MERC XIX: Toss a Coin to your Goblin

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

"So... kinda like one of those dreams where you think you've gotten up and gone through your routine, maybe did something you've been putting off, and then have it spoiled by your alarm clock telling you you're still asleep?" Siana asks. "Those are annoying."

It was a good thing she already had a pretext for looking annoyed, really. The fact that Reina didn't believe her, or more specifically, thought she was pranking her, didn't exactly sit well. Putting aside the implication that she would actively lie to Reina (as opposed to slightly stretch the truth, at worst), much less commit such a flagrant abuse of trust for her own amusement, it sort of begged the question of why she would bother being honest if she wouldn't be believed.

...Not that she was going to stop, mind. She just found that obnoxious.

[Halae]

[Hope For Babies]

Trick crosses her arms as she considers that, "And you've tested this before? What sort of lingering side-effects are there?"

[Morty]

[Hope for Babies]

Did Astrana use some of the same rituals to give birth to her daughters? Given that four of them were quadruplets and one was born with snakes for hair, it's a distinct possibility.

"Both to me and to the child," she says. Seems she would be taking on the role of being guided in this plan.

[Reinholdt]

[Astrana's Office]

"No... I... that..." This was just too illogical. Though Reina does have to physically cover Siana's ears for a moment as she addresses Astrana. "Inside me, really?" She releases Siana and pinches her nose.

"I need a drink. And... a moment." Reina sits down, closing her eyes for a second and breathing deep.

When she opens them again she seems to notice the circle itself for the first time and frowns. "You sure you didn't just summon me back to the past? Hmm... no, I've been involved with time magic before. It doesn't look like this as far as I know. So I guess it was all just a vivid dream then. I would hardly call that visions of the future." Reina says, not caring how annoyed Siana gets about being believed or not.

Reina can't even imagine a proper response to the Trousers of Time. Time was way more complicated than a single pair of trousers. Maybe if you were talking about the individual threads on those trousers? But she supposes it was a good analogy for kids or something. The catgirl just shakes her head and tries to answer Astrana's questions. "I've not experienced anything like this before. The only things I've done for Merc so far is talk to a very creepy fey supplicant and their equally creepy crows, fight a thunder bird of madness, and apparently make a fool of myself in an athletics challenge." She pauses for a moment, then narrows her eyes.

She's not still fighting that madness bird right? Just how real was this place anyways? Or these people? Maybe she was still back with Krayger and she needed to snap out of this nonsense.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hope for Babies]

"That would depend on what you mean, Trick." Astrana responds. "Though before we go into that I feel that I should clarify that this is an established method that I got from a book, not something experimental. So I can't really say that I've been 'testing it'. I wouldn't recommend it to you if it was something I've just been testing out. However, there have been clients that have wanted to use it and none of them have reported anything out of the ordinary."

She clears her voice. "That said, I want to make a few points about 'the ordinary' and what to expect. Since while there aren't any side effects to the mother, at least not using any of the yokai that I employ, the children are usually born with some minor aspect of them. The more obvious examples include, eyes, horns or tails similar to those of the yokai's species, claw-like nails... not all of these manifest at birth but can grow in later. Usually before or during puberty."

As she talks, Astrana pulls out a drawer on her desk and takes out a book that she simply holds in her hand for now. "Then there's more subtle effects like affinity to the animal species the yokai represent or a fascination with them. While I admit that the long-term mental effects aren't well-documented the reason for that is that there has been little to no concern of anything like that. Animal yokai don't tend to be subtle, they're simple and direct about what they want. They don't have hidden agendas or try to lure you in with pretty words. The same goes for any aspect of them that would manifest in the child. Simple and direct, not any effects that could stay hidden for decades. That's why I like working with them, it's refershingly honest compared to a lot of other beings that you see warlocks dealing with in fiction."

Astrana then finally places the book on the desk. It's a plain leather journal that looks rather worn. "Speaking of fiction, here's some non-fiction for you to read. It fully documents various children born with the help of this method as well as their mothers." She taps the faded leather cover with her finger. "Though I'm not letting this one leave this office, instead I could scan up the pages online and send them to you if you're interested. The authors don't use the same yokai as I do of course but it should still give you a pretty good idea of what to expect."

