Inside 71: All I Want For Thanksmas Is You

[5a Violista]

[Brimstone Park]

Yeah. Replacing this one would be fine.

June looks downward, and bounces on her(?) heels. Then, pulls her(?) shirt tighter and down briefly, to try to make it fit better. It only works briefly.
"No, I think I'm a bit too big for that," June says, replying to Pyrite.

June runs her(?) hand through her hair, and stops after reaching a horn (and a flower).

She reaches to her wrist and squeezes, to check if she's still made of the same stuff or not. Then, while still squeezing, twists and looks at her tail. She lets go, then reaches to the tail. "Do I have to worry about pricking myself?" June wonders aloud. She looks for the same place that she had been squeezing on Pyrite earlier, and squeezes there to find out.

Overall...the horns are...okay. easily covered with a hat. The chest is way too big. But the tail is fantastic. "Overall...I'd say I'm a six?"

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"C'mon, June, you look great! You just have to own it!" Pyrite laughs. "Do you want some help with your clothes? I'm good at working gossamer like that. I could make you whatever sort of clothes you want." She giggles. "Just enjoy yourself while it lasts."

June should find that A: she has bones now, and B: her tail doesn't have any venom. The more scientific succubus sees her check and nods approvingly. "Good idea. Functional venom glands are the second strongest indicator that something's gone wrong."

[5a Violista]

[Brimstone Park]

Oh! That's great! Bones. Exactly what June was hoping for, in case it ever matters. Probably won't, but...just in case.
Probably means she can't consume things with tendrils now, though.
Extrapolating the effects of the stronger one and the weaker one...the weaker one probably won't have horns or flowers or something. Might still be made of mushroom, though, so it's not necessarily better. And the stronger one might...um...have magic? Gossamer? is a word.

"Yeah, help me with clothes," June tells Pyrite. "Just pick whatever would look good." Picking out something that actually matches would take a while, so it's probably best to let someone who has more experience with this body type to decide.

She lets go of her tail and just lets it move around on its own.
While giving Pyrite time to decide on a look, June looks at the scientific-succubus. "Anything else I should check? Or anything you wanted to check?" Since she sort-of wanted testing.

[Deathkeeper]

[Philip Memorial Library]

"Well... define 'forbidden' or 'rarest'." Michalson has probably found more forbidden knowledge than not-forbidden, back in his day. "I'm lookin' for dark about entropy and order. Of the cosmic, planar sort. An' makin' dazzled weapons. That's, uh, magical."

Philip Memorial Library

Sphinx considers.
"The restricted section is mostly like, Threat to Reality stuff. Just making magical weaponry out of mildly dangerous forces is probably fine." Sphinx generally has a very good idea of where things in her Library are, but she hasn't read everything and she's not currently inside it at the moment.
"So I'm pretty sure you won't need special access. And I could help you if you did. Being friends with the Guardian has benefits." she smiles with a mouth full of pointy teeth.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"You aren't getting any urges to change your name, are you?" June probably isn't.

Meanwhile, Pyrite looks around the room for something. She grabs a pouch labeled "butterfly dust", and takes a pinch out of it. She spreads the dust through the air, where instead of becoming a cloud, it coalesces into a form-fitting iridescent blue dress, backless and with a low neckline. A few more pinches from various ingredients become a pair of high heels and appropriate undergarments for someone of June's shape. Pyrite holds the results up, grinning. "What do you think?"

[5a Violista]

[Brimstone Park]

June starts counting out on her fingers. One, two, three, four, five. Flip hand upside-down so can keep on counting on the same hand: six, seven..."Nope, all se-"
She pauses.
Then, frowns.
"Eight? Eight? When did that happen? What kind of name is..."

June quickly runs through counting up fingers again, to eight again.

"Um...hold on, I have to think about this for a moment." To give herself time to think about the answer, she decides to look at the clothes.
"The dress is nice," June says, "but low necklines tend to work better with smaller chests. I think it'd work better with either more asymmetry-" she gestures to one shoulder, "-or a really wide and higher neckline."

