Riverside 21: Older than Arkh

[Ironsmith]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

"When I kiss someone, I steal some of their lust and determination from them," she explains. "Makes the rest of the date really boring, and people are more likely to listen when it affects their money, too. And I deserve extra compensation for having to babysit someone who's too unmotivated to even take care of themselves." Which can happen if the kissing goes on for too long and/or if she's particularly hungry.

And, more importantly.
Carmen can feel her cheeks starting to blush, so she folds up the hospital pillow to hide her face. Especially because she saw how much hand-holding these gals did up on stage and now Carmen's imagining herself doing it and - "And, no, it's not germs. It's just that...some things I'd rather just not do before marriage." Specifically, handholding. And playing footsie, but she might be okay with footsie before marriage so long as it's a serious relationship.

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

"...What." Stacy just stares at Carmen blankly, internally wondering how this girl survives in that kind of industry with a taboo like that.

"...That's sort of sweet, actually." Melody smiles. "I mean, it's not the biggest commitment you could make, but having something you've saved away just for that special someone..." She gives a little giggle and sort of hugs herself. "It's very romantic. I wish I'd done that."

"Romantic, my eye." Stacy mutters. "What are you going to do if you save your first hand-hold for when you're married, and then you figure out that you don't actually like holding hands with that person? It's not like you'd have any way of knowing before then. Then you're stuck married to someone you can't really hold hands with and it's just all awkward and weird."

"I mean, you can always learn to hold hands better, can't you? You spend enough time with someone, you're bound to learn how they like having their hands held..."

"Or you could loosen up a little and find out before you put a ring on-"

"Come on, it's not like that's the only thing that mat-"

"ALL I'm saying is that-"

Euphoria lets out a little sigh and sits down at the foot of Carmen's bed, shaking her head as Stacy and Melody's argument escalates. "They're going to be at this for a while." She says flatly.

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"I be a bodyguard, an' these be me charges. Already t'night somebody's tried t' send 'em t' Davy Jones' Locker. Can th' paperwork be brought here, so's I can continue wi' me job?" If not, then Frigate's going to have to ask the girls if they'll be OK without him- and give a pistol to Euphoria, since she seems like the one most likely to be trusted with a loaded gun.

[Reinholdt]

[Away from Wild Mike's]

Sandy frowns, having really hoped her entreaty for Anika to heal the wounded to be enough to throw the elf off her back. Well, Sandy does the exact opposite of wait as Anika follows her, breaking into a sprint.

She rounds a corner and her footprints suddenly cease. If Anika rounds the same corner she won't see Sandy anywhere! Unless she looks up. Sandy appears to have done some high level acrobatic parkour to get up onto the rooftops, her foot just disappearing over the edge. It's Sandy's hope that Anika will think she vanished or teleported or something as some people do in the Nexus and give up the chase without having noticed where Sandy really went.

[Xar'cha Residence]

A mounted camera whirs menacingly and a voice crackles from the nearby speaker.
"Who approaches and under what motivations? Friend or foe?"
HALlelujah does not seem to have recognized Tauron immediately so his disguise is probably working. Though it wouldn't recognize him without the disguise too. Ilpholin didn't think he came out of his temple so never bothered to program him as an accepted guest. He'll have to go through the process.

[5a Violista]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

How does she survive in the industry when she doesn't want to hold hands?
...
Pretty easily, actually. Most people don't really care about holding hands. Not much difference between that and hooking elbows, anyway. Or if she grabs their arm and leans on them. Honestly, to most people it's not that big of a deal.

"There's more to a relationship than just holding hands," Carmen says in a quiet voice and almost entirely to herself because she's not sure if she should get in between what those two have.
And, besides.
It's literally just holding someone's hands. Carmen's pretty sure it's literally impossible to be bad at holding hands. Unless you have no hands, but that's something you usually know beforehand and can then decide on some equivalent thing.
Plus, she's pretty sure they're actually discussing something else, anyway. And listening in almost feels like intruding on a private conversation. Which is why having Euphoria right here is a welcome distraction. "Sorry for bringing it up," she tells Euphoria. "I usually don't bring up the reason why, I promise." But it's because people usually think she's joking about it and take that as an invitation to grab her hands, instead of taking it very seriously and heatedly discuss it like these two are doing.