[Astrana's Office]

"Yes." Astrana replies to Reina's first inqury in a deadpan tone. She had no regrets about the wording she used.

At this point though, Siana was starting to prove too much of a distraction. "Siana, would you mind leaving the summoning circle while I'm talking to Reina? It's usually dangerous to enter or leave them while they're after as I hope you've already noticed. Not in this case but just as a general rule for the future." People seriously needed to stop disturbing her circles!

Then Astrana nods to Reina. "Now, Reina, could you describe these fey, crows and the bird in more detail? Which one of them did you encounter last? Any information you can give me about them would be very helpful."

[Meowmai]

[A Horrendously Horrible Headache]

Magtok's current manner of speaking was getting on the psion's nerves a little. With her current headache she really just wanted to get this whole thing over and done with as soon as possible, but right now the cyborg seemed to be rambling on a bit. Not to mention he was being overly friendly when he was a complete stranger to her. She was just about to snap at him to hurry up and get on with it, when he leant in to his feline companion and-

The words on her tongue vanished as she felt that ripple again, and her implant burned with red hot fire. And as that pain spiked through her, all the lightweight unsecured objects around her lifted themselves into the air before being flung back to the ground with a noisy clatter.

Fortunately, it was only for a brief moment, but it was an extremely unpleasant moment. Hopefully, all that extra pain she felt purely went into feeding her brief accidental telekinesis, instead of being projected towards the others in the room. Wincing, she returned her gaze to Reina and Magtok, her eyes now glowing with swirling green and teal. It didn't take much to piece things together, seeing Reina kneeling on the floor after Pania felt what was obviously some kind of psychic pulse. Thankfully, she had been a little too occupied with the pain to catch the catgirl's skirt lifting. She was, however, just in time to witness Reina slapping Magtok's hand away and everything that followed. Oh dear. Seems these two have some history. Or maybe they were a quarrelling couple? Pania decided it must be the latter.

"I take it that that was this... recording of yours?" She asked, while stumbling over to her desk to grab the painkillers she had been issued. They took a moment to find, as her room was in even more disarray than it was before, but once she had them she wasted no time in swallowing several. It would take a while to kick in, but she figured by now that if she was getting involved in this then the headache would only get even worse.

[Deathkeeper]

[Front Office]

"I was hoping for something more comprehensive." Gwas replies. "I know how to aim a weapon and generally what to aim for. But where I'm from, most soldiers are armed with full steel plate mail and a zweihander. Tactically, that's very different from what we see here."

Front Office

Full steel plate? Must be not many soldiers, or a really rich country.
"Well, comprehensive still means some amount of practical, and I still don't think you can handle a practical lesson in that. So either we meet back up with equipment, or you come down to the range and borrow one of my shirts." That's meant to be a non-choice but Gwas probably could fit loosely into Krayger's clothes.

[Morty]

[Astrana's Office]

"Both of those do sound like fairly likely reasons for whatever has been happening."

Olvisin should sound hopeful about potentially getting to the bottom of the problem, but instead she feels a strange trepidation. She can't help but feel that she won't like Reina's explanation. Something about these birds is terrible, she can tell.

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

"No... I... that..." This was just too illogical. Though Reina does have to physically cover Siana's ears for a moment as she addresses Astrana. "Inside me, really?" She releases Siana and pinches her nose.

"I need a drink. And... a moment." Reina sits down, closing her eyes for a second and breathing deep.

When she opens them again she seems to notice the circle itself for the first time and frowns. "You sure you didn't just summon me back to the past? Hmm... no, I've been involved with time magic before. It doesn't look like this as far as I know. So I guess it was all just a vivid dream then. I would hardly call that visions of the future." Reina says, not caring how annoyed Siana gets about being believed or not.

Reina can't even imagine a proper response to the Trousers of Time. Time was way more complicated than a single pair of trousers. Maybe if you were talking about the individual threads on those trousers? But she supposes it was a good analogy for kids or something. The catgirl just shakes her head and tries to answer Astrana's questions. "I've not experienced anything like this before. The only things I've done for Merc so far is talk to a very creepy fey supplicant and their equally creepy crows, fight a thunder bird of madness, and apparently make a fool of myself in an athletics challenge." She pauses for a moment, then narrows her eyes.

