Riverside 21: Older than Arkh

[Gullara]

[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."

[MERC Office]

"Do you two know each other?" Korrina asks first, however. She looks between the two, but doesn't assume much. Zhareen will hug just about anyone.

She doesn't linger on that long, however. "We're looking for information on the spirit that orchestrated the rat infestation. We hope to be able to identify it, so anything you can tell us about what it looked like, how it behaved, or what abilities it exhibited would be useful." She repeats her questions from earlier.

[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.

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh? Is it a lot?" Nadia asks, a bit surprised. She wasn't expecting anything extensive when she asked that question. She looks at Irena. "Mind grabbing the writing material?" Irena is on fetch duty today.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

This better seems to be a phantom value. Unless she's hoping for more in her life than a warm smile and new friend!

Which sounds about accurate for a blossoming addict. Butler is far too distracted either way by the weird way her boneless fingers move, staring at them with wide eyed wonder. "I... don't really understand ma'am. But that was very weird ma'am." Not in a bad way at least.

"Well I checked most of Skyside and Riverside so Inside would be a good place to look next for sure ma'am. Guess I should have started there ma'am. Do you know where they are in Inside ma'am?" Inside's a big place. She might have to show him.

The butler shakes his head at her assertion however. "Oh no ma'am. I don't need books about Unicorn Tears ma'am. I need actual Unicorn Tears ma'am. It's for a project Mistress Tellysandra is working on ma'am."

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office]

Indeed, Zhareen only hugs people she at least know somewhat well, feel sorry for, feel excited for, or just to show them that she cares.

A reasonable limit if she may say so herself.

Now she let's the poor satyr go though and pats her on the shoulder instead. "Yes, Jaahlyn has been summoned a couple of times to do errands for us. She's a real go-getter!" Zhareen turns to look at the fey. "But how do you work for MERC, Jaahlyn? I though you couldn't hold money? We always gave you those enchantments-"

Jaahlyn gently pulls away from Zhareen, looking more than a bit awkward. "Er, it called itself Rat King, miss." She responds, not wanting to linger on the subject Zhareen had just brought up at all apparently. "It was able to ressurect ressurect living beings as its slaves by giving them its... ah, essence? Like a part of itself. It existed almost like a form of hive mind, see? Like... ants."

"Ants don't actually have a hive mind, they're just very effective at communication." Zhareen is quick to point out. "It's still a good metaphor though!"

"Um... yeah. It's made up of several huge rats that has their rats merged together in this huge... ball. But for some reason it wanted to appear as a bunch of a kids as it saw them as... pure. It didn't make a lot of sense honestly. Really crazy."

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh, probably not. I just haven't raised a elven baby before so a lot of what I write down might already be covered. Just don't want to risk missing something." Ithzi explains as Irena crosses her arms over her chest, turns around, and walks out to get paper. Didn't these people have cellphones? Geez.

She soon returns however and hands the little woman a textbook and a pen. Ithzi then spends a little over a quarter just writing a list which she then hands over to Nadia. "There you are, miss!"

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

"Really? Interesting. Perhaps it was a spirit then." Dena muses as she strokes her chin. "We do have a witness that served the being which specifically pointed you out as a 'guest' to it, serving as a representative to a fey lord that also summoned. Care to explain that?"

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off a High]

What she was hoping for was basically the same as what's happening, except feeling better about herself and without assuming that he's secretly thinking something about her that he wouldn't say aloud because it's too rude.

June quickly lowers her hand and put sit behind her.
Whoops, she didn't mean to do that. She meant to more, like...just move them normally, as if she were trying to say something-or-other. Or, rather, she forgot that the way they bend can look pretty creepy.

"Oh, well...there's just like, a whole section of town that's full of unicorns," June says. "I saw it last time I was there. Lots of them should have tears. Or they might be selling some, since they're so rare. If I were a unicorn, that's what I would be doing." She doesn't remember talking about books, though? She can't tell whether he's making a joke or if she said something wrong, so she just mostly-ignores that comment. If she treats it seriously then he'd feel awkward talking about how it's was really a joke.

[Gullara]

[MERC Office]

Indeed, Zhareen only hugs people she at least know somewhat well, feel sorry for, feel excited for, or just to show them that she cares.

A reasonable limit if she may say so herself.

