Riverside 21: Older than Arkh

[5a Violista]

[Level with Riverside]

"Some nameless bystander named Leah, then," the no-longer-a-liongirl says, correcting the record. She had assumed Leah would prefer to remain anonymous, but I'm sure if she thinks back on it, she would realize that she was projecting motivations onto Leah.
She starts putting her watch-thing on, even though it isn't quite working.
"I'm M..." She pauses: her name's pretty unique. Even if there's a 0% chance that Leah knows her-in-the-past, there's a possibility that she'd encounter her later and she doesn't want to have to worry about protecting her past-self from who-knows-what. Then says, "I-I mean, Siren. Sirena. 'Cause that's how warnames work. I mean, I'm a masked vigilante. Superhero. Gotta keep my secret identity safe and separate from my warname. So. Yeah."
She is not wearing a mask at all. Realizing Leah might ask about that, she preempts the question by saying, "I normally wear glasses so that nobody recognizes me."
Great! Her watch is now on, Now she can actually start paying attention to the things they're both saying.
She turns to Leah.

If Sirena was holding something, she would have dropped it. Was it really that obvious? Or is Leah just that perceptive? No, it's got to be obvious: this is a first for her, after all, so it makes sense that she'd mess up.
She laughs.
"W-well, you know, the usual. Vacation. Grandfather paradox. Butterfly-hunting. Stuff like that. Don't worry about it."

[Reinholdt]

[Level with Riverside]

Leah grinds her teeth. "Not nameless, I..." She seems to have inherited her mother's hangups about names. With a growl she takes a deep breath and refocuses.

The catgirl drops her hands and crosses her arms in front of her to stare at the liongirl incredulously. "Glasses? Really?" She doesn't buy that at all! Largely because she had to deal with two wanna-be superheroes growing up and neither of them pulled off the unrecognizable in glasses look. Maybe future glasses are more high tech and effective at that.

"The grandfather paradox and an uncontrolled butterfly effect are things you want to AVOID when vacation time traveling. But a person vacation time traveling wouldn't do so in their superhero persona, they'd go as their alter ego." Oh no. A logic flaw!

Leah sure sounds like she knows a lot about time travel. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Tobias Vulpan would you?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh my, such a cutie!" Ithzi remarks excitedly as Nadia brings in the child. "But what child isn't? I wish I could take in more but my husband said no at twentyone, that old boggard."

Irena visibly shudders at the mere mention of having twenty one children and turns to Nadia. She gives her a tired look and lets out a sigh. "...sure, but the kid can help out with that right? Will probably teach him responsibility or something."

[MERC Office]

Zhareen gives Korrina the thumbs up and nods to Dena. "Very fair, miss Zifhara! So tell us then, what happened?"

"I'll give you the short version and let you ask questions if you want more details." Dena pours up a glass of water to herself using a globe shaped jug. "So... we got hired by your former employees to deal with a rat problem. The whole city got absolutely infested by rats over the course of a few days. No matter how many rats that people killed they always seemed to come back. Apparently, your sister organization didn't want to involve themselves in this one so they turned to us instead."

Zhareen nervously rubs the side of her neck, seemingly recognizing this somehow. Korrina would have no idea why the members of the fourth tower that remained with Malechenar would have refused this kind of job but Zhareen seems to have some clue...

Either way, Dena continues. "Dealing with the rats was easier said than done. Especially as all kinds of wackos had gotten in their head to deal with the rats themselves. Getting in our way at every turn. But eventually our members managed to track the sources of the rats down into the sewers and even deeper below into underground tunnels that apparently exist underneath even further below the city. Down there they found a crazy fey calling itself a 'rat king'. A hideous rat-monster which spoke in rhymes and was masquerading as human children. Yes, children in plural as they were some kind of hive-mind if I understand things correctly. They managed to slay it and with it gone the rats disappeared and our work was done."

"But, ah, why did it do that? The fey I mean." Zhareen asks, more hesitantly than Korrina have heard her be for quite a while. Almost as if she was afraid of the answer.

But Dena just shrugs. "Beats me, the written reports I got made it out to be talking nonsense. I could let you talk to someone that was down there but I'm pretty sure it was working of fey logic." A beat. "Right, you guys are interested in that sort of stuff, aren't you?"