She's not still fighting that madness bird right? Just how real was this place anyways? Or these people? Maybe she was still back with Krayger and she needed to snap out of this nonsense.

[Astrana's Office]

"Yes." Astrana replies to Reina's first inqury in a deadpan tone. She had no regrets about the wording she used.

At this point though, Siana was starting to prove too much of a distraction. "Siana, would you mind leaving the summoning circle while I'm talking to Reina? It's usually dangerous to enter or leave them while they're after as I hope you've already noticed. Not in this case but just as a general rule for the future." People seriously needed to stop disturbing her circles!

Then Astrana nods to Reina. "Now, Reina, could you describe these fey, crows and the bird in more detail? Which one of them did you encounter last? Any information you can give me about them would be very helpful."

[Astrana's Office]

"Both of those do sound like fairly likely reasons for whatever has been happening."

Olvisin should sound hopeful about potentially getting to the bottom of the problem, but instead she feels a strange trepidation. She can't help but feel that she won't like Reina's explanation. Something about these birds is terrible, she can tell.

[Astrana's Office]

Siana lets out a little eep! when Reina releases her, landing flat on her backside, since she was as much relying on Reina for support as she was expressing affection. It was just as well that Reina took certain innocence-preserving measures; Kyrie had been putting off having "the talk" with her, despite only being three (closing on two) years from adulthood... though similarly, she was more likely to take Astrana at her meaning anyway.

Between Reina releasing her, and Astrana's insistence that she leave the circle, Siana reluctantly grabs her cane and complies, limping to just beyond the circle's outer limit and plopping down there, legs crossed. She wasn't going to leave the room, or the conversation, just yet, but she was willing to do what was asked of her.

Front Office

Full steel plate? Must be not many soldiers, or a really rich country.
"Well, comprehensive still means some amount of practical, and I still don't think you can handle a practical lesson in that. So either we meet back up with equipment, or you come down to the range and borrow one of my shirts." That's meant to be a non-choice but Gwas probably could fit loosely into Krayger's clothes.

[Front Office]

Gwas nods and makes a "go on" gesture, taking the presented options at face value. Not that he was unfamiliar with the rhetorical device... he just doesn't see a problem with that option. "All right, let's go."

[Reinholdt]

[Astrana's Office]

It was a summoning circle! The chances that Reina had been summoned to the past just went up. Of course, she couldn't discount the madness thing. No wait, the madness was about revelry and violence specifically. This wouldn't make much sense. Also she wouldn't be able to read. That's just a rule. It can't be that then.

"Why am I in this circle exactly?" Reina asks, her attention on it having grown. She pulls out a notebook and starts writing down some of the symbols she sees. She's adventured long enough to have some passing familiarity with runic traps and the variety within. It's not unlike reading another language, but she's not fully fluent either.

She sees no reason to not answer Astrana's questions at any rate since all the information was in her reports and could be looked up anyways. "Dena and I were investigating fey disturbances in Inside. We went to the most ramshackle house I've seen in awhile. It took the code as far in the other direction as possible while still remaining standing. There was a bird-human hybrid who was distressing enough to look at. He called himself an attendant of some sort of fey court. Very exaggerated jester sort. It felt... felt like he was broken without the King he was waiting for. Some sort of... Ragged King. Rag King? No, no, King in Rags, that was it. Some sort of deposed leader, quite possibly long dead and not actually coming back but the court was the lingering remains of some ancient myth. Something about reopening the Door to the Fairest of Lands." Reina shrugs, unsure.

"Either way, the jester showed us their 'peasants'. Which was a bunch of birds. Not regular birds. Supernatural birds. Crows, ravens, magpies that were all... more. Animal spirits maybe? It was all weird fey nonsense, that's for sure. They all united forces into an Eye of the Bird which I guess was some sort of bird think tank? It was also a physical eye that could talk and was really creepy. We didn't learn too much from that point. The birds had been going around and getting shoo'd away, hence the whole 'disturbance' thing. The Eye offered us a deal, but Tybalt, Dena, and I all refused on the spot and left." It's all fascinating, but Reina fails to see how any of that is relevant to now. Still, she continues.

