Home 26: Rooms to let, fifty cents

[Murkus]

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

Kirk arches an eyebrow. "You don't have any idea what changed? There wasn't anything about being around her that was different from normal?" He doesn't know what to say, really. This whole angel thing hasn't made any more sense in the time since it first happened.

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"I mean..." There's that flush again. It's pretty much impossible to hide when her skin is shiny chrome like this. "We had like, a moment. You know?" She waves her hands in circles, as if that will better articulate what she can't put in words.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower - Pondside]


Electra holds the embrace for awhile, not saying anything further, before whispering back.

"I....I want to be that for you, too. To be there when you need me. " her voice cracks, and her back heaves with a suppressed sob. "I'm sorry. I know I hurt you last night. I didn't mean to. I didn't want to....the way I was built, the way I was trained, the experiences I had before I came to the Nexus....they've all affected me. I try to think differently now, but....I don't always succeed. I'm not perfect, and probably never will be. I want to be better, though. Will you help me? Please?"

[Cass' Tower - Pondside]

"We can only try our best, right?" Says Cass, putting a reassuring tone to her voice, albeit somewhat shakily. "I understand trying to escape your past experiences... I'll do my best to help you when I can."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower - Pondside]

"Thank you," Electra whispers back, the tone so intense and grateful at the same time that they convey much more than the mere words alone. Clearly, this was really upsetting her, despite it only having happened the previous night. After another few moments spent condensing herself, she pulls back just slightly, keeping the embrace, but looking Cass in the eyes again. She's frowning, and something is still bothering her.

"I...Feel like I owe Wren an apology, too, but I'm not sure even where to begin."

[Gullara]

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"I mean..." There's that flush again. It's pretty much impossible to hide when her skin is shiny chrome like this. "We had like, a moment. You know?" She waves her hands in circles, as if that will better articulate what she can't put in words.

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"Quite a moment." He quirks his eyebrow yet again. "You should think about it some more. It might be a lead of some kind." He runs a hand over her arm, though he seems slightly distracted by this new puzzle. "Maybe it can be repeated somehow? It'd make your life a lot easier."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower - Pondside]

"Thank you," Electra whispers back, the tone so intense and grateful at the same time that they convey much more than the mere words alone. Clearly, this was really upsetting her, despite it only having happened the previous night. After another few moments spent condensing herself, she pulls back just slightly, keeping the embrace, but looking Cass in the eyes again. She's frowning, and something is still bothering her.

"I...Feel like I owe Wren an apology, too, but I'm not sure even where to begin."

[Cass' Tower - Pondside]

"Wren?"

Cass tilts her head, obviously confused. She isn't sure what Electra would need to apologize to Wren for, but she nods after a second. "If you want, we can head back inside, and you can talk to Wren there. That gift you got for me is actually really handy for that."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower - Pondside]

Electra nods, then reluctantly pulls away.

"I had an idea, too, that I wanted to discuss with both of you, so yeah, we should probably head back in."

[Murkus]

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"Quite a moment." He quirks his eyebrow yet again. "You should think about it some more. It might be a lead of some kind." He runs a hand over her arm, though he seems slightly distracted by this new puzzle. "Maybe it can be repeated somehow? It'd make your life a lot easier."

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"I don't really think so, Kirky," Tina says. She gives him a sidelong look.

"It was... I mean... kind of a tough thing to replicate." She leans into him. "At least, it'd be tough with just anybody."

[Gnrlshrimp]

Felix's Tower

Krayger whacks the outreaching arms with his club and makes a break for it. Luckily remembering where he's been is easier than figuring out where to go, even with limited light and stressed. Krayger should be able to backtrack easily (but certainly not quietly).
At which point he needs to barricade the basement doors and find Felix and/or Lucas.

[Felix's Tower]

The sound of squelching and the periodic gurgle of the cauldron golem follow after Krayger, but slowly grow fainter as the lumbering construct and its oozes are unable to keep up with him. Finding the exit is easy enough, and he even has a little time to block the door with something too.

Safe at last, yes? Around him, the faint sounds of the menagerie of animals that live within the tower echo about, a stark contrast to the silence and gloom of the cauldron golem's lair.