[Shadowcaller]

[Away from Wild Mike's]

Ha!

Sandy is foolish if she thinks Anika is going to stop and look around once she can't see her around that corner.

No, the druid is just going to keep running. Probably eventually figuring that Sandy had entered stealth.

Damn rogues.

[Xar'cha Residence]

Tauron stops and looks to the source of the voice, finding the camera.

He then raises one of his more humanoid-looking hands, causing the creatures following him to do likewise.

"Friend?" His metallic voice calls out hesitantly. "Friend who wishes to talk to Ilpholin. She is the master of this house, no?"

[Reinholdt]

[Away from Wild Mike's]

Sandy slips away.

[Xar'cha Residence]

The camera unfocuses, refocuses, moves. Fun camera things. It takes a moment to process Tauron's apparent uncertainty before continuing.

"She is. It's on the nameplate." There is indeed a nameplate. Ilpholin Xar'cha, Demon Hunter for Hire.
She has yet to be hired.
"But what is your name?" Anyone can just walk up and claim to be a friend.

[Zefir]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Fade just slides into the hospital. A shadow sliding through the floors should be rather strange and totally rare. Some people might not even see it sicne they are distracted with the wounded and other stuff.

It's safe to assume that Frigate has communicated the room number with MERC or if not he should be easy to find with his size. So Fade's shadow will appear in the room and out of it steps Fade like there is a door that wasn't befor. Not caring for the nurse or anone else. He stares at Carmen.

"Who are you?"

[Ironsmith]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"I be a bodyguard, an' these be me charges. Already t'night somebody's tried t' send 'em t' Davy Jones' Locker. Can th' paperwork be brought here, so's I can continue wi' me job?" If not, then Frigate's going to have to ask the girls if they'll be OK without him- and give a pistol to Euphoria, since she seems like the one most likely to be trusted with a loaded gun.

"I'm afraid not, sir. If it were a small enough amount to bring to you on a clipboard, I would've done so." The nurse explains. "But we need a lot of information and we need the means to cross-check it, particularly so in a case like this one, where we have reason to believe our patients may be actively persecuted. So, if you would please?"

Melody and Stacy seem reasonably confident with Euphoria, especially after Frigate gives her a pistol. Unlike Melody, Euphoria seems to be completely at ease with the idea of using a gun to shoot someone in self-defense. Plus, he's only going to be gone for a minute, right?

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

How does she survive in the industry when she doesn't want to hold hands?
...
Pretty easily, actually. Most people don't really care about holding hands. Not much difference between that and hooking elbows, anyway. Or if she grabs their arm and leans on them. Honestly, to most people it's not that big of a deal.

"There's more to a relationship than just holding hands," Carmen says in a quiet voice and almost entirely to herself because she's not sure if she should get in between what those two have.
And, besides.
It's literally just holding someone's hands. Carmen's pretty sure it's literally impossible to be bad at holding hands. Unless you have no hands, but that's something you usually know beforehand and can then decide on some equivalent thing.
Plus, she's pretty sure they're actually discussing something else, anyway. And listening in almost feels like intruding on a private conversation. Which is why having Euphoria right here is a welcome distraction. "Sorry for bringing it up," she tells Euphoria. "I usually don't bring up the reason why, I promise." But it's because people usually think she's joking about it and take that as an invitation to grab her hands, instead of taking it very seriously and heatedly discuss it like these two are doing.

"It's not your fault. The subject's been a sticking point between them for longer than I've known them." Euphoria replies evenly. "You seem to be taking it in stride. Most people are surprised to learn that succubi as a whole have such a diverse set of opinions on the subjects of virginity and extramarital affairs in the first place."