"Some time later I was on a mission with Krayger. We had to help a Prince hunt down a thunder bird that was causing madness. There was some... cultural nonsense as to why the King had to be the one to kill the bird. Their money, so their rules I guess. The madness in particular was the revelry and violence type. Like... old school Bacchus level stuff. We went through a town that had been afflicted, got directions as to where it went, met up with the Prince and tracked it. Then, uh... we killed it, or the King killed I guess, but in the process I hit my head on a rock. Got a concussion. So I'm a little fuzzy on any extra details." Particularly any details involving Reina pointing a weapon at Krayger and their clients. Reina conveniently leaves that out because of her 'fuzzy memory'. "But as far as I know it was actually pretty straightforward in the end. No particular shenanigans."

Reina finally finishes her sketch of the circle she's in. "Look, I think all I need here is two shots of vodka, a plate of fish, and fourteen hours of sleep." She's not used to being scrutinized when she's not intentionally trying to steal attention. It'll all make sense in the morning when the hangover provides her better clarity.

[Deathkeeper]

Front Office

Krayger shrugs and heads into the base. They arrive at a shooting range, whereupon Krayger provides Gwas with ear protection (with long cups for folks with long horizontal ears) and a large revolver.
"Take your jacket off, it'll restrict your arm movement. This is a firearm. You will never point the end anywhere but down-range while you are here. Always treat it like it's loaded. You don't have to use one, but understanding what they are and how they work can safe your life. Got it?" he asks.

[Ironsmith]

[Shooting Range]

Gwas stares bewilderedly at the items Krayger hands him, particularly the hearing protection. What was that supposed to do? Was he supposed to wear it over his ears? How was that supposed to be helpful? Wouldn't that reduce his awareness of his surroundings? And whereas he's never held a firearm before, he doesn't know which way to point it, either... the best he can manage is stiffly following Krayger's example. "...Like this?"

[Deathkeeper]

Shooting Range

Krayger wheels out a target a few yards out. He’ll keep it close for the kid’s first time.
Then he nudges Gwas in the legs and hands until he has a somewhat proper stance.
”Okay. Hold there. Keep your elbows bent. See the advantage to one of these is that you have sights instead of shooting from memory. Well, that and you don’t have to worry about turning the wrong way and catching your horns or muzzle on a bowstring.” he chuckles, and loads one round into the gun before handing it back to Gwas.
”Okay. Remember, never point this anywhere but down range unless you’re actually in a combat situation. Look down the sights and line them up with your target. Squeeze the trigger with your top finger when you’re ready.”
The trigger is pretty large as it’s made for Krayger’s three-fingered hands.

[Shadowcaller]

[Astrana's Office]

"Since I was going to let a spirit do a reading on you to get a better understanding of your condition-" Then her eyebrows raise as Reina, in the middle of their conversation, was starting to make sketches of her runes.

After the whole Siana debacle she really didn't have the patience for this sort of thing.

"REINA!" Her tone is suddenly sharp and fierce.

"I'm trying to help you! So can please focus for a second? Is that too much of me to ask? I can give you the blueprint of the circle if you just pay me some damn attention here."

[Ironsmith]

Shooting Range

Krayger wheels out a target a few yards out. He’ll keep it close for the kid’s first time.
Then he nudges Gwas in the legs and hands until he has a somewhat proper stance.
”Okay. Hold there. Keep your elbows bent. See the advantage to one of these is that you have sights instead of shooting from memory. Well, that and you don’t have to worry about turning the wrong way and catching your horns or muzzle on a bowstring.” he chuckles, and loads one round into the gun before handing it back to Gwas.
”Okay. Remember, never point this anywhere but down range unless you’re actually in a combat situation. Look down the sights and line them up with your target. Squeeze the trigger with your top finger when you’re ready.”
The trigger is pretty large as it’s made for Krayger’s three-fingered hands.

[Shooting Range]

Gwas frowns. Any competent archer would be able to avoid those kinds of problems. Shooting without sights was second nature to him, and he could avoid entangling his horn with his bowstring with minimal practice and effort. Why would working around that qualify as an advantage?