[Buffet Dungeon]

Phew, Anika couldn't be more relieved to see that stupid diner again. Just how long had that been going on and how was there a demon dimension underneath the whole place?!
Clearly, the demons must still be infesting this place even after the invasion!

With these thoughts running through her head she returns to her humanoid form which is mercifully free from disgusting flesh-slime. "You said it, that was pretty harcore." Anika remarks as she places her hand against the nearest wall and takes a deep breath. "Now all we got to do is alert the authorities so they can deal with these place and... all that stuff below it. I bet that stupid goblin isn't even in this city." She glances at the people they saved. "But I'm still glad we passed by here."

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

"Yeah I guess... uhh... hey! YOU!" Magdalene says, pointing at one of the gawking onlookers outside the restaurant.

A surprised looking guy glances back and forth, then points at himself.

"Yeah, you. Call the cops and tell 'em the bottom of this building is crawling with cultists and demons who were sacrificing people."

The guy nods and pulls out his phone to make a call.

See?

You just gotta take charge sometimes.

"So Anika, right? Hey if you ever want to kick some butt in a dungeon again I'm game. That was a pretty solid run."

They have a tank and a healer now!

They could probably use some DPS, though.

[5a Violista]

[Level with Riverside]

The liongirl nods: "Yup, glasses." She has an idea for a dumb prank that'll make her seem a lot more impressive than she actually is.

She turns around, facing away from Leah. "Obviously, if you see me put them on, it spoils the effect. There's some scientific term that describes why." While facing away, Sirena suddenly has glasses in her hand, and as she puts them on she touches her face and changes a lot of different features. Face structure, eyebrow thickness, eye shape, nose shape...and then touches her throat and makes her voice deeper. She then runs her hand downward, and makes her chest notably bigger. Is that enough changes she wonders?

She turns around.
"See? Like this. Now I'm just an innocent bystander, wow look at all this destruction what happened excuse me I have to go pick up my daughter from ballet class."

She doesn't laugh to give it away. Secret identities are serious business.

She walks a short distance. "By the way, there was a sexy and hot and gorgeous liongirl around here, right? I wanted to give her my number because she reminds me of my ex and she's exactly my type. Do you know where she went? Could you pass along my number to her?"

She leans deeply towards Leah, and winks (as she reverts her voice. Changing it back is a lot easier, so she doesn't have to touch it). She takes off her glasses and puts the arm of the glasses onto her lips. "Don't worry, I'm a professional. i know what I'm doing," as if that somehow makes up for all the logical flaws and misstatements and questionable time travel ethics.

"Nope. Not related to a Tobias," Sirena says. "Then again, in the interest of keeping the timeline integrity from being changed by someone like you..." she says, somewhat hypocritically, "Regardless of what was true, I would tell you that. No telling what kind of problems you could cause if I told you more than you needed to know." She doesn't seem to pick up on Leah's great knowledge about time travel.

[Reinholdt]

[Level with Riverside]

Leah is taken aback. Glasses aren't that powerful... are they? Even she can't help but glance at Sirena's new assets and facial features. That was wild.

And, ahh, so indecent! Sirena has Leah completely flustered as the chaste, modest catgirl leans back and stammers. She's usually a lot more brash and stubborn than this, but that's also with her sister. It's easier to be more fervent and annoying with someone you've lived with most of your life, compared to a stranger. A stranger that's clearly being inappropriately seductive!

"I, well, uhh, you, umm... certainly, err... know what you're doing." Leah just repeats what Sirena says, completely forgetting her train of thought. Sirena has effectively diffused suspicion of her for at least a moment.

Then again, not only is Sirena being indecent, she's being rude! "Excuse me? Someone like me?! I've probably been time traveling since before you we-" Leah slams her mouth shut and slaps a hand over it, her eyes wide. This Sirena pushed all of Leah's emotional buttons and now the catgirl has completely let slip one of the things the quadruplets told each other they wouldn't let slip!

She clears her throat, lowers her hand and tries to counter lie her own way out of this. "What I mean to say is, uh, yeah, makes sense. Goodluckbye." Time to turn and try to head a different direction.