DEATHKISS's brand probably wasn't helping them in that regard. None of the band members were (or had ever been) married, and the things they would do onstage, never mind what they were implied to do in private, could hardly be described as innocent or virginal.

Euphoria turns the gun over in her hands, her tail running up the length of Carmen's bed before finally curling around the half-succubus protectively. Carmen might not necessarily be one of them, but Euphoria's not about to let anything bad happen to her, either.

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Fade just slides into the hospital. A shadow sliding through the floors should be rather strange and totally rare. Some people might not even see it sicne they are distracted with the wounded and other stuff.

It's safe to assume that Frigate has communicated the room number with MERC or if not he should be easy to find with his size. So Fade's shadow will appear in the room and out of it steps Fade like there is a door that wasn't befor. Not caring for the nurse or anone else. He stares at Carmen.

"Who are you?"

"...opposite problem, where you come off as someone who can't commit and holds hands for the fun of it."

"Now don't be ridiculous. Being certain and being unable to commit are two very different- AH!" Stacy screams as Fade slips into their room from the shadows, completely unannounced. She's never seen Fade use that ability before, and it doesn't help that his way of getting around looks exactly like a demon climbing out of the Abyss. Though in her defense, Melody has much the same reaction.

"What the hell is-"
"Don't friggin DO tha-"
"Scared the [crap] out of me!"

[Shadowcaller]

[Xar'cha Residence]

The camera unfocuses, refocuses, moves. Fun camera things. It takes a moment to process Tauron's apparent uncertainty before continuing.

"She is. It's on the nameplate." There is indeed a nameplate. Ilpholin Xar'cha, Demon Hunter for Hire.
She has yet to be hired.
"But what is your name?" Anyone can just walk up and claim to be a friend.

[Xar'cha Residence]

"Tauron." He replies. "I helped Ilpholin out in the past." Well, saved her life but Tauron didn't want to brag.

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

The gun is a wheellock pistol, an antique single-shot design, though well-balanced and rifled. The gunsmith who created it knew what they were doing, and the mechanism of the wheel-lock has cogs similar in design to those at Frigate's joints.

Frigate, meanwhile, follows the nurse after a last look around the room. This means that Fade's likely to see his back as he leaves, but not know why he's going. He probably does have a communicator, which he would have used. It's probably a modern mobile phone, though not a smartphone with a touch screen; Frigate doesn't have body heat and his stone fingers don't conduct electricity so buttons are easier.

[5a Violista]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

"I'm half- and I was raised in my mother's clan," Carmen explains (and her mother was a succubus), "so it's not like it's a novel idea." Definitely has heard this kind of discussion before.
Her voice drops, as if she's participating in a conspiracy, before adding: "My mom seduced a paladin once." Makes her half-succubus half-paladin, of course. "Kinda wish I could do something like that." Mostly because she thinks paladins and people like that are hot, but she doesn't mention that part. The idea of being a temptress who seduces a paladin, and then slowly over time they both fall in love and are conflicted at first but their love for each other eventually makes them both have to turn against their clans...that's definitely the most romantic thing she can imagine.

Feeling another tail, her own tail starts to move over that way as well, but!
Suddenly!
Fade.

Carmen jumps (well, as much as someone can jump while seriously injured and in a hospital bed) when he speaks and she sees him out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh, it's just you." She feels relieved. "It's me, Carmen. Remember, we met several months ago?" When she hired him to help her.
She figures the more important question he'll ask next was why she's here. "I was at the concert. Need medical care; hospital decided this room was the best choice to prevent any kind of incident."

[Felandria]

[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.

Felandria is out for her morning jog, earbuds in, listening to an audiobook, her dark blue sports bra and jogging shorts magically enhanced to keep her body temperature in check so she doesn’t overheat.

She rounds a corner and happens upon the dryads attacking.

She stops in her tracks and points to the nearest dryad.

Hey!

You stop that!

What’s your deal?

[Reinholdt]

[Xar'cha Residence]

"One moment."

