Riverside 21: Older than Arkh

[Zefir]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]


Fade is a bit confused about what they don't buy. Technically he just said what his knowledge about the succubus is, which means since they asked for MERC service.
Either way, if they don't, the don't.

"I noticed the changes in the peoples behaviour. Quiet strange. I can only say that this was bad timing. Any demon kind would have caused this. That is my assumtion.
As for the local authorities. Felindria should be still in charg of it. She might be the one to face in that matter." He turns to Anika. "This should also be in your intrest."

He then turns to the last remaining fan Sandy. He kinda ignored her this whole time, but now he takes not of her and he got a bad feeling. Why did this girl stay here the whole time? Something seems to be off.
"You should go outside now and let the medics check you up. We handle the rest."

[Ironsmith]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Mania gives Sandy a little smile, quietly slipping back into her role as the drummer for the all-succubus band. "Now, mister Fade." She begins quietly. "If Sandy wants to come with me, I can't really blame her. And she's sort of earned it, hasn't she? By the sounds of things, she played a pivotal role in helping this all resolve as safely as it did." She gives what has got to be their band's biggest fan a playful boop on the nose with her free hand. "I'm still getting it personally, of course, but you're welcome to come along, sweetie."

Eugh. That felt weird, coming out of her mouth. That's something you'd hear from a grandma, not an aggressively available bachelorette. Definitely not calling anyine "sweetie" ever again.

Mania will lead them back to their prepping room, which has had a lot more brought info it compared to when Frigate was in here. They've set up a four-seated vanity mirror in one corner of the room, where the band would sit and put up any final touches to their appearance; notably, the space by the mirrors is conspicuously empty, as the succubi have little need for makeup or hair care products.

In another corner, there's a set of practice instuments; cheaper, more easily-replaced counterparts to the show pieces that were ruined onstage. Mania's got a drum kit here, Euphoria has another keyboard, and Ecstacy has both an acoustic guitar and a bass. Malady's the only one without a visible presence there, but presumably she does vocal warmups in here, too.

Nearer the door, there's a fold-out table and chair, on which rests an open laptop, some half-eaten snacks, and a large, mostly-empty styrofoam cup, which houses some sort of soft drink. The laptop is currently open to DEATHKISS's website; the back end, specifically, so the work station is all ready to go for the traditional after-show vlog entry. Mania will quickly and quietly close the laptop, as there are a few other things of importance there, too... ledgers tracking the purchase of tickets and merch, for example. It's not something for everyone's eyes.

Finally, the last corner of the room is left mostly bare, except for a greenscreen and a camera on a tripod. Presumably where they film the aforementioned vlog, and possibly take pictures with the fans, if circumstances permit. Sandy might have been here before.

Mania walks into the room with purpose, going up to the vanities and stopping at the one nearest the door, tugging open the drawer underneath to retrieve a handful of envelopes, held together by a pair of rubber bands. "All right, here it is." She says, tucking them into her blazer's interior pocket (actually just under her arm). "The rest is all backed up on the cloud. Let's go."

St. Leonard's Hospital

Frigate is not sprinting, so it's more likely to be twenty minutes than fifteen. "Aye? Well, th' sawbones know what they're doin', aye? Do ye think they be safe where they be? Or should I go t' them?" Frigate hasn't been to a hospital before, he doesn't know what to expect or do. It's not like he has much need for such a place, after all. "Should I be puttin' the fear up one o' these lubbers?" Probably a bad idea, since they're trying to help.

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Euphoria lets out a weary sigh. "...Honestly? If I knew what to do, I would have done it myself by now." She mumbles. "We probably shouldn't antagonize these people. Mania would have my head if I did anything that 'hurt the brand', and they look pretty harmless." She takes a seat nearby and wrings her hands worriedly. "...[Fudge], I hate this." She spits angrily. "My friends are up there, in horrible pain, and there's nothing I can do about it. I don't know how to help them. I can't even go after the [birch] that did this to make myself feel better. All I get to do is just sit and wait and... and..." She takes a deep, shuddering breath to steady herself, unsuccessfully.

[Shadowcaller]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

"Huh?" The purple woman raises one of her extremely long eyebrows, pretty sure she wouldn't let some random- actually, she had been strongly opposed to the goat so maybe she could be trusted.
Seemed awfully eager about following that demon into the changing room though which was a bit suspicious. But it was probably fine, but she had to be on her guard for whatever demon tricks that awaited inside that room.
She waves Fade's suggestion off with a dismissive gesture. "Whatever, dude. First I'm gonna make sure the demon and the goat are taken to the guards."

So the bear-woman follows Sandy and Mania to the room and then stands there guard with her arms crossed over her chest. "Sooo.... what caused that big boom exactly?" She attempts to ask through the door. The demon couldn't be trusted of course but she still wanted her perspective to see if it was different from anyone elses.