[5a Violista]

[Level with Riverside]

When it comes to glasses, the important question is what can't they do. Glasses are just that powerful.

Well, it was fun messing with that catgirl. Effective, too. Definitely worth all the potential embarrassment that could have happened if Leah counterattacked with even stronger flirting.
...
Sirena will have to come up with a different plan of attack in case she ever runs into someone who doesn't get flustered with over-the-top flirting and railroading.

But! Wait! Did Leah just say she was a time-traveler?
Sirena wants to chase after her and ask her questions, but she feels like she has already pushed too many buttons and almost accidentally revealed too much about herself. Much more of this, and Sirena could get herself into serious trouble. Especially because her watch isn't working, so she still has no clue about what's safe to do and what isn't.
Besides, she should probably get out of here ASAP before people start showing up. And she needs to find a hoodie that would go with her jacket.

She walks in the opposite direction from Leah, and fixes her face (but keeps the glasses and the chest: she knows it's best to keep with her normal form, but she really does like this chest and the glasses are an excuse to keep it for now).
She fiddles with her watch again. Wait, what if there was some kind of time-traveler resonance? That's a thing that happens, right? It could explain why she appeared appeared right here and why the portal was weird, if her time travel resonated with...
...
Sirena sighs. No, there's still that interference. Even trying to compensate for some kind of resonance doesn't solve everything. Plus, she thinks part of her watch was damaged just before going through that portal. Escaping to the past didn't happen as smoothy as she had hoped. Not to mention, the simple fact that now another time-traveler – even if they're from a different future – knows that she's here makes this so much more complicated.
Ugh, this is the worst.



Meanwhile
The half of the robot that got away unnoticed finds an abandoned building and starts setting up a communication tower.

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Amalungak, the elf mystic, is currently detained in the MERC office after playing an unclear role in the rat plague. Currently he's awaiting questioning by MERC representatives. He doesn't look too happy about it, but he's been legally detained and there's not a lot he can do about it for now.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh my, such a cutie!" Ithzi remarks excitedly as Nadia brings in the child. "But what child isn't? I wish I could take in more but my husband said no at twentyone, that old boggard."

Irena visibly shudders at the mere mention of having twenty one children and turns to Nadia. She gives her a tired look and lets out a sigh. "...sure, but the kid can help out with that right? Will probably teach him responsibility or something."

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia smiles encouragingly at Irena. "Oh for sure. It'll be a good experience for him. But-" She looks back to Ithzi. "I'm not sure what we should call her. We don't know what her name is." Presumably no one does anymore.

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Amalungak might be familiar with Dena one of the senior officers in MERC. She enters the simple room which is his cell and sits down on the table in the middle of it and takes out a file which she casually starts to look through as she seems to be waiting for him to take a seat on the opposite side.
But suddenly she looks up, her eyes hidden by sunglasses which he might suspect is a good thing. "Amalungak was it? Or do you prefer to be called something else?"

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena doesn't let her wives smile stop her from being grumpy. But done is done and actions spoke louder than words, or expressions in this case as she still don't look very pleased over this. But at least it wouldn't be forever and they had someone to help out this time.

Ithzi is either ignoring or ignorant of her attitude however and taps her clawed hand against her chin. "Oh... neither do I I'm afraid and I suppose you do need something to call her." She holds up her palm as if offering Nadia something. "I will leave it up to you I suppose. If the family I find don't like your name they can always rename her. Do recall that we are fey though so names carry a great deal of meaning to us, this little starshine included." She gestures to the baby.

[Buffet Dungeon]

"Yeah I guess... uhh... hey! YOU!" Magdalene says, pointing at one of the gawking onlookers outside the restaurant.

A surprised looking guy glances back and forth, then points at himself.

"Yeah, you. Call the cops and tell 'em the bottom of this building is crawling with cultists and demons who were sacrificing people."

The guy nods and pulls out his phone to make a call.

See?

You just gotta take charge sometimes.

"So Anika, right? Hey if you ever want to kick some butt in a dungeon again I'm game. That was a pretty solid run."

They have a tank and a healer now!

They could probably use some DPS, though.

