MERC XIX: Toss a Coin to your Goblin

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

Rose can rest easy that the I did came after the mention of flowers and not before it. So if Raven has burned down a series of Magdonalds, she's not confessing to the crime electronically! T-though Rose might want to check the news, just in case, for serial arson cases.

Rose's interest on the project over why Raven was packing, is not lost on the Evil Empress, but she could hardly blame Rose for her curiosity. Everything Raven does is both exquisite and fascinating.

KittyQueen is typing...

<KittyQueen> It's a surprise.
<KittyQueen> And not finished.
<KittyQueen> But it involves great things for your friend Bruce.

Guess that's supposed to be the hint. If it's just an upgrade for Bruce, that's probably not as bad as Rose is imagining.

KittyQueen is typing...

<KittyQueen> ... Are you in Skyside?
<KittyQueen> Am I going to find you just outside, waiting to surprise me in your lingerie~?
<KittyQueen> That'd be nice.
<KittyQueen> Or are you talking airplane or something?

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

<cakeeater68> did u look just now? im guessing u looked just now :p
<cakeeater68> but nah, im staying out of skyside for a while. there's not a whole lot there i like too much
<cakeeater68> no points for guessing who the exception is haha

Rose briefly stops typing to flick open her phone's gallery, where she has a number of saucy pictures all ready to go. It pays to prepare in advance; she never knows when she's going to end up sexting a mark from an inconvenient location.

<cakeeater68> so bruce is getting an upgrade huh? good for him. i think the guys earned his kickass saw arm ur giving him
<cakeeater68> oops
<cakeeater68> that was almost another hint and i havent paid for the first one. silly me xD
<cakeeater68> since u mentioned lingerie, i think u might like this one. saw it, immediately thought of you <3

cakeeater68 posted media. Tap to download.

Rose will let that sit for a while before responding further. Interrupting someone in the middle of oggling to pick their brain about mechazombies is just rude.

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

KittyQueen is typing...

<KittyQueen> I can't look.
<KittyQueen> The windows here are dark.
<KittyQueen> Almost as dark as my soul.

Oh yeah, all her windows are covered in black paint. Makes it difficult to look out or in. But it's necessary because she's Evil. Matching aesthetics is key to making Evil work. Without it, everything would fall apart.

After Rose sends her picture, there's a good length of time before she gets a reply. Perhaps Raven had to find something to stop her nosebleed.

KittyQueen is typing...

<KittyQueen> We should facetime.

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

cakeeater68 is typing...

<cakeeater68> thatd be a little one-sided, wouldn't it? wheres the fun in facetime if i dont get to see your pretty little smile and/or pout huh?
<cakeeater68> we'd just get like

cakeeater68 posted media. Tap to download.

The picture that follows is Rose's ten-second sketch of how she imagines that conversation going; her (represented by what appears to be a gingerbread woman) on one side, and a scribbled black blob on the other, with a pair of erased spaces that vaguely hint at eyes.

cakeeater68 is typing...

<cakeeater68> i mean, kudos for leaving something to the imagination, but theres such a thing as too little haha
<cakeeater68> i cant just look at that and think "well she might be naked in there"
<cakeeater68> i mean, i can
<cakeeater68> but i probably wouldn't
<cakeeater68> u cant prove i am anyway ;p

<cakeeater68> we can just regular call tho
<cakeeater68> if u want
<cakeeater68> I miss the sound of your voice. :(

There's still some risk to that, of course. She's still in the infirmary, and there are going to be background sounds that hint at that; patients moaning, life support monitors beeping, the sounds of people being rushed in and checked out, thaf sort of thing. But at least her phone can filter that out without it seeming suspicious; if she facetimed and most of her display is blurred, it'll look extremely weird.

[Murkus]

[Dena's Office]

"You two don't have to talk to me like I'm a damn kid. I know why you're doing this and I know you don't want one." The angel huffs, twilight colors rolling along the metal of her skin. "That doesn't make it any less... messed up."