...
Okay!
That's been enough time to think about the answer. She turns back to the more-scientific succubus. "There is something weird about one of my names, but it feels like it's something from earlier that's probably unrelated and I don't feel like changing any of them, so....no, I'm not." It's complicated but it's most likely completely unrelated.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Okay, let me change it then." Pyrite grabs and pulls the dress, and it reshapes itself in her hands. "You're a mortal with multiple names? That's fascinating! How did you get them? Is it normal where you come from?"
Meanwhile, Pyrite holds up the altered dress. She's raised the neckline a bit and changed it from backless to having a large cutout in the back. "What do you think? Try it on, please!"

[5a Violista]

[Brimstone Park]

That is incredibly handy, being able to alter clothes just like that.
June is impressed.

"It looks good," June says, taking the dress and the other parts. In a place this small, there's not really any space for privacy, so...she turns away and starts to swap them out for her top. "Yes, it's pretty normal where I'm from," June says. She needs to be especially careful with those horns; they feel like they could mess up cloth pretty easily. "I just...earned them? That's not really a thing that happens around here, I've learned, but...where I'm from, that's how it happens."

There!
It's on.
After smoothing it out...well, the tail would be more comfortable with just the dress/undergarments, so using the dress to preserve modesty, that gets swapped out too. "Really, it's a long story." June waves as if showing that it doesn't really matter. Shoes now, right? Yeah, shoes.

Okay! All done! June turns back around.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

The succubi don't have much of a concept of modesty (Rose had to persuade them to wear any clothes at all) so they really don't mind June changing in their midst. "You look gorgeous! That dress really suits you!" It's definitely too fancy for ordinary wear, but the succubus nymphs don't seem to recognize a difference. Pyrite has been wearing an even showier sparkly gold dress this whole time, and her friend's purple dress isn't much better. "That's not that surprising. We can earn Names too, or take them from other people." Both nymphs shudder at that unpleasant thought. "But it's really personal. We're not supposed to share them with anyone."

[5a Violista]

[Brimstone Park]

Well, with tails, dresses kinda make sense. As long as they're not too tight.

"Thanks," June says to the compliment. She spins around.
She then bends down and picks up the other clothes, since she'll need them again in...some number of hours? She has the brief urge to kiss someone, but...it's okay. The tail's pretty cool enough and distracting enough that it starts wrapping around June's own leg.

"Taking names from other people is pretty awful," she agrees. She already has plans on how to take them back if hers ever get taken.

Enough with the tail; June looks back up at them. "So, anything else you wanted to test or check?" For science, obviously.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"No, I don't think so. You seem fine."

"C'mon June, let's get outside and show everyone the new you!" Pyrite is practically pulling at June's arm.

[5a Violista]

Brimstone Park

June was half-expecting some kind of experiment or something, but...thinking about it, quality checking is even more important and widely ignored.
So...
It's fine.

"Okaybyeseeyou" June quickly says as she's pulled out of the shack...the clothes and everything else that were in her hands spill to the ground still in the shack. "I'll come back and get those later!"

Once everything is said, June goes along with Pyrite.

[Morty]

[Philip Memorial Library]

Michalson's eyes narrow slightly. Something is off here.

"Far be it from me to refuse a selfless offer o' help, but it's a bit much just for someone you saw on the case once. Are you sure we haven't met?"

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"I'll keep them safe for you!"

And then June's gone. Pyrite seems very excited. "How does it feel? What do you want to do now?" She keeps looking June up and down. "I haven't gotten to talk much with mortals who use those. I only know from my own experience. So tell me everything!"

[Recaiden]

[Wandering Into Trouble]

"That's... an accurate description." Prumathe can't argue with 'sort of pure evil' for Sapphira. He's not sure Sapphira would argue with it, though he doesn't trust her enough to think he's got an accurate read on her personality and desires.

And then magic happens, and he's in a building with the door closing and Moschu walking away. "Hey! Wait, let me out! I gotta at least let Sekhmet know! Does this even help? I want what's best for her and GLoG, how does this help?" He has to turn around to get to the door and runs for it, reaching inside himself and lightening himself whilst reinforcing his leg muscles, the combined effect increasing his speed. He might not make it, depending on how fast the door is closing.