Of course, Gwas has a different sort of appreciation for the weapon in question when, after squeezing the trigger and feeling a light tremor in his arms, a hole mysteriously appears in the target in front of him... not quite where he aimed, but close. Logically, he knows the bullet was propelled from the gun and into the target, but the entire sequence of events happened faster than his eye could follow.

"...Interesting."

[Reinholdt]

[Astrana's Office]

Reina nearly jumps, her attention certainly grabbed. But it doesn't remain particularly friendly. There were a lot of responses Reina wanted to make about that outburst, most of them legitimate. Yet, with Siana in the room, she needed to keep things as civil as possible. Reina takes a breath before replying.

"Have I ever not answered your questions?" Reina says in a very quiet tone. Not a cowed one, but the kind where you're forced to listen. She even resumes her sketching, already knowing the answer. If Astrana didn't want her sketching the circle, that's all the more reason Reina should. Multi-tasking at this level is easy and she didn't consider it rude to their 'conversation' because as far as Reina's concerned this has been an interrogation.

"Then do not yell at me as a method to get me to continue," Reina says, keeping that same calm, but firm tone.

[Lord Magtok]

A Startled Cyborg Second-Guessing This Scenario

"I take it that that was this... recording of yours?"

"It was. All jokes aside, are you going to be able to hear it out loud without causing some kind of tornado?" Magtok asks, his earlier optimism and feigned cheer draining. Reina didn't immediately punch him in the arm or something, which bodes poorly. She slapped the hand away, but that wasn't nearly as strong a reaction as the rest of her body language was implying. If she's not hitting him now, she might just be reserving her attack for later, at a more creative and embarrassing opportunity. Crap, that means we'll have to...I don't know, apologize? Well okay, let's be reasonable here, maybe not anything that outrageous, but something definitely needs to be done to drain the venom out of her tanks before it can be poured all over us.

"I still think we can do this, with enough time and testing, but if you can only process the word once every fifteen minutes I don't know if we're going to have actionable intel before the next major disaster," the cyborg frowns, crunching some numbers in his head as he tries to figure out how this montage is going to work. They'll need a clear space without any shelves or unsecured furniture, obviously. A dumb-looking mannequin dressed to look like Prime might be a fun addition, especially if we can stuff a tape recorder with Prime's voice inside the mannequin's head. Hmm...

[Morty]

[Astrana's Office]

Olvisin seems to be only half-aware of the argument unfolding in front of her. As soon as Reina mentions the King in Rags, the goblin is filled with a nameless, directionless dread. This name is very, very bad news, even though she can't remember hearing it before and she has no idea why it provokes this reaction from her. She looks furtively from side to side, as if seeking a place to hide. Her ears are pointing downwards. It's clear that she's scared, but whether anyone else present is paying enough attention to notice is another matter.

[Ironsmith]

[Astrana's Office]

Siana noticed Olvisin's reaction almost immediately. While she doesn't know anything about the King in Rags, she knows positively mythic terror when she sees it. There are a few figures in her own world's mythos she'd rather not learn were waiting around the corner, after all.

She sidles up to the goblin and gives her a little nudge to try to bring her back to reality. "Miss Olvisin? Are you okay?"

[Gullara]

[Demands of Snakes]

"Have a fey ever submitted to anything?" Dena inquires with a shrug but takes a deep breath and nods as Kirk squeezes her hand. "But yeah, alternatives. We've done way harder things haven't we? After breaking into Tellytubbus manor this should be a walk in the park, shouldn't it?" She manages a smile when Astrana interrupts them.

"Miss Xifhara, I should have mentioned this earlier but I believe the poison has to be fresh for this to work so if you don't mind we have to do this all over again..." She holds up a gobblet which she's put a plastic sheet over.

Dena lets out sigh. "'kay. Let's just get it over with."

The gorgon scoots herself and the chair away from Kirk and positions herself in front of Astrana who carefully grabs the head of one of her hair-serpents and proceeds to milk it of venom.

Spoiler: Venom Milking

Show

Dena doesn't seem notably affected by this at least despite that some of her serpents are starting to act increasingly agitated. But the warlock is soon done and proceeds to put the gobblet in the summoning circle. "I'm almost done now, just a couple of more minutes."