[Buffet Dungeon]

Oh man, that dude was using that goblin magic device so effortlessly!
Sure, most people seemed to do that around here but it was still so cool. But she was letting herself getting distracted, Magda was talking to her. "Uh, yeah! Sure! You got a way to contact me? There doesn't seem to be any summoning stones around here..." At least she hadn't seen any so far and that had totally been a dungeon.

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Well, at least it's not one of the gol-kin interrogating him. He was spared that particular indignity. Was this woman once an elf? Or does she just look like one? No matter, she's not one of his people anyway.

"Amalungak is fine," he says curtly. He's determined to only answer the questions he's given and provide no other information.

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

"Alright, great." She smiles and then turns her attention back to the files. "So I'm trying to get a better picture of what happened here and to do that I need to ask you to correct or clarify some of the data I have here." She puts the papers down on the table. "It's eye witness reports, photos and other data we collected." As they stay on her side of the table it doesn't seem like she's offering them to him.

"So let's start out with an easy one. People that talked to you claim that you called yourself a mystic or shaman." She waves her hand. "The accounts differ a bit as they tend to do. But you're a spellcaster of some kind, correct? Perhaps you could clarify for me what your role as one is. People that are able to do magic are usually of high social standing." At least in Dena's experience.

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

"I would not describe myself as a spellcaster," Amalungak clarifies. He's not sure why Dena is opening up with this, but he can play along. "Sorcerers cast spells. I commune with the spirit world using rituals and anchoring objects. Most would call be a mystic, but there are those who would call me a witch instead. My people sadly put little trust or value in this art, and as such I have been something of an outcast for years."

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

"Why would they put so little trust in it? My own people are known to have a close relationship with spirits, but I'm guessing that's not the case with yours then." Dena inquires as she peers at him from behind her sunglasses.

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off A High]

A group of six people are clearly having a lot of fun, hanging out after work. Most of them work together, and the other two were brought to balance out the group. Everyone takes turns talking, laughing, making a fool of themselves, and so on, as they go from place to place talking about whatever. They're discussing their plans for the rest of the night: photos together, then maybe a bar, then split off into the groups they've naturally formed over the evening...
The redhead, June, feels a flower grow in her hair and casually plucks the red-and-yellow flower and crumples it up in her hand. To hide what she just did, she then adjusts her beret, then puts back on her jacket and smooths out her long skirt. She then drops the crumpled flower onto the ground and brushes it aside with her foot.

"Haha, sorry," the she says. She shakes her head. "I'm already feeling pretty tired and think it's time for me to turn in for the night." She laughs, talks a little, and apologizes. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow, right?"

She gets up and...one of the others gets up and follows her out of the room. "I'm fine paying for myself. No...no...yeah...no...well, if you insist, I guess it's fine. I'm paying next time though, okay? I mean it, I will."

June smiles and says goodbye again, and leaves the building. She turns right, and after getting a good distance away...she adjusts her skirt and sighs in relief. It's incredibly painful trying to keep a tail in that position, she's glad that she can relax it now. She reaches up to the beret, makes sure it hasn't slipped off - it's hard with those horns there! and finds another flower in her hair, but just leaves it this time. She laughs mirthlessly. "Ironic how it takes all this to make me actually feel human," she says.
She sighs and rubs her eyes. Potion wears off in half an hour...? Can't go home yet, her neighbors think she looks much more plain than this.
She reaches to her purse, and pulls out a vial. Maybe if she takes some more, she can stay out for a few more hours?
No, it's empty already.
She sighs.
Guess she has to wander the street for another half-hour.

Being alone makes time fly fast. Well, it feels like it goes by slowly, actually, but with nobody to talk to, it might as well have gone by fast. June starts to look...less. Chest is now flat again, which...honestly, is a little better than how large it was before, but June would be okay with it being a little bigger. Hair's shorter. No more flowers. The tail tingles as it vanishes, and the horns...that spot feels numb for a bit. Clothes don't exactly fit right anymore, either, since they were made for someone who actually looked feminine and not just androgynous.
June looks down, and after a little bit of concentration, the chest grows and puffs up a little. It's not exactly the same, but at least it's not nothing. June zips up the jacket, and goes back homeward.
...
Speaking of, how many potions are left? There's a couple of the strong ones, but...they're locked up. No way they're getting to be used. Maybe June can just take another one tonight. Stay out longer, or even just spend time at home like that. Whatever.
. . .
No, that's already two today. No more. Besides, they're running low; June needs to go back to Inside to buy some more. That can...maybe? wait until this weekend?
Whatever.
Ugh.