"That's gonna be a person, Dena." Her face twists up a little squeamishly. "...Are you making sure they're going to someone good, at least?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena's Office]

Dena raises her eyebrows, not having expected such a strong reaction from Tina. "...well, she seems eager enough to have the child. She's a freaking dragon though so I can't gauge how people-like she is mentally as I've only seen her disguised as a human." She glances at Kirk. "But she seems alright and its a child. No matter how messed up a species we're all hardwired to take care of 'em, right? I'm sure it will be just fine."

[Gullara]

[Dena's Office]

"Generally people are capable of popping out kids any old time, so who says she shouldn't get the same level of scrutiny." Kirk shrugs. "She doesn't present herself as a total monster. Seems good enough for me."

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

It takes a moment before Raven starts typing again, having been stunned.

KittyQueen is typing...

<KittyQueen> What?
<KittyQueen> It wouldn't be one way.

Maybe stunned is the wrong word. Genuinely confused is the better term. Did Rose think Raven's phone only capable of receiving video and not sending it? Or... no she has no idea what Rose is on about. Maybe Rose was drunk. Rose was extremely ready to show off her body seconds ago and now she's... well being coy about it? There was a lot of things about Rose that didn't add up.

KittyQueen is typing...

<KittyQueen> Alright.

Well she doesn't have time to figure out her girlfriend's eccentricities at the moment and acquiesces to a normal call, phoning Rose. She'll have to get her filters into place quickly. When Rose does pick up, she'll hear a lot of background shuffling on Raven's end. Probably hanging out with the mecha-zombies. They just usually don't move around so much, if at all. "Hey there. You ok?" There's a touch of concern in Raven's voice, still uncertain about a lot of things.

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

"Hiiiiiiiiii~♡" Rose replies airily, the greeting breaking up into a way-too-easily-amused series of giggles. "Yeah yeah, I'm totally fine. Are you fine? You sound kinda red. Dark red, sort of simmering, you know? Like a kettle on the back burner." There's a crackle of static on Rose's end that sounds like it might have been her attempt at a whistle, but which isn't playing nice with her phone's reciever. It cuts off abruptly as she turns the noise filters on, since static is exactly the sort of thing they're supposed to remove. "There we go, that's better. Where was I? Oh, right. Did I make you mad? I don't want to have made you mad. I feel like you're mad too much and I don't want to be a reason why, you know?"

[Meowmai]

Spoiler

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Perfected Psychic Pummeling

When Magtok finally drops to his knees, there's a moment where he's not sure if it's because of Pania's voice or exhaustion finally causing his legs to give out. Getting thrown around like a ragdoll so many times takes a lot out of you, even when you do your best to brace for it each time. If his pride hadn't gotten in the way, maybe he would've asked to swap in Reina to take some of the telekinetic attacks in his place. Maybe there wouldn't be a Magtok-shaped impression in the training room mats if he had. Blugh, and maybe his head wouldn't be ringing like someone stuffed an entire church bell inside his skull.

"Oh ****," he murmurs, half to himself. He was starting to wonder if this was ever going to work, if Pania's flavor of psychic weirdness was just incompatible with what he wanted to achieve. There was never any guarantee, really. I mean, I don't think DC was ever capable of this sort of thing, was he? He blinks a few times as he tries to push himself back up, which takes two attempts before he can finally get back on his feet. Weird how the hostile, intrusive thought lingers like that even when he knows it's not his.

"I think...I think you did it, Pania. Whew. Alright, step one complete!" he exclaims tiredly. He's pretty sure this is the first and only time he'll ever be happy to be forced to kneel to someone else. Gods know it sure as heck isn't happening ever again, either. Just the thought is enough to make our cyborg's stomach turn, ick.

Spoiler

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[Kneeling Killer Kitten]

Reina claps her hands together once, just to draw their attention. Not an applause, even if she did feel like giving Pania some praise for tossing Magtok around so much. Still, she winces as she does so. Her head doesn't hurt as much as theirs' perhaps, but she's gotten a headache just from kneeling down and passively resisting from over here as she watches. Perhaps the sweat lining her brow indicates how much she has been secretly fighting too.

But now she stands back up, thankful her legs can stretch. "That's more than enough for today. I think we all need to stop and kneel," Reina says.

