Riverside 21: Older than Arkh

[Rebonack]

[Beauty from Ashes]

So!

Off our...

Well.

Not sure if heroes is really the right word here.

Leah is arguably a pretty heroic figure. Matilda definitely isn't. And Ferdinand is just and insane artist. They're also being followed by a pair of people who could be described as almost otherworldly in their sheer glamour. The pair follows along behind the group, quietly conversing with each other. Probably best not to think about them or consider them or even notice them at all. In fact is the trio even being followed? Probably definitely not.

Anyway!

It'll take about half an hour worth of walking to reach the site of the dumpster fire.

...it really doesn't look very impressive.

Just a burned out dumpster and a blackened wall. Rain has smudged the soot beyond recognition, removing Paarel's visage from the stain.

Ferdinand looks deeply sad. "This is where I got a glimpse of her glorious, radiant beauty. BUT OH! THE STORM! THAT DAMNABLE STORM! It washed it all away!"

Hmm... The dumpster itself might be worth poking at. Or the wall itself. The wall appears to be part of some kind of pumping station for the aqueducts and sewers that run under Riverside. There's also a manhole cover nearby, pearlecent fungal filaments growing around the edge.

[Shadowcaller]

[Standing in the Alley]

"...Oh. Well, um... now that you mention it..." Siana gives Jaahlyn a soft smile. "Yeah, the whole knight in shining armor thing does sound pretty close to what I would aim for. Silver, specifically. The material has spiritual significance to us, you see." She props her chin up on her hand, dislocating it slightly. "...But, just to be clear... when you say 'glamour', what exactly is that going to entail?" Her face goes a little pale. "I'm not going to have to wear makeup, am I?"

[Standing in the Alley]

"Ah, no. Of course not. A glamour is... different. You'd be wearing a concept in a way. Which is exactly what I need from you to shape it. A description to base it on. Something you like to see in the mirror every time you view yourself in it." The satyr raises a finger. "One piece of advice though? Don't make it too different from what you look now so people can still recognize you as you."

[Deathkeeper]

Road Pirate Pitstop

"Um... mine does, I get hunting instincts leak over and a few others. But you've been sat there happily for a while now and haven't destroyed anything or sharpened your claws on the walls. The plaster's not very thick, and I'd have to pay for repairs." It's one of the reasons why Aizkora doesn't stay in Riverside for long; she prefers to leave the city so she can scratch trees rather than fragile interior walls.

Road Pirate Pit Stop

Rust sloooowly releases the tension the claws of his left foot currently have on several strands of the carpet.
"Okay. Well uh. Maybe you can take me out and show me the ropesh shomtime?" he suggests. Though doing it will require that they be able to transform at the same time which is looking like it might not be currently possible. Or perhaps Aizkora's spirit is simply playing it safe?

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

"...Oh. Okay." Siana replies hesitantly. "So, then, if I said I kind of pictured a girl in silver armor with a cape and hair flowing dramatically in the wind..." She trails off, glancing down at her body as though expecting the image to manifest just from speaking it out loud. "...Actually... I don't usually picture my future self with a bum leg, either." She points out. "Would this... glamour make me able to walk normally, or would I still have to limp despite looking perfectly healthy?"

[Reinholdt]

[Beauty from Ashes]

"WHAT?! Are you serious?!" Leah stomps her foot, half disbelieving Ferdinand's story. Way to disappoint the three of them! Five of them? Three of them. Whatever. Complete regret! Leah thought this was burned into the wall or something, not just some soot. That can't be right. Surely a being couldn't bind their focus point on something so... transitory. Right?

Leah can't claim to know enough about these monsters to be sure. One was color and time and paths. Who is to say the other isn't an entity of soot and beauty? Ughhhh! Leah can't hammer something like that!

Maybe... maybe it wasn't the soot? Maybe it was the dumpster fire itself. So maybe it was something in the dumpster? That's the first place Leah will look. Look being the operative word. If she starts digging in there to try to find and destroy beauty, would it not be fair to call her truly mad?