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Why is she asking about this? To learn more about him? To unnerve him? He's going to continue sticking to the truth, but not the whole truth.

"They would rather put their trust in the fey, and the arts they've learned from them. Understandable but, in my opinion, short-sighted. The spirit world holds many secrets fey cannot access."

[Gullara]

[MERC Office]

Zhareen gives Korrina the thumbs up and nods to Dena. "Very fair, miss Zifhara! So tell us then, what happened?"

"I'll give you the short version and let you ask questions if you want more details." Dena pours up a glass of water to herself using a globe shaped jug. "So... we got hired by your former employees to deal with a rat problem. The whole city got absolutely infested by rats over the course of a few days. No matter how many rats that people killed they always seemed to come back. Apparently, your sister organization didn't want to involve themselves in this one so they turned to us instead."

Zhareen nervously rubs the side of her neck, seemingly recognizing this somehow. Korrina would have no idea why the members of the fourth tower that remained with Malechenar would have refused this kind of job but Zhareen seems to have some clue...

Either way, Dena continues. "Dealing with the rats was easier said than done. Especially as all kinds of wackos had gotten in their head to deal with the rats themselves. Getting in our way at every turn. But eventually our members managed to track the sources of the rats down into the sewers and even deeper below into underground tunnels that apparently exist underneath even further below the city. Down there they found a crazy fey calling itself a 'rat king'. A hideous rat-monster which spoke in rhymes and was masquerading as human children. Yes, children in plural as they were some kind of hive-mind if I understand things correctly. They managed to slay it and with it gone the rats disappeared and our work was done."

"But, ah, why did it do that? The fey I mean." Zhareen asks, more hesitantly than Korrina have heard her be for quite a while. Almost as if she was afraid of the answer.

But Dena just shrugs. "Beats me, the written reports I got made it out to be talking nonsense. I could let you talk to someone that was down there but I'm pretty sure it was working of fey logic." A beat. "Right, you guys are interested in that sort of stuff, aren't you?"

[MERC Office]

"We are, yes. Can you tell us more about this fey? What it looked like, how it behaved, what abilities it exhibited. That sort of thing." Korrina asks. All could help them identify the sort of being it was.

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena doesn't let her wives smile stop her from being grumpy. But done is done and actions spoke louder than words, or expressions in this case as she still don't look very pleased over this. But at least it wouldn't be forever and they had someone to help out this time.

Ithzi is either ignoring or ignorant of her attitude however and taps her clawed hand against her chin. "Oh... neither do I I'm afraid and I suppose you do need something to call her." She holds up her palm as if offering Nadia something. "I will leave it up to you I suppose. If the family I find don't like your name they can always rename her. Do recall that we are fey though so names carry a great deal of meaning to us, this little starshine included." She gestures to the baby.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Hm, well we'll have to think on it then. I wouldn't want to rush anything that important." Nadia says with a nod. "Is there anything else we should know? Does she have any special needs that we wouldn't know about?" She is, after all, a different species.

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office]

Zhareen nods in agreement to those questions as she peers at Dena who puts her palms into the air. "I actually tried to give you all the information that I had from the written reports. I didn't make them include details like that." She pauses a moment, perhaps for dramatic effect? "However, I could call in someone who I believe have more information on it than anyone else. As luck has it, she's in town right now I believe so it shouldn't take too long."

Assuming Korrina agrees to this (Zhareen certainly does) Dena makes a call and then they have to wait a bit.

Eventually, after probably what feels like an eternity but is less than 30 minutes, the door opens and what else but a satyr walks into the room. A female satyr of all things considering that they all should be male. Though perhaps this one is something else?

"Oh, heeeey! It's Jaahlyn!" Zhareen waves her hand, apparently recognizing the fey right away. "I didn't know you worked for MERC too! How's it going?" Zhareen gets up from her seat, a somewhat labored process considering her form, and moves over to give Jaahlyn(?) a hug.