It's actually a few moments later before the door opens, the heavy mechanism shaking a little as it slides away. "Enter and wait in the lobby. Ilpholin will be with you in a few minutes."

There's a short hallway, another door, and then Tauron will reach the lobby. Which really is more like a living room or parlor than anything else. Black, red and purple chairs and couches feature prominently with a few doors leading off that the Phyrexian Surgeon could investigate if he was the overly inquisitive type. Especially since it's more than a few minutes before Ilpholin actually gets to him. More like fifteen.

[Shadowcaller]

[Xar'cha Residence]

"Thank you." Tauron nods politely and then heads inside, intending to wait patiently for Ilpholin.

But while he isn't the inquisitive sort the creatures he brought with him seems to be. So as Tauron is looking the other way one of the creatures manages to reach the handle and opens the black door to quickly take a peek inside.

Unless it's locked of course.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

"Where's the rear?" Anika is so eager to ask that Sticks haven't opened up the counter yet. But when he does it makes the answer rather obvious. "Oh, there it is." She remarks as she steps inside. "Though... yeah, I once though Jezebel was a succubus of some kind so I can totally see something embarrassing being in that thing." The druid glances at Sticks. "...you wouldn't happen to know anything about succubi right? Since I'm still not sure what she is."

[The Toy Tinker]

Sticks grumbles something about hoping there wasn't anything too embarrassing, but he isn't going to turn away a commission. And besides, Anika had been very polite, if... a bit strange.

His face, which is still mostly flesh, blushes when questioned about succubi. "My knowledge of their nature is... limited. There is also the issue of type. There are so many varieties of succubi that, while certain qualities seem to be inherent across their phylum regardless of metaphysical origin, speculating on the special qualities of a particular type without dedicated research is essentially useless."

Sticks will lead Anika into part of his workshop, a cluttered disaster of parts and junk with a single island of organized equipment: Sticks' workbench. He raises his hand in an imperious gesture and a sourceless wizard-light illuminates the bare waist-high work space. He draws an apparatus on a mechanical arm closer to this center and arranges the branch from the tree beneath it. Then, he draws a series of lenses and scopes down from the arm's cluttered nest of delicate devices.

With this, he intends to make a series of magical examinations. What metaphysical properties the branch might have, how one might activate them, and whether or not it might be necessary to charge the branch with energy to discover its fullest properties. Items like this, particularly ones that were grown rather than crafted, could be tricky like that.

[Reinholdt]

[Xar'cha Residence]

None of the doors out of the parlor are locked at the moment.

The door the drone has picked leads to what appears to be a kitchen. It's a bit surprising to have a kitchen up here, but it appears to be for the sole purpose of preparing food for any guests she might have to entertain in the parlor. It makes sense. More interesting than the kitchen is who is inside it scurrying about. Small little spider drones, about the same size of those creatures accompanying Tauron.

One of them stops scurrying from one end of the kitchen to the other to stare inquisitively back at the Myr drone. Before chittering forward a little in impotent aggression. Get out of its kitchen! It doesn't actually have any actual way to get anyone out of its kitchen.

[Zefir]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Fade looks at Carmen for a moment. He hasn't noticed her immediatly, but since it hasn't been that long he just nods at her explanation.
He also seems to ignore the whole reaction of the band including their screams.
He looks after Frigate, but for now he assumes he had something equaly important to deal with. Then he looks over the remains of DEATHKISS.

"We need to get you out of here immediatly! You have more enemies in this city then you thought and I know they are on the way. What do you need to leave immediatly?" He doesn't know about their health status so he can just ask, unless something obvious is visible.

[Attack of the plantlover]

It is kinda obviouse that they aren't up for diplomatic talking since they already attacked and likly killed people, hard to say ust from looking. Most of the dryads don't react to Felindria, but the one she points at turns to her.

"We are here to free this place from the corruption of the iron god. Are you with us or against us?"

Either way befor the dryad gets the answer, a treeling spots the earbuds and tries to jump on Felindria to rip them out of her head. This thing seems less intelligent.