Meanwhile, inside the room, the goat has calmed down somewhat and looks questioningly at Mania with its black goat-eyes. Were they still supposed to play along or should she hide in this room?

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"Aye, I see ye're point. I... I don't know how t' help. If'n I get damaged, I c'n mostly fix meself. Rebuilt me head quite recent. If'n I'm broke so I can't fix me, I gotta talk someone else through doin' the fix." Frigate really doesn't have much experience with this. He's never really been in a situation where a friend was reliant upon a doctor whilst he could do nothing. Mostly because when people got injured, he was knocked over board and never saw any of the people involved again.

Hopefully the revelation of his replacement head serves to distract Euphoria a little.

[Reinholdt]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Sandy quirks her head at Fade. "I'm not injured. If I were to go to a medic now, I would be taking up their valuable time when they have a lot of patients to treat. In the worst case scenario, I would be keeping them from helping someone who needs it and that person dies and then their death would be on my hands for being selfish and holding up a professional for no explainable reason. That's why you don't call in emergencies unless there are emergencies. I'm better off just staying nearby until the authorities inevitably come to detain and question everyone."

"Besides, I paid a loooooooooooooooot for my backstage tickets." Sandy puts an emphasis on a lot as she flashes them at Fade before grinning at Mania and clapping with excitement. Whooo! Inside look! Again, but... whatever. It never stops being fun. "Yeah! I was pivotal! What were you?" She sticks her tongue out childishly at Fade before dashing for the prep room. She... admittedly doesn't know how she was pivotal, but whatever. If Mania says it, then it's definitely true. Especially with that nose boop. Sandy's blush doesn't fade and she's probably never washing her nose again.

Once inside the room, she's bouncing from place to place, ooohing over every little thing. Especially the instruments. She's tempted to down the last of that soft drink for an indirect kiss with whichever band member had been drinking it, but doesn't quite go that far because the goat demon might have been using it instead. There's just no way to tell. Besides, there's plenty to distract her, at least until Mania gets her envelopes and says it's time to go. Awww, too short. But Sandy will reluctantly leave the room.

[5a Violista]

[Wild Mike's]

Carmen
since she didn't blow up
successfully gets out into the alley, and, presumably, is helped to an ambulance.

Which is good, probably! Would be pretty unfortunate if a girl with a demon tail is found by some of the more extreme anti-demon protestors before she's found by the ambulance.


[Eastside City Hall]

Just after the attack and panic at the concert, the secretary of the masked councilwoman makes a phone call.

A couple hours later, a bunnygirl by the name of Carlie Hopps (and carrying her cute little baby Manja, of undeterminable race/species), arrives at the city hall and goes on to meet with the secretary.

"Oh, she's so cute! Can I hold her?" the secretary asks. Carlie accepts, and after a few lines of cautioning, she hands the baby over to the lady.

And with that as the start of the meeting, they begin their discussion.

[Zefir]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]


Fade has a bad feeling with the Bear-Elv. She seems to be the kind who runs in first and then asks. Likly coming to bad conclusions and only manages through with luck alone. He has to keep an eye on her during their stay here. So Fade will follow through the whole area.

As for Sandy he ignores her childish behavior. "You might be hurt in a way you feel no pain. It's just a safty measure." From his point she might got hit on her head. He can't really understand that obsession for the noise Deathkiss and Jaahlyn made.

Fade will follow into the room as well, even push himself in if Anika wants to shut him out. He would even do that if anyone would change in here.

"You wouldn't belive me, but the source was a pair of shining pink underwear. It seems the girl who throws them can make objects into bombs just by making them pink. The panties turned orange befor they exploded."

[Ironsmith]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

It's probably a good thing Sandy doesn't go for that indirect kiss. Creepiness aside, that could have lethal results, given the involvement of succubus saliva. Besides, it was probably Mania, given how involved she is with their back-of-house operations; if Sandy really wanted to go out kissing one of her idols and didn't care about personal boundaries, the cup was the worst option available to her.

"That's pretty much what happened." Mania confirms Fade's story. "Although I can't say I saw it quite so clearly. One minute, someone had thrown a set of panties onstage; the next, Malady and Ecstacy were..." She trails off and stiffens, rather pointedly lifting her chin in an attempt to look less shaken by the experience. "...Well, that's what these are for, really." She says, producing the envelopes again. "Fan mail. We get a surprising amount of it. Most of it's the sort of lewd stuff you'd expect, but every now and then, something wholesome leaks through. Malady keeps them backstage so she can read them before she goes up to perform. It really helps with her stage fright. I thought... well, they're going to need the reminder that so many of our fans genuinely love what they do." She gives a little smile and tucks the envelopes away again. "I know that sounds corny, but... well, they both eat that stuff up. If nothing else, they're the one thing back here we can't replace."