[Shadowcaller]

[The Toy Tinker]

"I'm-- I'm afraid this is the first I'm hearing of this as well," says Sticks, shifting his jaw and swallowing as though his mouth were dry. "Is there some specific reason we should be concerned? Have you seen or heard something more?" He had no idea there were any fey machinations involved either, and it shows plainly on his face.

[The Toy Tinker]

Jaahlyn nods to Jim before turning back to Sticks. "The main reason I'm here was to make sure you knew about it. But I was down in those tunnels for... I reckon about a week, and there was plenty more fey-creatures down there. Ever seen a morsel? They're just adorable little critters but they're used to feed monsters and since there were hordes of them down there I figured something was up. Of course, I'm not sure this is connected to your tunnels at all, mister Sticks but I figured I'd be proper to at least give you a heads up as it were."

[Standing in the Alley]

"I'm going to need to talk to a friend about that, but you'd probably would be able to walk just fine. But with that in mind, shall we go about trying to discuss work? Hopefully that will at least put you in a better headspace. Since even if you devour spirits by touch, you still project the emotions they feed on, which is probably what makes them so attracted to you. They don't need to be in your head to feel what's going on in there." She gestures at Siana's head.

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

"I'm going to need to talk to a friend about that, but you'd probably would be able to walk just fine. But with that in mind, shall we go about trying to discuss work? Hopefully that will at least put you in a better headspace. Since even if you devour spirits by touch, you still project the emotions they feed on, which is probably what makes them so attracted to you. They don't need to be in your head to feel what's going on in there." She gestures at Siana's head.

[Standing in the Alley]

"Right." Siana gives an affirmative nod, pushing aside the possibilities raised by the glamour for the moment. She can get excited about that later.

...Okay, more excited about it later.

But for now, yes, they have a job to do.

"Right." She begins again. "So, quick recap; evil spirits drifting around, drawn to anti-demon hate and violence, we want to lure them to us so we can get rid of them, so we're going to produce the emotions that draw them in a controlled way, without putting anyone else at risk. Is that about right?"

[Deathkeeper]

The Toy Tinker

"Ah no. I haven't seen them." Fey creatures? But isn't Jaahlyn a fey? They feed sapient things to monsters? Maybe she just means a critter of fey origins.
"Well, thanks for telling us. I don't think me and Barnabas want to go back down there." That is definitely for sure.
Especially not without Sticks' staff that thing absolutely kept him alive.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

"Nor have I," says Sticks, seeming to appraise Jaahlyn for a moment. "Miss Jaahlyn, forgive me, as I don't mean to be rude... But might you have some ulterior motive for bringing this up with me? Are you... interested in my tunnels? Or something that is hidden therein?"

[Shadowcaller]

[The Toy Tinker]

"If I had any ulterior motives it would only be to protect the city, sir. I'm afraid whatever they're feeding down there might raise up one day and pose a threat to everyone that lives here. Being hired to enforce the tranquility of this place it would be my duty to put a stop to it. But that's not your duty of course so I'm not going to ask anything of you." Jaahlyn explains, going back to a more casual tone.

[Standing in the Alley]

The satyr nods. "That's about right. I could make some music to influence people but that would probably not improve my reputation around here. I am trying to lay low right now due to some... incidents I were involved with." Her eyebrows raise and she gives Siana a curious look. "You seem to know a lot about me through reputation so maybe you know what I'm talking about? If there are rumors going around about me, I'd like to hear them."

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

"Um... well..." Siana blushes, which is no easy thing for a vampire. "Yeah, I've heard a few rumors. Something about a bomb at a, um..." She glances around furtively, as though preparing to divulge some sort of dark secret to Jaahlyn, before leaning in and whispering, "at an adult place". "The rumors are a bit... weird in that regard. People on the street say you might have hurt someone, people in the office say you didn't and couldn't have, and in both cases actual demons were involved and I'm not a hundred percent sure how I feel about that." She stiffens. "That, and the general consensus seems to be that you're a bit... loose, in some sense. I'm not sure how, people keep changing the subject when I ask what they mean."