[Shadowcaller]

[Xar'cha Residence]

The myr drone quickly closes the door once its curiosity is satisfied. Just in time too as Tauron turns to it as its getting away from the door. "You're not disturbing anything, are you? We are guests here." He chides the critters without his tone changing in any discernible way.

But they do obey, sitting down in a small circle around Tauron. Now just waiting for Ilpholin to arrive.

[The Toy Tinker]

"Oh!" Anika seems to have an idea for for once she will wait with shouting it out until Sticks have lead her into the laboratory at least.

But once he's closed the door behind them she can no longer contain herself. "I have a picture of her though! Could you tell from that?" Anika then produces what is indeed a digital photo of Jezebel paper-clipped to what appears to be a map of Riverside that has the garden area clearly marked out.

[Ironsmith]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

St. Leonard's Hospital

The gun is a wheellock pistol, an antique single-shot design, though well-balanced and rifled. The gunsmith who created it knew what they were doing, and the mechanism of the wheel-lock has cogs similar in design to those at Frigate's joints.

Frigate, meanwhile, follows the nurse after a last look around the room. This means that Fade's likely to see his back as he leaves, but not know why he's going. He probably does have a communicator, which he would have used. It's probably a modern mobile phone, though not a smartphone with a touch screen; Frigate doesn't have body heat and his stone fingers don't conduct electricity so buttons are easier.

The nurse leads Frigate to the elevators, which are thankfully rated to carry creatures as heavy as him, if not heavier. "...For the record." She begins in an even tone. "I don't care what they're saying on the news, I think what you're doing in protecting those girls is sweet."

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

"I'm half- and I was raised in my mother's clan," Carmen explains (and her mother was a succubus), "so it's not like it's a novel idea." Definitely has heard this kind of discussion before.
Her voice drops, as if she's participating in a conspiracy, before adding: "My mom seduced a paladin once." Makes her half-succubus half-paladin, of course. "Kinda wish I could do something like that." Mostly because she thinks paladins and people like that are hot, but she doesn't mention that part. The idea of being a temptress who seduces a paladin, and then slowly over time they both fall in love and are conflicted at first but their love for each other eventually makes them both have to turn against their clans...that's definitely the most romantic thing she can imagine.

Feeling another tail, her own tail starts to move over that way as well, but!
Suddenly!
Fade.

Carmen jumps (well, as much as someone can jump while seriously injured and in a hospital bed) when he speaks and she sees him out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh, it's just you." She feels relieved. "It's me, Carmen. Remember, we met several months ago?" When she hired him to help her.
She figures the more important question he'll ask next was why she's here. "I was at the concert. Need medical care; hospital decided this room was the best choice to prevent any kind of incident."

"It's not quite all it's cracked up to be." Euphoria replies cryptically. "Seducing a paladin is hardly a difficult task. No more so than it is anyone else. One simply needs to appeal to a different set of values." The corners of her mouth turn up in a rare smile. "Keeping a paladin... well, that is a whole other matter."

But then Fade!

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Fade looks at Carmen for a moment. He hasn't noticed her immediatly, but since it hasn't been that long he just nods at her explanation.
He also seems to ignore the whole reaction of the band including their screams.
He looks after Frigate, but for now he assumes he had something equaly important to deal with. Then he looks over the remains of DEATHKISS.

"We need to get you out of here immediatly! You have more enemies in this city then you thought and I know they are on the way. What do you need to leave immediatly?" He doesn't know about their health status so he can just ask, unless something obvious is visible.

Fade will quickly find himself staring down the barrel if the aforementioned wheellock, before Euphoria slowly lowers the weapon as Fade explains their situation. "These three are in no condition to move." She points out, her tail curling protectively around Carmen. "Who is coming after us?"

She's not wrong. Half of Ecstacy/Stacy's body is covered in bandages, and Malady/Melody isn't much better off, wearing an eyepatch on top of everything else.

[Reinholdt]

[Xar'cha Residence]

The brief and sordid misadventures of Spider and Myr drone will forever go untold.