[Demands of Snakes]

"Good, let's get this over with." Kirk stands next to Dena. "I think we've had more than enough building tension for one day."

[Reinholdt]

[A Steamed Secretary Signaling Stormy Situations]

Reina glances at Pania just long enough to note the swirling colors of her eyes. Fascinating. Beautiful even. Dangerous. That honestly only made them more beautiful though, so...

The catgirl glances away, continuing her efforts to be as peeved as possible without being an active hinderance. This was a professional contract after all. Not looking in Magtok's direction when she speaks is a start.

"Sometimes you sacrifice a battle to win the war," Reina suggests. If building up their psychic protections was going to take more time than they had, then it would be better if they did it right, suffered the losses from any action MP did in the meantime and fully prepped themselves before wading in.

[Deathkeeper]

Shooting Range

Krayger nods with a smile. "I trust you understand the need for ear protection now? That weapon was only loaded with one round, but I could put several in there to fire sequentially without reaching for new ones. Many can be expecting to hold much more. That's what you might be dealing with in the future." he explains.

[Meowmai]

[A Wary Woman's Warning]

"I have no idea," Pania admitted, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her skull. "I've never dealt with any psychic force this powerful before, and this is my first time trying to resist someone else's ever since..." She trailed off. Ever since that implant- the cause of the worst of her pain- had been forced into her head.

"Look, I can handle the pain I'm sure. I've dealt with worse before. As long as I'm getting rewarded well for it." She had to make that bit clear. "But I don't know how in-control I will be when doing this... testing." And nor did she know how the horrible thing in her head would react, but from her experiences just a moment ago she expected it to react badly. And before I agree to anything I need to know what these test of yours will entail. Past just hearing the words."

Pania nodded at Reina's brief contribution to the conversation. The catgirl was right of course. Winning was the important thing, and if a few sacrifices had to be made along the way? Then so be it. As long as Pania wasn't one of the sacrifices, she didn't really care.

[Ironsmith]

Shooting Range

Krayger nods with a smile. "I trust you understand the need for ear protection now? That weapon was only loaded with one round, but I could put several in there to fire sequentially without reaching for new ones. Many can be expecting to hold much more. That's what you might be dealing with in the future." he explains.

[Shooting Range]

Gwas nods slowly as he takes in what Krayger is saying. That's a game-changer, all right. This sort of weapon would be rare back home; the closest equivalent would be some kind of magic staff, that could be pointed at people to fling them across the room. Lethal, simple to operate, enabling quick responses. There was a reason those things were so rare.

Gwas hands the gun back to Krayger. "How do you defend against something like this?" He asks.

[Deathkeeper]

Shooting Range

”You get them before they shoot you.” Krayger says simply.
”Or you wear armor or get something tough between you.” he adds.
”Or you make sure they miss.”
The minotaur shakes his head.
”Really it’s the same principle about winning knife fights. You know what that is?”
That would be “don’t get into knife fights and/or run away.”

[Ironsmith]

[Shooting Range]

There was a minor problem with that analogy. Namely, Gwas was more familiar with a different, but no less effective, way to end a knife fight:

"Bring a claymore?" Gwas asks, like that answer was too obvious and Krayger gad to be going somewhere else with that. Which he was, apparently.

[Shadowcaller]

[Demands of Snakes]

Astrana nods as she goes about preparing for the ritual. It doesn't take long once she has the venom. Within just fifteen minutes, which is partly Astrana double-checking everything, they've gathered around the circle and waiting a result.

Apparently it can take a while until there's a response.

Dena shows no obvious signs of stress but Kirk already knows this is just a facade. Astrana looks calm and collected too but in her case she's probably not hiding anything underneath it.

Then all of sudden the summoning circle bursts into life and the disembodied head of a giant serpent appears. Just small enough to fit within the confines of the circle.
It's wearing a hat and appears strangely animate for a serpent. While it doesn't have eyebrows it scales seem to subtly shift in color mimic them as it gives them a look of what seems to be surprise.
It looks like Astrana is about to speak when the serpent interrupts her. "I might not be who you called for, but as you have been redirected to my department so might as well try to help you in any way I can. I am the Administrator for the Outer Realms, which happens to include the nexus."