"Oh, good. I was wondering if they'd be able to find a new drummer."

The man in the deerstalker cap smirks at the succubus, fangirl, and... whatever Fade is, standing between them and the door. He definitely wasn't there before, and neither was the growling German Shepherd at his side. "Honestly, you people make this a little too easy. Bringing one of my targets away from most prying eyes, parking a large animal outside that adamantly hates demons, and... oh, how about that? No other entrances or exits." Mister Mixer flicks away the doorknob, letting the globule of metal splatter on the ground. "Go on, Mincer. Make it messy."

The hellish hound charges forward, going straight for Mania, teeth bared. If nobody intercepts it, she won't be needing a bodyguard much longer.

[Saint Leonard's Hospital]

Euphoria raises her head, and an eyebrow, at Frigate's words. "You... replaced your head." She replies incredulously. He's got to be on an extremely short list of people who can actually do that. "...For what it's worth, I never would have guessed."

Well, it is distracting, so mission accomplished. But now that Frigate has her attention on something other than her injured friends, what's he going to do with it?

[Shadowcaller]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Anika will allow Fade inside. The only reason she was even staying outside is that others were going in there with Mania and that she wanted to avoid whatever demonic musk that probably was lingering in the changing room. That stuff could mess you up!

But back to what they were telling her.
Explosive underwear? That did sound like something an succubus would make up. Though since they all told her the same thing then maybe it really was true. Maybe it was like a succubus gang war or something? The culprit being a succubus from an opposing gang.

Anika's train of thought has to make a stop at the succubus gang war station however as crap was suddenly happening.

She gleans the door open only to stare at the man and dog that had apparently just appeared in there.

...

Was that a member of the opposing gang?

Well, whatever, he wasn't going to escape her this time!
Anika makes a dramatic gesture towards the man as a glowing green orb forms in-between the palms of her hands. Then huge roots will spontaneously sprout out of the floor and attempt to entangle the man.

---

The goat in Mania's arms would have been more impressed if Anika had attempt to stop the dog instead considering it was the more immediate threat.

But it looked like there still wasn't going to be any rest for the wicked.

The goat quickly clambers up and puts its back hooves against Mania's stomach for support. As they push into her when the goat makes it leaps it would likely hurt a bit but hopefully she'd forgive it considering the circumstances.

Leaping into the air the goat attempts to headbutt the dog or if failing that, at least get in its way before its jaws could close around Mania's throat. Since only one of them had horns she hoped that and the surprise factor would at least temporarily dissuade even a demon-dog from the abyss.

[Reinholdt]

[Bombing At Wild Mike's]

Sandy looks at Fade incredulously. Did he not understand what she just said about not taking up medics' time with frivolous matters? No... he must be the one who got hurt in a way that he doesn't feel any pain. Cause the only way any of what he's tried to push makes any sense would be if he got hit on the head.

Any other discussion on the matter is cut quite short. The Sherlock demon was back. Wait until she tells Cynthia and her other Holmie friends about this.

Oh... Oh things are decidedly less calm this time around.

Dog charges! Sandy screams! Goat charges!

A lot of things going on. Sandy runs and tries to take Mania's shoulder and pull her away from the fighting towards the corner as far as they can get. Annnnd maybe hide behind Mania cause she's the biggest, baddest, best drummer there is.

[Zefir]

[Bombing At Wild Mike's]

The situation might come in handy. Well not really the best thing to happen, but none really aks how Fade could have seen that while also be at the backdoor. 'It's magic!'. Either way he was already prepared to fight, even if this guy is just another target. Fade immediatly draws hos sword. His first intention was so swing it horizontal and split the beasts mouth in two, but the goat is already jumping into it. So he decides to make an upwards slash trying to decapitate the dog instead. That way he shouldn't hit the goat.

Fade doesn't know how effective that can be but in a blink of an eye his strength increases drasticly. Like the strength of a giant composed in a human. The blade is sharp and magical enhancet, but if the dogs skin appears to be tougther he should at least throw the dog upwards and away from the succubus.


[Attack of the plantlover]



In the early morning, when the sun rise something seems to be different. Out of a park in eastside come a bunch of foreign creatures. People might know them as dryads, some look like walking trees the size of a man, some have a lower dear body and a female upper body with flowrlike hair.. All of them seem to be ready for war, having shields of wood, spears and thorned wips. People migth think they are from wildside but that is not the case. As the morning rush comes buy they jump into action. Their first targets are some business man to busy watching on their phone then notice the danger. The first one got a spear aimed at his phne which also takes of the mans hand, the next one gets tacked buy three of the treelike dryads and hit with their fists. Those people seem to be rather brutal and attack all kind of technologie and their user. So streetlights and flashy siigns will die first.

On top the park they came from seems to release different kins of mist in each direction, blue, purple, red and yellow.