"Hmm."
It's a pretty fast door. Personally, I expect Prumathe makes himself too light for this reduced gravity, steps too high, and by the time he reaches down to the door, the lock has just clicked into place.
"No, Sekhmet would insist on bringing you back, even though that's very dangerous." Moschu calls from the other side of the door.
"You have good intentions, but do they lead to good outcomes? Or do they pave the way to the abyss?"

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

"Oh!" June says, not exactly knowing who them is, just that them are bad. Definitely someone to run from.

He glances back, hoping it's not actually following them.
He speeds up, a little. "It's still following us!" he exclaims. "You know a good place to get to?"

"Train" "Which" "Way"
It does seem unlikely that a big flying bat-snake would fit aboard a riftline car. But Vix of course does not remember how to get to the nearest station from here.

Glancing back, June can see that it's definitely following them. Diving down towards him, actually.
He might even hear a distant voice calling "-wait!"

The Golden Kettle

Edgar raises an eyebrow. Or at least where his should be. Since being made a tiger he’s kind of covered in fur so you wouldn’t really see eyebrows.
”And I’m guessing you have someone in mind, then?” he asks, wondering if he knows the answer already.

Well, he still has the brow shape. It's just that everywhere else has fur too.

"Do I know someone who could manage the finances of a mysterious teahouse?"
"Maybe. I'm too busy to do it personally, you know? Kinda like you seem to be, but I have someone in mind."
"First, it sounds like anyone here would need to know about this Nahira individual, right?"

[Earl of Purple]

Wandered Into Trouble

"They sure as stone lead to better outcomes for Sekhmet than without me! Let me out of here!" Boosting his strength, Prumathe starts to pound on the door. He's also boosting the bones of his hand, to reduce injury from pounding on a solid door with his bare hands. It won't stop him, though eventually it will hurt his hand.

[Recaiden]

"Notice, you are only thinking of Sekhmet and yourself, when your actions impact so many others."
The door squishes, spongelike, under his enhanced strength, but it does not give way and quickly returns to its original shape if he lets up.
"I will let you out when it's safe for the Nexus that I do so." Moschu says, a little apologetic in tone but not at all convinced.

[Earl of Purple]

Wandered Into Trouble

"Of course I think of her! She's my wife, and she's at the centre of all this. If she gets out OK, everyone does. It's not GLoG that's Sapphira's target, it's Sekhmet, and it's not GLoG that the Hive want, it's Sekhmet. Who else matters as much as she does?" If there's any other major threats to GLoG and the Nexus, Prumathe's unaware of them- possibly blissfully so, as it happens.

Since beating on the door isn't working, Prumathe reaches down at the floor and tries to dig his fingers into the spongy material of the door and then lift, boosting his strength to assist in trying to get the door open.

[5a Violista]

[Brimstone Park]

"It feels, um..." What's a good way to describe this? It's pretty indescribable. "It feels pretty normal, actually? Like I've always been like this. The tail's really neat, and I kind-of want to see what I can do with it." June keeps on following. "Not really sure what to talk about it, actually."

The only big desire June suddenly had was to make out with someone, but that was pretty brief. "To be honest, I'm not really sure what to do. Didn't really expect this, so didn't have time to decide something to do. Maybe see if there's anything unique I can do, but...otherwise, is there anything you wanted to do?" Probably why June hadn't really done anything notable while having a mushroom body, either.


[Perfectly Normal Walk]

June, of course, has to think about where a train stop is from here. "Um!" Keeps on running. Let's see, they came this way towards the docks, which means either this station or that station is near. "Um."

He keeps on running, even seeing that it's going so quickly. He hears the 'wait' but...when you're running from danger (especially in a city) it's usually reasonable to assume that someone shouting is talking to another person.
The flaming bat-snake is following June and Vix, though: they can't stop to see what other people need. In fact, it's probably better for whoever shouted if June doesn't wait, because then it'll draw the thing away from them.

"Um..."
He suddenly makes a sharp right turn. "This way! There's a tram stop this way, and it connects to the train."

[Recaiden]

[Wandered Into Trouble]

"Ah, the trouble is, it's not at all true that everyone will be fine if Sekhmet is fine."
"It's not all about you guys. You're just one strand in an entire web of danger, the pebble that redirects a river, etc."