There is zero psychic compulsion behind the word, but given the training they just went through, Reina's concerned about the psychological response to the word now. If Pania and Magtok have been conditioned to react a certain way like Pavlov's dog without even knowing it. If muscle memory kicks in and they immediately either kneel or fight the compulsion. Because if that happens, then there's definitely been some unintended consequences.

And if it doesn't, great! That's one little test completed that was probably completely unnecessary and Reina will blow off as a joke. "Haha, sorry. Just checking to see if I spontaneously developed psychic powers. Anyways, for real though. We should break here, figure out step two, and come back in a few days. Sound good?" If every day can't be leg day, then every day can't be brain day either.

[Excruciatingly Exhausted Euphoria]

It worked. It worked! A strange smile came to Pania's face, and she laughed- a raspy, breathless laugh. Everything was agony but at the same time, her body was tingling with incredible power. It was... almost intoxicating. If she could do this, what else could she do? How much further could she push it? Just what things could she do to her enemies? "... Yes. Yes, I did it. Hah."

Reina's little test seemed to have no effect on Pania, thankfully, but as the psion turned to face her Reina would almost certainly notice that Pania wasn't holding up so well. Her whole body was shaking, swaying, her breathing was ragged... and then she stumbled backwards, almost collapsing. She pushed herself on the wall to hold herself up, and that kinda helped. She didn't collapse. But she did slowly slide down the wall till she was sitting, barely propped up against it. "[Shoot]" she mumbled. Maybe she had pushed herself further than she realised. Finally letting go of her pride, she looked up. A days break... might be good."

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

"You don't sound fine. Have you been sniffing paint?" Raven understands that sometimes fumes get to people. She lives in a body shop that specializes in painting everything black. With zombies. She's a medical mystery, Raven.

She goes quiet for a moment as Rose continues to press on the obvious issue. "I don't know. Maybe," Raven admits. She's been fighting to give Rose the space she requires, but it's been an exceptionally difficult fight, fraught with doubts and a barely quenchable desire to zombify her girlfriend so Rose can't disappear like this ever again. But Raven's been trying! "Your letter was very sudden and very vague. If you can't visit here, then maybe I should be the one visiting you instead. Where'd you go? Where are you now?" Raven asks.

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

"Just some bad fish. I'm fiiiiiiiine." Rose snickers. "Top of the world even. Woooooo!"

Well. That'll earn her some stares.

"Hee hee... heh..." Rose's laughter peeters off as she switches back to the more serious subject. "I'm... um..." She begins, wetting her suddenly-dry lips nervously. "...I'm not going to tell you." She says finally. Even with as elated as she is from the goblin spice, Raven will be able to hear the subject drag her mood down in seconds. "I like you, Raven, but... but you scared me. We came this close to disaster, the worst kind, and it's not realistic to expect me to bounce back from that immediately and just pretend everything's fine. Once stabbed, twice shy, you know?"

Her voice is shaking slightly, and picking up its pace, so she can say what needs to be said before Raven interrupts. "I still love you. I still want to make it work. But I can't be that close to you... you know, physically. Not yet. But I'm going to do everything else I can. I'll call every night. I'll write if I can't call. And don't expect those are going to be the last flowers you'll ever find on your doorstep. If you need to vent or anything, you can always call or text me. And, um..." She glances around and puts her hand over her mouth and the reciever, so nobody will hear this next part. "If you're really aching for it, we can arrange something with a hotel. Come alone, no weapons, and I'll work a little magic with you. Still your girlfriend, you know." There's a sort of matter-of-factness to her tone here; she's not flirting, she's genuinely trying to sift through the logistics of a conjugal visit with someone who can't be trusted with sharp objects.

Rose awaits a reply anxiously, to the point where she's momentarily forgotten to breathe. That can't be bad for her health at all.

[Murkus]

[Dena's Office]

Dena raises her eyebrows, not having expected such a strong reaction from Tina. "...well, she seems eager enough to have the child. She's a freaking dragon though so I can't gauge how people-like she is mentally as I've only seen her disguised as a human." She glances at Kirk. "But she seems alright and its a child. No matter how messed up a species we're all hardwired to take care of 'em, right? I'm sure it will be just fine."