Now she let's the poor satyr go though and pats her on the shoulder instead. "Yes, Jaahlyn has been summoned a couple of times to do errands for us. She's a real go-getter!" Zhareen turns to look at the fey. "But how do you work for MERC, Jaahlyn? I though you couldn't hold money? We always gave you those enchantments-"

Jaahlyn gently pulls away from Zhareen, looking more than a bit awkward. "Er, it called itself Rat King, miss." She responds, not wanting to linger on the subject Zhareen had just brought up at all apparently. "It was able to ressurect ressurect living beings as its slaves by giving them its... ah, essence? Like a part of itself. It existed almost like a form of hive mind, see? Like... ants."

"Ants don't actually have a hive mind, they're just very effective at communication." Zhareen is quick to point out. "It's still a good metaphor though!"

"Um... yeah. It's made up of several huge rats that has their rats merged together in this huge... ball. But for some reason it wanted to appear as a bunch of a kids as it saw them as... pure. It didn't make a lot of sense honestly. Really crazy."

[MERC Office]

As Jaahlyn starts talking Korrina produces a notepad from her bag and jots some notes. "Pure? Can you add to that? Maybe it was acting on that belief somehow? Something to do with its goals?"

[Suncrest Manor]

"Oh, probably not. I just haven't raised a elven baby before so a lot of what I write down might already be covered. Just don't want to risk missing something." Ithzi explains as Irena crosses her arms over her chest, turns around, and walks out to get paper. Didn't these people have cellphones? Geez.

She soon returns however and hands the little woman a textbook and a pen. Ithzi then spends a little over a quarter just writing a list which she then hands over to Nadia. "There you are, miss!"

[Suncrest Manor]

Nadia takes the list and scans through it quickly. Apparently she doesn't find anything too shocking because she just hands it to Irena to look over too. "I don't think any of that will be a big problem. Nothing we can't handle." Really, all of a baby's regular needs are the most substantial work, and they already know how to do that, if they're a bit out of practice.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena leans in and quickly scans the list with a frown on her face. She makes no comment.

Ithzi on the other hand smiles widely. "Perfect, I can't thank you enough, miss. You've done me and the child a huge favor today. Not many people would be willing to open their homes and hearts to a new child these days."

[MERC Office]

The questions seems to make Jaahlyn hesitate. "Ehh... let me think a bit. Hard to explain."

"By all means, take your time, Jaahlyn." Zhareen looks to Korrina. "We're in no rush, right?"

"I imagine you've already been waiting for me however..." The satyr comments as she sheepishly scrapes the tip of one of her hooves into the floor. "I guess... I guess the best way to explain it was that they were trying to make a statement about people on the bottom of society. Homeless and so on. But it did it by, ah, killing them? Just like it was trying to get every rat killed. Just to show how horrible it was. Like I said, it was insane." She turns to Zhareen. "But now that I think about it, it was thinking about the fourth tower a few times. Though I'm not sure why."

"Oh... eh, you could read its mind then?" The merfolk asks with a nervous glance at Korrina.

Jaahlyn nods. "It made me serve it for a while so I could feel its influence. That's how I know so much about it. I could feel it controlling the rats. Making them do awful things so people would want to exterminate them. It was horrible."

Dena suddenly speaks up, Korrina seeing her lean forward in her chair. "Hold on, you didn't mention this fourth tower connection in your report. How do they figure into all of this?"

Jaahlyn shrugs. "I don't know. I remembered it just now since Zhareen was here. It just made the rats keep an look out for members. Not sure why though so I guess it didn't seem relevant when you made me write that thing."

"Right..." Dena now turns to them. "Then do you have any idea why it was interested in you in particular?"

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

June said Unicorn Tears were a novelty item, but Butler doesn't think they're a novel at all! Not even remotely related to literature.

"Wow, I didn't know there were that many unicorns ma'am. I always heard they were exceptionally rare ma'am." Do these unicorn tears count, or does the unicorn have to be more of a fable for the Tears to have any value? Only one way to find out.

Butler looks up though, noting the street lights coming on as the sky gets even darker. "Well, I'll have to check it out tomorrow actually ma'am. A little late to get back too, so I'll find a hotel or something ma'am." Some place to stay one night. "What about you, what were you doing this evening ma'am?" It seems only polite to ask since he may have accidentally interrupted her.

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

And here we are. Amalungak isn't surprised that this line of questioning led here. But he was prepared for it.