Some time later Ilpholin does arrive, dressed in her usual officer-esque uniform with purple cape. The cape is the only part of her clothes that isn't the clothing Tauron expertly stitched together for her some time back. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. I was in the middle of working on a new prototype with Mister Squiggles for a specialized transportation system." Not that she needs to explain herself to the unexpected guest.

"I guess offering you anything to eat is unnecessary?" Ilpholin asks as she moves to sit down in a chair. "I can't say that I'm not surprised to see you. I hope this isn't bad news regarding your temple or anything?"

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"Oh? An' what do the news be sayin' 'bout those there girls?" Frigate doesn't have a radio, or know how to use one, so he doesn't know what the news is saying. He'll follow anyway, since he doesn't think he has much choice.

[Felandria]

[Attack of the plantlover]

It is kinda obviouse that they aren't up for diplomatic talking since they already attacked and likly killed people, hard to say ust from looking. Most of the dryads don't react to Felandria, but the one she points at turns to her.

"We are here to free this place from the corruption of the iron god. Are you with us or against us?"

Either way befor the dryad gets the answer, a treeling spots the earbuds and tries to jump on Felandria to rip them out of her head. This thing seems less intelligent.

Felandria swats the treeling away with a burst of fire from her hand.

Look, this is my city, I’m in charge around here and you are assaulting my people, you bet your butts I’m against you.

Felandria begins to grow as she speaks.

I don’t know about this iron god business, but you just ticked off the wrong demigoddess.

She reaches double her normal size and pulls out a wand from behind her ear.

Now get out before I make you.

[Murkus]

[The Toy Tinker]

"Oh!" Anika seems to have an idea for for once she will wait with shouting it out until Sticks have lead her into the laboratory at least.

But once he's closed the door behind them she can no longer contain herself. "I have a picture of her though! Could you tell from that?" Anika then produces what is indeed a digital photo of Jezebel paper-clipped to what appears to be a map of Riverside that has the garden area clearly marked out.

[The Toy Tinker]

Sticks barely looks up from his task, but he frowns when he sees the picture. With a nasally sigh he replies, "No, I could not. A photograph does not dedicated research make. Though if you really wish to be relieved of more gold, I could research her for you. I ought to be paid for my time, after all." This sounds like it's entirely intended as a jest, but he's so bad at it that it may not come across that way.

"In the mean time, I have good news. There's nothing sinister about this object at all. Quite the opposite, in fact," Sticks reaches up without looking and, with a rusty crank, adjusts one of his lenses. "It is infused with a pure, purposeless, unaligned aura of positive energy. There is no direction to the power, no... will. No direct origin. It is, almost literally, the coalesced power of benign mortal hopes and dreams."

"Emotions, especially strong ones, can lend things power, you see," says Sticks. "Most people don't realize it, but your metaphysical self - the soul, to the layman - touches everything that you touch. Emotions are very closely mingled with the power of the soul. This energy that you put out into the world resonates. Clings. You trade invisible power with everything and everyone around you, every moment of every day. A multitude of people putting strong emotions out into the world can have wondrous effects... or disastrous ones. With enough time, even dead clay can be infused with the will of generations. Or, hm, wood, in this case."

"I'm not sure if this is what happened here, but it resembles a sanctified object-- like an altar that has been prayed before many times. What this means is that it's prime material for crafting into a proper tool. What's more, there is so much energy pouring out of this item that it could even bend certain physical laws. Becoming slightly larger or smaller and acquiring more mass as the purpose of its new shape requires. A rod, a staff, a wand, a stave, a... club. Even the shavings would be useful."

[5a Violista]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Speaking of keeping a paladin, Carmen's face goes red imagining it.
She definitely needs the pillow now to hide it.


Which is just as well, because this feels like more conversations that aren't really her business.