[Ironsmith]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" Screams Mania as Sandy pulls her away from the hellhound's snapping jaws.

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!" Snarls the hound as Jaahlyn butts it away from Sandy and Mania.

snk-rk! Goes Fade's sword as it cleaves clean through the hound's neck, sending its head and body spiraling in opposite directions.

"Wonderful." Groans Mixer as the roots wrap around him, binding him in place firmly.


Mania stares at the aftermath of the very brief scene of carnage, watching the hellhound's corpse twitch unnaturally on the floor. "Dear god..." She pants, swallowing her breath. "I'm... I'm pretty sure that was my life flashing before my eyes just then..."

Mixer smirks. "I've been told he has that effect, yes."

"...Why are you doing that?"

"Because I know something you don't." Mixer chuckles. "Many things, in fact. For example, that your shadowy friend picked a terrible place to stand."

As if on cue, the floor around Fade's left foot will collapse abruptly, opening into a black abyss that seems to bleed out around them, snuffing out the already-dim ceiling lights as pure, undiluted malice floods the room. If that's not bad enough, a familiar-looking pair of canine jaws will shoot out of the portal, aiming to close around Fade's leg and drag him inside; if they succeed, it will likely be a while before he's back on this plane, and he definitely won't be participating in this fight any further.

"Now, then." Mixer croons, flicking bits of liquid root off his person as he steps toward his other three victims-to-be. "Let's try this again, with a little more professional courtesy this time. I'm certain I told you to stay out of this, Jaahlyn." He raises his hand, a series of foot-long blades sliding out from the tips of his fingers, rasping menacingly against his metallic skin. "But, since you seem to have a hard time listening, I'll say it one more time: Get out of the way."

If Jaahlyn has any sort of instinct for this kind of thing, it'll tell her now that she does not want to touch those claws. Their typical soul-rending properties might not be especially dangerous to her, but they'll still kill her abnormally fast if she makes the mistake of getting scratched.

Thankfully, he seems to have forgotten about Anika entirely.

For her part, Mania will grab ahold of Sandy and retreat further back, toward the vanities. She doesn't see that helping their situation all that much on its own, but once they have some cover, she'll hug the fangirl to her and flick out her wings, before wrapping them back around the two of them, concealing them both from sight. Sandy will still be able to see her, but nobody else in the room will; and it should be noted, she's sacrificing her costume to pull this off. She's also clearly straining herself maintaining an illusion this elaborate; she might be forced to drop it if things carry on for too long.

[Shadowcaller]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Jaahlyn sure hoped Mixer didn't make her life flash before her eyes as then she'd be here for quite a while.

But it seems that the demon has forgotten what he's dealing with here.

A goat.

And if there was anything they were known for it was:
A. not listening and
B. being extremely stubborn.

There's a reason there was an idiom about it, mister demon.

So just like a goat refusing to move out of the way of a tractor that could easily run it over, she does not move an inch. Standing there with her horns down as if Mister Mixer had just been a larger goat that was looking for a fight.

She was fully aware that he could easily kill her but wherever out of stupidity or sheer stubbornness the goat refuses to oblige. Indeed, Mister Mixer might feel especially annoyed now as its almost like she's channeling to very spirit of obtrusiveness. Being in his way simply since she could and not backing down regardless of how easily he could just end her right there.

Thankfully, Mister Mixer doesn't have to have stupid goats on his mind for that long as a charging bear suddenly enters the picture which probably seem like a much greater concern.

It will attempt to bullrush him and pin him against the wall in the back of the room. If he had been a mortal man he would have likely broken a few ribs if it managed to make impact with him like this.
This is not a normal bear though as he will find out as it isn't simply shredded into tiny bits once he attempts to dig his claws into it. It and its soul seem to be supernaturally tough.

[Reinholdt]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Sandy has doubts about their continued safety even behind cover, but it's better than nothing. It's a shame Mixer destroyed the lights at the exact moment Mania lost her costume. The sight would have been breath taking. Alas. Sandy shall have to settle for being held close.

It's certainly enough to make her swoon. She's even doing that leg thing where it raises up off the floor behind her in a display of enthusiasm and flexibility. Granted, being illusioned out of sight means that no one else sees how impressive she is at yoga, except perhaps Mania. But even Sandy can't possibly imagine that the succubus is doing anything but watching the pitched battle in preparation to duck or something.

So it's probably unlikely for Mania to notice Sandy use one hand to open the hidden compartment in the bottom of her shoe and retrieve the weapon within, kicking off her now useless shoe as her leg lowers again. It is very likely, however, for Mania to notice Sandy flick the silver switchblade out and attempt to bury it up into Mania's chest, avoiding the ribs with alarming precision as it stabs towards Mania's heart. With one hand holding Mania and the succubus backed into a corner for cover, Sandy doesn't expect the succubus to be able to avoid the blade in any reasonable capacity. But today has been incredibly full of surprises for Sandy as she coldly mutters, "Not how I imagined this going..."