[Dena's Office]

"Generally people are capable of popping out kids any old time, so who says she shouldn't get the same level of scrutiny." Kirk shrugs. "She doesn't present herself as a total monster. Seems good enough for me."

[Dena's Office]

"What?! What if she just wants to have the kid for lunch? This is good enough for you two?" Fettina crosses her arms with a clank and a huff, scowling first at Kirk and then at Dena. "You two work for MERC and you can't even be bothered to do a basic background check? Or even a little, I don't know, reconnaissance?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Dena's Office]

Dena crosses her arms over her chest as well and shakes her head. "Of course I've done that, Tina. It's just that she just arrived in the nexus just a few years ago and haven't really done anything of note besides traveling around talking to people for scholarly reasons as far as I can tell. But even as little information that's available I'm pretty sure I don't have all of it. She's mysterious our patron. Though that's to be expected for a dragon pretending to be a human. I've asked all sort of questions though so I'm certain she's not going to eat the kid for lunch. Way to be macabre by the way. There's only so much I can do with someone that's keeping everything about themselves under wraps like that."

She pulls out one of her drawers. "That being said... this is all the information I got out of her when we talked if you're interested. It's all confirmed by her father but he's not exactly trustworthy and have a bias so that's not saying much." Dena shrugs as she places the file on her desk in case Tina wants to read through it. "It isn't really thrilling reading. The most interesting I got from her was the reason for wanting a child, to repopulate her race."

[Gullara]

[Dena's Office]

"We did all the digging there is to be done. It doesn't seem like she told us anything that didn't hold up to scrutiny. She wants a kid for the same reason anyone else does. It's not my business past that." Kirk adds, but lets Dena do most of the talking.

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

If the mood was going to be dragged down, Rose shouldn't have brought it up! Just how Rose is bringing up disasters and how she's not fine and that Raven scared her.

What?

What was there to be scared about? No one who ever got turned into a mecha-zombie ever had any complaints after the fact. They did always scream at first. Was that what Rose was talking about? Ohhh... Raven thinks she gets it. They're afraid of the unknown. Of the fact they don't understand how much better it is to be a mecha-zombie. Ignorance was somewhat terrifying that way. Raven was once terrified too, but she took the plunge and put herself under the knife and fixed herself and now she doesn't feel that fear anymore. Things were better! Rose would understand someday.

Raven even starts to ask about it because it confused her greatly when Rose said she was scared, but Rose continued on, needing to say what she needed to say and Raven left it unsaid. Maybe... it doesn't matter. After all, Rose still... loved her. And that's all that mattered isn't it? Love. With it, they could accomplish anything. Together. Forever.

Once a week at a hotel.

Raven chews her lip. Is that really enough for soulmates like Rose and Raven? She... must admit that her evil schemes have advanced considerably since they've gotten a little space. That's all this was. A little space for Raven to be Raven and Rose to be Rose until the two were united by destiny and finally admitting that their feelings can't be contained any longer. These kind of things need build up, just like any proper villainous plot. The catgirl was overthinking things. It could be... better this way, when things finally culminated.

"Alright Rose. We can do it your way," Raven says with an implied 'for now' in there somewhere. It's pretty light though. "Might want to hold back on sending flowers though. I don't know how long I'm going to be staying at a place with a physical address." Raven would hate for Rose to be wasting such beautiful plants on a dead store.

"Is that why you called? Do you need me to meet you at a hotel?" Raven acts like she's doing Rose a favor, but Rose can probably sniff out the hope creeping into Raven's voice.

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

Rose can smell desperation from a hundred miles away. Which is fortunate, because that's the sort of physical distance between them at the moment. Just as fortunate, that's the sort of reaction she'd be looking for, professionally speaking.

"Well." Rose begins, that aetherial lilt creeping back into her voice. "'Need' is a strong word. But, um... near trachectomy aside, you put on an impressive performance last time." She adopts a sort of sing-song tone, giggling intermittently. "May or may not be thinking about an encore~" She teases. "If you want to get together so soon, there are a few places down in Inside that look appealing."