"A strange claim. I represent no fey lords. All the great fey of my homeworld have long been banished from the mortal world, when the Fairest of Lands receded. I simply tried to investigate the disturbance. I was sadly unsuccessful."

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off a High]

Now if only Butler would explain the connection between novelty items and novels, because then June would laugh at his joke, because it's pretty clever.

"They are pretty rare, I think," June says, "but, like, there's a whole section of the city where all the horses and ponies and unicorns and flying horses and flying unicorns decided to get together to live together. I mean, if I were a horse then I'd want to live somewhere that's designed for horses and not for humans, right?"

"I was actually just headed home," she says. "Was spending time with friends and finished for the night, so was going home to my apartment." After a half-hour of sitting around, waiting, of course.

[Purple Eagle]

[Feast for the Eyes]

Seraphina sighs.
Seriously, she doesn't get why everyone cares so much about this. In a normal-popupation world, there's like three other peoplr that look like you. Besides, Seraphina didn't originally look like this but that seems like something else that everyone will care too much about.

"Well, nice to meet you."

Oh, yeah, Seraphina thinks. This world doesn't have vampires or weird deerpeople or robosaurs or ghosts or cultists or stepford wives as a normal thing. More similar to where she comes from, probably, except with everything weird which makes everybody overreact about pointless things and ignore things that should matter. Which means, she has to put herself back in that mindset.

"Yeah, so, the reason I believe her is because I saw something that didn't make sense at all, no matter how much I thought about it." She doesn't know how the vampires here work, so she doesn't want to say something that would later be probably false. "Like, couldn't figure out what was going on, but after running into her and being told what happened to her, it all just clicked into place. Like, it all made sense if what she was saying was true."

Seraphina then repeats most of what she remembers being told by Harriet.

[Feast for the Eyes]

Carla paces around the room as Seraphina explains all she can, then exclaims just before the hooded lady finishes her speech. "I knew it, vampires are REAL! I'm one of those... vampophiles, they call it? This is great, Harleen is a vampire!" She pauses after slamming a fist against her other palm. "She used to be my friend, you see? We grew up together, and Harriet bullied us. Separated ways after college, and she left this town... she has no idea Hattie's no longer like that."

She suddenly gets up and grabs her keys. "I'm going to find her, she'll listen to me." As she leaves, Karasu shoots Seraphina a glance and begins to send a message, when everything goes white and then black, as the sensory information generated by the machine dies down.

"Hey, what gives?" Karasu can be heard saying as she pulls off her visor, looking around. "Why'd you pull us ou- ohhh." She trails off as she notices that the power in the entire shop is out.

The woman runs off to the side and fiddles with a switch that restores power to the area, and the machine the two women are in returns to an idle state. "Terribly sorry, but you use enough power, and eventually... 'that' happens. We'll need to wait 30 minutes before considering using it, but that can be rectified after I make sure it works... so, how was it?" She asks excitedly, beaming at both ladies.

[5a Violista]

[Feast for the Eyes]

Seraphina considers what they should do next, whether they should stay here or follow her, and decides she's going to ask Karasu about that next, when...

---

After realizing what happened, Seraphina also takes off her visor and checks to make sure she's still got her hood. Yup. Okay.

She gets out of the machine and steps away from it.
"Well..." She bites her lip, trying to decide what to say about it. "First of all, it was really interesting. Looked pretty real, too, so that was really neat." And that thing was probably a bug, but: "Either there's a weird bug with it, though, or a weird coincidence, or maybe that's just how the machine works, but there was a character who said she looked exactly like me, and, yeah, we were kind-of similar, so I was wondering whether it was just the machine copying my image for her, or if it was just a weird coincidence and weird things." She'd like to see the book to see how it describes that character, so that she can find out whether it was really a coincidence or if the machine just works that way. So, Seraphina goes towards where she thinks the book was put.

"But also it was very nice, very convenient, and if I knew the story and the setting it would have been really amazing."

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

If only Butler realized it was a joke, but he's just as much in the dark as June.

The catboy thinks about that for a moment, his tail steadily swishing. "Yeah, that makes sense ma'am. There were a lot more catboys and catgirls back home in Felinia ma'am." Unicorns would congregate as well with other unicorns. It's a common practice!

"Oh sorry for interrupting you ma'am. Are we still going the right way ma'am?" He'd hate to have been walking with her in the wrong direction by mistake and making it take even longer to get home.