[Deathkeeper]

Felix's Tower

Krayger stomps up the stairs back to the lab he was at before as that's the most likely place to find Felix.
He might want to shower after this conversation but unless this goo is going to seep into his skin or something it can wait five minutes for him to talk to the mage about the golem he apparently left in his basement and forgot about.

[Gullara]

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"I don't really think so, Kirky," Tina says. She gives him a sidelong look.

"It was... I mean... kind of a tough thing to replicate." She leans into him. "At least, it'd be tough with just anybody."

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

Kirk gives a small shrug. "It's just a thought. Something to keep in mind." He settles again with her for a few moments longer. "So if it's not a breakthrough, what did you want to talk about it?"

[Murkus]

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"I dunno," Tina turns her body so she can face him a little more easily, searching his eyes. "Cuz' I was feeling kinda the same sort of thing with you, a minute ago. But I was... like..." She winces, but smiles. "Kinda scared to try and start anything."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower - Pondside]

Electra nods, then reluctantly pulls away.

"I had an idea, too, that I wanted to discuss with both of you, so yeah, we should probably head back in."

[Cass' Tower]

Cass will keep hold of Electra's hand as they walk back to the bike, to take the quick ride back to the tower.

Once the bike has been put back in the workshop and they're both back inside in Cass' living room, she'll search around in a drawer for the box that Electra gave her, sitting the doll on the coffee table and sitting on the couch herself, sliding the command ring on her finger. She says the activation word, and, just like that, the familiar white-haired visage of Cass' headmate forms around the doll, stretching languidly on the table and adjusting his vest and tie.

"Hi," says Wren, his voice disconcertingly crisp and loud coming from the miniature version of himself sitting on the table. He gives Electra an awkward smile.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower]

Electra gives him a gentle, apologetic smile.

"Hi! So...uh...I'm not sure where to start with this, but....I think I owe both of you an apology," she says. There's uncertainty in her voice, but she pushes past it. "I'm...partially responsible for you coming into existence, Wren. The mission that you went on, the one where you had to take on Raril's memories, Cass? That...was kind of my fault. Well, partially, anyways. I guess I shouldn't say it's my fault, either, but...if I hadn't helped Raril's soul reunite with his body, and gone with Dena to negotiate with his brother, you'd have never been sent on that mission."

She rubs the back of her head, closing her eyes for a minute and frowning. How rude is it that she's apologizing for being partially responsible for bringing a new life into being?! She's barely started explaining and it's already veering in a direction she hadn't intended. She opens her eyes looks back and forth between them, deciding to get on with an actual apology before putting her foot in her mouth any further.

"So...yeah. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for whatever amount of pain that's caused the both of you, and I wanna help make that right with both of you."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower]

Wren runs a hand through his hair awkwardly, taking a moment to think of what to say to... all this. It's not what he expected, at all.

"I mean... I guess I'm not sorry I exist. I can't say there aren't parts of this life that aren't rough - the memories, seeing loved ones from Raril's life... that sort of thing. But... eh, overall the experience has been acceptable." Wren sighs.

"Besides, you helped Raril out of a tight spot. You can't be blamed for doing someone a good turn, even if it had unintended consequences down the road. You're less directly responsible for me than Cass is, for deciding to mess around with mind magic she doesn't understand, instead of learning how to act, like a normal person would."

"...thanks, Wren," says Cass, who seems slightly more on the morose side than Wren himself is, perhaps either for herself, or more for seeing Electra in such a state.

"Just a bit of life advice from an elder, dear," says Wren, giving Cass a sardonic grin, which she responds to by rolling her eyes and clutching one of the couch cushions tightly, as if she'd much like to throw it at him.

"Okay, that was crappy of me, I'm sorry." Says Wren, seeming mildly chagrined, and switching over to a more serious tone. "You're a good person, Cass - both of you are, even if both have trouble seeing it sometimes. You've both been through a lot. You're both young, you'll be through a lot more. Electra, I don't want you to beat yourself up on my account. Raril was always a survivor. He went through all sorts of hell before you two were even around. I think maybe I'm a little of that too. As far as I'm concerned, you're not under any obligation to 'put things right', as you say. I mean, this doll body has already been a great help for us, even if you didn't plan it that way. Cass and I are already thinking about what we can do next to build on this."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Felix's Tower]

The old bone mage can be found easily enough, reading a book and sipping from a glass of juice from a balcony on one of the landings, observing his menagerie below. "Ah, Krayger, you're back. Excellent. I thought it might take you a little longer to-" He pauses and looks up at his apprentice.