Because there's no way she's doing that in Skyside. The hotels there would probably film them. Which on top of being creepy, sort of played havok with the more clandestine parts of her job.

"But before we get into that... did I understand you right? You're going mobile?" Rose asks, rapidly developing an interest in this information. If Raven's gathered sufficient materials to develop a mobile base, particularly of the sort that no longer requires her cover as a humble body shop owner, then Rose's boss is going to want to know, probably. And she's going to have to be even more careful about letting Raven know where she goes when they're not mashing bodies; the last thing she needs is to bring a flying fortress or a mecha-tank or something down on MERC.

Rose takes a quiet sigh. Don't be ridiculous. Knowing Raven, it could just as easily be a creepy black van and this represents a downgrade if anything.

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

Desperation is an equally strong word. Interest is the one Rose is looking for. Which presumably was the exact thing she was trying to stoke by sending Raven lascivious pictures to begin with.

"Ah, no thanks. I definitely don't have time to go all the way to Inside today and this was sort of a now or never sort of deal. For the foreseeable future anyways," Raven explains. There's a hint of disappointment on her voice, but she hadn't expected to hear from Rose anyways so she didn't have any particular expectations or strong desires.

"Mobile... hmm, there's an idea. But no, I meant literally places with no physical mailing address. I've received a letter of challenge from a hero!" Her voice grows excited and animated, more so even than when she was with Rose. "They promised to stop my villainy and are going to arrive tomorrow to in their words 'take me down'. Ahhhn~" Raven is definitely wiggling in place, Rose can tell from through the phone.

"So I need to clear out some of the important stuff, make room for a solid fight, set up the sound speakers, sequester away 2/3rds of my mecha-zombies to keep them safe. You know, the basics. This place... isn't great, but for a season 1 introductory fight between sworn me and my sworn nemesis, it'll suffice. Probably going to get wrecked though. And there's a 95% chance I'll have to make my escape and abandon the body shop entirely. I guess I could use the hidden upstairs elevator in my room, but I really don't want to fight up there so I'm probably just going to have a van on standby. I might even leap dramatically through a window to land on it. What do you think? Or should I use my helicopter umbrella? I don't really like flying high in Skyside cause the air gets too thin if you go even higher than we already are. But it is super flashy. Hmmm... it just depends on the kind of hero that shows up I suppose. All I know so far is that it was signed by 'L'. Is that their superhero name? L? Do we use letters now for that kind of thing? Are you familiar with an L?"

Raven takes a breath.

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

Rose smirks and shakes her head. Ah, Raven. Of course she'd be the type to find a good hero-villain struggle to be more appealing than sex. Rose can't exactly fault her for that; there's a lot in life that's more important than quasi-reproductive activities.

"L? Can't say I have, unless you've gotten your hands on a shinigami's notebook or something." Rose replies, making a nerdy reference nobody on her homeworld would have understood for the past eighty years or so. "Sounds like a no-name to me. But hey, at least that means you'll get them all to yourself." She taps her finger to her chin in thought. "Now, if it were me, I'd hold back the flashy stuff for that first encounter. You're just getting started, you don't want to scare them off. Keep it simple but engaging. When you two have your second and third da-battles, that's when you pull out the big guns and really blow them away. Maybe make a point of getting personally involved in this hero's civilian life somehow, too. Make it personal. Not necessarily in an evil way, but just, like, so they have good reason to want you. To fight you, I mean." Rose giggles. "I'm looking forward to seeing how this all plays out. If there's one thing I've seen Raven Ebondark can do well, it's set up a good climax."

Now Rose sort of regrets not facetiming her. Raven's missing all the wink-wink-nudge-nudging.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hope For Babies]

Sophie breathes out, managing to keep composed even if the suggestion takes her off-guard. It's a reasonable one, she has to admit. Even if she'd rather not rely on it now.

"I think I'm fine without one. Unless you'd prefer we used it, dear." If it helps Trick, she'll go for it.

[Hope For Babies]

"I'm fine without. This wouldn't be the first time I've done a carnal ritual," Trick says bluntly, though that isn't something she's actually told Sophie before.