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off a High]

"A place full of catgirls seems like it'd be nice," June comments. Oh, and catboys too. But catboys aren't as iconic as catgirls.

Since June was actually headed back to her place when she passed by the muggers and the butler-stripper, they're still headed in the right way. "Oh. Yeah, we are going the right way," she says. She points ahead at an intersection. "I live on that street."

Not talking while walking down the street with a butler-stripper would be pretty awkward, so she tries to come up with a conversation. "What are the unicorn tears for, anyway? Like, I know they're for someone else," since he mentioned he was sent to get them, "but, like, do you know what they're for?"

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

"It's very nice ma'am. You should visit some time ma'am! It's a beautiful country ma'am," Butler smile is full of warm, fond memories.

He tilts his head in thought. "She didn't say directly to me ma'am, but I thought I heard her talking about an orgy with important infernal representatives ma'am?" Butler shakes his head and shrugs, not really sure what that means. "Maybe she just wants something unique to serve as a drink at a party ma'am. Oh... maybe I should buy extra ma'am..." In case they need refills of their unicorn tears.

[5a Violista]

Coming Off a High

"If I'm ever in the area, I'll have to visit Felinia, then." Wherever it is. June will have to look for a map that includes it. And hopefully being dressed like this is the exception, not the rule.


June reconsiders her view of Butler B. Butler.
Okay, maybe he's not actually what she thought he was. Instead, his boss is forcing him to dress that way. "Yeah, the wealthy really do like their naughty businessmeetings, don't they?" she says. And making him serve drinks there, too.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

"I do recommend it ma'am." Such trips were more common in the past, when Butler was around a lot more. But they can still occur if June books a ride via the Repository.

Butler thinks for a moment before nodding a little. "They are a fan of meetings, yes ma'am. But what about them makes them naughty ma'am? I don't think anyone's getting hurt ma'am." And that's the real deciding factor if something's naughty or not. If people get hurt.

[5a Violista]

[Coming Off a High]
she'll check online after getting home how much a ticket on the Repository costs and if it allows transfers from the Riftline

Poor Butler!

They're clearly taking advantage of his innocence, tricking him into doing such lewd and lascivious things!

They get to the corner to turn on, and June pauses since she's not sure if this is where they part ways or if they keep walking alongside each other.

Bu, poor Butler! Making him dress that way, making him serve drinks at that without even telling him what it is.
"These types of things, people get hurt when they don't know what to expect. You should make sure everyone knows what they're getting in to before they arrive, because that'll be the best for everyone." And if he's making sure everyone else is aware of what it is, he'll also learn what it is before it's too late to get away.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena leans in and quickly scans the list with a frown on her face. She makes no comment.

Ithzi on the other hand smiles widely. "Perfect, I can't thank you enough, miss. You've done me and the child a huge favor today. Not many people would be willing to open their homes and hearts to a new child these days."

[Suncrest Manor]

"I'm really happy to do it." Nadia replies modestly. She can't help but want to help the poor child. "Just let us know when things change and we can go from there."

[MERC Office]

The questions seems to make Jaahlyn hesitate. "Ehh... let me think a bit. Hard to explain."

"By all means, take your time, Jaahlyn." Zhareen looks to Korrina. "We're in no rush, right?"

"I imagine you've already been waiting for me however..." The satyr comments as she sheepishly scrapes the tip of one of her hooves into the floor. "I guess... I guess the best way to explain it was that they were trying to make a statement about people on the bottom of society. Homeless and so on. But it did it by, ah, killing them? Just like it was trying to get every rat killed. Just to show how horrible it was. Like I said, it was insane." She turns to Zhareen. "But now that I think about it, it was thinking about the fourth tower a few times. Though I'm not sure why."

"Oh... eh, you could read its mind then?" The merfolk asks with a nervous glance at Korrina.

Jaahlyn nods. "It made me serve it for a while so I could feel its influence. That's how I know so much about it. I could feel it controlling the rats. Making them do awful things so people would want to exterminate them. It was horrible."

Dena suddenly speaks up, Korrina seeing her lean forward in her chair. "Hold on, you didn't mention this fourth tower connection in your report. How do they figure into all of this?"

Jaahlyn shrugs. "I don't know. I remembered it just now since Zhareen was here. It just made the rats keep an look out for members. Not sure why though so I guess it didn't seem relevant when you made me write that thing."

"Right..." Dena now turns to them. "Then do you have any idea why it was interested in you in particular?"