[Shadowcaller]

[Standing in the Alley]

Jaahlyn strained her ears to even hear what Siana was talking about yet at first it still sounded like she had misheard her.
Adult place? As in the club?

Had it been a stripper joint or something all this time without anyone informing her of it? Since certainly didn't think of a club as an adult place unless-

-she was a fifteen year old pretending to be an adult. Right.

"I had to prevent someone from detonating a bomb at a club, certainly not a place of ill repute, where a group of demonic maidens were singing." She clarifies once Siana finishes. Not that she thought any member of DEATHKISS could be called a 'maiden' but it just sounded better. "There was some manipulation of the wicked's mind involved, but ultimately I didn't bring the culprit harm and the place didn't go up in smoke."

She had wanted to say that everyone got out fine but that was certainly not true. She had felt the deaths at the club particularly closely. Though probably not as close as their loved ones...

"Then- well, when I was attempting to rescue the maidens a second time-" Okay, maybe she should stop calling them 'maidens'. It had started to sound stupid. "The assassin, a demon of the foulest kind, had placed a portal into hell itself in my path. But when I tried to bypass it I accidentally let out scores of demons upon the city."

Not exactly her proudest moment.

"But I did my job and the- band members were saved." Yeah, that did sound better than maidens.
"However, if these demons are truly as black hearted as they are rumored to be then tracking down these spirits might lead us to them as well so, ah, keep an eye out will you?"

She should stop talking there as she had gotten back to where they should be focused, on their current task. But she simply had to address this talk about 'looseness'.

"...as for why I would be considered 'loose', they probably think of me as a 'loose cannon' since I unintentionally caused so much damage. But in truth none of that would have have happened in the first place if we hadn't been so unprepared and understaffed. We didn't even have 24 hours to prepare for that job so it was no surprise that I had resort to such things when we were tested on that fateful day." Jaahlyn wags her finger. "Since it certainly isn't that other definition of loose as I'm a woman of honor and I have promised my heart to someone special."

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

Siana gives an affirmative nod to that last bit. She's... not entirely sure what all of that means, exactly. But Jaahlyn does seem to be honorable in the broad sense, and if she's faithful to her friends, it would follow that she'd be faithful to her eventual partner... whatever that had to do with anything.

Just, again, a little bit of a loose cannon. Not unlike Siana herself.

Of course, the rest of that story is still a matter of some concern. Rescuing demons from other demons? What would be the point of that? Wasn't it horribly irresponsible to let innocent people get caught in the crossfire? And releasing thousands of them into the city isn't a good look, even acciden-

No.

She needs to stop that.

Things here in the Nexus don't always work the way they do at home. Here, "demon" means "person", not necessarily "evil person". Jaahlyn didn't do anything... overly wrong. She thinks.

"...Okay, then." Siana says at last. "It's good to get the full story on that."

Then, a thought occurs to her.

"If one of these evil spirits feeds on hate of demons, wouldn't it make sense for it to settle where the demons live, so it's always close to the people that hate them? What ever happened to all of them?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Standing in the Alley]

Demonic maidens, not demons!

Clearly there's a difference.

"Well, I'm not sure people know where these demons are. I mean, if they did I could probably just ask around and find them right? I would assume they're hiding within the shadows of the city. Since unfortunately I didn't see where they went after they escaped hell as I was occupied saving the band. They seemed to be in quite a hurry escaping hell." She strokes her chin thoughtfully. "You know, perhaps we should just ask around and see if we can get anything out of people?"

[Earl of Purple]

Beauty From Ashes

Matilda's the hero of her own story.

And the villain in some other people's, but at least two thirds of those deserve to be hunted by an angry, intelligent bird-bear.