[Hope For Babies]

It certainly wouldn't be Astrana's first time either but in her experience even some of the most senior warlocks could at times use help in that department. Especially if they were particularly senior.

"Alright, but in case you change your mind I'll have some on stand by. Just in case." Astrana gestures towards the rightmost cabinet in the room. "But in that case, feel free to arrange things to your liking." She now motions towards the bed. "As you can see I've already set something up. You're actually the first one's trying out this particular bed as I recently bought it as an upgrade from the previous one." The warlock smiles mysteriously. "If you can believe it, that one broke down." But she's not going to comment on that as she had to maintain her clients privacy.

Finally, Astrana gesticulates to herself. "Anyway, my role will be to perform a ritual outside the circle which will require me to move but not to speak. At least not during your part of the ritual. So is there anything you want me to consider while you engage in this? I've done this before so I'm used to it but its not often my clients are." The tiefling nods to Trick. "You being the only exception so far actually."

[Morty]

[Hope For Babies]

And there's another thing about the love of her life that Sophie didn't know ten minutes ago. Let's just move on from it. She breathes out.

"I think I'll let you and Trick take the lead on this. I'll focus on bargaining with the spirit when you summon it."

[Lord Magtok]

Feigning Physical Fortitude

Spoiler

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[Excruciatingly Exhausted Euphoria]

It worked. It worked! A strange smile came to Pania's face, and she laughed- a raspy, breathless laugh. Everything was agony but at the same time, her body was tingling with incredible power. It was... almost intoxicating. If she could do this, what else could she do? How much further could she push it? Just what things could she do to her enemies? "... Yes. Yes, I did it. Hah."

Reina's little test seemed to have no effect on Pania, thankfully, but as the psion turned to face her Reina would almost certainly notice that Pania wasn't holding up so well. Her whole body was shaking, swaying, her breathing was ragged... and then she stumbled backwards, almost collapsing. She pushed herself on the wall to hold herself up, and that kinda helped. She didn't collapse. But she did slowly slide down the wall till she was sitting, barely propped up against it. "[Shoot]" she mumbled. Maybe she had pushed herself further than she realised. Finally letting go of her pride, she looked up. A days break... might be good."

Magtok takes extra care to keep his shaky legs upright, lest Reina think for even a moment that her words have a hypnotic grip on his subconscious. It’s odious enough just to allow a burgeoning psychic talent this level of power over us; no mere secretary is going to be giving Lord Magtok orders. Pania only gets a pass because the fate of the entire Magtok Clone-o-matic Universe might be at stake, and even then, it’s a pass with strict rules and limitations that will kick in the second it seems like she might be getting too powerful or proud. A psychic who can follow instructions is fine, but if she starts thinking she's smart or cool or important enough to start making up her own, well, that's how we get people like Magtok Prime...

“Fine, fine, you're right, we’ll call it here. For Pania's sake,” his bruised ego insists with a weary sigh, as if he were doing her a tremendous favor by acquiescing to this halt for the day, even though he's spent the better part of the afternoon as a human crash test dummy and has to blink a few times to clear his vision. Maybe we should've worn some sort of padded helmet or armor or something. It would certainly have made it a lot easier to sell the lie that we're in much better state than her right now.

"Pania, do you need Reina to give you a hand?" the cyborg asks, volunteering the catgirl for a mission he could totally do on his own without falling over on his face, but is generously offering to Reina so she can feel helpful and involved.

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

"Babe," Raven says in that tone where she's clearly going to be saying something she thought was self evident and never needed saying.

"I've been preparing to fight heroes all my life. I've got this." Maybe not all her life, but probably pretty close. Were her parents training her in the ways of Evil? Hard to say based on how horribly inconsistent she is about them.

Still Rose's advice is relatively on point and Raven can appreciate that she understands the finer aspects of villain versus hero. "I'll try to get a half-decent clip montage of everything to you, but I don't know how rough they're going to be on the Mecha-zombies yet so I can't say how much footage will survive." Raven says, missing all the innuendos entirely. Guess understanding each other's trade is a one way street at the moment.

