Home 26: Rooms to let, fifty cents

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

"This has been a hard time for lots of people," Lambslaural says. "But we'll get through it together."

What with a chunk of the city getting turned into a magical forest and everything.

At the mention of slipping up Lambslaural looks a little uncomfortable. 'Slipping up' feels like a strange phrase to use in the context of eating people. But Lambslaural understands that Jade is thinking in kumiho terms now. She can't not be a predatory fox monster. At least not until they find a cure. And they will. They WILL find one. "Then you t-try your best to do better. Maybe be careful about being alone with mortals? It might be a g-good idea to maybe learn more about kumiho? If y-you don't mind doing that, I mean. Maybe there's another way to feed yourself that, um... that doesn't mean eating people?"

That's definitely a research topic that would be worth checking out.

And then there's a red fox in Lambslaural's arms all of a sudden.

She looks aghast!

"Oooh nooo... that's so much worse!" she cries in mock anguish as she begins furiously petting the kumiho's ears.

[bc56]

Jade's Lair

The kumiho wriggles a little in Lambslaural's arms to get more comfortable and makes a little pleased fox sound. She likes this. That's weird in some ways, but she is a fox. Knowing that she wasn't originally a kumiho, but still feeling like this is her natural form is kind of weird, psychologically. Just more cognitive dissonance. But she likes being held like this, and snuggles up to Lambslaural.

[Rebonack]

[Jade's Lair]

Lambslaural decides to stay with the kumiho for the night, climbing atop her bed and settling down on it with the fox in her arms.

After, of course, Dandelion moves it back.

Apparently steel framed bed's make good anti-illusion projectiles.

The gaiad figures that her friend could probably use someone close by. It has, after all, been a very strange day. The next morning Lambslaural will promise to keep in touch, but she has her park to look after. The kumiho is, of course, always welcome there. Just like any faeries of good will are. Lambslaural believes in you, little fox. She believes you can be good. She believes you can still be a hero.

So.

The next morning.

Well, it turns out that the other kumiho had done virtually no work on Jade's inventions. She was too busy being awful and preparing for her malicious game. So that's something, at least?

The little fox has a choice now, doesn't she? Is she just going to try to keep living her life as if nothing happened? Or maybe seek out more knowledge on wildlings like herself? Or maybe try to discover who these other people who's masks she can wear really were? Or... see if anyone knows about cures for acute sudden fox syndrome? The choice is hers, isn't it?

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"Me and you, obviously. Not Aethelflaed; she doesn't know Nocri, and it's not fair to you to come." Aethelflaed smiles and nods gratefully. She's willing to go, but... She'd definitely prefer not to. And she's also younger than the others, at seventeen.
"I'm going. I'm hard to see, and it's not illusions or anything like that- it's my nature. It's harder to defend against. I can't hurt people, though, because I'm a domestic brownie. A wild one could, maybe. I've not met any. But it can't just be me- I can't get people out easily, and might not even be able to reach the locks." Samantha doesn't get any rebuke about that from Prumathe; he knows how hard she can be to see.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"Okay, uh, let me try something." Three people. She can probably do this with three people. Sekhmet closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and summons her power. She reaches into Prumathe's mind and into Samantha's, and tries to tie the links together into a little proto-hivemind, all three of them sharing their surface thoughts. A communication link of sorts. Uh, please don't be alarmed. Can you, uh, hear me?

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

Prumathe knows what to expect; Samantha doesn't, and the expression on her little rodenty face when she hears Sekhmet in her mind is pretty incredible. I hear you, Sekhmet. Do you hear me? Prumathe doesn't realise he's linked to Samantha yet, but his eyes widen as the brownie starts to speak.
"I... I heard both of you. How'd you do that? It's incredible." Samantha has never encountered a psychic before, partly because her mind is as hard to notice as she is.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

It's, uh, one of my powers. To, uh, communicate with other, uh, minds. I, uh, tied the three of us together. Sekhmet thinks. You, uh, don't have to speak aloud. Just, uh, think your responses.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

That seems useful. Are we... going to go do this, then? They might need to get changed first, wear some clothes that won't stick out too much in the Groundtown slums. Or else something that attracts a lot of attention and convinces people to give them a wide berth.
Can you hear me now? Is this working? Samantha's not sure if it is or isn't.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

I, uh, think we should. Sekhmet thinks about it. We'll, uh, need different clothes. And, uh, some rope, I think. She's in planning mode again. I'll, uh, bring Ellie along. For the whole "Pretend to sell Sekhmet into slavery" thing to work, she needs to seem like a prisoner. And Ellie's just going to be there for backup. In the meantime, she gives her best hateful glare at Prumathe, which is a bit hard, because she doesn't hate him at all. So it looks more like she's trying to look hateful than she actually hates him.

[Recaiden]

"I'm... not sure who you are, or what you want." And Arron doesn't automatically trust mysterious voices when they're associated with strange occult paraphernalia, unlike Miri.

He looks the bodies over, and touches the one on top to try and figure out how long ago it died. It doesn't have much use when dealing with skeletons, but it's a useful ability when creating fleshy undead.