"Only one guaranteed way t' get patterns in soot. It weren't the fire that made it, but whatever was on the wall already before it burnt." Which could have been paint, which wouldn't be great, but could have been ivy or something else. So Matilda's going to go have a look at the wall and stare at it, see if she can spot anything that might be a clue as to what it was on the wall that burnt to leave the patterns.

Road Pirate Pitstop

The carpet's less of a worry; it's quite cheap and made of square tiles laid over the wooden floors, which are in turn reasonably sturdy. Damage still should be repaired or replaced, but it's easier to hide than two metre-long claw marks through the wallpaper and plasterboard that are all that seperate the rooms from each other.

"Yeah, I should be able t'do that, I hope." Aizkora's not sure she'd be able to transform, but her spiritual partner hasn't come out because it knows more than she does about Father Smilodon and knew that Aizkora's instinct to attack would have been a very bad idea and needlessly confrontational, rather than anything useful.

[Deathkeeper]

The Toy Tinker

"Well, fair enough. Might be more for MERC than for us, though. I don't exactly have training for fighting whatever monster they're feeding." Jim says, which is only half a lie. He doesn't have combat training, but his light magic can be used in an offensive capacity if absolutely necessary. Which was on display when he was using that bident.

Road Pirate Pitstop

This is true. The encounter could have gone a few ways and most of them not the best in some capacity.
"Okay. Well I guess that just means we have to kill the rest of the night." He laps up some more of the coffee.
"You got any board games?"

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

Demonic maidens, not demons!

Clearly there's a difference.

"Well, I'm not sure people know where these demons are. I mean, if they did I could probably just ask around and find them right? I would assume they're hiding within the shadows of the city. Since unfortunately I didn't see where they went after they escaped hell as I was occupied saving the band. They seemed to be in quite a hurry escaping hell." She strokes her chin thoughtfully. "You know, perhaps we should just ask around and see if we can get anything out of people?"

[Standing in the Alley]

"Right!" Siana grins and starts to walk toward the end of the alleyway again, this time with much more purpose in her stride. Right on cue, a cat-person (Khajiit, probably, if Jaahlyn is well-versed enough in the various feline species to tell them apart) rounds the corner, his snout buried in a book.

"Excuse me." Siana cuts in, causing him to look up above, then down at her, with a slightly annoyed expression. "My friend and I were wondering where we could find some demons in this town?"

"Hm." The catman muses. "This one would suggest inquiring at the shop for a looking glass, or perhaps finding a water trough." With that, he resumes reading and walks away, leaving Siana to stand there and process that for a moment.

"...Hey!"

[Gullara]

Skate Park

Anastasia, on the other hand, is far more impressed. "Oh wow, that was amazing!" She bounces on the balls of her feet, both of her tails wagging. "I mean like, that was a really cool slide - and the way you flew up in the air like that? That was really cool!

Skate Park

On one hand, Atsede hadn't impressed Eliseo quite as much as she had been hoping to. But he still had complimented her regardless! And Anastasia definitely thought she was cool now, judging by the way she reacted. So the Changeling's ego swelled, and her grin widened. She had made a good impression! "Thanks! Yup, had no idea what one of these was last year," she started, spinning the board in her hands, "but what can I say? I'm just that good." The tone of her voice indicated she was partly just joking around in an exaggerated manner when she said it, but it was also probably clear part of it was her actually being cocky and trying to make herself sound cool.

"But enough about me, show me how you handle a board! I wanna see the pro in action." This was only half true, as Atsede could never hear enough about herself.

[Skate Park]

"Sure, Let me show you how it's done." He winks and laughs as he turns away from them. On the flat surface next to the bowl he warms up. A shove-it, a kickflip, and then just like that he dips into the bowl. he rides along one wall around the curve, coming up to the lip, his momentum slowing on a grind. Then he's down inside again, moving back toward the girls. He pops a backside 180 in front of them, getting a few feet of air and grabbing his board before gravity takes him back down. On the far side he catches the edge of the board with his wheels, then pops off, rotating his board beneath his feet before coming back to their side again, locking his wheels again so he's standing in front of them. "How's that for a start?" He asks with a grin.