"Ehh... hello, Zhareen." The satyr answers, just standing there as if frozen on the spot as she's hugged by the merfolk.

Dena raises an eyebrow but that's as much of a reaction she has to this and just gestures at Jaahlyn. "Oh, you know one another already? Great. That makes things much easier. You can ask Jaahlyn here all the questions you have about the fey as she was down in those tunnels fighting it too."

[Suncrest Manor]

Ithzi raises her arm into the air. "Oh! Good thing that you mention that." She looks around. "If you could lend me some pen and paper I could write up a list of what the little one would need."

Irena supresses a groan. Great, even more special needs than your usual baby and here she thought raising the kid had been hard enough.

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Dena leans forward. "Really now? Since that's what I was curious about. The being behind all this, it was a fey wasn't it? You sound like something of an expert at the topic after all."

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Amalungak shakes his head.

"An expert? Hardly," he lies. "I am an elf, but I have no special insight into fey that others of my people do not. And while I understand the being controlling the rats was indeed a fey, it was altogether different from the ones I know. Hard to comprehend and more similar to my world's spirits, perhaps."

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

"Uuuh..."

Magdalene doesn't have a phone.

She should probably get one.

Since being in contact with people is problematic otherwise.

"Here, lemme wright down my address on something..." she says, reaching into her pack and digging through it.

Ah!

There, some paper!

It looks like some kind of ancient scroll with scary looking glowing blue glyphs all over one side. Magdalene flips it over and begins writing on the opposite side of the thing with a pin.

"There, that's where my apartment is at. Just swing by any time you wanna go out for a delve."

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off A High]

A group of six people are clearly having a lot of fun, hanging out after work. Most of them work together, and the other two were brought to balance out the group. Everyone takes turns talking, laughing, making a fool of themselves, and so on, as they go from place to place talking about whatever. They're discussing their plans for the rest of the night: photos together, then maybe a bar, then split off into the groups they've naturally formed over the evening...
The redhead, June, feels a flower grow in her hair and casually plucks the red-and-yellow flower and crumples it up in her hand. To hide what she just did, she then adjusts her beret, then puts back on her jacket and smooths out her long skirt. She then drops the crumpled flower onto the ground and brushes it aside with her foot.

"Haha, sorry," the she says. She shakes her head. "I'm already feeling pretty tired and think it's time for me to turn in for the night." She laughs, talks a little, and apologizes. "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow, right?"

She gets up and...one of the others gets up and follows her out of the room. "I'm fine paying for myself. No...no...yeah...no...well, if you insist, I guess it's fine. I'm paying next time though, okay? I mean it, I will."

June smiles and says goodbye again, and leaves the building. She turns right, and after getting a good distance away...she adjusts her skirt and sighs in relief. It's incredibly painful trying to keep a tail in that position, she's glad that she can relax it now. She reaches up to the beret, makes sure it hasn't slipped off - it's hard with those horns there! and finds another flower in her hair, but just leaves it this time. She laughs mirthlessly. "Ironic how it takes all this to make me actually feel human," she says.
She sighs and rubs her eyes. Potion wears off in half an hour...? Can't go home yet, her neighbors think she looks much more plain than this.
She reaches to her purse, and pulls out a vial. Maybe if she takes some more, she can stay out for a few more hours?
No, it's empty already.
She sighs.
Guess she has to wander the street for another half-hour.

Being alone makes time fly fast. Well, it feels like it goes by slowly, actually, but with nobody to talk to, it might as well have gone by fast. June starts to look...less. Chest is now flat again, which...honestly, is a little better than how large it was before, but June would be okay with it being a little bigger. Hair's shorter. No more flowers. The tail tingles as it vanishes, and the horns...that spot feels numb for a bit. Clothes don't exactly fit right anymore, either, since they were made for someone who actually looked feminine and not just androgynous.
June looks down, and after a little bit of concentration, the chest grows and puffs up a little. It's not exactly the same, but at least it's not nothing. June zips up the jacket, and goes back homeward.
...
Speaking of, how many potions are left? There's a couple of the strong ones, but...they're locked up. No way they're getting to be used. Maybe June can just take another one tonight. Stay out longer, or even just spend time at home like that. Whatever.
. . .
No, that's already two today. No more. Besides, they're running low; June needs to go back to Inside to buy some more. That can...maybe? wait until this weekend?
Whatever.
Ugh.