There's a thud as the book falls to the floor, knocked over in surprise. It skids perilessly close to the edge.

"Goodness! Whatever happened to you down there?"

[Deathkeeper]

Felix's Tower

Krayger delicately sets down his lantern.
"Felix, do you recall making a cauldron-golem? I assume it's yours at least. Not sure who else it'd belong to. Either way it's running around your basement spewing goo at anything that moves. Please tell me you have its command name written down somewhere. Otherwise I'm going to have to get my axe." Luckily, Krayger carries his satchel almost everywhere and so said axe is just over there in the other room.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower]

Electra listens and seems to relax as Wren speaks. Even though her words weren't right, Wren got what she meant anyways, and that was what was important. She smiles gently as he says she doesn't need to make it right, but the look in her eyes says she's going to try all the same. She nods when he mentions that he and Cass are already working on ways to build on the doll body. She looks back to Cass, her expression inquisitive now.

"Well, that was kind of the idea I had. I can lend my knowledge and some contacts with the goal of building a body based on the same technologies that mine uses, if you're interested. I'm not entirely sure myself how to make the magic work, but building a body to specifications shouldn't be too difficult."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower]

"Oh. Well... we were actually thinking of making Wren a body based on mine," says Cass. "I'm already talking to Astrana about building a vessel for... uh... my familiar. And I still have all the notes I wrote with Geneviève on how we built this body, and summoned me into it, and I'm sure Geneviève herself would help out, there's just a few more minor details we'd need to figure out and solve..." Cass trails off, realizing that she's started to babble a bit, leaving Wren to grin mischievously and fill the space.

"...Minor details, like the part where I don't have a soul." :D

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower]

Electra considers for a moment, raising an eyebrow at Wren.

"Are you sure about that?" She doesn't wait for an answer, though, before asking another. "Is building that sort of body easier? Or would it make the spells that you would need easier, do you think? I'm willing to help out however I can, I just wanted to offer, since...well, you know."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Cass' Tower]

"Well, it's a... crude and untechnical way of putting it, but as far as either of us know, Wren's a being entirely of Mind, and not of Spirit. He might have a separate consciousness to mine, but he's still... me, on the spiritual level at least," says Cass, shrugging. "There are some circumstances under which a Spirit can be split across multiple bodies, but they're not exactly ideal."

"So basically, I'm all brains, no heart," says Wren, maintaining his sardonic tone. "And if you poured me out into a new bowl, like the pretty one Cass is sitting in, I'd still be tied to her by the invisible strings of 'if you mess with one of us, both of us get messed up'. Like a two-person hive-mind!"

Cass sighs.

"...Basically, yes. The body is the easier part. All we'd need is a sample of my blood and bone for the template homunculus, raw carbon and other elements for the bulk, and use chaos magic to make whatever changes Wren wants, since I assume he doesn't want to be identical to me."

"I want to be able to pee standing up again. And reach the top shelf."

"We can already reach the top shelf," Cass snaps.

"That's because you made all your shelves too low. I want to reach the top shelves of regular people."

Cass groans, rubbing her eyes.

"Geneviève's already done it twice. And managed to find a suitable spirithost. It's probably easier to find a willing and pliable enough spirit for a child, rather than an adult, though. Especially an insufferable adult."

"Maybe being a reploid is a better idea," says Wren, diverting from his needling of Cass to give Electra a warm, encouraging smile. "I'm not sure I can make auditory domes look as lovely as you do, but I'm sure there are perks to make up for it. It's nice to have options."

[Morty]

[Cass' Tower - Wenomir]

Wenomir is coming over to the tower. It seems to be a casual visit, as he's wearing a leather jacket together with a pair of cargo pants. The warrior knocks on the door and waits.

[Gullara]

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

"I dunno," Tina turns her body so she can face him a little more easily, searching his eyes. "Cuz' I was feeling kinda the same sort of thing with you, a minute ago. But I was... like..." She winces, but smiles. "Kinda scared to try and start anything."