[Arkhosia]

Skate Park

Ana is all too happy to watch Eliseo set off - he's certainly showed off a little before, and it's not like the kitsune isn't already familiar with just how unfairly good Eliseo can be at athletic activities, but this is definitely the first time she's even been to a skate park before. She's never seen just what he can do in an environment so suited for the activity.

Overall, she seems to reserve her excitement more this time. He has enough of a big head about himself as is. This doesn't stop her from stepping back and muttering a "Holy cow" when Eliseo catches air above the pair, however.

"Uh, yeah that was pretty good," Anastasia undersells with a nod, crossing her arms and suppressing a grin. It's pretty obvious just how cool she actually thought all of that was, though - Ana was never a very good liar when it came to Eliseo, especially when the tails wagging behind her give some of the game away.

[Shadowcaller]

[Standing in the Alley]

"Thank you, sir. We'll be on our way now." Jaahlyn remarks as she bows out, attempting to pull Siana along with her.

Assuming that works she will pull the young strigori aside. "Maybe this wasn't the best of ideas after all. Perhaps I could..." She strokes her chin. "Say, do you know what kind of features make people think that you're a demon? I could weave a quick illusion to hide those from their judgmental gazes." Which must be different from a glamour?

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

Siana tilts her head, giving Jaahlyn the sort of annoyed, silently snarky look teenagers seem to develop instinctually. She says nothing, but that's probably all she needs to say; Jaahlyn can see her horns plainly, as well as the rough patches of skin on her face where she's been unable to resist scratching. She opens her mouth slightly to seethe, giving the satyr a clear view of her pointed, needly teeth. Her lopsided stance ensures that she can't look Jaahlyn squarely in the eye, contorting her neck uncannily in the process. She folds her pointed-clawed hands over each other on her cane, little flakes of skin flitting off in the process. And her choice of hoodie, directly associating her with a certain infamous band of succubi, likely isn't doing her any favors, either.

No, Jaahlyn, she has no idea why people might think she's a demon.

[Rebonack]

[Beauty from Ashes]

"Yes," Ferdinand replies, nearly giddy with rapture at the memory of what he saw. "A ephemeral thing; a moment of indescribable ecstasy. Is that not the nature of beauty, to be a passing thing with touch briefly?"

Sounds like they're all mad here.

Inside the dumpster is burned garbage!

Very exciting stuff.

Black, sooty remains. It looks like this was just a cardboard dumpster for Bigbox Mart nearby. They've been trying to muscle in on the market share of Magmart and Fluxmart recently.

But that doesn't make any sense, does it? There has to be more than that. The anchor Leah had found before was... something else. Describing it with words is difficult. But how it made her feel is unmistakable. As Leah shifts around the soot she'll find something like tiny, delicate vines growing up through rusted out holes in the bottom of the dumpster. Matilda will find similar vines that appear to have been burned by the heat of the flame. The vines all lead back to a man-hole cover that the dumpster has been shoved on top of.

Usually it wouldn't be here, it would be closer to the Bigbox Mart building. But hobos like pushing dumpsters around and setting them on fire sometimes.

[Shadowcaller]

[Standing in the Alley]

Siana tilts her head, giving Jaahlyn the sort of annoyed, silently snarky look teenagers seem to develop instinctually. She says nothing, but that's probably all she needs to say; Jaahlyn can see her horns plainly, as well as the rough patches of skin on her face where she's been unable to resist scratching. She opens her mouth slightly to seethe, giving the satyr a clear view of her pointed, needly teeth. Her lopsided stance ensures that she can't look Jaahlyn squarely in the eye, contorting her neck uncannily in the process. She folds her pointed-clawed hands over each other on her cane, little flakes of skin flitting off in the process. And her choice of hoodie, directly associating her with a certain infamous band of succubi, likely isn't doing her any favors, either.

No, Jaahlyn, she has no idea why people might think she's a demon.