[Earl of Purple]

Saint Leonard's Hospital

"Aye, nothin' in me head's needed t' keep me goin', see. Though it be a useful thing t' have, since it's got me speakin' horn an' eye in it." Frigate doesn't have a mouth, though it's hard to tell since he doesn't really have a face- just a full-face helmet that could be concealing a face behind it. "I played dead after, as it be hard t' fight someone ye can't see. An' she coulda killed me, too. Angel-lady, she were, wi' a big sword that cut through metal like a hot knife through blubber. Struggled more wi' th' stone I got underneath. I be built t' be a sailor, yet I do sink. Sink like a stone. Nay, not like. I be a stone. If'n I needed air, I'd be dead. Six times I've walked ashore, followin' a wreck. Or after bein' hit wi' a cannonball. The vessel maybe survived, I weren't on her no more."

[Ironsmith]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

"...Angel-lady." Euphoria echoes with a scowl, her brow furrowing. Under what circumstances would this mechanical sailor have angered an angel enough for her to decapitate him? Such a thing was unheard of. Angels fight with words, not violence.

At least, the angels she was used to dealing with do. But if there's one thing she's learned from the Nexus, it's that such things are rarely consistent here. He probably ran into one of those "fiery avenger of heaven" type angels who would gladly dismember him for swearing too loudly.

Those guys are jerks.

"...It must get tedious." Euphoria says finally, abruptly swerving away from that subject. "...Being thrown off of ships so often. It must be tedious. Having steady work, security, a crew of compatriots, and then losing it in one bad accident." She stiffens. "No, tedious isn't the word for it... hm."

[Zefir]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Well, that is kinda suprising. Having his ground remvoed in a blink of an eye is not what Fade expected. Still Fade isn't just dropping into that pit. We are in combat after all. A moment after the hole appears and Fade struggels in his position a hand of a giant comes out of the ground grabbing him just when the canine jaws. He got the skills to doge one, but without ground under his feet the second hit him. With the hand holding him the beast won't manage to drag him down.

The disapearing of light is no handicap for the shadow man as his vision will be best without any light. While in the struggle h swings his sword down to smash the jaw that bite him. For some reason he slashes like he has clear view at is, even with the grapping hand blocking it a bit. Should that work he will get back from that hole and prepare for anotehr attack of those creatures. Mr Mixer seems to be dealt with.

[Ironsmith]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Mania lets out a choked gasp as the knife slides in cleanly just under her sternum, going up into her heart. There's surprisingly little fanfare to the death of a demon, at least one of her kind. No screams of rage and agony. No blood bursting into flame. Not even any parting words; the shock of the attack drove the air out of her lungs, and she can't stand the pain enough to inhale.

Nothing but a spurt of hot blood and a gasp of mortal dread.

For her part, the whole experience is agonizingly slow to Mania. When she feels the blade enter her body, she knows it's all over. That was it. She was going to pass back into the Abyss, where they'd break her soul down for parts, and there's nothing she can do about it. She's never going to see Melody, or Anastacia, or Euphoria again. No more friends. No more DEATHKISS. Nothing left but the hell she was about to go back to.

...It was a good run, though. In these last few months, she's helped create something she could be proud of. This isn't how she pictured her second life ending, but at least she has something to accompany her other than regret.

Then, a moment of clarity.

Whoever stabbed her, while the room is dark and almost nobody can see, will now be able to get to Sandy. And since it was probably Mixer, she's in for much worse than a mere stabbing.

Mania clutches the fangirl to her chest and rolls over, so that her corpse will provide the woman with a barrier between herself and her assailant. She buries her head in the woman's neck, so she won't be greeted with whatever face her idol makes when she finally bleeds out. And then she waits for an agonizing second for it to end.

That's all she has the strength for. But if she can only do one thing before she goes, she wants it to be the most DEATHKISS thing it can be.

Treat the fans right.

-

The hound howls as Fade cuts it free from his ankle, sending it back into the yawning Abyss below. Without a demon trying to come through that portal, it abruptly closes, taking that supernatural darkness with it and re-lighting the room.

Which means Mixer finds himself in a literal bear hug, if not worse, when the lights come on again. "Oh, great." He drones, raking his claws along her sides. "Settle down, bear, this isn't your fight."

If Anika were anyone else, that would probably be enough to kill her outright. Her entire body would liquify and she would be nothing more than a curious brown puddle on the floor. As it stands, Mixer will have to settle for a much more localized effect, which will cause her injuries to bleed profusely instead... not in the sense that she's leaking blood (though she is), but rather, in the sense that her fur and skin that made contact with the blades will be dripping away, like a ruined oil painting in a heavy rainfall.