[Coming Off a High]

Along the tail end, pun intended, of June's somewhat aimless wandering, she comes across a random encounter. In front of her on the sidewalk is a catboy with blue-gray tail and ears. He is an older gentleman, but an incredibly fit one. It's pretty obvious because he is wearing very little. A pair of red shorts, custom tailored, and a collar with a beautiful sounding bell, one could only suspect to be enchanted.

Surrounding this catboy are two rather rough looking dwarves. Sure, maybe judging based on looks is a bad idea, but it becomes clear their intentions are ill at best based on their body language and what June can overhear.

"I dunno Zet. Guy doesn't even have shoes. He can't have much worth giving us."
"Korg you idiot. That bulge in his pocket isn't cause he's happy to see us. Hey you, you need to hand over your cash for using our sidewalk. It's only fair right?"

"Ah, but this isn't my money to give away sirs. My employer would be very upset sirs," The catboy tries to argue, sounding a little disconcerted. He's never had to pay to use sidewalks before! Is this a rule specific to this city?

"Heh, well if he doesn't want to give up the cash, maybe this shiny bell will do for payment. It looks like it's worth a pretty penny," Korg says, starting to reach towards Butler's neck.

"No, wait sir!" His hand goes up defensively to protect his collar. It seems more valuable to him personally for some reason. This of course, only makes the thugs want it more and the catboy seems to be on the verge of just giving them the cash in hopes that will be enough.

June could ignore this by swinging over to the other side of the street and continuing her walk over there.

[5a Violista]

Coming Off A High

The fact that he's a clear exhibitionist is probably enough grounds to cross the street. Or, rather, it would be enough if he were by himself. Instead, he's clearly running into some trouble. Exhibitionist or no, he is in trouble...

...
June would feel a lot more comfortable doing this if she had a gun in her purse.
Then again, she did beat a giant mushroom monster with nothing but a cursed nail and a flippant attitude... (She's still wearing one of those as an edgy earring...)

June zips down her jacket partway to give the illusion of more cleavage than there actually is.
And instead of crossing the street, she walks towards them, saying, "C'mon, boys, he's clearly someone's pet, and you don't want to get involved with those types of people."

Well, now it's too late to turn around and avoid this situation. Might as well go all-in.
Now close enough to actually see the collar, she pretends to be appraising it. "Besides, most collars like this are cursed." Having never seen a magic collar before, this is entirely based on stories that she's read.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off A High]

June very quickly has Korg and Zet's attention. They look ready to tell her to buzz off, but Korg is very clearly staring at the subtle hint of her chest. Plus she says something rather thought provoking.
"Oi, Zet. You don't think that thing's cursed do you?"
"Maybe she just wants it for h'rself Korg," Zet replies, looking uncertain.

Fortunately Butler speaks up and clarifies things. "Oh no, it's not cursed at all sirs, ma'am."

Both the dwarves swivel their gaze to him. Zet narrows his eyes. Anyone with an uncursed collar would have played along, lying with this stranger to make it seem like it was cursed. Butler here was clearly hoping they would take his collar because it was very cursed. Oldest trick in the book. Well he's not falling for that.
"Well that cinches it. No way we're taking some cursed ah'mulet from some demon's pet or whatever." He pokes Butler in the chest. "Come on Korg."
Korg sniffs and spits to one side. "Ptew. Unlucky cat." He brushes past Butler, elbowing him on his way past as the two leave.

They round a corner and get out of sight/sound fast enough, searching for easier, less cursed prey to pick on.

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off a High]

June held her breath and bit a little of her lip as the two muggers discussed whether or not they should go through with their crime.

When they finally leave, she finally feels like she can breathe again. That could have gone very wrong, and she's glad that it didn't.

She turns to Butler. "Seriously, do you want help getting that off? And are you alright?"