[MERC Office]

Korrina certainly looks surprised to hear this. "The Fourth Tower? I don't know of any dealings with a being like Jaahlyn described, that's for sure." She looks at Zhareen for confirmation. "The Fourth Tower isn't just one organization, though. There are scattered compounds all over the land we came from and out direct association is loose."

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

Butler dutifully stops at the corner, looking back and forth, thinking they're watching for traffic and not realizing it is time to part ways because the hotels are that way and her place is this way. Though he doesn't mind escorting her the whole distance and backtracking as necessary.

"Hmm... you're probably right ma'am. I guess I just presumed that anyone who showed up would know what they were doing there ma'am. That was a mistake on my part ma'am." Butler frowns. How unprofessional of him! "I shall make sure everyone knows why they're there ma'am." He'll have to ask Tellysandra some of the details first of course. Including getting a proper guest list.

[5a Violista]

Coming Off a High

"Yeah, that's okay," June says. "Some things are only okay if everybody knows what they're getting into. I mean, ideally, a wedding would happen first, but..."

She pauses, and suddenly remembers the details of what they're talking about. It's a business thing that involves several people. What kind of wedding would lead up to that?

June shuts up because that's not a question she wants answered.

She stands there, a little awkwardly, thinking how much smoother this could have gone if she had one more of those potions today.

Do they both need to go in the same direction? she wonders.
June adjusts her hat, then tries to clear her throat (of what? Does her internal-fungal anatomy even allow that to be possible?) and turns down the street. "Well, I live this way," she says.

[Purple Eagle]

Spoiler: v

Show

[Feast for the Eyes]

Seraphina considers what they should do next, whether they should stay here or follow her, and decides she's going to ask Karasu about that next, when...

---

After realizing what happened, Seraphina also takes off her visor and checks to make sure she's still got her hood. Yup. Okay.

She gets out of the machine and steps away from it.
"Well..." She bites her lip, trying to decide what to say about it. "First of all, it was really interesting. Looked pretty real, too, so that was really neat." And that thing was probably a bug, but: "Either there's a weird bug with it, though, or a weird coincidence, or maybe that's just how the machine works, but there was a character who said she looked exactly like me, and, yeah, we were kind-of similar, so I was wondering whether it was just the machine copying my image for her, or if it was just a weird coincidence and weird things." She'd like to see the book to see how it describes that character, so that she can find out whether it was really a coincidence or if the machine just works that way. So, Seraphina goes towards where she thinks the book was put.

"But also it was very nice, very convenient, and if I knew the story and the setting it would have been really amazing."

[Feast for the Eyes]

Karasu nods in agreement of Seraphina's words. "Yeah, super awesome. Gonna make a killing, with this thing. Just fix the power issues later, so we can try Narnia some time later." She senses what's about to come next, and so walks towards where she thinks she saw the woman put the book and presses eject. She's already holding up the book once Seraphina starts walking over, to reveal the painting on the cover. It depicts the two heroes looking at something in the distance, and sure enough, the girl looks like she could be Seraphina's twin sister.

Not that the hooded woman would know what she looks like!

"See? Weird coinkidink. Remember, we're in the Nexus." She hands the hooded woman the book in case she wants a very close look.

"Oh, thank you both for indulging lil' ol' me's wishes!" The woman looks like she'll hug the both of them, then leads them back to the main store space, where Junebug is dutifully standing there and attending to a customer who's just leaving. They do so by transforming into a wisp and flying away. "So what'll you be getting? I'll put in the purchases as normal, and then enter your gift card codes. It gives you the ability to buy a book and get two free, and expires in a month."

Karasu brightens and rushes off to pick out three books, leaving Seraphina to decide whether or not she wants to take the gift card for later, or use it now.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off a High]

"A wedding ma'am?" Butler looks confused. "For whom ma'am? I'm already married ma'am. Though I suppose Decker wouldn't mind me getting married again, ma'am." Decker was pretty chill like that. Still, Butler doesn't think he would get married so readily. Again. Last time was pretty sudden. "I am flattered for the offer ma'am, but we did just meet."

Even Butler wants a date or two first!

It looks like they're parting ways then. "Well thank you very much for your help ma'am. I'm in your debt ma'am." Butler bows deeply to June. "If there's anything I can do to repay your kindness, please let me know ma'am." If she doesn't have anything immediate in mind, he'll give her his phone number and Skyside address so she can call on him when the opportunity arises.