She might need to get someone to look at that later.

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"Aye, she had wings an' led a band o' thirsty vampires. She probl'y weren't a true angel, but close enough fer government work." Frigate pauses a moment to think at the question. "Aye, though mostly when I fell off the ship it were goin' down already. I were built as a bodyguard, originally. Me creator was a ship's mage, well he weren't always. He were a warsmith, but he liked t' gamble an' weren't good at it. So he ran away t' sea. He drowned when the ship sank. Weren't a thing I could do 'bout it. Kinda got used t' it bein' temporary after that." Frigate wasn't really built to take loss; his creator didn't even intend for Frigate to be a person.

[Ironsmith]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

"...Oh." A vampire angel. Now Euphoria's heard everything. "That's... bizarre."

The demoness sits through Frigate's explanation of his origin and the identity of his master, nodding slowly but not especially getting into it. Her mind keeps wandering back to their present circumstances, and it's difficult to pay much attention to the story.

Fortunately, that's not a concern for long. An attendant will approach the two of them after a few minutes. "You two are here for Hopskins and Ariti, right?"

"Who?" Euphoria blinks.

"The succubi that came in earlier."

"...Oh. Right, yes."

"Right this way."

The attendant will lead them back to a room in the burn ward, which Malady and Ecstacy share. Both women are in loose-fitting hospital gowns, which open at the back to let their wings and tails out.

Ecstacy looks to be sleeping peacefully, her chest rising and falling slowly with each measured breath. Her injuries look to be severe; the entire left side of her face is bandaged up, and from what Frigate will be able to see above the blanket, nothing below the neck is much better off. A monitor in the corner measures her heartbeat and breathing; both are regular, at least.

Opposite her, Malady's sitting up in bed, giving Frigate a little smile. Her injuries don't look to be quite as bad, or at least not in the same way; the doctors have bandaged over her eye, which got slashed open when the bomb initially went off, but her face is otherwise untouched. "Hey, mister Frigate." She greets, a little sullenly. "Did everyone get out okay?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Bombing at Wild Mike's]

Someone? Anika could look at it herself thank you very much!

But right now there was a demon to deal with and while it certainly could injure her she could (probably) injure it back. So as he's busy tearing at her sides she goes for what his canine buddy would go for, the throat. It will likely be rather difficult for to defend himself as his greatest tool, the hands, are preoccupied with her sides at the moment.

But she's also attempting to push her significant weight advantage onto him and lever him against the floor (or wall) as her maw attempts to close around his flesh and tear it open.

---

Meanwhile, a certain goat suddenly feels death happening nearby. Inside this very room in fact. It looks over Anika and Mixer. Neither of them seemed dead. Yet.

But even if they were this death felt more familiar. It had to be- oh.

Of course.

She turns towards the location she had been protecting. The people she had been protecting.
But while her eyes were unchanged, still two black pools with white goat-like irises, the rest of her body was not as she once again were Jaahlyn the satyr.

But instead of a flute she was holding a black scythe that seemed to be out of this world. It seemed weightless the way she's so easily holding it with one hand and being farming equipment it just seemed out of place indoors in such a small room. It was long enough that it was almost bumping into the floor while she was just standing there with it so it seemed impossible that she'd be able to swing it around in here.

Yet she is still somehow able to dash towards Mania and Sandy without bumping into anything before swinging it right at them without bumping into anything. If Sandy was paying close she'd see that the scythe was actually phasing through all the objects it came in contact with. Even the wall at one point just as the satyr raised it for a swing.

[Reinholdt]

[Stabbing at Wild Mike's]

What was on Mania's face as she died? Sadness? Concern? Sandy could only see an unexpected emotion there. She does not have the luxury of time necessary to process it. The demon was clearly trying to pin Sandy down as her final act. If Jaahlyn hadn't immediately turned around and conjured a weapon, that might have been acceptable. Sandy could have played this with a different angle.

Instead, she's forced to go with a more brutish option. "Get off," Sandy tells the corpse before kicking out and flinging the succubus' body at Jaahlyn. She has no idea if a flung ragdoll that will actually make the satyr stop short and the goat has already proven herself to be the most dangerous thing in the room with the way she handled the bomber. So Sandy rolls out of the way of the scythe, intangible or no, pulling into a crouch that gets her back onto her feet. She eyes Jaahlyn warily for her next move, hand still holding the murder weapon as she slowly starts to edge her way along the wall, still cautious of the other elements of danger in the room as well.

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

It was quite bizarre, but now they're all sealed into a cave somewhere and out of the way.