Oh, right, he's still half-dressed.
June turns away from him, and zips up her jacket. "And if you don't want people to think you're a stripper, you should at least put a coat on or something. Not a trenchcoat, though, that would give the wrong impression." Actually, June thinks he might actually be a stripper, but she doesn't want to say it aloud just in case he isn't.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

"Ah, no ma'am. I'm fine ma'am. Thank you ma'am," Butler assures June, half reaching for his collar again protectively and wondering why those two left. But he lowers his hands and bows to June.

"Don't worry, I'm not cold ma'am." Butler doesn't need a jacket! "I'm Butler B. Butler ma'am. Nice to meet you ma'am." Butler straightens up with a warm friendly smile before tilting his head a little.

"I haven't been removing any paint lately, so I'm not sure what would give you that impression ma'am. I'm a butler ma'am." Just in case, he double checks himself. No. No paint's gotten on him. Definitely hasn't been stripping anything lately.

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Amalungak shakes his head.

"An expert? Hardly," he lies. "I am an elf, but I have no special insight into fey that others of my people do not. And while I understand the being controlling the rats was indeed a fey, it was altogether different from the ones I know. Hard to comprehend and more similar to my world's spirits, perhaps."

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

It's hard to tell wherever she believes him or not behind those sunglasses. But regardless, she continues. "So what insight do you have to offer then? Terminology gets a bit tricky in the nexus. Fey is what I got here on paper but it might as well be a spirit, a demon or something else entirely. Just tell me what you think. Your cooperation will be noted."

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off a High]

June opens her mouth.
Then bites her lip, closing it again.

"Hey,. is your middle name also 'Butler' or is it literally just 'B'?" she asks, coming to the conclusion that he is definitely a stripper since he uses such an obvious name, only one that is really hardcore into his persona.

Either that, or he's doing some weird sorority dare thing but with magic so he doesn't realize what he's doing.

Regardless, he's still dressed like that which is pretty embarrassing to look at him. "I'm June."

Bringing some levity into it probably will make it less embarrassing. "I was just wondering because wearing paint-on-clothing is getting pretty popular but nobody ever stops to think there's some jobs that it would be inappropriate for."

There.
He's just a guy, she's seen a guy's chest and legs loads of times before. Never one who's also a stripper, but there's a first time for everything.

June looks back at the butler-themed guy. "So what are you doing out at this time of the evening, anyway?"

OH WAIT!
Not a sorority thing. Um... what's the sorority thing, but for guys? Broship? Brorority?

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

"It is also Butler ma'am! You're very smart ma'am." Butler grins happily. "I named myself ma'am." Butler is quite proud of it too. It's a clever and succinct name as far as he's concerned.

See, even June has a clever name. Named after the month she was born in. Butler presumes. "It's a pleasure to meet you June ma'am."

The catboy frowns a little. "You can wash clothes with paint on them instead of wearing them ma'am. I recommend hand washing first ma'am. The key is to rinse and repeat ma'am." But if it was popular to get paint on your clothes then... well that'd still be awful for when you do laundry! Butler shudders at the thought.

A fraternity. Either way it'd be hazing. Which is possible. "I was sent to find and buy Unicorn Tears ma'am. But I must admit the task has been most difficult ma'am. I've been in and out of stores for hours ma'am." You'd think the Magmart would carry such things, but no. Out of stock and the Magbot never returned from checking in the back.

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

"The being controlled rats." Amalungak is thinking quickly. But he's had some time to think about his answers and how to hide how much he actually knows. "It was connected to them and to filth and disease. In my experience, spirits are less physical than that. Fey attach themselves to physical manifestations. Spirits tend to operate in higher, more abstract concepts. More esoteric."

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off a High]

"Yeah, same, great to meet you too," June says.
This whole interaction seems to be going pretty well, but...she can't help but wonder how much better it would go if that potion hadn't worn off yet.

"I actually used to hand-wash my clothes all the time," she says, "but..." She wiggles her fingers to show them off, and says, "Can't really do it as much anymore." Not as much force behind her hand, since she technically doesn't really have bones anymore.

She starts walking, turning a little to keep on talking with him: "If only we were at Inside City, it'd be pretty easy to find them. Not many unicorns around here, but when I was last in Inside City, I saw a bunch of them all around." June sighs, and stops: "Unicorn Tears seem a lot like a novelty item, anyway."