The door isn't easy to grip, even with its yielding material, and there's still locks and latches and hinges holding it in place, but with his enhanced strength, Prumathe should manage to squeeze it up so there's a small gap at the bottom. If he had good leverage or a couple things to prop it open, maybe he could squeeze through? Or damage the door now that he's exposed an edge?

"Anyway, I've got more future disasters to deal with. You try to stop panicking, okay?"

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

On they run!
June, who knows where they're going and is just faster in general, passes ahead of Vix when he makes that sharp turn.

The mutant follows June. She drops the propeller, thinking that it might be slowing her down.

The flaming bat-snake rider follows the mutant.

If you look back, it's obvious that even though it flew past the turn and had to double-back, the flying creature is going to catch up to Vix before she gets to the tram.

[Deathkeeper]

[Philip Memorial Library]

Michalson's eyes narrow slightly. Something is off here.

"Far be it from me to refuse a selfless offer o' help, but it's a bit much just for someone you saw on the case once. Are you sure we haven't met?"

Philip Memorial Library

"Um. Well. You uh. Might have met my um. Brother Nim? With the singing thing?" Sphinx stammers. Oh, yeah. Didn't that guy mention he went to Inside City College? And didn't he also have a green backpack like the one laying against the column by Sphinx's back leg?

The Golden Kettle


Well, he still has the brow shape. It's just that everywhere else has fur too.

"Do I know someone who could manage the finances of a mysterious teahouse?"
"Maybe. I'm too busy to do it personally, you know? Kinda like you seem to be, but I have someone in mind."
"First, it sounds like anyone here would need to know about this Nahira individual, right?"

The Golden Kettle

Edgar tilts his head in consideration, but ultimately shakes his head.
"No, I run the place entirely on my own. She might have the final say on aesthetics and such, but I'm in control of the business. We agreed on that. She just focuses on running her little court." He was quite insistent on that. The last thing he needs is to get dragged into some hopelessly business-ruining venture because Nahira wanted something she was sure would be simple.

[Earl of Purple]

Wandered Into Trouble

"Then educate me! You said yourself- my motives are good, even if my actions aren't! So teach me how to get actions and motives to match! Then I'd be an ally, and wouldn't that be more useful than locking me up here?" Prumathe shouts, kicking his foot forward and reinforcing his bones to try and close the gap with that. He yelps after, as the door's still more solid than he was expecting, and his foot is a little bit more crushed than ideal so he'll look around for something to put in its place. Then he could maybe try wiggling out underneath or brute forcing it some more.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"I know what you mean! I went through this too. Sort of." Pyrite smiles reassuringly. "We weren't always like this. Not before Rose found us and took us in. She gave us a choice. We could accept this and seek redemption, or she would leave us to our fate." She laughs. "The ones who didn't accept it are on the other side of the portal. Rose is hoping to get through to them."

[Recaiden]

[The Golden Kettle]

"Oh, good. I think there's someone on my island who'd be perfect for the job." Chevin suggests.
"Except the lack of hands. Teahouses can be important places, you know?"

[Wandered Into Trouble]

There is no answer. It seems the spider really has left.

The room is completely empty of objects. It's just a round spongy expanse with the door to the outside, and two open doorless doorways forming a triangle. Left and right, no difference between them. Except after a few seconds, there's some noise from the left. People walking, talking, in another room of this prison, or just outside it?

[5a Violista]

[Perfectly Normal Walk]

Because Vix is now behind him, June does glance back to make sure she's keeping up.
And then forward, and back again.
He realizes they're not going to make it in time to the tram. And even if they do, they might have to wait for the tram's schedule.

Come on, come on, come on, what can they do? The reason she asked for a train was because it was an enclosed space that moved away quickly. Won't be able to make it in time, but what would be a good alternative...? While still running, he looks for possible places to go to.

He spots a store. Well, it's more of a bakery.
The door's open, so. . .
"! Hey! In here!" he says, turning to go towards the bakery. "We can't get to the train in time!" In fact, the creature is very-nearly caught up.
He runs into the bakery and makes an apologetic face at the bakery's owner.