[Rescue Cat]

"Alright alright." Reina says, moving to them both as apparently the only person still fit to move. "Cooldown period. Can't just stay still. Gotta walk it off after an intense workout, not crash." Reina starts by handing them both bottles of water.

Then she'll go to retrieve Pania and help her up if possible, letting the psychic use Reina's shoulder and helping her walk over to Magtok. Whose arm she also grabs and tosses over her shoulder so they're both leaning on her. It's gross and personal but she suspects they're both too tired to care or protest. "Slow sips. Let's just walk to Pania's room. That should be far enough." Reina says as she starts to walk that way with slow steps, half carrying two people. Two very sweaty people.

Uggghhhh.

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

Rose's hand goes over her mouth as she represses the urge to let out an evil laugh. Raven's just sending her important combat data. Which will then find its way straight into Dipsnig's inbox. That was a mark of a good seduction: self-reporting villains.

Oh, wait. Raven would probably find the laugh endearing. Well, then.

Rose throws back her head and lets out the most full-throated diabolical laugh she can manage. "AH-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Wow. She can see why Raven likes the evil life so much. That stuff's fun.

Rose lets the laugh die away into a giggle and tries to ignore the stares of the patients around here. "I mean, yes, that'd be great." She grins audibly. "You'll call me when you're done, right? I mean, just so I know you're all right. I'm sure you've got this all well in hand, but... well, still gonna worry, you know?"

[Reinholdt]

[Something Spicy]

Rose will get to learn a lot about how Mina operates, certainly. Maybe she can dissect it further into something useful for Raven to use.

Still, Raven's pretty sure that's not an evil laugh moment. "Ooohhhkay..." Rose very clearly has a lot left to learn about the path of evil. Wasting her evil laughs at inopportune moments diminishes the power of those laughs when utilized at pivotal plot points!

"Maybe. Might not have signal. When a villain runs away they really have to disappear and all. I'll try." No promises.

[Meowmai]

Spoiler

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Feigning Physical Fortitude

Magtok takes extra care to keep his shaky legs upright, lest Reina think for even a moment that her words have a hypnotic grip on his subconscious. It’s odious enough just to allow a burgeoning psychic talent this level of power over us; no mere secretary is going to be giving Lord Magtok orders. Pania only gets a pass because the fate of the entire Magtok Clone-o-matic Universe might be at stake, and even then, it’s a pass with strict rules and limitations that will kick in the second it seems like she might be getting too powerful or proud. A psychic who can follow instructions is fine, but if she starts thinking she's smart or cool or important enough to start making up her own, well, that's how we get people like Magtok Prime...

“Fine, fine, you're right, we’ll call it here. For Pania's sake,” his bruised ego insists with a weary sigh, as if he were doing her a tremendous favor by acquiescing to this halt for the day, even though he's spent the better part of the afternoon as a human crash test dummy and has to blink a few times to clear his vision. Maybe we should've worn some sort of padded helmet or armor or something. It would certainly have made it a lot easier to sell the lie that we're in much better state than her right now.

"Pania, do you need Reina to give you a hand?" the cyborg asks, volunteering the catgirl for a mission he could totally do on his own without falling over on his face, but is generously offering to Reina so she can feel helpful and involved.

[Rescue Cat]

"Alright alright." Reina says, moving to them both as apparently the only person still fit to move. "Cooldown period. Can't just stay still. Gotta walk it off after an intense workout, not crash." Reina starts by handing them both bottles of water.

Then she'll go to retrieve Pania and help her up if possible, letting the psychic use Reina's shoulder and helping her walk over to Magtok. Whose arm she also grabs and tosses over her shoulder so they're both leaning on her. It's gross and personal but she suspects they're both too tired to care or protest. "Slow sips. Let's just walk to Pania's room. That should be far enough." Reina says as she starts to walk that way with slow steps, half carrying two people. Two very sweaty people.

Uggghhhh.

[Horrible Hobble Home]

Pania is grateful for the water, sipping at it and letting it ease her parched throat. She probably shoulda drunk more water throughout the whole training session but she kinda got carried away. She did bristle at the 'for Pania's sake' comment, but at this point she didn't bother fighting it. She had already slumped over down a wall, not much point in trying to conserve what remains of her pride in front of these two. That ship had well sailed. Still, she hated appearing vulnerable like this. Letting others see your weaknesses was just asking for trouble.