Astrana and Dena exchange glances (and perhaps Kirk too). This was not what she had expected at all. "It's... apparently I need your permission for a children?"

"A dragon child? You're absolutely correct, miss." The serpent seems to be looking down at something unseen. "But I don't see that any requests for a dragon being filled in." It's eyes flick up to them again. "Which department are you associated to exactly? Since I don't even see documentation of gorgons being in the nexus here I'm afraid. A quite serious clerical error."

[Astrana's Office]

Astrana rubs her templates in frustration. She really didn't like people trying to copy her work, especially without even asking her of permission first, and Reina's response didn't exactly sooth her.

Now she had completely lost her train of thought. She had been asking Reina about her condition...? "Reina, would you please stop copying down my circle? It's technically a trade secret so I like as few people knowing about it as possible."

[Reinholdt]

[Astrana's Office]

Reina pauses to consider Astrana. Right. She was surrounded by Mercenaries now. Olvisin is probably been waiting here this whole time to get paid for the temporary use of the cat carrier, like some sort of feline uber service. Reina would have to get used to more secrets and less co-operation than she was used to from the last several years at GLoG. Reina just wishes Astrana had been honest about what she really wanted earlier instead of snapping at Reina for something unrelated. It'd make this situation a lot less uncomfortable.

"Fine." Reina tears out the page she had been making her notes on and makes a show of ripping it up.

[Lord Magtok]

A Cyborg's Scientific Scheming

Spoiler

Show

[A Wary Woman's Warning]

"I have no idea," Pania admitted, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her skull. "I've never dealt with any psychic force this powerful before, and this is my first time trying to resist someone else's ever since..." She trailed off. Ever since that implant- the cause of the worst of her pain- had been forced into her head.

"Look, I can handle the pain I'm sure. I've dealt with worse before. As long as I'm getting rewarded well for it." She had to make that bit clear. "But I don't know how in-control I will be when doing this... testing." And nor did she know how the horrible thing in her head would react, but from her experiences just a moment ago she expected it to react badly. And before I agree to anything I need to know what these test of yours will entail. Past just hearing the words."

Pania nodded at Reina's brief contribution to the conversation. The catgirl was right of course. Winning was the important thing, and if a few sacrifices had to be made along the way? Then so be it. As long as Pania wasn't one of the sacrifices, she didn't really care.

Magtok's player pauses to check the thread's OP to confirm something, before Magtok himself nods sagely. Yes, MERC does, in fact, have a dedicated training room, and people probably won't mind if they make a big ugly psychic mess of it. Heck, even if they do mind, this still technically qualifies as training, and it's for the long-term benefit and mental fortitude of one of MERC's own members, so he has a perfectly valid justification for anything that might go wrong, right? Not that we think anything's going to go wrong, mind you, it's just that we're experimenting with a wildly unpredictable and untested field of anomalous power, so if something does go wrong, it's important to have a way to talk your way out of trouble prepared in advance.

"I'm going to be honest, this is my first legitimate foray into psionic research. We're going to start with just playing the recording a few times somewhere with a soft, padded floor, to see if you can develop a resistance just from repeated exposure. If at any point you feel like you're close to being able to replicate what the recording is doing with your own voice, we'll try that a few times, too. After a while, if you're feeling completely overwhelmed and need to take a break or even call the whole thing off, we'll stop. I won't be able to insist that we keep going because we might be on the verge of a breakthrough because if I tried, Reina would be there to make me stop," Magtok explains, confident that the cat will be capable of acting quickly and decisively to call him an ******* or punch him in the face or whatever else might be necessary. It certainly won't come to that, though. Abusing staff that aren't his own Magbots or even his own staff is a terrible idea, and nothing good can come of that.

[Deathkeeper]

Shooting Range

Krayger chuckles. "Only sort-of. The best way to live through a shootout is to not get into one. If intimidation works, go for it. Ambushes or just running away also works. If all of that fails you can try to rely on armor and tactics." Not that many have actually shot at Krayger. He deals with monsters and dumb gangers most of the time.