[Standing in the Alley]

Once again there's a bit of a cultural clash as Jaahlyn don't really know what demons look like and staying in the nexus for a while hadn't exactly helped in that regard. As far as she was concerned demons could look like anything.
"...the horns, is that it? Sorry, but it was a honest question. The demons I've interacted with look wildly different so I was never really sure about their distinguishing features. Since you could probably tell me that basically anyone was a demon and I wouldn't be surprised."

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

Once again there's a bit of a cultural clash as Jaahlyn don't really know what demons look like and staying in the nexus for a while hadn't exactly helped in that regard. As far as she was concerned demons could look like anything.
"...the horns, is that it? Sorry, but it was a honest question. The demons I've interacted with look wildly different so I was never really sure about their distinguishing features. Since you could probably tell me that basically anyone was a demon and I wouldn't be surprised."

[Standing in the Alley]

Siana's expression softens. "...Oh."

Yeah, that was... rude of her.

"Sorry, I didn't... what I meant was, I kind of look a bit like a decaying corpse." She says, once again scratching at her cheek and pointing at her exposed teeth through it. "Which might make some people think 'zombie', but mix that with the horns, fangs and claws, and people are going to say 'demon'."

Which... wouldn't be inaccurate so much as imprecise in her case, but she's not about to go into it.

"So... figure maybe a fresh skin and something to hide the horns? At least then I'd only look vampire-y again."

[Aurora Alchemi]

[A Clockwork Market Toy]

The giant slows, giving enough time for the clockwork angel to stumble away a fair distance. The giant turns around to view the source, and gives a long sigh. For a moment, the brute's brow furrows, and one hand clenches into a fist, but then the fist flips into an obscene gesture and the man makes his way back behind the stall. "Alright lay off then. I'll not bother you if you take that deaf and dumb idiot away. And keep her from touching any of my goods! Broad doesn't even got no good coin, looks like." The giant grumbles and flumps into the stool with a thump that raises dust off the ground and billows out into the market.

Aurora, the brightly glowing angel, now stands about ten paces away from the giant, panting softly, hands gripped around the crude crutch, face tinged with fear. For a moment, it seems like the angel is going to be able to recover, the huffs starting to slow, but then she is wracked with a series of deep coughs. It seems like the puff of sand and dust that blew out irritated her at first, but then there is a spatter, as a splash of brilliantly colored blood coats the ground. It's not large, but it is somewhat noticeable, as the colors seem to shift and change for a few moments before settling on a lilac shade as the blood dries and coagulates. There, a tense moment fills the air, as the giant watches the scene and gives a slight laugh. "Seems I don't need to rough her up anyways. Cart that lady of the night off and leave me to my peace."

Eventually the angel is able to pull themselves up from their stooped position, eyes slowly wandering the environment. There is a moment that they linger on the rotten thing, but somehow there is very little fear, shock, or revulsion from the angel. Instead, after taking in the sight and giving only a small shiver, her eyes drift, settling on the girl with the clockwork dress. There is a moment of questioning on the angel's face, and she seems to reach out toward the passing teenager, as if to beckon or wave. Though, of course, this action only makes it so far before the angel's stomach growls, and she grips at her belly, seemingly in pain. Whatever the case might be, at least for a little bit she's not moving anywhere.

[Reinholdt]

[Beauty From Ashes]

"Wouldn't know." Fire is definitely Rebekah's expertise, not Leah's. But all it took to get Rebekah sooty was to introduce her to a beautiful woman and suggest the two of them go on a date. So maybe she wasn't the best expert to ask. Maybe Rebekah could talk to the hobos, speak their language or something.

It doesn't matter, she wasn't here right now! Leah was. And Leah understands the ground. Particularly that these vines are going under the ground. Please not the sewers. Anywhere but the sewers. Maybe this particular manhole led to some nice old catacombs filled with undead menaces. Yeah, that's where these lead. Got to be.

"Incoming," Leah warns before shoving against the dumpster with her shoulder in an effort to move it back against the wall and free the manhole cover to be opened and entered.