Regardless of how she felt about showing her vulnerabilities, she wasn't gonna turn down the help of Reina when offered. She pulls herself up with the catgirl's help, waited as she did the same for the cyborg, before awkwardly beginning their hobble back to her room. "Thanks." she said to Reina, quite brusquely. Seems that maybe politeness and displaying gratitude isn't the psychic's strong point. She did mean it though.

[Ironsmith]

[Something Spicy]

Rose will get to learn a lot about how Mina operates, certainly. Maybe she can dissect it further into something useful for Raven to use.

Still, Raven's pretty sure that's not an evil laugh moment. "Ooohhhkay..." Rose very clearly has a lot left to learn about the path of evil. Wasting her evil laughs at inopportune moments diminishes the power of those laughs when utilized at pivotal plot points!

"Maybe. Might not have signal. When a villain runs away they really have to disappear and all. I'll try." No promises.

[Something Spicy]

"Too much? Too much." Rose concedes with a little smile. "Okay, okay. If it helps at all, when you're done, we can make arrangements. You know, so you can hide but also still celebrate." She grins. "I don't think a hero based in Skyside is going to know to look for you in Inside or Riverside. Especially not if you're staying somewhere that has no prior connection to Raven Ebondark or the Black Abyss Body Shop." Rose shrugs. "You know, if you want. Still rich. Could buy a nice little house somewhere for you to stay at while the heat's on."

Which is a step or two above flowers. Apparently when Rose means to imply money is no object, she's not joking around.

[Halae]

[Hope For Babies]

It certainly wouldn't be Astrana's first time either but in her experience even some of the most senior warlocks could at times use help in that department. Especially if they were particularly senior.

"Alright, but in case you change your mind I'll have some on stand by. Just in case." Astrana gestures towards the rightmost cabinet in the room. "But in that case, feel free to arrange things to your liking." She now motions towards the bed. "As you can see I've already set something up. You're actually the first one's trying out this particular bed as I recently bought it as an upgrade from the previous one." The warlock smiles mysteriously. "If you can believe it, that one broke down." But she's not going to comment on that as she had to maintain her clients privacy.

Finally, Astrana gesticulates to herself. "Anyway, my role will be to perform a ritual outside the circle which will require me to move but not to speak. At least not during your part of the ritual. So is there anything you want me to consider while you engage in this? I've done this before so I'm used to it but its not often my clients are." The tiefling nods to Trick. "You being the only exception so far actually."

[Hope For Babies]

And there's another thing about the love of her life that Sophie didn't know ten minutes ago. Let's just move on from it. She breathes out.

"I think I'll let you and Trick take the lead on this. I'll focus on bargaining with the spirit when you summon it."

[Hope For Babies]

Trick gives Sophie an apologetic look. It's not like she was hiding it, it just never came up; Trick hasn't gone into the details of most of the rituals she's performed!

"I'm more of a devil summoner. Astrana, you're more familiar with animal spirits; I can provide my power, but you'll have to be the one to summon the spirit. Let's get started."

[Shadowcaller]

[Hope For Babies]

Astrana raises her index finger as she looks down at her notes. "Erm, there was one last thing I wanted to ask you. Since this is a situation that often can feel awkward for a lot of couples I want to try to put you as ease as much as possible. So is there anything I can do in that department?" The tiefling looks between the two.

"Like music, perfume... there have actually been a few couples which have requested me to be naked to as to make the situation feel less stiff and formal. Why I mention that is that I don't care how strange your requests might seem. Whatever works for you works and I have no business judging that. So don't be afraid to make suggestions and I will try to accommodate them in any way I can."

[Morty]

[Hope For Babies]

Sophie isn't sure how Astrana being naked would help. But she assumes it must have helped those other couples. Everyone's approach to sex is different. And she does appreciate Astrana being able to go that far to help her clients.

"Some music won't hurt, I suppose. But nothing more drastic. It will be awkward, one way or the other. We'll just have to deal with it for the sake of our family."