[5a Violista]

Feast for the Eyes

Seraphina looks at the cover.

"Huh. Yeah, that's weird."
Just in case, she looks at the author and publishing page to see if there's anything about it that just seems weird and stalkerish.

She goes back to the front of the shop.
"Not sure when I'll be back in Riverside next, so..."
Seraphina decides if she doesn't buy books now, she'll never use it before it expires.

"Well, I'd like that one we used in that machine, just in case it isn't just a coincidence." She's already met a lot of weird people and situations, that this one being the first one that's a coincidence would probably be the weirdest thing of them all.

...
And she also looks around for two other books.
A romance, and maybe one that hopefully tells her a bit more about things in the Nexus.


Coming off a High

June doesn't want to be the one to explain it to him.
In fact! Since he's already married, his wife should be the one to explain it.

...
If he's already married, though, and is okay with another one, he probably would also be okay with the kind of stuff his boss is forcing on him, too.

Honestly, best to just leave it for now and pray everything turns out fine.
"Oh. I'm already married too, but..."
. . .
But that was before the Nexus. And after a captive makeout session with a succubus and a lot of soul-searching, June's decided to be open to dating again.
"Ugh. No, it's fine, nevermind." Definitely not even considering it with a stripper who's also a married man and a butler to some sort of business...lady.

Having nothing at all in mind, probably including anything that would be too embarrassing to say aloud, June just accepts his phone number and honestly can't think of a reason why she would need to call a butler or a stripper.
"Good luck finding those tears," she wishes him, before going towards her place.

[Reinholdt]

[Coming Off A High]

Oh June was 'already married, but...' she wanted to get married again? Huh. Butler's going to have to put more thought into this the next time they meet. Really consider her offer.
Next time though! She seemed a little embarrassed about being turned down and it would be rude to flip-flop on the matter.

"Thank you again ma'am. I'll talk to you later ma'am." Butler waves goodbye and heads off to find a place to stay for the night. Hopefully nowhere too expensive.

[Purple Eagle]

Feast for the Eyes

Seraphina looks at the cover.

"Huh. Yeah, that's weird."
Just in case, she looks at the author and publishing page to see if there's anything about it that just seems weird and stalkerish.

She goes back to the front of the shop.
"Not sure when I'll be back in Riverside next, so..."
Seraphina decides if she doesn't buy books now, she'll never use it before it expires.

"Well, I'd like that one we used in that machine, just in case it isn't just a coincidence." She's already met a lot of weird people and situations, that this one being the first one that's a coincidence would probably be the weirdest thing of them all.

...
And she also looks around for two other books.
A romance, and maybe one that hopefully tells her a bit more about things in the Nexus.

[Feast for the Eyes]

Nope, no weirdness or stalkerishness here, just a writer basing the heroine on his disappeared wife. Seraphina might recognize the last name of the fanfic writer turned successful author, but the first name's different.

Karasu returns with a sci-fi book series for her girlfriend and an extra book for herself and places them on the counter. "Seraphina, get 'The Trouble With Love'. Really good romance novel." She turns back to getting her stuff processed, letting the other lady explore the store.

She'll also find a bunch of books on a table near the romance section, with one of them reading "So you're new to the Nexus: The Nexus Survival Guide." Just what the doctor ordered, perhaps?

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Ithzi nods eagerly. "Of course, of course. As far as I'm concerned that poor baby could be one of my own and I will do my uttermost to do her right. As will you two I'm sure. We might not be able to undo what has happened but at least we can try to save what we can."

"Uhu..." Irena doesn't exactly sound thrilled but as far as she was concerned this conversation was already over. Now they just needed to say goodbye like three times before this tiny woman was out of their hair.

[MERC Office]

Zhareen nods. "Yeah, uh, we haven't dealt with any being like that." She pauses as Korrina continues but once she's finished the merwoman speaks up again. "...but I'm going to call a quick tower meeting now. For members only." She nods in a grave manner before turning to Dena. "...so where's the bathroom?"

"Just... down the hall and then turn left." Dena replies as she gestures to the backwards.

"Alright, come on then, Korrina!" And so Zhareen will nod to Dena and Jaahlyn and then slither out the office. "We'll be back soon!" Is the last thing she tells them before disappearing completely out the door.