But, somehow, she ends up interjecting anyway. She adjusts the pillow slightly so that it doesn't muffle her voice, and then says to Fade, "In order to have them leave immediately, you'd probably need some magic healing, or something like that." Well, either that, or getting transferred in disguise to another hospital, she thinks, but that probably wouldn't be the best choice (at least until the worst-off has time to recover more first). "And after that, probably some way to make everyone think they're still here until they can get far enough away."

[Ironsmith]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"Oh? An' what do the news be sayin' 'bout those there girls?" Frigate doesn't have a radio, or know how to use one, so he doesn't know what the news is saying. He'll follow anyway, since he doesn't think he has much choice.

"All sorts of nasty things." The nurse elaborates, punching in their floor. "The official story is still hazy, but the word through the grapevine is that you're assisting a trio of especially dangerous demons; the kind who would lure in a crowd with the promise of a night of fun and then blow them all straight to hell. In a very literal sense." The nurse traces her hands over the elevator control panel. "I don't believe it, but there are many, many people who apparently do."

[Zefir]

Spoiler: Plant

Show

Felandria swats the treeling away with a burst of fire from her hand.

Look, this is my city, I’m in charge around here and you are assaulting my people, you bet your butts I’m against you.

Felandria begins to grow as she speaks.

I don’t know about this iron god business, but you just ticked off the wrong demigoddess.

She reaches double her normal size and pulls out a wand from behind her ear.

Now get out before I make you.

[Attack of the plantlover]

"So you are with him." The Dryad replies. "I never heared he has offsprings or could even make one with flesh. The corruption is deep and we will free you from it." thought her voice sounds convidentt and maybe fanatic she backs away to hide.

The treeling is burns and takes his last seconds in life rolling on the floor. There is no sign of return, as the dryads and treelings continue to rip any electivc apars which causes some fire and others run down passangers to free them from the hypnotic effects of smartphones and headsets.

While none seems to care for the giant woman, an array flies from the üark at her. Sure it is to small to kill Felandria, but the weapons of those dryads are made to pierc through iron hulls and maybe hurt a god so it won't just reflect from her armor or skin. Whoever shot is hidden behind trees and bushes

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Fades hands are on his belt when Euphoria points the weapon at him. If anyone looks closer there is more then the hilt of the swords. He is not sure why she reacts like that, especially moments after she recognized him. But it is pointless to ask right now.
They migth also notice that Fade has some of his clothing ripped of and warped around his hand and leg in a improvised bandaged way.

"First of will be the demon with his dog you hired us for. We managed to destroy his body, but it will be a matter of time until he comes back. It seemed to easy for be over.

Next in line will be that big demon. I'm not sure how eager he might not come to fight you, but I don't trust him. He had an elv woman with him, maybe a druid, who was very eager to get you to justice. Either to court or by herself if needed.

The one with the panty boms might have friends as well. There is another one, a group of assassins who she might work for. They did hide as a VIP fan and killed Mania while we dealt with the demon. Jaahlyn is curently trying to deal with it in the afterlife or wherever it is. I don't know what she is able to do. It's just that your blind trust in people you barly know might be your downfall."

Someone might wonder why he seems to know such things, but he had more experience then you can think of. He turns to Carmen.

"You are lucky we have worked together befor, otherwise I would have killed you right here." he turns to the others. "I don't think we have much time. I don't know why Frigate left but that might be the distraction to get to you."

Fade is cold as ever.

[Ironsmith]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Speaking of keeping a paladin, Carmen's face goes red imagining it.
She definitely needs the pillow now to hide it.


Which is just as well, because this feels like more conversations that aren't really her business.

But, somehow, she ends up interjecting anyway. She adjusts the pillow slightly so that it doesn't muffle her voice, and then says to Fade, "In order to have them leave immediately, you'd probably need some magic healing, or something like that." Well, either that, or getting transferred in disguise to another hospital, she thinks, but that probably wouldn't be the best choice (at least until the worst-off has time to recover more first). "And after that, probably some way to make everyone think they're still here until they can get far enough away."