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

Kirk shifts with her so they're facing one another. He pulls her leg over him and then holds the back of her head. "I don't want you to be afraid with me. Don't think you'll disappoint me." He assures her, meeting her eyes.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Cass' Tower]

Electra blushes at the compliment, though throughout the banter between Wren and Cass, she's had a nostalgic look on her face. She smiles, then nods at Wren.

"I enjoy being what I am. I won't say there aren't downsides; there can be a real 'world of glass' thing if you're not expecting it. Or even if you are. When I had to be transplanted into this body, it took me three months to retrain myself to regulate my strength and speed, since this body is faster and stronger than my old one was. It offers me finer control over that, too, but I had to learn how to use it all over again."

She pauses for a moment to consider, before going on.

"There are a few other downsides, I suppose, but most of them aren't really an issue here in the Nexus. There are a few maintenance things that can be a bit of an issue, but I could teach you how to handle them yourself; once you know them, it's pretty trivial, just something to add to your hygiene routine. Probably the big one would be that you metabolize chemicals a lot differently. I can get drunk, but it takes a lot more or a lot stronger of alcohol to get me there, for instance. Certain drugs just flat out don't work on us. Those two are pretty typical of us. If you get hurt badly, you might need to manage the priority in which your auto-repair system handles the injuries, so as to not overwhelm your power core, but that's something of an edge case. It takes a pretty bad injury to get to that point. I think most of the other downsides are kind of specific to my body in particular and not to reploids in general, so....yeah. It's an option, if you want it. Of course, we'd probably have to pioneer some of the magic; it sounds like it would be a lot different to what Genevieve and Cass did."

[Recaiden]

A little spaceship shaped like a sea creature zips across the sky towards the fort, and settles towards the ground a good distance away.
And out gets the perfectly ordinary looking woman that's the human disguise of the dragon Meirhin. She takes a large bag out before sending the ship back up into the sky (it doesn't like being on land, you see). Then she can head the last distance towards the fort herself.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis

At the front of the fort is a little guard box. Inside is a short kobold in a cloth gambeson and a book.
“Welcome Ma’am to the fort aegis resort and spa! Are you here for our services?” He chirps with a toothy smile.

[Recaiden]

Well, doesn't he look very serious?
"No, I'm come here to visit Spako." she says, waving to the kobold.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis

The Kobold blinks. Wow, Master Algix sure has lots of visitors. Well it’s just a normal lady, so...
“Okay, Ma’am. I think he’s home today.”
With a signal the doors creak open, revealing the courtyard to the visitor. The place is uncharacteristically quiet. Though little eyes peer at her from the holes in a nearby playground.
“Master Algix is probably inside.” Informs the gatekeeper on this side of the gate.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Felix's Tower

Krayger delicately sets down his lantern.
"Felix, do you recall making a cauldron-golem? I assume it's yours at least. Not sure who else it'd belong to. Either way it's running around your basement spewing goo at anything that moves. Please tell me you have its command name written down somewhere. Otherwise I'm going to have to get my axe." Luckily, Krayger carries his satchel almost everywhere and so said axe is just over there in the other room.

[Felix's Tower]

"A cauldron-golem? I don't- hmm." Felix mumbles thoughtfully, going through his memories. "Oh- oh, well yes, of sorts. As I recall, I was attempting to make a self-stirring, self-heating cauldron. Oh, of course, and then I attempted to make it mobile as well, and I suppose by that point it is just a golem." He reaches down and recovers his book, looking back up at Krayger with a furrowed brow. "And it's in the basement, you say? How strange. How in the heavens did it ever get down there?"

[Murkus]

[Fettina's Place - Fight?]

Kirk shifts with her so they're facing one another. He pulls her leg over him and then holds the back of her head. "I don't want you to be afraid with me. Don't think you'll disappoint me." He assures her, meeting her eyes.

[Fettina's Place]

"Ohhh... Kirky..." Fettina's voice becomes almost a mournful whine as she closes her eyes and leans her forehead against Kirk's. Her hands match his, running up his head and back. She sounds simultaneously elated and on the verge of a sob. She presses her body to him, hard, and he can feel the muscles in her legs and hips coil against him. "You're so goddamn sweet when you try... how did I ever let you go, huh?"

[Gullara]

[Fettina's Place]

"I'm here now." Kirk murmurs. He presses his lips into hers, his body pushing back into hers. He responds to her body. Can this go anywhere further? Who knows, but at the very least touching her is heaven.