Assuming Korrina follows along Zhareen will close and lock the door once they're inside a bathroom which hadn't been designed for a merfolk and a pregnant woman to be inside at the same time. Zhareen makes do however and curls up around the toilet. "So, erm..." Zhareen nervously taps her fingers together. "There was a thing that happened back when we all still served Malechenar that might be connected to all this. I didn't think of it until now, it was a long time ago after all, but at the time we were to not tell anyone about it. Do you remember the time when AMEN unleashed a plague upon Riverside?"

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

"Yeah, so I've heard." Dena sounds less than impressed. "But here's the deal, Amalungak. I don't think you're involved in the rat plague. I think you, as you say, went to investigate the source behind it all. But I also believe you did it on the behest of a fey lord. Thing is though, that's not enough of a reason to keep you here. Yeah, it's technically a crime but I don't see it as enough of a reason to keep you behind bars. My employers, Malechenar, on the other hand don't really see it that way."

The gorgon leans forward. "They want people to pin the blame on even if actually are innocent you're still going to face of the plague. Probably going to make a big showy court case out of this where you'll be framed as a madman and then thrown in jail forever. Not just for visiting the being but directly serving under it and whatever else they they could pin on you. Like murdering all those homeless people." She pauses as to let all that sink in. "However, I rather want to know what happened down there rather than letting them parade you around like a prize. So I'm going to offer you a deal here Amal, can I call you Amal?" But Dena doesn't actually wait for him to answer the question before continuing. "Tell me the truth, give me information I need and I can use it to bargain for what might be your release. That way you can still serve your 'lord', or whatever you're doing. But, if you decline or tell me some horse**** then Malechenar is going to make MERC turn you over to the Fourth Tower. A bunch of 'warlocks' that are going to put you under all sort of spells I suspect. But I'm sure you got a even better idea than me of what they can do to you."

[5a Violista]

Coming off a High

Turns out June is just really bad at explaining things when flustered.

Butler's decision to confuse his opponents by dressing that way has been really effective, it turns out.
Also, yes, being turned down is super embarrassing. She's probably going to have to spend the next couple hours crying and eating ice cream, after getting turned down by as great of a catch as Butler B. Butler.

"Um, yeah. Okay, bye. Don't get mugged again," June says. She gives a wave and heads towards her place, presumably to drown her sorrow in ice cream.
Or, also a possibility, to count how many potions she has left and come up with a plan to fake being sick, to get off work and go buy more Inside.


Feast for the Eyes

Ugh, that's way too many bizzare and nonsensical coincidences for Seraphina's taste.

...
Just to prove that it is just a weird stalkerish coincidence, she decides to get it anyway.

Although she's pretty sure she knows how to survive random cults and giant crabs and Stepford situations, Seraphina ends up grabbing the survival book anyway. Might be useful, if weird things start keep on showing up at the same rate they have been.

Upon the recommendation, she starts looking for it, but also asks, "Oh, yeah? What's it about?"
Not all romance novels were created equal.

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Amalungak is not surprised. He expected that Dena would be working her way towards demanding information. And she's offering freedom in exchange. The elf is sceptical. Not only does he have no guarantee Dena would stay true to her word, but whatever Malechenar might do to him (presuming what she says is true), it cannot compare to the King's response to betraying his secrets.

"I do. But if you believe that I serve the kind of being you accuse me of serving, you know very well what consequences await me for taking your offer. The deal you propose isn't one I can accept."

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

"Aw, not even a 'how can I trust you'? As you do remind me of people back home, with all that entails. People that lived and died for the fey. Since while no, you can't trust that I'm telling the truth, you are also trusting that the fey of yours is going either save or punish you depending on the outcome here. I can tell you right now though, those warlocks are probably going to undo whatever connection you have to them so whatever your fey planning to do, they would have to act quickly." Dena pauses as if she half-expected Amalungak to burst into flames as soon as she finished that sentence.
"We could probably free you." She continues as soon as its clear the elf wasn't going to die horribly quite yet. "Depending on whatever deal you got going of course. Are they more likely to torture you forever than just turning you into a toad or something? Since I've seen both."

[Morty]

[MERC Office - Amalungak]

Amalungak stares Dena in the eye unflinchingly.

"You could have had me dragged off the moment I said no. But you really do want that information, don't you? My answer remains, however. I wouldn't expect a mercenary to understand true loyalty, but I will not betray my lifelong fealty the moment it becomes dangerous for me."