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Fades hands are on his belt when Euphoria points the weapon at him. If anyone looks closer there is more then the hilt of the swords. He is not sure why she reacts like that, especially moments after she recognized him. But it is pointless to ask right now.
They migth also notice that Fade has some of his clothing ripped of and warped around his hand and leg in a improvised bandaged way.

"First of will be the demon with his dog you hired us for. We managed to destroy his body, but it will be a matter of time until he comes back. It seemed to easy for be over.

Next in line will be that big demon. I'm not sure how eager he might not come to fight you, but I don't trust him. He had an elv woman with him, maybe a druid, who was very eager to get you to justice. Either to court or by herself if needed.

The one with the panty boms might have friends as well. There is another one, a group of assassins who she might work for. They did hide as a VIP fan and killed Mania while we dealt with the demon. Jaahlyn is curently trying to deal with it in the afterlife or wherever it is. I don't know what she is able to do. It's just that your blind trust in people you barly know might be your downfall."

Someone might wonder why he seems to know such things, but he had more experience then you can think of. He turns to Carmen.

"You are lucky we have worked together befor, otherwise I would have killed you right here." he turns to the others. "I don't think we have much time. I don't know why Frigate left but that might be the distraction to get to you."

Fade is cold as ever.

Euphoria just meant maintaining an actual relationship. Goodness, Carmen, not everything that comes out of a succubus's mouth is pervy.

"We don't have the option of leaving." Stacy points out. "Like Carmen said, we'd need a lot more healing than we've gotten, and-"

And then a deafening silence hits the room.

"...Fade?" Melody asks quietly, as the implications of what he said sink in. "...What did you say happened to Mania?"

...

ke-rash!

Is the sound of Euphoria punching out a window, indifferent to the shards of broken glass in her hands. The influx of noise from the street below is quickly drowned out by a wail of grief, mitigated only by the fact that Euphoria's head is outside just this moment.

[5a Violista]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

Doesn't matter what Euphoria intended: Carmen's thoughts are already predisposed on this subject. If someone else said the same thing about having a lasting relationship with a paladin, she'd probably react the same.


Once again, she's getting the feeling that by being here, she's intruding somewhere she doesn't really belong.

What should she do?
Just act like she's not here? Let them deal with everything in peace even though she's spent the last while talking with them? But she just barely met them, too, so wouldn't doing something be far too intruding? She's never even met Mania and only knows her singing voice and what she looks like, so saying anything would be incredibly inappropriate.

Realizing that, regardless of what she does, it's going to be awkward one way or another, she decides something is better than nothing so
even though it's quite uncomfortable
and also a little painful
she leans over and up, to put a palm on Euphoria's arm (or hip, or whatever is closest). Not really to say anything, but just as a gesture of human warmth. (Succubus warmth. Whatever. Same thing.)

[Earl of Purple]

St. Leonard's Hospital

"Aye, good f'r ye t' be so unnerstandin'. It weren't Deathkiss. T'were a fan who threw th' bomb at the fo'c'stle. Ah, stage, I guess be the landlubber term, aye? An attendee, not one o' th' girls I be hired t' guard." If the stage isn't the forecastle, it's the quarterdeck. Maybe the poop deck, but generally there's living quarters underneath, and Frigate's pretty sure there wasn't a bedroom under the stage. He could have been mistaken, though.

[Zefir]

[St. Leonard's Hospital]

"An assassin from a group calles SAINT killed her. She was pretending to be a big fan and Mania did trust her immediatly. While we dealt with the man you saw, whos name was Mixer, Mania tried to protect the 'fan' and was killed by her. She tried to stall me." He holds up his bandaged hand. "I had to left her to get here in time."

Fade doesn't seem to startle by Euphoria's action. much like he saw what she is going to do even while he's not looking at her. He sights heavily.

"I didn't want to do that, but I notice you are affected by the news and any discusions won't get us anywhere. Just give me a moment and try to group up."

He extends his hand and after a while white obs with sun symbols fly through the walls and collect inhis hand. It seems to take a while befor he is going to do something, but it should be obviouse that it takes him some effort.