[Brimstone Park]

Things to do...
Maybe June could meet this Rose? But..."Rose is probably pretty busy, huh?" So that might not be possible.

June looks around the park as they keep on walking. "She sounds pretty nice. I hope she manages to get through to them too."

Looking around the park, it doesn't really look like there's much to do. "...Hot springs? Or flower-watching. Seems like if we stick around this park, those are the only two things to do."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Yeah, Rose does a lot, she's great. I think she's resting right now, we shouldn't disturb her." Pyrite listens to June's suggestions. "The hot springs are always good, but we're not dressed for it." Given Pyrite's abilities, they could be properly dressed rather quickly though. "What's flower-watching?"

[5a Violista]

Brimstone Park

It's true, they aren't dressed for it.

June reaches up to her hair, looking for a flower. Can she pull them off, or would that be painful? she wonders, before picking one of the flowers to hold it out as a prop. "It's exactly what it sounds like:" she says, holding the flower out between them. "Just...admire the flowers? And look at all the best ones."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Pyrite looks skeptical. "I don't think that's such a good idea here. Some of my friends are the flowers, and I don't want to judge them like that." That's the thing about the succubus nymphs. They live in/are incarnations of the various features of the park. "Have you seen my rock yet?"

[Terumitsu]

Sam and Lucy’s Room

There’s a hiss from the sink and Sam comes around with the ketchup and a cup of tea (and a glass of water) for Alva. The tea is faintly spiced, including ginger.
”I’m fairly sure that’s just a gag name or something.
Wait, the salt? Put me back? It’s sea salt. Kinda fancy but it’s not that much more. I might have a minor merc’s salary but I’m not that short on cash.” And if he was Lucy could probably cover it.

Sam and Lucy’s Room

"Yeah isn't like.. Salt... So, what I'm used to, salt is useful enough that it makes up part of a soldier's salary. Well, usually salt but sometimes cinnamon or peppercorns as well for people of rank. It's a luxury thing... Or.. Was." The past tense hung in the air for a moment before Alva swept on. "So.. I just figured this was a weird rich place considering you can just get food with quality spices anywhere but... Well, I've not really been playing attention to the prices much, I guess?" It's not stealing if people are giving you stuff because they want to! ...Okay maybe some stealing but, like, there was an abundance here and just a bit going missing isn't harming anything.

The tea was good though. "Oh! What's that.. Spicy.. Warm.. It's not pepper but like.. Kinda? Um.." It was evidently a flavor she'd not had before. She quite liked it though, as could clearly be told as she tried to figure out what that added spice was.

[Shadowcaller]

[Court of the Deep]

"Hmm... Peace is more like a sinking tower. I think." It's real, but you gotta constantly build or it'll slip through your fingers. Perhaps war was that way too. What an endless cycle. Reins and Reina both agree good and evil will both just never win and the best way to survive is to avoid the game entirely.

She glances at Dena when the latter asks about studying the fey, but adds nothing. Better to see the birds' reactions first.

[Court of the Deep]

"We have no particular wish to be studied.

We may know something of other way. We watch, for our King.

But information is a treasure.

What do you offer when you ask for it?

Are you suggesting a deal?"

[Court of the Deep]

Tybalt looks to Dena, hoping she had enough sense to not do anything crazy. To his relief she doesn't even need to consider her reply.
"I'm afraid we've been strictly instructed to not make any deals, so I'm afraid I have to decline." She turns to the two others. "Unless either of you like to make one?"

Tybalt immedieately shakes his his head in response. There was no way he'd make a deal.

[Jim's Apartment, Lessons]

Jaahlyn will call Jim an hour before the appointed time to inform him she will be there soon.

Some time later there's a knock on the door and if he opens it (probably checking if its her on the other side first through the looking-glass) she will step back and bow deeply before him with her arms outstreched to her sides.
Laying at her hooves is a well-worn knapsack but that's the only thing that's different. She's wearing the exact same outfit that she wore last time she was here. "Greetings, Jim. A pleasure to see you once more, sir." Jaahlyn greets as her head is bowed down low.
He might note that she's leaning on one hoof as she's bowing as she would likely easily lose balance otherwise.

Then just as suddenly she gets up. "May I come in?"