It hasn't gone wrong for her yet!

You know me. But you're not sure.
Touching the first little skeleton will reveal that it died about three years ago.
What I want, what do any of us want? Things to make sense? To be out of this attic? To be alive again?
The ghost is not being very helpful.
Reach out.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

Prumathe is still not happy with this plan. Selling Sekhmet into slavery just... Seems a bad idea. She's so nervous! Which... Might help sell the idea.

"What kind of clothes do we need, to fit in to Groundtown Aethelflaed?" The ex-slave bites her lip and thinks.
"Scruffy, second-hand stuff. Don't want to look rich or important, that'll make you a target. Go barefoot if you can, dirty clothes and faces. Or else go so heavily armed that no one will dare fight you, but that'd attract attention in a way that you probably want to avoid. For both of you, make it look like you're so desperate you're selling a relative or an abductee for cash so you can pay your rent, or put food on the table. Sekhmet needs to be as shabby, otherwise someone might intervene to free Sekhmet in the hope of a reward. I guess you're doing psychic magic stuff? Let the others know how many people are with you in the girl area. They'll move you up when there's about sixty people, really cram you into the helicopter. Will you be all... that... when you go? I'd advise against it. They might send you straight up like that, the really unusual people are." Hopefully that info helps. "You can have some of Edmund's rope, if you need it. It's in his workroom." She points at another section of the cabin, where her brother stays. His living area has been turned into a workshop where he makes toys and experiments with mechanics.

Miri's House of Haunts

"I want to be safe, and left alone somewhere. Are you safe and will you let me be left alone?" It's not a great hope, given he's a necromancer. They tend to attract unwanted attention.

Nevertheless, he sighs and reaches out with his hand, hoping to make contact with the ghost. He's not done any research into spiritual manipulation yet, so this is a particularly bad idea- he has no idea what ghosts can and can't do, how to banish them, or how to control them.

[Recaiden]

Safe, yes.
Leave him alone, it's not making any promises.
Arron should feel a cold shiver run through his outstretched hand, and then all the rest of him as the ghost tries to climb into his body alongside his own spirit. Not take control of it, not yet. Just ride along.
And the one skeleton that he touched to determine his age blurs and becomes an indistinct mass of bone-colored polygons that stretch out towards him, accompanied by a small pain, as if his own bones were moving in sympathy to them.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"I, uh, can't be anything else." Sekhmet replies. "I could, uh, look different, but, uh, it wouldn't stand up to inspection." The shower would be a dead giveaway, with drops of water sliding off her invisible wings. Besides, she's worth more like this. It's a weird way to provide for her family, but it works.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"Doesn't matter, not really. You want to get out of there before you reach Skyside, don't you? So you'll be breaking out of the shop in Groundtown. It's less well defended and easier to escape from, especially because you won't need to get a shuttle or fly from the city itself. They'll just take you off Prumathe, hand him some money, and then put you in a cage with a bunch of other relatively similar people. I was with women, but humans, half-humans, elves, and orcs. You want to look the same race as the missing sister, so you can find her easier. They don't shower or check you until you go to the warehouse in Skyside, where they can actually keep you seperate to prevent the spread of disease." So looking human, or at least human-like, is probably best for Sekhmet. And not just for avoiding attention, but also evading any retribution from the Guild.

Miri's Haunted Arron

Bitey hisses as the ghost makes its home inside the apprentice necromancer, and Arron gasps and grimaces at the feeling of his bones shifting within. "...I've just done something stupid, haven't I?"

[Recaiden]

You've done something helpful. I don't mean to hurt you. Take another skeleton.
Arron is severely haunted, but just because it's dead doesn't mean this ghost knows much about necromancy.

If he does touch another little skeleton from the case, it'll dissolve into shapes and flow into his bones like the other.
(But that won't happen a third time, even if he tries it).

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"I can, uh, look human, but if someone touches me on my, uh, wings or tail, uh, it will break." To demonstrate Sekhmet spins an illusion around herself. She looks like a fairly nondescript human girl of her age now. She spreads an unseen wing and beckons for someone to touch it.

[Earl of Purple]

Miri's Haunted Arron

Arron does, gasping again as his bones reshape and adjust to accept it. "Well, I can... I guess I can live with this." He'll leave, heading back downstairs so he can tell Miri what happened.

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

Prumathe reaches out and touches the wing, breaking the illusion. Aethelflaed has an idea. "Don't look human, just look human-enough. If you can't wrap your wings tight about you so nobody touches them, make them look smaller and non-functional. Same with the tail." They won't have anywhere specifically for Sekhmets, because they won't have any yet. So she'll be put with the other human-sized ladies, at least hopefully.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"I, uh, can try that, but, uh, touching the, uh, hidden bits will still break the illusion." Sekhmet makes a new illusion, this time with stunted wings and tail. "How do I look?"

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"What if I touch you... here." Prumathe reaches out to stroke Sekhmet's cheek, rather than touch somewhere that isn't as closely linked to the illusion. If that breaks the illusion, it's probably better not to go in with one, since there's no way to prevent people from touching her, especially once she's sold. Gods, that feels uncomfortable in Prumathe's mind.