To the ward, Frigate stands in the corner, trying not to get in the way- he's quite bulky; tall, but also wide. "Methinks one o' the fans be dead, but can't say f'r sure. I did what I could. Mania be fine when I do leave, tho'. An' Fade an' Jaahlyn stayed behind t' keep things shipshape. Much as they could, anyway." Given there's been bombings that Frigate knows about for sure, things haven't been shipshape and seaworthy for a while.

[5a Violista]

[Wild Mike's =>]

Somehow!
Carmen makes it to an ambulance.

And so, the half-succubus gets brought to a [Hospital].


[Eastside City Hall]

"So what kind of spin do we want on this?"

"More of your voter base sympathizes with the protestors. As the outsider populist, you need to keep representing your supporters. Not to mention, you did beat out not one but two demon candidates for your position, plus you kinda did spearhead a lot of the post-attack recovery efforts, so a lot of people are associat-"

"I've got a baby to take care of. Not planning on running for reelection, so I don't particularly care about reelection. Besides, I represent Eastside, not just my voters."
She sighs.
"Need I remind you that a lot of the anti-demon countermeasures also affected me, personally?"
"But...you're right. The mayor's pretty inclusive, so if I side completely with her then the protesters will think nobody in government cares about their concerns. Some of them will have no choice but to turn to violence..."
Ugh. Would've been better if this didn't happen in Eastside.
"Any idea where the funding for the attacker came from? Just one attacker, or more?"

"No, not yet. MERC was at the scene, not our police. Reports are all contradictory and still coming in. Hey, couldn't you use your connections at MERC to find out what they know?"

Carlie Hopps shakes her head. "That persona is MIA and they might think I'm dead. If I suddenly reappear and try to interject myself into an active case, they might think something's off."

Thinking.

"Idea. You need to leak to the media and both pro-inclusivity and anti-demon groups a few rumors. Tell them that elites and people trying to profit from fighting are trying to drag Eastside back into the same problems that the rest of Riverside has. 'Leak' to the Eastside nationalists, or whatever they're calling themselves now, that people are trying to ruin Eastside and make it more like Soutside so we'll have no choice but to give the North more control and. . ."
"Okay. Make sure to emphasize how terrorists took advantage of the chaos to cause even more division. And then in a few days, when we have more details, I'll give a speech confirming some of the rumors and denying others and give a populist message about how the elites are dividing us and trying to make our right to protest as well as our unique Eastside inclusivity and our other democratic ideals look bad by putting bad actors in their midst. Et cetera, et cetera, and then I'll say something about how they need to deal with these bad actors if they catch them in the act. . . say how the bombing was really an attack on our eastside democracy. . .maybe relate it to something that happened to me I'll come up with something, and. . .that a good starting place?"

[Zefir]

[Stabbing at Wild Mike's]


Without anything that attacks him Fade got a moment to look over the situation.

Jaahlyn seems to deal with something that happened under the cover with the succubus which soon throws the suggestion that the fan was the reason. But for now Jaahlyn should deal with her. He keeps an eye on her just in case that fa rushes for the exit. Kinda handy to have a second pair of eyes to do so.

Ether way, Mixer seems to be the more critical part right now especially since he's summoning pits and demon hounds and claws that do nasty stuff. So since the bear is pinning him down Fade aims for one of Mixers arms which he uses to claw Anika. He makes a step closer and then slashes at the arm, trying to cut it off without hurting the bear.

[Ironsmith]

[Stabbing at Wild Mike's]

Mania's body is thrown, hitting the floor with an unceremonious thlump and rolling a short distance, side-over-side, splaying the dead succubus's limbs and leaving her limply staring at the ceiling. Still buck-naked all the while. Someone clearly has no respect for the dead.

Meanwhile, Mixer seems to be doing... poorly. Anika's teeth in his throat seems to be seeing to that. If she applies any force to that, she'll likely end up tearing it out, since for all his intimidating demonic nature, his body is as squishy and vulnerable as the next man's. Probably more so, given the Nexus's predisposition for super-tough men.

Between that and Fade, he's got no chance of surviving the next several seconds.

When Mixer's bloodied corpse drops to the floor, most of it going one way and the disembodied hand the other, the demonic threat in the room seems to be, for the most part, eliminated. Nothing left to worry about but the woman with the switchblade. And possibly getting the taste of human flesh out of Anika's mouth.

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Malady's hands go to her mouth as she lets out a worried gasp. "Oh my god... someone died?"

"Mmmph... it was a bomb, Mel..." Ecstacy groans quietly, eyes still shut. "Of course someone died."

"I-... I mean, yeah but..." Malady stiffens. "Don't you think that's [hecked]?"

"It was a bomb, Mel... of course it's [hecked]..."

"I mean, who would do something like that?!" Malady sits up, her fists balled up against her chest, cheeks and ears reddening in a sort of fury. "It was a concert... we were all there to have fun, not to, to..." She buries her face in her hands. "And now someone's dead. Oh, god, what's their family going to think? Who's going to tell them? Should we tell them? I don't think I'm ready to-"

Euphoria puts a hand on the young succubus's shoulder and shoves her back down into the bed. "Calm down." She says bluntly. "You're still in the hospital. Nobody can ask anything of you."