[Shadowcaller]

[Standing in the Alley]

Siana's expression softens. "...Oh."

Yeah, that was... rude of her.

"Sorry, I didn't... what I meant was, I kind of look a bit like a decaying corpse." She says, once again scratching at her cheek and pointing at her exposed teeth through it. "Which might make some people think 'zombie', but mix that with the horns, fangs and claws, and people are going to say 'demon'."

Which... wouldn't be inaccurate so much as imprecise in her case, but she's not about to go into it.

"So... figure maybe a fresh skin and something to hide the horns? At least then I'd only look vampire-y again."

[Standing in the Alley]

Jaahlyn waves away Siana's apology, she knew what to expect of this girl by now. As much as she claimed to be adult the teenage arrogance was so clearly there. "It's fine. Besides, you just gave me something good to work with. There's plenty of vampires around here so just making you look like one of them should work."

She takes up her violin and puts the string against the bow as she gets into position. "Now hold still for just a moment and I shall conjure up something." And so Jaahlyn starts to play a cheerful melody which seems to linger in the air. Indeed, even once she stops playing a few minutes later its still as if Siana can hear it in the background.

"Okay, so that should do it. Keep in mind that you're wearing the music now so if someone is deaf or can't hear it for some other reason the illusion won't work on them." If Siana would look herself in the mirror now she indeed looks like a pale vampire. Though Jaahlyn might have gone a bit overboard as her clothes are now black and she's wearing an illusionary cowl.

[Ironsmith]

[Standing in the Alley]

And look at her reflection she does. It's pretty much the first thing she does, in fact. Right after kneeling (sort of) so she's at a good angle to view herself in a nearby puddle.

"...Huh. Is that what vampires look like here?" Siana asks, tilting her head slightly so that she can see around her hair, then seeing the obvious solution and tucking it back behind her ears. "...I kind of like it, honestly. I mean, I'm not entirely sure why they choose to dress up like priests..." she elaborates, running her fingers over the edge of her cowl, "...particularly one conducting funeral rites, but... actually, now that I think about it, that does sound rather fitting, in a way." A bit uncomfortable for the religiously-inclined, but fitting.

She'll take a few more minutes to note some other changes in her appearance. Her hair's de-clumped and is back to long, flowing ebony locks again, which proves to be slightly more of a hassle than she seemed to remember it being. She's somehow a shade or two paler, but that might just be the lighting and she doubts anyone would really notice or care. She opens her mouth and runs her tongue over her teeth, noting that all but four of them have flattened down, leaving her with exaggerated canines but otherwise perfectly normal dental features. Her eyes seem... different, somehow, too. Were her pupils always this round? They might have been. They're a little redder than she remembers, too, but that's no more than slightly ominous.

Siana smiles and stands back up, throwing back the hood of her cowl so she can enjoy having proper hair again for a while, and to shrug off any notion that she might be attempting to hide herself. "All right, I think this'll work nicely." She beams. "Shall we get back to asking around?"

[Earl of Purple]

Beauty from Ashes

Matilda steps back when Leah starts to push on the dumpster, and if the catgirl has trouble with moving it will add some of her own brute force. She won't transform unless she must, since she's trying to pretend she isn't the owlbear that caused havoc in the museum just in case there's any police or bystanders nearby that could link the two of them.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

Sticks sighs, bowing his head a little. He hadn't done enough to help Riverside during its major troubles, and he'd left quite a bit more trouble waiting underneath. The guilt is clear in his hesitant body language.

"If you intend to somehow deal with this thing, then I would be bound by my honor to aid you in any way I can, Miss Jaahlyn. I do not wish to be responsible for putting the city in more danger than I already have. If there's even a chance that I created an entity like you describe..." He looks at Jim, grimly serious. "I would not ask you to put yourself in serious danger, Jim. In fact, Miss Jaahlyn, if you can acquire more knowledge of this potential threat... then I would rather deal with it myself."