met another 'hero'.

She didn't really even consider herself a hero in the first place.

Still, this sounded good. "Oh, um. I would really like that, actually."

[bc56]

"I'll see what I can do. I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you." Jade does think Naomi is a hero. She's trying and that's the most important part.

[Purple Eagle]

[Nightclub]

"As in Tiffany? Lovely name, my mum was a Tiff too!" Despite what 'was' means, Ted keeps dancing, as though it was so long ago he can't be sad about it anymore. "New in town, just moved in from Seaside! Got directed here by a friend who's been here before, was either here or 'Club Sparklelord'!" While his eyes say "you're cute", he's too cool to say it out loud, choosing instead to see where it goes. "We can go later?"

[5a Violista]

[Nightclub]

Tiff nods; yeah, it's short for Tiffany.

"Objectively speaking, it is the best name," she claims.


"Yeah, I can go later. Where by the beach?" she asks, since Seaside isn't actually a real place. If Seaside counts as a real place, then Inside is part of Seaside too, because it has docks. She asks this because if she doesn't come up with something to say, she might laugh at 'Club Sparklelord'.
It's a pretty hilarious name.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Philip Library]

"Oh, I've got money! Kind of more than I know what to do with right now, honestly," Leslie says. "So, it'll be my treat! And, um, have you used the Riftline yet? I have a phone app for it now, but I don't think they charge money for tickets. Something about the knowledge that you rode it being worth more than the cost of letting you ride it."

Spoiler: beatGeyser resumed pestering liminalPip

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BG: [fey-transmutilator.img]
BG: so someone built this to turn that shadow into a little fox guy
BG: [after.img]
BG: I guess he's okay with it
LP: See? I told you it'd be fine!
LP: I am busy right now though!
LP: I'll take a look at it later okay?

[5a Violista]

[Philip Library]

Oh, that's good.
...
Having more money than you know what to do with sounds pretty nice, actually.

Minerva nods: "Yeah, I used it once before," she says, "but I used somebody else's pass. Besides that, I've just been walking everywhere."

After a beat, he adds,
"Thanks."