Malady sniffles and grabs a tissue from a box next to her bed. "I know, I just... I feel responsible for this. This happened on our watch, and they were trying to get to us, and..." Her voice dies out into a high-pitched gasp as she shakes her head back and forth, tears streaming down her cheek.

-

Meanwhile, Carmen's going to find herself in and out of the emergency room within a few minutes of arriving at the hospital. Saint Leonard's is known for its dual approach to medicine; magical treatments for emergency care and fantastic ailments, and modern medicine for everything else. Carmen will be seen by a busy biomancer, who will treat her injuries enough to stabilize her before hastily moving on to his next patient, leaving Carmen to take a long, slow recovery the mundane way.

Due to the influx of patients, a few of them are going to be placed based less on what their injuries are and more wherever the hospital happens to have a spare bed. Fortunately, there's a room in the burn ward with space for three people, with only two of those slots being occupied at the moment. Putting Carmen in there also solves the dilemma of who they could room with a pair of succubi without risking further incident, so that's a plus.

The end result of this will be that Carmen will be carted in shortly after Frigate says or does whatever he does next.

[Shadowcaller]

[Stabbing at Wild Mike's]

Anika had fought the defias brotherhood a long time ago so she knew exactly what the taste of human was like (and she didn't particularly care for it). A more immediate concern was the huge wounds at her side, she really ought to do something about those.

After tearing out his throat she lets his body drop to the floor and slowly starts to back away until eventually she sits down in a corner of the room. Then she shifts back to her humanoid form and makes some stiff motions to conjure the magical energy with will start to heal her body.

Her clothes aren't torn but paradoxically the wounds she sustained as a bear still seem to be there in some form and that's why she groaning in pain and eventually leans down against the wall as the lines of purple and green that now swirls around her starts to put her back together.

"Ow... ****ing demon..." She groans, looking like she might just be resting there for at least a little while.

---

The reason Anika didn't jump on Jaahlyn next is since while she was still struggling with Mixer the satyr simply disappeared as far as the druid could tell.

But what actually happened was that Jaahlyn got Mania's lifeless body pushed onto her. She let's go of the scythe which simply seems to phase out of existence entirely and holds onto the body.

"Fade... if you can hear this... I need to go and help Mania. But please deal with Sandy. She murdered her." Then she will attempt to shift to the location of Mania's soul. Or at least somewhere near it.

Normally this would have her and the body sink right through the floor or sometimes turn them both to smoke or ash. But perhaps Mania's underworld had a different effect.

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"Aye, in th' rush methinks. Th' panic rush t' leave." So it wasn't actually the bomb that did the killing. Frigate's not actually very good at comforting people, since he's not really built to be soft and cuddly or understand what to do in the event of loss.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

Anika raises an eyebrow. "Trade them? What do you mean? People usually put the cards in some kind of thing and put in a code, then they get the card back. Just like that. I've seen it dozens of times." She scans Sticks counter, does she actually spot a card scanner anywhere?

"And the coins, I've earned those from quests! I mean, some of those quests did involve beating stuff up. But that was monsters and bad people so it's okay." See? No problems here, Stick. Everything's justified.

[The Toy Tinker]

"Miss Anika, those cards have magnetic strips on them. They communicate information electronically to a small device in the card reader, and then input a numerical code that matches the card. No one scans any... bears," says Sticks.

"You should really look into a bank. It's not safe to carry this much money around with you. That's why people use the magnetic cards," Sticks illuminates, scooping aside about twenty five of those gold pieces for himself.

[5a Violista]

[St Leonard's Hospital]

Almost as if on cue, immediately after Frigate talks about the panicked rush and its resulting injuries, someone with injuries from the exact thing he talked about is brought in.

It's Carmen!

Even though she didn't have a demon tail earlier she had one before seeing the EMTs, and she was in decent enough condition to inform them of her race (half-succubus) so they put it on her patient chart, and...long story short, that's eventually what led her here.

Apparently, according to the biomancer, she was extraordinarily lucky, having multiple near-fatal injuries and other injuries that would ordinarily be fatal and even one that would have been fatal if she got here literally a minute later. Huge coincidence. Quite possibly the luckiest person here!


Carmen gets wheeled to the spare bed – the nurses apologizing to the current occupants in case they're interrupting anything – and put on it.

Painkillers haven't kicked in, yet, and she doubts they ever will due to a natural resistance (they weren't lust-element painkillers, after all!) to them, so Carmen isn't completely out of it yet.

She turns and looks at the other hospital room-mates and gives a half-hearted wave and a smile to say 'hi'.