[Recaiden]

That's quite responsible of him. The dramatic thing to do would be to keep the ghost incident a secret while trying to get it under control.

The ghost continues its whispering, though now only Arron can hear it.
They will be of more use to us in time. Life commands flesh and bone only weakly, compared to what you can do.

Miri is piling trash into bags, currently in the kitchen.
"Did you find anything, Arron? I admit there are things I don't remember about the place. Heh."

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

Sekhmet giggles at Prumathe's touch, but the illusion doesn't break. ""I, uh, think this will work, but, uh, I'm not certain." She still thinks it might be better to sell her undisguised, but she's not sure. Wow, that's an uncomfortable thought, being sold. If she wasn't in on it to trick slavers, it would be horrifying. She has to do what she can to help those poor people who were captured.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"I hope so. This is a really bad plan." The problem is Sekhmet is exotic and unusual enough she might just be shipped straight up to processing to get sent to Skyside proper.

Miri's Haunted Arron

"There's a load of bones in the attic, and there was a ghost. Now... it's in me, I think. I don't know what to do about it. Said stuff about life? But... I'm a necromancer. I don't do anything with life." Arron is a little confused about that, honestly.

[bc56]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

"It's, uh, the only plan we have." Sekhmet doesn't like it either. If they mess this up, she could spend the rest of her life in slavery. Although it's likely her mother would find her before she died, maybe even be the one to purchase her.

[Recaiden]

The living can do things the dead cannot. the ghost reminds him.

"A ghost? Here?"
Miri pauses and tries to reach out to Arron's memories of what happened, and to the ghost's as well.

Amazing! Bring her to the attic. the spirit demands.

[Gnrlshrimp]

Felix's Tower

Krayger brushes off the teasing. A magic fluid still has properties like a chemical. Even if a scientist wouldn't accept it in their lab.
"Well, I can stay here for a long haul. I don't have anywhere to be at the moment. What's our first step, then?" asks the larger of the two mages as he peers over the cauldron.

[Felix's Tower]

Felix grins, turns and fetches a particularly heavy-looking tome from a shelf. He thumps it down on the desk with a degree of satisfaction. Oh dear, it looks even worse than the one on golemancy!

"Now then, we're currently, ah, here!" He flips through pages, stopping on a particular one that appears to be about two pages deep in a ten page recipe. "I've prepared the base, and now we've got to properly infuse and stabilise it, prior to adding in the phoenix feathers. Being creatures of flame, phoenixes' feathers can also be components in a number of quite explosive concoctions, so our work at the moment is making sure that the whole thing doesn't go boom when we add them in."

[Deathkeeper]

[Felix's Tower]

Krayger goes to peer over the wizard's shoulder at the book. Luckily Krayger is very tall so this is easy.
"Alright, so how's the stabilization work? Runes on the ingredients, or the pot? Chanting, the usual sort of thing?" Krayger isn't being dismissive runes and chanting was entirely how they made the golem work.

[Earl of Purple]

Not Sekhmet's Cabin

Then it's probably time for Sekhmet and Prumathe to get changed, and get ready to go to Skyside.

Miri's Haunted Arron

Arron does as Miri suggests and puts the memories in the forefront of his mind, where she can see them easily. "Um, it wants you upstairs in the attic. I'm not sure why. Can you tell me why?" If the ghost does tell him why it wants Miri in the attic, Arron will tell Miri the reason, too.

[Recaiden]

"Oh, that rat-killing spell could be very useful. Clear out the rest of this place later on."
You are still mostly human. it says, perhaps not helpfully. This will be faster.

"I should know about those bones, but it's one of the memories that are completely gone. The ghost, all I can see is it remembers waiting, and it knows me."
Which is creepy, but looking at Arron's mind confirms it isn't doing anything awful to him.

[Earl of Purple]

Miri's Haunted Arron

"You'd need to be outside for it. It works through speeding time's deleterious effects. Won't kill people, exactly, but it would make you older." And therefore bring you closer to old age. The same thing that Benedict was trying desperately to escape. "Does it know anything about you that you don't already know?" Arron will lead Miri upstairs to the bones, to show them to her.

[Recaiden]

Probably doesn't make people grow up faster, though. Just age.
Still, staying outside for several minutes is a small price to pay for getting rid of rats.

"Yes, I've seen a few things already. It must have known me when I was last alive, here."
The ghost says nothing, but a feeling of anticipation is hard to not notice.
Very curious, Miri follows Arron upstairs, and reaches out to one of the skeletons. It seems she still has a bad case of trusting mysterious occult paraphernalia.
If nothing interrupts her, the skeleton breaks down like the others, the ghost rushes out of Arron's body and towards Miri's, and her shape blurs and shifts as the drawers fly open of their own accord, all of the bones whirling out of it.

When it settles down, Miri looks a bit different. Taller, less starving-thing, pointier ears, more points to her antlers.
"Yeah, it knew a lot about me. I wasn't alone here that night I died."
If her voice sounds different at the start, that's clearly disorientation from getting a lot of memories from a ghost, and not because the ghost had taken over and took a moment to get used to this body.